A wordless, feral cry of pure rage resonated across the flat plain that Cell had chosen as the site for his tournament. Jade Falcon watched in shock as Cell leapt straight up out of the crater with an enraged scream. He then came straight at her with a savage cry and began to beat on her in a major way. She soon found to her horror that she couldn't even touch him now. He had reached a whole new level of strength and power, surpassing hers. As he beat her across the sky, Shade used his psychic powers to shout to his sister, (Jade Falcon! Switch into Jadeite and use the Staff of Ra!) Her armor quickly changed from dark gray to deep green, as she became Jadeite. She then reached up toward the sun and concentrated, focusing her energies on one simple task. Cell paused, watching in awe, as a bright flash of orange fire became a coppery-hued scepter. The ruby set in it glittered with an unnatural level of brightness, as if it had its own internal light source.
Holding the scepter high, Jadeite cried out, "Tremble, evildoer! Behold the Staff of Ra!" She spun in a circle, twirling the Staff of Ra. Flames trailed behind it as it spun, creating a wide flaming ring around her. The ruby began to glow far brighter than the sun. When Jadeite faced Cell again, her coral eyes burned with a steely resolve. Her milk-white face twisted in a grim frown as she slowly pointed the ruby part of the scepter at Cell's chest. She then drew in a deep breath to give a war cry. She thought to herself, What shall I use against him first? Then she knew what to do next. She raised the scepter high and called out, "Spear Frost! Release and dispel!" A pale sky blue glow came from within the ruby. Huge razor-sharp icicles materialized all around her and shot toward Cell in a massive barrage. He gave a yelp and dodged as fast as he could. He was bruised and a bit cut up when the barrage ceased. Then he looked up at her with an expression of purest hatred.
Jadeite smiled at this and said, "Okay, so I see ice isn't going to work on you. Here's the other side of the elemental spectrum, and it's coming just for you, Cell. Final Burst! Release and dispel!" A fierce reddish-orange glow came from within the ruby. A huge flaming blast erupted from the very tip of her scepter. Having nowhere to run or hide, Cell gave a short little squeal of fear and then curled up into a ball, doing his level best to shield himself. When she called back the withering fire, a charred, shivering form was visible. As she watched with an evil smirk, Cell slowly uncurled, then looked his injuries over. He stared at his badly burned body with a look of pure shock and blatant dismay. He hadn't expected to feel such pain, or to be injured so badly. The pain was incredible. His expression changed to fierce anger and pure hatred as he then looked over at Jadeite.
She shivered ever so slightly, an expression of pure shock settling in on her pretty face. She had expected that last attack to kill him for sure. Jadeite turned to face Shade where he watched from the top of the plateau and sent to him, (That was my strongest attack! He shook it off like it was nothing at all! What do I do now?) Then her eyes darkened. (I have an idea…) Shade replied, (Do it, then!) She shook her head slightly, an expression of pure sorrow settling on her milk-white face. (I…can't do it. My power isn't enough. Don't you remember? The Staff of Ra was born from the union of two powers. One person alone cannot wield its true power. Only its creators, working together, can tap its full potential. I just wish…someone could help me out…) She pushed the despairing thought from her mind, her expression of sorrow changing to one of grim determination. (There is something I can do. I would only have one chance to try it…and if I failed…) Shade had a bad feeling about it. He said, (Jadeite, what's your plan?) She turned around to face him fully and then smiled at him sadly. She sent to him urgently, (Get away from me quickly if you want to live to see tomorrow. I'm going to self-destruct and take him with me. Shade… Jim… I love you. Goodbye.) Too shocked by far to notice that he was screaming the next words at the very top of his lungs as well as broadcasting his every word to everyone within a full mile of his current position, Shade screamed out in pure terror, "No! Jadeite, you can't! We can find a way around the scepter's limitations! If you need more power, I'll give it in place of the one that helped you to create the Staff of Ra! Don't do it, Jadeite! Please don't do it! For the love of heaven, don't self-destruct!" Behind him, a third person heard his words and knew that the time had come to act.
Sighing sadly, Jadeite shut his words out of her mind, turning to face Cell. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, feeling the sun on her milk-white face for the final time as she prepared to die. Tears glittered on her cheeks. She gathered all her energy together in the very center of her body. Opening her eyes, she said in a low voice, "This is the end, Cell…for the both of us. I'll take you with me!" Moving as if she were caught in a dream, she slowly raised the Staff of Ra over her head. It began to burn brighter than it ever had before, casting a harsh red halo around Jadeite. Her body began to burn red as well. Her face twisted in an expression of extreme pain as she said her final prayers. She slowly lowered the Staff of Ra, pointing the blazing ruby directly toward Cell's chest. He was frozen with stark terror. He had expected a lot of things from his enemy, but he hadn't expected her to sacrifice herself to stop him. Opening her eyes for what she was certain would be the last time, she looked over at the frightened Cell and said to him in a growl, "In the name of the Earth and of its people, I deliver the blazing bolt of universal justice. May God have mercy on us all." She bowed her head low and closed her eyes once again, preparing to release her energy and self-destruct. As the chosen time of her death drew ever nearer, she despairingly thought of her true love, and then she dared one last psychic transmission to him as an apology for what she was going to do next. (Goodbye…)
A flood of frantic negation washed across her opened mind like a tidal wave made of the most potent acid. She suddenly felt a familiar presence right at her back. Warm hands covered her own hands, grasping the blazing Staff of Ra even as she did so. An unknown person gently laid their chin on her shoulder. A familiar voice said in a mischievous tone, "Did you miss me?" Startled, she opened her eyes and looked into the smiling face of her love, Cell. The energy she had gathered in preparation for her self-destruction dissipated. Sensing his uncertainty at having to use the Staff of Ra in battle for the very first time ever, she said urgently, giving him advice, "Cell! Believe in yourself! Pray! Bring it out! Bring out all of your power and send it at that impostor!" He did as she advised him to do. Two minds, hearts and souls momentarily merged into one being as two pairs of eyes glared at the hated enemy and two voices cried out, "Spark Net! Release and dispel!"
The energy seared the air and, in an instant, the enemy Cell was gone from sight. In his place, a huge crater gave off a thick miasma of noxious black smoke. Jadeite closed her eyes and around felt around for his power level. He had indeed been killed; erased from existence as if he had never been. Relaxing, the two hybrids drifted down out of the sky to land beside what little remained of the arena where the tournament had originally been meant to occur. Jadeite spun the Staff of Ra on her fingertips and then held it up high, whereupon it disappeared in a bright flash of reddish-orange fire. Then, feeling a series of familiar presences, she turned around and saw that the crew stood there. They were not the crew she knew, but the crew of the universe she and her friends had crossed over into. They were staring at her in a state of total shock, and it took her a few minutes to realize that they were only seeing a second creature who was nearly identical to Cell, and not someone who meant to be their friend. She giggled. "Oh, I forgot," she said, "What form would you feel most comfortable talking to? Oh, I know!" There was a flash of light and Laura stood there. She smiled and stepped up just a little bit closer to the lot of them.
Piccolo practically jumped on top of her when she changed into her most unthreatening form. He snarled at her gruffly, "Wait a minute! Who are you? What are you? Did that madman create you too?" She just gently smiled up at him and then said, "Since you're so hot and bothered about learning my secrets, I guess I'll spill the beans for you. My name is Laura when I'm in this form, but my real name is Jadeite. I am a biological weapon by nature. My friends and I are from the future of a parallel universe. A spatial anomaly threw us from our universe and into yours. We're the good guys. Cell was born as a good guy, engineered for protection rather than destruction. All of us are the same." Trunks stepped up and then cut in, "Wait a minute… You said you and your friends. You mean there are more of your kind?" Jadeite smiled, nodded vehemently and replied in a merry little chirp, "Tons more! Thousands!" She then turned, pointed to the faraway plateau and said; "Do you see that big plateau over there? That's where they all are."
Momentarily closing her bright blue eyes, she sent out a silent psychic summons to her friends. Scant seconds later, untold thousands of utterly alien forms darkened the sky. Then the crew came face to face with their parallel universe selves. Two Piccolos glared at each other. Vegeta and his double circled around each other warily, ready to fight at a moment's notice. Goku regarded himself with a blatantly confused look. Gohan played a game of 'Mirror, Mirror' with his double. Krillin solemnly regarded himself for a long moment, then promptly started giggling. Tien and his double both looked shocked to see themselves. Yamcha and his double were chatting and shooting the breeze as if they were old friends; which, in a way, they were. Both versions of Trunks looked at each other and then asked the others in a frank voice, "Does my hair really look that dumb?" Meanwhile, 17 and 18 watched the tableau as it unfolded before them, and then they both started laughing at the top of their lungs at the sight of all the insane buffoonery going on.
A strangled cry of pure pain made everyone freeze right on the spot. Gohan cried out, "Oh my goodness! Look at Cell!" Laura turned around and gaped in shocked horror as Cell doubled over and dropped into a low crouch, his face twisted in supreme agony. As everyone watched, his body began to twist and distort as bone and muscle were reshaped. A bright light came from deep within his body, forcing everyone to look away or go blind. A few minutes later, when everyone could see things again, they all saw that Cell's form had changed drastically. He had just become a big green and black bug with a dark orange beak and a long, snaky, needle-tipped tail. He had regressed in form and power!
Laura, Shade and the crew of both universes knew what had happened. He had regressed to his energy-absorbing form. Looking up at Laura, who looked as though she'd seen a ghost, he said, "Jadeite?" His voice was a low, raspy growl. He gave a wordless yelp as he looked down at himself. "No," he whispered. Then, realizing what had just happened to him; he tilted his head back and screamed at the heavens, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" After knowing true power, he had regressed to a form that was very weak…and ugly.
Laura used her psychic power to enter his mind and subtly convince him that, given time, he would return to his final form. As he stood up, she stepped closer and asked, "Cell, are you all right?" He looked over at her and replied in a hesitant voice, "I'll be fine, I guess. But what do I do now? I feel so…awkward…" She just smiled at him and said, "Tell you what. So you don't feel so out of place, I'll regress too." She then closed her eyes and, as everyone watched, her body began to change. She grew a little bit shorter and a little bit pudgier. Her long, beautiful hair became a greasy, unruly mop. Scars covered her formerly pretty face and the dark purplish-blue bruises on her cheeks made her body look like it was hollow and fragile. The beautiful woman had become an utterly unattractive teenage girl. Cell almost smiled at the sight of that. She was just like him, now. She too had just become something that was far less than what she was truly meant to become.
Cell said, "That's fine, but… In this form, I'll need to…well, you know…" He blushed black and, at a loss for words, just wagged his needle-tipped tail. Laura mentally smacked herself. He needs energy in order to survive, she thought. But there's also still the matter of changing him back. She cursed quietly, and then said in a louder voice, "Of course! What could be simpler?" She stepped forward, grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled it down to expose the smooth white flesh of her breastbone. "Hey. Here you go," she said in a calm, conversational tone, forcing a calm smile onto her face, "Energy." Instinctual urges and a need burning deep within him made him arch his tail forward and prepare to impale her with its needle tip. Then he gained control over his wildly churning instincts.
He looked over at her, at the soft, pale flesh that she had just bared to him, and his eyes went wide at the sight. He gasped in shocked terror, "You…you want me…to…" Her smile faded and she looked at him seriously. "Darn straight I do," she said in a harsh voice, "You need, so I give. Now make with the tail." His tail quivered slightly as he slowly stepped backward, away from her. "No," he whispered. His raspy voice quavered with frightened uncertainty as he fought against the terrible need he felt inside. He turned away and cried, "No! I won't! I refuse to do it! If I do…it'll kill you! Absorbing is killing, and I will never kill again!" She objected urgently, "But if you don't do that, you'll die!" He just screamed at her, "Then let me die!" He then turned and ran away as fast as he could. Then he leapt to the air and streaked out of sight. Laura turned to face her friends with a disappointed look and said, "Well, that went as well as could be expected. Now I have to go find him. There's no telling what he'll do. You guys hold the fort here while I go look for Cell. I'll be back just as soon as I find him, okay? Goodbye now!" She leapt to the air and flew away, astonishing the crew of the other dimension with her speed and strength. In mere seconds she was out of all sight, somewhere that lay beyond the clouds.
Cell sat on a flat rock by a smallish stream. A tall oak tree shaded him from the sunlight. Sweet-scented grasses rustled softly in a gentle breeze. He looked at his reflection in the rushing water. His hideous face… He recoiled at the sight, obliterating the hated image by tossing a small stone into the water. Then he glared at his tail. He really hated his tail, especially the needle tip. How many people have met their deaths via that needle? He would much prefer dying to having to kill innocent people in order to survive. But how could he make sure that pure instinct wouldn't take over and make him do it? Looking around, he spotted a large, heavy stone that was just about as big as his head. Having a sudden flash of pure inspiration, he grabbed the rock in both hands and then lifted it high over his head. He then curled his long tail around himself, positioning the hated needle tip right in front of him. This needle is how I used to absorb and kill people, he thought in a wild, fitful paroxysm of complete self-disgust. Without this needle, I just can't do it.
Closing his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at what he was going to do to himself, he brought the rock down with all his strength. His entire tail erupted in a blast of pure pain and he just barely managed to stifle the urge to scream. Instead of stopping, he used the awful pain to drive himself into a mad frenzy and pounded the needle flat. After a few long minutes, he threw the rock away from him and into the rushing water, a spasmodic movement impelled by pain, and curled up into a ball. When the pain died down to a bearable level, he sat back up and looked at his handiwork. The needle tip was barely recognizable as having been such because it was mutilated so badly. There'll be no more absorbing for me. The tip was a large mass of traumatized flesh and semi-metallic shards, oozing thick purplish blood. Nothing can ever heal that. Cell was utterly pleased at the sight of what he had done to himself, despite the fact that he was now in a world of hurt. Not even Jadeite can fix the needle to working order. But she would probably try to heal him anyway. So he had to hide from her until he either died or miraculously found a way to return to his final form. Rising to his feet, he leapt to the air and flew away as fast as he could manage to go. He found a deep forest in which he could find shelter and hide. There he would wait for what would come to him, be it death or a return to his final form.
Laura had changed to Jadeite because she was stronger in that form and could fly faster. In time, she found the rock where Cell had rested. Looking at the shards and the blood, she knew what he had done. He's destroyed his tail! He…he's going to die! Succumbing to sheer terror, she leapt to the air and began to soar in a wide circle, using her psychic voice to send a call out across the land, (Cell! Where are you? Cell, please answer me!) There was no response to her calls. He wanted to die alone. But she refused to give up on him so easily. I've never tried this before… Reaching toward the heavens, she called forth the Staff of Ra. She had an idea, but she didn't know whether it would work or not. But it's worth a try. She lowered it to her side, trying to think of what she would have to do next if she wanted to find Cell in time to help him. Then she knew exactly what to do. Staff of Ra… She slowly raised the ruby to her serene face and gently touched its flat, cool side surface to her brow. Help me find him… She closed her eyes and concentrated on her memories of how Cell looked in his regressed state. Give me sight beyond sight… Sending her awareness out in all directions, her ability enhanced by the Staff of Ra, she felt for Cell's energy level. Her awareness spread across the land in great waves, covering miles of ground in seconds. Then she sensed him. Yes! She spun the Staff of Ra and held it high, sending it back to the ethereal realm she had called it forth from. Then she put her hand to her brow and used Instant Transmission to take her to where Cell was hiding out.
Cell had used moss to bandage up his tail. Now he lay on a bed of soft grasses, waiting for either death or the ability to return to his final form. He heard the infamous soft rush of air and knew that someone had entered the immediate area via Instant Transmission. Opening his eyes, he saw Jadeite standing right there beside him. She gently tugged at the moss covering the shattered tip of his tail, slowly pulling it away from the broken tip. Then she reached out, her hand glowing with bright pale blue light, and touched his tail. He gave a violent twitch and hissed softly as healing energy flowed through his body. Jadeite smiled as the needle that tipped his tail mended. Seeing that his tail was fully restored, Cell gave her a look of pure dismay. Taking the end of his newly healed tail in an absurdly strong one-handed grip, latching on right below the needle tip itself, she changed to Laura. She smiled at him and said, "I love you, Cell. I'll always be with you."
Then she drove the needle right into her side. He gasped in shock, horrified by what she was doing. She hid her pain behind a smile as she slowly began to run her hand along the length of his tail, gently rubbing from the tip downward. "No," he whispered, shuddering as he felt her soft touch begin to stimulate the musculature along his tail, causing it to involuntarily begin the process of absorption. He had tried his best to keep himself from absorbing her, but now she was making him do it. In all his life, he had never expected someone to actually want to be absorbed by him. Strain showed on her face as the first traces of desiccation began to make themselves clear. Cell leapt up to his feet and tried to run away, but she was still holding his tail, keeping the needle tip stuck deep in her body. He couldn't break free of her iron grip, try as he might. He had no time to think about it. Desperate to stop the absorption process, he did the only thing he could think of on such short notice. Energy gathered around his hand. Turning abruptly, he brought his blazing hand around and then cut off his tail. He cried out in pain and Laura cried out in shock.
Cursing softly, she yanked the needle out of her body and threw the severed tail away, then healed herself and glared at him. He stood across the way from her, panting as he faced her with a pained yet determined look on his face. Behind him, the bloody stump of his newly severed tail twitched uncontrollably. "I told you," he said in a harsh voice, "I won't absorb anyone ever again." An angry expression settled on her pretty face. "Fine," she growled in a low voice, "You leave me no choice in the matter, Cell. I hoped that, in absorbing me, my mimicking powers would become yours. As Jadeite, my new self was born mimicking your final form, so that's my basic shape. It would have been your basic shape too, if you had gone along with my little plan and absorbed me like I asked you to. Once that was all over and done with, my innate healing power would have enabled me to naturally separate my power from yours, just as 17 did. But now, since you've cut your tail off, I guess I'll have to go with the less attractive option. Hold still, please." He obediently held still. She gave a slight smile, nodded in a satisfied manner and then said to him, "Thank you so much for doing what I said for you to do." He nodded and kept holding still. "All right," he stated flatly, "Whatever you're planning on doing to me in order to return me to my final form, please do it right now, before any more crazy stuff happens to us." She replied, "Fine. Just give me a second to get myself ready for it."
She switched into the form of Jadeite and took a small step closer. Raising her hand high over her head, she summoned the Staff of Ra. Looking over at Cell, she said frankly, "Let's hope this works. Hang on to your behind. This may or may not hurt a bit. I'm not too sure." She raised the scepter high, angling the ruby toward where Cell waited for her to do her thing, and then called out in a harsh, commanding tone of voice, "Staff of Ra! Return your power to your creator!" A beam of what appeared to be highly concentrated sunlight shot out of the ruby to bathe Cell in its unearthly glow. As the glow touched him, his body inevitably began to respond to it…and change. This time the change was both quick and painless. The big green bug with a beak and the stump of what had once been a long needle-tipped tail became a tall green humanlike being with a handsome milk-white face, a high double crest and glossy black insect wings. Jadeite resisted the unmistakable impulse to break off the beam in favor of tackling Cell with a kamikaze hug. But she had to make it so that his final form would be his natural form from that moment on. As she finished up, the light slowly died away into nothingness. He then asked her, "Jadeite, what did you just do to me?" When he spoke he noticed that his voice had become a deep, smooth purr instead of a low, raspy growl. He looked himself over and noticed that he had at last returned to his final form. Raising his fists high above his head and punching the air in a triumphant manner, he cheered, "Yes! I'm finally back to normal!" Jadeite smiled at him, nodded to him slowly…and collapsed like a ton of large bricks.
Cell gave a wordless cry of shock and dismay as he leapt forward to catch her in his arms. She lay there limp as he eased her to the ground and tried in vain to revive her. He noticed that she still held the Staff of Ra. The ruby's natural light was almost completely gone. All that was left was a weak glow that flickered to the rhythm of a heartbeat. A wild thought made Cell check Jadeite's pulse. Sure enough, the ruby was pulsing to the rhythm of her heart. He laid one hand on her shoulder and brought the other up to his brow. With a short rush of shimmering light, he used Instant Transmission and was gone.
Soon Shade was helping Cell lay Jadeite on the ground. Shade checked her out to the best of his ability, then said, "She's in a coma…" Using his ability to sense energy; Shade also managed to figure out what had happened. He turned to Cell and said, "She projected her own energy through the Staff of Ra. Since you didn't have the proper energy to return to your final form, she gave you hers. Basically, right now she doesn't have enough energy to maintain a conscious state. But she'll recover, given enough time. We can wait." Cell quietly settled down by Jadeite's side, relieved to learn that she would recover in time. Shade asked, "Cell, are you happy now? Are you pleased with her sacrifice to you? She could have died!" Cell all but flinched as Shade poured out his anger upon the hybrid.
Laura, in her human form, stood on a flat plateau overlooking a world of darkness. A familiar voice said, "So you're here, huh?" She turned and saw Cell standing behind her. His body looked slightly charred, as if he had been subjected to a withering flame. She knew that this was the Cell of the other dimension, the one she had killed. She asked, "What are you doing here?" He stomped his foot and growled, losing his temper, "You of all people should know what I'm doing here! You're the one who killed me!" Turning fully, she put her hands on her hips, sneered at him and then said sarcastically, "Well, if you're dead, what are you doing knocking around in my brain?" He sneered right back, then said to her in a gentle voice, "I want answers before oblivion." He sat down on a rock and just waited quietly. Laura walked to the side, sighed softly and commented, "That I can do. Ask me your questions and I will answer." Cell stood back up and walked up to her, towering over her in her human form. He looked her over and said, "What are you? Where did you come from? Why are you so powerful?" She replied, "I'm a hybrid like you, but from a parallel universe. And I'm psychic." Then he asked, "Why did I see…myself…beside you right before I died?" Smiling, she replied, "It's quite simple, really. That was your parallel universe self. In my universe, we two are mates and we have children as well. He never became what you are. He never killed." There were a few minutes of total silence between the two of them, as Cell contemplated his new non-living status and Laura tried to figure out where the heck she was. Then Laura asked Cell, "Doctor Gero isn't here to tell you what to do. He died before you awakened. He's never been here to tell you what to do; yet you do what he wanted you to. Why are you letting a dead man control your actions?" That question touched a major nerve within him. He abruptly rose to his feet, grabbed her by the collar and forced her to stand up as well. Eye to eye with her, he screamed in her face, "Because I don't know what else to do! I have always been an outcast, from the day I first awakened! I want revenge for how I was treated! I'm angry with them for being so lucky, and I want to make them feel the devastation I have always felt! I'm alone in a world where everyone else is happy! No one knows how I feel!"
Laura's blood was boiling with sheer rage. She found herself tensing up in preparation for a very large battle, although she hadn't consciously decided to do so. She angrily reached out and slapped Cell across the face with all her strength. He took a small step back, taken completely by surprise. Clenching her fists, she screamed right back at him, "Do you really think you're the only one in the world who has ever felt that way? You sorry fool! You're not alone!" He backed away, utterly astonished at her display of her fiery temper. "Look at me!" She lunged forward, grabbed him by the throat and forced him to look into her eyes. "Look at me, curse you!" He struggled, but she only tightened her grip on him. "A thousand curses on your black, twisted heart and soul, you will look at me or I will kill you where you stand!" He looked into her blazing blue eyes, amazed and dismayed at the fact that he was cowering before her. Her pretty face twisted in a snarl of purest rage and she said in a low, threatening growl; "Now you listen to me, Cell. I was born blue, butt first, brain damaged and barely breathing. I'm physically retarded and it takes almost all of my concentration just to maintain my balance and not fall down and land on my face. I grew up with absolutely no friends, I practically raised myself and I went insane at the age of nine! You think you're the only one who has ever desired revenge for bad treatment by the others? Do you really think you're the only one who wants to make them suffer the things you've had to put up with? Get a life and join the club, you moronic toad! You don't know what else to do? I've never known what I'm supposed to do! It's been a very long time since I even felt connected to reality! Do you see all these scars on my arm? I did that! I used to hurt myself just for fun! My very favorite pastime was attempting suicide and my life's dream was to die! You're a fool if you think you're completely alone in how you feel! Thousands of people feel the same way as you do!"
Having said her piece, she released Cell and turned away from him. He got over the fear she had made him feel, as his embarrassment at having been frightened by a small girl swiftly became a blinding anger. Then he lunged forward and grabbed her from behind, growling harshly, "No one makes a fool out of me and lives! I'll make you pay for humiliating me!" She held still in his grip, turning to look at him over her shoulder with a smirk. She giggled evilly and said, "Don't tell me you forgot, Cell. We're in my mind here. The psyche is far wider than the sky. In my mind, I can do and become whatever I wish to do and become. And, since I am a powerful psychic, I can read your every thought and use them against you if I so desire. Your mind is like an open book to me, Cell. You can keep no secrets with me, no matter how you may try to hide them from me. Try as you might to stop me, I can do whatever I may want with you, whenever and however I may want. Cell, I know what you fear the most."
Cell abruptly released her and then staggered back as her lithe little body began to twist and distort. He recoiled in a frenzy of stark terror as she grew into a fifteen-foot-tall monstrosity. It had huge red batwings and its lean, strong body was covered with a red carapace. Its feet were somewhat birdlike in structure and it had three wicked talons on each hand. A large bony frill protected its ridged neck and a razor-sharp horn curved like a scimitar from its head. It had a long prehensile tail with a deadly barbed tip at the end of it, almost like the needle that had tipped the tail of his first form. Serrated spikes grew from its shoulders and knees, feet and elbows. It opened its jaws and gave a chilling cry and he saw that it also had cruel fangs. Flexing its lethal claws, it took a step toward Cell. He was frozen with fear, a look of stark terror on his face. As it drew closer to him, he backed away from it. His voice shook, as he begged it, "No… Please…" He spread his black wings to fly away, but then it attacked him with the speed of a striking cobra. Cell fell to the ground with a terrible cry of pain and a sudden spray of purplish blood, clutching at the huge bloody wound in his shoulder that now crippled his entire left arm. He momentarily writhed in supreme pain, and then he slowly forced himself to stand back up. Looking over at his inhuman assailant, he saw that there was blood on the talons of its right hand. It had dealt him an injury of that great a magnitude with just one single swipe of its terrible claws? The pain was almost unbearable, but he determinedly forced himself to remain standing, then leapt backward, spread his glossy black wings and left the ground behind him as fast as he could possibly manage to go. It initially didn't follow him into the sky, and Cell thought for a moment that he was going to be safe from it. Maybe he could escape. Would he now be safe from its attacks? Looking back down to where it had been, he saw that it had vanished. Cell didn't make a sound as he looked back down at where it had been with no small amount of trepidation and silently prayed that it was really gone. Where had it gone when it disappeared? Had it really left?
Then he screamed in shocked pain and stark terror as massive jaws closed on his chest. The creature had come from out of nowhere to seize him. He struggled against its grip, vainly beating against its armor-plated snout with his one working hand. He felt its sharp fangs starting to create tiny stress fractures in his armor, dangerously close to his vitals. Soon his armor would break under the pressure. His scream of pain became a choked gurgle as blood jetted from his mouth. He struggled and kicked in a frantic, desperate bid for freedom. Cell gave an especially loud scream of maddening agony and fear so sharp that it could kill, as its sharp fangs finally penetrated his armor and sank into his vitals. Seeing great rivers of his blood flowing from the creature's terrible jaws made the last vestiges of Cell's composure vanish completely. He began to plead for mercy and for an end to the pain. "No! Please! Stop it! Stop! No more! Let me go! Let me go! God, oh God, please stop! I'll do anything you ask! Anything! Just don't hurt me anymore!" The creature made a peculiar huffing sound almost like a form of laughter, then rapidly spun in place and tossed the screaming, sobbing Cell back down toward the plateau.
He hit the dusty ground with a wet-sounding clatter, actually bounced once as he kicked up a large cloud of dry dust, then just laid there limp in a spreading pool of his own blood, looking for all the world to be dead. The creature transformed back into the form of Laura and she slowly drifted down to land beside Cell. She knelt down by him and looked him over. He was still breathing, albeit barely. His limbs twitched feebly and rich arterial blood bubbled from the grievous wounds to his chest. Thick streams of blood frothed from both his nose and his mouth. He choked and then coughed weakly, spraying more blood as his tortured body feebly convulsed. Laura laid a gentle hand on his good shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her. Cringing slightly, realizing that he was unable to escape, he gave a soft moan. "…Please… Don't…" She smiled at him in a reassuring manner, shook her head ever so slightly and said in a soft voice, "Don't worry. I won't. I'm sorry for what I did to you. I lost control of my temper, my transformation and myself. Cell, I'm going to help you now." Her whole body began to burn with a bright pale blue light. He didn't have the strength to fight back as she reached out and gently took him in her arms and just plain held him close. Cell's mind blanked out for a moment. When reality returned, he found that he was uninjured.
She released him and he stood up. He looked to her for an explanation for why she had helped him out, but she didn't give him one. Instead, she simply said, "I can do more for you, Cell…much more. If you will let me do my thing, I can release you from the programming Doctor Gero gave you. The urge to kill and destroy will leave you, and you will gain the ability to be happy with life. You can settle down and just live out your life in peace. Your real personality will shine through, rather than your destructive programming. I happen to know that you hide deep within your heart a very different self. If you let me minister to you, you will become like…me… Kind, gentle…but with a rather nasty temper that can be quite terrible and vicious when it's aroused. I can do so much for you, Cell… And if you allow me to do this, I will also return you to life the first chance I get." Excited by the thought of returning to the land of the living, he gave her a half grin and replied simply, "Do it." Reaching out to lay gentle hands on his face, she said softly, trying to keep him as calm as she possibly could, "Close your eyes." He obediently closed his eyes, relaxed and tried to stay calm.
Then he stiffened with a small gasp of shock as she began her psychic ministrations. It felt like he had a nest of snakes writhing inside his head. The sensation wasn't painful, but it was unbearable nonetheless. The strangeness of it astonished him. After a short moment, his mind went completely blank and his entire body involuntarily relaxed completely. Laura smiled softly as he gave a huge sigh and slumped down with his head lying against her shoulder. A short moment later, he recovered and then looked back up at her with a shy little smile, now a whole new person. "Hi there," he said to her softly.
In the space of a few moments, they were sitting side by side. Cell said, "You seem to know more about me than I do, yet I know nothing about you. Please… Tell me about yourself." Laura asked, "What year is it right now?" He replied, "Uh…2001. Why?" She said, "Then this is really the distant past for me. My true name is Laura Lynn Meisenheimer and my parallel universe self, the one in your universe, is now living in America, in the state of Illinois, in a relatively large suburb near the city of Chicago. I have already told you all about how she used to be…until very recently. She has begun to mature from a state that is comparable to your energy-absorbing form, in which she required large, regular infusions of artificially created chemicals in order to insure her survival. Right now, she has been in her final form for about three weeks. And as for her physical appearance… Well, she looks just like me, but with much shorter hair." Just as she finished her narration, she felt a warm lightness inside her body. "Hey, Cell," she said, "It's time for us to return to the land of the living. I'll go first and then return you to life from there right after that, okay?"
Jadeite opened her eyes to see Cell leaning over her. He smiled at her and said, "Thank goodness you've recovered. You had me worried for a while there." She stood up and looked around. Preparing to summon the Staff of Ra, she found that she already held it. She turned to Cell and said, "While I was out, I paid a visit to the Other World. I met my enemy there and we had a little heart to heart chat. He asked me to bring him back to life. I said yes." Then she turned away from him, raised the Staff of Ra high over her head and called out compellingly, "Arise, fallen champion of shadow!" An aura of pure power settled over the entire area. Everyone who had the ability to sense power levels turned to face Jadeite. "Hear me, changed one…" The energy felt almost like healing energy, but it wasn't quite the same, and it seemed as if it weren't all in the same dimension as them. "Son of darkness who has given himself over to the light, I demand that you listen and you will obey me…" The air grew heavy. Clouds darkened the sky and thunder rang from out of nowhere. Jadeite continued to summon up more power, churning the sky into smoky shards. "Return to the land of the living, even as I speak your name…" Then a bright nimbus blazed to life around Jadeite. What she was doing was about to happen. "CELL! Black warrior, child of evil turned to good… I command you to awaken!"
A ball of light resembling a miniature sun floated forth from the ruby of the Staff of Ra. As it drifted toward the ground, it grew larger until it was a full eight feet in diameter. It touched down right beside Cell, who was watching it with uncertain awe. Then it exploded with a crash far louder than any thunderbolt. Everyone cringed. When they dared to look again, they saw an almost perfect duplicate of Cell standing where the ball of light had previously been. There was only one difference between the two hybrids. One of them had been badly burned. He and his double stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, the burned one decided to speak up. "Whoa," he said, "Man, you do look just like me." Shade fairly shrieked in Jadeite's face, "You brought him back? Have you gone insane?" Jadeite didn't even flinch. She just replied calmly, "This isn't the same Cell who died, Shade. He's free of the programming given by his creator. It was that programming talking before. Now it's the real him. Just like Jade Falcon and me." Shade backed off, but Vegeta of the other dimension stepped forward and gave Cell a threatening look. He gave an alarmed squeak and backed off in a hurry. Jadeite turned to him and said, "You don't have to thank me for bringing you back to life. Random acts of kindness are a way of life for me. But I think it would be for the best if you left." He nodded to her silently, took a running leap into the sky and flew away as fast as he could. Jadeite turned to the rest and then said loudly, "Hey, you guys! No going after Cell, now! I just turned him into a good guy!" Everyone nodded at her statement. Shade came up to her and asked, "What do we do now? How do we get back to our home dimension?" Jadeite replied, "I don't really know. I think if we put all our powers together, all of the Saiyans and hybrids working together, maybe we can get back to our home dimension."
Flying away, Cell lost himself in thought. I wish I could pay her back for her kindness to me. But she wouldn't accept it, no matter what I would do. Is there a way for me to repay her? Then he remembered what she had told him about her other self. Where was she at again? Ah, yes. I remember it now. She lives near the city of Chicago, which is in America. What is Chicago? What is America? To heck with trying to find this Chicago place. I'll just follow her power level. It has to be identical to the girl I just talked to. He closed his eyes and sent his awareness out in all directions. Then, on the other side of the world, he felt her. If he flew at his maximum speed, he would get there in just a few hours. He began to fly just as fast as he could. But what would he do when he got there? He hoped that the answer would become clear when he saw her. Lost in thought as he was, the hours passed in a blur. Soon he was cruising over the central region of America.
He was being very careful to make no noise as he flew and to also stay out of sight. Soon he reached his destination, a smallish blue two-story house with black shutters and white trim. The house was in a quiet neighborhood and there was a small patch of woods across the street from the house. Those woods would make a perfect home. But where was the girl? His dappled green armor allowed him to blend in with the forest's undergrowth and go unseen. He watched the road before her house, waiting for a sign of her. Hours passed.
Then, at last, he saw her. She was walking down the street toward the smallish blue house, a battered old blue backpack jauntily slung over her right shoulder as she walked onward. She wore a stained sleeveless white denim shirt and a pair of faded light blue denim shorts. Leather sandals made a peculiar hollow clatter on the pavement. Shoulder length brown hair swung from side to side with each and every step she took. Blue and gold glasses glittered in the bright sunlight. Cell's eyes went wide at the sight of her. She's beautiful, he thought, My God, am I falling in love? It was then that he knew what he was going to do and he knew what was his destiny. He would court her secretly as a mystery suitor and reveal his true identity to her when the time was right. But for now… For now, he would hide and act in secret, praying for the day when he could reveal it all.
Far away from where Cell quietly watched the girl walk by, Jadeite and the rest of the crew from her home dimension had learned that they would have to spend a full year in this dimension before the proper opportunity would come for them to even attempt a dimensional hop. Everyone went his or her own way to spend the year in the manner they so desired, promising to return at the end of the year. The hybrids all chose to take to the Amazon Rainforest and spend the year there. They would spend their time training. Such was the way of life for all of the hybrids. The Saiyans all headed for the Himalayas to train themselves and grow stronger. Vegeta, Goku and the rest followed along with them. They could never resist a chance to grow stronger. That was a way of life for all of them.
Holding the scepter high, Jadeite cried out, "Tremble, evildoer! Behold the Staff of Ra!" She spun in a circle, twirling the Staff of Ra. Flames trailed behind it as it spun, creating a wide flaming ring around her. The ruby began to glow far brighter than the sun. When Jadeite faced Cell again, her coral eyes burned with a steely resolve. Her milk-white face twisted in a grim frown as she slowly pointed the ruby part of the scepter at Cell's chest. She then drew in a deep breath to give a war cry. She thought to herself, What shall I use against him first? Then she knew what to do next. She raised the scepter high and called out, "Spear Frost! Release and dispel!" A pale sky blue glow came from within the ruby. Huge razor-sharp icicles materialized all around her and shot toward Cell in a massive barrage. He gave a yelp and dodged as fast as he could. He was bruised and a bit cut up when the barrage ceased. Then he looked up at her with an expression of purest hatred.
Jadeite smiled at this and said, "Okay, so I see ice isn't going to work on you. Here's the other side of the elemental spectrum, and it's coming just for you, Cell. Final Burst! Release and dispel!" A fierce reddish-orange glow came from within the ruby. A huge flaming blast erupted from the very tip of her scepter. Having nowhere to run or hide, Cell gave a short little squeal of fear and then curled up into a ball, doing his level best to shield himself. When she called back the withering fire, a charred, shivering form was visible. As she watched with an evil smirk, Cell slowly uncurled, then looked his injuries over. He stared at his badly burned body with a look of pure shock and blatant dismay. He hadn't expected to feel such pain, or to be injured so badly. The pain was incredible. His expression changed to fierce anger and pure hatred as he then looked over at Jadeite.
She shivered ever so slightly, an expression of pure shock settling in on her pretty face. She had expected that last attack to kill him for sure. Jadeite turned to face Shade where he watched from the top of the plateau and sent to him, (That was my strongest attack! He shook it off like it was nothing at all! What do I do now?) Then her eyes darkened. (I have an idea…) Shade replied, (Do it, then!) She shook her head slightly, an expression of pure sorrow settling on her milk-white face. (I…can't do it. My power isn't enough. Don't you remember? The Staff of Ra was born from the union of two powers. One person alone cannot wield its true power. Only its creators, working together, can tap its full potential. I just wish…someone could help me out…) She pushed the despairing thought from her mind, her expression of sorrow changing to one of grim determination. (There is something I can do. I would only have one chance to try it…and if I failed…) Shade had a bad feeling about it. He said, (Jadeite, what's your plan?) She turned around to face him fully and then smiled at him sadly. She sent to him urgently, (Get away from me quickly if you want to live to see tomorrow. I'm going to self-destruct and take him with me. Shade… Jim… I love you. Goodbye.) Too shocked by far to notice that he was screaming the next words at the very top of his lungs as well as broadcasting his every word to everyone within a full mile of his current position, Shade screamed out in pure terror, "No! Jadeite, you can't! We can find a way around the scepter's limitations! If you need more power, I'll give it in place of the one that helped you to create the Staff of Ra! Don't do it, Jadeite! Please don't do it! For the love of heaven, don't self-destruct!" Behind him, a third person heard his words and knew that the time had come to act.
Sighing sadly, Jadeite shut his words out of her mind, turning to face Cell. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, feeling the sun on her milk-white face for the final time as she prepared to die. Tears glittered on her cheeks. She gathered all her energy together in the very center of her body. Opening her eyes, she said in a low voice, "This is the end, Cell…for the both of us. I'll take you with me!" Moving as if she were caught in a dream, she slowly raised the Staff of Ra over her head. It began to burn brighter than it ever had before, casting a harsh red halo around Jadeite. Her body began to burn red as well. Her face twisted in an expression of extreme pain as she said her final prayers. She slowly lowered the Staff of Ra, pointing the blazing ruby directly toward Cell's chest. He was frozen with stark terror. He had expected a lot of things from his enemy, but he hadn't expected her to sacrifice herself to stop him. Opening her eyes for what she was certain would be the last time, she looked over at the frightened Cell and said to him in a growl, "In the name of the Earth and of its people, I deliver the blazing bolt of universal justice. May God have mercy on us all." She bowed her head low and closed her eyes once again, preparing to release her energy and self-destruct. As the chosen time of her death drew ever nearer, she despairingly thought of her true love, and then she dared one last psychic transmission to him as an apology for what she was going to do next. (Goodbye…)
A flood of frantic negation washed across her opened mind like a tidal wave made of the most potent acid. She suddenly felt a familiar presence right at her back. Warm hands covered her own hands, grasping the blazing Staff of Ra even as she did so. An unknown person gently laid their chin on her shoulder. A familiar voice said in a mischievous tone, "Did you miss me?" Startled, she opened her eyes and looked into the smiling face of her love, Cell. The energy she had gathered in preparation for her self-destruction dissipated. Sensing his uncertainty at having to use the Staff of Ra in battle for the very first time ever, she said urgently, giving him advice, "Cell! Believe in yourself! Pray! Bring it out! Bring out all of your power and send it at that impostor!" He did as she advised him to do. Two minds, hearts and souls momentarily merged into one being as two pairs of eyes glared at the hated enemy and two voices cried out, "Spark Net! Release and dispel!"
The energy seared the air and, in an instant, the enemy Cell was gone from sight. In his place, a huge crater gave off a thick miasma of noxious black smoke. Jadeite closed her eyes and around felt around for his power level. He had indeed been killed; erased from existence as if he had never been. Relaxing, the two hybrids drifted down out of the sky to land beside what little remained of the arena where the tournament had originally been meant to occur. Jadeite spun the Staff of Ra on her fingertips and then held it up high, whereupon it disappeared in a bright flash of reddish-orange fire. Then, feeling a series of familiar presences, she turned around and saw that the crew stood there. They were not the crew she knew, but the crew of the universe she and her friends had crossed over into. They were staring at her in a state of total shock, and it took her a few minutes to realize that they were only seeing a second creature who was nearly identical to Cell, and not someone who meant to be their friend. She giggled. "Oh, I forgot," she said, "What form would you feel most comfortable talking to? Oh, I know!" There was a flash of light and Laura stood there. She smiled and stepped up just a little bit closer to the lot of them.
Piccolo practically jumped on top of her when she changed into her most unthreatening form. He snarled at her gruffly, "Wait a minute! Who are you? What are you? Did that madman create you too?" She just gently smiled up at him and then said, "Since you're so hot and bothered about learning my secrets, I guess I'll spill the beans for you. My name is Laura when I'm in this form, but my real name is Jadeite. I am a biological weapon by nature. My friends and I are from the future of a parallel universe. A spatial anomaly threw us from our universe and into yours. We're the good guys. Cell was born as a good guy, engineered for protection rather than destruction. All of us are the same." Trunks stepped up and then cut in, "Wait a minute… You said you and your friends. You mean there are more of your kind?" Jadeite smiled, nodded vehemently and replied in a merry little chirp, "Tons more! Thousands!" She then turned, pointed to the faraway plateau and said; "Do you see that big plateau over there? That's where they all are."
Momentarily closing her bright blue eyes, she sent out a silent psychic summons to her friends. Scant seconds later, untold thousands of utterly alien forms darkened the sky. Then the crew came face to face with their parallel universe selves. Two Piccolos glared at each other. Vegeta and his double circled around each other warily, ready to fight at a moment's notice. Goku regarded himself with a blatantly confused look. Gohan played a game of 'Mirror, Mirror' with his double. Krillin solemnly regarded himself for a long moment, then promptly started giggling. Tien and his double both looked shocked to see themselves. Yamcha and his double were chatting and shooting the breeze as if they were old friends; which, in a way, they were. Both versions of Trunks looked at each other and then asked the others in a frank voice, "Does my hair really look that dumb?" Meanwhile, 17 and 18 watched the tableau as it unfolded before them, and then they both started laughing at the top of their lungs at the sight of all the insane buffoonery going on.
A strangled cry of pure pain made everyone freeze right on the spot. Gohan cried out, "Oh my goodness! Look at Cell!" Laura turned around and gaped in shocked horror as Cell doubled over and dropped into a low crouch, his face twisted in supreme agony. As everyone watched, his body began to twist and distort as bone and muscle were reshaped. A bright light came from deep within his body, forcing everyone to look away or go blind. A few minutes later, when everyone could see things again, they all saw that Cell's form had changed drastically. He had just become a big green and black bug with a dark orange beak and a long, snaky, needle-tipped tail. He had regressed in form and power!
Laura, Shade and the crew of both universes knew what had happened. He had regressed to his energy-absorbing form. Looking up at Laura, who looked as though she'd seen a ghost, he said, "Jadeite?" His voice was a low, raspy growl. He gave a wordless yelp as he looked down at himself. "No," he whispered. Then, realizing what had just happened to him; he tilted his head back and screamed at the heavens, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" After knowing true power, he had regressed to a form that was very weak…and ugly.
Laura used her psychic power to enter his mind and subtly convince him that, given time, he would return to his final form. As he stood up, she stepped closer and asked, "Cell, are you all right?" He looked over at her and replied in a hesitant voice, "I'll be fine, I guess. But what do I do now? I feel so…awkward…" She just smiled at him and said, "Tell you what. So you don't feel so out of place, I'll regress too." She then closed her eyes and, as everyone watched, her body began to change. She grew a little bit shorter and a little bit pudgier. Her long, beautiful hair became a greasy, unruly mop. Scars covered her formerly pretty face and the dark purplish-blue bruises on her cheeks made her body look like it was hollow and fragile. The beautiful woman had become an utterly unattractive teenage girl. Cell almost smiled at the sight of that. She was just like him, now. She too had just become something that was far less than what she was truly meant to become.
Cell said, "That's fine, but… In this form, I'll need to…well, you know…" He blushed black and, at a loss for words, just wagged his needle-tipped tail. Laura mentally smacked herself. He needs energy in order to survive, she thought. But there's also still the matter of changing him back. She cursed quietly, and then said in a louder voice, "Of course! What could be simpler?" She stepped forward, grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled it down to expose the smooth white flesh of her breastbone. "Hey. Here you go," she said in a calm, conversational tone, forcing a calm smile onto her face, "Energy." Instinctual urges and a need burning deep within him made him arch his tail forward and prepare to impale her with its needle tip. Then he gained control over his wildly churning instincts.
He looked over at her, at the soft, pale flesh that she had just bared to him, and his eyes went wide at the sight. He gasped in shocked terror, "You…you want me…to…" Her smile faded and she looked at him seriously. "Darn straight I do," she said in a harsh voice, "You need, so I give. Now make with the tail." His tail quivered slightly as he slowly stepped backward, away from her. "No," he whispered. His raspy voice quavered with frightened uncertainty as he fought against the terrible need he felt inside. He turned away and cried, "No! I won't! I refuse to do it! If I do…it'll kill you! Absorbing is killing, and I will never kill again!" She objected urgently, "But if you don't do that, you'll die!" He just screamed at her, "Then let me die!" He then turned and ran away as fast as he could. Then he leapt to the air and streaked out of sight. Laura turned to face her friends with a disappointed look and said, "Well, that went as well as could be expected. Now I have to go find him. There's no telling what he'll do. You guys hold the fort here while I go look for Cell. I'll be back just as soon as I find him, okay? Goodbye now!" She leapt to the air and flew away, astonishing the crew of the other dimension with her speed and strength. In mere seconds she was out of all sight, somewhere that lay beyond the clouds.
Cell sat on a flat rock by a smallish stream. A tall oak tree shaded him from the sunlight. Sweet-scented grasses rustled softly in a gentle breeze. He looked at his reflection in the rushing water. His hideous face… He recoiled at the sight, obliterating the hated image by tossing a small stone into the water. Then he glared at his tail. He really hated his tail, especially the needle tip. How many people have met their deaths via that needle? He would much prefer dying to having to kill innocent people in order to survive. But how could he make sure that pure instinct wouldn't take over and make him do it? Looking around, he spotted a large, heavy stone that was just about as big as his head. Having a sudden flash of pure inspiration, he grabbed the rock in both hands and then lifted it high over his head. He then curled his long tail around himself, positioning the hated needle tip right in front of him. This needle is how I used to absorb and kill people, he thought in a wild, fitful paroxysm of complete self-disgust. Without this needle, I just can't do it.
Closing his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at what he was going to do to himself, he brought the rock down with all his strength. His entire tail erupted in a blast of pure pain and he just barely managed to stifle the urge to scream. Instead of stopping, he used the awful pain to drive himself into a mad frenzy and pounded the needle flat. After a few long minutes, he threw the rock away from him and into the rushing water, a spasmodic movement impelled by pain, and curled up into a ball. When the pain died down to a bearable level, he sat back up and looked at his handiwork. The needle tip was barely recognizable as having been such because it was mutilated so badly. There'll be no more absorbing for me. The tip was a large mass of traumatized flesh and semi-metallic shards, oozing thick purplish blood. Nothing can ever heal that. Cell was utterly pleased at the sight of what he had done to himself, despite the fact that he was now in a world of hurt. Not even Jadeite can fix the needle to working order. But she would probably try to heal him anyway. So he had to hide from her until he either died or miraculously found a way to return to his final form. Rising to his feet, he leapt to the air and flew away as fast as he could manage to go. He found a deep forest in which he could find shelter and hide. There he would wait for what would come to him, be it death or a return to his final form.
Laura had changed to Jadeite because she was stronger in that form and could fly faster. In time, she found the rock where Cell had rested. Looking at the shards and the blood, she knew what he had done. He's destroyed his tail! He…he's going to die! Succumbing to sheer terror, she leapt to the air and began to soar in a wide circle, using her psychic voice to send a call out across the land, (Cell! Where are you? Cell, please answer me!) There was no response to her calls. He wanted to die alone. But she refused to give up on him so easily. I've never tried this before… Reaching toward the heavens, she called forth the Staff of Ra. She had an idea, but she didn't know whether it would work or not. But it's worth a try. She lowered it to her side, trying to think of what she would have to do next if she wanted to find Cell in time to help him. Then she knew exactly what to do. Staff of Ra… She slowly raised the ruby to her serene face and gently touched its flat, cool side surface to her brow. Help me find him… She closed her eyes and concentrated on her memories of how Cell looked in his regressed state. Give me sight beyond sight… Sending her awareness out in all directions, her ability enhanced by the Staff of Ra, she felt for Cell's energy level. Her awareness spread across the land in great waves, covering miles of ground in seconds. Then she sensed him. Yes! She spun the Staff of Ra and held it high, sending it back to the ethereal realm she had called it forth from. Then she put her hand to her brow and used Instant Transmission to take her to where Cell was hiding out.
Cell had used moss to bandage up his tail. Now he lay on a bed of soft grasses, waiting for either death or the ability to return to his final form. He heard the infamous soft rush of air and knew that someone had entered the immediate area via Instant Transmission. Opening his eyes, he saw Jadeite standing right there beside him. She gently tugged at the moss covering the shattered tip of his tail, slowly pulling it away from the broken tip. Then she reached out, her hand glowing with bright pale blue light, and touched his tail. He gave a violent twitch and hissed softly as healing energy flowed through his body. Jadeite smiled as the needle that tipped his tail mended. Seeing that his tail was fully restored, Cell gave her a look of pure dismay. Taking the end of his newly healed tail in an absurdly strong one-handed grip, latching on right below the needle tip itself, she changed to Laura. She smiled at him and said, "I love you, Cell. I'll always be with you."
Then she drove the needle right into her side. He gasped in shock, horrified by what she was doing. She hid her pain behind a smile as she slowly began to run her hand along the length of his tail, gently rubbing from the tip downward. "No," he whispered, shuddering as he felt her soft touch begin to stimulate the musculature along his tail, causing it to involuntarily begin the process of absorption. He had tried his best to keep himself from absorbing her, but now she was making him do it. In all his life, he had never expected someone to actually want to be absorbed by him. Strain showed on her face as the first traces of desiccation began to make themselves clear. Cell leapt up to his feet and tried to run away, but she was still holding his tail, keeping the needle tip stuck deep in her body. He couldn't break free of her iron grip, try as he might. He had no time to think about it. Desperate to stop the absorption process, he did the only thing he could think of on such short notice. Energy gathered around his hand. Turning abruptly, he brought his blazing hand around and then cut off his tail. He cried out in pain and Laura cried out in shock.
Cursing softly, she yanked the needle out of her body and threw the severed tail away, then healed herself and glared at him. He stood across the way from her, panting as he faced her with a pained yet determined look on his face. Behind him, the bloody stump of his newly severed tail twitched uncontrollably. "I told you," he said in a harsh voice, "I won't absorb anyone ever again." An angry expression settled on her pretty face. "Fine," she growled in a low voice, "You leave me no choice in the matter, Cell. I hoped that, in absorbing me, my mimicking powers would become yours. As Jadeite, my new self was born mimicking your final form, so that's my basic shape. It would have been your basic shape too, if you had gone along with my little plan and absorbed me like I asked you to. Once that was all over and done with, my innate healing power would have enabled me to naturally separate my power from yours, just as 17 did. But now, since you've cut your tail off, I guess I'll have to go with the less attractive option. Hold still, please." He obediently held still. She gave a slight smile, nodded in a satisfied manner and then said to him, "Thank you so much for doing what I said for you to do." He nodded and kept holding still. "All right," he stated flatly, "Whatever you're planning on doing to me in order to return me to my final form, please do it right now, before any more crazy stuff happens to us." She replied, "Fine. Just give me a second to get myself ready for it."
She switched into the form of Jadeite and took a small step closer. Raising her hand high over her head, she summoned the Staff of Ra. Looking over at Cell, she said frankly, "Let's hope this works. Hang on to your behind. This may or may not hurt a bit. I'm not too sure." She raised the scepter high, angling the ruby toward where Cell waited for her to do her thing, and then called out in a harsh, commanding tone of voice, "Staff of Ra! Return your power to your creator!" A beam of what appeared to be highly concentrated sunlight shot out of the ruby to bathe Cell in its unearthly glow. As the glow touched him, his body inevitably began to respond to it…and change. This time the change was both quick and painless. The big green bug with a beak and the stump of what had once been a long needle-tipped tail became a tall green humanlike being with a handsome milk-white face, a high double crest and glossy black insect wings. Jadeite resisted the unmistakable impulse to break off the beam in favor of tackling Cell with a kamikaze hug. But she had to make it so that his final form would be his natural form from that moment on. As she finished up, the light slowly died away into nothingness. He then asked her, "Jadeite, what did you just do to me?" When he spoke he noticed that his voice had become a deep, smooth purr instead of a low, raspy growl. He looked himself over and noticed that he had at last returned to his final form. Raising his fists high above his head and punching the air in a triumphant manner, he cheered, "Yes! I'm finally back to normal!" Jadeite smiled at him, nodded to him slowly…and collapsed like a ton of large bricks.
Cell gave a wordless cry of shock and dismay as he leapt forward to catch her in his arms. She lay there limp as he eased her to the ground and tried in vain to revive her. He noticed that she still held the Staff of Ra. The ruby's natural light was almost completely gone. All that was left was a weak glow that flickered to the rhythm of a heartbeat. A wild thought made Cell check Jadeite's pulse. Sure enough, the ruby was pulsing to the rhythm of her heart. He laid one hand on her shoulder and brought the other up to his brow. With a short rush of shimmering light, he used Instant Transmission and was gone.
Soon Shade was helping Cell lay Jadeite on the ground. Shade checked her out to the best of his ability, then said, "She's in a coma…" Using his ability to sense energy; Shade also managed to figure out what had happened. He turned to Cell and said, "She projected her own energy through the Staff of Ra. Since you didn't have the proper energy to return to your final form, she gave you hers. Basically, right now she doesn't have enough energy to maintain a conscious state. But she'll recover, given enough time. We can wait." Cell quietly settled down by Jadeite's side, relieved to learn that she would recover in time. Shade asked, "Cell, are you happy now? Are you pleased with her sacrifice to you? She could have died!" Cell all but flinched as Shade poured out his anger upon the hybrid.
Laura, in her human form, stood on a flat plateau overlooking a world of darkness. A familiar voice said, "So you're here, huh?" She turned and saw Cell standing behind her. His body looked slightly charred, as if he had been subjected to a withering flame. She knew that this was the Cell of the other dimension, the one she had killed. She asked, "What are you doing here?" He stomped his foot and growled, losing his temper, "You of all people should know what I'm doing here! You're the one who killed me!" Turning fully, she put her hands on her hips, sneered at him and then said sarcastically, "Well, if you're dead, what are you doing knocking around in my brain?" He sneered right back, then said to her in a gentle voice, "I want answers before oblivion." He sat down on a rock and just waited quietly. Laura walked to the side, sighed softly and commented, "That I can do. Ask me your questions and I will answer." Cell stood back up and walked up to her, towering over her in her human form. He looked her over and said, "What are you? Where did you come from? Why are you so powerful?" She replied, "I'm a hybrid like you, but from a parallel universe. And I'm psychic." Then he asked, "Why did I see…myself…beside you right before I died?" Smiling, she replied, "It's quite simple, really. That was your parallel universe self. In my universe, we two are mates and we have children as well. He never became what you are. He never killed." There were a few minutes of total silence between the two of them, as Cell contemplated his new non-living status and Laura tried to figure out where the heck she was. Then Laura asked Cell, "Doctor Gero isn't here to tell you what to do. He died before you awakened. He's never been here to tell you what to do; yet you do what he wanted you to. Why are you letting a dead man control your actions?" That question touched a major nerve within him. He abruptly rose to his feet, grabbed her by the collar and forced her to stand up as well. Eye to eye with her, he screamed in her face, "Because I don't know what else to do! I have always been an outcast, from the day I first awakened! I want revenge for how I was treated! I'm angry with them for being so lucky, and I want to make them feel the devastation I have always felt! I'm alone in a world where everyone else is happy! No one knows how I feel!"
Laura's blood was boiling with sheer rage. She found herself tensing up in preparation for a very large battle, although she hadn't consciously decided to do so. She angrily reached out and slapped Cell across the face with all her strength. He took a small step back, taken completely by surprise. Clenching her fists, she screamed right back at him, "Do you really think you're the only one in the world who has ever felt that way? You sorry fool! You're not alone!" He backed away, utterly astonished at her display of her fiery temper. "Look at me!" She lunged forward, grabbed him by the throat and forced him to look into her eyes. "Look at me, curse you!" He struggled, but she only tightened her grip on him. "A thousand curses on your black, twisted heart and soul, you will look at me or I will kill you where you stand!" He looked into her blazing blue eyes, amazed and dismayed at the fact that he was cowering before her. Her pretty face twisted in a snarl of purest rage and she said in a low, threatening growl; "Now you listen to me, Cell. I was born blue, butt first, brain damaged and barely breathing. I'm physically retarded and it takes almost all of my concentration just to maintain my balance and not fall down and land on my face. I grew up with absolutely no friends, I practically raised myself and I went insane at the age of nine! You think you're the only one who has ever desired revenge for bad treatment by the others? Do you really think you're the only one who wants to make them suffer the things you've had to put up with? Get a life and join the club, you moronic toad! You don't know what else to do? I've never known what I'm supposed to do! It's been a very long time since I even felt connected to reality! Do you see all these scars on my arm? I did that! I used to hurt myself just for fun! My very favorite pastime was attempting suicide and my life's dream was to die! You're a fool if you think you're completely alone in how you feel! Thousands of people feel the same way as you do!"
Having said her piece, she released Cell and turned away from him. He got over the fear she had made him feel, as his embarrassment at having been frightened by a small girl swiftly became a blinding anger. Then he lunged forward and grabbed her from behind, growling harshly, "No one makes a fool out of me and lives! I'll make you pay for humiliating me!" She held still in his grip, turning to look at him over her shoulder with a smirk. She giggled evilly and said, "Don't tell me you forgot, Cell. We're in my mind here. The psyche is far wider than the sky. In my mind, I can do and become whatever I wish to do and become. And, since I am a powerful psychic, I can read your every thought and use them against you if I so desire. Your mind is like an open book to me, Cell. You can keep no secrets with me, no matter how you may try to hide them from me. Try as you might to stop me, I can do whatever I may want with you, whenever and however I may want. Cell, I know what you fear the most."
Cell abruptly released her and then staggered back as her lithe little body began to twist and distort. He recoiled in a frenzy of stark terror as she grew into a fifteen-foot-tall monstrosity. It had huge red batwings and its lean, strong body was covered with a red carapace. Its feet were somewhat birdlike in structure and it had three wicked talons on each hand. A large bony frill protected its ridged neck and a razor-sharp horn curved like a scimitar from its head. It had a long prehensile tail with a deadly barbed tip at the end of it, almost like the needle that had tipped the tail of his first form. Serrated spikes grew from its shoulders and knees, feet and elbows. It opened its jaws and gave a chilling cry and he saw that it also had cruel fangs. Flexing its lethal claws, it took a step toward Cell. He was frozen with fear, a look of stark terror on his face. As it drew closer to him, he backed away from it. His voice shook, as he begged it, "No… Please…" He spread his black wings to fly away, but then it attacked him with the speed of a striking cobra. Cell fell to the ground with a terrible cry of pain and a sudden spray of purplish blood, clutching at the huge bloody wound in his shoulder that now crippled his entire left arm. He momentarily writhed in supreme pain, and then he slowly forced himself to stand back up. Looking over at his inhuman assailant, he saw that there was blood on the talons of its right hand. It had dealt him an injury of that great a magnitude with just one single swipe of its terrible claws? The pain was almost unbearable, but he determinedly forced himself to remain standing, then leapt backward, spread his glossy black wings and left the ground behind him as fast as he could possibly manage to go. It initially didn't follow him into the sky, and Cell thought for a moment that he was going to be safe from it. Maybe he could escape. Would he now be safe from its attacks? Looking back down to where it had been, he saw that it had vanished. Cell didn't make a sound as he looked back down at where it had been with no small amount of trepidation and silently prayed that it was really gone. Where had it gone when it disappeared? Had it really left?
Then he screamed in shocked pain and stark terror as massive jaws closed on his chest. The creature had come from out of nowhere to seize him. He struggled against its grip, vainly beating against its armor-plated snout with his one working hand. He felt its sharp fangs starting to create tiny stress fractures in his armor, dangerously close to his vitals. Soon his armor would break under the pressure. His scream of pain became a choked gurgle as blood jetted from his mouth. He struggled and kicked in a frantic, desperate bid for freedom. Cell gave an especially loud scream of maddening agony and fear so sharp that it could kill, as its sharp fangs finally penetrated his armor and sank into his vitals. Seeing great rivers of his blood flowing from the creature's terrible jaws made the last vestiges of Cell's composure vanish completely. He began to plead for mercy and for an end to the pain. "No! Please! Stop it! Stop! No more! Let me go! Let me go! God, oh God, please stop! I'll do anything you ask! Anything! Just don't hurt me anymore!" The creature made a peculiar huffing sound almost like a form of laughter, then rapidly spun in place and tossed the screaming, sobbing Cell back down toward the plateau.
He hit the dusty ground with a wet-sounding clatter, actually bounced once as he kicked up a large cloud of dry dust, then just laid there limp in a spreading pool of his own blood, looking for all the world to be dead. The creature transformed back into the form of Laura and she slowly drifted down to land beside Cell. She knelt down by him and looked him over. He was still breathing, albeit barely. His limbs twitched feebly and rich arterial blood bubbled from the grievous wounds to his chest. Thick streams of blood frothed from both his nose and his mouth. He choked and then coughed weakly, spraying more blood as his tortured body feebly convulsed. Laura laid a gentle hand on his good shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her. Cringing slightly, realizing that he was unable to escape, he gave a soft moan. "…Please… Don't…" She smiled at him in a reassuring manner, shook her head ever so slightly and said in a soft voice, "Don't worry. I won't. I'm sorry for what I did to you. I lost control of my temper, my transformation and myself. Cell, I'm going to help you now." Her whole body began to burn with a bright pale blue light. He didn't have the strength to fight back as she reached out and gently took him in her arms and just plain held him close. Cell's mind blanked out for a moment. When reality returned, he found that he was uninjured.
She released him and he stood up. He looked to her for an explanation for why she had helped him out, but she didn't give him one. Instead, she simply said, "I can do more for you, Cell…much more. If you will let me do my thing, I can release you from the programming Doctor Gero gave you. The urge to kill and destroy will leave you, and you will gain the ability to be happy with life. You can settle down and just live out your life in peace. Your real personality will shine through, rather than your destructive programming. I happen to know that you hide deep within your heart a very different self. If you let me minister to you, you will become like…me… Kind, gentle…but with a rather nasty temper that can be quite terrible and vicious when it's aroused. I can do so much for you, Cell… And if you allow me to do this, I will also return you to life the first chance I get." Excited by the thought of returning to the land of the living, he gave her a half grin and replied simply, "Do it." Reaching out to lay gentle hands on his face, she said softly, trying to keep him as calm as she possibly could, "Close your eyes." He obediently closed his eyes, relaxed and tried to stay calm.
Then he stiffened with a small gasp of shock as she began her psychic ministrations. It felt like he had a nest of snakes writhing inside his head. The sensation wasn't painful, but it was unbearable nonetheless. The strangeness of it astonished him. After a short moment, his mind went completely blank and his entire body involuntarily relaxed completely. Laura smiled softly as he gave a huge sigh and slumped down with his head lying against her shoulder. A short moment later, he recovered and then looked back up at her with a shy little smile, now a whole new person. "Hi there," he said to her softly.
In the space of a few moments, they were sitting side by side. Cell said, "You seem to know more about me than I do, yet I know nothing about you. Please… Tell me about yourself." Laura asked, "What year is it right now?" He replied, "Uh…2001. Why?" She said, "Then this is really the distant past for me. My true name is Laura Lynn Meisenheimer and my parallel universe self, the one in your universe, is now living in America, in the state of Illinois, in a relatively large suburb near the city of Chicago. I have already told you all about how she used to be…until very recently. She has begun to mature from a state that is comparable to your energy-absorbing form, in which she required large, regular infusions of artificially created chemicals in order to insure her survival. Right now, she has been in her final form for about three weeks. And as for her physical appearance… Well, she looks just like me, but with much shorter hair." Just as she finished her narration, she felt a warm lightness inside her body. "Hey, Cell," she said, "It's time for us to return to the land of the living. I'll go first and then return you to life from there right after that, okay?"
Jadeite opened her eyes to see Cell leaning over her. He smiled at her and said, "Thank goodness you've recovered. You had me worried for a while there." She stood up and looked around. Preparing to summon the Staff of Ra, she found that she already held it. She turned to Cell and said, "While I was out, I paid a visit to the Other World. I met my enemy there and we had a little heart to heart chat. He asked me to bring him back to life. I said yes." Then she turned away from him, raised the Staff of Ra high over her head and called out compellingly, "Arise, fallen champion of shadow!" An aura of pure power settled over the entire area. Everyone who had the ability to sense power levels turned to face Jadeite. "Hear me, changed one…" The energy felt almost like healing energy, but it wasn't quite the same, and it seemed as if it weren't all in the same dimension as them. "Son of darkness who has given himself over to the light, I demand that you listen and you will obey me…" The air grew heavy. Clouds darkened the sky and thunder rang from out of nowhere. Jadeite continued to summon up more power, churning the sky into smoky shards. "Return to the land of the living, even as I speak your name…" Then a bright nimbus blazed to life around Jadeite. What she was doing was about to happen. "CELL! Black warrior, child of evil turned to good… I command you to awaken!"
A ball of light resembling a miniature sun floated forth from the ruby of the Staff of Ra. As it drifted toward the ground, it grew larger until it was a full eight feet in diameter. It touched down right beside Cell, who was watching it with uncertain awe. Then it exploded with a crash far louder than any thunderbolt. Everyone cringed. When they dared to look again, they saw an almost perfect duplicate of Cell standing where the ball of light had previously been. There was only one difference between the two hybrids. One of them had been badly burned. He and his double stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, the burned one decided to speak up. "Whoa," he said, "Man, you do look just like me." Shade fairly shrieked in Jadeite's face, "You brought him back? Have you gone insane?" Jadeite didn't even flinch. She just replied calmly, "This isn't the same Cell who died, Shade. He's free of the programming given by his creator. It was that programming talking before. Now it's the real him. Just like Jade Falcon and me." Shade backed off, but Vegeta of the other dimension stepped forward and gave Cell a threatening look. He gave an alarmed squeak and backed off in a hurry. Jadeite turned to him and said, "You don't have to thank me for bringing you back to life. Random acts of kindness are a way of life for me. But I think it would be for the best if you left." He nodded to her silently, took a running leap into the sky and flew away as fast as he could. Jadeite turned to the rest and then said loudly, "Hey, you guys! No going after Cell, now! I just turned him into a good guy!" Everyone nodded at her statement. Shade came up to her and asked, "What do we do now? How do we get back to our home dimension?" Jadeite replied, "I don't really know. I think if we put all our powers together, all of the Saiyans and hybrids working together, maybe we can get back to our home dimension."
Flying away, Cell lost himself in thought. I wish I could pay her back for her kindness to me. But she wouldn't accept it, no matter what I would do. Is there a way for me to repay her? Then he remembered what she had told him about her other self. Where was she at again? Ah, yes. I remember it now. She lives near the city of Chicago, which is in America. What is Chicago? What is America? To heck with trying to find this Chicago place. I'll just follow her power level. It has to be identical to the girl I just talked to. He closed his eyes and sent his awareness out in all directions. Then, on the other side of the world, he felt her. If he flew at his maximum speed, he would get there in just a few hours. He began to fly just as fast as he could. But what would he do when he got there? He hoped that the answer would become clear when he saw her. Lost in thought as he was, the hours passed in a blur. Soon he was cruising over the central region of America.
He was being very careful to make no noise as he flew and to also stay out of sight. Soon he reached his destination, a smallish blue two-story house with black shutters and white trim. The house was in a quiet neighborhood and there was a small patch of woods across the street from the house. Those woods would make a perfect home. But where was the girl? His dappled green armor allowed him to blend in with the forest's undergrowth and go unseen. He watched the road before her house, waiting for a sign of her. Hours passed.
Then, at last, he saw her. She was walking down the street toward the smallish blue house, a battered old blue backpack jauntily slung over her right shoulder as she walked onward. She wore a stained sleeveless white denim shirt and a pair of faded light blue denim shorts. Leather sandals made a peculiar hollow clatter on the pavement. Shoulder length brown hair swung from side to side with each and every step she took. Blue and gold glasses glittered in the bright sunlight. Cell's eyes went wide at the sight of her. She's beautiful, he thought, My God, am I falling in love? It was then that he knew what he was going to do and he knew what was his destiny. He would court her secretly as a mystery suitor and reveal his true identity to her when the time was right. But for now… For now, he would hide and act in secret, praying for the day when he could reveal it all.
Far away from where Cell quietly watched the girl walk by, Jadeite and the rest of the crew from her home dimension had learned that they would have to spend a full year in this dimension before the proper opportunity would come for them to even attempt a dimensional hop. Everyone went his or her own way to spend the year in the manner they so desired, promising to return at the end of the year. The hybrids all chose to take to the Amazon Rainforest and spend the year there. They would spend their time training. Such was the way of life for all of the hybrids. The Saiyans all headed for the Himalayas to train themselves and grow stronger. Vegeta, Goku and the rest followed along with them. They could never resist a chance to grow stronger. That was a way of life for all of them.