What If
Author`s Note: The one you`ve all been waiting for...
Disclaimer: I wtn notido
Hybrid Theory: Opaque Portents
What if
It had almost been five solid minutes since Videl had knocked Hercule unconcious with the shot heard round the world by fans and fighters alike. She was still standing in the ring smiling through most of the time, content with her slice of glory while her father lay there, unconcious but with an apparently good thing happening in his dream, as evidenced by that half-smirk on his face. The crowds were still going wild for Videl`s victory, but in the lounge, things were becoming increasingly restless.Suta was anxious to get his match against Videl, Jun-Yah had returned and both he and Gohan looked half-ready to rip one another limb from limb almost every other time they glanced at each other, though the larger fighter`s face was almost entirely concealed beneath that cloak.
"She really is living it up out there, eh?" Tien uttered with a bit of mock surprise. "She just conquered what was probably the single largest obstacle in her life up to this point," Gohan replied calmly. "May as well let her live it up now." Tien gave a nod. "I suppose, but it`s pretty boring being sidelined with nothing to do but watch your girlfriend party around in the ring," he retorted. Gohan blushed. "She`s not my girlfriend..."
"Keep saying that, maybe someone will believe you at some point," Zangya interjected with a snicker, perching herself up on the sign while Piccolo moved up and stood next to Tien. "You people live to torture me, don`t you?" Gohan asked sourly. "As if you had any doubts?" Zangya asked. "Good point," he conceded defeatedly with a sigh. "The woman is always right Gohan, remember that," she added. "Bar the fact you`re a token slut," Piccolo mumbled. "A what?" Zangya asked, glancing over at Piccolo with that cheerfully murderous look most people seemed to misplace on ChiChi. "Bar the fact that you`re in a rut," he said a bit louder. "Yeah, this planet is a bit dingy," she replied with a shrug.
"I`m surrounded by insanity," Tien thought to himself, cracking a smirk at it all. He was on the edge of laughter when Zangya idly reached over out of no where and swiped Piccolo`s turban right off of his head, examining it briefly. "What kind of toilet paper is this?" She teased mercilessly, only to find it swiped right back out of her hands and securely placed back onto his head. "Don`t touch the turban, I will kill you," Piccolo grumbled in annoyance. "So edgy, you need to get out more," she replied. "And you say I`m the one with a significant other?" Gohan interjected at Zangya. "Eh?"
"Am I the one bickering with Piccolo like a Bulma and Vegeta?" He questioned sarcastically. Zangya fell over backwards onto her head from the signpost and Piccolo barely stopped himself from falling over as well, glaring knives, daggers, swords, spears and chainsaws at Gohan with a sneer that could liquify titanium. "Concession accepted," Gohan replied to the two of them with a smile. "Moving along now..."
Gohan glanced over at shoulder at Jun-Yah, meeting only what he felt was a solid glare harder than anything Piccolo was throwing at him by now. "You`ll have to come out of that damn thing sometime if you think you`ll be fighting me evenly," Gohan thought. After a few more seconds, Jun-Yah inched out of his corner and moved gradually towards the exit of the lounge, right as Videl, accompanied by an extremely dazed Hercule, walked in. Expectant of anything from a hug to at least a handshake, she was mildly offended when Gohan didn`t even notice her, or her father for that matter. Then she caught the direction he was looking in and noticed the fact that he was in a staredown with the fighter that Videl felt was the deciding factor. Gohan snorted and reached into his douji shirt, removing what looked like a small necklace and mindlessly tossing it to Videl.
"Congratulations," he said, beaming the infamous Son Grin at her. "For me?" Videl asked in mock surprise. "Well duh. Was... A gift... A good luck charm a friend gave me a long time ago, figured it was better in your hands than in mine," Gohan replied, managing to successfully avoid any downtrodden shows of emotion when mentioning that old 'friend' of his. Chances were that he`d never tell anyone, though he knew Chaozu, at least, knew parts of that story. "Thanks," Videl replied with a smile, sliding it over and around her head and then lifting her pigtails up through it. "Perfect fit," she commented offhandedly with a light bit of surprise, unseeing of the small, darkly purplish glow emitted from the uniquely shaped crystal that hung at the front of the piece of jewelry, nor did she notice how her heartrate quickened briefly from looking at it.
In the background, one could almost hear Krillin humming out the tune to 'Gohan`s got a girlfriend' all over again.
"Looks good on you," Gohan stated with a grin before looking at the ring. "Guess my match is starting now," he thought aloud, changing the subject before Zangya, and probably Piccolo, could jump in and take their well deserved revenge on him for his earlier comments, though both were almost frothing at the mouth for the chance. Tien was barely successful in holding them back, Piccolo by his cape, Zangya by her hair.
And that was when Jun-Yah shoved his way through, roughly managing to push Gohan out of the lounge without a word.
"Good luck!" Videl managed to shout out before tending to her father, who was still seriously banged up from his match against her. Gohan didn`t reply though, at least not verbally. He could only barely nod as Jun-Yah stormed by him, entering the ring with no time to spare. Capel began the introduction, at least he tried to, but both fighters were already in the ring and -
There was a massive shattering sound and Jun-Yah and Gohan had already locked up with forearms, ignoring the fact that the bell hadn`t even rung yet.
- Capel gave up and shook his head. "Since these two are pretty eager to get to it, no introductions, just..." He took a deep breath and gathered himself up. "FIGHT!!!" He screamed over the mic at the top of his lungs, the gong ringing loudly instantly.
"You`re strong," Gohan commented, drawing on inner strength and forcing Jun-Yah`s arm to a standstill. "You have no idea, murderer," Jun-Yah replied angrily, giving a voice to the faceless, soundless warrior that had so viciously brutalized his way into the battle he seemed to crave so desperately. "Murderer?!" Gohan asked back hotly, his hair beginning to waver about slightly as his eyes took on a subtle jade glow at the edges of his pupils. "Yes! Murderer! Ruthless, soulless, killing machine!" Jun-Yah accused, voice showing just a bit of the anger that seemed to permeate everything he had done so far. "Did you ever really think your crimes would go unpunished you bastard?!" He demanded.
Gohan`s only reply was sudden and abrupt as gold began to pulse through his hair. "What crimes?! What in the hell are you talking about?!" He demanded back at Jun-Yah, even while golden light began to outline the space between the tiles. "Don`t play innocent with me," Jun-Yah replied, suddenly breaking out of the lock up and lashing out. Gohan kept his arm up, blocking the incoming wave of invisible energy with little strain. "What the hell are you talking about?!" Gohan asked again, his hair suddenly blazing up into a shade of solid gold while his eyes performed their transition to teal. His power-up continued though, even as he charged forward and lashed out with a kick of his own.
Jun-Yah hopped back and out of the way at the last second, the stomach section of his robing getting caught in the process. Gohan`s foot ripped straight through it instantly, revealing an odd mix of familiar yet unfamiliar details beneath the tear. Gohan landed and turned around, glancing at Jun-Yah as his golden hair began to rigidly move up, tiles slowly prying from the floor of the ring. "No point in the disguise now," Jun-Yah uttered.
Sparks of energy shown up off of the ring and the ground around it, not just from Gohan either. Cracks of electric blue lightning slashed into each other, forming brief thunderclaps, low and distant despite their closeness to the two fighters. It was then that the youth`s eyes drifted down and focused specifically on that tear at the stomach region, exposing a good deal of the mid-section.
It was then that he noticed the pale blue nature of the armor-like chest beneath, dotted with darker blue spots and holding still over a strange looking space just above the hips but beneath the ribs. Hauntingly familiar but just different so that it made the revelation all the more shocking Jun-Yah held his arms up above himself, towards the sky. His sleeves finally fell down, exposing not only those pale hands with their black nails, but also exposing the armor-like carapace over his biceps and forearms, and the back of each elbow.
He threw his arms back down and with a blaze of golden flame, the robes and the hood both vanished into nothingness, shredded and burnt out of existence to reveal a being that stood at the exact same height and stature as the singular opponent that had done more in one hour to drive Gohan insane and into a killing frenzy than anyone short of the Grand Enforcer back in Tokyo. "How the hell?" He asked, jaw hanging open while his transformation gradually continued, most of his hair rigidly bee hiving up into a crown-like style with a single lock hanging defiantly against the rest. His eyes had darkened somewhat, as had his hair, and each muscle and contour in his body was gradually becoming more defined whilst the tiles of the ring continued tearing up and hovering against gravity.
What stood before him defied all logic. What stood before him defied all senses of mercy and compassion and what stood before him seemed to defy the laws of mortality. It was like staring into those dark pink eyes all over again.
"It took all of that to refresh your memory?" The fighter who so resembled Cell asked with obvious anger in him. "H-h... How did you survive, Cell?" Gohan asked in shock. "I`m not Cell you stupid little shit," the other replied. "Remember His children?" Cell asked. "Remember how you mercilessly slaughtered all seven of them?" He asked again while stepping forward, shoving aside a tile or two by the merit of his own power. "Yes. Yes I do," Gohan finally muttered in reply, his transformation into the level beyond Super Saiyan having finally completed, thus causing exactly half of the stones that were hovering to fall back into place perfectly.
"So how are you alive?" He asked for the third or fourth, possibly fifth time. "You aimed for the head, I had a defect and the lump was in my chest," Junior explained. "So you waited for four years and then entered a tournament to try and get at me using the name 'Jun-Yah?'" Gohan asked. "Yes," Cell replied. "That has got to be the crappiest explanation I`ve ever heard," the youth finally stated, fatalistic normalcy managing to return to him in spades. "Truth has a tendancy to be that way, doesn`t it? And did I mention that I`ve spent virtually all of that time training? Perfecting techniques, making new ones..."
"Shut up and fight already, bragging villains are so cliché these days that I`m going to vomit the next time I see one," Gohan replied in a monotone voice. "Very well then," Cell replied, vanishing in a flash as the second half of the rings dropped back into place, bar the few that Cell had disclocated by moving. Gohan jumped back, dodging out of the way as the kick, moving too fast for the eyes of anyone else in the arena to follow, tunneled it`s way through the air and punched a crater in the tile it impacted.
As for all of those other people? Nobody could even speak. Nightmares over Cell were still fresh in people`s minds even four years after the fact. Capel himself had dropped the microphone the moment the blue carapaced clone had exposed himself.
"Bit slow there, eh?" Gohan asked, his foe appearing at the opposite end of the ring. "I`m not even trying that hard," Junior replied through gritted teeth. "Neither am I," Gohan retorted. "Good, I`d hate for this to be a weak battle," Cell answered while lowering himself into a fighting stance, hands gradually raising up and to his side in a posture similar to Vegeta during the Gallick Gun. Gohan`s response was to remind in plain standing position, not bothering with any poses or anything like that.
"Attack me," Cell ordered. "The same mistake Cell made," Gohan commented while moving forward, one step at a time. Cell Junior grinned and almost the instant Gohan came within four feet of him, Cell let out a shout and began powering up for an attack, rings of purplish energy shooting up from the ground around him and focusing into a sphere of golden light between his hands.
Gohan stood there, unphased. Cell simply grinned and shouted out the attack`s name. "Makosen!" He yelled, surprising Piccolo and Tien both while throwing his hands forward and unleashing the attack at Gohan, a gigantic beam similar to Krillin`s Kakusandan, only it was colored golden and every foot or so, shockwave-type rings of purplish energy burst off of it. Gohan jumped back the instant the attack started coming at him, throwing his hands above his head.
"Masenko-ha!" He yelled, thrusting his hands, now layered over one another, back down, aimed at the incoming beam of energy. His attack was fast and furious, a beam of orange shrieking through the air and striking the Makosen head on. The two attacks didn`t detonate on impact though, or even engage in a beam duel. Rather than that, they nullified each other out with a powerful burst of light and a large gust of wind that left Gohan and Cell both unphased but those around the arena slightly flattened into their seats.
"You weren`t kidding, huh?" Gohan asked without any signs of humor or lightheartedness. For all intents and purposes, his emotions were offlined for the duration. "I don`t make jokes," Cell replied before vanishing again.
This time, Gohan vanished as well. Thunder clapped across the ring as the two fighters slugged it out at speeds which defied sight, blows raining in with no pause whatsoever. The two appeared several times during the battle, skidding along the surface of the ring, darting down onto it, knocking one another back down into it and occasionally appearing long enough to watch a ki blast form in one of the fighters` hands. Each time the last of these occured, an explosion wasn`t far behind, pulsing to life for brief instants above the ring, vanishing as smoke clouds and blowing away seconds later.
One could almost see the air around the ring warping and the footprints grinding into place on the already rattled tiling as the two battled it out, a slick of red blood sliding through the air and onto the first step after another few seconds and a mirroring slick of purplish blood falling next to it before the two finally became visible again, locked in a mirror pose of punching each other in the face.
Mirrored again, they were, when each made a similar smirk and broke apart, jumping sideways and into the middle of the ring with several leaps before rocketing straight up and then turning towards each other at a right angle. There was a flash of light as they passed by each other and touched down on the ground, back to back about ten feet apart. Gohan was crouched in a kneel with his arms out, Cell was standing, both were bleeding in the same spot from the lip.
I can't find the rhyme in all my reason
Lost sense of time and all seasons
Feel I've been beaten down
By the words of men who have no grounds
"This is going to be more interesting than I thought," Cell commented while turning around to face Gohan, who was now back at his feet and glancing over his shoulder at Cell. There was something that that was missing in the eyes of the youth, that usual cheerfulness, the usual kindness and mercy. All of it was gone, replaced by the raging Saiyan demon that lurked within. Cell showed a similar expression, though his was glazed over with a smirk. The two remained in their postures for several seconds before Gohan finally turned around and faced Cell entirely, still standing straight.
"Maybe we should throw out the rules and just kill one another," Gohan cynically muttered, causing Cell to shake his head. "No. Better that I beat you within the rules," he replied. Be it stupidity or genius, Junior was intent on keeping things restricted. Perhaps he felt he could trick Gohan into attacking him afterward, gain a moral highgrounds to kill him, then become the champion. Or maybe just break the teen`s pride into pieces and then let him live through the humiliation of Junior blowing up the entire island chunk by chunk.
Or maybe Cell Junior just wanted a good challenge and fighting within a set amount of rules was the only way to get it. Whatever the reason was, he was quite contented at facing Son the way things were now. "Ready to resume?" He asked smugly. "Whenever you`re ready," Gohan replied coldly. Cell`s only reply was to grin and then beckon Gohan to come at him, raising his left hand and then motioning for the youth to charge. He lowered his arm and then didn`t budge an inch.
Gohan saw right through it, powering up a low level beam of ki and then firing it from his fist into the staying after image, which had been laced with enough energy that it detonated instantly. Gohan waited for a moment and then Cell reappeared, above the ring with one arm extended. One shout later, Gohan was pushed down by an invisible wall of force, though he wasn`t the one to yield. The tiling beneath him cracked and finally shattered like glass and Gohan`s boots sank into the concrete beneath for several inches before it stopped.
Looking up at Cell though, it was obvious that no damage had been done. Gohan smirked and spoke up a few seconds later.
"My turn."
"How in the hell is Cell around still? We all saw him die!" Tien stuttered out, staring up as Cell Junior and Gohan returned to their battle. His eyes couldn`t even track their movements. "That isn`t Cell," Piccolo replied. "It`s one of his children," he said with a shrug. "Children?" Zangya asked. She knew enough of Cell to think herself lucky that she and the others had arrived after he was killed, but she`d never heard anything of children.
"Cell had a technique where his tail split open and dropped out a miniature clone of himself, violent to the extreme and utterly sadistic. Each clone was only a bit weaker than he himself and each clone knew every technique he had," Piccolo answered. "Each clone was also childishly foolish and did exactly as told. He called them all by the same name; Cell Junior." Zangya only nodded in reply. "And what did they do to the lot of you?" She asked. "Broke every bone in Yamcha`s body twice, gave Krillin a dozen or so internal injuries and all around beat the hell out of myself, Vegeta and Mirai Trunks. I saw Gohan ruthlessly slaughter all seven of them but one survived due to some sort of birth defect," he answered again, trying in vain to track how the two fighters were moving before they appeared at the corner of the ring farthest from the lounge, exchanging punches so fast they were literally nothing but monotone blurs. The force of each attack that missed actually continued and punch marks were becoming apparent in the corner of the wall that kept the fighters seperated from the fans.
"Birth defect?" Zangya asked. "Are you familiar with Namekian physiology?" Zangya nodded. "Cell had the same kind of lump in his head from absorbing some of my DNA when he was still Imperfect, he could also manuever it through his body somehow. His children lacked that ability but this one claims his 'healing lump' was improperly placed into his chest for some reason," Piccolo explained from what he`d overheard.
A blinding flash of light and Cell was hovering in front of the lounge, inches off of the ground with a bruised cheek, while Gohan appeared hovering in the air above the ring. Zangya could barely make out Cell Junior`s grumbling as something along the lines of human profanity when he drifted back up slowly and tilted himself upright before vanishing so fast he didn`t even leave a blur. Gohan followed suit and from there to whatever came along, she couldn`t follow a single punch, though the shockwaves that seemed to echo through the ring going off so close to one another that each individual sound couldn`t be defined from one another was something she could easily follow without trying.
Videl was still slack jawed at it all, standing next to Zangya and trying in vain to keep up with the movements everyone made. She hadn`t said a word since the two started really fighting in the ring.
When you`re moving fast enough that you`re less than the speed of light but still so fast that you don`t even hear the sounds you make until around twenty seconds after the fact, and after images of you(a common effect prone only to things and people with ki levels that measured around Mister Satan, his daughter Videl and Master Roshi) tend to be doing things at about the same rate, and the details of the terrain around you don`t even really measure in as things in better contrast than blurry bits of color, it tends to hype reactionary chemical levels to near euphoric rates, aiding or impairing judgement per individual.
That`s the effect for humans, Aisuu, Gurusu and about half the Namekian species anyway, for Saiyans, warrior-type Nameks alike, it tends to be a bit different. Rather than making things downright euphoric, moving at this sort of speed caused an absolute heightening of all senses, everything sped up or slowed down to help adapt to it. Blinking became something that occured far faster than normal to keep the eyes from drying out, while the eyelids also reflexively narrowed. For warrior-type Nameks, this also caused the ability to detect ki to heighten as far as it could, as the skill was something bred into them over the eons before the race became asexual due to Guru. The lungs expanded to a surprising margin while hidden air pathways led from the nose to lungs directly in addition to being able to mouth breathe as required(this was why the Saiyans could eat so much so quickly without choking to death), allowing a warrior to take in more oxygen in few breaths. The heart pumped blood in faster but expelled it in a continuous outward pumping motion unique to Saiyans and warrior-type Nameks, and the nerves that detect air pressure in the ears(antenna for Nameks) shut down to the extent that unless such pressure drops or increases are fatal within a few seconds, it won`t be felt.
When moving this fast in battle, it also caused pain receptive nerves to dull unless the injury was severe, and for both it tended to cause a survival instinct to occur. Few people realized that a True Warrior type of Namek(such as Nail, the last example of a True Warrior) and a Super Saiyan(such as Vegeta) were essentially dead even in this respect. For hybrids though, particularly human-Saiyan hybrids, it was different from either pure Saiyans or pure humans, as the results combined entirely. For those like Trunks, where the human genes were dominant or co-dominant with the Saiyan genes, it caused either a mostly human effect with a few Saiyan additions such as extreme tolerances to speed and such, while with dominant Saiyan genes, such as Gohan and Goten, it caused both to blend together with the best of both.
This was why Gohan had been able to surpass his father, he was literally genetically handed the best of both worlds on a silver platter, and this was also why he was able to endure the speeds of combat he was performing with Cell Junior, who portrayed a far more varied mixture for his own genetic background which gave him a slight inherent edge. Combine genes from five of the most powerful humans in history with four Saiyans, two(technically one) warrior type Nameks, a billion year old demon and whatever the hell else Doctors Gero and Flappe could locate and you had a pretty powerful fighter right off the bat.
Now, add all of their moves as well.
The two were currently matched evenly despite an unlevel genetic playing field, as Cell utilized Yamcha`s old(now abandoned) Wolf Fang Fist technique in a barrage that couldn`t be heard and was only seen in crisp detail since his own movements were keeping with Gohan`s. Cell`s right arm flashed by Gohan, surrounded by an aura resembling the head of a wolf poised to strike, Gohan had dodged though but Cell adapted fairly quickly, using his other arm to finally hit the boy in his stomach.
Gohan faltered backwards and everything slowed down long enough for him to again become visible, falling over only to burst to the right and vanish all over again. The air above and around the ring had begun to tinge golden and distort as the two continued their battle, what appeared to be a modified Makankosappo visibly corkscrewing in a circle around the entire ring as Cell finally made himself visible at the center of it all, the beam extending out from his index and middle fingers and chasing after a target so fast that what people actually saw was something delayed by about five seconds.
Gohan appeared directly in the path of the beam a few seconds later, high above the now hidden Cell(the attack he`d made had circled around the ring so much that he was obscured from view by it), his left hand extended above and left of his head whilst he waited for the beam to get a little closer.
"KIENZAN!!!"
With a scream, the attack appeared dangling above his open palm, and was then hurtled at the incoming attack. There was a moment or two that it looked like it had hit something and then the Makankosappo beam split in half around him, the corkscrew part of it expanding around both and missing Gohan entirely. Cell Junior finished his attack at that and let the rest of the beam spiral up and into the overpowered Kienzan only to split and expand off into the horizon, exiting the atmosphere and detonating out in orbit on the other side of the planet.
"This is fun," Cell conceded with a happy little smirk. Gohan made no reply and blurred out, Cell followed and a chorus of explosions echoed through the air all of ten seconds later, one of the corners of the ring vanishing as a result of one of the larger blasts hitting it from the looks of things.
Gohan and Cell reappeared on the opposite side, their left feet embedded into each other`s chins at odd angles before they vanished again and reappeared above the crowds, with Gohan flipping forward from the impact of Cell`s left arm across the back of his head. They blurred out again and reappeared directly above the ring, where one could vaguely make out the yelling of an '-ame... HA!' before Gohan thrust his arms forward and hit Cell with a Kame Hame Ha at point blank, blowing off one of the larger fighter`s arms and shattering the left part of his crown-like head growth, and tearing away the left arm and wing from his body.
Can't sleep beneath the trees of wisdom
When your ax has cut the roots that feed them
Forked tongues in bitter mouths
Can drive a man to bleed from inside out
"You little shit!" Cell screeched while holding his left stump with a wince. "You`re the kid here, four year old," Gohan replied with the same smirk that had once terrified the original Cell. "Age is nothing but a number, shrimp," Junior retorted with a smirk. "Besides, at least I have the balls to fight in my birthday suit!"
"You have balls?" Gohan asked in a monotone voice. "Yes! Balls o` steel!" Cell replied while regrowing those parts of his body and head that had been blown off, each bringing a spurt of blood as a result. Gohan blinked a few times and shook his head. "Thats... Just lovely... Really," he answered back with a defeated groan. "Enough with the small talk," Cell ordered before blurring out again. "Whatever."
Gohan reappeared wavering slightly a new cut or two on his face, a hole in the side of his orange overshirt and a burn mark on the blue shirt he wore beneath, as well as a fairly pronounced bruise on his neck. Cell appeared a moment later, looking a bit better for wear while he craned his head back then threw it forward again, literally vomiting forth a beam of energy at Gohan. All too late the youth turned around and brought his arms up to try and block with a yelp, vanishing into a gigantic explosion which blew a two foot deep crater into the ring and threw Gohan onto his back, leaving a small trench from how he had moved as a result. The smoke was quick to clear due to how he had powered back up once he was on his feet.
"Can`t let him catch me off gaurd like that again or he could do something more damaging than that," the demi-Saiyan resolved while springing back up to his feet only to watch as Cell brought two fingers up with a devilish smile and pointed them at the sky.
"Mommy..."
In the stands, ChiChi looked on the verge of fainting as the area of the ring around her eldest son vanished into a blue dome of energy, shocking her senses and causing maternal urges to drag the boy out of the ring to kick in. Goten was sitting idly in her lap with his jaw hanging open and more than one bandage on his small body, still dressed in the same clothing he`d worn in his match. Trunks sat across from him in Bulma`s lap, mirroring his expression though those baby blue irises of his had shrunken to an extent that they were barely visible. Bulma`s expression mirrored them both minus the fact that she was glancing over at ChiChi as well from time to time.
Yamcha was wincing slightly and Roshi was looking away, most likely staring at the large chested girl about four seats away in the direction he was staring in. None of the others could do anything but stare in awe, probably since even through all of that, the ring was still standing, although a quarter of it was little more than a large crater for the most part.
"Had enough yet?" Cell asked cockily at the smoke cloud, grinning. Silence was the reply as the crowd, Capel, the other fighters and Junior himself all waited for the smoke to clear, with only a few realizing the teen wasn`t dead due to the fact his energy could still be detected. Cell waited with patience though, rather than charge in and take Gohan out at a period of time that would make it too easy to be enjoyable. He wanted Gohan to suffer, yes. That much of it was obvious right off the bat. He just didn`t want the other to know he was going to suffer, he wanted to break any pride that was in him and then break his body, mind and soul one after the other once that was finished.
The smoke began to lighten after almost thirty seconds and then, as if in an action movie, a tunnel formed right through it all. Gohan burst out with a scream, aura ablaze, clothing ripped in several places, one of his sleeves missing and blood staining him at several points. Junior wasn`t that surprised that he had survived, or even come out fighting, but he was surprised that the other had managed to do it with such fire in him about pulling it off.
He was surprised enough that he didn`t block as Gohan scored a straight armed, right handed punch into his cheek that knocked a few teeth loose in his mouth and instantly caused bleeding and bruising to occur as a result. Then came the second blow, punching into Cell`s stomach hard enough that the other lurched forward with a pained expression and grunted as a result, only to take another right hand across the face and then have a karate chop-styled blow cleanly chop off half of his right wing, which was then grabbed like a large knife and stabbed into the small of Junior`s back. If he`d had a spine, it would`ve been severed cleanly.
What if you did?
What if you lied?
What if I avenge?
What if eye for an eye?
"Father wanted him dead, I can`t give up now," Cell resolved while biting a small chunk of his own tongue off from the pain. It regenerated quickly but he still gnashed his teeth ont he small amount between them.
I've seen the wicked fruit of your vine
Destroyed the man who lacks a strong mind
Human pride sings a vengeful song
Inspired by the times you've been walked on
"MASENKO-HA!!!" Gohan screamed, raising his hands in the required posture and then pressuring them into Cell`s left shoulder, letting loose instantly with a quick, contained, powerful form of the attack that ripped straight through Cell`s shoulder, severing his left arm for the second time in a day, then corkscrewed up before the beam could hit the ground and turned back around. Gohan hopped out of the way as the blast barreled through Junior`s stomach and tore out through the small of his back, destroying the wing fragment as a result, the teen`s leg flying up and cracking hard against the back of the falling giant`s skull.
Cell lurched forward, the Masenko having done it`s damage. Blood oozed rather than flowed from the hole running through Cell`s mid-section, as well as what had been his left shoulder, the arm that lay beside his left leg rapidly decaying out of existence a few seconds later. There was also a leg-shaped dent in the back of his skull but that was the least of his problems at the moment.
Gohan staggered back, a bit dazed from the one-two combo he had endured all of forty seconds earlier, gathering ki into his hands and then slapping them together to throw a medium powered ki blast at Cell, who was knocked over entirely by it and left resting as if in a Muslim prayer with one arm. "Surrender?" Gohan asked with an exhausted voice, energy crackling around him still.
"Go to Hell and die," Cell replied before rolling onto his back and springing back up. In mid-rise to his feet however, his limbs regenerated and the hole in his stomach grew back, and as he got to his feet, he spun into a roundhouse kick. Gohan ducked through and landed on both hands, swinging his own feet up and into the newly reformed gut of Cell, who screamed again as a result of the fact his new carapace in that spot was still fairly weak. Cell stumbled back and held his stomach glaring beams of hatred at Son Gohan, who literally dodged them. The attacks splayed through the air beside him and diced a pair of thin trails out of the ring before stopping, and Cell stumbled forward, wincing.
Gohan`s foot slammed into his cheek again and Cell turned away, one of his eyes whacked out of alignment for a moment before sliding back into position. Letting out a loud warning yell, Gohan threw his arms back and then thrust them forward, and a wall of invisible ki slammed into Cell from behind and threw him forward.
My stage is shared by many millions
Who lift their hands up high because they feel this
"Heh," Gohan wheezed out while standing down for a moment, relying on Cell`s injuries to buy him some time to recover.
It just wasn`t going to happen that way though.
"KAIO-KEN ATTACK!!!"
Cell was on his feet, healed again and now surrounded by a red-and-gold aura crackling with enough energy around it to put any storm in history to shame before even Gohan could follow it, and in a moment so fast even Gohan couldn`t follow it, a fairly large hand was embedded in the teen`s stomach, causing him to lurch forward, gagging up a bit of blood here and there and generally having the wind knocked out of him so badly his eyes briefly faded entirely white.
Cell`s aura blew out like a candle after a few seconds more, and he went to his knees with his hand still in the other fighter`s stomach as well, his own injuries becoming worsened because of the dangerous after effects that came with a Kaio-Ken. His body was actually smoking and his insides felt ablaze. The color finally returned to Gohan`s eyes and he finished falling forward after a few more seconds, collapsing to one hand and both knees and holding his stomach once Cell drew his arm back and caught himself.
"Now I know why Goku didn`t do that move very often," Cell muttered under his breath, feeling the ache within his body worsen for a moment that he couldn`t even budge in. "Bas-bastard," Gohan wheezed out, coughing to catch his rbeath a few seconds later. "Orphan, you`re the bastard," Cell retorted while picking himself back up and standing there with supreme effort, Gohan following suit a moment later. "No, you`re a bastard, not me," Gohan shot back, cutting off any replies by powering a generic blast into his hand and slinging it sideways at Cell, who tilted his head out of the way and then through a foot up as if in Soccer to kick it skyward.
"Can`t have any civilians killed now," he taunted in an exhausted voice before turning back to Gohan, then screaming out a kiai and throwing the other back. Gohan flew from the ring and headed towards the ground before catching himself in mid-air, so close that the lock of his hair still hanging over his face was on the verge of touching the ground by only a half an inch.
A grimace finally set itself into his face and the Saiyan demon beneath his skin took over once more.
We are one
We are strong
The more you hold us down the more we press on
With a shout, he ascended straight up and righted himself into a full back flip that brought his feet to face Cell, then shouted again while bending his entire body back.
Piccolo grimaced as Gohan flipped around again and torpedoed at his opponent, causing something of a mixture between pride and sympathy for his student`s desperation. "This is pretty even from what I can actually see," Zangya stated uncertainly, watching the two fighters literally collide in mid-air and begin trading punches from there. "Yeah. They do, don`t they?" Tien asked, only able to truly follow the action with his third eye. Videl on the other hand was staring blankly still. Krillin had moved back over rather bemusedly as the fighting continued, watching his god son with an ironic shake of the head.
"Hey Piccolo, `m I the only one gettin` deja vu from this?" He asked at the large green fighter. Piccolo thought for a moment and then shook his head with a rare smirk. "Not really," he muttered. "Feels weird watching it this time though," he added. "Yeah, least you can follow the movements as more than a blur though," Krillin pointed out.
"That`s beside the point."
Gohan flew back and bounced off of the surface of the ring, thrusting his hands out and catching both of Cell`s punches before pulling him in and jamming both knees into the other fighter`s throat and chin no less than three times. Each time caused blood to fly out of Cell`s mouth, and the fourth shot came close to jarring his arms both from the sockets when Gohan drew his entire body back and then forcibly kicked Cell in the collar while still gripping his hands.
It was a brutally even fight, even if Cell could regenerate. Sheer viciousness closed the gap of regeneration and a greater arsenal of moves, and the two were almost deadlocked in ki and speed, with Gohan being a little stronger and Cell proving to be a little faster, neither so strong or fast that they could get an advantage out of it. For every advantage one of them had, the counter attack fest to follow nullified it almost completely, for every strategy one of them made, the other almost fluked up a counter strategy for it right as it started.
To say the least it was a bit annoying to both of them.
Cell, still held as he was, allowed Gohan to keep a steady grip on him for a few more seconds, then gripped back and opened his eyes, letting out a shout before splitting into two exact clones, each bearing injury on one side only and each still gripping Gohan`s hand with one of their own. Gohan grimly watched as the two began speaking in unison, layering their free hands with each other in a manner similar to a Kame Hame Ha of sorts.
And that`s just what the words were.
"Kame Hame HA!"
What if you did?
What if you lied?
What if I avenge?
What if eye for an eye?
The world went white for a moment and then a ragged Gohan fell from the air, slapping soundlessly against the singed tiling of the ring, face contorted into a wince that defied the abilities of the human face to perform, half of his overshirt, and half of his undershirt also missing, blood flash burnt into his skin and clothing, his golden hair blackened ever so slightly from the attack. It hurt to breathe but it hurt more to lay there when every fiber of his body screamed to get back up and keep fighting. It hurt worse than when he had fought the original Cell, it hurt worse than when Recoom had broken his neck and it hurt far worse than anything Bojack had hit him with. To summarize it simply enough: It hurt like hell.
The twin Juniors above both shared similar smirks as they gathered back together into one still-injured fighter, his tactic of combining one of Tien`s moves with the one move virtually everyone of the Earth`s defenders but Zangya, Piccolo and Vegeta knew had paid off in spades. The advantage belonged to Cell, and he knew it give the way the other fighter`s hair suddenly lightened back to that of a first level Super Saiyan and then darkened to pitch black.
"Give up yet, weakling?!" Cell demanded from above, his right hand going up and powering a small blast - by his standards - into existence before carelessly flinging it down. Gohan yelled loudly and his eyes again went blank as the attack slammed into his back and burnt through his shirts, singing the skin just so that it burnt the nerves and left the flesh unscathed aside from that.
His eyes went teal briefly and his forehead slapped against the tiling. Breathing was hard but he managed. "Not like that," he warned himself, biting into his cheek only to feel another blast strike into his back. His eyes again flared teal and the air was rushed out of his lungs to quickly to do more than wheeze from the pain. Again, his forehead slapped into the tiling, and his fingers began to dig small trenches into it as well.
"Can`t give in like that, bad enough I already partially lost it earlier," he thought to himself, trying to supress the rage that could make the demon of his power even stronger.
I know I can't hold the hate inside my mind
"Gnn..." He groaned out, trying to get back up to his hands and knees before Cell flung another light blast into his back, burning it even further. His eyes blanked teal once more and it lasted for all of a second this time before settling back to a placid black. "Not like this," he uttered.
'Cause what consumes your thoughts
"Don`t give into it," he kept warning himself, right as another blast smashed into his burning back again, just weak enough to avoid doing serious damage. Once again his eyes flashed teal, though it didn`t last like the last flash had. "Just makes it worse, can`t control that thing when it gets like that," he kept thinking to himself, clenching his jaw so tightly that he forgot he was even gnawing his cheek, causing a cut to open in his mouth before the next impact of a lightly powered ki blast caused him to release it while screaming.
Controls your life
"No no no no no nonononono NO NO NO!" He yelled in his thoughts, getting angry at failing to avoid the anger already building. It was a vicious cycle and Cell wasn`t exactly helping it.
Another blast and another scream, the referee beside Capel was on the verge of stopping it if not for the fact Gohan kept trying to get up, and halfway succeeding each time.
So I'll just ask a question
"Why is he pushing me like this? It`ll end up just like it did with the first Cell, Bojack and all the others!"
A lonely simple question
"I don`t wanna do this! Why is he making me do this?!"
I'll just ask one question
"Please don`t do it again, don`t..."
Cell threw another ki blast, a bit stronger than the others, strong enough to do more than just singe, strong enough to literally set Gohan`s back on fire. It hit as planned, but what happened next...
"MAKE HIM PAY!!!"
Wasn`t what Cell had intended.
What if? What if?
What if? What if?
What If I?
"ENOUGH!!!" Gohan screamed with every ounce of the old, pent up rage returning once more. Where it shouldn`t have, where it should`ve all been gone, his power returned in a flash that would`ve caught even himself off gaurd if he was thinking properly. Yes, his back was on fire, literally, but it didn`t last long. In a flare of golden light, the flames on his back were literally torn off and cast into the winds like a forsaken candle as he glared up from the ground, black hair turning gold, gold hair lengthening back out and setting back into it`s former glory beyond, the color in his eyes blinking from gold to jade to teal in a flurry of change that quickened by the second before setting to the third color. Lightning rattled tremendously around him and he floored it back up at Cell, reappearing behind the other with a murderous howl. Cell turned but he wasn`t fast enough.
A spurt of purple and Cell`s face was gone, Gohan`s fist had punched straight through his skull and out the back end. Breathing ravenously, Gohan drew back and readied to make another strike, doing so instantly. A karate chop type of attack, slicing the two crown pieces from Cell`s head and then slinging his arms back before crashing them down into what remained of the other`s skull, caving it down into his neck and further down into his chest.
Cell was lucky the part of his body that regenerated him from death had survived intact, being just out of the way enough to avoid destruction or damage. His body flew downward and slammed hard into the ring, causing a flameless explosion so severe that it tore chunks of concrete up and flung them into the air at random, though raw ki grabbed them from there and pulped them out of existence before anyone in the audience could be hurt. It was a miracle people hadn`t died in any of the contests so far as it was, that they were probably going to walk out of this one essentially unscathed would`ve probably been considered an outright act of the highest gods around.
"You asked for this you son of a bitch," Gohan uttered out fiercely, knowing Cell wouldn`t even hear him until he regrew his head back. The demon had truly been uncaged once again, and then, after a few seconds, exhaustion took effect.
Exhaustion, and the look of shock in his mother and younger brother`s eyes. He`d only caught it after a moment or two but it was enough. Gohan`s anger driven power trip slowly started to fade away again and anger and ferocity found themselves replaced by logic and remorse. Logic that he shouldn`t fight like that in front of his family, let alone within damage range of a few tens of thousands of people, remorse that he had actually done it. Another bit of the remorse was that Cell hadn`t gotten back up yet, though Gohan could still feel the other fighter`s ki within the cloud of smoke.
Gently setting back down on one of the three surviving corners of the ring, Gohan gradually faded back to the first level of Super Saiyan, the power for going beyond having been leeched out of him by the lack of anger. His aura returned to it`s normal golden glow without sparks of excess energy, his hair faded to a lighter shade of gold without almost all of it being bee hived up, and his body lost a bit of it`s definition. The last change were his eyes fading back to jade from teal.
What if you did?
What if you lied?
What if I avenge?
What if eye for an eye?
"That... Hurt," came from within the cloud of smoke as a beaten, hulking figure of immense stature stumbled out, bleeding considerably over a naturally armored body that had taken more than it`s fair share of abuse for the day. "So did getting my back set on fire," Gohan retorted sharply, not even noticing the fact that his shirts had since fallen off send the threading in the shoulder regions of each shirt had burned away. Cell leered up from the ground with tired eyes. Even in their present states they were utterly even, since Cell was so beaten in by that surging assault that it had taken him down to the level Gohan was currently forced to fight in.
"I really hate you," he muttered. "The feeling`s mutual, Blubie," Gohan replied. "Blubie?" Cell asked hazily. "Seemed like the fun thing to say at the time." Gohan shrugged. "Whatever..."
That said, Cell burst forward with a howl and slammed his shoulder into Gohan in a classic ramming movement, which threw the other off of his feet and out of the ring. Gohan stopped himself inches short of the crowd and burst right back into the ring with a flaring of his aura, which died down as he slammed his own shoulder back into Cell`s chest, throwing Junior out of the ring and at the opposite side of the arena this time.
"Deja vu all over again," Krillin mumbled.
"Indeed," Piccolo replied.
"Eh?" Zangya and Videl both asked at once.
What if your words could be judged like a crime?
"Murderer!"
Cell slammed back into Gohan.
"Just shut up already!"
Gohan slammed back into Cell.
"Not until you admit it!"
Cell again slammed into Gohan, who stopped himself short of impacting the crowd and then blew himself up into the air above the ring before dropping down.
"It had to be done!"
Gohan landed and then headbutted Cell in classical Goku stance, throwing the other from his feet and into the air. Cell stopped himself short and started blazing back down.
"Shut up killer!"
This time, both collided in mid-air, slamming into each other and throwing one another back, Cell into the air, Gohan into the surface of the ring, causing a Gohan-sized imprint to occur, one that lead almost three feet straight down.
What if? What if?
What if? What if?
What If I?
Gohan flew back out and Cell barely avoided, striking Gohan one in each arm. Pressure points that left the other numb enough that he couldn`t feel a thing in either had been struck, and Gohan only grimaced mildly in annoyance at it before powering up an aura around himself. It was a strange aura for a Super Saiyan though, electric blue. Cell wasn`t impressed, flying up above Gohan with a growl.
"That the best you`ve got?!"
Gohan smirked. "Not at all..."
"KAME HAME HA!!!"
It`s a rarity that anyone can change an attack where seemingly all variations had been used by either Goku or the move`s original creators, Master Roshi and Son Gohan Senior. There were one handed Kame Hame Ha variants, through the feet, teleportation, sidewinding, renzoku-type, chou/full power, and Roshi had once managed to create a Kame Hame Ha 'belch' he could do when he was younger, but generally everything that could be done, had been done, even a multiple form tandem Kame Hame Ha, created during this match.
But now, Gohan had now left his mark on the diverse attack, using his aura alone to throw it at someone. Powering up as he had done, the attack came from all around him, flooding out of his aura and focusing into a beam. Cell was so caught off gaurd that he couldn`t even dodge it, and Gohan quickly brought the beam down into the other fighter from above like a sword. The resulting hit not only melted away the front armor of Cell Junior`s body, it also threw him down and left him to slam hard into the ground outside of the ring by a fluke accident with a massive thump.
The attack ended there, and the numbed, weakened Gohan lost power from there, falling from a few hundred feet up but managing to land on his feet, wheezing hard with fogged vision and temporarily paralyzed arms.
"Gonna have to remember that," he muttered to himself, glancing over at the speechless Capel.
"He landed out, that means I win, right?" Gohan asked weakly. Capel only gave a nod. A warped smile crossed the youngster`s face and he stumbled towards the edge of the ring. "Heh... heh heh... Huh heh heh hah heheheh HAH, HAH, HAH!!!" He cackled at the other, who slowly emerged exhaustedly and collapsed against the side of the ring with a glare at the other fighter, who was laughing his head off in battle fatigue.
Gohan promptly fell out of the ring and landed on his sides, still cackling like a mad man as Cell groaned out every profane word in the book and smashed his face into the edge of the ring.
Capel finally managed to get his voice back after a brief struggle with his own thoughts, cracking his neck once or twice before speaking out.
"SON GOHAN IS THE WINNER!"
"Hah hah huh hah hahhhh!" Gohan laughed at Cell, who only cussed him out in a few ways that would`ve probably raised the rating of the story if written. "Little mother fu... Gah," Cell uttered one last time before sliding onto his rear end, leaned back against the side of the ring growling and snorting to himself over his loss, whilst Gohan continued laughing, the feeling gradually returning to his arms enough that he held his stomach.
"Krillin, get Gohan a Senzu," Piccolo ordered. The fuzzy headed midget did as told, blankly reaching into the bag and taking out the last Senzu before shaking his head. "Deja vu indeed," he thought aloud, earning a nod from Piccolo and Tien both before chucking the bean over, zinging it by the head of the announcer as the gong was struck several times.
"Sorry about this Gohan," Chaozu thought while telekinetically intervening. Ah well, he had greater concerns working behind his actions.
Gohan glanced up as the Senzu bean flew towards him, opening his hand and reaching up expectantly only to watch it suddenly veer off course and sling itself into Cell Junior`s open mouth(he was still grumbling of his loss), and then, before Cell could even spit it out, his jaw clamped shut and opened back up before doing so again. Open mouth chewing.
And then he was healed. Instantly.
"What the hell?" Gohan asked dejectedly. Cell blinked a few times and got back to his feet before looking himself over. No injuries, not even a bloodstain, he was perfectly healed. Just like that. As such, he slowly looked at Gohan with the single most smug grin in all of history before finally bending over, eye to eye, and speaking after about five seconds to the shocked looking youth knelt in front of him.
"HAH HAH!!!"
Gohan fell over backwards and Cell stood up straight, laughing before - feeling compelled to do so for some reason or another - he took off and left the arena, flying over the horizon and out of sight.
"I don`t get it," Gohan mumbled out, laying on his back still. Even if Junior had gotten the final laugh though, the people were now on his side, those few that could actually speak anyway.
In the lounge, Chaozu shook his head with a neutral frown on his face, leaned against the side of the sign. Given that he was so short no one even noticed him standing there other than Tien, he was alright to be expressive if he wanted to. "Sometimes, I really do hate gear turning," he thought to himself before telepathically nudging Videl as he had nudged Cell Junior. The girl was fairly quick a few seconds later, to exit the lounge and run towards the still downed Gohan.
As for Krillin and Zangya?
They glanced at each other with twin grins of that usual demonic nature before speaking out in unison with the same tune, this time accompanied by Tien`s humming for one reason or another(he had actually gained a sense of humor over the years, shocking, huh?).
"Gohan`s got a girlfriend."
End Part Eleven
Author`s Note: That my friends, was one of the longest fight scenes I`ve ever written, though it`s not the longest. Definately the most fun though. Hopefully the identity of Jun-Yah wasn`t lame or anything, and hopefully it caught you off gaurd and gave you a real surprise to read.
And next up, the conclusion of the tournament. Who`s going to win? Will Suta take down Videl? Will Videl cliche her way to victory? Will Gohan even be awake to fight? If he does, will he succeed where his father failed and capture the Tenkaichi crown in only two tries, instead of three?
Hey, don`t look at me. I`m a bastard, I`m not telling :P
Author`s Note: The one you`ve all been waiting for...
Disclaimer: I wtn notido
What if
"She really is living it up out there, eh?" Tien uttered with a bit of mock surprise. "She just conquered what was probably the single largest obstacle in her life up to this point," Gohan replied calmly. "May as well let her live it up now." Tien gave a nod. "I suppose, but it`s pretty boring being sidelined with nothing to do but watch your girlfriend party around in the ring," he retorted. Gohan blushed. "She`s not my girlfriend..."
"Keep saying that, maybe someone will believe you at some point," Zangya interjected with a snicker, perching herself up on the sign while Piccolo moved up and stood next to Tien. "You people live to torture me, don`t you?" Gohan asked sourly. "As if you had any doubts?" Zangya asked. "Good point," he conceded defeatedly with a sigh. "The woman is always right Gohan, remember that," she added. "Bar the fact you`re a token slut," Piccolo mumbled. "A what?" Zangya asked, glancing over at Piccolo with that cheerfully murderous look most people seemed to misplace on ChiChi. "Bar the fact that you`re in a rut," he said a bit louder. "Yeah, this planet is a bit dingy," she replied with a shrug.
"I`m surrounded by insanity," Tien thought to himself, cracking a smirk at it all. He was on the edge of laughter when Zangya idly reached over out of no where and swiped Piccolo`s turban right off of his head, examining it briefly. "What kind of toilet paper is this?" She teased mercilessly, only to find it swiped right back out of her hands and securely placed back onto his head. "Don`t touch the turban, I will kill you," Piccolo grumbled in annoyance. "So edgy, you need to get out more," she replied. "And you say I`m the one with a significant other?" Gohan interjected at Zangya. "Eh?"
"Am I the one bickering with Piccolo like a Bulma and Vegeta?" He questioned sarcastically. Zangya fell over backwards onto her head from the signpost and Piccolo barely stopped himself from falling over as well, glaring knives, daggers, swords, spears and chainsaws at Gohan with a sneer that could liquify titanium. "Concession accepted," Gohan replied to the two of them with a smile. "Moving along now..."
Gohan glanced over at shoulder at Jun-Yah, meeting only what he felt was a solid glare harder than anything Piccolo was throwing at him by now. "You`ll have to come out of that damn thing sometime if you think you`ll be fighting me evenly," Gohan thought. After a few more seconds, Jun-Yah inched out of his corner and moved gradually towards the exit of the lounge, right as Videl, accompanied by an extremely dazed Hercule, walked in. Expectant of anything from a hug to at least a handshake, she was mildly offended when Gohan didn`t even notice her, or her father for that matter. Then she caught the direction he was looking in and noticed the fact that he was in a staredown with the fighter that Videl felt was the deciding factor. Gohan snorted and reached into his douji shirt, removing what looked like a small necklace and mindlessly tossing it to Videl.
"Congratulations," he said, beaming the infamous Son Grin at her. "For me?" Videl asked in mock surprise. "Well duh. Was... A gift... A good luck charm a friend gave me a long time ago, figured it was better in your hands than in mine," Gohan replied, managing to successfully avoid any downtrodden shows of emotion when mentioning that old 'friend' of his. Chances were that he`d never tell anyone, though he knew Chaozu, at least, knew parts of that story. "Thanks," Videl replied with a smile, sliding it over and around her head and then lifting her pigtails up through it. "Perfect fit," she commented offhandedly with a light bit of surprise, unseeing of the small, darkly purplish glow emitted from the uniquely shaped crystal that hung at the front of the piece of jewelry, nor did she notice how her heartrate quickened briefly from looking at it.
In the background, one could almost hear Krillin humming out the tune to 'Gohan`s got a girlfriend' all over again.
"Looks good on you," Gohan stated with a grin before looking at the ring. "Guess my match is starting now," he thought aloud, changing the subject before Zangya, and probably Piccolo, could jump in and take their well deserved revenge on him for his earlier comments, though both were almost frothing at the mouth for the chance. Tien was barely successful in holding them back, Piccolo by his cape, Zangya by her hair.
And that was when Jun-Yah shoved his way through, roughly managing to push Gohan out of the lounge without a word.
"Good luck!" Videl managed to shout out before tending to her father, who was still seriously banged up from his match against her. Gohan didn`t reply though, at least not verbally. He could only barely nod as Jun-Yah stormed by him, entering the ring with no time to spare. Capel began the introduction, at least he tried to, but both fighters were already in the ring and -
There was a massive shattering sound and Jun-Yah and Gohan had already locked up with forearms, ignoring the fact that the bell hadn`t even rung yet.
- Capel gave up and shook his head. "Since these two are pretty eager to get to it, no introductions, just..." He took a deep breath and gathered himself up. "FIGHT!!!" He screamed over the mic at the top of his lungs, the gong ringing loudly instantly.
"You`re strong," Gohan commented, drawing on inner strength and forcing Jun-Yah`s arm to a standstill. "You have no idea, murderer," Jun-Yah replied angrily, giving a voice to the faceless, soundless warrior that had so viciously brutalized his way into the battle he seemed to crave so desperately. "Murderer?!" Gohan asked back hotly, his hair beginning to waver about slightly as his eyes took on a subtle jade glow at the edges of his pupils. "Yes! Murderer! Ruthless, soulless, killing machine!" Jun-Yah accused, voice showing just a bit of the anger that seemed to permeate everything he had done so far. "Did you ever really think your crimes would go unpunished you bastard?!" He demanded.
Gohan`s only reply was sudden and abrupt as gold began to pulse through his hair. "What crimes?! What in the hell are you talking about?!" He demanded back at Jun-Yah, even while golden light began to outline the space between the tiles. "Don`t play innocent with me," Jun-Yah replied, suddenly breaking out of the lock up and lashing out. Gohan kept his arm up, blocking the incoming wave of invisible energy with little strain. "What the hell are you talking about?!" Gohan asked again, his hair suddenly blazing up into a shade of solid gold while his eyes performed their transition to teal. His power-up continued though, even as he charged forward and lashed out with a kick of his own.
Jun-Yah hopped back and out of the way at the last second, the stomach section of his robing getting caught in the process. Gohan`s foot ripped straight through it instantly, revealing an odd mix of familiar yet unfamiliar details beneath the tear. Gohan landed and turned around, glancing at Jun-Yah as his golden hair began to rigidly move up, tiles slowly prying from the floor of the ring. "No point in the disguise now," Jun-Yah uttered.
Sparks of energy shown up off of the ring and the ground around it, not just from Gohan either. Cracks of electric blue lightning slashed into each other, forming brief thunderclaps, low and distant despite their closeness to the two fighters. It was then that the youth`s eyes drifted down and focused specifically on that tear at the stomach region, exposing a good deal of the mid-section.
It was then that he noticed the pale blue nature of the armor-like chest beneath, dotted with darker blue spots and holding still over a strange looking space just above the hips but beneath the ribs. Hauntingly familiar but just different so that it made the revelation all the more shocking Jun-Yah held his arms up above himself, towards the sky. His sleeves finally fell down, exposing not only those pale hands with their black nails, but also exposing the armor-like carapace over his biceps and forearms, and the back of each elbow.
He threw his arms back down and with a blaze of golden flame, the robes and the hood both vanished into nothingness, shredded and burnt out of existence to reveal a being that stood at the exact same height and stature as the singular opponent that had done more in one hour to drive Gohan insane and into a killing frenzy than anyone short of the Grand Enforcer back in Tokyo. "How the hell?" He asked, jaw hanging open while his transformation gradually continued, most of his hair rigidly bee hiving up into a crown-like style with a single lock hanging defiantly against the rest. His eyes had darkened somewhat, as had his hair, and each muscle and contour in his body was gradually becoming more defined whilst the tiles of the ring continued tearing up and hovering against gravity.
What stood before him defied all logic. What stood before him defied all senses of mercy and compassion and what stood before him seemed to defy the laws of mortality. It was like staring into those dark pink eyes all over again.
"It took all of that to refresh your memory?" The fighter who so resembled Cell asked with obvious anger in him. "H-h... How did you survive, Cell?" Gohan asked in shock. "I`m not Cell you stupid little shit," the other replied. "Remember His children?" Cell asked. "Remember how you mercilessly slaughtered all seven of them?" He asked again while stepping forward, shoving aside a tile or two by the merit of his own power. "Yes. Yes I do," Gohan finally muttered in reply, his transformation into the level beyond Super Saiyan having finally completed, thus causing exactly half of the stones that were hovering to fall back into place perfectly.
"So how are you alive?" He asked for the third or fourth, possibly fifth time. "You aimed for the head, I had a defect and the lump was in my chest," Junior explained. "So you waited for four years and then entered a tournament to try and get at me using the name 'Jun-Yah?'" Gohan asked. "Yes," Cell replied. "That has got to be the crappiest explanation I`ve ever heard," the youth finally stated, fatalistic normalcy managing to return to him in spades. "Truth has a tendancy to be that way, doesn`t it? And did I mention that I`ve spent virtually all of that time training? Perfecting techniques, making new ones..."
"Shut up and fight already, bragging villains are so cliché these days that I`m going to vomit the next time I see one," Gohan replied in a monotone voice. "Very well then," Cell replied, vanishing in a flash as the second half of the rings dropped back into place, bar the few that Cell had disclocated by moving. Gohan jumped back, dodging out of the way as the kick, moving too fast for the eyes of anyone else in the arena to follow, tunneled it`s way through the air and punched a crater in the tile it impacted.
As for all of those other people? Nobody could even speak. Nightmares over Cell were still fresh in people`s minds even four years after the fact. Capel himself had dropped the microphone the moment the blue carapaced clone had exposed himself.
"Bit slow there, eh?" Gohan asked, his foe appearing at the opposite end of the ring. "I`m not even trying that hard," Junior replied through gritted teeth. "Neither am I," Gohan retorted. "Good, I`d hate for this to be a weak battle," Cell answered while lowering himself into a fighting stance, hands gradually raising up and to his side in a posture similar to Vegeta during the Gallick Gun. Gohan`s response was to remind in plain standing position, not bothering with any poses or anything like that.
"Attack me," Cell ordered. "The same mistake Cell made," Gohan commented while moving forward, one step at a time. Cell Junior grinned and almost the instant Gohan came within four feet of him, Cell let out a shout and began powering up for an attack, rings of purplish energy shooting up from the ground around him and focusing into a sphere of golden light between his hands.
Gohan stood there, unphased. Cell simply grinned and shouted out the attack`s name. "Makosen!" He yelled, surprising Piccolo and Tien both while throwing his hands forward and unleashing the attack at Gohan, a gigantic beam similar to Krillin`s Kakusandan, only it was colored golden and every foot or so, shockwave-type rings of purplish energy burst off of it. Gohan jumped back the instant the attack started coming at him, throwing his hands above his head.
"Masenko-ha!" He yelled, thrusting his hands, now layered over one another, back down, aimed at the incoming beam of energy. His attack was fast and furious, a beam of orange shrieking through the air and striking the Makosen head on. The two attacks didn`t detonate on impact though, or even engage in a beam duel. Rather than that, they nullified each other out with a powerful burst of light and a large gust of wind that left Gohan and Cell both unphased but those around the arena slightly flattened into their seats.
"You weren`t kidding, huh?" Gohan asked without any signs of humor or lightheartedness. For all intents and purposes, his emotions were offlined for the duration. "I don`t make jokes," Cell replied before vanishing again.
This time, Gohan vanished as well. Thunder clapped across the ring as the two fighters slugged it out at speeds which defied sight, blows raining in with no pause whatsoever. The two appeared several times during the battle, skidding along the surface of the ring, darting down onto it, knocking one another back down into it and occasionally appearing long enough to watch a ki blast form in one of the fighters` hands. Each time the last of these occured, an explosion wasn`t far behind, pulsing to life for brief instants above the ring, vanishing as smoke clouds and blowing away seconds later.
One could almost see the air around the ring warping and the footprints grinding into place on the already rattled tiling as the two battled it out, a slick of red blood sliding through the air and onto the first step after another few seconds and a mirroring slick of purplish blood falling next to it before the two finally became visible again, locked in a mirror pose of punching each other in the face.
Mirrored again, they were, when each made a similar smirk and broke apart, jumping sideways and into the middle of the ring with several leaps before rocketing straight up and then turning towards each other at a right angle. There was a flash of light as they passed by each other and touched down on the ground, back to back about ten feet apart. Gohan was crouched in a kneel with his arms out, Cell was standing, both were bleeding in the same spot from the lip.
I can't find the rhyme in all my reason
Lost sense of time and all seasons
Feel I've been beaten down
By the words of men who have no grounds
"This is going to be more interesting than I thought," Cell commented while turning around to face Gohan, who was now back at his feet and glancing over his shoulder at Cell. There was something that that was missing in the eyes of the youth, that usual cheerfulness, the usual kindness and mercy. All of it was gone, replaced by the raging Saiyan demon that lurked within. Cell showed a similar expression, though his was glazed over with a smirk. The two remained in their postures for several seconds before Gohan finally turned around and faced Cell entirely, still standing straight.
"Maybe we should throw out the rules and just kill one another," Gohan cynically muttered, causing Cell to shake his head. "No. Better that I beat you within the rules," he replied. Be it stupidity or genius, Junior was intent on keeping things restricted. Perhaps he felt he could trick Gohan into attacking him afterward, gain a moral highgrounds to kill him, then become the champion. Or maybe just break the teen`s pride into pieces and then let him live through the humiliation of Junior blowing up the entire island chunk by chunk.
Or maybe Cell Junior just wanted a good challenge and fighting within a set amount of rules was the only way to get it. Whatever the reason was, he was quite contented at facing Son the way things were now. "Ready to resume?" He asked smugly. "Whenever you`re ready," Gohan replied coldly. Cell`s only reply was to grin and then beckon Gohan to come at him, raising his left hand and then motioning for the youth to charge. He lowered his arm and then didn`t budge an inch.
Gohan saw right through it, powering up a low level beam of ki and then firing it from his fist into the staying after image, which had been laced with enough energy that it detonated instantly. Gohan waited for a moment and then Cell reappeared, above the ring with one arm extended. One shout later, Gohan was pushed down by an invisible wall of force, though he wasn`t the one to yield. The tiling beneath him cracked and finally shattered like glass and Gohan`s boots sank into the concrete beneath for several inches before it stopped.
Looking up at Cell though, it was obvious that no damage had been done. Gohan smirked and spoke up a few seconds later.
"My turn."
"How in the hell is Cell around still? We all saw him die!" Tien stuttered out, staring up as Cell Junior and Gohan returned to their battle. His eyes couldn`t even track their movements. "That isn`t Cell," Piccolo replied. "It`s one of his children," he said with a shrug. "Children?" Zangya asked. She knew enough of Cell to think herself lucky that she and the others had arrived after he was killed, but she`d never heard anything of children.
"Cell had a technique where his tail split open and dropped out a miniature clone of himself, violent to the extreme and utterly sadistic. Each clone was only a bit weaker than he himself and each clone knew every technique he had," Piccolo answered. "Each clone was also childishly foolish and did exactly as told. He called them all by the same name; Cell Junior." Zangya only nodded in reply. "And what did they do to the lot of you?" She asked. "Broke every bone in Yamcha`s body twice, gave Krillin a dozen or so internal injuries and all around beat the hell out of myself, Vegeta and Mirai Trunks. I saw Gohan ruthlessly slaughter all seven of them but one survived due to some sort of birth defect," he answered again, trying in vain to track how the two fighters were moving before they appeared at the corner of the ring farthest from the lounge, exchanging punches so fast they were literally nothing but monotone blurs. The force of each attack that missed actually continued and punch marks were becoming apparent in the corner of the wall that kept the fighters seperated from the fans.
"Birth defect?" Zangya asked. "Are you familiar with Namekian physiology?" Zangya nodded. "Cell had the same kind of lump in his head from absorbing some of my DNA when he was still Imperfect, he could also manuever it through his body somehow. His children lacked that ability but this one claims his 'healing lump' was improperly placed into his chest for some reason," Piccolo explained from what he`d overheard.
A blinding flash of light and Cell was hovering in front of the lounge, inches off of the ground with a bruised cheek, while Gohan appeared hovering in the air above the ring. Zangya could barely make out Cell Junior`s grumbling as something along the lines of human profanity when he drifted back up slowly and tilted himself upright before vanishing so fast he didn`t even leave a blur. Gohan followed suit and from there to whatever came along, she couldn`t follow a single punch, though the shockwaves that seemed to echo through the ring going off so close to one another that each individual sound couldn`t be defined from one another was something she could easily follow without trying.
Videl was still slack jawed at it all, standing next to Zangya and trying in vain to keep up with the movements everyone made. She hadn`t said a word since the two started really fighting in the ring.
When you`re moving fast enough that you`re less than the speed of light but still so fast that you don`t even hear the sounds you make until around twenty seconds after the fact, and after images of you(a common effect prone only to things and people with ki levels that measured around Mister Satan, his daughter Videl and Master Roshi) tend to be doing things at about the same rate, and the details of the terrain around you don`t even really measure in as things in better contrast than blurry bits of color, it tends to hype reactionary chemical levels to near euphoric rates, aiding or impairing judgement per individual.
That`s the effect for humans, Aisuu, Gurusu and about half the Namekian species anyway, for Saiyans, warrior-type Nameks alike, it tends to be a bit different. Rather than making things downright euphoric, moving at this sort of speed caused an absolute heightening of all senses, everything sped up or slowed down to help adapt to it. Blinking became something that occured far faster than normal to keep the eyes from drying out, while the eyelids also reflexively narrowed. For warrior-type Nameks, this also caused the ability to detect ki to heighten as far as it could, as the skill was something bred into them over the eons before the race became asexual due to Guru. The lungs expanded to a surprising margin while hidden air pathways led from the nose to lungs directly in addition to being able to mouth breathe as required(this was why the Saiyans could eat so much so quickly without choking to death), allowing a warrior to take in more oxygen in few breaths. The heart pumped blood in faster but expelled it in a continuous outward pumping motion unique to Saiyans and warrior-type Nameks, and the nerves that detect air pressure in the ears(antenna for Nameks) shut down to the extent that unless such pressure drops or increases are fatal within a few seconds, it won`t be felt.
When moving this fast in battle, it also caused pain receptive nerves to dull unless the injury was severe, and for both it tended to cause a survival instinct to occur. Few people realized that a True Warrior type of Namek(such as Nail, the last example of a True Warrior) and a Super Saiyan(such as Vegeta) were essentially dead even in this respect. For hybrids though, particularly human-Saiyan hybrids, it was different from either pure Saiyans or pure humans, as the results combined entirely. For those like Trunks, where the human genes were dominant or co-dominant with the Saiyan genes, it caused either a mostly human effect with a few Saiyan additions such as extreme tolerances to speed and such, while with dominant Saiyan genes, such as Gohan and Goten, it caused both to blend together with the best of both.
This was why Gohan had been able to surpass his father, he was literally genetically handed the best of both worlds on a silver platter, and this was also why he was able to endure the speeds of combat he was performing with Cell Junior, who portrayed a far more varied mixture for his own genetic background which gave him a slight inherent edge. Combine genes from five of the most powerful humans in history with four Saiyans, two(technically one) warrior type Nameks, a billion year old demon and whatever the hell else Doctors Gero and Flappe could locate and you had a pretty powerful fighter right off the bat.
Now, add all of their moves as well.
The two were currently matched evenly despite an unlevel genetic playing field, as Cell utilized Yamcha`s old(now abandoned) Wolf Fang Fist technique in a barrage that couldn`t be heard and was only seen in crisp detail since his own movements were keeping with Gohan`s. Cell`s right arm flashed by Gohan, surrounded by an aura resembling the head of a wolf poised to strike, Gohan had dodged though but Cell adapted fairly quickly, using his other arm to finally hit the boy in his stomach.
Gohan faltered backwards and everything slowed down long enough for him to again become visible, falling over only to burst to the right and vanish all over again. The air above and around the ring had begun to tinge golden and distort as the two continued their battle, what appeared to be a modified Makankosappo visibly corkscrewing in a circle around the entire ring as Cell finally made himself visible at the center of it all, the beam extending out from his index and middle fingers and chasing after a target so fast that what people actually saw was something delayed by about five seconds.
Gohan appeared directly in the path of the beam a few seconds later, high above the now hidden Cell(the attack he`d made had circled around the ring so much that he was obscured from view by it), his left hand extended above and left of his head whilst he waited for the beam to get a little closer.
"KIENZAN!!!"
With a scream, the attack appeared dangling above his open palm, and was then hurtled at the incoming attack. There was a moment or two that it looked like it had hit something and then the Makankosappo beam split in half around him, the corkscrew part of it expanding around both and missing Gohan entirely. Cell Junior finished his attack at that and let the rest of the beam spiral up and into the overpowered Kienzan only to split and expand off into the horizon, exiting the atmosphere and detonating out in orbit on the other side of the planet.
"This is fun," Cell conceded with a happy little smirk. Gohan made no reply and blurred out, Cell followed and a chorus of explosions echoed through the air all of ten seconds later, one of the corners of the ring vanishing as a result of one of the larger blasts hitting it from the looks of things.
Gohan and Cell reappeared on the opposite side, their left feet embedded into each other`s chins at odd angles before they vanished again and reappeared above the crowds, with Gohan flipping forward from the impact of Cell`s left arm across the back of his head. They blurred out again and reappeared directly above the ring, where one could vaguely make out the yelling of an '-ame... HA!' before Gohan thrust his arms forward and hit Cell with a Kame Hame Ha at point blank, blowing off one of the larger fighter`s arms and shattering the left part of his crown-like head growth, and tearing away the left arm and wing from his body.
Can't sleep beneath the trees of wisdom
When your ax has cut the roots that feed them
Forked tongues in bitter mouths
Can drive a man to bleed from inside out
"You little shit!" Cell screeched while holding his left stump with a wince. "You`re the kid here, four year old," Gohan replied with the same smirk that had once terrified the original Cell. "Age is nothing but a number, shrimp," Junior retorted with a smirk. "Besides, at least I have the balls to fight in my birthday suit!"
"You have balls?" Gohan asked in a monotone voice. "Yes! Balls o` steel!" Cell replied while regrowing those parts of his body and head that had been blown off, each bringing a spurt of blood as a result. Gohan blinked a few times and shook his head. "Thats... Just lovely... Really," he answered back with a defeated groan. "Enough with the small talk," Cell ordered before blurring out again. "Whatever."
Gohan reappeared wavering slightly a new cut or two on his face, a hole in the side of his orange overshirt and a burn mark on the blue shirt he wore beneath, as well as a fairly pronounced bruise on his neck. Cell appeared a moment later, looking a bit better for wear while he craned his head back then threw it forward again, literally vomiting forth a beam of energy at Gohan. All too late the youth turned around and brought his arms up to try and block with a yelp, vanishing into a gigantic explosion which blew a two foot deep crater into the ring and threw Gohan onto his back, leaving a small trench from how he had moved as a result. The smoke was quick to clear due to how he had powered back up once he was on his feet.
"Can`t let him catch me off gaurd like that again or he could do something more damaging than that," the demi-Saiyan resolved while springing back up to his feet only to watch as Cell brought two fingers up with a devilish smile and pointed them at the sky.
"Mommy..."
In the stands, ChiChi looked on the verge of fainting as the area of the ring around her eldest son vanished into a blue dome of energy, shocking her senses and causing maternal urges to drag the boy out of the ring to kick in. Goten was sitting idly in her lap with his jaw hanging open and more than one bandage on his small body, still dressed in the same clothing he`d worn in his match. Trunks sat across from him in Bulma`s lap, mirroring his expression though those baby blue irises of his had shrunken to an extent that they were barely visible. Bulma`s expression mirrored them both minus the fact that she was glancing over at ChiChi as well from time to time.
Yamcha was wincing slightly and Roshi was looking away, most likely staring at the large chested girl about four seats away in the direction he was staring in. None of the others could do anything but stare in awe, probably since even through all of that, the ring was still standing, although a quarter of it was little more than a large crater for the most part.
"Had enough yet?" Cell asked cockily at the smoke cloud, grinning. Silence was the reply as the crowd, Capel, the other fighters and Junior himself all waited for the smoke to clear, with only a few realizing the teen wasn`t dead due to the fact his energy could still be detected. Cell waited with patience though, rather than charge in and take Gohan out at a period of time that would make it too easy to be enjoyable. He wanted Gohan to suffer, yes. That much of it was obvious right off the bat. He just didn`t want the other to know he was going to suffer, he wanted to break any pride that was in him and then break his body, mind and soul one after the other once that was finished.
The smoke began to lighten after almost thirty seconds and then, as if in an action movie, a tunnel formed right through it all. Gohan burst out with a scream, aura ablaze, clothing ripped in several places, one of his sleeves missing and blood staining him at several points. Junior wasn`t that surprised that he had survived, or even come out fighting, but he was surprised that the other had managed to do it with such fire in him about pulling it off.
He was surprised enough that he didn`t block as Gohan scored a straight armed, right handed punch into his cheek that knocked a few teeth loose in his mouth and instantly caused bleeding and bruising to occur as a result. Then came the second blow, punching into Cell`s stomach hard enough that the other lurched forward with a pained expression and grunted as a result, only to take another right hand across the face and then have a karate chop-styled blow cleanly chop off half of his right wing, which was then grabbed like a large knife and stabbed into the small of Junior`s back. If he`d had a spine, it would`ve been severed cleanly.
What if you did?
What if you lied?
What if I avenge?
What if eye for an eye?
"Father wanted him dead, I can`t give up now," Cell resolved while biting a small chunk of his own tongue off from the pain. It regenerated quickly but he still gnashed his teeth ont he small amount between them.
I've seen the wicked fruit of your vine
Destroyed the man who lacks a strong mind
Human pride sings a vengeful song
Inspired by the times you've been walked on
"MASENKO-HA!!!" Gohan screamed, raising his hands in the required posture and then pressuring them into Cell`s left shoulder, letting loose instantly with a quick, contained, powerful form of the attack that ripped straight through Cell`s shoulder, severing his left arm for the second time in a day, then corkscrewed up before the beam could hit the ground and turned back around. Gohan hopped out of the way as the blast barreled through Junior`s stomach and tore out through the small of his back, destroying the wing fragment as a result, the teen`s leg flying up and cracking hard against the back of the falling giant`s skull.
Cell lurched forward, the Masenko having done it`s damage. Blood oozed rather than flowed from the hole running through Cell`s mid-section, as well as what had been his left shoulder, the arm that lay beside his left leg rapidly decaying out of existence a few seconds later. There was also a leg-shaped dent in the back of his skull but that was the least of his problems at the moment.
Gohan staggered back, a bit dazed from the one-two combo he had endured all of forty seconds earlier, gathering ki into his hands and then slapping them together to throw a medium powered ki blast at Cell, who was knocked over entirely by it and left resting as if in a Muslim prayer with one arm. "Surrender?" Gohan asked with an exhausted voice, energy crackling around him still.
"Go to Hell and die," Cell replied before rolling onto his back and springing back up. In mid-rise to his feet however, his limbs regenerated and the hole in his stomach grew back, and as he got to his feet, he spun into a roundhouse kick. Gohan ducked through and landed on both hands, swinging his own feet up and into the newly reformed gut of Cell, who screamed again as a result of the fact his new carapace in that spot was still fairly weak. Cell stumbled back and held his stomach glaring beams of hatred at Son Gohan, who literally dodged them. The attacks splayed through the air beside him and diced a pair of thin trails out of the ring before stopping, and Cell stumbled forward, wincing.
Gohan`s foot slammed into his cheek again and Cell turned away, one of his eyes whacked out of alignment for a moment before sliding back into position. Letting out a loud warning yell, Gohan threw his arms back and then thrust them forward, and a wall of invisible ki slammed into Cell from behind and threw him forward.
My stage is shared by many millions
Who lift their hands up high because they feel this
"Heh," Gohan wheezed out while standing down for a moment, relying on Cell`s injuries to buy him some time to recover.
It just wasn`t going to happen that way though.
"KAIO-KEN ATTACK!!!"
Cell was on his feet, healed again and now surrounded by a red-and-gold aura crackling with enough energy around it to put any storm in history to shame before even Gohan could follow it, and in a moment so fast even Gohan couldn`t follow it, a fairly large hand was embedded in the teen`s stomach, causing him to lurch forward, gagging up a bit of blood here and there and generally having the wind knocked out of him so badly his eyes briefly faded entirely white.
Cell`s aura blew out like a candle after a few seconds more, and he went to his knees with his hand still in the other fighter`s stomach as well, his own injuries becoming worsened because of the dangerous after effects that came with a Kaio-Ken. His body was actually smoking and his insides felt ablaze. The color finally returned to Gohan`s eyes and he finished falling forward after a few more seconds, collapsing to one hand and both knees and holding his stomach once Cell drew his arm back and caught himself.
"Now I know why Goku didn`t do that move very often," Cell muttered under his breath, feeling the ache within his body worsen for a moment that he couldn`t even budge in. "Bas-bastard," Gohan wheezed out, coughing to catch his rbeath a few seconds later. "Orphan, you`re the bastard," Cell retorted while picking himself back up and standing there with supreme effort, Gohan following suit a moment later. "No, you`re a bastard, not me," Gohan shot back, cutting off any replies by powering a generic blast into his hand and slinging it sideways at Cell, who tilted his head out of the way and then through a foot up as if in Soccer to kick it skyward.
"Can`t have any civilians killed now," he taunted in an exhausted voice before turning back to Gohan, then screaming out a kiai and throwing the other back. Gohan flew from the ring and headed towards the ground before catching himself in mid-air, so close that the lock of his hair still hanging over his face was on the verge of touching the ground by only a half an inch.
A grimace finally set itself into his face and the Saiyan demon beneath his skin took over once more.
We are one
We are strong
The more you hold us down the more we press on
With a shout, he ascended straight up and righted himself into a full back flip that brought his feet to face Cell, then shouted again while bending his entire body back.
Piccolo grimaced as Gohan flipped around again and torpedoed at his opponent, causing something of a mixture between pride and sympathy for his student`s desperation. "This is pretty even from what I can actually see," Zangya stated uncertainly, watching the two fighters literally collide in mid-air and begin trading punches from there. "Yeah. They do, don`t they?" Tien asked, only able to truly follow the action with his third eye. Videl on the other hand was staring blankly still. Krillin had moved back over rather bemusedly as the fighting continued, watching his god son with an ironic shake of the head.
"Hey Piccolo, `m I the only one gettin` deja vu from this?" He asked at the large green fighter. Piccolo thought for a moment and then shook his head with a rare smirk. "Not really," he muttered. "Feels weird watching it this time though," he added. "Yeah, least you can follow the movements as more than a blur though," Krillin pointed out.
"That`s beside the point."
Gohan flew back and bounced off of the surface of the ring, thrusting his hands out and catching both of Cell`s punches before pulling him in and jamming both knees into the other fighter`s throat and chin no less than three times. Each time caused blood to fly out of Cell`s mouth, and the fourth shot came close to jarring his arms both from the sockets when Gohan drew his entire body back and then forcibly kicked Cell in the collar while still gripping his hands.
It was a brutally even fight, even if Cell could regenerate. Sheer viciousness closed the gap of regeneration and a greater arsenal of moves, and the two were almost deadlocked in ki and speed, with Gohan being a little stronger and Cell proving to be a little faster, neither so strong or fast that they could get an advantage out of it. For every advantage one of them had, the counter attack fest to follow nullified it almost completely, for every strategy one of them made, the other almost fluked up a counter strategy for it right as it started.
To say the least it was a bit annoying to both of them.
Cell, still held as he was, allowed Gohan to keep a steady grip on him for a few more seconds, then gripped back and opened his eyes, letting out a shout before splitting into two exact clones, each bearing injury on one side only and each still gripping Gohan`s hand with one of their own. Gohan grimly watched as the two began speaking in unison, layering their free hands with each other in a manner similar to a Kame Hame Ha of sorts.
And that`s just what the words were.
"Kame Hame HA!"
What if you did?
What if you lied?
What if I avenge?
What if eye for an eye?
The world went white for a moment and then a ragged Gohan fell from the air, slapping soundlessly against the singed tiling of the ring, face contorted into a wince that defied the abilities of the human face to perform, half of his overshirt, and half of his undershirt also missing, blood flash burnt into his skin and clothing, his golden hair blackened ever so slightly from the attack. It hurt to breathe but it hurt more to lay there when every fiber of his body screamed to get back up and keep fighting. It hurt worse than when he had fought the original Cell, it hurt worse than when Recoom had broken his neck and it hurt far worse than anything Bojack had hit him with. To summarize it simply enough: It hurt like hell.
The twin Juniors above both shared similar smirks as they gathered back together into one still-injured fighter, his tactic of combining one of Tien`s moves with the one move virtually everyone of the Earth`s defenders but Zangya, Piccolo and Vegeta knew had paid off in spades. The advantage belonged to Cell, and he knew it give the way the other fighter`s hair suddenly lightened back to that of a first level Super Saiyan and then darkened to pitch black.
"Give up yet, weakling?!" Cell demanded from above, his right hand going up and powering a small blast - by his standards - into existence before carelessly flinging it down. Gohan yelled loudly and his eyes again went blank as the attack slammed into his back and burnt through his shirts, singing the skin just so that it burnt the nerves and left the flesh unscathed aside from that.
His eyes went teal briefly and his forehead slapped against the tiling. Breathing was hard but he managed. "Not like that," he warned himself, biting into his cheek only to feel another blast strike into his back. His eyes again flared teal and the air was rushed out of his lungs to quickly to do more than wheeze from the pain. Again, his forehead slapped into the tiling, and his fingers began to dig small trenches into it as well.
"Can`t give in like that, bad enough I already partially lost it earlier," he thought to himself, trying to supress the rage that could make the demon of his power even stronger.
I know I can't hold the hate inside my mind
"Gnn..." He groaned out, trying to get back up to his hands and knees before Cell flung another light blast into his back, burning it even further. His eyes blanked teal once more and it lasted for all of a second this time before settling back to a placid black. "Not like this," he uttered.
'Cause what consumes your thoughts
"Don`t give into it," he kept warning himself, right as another blast smashed into his burning back again, just weak enough to avoid doing serious damage. Once again his eyes flashed teal, though it didn`t last like the last flash had. "Just makes it worse, can`t control that thing when it gets like that," he kept thinking to himself, clenching his jaw so tightly that he forgot he was even gnawing his cheek, causing a cut to open in his mouth before the next impact of a lightly powered ki blast caused him to release it while screaming.
Controls your life
"No no no no no nonononono NO NO NO!" He yelled in his thoughts, getting angry at failing to avoid the anger already building. It was a vicious cycle and Cell wasn`t exactly helping it.
Another blast and another scream, the referee beside Capel was on the verge of stopping it if not for the fact Gohan kept trying to get up, and halfway succeeding each time.
So I'll just ask a question
"Why is he pushing me like this? It`ll end up just like it did with the first Cell, Bojack and all the others!"
A lonely simple question
"I don`t wanna do this! Why is he making me do this?!"
I'll just ask one question
"Please don`t do it again, don`t..."
Cell threw another ki blast, a bit stronger than the others, strong enough to do more than just singe, strong enough to literally set Gohan`s back on fire. It hit as planned, but what happened next...
"MAKE HIM PAY!!!"
Wasn`t what Cell had intended.
What if? What if?
What if? What if?
What If I?
"ENOUGH!!!" Gohan screamed with every ounce of the old, pent up rage returning once more. Where it shouldn`t have, where it should`ve all been gone, his power returned in a flash that would`ve caught even himself off gaurd if he was thinking properly. Yes, his back was on fire, literally, but it didn`t last long. In a flare of golden light, the flames on his back were literally torn off and cast into the winds like a forsaken candle as he glared up from the ground, black hair turning gold, gold hair lengthening back out and setting back into it`s former glory beyond, the color in his eyes blinking from gold to jade to teal in a flurry of change that quickened by the second before setting to the third color. Lightning rattled tremendously around him and he floored it back up at Cell, reappearing behind the other with a murderous howl. Cell turned but he wasn`t fast enough.
A spurt of purple and Cell`s face was gone, Gohan`s fist had punched straight through his skull and out the back end. Breathing ravenously, Gohan drew back and readied to make another strike, doing so instantly. A karate chop type of attack, slicing the two crown pieces from Cell`s head and then slinging his arms back before crashing them down into what remained of the other`s skull, caving it down into his neck and further down into his chest.
Cell was lucky the part of his body that regenerated him from death had survived intact, being just out of the way enough to avoid destruction or damage. His body flew downward and slammed hard into the ring, causing a flameless explosion so severe that it tore chunks of concrete up and flung them into the air at random, though raw ki grabbed them from there and pulped them out of existence before anyone in the audience could be hurt. It was a miracle people hadn`t died in any of the contests so far as it was, that they were probably going to walk out of this one essentially unscathed would`ve probably been considered an outright act of the highest gods around.
"You asked for this you son of a bitch," Gohan uttered out fiercely, knowing Cell wouldn`t even hear him until he regrew his head back. The demon had truly been uncaged once again, and then, after a few seconds, exhaustion took effect.
Exhaustion, and the look of shock in his mother and younger brother`s eyes. He`d only caught it after a moment or two but it was enough. Gohan`s anger driven power trip slowly started to fade away again and anger and ferocity found themselves replaced by logic and remorse. Logic that he shouldn`t fight like that in front of his family, let alone within damage range of a few tens of thousands of people, remorse that he had actually done it. Another bit of the remorse was that Cell hadn`t gotten back up yet, though Gohan could still feel the other fighter`s ki within the cloud of smoke.
Gently setting back down on one of the three surviving corners of the ring, Gohan gradually faded back to the first level of Super Saiyan, the power for going beyond having been leeched out of him by the lack of anger. His aura returned to it`s normal golden glow without sparks of excess energy, his hair faded to a lighter shade of gold without almost all of it being bee hived up, and his body lost a bit of it`s definition. The last change were his eyes fading back to jade from teal.
What if you did?
What if you lied?
What if I avenge?
What if eye for an eye?
"That... Hurt," came from within the cloud of smoke as a beaten, hulking figure of immense stature stumbled out, bleeding considerably over a naturally armored body that had taken more than it`s fair share of abuse for the day. "So did getting my back set on fire," Gohan retorted sharply, not even noticing the fact that his shirts had since fallen off send the threading in the shoulder regions of each shirt had burned away. Cell leered up from the ground with tired eyes. Even in their present states they were utterly even, since Cell was so beaten in by that surging assault that it had taken him down to the level Gohan was currently forced to fight in.
"I really hate you," he muttered. "The feeling`s mutual, Blubie," Gohan replied. "Blubie?" Cell asked hazily. "Seemed like the fun thing to say at the time." Gohan shrugged. "Whatever..."
That said, Cell burst forward with a howl and slammed his shoulder into Gohan in a classic ramming movement, which threw the other off of his feet and out of the ring. Gohan stopped himself inches short of the crowd and burst right back into the ring with a flaring of his aura, which died down as he slammed his own shoulder back into Cell`s chest, throwing Junior out of the ring and at the opposite side of the arena this time.
"Deja vu all over again," Krillin mumbled.
"Indeed," Piccolo replied.
"Eh?" Zangya and Videl both asked at once.
What if your words could be judged like a crime?
"Murderer!"
Cell slammed back into Gohan.
"Just shut up already!"
Gohan slammed back into Cell.
"Not until you admit it!"
Cell again slammed into Gohan, who stopped himself short of impacting the crowd and then blew himself up into the air above the ring before dropping down.
"It had to be done!"
Gohan landed and then headbutted Cell in classical Goku stance, throwing the other from his feet and into the air. Cell stopped himself short and started blazing back down.
"Shut up killer!"
This time, both collided in mid-air, slamming into each other and throwing one another back, Cell into the air, Gohan into the surface of the ring, causing a Gohan-sized imprint to occur, one that lead almost three feet straight down.
What if? What if?
What if? What if?
What If I?
Gohan flew back out and Cell barely avoided, striking Gohan one in each arm. Pressure points that left the other numb enough that he couldn`t feel a thing in either had been struck, and Gohan only grimaced mildly in annoyance at it before powering up an aura around himself. It was a strange aura for a Super Saiyan though, electric blue. Cell wasn`t impressed, flying up above Gohan with a growl.
"That the best you`ve got?!"
Gohan smirked. "Not at all..."
"KAME HAME HA!!!"
It`s a rarity that anyone can change an attack where seemingly all variations had been used by either Goku or the move`s original creators, Master Roshi and Son Gohan Senior. There were one handed Kame Hame Ha variants, through the feet, teleportation, sidewinding, renzoku-type, chou/full power, and Roshi had once managed to create a Kame Hame Ha 'belch' he could do when he was younger, but generally everything that could be done, had been done, even a multiple form tandem Kame Hame Ha, created during this match.
But now, Gohan had now left his mark on the diverse attack, using his aura alone to throw it at someone. Powering up as he had done, the attack came from all around him, flooding out of his aura and focusing into a beam. Cell was so caught off gaurd that he couldn`t even dodge it, and Gohan quickly brought the beam down into the other fighter from above like a sword. The resulting hit not only melted away the front armor of Cell Junior`s body, it also threw him down and left him to slam hard into the ground outside of the ring by a fluke accident with a massive thump.
The attack ended there, and the numbed, weakened Gohan lost power from there, falling from a few hundred feet up but managing to land on his feet, wheezing hard with fogged vision and temporarily paralyzed arms.
"Gonna have to remember that," he muttered to himself, glancing over at the speechless Capel.
"He landed out, that means I win, right?" Gohan asked weakly. Capel only gave a nod. A warped smile crossed the youngster`s face and he stumbled towards the edge of the ring. "Heh... heh heh... Huh heh heh hah heheheh HAH, HAH, HAH!!!" He cackled at the other, who slowly emerged exhaustedly and collapsed against the side of the ring with a glare at the other fighter, who was laughing his head off in battle fatigue.
Gohan promptly fell out of the ring and landed on his sides, still cackling like a mad man as Cell groaned out every profane word in the book and smashed his face into the edge of the ring.
Capel finally managed to get his voice back after a brief struggle with his own thoughts, cracking his neck once or twice before speaking out.
"SON GOHAN IS THE WINNER!"
"Hah hah huh hah hahhhh!" Gohan laughed at Cell, who only cussed him out in a few ways that would`ve probably raised the rating of the story if written. "Little mother fu... Gah," Cell uttered one last time before sliding onto his rear end, leaned back against the side of the ring growling and snorting to himself over his loss, whilst Gohan continued laughing, the feeling gradually returning to his arms enough that he held his stomach.
"Krillin, get Gohan a Senzu," Piccolo ordered. The fuzzy headed midget did as told, blankly reaching into the bag and taking out the last Senzu before shaking his head. "Deja vu indeed," he thought aloud, earning a nod from Piccolo and Tien both before chucking the bean over, zinging it by the head of the announcer as the gong was struck several times.
"Sorry about this Gohan," Chaozu thought while telekinetically intervening. Ah well, he had greater concerns working behind his actions.
Gohan glanced up as the Senzu bean flew towards him, opening his hand and reaching up expectantly only to watch it suddenly veer off course and sling itself into Cell Junior`s open mouth(he was still grumbling of his loss), and then, before Cell could even spit it out, his jaw clamped shut and opened back up before doing so again. Open mouth chewing.
And then he was healed. Instantly.
"What the hell?" Gohan asked dejectedly. Cell blinked a few times and got back to his feet before looking himself over. No injuries, not even a bloodstain, he was perfectly healed. Just like that. As such, he slowly looked at Gohan with the single most smug grin in all of history before finally bending over, eye to eye, and speaking after about five seconds to the shocked looking youth knelt in front of him.
"HAH HAH!!!"
Gohan fell over backwards and Cell stood up straight, laughing before - feeling compelled to do so for some reason or another - he took off and left the arena, flying over the horizon and out of sight.
"I don`t get it," Gohan mumbled out, laying on his back still. Even if Junior had gotten the final laugh though, the people were now on his side, those few that could actually speak anyway.
In the lounge, Chaozu shook his head with a neutral frown on his face, leaned against the side of the sign. Given that he was so short no one even noticed him standing there other than Tien, he was alright to be expressive if he wanted to. "Sometimes, I really do hate gear turning," he thought to himself before telepathically nudging Videl as he had nudged Cell Junior. The girl was fairly quick a few seconds later, to exit the lounge and run towards the still downed Gohan.
As for Krillin and Zangya?
They glanced at each other with twin grins of that usual demonic nature before speaking out in unison with the same tune, this time accompanied by Tien`s humming for one reason or another(he had actually gained a sense of humor over the years, shocking, huh?).
"Gohan`s got a girlfriend."
And next up, the conclusion of the tournament. Who`s going to win? Will Suta take down Videl? Will Videl cliche her way to victory? Will Gohan even be awake to fight? If he does, will he succeed where his father failed and capture the Tenkaichi crown in only two tries, instead of three?
Hey, don`t look at me. I`m a bastard, I`m not telling :P