Ch 3: Semi-Perfect Cell

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DRAGON BALL OR DRAGON BALL Z NOR DO I MAKE A PROFIT FROM THIS STORY.

Chemistry-Deaf: Nice long chapter compared to the first two!
I will go back to my first two chapters and correct some tenses error and other mistakes.

EDIT(5/29): One review pointed out a little issue, so I took the time to fix it. Surprisingly, it didn't take all that long.


I landed on the closest island and turned to face my opponent. He landed a few meters in front of me with 18 and another Android landing behind him. I caught Krillin darting to a outcrop of rocks much further back. He was not my main concern, so I focused on 17. "This is a nice spot to pound you into your grave," 17 said as he smiled. "It would be the last mistake you would ever do against me."

"Aren't you being too confident?" I asked. My tail readied itself next to me.

"Isn't it obvious? I am the ultimate warrior!"

I chuckled. "No, you're not. My perfect being will once I have you and 18's help."

"Ugh, there you go again! Your so-called perfect being is the ultimate warrior? I don't see why we should help you!"

"I'm not asking for your cooperation. I will reach my ultimate goal. Starting with you."

"You're really pissing me off. I'm going to shut you up for good!"

"17!" the Android shouted, halting his attack. "I know who Cell is!" I got nervous. I had no idea who this Android was, but he could ruin my plans unless I do something. I was already in a stance to attack 17 if he tried to escape his destiny. "We cannot allow him to achieve his perfect form! His goal is not to kill Goku but the whole world!"

I have no idea where he got that from.

17 interrupted my thought process by asking, "What's that got to do with anything, 16?"

"You have to destroy him before he completed his goal!" 16 replied.

"I was about to do that when you interrupted me!" In a burst of anger, he launched himself right at me. He was too slow from my perspective, so I easily moved off to the side and below him. His eyes barely followed my movements and missed my right hand becoming a fist. I did an uppercut punch right on 17's stomach as his body flew by. The force of my punch halted his flight as I heard him grunt.

I removed my fist from his stomach and stood. He recovered quicker than I thought and kicked me. He wasn't as powerful as I expected, so I wasn't thrown very far. As I skidded to a stop, 17 leaped at me with a readied fist. I saw him and immediately caught his wrist. The force from his jump caused him to slam into my arm and shoulder. I quickly spun him around before slamming him into a rock face.

The rocks crumbled and fell on him. I waited quietly for him to jump out of the pile. I wasn't disappointed. The close proximity of us gave him a more advantage than me because I was unable to react fast enough. 17's fists smashed my exoskeleton around my stomach area, causing me to arch forward. I ignored the slight pain as I kneed 17's chin and punched him in the face. He stumbled back and rubbed the bruise. I grinned when he glared at me.

He roared as he ran at me. As soon as he launched his attack, I was no longer there. My afterimage faded as his fist passed through, and he searched the area for me. I reappeared behind him and elbowed his exposed back. "Gah!" he shouted. I wasn't done with him. As he propelled forward by my first attack, I followed with my clasped hands slamming him down. Unrelenting, I continued to attack him on the ground with punches and stomps for nearly 30 seconds when a hand touched my shoulder.

Confused, I slowly straightened myself as I turned to see who dared to interrupt me. I saw Android 16 over my shoulder who smiled at me. Unexpectedly, his fist took up half of my vision. I was in a bit of a shock to find that punch actually hurts compared to 17's earlier attempt. Regardless of how much force 16 put in, he only managed to move my upper torso a few inches. My acute ears caught a quiet, nearly undetected noise from 16. I assumed 16 was trying to send me flying and failed by his disappointed tone. My shock turned to annoyance when 16 haven't removed his fist.

Lifting my arm, I smacked it away and kicked him. My sole of my foot stung from the force on apparently fully robotic Android while he skidded a good few meters away from me. The distraction was enough for 17 to lift himself from the hole I pounded him in. I wasn't planning on letting him escape. He glanced at us and his eyes widened. I didn't care what he figured out and jumped up in the air. 16 had tried to hit me again with his detached hand which flew harmlessly by where I was. 17 followed my movement with his head and quickly realized what I was going to do. I heard 16 aiming his second hand to where I was while 17 tried to get up faster.

They were too slow. I landed on my feet hard on 17's back as 16's hand missed me again. 17 cried out from the pain I caused which was music to my ears. I stepped off him and noticed he fell unconscious. I was about to pick him up when 16 threw his whole weight at me. This time, I fell to the ground. Before I could get my bearings, I felt a pair of boots most likely from 16 pushing me into the ground. The weak surface of Earth caved down from the force, and gravity dragged me down with it. Not wanting to be humiliated any longer, I struggled to get up. Faintly, I heard some machine noises and a twin of glowing spheres above me. My eyes widened when I heard 16 shout, "Hell's Flash!"

I endured the powerful blast, unable to do anything. As soon it was over, I laid where the blast pushed me in a daze. Faintly, I heard someone said, "Wow." As I lift my head, I saw the dark underground cavern made by the blast. Various sunlit holes scattered about the dark floor including the one above me. I could try to get 17, but 16 was currently on guard judging by the sound of him walking near where I assume 17 was. That leaves 18. Pushing my ki level to near zero, I walked as quietly as possible. I couldn't sense the Androids, so I used my superior hearing to detect where 18 was.

"You're still there?" That was 16. "I told you to run, 18." His voice grew quieter as I walked away from his location.

"It's ok," 18 replied. I smirked when I identified approximately where she was. "You beaten Cell." She had no idea how wrong she was and for not listening to 16.

"I haven't beaten him!" 16 shouted at her. "He's only got wounded from my blast! It wasn't strong enough to kill him! Now, get away while you still can, 18! I will be right behind you with 17!"

"W-what?" I successfully located the hole where 18 was the closest to and rose up. What I saw made me gleeful. 18's back was to me, and 16 was not looking at my direction as he bent down to retrieve the unconscious 17. My stinger was wide open, ready to suck in 18.

"18!" I heard someone shout behind me. "Look out! Cell's behind you!" It's most likely Krillin who was hiding back there. I completely forgot about that insect. No matter, it was too late. I watched 18 turn as I moved my tail towards her. She screamed as my stinger moved towards her faster than expected. 16 heard Krillin and her scream instantly muffled and turned. He was too far away to make any difference. I laughed at their apparent doom and my one step closer to perfection!


I stared in terror as the monster called Cell opened his stinger on his tail and swallow her whole. A few seconds ago, I saw Cell rising up from the hole near 18. Before that, I was watching the battle between 17 and 16 against Cell. I haven't exactly believed Trunks when he said the Androids were terrible, and I had started to like 18. Summoning my courage, I jumped up on the rock I was hiding behind and yelled, "18! Look out! Cell's behind you!" I hoped she would get out of the way, but my wish wasn't granted.

Tien had recovered some a while back and arrived during 16's Hell's Flash. We stood on the rock, staring at Cell. He was positively glowing. Soon, the bright light increased, and we had to shield our eyes. As soon as the light died, we removed our arms and hands. Cell's appearance had changed.

His V-shaped head section had darken and connected to the back of his head. The V-shaped had moved to either side of his head. The orange coverage on his mouth was gone. In its place was a mouth lighter than a nearly black-purple design that traced around his eyes, covered where his nose should be, and extend pass his mouth to the orange piece around his jaw to his ears. His eyes were a light blue. The orange dome on top of his head had changed to a dark purple bio-gem. His skin surrounding his face and neck was a light shade of green.

His chest and shoulder exoskeleton have the green darkened. His dark purple bio-gem on his chest had changed shape. It looked like an hourglass with the top wider than the bottom. The formerly orange striped area around his ribs had changed to a light green that slowly changed to a reddish brown where the tail connected to his back. His tail had a dark green top and light green bottom that ended with a tan stinger.

His biceps and upper part of his legs of his exoskeleton was light green. His forearms and lower part of his legs of his exoskeleton was dark green. The cap over his elbows and knees were purple. The other purple exoskeleton was his groin area around a dark green cover. His feet had changed to red-brown boots with a dark purple section on top and two red-brown circles around his ankles. The skin visible between his exoskeleton that was not his face and neck was also red-brown. The black spots have remained on the headdress, the light green parts of his biceps and upper legs.

Cell looked at Android 16 and got ready to move. 16 wasted no time in grabbing 17 and started to flee. Cell wasted no time in staring at them and moved himself right in front of 16. Tien and I could only stare in shock. Just how strong was this guy? I was nervous seeing him twice now and seeing this abomination absorbing 18 and showing off his strength I was in a nervous wreck. Strangely, I had felt something for 18 and seeing her absorbed through the tail by Cell had brought me into anger.

I never liked the fact of how useless I was starting to become. With my new founded determination, I quietly place my hand in the air with the palm facing the sky. I was going to cut down Cell, and he wouldn't knew what hit him! I kept my eyes trained on Cell and waited.


I had expected some type of power boost, but that one instance surprised me. I barely managed to stop myself in time before I got too far ahead of 16. Regardless of my near screw up, the face on 16 was more than made up for it. "Seems like running wasn't an option anymore," he muttered.

"Seems like it," I replied in a casual manner. 16 kept an eye on me as he set down 17. It was clear to me I have to get rid of 16 before I could get 17. As soon as 16 let go of 17, he immediately jumped at me with his fist ready. I was in mild surprise by his speed, but I moved my head out of the way. It wasn't hard to see 16's expression changed from determination to what I thought was hopeless surprise.

Wasting no time, I moved closer to knee him in the stomach. I idly wondered if Androids could feel pain and saw 16's expression did not change. I should have expected as much as I ignored the flying machine. He landed quite a distance and would have been in the ocean if I put more effort in my attack. Ignoring the piece of rubble on the ground and focusing on my target, I advanced. "Now, 17, I'm sure I have room for-" I started to say when my ears caught a high pitch whir. The sound was grating to my ears and it was getting louder. The next thing I saw was my arm cleanly cut flying away from me and a disc of pure white energy also flying away from me. I was struck from behind by a Distructo Disc. I was shocked.

While I was dealing with my pain, I heard Krillin shout to someone, "Tien! Get Cell away from-!" The rest was distorted by the same high pitch whir where a second one cut roughly from the middle of my chest to the edge of my rib cage. My head spun from the pain from my ears and the cut. My next set of pain was a kick to the side. I landed painfully on the ground and quickly faced to my attacker. I saw Tien in front of the unconscious 17.

The whirs had ended, so I was able to regain myself and regenerate the lost arm and reconnect my torso. Then, I sensed ki was being gathered and noticed Tien above me. I recognized the Tri-beam and was too late in moving out of the way. Unlike the Distructo Disc where the pain was located to the cut, this only merely stunned me. I was unfortunate in the fact Tien continued the attack over and over, making it harder for me to move. I lost count of how many times he used that attack, but it did eventually stop.

I lay in the hole remembering seeing 16 taking his chance and flee with 17. I have no idea which direction he took nor could I sense them. I got up and soothed my sore spots. There were a few minor bruises and scrape on my exoskeleton. Using my ki, I levitated myself up and out of the hole. I could sense Tien's life force was very low and saw Krillin off to my right. He was running to Tien where he fell and stopped when I came up. His expression said it all.

I wanted to kill them both for stopping me and allowing 17 to escape. Tien wasn't going anywhere, so the midget was first. Krillin saw me facing him and his face told me that he was aware of how much trouble he was. I could have sent a powerful blast, but it wasn't rewarding to me. Instead, I want to rip him apart. Acting on that thought, I flew towards Krillin. My hands were outstretched, ready to grab a limb, and my face saw orange and dark blue.

My nose-less face crashed into it, effectively halting my attack. As I stopped to check the damage, I saw out of my peripheral vision who he was. Goku had somehow showed up right in front of me. To my credit, I did hit him hard enough for him to stumble back in surprise. "I believe this the first time we met, isn't it Goku?"

"Yeah. That was quite a hit. I wasn't expecting that," Goku replied.

"How about I'll give you a punch for real? Since you showed up literally out of nowhere." I was ready to proceed with my threat.

Goku turned serious. "Back off. I warn you, leave my friends alone."

"And what do you think you can do? You're only slightly stronger than your friends."

"You're right, but I still want to teach you a lesson. For that, I need one more day to become strong enough to go against you. You will pay for your crimes! Your terror on the earth will end!"

"One day? Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm entirely sane."

I stared at him in complete bafflement of what he was saying. "...That just wants me to question you more," I growled. I had enough and jumped at him. I saw Goku turned to grab Krillin as I neared. Just as I was about to punch him, they were gone. I didn't stay confused for long when I sensed them behind me and turned. There was Goku holding on to Krillin reaching down to grab Tien. "Trying to get away?" I used my fastest speed to cover the short distance. Just like before, Goku had vanished with Krillin and Tien.

I flew passed the space where they were occupying before disappearing and stopped. I do not have an idea where he went and didn't care. I had to find 17! Using my intellect, I figured that 16 would have grabbed 17 and flew away from the battle. That helped narrow down the 360 degree search to less than 180. I took flight to begin my search.


Ever since I sensed the monster approaching Kame House, I was worried endlessly. I have no idea what was going on, but I was sure that the Androids must have found Kame House first. I was relieved to find that the monster wasn't going to attack my friends at the moment. I could sense him fighting against someone who I assumed to be the Androids. Ever since I was aware of the monster absorbing most of Piccolo, I felt something was off. I couldn't pinpoint it, and things were too hectic for me to think.

Trunks and Gohan were in HTC for nearly a day. I hope Gohan took care of whatever troubles during the course of the year inside. With this monster about, we're already in trouble for not defending Earth as it was. Speaking of the HTC, I wanted Vegeta to return as quickly as possible. There's no telling how strong the monster would become.

My spirits rose when I sensed him. He was flying to the Korin's tower beneath us and flying up. "Guess you changed your mind, huh, Vegeta?" I said as the 5'5 Prince of Saiyan came in view.

"Shut it, Kakarot," Vegeta retorted. "That beast had increased somehow, and it pains me to say it, but I have no hope of beating him like this."

"So, you're reconsidering the HTC? That's great! But, you're going to have to enter with me since Gohan and Trunks went on ahead."

"You're letting them in first?"

"What else can I do? Besides, they will be fine."

"Hmph, fine. You better not slow me down when we get in there."

"Yeah, sure, Vegeta." I broke off when I sensed Krillin's ki and then Tien's. My eyes widened when I realized what Tien was doing. "Oh, no! Tien, stop! You're going to die if you continue!"

"What, Kakarot?" I heard Vegeta, but I ignored him and used IT.


I stared at the space where Kakarot was there. I remembered the first time he showed us that trick. It pissed me off.

"Damn him! With his vanishing tricks and what not!"

Still, I need to mentally prepare myself for the whole year with this baka. We better have a chance against this monster unless he's too weak. Then our efforts would be wasted! Where had he ran off to?!


The moment I got out of hyperspace, I felt a strong impact on my stomach. I wasn't expecting a physical attack when I picked Krillin as my target and paid for it. I guess it was pretty stupid on my part, but I managed to protect Krillin, so I didn't care.

I wasn't the kind of guy that judges someone on appearances but one's action. This monster was taller than me and looked like something out of nightmares. "I believe this the first time we met, isn't it Goku?" he said. His voice was deep, almost reminding me of Piccolos' dad, Daimao.

"Yeah. That was quite a hit. I wasn't expecting that," I replied as I rubbed my sore spot.

"How about I'll give you a punch for real? Since you showed up literally out of nowhere." The monster got in his attack stance.

I would have laughed, but the seriousness of the situation prevented me. "Back off. I warn you, leave my friends alone."

"And what do you think you can do? You're only slightly stronger than your friends."

"You're right, but I still want to teach you a lesson. For that, I need one more day to become strong enough to go against you. You will pay for your crimes! Your terror on the earth will end!" I was willing to make sure this monster before me was going to see justice.

"One day? Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm entirely sane." I could see him not believing me, but he would soon understand.

"...That just wants me to question you more." I saw him ready to spring at me. I had to be quick. As I turned around to grab Krillin, I locked to Tien's ki and IT. I had to get them out of here. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him turning around. I was already grabbing Tien's arm when he flew towards me. His speed was incredible, but I had to lock on Vegeta's ki to IT out of there.

I reappeared near Vegeta and called, "Mr. Popo! Could you get some senzu beans?" to the black genie. I heard him run off to find the bag of senzus Korin probably gave him. Krillin looked mostly worn out while Tien needed them. The moment Mr. Popo came with the beans, I quickly gave Tien one.

As that was happening, Krillin was off in a rambling panic. "It was awful, Goku! Cell was stronger than we thought and fought evenly with 17! 16 barely managed to hold him off when he sneakily absorbed 18! I can't believe he absorbed 18! Then, Tien and I managed to hold him off until 16 escaped with an unconscious 17! It was terrible! I bet he's going after them now! We can't let him! We cannot let Cell absorb 17! The world is already doomed as it is!"

"Krillin!" I shouted to calm him. Any longer, he might shut down. "What's going on?"

"Cell, Goku! Cell's the name of that monster you just saw! He's trying to achieve perfect form by absorbing in 17 and 18. He already got 18!" Krillin had to stop to catch his breath.

I was conflicted. I knew it was a bad idea to allow Cell to absorb 17 based on how much increase he got after 18, but my desire for a challenge was making it harder. "That's bad. Really bad. I wonder how strong he would be after absorbing 17."

"No, Goku! We can't-!"

"How strong?" Vegeta cut in. That's right, he liked a challenge as well.

"What?" I heard Krillin say.


"What?" I said. I could not believe my ears. Then again, I probably should have considering how Goku and Vegeta behaved when Bulma suggested taking them out with the dragon balls three years ago. I was about to continue my hopeless argument when I felt two very strong but controlled ki.

We saw two blond Super Saiyan teens walking towards us.


A/N: Next chapter, Gohan and Trunks's time in HTC will be reveled! Cell continued to search for 17 and will face the first opponent that would threaten his existence. How will he overcome that?

A note: 18 did change her clothes (not sure when since it was awhile), but I couldn't place it anywhere here (the best spot would be Son's house or the city), but I guess it mattered little.