A rumble began to shake the planet. The ground vibrating as power coursed through the earth. It rippled through the air, through the dirt, through the mantle plates of the planet. Everything, everywhere felt the arrival as overwhelming strength rose and built, and for one precious moment, everything stood still.
Titans froze in their attacks, coming to a standstill over confused and terrified would-be victims. Soldiers froze in their fight, feeling a power that reached down to their core. The civilians, the fathers and mothers with their children, as they held them shaking in their arms they too paused, wondering if what they felt was as impossible as it seemed. On Paradis Island, its defenders froze as they felt their deepest prayers answered, and their nightmare beginning to break.
Petra shook, as once again Gohan's warm Ki was radiating for her to feel. For a sweet blissful moment, there was nothing else again but him. That feeling she had felt so many times, his comforting presence. Whenever there was danger, he was there, his warm Ki shining brightly to burn away anything that could threaten her. When she was working, she could feel him around her, his ever-present protection. When she woke up in the morning, he was there, his strong arms wrapped around her as she felt his warm body against hers.
She had thought she would never feel that warmth again, but she did. She felt it, and so did everyone else on the planet. His undeniable warmth, his sincerity, his kindness, and his strength. For a brief and wonderful moment, people felt the blanket of safety wash over them. All, save for one.
In the skies above the battle of Paradis, Cell hovered in a rage. He couldn't believe it. He denied it. Denied what he was feeling, denied the reality of his survival, denied the fact that Cell had failed. Failed to kill him, to get revenge for the great embarrassment the child had done to him in their original world. Pure and blinding hatred was flowing through his monstrous body, the only thing on his mind was a focused and unyielding desire for vengeance.
And then, came the attack.
Across the planet came a shower of beams of light. Raining down from the heavens, they struck with explosive precision. The Titans were incinerated on mass, their last moments spent snapping back into action as reflex called for them to flee. To run away and hide, to do anything to survive, but it was impossible. Blasts obliterated each of them as they homed and directed themselves towards any that ran, their last dying screams obliterated by the roar of a beam of energy.
But not on Paradis. As the barrage came down, another wave of energy raced out to meet it. The sky became filled with explosions, bright blinding light as the beams were intercepted and detonated with a roar. Cell hovered in the air, his palm out from where he'd released the wave of energy, shaking in rage. A furious loop was playing through his mind, cursing and failing to understand just how Gohan was alive. Parts of him refused to accept it, to believe that somehow he was wrong, that what he was sensing wasn't Gohan, that it couldn't be Gohan.
His mind tracked the energy as it came closer, rocketing towards him, and for a brief moment he saw him. Gohan was alive. He was stronger, his aura more powerful, and his fist was cocked back to strike.
With his mind so preoccupied, even as he raised his arms to block he knew he would be too slow. The fist struck his cheek with incredible force, a shockwave tearing through the air. The explosion of sound was followed by Cell being sent flying away. The wave of energy didn't just stop in the sky, Gohan's punch was so strong it rippled outwards, blustering winds battering the inhabitants below.
The Eldian defenders, with their enhanced bodies and Titan forms managed to remain, albeit taking a beating from the force of the winds whipping at them. Their Titan foes were far less capable, and too stunned to act they were easily blasted away by the aftershock of Gohan's punch. Thousands upon thousands of the towering fleshy giants were sent flying through the air. As they came crashing down, dirt clouds filled the horizon.
In spite of the spectacular view, none paid attention as they instead looked up at their saviour. A golden being descended from the sky, shirtless but still dressed in his military pants, Gohan landed before Petra, who stared back in disbelief.
"Gohan…?"
"Hey Petra." Wide disbelieving eyes were filled with tears as she threw herself into him. Her hands reached out and touched his chest, trying to be certain that he was real. With her head in his chest, she heard the strong beating of his heart, and closed her eyes in relief.
"You're alive?" Her voice was only a shaky whisper, the energy being sapped from her body as the adrenaline and drive of anguish that had been flowing through her body since his death, finally went away. "You're really… here."
"I'm here Petra." His hands ran softly down her back. "I always will be."
"Gohan…" Shaky words of regret came softly to his ears, and Gohan turned to see Mikasa stepping forwards. Her eyes were wet and red, she looked as though she had aged a year in only a short space of time. Petra tensed at his side, squeezing him reflexively tighter even as she moved to position herself between the two of them. Regret, shame, relief, it was all plain to see on Mikasa's face, her steps halted as Petra stood possessively with him. "I'm-… I'm sorry. I had to, I-"
"It's okay." He cupped Petra's hands and made her look him in the eye. "It's okay." He reiterated the words to her, but could see the doubt and hesitation in her eyes before he turned back to Mikasa. "I saw Eren on the other side, he explained everything to me. I-… we'll talk later, but… it's okay."
She gasped, choking back a sob at his mention of Eren. Though she clearly didn't trust her, Petra stayed silent as Mikasa accepted his words.
"How?" Their moment of peace was interrupted by Commander Erwin arriving to meet them. "How are you alive, we all felt you die."
In spite of his blunt words, Gohan could still see the relief in the mans eyes. But in spite of whatever else he might have wanted to say, Erwin was as ever straight to the point.
"It's a long story, but I'm back, and more than that I'm stronger too." He pricked his finger with one of his nails and held it up to see, showing as electricity and steam flashed from the tip and it healed. A few shocked gasps rose up from the soldiers around them, as figures stepped closer to see them.
"You have Titan powers?" Mina asked.
"You're an Eldian?" Sasha's follow up question was met with nods of questing by the others.
"You're stronger right?" Another voice spoke up, and Gohan saw as Jean pushed his way through the crowd. "This time, this time you can beat him?"
Gohan could feel Cell's power. The creature wasn't anywhere near staying down, and he was already preparing himself. He could feel the Titans too, they were rising and already beginning to move, the swarm scrambling over each other as Cell's mental hold over them returned in force.
"I can take him, but I need to focus everything on him. These Titans…" He left the question open. If he tried to make any attack on the Titans, Cell was just going to intercept him again, and any distraction on his part may have led to catastrophe.
A massive Titan loomed over Gohan, it's twisted head bowing as the nape of its neck opened up. Leaning out from it, Historia looked to Gohan with joy to see him alive. She smiled at him, confident and secure in the knowledge that he was back, and would protect them again. But for him to protect them from Cell, they would have to protect themselves too.
"We can handle the Titans. We'll survive, you focus on Cell." Her smile was sure, and as Gohan gazed around at the others, he felt complete certainty radiating off of them in kind. They were joyous, no longer afraid, for they had Gohan standing before them. Their saviour, the angel of Paradis Island. The angel from beyond the stars.
He turned his attention towards the Titans. The swarm was rebuilding in their momentum, having stood up once more and resumed their charge. But rising above them all, was Gohan's one and true focus.
Cell.
"Very well then." Gohan turned back to them one last time, his hand taking Petra's in his. "This is my duty, I'll see you again after."
She sniffled, sudden fear and pain spiking inside of her that she quashed down with a cheeky smile. "You better. If you die again, I'll kill you."
He smiled, giving her a final kiss before he rose up into the sky. The eyes of his friends, his supporters gazed back up at him, and he felt the same certainty within himself that they did. Gohan was back, and he was going to win.
He floated through the air, hovering towards Cell as he saw the creature aggressively seething at him. He was breathing heavily, panting as such anger fuelled his body. He didn't even seem to care as his face continued to heal the damage from Gohan's punch.
"How!? How are you alive!? I killed you! I consumed you! How the hell are you here!?"
He laughed. Gohan couldn't help it, watching the normally so unflappable Cell vibrating with rage like an angry child was just too humorous. His laughter only enraged Cell further, and his fists tightened with an audible force.
"A question you'll die before you know the true answer to Cell. But here's all you need to know, I'm back, and I'm even stronger than before."
At that, Cell finally relaxed in his anger, cracking a cocksure grin as he looked down at the half Saiyan teenager. "Well I certainly hope so. All I saw last time was a broken boy, clinging to the strength of what he once had. You're going to need a lot more than that if you hope to fight me again."
"Fight you?" Gohan's eyes narrowed. "No, I'm going to kill you."
His aura flared, and as Cell responded in kind, the two rushed in and crashed against each other. Their first blows against each other rocked the land, the rest were a cacophony of noise and destruction.
Gohan landed an agonising punch into Cells gut, blocking his counterattack kick. Cell was incredibly fast, but unlike before Gohan could match him. Cell had improved in power from his absorption of so many humans, as well as his absorption of at least part of Gohan's body. But with his power boost from death, and with Gohan's body now fully healed, he had more than enough strength and speed to match him.
Gohan drove his elbow down into Cell's knee, and with his leg caught and held by Gohan it cracked like a stick. Cell yelled in pain as the ligaments snapped, jerking away and hurling a scatter shot of Ki blasts to Gohan. He let them fly past, already having calculated their trajectory to know when they hit the ground in the distance. Each Ki blast may have been small by their standards, but the roaring explosions they unleashed were anything but, sending out a shockwave that rippled across the land.
Cell kicked out his broken leg, and it snapped back into place with a crackle of electricity and cloud of steam, the two fighting again before the shockwave even passed over them.
When the shockwave hit those on the ground however, it came from behind the Eldian forces, propelling them forwards in their charge and staggering the Titans in their tracks. Queen Historia's monstrously large form smashed down on the Titans, using her immense size to crush the lesser creatures and swipe her arm through a horde at a time. Titan were sent flying through the air, crashing down into a broken mess and landing on others of their brethren. Many were killed, their torso's shredded as Historia's swipes hit them with incredible force.
Others avoided the attack and leapt onto her arms. Some began attacking immediately, biting and ripping at the flesh of the massive creature's limbs to little effect. Though numerous, there was simply too much flesh for them to do anything significant. Others raced up her arms and the rest of her body, climbing up her body to try and reach her nape. It was yet another reminder that these creatures were not the brainless monsters they had faced for so many years, these creatures were smart, ruthless, and they aimed purely to kill.
Her elite bodyguards opened fire with beams of Ki blasting away multiple Titans at a time. It was easy to shoot and kill them, with precision aiming all they had to do was point at the nape of the creatures and they died. But the swarm was so numerous, that even as they tried, a few reached towards her nape. As they reached the peak of Historia's Titan, they met their deaths.
Ymir's Jaw Titan leapt at them one after another, biting through napes and limbs of every one of them in a furious defence of her wife. Ymir's Titan specialty had been her incredible jaw strength, though it had come at the cost of a weakened ability to fight in other ways. With her Ki training, she could rip off an entire arm without breaking a sweat, and she could move with an agility she could previously only dream of outside of the forests.
Swooping down from the sky and cresting over Historia's form as cover, another wave of soldiers leapt into the fray. Jean, Sasha, Mina, and a dozen other soldiers sent out a barrage of Ki blasts detonating into the horde of creatures. They dove as a unit, cutting a bloody and steaming swathe through the crowd, hacking away at anything they could reach. They didn't even need Ki blasts, chops with their hands carved through the Titan flesh and bones with equal ease.
Boulders rained down into the horde. Showers of blood were spraying from the Titans as they were shredded by the attack. Smaller shrapnel cut through them like shotgun buckshot, destroying muscle and sinew. The Titans hit by larger chunks were thrown from their feet and blasted apart.
Premier Pixis watched in the distance, eyes alternating between his troops and the battle in the sky between Cell and Gohan, not that he could actually follow them. He was too old and too busy to learn to harness his Ki, but he knew that even if he could, the two were moving far too fast for him to even have a chance of following. He had believed Gohan when he had told him about the scale to which their fights could reach on his home world, but seeing it was an eye opening on a whole new level. There were a million shockwaves from their fights rippling through the air before one had even dissipated.
"If Gohan loses this fight, we'll all be dead before we even know it." He mused to himself. Taking a breath, he forced himself to refocus back on his soldiers. From his position on the hill, he had a commanding view over the battle, and could see his forces decimating their opponents. He could also see the encirclement. His forces were just too few, and as they cut a wedge into the Titan horde, basic physics forced them into a crowd around the army.
If it continued, they would be cut off from any retreat without flight, an impossibility for those in Titan form or too exhausted from the fight. His eyes narrowed as he made mental calculations in his mind.
"Feed coordinates to the Marley navy," he directed to a radio officer, "get them firing on the sides of the horde. Keep the Titans in front of our people."
"You'll need at least nine hundred metres buffer at this distance." Spoke up a familiar voice. General Calvi had been delayed by the organization of his people within the settlements but arrived on his horse ready to act. Having coordinated many a fire support mission with the navy, he knew just how dangerous ordering attacks any closer could be. In reality, this would already be closer than preferred, but they could at least somewhat rely on the Titans to absorb the shrapnel and the Eldians to be tough enough to ignore anything that reached them.
The operator confirmed his orders and began relaying them, making sure to allow the suggested buffer so that their people wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. Pixis listened to the chatter with one ear, still somewhat surprised at how smooth the communication was going. Communication code barriers aside, there was no hesitation or arguing from the Marleyan navy about their orders, and they carried them out exactly as told.
He heard the rumble in the distance shortly before the first of the shells landed amongst the Titan horde. A quick adjustment by radio later, the rest of the ships continued to fire, blowing away large numbers of the Titans. Many were shredded, many more were wounded and crushed by their brethren in the stampede.
"Effect to targets, minimal." Pixis muttered. Calvi swore, hating what he was seeing with his own eyes.
"What's your plan Premier?" The man asked, unable to look away from the carnage. "What's your plan if we fail here?"
He didn't answer at first, giving the question genuine consideration before he finally spoke. "Gohan will protect us."
Calvi looked at him like he was insane. "That's it? That's your plan?"
"Like it or not general, but our lives here are insignificant." Pixis waved a hand towards the battle. "Our fight against the Titans is moot against the power of Gohan and this, Cell. We are fighting today for our own survival, to buy time for Gohan to win and save us all. But I think no matter what, he will not let us down."
Calvi let out a humourless chuckle. "The man has already died once."
They were strange words to say, and if Calvi hadn't himself also felt the man himself returning and powering up, he might still have not believed it to be possible. "And yet, he lives again." Pixis laughed to himself. "I first met young Son Gohan two or three years ago now. At the time, even with his strength limited, he was the best of us by far. Not just in ability, but in spirit. He had doubts, concerns, but never for himself, only ever for others. No matter what it could have cost him, he was willing to do whatever it took to keep us safe. That's what drove him then, and what drives him now, a desire to keep everyone safe."
As if to punctuate the point, a crack of wind signalled Cell being sent flying through the air, Gohan blasting through the skies to follow.
Gohan chased Cell's body, laying more and more blows into him as the organism flew. On the fifth strike, Cell caught his fist and pulled him into headbutt the young half breed Saiyan. Gohan's nose shattered in a shower of blood and bone. But if Cell had expected that to throw him off guard, he was sorely mistaken.
Gohan's Ki enhanced fingertips jabbed into Cells eyes, making him yelp in pain. The half breed Saiyan put his hands against Cell's chest, and a quick building of energy sent an invisible shockwave exploding through his body. Unlike the other attacks, this one didn't burn against his skin, instead it reverberated throughout his entire body and shook every organ, bone, and muscle he had, shredding several.
Cell gagged on the pain of it, floating away from Gohan who reached up a hand and pulled the shattered remains of his nose into place. Electricity sparked, steam billowed from his face, and the bones regrew and healed.
"You-… you little shit!" Cell growled at him, still clutching his own vibrating body. "That power shouldn't be yours! You shouldn't be able to do this! Upstart little monkey!"
"My oh my, I think you're going to give Frieza a run for his money on the slurs." Gohan threw Cell an arrogant smile, deliberately trying to enrage him. "I wonder if I'll chop you up into as many pieces of him as Trunks did? I've had quite some time to think about all the ways I'm going to kill you."
Cell roared, throwing himself towards Gohan before receiving a spin kick into the head and cratering into the ground. Cell bounced from the dirt, skidding along the earth until he hit the water and crashed beneath the waves. Gohan followed, breaking through and striking at Cell hard, only to meet a raised arm in defence. Cell may have been slipping, but he was by no means an amateur, and he had the power to back it up. Their shockwave vaporised the water around them, temporarily putting them in a vacuum before the ocean rushed in to fill the space. The two threw punch after punch into each other, each one of cataclysmic power.
One blow sent Gohan flying straight down the depths, through to the ocean floor and into the mantle beneath. Cell chased him and hit him further and further down until he was approaching towards the core of the earth. Knowing the danger fighting there possessed, Gohan managed to grab Cell and hurl him away, blasting him back out of the earth.
The mantle shifted, going unstable as magma rushed in from all levels of the planet. Gohan moved quickly, utilising a technique he had practiced yet not had much reason to use, putting up quick Ki barriers as he flew to follow Cell. Gohan exploded out of the Earth towards his target, a plume of magma chasing after him as the burning Saiyan half breed crashed against the monstrous killer from another time. The two clashed, hitting back and forth as they danced through and around plumes of fire.
They had come out somewhere Gohan had known to have no energy levels, and thankfully he had been right to assume it fully deserted instead of a slaughtered city. They had in fact come out in the arctic, the snow swiftly boiling under the plumes of heat. The mantle they came out of cracked, explosions following behind them. Mentally Gohan swore, kicking Cell to give him space.
Palms out, he put up a swift Ki barrier in an effort to contain the eruptions. Lava swelled against the barrier, compressed, and began to solidify before Gohan suddenly lost concentration as Cell delivered a powerful and agonising kick to the back.
Cell laughed victoriously as Gohan's patchwork attempt failed, a new geyser breaking out as the wintery arctic was transformed into a burning hellscape.
"Even with all of your new power Gohan, you will never beat me. You're too weak, too limited by your biology to even survive a fight with me." He flared his wings in pride, calling forth Gohan to challenge him. "A fight between us will tear this planet asunder, and you will die just as pathetically as the rest of these humans. But nothing will happen to me, I'm so far beyond your biological limitations. So you see, whatever strength you have Son Gohan means nothing. For you are now, and will always be, held back. But I…" He puffed up his chest as power built inside him. "I have no limits! I will never be stopped, never!"
Gohan sneered up the monster, knowing that as much as he might not like to admit it, Cell was right. If Gohan wasn't careful, the planet was going to be destroyed in the process of their fight. It was going to take everything he had not only to beat Cell, but to even have a planet left over afterwards.