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Goku walked into the ring as Cell watched him from the other side. They were both relaxed, but there was still tension between them. The air shivered with anticipation of the energy that was about to be released.
Goku considered Cell, an amalgam of all of his friends and those who had once been his enemies… he glanced over at the crowd watching him, Cell was an amalgam of Goku's frenemies and also Frieza.
Goku had never fought Cell before, and was of two minds about it. The monster had depopulated whole cities and had to be stopped. Goku could even faintly sense the energy of those Cell had consumed to fuel himself; it was as if they were crying out, begging to be saved.
Goku hated Cell and would do everything in his power to stop him.
But there was another part of him, the part that loved fighting and had been looking forward to this tournament. That part was glad there was someone strong enough to challenge him again. He was going to relish this fight; he couldn’t help it, it was simply who he was. Goku was ready.
Goku brought his guard up, allowing ki to flow though his body. Across from him, Cell did the same. Neither of them were at full power; it was far too early in the fight for that. Instead they were at a level they could sustain indefinitely.
"Alright." Goku said, and sprung towards Cell.
They met in the middle of the arena and began to spar. At this lower power they were merely probing one another. They were fairly evenly matched, exchanging blows at an even rate. Most blows were blocked, but every so often a mistake was made and one of them got a good hit on the other. That they were so well matched did suggest that this state of things would persist even when they went all out, though at those heights any small difference could win or lose the world, and the lifetime supply of Hetap.
"I'm impressed." chortled Cell. "How did you manage to catch up to me in strength?"
"I got beat up all day yesterday." responded Goku, refusing to elaborate further. He took advantage of Cell’s momentary confusion to punch him in the face.
What Goku had told Cell was true enough, but very much an understatement. He and Piccolo had gone into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber the day before the fight. Their training regime was a simple one; in the morning they did a light warmup followed by theory crafting and exercise, after that they sparred and put their theories of novel ways to use ki techniques to the test.
This last item had caused some reluctance.
(earlier)
The Hyperbolic Time chamber was as oppressively empty as ever. An endless white expanse stretched away from the entrance in all directions and the endless ticking of the clock was somehow even worse than silence.
Piccolo and Goku stared at each other.
Piccolo waited for something. Anything other than that goofy grin of Goku’s. When nothing was forthcoming he gave in.
"Are you serious right now?" Piccolo demanded.
"Absolutely." responded Goku.
"You want me to beat you up... no, break you, and then leave you there and not give you a senzu bean until it's time for sleep?" Piccolo asked, "Why?"
"It's part of my Saiyan heritage." Goku explained, "Whenever I get really seriously injured I come back stronger than before."
"I admit that those power boosts have served you in the past. But if they could make you strong enough to take on Cell I think the universe would look a little more Saiyan dominated right now." Said Piccolo.
"What would Vegeta say about this plan?" responded Goku.
"Say something about his pride as a noble warrior and refuse." answered Piccolo.
Goku merely grinned back.
"I don't think they were all quite so..." Began Picollo, then turned stiffly away. "Not important. There's risks. What if I accidentally wound you more than the senzu can heal, or worse, kill you?!" He finished.
"Piccolo, I trust you." Was all Goku said.
"Fine." Piccolo surrendered, "just relax and I'll take care of it." He said, cracking his knuckles."
(The Cell Games)
Goku and Cell separated from their spar by mutual consent.
"I'm glad you found a way to strengthen yourself," Cell gloated. "For you to have done everything you could to attempt to defeat me and lose anyway. That's what will make this fight truly perfect."
"Don't count your eggs before they're in the omelet." Goku responded. Luckily for Cell he was not in face punching range.
Cell sighed, "I do hope you are better at your techniques than your turns of phrase." He said.
And then there were 4 of him, Goku quickly following suit.
The multiform technique, a very complex ki ability that allowed the user to create copies of themselves. In theory it should be very powerful, in practice it was severely limited by the way it split the strength of the fighter between the bodies. It was not completely unusable, but the way fights tended to work was that a single strong opponent was able to beat large numbers of weaker ones even if the group had a combined power greater than the single.
It was considered a gimmick by most of the people that knew it, that Cell was using it meant he was not yet taking the fight seriously. Goku on the other hand had spent a great deal of time perfecting it, pushing it to its limits and then going further.
The four Gokus formed a rough square in the middle of the ring, the four Cells surrounded them and then attacked. This time Goku was winning, every time A Cell attacked he found himself blocked, or even countered harshly.
He tried many things, coordinating his attacks to land simultaneously, using ki blasts to disorient and confuse. He even managed to blind a couple of the Gokus with a solar flare, but he still couldn't land an attack. And the ones he received in return were just a bit stronger than Cell was expecting.
Far above the fight, there hovered the first trick Goku had played in this fight. A secret fifth Goku created before Goku entered the ring. This one held barely any ki at all, just enough to fly and keep track of the fight below, and hovered with the sun behind him and observed.
(Earlier)
"Goku," Piccolo sighed, "please don't tell me you got this idea from an anime."
"Ok, I won't tell you that." said Goku, grinning.
Piccolo stared at him.
"It's not just Pokemon!" Goku insisted. "It's also against the rules in many competitive sports to get advice from your trainer in the middle of a match. If it didn't help they wouldn't need that rule."
"It takes away from the spirit of the competition either way." Piccolo responded, "Even if it doesn't help, competition is supposed to be between the people competing, without interference."
"Well that's why we test these things," said Goku. "If I'm right I can use it and if not I try something else."
"And the other aspect?" asked Piccolo.
"Yeah, by default energy is spread evenly between bodies in the multiform technique," answered Goku, "but there's no reason it has to be. There's not even any reason the bodies have to maintain the same energy level until the technique ends."
"Well, let's see how this goes."
(The Cell Games)
The Gokus continued to outfight the Cells, under the direction of themself from above they shifted their energies between their bodies so that the body needing to block or counter an attack from a Cell was empowered. The ones not in danger, for a fraction of a second, were left very vulnerable, if Cell could attack them before power could be shifted. But it seemed Cell did not even know what Goku was doing, only that it was working.
The Cells sprang back from Goku and fused back into one body.
"I don't know how you did that." Said Cell, "but I think playtime is over."
He then powered up, enough to crack the arena floor.
He was in Goku's estimation a bit of a sore loser, that might be a problem later but one thing at a time. The four Gokus in the Arena also fused together and then Goku went Super Saiyan. His power up was more controlled, there was no collateral damage. His plan required him to maintain absolute control and he made sure of it.
Cell sprang at Goku, who waited where he was standing to take the attack and then counter. This was the final stage of his plan, and the piece he had not shared with Piccolo. There had been no reason to, as it could not be practiced safely.
As Cell continued to attack Goku blocked, countered, and was pushed back step by step.
"If you're hoping to tire me out you should know that won't work." Cell taunted while delivering a kick.
"Oh, why would you tell me that if it was true?" Goku responded while dodging back and striking Cell in the knee.
"I want to fight you at your best!" Cell demanded punching Goku in the face, "Not win because you were misinformed or confused about what you were facing."
Goku smiled at this as he staggered back, "I wouldn't have it any other way, and don't worry, I have a surprise for you."
"Why would you tell me that if it were true?" Cell asked, throwing a feint that Goku dodged away from.
"Because it will still surprise you even knowing it's coming." Said Goku recovering his guard.
Cell stopped for a fraction of a second at that. Goku had proven himself a lot more troublesome than Cell was expecting. But he had also been pushed to the very edge of the ring, there was no more retreating for him to do. He either had to fight back for real or risk getting ringed out. Sure he could fly, but without safe ground under him one good punch could send him into the ground and spell defeat.
Actually, Cell thought, why not do that now?
Cell surged his power in a fashion not unlike the Kaio-ken and charged at Goku hoping to catch him mostly off guard. It seemed to work, Goku was not raising his arms fast enough to properly block and as Cell's fist surged forward into Goku's chest and…
Fighting is a lot like a kind of dance in many ways, though the interplay between the fighters is not choreographed as such. But each decision made by one leaves a limited number of responses that can be taken that are not mistakes. The result is that as a fight goes on and two highly skilled opponents take the measure of each other they can enter a kind of flow state where they both know how the other is going to react. The resulting back and forth can be even tighter than the best dancer even as they are trying to trip each other up. That something truly unexpected could happen, that would be like the author of a story interrupting a fight scene to make a drawn out analogy to dancing instead of letting the reader know that…
...Cell's fist punched right through Goku's chest like paper mâché and emerged covered in blood from his back.
Cell froze, it was far too early for this to happen, Goku had not been weakened nearly enough.
Goku once again took advantage of Cell’s confusion, but this time he grabbed Cell’s arm and held on tightly.
Goku tried to say something but the only thing that came out was blood.
Far above them the secret Goku who had still been there waiting had his fingers to his forehead, preparing the instant transmission. The Goku in the ring lifted his feet off the ground and then Observer Goku transmitted them.
Both Gokus and Cell were only moved a short distance backwards and down but at the end of it Cell found himself standing on the ground outside of his ring. By his rules he had lost.
The Goku impaled on Cell's outstretched hand vanished. And he felt the final one descend from the sky and land at the edge of the ring.
Cell turned to see Goku holding his chest where Cell had punched through. Fusing back the way he had, the injury did not simply go away, but it also was not there, the area would probably be as fragile as thin glass unless given time to recover.
Goku spoke up first, "Ring out, you lose."
And Cell became enraged, "NO!" He shouted, "It can't end like this, it's so anticlimactic!"
When Goku didn't answer he considered attacking. Kill the weakened Goku and then blow up the planet anyway, no one would know...
…but he would know, and he would know forever. His memory was perfect. And he could not bring himself to cheat, he had too much Saiyan honor for that it seemed.
Mastering his rage Cell continued, "This was supposed to be the perfect fight between the greatest warriors. I demand a rematch."
"There's no such thing as a 'perfect fight,'" Goku said, stepping down from the arena. "But that's ok, because instead what you get is the next fight."
"The next fight?" Cell asked incredulously.
"The next fight, it's the one after this fight." Goku explained, "You and your opponents will be strong, you'll not fall for their older tricks. You'll both come up with new ones to test each other with. It will be an even better fight."
"And then what." Cell snorted.
"And then you get the next fight after that, where you know even more and can push yourself to even greater heights." Goku answered.
"Is that it?" Ask Cell.
"Would you really want it your way, where you had one perfect fight and then, that was it?" responded Goku, "A single fight that was your peak and then there was nowhere left to go. Sounds terrible if you ask me."
"I suppose you have a point." admitted Cell. But that doesn't help me!" He continued, "We are enemies!"
Goku pointed to the other Earth warriors and said, "Join the club."
"I'm evil." Shouted Cell.
Goku gestured again, "I repeat myself."
"I have killed way too many people for you to simply forgive." Said Cell.
"Dragon Balls," said Goku.
"So that's it?" Asked Cell, "You forgive me, and undo the damage I've caused and I just join your menagerie of misanthropes?"
"Uh, Gohan?" asked Goku.
"He's calling your friends a collection of people who hate humans." Answered Gohan.
"Oh, I think hate is a strong word," said Goku, "but yes Cell, that is the plan."
"They have all fallen far behind you in power. I don't want that to happen to me." Said Cell.
"They all found something that demanded time from them, time that could not be spent training and fighting." Answered Goku, "If you really don't want to fall behind, then we won't let that happen."
Goku extended his hand to Cell.
"Won't you join me in exploring just how far up we can go?" he asked.
Cell hesitated for a moment and then decided. He took Goku's hand and shook it.