??????? // ???? ? ?????? ? ?????

Her form lit up, glowing in the darkness like a distant star, a dying star. Filling the darkness with a thousand tiny lights, Y/n's soul finally disappeared, fading away as it took all of her memories, every single moment she had spent with them away. All that would remain of her would be inside their memories, something that they had always taken for granted, and something that Y/n had spent every moment of her life searching for. And now it was finally over, and she could finally lay her search to rest.

Gohan choked on a sob as he leaned over Y/n, pulling her into his lap. All of his guilt, and all of the pain that he had kept deep inside suddenly came rushing out too fast, and he couldn't breathe. It was suffocating, drowning him and pulling him down into the depths of everything he tried to forget. Only just a few years ago, he had met Y/n and introduced her into his world of adventure, and now she was gone. Everything good, and everything bad he had done to her was gone, and only he would remember all of the special moments they shared together.

Gohan didn't notice as Cell Max finally began to recover from Y/n's intense attack, the ground rumbling beneath him. Gohan didn't hear the yells of his friends as he held onto Y/n, unable to move a muscle. It wasn't until Piccolo had jumped in front of Gohan, holding up Cell Max's foot, did Gohan finally realize what was happening.

"Gohan, I know you're upset," Piccolo spoke in a strained voice, struggling to hold Cell Max up. "But you need to move! This isn't over yet!"

"R-Right," Gohan hesitated, his mind still catching up to reality. Scooping Y/n up into his arms, Gohan flew out of the way, taking her somewhere safe.

Piccolo struggled against Cell Max, gritting his teeth as he pushed. Even in his orange form, he was struggling against Cell Max. Piccolo's eyes widened in surprise as Krillin rushed to his side, helping to hold up Cell Max.

"Piccolo, get big!" Krillin said. Piccolo raised a brow in confusion, urging Krillin to explain. "Like when you fought Goku at the tournament! Get big!"

"Oh, yeah," Piccolo chuckled, lifting up Cell Max's foot. "I forgot I could do that."

Piccolo's body suddenly began to expand, pushing Cell Max off as he grew to Cell Max's size, taking the monster by surprise as he jumped back. Piccolo chuckled, standing up straight. He looked to his side, noticing Gohan staring up at him in amazement. "Gohan, come here."

Gohan almost flinched at the sound of his name, emotions still all over the place. Flying up to Piccolo, he watched in confusion as Piccolo dug around in his sash.

"It's hard to find at this size," Piccolo muttered as he furrowed his brows, before pulling out a tiny senzu bean. "Here, take this."

"H-Huh? I thought you ate that," Gohan looked at him with a raised brow. Piccolo huffed, shoving his finger against Gohan.

"Take it now. No arguing," Piccolo said. Gohan hummed, taking it into his hand. Popping the senzu bean into his mouth, the effects were almost instant as Gohan was back up to full power, transforming into his ultimate form. "Now, I want you to charge all of your power. He's weakened from Y/n's attack, and I think if you hit him with a strong enough Kamehameha or whatever, he'll self-destruct. I'm going to hold him in place, so get ready!"

"Wait, won't you get caught in the blast—?" Before Gohan's question could reach Piccolo, Cell Max rushed at him, Piccolo catching him by his hands.