Author's Note: Due to lack of time and attention, some of the content in this next chapter may be found to be somewhat or completely un-canon (meaning it is not up to the correct standards) of the original Dragon Ball Z/Cell Saga episodes and scripts. This chapter was written fairly out of pure memory and fiction; however, I do invite any of you reading this to Review or Email me if you have any corrections or DBZ quotes I should know about. It would really help me out of I could have some help from those of you who know the Cell Saga very well and know all the little details which it contains. Thank you for your patience, now on with the chapter…
Cell was up before Earth's sun. The android shook the cold, morning dew off his armored body and made his way to the familiar spot in the middle of his battle arena; for a while he stood there like a formidable statue, only moving every so often to either sigh or to swat and scratch at the tiny gnats that collected around him. After an hour or so, his stomach begins to growl, but Cell decided against going out to feed; no one ever faired well in a huge fight after eating.
Then the sun began to rise. Cell watched with slight interest, and he allowed his arms to unfold at his side to enjoy the sun's warm rays hitting his body. His mind clear; in fact, not a minute of the traumatizing events of last night had made it back to his memory chips yet. As far as Cell knew, he had just had a bad dream, caused once again by the incredibly unusual symptoms he's been having…
Just then, Cell heard a noise. His super senses picked up on it right away and he turned his head ever so slightly in the direction of it. What he saw didn't surprise him: a TV reporter and his camera man, both armed only with a microphone and a large, wheeling metal box camera with the logo "Z-TV" on the front. Cell sighed and turned his head away. They were only humans.
It was not long, however, until a whole prong of humans came along, majority of them even willing to fight Cell, but of course, these fights didn't last long enough to take a snap shot of: one by one, Cell sent them all flying out of the ring using nothing more then his Ki Aura. But this was not the real tournament he was waiting for: the real challenge only came when he was finally approached by his true enemies: the Z fighters…
It was about thirty minutes later. Cell and his Creator's arch-nemesis Goku have already begun their duel in the ring, showing off their extraordinary fighting skills. There the two creatures were, soaring in and out of sight and landing shots on each other; at last, Cell found himself a little dazed from a well-landed blow in the stomach by Goku, and before he had time to block it, Goku kicked the android hard into the air and proceeded to fire an expected Kamehameha at him. Just as Cell finally stopped himself from spinning, something crazy happened: he heard voices in his head!
Owe! That one hurt.
Hay Daddy! How come you didn't see that one coming?
Cell's eyes wide! He looked down himself and thought to himself, What the hell? Who said that?
WE said that!
Yeah, your KIDS, remember?
Cell gazed up into the sky: suddenly all the events of last night came flooding back to him…
BAM!
Not paying attention cost him once again as Cell was caught in the Kamehameha's mighty blast; it was hard enough to get out of, and even harder to stop, but eventually Dr. Gero's greatest creation managed easily once he put his full mind to it. While Goku was distracted by a good Ki Beam shot by his opponent, Cell turned his attention to the voices of his children: You guys! Yes, I do remember you all now!
Well, THAT'S a relief!
Yeah, we were afraid you forgot about us in here, Daddy!
Yeah! Heehee!
Cell rolled his eyes, but still kept them on Goku as the Saiyan came towards him: Look, kids, I don't have time to talk now! I'm in the middle of the Tournament, so you'll all just have to wait a while.
Aww, do we have to?
Daddy, it's getting hot in here. Can we be born yet?
Cell frowned as he held his own against an aggressive Super Saiyan Goku: NO NO NO! Absolutely NOT that! I told you all, WAIT for me to win the Tournament and THEN we can talk, ok?!
Oh alright fine…
But make it quick, Daddy! We're starving!
Cell grumbled under his breath, but not enough for Goku to hear him.
After a few minutes of flying punches and a close call by a Kamehameha Wave, Cell and Goku landed away from each other on either side of the ring. Neither creature was panting, and both were grinning! But of course, this was just a warm-up fight…
Cell spoke: "Well… I guess that was a good enough warm-up."
"Yes, it was." Goku nodded.
The two decide on behalf of everyone to start to fight for real: Goku powers up…
Daddy, did you win?
Cell sighed and turned his attention away from Goku while everyone else was distracted.
No, children. Not yet.
It was only a few minutes later, and Goku and Cell had resumed their battle; this time it was all out war. Cell cockishly allowed Goku to make the first move, with shockingly painful results: he was punched hard in his stomach then round-house kicked in the ribs. Cell cringed in enormous pain but got his revenge with a savage punch to Goku's jaw.
OWE! Daddy, who's the butthead who punched us like that?!
Daddy is the fight over?
No, kids! The fight is NOT over yet! Just give me a moment!
Cell was really beginning to have a hard time keeping up with Goku and having to deal with the constant complaints of the seven little fetuses inside him. After pulling out all the tricks in his sleeve he could pull, and even as he noticed Goku becoming slightly weaker and sluggish, the bug-like android had simply had enough…
"You know, Goku…" Cell smirked as he and Goku remained floating high above the battle area, "…I'm becoming a bit tired of all the restrictions of this fight. Let's make things a little interesting, shall we?"
Goku watched with confusion as Cell stuck his clawed hand out in front of him and started up a very powerful energy ball…
"Oh, and you might want to tell your friends to clear the area." Cell said with an air of wicked humor as his blast grew brighter and brighter as well as size.
Cell could see the look of shock hit Goku and while the Super Saiyan turned his head to yell down for the others to run, Cell was momentarily distracted by a rather powerful cramp in his right side. He turned his mind to them again,
What is it now? He thought impatiently.
Daddy, you're taking our energy away from us!
Yeah, quit it!
Can we be born now, Daddy?
Cell responded, Yes, kids, I KNOW I'm taking some of your energy away, but right now Daddy is just a little tired. Besides you'll all live, trust me. …And NO, I can't have you guys yet!
There was a collective sigh inside his belly before Cell brought his mind back to the outside world…
Many punches and kicks later, it was over. Goku had just announced to everyone's shock that he was giving up the fight. Cell stood by as Goku returned to the others, speaking on terms of whom he chooses to replace him. Being part Nemekian, Cell had hearing that was almost as good as Piccolo's, even though his ears were round Ice-jin holes rather then large and pointy. Of course, there were also the noises which he was forced to listen to:
(Hay guys, the fighting stopped!) Dad, did you win?
Can we come out now?
I have to pee…
And I'm hungry!
At first, Cell wanted to ignore them, but a terrible guilt brought on by his maternal instincts gripped him and he was quick to answer: No, children! I'm not finished fighting. I'll let you all out very soon, I promise! Cell new his children were beginning to get tired of his constant lame excuses, but for now, it was all he could offer; the predator android looked back up to where Goku was and spoke,
"Goku, if you truly have given up this fight with me, then I will wreck havoc on this planet."
Goku responded: "I know you want to, Cell. But there is one more person you must fight…"
Cell then watched in amazement as his enemy turn to his young son, Gohan, and announced that he would take his place. Cell was not the only one stunned: even the lousy TV reporter and Hercule could not believe this. Gohan stepped out and powered up, but not before Goku threw a Senzu Bean to Cell, saying it would not be fair if the android could not start a new battle at full power. As Cell ingested the seed and his muscles bulked, he could feel his children's movements subside slightly (They must have liked that little bit of food, Cell though to himself).
Although he was happy to be back to his full power, the painful cramps that Cell continued to feel in his stomach and sides still remained; in fact, with each passing minute, they seemed to grow worse. He had no choice: in perhaps a few minutes, his children will have grown so big that the android began to fear that keeping them cooped up inside for much longer may cause his stomach to rupture, and very possibly ruining his Perfect body.
Knowing that his children desperately needed to be born and, Cell was plagued with the question of exactly when and how he should…
In all his years (or… months) of being alive, Cell never imagined himself hugging any one of the Z Warriors. But amazingly, that was just what he was doing: a now cocky Cell had gained the upper hand in the middle of his second fight of the day with Goku's son, and now the pink-eyed android threatened to crush the living spirit out of the boy if Gohan did not reveal his hidden power to Cell. Surprisingly though, even having Gohan's body pressing up against his much bigger form, this did not upset Cell's unborn children; it would seem they had grown tired of having to take turns begging Daddy to let them out, so they decided to pass some of the time with a good nap.
But Cell was no fool: with each passing minute, he could feel his children growing bigger and bigger in his stomach, and if the android father-to-be had any hope of safely delivering them without so much of a threat from the Z Warriors, he had to entice Gohan to release his anger and then beat it out of him and his family so that they will not be too bad of a threat once Cell's children are delivered.
Gohan, however, proved quite the stubborn boy, even as Cell brought his face close to the young Saiyan's during the "bear hug of death" and mocked him outright.
"C'mon! Get mad, Gohan. It hurts, doesn't it? You hate me, don't you?"
Gohan said nothing; it would seem his silence (save the grunting noises he made while his bones were cracking under Cell's strength) was his only leeway to the android's demands. Cell released his muscular arms and allowed Gohan to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.
"What a stubborn kid…" Cell muttered out loud to himself. But then he got an idea… and turned his head to face the rest of the Z Warriors who had taken refuge on a nearby cliff. "…Well, Gohan, if you yourself getting hurt won't make you mad, then maybe you seeing your friends get hurt will."
And with that, Cell turned his whole body around and prepared to launch an attack on his enemy and his family. Cell could sense Gohan come at him from behind to land a punch, but the bug-like predator was much too keen to this and whirled around and kicked the boy far away. As the dust settled, Cell laughed out loud and grew excited; maybe this was it: Gohan was starting to fume!
"Good! Get mad! Be angry at me!"
Cell waited a few seconds for Gohan to get himself up on his hands and knees; the small boy was forced to stare up into the gleaming pink eyes of this seemingly invincible genetic experiment. Yes, Cell did indeed feel invincible staring down at the small Super Saiyan below him; already his hunger was coming back. Wouldn't it be so easy if Gohan would just get mad so Cell could prove him universally weak, eat him, and finally get this whole Tournament over with? But just as Cell was making to approach a slightly wheezy Gohan, Cell's vision was suddenly blurred for a second and the insect-android felt his whole body being captured, constricted, and hoisted three feet up into the air! Panic flooded his heart and brain as Cell turned his head slightly to see who on Earth could have captured him.
It was Android 16. The very machine that Dr. Gero had originally put in charge of killing Goku had now trapped his very own kind in an ironic bear hug. Yes, it was 16, Cell's own older "brother" if you will, once the giant accomplice of Cell's "Last Supper" (AKA 17 and 18) was now the Gentle giant of the Z Warriors. When all of this information eventually all passed through Cell's memory chips, his eyes widened and his face grew pale.
"…16?!" He exclaimed.
Their faces were close to each other, and the red-headed robotic man spoke, "Yes, Cell. It is I."
Then 16 turned his head to everyone else around the two androids and said loudly, "Wait! Stay back! I'm going to blow myself up with Cell!"
Cell's heart dropped. Oh, Kami…! The Self Destruct bomb, how could I forget?! No, no! This can't happen, this WON'T happen!
Cell grit his teeth and began to wiggle around, trying to break free; but 16 only gripped his little brother even harder, forcing Cell's arms to press uncomfortable into his ribs. Android 16 spoke in a tone of imminent doom,
"Cell I won't let you go and you won't survive the blast. This is the end Cell. I'll be destroyed and so will you!"
Cell refused to hear this! The wild animal inside Cell was already awake and going crazy due to his confinement; Cell thrashed about, kicking and trying to dig his extended black claws into 16, but it was no use, he couldn't reach. 16 spoke calmly to Cell,
"You should blame Dr. Gero for this, Cell. He was the one who created us. He was the one who plotted to conquer the world. …Now, Cell, its time."
16 started to glow, and everyone began to scream. Cell himself almost felt like screaming: it was his worst nightmare, perhaps, dying in such a pathetic way by one of his own traitorous siblings before getting the chance to fulfill his Master's greatest wish. As 16 grew brighter and brighter, the much taller and larger android began to squeeze the life out of his little brother; Cell was beginning to feel the same strain he gave Gohan; Cell could feel his organs being constricted…
Suddenly, Cell found himself stricken with perhaps the worst pain he had ever felt alive at that time… The feeling of something like a water balloon rupturing inside his stomach was followed within seconds by what felt like liquid seeming out of his short tail in his back area. Cell had a look of sheer panic on his face as he tried to turn his head around to see what had happened, but the bright aura of 16's Self Destruct mechanism was too much for his eyes, so he turned back and stared straight ahead.
Then he heard the voices once more:
Daddy… we need to talk to you.
Daddy… we need you to listen to us.
It's time, Daddy. It's time.
Give birth to us. If you don't, we'll all die.
At least let us out before you die in Uncle 16's explosion, Daddy.
We can't wait any longer, Dad. You hafta' do this.
Cell was about to answer them back, but couldn't think of what to say.
Luckily, he didn't have to: 16's bright aura had finally faded away and it was found that his Self Destruct bomb had been removed by the Z Warriors due to their fears of 16 using the device against Goku (despite the fact that Android 16 had declared many times he would not do so). When the time was just right, Cell gave one last great wiggle and freed himself from his sibling's tight grasp, and finally doing him in with a single blast from his white palm.
As Android 16's mangled and broken shards fell this way and that, Cell noticed that there was also blood smeared on the parts and on the ground. While the dust was still shrouding him and his destroyed counterpart from all other eyes, Cell took a closer look at all the blood, then he felt the same liquid still seeping from his backside; he turned himself around and quickly realized that the blood on the ground and the liquids draining from himself were his own blood. And that could only mean one thing: Cell could not hold off his important "delivery" any longer…
Cell tried to shake off the shock of it all, but it was hard; he found some relief by kicking 16's severed head away from him and taunting Gohan some more. Then he remembered the other Z Warriors:
Ah, right! Gohan's family and friends. I know exactly how to do this now; I know how to tie all this together without causing too much alarm, heh heh!
As he turned his back to Gohan and looked fiercely up at the rest of the Z Warriors, the terrible cramping in Cell's sides so became excruciating contractions within seconds. Cell grit his teeth and began to sweat so profusely it began to look as though he had just gone swimming. He could feel his "precious cargo" thrashing around inside his belly and chanting in shrilly toddler voices,
Let us out! Let us out! Let us out!
Cell's hands became fists, he arched his back and threw his head back, screaming in pain. As he pushed and pushed, his children's demands never stopped pounding in his head,
LET US OUT! LET US OUT! LET US OUT!
And that's what Cell finally did: with blood still leaking out of his tail, the stinger part stretched open and Cell could feel a large, round mass sliding through his body cavity and into his tail before popping out onto the hot, dirt ground. Then another one came through and slid out his tail, and just after that, another ball of slime, and then after that yet another! At one point the pain grew horribly worse as Cell felt like there were two more trying to come out at the same time, but eventually, by working and manipulating his tail a little, Cell managed to whelp them out as well. All the while, Cell and all those around him (even the humans) could hear strange, ominous giggles coming from the slimy blue balls that fell to the ground from Cell's back. Finally, as Cell gave one last great push and gave birth to the very last infant, he could feel the space in his body closing up as there was no need for it to remain stretched out. Gasping, Cell lowered his fists to his sides, stood straight and slowly turned his head slightly to gaze, almost fearfully, at whatever it was that he had just given birth to…
The seven blue blobs that lay strewn on the dirt ground covered in blood and afterbirth had now begun to squirm around; one by one, the creatures came upon all fours and made it up on their stubby little legs. Cell continued to look with incredible awe as the infant androids shook their tiny little bodies like puppies out of a pool to get clean of the blood and other mess. When they were clean, "Papa" Cell had finally received the reward of all the hardships and pain of "pregnancy" he had to go through…