Gohan:

"It's time to wake up Gohan!" The blanket covering the half-Saiyan's sleeping form was lifted up, letting in the cold air, and thrown to the side forcing him awake.

Groggily, Gohan rolled to his side, eyes still closed, trying to squeeze in a few more minutes sleep. "I said now mister!"

The half-Sayian mentally sighed. "But mom-"

"No buts mister." She cut him off.

With a groan and a mumble of discontentment, the boy stretched his eyes open and reluctantly maneuvered himself up into a sitting position.

He's always disliked when his mom woke him abruptly by removing his blankets, but never voiced it out loud anymore if only to spare himself a lecture. There was no chance in winning no matter what he led with.

He slowly glanced over to his right with half-lidded eyes. The hour hand on his clock sitting on a nearby drawer was only at the halfway point which begged the question; and left the young half-Saiyan wondering, as to why exactly his mom had woken him up so early.

"I know you don't appreciate being waken up like that-" he grumbled some more as she started answering his unasked question while walking towards the exit of his room, a laundry bin filled with garments in her arms "-but today we have a very important guest visiting and I need you to be on your best behaviour".

'A guest? At this time of day?'

The doorbell sang a brief chime and Chichi startled in giddy excitement. "That must be him!"

She ran out of the room and his enhanced hearing picked up on the slight creaking in the hinge of the front door to their house as it swung wide open.

Gohan couldn't help but wonder who it was at such an early time. Visitors were extremely rare.

"Ah, my dear Chichi! You look as lovely as the day I first met you. I do ever so appreciate you extending me an invitation to your humble little home."

The voice sounded familiar but Gohan couldn't quite piece together who it was.

"Oh, you are such a charmer! The pleasure's all mine professor, please do come in!" His mom sounded unusually excited and eager. Strange. Hopefully it wasn't another tutor. He didn't have a good experience with the last one she hired. "I hope the trip didn't take too long? It must have been difficult getting here given the distance."

"Nonsense. For perfect beings such as I, traversing vast distances could hardly qualify as even cumbersome."

The refined voice that echoed throughout the house sent a sharp freezing chill ran down the half-saiyans' spine.

Gohan practically flew out of his bed and sprinted towards his room's exit, his earlier bleariness replaced with overwhelming trepidation. A few steps out the door to his bedroom and he was in the kitchen.

As soon as the mystery guest came into view, he couldn't help but take a trembling step backwards, his fight or flight instincts in a constant power struggle over one another.

With unsteady eyes, he glanced at his defenseless - but seemingly oblivious - mom and promptly resolved himself to her protection. He rushed to put himself in between the two, a snarl dressing his features while taking a defensive stance.

Gohan found himself wavering in a staring contest, amused magenta pink pupils looking down at him along with a smug smile. "Well, well, well. Is this the child? He seems rather, dare I say, lacking wouldn't you agree? Nothing like his father at all."

He couldn't understand why his mom had invited the abominable android over. Didn't she know just how dangerous he was?! His mind was running a hundred miles a minute on how to best react. Cell hadn't seemed to recognize him so maybe if he pretended not to know him, he wouldn't attack?

"Oh-oh no, Gohan is the best there is." His mom placed a hand on each of his shoulders in a comforting manner. "He's quite the over achiever and is already well beyond the standard highschool curriculum! In fact, he's been studying nearly every free moment that's been available to him ever since he was born!"

"Gohan," At the addressing tone, Gohan looked up towards his mom, his tense eyes meeting her own, absent of any fear. "This is Professor Perfect Cell from Perfect University. I decided to sign you up for a practical test and if you manage to get a higher score than him in an exam then you'll be given a full scholarship when you graduate from highschool! Isn't that amazing son?!"

'Cell's a professor? Is he not trying to kill everyone anymore?' Gohan's posture loosened a smidge but remained stiff. He couldn't help but feel Cell was lying and was planning something diabolical. He had to warn his mom as soon as he could.

"Hmm… I see. Well then, come along boy and let's see that your mother and father didn't simply exaggerate your capabilities." Gohan watched as Cell sauntered back towards the entrance and as soon as the monster was out of earshot and outside, Gohan took the opportunity to let his mother know of his true nature. "Mom how can you trust Cell?! He's-he's evil!"

"Gohan, this isn't the time to be silly. Now quickly get a move on, we wouldn't want to keep Professor Perfect Cell waiting now would we?"

"But mom he almost killed all of us! Don't you remember?!"

"Gohan I said no buts! You will listen to your mother and do what is best for your future!" His mom took on a harsher tone leaving no room for argument and then began shoving him to the front door with outstretched arms, gripping and pushing against his shoulders. Of course, with her strength, she couldn't get him to budge in the slightest.

Gohan felt his anger rising at her perverseness, at her irrationality. If he didn't take a stand here then they were going to fall right into Cell's trap! "MOM I SAID NO! CAN'T YOU SEE HE'S GOING TO KILL US ALL?!" Gohan grabbed onto both of her hands and forced them aside free himself from her grip. There was a tearing noise followed by an agonized screech.

In several directions, crimson liquid discharged like a jet stream. The once pristine wooden planks from his mother's constant cleaning were coated in blood.

Gohan looked on in horror as his armless mom began to wail in overwhelmingly loud screams, her two detached limbs still in the boy's grasp. "My son! My own son is trying to kill me!"

That wasn't like him. Why did he react in such a way? He'd never done so before. He shouldn't have been careless. He only meant to free himself. He should've never yelled at his mom, and he should've never put a hand on her, especially in his enhanced Super Sayian state where it was even more difficult to control his strength!

Dropping the severed limbs from his hand, Gohan could only continue looking upon the dreadful scene in a state of shock. He mumbled incoherently trying to find the right words. "M-m-om-s-s-sorry-I-y-ou-i-didn't-I-mo-"

"Hey Gohan!" His dad's cheerful voice rang out and suddenly the man was there, his father's back facing the awful bloodbath behind him.

"D-dad! I-I-mom-she-please help mom!" If there was anyone who could make the situation better then it was his dad!

Gohan pointed in front of him and Goku turned around to take in the scene. "Yikes!" He recoiled with a panicked expression. "Come on Gohan! Let's boogey outta here!"

"But dad! Mom! Her arms!"

His dad put a hand on Gohan's head, two fingers on his own, and suddenly the scenery washed away, morphing to one that he was all too uncomfortably familiar with — a rural mountainous region. In its center, were spotless white marble tiles surrounded by four marble sewing needle-like structures, the Cell Games arena.

Gohan yanked his father's arm off of his head and snapped towards Goku with a look of disbelief. "Dad you left mom when she was…when she was bleeding out! How could you?!"

"Huh?" Goku was taken aback by his son's overreaction. "Don't worry Gohan." He said with his trademark reassuring smile. "Her arms grow back remember? She'll be fine in a little while."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah for sure! I've done the same a few times by accident." Goku rubbed the back of his, sporting a sheepish laugh. "She'll be fuming for a bit, but you know how she is."

Gohan put a hand to his chest let out an exaggerated prolonged relieved breath, his earlier panic vanishing completely. "Oh thank God."

"Anyways son, you ready to take this exam? I gave it a go but Cell's just too strong. I only got an A+, but you'll need to do better. You're the only hope we got now."

"I don't know dad… if you couldn't beat his score then how can I?"

"Son," Goku crouched down until he was barely taller than Gohan by a few inches and grabbed him by the shoulders. "I believe in you. If there's anyone who can do this then its you."

Gohan looked at his father and then looked at the ground. There was a tinge of pride in him at his father's concrete confidence in him, but he was still somewhat disgruntled at being thrown to the wolves. "Alright dad. I'll… do my best."

"That's the spirit! Now go on, Gohan, and show Cell what you're made of!" Goku cheered.

With newfound confidence and a determined expression Gohan twisted towards the Cell Games Arena.

'It's do or die Gohan.'

Approaching the perimeter, he scanned his environment.

There were several columns of desks with various humans, animal people, and even aliens. At the head was Cell, seated on his own large desk, watching everyone write their papers. As Gohan took a closer glance at the test takers, he noticed among them were a few figures he recognized that he greatly feared as a younger child. The worst was the tyrant seated near a corner.

Freeza was directing a frustrated death glare towards his paper with a pencil in hand tapping against his head. For a moment Gohan wanted to run but his moment of freight was quickly squashed. 'I'm a Super Sayian now, Freeza cant touch me.' He reminded himself.

Gathering up enough courage, he made his way towards an available seat between a few of Cell's children. Before he could reach his desk, a high-pitched squeaky voice drew his attention.

"Psst, kid, why you lookin' so depressed?" One of them voiced to him.

Gohan turned to face the speaker, startling for a sparce second, but quickly regained his composure. Their eery identical semblance to Cell did nothing to help his wariness, but he remembered they were at least nothing alike in personality. "I… had an awful morning. I lost control of my power and well… I… accidently tore off my mom's arms." His voice decreased in pitch as he continued to speak, his gaze lowered to focus on the square tiles, too ashamed to keep his head upright due to his earlier actions.

"Lucky."

"What?" Gohan looked up in confusion to meet its gaze.

"My dad rips off our arms and beats us with them whenever we piss him off or disappoint him." It then pointed towards another of Cell's children worriedly writing the exam. "See my bro there? He's known as The Example. Got dissected by my old man for doing some bullshit. It'd be nice to beat the stuffing out of Cell once in a while ya'know? Give him a taste of his own medicine."

Gohan didn't know what to say so he simply nodded.

"I managed to cut him once with a sneak attack once though. Almost killed him as well but I messed up. Sucks, but I guess that's life."

Immediately the son of Goku knew who this was. "Wait, you're the one who was holding Cell's head! Why didn't you blow him up? I and everyone else even told you too!"

"Well fuck you too." Gohan frowned. "Don't tell me you never made any mistakes. Oh and by the way, my dad's score was 99 and is planning on blowing up the Earth if you don't score one hundred."

Gohan gasped. "I knew it! I even told my mom Cell was up to no good." Gohan could feel his anxiousness grow now that the true stakes were revealed. Maybe if he told his mom, it would make her forgive him more quickly.

"Come on everyone let's go help Gohan!" He heard Trunks beckon on the sidelines of the arena, to which, Gohan grew optimistic in response. With his friends and dad by his side, he had little doubt they could beat Cell's test score! He waited and waited, but unfortunately, as the seconds ticked away, no one came.

'Why isn't anyone coming to help me? Well, if they aren't, maybe I can ask someone else?'

His mom from an early age warned him reprimanded constantly on how on the worst of the worst would cheat, and his father and Vegeta always went on about a fair fight, but in this situation, it was better to be safe than sorry, wasn't it?

"I um, know maybe its not playing fair, but, can I see what you wrote on your test? Maybe we can help each other?"

"Yeah sure, knock yourself out." Gohan smiled. He was very happy it was willing to share. Maybe he could ask everyone else as well for their assistance as well.

It picked up the paper and handed it to Gohan. Immediately he recoiled in disgust and handed the paper back. "You didn't answer anything! Instead, you drew, you um drew… very bad things."

"What? You mean donglers? Peckers? Willies? Weiners? Every normal healthy boy draws them. If you haven't drawn any then I feel sorry for you." It scoffed and flicked its hand, waving Gohan away.

Gohan deflated.

He'd always thought this one was weird and somewhat creepy. He remembered how it started asking Cell questions about what it thought were a boy's private parts barely a few minutes into its life.

"Whatever." Gohan mumbled. Now that his plan to get a little extra help wasn't going to work, he withdrew to his desk, pulled out his chair, and sat down disappointed.

He stared blankly at his paper, unable to understand even the first question. Skipping it, he moved onto something he had more familiarity with.

'If Perfect Cell was split into two halves, would both parts regenerate into two distinct Perfect Cells, or would only one portion regenerate?'

Well, he already saw the answer to that one in person at least.

Thankfully, there were a few more questions that he was somewhat knowledgeable in, and all were in the format of multiple choice; so even if he was guessing, he still had a chance to be right. Regardless, Gohan was still worried. He eventually finished but wasn't the slightest bit confident with most of his answers. He knew he had practically guessed every single question and he doubted he was going to be able to beat his father's score let alone Cell's.

"Hey Cell!" The half-Saiyan perked up at the sound of a familiar voice that gave him some hope. Down the aisle, his father was standing over Cell who was seated, also participating in the written exam. Cell's brow ridge furrowed as registered Goku's presence.

"Can I help you Goku?" Cell asked annoyed.

Glee was what the boy felt at the sight. Was his father about to confront Cell and save him?

"Here." His father offered up a few pages.

"I think its only fair you get some help since you've lost a lot of energy when facing me so here you go!"

"Not fair!"

"What the hell man!"

"You've gotta be pulling my leg."

A choir of complaints arose from the gesture.

Cell swiped the papers out of Goku's hands, and the scanned the content. His eye's bounced several times, back and forth, between Goku and what he was handed before he huffed. "A cheat sheet?" Cell gave a good-natured chortle shaking his head. "You're a fool Goku. Even with the Earth's destruction at risk, you remain a slave to your biology. Nevertheless, I humbly accept your gift. Thank you for your assistance."

"Is your brain on vacation Goku?!" He heard Krillin angrily reprimand his dad from afar.

Gohan simply couldn't believe it. Was his dad that confident he could defeat the biological android so easily? Why didn't his father understand that he couldn't draw upon that power at will? That he didn't even know how to?!

As if sensing his thoughts, Goku focused on Gohan, an encouraging smile on his face. "Search deep inside yourself son! Let that power out! You know you have it inside of you!"

Grumbling under his breath and facing his paper once more, he found the he was struggling more than ever to answer the questions before him even with his father cheering for him. Darn it. He couldn't disappoint his father, but why'd he have to go and make everything so much harder for him when he was already struggling?!

"Times up everyone! Anyone who does not put down their pencils immediately will be condemned to a gruesome death." Cell declared standing up from his seat.

This wasn't good. Gohan knew he had done poorly. Maybe he had a chance if things were fair, but he had no chance in beating Cell who had access to his father's cheat sheet.

What should he do?

If Cell cheated; even if it was with his father's assistance, then he should be able to cheat too.

Cell was approaching him a few tables away and Gohan grew increasingly nervous with each step.

He looked at the kin of Cell he had spoken to before and decided against it. It was creepy, weird, and probably not the smartest. Instead, he quickly swiped the paper from the one behind him and replaced it with his own when it wasn't looking.

"Well hello Gohan." Glancing upwards, he was met with the diabolical android's gaze. "Let's compare our scores shall we?" Cell arrogantly stated, wholly assured of his own victory.

The biomechanical android reached down with pale silver hand to pick up his stolen test and inspected it without his permission.

His smug smile flipped upside down.

"What? This is impossible! An A+++?! How can this be?!"

Gohan swallowed a nervous gulp. The Earth was safe now wasn't it?

"I know what you did brat. You cheated." Cell hissed through gritted teeth. "I will get to the bottom of this and find whoever helped you in this dishonorable endeavor if it's the last thing I do!"

"I-I didn't cheat! You can't prove that I did! And, and besides, you were the one who cheated in the first place!" Gohan hoped Cell wouldn't take out his anger on the little Cell he'd stolen from.

However, to his dismay, almost as if the android had read his mind, Cell stomped over to his miniature copy he'd taken the test from, grabbed it by its arm, and dragged it away while it thrashed and cried.

Cell threw his tiny replicant onto a hospital bed, automatic steel chains appearing from underneath, tightly slithering around its occupant, sealing its movements.

Suddenly, Cell had a surgical mask adorning the lower half of his face and was revving a chainsaw in his arms. "I see now that I'll have to resort to torture to get what I want." He paused to pull the cord and the motor attached to the spinning blade began to roar. "After disciplining my child, I'll move onto those dear to you, and once they're all nothing but a pile of discarded limbs, perhaps you'll oblige me with my request to see your true power?"

At the awful sight, a terrible headache assaulted Gohan and something that he couldn't quite identify began to slip. He screamed but his voice wouldn't come out. His legs refused to move as if they were glued to the floor.

Cell, laughing like a crazed maniac, lowered the device onto his crying child, its eyes screaming and full of terror.

Gohan couldn't help but feel that something similar had happened once before, had heard those familiar soul chilling screams in the past, and as he did, everything melted away.

A memory he had hoped to forget within his mind was on display.

He was a child again.

Earthly blue skies and green grass interchanging their colors for something more foreign.

Namek. He was on Namek.

A striking scream rang out and the little boy turned his head toward the wailing. They were horrible screams. Shrieks that shook his very soul. But before he could digest the tragedy surrounding him, it all had come to a halt.

The waking world had reached him.

Oddly, he hadn't woken up in a cold sweat or any sort of panic, but instead, relaxed, and completely at ease. With minimal effort, Gohan sat up and sleepily rubbed at his eyes.

"Gohan!" A cheerful childish voice bellowed to him. "You're awake!"

Lazily rotating his head, he was greeted with the visage of a happy Dende kneeling before him.

"Oh, hi Dende?" He answered in a daze. Looking down, he saw the beautiful golden glow coating the new Guardian of Earth's small green hands.

That explained why he felt so at peace. Dende's healing always brought upon those sorts of calming side-effects. Still, that didn't explain why Dende was here in the first place. "Why are you-" Gohan hesitated as he slowly processed his surroundings. Unblemished marble squared tiled flooring that formed a circle interrupted only by the occasional organized row of well taken care for greenery. Twisting around, an ancient archaic temple sat behind him.

"-here… the Lookout?" Gohan asked dubiously.

"That's right." Dended nodded, a small smile on his green face. "I had to line up your arm and rib-cage properly before healing you since they were broken. After that, I was worried because you started mumbling incoherently. I think you were having a nightmare about… Cell." He said solemnly.

"A… nightmare?" Slowly, what he thought was reality, was replaced with doubt and then disbelief as the leftover pangs of drowsiness faded away.

It started with a small snort that escaped his mouth, then a chuckle, and then the half-Saiyan was laughing out loud.

'What a weird dream. Dad writing a test? Cell with a chainsaw? Maybe watching scary movies with Krillin and the others wasn't the greatest idea.'

"Gohan? Are you alright?"

Gohan reigned in his laughter to address the new concerned and confused tone of what he recognized belonged to Trunks. It was a struggle due to just how bizarre his dream really was.

Still lightly chuckling, Gohan met eye to eye with the now powered down man from the future looking down at him in worry. In the upper edge of his vision, a black lock bobbed in place letting him know that he was no longer a super Saiyan as well — which felt weird after being one for so long.

"I'm alright guys. I sort of had a nightmare earlier? But I suppose it was actually just a really silly dream." Gohan thought everything about it was absolutely ridiculous for the most part.

"A silly dream?" Trunks questioned, his earlier tone of concern now with a hint of curiosity in it.

"Yeah!" Gohan cheerfully answered. "I mean I saw Freeza writing an exam, Dad saying he got an A+ on a test, and Cell was a profe-"

Shooting to his feet like an arrow, Gohan's expression became anxious and his body tensed for combat, thinking the evil android would pop out any second.

"Cell!" Gohan growled. "Wh-"

"Dead." A gruff and deep no-nonsense voice replied.

Gohan glanced towards the source, his fighting stance withering. Standing near the perimeter of the Lookout and looking over the edge was Piccolo with his arms crossed and trademark scowl in place.

"Mr. Piccolo, you're alright!" Gohan happily exclaimed followed by a look of confusion. "D-dead?"

Looking to Trunks for confirmation and receiving it with a confused nod, Gohan was left flabbergasted.

"But-but… how?!"

Piccolo looked over his shoulder with a slight smirk. "Glad to see you're alright kid." His grin evaporated into a thin line. "I don't know. Ask the one who does." Piccolo gestured towards the purple-haired man with his chin. "I'm busy. Need to keep an eye on those things to see if they cause any trouble." He said followed by returning to looking back over the ledge.

"Those things?"

"He means Cell's um, kids." Trunks offered.

"They're alive? I thought if Cell was gone… they'd probably be next?"

Gohan paused and thought for a moment, reconsidering his deduction.

If Vegeta was the one who somehow defeated Cell, then there was no question he would destroy the rest and probably revel in their suffering. It was a thought that made Gohan uncomfortable and served as a reason that he was still somewhat wary around the man.

Piccolo, was coin toss. He knew his teacher would have only done so if the Earth was at risk. Otherwise, he'd just keep a watchful eye on them like he was doing now.

But anyone else he personally hung around… Gohan didn't think they'd have it in themselves to kill Cell's offspring if presented the opportunity, even Trunks.

While the boy from the future had shown that he could be a unforgiving efficient executioner; not even showing an ounce of mercy when he slayed Freeza, Gohan knew better. He had spared one of the androids.

They had tormented and tortured Trunks, destroyed and killed almost everyone he cared and loved; including the future version of himself. And yet the future son of Vegeta still decided to spare 18. She was one of the two people he hated with every fiber of his being, the person haunting his nightmares, the person who's head he wanted on his plate. Even though she hadn't shown herself to be the evil monster she was in the future, the risk was always there. But Trunks couldn't ignore his conscious, couldn't kill someone who hadn't done anything wrong. So Gohan concluded it was impossible for Trunks to have ended the lives of Cell's children despite them sharing the same face as the biomechanical android they all feared.

It was then Gohan came to a realization.

Children.

They were children, even younger than him.

Murdering a bunch of children who's only sin were roughing them up a little? The thought made him queasy.

"Trunks were you the one who killed Cell?"

"Actually, uh, they, they're sort of the one's who um… killed him?" He said not sounding like he fully believed what he was saying.

"Oh." Gohan nodded. "Wait what?" The last thing he remembered was Cell fully revived just after he… oh. It was just after he attempted to warn the-cree-strange offspring of Cell about his regeneration fact and before he lost consciousness.

"I-I know it sounds ridiculous-" Trunks spoke a little too fast "-but trust me, I saw it happen. It was probably the weirdest and creepiest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Gohan wasn't sure what to think about that. On one hand Cell being dead put him at extreme ease and he was all too happy he hadn't awoken to his friends being dissected by the monster. On the other hand, he couldn't fully believe it.

Was it really over? Just like that? Without having to have done anything? After the living nightmare he had put them through? By his own kids?

It was difficult to find a way to describe what he had just heard except that it just didn't feel right.

It was too anti-climatic, too out of the norm from what he was used to. The only comparison he could draw on was that it was like Freeza having a child who came to aid them in their hour of crisis back on Namek, killing their own father, and then simply leaving them alone. The idea was plain ridiculous.

To Gohan, the bio-organic android was still alive, a looming threat over the horizon just waiting to make an appearance any second when they had all fully let their guards down… but he hadn't done so yet, and they were at their most vulnerable.

"How?"

Truthfully, Gohan already knew it had to be that one that was involved. It was eerie how it started talking and laughing to itself and somewhat disturbing to watch. However, Gohan was still curious as to how it had gotten the upperhand on Cell, again.

Trunks shifted his gaze to the floor and then back to Gohan. Gohan watched as he crossed his arms, looked thoughtful, and then opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to think of an explanation. With furrowed brows, and pursed lips Trunks finally decided to give a response.

"They-uh-maybe its best if we wait until everyone else wakes up to give the full story. The whole thing was – its difficult to explain. To summarize it as best I can, they all just snuck up on him and Cell was, well… he didn't stand a chance although I wasn't there for the whole thing.

"Oh. Alright then. Where is everyone else anyways?" Trunks pointed over Gohan's head, and the boy turned around.

His battered friends, father, and Vegeta were all carefully laid out unconscious near where he previously laying, even intervals of space between each of them. How did he miss that?

"I carried everyone over as soon as Cell was distracted chasing one of his kids across the world." Trunks snorted. "And when I came back… I saw Cell being disintegrated in a Kamehameha wave. There wasn't even a trace of his energy left.

Gohan was stunned at the revelation. "Wow…" It was difficult to imagine someone as powerful as Cell falling prey to his own children, but then again, he saw for himself how the cree-peculiar one; almost invisible to his senses, succeed in its assassination attempt. Well almost.

"You were the first one Dende began to heal since you seemed to be the worst off. Oh that reminds me, Dende,-" Trunks turned to question the short Namekian "-do you mind healing my dad next? I think out of everyone he's probably in the worst shape."

Dende frowned as he fixated on the floor, not willing to meet Trunks eye to eye. "I'm sorry but I can't heal Vegeta."

Trunks processed the words for a few moments and nodded. "I mean I guess you must be tired after healing Gohan so that makes sense."

"That's not it." Dende shook his head.

"Huh? Then-"

"Probably not the best choice." Piccolo intervened before Gohan; knowing Dende's distaste for Vegeta, attempted to change the topic. "Trunks, you should know how unpredictable Vegeta is after his pride's taken a hit. The last thing we need right now is him starting a fight with one of those things. That broken arm of his will force him to keep to himself while it heals."

"I-I guess you're right."

"So Cell's really gone then?" Gohan asked apprehensively.

Gohan could see that Trunks was still lingering on Piccolo's words for a bit as well as Dende's reaction, but he eventually turned to face him with a smile. "Yeah." Trunks answered clearly relieved. "I made sure to stretch my senses as far as possible. Piccolo did too. Couldn't detect a thing."

"That's fantastic!" Gohan laughed. So, it was true then. Cell was gone for good.

When he was chosen by his dad to fight against Cell, it was as if he had been beholden to an enormous burden, the entire planet and his friends' well-being resting on his shoulders. The stress was intense, far too much for a single boy like him to handle. It only intensified when Cell extended his torture threats.

When he realized he was too weak and couldn't decipher how to pull out his hidden power, he could only despair.

"It's amazing." He whispered. The fact that someone else had done the job for him washed all his worries, all his stress, all his fears away. It was liberation.

"I can't believe he's-" the air was suddenly almost too thick to swallow and Gohan felt his breathing was becoming more difficult to manage. His lips trembled, his body drooped slightly, and the corner of his eyes stung and burned, the beginnings of tears forming in place. "-gone." Gohan tried to look away but unfortunately Trunks heard the crack in his voice.

"G-gohan? What's wrong?!"

"N-no-*hic*-thing." He mentally chastised himself for the hiccupping sob halfway through his dismissal giving away his emotional state. 'How embarrassing.'

"Hey." The tone was gentle.

A reassuring hand found its way on his shoulder and Gohan looked to meet the only other half-Saiyan eye-to-eye, his vision clouded through blurry tears. He sniffed a few times, blinking away the saline.

"I think… I think I know how you feel. Its normal to cry, especially after something like that. I mean, I can't even imagine what you must've felt like after Goku made you go up against that monster all on your own let alone everything else that happened." Gohan wasn't a fan of the minor amount of annoyance directed towards his father from Trunks, but he didn't disagree with him, he couldn't because he was too. "Besides, you're still a kid, not even a teenager yet. Sometimes, you just have to… let it out."

The advice was contradictory to what Mr. Piccolo had taught him. A true warrior never cried was something that had been instilled in him at an age he could scarcely recall memories from, but if he was honest, he never really considered himself one in the first place, not like his father at least.

Slightly worried about what his teacher would think of him for acting in this manner, Gohan extended a tendril of Ki to pick up on the Piccolo's emotions. The Namekian's Ki was in a way similar to Vegeta's, always giving off the sensation of being a sturdy pillar, unwavering and unwilling to influenced by anyone around them. However, whereas Vegeta's felt barbed and jagged, ready to poke a hole into anyone that got too close, Piccolo's was simply upright and flat, uninviting but not hostile.

That was why it surprised Gohan when he felt it wavering, a sign that his teacher was clearly uneasy. Gohan spared a quick glance at the Namekian, only to see the man with a solemn air about him for a split second.

Quickly, he choked back his tears.

There was a long stretch of silence in which Gohan grew uncomfortable thanks to his display of emotion, the only sound being the soothing hum made by Dende as he worked his magic on his father.

"We've got trouble." Piccolo ended the lull with a growl.

"Huh?"

"What's going on Piccolo?" Trunks questioned.

"West City. People are dying. Dende how long until Goku's finished healing?"

"Oh-um at least five more minutes."

"That's too long, my grandparents are in danger!"

A pit grew in the center of Gohan's stomach. 'It was just too much to expect a happy ending, wasn't it?'

Gohan was shaken out of his negative brooding as a powerful gust of air buffeted him.

Trunks was gone.

"That absolute idiot! He didn't let me finish!"

"Piccolo? What do you mean?" Piccolo huffed in response.

"Dende have Goku come to our location once he wakes up. Gohan you're with me. Let's chase after Trunks and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

As piccolo took off, Gohan could only hope this would end without any bloodshed.

This world is insane.

When the memories of my clones returned back to me after I commanded all of them to vanish, including the one that lazed around sight-seeing, I had thought that it had somehow fabricated what it had seen just to mess with me. Nope. This world is actually just that insane.

Ki, my new alien biology, and my wannabe space Hitler dad were bullshit enough, but some of things I've seen so far? They're almost up to par.

So far, the world offered up flying cars, small capsule thing-ma-jigs that make use of some sort of pocket dimensional space manipulation mumbo-jumbo to store practically whatever you want – I'm definitely going to experiment with those later - and the giant lizard dinosaur looking thing below me my new siblings seem to be playing with.

No scratch that. It's an actual mother flippin' dinosaur. Like really, dinosaurs? In the same universe as androids, flying cars, and aliens? How does that make any sense?! It's pretty dope though seeing a real one.

Well at least now I know why that one clone of mine had arrived so late. I would've gotten distracted too.

Speaking of androids — "I must request you make your way to Capsule Corporation, located in West City, in earnest. I am approximately one hour, twenty minutes, and thirty-three seconds away from power failure and I do not believe I will be able to reboot ever again should I shut down." The talking robot head currently in my arms known as Hawk requested as yet another sibling narrowly dodged the clamping razor sharp teeth of a carbon copy tyrannosaurus-rex and laughed.

Despite knowing how strong we are, I'm still hesitant in playing cat and mouse with a vicious dinosaur for entertainment. What if it pulled Ki out of its butt, then what? We'd be dinosaur food, that's what.

I smile as a scene where Cell is fleeing from a ki-enhanced flying carnivorous t-rex; but fails to escape and is gobbled up by it, plays out in my head. Hah. That would've been funny.

"Sure, let me gather up the boyos and we'll head out." Its kinda neat how the company that's going to repair Hawk is the same one that's going to pay me.

In the short time on my trip flying around with my new found family after defeating Cell, I've realized one thing. I absolutely hate acting as a parent to a bunch of superpowered children that can kill a normal person a hundred times over before the victim can even blink.

While most have no problem following my instructions, the few unsavory ones just scoff and do whatever they want. When I had tried yelling out commands previously, they just told me off, namely Trouble. Sidenote: why did I name him that? It's basically just asking for, well, trouble.

Anyways, instead, in order to get all of them to listen, the best way is to make a game out of it, usually with some sort of stake at risk.

I pull from my energy reserves, allowing the all powerful and godlike feeling of Ki to rush over me, and inhale a large breath of air. "Last one in West City get's their name changed to Bussy for the rest of the day!"

"You are childish." The talking head in my hands proclaimed.

"Yeah, well, get a good look at how old I am." I deliver with some sass. In truth I do feel significantly more childish than I remember being, but I'll chalk it up to being a literal toddler again, even if I am alien in nature. I also didn't let Hawk hear the end of how stupid his plan was and how he was the one who was the actual fool which I think he's still probably a little upset about.

But I mean like, come. on. Dying so you can hopefully motivate a clearly traumatized kid with some words? What was that going to accomplish? My plan was way better.

As my siblings began to trade glances with panicked expressions, I quickly took off with them chasing my tail. "Which way next Hawk, which way?!" I also say with a panicked expression.

Hawk's as emotionless as he always is, deadpanning at me. It always makes me feel stupid when he holds his stoic unwavering gaze on me like that without giving me an answer.

I'm going to try that out on others.

"You realize you cannot lose because they are the ones following you?"

"I know but I still feel rushed. I mean look at their desperate faces and how they're gaining on me! Who wouldn't feel pressured?!" I utter as I keep peeking over my shoulder to measure the distance between me and my siblings.

A few more seconds of Hawk just looking at me wordlessly with that stone-faced gaze, and I can feel my anxiety reaching new levels. Yep. Definitely going to try that out on others.

"I will literally drop you if you keep doing that to me." I try to unconvincingly threaten.

He remains fixated on me - unimpressed I think - by my empty threat. "You are going too fast for me to deliver accurate directions. In fact, you have already circled the Earth once and are about to do so again."

"That is insane. Like holy-moley, Cell on a trolley! Its friggin insane that I'm that I'm flying that fast and that I'm FLYING in the first place! I don't ever think I'll get used to this!" Hell, I'm barely been able to even process whatever the hell took place in the past hour but I'm free now! And also, soon to be a rich son of a bit-hmm. What would be the appropriate degrading term to refer to Cell? Bussy? As always, the answer is an undefeated yes.

"Cell on a… trolley?" Hawk interrupts.

"I'm trying to adapt okay? New world, new metaphors or similes or whatever they're called."

"New… world?" Hawk probingly asks with inquisitive eyes narrowing.

"Uh…" Its probably best I keep that nugget of information hidden away. I don't really mind if he knows, but I just feel something bad might happen if it gets out. "…I mean like I was just a regular dude before. But now? It's like a brand-new world with all my super powers and this new body! Get it?"

"I fail to believe you were a normal person by any means, but I understand."

There's barely a noticeable edge to his voice. What was that supposed to mean?

I halt in midair and the rest chasing behind me do as well, looking at me quizzingly.

"Angle yourself to face West-North-West and continue to fly in that direction. The first large city you see will be your destination." Hawk instructs.

"Right… listen, I'm not a com-." My siblings take off without any further input leaving me flabbergasted. "-pass?"

Okay, why did they just up and go? Shouldn't they have… a lightbulb went of above me in realization. "Or am I…?"

If I can Google-fu things and download superpowers in my head, then its not impossible. Closing my eyes, I demand from my brain to know which way West-North-West is and-"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!"- fly off to catch up and overtake my siblings.

A few moments later, we stand hovering above a city out of some sort of sci-fi video game with my siblings all snickering at me.

"Bussy." Trouble mocked while pointing a finger at me and the rest chuckled along.

Well this sucks. I can't believe I lost.

"Haha you're soooooooo funny." I practically dripped with sarcasm. But to be honest, I have to hold in a laugh. It is pretty funny. Bussy. Heh. It sounds even funnier with their squeaky cartoonish kiddy voices. "So friggin hilarious! Twerp." I want to swear, call Trouble a little dickmuncher or something of that sort, but was forced to keep my insults rated E for Everyone thanks to Hawk.

His lips tighten into a thin unamused line.

"Name Trouble."

"Oh you definitely are! Anyways I'm going to lay some ground rules." A few scoff but I'm about to bring out the big guns or rather, gun.

"You guys remember… hell?" Everyone stiffened. "Even our stupid Bussy dad said it existed so if you don't want to end up like him you better listen good and gather around."

I wait a few seconds for to collect themselves, and as they took their time to reluctantly float closer to me, I look down towards the futuristic city.

It's a collection of extremely pale and oddly shaped buildings, built in a way that makes me think the architects prioritized style over effectiveness.

Half-curious and half-scanning for threatening individuals, I spread out my Ki sense to scan for any dangerous superpowered beings and am awed by what I could feel, what I could see.

Countless tiny stars, blazing about. It's like a beautiful starry night, each miniscule spec of light differing from one another, each holding something that's unique and unique to it alone, a sort of identification that would easily allow someone with Ki Sense to appropriately determine who was who.

Digging deeper into a single one, I could feel the shifts in mood, the slivers of personality, the intent. It was different from using it on Cell. He was like a grotesque blinding overpowering twisted malevolent sun that made the star-like objects in front of me seem like tiny motes of dust, but even with their small size, these were still significantly nicer to look at.

Loosening my Ki Sense so I wouldn't be overwhelmed, I return to looking at the city, or more so, the massive number of flying cars that could also be seen. There were several heights they kept to like layers on a cake. The highest layer has the least number of drivers while each progressive section has more and more.

Despite being an absolutely awesome concept to reduce traffic, it seems like a huge safety hazard to me personally. Imagine normal car accidents but with the cars flying into buildings and houses. Yeah, definitely something I would not trust the majority of the population back at home to use. Insurance must be a doosey to deal with here.

There's also the regular cars driving on the roads below which has the largest number of drivers, meaning its probably used by lower-class peasants while the rich are allowed to driver higher? That sort of made sense I guess. Maybe the richer you are, the higher you're allowed to go?

Judging by how busy it is, it's probably rush hour.

Another strange, and I mean strange, thing I've noticed were many, many, different species of animal people. It's like a fucked up science experiment where someone took a bunch of different animals and fused them with humans. It's weird, but then again, I'm a flying bug-boy now with the ability to destroy planets on a whim so who really is the weird one here?

On a sidenote, I bet the scorn of the internet, the furries, would love this. I wonder what the adult websites have on the internet in this world? A potential degenerate business opportunity if no one's capsized on it yet.

Also how come there were no animal people fighting my dad? I think something like a tiger man would be a significantly greater threat if they could use Ki. Meh. Whatever.

"Alright so first rule." My gaze shifts to Trouble as I began to lay down the law.

"You kill anyone, hell." He scoffed and rolled his eyes, already knowing that was the case. I'd told him a few times before but I really wanted to drill it in.

"You take anything that isn't yours, hell." All of them nodded with Trouble and two others reluctantly doing so. Good. Maybe I can push this a little?

"You break anyone, straight to hell."

"You break anything, straight to hell."

"You don't listen to me… believe it or not, straight to hell." And now they all bore into me with deadpanned half lidded eyes.

"Alright alright fine. Maybe I was stretching it a bit on the last two, but the first three are definitely true."

"You kill Cell. You go hell?" One of the no named ones spoke for the very first time surprising me. Was starting to think that one was a mute.

"Well, Cell was threatening my life; and pretty much every other living thing so that was fine. Only, and I mean only, if someone is trying to deliberately kill you or anyone innocent, then maybe you can kill, but its probably best to just disable the other person instead if they're weaker than you. Or actually, just call me over, I'll deal with it." Better than having them come up with an excuse to go on a murdering spree. I also don't feel comfortable with toddlers killing in the first place.

After a few complaints and some murmurs of agreement we all decided to descend with me taking the lead.

"Oh, by the way-" I say as I pick up speed, a lips raising into mischievous smirk "-the rules were whoever was the last in the city would be known as a Bussy which means, the last one to touch the ground is the actual Bussy!"

"No w-" Hawk tried to say something but he was tuned him out as I enter what I like to call, the Flash dimension (WIP).

It's impossible to make out words now that sound has slowed to such an extent, like putting a video's playback speed to a millionth of a second. However, using Ki, I could also increase my talking speed so that anyone with the same level of perception could understand me. It's something that has no doubt been useful when having to deal with my super powered siblings.

Facing downwards, everything in my sight had come to a complete standstill. The birds in the sky, the thousands of cars in the traffic below, and the people on the street. It's interesting to see their faces frozen in countless different funny micro-expressions.

I fly as fast as I can, tossing my Ki to the wind to pick up pace, the ground being my only focus. I weave and dodge around numerous cars that were essentially frozen in time to my perception speed, and upon touching the hard cement, I exit my slow-motion world and hold Hawk high - which isn't really high given my height- like he's some sort of trophy.

"-ait!" Hawk finished but I don't bother to complete what he said in the first place as I let out a victory screech.

A few of the city's residents are screaming too for some reason.

I'm definitely feeling more childish which I actually rather like. A few memories filter into my mind of my old life and I remember being someone who had all the fun sucked out of him due to the responsibilities that came with being older. Screw being an adult.

"Look up!"

"Hmm?" I focus upwards to look at my soulless ginger friend, but my eyes instead catch sight of something that makes my stomach churn.

It seems that the citizens aren't simply just screaming for the heck of it, or joining me in my victory cry, but are actually moderately terrified by the chaos I had just unleashed above.

Good God almighty. I guess I let out too much Ki when descending and… the aftermath is not pretty.

Some of the buildings that I flew past took significant damage, cracks on their exterior and broken glass on full display from my irresponsible use of energy, but my biggest concern is how nearly all of the flying cars above me were out of control, veering off course, and are spiralling in all directions with no one to stop them. Some crash into each other while others into buildings, the vehicles exploding immediately afterwards because why the hell not?

I stand there, mouth gaping open in complete disbelief and horror at the chaos. It's difficult to imagine this was all due to a simple stupid race. I'm unable to move the slightest inch as I let the devastation of what I had caused sink in. In my mind, a bajillion thoughts warred with one another, vying for control over the best course of action to take.

I snap back to reality when an airborne red convertible in my peripheral, tossed itself into the already damaged, sky-high dome sitting on a needle-like support pillar right behind me. And of course, the car explodes.

Re-entering the Flash dimension and placing Hawk down, I frantically fly towards two figures that are falling from the remains of the vehicle. I grab onto each of their hands with my own small toddler-sized ones, but not before protecting them with Ki so I don't tear off their limbs, I've made enough mistakes already. I then proceed to lower them carefully onto the ground, their backs flat against the cement. Now that they were safe, I spare them a glance allowing me to get a look at the extent of their injuries.

Thankfully, the victims - a human boy and most likely his father – are only covered in life threatening terrible burns that will most likely leave them permanently scarred and disfigured for life, but hey, they're alive. They're also unconscious so they don't feel any pain at least.

A suggestion comes to mind to alleviate the abnormally small amount of guilt I was feeling. It wasn't my fault for their life debilitating injuries. It was theirs. Their fault for being so fragile, for being so pitifully weak-I slap myself silly and shake my head to rid myself of it. What the hell was that?

I spare another look over to the victims and the twinge of guilt I felt expands a marginal amount, but still far less than what it should be.

"Ahaha-ha... shit." I give a short mirthless laugh. I need to drop them by a hospital before their condition worsens any further. An idea pops into my brain and I decide to test it out by sharing with them some of my energy. Their injuries don't heal up, but I can feel the small twinkling star representative of their Ki flare up. Interesting.

Shifting my attention upwards to the building the convertible had crashed into, I think the explosion may have loosened something important because I can't help but notice that entire structure looks like its ominously angled in my direction. After flying up and double checking from another perspective, I'm unfortunately correct. This thing is about to collapse.

Moving to the dome part which is where all the people were gathered inside, I looked through the glass, and a few figures are pressing against the window; gravity obviously being the culprit, causing me to grimace.

Past them were people immobile in the air, falling downwards towards collision. It didn't take me long to break open the window and place everyone outside. There were a few minor injuries and no deaths to my relief.

I gulped as I thought about how many people I had accidently crippled or killed so far.

Outside the building and scanning my environment, I'm happy to see two of my siblings helping, but not happy to see the sheer number of cars we still need to move, and also not happy at the rest of my family who were just sort of chilling. Bastards.

I yell at them to help. One stares at me, shrugs, and then moves towards a car suspended in the air about to fly into a shop, and places it on the ground.

Trouble basically just laughs at me when I glance over him and says something about me going straight to hell.

Gameboy ignores me completely, his eyes hungry, desperately searching far and wide for something before he took off. I think I knew what he wanted.

The last one, a no-name, just shakes his head in refusal and buggers off to who knows where.

Fucking cunts. I'm too stressed out. I don't work well under stress. I think I've mentioned that before. I also don't have the time or patience either to chase them down and convince them to help.

Since they refuse to help me, I'll just help myself!

I split my energy, and will as many clones to materialize into existence as I can. "Damage control, now!" I order. Immediately I can see the side-effect of using the multi-form technique. While I have more helping hands, it also affects my speed, and as a result, everything is moving a substantial amount faster.

One takes action immediately, a blueish glow outlining the falling structure I just emptied, and then the whole thing is literally yeeted into space before it can collide with anything else — sort of forgot about my telekinesis for a moment.

I can see other hovering vehicles about to join the fun nearby. Others already had.

From the roots of a few of their collisions, sprouted the beginnings of what I knew would be sizeable explosions. We all prioritized these ones in particular, clearing the area before the flames could engulf anyone. A minor reprieve was that the rest of buildings that many cars flew into, remained standing strong. It's a blessing they had some structural integrity.

The majority of the cars have been moved to safety by my clones or the siblings that have decided to help, but we can only do so much when there are hundreds of these vehicles on a collision course at the same time. We're all doing our best to minimize the damage and save people, but despite our insane speed and best effort, it just isn't enough to completely save everyone, not to mention those already gone.

Ascending into the air and landing on top of a tall spire to get a better vantage point, it seems we've finally managed to move everyone and their rides to safety.

Mentally exhausted, I let a breath out in relief and my enhanced perception fades to normal. Immediately, and all at once, a cacophony of noises hit me. Things scream, crash, cry, rumble, and blare leaving me momentarily stunned.

But everything else deafens when a massive explosion erupts a few miles from me into an inferno. Somehow things continue to spiral out of control when the tremendous ball of fire catches up to a nearby tanker truck - most likely carrying some sort of combustible fuel – and combusts even further. A shockwave of pure destruction spreads and just adds more fuel to the ongoing chaos.

I can't help but scream in anguish.

"W-what the spiky haired muscle men is going on?!" I cry as I collapse to my knees. It's like I'm a kid again, watching one of those suddenly random chaotic scenes in a Spongebob episode playing live before me. Its honestly surprising by how much damage I caused just by flying a little quick. How was I supposed to know just going a little quick would send cars flying?!

As I continued to stare completely aghast, a woosh of air announced the arrival of Trouble who was just smirking at me.

"Straight to hell?" He jested.

"Shut the fuck up."