Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Who would've expected that just a few changes could have such a major impact. Read as Gohan and Kai journey through life and across the universe in this exciting retelling of DBZ, with changes and surprises around every corner. Yamcha x Bulma, Raditz x Android 18, Gohan x Erasa later on. Other pairings undecided at the moment.

27. The Calm Before the Storm

Guest: Oh by far one of the best, and probably the best thing about GT aside from Super Saiyan 4, so really, how could I not add it into this story? As for the games, well that's a whole other matter entirely.

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The battle had come to an end, and Cell had taken his leave to prepare for his new tournament, which was to take place in 10 days time.

'Dammit… Dammit… DAMMIT!" forced to accept his defeat and failure, Future Gohan's aura exploded with his rage, the sheer force shattering the nearby plateaus across the island, before he fell to his knees from the exhaustion he was feeling.

That was when Raditz, alongside Nail and Kai, flew back onto the scene "Well on one hand he's not dead, but on the other hand he's still taking it pretty rough."

"I say it's pathetic." Kai grumbled in a very emo fashion "Find some honor in defeat for the love of our currently non-existent god."

"The view must be great from that glass house of yours."

"I may have lost to Cell, but I could still blast you into the sun if I wanted to."

"Ignoring you, what the hell happened over here, and where the hell is Cell?"

"Only one way to find that out." Kai promptly floated to the ground, with Raditz and Nail right behind him "Alright give us details Terminator reject, what went down?"

"I… I'm sorry." Future Gohan fell back to his normal form "I gave it everything I had, but he just toyed with me! I couldn't do anything, and in the end, in his eyes I wasn't even important enough for him to kill me."

"Sucks doesn't it? Welcome to my fucking world, at least my future self went out on his own terms."

"Trust me Kai, that's the last thing I want or need to think about. Nothing I did was good enough, either then or now."

"Well duh, if my Dragon Fist couldn't penetrate him what chance did you turning into a Hulk have?"

"You know about that?"

"I saw you bulking up out of the corner of my eye before I blacked out, it wasn't that hard to figure out. Just tell us what the hell he's gonna do next."

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Meanwhile, up on the Lookout…

Bulma found herself trying to comfort the crying Bulla "Easy now sweetie, it's okay… So are you two morons waiting for some kind of prompting or invitation or something? Get down there and help Gohan before he gets himself killed!"

"Easy Bulma, just calm down for a minute." Yamcha called her off "The fight's over and Gohan isn't dead."

"So… does that mean he won?"

"No, he definitely didn't win. Whatever happened, they just stopped fighting and then Cell just left the scene."

"That's what frightens me." Piccolo muttered "There's no question that Gohan's power was far greater than Cell's, but somehow it still wasn't enough for him to dominate the battle, and then he had to simply let Gohan go rather than finish the fight? Dammit, what the hell is he up to now?!"

"Whatever it is, we need to be ready."

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"You mean he basically gave you an invite to a tournament where he's the only fighter you have to give a shit about?" Kai shot a dry and annoyed look at Future Gohan "What the fuck do you think this is, Yu Yu Hakusho?"

Future Gohan let out a sigh filled with aggravation "Look I don't get it either, but he told me those exact words and then he took off."

"It's obvious that this is all just a game to him."

"Well that's just bullshit." Raditz muttered "Who in their right mind would enter a tournament like that in the first place? None of the three of you could stand up to him as he is now, so frankly the only hope we have is Kakarot."

"Goku's not stealing the win this time, the minute he and Gohan get out of that chamber I'm going in there myself, for as long as I have to in order to get strong enough to beat Cell."

"Kai, that's not very realistic." Future Gohan pointed out "Both Nail and I have seen what the chamber is like, it would be better if we went in there with you."

"If you have to come then fine, but believe me when I say that Goku isn't going to be the one to kill Cell. I'll bet you 10,000 zeni on that."

"Kai…"

"Me too." that was when Android 16 stumbled towards them "I will participate in the tournament as well."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"But first, I must ask you to take me to the Capsule Corporation for repairs."

"You expect me to take you anywhere?"

"Affirmative. I need them to restore my fighting capabilities. Please… I wish to be useful…"

"Not a chance, there's no way in hell I'm dragging one of Gero's monsters anywhere near any of my friends' homes!"

"Hold that thought you guys." Raditz stepped up to Android 16 and gave him a small smile "We can take you there, but you'll have to see what they say about it."

"Are you kidding me?!"

"It's not as bad as you think it is, I think it's obvious by now that this one is nothing like the Androids you knew from your time."

"And what makes you so sure about that?"

"17 and 18 were different from the ones in your time, you even said so yourself, they didn't seem all that bad. Granted they kind of came off as overconfident assholes, but they're far from being mass murderers like the ones you told us about. Besides, I doubt this is the time to get pick about who we get on our side."

"...You'd better be right about this."

"I wouldn't be saying it if I didn't think so."

"Let him do whatever." Kai just started brooding in a corner "I say Goku hurries the hell up and fast, the minute he gets out is the minute I go in. One day in there is all I need to show you just how far I can push myself, human vs Saiyan be damned. I don't care what any of you say, there's no way in hell Goku will be the one to kill Cell."

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Meanwhile, with Cell…

Cell was in the middle of the first task for planning his tournament "Now then let's pick out the grounds for my tournament, yes I believe this place will work quite nicely. But still, perhaps it would be for the best if I push out the edges a bit so the venue can breathe." so he fired a Ki blast to level the area, killing the nearby residents as a result "And the next step, collecting the material for building my ring." so he used his telekinesis to lift a nearby plateau out of the ground and cut it to reveal a large block of stone "Excellent, even the stone in this area is perfection itself." so he used his telekinesis to cut the stone into a set of 24 by 20 blocks and placed them all down on the ground to form the arena "Yes there we go, a bit on the rustic side perhaps but it can always be added onto, and now I have the perfect place for-" he paused when he noticed something that caught his eye, that being was a green tile among all of the white ones, which would really annoy anyone when you think about it "Son of an emerald whore, starting again!" and so on that note he promptly flew off to find another location.

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Meanwhile, at Capsule Corp…

Mrs Briefs was in the middle of gardening, and she looked over to notice Kai and the others touchdown nearby "Oh Kai darling, it's been so long. Ever the heartbreaker I see, so how's your training going?"

"Hey MILF." Kai gave a two finger salute.

"Oh Kai dear, I'm a grandmother now. Call me GILF."

"Doesn't make a difference really."

"And who are these fine gentlemen you brought with you? I know Raditz, but…"

"The Piccolo lookalike is Nail, I actually respect him, and the other one is Gohan from the future so leave that swinging for the park."

"Phooey."

"So where's Bulma at right now, is she still up at the Lookout? We've got an Android here in some major need for repairs and I need the keys to her lab."

That was when Dr Briefs showed up on a bike for some reason "Why come to the acorn when you have the mighty oak?"

"Becuase that's a professor from a different franchise Doc."

"I mean that I taught Bulma everything she knows!"

"And Doctor Who, Bill Nye and Back to the Future taught me everything I know Doc, just hand over the keys to her lab and I'll take care of the big guy from there."

"Well I just got off the phone with Bulma, she and the others should be back here before too long now."

"Whaddup bitches, where's my GILF at?!" that was when Master Roshi dropped down onto the scene in a capsule plane.

"And now this is happening."

"Yep." Krillin stepped out first, with the others following "Bulma just gave us a heads up and told us to meet her at Capsule Corp right away, and considering what we've been sensing we're not exactly inclined to just ignore her. Plus it's hard to keep tabs on everything from Kame House with just Ki sensing alone."

"She and Yamcha are still up at the Lookout."

Chichi on the other hand had made her way over to Future Gohan "So how did it go?" she was met with only a sigh "So bad I take it?"

"He's been brooding worse than me, what the hell do you think?"

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A few minutes later, inside Capsule Corp…

Kai hooked a few wires into the damaged parts of 16's head "Alright big guy, I'm gonna hook your internal OS up to the system and don't be bothered by any oil release that you're doing against your will. Now let's see what we've got." he pushed a button as Surfin Burd started sounding through the speakers, and images of birds, lots and lots of birds, popped up on the screen "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, how long has this been running?"

"How long has what been running?" asked 16.

"And just for the sake of curiosity, I'm gonna go ahead and close this." Kai pushed the button and saw the alternative to Surfin Bird in 16's databank.

"Kill Son Goku! Kill Son Goku! Kill Son Goku!"

"...Well bird is the word then." so he changed it back to Surfin Bird.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing that won't haunt me for the next few days."

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Meanwhile, with the others…

Krillin blinked "A tournament? Sounds like he's just messing with you."

Future Gohan "I was the one who saw that look on his face, believe me when I tell you that that sort of look wipes away any doubt of how serious he was. He said that it's in 10 days, I don't know anything else other than what he told me."

"Well look on the bright side, you're not dead."

"That's not very comforting right now Krillin."

"Hey don't knock it, sometimes you're not so lucky." he was met with various nods from the likes of Chiaotzu, Master Roshi, Raditz and Nail.

"Wait a second, you mean all five of you have died before? Even Master Roshi has?"

"Oh yeah, Chiaotzu and I twice. The first round was just basically Piccolo's dad being a dick about a decade ago."

"Seriously?"

Chiaotzu nodded "Yeah, second time I blew myself up trying to kill Raditz's dumbass friend, you know the big guy that showed up with Vegeta."

"Yeah I remember that, I was there."

"I know that all too well." Raditz grumbled "Apparently he got brought back by everyone else when we wished back the Namekians that Frieza and his men have killed, and now he's out there getting into the movie business or something."

"That… I've got nothing for that."

"So what then, he just expects everyone to fight him one one?" asked Upa.

"That's what he's told me. Apparently it's his way of recreating the World Martial Arts Tournament that you guys were in, and now that I think about it Father only mentioned it a few times to me before he died."

"Well my boy, allow me." Master Roshi sat down his cup of tea "Considering how I once won such a tournament once myself many years ago, I'm in the unique position to explain. A long time ago, a contest was started in which the best martial artists in the world were to take part, all of them beinf drawn together to decide who could lay claim to being the best. If my memory serves me correctly, your father Goku first started competing back in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, and he made it all the way to the championship too, which was no small feat for his first time in the ring. But that was where the boy faced the great master Jackie Chun, it was a tough battle but that was where his run came to an end. Three years later, Goku found himself competing head to head with the likes Tien Shinhan in the finals of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. Tien proved to be quite a fierce competitor, one of the toughest we had ever come across at the time, but Goku kept him busy for a lot longer than anyone had expected for a kid his age, only about 15 at the time. In the end, Goku lost but only just."

"What happened?"

"He got hit by a truck."

"Oh, okay I remember him mentioning that part."

"Then we get to the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament three years later, one of the most brutal in history, and everyone in attendance swore that it was the closest competion that they had ever seen. Not only did that point end with Goku becoming a blushing newlywed, Piccolo ended up taking the tournament by storm under the alias Majunior at the time, and he wiped the floor with all of the opponnents who stood in his way. Kami even possessed a man just to compete, and he wiped the floor with Yamcha in the process. Any normal fighters were too afraid of entering the tournament. In the championship match, which literally decimated the entire island, everyone saw Goku and Piccolo locking horns, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Goku emerged victorious as the strongest man on the face of the planet. In the process though, the ring was destroyed, and since that fateful day the World Martial Arts Tournament has been a thing of the past, never to be held again. Let's see now, how many years ago was that tournament?" he looked up and his jaw dropped at the sight of almost everyone having left.

As it turns out, Future Gohan was the only one still present "That sounds like it was a sight to behold."

"Oh believe me, it was. Feels like it was only yesterday. Unfortunately things are a lot more severe and we have much bigger fish to fry, Cell is out there and who knows what kind of insidious plot he's brewing."

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Meanwhile, with Cell and his insidious plot…

Cell was growing frustrated to find that the construction "How did all of these squares make a circle?! No no it's fine, it's fine, it doesn't bother me, it doesn't bother me… It bothers me, it bothers me a lot, and that tile is still green!"

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Meanwhile, back at Capsule Corp…

Kai and Dr Briefs got to work on putting 16 through a scanner "Well thanks to the schematics that Sonic the Hedgehog and angsty nerds Present and Future brought back, we should be able to help you. But at the same time, from the looks of what we found from rooting around in your system while trying to get that Surfin Bird song out of both our headas, I'd say that you're missing a significant portion of data. And considering these are plans for 17 and any plans for you were probably destroyed along with Gero's lab, there's not really anything that we can do to fix it."

"That is fine." 16 assured him "I am my own Android. I will live my life accordingly, faults and all."

"I could always give you a sick Gatling gun."

"Appreciated, but unnecessary. What is that creature on your shoulder?"

"Oh that thing? It's Dr Brief's pussycat, Bulma might be shallow as fuck but her dad is actually pretty chill."

"May I touch your pussy?" he was met with a meow from the cat, whose name is Scratch from what I know.

"As long as you don't let George Takei hear that."

16 gently reached out, and Scratch climbed onto his shoulder "Hello pussycat. It is licking me now. Should I lick the pussy?"

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"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Future Gohan pinched the bridge of his nose, his patience running thin "Mother please, when the time comes to fight Cell again, we're going to need my younger self."

Unfortunately, Chichi wasn't backing down "What you guys need is to get it through all of your heads! Gohan you lived through hell, and seeing the circumstances you've dealt with, I can't and shouldn't stop that. But I only told your father that he could train with our version of you, I never said anything about letting him fight."

"Chichi you can't keep him out of this." Krillin protested "He's a fighter like the rest of us."

"He's only ten!"

"And he's the third strongest fighter I know!"

"Who's the fourth?" Kai called from down in the lab, silencing Krillin almost immediately as a result.

Chichi let out a sigh "I'm a fighter too you know, how the hell do you guys think I landed the strongest man on the planet?"

"Arguably."

"Don't make me come down there kid, I will rip your world a-fucking-sunder!" she calmed down for a moment and turned back to the others "Look, I know I come off as books in and books out, but that's because I want something better for my son, instead of him just surviving off prize money and welfare. Now I know I can't stop him, but if he fights and gets hurt, or god forbid he dies, and any of you could've stopped it, there's no dragon in this UNIVERSE that will save you from me." she let the others take a moment to let that sink in.

"...Yeah don't make me come over there." Kai could be heard mumbling from inside.

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Meanwhile, with Cell…

After three tries, Cell had finally managed to design the ring to his image "Finally, my arena is complete! Perfectly square, a fine marble white, and a full 24 by 20 feet…" he paused when he noticed a hole in one of the tiles, but rather than take off and start again, he took a deep breath to calm himself down "Let it go Cell, you have shit to do." and so he promptly flew off in order to do the shit in question.

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Meanwhile, back at Capsule Corp…

While some of the support characters were enjoying some baked goods, courtesy of Mrs Briefs, the others were looking over the TV in anticipation of Cell's announcement.

"Hey man, is that the last Hetap?"

"Yeah, and it's all mine." and cue the gunshot "Oh god, oh my god, oh Jesus why?!"

"Hetap. Come on, you've killed for less."

"Well that's not necessarily false." Raditz commented.

Kai ignored him and gritted his teeth 'Dammit come on Cell, if you're going to make an entrance then do it already!'

Krillin glanced over at Future Gohan "Hey so be real with us Gohan, you're sure that Cell told you he'd appear on TV with more details right?"

Future Gohan nodded "Yeah I'm positive, he said so himself."

"In that case, let me know when he comes on. I'm gonna step outside and get a little bit of fresh air."

"What's your plan?"

"My plan is that we have 9 days to train, I might not come anywhere near close to measuring up to you Super Saiyans but I can't just sit around and do nothing."

"You have the right idea Krillin, I think I'll join you." Upa pulled himself to his feet "Sitting around and doing nothing won't get us anywhere."

"If it's gonna me a real tournament with real rules, it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. You never know, we could always tap out before we get killed."

"You're wasting your time guys." Kai grumbled from his place on the couch "Cell himself is the only opponent there's gonna be, you'd be dead before you could even step into the ring."

"Says the kid who Dragon Fisted him and it barely even penetrated him."

"I'll lock myself in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for the next 9 days if I have to, Cell won't even get the chance to beg for mercy and you two assclowns won't even get a chance to fight him."

"You know kid, Yamcha's nephew or not, if you're gonna brood and skulk around you could at least try not to be a dick about all of that."

"Oh gosh, let me try again. Hey Krillin, how's that broken neck of yours?"

"Just fine, how's your spine?"

"...I'm giving you a five minute head start."

"Thank you I'm going to need it, you're very fast."

"And I might not use the Namek-Ken."

"KAI!" that was when Yamcha burst into the room, with Bulma following right behind him, and he burst through the others and in a surprising move, he pulled Kai into a hug "You're okay aren't you?"

"I took a Cell to the spine and got beaten down worse than music did by Limp Bizkit, what do you think? Not even the Dragon Fist worked on him."

"It blew him apart but he regenerated because of Piccolo?"

"Yep."

"Figures. Just hang in there, you'll bounce back and Cell is gonna be in for one hell of a surprise when the time comes." Yamcha then glanced over at Future Gohan "Looks like you made it out okay too, Piccolo and I knew that you survived your brawl with Cell but we kind of expected you to end up getting beaten down pretty bad."

"So did I." Future Gohan let out a sigh "I'm sorry for making all of you worry so bad."

"Forget it, you were trying to do your part to bring down the big bad. I think if Goku saw you then he'd be proud of you."

"I doubt he would be of how I lost."

"Hey think of it this way, any battle you can walk away from is a learning experience."

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Meanwhile, in Central City…

Cell was blazing through Central City, destroying everything in his path, until he found himself in the TV station in front of the terrified receptionists "Tell me, would there be a TV show that's currently broadcasting live to a worldwide audience?"

One of the receptionists barely managed to find her voice amidst her terror "Top floor, main studio, try there."

"Excellent, thanks for the help." so on that note, Cell promptly forced his way upwards through the ceiling, which left everyone present even more terrified than before, if that was even possible in the first place.

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Meanwhile, back at Capsule Corp…

"Work your body, work your body, make sure you don't hurt nobody!"

Krillin sat down next to where Master Roshi was drooling over an exercise program "You know there's actual porn on the internet right?"

Master Roshi let out a scoff "Krillin my boy you have to learn to appreciate the classics, it's what separates the perverts from the connoisseurs."

"They still never get laid all the same." Kai was met with a fist bump from Yamcha, which earned some disapproving looks from Bulma.

"1… 2… 1… Huh?" one of the women was particularly freaked out by Cell just popping out from beneath the floor, throwing her off and advancing up to the next floor "Uh… You have great glutes!"

"Okay this just got interesting." Kai snatched the remote and started flipping through the channels, only to see Cell rising up from beneath the floor in a cooking show, a soap opera, and then some anime movie.

Chiaotzu lit up at the sight of the anime movie "Oh wait is that Sword of Truth? I love this movie, leave it here."

"It's recorded."

"Works for me."

"See, cable isn't always bullshit." Kai switched onto the news network.

"And as you can see, every dog does indeed have its day."

"Which is how Justin Bieber got a career in the first place." Cell suddenly burst up from beneath the floor and grabbed the reporter by the neck "Tell me, is this or is it not the top floor main studio?"

"Y-Yes… it is…"

"Good, then in that case: The following contains violence, coarse language and adult situations not suitable for minors. Viewer discression is advised." he then proceeded to snap the reporter's neck in a very brutal fashion.

"Woah-ho-ho, brutal!" Chiaotzu was met with several disturbled looks, as well as a long low whistle from Kai "What?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and that Technicolor rainbow in between, we interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special bulletin. That is to say, I interrupt this broadcast. As it so happens I come bearing wonderful news, especially for anyone out there sick of living in times of peace. The wait is over my friends, life will soon be chalked to the brim with nail biting suspense and action. I am Cell. You may remember me from the following cities." the screen showed a quicl scrollthrough of all of the cities he had attacked, those being Aru Village, Basil Town, Chazke Village, Ginger Town, Nicky Town, Penguin Village, Pepper Town, Polisas City, Purple City and Yahhoy "Of course, if you lived in those cities then you won't remember, seeing how you have now become part of my biomass due to me absorbing you. I'm sure you're aware of the creature being tracked on the news, stalking cities and looking for fresh victims. I am what you may refer to as the perfected form of the creature in question, and I would like to take a moment to thank the human race for its generous donations of energy that made this possible, as well as to assure everyone that I've reached my quote and my prowling has come to an end. But let's move on to more important matters now. I am officially hosting a once in your lifetime event, a tournament so grand that it will literally leave you breathless! I hearby dub said tournament as the Cell Games! Be part of the conversation on Twitter at #cellgames."

Yamcha pulled out his phone "And from the look of it he's already trending."

"The location of this marvellous event will be 28KS.5, if you don't know where that is then blame the cartographers. For those of you familiar with your adorable little World Martial Arts Tournament, I'll be borrowing the rules. No brackets this time however, yours truly will be your opponent. And much like Kai's mother, I intend to accept all comers."

"YOU SON OF A-" Kai had to be held back from blasting off towards Cell in a blind rage by the likes of Raditz, Nail and Future Gohan.

"This tournament is also open invite, as many challengers as you wish until the winner is officially determined. This works to your advantage seeing how, as powerful as I am, I may end up using a considerable amount of my own strength and tire out after awhile, which does seem more than fair. Apart from that you already know the rules, if you forfet your match or any part of your body is pushed outside of the ring then you've lost. If you end up dying, though I'll make an honest effort to go easy on everybody, that will also count as a lost, and if every member of your team should happen to lose then that will result in a loss for the entire world. That's right, defeat will mean annihilation for every person on the planet, from the entire population of Earth to a man gazing up at me in horror as he takes his final gasping breaths. So in conclusion, I encourage all capable fighters to consider my invitation. The Cell Games will start at noon exactly ten days from now. That should give all of those entering plenty of time to prepare, or for those not participating, time to connect with loved ones, get your affairs in order, or maybe just kill your boss. Get a purge going, live a little, because exactly nine days from now… Well let me just give you an idea." Cell promptly fired a Ki blast through the wall behind him, destroying half the city and a nearby mountain in one shot as a result "So just be sure to keep that in mind, and I'll see all of you on the Day of Fate. Also, feel free to pray to your god, but it's only fair to warn you now, I won't be listening." and on that note, Cell promptly took his leave as the camera cut out.

"I can't believe this is happening." Krillin muttered "Now the whole world is at stake in this thing, and everyone knows it. What the hell are we supposed to do know? Gohan and the others only survived because they wanted them to, at this rate not even Goku could have a chance at beating Cell."

Yamcha looked over to see Kai ripping off the t shirt he was wearing "So where exactly are you going?"

"Where do you think?" Kai pulled a new gi out of a capsule "I'm not fucking Superman or anything like that, but there's no way in hell I'm going to let Cell get the better of me. One way or another, if Cell's gonna die by anyone's hand it sure as hell won't be Goku's!" and so he promptly stormed out of the room.

"Kai hold on, don't go charging in on your own." Future Gohan prepared to go after him.

"Gohan hold on." Chichi grabbed him by the arm and stopped him "Before you go, at least let me cut your hair so that it doesn't get in your way."

"As long as I don't end up looking like one of the Three Stooges again."

"I said I was sorry for that."

"No you didn't."

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Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location…

A certain bald man picked up a phone "Hello? Oh yeah, I saw it. I've already got my promo team on it. We'll have you on a plane tomorrow. You just do some push ups, sit ups, and pull plenty of buses… Champ." and on that note, Nappa promptly hung up.

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The next day came, and as a result of his live announcement, Cell had succeeded in plunging the world into chaos, with cities around the world having already begun to empty as people scrabled for the hills in a desperate attempt to escape from his attention, with full scale panic being the only constant at the moment.

Raditz and the others could only look on at the chaos taking place from their place atop the Lookout, with his teeth grinding furiously as a result "Dammit, all of this is my fault! I could've prevented this, if only I had I had destroyed 18 when I had the chance, and I fucked it up in every sense of the world! I'm the one who fixed this, I have to at least try to make it right!" his aura flared and he prepared to blast off down towards the Earth below.

Fortunately for him, Nail was easily able to hold him back "Think about this at least for a moment Raditz, we both know for a fact that Cell isn't the kind of opponent you can take on by yourself, especially not as you are right now. As your friend, I would never allow you to simply throw your life away no matter what the circumstances might be. If you wish to fight him then just wait, save your efforts for the tournament like the rest of us. None of us blame you for what happened yesterday, so stop blaming yourself over it. Besides, the fact is that Goku is our best chance right now. As much power as Saiyans are capable of keeping under wraps, there's no telling what sort of strength he'll have once he and Gohan come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber when they finish their training."

"Which raises the question." Future Gohan glanced over at Mr Popo "How much longer do we have before Father and my younger self are finished with their training?"

"They have three more hours until their day in the chamber is complete." Mr Popo told him.

"Oh please." Kai let out a scoff "There's no reason to assume they'll think that a day is going to be enough, chances are the two of them will stay in there training for a lot longer than that."

"As far as I'm concerned, if it helps us to defeat Cell then they can stay in there for as long as they want." Piccolo told him flatly "We have 9 full days left, and besides you just drank the Ultra Divine Water and fought Cell, so you should be resting."

"Yeah, and look how that turned out."

"My point is, I plan to go in next when they're done."

"If you want to give Goku a beatdown then go ahead and get your turn done with, if I have to stay in there for the next 8 days before I get strong enough to beat Celll then so be it."

"As much grit as you show right now, that's not an option. There's a natural limit to the time anyone can spend inside the chamber, any one person is allowed a total of 48 hours and not a minute more."

"And if someone does end up going over the limit?"

"Then the door to the chamber will vanish, never to appear again, leaving whoever was inside going over the limit trapped in there for eternity."

"Well that sounds like a steaming pile of plot convenience."

"There's no point in letting yourself get so worked up, like I said there's enough time for all of us to go inside."

"That's not satisfying for me, if you know anything about me you know that I don't settle for a certain level of strength." then their heads all snapped in a certain direction, as in inside the building of the Lookout.

"That's Goku's Ki signature." Nail noted "Surely he and Gohan haven't decided to end their training so prematurely. It doesn't make sense, why would they not use the full time?"

Sure enough, at that moment Goku and Gohan both made their way out into the open part of the Lookout, both of them having considerable damage to their armor, and both of which in their Super Saiyan forms "So that was Nail and the Future Gohan's Ki signatures that I was picking up on, and Cell is still hanging around down there too. Anyone wanna fill me in on what's going on?"

Kai and Piccolo both looked at Gohan, then looked at each other "Is that Gohan? Oh you've gotta be shitting me."

"Come on guys seriously, someone tell us what's going on."

Raditz let out a sigh "Well to put it simply…"

"Wait hold that thought bro, before you do I think I should eat something, any chance you have some food handy Mr Popo? I'm serious, I don't think I've ever been this hungry."

"...Yep it's official, little brother is back."

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20 minutes later…

It didn't take Goku and Gohan long to start chowing down on food in the way that only Saiyans ever could "Oh man this stuff is amazing, I can't remember the last time I had anything as good as this!"

Raditz looked a little bit grossed out "So is that what Saiyans look like all the time when they eat?"

"Yes." was the simultaneous chorus.

"Just checking. So be real with me Kakarot, you two did actually remember to eat in there didn't you?" he was met with a muffled reply "Seriously, at least have the decency to swallow your food before you try and speak."

Goku took a moment, and I mean a long moment, to swallow what he was eating "Yeah it's official, I'm not pooping tonight. To answer your question bro, yeah we ate the entire time, but between my hair getting caught on fire and us being terrible cooks, so we couldn't make anything as good as this stuff. We've been needing this feast for a year."

"Okay, makes sense."

Kai eyed Goku and Gohan intently from where he was brooding 'Okay something is seriously wrong here, they both look like they're in their Super Saiyan forms, but they both seem way too calm and chill for that to be the case.'

Gohan was the first one to finish his food and let out a content sigh "Thank you Mr Popo, that really hit the spot. I knew my dad said you were a good cook, but that was amazing." then he turned to Kai "So fire away, what happened while we were in there?"

"To put it bluntly, Raditz fucked up and shit hit the fan."

"...You mind elaborating?"

"I got my shit wrecked even after using my trump card."

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Meanwhile, back at Capsule Corp…

Dr Briefs and Bulma were now hard at work with repairs on Android 16 "Oh I see, so these circuits connect like so don't they?"

"Hey dad, come get a load of this." Bulma "I'm peaking into 16's memory banks, and unless I'm missing something there's nothing here but stuff on Goku."

"You don't say, that's quite interesting."

"Well I guess it's not that much of a surprise, it's no doubt that Dr Gero created this guys for the sole purpose of wiping Goku off the face of the planet. The real mystery is, why is he no longer interested in following his program? Unless of course this is some elaborate ruse to lower us into a false sense of security."

"No, I don't think so. His circuitry may be complex enough to throw me for a loop, but my gut tells me this nice guy routine isn't an act. No matter how you look at it, he's the most gentle machine I've ever laid eyes on."

"Yeah I suppose. Maybe it's just another side effect of Gohan altering the timeline, but in any case I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. With Cell still out there, we're going to need all of the allies we can get our hands on if we want any hope of taking him down, and it's not like someone trying to kill Goku turning to our side is a fist for us."

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Meanwhile, on the Lookout…

Goku took in what he was hearing from the others and grinned "So that's what's been going on, truth be told it actually sounds kind of fun. It's not every day you get to compete in a big tournament."

"Fun, of course you would think that." Piccolo muttered.

"Hey by the way Mr Popo, you didn't by any chance throw it away did you?"

"What? No I held onto it, as a matter of fact I even washed it." Mr Popo pulled out Goku's old orange and blue gi, which he quickly put on in place of the busted armor.

"Thanks a ton for that Mr Popo, you really are the best. Hey that reminds me Gohan, we'd better ask your mom to make you a new Gi when we get home. Chances are you're too big for your old one now."

"Thanks dad, but I think I've got it covered." Gohan made his way over to Piccolo "So Piccolo, I was wondering…"

"What, you want me to make you a gi like your dad's?" Piccolo guessed.

"Actually, I was hoping I could get one like your's…"

"...Oh."

Nail looked over and tried to suppress a grin "Did your heart just skip a beat? Honestly, that's just precious."

"Shut. The fuck. Up. Anyway yeah sure I guess, I think I'll be able to outfit you with something to your tastes. Clothes Beam!" Piccolo used his Clothes Beam on Gohan, granting him an identical copy of his gi, complete with the orange shoes and the white cape.

"Wow, this feels amazing. Thank you Piccolo."

"Quick rundown, doors are going to be a little bit difficult at first, so I suggest going with a 45 degree angle. Also crowds, but I don't really deal with them."

"Duly noted."

"Enough with the elephant in the room assclowns." Kai pointed out dryly "What the fuck is our plan then, do you two have what it takes to take on Cell?"

Goku gave a shrug "Well it's kind of hard to say, I haven't seen him now that he's in his Perfect Form yet or whatever you call it, so right now I can't say for certain. I'll know better once I've had a good look." and on that note, he locked onto Cell's Ki signature and promptly disappeared with Instant Transmission.

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Meanwhile, at the Cell Games arena…

Cell was in the middle of a very important phone call "Look I understand that you sponsor all forms of sporting events, but just for the sake of being clear you do realize that everyone dies if I win, right? Yes. Yeah, I guess it is a win win for you isn't it? Alright then, it's officially the Cell Games, presented by Hetap!" he looked back to see Goku appear on the scene "Hey listen, I'm going to have to call you back." and he promptly hung up "My, what an honor."

"I don't know if I would call it that." Goku told him flatly.

"So tell me what you think, this is the ring where in nine days, we shall decide not only the fate of this boring blue ball of dirt and water, but the entire galaxy as well. Stylish right?"

"Not really, it's actually pretty lame when you think about what's at stake."

"Perhaps." Cell turned to face Goku as the skies darkened and lightning began flashing overhead of the arena.

"So this is your Perfect Form then is it? Not bad, not bad at all."

"Nice of you to say so."

"I just came to take a look and see what I'm going to be up against, and to say this: I'm going to be taking part in your little tournament, so you keep your end of the bargain and don't cause any trouble between now and then, got it?"

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Let's make it a match for the books." and with that, Goku disappeared in a flash.

"That's the spirit, of course that's assuming there's anyone left to write the books once I'm through with this planet."

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Goku promptly flashed back onto the Lookout "Well I'm back."

"So how did it go down there with him?" asked Future Gohan.

"I'm gonna be totally honest with you guys, he was a lot more intimidating than I had been expecting him to be. There's no telling what kind of damage he can do if he really puts his mind to it, I mean I won't know until I try but as things stand right now, I'm not all that certain I can defeat him."

"Father, you… you can't be serious."

"I am serious, I wouldn't joke about something like this."

"If that is the case then I think it's for the best if you go back into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to train." Piccolo told him "We still have days before the tournament, the way I see it we might as well use them. We've already decided on the order, I'll be going in first and then Raditz will be going in with Nail. Gohan, the future one, will be going in after them, and lastly the two of you will go in after him, and Kai will go after you two."

"...Yeah I don't know about that, about me and Gohan going in or about Kai going in."

"What?!"

"I think it's safe to say me and Gohan have had our full inside the chamber so we can just finish up our training out here, 9 days should be enough to get ourselves pretty well prepared."

"You've officially lost what few brain cells you have." Kai noted dryly "You're not even going to think about going back in?"

"That's right, and I don't think you should either."

"You're officially off the fucking rocker, I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing for the next 9 days."

"I never said you should, but the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is a harsh place and humans age a lot faster than Saiyans and Namekians do. Besides there is such a thing as too much training, you have to rest every now and then."

"So what then, you expect me to believe that the great Son Goku has settled?"

"I'm not saying that, what I'm saying is that if we've already pushed ourselves to the absolute limit our bodies can take then what's another year going to do? We'd just be torturing ourselves in there, of course it's fine if the rest of you go in there and train as hard as you like in order to give yourselves a fair shot. As for the Earthlings, well I don't think it's worth the risk even though all of you can stand to beef up just a little bit."

"I'm not an idiot like some people, as in you, so do you really expect me to put up with getting patronized by you of all people? Are you really trying to suggest that you and Gohan are that much stronger than me?"

"Oh I'm not suggesting anything, I'm outright saying it."

"You son of a-" Kai burst forward and let a fist fly, only for it to be blocked with ease.

"But I'm not saying it can't happen, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber just isn't the right way for you to go about it. I actually know someone who can help you, Yamcha, Krillin and Upa get a lot stronger in only a matter of seconds, and it's just a matter of contacting him."

"So how do we contact him?" asked Piccolo.

"You'll sense him coming, I can tell that he's heading for Earth as we speak. I'll head out and meet him first when he gets here. Anyway Gohan, we should get going."

Gohan nodded "Yeah okay dad, I'm ready."

"Alright, we'll see you later guys." and so the two of them took off and began soaring down towards the Earth below "Hey by the way, we need to make a stop on the way alright? There's someone I need to talk to."

"Okay sure." so they flew downwards until they came to stop at Korin Tower "Hey there, how's it going Korin? It's been a long time."

Korin gave them both a nod "Looks like you've both bulked up."

"You could say that, so what are you up to these days?"

"Nothing too big, just watching you guys sprout up."

"Good to know, and Yajirobe when did you get back?"

"Look I already know why you're here." Yajriobe shut him up "I'm saying it now, there isn't a chance in hell of you talking me into fighting in that stupid tournament then you've got another thing coming."

"You haven't changed a bit, but no one is asking you to enter anything so don't worry."

"Good, as long as we're on the same page, I mean it just wouldn't make any sense to bring out the big guns until you have to. A secret weapon is only really useful if you keep it a secret until you need it."

"I know that a lot better than you think I do."

"Still though, no matter how you slice it the world is in quite the pickle." Korin noted "I don't think I've ever seen so much panic from the people down there."

"Yeah I know, life Cell wasn't awesome enough to begin with but seeing him in his Perfect Form us pretty intimidating. I'm not sure I wouldn't be in a panic before long too."

"I say you're doing a fine job hiding your fear so far. Of course, I'm hoping that's because you've found some sort of way to save us in the time chamber?"

"Well…" Goku let out a nervous chuckle.

Gohan eyed Goku intently for a moment 'Did he? I was with him the entire time, is there some other thing he isn't telling me?'

"Hey Korin be honest with me, you could pretty much gauge Cell's full power from here can't you?"

"To be fair he hasn't revealed his full strength yet, so it's difficult to say, but I could offer up a rough estimate though."

"Hey anything you can tell us at this point would help, if you don't mind I'd like you to compare the two of us."

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Meanwhile, back up on the Lookout…

Future Gohan looked over at he others "Is it just me or were Father and my younger self still in their Super Saiyan forms this entire time? It just seems to me that they were rather subdued all along."

"There's no question the two of them were in Super Saiyan form." Piccolo noted "At this rate I can only assume they spent a great deal of time training to hold the transformation as easily as they do their natural state."

"So what does that mean, do they intend to undergo some kind of even greater transformation when they fight?"

"And here I thought you were smarter than Goku is." Kai let out a scoff "I figured experience would teach you something, rather than go beyond Super Saiyan like you did they decided that the regular Super Saiyan form is optimal so they've learned to hold it without any effort or emotional stress, so that they can use as much energy on fighting as possible without wasting any on the transformation itself. I'd say that the younger you came up with it, because that's actually brilliant."

"I… I never thought of that. A transformation for the sake of power alone is worthless, I learned that the hard way."

"We know." this was when the force hit them like a ton of bricks, shaking the entire tower in the process "Oh you've gotta be shitting me, that better not be who I think it is."

"Is… is that Father?"

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Down in Korin Tower…

Korin and Yajirobe were considerably taken aback by the amount of power Goku was putting out, the integrity of Korin Tower cracking apart in the process "STOP! Please Goku stop, that's enough! The walls can't take anymore!"

Goku took a breath and powered back down "Sorry about that, it's only half my full power though, so what do you think?"

"You mean that was only half? Good grief, what a frightening creature you can be sometimes. I mean how much more power is it going to take before you get satisfied?"

"Ask me again later."

Gohan shot a glance at Goku in awe 'Wow dad, and he really thought I could be stronger than him? Not a chance of that happening.'

"So tell me honestly Korin, how do I compare to Cell as I am right now?"

Korin pondered this for a moment "Well as I said I can only guess, but based on what I have to go on, if you want my honest opinion… Between you and Cell, I'd have to say he still has you outmatched."

"...Oh yeah, I was afraid of that."

"Don't get me wrong, I know you've powered up a great deal from before, but like I said it's just a rough estimate."

"That actually sounds about right, good to know my gut instinct wasn't too off the mark. Thank you for that Korin, like always." he patted Gohan on the shoulder "Come on big guy, we'd better get moving. Well with any luck, I'll see you guys later." and on that note, Goku and Gohan took their leave.

"And he's gone, honestly I doubt really anything should surprise me anymore. No matter how much I try to think about it, Goku just doesn't seem to have much of a chance of winning, so why does he seem so happy and calm about it? There's no way he's given up already, has he?'

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Raditz breathed a sigh "That energy was unlike anything I've felt before."

Piccolo nodded "That's true, but I don't think we even came close to experiencing Goku's full power just now, so just imagine what it will be like when the man goes all out. For all we know, we might actually stand a chance."

Kai was less than satisfied by what he had been sensing 'You've gotta be fucking me, not only is he ridiculously stronger than me, but for all I know Gohan is on the exact same level he is! You always have to have some kind of advantage over me that lets you get a step ahead, every time I think I've managed to close that gap you push away and leave me in the dust! Alright, whoever is going into the chamber just do it already. You're holding up the line. I'm not waiting on any of you guys more than I have to."

"If you insist, but we still have time so there's no need for you to rush us." Piccolo promptly made his way inside the chamber.

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Meanwhile, at Kame House…

Goku and Gohan materialized on the beach outside Kame House "Alright son, what do you say we go get your mother and head home? I already have our training regime worked out too. We'll put up our feet for three days, followed by three days of pushing our bodies to the limit, and that will be followed by three more days of rest. Seems pretty simple and straight forward, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess." Gohan looked up at Goku "So dad, be honest with me. Are you really sure we're up for this tournament, I mean do we really have any chance against Cell?" he was met with only a chuckle.

"Try not to worry about that, at least for now. Let's go ahead and go inside, I'm sure that your mom misses you." so they made their way inside, to looks of disbelief from the others "Hey you guys, what's up? What, do I have something on my face?"

"Wait a second, Goku is that really you?" asked Krillin.

"Yeah it's me, why?"

"What the hell did they do to you while you were up there?"

"What are you talking about, why are you acting so weird?"

"You are Goku, aren't you?" asked Upa "I mean you look so different, both of you do, it's like you're entirely different people."

"I take that as a compliment, so thanks."

"Is that who I think it is, has my little man come ba-" that was when Chichi made her way into the room, only to freeze at the sight of Goku and Gohan in Super Saiyan form "Wait a second, so who the heck are they supposed to be? Surely not my husband and son right?"

"Yeah it's us, who else would we be?" this was met with a comical yet blood curdling scream as a result.

Chichi wasted no time in doing her thing with Gohan "Oh my sweet baby boy, what have they done to your hair? Please tell mommy you didn't dye it!"

"Take it easy Chichi, I swear it's not what you think." Goku was met with only crying.

"My only son looks like the hype man for a new age punk band!"

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The next day came, and despite all of the chaos revelling throughout the world, there was also a tense calmness surrouding it at the same time.

Cell for example, he was growing particularly bored 'Right then, perhaps a little warmup might do me some good.' so on that thought, he promptly blasted off of the surface of his arena and into the upper atmosphere 'Looks like the cells I inherited from Frieza and his father certainly do come in handy, don't they?' he wasted no time in tearing through one meteor after another within seconds, only to come face to face with one meterorite much larger than him 'Well I suppose I might as well give the humans a little show and some momentary amusement.' he promptly stopped the meteorite with one hand, and then with one clean Ki blast he blew the meteorite apart into thousands of pieces, which were then blown down towards Earth, which led to the people thinking that it was a series of shooting stars, thoroughly freaking them out. As he was about to head back down to Earth however, he glanced over and noticed a ship passing him and heading down towards Earth 'There seems to be quite the sizeable power level on board that ship, this should prove to be quite interesting.

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Meanwhile, at the Son reisdence…

Chichi made her way around the house looking for Goku and Gohan, only to find them nowhere in sight "You've gotta be kidding me, where the heck did they run off to now?"

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Meanwhile, with Goku and Gohan…

Gohan and Goku were sitting by a riverside, just taking in the beauty of nature and the peaceful calm while they could "It sure is peaceful around here."

Goku nodded "Yeah it is, really."

"Hey, you know something dad? I'm actually really happy."

"Oh yeah, how come?"

"It's because we're fishing like you promised me, it's been a long time coming too."

"Wait a second, when did I promise to take you fishing?"

"Don't you remember? It was way back when you fought Vegeta."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was there so I know it all too well." Yamcha and Raditz suddenly floated down next to the two of them "Don't tell me you actually forgot about that."

"...Oh yeah, I actually had forgotten about that. It's just that so much has been happening between now and then."

Gohan nodded "And we've done all sorts of training and stuff together since then, but we never got around to the fishing until today."

"You're not mad are you?"

"Of course not, I'm just glad we're doing it now."

"I am too, really."

"Kakarot listen…" Raditz sat down next to him and let out a sigh "I feel like I should apologize to you, and to the rest of you. Cell was only able to reach his Perfect Form because I hesitated in shutting down Android 18. I don't really know why, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that to her."

"Hey don't even give it another thought big bro, right now I'm stronger than I've ever been before and Gohan got some good training in as well."

"I just hate that useless feeling, not being able to do anything to make things right."

"I understand how you feel." Gohan told him "That's part of why I enjoy training with Kai as much as I do, even if I don't like fighting at least I can make a difference. I don't want anyone to have to feel helpless in any situation like that or like now."

"You've got a keen mind along with that heart Gohan, but you two right now are at a level I can only dream of."

"Hey come on Raditz, don't be like that." Goku gave him the classic Son grin

"Oh believe me I get him more thank you think." Yamcha let out a sigh "It feels like millions of years ago since the days where we were gathering the Dragon Balls for the first time."

"Does it? To me it seems like only yesterday when I met you and Bulma, and we gathered the Dragon Balls for the first time. We were so green back then."

"Yeah I know, and now look at us. We're both married, you've got a 10 year old son, I finally settled down with Bulma and now we have a baby girl of our own. The old days are over and gone for good."

"Hey come on man, stop being so modest." Goku let out a chuckle, only for his expression to turn serious and his head snapped up, and he gave a smirk "Looks like he's here."

"What the hell are you-" Yamcha's head snapped up and he nearly froze "Oh man, you've gotta be kidding me. Is that Frieza, how the hell could he-"

"Easy Yamcha, that's not Frieza and he's not an enemy. He's the same race as Frieza, but I know for a fact that he's here to help us. Yamcha, get Kai, Krillin and Upa, then lock onto my Ki and meet me in an hour. I'm gonna go greet our new ally. In the meantime Gohan, you head back home okay?" and then he blitzed away with Instant Transmission.

"Okay… This just got weird."

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About an hour passed.

Goku touched down in an abandoned desert, waiting as he watched the ship slowly lower itself towards the ground 'Well here he comes, and I thought Frieza was the one who had a taste for the dramatic flare. From the looks of things his power is crazy too.'

The ship slowly landed on the ground in front of him, and Cooler was the first one to step out of it, followed by several unnamed men "It would seem that you've gained a considerably amount of power since the last time we met Son Goku."

"The same could be said for you Cooler, it took me a minute to recognize you. So what are you doing here?"

"It shouldn't be that hard to figure out. I detected that monstrous energy signature from the planet I was on. What's more is that the energy I felt appeared to have traces of the Saiyan people, the Namekian people, and even that of my own family. I had to put my current business on hold, as I knew that a power of this magnitude would inevitable pose a threat to not only your Earth, but the entire universe as well."

"So you came to help, thank you." they both promptly shook hands.

"You've aided myself and my empire considerably in the past, so now I'm returning the favor to you."

"Wour timing couldn't have been better, do you have that Namekian Forte with you?"

"I suspected you would need his talents?"

"Not me specifically, but I do know some people who would benefit from what he has to offer them." Goku glanced over and smirked "And that should be them now."

"Nail Gun!" a Nail Gun soared past Goku and hurtled towards Cooler at full speed, only for him to deflect it with ease "FUCK!"

"And that would be Kai, he in particular needs it."

Sure enough, Kai and the others dropped to the ground and readied fighting stances "The space lizard here has 10 seconds to give me a good reason not to blast his head off before I literally blast his head off."

"The fact that I deflected your attack with such visible ease." Cooler pointed out dryly.

"I said a good reason."

"...Fair enough. Regardless, for one appearing to be of such a young age your power is clearly quite impressive."

"Flattery gets you nowhere."

"Rest assured I have no intention of harming any of you or any of the people on this planet. I came here because the power I sensed is a threat to all of us, this entire universe if he is not stopped. I have no intention of allowing this creature to do as he pleases. One of my loyal suboordinates has the abilities necessary to allow you to at least stand against this monster when the time comes."

"Meaning what exactly?" asked Yamcha.

"Meaning that I will assist all of you in the same way I assisted Son Goku and Tien Shinhan in their training when they crash landed on one of my planets." Cooler glanced back to the entrance of his ship "I now require your skills Forte."

Sure enough, at that moment Forte made his way out of the ship and bowed to Cooler "I take it you require my capabilities once more my lord?"

"Indeed I do my friend, see what you can do. In the meantime, I believe that I should see for myself what sort of monster currently plagues this planet." and on that note, Cooler promptly disappeared via Instant Transmission.

"I suspected as much, it would be unwise for my lord to go into battle without studying the capabilities of his opponent first hand."

Goku blinked "Huh… I didn't know he knew Instant Transmission."

"It never came up before." Forte turned back to the others "Before we proceed, if you have any questions for me feel free to answer them."

"Yeah I've got one." Kai stepped up to him "I don't know why you're with Frieza's brother and frankly I'm not interested in hearing why, what can you do to help me surpass a Super Saiyan?"

"Surpass a Super Saiyan, you say? You have quite a fire within you child. Very well, kneel down and I shall see what I can do."

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Meanwhile, at the Cell Games arena…

Cell didn't even have to look back to know that someone was standing behind him, and he just gave a simple smirk "According to the memories of my genetic sources, you must be the brother of Frieza, your name is Cooler if I'm not mistaken."

Sure enough, Cooler was standing behind Cell, eyeing him with suspicion, curiosity and some intentment "So you know about my identity, and your energy signature has traces of my brother and my father, and even some Saiyan and Namekian traces as well. Which raises the question, who and what exactly are you?"

"So you came here seeking information about my existence? Very well, I suppose I may as well indulge you. Considering I have no knowledge of you ever coming to Earth before, I doubt you're at all familiar with my creator, Dr Gero of the Red Ribbon Army."

"I am not."

"As expected. What you would understand is that I happen to be purely biomechanical, unlike my fellow Androids who were also created and/or modified by the good doctor, who eventually decided to create me with one sole purpose for existing: to become perfect. While still in the development process back in his lab, I was infused with the genetic material of the greatest and most powerful warriors in the galaxy, good and evil alike, collected over the course of several decades."

"Which would explain why you have such traces of my race and others."

"Indeed, and through my genetic makeup I know many of the secrets your kind and others have to offer, and combined with the secrets bestowed upon me by Dr Gero, I have become what he dreamt for me to be: the ultimate perfect warrior, the greatest power this universe has even known."

"It seems he was quite a man of vision."

"Indeed he was. Backstory aside, what do you think of this setting? In case you weren't aware, this is the ring where we shall decide the fate of the world in eight days, as well as that of the galaxy itself, whether they want it or not. Stylish, is it not?"

"Perhaps, rather intimate."

"I should hope so, the process proved to be quite strenuous, especially considering I had just finished patching a certain hole."

"Appearances matter little in comparison to stakes." Cooler and Cell turned to face each other, their auras clashing wildly and creating an electrical storm above them, shaking the landscape itself as a result "So this is what the good doctor dedicated his life to creating, most impressive I must admit."

"You flatter me so."

"As I would hope. I'll be taking part in this event you have planned, so long as you give all of us adequate time to prepare."

"I wouldn't want to interfere with necessary preparation, especially if it will give my perfection the challenge it deserves."

"Oh trust me, if you and I should be granted the circumstances of meeting in battle, then I'll be sure that you're far from disappointed." and with that, Cooler took his leave.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

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Meanwhile, back at Cooler's ship…

Forte studied Kai and the others intently "Yes, I should be able to unlock your potential, at least to an extent."

"What do you mean to an extent?" asked Kai "And for the record Yamcha and I already had our potential unlocked by the Grand Elder back on Namek a few years ago."

"It can be done to a person more than once, but once it has been done to a person, they must biologically age every five years before it can work again."

"So to sum it up, you can make me stronger?"

"To an extent, yes."

"Well in that case, dibs! Lay it on me!"

"Such a fire in you child, and quite the eagerness as well." Forte placed a hand on Kai's head, and a white glow surrounded his body.

Kai got to his feet and took a moment to get a grasp on his new power "Forte was it? Thank you for this, now if you'll excuse me I have a new power to try out." and he promptly blasted off into the skies.

"The boy's fire burns brightly."

"Yeah, he's always been like that." Yamcha stepped up to Forte next "So you can unlock that much power for all of us?"

"I can awaken your potential to the same extent for all of you, but how much power you gain depends on your current power level. To put it simply, so long as you were on the same level as the boy before, you would be after."

"He's ahead of us by miles."

"Then no."

"Just making sure." Yamcha got down on one knee as Forte placed a hand on his head, a white glow surrounding his body.

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Meanwhile, at the Son residence…

Gohan and Goku were enjoying the days before the tournament in the best way they could: by stuffing their faces and just relaxing "Wow, that was tasty."

"If you're done then you should get started on your homework." Chichi told him.

"Got it."

Raditz seemed less than impressed by their methods of preparations 'This can't seriously be how these two plan to spend their time preparing for the tournament, I'm all for stuffing my face as much as any Saiyan, but how the hell is that going to help us defeat Cell?' then his head snapped up and he bolted to his feet "Okay guys, I take it you feel that?"

"Yep, I figured this was coming." Gohan made his way back into the room wearing his new gi that Piccolo gave him "Sorry mom, but I have a feeling studying will have to wait." and he made his way outside the house.

It was at that moment that Kai dropped to the ground in front of him, his body radiating his milky white aura "You knew that this was going to come Gohan, it's time for you and me to face off again."

"Looks like you've really powered up in the last day or so, but you don't look any different. You didn't go into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber did you?"

"Nope, I didn't need to. I had some help to get a hell of a lot stronger, but now that I have this new power I need to test it for real. You and me, one on one, the others staying the hell out of this one. We're doing this, right here and right now."

"Not in front of my house, we don't need it blown up."

"Fine, bottom of the mountain, right now."

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5 minutes later, at the bottom of the mountain…

Raditz and Goku looked over the scene from high above as they watched Gohan and Kai prepare to go all out in their fight. "Looks like the two of them plan to go the distance with this one, don't they?"

"Gohan never fights with full power unless he really has to." Goku told him "I have a pretty good idea of how this fight would turn out if he gave it his everything, but this should still be pretty interesting."

"From what Nail told me, last time the two of them went at it their fight was one hell of a sight to behold, and now they're both leagues beyond what they were back then. The only question is, who will come out on top?"

"I already know the answer to that, but the other won't go down without a fight."

"I can tell, from what Nail tells me he understands something crucial in being a warrior, a truth that no one had to teach him, that there's a difference between those who aim for the top and those who will settle. That difference matters."

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Gohan wasted no time as he threw aside his cape and flared his golden aura "Alright Kai what are you waiting for, if we're gonna do this then I want you to power up already."

"Like I needed an invitation for that." Kai's Namek-Ken 10x aura flared into life, and then even higher as he pushed it even further into the 20x range, the force shaking the ground like an earthquake.

'His Namek-Ken is way higher than I thought he'd be able to push it, whatever he did to get stronger definitely worked. I'll prbably have to go all out against him in this fight, not that I wouldn't no matter whether I need to. He hates it when I hold back, if I hold out on him then he'd probably never forgive me. So is this it Kai, is this how far you can push yourself at the moment even with the Namek-Ken?"

"That's about the sum of it yeah, drinking the Ultra Divine Water helped me to push the limitations of the Namek-Ken way beyond what they were before. The good thing about the Namek-Ken is that I can push it as high as I want to through willpower alone, and if done right I can push way past the limits of a Super Saiyan. I learned a long time ago from someone I deeply love that there's a huge difference between those who settle and those who aim for the top, and that's why I aim for the top in everything I do."

"Cell is without a doubt the strongest enemy we've ever faced, and even after everything there's no guarantee that any of us will actually be able to beat him. That kind of thought scares me, but I still feel a sense of comfort knowing that my best friend is by my side, that his warrior's drive pushes me to get strnoger myself!" and so Gohan charged forward, meeting Kai in an explosive collision and elbowing him in the face.

Kai dodged the next attack and began firing off a furious barrage of punches and kicks at full speed, resulting in the two of them trading een blows until their fists collided with a blinding flash, and once they broke off Kai fired a quick Nail Gun.

Gohan quickly dodged the Nail Gun and fired a barage of Ki blasts at full speed.

Kai wasted no time or effort as he dodged, blocked and deflected every Ki blast being hurled at him with ease "Don't think that's all it's going to take for you to beat me!"

"I wouldn't dream of it!" Gohan blitzed behind Kai and dealt him a sharp kick to the face, the force sending him crashing into a nearby plateau, and then he prepared to follow up with a quick Kamehameha blast.

Kai rebounded just in time to fire a Nail Gun as he forced his Namek-Ken up to level 30, which allowed him to overpower Gohan's Kamehameha as a result.

Gohan blitzed out of the path of the blast, blitzed down towards Kai and dealt him a solid kick to the chest while he was still stuck in the position of firing the Nail Gun, and then he quickly began forcing Kai on the defensive with a swift barrage of punches and kicks.

With his aggravation growing, Kai dealt Gohan a heavy fist to the gut and followed up with a quick Masenko to the face, sending him tumbling backwards a great distance.

Gohan rebounded after a few seconds as the two of them both took to the skies, their auras blending together in the form of a double helix that lit up the skies for miles around.

Kai took the opportunity to deal Gohan a furious barrage of attacks, dealing him repeated knees to the spine "You know how I feel about you holding out on me!" they started repeaetedly punching each other in the face and torso, which ended with the grappling in a fierce power struggle "You know better than to hold the fuck out on me, I told you that I want you taking this seriously!" he grabbed Gohan by the arm and hurled him even higher into the air, and he charged in to finish it as he pushed his Namek-Ken up to 40x "I know that you're still holding out on me right now, I told you to come at me with everything you've got!"

"You want me to give everything?! Well fine, you asked for it!" with a mighty roar, Gohan's gold colored aura roared into life.

"I said to give me everything, becuase that's what I'm giving you! That's what I've always been giving you!"

"And everything is what you're going to get!" Gohan charged downwards towards Kai at full speed, resulting in a blinding clash as he dealt Kai a full force fist to the gut.

Kai slugged Gohan in the gut in retaliation and dealt him a fist to the face "Come on you son of a bitch, give me all of your strength right here and now! Do you hear me?! EVERYTHING!"

"FINE!" Gohan flared his golden aura as high as he could, his body beginning to crackle with a small amount of bio electricity as a result "Alright Kai, come at me so we can end this!"

"I PLAN TO!" pushing his power to the absolute limit, Kai charged towards Gohan as high and as fast as he could, resulting in a blinding clash that lit up the skies across the mountain, as well as shaking the surface of the entire planet. When everything subsided after a moment, Kai had lost his Namek-Ken aura, but he still whipped around and aimed one last fist at Gohan, but he stopped just before he made contact, and instead his body finally gave out and began falling towards the ground at full speed.

Gohan caught Kai in his arms and gently lowered him to the ground "We'll keep pushing each other, we'll both keep getting stronger together my friend. I promise."

"Quite the admirable battle."

Gohan looked up to see Cooler lower himself to the ground in front of him "I take it you were here long enough to see us fight."

"Indeed I was. The boy has overwhelming tenacity and a drive to succeed, the likes of which I've rarely seen throughout the galaxy."

"He's always been like that, it's that drive that's been pushing him to keep up with me for as long as I can remember."

"Drive is critical. Remember this young one. After spending so many years roaming throughout the universe, you tend to learn a few things. Striving to be the best, to aim for the top rather than just settling for where you are now, caring deeply about those you hold dear and having an overwhelming desire to protect them, both of these feelings are crucial in continuing down the path of a warrior. Don't forget that."

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The next day came.

Raditz was growing restless waiting for Piccolo to get out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber "I can't be the only one losing patience right now, he's late."

"Keep in mind that he does have a full two days in the chamber, unlike myself." Nail pointed out calmly "Considering his defeat at Cell's hands, it only makes sense that he would wish to make the most of it."

"I get that, but we have to get stronger in there too. In case he wasn't aware, he wasn't the only one who got a major thrashing from Cell. My neck is still making a weird squishing noise from when he kicked me."

"None of us need or want to hear anymore about that, especially considering he's here."

Sure enough, the door swung wide open and Piccolo emerged, his clothing ripped and torn in several places "I didn't even need to hear what you two were talking about to know that I waited the right amount of time to come out."

"So did you get strong enough to actually make a difference against Cell?"

"There's only one way to find out, and you'll only find out on the day of the tournament, so if you're going to get in there then I suggest you do so already."

"Fine by me." Raditz promptly made his way over towards the chamber door.

Nail silently followed after him, studying Piccolo intently as he did so 'Piccolo's power level has increased to heights I could never have imagined. The question is, will it be enough for him to stand against Cell?'

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Kai was in the middle of doing a set of pushups on the floor of the Lookout, when he looked up at the news and let out a groan at what he was hearing "Oh that can't be good."

"Citizens of the world, the battle may be fierce, but your Royal Defence Force is determined to put a stop to this monstrous Cell regardless of whatever risks may be necessary. Though the times we face are indeed quite turbulent, I urge all of you to remain calm.'

"Yeah this is going to be bad, the military won't even be able to scratch him, which means that it's up to us to take him down now. And maybe 16 depending on how that goes."

"I thought you were helping with that too." Future Gohan pointed out.

"I had more training to do, and I was sick of listening to Surfin Bird or "Kill Son Goku" over and over again. Besides, Dr Briefs and Mother of the Year, using that sarcastically obviously, can handle that."

"You've never been snarky about Bulma's father for as long as I've known you."

"Because unlike a certain bluenette, he never gets on my nerves and never gives me any reason to be snarky." Kai glanced over at the edge of the Lookout and pulled out a telescope from a capsule he kept in his gi "Okay, that's definitely not good."

"Definitely not. So how come you're up here with me?"

"Goku's apparently trying to be a dad to my version of you for once, and he's out on a picnic with young you and the other Mother of the Year. As for Yamcha and the others, they're still getting a grip on their new powers, testing them out against Cooler's guys."

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Meanwhile, in a rocky wasteland…

Cooler stood in a rocky wasteland overseeing the battle that was about to begin, with one side containing his own Armored Squadron, and Yamcha, Krillin and Upa being on the other "Let me make this clear to all of you, this is all simply to determine how much of an increase in power these earthlings have gained as a result of Forte's abilities, and it's not a battle to the death, so don't go overboard again. Doore and Neiz."

"Great, you blow up one planet." Doore muttered.

"Now then, when both parties are ready. Begin!"

"Good, because there's a new technique I've been working on over the past few days. Wolf Fang Saber!" Yamcha stepped forward and summoned a crimson colored Ki blade in his hand "So what do you think?"

Salza was the first one to approach him and shot him a smirk "A fellow user of the energy blade then eh? How about a game of blades, eh mon ami?" he formed a Ki blade of his own, referred to as his Salza Blade.

"After you perdant. Kaioken 3x!" Yamcha quickly flashed into his Kaioken and pushed it to the third level.

"How kind of you." Salza rushed towards Yamcha as he raised his Salza Blade, resulting in the two Ki blades clashing, only for the Ki blade covering Salza's hand to be instantly shattered into nothingness upon the blades making contact "Quite impressive, you've come far mon ami."

"You find a whole new level of power you never knew existed when you have something to protect and fight for."

"Then let's see you back up that claim!" Salza let out a howl as he fired off a Full Power Energy Wave, engulfing Yamcha in the explosion that followed.

When the blast subsided, Yamcha wasn't even remotely scracthed, only a few hairs out of place as he shot a smirk over at Salza "I've gotta give it to you, if it wasn't for the Kaioken I probably would've been in trouble."

"You can handle that one Salza, let's see how the bald little shit can handle my patented Bind Wave!" on that note, Neiz shot out a net of electricity from his fingers, engulfing Krillin and wreathing his body in it, causing him to cry out in agony "Deep fried human, this oughta be tasty!"

"I… don't… think so… Kaioken 5x!" Krillin pushed his Kaioken to the fifth level and promptly forced the electricity out of his body "Again for the Kaioken save, you guys are pretty good to be honest."

"Let's see if you little shits can counter this!" Doore powered up and charged at them at full speed.

"Kaioken 3x!" Upa powered up his own Kaioken and dealt Doore a full force kick to the head, sending him crashing into a nearby plateau.

"You son of a-"

"No repeats of that incident Doore, I've seen enough." Cooler blitzed in between both parties and flared his aura slightly, which was more than enough to stop both parties in their tracks in an instant "I made it clear that this was just to determine the power increase the Earthlings had gained, not an all out brawl." he turned to the others "I believe that you've gained a considerably enough increase that you should at least be able to provide support against the monster Cell, but only if absolutely necessary. Don't allow your arrogance to overcome you, and don't pick a fight with him unnecessarily."

Yamcha and the others shared a few looks, and they all nodded "Understood."

"Good." Cooler looked towards Salza and the others "And worry not, I also intend to have the three of you undergo similar increases in power while the rest of us participate in this so called tournament.

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Meanwhile, back up on the Lookout…

Kai looked down at the Earth below and let out a low whistle "Huh, looks like those three powered up more than I expected. If I had to guess, I'd say that with a sufficiennt Kaioken multiplier, they could take out the likes of 17 and 18 if they wanted to."

"Not that it matters." Future Gohan pointed out "Those Androids are gone, and Cell is way beyond anything they were capable of."

"And of course I'm still way stronger than them." Kai looked over at the radio "And it looks like we have an update."

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a special news update."

"You have to give that guy balls for actually going into work, that's more than you can say for the rest of the idiots down there."

"The Royal Defence Force has reached coordinate 28KS.5, where they will launch an all out assault against the creature known as Cell. Their attack will begin at any moment."

"Yeah, that's not going to end well."

"We're taking you to the scene now."

"I've never seen anything like this ladies and gentlemen, it's the entire Royal Defence Force deployed to one single location! The chances of this monster surviving this outpouring of military might are second to none!"

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Meanwhile, with our main hero…

Having been listening to everything that was happening, Goku could only grit his teeth in pure frustration "Dammit those fools, they don't stand a chance against Cell! The only thing they're going to do out there is get themselves killed!"

"They're hitting the monster with everything they've got ladies and gentlemen, the ordinance is almost definite! This assault is absolutely tremendous, the military is not letting up! In all honesty, when they finally stop shooting, I don't think there's going to be even a piece left of that monster!"

"Dammit stop it, get away from there before it's too late!"

"It… It can't be! It appears that Cell has survived the assault completely unscathed! He's now floating in mid air as if nothing happened! What in the world is he?!"

"Dammit!" Goku had to force himself not to spike his power in his rage "They should've run when they had the chance, now Cell is going to hunt them down like dogs!" he was proven right by the sounds of explosions and screams of agony that followed "Dammit!" forcing himself to calm down, he stepped out of the car and turned to the others "Hey Chichi, Gohan, listen. You guys can go on ahead to Master Roshi's without me, I need to go talk with Piccolo up at the Lookout over something important, something that can't wait any longer." and so he promptly disappeared with Instant Transmission.

Gohan and Chichi shared a confused look "So does that mean we're supposed to just stay here by ourselves? He was the only one of us who can drive."

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Meanwhile, on the Lookout…

"Over the course of the days since the announcement of the Cell Games, dozens upon dozens of evacuation orders have been issued all over the globe. Thousands upon millions head for the countryside, including the endangered Saskatoad T-rexes, while others seek shelter. The world has never terror as real as it is today."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Piccolo grumbled.

Future Gohan nodded "I know how you feel, the fact that dinosaurs are still a thing. It's weird how we never talk about it, whether in this timeline or mine, at least not since we drove them out of the cities."

"Not that, I'm talking about terror. Never seen, my jolly green ass! My own father released every murdered out onto the streets and overthrew the world government in the span of two days!"

"Oh yeah Father mentioned that to me, and the fact that the king of our planet is a blue carin terrier wearing glasses."

"It's bullshit!"

"I actually think that's pretty progressive."

"Not helping."

"Even the attack of the Saiyans five years ago pales in comparison to this overwhelming threat, as if comparing a cataclysm to a rampaging toddler."

"See what I mean, the giant dumbass turned an entire city into a glass floor and ripped apart every organ in my body!"

Future Gohan shuddered "Believe me, I remember that all too well. I blew his arm off, so that was somewhat catharsis, which doesn't really work when you're only five."

"...Where's Kai right now?"

"On the phone over there, something about securing his future after Cell."

Sure enough, Kai was sitting on the edge of the Lookout talking on his phone over a very serious topic "And so the brave Son Goku and his son defeated the evil monster Garlic Jr, but it couldn't have been done without the help of Piccolo, Kami and the greatest ally known to manking. The sex master and kung fu legend himself, Kai! So what do you think?"

"Yeah I'm going to have to stop you right there, a few questions. First question, why would he summon the Dead Zone, the only thing that could defeat him?"

"Okay I'll be honest, I wrote myself into a corner with that whole immortality shtick, and I pretty much regretted it about 20 minutes later."

"Second question, I mean no offense, but why exactly were you there?"

"For the same reason that I'm making my most memorable line into a t shirt. Fuck power levels, Fuck Super Saiyans, and fuck you. Any more questions?"

"Just one more; Why did you write yourself getting peed on?"

"I've got a better question, how much would you pay me to get peed on?"

"...You're gonna go far in this business."

"It's all a matter of knowing what people like. So anyway fax me over the contract after the tournament is over, or actually email it like a normal person, and then we'll get to work on the production of Skygina." he hung up and turned around, only to be met with disturbed and confused looks from everyone present "What? Unlike the Triclops, I actually am allowed to have hobbies outside of training."

That was when Goku blitzed onto the scene with Instant Transmission "Hey guys, how's the training going?"

"You already know Palmtree, you saw me and Gohan go at it and me lose."

"Yeah I know, just trying to break the ice. Speaking of which look at you Piccolo, looks like you knocked out a lot of training and really powered up inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber didn't you?"

Piccolo nodded "That's right, I had two days so I made the most of it."

"Yeah well it really shows, I say good job. You seem way stronger than you were before."

"I'm with Kai for once, quit beating around the bush, yes I'm strong but I won't fair any better against Cell than I did before."

"Yeah, that does sound about right."

"You're honest to a fault, and frankly it's always irritating. But enough talk, what are you really doing here?"

"I was wondering, is it possible for you to split back into two Namekians like you were back before you mered with Kami?"

"What brought this on?"

"Well I'm sure you already know this, but as soon as you and Kami merged into one Namekian, all of the Dragon Balls disappeared along with Kami, the guy who created them, and considering how many people Cell killed, it would be great if we could get them all working again, so we can wish all of them back to life."

"Not just Cell, I'm sure that Dr Gero's other Androids and the good doctor himself probably killed a considerably number of people when they first appeared." Future Gohan pointed out.

"Yeah that is true, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to have them handy later on too.

Piccolo slowly shook his head "As noble of a thought as that is, I'm afraid that it just isn't possible for me to do that. Now that Kami and I are merged it's permanent, there's no way we can separate again. If it were a possibility, then I would've never delayed that decision for as long as I did."

"Oh, well damn. But then again, since you did absorb him, would it be possible for you to make a new set of Dragon Balls yourself?"

"Unfortunately no. I'm from the Warrior Clan, Kami was from the Dragon Clan. One of them punches people, the other one makes Dragon Balls. In simple terms, if you want Dragon Balls then you need another Namekian."

"What about New Namek?" Future Gohan pointed out "The Namekians all got wished onto anotehr planet where they could live in peace, so we could just ask one of them to come and be our new Guardian right? There should be a whole gaggle of Namekians capable and willing of making new Dragon Balls."

"We would have to find New Namek first, and god only knows where that is. Also, gaggle?"

"Well what would you call them? A pod of Namekians, a pride?"

"More like a cornucopia, I mean what would you call a group of humans?"

"An infestation." was Kai's contribution to the conversation "Or maybe that's just in case of people like Trump."

"The point is that without a Namekian from the Dragon Clan, there's no chance of us getting any Dragon Balls."

"Actually Gohan does have a point." Goku commented "If I can find the Namekians' new home planet, I can try to convince one of them to live at the Lookout for the time being, so that way we can get a new Guardian to make us some new Dragon Balls."

"Okay hold on a second, that's all well and good but how are you going to find them? We have no idea what planet they ended up on, and it will take way too much time."

"Maybe if we go around in a ship or something, but if I use Instant Transmission then I can be there in a flash. Their Ki signatures will be a lot like yours, so I just have to focus hard on outer space and find them."

"You mean you can sense power from that far away?"

"Only one way to find out, but as long as they're not sitting on the other side of the universe then I should be able to. Let's give it a shot, so everyone just hold still." Goku put two fingers to his forehead for a moment, but stopped and gave his classic goofy grin "Sorry guys no dice, I was picking up a whole lot of nothing."

"...Well shit."

"But I do have another idea, I can just head over to King Kai's planet and try to sense them from there. Okay, so I just have to focus on his Ki and… Okay found him, see ya!" and then he promptly disappeared in a flash.

"I can't figure out if he's a genius or if he's got some major brain damage."

"Keep in mind that he's my literal father, so I know for a fact that it usually depends on the circumstances." Future Gohan let out a chuckle "I always do miss that."

"Hey guys shut up, the dog king is on the news." Kai turned up the volume on the small TV they had at the Lookout…

"Citizens of the world, this is your king speaking. As I'm sure all of you saw during the live broadcast earlier today, the entirety of the Royal Defence Force was wiped out by the creature known as Cell. The fault of this tragedy falls on myself and me alone. To those left behind by their passing, I am truly sorry. We believed that sending them out was our best chance of survival in these times of terror. The grim truth is that there is nothing more we can do, but please do not lose heart my dear subjects. Long ago, a young man stepped forward and freed us from the horrific terror unleashed by the evil King Piccolo. Perhaps that hero will return and save us one more time from certain doom. There is only one thing we have now, and that is hope."

"Say what you will about or king being a literal dog, but he knows how to give a speech."

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Meanwhile, at the Cell Games Arena…

Despite the chaos that had been unleashed mere hours before, a brave yet heavily armored journalist and his team were slowly making their way closer to Cell's arena "This is bullshit man, this is suicide."

"Hey come on dude, pull your balls out of your purse and do your job." the crew leader told him flatly.

"Okay, that's sexist as hell."

"Yeah it's sexist alright, and do you know what's standing right out there? A pulitzer, now go get it!"

"If I don't make it, tell my dog I love him." with a deep terrified gulp, the journalist made his way into the arena and promptly held a mic up to Cell's face "Uh… hello."

"Oh, hello there." believe it or not, definitely the former for fans of the Abridged series, Cell was actually pretty cool about seeing him there "How may I help you?"

"Oh, um… W-Well Mr Cell…"

"Oh please now, don't be so formal. Call me Perfect Cell."

"Oh… Okay then, Perfect Cell-"

"Mr Perfect Cell."

"M-M-Mr Perfect Cell, can you tell the audience where you are and who you came from? Wait no, I mean-"

"No, that's actually an apt choice of words. As for the where, this is the emaculate Cell Games Arena, located in 28ks.5. As for who… Let me weave you the tale of my origin. Though I must prefice that it does drag on in places, so I'll try to minimize the filler and the movie adaptations for you. Now then, our story begins as many stories often do: With a young girl shooting a little boy in the face."

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Meanwhile, on King Kai's planet…

Goku materialized on the surface of King Kai's planet "Okay, now to make sure I'm at the right place. Small green planet, gold clouds as far as the eye can see, looks mind numbingly boring, yeah I think I'm in the right place."

"Oh believe me, you are." that was when a young woman with brown hair in a ponytail and a crimson colored gi got his attention "I've been here for about half a decade, so frankly you don't know the meaning of mind numbingly boring."

"I don't imagine I would, it's been awhile Scarlet. Looks like you've really powered up."

"You too Goku, the only difference is that I don't have the Saiyan biology going for me so I actually have to work to power up."

"So that's where Kai gets it from." Goku let out a chuckle, but then his face fell slightly "Hey just out of curiosity, have Tien or Tarble shown up here in the past few days?"

"Oh they showed up yesterday, I just left them in hell to tangle with some of the stronger guys who want to kill you to see how they stack up. I checked on them about an hour ago, from what I saw Tien was going toe to toe with Slug and Tarble was wrecking Turles without too much of a problem."

"Huh, good for them. At least they can do some training up here before I wish them back after we take down Cell, but in the meantime I'm kind of here on business."

"They already caught me up to speed on what's going on, Cell sure sounds like the kind of monster that haunts my dreams. From the looks of it, I'd say you and everyone down there has your work cut out for you. No offense Goku, but it seems like you always get caught in the middle whenever Earth is about to get blown up, whether it's because they come for you or it's because you're the only one powerful enough to save it."

"Welcome to my world. Anyway, can you get King Kai for me? I was hoping to find a Namekian to come and take over as our new Guardian so that we could get the Dragon Balls back, and we'd have them before the actual fighting starts, so if King Kai could point me in the direction of their new planet, that sure would help to speed things up."

"I see where you're coming from Goku, but unfortunately King Kai is up at the grand hanco's planet meeting with the other Kai's of the universe. But if it helps, I think I can give you a rough idea of which way to go."

"That would be awesome, thanks."

"Sure, just hold on for a second." Scarlet pulled a book out of her gi, turned to a certain page and started looking in different directions.

"You know I really hope one of the Namekians will be willing to come back with me, I know that Mr Popo has been lonely ever since Kami had merged with Piccolo, and I know Nail would love to see one of his old friends again. Looking back they do have a lot of similarities, they're both quiet but cool, and they both give off this vibe that they're kind of lonely. I feel bad for both of them, especially Mr Popo since the internet connection up at the Lookout-"

"Goku I mean this in the nicest way possible, shut the hell up so I can concentrate. Seriously, even your breathing is distracting me as if you were a tiny Darth Vadar."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Good, because-" she suddenly gagged and staggered back slightly "Sorry, I actually just swallowed a bug."

"Hey come on Scarlet, quit messing around."

"Like you have room to talk, you have the attention span of a squirrel- Oh wait hold that reference to Drake & Josh, I found them. They're in that direction, just use your Instant Transmission and you should get there in seconds."

"Gotcha." Goku placed two fingers on his forehead and prepared to blitz away, only to suddenly stop and look back at Scarlet "You know, there's something I've actually been wondering for awhile now. How come you haven't used King Kai's telepathy to try and talk to Kai? I mean you've done it with Yamcha, so why not?"

"...Oh boy, I was hoping you'd never ask that." Scarlet let out a sigh.

"Why?"

"Because I don't think I'd be able to bear it. Look Goku, you have a privelage I don't: To be able to watch your son growing up before your very eyes, to actually be there to experience it in person, to take him in your arms and tell hom how proud you are of him and how much you love him. I can't do that with Kai. Just hearing his voice and not being able to see how much he's grown, I don't think I'd be able to bear it."

"I… I never thought of it like that. But I can tell you this; Despite all of his… quirks and other things going for or against him, Kai's turning into a strong and fine young man, and I think you'd be proud to see how far he's come." and with that, Goku departed for New Namek and disappeared in a flash.

"I'm sure I would be."

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Meanwhile, at the Cell Games Arena…

Cell continued with his interview, now getting into the Z portion of the story "And so it turns out, he was an alien the whole time!"

The journalist's jaw nearly dropped at what he was hearing "Woah, I did not see that coming at all!"

"I know right? So Goku and Yamcha both die, they train in the Afterlife for a year in preparation for when two more Saiyans show up…"

"Wait a second, what about Goku's brother and that other guy?"

"You mean Raditz and Beets? Well Beets was killed by Piccolo, and Raditz left the planet, but we'll get back to him later. Anyway, we're focusing on training for when the Saiyans show up, so now, enter: Kai. Now trust me, you'll have to strap yourself in for this cartoon character."

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Meanwhile, on New Namek…

The Namekian people, or what was left of them, were simply going about their day, only for that to be suddenly disrupted by the sight of Goku suddenly appearing out of nowhere "What in the world?"

Goku looked around at the Namekians in awe "Wow, it's like a whole bunch of Piccolo's all in one place. Eesh, if this was a few years ago this might have freaked me out."

Moori, the new Grand Elder of the Namekians as of about 5 years ago, slowly and cautiously approached Goku "So stranger, who are you exactly?"

"Oh yeah hi there, sorry to barge in like this. My name is Son Goku, and I came from the planet Earth-"

"Oh yes of course, the younger brother of our guardian Raditz, the heroic Son Goku who did battle with Frieza on our original Planet Namek and saved our people from almost certain extinction!"

"Yeah, sorry I couldn't save your planet while I was at it."

"...Anyway, it would seem that your planet is the one in grave danger now."

"You guys could sense Cell all the way out here? Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that, especially considering Cooler and his men showed up to help."

"We don't know the specifics behind the carnage you face, but we've sensed an evil presence eminating from the direction of your world."

"Well if you have a vague idea then that's good enough for me, so that means I can just cut to the chase. I came here because I'm looking for a Namekian to step up and become the new guardian of our planet, mainly someone who can make Dragon Balls since the Guardian is the only one who can make Dragon Balls, and we're going to need them when the time comes for us to wish back all of the people Cell and the other Androids have killed up until now. So yeah, if any of you want to volunteer then you'd be doing us Earthlings a really huge favor." this caused many of the Namekians to back away.

"Very well, if that's what you need then I know a Namekian perfectly suited to the job. Just a moment. Say Dende, come on over here my boy!" he quickly called Dende over to his side "This here is Dende, he's a good friend of your son Gohan, and he enjoyed the company of Kai and the others as well. He's been talking about Earth every day since we left, he often says he misses his human friends and he would love to play with Gohan again."

"That's great and all, but there's still the big picture to consider. We need someone who knows how to make Dragon Balls."

"And he will. Don't let his youth or diminutive size cause you concern, I can assure you for a fact that Dende will make you a first rate guardian."

"Good enough for me, if that's the case then I say Dende is hired."

"Uh hi, nice to meet you." Dende nervously shook his hand.

"Okay then, let's head back to Earth."

"You mean right now?"

"We're facing off against Cell in a matter of days, we need the Dragon Balls as soon as we can get them."

"Well… okay, let's go."

"Great! Hey thanks a lot for this you guys, I promise we'll be sure to take really good care of him back on Earth, and we'll be sure to take down Cell too, so you guys have nothing to worry about."

"I'll take your word for it, we have faith in you." Moori assured him "Remember Goku, we'll all be rooting for you from here."

"I can't thank all of you enough, and we'll be sure to give you the good news once Cell is out of the picture for good. Well we'd better get going, we have to have the Dragon Balls ready for when the big day comes, so see ya!" and so Goku and Dende promptly disappeared in a flash using Instant Transmission.

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Meanwhile, at the Cell Games Arena…

By this point, Cell had gotten to the events of the battle with Frieza back on Namek "So after everything, he just starts crying!"

The journalist let out a low whistle "Wow, like a bitch!"

"I know right? I'm pretty sure Frieza said something along those lines, at least before he killed him, but fortunately Raditz does come back."

"Dragon Balls, right. By the way, does that short Saiyan come back, Vegeta I think? Because he could probably be good for some worldbuilding."

"No not at this point, though call it a hunch but I think he'll be making a grand return at some point."

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Meanwhile, at the Lookout…

Goku materialized on the Lookout with Dende by his side "Hey guys check it out, guess who the Namekian people chose to send back with me to be our new Guardian."

"Dende, are you serious?" Future Gohan looked more shocked than relieved "You mean he's going to be the new Guardian?"

"Yep, the Grand Elder recommended him."

"I… I'm not so sure Father, does Dende even know the first thing about the job?"

"Relax son, he's going to do fine. Anyway just keep Dende some company for a few minutes, I'm gonna go see if I can grab Gohan from Kame House real quick.

Dende on the other hand, looked up at Future Gohan in awe "This energy I sense… it's similar but somehow different… You are Gohan, but not the one I'm familiar with… Who are you?"

Future Gohan let out a sigh "It's a long story Dende, one in which I lived through hell."

"Before we get to that, let me fill you in on why you're here." Kai told him dryly "Goku decided to bring you here so you could mystic us up a new set of Dragon Balls because we're all a cavalcade of fuck ups."

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Meanwhile, at Kame House…

Gohan blinked at what he was seeing on TV "Wait, so is this one of those YouTube Poop videos that Kai showed me once?"

"Nope, definitely not." was all Krillin said.

"And now it's my honor to introduce your World Martial Arts Champion, the most powerful man the world has ever known, the legendary Mr Satan!"

"Wait a second, martial arts champion? Oh crap, did we miss a tournament?!"

"Yeah, there was one about a year ago." Master Roshi told him.

"Dammit, we were busy training for the Androids!"

"What do either of you care?"

"Prize money, I can't live on your couch forever."

"Tell me Mr Satan, what do you have to say to your opponent?"

"I'll tell you what I've got to say! Now you listen here Cell, I know damn well why you gave everyone so long to prepare for your so called tournament! It's so you could spend your last few days among the living praying that the mighty Mr Satan wouldn't show up!" this was met with cheers from all of the morons in the crowd "So after I eat my Jimmy John's, and drink my Hetap, and and **** my hot asain wife! I'm gonna squash you! Like the bug! You! ARE!"

"Yes, give it up for Mr Satan everybody, the world's last and greatest hope!"

Gohan looked between Krillin and Upa "So just to be clear, do any of them know what's going on with his name or…"

"HAIL SATAN! HAIL SATAN! HAIL SATAN!"

"Okay yeah they know, just checking. At least it's better than listening to "Hail HYDRA" over and over again."

"But those movies were great." Krillin pointed out.

That was when Goku suddenly flashed onto the scene "Hey guys!"

Chichi wasted no time in grabbing Goku by the shirt "Well if it isn't Goku, it's about time you decided to show your face here! Where the heck did you disappear to and leave us in the middle of some abandoned city?!"

"Hey listen Chichi, I know you're mad but I need you to hold that thought for now. Gohan, you think I can borrow you for a little while?"

"What do you mean borrow me?" asked Gohan.

"I went over to New Namek and I brought our new Guardian back with me, you remember that little Namekian Dende don't you?"

"Wait Dende, are you serious?"

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Meanwhile, at the Cell Games arena…

By this point, Cell was about to finish up with his interview "So after I finished humiliating the son of Son Goku and his BFF, I made my newsroom debut, delivered my emaculate address, and now here we are. So do you have any more questions?"

"Yeah I do have a few, were the parts about Garlic Jr and Dr Wheelo really necessary to the story, or Turles and Slug for that matter?" asked the reporter.

"It's a little something called world building, and exploring possibilities along with a few missed opportunities."

"Right. Last question: How did you know about the parts you weren't there for?"

"Ah, that's a story for another time I'm afraid. But for now, I must bid you adieu."

"Oh. Well thank you for your time Perfect Cell." the reporter was promptly blasted into oblivion by Cell as a result.

"That's Mister Perfect Cell to you."

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Meanwhile, up at the Lookout…

Future Gohan, having finished informing Dende of the hell of a future he had come from, looked over to see Kai looking down on the Earth below "Hey Kai, what are you doing?"

"Since no amount of training is going to fix the power gap between us and Cell, I'm doing the next best thing to occupy my time." Kai didn't even look away from the binoculars he was looking through "I'm watching a bunch of overconfident dumbasses try and challenge Cell and get their spirits crushed, and that's after he did some kind of interview."

"Is it that guy on the new barking out stuff like Hulk Hogan?"

"Nope, that guy is still doing that even as we speak. There's these two guys for starters, one who actually accused Cell of being some dickhead in a costume and who has brovado that rivals my own, and he's with a guy who's got a sword that can cut through dimensions. Cell scared them off by doing the test of which one of them can blow up a planet."

"Oh boy. Who else?"

"Well next there's a guy with a ridiculously deep voice, and he challenged Cell to some kind of card game. Cell took him out by using the rule book against him, though with the kind of hair he was rocking I'd bet he's never lost a game of "Who's the Protag." in his life."

"Uh huh. Who else?"

"Next there's these two street fighter looking guys, one of them having some kind of dark energy like you'd seen in Inuyasha, you know like when he awakened his demon blood. It didn't do shit to hurt Cell, but it looks like he did get him worked up after he pulled a "Shoryuken" and the blonde guy."

"...Are you sure this isn't on YouTube?"

"No more than any of our lives already."

"Fair enough."

That was when Goku materialized back on the Lookout with Gohan "Hey guys, I'm back."

Dende lit up when he saw Gohan appear "Gohan you're here, it's really you!"

"Dende, oh man it's so great to see you!" Gohan pulled Dende into a hug "It's been so long since we've seen you, so is it really true that you're going to be our new Guardian?"

"Yep, that's right."

"That's really great, you always did show a lot of potential, but now we'll be able to see each other every day!"

"Yes I know!"

"Enough with the pleasentries." Piccolo promptly shut them up "Be real with us Dende, can you really recreate the Dragon Balls?"

"Hey come on Piccolo, stop stressing him out so bad." Goku waved him off "That old Namekian guy seemed pretty certain that Dende would be perfect for this kind of thing."

"By old guy, you mean you're talking about the Grand Elder." Dende told him.

"Yeah the Grand Elder, that's what everyone called him, and if he gave you his seal of approval then that's good enough for me."

"Right, anyway I'm fairly certain I can have the new Dragon Balls completed in about 100 days or so."

"...100 days? Oh wow, we actually don't have that kind of time."

"Oh, I see. Actually there is another way, if the old Dragon Balls still exist then all I need is a model of the original Eternal Dragon and I can have them working again for you right away."

"No kidding? That's awesome!"

"But the Earth's Dragon Balls have been turned to stone, and they're currently scattered across the planet." Piccolo pointed out.

"Have no fear, I once sculpted a model of the Earth's dragon from memory, so the child can use that." Mr Popo told them.

"Alright, so this should be a piece of cake!" Gohan pumped a fist in triumph "Hey Dende I was wondering, can you make it so the Dragon Balls have the power to grant three wishes like the ones on Namek do?"

Dende nodded "Sure."

"And while you're at it Dende, can you make it so that a single wish on the Dragon Balls will be able to bring back more than one person at once? For example, when we intend to wish back all of the people that were killed by Cell or any of Dr Gero's creations."

"Yes, that's nothing the Dragon Balls can't be made to do as long as I know about what you wish for me to include as I go into the process, but considering the amount of power required for a wish like that will downgrade the total number of wishes down to two."

"And that's really the only downside?" asked Gohan.

"Yep."

"Great, so can you see if you can make them do that?"

"Sure, all I need now is that model of your dragon."

"Right." so on that note, Mr Popo promptly pulled out the model of Shenron "Here it is, I carved it from memory."

"Oh wow, this dragon is so different from the one on New Namek. Alright then, I believe I'm ready now." Dende gently sat the model of Shenron on the ground and started chanting in the Namekian language, causing the model to glow as a white light shot out of it and into the open sky above, before dispersing downwards towards the Earth below "Alright, if everything went as planned then the Dragon Balls should already be working again."

"Already huh?" Piccolo shot Dende a smirk of approval 'Nicely done, the Grand Elder seems to have been right about him.'

"Okay, if that's the case then I'm going to go get Bulma to lend me her Dragon Radar and start tracking them down."

"Probably for the best, especially if we have two people tracking them down." Kai pulled a Dragon Radar out of his gi "I'll start tracking them down, you go get the other one from Mother of the Year over at Capsule Corp. She's probably still working on repairing Android 16."

"Gotcha, good idea." Goku looked over at Gohan "Hey son listen, I think that you've trained hard enough, so why don't you stay here and spend some time with Kai and Dende until it's time for the tournament?"

"I… I don't know dad, are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Gohan.

"Hey just take it easy, don't worry about it so much okay?"

"Father, do you mind if I ask you something?" Future Gohan spoke up "How is it that you're still able to be so calm? Does Cell have some kind of hidden weakness that you're just not telling us about, is that it?"

"Nope, as far as I can tell so far he's pretty much invincible. Well I'd better get going, I'll see you later guys." and he disappeared with Instant Transmission.

"That didn't help, at all. Alright younger me be completely honest, has Father told you anything that he hasn't told us? It doesn't make sense, he keeps saying that Cell is stronger than he is and that he doesn't know if he can beat him. If that is the case then why would he be so relaxed about it?"

Gohan slowly shook his head "I don't know, he hasn't told me anything more than what you guys already know, except he keeps saying that I should look forward to it."

"You can't be serious."

"I don't get it either, but if he says to look forward to it then that means either he has something he wants to show off, or he's already accepted defeat. Neither of those seems very likely in case of dad, so what then?"

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Meanwhile, at Capsule Corp…

Goku materialized in Bulma's lab at Capsule Corp "Hey Bulma, what's up?"

"Hey Goku you're not going to believe this." Bulma told him "The workmanship on this android the others brought us is top notch, Dr Gero might have been one crazy vengeful son of a bitch, but the guy really knew his stuff."

"Huh, cool. Well anyway Bulma, would you mind if I borrowed your Dragon Radar? I tracked down the Namekians and brought us back a brand new Guardian, so now I just need to track down the Dragon Balls."

"Alright sure, it should be in the drawer right behind you."

"Perfect, thanks." Goku pulled the Dragon Radar out of the drawer and prepared to teleport away, but stopped when he noticed something on the computer "Hey what's with this?"

"Oh that? I found some hidden folder in 16's databanks, it was completely inaccessible to him and it was full of incomplete and corrupted files. There is one undamaged video there, I was going to take a look at it later."

"Huh, you mind if I take a look? I'm just curious."

"Sure, knock yourself out."

"Thanks." so Goku clicked on the video and started playing it, unaware of what he was about to see.

"May 12, 750, 4:30 pm. Red Ribbon HQ."

"Wait a second, why does that date sound familiar?"

"Hey dad, I'm just here at headquarters getting everything put away. There's no bunkmate so I have the room to myself, so that's good, which is good for a guy my size. Anyway… I just wanted to record something for you, since you and Uncle Frap are busy building all of those robot guys and stuff. I know you're calling them artificial humans or whatever, but let's face it, that name is way too long. I mean, what about just calling them cyborgs or androids? You know, like from that movie we saw? Well anyway, I just wanted you to know that… I miss you dad." and then the alarm sounded "What the-"

"Hey get your ass moving, some kind of thing is tearing its way through the compound! We've gotta get moving!"

"Oh, got it."

And then a young sounding voice rang throughout the background "Ka…"

"Me…"

"Okay, well sorry about this dad."

"Ha…"

"I've gotta run."

"Me…"

"I love you. Good luck with the robot stuff-"

"HAAAAAA!" and then the screen suddenly cut out.

Goku slowly clicked off the video and stook up, his expression slightly pale 'That was his son, and on that day… That's why he… Oh god…'

"Jesus." Bulma muttered 'I guess now his hatred for Goku makes sense, that's one hell of a bomb to drop. Hey Goku, are you okay?"

"What? Oh yeah yeah, sorry. Thanks for the radar Bulma, I've gotta go." and still appearing rather shaken, Goku disappeared from the scene using Instant Transmission.

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And so, with everyone preparing in their own way, the countdown to the Cell Games continues with a new weight to it. The stage has been set for the battle to decide the fate of not only the Earth, but the entire universe itself. Will Cell emerge the victor, or will Goku's confidence prove to be enough to carry the day? The long awaited showdown is about to begin, next time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation!

A/N:

And with this, we get a prelude to the Cell Games. Just because it's a new year doesn't change my plans for this fic, as in I at least plan to finish with the Cell saga before I go back to college, which should be in the last week of January.

One of the few things I disapproved of about the Cell saga is that the human characters were treated as if they were useless, so in order to make up for that, I added in Cooler, another character I feel had unused potential, as well as a few of his men, as in his Armored Squadron and the Namekian known as Forte, the one I had unlock Tien's potential, and had him do it for some of the other human characters, in this case, Yamcha, Krillin and Upa.

Once again, I do not, nor will I ever, apologize for the TFS references I include in my stories, such as the inclusion of Cell's interview in which he goes over the entire plot of Dragon Ball, or the inclusion of the video on Android 16's origin.

Speaking of TFS references, guess what Kai was referencing later in the chapter when he was talking about guys challenging Cell and getting their spirits broken in the process.

Just to be clear, this chapter ended up being a hell of a lot longer than I expected it to be, so sorry about that if it inconveniences you. I promise the next chapter will be shorter. Maybe, depending on how much I end up covering.

Power levels:

Super Saiyan Goku (suppressed): 4.55 billion

Super Saiyan Gohan: 10.5 billion

Cooler: 6.5 billion

Salza: 90 million

Doore: 85 million

Neiz: 80 million

Nail: 800 million

Piccolo: 360 billion

Kai: 50 million

Kai (Potential unlocked): 250 million

Kai (Namek-Ken 40x): 10 billion

Yamcha: 5 million

Yamcha (potential unlocked): 50 million

Yamcha (Potential unlocked, Kaioken 3x): 150 million

Krillin: 2.4 million

Krillin (potential unlocked): 24 million

Krillin (potential unlocked, Kaioken 5x): 120 million

Upa: 3 million

Upa (potential unlocked): 30 million