I awoke again several hours later, unsure of what had disturbed me. I looked over to find Trunks sitting up in bed, running his fingers through his hair as he stretched. I sat up as well, climbing out of bed.
"Why are we here?" I asked.
"Dad and I are going to go back into the hyperbolic time chamber," he said.
"Trunks, you can't," I said. "You can't stand another year without me." He grinned and leaned over, nuzzling my cheek.
"I won't," he replied. "You're coming with me."
"I'm sure Vegeta will love that," I said, rolling my eyes.
"He's the one that suggested it," Trunks told me, standing and changing into the battle armor once more. "And besides, it'll just be you and me."
"Really?" I asked. Trunks nodded and pulled me to my feet, leading me out of the chamber to the main area where Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien and the man Trunks told me was called Mr. Popo stood. Vegeta eyed us as we approached.
"Have a good nap?" he asked sarcastically.
"We did, thank you," I said sweetly. "How kind of you to ask." Tien snorted, covering a laugh. Trunks rolled his eyes.
"Behave," he muttered.
"I always do," I cooed. A single lavender brow arched and I looked away guiltily.
"Most of the time I do," I corrected.
"You never do," Trunks said.
"Bite me," I growled.
"Stop begging," Trunks said. Vegeta glared at me, turning his head to spit on the ground.
"Must I sit here and listen to you and your mate flirt?"
"Vegeta, we're not mates!" I said. Vegeta snorted and waved away my comments. I felt a spike of Ki and turned my head along with the others to see Gohan and Goku emerge from the time chamber. I noted that they were both in Super Saya-jin form. I felt their power like a weight on my shoulders and had to force myself not to buckle under it.
"We're starving!" I heard Goku exclaim and had to laugh. I watched as Mr. Popo set out a monumental feast that Gohan and Goku began to quickly devour. The rate at which they inhaled the food was astounding.
"And I thought you ate like it was going out of style," I said to Trunks. "They put you to shame."
"Ahhh, that hit the spot!" Goku said, rubbing his stomach. "Sorry to keep you waiting Trunks. Fire away when you're ready." Trunks nodded, tearing his eyes from the massive pile of empty plates and bowels as he launched into an explanation.
"So that's what's going on," Goku said when Trunks ended his story. "Actually sounds kind of fun. It's not every day you get to compete in a tournament."
"So, what's the plan," Vegeta asked, stalking towards us, his dark eyes intent on Goku. "Do you feel strong enough to take on Cell?"
"Well it's kind of hard to say," Goku replied. "I haven't seen him in his perfected form or whatever you call it. I won't know until I get a good look." We watched as Goku used his Instant Transmission power to teleport from the look out. I gripped Trunk's hand tightly, feeling a knot form in my stomach at the lack of confidence in the legendary Hero. The minutes ticked by like hours as we waited for Goku's return, expecting careless assurances that the Saya-jin's strength had indeed exceeded our foe's and all our worry was for not. I jumped as Goku reappeared before us.
"How'd it go down there?" Trunks asked eagerly.
"Well to be perfectly honest you guys, he's a lot more intimidating then I expected him to be," Goku replied with an easy smile. "There's no telling what kind of damage he can do if he puts his mind to it. I mean, I won't know until I've tried, but the way things look right now, I'm not all that certain I can defeat him."
"Goku, come on!" Trunks cried, thinking the Saya-jin was joking. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood and said;
"You're serious, aren't you?"
"Then I think it's best you go back into the hyperbolic time chamber to train," Piccolo said. "There's time, we might as well use it. We've already settled on the order. I'll go in after you and Vegeta after me."
"And once I'm done in there, there will be no point in anyone else even bothering to try," Vegeta said.
"Well, I've already decided not to take a turn," Tien said. "I think cell's just too far out of my league now."
"Trunks and his mate will go in after Vegeta and finally Goku and Gohan, you'll be the last to enter before the tournament," Piccolo said. I rolled my eyes at the 'mate' comment
"Nah, me and Gohan have had our share," Goku said, walking over to his son.
"What?" Vegeta asked, shocked.
"We'll just finish up our training out here," Goku told us. "Nine days ought to be enough to get ourselves pretty well prepared."
"What?! You've lost your mind," Vegeta barked.
"So that's it then? You're not going to Enter the Hyperbolic time chamber?" Piccolo questioned.
"Yeah, that's right," Goku confirmed.
"But, you only stand to become stronger than you already are, I don't see the point in refusing," Piccolo said, scowling.
"I get that, but there's such a thing as too much training. You gotta rest every now and then and the chambers too hard on the body to allow you to relax," Goku said with a laugh.
"Well, whaddya know? Kakkorot does have a ceiling. It's the exact dimensions of the hyperbolic time chamber," Vegeta said snidely.
"Maybe," Goku said easily. "The point is, if we've already pushed our bodies to the limit, what's another year gonna do? We'd just be torturing ourselves. Of course, it's fine if the rest of you go in there and train as hard as you need to give yourselves a fair shot. Don't overdo it, but you could stand to beef up just a little bit."
"Is that a fact?" Vegeta bit out. "Mind your tongue. I'm not an imbecile. I know when I'm being patronized and I don't care for the suggestion that you're stronger than me."
"Yeah, I wasn't really suggesting," Goku said.
"Oh Jesus," I swore, waiting for the explosion of Vegeta's anger.
"What?" Vegeta snapped.
"Okay, save it for the tournament," Goku said. "That goes for all of you. Gohan, come on." Gohan looked at his father and nodded.
"I'm ready," the young boy said, following his father as they flew off the lookout.