Gap between Goku and Gohan @ Cell Games

[Evil Vegeta]

The only thing that's confirmed is their only chance at victory is through Gohan's hidden power.

If anything, that means Gohan wouldn't beat Cell under any other circumstances.

 

[p123]

Goku knows that Cell has tons of reserves.

Cell is trying to hurt Gohan enough to make him angry, after he gets his shit rocked, he realizes he needs to change tactics. Cell quit hand to hand and goes on to ki blasts because he had to.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Goku said he wasn't sure if Cell was holding-back or not, so it's not really a given.

Cell was trying to bring out Gohan's rage. He casually used Freeza's attack before blitzing him and gripping his ass up. Gohan wasn't a threat to him without being enraged. He could've ended him right there without Gohan being able to do anything. The kick in the face was cool, though. That's about it.

 

[p123]

So "I'm no fool, I know how strong you are. I quit." Means what then?

EV, he legit drops Cell. Cell has to think of a new plan, he makes a comment too like Hmm, I guess we have to try another way. Gohan dropped his ass!

 

[Pyro]

If Goku is already relying on Gohan's hidden power, then Gohan being above Cell @ Goku means nothing, doesn't it? Goku must know Cell is holding back if he's not surprised at all with Gohan's performance, which was above Cell initially.

 

[p123]

Yes Goku knows Cell has reserves, he says it when he quits.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Cell was superior. Vegeta said he was one or two steps ahead of Goku based on the battle.

Goku never said he had reserves. He straight-up tells Gohan he doesn't know if Cell was holding-back or not.

Also:

Gohan can't beat Cell without his hidden powers. This is the only thing that's stated. Gohan realized this, and Goku said this after Gohan supposedly demonstrated he was above Cell with that kick.

 

[ahill1]

He says to Gohan he isn't sure, but I see that as more of a way to keep Gohan's confidence high since he wanted him to fight, which would be a bit strange if he went already on saying how Cell didn't use anywhere near full power. I don't see him giving Cell a Senzu contradicting it either.

Anyways, while Cell was clearly ahead of Goku, I don't think it was a rather large gap. Cell lost too much power after Goku's fight as stated and yet was fine with Goku taking a Senzu, so I think him having reserves was pretty apparent.

Plus, what KP said.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Yet Goku wasn't fine with Cell fighting Gohan because he wasn't energized.

Anyway, the above shows that Goku intended for Cell to push Gohan to the point where he'd unleash his anger. This was foreshadowed ever since they left the rosat. No idea why this is being disregarded now.

 

[p123]

You are only showing one side of the story.

Goku states that he's no fool stating he knows how strong Cell is.. Shows no surprise at Cell being able to power up further.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Not really. I'm looking at everything as a whole. Everyone's saying Gohan is stronger than Cell even though you have Goku encouraging (after he knocked Cell down with a kick) Cell to make Gohan mad. Why would he even do this if it was never apart of his plan? Furthermore, Gohan says that's why he believed he was their only chance at winning, and Goku confirms right after to Piccolo that this is what he was planning for the entire time.

So it's stated and reiterated more than enough. Now it doesn't count...

 

[p123]

Because Cell has major reserves.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Nothing to do with reserves. Gohan said he can't beat Cell unless he got angry. Cell said Goku was correct about Gohan being stronger than himself, but was wrong about Gohan being stronger than him.

Cell blitzed Gohan twice and nearly broke his back. He ain't doing jack shit to Cell.

 

[p123]

Gohan can't beat Cell at this current power, which is just about equal. He has no fighting spirit, he has no stomach for it, he's a damn pacifist. Piccolo speaks on this as well. "He may have power but he's just a kid, he does not have your stomach for battle." Remember?

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Cool, then we agree. I'm talking about his current power.

Gohan being a bitch is one thing, but he still got dat ass blitzed twice. So his speed is kinda ass compared to Cell.

 

[Void]

Gohan takes little to no damage from Cell's attacks. Goku even states his ki doesn't drop at all.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Goku said that when they all thought Cell killed him, unless I'm misremembering.

I don't think his Chi needs to actively drop with every strike to indicate that they're affecting him. That's visibly shown.

Cell and Gohan being around the same level is cool. I see no reason why Gohan needs to be above him when he not only gets blitzed twice, but also doesn't think he'll win without getting angry.

 

[SSJ2]

Goku's ki wasn't dropping much while fighting Cell, who was stronger than him. It only dropped noticeably at the KHH.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Good point.

Outside of Kid Boo stomping Mr. Boo, which appears to be a special case, has anyone's Chi ever been stated to actively take a dive while getting beat down? The closest example I can think of is Kaio-Ken x20 Goku, and even then, that was because of the technique rather than Freeza. Goku was getting pulverized by 50% Freeza the entire time and yet his Chi was only noted to go down after he used the Kaio-Ken x20. There's also Vegeta after taking a long beatdown from Freeza.

I dunno. Apart of me feels like I might be low-balling Gohan, but another part feels like he's really not all that. Maybe a combination of both.

 

[Void]

I only have him at 1.25x Goku.