It was a few years into his stay in Underworld, when Goku's case of wanderlust started to kick in. After running things by the Grand Kai, who had nodded in time to the drum beat from his 90's style boom box, Goku had left to travel Otherworld for a time. He was warned of places that were off-limits, due to the main reason that they were places of either creation or destruction, and that his interference would cause chaos and death on an unprecedented scale. And as these places were completely devoid of life, they didn't much interest the Saiyan anyway.

And at the current time and place, Goku was taking a rest on a small floating island, which had an apple tree giving off bright yellow and red fruit. A small waterfall with a tiny creek was located to the left of the tree, which trickled to the ends of the tiny place. Defying the physics of such a thing, the water seemed to flow eternally, never running out. Goku sat on the edge, the tree roots emerging from the cliffs end, and grasping into empty space, while watching the water that fell gather on other, smaller islands, continuing a fountain which seemed to keep going down, creating pools and minute creeks on lower pieces of hovering land. This went on for at least what seemed like seven or eight levels, and Goku, although appreciating the sight, didn't bother to see how far it went on, nor was he afraid of the height. He could fly, after all.

The spot was pleasant, but Goku started to feel unnerved, and he realized it was due to lack of ambient sound. There was no sound from any other living thing, no birds singing, no hum of insects, no occasional movement from any other living thing. He welcomed the peace, but still, living on Earth, where those things were the norm and so ingrained into his senses, he became more uneasy by the minute. Finishing the last apple he picked, he scooped out some dirt on the far side, away from the other tree, and planted the apple core. He couldn't put his finger on what made him do the action, but he did. There was plenty of water, and even though there wasn't a sun, despite the lack of one, there was plenty of light. He figured it would sprout into a sapling, and another apple tree would grow.

Straightening, and reaching up with his finger tips, he stretched his muscles taught, before losing the pose and running to dive over the edge, enjoying the feeling of falling, before his ki picked him up and he shot off towards the distance. The feel of being so free soon caught up with Son Goku, the wind at his face, and happiness in that freedom, made his spirit soar (not that it wasn't already, being dead and all) and he gave a honestly joyous laugh, pouring on speed for the next destination.

Cell, was probably the most intelligent of all the people that he was surrounded with in the jail containment room. Frieza and his father, King Cold, were decidedly lacking. Frieza, while thinking that not every problem could be solved by violence, was not much better at using diplomacy, as it depended on people fearing him through his exertion of strength. Prideful, smug, and somewhat strong, he interested Cell, for a time. King Cold, however, just seemed too flamboyant to get anything done. He seemed a lesser version of his son.

The Ginyu's, on the other hand, were boring. Other than their showy and flashy introduction-which had surprised Cell for all of three seconds-they held no interest for the bio-android. They were weak, and their repetitious nature seemed to bring out Vegeta's impatience in the green humanoid. That wasn't to say that Cell didn't think less of the innate abilities that some of them possessed, like the tiny puke-green's one ability to stop time, or the captain's ability to switch bodies, but it was of no matter. Cell could not imitate these abilities, and so they were even more useless to him.

Dr. Gero, his creator, was much more of a let-down, so much so, that Cell didn't let on just how disappointed with the man-now-cyborg he was currently. Cell had expected that his "father" would have cared more about how he had fared against Goku, Vegeta, and the other Saiyans, but Gero was not. He had recognized his creation, certainly, but seemed unsurprised that he was defeated. The only thing that made the robotics professor pause, was the information that Cell had been done in by the son of Son Goku, and that Goku admitted that he couldn't beat Cell. That, at least provided Cell with no small amount of satisfaction, but he didn't speak of it aloud. After all, as far as he was concerned, he had been done in by someone he had no respect for. His death, had taken him by surprise, with no small amount of anger and confusion.

He had not seen any way that the hybrid youth could have drummed up that much power. Even upon seeing the child reach another level of power, characterized by the blue electricity flashing from his body, he still shouldn't have had enough energy to blast his body to bits. There had to be another energy source that Gohan had access to, and hadn't seen fit to use it until that moment. The fact that Gohan hadn't used it until at that point in the fight, also added to the hatred Cell had for the child. But no matter. He was dead, there was no way for him to travel into the world of the living to seek revenge, and if he was honest with himself, he didn't even want that. He acknowledged that it was his pride that spoke that he should have payback, but his rational side that spoke that if he was bested by a mere youth, that he certainly was not perfect, and that he should live with his shame of not being what he said he would be. Still, he mused, he did have Saiyan genes. And if he had those, he had a way of becoming even stronger than he was when he died on Earth. That idea, well and truly pleased him.

But even with that, returning to Earth was an impossibility, but Cell would settle for somewhere that was not the inside of the jail, or the vicinity of the volcanic mountains that surrounded him and the other prisoners when the wardens took them out for 'rehabilitative hikes.' In theory, from what Cell heard from overhearing them training some newbie, that the volcanic rocks in Hell were ki absorbing, and helped to drain out negative emotions, in addition to putting people through the soul washing machine that they were subjected to on a daily basis. Cell didn't think it made a damn bit of difference. Five years, and he felt no different.

Still, this place was driving him up a metaphorical wall. The chains that they wore were ki inhibited, meaning they couldn't just break free while they were employed in the use of restraining himself and the others. The jail was made out of a stone that seemed to be impervious to ki blasts, and the bars to the entrance were made out of the same metal as the chains and shackles, so that avenue wasn't even a possibility. The only chance to escape, as Cell saw it, was the moment right before being forced into the soul washing machine.

A strange contraption that not even Dr. Gero was sure of how worked, and it was an uncomfortable experience, especially to someone with a body, someone who wasn't just one of the souls that were shaped like clouds. For a person in a body, it was water rushing into the eyes, mouth, and ears, supposing you had them. The soap, by far, was the worst, it had a nasty flavor, and didn't go away for hours. The whole experience just served to annoy Cell further. But, to the point, they had to uncuff you to throw you in, and there was a couple of seconds before you fell in, that if you were prepared, you could rocket up with your unleashed ki. It would have to be careful timing, Cell mused, as it took a second for your ki to resume it's natural flow in the body, and if you weren't paying attention, you would hit the foamy water of the machine before you realized that there was a split-a literal split second-before you had the opportunity to rocket upwards and to freedom. Or whatever it was you could have in the Otherworld while being dead.

Cell had noticed this, but knew it would be idiotic to just escape without gathering what information he could of his new and unknown environment. There were too many variables unaccounted for. He liked knowing what he was getting into, after all. Still though, even after five years, he didn't know that much more. He did, however, know that Goku-for some reason completely unknown to him-chose to stay dead.

He couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind the choice, he knew from the data before he traveled to the past that Goku was a married man, and had a son. Humans had strong standards for parents, which was why Cell didn't understand why he would choose to leave behind his family; especially considering that he son would be distraught, no matter the fact that Goku had communicated to him from beyond his death. Oh yes, he had noticed that the boy was talking to someone during the last part of the fight, and by reading the boys lips, he had seen the word 'dad' and knew that Goku had found a way to communicate beyond the grave.

Still, why would Goku choose to leave his family unit? It didn't make sense under any kind of logic Cell knew of. A father figure was a person of importance, the seeming leader of the family unit. Why would Goku leave? It implied either Goku didn't care what happened to his son-which seemed unlikely due to the fact that he had died protecting Gohan from him the first time-and the fact that Goku didn't possess a single cruel bone in his body. Goku wasn't mean or malicious in any shape or form, but leaving his family seemed an out-of-character, vicious act towards them. Why bother save his son from death if he was going to put him through even worse emotional trauma? It almost seemed as if-and judging from the lecture he had heard Piccolo give Goku before the Saiyan had jumped in-that Goku didn't understand what being a father meant.

But how could that be so? Surely, Goku had witnessed from others good examples of father figures? The Namekian took better care of Gohan that Goku had even thought of. Running back through his files and what he knew of Goku's childhood, thanks to information downloaded to his memory by the computer Dr. Gero had created, he knew that Goku had spent much of his developing years isolated from civilization. But even assuming that Goku knew nothing of fatherhood due to that, it was completely illogical that he hadn't taken notice of other people who were fathers. (Although admittedly, Vegeta was more than likely a worse example. However, Vegeta did seem to lose it after he put a hole through Trunk's chest. So perhaps Vegeta wasn't as cold as he formerly thought?)

However, it seemed the only possible solution to the question. Goku did not either know or understand, how a father was supposed to act. And that gave Cell an idea. For all of Goku's talk of protecting the planet, of his talk of the value of people who were weak and unable to fight well enough to protect themselves, Goku did not uphold the principles that he spoke so passionately about. Even more so, he didn't seem to understand that he was not following his own ideals, strengthening his theory that Goku didn't even seem to understand and comprehend how he was obliged to act, as a human creator.

This did, however, make for an impressive psychological weapon. What would Goku's response be to such provocation, the idea that he was not all he preached he was? How would that affect his emotional state? What would he do afterword? Would he deny it, or realize his obliviousness? What consequences would Goku face? And what would he, by starting this?

Still, it would be no small amount of revenge, after all, to wholly devastate Goku with that epiphany.

If Goku could even understand that much.