Cell, the Cell Juniors, and all the warriors looked at Gohan in his changed form in wonder. Ranch, on the other hand, couldn't help but uneasily laugh a little bit. "Pushed over the edge because that frickin cyborg got squashed," she mumbled. "Sure, whatever, I'll take it." Noticing that her mini Cell was distracted, Ranch kicked it away before she powered down from Super Saiyan.

Gohan snatched the bag of Senzu beans out of Cell's hand so fast that Cell barely noticed that it happened. And then Gohan took off, to where Krillin was and easily put down the Cell Junior with an ease that stunned everyone. From there he went on to zip around, taking out the remaining Cell Juniors one by one. When just one was left standing, it tried to run way, but Gohan quickly caught up and destroyed it like the rest.

"See that, Cell?" Goku asked from the ground. "I told you."

"Trunks," said Gohan, tossing him the beans. "Give these to everyone."

Catching the bag, Trunks could only reply, "Uh…yeah."

As Trunks began going around to everyone to give them a Senzu bean, Gohan went back down to the ground to meet Cell head on.

As Trunks began giving Senzu beans to the most injured among them, Ranch went over to Raditz and helped him up. "I'll give Uncle Goku some credit for this, but he went about it in a really stupid way."

"That's your uncle for you," he said, groaning as he tried to stand up right.

After Trunks gave a bean to his injured father, he jumped over to where Raditz and Ranch were standing and presented a bean to them. "This is the last one."

Raditz began to say, "You take it, Ra—"

Ranch nonchalantly gripped his shoulder and lightly squeezed, causing him to gasp in pain. "No, you take it, dad," she told him sternly. Unable to argue with his daughter, Raditz ate the bean and healed up quickly.

"Unbelievable," Trunks said, looking back down at the fight.

"Seriously," Ranch agreed. "To think he had that sort of power in him…"

As Cell glowered at Gohan, he told him, "Don't get too cocky. Do you actually believe that you can beat me?"

"What do you think?" Gohan replied, shocking Cell.

"You arrogant brat, I'll just have to show you my full power," Cell declared. Cell clenched his fists and let out a loud cell, unleashing a tremendous surge of power. The force of the wind was so strong that it blew everyone back—everyone, that is, except Gohan.

"Feel this?" Cell said to Gohan. "This is what I'm like when I get serious!"

"Is that it?"

Enraged, Cell launched a punch that landed on Gohan's face, but Gohan barely moved. Cell tried to punch him again, but Gohan caught his fist, and Gohan punched him right in the gut. That actually sent Cell reeling, and the fighters looked on in amazement. When Cell recovered he took a swipe at Gohan, who ducked and delivered an uppercut to the chin.

Bleeding and shaken, Cell said, "How? How have I taken so much damage already?"

"Ladies and gentlemen! This is amazing! That young man out there is now somehow giving Cell the beating of a lifetime!" Jimmy shouted into his microphone.

"Uh, the camera got busted after that last blast," the cameraman told him.

Gohan walked up to the terrified Cell, who kicked at Gohan. Gohan, though, merely blocked his attack with his forearm, and retaliated by kicking him in the face, sending Cell through the air until he hit the ground hard.

As Cell got back on his feet and attempted to regain his composure, Gohan walked over to him until they were face to face. Despite being completely outclassed, Cell smiled before shooting up into the air. Putting his hands together on his side, Cell began, "Ka…me…ha…"

"Not good!" shouted Krllin in panic.

"What's he going to do against that?" Yamcha yelped.

"…me…EAT THIS! Either you block this or the world will be destroyed! HA!" Everyone watched in horror as the enormous Kamehameha wave descended down to Earth, with Vegeta certain that it was all over. There was no way that anything could stop that.

But Gohan, unfazed, just looked up at the beam coming down at them, and calmly said, "Kame…hame…" He raised both palms up. "HA!" He produced an even more powerful beam that collided with Cell's , causing a shockwave. Cell's beam was easily pushed back, engulfing Cell, and Gohan's attack disappeared out into space. When the dust settled, Cell was still up in the sky, but with his left leg and arm, lower right leg, and a piece of his head blown off. Gohan chuckled with amusement at the result.

"Gohan!" Goku called. "It's time that you finish him!"

Gohan looked back. "What? It's a bit early for that. No, I think I'll have him suffer more."

"What…what're you saying?" Goku asked, shocked by his son's words.

"What does he mean?" Piccolo said, wondering where this came from.

Stunned, Ranch yelled, "Gohan! I don't care how strong you are—don't let that power go to your head! You're supposed to be the smart one! End this!"

"No, not yet," said Gohan, looking back at Cell and grinning menacingly.

"But you have to!" Goku said desperately.

"Yes, we don't know what else he's capable of!" shouted Raditz.

As they were yelling at Gohan to do something, Cell regenerated. "Little bastard!" he said angrily as he heaved. He let out a loud cry and suddenly bulked up. He landed hard back down on the ground, and shouted at Gohan, "There's no way I'm losing to you!"

"He's making the same mistake I did," Trunks said.

"Yeah, there's no way he'll keep up," Ranch added.

To prove the point, Cell lunged at Gohan, who dodged easily. Then Gohan bounded back at Cell, landing a solid kick right in his gut. Dazed by the hit, Cell stumbled around, looked as if he was going to be sick, and then he vomited. Much to everyone's shock, Cyborg 18 came out, and she was intact.

"18!" cried Krillin.

Cell began to yell as he looked down in horror. He began to yell and twitch as his body changed form, until he was back to his semi-perfect form.

"Is that what Cell looked like after he transformed the first time?" asked Ranch in disgust. "Creepy."

Gohan then kneed Cell in the face, sending him flying into a pile of rocks. On the sidelines, Jimmy was still in announcer mode despite the camera being broken. "Mr. Satan, what do you make of all this."

Looking at the camera to see that it was still busted, Mr. Satan replied plainly, "Honestly, Jimmy, I have no clue."

"It's over for you," announced Gohan, walking up to Cell.

"No! Not just yet!" Cell shouted angrily. He began yelling again, and this time he began to bulge up. Cell grew more and more, his expanding like a balloon.

"That bastard," Raditz growled. "What's he up to?"

With Gohan looking at him, Cell began to laugh manically and loudly announced, "In one minute I'm going to explode! If I'm going to die then I'm taking the planet with me!"

Getting ready to attack, Gohan told him, "I'll just kill you before that happens!"

"I wouldn't if I were you," said Cell. "I'll just explode the instant you hit me!"

On the cliff, Krillin lamented, "Is this really it?"

"There has to be something we can do," Yamcha said desperately.

"No," Ranch said in disdain. "No frickin way…"

Trunks put a hand on her shoulder. "…Ranch."

She embraced him, and he hugged her back tightly. "Trunks…"

"It's no good," said Piccolo. "We can't do anything."

Looking at his daughter cling onto Trunks in fear, Raditz turned to his brother and asked in panic, "Kakarot! There must be something!"

"Damn! It's my fault," Gohan said, angry at himself as he fell to his knees and pounded the ground with both his fists. "I should have finished then when I had the chance!"

It dawned on him. Goku looked to his friends, looked over at his niece embracing the one she loved, looked at his brother, and then down to where his son was…. He smiled.

"What is it Goku?" asked Krillin.

"This is the only way I can think of to save the Earth and all of you," he said to them.

"What do you…?"

He put his fingers to his forehead. "Bye, everyone," said Goku. He disappeared.

"Goku!"

"Kakarot!"

As Cell continued laughing at their despair with Gohan in front of him, Goku suddenly appeared between them.

Gohan looked up to see his father with his fingers on his forehead with a palm on Cell. "Hi, Gohan. I just want you to know how proud I am of you. And that year I spent in the chamber with you was the best of my life…. Tell your mom I'm sorry."

"Wait, dad!"

"Bye, son." Goku teleported away with Cell.

"DAD!"

King Kai was observing the fight and commended Goku's sacrifice, when he suddenly appeared before them. He yelped, "What in the—!"

"Sorry, King Kai, I couldn't think of anywhere else to go," Goku apologized. And Cell exploded, obliterating King Kai's planet and everyone on it.

"DAD!" Gohan cried again, tears streaming down his face. He pounded the ground over and over in grief. It was his fault. All he had to do was kill Cell, but he messed that up just as bad a Vegeta did. Krillin and Raditz made their way down to where Gohan was.

"Gohan, it's okay. It's over."

"I killed him," Gohan said, as the tears continued to flow. "If I had just finished Cell when I was told to this wouldn't have happened!"

"You still helped save the world, though," Raditz added bracingly. "And everyone on it."

"But—"

"And you seem to be forgetting one other thing, Gohan," his uncle continued giving him a reassuring smile. "We have Dragon Balls."

"It won't work, remember? He's already died once!"

Raditz sighed, knowing that he was behind the first death. "Yes, but what's stopping us from asking the dragon to take us to New Namek?"

Gohan wiped his tears and looked at his uncle. "That's…right…"

Somewhat reassured, Gohan stood back up while Krillin went over to 18 and picked her up. They all went back to the group, who were all hanging their heads.

Seeing what Krillin was doing, Vegeta said, "Is that thing still alive? Put her down so we can kill it."

"Come on, she's not that bad," Krillin insisted.

"Yeah, no," Ranch piped up. She and Trunks had been clinging to each other the whole time, but now she broke the embrace and stormed up to Krillin. "I'm with Vegeta on this," she said, surprising everyone with the words that came out of her mouth, "put that thing down and step away."

"I'm not doing that," Krillin said sternly.

"Krillin, I'm not letting that bitch run loose," she yelled at him angrily. "Drop it right now!"

Meeting her gaze, Krillin told her, "She's different, Ranch."

"How the hell can you know!"

"I can tell."

Incensed at seeing one of her allies actively helping a cyborg right before her eyes, Ranch went Super Saiyan, pointed her palm at his face, and charged up a shot. "I'm vaporizing that thing, Krillin. If you want to go with it, that's up to you!"

"Ranch!" Raditz said, stunned at how she was acting.

"Wait," Trunks told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Gulping, Krillin said, "Well, if you're going to do it, I can't stop you."

Ranch and Krillin stared each other down for a few seconds. Everyone was looking on at the exchange anxiously, and they wondered if they should intervene. Vegeta looked at Ranch in surprise, seeing the determination in her eyes. But as strong as her hatred for the cyborg was, all Ranch could do was shout, "Damn it!" She tore her eyes away from him, moved her hand, and let loose her shot at a boulder in the distance. "Fine. At least my dad or Vegeta can take care of that thing if it goes rogue."

Krillin breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Ranch."

She suddenly knocked the top of Krillin's head with her first, leaving a bump. "I did say I'd clock you if you got in the way of killing those things, didn't I?"

"Yeah…you did," he admitted, enduring the throbbing bump.

"See?" Trunks said, letting Raditz go. "I knew it'd go something like that."

Out of nowhere Vegeta began to laugh. Those around now stared at him, wondering what was so funny. "I have to admit, girl, you had me convinced for a moment that you'd actually do it."

"Whatever," she said irritably, walking away from them.

All of a sudden there was a gust of wind along with a ki that none of them could believe they were feeling. Within the sand that was kicked up by the gust, a beam of energy shot out of it and hit Trunks square in the chest.