Dragon Ball © Akira Toriyama, Shuheisha, Inc.

Chapter 30: Goku's Awakening

Three days had passed since the androids' awakening and they had no idea about what the androids did at that very moment while Cell was finally on the move. It was hard not to peek through the window and not to see the horrible scenes of androids destroying everything, yet she had to do that since she was the only capable fighter in the house as long as her father was asleep.

"Well, we can't tell if we die the next second but one thing that I can tell is that everyone is going to get hungry a few minutes from now." Her belly made a low growl to support her mother's statement. Despite the ongoing urgency, her mother never ceased to amaze her with how casually she lived her moment.

She jiggled the baby toy while keeping her eyes on the endless horizon of the sea until Goten climbed on her lap. "Well, aren't you a big boy now? How come you've grown so much in just three days?"

"He's a Saiyan. He eats like one," her mother said in a sing-song tone while feeding her baby self with milk. "You also eat like one, Tenten."

She chuckled. "Still, I got beaten by the boys in that aspect, Kā-san. I never managed to win an eating competition against them." That was the simple conversation she had missed so much in her time. "Also, in power…" She sighed at the recollection of how far she was left in power development, though she always managed to cover the loss in terms of speed.

When she finished feeding her daughter, Chichi carried her baby and sat beside Tenten, pulling her head so she could rest it on her shoulder.

"Kā-san?"

"How was Goten in the future? Was he naughty? Or good like Gohan?"

Tenten snorted. "He was way more than naughty! Onii-san was like a saint compared to Goten! You know, Kā-san! He was actually…" She shared a lot of things with her mother: the naughtiness her twin brother always pulled against her, their adventures, and finally how he died protecting her. No tears were flowing, but she couldn't find her voice to continue.

"What a brave man you were, Goten," Chichi softly said as she pinched Goten's cheek.

"He was." Tenten pulled the baby into her embrace. "He was a great warrior."

"And so you are, sweetie." Chichi gently tucked the hair that fell to Tenten's face.

She snorted. "I did nothing but watch their backs, Kā-san…"

"Then that's probably your role for them, Tenten. You watch their backs." Tenten blinked at her mother's response. "Your father might be the hero of all the battles he fought before, but do you think that he was the only winner?" Chichi shook her head. "Bulma and her father had also won their fight. If not because they fixed the spaceship, we would get nowhere. Your brother won his fight because he managed to defend the Namekian, and I won my fight because I cooked for them so they were strong enough to fight—that was a lot of work!"

Tenten giggled. "Indeed. That's hard, Kā-san."

"You see, Sweetie. This is a fight that your father can't win alone without everyone around us. You watch their backs not because you're protected, Tenten." Chichi gently caressed her hair. "They could fight because they have you to watch their backs."

This, she widened her eyes. Looking back, she reminisced the moments when they were going forward to battles while giving her a meaningful smile.

"You stay here and watch for us, Tenten! Counting on you!"

Tightening her lips, Tenten allow her body to slump on her mother, putting her arms around her. "I want to be stronger, Okā-san…"

"You will, sweetie. You'll grow stronger…" She closed her eyes as her mother gently caressed her cheeks. Her mother's lotus scent had never been failed to soothe her calm no matter what the state she was in; happy, sad, or when she was upset.

She wondered if she could be strong enough even if it was to watch everyone's back.

Though losing to the androids, watching Vegeta's fight alone had given her an idea of how strong the alpha generations could be. What kind of training would her father do when he awoke later?

Climbing the stairs, she was so busy with her thoughts that she didn't notice a shadow standing by the window. Tenten craned her head up and widened her eyes upon seeing Goten's figure, basking in the sunlight, shining so brightly that she had to cover her eyes with the back of her hand.

Goten?

When the light dissipated, she widened her eyes upon seeing the figure had turned his body slightly, giving her a smile that promised protection she had been missing for so long.

"Do I look that young, Little Bird?"

She clamped her mouth to hold her gasp. "O-Otō-san…" Her feet wasted no time running in her father's direction, her arms circled their way around her father's strong waist. Soon, she was drowned in the earthy musk scent she recently discovered belonged to her father. "You're awake! Finally, you're awake!"

Her beams and cheering approached her mother's ears and she ran all the way upstairs. "Goku! You're awake!" squealed Chichi as she joined the group hug.

"Hey there, Chichi. I'm so sorry that I'm making you worry about me," Goku said as he patted his wife's head. "But I will have to go somewhere now, Chichi." He then shifted his gaze to Tenten. "Are you ready?"

"What are you doing? You should stay in bed!"

Master Roshi entered the room and was startled to see Goku awake. "Goku! Surely you aren't well!? You should take your time and rest more!"

"I heard everyone talking in my dreams and I have a pretty good idea of what's going on. Something terrible is happening again, but don't worry. I won't fight yet. If Vegeta can't win, I can't win either. I plan to conserve my strength to transcend the Super Saiyan."

"Is it even possible? Transcending Super Saiyan, I mean …"

"I don't know yet. But I don't think there's any other way I can win. I'll train for one year, and give up if that's not enough." Goku headed towards the twins and knelt to kiss both of them on the forehead before patting their heads.

"One year? But we don't have that much time."

"There's a place where we can spend a whole year in a day." Her father went to the back of the wooden changing screen in the room and then reappear in his signature orange uniform. "Chichi, can I take Tenten and Gohan with me?"

"Not on your life!" There was a slight change in the room's atmosphere. It was hard not to direct her eyes to her mother to see how unreadable her expression was at that moment. A pregnant silence followed and for a moment, there was nothing but gaze exchange between the spouses. "At least would be my first reaction. But I know it's pointless to try to stop you. I'll have to give in. Make them as strong as you can while you're at it. But once this fight is over, I won't let you interfere with Gohan's studies again and I want you to get a job!"

Tenten rolled her eyes for a moment. A small part of her admired how her mother was still thinking about studies at such a grave moment.

"Okay, thank you Chichi!" Goku closed his distance and kissed his wife for a brief moment, making Tenten widen her eyes. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Goku. Please be safe."

Never she had thought that her parents would be so casually showing affection before anyone, especially with Master Roshi's presence in the room. She glanced at Master Roshi who was as surprised as she was.

Taking a glance at his wife before putting two fingers on his forehead, he said, "Tenten, come and hold my arm." Tenten did as she was told. "I'll be off then."

The moment when her father used Instant Transmission was almost the same as when the time machine jumped into another time. Millions of colours were clouding her eyes and for a moment, she could smell a field of grass, then a summer touch of the sea in those milliseconds. Suddenly, they were inside the plane, shocking all the warriors who were on their way to check Cell. They were overjoyed to see him awake and it was hard not to notice the gleam of hope in their eyes.

Goku didn't waste his time and immediately suggested everyone to use The Hyperbolic Time Chamber as he was going to do so. After picking up Gohan, he used the Instant Transmission again and her surroundings turned rocky brown. The temperature was drastically change and the next thing she knew, she was already on the rocky hill. Standing before them were Vegeta and Trunks who sat meters away from his father.

"Goku-san! Gohan-san! Tenten!"

"Hey, Trunks. How's the training going?" Goku asked.

Trunks shook his head. "It's no use … My father looks at me as a mistake. He just stood there for the past three days."

"Vegeta's a genius, all right. He's starting to see beyond Super Saiyan power," Goku said with a smirk. "I'll talk to your father. Please wait for me here." Goku jumped into Vegeta's spot, who didn't seem to be pleased with his presence.

Tenten shifted her eyes to Trunks, who gave her a small smile in return. There was something off with that smile so she approached him and held his arm.

"Is there something wrong?" She noticed a blemish on his right cheek. "Oh gosh! What was happening?" She put her palm over his cheek and healed it.

He narrowed his eyes and just shook his head. "Nothing happened. It's just he refused to train with me …" Then he stopped at that as his mind travelled to the event that transpired between him and his father three days ago.

"Tōu-san! You of all people should know better that it's better to train together! I too, want to transcend Super Saiyan!"

Vegeta scoffed. "Forget it. I better train all by myself."

"But Tōu-san!"

"Do you realise that your presence here is irritating!?" His words were like the thousand needles that pierced through his chest. He felt like his soul was absorbed out and all the pieces inside him were broken.

"W-what do you mean, Tōu-san…?"

"I'm spending my precious time to surpass Kakarot! But my son, out of all people, ogling over a low-class warrior's brat!"

The sudden flame of rage was flaring in his chest. He gritted his teeth to suppress the anger. "She has a name and Goku-san is not a low-class warrior! Why her heredity have anything to do in the first place?!"

Vegeta stormed towards him and grabbed his collar. "We're the Saiyan Royals! No low-class is worthy of our attention!"

"What Royals?! Can't you get over the fact that your kingdom has been destroyed and you're no one in here!" He got punched over his right cheek.

"Begone … before I get rid of you myself!" Vegeta breathily said as he walked to the cliff.

Trunks touched his chest to check if he still had it because instead of feeling the exploding rage, he strangely felt hollow instead. He couldn't even feel the pain he was supposed to feel at that moment.

Everything came down to him and he had the idea of why even his father couldn't accept his presence. He was the reason Gohan got killed; he couldn't protect his world and couldn't give Tenten the world she deserved.

He couldn't do even one single thing right.