No Regrets [A DBZ Fanfiction]

Chapter 25 - Prelude to the End

Goku was pretty winded from his sparring match with Cell. He looked across to the "perfect" being and was happy to find that at least Cell looked just as breathless too.

"I forfeit. Gohan, I need you to take over for me." Goku said between breaths.

"Dad? Are you sure? I don't even think you were fighting to your full potential," Gohan replied, confused with his father's performance.

"Yeah Goku, are you sure you want Gohan to take over for you?" Krillin asked and the other Z fighters nodded. "I'm sure if you pop one of those senzu beans, you'll overthrow him eventually. You were doing pretty well against him."

"Also, do you really want your young son to face that monster?" Yamcha threw in. "He has his whole life ahead of him."

"I'll have everybody know that Gohan is the only one out of all us that has it in him to defeat Cell. His power surpasses my own!" Goku proclaimed proudly. The Z fighters started murmur in disbelief at Goku's statement. "Look, I'll prove how confident I am in my Gohan by giving Cell a senzu bean as well, just to be fair!"

Without warning, Goku tossed one of his senzu beans to Cell. Cell smiled shakily at Goku's stupidity and chewed the bean.

"Goku, no! I don't think you should have done that!" Tien said with a worried expression on his face.

"Trust me, that senzu bean won't help him much after Gohan's through with him," Goku told his friend. Goku winked at his son. "Also Gohan, you got a little peak at Cell's abilities from my previous match with him. I'm sure you know what needs to be done to defeat him."

"Yes father. I understand..." Gohan answered solemnly and ascended above the ring that Cell had destroyed during his fight with Goku. The Z warriors gasped as they felt Gohan's ki rise to levels that were even higher than Goku's.

Smirking at the child warrior, Cell soared toward Gohan, undaunted by Gohan's brand new power levels. The child's power level may be higher than most but that didn't mean that it was higher than his own.

"Let's get this over with. I need to get home and study for a history test tomorrow," Gohan stated indifferently which infuriated Cell. "And believe me, my mom is whole lot scarier than you'll ever be." Irritated by Gohan's goading, Cell cried out loudly as he hurled himself at the young warrior.

Cell was taken aback from his fight with Goku's son. How did the kid manage to get so strong? Whatever he tried to do to bring the kid down, the kid just came back at him stronger than before, practically unscathed. Cell glowered at the young saiyan and his warrior friends, as destroying Sixteen in front of them didn't give him the satisfaction that he seeked.

His eyes narrowed on a familiar face from his original timeline. The lavender hair one, Trunks. It was his time machine that allowed Cell to come to this timeline to meet with Seventeen and Eighteen and eventually reach his perfect state. However, if it wasn't for Trunks' interference and warning everyone, Gohan's fighting abilities wouldn't be as superior as they were now.

"You!" Cell shouted, pointing to Trunks. "You're not the only one who can meddle with time!"

Recalling what Gohan had told him during their battle about attacking his friends, Cell decided to attack his lousy friends anyways. Plus, he needed everyone to be distracted so he could complete his latest goal. Cell stood tall as he summoned up additional energy for his next task. With a grunt, his retracted tail popped out eight little blue miniature versions of himself, much to the dismay of the Z warriors.

"Go forth my little Cell Juniors! Wreak havoc on them all!" Cell encouraged as he laugh manically. The seven little Cell Juniors skipped happily toward the bewildered Z warriors as the eighth one traipsed sneakily away, as it had a far more nefarious plan to perform.

"This may be surprising to you, Gohan. But annihilating Sixteen hasn't quite quenched my appetite like I thought it would. Would you care to help me out with that?" Cell taunted. Gohan growled, thinking about how Cell cruelly destroyed the peaceable Android Sixteen.

"You're going wish that you never tried to get on my bad side after I'm through with you!" Gohan promised as he launched himself into his underhanded opponent.

Goku wasn't one for arithmetic but he thought there was something odd about Cell creating eight Cell Juniors, when there were only seven warriors to face them. As if on autopilot, Goku manoeuvred himself handily against the little Cell Junior as he thought about the eighth one.

Where did that eighth Cell Junior disappear to? Goku thought to himself as he blocked a punch to face and countered with a quick jab to the little guy's chest. He thought he might have seen the eighth one heading towards the west, actually toward West City if he remembered correctly. But what was in West City that would hold any interest for Cell? Anyone with a sizable power level was here, just like Cell wanted. It certainly boggled his mind more than Goku wanted it to, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. Then Goku sputtered as he recalled Cell's last words before he created all those Cell Juniors.

Cell had pointed to Trunks and vowed that he had the ability to meddle with time just like Trunks did. The only thing in West City that would allow Cell to disturb the timeline was...BABY TRUNKS! Goku snapped right into shape after his realization and punched his Cell Junior hard in the face. He had to hurry to Capsule Corp and save Bulma's baby before it was too late.

"Hay, I got to go save your life! Take care of this for me?!" Goku yelled, as he flung his Cell Junior in Trunks direction. Due to Trunks focus, he had been mercilessly massacring his Cell Junior with ease. However, he jumped back in surprise when he saw Goku's Cell Junior fly toward him.

"Uhh...okay sure Goku!" Trunks called back, not seeing the need to argue with Goku when it was quite obvious that Goku was pretty damn brilliant when it came to fighting tactics. Maybe Goku thought if Trunks could defeat two Cell Juniors it would save his life in the future somehow, Trunks thought to himself as he tried to interpret Goku's statement.

Before he left, Goku took a quick look at Gohan and witnessed Cell obliterating Sixteen's remaining head. Goku cringed, knowing that Cell would certainly regret that action later as he saw the saiyan rage fill Gohan's eyes. Goku wanted to stick around to observe this moment of greatness in a warrior's life but he had a baby to save. Placing his forefingers to his forehead he used his instant transmission technique to get to Capsule Corp. as soon as he could.