Why didn't Future Trunks use ASSJ against Future Cell?

[Warmmedown]

He obliterates 18 and 17 instantly, but with Cell maybe he should've been able to do the same thing with ASSJ too? Why risk a drawn out fight if you can end it instantly? Maybe he felt confident that he has such a huge advantage with SSJ1 that ASSJ isn't needed, but he knows Cell has sneaky tricks and has seen that anything can happen (A19/20 existing, A16 existing, A18 being spat out, Cell's explosion, Cell surviving the explosion, Cell in another timeline killing Trunks even though Trunks in that timeline should have been more than strong enough to kill Cell), so shouldn't he be wary of giving Cell any extra time at all?

Or if he got weaker due to having no Z fighters to train with and ASSJ wouldn't give him enough of an advantage to obliterate Cell, using ASSJ would still make the risk lower against Cell, surely?

In all fairness the first two chances he has to hit Cell with a attack are in the city when Cell takes to the sky and when Trunks punches him with his right hand after blocking Cell's forward charge, but both would require him to gather ki extremely quickly to deliver a fatal blow. He does take the first chance he has to gather ki and murder Cell, when Cell is focused on charging his kamehameha. Maybe ASSJ wouldn't have allowed him to get an earlier opportunity anyway, but still how would he know that himself? He can't know exactly how the fight will play out.


The only explanations I can think of are:

- He was ignorant of the risks. This seems unlikely, considering all he's witnessed.

- He was willing to take the risks. More likely, but still seems unlikely considering how risk averse and no-nonsense he was when Vegeta wanted to activate the androids or let Semi-Perfect Cell transform. Plus he didn't toy with future A17 even though he could have, since he knew that even if Cell turns up and absorbed 17 and becomes Semi-Perfect, he'd still beat the fuck out of him since it's immediately after the Cell Games when his power is almost definitely still enough (only way it wouldn't be enough is if something as outlandish as A19/A20 appearing out of nowhere happened, either due to some secret in his timeline or due to all the time travel)).

-That he was worried that if he showed too much power too soon, Cell could pull his self-destruct trick again, so he wanted to show less power until he firstly knew he had an opening to go for the kill. If he had realised Cell powerful enough to survive a full-power SSJ1 blast during their skirmishes he would've gone ASSJ, but he wanted to be sure about it if he was going to show Cell his true power. Instead he found out SSJ1 was enough and then waited for a specific opening where he could simultaneously show Cell that he has enough power to kill him but also remove the risk of a self-destruct by finishing it in the same moment.

Personally I think it's the last one.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

He can sense ki and knows 2nd form Cell’s power. He also knows Cell wants to reach its perfect form under any circumstance, so self-destruction seems unlikely.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

There was no need to use that form when Super Saiyan alone was already far above Cell.

Cell actually thought he had a chance even after Trunks went Super Saiyan. I doubt Trunks had any of that other stuff in mind.

 

[Warmmedown]

There was no need to use that form when Super Saiyan alone was already far above Cell.

Cell actually thought he had a chance even after Trunks went Super Saiyan. I doubt Trunks had any of that other stuff in mind.

Yeh Cell thought he had a chance still. I see that as being part of Trunks' plan.

Against 17/18 he didn't waste any time at all, killing 18 with one hit and 17 with two hits. He was in such a rush to kill 17/18 as fast as possible. If SSJ1 is far above Cell, why not obliterate Cell as fast he obliterated 17/18 by going ASSJ? Why was he in such a rush to kill 17 and 18, but he was willing to Cell attack him, rather than going ASSJ and speed-blitzing him?

I find it weird that he wouldn't think about any of the risks after all he's been through. His temperament and attitude towards life has definitely been affected by his other traumatic experiences, when you see how little he's willing to take risks compared to every other Saiyan. It seems out of character for him to not worry.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

That's been a consistent part of Cell's character, though.

Vegeta shows up after training in the Rosat. 16 is able to tell right off the bat that Vegeta was significantly more powerful, but Cell doesn't care. Vegeta transforms into Super Vegeta. Cell still doesn't care. Cell gets knocked around for a bit, then thinks going Full-Power will change things. Is shocked to see Vegeta shake off his punch.

Same with Cell and Super Saiyan 2 Gohan.

It always took Cell getting knocked around a good bit before it became clear he stood no chance. The main difference here is Trunks wasted no time.

 

[Papasmurf]

Why would Trunks go SSJ Grade 2 to finish off someone weaker than a form of Cell weaker than the Cell Jr. he was stalemating 3 years prior? That's like Goku going SSJ3 to finish off Dabura. Doesn't make much sense to waste time and energy transforming that far.