Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.
The Cataylst
Act VI
Chapter 110: Salvation
Turles:
His rushed footsteps stopped as Turles turned his head to look back. Eighteen froze as well as he stopped in the trees, but it wasn't of much importance. Her stopping, that was, wasn't of much importance. Something had happened, something he never expected to see or sense in his life. The power was familiar in the only 2 ways that mattered. He knew it was the power of a Super Saiyan, the eb and flow of the key told him as much, as well as the great energy now surging out because of it. The other thing he knew, was that the power he sensed was indeed… Raditz. The eldest brother, the weakest brother, it seemed shocking just to think about that. At no point had Raditz ever displayed the potential to become one of the elevated among them. Kakarot had even tried to train him, and he himself had indulged Raditz's fantasy.
To imagine he'd claimed the goal seemed fantastical. But there was a grimness to it all, wasn't there? Nothing was claimed without a price. Kakarot's friend and son were killed by Frieza. He had his… father… admit something very painful to him in what appeared to be the last moments of his life. Raditz had pushed Vegeta over the edge, trying to kill his woman and humiliating him. Raditz at first notice, had no obvious signs of a tragedy around him, but Turles knew the truth, because Turles knew why Raditz had stayed behind in the first place.
The death he expected to see, had not come from the source he guessed. The Android had been killed, or something had happened to spark this transformation.
Eying 18 for a splinter of a moment, he looked back towards Raditz's power. He was still too weak to defeat Cell, and Turles was too damaged to help him. Kakarot was missing, and he knew Gohan, both of him, were staying at the lookout, those powers were still in place. Out there, all that Raditz would have to help him was himself. Turles was rarely a man of hope, but he did hope Raditz would find a way to survive whatever was to come, or at least survive long enough for Vegeta to supposedly come to the rescue. Funnily enough, Vegeta might still kill Raditz himself, and there wasn't much anyone could do about that until their turn came up.
"What is it?"
The Android woman was asking him a question, and he needed to decide if he was going to come clean. They would find out sooner or later, but the unfortunate reality was that they were playing the role of ally, for the moment. It was better to come clean with the kind of information he knew about now, it didn't serve him to keep this information close to his chest, especially if they found out he'd concealed it later. It wasn't important enough and didn't give him any advantages, after all.
"Raditz transformed into a Super Saiyan, I hadn't expected that. I suspect though, that it means your friend is dead."
A silence broke out after his last word, far louder than anything he'd just said. The unconscious Android on his shoulder hadn't come to yet, which meant whatever damage Cell had done, it'd been critical so far. So, here he was, still torn up from the previous battles as well, helping out a woman with a limp and an unconscious machine, all while his weaker, older brother was fighting the battle of his life after the machine he was apparently in love with from a prior life, died. This world was a complete mess, because he still had a whole host of other things to worry about.
Supposedly the plot by some green idiot related to their Piccolo if only by absorbing 'kami', another of the Namekians. The plot to change time. It's what allowed him to be here in the first place, and it was something still left lingering in the back of his mind. Then, he was dealing with the immediate problem of killer machines and his aforementioned brother, and then, he was dealing with the fact he still needed to one up all of these other fools and keep himself in charge. He was certain there were other things he needed to handle as well. Like making sure his nephews were given the push in the right direction, or that Vegeta stayed well and truly behind him.
Damn it.
The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for these 2 cripples while he tried to keep his own skin in tact, but keeping them alive meant keeping himself alive and making sure he won the game. It was getting harder and harder to make the right decision, even with his short-term understanding of what was coming next. He wasn't in-tune with his powers at the moment, relying on them to passively keep him safe. He didn't have enough control to see the events he wanted yet, but he was beginning to understand just how they worked in finer and finer detail.
"Is that what I think it is?"
Kakarot.
He knew his other sibling was lying low given he too was mulched by the Androids. The idioton his shoulder was responsible for half of this mess by not listening, and then worse, knocking Kakarot out of fighting condition.
Yes, that is what you think it is. You don't need me to tell you that.
"… We need to help him…"
Oh? Us and what army? I have almost no energy, and am baby-sitting two maimed Androids. You can barely walk. Your friend, Krillin, is keeping his power concealed, and it's going to take me at least another 2 hours to get back to your precious Lookout. This is Raditz's battle. Only he can fight it.
"You know if he fights that thing, he's going to probably get killed, Turles."
Not that Kakarot of all people would have cared about Raditz's fate. Given the bad blood between the two. Turles was aware of Kakarot leaving their brother to Vegeta's mercy. But there was something he did understand. Before 22 bailed him out, he had seen a vision, a brief one, that led to his own remark. If the Android were dead, which he strongly suspected, then that meant that the one to kill the Android, was someone else.
And there wasn't a large list as to who it could be.
He might. He might not. That's up to Raditz to decide.
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Cell:
A swirl of raw power flowed over Cell as the Android calculated this latest adversary. Yes, this was his transformed state, much as from his own timeline, as well as from his prior engagement with Turles, Cell knew what this was. This was the form of a Super Saiyan. Yes, this would do nicely, wouldn't it? All of that energy he had lost due to these wretches' interference, that would be returning to him and more. Across the world as he knew it, there were no other significant powers left to challenge him. The only remaining Androids were defunct. Son Goku had been defeated by Android 17, and he had killed Piccolo. The Saiyan Turles was badly wounded and running with the remaining Androids. Who was going to stop him now? Krillin? Son Gohan? Tien? Such beliefs were pitiful.
In truth, he had to win here, and it would be an easy victory.
No, what had been his great weakness, would now become his great strength. The other two selves he knew were still out there, would be hunting for Turles and the Androids, not trying to intervene here. It was only the matter of killing this fool, stealing his energy and being restored of much of his power. If he could absorb the corpse of Android 22 as well, that would be just as ideal.
The anger, the rage in front of him was so intense he could taste it in the ki now swirling around them like the scent of a wounded animal, calling for its predator to come and take it.
Yes, this will do nicely. But I must be quick or I will lose my opportunity to achieve… Perfection.
The lightning had ceased, and only the opposition remained. A… middling power, certainly weaker than Son Goku or Turles had been. Though it was noteworthy that Cell himself had dipped beneath where he estimated Android 17's strength had been, in fact, he was sure if 17 wasn't wounded at the moment, he would struggle to overcome him, despite his superior design. The Kaioken attack was the only thing that would allow him to remain a relevant fighter, admittedly, but he had found the floor of his power. There was no more of the human fuel to burn through.
But there would be soon.
"So it would seem," Cell commented in response to Raditz's decrying of his comment of Android 22's efforts all being in vain. "Though you are hardly the most oppressive obstacle in my way. I will admit, I wish I'd been just a little faster when we first met. After all, that would have saved me so much of this headache. But… you're the one who is going to give me my opportunity to achieve my dreams… Raditz… because with your power, I will still be able to acquire my true form."
The golden aura around his opponent seemed to flicker as the Saiyan's face twisted with more and more anger… before it… ceased. A calmness seemed to come across the Saiyan as his aura regressed, condensing, being less wasteful. Cell immediately took note, and was somewhat surprised, even. He was already learning to grasp his new power. Cell could only assume it was from his experience with others who had achieved the form. Another interesting note, he'd already focused his anger on an objective and wasn't making irrational mistakes.
Cell did not possess any of Raditz's DNA… he didn't fully understand him, he could only make judgement calls from his programming and pre-associated DNA structure. His instincts for interpretating new warriors were something he'd yet to fully test, outside of his involvement with the Androids. Son Goku's instincts had been integral to his design, of course, and that meant most importantly of all that he had the opportunity to exercise this feature more than before. Even their previous joust had to be taken into account. Raditz had utilized an inferior position to his fullest ability, trading space and time, trying to wait for the moment to exploit a mistake.
A cunning warrior, no less. Which may have complicated some of his own ideas as to how this fight should go.
"What's wrong? You've still not made a move," Cell growled. "Are you nervous? For all that bluster only a moment ago? Or were you just showing off?"
There was a devilish sneer that came in response, hard turquoise eyes gave him a darkened stare. Cell felt his brow-ridges rise slightly at the look, thinking for a brief moment that an attack was coming, or that there had been some sort of orchestrated plan. Like all Saiyans, and perhaps even himself, this one was just as cocky and arrogant as the others it would seem, believing itself even close to a match for him.
A wave of golden energy crackled off the ground as the aura surged once more, this time expanding in a controlled way as energy flickered all around him. Cell's own golden aura burst back to life around him. Even if he was near his floor, there was no reason to exert more power than he was required to, at least not yet. Short bursts of Kaioken would be a much more valid usage of the power at this point, given his weakened condition.
Bursting forward in a bull's rush towards him, Cell saw Raditz leap, his sneer vanishing along with his frame into a determined, cold, and yet still hateful visage. There was a whirl of power that pre-dated his attack, only for an image of the fighter to shoot through him, even as Cell swiped through the target, his arm cutting into the frame of the 'body' that would have struck him. A fore-image? How very clever, the Saiyan must have thought himself to be. The real Raditz rocketed towards him, his body now having apparently over-extended itself.
With the precision of a well aimed arrow, or dart, his tail jetted forward, skewering his target, ripping clean through the chest with the deadly point at the end of his tail. Only… it passed through another false image? Cell's own expression flashed with surprise as his attack failed, and yet another Raditz surged towards him. Snarling now, he launched himself towards the Saiyan, intent on ending the insult which had just taken place, his own frame passing through another image.
What is happening!?
Raditz's power was still all around him, but there were just images of his first attack, rushing towards him!? It was a technique he was utilizing well, adjusting to his needs. Cell had hoped he'd have been too enraged to use something as creative as this, even if it was a waste of time-
Light crackled around him as Cell put himself to a stop, just as the fore-images and after-images ceased, as Raditz was most definitely no longer in front of him. Something was happening, and he didn't like it. The familiar thrum of gathering energy surged nearby before his senses fully realized where the source was. Turning his crested head upwards, beaning his neck towards the sky, his eyes caught sight of what was happening. A pair of golden energy bolts hung in the air in the hands of the long-haired warrior, his golden aura pulsing dangerously as energy was focused into the direct attack.
He'd used those images as a ploy to attack him from above. This one was cleverer than he'd given him credit for, having clearly not lost his control in such a way that he'd allow himself to be blinded by his rage. Cell could already tell this was a problem of sorts, and that problem was growing by the second. There wasn't time to move, there was only time to challenge it.
"Double Sunday!"
The two rays of light exploded from above as Cell felt his body reflexively grasp the energy as it rained down on him in a cascade of fury. Around the ground quaked, being vaporized by inches every few seconds as his own field clashed with the beams, his hands reaching up into the hearts of the golden waves as he forced them back with sheer power of his own. It grew in intensity as his own aura flickered and waved, before shifting to solid red, only as the world turned into an oblivion of light all around if, as if there was nothing but energy.
Swallowing up the world around him, Cell stood alone as the sounds of destruction rang out in all directions as the blast reached its climax.
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Raditz:
The world below was divided into four distinct cuts from the blast waves colliding head on with his target, before the power-fields expanded outwards in an enormous blast, the bright beacons of destruction surged out and consumed the ground and the area around where the impact sight had been. In other words, where that thing had been.
His heart was racing, his blood was pumping, and it felt like someone had torn a hole in his chest and pulled a part of his soul away from him. It was everything he had not to descend into a grief-stricken rage. He'd been there as an observer when Kakarot had transformed, he could feel his brother's agony in his transformation. When he saw Turles's change, he could sense the same pain in him when that golden fire had wrapped around him the first time. Even when he'd… been broken, by Vegeta. He understood the component in all of them that he was missing, and he was never envious of it. Even as he floated above the battlefield that he now waged his war over, Raditz wished he could have thrown this power away. It was born of loss, and of the pain of injustice.
And of all those who'd first grasped this power, even at his hesitancy to have it, he knew what he was grappling with. It wanted him to rage against the source of that pain, but to do so would be to be consumed by it, and perhaps to be consumed by the thing down there. There was still something here outside of himself. This couldn't just be a quest for revenge. His nephew was counting on him. His brothers were counting on him. No matter what happened outside of this warzone, he was going to take one of the monsters out of this world, even if he had to die trying.
When the smoke cleared below, he could see the green, carapace-clad-creature peering back up to him with its slit-eyes, its beak twisted downwards into a half-scowl as he heard its wings buzzing for a moment. Raditz hadn't expected the attack to work, but he'd hoped it would have. If the creature had been mauled by the assault, he'd have swept in to finish it. Now, there was going to be a battle, and he needed to utilize everything he'd learned over so many years to win it.
He wasn't stronger than Cell, but power wasn't the only thing that determined who was going to win a fight. If he lost to this thing, or he let it get away, then all of this was for nothing.
It didn't say anything this time as its pose slowly shifted, but he could sense the tension coming off the thing as it prepared to launch itself up at him. Already, his mind raced to what that meant. Direct physical confrontations were something he only needed to fight on his terms, and he started to chance his own fighting stance to best receive what was coming.
The sheering buzz he'd come to understand was Cell's movement exploded all around him as he saw its form blast up towards him, a snarled growl mixed in with the other disgusting noise. Everything it was designed for, and everything it was built for, was to prey on people's fears. Even now when it was attacking him, it was attacking from a position of known-superiority. When he saw 22 fight it, she fought it with no fear, and it couldn't cope with it.
Shifting his stance once more, Raditz shot down towards the rising power in the final seconds before Cell's attack. Snarling himself, Raditz felt himself tap into the rage that kept trying to overwhelm him, as he shot towards the creature which had so brutally killed 22, and Piccolo, Raditz saw surprise blink across Cell's face in the midst of his counterattack. Raditz drove his fist straight down, crashing into the surprised monster's face, feeling it's leathery face behind his knuckles as his body almost jolted back from the force of the impact as Cell went straight back. Rallying immediately, and knowing this was a moment to follow up, he launched himself immediately after the descending Cell, throwing his arms together into an axe-handle smash, driving his fists into the side of Cell's body before the android's descent back to the Earth below accelerated past the sound barrier several times. The booms rolled out, overwhelming the buzz-noise the monster had once made before its frame crashed into the heart of the crater his previous energy-attack had left behind.
Zipping down to the ground blow, Raditz felt himself breathing evenly, bringing his rage back under control while he stared down this thing. Its face was in the dirt, though its arms were now moving to pull itself back up, a low growl rumbling out of it again as its eyes darted back towards him.
"You impress me, Saiyan," it grumbled. "Despite your inferior position, you seem to know exactly when to make your moves-"
Raditz's first response was just to spit on the ground next to them, not breaking his own eyes from the abomination as he did.
He'd seen this thing fight. He'd kept track of how it moved, and how it attacked. It's how he knew it was nothing but a bully and a stalker. Whether that be from the first time they'd met in Ginger-town, or when he'd seen it fighting Violet, or even from his previous encounter with this thing only minutes earlier.
It narrowed its gaze before continuing.
"- Which is a surprise to me. This whole world is a surprise to me. Piccolo was far more powerful than expected. There appears to be two Son Gokus, and you are still alive. Not that this matters in my grand design, I will be made complete before I bother with solving this puzzle-"
"Were you hoping I'd tell you?" Raditz asked bluntly. "It won't matter. I know why you're here, and it's not something you want to hear."
There was a tick of amusement that replaced its contempt and contemplation. It let its jaw go slack once more as it started to chuckle.
"Oh? And what is that, Saiyan?"
"You were brought here to die."
It blinked, its face turning into a frown as its beak opened slightly in confusion, before a cocky twist came into the freak's face, followed by a slow, dark laugh, trailing into its words.
"That seems to be more than ironic. I know my other two-selves are still here, lurking behind every corner. I've killed Piccolo, and that useless other machine that drove you to this pitiful outburst. The irony is even more delicious than you realize. All of that power you have at your fingertips? It will become one with my being after I devour you, and I will devour her useless husk after that. I will restore my strength and I will consume the other Androids before my doubles get their opportunity. This world will give me my ultimate form. How can it give me my death?"
Raditz himself didn't respond at first, but slowly shifted his stance, seeing the bug beginning to prepare his next attack. When it lunged forward, closing the distance between them in a blurred motion, he ducked down, seeing its arm swipe past where his head had just been, trying to catch him with a controlled haymaker. When it looked down, seeing him, there was a moment of realization on its part and Raditz knew it. The familiar thrum of a Super Saiyan aura burst around him a second later as Raditz launched himself up with the force of a space-rocket, crashing an uppercut into Cell's abdomen as he did. The two of them launched into the air as the monster sailed back.
When Raditz's feet hit the ground, Cell's body once more collapsed in a heap as it snarled, this time more viciously than before, scurrying to its feet as it breathed in and out heavily, purple blood trickling from its beak as it looked more and more confused, which quickly gave way to anger.
Stamping forward, the world trembled as its aura flickered alive too, just as his own was, its foot shattering the dense surface of the crater as it started to tremble with rage.
"You don't get it, do you?" Raditz asked, his calm tone on the knife's edge to rage. "You're finished. You can't win. You're already dead."
It paused as its aura scorched through the air, its power rising like the tide before him, almost threatening to overwhelm his own aura. The torrent washed over him as he saw it disrupting the ki all around them, but it didn't matter. Why would it?
"Cocky little insect," it breathed. "How is it that I'm already dead?"
"Do I have to spell out it for you?" Raditz asked bluntly. "You're pathetic. How can I lose to you? I know what you are. It doesn't matter what that idiot Doctor made you to be. The ultimate warrior? Hardly. You favour your right side like Frieza did. You strike high like Vegeta does. You use your feet like Piccolo and you try to off-balance your opponents like Kakarot. Did you not think I'd notice? I've seen all your moves. I fought all the parts of you that are you, and I've fought you as you are now. You're nothing but a cheap-knock-off of real warriors."
Cell's features now started to sink in what he was saying.
"And before you think being stronger than me is going to save you, think again," Raditz said. "Now Burn."
His right hand opened as a hellish orange-energy swept over them, overriding the golden light from their two auras.
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Gohan:
All the energies had been fluctuating for too long. Everything happening down there was twisting his stomach with every passing moment. Everyone's powers seemed to be rising and falling sharply, showing how brutal the fighting had to be. His dad, Turles, and Piccolo's powers had vanished. He'd been in fights before, of course he had; he knew what that meant. It was why Yamcha wasn't with them anymore. It was what happened to Krillin, Vegeta, and Turles on Namek when they'd faced Frieza. He wasn't there because he wasn't strong enough, so he didn't know for sure. He didn't know anything that was happening, but he knew that it was bad. With a pair of nervous eyes, he gazed down at the clouds below the Lookout, sensing only one thing happening that he didn't fully grasp at first.
Something had to have happened, because he knew what power was on display down there. His uncle Raditz had transformed, he'd become a Super Saiyan, the same as the others. The implication he imagined was his uncle Turles having been killed, or his father. Neither of those realities settled well with him. He only hoped that Piccolo had survived, but he couldn't sense him either. It'd been like sense a super-hero each time they were fighting, he could feel himself cheering them on only for their power to just… vanish.
Beside him, the other figure loomed over the watchout, a frustrated look on his face. The last Super Saiyan that was here outside of his uncle Raditz. Vegeta was in the time- chamber along with Trunks, which meant it was just the two of them. Did this mean he was going to go in there with him? What if his dad, Turles, and Piccolo were really gone?
"They've all been fighting down there," Gohan finally said, his tone as neutral as his anxieties would allow. "And you're up here."
"I know," he said back, his voice tight. "Because I have to be."
"Everyone else is trying to make a difference. Maybe if you'd been there-"
When the other warrior turned to look at him, Gohan immediately shut up, seeing the piercing stare from the other Saiyan. His eyes averted downward immediately. He could see a weathered, worn expression, perhaps one far beyond his years staring back at him. What was going to happen when Vegeta emerged from the time chamber? That's what he wanted to know. Where would this all end up going?
Seconds turned over into minutes as he sensed his uncle's power beginning to fluctuate, just as the others had. That was it then, wasn't it? Everyone who cared about him was going to die down there except his mom. And they'd be killed by those things. He could feel his own heart starting to race.
"If you're angry about it, good," the other figure said, though his voice seemed distant. "You're going to need that anger."
Before he could response, preparing to spit fire himself, he heard something in the back of his mind.
*Hey kid, Is your father up there?*
Gohan's eyes flashed open with surprise as he heard Turles in the back of his thoughts. Unable to help it, a smile broke out across his features as he felt relief, even for a second.
"Uncle Turles?! You're alive!?"
Eagerly, he turned his attention back towards the Earth, trying to sense his missing Uncle.
"Is he? Is he sending you a signal?"
Uncle Turles, what's going on down there?! Why can't I sense you or anyone else?
*Hate to play a tease kid, but I've not got time to ask. I'm asking where you're father is, that's all I've got time for.*
I… Dad's alive?
*Yes, he's too stupid to die. He's not answering my calls now though.*
What the Hell was happening down there?
*And do you have any of those magic beans? Are they ready yet? Not to pressure you or the fat cat who makes them, but we're going to need them.*
Korrin said that they'll be ready in a few hours. But where are you? We can go meet you-
*Too dangerous. Any power moving towards my position is going to get me killed. Those things are in pursuit. Raditz's transformation is throwing them off the trail for now, he and that other thing's power are disrupting the ki around the planet as they fight. The longer he fights, the better chance I've got to get away-*
Why aren't you helping him!?
*I've got another job. When you see your father, tell him to get me a bean.*
Before Gohan could respond back, he sensed the powers below exploding once again.
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Cell:
"… Burn."
The last word was delivered with such venom that Cell felt a chill run up his tail. He'd fought and overwhelmed Son Goku, 17, 18, Turles, Piccolo, and 22, and now the last obstacle in his way seemed to be a nobody. But it was a nobody who was causing him nothing but problem after problem. The world was igniting around him as if it were the surface of the star, even his own hardened flesh, enhanced by Frieza's ability to survive the hellish nature of space, screamed out in protest as he launched himself back in order to escape this hell.
I do not know this one's techniques. They are not apart of my being.
It was a strange thing, to be fighting the unknown. This world had been with so many, but Cell at least knew many of them to be familiar. In the case of 22, at least it'd been another Android. In the case of Piccolo, he was simply stronger, but still no match for his own strength. Turles had been another frustrating meal to slip through his grasp, but this one was proving to be by from the worst. Cell even sensed a moment of true uncertainty when the Saiyan announced he'd seen him fight. So far, that was proving out to be… unfortunately true.
Adjusting his tactics and form were his only options, but now, that was far from his mind as his skin started to catch fire from the intensity of the heat, and Raditz hadn't even launched the attack yet. His mind didn't even wander to question what this thing was, only that it was repellent to him. Leaping back several bounds, Cell scowled back at Raditz as the air seemed to start catching fire around him before he saw the Saiyan throw the attack at full force towards him. The blazing orange-orb shot towards him and was simple enough for him to dodge. Bracing himself, despite the heat causing the edges of his carapace to burn and his skin to welt, he launched himself up, dodging the ball.
A frustrating attack, certainly, but not one which Cell could not predict.
Having focused on the attack to dodge it however, Cell hadn't noticed where Raditz had gone?
Reaching out with his mind to find the source of power, his next meal, it was caught off-guard as he felt the intense heat once again, as his senses only detected the original attack. It wasn't the proximity to the blast either, peering down, Cell felt his eye-slits widen as they locked onto the attack now following him. The irony of being attacked by a heat-seeking heat-based attack wasn't lost on him, but he sneered at it all the same before launching himself back, now in the air, as the heat-bubble around the blast passed by him, a trail of burning oxygen in the air being left in its wake, only for it to loop back around towards him from above now.
Wretched Saiyan.
Pointing his own hand up at it, Cell formed a powerful-energy wave, launching it at the attack at the ball of thermal energy. When the two waves hit, he didn't fully understand what he'd done. It was as if the sun had opened up in the sky as his own energy mixed with the dangerous burning oily energy of the attack, mixing together in the blast and spreading it through the air like fire through dry foliage. The world around Cell, burned. It burned brighter and hotter than he'd ever imagined anything could burn. The air itself had ignited in the sphere of heat and light as he felt his internal organs singe and burn as well. The outsides of his eyes vaporized before he closed them, his thick, leathery skin catching fire, but not burning away.
Thoughts of his evolution and superiority simply vanished along with the oxygen around him in the intensity of the heat-dome. Finally, as the air cooled, agony sizzled across his entire frame before he felt his body simply dropping, unable to even concentrate on flight. When his feet hit the ground, cell finally gurgled with the agony he'd just been put through. His outer layer itched more than it started to crust with the severe trauma of what had just happened.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy that," Raditz's voice emerged in front of him, each word mixed between his contempt and rage, but somehow expressing a kind of blood-thirst and euphoria.
Even if Cell opened his eyes, he couldn't see Raditz yet, his eyes had in essence been destroyed.
Gloat all you want, Saiyan, this is but a temporary setback-
"And I'd love for it to continue, but I think you've overstayed your welcome, freak."
Sensing Raditz's ki spike one more time, Cell almost couldn't believe what was happening. There wouldn't be any gloating, or enhanced sadism that he could exploit? No willingness to make him suffer for his lost friends and that pathetic Android? He was simply going to kill him? If he could talk, he'd try to goad his counterpart further, but all that escaped was a long withering noise as his burned lungs failed to operate. The Saiyan plunged into him, his hands pressed against his abdomen, intent on setting off the attack at the very core of his being as Cell once more felt the energy around him turning wild.
Shakily, his own hands tried to move.
Within a second, they molted. Fresh skin, sensitive to the air slid out from under his crusted and scorched body as his hands grasped the energy now forming at his core. Opening his eyes, Cell saw the world in bright, vibrant colour for the first time since the blast, seeing the hateful eyes staring back into his own. Cell's entire outer-shell shed from his body as new flesh grew beneath it, his hands grasping at the golden light at his core as he felt himself smile back at the Saiyan, the two of them now struggling for control.
"Well, Saiyan," his voice sounded cleaner for a moment as his new flesh was used for the first time. "You certainly put in your best effort, didn't you?"
A scowl formed in response, as Cell's own aura raged around him, pushing further back against the Super Saiyan's energy, who was now in his own perfect range. It would be time to settle his scores now, there was no longer need to keep this charade going.
"Like all the others, Raditz, you have fallen short. Know this, I am Cell," he said dangerously. "And you are nothing but a genetic reject. Not even fit to be apart of perfection."
Raditz had been excluded after some trials when Dr. Gero had determined he was weak. Perhaps those trials were misplaced, but it did not change the reality of things. This one would be crushed under his power. Even if he was only slightly stronger for the moment, Cell knew he still had the advantage he needed, he simply needed to choose when to expend it.
Pushing the Saiyan back, their energy fields battling over the ki blast, Cell started to chuckle as the Saiyan's teeth seemed to grind in front of him. Already Cell was making his next move, intending on shoving the blast aside and going straight for the kill, his tail was positioning itself behind him, preparing to strike like a scorpion for the final blow.
"All that new power, and all it will do is fuel me."
Taking his next step forward, he prepared to cancel the energy wave with his full power and overwhelm Raditz. Instead, the energy wave disappeared first, his hands grasping at nothing as he almost stumbled forward. A confused blink happened before he felt a hand strike land on his midsection instead, gassing him immediately as his diaphragm contracted in response, his face turned down and forward as he looked at Raditz eye to eye as he felt himself sliding forward as his own momentum was turned against him, and Raditz twisting him over by his arm, slamming him into the ground.
His tail flailed behind him as he tried to get back up, only to find his arm locked in place by the Saiyan, who now shoved his foot into the side of his face to gain leverage on him. All the strength in his arm tried to pull back against the attacker as cell growled with frustration. This was humiliating in a way. He'd run over Piccolo, the most powerful warrior on this planet, as if it were nothing. He defeated the Androids, and Son Goku's brother after he'd already expended himself on Piccolo. Then he killed Android 22, a creature he'd not anticipated to be so strong. But now? Now he was losing, or at the very least being stalled, but this nobody.
When his slit eye made contact with Raditz's features once more, he could only see relentlessness behind his eyes. The warrior next to him now, wrenching his arm as he tried to tear it away from him, determined to win, or even die in the process. Perhaps that was what separated him from the others. Worse yet, he'd said it himself, he'd fought him already, and watched others fight him. His entire style was compromised, and even now as Cell sought to shift his attacks, it just made him clumsier, it may have even been how he ended up in this situation.
Muscle fibres in his arm started to stretch to their limit as the Super Saiyan field around Raditz sparked to life. Shifting his own power, he felt his own aura rage in response as well as the two of them were once again locked in a competition, only unlike before, now Raditz had pressed his advantage. Sliding his tail behind him to prop himself up to one side, Cell tried to push his face off of Raditz's foot as he felt his arm being pulled yet further, the socket it was held into started to buckle as the limb could barely hold itself together. Losing an arm wasn't the end of the world, but it would even up Raditz's odds of landing blows on him, which could put him into another predictably disastrous situation.
Once his feet found the ground beneath them, they locked in, his entire frame moving in defiance of Raditz as the Saiyan released his arm. Immediately Cell sprung into action, dashing after the opposition, they locked each other into battle once more. Cell's fist crashed into Raditz's guard as he immediately moved to overwhelm him with his superior speed. In a blur of motion their strikes connected as Cell felt himself push to the height of his power, the resonating waves of energy from the two of them swept over the ruins around them as pulses emerged from each blow, cracking out over the landscape. He couldn't land a clean shot.
Even with the disparity between them, even with him pushing himself to his maximum in his current state, even when he knew himself to be Raditz's superior, even with the speed of his attacks trying to overwhelm him, even with his tail, he couldn't land a clean hit. Finally, his fist landed on Raditz's face, and Cell felt relief wash over him, but it was short-lived. It'd been a trap, just as it always was. Raditz used his own power against him. The momentum spun the warrior to one side as he rolled past Cell's right flank, his guard, on the outside of his stretched arm, and swung his foot out at full force. It connected with the side of his head, and Cell immediately felt it even as he tried to move. Orange-chiton cracked in place as his green shell broke alone with it. Purple ichor shot from his right eye as he felt himself gag, his brain itself being impacted by the attack.
Twitching in response, trying to manage his defense as his body moved to salve his newest wounds, Cell felt the first of a dramatic combo beginning. Two kicks hit him in the side before a hard strike cracked his beak on his face, splattering half of his tongue across his face as Cell felt a grunt of pure, undiluted rage from his attacker. His right eye, already damaged, was crushed inside its socket by the next blow as his enemy focused all of his power into a single point for each attack.
Impossible... He's killing me…
Finally, Cell's hesitation turned into… fear? He was afraid of someone weaker than him? But how?
"This is for Piccolo," Raditz snarled as another blow landed, this time a knee to Cell's stomach.
His entire body felt like it was falling inward as his half-ruined tongue lay half out of his destroyed beak.
"And this is for 22."
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Raditz:
Swinging his leg down through the air, Raditz's kick crashed into the opened, blood-weeping face of the monster that had killed 22 in front of him. There was no way in HELL he was letting this thing get away with that, regardless of anything else. This lightweight thought it could eat a few million people and become some perfect killing machine? He meant it when he told it before that it had nothing on him. Every cruel act he'd visited on others seemed like they could be revisited upon this thing, but he knew better. It was all the training, it was all the fighting, and it was understanding his brothers, his nephew, the humans, and even the Namek that brought him this far, and that was to say nothing of 22 herself.
He was standing on their shoulders now as he fought this thing. No matter how much he hated it, it needed to die, rather than suffering, and that was the only regret he had in all this. Everyone else couldn't seal the deal, but he'd seen what it came back from. It needed to be annihilated, down to the very last piece.
He was going to make that a reality. So far, it'd been all he had to dodge and counter the attacks that had come his way. His jaw still hurt from the last punch he'd let it land, just to break the stalemate. Almost every foe he'd fought up until now prepared him for this. When he turned on his peers and fought Nappa, and then Vegeta, his power paled in comparison. When he fought the Ginyu Forces, he had lagged behind. Then he'd done battle with Frieza, a monster whose power dwarfed all of them as if they were bugs. The Namekians, the Androids…. Vegeta… and now this thing. They were all preparing him, just as much as his training, for this battle.
Forming another Tuesday-Firestrike in his hand, Raditz felt the hellish energy at his fingertips as he poured his energy into it. This had been the most effective attack so far, and if he could land a direct attack this time with a full powered version of the attack, much like the last, he was certain he could finish this battle quickly. The heat resonated all around him as he guided it to not touch the short space around him, letting his ki manipulate the 'fire' in the strike.
Just as Cell rolled back from the kick, landing on his feet, Raditz launched the attack, watching as the maimed thing stared back up at it. One thing that did help Raditz with this, is that at least he knew the attack was painful. If anything deserved to be in pain, it was Cell.
The light of the blast glowed brighter and brighter as the surface of the Earth around them turned orange in its hue, before Raditz saw crimson. Red energy crackled behind it as he sensed something that twisted in his stomach. Kaio-ken? Cell's "fuel" had powered it before, and it was certainly weaker than before, but he immediately knew the scale of his problem had grown dramatically as his own ki felt dwarfed. The Firestrike closed in on its target before Cell grabbed it with both hands, collapsing the blast between its grasp before jetting it straight into the air, despite the inferno it left behind. A trail of fire reached into the heavens before it exploded above, though Raditz never took his eyes off Cell, knowing the attack was lost.
Disgusted as he was, and flying in a strange path, likely due to some of the damage to his head, Raditz heard the familiar buzz the creature made before it collided with him. The slobbering beast snarled at him as its beak pulled itself back together as its right eye reformed. Slick green ooze dripped from the wound on its head, though it didn't cease snarling at him. This time, as Raditz tried to block the incoming strikes, it was just too fast.
All he managed was three blocks before Cell broke through his defense. Two strikes landed afterwards, and Raditz almost felt his entire world go black with how strong they were. Blood shot out of his mouth when Cell landed a blow on his jaw just as he had before, and once the kick landed, he felt his ribs almost buckle as his entire side seemed to crumble like cheap carboard. Another strike landed, and he could feel the vindictiveness behind it as Cell grunted in anger.
Another strike landed on him in mid air as Cell punched him straight in the guts, almost ripping through his body before an elbow crashed into his spine, sending him flying straight down as if he was a crashing meteorite. When his body made impact, he felt his golden aura flicker as he felt his power almost vanish for a moment. The ground cratered with him as he felt himself eating into the dirt. Spitting blood and dirt out of his mouth, he managed to barely pull himself onto his back, looking up as he felt his power fading.
His hair turned black, he knew it.
The hellish buzzing returned. The kaio-ken attack was just too much. Just as it'd been too much for everyone else. His gambit that Cell couldn't continue to use it indiscriminately seemed to have fallen through. Everything he'd planned, all his goals to kill this thing. It was coming up empty.
Seeing it jetting towards him, its tail poised to strike, Raditz could only glare, trying to move even at all caused him only to spasm once, he'd been neutralized by those strikes so badly he couldn't even roll out of the way.
All he heard was the beast laughing.
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Gohan:
It'd been all silent from everyone for minutes now. His uncle Turles had gone completely silent. Collar had been dead quiet as well, his eyes peering over the side and just trying his best to follow what was happening. The only thing he'd been able to do was watch from on high, peering through the clouds with his mind, trying to built and construct what was happening as the ki fluctuated. The Cell thing had been losing, he could sense it.
Raditz was doing it. It wasn't that he was surprised by the idea of his uncle pulling off a victory, he knew just how cunning of a fighter he was. It was the fact he was a Super Saiyan, and was fighting for everyone down there that seemed so strange.
"Come on Uncle Raditz," he said tightly, sensing the battle swaying once again. "I know you can do it."
Collar seemed oddly quiet for a moment before turning to look at him.
"Why do you think he's going to pull this off?" Collar asked. "The strength difference is too much."
"Because Raditz is a better fighter than you know. He beat Vegeta when he was stronger, and a Super Namek. He'll figure out a way to win."
The second he answered the question Gohan felt the power spike. All the hope he'd had a second earlier even vanished as he sensed Cell's power double, flying past his uncle's in raw power. The comments became hollow even, talking about a way to win. Collar didn't follow-up with anything as he looked back over the edge, they both knew what was about to happen. Gohan had seen it before. It was like when Frieza would transform, he knew what that meant.
Neither of them said anything before Gohan felt something shift.
That seemed impossible.
"… No…" Collar's voice emerged. "What's he doing?"
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Cell:
CRACK.
The ground splintered as his tail pierced through the remnants of asphalt that had once inhabited the now ruined wasteland they'd been fighting across. His hunger had accelerated now, his own stamina being drained by the fight so far. Instead of finding the warm body of his victim however, Cell found… the ground. His tail never once touched flesh.
K-tch. K-tch.
His feet made planetfall next, almost bolting into the pavement. It took him a second to realize that he'd gotten nothing. It was impossible. If Raditz had put up an afterimage, or if he'd dodged, he would have seen him. How could he just be gone?!
Eyes peered around him slowly as Cell felt his breathing labour. The last bout of Kaio-Ken had winded him, substantially. He couldn't even sense the movement of energy. What… what was happening?
This couldn't have been pure speed, could it? Was this another technique? An illusion?
Behind him, he heard something. Taking two steps to turn his attention behind him, he saw… Raditz. He was still propped up on the ground just as he had been before, only perhaps 15 feet behind him. Cell's eyes blinked as he focused in on him. Was there perhaps some kind of time dilation? This reality seemed rife with inconsistencies-
Only Raditz himself seemed confused as to how he was where he was.
"How did you do that?" Cell demanded, preparing to take another step forward.
"I didn't," Raditz admitted almost immediately, his eyes looking in all directions as well before he looked back at Cell, before looking amazed.
Cell stopped and blinked one more time, preparing his next attack when he sensed it. He realized Raditz wasn't staring at him. Just as he did, he felt to boots grasp the sides of his head beneath his head crest. Alarm exploded but too late as he felt his entire weight pulled up in a surprise, lightning-fast motion. A confused and furious growl escaped him as his entire body was flipped almost on the spot by 180 degrees, his face being planted straight into the ground. The hardened asphalt grated against his crest and beat as the impact on the hit rumbled around him as a major power attacked him.
Pain then exploded just above his tail as a kick hit him in the back, sending his face scraping along the ground for almost 10 metres before his entire body ran out of the blow's energy. His feet gradually fell forward as his entire body just flopped against the ground. He was still recovering his own stamina, he couldn't simply blur back into action as he just breathed on the ground, trying to put the math together as to what just happened.
A golden glow resonated over him as the familiar sound of a Super Saiyan aura emerged again, only this time it wasn't Raditz. No, he knew this power, he knew it all too well. Only when he pushed himself up from the ground and gazed ahead did Cell confirm it. Something primal awakened inside of him as he looked at the figure standing over Raditz, offering his hand out to him.
"Hey Raditz," the familiar voice, but one he'd only truthfully heard from shadows or recordings before stated. "I thought you could use a hand."
Son Goku.
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Raditz:
Disbelief.
That's what Raditz felt. It was a complete sense of disbelief that he'd survived the attack which should have killed him only moments ago. The weight of shame of having failed to stop that monster was on his shoulders until he was saved by what he knew was Instant Transmission. The only thing that was shocking to him about it was that it happened. Firstly, Kakarot was in no state to continue fighting anyone. Even now as he walked towards him, despite his aura glowing around him, he could see the burns, bruises, and scrapes across his form. He could sense his brother's body was in a weakened condition, even if it was accessing its ki. The best-case scenario was that Raditz had bought everyone time, time that KAKAROT needed as well. Instead, he'd intervened.
Was he expecting for him to back off with him? Was that the plan? Retreat? Live to fight another day?
"Hey Raditz," Kakarot said finally while extending his hand. It felt like the first thing he'd really said to him with any kind of sincerity since Capsule Corporation. "I thought you could use a hand."
Meeting his brother's eyes with his own, Raditz didn't verbally respond at first before reaching out, taking the hand firmly as he felt his brother help him to his feet. It wasn't easy to say anything under the circumstances. The betrayal of his own family for his own personal honour was something he could only admit he regretted if he felt he'd been wrong. He knew he wasn't wrong, but it didn't take away the sense of shame he still felt over it. It was the same reason why he couldn't run from this battlefield. That thing needed to die, and he was going to see it happen. He'd seen this vile charade of a monster as it preyed on others trying to devour them.
K-tch.
Raditz looked past his brother, who was still smiling, nodding to him as if recognizing that they would have things to discuss later, at least in detail.
"I think you've found yourself again, Raditz," he said to him honestly.
Before another word was exchanged, the monster beyond growled, though Raditz could tell it was winded. He only had to ask himself what it was planning? Looking at its form, it was tense, and not pent up with aggression, but uncertainty, anxiety. This thing believed it was smarter than everyone else in the room, it wasn't going to make an attack, that much he promised. It wasn't like Frieza, outraged at being outpaced in that way. It didn't have to kill them, that objective was only in place so long as it felt it had access to the resources it needed to resupply itself with energy. He knew this thing's gameplan. It would have been his gameplan.
It was going to cut and run.
*Don't let it escape, Kakarot.*
Kakarot gave him a side glance as he sent the message silently and stared down the android.
"Well," it rasped at them. "It appears that our private dinner has become a bit… crowded for my tastes, Raditz. Though I must say that I am so sad that we won't get the opportunity to know one another better. Especially to our newest arrival… Son Goku…"
"You're not going anywhere," Kakarot ordered, stepping forward. "You're not exactly in the best shape to get your way out of this, Cell. Even if you're only one of you, you're going down."
A small chuckle followed before a sly smirk crossed its beak.
"Is that so? Well, forgive me if I disappoint you, Goku," it said, before its hands flashed to its face. "But I really must be going!"
It jetted into the air a moment later.
"SOLAR FLARE!"
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Cell:
Any further engagement was pointless in this affair. To stay here and fight would be to condemn himself to being consumedby time. His siblings, in the meantime were hunting Android's 17 and 18. Even if his power was diminished, he would need to wait for the right moment to strike and begin the process of achieving… perfection. Raditz's vendetta would have to wait until he was ready to settle scores with the Saiyan. The main source of anxiety he now possessed however was he was unsure if he had the strength needed to obtain that which he required. He had no true reserves of energy remaining, not beyond his original strength. Even now, Kaio-ken was an imperfect weapon, he simply didn't have the fuel to use it as he once did, it could only be used in short bursts, and the higher of an intensity he used it at, the more rapidly he lost its power.
Damn you, Saiyan. Damn you, Son Goku. I will not forget this so easily.
Especially since his peers were no doubt hot on the trail on the Androids. Worse yet, he'd lost their track. Did he even have the strength to close with them before this was decided? He had little to no doubt that it would not take long for this all to come together. Their prey only needed to make one mistake and reveal themselves, and they would be theirs. He'd been the one to put in all the work! He'd spung the trap! He'd caught the Androids at their weakest and defeated them, and Turles!
Now it was all being squandered because of these fools and that damned defect 22!
Trees passed by him rapidly as he scowled further as he pounced towards the trees outside of the wasteland of what had been the ruins they were fighting over.
I must find something to feed on before-
Red light surrounded him. Much as it had before, the day he'd first confronted Raditz in that cursed city of Ginger-town. The Red energy engulfing him almost ripped through him in his low-powered state, forcing him to immediately raise his defenses, his energy in the heart of the blast. Trees were ripped away and vanished around him as he rolled back, before even that turned into him sailing back through the air and scraping along the ruins of the city.
When he rolled to his stop, his eyes frantically looked about, only to see the figure in the air which had caught him.
RADITZ.
It was unbelievable that this was happening!
"What's wrong, Android?" Raditz breathed angrily from above, his hand still glowing from the residual energy of the attack. "Don't want to fight?"
In front of him, as if on cue, Son Goku appeared, his aura glowing brightly around him once again. So, they had cornered him, hadn't they? Or rather, Raditz had cornered him. Another escape attempt might be unfortunate for him if he didn't first remove one of the two primarily obstacles. The real question was, did he have the power to overwhelm Son Goku, or kill his weakened brother Raditz? And if so, could he devour them and chance that calculous yet further? Looking between the two of them, one standing, the other floating above them, he measured up what he knew so far. Raditz was trapped in his normal form, at least for the moment, and Son Goku was a Super Saiyan, but was critically injured. He could overwhelm Raditz with power, and he could overwhelm Goku with any attacks that slipped past his defenses. But could he do both? Especially as weakened as he was?
Letting his own power come to the fore would also display to Son Goku that he was no stronger than he was as well, without Kaioken, but he also couldn't hold back without potentially being overwhelmed. He needed to lure them into the false sense of security which he'd fallen into before. This couldn't be his end, but they also knew the extent which he could regenerate. His tails swished behind him dangerously as his mind raced with the few seconds he had.
"You have been very annoying," Cell admitted to Raditz, before looking at his true prey-item. "But perhaps I should thank you. You are giving me the opportunity to fulfill one of my greatest purposes."
"Let me guess," Goku spoke up. "You want to kill me?"
A sly smile crossed his beak.
"Ahhhh, your encounters with my siblings clearly have given you insight into your fate, Goku. I am surprised you would fight me in this condition as… wounded as you are," Cell said. "What I must know though, Goku, before I end this game of ours and do away with you and that pathetic brother of yours… is how was it you were able to move so quickly? Your power should not have allowed you to move so quickly that I could not follow it. Our powers are more than comparable, even if you put all of your strength into your speed, it should have not been possible."
A sly smile crossed Son Goku's face in response as he lowered his frame and set himself into an engagement stance.
Hmmmm, unwilling to tell me? Fascinating. Goku's behaviour is listed as being open to a fault. This ability must be more powerful than anticipated.
There was a standoff as the two sides remained locked in place. As the seconds passed, Cell of course realized why. His counterparts were better off if the battle was delayed, it gave time for Raditz to recover his energies, perhaps enough to become a Super Saiyan once more, and it also denied him the ability to hunt the Androids.
What he needed to do was break the stalemate, and he needed to win, decisively, and quickly. Formulating his plan, Cell braced himself to begin his attack.
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Son Goku:
He already knew the problems. Beating this thing wasn't going to be easy, not by a long shot. Coming here he knew that was going to be the case. Even with what Raditz had done before to try and revenge himself on Vegeta and Bulma, something Goku knew he'd not forgiven his brother for, he also saw Raditz help his friends and put his life in danger to do so, including fighting Android 20 directly, and saving Yamcha, and that was to say nothing of the other Androids he'd battled up until this point. It was the right thing to come to his aid, and even if he'd turned his back on him, and rightly so, he couldn't help but think of Raditz as his brother in this struggle.
Ironically, Goku wished Turles was here, given he never wished he was here, because if he was, he knew they'd have been able to stop this thing dead in its tracks. Of course, he really wanted to fight it on his own to test himself against it, but there was just too much at stake. Even sizing this thing up again he knew they were going to be in for a Hell of a fight, especially considering how beat up he was. He wasn't going to hold up for long if this thing got enough shots through, and he knew that already, 17 had just done too much damage.
What they needed was the death-blow on this thing.
As soon as his mind locked onto the framework of the plan though, Cell was already launching itself forward, he felt the ki shift in the air around them, before the force-wave of Cell's impending approach washed over him. Stepping into it just before the charge crashed against him, Goku met the beast face to face as both of their fists connected against one another. The thunder from the blow rocketed all around them while he started it down. There weren't any words from it, but he could see behind its eyes and posture, an alien intelligence plotting and scheming its attacks.
In a flurry of motion, the dance of destruction began. The two of them jetted around one another with broad sweeps, connecting on several dramatic strikes, slamming into one another's defenses, before the engagement turned into a swarm of close-range attacks. Both of them kicked, punched, and otherwise struck out for one another, each one dodging past the other in this duel of power. Finally, the exchange turned from blocks and dodges, to body blows and head strikes. Goku felt his own attacks landing home as huge strikes landed in turn. He hit Cell in the face, only for his own to twist in pain, before a strike landed on his mid-section, just as he connected again with Cell's head, only to drive his knee into the monster's gullet, before its tail slapped him down from the side.
The final strike sent him flying back, and he heard the hellish razer chasing at him through the air. Utilizing instant transmission immediately, Goku put himself back to where he'd been only seconds earlier and immediately focused his power into his hands.
"Kamehame-HA!"
The surge of blue power exploded out of his hands towards the bug-monster. Cell's body twisted to meet the blast, and the main thing Goku noted was the scorn in its gaze as it did. Throwing a ki blast to the side, Cell's body crashed straight into the wave. Goku felt himself almost freeze up with how powerful he really was when ploughing straight into the wave. The struggle moved back and forth for control over several seconds before Goku heard it.
"Kakarot! Move!"
Turning his eyes to the left, it was immediately apparent what was coming for him. A guided kenzian disk swept towards him and Goku immediately let the beam go, pressing his fingers to his head again as he transported himself upwards.
When he reappeared, his eyes saw the dispersing mass of blue energy swelling at where Cell had been, but there was no sign of him. What there was, was an enormous power spike. Kaioken.
Energy crackled around him as he realized what had happened. The speed was too fast, and instant transmission didn't give him an oversight as to what happened from the time he'd dodged. Cell was behind him. The turn he made showed him the truth, the red energy clad figure had its hands in front of itself, its hands formed into a triangle.
"Goodbye, Goku. Tri-beam!"
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Cell:
This time, Son Goku didn't escape with his little technique. The orange energy wrapped around his position and struck the surface of the earth in an enormous blast. The ground liquified at the force of the explosion as orange-white light overwhelmed everything, the fireball from below washing over Cell as he felt his red aura slip from his body, his frame still labouring as he was already descending towards the flaming wreckage that had been the ruins.
At the heart of all this destruction, he could see the prone form of Son Goku himself. Yes, a more than adequate attack. Expending so much energy, and expending even more utilizing the Tri-Beam had been worth it. Raditz would come in defense of his sibling, and then he would crush him. The two would be devoured, restored his power, and even fulfilling one of his true purposes. He felt his entire frame quiver with anticipation even as his alien feet clamped into the ground.
Swaying his shoulders from side to side with his strut, he was already chuckling as he approached the downed form. From saviour to victim, how many times had he seen it before? What a wonderful gift. Inevitably, all fell before his intellect.
Right on time.
Raditz appeared before the broken body, looking furious, but Cell already knew his own power had been largely expended.
"Really, Raditz?" Cell chuckled. "You've played a clever hand so far, but you are in no position to stand against me now. Wouldn't retreat have been the better option? How far do you think you can carry your brothers body before… before…"
Raditz's fighting stance wasn't what was distracting him. He could sense it.
He could sense his own power again, rising across the world. His hearts starting thumping as he felt himself turn to the far distance.
"No," he breathed quietly to himself.
"Oh, would you look at that," Raditz said coolly, not displaying amusement, but malice towards him. "Are you running late for an appointment?"
I need strength! I can't make a move as I am!
Looking at Son Goku's body, before looking at Raditz, Cell felt his tail swish dangerously, his eyes narrowing in on Raditz as he took another step forward.
"I've not been outplayed yet, Saiyan," Cell almost snarled before leaping forward.
Certainly, he was drained from the use of the Kaio-Ken attack, but he could overwhelm the even more exhausted Raditz. When the large Saiyan shot back towards him at the same time, it was the first thing that caught him off-balance. Not having an attack ready at this stage of his charge, Raditz landed the first blow, crashing into him like an asteroid. It wasn't enough force to hurt, but it was enough to disrupt him. Snarling with frustration and hate, Cell turned back, striking the Saiyan hard with a right, almost ripping his head clean off his body. Even in his obvious defeat, he couldn't just die.
Landing another blow, this one at his centre of mass, the big figure's feet lifted off the ground as blood spat out of his mouth before Cell drove a straight fist into the side of his exposed ribs, crashing into the melted, ruined ground beneath them. Without a second through, Cell didn't go for the kill with his tail, he was too furious at this thing's insolence and how it'd cost him so much time. It may have cost him everything.
Raising his foot, Cell stamped down on the body several times, each one causing the Saiyan to grunt before the final one causing him to scream. There it was, that was what he wanted.
"Now you see the futility of your resistance. You and your brother are going to die here. Just like Piccolo and that wretch Android 22. Then I am going to kill your other brother Turles, and consume the Androids. I will become perfect, and you are going to be nothing but fuel for me, you insect," Cell almost spit before kicking Raditz's form into the unconscious form of Son Goku. The two Saiyans rolled over several times at the impact.
Taking step after step after them, he let his smile emerge once more, his tail looming at his flank, preparing to finally delve into the meal he'd earned.
Looming over the pair a moment later, only Raditz was staring back at him, his baleful eyes piercing him.
"Goodbye, Raditz."
Looming his tail into the air, he prepared to fire his tail like a harpoon. The only thing to be heard was his grim chuckle.
How fitting.
Blood exploded out with the impact. Only it wasn't Raditz who was speared. Cell stopped in place; his breathing hitched as his left set of lungs struggled work with the now gaping hole punctured through it. It was everything even to stay standing as his hands started to tremble. Reflexively, his face twitched several times as he reached down unconsciously towards the puncture wound in his chest. There was something lodged in it. His fingers traced over a ribbed-steel rod… rebar.
Wh…what is happening?
His eyes darted around in confusion, his neck hurt so much he could barely turn it, but by the time he did, it was too late. The only thing he noticed was the look on Raditz's face, which was one of complete… shock.
Sharp pain exploded into the side of his leg as he felt bone snap and muscle tear in his knee. A gargled scream managed to slip past his beak before something grabbed the bast of his tail and grabbed his left arm, kicking out his good leg and hoisting him into the air before using raw power to throw him straight into the ground. His armoured carapace on his back, the two 'wings' that existed behind him, cracked and fractured.
His slit eyes, filled with pain, looked for an energy source, it looked for the attacker. Above him, the figure hobbled into view.
I… I'll kill!- No.
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?:
Savior Protocol, complete.
The diagnostics report began to run in front of it, flashing critical symbols came up showing the extent of the damage.
Error. Backup systems failed. Attempting backup protocol II.
Error. Backup systems failed. Chip #3 being accessed.
Backup completed.
Cauterization complete.
Blood supply at dangerous levels.
Reactors Online, operating at 35%. System interface, online. Primary objectives list, corrupted.
Primary target. Cell. Terminated.
Status pending.
Sensors Online.
Rerouting critical systems.
Articulation restored.
Its sight returned as a world of chaos followed. In the near distance a fireball emerged as it tried to keep in line with what was happening. Turning its senses down, it looked towards what was now a large burn wound in its abdomen, with a piece of steel sticking out of it. Reaching down and pulling the piece out of its body it examined it.
Memory-core restoration from #3 35% complete.
Memories… memories came to the fore. It's biological processor working in tandem with its chip as she started piecing together where she was. A struggling hand reached out, grabbing the ground and pulling herself to her feet. Her internal clock indicated she'd been incapacitated for an hour.
Status: Critical.
Recommended: Return to depot for servicing.
Twenty-Two paused as she looked down everything which had happened up until this point. Why was there still fighting? Her optics narrowed in on the sky and rapidly assessed every pixel in the distance until she caught it, descending into the distance below.
Primary Target Revised: Cell, alive.
Her own system had some level of self-repair during the shutdown sequence? It'd fixed the most critical part of the wound in her torso, but she was hardly… stable. Systems were all down. She just couldn't believe in a way that she was… alive. The only problem was, her target was alive as well.
Was it Raditz fighting? The other Androids? She didn't have context. She'd given her life to stop this from happening, but it still was. Clearly, she'd not given her life however, and if she'd survived… Cell, had somehow, survived as well.
Looking at the piece of rebar in her hand, she managed to start getting up, her right leg not being responsive enough to keep up with the left as she rapidly began disabling every warning system onboard as her own operating system pleaded with her to find repairs or refuge. There was no stopping until her job was done.
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Raditz:
"You," Cell rasped as it ascended from its place on the ground, ripping the piece of metal out of its chest. "Does no one stay dead anymore?"
He could see her from behind, turning his head to his brother, who was still unconscious, Raditz turned back to 22, his eyes blinking in disbelief. He could see the blood-stain on her back, and the hole, the burnt hole, in abdomen. How… how did she survive? She was standing there, clearly not the most well-off herself, but still standing defiantly in front of this thing. He wanted to feel joy or happiness, but he couldn't help but feel dread. Was she here just to die… again?
"Get out of here, Raditz," she said. "Take your brother with you."
"Like Hell," He managed, wincing as he started trying to pull himself up.
"Your concern for one another is touching, truly," Cell growled, though was smiling once again. "But I believe that I have a fight to win."
She didn't turn to look at him at all, and Raditz knew why, taking her attention off Cell at all would have been a death sentence, but he still couldn't believe she was alive. Brushing her hair to one side 22's stance was favouring her life side as she prepared to confront Cell. It was of course, painfully obvious that she was injured, far worse than Kakarot had been. She wouldn't stand a chance against Cell. Even if she could utilize all of her power at the moment, her own means of being this kind of monster wouldn't work, even with multiple murder kicks, he needed to be completely destroyed. She was going to lose.
Managing to climb to his feet, Raditz stood behind her, eying down the monster who was now ignoring him.
"Still not intent to say much, sister?" Cell asked her, his wounds sealing up. "Fine. I'll just kill you again."
Within a second, they'd both vanished into the air, speed propelling both into the sky as several booms blasted over him. How she'd survived he didn't know. He couldn't know, not without asking her. She had no ki for him to even trace, so he couldn't understand the nature of her revival even. Was she just a machine? Did she just turn back on? It was an insane idea.
Another shocking crash exploded through the sky as he saw 22 flying back through the air with a furious Cell in pursuit. She wasn't going to win, he knew that already, she was too injured. Kakarot was out of action. Turles wasn't here. His power was… slowly returning, but his body was breaking down. He needed to finish this. As terrible as it was…
He needed 22 to fight, because he needed her to open up the opportunity that Kakarot didn't manage to for him. She was going to live. He didn't care if he had to die to see that happen. But he was going to take that thing with him.
He just needed the right window. He needed Cell overextended. If he could get that, he knew what to do. No matter how painful it was for him emotionally of physically, he had to make the right series of actions to guide Cell into place.
He was going to get him into the right moment. It was going to take all that he had, but he could already see what he needed to do and when.
Just don't get yourself killed 22, not again.
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Twenty-Two:
Her body rolled back before he was already on her again, landing another vicious strike on her side, aiming for her weak spot. She hated even yelping or grunting to acknowledge the pain, but it was an impossibility to avoid. Her targeting systems helped her block some of the incoming strikes, and each one she managed to catch him with were more than satisfying to her onboard systems.
When she braced herself against the ground with his next onslaught, she intercepted him by grabbing his leg as he came in with a kick. Immediately slamming her elbow into it, she sensed the bone fracture behind the blow as his chiton cracked as well. He seethed and his head reared back before she pulled him in by his leg, jumping into his neck and punching straight into his throat. The giant gargled a second later, both his hands reaching for his pulverized windpipe before she followed it up with a brutal kick across the side of his head. The blow cracked his carapace, but she felt him respond with his tail wrapping around her wounded leg and swinging her back, crashing her into the ground again. A hiss got past her as the disgusting appendage tightened around the stiffened, wounded limp.
It took Cell several seconds before he started breathing again, and she could see the slit eyes turn back towards her.
"I hate you," it seethed, pulling her into the air by her leg, leaving her upside down.
Good.
That sense of accomplishment however was immediately mixed with the feeling of a rib shot, hitting her right next to where the rebar had protruded from her body earlier. Another blow landed a second later, before a knee struck her in the face. Her body jostled from side to side with the impact of each strike as she took the beating, trying to block blows but being unable to keep up. She was too weak. Warnings blared again as she too the opportunity, finally, to catch his leg when he came through for another kick.
He knew exactly what it meant.
"No!"
Dragging his leg and using his own tail as leverage, she brought him to the ground, grabbing the thick toe at the end of his foot and breaking it in three places. A furious snarl escaped her attacker, but unlike last times, she couldn't hold him in place. Her own body was too injured, her own leg was still wrapped in his tail, which was now constricting around it, crushing her already brutalized muscle. Breaking a second toe, she only had a second left before it was finally too much for her. As soon as her grip released the foot, Cell pulled it away, and she felt her body propel at high speeds into a flipping motion, before she was crashed into the ground behind it.
Trying to scurry to her feet, she found herself fall back to one knee, her left leg hanging uselessly at her side. The next big blow landed when the wounded foot of the monster collided with her face straight on in a gigantic kick. She'd had no time to dodge. Everything went black for a moment as several error messages being the only thing she could track as her optics reset. Her balance entirely collapsed from where she was as she lay half against a piece of debris, trying to push herself to go further again.
She had to keep on fighting. She wouldn't stop until she'd won. Only. She couldn't get up.
As her visual sensors picked up Cell, she noticed him not approaching further.
"There is no one left," Cell grumbled, knowing she couldn't get up, but she also knew he wasn't directing it at her.
"Just us," Raditz's voice emerged from just above her as his firm slowly came into view, landing just in front of her.
Something had changed in him. She could see it, even from when they'd parted ways only an hour ago. It was different from what she'd seen before. It'd only been a days since she'd met him – again in many ways, for the first time. He went from being a man desperately looking for revenge, then someone seeking absolution and forgiveness, a good death.
Now, she didn't know who was standing in front of her, but she could sense something her processor couldn't put into any other words outside of perhaps that it was someone… guided by purpose… or destiny.
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Cell:
The wind blew past the two of them as Cell stood there, looking at the final obstacle. No more interference. No more surprise entrants. No more bailouts, or surprises. It was down to the two of them. The last obstacle to his destiny was here now.
Truthfully, even for him, he was tired. Had he known this would have been such a mess, he might have just killed Piccolo and drawn in his counterparts to do the rest of the work. Even now, after he finished this meal, he would need to take flight as quickly to where the flashes of those power signatures were. Mistakes were made, even he would admit that, but this was far from over. He would be perfect.
The way Raditz was poised, he could sense what was about to happen. Madness, was about to happen. Because the Saiyan really seemed to be implying to him that he should challenge him to a beam struggle? Did he really wish to exchange energy waves? This was how he wanted to die? In his weakened condition? Energy crackled around the Saiyan as his red aura flickered around him, his right arm glowing more prominently of all.
He is trying to force me to kill him in a way where I will gain nothing. If I use my Kamehameha, it will vaporize him, and her. Then my only meal will be Son Goku…. No… that won't do.
A smile crept across Cell's face as he stared Raditz down, his own aura starting to glow across his body.
"How foolish," he chuckled. "Do you really think that I am going to destroy my meals here, Raditz? Especially when you're not even able to hold onto that new form of yours?"
The Saiyan didn't flinch, he didn't show any signs of nervousness at all.
Placing two fingers to his head, Cell gave a long, low, satisfied noise as he started to gather the energy to his index and middle finger. In his own timeline, this had been the technique which had slaughtered Raditz, and it would be all too fitting to utilize it here. Even more fitting as well, as this attack would leave behind most of the body for him to consume.
Energy buzzed in the air as Cell started to chuckle.
"I am the perfect warrior, the ultimate expression of the most powerful fighters, and races, in the history of the universe," Cell rasped. "And you are just a Saiyan."
The tension remained in the air. Every second that passed felt like it could snap it at any moment. Each one of them could 'fire' first, though Cell had little doubt he could weather whatever Raditz was forming, and forming poorly.
He won't even have the chance to fire whatever little attack he has planned.
"Are you ready?" Cell mocked, just as his own aura flared Red, bursting his strength with one last push of Kaio-ken.
The look in the Saiyan's eyes as he peered into them one last time told him an answer without words, for a brief second, Cell was even uncomfortable. There was something behind them, something that looked like… peace, and resolve. It was almost serene, despite how hardened it looked.
"Yeah," Raditz said in turn.
Before the word was even completed, Cell had pointed his fingers out, aiming them straight down his target.
"Makankosappo!"
The beams fired, energy exploded from his fingers as a thin pair of lines appeared in the air at first, bolting forward in an instant like a lightning bolt. The drill, the Special Beam Cannon, shot straight towards him. The corkscrewing bolts were so fast Cell almost felt them land the second his fingers had shot out.
Only then didn't. Raditz never challenged the beam. The Saiyan barely moved to the side as his own pitiful attack prepared to launch. Only… Raditz's power exploded, expanding as if he'd just… transformed! Hair turned to gold as an intense light of the same colour burst out from where the attack had been fired.
When he threw his hand forward, he almost swung it in a single motion. It was a technique Cell had never seen before…
Electric bonds fired from his fingers, wrapping around Cell as he felt his body almost seize into place. Limbs struggled against the bonds as he felt his feet almost anchor in place. Then, the single bolt at its core appeared. A single, slow moving orb of annihilation.
"Thursday Thunder Hammer!"
Barely with enough strength left, Cell threw his hands forward, pushing against his bonds as his would-be-death faced him down. The scorching energies from the attack were intense, overwhelming. The energy wave hit like a Tsunami. It expanded a hundred-fold as soon as it touched his ki barrier. The energies around it were chaotic, powerful, and they were like holding back a raw power he'd not seen before. His hands burned as the energy finally started to fall into his hands. He would control and cancel this blast soon enough.
"You…" he growled. "Will… never… stop… Perfection-"
Beyond the blast, he couldn't sense him anymore. He couldn't sense Raditz's power in the entire 180 degrees of his front arc. Had this attack, an attack of this magnitude, been an attempt at escape? After all of this, after all these attempts to stop him, had the Saiyan finally given up?
Then he sensed it.
No, that's impossible.
Turning his head slightly, Cell saw the Saiyan flying straight towards him, straight from behind, his golden energy burning as Cell felt his hearts begin racing. What was he doing?
With one hand left holding the tempered blast which had been used before, he turned only in time to see the Saiyan warrior's right arm charged and glowing red as the Saiyan slammed into him directly, roaring as he did.
It was another attack, the Saturday Crush. He'd slammed the energy straight into his abdomen, straight into his body. Cell released the Thunder-hammer behind him, grabbing Raditz's hand as he felt his carapace armour sizzle and burn away at the intensity of the attack, burning through and into his body.
What is happening!?
The Saiyan didn't pull back let his attack mind itself, instead he pushed forward, pushing them both into the huge orb of energy. Cell realized only then what was happening. His kaio-ken attack had already flickered away, his power was tapped. He had no reserves left to summon, his body now started to burn from the inside as the Saturday Crush started to expand in his very core, and just as he was pushed into the volatile, swirling energies around them.
Cell knew what was happening in that moment as his entire world became consumed in the red and orange energies behind him, and he could feel himself, and hear himself, screaming. Chip by chip his body started to just pass from his body, scattering to the winds around them. His own energy started to be caught inside of all of it, swirling into the mass of chaos and destruction. His legs were already separated from his body, vanishing in all of this. Cell watched as Raditz's own frame burned in the energy, realizing the Saiyan had pushed himself into this, just to scorn him.
Reaching out to grab him with his own two hands, Cell wanted to choke to death the primitive that had killed him. He couldn't accept that this had happened to him.
Only before his evaporating hands could grab hold of Raditz… light around them expanded as the energy reached critical mass. Everything turned to light, the power surged around them.
And Cell was gone.
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Twenty-Two:
There was a heartbeat.
She could hear it. Whether it was her own or not, she didn't fully know. She'd seen the light. She'd seen the fire from the explosion. It was about to overwhelm her, it did, even. She felt the energy from the immense blast roll over her and then… nothing.
It should have been a permanent disablement. She expected to go offline, again. This time, for the last time.
But she knew she was online. She was in motion as well. She was warm. The sun was shining down on her face, she could feel it before she could see it, and she pieced together someone was carrying her. Her energy levels and body-functionality were so low she didn't even want to open her eyes. The entirety of her chassis was so badly destroyed at this point she'd be lucky if she could speak.
How?
"Is it over?"
Raditz?
She recognized the voice and it was enough to finally get her to open her eyes. As soon as she did, she saw the half-burned figure's face only a few feet from her own. He was standing there in the light. He looked tired, wounded, and barely alive himself.
"Yea, that's it for him. Man, what a close call. You outdid him. You'll have to teach me that one next time you're out."
Son Goku.
"Kakarot," Raditz finally said. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Everything," Raditz said shortly.
There was a strange silence, and she couldn't see everything, only to see Raditz finally turn back to look at her. Despite how wounded he was, much like herself, despite how tired he looked, despite the burns on his face and angry swelling around his right eye, when she saw him look down at her, there was something that she couldn't explain when he smiled.
"So, we meet again," he said quietly.
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Author's notes:
Yea, I'm aware it's been a year. So! A couple things to go over. I can't really produce very quickly at the moment. My life's changed a lot over the last year. The company I was working for went under. I became unemployed. I started doing Youtube, which is actually working, but I do it 7 days a week. It's really interesting, but it just absorbs all my time. I got sick last week with the virus that-shall-not-be-named and it fucked that up, at least for a week, but it gave me the chance to write this.
Definitely not the final draft, but sadly it's what's going up due to time. I would have edited a few more scenes to add a bit more, but it is what it is. I think Cell came out okay. I did rewrite a few sections as I wasn't sure the characters were coming out correctly.
I had a few different outcomes for Raditz planned in the story depending on how I wanted to do this chapter. I figured with all the things happening in the world, and all the things that have happened in these stories, and with these characters, that it's not always so bad to put something forward with a bit more of a good outcome.
Also, the new Dragon Ball film coming out this weekend is a downer, as honestly I think it doesn't look good. :\
Alright, enough from me. I dunno when the next update will be. Next time I get sick lol
