Chapter 2:
In a gloomy corner of the Fukurou Mountain Forest appeared something that did not belong. The trees loomed over his anomalous form, bathing his body in shadow. Bushes rustled and leaves crunched as the creature shuffled through the undergrowth, bulky form moving with a peculiar, lumbering gait. Four reptilian legs, ending in three-toed feet dug into the wet earth, leaving behind outlandish footprints.
Two cat-like eyes with an unearthly pink glow seemed to glare at the world from their place just above the ground, somehow managing to reflect soul-chilling intelligence and malicious intent. A shaft of sunlight valiantly pierced an ancient tree's encompassing shadow, illuminating the creature further and revealing an insect-like being. It had a dark-green exoskeleton and two stunted wings that seem too small to possibly allow flight.
'I am the catalyst,' the creature thought, eyes narrowing broodingly, 'I am the start of the finish, the beginning of the end.'
With less satisfaction, he added, 'But I am incomplete.'
His unusual, cocoon like body pushed forward at an maddeningly slow pace. The creature could barely hide his frustration, and he internally damned Bulma Brief's for not building a larger time capsule – one that could contain him in his hatched state. The years he would have to spend waiting to re-develop would be a constant torture, while somewhere out there his precious children lay in wait for him.
And his current state felt so…undignified.
He could not stand the deep sense of vulnerability. The trees themselves seemed to whisper ominously, as if they were looking down on him with disapproval. Every rustle or snap set him on edge. The Earth rejected him, as it had rejected his creator. Not for long however. Soon all the creatures of the world would cower beneath him and worship him for everything that they were not.
'For I am destined for Perfection.'
Perfection. The creature gave a visible shudder at the thought. The word rolled around his mind, each syllable more splendid than the last. His destiny, his purpose. To be whole and complete and to possess that which was utterly unattainable to any but he. The doctor's words still rang clearly: 'You are my ultimate creation and in you, something glorious will be witnessed. You are a bio-android, and you hold the potential for that which evolution has failed to attain despite many millennia of trial and error.'
Perfection. The excitement, the sheer longing to complete his destiny was almost agonizing. It drove him forward, making his four year incubation period both bearable and utter torture simultaneously. To burrow beneath the earth and wait, with nothing but his goal in mind, and nothing to distract from the onerously slow passing of time. It was not an appealing thought, but he was a patient creature. Who had he taken that from? Ah yes, Piccolo, the Namekian. A mere drop in the bucket that was his superior being.
Four years, give or take. Then the process of absorbing humans for their bio-extract. An annoying chore, which would be made even more troublesome by the existence of the Z-warriors. They would no doubt take exception to the unbiased slaughter of so many pitiable, substandard creatures. He would gift them with the higher purpose of becoming one with his body, but there was very little chance of the pesky saiyans seeing it his way.
No matter. He was cunning, devious and ruthless and nothing would stand before him and his destiny.
He was the catalyst, the beginning and the end.
And his name was Cell.
A short distance away from the alien creature called Cell, a young girl strolled casually along a well-tread forest path, humming to herself and occasionally wacking passing trees with a small stick. On her face was a taped together pair of thick rimmed glasses, which she habitually pushed up her nose. Soft cheeks, with the baby-smooth glow of youth, were streaked with dirt and scrapes, as were her legs and arms.
A small child, with awkward, skinny limbs, she cut an unimpressive figure in the forest. She wore a mud-stained dress that fell to her knees and no shoes, bare feet absently playing with the leaves strewn over the ground as she walked. Her light brown hair was tied into two low ponytails, though it was wild and disheveled to the point where a twig and a leaf stuck out of her bangs.
Twelve year old Rin was quite proud of herself that morning, as was shown by the slightly smug smile on her face. On the way back from a swim in the river, a saber cat that she often found herself confronted by had thought it would be a good idea to steal her candy bar. The ensuing battle had been fierce and hard-fought, but by the end of it the saber cat had scampered off and she had triumphantly waved her prize at his retreating form, pumping her fist in the air as she did so. The evidence of her victory could still be seen in the form of a small smudge of chocolate at the corner of her mouth.
She frowned as she considered the scolding she was likely to receive from her mother for ruining yet another dress - a brand new one too. It was enough to make her want to delay returning home for as long as possible. She idly considered sneaking in through her bedroom window and getting changed before her mother could spot her, but estimated that successfully pulling that off would be near impossible.
She perked up though at the thought of the left-over desert she had left in the fridge the previous night. She would happily endure a lecture to get her hands on some apple pie.
She jumped as a roar swept through the forest, followed by an alien screech. All thoughts of sweet things driven away, she stared wide-eyed into the forest. She recognized the roar as Toby, one of the most dangerous dinosaurs in the forest, but she couldn't place the other sound. Obviously the T-Rex had found himself a victim.
She winced as the screech came again, and she felt her heart twist with pity. Whatever the other creature was, she felt very sorry for it. It sounded so wretched and…despairing.
Her mind suddenly made up, she darted into the underbrush, her course of direction changed. Toby was scary, and she trembled at the thought of facing him, but that screech was just too miserable to ignore. The T-Rex was just going to have to find himself another meal.
Had that pitiful sound really come from him?
Cell staggered back from the large dinosaur that towered over him. Its jagged teeth dripped with saliva, and its dim-witted eyes glared down at him. The reptile had caught a whiff of his scent, and obviously disliked it as it had immediately charged him. Cell cursed the beast, rage and desperation making his movements jerky and unplanned.
'I will not be defeated by some overgrown gecko!' he thought acidly.
He charged the beast, fully intending to bite whatever part of it he could reach and send it whimpering home.
His sharp beak pierced the dinosaur's reptilian skin, and he crunched his jaw down on its toe. Blood immediately filled his mouth and Cell sneered in triumph. The tyrannosaurus roared in pain and wrenched its bleeding foot out of his grip, stumbling backwards. Cell shook with wrath, pink eyes staring evilly.
But the dinosaur only seemed more incensed and as it shook its head with a snort that shook the earth, Cell prepared himself for an attack. He braced himself, refusing to give in to the panic and fright that enveloped him. Not the fear of death, but rather the horror of realizing that he might never taste completion. He would die a literal shell of his intended self.
He wouldn't allow that to happen.
With unforeseen strength, and even as heavy, clawed footsteps charged his way, he stared his attacker down; confident for reasons he couldn't explain. The dinosaur opened its disgusting maw, two rows of teeth momentarily becoming all he could see.
Then, to his shock, a figure appeared in a flash to his right, feet scampering quickly over the grass before launching impossibly high into the air and kicking the tyrannosaurus in the side of the head. Cell might have gaped, for in that moment time seemed to slow. The dinosaurs head contorted strangely, a tiny human foot leaving a sizeable indentation in its skin. And then the human. Frozen for a moment, he took in the tiny stature of the newest arrival.
The figure fell through the air and landed heavily on the ground in front of him. It was, he realized, a wild-looking child. Her legs wobbled from the fall, but she managed to stay upright. Cell sensed power – barely acknowledgeable, even less than the weakest of the Z-warriors – but substantially larger than an average human.
Before he had time to react, the scrawny girl had rushed him, grubby little hands lifting his body right off the ground and holding him over her head.
"Not today, Toby!" she exclaimed in an arrogant shriek that didn't quite match the trembling of her form. And then she ran.
Cell's legs waved uselessly as the girl carried him through the trees, away from the angry dinosaur. Her little feet pitter-pattered with alarming speed, and his pink eyes widened comically every time she leapt over a fallen branch or some other obstacle.
The humiliating trip came to an end just as he managed to gain his senses back and begin forming a solid plan to murder the little brat. She ducked around a tree, still holding him above her head, and peeked around nervously. The path behind them looked bedraggled, but silent. Cell raised his front paw, ready to swipe down and scratch her scalp off, but she evaded his attack by kneeling down and pushing him forward onto the ground. Cell scrambled away, turning with a murderous glare. He wanted to get a good look at just who had dared to lay hands on him.
The first impression he got of the girl crouched in front of him was that she was small, skinny and dirty. Most surprising, however, was the pair of scratch-ridden glasses perched on her nose. Behind them lay lively eyes that raked over him with childish curiosity. He glared back. He wasn't going to lose to a beast, and he sure as Kami wouldn't lose to a human brat.
There was a tense pause, where Cell wasn't entirely sure what she would do. He was fully prepared for an attack, and halfway excited by the thought of ripping her tiny body to shreds and feeding on her energy. He expected a scream, or a can of bug-spray – like the people from his timeline. He did not expect her to break into a shy grin and extend a small hand to rub his beak.
"Aww, look at you," she cooed, "You're so ugly!"
Cell's mouth fell open in shock. Wha- He would kill and absorb her, the filthy human! A growl ran through him, and the girl squeaked, quickly withdrawing her hand.
"Whoa, sorry. Didn't mean to offend…" she frowned, "I meant it in a nice way."
His cat-like eyes narrowed disbelievingly. The girl cocked her head.
"You seem like you understand what I'm saying," she said thoughtfully, "What are you, exactly?"
His only response was silence as he contemplated how best to kill her. She had some power, and that would prove helpful in speeding up his growth if he could consume her bio-extract. It would be so easy to destroy her, even in his imperfect form. Kami, it would be easy to destroy her right now if he had his tail free. As it was, he would have to wait for a moment of weakness before he could strike.
"My name's Rin," she said with so much child-like innocence his skin crawled, "What's yours?"
'I am your death, puny human,' He thought acerbically.
"Don't have a name?" she asked, "I could give you one if you like -"
'No!' He was not a pet to be named by some human! Resigned, he answered through his beak.
"- I've named most of the animals around here. You've already met Toby, then there's Scruffy, who I actually scrapped with just this morning, Jeffery the Boar, Annabelle the Bunny, sometimes I call her Anna-Bunny - "
"Cell," the creature rasped, and she froze in counting the names off on her fingers.
"So you can talk," she gasped, though with less surprise than anticipated, "Cell? That's your name?"
"...Yes."
"Oh wow! That's a very nice name. It suits you."
Humph. Of course it suited him – it wasn't just his name, it was his being. At least the child seemed to have some sense though.
"So where do you come from? I've never seen anything like you before. How did you get here? Are there more like you?" She gasped in excitement, and shuffled closer, "Do you have a family?"
Cell gazed at her blankly. The human spoke too much. With an inward snort, he turned and began moving away.
"Wait!" Rin cried, rising to her feet and running after the bug. "Cell, wait up!"
Cell firmly ignored her.
"This place is dangerous, you almost got eaten back there. Why don't you come with me, and I'll keep you safe and bring you some food."
Cell gazed up at her in consideration. She had some power, and would probably be able to keep them safe from any larger predators. He was uncertain about her motives, but something in the way she nervously chewed her lip and absently played with the tip of her hair convinced him to trust her. She was nothing but a child, and a fairly dim-witted one at that. She couldn't possibly have anything dastardly up her sleeve. With a decisive nod, he spoke again, "Fine. Lead the way."
She clapped her hands together and set off down a side path, her hands folded behind her back. Cell watched her carefully as he followed, eventually deciding that he would bide his time before killing her. She was somewhat powerful, and might prove to be useful in the long run. He had nothing but time, and with it, he could await the opportunity to strike.