The sudden titanic power level was so vast that it brought the battle in the courtyard to a screeching halt. Even Android 13 had stopped in his tracks when his sensors picked up on the spike in power, a faint sense of dread filling his body when he became aware of the fact that this new being was around his level of strength.

The injured warriors turned their attention toward the figure that had appeared in the sky, after bursting through an open skylight in the main fortress. It was strange to describe, like an amalgamation of so many different species all lumped together to create something entirely new. It hung silently in the air, glaring toward the courtyard, before it abruptly shot toward the ground and landed directly in front of 13, keeping his back to the bulky blue machine.

Now 13 remembered this thing, it was the creature that the Emperor had stuffed in that tube all this time. And now he was finally out, which could mean only one thing...his overlord had completely lost faith in his abilities.

"Hey! Get lost ya overgrown gecko!" 13 yelled. No response, Cell kept his back to the older machine and his posture didn't change in the slightest. "Are you deaf?! I said piss off!"

He reached out and gripped Cell's shoulder, but as soon as the giant hand touched the hybrid's shoulder Cell's hand shot up and grabbed 13's wrist. He flung 13 with a swift swing of his arm, launching him toward Raditz and Kakarot. The Saiyan brothers leapt up, narrowly avoiding being crushed under 13's bulky frame, while the Android himself kept on hurtling until his body crashed clean into one outside barracks.

With his intentions made clear, Cell silently shot toward the weakest links of the group, Krillin and Nam. The two injured humans braced themselves for a head-on attack, only for Cell to vanish when he was only a few inches away. Before the duo could react he grabbed them both from behind, the gems in his palms digging into their flesh and making both humans shriek in pain as their ki was forcibly sucked from their bodies.

Cell released his grip on the duo once he sapped away the remnants of their energy and let their unconscious bodies collapse onto the stony floor. His enhanced hearing alerted him to an incoming attack, and he promptly leapt back to dodge a kick from Kami.

He gathered Nam and Krillin's stolen energy into a ball of blue energy in his hand, which he swiftly threw at Kami. The Namekian wasn't fast enough to dodge or block as he had to use a good chunk of his remaining ki to regenerate his arm. As a result he was hit dead on and the erupting explosion hit hard enough to launch him off his feet and smash his unconscious body into a pile of robot debris.

'Remember Cell, I want them alive...But don't be afraid to break a bone or two.'

Cell gave a solemn nod, even though nobody else could hear anything he was hearing. Meanwhile, Android 13 was awkwardly getting to his feet. The rage was plain on his face, furious that he had been laid out so easily. He raised a hand up and took aim at the bio-android, about to charge up an attack, only for an unseen force to take control of his arm and lower it against his will.

'Ah ah ah, I'll have none of that 13. I'm not a fan of your petty jealousy.'

The scolding, being treated as if he were a child, well that wasn't doing anything to improve 13's mood. Not that he could do anything to oppose his emperor's will...

Meanwhile, Cell was turning his focus toward Tanip and Gohan. He lowered himself down into a familiar stance, while the two watched him curiously. Turtle School stance...how the hell did he know the turtle school techniques? "Who...or what the hell is that thing?!" Tanip snapped, the alien creatures immense power leaving her on edge.

Gohan didn't have an answer, nervous sweat running down his face. This thing didn't just have raw power on its side, but it had dangerous gadgets like those ki-absorbing gems and a pre-programmed level of skill above what 13 possessed. And this creature didn't have anything to prove,didn't brag or act cocky. This being was ruthlessly efficient. "I just hope there's nothing like him in our timeline..."

Solid orange eyes continued to watch the two half-Saiyans for a few more moments, silently surveying every last detail of the twins. Their power levels, their heartbeats and brainwave levels, tallying the injuries their bodies had endured thus far...they didn't seem like a threat, but then again nobody here did.

Before he could make his move, the twins lunged at him, firing off a superhumanly fast barrage of attacks that forced Cell backward across the ground, ducking and twisting his body whenever he had to in order to avoid the attacks. His tail lashed to one side, nailing Tanip under the ribs and launching her away. The hybrid moved fast enough to intercept the winded half-Saiyan before he kicked her in the lower back hard enough to launch her directly into her brother, their bodies creating a large crater in the rocky ground, both knocked unconscious.

They were alive at least, just as his Emperor wanted. Cell was briefly distracted while he watched the downed twins, allowing Raditz to fling a concentrated ki ball at him from behind. The explosion struck him in the tail, a shriek of pain like the caw of a great mad bird flying past Cell's beak when the jets of pain ran through his body.

Raditz allowed himself a smile when the blast faded, revealing that his surprise attack had reduced Cell's tail into a maimed stump. Cell let out a let out a hiss and then redirected some ki to his bleeding tail, causing the lump of flesh to pulse and ripple before a fully regenerated length of tail burst from his ruined portion of tail, acid dripping off this new portion.

"He...he can regenerate like a Namekian..." Kakarot whispered under his breath "Just what the hell is this thing...?"

The towering mutant wasted no time rushing at Raditz, smashing his knee into Raditz' face and sending him clean off his feet. Before he could even hit the ground on his own, Cell intercepted him and stomped on his face, driving his body into the ground with enough force to knock him out.

Chi Chi watched her boyfriend go down, a sense of worry filling her when she saw him go limp. She grit her teeth and then held her hands outward. "I'm not gonna put up with this! Get off of him!" She snapped, firing a wave of red ki at the hybrid. Cell spun around in response and held both of his hands outward, sucking the energy into his palms and adding it to his own strength.

The Ox Princess felt a bead of nervous sweat run down her neck, before Cell redirected the stolen energy to his eyes and fired it back as twin bolts of orange light. They struck Chi Chi faster than she could react to, kicking off a grand explosion that sent waves of pain cascading through her body. Her smoking frame collapsed onto the ground, passed out from the pain.

Kakarot looked shocked to say the least. It seemed all of his allies had been taken down so swiftly, brought down while they were weakened. They had hope against 13, but two beings of this power level seemed beyond what his friends could accomplish. Yamcha landed beside the Guardian, swaying on his feet "How are our chances looking?" Yamcha asked.

"Not too bright, I have to admit." Kakarot replied. This creature was at least focusing on knocking them out rather than killing them...though if this Emperor wanted to keep them alive, then it could hardly be for anything good. The bio-android's artificial eyes kept locked on the Super Saiyan and the scar-faced bandit, plotting out the swiftest way to put them down for the count.

Cell zipped forward at such speed that he vanished from view entirely. His fist buried into Yamcha's gut faster than he could react to, his body soon going limp on Cell's outstretched fist. The hybrid shot his knee upward like a rocket and slammed it against Kakarot's chest, launching him backward. He moved quickly to intercept the attack and then drove both of his feet against the back of Kakarot's head, launching him face first into the concrete and carving a crater into the ground with his body.

The downed Saiyan struggled for a moment and then let out a long groan of pain. His muscles shrunk back down slightly, before his hair went from gold to black and fell down again. All done, all the invaders taken down and left unconscious on the ground.

13 looked over the destruction in the ruined courtyard, his rage building to a boiling point. He watched while Cell silently gathered the downed attackers into a neat pile on the ground, before he created a psychokinetic bubble to house them all in, the golden bubble hovering up off the ground. "You only took them down cause I softened them up for you, you Frankenstein freak."

Cell made no response, assuming he had even heard the insult at all. He simply lifted the bubble of light with his mind and then let it follow behind him as he headed back into the compound. A lengthy growl escaped 13's lips as the mutant casually strode away from him, but with no other options available he silently followed after.


"Oh no...oh no oh no oh no..." Bulma whispered, continuing to look at the silent images cycling before her, the images extracted from the satellite. She had to take screenshots just to see every detail of what had happened because of how fast that creature, that thing, had taken down her friends. They had fought well against Android 13, but that thing had attacked them when they were wounded and weary, like a bolt of lightning.

"There's got to be something we can do..." the blue-haired scientist whispered to herself, before turning her focus towards Mr. Popo and her children. He was keeping them distracted at least, so they wouldn't have to know what their father was going through.

She cycled through the screenshots again, having to zoom in and enhance the resolution a few times, and then she came to a halt on one picture that showed the unnatural hybrid carried the unconscious warriors into the main building. What the hell was he going to do with them? What awaited them in that building?

The sensation of helplessness was nothing new to Bulma, now that she thought back on her life. Back when King Piccolo had been revived she couldn't have done anything to stop him, back when the Saiyans had attacked the Earth there was nothing she could do against them and on Namek she was at the mercy of that besieged planet. Now she could just watch as the father of her children and her friends were dragged away by a deformed mutant.

Being helpless was the worst feeling, but not a sensation that was alien to the wealthy genius. She could help her friends by brewing senzu tonics and creating ki blockers and the like, but that was help done while she was confined to the sidelines. She wished she could get in on the action, just to help her allies...but it was far too late for her to start training now, she couldn't hope to catch up to the other humans by now.

It was then that a realisation hit her, as realisations often hit geniuses, and she became aware of just how she could help her friends. Technology was her forte, and if those Red Ribbon hacks could make machines as powerful as those Androids, then she could make something just as good if not better!

Bulma grinned at the prospect, and she opened up a new program on her monitor, used to create blueprints. Before she got started she labelled the file as 'Suit_Prototype.'


Chiaotzu adjusted his position in his throne when Cell led the captives into the large metal-walled chamber, before he dumped them out of the bubble and onto the floor. Some were jolted awake by the impact, but in their weakened states it made no matter.

The energy from the bubble turned into a long coil of crackling energy, and the lanky hybrid quickly used this new energy rope to bind the captives by the wrists. Had they their full power, then breaking free would have been easy enough...but now they were trapped and helpless at the hands of the Red Ribbon Army.

"Son of a...I can't die here..." Nam hissed, trying to move his wrists against the bindings. He sucked in air through his teeth when he felt the ki burn into his wrists, the discomfort only subsiding when he stopped his struggling.

"Oh you will. You all will. One by one, dragged out for as long as I will it." Chiaotzu said, lazily floating out of his chair and then landing in front of the crowd of weary warriors.

Krillin opened his eyes slowly, and then they immediately widened in surprise when they got a good look at the metal-skinned being before them. "Ch-Chiaotzu!" he exclaimed, thinking back to the tournament and his brief bout with the psychic midget. He had vanished after the tournament, and they had searched so long for him...And here he was, the voice and the body type were unmistakable.

Metal lips curled up into a smile that sent chills down the bald monks spine "So you remember me, do you? Well that's nice. It's a shame you didn't remember me, when I had been kidnapped and had my brain forcibly transplanted into a robot body!"

"We tried to find you!" Krillin yelled "We searched but it...but it was like you'd just vanished off the face of the earth...God what the hell happened to you...?"

The Emperor moved a hand up to his face, looking over his ironclad fingers. He remembered when he had flesh, could feel things like a normal person...not anymore. "The Red Ribbon Army happened to me. They took me, experimented on me, turned me into a device that could control the Androids...but I managed to liberate myself, and I seized power. I'd rather rule than be a slave to inferior beings..."

"You were just a kid..." Yamcha murmured, drifting gradually in and out of consciousness. The dull ache was resonating throughout his whole body, the pain keeping him from fully passing out again.

"I was, I most certainly was. But they made a point of stealing my childhood away from me..." Chizotzu let out a long sigh. "But that's enough for me to divulge. I have a busy afternoon of executions to get through..." An invisibly hand wrapped its telekinetic fingers around Kakarot's throat, lifting his injured body a few inches off the ground. "So you're Kakarot? Finally we meet in person. I must say I'm a little underwhelmed, I expected you to be taller."

Kakarot sputtered while trying in vain to adjust his throat to breathe better. "I could...say the same thing...about you..." he wheezed out by way of protest.

Again, Chiaotzu smiled "Oh you are a clever one, aren't you? And so brave too, willing to insult the man who holds your life in the palm of his hands." He gave Kakarot's neck a quick squeeze, sending waves of pain down his throat before fully releasing his grip and letting the weakened Saiyan collapse onto the hard metal floor. "But now I'm left with a choice to make. Should I kill the leader of the opposing force, or make him suffer and watch me kill his allies first? Oh the decision is so difficult to make."

He turned his head in an unnatural fashion and let his machine eyes rest on Kami "Tell me green man, who should die first?" he asked. Kami looked at him defiantly, unwilling to so much as answer. Chiaotzu scowled at his adamant refusal to speak, and he promptly flicked a finger toward him with enough telekinetic force to snap his head backward. "Come on, answer. Don't be shy." Another flick to the face knocked him back slightly, and a third strike almost made him collapse onto his back.

Chiaotzu kept flicking Kami, every mental impact striking Kami's body with enough force to bruise his body, leaving more purple marks around his wounded body. "Stop it!" Kakarot snapped, feeling his blood begin to boil. He struggled against his bindings, feeling the burn in his wrists growing more intense, but the pain didn't do anything to slow the angry Saiyan's attempts to break free. "Damn you, stop hurting him! Stop!" Kakarot roared. Android 13 watched the violence unfold with a grin on his face, while Cell seemed to be staring blankly off into space.

"You heard him Chiaotzu. Stop." The new voice in the chamber made the former Crane student freeze up entirely, and it certainly came as a shock to everyone else in the room. Footsteps echoed throughout the room, and everyone turned toward the source of the noise.

Tien Shinhan had returned.


A/N: First new chapter after my return from my vacation. Good timing too since I start college again, and it'll likely be a punch to my free time again. Still, I'll be trying to maintain a decently regular level of updates.

Blazing Carnage: hehe... Android Bulma...

I can imagine the others being beaten to a pulp by an empowered Cell, and in desperation, Bulma goes to Gero and has him turn her into an android, then she comes to save everyone's asses. That would be both epic and hilarious.

Well I believe this chapter might be a hint of what's to come. I always thought Bulma could be pretty awesome if she used technology in battle, but she won't be doing anything just yet.

Darksnider: More fighting. Your story has really made me appreciate all that filler in DBZ it really really does break up the screaming and add depth to the characters.

I think you're in the wrong fandom, since 90% of Z was fighting with breaks in between the larger battles. There will be a break from the action in about...2 chapters time, but right now the story is going through a major battle right now.

Jokermask18: Nice! Does Cell need to absorb 13 to be perfect?

Ehhh...yes and no. He doesn't have the drive for perfection that the canon Cell had, but he can transform if he absorbs power cores.

Pointer39: Ah, so Cell's more mature than canon present timeline cell... that makes sense, I mean... with Kochin's help and the RR resources they outta have created Cell earlier than in canon

Yeah. Kochin's specialty was brewing up bio-warriors...This one just happens to be millions of times stronger than Kishime and Ebifurya.