A/N: Took a while, but we back!

Chapter 19: And the One Who's Last to Fall

There wasn't much noise outside of the loud chopping of the helicopter. The windows could only show the blur of the world passing by, everything from the clouds to the other choppers flying beside them melded together into blotches in the sky. Randy only found himself dimly aware of that reality. His thoughts were consumed by the knowledge that today was the day; the day of reckoning.

He liked to think that they were prepared. They had run through so many different training maneuvers and contingencies over and over again that Randy was certain that he'd be able perform his duties in his sleep. However, it was another thing to perform those actions for real. They would be aiming to kill with every action and every step. That would be a first time for a lot of them. Aside from many of the villains that were aiding them, they'd never really taken a life. He'd like to think that none of them would hesitate when given the opportunity to end Cell's reign of terror, but he couldn't be sure.

'Not like we'll be able to kill him anyway' his traitor of a mind spat.

His eyes drifted towards Gohan. He was basically the closest thing to Superman that he'd ever seen or known. He was strong, had a heart of gold, and was always polite to a fault.

Yet he knew that Gohan couldn't defeat Cell.

He was strong, sure, even more powerful than he was at the beginning of all the drama started by Cell's challenge to the world. Still, Randy could see it in the way that Gohan carried himself. He may have gotten out of the deep funk that he'd been drowning in, but he didn't have much hope in his eyes. The fire was still there despite everything, though. He could only hope that it would be enough.

"Alright, everyone, tell me your objectives in order."

Randy snapped back to attention as his eyes returned to Commander Forge. Thankfully, he wasn't focusing his hard, "I am the captain" stare on him. Instead, it was levelled on Gohan who, to his credit, didn't flinch.

"I'll accept Cell's request for the first combatant," Gohan said.

"After the battle starts, Danny/Randy and I will back Gohan up," Randy and Danny said.

"If Cell has a problem with their interference, I'll goad him into fighting all of us," Gohan said.

The rest of the group consisting of Max, Extroyer, Ven-Gahn, Toxzon, the Sorcerer, lion-thing McFist (still weird to think about), Ultimate Elementor, and Naught said their missions of joining in the fight (the villains speaking over comms as they were on one of Dread's jets). Fighting alongside villains wasn't something he hadn't done before, but it wasn't exactly normal for Randy either. Hopefully, the impending threat of universal destruction was enough to stop double-crossing.

"I'll bring my creations in, next," Dread said.

"And I'll bring the robotic fury of N-Tek down on Cell!" Berto said.

"To disorient Cell, I'll create as many clones as I can muster," Max said.

"And I'll do the same, except with three clones," Danny said. "I'll send one of them into the base of his retracted tail and attempt to extract one of the androids."

Forge nodded. "Right, now run through plan B in order."

Randy tuned them out, only coming back in when he heard signs of his involvement. They'd been over the plans so meticulously that he was certain that he'd still occasionally be spouting then when he was gray and old.

That thought gave him pause. It was bold of him to assume that he'd make it that long.

'Well, we're not gonna have a shot if you're thinking like that' he chastised himself. 'You're a part of this planet's last line of defense. Heck, this universe's last line of defense, as far as you know. Get your head in the game!'

Try as he might, he just couldn't do that. Not for a meaningful amount of time anyway. His mind was just too hyperactive with its thoughts, ranging anywhere from the mission to Heidi and Theresa to what dying would feel like and all sorts of fun little things. He cursed the fact that he had to be in the helicopter with everyone else around. It felt like he was confined by all sides, which was surprising because he'd never been claustrophobic.

"Hey, man, breathe."

Randy looked over to his right to see Max giving him a smile. He laughed weakly, rubbing at his arm. "Am I that obvious?"

"Like a penguin in the jungle."

Randy shook his head as he clutched his Ninja mask in a tight fist. "I just can't get a grip. How are you so calm right now?"

"I'm focusing on what will happen if we don't win. The people we'll be letting down. It gives me the strength that I need because we can't let them down."

Randy nodded as he blew out a long sigh. Yeah that was a bust. All of the pressure was precisely the reason he couldn't focus. "That's. . . That's heavy man."

Max chuckled as he nudged him. "Yeah, but y'know what else helps me focus? The fact that I'm not going into this thing alone."

Randy gave Max a long look before moving his gaze along the copter's other occupants. He even looked out to see the other people flying alongside them under their own power or in separate copters and jets. He could already feel some of the tension easing out of him as he smiled. Even though he'd be going into battle with McFist and the Sorcerer and a bunch of other villains, he still couldn't help his grin. He would be going into Hell with them and his new friends. They were better than nothing, right? "Thanks, man. I needed that."

"Hey, us heroes have to help each other out, right?"

"Right."

Max shifted back into his chair as the copter slowed to a halt. The vibrations from the aircraft reverberated through Randy, raising his adrenaline.

"We've arrived at the position, Commander!" called the pilot over the noise of the chopper blades.

"Alright, gentlemen," Forge said. "We've got the fight of our lives right here. Remember your objectives, stick together, and give that damn android hell!"

Randy didn't have to look around to know that everyone was in perfect lockstep in that moment. Their doubts and reservations were gone for at least a brief instance as they all cried out.

"Yes sir!"

The wind occasionally tore through the area with a strong gale, tousling the reporter's hair and kicking up the loose gravel around her. The forecast had indicated clear skies, though. For the more superstitious of civilians, they had considered it a sign of a good omen. Sally Johnson, ace reporter for the Copper Canyon News Station, hoped that they would be correct.

"Today is the day of the Cell Games, as the life-form known as Cell has dubbed it," Sally said, standing a good way away from the battleground. She and her cameraman had only dared to get as close as 100 meters to the ring. "There appears to be a platform fighting ring set up for the tournament's participants. Cell is standing alone in the middle of the ring at the moment. The time is currently 8:55 AM with no sign of the Gold Fighter, Max Steel, or any of the other heroes. With Cell's brutalization of the National Army heavy on the minds of the public, it seems that our heroes will have their work cut out for them. . Oh! I think that's them now!"

The camera panned up to the sky where a helicopter and two jets began to drop down from the sky, sending dust flying in every direction. The battlefield was temporarily obscured as the aircrafts landed completely. Sally squinted in slight confusion; for a moment, it looked like the Elementor was flying alongside the aircrafts.

But that would be preposterous!

"It's hard to make out what's going on out there with all the dust blocking our view," Sally said, still surveying the battleground with her forearm shielding her eyes from the worst of the dust. "However, it seems like our heroes have brought an entire team to the battle. . . wow! It seems like. . . if I'm not mistaken, there are villains with them! This is truly an odd set of circumstances!"

"The cameras better get my good side," Toxzon muttered. "I can't have them making me look bad for Fishy."

Naught shot him an incredulous look. "That cannot possibly be what you're worried about right now."

"Nope. There's also this. Hey, Cell!"

Cell barely gave Toxzon what could be called a considering look. Despite the protests of his temporary allies, Toxzon took Cell's silence as a sign to continue. Or maybe he just didn't care. Toxzon walked up to the edge of the ring with his arms crossed. "So, you can add being a no-good traitor to your list of accomplishments, huh? Don't you feel an ounce of regret or shame?!"

"I was never allied with your kind to begin with," Cell drawled, slowly and clearly as if conversing with a child. "Now, I do not believe that it is time to fight just yet. And if I am nothing else, I am a man of my word. Although, if you're offering, I can certainly let you have the first crack at me."

If it were possible, it looked like Toxzon got measurably paler as he practically stumbled over himself as he backed away from the ring.

Gohan glared at the bug man. He may have only recently had the new challenge issued to him, but Gohan had been imagining such a day for years. After his father had died for his mistake, Gohan had thought about how things could have gone differently, what he would have done differently. He had been consumed by the idea for months after the Cell Games, even into his nightmares. Now he couldn't bring his father back with this fight, but this was the next best thing. There was no way that he would squander his shot this time. No time travel, no regenerating nucleus, and no screw ups were going to save Cell this time. Nothing would.

"Well, I do believe it is now 9 o'clock!" Cell said, spreading his arms wide. "The Cell Games are now officially underway! Whoever wishes to fight me may come forth now."

Gohan didn't miss a beat as he marched onto the ring. "I've been waiting for this."

"That makes two of us."

Gohan watched as Cell strode up to him, looking every bit as cocky and confident as he remembered. He would enjoy kicking his smug face in. It was taking no small amount of control to wait.

"No need to stretch?" Cell asked, stopping just a few feet from Gohan. "I'd hate to see this fight cut short just because you started cramping!"

"I'll be fine."

Cell shrugged. "Suit yourself. The match has officially begun!"

The second the words left his mouth, Gohan was on him. He tried a few experimental kicks that Cell either easily avoided or blocked away. Apparently, Cell was bored of this as he caught one of Gohan's last kicks and simply threw him away. He flipped into a slide as he stopped his momentum from carrying himself out of the ring. He straightened back up before falling back into his Turtle stance.

"You'll need more than that if you wish to beat me, Gohan," Cell chided.

That was when Gohan saw a Cold Ball and Ghost Ray fly over his head.

They were easily dealt with as the ring was showered in quickly melting snow. Soon, even that was blown away with a brief flaring of Cell's Ki. That didn't make Cell any less annoyed.

"What is this?!" Cell demanded as he glared at Danny and Randy.

"What's wrong?" Gohan asked, never once taking his eyes off of Cell. He knew better than to do something that dumb. "Can't handle a few more fighters? Are you afraid?"

"Hardly," Cell scowled.

Danny multiplied himself and let his clones go invisible. Gohan soared towards Cell with his arms blazing in Ki. He was still making sure to keep track of the clones' locations even as he moved. He didn't doubt for a second that Cell wasn't doing the same. Unfortunately for the android, he wouldn't know up from down by the time Gohan was through with him.

"Alright, you overgrown cockroach!" Danny shouted from somewhere behind Gohan. It sounded like he was coming closer and fast. "Here comes pest control!"

Cell attempted to knock him away, but Gohan was there to catch his arm and hold it in place. Instead of a backhand to the face, Danny only received a strong shockwave as he drove his ecto-energy powered fist into Cell's jaw. The full force created a shockwave that managed to pop the ears of several of the participants and tear at the knuckles on Danny's gloves. Cell simply scowled before kicking Danny away with a quick push kick to the abdomen.

"No, Danny!"

And that was when all of Hell broke loose.

Cell was bombarded by a sea of Max Steels. The Ultimate Elementor leaped into the air and cocked his flaming fist back, intending to turn Cell into a nice paste. At that same time, Naught locked his best missiles onto Cell's head and the Sorcerer began a chant. Extroyer had turned into a fly, as planned, and was scouting out the area for an opening.

All of that came to a swift end with a Kiai. The shockwave produced fierce winds that sent some of Gohan's allies tumbling head over heels. He cursed under his breath as he tried to keep as many people as he could within the ring. Unfortunately, it seemed to be easier said than done. By the end of Cell's onslaught, only Danny, Gohan, and the original Max were left standing in the ring.

"Geez," Max growled. "I knew this guy packed a mean punch, but this is ridiculous."

Ultimate Elementor gave a long groan from somewhere behind him. Gohan couldn't tell if that was an agreement with Max's sentiment or just simply an expression of pain.

"If you want to intrude on the fight, then fine," Cell groused. "But at least be worth the effort."

Max fell into a boxer's stance as Danny did the same. Gohan gave them both quick nods as he went into his own Turtle stance. He could feel his Ki thrumming in his extremities, begging to be unleashed. The feeling was painfully familiar, drawing a grim smile from the half-Saiyan. Somehow, he always found himself in hopeless battles. "Alright, Cell," Max snarled, "just remember. . . you asked for this!"

Max exploded into T.U.R.B.O. energy. The force actually managed to crack the tiles underneath him. The energy danced around him similar to. . .

'My aura?!' Gohan thought. 'But how?'

Max had always expelled his aura whenever he changed forms, but it was always more of a discharge, like a byproduct. This time, it was more similar to how he and his friends back on his Earth channeled their battle power. He couldn't conceivably know how Max had gotten so strong or learned such a technique, but he wasn't complaining. Even if it wouldn't be enough to take down Cell, it would provide a nice temporary distraction.

"Well, well," Cell laughed, cocking his head. "What have we here?"

"A gift with your name on it!" Max roared as his entire form shifted. His suit flickered into a form-fitting, blue Gi with his trademark mask still protecting his face. His white, chest emblem, which still housed Steel, began to glow. "Berto sends his regards."

There was a slight hiss as the air in front of Max began to shimmer. All the while, Gohan could feel Max's power begin to spike, much like when his power had been going haywire. Only this time, he seemed to be in control. A beat later, Max expelled a beam of pure T.U.R.B.O. energy from his chest in Cell's direction.

Cell grunted for a moment as he held back the attack with a forearm. Gohan watched the puzzlement flicker across the android's face as the wave continued to persist. Hope began to swell in Gohan's chest as he called to Max, over his shoulder. "Whatever you're doing, keep it going!"

Unfortunately, at that moment, Cell snarled as he whipped his arm back, knocking the blast off-course and crashing with a loud explosion against a nearby mountain. By the end of the devastation, the mountain was decimated, but Gohan's attention was hardly on that. He quickly caught Max after he'd been sent out of the ring from the recoil. He dropped him lightly onto his feet as he sped back onto the ring.

"Damn. . . all of that. . . and it didn't. . . do a thing. . ."

"Hey," Gohan replied, glancing back at Max. "Stay there for now. You'll need to regather your strength."

"Nice try," Cell said with a scowl. "But I'm growing tired off-"

Cell paused abruptly, cocking his head like a dog or a wolf. Gohan braced himself for an attack only to gasp in surprise as Danny shot towards him. He readied himself to catch the ghost boy like he had done with Max only for a shower of green to erupt from his chest. A horrible cry ripped itself from Danny's throat as his chest was left with a gaping hole.

"Danny!" The cry tore its way from Gohan's throat before he even realized his lips were moving, until he realized what had happened.

"Dang it," Danny grunted, shimmering back into visibility at his side. Gohan breathed an inward sigh of relief at the sight of the halfa. "I couldn't get to them."

"You were able to see them?!" Gohan hissed, feeling his chest warm with hope. "The androids?"

Danny nodded, breathing heavily. Gohan felt his heart go out to the boy. It couldn't have been easy seeing yourself get destroyed so violently. "Yeah, but he felt me and forced me out. There's no way I'm gonna be able to get close enough again."

Gohan looked at Cell through carefully narrowed eyes. He was partially looking for any sign that Max's T.U.R.B.O. energy had managed to fry any of Cell's internal mainframe as they'd all been trained to do (unfortunately he couldn't see any noticeable difference), but he was also watching him for any fleeting signs of suspicion. The bastard could hear every word that they were saying thanks to his Namekian hearing.

'Unless. . .'

"Hey, Danny," Gohan thought. "Don't make any sudden movements! We don't want to tip off Cell."

He saw Danny's eyes widen a fraction before settling back to normal. "How? When?!"

"No time to explain that. I need you to possess me and use my powers to try and remove the bomb from Cell's body."

"What?!"

"If we remove it, then he won't have that as a fallback to potentially get even stronger and wipe us out."

"But what if trying to remove it by hand causes it to go off?!"

Gohan scowled. He hadn't even considered that possibility in his haste. "Fine. Same plan but go for the androids instead. I'll try and give you the best opening that I can."

"I'll have to slip out. I can't use your powers properly. I may be an amazing Crash Nebula, but a Superman, I am not."

"Alright, fine. Get ready."

"Alright, I think you've all had enough reprieve," Cell said with a scowl.

"Alright, Danny. Any day now."

"Got it."

Gohan felt an involuntary shudder rush over him. His body naturally wanted to force the halfa out, but he fought the urge as he felt Danny grab hold. If this were under different circumstances, Gohan would be utterly fascinated (if not a little creeped out). His aura roared to life as he charged at Cell, fist cocked back. As he did so, he could hear a hellstorm of lasers recommencing, blasting the ground around him. He could barely feel a few hit him by mistake, but he didn't dare to take his eyes off of Cell. He landed a few jabs to Cell's core before finishing with an uppercut, perfectly placed underneath Cell's chin.

Gohan smiled as he barely felt Danny leave his body. Hopefully, the chaos of robots and his own attacks on Cell would be enough to help mask Danny's presence.

'Well, only one way to find out!'

Gohan roared as his aura blazed to life, pushing out as much Ki as he could manage. He'd fight at his absolute maximum and overwhelm Cell, temporarily, and hopefully draw the android's attention away from Danny's meddling. He charged at Cell with a whirlwind of punches and kicks and renewed vigor. Cell's eyes widened temporarily before he narrowed them, batting away the attacks. Every now and then he'd try to add one of his own, but Gohan would either strike a hair faster or slip past the attack all together.

Every once and a while, Max would add a blast of his own to the fray. Not too much T.U.R.B.O. energy as to not accidentally trigger something in Cell, but enough to be a nuisance. Their little strategy of knife and dodge was working seamlessly. Cell finally struck Gohan with a backhand that made his vision swim with spots and a spurt of blood shoot out of his definitely broken nose. He barely had the presence of mind to flip his momentum into landing with a skid and not falling off the ring.

"Hey, Superboy! Get out of the way!"

Gohan didn't even turn to look as he blurred out of the way.

"What on Earth-?!" Cell cried as he was caked in glowing gunk, from head to toe. From the stench and look of it, Gohan wouldn't have been surprised if the radioactivity was off the charts.

"erucsbO eht thgis, esufnoc eht dnim!"

"What the-?!"

Gohan flew even further away from the ring as a cloud of green mist, emanating from the Sorcerer's hands, began to cover the entire ring. The Sorcerer's eyes glowed a bright and foreboding green as he continued his chant. Gohan smiled as he heard the baritone, echoing voice of the Sorcerer placing his illusion on Cell. Everything was going according to plan. The only thing left was to hope for the best.

If somebody told Danny that he'd be floating through a cybernetic hunk of junk bent on destroying the universe so that he could remove the living android (or as Berto and Tucker insisted, cyborg) batteries that it ate, he would've called them crazy, laughed in their face, and went on his way. Maybe not in that exact order, but you get the idea.

Yet, that was where Danny found himself. The belly of the beast, which honestly looked just as disgusting as it sounded. What? Sure, it might not have been the time for quips, but when shit started to hit the fan, one could never go wrong falling back on humor. So, quip he did as he looked through Cell's godforsaken body as carefully as he could. He was attaching himself to Cell's soul (he wasn't even sure how an android could have a soul, but that wasn't the point), so that he could scour his body without getting forced out whenever Cell moved too fast. The neat little trick also helped partially mask his presence, lying dormant instead of attempting to usurp control. It still didn't keep him from getting some insane motion sickness. Still, he persisted.

There wasn't much to look at aside from an extremely damp, smelly, and slimy terrain. The walls of his body were thick with mucus-like slime, slowly inching down the skin. It didn't help that it smelled just about as good as it looked (it wouldn't kill Cell to use a whole bucket of gutwash, would it?). Danny couldn't have been more grateful for the gift that was intangibility than he was at that moment. He shook his head and focused as he slowly shifted to the area nearby Cell's tail, holding his breath all the while. It was brimming with light and functioning darn near on overdrive. That had been his first clue that something was up.

It wasn't long before he found himself looking at two shrunken humans. Or rather, cyborgs. One was a man with shoulder-length black hair dressed up in a black T-shirt, a white long-sleeved shirt with black stripes underneath, and some ratty, blue jeans while the other was a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair in a blue jean jacket, the same white long-sleeved undershirt with black stripes, a black tank top, and a jean skirt. They were both the size of dolls and packed just above the base of Cell's tail. Even with only slight training with his energy, he could feel the power that Cell was harvesting from them. The odd thing was that he couldn't feel it coming from the cyborgs, specifically.

'Ah well,' Danny thought. 'No time for that! Here goes nothing. . .'

He took a deep breath as he reached for the woman. Just a little bit further and he'd be able to phase her out. . .

There was a slight shudder. Again. And again.

Danny flinched as he felt his hold on Cell's soul begin to slip. In a burst of panic, Danny grabbed at the woman.

Then his world went dark.

Cell snarled, his aura exploding to life. His face was contorted into a nasty grimace as static electricity danced around his form. A moment later, Danny was expelled from Cell's body with a sonic boom. Gohan blasted off and caught him in the air with only minor difficulty. He had to bite back a curse when he saw Danny's unconscious and steaming body. He could still feel a heartbeat, though. That was the only thing keeping him from flying into a blind rage.

Cell had no such limitations. "That is it!"

"Guys, fall back!" Gohan shouted as he got into a defensive stance after placing Danny a careful distance away from the ring. "And look alive!"

"I have had enough of you all and your incessant mockery of my tournament! It all ends now!"

Cell raised a finger, pointing it out towards the fighters, causing Gohan's eyes to widen. The memory of Trunks lying dead on the ground wasn't too far from his mind. He tried to leap in front of the finger as it started to glow, but at the last second, Cell smirked and changed his aim. His index finger pulsed strongly with golden light before it fired.

Gohan spun around to find the Sorcerer collapsed. He barely heard the string of curses from his allies by the time he had flown over to them, covering them all with his Ki barrier. Stretching out his senses, it was easy to tell that the Sorcerer was no longer living. "Dammit, Cell! Your fight is with me!"

"Then tell your friends to stand aside!"

Gohan's eyes narrowed as he flared out his Ki once more, getting ready to charge back into a renewed onslaught. "Fine!"

"Gohan, we've gotta work together, remember?" Max grunted. "You can't let Cell bait you into fighting alone."

Before Gohan could respond, thick, green smoke began to waft into the air. All eyes were drawn to the lion-like beast that stood next to the Sorcerer's corpse. The smoke continued to emanate from the beast as everyone nearby took a preemptive step back. They all knew that nothing good came from the Sorcerer's weapon of choice. Soon enough, the beast was completely obscured as it began to howl. A flash of light tore from the center of the mist before it completely dissipated along with the smoke. In the beast's place, a balding, portly, blonde man in a brown, tattered, pinstripe suit remained. His sleeves were torn out, revealing his bulging, muscular arms.

Gohan frowned at the sight and moved to say something, but the mystery man interrupted him by screaming and running in the other direction. He sure couldn't blame the guy.

"Oh my God! OhmyGod, OhmyGod, OhmyGah-!"

With a quick blast, Cell killed him.

Gohan glared at Cell with rage. "He didn't have anything to do with this!"

Cell shrugged. "You all made it perfectly clear that you all were currently participating despite not being in the ring, did you not?"

Gohan simmered with rage. He didn't want to accept it, but he wasn't strong enough to take on Cell alone. And because of that he couldn't tell the rest of his allies to back out of the fight. And to throw the cherry on top, he couldn't protect them while giving Cell his all. His eyes trailed over to Danny's prone form. He could still sense Danny's Ki, so that gave him some temporary solace. Only some.

"Alright, everyone!" Forge boomed from the comms. "Move onto Plan F! Randy, try and wake up Danny so we can switch back to Plan B."

Gohan tried not to wince at the thought of more people having to get in close to Cell. Plan F would entail trying to shut down Cell's nucleus from the outside via remote. Gohan had helped where he could to try and aid Berto, Tucker, and the rest of N-Tek's scientists in building the device, but he was only able to help so much. Shaking his head, he launched himself again at Cell. There wasn't any time left to spend lamenting their situation.

He threw a jab aimed at Cell's cheek, but the bio-android slipped it and retaliated with a knee to his gut, doubling the teen over. He wasn't given a moment to recover as Cell gripped him in a bear hug and began to repeatedly drive his knee into his lower abdomen. He could feel himself scream in pain, every once in a while, when Cell's knee got a little too close to his kidney. After a minute or two of the brutalization, Gohan found enough purchase to knock Cell back with a strong Kiai wave.

"Is this all you've got?" Cell mocked, floating a few inches above the ring. "I'm disappointed."

"I'm just getting started."

"Oh, that I am sure of. Say, where's the power that I felt before? I'd love to see it in person."

Gohan froze. He was hoping that Cell hadn't sensed that. Just before he'd passed out three days prior, he had felt his power surge. It had markedly eclipsed Cell's own power. It was right on the cusp of coming into being, but he wasn't able to summon that power back. Knowing Cell, he would try and force that power out of him. It was the reason why he'd never wanted him to catch wind of his powerup.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Gohan growled.

Cell laughed deeply, his shoulders shaking with the effort. Gohan felt his heart sink. "You are a terrible liar, Gohan. No matter, I'm sure we'll see that power arise sometime soon."

"Gohan, keep Cell distracted!" Forge commanded. "Berto is going to come behind Cell with the shutdown remote."

Gohan kept his gaze fixed on Cell, trying not to give anything away.

"I wonder what you all are planning now."

Gohan's gaze narrowed a fraction, feeling his heartbeat miss a few beats. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Cell shrugged as he crossed his arms. "Alright, feel free to play the fool. It makes things more fun for me."

Gohan didn't respond as he spotted an automaton drifting closer and closer to Cell. Even with only seeing it for a brief period of time, he knew that it was C.Y.T.R.O; Berto's field robot that he used on occasional missions with Max. Only this time, it was equipped with the shutdown device; a T.U.R.B.O. EMP. It wasn't exactly the same shutdown device that Bulma had concocted, but hopefully it would be able to do its job.

He readied himself to launch a blast, and simultaneously, he got ready to shield his comrades from the resulting attack radius. They had all gradually begun to edge to one group, just as practiced, so that it would be easier to protect them. He could only hope that Berto's suit could handle the resulting attack.

"Well, Cell, what do you say to one final warm up blast before we get serious?"

Cell smirked. "Fine with me, but I get to choose the attack!"

He dropped into a familiar stance, cupping his hands at his side. Gohan mirrored him.

"Ka. . ."

"Me. . ."

"Ha. . ."

"Me. . ."

BOOOOOOOOM!

The EMP went off with devastating force. Gohan smirked as he saw Cell's concentration falter as he thrust his hands forward. "HAAA!"

His Kamehameha erupted forth with all of his primal fury, consuming Cell entirely. A small smile crept at Gohan's lips as he continued to pump out more and more energy. He could feel his muscles begin to groan in protest as he pushed on. The bio-android, unfortunately, held his ground as he began to push back against the sudden onslaught. Gohan gritted his teeth as he realized that Cell wasn't putting his all into his defense. His Ki had spiked in response, sure, but it didn't feel like there was much distress. He wouldn't be going out of commission any time soon. C.Y.T.R.O was already wiped out by the power of Gohan's attack. It had most likely already been rendered useless by being in close range to the EMP, though.

"RAHHHH!"

Gohan winced as he felt the blast reel back at him after Cell's shout. He stood his ground, however. He could see some of his allies readying their various artillery in his peripherals. With another shout, Cell unleashed a powerful Kiai wave that sent the blast careening towards Gohan. Gohan bit back a curse as he firmly planted his feet and threw his arms toward the sky, directing the beam harmlessly towards into the air at the last moment. The beam roared past the clouds, splitting the atmosphere as a monstrous pillar of light that eventually fizzled out in space.

It took everything inside of Gohan not to collapse onto one knee. He didn't want to give Cell even the slightest admission of weakness. Even so, he couldn't hold the haggard breaths that wracked his body as sweat dripped from his forehead and down to his eyes, adding to his growing discomfort. His muscles were still burning from his most recent attack, and from the looks of things, he wouldn't be getting much reprieve.

"Now, let's start getting serious," Cell said with a smirk. Cell knew, Gohan realized, just how dire the situation had gotten for him. He was going to be scraping from the bottom of the barrel from here on out. "Shall we?"

Vlad sat in his cell with his eyes shut. He remained cross-legged as he centered his breathing, taking nice and slow breaths. His thoughts were focused only on the essentials. He needed as much focus as possible for his next maneuver.

"Hey!"

Vlad popped an eye open as he gazed distastefully at the guard who dared to open his insufferable mouth. "Do you need something?"

"Our sensors say that you aren't sleeping," the idiot remarked with no small amount of genius. "What are you doing in there with your eyes shut?"

Vlad rolled his open eye, slowly and deliberately. "I'm trying to curb the headache these incessant lights are causing me, and you are certainly not helping."

The idiot looked like he wanted to say more, but the other guard had enough sense to stop him. "Leave him be. There ain't much he can do in that cell."

The imbecile glared at Vlad, but he didn't say anything more. Taking that as an admission of defeat, Vlad closed his eyes once more. Patience wasn't one of his strong suits. Even before he received the ghost powers that allowed him virtually anything he wished without consequence, Vlad had always wanted to have his desires as quickly as possible. Waiting in the infernal, filthy N-Tek cell had been one of the hardest and humiliating things that he'd ever done.

But like all things, it would be over eventually.

A loud bang followed by a muted yelp silenced the room. It came from just outside the surveillance room reserved for Vlad's cell. A second later the cameras to the hallway outside his door went down. The hiss of static assailing the ears of all present.

The idiot from before spun to face Vlad, leveling his blaster at him. "What the hell is your game, you piece of shit?!"

"I would appreciate it if you placed your aim on the clearly incoming threat and not my person," Vlad drawled, both eyes lazily staring at the man.

"As far as I'm concerned, I do have my gun trained on the threat. I've got enough ectoranium in this thing to waste you ten times over, so I'll ask you one more time! What the fuck is your game?!"

"Hey, stand down, Jackson," the more reasonable guard commanded. "Keep yourself in check or I'll have Forge assign you to a different post.

For a moment, it looked like the idiot wasn't going to listen. Finally, though, he seemed to regain some sense as he turned back to the door and trained his gun on it.

"You stay here," said the presumably higher ranked guard. "I'll check out what's going on."

The idiot guard nodded as the other one made his way to the door. He carefully opened it, peering both ways, before hurriedly locking the door behind him as he sought out the threat.

"That is one brave guard," Vlad muttered.

"Shut the fuck up, alright?" the idiot grunted. "One more word out of you and I'll throw some ectoranium into your next meal!"

Vlad rolled his eyes before closing them once more. It would be over eventually.

"Hey-!" the guard exclaimed before a light crash rang out. The idiot gripped his gun even tighter as he glared at the door. "Damn," he muttered, "we should've got walkie talkies or something." Clearing his throat, he called out, "Hey! Special Agent Samuels! You alright, sir?! Do you read me?"

No response.

The idiot turned back to Vlad and punched the bars. Vlad sighed deep and exaggeratedly, giving the man a pitying stare. "You have such a temper on you."

"I don't know what you're trying to do but-!"

His neck turned at a painful angle as he slumped to the ground. He was assuredly dead. A second later, Vlad's clone shimmered into visibility holding the higher ranked agent. He pressed the agent's likely now cold hand to the palm detector, causing the bars to retract. Vlad smirked as his clone set the blood blossoms that he'd neatly arranged into a pile during the commotion ablaze. He shifted into his ghost form as his clone faded out of existence. He could feel a flood of new information from the clone's past two weeks fill his mind.

"Great," Vlad said, a face-splitting grin marring his features. "The wormhole is complete."

A/N: And just like that things have gone from bad to worse for our heroes! Some of the Earth's fighters have already perished! Who will live? Who will die? Will the heroes win, or will Cell reign victorious? Find out next time on Dragon Ball-

Wait fuck wrong thing.

Uploaded: March 15th, 2023