At the top of a mountain, surrounded by trees, there

is one of the most beautiful locations in Hell. Here, in

greenery, accompanied by magpies' songs (the best

'soundtrack' Hell's nature has to offer), someone is

sitting down, cross legged, and meditating.

It wouldn't seem weird to an observator that no other

Hell residents are here if they knew that that someone

is Cell. Cell, the bio android, the ultimate fighting

machine, the ultimate fighting genius. Created by cells

of various martial arts masters, he was born not only

with the knowledge of their energy attacks but also

with the mastery of their fighting styles: Goku's and

Krillin's shaolin kung fu, Vegeta's krav maga, Tenshinhan's

ninjutsu, Piccolo's karate.

Very few Hell residents would even consider coming

anywhere near that warrior's lair. Even the supposedly

invincible Icers, who ruled Universe 7 for centuries, turned

out to pale in comparison to that fighter's power.

Cell has to admit that the first few years in Hell weren't

that bad. He would go around terrorizing and torturing

people to his heart's content, which was not really

different from what he had been planning to do in the

living world had he won the Cell Games.

A pleasant bonus in Otherworld, as he soon found out,

was the possibility to have fun by killing a person over

and over; you see, dead people cannot really kill one

another (if such a thing was possible, within a few years,

almost everybody in Hell would have vanished through

the 'second death' process and Hell would be an empty

place). If a dead person's body is destroyed by another

dead person, the body is automatically regenerated.

As years went by, though, Cell started growing bored.

His Saiyan nature craved a challenge and destroying

weaklings definitely didn't classify as such. Maybe there

are two or three persons in the vast realm called Hell

that could give him an exciting fight or even turn out

to be stronger than him, but what are the chances he

will come across them anytime soon in a place bigger

than a galaxy?

At some point, Cell met Dr Gero. The two of them tried

to hang out for a while. After all, Cell always felt love

and respect for his father and the feelings were mutual.

Soon, though, they realized that those feelings stemmed

from the common goals they had while still alive. Now

that they were both dead and those goals would remain

forever unfulfilled, they no longer had any common

ground. So their relationship faded.

Sometimes, Cell wonders whether it would have been

better if, back then, he had decided to spare Earth and

settle there. I mean, he could spar with Goku everyday

and have fun as he had that day he fought him at Cell

Games. He might have left even Gohan in the dust eventually

if he challenged him every day and pushed himself to

his limits. Heh. He's pretty sure he could have made that

kid interested in combat if he'd joined their group and

got the chance to influence him.

There was no need to adopt their altruistic bullshit as

well, but leaving alive those who can give you a challenge

so that you can face them again another day is more

rewarding than killing them just to show off your superiority

after all.

Suddenly, Cell feels two chis behind him. 'Who can be

so idiotic as to approach the mighty Cell?' he thinks as

he stands up. 'Obviously some newcomer...'

The next moment, Cell realizes whom those chis belong

to. He turns around and sees Goku and Vegeta.

'Hmf. You,' he says, crossing his arms indifferently.

'Heh. I was expecting a more emotional reaction,' Vegeta

comments.

'I'm not in the mood. I don't feel like myself lately,' Cell

says. 'Just tell me what you want and scram.'

Goku takes a few steps towards the bio android. Not

feeling like getting straight to the point, he tries to

initiate some chat first: 'So, Cell, have you made any

progress since you arrived in Hell?'

'Not really,' the villain answers. 'It's hard to become

stronger when the gravity is so low and everybody

around you are weaklings. But it doesn't matter. I can

still crush either of you and I'll do it if you keep wasting

my time.'

'Okay, that does it,' the provoked Vegeta says and

clenches his fists.

Goku, who has realized what his friend is about to do,

tries to stop him:

'Vegeta, no, this isn't the right time for...'

'HAAA,' Vegeta transforms into Super Saiyan Blue, the

burst of his aura shaking some trees around.

Cell is shocked. What is this blue aura? And this chi...

it's totally different in nature from anything Cell has

ever felt and its amount seems... bottomless.

'Curse... you...' Cell whispers, trembling as he did

when Gohan was knocking him around like a ragdoll.

'How about I get my revenge on you for the times

you humiliated me back then?' Vegeta asks, taking

a fighting stance.

'VEGETA, NO,' Goku snaps. He transforms into SSJ

Blue and stands in front of the other Saiyan, arms

extended to the sides.

'Goku can do it too?' Cell thinks, further shocked.

'This is not what we've come here to do,' Goku reminds

Vegeta.

The former prince chuckles and reverts back to base.

Goku reverts too and turns to Cell. He tells him the

reason he and Vegeta are here.

'Tournament of power, huh?' Cell comments, now

calmer. 'Sounds interesting. You must be really eager

to get that wish from Super Dragonballs to take a chance

and revive a thug like me.'

'Just tell us whether you're in or not,' Vegeta sighs.

'I'll do it. On two conditions,' Cell smiles deviously.

'Here it goes. He wants to be the one to make the

wish if we win,' Vegeta mumbles.

'No, Vegeta,' Cell laughs, comforting him. 'I don't need

the enhanced power of those planet sized spheres.

The plain, old dragonballs are enough. I want you to

use them to revive me as soon as we get back to the

living world. Also, I want you to teach me how to do

that blue transformation.'

'Do you think you can do it?' Vegeta asks cockily.

'Of course,' Cell answers. 'I have Saiyan cells. I could

transform into something like a Super Saiyan when I

reached my perfect form. And, after my failed suicide

attempt, I gained access to something like that sparky

form Gohan had. So I can definitely reach a transformation

equivalent to your blue one.'

'Okay, Cell. We agree to both conditions,' Goku butts

in, laughing. 'I was going to revive you and train you

for the next 4 months anyway.'

'What? Are you out of your fucking mind, Kakarrot?'

Vegeta yells.

'Chill, Vegeta,' Goku laughs. 'If he does anything bad,

we'll just fight him again.'

'Don't worry. I won't,' Cell says, very seriously, drawing

the two Saiyans' attention. 'All these years in Hell

made me realize what is important in life.'

'Huh?' the two Saiyans cry in a gagly unison.

'Don't treat this as a change of heart,' Cell explains.

'Don't think that I'll ever grin like an idiot and join forces

with you or that I won't hurt other people if it happens

to be in my best interest. But I'm no longer interested

in going around and torturing weaklings for no reason.

I just want to pursue and reach greater heights. Because

now I know that perfection is not a static state as I thought;

it's an ongoing quest for improvement.'

Goku smiles and offers his hand to Cell. The bio android

refuses to reciprocate.

'I hope we won't regret this,' Vegeta thinks.