Chapter 6: Heirloom
"What is it?" Cell demanded as he touched the lab's floor.
"Simple. Get in." Dr. Gero was gesturing to something that had risen out of the floor; it looked like a coffin.
"What is it?"
"It's a GP modifier." Answering Cell's look, he elaborated. "GP. Genotype/phenotype. I can make the upgrades- I spent the last two days programming fo this."
"Two days? And you only condescended to call me-"
"Today. Get in and shut up."
Cell complied. "Dr. Gero. How do you plan to improve on perfection?"
Dr. Gero closed the box. Cell was covered in darkness, and he could hear the clicking of the doctor's keyboard. Then darkness overtook his mind as he shut down.
As the moon rose, Dr. Gero was counting the seconds. "In 3.27 minutes, Cell's modifications will be complete. All new data sets have been uploaded. Barring any errors on my part -hah!- my longest standing mistake will be rectified. Cell will be, at last, truly perfect. I will have my revenge on Goku, revenge for the defeat of the Red Ribbon army.* Leaning back in satisfaction, his eye caught the main security display. It beeped and changed, revealing seven dots heading towatrds them. Mentally transmitting the command, Dr. Gero zoomed in.
Ih he had still had one, his heart would have lept into his mouth. Saiyans! Two of them Super. *What are they doing here? How did they find my lab?* His eyes flared and and his head turned. He was looking at the hatch in the floor. The GP modifier actually rested at the bottom of a long shaft, to keep it safe. Cell mattered above all else. *Less than a minute to go.*
There was a blast above him- the opening to the vacuum tunnel had been destroyed. He could hear the bodies rushing downwards, then the door caved in in front of him. As a flurry of ki blasts hurled out of the smoking doorway, Android 20 extended his hands, absorbing them.
*I must buy Cell a little more time. It is imperitive that his transformation finishes.* With that, Dr. Gero rerouted some of his internal circuts. There was a soft pop as his left leg shorted out, eruping in a cloud of oily black smoke. *There. That herring will be red enough for the fools.*
Finally, with three seconds to go, the rain of ki stopped. The seven Saiyans burst in on the ruined lab and the smoking Dr. Gero. Vegeta stared at the android.
"How can this be? His power level is pathetic- there's no way he should have taken anywhere near that kind of-" Dr. Gero chuckled. Vegeta's voice faltered, then finished. "Punishment?" Dr. Gero laughed. The room fell silent. Finally, Android 20 threw back his head, roaring with laughter.
"You incomptent fools! Did you think you could catch the gratest genius of all time completly unprepared. Never mind. How ironic that you should arrive right now." A grin split his mechanical face. "My master stroke is complete. It's safe, far away from here, and while you were wasting time with your little light show, it finished. Now, nothing you do matters; you're doomed." He gestured as if to a child. "Run away, little Saiyans! Run while you still have time! Otherwise, the green monster will come and EAT YOU UP!" The doctor collapsed in a fit of deranged giggles.
"Telling the prince of all Saiyans to run?" Vegeta bellowed. "The disrespect-" With a roar, Vegeta lept forward. His foot swung forward, decapitating the the mad scientist. Grey matter splettered over the floor as he brought his foot down, pulverizing the still-laughing head. "Let's go."
Outside the lab, Vegeta hurled an energy blast down the shaft. There was an exposion, then a roar as part of the island caved in.
"Prince Vegeta." Gris asked "What do you think he was talking about?"
"His 'master stroke?' The senile fool was bluffing, trying to scare us there's no power here."
The island was beginning to shake. Vegeta gaped. "But what- the power-" The Saiyans were dwarfed as an immense beam of blue-green enegy tore up from below the island, reducing it's surface aera by a full third. Out of the smoldering crater rose Perfect Cell, looking decidedly peeved.
"You killed Dr. Gero." The voice wasn't accusing, merely stating a fact. "You got lucky. There are very few points in his existance where you would have found him undefended, and you stumbled into one of them."
"What's this about a master stroke?" Verrita whispered to Vegeta. The damn female was speaking out of turn. "He's powerful, but not much more than you described."
"Simple." Goku was glaring daggers at Cell "he's hiding his new power, isn't he? It's a skill of his."
"You are a fool, Goku." Cell replied. "I am hiding power, but not my new ones. I have none. However, a substantial portion of my old has yet to be revealed." A smile split the white face. "But nature calls. I'm afraid you must excuse me, for the time being."
"NO!" Goku flickered and reappered in front of him. "This has to stop! Your reign of terror end here, Cell! Everything you've got, warriors!" Goku charged, firing the first ki blast of the fight, the others mimicking him.
Cell simply hovered there, impassive, as the firestrom struck him. "STOP!" Goku shouted as the fireball erupted around the android. "Everyone, charge you stronget attacks! He's too powerful to be hurt by-"
"KAME-HAME-"
"Holy- Everyone- fast-"
"HAAAAAA!!!" Everyone scrambled to cover their eyes as the massive blue Kamehameha wave raked across the sky. As it faded, Cell smiled in triumph. He had managed a glancing hit on all the Saiyans, and had knocked three of them out of the air. Not waiting for the smoke to clear, he sped off towards the lookout.
*Why am I doing this? I had the Saiyans staggered. If I had struck, I could have destroyed two, maybe three of the weaker ones. But some force is drawing me towards the Lookout.* he glanced back. "I have a substantial lead. I'll beat them- but then what?*
Goku could feel the power ahead. "He's ahead!" He shouted back to Vegeta. The other five were lagging behind. "Where's he going?"
"To your friends, Kakarott. He thinks they can defend him." Vegeta smirked. "He won't survive this time. He got lucky once- never again."
Cell reached the edge of the Lookout. He glanced down, saw the group waiting- and blacked out.
He woke up inside his own head. He was hovering in empty space. Suddenly, Dr. Gero appeared in front of him.
"Hello, Cell. If you're seeing this message, it means that I have not survived to deliver it in person. No matter. This is all taking place electronically- I encoded the recording into your brain while you were being modified- so your preception of time is warped. When you wake up, less than a second will have passed."
"Get to the point!" Cell snapped. To his surprise, the recording responded.
"If you insist. You see, Cell, I realized where the error in you perfection lay when I was studing the structure of some radioactive elements. I realized that some of them were perfect- but only for the split-second that they existed. For you to be truly perfect, you would have to evolve. Develop. Not only be able to acquire new skills, but also be able to use everything that hit you- in some way or other- to benefit you or detriment your opponet. I had come up with all sorts of power-raising schemes long ago. But raising your power wasn't enough. No matter how far you push them, thse Saiyans always seem to be able to give it one more push. Much like yourself. Anyhoo, you need to rise and KEEP RISING- and ypu need substantial modifications to do this. So I built a whole new stage into you. Your mind is now releasing the data that you'll need. I've also given you the Master Commands."
"The what?"
"The Master Commands. A series of unsupercedable commands that I began hardwiring into every android after Android 10. Yes, even you. You see, simply give the correct authorization and code name, and the android will never fail to obey. The reason I do this is that I'm worried about Android 16. Of all the fighters, he alone has- as far as I can see- the potential to destroy you. It would kill him, but I'm not sure if that's a sacrifice he would be unwilling to make. Teminate message."
Cell woke up as the promised data flooded into his mind. Yes- he would destroy them all. But he needed to work fast.
Landing on the Lookout, he ignored that Z fighters' damands for various explanations. No time. "Android 19!" he shouted. The little fat Chinaman came walking up. Cell looked at him and grinned. Dr. Gero should have remote-uploaded the new command set. "Cell says: marshmellow."
Evertone stared at him, but the gazes shifted as blue light erupted from Android 19. His face was screwed up as power roared around him. He was summoning every once of his power to the fore, making the ground smoulder beneath him. Cell smiled. "Thank you." With that he turned, and his tail extended again. Android 19 did not protest as it sucked him up as it had the others. The Z fighters stared as the huge bulge travelled down into the main body.
Cell could feel himself connecting with the power absorber. Dr. Gero's modifications- the old man's last, greatest work- kicked in.
It was like a star had appeared on the Lookout. Enegy, pure white flooded out of the fusion of the two androids. Cell could feel himself bending, as before, new personality traits bubbling into his mind. He could feel the power. Perfection had been ecstasy but this- this was something else. It was like he had ripped open the universe and somehow tapped a well of limitless power. Suddenly, the power faded. Cell had ascended to his new, final stage. After all of Gero's planning, he was truly perfect.
Krillin was the first of the staring Z fighters to speak, as ever. "Ummm... Cell? Is that you?"
He had good reason to ask. The change to his new form was smaller that his previous changes, but it was still great. He had grown taller, adding a clean foot to his height. His armor plates had grown more pronounced, even though his limbs were slightly thinner than before. His wings had become serrated, and a smaller set had grown under the originals.
There were no other changes, unless you looked at his face. The jaws had grown fangs, but that wasn't the main thing. The headress had broken up into a series of eight irregular spikes, forming a kind of perverse crown above the black dome of the head.
"To answer your question, Krillin, I'm better than I've ever been. I've ascended beyond perfect and become the ultimate being. The Saiyans who are coming here will soon meet their end, followed closely by this filthy planet. Dr. Gero's vision must come true." A smile split the thin lips as the eyes flared red. The Z fighers stared at him in shock. "Don't worry. It will all be over very quickly."
"Yes, it will be over. For you." All heads turned. Vegeta and the other Saiyans were hovering above them, primed for battle. "You gave us the slip once, Cell," Vegeta snarled. "Never again. You will die here, today. You must eat androids to sustain you, yet you call yourself Perfect."
Cell smiled. "I am no longer Perfect Cell. I have ascended beyond that. I have achieved limitless perfection, so merely calling myself 'Perfect' will no longer suffice. I am now-" he thought for a second "-Infinite Cell."
Vegeta sneered "Soon, you'll be Dead Cell." He looked at the others. "Kill him."
All sven Saiyans dove. Cell flickered and vanished, appering high over the lookout. Moving his arms in front of his chest, he used the Multiform technique. A hail of ki blasts sailed up from the Saiyans on the lookout, forcing all four of him to take evasive action. There was noise and all four spun to see Goku with his hands in front of his face.
"SOLAR FLARE!" As blinding light pored out from Goku, the other made their assault. The twins hurled one of the forms into another as Vegeta opened up his Gattling Gun attack against both of them. Verrita, Seng, and Gris were hurling random shots at the two unnocupied forms as Goku prepared his Kamehameha wave
"ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!" The Saiyans were huled back as all forms powered up and went on the offensive. Outnumbered seven to four, the forms were moving fast, knocking the Saiyans into each other, trying to use their numbers against them. As the gruop began to close, Goku shouted at Vegeta.
"Try and split everyone up! He's hemming us in so he can nail us all! If we can spred-" A scream cut him off. Spiining in horror, he saw Verrita falling towards the lookout. Her legs had been cut off, and Goku copuls see the pink enegy disc dissipating. Suddenly, Verrita was gone in a white blur. "Ver- oof!" something impacted against his back. It was the twins, their tails knotted together. Glancing around, he say that they were in a bad position. All six remaining Saiyans were in a tight group, with a Cell at every point of the compass around them. All of them had energy in thei cupped hands.
Goku smacked two fingers to his forehead, transmitting himself next to Kami as all four Cells fired. The remaining Saiyans were at the the point of convergance of the four waves. Goku could see them splitting up. Then the waves hit. A blast that shook the lookout tore through the air as each Cell fed enegy into the massive, expanding sphere. Soon, even the Cells were overtaken by the huge ball of blue-white power.
As the power faded, Goku took stock of the situation. Verrita was alive, but out of the battle. Turns out that it was Chao-Tzu who had caught here, hence the white blur. She had already been fixed by Kami, but she was still in shock. He could feel the twins up near the Cells, but the other two Saiyans were gone, vaporized at the heart of the blast.
Then there was Vegeta. He could hear the prince screaming himself hoarse as he powered up his Final Flash attack at one of the Cells, who was still shaken from the blast that he had contributed. As power formed in Vegeta's hands, all of the Cells grinned, and flew back towards their threatened comrade. Remerging, Cell extended his palms as Vegeta fired.
"Vegeta! Don't! He's going to-" Goku's words were cut off as Vegeta poured his power out at Cell. Everyone stared as the android's palms flared red, but only Goku caught what happened next:
The ki struck Cell's hands, but instead of exploding, it sucked into him. Transmitting up through his body, it went into his head and formed up in the crown.
Vegeta, panting from his exertion, stared. Cell was hovering there, unharmed, and with even more power than before. A ball of glowing blue energy was hovering inside his crown: the Final Flash attack.
"You see, Vegeta, this is what I mean by infinite perfection. There is no try slignificant attack that you can mkae that I cannot counter or turn to my advantage. I-"
"Need to shut up." A double fist strike from Goku to Cell's head dome ripped the android out of the air and sent him hurling to earth. Far below the lookout, a cloud of dust rose where the android struck.
"To me!" Vegeta shouted. Goku, Eizel, and Dizel flew to their prince as Cell hurtled towards them. Stopping a few hundred feet away, the android grinned
"Touche. Quadra-maino-kai!" Cell began to bellow, much like he did as he was power up. However, he looked like he was in genuine pain.
"Ever hear of that attack?" Eizel enquired.
"Nope." Cell was reeling in the air, energy flashing around him. Suddenly, his sides split open. Two holes appeared in his carapace, about four inches below his armpits. Everyone could see the pulsating grey masses under the shattered armor. Goku stared. "He can't be-"
Cell roared one final time. The grey masses pulsed and popped, forming a second set of arms where they had been. The android ceased writing and looked down at his new limbs.
"Well, Goku, that hit was enough to make me drop the energy from the Final Flash. Let's see how you do against my little upgrade. You know, this is the first time I even strained myself."
In response, all four Saiyans hurled themslves at him. But where they had been able to connect before, Cell had suddely raised his power level. The four arms moved like lightning, blocking everything that the four of them could throw. Bored with the action, Cell flickered and vanished, appearing about a hundred feet away.
"You know, you should really see if those twins can achieve Super Saiyan. As it is, this is less than challenging." He glanced down at his arms. "Hmm. Four against four." Power rippled around him as his voice began to reverberate. Two fingers from all four hands rose to his forehad and began to glow. "Quad Beam Cannon..." he extended his arms "FIRE!"
The Saiyans scattered as Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon attack flew at each of them, bolstered by Cell's power. Goku dove forward, over the two rays and toward the android's face, twitching aside as the beam tracked up. Concentrating all of his power, the Super Saiyan struck, giving Cell a right to the chest.
*YES! I can feel him giving way- huh?* Goku stared as he felt a pressure on his hand, then gaped in shock. Cell had given way, alright- his armor had split open under Goku's fist, but the android had regenerated around it, trapping his hand. All four beam cannons stopped as Cell took stock of Goku's predicament. Goku glanced up to see Cell smiling. As the android raised his arms, Goku gave a mighty tug in a vain attempt to free himself.
Cell was having none of it. Lashing out with all four arms, he struck Goku with a quadruple karate chop across the chest. The Saiyan could feel his ribs shatter as his hand tore free and he went sailing down. Cell flickered out as the chest wound closed.