Earth
"Son Gohan, you can't be this strong. My data says you aren't this strong!" Cell stared at Gohan, disbelief warping his face.
"You're a mongrel, that's all," Gohan said, calm and cutting. "You've got Saiyan, Namekian, and human cells mixed in, sure but you can't draw out the best of any of them. Saiyans do more than bounce back stronger from the brink of death; at our core it's will unyielding, growing fiercer the harder the fight. Do you have that? You don't.
Namekians can regenerate, yes, but they long for nature and peace. Do you have that? You don't.
Humans may be weak, but they carry a stubborn curiosity, a drive to push into the unknown. Do you have that? You don't. Those are brand-marks burned into the soul not something you scrape off a petri dish. You're not a synthesis; you're a stew. Call you a mutt where's the lie?"
He wasn't just striking flesh; he was stabbing at the mind.
Cell's features twisted, rage boiling over. Gohan's words hit home like knives.
"Shut up shut up shut up! I'm not a mongrel I'm the strongest android there is! Aaaaaaah!"
Muscle bunched and ballooned across Cell's already massive second form. Power surged; judgment fled.
"A mutt does what mutts do mindless bulking," Gohan needled him, unblinking.
Watching from afar, Goku frowned. "Gohan, don't push him like that it's dangerous!"
"Relax, Dad. I know what I'm doing," Gohan said, eyes never leaving Cell.
The swollen giant swung a fan-sized palm at Gohan. Gohan dipped his hips, drew his right fist to his side, and, at the last instant, drove it forward like a piledriver.
Crack.
A shockwave like a whetted blade sheared flesh from bone. Purple-black blood sprayed; Cell's palm turned to mince, the pale bones underneath flashing in the light.
"Gya !" Cell howled and stumbled back in pain.
Before the gust died, Gohan was already in his guard again hundreds of brutal body blows hammered into Cell's gut.
First acid spattered from Cell's throat, then more of that purple-black blood. Finally, the pressure in his belly surged Seventeen, still half-digested, lurched upward.
"No don't you dare!" Cell clamped both hands over his mouth and nose, fighting the reflex.
Gohan didn't stop. Every punch twisted Cell's stomach like a wringer; the body's instinct rebelled.
"Go on hup let it out bam, bam, bam!" Gohan's fists punctuated every word.
At last
"Blaaagh!" Cell gagged and vomited Seventeen out.
"Seventeen!" Eighteen cried, seeing her brother swaddled in corrosive slime.
Clang!
Gohan punted Seventeen across the dust, dropping him at Eighteen's boots. "He's yours. I kept my promise. Now go trash that kill-Goku directive. You're no match for my dad. Together you still wouldn't be."
"Big talk," Eighteen sniffed, hard voice hiding the sudden softness. She scooped Seventeen up and vanished in a blur.
Gohan glanced down at himself. "How was any of that 'whining'? Whatever."
His attention slid back to Cell.
"Damn you… damn you, Son Gohan!" Cell's aura guttered; his body regressed to first form, rage spiking as his ki bled away.
Then he flared swelling like an inflating sphere, dozens of meters across in an instant.
"Die! All of you die! The bomb in my core can blow this whole planet apart! Heh-heh… Son Gohan, let's go together!"
"Gohan, look out!" Goku felt the swelling power and shouted a warning.
"First, your self-destruct won't destroy the Earth. In this timeline it's a lot tougher than you think. Second, don't flatter yourself this little fireworks show won't scratch me," Gohan said, still prodding.
"Arrogant brat! Even if the Earth survives, you won't there's no running from this!"
"Even so, do it somewhere else." Gohan stepped up, laid a palm to Cell's distended belly
and Instant Transmission took them both.
Goku and Vegeta's heads snapped skyward at the same instant, catching Gohan's ki wink into the vacuum. Piccolo felt it next, then Raditz and Nappa. Combat genius was combat genius; Gohan's control was something else.
"Damn you!" Cell raved, the countdown begun.
Let's see it, then, Gohan thought, drifting back and raising a golden barrier. One explosion can it push you to the next tier?
Fwooom.
Light swallowed the void. In the silence of space the blast didn't roar, but it blazed, bleaching Gohan's hair back in the solar gale.
From Earth it looked like a second sun igniting.
When the glare faded, a black chip no larger than a palm floated where Cell had been. Nerves like filaments crawled out, knitting tissue; muscle latticed; carapace bloomed.
In under three minutes a fierce, familiar pressure erupted.
"Ha-ha Son Gohan, I should thank you. Without you, I wouldn't have learned that a single Saiyan near-death could carry me to Perfect!"
Cell stood remade features sharpened, twin wings flared, the mottled shell speckled like an insect's hide: Perfect Cell.
"Only full-power Super Saiyan level? Spitting out Seventeen really docked you," Gohan murmured, reading him and ignoring the monologue.
"Son Gohan are you listening?" Cell mouthed. He could live in space thanks to Cold and Frieza's genes, but sound didn't carry; Gohan answered by pointing down at Earth and dropping.
Cell understood and followed. Less than a minute later, they reappeared over the battlefield.
"Son Gohan out of gratitude, I'll kill you with everything I have." Perfect Cell's ki was whole, but without Seventeen and Eighteen he lagged far behind the legend only about 15 billion by Gohan's count.
Which was perfect. A real fight for the others. The gap was there, but experience could bridge a lot, and Gohan was right here to clean up if needed.
"Dad he's all yours. He's plenty for a workout." Gohan drifted back to Goku's side.
"So that's your plan, huh?" Vegeta's mouth curled; his eyes glittered. "Hmph. I'll go first!"
"No way I go first," Goku shot back.
"Then… rock, paper, scissors," Goku said, bright as ever.
"Fine. As if the Prince would lose to you."
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
Goku threw paper. Vegeta's scissors chopped it.
"Heh. The Prince doesn't do losing."
"Tch. Go on, then. You'll just lose anyway," Goku needled rare for him.
"Shut up, Kakarot! Watch closely!" Vegeta snarled.
Cell twitched, outraged at being ignored. "Your arrogance die!"
Drunk on his new perfection, he lunged straight for Vegeta.
"Mongrel come!" Vegeta crossed his arms and detonated his ki, leaping straight to Super Saiyan Full Power.
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