With eyes filled with confusion, disbelief and a unmistakable sadness Tien stared at the boy, his entire body shaking, Overwhelmed by his own emotions and his energy severely drained he opened his mouth but couldn't speak, no words could possibly capture what he meant to say "Father, but how …. What …." Those questions were consuming him from within as he kept staring at the boy, never blinking for what seemed an eternity, yet mere seconds passed…
As a single tear made its way down his cheek, He looked back to the crater to witch he confining Cell then looked back at the boy one last time, only to pass out with a modest yet significant smile on his face, totally exhausted he started falling to the ground, motionless…
--- at Kami's lookout ---
"It's Tien isn't it Dad?" Asked a worried Gohan while looking at his father that begged Goku to go and help
"Yes son" answered Goku, clenching his fists, angry and confused "No, why did he go and do that we had a plan, NO !!!"
"We got to help him dad, we just got to!!!"
"I now son I kow, ….. But wait …I sense another power, similar to Tien's if I didn't now better I'd say a second Tien has joined him, …. This is just to much …. What in the world is going on down there?!?"
--- at Master Roshi's place ---
Choatzu, staring into the distance, overwhelmed by grief when sensed the energy of his beloved friend fainting "No…. Tien!!!" His head pointed towards the ground and tears came pouring down his cheeks
Yamcha came running out of the house "Tien, …" He stopped and pointed his eyes towards the sky "This is just to must, there's got to be something we can do, come on Chaotzu!!!"
Choatzu nodded and as the two of them were about to set of master Roshi stopped them in their tracks
"Hold on you two, there's nothing we can do for him now, Tien's on his own, you two would just become two more of Cell's victims, we got to stick to the plan, Goku is our only hope, I'm sorry you guys I know how you feel"
You could tell by the look on his face that not being able to help was also taking it's toll on master Roshi but he tried to keep his hopes up, having faith in goku.
Yamcha and Chaotzu buried their plans to go help and decided to stick to the plan, no matter how hard it was for them.
Suddenly all three of them froze and looked at each other in total amazement
"There's another power, who could it be" A shocked Yamcha said
"And more importantly …. Friend or Foe ?!" Master Roshi added
They just stared at each other, confused
---Back to the "battle"---
The boy followed the downward movement of the seemingly lifeless body, He trembled all over. No longer paying attention to Cell.
"Have I only found him to see him die" he thought to himself
This moment seemed to last forever, he froze, his eyes filled with an intense pain far beyond words, he couldn't cry, somehow even tears couldn't relieve him
drowning in a see of inner thoughts, emotions, memories and fear
"He is everything I thought he would be, even more…. honourable, fearless, strong ….
Tien Shinhan, …
Father ….
from the day I could walk I walked in your footsteps yet I didn't know where you were, or where you were going to all I ever wanted was to be like you, a true hero
my mother told me so much
how you won the World martial arts tournaments,
how you managed to stay clear of the wrong path in spite of being led onto it by a devious master
how you defeated King piccolo and saved the world of certain destruction
and how you knowing you couldn't win took on invading aliens known as sayians
They took you from us
I can't just find you only for you to taken away from me once again, …
No, this just can't be happening
Father ….."
His stream of thoughts was stopped abruptly, as a loud chilling laughter forced him back to reality
It was Cell, unscathed from the blasts, he stood there confidently arms crossed laughing:
"Hahaha, did you really think you could stop me, I am the strongest force in the universe, I am the perfect being…."
The boy turned his head, averting it from Tien who just hit the ground after a long fall from the sky and directed it at Cell,
He no longer trembled, his body was a vision of pure strength and determination,
The pain in his eyes had been replaced by anger, bloodlust, revenge … He look that could pierce anything it focused on
He clenched his fists, every muscle in his body was tense, waves of pure blinding white energy jolted from his body as his power level rose to new unprecedented heights…
Cell looked up, looking straight at the boy, a devious smile on his face
"Ha, you're a feisty one kid, but you're efforts will be in vain …"
Not waiting on what Cell had to say next, the boy launched straight at cell, fearless
Hitting Cell with everything he got, punches, kicks … with what seemed as a limitless amount of energy he kept charging at Cell, who never even flinched
The boy jumped back, catching his breath, the anger in this eyes reached whole new levels
The intensity just dripped from his face as he started firing countless ki blasts from both hand, giving it all he had, he raged on for minutes but eventually he too gave out
As he went down on his knees, not able to stand anymore he looked anxiously as the smoke cleared….
Cell was gone, he had done it, he had succeeded where his father as failed, heavily breathing, totally drained his heart filled with a feeling that could be best described as relief, …
But as he turned his head to see if Tien was still alive, a caught a glimpse of the impossible, Cell … coming straight at him from behind
No time to react,
no time to defend,
he didn't know what hit him … as he was sent flying by a punch to the back of his head.
He landed right next to Tien, unable to move, he just lay there his eyes fixed on the Z fighter's motionless body
"I'm sorry, I'm no hero like you, I'm sorry I let you down"…. He stumbled before passing out in a pool of his own tears
"Weakling, you're no match for me, … it's almost embarrassing that I allowed you weaklings to hold me back" Cell said noticeably aggravated "But no more, you have annoyed me long enough"
Cell raised his hand, targeting the two brave human warriors and charged up for a final Ki blast.