Before we knew it, May 25 was on our doorstep...literally. I was outside as the sunlight was just about to hit the door, a true indication that it was finally the day of the Cell Games. Unable to sleep, I had stayed outside all night, mentally preparing myself for the coming challenge.

I went into Gohan's room right away and started shaking his bed a bit. 'Come on, Gohan, wake up.'

The half-Saiyan slowly wandered into consciousness. "Huh?" he moaned interrogatively. "Oh, hi, Frui."

"Today's the day," I told him while I halted the shaking. "You think you're ready?"

Gohan sat up and stretched his arms. "Yeah, I think so."

'We need all the help we can get,' I thought. 'At least now we have Gohan to help.' Then, I told him, "I'll go wake up Coral. Do you want to get your dad up?"

"Sure." He got out of bed, quickly went Super Saiyan without damaging his surroundings, and combed his hair with his fingers. After that, he ran out of the room to wake up Goku.

I followed him out the door, but not to Goku and Chi-Chi's room. Instead, I went to the living room where my girlfriend was sleeping on a sofa bed, her pink shirt and purple shorts not even under the blanket anymore. She probably had a nightmare or something.

"Coral," I whispered. "It's time." She didn't even move, though, so I crouched down next to her face and kissed her forehead. "It's time," I repeated, this time a bit louder.

My blonde girlfriend finally groaned, her grogginess preventing her from properly speaking. Within a minute, though, her eyes were starting to open. "Wha?" she asked when she saw my face right in front of hers.

"I've got to go to the Cell Games soon," I explained. "I just thought I would say goodbye before I leave."

She jumped up immediately. "You can't go! You'll die!"

"Coral, have some faith!" I exclaimed. "I'm more powerful than Cell now. He's not going to kill me."

"But I had a dream where he-"

"It was just a nightmare," I said. "It wasn't real." She nodded, accepting my explanation.

"Gohan's probably gotten Goku awake by now," I continued. "It's my time to go."

After a short kiss, Coral looked at me in the eyes, and I looked back into hers. "Don't you dare die out there."

"I won't."

With that, I walked out of the room and met Gohan and Goku in the kitchen. The night before, Chi-Chi had set out half a dozen cereal boxes and put a few plates of pancakes in the refrigerator. Both hungry Super Saiyans were alternating between now-microwaved flapjacks and bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios, leaving nothing for me because they knew I wasn't going to eat anyway.

"'Ay, F'oo," mumbled Goku through a mouthful of pancakes. Somehow, he managed to prevent food from coming out of his mouth.

"Did you guys save some for me?" I joked. Gohan and Goku looked at each other, both of their mouths full of edible materials, and smiled.

After swallowing, Gohan held up a plate with a few pancakes on it. "Here you go!"

I walked up and took the plate. "Thanks!" Then, I started cutting the pancakes with a Kienzan and pouring syrup on them. From there, I calmly ate them, contrasting the violent gorging on the opposite side of the table.

By the time I was finished eating, the only food left on the table was one unopened box of Frosted Flakes. Neither Saiyan wanted to touch it, though, so I ended up putting it away for them.

"Let's go," I said to both of them. Goku, Gohan, and I then walked to the front door only to be stopped by an enraged Chi-Chi on our way out.

"Where do you think you're going?!" she exclaimed.

"The Cell Games," answered her husband.

"Not you, Goku! Gohan, you are NOT going to go out there!"

"Why can't I, Mom?" asked Gohan. "I'm just going to help beat Cell."

"You aren't going to go because you could die!" shouted the female martial artist.

I put my hand on Gohan's shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. I'll guarantee it myself." Then, I immediately used Instant Transmission to go to Cell, who wasn't suppressing his power entirely, to avoid Chi-Chi's wrath.

"Hello, Frui," said Cell when he saw me. "I see you brought a friend. Is that Gohan? My, how you have grown since I last saw an image of you."

Both Gohan and I remained silent. The 11-year-old examined and studied our opponent, and I had a staring contest with Cell. He blinked first.

"So I guess you have to leave Earth now?" I teased after he blinked.

"My, you sure can be a silly fellow, can't you?" Cell laughed a bit. "The tournament hasn't even started yet."

Suddenly, Goku appeared behind Gohan and immediately noticed the bio-android. "Cell."

"Goku."

Goku smiled. "I hope you enjoy your life away from Earth."

"Hmph, as if I'd lose to the likes of you." Both fighters chuckled, both sharing that same carefree yet serious attitude.

After that, Goku, Gohan, and I went over to the side of the arena and waited for the others. In the meantime, Goku told me what happened with Chi-Chi.

When he was about to finish, we heard a masculine voice. "Looks like I'm late," it laughed when its owner landed behind us. "Nobody's here!"

Everybody turned around in shock, having not sensed him. "Krillin?! Where did you come from?!" asked Goku.

"I just flew here using what I affectionately refer to as 'stealth mode,'" he answered. "So...how about we start the tournament?"

That's when Cell spoke up. "It hasn't started yet, baldy. And before you ask, it starts when I want it to."

"Oh. Okay."

We just sat there quietly, enjoying our last few moments of rest, when Tien showed up.

"Where's Chiaotzu?" asked Gohan.

"I left him at home," he told us right away. "Let's face it, he's pretty much useless against someone like Cell." We all agreed.

Next came Yamcha. We said hi and just returned to relaxing. A few minutes later, Trunks arrived.

"Hey, Trunks," I said. "Where's your dad?"

"Oh, he'll be here soon," explained Trunks. "He mumbled something about Cell being stronger than him and flew off before I left."

Not surprisingly, Piccolo arrived before Vegeta. The Namekian just silently stood still, eyes closed, meditating. I could sense some of the magical energy from Kami around him as he concentrated on preparing for the challenge ahead.

About half an hour before Vegeta arrived, a news team from ZTV arrived nearby in a van, led by world-renowned reporter Jimmy Firecracker. With them came a loud-mouthed, Afro'd male, a honey-blonde woman in a red dress, a bald oaf in a blue leotard, and a blonde guy wearing white clothing that was covered with images of roses. They kept loudly making announcements and whatnot about what was happening, and they even turned the camera to the Z Fighters every once in a while. Trunks and I were the only Saiyans there whose hair wasn't golden, but they didn't even know that two thirds of the people who looked human were actually aliens in the first place.

Finally, Vegeta arrived, black hair and all. "Okay, weaklings, does anybody know when this shit starts? I'm dying to punch Cell right about now."

"Ah, Vegeta's here," said Cell. Then, he raised his voice. "You there, reporter! The tournament will begin in exactly sixty seconds, so if I were you, I'd turn on that camera of yours!"

"Thank you, Cell!" responded Firecracker. Then, facing the camera, he said into a microphone, "Folks, the Cell Games are about to begin! Right behind me, Cell himself just informed me that the tournament will start in less than a minute! Mister Satan, who do you think is going to fight Cell first?!"

The champ appeared on television screens everywhere and snatched the microphone. "Well, if none of those people in that crowd over there send anybody up, I'm goin' to send in my top pupils! Isn't that right, boys?" His students popped up in the background. "These two are the finest martial artists in my entire dojo, myself excluded. Cell's got no chance against them!"

"You heard it here first, folks!" exclaimed the reporter. "The champ himself has guaranteed Cell's defeat! Now, if my watch is correct, we have 5...4...3...2...1..."

"The Cell Games are now open!" Cell stated loudly. "Remember the rules: Killing is allowed. Being unconscious for thirty seconds or a ring-out lead to disqualification. You send one fighter at me at a time; I get no breaks, which gives you the advantage. If I lose, then I leave Earth for good, but if I win, then I destroy this pathetic planet!"

"You heard it here first, people of the world!" shouted Firecracker, assuming that Cell's voice had been picked up by the microphone. "The tournament is a go! Mister Satan, which one of your men will you send out first?"

"Well, that's quite the decision." Hercule turned around and did eeny-meeny-miney-moe to choose which person. "All right, you're goin' up!" he said to the big man in the leotard.

"What? Why me, sir?!"

"Because I say so!" Then, the champ pointed at the arena. "Go out there and beat Cell, now!"

The man cowered a bit before starting to semi-confidently walk up to the ring and jump over the edge.

"Attack when you wish," said Cell calmly. "You start the fight."

"AHHHHHH!" The fighter ran up and punched Cell in the stomach. Just to toy with the man, Cell pretended that the wind was knocked out of him.

Suddenly, Cell looked up, an arrogant smile on his face. "Weakling." He flicked his opponent out of the ring. "Next!"

Hercule's other pupil immediately ran up, knowing that he would be thrown out there by the champ either way. "You're going down, bugman!" He said as he struck a pose, a rose in his mouth.

"Hmph," mumbled Cell. "Do your worst."

The man tried spin-kicking Cell's neck to no avail. Then, he repeatedly punched Cell's abdomen, yielding no progress. "What?!" he exclaimed angrily. "How is this possible?!"

"You're just too weak." Cell answered. Then, he picked the man up telekinetically and dropped him off the side of the arena surprisingly peacefully. "Okay, let's see if a REAL fighter will come up here now."

Mister Satan himself barged on to the tiled floor. "Your real fighter is right here, you monster! You may have defeated my pupils, but they're nothin' compared to me!"

"Folks, the mighty power of the Champion of the World himself, Mister Hercule Satan!" announced Firecracker into the microphone loudly. "Mister Satan is about to pummel this creature into oblivion!"

Hercule charged, fist at the ready. "GET OFF MY PLANET!" he yelled as his punch made contact with Cell's intangible afterimage, causing it to ripple and vanish. Mister Satan stumbled for a moment before catching his balance. "What? Where'd he go?"

Cell appeared behind the Champ. "Hmm…you weren't lying about being stronger than those other wimps, but you're still no match for me." Before the champ could turn around, Cell kicked Hercule's butt hard enough to send the mustachioed man flying out of the ring and into a cliff. "Now to fight one of the real fighters." He looked over to the Z Fighters expectantly, noticing that a certain prince had a glimmer in his eye.

Hey, guys! So the Cell Games have started and Cell has plowed right through the bodacious men from Hercule's dojo. Who's going to go up next, Vegeta, Trunks, Gohan, or Goku? Is there going to be a surprise from somebody? What does Coral's dream mean, or is it really nothing important? Find out next time on Rise, Shenron!

Power Levels:
Hercule: 25
Hercule's fighters: 18-21
Perfect Cell (extremely suppressed): 2,970