Piccolo landed on the island and started taking off his weighted clothing before the androids even touched down on the island. Android 17 stepped forward as he started to roll his sleeves down while Android 18 sitting on a large rock, Android 16 looking around to examine the environment around him.

"Just so we're clear, if you don't tell me where we can find Son Goku, I will kill you." said Android 17 as he finished rolling his sleeves down.

"I'm fine with that. That is, if you're even capable of killing me that is." said Piccolo as he dropped his turban to the ground.

Android 17 chuckled at Piccolo's response. "Interesting response considering last time. I'm wondering if you're just planning to stall for time or have some other idiotic objective." Seeing that the namekian simply chuckled in response, he took another step forward and held his arms out. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. Just come at me."

Piccolo perked his head up as he noticed Android 18 still sitting on the rock and 16 just standing around while Android 17 was the only one standing before him. "Wait, you're the only one who's going to fight?"

"Of course. I'm far more than enough to take you on myself." Android 17 smirked as he simply stood there confidently, not even bothering to get into an offensive or defensive stance.

Piccolo grinned as he stared down the overconfident android. This is more than perfect. If it's a simple one-on-one fight, then I'm positive I can deal with at least one of them. Regardless of what happens to me afterwards, if I can take destroy just one of these androids, that's all the matters as it means stopping Cell from reaching his perfect form. He knelt down and started emanating an extraordinary amount of power, crumbling the ground underneath him and pushing trees over from the sheer force of energy coming off the namekian.

As Android 17 just stood confidently while staring at the namekian, unable to sense the power coming off Piccolo, 16's attention immediately switched over to look at the alien, his usually blank expression showing a hint of worry. "17, that one's power is not the same as it was before!"

17 turned his head to look at his fellow android, shocked not only by what 16 said, but that the android showed interest in the fight. "What did you say?!"

The moment that the android's attention turned away from him, Piccolo lunged forward, flying past 17 while swinging his elbow backwards against the back of the android's skull, knocking the punk forward. He slammed his foot into the ground to stop his momentum and immediately pushed off the ground with that same foot, launching him over to where 17 was still falling forward. He slammed his foot against 17's face and knocked the android to the ground with a hard crash. As 18 quietly remarked how impressed she was with Piccolo's performance thus far, the namekian himself aimed his open palm at the android struggling to pull himself up. "Explosive Demon Wave!" He unleashed a widespread blast of energy in 17's directions, creating a deep crater bigger than he even meant to make. He noticed that the android's body was nowhere to be found so he looked around, being safe enough to not assume that the android had been wiped out that easily. He found 17 up in the air, the bottom of his jeans scorched, indicating the android had taken some of the blast when trying to dodge out of it. Not bad for a punk like him. Maybe I'll take a page out of Raditz's book and try out something new. He helds his arms outwards with his palms facing the sky as he started collecting energy in his hands.

Meanwhile on the lookout, Goku, Gohan and Nappa were all sitting outside waiting for Vegeta and Trunks to come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Each of them looked to each other when the could feel the tremendous amount of power coming from what could only be Piccolo. "That can't be good." said Nappa, who's been sitting on the edge of the lookout for the last few hours.

"So Piccolo's started fighting huh?" though aloud Goku, knowing that can't be a good sign regardless who he's fighting.

"You don't think it's Cell, do you?" asked Gohan, trying his best to keep himself calm.

Goku shook his head as he stared at the direction Piccolo's energy was. "I can't sense any energy energy from who he's fighting, it has to be the androids."

Gohan partially snapped and started running for the edge of the lookout as he was told it was the androids going against Piccolo, only refraining from totally snapping since he doesn't know just how strong these androids were since he'd never encountered them before. "No, we have to save him!"

"Gohan, no! There's nothing we can do right now! As things are right now, they're too much for any of us to handle! If we go now, we'll only get in Piccolo's way!" shouted Goku, though his son didn't seem to care as he just kept running.

Nappa swung his hand sideways, creating a solid wall of energy in front of Gohan, stopping the halfling in his tracks. "Listen to your old man, kid. Even as a Super Saiyan, I was powerless against their combined power and last I checked, you aren't even able to become a Super Saiyan." He climbed to his feet and walked over to the wall, dispersing it so he could look Gohan dead in the eyes. "I don't think you have to worry about it though. Those androids seem to honor a one-on-one fight, so I'm sure the namekian will be fine on his own." He put his hand on Gohan's shoulder for a moment before walking past the runt and moving over to Goku.

"Nappa's right." said Goku, noticing his son starting to calm down, though only slightly. "Besides, Trunks and Vegeta are gonna come out that door at any moment more than powerful enough to take on the androids. Also, have a little faith in Piccolo. He's an incredibly strong fighter and he's grown even more powerful since he fused with Kami." He saw Gohan start to calm down even more, letting out a sigh as things were pretty stressful. He turned to look at Nappa, who gave the saiyan a thumbs up. His gaze then turned to the door to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Come on Vegeta, what're you waiting for? Was it impossible to go beyond Super Saiyan after all?

High above the lookout, Raditz's ship hovered in place as he tried to focus on his training. The doorway to the gravity chamber opened up as Raditz nearly collapsed out of it, his body covered in sweat and bruises, breathing heavily as he was constantly pushing his body too far. He pressed his hand to his chest, not sure how many of his ribs he'd broken this time but it made moving just that much more painful. He started levitating himself off the ground to avoid unnecessary movement, making his way to the nearest healing station. As he was out of the harsh gravity, his senses were becoming more clear as he could feel Piccolo's unleashed power, his face turning pale. No no no, this can't be happening. 24 hours haven't even passed yet and he's already fighting the androids?! "Damnit, why am I so useless?!" He slammed his hand against the wall, creating a deep dent as well as putting himself through great pain. "Just you wait androids and Cell. The next time we meet, I won't be the same weakling I was anymore!" He then coughed up some blood, his body in too bad a condition to be screaming. He made his way to the healing pod, climbed inside of it, and closed his eyes as he just let the healing process happen. Just you wait..

Piccolo started firing a barrage of energy spheres the android, missing most of them but aiming enough at the android to keep him occupied. By the time 17 finally caught on, he was already surrounded by the spheres around him, no gaps to escape in sight. Piccolo grinned as he noticed a slightly worried expression on the punk kid's face. "Nowhere left to run now. Now it's time for you to die! Hellzone Grenade!" He swung his arms towards each other, the minefield of energy honing in on Android 17, resulting in large explosion that completely wiped out the island they were fighting on. Even at Kame House, the explosion could be seen and the wind pressure caused by it could be felt. As the smoke began to settle, Piccolo was shocked to see that 17 had survived the attack by using a barrier that was cracked from blocking the attack.

Android 17 dispersed the barrier and put his hands on his hips. "That was a close one, you almost had me worried there. I've never met anyone that could actually damage my barrier."

Piccolo made a grunt of annoyance at the android's attitude despite the overwhelming display he'd just put on. "I'll do more than that the next time you try that, seeing that I've just been warming up this whole time."

"Pretty bold words coming from you." He pointed his thumb to the side. "Since you wiped out our little fighting arena, we'll have to move locations to another island. Honestly, you should treat nature a little better." He nudged his head to the side for his fellow androids to follow as he and Piccolo started flying to a new island.

At that same time, Cell was just inside an office building holding onto the leg of a person he was just about to absorb when he sensed the tremendous amount of energy being created from Piccolo. That power, there's no doubt in my mind that it's coming from the being of Piccolo and Kami combined, but who could he be using it against? It can't be Raditz, I sensed his energy on the other side of the planet just a moment ago and I've yet to sense any of the other other saiyans for quite a while. Now that I think about it, I can't sense any energy around him which means.. Cell immediately leg of the man's leg and started cackling. "Of course! He's up against Androids 17 and 18! At last, I have finally found them! Wait for me, soon we shall become the perfect being!" He blasted a hole in the wall of the building he was in and started flying to where Piccolo was.

Piccolo and the androids landed on a new island not very far from where they were fighting originally. 17 wiped his lip and noticed some blood on it, beginning to chuckle as his gaze went to Piccolo. "I must say, you're unbelievably powerful for someone who isn't an android. I would have thought the only one capable of giving me this much of a challenge would be Goku. You've truly proven that you're not the same namekian that went down easy last time. But as impressive as you may be, I really couldn't care less about you. All I want to know is where Goku is, so are you going to continue this pointless fight or tell me where to find him?"

"Why would I tell you? All you plan to do is kill Son Goku the moment you find him. I don't plan to tell you regardless how long this fight takes." He got into his fighting stance. He's more difficult to kill than I could have imagined. Even if I can't kill him, the longer I can stall this fight out, at least 2 of the saiyans will emerge from the Time Chamber any minute.

"Fine. If that's how it's gonna be, I won't complain about getting to knock you down. Just try not to die too quickly." 17 leapt into the air and landed in front of the namekian, immediately getting into a fighting pose.

Piccolo was pretty surprised by the androids bold approach. They both stood there staring at each other with great intensity before 17 made the first move, leaping forward with an open palm aimed at Piccolo's chin. The namekian was nearly caught off guard, managing to block with his arm but was still pushed back from the force of the strike. He growled and retaliated with a slash of his arm, 17 ducking under the attack but some of his hair and his neckerchief was torn off. Seeing his signature orange neckerchief fall to the ground, 17 scowled and struck Piccolo in the stomach with nearly enough force to pierce the skin. As the namekian started collapsing from the pain, the android slammed his elbow against the back of Piccolo's skull, creating a crater under Piccolo's body. Android 17 was surprised to see how quickly Piccolo started to get back up. He went for a side kick but Piccolo managed to do a backflip to avoid the attack, then doing an unnecessary number of backflips to gain some distance between the two of them. The namekian then popped his neck and wiped some blood off his chin. "Your a fast little bug, but that's all you are. There wasn't any sort of power in those attacks."

17 looked astonished for a moment about that accusation from the namekian. He smirked and picked up his damaged neckerchief, wrapping it around his arm. "You're a lot more delusional that I thought if you dare say that to me, the strongest in all of history."

While the fight between Piccolo and Android 17 continued, Cell continued on his way to reach the his destination. Piccolo was far too focused on the fight to notice it, but the crew at Roshi's place and Kami's Lookout were all able to notice the approach of Cell.

"There's no way. Why now of all time?!" shouted Krillin, who was the first at Kame House to notice the approach of Cell.

"Cell's really on his way there? This can't be!" said Tien, who was in disbelief that they hadn't been able to find the monster for the past few days and only now decided to reveal himself.

Chi-Chi burst forth from inside the house holding the phone. "Krillin! Bulma's on the phone and she says she might have learned the weakness of the androids!"

Everyone immediately turned to look at Chi-Chi, shocked to learn that their friend might have just rescued them at a good time. Krillin grabbed the phone and put it on speaker. "Bulma, is it true that you managed to find a weakness?"

"You're damn right I did." said Bulma, sounding unnaturally proud of herself. "According to the blueprints, at least 17 has a remote shutdown function installed inside them, so the same should apply to 18 judging by the threat they both pose. Lucky for you guys, I just finished working on a remote that can trigger that function. Once you do that, shutting them down should be easy."

Krillin looked to both Tien and Yamcha and nodded. "Bulma, I hate to rush you but you need to get here as fast as possible. Piccolo's already fighting the androids and we're unable to help him without that remote."

"Sure thing, I'll be right over. And be sure to let Raditz know that he and I will be having a strict conversation." The phone then cut off as Bulma had hung up.

"Yeesh, I don't want to be anywhere near her when she finds out that Raditz isn't here." said Yamcha, crossing his arms as he started to sweat.

"That's great! If we can use that remote to shut them both down, Cell won't be able to reach his perfect form when they're destroyed!" shouted Tien, sounding a bit too enthusiastic for the situation.

Krillin stared at the remote with a pained look on his face. "Destroy them huh?"

Nion had been listening from the living room window and backed up, a rather scared look on her face. She turned around to look at her mom, who was in her blonde personality, and walked over to Launch. "Mommy, is someone going to have to die today?"

Launch, who had been polishing her gun, froze up and turned pale as she had heard her daughter ask such a dreadful question. "I-I don't know sweety. Things have gotten pretty scary lately, but I'm sure your dad will make sure to protect all of us."

Nion gave a brief smile before turning her head to the floor, her smile fading. She looked out the window and looked a bit scared again. But can Daddy protect himself?

Meanwhile, at the Lookout, the saiyans had picked up on Cell's approach. "Dad, that energy! It's Cell, he's heading towards Mr. Piccolo and the androids!" shouted Gohan.

"Yeah, I know. But there's nothing that we can do right now." said Goku, groaning as things were getting worse and worse while Vegeta and Trunks weren't coming out of the Time Chamber. His senses shot up as he sensed a surge of energy behind him, urging him to look.

Nappa was standing at the edge of the Lookout, transformed into a Super Saiyan. Energy began to surround his hand as he simply stared down at the Earth, as if trying to figure something out.

"Nappa, what are you doing? There's no way you can fire a blast halfway across the planet and hit Cell." said Goku, a bit worried what the saiyan brute might be up to.

"Don't need to fire a blast across the planet. Just need to know where to aim my attack!" shouted Nappa, swinging his arm upwards.

As Cell was flying across the ocean, a pillar of energy shot out from the water and stopped the android in his tracks. He noticed a massive energy a long distance away. "That energy, there's no doubt that it's a Super Saiyan but it feels a lot different from Raditz. That must mean it's Nappa, but how could he perform such a technique from a long distance? It doesn't matter I suppose, it won't mean anything to me once I reach my perfection." Without another word, he resumed flying to Piccolo's location.

During their fight, both 17 and Piccolo stopped fighting as they noticed the massive spire of heat energy in the distance. "Wow, quite the impressive feat of nature." said 17 before getting back into his battle stance facing Piccolo.

Piccolo on the other hand was quivering as he finally noticed the fact that Cell was closing in on them from the direction of the pillar. "This is bad. You androids need to leave right now!"

Each of the androids turn their head to the namekian, 17 mostly surprised that his opponent is telling him to run. "What's the matter, finally realizing how outmatched you are?"

"There's a monster named Cell after you and he plans to absorb both you and Android 18!" shouted Piccolo, gathering energy into his hands in preparation for Cell.

Hearing the mention of Cell completely got the attention of 16, his eyes narrowing as he stares into the distance, seeing android in question coming their way at great speed. Meanwhile, 17 wasn't believing any of it. "Yeah right, as if I'll believe something ridiculous like that."

"17, we need to go." declared 16, being the one to surprise everyone this time. "Killing Son Goku may be our objective, but making sure Cell cannot absorb the both of you should become our priority!"

"Hold on, you actually know what he's talking about?" asked 18. 16 pointed to where he saw Cell and 18 looked a little surprised. "17, perhaps we should listen to them."

"Hmph, I don't care who shows up, I refuse to run away." Android 17 just stood there, watching as Cell moved closer.

"18, I suggest you get behind me." said 16, the female android getting behind the larger android.

Piccolo continued to have a large buildup of energy at the ready, staring down Cell as the android finally landed. "You couldn't resist coming back to find me, could you?"

Cell started to chuckle, scanning the area to see Android 17 and 16, surprised to see the larger android but didn't pay any mind to him. He couldn't see Android 18 anywhere but knew she couldn't be far, so he just turned his attention back to Piccolo. "I thank you Piccolo. You've just handed the key to my perfection to me on a silver platter. And now, I think I'll pay you back for that humiliating defeat a few days ago."

And cliffhanger. I know this wasn't my best chapter, was a bad place to end things off AND was late, but I really wanted to give something to you guys even during my emotional slump. No reason to make you guys suffer for my personal issues. I know it's pretty boring that I'm not changing any of the canon as of late, but there's not a whole lot I can do with all the saiyans out of the way. I figured I might as well throw a bone at the end with that little Nappa trick but don't expect me to write that again. We're nearing Semi-Perfect Cell which is when I plan to go a little crazy with the story, so look forward to that. That's all for this time, tune in next time for another chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.

P.S. I'll try to fix my funk and upload schedule next time.