King Kai sighed and wiped his brow as he took a break in his work. Half of his planet now had nice short grass. The other half was still tall enough for Bubbles to get lost in. "What I need is a goat." he muttered as he removed his sunglasses and cleaned the sweat off them. "Yes, I need a goat. I wonder if the Grand Kai still has that one I saw there a few centuries ago? Hmm, I'll have to pop over there and ask him later."
Reaching down, the short Kai revved up the mower's engine again and resumed his work. The aged god and warrior was still utterly and blissfully clueless about how... busy his life was going to be becoming in only a few short minutes. His enjoyed solitude was soon to come to an end.
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The Cell Games:
Sango looked up at the fast moving fighters. They were going well beyond her ability to keep up. She wasn't the only one having trouble following them, either. Krillin, Tien, Raditz, Appla, and even Piccolo were just floating there, watching. Yamcha was down on the ground beside Hotaru checking on her and that's where Sango went. "Is she ok?"
Yamcha looked up startled and then nodded. "She'll be fine... assuming we survive this." he said, standing and looking up at the battle again. "This is just..." he shook his head. "How do we win? How can we stop him?"
"I don't know." Sango said. "But we didn't come this far to lose now."
Yamcha nodded. "Yeah, I know, but... this just seems hopeless."
Sango smiled as a silver aura flared up around her. "It's only hopeless when you quit fighting." she said, and with that she surged up into the air toward the battle. She reached them a moment later, just as Goku was knocked away. She slipped up in his place, much to the shock of the others, and smashed her knee into Cell's face.
The moment's distraction that her appearance caused, she was a brand new and unknown fighter to Cell after all, gave the three Sai-jins the opening they needed and they smashed his head between their fists. It was the first blow that actually registered to him. Cell was stunned for a moment but before any of them could try anything else his elbow smashed into Trunks' stomach knocking him away. Spinning he backhanded Bardock and Vegeta in one move and then snapped his leg out smashing his foot into Sango's chest.
The Tanarian's silver aura sputtered a bit as she fell but she managed to stop herself from passing out, though not from hitting the Earth. Yamcha watched her fall all the way to the ground and then changed stances. His hands cupped at his side as his eyes roamed up to Cell once more. Blue light flared up for a second and then shifted silver. "Kaaaaaaaaaaa Meeeeeeeeeeeee Ryyyyyyooooooo Kuuuuuuuu..."
His voice caught the attention of the waking Hotaru as well as the others. Sango moved over to where he was instantly, Hotaru standing on his other side. Krillin moved over as well and dropped down beside Sango. The three new arrivals soon followed Yamcha's lead cupping their hands and gathering silver energy between their palms. Appla waited only a moment longer and then landed beside Hotaru and cupped her hands as well charging blue energy between them.
Dust swirled about the five warriors as their powers rushed out. Hotaru had transformed and powered up into the Kinryoku again, the strain already pulling at her body. And then, a moment later as the four Sai-jins were knocked away from Cell once more, the five warriors on the ground thrust their arms up and called out in unison. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The four silver streams and one blue surged up toward their target. Cell felt them nearing a moment later and merely smirked at the sight of the attack. The beams had swirled around and merged with each other reaching the Bio-droid as just a single attack. He held out one arm and stopped it dead like it was nothing. "Is that the best you can do!?" he called down laughing.
Piccolo shot down and landed a few feet behind the others and then brought his arms up, orange and purple energy erupting to life in front of his palms. "Masenko Ha!" he roared, thrusting his arms up and sending his own attack to join the others.
Cell just continued to laugh. "Pitiful!"
"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..." Bardock's voice sounded as he landed beside Appla. Goku floated down at the opposite end of the five, his voice joining Bardock's as he cupped his hands. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The twin beams of energy surged up and joined the others and soon Cell found himself hard pressed to keep the attack at bay. Shifting his position he started using both hands to hold it off. "You don't get it, do you!?" he called down. "I am Perfect! No, now thanks to my most recent change I am beyond Perfect! Nothing can surpass my power, nothing! You can't beat me!"
"We'll see about that Cell! Galick Gun..." Vegeta roared from above and behind. He'd taken up a position in the sky an equal distance from Cell as those on the ground. The Bio-droid glanced back just in time to see him thrust his arms down and purple energy flare from his palms. "Fire!" Cell's eyes widened as the attack neared. It wouldn't be nearly enough to hurt him normally but his defenses were currently focused on the attacks from below.
Trunks, Raditz, and Tien, the only ones present not currently involved in the assault watched on as Vegeta's beam reached its destination. Suddenly there was a swelling of the blasts at the impact points and then a monsterous explosion rocked the planet and knocked everyone backward. The attack from below surged upward and Vegeta barely managed to dodge it as it surged at and into the time-space tears.
As the glare died away from the explosion there was no sign of Cell. Vegeta let out a breath and relaxed a little, letting his muscles cool and his breath catch up with him. The Sai-jin Prince smirked a little as he stared at the empty space where Cell had been. "Finally, he's toast."
"Father!"
Vegeta's eyes snapped wide, the yell from his son caused him to turn just in time for his face to meet with Cell's foot. The blow slammed him down into the planet and his hair turned black. Cell scowled at the prone Vegeta, the Prince's chest still rising and falling slowly. "Rotten pests, harder to kill than roaches! Well, say good-bye Vegeta, now you die!" Cell growled, arm pointed toward the Sai-jin, and then a blue ball of energy was charging down toward him.
Trunks shot off at full speed for where his father was. He had to reach him before the attack did, get him out of the way. "Hold on father!" The others all watched on in shock as Trunks reached Vegeta a split second before Cell's attack. The energy blast slammed into the half Sai-jin's back and exploded completely destroying his armor.
Trunks fell to the ground a foot from where he'd been and slid, his hair turning purple and falling down as he left a trail of blood behind him. "No... his Ki... It's gone!" Krillin cried in horror.
"This isn't good..." Bardock said swallowing. "Sakura and Trunks are dead, Vegeta's down, and Cell's too powerful."
"There's a way to win this." Goku said, eyeing up the Bio-droid who was just floating there, grinning down at them. "There has to be!" And in a flash of gold he surged up toward Cell once more. A second later Bardock was right on his tail. The two Sai-jins reached Cell and began swinging at him again but the powerful Bio-droid was fast too, faster than them, and he was dodging with ease.
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Otherworld, Check-in Station Line:
Trunks looked around a bit confused for a moment. Then he realized that this matched the stories he'd heard about Otherworld as a kid. "Oh... I... I'm dead?" he wondered, looking down toward the golden clouds below him. Looking forward he saw where there was a decent line of people ahead of him making towards the only building he could see.
Just as he started wondering if Sakura was still in line he spied silver hair. Pushing passed a few others he made his way toward her. "Sakura!"
She turned and looked, eyes going wide as she saw him. "T-Trunks!" she cried. Pushing passed those behind her she ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I... I don't... what happened?" she asked pulling back and looking up at him, noting the halo over his head.
Trunks sighed. "Cell... survived and came back, stronger than before." he explained. "I was trying to save dad..." he glanced around a bit. "Looks like I did, at least."
"Oh... no..." she said softly, closing her eyes and resting her head against Trunks' chest. "This isn't how this was supposed to go."
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Earth, Two Miles South East of the Cell Games:
"We're almost there." Gohan said as he caught sight of his father and grandfather fighting with Cell.
"I can't sense Vegeta or Trunks anymore..." Videl said softly. Gohan was about to respond but stopped as he saw Cell kick Bardock in the head, knocking him away, and then grab Goku's foot and throw him into the other Sai-jin. Holding his arms out energy sparked, flared and then surged out engulfing both Sai-jins, their screams sounding loudly over the roar of the attack.
A second before it faded the Ki's of the Sai-jins vanished. "N-no! Grandpa! Dad!" he cried, his aura flaring brighter as he poured on more speed. But, once the attack was gone, he realized that so were both of them. He froze and stared at the empty sky where they'd been as Cell turned his attention back toward the downed Vegeta.
However, the Bio-droid was interrupted before he could even begin to charge an attack. Gohan surged in and slammed his foot into the side of his head catching him completely by suprise and knocking him away several dozen yards. By the time he'd recovered Videl had joined the other child who had a very angry and determined look on his face.
"He can't be wished back again!" he yelled, his red gloved hands clenching into fists. "Dad can't be wished back again!"
Cell reached up and rubbed his head where the blow had hit. "Lucky brat. And no one's getting wished back this time kid. Once I've killed the lot of you I'm going to spend the rest of the time waiting for that tear to fade by killing everyone on this planet one by one. And once it's gone this entire planet will be dust."
"No, I'll stop you!"
"Hahahaha! You? You'll stop me?" he cried laughing. "You're just a child. You couldn't hurt me if you tried. Come on, I'll even give you a free shot."
With a crack Gohan surged in at Cell, his power shooting up from it's resting level to full strength. Cell barely had time to register the sudden surge of power from the boy before the assault was upon him. Gohan landed three kicks to his stomach, two to his chest, and a punch to his face that sent him sailing off yet again. Much to the shock of those below.
"Gohan... how..." Piccolo wondered. And then he smirked. "Cell let himself relax now that the strongest fighters had been dealt with, he wasn't expecting Gohan to be almost as powerful as Bardock!"
As Gohan shot in to resume his attack Videl pulled up along side him and joined him. The two pulled back their arms, Videl her right and Gohan his left, as they neared Cell. Reaching him just as he recovered they slammed their energy incased fists into his face with a crack and knocked him away yet again.
The two shot after him once more arcing out slightly before coming back in. Just before reaching him they both spun about and snapped out their legs. The blows to the side of his head never landed, however, as they cracked against his raised arms instead. He smashed his elbow into Videl's stomach and knocked her away before truning and grabbing Gohan by the head.
"Nice try kid, but you're not even as powerfull as your Father. So too bad for you. But, if you miss him that much..." He let out a cry as he pitched the small Sai-jin up into the sky. "You can join him. Death Beam!"
Appla didn't even think as she saw the deadly purple energy beam charging toward her grandson. She took off in a burst of red moving as fast as she could. She knew there was no way she could reach Gohan and get him away from the attack, he was too far away, but she could intercept the beam. If she could reach it, get between it, and slow it down even a little, it could give Gohan time to avoid it.
This ran through her mind in the two seconds it took to get in front of the beam. Turning to face it she thrust her arms up erecting the strongest Ki barrier she could knowing, even as she did, that it wouldn't stop it. The Death Beam hit and stalled for a split second before punching through the barrier and then going through Appla's chest.
Above her Gohan recovered just in time to see the beam emerge from her back. He dodged to the side quickly and it sped passed, missing him by a hair. If it hadn't been slowed by Appla it would have been a direct hit. He watched as his grandmother fell toward the ground, eyes locked on her until she hit, and then he was charging down to land beside her, Raditz already there.
She was still alive, barely. "Grandma..." Gohan said, kneeling beside her, his eyes stinging. "Hold on, I'll find out who has the Senzus, you'll be ok!"
"G-Gohan... Bardock h-had the... beans." she managed. "They're gone."
"No... maybe Korin has some more! I can go..."
He stopped as he felt her hand grab his arm. "It's too... late for th-that." It was getting harder for her to breathe or keep her eyes open. "Get... away from here... Gohan. Don't..." she stopped as she grimaced. And then her face slacked and her Ki vanished.
"No, grandma!" Gohan cried, burying his face in her armor.
Raditz closed his eyes as he stood. He opened them again as he looked up, a scowl forming on his face. Leaving Gohan crying over Appla's body he shot up into the air and surged up above Cell. Stopping above him he placed his hands in front of his body focusing on the skill he'd learned from Tien.
Gold light flashed between his hands but soon turned red. "No, Raditz, don't!" Tien called up. The Sai-jin ignored him, however, as he focused on Cell between his hands. The Bio-droid merely smirked up at him which further pissed him off.
"Super Tri-beam!" he cried, the energy flashing and surging down at Cell. The red energy slammed into Cell and drove him down about a half foot but nothing more. Raditz growled and fired again and again. Each blast smashing out a chunk of the Earth below his target but barely doing anything to him.
After his sixth shot Tien saw him wavering slightly, his power was seriously slipping. The Triclops was moving a second later, following the seventh shot. And by the ninth Raditz was falling. Tien caught him a few feet above the ground and laid the unconcious Sai-jin down. Looking up again he looked at what was left of them.
Vegeta and Raditz were both unconcious. Gohan was still crying into Appla's armor. Videl stood behind him not really sure what to do. Yamcha and Krillin were just too outmatched to do anything. So was the newly transformed Hotaru. Even Piccolo was at a loss for what to do.
Cell brushed some dust off his shoulder and smirked. "Well now, that was stronger than I expected. Extremely impressive. However, as you can see, all resistance is futile against me."
Gohan raised his head at the sound of Cell's voice, tears still rolling down his cheeks. Slowly he stood and stepped over his grandmother's body, eyes locked on Cell. "You monster!"
"Hahaha, finally notice?" he asked smirking.
"My dad and my grandma... they can't be... They can't be wished back again!" he cried, his aura pulsing and flashing as Cell just floated there.
"You still don't get it, do you? It's like I said before. No one is getting wished back again. Ever. I am the supreme power in this universe now, boy." He reached up and popped his neck and then grinned. "You know, I grow tired of this. I think it's time I finished up."
Gohan clenched his hands into fists and then surged up at Cell again. Videl watched him for a moment and then shot after him. Cell slipped around the charging Gohan and smashed his foot into Videl's face knocking her back toward the ground. Turning he blocked a punch from Gohan and then kneed him in the stomach before kicking him up higher into the sky.