Hello! So, this is my first fanfic for DB. I never saw the series growing up, but I am HOOKED after getting to watch DBZ when SUPER came out, and I'm pretty caught up. So, I know it;'s a little late what with the next episode bringing back 17 (WOOO!), but I wanted to write this little one-shot about him and his "ranging the s*** out of his park"! I was so pumped to write this, so I hope you like it! Enjoy! :)

P.S.: Bold are flashbacks to his past; normal is current. Sorry of there are any misspellings name-or-word wise. Hopefully it's just a couple slips that went under the radar.

Flowing through space at incredible hast, the ten Z Fighters were on their way to the Tournament of Power. The whole gang was inside the space cube and on their way for the fight of their lives, from the mighty and all powerful Saiyans, Goku and Vegeta, to the less intense, but still powerful humans: Tien, Master Roshi, Krillen, and Androids 17 and 18.

"Goooosh damn it! WHEN are we gonna get to the tournament already!" Android 17 whined to the people, sitting cross-legged on the floor with most everyone else.

"Whis said the trip would take just over an hour to get to the ring," Bulma pointed out.

"Well I'm bored out of my mind." His head slammed back hard against the purple glass material. The hit vibrated off and echoed inside the chamber. There was a slight metallic clank heard following the noise vibrations. 17 figured the trip would take some time, but he didn't realize he'd have to socialize with everyone. Not caring for the formality of socialization was one trait that made him good at his job. His lack of care for interaction with others helped him bring in a six-figure paycheck. It did come at the price of not having very many friends, but as long as he had Mariah and his children, he didn't care.

I wonder what she and the others are doing right now back home, he thought to himself. He turned his head to the side, watching hundreds of thousands of stars passing by behind the aura of light outside the cube. He stared at the glory of how vast the universe was. He began to realize the world was much bigger than just the Park and planet. There were whole other worlds out there that many of the fighters got to see, like Namek and the World of Kais. Deep down, 17 wished he could go to at least one planet someday, even if it was barren with no life forms that needed protecting.

"Well," Goku butted in while resting up on the wall adjacent to 17, "Why don't we pass time by hearing about you 17. What've you been up to since we last…" Goku realized he specifically never met 17, and even then, the last four who saw him in his final moments was when he got absorbed by Cell. "I mean… spoke to us? He-hee." He gave a nervous laugh as sign to his embarrassment. 17 stared him down even from a lower height. He looked pissed at Goku, but it was more apathetic than a snarl. The whole room got quiet with tension building. 18 didn't want it staying that way.

"Yeah 17" He looked at his fellow android sister. "You never have told us why you decided to become a Park Ranger. Krillen and I only met with you once and all you told us was that you worked at the Park and had a family now like we did."

"Ha!" Vegeta laughed aloud. "How ironic. Machines marrying humans. Next thing you know, we'll hear in the papers about a man engaged to a laundry machine." Android gave a single chuckle and smiled.

"That's big talk coming from an E.T. who settled down and had, not one, but two half-bred children." Vegeta's eyes flashed open, and 17 liked seeing that smug smile of his gone. It grew to be replaced with a bitter grin.

"Well at least my spawn are capable fighters. Last I checked, you androids can only have human babies, isn't that right?"

"Maybe. But at least they're full-breeds."

"WHY YOU LITTLE-"

*Thunk Thunk Thunk* from up above, a square opened through the top of the cube and Whis called down from above. "Vegeta, I already told you that there will be no fighting during the travel. Save it for the tournament."

"Can't I at least give this one a smack so he knows his place?!" Bulma stepped up behind Vegeta and planted her hands on his shoulders.

"Vegeta, please don't. The last thing I want is having to ask Whis to turn the thing around and go home." Goku's eyes flew up at the mention like Vegeta's before.

"WHAAA? No-no-no-no-no. Whis, please don't turn us around! I don't want to miss the tournament."

"Easy now, Goku," Whis instructed "I'm not returning us home, but I don't want tempers flying until we arrive, so can you all just act like grown-ups for just one hour please." He focused his attention directly at Goku and Vegeta. Goku was blank as ever while Vegeta was still boiling hot over 17. When they crossed eyes, the mecha-man smirked Vegeta at seeing his temper go off so easy. The Saiyan wanted to wipe it off his face, but knowing Whis's power and Goku's annoying tantrum over the tournament, he let Bulma's relax him down. He turned around, grumbled, and walked back to his side of the wall, falling down and sitting cross-legged like everyone except Goku, Bulma, and Buu.

When Whis closed the top to return his guidance of the cube, 17 remarked "That's right prince. Act like an adult and be a good boy."

"Ghhhhhh. I swear, if we lose this tournament and are getting killed, I'm gonna take pleasure in killing both you AND Kakkarrot before Zeno does." Goku looked at Vegeta.

"What? Why me too?"

"You know it's still on my bucket list."

Krillen spoke up. "C'mon guys. Let's just change the subject before this gets any worse. 17, I'm with Goku and 18. It would be interesting to hear why you chose to become a Park Ranger of all things. A guy with your strength and abilities could be just about anything on the planet: A bodyguard for Dende or the king, Natural Disaster Relief Serviceman, so why a Ranger?" He couldn't believe that all eyes were on him and his career all of a sudden. He looked down at the ground, or rather the glass bottom with all the stars and light beneath him. He started fading off again. His eyes opened slightly more than before. Before him came flashbacks of the past.

He could see Cell in his imperfect form coming towards him. All of a sudden, the long-lost Android 16 flashes out of nowhere and hits Cell across his face. The next was him throwing the bug into the dirt and performing his signature Hell Flash Fire technique, nearly blowing the entire island apart as beams of light ripped out of the ground like Hell itself was coming to Earth. But sadly, the big bad creature jumped up from behind when it ended and snagged 17 with his tail. Before His transformation could occur, 17 suddenly flashed back to reality, shaking timidly, stunned from the terrible image of his past. Before anyone could notice, he shook his head mildly fast to try and come back completely.

"Why do you guys even care? It really doesn't matter, and it's not going to make a difference." His tone was bitter and irritable. The others started feeling bad about both themselves and whatever was up his anal cavity.

"17," His sister said affectionately to him.

"No, okay?" He stood up and walked to the closest corner away from the others. "Why can't you guys just respect my privacy and leave it alone?" He refused to look at anyone, staring at the corner of the wall. Everyone was beginning to wonder what was up. Even Buu sensed the emotional change in the room.

"Why people so sad?" he asked the group. Nobody answered him. Instead, 18 got up and walked over to 17, holding his arms from behind and talking next to him.

"Hey, it's okay." 17, caught off guard by her, looked to his left to see her holding him tight. It felt like forever since he had hugged her, or the same right back. He could feel his callous fade away with her by his side. "If this has anything to do with Cell, he's gone now, for good. He can't hurt us anymore." He looked shocked that she knew, like she could see right through him. Of course, he knew it couldn't have been more obvious. Piccollo aside, he was the only one to match 17 back when he had more selfishness in his mainframe.

"I know that," he said quiet enough so the others won't hear. "But I still don't like thinking about it."

"You know it would help to talk through it right?"

"Trust me, I tried that with Mariah; it didn't make a difference." 18 knew her brother was lying to her. She released her grasp of him and stepped back. It prompted him to see where she was off to.

"You sure one more try wouldn't hurt?" She stood amongst the group like the leader of them all. 17 felt like he should be frustrated. He was a man for goodness sakes, and like Vegeta, he too had more pride than reason to seek something as pathetic as therapy. Opening up to his wife already felt like enough, and now he had to do it in front of the only people and aliens who ever came close to respecting him? He felt torn inside, like the logic of his robotics system was conflicting with his human instincts.

Do I dump my purse like a pansy or just suck it up with this pain? He was beginning to hate that 18 was putting this kind of pressure on him, but at the same time, he was actually kind of glad for it. He smiled and laughed lightly about the situation.

"Alright fine. I'll tell you why, but only because I want to, understand?"

"Whatever floats your boat there sport," Master Roshi said. 17 laid himself back against his corner, looking out to see if everyone was paying attention. He was surprised to see that even Vegeta was looking his way. 17 predicted there would be a 58 - 81% chance he'd feel more relieved after it was over, and the odds felt good enough for him.

"So, you guys want to know why I chose a Park Ranger?" Everyone in the crowd murmured different forms of yeses and uh-huhs. Buu's was the only one who cried above all others shouting "Buu want more candy." He liked that the pink guy helped lighten the mood. Something about his childish behavior made him smile every time.

"Well, to fully understand, it all started with Cell." The chamber fell completely silent and everyone tuned in, including Buu and Goku. 17 was beginning to like the attention, easing his mind.

"I don't quite understand how it was possible, but I woke up in the middle of that very same island that Cell absorbed me on." Flashbacks never seen before came to 17 as he narrated his tale. "When I came to, I found myself on that island 16 tried to destroy Cell. But the weirder thing was: I had all these new memories that I was never really a part of." Already, people were getting interested, especially Bulma and 18, for reasons of science and care.

"I could remember everything that ever happened after Cell absorbed me." Flashbacks from the hay days appeared before him. "When Vegeta and Cell fought, both when he was semi and perfect (First Vegeta handing Cell his ass, then Cell right back at him). When he absorbed my sister 18 (sucking her up in his tail), the hosting of the Cell Games (breaking into the news room and talking to the TVs), and when he fought Goku and Gohan (in respective order), and then there was Cell blowing himself up (on Kai's planet) and him coming back just to be defeated again (inside the Final Kamehameha)."

"Wait," Tien interrupted, "How could you possibly know about his resurrection? If you were absorbed into Cell, wouldn't that mean you died then and there? He even said it himself that he didn't need 18 to be in his perfect form again."

"Well that's what I thought, but have any of you ever heard of something called Cellular Memory Theory?"

"Oh yeah," Bulma chimed in. "It's a theory about how cells can react to certain events or body function through memory, not just in the brain, but all body cells too".

"We all have a basic idea," a frustrated Piccollo said. "A lot of us did hear why he came back ya know."

"Yeah, well see, if that theory holds true, I think there were still parts of my cell structure leftover inside his. Less, but still residential. Anyway, that part doesn't matter; here's what does." New scenes came back to when Android 17 was waking up.

"After I came to, I noticed how deserted the island was of all life. I didn't think much of it at first, but I decided to not stick around and took off out of that place. I flew for what must have been an hour or so. I saw a city just over a mountain range and thought about stopping by. But on my way, I guess you could say fate had other plans.

*BOOM* A gunshot was heard below a hovering 17. When he looked down, he noticed himself above a patch of forestry. The birds went wild flying out of the trees and right through 17. He found himself irritated with whoever just made those birds run into him. Coming down, more gunshots came through the woods. *BOOM BOOM*

"Where are ye' littl' doggies?" *BOOM* A burly, dark skinned man in his late forties, wearing camouflage jacket, jeans, and hat, was firing a shotgun out into the forest in random directions. "I'm gonna find me that cub if it's the last thing I do." He didn't hear 17 touchdown on a rock behind the hunter. He was so stealthy that he just watched for a few more seconds to observe the man at his prime. "You can't hide from me forever. Humans are top of the peckin' orda'!"

"Oh, is that so?"

"Blah!" *BOOM*- cla-oiiiiingg. The bullet shot ricocheted off 17's face, deflecting to the far right. It had zero effect on his face, and the hunter wasn't sure what to make of it. He had no time to think and only acted on instinct "Oh my- Mister-I-I am so, so-so sorry! I-I-Y-you just came out of nowhere a-an-and I-"

"Save it." The human ceased his squabbling at the peculiar teenager. 17 stepped off the rock and onto the dirt. He slowly approached the hunter as he talked on. "What were you trying to accomplish?"

"Wh-wh-what?" 17 kept walking closer to the man.

"Answer the question."

"Oh-I-I was just doin' some huntin' was all."

"For what exactly? According to my intelligence, it's not the season for bear hunting in this location." Android 17 was only about five meters away and closing in on the man. The hunter started backing up as 17 came closer.

"What-what are you? A Ranger or something? Y-you're not dressed like one."

"What's it matter what I look like?" The man stopped himself up against a tree, realizing he had nowhere left to move. "Maybe I'm mad because you just tried to kill me." Android 17 was within arm's reach now, staring down at the 4 foot obesity. "Or maybe I am mad about the bear." He leaned in and smiled devilishly. "How would you ever know?" The hunter was scared shitless. The kid was younger than him by twice his own age, and he was being backed up against a tree? He wasn't about to take lightly to it. He pulled up his shotgun and held the barrel under 17's chin.

"B-back off, boy scout! I-I could shoot you, and I can tell them you were intimidating me-threatening to hurt me-"

"Oh, trust me" 17 grabbed hold of the long-barrel. "I do plan to hurt you." The hunter was so scared, he didn't have the nerve to pull the trigger on the boy. "REAL, bad." He bent the barrel sideways to a perfect 90 degree form. The hunter couldn't believe what he was witnessing. All he could do was question the moment happening now. Android 17 slammed his hand up to the man's chest and back against the tree. The deformed weapon fell to the ground. He slowly rose the hunter up along the trunk just high enough so his feet couldn't touch the ground. Slowly, 17 started applying more pressure on the man's chest plate, feeling his thick heart beat faster and faster every fleeting second.

"Who…. Who are you?" Every breath grew harder and more difficult for the human to bear. He could feel the pain setting in. It started feeling like his ribs were going to snap at any second. His last sight would be a demon's smile on such a young looking face.

"The name's 17", he replied, "and I'm the Bain of your existence." The hunter tried as hard he could to unwrap the android's strength, but he knew it was no good. He could see himself dying right in that second, no one to help him for miles around. 17 pressed against him so hard that he started gagging out spit as his eyeballs looked like they were being pushed outside his skull. Seeing the man struggle suddenly made 17 recall one of the memories of Gohan's fight. He could envision Cell's face the exact same way before coughing up 18. Something in Android 17 became shocked, releasing the hunter as a response. As if out of nowhere, the hand pressing up against the human pulled back and he fell to the ground on his knees. He started coughing heavily while 17 took a couple steps back, watching the man struggle and gasp for air, exactly like Cell.

What's going on? I can't possibly be scared to kill him, can I? The hunter forced his head up, eyes squinted and still gagging for some air.

Wh…What-egghhh. What, was that… for?" 17 couldn't respond, his hand shaking in fear and speechless. Completely speechless.

"I…I…"

"Well?" The hunter started to cough. "What's happening?" 17 looked at his hands, seeing them tremble.

This … this isn't making sense. Could it be… My body is somehow traumatized? As soon as the hunter was back on his feet, he started running for his life, bolting as fast as his little legs could carry him. Android 17 just stood there, watching the man flee in terror.

"I just watched him run for his life. I couldn't find the strength or time to go after him. I later ran a self-diagnosis on myself."

"I discovered that my body was reacting similarly to PTSD, and my responses refused to let me kill the man. The report said it was because of his camouflage. It was similar to Cells' natural shell color, and those similarities between the hunters form and him… it was limiting my control."

"To this day, I still can't take a human's life ever since Cell absorbed me. I did try to a couple of times before, back when hunters, even those not camouflaged, had the guts to attack me. In the end, I'm only forced to hurt someone just enough to not kill them, which for my job means knocking them out."

"Wow," Krillen said, "That's a pretty crazy story."

"Hold the damn phone," Vegeta intervened. "You said you can't kill humans, but we're going to a tournament where death may very well be a necessity. Are you saying you could be a potential liability because of some programming limits?!"

"Calm down Vegeta. It's true that I can't hurt humans, but I don't think the same will apply for aliens."

Piccolo asked "How can you be sure?"

"Honestly, I actually don't know. But that's not gonna stop me from trying if I have to. Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

"That still doesn't explain why you became a Park Ranger though." Goku questioned. 17 was a little annoyed by him pointing out the obvious.

"No, it doesn't. But this will." He took a breather, begging for part 2. "After the guy I hurt ran and I was done with checking on myself, I started realizing my limitations. I felt so confused. I wanted a job that would let me intimidate others, still be respected in other people's eyes, but at the same time, I had an urge to want to hurt people so badly. I just stayed in that forest for hours trying to think of a new purpose for my life. Then suddenly, it dawned on me."

"A flashback of Android 16's head talking to Goku appears. "I remembered what 16 said to Goku just moments before he died. About how he cared for nature and the animals on Earth. Despite his purpose to want to murder Goku, he tried to give his life so Cell couldn't harm the Earth, and even when he failed, he still never gave up. I applaud him for his bravery, giving his life for the lesser creatures. I found it so ironic that an all-mechanical man could care more about life than many humans do, and me and 18. I guess you could say… I was inspired by 16, and I wanted to help contribute to making his dream a reality. If he could give his life in hopes to protect the meek, and Gohan could stand against Cell so he wouldn't blow up the Earth, then surely, I could at least help the vulnerable of some land-any land-be safe from the strong."

"It also made me come to realize: That just because I'm strong didn't mean I was top-dog, just like that hunter. So later that day, I walked into the Ranger station, asked for a sign-up sheet, and became a guardian for nature. Then about two years later, I met Mariah, a zoologist who was at the Park to study deer, and kept her protected while she did her work. We married and adopted two kids, plus one of our own."

Master Roshi commented "Sounds like you're happy with the way life turned out for you." 17's smile went up a little.

"I'll do anything to make sure they're safe. That's why I signed up for this tournament of yours."

Krillen pilled on "Well it's good to know that you have a purpose beyond this universe still existing."

18 said "I'm really proud of you 17. You've gone from being a self-absorbed snob to an actually genuine character." She laughed some to show she was playing.

"Well, it also shows I'm better since I have more kids AND a job at the same time. Try beating that." Krillen started to seat some.

"Ehhh, I think we're good with just Marron for now."

"I don't know Krillen. Maybe I'd want to have another child."

"DAAAH-please don't!" Inside the cube, everyone began laughing, including 17. No surprise that 18 was right: Talking things out really does make a difference sometimes, and it didn't make him feel weaker for it, no matter what Vegeta had to throw at him.