Hey guys, Liz is here. Here we have another chapter for the books. Last we left off, the Sons were enjoying some relaxation time before the fight with Cell. Will it last? Probably not. I mean, find out now!
The Son Squad Ch.58
So, remember those planes that were flying overhead at the picnic? Well, the Sons figured out soon where those planes were going, and it wasn't anywhere good: turns out they were military planes heading off to deal with Cell. The King of Earth had mobilized the entire royal military in an attempt to destroy Cell and prevent Armageddon. Good on him for at least trying, but still, this is Cell we're talking about here. He wiped out the entire army in a matter of seconds, and everyone had to watch it unfold on TV or hear the carnage on the radio, further sinking morale around the world.
Goku, however, was not going to stand for it and went to the Lookout to try and change the situation, leaving his family to go the Kame House without him while he did this. (Mind you, he also left without explaining what he was doing).
At the Kame House, everyone waited as a few hours passed, wondering where Goku had gone. To pass the time, F. Daichi, F. Chibi, Gohan, Chiyo, and Chinku indulged in a game of go-fish with Yamcha and Krillin as the news cycled through the events of earlier that day. While they did that, little Daichi and Chibi played with some toys right next to the group.
"You can't fault them for trying," F. Chibi remarked as she looked through the cards in her hands. "But still, what did they expect from a monster that killed thousands of people in just days?"
"Cut them so slack, Chibi," Krillin stated, rearranging his cards in his hands after finding a match. "None of them could've possibly known what they were getting themselves into."
"You got any three, Yamcha?" Chinku asked, looking across the table at the scarred-up man.
"Dang it," Yamcha mumbled under his breath as he handed the six-year-old his card. "Here."
"Thank you," Chinku chuckled and placed down another pair in front of her.
"It's still sad," Chiyo stated, placing her cards down for a moment to look up at the screen as they replayed the footage of Cell's onslaught over and over again. "And we don't have the dragon balls anymore, so those people are gone for good."
"It's sad, but that's how it is, though," Gohan added, stopping for a moment to take a sip of some tea. "We can't do much to change it."
"No more dragon balls?" Chinku asked, looking at her older sister. This was news to her. No one bothered to tell her the dragon balls were gone.
"Yep, no more dragon balls," F. Daichi verified for his little sister. "Piccolo merged with Kami, so the dragon balls are no more, not that Chibi and I had ever seen them or anything."
"But what's gonna happen when Mom has another baby?" Chinku questioned, practically slamming her cards on the coffee table at hearing such news.
Chi-Chi was sitting across the room on one of the couches sipping some tea when her daughter had made that little remark. As soon as Chinku had said that, the mother of five did a spit-take and her tea went all over Master Roshi, who was walking by after stepping out for some fresh air. Everyone turned their attention to her as she coughed a bit and then patted on her chest. "S-Sweetie, what on Earth are you talking about?" Chi-Chi stuttered as she tried to regain her composure.
"You know what I mean, Mom," Chinku casually stated. "When you have another baby, Daddy's got to go out in search of a dragon ball to give to the baby. He does it for all the new babies. How can he do that now if the dragon balls are gone?"
"Hold on, here," Krillin finally spoke up. "Chi-Chi, are you and Goku actually thinking about having another kid?"
"W-Well…" Chi-Chi's face began to turn bright red at such a question. It's not like she and Goku had discussed the issue as of late. I mean, the world being in trouble definitely kept them from having a full-on discussion about continuing their family. Still, there was always that promise Chi-Chi asked of Goku on the day they got engaged: she wanted to have a big family with seven to eight children at the most. Of course, five kids later, and she could say her family was big enough. Now everyone, including her own children, was all staring and waiting in anticipation to hear if she was indeed having another child. To avoid the sensitive subject, Chi-Chi decided to change the topic at hand: "Uh, why don't we see what else is on TV? It can't all be doom and gloom, right."
She's dodging the question. The others all collectively thought as Chi-Chi flipped from the current news channel over to some other news station.
This new news channel indeed offered a better outlook than the last news station. In fact, the reporter seemed absolutely thrilled at the news he was reporting on. "Citizens of the world, we no longer have to fear, for the greatest champion of all will be competing in the Cell Games to save us all!" He proudly proclaimed to a crowd of thousands.
Everyone watched in confusion as a gentleman with an afro, a mustache, and a dumb cape came out to greet the people. He shouted a victorious scream for everyone to hear.
"…Who's that guy?" Gohan asked, never before seeing him.
"Oh, you guys wouldn't know him," Yamcha sighed as he rolled his eyes at the fanfare. "That guy supposedly is the best that there is. Guess there was a different circuit of martial arts going on that he's number one in after they stopped having the actual world martial arts tournament."
"Is he any good?" Chiyo asked as they continued to watch all of this unfold.
"He's probably decent for a regular human," Krillin guessed and shrugged. "But he'll probably get creamed the minute he tries to step against Cell."
"Mr. Satan, what do you think of your opponent, Cell?" The reporter asked as he held his microphone up to the supposed champ's face. "He's strong enough to take out the entire military."
Mr. Satan laughed. "Don't tell me you fell for that," The fool stated. "That was just a bunch of pyrotechnics and explosions he set in place before they showed up. When I get in the ring with him, he'll be begging for mercy!"
"Give me a break," F. Chibi mumbled, rolling her eyes at what she was hearing. She honestly felt like slapping the guy in the face. After everything that people had done to stop Cell, this guy almost seemed insulting to her. "I give him thirty seconds before Cell knocks him down with one strike."
"Come on, Chibi, give the man some credit," F. Daichi sarcastically stated. "I mean, he is the world's champion. If anything, he'll at least last one minute. Who knows, maybe even two."
Before this conversation could go any further, Goku suddenly appeared on the scene and shocked everyone. No one was really used to his instant transmission, moving him all about and popping out of nowhere.
"Well, I'm so glad you could join us, Goku," Chi-Chi stated, getting up from the couch and walking over to her husband. She had a few choice words to say to him after he practically abandoned them on the side of the road. And she sure as heck didn't care if he was in his super saiyan form or not; her husband was gonna hear what she had to say. "Where in the world did you go off?!"
"I-I'm sorry, Chi-Chi," Goku stuttered, unsure of why his wife was getting so upset. He never meant to cause trouble. "Why don't you hold that thought for a minute, Chi-Chi. I-"
"Hold that thought?! That's what you have to say after leaving us in the city like that?!" Chi-Chi shouted, her anger burning in her eyes. Her mood sure could change on a dime. One minute she's bashful, the next minute she's looking to bash someone's face in!
Dad's in big trouble, Chiyo told Gohan as she watched her Mother get ready to start strangling her Dad or something.
Big time, Gohan agreed.
"Chi-Chi, I'm really sorry for what I did, but this is important," Goku tried to assure his wife before turning over to those sitting at the coffee table. "Gohan, Krillin, Chiyo; you guys remember Dende, right?"
"Dende?" The three gasped upon hearing that familiar name.
Turns out Goku was busy for the past few hours: he had gone to the Lookout to see if Piccolo and Kami could defuse to bring the dragon balls back. When that failed, he went to King Kai to find the new planet Namek to get a Namekian back to the Earth. The Namekian chosen for the job just so happened to be an old friend, too: Dende! Of course, Gohan, Chiyo, and Krillin had to see this for themselves and went with Goku to the Lookout. F. Daichi and F. Chibi tagged along, too, since they knew the next day would be their turn in the time chamber with Trunks. Waste not, whatnot, am I right?
Upon arriving at the Lookout, Gohan, Chiyo, and Krillin couldn't stop smiling when they saw their friend. They all reunited, and it was a sweet moment to witness.
"So, it's really true? You're gonna be our new guardian?" Gohan asked Dende once all the formalities were out of the way. He couldn't believe how much shorter Dende was compared to him and Chiyo, now. Before, they were about the same height as the young Namekian, and now they towered over him. Had so much time really passed since they had seen him last?
"That's right," Dende nodded with a proud smile on his face.
"That's awesome," Krillin declared with a smile.
"And we can get to see you more often," Chiyo added on, thinking about how great it would be to reconnect with her friend from Namek. He was probably one of the few good things about Namek. Everything else was…well, do I need to spell it out for you?
"All right, enough of this; we have business to attend to," Piccolo stated, interrupting the giggles and smiles. This wasn't a position to take lightly; I mean, Kami's history was a definite indicator that things wouldn't be easy for Dende if he wasn't up to par. "Be honest, Dende, can you really revive the dragon?"
"Don't worry, Piccolo," Goku insisted, putting his arms behind his head in a relaxed manner as he did so. "That old Namekian I talked to before we left said Dende was perfect for the job."
It was no issue for Dende at all. Thanks to Mr. Popo having a model of Shenron, he was able to cut the time with reactivating the dragon balls down from a hundred days to about half an hour. Not only that, but Dende could extend the number of wishes from one to three. There were some other logistics to get out of the way, too, like reviving more than one person and all. That, unfortunately, cut the number of wishes down from three to two, but if that's what needed to be done to revive Shenron, then so be it. And just like that, the dragon balls were back.
"Okay, so now that the dragon balls are back, we should probably go gather them all up before the tournament," Chiyo suggested after Dende was done with the necessary ritual.
"I'll take care of that," Goku volunteered. "You guys just stay here and relax. Oh, and Gohan, Chiyo, don't worry about doing that extra training we planned on doing for the tournament, okay? Just take it easy."
"Wait, what?" Gohan questioned after hearing his Dad say this. "But Dad-"
"It's all good, really," Goku interrupted Gohan. "I'll tell your Mom you guys will be up here so she won't worry, okay? I'll take care of the rest."
"Wait, Goku," Trunks spoke up before Goku left to start his hunt for the dragon balls. He had to figure out what made Goku feel the need to be so calm. The world was in danger, and he was taking it so casually. There had to be something he wasn't telling everyone else. "Be honest, is there some sort of weakness that Cell has that you're not telling us? Is that why you're so relaxed?"
Goku shrugged. "No, not really," He casually admitted to Trunks. "As far as I can tell, he's invincible."
Trunks looked like he was about to wig out upon hearing that. Invincible? And Goku still refused to train?! Trunks wanted to follow up on the issue more, but Goku left before he could even get another word out. Shaking his head, Trunks then turned to Gohan, Chiyo, Daichi, and Chibiko for answers. "Do you guys have any idea what your Father is planning?" He questioned the quartet of siblings. "He keeps saying Cell is stronger than him and that he probably can't beat him. So then why is he so relaxed?"
"We're just as in the dark as you, Trunks," Chibiko replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't like the idea of not knowing what her Dad was up to. She wished he would just spell it out already. The suspense of the whole thing was putting her on edge. "Dad hasn't told us squat."
"The only thing he said is that we should look forward to the whole thing," Gohan stated. He, too, wanted to know just what his Dad had in store for the whole thing. There had to be some sort of plan, right?
Krillin seemed to think so. "If he's saying to look forward to it, then he must have some sort of plan in place," Krillin hypothesized.
"That's true," Daichi shrugged. "What else could it be but that?"
Piccolo wasn't as optimistic and expressed that to the group: "Or, he's already accepted the fact that Cell is too much for him." (Sure, be pessimistic, Piccolo. That's what we all need).
As everyone tried to figure out what Goku could be planning, an awful thought popped into Chiyo's head that sent shivers down her spine. Wait, could he really be doing what I think he's going to do? Chiyo thought to herself as she glanced over to Gohan. She shook her head, trying to get the idea out before it could take root in her brain. No, of course not. He promised he would keep on an eye on Gohan. That means he wouldn't…
Chiyo hoped she was wrong, but a part of her nagged at her brain as she realized that this was possibly going to be what her Dad had planned for Cell.
The next day, Vegeta came out of the chamber, and Trunks, Chibi, and Daichi went in after he was done. Vegeta said nothing to anyone as he came out, wanting to keep his training a bit of a secret, you know? Besides, he wanted to see the looks on everyone's faces when he mopped the floor with Cell. He only glanced at Trunks, Chibi and Daichi as they went in the chamber before he flew off to who-knows-where.
Just after he left, Chiyo sat with Gohan and Dende as Gohan showed Dende a book on Earth animals. She was a bit away from her brother and the young Namekian as Gohan was showing off pictures of some marine life that the planet had to offer. Dende seemed fascinated by what he saw and asked Gohan a million questions about the different species that called Earth home.
"I never realized Earth could have so many different creatures," Dende stated after looking at a picture of whales. "And they're all so unique."
"I bet they're not like the animals on Namek, though," Gohan said as he flipped the page to show Dende what a shark looked like. "You gonna miss home, Dende?"
"I will, but I'm glad to be here on Earth," Dende admitted to Gohan. "Even though I only spent a short time on your planet, I've missed it since we left for New Namek."
"Well, I'm glad you get to stay here as our new guardian. Chiyo and I can come to visit more often. And we'll bring our little sisters and brother with us so you can meet them." Gohan couldn't be happier now that his friend from space was going to be living on Earth. He could imagine coming up to visit him with Chinku and the others once everything with Cell was over with. Heck, he'd probably come up to study sometime if Mr. Popo didn't mind. He was already starting to think past the tournament.
Chiyo, meanwhile, pulled out her sketchbook and started doodling again. She thought that would help her calm down. She didn't even notice what she was drawing. She just glanced between looking at Gohan and Dende and looking over at Piccolo, who was meditating a few yards away. By the time she had realized what she was drawing, she stopped her pencil in the dead-center of the page. Sweat trickled down her back as she saw the image she had drawn was of Gohan, but…the cold look in his eyes she had given the image made a hard lump in her throat form. It seemed so wrong on Gohan's face, yet it was all too familiar to Chiyo.
Quietly scratching the picture out, Chiyo decided that the best thing to do would probably be to consult Piccolo. He was wise beyond his years, especially now that Kami was a part of him, so surely he would know what to do regarding her inner turmoil. I hope he doesn't mind me bothering him, Chiyo thought as she put her notebook away and walked over to her mentor. She sat down next to Piccolo with her legs crossed like his and held her hands together in a sort-of prayer as she thought about what she could say to Piccolo. What if she was wrong about what her Dad was planning? What if he was just being modest about being able to beat Cell? That was always a strong possibility. I mean, Chiyo tended to worry more than anyone else in her family, maybe even more so than her Mother.
"What is it, Chiyo?" Piccolo asked, not even opening his eyes as he questioned his student.
"Oh, it's, uh…You know what? You seem busy; we can talk later," Chiyo said as she tried to get up.
"Sit," Piccolo stated, stopping her dead in her tracks from moving.
Realizing there was no way out of this, Chiyo sighed and accepted her fate. She sat back down next to Piccolo but placed her attention on the Lookout tiles and not him. Why didn't she just stay where she was?
"What's wrong?" Piccolo inquired once more, this time opening his eyes to look at Chiyo.
"…I'm just…I'm worried. I mean, I guess everyone's worried, but…I think I'm a different kind of worried," Chiyo admitted to Piccolo. She began wringing the back of her neck as she tried to find the words she was looking for to describe what she was trying to say.
"What exactly is it that's bugging you, Chiyo?" Piccolo questioned the young girl. He was being concerned but also curious about what was bothering Chiyo so much. From what he could tell, whatever it was, it was eating her up from the inside. He must've been going soft because he never thought he could see himself feeling this way about someone.
"Do you really think Dad has just accepted that he can't beat Cell?"
"Who knows with that man," Piccolo shrugged. "Your Father is an enigma a lot of the time. He's been like that for as long as I've known him. Even when we were enemies, I could never understand him…"
"…Piccolo…You think my Dad has everyone's best interests at heart?" Chiyo probed her teacher out of what seemed like nowhere to Piccolo.
"I suppose he does," Piccolo replied, a bit taken back by the question.
"Well, what about Gohan's? You think he has Gohan's best interests, right?"
"He did die to save you and Gohan, didn't he?"
"Well, that's true…"
"And he risked falling off a pathway and into Hell if it meant he could get stronger to protect you both."
"Well, yeah…"
"Not to mention, he almost died on an exploding planet if it meant protecting you both from Frieza. Need I go on?"
"No, you've made your point." Letting out a long, winded sigh, Chiyo slumped her shoulders down and relaxed a bit. She ran a hand through her golden hair and then finally got the nerve to look Piccolo in the eye. "I just…I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking things."
"You tend to do that a lot, you know," Piccolo commented before placing a hand on her shoulder. "Your Father is a lot of things, Chiyo, but if anything, he has a plan. It may be moronic, but when has that ever stopped him before?"
"…That's true…" Chiyo slightly felt better after hearing those little words of encouragement from Piccolo. Maybe her Dad did have a plan….
The last few days of prepping were drawing to a close as the day of the Cell games arrived. Goku had collected the dragon balls days earlier, and now he was ready for the big fight ahead. He ditched the casual clothes and went for his good old gi that he had worn for years. Nothing felt good like his trusty orange and blue gi.
As he strapped on his boots, Chinku insisted on going along with her Dad and siblings. "I'll just watch the tournament, Daddy. Honest, I will," Chinku insisted as Goku strapped up the last lace on his boot. She didn't want to be put on the sidelines again.
"No, Chinku, you need to stay here with your Mom," Goku told the little girl, giving her a brief hug. "This is going to be a dangerous fight, and you still have training to do. Just stay here and watch over the house until we get back, okay?"
"But Daddy," Chinku whined as her Father went for the front door.
Standing there waiting for him was Chi-Chi holding baby Chibiko and little Daichi standing at his Mother's side. Daichi wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he could sense it was big. As soon as his Dad was in sight, he ran to him and hugged his leg. "Don't go," Daichi squeaked out as his Dad bent down to be eye level with him.
"Don't worry, Daichi," Goku said to the little boy as he rubbed the top of his head. "Everything's gonna work out. I promise."
Daichi let go of his Dad and watched as he walked over to his mother and little sister.
"You promise to be careful?" Chi-Chi asked her husband, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she looked her husband.
"Cross my heart," Goku told his wife. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the head to emphasize that promise.
"Just come back safe, Goku."
Goku lightly chuckled before looking down at little Chibi, who was staring up at him with big, unblinking eyes. Giving her a small smile, he leaned down to kiss the little baby on her cheek. "You be good for your Mom, Chibi," Goku told the little baby before turning to walk out the door.
As he walked outside, a small voice called out from inside the house: "...Da…Da.."
Turning back, Goku looked to see Chibi reaching her tiny hands out towards Goku, repeating the little syllables as she looked at her Dad's retreating figure.
"Da...Da," She said as she looked at him with her arms extended out.
It honestly melted Goku's heart a bit when he heard that. Her first word and it was Dad.
"Goku," Chi-Chi spoke up, getting Goku's attention. "The kids are just watching on the sidelines, right? They're not getting involved in the fight, right? Promise me they're not."
"Uh…" Goku just stared awkwardly at his wife as a bad feeling started to form in Chi-Chi's stomach. Chinku and Daichi were now at the door, looking at their Dad and expecting an answer.
"Goku!"
"…Gotta go!" And with that, Goku was gone in a flash.
Chi-Chi gulped as she realized what this meant. Goku wouldn't promise her…My babies, She thought as she rushed back inside to the TV. She would watch every second of the tournament just to make sure her children were okay.
Upon arriving at the Lookout, Goku found his kids, Krillin, Piccolo, Trunks, and Dende, waiting for him. He noticed Chibi and Daichi had gotten slightly taller since the last time he had seen them, and their hair, along with Trunks' hair, was longer as well. He didn't think they'd actually go back into the chamber with Trunks, but I guess he was wrong. Not to mention that Trunks was also in a relaxed super-saiyan state, just like his kids. Guess he took up the same kind of training he and his kids had during their time inside. He noticed that Vegeta wasn't there, which wouldn't seem too odd to him, but Vegeta was a significant presence. He thought the saiyan prince would at least be there to go off with them to the tournament.
"Hope I didn't keep you all waiting too long," Goku stated as he showed up. "Where's Vegeta?"
"He…didn't want to wait," Piccolo stated.
"Figures as much," Goku shrugged. "Well, you guys ready for this?"
Right after asking that question, Goku noticed a somber mood overtake everyone. The others mostly looked away from him, like they knew something he didn't. Well…
"Goku, you gotta know something about the dragon balls," Krillin finally got the nerve to fess up. He explained to Goku how the dragon balls could bring multiple people back, but not anyone who's already died once before. That meant most of the Z-fighters, minus the kids and Trunks, couldn't be brought back if they died fighting Cell today.
Dende apologized profusely for failing to tell Goku and the others this grim news before reactivating the dragon balls. Some guardian he was. He felt awful for not letting them all know sooner. It completely slipped his mind until after he had finished the job. If only he had remembered to fix that before everything was set in motion.
"Hey, don't worry so much, guys," Goku said with a smile. "All we gotta do is not die. Simple."
"How is that simple?!" Krillin shouted. He was really starting to get frustrated with Goku's chillax attitude. He was making the end of the world seem like it was nothing! "You've even said you can't beat Cell!"
"It's gonna be okay, Krillin. I promise," Goku told his friend. "Now, we better get going. The tournament is about to start soon."
No one could get Goku at all. They had spent days trying to figure out what he was up to, all of them coming up with different theories as to what the Earth-raised saiyan could be thinking in his head. He was keeping everything close to the vest, though, so there was no way of telling what he was thinking of doing.
Along the way to the tournament grounds, the group met up with Tien and Yamcha, who agreed to go but not compete. They would just be there to morally support everyone through thick and thin.
The closer they got to the ring, the more nervous Chiyo became. She tried pushing down her nerves as they made their way to the tournament, doing her best to hide her concern from everyone else. Gohan, however, noticed and questioned his sister on her nervous disposition. Sis, what's up? Gohan asked her. You look pale.
I'm, uh, just nervous about the whole thing is all, Chiyo commented back, trying to keep her brother from probing too deeply about this. She didn't want to lie to her brother, but what could she say about what was really on her mind? What could she tell him? Listen, Gohan…promise me you'll be careful, okay?
Of course, Chiyo, Gohan replied. Why wouldn't he be careful? He thought Chiyo was hiding something from him, but what precisely that was was up to debate. And you be careful, too, Chiyo.
Soon, the z-fighters had arrived to Cell's tournament grounds. Upon making it there, they found Vegeta, 16, and Cell waiting for them. (There was also the world champion with a camera crew, but who cares about those guys, right?) "So, you've all decided to show up," Cell said as he looked over at his opponents. "Welcome to the tournament."
No one replied to Cell as they glared him down. This was it: the fate of everyone on Earth would be decided here and now.
This is it, folks. Fight time. I'm still debating whether or not to fully chronical Goku's fight with Cell since that doesn't really change much from the original fight. I'll figure it out. But will everything else go the way it should? Or is there more to the Cell games than you think? Find out next time on the Son Squad.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, though. Let me know in the reviews if you did, or if you have any predictions for what's to come. Also, before I go, I would like to promote a new side-story I'm working on involving Gohan and Chiyo called The Divergent Paths. (It might get a name change later, but that's what I'm calling it for now). If you can, check it out when you get the chance. Anyway, have a good day everyone, and remember to wash your hands!