Another Path
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Chapter 18: Power Surge
At least a week passed from the arrival of Cell and though Piccolo and the human fighters gave him chase, it was obvious the bio-android was more sneaking than they first thought he could be. That green android was not only dodging their attempts to find him but also managing to absorb people without stopping. It was obvious this threat was just getting worse than the first Androids.
The three humans and Namekian entered Kame House, Gohan doing push ups with weighted clothes on the floor. After what first happened with the Androids, the half alien born on Earth knew he had to be ready for the next threat that might show up. At this point, it was either the Androids after Goku or Cell after the Androids and then Goku. That's why the half Saiyan spent every minute training increasing his powers as fast as he could thanks to his special alien biology. Any improvement meant a substantial difference between victory or defeat.
Non of the fighters paid attention to the hybrid training. At this point, seeing Gohan not training would be the weird part.
"Man, can our lives get any worse?" Yamcha sighed, sitting on a chair to temporarily catch his breath after hours of Cell hunting.
"When you say those things, it usually does" Krillin half-joked there, leaning against the wall and relaxed. The wooden ceiling above them started creaking, the sound of rushed footsteps running on the upper floor.
"Guys!" Chichi ran down the stairs in a hurry.
"Mum, what's the problem?" Gohan asked concerned flipping to his feet. A sudden burst of power shook the entire island, the ground trembling. But Gohan's mother was only smiling with tearful eyes despite the sudden massive earthquake beneath them.
"Goku is awake"
The palm tree-haired Saiyan charged up his trademark attack on his cupped hands to his right.
"Kame... Hame... Haaa!" The wide blue attack shot forward through the sea's surface, splitting the water in half as the attack lost itself in the furthest parts of the horizon, with the concentrated power to blast at least objects bigger than the Moon. The Earth Saiyan sighed, feeling that he was more powerful than before the heart disease. It was obvious his Saiyan body healed the damage stronger than before like it always did.
"Dad!" Gohan yelled from the house, hugging his father with a bear hug. The recovered full-blooded Saiyan lost some of his air as Gohan was gripping him with even more strength than he remembered.
"Hey son" Goku replied "Wow, you have been doing some training, haven't you?" Another hug took Goku's thoughts, now Chichi gripping her husband and landing a searing kiss. After some minutes of awkward silence, the couple detached from each other.
"Hey pal, know you could never die by a simple bug" The monk joked, glad to see his old friend back in action.
"It wasn't easy" The Saiyan replied, rubbing his back head. The Saiyan fighter looked at Piccolo with eyes opened wide "Wow Piccolo, you and Kami are back to one?"
"Yes. But I'm still Piccolo so don't think of mixing my names" The green fighter replied, causing the others to laugh a bit.
"Goku, we have to tell you about what's going on" Krillin said now.
"Don't worry guys. I don't know the full details, but I can guess something is wrong" The Earth Saiyan said. He didn't know much but feeling the new combined powers of everyone into one body alone wasn't hard to "I could feel something with all of our powers together" The others were surprised. That was very accurate information.
Goku closed his eyes, trying to understand the new situation. After Piccolo mentally showed the recovered Saiyan what happened with the Androids and also Cell, the Saiyan was lost in what to do.
"I thought when 13 absorbed the others that was the limit of our bad luck" Goku said concerned, folding his arms on his chest.
"Beleive me Goku. We have chased Cell but he doesn't bulge. We just ran out of plans" Yamcha said now, a bit downhearted.
"Why? I already know what to do" The Saiyan replied confident, surprising everyone "But first, we must go to the Lookout. Hopefully, the Androids don't know where it is" Goku turned his eyes towards the new green Namek "Piccolo, this might be asking a lot, but can you try to stop the androids?" The request sounded more like a death sentence for the humans. But Piccolo nodded, understanding the dire situation they were in.
"Maybe not 13, but either 17 or 18, I might handle them" The Namek expressed, confident on his new merged powers "How much time do you need?" The warrior thought for a few seconds.
"How about a day or two?" Goku smirked his reply. Amazingly, Piccolo also smirked to answer.
"I understand. Good luck with your training because that place isn't any trip to Paradise" The green Namek said with a smile, flying off to find the two other Androids.
"Yamcha and myself will go with him" Tien said now "We might not stand but we surely can do something" The tryclops and the desert bandit sped off along the Namekian into the Android hunt.
"I'll go to Capsule Corp. Bulma surely still has some Senzu Beans left and we might need them" Krillin said now, speeding away towards Capsule Corp.
"Gohan take your mother back home, I'll go find Vegeta and Trunks" The full-blooded Saiyan said to his son, who nodded. Gripping hands, the family disappeared. Goku concentrated his energy sensing and also disappeared.
The air shimmered in front of the boy from the future Trunks and Goku reappeared in front of him, good as new in his newly materialised typical orange Gi.
"Goku, you are okay" Trunks said standing up, hopefully now their situation could get better.
"Hey Trunks. Long time no seen" The Saiyan smiled "Thanks to you and your medicine I'm still here. Also say thanks to your mother once you go back home"
"You know right?" The half Saiyan from the future asked, a bit grim.
"Yes Piccolo informed me" Goku replied a bit serious "But don't worry. I already have a plan"
"You do?" Trunks looked surprised.
"Yes, we are going to train" The Earth Saiyan smiled. He turned his head around, looking to the prince of Saiyans standing on a rock cliff, doing nothing "What's Vegeta been up to?"
"Nothing. Since the incident with Cell, my father has remained there looking into the horizon" The Saiyan from the future explained "He doesn't train or anything. If I couldn't feel his energy, I would say he died on his feet" Goku gave Trunks a confident smirk.
"Don't worry. I think I know something that will mellow him" The palm-haired warrior said grinning before floating towards Vegeta.
"Hey Vegeta" Goku landed just behind his widow peak-haired rival, as always, he was dressed in his white armor.
"What do you want Kakarot? I'm busy" The prince retorted with his typical humor, looking into the nothing.
"I bet you are" The Earth alien replied with a joking smile "But as I have a plan to ascend beyond Super Saiyan I presumed that would be better than just looking at nothing" Vegeta's head turned around, his eyes showing surprise.
"But you already said you are busy so bye!" Goku said, ready to teleport away.
"Wait!" Vegeta stopped Goku in his tracks "Is it true? You know the way to ascend beyond?" The Full-blooded Saiyan said it with a tone of curiosity.
"Not yet, but I will find out in a year" The other Full-blooded Saiyan said, causing Vegeta to look in confusion "There's a room in the Lookout where times goes faster than Earth. An entire day here is a year there. Also the gravity there is increased and the temperature rises and decreases in less than a second. I thought we can go there and train for the androids"
"Fine, but I'll go first" The prince retorted as always wanting to be the best. Specially if it meant going against Kakarot.
"I'll go with you father" Trunks arrived in the conversation.
"I don't need distractions" The prince said his typical demeanor.
"It's okay Vegeta. Two people can enter at the same time" The Earth Saiyan interfered.
"You better don't hold me down kid, or you will be sorry" Vegeta threatened the boy from the future, who so happened to be his son.
"Okay, let's go" Goku smiled and teleported them away with Instant Transmission.
The three Saiyans arrived in less than a second on the tilled floor of the Lookout. They walked inside the main house and found Gohan along with the plump genie Popo.
"Mister Popo, we are going to use the Time Chamber" Goku explained to the Lookout's Genie.
"Okay, I'll settle it, but be careful. That place can easily turn into Hell" The genie walked away.
"So what's the plan?" Gohan asked. But before anyone could answer, a ship landed outside the Lookout. Bulma walked out, carrying Baby Trunks with her.
"Hey guys" The scientist said smiling.
"Mum, what are you doing here?" Trunks, or rather teenage Trunks asked.
"Well, Krillin told me that you were planning to train here, so I decided to bring you some Senzu Beans along with something else" She dropped some capsules, that bursted in smoke. As the smoke banished, a white box stood there "This are new armors, hopefully they will help you on your fight"
Vegeta' son from the future changed his clothes. The Saiyan Prince still had his armor intact from the first fight so changing it was pointless.
"I made enough for you too guys" Bulma said towards the black-haired Goku and Gohan.
"Thanks Bulma, but we prefer our own clothes" The long-haired half Saiyan said "Besides, dad and I can create new ones if we want". Popo walked again in scene.
"The Chamber is ready" The genie replied, his face always stoic of expression.
"Good luck you two" The palm-haired warrior good-bye the other Saiyans, who walked into the central building of the Lookout, following Popo's direction into a wooden door.
As Vegeta and Trunks disappeared through the wooden door into another dimension, Goku looked at Gohan.
"Son, let's start training" The warrior said with a little smile. The half Saiyan looked at him in confusion.
"But what about the Time Chamber?" The kid asked his father.
"Don't worry, we'll use it. But I don't think it's good to simply wait and hope Vegeta has become powerful enough" The Saiyan father retorted "Besides, knowing Vegeta means he would rather help Cell become stronger than defeating him right away"
"You think Vegeta is that desperate for a fight?" Bulma asked. She thought for a few seconds before shooking her head "Forget my question. He is obviously desperate for a fight"
"Now son, let's transform in Super Saiyans, but reduce your power at minimum" Goku said and Gohan nodded serious, ready to train. Both Saiyans transformed in a golden ki explosion that lighted up the Lookout. Bulma covered the little baby from the sudden ki wind gusts in front of them.
Now with their hairs spiky and golden, the Saiyan father and son sighed, suppressing their powers down as much as they could. They were still much more powerful than normal human though. The golden hue receded, their locks of hairs now more white colored. Their muscles were still bulk and straining a bit against their Gis.
"Why do we do this?" The blonde hybrid asked. Not that he was complaining but training was pointless without knowing what were they trying to achieve.
"When I fought 13, I realised that I was outmatched, even as a Super Saiyan. That means we must go higher" The white-haired Super Saiyan explained his son.
"What do you mean higher?" The half Saiyan asked.
"We must ascend beyond Super Saiyan" Goku's tone left no doubt to anyone. He knew there was something else, a new power to reach.
"Well, maybe there are levels stronger than Super Saiyan but why do we transform and do nothing?" The DemiSaiyan kept asking curious.
"Because though the transformation increases our powers, it slowly starts building strain on our body. Like the Kaioken at slower rate. A lot of energy is wasted because the simple fact we transform" Goku explained his son, who thought that kind of theory.
"Oh, I get it! By remaining transformed, our bodies won't suffer any energy lost. All of our ki can be more focussed so we can fight longer" The half Saiyan exclaimed. Though his mother didn't force him to study, it didn't mean he had stopped. He just did it at much slower but still efficient way. Thanks to his alien memory, the half alien could remember anything he read without missing a beat.
"Quit the fast learner" Goku complimented his son, rubbing his now long golden hair "I don't know if those machines have infinite energy, but we at least must be sure to not let our own energy slip away"
"And then what?" Gohan asked, sitting and waiting for the other Saiyans to leave the accelerated time room.
"Don't worry son. Once inside the chamber, we'll try to complement our training with another one I thought" The Super Saiyan moved to the edge of the Lookout, feeling the world outside "I don't know how good it will be or if it will even work, but it's worth the shot" Gohan was surprised by his father. He had just woken up and he was already ready to improve and make up for lost time. And most of all he was ready to defeat anyone that put his family and danger. That brought a smile to Gohan's face.
"Goku, if you think your idea will work, then why didn't you tell Vegeta and Trunks?" The blue-haired scientist asked the white-haired alien after hearing the training theory.
"You think I would reveal the secret to obtain a great power to Vegeta?" The Supressed Saiyan said a bit serious and joking.
"Yeah, no sane people would do that" Bulma laughed.
After a few hours of unstopped flight, the Namekian's keen hearing caught something on the ground, a few miles away from East City. There were people discussing in front of a clothe store. Or looked like people at first, because a second later the entire store and a few miles around of Earth were only a giant smoking crater, everything blasted to nothing.
Piccolo remained stoic, while Tien and Yamcha sweated a bit. They found the Androids.
"Seriously 18, why didn't you just pick any clothe?" The male android asked bored, sitting on a rock, his arm bended and his head lazily resting on his hand.
"You really don't know about fashion, do you?" The blonde woman asked rhetorically towards her brother, looking her figure in the mirror. While they had blasted the city, the clothes had to be saved. For Kami's sake they had to!
"Yes, and you are the world's best expert in that field" The android male said, his eyes drifting into the sky in boredom. He suddenly smirked predatory "Look sis, we have visitors" The Earth fighters descended, Piccolo leading them in green splendor.
"Well, look what we have here?" Seventeen commented with a grin, standing up "Is Goku still not brave enough to fight us?"
"He will fight, don't worry. But I will beat you before he does" Piccolo said, folding his arms to his side.
"You are desperate to die, aren't you, Piccolo?" The male android kept talking, while his sister kept looking at the few salvaged clothes in the mirror, not paying attention to the fighters.
"This time, it will be different" The Namekian said stoic "Follow me and I'll show you" 17 looked at her sister and both took off, followed by Tien and Yamcha.
After minutes of flying without any direction, the group finally landed on an island, miles away from the continent. There would be no casualties in there.
"Ready to die?" 17 said ready to kill, while Piccolo took of his white clothes. The sudden weight caved a crater on the island wide as five feet. The male Android crocked an eyebrow, as Piccolo's ki suddenly increased.
"Are you?" The Namekian replied with a grin. His white aura of power flowed around him, now with the strength of a full Super Namek.
Far away from there, the green insect and reptile-like bio android finished absorbing another person when a power spike drifted his eyes into the horizon.
"That must be Piccolo's powers" The to-be perfect android thought "But I can't feel his enemy's presence. That means... no... NO!" The Android shot forward beyond notch speed, his flight increased after leaching the life force of a million people.
Over South City, the blue-skinned android 13 fired a red sphere of power, blasting another city with no trouble. People screamed in terror but the machine didn't care about that at all. He delighted on it.
His inner scanner suddenly detected a power surge more than five thousand miles away from him. His detector found the Namekian's energy signature, but at least ten times stronger than Gero's records.
"Would you look at that? Someone must have been doing some sit-ups lately" The Android said to himself, flying into the prospect of a decent fight.
Notes from Chapter 18:
If you check Piccolo's power level, you will see he looks stronger than his first fight with Cell. Just to explain, the following Power Level was the one he had in the previous chapter, only that in Chapter 17 he lost some energy to Cell and was carrying weights.
Power Levels:
Goku:
Healed from heart disease and body thrashed (Normal Zenkai): 95 millions
Super Saiyan: 4.75 billions
Supressed Super Saiyan: 3 millions
Gohan:
After training with weighted clothes for days: 100 millions
Super Saiyan: 5 billions
Supressed Super Saiyan: 5 millions
Vegeta: 85 millions
Trunks: 45 millions
Piccolo:
Weighted clothes on: 10 billions
Without clothes, Full power: 12 billions
Krillin: 30 millions
Tien: 25 millions
Yamcha: 25 millions
Android 17: 8 billions
Android 18: 9 billions
Super 13: 30 billions
Cell:
Imperfect form (After absorbing people): 10 billions
The plans are already moving. See next chapter to find out the destiny of Earth.