'How did I end up in this situation?'
The arena had been blown up, Cell having changed his mind about ringouts being an acceptable loss against Goku, which forced everyone to jump away. Gohan appreciated how Sixteen had taken upon himself to protect the journalist, the cameraman, and the poor earthling who was way in over his head from that blast, but while they were further away and behind cover, they hadn't left. But that was just a small relief compared to the dread that would come if Cell wasn't defeated. The following fight was short and brutal, until Goku quit and told Gohan to get to it, this was why he trained, wasn't it?
'That can't be right, what am I doing here?'
Gohan stood to fight Cell. He hated it. It was supposed to be his father, not himself. He was just there to help him get stronger, but no, Son Goku said he wasn't powerful enough, he even refused a Senzu bean to continue combat. Vegeta was enraged at the offer, actually, after explaining that 'Kakarot wouldn't accept the bean and would fight to the very end, because that's what Saiyans do', only for said man to just.. quit. Son Goku quit. And Vegeta was baffled; Kakarot had no Saiyan pride whatsoever, in the end.
And to add insult to injury, Goku gave Cell a Senzu, because, 'well, he fought Trunks and me, it wouldn't be fair now, right?'
Gohan saw how it took Tenshinhan, Piccolo and Yamcha to stop an enraged Tora, all teeth out, from killing his father, and deep down, he couldn't fault his friend's outrage. Tora had fought so hard to weaken the monster for the two Sons, and one of them just invalidated all of those efforts because of an idea of 'a fair fight'. Son Goku's action had been so beyond the realm of possibility that none of them reacted in time to blast the bean before Cell caught it.
Tenshinhan and Yamcha reached to grab Trunks' arms before he pounced on Goku. This was no time to fight amongst each other, and both knew it was a futile attempt, should the time traveler really go all out to get to Goku. But they still did it anyway. Thankfully, Trunks hadn't powered up enough to actually do it.
Deep down, Piccolo also wanted to smack Son, but Trunks' outburst of insults and ki rising, despite not calling for the super Saiyan strength, were far more violent than anticipated, until he thought about it. Not only everything Trunks did was thrown away, but Son also directly put Gohan in danger, and considering another Gohan had 'more or less raised him', Piccolo somewhat understood why Trunks reacted the way he did. He was, after all, a hot-blooded Saiyan, and he was Vegeta's son, and endangering the person he had already lost was too much for the young adult. Piccolo got it, because he had similar attachments to Gohan. Still, getting Son a well-deserved beating had to be postponed, so the Namekian got in front of the time traveler, making sure he couldn't see the target of his anger long enough to redirect his attention, and reached into his mind to let him know he understood his rage and agreed, but now all they could do was 'trust Gohan'.
The sudden intrusion stopped Trunks in her tracks, she dropped her power and with a rough gesture, freed her arms away from Tenshinhan and Yamcha with a glare. She put distance again between them, trying her best to control her temper, and rejoined Vegeta who had been observant of the situation. He was pissed at Kakarot for quitting (and for having displayed a power beyond his own, again), but not for the whole bean-situation; there was nothing more satisfying than besting an enemy at their strongest (else he'd have killed Kakarot on at least three different occasions). Kakarot's brat could learn a lesson on Saiyan pride and honor, there and then.
"You Earthlings have the strangest inhibitions. The Saiyan way is killing anyone you don't like," the Prince commented, having witnessed the outburst with a certain amusement and disappointed that his heir actually didn't follow through.
"Consider yourself lucky I don't follow the Saiyan ways, then," Trunks growled a warning, arms crossed, fingers holding onto her elbows, containing the rage.
And now Cell was to play with Gohan and perhaps coexe Goku into taking the damn bean and come back to fighting, because both 'the princess and the little kid' clearly didn't want nor enjoy fighting, and that was something Cell found unacceptable. The monster had put out all of this show to best Son Goku and then kill him, but the Saiyan refused to play along, for some reason the monster didn't understand. Truth was Goku gave it all, and it just wasn't enough. Gohan was their last hope, but for that, he needed to let his power loose. All of it.
At home, with the arena's disappearance, the cameras stopped working, but Jimmy Firecracker was not about to let that stop his mission. He still had sound, and if he was going to die, he'd die on the job. Just.. A little farther away.
'Get angry, come on, kid! Fight me! Fight me for good!' Cell had demanded. He had seen a little of what Gohan was capable of, he wanted more of that since Goku was just not a match for his perfection.
It took stealing the Senzu beans from Krillin for 'safekeeping', destroying Sixteen who had tried to intervene, and then popping out mini versions of himself for Gohan to beg him to stop. Gohan knew that besides Trunks, all of them had died and been revived by the Dragon Balls, which meant that they couldn't be revived again should they die. Anger grew, super Saiyan clawed and demanded blood and horrors. Cell felt it and twisted the knife. 'Look there, Gohan, only Trunks and Vegeta are able to fight back, but how long will they last?'
Trunks just about jumped after Cell when it phased in front of Krillin to steal the Senzu beans and destroyed Sixteen, the anger she had towards Goku now fully redirected towards a more acceptable target, but she was instead met with a mini-version of the monster. She'd promised she was going to fight with Gohan, given a chance, and she wasn't going to let this tiny little bastard get in her way. But they were just about as strong and fast as her, and as smaller targets, these Cell Jr creatures were slippery. Most importantly, her other allies (with the exception of Vegeta) were in serious trouble, they were being toyed with, and they might die on her, which is something she absolutely refused. Her eyes traveled quickly to assess the situation, her ears ignoring Yamcha's bone cracking under one of the hits. Even Goku was down. A dark part of her mind considered it karmic retribution, but she pushed it away. Enjoying their pain at the hands of their enemy, just because they had been stupid, wasn't right in any shape or form. 'I will not let anyone else die,' she had promised, and she intended to keep her promise.
Cell then gave the order to his tiny clones to kill them all, as Gohan was getting angrier and more desperate, his inaction leading to his friends' deaths would surely push him over the edge. The monster wanted to see Gohan tap into his power, the power Goku had announced. They'd do it if nobody did anything. Trunks roared and sent her enemy flying away and changed targets: Vegeta's enemy. She met her would-be father's eye an instant, and built up her ki fast between her indexes and thumbs, hoping he'd get the message so they'd destroy his enemy first, then gang up on the others one by one. Neither was truly used to fighting with someone else side by side, but they'd fought against one another enough to know each other. The first Cell Jr was disintegrated between both their blasts, at the cost of a solid amount of energy. They intended to target the one she'd sent away next, as it was quickly returning, but didn't get to continue their impromptu plan.
Gohan's power erupted beyond comprehension when Cell destroyed Sixteen's head, which had been tossed back on the battlefield by Mr Satan, the bravest man on that god forsaken planet. Sixteen reminded Gohan why he fought, and Cell stepped on the robotic head, claiming while he appreciated his help, he preferred his method. This stopped all fighting; Gohan's new form, surrounded by sparkles, caught everyone off guard. A moment later, all Cell Jrs were disposed of, with prejudice and the pouch holding the Senzu beans was in Trunks' hand, the unspoken request clear. All kindness and warmth was lost, only bloodthirst and tension in those teal eyes.
Gohan looked terrifying and the time traveler' stomach sank. 'Super Saiyan consumed him,' her instincts told her, and Goku was laughing and coughing in pain. This had been his plan and damn it all she wanted to slap some sense into this stubborn man who didn't get that such power had a price. Instead of following her own desire for retribution, she dropped super Saiyan and gave him, herself and everyone else a bean, starting with those most injured, and gave back the almost empty pouch to Krillin.
It wasn't long before Gohan was beating Cell senselessly, enjoying the bloodshed and humiliation, taunting and testing the monster and growing thirsty for more violence, more revenge, more retribution, and making it slow and painful. Cell tried blowing up the planet with a top-down Kamehameha, which Gohan countered with disappointing ease. The kid even gave him a chance to regenerate, which Goku protested (he had finally realized this needed to be over). No, Gohan wouldn't give Cell a quick death, he had to make him suffer . Cell traded speed for strength and endurance, but it was even worse of a humiliating fight, the almost-ten-year-old absolutely dominating the monster everyone feared.
And then Eighteen was regurgitated. The monster had returned to its previous state, and Gohan was still taunting and angering the former 'perfect' creature. Goku told him again to finish the job, but Gohan answered something about how this was what he wanted, wasn't it?
Trunks felt the ki change in the monster, and quickly realized that with Gohan completely lost to super Saiyan, a weakened Cell, no other enemies to destroy, and no allies to protect anymore, killing Cell wasn't that much of a prowess. Vegeta, Piccolo, or Goku could do it, especially now they had eaten a Senzu, but they didn't, too shocked to see Gohan in such a state, she guessed. Trunks didn't hesitate, she was going to finish the job, hoping Gohan wouldn't intervene like Vegeta had, in his fit of overconfidence.
She rushed over to close the long distance, the golden flames taking over her once more, but before she got there, Cell turned into a huge balloon. If he was going down, he would take the whole planet with him, and better not detonate him too quickly by attacking. Trunks didn't get to reach her target. Goku apologized to his friends and disappeared, appeared by his son who was cursing the 'stupid Saiyan genes' who doomed them all, gave him parting words of a proud father and an apologetic husband, and disappeared with Cell.
They'd won, but at what cost?