Goten

I sulked on the couch of CC's living space, having yet again been turned down by Meadow. "She didn't even pick up this time!" I groaned to Trunks, who was trying to enjoy a movie on the TV.

"Goten," he sighed, "it's five A.M. Why the hell would she pick up this early? I'm only awake because you wanted to watch this."

I nodded. "But I'm worried. Dad taught me how to sense a ki's relative position, and Meadow and Locke were together until really late." For a second, Trunks actually looked interested. "I took a fly-by to see where they were, and it looks like they went to the movies and a restraunt, so I know they weren't doing that." Trunks lost interest again. "Trunks, this is the girl of my dreams!"
"She isn't interested," he said simply. "Let it go."

I shook my head. "No. I'll get her back. Once she sees Gotenks-"

"What is attractive about Fusion?!"

Locke

We stood in the pocket space once again, me and Cell. "Now, then," Cell said. "Today, you'll learn to control ki. Flying, blasts, shields, the such."

I nodded. "Sounds good. So, how long will training be today? I've kinda got to think of something to do with my..." A small smile crept onto my face. "Well, my girlfriend, I guess."

Cell chuckled. "Tread carefully. How would she react if she found out that I am your teacher?" My smile faded. "Don't worry; I'll be careful to keep our secret. I can't ask you to keep your mouth shut if I don't do the same." It struck me as odd that the genocidal android was being somewhat fair, but I didn't question it. "Now then, on to flying."

He guided me through it, focusing my ki underneath me. He seemed surprised when I quickly got the hang of it. No, surprised isn't the right word. Shocked was better. He looked like he couldn't accept what he was seeing. "I don't understand," he growled. "No one gets it that fast."

"I guess you're just a good teacher," I said, instantly bringing a smug smirk to his face.

"The perfect teacher," he corrected me. "Now then, on to blasts." He brought his hands out in front of him, together at the wrists. "This one is fairly easy to learn, but will take the most time out off all my techniques to master: the Kamehameha Wave." He turned away from me and brought his hands to his side. "Ka... me... ha...me... ha!" He thrust his hands out, firing a large beam of blue energy into the distance. The pocket space was infinite, so it simply flew for a while, then Cell released the energy. "Try it until you can do it with at least a fraction of that power."

I tried it, but couldn't quite get it. "Kamehameha!" ...Nothing. "Kamehameha!" It went on like that for a while.

"Come on, Locke," Cell groaned. "Is it really that difficult?"

I gritted my teeth. "I'm trying." His eyes stayed annoyed. "I said I'm trying!" Struck with anger, I turned back toward him and thrust my hands toward him. "Kamehameha!" Bright blue energy erupted from my hands, straight at him. His face became startled as the light enveloped him and exploded. I waited a second, breathing heavily, then I realized what I'd done. "Oh, shit! Cell!" I ran into the smoke trying to clear it, then I saw him. He was standing, but he still had a shocked expression, and a gaping hole was blown into his chest. "I-I'm sorry, I don't know what happened! I-I just, just, oh shit!"

Cell sighed. "Calm down, Locke. You did well." He clenched up, and I watched in amazement as the hole filled. "As long as even a single cell remains, I'll regenerate completely."

"Awesome," I breathed.

We continued for hours, getting to smaller, weaker blasts, full-power uncontrolled blasts, shields, then finally more named attacks. None of them felt quite right, but the one he called FInal Flash felt the most comfortable.

Cell nodded in satisfaction. "I think we're done for today. Now go shower so you look presentable for your woman."

We left the pocket space, and I looked to see that we'd been in there for an hour. "We were training for two days?!"

Cell looked as well. "You did learn quite a few techniques, and much quicker than any of my adversaries learned even one."

"But why am I not tired?"

"I'm just as clueless as you."

Cell

I kept it hidden, but inside, I was shaken to the core. When he'd fired his first Kamehameha, something happened: his sclerae turned pitch black, and his power skyrocketed. It was clearly some kind of transformation, but I'd never seen anything like it before.

Locke went to shower, leaving me alone. Well, not alone. I heard something and went into the living area, finding Rachel holding some kind of machine and staring at the television. As I drew closer, I noticed something. "Are you contolling that person?" I asked.

She pressed a button, and the screen froze, with the word PAUSE in the center. "It's a video game," she stated. "It's kinda hard to explain, but it's kind of like controlling a character in a TV show. A lot have stories, good combat systems, but there are lots of different kinds." I continued to look at the screen, and she looked as though she thought of something. "Hang on, I've got an idea." She closed out the game, then opened another. "Mortal Combat X. We can fight each other in this game." She handed me a "controller" as she called it. "Be gentle so that you don't break it."

Locke

It was shocking to see Cell playing Mortal Combat with my mom, but I decided not to question it and went out to meet Meadow.

Before I even knocked on her door, it swung open and her closed eyes were right in front of mine, her lips gently pressing against my nose. "Hey," she said, grinning. "So what's the surprise you had planned?"

I grinned. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise."

She quickly got her purse, then checked her phone. "Hey, I got a call from Goten a while ago. "

"Do you know what about?"

She looked confused. "Probably. He wanted to show me something yesterday, but that was after you'd asked me out."

I once again felt guilty. "Maybe we should check on him," I suggested. "It feels like he's at Capsule Corp. right now."

"Feels?" I tried to think of an explanation, but she beat me to it. "So your teacher taught you how to sense ki?" I was taken aback, but nodded. "Goten and Trunks can do that, too," she explained. "You know, I don't really know much about your training. Is there anything else cool you can do now?"

I looked around, then grinned. "Ready?" I pulled up the sleeve of my sweatshirt. She stared at the muscles now rippling across my arms. "And that's just from two days of training." Technically three, but that would take a lot of explaining.

Meadow slowly put her hand on my arm, feeling them. "Like rocks," she breathed. "Well, um, let's go see what Goten wanted, then." I caught her by surprise and grabbed her around the waist. "Huh?!" I grinned and lifted us into the air.

Not even a minute later, we touched down in front of CC. "Y-you could have warned me!" she scolded, slapping me, though compared to Cell and Junior, it was nothing. "Let's get this over with; I need to know what you have planned."

Once again, we were directed to the backyard, were Goten and Trunks were waiting in their fighting clothes. Goten's face fell when he saw me, but he didn't say anything. "Glad you could make it," he told Meadow. "I realized that there was one thing that we didn't show you."

"And that would be?" Meadow asked, now genuinely curious.

Goten grinned. "The Matamoran Fusion Dance! Ready, Trunks?"

"This won't work," Trunks sighed, but got into position.

"Fu... sion... Ha!" They went through a few strange motions, then exploded in light. When it faded, there was someone else standing there, wearing an open blue jacket with a puffy orange trim, a sleeveless black undershirt, and loose white pants with a blue obi. His hair was spiked up, black with lavender in the middle. He smirked and flexed his muscles. "Say hello to Gotenks," he stated, like Goten and Trunks were talking in sync.

I stared at the new person. "That's incredible!" His power had shot up, much higher than Goten's or Trunks', but he didn't know that I could tell.

Meadow nodded. "Y-yeah!" she agreed. "This must be how you fought Frieza's men." I wanted to ask who Frieza was, but I figured that I'd get a better answer from Cell.

Gotenks nodded. "Yeah. And in this form, we can go all the way up to Super Saiyan 3!" My breath caught. From what I'd heard, SS3 was the highest form of Super Saiyan, and if Gotenks could use it, what chance did I stand when Cell went for his revenge? "I'd show you, but it puts a lot of strain on my body. I don't want to waste energy like that." His body glew, then split back into Goten and Trunks.

Goten grinned. "So, who's the hotter guy now?" he said. Trunks' eyes widened in alarm at Goten's blunt question, as did mine.

Meadow was quiet for a second, then started to walk toward him. Goten looked triumphant, and I almost panicked, then her hand whipped through the air and smacked Goten's head to the side. "Are you freaking kidding me?!" she shouted. "That's what this was about?!" This was the first time I'd seen her so angry; somehow, she was even hotter than before. "I'm not going to like you more just because you and another guy can fuse!"

"I tried to tell him," Trunks said, shaking his head in dissapointment.

Meadow looked Goten in the eyes as she spoke. "Goten, you're one of my best friends. Isn't that enough for you?"

Goten looked utterly shocked and in despair. "But, Doe... I really like you."

"The feeling clearly isn't mutual," she said. "Goten, I like someone already. It might not last, but so far, nothing's turned me off of him." She sighed and walked back to me. "Let's go, Locke. And this surprise of your's had better be good." I was seeing a completely new side of her, and I didn't find it unpleasant at all.

I looked back to Goten one more time. "Sorry," I said, trying to show my sincerity as much as possible.

Goten

I stood, shell-shocked, as they left.

"I told you so," Trunks sighed.

I slowly shook my head. "She... she's really... choosing him." My fists clenched, blood dripping between my fingers. "Dammit, what does he have that I don't?"

"More in common with her, but enough different to stay interesting," Trunks pointed out. "Goten, she's not interested, end of story. It's time to give up."

I reluctantly nodded. "I guess." Then something caught my senses. "Hang on." I closed my eyes. "Is it just me, or did Locke's ki just spike?" Trunks shrugged. "That shouldn't happen, unless he's been trained in ki control."

"Let me guess..."

"We should follow them."

My rage increased as we watched them. They went to the amusement park, Trunks' favorite when he was a kid, getting all-day passes and going straight to the rides. After getting off of a tilta-whirl dizzy and holding each other for balance, Meadow pulled herself up and planted a kiss on Locke's cheek.

"I didn't think they were together already," Trunks noted.

My teeth gritted. "Th-they aren't. It was just once on the cheek." But as the day progressed and she repeated it again and again, I couldn't deny it.

Finally, as the sun set and the two were exitting the park. We were about ready to leave as well, but then I spotted something. I wasn't sure from this far away, but it looked almost like...

Locke

Meadow released my arm as we exitted the park, then surprised me. "Are you ready now?" she asked. At first, I didn't know what she was talking about, then she smiled, put her hands on my shoulders, and closed her eyes. It was clear what she wanted.

I flushed bright red. "A-are you sure we should do this now? I mean, this is only our second date, and after that whole ordeal with Goten..."

Her eyes opened and she looked annoyed. "Please don't remind me about that while I'm having a good time." I gulped and nodded. "And I really don't care if it's our second date. If we both want to, we should. Heck, I've known people who kiss before their first date."

"Well-"

"Hold it!" We both looked to our side to see Goten dropping to the ground.

Trunks dropped down just after. "Leave them alone, dude," he said. "This is none of your business."

Goten ignored him. "Locke, I thought you said you were going to wait until I made my move."

"I did," I responded. "You made it yesterday."

Goten appeared to get angrier. "Then why does it look like you're already her boyfriend?"

"Because he is," Meadow said just as angrilly. "As of last night."

Goten's face became shocked, then angry once again. "What the hell is wrong with you, stealing your friend's crush like this? It's against bro code!"

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "Did you just say 'bro code'? When was the last time anybody said that?"

"Not helping!"

"And why should I be? You're clearly in the wrong here."

Goten ground his teeth, then pointed at me. "How about I show you the strength of a Saiyan? Then you'll want me back!"
"No, I won't!" Meadow almost yelled. "Why do you seem to think that strength is all that matters to me?" She hugged my arm again. "Goten, I'm sorry, but Locke is the one I like. I still want to be friends, I really do, but if you keep going on like this, then, well... I don't think I can do that." Goten's anger turned into hurt shock, then he slowly turned away. A blue aura surrounded him and he blasted into the sky.

Trunks sighed. "Sorry for the trouble guys," he said. "No hard feelings?"

Meadow nodded. "Just try to help him through this. I meant it when I said I wanted to stay friends." Trunks took off after Goten, leaving us alone again. "I guess that kiss is out of the question now," she sighed.

I walked her home, then returned home myself. Cell was staring intently at the TV while Xenowars 2 played, with Mom sitting beside him, withholding her laughter at his out-of-character behavior. I smiled, but it was interrupted by a yawn. Two days of training and a date was pretty tiring. I went right to bed, expecting even more riggorus training the next day.