Another Path
A new chapter has come. Sorry for the delay, but every author sometimes finds himself stucked (Kind of my problem with Dragon's Quest. It's taking me longer than I wanted, so sorry for my fans).
Anyway, enjoy the new chapter. More are to come soon.
Chapter 22: Last Days of Rest
Vegeta walked outside the Time Chamber, his armor again raged all over after an entire year of training in one single Earth day. His powers had increased amazingly. But against Cell's true powers, anything could happen. Which meant he could still be a weakling compared to the Super Perfect bio-android's true strength. Trunks was sitting in the Lookout, meditating and not paying attention to his father, which surprised the Saiyan father in the back of his mind. The kid wasn't as concerned about him as before. Something must have changed while he was gone.
"How did it go Vegeta?" Piccolo asked, still floating and eye-closed. Of course he had only asked out of courtesy, already knowing that Vegeta would never answer. As he first assumed, he got no replied because Vegeta shot through the air going away into his own path back to Earth.
"Don't take it personal Trunks. He has always been that way" Piccolo reassured the boy from the future, no longer floating and full on his feet. Yet Trunks paid no heed to the inattention. If his father was that way then he should not bother in trying to change him. Both fighters walked into the Time Chamber, ready to train. Following Goku's advice, the time-traveled hybrid transformed into normal Super Saiyan, no bulking muscles or anything else that could bring a disadvantage.
Gohan flew through the air, still transformed as a white-haired Super Saiyan. Though he was now dressed in a white shirt with dark blue pants. It had been almost day and half since he and his father left training as a side note and decided to enjoy the peaceful times they had. Of course, there would be more peace once his dad or himself had destroyed Cell for good.
The half alien passed over a river and felt an energy beneath him. A young girl, just as old as himself dressed in an overall with a yellow shirt and brown hair in two pig tails was hanging from a tree branch, nearly slipping away into the fast waters below. With super speed, Gohan holded her back to dry land, after she almost dropped to the water.
"Are you okay?" Gohan asked, not noticing his hand resting on the girl's left breast. She screamed and ran away. The half Saiyan only rubbed his head confused "That was weird"
A few minutes later, the half Saiyan landed on the little place called Chaske Village. Though it was better to say it was Ghost Village, because there was nobody around. The alien sighed. It was obvious that Cell's propaganda had caused quite the riots already, even in a secluded place like this one.
Good for him, there were still energy of people in one store. Two apparent thugs were talking to an aged man, and Gohan could easily see they were up to nothing good.
"Listen old man, if you don't give us the food then the villagers will starve" one of the thugs said accusingly.
"I told you already, that you don't know what can happen. Someone will stop Cell" The owner of the store replied, his arms folded and eye-closed, not bending under the fools' pitiful attempts of menacing him.
"You asked for it crook!" The other shorter thug was ready to break some glass bottles, when he suddenly disappeared without a trace. His partner looked aghast, before he also disappeared in a blur.
"Are you okay sir?" Gohan walked in, not even warmed up after disposing of the thugs. He would not say what he did to them. It was better that way.
"You helped me, right?" The man asked. Amazingly, Gohan didn't hear any accusative tone from the man.
"Sorry, I just didn't think they were up to any good" Gohan replied.
"Don't worry kid. You did me a favor. Besides, I'm too old to start fighting" The man waved the problem off "My name is Lao. Do you need anything?" The Saiyan handed the man a grocery list, when steps came from the entrance.
"Cell is here!" The young girl that Gohan saved appeared now, yelling out-loud for some reason. The Saiyan was now confused. Cell was on the other side of the world as always. He could feel him.
"Lime!" The store owner said accusingly, while the girl rubbed the back of her head, trying to look innocent but failing. She looked at Gohan, blushing a bit after recognising who he was "I told you about not saying those things. Right now, more fear isn't what people need"
"Wait, Cell was here?" Gohan asked.
"Yes. He was here a few days ago when he still needed to absorb life force of others to survive" Mr Lao explained, walking outside. Gohan and Lime followed the aged man. He started to chop wood with an axe "We hid but he still got many of the villagers, Lime's parents included"
"Oh, I'm sorry" The Saiyan apologised to the girl, who had now her eyes a bit teary.
"Anyway, the villagers constructed the new shelter, thinking that it will do some good against Cell's wrath. But it's obvious it won't work" Mr Lao kept talking and working.
"I wouldn't be so sure" The Saiyan chimed in, arms folded "Cell is not as unbeatable as he thinks himself to be"
"You are going to fight him?" Lime asked him intrigued.
"I will. And trust me, he will pay for what he has done" The emerald-eyed Saiyan replied confident, surprising the young girl. For a moment, she felt marveled by him. He looked young but also very imposing.
Mr Lao stopped his work, his back aching.
"Why don't you let me do it?" Gohan offered, taking the job over.
"Thanks kid, but you don't have to" The man said, leaving the axe on the ground. Lime looked confused. Didn't you need it for cutting wood?
"It's no problem" The Saiyan replied smiling, his opened hand pointing at the wood. He encompassed the wood with ki energy, putting them into a single floating column. With his other hand, Gohan shot a Destructo Disk that cut right through the wood. A second later, the halves were on the ground, perfectly splitted.
"That was incredible!" Lime said completely surprised "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"Um, sure" Gohan rubbed his white-haired head. First she screamed and run and now she was friendly and smiling. Women were weird.
A few minutes later, both youngsters were inside the forest, resting.
"So you and your dad have a plan against Cell?" The brown-haired girl asked Gohan, both sitting peacefully under a tree, eating apples. Gohan nodded with a brief smirk "I hope it works. I would hate to lose a friend" She knew who he was, but that didn't mean anything to her. His fame or his father's wasn't the important thing with a true friend.
"We are friends already?" The Saiyan grinned "Aren't we moving too fast?" The alien joked. That got him in response a playful nudge in the arm.
A big bullhorn was heard from a distance. The young brown-haired girl sighed in frustration.
"Great, the 'big opening' " She commented sarcastically. Both walked towards the place, looking at a large crowd of people in front of the dome-ceiling shelter that would supposedly protect them from the Cell threat. There was a short man with a moustache in front of everyone, giving a 'motivational' speech. Yet the demiSaiyan could see right through it. Just bullshit.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Gohan said out-loud, getting the attention to the ten-year-old kid, who was amazingly a bit taller than the owner of the shelter, walking with firm steps "You think your little building can protect you?"
"Of course it will protect us" The man said overconfident, puffing his chest though not resulting in making him more imposing.
"Cell is not a weakling. He won't be stopped so easily" The white-haired boy retorted. He pointed with his index finger towards the 'protective' shelter, sending a small beam that penetrated the reinforced steel and iron with ease. That caused a lot of mouthes to drop to the ground "And I wasn't even trying. You think Cell will be just as merciful with you?"
"You little punk!" The leader yelled "Men, stop him!" A group of armed goons surrounded Gohan, who sighed by their antics. Were they for real? All jumped towards the boy almost in football-like comicness, all toppling each other. Yet Gohan simply unleashed a brief shock wave around him and sending all the goons flying away, a few unconscious and a few others dead.
"General Tao!" The short businessman yelled towards the building. Another man walked out, dressed in purple martial arts clothes and with his face looking a bit robotic. The words 'KILL YOU' were framed on the back of his Gi.
"Destroy him, General!" The short man ordered.
"Too easy" The mercenary smirked, his wrist separating from his body, revealing a canon hole. A yellow light formed inside it, but the Saiyan doing nothing to avoid or dodge.
"Super Dodon Ray!" The killer enchanted his 'powerful' attack into his threat. The supressed half Saiyan swat the blast aside with no problem into the air. The assassin looked in confusion, sweat on his brow.
"What happen?" The half robot asked.
"I happened!" Gohan yelled, his aura bursting. His power didn't increase though. He was just showing off to scare him away. Many viewers recognised that strange golden power. It looked like the Martial Arts champion Goku on his last fight against...
"Tell me kid, what's your name?" Tao asked warily.
"Gohan!" The name brought a funny feeling into the assassin's guts "And if you are wondering, the answer is yes, I'm Goku's son!"
"Oh crap" The assassin thought, before a hard punch to the nose dented his half metal face, sending him knocked out cold against the shelter. The white-haired Saiyan walked towards the short man, who was ready to pee himself in fear.
"You should not be giving false hope to these people" Without another word, the Saiyan blasted the shelter with a simple energy ball no bigger than his hand.
"Why did you do that?!" The man yelled at the halfling.
"I told you. If I can do it then Cell would have with all of you inside" The half alien replied, suddenly floating and getting everyone's attention, specially because he was flying.
"Everyone, listen up!" Gohan said out-loud, his voice easily heard "I know it may be weird, but you should enjoy these days. Instead of waiting the worst, expect for the best. Besides, Cell is not unbeatable. Me, my father and a few of my friends have been training to stop this threat. So that's why I'm telling you to not fall in despair. No one else is going to die because of that monster!" The speech caused a lot of cheers from the crowd.
The Saiyan floated back to the ground. A giant hug engulfed him with amazing strength.
"You really need to teach me how to do those moves" The girl Lime said smiling, surprised by his friend's strength and spirit. He was obviously a mature one for his age. The half alien rubbed his head Goku style a bit blushed.
"I think I should head back home" Gohan said, grabbing the bag from Mr Lao, a few minutes later. Lime hugged him again.
"Come back to visit. And remember, you have to teach me those energy moves" She smiled, almost innocently.
"Don't worry, I will" Gohan smiled back, making his promise. And promises were something he never break. The half alien flew away back home.
The next day Trunks and Piccolo walked outside the Time Chamber, their powers increased exponentially. Specially Trunks. Mastering the Super Saiyan had given him power he never though he could hold together without his body tearing itself apart. But apparently he did now. And it felt wonderful. He could actually defeat his father. Or at least he thought he could.
Goku teleported into the Lookout, dressed in normal clothes but still as a white-haired supressed Super Saiyan.
"Hey Piccolo" Goku saluted, though he opened his eyes in surprise "Wow, your power just skyrocketed! Training with Trunks did pay off, didn't it?"
"Yes, Goku. You were right. But I still don't know if I can beat Cell" Piccolo said, floating in a meditative position again. Trunks saluted Goku too.
"Listen I was wondering if you could reactivate the Dragon Balls. Cell has been at it again and many will have to be brought back to life" The Saiyan fighter asked Piccolo. The army had tried to do something against Cell but it had been futile.
"I'm sorry but I can't" The just-trained Namekian replied "The Dragon Balls Kami created on his own are stone and I can't create new ones"
"Dam, I thought we could..." Goku said but he heard something particular "Wait, you said 'Kami on his own'?"
"When I remerged with Kami, I obtained new memories of my previous life before splitting in half. One of those memories was the creation of another set of Dragon Balls, different to that of Earth because they have black stars instead of red ones"
"Another set of Dragon Balls?" The Saiyan asked surprised "Where are they? Maybe we can use those"
"No we can't. Those Dragon Balls are too powerful. In fact, they can grant wishes Shenron can not even think of doing. However, such powerful artifacts have the downside of destroying the planet the wish was granted in the time of a year after the wishing" Piccolo explained grimly.
"And that effect can't be canceled?" Goku asked intrigued but wary of such a terrible consequence.
"Yes, by reuniting the Dragon Balls at the point where the wish was granted. Yet those balls don't disperse around the planet but around the universe. Finding them can easily take more than year" The Namek said again.
"You know where those balls are?" The Saiyan asked.
"Here inside the Lookout. But I won't risk Earth's safety because of Cell" Piccolo said seriously. Goku made a mental note to not forget about those Balls. A planet destruction was indeed too much but they could be useful in the future. Who knew better?
"Well, maybe we can reactivate those of Earth" The Saiyan fighter advised.
"How?" Piccolo asked intrigued now.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of that right away" He suddenly opened his eyes understanding and teleported away. A second later he was in King Kai's small planet. The chubby overlooker was lying on his beach chair, snoring. Until he realised Goku was actually in front of him.
"Goku what are you doing here?" The overlooker asked surprised. After a quick explanation of the recent events, the Kai looked thoughtful.
"Wow, where do those people came from?" the Kai asked "You should change your name to Trouble and save us a lot of... trouble" The chubby man covered his mouth in mirth, trying not to laugh so hard by his joke. The fighter sighed.
"Thanks for the amusement, King Kai. But I need your help in finding planet Namek" Goku said, trying to go straight to the point.
"Well, let's see" The chubby galaxy overlooker spun around, now serious after his joke, his antenna pointing into somewhere. The Kai pointed the direction to Goku. The Saiyan looked at the place and felt the far-away energies. With two fingers in his forehead, he vanished with shimmering air.
Splits of seconds later, the full-blooded warrior arrived in the distant planet.
"Nothing changed so far" Goku said, looking around. The planet still had blue grass and green sky. Thanks to the Dragon Balls, not many battle scars remained from the fight with Frieza.
The Super Saiyan floated into the nearest village, seeing the Namekians doing normal chores like carrying water and cultivating. The supressed fighter descended, looking around. Many green aliens looked to him, recognising their Frieza savior.
The Elder Moori walked up to meet him, surprised to see the Saiyan back.
"Hi Moori" Goku said, bowing his head in respect. The Namek did so.
"Greetings Goku. It's nice to see again the man who saved us from Frieza" The Namekian greeted the man that saved countless of planets from the Icejinn's wrath.
"Thanks" Goku said rubbing his head. His eyes drifted into a serious stance "Look I need your help with something, there's an evil presence on Earth called Cell"
"Yes, we knew. We could feel the negative power emanating from Earth's direction" The Patriarch confirmed, many other Namekians gathering around.
"That's right. And because Piccolo returned with Kami, our Dragon Balls no longer work"
"Piccolo? Oh, you mean the member of the Dragon Clan that fused with Guru?" Moori said now.
"That one. Because he now fused with his other self, the Dragon Balls on Earth no longer work so I was wondering if any of your friends would come to Earth and help us" The Super Saiyan informed the Namekians.
"I think I know the right one for that job" The Patriarch said and turned his head around "Dende, come here" A young Namekian child stepped out of the taller green aliens.
"Dende, he's Goku" The Elder said to the little guy.
"Don't worry Moori, I didn't forget about Dende" Goku looked at the small alien with a smile "You not only saved me but also my son and best friend. I am very thankful for that" The Saiyan shook hands with the young alien, who was glad to see him again.
"What do you say Dende? You think you can do it?" The Super warrior asked to the youngster. The young green kid had one question.
"Can I still come and visit my friends?" He asked and Goku smiled.
"Of course you can. I will teach how to teleport and you will arrive in no time" The Saiyan said, touching the child's shoulder reassuring.
"Alright, I accept" The Namekian child agreed.
"This is a great responsibility Dende. We wish you the best luck" Moori said to his child. After a goodbye, they banished, surprising the green aliens by the technique.
The two reappeared on King kai's world.
"Hey King Kai, I found a new Guardian" Goku said towards his teacher "Okay, see you!" They again left before the galaxy overlooker could respond.
"Hey guys, I found Namek" Goku said to his friends in the Lookout, the shorter alien next to him after teleporting through space.
"Dende?" Piccolo asked towards the younger green alien surprised to see him.
"Yes, Moori told me that Dende was a gifted kid" The Super Saiyan said to Piccolo. Of course Piccolo already knew that. He still had Guru's memories.
Goku sent a mental message to his son, who teleported a second later.
"Dende, It's nice to see you" Gohan greeted his friend.
"Dende will be the new guardian" The Saiyan father said to his son.
"Wow, you can make new Dragon Balls?" The supressed half alien asked. Dende nodded.
"Yes. It will only take one hundred days" The green alien said to his friend.
"Is there a faster way? We might need them in eight days" Goku asked. The young Namekian alien started thinking in concentration.
"Well, maybe if you still have the dragon model I can reactivate the old Dragon Balls with a few changes" Dende suggested another option. It sounded much better.
"Like three wishes?" Gohan asked.
"It's possible. But bringing so much people back to life might drain a lot of power from the dragon, so maybe two wishes are best" The new Guardian explained.
"Two wishes? That sounds cool enough" Trunks commented arms folded.
"Mister Popo, is the dragon statue inside?" Piccolo asked the plump genie.
"It's in my room. I will bring it right away" The genie ran and returned in just minutes, carrying the Shenron rock silhouette to his new Kami. Dende placed the statue in front of him, his hands glowing. With a low-voiced Namekian enchantment, the statue started shinning, seven lights beams fired away into Earth' surface.
"The Dragon Balls can be used now" Dende said with a smile.
"Wow so fast?" Goku said surprised. He put two fingers in his forehead. A second later he disappeared and the next second he was back with the Dragon Radar "Piccolo can you help me collect them? If we are two it will be faster"
"Sure" The former Guardian replied. Both aliens defenders of Earth teleported away.
Days passed by, and then the human fighters entered the Time Chamber for a day. They all emerged much more powerful than before.
Cell sighed, a few days after his warning. This was getting much boring.
"Why did I have to say ten days?" The android asked to no one in particular.
Notes from Chapter 22:
I really didn't want to extend myself with the chapters so I put many into a full one.
Sorry for those that wanted to see Mr Lao fighting. It's not that I hate him but I think Gohan (in the Anime) could have taken Tao and the goons out before Lao showed up.
Yes, there was foreshadowing of the Black Star Dragon Balls (They will have an 'important' appearance later on)
For those that did read, Gohan will train Lime.
Before going forward, remember to read my blog about Saiyan transformations. It can enlighten you.
Power Levels:
Goku:
Supressed Super Saiyan: 300
Gohan:
Supressed Super Saiyan: 500
Vegeta:
After another training in the Time Chamber: 800 millions
Trunks:
After training with Piccolo and mastering Super Saiyan: 1.25 billions
Piccolo:
After training on the chamber with Trunks (Weights on): 35 billions
Tien:
After training in the Chamber: 80 millions
Yamcha:
After training in the Chamber: 80 millions
Krillin:
After training in the Chamber: 90 millions
Chaotzu:
After trainnig in the Chamber: 75 millions
Mercenary Tao: 250
Mr Lao: 200
Lime: 12
Dende: 100
With each passing day, the fight for Earth's destiny draws near.