Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z or any of its characters blah, blah, blah don't sue me they belong to Akira Toriyama.
Last time on Dragonball Z…
Vegeta's body twitched with anger. Minutes ago Cell had been cowering before him and now he had the audacity to call him nothing but a warm up! As if he was no better than those stupid bots the woman would make for him. Cell smiled at his reaction and Vegeta composed himself. "Alright but this time don't whine when I beat you!" He would prove to Cell along with all the others that he would never be underestimated again!
With that the battle was cued to begin. Both fighters took their stance, each fully believing that they would be the easy victory. Defeat was not an option for either for no matter what wounds their bodies received it was their pride that was truly on the line. Their pride and the fate of the earth.
…
As Vegeta and Cell readied themselves for battle, Trunks was relieved to see Krillin waking up. In this moment, he forgot about his disappointment in Vegeta and reveled in the fact that his friend was still alive and he once again let himself hope that maybe not all was lost.
This feeling did not last long, for not thirty seconds had gone by before Krillin's eyes widen, a new layer of sweat began to form on his baldhead. "What's the matter?" Trunks asked.
"Oh no… Vegeta's about to fight it!" Krillin answered, his body shaking.
Trunks whirled around back towards where he had last seen Cell and his father. He might have just attacked Vegeta himself but that did not mean that he wanted his father to die.
"I might not be as strong as a Super Saiyan," Krillin said through his teeth, "but there's one thing I know first hand and that is how incredibly powerful Cell has become. Trust me, he's a lot strong than he is letting on. I felt it Trunks, it was only for a second but when he kicked me I could sense his true power."
Trunks already knew this. He had gotten a taste of both Cell and Vegeta's power and he could only hope that Vegeta had been holding back in the gravity chamber.
A few yards away, both fighters were still smirking at each other and sizing one another up. Although Vegeta felt like Cell continued to look more and more like an insect version of Zarbon, he was pleased with the caliber of his opponent. He could practically taste his victory over this freak science project. Vegeta smiled and faced Cell head on. Tired of waiting, the Prince of all Saiyans, made the first move. Lunging forward, he assaulted Cell with 3 kicks and a punch… all of which Cell blocked. Vegeta landed behind his green opponent gracefully, a scowl on his face. "Well it's nice to see you've become a little stronger. Maybe this time I'll actually break a sweat." He was still not worried; in fact, the new strength Cell had shown made his blood hotter with delight.
Cell's only response was a small smile. Vegeta took off again, this time with a series of fast punches and kicks. The smile never left Cell's face as he blocked every single one of Vegeta's attacks.
Meanwhile, Krillin revealed to Trunks that he believed the young half-Saiyan had more power than he was letting on; "Knowing Vegeta, he is probably too involved in himself to notice but yeah, I can sense that you are holding back. You have a lot more power in you than you are making public, don't you?"
Trunks turned around, genuinely shocked to see a furious Krillin who continued to yell, "Well if you have all that power then why haven't you stopped Cell yet! Tell me!"
"Well, he sure has a lot of nerve," Trunks thought to himself, "since he could have stopped Cell if he had destroyed 18!" He didn't answer. At first, he had wanted to protect Vegeta's pride. He had wanted his father to have the glory Trunks had thought the Prince deserved. But now, even with his hidden power, he didn't know if it would be enough to defeat Perfect Cell.
Vegeta continued his onslaught against Cell. They were now in the sky, and the Super Saiyan had yet to get a single punch in. However, Vegeta's pride refused to let him be worried. He had trained too hard in the gravity chamber and had been second for too long to even think that he might lose. Finally he had Cell up against a cliff wall and took a break from his attack. "Come on," Vegeta beckoned, trademark smirk on his chiseled face, "You're going to have to try harder if you want to live."
When Cell's smile widened, the Saiyan Prince growled furiously. Where was the cowering insect from just a few minutes ago? Where were the fear, the begging, and the moment of glory? Overcome with frustration, Vegeta surged towards Cell who effortlessly moved out of the way and pushed the Prince into the cliff. This was the first time that Vegeta's heart began to beat a little faster with apprehension. "He's gotten so fast. Could that transformation really have made him that much more powerful?"
As if Cell could read Vegeta's mind, he answered the question with is fist just narrowly missing the Saiyan's face. Vegeta's turquoise irises shrunk as his eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. "It can't be!"
Cell chuckled before letting out a terrible scream. His hand, which was currently embedding in the rock after the punch, let out an enormous amount of energy blowing away the entire cliff. Even surrounded in a sea of dust and debris, Vegeta stayed in the same position, too shocked to move. He only came out of his stupor when Cell flew upwards. Vegeta scowled and followed. He was beginning to feel that old, terrible familiar feeling that he had felt when he had faced Kakarot, Frieza, and the androids. The feeling of impending doom.
Trunks watched as both fighters shot from the cloud of destruction. "My father has gone beyond the powers of a Super Saiyan!"
After a quick flight, both fighters landed on facing cliffs. As if he could hear his son, Vegeta reminded himself of his own power and pushed down the feelings of down that had started to form. "So I see you were holding out on me after all," he calmly said to Cell. "Of course, compared to me, you are still an inferior creaton. You were a fool to spend all that time absorbing the androids. If you really wanted power you should have gone after a Saiyan."
"Heh, like you right?" Cell scoffed.
The lines of Vegeta's mouth were deadly straight. In his eyes burned not only the pride he had for his race but also his killer instinct. "Yes, but of course."
When Cell merely chuckled at this response, Vegeta's teeth clenched in anger. It was as if he was standing in front of Frieza again. Unwanted memories of his service to the evil lizard began floating through his head. His hatred for Cell increased as he transferred his feelings for the dead tyrant onto the science project in front of him. Both Frieza and Cell were nothing but freaks – they didn't belong to a pureblood warrior race like him. In the end, Frieza had been more machine than creature and Cell was created from a test tube. They were inferior to him, who was born from a royal bloodline of true warriors. He could not be beaten and he couldn't stand this fact being contested once again.
During this standstill, Trunks decided to answer Krillin's question. "At the end of our training, my father reached a plateau… and I surpassed him." But instead of being proud of this achievement, Trunks looked down at his feet ashamed. "But I can't let my father know because he will hate me for it! I've worked so hard to gain his approval and I'm still not there yet." He could tell from Krillin's gaping mouth that he didn't understand. Trunks had wanted to meet Vegeta his entire life. All of his friends were dead in his universe. Trunks truly felt that Vegeta's approval was all he had left. "I know he'll accept me once he see's how strong I am, but not now. I have to wait until he is ready."
"But Trunks-" Krillin interjected.
"He should have beaten Cell back there when he still had the chance!" Trunks yelled, unsure if he was angrier at his father's pride or himself for wanting Vegeta's approval at the cost of losing lives.
…
At Kami's Lookout, Bulma was becoming almost as frustrated as Vegeta and her son. She knew Piccolo and Tien were talking about the fight – about her friends, her son, and Vegeta – but they were trying to exclude her from the conversation. "You would think having dealt with me for, oh, I don't know almost a decade, that they would know Bulma Briefs does not stand for this kind of behavior!" Doing her best impression of a Vegeta scowl, Bulma yelled, "Would you two stop whispering to each other for once and tell me what is going on down there!" It was not a question. "This isn't a boy's only club, you know!"
But neither fighter wanted to answer. It was bad enough sensing it themselves, much less having to talk about it… especially to an angry Bulma. Exacerbated, Bulma groaned loudly and stalked off, Trunks in hand. She had been trying hard not to think about Goku and Gohan and rely solely on her lover to save the world but Piccolo's face was making her have doubts. She knew better than anyone that Vegeta's pride could ruin perfect opportunities for success and she began to wonder if she really did want to know what was going on down there.
Wrapping her arms tighter around her lavender haired son, Bulma pressed her lips to her son's forward and closed her eyes. "Vegeta…"
…
They had been standing there for what Vegeta felt like was hours. "Looks like I'll be making the first move again. No matter." His turquoise eyes darted to another platform closer to Cell and Vegeta slowly raised himself in the air. Cell watched, amused, as Vegeta landed on the platform and got back into his fighting stance. In a flash, Cell phased away to land on the same platform but made no move to attack. Vegeta's scowl deepened and his husky voice growled, "You coward!"
When Cell, once again, made no response, Vegeta had had enough and launched himself towards his opponent, who practically skipped always on the large rocks next to the platform. Vegeta soared after him, his anger rising by the second, emitting daggers of energy from his hand. "Take this you exoskeleton pansy!" Finally, Cell propelled himself upwards towards the sky. Vegeta smirked and announced, "Here I come!"
Cell looked down at the disks of energy that had followed him and moved out of the way. When they continued to come he became confused and looked up to find that the ones that had passed him were coming back like a boomerang. He could not move away in time and each of the discs hit Dr. Gero's creation until he could not be seen behind the thick clouds made from the explosions. A sinister grin began to form on Vegeta's lips. He looked very much like he had during his days with Nappa when they had destroyed whole planets together.
Finally, the clouds began to dissipate but Cell was nowhere to be found. Vegeta knew that attack was not enough to destroy Cell's body and his entire body visibly jumped as he heard that familiar, unnaturally smooth voice of Cell behind him. "You impress me, Vegeta, that was quite a little show."
Vegeta began to shake with anger. It was too much like Frieza, all of it – the voice, the condescension, the humiliation – it was more than Vegeta could stand. "How dare you play me for a fool!" He roared.
The smile on Cell's face finally disappeared as he watched Vegeta's anger overcome him. The Prince began to shoot out huge balls of energy towards Cell. His eyes never blinking but stuck in a blind rage. Cell… Frieza… Kakarot… they were all morphing together in his mind. He had to destroy them all. With each blast of energy, a moment of humiliation or torment flashed in his mind – his planet being destroyed, his father dying, losing his tail, Kakarot's victory over him, his death on Namek, Frieza dying at someone else's hands twice, feeling anything for that weak Earthling, losing to Android 18 – it was all there and he could no longer keep it inside.
Trunks and Krillin watched as the sky began to turn red with fire, their stomachs churning with anxiety. "What happened?" Trunks gasped.
"I… I get the feeling that Vegeta is starting to lose it," Krillin stammered. He had seen the Prince lose control before and it was never a good thing.
As the sky began to rain fire, Vegeta broke his first sweat and was breathing heavily. But his anger had not subsided. It wasn't long before Cell's unharmed body began to reveal itself through the clouds of smoke. His anger reaching an all-time high, the Prince dove right into the red cloud without hesitation. This time his kicks were not even making contact with Cell's blocks. Each time he felt nothing but air was another blow to Vegeta's pride. He was losing himself fast. Cell grabbed his leg and threw the Saiyan backwards and disappeared into the smoke. Surrounded by darkness, his memories began to haunt him more forcefully. "I can't… I won't let this happen again!" Vegeta let out a roar and charged up. A blinding light surrounded him and began to break through the gigantic cloud of fiery smoke.
Feeling the fear of another defeat, Vegeta frantically began looking around for Cell but couldn't see that his opponent was calmly watching him from below. When he finally noticed, instead of thinking up a strategy, his humiliation spurred him forward into another attack. Cell caught Vegeta by the wrists and held him back like a dog. "I'LL SQUASH YOU!" the Prince bellowed, swinging his legs up to kick Cell in the face. But Cell easily pushed himself back before Vegeta's boots could make contact. Vegeta did not wait, as soon as foot hit the ground, he was at it again. But it was no use. Cell was blocking his punches more easily than before and quickly put distance between himself and the Prince again.
Vegeta finally began to feel the other's eyes upon him. This was supposed to be when they were shocked to their knees by his power but he could see from the corner of his eyes that they were in awe of Cell's power not his. Someone else was taking his glory, some unworthy Earthling-made freak-show! "That's all I can stand!" The rocks around him began to rise then crumble in the air; Vegeta's golden aura shimmered more brightly. "You're not taking this seriously!"
Cell put his hands on his hips in a very Bulma-like fashion and said smoothly, "But I told you, Vegeta, I'm just warming up."
The Prince could hear the gasps from the others loud and clear even over his own heart thumping in his ears.
"Cell's gotten him. He's blinded by anger," Trunks said to Krillin. He didn't want to believe it but it was too plain to see now.
The vein in Vegeta's forehead threatened to burst, as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "JUST WARMING UP! I think you are to afraid to fight me, Cell."He spit his opponent's name out like a rotten piece of fruit. "Sure, you have a brand new body but inside you haven't changed one little bit! You're still the same as you were A SNIVELING SPINELESS COWARD! IF YOU ARE AS POWERFUL AS YOU SAY YOU ARE THEN LET'S SEE WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!" Vegeta's irises had shrunken to a size barely visible. He would not be toyed with any longer. He just wanted what he had always wanted: the respect he deserved as the Prince of All Saiyans.
Cell's eyes twinkled as he said, "With pleasure." Vegeta readied himself as he saw the green monster fly towards him, trying to ignore the fear in the pit of his stomach. But once again, Cell phased out and landed behind him.
"I will not tolerate these childish little games!" Vegeta roared, launching himself into the air and swinging his leg right into the side of Cell's head. The feeling of impact was more rewarding than Vegeta could imagine. He could even hear stupid baldy's happy exclamation that he had "did it!"
But it did not last. Even Vegeta's cocky exterior dropped as he looked down to see the only thing he had achieved was moving Cell's head an inch to the right. Purple eyes, clearly not in pain, stared back at Vegeta. "N-no…" Vegeta whispered and somersaulted back.
"This- this can't be happening! I'm a Super Saiyan – no, I am more than that! This was my birthright… My DESTINY! How can this be happening?" Vegeta gaped at Cell, who had began to laugh and said mockingly, "Super Vegeta."
On the sidelines, Krillin urged Trunks to enter the fight but he still refused saying, "I can't! With my father's pride as strong as it is, he would never let anyone interfere… especially not me." The reality of the situation came crashing down upon the Half-Saiyan. "He would rather lose than accept someone's help."
Cell finally began to approach Vegeta, his legs making horrible squeaking sounds with each step. It seemed to be the beginning of the end of the Prince of All Saiyans…
Author's Note: So it's been two years but I finally updated! Thank you for all the reviews and emails about the story and my well-being. I am sorry that I have been too busy to update! I am gonna try to work on my stories every day now as a writing exercise but I'm not making any promises. Please just keep on the look out for updates and review – I really, really appreciate it and I do not plan on giving up on this story anytime soon!
THANKS!
Cappuccino Penguin
