Chapter 52 - I Am Not That Naïve

'How is Cell in his second form already? There is no way he absorbed the Androids already!'

"You seemed to discovered my base, let me formally introduce myself. I am Cell, the acclamation of the strongest warriors alive." His voice was soft and slippery like a snake. He really wanted to suck up the person in front of him. He didn't seem too strong. But the consequences that he was foretold rang in his ears.

He wasn't ready.

"Seems like my base was discovered, the tales of your prowess reach far and wide. Hehe..."

Something was off, Goku couldn't quite place it but Cell seemed too passive.

"Are you the one responsible for the disappearance of the people recently?"

"Haha, it wasn't quite me, you see..."

Cell kept on talking, about what he was doing in this base and who made him. It was actually interesting to learn about it since it was slightly different than the original timeline. But what's the goal of him giving away information?

"...and then I found this base- hrrrk!"

A transformed Goku decked Cell in the face forcing him to crash and break down the cell at the end of the hallway. Goku almost forgot what he was here for. Cell was stalling but he didn't know why.

Cell got up with rage that manifested in the aura around him.

"You dare touch my face you pile of filth?"

The Ape transformed Goku got ready to battle Second-Form Cell in the hallway. Cell was about to jump forward but was stopped by something and didn't go forward. Before Cell could get away and become more powerful, Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan and launched himself towards Cell.

Cell was able to react in time and jumped deeper into the room. Goku's punch whiffed and was about to chase Cell down more until he inspected the interior of the room closer. A giant metal contraption had several tubes coming out of it going into tanks that were empty.

From the way Cell was smiling at him, he knew he was too late to foil whatever plans he was doing. It doesn't matter as long as he kills him.

The blonde Saiyan disappeared from Cell's sight trying to catch him off guard. But like before Cell was not trying to fight a losing battle.

"Solar Flare!"

Such a cheap move into a cheap escape. Rushing down to the other door on the opposite side of the room, the furthest he got was opening the door and taking a step out before he felt another impact on his head.

The ki blast exploded on his head forcing him to go forward and imprint himself inside the metal wall of another hallway. The back part of Cell's head started to regenerate after getting blasted into bits.

Goku in all his Super Saiyan glory entered the pitch-black hallway barely illuminating the space around him.

"I am not that naive enough to fall for a stupid trick like that."

Although he would never know why Cell was in his Second-form nor know the location of the missing people yet, he would find out in time.

What he would also find is strange ki energy next to him that flared up in the darkness. Goku quickly fired in the darkness with a thin ki blast to where the energy signal was. Something much surprising than seeing another ki signature was missing that ki signature with his reaction time.

'That type of reaction time would but fps players to shame!'

The ki signature flared once again but behind him. Goku tried to turn around and deliver a backhanded punch, but the person did it first.

Flying back into the room and crashing into a stray desk, Goku's head was full of dizziness that he hadn't experienced in a long time.

"Yes! Now that he is out let me absorb him! I don't know why you were so cautious of him when you easily overpowered him!" Cell back on his feet after getting embarrassed over and over again started to walk over to Goku. That was until he was picked up by one hand on the neck and lifted like the bi*ch he was.

"Never question my judgment. That is not the full extent of his power."

Those were the only words he could make out in those few seconds he was groggy and immediately got back up. The culprit and Cell were nowhere to be found.

'Seems like I know why people said they saw a female.'

This female voice was incredibly strong and Cell was like a pawn. Goku was about to try to find traces of their ki and give chase before an explosion went off in the room that he first entered in. All of the data and evidence went in a flash.

Another one right next to him blew up. He was knocked off his feet from the force of the explosion. These weren't normal gunpower! These were pockets of ki exploding! Goku quickly needed to escape that situation but he couldn't leave empty-handed.

Looking at the biggest piece of evidence there was, he went up and uplifted the metal machine from its wires and tubing and dashed out of there. Going through the hallway where Cell and the girl presumably escaped from, he opened the latch going up and started to fly as fast as he can.

The hideout was crumbling under the pressure of the Earth without any support and Goku couldn't risk being buried tens of kilometers down in tons of dirt. Blasting through another fake tree above him, the hole that he just came out of filled itself with dirt.

One last explosion was heard underground with no traces of anything above in the desert. Wait, a tree in a desert? How did we not find this before?

---

Goku brought his entire haul down to the basement of Capsule Corps to get it broken down by Bulma. Bulla was already down here learning from her Mom about the ins and outs of capsules and their shrinking technology. Typical first-graders am I right.

"Ah, Daddy!" Placing down the large machine, he patted Bulla on the head when she came close.

"Hey, Bulma, can you check this out? I found it in one of Gero's lab underground."

"Sure. Bulla come over here and help me, I will need your strength."

As Bulma's daughter, Bulla was naturally gifted in intellect so Bulma has been teaching her basically anything. Although Gohan tries his best to keep up, you can only go so far against a genius. Of course, Goku is still training them vigorously where Gohan has the one up on Bulla.

Bulla walked to the machine and picked it up with ease. Flying over to an open area free from other projects, Bulma went to work.

An hour later, she was able to identify what it was.

"This is a machine that absorbs energy from a source and transfers it into its raw form. Nothing really out of the ordinary except for one concept. The energy that this machine targets is the mystical energy of ki! Someone with acute knowledge of the subject with expertise in machinery would be able to produce it. I could not even do it since my knowledge of ki is limited."

Goku felt like a detective trying to figure out all the puzzle pieces.

'It is safe to say that Future Trunks won't be visiting anytime soon. The machine could be Gero's work, that would make sense. But who is the female? Maybe I am overthinking it. Gero might've just made Andriod 19 into a girl for his sexual pleasure or something.'

---

3 months have passed since the encounter with Cell and the mysterious person. There have been no more sightings so far.

'They were probably scared off.' Thought Goku.

Goku was currently training with Caulifla and Kale attacking him in the gravity chamber. Their limits have far been reached, the next step is only achieving Super Saiyan.

Although they are geniuses of their own right, they still have a lower potential than Vegeta. From the fluctuations of ki lately, Vegeta recently achieved his Super Saiyan form. So they aren't far off but they aren't close either.

In regards to the Ape transformation, from the account of the three remaining Saiyans, it is nearly impossible to achieve and they would bet they would get Super Saiyan before that. Looks like Vegeta won his bet. The only reason Goku was able to get it relatively easy was due to his already nicer nature and the Shenron wish.

"Haa...Haa...man you are strong! I can feel it though! I am just a step away!" Caulifla was beaming with excitement at the prospect of getting a transformation. Kale on the other hand didn't feel close at all. What was wrong with her?

"I will be going into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with Gohan and Bulla today. I can feel that they are both close to achieving Super Saiyan as well. I would take you with me but..."

"It's cheating I tell you! That Hyper whatsit is super lame! I don't need to extend my time just to get it. Those kids are barely turning 9 and they are as strong as me! Watch, I will become a Super Saiyan before you come back out!"

"If you say so." Goku chuckled a bit from Caulifla's red face from yelling while exhausted. As expected of the hybrids, bypassing any conceivable notion of normalcy.

The scheduled time to leave was at night time. They didn't pack much stuff, just regular training clothes since the chamber already has everything ready.

"As I said, we will spend a year in there, but out here it will only be a day." He reminded everyone and took off. The two little kids scurried to catch up to him.

"Dad, why do we have to train so much? Won't you protect us already?" Gohan, although a genius at fighting, did not like to do it often. Of course, he was much more prone to it than the original, but he would rather not.

"Well when I die, there has to be someone to do it. You teach your children in the future so that the Earth will always be safe." There was also the good chance that although Goku had so many advantages reincarnating, the hybrids would surpass him.

The lookout came into view and they landed on top. They saw a surprise guest making his appearance.

"Uncle Piccolo!"

The meditating man was bombarded from hugs and fell over. The children were as strong as Piccolo so he had a much harder time peeling them off.

"Piccolo came back recently from his trip from Namek learning a lot for both of us. He has mellowed out since even bringing an apprentice for me to instruct." Kami came out of his temple when he heard the commotion. By his side was a smaller Namekian, the size of the children.

"H-Hi..." Dende said hi bringing him the attention of the other children. While they talked, Goku asked if he could use the temple.

"Why of course you can, right this way." Everyone went to follow Kami leaving Piccolo alone to get back to his meditation. Arriving at the brown door, Kami gave a brief rundown of the rules of the place and the three went inside.

They were met with the emptiness of nothingness that surrounded a temple...