October 16, 2019

A Father's Rage

The battlefield was brought back to life with an explosion of power and dust, smoke covering the battlefield as the Z-fighters instinctively shielded their eyes. The power that had appeared was overwhelming, striking to the very cores of every fighter present that could sense it and even feeling like an intense pressure to those who could not.
In the blink of an eye a beam of light cut through the billowing smoke and dust, flying between the various Z-Fighters with none having even a moment to react before it struck true to its target. Trunks was thrown back from the sheer force of the beam tearing through his chest, his legs turning to jello as he hit the ground with a hard thud.
Shock and pain tore through him in the following moments as he tried to process what was happening, before realization sunk in like a weight. He was dying, wasn't he? In that moment a new feeling bubbled up beneath the surface, taking hold of him and refusing to let go.

Fear.
Fear of death, fear of the unknown.
What was it like, in the moments following death?
Would he see his Gohan? Did death transcend the time barrier?
Would he see his mother?

The Z-fighters were frozen with fear as the spotted green figure was slowly unveiled, a deep smirk seated on Cell's face in contast to the fearful gazes being sent his way. "Ah yes... that was Trunks, wasn't it...?" He spoke in such a calm, smooth tone, the words breaking some of the fighters free of their apparent trance while others still looked on in disbelief.

They had won, hadn't they?

Yamcha turned around slowly, his heart sinking in his chest as he ran past the others to the back of the group. "Trunks!" Everyone's gaze snapped back at Yamcha's exclamation, as he kneeled down beside their fallen comrade. Trunks coughed up a nauesating amount of blood, while much more of the crimson substance pooled around his fallen form. "H-hang in there Trunks..!" Yamcha weakly croaked out, his optimism for naught as the last embers of Trunks's ki faded into nothingness.
"He's... he's dead!" Yamcha couldn't believe it - Goku had sacrificed himself to defeat Cell, Cell had blown himself up, for crying out loud! How was this happening, how was cell back? How was he so much stronger!?

"Trunks, no...!" Krillin was the next to cry out, tremors beginning to course through him as he slowly turned back to Cell, who seemed content to watch and wait as the gravity of the situation came over those remaining.
"I d-didn't even see the blast-" He stuttered out, his hands shaking as he took a step back. Before he could at least follow the fights Goku and Gohan had, but now he felt just as he had on Namek. He felt that grip of anxiety in his core at the thought that he truly might not make it out of this alive.

Goku and Trunks were dead. Who would be next?

Though the others were paralyzed, struck still with fear and dread, Gohan simply smirked. With a yell, he lowered into a powerup stance and brought forth the ascended power that had only recently been unlocked within him. A level above Super Saiyan, one that had been strong enough to bring Cell to his knees once already.
It would be more than enough to perform the feat once again.
This time, though, he wouldn't give Cell the chance to pull a stunt like he had done before. Whatever Cell had done to survive the explosion, he also managed to reattain his Perfect form, and with it a new level of power. He couldn't afford to toy around, not this time, not again.

"I see you're all wondering how this could be, how I could be standing before you at this moment when your dear Goku had taken me off-planet, allowed me to detonate far away from Earth and saved you from my power." Cell spoke once again, content to draw this out now that he had reattained Perfection.
All eyes and ears were on him as he spoke, as he went on about his regenerative abilities and how his Saiyan biology allowed him to not only come back, but stronger than ever.

All but one.

Vegeta still stared back at his son's lifeless body. His own was frozen not in shock, not in fear. In guilt.

'This has to stop, dad! You're making a huge mistake! What if Cell's power is too much for us, what if we can't beat him?' Trunks had yelled out while Vegeta was making a deal with the devil, allowing Cell to absorb Android 18 and achieve his perfect form.
"What's wrong with you, boy? Any Saiyan would be delighted at a challenge like this." Vegeta had replied, nonchalant as ever as he turned his attention back to Cell.

"Not... possible!" Vegeta slowly rasped the words out, his hands squeezing into fists before clenching tight. He was shaking, now, his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

Vegeta found himself feeling helpless as he was beaten by Cell, his Perfect form far too much for him even in his self-proclaimed "Super Vegeta" state, even with the unrestrained power of the Final Flash. He hadn't predicted that Cell would be able to get so strong, even with the woman absorbed into him. He had been a level below the prince only minutes before! There was no way this could be happening!
Trunks's words of warning bit at him as he was thrown into the sky. Maybe he should have listened to the boy... maybe he had a point-

CK-CRACK!

Vegeta's eyes went white as Cell brought his elbow down squarely on the flame-haired warrior's spine, breaking it in two and with it his spirit.
Vegeta was sent down towards the ground with a shattering crash, his hair softening and losing its golden glow as he lay deep in the newly-formed crater, body and will alike broken irreparably.

"N-no.. Kakarotto's brat won't be the one to end this..." He muttered, his heart beginning to pick up its pace as something wet stung the corners of his eyes. "I'll be the one to defeat him, nobody else...!" His nails dug into his palms, cutting through the fabric of his gloves and drawing blood, as the Saiyan prince balled his hands into tight fists.
A spike of adrenaline, a new flood of rage and pain within the prince, more than enough to ignite a fire in him that was greater than what he could have imagined for himself before.
His agonizing scream broke the flow of Cell's not-so-humble gloating, as his hair spiked up and out, as the ground cracked beneath him. As he threw himself forward, his hair glowing a deep gold and lightning trailing behind him, wrapping about his body. His mere presence caused the ground beneath him to crack and part despite having left it already.
He soared by the others, by Gohan, his target right ahead of him.

"CELL!"

Cell raised his arms to defend himself, though he felt it was overkill. What came next was a punch that rattled him to his bones, taking him by surprise when Vegeta's fist connected. It sent the oversized bug skidding back with a new crack in his bio armor, his arms falling away in shock while Vegeta pursued him with a look of grief etched into his face.
He brought a knee up against Cell's chin before the bio-android could even begin to react, staggering him once more and spinning quickly. His knee made full contact with his opponent's cheek, every blow coming from the prince more devastating than the last. This power wasn't just from his ascension, it was a plane beyond that.

He hadn't just surpassed his limits, somehow in this moment his strength surpassed Gohan's.

His hair glowed, brighter than the child's, his body swollen in a way reminiscent of his Ascended state that he had used in his last bout with the Perfect being.

This was his all, his everything. He would not lose again, he would avenge his son.

"Very impressive, Vegeta, but if you think a few lucky shots are all that it will take to put me down then you are mistaken-!" Cell's monologuing was once more broken by the foot buried in his chest, cracking the black gem and knocking the wind out of him as his heart skipped a beat.
A sledgehammer blow on his head jostled his brain and made Cell see stars, as Vegeta's assault continued mercilessly. Punches and kicks landing on Cell with such ferocity that the blood flying in the air was not just from the android but from Vegeta himself! His own power had shredded the rubber of his gloves and boots, bare skin meeting the bio-android's increasingly battered body as that new level of power he had been boasting about didn't feel all that impressive anymore.

Vegeta's body ached and screamed as it was being pushed without cease and without break. It wouldn't be able to do this for much longer.

Vegeta didn't need it to.

Between two punches, Cell found the time to blow back Vegeta with a powerful burst of energy, giving him a moment to compose himself while the Prince recovered.

A moment was all he'd get, though, as in the one following he found Vegeta in pursuit once more. Despite the distance, Cell could've been fooled into thinking Vegeta started his approach from right in front of him by how quickly the next blow connected with his nose, breaking it and sending a spray of purple blood into the air.
Every punch was thrown with a purpose, until Vegeta pushed off of Cell and brought his hands to his side. His body was coated in purple and crackled with lightning, as a ball of ki welled rapidly around his hands. The bolts of electricity tore through the ground, reaching so far as to arc off of Cell, leaving burns on his armored form.

"This... this isn't possible!" Cell snarled out, throwing a hand forward with the intent to take Vegeta out before he could even fire off his attack. "I AM THE PERFECT BEING, YOU ARE BELOW ME. NOW BOW!" With a powerful scream he let loose an explosive wave of ki, barreling towards Vegeta at an increasing rate.

"GALICK GUN...!" Vegeta held the attack, waiting until Cell's own was ever closer. In the split-second before impact he twisted his body above it in the air, sending it dangerously past the Z-fighters but harmlessly into the sky behind them.
"FIRE!" He shot his own blast over Cell's, the bio-android having no time to defend himself as the beam landed true on its target. His body was enveloped and he was thrown back, as the intense purple flow around him seared at his flesh, breaking up his body and pulling him apart.

"This... this isn't possible! I was PERFECT!" Cell roared once more, but none would hear him over the loud whine of the Galick Gun. His body was broken down, torn to bits even on the atomic level, and with that the beam would fade.

Vegeta floated in place for a moment or two, his fingers twitching and hands trembling following the exhausting blast. He could sense the others flying towards him, no doubt a mix of excited and shocked at the display that had just been performed for them.
He would have none of it, though, as his hair fell back to its onyx color and more tightly-formed style, his muscles deflating and his body giving into the exhaustive sleep it so deeply craved. There was only one thing on his mind when he hit the ground, before everything went black.

'I will see you again soon, Trunks...'

Fin.

I wrote this little oneshot some time back, and it was left gathering dust in my Google Docs - I figured since I actually use my Fanfiction account now, there was no reason not to clean it up, re-format it for the site (since FF likes to obliterate my carefully-done formatting whenever I upload a file), and upload it.

Feel free to tell me what you guys think! I'd love to hear some thoughts on this alternate take to a very well-known scene!