Give it Your All! Where is Gohan's Hidden Power?
Gohan and Perfect Cell's collisions exploded in bursts of gold and green light as they zipped around over everyone's heads, intertwining in deadly spirals before colliding again. The gathered heroes gaped open-mouthed at the display, barely able to believe what they were seeing. The idea that what they were seeing was even possible was just staggering. The pair were moving even faster than Perfect Cell and Goku had been, their ki even greater. The idea that Gohan, little Gohan was capable of this…
The only one who didn't seem surprised was Goku. Even though she was struggling to keep up with the action as much as the others, she seemed disappointed, if anything.
"Come on, Gohan," she muttered as she tracked her son and Perfect Cell's conflict. "What's taking you so long? Beat her already!" Why the heck was Gohan holding back? She knew he had more power than this.
OoOoOoO
Amy Thistle, a junior reporter and more-or-less intern, was now covering the events on ZTV News with Caesar currently recovering from a fainting spell after Perfect Cell's regeneration bout. As the "fight" was little more than a series of exploding colors, she took up most of the screen for now.
"We have just received some new information about the young man who is currently battling Cell," the purple fox said as she tried to hide the tremors in her voice both from the terror of the global situation and her inexperience at the job. A second window appeared, showing Gohan's school picture from the previous school year. "The boy is Son Gohan, the nine-year-old son of Son Goku and Son Suno." Obviously, the school system and the young reporter would have no knowledge of the year Gohan had spent in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber so, as far as they knew, he was nine years old. "We'll keep you posted on this story as it develops, but… uh…" Amy swallowed nervously, the papers shaking in her hands. "I don't know what to tell you, folks. This is… bad."
OoOoOoO
Bulma was coughing and sputtering, still recovering from spitting out a mouthful of coffee when Goku had said she quit and told Gohan to step in. Not only had she said it but Gohan had done it! She'd always thought Gohan was a pretty smart kid but… what the hell was going on?!
OoOoOoO
The words had barely left Amy's mouth before the rumblings of fear and worry started passing through the Son Family's home village. All of Gohan's classmates were calling each other, asking if they had all seen the same thing. Gohan was fighting this monster?! He was so nice! They'd never even seen him get frustrated during a group project, they couldn't imagine him getting angry enough to fight someone.
OoOoOoO
Yuki sat fixed in front of the television, her mouth agape as her fingers dug into the arms of her large, comfy armchair. Despite the relative warmth Jingle Village experienced in the summer months, her whole body was trembling with terror. Her little grandson was fighting?! She knew that he had grown up strong and that his mothers were powerful fighters but she couldn't look at him without seeing that tiny little baby he used to be. She hoped he'd be safe.
OoOoOoO
Gohan and Perfect Cell suddenly exploded into view, locked in a knuckle lock and glaring at one another, Gohan not giving any ground despite the difference in height between them as Perfect Cell tried to bear down on him.
"I've got to admit," Perfect Cell grunted with effort as she tried to shove him down, "You're definitely stronger than Goku. But if this is all you've got, you're still not going to win!"
"Don't worry," Gohan shot back as he glared up at her, "I'm just getting started!" Which was only half-true. Gohan knew that he had more power he could use to fight Perfect Cell but for some reason, he couldn't bring it out to face her. What was holding him back?
"Oh really?" Perfect Cell asked with a malevolent grin. "Alright. Show me what you've got!" She fell backwards, letting Gohan's momentum carry him forward into a high kick that caught him under the jaw. The impact sent Gohan shooting up into the air and she followed with an uppercut that drove the wind out of him before shooting her other hand up to grab a fistful of Gohan's spiky golden hair and smash him face first into the ground. Perfect Cell went to crush an axe kick down onto the small of Gohan's back but, to her shock, Gohan had completely vanished by the time her foot impacted with the earth. She looked around in astonishment and swiveled into a faceful of fist as Gohan caught her with a left hook that sent her crashing into the Cellspawn.
"Mother!" they all cried in unison as they helped her to her feet.
"Do you want us to step in, mom?" Dan asked as Perfect Cell regained her bearings.
"Yeah," Kou added with a nod as he pounded his fist into his palm. "With the seven of us, we could crush this little creep together!"
"Hey!" Suno barked from across the battlefield. "Who are you calling a creep, ya little technicolor freakshows?!"
"Suno, don't insult her kids, that's rude," Goku scolded her as she popped a senzu into her mouth.
"Please tell me you're being sarcastic," Tenshinhan muttered. Meanwhile, Perfect Cell shook her head and gestured for the Cellspawn to step back.
"It's okay," Perfect Cell assured them as she rolled her neck with her eyes firmly on Gohan. "I'm fine. Didn't feel a thing."
"Funny," Gohan retorted as he hopped on the balls of his feet, "I was gonna say the same thing." Perfect Cell growled indignantly and flew back at Gohan, who flew forward to meet her and they collided again in a cross counter, each one hitting the other in the jaw with a straight punch. They hit each other again with the opposite fist before exploding into a rushing strike exchange, their fists colliding with a cacophonous force that made the earth crack and shake underfoot. Goku smiled at the display as she and the others floated off the ground to not be affected. Hercule and the others were not so lucky.
'Heh,' she thought proudly and nostalgically. 'Kinda like me and Piccolo.' Which had been yet another tournament to decide the fate of the world, although this one was a lot more explicit. Also, back then, she and Piccolo had been much closer in power. She had seen what Gohan was capable of in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. What was up? He wasn't toying with Perfect Cell, he was clearly trying to fight her and doing his best but this wasn't his best and she knew that. She knew Gohan was capable of so much more than he was doing right now. She wanted to jump in and coach him, to give him some words of encouragement, but that wouldn't be fair. This was Gohan's fight. She just had to trust that he'd be able to get himself out of whatever funk he was in and handle it himself.
Perfect Cell brought her foot out to kick Gohan in the knee, breaking his concentration before she rammed her knee into Gohan's stomach. He staggered back for a moment and then he returned fire with a spin kick that caught Perfect Cell in the side of the head. Perfect Cell stumbled away before spinning on her feet and firing a pink beam of death from her fingertips. Gohan spun to the side with the beam grazing his cheek. While it didn't do any visible damage, Gohan suffered a momentary flash of panic as he was instantly brought back to Freeza and how that same beam had taken the lives of Dende and Vegeta and had seemingly killed Piccolo. That moment when he froze allowed Perfect Cell to charge in and attack, hammering Gohan across the face with rights and lefts, the impact lifting Gohan's feet off the ground. Perfect Cell gave a cry of effort as she leaped up and dropkicked Gohan square in the chest, sending him flying.
"Gohan!" Suno cried as she watched Perfect Cell pummel her little boy. Her body lurched reflexively to go to him before Goku put an arm out to stop her.
"He's okay, Suno," Goku assured her. "Trust me." Before Suno could voice her protest, Piccolo interrupted.
"Goku's right," he admitted. "Despite the punishment Gohan's taken, his ki hasn't dropped at all." Vegeta brooded and seethed in silent disgust.
'This is preposterous,' he thought in unbridled contempt. 'Being surpassed by Kakarot was bad enough but now I have to catch up to the halfbreed as well?'
Gohan got to his feet and was suddenly in Perfect Cell's face. To her frustration, he still didn't look like he'd taken any damage at all. She balled her fists and glowered at Gohan, who got back into his guard and leaped up with a jumping knee to Perfect Cell's jaw. Perfect Cell pivoted to one side to avoid the attack and retaliated with a spinning backfist. Gohan ducked under the blow and came behind Perfect Cell, aiming a punch at the small of her back that Perfect Cell backflipped to avoid before shooting up into the sky. She raised her hands high overhead and cried out in anger as she swung her hands down over and over, raining down a meteor shower of ki blasts. Gohan punched and kicked the blasts away as the others scattered, Hercule, Jimmy, and the cameraman running for their lives.
"Come on, Perfection damn it!" Perfect Cell swore as she rained down hellfire on Gohan. "Let's see what you've got! Show me this power of yours!" As Gohan stayed on the defensive, he found himself wondering why he couldn't call on this power. What was holding him back? He wasn't afraid of fighting. He'd practically been fighting all his life! Everyone was counting on him anyway, so he couldn't even afford to be afraid.
'You're going to mess up,' a voice told him in the back of his head. 'You're just a little kid. You don't know what you're doing. Mom's wrong. She doesn't really expect you to be able to defeat Cell. She's been holding back. She just wants you to feel special.' Gohan pushed the thought away and raised his hands up overhead. "Masenko!" he cried as he fired back, trying to knock Perfect Cell out of the sky. Perfect Cell skirted out of the way to avoid the attack and dropped down, rocketing toward Gohan to come at him face-to-face with a barrage of punches. As Gohan blocked and parried Perfect Cell's attack, flying backwards and giving ground, the voice in his head gave another explanation. 'You're scared. Scared of how powerful you might actually be. You can't control this power. Think of how crazy you got whenever you tapped into your rage. That's what you'll have to do to get the power you need to beat Cell but you can't do it. You're afraid. You'll be an even bigger menace than Cell!' One of Perfect Cell's jabs slipped through and caught Gohan full in the face, sending him sprawling into the dirt.
"Come on," Perfect Cell taunted as Gohan got to his feet. "Where's all that big talk, huh? You were so confident when we started but now you're barely fighting back! What's the plan, have me break my hands off on your face? I'll just grow new ones!" She rushed toward Gohan and battered him with a series of body blows that made him crumple around her fists. "What happened to this power, huh?! What happened to you just getting started?!" Gohan's hands dropped down and grabbed Perfect Cell's fists, stopping her attack instantly. She gawked as Gohan forced her hands away, raising her hands over his head as he stood up straight and looked at Perfect Cell intensely, teal eyes burning into red. She struggled to get out of his grip but was surprised to find that she couldn't.
"Stop," he told her firmly even though his voice was trembling. "You don't want to do this. You don't know what you're doing. Just stop." Perfect Cell stared at him, mouth agape, as Gohan held her in his grp.
"What're you doing?!" Goku called out to Gohan, cupping her hands around her mouth so he could hear her. "Come on, Gohan! I know you can beat this jerk! Just do it already!" Perfect Cell glared and, without warning, twin beams of ki shot out of her eyes and hit Gohan directly in his, causing him to cry out in pain and clutch at his face. Perfect Cell slammed Gohan across the jaw with an axehandle blow to send him spiraling through the air and grabbed him by the ankles as he was sent flying away to smash him into the ground. She dove in to continue the attack and was caught off guard as Gohan hopped to his feet and, still blinded, kicked her right in the face. The impact sent out a shockwave that knocked all the fighters off of their feet and sent Perfect Cell rocketing out of sight. As the heroes struggled to get to their feet, they barely understood what they had just seen.
"I… you guys saw that, right?" Trunk stammered out in disbelief. The others nodded dumbly in agreement that, yes, that had actually happened. One second, Perfect Cell had been there. Then Gohan had kicked her. Now she was just… gone. The Cellspawn looked around frantically for their mother, wondering where she had gone to.
Several miles away, Perfect Cell held her face in shock. She pulled her hand away from her mouth and stared at a smear of purple blood on her palm. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand to find more blood. She spat a mouthful out onto the ground and, like a switch, her shock and astonishment boiled over into rage. She was back on the battlefield in a heartbeat, the bruise on her face from where Gohan had kicked her still evident.
"Jeez," Launch muttered when she noticed the bruise, "Gohan really got her on that one." Perfect Cell spared Launch a murderous glare before turning her attention back to Gohan.
"You're holding back on me," Perfect Cell told him icily as she jabbed an accusing finger. "I don't like that. Not one bit. I organized this whole tournament, set all of this up, because I am going to end the universe as you know it–"
"What about us?" Boy called from the sidelines.
"Not now!" Perfect Cell snapped at her daughter offhandedly while keeping her eyes on Gohan. "Somehow, that seems to escape your understanding. I'm going to kill you, Gohan. I always have. I always do. But I don't want you to die with any regrets. I want you to die knowing that there was nothing you could have done to stop me. Which means I'm going to make you show me what you've got. Just to give you a little incentive…" she held one hand overhead and snapped her fingers. "Hurt them," she told her children. "But don't kill them. Not yet. If that's what it takes? Fine. But I want them to suffer first." She glared murderously at Gohan. "I want you to suffer." The Cellspawn gave a cheer and flew toward the other heroes.
"Ah crap," Yamcha grumbled as he got into a defensive stance, "I shoulda known I was gonna have to f–!" He was cut off as Mei appeared in front of him, slamming her foot into his chest. Even using only a fraction of her power, she sent him reeling. Tenshinhan, Launch, Krillin, and Suno attacked her, the pink blur easily evading their attacks and slapping them down, each impact sending out a cry of pain that shot through Gohan's whole body.
"No!" Gohan cried out as he flew towards them but Perfect Cell grabbed the back of his neck and yanked him back, ramming her fist into his gut and driving the wind out of him.
"Come on!" she taunted as she wrapped Gohan up in a bearhug and constricted him in her powerful arms. "Let's see what you're made of! I'm going to see that power if I have to squeeze it out of you!"
Trunks immediately jumped up into his Super Form to do battle with Goushi but the Black Cellspawn was stronger than he'd anticipated, beating him relentlessly and sending blood flying out of his mouth with every body blow. Vegeta struggled against Boy, the yellow daughter driving the points of her feet into his chest and face with a vicious assault of kicks, a smug look on her face as her arms remained crossed at her chest. Piccolo tried to battle the blue Cellspawn, Dan, but he was outmatched in speed and strength as Dan evaded his every attack, ramming his elbows and knees down onto Piccolo's joints and kicking him when he was down.
Goku was faring the best, able to handle Geki on her own more or less evenly before Kou smashed into her as a white blur and the pair began to overwhelm her with their dogged red-and-white double team attack.
"Goku seems to be able to handle two of my kids," Perfect Cell observed as she kept trying to crush Gohan and the boy wriggled in her grasp. "But once Mei kills your mother and the rest of your human friends, I wonder how Goku will be able to hold up against three? Or what about after Dan kills Piccolo, hmm? Do you think your mom can hold off against four? Or five? Or six?" Gohan finally shoved his feet up against Perfect Cell's chest and shoved her away, breaking out of her grip and flying back to try and get some breathing room for himself. "Are you ready to watch all the people you love get beaten to death?" she asked in a sickeningly playful tone. Then instantly she turned to spite and rage as she attacked again. "Then let me see your strength!" Gohan brought his arms up to guard himself as Perfect Cell rained down punches on his defenses. The sounds of everyone's cries of pain reverberated in his head as Perfect Cell continued to wail on him. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he fight back?! Perfect Cell was going to kill them all! Perfect Cell swept Gohan's feet out from under him and kicked him hard in the stomach to send him flying. He struggled to pick himself up as Goku was sent smashing into the ground by a double-punch from Geki and Kou.
'Gotta focus,' Gohan thought to himself as he shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. 'Can't let Cell win! Can't be afraid!' During the fighting, the bag of senzu had been knocked from Goku's belt and she crawled towards them to try and heal herself. Just as her fingertips touched the bag, however, Geki blasted the bag into oblivion with a finger beam. Goku's outstretched hand fumbled through the smoke and the ash that had been the senzu for a moment before Geki kicked her in the chin, sending her flying back into Kou, who trapped Goku in a full nelson while Geki repeatedly punched her in the stomach.
Hercule watched all of this with terror, looking back and forth between the Cellspawn assaulting the other heroes and Perfect Cell running at the blond kid to attack him again. No one was able to give the boy a hand. There was nobody left. It was all… on him. They were all so much more powerful than him and yet… and yet… Without another thought, Hercule immediately ran toward the battle as fast as he could. Jimmy Firecracker elbowed the cameraman, gesticulating wildly and making sure he got the shot as Hercule charged forward.
"Come on, Perfection damn it!" Perfect Cell roared as she flew at Gohan with one hand reaching back. "I want a fight!" She swung back and let loose a thunderous punch, sending out another shockwave that sent Jimmy and the cameraman flying so that they would miss the crucial shot. There was an awful, wet ripping sound as Gohan realized that he hadn't been hit. He'd gone flying back… with Hercule's body in his arms. He stared down in horror at the gaping hole in the man's chest, blood pouring freely out of it.
"Wh… why?" he stammered out weakly as the dying man looked up at him. "Why would you–?" Hercule weakly reached up and patted him on the cheek.
"H-hey," he gasped out hoarsely, "G-Gohan, right?" He had died for Gohan without even knowing who he was. "I-if you really do have any kinda power to stop her… now's the time t'do it. C'mon, kid. G-grit those t-teeth, and get… in… there…" His eyes slowly closed shut and his head rolled to the side while Perfect Cell looked at her bloody fist and forearm with callous curiosity.
"Huh," she remarked. "That's different." Gohan's body shook with anger as he slowly let Hercule's corpse fall to the ground. An innocent man was dead because of him. Painfully, his mind went back to what he had said to his mom in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber when he had been struggling to become a Super Saiyan.
'I can't just wait until I might have to fight Cell or watch someone die!' he had told her. But he'd done exactly that. Because he'd been holding back, because he couldn't figure out how to focus or call on that power inside him, someone had died. His gaze drifted toward the others as if he were in a daze and he realized that Perfect Cell would kill them, too. The image of their dead bodies flashed in Gohan's mind and it made his shaking grow even worse as a pair of tears rolled down his cheeks and his hands balled into fists. He felt Hercule's blood seep into his gi as he reminded himself that Perfect Cell was going to kill everyone. Everyone on this planet, everyone who had ever been born… The thought filled Gohan with something he'd never felt before. This was something beyond his childhood anger. It was a burning, all-consuming, white hot rage that ate him alive from the inside out. Gohan threw his head back and let out a scream of power and hatred that boiled out of him like an erupting volcano. The sound brought everyone to a screeching halt as Gohan's aura exploded around him with lightning coursing up and down his body. The last thing the camera saw before Gohan's power caused it to explode, the last thing that the entire world would see, was this screaming golden avatar of power and rage.
The ground sank around Gohan as his power grew and grew, generating its own gravity and buckling the earth under his feet, creating a crater with his very existence. He screamed louder and louder, tears streaming down his cheeks as he clenched his fists so fiercely that they bled. Gohan's screams reached a crescendo as his hair spiked even higher than before and his ki peaked at its zenith. It was like the quiet after a thunderclap, after a hurricane, and everyone was left speechless.
OoOoOoO
Cooler was awoken from his chemically-induced Space Pod sleep by an even greater power than the one he had sensed that caused him to decide he needed to return home to train. "You've got to be joking…" he muttered before closing his eyes again. It would still be a few days before he reached Freeza Planet One. Hopefully no one got any stronger before he woke up.
OoOoOoO
The Kaioushin felt another power, a far more noble and pleasant energy than the first one from a few days ago, and stopped playing mahjong to contemplate this new development. "Very interesting…"
OoOoOoO
'Gohan?' Suno thought in shock and disbelief as she struggled to get to her feet. This couldn't be him, she thought as he climbed out of the crater, silent, a murderous expression in his eyes. This was an even more drastic change than Goku had gone through on Namek. What was this?
"No way…" Krillin muttered, aghast, as he stared at Gohan as he stalked towards Perfect Cell with arcs of lightning shooting off of his body.
"What… what is that?" Vegeta murmured in astonishment. This was an even greater power than the grades of Super Saiyan he'd discovered in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Had Gohan truly ascended?
"I… I can't believe it," Piccolo stammered. This kind of power… he could never have imagined that the little boy who had cried when Piccolo had thrown him at a mountain had this kind of sheer, awe-inspiring power.
Goku was grinning from ear to ear as she watched Gohan, beaming with pride, as proud of her son as any mother could ever have been. 'That's my boy.'
Perfect Cell watched Gohan stalking towards her and realized belatedly that her hands were shaking. That had never happened before. None of this had ever happened before! As he got closer, she actually took a step back. And then another. There was something else that she had never experienced, a strange and awful feeling that was running through her body. It was an emotion that she'd never felt, not from decades of travelling across countless alternate timelines. Perfect Cell was Perfectly terrified as she gazed into the icy blue eyes of death.
"Cell…" Gohan growled as he looked up at her. "This is my power. Are you happy now? I hope so." He balled up his fists and got into a fighting stance. "Because in the next ten seconds, you're going to be dead."
A/N: For full effectiveness, start listening to Vogel im Käfig from about when the Cellspawn start beating everyone up.