The Sons arrived last.
Gohan took a deep breath. He recognized the arena instantly. This was where he had seen Bardock several times. This was where the fate of the world would be decided.
"Does it ever stop?" he briefly wondered. "Or will there always be another bad guy, stronger than the last?" He hoped otherwise. Despite the plan his father had formed in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gohan did not like to fight. Training, sparring- yes. But he didn't lust for battle as the full-blooded Saiyans did. He didn't relish the challenge. He didn't look forward to the next chance to test himself. He feared death, especially the thought of causing it.
Cell uncrossed his arms.
"Welcome everyone," he told the Z-Fighters.
The world watched on as Mr. Satan, the World Martial Arts champion as of three weeks prior, paraded around the stage. Yet as he unleashed a flurry of attacks on Cell, the giant bioandroid simply smacked him away, as if the man was no more than an annoying insect. Mr. Satan flew into a tall rock formation, sending a cloud of dust and dirt into the air. The man tumbled down the side, fifty feet or so, and landed in a heap of limbs.
Gohan closed his eyes as he felt the man's life force drop dangerously low. This could've been avoided, but now was not the time to dwell on one man's mistake. Not when Cell held the world hostage.
The reporter began to shout, the cameraman behind him quaking in his boots.
Sensing Cell's patience running thin, Goku stepped up to the ring.
The half-Saiyan boy watched carefully, analysing Cell's movements throughout the fight. When his father proclaimed his own defeat, their allies began to panic.
"What a shame," Cell grinned. "Though if it's any consolation, I'll be sure to take good care of this little mudball you call a planet."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Cell," Goku replied, as calm as ever. "I'm done, but the tournament isn't. There's still one fighter you need to face. And he's even stronger than I am."
Cell quirked a brow. "Oh?" He said, amused. "And who might this fighter be?"
Goku raised his voice. "Come on down, Gohan!"
Ignoring the chorus of protests behind him, Gohan threw off his imitation of Piccolo's cape.
Grabbing the boy by the wrist, Chi-Chi screamed, "You can't be serious, Goku!" Bending slightly to look at her son, he turned away from her. "You are not fighting that thing," she told him sternly.
"I'm sorry, Mom," he muttered. Without warning, he shrugged out of her grip, knocking her off-balance. She chased after him as he flew down to the arena, but Goku swiftly intercepted her. She beat wildly on her husband's chest as he carried her back to the cliff that overlooked the designated battlegrounds.
"You bastard!" she shrieked, angry tears pouring from her eyes. "How could you? How could you do this to him?"
"Chi-Chi-"
"He's just a child!"
"Well, this was certainly unexpected," Cell laughed. "Sending children to fight your battles now, huh? Earthlings are so pathetic."
Gohan touched down on the scuffed white tiles and took his stance.
"Gohan, was it?" Cell sneered. "Do you have any last words?"
Receiving no answer, Cell's face scrunched in anger.
"I'll make this quick, then," he said, voice cold and hard.
The two fighters charged toward each other, exchanging heated blows.
"Not bad," Cell quipped, stepping back to break contact. "You're a decent warm-up, but I'm getting bored."
"I'll show you my power if you show me yours," Gohan finally said. He figured that if this creature did indeed have the genetic material of his father, Vegeta, and Frieza, he would be concealing his full power in order to up the dramatics.
"Ah, like father like son," Cell grinned. An aura grew around Cell, and his revolting conglomerate of energies exploded. He clenched and unclenched his fists. "Yes, that feels much better," he said. "Your turn."
With a nod, Gohan widened his stance, arms up by his sides. With a raw, throaty yell, a wild wind battered combatants and spectators alike. Cell's callous smirk dropped as his vision cleared.
Thanks to his father's brutal training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gohan almost immediately unleashed the full power of his Super Saiyan form.
His raw power had completely obliterated the ring. His golden aura rolled off his frame in controlled waves, his turquoise eyes had hardened, and his musculature had expanded slightly. His boyish features were gone, and in their place was a stern, unforgiving expression. The ZTV camera began to spark as soon as the transformation peaked.
"You!" Cell stuttered. He looked up at Goku. "You tried to sandbag me?"
Goku shrugged. "Not my fault you looked at my son and saw only a child," he said, nonchalant. "That's one of the core lessons of martial arts philosophy. Never underestimate your opponent. There will always be someone out there who is better and stronger. And today, that person is Gohan."
Chi-Chi looked up at her husband in surprise, still trapped between his arms. Her senses were on overload from the sheer force of her son's untapped power.
"I can't believe it," she mumbled.
"I know," Goku agreed, watching as Cell and Gohan started fighting once more. "I can't believe how powerful he is, either."
"No," Chi-Chi said, growing stiff in her husband's embrace. Goku knew that if given the chance, she would jump in the midst of the fight to protect her son, and so he continued to hold her back. "No, I can't believe you turned our child into a weapon!"
Hurt by her words, Goku reeled back in shock, loosening his grip on her.
She pushed him away from her, but surprisingly, didn't run to her only son. She stood apart from the other fighters, simply watching with one hand pressed tightly against her heart.
"Chi-Chi," he called softly, reaching out to hold her.
She smacked his hand away. "Don't touch me," she hissed. And then she looked away.
While the fight appeared to be fairly even at first, the odds quickly tipped in Cell's favour. He continued to increase his power as they fought, but Gohan did not.
Taking yet another punch to the gut, Gohan hit the earth hard, his impact creating another small crater in the empty field.
"Funny," Cell said. "I could've sworn you were hiding more power. Guess I was wrong for once."
He phased out of sight and reappeared behind Gohan, who was struggling to his feet. Cell delivered a kick to the boy's lower back, knocking Gohan into the air.
"Gohan!" Goku shouted. "You're still holding back- I can feel it. Unleash your full power!"
Flying at top speed, Cell caught up to the boy in an instant. From behind him, the creature wrapped his arms around Gohan's midsection and began to squeeze. The only sound for miles was the sound of Gohan's ear-piercing screams.
This time, it was Krillin who stopped Chi-Chi from interfering. "You don't stand a chance," he told his student honestly. "I know you want to help him. Believe me, I do, too. But he's the strongest out of all of us. He still stands a chance, but we'd only be killed."
"Let go of me!" she howled, her energy exploding around her. Krillin had to power up just to keep his hold on her.
"She's right," Piccolo snapped. "I've had enough of this spectacle. As Earth's new Guardian, I cannot fight, so I demand you put an end to this farce!"
"No!" Goku said sharply. "Just wait. Any second now, he's going to get mad. And then you'll really see what he can do. I caught just a glimpse of it in the time chamber, but-"
"You're wrong about your son," Piccolo yelled back. "Gohan may have that power, but it doesn't matter! Cell keeps powering up, but have you thought about why Gohan lost his momentum? He doesn't enjoy fighting for his life. He wants to be a scholar! You don't know anything about your own damn son!"
Goku turned to Piccolo, eyes wide as that last phrase in particular struck him.
"Do you want to know what he's thinking right now?" Piccolo continued, getting into Goku's face. "He's in pain, and he's wondering why his friends and family are just standing there, content to watch him die!"
Hands shaking, Goku looked to Chi-Chi, who was still struggling against the strongest human in the world. She was hysterical at the sound of their child's bones slowly breaking.
"Your son may be the strongest being in the world," Piccolo sneered, "but he's still a scared, 11-year-old boy. So damn it, Goku! Do something, or I will!"
"GOHAN!" Red energy swirled around Chi-Chi, knocking Krillin off his feet. Finally free, she rocketed forward at an alarming pace, her maternal instincts in overdrive.
Frozen in place, Goku could only watch. And for the first time in his life, he felt an intense fear seize him.
Cell dropped Gohan as Chi-Chi dove for the Android's tall, horned head.
She had spent so long waiting for her little boy to come back from that fateful reunion almost six years ago, only to discover that her husband was dead and her toddler was kidnapped by a demonic alien. Then her boy was forced to fight for his life, nearly dying just of exhaustion at the conclusion of the Saiyan invasion. He went to Namek against her will, had his neck broken by some overgrown Ginyu thug, and was beaten within an inch of his life. Gohan had then made the incredibly emotional transformation into the legendary Super Saiyan at such a young age.
And still, she had waited back at their little mountain cottage- just waited for him to come home like a good little homemaker. She waited for their deaths to come for three years while training for the Androids. She waited for her husband to succumb to the radical new heart virus. She waited for the Cell Games to arrive, even as she spent nearly every morning throwing up into the toilet. And now she had waited too long- her son needed her.
She was done waiting!
Cell flew backwards, tumbling into a mountain. Chi-Chi immediately dropped down to check on Gohan, ignoring the severe cramping in her lower abdomen.
"Gohan?" She cried. "Gohan, are you-"
Cell rammed her from behind, battering her with punches too fast to block before finally knocking her down with a devastating kick to the stomach.
"This game is over," he spat. "Not that you were ever really a player."
Goku couldn't reach her in time. The blast burned through her torso without any resistance.
Gohan screamed.
Lives flashed before his eyes. His own, the life he shared with his mother and father; Bardock's life, how his ancestors had been erased from existence without any remorse; and the lives of countless others throughout history.
In the flurry of snapshots, he could've sworn he saw Cell's perfect form being shredded to pieces by blue a thick, blue energy blast.
But at the moment, he couldn't tell the difference. In that moment, he was living through all of it.
In that moment, Cell had killed his mother.
He was angry.
In an instant, the lone camera had exploded. Goku rammed into Cell without hesitation, and beat the Android without a shred of mercy. His blonde hair stood straighter than ever, standing on end while blue electricity crackled around him. With a final scream, the Ascended Super Saiyan blasted through Cell's torso.
The monster's limbs burst from his body in a frenzy, scattering across the wasteland. Goku stood in front of Cell, panting as the effects from the heart virus still lingered in his system, his heart still heavily damaged despite surviving the disease.
Heads whipped around as something a hundred feet behind Goku exploded.
Emerging from the debris was Gohan.
Similar to that of his father's, the boy's tall, blonde hair blew aimlessly in the artificially-generated wind. Several of the Z-Fighters struggled to stay standing as Gohan's oppressive power infiltrated their bodies. Sparks of blue energy erratically snapped around his body, with similar bolts of lightning dropping around him from the sky.
"Cell," a deep, gruff voice said. It was Gohan's mouth moving, but it was not his voice, that much was clear. "You'll pay for that."
Suddenly, the boy was behind the stump that was Cell, his hand sticking cleanly through what was left of the beast's torso.
Cell coughed and gagged on his own green blood. Gohan removed his arm, allowing Cell to drop down, right across from Goku, who was hunched over in a similar position.
"Finish him off!" Krillin shouted. "You can do this, Gohan!"
Grabbing the back of Cell's neck, Gohan flung the Android behind him, as if tossing a ragdoll. Cell rolled through the dirt, stunned and utterly terrified by this new Gohan.
"No," the boy said, much to everyone's shock. "I want him to suffer."
"Gohan!" Piccolo's voice reverberated through mountains. "This isn't you, Gohan! You need to control your power!"
With a dark chuckle, Cell coughed up spittle, slime, and purple blood.
"You should've listened to your Namekian," he said. His purple eyes suddenly dilated and began to glow. "If I'm going down, I'm going to take this whole planet with me."
Snapping back to his senses, Gohan felt an immense fear and shame grip him as Cell's words sunk in.
He had to end this, and fast- before Cell finds the opportunity to regenerate his limbs, or do something worse.
He had to end Cell before Cell ended anyone else.
Decision made, Cell struggled to activate the bomb mechanism built into his core.
"Masenko-"
Hands thrown above his head, Gohan gathered an astounding amount of energy into his palms.
Cell bulged slightly, racing to swell up before Gohan could-
"Ha!"
A terrifying howl escaped Cell as the silvery-blue energy tore through the last remnants of his perfect form, every single cell destroyed in the blast.
Moments later, Gohan collapsed.