Chapter Text
“You think he’ll leave you alone after this?”
Gohan hummed in thought at the question Raditz asked him, standing in his room and changing as Raditz stood leaned against the door frame.
“Probably not, but maybe I can punch him down enough that he’ll be too busy soothing his broken pride to fight me again until I’m wished back to life.” Gohan shrugged, pulling up his gi pants and tying his sash.
“Too bad you can’t threaten him like you did with Frieza.” Raditz snorted, shaking his head. “That regeneration power he has makes him hard to break, I’m sure.”
Gohan smiled as he glanced at Raditz who looked exasperated but fine, simply happy the older man was alright after the shake up with Frieza. “How long has he been here, by the way? With the time distortion?”
“Er, about 15 years I think?” Raditz said scratching the back of his head as he thought about it. “He came in and put pretty much everyone in their place that wanted to tussle with him. There wasn’t much of a city back then, so he didn’t end up wreaking too much.”
“Then he just left?” Gohan asked, slipping on his undershirt.
“He got too bored and no one really wanted to try a round two with him.” Raditz peered in at Gohan once he was more dressed up. “Cell’s a vicious and bloodthirsty guy, but he’s only interested if you can actually take him on. No one’s strong enough for him to bother hanging around, even Bojack got his ass kicked too quickly to challenge him.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.” Gohan scuffed his spiky hair, puffing out a breath of air as he plopped down on his bed. “After hitting his so called ‘perfect form’, he really is only interested in a good fight. Or at least what he considers a good fight.”
“Hm, well you’ll probably give him his just desserts, now won’t you?” Raditz smirked a little. “Now that you’re not shaking and sobbing like you were a few minutes ago.”
“Ehehehe…” Gohan chuckled nervously, embarrassed that as soon as he confidently walked into the bar after his tense yet ultimately favorable conversation with Cell, he had broken down almost instantly as soon as the door shut. His panic only able to be staved off for so long before he freaked out, thankfully only in front of people he trusted.
“Guess this will be some very extreme exposure therapy for you, huh?” Raditz shrugged as he walked in and sat next to Gohan on the bed. He reached around and wrapped around his shoulder, giving Gohan a firm side-hug. “Hey, I’m proud of how you handled yourself. You’re not a complete wreck and you got that asshole away from the city and everyone else.”
“Thanks.” Gohan rubbed his neck. “He wants an audience, you know. Basically threatened Cooler into coming to watch the show. What a bastard…”
“Hm, guess that means I’ll be joining too. He’s probably figured out that you’ve got some friends here and wants them to witness your downfall. Or something dramatic like that.” Raditz hummed, before chuckling under his breath. “Jokes on him, I’ll be watching you kick his ass into next year.”
“You sure? Might be dangerous viewing?” Gohan looked over at his uncle. “I mean, we can’t actually ‘die’ when we’re already dead, but we do keep injuries and you’re already banged up a bit.”
“Peh, I’m fine. A few bruises are nothing, they’ll be gone by next week.” Scoffing, though as soon as he ran his fingers through a lock of his hair and pulled out a sharp fragment of wood, Raditz frowned. “Though I think I’m definitely going to be pulling these damn splinters out of my hair for awhile.”
“Oi! We’re back!” A voice called from down the stairs, the sound of loud footsteps echoing as they quickly approached the room. Jeice popped his head in through the door frame, grinning at the duo sitting on the bed looking back at him. “Ya’ decent?”
“You’re ssssuppossse to asssk that before you sssstick your head in the room, you doofussss.” Chimed Burter, who walked around Jeice and handed Gohan his old boots. “Here. Zarbon fixed the sssstrapssss for you.”
“Thanks!” Gohan glanced them over and sighed with a smile. “He really didn’t have to shine and patch them up too. They look brand new.”
“You kno’ Zar. He’d prolly tell ya tha’ you shoulda asked ol’ beetle-boy fer a day so he coul’ fix yer gi up too.” Jeice laughed, drawing snickers from the rest of the group.
“I don’t know why you guys are laughing!” Huffing and puffing as he walked in, Guldo cheeks were puffed out like a pretty peeved frog. “This is a really shitty situation we’re in!”
“You ain’t fightn’ him, Guldo.” Jeice snorted, jutting a thumb at Gohan. “If he ain’t scared, we don’ need t’ be, either.”
“I mean, I am scared of him,” Gohan sighed, “But I’m still going to face him.”
“He is really scary!” Recoome bent his head so he could get through the door frame, “But you’re really strong and kinda scary too! I bet you could take ‘im!”
“Heh, I’ll take that bet.” Raditz smirked mischievously, “In fact, I could probably make a killing on booking this fight.”
“Why do I have a feeling this is going to be a problem?” Gohan side-eyed Raditz, who only laughed at him.
“Because it’ll probably piss Cell off even more if everyone bets actual money against him.” Moving his hand out, Raditz mimed holding a pin and pushing it forward, making a ‘pop’ noise with his mouth. “It’ll pop that over-inflated ego of his real good, and something tells me he can’t handle that.”
“He is technically part Vegeta.” Gohan giggled.
“Ah, I knew his attitude seemed familiar to me.” Raditz chortled out.
“All the more reason to bet against him then!” Guldo punched his fist into his open palm, grinning in evil determination. “Put me down for 50!”
“Put’r down for 40!”
“I’ve got sssseventy!”
As the Ginyus started calling out their bets for his victory, Gohan couldn’t help but feel pretty chuffed about all this. At least everyone was in high spirits and had confidence in him, and while he still felt worried about the fight, the confidence of everyone else was infectious enough to make him feel ready to face his personal demon. Maybe this was what he needed to finally break away from his panic episodes involving Cell.
“Well, since you guys are getting your bets organized, I’m going to meditate. I’ve got an hour before I have to fly out to his...arena I guess.” Gohan frowned, wondering if it was going to be an exact recreation of Cell’s other arena.
“Hmph, alright. We’ll leave you be.” Raditz nodded and stood up, waving his arms to shoo out the Ginyus with him. “He needs to get into the zone, so lets take care of this outside.”
“A’right, a’right!” Jeice groused, waving back at Gohan. “We’ll see ya at th’ battle!”
Gohan smiled to himself as they all left, letting him mentally prepare himself for the fight. He wished that Piccolo was here to join him, his presence sorely missed. He still felt homesick all this time, but knew he had to get it together and focus. He had friends here who depended on him too, and putting Cell down for the count without killing him was going to be tricky.
It made Gohan wonder what the exact punishment would be for actually killing his foe here in Hell, the ogres being tight-lipped and cheeky about it when he had asked before. He guessed it was really bad if the other denizens were wary of breaking that particular rule, sticking to fighting and torture instead. Curious, as even Cell seemed obedient to the rule too, which may mean he had experienced the punishment involved.
‘Whatever. I can beat up Cell enough that he’ll get tired of fighting instead of just killing him anyways. I’m not going to get myself in trouble over him.’ Gohan thought, a bitter taste at the back of his throat that made his teeth set firmly, brow pinched as his eyes closed upon starting his clearing of all thoughts and settling himself into meditation.
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An hour later, Gohan was flying out.
Now that he didn’t need to hide his ki, Gohan was sailing through the air at a much faster pace, clearing entire landscapes that had normally taken him much longer to reach. He did a little barrel roll and jetted off faster to the area that Cell was loudly broadcasting his ki from.
‘Wha…’ Gohan’s mind stuttered as he made it over a cresting hill and looked down into the valley, eyes wide as he looked around. It appeared that Cell hadn’t just made an arena.
He made an entire damn stadium.
It had been fashioned from perfectly polished stone, most of it being a mix of granite and marble if Gohan had to guess by the coloration and textures. Styled like an old-world colosseum, it had a massive alignment of seating making a full ring around a rounded platform. Interestingly, Cell had made the platform out of hexagonal cut stone this time instead of the square cuts, and the platform expanded the entire bottom floor of the stadium.
It seemed that Cell didn’t want any sort of ring-out victories in his vision of a perfect martial arts tournament.
There were six pillars made of bright blue-green marble, holding torches that appeared to be oil brazers, casting an interesting hue over the stadium. The seating had plush cushions and a thin roof overhead for maximum comfort, and what looked like areas for concession stands pocketed near the tunnel-like entrances to the stands.
‘Did Cell really make all this himself? How long has he been designing this place?’ Gohan looked around, genuinely impressed by the work. He had to give it to his nemesis; he was one hell of an architect.
Gohan saw said nemesis standing in the middle of the platform, waiting for him to come, but Gohan decided to land next to another form he had spotted sitting in the stands first.
“You’ve arrived.” Cooler said in a chilly manner and not even bothering to glance at Gohan, holding a glass of, what Gohan guessed to be, a dark maroon wine in his hand as he sat. “It seems your friend is waiting for you.”
“There’ll be others coming, he can wait a bit longer.” Gohan shrugged.
“Fair point. I have my own party arriving as well to witness this.” Cooler swirled his cup lightly. “Wouldn’t want to disappoint him with a thin audience in such an impressive arena.”
“Oh? Is your dad coming too?” Gohan blinked, curious as to who else was coming to see this.
“Among others.” Cooler finally looked at Gohan. “From what I could gather from the others I’ve managed to speak to, they say that you are stronger than your own father, correct?”
“Yeah. Not that I ever wanted to be, but I guess its just how I’ve been built.” Gohan let out an uncomfortable sigh at that.
“Mm, your father was a powerful foe when I fought him, easily the strongest saiyan I had ever witnessed.” Cooler took a sip from his glass before he continued. “I remember you as a little whelp, hardly a threat, but you were able to defeat an enemy that your father couldn’t touch. The same man who wiped out the Cold Empire’s entire royal family, the most powerful family in the universe, you’ve surpassed him.”
“Um, yes?” Gohan scratched the side of his face, wondering where this conversation was heading.
“I’m simply curious as to your intentions after this fight.” Cooler seemingly answered his thoughts. “My father’s project has been on track and he has been able to pacify those who exceed our power. Even Cell had been tamed by simply being left to his own devices and allowed uninterrupted visitation. You, on the other hand, are an unknown.”
“If you’re thinking I’m gonna take over the city, don’t worry.” Gohan waved off, shaking his head at the very thought. “Believe me, I want nothing to do with running the place, I just want to protect those I care about.”
“How noble.” Cooler drawled out dryly, a small smirk quirked on the upper corners of his lips. “Funnily enough, I actually believe you. Despite being sent here, you are too kind to take advantage of your power.”
“...thanks?” Gohan responded to the slightly backhanded compliment.
“Hmm, this would also explain why Raditz took you in as his cook. He hadn’t been interested in assistance before and had manged his bar well for years. I was curious as to why you of all people, but you being his nephew solves that riddle in my mind.” Cooler’s smirk widened slightly. “He has a clear soft spot for family, and it seems you reciprocate, given how you handled my brother.”
“Ah, yeah. Like I said, he deserved that ass-kicking.” Gohan smirked back, which actually drew a small chuckle from the reptilian alien.
“He’ll be smarting from that broken wrist for some time, and have a stricter hand on him from father when it comes to terrorizing others without reasonable cause, lest he draw any other unexpectedly powerful enemies to our doorstep.” Cooler glanced over Gohan. “I suppose I’ll offer Raditz an apology for drawing him into our family drama then. Will that suffice as recompense on our family’s behalf?”
“Zarbon too. He didn’t deserve his shop trashed and the beating he got.”
“Very well.” Cooler shrugged, the easy roll of his shoulders didn’t disrupt the perfect grip on his glass, not even a slight ripple could be seen in the liquid from the movement. “I’ll consider our issues resolved for now. Now, it seems you’ll have to resolve matters with the bug.”
“Yeah…” Gohan started to agree with Cooler, but then sensed the wave of ki signatures that was approaching the stadium. At first, he thought it was just his uncle and the Ginyus making their way there, with maybe King Cold and whoever else Cooler invited, but the wave was too large for just a small party. “What the..that many…?”
“I told you, I didn’t want Cell to be disappointed by such a small turn out.” Cooler smirked, giving Gohan a small wink. “So I arranged for the entire city to come. It’ll be quite the show, I’m sure. I do wonder though, if Cell’s dream of defeating you in front of a large number of witnesses will turn into an unexpected nightmare for him?”
Gohan blinked, not sure if such a large crowd watching him was something he wanted either, but maybe Cell being humiliated in front of literally everyone was the intended game.
“Hell is other people…” Gohan mumbled.
“Indeed. Why don’t you show him the true meaning of that proverb.” Cooler then waved his hand at Gohan. “Enjoy your battle, Son Gohan.”
Gohan nodded at Cooler, floating up and then over and down to the large platform where Cell had been watching him talk, his boots clacking onto the stone surface a couple meters away from the bio-weapon.
Cell hadn’t interrupted them during their chat, so maybe he had deemed their conversation as uninteresting and simply waited for Gohan to join him. He did tilt his head, his large antennae pointed in the direction of the ki signatures coming right at them, a small pursing of his lips.
“You have a lot more friends here than I thought...or is this Cooler’s doing?” Cell asked, raising a brow at Gohan.
“Cooler. He thought that the whole city needed to see this.” Gohan answered in kind, deciding to stretch while they were waiting for the crowd to arrive and fill the seats.
“Hm, hm, that’s fine by me.” Cell ultimately shrugged, cracking his knuckles and grinning at Gohan. “More to view your defeat.”
“In your dreams, Cell.” Gohan smirked back, feeling the saiyan bloodlust start to crawl through his nerves, the savage emotion supplanting the last bit of his remaining nervousness.
He was ready for this.