PART FIVE: TWO GIANTS FACE-TO-FACE.

Chapter 23

Translated by Kakarotto Ka Power Level Kya Hai?

Dabra's successful attack shocked many, especially in Universes 16 and 18. Cell had pretty much been dominating the beginning of the fight, but was not fast enough to dodge the ki attack that the Demon King had released.

The ring was broken in half, pieces were falling everywhere, and a large cloud of gray dust obscured the view of the spectators. Dabra, hovering, barely remained visible, but there was no news of Cell. Even the announcers were trying to trace him through the thick dust.

"I think this Cell isn't as strong as we thought," said Gohan from Universe 18

"He doesn't have the speed of a Super Saiyan 2..." said his father behind him.

"I highly doubt that he perished with that attack, nonetheless..." continued Piccolo, knitting his eyebrows.

The dust cloud was finally beginning to fade... Cell appeared, standing straight with his arms folded behind him. Dabra, above him, winced. That was no ordinary attack that he had launched.

"Could he have possibly moved to dodge and then returned to the impact to make us think that he hadn't moved?"

Cell uncrossed his arms, murmuring, "Interesting... Time to get serious." He turned and quickly flew to Dabra.

The latter was astonished by his opponent's speed and failed to counter the knee that hit him the stomach. Once again, the attack made him wince and spit blood. But he recovered and counterattacked. With a broad and precise movement, he managed to deal a violent kick behind Cell's head. The blow rang in Cell's head for a second, giving Dabra the opportunity to move on to other attacks: a punch to the stomach, an uppercut, a kick under the chin and another to the stomach before a final blow to the face. But this time, Cell blocked the last attack with his forearm and stared at the demon... smiling.

Grabbing the demon's arm, the bio-android kicked his opponent who failed to recover before being dropped by Cell after he finished having fun. Dabra seemed to be unconscious and floated in the air... until Cell approached him once again. The demon opened his eyes and released a ball of ki. It did no damage to the green creature who blocked with his arm, but the distraction allowed him to grab the crest on Cell's head, enabling him to jump over the android and land quickly a few feet away.

As the smoke from the ki ball faded, Dabra outstretched his arms and yelled. Cell did not look back, only being able to whisper a mere, "shi..." before being hit by the full force of the attack in the back. The explosion that followed was loud, and once again, Cell was shrouded in a cloud of smoke.

Dabra laughed in victory. Babidi, in Universe 11's wing, did the same, also thinking it was over. But suddenly, the demon fell silent and bit his tongue out of the astonishment that was provoked by the scene unfolding before him. Cell stood there, smiling and standing in perfect condition, amid the dust that was quickly dissipating. He was holding out his hands behind his back, and they were lightly burned and scorched, smoking because of the attack.

"You bought that?" Cell asked with a smile, not even looking back.

"Such reflexes!" Dabra had to admit, "He's strong..."

Cell had heard, and sneered once again. He began to say to his opponent, "Same for you. In fact, you're probably the strongest fighter I've ever had the chance to meet."

Dabra got angry before retorting, "Of course I'm the strongest! I am the Lord of the Dark Kingdom of the Demons!"

In Universe 18's wing, Gohan told his friends, "I feel like my suspicions about his power are confirmed..."

"No improvement?" asked Goku.

"No. It's exactly the same power as it was at the beginning of the Cell Games."

In Universe 16, the same topic rose, but Vegetto replied, "We all know that it's impossible that he didn't improve in twenty-seven years."

"Dabra's power level is also identical," analyzed Gohan.

"For Dabra, that's normal," Piccolo intervened. "He doesn't seem like the kind to train, like Freeza and his family."

Dabra took a deep breath. In his lungs, the oxygen reacted with other chemicals. When the demon felt he was ready, after only a few seconds, he opened his mouth and exhaled violently. A powerful shot of yellow and orange flames was released like a geyser in the direction of the green creature.

The flames clashed with Cell's vivacity. He deployed his energy effectively, creating around him a shield of energy that the fire could not cross. But Dabra did not cease his attack yet. Drawing in on his ki, he accelerated the chemical process in his lungs. His whole body heated up. The audience could even see the heat haze around him, creating perspiration that dripped profusely off the red demon's skin. The flames themselves changed color with the added power: they went from yellow to red to blue, expanding the surface area of the attack.

But after several long seconds, Dabra was exhausted, and Cell's shield still glowed consistently. Worse, it was growing in volume. Lightning began to flash over the transparent sphere, which covered over a meter in diameter at the moment. Ever expanding, the shields were already hitting the breathless Dabra.

Gathering his strength, he clasped his hands, picking up speed, and gave a powerful blow to a single point of impact on the shield. Under the force of the strike, the shield became deformed, as it was were flexible and

supple... but to a certain limit. The shield burst like a soap bubble, with the same popping noise. It seemed laughable, almost funny, to the audience that was expecting a huge explosive noise.

Cell did not even budge. He sneered and looked at his opponent, who regained his breathing laboriously, but didn't show anything in his eyes. The fruit of the genius of Dr. Gero gave a distasteful look to the demon before pointing his fingers.

"What a waste of energy... try to dodge this!" he cried at last with a sadistic and confident grin.

From his fingers sprung a multitude of beams: bright purple, narrow, and very fast beams that zoomed straight to Dabra. As he managed to avoid them, not without difficulty, many people recognized the technique: Universe 16 and 18, but also Freeza and his family.

The youngest son was the most astonished. "But..." he said, losing all poise, "my technique!"

Cell possessed the cells of several of the most powerful beings in the universe. In addition to Son Goky, Vegeta and Piccolo, he received those of Freeza, obtained through a small robot that was manufactured by Dr. Gero. The result was Cell's ability to reuse various techniques that were not his own.

However, he had improved. Freeza felt it. The bright rays seemed more violent and rapid than his own. "This Cell... could he be at even a higher power level than me?" he asked himself. He turned his head slightly to the right at his big brother... He was easily defeated by a young man... Once again, Freeza wondered what his actual chanced were of winning the tournament...

Dabra, after avoiding a good fifty laser beams, saw one of them pass by only a few inches from his chest.

"Urk... That was fast... and he's even faster!"

Cell smiled once again. He was having lot's fun playing with his opponent

"This is just too easy."

In less than half a second, Cell placed his hands to his temples, fingers spread. He shouted the name of an effective technique that saved the life of Son Goku and his friends several times, a technique that was once the mark of a man who was robbed of cells.

"Taiyoken!"

A powerful light emitted and invaded the stage. All the people who were facing Cell were dazzled. The same can be said of Universe 18. While Goku, his children, and Uub had time to protect their eyes, Pan did not have this reflex and seemed to go blind for several long seconds. Vegeta, himself, had not covered his eyes with his arms like everyone else. Idly, he had just closed his eyelids, like Piccolo... or not. The latter began to rethink his fight against Freeza. He recalled having suffered the same attack of violent lasers. These few seconds of nostalgia from a bygone era in which he was finally number 3 in the universe (Damn! And now he was definitely the fifth strongest...) made him lose the split second he needed to turn a blind eye in order to avoid being blinded by Cell's Taiyoken. Embarrassed and almost ashamed, he bowed his head slightly, hoping nobody would notice his temporary blindness.

Dabra had been quick. He had noticed Cell's new position and was prepared for anything. Taking advantage of his speed, he managed to dodge the latest round of violent death beams and positioned himself behind Cell. The latter saw him move, but had no time to turn, unless he wanted to?

From his right hand, Dabra conjured a sword of dark energy. In a clean, precise and powerful movement, he cut Cell almost at waist level. And arm and a wing fell to the ring, three-quarters of his abdomen had been separated from his waist. The effectiveness of this word greatly astonished Cell. He did not expect it at all. It was the first time this Dabra had dealt him so much damage. The latter, surprised that his sword did not strike throug, redoubled his effort to finish the job, yelling, "DIE!"

However, nothing moved. His forces clashed with an invisible wall. The sword did not move an inch: Cell was holding the sword in his left arm and did not allow any valid motion to be made.

"Are you only capable of attacking from behind?" asked the humanoid insect.

"Wha...?"

Cell slowly took the blade off his body... and turned to Dabra, still clutching the sword. With a victorious smile, he snapped:

"Anyway, you can't kill me with this!"

He broke the tip of the sword with his hand... which became dust that dissolved into the air. The rest of Dabra's sword disappeared when he smiled to mock his foe.

"Kof! With a half-open body.. and one arm off, you've already lost!"

Cell smiled again. Definitely, this Dabra over here believed it too... He underestimated his opponent a lot. With a cry, Cell was regrowing his arm and wing and sewed up his stomach (as if by magic) to his legs.

"You were saying?" Cell amusingly asked, stretching his new arm.

"But... how?" the demon managed to say, frozen with fear. "You should be seriously injured!"

Dabra knew that few creatures could regenerate. He was not surprised that the Namek could do so, but had not failed to note the huge drop in his energy. The fact that this warrior of an unknown race could regenerate was already impressive, but the fact that he could do so without losing energy... It was monstrous! Only one other creature could do so... Majin Buu!

In Universe 11's wing, Majin Buu was not moving. He watched with a curious eye, his hand on his very round chin. Beside him, Babadi became enraged.

"That idiot! He's gonna get it if this keeps up!"

A few meters from each other, the two opponents faced off. Cell suddenly pressed two fingers against his forehead and prepared an attack that he had stolen through his cells, precisely, from a Namek.

"Take that! Makankosappo!"

He launched Piccolo's signature technique: a ball of energy followed by a beam surrounded by a purple spiral that rushed toward the demon who was too tired to dodge. He was hit in the chest and seemed to withstand the technique for a fraction of a second, but was finally pierced and ended up coughing blood.

In Universe 13, two warriors, amused since the tournament began, commented on the fighting they saw. This latest attack did not render them speechless.

"Tsss... Being affected by such a simple technique," said Raditz quietly.

"Did he take that on purpose?" chained his brother Kakarotto.

Little did they know that in half the universes present at the tournament the same Raditz had been tricked by Piccolo's Makankosappo twice, one time in which Son Goku, aka Kakarotto, had to sacrifice both their lives for the technique... If only they knew... they would have heart attacks!

Dabra, dying, did not give up... He had one last card to play! Had he known, he would have used it much earlier!

"I'm going to finish this!" he said to his opponent, breathless, his pierced body bleeding to death, with one eye closed, at the brink of unconsciousness...

Dabra spat. But this time it was not blood. It was white with saliva, a pasty little substance. Cell did not expect it, and had no time to avoid the spittle that landed on his left thigh. Immediately the saliva solidified and covered more and more of Cell's body at a staggering rate, gathering momentum as it spread.

"Ugh! What? What did you do to my perfect body?!"

At that moment, his leg was already fully transformed into stone and the right leg was almost finished as well... The cursed spit was climbing slowly towards Cell's belly and chest.

"You're done for, insect!" said Dabra, "I've won!"

Cell seemed to be caught off guard while his upper torso was being encased in stone. Dabra felt victorious...

"Did you really believe that?" Cell was finally grinning and stopped struggling like a poor animal trapped in a corner.

Dabra instantly lost any sense of victory to Cell's eternal sneer. The latter grabbed his head with both hands and... ripped it off! A spray of blood covered the gray stone sculpture that was once Cell's body, which fell to the ring, its arms already petrified into stone. Cell's head fell a bit more slowly to the ground... And the stone body cracked into a thousand pieces after landing.

"He killed himself?" wondered Dabra as he looked at the ring.

He was hoping for that to be the case. He was weakening and was already unable to maintain flight. He slowly lowered his altitude.

On the ground, the head of Cell began to speak, still grinning.

"A suicide? Been there, done that!"

Concentrating his ki, the bio-android instantly regenerated, literally from head to toe. Dabra's distressed face showed that he could no longer endure any more. Managing to whisper one final word, he fell head first to the ground beside the cracked stone body of Cell.

As he rose, Cell congratulated his opponent all the same.

"Saliva that encases bodies in stone... not bad. Nice try..."

"Cell won," said Gohan to Universe 16's Piccolo. "He was actually stronger than Dabra."

"The regeneration helped a lot," added Piccolo to counter his former pupil's argument. "But he's still weaker than when he came back, after your father's sacrifice."

Cell possessed the cells of Piccolo, a Namek. Their race was also known for their amazing hearing, which obviously Cell had inherited. And he was very interested in the discussion that took place.

"Weaker, eh?" He thought as he smiled. "So I perfectly managed to hold myself to the level I was at the beginning of my Cell Games."

"Thirty seconds have passed!" cried the announcer. "Cell from Universe 17 wins!"

"They're gonna be in for a treat when they fight me now," Cell thought as he returned to his wing where a Cell Junior was waiting to congratulate his father. "On the other hand... I wonder howt they beat me in their Universe if my failed suicide did happen. I was clearly superior to this Son Gohan..."

As he arrived at his area in front of his blue Mini Cell, the creature made by Dr. Gero thought back to those days... twenty-seven years ago...