Hello everybody. It's been over a month again and I am really tired of all the work that I did in order to get this chapter out. I really am starting to burn out a bit, but I don't want to stop this story. Anyway, since the chapter is in fact ready, let's get to the meat of things.

Chapter 64: Gohan and Trunks

Artificial Humans Saga Part 3: The Cell Games- Part 3

[Musical Cue #1: Opening- Time to Say Goodbye by Jeff Williams feat. Casey Lee Williams (RWBY Volume 2 OP)]

[Musical Cue #2: Ending- Creeping in My Soul by Cryoshell]

The entire group stared at the TV as Cell was standing proud and confident in front of the cameras. His frame, posture and body language oozed with charisma as he had a large smirk plastered all over his face while the people inside the news room were shaking in their boots. Even to the defenders of Earth this was a terrifying sight. They couldn't imagine to themselves how an ordinary everyman would react to the monstrosities that they had to defend the planet from every few years.

"Now, I should properly introduce myself." Perfect Cell said as he bow before the camera, being very theatrical in his presentation as his tone was very smarmy. "My name is Cell, or Perfect Cell if you would like to be precise. I am the ultimate life form, the combination of both science and nature. I was created by the now dead Dr. Archemadeus Gero of the Red Ribbon Army, as well as the deceased Dr. Jonathan Wheelo. That's right, I am the creation of two of this mud-ball's greatest minds, created from the genes of the strongest beings in the universe." Perfect Cell explained almost everything about him while talking formally with a small tingling of condescension in his voice towards everyone around him.

Tien growled. "That bastard. He's spilling the beans to everyone, trying to cause a massive panic." he said with anger and hatred in his voice as he clenched his hands into fists while he kept his snarling.

"That's actually the first time one of our enemies has introduced himself to the public. I wonder why." Raditz said as he thought he realized what the bug man was doing in his little showing.

Bulma simply shrugged. "Nah, not really. Piccolo Daimao did the exact same thing after gaining his youth. He did try to rule the world, after all. Not to mention the fact that Vegeta, Bryco and the third guy vaporized a city." she explained as she then felt a little relieved as she thought that she now knew what Cell was planning.

Almost immediately after the lavender-haired scientist finished her sentence, the female Saiyan perked up. "There was also the time where I first met Krilly-Billy when I came to Earth with some other guy from the colony to scout the universe. Krilly-Billy fought us in the middle of a city and won." she told an abridged story of her arrival to Earth as she then looked at the noseless monk. "Hey Krilly-Billy, do you remember that guy's name? Because I totally forgot what his name was...because he was a total jerk to me." she said with a big grin on her face while her tone was filled with childish enthusiasm as everyone else facepalmed with a groan, aside from Goku and the kids.

"Now that I have introduced myself, I should tell should you my great announcement to every citizen of this pathetic world." Cell said while keeping his arrogant and smarmy tone throughout, along with his wide smirk. "Now most of you ask if I want to rule the world, since the legendary Piccolo Daimao did fourteen years ago declared the same thing. Now if you don't know who Piccolo Daimao is, then you lack severe knowledge of your history and shame on you." he continued his speech as he finished pointing at the camera with his index finger.

"Wow, he is a great speaker." Goku complimented the bio-android with a smile on his face, trying to ease the tension in the room, only to be smacked on the back of the head by his wife, who angrily snarled at him.

Chi Chi snarled at her golden-haired husband as she bared her teeth at him. "Why are you just standing there?! Go over there and kick his sorry buns to kingdom come!" she demanded of him as she started hitting him against the chest angrily. "He's going to kill people! You have to go and stop him!" she kept shouting at him while he looked at her with confusion on his face.

It was then that Cell continued speaking. "However, all of you are wrong. I will destroy this planet down to the last atom." he declared, which really didn't shock the Z-Fighters, but probably would now cause massive havoc and riots across the entire planet. "But...But, but, but, but...I am going to give you a chance to save yourselves." he said as he raised his finger to probably shush all the screaming masses who were watching TV in their homes or in a bar or something like that. That line in and of itself shocked the entire group of Z-Fighters. "I am willing to give you a fighting chance, and if you prove yourselves good enough of a challenge for my might, I will spare your wretched planet." he spoke as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "One week from now, on May 24th, I will host a tournament in the Dagobah Heights wasteland. I call it "The Cell Games". On that day your greatest champions will face me in a 1v1 hand-to-hand combat for the fate of Planet Earth. Because I know how much you all love your 1v1 fights." he explained as he looked at the cameras smugly, obviously taunting the entire Z-Fighters.

Goku then perked up immediately. "A tournament where I fought Vegeta for the first time? Woo hoo! I'm going to enjoy this!" he shouted with the enthusiasm of a kid in his voice as he started hopping around in his spot, only for his brother to catch him by his gi and slam him against the ground, causing the entire building to shake.

"And before you even consider this a scam or a farce or not a genuine threat..." the ultimate life form said as he punched the wall, breaking it apart completely to the point that the concrete that it was made of turned into pebbles so small that they could do nothing to anyone if they hit someone's head, revealing the view of the town, including the mountain range that overlooked said city. He then raised his right hand and charged energy in his palms. "This little demonstration will be good enough to show that I mean business." he said as he fired the energy blast, entirely atomizing the mountain range completely, making all the people in the room to scream in fear. "See that? This is what will happen to planet Earth unless one of your champions can give me a fight so exhilarating that will convince me to spare you all." he continued on talking with a sense of smug grandeur, as if he knew that he had already won.

The Dragon Team looked at the screen with different types of reactions: Goku was exhilarated with the prospect of fighting Cell now more than ever. Raditz growled as he rubbed his left forearm, remembering the slap Semi-Perfect Cell gave him as he imagined himself beating the bastard to a pulp. Tien stayed silent as he squinted with pure contempt at the screen. Yamcha snarled at Cell's lack of care for what he was doing and Krillin looked mortified by what Cell did. The one who had been now examining what he was seeing and hearing coming from Cell's mouth in closer detail was Gohan.

"So, do we all understand each other? Good? Good. You all have one week to say goodbye to your loved ones, make peace with your life choices and piss yourselves, followed by a chorus of prayer to your god. But much like whoever guards this pathetic ball of water and mud, I won't be listening." Cell finished his speech as he flew out of the hole that he made, leaving screaming people behind him.

The greatest defenders planet Earth could provide, as well as their friends and families were standing or sitting with shock on their faces as none of them truly reacted to this. They now knew that he was challenging them and them alone on live TV. Suddenly Raditz broke the silence between everyone. "Okay, we've got seven days. We need to do our best to share the most of our days in the chamber, even if some will not be there the complete 24 hours. Who goes in next?" he said as he tried to organize the entire group together and form a strategy.

[Music Cue #1: Opening- Time to Say Goodbye]

Kami's Lookout, the day after the announcement,

The gang were waiting on the lookout for the pair of father and son duo of Vegeta and Trunks to come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and inform them both about the Cell Games, after they had already informed Katanaji about the situation and not managing to come up with an agreement upon who goes to the time chamber and for how long. Everyone had their own opinion about the subject.

"Why can't you understand that we Saiyans need to go first, Tien?! The more of us that master Super Saiyan will be more powerful than the Mastered Burst Limit!" Raditz shouted angrily at the three-eyed martial artist as he was frustrated at the human for his aggressive behavior.

"Because you just want to to hog the chamber for yourselves! What if we humans don't get the time to use the chamber before the Cell Games start, huh? What then?! Will we just be canon fodder for you or Goku?! I refuse to just sit on the side and be a cheerleader. I am a Tenkaichi Budokai champion and I will fight Cell if I have to! For that I will need to train as hard as possible!" the Crane School warrior shouted angrily at the burly Saiyan with a frustrated tone to his voice.

It was then that Katanaji joined the argument between the two. "You know, both of you are right." he said as the two defenders of the planet looked at him with confused looks. "Mastered Super Saiyan is stronger than Mastered Burst Limit, so we need as many Saiyans with it as possible before Cell's little tournament can begin." he said as he brought the facts to the table to cool things down. "But Raditz, are you really going to trust someone like Vegeta, Bryo or Archako with the fate of the planet? Of all people everyone here, those three have a very big chance of messing things up." he told the long-haired son of Bardock with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"HEY!" Bryco and Archako shouted in unison with an offended tone to their voices as they glared at the tall Namekian. "Do not compare me with those two." they continued to talk in unison as they also both pointed at the Namekian with, only to look and see the other doing the same, making them point at each other accusingly. "Don't you copy me! I mean it!" she shouted at each other and growled.

"Oh goody, I leave for 24 hours and the honorable, gullible one is already talking like the obnoxious one. Truly it's the end of the world as we know it if this is what's happening." a snarky remark was heard as Mr. Popo appeared next to the tallest tree in the garden with an unreadable, emotionless expression on his face. He then looked at Katanaji and bowed. "Hello there, Mr. Namekian formerly known as Kami. I am Mr. Popo and this is my crib. Everyone here ranges from smart and practical, annoying and an idiot. Then there is Goku, who is a bigger idiot. May your ageless life be comfortable here." he said with a formal tone as he mocked everyone there with an emotionless tone to his voice as his eyes were focused on the tall green alien.

Goku smiled brightly. "Mr. Popo, good to see you back." he said happily as if he was talking to an old friend he hasn't seen in many years, to which the djinn simply made an affirming sound and ignored the Super Saiyan.

It was then that Katanaji stepped forward and bowed before the chubby genie. "It's always good to see you, Mr. Popo. I am sorry that you lost your friend just so that I would be born, but I would try my best to be good company." he told the the genie as he closed his eyes and remained completely calm, despite knowing that the person he was talking to was upset specifically at him.

There were a few seconds of silence as everyone waited to see how the pitch-black skinned attendant of the lookout out react, with everyone there frozen and waiting for anything that said attendant would say or do to the tall Namekian. "Sure, sounds like a way to pass the time." the genie said with an emotionless tone to his voice and a vacant and emotionless expression on his face to match it. "I just spent 24 hours fucking my fury out onto someone who can take it, so I'm feeling rather pleased right now. But first I have to restock the Hyperbolic Time Chamber." he told the group as his eyes turned to the entrance to the palace itself.

Suddenly everyone felt a giant jolt of ki hit them as two immense powers entered their reality, as the royal Saiyan and his time traveling son from the future exited the time chamber. After about a few minutes until the pair came out of the palace, as the rest of the Z-Fighters gathered around the entrance to greet them back. When they came out they saw both the full-blooded royal Saiyan and the demi-Saiyan in their Super Saiyan forms, just like Goku and Gohan. Their armors were in tatters, the breastplate that Vegeta wore had been completely destroyed along with most of his top, leaving only a few strands remaining from the top of the spandex and white, torn gloves on his hands as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Trunks himself had longer hair as a Super Saiyan, which spiked in every direction except for forward. His breastplate he wore had been torn in half and had several tears along his entire blue spandex attire. He looked serious and stern, much like his father. Also like his father, he had his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Vegeta glared at the group of fighters for a few seconds as he examined them with an analytical look in his eyes, before snobbishly and smugly sniffed the air with a stern expression on his face, much to the annoyance of the rest of the group with the exception of Goku. After he stopped his little sniffing act, he returned to glaring at the group. "Do you know what I smell, boy?" he asked as he obviously addressed his son with a serious tone to his voice.

The time traveler simply rolled his eyes. "A bunch of weaklings?" he asked with an annoyed tone to his voice, as it seems like he knew what was coming and was either sick of it or didn't like it whatsoever.

"A bunch of weaklings." Vegeta repeated with a smug grin on his face as he glared at everyone, making everyone scowl at him, aside from Goku again. He gave every single one of the defenders of Earth a smug look as he lorded himself over them with a satisfied grin on his face. "You all need to worry, I will deal with Cell with both hands behind my back while you peons build a golden statue in my honor." he declared as his short figure oozed with pride and confidence as his ego seemed to have spiked to new levels.

Then the tall, spiked-haired Saiyan started to sarcastically clap with a deadpan expression on his face. "Wow, I feel safer already. All hail Vegeta, prince of douchebags." he said mockingly as he kept on clapping. This in return caused the short Mastered Super Saiyan to glare at him with a venomous look in his eyes, which showed utter contempt and hate.

The prince sneered as he looked at his fellow Saiyan. "You better use your time in the chamber well, Bryco, because after I deal with Cell..." he threatened the man as he put a thumb to his throat as a death threat to the tallest Saiyan. The rest of the group tightened their muscles as they prepared to stop Vegeta in case he would try anything funny. Instead the prince walked off to the side with a stern expression on his face.

After a few moments, Trunks simply sighed and relaxed as he gave everyone a more relaxed smile. "So anything particularly important happened while dad and I were away?" he asked with an intrigued tone to his voice despite the smile that he carried on his face.

Gohan walked up to him and smiled back with his good and polite nature, before it turned into a more concerned scowl. "Cell made an announcement." he said, making the time traveling Mastered Super Saiyan concerned. "He is going to host a tournament in front of live cameras in six days for the fate of the planet. He is inviting anyone brave enough to fight him. Now we have to figure out who goes when into the chamber in preparation, which Tien rightly has a problem with." he informed the young man from the future about their current situation, which concerned said young man while intriguing the prince.

"Thank you!" the tri-clops said as he thanked the young boy. "At least someone understands! This is my planet as well, and I need to protect it as well. After Yamcha's mess I need the power to fix it." he said with anger and frustration in his voice, before pointing at Raditz. "And if you guys just hog it to yourselves, people like Krillin and I won't have the time to train. If that is selfish, I don't know what is." he ranted a he crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at the long-haired Saiyan.

"Let Raditz and Bryco go into the chamber first, Tien. Don't worry about the six days remaining." Katanaji was the one to speak next, causing all eyes to be on him, with the bald, three-eyed martial artist glaring at him with fury and sneering from what he just heard the Namekian say.

"Excuse you?! You're taking their side?!" he shouted furiously as he ground his teeth and clenched his hands into fists, raising his right hand in front of his face as he stormed towards the taller warrior, only to be stopped as the green-skinned alien did a small movement with his left hand, creating the magical circle that froze the human martial artist in his place.

"We have six more days. Raditz and Bryco will go today, you and I will go tomorrow and Krillin and Archako will go the third day. Goku, Gohan, Trunks and Vegeta will not be going for a second day and we will all have three days to rest and enjoy each other's company. We will also be able to get a new guardian and collect the dragon balls." the Namekian said as he had come up with ideas to settle the argument while speaking with a calm and collected tone to his voice, emitting the wisdom of both Kami and Piccolo.

"What?!" this time it was the golden haired prince who shouted angrily, enraged at the audacity of the giant of a Namekian to forbid him from going into the time chamber a second time. He then also walked up to the Namekian and raised his fist right in front of his face and sneered. "How dare you, a big slow slug like you, to tell me, the prince of all Saiyans what and what not do?! I am the strongest! The top dog here! Not you or your fucking fat genie," he screamed with a fiery passion as he pointed at the attendant of the lookout, who simply stared at the affair with an emotionless expression. "and not even that damned low-class clown" he said as he pointed at Goku and ground his teeth. "and especially not those two pathetic half-breeds!" he finished as he kept shouting and he turned his finger at both Gohan and Trunks.

Trunks simply rolled his eyes at this. "Love you too, dad." he said with a strained and sarcastic tone to his voice.

Tien kept growling as he was also getting angrier and angrier now with the Mastered Super Saiyan joining the conversation. "See! Do you really want this kind of power at the hands of a prick like Vegeta?! He spent one day in there and his own ego melted his brain!" the tri-clops said as he glanced at the prince with his eyes, as his body was completely frozen in place because of the Namekian's spell.

This made the short Super Saiyan to turn his rage against the human. "I can literally atomize you with a glare!" he shouted furiously.

This made the crane school martial artist smirk smugly at the furious prince. "And then what does it prove? Nothing. At this point it's just a game. If you do kill me, I win...and you know that." he spoke with confidence in his voice as his smug smirk towards the golden-haired prince showed no sign of fear. In response to that, the flame-haired warrior simply whispered something under his breath, ignited his aura and flew off the lookout. It was then that the bald fighter's face turned into a scowl and he glared into Katanaji's eyes. "I'm a human. This is my planet. Should I not have the power to protect it?! I trained all my life and I refuse to be left behind by everyone! Not by Goku, not by Yamcha, not by you and especially not Vegeta or any other Saiyan!" he screamed as his passion and anger grew with each word that came out of his mouth as he tried to fight his way out of the spell.

"And there it is. That hatred that has been trickling into your mind for years." the green-skinned alien said with a scowl on his face, surprising and confusing the three-eyed warrior. "You were once the most level-headed, wise and calm member of the defenders of the planet. Now your filled with contempt, jealousy and hatred for the Saiyan with very few exceptions. You talk about Vegeta, but I can't trust you with having great power. Not with your current mindset." Katanaji told the man, completely shocking him and making him realize how bad the things that he said for the last several years, with an increasing intensity of it in the last few days, causing him to lower his head in shame. "You get your head together, then we will go inside the room together. I won't take a refusal for an answer." Katanaji finished talking down to the crane student as he walked to the edge of the lookout and deactivated his spell.

There was a long silence on the lookout as everyone looked at Tien as he was on his knees, looking at the tiled floor of the floating lookout with shame all over his face. Goku wanted to comfort his friend, but he was stopped by his older brother, who put a hand on Goku's shoulder, confusion the Mastered Super Saiyan defender of the planet.

"Just let him think things by himself, Kakarot. This is something that he must deal with alone." the long-haired, burly Saiyan said with an uneasy tone to his voice as everyone looked at the bald martial artist with sympathy and empathy. They were all good friends and to see a friend feeling so down with himself hurt them as well.

At this point Gohan went and grabbed Trunks's hand and put his index and middle fingers on his brow. "I...think we should go." the young boy said as he looked at the three-eyed martial artist with an empathetic look in his eyes.

"Yeah...we should." the time traveler said as the two of them disappeared with Instant Transmission.

Inside her laboratory in the depth of Capsule Corp. headquarters, Bulma worked hard on a second project that she had in mind for a while now, and only with all of Gero and Wheelo's life work did she had what it took to create this side project. She worked hard on the inside wiring of some sort of robot that sat on her work table, her sight completely focused on the work that she didn't hear the immediate "ZIP!" sound of the Instant Transmission that echoed inside the room.

On the other table lied down Android Sixteen, who watched as the two demi-Saiyans instantly arrived with Gohan's teleportation ability, causing him to smile as he saw them. "Hello there. It is a pleasure to see you again so soon, Son Gohan." he said as he looked at the younger of the two Mastered Super Saiyan, who smiled back to the giant of a machine with the ginger Mohawk.

"It's nice to see you too, Android Sixteen." he replied, which finally got Bulma to stop what she was doing and raise her head from her work. She removed her goggles and turned around with a surprised expression on her face as she saw the two of them standing inside the room a little bit outside of the entrance.

"Huh? When did you-" she started to inquire the two Saiyans as she stopped herself mid-sentence as she seemed to remember how they probably entered the lab while she wasn't noticing. "Right, Instant Transmission...I need to remember that you have it now, Gohan. Otherwise you're going to give me a heart attack." she joked as she walked to the boy and ruffled his golden, spiky hair. She then looked at the now much taller Trunks with a confused and perplexed expression on her face as she cupped her hands around his cheeks. "Trunks?" she asked him with a confused expression on her face.

The time traveler smiled as his spiky, golden hair fell down and its color returned to it's regular Lavender hair, which was now so long that it reached down to his shoulders. His eyes turned back to their blue color as well. "Hey mom. I do admit that I changed physically a lot more than I expected in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber." he told her with a gentle and caring tone to his voice, showing that despite the hardships that molded him, despite the harsh and pragmatic tactics that he took, he was still a teenager who cared deeply for his mother, no matter the timeline.

The scientist chuckled as she passed her hair through her son from the future. "Ha, I'll say. You sure need a haircut right now. Maybe I can do it?" she asks him jokingly as she smirks at him.

There was a bit of silence in the room for a few moments as the mother and son didn't really know how to really continue the conversation. Luckily for them, Gohan quickly brought up a new subject to the conversation as he spiky hair fell down slightly and turned black in color, with him reverting to his base after such a long period in which he was a Super Saiyan. "So what are building there, Bulma?" he asked her as he tried to look at the project, which seemed to look like some sort of round robot with antennas.

A smirk of pride then showed on the face of the scientist as she walked behind the seemingly almost finished invention, looking like she was presenting it in a scientific conference or something, which made the eyes of Goku's son go wide and bright with a smile of excitement and anticipation. "This may not seem like much, but this little guy will be one of many in the future, and it will put scouters to shame!" she declared as she looked at the two demi-Saiyans, with the older one looking quite confused.

"Wait, what are scouters?" he asked with a perplexed tone to his voice as he raised an eyebrow.

However, his question was left unanswered as he was quickly cut by the younger and livelier version of his master quickly jumped up with a question of his own. "How? In what manner is it superior to scouters? Why would we even need it?" he started asking questions as he showed how interested and excited to hear about this new invention.

This made Bulma smirk as she tapped on the robot. "Well, while scouters scan your power levels and produces some numbers that I don't have a basis of, this baby will produce numbers that we are aware of and will be able to scan their full energy emission capabilities without the target even being at their maximum capacity." she said as she opened it up and started to do some stuff inside it for nearly a minute before closing it. "And done." she said as she took out something out of the pocket of her white lab coat.

The item that she took out looked like a scouted and she put on the table next to the round device. She then opened the side of the device and took out a long, thin cable and within a minute connected it to the scouter, which she then put on her left eye.

The young son of Earth's greatest fighter then raised an eyebrow as well. "So what you're saying is that this device can calculate our max power even if we are suppressed?" he inquired as he looked closely at the device, not knowing how true that claim could be, even if it was made by a brilliant scientist like Bulma.

The lavender-haired scientist in retort to the question simply acted offended. "Are you saying you don't trust my judgement? Have all of our adventures do not count for anything?" she asked him with an obviously fake hurtful voice as she tried to be as melodramatic as possible, to which both demi-Saiyans rolled their eyes at.

"Okay, okay. I trust you." the young demi-Saiyan said as he smiled while sighing and rolling his eyes, knowing the heiress of Capsule Corp. for his entire life. "Okay, fine. I'll let you scan my power if that makes you happy." he told her with a defeated smile on his face as he figured out that she would just either guilt him or Trunks to be a guinea pig for her device. Better it be him.

Bulma smiled wildly as she gave the young boy a peck on his brow. "Thank you, Gohan. I assure you that you won't regret it." she said with a cheeky and joyful tone to her voice as she pressed on several buttons on the round robot and several beeps occurred on the scouter that she wore. The beeping lasted for longer than a scouter would, until it made a different beeping sound after about 15 seconds.

The scientist looked satisfied with herself as she ran to another table and took a pen and a paper for a few seconds, which got the boy really interested as he saw the woman writing frantically on a piece of paper. Then she returned to the two half-Saiyans with a smile on her face. "Okay Gohan, here is what I got. From I watched on the scouter from the scanning data of my robot, your regular state started in a suppressed state which emitted 14,000 Joules, which is not that much." she informed them as the three looked at the piece of paper.

"Yeah, I imagined that my control of my strength isn't perfect yet." he said nonchalantly, as if he wasn't very surprised about this. While the two were talking, Trunks just looked perplexed as he didn't really understood all of that. He never was a part of his version of his mother's science experiments.

"Well," the scientist said as then pointed to another number, which seemed to shock the boy, which caused even more confusion for the time traveling swordsman. "And as you can see, the scanning started to rise in the amount of Joules until it beeped, reaching a maximum of 1.6 times 10 to the power of 44, also known as-" she started to explain to the son of her best friend, but she was cut before she continued her sentence.

"160 Tredecillion Joules, also known as 1.6 Tenakilotons of energy, which is the equivalent of a large star." Goku's son said with wide eyes as his jaw fell to the floor, while Trunks finally understood something from their conversation, remembering an astrology class that his mother gave him when he was young. So right now Gohan in his base form was as powerful as a star.

Despite the large reading, this made the scientist smirk. "Well, seems like my invention worked." she said proudly as she put down everything down and cleaned her hands while the ginger android lied down on a different table, looking at everything but staying silent throughout the entire presentation.

'This seems like she used the notes from Dr. Gero's lab about power assessment and modified it. That is something he would expect of someone intelligently capable as her.' he thought to himself with a smirk on his face.

After a little bit of time the younger of the two demi-Saiyans managed to regain his barrings and shock his head to take himself out of his shock as he gave an awkward smile to the scientist as he also chuckled awkwardly. "Well, that's a really good invention, Bulma, but I really wanted to get away from everyone else and just spend some time alone with Trunks." he told her as he put two fingers on his forehead and looked at the time traveler. "I'll be heading home to change clothes. See you in a bit, Trunks. We'll go to the park." he said very quickly as he disappeared instantly with only the "ZIP!" sound being heard when he did.

After a while the two half-Saiyans were walking around in an amusement park in their base forms as they both looked like a pair of civilians just enjoying themselves. In front of them Bra was running ahead, looking around at all the rides that she could go on to have fun.

It was also an entirely new experience for the two boys, as they had never gone to an amusement park before in their lives. For Gohan it was because he lived in the woods on top of a mountain and always trained in wastelands and on the lookout with Mr. Piccolo and Uncle Raditz, or was simply studying all day either alone at him under his mom's watchful eyes, or in Capsule Corp. alongside Bra under that tutorship of Bulma. For Trunks it was a new experience because well...in his future all amusement parks were either destroyed by the cyborgs or were used solely by them to have a bit more fun between their times of destruction.

The time traveling swordsman had left his sword and Saiyan armor at this timeline's version of his home to be repaired by his mother. In the meantime he wore a pair of dark jeans with a black leather belt tying it tight to his now more muscular figure. He also wore a black tank top with the dark-blue Capsule Corp. jacket that he brought with him from the future. He also wore a pair of fingerless white gloves on his hands as well as a yellow pair of boots with black soles and straps on them, giving himself a look that he believed suited him. His long, lavender-colored hair was also gathered as a ponytail from behind and was tied with a few dark-brown bands, giving his hair less of a girly look to it.

Gohan meanwhile was wearing a more traditional clothing. Instead of his gi top he was wearing a white Changshan with a silvery pattern on it, with his pants being more black in color to contrast the white top. His shoes were a more formal in appearance and were black in color, making him look extremely formal. As they walked along the road of the amusement park, both of them looked with excitement and awe at the rides across the park. Sure, flying was probably was much better for them, but this was still something new for them to experience.

"So..." the black-haired boy said awkwardly, gaining the attention of the older demi-Saiyan. "This is your first time in an amusement park. How does it feel like to you?" he asked with a bit of a nervous tone with a strained smile on his face, not really knowing how to really address the older half-breed in such a lively situation, where he had probably never been in before, given his horrific timeline.

Trunks started to look around as he saw lines of people whom were trying to look lively and happy, despite the obvious fear in the eyes of the adults as a result of the announcement made by Cell a day earlier. Still, if these people wanted to spend their times with their families having fun, this was just a good thing in its own way. Thinking about his own family, Trunks smiled a bit as he looked forward. "Honestly, seeing a place so lively? It's completely alien to me, aside from the looming sense of danger of course." he joked as he kept looking around at the families trying to enjoy themselves in this new sense of fear. "Seeing so many people trying to be happy with their families just makes me a bit happy on the inside as well." he told the younger version of his master as he kept his hands in the pockets of his pants.

"Happy, huh?" Gohan asked as a smile formed on his face as his posture was more refined and formal, despite having a relaxed feeling about it.

"Yeah, it really does makes me happy. To know that there were people who are happy together and can at least enjoy their lives, even if they are afraid of the end of the world. In my timeline families still did a lot of things together, but there were never more than a hundred people on the streets at a given time. They would mostly scavenge for resources and work in places the cyborgs needed to work for their own needs." the time traveler explained as the two continued to walk on the road of the crowded park.

Then the two stopped as the daughter of Bulma ran back to them. "Hey, so how about we first go to the biggest, largest, fastest roller coaster around here and then go to the giant Ferris wheel and after that we'll go get some ice cream. Sounds good?" she asked them with child-like enthusiasm that made the two demi-Saiyans smile brightly.

"Alright, sounds great, Bra." Gohan said to her as he then looked at the swordsman from the future. "Sounds good, Trunks?" he asked the young man as he crossed his hands behind his back and gave him his signature Son smile.

"Yeah, big little brother Trunks, what do you think?" Bra asked the older version of her younger brother with two big puppy dog eyes, trying to convince him to agree to her plan.

Trunks pretended to think about answering for a few seconds, before simply giving the younger version of his older sister with a warm and reassuring smile. "Sure, sounds good to me." he said with a warm tone to his voice as he talked like an older brother, which felt particularly weird considering the fact that he was talking to the kid versions of his master and older sister. The occurrences of time travel.

Bra simply clapped her hand and grinned. "Well, that settles it. We're going to the roller coaster right now." she chirped while ordering the two boys around while having a big smile on her face as she started to walk towards one of the rides ahead, which was the roller coaster in question.

Gohan then smiled as he looked at his friend. "Sure thing, Bra. Trunks and I are just going to finish our conversation. You can stand in line and we'll teleport there." he told her as he even demonstrated by putting his right index and middle finger on his forehead and smiled gleefully in a very similar fashion to his father, which the lavender-hair time traveler nodded to in agreement.

This made the lavender-haired girl to scowl at the two as she stomped towards her young friend and pocket her finger in his chest, in a very similar fashion to her own mother. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. You are not teleporting here or there whenever and wherever you want. You're going to walk with me like regular people and do as I say and we are going to behave like normal people." she told them with a bit of an annoyed and bossy tone to her voice. "You are my best friend," she said as he tapped against Gohan's chest several time and then pointed at the Trunks from the future. "and you are my big brother, so you are going to do as I say!" she finally raised her voice and pouted like a child before walking away towards the roller coaster.

The two half-Saiyans were silent for a few seconds as they didn't really know how to really respond to this. Then Trunks smiled awkwardly. "Well, I can at least say that this Bra is much livelier than my older sister." he joked with Gohan and a slightly frightened smile on his face. After about a second of silence, the two shared a laugh before following the girl.

To say that the three had fun was an understatement. Despite the fact that the rides were far inferior to flying freely in the air like they did, both Gohan and Future Trunks couldn't deny that the speed in which the roller coaster drove, along with all the twirls and hoops that it did was a wild and fun ride. It had certainly gave the two of them an idea for new ways to enjoy their flying capabilities in the future.

Then they went to the Ferris wheel, and despite its slow speed and the fact that they could reach far higher into the sky by themselves, they couldn't deny that sitting up high and watching the large masses of people walking around the amusement park with their dates, their friends and even with their children made the future warrior smile brightly and made his face beam with hope, hope for this timeline to be different than his own.

After about ten minutes up there, in which Trunks got to think a little bit for himself, the three walked over to an ice cream stand, with both of the kids running with excitement and joy on their face, while Trunks walked behind them with a reminiscing and hopeful smile on his face. This made him so happy to those two happy on their face. It reminded him of his sister and master from his time, remembering them flirting with each other and maybe even kissing, thinking they are being secretive about it. He never really thought that their relationship was his business, but seeing them happy always made him smile.

"Come on, Trunks. Hurry up." the younger version of his older sister called him as she was being bossy and pushy again, but this didn't really bothered the swordsman at all. In fact, it made him think of his mother of this timeline and a little bit of his mother from his timeline. He could see that bullheaded stubbornness in her that was in his mother from the time that he spent with her here. He could see how much she was becoming to the scientist in personality made him smile, remembering the depressed young woman who sealed herself in her room.

When he reached the stand, he notice that the two kids were talking to the vendor about what they wanted and who would pay, only to look at the older Trunks when he arrived. "Trunks, so what do you want? There are a tons of flavors here." the son of Earth's greatest protector asked him as he was looking hungrily at all the types of ice cream.

The time traveler looked at all the types and seemed a bit conflicted for a bit about the question. To him, the green color of the mint ice cream wasn't very appealing to him and the fact that the strawberry flavor's pink color was confusing. To him there was never really ice cream, so he really didn't know what to say.

He then awkwardly looked at the girl with a confused and lost expression on his face. "I...don't really know what I want." he spoke with honesty as he didn't have a real option to what flavor of the cold delicacy he wanted.

Almost immediately after speaking about the swordsman's indecision, the other demi-Saiyan spoke up with a smile on his face. "Well, you can just go for some basic flavors like chocolate and vanilla. They are tasty enough on their own." he suggested with a kind smile on his face as the vendor patiently listened and waited for the order.

This made the young Brief girl to snort. "Of course you would say that." she said to her best friend jokingly as she then looked at the future version of her younger brother. "Look, the best thing to do when you first eat ice cream is to thing about what food you like, check if it's a flavor and then buy it, no matter how weird or expensive is it." she told him with a mentoring tone to her voice as she talked like a teacher, which Future Trunks did admit was funny in a way. "Plus I'm paying, so I get the final word." she said as her lips turned into a cheeky grin, making all three of them laugh.

Eventually they all bought themselves ice cream and sat down on a bench in the middle of the park, watching people whom walked past them while enjoying their cold treats. There was a bit of silence between the three as they seemed too focused on their food, but the one who seemed the least focused was actually Gohan.

"Trunks," he suddenly spoke up with a bit a distant and slightly saddened tone to his voice, as he seemed troubled about something, which immediately got the attention of both of Bulma's children, the child and adolescent alike. "What did my future self wanted in life? What kind of dream did he have?" he asked as his tone and expression reminded the lavender-haired young man a very familiar memory of his older sister, looking depressed almost constantly.

However, before Trunks could answer, Bra quickly interrupted and started talking herself. "Why are you interested in that all of a sudden, Gohan? Is something wrong?" she asked, concerned for the boy whom she considered her best friend. Trunks saw that it was the concern of a friend trying to help, but he knew that because Bra wasn't a fighter, she couldn't really understand Gohan that well.

Gohan simply lowered his head and licked his ice cream several times before answering the question. "Well...I've been thinking for the last day about something. What is my dream? What does becoming a scholar really means? Should I give up on defending the Earth when I have the power to do so and rely on others like dad, Uncle Raditz and Mr. Pi...Katanaji?" he started asking the two as he looked up as he stopped himself from saying Piccolo's name as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "Most importantly, what am I willing to do to make sure that I can achieve my dreams?" he continued to ask, causing his grip to become so harsh that he broke the ice cream cone into splinters, but that didn't really bother him at the moment.

A realization suddenly hit Future Trunks. "You want to know if Master Gohan had some sort of revelation that affected his dreams and desires for the future?" he asked trying to confirm his suspicion of the point the younger version of his master was trying to reach, not really sure of whether or not to tell the full truth.

The son of Earth's greatest fighter simply looked at the time traveler and nodded. "Yeah." he said quietly as he lowered his head and watched the ice cream melting on his hand and dirtying his tunic after the cone had been broken apart. A part of him really seemed to be conflicted and lost about these questions, so Trunks decided not to hold back what his master had told him.

He took a deep breath as he looked at the half-Saiyan boy. "To be honest, he didn't believe that he had a future. He just wanted to die." he stated, shocking both the half-Saiyan and the lavender-haired girl sitting next to him. "He just believed that he needed to train the next generation of fighters and die fighting against the cyborgs. Then and only then he would be worthy of seeing his friends in the afterlife again. That's what you told me, Bra." he said, this time referring to his older sister, remembering his conversation with her and how it made things click to him about his master.

The two children looked completely shocked when they heard what the swordsman from the future just told them. "What?!" they said in unison as it wasn't something that the young human would ever say, especially about someone she could consider her best friend. "I said that?" she asked with an astounded and horrified expression on her face, filled with disbelief about how her future self talked.

This made Trunks chuckle. "Yeah well, you should have seen her at the time: barely ate, refused to leave her room, constantly looked outside a window into the sunset with a vacant expression. I think that this whole life under fear of the cyborgs truly broke her. The only thing that is keeping her alive is Pan." he said as a sad smile rose to his face as the image of the young, raven-black haired girl appeared in his mind.

"Pan?" the two kids again asked simultaneously as they both showed more and more interest when they pried into the timeline of the time traveler.

This actually made Trunks chuckle again, this time with amusement. "Yeah, my niece. She's your daughter. Of both of you. Mom never allowed you two to hear the end of it, for some unknown reason." he said with am amused smile, completely unaware of why his mother always showed so much enthusiasm in their relationship.

This made the two kids' jaws drop in shock as their eyes bugged out, only to then look at each other for a few seconds until their faces turned red as a tomato, which managed to amuse Future Trunks a little bit as he looked at them. "Yeah, she's great and was very lively and optimistic before Master Gohan died." he said with a sad smile on his face as he remembered the reactions of his master's three children, how crushed they were, how devastated to the point that they had transformed into Super Saiyans just like him.

His sad smile then changed into a regretful scowl as he looked at the younger version of his master. "But to answer your question I have to quote what he had told me himself." he started to explain as he kept the black-haired boy next to him and the experienced warrior that had taught him as two different people.

This got the boy interested instantly as he perked up as the swordsman started talking. "On the day that he gave me my sword, he talked about himself and how he felt about everything. About the fighting, about his family. He told me that for his entire life he was either another meat shield to protect the planet or used to further his mom's long lost fairy tale fantasy, and he was sick of all of that. That's when I should have realized that he just wanted to die." the man spoke with sadness and regret in his tone as he thought about that day in the woods, before the storm, before Master Gohan had decided to go fight against the cyborgs one last time.

This left the boy shocked once more, leaving him quiet for quite a while as he simply and silently looked down and allowed the words of his future self, or alternate self in this case, to drive themselves deep into his mind, leaving the two Briefs siblings by his sides waiting for him to react, trying to silently comfort him.

Then the boy finally put his hands over his face as he started to cry hard, weeping after the words that he had heard as their meaning finally dawned upon him fully, which shocked and frightened the two lavender-haired siblings and it also started to attract attention from the the people around them.

"Is this it? Is that really my destiny? To be so full of self-hate that I despise everything about my entire life? Despising my family? Despising my dream? And for all that hidden potential everyone keep talking about, for all the power and experience and the suffering, all of that I waste it by throwing my life away? Throwing a family away? That's my destiny?!" he questioned himself as his hands were soaked with his tears and his wails were becoming louder and louder. To Trunks, it looked like the boy was emotionally broken.

"Hey, don't say that, Gohan." Bra immediately tried to comfort her friend, trying to make him stop crying by supporting him as well as she could. "Just because it happened in one timeline doesn't mean that it will happen here." she said with a warm and comforting tone that was filled with compassion.

The boy slightly raised his head and looked at her as tears flowed down freely from his eyes. "No, but that is my destiny, because that's my life in a timeline that had not been altered by time travel, meaning that this was the path I was going to be set upon in all timelines had it not been for both Cell and Trunks." he explained as he returned to crying as even the young daughter of Bulma looked completely lost as to how help her friend in his current emotional state.

Trunks looked at Gohan as he heard him cry, and it reminded him of a very harsh memory that had been carved into him. It reminded him of Pan's cries when she wanted to check on her father, who had just been critically injured and lost an arm probably protecting him from the cyborgs, because he didn't listen. 'DADDY, WAKE UP!' the bellowing cries of his niece from that day echoed in his head as he looked at the crying Son Gohan that sat right next to him on a bench, falling into despair over the thoughts of destiny and what not. Then Future Trunks realized what he needed to say, what he had come here for.

The expression of the son of Vegeta turned into a stern glare as he looked at the son of Earth's greatest fighter. "Don't say that, Gohan." he said sharply, gaining the attention of the boy, who had raised his head up from his hands once again and looked at the lavender-haired son of Vegeta with a confused and despaired expression. "I think that we both forgot why I came back to the pass." he said while getting up, walking in front of the black-haired half-Saiyan and knelt in front of him, looking him dead in the eyes. "I came here so that none of that comes to pass, and it won't. Not even with Cell around." he said as his lips then turned into a confident smirk.

Gohan didn't say anything as he looked at Trunks and simply listened. "We are going to win because this time we have Goku with us." he explained as he managed to keep the boy focused on what he was saying to the point that he made him stop crying for a bit. "In my timeline Goku never got to fight the cyborgs and that's why we lost, because we didn't have his insight for things like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber or his Instant Transmission." he started explaining, further stopping the boy from his depressed shedding of tears. "And Master Gohan even told me how great of a hero Goku was. So I know that he will defeat Cell and this timeline will be saved. You will be able to live a different life than my master. To be whoever you figure yourself out to be." Trunks kept on talking as his smirk turned into a hopeful smile when he talked about Son Goku.

This finally made the boy smile as he had finally found hope again. "Thanks Trunks." he said with a grateful tone to his voice as he took out a handkerchief from one of his pockets and wiped his face clean from the mess of tears and snot.

"You're welcome." Future Trunks said with a big, warm smile on his face. "I want you to live a happy life. However, I think these people need someone to look up to. Someone they know who will defend them and keep them safe. I still think that you should be a hero, Gohan. Like you are to me." he said as he extended his hand to the son of Goku.

The boy then looked at him for a few seconds and smiled. "Maybe. I have a lot to think about. But I want you to promise me that you'll think about what you want in life. Who you want to be. Don't just be a fighter because you have to. Find something else to fill your heart." he told the time traveler with a serious and melancholic tone to his voice, showing that he had put a lot of weight to them as he grabbed the lavender-haired man's hand.

Trunks simply gave a gentle smile to Gohan as Bra finally spoke again. "So it seems you two have a promise to one another. So shake your hands already." she said with a huge smile on her face as her tone was filled with anticipation over the occurrence.

Smiling, the two half-breeds shook hands, sealing their promises to one another to live a full, satisfying life on their own terms, each in their own respective timelines.

{To Be Continued]

[Musical Cue #2: Ending- Creeping in My Soul by Cryoshell] *Chorus only*

Here I am
I am lost in your land
And I hope you will be
Creeping in my soul
Shadows fall, let me out
Hear my call
And I'll always believe

With six days until the Cell Games, Gohan and Trunks make a promise to each other as Raditz and Bryco are in the time chamber. Will all the Dragon Team grow strong enough to face Cell in his tournament? Will Goku truly be the only one capable of taking down the powerful bio-android? Find out on the next chapter of Changed Path...

Wow, an entire month. This took way too long and I didn't want it to take this long. However I wasn't really in writing moods all the time and I have writer's block over and over again. I knew what I wanted with Gohan and Trunks, but I just had so much trouble writing it down. Anyway, what did you guys think about the Gohan and Trunks section of this chapter. I also added Bra because I still want to show her as Gohan's friend, even if not as close of a friend as his family are and Piccolo himself was prior to the fusion.

Also I wanted kids to have fun, even for a tiny little bit of time in the scene. Is that so bad?

Anyway, let's get to the meat and potatoes of the end of chapter, shall we?

R&A:

R: Keep it up I love this story please.

A: Don't worry, I am. And thanks, good to hear some love.

R: I am REALLY hoping that Trunks calls Vegeta out on his assholery. I know it won't make him less of a jerk... but it WILL be emotionally satisfying.

A: Oh don't worry, I have already thought about a scene of Trunks calling out the entire Z-Fighters on their bullshit, Goku and Vegeta included. I really think it would be satisfying, at least for me. Also...yeah, Vegeta is a massive, massive prick.

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Okay, I'm finishing the chapter. I'll see you all next time in another month or so. Bye bye and stay safe.