The Long Road

by Drakthul

AU: Abducted at the age of three and a half, taken through thirteen years of bloodshed and strife, Gohan finds his way back to Earth... to finish a backlogged contract. On Earth, he will either overcome what he is, or be destroyed by it. Rated M.

57. Chapter 57: Here Comes the Sun

Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.

The Long Road

Chapter 57: Here Comes the Sun

Gohan:Year 770

Golden energy scorched across the pale blue, frozen sky. It burned against the background as it collided with the most familiar figure he'd ever known. The power seemed overwhelming and all Gohan could do was watch. So far he'd stayed back from the fight, his scouter reading power levels he almost couldn't imagine.

"AHHHHHH!"

Terror raced through Gohan's heart as he saw the closest thing to a family he'd ever known, scream out in agony as this ray of golden energy consume him. The scouter had lied about this being's power. It kept coming back as 30,000 at first, even when Turles battled him. Turles's fighting power was nearly 120,000, and it was unimaginable that this green freak could hold out. Of course, his own fighting power was 90,000, this was going to be child's play no matter who fought him. But it just didn't happen. The scouter didn't capture any of it until this moment.

Turles rushed him, he lashed out and collided fists, but every time this beast just mocked him, and it didn't make any sense. How was he fooling the scouter? There was no way he'd had a power level of 30,000, and Gohan realized that after only a minute of battle. What was supposed to be simple, turned into a desperate stand to hold back this green goliath. Worse, he'd been almost too afraid to move as the scouter readings subtly changed. All that raced through the teenager's mind was how the scouter had to be broken, but never in his life did he imagine that Turles would die in a wave of pure power.

And the monster which had fooled the scouter, and then slaughtered his master stood there, unfazed by what had just passed. A cocky grin moved across his broad, green face. His hands couldn't stop trembling even with his arms crossed, right now he knew his face must have been anxious, his body language betrayed what was left of his confidence.

What the Hell am I going to do? Turles... Turles is... he's... and the Namek... he's still..

It'd been years since he'd been threatened with the kind of death he was staring into. It'd been even longer since he ever imagined his mentor being harmed. Now Turles was dead. The other scouter went dead, and Turles's power disappeared from all sensors. Even now Gohan's eye just stared into the red glass over the side of his face, hoping, praying that Turles's power indicator would reappear. His breathing trembled as he waited, knowing full well the green monster which slaughtered Turles was still standing there.

"What's wrong, boy? Are you scared?"

Hateful eyes moved up as Gohan felt something other than just fear rush into his blood.

Turles. He's gone. This... this fucking bastard killed him.

With a rumble his own power suddenly felt like it began to swell as his sneer deepened, replacing the anxiety still running through the back of his mind.

"I'll tell you what, I'll show you exactly what you're up against, kid," the Namekian chuckled, bracing himself as he prepared to let his power spike. "But make no mistake, one of us isn't going to walk away from this..."

Even as angry as he was, even as the reality of Turles's death settled around him, even as he prepared to fight for his life, Gohan felt his heart jump as numbers climbed on the scouter...

...626,000... and climbing.

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Gohan: Hell

"I think it's only fair for this little worm to know what he's really in for," the Big Blue Bitch chuckled, an obnoxious and overconfident grin wrapped around his face. "After all, it wouldn't be fair if he didn't know what he was up against."

With his guard raised, Gohan slowly began to gather power into his defence, and quietly prepared to let his own power spike to reveal his Ascended Super Saiyan form. Every moment of energy conservation left him with the opportunity to buy time to think through how to approach this. The more they left him alone and gloated, the better his chances to bury them. Already his mind was tactically going over where to strike first. The problem was he didn't have a damn clue on how to approach this. What were Cell's attack's like? Or Blue Bitches? Hell, he only knew most of Frieza's techniques, and he'd never fought Dabura. Strength wasn't the only important thing in a fight, and right now he was beginning to slowly realize that this was going to be significantly harder than originally thought. Especially because of-

"Bido, Zangya, Bujin, Kogu!" Bojack shouted, his face suddenly turning serious.

All around him, figures dropped from the yellow skies above, landing in a perimeter around him. Each one seemed to be keeping their space safe from him as they all smirked heinously. This was preplanned, and Gohan knew it.

"What is it, you think you are doing?" Garlic's voice cut in.

"I'm winning this fight, against this arrogant little Saiyan," The last word was delivered with such resentment that Gohan could immediately tell, that Bojack's prior dealings with Vegeta, Trunks, and his father had likely created a degree of prejudice against his own kind.

With that, slowly Bojack himself began to descend, coming closer and closer to coming to the edge of where his minions stood. Right now, Gohan honestly couldn't tell which minion was which, but it didn't really matter, he was already getting ready to rev things up in under a heartbeat. Each time he thought to attack however, he looked up, seeing the other devils waiting to descend on him, but most of all he looked at Garlic.

Not that it matters. What is the plan here? Four way attack? He can't possibly think that's going to work.

"You stupid MORON!" Babidi snapped. "Getting killed right away won't help us! Stick to the plan!"

"Silence, yellow frog," Bojack chuckled. "This fool has decided to stay right in my trap."

Trap?

With a snap of his fingers, Bojack's gang pointed their hands out at him. He expected energy bolts, but instead, seemingly nothing happened. Then something almost invisible whipped through the air all around him. Strings that reflected in the glint of Hell's light flickered around him before closing in. Immediately the odd attack made wracked noises before it tightened into his skin, digging into his muscles. It was enough to make his lip curl in discomfort as he felt his hands and body trembling to move.

"Ha! And all of you were worried, this one is so cocky and arrogant that he had no idea what my minions and I were capable of," Bitch chuckled as he began to make his way towards him, stepping ahead of his minions. "How does it feel to be helpless?"

Looking down, Gohan bent his arm slowly, before looking back up, moving it against the needle like wires which were holding him in place. Black eyes peered to each of his sides, seeing a short blue man in a turbin, and a large one with a mohawk, before turning back forward and looking at "Bojack" himself continuing to stride towards him.

Bojack, that's the one who drove dad to become an Ascended Super Saiyan? I don't buy it. This guy is an arrogant fool.

Because it was extremely idiotic to come inside his threat range, backed up by second rate warriors.

"I couldn't tell you. How does it feel to be stupid?" Gohan countered.

An angry sneer immediately crossed Bojack's face as he raised his arm to strike out against him. Tightening his own power for a moment, Gohan braced for the blow. With a quick motion, Bitch's fist ploughed into his cheek. Spit immediately escaped his mouth from the velocity and viciousness of the blow.

"Stupid? Says the monkey who is held in my grasp!"

"He's toying with you," Dabura's voice cut in.

With a hmph, Bojack turned his back to him, looking up into the air.

"Oh? Is he? Then what hasn't he-"

Concentrating, Gohan let his own power flare. A golden aura burned around him, vaporizing the threads which had covered his form. Immediately the four who had 'imprisoned' him stumbled back, their strings being cut. Concentrating his ki, the Saiyan let his power reached out towards the four, grabbing hold of them with pure energy, before violently sucking all his power back. It had the desired effect of violently throwing the four towards him. Repositioning his form, bracing his fists, Gohan prepared to deliver the necessary attack to deal with each one of them. In the meantime, Bojack had turned his head, blinking in shock. Before his body had fully even turned towards him, Gohan lunged his fist outward, returning the blow which had just landed on him. Blue skin shifted under his skin as he felt Bitch's jaw violently snap away from him when the punch landed. The huge warrior's body stumbled forward, surprised.

Just as the four others approached his threat range at break neck speed, their bodies stopped as the four of them threw their own ki forward to resist his. Green energy fields immediately emerged from their bodies as they clearly tensed. Their jewelry then started to glow.

"What's wrong? Expecting an easy victory? You can't have been that dumb, even as a Saiyan," The one with a bandana sneered and smirked.

Even as he felt their powers beginning to balloon, Gohan almost rolled his eyes. He turned to face the one who spoke first, taking note to try to deal with him first.

"Nothing's wrong, because I still am expecting an easy victory," Gohan responded, relaxing his guard to show just how confident he was.

There was a woosh of green energy from the four figures, before their bodies bulked up, their orange hair turning red. Green skin then emerged across all of them as their sinister glares became more confident and amused.

"I'm going to enjoy wiping that smug look off his face," the woman remarked.

The short turbaned one just started to snicker, and the mohawk began to grin.

Rising ahead of him, the Blue Bitch turned back around, wiping his jaw furious, his eyes narrowing hatefully. It was enough to imrpove his own mood and Gohan felt his own smirk devilishly return.

Alright. First deal with this moron, then Dabura. I doubt Cell is much of a problem, and I could fight Frieza in my sleep.

Something made him pause however when Bojack's earrings began to glow. He let off a fearsome roar as his entire body expanded further, green skin replacing blue. The golden-green aura flowing around him was powerful, and it was something which surprised Gohan. Certainly it wasn't as powerful as Turles's when they'd first battled on the Earth, but this was a noteworthy level of strength, even if it couldn't weather his own outright.

"Kill this rat!"

"You know, Green Bitch just doesn't have the same ring to it-" Gohan was cut off as he felt the four around him's powers suddenly shoot up. Each pointed their hands at him as a terrible hum escaped each, energy crackling out of their bodies.

In a flash of light from all around him, and now ahead of him particularly with the King of Green Idiots contributing his own power to the collective attack, Gohan was almost lost before he brought forward the power he'd been conserving since the beginning of this...

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Frieza:

Power was something he couldn't read, in fact, most of them couldn't. The only ones here who reliably could, were Cell and his juniors, as well as Garlic. What he did know was that despite how distasteful it was, Bojack was a significantly stronger creature than himself, and even his minions superseded his own power. The simian in the midst of the five, was in the same transformation and configuration as his father when he shamefully defeated him on Planet Namek. The Golden Hair and teal eyes always made Frieza sneer and internally cringe when he saw it. Supposedly, he'd been powerful enough to cause the Hells themselves to quake when he first arrived here.

But what Frieza watched now, was a violent display of immense power from Bojack and his gang. The flash below of five beams colliding in all directions made the world blink for a brief moment into a blindly light. Power which greatly exceeded that which he used to destroy whole worlds, was unleashed into a single point. Of course, killing Son Gohan was counterproductive to their original plan, maiming or subduing him was the stated goal. The gang of arrogant fools were just going to cause Gohan to resurrect, which was hardly helpful.

"What a waste," Frieza commented to Cell as the blast finally followed the huge attack. "Now we'll have to fight him all over again."

Where Gohan stood in the heart of the attack, suddenly expanded out in an apocalyptic explosion. Bright orange fire roared into the very ceiling of this Hell, as columns of now molten-grey rock burst into the air all around the heart of the blast itself, mixing with the energy and dust of the blast, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing out of the pyre of destruction. The shockwave for the blast carried out across the hellscape seconds later. The pure force of it was enough to blast Frieza himself back, flipping through the air before he managed to stabilize himself. A rush of thousands of tons of flying debris then scattered after it, tearing through the air like shrapnel. Bits of half melted rock and jagged pieces of newly formed glass chattered together as they made their deadly path through the air. Immediately Frieza formed an energy barrier around himself, bits and pieces of the deadly projectiles bouncing off of it.

"Impressive," Frieza admitted with a toxic tone, unable to hide his resentment or envy.

However, Cell was oddly quiet, focusing on the every declining wall of falling debris and smoke at the centre of where they attack had been.

"Hardly, a foolish move by insignificant plebeians. They played their hand too early I'm afraid, and now I will need to save this fool in order to preserve our chances."

That was something odd to say, because an attack like that should have-

Crimson eyes then looked down towards the five which stood near the declining attack, each one exuberant in their own pride. Frieza trusted Cell's senses more than their willingness to accept victory.

"Whose the bitch now, you bastard?" Bojack laughed hardily at the smoke filled ruin he'd created along with his minions.

Without any warning, there was a sudden wave of electricity travelling through the black clouds, before the ground and air began to vibrate and rumble around them. Even Frieza felt it as far back as he was. Golden light slowly began to break through the smoke, before it even started to settle, falling from view. In the core of the blast, a crater dozens upon dozens of metres deep, floated a single figure, as if he'd not even been touched. Frieza's eye twitched as he took a better look, unable to almost believe what he was seeing. His red shirt and black pants were still in tact even.

A familiar hum then could be heard over the dying moments of falling rocks. The disbelief didn't just cover Frieza either. Bojack and his gang were in just as much shock.

"Do I really need to answer that?" Gohan's voice echoed over the once ruined, now further ruined wasteland all around them.

Even from behind, Frieza could tell exactly what Bojack's face looked like as his entire body tensed. His fists were clearly clenched for several moments as a field of energy immediately roared to life. The ground beneath his feet cracked immediately as his power continued to focus.

"So you think you can just mock me?! Do you know who I am?!"

"Yes," the monkey added in a very straight forward tone. "To both questions..."

There was suddenly an intensely arrogant smile as he finished his sentence.

"Bitch."

Well, there goes one assortment of puppets to use.

Frieza knew exactly what was going to happen next. He'd admit, this Son Gohan was trained exceptionally well with psychology. It was like watching one of his own fights while he was alive, if only with more crass language. Already Frieza could imagine what was to happen next, and knew exactly how it would play out over several seconds.

"Be ready to move," Cell remarked, before turning his head to the side and up. "And if you want your little plans to fall into place, I would recommend the three of you get involved as well, especially you, Garlic. After all, you are supposed to be the strongest one here."

Turning his red eyes to one side, Frieza observed Garlic for a moment as the tiny gremlin just seemed to grin back.

"I'm not ready to intervene yet, I think. Though it would be a shame if our friend Bojack got himself killed so soon in the fight," he remarked.

Well, this little creature is certainly devious. He's going to let the rest of us kill ourselves fighting this Saiyan so that he can swoop in and clean up the pieces. Of course, I can't fully fault him, given that I had similar plans myself.

Before the conversation could go much further, there was already a shout from below.

"Kill this piece of Saiyan garbage!" Bojack roared.

Turning his eyes back towards the battle, Frieza watched something he could only see in broken frames, his eyes unable to follow the full motion or speed of the two main competitors. In several freeze frames, he could see Gohan and Bojack dash towards one another, before a thunderous boom exploded out across the barren crater the pirate and his crew had made with their attack. It was not a collision of equals, as Bojack's body shot backwards, thrown back by a single straight through punch. Instead of pursuing however, Gohan's body shifted in a blur, blasting off in the other direction, shooting towards Bojack's crew. A green blur appeared where he'd been only seconds ago, and Frieza turned his head to look to Cell, only to see he was gone himself.

Bido's body lunged forward, throwing a huge right towards a blur in the air. When the monkey materialized out of nowhere next to him, he immediately struck out against the extended arm. A swift and precise kick upward towards the elbow lead to a terrible crack echoing out across the wasteland. Immediately Bido howled, but it was in vain, as Gohan's leg shot down towards his leg next, causing another crack. The two shattered limbs hung from his body helplessly before Gohan twisted in the air, delivering one final kick, this time to the head. Immediately motor control was clearly lost by the Heran, as his body went completely limp, before the force of the simian's kick sent him falling into the huge crater below. When Bido made impact, the already burned, once grey ground, shattered with the impact of his body.

From behind, Kogu lunged for the Saiyan next, and it was over in a flash. Without even using his arms again, Gohan's leg shot up and back, connecting with his jaw as the two connected in the air. The heel kick clearly broke Kogu's jaw and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Violently his head snapped back and blood spat from his lips and face, before he flipped several times and limply slapped into the crater below, only a few metres from Bido.

Well, these creatures are more powerful than I am, and are being utterly dismantled by this ape. I'll need to keep myself at arms length. But it's not all about power of course.

Immediately, Frieza thought to a series of very specific attacks, which he was going to reserve for the moment.

Turning his head up again, Frieza narrowed his eyes on Dabura, Babidi, and Garlic as they all watched.

"Get ready to intervene, Dabura," Babidi said with a slowly forming grin.

"Yes, master Babidi."

But the one which caught Frieza's attention most, was Garlic as he watched the Saiyan. He had the same look that Frieza could understand. It was the same one he knew he could see in himself when he imagined Goku, this brat's father. It was extremely interesting to see that he didn't want to intervene right away. Supposedly he was stronger than Cell, who was the strongest creature Frieza had ever knowingly seen in action in this realm, other than Pikkon.

While looking away, another immense explosion echoed out, and Frieza quickly turned his head back down. Zangya and Bujin appeared to have tried to attack the former Captain together, their frames both shooting straight upward, with Gohan appearing between the two of them. To ferocious sweeping kicks happened in less than a blink. One boot connected with Zangya's ribs one one side, shattering them, before the other one hit Bujin on the other side in the same place, his ribs too breaking in his chest, before their bodies slapped against each other. The two flailed in the air from their impact, before they too fell in the crater of their own making.

Slowly, the monkey began to descend towards the ground, towards the barely rising Bojack.

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Gohan:

A shaky hand moved up, brushing the blood from his lip as the green "warrior" laboured heavily, looking back at him, his eyes mixed with hate and anxiety. It was probably the same look that he had himself before he bit off more than he could chew. There was another one of these idiots buzzing around already. There had been at least one time that Cell attempted to intercept him before he dispatched the other four bad fashion choices. Turning his eyes to the left, he sensed briefly where he knew the bug was, before sharply looking back towards "Bojack".

"You know, you're really not all that strong," Gohan observed. "I used to be like you. I used to think I was among the strongest beings in the universe, and like you, I couldn't even read power levels. Reality hurts when it enforces itself, by the way."

A furious sneer replaced his exhausted expression before Bojack tensed his fists.

"You're as intolerable as that weakling Goku," Bojack breathed furiously.

Well, that's an ironic statement if I ever heard one.

"Didn't my dad kill you?" Gohan reminded, almost disbelieving the kind of hubris that kind of comment was created from. "If he was weak, what does that make you?"

The ground beneath Bojack suddenly cracked as his sneer deepened, rocks began to slowly lift from the ground all around him as well. Scattered bits climbed higher and higher as he trembled in his anger.

Suddenly, he turned his head up.

"Hey! Any of you cowards going to help me with this Saiyan trash!?"

The air around him moved suddenly as Gohan sensed it. Twisting to the side, he swiftly moved away from the boot which was coming from behind. A golden coloured carapace, the end of a foot, shot past his ribs as he flicked out of the way at the last moment. Throwing his left arm back, striking out against the attacker as momentum carried him forward, much to Gohan's surprise, he felt only contact with Cell's own forearm as he blocked his strike. Magenta eyes met his as the two froze in place, staring into one another's eyes in that moment.

Cell hadn't caught his attack because of his speed, he'd caught his attack because of technique, there was a difference and Gohan could tell the moment his strike failed, that it wasn't just being fast which had saved Cell a head injury.

You're a dangerous one, aren't you?

Just as his thoughts came to the fore, he felt the air move in front of him, just as his ears picked up the sound of Bojack roaring. Quickly shifting his head forward as he shoved Cell's frame away, he caught the brute in the midst of his rush. Grabbing the end of Bojack's fist and curving it downward, controlling the green skinned idiot's motion, he drove him down and towards his knee. As soon as Gohan's bone impacted the abdomen of the brute, using his own strength and Bojack's momentum as well, the alien frozen in place. Immediately his mouth went agape and his eyes widened as his hands moved helplessly to his stomach.

There was little difference in strength between Bojack and Cell. The other green combatant was much more interesting at the very least. Slowly, Gohan stepped back as he saw purple blood drip from the edges of Bojack's mouth.

"You're finished," he remarked bluntly, before turning his head towards Cell. "And you are much more dangerous than this waste over here."

"Oh? So you noticed from just two moves, did you? You must be a very good judge of skill," the bug-like creature remarked, his lips curving arrogantly as he slowly began to walk, beginning to circle him.

"You knew my response to your attack before I did it, otherwise I'd have dropped you without much effort. You also seem to fully realize your own limitations, and haven't come at me like a wild animal like this idiot and his cronies. So that is why you're getting the rub. You're clearly the most dangerous of the refuse which Garlic brought along with him, speaking of which..."

"Garlic!" Gohan shouted, looking up towards his enemy. "Sticking in the back for this one? If you're hoping I'm going to get worn down, you're as foolish as ever. I can coast through these two, no problem."

These two?

Slowly, Gohan eyed Frieza, before looking to Babidi, but there was something he was forgetting.

"Who said I was staying back, my good friend? I'm simply looking for the most opportune time, Gohan. You know I do so enjoy watching you fight."

It was hard not to sneer, before Gohan realized something. Where was Dabura?

Turning his attention again to Bojack as the huge figure began to rise, now standing near Cell, he was trembling with anger.

"You," he wheezed. "I'll kill you!"

"You'll kill nothing unless you calm down and follow my lead," Cell remarked bluntly. "Or have you not had enough time embarrassing yourself?"

For a moment, Gohan smirked, even as his eyes searched for where Dabura decided to skulk off to, looking to hide no doubt to strike when he was distracted. But he wasn't the only other one, was he? There was still Garlic, and those two other Cells, the child like ones floating above him. His confidence never waned, but he suddenly felt much more surrounded than he'd been before.

"I can see you're beginning to stack up the numbers, Gohan," Cell remarked. "Not liking what you see?"

Immediately Gohan shifted his attention to the cocky bug, seeing a confidence come over the other combatant. Gracefully, yet at a crawl of a pace, Gohan edged his foot back as he adjusted his pose defensively. As soon as he did, the green and red brute started to chuckle, clearly taking his taking them more seriously as weakness.

How was this guy a threat to the universe?

"Now?" Bojack asked eagerly to Cell.

"No, not yet," Cell remarked. "After all, why should we make the first move?"

There was air moving all around the Saiyan himself suddenly. Dabura was preparing to move in on him, and he knew it. The energies around them shifted as the Demon King prepared to intervene. And in front of him, Cell braced himself.

"Now then boy, allow me to show you just how much trouble you've earned yourself!" Cell shouted, before a violent golden aura emerged from his body. When lightning began crackling in the air around him, Gohan sensed the depth of his power.

Just as he started as well, a green-blue aura blasted out of Bojack next. The two dark powers began to swirl together as the two Hell bound warriors let their full powers emerge. Cell's was clearly the superior to Bojack's, but Bojack's full power wasn't something to ignore either. Muscles bulged, before locking back in tightly to the construct's frame, and a dark laughter emerged as his power reached its peak.

"By the way, Gohan, after we destroy you, I look forward to your father finding out your fate," Cell chuckled. "Perhaps I'll get my second chance to kill him myself when he comes back here to avenge you."

"Destructo Disc!"

Turning upward, Gohan saw one of the little Cell's throwing a disc of golden energy at him. He immediately knew what it was, and in a blur of motion, he vacated his location. The disc slashed into the soil where he'd once stood, hacking into the greyed ground below. However, as soon as his form blinked away and reappeared, he felt a surge of energy emerge with him. Turning in a blink, he shifted his entire form and faced Dabura as the demon's blade slashed through the air where his left arm had been only moments earlier.

"Gohan," the demon hissed, before letting his lips curve into a devilish grin. "Do you remember me?"

This was the pile of filth that turned his mother to stone, and Gohan wasn't one to forget, or forgive. Twisting his frame back and sliding to the left, he avoided another sabre cut, and another as the demon tried to find his form. The intensity of the monster's red glow became more apparent as the monster put more and more of his own energy to the fore, trying to catch him.

Catching the blade between his hands, Gohan stared directly into its slit eyes.

"Do you remember me, Dabura?" he responded, his voice as cold as a comet tumbling in the darkness of space. "I'm the same monster you ran from last time."

Twisting the blade and shoving it from the other warrior's hand, Gohan lunged towards him with his arm outstretched, intent on landing the first blow. Instead, he felt something white and hot hit his back, the sound of energy waving discharging coming along with it. A blue glow had come along with it, and he froze in place, his own ki defending him from the attack. Taking advantage of his shock, he saw Dabura's own fist come shooting towards him, which Gohan twisted away from, looking behind him as he did, seeing again the little Cell.

Interfering little bastards.

Before he could shove Dabura away and give chase, Gohan found himself looking at a rapidly approaching blur. Bojack's form catapulted towards him furiously. Raising his forearm, Gohan blocked a huge incoming kick from the massive figure. The crack of the impact rolled out across the hellscape as the world below rumbled with the collision. Before a microsecond passed, Dabura's own leg snapped towards him, colliding a fraction of a splinter of a second later, hitting his shit as he raised his guard.

The two monsters stared at him in near shock.

"Do you really think I'm about to let myself lose to you guys?" Gohan spat.

Letting his ki build up inside, Gohan let the air tremble around him, before it slowly started to catch fire as his energy caused friction through the raw matter simply around his skin. Throwing his arms out, a bubble of force blasted out, sending heat and noise out in a tremendous explosion of kinetic energy. Wind wrapped up in all of it, and in a flash, Dabura and Bojack were sent hurtling back helplessly through the air, crying out in a mixture of rage and disbelief. Even the Cell mimics were cast out.

"You're not going to have a choice!" Bojack roared finally, blasting back towards him.

Fists shot towards him in rapid succession, but the Saiyan didn't even bother to let them touch him. Instead, Gohan let them pass by his form as he perfectly moved around them. Bojack wasn't really weak. Hell, he was stronger than he'd been before he fought Turles on Earth, but Gohan was much stronger than before he ascended to the second level of Super Saiyan. After all the battles he'd sustained as well, and all the power he'd unlocked? He'd pushed well past where he'd been when he fought Turles. The height of his own power had been when he'd fought Broly, and in the moments he destroyed the Dead Zone itself. Even if he wasn't there right now, and he didn't fully understand how to reach that without desperation, he sure as Hell was out of the league of some green skinned dickhead.

Suddenly a flurry of red and white joined the melee. Twisting and dodging in the faction of microseconds, Gohan moved between and around kicks and punched by both Dabura and Bojack. Frustrated and angry noises escaped the two fighters themselves as their aura's burned more and more brightly. Quietly, he plotted out the destruction of the two powers locked in combat with him, only for that to be thrown off as well.

The three of them sped through the sky as he dodged around their every attack, only to find they were joined by yet two more. The two Cell Juniors now joined as well, striking at him from above and below. Even with his speed bonus and power, Gohan felt himself on edge.

Alright, enough games.

He didn't need to play anymore mind games. His entire form locked in place finally, his forearms and knees colliding with every attack of his opponents in a perfect still. The kicks from the Cell Juniors helplessly hit his guard, and the punches and kicks from Dabura and Bojack did as well.

"How is this possible?!" Dabura sneered hatefully.

Striking downward in a split second, Gohan's kick snapped down, hitting the Cell copy in the back. The little creature cried out helplessly as it was sent hurtling downward. Turning upward, he flicked his wrist upward, unleashing a single ki blast towards the other, who was caught almost utterly unaware as it was hit in the chest, before being sent straight up into the yellow clouds. A great fireball of yellow and purple then expanded out of the heavens themselves as the clouds swirled violently from the immense explosion of power.

One down.

Turning to Dabura next, Gohan cried out, raising his arm to strike, when he felt the world slow down, and it slowed by a thousand fold. His intentions didn't change, his pose didn't change, and even as this slowing occurred, he felt something off. His mind reached out, sensing the energies around him, and slowly his eyes flicked leftward, seeing a blurred green figure, surrounded by golden energy brightly reflecting off his skin. It was too late to dodge. A yellow plated foot was only millimetres from his face, and his motions had put him against Dabura.

When the boot connected, Gohan felt something unfamiliar so far in the battle. Pain shot through his cheek and eye socket. Power blasted through his body from the impact, and he knew Cell had done his job well, focusing his ki into a striking point at the edge of his foot. It acted like a shaped charge of energy, blasting straight through his own ki and defence, cutting directly into his body's very core. He knew it nearly fractured his cheek in a single blow.

Immediately he was launched from where he floated, shooting helplessly to one side as he tried to regain control. A blur appeared above him, green and black just as before, as Cell lunged downward, snapping his armoured elbow into his ribs. A gasp escaped Gohan's lips as he coughed a second later, before his body blasted straight down like a meteorite. When his body hit the grey, rocky ground below, he felt the land around him crater from the impact.

"Fucking bastard," Gohan breathed angrily, reaching up to rub his face, and ignoring the pain in his ribs. "I'll kill-"

"Kamehame-HA!"

Turning his eyes upward, the world went from a mixture of a bleak yellow and magenta, to one of blindly blue light. For a brief moment, he felt the air suck into his lungs.

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Cell:

The wave of blue light crashed out of his fingers and palms, flowing powerfully towards the ground, in the crater Gohan's body had impacted. When the beam reached its target, Cell saw the ground itself fissure in all directions and crack, breaking apart the very floor of Hell itself, before the white and blue light of the Kamehameha wave expanded outward. Reaching critical mass, the attack finally burst. Sound and noise became chaos as the explosion sent thousands of tons of ground up into the air as debris. Scattered chips of burnt rock blasted up towards him as a huge smoke cloud chased it, with blue light still fading all around him. The sound of the rocks chattering off his carapace did nothing to bother Cell as he quietly hung in the air, his magenta eyes staring downward.

Well, this is most certainly disappointing.

Without saying a word, Cell felt his lip curl down as he restrained a low growl of frustration. He'd done everything perfectly. He waited for the fool to expose himself, to drop his true guard and leave himself open to assault, and he'd made it count. He'd poured as much power as he could into the kick, and into the elbow. The Kamehameha wave itself had been a herculean expenditure. Now here he was, his own energy needing to recover, and he knew he had little to show for it. He could sense Son Gohan's power, and even if it'd finally be harmed, it was by no means significantly reduced.

Pathetic. That creature leaves himself open, and due only to his power, he survives my perfect attack.

His eyes remained on the smouldering, smoke billowing crater below, but he knew that was pointless.

"What an attack!" Babidi squawked, having edged closer to the battle. "You managed to defeat Son Gohan in only a few simple moves!"

"Impressive," Dabura breathed. "For a moment I'd thought-"

"Silence," Cell snapped, closing his fist.

Blinking in confusion behind him, Bojack seemed to be the most confused.

"What? After an attack like that, he'll be easy pickings. I'd be surprised if he's even-"

Finally, the imp made himself known.

"I suspect that Cell is asking for silence, because our friend Gohan, is far from defeated," Garlic remarked, his voice filled with a moderate amount of joy. "If any of you other than Cell or myself could sense his power, you'd know."

Ahead of them, the cloud slowly began to fade, despite their height in the air. Cell looked straight ahead, knowing what was to emerge. Floating there, his coat and shirt in shreds around his body, with a few small patches of minor burns and scuffs, was Son Gohan. Spitting to one side, the Saiyan cracked his neck from side to side.

"You know, I was really concerned for a minute there I wouldn't even have to take any of you seriously," Gohan remarked, his eyes locking on to his own. "That was my fault. So, let me fix that. I don't want to be cruel and give you false hope."

Without that wretch Garlic helping them, this battle wouldn't last much longer than a few more minutes. Immediately, Cell's head turned and stared at Garlic, who just stared back with false cunning. The putrid ally he'd aligned himself with, was clearly biding his own time. His lack of immediate participation would deny him, and the others, much of their satisfaction in regards to their revenge, all to satisfy Garlic's own vengeance.

The golden glow in front of him suddenly became intense, and Cell could sense the gigantic rise in power. While he stared ahead, he saw Gohan's frame beginning to vibrate in the air itself. The world began to tremble around him as electricity rippled through the air and all around his body, as huge charges slipped off his frame, exploding across the ruined ground hundreds of feet beneath them. The cloud about began to swirl unnaturally, creating a cyclone of the impenetrable barrier of clouds above them. The true enemy they faced was beginning to show himself, and Cell knew this wasn't the fullest extent of his power.

When he first arrived, his power had superseded this too when he first battled Garlic. As it stood now, the android knew that he'd no longer be able to follow the others' movements in a meaningful way.

I... I won't need to. I am Cell, my strategy and form are perfect, even if this Saiyan has more power than I do.

"Perhaps its time that you stepped in, Garlic," Babidi's voice nervously remarked as the world around them trembled. "They could barely contend with him before-"

"Quiet," Garlic snapped back. "Focus on Gohan, not me."

Finally, the Saiyan let out one cry as his aura peaked metres above his golden hair. His scarred face turned back towards them, breathing out carefully as he stretched one last time.

"I don't need to turn things full blast very often, you'll have to forgive the startup time," he remarked, cracking his knuckles against one another a moment later. "All of you suddenly don't see so confident. Don't worry, I'll make sure I only kill all of you once. That should be enough for you to learn."

Arrogant and cocky, and with every right to be. But there in lies his defeat. Even the greatest of fighters are only a second away from defeat.

Turning his magenta eyes to his Cell junior, who was slowly levitating from the ruined hole his body had made.

Now son, your father needs you to keep your eyes open. We'll need you to do as I say.

"YEP!"

Turning his eyes next to Frieza, he saw the Arcosian nod quietly, though nervously.

You understand the gravity of our situation, Frieza?

"Of course. I've watched how those two little yous have interfered so far. I can tell you that I will do far better."

"The only one here who should be worried about their final death is you, Son Gohan," Cell remarked turning his attention forward again. "For all that strength of yours, you truly are little but an imperfect copy of Son Goku. Were you Goku, you'd have already won, with that kind of power. He'd have never even let me lay my boot on him. You though? Well, you're just sloppy, aren't you? A slow witted brawler who happened to come into power."

Anger was good, it would give him exactly what he wanted, and it looked as though that worked.

Pointing a furious fist forward, at the end of it a damning finger, Gohan narrowed his eyes on him.

"You're first," he remarked, his voice icy.

With any luck, Dabura and Bojack will follow the others' lead.

Those were his last thoughts before Gohan's frame appeared in front of him, his fist already millimetres from his face. When it landed, he felt his cheek crack immediately and one of his eyes pushing back into its socket. The force of the blow, with the full weight of the Saiyan's ki behind it, was enough to send him tumbling through the air towards a mound of spiked balls below. When his body crashed into it, they tore through his carapace, slicing into his body and then crumbling around him.

Looking back, he could see Bojack and Dabura blur to follow Gohan, even as the Saiyan gave chase to him. Internally, Cell smirked as he pulled his body from one of the spikes which had burrowed through his torso. The crack in his cheek filled back in as his eye popped back into place, even as the holes and shreds in his body simply regenerated. He didn't need to die to come back in a meaningful way.

By the time his injuries had healed, he sensed the Saiyan's motion sweep into him again. The monkey's form appeared next to him again, just as Dabura's did. The red demon was striking out with a boot just as Bojack was striking in from the other side. Cell moved quickly to strike out with a kick. All three of them appeared poised to make contact... but before they could, he saw Gohan's entire frame shift in a flash. The Saiyan's arm shot out, grabbing Dabura's leg. His foot then kicked out into Bojack's face, and his own stomach. The three of them almost froze in place, before Gohan twisted Dabura in the air and slammed his elbow into the demon's back.

This is getting nowhere fast. Where is Frieza!?

Even as his thought finished, he saw a backhanded connected with Bojack's face, making the giant green and red beast's head throw back in agony as he cried out. Sneering, Cell threw a series of strikes with his fists, watching as the Saiyan moved around them faster than he could follow. Frustration built in Cell like never before. Even when he was killed on Earth, he'd been dominant. He was killed by the combined powers of all of Earth's warriors, in a climatic battle. Up until the final moment of the engagement however, he'd been the untouchable one, he'd been the one controlling the flow of battle, and casting his enemies about like playthings.

And now here he was, fighting this Saiyan, and being utterly ineffectual. This afterlife was quickly turning into the Hell it was meant to be. With a snarl, the Perfect Android struck in with a knee, only for it to be blocked.

"You seem mad, Cell," Gohan remarked, before grabbing one of his extended fists. "Are some plans not working out? Because relying on these two, isn't going to get you anywhere."

As if on queue, Bojack roared, lunging back in towards them, his huge fist extended. Helpless, he felt himself pulled violently, before being thrashed into Bojack's body. The brute stopped in place, before Cell saw Gohan's next move, his eyes widening as he realized what was happening. A boot firmly planted in his own stomach, and the force was powerful enough to send the shockwave through Bojack as well. Immediately the two of them were sent flipping back helplessly, before their bodies smashed into the grey dirt below, ripping through dozens of metres of it with their bodies.

"That son of a bitch!" Bojack breathed furiously.

"You stupid creature," Cell finally snapped towards Bojack. "You will cease giving openings to our enemy, or I will kill you myself!" Cell sneered.

"Oh? And you're one to talk! Dabura and I had to come bail you out!"

"That was the idea! You were exploit the Saiyan as he tried to exploit my position! It was apart of the plan, and you failed!"

Anger rose steadily in the android as they pulled themselves up. Incompetence, he couldn't deal with incompetence, and right now Bojack was being incompetent. He didn't need to be, especially given his fighting pedigree. He was being arrogant and brash, against an opponent who was going to use that against them every time.

"You two seem to be having fun over there," Gohan's voice cut in. "Are you guys beginning to realize you're never going to beat me?"

The voice was almost enough to finish off Cell's cool, but he knew doing so would mean his ultimate defeat. Quietly, letting the Saiyan gloat, Cell's eyes panned over to Frieza, who was hanging ominously nearby, and to his last child, who was as well. Internally, he smirked, but didn't let that show through either. His own plans weren't foiled yet. Turning his eyes back towards Gohan, he smirked now.

"Absolutely. Do you have no concept of who I am?" Cell asked, slowly hovering into the air. "I am the greatest fighter in the history of the Earth. I defeated Son Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo even after his merger with his original self, and I defeated the time traveller Trunks. I stood on the summit of greatness. I am Perfect Cell, and you, you Son Gohan, are nothing but a mechanism for me to achieve my revenge."

Crossing his arms, Cell's smirk didn't disappear.

There was a confused look on Gohan's face in turn, and that was just what he wanted. In the distance, Frieza formed a Death Slicer, and his smirk held steady.

"You're a nothing," the Saiyan responded. "You're not even Garlic Junior, and you're certainly no Bojack. You're barely less pitiful than Dabura or Bojack. What makes you so great?"

The disc was set free by Frieza, shooting down towards them.

"Because, Son Gohan, unlike a ravenous beast like Broly, or like the immortal Garlic junior, my plans always succeed."

The blade seemed to almost touch Gohan, before it passed right through him. Killing the Saiyan wasn't his top choice, especially as it meant that they would need to fight him again, but it would give them time to regroup before the next fire storm, and-

The body double after image seemed to faze into the air. Cell quickly dodged the Death Slicer as he looked about for Gohan, before seeing the disc coming back around, shooting towards above him. Looking up, he saw Gohan shift past the disc again.

"Did you really think I'd let someone like Frieza get the drop on me?" he snarled. "What kind of amateur do you think I am?"

Glaring, Cell waited for the last pieces of everything to come together. Gohan shifted past the disc twice more as it came back around, before pointing his hand towards Frieza.

"Lord Frieza," he remarked, as energy gathered into his palm.

"CELL! Do something!" Frieza's voice filled his mind.

As if on cue, his child, emerged from behind Gohan, tackling into him, taking advantage of the moment. The Saiyan turned, reaching to grab for the small frame clinging to him from behind as they dove towards the ground.

"As you lose this fight, I want you to remember something, Gohan. I am Perfect."

My plans are perfect as well. Even if Dabura and Bojack failed utterly, they almost had to. I'd expected them to. Even if Frieza's disc failed, I always have a backup. And this one is far better than the disc itself. Because now, now we will be able to extract our vengeance.

A being as powerful as Cell Junior, focusing all of his power, was something to behold. A being as powerful as Cell Junior, focusing all of that power in on itself, creating a kamikaze attack, was even more impressive. Gracefully, Cell shifted away in the air and simply looked down below. A thrumming noise pulsed through the air as the energy focused, and he could hear a few desperate snarls from Gohan as he flung about, trying to stop the inevitable.

The world suddenly flashed white and gold, from a central point below. The wave of destruction which then rolled out with the light was incredible. Pride in his plan, and in his minion of a child, grew with every passing second as Cell just drank it all in. The wave great more violent as mountains of spikes hundreds of kilometres away began to burn from being too close in proximity. The golden clouds above began to shift violently and twist, catching on fire from the intensity of the energy. It was powerful enough that he too was thrown back even further by the sheer force.

Self destruction was never so satisfactory.

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Cell: Year 767

Victory, another glorious victory, this one would be unimaginable to achieve beyond. Of all of them, all that seemed left was Vegeta. Son Goku lay on the ground, barely moving, and the Namekian was laying not far away from him. Trunks was up against a rocky wall, and the humans were of no concern to him. It was only the golden flash to his left which had caught his attention. His three children disappeared in this flash of light as he turned his head to view. It was a familiar attack, the Final Flash, which had been unleashed. The beam aimed upwards towards the heavens as he felt their ki simply vanish in a wave of Saiyan might. It was exceptionally disappointing of course, but now it just meant Vegeta would have to try his turn at facing him, exhausted from having surviving the onslaught from his children.

His own power was limited right now, having just defeated Son Goku, and Piccolo in a desperate battle, but they were no real match for his perfect power. Even as Vegeta came back into view, Cell simply gave him a passing glance of amusement.

"Well, Vegeta, you appear to have slain my precious children... how disappointing. Does this mean I'm going to need to attempt to even the score? I hardly think it should be too difficult," Cell remarked, seeing only a tired, and angry Vegeta staring back at him.

Below, movement slowly began to rise as Son Goku himself started to get up, his aura slowly returning, if diminished from what it was.

"What's this? Second wind, Goku? Or is this the third?" Cell asked, taking in the entertainment.

When the Namek started to rise next, he just cracked his next from side to side.

"It is quite the shame that the Cell Games didn't end as spectacularly as I wanted. When the three of you rushed to Goku's aid, you really did force my hand," Cell commented. "I was perfectly willing to allow you the delusion of your own strength, so long as it entertained me. Why you would want to break this for yourselves I'll never know. But I promise I can end all of your confusion and pain. All you need to do is give up."

"We'll never give up," Goku shot back as he stood tall.

It was typical Goku, standing there, as if his will would defy the odds he now faced. Of course, his death would be the ultimate end to that game, and hopefully his greatest disappointment. It would be the only gift he offered to his creator, Doctor Gero, finally ruining the existence of Son Goku, not just in this life, but the next as well.

"Spirited as always," Cell remarked.

"Are you done?" Vegeta sneered.

Oh yes, and then there was Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans? Ironic, given that he was the prince of what? Himself, his son, and Son Goku?

"No, Vegeta, the only ones done here, are you and your friends. I am afraid that you've been used up. Your value to me has diminished, as has the value of this pitiful world which I have been stuck on in this time and my own, for far... too... long."

Below, the Saiyans and the Namekian rallied, and in the corner of his eye he could see Android 16 slowly rising as well, not that any of it mattered...

Blasting back into the sky in the blink of an eye, Cell put his hands together, beginning to form his final attack. It was a final Kamehameha, a final gift he was going to give this world, it would feel his power one last time before they went their separate ways. He would go on to destroy any and all life in the universe, and absorb whatever he needed into himself, furthering his perfection. This world? This world would be turned into nothing but the useless dust it always was. It had fulfilled its purpose, because it had only one. It had created the only creature the universe that could achieve something everything else never could.

Perfection.

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Gohan:

Pain.

Scorching pain.

The world was dancing and trembling all around him as his eyes opened again to the same dull, lifeless light of this nightmarish Hell. The pain masked all of his other senses as he slowly closed his eyes again, trying to mask the pain. The smoke and dust from the smoulder world around him filled his lifeless lungs as he instinctively breathed in, before coughing. His senses slowly started to return as he felt more than just burning pain. He could feel warm droplets of blood rolling down his left shoulder, over burns on his arms. The same warm sensation dripped down his back and the top of his forehead. For a second his world turned crimson as a drop of blood filled his eyes, mixing with the soot which had found its way there. He brushed it away and slowly started to rise, coughing once more as he did.

That.

That was a kamikaze. Despite the gulf of power between himself and the little creature, its utter self destruction had been cataclysmic. Even now as he slowly found his feet, he looked across the new landscape as the grey dust clouds and smoke began to slowly settle. There crater he stood in looked as if it was the site of a cosmic collision. The edge of the crater from where he stood at its heart, was hundreds of metres away. The full breadth of the damage lay waste to dozens, if not perhaps a hundred kilometres.

But the scale of damage done to Hell, even as the golden clouds above still violently twisted from the power which had just been released, was not his real concern. The amount of power he'd needed to refocus to protect himself had been paramount, and even then his body had been shredded in the ensuing blast. Slowly, the Saiyan looked down, swallowing heavily at what he saw. Burns rolled over much of his body, every time his skin flexed or moved, it hurt. Blood oozed openly from ripped and torn skin, leaving him to just breath as he tried to pull himself together.

They're going to torture you if you lose. They're going to try to get rid of you for good. That means no going home and getting away from this nightmare. That means no more home, no more Pan, nothing. Get it to-fucking-gether Gohan. You didn't kill Broly and Turles for it to end like this. You didn't die for Pan to end up like this. C'mon!

Taking a step forward, he breathed in, trying to let his ki guide him. Carefully, he slowly fixed his stance, trying to move and ignore the pain. He'd been through worse. He'd been torn open, he'd lost arms, and been impaled. Who the cared if he lost some ki and was burned?

When he looked up though, he saw the six figures emerging above. Far above everything hovered Garlic and Babidi, the two of the group he hated the most. Unfortunately, it wasn't them he had to deal with right now. Frieza hovered below Garlic and Babidi, but above the other three. Bojack, Dabura, and Cell were the three he needed to deal with, and now he understood at least a piece of what his father and the others had to deal with. He'd been lured into a trap which now evened the odds far closer than he'd ever wanted. Worse, even now he'd be in a position where it'd be difficult for him to resist Garlic's inevitable onslaught.

Brushing the blood away from his lip, before spitting a mixture of dust, saliva, and blood from his mouth, Gohan put himself back into the footing he needed to be.

"That kid of yours certainly can make a bang," Garlic remarked to Cell. "I'm very impressed."

"Self destruction, kamikaze, call it what you will but the strategy is very effective, especially when you'll simply come back after the next fire storm," Cell responded without turning to Garlic, the whole time smirking down at him. "Certainly even you must agree, Gohan, that it really can work wonders."

This Cell was something far more dangerous than just his power. His regenerative abilities hadn't gone unnoticed either. Clearly he was the one giving orders to Frieza, Bojack, and Dabura in some form or another. Clearly he was the one devising strategies among the warriors he'd fought so far, and he was incredibly likely, the strongest of them. Dealing with him was going to be increasingly difficult. Worse yet, he'd outfoxed him earlier.

That means he's already managed to read how I approach fighting. I'm going to need to change up, especially after losing so much energy.

"Yea, I didn't expect you to throw your little double's life away," Gohan admitted, trying to ignore how raspy his voice sounded. Trying to clear his throat of the remaining blood and dust, he spat up once more. "I'm sure your comrades will remember how you treat their well being."

"We're dead, Gohan," Cell chuckled. "It isn't as if they'll come back. You on the other hand. Well, you may well find that situation is not the reverse for yourself. You see Gohan, we're here simply to kill you, oh no, there is much worse in store for you. Just what you deserve I'm sure."

Yea, fuck this guy.

Gathering his power into his arms, Gohan prepared to lash out, but it was quickly quashed. In a blur of motion, Dabura and Bojack disappeared.

"It would seem my compatriots want to thank you for your earlier grievances. I think it fitting that I allow them to unleash their frustrations first."

It was surprising how much faster they seemed when they weren't obviously his inferior. Jumping back, Gohan blurred himself, before colliding with Dabura in mid-flight, their forearms slamming into one another as they attempted to strike out. It was then a boot slammed into his gut. The boom of the impact echoed out across the crater as he gasped, looking towards Bojack with surprise and pain at the blow which was landed on him.

Before he could respond further, the onslaught began. Dabura's palm struck against his face, twisting his body before a mighty fist from Bojack smashed into his ribs, causing them to quake. The burns across his body howled as his body flexed unnaturally. Snarling, he only had time to block another blow from Dabura, before Bojack's fists came striking down to him from above. He'd barely noticed the brute had come up behind him again. His entire body was shoved down as he felt his spine and shoulders shove inward, the force pulverizing muscle and bone alike. Blood leaked from his lips as the thud from the blow caused yet more bleeding.

With his eyes peeled forward, he only saw Dabura back away, before pointing his hand out towards his face, black and red energy forming in his hand. Red energy crackled around it before the demon grinned again.

"Pathetic," he said with delight, before the Evil Impulse was set free.

The bolt hit him, and immediately he felt it expand. The energy wrapped around his body, throwing him violently back as energy scorched over him, his frame wracked with the power before he finally crashed and skidded across the crater. Flipping several times, he finally made his hands grasp the surface of the running ground beneath himself, sliding gracefully back as his feet found their place as well. Using the momentum of the slid, Gohan braced himself as Dabura did the follow up he predicted.

You think just because I'm a bit down on power, I'm going to let the two of you get the better of me?

Aggression was his best weapon, not defence. Twisting his body at lightning speeds, Gohan shot his foot out where he knew Dabura would be. The sharp kick crashed into the demon's gut, leading to a gagging noise on the other end.

"Why... you..." the demon wheezed.

Quickly, he turned about, blocking a fist from Bojack. This time, he felt a jab sneak past him, hitting his side where he'd been struck before. In a flurry of motion and violence, Gohan dashed along the surface with the green tyrant, their blows exploding out across the wasteland as the two locked horns. Each blow was countered, both for and against. Finally, with his own power still slightly above Bojacks, Gohan snuck under the pirate's defence, throwing his own fist up in a lightning uppercut. The purple tinted fist landed squarely on Bojack's jaw. Immediately he felt the other side of the blow go almost dead. The body was thrown into the air by the force, his limbs half hanging from him as gravity began to fight against his rise.

Pointing one hand up, Gohan prepared to finish him. A Catastrophe Gun began to form, before two red hands grabbed his feet from beneath. Looking down sharply, he saw the two slit eyes of Dabura staring back at him.

"Forgetting something?" the demon chuckled, before swinging him two.

Descending rapidly, Gohan's frame smashed into the surface of the crater, ripping through a half dozen metres of dirt before coming to a stop. Jumping to his feet, he immediately threw his arm out, crashing into Dabura's guard as the two froze in place for but a moment.

Time to change things up.

Reaching over, Gohan grabbed Dabura's blocking arm, before violently pulling back, throwing him over his own shoulders. The demon looked surprised before he flipped in the air, landing on his feet.

"Hah! What was that-"

Before Dabura could finish, Gohan had already followed through with a right hook, catching the demon unaware, before following up with a snapping kick to the gut once again. The demon gagged again, snarling as he did. Powering up a blast, Gohan was countered, much to his own surprise, as Dabura opened his mouth and a wave of crimson power expanded. Raising his arms at the last moment, Gohan felt the energy wash over his forearms as they guarded him along with his ki.

Opening his guard to look ahead, suddenly a sharp sensation shot down the front of his body, from his shoulder to his hip. He froze in place as Dabura stood there, hunched over, his sword in hand, having just struck out at him. Across his chest a long slit slowly split open on the front of him, oozing blood. Gohan swallowed immediately as the demon breathed in heavily in front of him. If he'd not already been dead, the bloodloss alone would have killed him by now, all he felt was just weak as he stumbled back.

Sensing his weakness, Dabura rushed forward again.

Thinking on his feet, Gohan kicked up into the air, moving over the next swipe. In mid jump, he shot his foot out once more, catching Dabura off the side of his face. Blood and a single fang spat out of his lips before his own legs gave way. Dabura's body shot back before he hit the ground, hard. Falling only a metre or so away, Gohan hit the dirt back first, hissing in pain from his newly acquired chest wound.

"Son of a bitch," he seethed, trying to use his ki to push the wound together as best he could.

With a trembling hand, he managed to slowly sit up. Across from him, the red skinned servant of Babidi did the same, both of them breathing in heavily. This was the same son of a bitch who turned his mother into a statue, and killed Trunks. He'd buried the hatchet with Vegeta's kid, Hell, he probably even didn't think he was a dickhead anymore. Worst of all, this monster allowed himself to be a slave, both in his previous life, and this one. He was the slave that he himself nearly was. Who would want to be the servant of some pompous, yellow piece of shit?

Who would want to be a slave, even in death?

Slowly, Gohan let himself start to get up, even as Dabura did.

"You're too slow now to simply just win," Dabura breathed. "I will be the one to cripple you, and then we will simply cast you into the next level of Hell."

The gloating was too much, especially as Gohan calculated his plan.

"Don't get too arrogant, Dabura. I wouldn't want to be the one to come in and save you again," Cell warned.

"I won't need saving," the demon grinned, preparing his next lung with the blade. "The Saiyan is mine."

Immediately, Gohan managed to step past the first strike, if only barely. When the second one swept through, he managed once more to avoid the strike. The demon snarled in frustration, instead of cutting from the side this time, striking out overhand. Risking defeat, Gohan took his opportunity. He grabbed the demon's hand, before backhanding him harshly with his free hand, before bringing it back around with a punch from the other side. As Dabura's head shot back and forth, his grip loosened. With that, Gohan stepped back, kicking the hand which held the sword. The blade shot up into the air between them as Dabura snarled.

The demon fired back, his fist hitting Gohan in the gut again before another struck into his cheek.

"I don't need my sword to finish you off!"

Blocking a vicious kick with his knee, before blocking a fist with his left forearm, Gohan's hand reached out, grasping the hilt of the blade, just as it fell between them. The world suddenly slowed down, it became almost fluid and graceful. Sound seemed to disappear as he looked into Dabura's eyes, the demon's slits slowly widening. There was an understanding of what was to come next, though he knew the demon was desperate to find a way out. Gohan didn't give him the same opportunity to plan which he'd received.

The air around them seemed to still, it was as if the blade was the only thing moving in the time around them. In a flash of silver, suddenly there was crimson. The blade cutting into the shoulder of the Demon King, lodging itself from shoulder, to the centre of the rib cage. A river of blood spilled out as Dabura's mouth fell again, blood too escaping from it, he gasped wetly, but they both knew what had come to pass.

"DABURA! Dabura you IDIOT!" Babidi shrieked from above. "You HAD him!"

The little gremlin's words were fitting, given the state of the demon in front of him.

"I didn't beat a warrior," Gohan breathed, looking back disdainfully at Dabura. "I beat a slave."

With that, he pushed the red monster gently, and watched the lifeless husk slip away as it slipped back and splattered onto the ground, oozing into the grey sand beneath.

Looking up, trying to catch his breath as he did, trying to hold himself together, Gohan could see the abject amusement written into Cell's features, as well as Garlic's.

"An amateur mistake. I certainly expected better from Dabura. I think it's my time to step-"

Suddenly, there was a wave of green in the distance before Cell could finish his words. Gohan only had time to turn to it before everything was tinted in its vile aura.

Bojack.

Suddenly, there was a blast all around him.

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Bojack: 768

How he'd been released remained somewhat of a mystery to him, but the source of his rage hadn't. It wasn't the Kaio's he now despised, but the Saiyan in front of him. Bido, Bujin, Kogu, and Zangya lay lifelessly around them. In the clash of violence and destruction, he'd defeated all comers, including the one infront of him right at that moment. Even as this human city burned around him, and their cries of misery and fear echoed out across the battlefield, all Bojack could do was stare at the beast who'd killed his men. The crew were the only things he even remotely cared about, though in truth even they were expendable for victory.

What irked him most, was that this... this Saiyan, was somehow pretending to be stronger than him! HIM!

"I'm not going to let you kill me," the Saiyan... Goku... said.

Electricity crackled through the air all around him as he stared him down. Something had possessed this Saiyan the moment he felled the other one, Vegeta. The self declared Prince had gone down shortly after the Namekian. He'd not even bothered killing them yet. It was a mystery as to how this one monkey could fell his entire crew when he could barely defeat Koga before. From the looks of it, his crew were dead at that, meaning he was now playing for keeps.

Which was just fine by Bojack's standards.

"I don't think you get a choice in who I kill. But humour me, why am I not going to kill you, Goku? What is going to stop me from killing you, and then destroying this planet?"

The golden aura around Goku's body brightened as he just dangerously stared back at him. It was only then that Bojack noticed the Saiyan's hair even seemed spikier. It was almost unnerving. Something was very off, but it didn't matter. What chance did this Saiyan have to stop him, exactly?

"I am," Goku said bluntly. "Because if you kill me, you're going to kill my wife, and my son. If you kill me, I'm never going to get the chance to find Gohan either. I'm not going to let you take that all away from me, and I'm not going to let you or your thugs kill everyone on the Earth either. I am Son Goku, and I am going to finish you."

There was a bellow from the tyrant as he took in the speech.

"Laughable," he remarked, seeing Goku slowly changing his stance. Blue energy began to wrap through his fingers just as before. It was the Kamehameha, the same wave he'd defeated earlier. His Galactic Buster would have no problem dealing with it. Green energy swirled into his palms as he prepared himself, beginning to laugh as he did.

"Challenge this, fool!"

"Kamehameeeeee..."

Preparing to lung forward, he noticed Goku... disappeared?

Turning his head both ways, he saw nothing, which didn't make any sense. When he looked down, he noticed a faint, blue glow.

"HA!"

How? How did he get there? It was inside his defence?! Most of his energy-

The world turned to light, before it turned to darkness.

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Bojack:

Enough, enough of the humiliation, enough of the Saiyans, enough of it all. This was his moment for revenge. Cell, Garlic junior, and Babidi were all fools anyway. This monkey thought himself better than him, just as his father did. For all that power he had, this kid had been sloppy and wasteful, and that meant it was his time. Even now as he stood there, labouring for more air, he knew this was going to be another notch in his belt. The kid was torn open, bleeding, and a huge portion of his power was done. It was finished, which meant he was finished.

"Oh look, Bojack, you're still alive," Garlic commented idly.

Growling, Bojack just licked his teeth before spitting on the ground.

"Oh look, you're still cowering up there, hiding behind Cell."

He wasn't concerned with this little freak, or Babidi. But the way the gremlin was now staring at him was somehow unnerving.

"Hmph," was all Garlic responded with, before pointing ahead. "I think you've got bigger concerns than dealing with me."

Turning his gaze forward, Bojack witnessed the shambling form of Gohan emerge from the smoking ruin he'd left. Blood streaked down his chest, and his left arm. His forehead was bleeding from his scalp and hairline as well, and fresh burns covered much of his body. There was nothing remaining of his shirt, though his pants were still a torn wreck, even if his shoes were gone. Just like his father, they would square off, one to one. His father never beat him, he cheated as far as he was concerned. Somehow he'd just changed locations.

He never fought against the Galactic Buster, the greatest of his techniques. Beings much stronger than himself had been felled by his attack, and why? Because it was designed by his people, and their martial artists, to be the most powerful form of attack imaginable. In all of their histories, only three had ever mastered it, and he was the last of his people. There was no room for regret or any other kind of decision. This was going to be his moment. Golden hair, just like his father's, just as spiked, stood atop his head.

"Your father never beat me, boy! He never challenged my ultimate attack. Do you think you've got what it takes? Or are you too tired?! Rather die on your back instead?"

The Saiyan just seemed to stare at him, half dead, looking like he was trying to rally himself.

"My father didn't beat you? Then how'd you end up here? Traffic accident?"

It was enough to make his lip curl in disgust, before he started to crack his knuckles.

"He attacked me while my guard was down. He was a coward, are you a coward too, boy?"

Despite the ragged shape of his opponent, he immediately noticed resolve suddenly enter his opponent. There it was, there was exactly what he wanted to see. He wanted to see this foolish boy challenge his wave, and be faced down by the single strongest attack he could focus. There was no way, Super Saiyan or not, that this braggart would make it to the other side. Sure, he dispatched his crew, and Dabura, but now he was softer than ever. He'd even managed to land his share of blows on this blowhard. Where was that cocky attitude now?

"I was right about you," Gohan remarked. "You lose and you won't even admit it? You really are a bitch."

That's it. He's DEAD!

Focusing his ki at his core, a green glow emerged before him, at first small. Green electricity crackled around it, sparking and sizzling in the air. It began to hum loudly, beginning to grow and grow at his fingertips. It expanded again, this time splitting into two orbs. Green power rolled up his frame as he continued to focus his energy into his attack. He wasn't going to leave any leftovers for this one, this was going to be his ultimate attack of all ultimate attacks. He would be the one who would take credit for downing this insolent worm.

Slowly, he began to laugh, seeing his opposite just standing there, and sensing their onlookers looking at them for who would come out the ultimate victor.

"I am the one who countless civilizations tell their children about at night, to frighten them! I am the one who scourged the universe after Majin Buu!" Bojack roared, focusing his energy. "And you're nothing but a monkey!"

With another cackle, he felt his energy beginning to reach critical mass.

Across from him however, something was beginning to change. It looked as though Gohan, despite his injuries, and despite his depleted power, was bracing himself for something. The golden aura around him suddenly twisted and turned into a dark purple. He couldn't sense energy, but he knew what he was looking at. Something was coming, and he wondered what it was. The frame of the warrior began to tremble as well, and he for a brief second, could see something behind the exterior frame of Son Gohan.

For a brief second, he saw the one who never challenged his attack. For that brief moment he saw Son Goku in his stead. He found himself in the past, standing among the ruins of a great Earth City, surrounded by debris and the bodies of his men.

"Are you going to cheat this time?" he spat almost hatefully. "Or are you going to lay down and die like you should have?"

"I'm going to beat you," Goku's voice cut in.

With a sneer coming across his face, he hoisted his arms into the air, carrying with it the two heavy balls of dangerous ki. Suddenly they expanded once more as they hung above him, doubling in size again as they reached their critical mass. This was the lion's share of his power, and it was the last legacy of his people. This was his revenge.

"Galactic Buster!" throwing his arms forward, the two orbs combined before blasting forward in an apocalyptic wave of destruction.

Time crept to a hault for him as the bolts travelled forward. Already he knew the others had moved back, knowing that this attack would rival the explosion left behind by Cell's suicidal offspring. Across from him, the burning purple flame of Gohan's energy disappeared, before two orbs appeared in his braced arms. This wasn't the Kamehameha... It was something else.

"Cataclysm Cannon!"

The world had been green for the length of his gaze, but now, behind it all, the world turned violet. A great wall of purple light flashed for but a second, before he felt and saw this attack surge forward from outside. The crater in the Hell before them, suddenly deepened at the impact point between the two blast waves. A gust of pure force blasted him back from the gravity of the impact of the two ki waves. He raised his arms, trying best to look at the bright, blinding light of the confrontation. The blasts would meet their critical mass any second.

I win! I will not lose!

Blasting forward, charging at full speed, Bojack charged into the very core of the blast waves, attempting to reach out and grab the momentum of both blasts, and carry them with him to his final assault on Gohan.

At the very core of the power however, he felt something horrific pass through him. All around him, suddenly the world expanded in a burst of energy as the blasts detonated all around him. He saw as the crater blasted yet further out, deepening within itself, now burrowing another several hundred metres, save for exactly where he stood. The purple and green energy twisted all around him as it continued to rapidly tear through random scraps of grey dirt. The sole pillar of rock he stood on began to crumble, but ever so slowly.

Something warm slowly dripped down his chest from about his very core. Blinking heavily several times, he reached down, his hand trembling as he touched the immense wound. Blinking again, he gazed down at the purple blood smearing his hand. Swallowing, he felt blood go down his throat instead of just saliva.

Trying to speak, he couldn't. Trembling as he turned his head, he stood another rock pillar behind him, with a single, solitary figure atop it, his back facing him.

"Y-You," he wheezed, trying to move his legs, but they failed. "You... you..."

Weakness overtook them as he fell to his knees, his eyes staring at the Saiyan's back, as he realized that he'd been struck in his moment of victory, struck and mortally wounded. Looking down at his wound last time, Bojack just swallowed, looking ahead and only seeing a flash of the image of the man who killed him the first time.

You beat me.

With that, he collapsed. The gaping wound in his chest where his heart had once been, oozing his purple blood into the dirt before the pillar of stone beneath him collapse...

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Gohan:

Two down, four to go.

Coughing, Gohan's thoughts were interrupted by another round of blood leaking from his lips. Behind him, Bojack's corpse fell lifelessly to the newest depth of this level of Hell. The worst part of all of it, was the fact that everything was starting to get hazy. Multiple blows to the head, lacerations, and burns, even on a dead body, were beginning to cause cumulative results. It would be foolish to think he was going to come out of this on the winning side, and he already knew it. Something sunk in the pit of his stomach as the pillar beneath him began to crumble. It was everything just to stay in the air right now, and even then to conserve more power, he let himself gently go to ground, at the bottom of a crater a moon could fit in.

Holding his chest would with one arm, he felt his shoulders sag as his knees rested on the ground. Looking up defiantly, he could see two yellow boots land on the ground in front of him, making a familiar Ka-Tchnk sound as they did. Something felt wrong about all this, how all this ended. Every second he spent in this place, all he could think about was how he could get out. Looking at this creature, Cell, as it approached him, he honestly wandered if there was anything he could have done to have not come here in the first place. What could have he done to save himself from this fate? What could he have done to see his mom, his dad, and Pan? Hell, even Goten?

They sent me down here because I survived. So because I did what I had to do to live, this is where I go when I die?

"Yes, Gohan," a voice he'd never heard before remarked. "Unfortunately there are consequences for our actions. Sometimes they may not seem fair but regardless of the circumstances, you made the choice to hurt others to save yourself."

It was the answer he already knew. Maybe if he'd died when he was younger, and he'd been just simply wished back with the Dragon Balls, he would have never died to begin with. He'd have never met Turles, or Paragus, or maybe even Cooler. There would be billions he'd never destroyed, whose lives he ended or ruined.

So, thanks for making me feel shittier.

"Geeze, you really aren't as bubbly as Goku. Alright, things look bad, but you're dad told me to look out for you. I'm really impressed you beat Dabura, and Bojack! Now you've gotta go for the Hat-trick. Get it? Hat-Trick, because you're going to need to beat three-"

Before the joke made in terrible taste could be continued, Gohan felt a boot swing towards his face, slamming into the side of his temple and cheek. Immediately he skidded roughly against the ground before he came to a halt.

"Well, that certainly shows how much energy you have left," Cell remarked with a smug look across his features. "Though I must admit, you really did have me worried. But, being Perfect, of course I deduced the best means of dealing with you. You really did snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, its quite the feat."

Ka-Tchnk, Ka-Tchnk... the steps continued as he walked towards him.

"Golly! He's not messing around. No one said that Cell's temperament got better because of his time in Hell. That's-"

Who the fuck are you, and what do you want? I'm busy getting the shit kicked out of me, and the narration isn't helping.

"Well, you definitely aren't as polite as Goku, and that's definitely saying something. By the way, I'm King Kai. I'm going to see what I can do to help you and-"

Cell's hand grabbed him by the throat, digging his claws in as he started to slowly grin. His hair slowly shifted from gold to black as it did, and all he could do was look down at the Android with disdain. Hoisting him into the air, Cell simply looked at him.

"I'm going to take a few more moments of your time, I'm afraid, in order to extract some much needed revenge on your helpless person. I hate to sound so formal about it, but you really did make me angry-" Without a second thought, Gohan horked up as Cell spoke, and spat down. The spit landed right on the Android's cheek.

Immediately Cell threw him, with aggression. His body sailed into the air before two knees slammed into his spine. He gasped immediately, gagging for air, before he felt a boot slam into his back next, sending the world cycling past him. Yellow clouds came into view and quickly left, before he felt his body arching down, falling towards burnt rubble. Slapping into the ground unceremoniously, Gohan felt himself skid dozens of metres along the hard ground before ending next to a half destroyed ridge, outside of the crater. His vision continuing to haze, he looked up, only to see something frozen in place in front of him.

Turles?

And with that, his vision slowly submerged into darkness.

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Gohan:

"Hey, you gotta get up," a voice whispered to him.

Blinking several times, Gohan slowly opened his eyes, his head hurting like Hell. There was chirping and the sound of rustling branches in the distance. When he looked up though, he saw something he never expected. Was that... him? Was he staring back at himself? But that was a kid. It was weird as Hell, especially given that he noticed his old MK III armour, the same set he wore for the first five years of duty. Grabbing his hand, his younger self helped him get up, and he just looked around him, for signs of anything.

This was mount Paozu? It had to be, he recognized several trails he'd been over while fishing or hunting with his father. Then he also noticed several of the older trees.

"What's going on?" he managed to mumble, his head still aching desperately.

"You gotta get up," his younger self responded again. "Please, if you don't get up, they're going to get us."

"Whose they?" he asked, stumbling forward as his younger self dragged him ahead. But this time the kid didn't respond to the question.

"Nice armour," he commented.

"I know, they gave it to me because I scored high on potentials. I was really good at tests."

'Yea, I was fucking amazing at tests. Even if they treated me like Hell, I always got top scores on any kind of written of physical exam,' despite the nature of those tests, Gohan couldn't help but feel some pride in it. He was good at it after all.

But then he noticed the house up on the hill. It looked... wrecked. Immediately his heart stopped as he pulled his hand away from the kid's, slowly approaching the ruin of his parent's home. What the Hell was this?

"I never liked hurting people," his younger self responded. "I miss mom though. I wish I could remember more about her."

As if on cue, he could see a lone, solitary figure walking through the rubble of her home, looking over at him. Approaching quickly, he stumbled as he did. It'd been months since he'd seen her, and even if the House was fucked, he didn't care. Goku could fix the house as far as he was concerned.

"Mom. You have no idea-"

"They took my children from me," she whispered as she walked past him, not saying much of anything as she stepped past him delicately. "They're all gone."

Nothing was added, nothing was followed up. He reached out and tried to grab her, but his hand passed right through her. Turning back to his younger self, as if expecting an explanation, a very different young man stared back at him. Standing there with spikier hair, much more like the forward cut he'd had since he was a teenager, was a younger self he recognized much more. He wore MK IV armour, and even had his cape by this point. His arms were crossed arrogantly and his brow was sharply looked towards him.

"I don't usually fail in my missions, Gohan. And you're failing me, right now, so wake up and kill that piece of genetic trash," he remarked.

Gohan turned to look for Chi-Chi, but she was already gone, before he turned back to his younger self.

"What the Hell is going on here? Where did mom go? Who the Hell are you? What is this place?"

"They killed me," he heard his father mutter. Turning sharply, Goku froze at the sight of Goku, seeing his father standing there, next to Goten and holding Keiko. There were three halos strategically placed above them, each one indicating their fates. They'd died, and they'd died and he'd never known it.

"Dad, who?"

"..."

"Will someone tell me something!" Gohan shouted.

Why the Hell was this happening? Where the Hell was everyone? What the fuck was going on? Turning sharply, he looked to see his younger self again, and this time stared back at the man who travelled to Earth years ago now. Eyes met at level, though one was behind a scouter.

"You have a schedule to keep, don't you? Lord Cooler would be upset if you didn't achieve an objective on time. I don't need to remind you the consequences of failure, do I?" his double asked him. "Get back in there, and finish the job."

He was talking about... Cell, Garlic... Frieza and Babidi? He was dead right now, wasn't he? This was... his mind couldn't concentrate, another headache rolled in as he felt himself stumble forward, brushing past his copy, only to look at something which made his heart stop.

Laying there, face first in a puddle... was... Pan. Immediately he broke into a run, running over several downed logs before pulling her out of the water. Her body was limp, her breathing unresponsive. He looked over her frantically, checking for breath before he just looked around, almost frenzied.

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck, someone's gotta be here. Someone tell me what the Hell is going on!? Pan! C'mon wake up, I just wanna see you again, hey Kiddo? Open your eyes for me."

"She's dead," Videl's familiar voice cut in, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed. "You didn't save her, and now she's dead. Of course you didn't. You didn't give a shit when you brought her into the world, and you didn't give a shit when you left it."

Clutching the limb body tightly, Gohan scowled at Videl for a moment.

"Fuck you I didn't care. I tried to pull your shitty life together just so she could have a chance. I did everything I could for her! I died for her! What the Hell do you-"

"Turning this around on me again? You don't like to remember that I didn't want Pan. You raped me. It was all fun and games for you, wasn't it? Well you fucked my life up, and that blood of yours fucked her life up. Did you think she could have a happy, or normal life? Look how you started her life. Look what you did to my life? Look at what she is? Someone will always try to hurt or kill her, and you are going to just leave her behind because you're such a fucking coward Gohan!"

Without even thinking he'd already dropped Pan's body and gotten up. Immediately he grabbed Videl by the neck as soon as he closed with her.

"What the Hell did you say to me?" he asked, his voice darkening by the moment.

Looking into her blue eyes, he felt something awkward slump into his throat. The way she was looking at him was the same way she looked at him the night he'd... gotten involved for the first time, with her. At the time it seemed so different. She'd been different, younger, somehow more happy and inviting. But now, now with the same look on her face, she was the victim he never wanted to see. Hell, when it'd first happened, he didn't even think humans mattered, they were barely sentient, they weren't Saiyans, so they mattered as much as the rest of the fodder he'd slaughtered over the years.

But they were his people, just as much as the Saiyans were. Worse, he now knew no sentient creature deserved to be treated with such violence or disregard.

"If you want to save her," Videl managed to speak through gulps of air. "Wake up."

Almost mechanically, he released Videl's throat as he placed his hand against the tree, terrified to turn around. He knew what he was going to see, and he really didn't want to face it. It was so hard to just keep on pushing himself to the next milestone. He came to the Earth, he reformed, he fought and killed the man who raised him, he killed the monster he was raised to replace, he saved his daughter from a demon who wanted to ruin her life and wanted to make him suffer. That was all he needed to do. How long was he going to have to fight in this nightmare of Hell? How long would he even stay out of it, even if he did come back? Was he Hellbound regardless? Why fight it?

"Just because you can't save yourself, doesn't mean you can't save the people you care about."

Turning around, Gohan saw it. He saw everyone. Behind him stood his family, the people he reluctantly came to call friends, like Piccolo or some of his dad's human companions, Hell even his old neighbours who invited him out for drinks those few times, and even Turles. But at the fore of it all was the man he wanted to be. Standing there was himself, a reflection without all the scars and cuts, or the dirt and mud, and beside him was Pan, who looked back at him admiration, the same look she always gave him.

He wanted to respond, but he couldn't. Instead, he just turned his eyes away, only to find Videl staring back at him.

"If you don't go back, you can't fix things," she told him.

"Can I fix you?"

"No," she responded. "But that doesn't mean you can't try."

Turning back towards himself, he wanted to find the courage to wake up.

"One more fight, Gohan," he said to himself. "Give yourself the chance to change. Give yourself the chance to change the lives of your friends and family again. Wake up. Wake up and fight. Fight Gohan... Fight."

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Babidi:

First Dabura gets himself killed, and then Bojack, even after they'd clearly defeated the Saiyan. Perhaps it was that element of this annoying creature, which killed Broly. He watched as this monkey clung on in the battle, up until at least when Piccolo confronted both himself and Dabura. However, it did seem that the one to finally bring him low was Cell. It was embarrassing as far as he was concerned that Garlic had barely gotten involved at all yet. It was almost as if they didn't even need the vile little creature.

"So, Cell has done it, and you're really out of a job," Babidi remarked. "The great immortal Garlic junior, simply not getting involved."

Two red eyes shifted towards him from Garlic, and Babidi felt something cold run through his veins at the glance. Slowly, Babidi began to smile however.

"No, you see, Babidi, I've been waiting for the real Gohan to come out and show himself. I've been waiting to see him again for the first time since we clashed on Earth. He's denied me so far, but I think our good friend's have done quite a good job poking the bear. All that power you saw down there was his calm, collected form. I've been waiting for him to snap under the pressure."

Looking down, Babidi could only see an unconscious lump of Saiyan laying before Cell, and before Turles, the victim of his time spell. Condensing time in one space, at the right moment, had truly been an incredible feet on his own part of course, but how much longer it'd last was the question. The spell would only be good, in their time, for another hour at best, which meant they would need to act quickly and stop pissing about. Of course, given that they just won, that wasn't going to be an issue anymore.

"Cell did it," Frieza remarked from below. "Impressive. Admittedly, sacrificing four of our own to get this far, barring Bojack's band of idiots, was most definitely the right strategy, wouldn't you say?"

However, as Frieza seemed to be relaxing, it was Garlic who seemed to be growing anxious, as if he was about to enter the fight, and it was something which admittedly unnerved Babidi. He seemed so sure of himself that this was his moment, when the Saiyan was unconscious even.

"Would you stop that?" Babidi snapped finally. "You're not even going to get a chance to throw a punch! Why you would look so anxious right now is beyond me!"

The slanted look returned in his directly as Garlic cast his cape over his shoulder, looking back towards him.

"You've seen the Saiyan's true power, haven't you? You've seen what he's capable of. Though Gohan was most formidable against our good friends down there, he wasn't pressed to the limits I know he has. Those are limits which can only be reached by desperation, and by self sacrifice. The longer this was dragged out, the more time he's had to dig into that. I did not want to waste myself on his false self."

Turning away from him, Garlic looked as Cell's feet planted in front of the unconscious body.

"I want to look into his eyes as they lose all sanity and control. I want to stare into the face of power overwhelming, and cast it aside. I want to taste Gohan's sorrow as his power falters once again, and then I will cast him into the vortex where he will spend all of eternity. A fitting punishment after what he's done to me."

Well, he's out of his mind.

Watching carefully, Babidi watched as Cell grabbed Gohan's arm, hoisting him up.

"It's done. Let's take him to the vortex. I want to drop him in myself. To the victors go the spoils, am I right?"

Something uncomfortable filled the air in that moment. Cell immediately noticed, and looked towards Gohan's form. He started to move almost immediately and Babidi recognized what was happening. He could hear something akin to a small laugh of joy from his devilish counterpart.

"Yes, there it is! Come out Gohan, I want to see you again," Garlic snickered.

The air around the Saiyan, though hundreds of metres below them, suddenly was kicked up into a swirl as his eyes opened.

"What's this?" Cell managed, before the ground beneath him cracked immediately.

A golden light burst out of the Saiyan's frame. Immediately the Android's hand released the Saiyan's arm as his hair reignited into a golden flame. The golden aura returned, more violently than before. The intensity of the energy was enough to immediately repulse Cell several feet, he just looked on in shocked, his eyes widened in disbelief. When Gohan's body landed on the dirt, something odd happened. The dirt beneath his feet turned from grey, to golden brown in a moment. It almost seemed to come alive with his ki as he cried out. Suddenly a torrent of uncontrollable power burst even further from him. The sound of several booms echoed out across the barren wasteland as his entire frame finished coming alive, his arms braced and his legs pressing into the ground. There was a hollow look in his eyes, as if something had just awakened within him.

This isn't happening. It's just like when he fought against Broly on the Earth, isn't it? We need a plan, and soon, because Cell is going to last about as long as Dabura would in an IQ test.

"Impossible," Cell whispered. "You were beaten! Out of power! And you're injured! You can't possible still have this much power-!"

The world around the two fighters seemed to fold inward, around Gohan, as if it was drawn in by his power as he launched himself forward. At that point, Babidi lost sight of the fighter in the motion, and all he could hear was one immense boom, the sound of knuckles colliding into Cell's facial features no doubt.

Looking towards the frozen Turles, Babidi felt sweat forming on his brow ridges. His magic was holding for the moment, but apparently he was even stronger than Gohan. Garlic's immortality would mean nothing if he was over-matched so severely.

"Garlic, do something!" turning his head, he looked towards where his equally sized colleague was, but he was already gone.

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Gohan:

Fight.

The green carapace clad warrior in front of him was blasting back as his body broke through the sound barrier a dozen times. Overtaking him with pure speed, Gohan zipped above him, both his arms moving up and forming into an axe handle, before driving his fists down in a smash. Another horrific boom blasted out across the wastelands as Cell's body plunged straight down, before smashing into a series of rocks below.

His own form was still trembling, his fists rumbling as the power within tried to escape. It was everything just to keep himself steadied for these moments. Everything was a haze for him still, he could still feel the blood trickling down his skin, but it didn't matter. The fire was lit inside him again, his ki had come alive. Everything around him was a target, even now as he looked down at where Cell lay, his eyes just burned.

Fight.

Pointing his hand down, energy started to gather in his palm as purple bolts of electricity rippled up his left arm and then right.

Without a word, he knew exactly what he was firing. Within seconds, just as the rubble broke free and Cell's body emerged below, to an angry shout, he gave the android what he deserved. Several blasts emerged from his palm, shooting down in a spiral together, each one locking on to his enemy. The Android looked up and scowled at first, before the blasts broke up into dozens of other blasts. The Catastrophe Gun then started its bombardment. The entire cliffside Cell had been in, was suddenly lit up in an array of explosions. Blasts tore through a kilometre of terrain as dozens upon dozens of blasts shed over the landscape.

As the smoke cleared, a torso and half its legs hovered there, his features mixed with anger and frustration, as well as pain.

"Where? Where did this power come from?" Cell asked, his voice trembling angrily. "You're just as powerful as you were at the start! How is that possible? Answer me!"

Without a word, Gohan blasted off towards the android again, sweeping down as his body shifted in the air, before flying into the half a Cell which floated there, his arm extending out at the last moment as his fist crashing into Cell's face. Immediately the green carapace above his forehead cracked from the impact, and his left eye popped out of his head. A gagging noise came from the machine as it's body shot back without another explosive force.

"Die," Gohan said in a singular tone, pointing his palm out, forming another attack. It glowed and hummed before release, chasing after the Android.

There was a flash of red, and Gohan immediately knew what it was. The blast exploded in the distance, but its effect would not be enough to destroy this Cell creature, not with the regenerative properties he'd displayed before. The real fight was about to get started, and despite his body's ailments, he knew he was ready for it. At the very least, he was as ready as he was going to be.

Turning his head to the side, Gohan finally had time to take in what he'd seen before he'd blacked out. Even now, in the distance, he was looking at Turles, frozen in place. Something was holding him hostage, otherwise he knew the other Saiyan would have already come to his aid. This was all in their ambush, it was all by design. So far they'd fallen into every trap placed in front of them, and he was done with it. There wasn't going to be anymore schemes, there wasn't going to be anymore plans. There were no more pawns left to sacrifice, save Frieza, and he knew that the tyrant would be more interested in himself than sacrificing himself for their cause. If Frieza was anything like the documents read, he was in this for his own glory.

There was only one thing left to do.

Fight.

As the smoke from his blast emerged, Gohan saw Cell's body regenerating in the air, scowling as he did. Limbs regret and his armour cracked back into place.

"You wretched Saiyan," he hissed.

But it was the small figure in the foreground of Cell which caught Gohan's attention, the one he knew was at the heart of all this. A dark red-black aura hung over Garlic's form as Gohan just stared into his eyes, the little gremlin smirking as he did.

"Hello, Gohan," he introduced. "I've been waiting for this moment since the moment your father trapped me here. Imprisoning you in a place of total bleakness and darkness sounds like an all too fitting revenge for me, after you and your father have spoiled my plans. But don't worry, it doesn't stop there."

"No, it doesn't even start," Gohan responded. "I'm going to put you down, Garlic."

A confident look crossed Garlic's features.

"You know something interesting, Gohan? Did you know that those imprisoned in Hell, cannot increase their fighting power and ki by experience, if they are dead? Well I am very much alive, and even if I am no Saiyan, I can promise you my fighting power has and will improve with time. The same cannot be said for you."

A dark swirl of energy began to roll around his tiny frame, and the entire plane seemed to start rumbling. Cell himself seemed to float back, again looking shocked. This wasn't unfamiliar to Gohan, if anything he was about to stare at the demon in its true form. The air around them turned almost to ice before it started to vibrate. A black-red aura roared to life around Garlic as he started to cackle.

"Oh yes! And when I'm done with you, I'm going to find a way to escape this miserable pit! Then the universe will be mine! But don't worry, the first thing I'll do when I get back is find and kill everyone you care about, except that kid of yours!"

His entire body bolstered outward, his arms blasting out, before his chest expanded, bones popping into place as his skin turned ten shades darker. As his form exploded outward, a black light emanated directly from his very frame, blocking out even the stale light of Hell. When it burst, blocking out all of the light around them in a blast of darkness, Gohan felt the fullness of Garlic's power before him.

Light reemerged, first from his Super Saiyan aura, and then from the stale background light of this horrible prison. Standing before him was Garlic, in the fullness of his true form. The black, pulsing aura around him licked against the edges of the world around him, as if blighting it by its very presence, killing an already dead world somehow more. Crackling bolts of red energy scattered around his titanic frame as he started to chuckle.

The claim was somewhat right, Garlic was stronger than he'd been the last time they fought, but it was incremental at best. The true source of his threat was the fact he could not die.

"And I'm going to make sure that I have that kid of yours follow in your footsteps. Because it would be so wrong to deny you her company for such an extended time, don't you think?"

The rambling was used just like he'd tried on Earth, to goad him into acting first, and Gohan knew full well not to fall into the titan's trap, not after he overextended here multiple times already. A golden aura was still hanging behind Garlic himself as well, in the form of Perfect Cell. He wasn't going to be so foolish as to forget about the Android either.

"Not very talkative this time, Gohan? What a shame," he remarked. "I'm guess you want me to lead our little dance? How generous of you. I've missed your gentle touch, you know. You really do complete me, Gohan."

That was enough to make Gohan's features wince with disgust, and in a blink, Garlic was on at him, only inches away. The giant's hand was blocked immediately as he struck in towards him. With a sharp glance, the Saiyan stared his counterpart down as Garlic just smiled.

"So quick. I'd almost forgotten about that," he continued.

Seconds later their knees met as Gohan blocked a strike in towards his gut, before coming back with a left, which Garlic blocked using his own forearm. In a blink of explosive motions, they began their 'dance' together. Kicks snapped into blocks as fists slammed into one another or into forearms. In swift motions across the glowing golden sky, the two collided. Zipping about at shocking speeds, they danced to the song of explosive booms around them, circling between the crater's of the battle thus far, and the frozen Turles.

"Please, Gohan, you really are getting sloppy," Garlic snicked as his leg caught Gohan in the side, shifting the fighter in their duel. "Or are you getting weaker?"

With that, Garlic lunged forward, his arm outstretched, preparing to land a punch.

Finally, Gohan caught one of Garlic's fists with both his hands, flipping over the titanic demon's entire body, before driving a kick backwards, striking into the back of Garlic's head with sharp and brutal force. The demon's head snapped forward as he gasped in pain. In microseconds, Gohan's elbow followed up, shooting backwards along with the momentum of his own body, slipping into the spinal column of the giant, feeling bones slide beneath his skin. Another wet gasp escaped the giant before Gohan kicked him down and away. The blue hulk smashed into a mountain of spikes below as the son of Goku just hung in the air.

"The only one here whose weak, Garlic, is you."

That wouldn't finish Garlic, there wasn't a chance of that. His eyes locked on the spiked balls below, he breathed in deeply, trying to ignore the aches and pains in his own body, trying to get every bit of his own adrenaline high. When the air around him shifted, he knew what was coming next. Striking with one hand backward and up, his knuckles caught Cell in the face as the other fighter came at him from behind.

"Ugh!" he sneered.

"You're pathetic," Gohan remarked. "You may as well be as worthless as Frieza in this fight. You're time in the sun is over. Welcome to the shade."

With that, he snapped his leg up, much faster than Cell could hope to follow, before breaking the android's face once again with his foot. It immediately sent the android for a spin, and sent him helplessly flying back.

Not as strong now without others to divert my attention.

The only problem was, Gohan felt a swoosh of air move past him a second later, and sensed the dark power he'd vanquished to the spikes only seconds earlier. As soon as he turned, there was nothing there, meaning that it was behind him. Before he could respond, he felt a gigantic elbow slam into the back of his neck and shoulders. It was enough to make him gag this time, his eyes feeling almost hollow from the force of the blow. His entire body quaked from the pure force behind the blow, now unused to someone who was in his league actually landing a blow on him. He was a b-list player in that league, but he was still in the league.

Before he could turn to offer a rebuttal, he felt something hot on his back, and could sense the dark power forming its ki. Red energy washed past his back, before he was sent hurtling towards the surface of Hell. When he landed, he felt the blast detonate seconds later all around him, his back was scorched further, and waves of burning force rolled over him time and time again as Garlic sent pulsing waves of energy over him.

"I was weak enough to kill you, Gohan!" Garlic spat after him from above. "Or have you forgotten? I was the one who pried to, kicking and screaming from your life. I was the one who snatched that brat from that stupid woman. Remember the display I left for you? Did you enjoy it? I'd hoped you did, considering how much effort I put into the art!"

Closing his eyes painfully as he pushed back against the beam, trying to turn himself over to his front, even as the rocks around him were melted into ash all around him, Gohan could still see the state Garlic had left Videl in. They'd nailed her to a wall in front of his daughter just to send a message. Beyond the needless cruelty, beyond the fact that it made him furious, how badly had that fucked his daughter up? She saw a monster come in and nail her mother to a god damn wall in their house.

You're fucking done.

Focusing his energy, Gohan flipped around to face Garlic, rising to his feet even as the waves of red energy poured over him. Finding his feet, his aura pushing back against the energy trying to overwhelm him, Gohan scowled up at the immortal.

"I don't care if this one kill you," he muttered angrily. "You're going to burn, you motherfucker."

Opening both his hands, he focused his energies into a single bolt.

"Calamity Blaster!"

The blast discharged seconds later, ripping through the waves of Garlic's Death Impact. The huge demon's shock could be sensed as his entire beam distorted. The bolt only halted in the sky for a moment, before a tremendous blast ignited across the yellow clouds above. They whipped and warped in all directions as the force sent the world spinning. As the purple light began to fade above, Gohan could see Garlic's frame already restoring itself. His head was finishing snapping back into place.

"You'll never beat me, Gohan-"

Appearing in front of him, Gohan was surprised to find the giant was already swinging for him. The gigantic fist slammed into his cheek, turning his head. Blood spat from his mouth and Gohan scowled, grabbing the arm and twisting, hard. He felt Garlic's fingers and wrist break almost immediately as the giant howled in agony, before his elbow popped out of place next.

"How does that feel, you big piece of shit?" Gohan sneered.

Something felt off within seconds, and only at the last second, he sensed energy nearby. Releasing Garlics hard and flying up, looked down in a split second as a Death Slicer shot past where he'd once been, hacking through Garlic's lower legs. The giant howled again as Gohan turned his eyes immediately down towards Frieza, whose arm was extended with a cold gaze.

Turning his head, he realized why. Another disc shot down towards him, curving after him, as if chasing him. Only when he shot down and to the left, and it gave chase, did he realize it was.

God damn it.

In front of him, the other disc shot towards him. Pulling up and forward, he sensed the blades turn up and shoot after him yet still. Turning about and firing a single energy bolt, he watched as they cut through his blast, the disbanded energy crackling and exploding behind them.

Impressive.

Ceasing to move for a brief second, he blinked out, leaving behind an after image. The world froze to almost a halt, before he reappeared behind Frieza. A cold look had crossed his own face as he stood behind Frieza.

"You really should learn to mind your own business, Lord Frieza."

Immediately the arcosian turned, his eyes lit up with shock.

"Well, no one ever said a monkey couldn't complete an obstacle course," Frieza muttered to himself, trembling with fright.

Preparing to lash out, suddenly Gohan felt something above him. Turning upward, he could see Cell and Garlic above him, energy gathered at their peaks.

"Best of luck," Frieza laughed, having already blinked away himself.

The ground around him lit up as he felt himself almost become frozen in place, orange energy rippling off the ground as a giant triangle formed around him, its fiery edges burning against the sides of the barrier.

"Tri-Beam... HA!"

Suddenly, energy lifted up from below, carrying small fragments of rocks along with it, as a huge bolt came down from above. At the same moment, he could sense a huge orb of black and red being launched, seeing a Death Ball formed amidst the brilliant orange.

"Dodge this now, you fool!" Garlic laughed.

Fight!

"The only way to survive this is to go up! You need to meet the attacks before they reach critical mass!"

King Kai's voice pleaded with him in his seemingly imminent defeat. This was the same technique Trunks used against him before, and this was the same technique Garlic had used against his father. Concentrating his power, forming it into almost a forward shield, he shot straight up. Golden energy tore through the orange, red, and black all around him as he felt his power wax and wane as soon as he collided with the blasts. For a moment he stalled, he could almost feel himself freezing in place. His entire body almost collapsed back down into darkness, but there was something on the other side he couldn't just let win.

I'm going to kill you Garlic, you smug piece of shit.

With those thoughts, he broke through. The Tri-Beam's remnants and the Deathball plunged past him, destined for their meeting with the surface of the plane. Pulling back his right arm, he lashed out with an intense punch, slamming straight into the shocked Garlic's stomach. He felt orange burst and bones snap from the impact, before quickly following it up with another, his left cut in next, striking a vital pressure point near the neck, before his right slipped back in, punching the titan in the throat. Blood splattered out of Garlic's mouth as his hands reached up in almost slow motion to cover his crushed throat out of pure instinct. Grabbing him by his waist, Gohan flipped him upside down, replacing where they stood, before forming a rapid, quick blast of ki himself.

"Do yourself a favour and stay dead this time!" Gohan shouted, before releasing the wave, with Garlic at its tip.

Quickly, the giant chased after the Tri-Beam and the Death Ball, unable to even scream as blood trailed behind his descent. Just as Gohan planned, Garlic beat the Tri-Beam and Death Ball to ground zero for the attack.

A second later, there was an immense flash below. It was blinding, even to him, as he raised his arms to guard himself. He knew full well next to him Cell was doing the same as the immense mushroom cloud ballooned out below. The air caught fire around the blast itself as shockwaves rolled out in the planet killing explosion. The first wave of force rolled past the two of them, before it pulled back in on itself, sucking back in towards the core of the explosion. It nearly yanked the pair of combatants out of the sky. The entirety of Hell itself seemed to rumble and quake with the explosive force that was released.

It'd take Garlic minutes at most to come back, he was sure. Which means he needed to make good on the time he had. Turning his head to the side, towards Cell, the two of them laboured as they floated there.

"I must admit, Gohan, I really didn't give you enough credit as a tactician," Cell remarked, trying to buy time with a dialogue. "Maybe we can put this past one another and-"

Immediately he was on him however, lashing into him with a strike impacting the chest. As his arm burrowed at the android's chest, the machine gasped, before his eyes glowed brightly, two death beams shooting out of them, scorching across his own chest. Gohan hissed in pain as he was set back, realizing just how much energy he'd lost, desperation however, was more Cell's place at the moment as he kept the beams going, even as he tried to move back. Putting his hands in the way of the bolts, and forming his ki to shield him, the Saiyan warrior forced the beams back from his chest, scowling as he did. Dispersing the energy beams all together took only moments more as Cell swallowed nervously.

"You're finished," Gohan snapped.

"You've not gotten the best of me yet, boy," Cell snapped. "Do you really think me defenceless?"

"Let's find out," the Saiyan challenged in turn, his golden aura rippling to life around him.

In a blink of motion, Gohan had launched himself towards Cell, just as the android smirked, putting his hands to his face.

What the Hell?

"Solar FLARE!"

There was nothing but white a second later, and it felt like his eyes had been lit on fire.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

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Cell: 767

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

The world turned blue as his attack was unleashed towards the insects below. Terror was written across all of their faces as it slowly made its way down towards the surface of the planet.

"Now what will you do? Now where is all your talk of survival, and never giving up?" Cell laughed, looking down towards the those he'd just condemned to death, and the world he'd just condemned to destruction. But there was one among them who still stood tall, despite his fear.

"Everyone, on me! We have to try! Kamehame... HA!"

A single blue beam shot down from below, grossly inferior to his own of course, challenging his beam. With his own hands poised in place, and a steady stream of destructive ki flowing from within himself, Cell simply snickered at the sight. It was pathetic to watch these simpletons try to scurry or rally. The only benefit they provided the universe as a whole, was the benefit of his genes. The only useful elements they provided anyone, had already been incorporated into himself. Doctor Gero was truly a genius, seeing what was actually useful in any series of fighters, and combining them into one, perfect being.

With the two beams locked together, he could sense how quickly Son Goku's power was already beginning to fold. It halted the advance of his own attack by mere seconds. There was an arrogant slant to his lips as he looked down at it all.

Insects.

"Kamehame... HA!" Krillin and Yamcha shouted in unison.

"Come on everyone! We need to try!" Tien shouted. "Tri Beam HA!"

The next three waves struck his own, but it had no impact to speak of, a token gesture of resistance at best. No one ever said that the humans were rational, though truthfully, anything they did with their existence over the next few seconds would be as wasteful or productive as any.

"Masenko!" Piccolo's voice joined the chorus.

"Tri-Beam HA!"

It was when Trunks joined the union of beams, and Piccolo, that he felt his own blast stiffen for but a moment. It was no matter of course, he simply let more energy pour forth into the river. They'd accomplished nothing, they barely even slowed him down.

"Do any of you really believe that this is going to stop me? Please! You're all so pathetic it's insulting. I am glad you're not just rolling over and dying, but please... It's not as if you can save yourselves."

"Final FLASH!"

Vegeta's blast changed things, if only for a moment. Cell grunted as he felt his own wave stop in its tracks. The hovering doom which now hung a mere hundred feet from the surface of the world trembled in place as Vegeta threw everything he had into the wave as well.

"I told you before," Cell said stiffly. "You have no chance!"

His reserves were hardly drained. It would take only one more push to finish them off. Victory would be his, and it would be his creator's. The universe would be his for consumption, and his ultimate goals would be achieved. He would be a weapon against all life in the universe outside of himself and his progeny.

Preparing to force another wave of power forward, Cell just smirked, sensing the weakness of his adversaries.

But suddenly, his beam broke.

"What?!"

Two huge arms locked around his own and he immediately thrashed. Hydraulic arms locked him in place, cleverly masked by a human design. The towering giant of a machine behind him just grunted as they were held together in a death's embrace.

"Android 16!" he shouted. "What do you think you're doing!"

"Stopping you and saving this world. With our destruction, Doctor Gero's plans will fade along with us."

His beam below began to swirled and push back as its own power drained. His eyes lightened with fear as he thrashed once more to break the hold.

"No! I won't simply die like this! I am perfect!" he screamed.

"Everyone, give it everything you have... TOGETHER!" Goku's voice broke through all the noise.

Below, he saw his own energy break, being shattered away by the multitude of colours as they wrapped and merged into one force coming towards them. When it hit, he could feel every Cell in his body screaming in agony as they started to vaporize.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Cell:

The Saiyan was holding his eyes now, the weapon of last resort being used. This was his best and only opportunity to win this battle. Zipping through the air quickly, he plunged his fist into Gohan's gut, watching the Saiyan hunch over in pain, before he landed another blow on his face, sending his head shooting upward with an uppercut, before twisting in the air and striking out with a chopping kick from above. The blow cracked into Gohan's head and neck, sending him blasting down towards the surface before his body crashed into the surface.

Now to gather more energy.

Placing his right hand to his forehead, and keeping only his index and middle finger extended, he began to drain as much as his power as he could into the focused beam. This was Piccolo's perfect solution for dealing with more powerful opponents, and he fully intended to exploit it. Even as weakened as Gohan appeared right now, he knew full well the Saiyan's reserves weren't fully tapped. He risked destruction at any moment if he decided to arrogant prolong this engagement. He was foolish before, when he didn't offer assistance more immediately to Dabura, and then let Bojack go off on his own to fight him. Letting the Heran prove something to himself, was amusing however at the very least. If he didn't incapacitate Gohan, more definitively this time, he would be finished.

Energy crackled at the ends of his fingertips as he concentrated more and more. Every second Gohan lay half blind in that hole in the ground, he gained the chance to stop him. This was going to be his ultimate prize, and his ultimate vindication for his defeat on the Earth. Better yet, he wanted to imagine the look of disbelief and suffering on Son Goku's face, when he realized his son was sent to an everlasting nightmare, beyond just regular Hell. With any luck, the pit, the next level of Hell, would be strong enough to even prevent the Dragon Balls from working. That would be the final justice.

When he sensed Gohan's energy beginning to stir, and when he looked down to see him struggling to shove several boulders off himself, Cell knew this was the time to strike. His hand shook with the raw power he'd placed within it.

"Let's see you stop this one, Saiyan! Special Beam CANNON!"

Pointing his arm down as if it were a precision guided laser, he fired the blast from his fingers, using his enhanced eyes to narrow on his target. Just as Gohan emerged from the rubble, the Saiyan looked up in shock as the lightning quick beam was driven towards him.

Fall! Fall!

In a flash of motion, Cell saw Gohan raise his guard, but only in a flash. He saw his left arm collide with the beam. A warping sound pulsed over the battlefield for several seconds, before the beam cannon reached its critical high point. A concentrated explosion blasted out where Gohan had stood. The fireball rose into the air with a cloud of debris and smoke as its cover.

"You did it!" Babidi laughed from above. "Incredible! He goes down not once, but twice to you! Who needs that idiot Dabura with fighters like you on this plane! Amazing!"

The residual energy from the blast hadn't disappeared yet, and it left Cell's ability to sense power at somewhat of a loss. His own features remained placid as he tried to read the results of what happened, his mind looking for any data at all to confirm his kill. When the debris and smoke started to clear, rocks chattered around the craters which scattered across the wasteland.

As the dust settled, he sensed a power still there. Sneering and closing his fist angrily, Cell growled as he realized he'd failed to finish-

Standing there in the dust, Cell could see Gohan standing there, his eyes widened with pain and shock. As the cloud further diminished, he could see why. Blood wept from the stump on his left shoulder, where his arm had once been. Immediately Cell's frustration turned into a grin. This boy was no Namekian, and the loss of an arm? It was permanent, until he died. And they weren't going to let that happen. A permanent hindrance to his combat effectiveness would surely confirm his victory.

At first almost quietly, before it started to burst out loud, Cell started to laugh.

"Tell me this, Saiyan! Did you see that one coming? I thought I was finished! Remember how you told me I was "first". Now I was "finished". You really do have quite the track record so far!" Cell bellowed. "Please, don't make me laugh. For all that power of yours, you truly are pathetic-!'

"My arm!" Gohan shouted, looking down at it, breathing furiously.

"Yes, an observant one I see. Your arm is missing. And my power will regenerate much quicker than your arm does, I can assure. You're the one whose finished, Gohan. My abilities aren't simply raw power. My mind is born of a half dozen tactical geniuses, such as Son Goku, Frieza, Piccolo-"

Furiously, Gohan looked down at his right hand, before pulling it back and closing his fist. A moment later he thrust the arm into the sky.

"Cataclysmic Kamehameha!"

Cataclysm Kemahameha? What is... NO!

Of all of the power ups they'd sensed so far, of all of the flashes of power and displays of grandeur he'd seen, even with one arm, Cell sensed something truly aw inspiring below him. Light surrounded him long before the attack had even matured. Purple and blue mixed together into a deep, off colour before him as the wave encompassed all he could see in under a second. He only had time to reach his arms down to defend himself. As soon as his palms touched the wave, his hands started to disintegrate. The beam locked him in place as it overwhelmed him in a fraction of a microsecond. The sky behind him was torn asunder for but a fraction of a moment, even as the clouds themselves almost seemed to part of the beam. The sky distorted and extended as Cell felt his body evaporating from the outside in.

Every cell the power touched, was annihilated. It took only four seconds of the beam before his senses were stripped from him, and two seconds after that, before every piece of his very being, was disintegrated from existence.

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Gohan:

The light above died, even as the very ceiling of Hell swirled in a torrent of kinetically inspired motion. Cell's energy completely vanished above him, stricken from the very fabric of the plane, at least until this wretched place brought him back after the next inferno. But it'd come at a high price, a price too high, even. Falling to one knee, Gohan laboured, breathing heavily as the burnt and blood stump on his arm dripped hot blood onto the grey dusty dirt below him. Crimson still covered his chest, and he felt burns and bruises over everywhere on his body. It was a struggle to keep his head up even right now.

Conserving his power, he needed to conserve power until he could fend off his enemies again. What the Hell had they done to Turles? He'd given almost anything for his father- mentor, to wake up and bail him out. It'd been so long since he needed to be bailed out, he couldn't believe he wished he could have it again. Right now, all he did was kneel there, labouring as his right arm shook, reaching up to touch where his left arm had once been.

I can't keep losing arms like this.

Turning his head to his left, he could see bones appearing in the very air, hundreds of metres away. Flesh slowly began to sow up the frame, before pans appeared around its lower body. Within thirty seconds, a hulking form landed on the ground in the distance, trying to regain its bearings. He was right on time, of course.

Hey, King Whoever. What am I supposed to do now?

"I... I don't know. Goku only stopped Garlic by leaving him in Hell. If you can't leave either..."

Then get me out of here. Reduce my sentence or something.

"I can't do that Gohan-"

Yes you fucking can! I know at least a little about you, you're a God!

"And you are a killer. I can't just tell King Yemma to forget all the horrible things you've done in your life."

But I changed!

Breathing, only looking up, Gohan just swallowed as a long shadow began to extend over him. The sound of Garlic's thudding footsteps made his body quake, partially because he knew exactly what position he was in.

I've got a daughter on Earth. I've made a lot of mistakes. I've done everything I can to change, and you people are still going to leave me down here with these pieces of shit who want to-

"You know what you did to end up down there, Gohan. Now let me try to think of a way to-"

Before King Kai could continue, Gohan felt a boot slam into his chest. It knocked the air out of his lungs as he was sent flying back, before skidding to a finish on his right shoulder, rolling over several times as he did.

"I'm presuming that you killed Cell, but he managed to take that arm from you in the process. I must say even I am impressed. That green bug really was as useful as I'd hoped. You have no idea how pleased I am that I don't need to wait to get you this weak."

Reaching down, Garlic grabbed him by his stump. Immediately Gohan screamed out in pain as the huge, clawed hand clamped down on it and squeezed as he violently pulled him up. Leaning down, Garlic licked a bit of the blood off of his burnt shoulder, before just pulling back, seemingly enjoying the taste.

"Oh that taste, it never does get old, you know that?"

Striking out with his right arm a moment later, he felt it get caught in mid air. It trembled as he tried to push against the huge arm above him.

"What's wrong, Gohan? Feel helpless?" Garlic whispered, leaning forward and looking into his eyes. "Afraid that I'm going to find a way out of here, and you'll be trapped here forever without me? I know how much you want me to be here. You can't live without me. It's why you let me kill you, remember?... It was that gift you gave me, letting me take your life from you."

"You're fucked," Gohan breathed, before he felt Garlic twist his arm back, hard.

The agony was almost too much for him, but the pain in his stump had overridden the new sensation largely before he experienced it.

Suddenly, there was a violent pull upward. A blackened red aura surged around him as they catapulted into the air.

He's taking me to the vortex.

"If he drops you inside that, there won't be any escape from Hell, I don't even think the Dragon Balls could do it. It sucks any dead spirits it can into it, and traps them forever in a frozen Hell, forcing those within to live through their torments for an eternity."

With his right arm still trapped, Gohan snarled as he tried to kick himself free, only to find Garlic squeezing his torn apart stump. The response was immediate as he screamed out again.

"Make him suffer, Garlic!" Babidi squawked. "I want to watch him scream when you throw him into that hole!"

When he thrashed again, he felt Garlic's knee slam into his gut. It was enough to make him immediately gag up blood, before he vomited more blood up a second later, his body, dead or not, utterly failing. His legs felt weak, and his abdomen barely seemed to functionally move. Even the ki had trouble moving through his shredded body. If he didn't do something, he would be condemned, permanently. There wouldn't be a moment's escape from this place.

"You know, Gohan, this whole expedition was of course my plan. Certainly the others all had their role to contribute, but I knew every second that we were doing this, that it could only end this way," Garlic told him. "I knew it was my destiny to lock you down here, forever trapped in your memories of me as you suffered for all an eternity."

"That is our parting. You will suffer an eternity of unmitigated regret, and pain, and I will thrive for an eternity, a God among lesser creatures across the universe. I know you can't comprehend it, just as you couldn't comprehend your own death. Your role in the universe has been set out for you, the moment you betrayed me."

When Gohan felt them stop, he could only see the swirling darkness below him. If anything, it reminded him of the Dead Zone, but many magnitudes larger. His breathing sharpened before he looked at Garlic.

"You were always special to me Gohan," Garlic whispered, leaning closer. "I've always wanted to taste that power of yours. Every time you've let me, its reminded me of what I can't have. Despite my eternal life, and immense power... I'll never have the fire inside that frame of yours. That's the only gift I'm going to give you Gohan. It's the only thing you can cherish."

The demon's tongue licked his fangs in front of him as his eyes continued to almost drink him in.

"Goodbye, Gohan," he finished, leaning forward further, as if to lick him again.

What the Hell am I going to do? He's going to-... Wait a second.

Pulling his head to one side, Gohan snarled furiously as he bore his own teeth. Instinctively and viciously, he snapped his own jaws forward, biting into Garlic's eyeridge and cheek. The response was immediate, a roar of pain emerged from the titan as he gripped him harder, yanking on his right arm and his left stub. Gohan screamed into his own mouth, tightening his jaw from the pain, which in turn caused Garlic to scream and tense louder himself. Trying to pull his own head away, the monster twisted and turned in all directions. The taste of the demon's blood touched his own tongue for the first time, and Gohan almost wretched again, but managed to calm his stomach among the chaos of this grappling melee.

Finally, Garlic released his right arm, desperately started to punch Gohan's stomach and ribs, trying to get free. Each blow sent tremors through Gohan's body, his arm going limp after the first two strikes.

"Let go, you little rat!" Garlic hissed.

Gohan. This is it. One chance. You can do this.

"Yes, do it Gohan! You can do it!"

Tensing his right arm, it flexed, as if coming back to life. One more shot from Garlic made his insides slide about unnaturally as his ribs started to give way.

Pulling his mouth away, ripping bits of Garlic's skin and flesh away with it, Gohan reared up his right arm just as Garlic looked into his eyes. The monster looked relieved for but a second however, as he realized Gohan's fist was aimed straight for his skull. With all his remaining power, Gohan surged his arm forward, crashing his knuckles' into the giant's face. A fang popped loose as his head went reeling back. Several of the muscle veins on the titan's head split open from the impact, his grasp on his other arm finally freeing up. The muscle bound monster wobbled back blinking his eyes in pain several times as Gohan pushed with everything he had left.

Do or die, come on!

Zipping into Garlic's defence, Gohan connected with a kick to the stomach, making Garlic cough and lean forward. Immediately after the monster swung for him, trying to connect. With a sharp move, Gohan barely averted disaster, watching as the fist soared past where he'd once been. With both his legs, he wrapped around the extended fist, flipping Garlic back and down towards the vortex below. The giant tumbled through the air for a moment.

"Do you feel the pull, Gohan?" Garlic laughed. "Because I certainly don't!"

With that, he halted his fall.

"Nice try though. Now let me-"

I'm not going to let you steal my only chance to get home.

"Cataclysm CANNON!"

Reaching up with one arm, Gohan threw all of the energy he'd marshaled into one final move. In a flash of purple, he heard Garlic scream in shock.

"No! Not like this!" the monster howled before the wave crashed against him, like a tidal wave against a weakened wall on the shore. "I'm immortal!"

The vortex below swallowed both the beam of energy, and Garlic whole. The darkness continued to swirl as if nothing had happened at all.

Barely able to move, Gohan angled himself slightly before his power started to entirely give up on him. He could barely hang in the air by the time he collapsed on the grey sand. With one trembling arm, he scraped forward, trying to pull himself from the vortex itself.

There. It's over.

"Well, well, well... you really are impressive for a monkey... Son Gohan," Frieza commented, his voice filled with chilling delight. "I never would have guessed you'd have bested everyone save myself..."

Pan. I'm sorry. I've just not got anything left.

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Frieza:

Gracefully, Frieza's tail swished behind him as he gently landed on the ground below, a small smile slipping across his lips. Of all of them, he had the least right to be there, and at the same time he had the most right to be there. It'd been Son Goku who'd destroyed everything he once had. He stripped from him his status, his power, and his empire, before he more or less stripped away his power. Worst of all, he'd shattered his pride. In this bleak Hell, he never stood even the most remote chance of acquiring his revenge.

Worst of all, at times he was locked away by this realm as punishment, and teddy bears would run around him singing. That was even worse than this wretched barren wasteland! And it was all Son Goku's fault. But if he couldn't get back at the monkey himself, he could at least get back at him by destroying his legacy, his son.

And now, he will know the wrath of Frieza.

"But you certainly do look tired, you know," Frieza remarked, walking over the half dead, dead Saiyan. "And so close to the black hole you cast that fool Garlic into. How incredible unfortunate. Do you even have the power to pretend to resist me?"

The only response Frieza received was a familiar one. A defeated looking Saiyan just stared back at him. The way his body shook when he breathed, told Frieza just how close to expiration he was. A small curve appeared on his lips as he looked towards the monkey, trying to determine best how to deal with him.

"You know, I have almost thirty full minutes, from my count, before the spell Babidi cast is through, and that monster Turles breaks free. I wonder how long I can stretch out my fun before the timer runs down," the arcosian chuckled.

The bleak looked he received in response was beginning to frustrate him. Certainly a look of defeat was a pleasure to observe, but he wanted to see the same fear he displayed when Garlic was preparing to toss him into the void. He wasn't afraid of him because he was weaker than the others, that was it, wasn't it?

Scowling, Frieza pointed his finger at him.

"Respond to me, Monkey. I order it."

Instead, the said look was just looked back at him, only this time his eyebrows knit together defiantly, as if to tell him that he wasn't responding now, deliberately. With his scowl still in place, Frieza charged his death beam, before blasting it through the right shoulder of the Saiyan. The hole burned cleanly through his skin, save for the black marks around it. Immediately the monkey's body seized up as his tried to resist screaming.

"Oh! This reminds me of when I was alive. I'd forgotten how much fun it was to torture lesser creatures!"

Pointing his finger at his leg next, the Arcosian didn't hessitate to fire again. This time the bolt wasn't nearly as clear. Blood splattered against the ground as the knee came free from the joint as he knelt down. The monkey seized up again, but this time he cried out, screaming as his leg was rendered useless, and left in as a torn, dead weight.

Breathing in and out heavily, he just tried to pull his head to one side than another, clearly attempting to calm himself down.

"Now repeat after me, monkey. I am the property of Lord Frieza, the former and soon to be again, ruler of the universe," he chimed smugly.

"You're brother is smarter than you are," Gohan rasped, looking him in the eyes. "And more cunning. You cheap, second rate dictator. I used to work for a real tyrant."

The words sunk in for several seconds as Frieza stared back in disbelief. Cooler? Cooler was better than him?! Less true things could have never been uttered. Cooler trained for half his life, and was barely able to match a quarter of his own power, and he'd never trained for a moment! It was absolutely ridiculous! He was Lord Frieza, the true terror of the universe. His second rate brother was a nobody!

Firing another shot, he gutshot the monkey this time, who fell over in a heap, his body rasping desperately.

"Don't like it," Gohan wheezed. "Kill me. Because Cooler... Cooler would have finished me off by now."

And kill you I will-... wait a second.

Looking towards the vortex, Frieza began to realize exactly what was going on here. This monkey was trying to trick him into killing him early, so that the vortex couldn't swallow him whole!

"What are you waiting for Frieza! Throw him in now while you have the chance!" Babidi screamed. "You're all that's left!"

Smiling, while simultaneously looking disgusted by the monkey, Frieza stepped towards him, grabbing him by the front of his shredded paints, pulling him up.

"You were trying to trip me into killing you. You most certainly are a cunning monkey, but unfortunately I'm out of banana treats. Instead, I'm going to have to give you the only thing I have left."

To their right, suddenly the top of the vortex started to swell.

What's this?

It burst forward, almost as if it was a bubble at the peak of a gas filled pond which popped. Oozing out of the spiral was... Garlic? How was that even possible?

Breathing heavily, Garlic looked over himself before grinning.

"Hah!... HAHAHAHAHAHA! It doesn't work on the living! I'm alive! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HOOOOHOOHOOOHOOHOOHO, do you feel smart now, Gohan!?" Garlic cackled.

I'm done with this little game, I think.

"Lord Frieza," Gohan mumbled, slumping forward against him. "Thank you."

Thank you? What does he mean?

Suddenly, there was a purple glow next to him. Gasping, Frieza looked down, to find nothing. Looking back up, he saw the monkey half dead smiling at him.

"AHHHHH!" Babidi screamed in horror a second later. A wet, violent explosion ripped through the air a second later.

Turning his head to look towards the smouldering ruin in the air where the wizard had once been, Frieza blinked, trying to determine what just happened.

Why would he thank me? Did he really want to kill Babidi that badly? I don't under... stand...

... Is Babidi's magic tied to Babidi himself?

With a sneer, Frieza grabbed Gohan by the throat.

"You filthy monkey!" he snapped angrily. "How dare you!?"

With that, he violently ripped his arm towards the vortex, watching as Gohan's frame flew helplessly through the air, lifelessly, before plunging into its final resting place. Just as it went out of view, he heard something.

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Turles:

The world stopped moving like lightning around him and suddenly cut back to 'normal'. Normal didn't describe anything he just saw. All around him were the signs of a tremendous battle. Multiple battle scars ran across countless kilometres worth of terrain. It was a battle on a scope he'd never seen, as far as he could tell. This transpired clearly while he'd been locked in whatever Frieza and Babidi trapped him in. Which meant that they're target had been someone he'd have defended.

Gohan.

The thought immediately came to the fore, and he was right. Even as his feet slowly slipped from the surface of the soil beneath him, he could only see further and further destruction. Some craters seemed to be as if a small moon plunged into a surface. Attacks on a planet killing scale had been used, frequently, during the struggle. Survivors were doubtful. But any attack on Gohan would have been pointless, given that death was temporary in this nightmare.

Broly.

Unless someone intended to toss him into the same vortex he'd dispatched Broly. His fists tightened in that moment as he breathed in evenly, his eyes looking for any sign of battle, and his senses looking for any energy sources. The only ones he sensed, were Frieza's and Garlic Junior's. Narrowing his eyes on the direction, he felt his lip curl furiously. So, someone thought they could just cross him, and get away with it? Babidi and Frieza would both suffer for their hand in all this. A golden aura emerged around his body before he blasted off at full speed. Dozens of kilometres passed in seconds before he passed the shattered remnants of several mountain ridges which were near the vortex. Looking down below, he could see a puff of smoke, and three figures. One which was sailing through the air, before it plunged into the vortex.

That had been Gohan...

Blasting off towards the pair, he stopped above them, his breathing now deep and angry.

"Oh, look who it is," Garlic commented, looking over. "Well, you're a bit late. Your friend is gone for good. The only question is, what do you think you can do about it?"

Breathing in and out again, Turles let his ki flow to the surface, unlocking keys across his body as his aura surged around him.

"Is that all? You're not much of an Ascended Saiyan. Gohan was clearly stronger than you, even that copy of yours, Goku, seems to have quite the edge."

"Garlic, be quiet!" Frieza tried to warn.

Pointing his hand down towards Frieza, Turles formed a single energy attack, before releasing it.

"Wh-wait!" Frieza shrieked before he exploded in a single large blast. The tyrant's ashes scattered to the wind almost immediately before Turles looked ahead to Garlic.

"Colour me unimpressed," he remarked. "Besides, his usefulness was done anyway. Do you know what I discovered, Turles? That I am immune to this little pond of misery below me. Oh how good it is to be alive."

The snickering was enough. Looking down towards the vortex, Turles just stared, knowing the fate of anyone who'd entered before, apparently while dead. Broly would never reemerge from that pool, that frozen hellscape. It was a land of being trapped within your own nightmares, forever frozen in place.

And it was nothing to him. Who feared testing the limits of their strength, was a fool.

With that, Turles anchored his power to himself inside, letting it slowly start to unravel what was truly him. Electricity surged around him, far more rapidly.

"You have no idea what a Saiyan can do, if you think this form is the limit of our power, you pathetic little creature. This is what a true Saiyan can do."

The very clouds around him began to shift and swirl. The very fabric of the ceiling of Hell began to pull downwards even, swirling around him as if they were made of vapour instead of the very fabric of the afterlife. Unable to help it, Turles screamed out as the power flowed through him. Winds and force rolled out across Hell for several hundred thousands kilometres. Destructive in its nature, it shattered mountains and sent piles of spiked rocks scattered as if they were nothing but dust in the wind.

Across from him, Garlic watched in aw, being blown ever further back, his red eyes shrinking with every second as he watched what was unfolding in front of him.

"NO! No this kind of power can't be real! I don't!... I..."

Another wave of force rolled out from Turles's form his hair spiked outward, growing and extending longer and longer behind him. Electricity freely roamed his body as he brought the entirety of his power to bear. Finally, his lungs raw from his own screams, his body calmed as it reached its fullest potential. This was the form he unlocked while observing Broly in this Hell. This was the form he'd obtained through finding the path within himself.

The very vortex below him swept aside for him, parting as if it were helpless to his will.

"How!? But!... you can't possibly!"

Looking up, Turles knew he was done dealing with this imp.

"Remember!" Garlic was quick to defend, moving back nervously. "I'm immortal, you can't just kill me!"

Pointing both his hands out, he let slip a fraction of his power into a Cataclysm Cannon. There was no time for anything beyond a terrified scream, before the wave annihilated the demon. The wave covered the sky itself seemingly, before blasting off into the distance and send Garlic's scattered remains along a path which would take it almost a world away. Past the horizon, the world turned purple in the brightness of the blast as it detonated. Even from as far away as he was, Turles could hear the thundering boom of his attack rumble across the very fabric of Hell itself. The whole world was shaking from one attack.

"Then be immortal over there," Turles commented bluntly.

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Gohan:

Everything is gone. It's all gone. I've lost it all. It's... just darkness now. I can't feel anything. It's all gone.

Hello? King Kai?

Dad? Anyone? Please, just let me wake up. Anyone? Where am I?

... Please. I don't want to be alone. Hey! Someone! ANYONE! Pan? Mom? Please I need to hear from someone. I can't see anything, I can't sense anything. Someone's gotta be out there... What do you want from me!? How sorry do I need to be before you just let me out!? I shouldn't be here! I changed! Please! I died trying to be better than I was! This is even worse than before?! How can you just leave me here!? Videl! I'll even take you yelling at me! Please, just someone!

Don't. Don't leave me like this. Please.

But there was no answer. There was no opening his eyes. It was just all being alone. The void never whispered back, it never said a word. It didn't even present him with anything. That was his ultimate nightmare, being alone, alone without a soul in the world. Alone and in the cold, left behind by everyone else, forgotten and gone.

Something was somehow warm though. He couldn't feel anything still, but the world seemed to almost thaw.

I'd do it all differently if I could. I'd do everything differently. I'd never fight anyone. I wouldn't even kill Paragus. I'd just have let them kill me. Please. King Yemma! King Yemma listen to me! Shin! King Kai!

For a brief second, he could have sworn he could see the light. Everything was a haze, and his heart was racing again. The familiar yellow clouds were a blurred vision overhead, and he shook, fearing that this would be the first of his nightmares. There was something black in his way though, spikey and in his vision. As it started to clear, it more and more hazily came into view.

... who?

Weakly, he tried to blink harder to clear it all. Finally, the last details, despite still being fuzzy, came into place?

His mouth opened to speak, and a rasp came out at first.

"Gohan, can you hear me?" King Kai asked. "Gohan!?"

The voice in his head didn't matter though, he just breathed for the first time, the first real time he felt like in his entire afterlife.

"Dad?" he wheezed. "Is that you?"

The figure grabbed his right arm tightly, staring down at him with a smirk. As soon as the smirk came into place, he knew exactly who it was. Despite the pain in his face and all the numbness from the cold, Gohan's lip tried to pull into a smile.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Turles responded. "I got you, kid."

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Author's Notes:

This is tied for my biggest chapter ever, with Chapter 46. Crazy!

... And I was a day overdue, sorry guys!

Holy fuck was that a tough chapter to write. I apologize for the delays, I had to work almost every day over December, so I didn't get nearly as much as I wanted done. As you can probably tell, this chapter took a Hell of a lot to write. I wanted it to have all the right ups and downs, and I really wanted to explain all of the characters inside of it. I wanted everyone to have their moment in the sun, before they fell into the shade. It was a delight to write from start to finish, and I really wanted to show that the villains themselves had the same desires and motivations for victory in many respects to a heroic perspective, if only twisted and warped in its own respect.

I also enjoyed the fact that the biggest factor behind Gohan's defeat wasn't Garlic Junior, but Cell. Cell was the battle general on the baddies side, rally the troops, and ruthlessly sacrificing resources as needed to increase his chances of victory. I also enjoyed how it was Frieza who did in Gohan, Frieza of all the villains, and ironically, he also lead to their more immediate defeat, by mentioning it was Babidi who cursed Turles. And as always, I always enjoy Garlic's almost erotic nature towards Gohan, just for the creepiness. lol

There was one or two scenes I cut from production as well, just in order to actually finally finish this damn thing.

On another note, I actually wrote most of this over three days, today being one of the last. For music, this chapter was originally written and inspired by Metric's Gimmie Sympathy. A line from the song ended up being the title for the chapter, because I really see Gohan emerging from the vortex and seeing the world again, even if its Hell's first level, being like someone coming out of the darkness and into the sun again for the first time. It was fun to really confront Gohan with a lot of the shit he doesn't like to think about either, especially his past crimes, and what he did to Videl. I also enjoyed the fact that when everyone failed for Gohan, and he went down, the one who pulled him out of all of it and gave him another chance at life, was in fact, Turles.

This chapter is really important, as its the only time for some of these characters to directly shine in the story, and its a chance for those who used to burn brightly, to burn brightly one last time.

I'm going to do a few shorter chapters before I get to Utopia, the big background chapter for the Trio. Don't expect to see much action for a while. I really wanna do the next 3-4 chapters as a bit smaller scope, focusing really on one or two characters only. Next one might be just on Goku and Vegeta, and the one after that really just on Pan and Videl, leaving a lot of the other stuff out as I develop towards the climax of this Saga. I want to stress as well, that the end of this Saga will be probably the best so far in the series. I just hope I can pull it off.

Given the size and scope of this chapter. I really hope everyone leaves a review. I really put a lot of effort into this one.

Reviewers:

Pyromania: An adult Cell Junior, for reals. And Cooler too!

Perfect Carnage: Buu's egg is around. You'll see where in the future. *gasp* lol. Cell Junior is still blue, but his boots are yellow now. I think that Piccolo does train that way because of his own upbringing. We also got the first tiny taste of Super Saiyan III. I also suspect that Cooler is going to do industrial scale agriculture when it comes to the Tree of Might. They'll be harvesting every planet they can, especially because each fruit bears seeds.

Anonyomous: The trio aren't more powerful than Beerus, obviously, lol. Goku has spent two days in the Time Chamber, he has no time left. Cell Junior's power is not going to be elaborated on right now, but I will broadly say "strong".

Super Mystic Gohan: I hope this fight chapter was epic enough for you. Lulz.

Mizz-Madam: I like Abaddon as well. He's a dink though. I'm also looking forward to writing more videl, just another chapter to go before we revisit her. Pan's story is really going to pick up next saga. I can assure you, if everything goes as planned, she's poised to be one of my favourites in the story. I just gotta get to the meaty bits.

ShadowFFD: Happy New Year! Also, the changing of strategies can be significant. Look what three fighters weaker than Gohan managed to do because he wasn't prepared and didn't know what to expect.

Guest1: I actually don't know who that is. Abaddon's story is going to get more and more fleshed out over the next three chapters as well. He's important all the way up until the finish.

MalikJamalTimberlake: I'd probably agree with that statement. But I don't know what kind of direction Super Saiyan III is going to take for the story right now. Its going to depend on how I fully interpret it. Expect less fusion in this story than Canon, not more. Lol

MaxPain32: I've seen The One, but no, it's not inspired by that movie.

Tomorrow4eva: Think I stacked the deck this chapter? :P

Luke: I hope you liked the depth of this chapter.

Guest2: A bit foolish to think I don't know what time a review arrives. So a Guest Reviewer, with the same writing style, writes a review to me, and then adds a second thought review to said review only seconds later, and they're not the same person? Again, you realize I am notified as soon as I get a review. I don't just get the order of which they are sent, I get the exact time. Funny how that works. Because you must think I'm dim if I don't think that 2 reviews, done one after the other, by a generic guest reviewer with the same writing style, aren't most likely the same reviewer.

RajinBlue: I'm glad your heart broke for poor Pan. Lol. I'd respond to more in this review, but I think *(though correct me if I'm wrong) I think I responded by PM already.

SuperScarFace83: Yep, that's right. I spent 56 Chapters building up and barely mentioning Cooler, to reveal that Cooler intentionally sent Gohan to Earth, knowing it was a death sentence. I knew when I started to explore Cooler, it'd be worth it.

Saiyan Kween: Thanks for the deep and interesting review! It's really hard to address everything in it, especially after writing 30 pages. I will say, that Piccolo is going to try to train Pan soon, but who knows how long he's going to be on the Other World? Patience, and all shall be revealed. Also, I really worked on Cooler's part in that chapter, it faced 2 rewrites basically, to make it fit exactly what I wanted. Hopefully this chapter is as impressive :)

Guest3: So, because Frieza trained for 6 months, he and all his henchmen can fight post Buu Z-fighters? Meh. This isn't on subject with the story. I'll just say, I'm not follow that model, or the model of traditional Battle Power calculations. I find them all worthless. They mean whatever the author wants them to mean anyway. Its always easy to change and manipulate, so I just take the next step, and discard them. They don't have value.

Sekhelmet: All shall be revealed!

Guest4: Yep, it was all a setup. What a twist! Lol

Brelic: The ship with Cell? You'll have to wait until... I'm not going to say! So there!

Darknessrising11: All of the characters your seeing outside of the Time Travellers, are all about building up the remains of the story after the travellers. It's going to be exciting, I promise.

Gctrsh: Thanks!