The Bond

It was indescribable.

The power pulsating from her cousin made Sykaima rethink everything she thought possible. It was huge. It was greater than anything she had ever felt. And the look on his face…

Sykaima was one the ground close to the cliff edge, just able to peer over the ledge to see young Gohan. A Cell Junior had the front of her armor, his fist held back to punch her in the face again, but he too was looking down in pure shock at the boy. Gohan had tears in his eyes, but the look there… it was the darkest expression Sykaima had ever seen on Gohan's face, even the Gohan in her time had never looked so terribly murderous.

How was it possible? Did Gohan have this power inside him all along? How was it that the Gohan in her time was killed by Cell with one simple attack, but this Gohan stood now with the power of a god in his eyes.

Slowly, after the initial shock of everything, Sykaima realized it.

Gohan was going to win.

He had enough power to wipe out the Earth with a blink of an eye. She could feel it, and by God, he was suppressing some of his power to boot. He was possibly ten times more capable then what she was feeling right now. It was phenomenal.

And with this knowledge, with the thought of Gohan snapping Cell in half with one twitch of a muscle, she began to laugh. Joy pulsated through her, and her cheeks ached after a moment. She closed her eyes and laughed up to the heavens. After everything, after seeing Cell kill all her family, all her friends, and Trunks… Finally… she was going to see him suffer. She was going to watch him die.

Vegeta crouched over Katima, shielding her from the wind blasting across the landscape from Gohan's power. He couldn't believe it. As the boy's cries filled the air, his power skyrocketed into oblivion. He had never felt such strength. When things began to calm down, and the climax of Gohan's awakening came to a stand still, he looked down at the boy, eyes wide.

The shock of the boy's power almost made him forget about what Katima just did to save his life. It had happened again, like when they had first fought Cell, that power held deep inside her ripping out and killing what threatened him. Not only that, but the shield that had came around him healed him this time. His wounds had stitched themselves closed and he felt better than ever, another level tougher because of the near death and swift recovery.

But he could barely think on that now. He stared down at the two, Gohan and Cell, and saw with deep satisfaction that Cell looked scared. But the snide smirk slowly returned to Cell's face and he laughed.

"Finally!" he crowed, "You've come out of hiding. Now the real games can begin."

Gohan took a few steps toward him and swiped out a hand, fast as lightning, and Vegeta saw he had the sack of sensu beans in his hand. How had he snatched them from Cell in a blink of an eye?

"No games!" Gohan snarled, and his voice sounded nothing like it did before, a deep malice in it, a murderous tone of anger and passion, "I can never forgive you for what you've done."

Cell let out a hiss of annoyance, "How did you do that?" he lashed out to hit the boy, but Gohan vanished.

He was too fast for even Vegeta's well trained eyes to follow. He looked around when he felt the boy's power level and saw he was now a mere few feet away from him and Katima, standing in front of one of the Cell Juniors, the one that had Rilan on the ground.

The Cell Junior smirked and made to punch Gohan, but the young Saiyan swiped out a powerful arm and the head of the little freak was sent sailing for a few feet before it and the body burst into blue dust.

"What?" Vegeta hissed, "All this time we spent trying to kill these things and he does it in one blow?"

Katima let out a faint laugh and he looked at her as she propped herself up on her elbows, "Atta boy, Gohan," she mumbled, "For Lercron… Kill all of them."

Rilan sat up, his face bloody, but his eyes wide with shock. Gohan vanished again without a word, and appeared several feet away, where one Cell Junior was with Sykaima, his filthy little hand grasping the front of her shirt. This mini Cell was smarter though, so when Gohan appeared next to him, he aimed a blast at Sykaima's head, glaring at Gohan.

"No!" Vegeta yelped at the sight of his daughter in such danger, "Gohan don't let that bastard hurt her!" he shouted.

Gohan slowly lifted a hand, aimed directly at the two before him.

"NO!" Vegeta shrieked, "You'll kill her too! What are you doing?"

Gohan ignored him, his face set in a cold fury, the energy orb slowly forming in his palm. Vegeta was frantic- was Gohan going to kill his daughter just to get to that little bastard?

But no. Suddenly, the Cell Junior got cold feet. It thought Gohan was going to blast, not caring who he killed, so the little blue creature abandoned Sykaima to flee. As soon as it was away from her, Gohan quickly re-aimed and blasted it into oblivion, blue dust raining down.

Sykaima was laughing hysterically, and only then Vegeta realized she had been the entire time. In a sick twisting thought, it reminded him of himself just before Frieza killed him back on Namek.

"She knows Gohan is going to win," Katima said weakly, making Vegeta look back down at her, "She knows Cell is going to get what he deserves."

Vegeta knelt down and pulled her arm over his shoulders and lifted her up, wrapping his other arm about her waist, "What happened to him? Not only his power- but his entire attitude has changed… He's an entire new person!"

"No," rasped Katima, "Gohan had this power in him all along. In some ways… this is the real Gohan."

Gohan went down to the valley again, his eyes like pools of darkness. Vegeta saw Cell looking at him with a smile. He looked up at his little creations, and suddenly all six of the remaining Cell Juniors darted down to attack Gohan.

As they approached, Gohan's eyes flicked up to note their positions, and when they were close enough, he let out a scream of fury and sent out a wave of energy, making them scatter. However, one was not so lucky, too slow to avoid Gohan's up thrusting kick which severed him in half, reducing him to clouds of blue dust.

Gohan landed, and looked at the five Cell Juniors left, his face hadn't even changed expression. The Cell Juniors looked infuriated by their lost comrade, and two of them took to the air while three circled him on the ground. Gohan didn't even look scared, he didn't even look at them, not following their movements, just standing rock still, waiting for them to make the first move.

"DESTRUCTO DISC!" one of the little ones on the ground shrieked, and used the human, Krillin's, signature move, the powerful disc of energy flying toward Gohan. Gohan jumped up to avoid it, and it ended up hitting the Cell Junior behind him, killing it in a flash of blue powder.

The two above let out their own attacks, "KAMEHAMEHA!" and "SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!"

These two looked like they hit, and Gohan was engulfed in a cloud of dust. The remaining two Cell Juniors aimed up at him, one using Katima's Eternal Burn, and the other using Vegeta's Gatlic Gun. Infuriated to see their own moves used by the little freaks, Vegeta grit his teeth as the two above finished off with the Tri-Beam move that the human Tien used.

No ordinary fighter could have survived that onslaught. If Vegeta himself had been in there, he would have been reduced to nothing. However, as the dust cleared, there was Gohan, hovering there without a single scratch on him.

All the Cell Juniors yelped in shock and fear. Gohan vanished, reappearing behind one of the ones above.

"I told you I could never forgive you!" Gohan snarled, his voice harsh and raspy, nothing like his normal tone.

With a fierce swipe of an arm, the Cell Junior's head was gone, and he exploded into nothing. Again, Gohan vanished and showed up on the ground, where the two down there darted forward to attack him. Swiftly, Gohan crashed his fist into one's gut, making him split in two before erupting into nothing, and then, he twirled and kicked the other's head clean off.

Now, the last Cell Junior stared in horror below him, and turned to flee. But Gohan was faster.

Appearing in front of him, Gohan made the Cell Junior scream in fear before he was beheaded by a swift punch. With all his enemies defeated, Gohan went back into the valley and landed, his face fierce, his eyes narrow.

"Pass these around, Trunks," he snapped, and tossed the sack of sensu beans up to Trunks who caught it with a wide eyed look on his face. He looked as battle worn as the rest of them, and he stared down at Gohan, as if not recognizing the young boy. Vegeta remembered that in Trunks' time, Gohan had been the boy's mentor.

"Sure," Trunks managed to mutter.

When he reached them, Vegeta shook his head, "Only Katima needs one," he said sharply.

"Are you sure?" asked Trunks.

"I hate it when I have to take those stupid little things, and right now, I don't need one!" Vegeta snapped.

Trunks sighed and gave one to Katima, who ate it and stood on her own, energy flooding back to her.

She grabbed Vegeta's hand and pulled him to the edge of the cliff where they could look down at the stand off, Gohan, power radiating off of him young body, and Cell, glaring down at the boy with murderous eyes.

"Look at him…" Katima breathed, "It's like he suddenly became a man."

Vegeta glanced at her, the emotion in her eyes. He looked back down at the boy, and tried to feel the same pride that she did but all he could feel was resentment.

First Kakarot passes him in power, and now his son too? Anger bubbled in his gut, but he tried to stuff it down, not wanting Katima to feel it. If she did, she was too absorbed in looking at her nephew, her hand gripped Vegeta's tightly.

With a jolt, Vegeta remembered what she had done to make her lose all her energy and heal his wounds. He desperately wanted to know what had happened, but with the final battle between Cell and Gohan about to come to a head, he couldn't. He just had to remember to ask her later.

If the survived.

Katima pulled Vegeta over to the others, who were all recovered thanks to the sensu beans. She knew Vegeta didn't want to be anywhere near Goku but he didn't argue with her. It seemed too much stuff was going on for him to get riled up again.

Rilan had pulled Lercron over to where they were, his face stricken with grief. Katima dropped Vegeta's hand, glared at him to make sure he didn't fly off, and went to her friend, kneeling down beside Lercron's body.

"He died bravely," she murmured to Rilan, reaching over and putting a hand on his shoulder.

He was powered down to normal, and Trunks came over, looking at his father with pitying eyes.

"I know," said Rilan softly, shaking his head, "I just… he's been my friend for so long. And he's stuck by me no matter what. Even when I wanted to settle here, he stayed, happy to be by my side, promising to look after my family while I was away. He guarded Bulma with his life when I was out in the city," he chuckled, "Bulma was actually getting annoyed with that fact."

"We can wish him back," said Trunks, stepping closer, "The Namekian Dragon Balls can bring him back a second time."

"That's assuming we survive this," Sykaima said, looking over.

Katima sighed. How untactful. She was so much like her father sometimes.

"If you guys look down at Gohan, I'm pretty sure we're gonna be okay," said Trunks staring down at the two, "His power is enormous!"

"Told you so," said Goku, smirking.

A pulse of anger came through the bond, and Katima looked over to see Vegeta glaring at her brother. She patted Rilan on the shoulder once before going back to Vegeta's side, giving him a stern look.

"Where are Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin?" she asked.

"I told them to clear out," said Trunks, glancing at Sykaima he added, "I told you to go with them."

"I wasn't going to leave you unguarded," said Sykaima firmly.

"Anyway," said Trunks, "I think we should follow, I mean, this battle is going to be huge."

They looked down at the valley again, and just in time. Gohan darted forward to attack. Cell let out a victorious, "Yes!" and made to grab him, but Gohan had used afterimage, and his form flew through Cell. Cell looked up, and Katima and the others followed his eyes to see Gohan far above. Cell let out a roar of fury and flew up. Gohan threw out a kick when he was close enough, but Cell too had used afterimage.

It didn't fool Gohan, however. His head turned and spotted Cell coming at him right away. Cell began to throw out punch after punch in a frenzy. Gohan was dodging every single one, his face still in that cold concentration.

"Stop mocking me!" Cell cried, and threw out a massive kick, which Gohan blocked easily with his forearm.

Vegeta was now staring up, open-mouthed, pure shock coming from the bond.

"It's like Gohan isn't even trying!" he hissed.

Now Gohan was lashing out, and at first, Cell was dodging his moves too, but it seemed like Gohan kicked it up a notch, his moves coming even faster. Now Cell had to fight back in order to keep from getting hit.

"I get it now."

That was Piccolo. Katima looked over to see him smiling as he lowered his gaze to Goku, "I was wondering why you wanted to fight first when you know you weren't going to win, and then let Katima and Vegeta go. You wanted Gohan to see how Cell fought, didn't you?"

Goku merely chuckled.

Returning her attention to the battle, She saw Cell toss an energy orb at Gohan, who knocked it aside and then delve to the ground, his back first. Cell tore after him, screaming in rage, but just as Gohan appeared to him the ground and Cell lashed out a punch, again, afterimage was used. But before Katima saw where Gohan went, she spotted the news crew right by Cell, mere feet away, squealing in terror. Gohan was in the air again, and Cell, thankfully, paid the news crew no mind and flew back up to square off again, the two staring each other down.

"Goddamn," hissed Sykaima, "He's so fast! I've never seen such speed!"

"The Gohan I knew in my time sure as hell wasn't this powerful," muttered Trunks.

"I think he was," said Katima, looking back at him, "Gohan had this power in him since he was a boy. I've seen peeks of it. Only now is he in complete control."

Below Cell and Gohan, the news crew was fleeing away. Good, Katima thought, as obnoxious as they were, they didn't need to be killed by Cell. Looking closer, however, Katima noted that Hercule wasn't with them. She would have spotted that afro anywhere. She raked her gaze along the valley and finally spotted him behind some rocks several yards in the other direction of the battle. What was he doing away from his friends?

Before she could put more thought into it, the fight was on again, Cell and Gohan charging at each other and began to battle with vicious ferocity. It became so fast that Katima's eyes couldn't keep up. All she could see were powerful blows of energy raging across the sky, creating the crashing sound of thunder. The fleeing news crew stopped and covered their heads, but they were out in the open, with no visible protection.

"Oh no," hissed Katima, taking a step forward, "We have to get those guys out of there, they can't fly away like we can!"

"Are you insane?" Vegeta's hand closed over her upper arm tightly, "If we go out there, we're dead!"

Before any more could be said, Katima saw Gohan land right in the middle of the news crew, with Cell charging right at him.

"What is he doing?" Katima cried, "He's going to get them killed!"

She was about to knock Vegeta off her and fly down there despite the danger, but too late. Cell let out a screech, "YOU'RE MINE!" and there was a mighty explosion, enveloping the entire valley.

Katima felt Vegeta grab her and press her to his chest, shielding her from the pelting dust from the explosion. She squinted to see Trunks doing the same for Sykaima, and Goku and Piccolo raising their arms to protect their faces. When the force of the power stopped, Katima pulled away from Vegeta and ran to the edge of the cliff, looking hard for any sign of life.

She saw Cell, to her satisfaction, in a crater with his arm stuck in the ground. And then, she felt with a leap joy, spotted Gohan atop a small rise, with the news crew safe and sound at his feet, the boy glaring down at Cell with dark anger bathing his emerald green eyes.

"Atta' boy Gohan!" Katima shouted, "Don't let him hurt anyone else!"

Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien landed next to them at that point.

"Hey don't look at us like that Trunks, the fight is farther away now," said Krillin defensively.

Gohan flew up away from the news crew, and Cell followed, and their battle continued. Cell was on full offensive now, but it seemed every attack he made was easily dodged but Gohan.

"WHY DO ALL MY PUNCHES MISS YOU?" Cell cried, and threw out another punch, missing Gohan and smashing into the cliff face behind him, reducing it to bits.

Gohan had used his speed was above Cell again, glaring down with cold resolve. Then, in a blink of an eye, he was right in front of Cell, his eyes narrow.

Cell seemed to go into a temper tantrum at that point, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, growling in rage. His growl became a scream, and power blasted from his body, making the entire cliff face behind them burst into dust. For a long moment, Katima couldn't see anything, then as the dust cleared, she saw Cell and Gohan in the same spot, Gohan without a single scratch on him.

Gohan drifted away, going back to the ground and landing lightly, staring up at Cell, waiting for him to follow. Of course, Cell did so. He landed a few feet away, his eyes narrowed, his face twisted in anger.

"ENOUGH!" he cried, "I"VE HAD IT!"

Gohan remained unresponsive, merely keeping the cold look on his face, glaring out at Cell.

Cell took a few breaths to calm himself and then smiled, "Don't get too cocky, boy, for you have yet to see my full potential."

"Of course," sighed Sykaima, "Why WOULDN'T he be fighting at full power?"

"You have yet to fight true perfection, boy," Cell continued, "But you will see soon enough."

"Can it."

Gohan said the two words with hatred, staring at Cell with dark eyes, unflinching.

Cell seemed shocked for a second, then, he gained back his composure, chuckling, "I cheeky one! Well then, let's see how you bear against me when I fight at full strength!"

"No!" whined Krillin.

"You mean he wasn't even trying up till now?" said Tien.

"Oh great," sighed Yamcha.

"Where is that fiend hiding all of his power?" Vegeta demanded.

"He's only bluffing," said Trunks, "He's trying to scare Gohan."

Goku glared down at the scene with a tight frown, telling Katima that her brother doubted it was a bluff. Her gut sank and she looked down at her nephew.

With a growing scream, Cell began to power up.