Another Path
The new chapter has arrived! Do you think I let people down?
Chapter 21: Preparations
The Z-fighters were again gathered outside the Lookout most of their faces plastered with grim expressions. After the last incident with Cell hours ago, the heroes didn't know where to go. Specially now that Cell had promoted his doomsday Game Tournament on public Tv to everyone on Earth. It was a matter of time before people started running wild in fear for their lives. Like King Piccolo, billion times worse.
"Blast, what's taking Kakarot so long?" Vegeta growled in impatience, moving back and forth through the Lookout. He now had a new armor that wasn't cracked. He needed to train and get stronger to beat Cell. And then Kakarot.
"Relax Vegeta. They only have a few minutes left before their day is up" Piccolo said floating in mid-air with a meditation stance. He had been in tight situation like this one before, so he knew how to make a mask of indifference. Yet he very much cared about what was happening.
"I don't care. I just want to get inside that chamber and remain there for the next ten days" The royal prince said, wanting to become the strongest to again whip the floor with the green bastard of Cell.
"Goku never told you?" The Namek smirked, getting Vegeta and everyone's attention into him "You can only go for two Earth days inside the Chamber. If you try to stay any longer, the door will disappear and you will be trapped inside for all eternity with no way out" The comment caused the Saiyan Prince to seed in anger.
"But father, we still have an entire day left. We surely can improve in that time" Trunks suggested but the Royal fighter paid no heed to his future son.
Everyone turned their faces into the main building of the Lookout surprised. There were two energies moving closer to them.
Goku and Gohan walked outside the main building, dressed in their ragged Gis. They hadn't changed at all except for Gohan, who now was slightly taller for an inch or two and his long hair was cut from behind, leaving spikes of golden hair over his head. The others looked at them in wonder. The father and son looked just like before they went inside and still transformed into Super Saiyans with their hairs more white-colored. Yet now their powers were minimal, suppressed up to the point of being slightly higher than the average human.
"Hey guys, what have you been up to?" Goku asked like if asking for the weather forecast. His son next to him turned his head and stared with his green eyes, feeling a giant energy in the distance on Earth.
"Cell is still alive, and he's much stronger now" Gohan commented though his tone was like a side note. The others just didn't know what to say. Even Vegeta was lost here. Non of them could measure their new powers. It was simply concealed within perfectly.
"What happen guys?" The Saiyan father asked, a bit intrigued. The others took a few minutes to answer that grim question.
"And that's what we have been through. Cell has invented this Cell Tournament for anyone brave enough to stand against him" Piccolo finished informing about their new dire situation.
"Well, things are not as worse as we first thought" The Full-blooded Saiyan said, folding his arms. The others looked at him.
"We actually thought Vegeta would even help Cell in becoming stronger" The supressed half Saiyan said, laughing a bit.
"So Kakarot, you think you can defeat Cell?" The royal Prince asked arrogantly, trying to forget the sudden oral backlash from the hybrid brat.
"Maybe I can" the Saiyan replied while stretching his arms, which were not as bulk up as when one normally transformed in Super Saiyan.
"Maybe? That's all you've got?" Yamcha asked in confusion to his old rival-friend.
"Guys, you really need to not be so depressed, things always work out" Goku said with his trademark smile.
"Really Kakarot? You don't think you can defeat Cell yet you are bragging he will die?" Vegeta kept talking arms folded over his white-armored chest "How powerful you think you are?"
"Very" Goku simply responded with a proud smile. But Vegeta didn't like that smile. It looked like the one Kakarot used to force him into Super Saiyan three years ago.
"More than me so?" The prince kept talking, trying to get some information out of his enemy.
"Way ahead of you Vegeta" The Earth-raised Saiyan simply said smiling in confidence "In fact, only Gohan can beat me at this point"
"That's true. I'm much stronger than my dad" Gohan said also smiling like if he had always been stronger than Goku in the first place. The others remained silent for a few minutes, processing what just happened. The widow peak Saiyan clutched his teeth, angry at both father and son. How dare them to mock him?
"Well, now that Goku and Gohan are out, I will enter the Chamber first. Then Vegeta and then Trunks" The Namekian warrior said now, and then looked at the human fighters "You can go after us in teams of two if you want"
"Actually Piccolo, why don't you go inside with Trunks?" Goku suggested now "I think Trunks can benefit with someone who does pay him attention when training" The green fighter pondered that on his mind. That was actually a good advise.
"What do you say Trunks?" Piccolo asked the lavender-haired boy from the future.
"Fine by me. I don't mind training with someone else" The long-haired half Saiyan replied.
"Okay. Vegeta, you go first and then I will go with Trunks. Then Tien and Yamcha can follow us" The Namekian said again.
"I'll go get Chaotzu and Krillin. If we all train we might stand a better chance against Cell" Tien said, flying away.
"Well, that means after them, Gohan and Goku can go inside again" Piccolo finished the training schedule for the next ten days before the Cell Games that would decide the fate of everyone.
"We won't go inside again" Goku suddenly commented.
"What?!" everyone asked out-loud aghast.
"We are not going to train again on that place. It's better if we save that last day for a future emergency other than Cell" Gohan chimed in wisely. Everyone had their mouthes on the ground. Were they really just going to 'lay back'?
"Gohan, I don't think..." The half alien's first green teacher started saying, a bit worried.
"Relax Piccolo. Things always work out" The suppressed half Saiyan smiled like his father normally did. This was completely new for the Namek. That same crying baby he had trained almost ten years ago was now reassuring him that the world wasn't going to end anytime soon. It was amazing how things developed given enough time.
"Keep babbling as much as you want, fools!" The royal prince mocked the two supressed Super Saiyans "But I will defeat Cell all by myself so there's no need for anyone else to even bother in training"
"Sorry Vegeta, but you will not defeat Cell" Gohan commented, with an amazing smirk of superiority very classic of Vegeta but used against, ironically, Vegeta "Even training another day won't put you in his same level"
"Gohan's right. Right now, Cell is holding back a lot of his true strength" Goku chimed in "Training in the Chamber again will be useless for you" The comment caused the Prince to seed in anger even more. The two were obviously making fun of him. They couldn't be so strong. It was simply impossible.
The Saiyan Prince walked away, ready to push his training even further that the last time.
After a few minutes of the widow-peak fighter departure, the white-haired full-blooded Saiyan looked at Trunks.
"Hey Trunks" Goku asked the future boy "When you fought Cell with the bulky Super Saiyan, you lost speed, right?" The boy from the future was taken aback there. He hadn't told his story yet. He had only said about how he was defeated by Cell and his absorbtion of 13. The half Saiyan nodded.
"Yes, I did. My dad powered-up too but he only did it up to the point of still maintaining speed" Trunks explained, a bit downcreasted.
"You were right dad. The bulky form does weight down" Gohan said to his father like confirming a theory.
"Yeah, and it obviously wastes more energy than a normal Super Saiyan" Goku said now, folding his arms after confirming his theory "Alright Trunks listen. When you start training with Piccolo, transform into normal Super Saiyan like Gohan and I are doing, and remain that way as long as you can" The plan surprised the half Saiyan, who nodded robotically.
"Em, okay?" The time traveler said doubtfully and confused.
Both Supressed Saiyans materialised new clothes for each other. Goku created his own trademark red gi with blue wristbands and boots, while Gohan materialised a purple Gi like Piccolo, along the weighted paddler of a million tons.
"Let's go Gohan" The father said and the son nodded "Bye everyone!" The Saiyans waved their hands and dropped down from the edge of the Lookout, heading towards their Paotzu house, though now flying through the air instead of teleporting. Now miles away, both Saiyan father and son looked at each other, nodding in confirmation.
Their plan was at the motion. Only in ten days they would find out how it would develop.
"What was that all about?" Yamcha asked now that Goku and Gohan were gone.
"I don't know" Trunks replied "Why would Goku want me to stay transform like him? If I power up like my dad did, I won't lose speed"
"I may not know a lot about transforming into Super Saiyan but I do see Goku's point" Piccolo said wisely, getting the attention into him "While I trained with him and Gohan for the last three years, I could see a fighting pattern between them. Transforming into Super Saiyan provided them with amazing boost in strength, speed and ki at the cost of slowly burning their reserves" The Namek looked at Trunks "I can presume that the bulky form you and Vegeta used did consumed much energy than a regular Super Saiyan, didn't it?" Trunks nodded "That explains it. Goku and Gohan are now maintaining the regular transformation for longer periods until it becomes natural to their bodies. Once that happens, they will gain access to the full power of a Super Saiyan, with their strength and speed increased much higher than a bulky Saiyan and less energy wasted away. They can power up to their limits just like if they weren't even transformed in the first place and not suffer any drawback"
The future lavender-haired Saiyan hunched his face, thinking the theory "Was that the key to ascend all this time? I saw my father powering up and I foolishly copied him, thinking I was stronger than him. It's obvious that I still miss a lot of practice when it comes to fighting. I don't even remember Gohan knowing about this kind of techniques in my time" The future Saiyan thought about this new opportunity he had to become stronger. His father's pride could get damaged as much as it deserved and even more so. But if Trunks now had the chance to grow in power even higher than Vegeta, then he would do it. Not only for the Earth but for his own friends killed by the Androids.
The air shimmered in the Lookout, Krillin suddenly appearing with Instant Transmission.
"Hey guys" The bald monk greeted, yet his tone still indicated he already knew the breaking bad news.
"Hey Krillin, where have you been all this time?" The scar bandit asked.
"Well, I went to get some Senzu Beans from Capsule Corp but Bulma told me that she would do it and that I should wait for her father to finish a remote control that could shut down the androids" The sudden answer brought even more questions from the fighters. Krillin, however, was already ahead of them "Sadly, by the time it was ready, Cell was ultra perfect and there were no possibilities of using it"
"Guess we can only train and hope for the best" Yamcha said, folding his arms. Trunks and Piccolo had a different opinion. They would make sure to push their training extra hard.
The new Super perfect blue-skinned bulky android was peacefully waiting for the ten days count down to finish. The supreme android was on top of a giant square platform, framed on each corner with a giant spike columns. The white tilling shone by the reflected sunlight in the middle of the desert. His full red eyes darted into nowhere in particular. Especially with the thousands of burnt militar corps smoking around his unblemished ring for the fate of Earth. The soldiers were the fool ones to try to take him head on. It wasn't his problem that they almost destroyed the platform. Where would they fight then?
Now, he just waited.
Notes from Chapter 21:
Trunks is not going to be so concerned about his father's approval.
Goku and Gohan were just acting cocky because they wanted to (of course, they have a lot of power to back their comments up)
Gohan's appearance is just like cannon with short hair.
Power Levels:
Goku:
Supressed Super Saiyan: 500
Gohan:
Supressed Super Saiyan: 500
Supressed with weights: 100
Vegeta:
Healed (Little Zenkai): 380 millions
Trunks:
Healed (Normal Zenkai): 400 millions
Piccolo:
With weighted clothes: 10 billions
Tien: 25 millions
Yamcha: 25 millions
Krillin: 30 millions
Super Perfect Cell:
Holding back a lot: 300
The Tournament has been settled. Only time will tell what can be done against the new threat.