Tarble landed near the towering Bio-warrior, a full two feet higher than the shorter saiyan that stood as a full power super saiyan. An unpleased look on Cell's face as one of the opponents seemed to be holding back on him. His eyes narrowed at the saiyan who just smirked at him. "I feel that your interrupting something quite important… tell me why I should not kill you now."
"Because you want Gohan to reach his full power." Tarble said in an oddly pleasant tone. "You want to test your overwhelming power on the best we can do. But you're doing it wrong, and you will just be wasting your time because of it." Tarble then turned, as if Cell was not a threat and faced Gohan. "Hey, get off the battlefield." He spoke to Gohan as if he was in the way.
~Gohan, help Vegeta and Ashe first, they are strong enough to hold off the Cell Juniors. ~ Tarble sent a mental thought to the young warrior, Gohan nodded before he rushed off to do as he was told.
"Oh? And you are sure you know the right way?" Cell said with crossed arms, not liking how calm this 'prince' acted to him. It felt like Tarble thought he might be able to win against him. He already proven his older brother was no match, Vegeta did not want to face him again. Tarble had shown some moments of being a table turner, reversing the fates to their favor. But never one to be the finisher of said issues, Piccolo still came back, Vegeta and Nappa retreated, and in Cell's time Freeza's return proved to be the end for him.
"Oh, I do. See, I have worked with Gohan for over three years of training alone for the androids. But I also met with him once a year for most of his life just to train with Goku. I am sure you know this as some backlog of data that was not important. But Gohan's rage… always came from someone else's defeat… by the opponent he then rages against." Tarble said as he turned to face Cell. "I will face you; I will do everything in my power to defeat you, and then you will kill me." Tarble grinned, and placed his hands on his sides.
"You know you're going to die? And you think he will break because of you; I would have better luck doing the deed to Goku." Cell said as he was distracted from his children. Gohan's arrival and still greater power then Tarble's allowed for Ashe to use her Ki blade technique and kill another Cell Junior, Vegeta finishing the deed with a quick blast. The more the Cell Juniors were defeated, the easier it became as soon the Tikes of Terror born from Cell had to deal with two opponents each, then three, and finally only one remained. The warriors beaten but alive, if not barely. The group unable to lend assistance and even Gohan nearly beaten down by the power of Cell's young.
"Oh, he will, I made sure of that. I passed him the torch, I let him know I believe in him. To protect this world I love so much, that I am willing to die for it. Goku lost that ability because of throwing him into the lion's den, so to speak. Gohan would lose faith in his father's caring for him. Piccolo is an expected death, the humans are far too weak, Vegeta and Ashe are the next best chance but he has to little good memories with them." Tarble said as he walked to be face to face with Cell. "I am your best bet. So let's make this a good show. Because this is your last chance to bring Gohan to his limit."
Cell smiled as Tarble seemed to have it all planned out, a little more than Goku did at least. It was an interruption, but an intermission for the main event. A mid battle cool down to allow the anticipation to grow. Cell could feel his eagerness increase as Tarble spoke. "Very well, would you like a Sensu? I much rather Gohan see that you have no chance at full strength. After all, it would be a perfect display of how futile it would be to challenge me as you have." Cell opened the bag of sensu beans in his hand, plucked one from it and held it out for Tarble.
~Goku, while he is distracted. Go to Nappa's farm, get some Sensu beans, and feed them to everyone. I need you to then take Chichi, all the kids, Bulma, and Dende to New Namek. Come back or Stay with them is your choice after that. I will hold him off. ~ Tarble sent another mental message, trying to pay attention to Cell while also informing Goku of what he needed him to do.
"Your too kind, Cell." Tarble gladly took the Sensu bean from Cell's fingers and popped it into his mouth. "It is too bad your so into destroying everything. You would make a great training partner, and a great defender of the world." Tarble gulped down the magic bean, and could feel every bruise and cut vanish, his body felt like it had a full day's rest, and his stomach felt full enough to sustain battle. "You take one too, Goku will complain about fairness."
"Don't think you can convert me to your path because of some simple praising." Cell laughed as took out a sensu for himself to replenish his Ki reserves once more. He leapt back slightly and prepared himself for a fight.
"Of course not. That is why it is too bad." Tarble said as he took a battle stance, and summoned up his Ki to raise. Building it higher and higher tell he was at full strength and ready to fight.
The two then vanished and thunderous clashes could be heard rapidly as they moved at insane speed. The others took their chance to recover, eating Sensu while Cell was distracted by his fight. Tarble was overpowered in almost every sense, but held his own. He took hits and returned them with fever. The healed wounds simply returned to his body as the two pushed each other, knocking each other away only to close the gap again. Cell slightly amused that Tarble was holding against himself well, finding that he was roughly the same strength as Goku. Maybe a little weaker but still a good challenge as the smaller monkey man pushed to fight him.
Before it got to boring though, Tarble took it up a notch. His body suddenly expanding in a brief moment to grab Cell's fist in the middle of a punch. Cell's eyes widened as he was not expecting how quickly he could change to his Grade 2. Twisting the arm suddenly to force open a guard while Tarble had the time, his body expanded again for Grade 3! His palm went to Cell's chest and fired a massive energy blast that exploded through his back and left a huge hole in his body. Tarble's body then shrank back down to Grade 4, and pulled away while firing blast after blast of energy into Cell's damaged body.
Tarble landed to the ground and placed his hands crossed before his face, Tien surprised at what he was doing. Tarble split himself into two fighters. The others exclaiming the stupid idea he was doing and trying to warn him of his faulty thought. One stayed on the ground, summoning ki to his hands and making a ball about the size of a beach ball. It was intense and buzzing with energy, then he began to condense it.
The second body flew up toward Cell, grinning as he saw the two split Tarbles. "Now you have brought your down fall! Halfing your strength only means your death will be faster." Cell said as he dashed down toward the second Tarble. A swung fist went for the duplicate's head. Only for it to duck down just before contact, a severe uppercut landed onto Cell's chin.
The Duplicate shifted into grade 2 in an instant once more. After landing his hit, his hands grabbed the crown on Cell's head. Shifting to Grade 3 once more and slamming his knee into Cell's face. Dropping the knee as the other rose and slammed in and rapidly struck at his opponents face again and again. "No one said I divided my power evenly." The Duplicate said with a smile.
The double on the ground was only about a tenth of his power, working to generate an attack. The ball sized energy ball now about watermelon sized, small discharges of electricity flew around the ball as he continued to condense it more. The duplicate with Cell, shifted back to grade 2 and pulled Cell's head forward. The duplicate rolled over his back, his hands grabbing under the armpit of the monster. Using the leverage of his roll he tossed Cell back, Tarble's hands going back and charging two balls of energy, tossing them forward as two massive beams to try and catch him in recovery. "I am not like Goku, or Gohan, or even Vegeta! I don't stop attacking tell my opponent is down." He yelled out, returning to Grade 3 again and making the blast more intense.
Cell then appeared in the blast over Tarble's hands with a smile. "Good, means I can start playing." Cell's leg swung and collided with the Duplicate's head and sent him flying to the side. The double on the ground ball now condensed to the size of a baseball, electricity discharged rapidly from between his fingers as he continued to force the energy tighter and tighter. Cell grinning as he lifted a hand to blast down, only to be tackled by the Duplicate and forced into another exchange of rapid strikes.
The balls condensed to the size of a jaw breaker, the discharge more violent as it began to strike and burn the ground as it wildly surged. Smaller still, and the discharge began to break the ground appear and make the masses of land rise to the air. Smaller and smaller, tell it was just a point of pure Ki producing light from his hand. "It's done!"
"Good!" Tarble pushed away from Cell, the Bio androids not willing to give him space. "Solar Flare!" Tarble reflected the sunlight into Cell's eyes and made the menace roar. Cell responding by pointing both hands out and firing hundreds of small blasts to rain down at the two Tarbles. Explosions filled the battlefield as Cell regained his sight, seeing that the duplicate he was fighting had guarded the weaker version.
"Looks to me like that attack is your last hope! Let's crush it" Cell yelled out as he grew slightly annoyed of being tricked and out thought several times in the fight. He placed his hands beside him. "KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAAAA!" A large ball of energy formed behind Cell, a blinding ball of fury before he fired the beam at the Duo.
The Tarbles instead became one again, the beam got closer and closer. Tarble's hand lifted, the shining light hovered just before it. Slowly as the ball seemed to shake wildly as he shifted its position. Cell's beam nearly on top of him. "Hail… TO THE KING!" Tarble roared out his battle cry. The small shining light, with bolts of frenzied lighting crashing to the ground, burst open. A scream of energy as a beam collided. The Beams stopped and held position as Tarble's own hand was forced wide by the power of his own attack.
"What kind of attack is that? It is far more powerful than anything Tarble should be able to produce." Ashe remarked as she watched her uncle's attack not only stop but hold back Cell's attack. The group had backed away after Goku had disappeared with Chichi, much to the confusion of everyone else.
"It feels familiar." Tien said as he guarded his eye from the fierce wind made by the colliding energy. "It feels almost like the Kikoho, as it draws out all of ones Ki in a single attack."
"But he only had a tenth of it in the body that made the attack." Ashe remarked.
"When he became one, he flooded more ki into the condensed ball. That is why he was slow to start it up, and why he is having such a hard time control it." Vegeta snarled, hating the cry Tarble screamed out. "It is a last ditch effort, a final attack. After this, Tarble will be dead." Vegeta gripped his own arm as he watched his younger brother face a foe that he knew he could not beat. Pride and worry for his brother, as he knew he could not come to his rescue this time. "Nappa, the moment he goes down… we go in for the kill."
"You say that like I am not going to join you." Yurin said, holding her arm from shaking. "I won't my husband die in vain; this ends Cell or I do."
"I don't think anyone here planned on letting Tarble die and then just giving up. We are all warriors; we will all fight." Raditz prostrated as the others nodded, ready to fly in and try to take on the weakened Cell.
Gohan amazed how intense everyone got, ready to fight for Tarble and the World. The idea that Tarble thought he was like him, someone that everyone could get behind and trust. Someone that could lay his life on the line for what he believed in and fight without reservation. Gohan truly wished he could do so.
Cell gritted his teeth as the Beams held, it was fruitless and a drain on his Ki. Tarble help his intense glare. "It is time to end this!" Tarble yelled out, his body bulked up again into Grade 2. His beam roared as it widened out of his control, but pushed back on Cell's own attack. Slowly it ebbed closer to the monster, his eyes looking down in fury that he was being overpowered. Tarble's yell turned to a mighty roar as he went grade 3 and the beam thundered forward with another burst of power. The beam slammed into Cell's, washing over and tendrils of seperating beams broke away and into space randomly. Closer and closer tell Cell could not hold it back, overtaken by the beam. Tarble held it as long as he could, before he dropped out of Super Saiyan stated and the beam ended.
The Saiyan stood looking up at where cell once was, and saw that what was there was an exposed torso that bled. "So close." Tarble said laughing to himself as he grew dizzy. His stance widened as he tried to keep balance as his legs gave way. His body laid to the floor as his hand stung like it was bathed in fire, his arm felt like it was being stabbed by knives, His muscles tensed as if surging with electricity. His body
Cell's mass above unnaturally squirmed in the air, before his form burst from it and covered in the strange fluid from the regeneration. His breathing heavy as a massive amount of Ki was taken from him. Both by his own attack failing him and the regeneration. Growling that he had such a hard time keeping up with the little attacks he had, and finally being hit by something that hurt so much. He dropped suddenly and landed on the ground, lifting his hand and blasting an energy ball into the hillside that the others were about to launch off of. "I still have enough power to kill you all in an instant." He said as he turned his gaze to Tarble. "As for you… you are going to die now."
Cell grabbed Tarble by his armor, lifted from the ground and left his body dangling. Tarble lifted his head and smiled. His own hand grasped the arm of Cell. "I won't die so easily." He said weakly, still resisting to Cell's dismay. Cell spoke no more words, instead he reeled back and swung his fist with as much force as he could. His fist slammed into Tarbles's face and turning it, Cell's dismay held as he put enough power into his punch to obliterate the weakened Saiyan.
Cell's other arm unnaturally swelled, as if he entered his own version of a grade 3 only in his arm. Tarble just smiled again as he turned his head. "Looks like you didn't put your power where it was needed Cell…" Tarble mocked, his hand now on the massive arm shifted forward. His arm shrank suddenly as his chest grew massive, Tarble's arm suddenly able to break Cell's grapple easily. Fallen to his feet, it feels like gravity was sucked him toward the core. His hands went to Cell's legs and he summoned up as much strength to force himself to stand, his hands slide up the monster's legs and made them thin as his chest grew more massive.
"W-what!? What are you doing!?" Cell tried to grab tarble to stop him. Tarble instead placed his hands onto Cell's chest and forced them up toward his head. His chest shrank as his head grew massive, his eyes bulging out as all his Ki was forced into the one spot. Tarble pushed all his weight into cell and forced the being to topple over onto the ground. Tarble used this chance to step back a few steps and try to regain some of his strength.
Goku sudden appeared finally, a worried look as he could barely feel Tarble's strength. "Tarble, I am back! Everyone's on Namek!" Goku shouted.
"Namek?" Cell questioned as his head shrank down once more, his body filling out as his ki aligned itself once more. "Never mind, it is time to finish this!" He said as he stood and looked to Tarble, his eyes widened once more.
Tarble stood, holding a Sensu bean of his own. "Thanks for feeding me the Sensu before, I might have had to use this sooner." He said quick to swallow the magic bean, feeling his body revitalized in an instant. Standing tall as Cell's gaze turned to hate. "You were right though Cell. It is time to finish this. No more distractions, I am coming at you full power." Tarble said as he summoned a ball of white energy.
The battle between Tarble has begun, and our hero has proven himself a match with many styles and adaptations of skills he learned through his life. Cell's over confidence made him a target for Tarble's constant assault! But what is this? It was all a distraction? What is Tarble's full power? Find out next chapter!