Chapter 12: The Strongest in the Universe
-Majin Buu-
When he had absorbed Trunks, he had received all of the teen's power and experience but there were complications he hadn't planned for. For one thing, he was growing frustrated and impatient the longer his fight with Cell went on. He wanted to have fun, it wasn't like he'd find anyone as strong as Cell for a few years at least, if ever. But Trunks really, really, really wanted Cell dead. And the Saiyan's own memories of his repeated fights with Cell were ruining Buu's turn, since it had an annoying tint of familiarity to it. Sure, it meant he didn't have to spend any time learning how Cell fought but it wasn't like he could enjoy the experience either. And if the android could tell how bored Buu was feeling on the inside, he wasn't revealing it. No, Cell had the self-assured smirk Buu was used to seeing on him as he dodged past his punches and landed his own. Maybe he thought this was easy? It was certainly like him to be blinded by his own ego. It was deliberate on Buu's part that he was copying Trunks' fighting style exactly with no variation whatsoever. He wasn't even using his natural abilities to mix things up. No, he wasn't even going past 50%. Why? Well for one Buu wanted to lull Cell into a false sense of security before he turned things way up, and for another, there was the second snag absorbing Trunks had introduced.
He had to be careful not to damage the planet. That didn't just mean holding back, it meant making sure Cell kept to a level where he wouldn't accidentally blow it up. Trunks had added more energy attacks into his repertoire in order to cause more damage to Cell, but it wasn't really his style. He wasn't Vegeta. Trunks preferred melee attacks to set up his opponents for a single devastating ki attack, and taking that same approach meant Buu didn't have to worry about shielding Earth from one of Cell's blasts.
"You haven't said anything since that threat of yours!" Cell declared. The green hybrid had just moved his head to the left and dodged Buu's right fist, and was now balling up his left hand to retaliate. Buu moved his left arm with lightning speed, blocking the punch with his elbow and absorbing the force with a grunt of effort. One of many sonic booms exploded out from the impact as the two of them swiftly broke off and threw punches that met each other halfway to their targets, causing small winces of pain due to the immense force both of them were dishing out. Cell caught both of Buu's hands by the wrists, forcing them down and to the side as he drew himself closer, another set of arms bursting from his back.
That's the move he used with the Tri-Beam!
"HYAAAA!"
Cell's arms become blurs cloaked in golden light as they rocketed up into Buu's jaw, striking hard enough to deform the putty it was made of. Cell let go of Buu's hands and put all four arms to use hammering Buu's dazed form with blows, the Capsule Corp jacket and black undershirt he wore quickly tearing beneath the assault. As Buu was knocked helplessly from side to side Cell's super perfect aura increased in intensity until his every movement became invisible. The perfect android was content to keep beating on Buu for as long as possible, the malicious smirk not leaving his face as he rained blows onto the slowly deforming majin.
It all came to an end when Buu's antenna, rimmed with buzzing yellow light, whipped around like a propeller and chopped all four of Cell's arms off at the elbows.
"Wh-what?"
Buu's brutalising form trembled, still shaking from the effects of Cell's intense assault as the android looked at his purple and green stumps in horror. A new sound became audible, different from Buu's pained moans.
Laughter.
Like magic Buu's clothes grew back just as they had been before and the majin brought himself upright, openly aughing at Cell's dumbfounded – and now angered- expression.
"That was good! If you have a few more tricks like that then this is going to be a fun night!"
Cell lowered his stumps, the bottom half disappearing just as the top half regenerated. The persistent smirk had left the android's pale face, he looked annoyed.
"You think it's going to take me that long to kill you?" Cell said, voice low.
Buu took it in stride, smiling warmly and pointing his thumb at himself. "Nah, it's how long I've got before my sweet tooth acts up. When I get hungry I get really irritable, you wouldn't want to see that."
"You shouldn't worry about your appetite when you're facing death." Cell retorted.
"Ha! You shouldn't be so full of yourself! I know we're both holding back, but wouldn't it be funny if one of us were holding back more than the other?"
The implication was obvious, and the flare up in Cell's eyes made it clear he'd heard it. Immediately a harsh golden glow arose from Cell's green armour, soon filling with thick arcs of electricity. The full Super Saiyan-esque aura roared to life around Cell as he threw his fists down, and drew in a deep breath.
"There, 100%. What do you think?"
"Bullshit."
"What?"
Buu crossed his arms and raised a non-existent eyebrow. "You heard me, you're lying. You pushed things up a little, but that's not your full power. I dont know why you want to pretend like it is, but I'm not going to. In fact, I'm going to go all out in the next round. And if you think that is enough to fight me, good luck!"
And unlike you Cell, I have no reason to bluff.
Also unlike Cell, he didn't have to make a big show of powering up. There was a red shimmer around him as he loosed his arms and stretched them out, linking his fingers together and cracking them. He knew Cell could sense the difference in power that now existed between them, he was looking nervous again. Lightning, golden crescents and a high pitched whine built up around Cell as he hurriedly powered up. But it wasn't enough, not fast enough.
Now, he could have been polite and given him a few more minutes to charge up. But that would give him the wrong idea of what Buu meant by serious.
Cell had just inhaled in preparation for a powerful yell when Buu blinked in front of him and grabbed him by the face, taking the android's entire skull in his hand. Cell let out a scream as Buu's fingers dug into his skull, as the djinn plummeted down to Earth with a mighty roar. Their two auras clashed and blended together into a roiling miasma of gold and red, a mixture that ceased a scant few meters from the ground as Buu slammed his hand down, smashing Cell through the solid earth like it was cardboard. Buu's arm continued to push Cell deeper into the ground, growing thinner and thinner as it did so.
He crouched on the shattered rocks beneath him, not bothered by the rough feeling at all. He couldn't see what was happening with Cell, but he could feel the android putting up one hell of a struggle to loosen his grip. He was trying to give the bug a magma bath, so he wasn't willing to make it that easy.
"Come on Cell, just phone it in for a little longer and we'll see if your Namekian genes make you flame retardant too."
A painful jolt run up his arm, like he'd tried to shove his fingers through steel. The thin wire that was his arm began vibrating due to some resistance, and on the other end he could feel an incredible heat his ki barely kept at bay. Buu grit his teeth and applied more force, trying to break through whatever the block was with sheer strength. His arm vibrated even worse, and there were little explosions of pain along the length of it that made him almost bite through his tongue. It was when the edge of the hole he was up to his elbow in started shooting out golden beams and the ground fractured around it that he realised it was too late.
The length of his arm coiled back to normal, steaming red and Buu cradled it with the other. He didn't have time to nurse it as the ground he'd been standing on exploded, and in the split-second before he could levitate himself a fist cloaked in golden energy broke through his skull. Buu's headless body shot backward with zero resistance, sonic booms following in its wake as the full force of Cell's blow propelled it through the sky. The shattered desert landscape quickly gave way to scattered trees, then fully fledged forests that had a destructive wake carved through them. Buu's head reformed when he was passing over a lake, but before he could counter his momentum Cell teleported behind him and kicked him straight up and out of the atmosphere. At the summit of his flight, past the point where the curve of the Earth was visible and the starry backdrop around it, Cell appeared ahead of him with both hands joined over his head. Buu's mouth opened in a soundless scream just before Cell's blow crushed his head into his chest and sent him rocketing back the way he'd come. The serene lake and the dense woodland around it were destroyed in an instant when Buu struck land.
Cell dropped through the atmosphere like a falling star as well, but unlike Majin Buu he brought himself to a stop before touching the ground. The environment had been drastically changed, and the scenery didn't look too different from the wasteland they had started in. The ring of trees at the edge of the blast zone was new, but it was so distant that it might as well not have counted.
Buu didn't look up at Cell, but did smile at the android's presence.
"So, you're done thinking you're so much better than Majin Buu that you can fight me with one hand tied? Good. If there's one thing I hate, it's when people don't take me seriously."
Cell didn't say anything back at first, the flashing lights of aura statement enough. But he reconsidered when Buu didn't make any moves, just standing clutching the broken log.
"Yes, and you might not be glad that you did. I wasn't sure just how much my power had improved, and to see it now – it's exceeded my wildest expectations. This is what ultimate perfection looks like. If you were smart Buu, you'd be scared."
Cell punched the air in front of him – and the shockwave shook what little remained of the forest. The android pulled his fist back, grinning at it and the trails of electricity buzzing over it.
"Hehehe, I thought my destiny was complete when I'd absorbed 17 and 18. I imagined Trunks was an insurmountable obstacle. But all of it, from the meddling Supreme Kai to the treacherous Babidi were stones paving my way to this level of existence. With this power, it will be trivial exterminating all life from this universe until only I, the Perfect being, am left."
Cell looked down at Majin Buu, a mad grin on his face.
"And you thought you could fight me?! Such naivety! It's not too late Buu, beg for mercy and I'll allow you to assist me in purging this world."
Buu looked up at Cell. He was smiling, but not in the battle hungry way he had been before. This was different.
"That's one hell of a speech, and insults aside if you'd made that offer to me before I'd probably have taken it. But, and I can't stress this enough, I don't like you. You're a condescending fool who wants to destroy all the people who make cakes, the places that make cakes, and the cakes themselves. That just doesn't sit right with me." Buu paused and looked down at the stick in his hand. "And the wanting to kill people part too, I guess, since apparently that's wrong."
"And y'know what else? As someone who grew out of the 'wanting to kill everyone' phase, you impress me! I killed the supreme gods of creation and absorbed the ones who challenged me to make myself even greater, and just now I absorbed the first Super Saiyan 3 to ever exist! What's your greatest accomplishment, absorbing two washed up cyborgs? All you did besides that was kill a bunch of weaklings!"
"Then I suppose killing you will be my greatest triumph." Cell glowered.
"Ha! I'm going to enjoy seeing the terror in your eyes when it finally gets through your thick skull that you lost." Buu raised his left arm to the sky. "But first, I'm going to show you something incredible. Whenever I destroyed a world I took a small amount of energy of its energy with me. Not a lot, but over aeons of destruction it's become rather breathtaking if I do say so myself."
The energy Buu collected bathed the area in a sunset red hue, and looking up he was satisfied to see that the sphere was of an impressive size without him really doing anything to it. To his credit, Cell's only reaction was to steel his jaw, with only an eye twitch giving away any emotion.
"That's what I thought."
He was ready to gloat more, but Cell lifted a finger up as though to interrupt. A tiny speck of light was held on the fingertip, barely any energy in it at all.
What's he trying? Is that supposed to be another blast? He can't form anything in time to counter my Vanishing Ball. Well it's his funeral if he still wants to play arrogant.
"Just try and dodge this!"
With that, he swung his arm forward and launched the immense violet-red orb at Cell. The way the bio-android looked as the Vanishing Ball bore down on him, he almost looked mesmerised. Heck, if Buu had to give a description he'd say he was frozen in fear-
"HAHAHAHA!"
The light that had been above Cell's fingertip blossomed into a fiery orb that equalled the Vanishing Ball in size right before it struck, and with a flick of Cell's finger it crashed into the Vanishing Ball. The two orbs clashed in the air, thick waves of energy sheering off of them as they fought for dominance. Then the Vanishing Ball cracked in half and Buu stared wide-eyed at the world ending blast falling down on him.
"Oh."
Maybe it wasn't what Trunks would have wanted, but he leapt out of the way. He'd ascended hundreds of meters into the air before he turned back and noticed that the attack was tracking him, and speeding up.
'Maybe I can try blocking? Nah, that'd be a waste of time against something this intense.' Buu thought, watching as his legs started burning up from the heat. 'At least I know this can't kill me.'
It didn't take long after that for all awareness to leave him as his body was incinerated.
He felt a little relieved when he regained consciousness, and that relief was soon put aside next to the satisfaction of having taken one of Cell's best attacks head-on and coming out good as new.
Looks like the old cockroach still has a few tricks in store for me. Good. I was afraid this battle would be too predictable.
From what Buu knew he was standing on Earth's moon, which was a real disappointment for sightseeing aside from the unobstructed view of the planet itself. And not that he needed it, but this was a good time to examine things a little deeper. Cell might as well have been standing right next to him with how much ki he was broadcasting, so he could easily probe it.
The attack had taken a small toll on Cell's reserves, and far too little time had passed for him to recover them. Of course when Buu reappeared to continue their fight he'd fight just as fiercely, the drop in power would barely make a difference since the android was sure to find ways to compensate.
That's what Trunks was counting on, and advising him to build up the energy he needed then blast Cell with it all at once. With the Saiyan's power in addition to his own he could do it... But that wasn't his plan. And he knew if it came down to a beam clash Cell had more ways out than he did. No, there was a better way than that. The fact that he was standing safely on the lunar surface while Cell was tense awaiting his return was a hint at how different things were from Trunks' experience.
His blast off was done in silence, and as soon as he felt the heat of friction burn against his aura he also felt Cell's ki rise to attention. The air around him exploded with bolts of crackling yellow energy, bolts that he dodged as he made a red blur streaking down towards Cell.
Both of his fists aimed downward collided with Cell's cross-shaped guard, staggering them both. In what seemed like slow motion as the two of them glared hatefully into the other's eyes a wave of force lifted up the ground, forming a bubble of negative pressure over the area before bursting and smashing the earth down like an anvil.
"That should have killed you." Cell growled, tone heavy with anger. Buu could sense the hybrid's uncertainty spike for that second, even as spread out as it was over the separate components of his ki. It dipped back into the freezing ocean of arrogance that Cell projected, but Buu took it as a good sign. It meant that he would understand his defeat when the time came.
"What makes you think that? Maybe you'd have died, but it's not that easy to get rid of me."
SSHHHHFRAAAAAM!
That was the sound of Cell dashing forward with a strike aimed at Buu's head, which the djinn dodged by shifting his entire body to the right. In the next second Cell's left fist propelled itself into Buu's face, flattening it into his skull and causing Buu to stagger backwards. Cell then spun with a kick to Buu's right side, which bent him in half as his leg lodged itself into his side. Cell drew his hand back, channelling a small amount of ki into his palm before shooting a wave of ki at Buu.
The transformed majin was blown away like a leaf in the wind, almost entirely distorted by the blast as he soared over the barren landscape. Taking a moment to collect his energy, Cell shot after him in a blazing golden wave, catching up to Buu and laying a lightning fast volley of jabs into the playdough-like torso of Majin Buu, each one leaving a mark behind. By the time they reached the edge of the destroyed forest, Majin Buu's chest resembled the surface of the moon. Cell made a flip forward and kicked Buu into the earth, before lifting him off the ground with telekinesis and spiking him high into the air with a powerful kick.
Before he could reach escape velocity this time, Buu's form stretched out like a parachute, stopping his ascent. Buu scowled, fighting hard to keep his rage in check as he saw just how far Cell had beaten him from the start of their fight. That had been unexpected, the two of them were still roughly equal and after absorbing Trunks the gap in skill between them should have disappeared. Was he still holding back? Or was it something else?
'Maybe I'm making it too easy for him. My plan won't work if he can just ragdoll me around all he likes. Yes, I've been thinking too much like Trunks, I won't let myself be humiliated for any reason!'
A sharp spike of energy pinged Buu's attention, and he refocused to Cell. The so-called perfect being had his hands cupped at his side, a tiny flicker of blue visible between them.
"Really, that's what you were going to use to finish me off! Come on Cell, try something original! Just because Trunks already saw all your moves doesn't mean I can't act surprised!"
There was no response, just a surge of blue-white light from the ground as Cell charged the attack even further.
"Oh, so you really want to do this huh? Fine! Here's a blast from the past!"
Buu brought both arms forward, joining them together like a cannon with both hands aimed straight at Cell. Flecks of gold and red appeared around Buu as he cocked his arms back slightly, curling his fingers inward like claws as he corrected the technique.
"KAME-"
It was far rougher than the gentle build up of force happening in Cell's hands. A blue orb condensed in Buu's hands out of nothing, while similarly coloured lights began to spiral out from it in a sweeping motion.
"-HAME-"
"Impossible!" He heard Cell cry out, before the blast the android was preparing started gathering power at ten times the speed it had been before. With the gift of sensing ki he'd taken from Trunks, he could feel how erratic the build up was, and how shocked he was. This wasn't the placid reaction he'd had to the Vanishing Ball, this was real!
"I'm a fast learner Cell! You use Goku's move so much you'd have to be an idiot not to pick up how it works!" Buu shouted, laughing over the apocalyptic winds howling around them. With the two of them massing so much ki, the entire planet was shaking with a force it had never before experienced, some of the matter drawn up by their energy actually managing to reach as high as Buu in the air. He knew he ought to have cared, but at the moment his mind was fixated on the fight. "I'll make sure a Kamehameha wave is what kills you in two worlds!"
"AND UNLIKE GOHAN I HAVE BOTH ARMS! NOW TAKE THIS!"
He braced himself, throttling back the ki in his arms as much as he could in those last moments, letting the pressure build up more and more until he couldn't hold it in any longer.
"-HAAAAA!"
Things seemed to go utterly silent as the behemoth of a blast thundered down, or maybe it was so loud Buu's ears were damaged before he even noticed it. The front of the wave fell bore down on Cell like a comet, the sheer power of it beyond any defence. Victory was sure to be his, why had he even bothered considering Trunks' stupid idea? The Saiyan had been used to fighting from a position of weakness, so of course his plan would be counting on that. But Majin Buu was strong, the strongest in the whole universe! He had more than enough power to beat Cell without any fancy tricks.
Buu heard a high pitched whine build up from somewhere below his blast, which was a surprise because of the unbroken silence that had come before it. The sound fizzled out, leaving behind silence again before Buu became aware of something that made his mouth fall open in shock.
KRAKA-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The Kamehameha slowed down, from a speeding freight train to a mere crawl. At the other end he could feel Cell's own Kamehameha struggling to push his back, and he could sense how much the android was truly pouring into it. He ought to have been impressed, but his instincts were telling him Cell was fighting a losing battle. The few extra seconds he'd taken to charge his blast had cost him, and Buu had seized the initiative. He was on the back foot now, and with nowhere to retreat he was just going to spend all his energy fighting an attack that was already poised to swallow him whole. Even if he was doing an admirable job of delaying the end, he wasn't even delaying it for long. Buu's Super Kamehameha was still moving, and he wasn't going to run out of energy any time soon.
"Face it! You're finished! I'm sorry to destroy the planet, but it's worth it to destroy you!"
With the sheer concentration of ki in the atmosphere, he was all but blinded to what was going on besides the beam struggle. But in his Super Perfect form, Cell's energy was high enough that he could still tell broadly what was going on with it. He could even feel the desperation as Cell tried to push his Kamehameha harder. The anticipation for his kill was so strong that Buu was practically licking his lips as he felt his attack get closer to devouring Cell, while the artificial hybrid could do nothing but watch it approach inch by inch.
The air was nothing but white light with blue shades reflected over Buu from his side of the blast, the two Kamehamehas being so similar in appearance. That's why when he saw a triplicate of red spikes Buu knew something was amiss. The red light died down, but soon sparked again, and Buu was surprised when his Kamehameha slowed to a stop.
'What is he... oh god not this again!'
"Nice try, but without Babidi holding your hand you're only making your defeat even worse! Face your death with some dignity Cell, it will be all you have in hell!"
Cell's power dropped sharply, and his Kamehameha continued its advance. Buu grinned. There was nothing left to do but watch.
"When you get there, I hope Babidi sees how useless you were." Cell's voice spoke in Buu's head, surprising him enough to look around for the source at first.
"KAIOKEN TIMES FOUR!"
That he heard loud and clear. And with the space in front of his blast turning into a sunset, he didn't need any time to put together why. Before he could fully visual what was going on his Kamehameha was backed up against his hands, which were forcing his arms to press painfully against his chest. Cell's Kamehameha, blood red, was forcing his own back so far that it was almost wrapping itself around him. Buu found himself inside a bubble of clashing red and blue light, pressed in on all sides by destructive energy.
And he would have panicked, if he hadn't sensed the massive drop in Cell's ki.
'Come on.. I just have to hold on.. Just a little longer and I'll squash him.. like a -'
The ki closing in on Buu unexpectedly reached a tipping point, and all points in space suddenly seemed to be exploding around him. Buu screamed in outrage as he was flayed and torn apart, hovering in the midst of the explosion like a discarded candy wrapper before he was reduced down to just stray molecules, and then even less.
-Cell-
He fell onto his knees, forcing his teeth together with the force of tectonic plates as he fought not to scream. Red smoke rose off of his gnarled and twisted hands, the price for using the Kaioken without Majin magic to back him up. If it had just been that he would have been fine, but the physical damage was the least of it. The ki all through his body flowed through him like liquid fire, and the core of his stomach felt like it was eating him alive. All he could see was red as the blood vessels in his eyes burst, and with no energy to spare for regeneration his world was left in a state of burning red agony as the ravages of the Kaioken were inflicted on him.
The pain was worse than even what he remembered of dissolving in the Final Flash, and his efforts not to scream were forcing blood to run down his mouth.
However, it was all worth it. Buu was dead, gone for good, toast. The Supernova alone hadn't contained half as much power as what had just engulfed Buu, and while it may not have been what he had in mind, there was something fitting about Buu's method of execution backfiring. And of course, he might have redeemed his loss in the world Trunks spoke of as well. How one version of himself could be so lacking was beyond him, but now he'd twice proven himself greater than that failure.
The damaging red ki was starting to leave his body, and as it did Cell became aware of more than just his own suffering. His power reserves had fallen greatly just fuelling his Kamehameha, and the Kaioken had cost far more than that. He'd need time to recover, and he was grateful that no Z-Fighters were left on Earth. Even though he was immeasurably stronger than any of them had been, he didn't feel like fighting until his full power was restored.
His healing factor fixed his hands, and he used them to push himself up off the ground. Looking up to the sky he could see the fine red haze his x4 Kamehameha had created, and the sun, pale next to the memory of Buu's Super Kamehameha. An unfamiliar sense of optimism stole over him and he smiled, ignoring the utterly dead landscape surrounding him. This felt like victory, and called to mind Goku's triumph over Piccolo Jr. It had been a hard fought battle, but he had won. If only Gero could see how great his creation would become. He may not have had the chance to kill Goku, but he had sent the Earth's last defender and an unspeakably ancient demon into the afterlife in one swoop. He had surpassed his own ideal of perfection by so much that he was proud of himself. If he had just been the sum of his parts he would have died many times over by now, but he was far more... He was Cell. And the future was looking bright.
'But something's not right.'
He didn't want to think it, but his sense as a warrior was demanding his attention. The smile on his face lessened into a blank look as he attempted to find the source of his unease, and then put it out of his mind. Looking up he could see the residual particles from the Kamehameha clash stretch all the way to the horizon and beyond.
'The Kamehameha wave should have carried on into space with all the power behind it, Trunks' Final Flash pushed me far away from Namek before it even went off. The Kamehameha detonated far too early, it didn't stay a beam for long enough. Which means it wasn't as concentrated! That's how it spread out over the whole sky! And if it was diluted that much then...'
"Majin Buu is still alive!" Cell uttered, eyes growing wide as fear pooled in his chest. He snapped into a loose fighting stance, concentrating on all the ki he could to try and find Buu. His mind raced over every speck on the planet, then expanded to the rest of the solar system and beyond. He found nothing, but that didn't mean anything to him. Trunks had missed his regeneration before he'd concealed his ki. Buu might have reformed while he was crippled by the Kaioken and was lurking somewhere close, waiting for him to drop his guard.
"..."
Cell's golden aura lifted around him, filling with sparks as he powered up all he could. His energy hit a peak shortly, but his reserves were low compared to what they had been. Relaxing would have let him recover more, but now that he was sure Majin Buu was biding his time he couldn't afford to.
Minutes passed, and Cell growled, feeling the strain of gunning at full power with no target in sight. Still, he was not going to entertain the thought of being at less than 100% when Buu showed himself
He didn't have to wait much longer than that as a nearly invisible form sped down from the sky and stopped in front of him. Buu was looking as good as ever and wearing a proud sneer on his face, posing with both fists on his hips while he puffed out his chest.
"What took you so long? Don't tell me you're starting to slow down after being blown up so often?"
Buu gave a deep laugh and shook his head.
"No, I decided to take a trip around the globe a few times while you got back on your feet. I've gotta say, you androids really made this planet boring. No matter what direction you go it's urban wasteland, barren wasteland or forests."
"You should have finished me off when you had the chance instead of wasting your time sightseeing. I've recovered all my power, and putting yourself together so much hasn't exactly helped your strength."
Buu inclined his head sideways, giving a sly smirk. "There'll be plenty more chances, I told you I wanted to see you suffer first. Destroying your own body to beat me was good, but its too quick. You're really going to feel despair when I decide you die."
"How are you so full of yourself when I've defeated two of your strongest attacks in a row?" Cell asked, smirking back at Buu. "You're wasting energy trying to intimidate me, and it's not working. Yet you double down on that tactic like the fool you are. I know how hard you've been trying, no matter how casual you act – If you could have killed me you'd have done it by now."
"So if I fly back up there and fire another Kamehameha wave, you'll deflect it again? And when I come back, you'll do the same? The third time, you think you'd still be up to it? What about after that huh?" Buu's voice was stone cold, the humour leaving his face as soon as he said the words to Cell. "Don't boast like that if you can't handle the consequences."
"If you think I'm lying, why don't you attack me?"
Buu was taken aback, and a flicker of doubt crossed over his expression for an instant, then he gave a toothy grin and flung his arms wide open.
"Don't mind if I do!"
Yellow light flashed in Buu's hands as he brought them together over his head, Cell dashed at him and planted both boots on his chest. To his surprise Buu wasn't thrown back like he had been from similarly styled attacks, but just skidded back along the dirt. As if reading his thoughts Buu's grin widened, and the ki held in his hands peaked as the attack was readied.
"Finish Buster!"
Cell leaned back as far as he could, and the golden ball passed over his head. Buu's hands were still in the firing position when Cell sprang back up and threw a punch at his face. Buu dropped low and to the left, Cell's punch shooting into the gap beneath his antenna. Buu smirked and thrust his fist into Cell's gut, making the android gag and bend over. Buu's left hand moved back, filling with red ki that he brought forward at Cell's midsection as he drew his fist out and leapt back. The blast fit into the cavity perfectly, driving Cell back away from Buu two meters before Cell's ki forced it out, and it exploded outside his aura. Buu wasted no time to fly up then drop down onto Cell's position, with Cell stepping back at the last instant and throwing an uppercut that knocked Buu's jaw up into his mouth. Before Cell could capitalise further, and before Buu's face had reformed, the djinn's legs dropped low and swept Cell's legs out from under him. Losing his footing, Cell was left open as Buu jumped up and landed on his chest, smashing him painfully into the ground.
When Buu started to jump up Cell grabbed him by the ankle and flew up, slamming the majin into the ground as he rose up. While he ascended into the air Cell shot dozens of power balls at Buu, who shuddered with each explosion going off on his body. Cell brought both hands together, charging up a more powerful attack to strike Buu.
"Masenko!"
Buu shot from the crater like a rising devil, Cell catching a glimpse of the serious look on his face, and kicked the charged blast out of Cell's hands. Cell gasped in shock, unable to put up a defence as Buu drove his elbow into Cell's neck. The force crushed his windpipe, and while Cell tried to force it open with ki, Buu slashed his hand across Cell's throat, opening it up in a spray of purple blood. Buu spooled his arm like a coil as Cell gurgled blood, pink spectral flames rising from the limb as it filled with ki.
"HYAAAH!"
Buu's fist shot out like a spear, penetrating Cell's sternum like tissue paper. The blow had left a gaping hole in his chest that reached to the upper level of his stomach area, and Cell looked down in horror, almost numb to the pain as he absorbed the horrifying sight of Buu's arm extending through his chest.
"And I'm not done yet."
Buu's arm reeled back as he spun around, bringing his elbow up for another strike. Ignoring the pain, Cell lifted his arm to block and had his chitinous limb slam into his face with a sickening crack. Cell's head was knocked to the side, and with one eye shut he looked to his broken arm in shock.
'He broke through my guard like it was nothing. But how, I'm still at full power!'
A new burst of pain ran through his body, Buu's other kick breaking his other arm like a twig. More blood shot out of his mouth as he tried to cry out, and that was a small volume compared to the amount now spilling out of his torso wound. Buu rose up over Cell and clubbed him from the air, Cell crashing with a cloud of dust that was flattened at Buu shot down next to him, smashing the back of Cell's head into paste with his dark boot.
-Buu-
Watching Cell spasm like a gutted fish was a fun sight, definitely one he'd revisit whenever he needed a pick me up, but he couldn't decide if it was real or not. Cell had faked how bad his injury was after Vegeta's Final Flash, and he'd jumped up like it was nothing after Goku's Instant Kamehameha... but dragging it on for this long was a bit much.
Really, he didn't want to make the mistake of underestimating Cell twice. The Kaioken had been a real shocker, without Babidi making it happen he wasn't supposed to even be able to use it so effectively. And so, he was back to trying to keep a cool head and follow Trunks' idea. He'd had to make that concession after being spread over the horizon like a thin paste.
'I could finish him now, but I should wait till I'm completely sure he has nothing left in the tank. No point giving him another Zenkai to use against me.'
Two minutes after Buu had carved him open like a Thanksgiving turkey, golden light rose around Cell. He watched with some fascination as a cage of lightning formed around Cell, and he stood to attention like he was about to power up, the broken mess that had been his head bursting open as a new one budded from his neck. Cell was glaring at him with the purest expression of hate Buu had ever seen.
"How dare you."
It was quiet, so quiet that Buu almost missed it. Cell's voice oozed hatred, and Buu could feel the malicious intent rising from his body like a heatwave. He was surprised that his reaction to that was to have his heart beat faster with excitement.
"HOW DARE YOU!"
Golden waves rolled of of Cell, forcing Buu back as they grew more intense. Cell was standing in the middle of a golden storm, spiked waves of light stretching to the heavens around him.
"I WON'T LET YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME!"
Cell flew at Buu with rage, fist cocked back and his pure white. The muscles of his body doubled in size as he closed the distance, which Buu almost missed because of the loud yelling. While it looked intimidating, to Buu nothing had changed.
He caught Cell's fist, and the same happened with his own when he tried punching Cell. The two found themselves in a deadlock, straining against the other and willing them to give in first. Cell was grunting and snarling like a wild animal while Buu was gritting his teeth, trying his hardest not to be pushed back while sweat built up on his brow.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Cell's entire body tripled in size, and Buu was forced to let go from the backlash of energy alone. Before he could react he felt Cell's hand close around his antenna, and then the world turned into a blur as he was lifted into the air before being dashed into the ground. With his brains being scrambled each time he hit the rock floor Buu wasn't sure how many times Cell did that, but he did know when he was released that something wasn't right.
Why else would he be staring at a trio of tiny blue Cells?
"Okay..." The stars hadn't stopped circling his head but things were starting to come into focus. "I've definitely got some brain damage."
All the little Cells were looking down at him cheekily, which was to be expected. And now that he'd gotten his senses back, he was wondering why Cell would create Cell Juniors to help him
'Like a group of weaklings is going to help you beat me. Idiot.'
All four Cells sprang into coordinated action, attacking Buu from each side. He reacted just as quickly, dashing into the sky fast enough for it to seem like teleportation, though the quadruplet of enemies were just seconds behind him. The Cell Jr at his front threw a punch and went in close for a knee strike, the two at his sides both moved in for a powerful haymaker to his face, and he could sense Cell himself behind him attacking as well. With perfect timing Buu blocked each attack, even moving his left leg inhumanly far back to block the attack coming at his back.
Buu grinned, curling up slightly as he brought more of his own power to the surface. Red crescents ran through his aura before he thrust his limbs back out, throwing the Cells back before a funnel of red energy cloaked him from sight.
THUUUUUUUUM
He struck all four Cells before they had time to notice him move and shifted back to his original position. It was fun to see the looks of pain break onto all their faces at once as they keeled over, then the Cell Juniors puffed into blue smoke and the original was left clutching his stomach.
"That blow... it paralysed my entire body." Cell said, shakily taking his hand off of his stomach and staring down at it, trembling even more as he witnessed how much he was shaking. "How are you causing so much damage to me, I can sense your power, we're equals!"
"This is the moment I've been waiting for." Buu said, letting out a satisfied sigh as he closed his eyes. He could see everything playing out like he'd wanted it to but this had been impossible to imagine, reality finally kicking in Cell's anthill of an ego. "Now, do I tell you or do I wait for you to figure it out? Which one would be sweeter?"
Cell appeared in front of him ready to attack, and with Buu's eyes still closed he must have thought it would work, but he found his attack passing through an after-image as the real Majin Buu appeared behind him with his hand aimed at him.
"HA!"
The Kiai blasted into Cell's back, sending tremors through his winds and flinging him off his feet. Buu quickly formed two more in his hand and shot them at Cell, both propelling the android even faster into the distance. With a burst of speed he followed just behind Cell and aimed a kick that caught him in a sonic boom and removed any chance of him stopping as he flew off.
Buu tracked Cell's ki until it came to a stop, and flew after it. He found Cell lying half-seated in a pile of rubble, and the trench carved in the asphalt where he'd made his landing. They were in one of the many cities damaged and abandoned because of the androids, and to Buu it made a good change of scenery from the wilderness. Although from the quality of the lighting it was about to be evening there, not that he had to worry about light with how bright their auras lit things up.
When Cell finally registered Buu's presence he tried to get up, and because of how pathetic he looked panting for air like a dog, Buu kicked him like he was one. The force sent the android through two buildings hard enough to bring their worn façades down in implosions of dust, ending up crashing through a car which wrapped itself around him as he skidded to a halt. Buu appeared over him again, his capsule corp jacket fluttering in the strong wind manifesting as he steadily powered up.
"You have a free shot. Take it." Buu commanded.
Cell stared up with a mix of shock and outrage, but got to his feet all the same. He drew his fist back experimentally, eyeing Buu for any sign of betrayal. But the majin remained true to his word and didn't make any defensive moves, keeping his arms hanging at his sides. Cell grinned, golden electricity humming around him as he channelled his ki.
WHAAAM
Cell's knuckles implanted themselves firmly into the side of Buu's head, turning it to the side. Yet instead of smiling he frowned as he became aware of the dull pain in his hand, and how unfazed Buu was by the blow. He didn't get to contemplate it much more as Buu began to turn his head back, and as hard as he pushed on Cell felt his whole arm be forced back by Buu. In the end he had to withdraw his fist entirely, and Buu was staring at him with cold red eyes.
"My turn."
Before Cell could raise his guard Buu had smashed the side of his face hard enough to make his eye swell shut and send him halfway across the city before he'd even felt the force of the punch. This time he couldn't even bring himself to stand, and it was Buu who hefted him up.
"Figure it out yet?" Buu asked, and when Cell didn't respond he let go of him. Cell had enough awareness to drop in a crouch, with one hand placed on the ground to remain steady. "Fine, I'll tell you."
"You're running out of gas. The Vanishing Ball, Kamehameha, and the Kaioken sped it up but you were always going to exhaust yourself fighting me. If you'd been paying as much attention to me as to preening your ego, you'd notice that I haven't lost a drop of energy. Yeah, regenerating is a chore to go through but it costs me nothing. And my ki restores itself almost as fast as my body, so I could throw those attacks at you without breaking a sweat. On the other hand, you rely on your ki to regenerate. Sure, there's an exception when you're near death, but so far you've just had a really bad day. So you're running low on energy, and when it's gone you won't be able to regenerate at all."
Buu lowered himself to Cell's level, crouching with his elbows resting on his knees. "You can thank Trunks for that plan by the way. You ruined things by letting Babidi give you a hand, but he isn't a factor anymore is he? I'm going to beat you until you don't even have enough energy to fix a paper cut, then I'm going to blast you into smithereens."
Cell looked up to Buu's smirking face, a defiant scowl on his. He had one eye closed, having not healed yet. "I'll come back stronger and kill you for daring to destroy me. I am perfect, I cannot die."
"That's the thing Cell, you're not immortal. I am."
Buu's firey red aura flowed around him as he spoke, the dark energy sending shivers through the urban graveyard as the intensity carried through the air. Buu placed his hand on Cell's shoulder, drawing the android's lone eye to glance down at it.
"I have enough power to destroy you Cell. Sure, you might be lucky and survive and come back with a nice zenkai... if you were at 100% or even 90%, maybe 70% if you put a shield up at the last second. But as you are now, how you're feeling, do you think you'd have enough durability for even a single cell to survive one of my blasts? And if you say yes, what about when you're down to 10% and so damaged you can't even breath properly, huh?"
Buu was a little disappointed when he didn't get an answer from Cell, but he should have known the bug would be too prideful to respond to that. He stood back up and stared down at the still recovering Cell thoughtfully.
'So, back to the question. End it now or bleed him a little more first? He looks done for, but this bastard survived a planet blowing up after getting a person punched out of him. I can't be too careful.'
Buu spread both arms out, golden orbs gathered in them both. The distinctive gold lightning arcing off of them should have made it clear what attack he was going to use on Cell, if he could spare the effort to look up.
'All this fighting and stalling is making me really hungry though. If I blow him away I can make a stop for fudge cake.'
"Final!"
Cell rolled back and to his knees, bringing his hands up in front of him in a flash. The two halves of his hands united to make a triangular shape, and Buu cursed internally as he recognised the attack.
"KIKOHO!"
The wave turned everything behind Majin Buu into ashes, and the shockwave which rolled off of Buu as he used all his ki to steel himself against the attack brought the other half of the city tumbling down. But to his astonishment, Cell kept his hands up.
"SHIN KIKOHO!"
For Buu the world became nothing but a field of blazing yellow light, and he struggled to hold his position. He felt more pressure being added to the blast, and against his will he found himself being blown backwards. It was his purple jacket caught on fire then shredded itself off his body that he knew it was time to call it quits.
"You bought five minutes Cell! Hope you enjoy them!"
Then he let go and was swept away in the light.
-Cell-
He dropped down onto all fours, gasping. Some fluid was falling from him onto the ground, but he was too dizzy to tell if it was blood, saliva or even sweat. The world was swimming in and out of vision, and he found he couldn't bring himself to care about it.
Majin Buu's speech was still echoing inside his head. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew that every word had been true. He'd cost himself using the Kaioken, but even before that he could that Majin Buu had been trying to make him waste energy on ki attacks and repairing his body. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time since he'd had power to spare, but now it felt like his body was rebelling against him and he didn't know just how much he had left to give.
If – when – Buu came back, that would be the end.
He needed a plan, he needed to get back to full strength. That was the only way he could beat Buu. There were an infinite number of problems he could see with getting there right now, and it was especially irksome that Korin had died along with the senzu plants.
Pulling himself up using a broken pillar was easier than he'd thought it would be, and firing up his aura went better than expected. There were still a large number of charged sparks running through it, which gave him hope. Maybe he'd been doubting himself for no reason and the loss he was experiencing was temporary, like all the injuries Trunks had inflicted on him.
It sure didn't feel like five minutes had passed before Buu reappeared. He was missing his jacket, though it came trailing behind him like a cape as he flew in, merging with his flesh just as he came crashing in front of Cell, blasting the pavement into pebbles.
"And then you used an attack notorious for draining its user's life force. So really, you just made this even easier for me." Buu tutted, sweeping his gaze over the even more desolate city around them. "This place will make a fine cemetery. It has broken buildings in the background for a headstone, and parched lifeless soil for a grave. Now we just need a body."
Despite the pain coursing through his body, Cell smirked. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to give you a fine burial Buu."
Buu smirked as well. "You misunderstand me. This is your grave, for your funeral and your burial!"
"We'll see about that!" Cell cried, hurling himself forwards and landing a punch square on Buu's face. To his dismay the djinn didn't even flinch from the blow, his smile broadening even further. With a defiant yell Cell rose up and brought both hands striking Buu with a double aze handle on top of his skull. This also failed to get a result, and as Cell launched a side kick at Buu's neck he found it firmly in the latter's grasp.
"Your refusal to give up is your best quality, it's what I'll miss about you. It's also what makes you so annoying."
Cell gave a startled yell as he was suddenly thrown into the ground, crashing through into the sewers while Buu hovered in the air. The sudden spike of energy made Cell grimace, as he knew that was going to come next was going to be extremely painful, and there was little he could do to stop it.
"Buster Cannon!"
The incandescent blue orb shot of of Buu's hands faster than he could track, and the next thing he knew the world turned white.
When darkness returned he found himself laying on the same spot, just with vastly different surroundings. The ruined city was gone, replaced by a brown and muddy wasteland with dark clouds crowding the sky. It was raining, but he couldn't notice it. With the lower half of his body gone, he had bigger things to focus on. Buu was nowhere to be seen, and in the hope that more time had passed than he believed Cell dropped his power level as far as possible.
"Trying to hide?" He heard from behind him, with the exact smug overtone he had been dreading. "How the mighty have fallen, but that is what you do. As soon as you don't have the upper hand you resort to trickery. And you still claim to be superior to everything else."
Cell turned to see Majin Buu standing horizontally on the side of the crater he was in, holding a plate with a slice of chocolate cake on it. He took the whole thing in his hand and swallowed it in a single mouthful, letting the plate drop as he hopped down to the floor.
"I had to take a lunch break, and I knew you weren't going anywhere. Not as drained as you are." Buu raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe I'm wrong and you're doing all this to lure me into a false sense of security? Go ahead, grow new legs and stand. Show me that perfect power you love talking about and let's start a new round!"
Cell growled and gathered his ki, willing it to his legs. It took longer than it should have, long enough to note how confident Buu's gaze was, but fresh limbs did pop out of his torso.
Buu wiped the crumbs off his mouth and brought both hands up in a boxing stance as Cell got steadily to his feet, glaring at the majin through the whole effort. Buu started hopping from one leg to the other, and made jabs at the air as he did.
"Okay, Mr Perfect isn't down for the count yet! Yeah, that was all a warm-up wasn't it? You're about to show me your true power, the power you didn't use before because it would've made things too easy! No point hiding it any longer Cell, show me what you've got!"
Cell's aura ignited, paler than before, barely filled with sparks. He didn't enter any stance, just grit his teeth in frustration as Buu kept up his mockery. He refused to play into the aberrations childish game!
"Oh, so you're really all out? No last minute power ups? No techniques you were saving until you were all out of options?" Buu stopped his movements, putting on a look of mock disappointment. "What a shame. Guess I'll have to kill you now."
"Actually," Cell began, drawing his right hand back, "I do have something."
With as much speed as he could muster Cell shot the golden globe out of his hand, and pulled his other hand back, it filling with purple in anticipation for his next attack.
"Imprisonment Ball!"
The attack struck Buu in the chest, and soon he was trapped inside the glowing orange sphere. Buu looked shocked as he found himself unexpectedly at Cell's mercy and unable to sense ki. The majin began gathering energy to blow apart the sphere from the inside, but Cell had other plans. The purple disc had grown to full size in one hand, and a twin joined it in the other.
"Double Kienzan!"
The two discs cut through the Imprisonment Ball, engulfing Buu in a nuclear-scale explosion as his torso was separated from the rest of his body. Within the cloud of smoke the two discs homed in on Buu, slicing him into smaller and smaller pieces until he was just rows of quivering discs.
A burst of ki from Cell blew it all away, letting him see the results of his attack for himself. He smiled in relief, but wasted no time in building up golden ki in his palms. Dozens of orbs shot out of his palms, each one trapping a piece of Majin Buu inside a tiny sphere.
Cell breathed in deeply. He'd need a little bit longer to see if his theory was correct, but if it was then he'd bought himself all the time he needed. The Imprisonment Ball cut off the ability to sense ki and restricted movement, which meant that Buu's body would be unable to reform.
The miniature Imprisonment Balls hung in the air for two minutes before Cell relaxed. He didn't need a large flow of energy to keep them functional, so all he really had to do was stay nearby while he rested.
"I win."
It was true. As soon as he was back to full power he could charge up a blast for as long as he wanted and blast the pieces of Buu with enough power to destroy ten stars if he wanted to. It wasn't like the suspended orbs were going anywhere. The terror of the universe was truly defeated, and he, the Perfect being had triumphed. Even at a massive disadvantage, all he needed was skill to-
"HEY!"
A multitude of shrill voices crying out at once reached Cell's ears, and he opened his eyes in astonishment. Each one of his Imprisonment Balls was filled with a down scaled Majin Buu, who was glaring at him from behind the golden wave covered surface of the sphere.
The Buus also seemed to react to each other, each one looking baffled at the sight of its brethren.
"Well, this isn't good but they aren't getting out." Cell muttered, smirking as he walked closer to the rows of tiny Majin Buus.
"You're going to pay for this Cell, you cheater!"
The crowd of Buus sounded indignant, and this made Cell feel even better.
"And who's going to make me? You're all trapped with no way out!"
"Shows what you know." They retorted, sticking their tongues out at him.
"I have no more time for idle chatter. Savour living while you can, because when I return I'm going to wipe you all from existence."
Cell was ready to turn and leave but when the Buus all puffed up their cheeks and turned red faced he hesitated. In almost synchronised sequence all of the Buus puffed up until they reached the boundary of their Imprisonment Ball, which exploded.
"No!"
Cell watched in horror as the landscape was blasted even more to hell by the attacks detonating, with the horrible knowledge that his plan to contain Majin Buu had failed. He had come so close!
Before the dust had settled, Majin Buu descended from the night sky clad in a cloak of red and gold light. Cell took a few trembling steps back just out of instinct as Buu touched down in front of him, a look of almost serene calm on his face.
"You had a good plan, I'll give you a 9 out of 10 for execution. Definitely would've worked if you were fighting a good copy of yourself, but how many times do I have to tell you to STOP UNDERESTIMATING MAJIN BUU!"
Cell was helpless against the winds rushing away from Buu's surging aura, and the wind vortex carried him away screaming from Majin Buu, who's look of feral rage was burned on his retinas. The next thing he knew Buu's fist was embedded in his skull and he was shooting into the ground, his body breaking its way into an underground cave system. As he fell through the air Majin Buu was suddenly in front of him, and he felt too many blows to count land on his body. By the time he hit the ground he felt like Swiss cheese, and was shaking too badly to even sit up.
"I could say I'm doing this for all the people you killed, but really you just piss me off!"
Cell's rib cage turned to confetti as Buu's boot impacted his side, launching him skyward for a few moments before he came ingloriously crashing down. He was groaning in pain, numbly trying to get up while he heard Buu's footsteps get closer.
'There's no way I can defeat him, not like this. I have no choice, I have to run.'
Finding a source of strength he didn't even know he had left, Cell rose up. Buu paused his march and whistled.
"Well, I have to hand it to you. You're lasting way longer than anyone I've ever killed." Buu's comment fell on deaf ears as Cell was working hard to draw up the ki he needed for his next, critical, moves.
'The time for talk is over. But know this Buu, when the time comes I will show you why I am the ultimate fighter.'
"Solar Flare!"
-Buu-
In the pitch blackness of the caves, the Solar Flare might as well have been the sun itself. Buu was forced to clutch at his eyes at the sudden burst of light, but in practically no time at all he had recovered. Another advantage of being able to regenerate.
His ability to sense ki properly had come back along with his eyesight, and it was far more useful in tracking down Cell. He could feel the trail the bug had left behind, and following it back to its source was going to be the easiest thing in the world with how much he wanted to tear Cell to pieces with his bare hands.
"Come out Cell, I know you're there!" He yelled, racing along the dark path Cell had taken. The android was supposed to be good at hiding his ki, but Buu was following it like a bloodhound. Even when he had to pause because Cell had used to wings to get to places he shouldn't have been able to on foot, he still caught up. He was right on Cell's heels, the only reason he hadn't blown up the whole subterranean level was because he didn't want to chance Cell digging in like a true insect.
"I can sense you, I can taste your fear!" He chortled, hoisting himself up over a cliff wall. "Come out and face your death like a man!"
There was a glint of light, and Buu was there instantly. Cell was frozen in time, about to leap up through a column leading to the surface. But the moonlight had betrayed him, and Buu had all the time in the world to watch the horror spread over his features.
"Found you."
"Buu, wait, I-"
"Shut up!"
Buu's knee plowed into Cell's gut, forcing his neck words into a gasping wheeze as he folded onto his leg.
"I know how long it took you to run out of power, I've seen the look in your eyes when you lost, and now it's time to answer my last question: What kind of candy are you?"
Cell's magenta orbs widened into saucers and he started to yell something as Buu's antenna jerked forward, firing a pink ray that enveloped him instantaneously.
POOF
A brick sized chocolate shaped like Cell fell to the cave floor, and Buu bent down to pick it up. With his aura providing light now he could see that the brown chocolate was flecked with green spots.
"Ah, mint chocolate flavour, I should have known."
Buu took it with both hands and shut his eyes in glee. It was all over. He'd beaten Cell, he was about to eat Cell! Now he was free to do whatever he wanted and no-one would be able to stop him! It was a shame there weren't other strong guys like Cell around, but if he got bored he could always go looking for some. It was a big universe, and he had all the time in the world.
All that was left was to take a bite out of his 'perfect' victory chocolate and he could go have a nap.
CRUNCH
As soon as Buu's teeth had bitten into the chocolate it disappeared, and his own teeth banged painfully together. He rubbed his mouth in confusion, looking at his hand to see if maybe if it crumbled or fallen to the floor for some reason. But there was no trace of the Cell chocolate.
"Well that's weird...Maybe it was a flake chocolate?" Buu said, still scanning over the area in puzzlement. Then with a shrug he blasted out of the cave and into the sky before soaring towards the day side of the planet.
Buu was going to build a house to take a nap in, and he couldn't think of a better place than the Capsule Corp building.
-Cell, Cooler Planet 701 (formerly Planet Yardrat)-
Everything felt like it was on fire even before he emerged from hyperspace, and as soon as he did he fell on top of a table two aliens wearing Planet Trade armour had been using to play a card game. He was dimly aware of their reactions, but since he felt like all his vital functions were shutting down, he didn't have time for their questions.
"P-Please, help me."
The darkness that came up to greet him was oddly comforting.
AN: I've listened to the Super Buu, Buunemba, Imperfect Cell and Semi-Perfect Cell themes virtually nonstop all day to write this. Wow my work ethic picks weird and surprising ways to show itself. Oh, and for the first time ever I went back and read over my old chapters. Two and three are totally different from the ones I have on my hard drive!
Guests:
Luke: Thank you! You may to wait a while for the next update, exam season is right around the corner.
CK: That's the nicest thing I've ever review ever!
Guest: Fear not, one day I will write a story without a villain protagonist and Cell will get his just desserts!
Cell: I mean, hero is a four letter word you don't want to apply to Cell. Why would I tone anything down? OG DBZ was violent, and that's why people loved it.
