Super Dragon Ball: Paradise Hysteria

All To Ourselves

"It should be about time, shouldn't it?" Kami Upa turned to Mr. Popo who was sweeping the God Temple and maintaining it after the training of everyone awaiting their turn in the Room of Spirit and Time grazed and cracked many of the tiles decorating the temple grounds. After straightening his back, Mr. Popo dragged the back of his hand across his forehead, crossed his arms behind his back, and nonchalantly strutted off inside the temple.

Kami Upa followed. Seeing the pair becoming serious and vanishing inside the temple grounds made Chayote, Chi-Chi, Muten Roshi and Videl cease training with the less disciplined students noticing something was off only when their mentors and sparring partners began acting strange. Everyone rushed after Kami Upa and Mr. Popo. Inside the temple, Mr. Popo walked upstairs and approached an ancient wooden pendulum clock. After staring at it blankly for a brief pause, Mr. Popo turned around to face Kami Upa.

"Yes, it should be time," Mr. Popo nodded.

With a hasty step, the fighters rushed off through the endless hallways deceptively concealed within the limited size of the God's Temple palace. After approaching the old wooden door leading into the Room of Spirit and Time, the assembled warriors and attendants stopped and began waiting patiently for Goku and Piccolo to leave the Room of Spirit and Time.

They would not need to wait for long, as just a couple of minutes later, the door's handle turned, and the door sprung wide open with bright light shooting out from inside the room. Raggedy and sweaty, yet looking content and confident, Goku and Piccolo walked out of the Room of Spirit and Time and faced the welcoming committee.

"Yo! We're done, whose turn is it now?" Goku snickered with a sheepish grin.

"Never mind that now," Piccolo grumbled with his arms crossed, eyes closed, and chin tucked to his chest. "Did anything happen while we were training? Did Cell reveal itself or what it was up to?"

Pearl tried finding the broadest pair of shoulders to hide behind, but most were either too short or too frail while powered-down to serve as viable cover. The woman had long since wept her make-up clean off her face, so there was no concealing the swelling of constant crying on her face. No matter how much Sharpner tried offering gentlemanly comforting or Chi-Chi tried relating to the struggles of the other half of a martial artist constantly fending off threats against the planet or the entire universe, the woman was a shaking bundle of nerves and depression. It was Pearl who attracted Piccolo's attention as the party who wasn't here the last time Piccolo saw the temple grounds before entering the Room of Spirit and Time.

"Navy, we're up now," Chayote turned to the energetic pre-schooler, who was pumping his fists and knees impatiently, waiting for his mother to utter those exact words in that exact order.

"Wait, Chayote," Goku turned to the short Saiyan woman with an even shorter fuse before they passed each other. "Don't focus too much on just powering up in there. Try to learn to control your Legendary Super Saiyan form. I've already just about mastered Super Saiyan 2, so there's no use in you chasing after it."

"Don't tell me what to do, Kakarot," Chayote answered without as much as looking at the Saiyan. After replying, Chayote and Navy walked into the light with the little troublemaker sticking out his tongue and pulling down his eyelid with one hand, while flipping Goku off with the other. With a hopeful and content smirk, Goku turned back at the gathered fighters welcoming him and Piccolo after a grueling year inside the Room of Spirit and Time training to the best of their abilities.

*****

"Hmm... So, Cell targeted Yamcha then, huh?" Piccolo noted with his eyes closed and his solemn expression perfectly reflecting the grueling situation that they were in. "That means that everyone else looking for the Ultimate Dragon Balls is a potential target too. Also, Cell possessing the Instant Transmission is the worst-case scenario for us. It can be anywhere, at any instant, and vanish without a trace whenever it feels like."