Hey guys, Liz here! Welcome back to another chapter! So, you know how I thought I'd be much freer in the summer to update more? Well, turns out that that's not really the case. I have a summer job and have been trying to draw more/ work on other projects. So, for now, the story will probably be updated on a bi-weekly basis.
Now then, last we left off, Chiyo and Cell were just starting their face-off with each other. Will the half-saiyan be able to hold her own against Cell? Or will she be overwhelmed by the perfect bio-android? Find out now.
The Son Squad Ch.61
So far, things were going okay. No one could say for certain whether or not Chiyo was ready for what was to come. She had made it okay so far, but she was going to need to give it all she had in order to match up to Cell. The two went and stared off with one another for a few moments before both going on the offensive, matching each other leg to leg, elbow to elbow, fist to fist! The fact that they were making contact like that was honestly surprising to watch. There were moments when Chiyo had the upper hand, and then the balance would shift to Cell's favor. One minute they were clashing on the ground; the next, they'd be duking it out in the air. Neither relented, but the one who seemed to be receiving more of the damage was Chiyo. Still, despite this, Chiyo pushed on.
At one point, Chiyo managed to get behind Cell. Using this opportunity, she extended both her arms upwards to the sky, forming a blue ki sphere in her left hand and a yellow one in her right. "Kento Blast!" She fired off the two spheres that went and merged together, heading straight for Cell.
Instead of dodging the attack like most expected him to, Cell turned to face the attack head-on with his arms crossed out in front of him. It hit the bio-android directly, and he was slightly sent back through the air by a few feet, miscalculating just how strong Chiyo's attack would be. However, he quickly threw the attack upwards and out of the atmosphere after having enough of it. "Come now, you must have more power than that if you're going to beat me, my dear," Cell mocked the young girl.
Chiyo slightly gritted her teeth before rushing towards Cell and going at it with him again with more exchanges of blows. However, she was quickly smacked back down to the ground like she was a bug, creating a small indent in the ground. As she was getting up, Cell decided to meet her down there to save her the trouble of getting back into the sky. Chiyo slightly coughed as she slowly stood back up, some blood trickling down from the left corner of her forehead.
"While I slightly admire your insistence on continuing this, I'm afraid you've reached your peak, kid," Cell taunted Chiyo as she wiped the blood running down her face. "Of course, if you do call it quits, then I suppose there's no one left who can stop me from destroying all of humanity."
"…That's not true, Cell," Chiyo muttered, earning a raised eyebrow from Cell. "I know I can't beat you, but I've still got some fight in me. And I'm not quitting; not yet. He'll fight when there's nothing left in me."
"Is that so?" Cell questioned. For some reason, he could tell she was not referring to her Father. Something about the way she said it just told him so. No, it seemed like whoever she was talking about was someone other than Goku. But who in the world could the young girl be referring to? Was there someone stronger than her that could actually pose a challenge to him? And could that person really be someone other than Goku?
"I don't like to fight like my Dad does, but I'll do what I have to if it means you won't hurt anyone else," Chiyo affirmed to Cell as she got into another offensive pose. "You've hurt the people of Earth long enough!"
A slight chuckled escaped Cell. "But it's more than that, isn't it, my dear?" Cell questioned, earning a concerned look from Chiyo. She didn't like where this was going. "As you said before, you don't enjoy fighting, so what's the point in continuing? Are you really just trying to weaken me for someone else's sake? If that's true, who could it possibly be? If it's someone other than your Father, who is it?"
There was an awful feeling bubbling in Chiyo's gut, making her regret how she had spoken earlier. "…." She chose not to reply to Cell's question at all. Instead, all she did was glare back at the monster.
"Answer me!" Cell shouted before sucker-punching Chiyo and sending her skidding across the ground.
She wasn't knocked off her feet, but the punch still hurt, that's for sure. She turned and glared back at Cell once more, knowing she couldn't tell him what she knew about his next opponent. The more information she kept to her vest, the better it would be for her brother's sake.
"Fine then. I guess I'll just have to beat the information out of you."
"I'd like to see you try!"
"Big words, my dear, for a dead girl!"
Back on the rock formation above, most of the other Z-fighters were becoming antsy. Something about this whole thing just seemed wrong. They could all feel it as Chiyo and Cell went at it again with exchanging more blows between each other. She was getting weaker, but she refused to relent. Nothing was gonna stop her from giving Cell everything she had. That seemed to be more concerning, though. If she didn't care, then what was stopping her from throwing in the towel before it was too late?
"Goku, this is getting to be too much for her," Krillin told his best friend. "Tell her to quit before she gets herself killed! You should be in there, not Chiyo!"
"Give her some time, Krillin," Goku replied, not taking his eyes off the fighting going on down below. "Chiyo's still got a lot of fight in her."
"And if something happens to her? What then?!" Daichi shouted at his Father. He was really starting to get fed up with all this. All he could think about as he saw Chiyo getting weaker and weaker was the Chiyo that died in the future. He couldn't bear to think about possibly watching something like that happen again. "Pops, just tell her to stop!"
Suddenly, from down below, Chiyo managed to kick Cell right beneath the chin and send him into a nearby mountain. He didn't go all the way through, but he left a dent in it after being kicked there. Some blood started to trickle from his busted-up lip.
"Give it to him, Chiyo! Show him no mercy!" Chibiko shouted at Chiyo. She wanted her sister to know that she had her back. But, unfortunately, all she could do right now was cheer her sister on other than jumping into the ring herself. "You got this!"
Cell said nothing as he wiped the blood from his lip and looked down at the purple liquid. So this girl had somehow managed to make him bleed, and she was nowhere near the strength she was before. He could feel her energy beginning to waver, and yet she had managed to make him bleed? On top of that, she was still refusing to tell him what he wanted to know. "All right, kid, now you're really starting to push my buttons," Cell growled at Chiyo.
"That's the point, right?" Chiyo slightly teased Cell, hoping to get him pissed off enough to lose focus and give her a better opportunity to strike. "Like we've both established, I'm just trying to weaken you."
Instead of letting this get to him like Chiyo hoped it would, Cell smirked. "If you think a little blood being drawn means anything, then you've got another thing coming, kid. You're gonna need a lot more than that to do any real damage." This time, Cell decides to unleash a series of Death Beams attacks that belonged to Frieza, surprising everyone and reminding them that he still had Frieza's DNA within him. (Everyone could see Vegeta slightly twitch at the sight of the first Death Beam, possibly reliving his experience on the other end of that familiar attack).
Just as Chiyo was dodging what looked like the last Death Beam, Cell went from behind and kicked her down to the ground, causing her to create a crater that was almost two yards in diameter. She laid there for a moment as she felt a big bruise forming on her lower back. Still, despite the pain, she got up. How she managed to do so was anyone's guess. At this point, maybe it was just pure strength of will. "…That, the best you got, Cell?"
"Oh, I don't think you could handle me at my best, girl." Cell cracked his knuckles to emphasize his point as Chiyo got down into another pose. "Tell me who it is you're trying to help here, girl. Now, I'll ask you again: who exactly is this warrior you're trying to weaken me for?"
Again, just as before, Chiyo said nothing.
Instead of getting upset, Cell smirked as an idea formed in his head on how to get her to talk. He rushed at her once more, sending her up into the sky and then kicking her down through a rock formation. The attack left her temporarily out of sight from the Z-fighters. Then, without skipping a beat, Cell charged in after Chiyo.
Chiyo soon found herself in what appeared to be a cave beneath the rock formation. It must have been part of some underground cave system that, by the looks of it, stretched out for miles out from every direction around her. Chiyo had been slammed to the bottom of the caves, but she could still see the opening where she had come through. That also happened to be the only form of lighting in the dark caves. She had sensed Cell follow in after her, and now she waited on the defense to see where he would come from next. Cell's probably gonna use the darkness to his advantage, Chiyo thought as her eyes darted around the place. She powered herself up more in her super saiyan form to bring more light to the dark caves, illuminating the cave with her golden aura. Better keep on my guard.
"Who is it, my dear?" Cell's voice echoed off the cave walls.
The way it reverberated off the walls reminded Chiyo of a horror movie. If she was honest, though, that's exactly what this felt like. Now, it was all about waiting for the jump scare to happen.
Suddenly, a ki blast from behind came at her and she quickly turned to deflect it back at her attacker. When it went back towards where Cell was, Chiyo briefly caught of glimpse of who she had at first assumed to be Piccolo. But then, he disappeared as soon as the ki blast hit the cave walls and caused a small explosion.
For a moment, Chiyo was completely confused. How and why was Piccolo in there? She was sure that he was with the others. Then Chiyo recalled that Cell could take the form of others, especially if he had their DNA. Was that his game now? To try and mess with her head and get her talking? If it was, then Chiyo was in for it. The fact that Cell could completely replicate someone from head to toe in appearance absolutely horrified her, but she tried to remain strong and alert.
"Who is it that you're risking your life for?" Cell asked, his voice sounding just like Piccolo's. It sent shivers down Chiyo's spine with how accurate his voice was to her teacher's. "It can't possibly be your beloved teacher, now, can it?"
Another ki blast, this time from the front, caught Chiyo's attention, and she jumped out of the way before it hit her. She saw the attacker this time, considering he stood so close, and she found that Cell had changed his appearance to mirror Vegeta. However, this Vegeta looked more like the one she fought all those years ago when he and Nappa first came to Earth. All he needed was a pink scouter on his face, and Chiyo could swear she was back to being a scared five-year-old all over again.
"Don't tell me it's Vegeta you're protecting," Cell remarked, sounding just like Vegeta, with the smirk to go with it.
Ignoring Cell, Chiyo went right at the disguised fighter with a few energy blasts of her own, sending up dust that temporarily blocked her view of the bio-android. However, through the dust cloud, Cell emerged, this time taking the form of Trunks from when he first arrived in the past. He went in for a punch to Chiyo's chest, but she quickly put her arm up to block, leaving the two in a stalemate. Being up close like this to Cell, Chiyo could notice that his eyes were not like Trunks' at all; they were pink just like Cell's, reminding her that this was not the Trunks she had gotten to know.
"Or is it his son you're trying to protect?" Cell questioned Chiyo, the smirk ever present on Trunks' face. It looked so wrong on the boy from the future. While he and she were not close, Chiyo still considered Trunks to be a good friend.
Having enough of this, Chiyo went to sweep Cell out from underneath with her leg, but he jumped out of the way and out of her reach, disappearing into the shadows of the cave once more. At this point, Chiyo was getting pissed. While she was trying not to let the constant shape-shifting get to her, hearing such malice and contempt coming from the voices of people she cared for (I mean, Vegeta's still debatable at times) was starting to get at her, despite how many times she told herself that it wasn't them.
Cell soon returned on the offensive with a kick from behind again, but Chiyo managed to catch his foot and turn to face her opponent, finding he had changed forms once again. This time, he looked like future Daichi. He smirked at her in a playful manner similar to Daichi, but the pink eyes weren't fooling her one bit. "Tell me who it is, sister," Cell said.
Something about the way he referred to her like he was Daichi ticked her off even more. How dare this monster pretend to be her brother. She knew how he had come to acquire this form, killing a different Daichi to do so. Stirring on the matter made her blood boil. "Shut up!" Chiyo shouted, sending Cell flying towards the cave walls before firing another ki blast his way. Chiyo assumed it had made contact with Cell because it didn't seem to hit any of the rocks when it exploded.
However, Cell didn't seem to sustain much damage because he was charging at her again, this time taking on the form of future Chibiko. He swung at Chiyo as she ducked out of the way of the incoming punches. "Just tell me who it is, Chiyo!" Cell shouted, his voice mimicking Chibiko perfectly. He glared her down with his pink eyes, which seemed to enrage Chiyo further.
"I said, shut up!" Chiyo replied, punching the transformed android directly in the gut, causing him to slightly cough up spit. Then, not giving him a moment to breathe, Chiyo kicked Cell across the face and sent him flying straight into a cave wall. Chiyo's eyes seemed to blaze with fury as she did so.
It was silent for a moment as the rocks began to settle, and Cell didn't make a move from the indent he had made in the wall. Only his feet- or rather Chibi's feet- hung out there for a moment.
Then, with very little time to react, Cell's fallen form disappeared from sight, moving too fast in the dark for Chiyo to keep track of. She soon felt Cell grab her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her tightly, and making her unable to move. She wriggled in Cell's grasp, making her unable to break free. She looked back to see Cell's form had changed to that of her Father, except he was out of his super saiyan form and the pink eyes. "Let go of me!" Chiyo shouted, her slightly terrified voice echoing off the walls.
"Tell me who you're protecting!" Cell shouted back, sounding far too similar to her Father's. He squeezed on Chiyo a bit tighter, and it felt to Chiyo like her ribs were going to break if too much pressure was applied. "Who is it? Who's the one Goku thinks can best me?! Tell me now!" He squeezed her even tighter, causing Chiyo to let out a spine-chilling scream that could be heard by the others even from above ground.
"That's it, Goku! I'm not going to stand here and let Chiyo get killed!" Piccolo shouted at Goku, ready to throw caution to the wind. He'd rather die than listen to one of his students slowly be killed right before him.
"Piccolo, you can't do anything!" Goku said, stopping Piccolo dead in his tracks. "If you go down there right now, you're just going to get yourself killed! Chiyo is going to be fine!"
"Dad, you don't know that!" Chibiko yelled in Goku's face, looking ready to head down there herself. "Chiyo is going to get herself killed out there, and you're just going to keep up with this game of yours?!"
"She is going to be fine, Chibiko! You have to trust me on this!" Goku rebuttal, a bit of temper in his voice as he tried to assure Chibi of this.
"What if she's not, though?! We can't watch her die, Dad, not again!" Daichi asserted to Goku, his hands slightly shaking as he did so.
Meanwhile, Gohan was standing from the sidelines, silently watching the rock formation with his teeth were clenched together. Hearing his sister scream like that stirred a slight bit of anger within Gohan. He wished she would just quit already. Just stop already! Gohan thought to himself.
Back in the caves, Chiyo felt like the life was being squeezed out of her as Cell continued to hold her in the death grip. If she didn't do something soon, Chiyo knew she'd be done for. Think! Think! Chiyo somewhat frantically thought to herself. If I don't do something soon, I'm dead!
Another squeeze to the chest and a scream from Chiyo caused Cell to laugh. Unfortunately, his laughter was a mix of his own and Goku's. "Come on, girl, show me what you're made of. This can't be it. If so, I suppose to show your corpse in front of the others will get your Father back in the ring," Cell taunted Chiyo.
That seemed to do it for Chiyo. Something inside her slightly snapped as she thought about seeing what that would do to her friends and family. No way could she let that happen. She momentarily stopped squirming before leaning her head forward and then quickly jerking it back to his Cell right under the chin. It hurt more than he thought and caused him to release Chiyo and step back.
"Why, you little-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence because Chiyo quickly turned and sucker-punched him right in the face, sending him up and out of the caves entirely and straight into the air, dropping him back into his proper form. The others looked up to see the spectacle as Cell came to stop mid-air with a few more strands of blood running down his face. He wiped his blood away just in time for Chiyo to come bursting out of the caves, the look of burning fury returning in her eyes. The aura around her was up once more as she extended both her arms upwards to the sky, forming a blue ki sphere in her left hand and a yellow one in her right. "Kento Blast!" She fired off the two spheres that went and merged together, heading straight for Cell.
Cell barely had time to dodge, and it showed because the blast made direct contact and took off his left arm, shocking the others, including Cell. He gasped at the fact that this child could actually do that kind of damage to her. However, he stifled back a scream, trying to keep her from getting the kind of satisfaction of hearing him admit he was in pain. How had she managed to do this to his perfect body?!
Down below, Chiyo was now panting. That little stunt she had just pulled had significantly drained her for sure. This was her second time using such an attack, and she was slightly surprised that she could even pull it off a second time without passing out. There were several more visible wounds on her body, most notably on her hands and her face.
"D-Did Chiyo actually do that?" Krillin asked, trying to come out of a state of awe at the fact that she had managed to actually take off Cell's arm like that.
"I can't believe she was able to actually pull something like that off," Trunks muttered out, looking at the slightly winded girl and the now one-armed Cell.
"Even if she didn't do as much damage as Goku, the fact that she was able to blow of Cell's arm at all is impressive nonetheless," Tien remarked to the others.
"She might be as strong as Goku is, and she's not even a teenager yet!" Yamcha stated with widened eyes.
Vegeta was in more silent awe compared to the others. This girl had managed to inflict actual true damage onto Cell. How could his most significant rival's child be this strong? It had to somehow relate to her DNA. Otherwise, a child her age would not have been as strong as this. Even at the progression, he was at now, Vegeta was nowhere near this kind of power.
"She might be running low on steam, but at least she's alive," Chibi sighed in relief, a relieved smile coming to her face. She hadn't realized how tense she was until now. I mean, she was usually tense, but this was definitely a different kind of tense- the kind of tense that makes you stop breathing without you even realizing it.
"Now, will you pull her out, Pops?" Daichi asked, his heart rate calming down after seeing his sister at least out of the ground. This had to be where his Father drew the line, especially considering how Chiyo was down to almost half her strength by now. "She can't take much more of this."
Goku looked over to Gohan as if he were looking to get approval from his eldest son on whether or not to stop Chiyo from fighting anymore.
Gohan made eye contact with his Father and solemnly nodded. He didn't want to admit it aloud to everyone else, but he thought it would be best for his twin to stop fighting before she got herself killed.
Back on the ground below, Chiyo faced off with Cell as he lowered himself to the ground, his arm now regrown like nothing had happened. "Guess you're feistier than I thought you'd be," Cell admitted, flexing his newly formed fingers about.
"…But you still have a higher power than I do," Chiyo admitted after letting out a series of pants. "You haven't been using your full power in me, have you?"
"Very good. You learn fast, my dear. Then you must realize as well that your situation is hopeless. Either you quit now, or you will die on this battlefield."
"Is…that a threat, Cell?" Chiyo knew Cell wasn't bluffing this time around. At this point, she was too tired to care, though. All she wanted to do was focus on trying to weaken Cell just a little bit more.
"No, it's a promise."
Despite all her muscles and bones screaming in pain, Chiyo wasn't quitting yet. She knew she still had a little bit more fight left in her. Just as Chiyo was about to go in for another attack on Cell, Goku shouted from the sidelines: "That's enough, Chiyo."
The eldest daughter of Goku stopped dead in her tracks, as did the charging Cell, and they both looked up to the rock formation where the Z-fighters all stood. Everyone was now looking to Goku to see what he would say.
"You've proven yourself, Chiyo," Goku continued, his smile from before back on his face. "It's time to let someone else take care of it from here."
A slight sigh of relief was exhaled from most of the other Z-fighters. No longer did they have to watch Chiyo just fight to survive. Maybe now Goku had come to his senses and would jump back in the ring. However, they were also wary about who would go in if Goku wasn't about to re-enter. If Piccolo had to guess, it would be Gohan. He seemed to figure out Goku's plan after thinking it over some more. Goku seemed determined to have his two children fight the monster that was Cell. Now, of course, this didn't mean that Piccolo liked the idea. In fact, he was prepared to protest this in its entirety and tell Goku to get back into the ring.
"It's about time, Goku," Cell stated, a smirk coming to his face as he turned to face the rock formation where his actual opponent stood. "This little pissing match between the girl and me were becoming ever-so boring. So get down here, and we'll settle this once and for all."
Something about the way Cell referred to Chiyo's efforts to fight him as boring struck a nerve to the young girl. Even after blowing off his entire army, he didn't see her as a threat at all! This really was just a game to him! "Hold on a sec," Chiyo spoke up from behind, gaining Cell's attention and causing the bio-android to turn to look back at the winded girl. "I haven't decided to call it quits yet. I've still got a lot of fight left in me, Cell, so focus on me before thinking about fighting anyone else!"
"What did she say?!" Krillin questioned aloud after hearing this. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. So Chiyo still wanted to go toe-to-toe with this monster?
"She can't be serious," Vegeta growled between gritted teeth. So after all of that, she still wanted to continue to fight?
"What is she thinking?" Trunks wondered aloud, not expecting Chiyo to want to continue with this madness.
"She's not; that's the problem," Daichi said as he saw the determined look in his sister's eyes.
"But if she keeps this up, she'll be killed for sure," Chibi muttered as the color seemed to drain from her face.
"She's practically walking into a death sentence!" Piccolo said through his clenched teeth.
Goku was in shock, unable to find his words. What was Chiyo thinking? Why wasn't she listening to him? She had proved more than capable, so why on Earth was she insisting on continuing to the point of collapse?
Chiyo, what are you thinking? Gohan thought to himself, unsure of what his sister was planning to do. He could tell she was getting weaker, and while he genuinely believed that she still had some fight left in her, he feared she would push herself to the point where she would get herself killed. "Sis, get out of there!" Gohan shouted to his sister.
"It's alright, Chiyo. You don't have to fight anymore," Daichi called out. "You've done a lot; let someone else take him on."
"You've done great, Chiyo. It's all right to stop, now," Chibiko told Chiyo.
"You don't need to prove anything else, Chiyo," Goku tried to assure Chiyo. "You don't have to take on all of this by yourself."
Cell chuckled as he looked away from the group and over to Chiyo. "I'd heed your family's warnings and give up, girl. From what I can tell, you can barely stand on your own two feet. So what makes you think you're in any condition to continue to fight me?"
"…I'm not in any real condition to beat you…But I don't care!" Chiyo powered up once more as if that somehow would distract her from the pain. "I'm not done until I say I'm done!"
This was bad. It seemed like Chiyo was just throwing her life away. And for what?! She wanted to go out on her own terms, but no one could establish what those terms and limits were. No one could understand what was driving her to do all this.
"We'll stop when I'm done- not when someone else dictates it, Cell!"
"Ah, now this should be interesting." Cell liked the fury he saw from Chiyo. Something about it all seemed to give off the vibes of what a true saiyan would be like. It was also ironic that Chiyo could not see that she was becoming a fighter driven to fight for the sake of fighting. So much for just looking to defeat him. "Seems there is a warrior spirit within y-"
Before Cell could finish, Chiyo sucker-punched him in the gut, interrupting him mid-sentence. Chiyo knew this would cost her, but she was determined to go out on her own terms, not someone else's. Even if her strength was failing, she wasn't going to quit just yet. "You talk too much."
Meanwhile, Gohan could feel his own anger beginning to bubble just beneath the surface on the sidelines. At this rate, if he didn't do something soon, Chiyo was going to die.
Chiyo seems to be way in over her head. Will someone step in to stop her before it's too late? Or will Chiyo be the first casualty of the Cell games? Find out next time on the Son Squad.
You know what comes next, right? I thank you all for your continual support! Even as I branch out and do other things/deal with life, many of you still come back to the story, and it really warms my heart. I mean, this story is over 50K in views! How wild is that?! You all just are amazing, okay? Anyway, have a good day, everyone, and remember to wash your hands!