I am Kera, a Saiyan Warrior Princess

Chapter 40

Kera:

Cell was weakened! He had changed back! Maybe they should take the chance now and all pounce on Cell at the same time. If they attacked together, they would surely be able to finish him off. Gohan glanced over at them once more and then strode calmly over to Cell, who was kneeling on the ground. Gohan's power was still breathtakingly high. The golden light that surrounded him had not lost its brightness during the entire fight.

Cell looked up at Gohan, who stood only two yards away from him. A devious smile spread across his face.

"Gohan!" Kera shouted his name. She had a nasty suspicion that Cell's smile was up to no good.

She blinked, not wanting to believe her eyes. Cell began to grow, no, he inflated like a hot air balloon. His body became rounder, his arms and legs seemed to disappear almost completely into his balloon-shaped body. Within seconds he had reached a diameter of about three yards.

Gohan had shaken off his brief rigidity due to Cell's transformation and was preparing to finish him off.

"Not so fast, little one." Cell's voice boomed over to them. "The moment you touch me, I'll explode and destroy this entire planet. I don't care if it kills me, as long as I take you with me." He laughed.

The Z warriors held their breath. What were they going to do? Gohan fell to his knees and thundered his fists to the ground. Tears of rage glistened in his eyes. He had missed his chance to kill Cell. Saiyan pride had taken him down with it.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Again Cell laughed viciously. "You don't have much time, because in twenty seconds I'm going to explode anyway and pulverise this damned planet and its inhabitants."

"I'm afraid I can't think of any other solution." Everyone turned to Kakarrot. "Farewell, my friends." He put two fingers to his forehead, disappeared and reappeared right next to Cell.

"Goku, no!" Krillin, like everyone else, had realised what Kakarrot was up to.

Piccolo felt for Kera's hand, and thanks to him, she heard what Kakarrot said softly to his son, "... proud of you, my son. You fought very well. Please tell your mother that I love her. Farewell, Gohan."

Kakarrot, who had been standing between Cell and Gohan, placed one hand gently on Cell's bloated body and touched his forehead with two fingers of his other hand. They saw another brief smile, then he was gone.

"No," Kera whispered, staring at the spot from where Kakarrot and Cell had disappeared. She searched for his energy and perceived it very far away for a moment, then it was extinguished. She felt her legs threatening to give way beneath her. Piccolo gripped her hand tighter and looked to Gohan.

Though he was still a Super Saiyan, the light around him had extinguished. Huddled together, he lay on the dusty ground. Crying convulsions shook him.

Krillin wiped away his tears and flew to Gohan. He bent down to the boy and spoke softly to him. Kera thought that she or Piccolo were supposed to be the ones comforting Gohan, but she felt paralysed. Her upper arm wound throbbed painfully, she felt nauseous and she felt like she needed all the sleep she could get.

Kera exhaled deeply and inwardly to at least dispel the nausea. Piccolo looked at her. "Come on, let's go see him."

Kera nodded and went to fly to Gohan, but instead of lifting off the ground, she stumbled and ended up falling backwards. She bounced hard and suppressed the sound of surprise that wanted to cross her lips. This had never happened to her before. Torn between amazement, amusement and panic that a deadly virus had just spread in her body, she looked at Piccolo.