Here's where we enter the world of Dragonball Z. I don't own anything except the characters I made up. Be prepared for rampant OOC-ness.
Meet the Saiyans
Out by the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, Shade pointed to a tree several hundred meters away and said, "You see that tree? Watch me hit it." He took up a wide-legged stance and cupped his paws by his side, gathering a ball of blue energy. Mewthree exclaimed, "Jeez! You're still into that stuff?" Shade gave a big grin and said, "Oh, I've always wanted to do this. KAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAA!" The last syllable was shouted as he brought his cupped paws forward. The ball of blue energy became a massive blue beam that blasted forth from his paws to incinerate the tree. Mewtwo exclaimed, (Wow! Where did you learn that?) Shade smirked and replied, "Old TV show from when I was really little. I call it The Wave." Mewthree interrupted, "I swear, you can be so lame sometimes." Shade replied, "You're just jealous, aren't you?" She growled, "Jealous of you? Don't make me laugh, twerp!" He cut in, "Don't call me a twerp." Mewthree taunted, "Twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp…" Mewtwo stepped between them, smacked his face, emitted an exasperated psychic groan and said, (Yep, you two are most definitely related.) Shade turned to face Mewthree, their dispute already forgotten, and said, "You know, this is the culmination of my childhood dreams. I wished I could be one of the crew. And just look at me now. Look at all the 'Twos. We have tails, we can fly, we can use The Wave, we have inner energy…" Mewthree replied, "I'll second that. Looks like that great dying race lives on…in us. Though we may be 'Twos, there shall someday be those among us known as Saiyans." Mewtwo cut in, (Calling us Saiyans sounds a whole heck of a lot better than just calling us 'Twos.) Turning from them, he sent in a loud psychic voice, (There's been a name change! The name 'Two sounds so lame, doesn't it? I knew you all agreed. From now on, we are Saiyans!) Raising a paw high in the air, he shouted, (What are we called?) At that exact same moment, Shade and Mewthree joined their minds together as one to project to the huge surrounding crowd of milling 'Twos what it meant and what it was to be a Saiyan. Getting the point of the great, grand legacy of the formerly fictitious Saiyan Empire, the surrounding crowd of 'Twos cheered loudly, "Saiyans! Saiyans! We are Saiyans! Yeah!" At the height of their fervor, Mewthree flew up to hover up above them all and exhorted them to action, crying, "And now, who among us is worthy of that illustrious and gloried name? Who among us will go forth to liberate the Saiyans so unjustly imprisoned?" The reply was unanimous. They would all go free the 'Twos-Saiyans-Team Rocket held.
With a wild whir of white wings, Shade joined Mewthree in the air as she shouted, "Let's go! Let this worldwide endeavor be known to all as the first act of the new Saiyan race!" The air erupted and was fairly torn to shreds as the many newly renamed Saiyans leapt to the sky, the hundreds of Mews whirling about their heads with a chorus of excited chirps. As they flew on, Mewthree linked her mind with all of them to tell them more about the Saiyans she knew from the old TV show. She said, (Saiyans exist on a level system, each level representing a different form and capability. Mews are still just Mews. 'Twos are standard Saiyans. 'Threes are Super Saiyans. I will teach you how to do The Wave now.) She did so. As they rose ever higher, she cast her awareness outward in all directions, testing out her ability to sense energy levels and life force. To her great surprise, she got a positive result. She shouted, "We've got a group of high energy levels to the east of here! Looks like they're in Japan! To be a Saiyan is to love to fight, so let's go see if there's a battle we can join in to show off our true strength! All enemies shall fall before our unstoppable power!" Where before she had shown them what it meant to be a Saiyan, she now showed them how it felt to be a Saiyan. She sang the lyrics from 'Born To Be Wild' in her mind as she showed them wildness and blood-hunger, honor and pride. When she had them all hooked and raring to fight, she began to lead them toward the fight in Japan.
It only took them half an hour at the aerial speed they were able to attain. Soon the huge cloud of Saiyans was rocketing over a mountain range and onto a great desolate plateau. A huge blue energy sphere dominated the entire vista, but Mewthree's keen vision picked out the people who were standing nearby. One was a small battered kid with spiky golden hair and a broken left arm. He was casting a big blue beam into the heart of the energy sphere. It looked like he was doing The Wave. Standing nearby were a big, tall green guy with a long white cape, a big burly bald guy with three eyes, a tall scarred fellow with wild black hair, a short scowling man with really big spiky golden hair and a short bald midget with an unconscious blonde girl. They all looked to be awfully familiar to her. Mewthree looked at the other side of the huge energy sphere…and gasped in shock. Standing tall and proud on the other side was a big strange green-colored creature with a handsome milk-white face, a high double crest and glossy black insect wings. He was doing The Wave too. She turned in midair and fairly shrieked to Shade, "Do you see that weird-looking guy down there on the other side of the energy ball? That's Cell! You can remember Cell, right? And there's Gohan right over there! He's in a Wave contest with Cell, which means that Goku must already be dead and gone! Look down there, man! There's Piccolo! Do you see Tien and Yamcha who's standing right next to him? Oh my God-there's Vegeta himself! Over there's Krillin and I think that blonde girl right there must be 18!" Shade replied seriously, pointing toward the side, "And there's Trunks over there. The poor guy-he's hurt very badly." That simple fact made up Mewthree's mind in a hurry. She poked his shoulder and then said, "Don't forget, Shade, I'm a doctor. I can help Trunks and Gohan too. Let's go step in and kick some bug butt." She reached out with her psychic powers and shouted, (Okay then, everyone! Here's our very first fight! I'm giving you all of my knowledge of these people! Let's get in there and perform a group Wave on Cell pronto, guys! We'll teach him to underestimate the awesome power held by very powerful and very disgruntled Saiyans working together in large groups!) Following her orders, the Saiyans began to descend toward the battlefield so far below.
Gohan, despite his father's coaching from beyond the grave, was just barely holding his own against Cell. Giving the fight all the strength that he had and so much more, he didn't have any time to notice the colossal group of very high power levels that were swiftly coming his way. He heard the sound of great wings tearing the crackling air to wildly rushing shreds on his left and right sides, then he heard two new voices give that unmistakable trademark war cry and join their energies to his own to aid him in his battle. "KAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAAMEEEEHAAAAA!" Mewthree and Shade were both standing beside Gohan, both of them also doing The Wave on Cell. Their loud war cry was quickly taken up by a multitude of other throats as many dozens of furry Saiyans landed before, beside and behind all three of them to add their own energies to the group Wave. The Mews all joined in the group Wave without having to be told to do so, the sundered and wildly crackling air ringing out with untold thousands of loud individual cries of "MMMMMEEEEEWWWWW!" Unable to stand up to such sheer power, Cell gave a terrible cry of utter defeat as the searing energy washed over his shivering form.
The battle was finally over. Gohan's spiky hair changed from gold to black as he changed back to his normal state. All of the new arrivals were totally amazed to see him changing like that, except for Mewthree and Shade. The two of them knew exactly what was going on. His eyes got really big when he finally looked at the group that were his saviors and rescuers. He had expected them all to be a group of human warriors, not a pack of large mutant cats. He was about to ask her a question, but Mewthree said abruptly, "Not right now, Gohan." He jumped and exclaimed, "What are you? How in the name of all sanity do you know my name?" She smiled down at him and replied in a soft voice, "Save those questions for a little bit later, please. You're hurt. Sit down and let me help you out." He was dumbfounded at that. These strange felines had just pulled his rear out of the fire with Cell. And they also knew his name! He then obediently sat down and just plain let Mewthree take a look at his broken arm. Her gentle three-fingered paws touched his arm. "This isn't good, sonny boy," she said, "You have a compound fracture in your upper arm." Turning to face Shade, she asked in a voice that was almost a shout, "Yo, brother. Do we have anything around here that we can use for splints?" He looked around, then said from across the way; "We've got some pretty thick sticks right over here." "That's very good," Mewthree said, "Show me, please." Shade held them up high for her to see. Her eyes blazed a bright blue and the two thickest sticks wrenched out of his grip and sailed toward her to land in her paw. Gesturing at the rags that hung from his small yet muscular frame, her eyes blazed blue again and the rags slowly floated into her grasp. Working quickly, she put his broken arm in a splint. Finished, she stood up, then looked down at him and asked; "Does it hurt?" Too dazed and confused to put up a brave front on anyone's behalf, he just said flatly, "Yes." She nodded once and replied, "Hold still for just a minute, please." She looked deeply into his eyes, then slowly reached up to gently touch his scraped-up cheek. He gasped. He could feel her in his mind! Just then, all sensation in his broken arm snapped into nonexistence. She smiled down at him and then said, "I just put up a mental block within your mind. You won't feel any more pain from your broken arm. Now, if you'll be so kind as to excuse me, I really have to leave."
Turning away from Gohan, she slowly walked to where Trunks lay very near death, the hole Cell had punched through his chest smoldering ever so slightly. Mewthree mused quietly, "This situation is very bad indeed. Looks like I'll have to take some very drastic action here." A gruff voice snarled at her from behind, "Get away from my son right this instant or you will die by my hand, beast!" She turned around and saw a bristling Vegeta ready to jump on top of her. She just sneered at him and then growled, "He's stopped breathing. Looks like I'm his only hope, huh, Vegeta? Well, I'm going to help him out whether you like it or not!" Realizing that she planned to help his dying son, he slowly backed off. Mewthree covered the mortal wound with her paw and closed her huge eyes. "Trunks," she commanded solemnly, "Return to us." Both she and Trunks burned with a bright blue glow for a short yet long moment. Then Trunks bolted upright with a huge gasp for air. His grimy lavender hair obscured the shocked look on his face as he looked down at where the wound had been, only to find unmarred skin in place of the injury. He looked up at his female feline savior, but Mewthree was already walking away from him.
She next walked over to where Krillin knelt by the unconscious 18 and crouched beside him. Lightly placing her paw on the female android's head, she closed her eyes. "18," she commanded, "Awaken." Barely pausing to realize that she was awake, 18 instinctively leapt at Mewthree. She hit an energy barrier and bounced back. Not seeming to have noticed her attack, Mewthree said in a chiding tone, "Now, now, 18. Calm down now, if you please. You're among friends here." Disoriented, 18 just backed off from her slowly.
Her job done at last, Mewthree rejoined her waiting friends. The others just stared at her, all asking their questions at once, but she looked only at Vegeta, who was hanging back, pretending to be completely uninterested. She knew what would get his attention in a hurry. Surreptitiously turning to face toward Gohan while also continuing to watch Vegeta from the corner of her eye, she said in a relatively loud voice, "We are Saiyans." She smiled inwardly to see Vegeta's reaction to her statement. That statement had certainly gotten his attention. He stormed in just a little bit closer to her and to the group. Whatever he would have said to her was forgotten before he could even start to say it when Mewthree asked him, "Does the King still live? Is your father still alive right now?" He replied, "No." She asked him again, more forcefully this time, "Have you got any older siblings?" He replied again, "No." She then said, "Then it seems to me that you are not the Prince of all Saiyans after all." He just gave her a dumbfounded look, which she found to be mildly amusing. She continued, "Rather, you're the King of all Saiyans! All hail!" She then knelt down low before him. Shade and all of the others followed her lead and knelt before him as well. The happy little Mews, unheeding and uncaring, just somersaulted through the sky with joyous little chirps. Gohan slowly came up to her and asked, "Why are you and that other one with the wings so different from all the rest of them?" She smiled down at him and said, "Why, lad, for the very same reason you are. We're both Super Saiyans, the two of us. I'm called Mewthree and he's my younger brother Shade. That one over there, Mewtwo, was the first of the new breed, an artificial creation and I the creator, but all the others are natural-born Saiyans. He is the forefather of all Saiyans, just as I, as their creator, am the foremother. However, unlike you, my charming young lad, I was born as a Super Saiyan. It was the exact same way for Shade."
One of the happily somersaulting Mews saw something strange and began to chirp out an alarm call, which all of the other Mews quickly took up. Everyone turned around where they stood. Mewthree simply teleported, which amazed everyone yet again. Materializing at the very front of the group, she looked at what it was that had alarmed the Mews so. A largish pile of small crushed rocks and pulverized earth was moving. Curious about it, Mewthree slowly walked closer. Crouching down low, she regarded the moving earth. Mere moments later, she found herself crouching eye to eye with a truly frightful visage. Fairly flying backward with a high, frightened little squeal, she shouted out very loudly, "Yikes! It's Cell!" Despite her pure fear, she noticed that, strangely, Cell had also thrown himself backward with a high, frightened little squeal. That wasn't like him at all. Vegeta promptly stomped a few steps forward with a low, growled curse directed toward Cell, charging up a blast that was meant to destroy him once and for all. Only Mewthree saw Cell's reaction to Vegeta's angry actions. Crouched down low on his hands and knees, shivering and clutching at a terrible, bloody wound in his side, Cell actually cringed and gave Vegeta a look of stark terror. Mewthree mentally paused, then silently asked the empty air, Could it be? Is it possible? Oh, it's too possible. And to Cell, of all people! She then stood back up and bravely stepped right into Vegeta's line of fire. He snarled at her, "Get out of my way so I can kill this freak!" Keeping her cool, she turned slightly to face him and then said quietly, "My lord, hold back the blast for a moment. Let me see something, please." Not giving him any time to respond to her request, she then moved in just a little bit closer to Cell, who tried in vain to retreat with a wordless cry of pure fear. Crouching down low before him, her big blue eyes blazing brightly, she commanded him coldly, "Look into my eyes. Now." He flinched with a soft little wordless mewling sound as she reached out to touch his face. Only Gohan knew exactly what she was going to do to Cell. His gaze tentatively met hers and she quickly slipped into his waiting mind. Cell stiffened under her touch with a harsh little gasp of pure shocked terror, his face slowly going totally blank as he stared at nothingness. Mewthree's eyes slowly drifted closed. Cell whispered words under his breath; words which Mewthree then spoke aloud. "She has called me Cell," she then intoned in a flat, low, monotone voice, "Is that my name? All I remember is a bright flash of light and then coming face to face with the winged catlike creature that now stands before me. Who am I? What is this place? I don't know the answers to either of those questions. I think my name is Cell, and that is all I know." She broke the link she had made with him and then stepped backward. Cell reeled back and nearly collapsed, panting harshly and still trying in vain to escape from her. Standing up shakily, she ever so slowly tottered over to where Vegeta still stood, momentarily stunned by what he had just heard. "My lord," she said to him softly, "He remembers nothing, knows nothing of what he has done and what he once was. His mind has been totally erased. The Cell that we knew, hated and feared…is no more. The one that you now see before you right now is an entirely new person, who will possibly be on our side from this day forth if we can play our cards right. Please allow me to do this little thing, my lord. I can remedy the situation and I can also do what is needed at this point in time."
Rapidly recovering from the shock that she'd just had by forcing an entry into Cell's traumatized mind, she quickly turned away from him and then returned to where Cell still huddled and watched them fearfully. She crouched down beside him and then looked his wound over. He stared over at her and shivered weakly. Stark terror was written all over his milk-white face as he shook his head, wordlessly pleading with her to stay back. The only sound he made was a low moan. His eyes were wide with fear as he watched her like a hawk. When she reached out to touch the wound, he drew away from her slightly, and then froze like a deer caught in headlights. He closed his eyes and appeared to brace himself for the killing blow that he expected to receive from her. Instead, he felt a warm, vaguely pleasant tingling sensation from where she had just touched him. Looking up, he saw that her eyes were shining a bright pale blue. When she slowly drew back, her white paw stained with his purplish blood, he looked downward and saw she had healed him. He looked up at her and smiled. Not his usual smug little smirk, but a genuine smile.
A wild thought then struck Mewthree's mind. He's actually kind of cute when he's not glowering or acting arrogant. He slowly stood up, towering over her. As she stared up at him, fear surged through her waiting body…and then it died away as she told herself that he wouldn't hurt her. True to her prediction, he didn't even do so much as lay a hand on her. Rather, he said to her in a soft, shy little voice, "Hello." Smiling back up at him, she replied, "Hello there. My name is Mewthree." Pointing over toward the scowling Vegeta and all of the others, he then asked her, "Who are they?" She replied, "They're our friends, Cell." Taking his hand, she led him to where the others still stood and watched her. He received a few sullen, hateful glares, along with a relatively good number of blatantly confused looks. She introduced them to him one by one, and he greeted each of them politely, even Vegeta, who just swore loudly and finished his introduction by insulting the hybrid. That simple little task done, Mewthree turned back toward him and said, "Now I guess it's time to find out just what you do remember." Folding her great white wings against her slender back, she concentrated and then slowly rose up into the air. "There," she said in a happy, satisfied tone of voice, "Now you try it." Looking kind of shocked, he asked her in an incredulous voice, "Let me get this straight. You want me to try to fly?" She mused quietly, "You must have forgotten how." He interrupted, shocked, "You mean I can fly?" He leapt to the air and then landed on his rear in a big cloud of dust. He looked kind of angry for a short moment, but then he started laughing. Then he looked down and got a good look at himself. "Whoa," he said, "Look at me! I'm green! And I've got wings? How wild can things get? Now that's weird!" At the other side of the very large crowd, Gohan mused to himself quietly, "He was such a powerful creature before…and now he can't even do so much as fly or even float. He can't possibly fake that. And he's also acting like a whole different person. He can't fake that either. He's lost his memory for sure. What he really needs now is some training." Taking the task upon himself, he walked just a little bit closer to the hybrid and then said quietly, "I can teach you all that you'll need to know, Cell." Mewthree nodded to him and agreed, "Trust him, Cell. He'd make a much, much better teacher for you than I ever would." Cell, instinctively remembering Gohan as someone who initially had meant him harm, hesitantly looked at Gohan with a look of perplexed uncertainty, then stepped forward.
Rising up even higher on a strange subconscious cue, she looked all around…and then started in pure shock. Seven small bluish hybrid children were sitting together behind a large rock formation. Two of them were clinging to each other, terrified. One was crying. Another sat and sulked. Three more were curled up on the ground, sleeping. Turning to face the huge crowd of gathered Saiyans, she called out loudly, "Amber! Meiwa! Ana! Candy! Marla! Mercury! Get your furry tails over here pronto! We got us some kids right over here!" The six female Saiyans quickly joined Mewthree where she hovered high in the air and they all looked down at the seven little hybrid children. Their maternal instincts quickly took over as they each landed by one of the children and picked him up. They were all little boys. Mewthree landed and picked one up as well. She said to the terrified little hybrid child, who was now shivering in her arms and crying against her furry chest, "You need a name, little guy. Maybe I'll call you Kunzite." She turned to face toward the six other Saiyans and then said, "I'm giving all of them names. Ana, you've got Calcite. Candy, you've got Malachite. Amber, you've got Zoisite. Marla, you've got Nephrite. Mercury, you've got Tanzanite. Meiwa, you've got Morganite." The six Saiyans just silently nodded back to her, accepting the names and the kids as their own. Kunzite was still shivering in her arms. He looked up at her and she could see tears in his wide coral eyes. His little hands clung to her soft, warm fur as he laid his head against her chest. He mewled softly and hiccuped a few times, crying just a little bit more, but she could tell that he was already beginning to calm down. A warm embrace and a comforting presence seemed to be all that he really needed. Giving a soft little sigh of rapidly growing satisfaction, he curled up in her arms and then relaxed completely.
Taking to the air, the newly named Kunzite held tightly in her furry arms, she returned to where the others still waited. When they all landed and Gohan got a good look at exactly what it was that they were all carrying, he exclaimed, "What? I didn't kill them after all?" The six other Saiyan females were all completely outraged at the thought of him hurting and trying to kill little children, even those who had been born of their former enemy, but Mewthree quickly interrupted them before they could begin to act on the outrage that they all felt. She stepped between them and Gohan, waved both sides backward and then said, "When Cell lost his memory, these kids did too. Now they're all just typical little kids. They need parents to love them and take care of them and teach them. The seven of us will raise them as if they were our own sons." Little Kunzite snuggled up against her with a soft little sigh of pure contentment, having already accepted her as his new mother.
Hours passed and night fell on the desolate plain. Nightfall saw Mewthree and the new parents of the seven hybrids teaching the kids how to fly. Instinct remembered what their minds had forgotten, and so they picked it up quickly. Mewthree noticed that Cell was watching her teaching the children how to fly and he was trying the techniques that she was teaching to the children. Soon it was time for everyone to go to sleep. She settled down with Kunzite, who just curled up on her stomach and immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day for the small child. Suddenly she felt a presence at her back and a soft, hesitant voice spoke her name. Turning carefully to avoid disturbing the sleeping Kunzite, she saw that Cell stood there, fidgeting shyly and avoiding her gaze. He asked her softly, "May I spend the night with you?" Reaching out with her mind, she asked, (Mewtwo? Cell's here with me now. What do you think I should do?) Across the plain from her, Mewtwo reached out with his mind to secretly peek into Cell's thoughts. He replied, (Allow him. You're the only one he trusts out of all of us. Mewthree…I think he's falling in love with you.) That took her aback, but she allowed Cell to lie down by her.
Mewthree awakened in the middle of the night to find that Cell had his arm draped over her, his head nestled against her shoulder as he slept soundly. Seeing the faint smile on his sleeping face, she undetectably slipped into his mind and read his feelings toward her. Oh, Cell, she thought, You believe you're in love with me. But you're not. Not really, anyway. And yet your need for love tugs at my soul like the gravity of a black hole. She thought of her true beloved, of Mewtwo. I shouldn't do this, she thought. But if it makes you happy and brings you the solace from confusion that you seek, what's the harm in it? She would let him love her, since love seemed to be what he needed most. Giving herself over to his embrace with a psychic apology to Mewtwo, she let herself fall asleep again.
They all awakened with the dawn. Kunzite and his brothers nibbled on some tasty fruits, then promptly started wrestling with each other in an innocent, playful fashion. Almost all the Saiyans had gone foraging for their breakfast. Mewthree had remained behind, all alone. She sought out and found Vegeta, bowed before him respectfully and said quietly, "My lord." He interrupted, "Wait. Before you say or do anything else, I want you to explain something to me. You say that you are a Super Saiyan. Well, how come you haven't ever transformed into a form like that of the other Saiyans? In all the time since you first arrived, I have yet to see you make the change. Explain that to me. Right now."
Mewthree replied patiently, "I was born a Super Saiyan, as was my little brother Shade. This is my natural form. For our breed, I think you have to be born a Super Saiyan to achieve that level of power. We're not too sure about that, though. Nobody's ever tried transforming." She paused for a long moment, then said, "As to the business that I came to see you about, my lord… I request your permission for the lot of us to leave this place. We must find and free the Saiyans still imprisoned in dungeons around the world. If you will just pardon me and give me leave to explain it to you, I shall do so to the very best of my abilities." He glowered over at her and then replied impatiently, "So just explain it to me already. Now!" She nodded vehemently and then said, "There is a huge worldwide criminal organization known to all just as Team Rocket. They're currently holding untold thousands of innocent Saiyans as prisoners in underground laboratories around the world for use as lab rats. I do hereby request your permission to go forth and free them all." Bowing low again, with a graceful little flourish this time around, she finished in a soft little voice full of calm and infinite patience, "I await your decision and command on the matter, my lord." Looking up at him once again, she found that he was shaking with pure outrage, his face twisted in a purely furious snarl. He hissed to her in a low, angry voice, "Saiyans…kept in cages…like mere animals? This injustice is intolerable! No force in the Universe can rightly imprison a Saiyan without fear of eventual retribution! I'm coming along with you for this quest too. Just as I am the King of all Saiyans, so too are you the Creator of all Saiyans. So now I am going to appoint you the one and only war leader. In any given battle you shall lead all the Saiyans…including, of course, myself."
Cell quietly stepped forward, not meeting anybody's gaze no matter what, and said shyly, "Excuse me, please…but I'm coming along too." Gohan nodded wildly and then replied in an excited voice, "You can count me in on this!" Piccolo stepped forward with an angry huff, glowering at all of them as he did so, and grumbled at the lot of them, "Well, somebody has to watch Cell and make sure he doesn't go back to his old destructive ways." Krillin quietly stepped up, gestured toward Tien, Trunks and Yamcha and said, "Hold on just a minute. Do you really think you could handle him all alone if he decided to go back to being evil? The lot of us are coming along with you as your reinforcements in case that happens, buddy." 18 just gave Mewthree a level gaze and said flatly, "I do seem to owe you a big favor for helping me out back there. We, after all, are of a kind. You and I and the other new Saiyans are all essentially the same. We artificially created beings all have to stick together as teammates in this crazy world." A long moment later, she gave Mewthree a blatantly confused look and then asked, "Did I imagine that Cell survived the fight, or was I just hallucinating it?" Cell took a small step forward, gave her a gentle little smile and then said to her very softly, "Are you talking about little old me?"
Her big icy blue eyes went wide at the sight of the inhuman figure towering over her, then narrowed with pure hatred. She then smiled at him fiercely and it became plain what she wanted to do as she purred in a deceptively sweet voice, "Actually…" Mewthree and all of the others were astonished by her sheer speed as she attacked him. Compared to him, she looked like she was petite and weak, but she was actually a heck of a lot stronger than the hybrid was, now that he had forgotten how to fight back. He watched with frightened confusion as she leapt at him. She charged at him full on, then she flipped right over him at the very last second and landed right square on his back, right between his glossy black wings. Latching on to him with all of her truly formidable strength, she laid her chin on his armored shoulder and then snarled at him in a low, threatening, hissing growl of a voice, "I was just talking about how badly I want you to die!" She then cast out an utterly impenetrable electric barrier that went all around the two of them, effectively preventing anyone else from intervening on Cell's behalf. She crowed with no small amount of savage joy, "Oh, yes! You're mine now, Cell! No force on or off Earth can save you from the fury of my vengeance now! Feel the wrath of an angry android!" She then swiftly wrapped her arms around his exposed throat and locked her legs around his chest. Wasting no more time on niceties, not giving him a chance to react to her actions, she then she brutally began to squeeze, choking him. He gave a loud momentary yelp of frightened, shocked pain, but his terrified, pained cry swiftly degenerated into a low, choked cough of fear as he struggled in vain to break free of her suffocating grip. Now he was completely unable to breathe, he was in the grip of a person who wanted to kill him, and both of those facts terrified him to no end. Turning, he looked over at the panicked Mewthree in search of aid, and she promptly started flipping her furry lid at the sight of his frightened, desperate, agonized expression. Lunging forward with her wings spread menacingly, she yelled wordlessly as she tried in vain to break through 18's electric shield. She was promptly electrocuted and thrown back with a wild scream of pain, her furry body smoking and crackling with residual static. Other Saiyans, arriving on the scene and seeing Mewthree's desperate actions, began to pound on the shield with all of their collective psychic might. Shade crouched down beside her as she tried in vain to stand back up, to join her powers to those of the other Saiyans and attack the shield yet again, and said, "They're pounding away with all their power…and the shield's not even so much as wavering! Mewthree, it genuinely looks to me like Cell's going to be on his own for this fight." Unable to stand up, she fairly shouted in frantic terror, "No! No, Shade! He shouldn't have to do this all alone! He's forgotten how to fight!" Her fearful protests faded away into an empty silence as a strange feeling began to take hold of her.
Can't breathe… Cell's desperate attempts to breathe degenerated into a rough, sickening rasping sound as he wavered on his feet, weakening rapidly. Why? Why is she doing this to me? Sensing her foe's growing weakness and knowing that he was dying because of what she was doing to him, 18 gave a wild, evil laugh and then suddenly increased the already brutal constricting pressure that she was applying to his tortured throat and chest. I didn't think it was possible to feel this much pain and stay alive… He stiffened and convulsed, giving a choked cry of utter agony. It hurts it hurts oh God it hurts… A thin stream of purplish blood flowed from his mouth as he fought in vain to force a howl of pure torment past the crushing constriction that blocked his throat. Please! Make it stop! The entire world began to spin around him, the colors and images fading together. I feel so dizzy…so weak… Swirling bright lights, unfathomable darkness and unimaginable colors floated and danced before his eyes. What's happening to me? Everything seemed to recede. It's going away…it's all going away… All of the sounds in the universe began to fade into nothingness under a great roaring that filled his whole body. What is that horrendous sound I keep hearing? It feels like an ocean falling in on me… He strained to hear Mewthree's frantic cries. She cares for me. She really cares for me… He collapsed to his knees and landed in a limp, lifeless heap as the entire world fell away into silence.
Mewthree was already close to the breaking point and she was getting closer and closer to reaching it with each passing moment. Having to watch this obscene horror unfold, unable to intervene because she was too weak, was wreaking havoc on both her body and her mind. Time seemed to slow down to an unnaturally slow crawl, both for her and for Shade. Shivering and panting, she whispered softly, "Shade, something's happening to me. I feel…strange… Like I could…" She then watched in a frenzy of panicked horror as Cell collapsed with a final, desperate convulsion as he made a strange gurgling rasping noise deep in his chest. That did it for Mewthree. Her face twisted in a snarl and she began to growl in a low voice. A bright white aura blazed from her body as, impossibly, she climbed to her feet. "Stop it," she whispered in a quivering voice. The flames of the aura blazing around her body raged like a monochromatic wildfire. Her entire body was quivering with fright and anger as the white aura began to burn more and more violently. It took on a golden tint that grew and grew until it burned the same color as the sun itself. Strangely, both she and her golden aura began to flicker. Her lithe, slender, white-furred, bird-winged body began to sporadically flash into…something else. She clenched her paws into fists and brought them up against her chest as she trembled with mixed anger and fear. Her voice slowly grew louder as she whispered, "Stop it. Stop it! Stop it!" The bright golden flashes became more rapid and blended together to make an image of an entirely new creature as she arched her furry back, spread her white wings wide, raised both her fists toward the sky, tilted her head back, closed her eyes and then screamed…
"STOP IT!"
Her aura exploded in a blinding burst of gold. Everyone had to either look away or go blind. When they looked again, what they saw amazed them. Mewthree had…changed. She looked far stronger, and was far more heavily built. A segmented carapace covered her muscular body and acted as natural armor. Her tail was thick, spiked and it had a big spike-encrusted club at the end of it. Her face was very harshly angular and even her pointed ears looked like they were razor sharp. Her wings had changed an awful lot too. They were now vast and membranous, like the wings of a huge hairy bat, and they now appeared to have serrated edges. Her eyes blazed a bright demonic red and her darkened fur was the hue of ancient ashes. Her paws and her feet were both adorned with sharp, curved talons. Only Vegeta knew just what had happened to her. "The transformation," he whispered softly. The newly changed Mewthree grinned hugely, revealing glittering vampire fangs. (I am Ultra Mewthree,) she thought to them all, (I guess you could say I'm an Ascended Saiyan. Now to the battle!) She made as if to step forward…and then she almost seemed to disappear. She left a long trail of ghostly images behind her as her ash-gray form blurred toward the electric shield. Passing through the electric shield as if it didn't exist, she grabbed 18, took over the female android's mind and made her release Cell. Picking her up with the greatest of ease, she effortlessly tossed 18 toward Shade. She called out to him, (Hey, catch her!) Shade quickly caught her with a psychic shield, which he then used to confine her, getting several other Saiyans to help him out with it. The android was unconscious again, but Shade and the other Saiyans made the psychic shield as strong as they could possibly manage to make it even despite that simple fact.
Slowly relaxing and transforming back into her normal self, Mewthree knelt beside Cell. His face had gone deathly pale, although she didn't know that a hue paler than milk-white could exist. His eyes were closed and his face was twisted with pain. The only other clue to the dire situation that he was in was the thin stream of blood that flowed from the corner of his mouth. She touched his badly bruised throat with a trembling paw and felt something give way under her touch. He was still breathing, but not very well. He made a wet gurgling sound deep in his chest with each weak, shuddering breath that he struggled to take. His feeble attempts to breathe were rapidly growing weaker and weaker with each passing moment. Mewthree shifted her gaze to his feebly heaving chest as he gasped for air. A simple touch told her that 18's attack on him had broken almost all of his ribs. One of them had punctured his left lung and it was rapidly filling up with blood. She bowed her furry head and sobbed softly against his spasmodically twitching shoulder. The evidence set before her was undeniable. Cell was dying. Then the fateful knowledge struck her. The strange things that she had done for both Trunks and Cell before… Wait, she thought suddenly, I'm a healer? She really couldn't believe it at first. Then a burning determination filled her soul. I have to try, she thought. Moving very carefully, she took Cell's limp body in her arms, gently cradling his head against her furry chest, her arms wrapped loosely around his unmoving shoulders. He'd stopped trying to breathe. His face had relaxed and his heartbeat was fading away into the silence of death. If she were going to help him, to save him, the time would have to be right now. She closed her great blue eyes and concentrated on trying to remember. She had to remember exactly how she'd felt when she'd healed both Cell and Trunks, and call upon that same strange feeling once again. Her paw rested against his milk-white cheek, her touch far lighter than that of any feather. The feeling that she was trying to summon up didn't come to her. She trembled slightly; tears streaming from her tightly closed eyes. She bowed her furry head low, in a silent panic, frantically trying to force herself to remember just what she'd done for the both of them before. Her concentration deepened by leaps and bounds as she forced herself down into the dark depths of her own soul. Cell… Her terror was growing as his erratic heartbeat slowed and faded. God…please let me help him… Why couldn't she heal him? She had to save his life! He doesn't deserve to die right now…not like this…
Shade and the others looked on in awe as her entire body began to burn a faint blue. It got brighter and brighter until she blazed like a star come down from the sky. After a long moment, Cell's body began to burn with the same blue light as hers. His glow grew to match hers until their individual radiance was indistinguishable from the other one's and they burned as one being. A sound filled their ears like the great swirling hiss of rushing winds, then faded away into nothingness as the glow began to fade too. Looking back at the scene again, they saw that nothing about Cell seemed to have changed…or had it?
Mewthree was awakened from her deep trance by a gentle touch on the paw that rested on Cell's cheek. Returning to herself with a little gasp, she opened her eyes and looked down. Cell's hand covered the paw that still rested against his face. He was now perfectly healed, awake and smiling up at her, looking as if he had done nothing more than awaken from a very deep sleep. "Thank you," he whispered to her softly, "Why are you crying?" She couldn't try to make a reply for fear of bursting into tears; but then again she didn't really have to make a reply. The happy look in her great blue eyes said it all to him. Tears stained her furry cheeks as she smiled down at him. She released him from her gentle embrace and he stood back up, but then he cringed with a soft little hiss of purest pain. His arms crossed over his chest as he doubled over with a small, strangled yelp and nearly fell back down to the ground. His coral eyes shut tight and his milk-white face twisted in supreme pain as he stiffened and wavered ever so slightly where he stood. The sight of that movement impelled by pain immediately sent Mewthree's hair-trigger mind right into its most familiar pattern of thought: 'doctor mode'. She quickly looked him over with a critical eye and then said, "It's just a bit of residual pain, not an injury. Give it some time, a few hours at the very most, and it'll go away completely. You'll be fine." He looked down at her and just smiled at her. She smiled right back at him hesitantly.
She then turned and stepped away from him, intending to return to her little brother's side, but Vegeta stopped her. His usual angry glower held just a tiny hint of…respect? He said to her in a rough growl, "You transformed. You're all that and a healer, too. You were effectively the Queen of all Saiyans before all of you met me. And now I think it's time for me to see just how powerful you really are." She faked going pale at the thought and replied more for his mental benefit than out of any form of honesty, "Good Lord, I'm so going to die. Yo, Shade, would you mind arranging my funeral for me? I'm about to get trashed by the best Saiyan there is, was and ever will be. I mean, with Goku I'd at least have a chance of survival. I could possibly even beat him, with a little bit of strategy and some luck. But I'll never beat the King." Unbeknownst to Vegeta, Mewthree was just stoking his ego. She had actually desired this all of her life. She had wished from her earliest childhood years that she could face off against the great Prince of all Saiyans. And, though she hid it quite well, she actually had absolutely no doubt that she could take him on and win against him with the greatest of ease. After all, was she not the one and only Mewthree, the self-created Super Saiyan with unknown powers? Turning back to face him, she gave him a sad, resigned little smile on her furry face and said, "No holding anything back on me, please. Anything less than the very best effort would be an insult to me. I won't be able to hold anything back on you, so please don't hold back on me. Give me all you got. Go hard on me. Trash me. Beat me into the ground. Do what you will. That's all I ask of you, my lord. Don't go easy on me because I'm a weakling, okay?"
He gave her a totally fake sneer and then replied mockingly, "Don't worry. I won't hold back." Turning away, she took her place on the battlefield and then watched as he took his. He smirked. She smirked back. Then she said, "First shot goes to the royalty. Fire away, my lord." He charged up an attack and launched it at her. She didn't move, didn't even react as it drew closer…then she teleported just before it would have hit her and vaporized her. Vegeta whirled around to find that she was now floating right behind him.
"Instant Transmission," she said simply with a smile, "I've always wanted to try it." She then got serious and said, "My lord, you might actually have some trouble beating me. I'm a self-created Super Saiyan with unknown powers. Even I don't know what all I can do." He smirked up at her and replied with a sarcastic sneer, "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this!" Mewthree decided to pull out all the stops and just go at him full force. He fired another beam at her. It dissipated for no apparent reason. Her eyes blazed a cold blue and she smiled at him evilly. A bit put off by her smile, he fired a rapid series of beams. One abruptly changed direction for no good reason and then shot straight up and into the sky. Another one hit an unseen barrier and was refracted into nothingness. She put out her paw and caught another one, dribbled it a few times and faked a basketball pass to the nearest large rock, which promptly blew up when the beam hit it. One mysteriously stopped in midair, hung suspended for a few long seconds, and blasted right back at him.
"Enjoy this," she hissed as she controlled its flight toward him. He dodged it with a curse and she released it, the beam flying off into the distance. She made a great show of powering down, then called up at him, "Here! I'm wide open now, my lord! Gimme all you got!" By now enraged, he roared at her, "Final Flash!" She didn't even try to dodge. In fact, she stretched out her arms to embrace the approaching beam of blazing death. The deadly energy tore through the entire area with no resistance whatsoever and then quickly dissipated to reveal a huge hole carved in the ground with no Mewthree to be found anywhere. Vegeta chuckled and said, "That's one more victory for me." Shade gasped. Mewtwo felt sick. Kunzite started crying against Cell's leg. The hybrid picked the child up and held him. He also felt like crying, but for some reason he couldn't do it. He had the strangest feeling that Mewthree was still around. Was she really dead?
(HOLD IT!)
The voice thundered from out of nowhere, exploding inside of everyone's minds. The sheer power of it exploded in Vegeta's mind and he screamed out in the purest agony. (I'm not through with you yet, Vegeta! Death from above!) He looked up and gasped at the sight of the sharp-clawed gray-furred bat-winged red-eyed monstrosity diving at him from above. Ultra Mewthree performed a fast high-speed full-body tackle with her talons extended, gashing him deeply in multiple places and sending him to the ground, having been knocked out with just one solid hit. She stayed right there on top of him, her feet on his wrists to pin down his arms, her spiked tail wrapped loosely around his legs and her claws at his throat. (Victory to me,) she said. He wasn't awake to hear it. She looked down at him and her red eyes began to blaze. A blood red aura surrounded the both of them. She was healing him. She lowered her ghastly head, closed her evil red eyes and did something else. In Vegeta's mind, there was a great crash of thunder in the form of words spoken in the booming voice of his long-dead father, the true Saiyan king. (HIDDEN POWER, AWAKEN!) He awakened to the knowledge that there was a whole new level of power out there, which only the King of all Saiyans could ever try to attain. As she healed him, she transformed back into her normal form and she just relaxed.
He saw Mewthree's concerned face hovering over his field of vision. He asked her gruffly, "What just happened to me?" "I beat you," she replied quietly. He fairly yelled at her, "What was that?" "You heard me," she said in a slightly louder voice, "I just beat you." Behind her, she could hear someone cheering loudly. Shade ran up behind her and exclaimed, "Wow! You actually did it! I don't believe it! I didn't think it could be done, but you did it! You actually won!" Mewthree looked up at him and replied frankly, "I just got lucky is all. I just got lucky." She then stood up and began to walk away without saying another word to anyone. Vegeta, however, was in a killing rage with her in mind. He snarled at her, "No one humiliates the King of all Saiyans and lives to tell the tale! You've just earned yourself an early grave with that stupid little stunt! Final Flash!"
The massive beam tore through the area where Mewthree had stood. Everyone gave cries of shock at the sight of Vegeta's pure brutality toward a fellow Saiyan. The smoke slowly cleared away, revealing a second giant crater. Shade ran to the very edge of the crater and called his sister's name as loud as he could. A familiar voice called out, "Up here!" A black form hovered high above the crater. Shade shot straight up into the air and then drew nearer. It was Mewthree, but she was very badly burned. She looked at him and said, "Shade, I… I…" A strange glow built around her charred body and she shouted, "I am transformed!" When everyone could see again, Mewthree appeared to be gone.
In her place hovered a semi-perfect duplicate of Cell. The new hybrid's green armor had undeniably feminine contours and its-no, her big bright eyes were a pale coral and they also seemed to be vaguely luminous. She had the same high double crest, but a metallic trefoil adorned her forehead. She was quite a bit more slender than her male counterpart and her pretty milk-white face was graced with twin streaks of the deepest indigo. And she was a full six and a half feet tall, just half a foot shorter than Cell himself. Looking over at Shade, whose jaw was now effectively lying on the ground, she said, "Man! That was some wild and weird stuff! What's just happened to me? Right now I feel so weird." He just barely managed to choke out, "Take a look at what's just happened to you." She did so and gasped in shock to find that she had changed…again. "Whoa," she said in a soft voice, "It happened again. Laura to Mewthree, Mewthree to Ultra Mewthree and now Ultra Mewthree to…this? Things just seem to be getting weirder and weirder with each passing day, don't they? Oh, well. Not much can be done about it right now. But it's not like I mind the change too much. Weirdness seems to be my forte nowadays. It doesn't matter to me all that much, though. I'll adapt to how my life has changed. I always do."
Closing her coral-hued eyes, she tilted her head back and smiled just a little bit. "This transformation," she said in a soft, incredulous voice, "It's amazing! I've never felt such raw energy running through my veins before, even when I was in the form of Ultra Mewthree! The power! The absolute power! I feel as if the whole Universe is mine to command…to control! I can split the sky and step across the sea itself! I feel as if I have become a God!" Shaking her head, she regained control of herself and said softly, "Now I know why Cell used to be so cocky and arrogant. It's hard not to be that way when you're living on a constant energy rush like this. God, this form is such a huge ego trip!"
Gently drifting downward, she moved with unnatural speed as she stormed up to Vegeta, grabbed him by the throat, roughly hauled him up to her eye level and snarled right in his face, "Now look what you just did to me! Look what I just got turned into, man! You could be the King of all Saiyans or the King of all dung heaps for all I care, and if you dare to try that stupid little stunt with me just one more time, you'll be king of the dead!" Then, with a simple, small flick of her slender wrist, she effortlessly tossed him away from her as if he were nothing to her. Marveling at her new strength, she laughed out loud. She looked to Mewtwo, who was completely repulsed by her. That should have made her feel sad, but she somehow didn't care about it. How much had she changed? Had her mind also changed as much as her body had? Just how different was she now?
She then turned back to face Shade with an utterly satisfied grin and said, "I always wanted to do that, too." Then she got serious and said, "I think I know what must have happened to me back there. Do you remember when I healed Cell for the first time? I came into contact with some of his blood when that happened. I must have acquired his DNA when I came into contact with his blood. His innate regenerative capabilities must make his blood a very highly active transforming vector, invading and then actually rewriting the very genome of whatever or whomever it might happen to touch. While I found and adopted little Kunzite, made my first transformation into the form of Ultra Mewthree to rescue Cell, healed Cell a second time to save his life and then faced off against Vegeta, my body was all the while incorporating the new DNA into my genome. As you may recall if you're not stupid or something like that, Vegeta darn near vaporized me back there. I survived and I also healed up quite nicely, but instead of following the physical pattern laid out by my natural genome, the rewritten genome was used instead. And I healed so quickly because I already had his regenerative powers hidden within my body. I guess this is the new me from now on. Mewthree is dead. I am Jadeite now."
Meet the Saiyans
Out by the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, Shade pointed to a tree several hundred meters away and said, "You see that tree? Watch me hit it." He took up a wide-legged stance and cupped his paws by his side, gathering a ball of blue energy. Mewthree exclaimed, "Jeez! You're still into that stuff?" Shade gave a big grin and said, "Oh, I've always wanted to do this. KAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAA!" The last syllable was shouted as he brought his cupped paws forward. The ball of blue energy became a massive blue beam that blasted forth from his paws to incinerate the tree. Mewtwo exclaimed, (Wow! Where did you learn that?) Shade smirked and replied, "Old TV show from when I was really little. I call it The Wave." Mewthree interrupted, "I swear, you can be so lame sometimes." Shade replied, "You're just jealous, aren't you?" She growled, "Jealous of you? Don't make me laugh, twerp!" He cut in, "Don't call me a twerp." Mewthree taunted, "Twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp, twerp…" Mewtwo stepped between them, smacked his face, emitted an exasperated psychic groan and said, (Yep, you two are most definitely related.) Shade turned to face Mewthree, their dispute already forgotten, and said, "You know, this is the culmination of my childhood dreams. I wished I could be one of the crew. And just look at me now. Look at all the 'Twos. We have tails, we can fly, we can use The Wave, we have inner energy…" Mewthree replied, "I'll second that. Looks like that great dying race lives on…in us. Though we may be 'Twos, there shall someday be those among us known as Saiyans." Mewtwo cut in, (Calling us Saiyans sounds a whole heck of a lot better than just calling us 'Twos.) Turning from them, he sent in a loud psychic voice, (There's been a name change! The name 'Two sounds so lame, doesn't it? I knew you all agreed. From now on, we are Saiyans!) Raising a paw high in the air, he shouted, (What are we called?) At that exact same moment, Shade and Mewthree joined their minds together as one to project to the huge surrounding crowd of milling 'Twos what it meant and what it was to be a Saiyan. Getting the point of the great, grand legacy of the formerly fictitious Saiyan Empire, the surrounding crowd of 'Twos cheered loudly, "Saiyans! Saiyans! We are Saiyans! Yeah!" At the height of their fervor, Mewthree flew up to hover up above them all and exhorted them to action, crying, "And now, who among us is worthy of that illustrious and gloried name? Who among us will go forth to liberate the Saiyans so unjustly imprisoned?" The reply was unanimous. They would all go free the 'Twos-Saiyans-Team Rocket held.
With a wild whir of white wings, Shade joined Mewthree in the air as she shouted, "Let's go! Let this worldwide endeavor be known to all as the first act of the new Saiyan race!" The air erupted and was fairly torn to shreds as the many newly renamed Saiyans leapt to the sky, the hundreds of Mews whirling about their heads with a chorus of excited chirps. As they flew on, Mewthree linked her mind with all of them to tell them more about the Saiyans she knew from the old TV show. She said, (Saiyans exist on a level system, each level representing a different form and capability. Mews are still just Mews. 'Twos are standard Saiyans. 'Threes are Super Saiyans. I will teach you how to do The Wave now.) She did so. As they rose ever higher, she cast her awareness outward in all directions, testing out her ability to sense energy levels and life force. To her great surprise, she got a positive result. She shouted, "We've got a group of high energy levels to the east of here! Looks like they're in Japan! To be a Saiyan is to love to fight, so let's go see if there's a battle we can join in to show off our true strength! All enemies shall fall before our unstoppable power!" Where before she had shown them what it meant to be a Saiyan, she now showed them how it felt to be a Saiyan. She sang the lyrics from 'Born To Be Wild' in her mind as she showed them wildness and blood-hunger, honor and pride. When she had them all hooked and raring to fight, she began to lead them toward the fight in Japan.
It only took them half an hour at the aerial speed they were able to attain. Soon the huge cloud of Saiyans was rocketing over a mountain range and onto a great desolate plateau. A huge blue energy sphere dominated the entire vista, but Mewthree's keen vision picked out the people who were standing nearby. One was a small battered kid with spiky golden hair and a broken left arm. He was casting a big blue beam into the heart of the energy sphere. It looked like he was doing The Wave. Standing nearby were a big, tall green guy with a long white cape, a big burly bald guy with three eyes, a tall scarred fellow with wild black hair, a short scowling man with really big spiky golden hair and a short bald midget with an unconscious blonde girl. They all looked to be awfully familiar to her. Mewthree looked at the other side of the huge energy sphere…and gasped in shock. Standing tall and proud on the other side was a big strange green-colored creature with a handsome milk-white face, a high double crest and glossy black insect wings. He was doing The Wave too. She turned in midair and fairly shrieked to Shade, "Do you see that weird-looking guy down there on the other side of the energy ball? That's Cell! You can remember Cell, right? And there's Gohan right over there! He's in a Wave contest with Cell, which means that Goku must already be dead and gone! Look down there, man! There's Piccolo! Do you see Tien and Yamcha who's standing right next to him? Oh my God-there's Vegeta himself! Over there's Krillin and I think that blonde girl right there must be 18!" Shade replied seriously, pointing toward the side, "And there's Trunks over there. The poor guy-he's hurt very badly." That simple fact made up Mewthree's mind in a hurry. She poked his shoulder and then said, "Don't forget, Shade, I'm a doctor. I can help Trunks and Gohan too. Let's go step in and kick some bug butt." She reached out with her psychic powers and shouted, (Okay then, everyone! Here's our very first fight! I'm giving you all of my knowledge of these people! Let's get in there and perform a group Wave on Cell pronto, guys! We'll teach him to underestimate the awesome power held by very powerful and very disgruntled Saiyans working together in large groups!) Following her orders, the Saiyans began to descend toward the battlefield so far below.
Gohan, despite his father's coaching from beyond the grave, was just barely holding his own against Cell. Giving the fight all the strength that he had and so much more, he didn't have any time to notice the colossal group of very high power levels that were swiftly coming his way. He heard the sound of great wings tearing the crackling air to wildly rushing shreds on his left and right sides, then he heard two new voices give that unmistakable trademark war cry and join their energies to his own to aid him in his battle. "KAAAAAMEEEEEHAAAAAMEEEEHAAAAA!" Mewthree and Shade were both standing beside Gohan, both of them also doing The Wave on Cell. Their loud war cry was quickly taken up by a multitude of other throats as many dozens of furry Saiyans landed before, beside and behind all three of them to add their own energies to the group Wave. The Mews all joined in the group Wave without having to be told to do so, the sundered and wildly crackling air ringing out with untold thousands of loud individual cries of "MMMMMEEEEEWWWWW!" Unable to stand up to such sheer power, Cell gave a terrible cry of utter defeat as the searing energy washed over his shivering form.
The battle was finally over. Gohan's spiky hair changed from gold to black as he changed back to his normal state. All of the new arrivals were totally amazed to see him changing like that, except for Mewthree and Shade. The two of them knew exactly what was going on. His eyes got really big when he finally looked at the group that were his saviors and rescuers. He had expected them all to be a group of human warriors, not a pack of large mutant cats. He was about to ask her a question, but Mewthree said abruptly, "Not right now, Gohan." He jumped and exclaimed, "What are you? How in the name of all sanity do you know my name?" She smiled down at him and replied in a soft voice, "Save those questions for a little bit later, please. You're hurt. Sit down and let me help you out." He was dumbfounded at that. These strange felines had just pulled his rear out of the fire with Cell. And they also knew his name! He then obediently sat down and just plain let Mewthree take a look at his broken arm. Her gentle three-fingered paws touched his arm. "This isn't good, sonny boy," she said, "You have a compound fracture in your upper arm." Turning to face Shade, she asked in a voice that was almost a shout, "Yo, brother. Do we have anything around here that we can use for splints?" He looked around, then said from across the way; "We've got some pretty thick sticks right over here." "That's very good," Mewthree said, "Show me, please." Shade held them up high for her to see. Her eyes blazed a bright blue and the two thickest sticks wrenched out of his grip and sailed toward her to land in her paw. Gesturing at the rags that hung from his small yet muscular frame, her eyes blazed blue again and the rags slowly floated into her grasp. Working quickly, she put his broken arm in a splint. Finished, she stood up, then looked down at him and asked; "Does it hurt?" Too dazed and confused to put up a brave front on anyone's behalf, he just said flatly, "Yes." She nodded once and replied, "Hold still for just a minute, please." She looked deeply into his eyes, then slowly reached up to gently touch his scraped-up cheek. He gasped. He could feel her in his mind! Just then, all sensation in his broken arm snapped into nonexistence. She smiled down at him and then said, "I just put up a mental block within your mind. You won't feel any more pain from your broken arm. Now, if you'll be so kind as to excuse me, I really have to leave."
Turning away from Gohan, she slowly walked to where Trunks lay very near death, the hole Cell had punched through his chest smoldering ever so slightly. Mewthree mused quietly, "This situation is very bad indeed. Looks like I'll have to take some very drastic action here." A gruff voice snarled at her from behind, "Get away from my son right this instant or you will die by my hand, beast!" She turned around and saw a bristling Vegeta ready to jump on top of her. She just sneered at him and then growled, "He's stopped breathing. Looks like I'm his only hope, huh, Vegeta? Well, I'm going to help him out whether you like it or not!" Realizing that she planned to help his dying son, he slowly backed off. Mewthree covered the mortal wound with her paw and closed her huge eyes. "Trunks," she commanded solemnly, "Return to us." Both she and Trunks burned with a bright blue glow for a short yet long moment. Then Trunks bolted upright with a huge gasp for air. His grimy lavender hair obscured the shocked look on his face as he looked down at where the wound had been, only to find unmarred skin in place of the injury. He looked up at his female feline savior, but Mewthree was already walking away from him.
She next walked over to where Krillin knelt by the unconscious 18 and crouched beside him. Lightly placing her paw on the female android's head, she closed her eyes. "18," she commanded, "Awaken." Barely pausing to realize that she was awake, 18 instinctively leapt at Mewthree. She hit an energy barrier and bounced back. Not seeming to have noticed her attack, Mewthree said in a chiding tone, "Now, now, 18. Calm down now, if you please. You're among friends here." Disoriented, 18 just backed off from her slowly.
Her job done at last, Mewthree rejoined her waiting friends. The others just stared at her, all asking their questions at once, but she looked only at Vegeta, who was hanging back, pretending to be completely uninterested. She knew what would get his attention in a hurry. Surreptitiously turning to face toward Gohan while also continuing to watch Vegeta from the corner of her eye, she said in a relatively loud voice, "We are Saiyans." She smiled inwardly to see Vegeta's reaction to her statement. That statement had certainly gotten his attention. He stormed in just a little bit closer to her and to the group. Whatever he would have said to her was forgotten before he could even start to say it when Mewthree asked him, "Does the King still live? Is your father still alive right now?" He replied, "No." She asked him again, more forcefully this time, "Have you got any older siblings?" He replied again, "No." She then said, "Then it seems to me that you are not the Prince of all Saiyans after all." He just gave her a dumbfounded look, which she found to be mildly amusing. She continued, "Rather, you're the King of all Saiyans! All hail!" She then knelt down low before him. Shade and all of the others followed her lead and knelt before him as well. The happy little Mews, unheeding and uncaring, just somersaulted through the sky with joyous little chirps. Gohan slowly came up to her and asked, "Why are you and that other one with the wings so different from all the rest of them?" She smiled down at him and said, "Why, lad, for the very same reason you are. We're both Super Saiyans, the two of us. I'm called Mewthree and he's my younger brother Shade. That one over there, Mewtwo, was the first of the new breed, an artificial creation and I the creator, but all the others are natural-born Saiyans. He is the forefather of all Saiyans, just as I, as their creator, am the foremother. However, unlike you, my charming young lad, I was born as a Super Saiyan. It was the exact same way for Shade."
One of the happily somersaulting Mews saw something strange and began to chirp out an alarm call, which all of the other Mews quickly took up. Everyone turned around where they stood. Mewthree simply teleported, which amazed everyone yet again. Materializing at the very front of the group, she looked at what it was that had alarmed the Mews so. A largish pile of small crushed rocks and pulverized earth was moving. Curious about it, Mewthree slowly walked closer. Crouching down low, she regarded the moving earth. Mere moments later, she found herself crouching eye to eye with a truly frightful visage. Fairly flying backward with a high, frightened little squeal, she shouted out very loudly, "Yikes! It's Cell!" Despite her pure fear, she noticed that, strangely, Cell had also thrown himself backward with a high, frightened little squeal. That wasn't like him at all. Vegeta promptly stomped a few steps forward with a low, growled curse directed toward Cell, charging up a blast that was meant to destroy him once and for all. Only Mewthree saw Cell's reaction to Vegeta's angry actions. Crouched down low on his hands and knees, shivering and clutching at a terrible, bloody wound in his side, Cell actually cringed and gave Vegeta a look of stark terror. Mewthree mentally paused, then silently asked the empty air, Could it be? Is it possible? Oh, it's too possible. And to Cell, of all people! She then stood back up and bravely stepped right into Vegeta's line of fire. He snarled at her, "Get out of my way so I can kill this freak!" Keeping her cool, she turned slightly to face him and then said quietly, "My lord, hold back the blast for a moment. Let me see something, please." Not giving him any time to respond to her request, she then moved in just a little bit closer to Cell, who tried in vain to retreat with a wordless cry of pure fear. Crouching down low before him, her big blue eyes blazing brightly, she commanded him coldly, "Look into my eyes. Now." He flinched with a soft little wordless mewling sound as she reached out to touch his face. Only Gohan knew exactly what she was going to do to Cell. His gaze tentatively met hers and she quickly slipped into his waiting mind. Cell stiffened under her touch with a harsh little gasp of pure shocked terror, his face slowly going totally blank as he stared at nothingness. Mewthree's eyes slowly drifted closed. Cell whispered words under his breath; words which Mewthree then spoke aloud. "She has called me Cell," she then intoned in a flat, low, monotone voice, "Is that my name? All I remember is a bright flash of light and then coming face to face with the winged catlike creature that now stands before me. Who am I? What is this place? I don't know the answers to either of those questions. I think my name is Cell, and that is all I know." She broke the link she had made with him and then stepped backward. Cell reeled back and nearly collapsed, panting harshly and still trying in vain to escape from her. Standing up shakily, she ever so slowly tottered over to where Vegeta still stood, momentarily stunned by what he had just heard. "My lord," she said to him softly, "He remembers nothing, knows nothing of what he has done and what he once was. His mind has been totally erased. The Cell that we knew, hated and feared…is no more. The one that you now see before you right now is an entirely new person, who will possibly be on our side from this day forth if we can play our cards right. Please allow me to do this little thing, my lord. I can remedy the situation and I can also do what is needed at this point in time."
Rapidly recovering from the shock that she'd just had by forcing an entry into Cell's traumatized mind, she quickly turned away from him and then returned to where Cell still huddled and watched them fearfully. She crouched down beside him and then looked his wound over. He stared over at her and shivered weakly. Stark terror was written all over his milk-white face as he shook his head, wordlessly pleading with her to stay back. The only sound he made was a low moan. His eyes were wide with fear as he watched her like a hawk. When she reached out to touch the wound, he drew away from her slightly, and then froze like a deer caught in headlights. He closed his eyes and appeared to brace himself for the killing blow that he expected to receive from her. Instead, he felt a warm, vaguely pleasant tingling sensation from where she had just touched him. Looking up, he saw that her eyes were shining a bright pale blue. When she slowly drew back, her white paw stained with his purplish blood, he looked downward and saw she had healed him. He looked up at her and smiled. Not his usual smug little smirk, but a genuine smile.
A wild thought then struck Mewthree's mind. He's actually kind of cute when he's not glowering or acting arrogant. He slowly stood up, towering over her. As she stared up at him, fear surged through her waiting body…and then it died away as she told herself that he wouldn't hurt her. True to her prediction, he didn't even do so much as lay a hand on her. Rather, he said to her in a soft, shy little voice, "Hello." Smiling back up at him, she replied, "Hello there. My name is Mewthree." Pointing over toward the scowling Vegeta and all of the others, he then asked her, "Who are they?" She replied, "They're our friends, Cell." Taking his hand, she led him to where the others still stood and watched her. He received a few sullen, hateful glares, along with a relatively good number of blatantly confused looks. She introduced them to him one by one, and he greeted each of them politely, even Vegeta, who just swore loudly and finished his introduction by insulting the hybrid. That simple little task done, Mewthree turned back toward him and said, "Now I guess it's time to find out just what you do remember." Folding her great white wings against her slender back, she concentrated and then slowly rose up into the air. "There," she said in a happy, satisfied tone of voice, "Now you try it." Looking kind of shocked, he asked her in an incredulous voice, "Let me get this straight. You want me to try to fly?" She mused quietly, "You must have forgotten how." He interrupted, shocked, "You mean I can fly?" He leapt to the air and then landed on his rear in a big cloud of dust. He looked kind of angry for a short moment, but then he started laughing. Then he looked down and got a good look at himself. "Whoa," he said, "Look at me! I'm green! And I've got wings? How wild can things get? Now that's weird!" At the other side of the very large crowd, Gohan mused to himself quietly, "He was such a powerful creature before…and now he can't even do so much as fly or even float. He can't possibly fake that. And he's also acting like a whole different person. He can't fake that either. He's lost his memory for sure. What he really needs now is some training." Taking the task upon himself, he walked just a little bit closer to the hybrid and then said quietly, "I can teach you all that you'll need to know, Cell." Mewthree nodded to him and agreed, "Trust him, Cell. He'd make a much, much better teacher for you than I ever would." Cell, instinctively remembering Gohan as someone who initially had meant him harm, hesitantly looked at Gohan with a look of perplexed uncertainty, then stepped forward.
Rising up even higher on a strange subconscious cue, she looked all around…and then started in pure shock. Seven small bluish hybrid children were sitting together behind a large rock formation. Two of them were clinging to each other, terrified. One was crying. Another sat and sulked. Three more were curled up on the ground, sleeping. Turning to face the huge crowd of gathered Saiyans, she called out loudly, "Amber! Meiwa! Ana! Candy! Marla! Mercury! Get your furry tails over here pronto! We got us some kids right over here!" The six female Saiyans quickly joined Mewthree where she hovered high in the air and they all looked down at the seven little hybrid children. Their maternal instincts quickly took over as they each landed by one of the children and picked him up. They were all little boys. Mewthree landed and picked one up as well. She said to the terrified little hybrid child, who was now shivering in her arms and crying against her furry chest, "You need a name, little guy. Maybe I'll call you Kunzite." She turned to face toward the six other Saiyans and then said, "I'm giving all of them names. Ana, you've got Calcite. Candy, you've got Malachite. Amber, you've got Zoisite. Marla, you've got Nephrite. Mercury, you've got Tanzanite. Meiwa, you've got Morganite." The six Saiyans just silently nodded back to her, accepting the names and the kids as their own. Kunzite was still shivering in her arms. He looked up at her and she could see tears in his wide coral eyes. His little hands clung to her soft, warm fur as he laid his head against her chest. He mewled softly and hiccuped a few times, crying just a little bit more, but she could tell that he was already beginning to calm down. A warm embrace and a comforting presence seemed to be all that he really needed. Giving a soft little sigh of rapidly growing satisfaction, he curled up in her arms and then relaxed completely.
Taking to the air, the newly named Kunzite held tightly in her furry arms, she returned to where the others still waited. When they all landed and Gohan got a good look at exactly what it was that they were all carrying, he exclaimed, "What? I didn't kill them after all?" The six other Saiyan females were all completely outraged at the thought of him hurting and trying to kill little children, even those who had been born of their former enemy, but Mewthree quickly interrupted them before they could begin to act on the outrage that they all felt. She stepped between them and Gohan, waved both sides backward and then said, "When Cell lost his memory, these kids did too. Now they're all just typical little kids. They need parents to love them and take care of them and teach them. The seven of us will raise them as if they were our own sons." Little Kunzite snuggled up against her with a soft little sigh of pure contentment, having already accepted her as his new mother.
Hours passed and night fell on the desolate plain. Nightfall saw Mewthree and the new parents of the seven hybrids teaching the kids how to fly. Instinct remembered what their minds had forgotten, and so they picked it up quickly. Mewthree noticed that Cell was watching her teaching the children how to fly and he was trying the techniques that she was teaching to the children. Soon it was time for everyone to go to sleep. She settled down with Kunzite, who just curled up on her stomach and immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day for the small child. Suddenly she felt a presence at her back and a soft, hesitant voice spoke her name. Turning carefully to avoid disturbing the sleeping Kunzite, she saw that Cell stood there, fidgeting shyly and avoiding her gaze. He asked her softly, "May I spend the night with you?" Reaching out with her mind, she asked, (Mewtwo? Cell's here with me now. What do you think I should do?) Across the plain from her, Mewtwo reached out with his mind to secretly peek into Cell's thoughts. He replied, (Allow him. You're the only one he trusts out of all of us. Mewthree…I think he's falling in love with you.) That took her aback, but she allowed Cell to lie down by her.
Mewthree awakened in the middle of the night to find that Cell had his arm draped over her, his head nestled against her shoulder as he slept soundly. Seeing the faint smile on his sleeping face, she undetectably slipped into his mind and read his feelings toward her. Oh, Cell, she thought, You believe you're in love with me. But you're not. Not really, anyway. And yet your need for love tugs at my soul like the gravity of a black hole. She thought of her true beloved, of Mewtwo. I shouldn't do this, she thought. But if it makes you happy and brings you the solace from confusion that you seek, what's the harm in it? She would let him love her, since love seemed to be what he needed most. Giving herself over to his embrace with a psychic apology to Mewtwo, she let herself fall asleep again.
They all awakened with the dawn. Kunzite and his brothers nibbled on some tasty fruits, then promptly started wrestling with each other in an innocent, playful fashion. Almost all the Saiyans had gone foraging for their breakfast. Mewthree had remained behind, all alone. She sought out and found Vegeta, bowed before him respectfully and said quietly, "My lord." He interrupted, "Wait. Before you say or do anything else, I want you to explain something to me. You say that you are a Super Saiyan. Well, how come you haven't ever transformed into a form like that of the other Saiyans? In all the time since you first arrived, I have yet to see you make the change. Explain that to me. Right now."
Mewthree replied patiently, "I was born a Super Saiyan, as was my little brother Shade. This is my natural form. For our breed, I think you have to be born a Super Saiyan to achieve that level of power. We're not too sure about that, though. Nobody's ever tried transforming." She paused for a long moment, then said, "As to the business that I came to see you about, my lord… I request your permission for the lot of us to leave this place. We must find and free the Saiyans still imprisoned in dungeons around the world. If you will just pardon me and give me leave to explain it to you, I shall do so to the very best of my abilities." He glowered over at her and then replied impatiently, "So just explain it to me already. Now!" She nodded vehemently and then said, "There is a huge worldwide criminal organization known to all just as Team Rocket. They're currently holding untold thousands of innocent Saiyans as prisoners in underground laboratories around the world for use as lab rats. I do hereby request your permission to go forth and free them all." Bowing low again, with a graceful little flourish this time around, she finished in a soft little voice full of calm and infinite patience, "I await your decision and command on the matter, my lord." Looking up at him once again, she found that he was shaking with pure outrage, his face twisted in a purely furious snarl. He hissed to her in a low, angry voice, "Saiyans…kept in cages…like mere animals? This injustice is intolerable! No force in the Universe can rightly imprison a Saiyan without fear of eventual retribution! I'm coming along with you for this quest too. Just as I am the King of all Saiyans, so too are you the Creator of all Saiyans. So now I am going to appoint you the one and only war leader. In any given battle you shall lead all the Saiyans…including, of course, myself."
Cell quietly stepped forward, not meeting anybody's gaze no matter what, and said shyly, "Excuse me, please…but I'm coming along too." Gohan nodded wildly and then replied in an excited voice, "You can count me in on this!" Piccolo stepped forward with an angry huff, glowering at all of them as he did so, and grumbled at the lot of them, "Well, somebody has to watch Cell and make sure he doesn't go back to his old destructive ways." Krillin quietly stepped up, gestured toward Tien, Trunks and Yamcha and said, "Hold on just a minute. Do you really think you could handle him all alone if he decided to go back to being evil? The lot of us are coming along with you as your reinforcements in case that happens, buddy." 18 just gave Mewthree a level gaze and said flatly, "I do seem to owe you a big favor for helping me out back there. We, after all, are of a kind. You and I and the other new Saiyans are all essentially the same. We artificially created beings all have to stick together as teammates in this crazy world." A long moment later, she gave Mewthree a blatantly confused look and then asked, "Did I imagine that Cell survived the fight, or was I just hallucinating it?" Cell took a small step forward, gave her a gentle little smile and then said to her very softly, "Are you talking about little old me?"
Her big icy blue eyes went wide at the sight of the inhuman figure towering over her, then narrowed with pure hatred. She then smiled at him fiercely and it became plain what she wanted to do as she purred in a deceptively sweet voice, "Actually…" Mewthree and all of the others were astonished by her sheer speed as she attacked him. Compared to him, she looked like she was petite and weak, but she was actually a heck of a lot stronger than the hybrid was, now that he had forgotten how to fight back. He watched with frightened confusion as she leapt at him. She charged at him full on, then she flipped right over him at the very last second and landed right square on his back, right between his glossy black wings. Latching on to him with all of her truly formidable strength, she laid her chin on his armored shoulder and then snarled at him in a low, threatening, hissing growl of a voice, "I was just talking about how badly I want you to die!" She then cast out an utterly impenetrable electric barrier that went all around the two of them, effectively preventing anyone else from intervening on Cell's behalf. She crowed with no small amount of savage joy, "Oh, yes! You're mine now, Cell! No force on or off Earth can save you from the fury of my vengeance now! Feel the wrath of an angry android!" She then swiftly wrapped her arms around his exposed throat and locked her legs around his chest. Wasting no more time on niceties, not giving him a chance to react to her actions, she then she brutally began to squeeze, choking him. He gave a loud momentary yelp of frightened, shocked pain, but his terrified, pained cry swiftly degenerated into a low, choked cough of fear as he struggled in vain to break free of her suffocating grip. Now he was completely unable to breathe, he was in the grip of a person who wanted to kill him, and both of those facts terrified him to no end. Turning, he looked over at the panicked Mewthree in search of aid, and she promptly started flipping her furry lid at the sight of his frightened, desperate, agonized expression. Lunging forward with her wings spread menacingly, she yelled wordlessly as she tried in vain to break through 18's electric shield. She was promptly electrocuted and thrown back with a wild scream of pain, her furry body smoking and crackling with residual static. Other Saiyans, arriving on the scene and seeing Mewthree's desperate actions, began to pound on the shield with all of their collective psychic might. Shade crouched down beside her as she tried in vain to stand back up, to join her powers to those of the other Saiyans and attack the shield yet again, and said, "They're pounding away with all their power…and the shield's not even so much as wavering! Mewthree, it genuinely looks to me like Cell's going to be on his own for this fight." Unable to stand up, she fairly shouted in frantic terror, "No! No, Shade! He shouldn't have to do this all alone! He's forgotten how to fight!" Her fearful protests faded away into an empty silence as a strange feeling began to take hold of her.
Can't breathe… Cell's desperate attempts to breathe degenerated into a rough, sickening rasping sound as he wavered on his feet, weakening rapidly. Why? Why is she doing this to me? Sensing her foe's growing weakness and knowing that he was dying because of what she was doing to him, 18 gave a wild, evil laugh and then suddenly increased the already brutal constricting pressure that she was applying to his tortured throat and chest. I didn't think it was possible to feel this much pain and stay alive… He stiffened and convulsed, giving a choked cry of utter agony. It hurts it hurts oh God it hurts… A thin stream of purplish blood flowed from his mouth as he fought in vain to force a howl of pure torment past the crushing constriction that blocked his throat. Please! Make it stop! The entire world began to spin around him, the colors and images fading together. I feel so dizzy…so weak… Swirling bright lights, unfathomable darkness and unimaginable colors floated and danced before his eyes. What's happening to me? Everything seemed to recede. It's going away…it's all going away… All of the sounds in the universe began to fade into nothingness under a great roaring that filled his whole body. What is that horrendous sound I keep hearing? It feels like an ocean falling in on me… He strained to hear Mewthree's frantic cries. She cares for me. She really cares for me… He collapsed to his knees and landed in a limp, lifeless heap as the entire world fell away into silence.
Mewthree was already close to the breaking point and she was getting closer and closer to reaching it with each passing moment. Having to watch this obscene horror unfold, unable to intervene because she was too weak, was wreaking havoc on both her body and her mind. Time seemed to slow down to an unnaturally slow crawl, both for her and for Shade. Shivering and panting, she whispered softly, "Shade, something's happening to me. I feel…strange… Like I could…" She then watched in a frenzy of panicked horror as Cell collapsed with a final, desperate convulsion as he made a strange gurgling rasping noise deep in his chest. That did it for Mewthree. Her face twisted in a snarl and she began to growl in a low voice. A bright white aura blazed from her body as, impossibly, she climbed to her feet. "Stop it," she whispered in a quivering voice. The flames of the aura blazing around her body raged like a monochromatic wildfire. Her entire body was quivering with fright and anger as the white aura began to burn more and more violently. It took on a golden tint that grew and grew until it burned the same color as the sun itself. Strangely, both she and her golden aura began to flicker. Her lithe, slender, white-furred, bird-winged body began to sporadically flash into…something else. She clenched her paws into fists and brought them up against her chest as she trembled with mixed anger and fear. Her voice slowly grew louder as she whispered, "Stop it. Stop it! Stop it!" The bright golden flashes became more rapid and blended together to make an image of an entirely new creature as she arched her furry back, spread her white wings wide, raised both her fists toward the sky, tilted her head back, closed her eyes and then screamed…
"STOP IT!"
Her aura exploded in a blinding burst of gold. Everyone had to either look away or go blind. When they looked again, what they saw amazed them. Mewthree had…changed. She looked far stronger, and was far more heavily built. A segmented carapace covered her muscular body and acted as natural armor. Her tail was thick, spiked and it had a big spike-encrusted club at the end of it. Her face was very harshly angular and even her pointed ears looked like they were razor sharp. Her wings had changed an awful lot too. They were now vast and membranous, like the wings of a huge hairy bat, and they now appeared to have serrated edges. Her eyes blazed a bright demonic red and her darkened fur was the hue of ancient ashes. Her paws and her feet were both adorned with sharp, curved talons. Only Vegeta knew just what had happened to her. "The transformation," he whispered softly. The newly changed Mewthree grinned hugely, revealing glittering vampire fangs. (I am Ultra Mewthree,) she thought to them all, (I guess you could say I'm an Ascended Saiyan. Now to the battle!) She made as if to step forward…and then she almost seemed to disappear. She left a long trail of ghostly images behind her as her ash-gray form blurred toward the electric shield. Passing through the electric shield as if it didn't exist, she grabbed 18, took over the female android's mind and made her release Cell. Picking her up with the greatest of ease, she effortlessly tossed 18 toward Shade. She called out to him, (Hey, catch her!) Shade quickly caught her with a psychic shield, which he then used to confine her, getting several other Saiyans to help him out with it. The android was unconscious again, but Shade and the other Saiyans made the psychic shield as strong as they could possibly manage to make it even despite that simple fact.
Slowly relaxing and transforming back into her normal self, Mewthree knelt beside Cell. His face had gone deathly pale, although she didn't know that a hue paler than milk-white could exist. His eyes were closed and his face was twisted with pain. The only other clue to the dire situation that he was in was the thin stream of blood that flowed from the corner of his mouth. She touched his badly bruised throat with a trembling paw and felt something give way under her touch. He was still breathing, but not very well. He made a wet gurgling sound deep in his chest with each weak, shuddering breath that he struggled to take. His feeble attempts to breathe were rapidly growing weaker and weaker with each passing moment. Mewthree shifted her gaze to his feebly heaving chest as he gasped for air. A simple touch told her that 18's attack on him had broken almost all of his ribs. One of them had punctured his left lung and it was rapidly filling up with blood. She bowed her furry head and sobbed softly against his spasmodically twitching shoulder. The evidence set before her was undeniable. Cell was dying. Then the fateful knowledge struck her. The strange things that she had done for both Trunks and Cell before… Wait, she thought suddenly, I'm a healer? She really couldn't believe it at first. Then a burning determination filled her soul. I have to try, she thought. Moving very carefully, she took Cell's limp body in her arms, gently cradling his head against her furry chest, her arms wrapped loosely around his unmoving shoulders. He'd stopped trying to breathe. His face had relaxed and his heartbeat was fading away into the silence of death. If she were going to help him, to save him, the time would have to be right now. She closed her great blue eyes and concentrated on trying to remember. She had to remember exactly how she'd felt when she'd healed both Cell and Trunks, and call upon that same strange feeling once again. Her paw rested against his milk-white cheek, her touch far lighter than that of any feather. The feeling that she was trying to summon up didn't come to her. She trembled slightly; tears streaming from her tightly closed eyes. She bowed her furry head low, in a silent panic, frantically trying to force herself to remember just what she'd done for the both of them before. Her concentration deepened by leaps and bounds as she forced herself down into the dark depths of her own soul. Cell… Her terror was growing as his erratic heartbeat slowed and faded. God…please let me help him… Why couldn't she heal him? She had to save his life! He doesn't deserve to die right now…not like this…
Shade and the others looked on in awe as her entire body began to burn a faint blue. It got brighter and brighter until she blazed like a star come down from the sky. After a long moment, Cell's body began to burn with the same blue light as hers. His glow grew to match hers until their individual radiance was indistinguishable from the other one's and they burned as one being. A sound filled their ears like the great swirling hiss of rushing winds, then faded away into nothingness as the glow began to fade too. Looking back at the scene again, they saw that nothing about Cell seemed to have changed…or had it?
Mewthree was awakened from her deep trance by a gentle touch on the paw that rested on Cell's cheek. Returning to herself with a little gasp, she opened her eyes and looked down. Cell's hand covered the paw that still rested against his face. He was now perfectly healed, awake and smiling up at her, looking as if he had done nothing more than awaken from a very deep sleep. "Thank you," he whispered to her softly, "Why are you crying?" She couldn't try to make a reply for fear of bursting into tears; but then again she didn't really have to make a reply. The happy look in her great blue eyes said it all to him. Tears stained her furry cheeks as she smiled down at him. She released him from her gentle embrace and he stood back up, but then he cringed with a soft little hiss of purest pain. His arms crossed over his chest as he doubled over with a small, strangled yelp and nearly fell back down to the ground. His coral eyes shut tight and his milk-white face twisted in supreme pain as he stiffened and wavered ever so slightly where he stood. The sight of that movement impelled by pain immediately sent Mewthree's hair-trigger mind right into its most familiar pattern of thought: 'doctor mode'. She quickly looked him over with a critical eye and then said, "It's just a bit of residual pain, not an injury. Give it some time, a few hours at the very most, and it'll go away completely. You'll be fine." He looked down at her and just smiled at her. She smiled right back at him hesitantly.
She then turned and stepped away from him, intending to return to her little brother's side, but Vegeta stopped her. His usual angry glower held just a tiny hint of…respect? He said to her in a rough growl, "You transformed. You're all that and a healer, too. You were effectively the Queen of all Saiyans before all of you met me. And now I think it's time for me to see just how powerful you really are." She faked going pale at the thought and replied more for his mental benefit than out of any form of honesty, "Good Lord, I'm so going to die. Yo, Shade, would you mind arranging my funeral for me? I'm about to get trashed by the best Saiyan there is, was and ever will be. I mean, with Goku I'd at least have a chance of survival. I could possibly even beat him, with a little bit of strategy and some luck. But I'll never beat the King." Unbeknownst to Vegeta, Mewthree was just stoking his ego. She had actually desired this all of her life. She had wished from her earliest childhood years that she could face off against the great Prince of all Saiyans. And, though she hid it quite well, she actually had absolutely no doubt that she could take him on and win against him with the greatest of ease. After all, was she not the one and only Mewthree, the self-created Super Saiyan with unknown powers? Turning back to face him, she gave him a sad, resigned little smile on her furry face and said, "No holding anything back on me, please. Anything less than the very best effort would be an insult to me. I won't be able to hold anything back on you, so please don't hold back on me. Give me all you got. Go hard on me. Trash me. Beat me into the ground. Do what you will. That's all I ask of you, my lord. Don't go easy on me because I'm a weakling, okay?"
He gave her a totally fake sneer and then replied mockingly, "Don't worry. I won't hold back." Turning away, she took her place on the battlefield and then watched as he took his. He smirked. She smirked back. Then she said, "First shot goes to the royalty. Fire away, my lord." He charged up an attack and launched it at her. She didn't move, didn't even react as it drew closer…then she teleported just before it would have hit her and vaporized her. Vegeta whirled around to find that she was now floating right behind him.
"Instant Transmission," she said simply with a smile, "I've always wanted to try it." She then got serious and said, "My lord, you might actually have some trouble beating me. I'm a self-created Super Saiyan with unknown powers. Even I don't know what all I can do." He smirked up at her and replied with a sarcastic sneer, "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this!" Mewthree decided to pull out all the stops and just go at him full force. He fired another beam at her. It dissipated for no apparent reason. Her eyes blazed a cold blue and she smiled at him evilly. A bit put off by her smile, he fired a rapid series of beams. One abruptly changed direction for no good reason and then shot straight up and into the sky. Another one hit an unseen barrier and was refracted into nothingness. She put out her paw and caught another one, dribbled it a few times and faked a basketball pass to the nearest large rock, which promptly blew up when the beam hit it. One mysteriously stopped in midair, hung suspended for a few long seconds, and blasted right back at him.
"Enjoy this," she hissed as she controlled its flight toward him. He dodged it with a curse and she released it, the beam flying off into the distance. She made a great show of powering down, then called up at him, "Here! I'm wide open now, my lord! Gimme all you got!" By now enraged, he roared at her, "Final Flash!" She didn't even try to dodge. In fact, she stretched out her arms to embrace the approaching beam of blazing death. The deadly energy tore through the entire area with no resistance whatsoever and then quickly dissipated to reveal a huge hole carved in the ground with no Mewthree to be found anywhere. Vegeta chuckled and said, "That's one more victory for me." Shade gasped. Mewtwo felt sick. Kunzite started crying against Cell's leg. The hybrid picked the child up and held him. He also felt like crying, but for some reason he couldn't do it. He had the strangest feeling that Mewthree was still around. Was she really dead?
(HOLD IT!)
The voice thundered from out of nowhere, exploding inside of everyone's minds. The sheer power of it exploded in Vegeta's mind and he screamed out in the purest agony. (I'm not through with you yet, Vegeta! Death from above!) He looked up and gasped at the sight of the sharp-clawed gray-furred bat-winged red-eyed monstrosity diving at him from above. Ultra Mewthree performed a fast high-speed full-body tackle with her talons extended, gashing him deeply in multiple places and sending him to the ground, having been knocked out with just one solid hit. She stayed right there on top of him, her feet on his wrists to pin down his arms, her spiked tail wrapped loosely around his legs and her claws at his throat. (Victory to me,) she said. He wasn't awake to hear it. She looked down at him and her red eyes began to blaze. A blood red aura surrounded the both of them. She was healing him. She lowered her ghastly head, closed her evil red eyes and did something else. In Vegeta's mind, there was a great crash of thunder in the form of words spoken in the booming voice of his long-dead father, the true Saiyan king. (HIDDEN POWER, AWAKEN!) He awakened to the knowledge that there was a whole new level of power out there, which only the King of all Saiyans could ever try to attain. As she healed him, she transformed back into her normal form and she just relaxed.
He saw Mewthree's concerned face hovering over his field of vision. He asked her gruffly, "What just happened to me?" "I beat you," she replied quietly. He fairly yelled at her, "What was that?" "You heard me," she said in a slightly louder voice, "I just beat you." Behind her, she could hear someone cheering loudly. Shade ran up behind her and exclaimed, "Wow! You actually did it! I don't believe it! I didn't think it could be done, but you did it! You actually won!" Mewthree looked up at him and replied frankly, "I just got lucky is all. I just got lucky." She then stood up and began to walk away without saying another word to anyone. Vegeta, however, was in a killing rage with her in mind. He snarled at her, "No one humiliates the King of all Saiyans and lives to tell the tale! You've just earned yourself an early grave with that stupid little stunt! Final Flash!"
The massive beam tore through the area where Mewthree had stood. Everyone gave cries of shock at the sight of Vegeta's pure brutality toward a fellow Saiyan. The smoke slowly cleared away, revealing a second giant crater. Shade ran to the very edge of the crater and called his sister's name as loud as he could. A familiar voice called out, "Up here!" A black form hovered high above the crater. Shade shot straight up into the air and then drew nearer. It was Mewthree, but she was very badly burned. She looked at him and said, "Shade, I… I…" A strange glow built around her charred body and she shouted, "I am transformed!" When everyone could see again, Mewthree appeared to be gone.
In her place hovered a semi-perfect duplicate of Cell. The new hybrid's green armor had undeniably feminine contours and its-no, her big bright eyes were a pale coral and they also seemed to be vaguely luminous. She had the same high double crest, but a metallic trefoil adorned her forehead. She was quite a bit more slender than her male counterpart and her pretty milk-white face was graced with twin streaks of the deepest indigo. And she was a full six and a half feet tall, just half a foot shorter than Cell himself. Looking over at Shade, whose jaw was now effectively lying on the ground, she said, "Man! That was some wild and weird stuff! What's just happened to me? Right now I feel so weird." He just barely managed to choke out, "Take a look at what's just happened to you." She did so and gasped in shock to find that she had changed…again. "Whoa," she said in a soft voice, "It happened again. Laura to Mewthree, Mewthree to Ultra Mewthree and now Ultra Mewthree to…this? Things just seem to be getting weirder and weirder with each passing day, don't they? Oh, well. Not much can be done about it right now. But it's not like I mind the change too much. Weirdness seems to be my forte nowadays. It doesn't matter to me all that much, though. I'll adapt to how my life has changed. I always do."
Closing her coral-hued eyes, she tilted her head back and smiled just a little bit. "This transformation," she said in a soft, incredulous voice, "It's amazing! I've never felt such raw energy running through my veins before, even when I was in the form of Ultra Mewthree! The power! The absolute power! I feel as if the whole Universe is mine to command…to control! I can split the sky and step across the sea itself! I feel as if I have become a God!" Shaking her head, she regained control of herself and said softly, "Now I know why Cell used to be so cocky and arrogant. It's hard not to be that way when you're living on a constant energy rush like this. God, this form is such a huge ego trip!"
Gently drifting downward, she moved with unnatural speed as she stormed up to Vegeta, grabbed him by the throat, roughly hauled him up to her eye level and snarled right in his face, "Now look what you just did to me! Look what I just got turned into, man! You could be the King of all Saiyans or the King of all dung heaps for all I care, and if you dare to try that stupid little stunt with me just one more time, you'll be king of the dead!" Then, with a simple, small flick of her slender wrist, she effortlessly tossed him away from her as if he were nothing to her. Marveling at her new strength, she laughed out loud. She looked to Mewtwo, who was completely repulsed by her. That should have made her feel sad, but she somehow didn't care about it. How much had she changed? Had her mind also changed as much as her body had? Just how different was she now?
She then turned back to face Shade with an utterly satisfied grin and said, "I always wanted to do that, too." Then she got serious and said, "I think I know what must have happened to me back there. Do you remember when I healed Cell for the first time? I came into contact with some of his blood when that happened. I must have acquired his DNA when I came into contact with his blood. His innate regenerative capabilities must make his blood a very highly active transforming vector, invading and then actually rewriting the very genome of whatever or whomever it might happen to touch. While I found and adopted little Kunzite, made my first transformation into the form of Ultra Mewthree to rescue Cell, healed Cell a second time to save his life and then faced off against Vegeta, my body was all the while incorporating the new DNA into my genome. As you may recall if you're not stupid or something like that, Vegeta darn near vaporized me back there. I survived and I also healed up quite nicely, but instead of following the physical pattern laid out by my natural genome, the rewritten genome was used instead. And I healed so quickly because I already had his regenerative powers hidden within my body. I guess this is the new me from now on. Mewthree is dead. I am Jadeite now."