Well, here we are again with the second installment! I hate to say it, but I'm starting to lose inspiration for that FNAFH fanfic I'm writing at the same time as this, so I'll probably just cram it all into one mega-chapter and then pull a "X amount of time later…" move to get on with the plot.
Anyway, with that out of the way… I do not own any characters from DBZ, they are owned by Akira. I do own ALL OC's!
(For the record, this is my take on Episode 103 of DBZ Kai: The Final Chapters [i.e. pre-Buu Saga].)
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Gohan arched his back as a rock whizzed through the air where it had been an instant before. Immediately shaking it off, he jumped as another rock landed where his feet would be. He hadn't trained like this in awhile; not since his father's untimely demise. Chichi had forced him to forsake training in an effort to become Bulma Briefs-level smart. According to her, "Martial arts don't pay the bills! Only real work can do that!" Gohan loved his mother, of course, but her controlling nature and utter inflexibility led her to be infuriating at times. The arguments they had had over fractional exponential equations… sheesh.
A stray rock flew past his nose, snapping himself out of his doldrums. Deeming it the better option, he powered up to Super Saiyan 2 and kept moving.
"Wow, Gohan, you're really fast! I haven't even hit you yet!" Gohan's little brother, the chibi version of Goku himself, exclaimed.
"Thanks, Goten. I try my best," the older brother replied sheepishly. "It took a lot of training to get this strong, and I haven't powered up in a long time, so I'm happy for now. It doesn't mean I can't get stronger."
"You mean you can get stronger than this?" Goten asked, practically bouncing up and down with a pent-up energy only Goten's childish body could possess.
"I mean, technically yes, but I haven't done so in a long time. Not since…" Gohan trailed off.
Seeing an opportunity, Goten picked up a rock with inhuman speed and threw it at Gohan's face. Expecting a move like that, Gohan was ready and moved his head to the side. The small stone slid through the beige rock-face behind him like it was made out of gum, rocketing out the other side. Another rock careened towards his face, while a third made for his feet. Jumping upwards out of the way, Gohan shook his thoughts from his mind, wishing only to continue training.
The storm of rocks abruptly ceased as Goten looked at his older brother, as if asking something.
"I want to go all 'Super Saiyan' like you, Gohan. You know, when you hair gets all weird and spiky," Goten asked innocently.
"Well, Goten, that takes a lot of intense training. But I don't think you should start trying to go Super Saiyan until-"
Goten went Super Saiyan, his hair spiking up and turning an electric yellow. The expression on his older brother's face as he beheld this transformation was that of shock incarnate.
Here I am, training half my life to get to that level, and then Goten comes along and can go into Super Saiyan form without any training of any kind! Even the kids are showing me up! Gohan thought as he stared, agape, at his younger brother.
"I look like a delinquent, don't I, Gohan?" Goten ejaculated, still cheery.
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"Another empty day, another empty morning. A day filled with silence, a day naught but boring. Just like all the others, just like all the rest. Yet another day's time for me to detest," hummed the man as he scanned his environment, as he had done every single day for the past seven Earth years. Just about to dismiss the paranoia-induced sweep, he caught something. A spike of energy, due north from the cave he now called home. It was pitifully low, sure, and rather far away, but never did the man relax.
Suppose I should try to force my way out of this universe… again… for the umpteenth time. Or maybe I need more energy to get out. Apparently Alpha Cells can curse my energy; I suppose that's good to know. I'll assume all the other Cells above him can, too.
Ah, what's the use. I'm stuck here until I can get out. Suppose I should deal with those energy signatures I noticed earlier… they might be two Cells working together. They'd probably be in… the Low Theta range. Respectable for anyone else, but pitiful for any other Cell.
Shrugging, the man leapt out of the cave and flew northwards, towards the energy.
Despite his vehement hatred for the planet, the man had to admit that the simplistic beauty of the world he now resided in was alluring. Maybe it was the obtrusive fact that he could no longer reside in other timelines due to the curse he had contracted from the Alpha Cell. Perchance it was the simple truth that in his experience, the world Earth was a dead, barren world, devoid of all life. Perhaps it was nice to see the world before the Cells overrode it. Whatever it was, it was intoxicating, and all the man wanted to do was stay here until he decided to die.
But if those two energy signals really were two Cells, then this timeline could die before the man could really appreciate its innocent, innate beauty.
He wouldn't let this happen to the creatures that remained on this planet.
Shaking himself out of his doldrums, the man looked up to see himself crash into a bright yellow helicopter. The man couldn't stop himself fast enough; he ended up crashing into the plane.
A pigtailed, raven-haired teen whipped her head around to see who had interrupted her flight. "Hey!" she yelled. "Who the hell do you think you are, crashing into MY helicopter? Are you one of Gohan's friends or something?"
"Go-who?" the man replied, cocking an eyebrow.
"Guess that answers my second question… ANSWER THE FIRST!"
"Depends. Can I trust you or not? Who do you think you are?" the man responded, all too politely.
"That doesn't matter right now. I'm kind of on my way to somewhere," the teenager said angrily, turning her helicopter north.
"That's fine. We can walk and chat. Or fly and chat, anyway. I'm headed the same way, as a matter of fact," the man said nonchalantly. "And for now, you can call me… uh… Mortem. Yeah, that'll do."
"I'm Videl. So stop following me around and go your own way."
"One thing before I do? Your name, Videl, is a perfect anagram for 'devil', and since your last name is 'Satan', it goes around with a whole Satanic theme. Well, see you!"
Mortem placed two fingers on his forehead, and disappeared.
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The Cell Hunter reappeared in front of a rather large mountain. The energy signals told him that his targets were on the other side. Mortem crouched down, attempting to come up with a plan of attack.
One is certainly more powerful than the other, and the weaker of the two is confined to the ground. That should make things easier. I have no idea what they're doing, though. Maybe there's only one Cell, and he's fighting a human?
Whatever is going on, the Cells need to be exterminated. Good thing that's my job.
A large rock pierced the cliff-face, brushing over Mortem's back.
"What the-"
He had no time to finish his thought, because another rock hurtled towards his exposed cranium. Jumping, the Cell Hunter maneuvered around the maelstrom of pebbles and small stones smashing through the mountain behind him. Rock after rock punched through the face of the mountain.
When it finally subsided, Mortem peered through one of the holes a rock had left. On the other side were two humans with spiky golden locks, talking in English. From that distance, and for a robot whose was only literate in Latin, his native language, it was impossible to decipher the conversation.
The shorter one's turquoise eye drifted to the side, lazily sweeping over his surroundings, until he noticed the steely black eye peering back with malevolence. An instant later, it was gone.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Mortem pressed his back against the cool, beige, holeless rock he now hid behind. From here, he could even catch the conversation held between the two entities.
"Hey Gohan, who was that?" the undersized Cell said.
"Who was who, Goten?" the other replied.
"There was a man just beyond the cliff, watching us," the midget- Goten- said. "Who was he?"
"Goten, I think you're seeing things. There's no one over there, but if you insist, I'll check," Gohan said angrily.
Don't check, don't check, don't you DARE check… Mortem thought to himself.
"Check, Gohan. I'm not seeing things."
"Fine."
Gohan was clearly disgusted at his new task, but flew to the other side of the mountain.
Best time to make an entrance as any, I suppose. Besides, what do I have to lose?
Mortem slinked across the empty strait, clear to avoid the Goten's notice. After what seemed to be a millennium, the Cell Hunter had reached his target.
His tail snaked out from under his shirt in anticipation. This was going to be a fine meal.
The Gohan was still oblivious to Mortem's presence. That is, until he reached up and grabbed him by the neck.
"Hey! What is go-"
"Okay look. There's no way you can win, Cell; I have too much experience. And there's no way I'm letting you go. So prove to me right now that you're not a Cell, or get absorbed."
"Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this?"
"Because you're a Cell, obviously. And I have to kill the Cells, now don't I?"
"Think about it. I'm not an oversized cockroach, I can't be Cell."
"That's the excuse all the shapeshifting Cells use. Give me something else. NOW."
"I-"
"What are you doing to my big brother, you freak!" Goten screeched as he wheeled around the cliffside, where he promptly started punching the man's torso. With a vicious kick, the chibi boy flew for half a second straight into a conveniently placed rock face.
"Don't do that to my little brother!" Gohan screamed as he powered up to Super Saiyan 2.
This boy has been holding back power! It's not like it makes a difference, but still. Good to know.
Gohan threw a flurry of punches at Mortem. None appeared to have any effect. Growing weary, the man blocked Gohan's punch with his index finger. Shocked, Gohan stopped throwing punches to express his disbelief. Using the opportunity, Mortem attacked with an uppercut straight into Gohan's stomach. He was about to finish Gohan off, using the same routine Beerus would use on Goku on King Kai's planet, when he thought of something important.
If this guy has a little brother, then he can't be a Cell, because Cells are born in the lab; siblingless.
Mortem altered his movements so that instead of slamming Gohan down into the rocks, Gohan was caught in midair. With exaggerated care, Mortem placed Gohan down on the rocky ground to recuperate.
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When Gohan awoke, the first thing he saw was the malevolent eye his little brother had described, now saturated with sympathy.
"Ah, you're awake. Took you long enough," he started. "I apologize for the egregious acts I committed. I was under the assumption that no human being could obtain that kind of power, so I had to assume you were Cells."
"But we killed Cell."
"Did you now? Must have been a weak one… anyway, yes, you may have killed the Cell in this universe, but there are many more timelines with many more Cells. And it's my job to destroy them all.
"However, I am now cursed. The very air of all timelines but this one are slowly toxic to me, so I can't escape this one for any long period of time.
"I've been here for nearly seven years. A cave now serves as my only home. No one can trust me, and I can trust no one. However, I think I can trust you, since you've destroyed a Cell too."
"A lot of people say Mr. Satan did it, but he was kind of a doddering fool at the Cell Games."
"Cell… Games?"
"Oh, the Cell in our universe- he died about seven years ago- hosted these big Cell Games on which the fate of the world was decided. We won, obviously, but he took the life of my father."
"I know the feeling. Dr. Gero was about as close to a father as I can get. He wasn't all that bad," Mortem continued, seeing Gohan's confused face. "He may have been terrible in your universe, but in mine, he created me with a benevolent heart, you see. He thought that the key to creating the ultimate life-form is to add something he had never thought of with his other robots- compassion. I'm sort of an anti-Cell, if you will.
"Also, I'm assuming Mr. Satan is the father of Videl Satan? Because she's on her way here right now."
"Wait, what? I got to go! Goten, come on!"
"... what?" Goten replied groggily.
"We're leaving!"
"Oh, okay!" Goten said, enthused.
Together, they rushed west, towards Videl's location.
Sorry about the wait, guys. I had, like, no time to work on this (high school and stuff), but I hope you guys enjoyed! See you around!