The two Cells ascended from the pit below. After a few seconds, they settled on which one to take. Each of the two Cell's came charging at a Gohan.

The one that went after Ichidou came at him at full speed. Unfortunately for Cell, full speed was slow enough for Ichidou to react with plenty of time to spare. He just dodged the attack, didn't even bother to after image, and slammed his elbow into Cell's head.

The one who came at Gohan fared no better. He caught up with Gohan just in time for him to be kicked into the ground. Cell stood up, and there was Gohan, right in front of him again. Cell didn't get a chance to charge at Gohan, as the young saiyan was already hitting him again.

Soon, the two Cell's decided to double team Ichidou. This didn't work, as Gohan ran into their fight and isolated one of the Cells for himself. The two Cell's were getting beaten, worse than Cell had ever been beaten himself.

Gohan kicked Cell in the head. Cell shot straight through the air. Gohan was already behind him by the time he realized he had even been hit into the air in the first place. Cell plummeted to earth, and Gohan was there, kicking him in the face before he was even able to react. Cell dropped to the ground. He managed to pull himself to his feet. Gohan and Ichidou were doing precisely what he wanted them to do…
Meanwhile, Ichidou was almost getting bored at how easy the fight was getting. He knocked Cell in one direction, flew over there before Cell could react, and knocked Cell off in a completely random direction. All of this was done before the android had any time to react.

Something wasn't right. "I don't understand…" Piccolo said. "Cell is clearly being beaten by them. He is losing because he is using an inferior tactic. Cell should be smarter than…" His eyes opened wide. "Gohan!" He shouted. "Ichidou!" The two of them turned towards Piccolo. "He's using your beatings to make himself stronger!" He said.

It was too late. Using their momentary loss of attention, the two halves of Cell refused, becoming one entity again. Cell smiled. He knew that the two of them wouldn't be able to avoid the temptation of beating him senseless. He was now even more powerful than he had been before. He had allowed the two Gohans to beat him half to death. Since saiyans get stronger after every near death experience, and Cell inherited that quality, he took a gamble and thought that if he divided himself, and allowed each of his halves to take a severe beating, than he would become even stronger once he became one Cell again.

The reunited Cell charged at Ichidou full speed. Ichidou wasn't able to react fast enough. Cell hit him full force. Ichidou was sent flying. Gohan, not letting Cell get a second shot on Ichidou, jumped forward and attacked Cell. Cell batted him away like he was a fly.

Ichidou got up, and tried to charge at the improved Cell. Cell punched him in the face, and knocked him away. Ichidou dragged himself to his feet, and tried to think of a way to win. There was simply no way to defeat Cell, not at this rate.

Suddenly Ichidou saw a way. Cell was winning because he was isolating the two of them away from each other. He was much stronger than before, true, but he wasn't totally beyond defeat. Ichidou thought of a strategy, and telepathically sent a message to Gohan.

Gohan agreed to Ichidou's idea. It was the only strategy he could think of. Ichidou came at Cell from behind, Gohan attacked from the front.

Ichidou kicked at Cell. The android dodged, but it was only an after image. Gohan sweep-kicked Cell's leg. Cell jumped up to avoid the attack, but it was again only an afterimage. Suddenly, he felt the pain of a small, sharp elbow being slammed into his stomach. Before long, a larger, but still painful elbow hit him in his back. He flew into the air.

"KA…" Ichidou said.

"KA…" Gohan said.

"I don't think so!" Cell said. He looked, and the Gohans were on opposite sides of himself. Ichidou was far into the air. Gohan was on the ground.

"ME…" Ichidou said.

"ME…" Gohan said.

Think Cell, you idiot… the android was worried. If he went after one Gohan, the other would blast him in the back. If he divided, the two Gohans would simply incinerate his two halves. He tried to think of a solution. Each second decreasing his chance of victory…

"HA…" Ichidou said.

"HA…" Gohan said.

Cell knew that between the two of them they still had ample power to destroy him, completely. He desperately tried to think of a way to deny hell of his presence. He considered the one move he could think of. The instant transmission. He raised his fingers to his forehead. Yes, that would be the solution. Suddenly, his hand was sliced off.

"I don't think so, Cell…" Krillen chuckled. Cell realized with horror that Krillen had cut his hand off with a destructo disc. Raising his fingers to his forehead was required for the move to work. He tried with his other hand, only to realize that his other hand was blown off.

"You're not going to escape your fate." Piccolo said. Cell had no hands to do the instant transmission with.

"ME…" Ichidou said.

"ME…" Gohan said.

"Ha ha ha…OOF!" He was laughing because he thought that he had successfully flown out of range. He grunted because a knee was thrust into his stomach. The power that the Gohans were creating was so overwhelming that Cell couldn't feel anyone else around.

"Get back in there…" Vegeta said. Cell flew back down, right back into the line of fire. He turned around, but Piccolo was waiting for him on that side. Piccolo and Vegeta weren't strong enough to compete with him, but since he couldn't sense them coming, there was nothing he could do. His hands were gone, so the instant transmission was out.

"HAA!" Ichidou shouted, unleashing the blast.

"HAA!" Gohan roared, blasting Cell.

Cell's hands suddenly regenerated. There was only one solution. Only one way out. He knew what he could do.

The two massive beams of energy came closer and closer. The two of them had made sure that they were farther away than Cell could charge, so it took quite a while for the blasts to get there.

"KA…" Cell began, thrusting his hands out. "KA…" He watched as two tiny balls of energy appeared in his hands. "ME…" He said again, as one ball of energy grew. "ME…" The other increased in size. "HA…" He said, as the blasts got closer and closer. "HA…" He said, the blasts were nearly on top of him now, he could feel the power. "ME…" He uttered, hoping it would be enough. "ME…" He said, wondering if the afterlife was really all that bad. "HAAA!" He shouted.

Gohan's kamehameha met with Cell's in midair. Cell was holding it back. Gohan realized, too late, that Cell was positioned in a way, that if Cell's blast overcame his, the earth would be destroyed.

Ichidou's kamehameha slammed into Cell's. Cell had managed to keep himself alive just a little bit longer. He realized that, thanks to the way Cell was positioned, if he managed to overwhelm Cell's kamehameha, it just might overwhelm Gohan's, and then he would destroy the earth.

Gohan… Ichidou said, sending a mental message to his younger self.

Yes? Gohan responded.

Let's kill the jerk. Ichidou said. For dad.

For dad. Gohan responded.

The two Gohans pushed Cell as hard as they could. Cell's twin kamehamehas were strong enough to hold them back. They pushed harder, Cell was still able to hold them back.

Cell was suddenly overwhelmed. His kamehamehas were losing. He tried to hold them back, but he was soon overwhelmed. Cell watched in horror as two Gohans blasted him into nothing.

"THIS CAN'T HAPPEN TO ME!" Cell roared. He vanished, obliterated completely, incinerated, dust. Cell was dead, for good.

Ichidou felt Cell's ki disappear. Now came the hard part. Gohan… Ichidou said.

What? Gohan asked.

We have a problem…

What is it?

Our kamehamehas are too big to redirect…

So?

If either of us attempt to move out of the way, we'll be destroyed by the other.

No, no…

If you let go, the earth will be destroyed, but if I

Don't say it, no, don't…

If I let go, only I die…

Ichidou, don't, I don't want to kill you.

And I don't want to destroy the earth.

Gohan thought for a moment. There are always the dragonballs… The mere idea that he would have to destroy himself disgusted him. Ichidou was right, there was no other way.

Heck, at least I'll get my real arm back… Ichidou thought. Ichidou let go.

The blast escaped Gohan's arms. He was numb. Even if he could bring Ichidou back with the dragonballs, he had just killed, himself… "Ichidou, I'm sorry!" Gohan said, crying. He fell to his knees. He collapsed, and began to cry…

Wow… Ichidou thought. the afterlife looks a lot like earth… "Hey, this is earth!" He shouted. "Where am I, how did I get here?" He asked.

"I took us far away…" He heard.

"Dad?" Gohan asked.

"Yes…" Goku said, smiling.

"But you're dead, right?"

"Yup, but I snuck away for a moment. King Kai's probably really mad at me, but I couldn't let you die like that." he said. "Besides, you owe me a hug."

Ichidou embraced his father. "I'm sorry…" Ichidou said.

"It isn't your fault, and it isn't Gohan's either." Goku said. "I'm okay…" he said. After a few minutes, Goku pulled back to get a good look at his son. "Gohan will never have to look like you…" Goku said. "He'll never have that sad look in his eyes, the look of someone who has seen too much death…"

"I couldn't save you…"

"Gohan, you've saved the world from suffering, you've saved Piccolo, and Krillen, and Tien, and Yamcha, and Chaoutzu. You've saved Vegeta. You've saved the entire world, Gohan." He looked at his son, his wonderful, strong, incredible son. "I was meant to die." He said. "I would be proud if Gohan ended up being half the man you are today." he placed his fingers on his forehead. "They can't know I came to save you, Ichidou…" He said. "He'll be okay without me, but I can't stay long enough to say goodbye to everyone. I'm in trouble already." Ichidou understood. The two of them vanished.

Ichidou appeared above the ground, in the air, and flew down to the ground.

"Ichidou!" Gohan shouted. Gohan flew over to meet his fellow savior. "How did you, you said…"

"I let myself fall…" Ichidou said. "I let gravity take hold of me…" He smiled. "I just let myself fall…" and dad saved me. he completed the thought in his head, but didn't say it. "I overestimated how fast your blast was coming at me. I just let myself fall out of the air, that's all."

"You did good, Gohan…" Goku said, in the afterlife. "both of you." He smiled.

A/N: Don't worry, I'm going to continue the story for at least two more chapters. Thank you all for your reviews, see you at chapter nineteen!