Cell watched with interest as the saiyan immediately transformed before him, feeling his power continue to rise. "Good, very good Raditz. I'll admit after fighting Vegeta I would have grown bored quickly if you'd come at me with such neglecting power. As thanks, I'll let you throw the first blow." He then proceeds to uncross his arms and hold them to his sides, readying himself to take Raditz' next attack.

Unable to help but to grin, Raditz stared down the android as he let his power settle, not yet reaching his maximum but knew he should keep some strength in reserves. This was his first proper fight with his new power, not just sparring like with Nappa. "If you insist, just don't go down too quickly."

A mere moment after finishing his sentence, Raditz simply vanished in a blur. Cell, completely surprised and caught off guard, had but a moment to take in the saiyan's speed before getting knocked backwards as he feels something strike him across the face. He caught himself and stopped his backward propulsion, looking around to track the saiyan. By the time he finally tracked him, he couldn't even turn his head around fast enough before taking a blow to the back of his head this time, slamming him face-first into the ground.

As the android started to get up, he quickly leapt backwards as he briefly saw the figure of Raditz strike where his head was only to vanish swiftly afterward. He couldn't help but start to chuckle. "Not bad, you might have actually done some serious damage. But you should have been less predictable." He lifted his hand up and grabbed the wrist of the saiyan, who became visible one more with his momentum stopped.

The saiyan didn't look surprised as he was stopped however, instead his grin being wider than it was before. His fist opened up, palm open as an energy blast immediately fired at the android's face, granting him an opening to slam his knee into his opponent's stomach. "I'd say you're the predictable one here Cell. After all, you're comprised of cells of people I know quite well, with a strong knowledge of everyone's techniques. On the other hand-" He followed up by spinning to the side and slamming his leg into Cell's side, knocking him away. "You have no real knowledge of me or any of my newer techniques."

Recovering quickly from the barrage of attacks, Cell gets up and smirks at his opponent. "Yes this is exactly what I wanted. Vegeta's tremendous power was no mere fluke. You saiyans have some secret method of becoming so much stronger. You may not hit as hard as Vegeta did in that ridiculous form of his, but that speed of yours more than compensates. Too bad I've got a hold of it now." He then proceeds to increase his own power, charging at his opponent as they both seem to vanish from the battlefield.

Both Nion and Launch were looking around in confusion as neither of them could keep up with the otherworldly fighters, nor could either of them sense energy, only able to tell when the two would clash from the spontaneous wind pressure. Launch did notice Nion's tail had a strange habit of flicking in certain directions. She decided to look in the direction the tail would flick and found that on occasion those clashes occurred in the direction the tail moved. "I swear, we need to have you checked out by a doctor."

Nion turned her head to look at her mother. "What was that mommy?" The young girl was trying to find where her father and the large bug man but couldn't see any signs of them.

Launch simply shook her head and sat down in the grass outside of the arena, leaning up against a large rock as she set Nion in her lap. "Nothing sweetie. Was just saying we'll be going to Bulma's place tomorrow. That sound fun?"

The small child simply giggled and cheered at the news, jumping to her feet in her mother's lap. "Hurray, I get to see little baby Trunks!" She was then propelled back against Launch as another shockwave from the fighters' clash knocks her off her feet.

Cell and Raditz finally came to a halt in the air, a good amount of distance between them. Neither of them looked out of breath and both of them had grins on their faces, though Cell looked the more excited out of the two of them. "Well color me impressed. At first I thought you were using some kind of cheap and nonsensical trick like Vegeta to attain that speed of yours, but just looking at you after all that is enough to tell me your strength and speed are quite legitimate."

Chuckling at the honest compliment from the android, Raditz crossed his arms as he let himself relax a little. "Coming from you, I can't help but admire the compliment. Though I will admit when I go to attack, I imagine you as Freeza and that just makes you a lot more punchable to me."

The android snickered a little at that, also crossing his arms as he keeps his gaze focused on the Saiyan. "Well if that's the case then why do I get the strong suspicion you're holding back? You commented on knowing my techniques but have yet to use any of your own."

Raditz uncrossed his arms and got back into a fighting stance, crackling purple and orange electricity surrounding his hands. "You want to see my techniques then? Fine, I'll show you some of what I can do." He rushes forward, hoping he'd be able to land a hit before Cell can uncross his arms, the bug man offering no such opening as he blocks with his right hand. This didn't deviate Raditz' strategy as the electricity crackling around his arm rapidly spread over Cell, catching the android in the saiyan's paralysis technique. Raditz knows this wouldn't hold such a strong opponent for long so he immediately followed up by opening his other hand and forming a sphere of purplish-pink energy, slamming it into Cell's chest. "Shining Friday!" The force of the impact as the energy ball bursts on contact sends Cell flying down and crashing into the arena. "Followed by Saturday Crush!" He then forms a much larger sphere of pink energy and launches it down at the smoke cloud where his opponent landed, gambling that the android would refuse to dodge and let his arena just be destroyed.

The two spectators were suddenly blown back by a shockwave as Cell launched himself upwards, hands held firmly against the ball of energy as he gets closer to the saiyan before launching the sphere back to sender, pouring in some of his own energy to strengthen the attack. Even as the saiyan dodged out of the way, Cell didn't relent as he pointed his finger at the saiyan, firing Frieza's signature Death Beam rapid fire to keep the saiyan on his toes. This is just what I was looking for. First Vegeta, now Raditz. I'm glad I held off on wiping out all life on this planet, I can look forward to fighting Goku.

Elsewhere, at Capsule Corp, Vegeta and Nappa could sense this fight going on, neither of them calm about the situation.

"What is that imbecile doing?! It hasn't even been 24 hours since he came back from the time chamber and he's already got himself a death wish?!" Shouted Vegeta, about ready to take off towards the Cell Games Arena before Nappa put his hand on the prince's shoulder.

"Believe me, I didn't like this idea either but Raditz was dead set on doing this." Nappa clenched his fist tightly, remembering the talks he had with Raditz back in the Time Chamber. "No matter how many times I tried to talk him out of it, he refused to budge, saying that he'd challenge Cell with his daughter watching."

Vegeta's eyes shot up as he turned around, surprising Nappa as the saiyan prince had a horrified look on his face. "That moron actually took his own child to the battlefield?! I'd understand if it was Kakarot and his but that child is like what, a year old?!"

Clearing his throat, he takes a deep breath before placing his hand off Vegeta's shoulder. "She's actually 2 but I understand what you're getting at. But it's the only we he could think of to not give in to his fear. If your own son was there, wouldn't you do anything to keep him safe?"

The question shook the prince more than he believed it would. All this time Vegeta's only ever thought about himself, wanting to prove he's the strongest. The only thing he'd come to worry about otherwise was Nappa, and only a few days ago did he betray his subordinate. In that day while Nappa was in the time chamber, Vegeta had isolated himself to contemplate what he lacked, what limited him from the same potential the other saiyans seemed to emanate. He lowered his head and clenched his fist. "I.. I don't know. I'd never even considered him my son."

Nappa smiled, bringing his hand back up to Vegeta's shoulder, more gently this time. "Then maybe take this moment to try. I know your current son is just an infant and there's no guarantee he'll turn out the same as our time travelling companion, but try and get to know Future Trunks. He'll have to leave back to the future once this is all over with so you might only have a little over a week to do so."

Vegeta tensed up a little bit as he took in that advice, then began to relax. "Perhaps you're right. But in exchange for taking your advice, I request you listen to mine as well." He pulled away from Nappa's arm and turned around, taking a deep breath. "I want you to live your own life. I appreciate you taking care of my son and his mother and I won't stop you from visiting, but you need to find a life that doesn't involve me or my family."

Nappa was taken aback by that, not just because Vegeta was telling him to do it but the fact he'd never even considered it before. "Huh, that'll be tough. What's a nearly 60 year old man supposed to do with his life?"

The prince chuckled as he sat down on a rock. "Who's to say? That old man that apparently trained Kakarot is over 300 years old from what I overheard, so I don't want to hear any excuses about your age." He then turned his head into a window, seeing his son's bedroom. "Who knows, maybe you could have a family and a half-saiyan brat of your own. You definitely look young enough to do so."

The elder saiyan froze at the very suggestion. All these years since the destruction of Planet Vegeta, such a thought had never even crossed his mind. A family? Children? Such things always seemed like an impossibility for him. "Right, I'll.. I'll give that some thought."

Meanwhile in the mountains, Goku and Gohan also picked up on the energy from the fight, the young half-saiyan seeming more panicked about the situation while his father just had a focused look on his face.

"What is uncle Raditz doing?! There's no way he can beat Cell by himself!" Gohan shouted, resisting the urge to fly in that direction. "He should have waited until the day of the tournament to wear him out!"

"I don't think that's his intention." Goku replied, easing up when he could tell neither combatant was overpouring the other. "Knowing my brother, I think the intent is to get a better understanding of Cell's abilities and power. All of us can sense this fight so we can get a good idea of Cell's power."

"But then why isn't he going all out? After a year in the Time Chamber, he'd be a lot stronger than this, right?" Gohan asked.

Goku looked at Gohan with a bit of intrigue, impressed his son was able to tell even from this distance that Raditz wasn't going all out despite not having seen each other in so long. "Perhaps he has something else up his sleeve. Something he needs to keep Cell underpowered for."

Back at the fight, both Raditz and Cell finally touch down back on the arena. Both fighters seemed a bit winded, taking a moment to catch their breath after flying around all that time while taking each others attacks. The android laughed and clenched his fists. "You have been a delight, Raditz. Of all the saiyans in this timeline, I didn't expect you of all people to be such a worthy opponent."

Raditz wiped his brow, working up a sweat. Despite taking a number of blows from his opponent, his body was still in remarkable shape, all that intense gravity training making his body extremely durable. "I appreciate the compliment. I spent all that time training for this result and I'm glad it's paying off. Think I'm about ready to start taking this seriously."

"Yay Daddy, you can beat that gross bug!" shouts Nion, hopping out of her mother's lap to cheer on her dad, much to Launch's struggle of catching her.

Cell turned his gaze over to Nion before looking back to Raditz, a vile idea forming in his head. "Ready to take this seriously are you? And here I was about to give our spectators a spectacle they won't soon forget." Cell takes a few steps back and starts to focus, a copy of himself soon splitting to his side as he uses Tien's Multiform technique.

The saiyan narrowed his eyes as he saw the bug man multiply in two. In any other situation this would make the fight easier as it meant Cell's power was cut in half. Unfortunately he knew that Cell was holding back this whole time so these copies were still plenty strong. Still, he couldn't help but grin as this was what he was hoping for.

Launch's eyebrow twitches as she sees Cell multiply in two. She was around the gang long enough in the old days, especially around Tien, to have an understanding of this technique, so she knew that this meant Cell wasn't taking Raditz seriously at all. "Kick his ass honey! Squash that cockroach!"

Ignoring the noise outside the arena, both Cells got into a proper fighting stance. "I hope you're ready Raditz, because it's time to take a trip down memory lane and correct where this timeline went wrong."

Before being given a chance to question what the android meant, both copies immediately rushed the saiyan. Raditz was quick enough to dodge both of them and get into the air, though he had no time to gather energy to attack Cell as he was forced to alternate between dodging and blocking the android's attacks, struggling to find a chance to counterattack. Needing to get some space, he flies higher into the air at top speed, charging energy in his hands as he makes his way up into the atmosphere, both Cells close behind. Once he charges it enough, he immediately flips around and speeds towards the android, tackling one of them and slams his hands into his victim, a surge of energy building up. "Weekday Mixer!" He launched the energy along with Cell, the attack breaking apart and repeatedly bombarding the android with explosions as it launched him downwards into the arena.

Cell would catch the saiyan off guard by increasing his power, reaching Raditz before the saiyan could turn back around, flying them both towards the ground while wrapping his arms over the saiyan's. Raditz jerked his body back to stop their fall before they could collide into the ground. He'd find himself in a familiar position as he struggled to get free of Cell's grip before a realization hit him as to why it felt familiar. It was the same hold his brother held him in when he fought him and Piccolo. The Cell that was launched to the arena prior started to laugh, already on his feet and in the position to charge up a Special Beam Cannon. "It's like I told you, it's time to correct where this timeline changed from the one I know."

Raditz's eyes widened as the pieces finally started to fall into place, all the way back from Trunks not knowing who Raditz was to his interaction with Cell back at Gero's lab. "You mean I was supposed to die back then? But what about the earthlings? My brother, Vegeta and Nappa?!"

"They would have all made it, only to die to 17 and 18 around this time, although Goku was meant to die before then due to the heart virus." The android's fingers would start to crackle with energy as the attack was quickly building up. "As for Nappa, he never made it this far either. Upon his body being broken by Goku, Vegeta saw no use for a weakling like Nappa, so he was disposed of by the saiyan prince."

The saiyan's face grows pale at this realization, lowering his head as he had to take in everything. All this is because I dodged out of the way? If I hadn't, Nappa wouldn't be alive and Nion never would have been born.

Seeing her husband seemingly broken down by this seemingly impossible realization, she immediately got to her feet and clenched her fists. "What does it matter what he's saying?! So what if this timeline stuff would be different, that doesn't make his history 'the correct one'!"

Not quite knowing what all this meant, Nion still wasn't dense enough to see that her father needed help. "Don't let that big mean bug scare you Daddy! You're smarter than him, you always know the right thing!"

Cell tsk'd as he had to hear that sentimental drivel from the spectators, the temptation to wipe them from existence growing the more of a nuisance and mood-killers they became. "It doesn't matter what you think, it's time to finish this." He took his fingers away from his forehead and thrust them forward. "Special Beam Cannon!" That signature spiraling beam of Piccolo's shot forth from the android's hand and towards the saiyan.

Raditz never raised his head to look at the oncoming beam, a grin forming on his face. Thank you, both of you. This is exactly why I let you come with. It doesn't matter what could have been, all that matters is what has happened. If I hadn't survived, I'd never have achieved the otherwise impossible. And if I broke free once, I'll do it again! He head shot up as a fierce determination flared in his eyes. "Kaio-Ken!"

Raditz's power surged as a roaring red aura mixed with the golden yellow of his Super Saiyan form. Both Cells were completely caught off guard by this development before the one holding the saiyan found himself being shook and thrown from his back. Raditz then grabs the android's arm and tugging him closer while simultaneously backing away, catching the android's arm in the path of the Special Beam Cannon and severing it. He then tosses out of the ring and into Nion's arms, much to both the ladies' disgust. The saiyan then kicks the disarmed Cell into the other one, crashing them into each other and forcing them into merging whole. Raditz then powers down from the technique and only back into his Super Saiyan state.

Cell groaned in pain as he started to stand up, his arm hurting from his copy having his arm severed. "The Kaio-Ken technique? I had assumed it obsolete compared to the power of a Super Saiyan, not to mention I didn't think you'd have it."

Raditz chuckled and crossed his arms. "Believe me, it's far from useless. Every encounter we've had, I always used it in the quickest of bursts. Of course it heavily taxes the body, even more so in the Super Saiyan state when you have less control. Broke my body damn near every time." He stomps his foot down while staring down the android, who took a single step back in intimidation. "But I've trained myself to handle the Kaio-Ken technique for prolonged periods of time while in the Super Saiyan state, making me the strongest saiyan even for short periods of time!"

Cell shook from disbelief in a mix of fear and anger. Never in his life could he believe anyone could surpass his perfect form in any way, yet this saiyan who should be nothing to him in all measures has completely turned over his entire world. "Then why not finish me now? Surely you have the power to do so?"

Raditz nudged his head, both Launch and Nion understanding as they started to head over to the car as they were planning to leave. He then powered down from his Super Saiyan state. "Because that wasn't the point. This little exhibition match was just to see what all we'd be facing and to measure my limits." He turned around and started walking out of the arena. "Consider this disqualification from the tournament proper. You have at least 3 other saiyans who can give you an equal challenge."

Cell watched as Raditz just started to walk away. He sighed and crossed his arms. "Very well. I'll stay true to my word. I'll spare your family for now, of course once I've won I promise you they'll be the first to go." He turns around and looks over the broken parts of the arena after their battle. He then looks down at his arm and smiles. "The Kaio-Ken technique? Perhaps something to take into consideration."

As they were driving away, Launch slapped Raditz on the back of the head. "What the hell were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how big of a scare you gave us?! You could have actually died back there!"

Raditz flinched after that slap to the back of his head. It didn't hurt but his nerves were a bitch twitchy as all that energy coursing through his body made him tingle. "It all worked out in the end, right? Let's learn our lesson we learned and not worry about what could have happened. And focus on what we now have."

The saiyan looked into the back seat, watching his daughter laughing and playing around with the severed forearm of the android. And now I can start on stage 3 of my plan.

I'm not dead I swear! I only had a lot on my plate and just couldn't find the time nor motivation to keep on writing. But I recently lost my job and have had issues finding one so I thought I might as well sit down and take another crack at this. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, despite how incredibly rusty I am. It's been ages since I actually wrote so if my manner of writing is lesser or at least different from how it used to be, I'm sorry. It was enjoyable to get to write this chapter though, as I finally get to reveal something I've been building towards for quite a while, Kaio-Ken+Super Saiyan. It's nothing groundbreaking but I was looking forward to adding this to Raditz's arsenal. Don't have a lot to say this time but thank you for constantly holding interest in this fanfic of mine. Even 2 years without an update, it's still getting numerous reads which makes me happy. No promises but I'll try to get a new chapter our sometime this year.