Gohan scowled at Cell. He wasn't sure of what would become of him in the fight to follow but that didn't matter. His objective was not to kill Cell. It was to keep him busy so he wouldn't find Usagi and kill her. He knew that if he could just hold him off until his father arrived on the scene that she would be all right. Once he was there, there would nothing to worry about. Cell would be history.
The two fighters stared into each other's eyes. No words were spoken for about five minutes. Each were deep in their thoughts. Cell thought only of ways to torture and eventually kill Gohan. He had waited for this day to come for so long and now that it was finally here, he didn't quite know what to do. His revenge would now be carried out. "You're mine, Gohan." He used the ground to push himself up. "This is great." He said with a hint of arrogance as he took a step forward. He kept his head high and stared directly into Gohan's eyes, letting the young fighter know that he meant business.
Gohan didn't let Cell's intimidation phase him. At least, he didn't let it show. Inside he had, in fact, been slightly frightened. He could still see a very vivid picture of Usagi's mangled body. It had been all thanks to what Cell did to her that she was the way she was. He had pretty much torn her apart without mercy. Cell hadn't even had anything against her. He couldn't even begin to imagine what would become of himself since Cell had an appetite for revenge on him. "Let's get this started."
"Eager as always. But I suppose you're right. I've waited long enough to have my revenge. There will be nothing left of that body by the time I get through with you." He moved his eyes to look over his shoulder at the fight that was still taking place between his clones and the Gohan's friends. "I really wanted to see them die but I guess it's worth missing their deaths if it means I can mutilate you." He looked back at Gohan's face, which was filled with anger. 'That face. It's the same as it was when he gained all that power out of no where. I'm going to have to watch him more carefully this time.' "Very well." He rubbed his hands together and grinned.
Before Gohan had confronted Cell, he studied how his clones fought first. They were quite skilled in all areas of fighting. Defense, offense, counter attacks, you name it. He just had too much power, even for a Super Saiyan of the first level. That's what Usagi's problem was. She underestimated Cell.
"Don't just stand there!" Cell raised his fist, as if he were going to attack with it, and charged for Gohan. 'Let's see if you have the same smarts now as you did then.'
Gohan planted his feet as deep into the dirt as they would go as he prepared himself for the attack. 'Cell's gotta be up to something.' He waited in his spot for a few seconds to see if Cell was going to move to the side or not. He didn't though. He just kept coming at a relatively slow speed. 'He's toying with me just like he did with Usagi.' He frowned. 'Bastard.' He readied a fist and tightened it as hard as he could as he awaited Cell. He would be fully ready for him when he reached him.
Cell smirked as he sped up a bit. 'Dumb ass. He's much dumber in this time.'
Gohan watched Cell's feet closer than he did with the rest of his body. If there were to be any change in direction it would start with the feet. But then, all of a sudden, his feet began to disappear. 'I'm NOT falling for that.'
Right before he crashed into Gohan, Cell used all of his speed to jump into the air and appear over Gohan. He punched down towards Gohan's head, but just as he was about to hit, Gohan disappeared. "Maybe you aren't as dumb as I thought." He turned around and looked at Gohan. "Very impressive. Your sister probably would have just stood there and tried to punch me."
"She isn't as experienced with people like you as I am. She wasn't exactly trained to fight you." Gohan looked to the ground where Piccolo was being double teamed by two of the Cell clones. 'Piccolo...' "Call off your drones."
"That's not going to happen. There is no way that I can control them unless I summon them back to my body, which I'm not going to do. But why would I even want to do that? They're doing all of my dirty work for me."
Gohan didn't take his eyes off of Piccolo. He couldn't. Piccolo was badly injured and was being beat around by both clones as if he were a volleyball. "Fine." He put his hands in front of him facing down and built a large golden Ki blast, which pushed him further up into the air than he already he was from pushing against the air. "You aren't going to win this." He raised both of his arms over his head and immediately thrust them back down, adding extra momentum with his physical strength, and fired a bright golden beam of energy down at the clones.
Cell looked down to his clones. He was pretty sure that Gohan's attack wouldn't affect them, but he had to be sure. He had been surprised before. "That's pathetic. They aren't even concerned by it."
Gohan pushed as much as he could. He couldn't loose anyone while he was out there fighting. "I don't care. They will be." He didn't know if he should be doing what he was doing though. He couldn't waste all of his energy on this one attack but he couldn't let Piccolo be killed either. There would be no way to bring him back without the Dragon Balls. Then if anyone else were to die, they wouldn't be able to be revived either. "I'm not giving up."
Cell groaned of boredom. He wasn't there to watch Gohan fight with all of his clones. He turned back to Gohan, who looked more determined than ever to succeed. He fired one of his own Ki attacks in the middle of Gohan's attack, stopping it all together. Gohan turned to Cell with a scowl planted on his face. "You're fighting with me. Not them. Maybe you just need a good beating to understand." Without further conversation he flew to Gohan and kicked at his head.
Gohan was quick in his reaction as he raised his arm and blocked the kick with his forearm. He retaliated with a kick of his own to his foe's chest. Cell pulled his leg back and easily dodged the kick from Gohan by moving to the side. Gohan didn't allow himself to be discouraged by this. He had been though this many times before. This was just like the time he fought Garlic Jr. His father was no where around and he was pretty much the only one who could hold up to the enemy. Only this enemy wasn't immortal, which made this a little easier. Though this enemy was also much stronger. Each had its bad points. But if Gohan had to choose, he would rather fight an enemy that was not immortal since there was still a way to kill an immortal.
Things went on like this for nearly twenty minutes. One of them would attack while the other would dodge. On the ground, off the ground, it didn't seem to matter where they were fighting. It was all the same. They seemed evenly matched for each other. But Gohan knew otherwise. Cell was holding back and he knew it was only a matter of a short time before his true power would be shown. He shouldn't have been able to keep up with Cell so easily. He was just as strong in this form as Usagi was before she powered up to Super Saiyan yet she had easily been defeated.
The fight began to slow down after these twenty minutes. Neither fighter was getting very tired at that point but both just all of a sudden began to decrease their attacks. Gohan knew that it had to be something as he landed on the ground. he would have been up for continuing, but Cell seemed to want to stop. 'Is this is? Is he done? He can't be. I had to be at level two Super Saiyan in the future to beat him and now he has an enhanced power from that queen or whoever she is.'
Cell smirked as he looked down at Gohan. He stood not ten feet from Gohan. "You're pretty good. Better than Usagi even. I'm impressed. I forgot how strong you were. But that won't last for long. I'm not even powered up as much as I was when I first fought you. I've had my fun but it's time to get serious."
'I knew it.' "Bring it on. I can handle you." He slightly turned his head at the sound of a yelp from one of the girls. He couldn't make out who it was but it sounded as if they were being ripped apart right there. Sudden outbursts of yells were followed by a large crackling sound and then a thump. Gohan was dying to turn around and look at what happened. But he couldn't turn his head from Cell. Cell had just pretty much said that he was about to power up. It would be imperative that Gohan watch his enemy's every move from then on.
In less than a second, with just a single thought, Cell's power was increased to the power that Gohan had possessed when he beat Cell in the future. "Do you feel that? Now THAT is power. Power that your insignificant self will ever feel."
Gohan believed it too. Cell was currently one whole step above him in power. "You just keep running your mouth. I'll show you what I'm made of."
Cell smirked. "Sure you will." He took one step forward and then vanished before Gohan's eyes, only to reappear again behind him. "You're even slower now." He elbowed Gohan in the back and quickly turned around, raising his leg to kick him in the back of the neck. "Damn. I missed the head by just an inch."
From the force and intensity of being hit on the back of the neck, Gohan stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. 'How am I supposed to stand up to a power like that? I'm not that fast.' He lifted one of his legs to begin to stand up. But he wasn't quite fast enough. He felt Cell's fingers clasp tightly around one of his arms. The next thing he knew, he was flying backward through the air and heading right for a tree. 'Crap...' He used his energy to stop himself in mid air. "You're not going to beat me. You had better deal with it." 'Dad should be out soon. If I can just hold on a little bit longer I'll be ok. Then I can go and bring Usagi to Kami's lookout for safety.'
Cell didn't even dignify Gohan's words with even the slightest reply. Instead, he just shot out for Gohan again, using all of his speed. Gohan, who had expected this, was surprisingly able to move out of the way before Cell made his hit on him. Gohan used this to his advantage and decided it was time to pull out his more powerful attacks. Instead of physical fighting he would have to resort to energy attacks. Though he knew it was pointless, unless he made a hit on Cell's face or back. He had observed this from watching the others fighting with the clones, who seemed to be greatly dominating in their fights. Every single one of his friends was drained of their energy. Things looked pretty grim at that point. But Gohan couldn't stop now. He still had this Cell to worry about.
He quickly pulled his hands together in front of his stomach. He found it hard to move his left arm, the arm in which he was thrown by. 'Oh great.' He decided to ignore the pain that came with moving it and built up a rather small Ki attack. "Why am I not able to do this?" His body began to shake as he felt Cell approaching him. He moved his eyes in the direction of Cell, who was not too far from his current position. 'Well it's better than nothing.'
Cell watched at Gohan shot a Ki attack the size of a soft ball at him. He effortlessly slapped it away with the back of his hand. "Honestly Gohan. I would have thought that you could do better than that." He snickered as he proceeded to move towards his target.
Gohan looked down at his left arm. For some reason it was swelling and looked a little discolored. "It's broken." He looked up at Cell and frowned. "You broke my arm when you threw me. That's why my attack was so weak."
"Excuses, excuses. Why don't you just admit it? I intimidate you. You choked when you felt my magnificent power."
"I would never do that. I've been though fights like this before. Nothing can make me choke anymore."
Cell raised an eyebrow in fascination. "Nothing huh?" He began to rub his hands together.
"Nothing you can do will make me scared or nervous or anything like that. I'm used to the shock already." He looked into Cell's hands with curiosity. 'Odd...'
Cell's hands were soon covered in a black ball that contained more power than Gohan's body did. "This should take care of you. I'm tired of playing with you. I want to fight Vejita. I still have some unfinished business to attend to with him. As long as I see you dead, I'll be happy. As long as I know that I'm the one who killed you, I'll be happy." He pulled his hands apart until his fingers were loosely wrapped around the ball of black energy.
Gohan didn't try to move out of the way for he knew it was no use if he did. Cell was tired of 'playing' with him now and there was nothing he could do to stall him. He couldn't make the fight play out any longer. Gohan decided to make it easy on himself and just accept it. "Fine. Go ahead."
Cell grinned as he saw the sincerity in Gohan's eyes. "Just like in the future. You were about to give up to me and then your damned father found a way to talk to you from the afterlife. I'll have to kill him too. But not before I kill you."
Gohan looked down to the ground. He was ashamed of himself. Not only had he let himself and all of his friends down, but he had let his family down as well. 'I almost gave up before? But then I succeeded after dad talked to me. But that won't happen now. There is no way for me to kill him now. He's just too strong.' He looked up just as the black energy ball from Cell slammed into his body. He grunted as he was pushed down to the ground. His body was covered completely in the by the dark energy.
Cell laughed as he watched Gohan struggle. "Finally. You're dead and I'm the one who killed you. Well sort of. You see, I couldn't JUST kill you. You didn't JUST kill me. You tortured me and then killed me. And I've had to live with that, until now, that is. Now that burden is all gone. While I go take care of business, after I watch all of your friends get totally trampled by my clones, this energy will suck you dry of your own energy until you have just enough to breath. But don't think that this is going to be a nice process that takes no time at all. No, I want you to know my anger. It will take hours to finish. Later, when I come back and you're nearly dead, I'll finish the job myself. Don't you move now." He casually walked back to his tree and sat down as if none of the events that took place not a forty-five minutes ago were insignificant.
~*~*~
~~Kami's Lookout~~
Chi-Chi was in a state of being frantic. Kami had just given her the update about what was happening down on earth and she had nearly had a heart attack because of it. She couldn't understand why Usagi and then Gohan had failed. Was Cell really that strong? Had she done the girls wrong by not allowing them to use Ki attacks while she was training with them? 'Goku hurry up.' She turned to the door that led into the room of spirit and time after hearing a noise arise from that area. "Is that my Goku?"
"Yeah." Goku stepped out of the room of spirit and time looking stronger than ever. He had reached his goal of becoming a level two Super Saiyan. He was slightly higher than Usagi at this point. His arms were larger than normal due to an increase in power and muscle for that matter. He had the look of utter calmness on his face. There was no hint of emotion on his face. "What's going on?" He didn't even need anyone to reply to that. All he needed to do was search for energy levels. But Kami knew exactly what was going on. While reading power levels was useful, it did have its down points. Goku wanted to know what he was about to jump into.
Kami hesitated to answer. It was too awful to tell. He looked to Chi-Chi, who nodded at him to go ahead. "Things aren't looking too well. Usagi is out for the count along with Gohan. Gohan tried his best but knew that he wasn't enough. It was pretty obvious."
Goku's expression didn't change. He hadn't expected Gohan to be able to do any damage. Gohan was just supposed to hold Cell off for a while. "How did it happen?"
Kami gulped. He hadn't even told Chi-Chi that. "He just gave up. Once Cell decided that he was going to end it, he raised his power level to it's near fullest. Gohan knew it was hopeless and gave in. Cell attacked him with some sort of attack that drains his energy. He shouldn't be totally drained for a while."
Chi-Chi's eyes shot wide open when she heard that. "What?! You mean he's suffering?" She grabbed a hold of the front of Kami's cloths and shook him back and fourth. "WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO MY BABY?!"
Kami pulled Chi-Chi's hands off of him. "I don't know."
Goku nearly frowned. He had never taught him to just give up. Though he had never taught him to keep fighting even when you know that it won't work. He wouldn't let Cell go unpunished for this. "And what has become of Usagi? Why is she out? She should have been able to beat him, or at least have him down in power."
"She underestimated him and didn't use her full power. By the time she realized that she should power up, he didn't let her. He just attacked her over and over until she was unable to do anything. Then the androids showed up and started to attack the kids. That's when all hell broke loose. Cell got his opening and started to suck Usagi's energy."
"What?!" 'I thought she would have known better than to underestimate her enemy. She did learn from me after all.' "Continue."
"That's when Gohan arrived." Kami paused as Goku took to the air. "Wait Goku. There are still things that you have to know. Cell had cloned himself four times. The clones are now fighting all of our friends and the androids, who I think are still against us. Everyone is out of energy so they won't be of much help to you. With your new power you should be able to penetrate his armor like skin."
Goku turned around and let his face show his first true emotion since he emerged from the room of spirit and time as he smiled a warm and caring smile. "I'm not going straight to the fight just yet. I have something I need to do."
"I'm going with you Goku."
Goku turned back to Chi-Chi, shocked. "What?! What are you talking about? You can't go. You can't fight up to his standards. You can't even fly. Don't try to pull a Bulma on me all right? You aren't going. You'll get hurt if you do. You don't want to get hurt do you?"
Chi-Chi frowned as she crossed her arms out of annoyance. "Don't patronize me Goku. I know what I'm doing. I'm not going to get hurt. I have a right to go with you."
Goku was the one who was frowning now. "No you aren't. I'm not going to let you. Now that's the end of it. I don't want you to get hurt." For once Goku was going to put his foot down. He couldn't have Chi-Chi getting involved.
Chi-Chi looked into her husbands eyes and saw that he was completely serious, but then again, so was she. She was determined to get to that fight. "I'm going and that's that." She let herself lift up into the air.
Goku was a bit on the surprised side to his wife beside him in the air. "They taught you to fly?"
"Yes. Now I don't care what you say. I'm going." She began to move forward and stopped. "Are you just going to sit there or are you coming with me?"
Goku never thought that he would see that day that his wife flew. But here she was, flying right in front of him. He was amazed. He quickly shook off his amazement and put his mind back into his concentration as he moved to her side. 'Forgive me Chi-Chi.' "No you aren't going with me." He lifted his hand, extending his index finger, and knocked his wife back down to Kami's lookout. "Take care of her Kami. Make sure she doesn't try to leave once she wakes up."
Kami nodded as he waved good bye to Goku. He fully understood with Goku's reasoning for his actions and agreed with them. Chi-Chi wouldn't be able to defend herself against Cell. He looked down at Chi-Chi. One little poke by Goku's finger while he was Super Saiyan was enough to knock her down to the ground and leave her unconscious. Though it wouldn't be long before she was awake and wanting to leave. "I hope this thing ends before she wakes up."
~*~*~
~~In the Woods~~
Usagi's eyes slowly flapped open closed over and over again as her body throbbed with severe pain. Her body had begun to gain its warmth back thanks to the cloth from Gohan's cape. But she still felt very faint and her arms and legs were numb. Her head felt as though it had had a few metal baseball bats bashed into it, something that she had never quite experienced before. She had never gotten into a spar quite as intense as this fight with Cell. 'I wish I could help them.' She could sense the dark film of energy over her brother. She could also feel that his energy was decreasing. She could also feel her friends' energy. They were nearly drained to the point of being no more. She groaned as she buried her face deep into the cloth for comfort. "My fault. My fault. It's all my fault." She wanted to cry as she winced from sensing a giant energy decrease in Piccolo's energy.
She opened her eyes as she felt a familiar touch on her face. It was a warm touch filled with love. The same touch that she had felt when her father had come from the future to calm her and then train her. The same touch she had felt many times when she was upset about something. She looked up as her upper body was picked up and then set onto something warm. "Daddy?"
Goku wiped some loose strands of hair from his daughter's face as he smiled. "You don't honestly believe that this is your fault do you?"
Usagi shook her head. "Yes it is. Don't you know? I didn't use my full power and Cell almost got my energy from me. Now he's killing everyone." She examined his face. It had changed somehow. His hair wasn't that of a normal Super Saiyan. It was something that she couldn't remember ever seeing. His hair was more full and messy looking. He only had three strands slender strands coming over his face instead of the normal thick ones. "You did it didn't you?"
Goku nodded. "Sure did. And don't worry about not using your power. You didn't know that this was going to happen. You can't pout over the past. All you can do is look towards the future."
Usagi smiled. She knew he was just tying to make her feel better. "Well good luck daddy. You're going to need it. Cell is REALLY strong."
"What? You're going to make me fight alone? Don't you want to join in on all the fun?" He dug into his pocket.
"I can't do it. I'm too weak. I can't even stand up on my own." She so wished that she could take a bite into Cell and make him pay for what he had done to her friends.
"Don't ever say that you can't do anything because you're weak. If I would have had that attitude when I was fighting Frieza you and I wouldn't be here right now." He held out a tiny pebble like item over Usagi's face. "Here. I saved this just for this occasion. It isn't much, but it will help you gain some energy back. It's a fourth of a Senzu bean. I've got one for Gohan too. I don't know if Chi-Chi has anymore left but I didn't have time to find out." Usagi opened her mouth and Goku placed the bean in. "Now you can help me fight back against Cell."
Usagi swallowed the bean and immediately felt the results. She could feel her arms and legs again and her headache was even beginning to go away. "Thanks." She lifted her hands to her chest and pushed the cloth off of her body, which was no longer cold. Her skin had even regained its color. She sat up after she kicked off the cloth. "Wow, a fourth was plenty. I feel totally refreshed."
Goku was amazed as he watched his daughter stand up with great ease. He had never seen a fourth of a Senzu bean do so much for a person. 'She really is mysterious.' He stood to his feet. "Shall we get out of here and payback Cell?" He asked, knowing fully what the answer would be.
"Sure am!" In a blink of an eye, her body was engulfed by a silver aura as her hair shot up in silver. "I'm not going to make the same mistake again." She grabbed her father's hand and smiled as she leaned into his side. She now knew that he didn't hate her. He wouldn't have given her the Senzu if he had. "Let's get out of here."
Goku smiled down at Usagi and pressed his fingers to his forehead. 'So much different than Gohan.'
~*~*~
~~Back At The Battle Field~~
Cell stood up and stretched as he yawned. He was getting quite bored with watching the 'festivities'. He wanted some action of his own. He walked back to Gohan, who was now back in his normal form due to energy loss. Gohan lay on his stomach, his legs and arms were spread out as far as they could be. He poked at the boy with his foot. "Look at you and your pitiful self. You can't even loose your energy fast enough to please me." He bent down and picked up some rocks that sat behind Gohan's feet. "Where's Vejita, Gohan?" He threw a rock at Gohan's head.
Gohan twitched when the rock hit. "I do...n't....know..." His eyes were closed as tightly as they could be shut from the pain. It's not like his energy was being peacefully drained from his body. It was more like his muscles were being ripped away from his body.
"Why the hell aren't your friends dying? They're pissing me off. They just keep fighting and fighting and fighting. They put up more of a fight than you did." He threw another rock at Gohan's head. Gohan didn't reply, which made Cell all the more angrier. He walked to Gohan's head, where his hands were also located. He hovered one of his feet over Gohan's hand. "I'll ask you again. Where is Vejita? I know you know where he is." The only reply he got from the boy was a grunt of pain. "Fine." He slammed his foot down onto Gohan's hand, crushing it. That got a reaction out of Gohan. A loud cry to be exact. "You weak fool." He took his foot off of Gohan's hand and put his toe under his stomach and flipped him over to his back so his stomach was facing up. "I can't believe such a weakling like you defeated me. I must have been out of my mind to have let you beat me."
He grinned as he turned around after feeling two new powers. Two powers, which were equal to his own power. Or maybe even a little higher. "Look. It's two more Saiyans from the Son family come to kill me." He examined Goku carefully. "You look and feel different. Did you do something to your hair?" He looked down to Usagi. "Ah, yes. Usagi, it looks as though you're back from the dead."
Usagi scowled at Cell. She wouldn't let him intimidate her now. She was his equal. She could defeat him now. "Shut up and be on your way. I'm going to beat you this time. I have my full power now." She felt a small nudge on her back from her father and nodded. "We're going to take out each and every one of your dumb clones and then we're going to beat you too." She teleported herself to a fight that was going on between Minako, android 17, Ami, Krillin and the Cell clone. If you can even call it a fight. It was more like the clone beating everyone to a bloody pulp.
Goku stayed on the scene with his son and Cell. He smirked at Cell as he held his hand out in the direction of his son.
Cell couldn't figure out for the life of him what Goku was trying to achieve by pointing his attack to his boy. "If you want to kill him go ahead. I won't stop you. I was getting really bored with him anyways."
Gohan opened his eyes at that statement. He really hoped that Cell was just trying to play with his head. But he, in fact, was not. It was very true that his father was pointing at him. "Daddy? What are you doing?" He tried to cower away but his energy was too low.
In Goku's hand a small energy ball was formed. "Just watch." Out of his hand shot the small ki ball followed by a thin beam of energy. It went straight down to its target, Gohan's leg. Gohan cried out from the pain that was being placed upon him. The power that his father possessed was just like Cell's.
Cell laughed. "You really are an idiot. What your kid screws up and you try to kill him? Is that..." He gasped as he saw his dark energy field that was around Gohan disperse. "How the hell did you do that?!"
Goku grinned. "Looks like my power cancels yours out." He tossed the fourth of the Senzu to Gohan. "Eat this, son. And, I'm sorry I had to do that." He turned back to Cell. "You and me, now!"
Cell didn't quite know what to do. Goku was stronger now stronger than Gohan had been when he had defeated him. "You can't scare me you..." He was cut off by Goku's fist finding it's way through his protective skin. Cell was left unable to say anything. He had the wind knocked out of him.
Goku wasn't in any moods for playing around. He had heard the whole story about what Cell had done from Usagi. He knew that this guy wasn't one to play around. "I said we're fighting right now!" He pulled his fist out of Cell's skin, letting in crumble in on itself and leaving nothing but green skin underneath. "You aren't so tough after all."
Cell's eyes widened. For once he was actually questioning his victory. "You bastard!" He lifted his fist and swung at Goku.
Goku caught Cell's fist in his hand and pushed back on Cell's arm and Cell tired to push against Goku's strength. "Seems as though you're going to loose this one, Cell."
Once Gohan's power had recovered enough for him to stand up, he did so. "Don't let your guard down dad. He's sneaky."
Goku pulled back his hand and grabbed Cell's arm and flipped him over before Cell even knew what was happening. "I know. Go check on your sister. I think she should be having an easy time too. For some reason, Super Saiyan two is much stronger than his power."
Cell stood to his feet and laughed. "That's just for now. You haven't seen my ultimate power yet."
Goku sighed as he crossed his arms. 'Another Frieza huh? Always gotta have all these stupid forms.' "Ultimate form? Aren't you already perfect?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Goku didn't even have to think about that for longer than a few seconds. "Let me see. No!" He turned to Usagi, who seemed to be dominating over the clones just as he was dominating over the original. "Seems like your people suck too."
"Is that a fact? My clones and I don't seem to hold the same opinions as you weaklings do." 'I didn't think I would have to pull this power out but I guess I had a few unexpected things happen here. But that's what this technique was created for.'
(Ok that's it for now. What did you think? Was it good or bad? Gotta go now. Ja for now! ^_^)
The two fighters stared into each other's eyes. No words were spoken for about five minutes. Each were deep in their thoughts. Cell thought only of ways to torture and eventually kill Gohan. He had waited for this day to come for so long and now that it was finally here, he didn't quite know what to do. His revenge would now be carried out. "You're mine, Gohan." He used the ground to push himself up. "This is great." He said with a hint of arrogance as he took a step forward. He kept his head high and stared directly into Gohan's eyes, letting the young fighter know that he meant business.
Gohan didn't let Cell's intimidation phase him. At least, he didn't let it show. Inside he had, in fact, been slightly frightened. He could still see a very vivid picture of Usagi's mangled body. It had been all thanks to what Cell did to her that she was the way she was. He had pretty much torn her apart without mercy. Cell hadn't even had anything against her. He couldn't even begin to imagine what would become of himself since Cell had an appetite for revenge on him. "Let's get this started."
"Eager as always. But I suppose you're right. I've waited long enough to have my revenge. There will be nothing left of that body by the time I get through with you." He moved his eyes to look over his shoulder at the fight that was still taking place between his clones and the Gohan's friends. "I really wanted to see them die but I guess it's worth missing their deaths if it means I can mutilate you." He looked back at Gohan's face, which was filled with anger. 'That face. It's the same as it was when he gained all that power out of no where. I'm going to have to watch him more carefully this time.' "Very well." He rubbed his hands together and grinned.
Before Gohan had confronted Cell, he studied how his clones fought first. They were quite skilled in all areas of fighting. Defense, offense, counter attacks, you name it. He just had too much power, even for a Super Saiyan of the first level. That's what Usagi's problem was. She underestimated Cell.
"Don't just stand there!" Cell raised his fist, as if he were going to attack with it, and charged for Gohan. 'Let's see if you have the same smarts now as you did then.'
Gohan planted his feet as deep into the dirt as they would go as he prepared himself for the attack. 'Cell's gotta be up to something.' He waited in his spot for a few seconds to see if Cell was going to move to the side or not. He didn't though. He just kept coming at a relatively slow speed. 'He's toying with me just like he did with Usagi.' He frowned. 'Bastard.' He readied a fist and tightened it as hard as he could as he awaited Cell. He would be fully ready for him when he reached him.
Cell smirked as he sped up a bit. 'Dumb ass. He's much dumber in this time.'
Gohan watched Cell's feet closer than he did with the rest of his body. If there were to be any change in direction it would start with the feet. But then, all of a sudden, his feet began to disappear. 'I'm NOT falling for that.'
Right before he crashed into Gohan, Cell used all of his speed to jump into the air and appear over Gohan. He punched down towards Gohan's head, but just as he was about to hit, Gohan disappeared. "Maybe you aren't as dumb as I thought." He turned around and looked at Gohan. "Very impressive. Your sister probably would have just stood there and tried to punch me."
"She isn't as experienced with people like you as I am. She wasn't exactly trained to fight you." Gohan looked to the ground where Piccolo was being double teamed by two of the Cell clones. 'Piccolo...' "Call off your drones."
"That's not going to happen. There is no way that I can control them unless I summon them back to my body, which I'm not going to do. But why would I even want to do that? They're doing all of my dirty work for me."
Gohan didn't take his eyes off of Piccolo. He couldn't. Piccolo was badly injured and was being beat around by both clones as if he were a volleyball. "Fine." He put his hands in front of him facing down and built a large golden Ki blast, which pushed him further up into the air than he already he was from pushing against the air. "You aren't going to win this." He raised both of his arms over his head and immediately thrust them back down, adding extra momentum with his physical strength, and fired a bright golden beam of energy down at the clones.
Cell looked down to his clones. He was pretty sure that Gohan's attack wouldn't affect them, but he had to be sure. He had been surprised before. "That's pathetic. They aren't even concerned by it."
Gohan pushed as much as he could. He couldn't loose anyone while he was out there fighting. "I don't care. They will be." He didn't know if he should be doing what he was doing though. He couldn't waste all of his energy on this one attack but he couldn't let Piccolo be killed either. There would be no way to bring him back without the Dragon Balls. Then if anyone else were to die, they wouldn't be able to be revived either. "I'm not giving up."
Cell groaned of boredom. He wasn't there to watch Gohan fight with all of his clones. He turned back to Gohan, who looked more determined than ever to succeed. He fired one of his own Ki attacks in the middle of Gohan's attack, stopping it all together. Gohan turned to Cell with a scowl planted on his face. "You're fighting with me. Not them. Maybe you just need a good beating to understand." Without further conversation he flew to Gohan and kicked at his head.
Gohan was quick in his reaction as he raised his arm and blocked the kick with his forearm. He retaliated with a kick of his own to his foe's chest. Cell pulled his leg back and easily dodged the kick from Gohan by moving to the side. Gohan didn't allow himself to be discouraged by this. He had been though this many times before. This was just like the time he fought Garlic Jr. His father was no where around and he was pretty much the only one who could hold up to the enemy. Only this enemy wasn't immortal, which made this a little easier. Though this enemy was also much stronger. Each had its bad points. But if Gohan had to choose, he would rather fight an enemy that was not immortal since there was still a way to kill an immortal.
Things went on like this for nearly twenty minutes. One of them would attack while the other would dodge. On the ground, off the ground, it didn't seem to matter where they were fighting. It was all the same. They seemed evenly matched for each other. But Gohan knew otherwise. Cell was holding back and he knew it was only a matter of a short time before his true power would be shown. He shouldn't have been able to keep up with Cell so easily. He was just as strong in this form as Usagi was before she powered up to Super Saiyan yet she had easily been defeated.
The fight began to slow down after these twenty minutes. Neither fighter was getting very tired at that point but both just all of a sudden began to decrease their attacks. Gohan knew that it had to be something as he landed on the ground. he would have been up for continuing, but Cell seemed to want to stop. 'Is this is? Is he done? He can't be. I had to be at level two Super Saiyan in the future to beat him and now he has an enhanced power from that queen or whoever she is.'
Cell smirked as he looked down at Gohan. He stood not ten feet from Gohan. "You're pretty good. Better than Usagi even. I'm impressed. I forgot how strong you were. But that won't last for long. I'm not even powered up as much as I was when I first fought you. I've had my fun but it's time to get serious."
'I knew it.' "Bring it on. I can handle you." He slightly turned his head at the sound of a yelp from one of the girls. He couldn't make out who it was but it sounded as if they were being ripped apart right there. Sudden outbursts of yells were followed by a large crackling sound and then a thump. Gohan was dying to turn around and look at what happened. But he couldn't turn his head from Cell. Cell had just pretty much said that he was about to power up. It would be imperative that Gohan watch his enemy's every move from then on.
In less than a second, with just a single thought, Cell's power was increased to the power that Gohan had possessed when he beat Cell in the future. "Do you feel that? Now THAT is power. Power that your insignificant self will ever feel."
Gohan believed it too. Cell was currently one whole step above him in power. "You just keep running your mouth. I'll show you what I'm made of."
Cell smirked. "Sure you will." He took one step forward and then vanished before Gohan's eyes, only to reappear again behind him. "You're even slower now." He elbowed Gohan in the back and quickly turned around, raising his leg to kick him in the back of the neck. "Damn. I missed the head by just an inch."
From the force and intensity of being hit on the back of the neck, Gohan stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. 'How am I supposed to stand up to a power like that? I'm not that fast.' He lifted one of his legs to begin to stand up. But he wasn't quite fast enough. He felt Cell's fingers clasp tightly around one of his arms. The next thing he knew, he was flying backward through the air and heading right for a tree. 'Crap...' He used his energy to stop himself in mid air. "You're not going to beat me. You had better deal with it." 'Dad should be out soon. If I can just hold on a little bit longer I'll be ok. Then I can go and bring Usagi to Kami's lookout for safety.'
Cell didn't even dignify Gohan's words with even the slightest reply. Instead, he just shot out for Gohan again, using all of his speed. Gohan, who had expected this, was surprisingly able to move out of the way before Cell made his hit on him. Gohan used this to his advantage and decided it was time to pull out his more powerful attacks. Instead of physical fighting he would have to resort to energy attacks. Though he knew it was pointless, unless he made a hit on Cell's face or back. He had observed this from watching the others fighting with the clones, who seemed to be greatly dominating in their fights. Every single one of his friends was drained of their energy. Things looked pretty grim at that point. But Gohan couldn't stop now. He still had this Cell to worry about.
He quickly pulled his hands together in front of his stomach. He found it hard to move his left arm, the arm in which he was thrown by. 'Oh great.' He decided to ignore the pain that came with moving it and built up a rather small Ki attack. "Why am I not able to do this?" His body began to shake as he felt Cell approaching him. He moved his eyes in the direction of Cell, who was not too far from his current position. 'Well it's better than nothing.'
Cell watched at Gohan shot a Ki attack the size of a soft ball at him. He effortlessly slapped it away with the back of his hand. "Honestly Gohan. I would have thought that you could do better than that." He snickered as he proceeded to move towards his target.
Gohan looked down at his left arm. For some reason it was swelling and looked a little discolored. "It's broken." He looked up at Cell and frowned. "You broke my arm when you threw me. That's why my attack was so weak."
"Excuses, excuses. Why don't you just admit it? I intimidate you. You choked when you felt my magnificent power."
"I would never do that. I've been though fights like this before. Nothing can make me choke anymore."
Cell raised an eyebrow in fascination. "Nothing huh?" He began to rub his hands together.
"Nothing you can do will make me scared or nervous or anything like that. I'm used to the shock already." He looked into Cell's hands with curiosity. 'Odd...'
Cell's hands were soon covered in a black ball that contained more power than Gohan's body did. "This should take care of you. I'm tired of playing with you. I want to fight Vejita. I still have some unfinished business to attend to with him. As long as I see you dead, I'll be happy. As long as I know that I'm the one who killed you, I'll be happy." He pulled his hands apart until his fingers were loosely wrapped around the ball of black energy.
Gohan didn't try to move out of the way for he knew it was no use if he did. Cell was tired of 'playing' with him now and there was nothing he could do to stall him. He couldn't make the fight play out any longer. Gohan decided to make it easy on himself and just accept it. "Fine. Go ahead."
Cell grinned as he saw the sincerity in Gohan's eyes. "Just like in the future. You were about to give up to me and then your damned father found a way to talk to you from the afterlife. I'll have to kill him too. But not before I kill you."
Gohan looked down to the ground. He was ashamed of himself. Not only had he let himself and all of his friends down, but he had let his family down as well. 'I almost gave up before? But then I succeeded after dad talked to me. But that won't happen now. There is no way for me to kill him now. He's just too strong.' He looked up just as the black energy ball from Cell slammed into his body. He grunted as he was pushed down to the ground. His body was covered completely in the by the dark energy.
Cell laughed as he watched Gohan struggle. "Finally. You're dead and I'm the one who killed you. Well sort of. You see, I couldn't JUST kill you. You didn't JUST kill me. You tortured me and then killed me. And I've had to live with that, until now, that is. Now that burden is all gone. While I go take care of business, after I watch all of your friends get totally trampled by my clones, this energy will suck you dry of your own energy until you have just enough to breath. But don't think that this is going to be a nice process that takes no time at all. No, I want you to know my anger. It will take hours to finish. Later, when I come back and you're nearly dead, I'll finish the job myself. Don't you move now." He casually walked back to his tree and sat down as if none of the events that took place not a forty-five minutes ago were insignificant.
~*~*~
~~Kami's Lookout~~
Chi-Chi was in a state of being frantic. Kami had just given her the update about what was happening down on earth and she had nearly had a heart attack because of it. She couldn't understand why Usagi and then Gohan had failed. Was Cell really that strong? Had she done the girls wrong by not allowing them to use Ki attacks while she was training with them? 'Goku hurry up.' She turned to the door that led into the room of spirit and time after hearing a noise arise from that area. "Is that my Goku?"
"Yeah." Goku stepped out of the room of spirit and time looking stronger than ever. He had reached his goal of becoming a level two Super Saiyan. He was slightly higher than Usagi at this point. His arms were larger than normal due to an increase in power and muscle for that matter. He had the look of utter calmness on his face. There was no hint of emotion on his face. "What's going on?" He didn't even need anyone to reply to that. All he needed to do was search for energy levels. But Kami knew exactly what was going on. While reading power levels was useful, it did have its down points. Goku wanted to know what he was about to jump into.
Kami hesitated to answer. It was too awful to tell. He looked to Chi-Chi, who nodded at him to go ahead. "Things aren't looking too well. Usagi is out for the count along with Gohan. Gohan tried his best but knew that he wasn't enough. It was pretty obvious."
Goku's expression didn't change. He hadn't expected Gohan to be able to do any damage. Gohan was just supposed to hold Cell off for a while. "How did it happen?"
Kami gulped. He hadn't even told Chi-Chi that. "He just gave up. Once Cell decided that he was going to end it, he raised his power level to it's near fullest. Gohan knew it was hopeless and gave in. Cell attacked him with some sort of attack that drains his energy. He shouldn't be totally drained for a while."
Chi-Chi's eyes shot wide open when she heard that. "What?! You mean he's suffering?" She grabbed a hold of the front of Kami's cloths and shook him back and fourth. "WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO MY BABY?!"
Kami pulled Chi-Chi's hands off of him. "I don't know."
Goku nearly frowned. He had never taught him to just give up. Though he had never taught him to keep fighting even when you know that it won't work. He wouldn't let Cell go unpunished for this. "And what has become of Usagi? Why is she out? She should have been able to beat him, or at least have him down in power."
"She underestimated him and didn't use her full power. By the time she realized that she should power up, he didn't let her. He just attacked her over and over until she was unable to do anything. Then the androids showed up and started to attack the kids. That's when all hell broke loose. Cell got his opening and started to suck Usagi's energy."
"What?!" 'I thought she would have known better than to underestimate her enemy. She did learn from me after all.' "Continue."
"That's when Gohan arrived." Kami paused as Goku took to the air. "Wait Goku. There are still things that you have to know. Cell had cloned himself four times. The clones are now fighting all of our friends and the androids, who I think are still against us. Everyone is out of energy so they won't be of much help to you. With your new power you should be able to penetrate his armor like skin."
Goku turned around and let his face show his first true emotion since he emerged from the room of spirit and time as he smiled a warm and caring smile. "I'm not going straight to the fight just yet. I have something I need to do."
"I'm going with you Goku."
Goku turned back to Chi-Chi, shocked. "What?! What are you talking about? You can't go. You can't fight up to his standards. You can't even fly. Don't try to pull a Bulma on me all right? You aren't going. You'll get hurt if you do. You don't want to get hurt do you?"
Chi-Chi frowned as she crossed her arms out of annoyance. "Don't patronize me Goku. I know what I'm doing. I'm not going to get hurt. I have a right to go with you."
Goku was the one who was frowning now. "No you aren't. I'm not going to let you. Now that's the end of it. I don't want you to get hurt." For once Goku was going to put his foot down. He couldn't have Chi-Chi getting involved.
Chi-Chi looked into her husbands eyes and saw that he was completely serious, but then again, so was she. She was determined to get to that fight. "I'm going and that's that." She let herself lift up into the air.
Goku was a bit on the surprised side to his wife beside him in the air. "They taught you to fly?"
"Yes. Now I don't care what you say. I'm going." She began to move forward and stopped. "Are you just going to sit there or are you coming with me?"
Goku never thought that he would see that day that his wife flew. But here she was, flying right in front of him. He was amazed. He quickly shook off his amazement and put his mind back into his concentration as he moved to her side. 'Forgive me Chi-Chi.' "No you aren't going with me." He lifted his hand, extending his index finger, and knocked his wife back down to Kami's lookout. "Take care of her Kami. Make sure she doesn't try to leave once she wakes up."
Kami nodded as he waved good bye to Goku. He fully understood with Goku's reasoning for his actions and agreed with them. Chi-Chi wouldn't be able to defend herself against Cell. He looked down at Chi-Chi. One little poke by Goku's finger while he was Super Saiyan was enough to knock her down to the ground and leave her unconscious. Though it wouldn't be long before she was awake and wanting to leave. "I hope this thing ends before she wakes up."
~*~*~
~~In the Woods~~
Usagi's eyes slowly flapped open closed over and over again as her body throbbed with severe pain. Her body had begun to gain its warmth back thanks to the cloth from Gohan's cape. But she still felt very faint and her arms and legs were numb. Her head felt as though it had had a few metal baseball bats bashed into it, something that she had never quite experienced before. She had never gotten into a spar quite as intense as this fight with Cell. 'I wish I could help them.' She could sense the dark film of energy over her brother. She could also feel that his energy was decreasing. She could also feel her friends' energy. They were nearly drained to the point of being no more. She groaned as she buried her face deep into the cloth for comfort. "My fault. My fault. It's all my fault." She wanted to cry as she winced from sensing a giant energy decrease in Piccolo's energy.
She opened her eyes as she felt a familiar touch on her face. It was a warm touch filled with love. The same touch that she had felt when her father had come from the future to calm her and then train her. The same touch she had felt many times when she was upset about something. She looked up as her upper body was picked up and then set onto something warm. "Daddy?"
Goku wiped some loose strands of hair from his daughter's face as he smiled. "You don't honestly believe that this is your fault do you?"
Usagi shook her head. "Yes it is. Don't you know? I didn't use my full power and Cell almost got my energy from me. Now he's killing everyone." She examined his face. It had changed somehow. His hair wasn't that of a normal Super Saiyan. It was something that she couldn't remember ever seeing. His hair was more full and messy looking. He only had three strands slender strands coming over his face instead of the normal thick ones. "You did it didn't you?"
Goku nodded. "Sure did. And don't worry about not using your power. You didn't know that this was going to happen. You can't pout over the past. All you can do is look towards the future."
Usagi smiled. She knew he was just tying to make her feel better. "Well good luck daddy. You're going to need it. Cell is REALLY strong."
"What? You're going to make me fight alone? Don't you want to join in on all the fun?" He dug into his pocket.
"I can't do it. I'm too weak. I can't even stand up on my own." She so wished that she could take a bite into Cell and make him pay for what he had done to her friends.
"Don't ever say that you can't do anything because you're weak. If I would have had that attitude when I was fighting Frieza you and I wouldn't be here right now." He held out a tiny pebble like item over Usagi's face. "Here. I saved this just for this occasion. It isn't much, but it will help you gain some energy back. It's a fourth of a Senzu bean. I've got one for Gohan too. I don't know if Chi-Chi has anymore left but I didn't have time to find out." Usagi opened her mouth and Goku placed the bean in. "Now you can help me fight back against Cell."
Usagi swallowed the bean and immediately felt the results. She could feel her arms and legs again and her headache was even beginning to go away. "Thanks." She lifted her hands to her chest and pushed the cloth off of her body, which was no longer cold. Her skin had even regained its color. She sat up after she kicked off the cloth. "Wow, a fourth was plenty. I feel totally refreshed."
Goku was amazed as he watched his daughter stand up with great ease. He had never seen a fourth of a Senzu bean do so much for a person. 'She really is mysterious.' He stood to his feet. "Shall we get out of here and payback Cell?" He asked, knowing fully what the answer would be.
"Sure am!" In a blink of an eye, her body was engulfed by a silver aura as her hair shot up in silver. "I'm not going to make the same mistake again." She grabbed her father's hand and smiled as she leaned into his side. She now knew that he didn't hate her. He wouldn't have given her the Senzu if he had. "Let's get out of here."
Goku smiled down at Usagi and pressed his fingers to his forehead. 'So much different than Gohan.'
~*~*~
~~Back At The Battle Field~~
Cell stood up and stretched as he yawned. He was getting quite bored with watching the 'festivities'. He wanted some action of his own. He walked back to Gohan, who was now back in his normal form due to energy loss. Gohan lay on his stomach, his legs and arms were spread out as far as they could be. He poked at the boy with his foot. "Look at you and your pitiful self. You can't even loose your energy fast enough to please me." He bent down and picked up some rocks that sat behind Gohan's feet. "Where's Vejita, Gohan?" He threw a rock at Gohan's head.
Gohan twitched when the rock hit. "I do...n't....know..." His eyes were closed as tightly as they could be shut from the pain. It's not like his energy was being peacefully drained from his body. It was more like his muscles were being ripped away from his body.
"Why the hell aren't your friends dying? They're pissing me off. They just keep fighting and fighting and fighting. They put up more of a fight than you did." He threw another rock at Gohan's head. Gohan didn't reply, which made Cell all the more angrier. He walked to Gohan's head, where his hands were also located. He hovered one of his feet over Gohan's hand. "I'll ask you again. Where is Vejita? I know you know where he is." The only reply he got from the boy was a grunt of pain. "Fine." He slammed his foot down onto Gohan's hand, crushing it. That got a reaction out of Gohan. A loud cry to be exact. "You weak fool." He took his foot off of Gohan's hand and put his toe under his stomach and flipped him over to his back so his stomach was facing up. "I can't believe such a weakling like you defeated me. I must have been out of my mind to have let you beat me."
He grinned as he turned around after feeling two new powers. Two powers, which were equal to his own power. Or maybe even a little higher. "Look. It's two more Saiyans from the Son family come to kill me." He examined Goku carefully. "You look and feel different. Did you do something to your hair?" He looked down to Usagi. "Ah, yes. Usagi, it looks as though you're back from the dead."
Usagi scowled at Cell. She wouldn't let him intimidate her now. She was his equal. She could defeat him now. "Shut up and be on your way. I'm going to beat you this time. I have my full power now." She felt a small nudge on her back from her father and nodded. "We're going to take out each and every one of your dumb clones and then we're going to beat you too." She teleported herself to a fight that was going on between Minako, android 17, Ami, Krillin and the Cell clone. If you can even call it a fight. It was more like the clone beating everyone to a bloody pulp.
Goku stayed on the scene with his son and Cell. He smirked at Cell as he held his hand out in the direction of his son.
Cell couldn't figure out for the life of him what Goku was trying to achieve by pointing his attack to his boy. "If you want to kill him go ahead. I won't stop you. I was getting really bored with him anyways."
Gohan opened his eyes at that statement. He really hoped that Cell was just trying to play with his head. But he, in fact, was not. It was very true that his father was pointing at him. "Daddy? What are you doing?" He tried to cower away but his energy was too low.
In Goku's hand a small energy ball was formed. "Just watch." Out of his hand shot the small ki ball followed by a thin beam of energy. It went straight down to its target, Gohan's leg. Gohan cried out from the pain that was being placed upon him. The power that his father possessed was just like Cell's.
Cell laughed. "You really are an idiot. What your kid screws up and you try to kill him? Is that..." He gasped as he saw his dark energy field that was around Gohan disperse. "How the hell did you do that?!"
Goku grinned. "Looks like my power cancels yours out." He tossed the fourth of the Senzu to Gohan. "Eat this, son. And, I'm sorry I had to do that." He turned back to Cell. "You and me, now!"
Cell didn't quite know what to do. Goku was stronger now stronger than Gohan had been when he had defeated him. "You can't scare me you..." He was cut off by Goku's fist finding it's way through his protective skin. Cell was left unable to say anything. He had the wind knocked out of him.
Goku wasn't in any moods for playing around. He had heard the whole story about what Cell had done from Usagi. He knew that this guy wasn't one to play around. "I said we're fighting right now!" He pulled his fist out of Cell's skin, letting in crumble in on itself and leaving nothing but green skin underneath. "You aren't so tough after all."
Cell's eyes widened. For once he was actually questioning his victory. "You bastard!" He lifted his fist and swung at Goku.
Goku caught Cell's fist in his hand and pushed back on Cell's arm and Cell tired to push against Goku's strength. "Seems as though you're going to loose this one, Cell."
Once Gohan's power had recovered enough for him to stand up, he did so. "Don't let your guard down dad. He's sneaky."
Goku pulled back his hand and grabbed Cell's arm and flipped him over before Cell even knew what was happening. "I know. Go check on your sister. I think she should be having an easy time too. For some reason, Super Saiyan two is much stronger than his power."
Cell stood to his feet and laughed. "That's just for now. You haven't seen my ultimate power yet."
Goku sighed as he crossed his arms. 'Another Frieza huh? Always gotta have all these stupid forms.' "Ultimate form? Aren't you already perfect?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Goku didn't even have to think about that for longer than a few seconds. "Let me see. No!" He turned to Usagi, who seemed to be dominating over the clones just as he was dominating over the original. "Seems like your people suck too."
"Is that a fact? My clones and I don't seem to hold the same opinions as you weaklings do." 'I didn't think I would have to pull this power out but I guess I had a few unexpected things happen here. But that's what this technique was created for.'
(Ok that's it for now. What did you think? Was it good or bad? Gotta go now. Ja for now! ^_^)