Cell Tournament Start

Because Gohan was in no condition to re-enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Goku went in with Piccolo.

Next was Tien Shinhan, he was quite unlucky as he had no one on his level to partner up with. After thinking for a while, he picked Nappa. Although Nappa was training every day, he was nowhere close to Vegeta's level even without transforming into a Super Saiyan. But at least he was much stronger than Yamcha and Krillin.

After Tien Shinhan, Vegeta and Trunks entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber again. Trunks had actually gone and picked up Vegeta from the battleground. Cell had completely disregarded Vegeta and left the scene already.

Since neither Gohan nor Raditz could do any physical training, they either took some time to meditate or relax the remaining few days until the Cell Tournament begins. Raditz had wanted to find #18, but then he remembered that Cell would not be perfect without #18, so obviously she was inside Cell already...

Goku had trained hard for a year and relaxed the remaining few days with Raditz and Gohan.

Soon, it was time for the Cell Tournament to begin. All the dojo disciples were nervous, this was all Goku's fault. When they asked if they were confident in beating Cell, Goku said they weren't... But he never said the last part of the sentence. That everything will probably work out somehow.

The Z Team flew to the arena far from the cities. The dojo members flew on a few airplanes to watch the fight. They weren't the only spectators. Maybe because Raditz had warned and showed some of his strength when he leveled a whole mountain flat in front of King Furry's eyes. There were quite a few cameramen all around the arena filming the tournament live.

Raditz was amused to see Satan actually be at the arena, but unlike in the original storyline, Satan and the other dojo members were cheering for the Z Team. What was there to fear being so close to Cell? If the Z Team loses, they won't be alive anyway.

Raditz even brought 10 senzu beans to ensure he had enough Transformation time.

"This is beyond my level..." Tien Shinhan had a wry smile. Even though they hadn't started fighting, and Cell wasn't showing his full power, Tien Shinhan had already given up on participating in the tournament.

There was no need to mention Krillin and Yamcha, they never mentioned joining the tournament and became spectators right off the bat.

"I'll go first." Piccolo cracked his neck and knuckles and walked up the arena.

Cell played along with Piccolo and warmed up a bit. Then he increased his power by a notch, Piccolo got bruised and spat a mouthful of purple blood. With a serious look, he took off his turban and weighted cape.

"Masochist..." Raditz muttered. Like always, Piccolo started fighting with his weights on, only when he was getting thrashed did he remove the weights.

Piccolo got serious this time, but even so, Cell was clearly toying with Piccolo and slowly whittling down Piccolo. 10 minutes later, Piccolo was in a bad shape, though no visible big injuries and just covered in blood. Somehow even though he managed to keep his limbs intact this time, he did break a few ribs. Piccolo withdrew from the competition.

Next, Goku eagerly jumped up on the arena. Having seen Cell fight, Goku did not warm up, he immediately transformed into his Full Power Super Saiyan state. Raditz had thought Goku would be stronger than Piccolo, but Goku's Ki was actually a notch below Piccolo's. But it had still surpassed Vegeta's Ki while he was transformed into an Ultra Super Saiyan.

Cell was still leisurely playing around with Goku, just the same as he did while fighting Piccolo. After 10 minutes, Goku was covered in bruises and blood, surrendered the battle.

Raditz could not figure out why he did not get all beaten up half-dead in order to receive a Zenkai but decided to let it just be.

Next was Gohan's turn, after having gleaned on the earlier two battles, Gohan had a good understanding of Cell's moves. Gohan did not play around like Piccolo and started off by becoming a Super Saiyan 2. Electricity sparked and danced around his golden aura.

"Incredible! To think I would meet a match!" Cell was amazed by Gohan's Ki which had overwhelmed his. But soon, Cell's Ki increased until they were matched.

"What a monster! Gohan is actually this strong!" Krillin muttered in shock.

"Hum... Since Gohan's base battle power is 17 million, that means 1.7 billion? I feel Cell is a lot stronger than in the original storyline." Raditz raised his eyebrow in amazement. After thinking about it, Raditz shot Vegeta a look.

"It's probably due to Vegeta giving Cell a Zenkai..." Raditz blamed Vegeta.

Vegeta's body was shaking, he clenched his fists tight but did not utter a single word. He was equally shocked as the rest by Gohan's incredible Ki. And even more shocked that Cell was so powerful. This was at least 50% stronger than Vegeta's Ki when he was an Ultra Super Saiyan when he last fought Cell. Although his base battle power did rise somewhat after entering the Hyperbolic Time Chamber again, it wasn't such a big improvement that he would be a be Cell's match even with Ultra Super Saiyan. But of course, after getting pummeled by Raditz and Piccolo, he had already given up on Ultra Super Saiyan, since he couldn't even land a single punch on either of them.

With only Ascended Super Saiyan, his battle power was even lower than before, he already had no thoughts of fighting Cell.

It was a really close fight, though Gohan's body was shorter, his leg and arm reach was much shorter than Cell's and had a disadvantage in the fight, he started using his tail to whip and pull Cell to disrupt his rhythm, but then Cell began to also attack with his tail. And his tail was even longer.

"Take this! Kamehameha!" Cell took to the sky and aimed his Kamehameha at the ground. Gohan had no choice but to defend the Kamehameha. Or the Earth would be destroyed by Cell's Full Powered Kamehameha.

"Kamehameha!" Gohan landed on the ground and fired his Kamehameha to counter Cell's.

They were in a stalemate, but Gohan didn't wish for their Kamehameha to go off and destroy Earth, so he mustered up all his strength, every single drop of energy was put into his Kamehameha. He finally managed to slowly push up their Kamehameha higher and higher up into the sky.

In the end, Cell abandoned his Kamehameha and evaded the beam flying out of space and exploding. The energy contained in both of their Kamehamehas shook the Earth.

Gohan fainted immediately after the explosion, Raditz caught Gohan before he fell to the ground.

"Gohan is actually this strong! He's still just a kid, if I wait till he grows up, he will surpass me!! I must kill him right now!" Cell was clearly exhausted, but even though Gohan had fainted and had automatically surrendered, Cell wasn't planning on letting Gohan go.

Although Cell had started off by making this tournament to show off his strength, he had believed he was the perfect being, the strongest fighter in the Universe after achieving Perfect Form. But now he was felt threatened. Threatened by a little kid with incredible potentials, who knows if, in just a few years, he would have already surpassed him. Cell could never allow such an existence to be alive!

Cell stared at the unconscious Gohan with naked hostility and walked to Gohan.

"Stop! Cell, what are you doing?! Gohan has already lost the match!" Piccolo and Goku blocked Cell.

"Lost the match? The game is already over! All of you will die!" Cell had only played a game because he felt he was invincible. But now that his invincible status had been torn off by a kid, he took off his veiled guise. There was no more magnanimity nor generosity left, only hostility.