Meanwhile, Vegeta heard an odd semi-feminine voice say, "Wait just a minute there. We haven't properly introduced ourselves to you yet." He turned around and saw a group of ten strangely marked Saiyans standing all together right behind him. One of them jumped forward, posed like a spastic ballerina and shouted, "Frost!" A second jumped forward, struck up a semi-tasteful complementary pose and shouted, "Ice!" A third jumped into view, posed dynamically and shouted, "Snowfall!" A big vibrantly colored male sashayed into full visibility and said flatly, in the familiar James Bond style, "Cold. King Cold." Flipping in, spinning around and posing like a master gymnast, a fifth shouted, "Mist!" A sixth capered threateningly before him as if she were performing in a shadow play and shouted, "Rain!" A seventh Saiyan suddenly skidded across the of the others view in a wacky cheerleading pose, kicking up a cloud of dust as she did so, then took up her assigned position with a rapid series of back flips and shouted, "Subzero!" An eighth ran into the area, struck up a well-known disco pose and shouted, "Blizzard!" A ninth somersaulted in from behind the rest and shouted, "Storm!" A little kitten skittered into view, struck up a little fighting pose and lisped in a soft, high little voice, "Freezer!" Then, all together, they said loudly, "Together, we are…the Winter Force!" Vegeta just rolled his eyes and grumbled at them loudly, "Now I've seen it all." He looked just a little bit closer at the group as they quietly held their dynamic poses. Most of them had glossy cold-colored markings set on their foreheads, shoulders, forearms, lower legs and chests, but they were usually plain white everywhere else. That looked almost familiar to him…
The little kitten broke formation, scampered right up to him and brazenly jumped into his arms. Eye to eye with the child, Vegeta had no choice but to meet the glittering obsidian gaze. The child's markings were a deep purple and they were very smooth, almost glassy. He lisped in a strangely familiar voice, "I had dreams about you. I fought you on an alien planet and you died there. I died there too. A man with yellow hair killed me. I know I was dreaming real." Looking down at his chest, the small kitten then said, "You still got your armor! You fixed it, too! I made a hole in the tummy part but that's all fixed. I'm sorry I hurt you. My name is Freezer. I made it up all by myself when I was little." The way the little child spoke to him, his glossy markings and even the inflections in his squeaky little voice… There could be no doubt whatsoever. Vegeta now believed in reincarnation. This young Saiyan child was undoubtedly the newly reincarnated form of his former master and greatest enemy, the one whose name he would never willingly speak. The child just cuddled up against his chest and then murmured softly, fully in the persona of Vegeta's long deceased enemy, "Of all those who followed me and did what I said, I liked you the very best. I almost considered you…my son." He practically dropped the little child. A tall, strong male stepped up a little bit closer to him, and he recognized him. He was colored a deep purple and his ears were a shade of blue so dark that it was almost black. He smiled and said in a deep, low, rumbling purr of a voice, "I am King Cold. Over there is my beloved wife, Snowfall. I see you've already met my young son." This had knocked Vegeta for a loop, to say very least. His former master, the evil warlord who had blazed a path of death and destruction throughout half the galaxy, had been reduced to a small child who trusted him implicitly. The mother and father of that same warlord, whom Vegeta had always assumed were evil people themselves, were now nothing more than proud parents. King Cold pointed toward the other oddly colored Saiyans and said, "Now I want you to meet all of my relatives. Storm is my younger brother and Rain is his wife. Their child is named Mist. Frost and Ice are my parents, and Blizzard and Subzero are Snowfall's parents. We're all relatives here in the Winter Force, and we all wield strange new powers like nothing ever seen before in a typical Saiyan."
Jadeite hopped up behind him, pulled into a low hover, then tried to use the powers she'd had as Mewthree. Succeeding, she found that her feeling of pure power hadn't been a lie for her powers were indeed far stronger in her new form. She tried using the mimicking powers she remembered seeing Cell use when she was just a young child, and her new reality had been nothing more than a TV program. They came to her easily. She supposed that she could use her own attacks too. She could probably perform any attack she could possibly make up. Grinning fiercely, she said rudely, "Vegeta!" He then turned to face her with an angry scowl. She continued, "I suppose I should thank you for changing me like this. My power level has skyrocketed. And get this: I can imitate and ultimately learn any and all attacks used in my vicinity, whether they are used by friend or foe. Just watch me." Looking up at the clear blue sky, she shouted, "Final Flash!" Just as Vegeta had done, she released a beam into the sundered heavens, only hers was a great deal more powerful than his had been. She smirked as he gaped at her display of her new power.
A familiar voice gave a wordless cry of shock and she quickly turned around to see who it was. Cell stood there, gawking up at her with pure awe. That was when she found that her mind had changed drastically along with her body. She no longer felt any sort of sisterly affection toward Shade, and no attraction toward Mewtwo, which saddened her somewhere deep down inside her newly changed soul. Instead, she now found Cell to be the handsomest male in the area. And the sight of the seven little hybrid children stirred up her maternal instincts until they burned far brighter than they ever had before. Using something more than words or even thoughts, she called the little ones to come on over to her. All of them, Kunzite, Zoisite, Malachite, Nephrite, Calcite, Tanzanite and Morganite, left the company of their adopted mothers behind and swiftly soared upward to whirl and caper around her, giving shrill tittering giggles as they did so. Flexing his glossy black wings, Cell swiftly joined her in the air. She welcomed him by twisting sinuously through the air and sidling up next to him with a sly little smile. It looked to all of them like she was beginning some form of a mating dance. Alternately whirling and sashaying through the air, she subtly lured him into joining the dance. He couldn't help but respond to her sly advances. Soon the two of them danced lightly in the air, side by side. The children tried dancing too, imitating the two of them, but they ended up doing something that looked like a weirdly distorted combination of underwater polka, dogs barking to country tunes, rap played in low-fidelity reverse and sped-up opera. The kids were all obviously enjoying themselves immensely, even though their attempts at dancing stank horribly. Mewtwo watched the former Mewthree dance with her new mate. (Goodbye forever, my only love,) he sadly thought to her, lamenting her loss, (Good luck with your new life. Remember that you were once a proud, powerful Super Saiyan. Remember me.) Ceasing her graceful little aerial dance with Cell, Jadeite turned to face the milling group of Saiyans. She called out to the lot of them, "Before we go forth for our siege on all those Team Rocket bases out there in the world, we will take a full year to train ourselves and grow stronger. All you Saiyans can go and train yourselves wherever and however you wish to do so. Cell and I will take our seven children and fly far away from here to train on our own. In precisely one full year, and no more or less than one full year, we will all gather together right here in this very same spot, and from right here we will all then go forth for our great quest. You have just one full year to train. Remember that, please."
She turned to face Vegeta alone and said, "I sense a new energy level deep within you. A whole new level awaits you…and you alone." Calling out to everyone again, she said, "We're leaving! Let the full year of intense training and preparations for war begin now!" Clapping her arms to her sides and bringing her legs together, Jadeite spread her black wings and looked up at the heavens and let the wind take her as she flew up like a kite. Cell watched her for a moment before he did the same as she had done and followed. The kids imitated their parents and rose higher in quick succession. Soon they flew high in the sky, mere dots against a background of pale crystal blue. Banking and turning in a rapid sequence, they looked like a line of nine fighter planes soaring through the vastness of the heavens. They circled overhead once, then turned one by one to begin a flight due west.
The year of training officially began the very moment Cell and Jadeite and the children were out of their sight. Vegeta, as usual, pushed himself the hardest of all of them, and everybody was practically taking bets on whether he'd give out and when. Krillin, Tien and Yamcha took to busting and blasting big boulders during their every free moment. Piccolo alternated between meditating and practicing by fighting everyone all at once. Gohan pushed his speed and strength to the limit, and then went beyond it. 18 and Trunks sparred nonstop. The other Saiyans practiced in grand melee fights all together. Every so often, Vegeta would chart his progress in his training by participating in the grand melee fights and seeing how many butts he could kick before he got his own butt kicked. Totally psyched out and ready to kick anyone's butt at a moment's notice, Shade always sought out Vegeta in those fights and quickly laid the righteous smack down on the short, egotistical Saiyan. Fully using the strategic advantages given by his big wings, his long tail and his strong psychic powers, Shade was a truly formidable opponent and thusly he was a perfect foe for Vegeta. Not only would he willingly challenge Vegeta in those grand melee fights, but also he'd happily challenge Gohan, Yamcha, Krillin or anyone else who came his way. Mewtwo engaged Vegeta in practice fights almost daily, being by far the oldest and strongest Saiyan in the new group. Whenever he wasn't fighting with Vegeta or with anyone else who wanted to test their new strength against him in a battle, Mewtwo just teamed up with Shade and, working together, they quickly became a truly formidable duo whenever it came to mimicking and learning everyone's energy techniques. They also taught them to all the other Saiyans. 18 and Trunks soon became good friends and took to double-teaming on their opponents. The Saiyans learned to team up to use group energy attacks as they had done when they had initially joined the battle against Cell. They also learned how to link together to form a single mind and strengthen their attacks in that way. In short, they learned all that could be known about teamwork. Tien and Yamcha quickly teamed up to form a truly dynamic duo. Working together with the greatest of ease, they designed, developed and perfected a mix of their individual attacks. Krillin slowly overcame his innate shyness and just plain took on anyone who came his way and chose to challenge him. Being the strongest true Saiyan there by far, Vegeta actually took Gohan under his wing and taught him how to use his boundless rage to fuel his ever-increasing power. Quickly finding out that there was nothing more that he could teach the child, he and Gohan promptly teamed up to teach little Freezer how to fight properly. It was immediately discovered that the little kitten actually needed no teaching whatsoever, since the instinctive savagery of his former self still remained in him and he was already a holy terror in battle even without any training at all. Upon receiving a battle challenge from anyone, the gentle, sweet young kitten would go utterly cold inside and become a truly ruthless fighter. During those times, his movements, words and even his personality were totally different from what everyone else knew of him. He knew an energy technique that was all his own, which he had obviously been born knowing how to do. He called it the Razor's Edge. It was a form of wickedly sharp cutting laser that he could fire forth from his paw at will. The child was often totally arrogant, cocky and overconfident and apt to smirk nastily whenever he was in a fight, all the while tossing off careless challenges to all who came his way or even looked at him in a way that he deemed to be wrong. His speed, strength and agility were unequaled by any of the other Saiyans. In any given battle, he listened only to the commands given to him by his father. Snowfall remained the gentle, sweet woman she obviously had always been, even in her former life, but King Cold, just like his young son, had regained at least some of the merciless savagery and cold command of his former nasty self. He tended to start bossing people around in moments of supreme crisis or just in any normal fight. The strangest thing about him was that he always seemed to know exactly what to do and also when to do it. His charisma motivated everyone around him and all of the other Saiyans would routinely obey his will for no apparent reason. The others of the Winter Force perfected their teamwork to the point where there was no need to speak during a battle.
The year passed in a frenzied blur of activity and everyone got a whole lot stronger, but soon the allotted time was up. It was time for them to return to the plateau where the fateful conflict with Cell had taken place and wait for that same Cell, along with Jadeite and her seven children to return from wherever they had gone to spend the year. No one disputed Vegeta taking the lead with Gohan and everyone was just fine with little Freezer hot-dogging through the sky, blazing an aerial trail behind his father. Though he hid it from the lot of them behind a calm veneer, Vegeta was totally infuriated by the idea that they were going to the plateau to meet up with Cell. Even though a full year had already passed and should have been enough time for him to get used to the fact that Cell was on their side, he still wanted revenge for what the hybrid had done to him and to his son. No one could stop him when he decided to act, since no one knew what he was going to do.
They all landed on the plateau and found that the entire place was totally empty and that there was no one there. Everyone looked all around, completely confused by the lack of any presences. Eventually, Shade shrugged, huffed unhappily and then asked the empty air, "Where in the heck is Cell?" He got his answer when Mewtwo pointed up at the clear blue sky and shouted out as loud as he could, (Look up there! Who's that up in the sky?) One single dark green and black streak flashed through the fluffy white clouds and then swiftly swooped down to land right between Mewtwo and Vegeta. A tall green hybrid stood there before them, a gentle little smile on his handsome milk-white face. Shade said in an unsure voice, "Is that you, Cell?" The hybrid just shook his head and replied in a gentle voice, "Nope, I'm Kunzite. Mom and Dad will be along in just a minute." The heavens promptly rang with the queer hiss of multitudinous forms rapidly cutting through the air. The Saiyans scattered as even more tall hybrids landed all around Kunzite. They numbered twenty-two in all. But Cell and Jadeite were not among them. A familiar voice then shouted at the lot of them, "Hey down there, Shade! We're both up here, dude!"
Saiyans and hybrids together quickly looked upward and saw that Cell and Jadeite were floating together high overhead. The twin indigo streaks on her pretty milk-white face seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as she smiled down at the lot of them. "The gang's all here now," she said, "Is everybody ready to get going on the quest?" Behind the lot of them, Vegeta wore a particularly venomous scowl as he stared upward at Jade and the happily smiling Cell. You totally humiliated me when we fought so very long ago, Cell, he thought angrily, I won't ever forgive you for that fact. I don't really care whether you've lost your memory or not. When you leave yourself open, when I get the chance, I will destroy you. He smirked at the thought and then began to pay attention to what Jadeite was saying to everyone. "Our first target is over at Ayers Rock in Australia," she said, "I saw a great many psychic visions of our target as I trained for this coming battle. Judging from what those visions showed me, Team Rocket has made untold thousands of tunnels within the rock itself and the surrounding ground. If I know those fiends in Team Rocket, they've probably reinforced every single one of the tunnel walls with thick sheets of pure titanium, so we'll probably have to pull off a full-scale siege if we want to get anywhere. I'm willing to bet some very good money on the possibility that it'll be a very long and bloody trench war. We'll probably have to fight to the death for every single inch of ground we seek to gain from them." Suddenly feeling elated, Vegeta thought, Yes! Here's my chance! I can kill Cell and blame his death on Team Rocket! He then yelled up at her, "Okay, you've convinced us! Who could possibly say no to such an enticing invitation as that one?" The other Saiyans quickly agreed with him on the invitation's inviting nature. They had already been on the receiving end of a major siege from Team Rocket, so they all felt that it would be only fair for them to return the favor to their hated enemy tenfold.
Heartened at her comrades' agreements to join her quest despite the blood and violence that would inevitably follow, Jadeite beckoned to them all and shouted, "Okay, then! There's nothing to it but to do it. Let's go!" The words had barely left her mouth before Kunzite and all the other hybrids joined her in the air. Turning to face toward the large group of Saiyans, she yelled out, "And how about you guys?" Shade was the first one of them to join her in the air, followed closely by Mewtwo. Both Trunks and Gohan felt that they owed her big time for helping them out on that fateful day so very long ago, so they quickly followed Shade and Mewtwo. All the other Saiyans then joined them in a great, wild rush that tore the air into windy shreds. 18 swore loudly and then followed everyone else into the sky. She just couldn't believe that she was actually going to go along with the plan to work with Cell. Vegeta silently led the rest of them onward and upward. He had nothing to say, and no reason to say it. He just wanted to get straight to the fight. Over a hundred furry feline Saiyans, two dozen hybrids, a single Super Saiyan, a pair of reincarnated warlords, untold thousands of little Mews and several abnormally powerful humans flew due southeast toward Australia and what would be their initial confrontation with what would become their ultimate destiny. For the very first time in ever so long, Jadeite was actually truly happy. She was going to fight alongside her childhood heroes! And that wasn't all. She was also really looking forward to testing the very limits of her relatively new hybrid powers. She felt so very happy that she could have just started to sing loudly and dance right then and there. But she was a hybrid, the soul mate of Cell and the foremother of the Saiyans, the Mews and the hybrids as a race. She had her dignity to think of. After all, she was the supreme leader of the whole expedition. When they were completely finished with their huge worldwide war, when they had finally liberated all the Saiyans still held by Team Rocket, then she would let herself sing and dance and party. Right now she just had to fight this war and win it as soon as possible.
It was late in the evening when they arrived on the flat savanna that lay around Ayers Rock. The siege would begin in the early morning, so everyone had to get a good night's sleep. A large series of smallish fires were created from the savanna's dry grasses and the Saiyans and hybrids sat clustered around them for warmth, talking and laughing together about the wildness that would soon come. Only one of them refrained from joining in what would be the last moment of pure pleasure before the war began. Cell stood well outside the ring of light cast by the fires, watching all the others socialize with each other with a sad look on his milk-white face. Jadeite saw his darkened inhuman form looming against the pale moonlight and she left her place with her laughing, happy friends to go to his side. She asked him softly, "What's wrong, Cell?" He gave her a sad, guilty look and gestured toward Mewtwo. "Look at him," he said softly, "You used to be his mate. You mothered his children. And you left him…to come to me. Why is that, Jadeite? Surely I don't deserve the love of a woman of your caliber…the mother of so many new races." He shuddered with the purest pleasure as Jadeite touched his face and replied in a gentle whisper, "And surely you can tell that you do deserve the great love that I feel for you. You…complete me. Without you standing by my side, I am not a whole person. Without you, I am nothing." She slid into his embrace and gently laid her head against his chest. "Cell…" she whispered softly, "I knew I loved you long before I ever met you. I had been waiting all my life…for you. I have known you right from my earliest childhood as I saw your face in my dreams. It's true that I loved Mewtwo, but I always knew deep in the core of my soul that I loved you most. And this change of form only made it a lot easier on me to act on those feelings. As Mewthree I could not show the love that I have always felt for you. As Jadeite I can do as I please." She pulled back just a little bit and looked at him with a small loving smile. The brightly dancing firelight reflecting off of her metallic trefoil dazzled him and also seemed to add to her already great beauty. "This night is still quite young, you know," she said in a gentle voice, "And the whole world at large is ours to roam, so we can go wherever we please." She quietly led him further into the darkness, away from where the others still chatted and played around. Then, spreading her glossy black wings, she leapt into the air and beckoned for him to follow her lead. He did so. Keeping totally silent, she led him through the night sky. They explored the coasts of Australia a little bit, then settled down to relax by a waterfall. Jadeite jumped in and Cell followed her. Soon they were splashing and playing in the water, giggling like children. She splashed him and he splashed her right back. Then they took turns diving down the big waterfall and into the deep blue lagoon that lay right below it. When they tired of doing that, Cell climbed out of the water and lay down on a flat rock. Jadeite came to him and nestled against his chest. Cell hadn't known that such bliss was possible. They breathed together, and their hearts beat as one. She nuzzled up against him and said softly, "Cell, no words can ever describe the love that I feel for you. Wherever you may go, whatever you may do, I will be here for you. Remember that fact, please." She paused for a moment and then said, "I will sing you a song now, Cell. Whenever you're feeling lonely, when you think no one cares about you, remember this song and think of me." She folded her slender hands against her greenish chest and then took a deep breath as her milk-white face relaxed and grew supernaturally calm. She then opened her mouth and emitted a high, lilting series of bell-like notes. The flowing melody resonated in the air and just seemed to hang there, suspended in time. The entire moment froze into a single crystal-clear memory. He smiled at her and she reacted with an even bigger smile. She cuddled in a bit closer to him and then they both fell deeply asleep right then and there.
Morning came quickly. Jadeite awakened to find that she was lying snuggled up against Cell's chest. He was still deeply asleep, smiling as he felt her presence in his dreams. She sat up and looked up at the sky. "Comes the dawn," she said softly. At long last, after so much waiting, the time had finally come to begin the war she had so dreaded. A soft little sigh indicated that Cell had awakened. He sat up and laid his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, then looked back up at the rising sun. "We have to get back," she said, "Shade and the others are probably already preparing for battle. They need us, Cell." He nodded and stood. She stood as well. Turning away from him, she took a step forward and looked up at the sky. Then she turned to Cell and said urgently, "This is a war, Cell. We may not survive it." He repeated, "War…" The word seemed strangely familiar to him, and its familiarity shook him to the core. She looked down, looking like she was about to cry, and then said to him sadly, "Just one last thing…before we go…" Lunging forward, she snared Cell in a fierce embrace and kissed him full on the mouth. When she pulled back, Cell was practically staring at her cross-eyed. That was a definite first for him. Giggling, Jadeite turned and leapt to the air. "Come on, silly," she shouted to him. Too surprised by her actions to even try to speak, blushing furiously, he followed her.
It was still early morning when they descended on the plain that would soon become a battlefield. The Saiyans and hybrids watched them both descend. As soon as they both landed, Mewtwo and Shade both stormed straight up to them. Shade yelled right in her face, "Where in the heck have you two been?" Jadeite, not reacting to his display of anger, replied simply, in a flat voice, "Out." Smacking himself upside the head with an utterly exasperated groan, he said accusingly, "Fine, then. Be that way." Mewtwo impatiently interrupted, (In case you've forgotten, we have a war to start. Can we cut the inane chatter and just get to it? I want to see Team Rocket go down.) A look of pure bloodlust settled on Shade's face and he hissed lowly, "We'll make them burn!" Across the way, Vegeta saw that and growled in a low, rough voice, "The boy's a true Saiyan, all right. But I still don't see why we Saiyans have to work with these ugly freaks." Jadeite sneered at him and then flipped him the bird. He fairly roared at her and tried to attack her, but several other Saiyans held him back. She stepped up closer to him and then said, "We don't have any time for any of this craziness. We have a war to fight…and win. You appointed me the war leader a long time ago. This is a war. I'm the leader. Fall in!" The Saiyans and the hybrids all lined up in perfect regiments, divided up into groups based on their individual strengths and their special abilities. Then Jadeite grouped everyone in twos, giving everyone a partner to fight alongside. Vegeta, regretfully, had been teamed up with the one person among them all that he had least wanted to ever have to have anything to do with. His battle partner was going to be Cell. He expressed his extreme displeasure with the whole situation loudly and repeatedly until everyone was more than willing to yell at him just to shut him up. Mewtwo and Shade weren't assigned to any group, so they just blew off the idea of soloing and partnered up. Jadeite would be the leader in the coming fight, but she would also go around helping out whatever group seemed to be in need of her aid. She first dismissed all the Mews. They wouldn't participate in the battle. Fairy kittens were never meant to take part in such vile events as war. Under her express orders, the whole flock of Mews returned to Washington D.C in the guise of ordinary pigeons. With all of the little Mews safely out of any and all danger from the upcoming war, Jadeite finally began to lead the army…her army…forward.
The little kitten broke formation, scampered right up to him and brazenly jumped into his arms. Eye to eye with the child, Vegeta had no choice but to meet the glittering obsidian gaze. The child's markings were a deep purple and they were very smooth, almost glassy. He lisped in a strangely familiar voice, "I had dreams about you. I fought you on an alien planet and you died there. I died there too. A man with yellow hair killed me. I know I was dreaming real." Looking down at his chest, the small kitten then said, "You still got your armor! You fixed it, too! I made a hole in the tummy part but that's all fixed. I'm sorry I hurt you. My name is Freezer. I made it up all by myself when I was little." The way the little child spoke to him, his glossy markings and even the inflections in his squeaky little voice… There could be no doubt whatsoever. Vegeta now believed in reincarnation. This young Saiyan child was undoubtedly the newly reincarnated form of his former master and greatest enemy, the one whose name he would never willingly speak. The child just cuddled up against his chest and then murmured softly, fully in the persona of Vegeta's long deceased enemy, "Of all those who followed me and did what I said, I liked you the very best. I almost considered you…my son." He practically dropped the little child. A tall, strong male stepped up a little bit closer to him, and he recognized him. He was colored a deep purple and his ears were a shade of blue so dark that it was almost black. He smiled and said in a deep, low, rumbling purr of a voice, "I am King Cold. Over there is my beloved wife, Snowfall. I see you've already met my young son." This had knocked Vegeta for a loop, to say very least. His former master, the evil warlord who had blazed a path of death and destruction throughout half the galaxy, had been reduced to a small child who trusted him implicitly. The mother and father of that same warlord, whom Vegeta had always assumed were evil people themselves, were now nothing more than proud parents. King Cold pointed toward the other oddly colored Saiyans and said, "Now I want you to meet all of my relatives. Storm is my younger brother and Rain is his wife. Their child is named Mist. Frost and Ice are my parents, and Blizzard and Subzero are Snowfall's parents. We're all relatives here in the Winter Force, and we all wield strange new powers like nothing ever seen before in a typical Saiyan."
Jadeite hopped up behind him, pulled into a low hover, then tried to use the powers she'd had as Mewthree. Succeeding, she found that her feeling of pure power hadn't been a lie for her powers were indeed far stronger in her new form. She tried using the mimicking powers she remembered seeing Cell use when she was just a young child, and her new reality had been nothing more than a TV program. They came to her easily. She supposed that she could use her own attacks too. She could probably perform any attack she could possibly make up. Grinning fiercely, she said rudely, "Vegeta!" He then turned to face her with an angry scowl. She continued, "I suppose I should thank you for changing me like this. My power level has skyrocketed. And get this: I can imitate and ultimately learn any and all attacks used in my vicinity, whether they are used by friend or foe. Just watch me." Looking up at the clear blue sky, she shouted, "Final Flash!" Just as Vegeta had done, she released a beam into the sundered heavens, only hers was a great deal more powerful than his had been. She smirked as he gaped at her display of her new power.
A familiar voice gave a wordless cry of shock and she quickly turned around to see who it was. Cell stood there, gawking up at her with pure awe. That was when she found that her mind had changed drastically along with her body. She no longer felt any sort of sisterly affection toward Shade, and no attraction toward Mewtwo, which saddened her somewhere deep down inside her newly changed soul. Instead, she now found Cell to be the handsomest male in the area. And the sight of the seven little hybrid children stirred up her maternal instincts until they burned far brighter than they ever had before. Using something more than words or even thoughts, she called the little ones to come on over to her. All of them, Kunzite, Zoisite, Malachite, Nephrite, Calcite, Tanzanite and Morganite, left the company of their adopted mothers behind and swiftly soared upward to whirl and caper around her, giving shrill tittering giggles as they did so. Flexing his glossy black wings, Cell swiftly joined her in the air. She welcomed him by twisting sinuously through the air and sidling up next to him with a sly little smile. It looked to all of them like she was beginning some form of a mating dance. Alternately whirling and sashaying through the air, she subtly lured him into joining the dance. He couldn't help but respond to her sly advances. Soon the two of them danced lightly in the air, side by side. The children tried dancing too, imitating the two of them, but they ended up doing something that looked like a weirdly distorted combination of underwater polka, dogs barking to country tunes, rap played in low-fidelity reverse and sped-up opera. The kids were all obviously enjoying themselves immensely, even though their attempts at dancing stank horribly. Mewtwo watched the former Mewthree dance with her new mate. (Goodbye forever, my only love,) he sadly thought to her, lamenting her loss, (Good luck with your new life. Remember that you were once a proud, powerful Super Saiyan. Remember me.) Ceasing her graceful little aerial dance with Cell, Jadeite turned to face the milling group of Saiyans. She called out to the lot of them, "Before we go forth for our siege on all those Team Rocket bases out there in the world, we will take a full year to train ourselves and grow stronger. All you Saiyans can go and train yourselves wherever and however you wish to do so. Cell and I will take our seven children and fly far away from here to train on our own. In precisely one full year, and no more or less than one full year, we will all gather together right here in this very same spot, and from right here we will all then go forth for our great quest. You have just one full year to train. Remember that, please."
She turned to face Vegeta alone and said, "I sense a new energy level deep within you. A whole new level awaits you…and you alone." Calling out to everyone again, she said, "We're leaving! Let the full year of intense training and preparations for war begin now!" Clapping her arms to her sides and bringing her legs together, Jadeite spread her black wings and looked up at the heavens and let the wind take her as she flew up like a kite. Cell watched her for a moment before he did the same as she had done and followed. The kids imitated their parents and rose higher in quick succession. Soon they flew high in the sky, mere dots against a background of pale crystal blue. Banking and turning in a rapid sequence, they looked like a line of nine fighter planes soaring through the vastness of the heavens. They circled overhead once, then turned one by one to begin a flight due west.
The year of training officially began the very moment Cell and Jadeite and the children were out of their sight. Vegeta, as usual, pushed himself the hardest of all of them, and everybody was practically taking bets on whether he'd give out and when. Krillin, Tien and Yamcha took to busting and blasting big boulders during their every free moment. Piccolo alternated between meditating and practicing by fighting everyone all at once. Gohan pushed his speed and strength to the limit, and then went beyond it. 18 and Trunks sparred nonstop. The other Saiyans practiced in grand melee fights all together. Every so often, Vegeta would chart his progress in his training by participating in the grand melee fights and seeing how many butts he could kick before he got his own butt kicked. Totally psyched out and ready to kick anyone's butt at a moment's notice, Shade always sought out Vegeta in those fights and quickly laid the righteous smack down on the short, egotistical Saiyan. Fully using the strategic advantages given by his big wings, his long tail and his strong psychic powers, Shade was a truly formidable opponent and thusly he was a perfect foe for Vegeta. Not only would he willingly challenge Vegeta in those grand melee fights, but also he'd happily challenge Gohan, Yamcha, Krillin or anyone else who came his way. Mewtwo engaged Vegeta in practice fights almost daily, being by far the oldest and strongest Saiyan in the new group. Whenever he wasn't fighting with Vegeta or with anyone else who wanted to test their new strength against him in a battle, Mewtwo just teamed up with Shade and, working together, they quickly became a truly formidable duo whenever it came to mimicking and learning everyone's energy techniques. They also taught them to all the other Saiyans. 18 and Trunks soon became good friends and took to double-teaming on their opponents. The Saiyans learned to team up to use group energy attacks as they had done when they had initially joined the battle against Cell. They also learned how to link together to form a single mind and strengthen their attacks in that way. In short, they learned all that could be known about teamwork. Tien and Yamcha quickly teamed up to form a truly dynamic duo. Working together with the greatest of ease, they designed, developed and perfected a mix of their individual attacks. Krillin slowly overcame his innate shyness and just plain took on anyone who came his way and chose to challenge him. Being the strongest true Saiyan there by far, Vegeta actually took Gohan under his wing and taught him how to use his boundless rage to fuel his ever-increasing power. Quickly finding out that there was nothing more that he could teach the child, he and Gohan promptly teamed up to teach little Freezer how to fight properly. It was immediately discovered that the little kitten actually needed no teaching whatsoever, since the instinctive savagery of his former self still remained in him and he was already a holy terror in battle even without any training at all. Upon receiving a battle challenge from anyone, the gentle, sweet young kitten would go utterly cold inside and become a truly ruthless fighter. During those times, his movements, words and even his personality were totally different from what everyone else knew of him. He knew an energy technique that was all his own, which he had obviously been born knowing how to do. He called it the Razor's Edge. It was a form of wickedly sharp cutting laser that he could fire forth from his paw at will. The child was often totally arrogant, cocky and overconfident and apt to smirk nastily whenever he was in a fight, all the while tossing off careless challenges to all who came his way or even looked at him in a way that he deemed to be wrong. His speed, strength and agility were unequaled by any of the other Saiyans. In any given battle, he listened only to the commands given to him by his father. Snowfall remained the gentle, sweet woman she obviously had always been, even in her former life, but King Cold, just like his young son, had regained at least some of the merciless savagery and cold command of his former nasty self. He tended to start bossing people around in moments of supreme crisis or just in any normal fight. The strangest thing about him was that he always seemed to know exactly what to do and also when to do it. His charisma motivated everyone around him and all of the other Saiyans would routinely obey his will for no apparent reason. The others of the Winter Force perfected their teamwork to the point where there was no need to speak during a battle.
The year passed in a frenzied blur of activity and everyone got a whole lot stronger, but soon the allotted time was up. It was time for them to return to the plateau where the fateful conflict with Cell had taken place and wait for that same Cell, along with Jadeite and her seven children to return from wherever they had gone to spend the year. No one disputed Vegeta taking the lead with Gohan and everyone was just fine with little Freezer hot-dogging through the sky, blazing an aerial trail behind his father. Though he hid it from the lot of them behind a calm veneer, Vegeta was totally infuriated by the idea that they were going to the plateau to meet up with Cell. Even though a full year had already passed and should have been enough time for him to get used to the fact that Cell was on their side, he still wanted revenge for what the hybrid had done to him and to his son. No one could stop him when he decided to act, since no one knew what he was going to do.
They all landed on the plateau and found that the entire place was totally empty and that there was no one there. Everyone looked all around, completely confused by the lack of any presences. Eventually, Shade shrugged, huffed unhappily and then asked the empty air, "Where in the heck is Cell?" He got his answer when Mewtwo pointed up at the clear blue sky and shouted out as loud as he could, (Look up there! Who's that up in the sky?) One single dark green and black streak flashed through the fluffy white clouds and then swiftly swooped down to land right between Mewtwo and Vegeta. A tall green hybrid stood there before them, a gentle little smile on his handsome milk-white face. Shade said in an unsure voice, "Is that you, Cell?" The hybrid just shook his head and replied in a gentle voice, "Nope, I'm Kunzite. Mom and Dad will be along in just a minute." The heavens promptly rang with the queer hiss of multitudinous forms rapidly cutting through the air. The Saiyans scattered as even more tall hybrids landed all around Kunzite. They numbered twenty-two in all. But Cell and Jadeite were not among them. A familiar voice then shouted at the lot of them, "Hey down there, Shade! We're both up here, dude!"
Saiyans and hybrids together quickly looked upward and saw that Cell and Jadeite were floating together high overhead. The twin indigo streaks on her pretty milk-white face seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as she smiled down at the lot of them. "The gang's all here now," she said, "Is everybody ready to get going on the quest?" Behind the lot of them, Vegeta wore a particularly venomous scowl as he stared upward at Jade and the happily smiling Cell. You totally humiliated me when we fought so very long ago, Cell, he thought angrily, I won't ever forgive you for that fact. I don't really care whether you've lost your memory or not. When you leave yourself open, when I get the chance, I will destroy you. He smirked at the thought and then began to pay attention to what Jadeite was saying to everyone. "Our first target is over at Ayers Rock in Australia," she said, "I saw a great many psychic visions of our target as I trained for this coming battle. Judging from what those visions showed me, Team Rocket has made untold thousands of tunnels within the rock itself and the surrounding ground. If I know those fiends in Team Rocket, they've probably reinforced every single one of the tunnel walls with thick sheets of pure titanium, so we'll probably have to pull off a full-scale siege if we want to get anywhere. I'm willing to bet some very good money on the possibility that it'll be a very long and bloody trench war. We'll probably have to fight to the death for every single inch of ground we seek to gain from them." Suddenly feeling elated, Vegeta thought, Yes! Here's my chance! I can kill Cell and blame his death on Team Rocket! He then yelled up at her, "Okay, you've convinced us! Who could possibly say no to such an enticing invitation as that one?" The other Saiyans quickly agreed with him on the invitation's inviting nature. They had already been on the receiving end of a major siege from Team Rocket, so they all felt that it would be only fair for them to return the favor to their hated enemy tenfold.
Heartened at her comrades' agreements to join her quest despite the blood and violence that would inevitably follow, Jadeite beckoned to them all and shouted, "Okay, then! There's nothing to it but to do it. Let's go!" The words had barely left her mouth before Kunzite and all the other hybrids joined her in the air. Turning to face toward the large group of Saiyans, she yelled out, "And how about you guys?" Shade was the first one of them to join her in the air, followed closely by Mewtwo. Both Trunks and Gohan felt that they owed her big time for helping them out on that fateful day so very long ago, so they quickly followed Shade and Mewtwo. All the other Saiyans then joined them in a great, wild rush that tore the air into windy shreds. 18 swore loudly and then followed everyone else into the sky. She just couldn't believe that she was actually going to go along with the plan to work with Cell. Vegeta silently led the rest of them onward and upward. He had nothing to say, and no reason to say it. He just wanted to get straight to the fight. Over a hundred furry feline Saiyans, two dozen hybrids, a single Super Saiyan, a pair of reincarnated warlords, untold thousands of little Mews and several abnormally powerful humans flew due southeast toward Australia and what would be their initial confrontation with what would become their ultimate destiny. For the very first time in ever so long, Jadeite was actually truly happy. She was going to fight alongside her childhood heroes! And that wasn't all. She was also really looking forward to testing the very limits of her relatively new hybrid powers. She felt so very happy that she could have just started to sing loudly and dance right then and there. But she was a hybrid, the soul mate of Cell and the foremother of the Saiyans, the Mews and the hybrids as a race. She had her dignity to think of. After all, she was the supreme leader of the whole expedition. When they were completely finished with their huge worldwide war, when they had finally liberated all the Saiyans still held by Team Rocket, then she would let herself sing and dance and party. Right now she just had to fight this war and win it as soon as possible.
It was late in the evening when they arrived on the flat savanna that lay around Ayers Rock. The siege would begin in the early morning, so everyone had to get a good night's sleep. A large series of smallish fires were created from the savanna's dry grasses and the Saiyans and hybrids sat clustered around them for warmth, talking and laughing together about the wildness that would soon come. Only one of them refrained from joining in what would be the last moment of pure pleasure before the war began. Cell stood well outside the ring of light cast by the fires, watching all the others socialize with each other with a sad look on his milk-white face. Jadeite saw his darkened inhuman form looming against the pale moonlight and she left her place with her laughing, happy friends to go to his side. She asked him softly, "What's wrong, Cell?" He gave her a sad, guilty look and gestured toward Mewtwo. "Look at him," he said softly, "You used to be his mate. You mothered his children. And you left him…to come to me. Why is that, Jadeite? Surely I don't deserve the love of a woman of your caliber…the mother of so many new races." He shuddered with the purest pleasure as Jadeite touched his face and replied in a gentle whisper, "And surely you can tell that you do deserve the great love that I feel for you. You…complete me. Without you standing by my side, I am not a whole person. Without you, I am nothing." She slid into his embrace and gently laid her head against his chest. "Cell…" she whispered softly, "I knew I loved you long before I ever met you. I had been waiting all my life…for you. I have known you right from my earliest childhood as I saw your face in my dreams. It's true that I loved Mewtwo, but I always knew deep in the core of my soul that I loved you most. And this change of form only made it a lot easier on me to act on those feelings. As Mewthree I could not show the love that I have always felt for you. As Jadeite I can do as I please." She pulled back just a little bit and looked at him with a small loving smile. The brightly dancing firelight reflecting off of her metallic trefoil dazzled him and also seemed to add to her already great beauty. "This night is still quite young, you know," she said in a gentle voice, "And the whole world at large is ours to roam, so we can go wherever we please." She quietly led him further into the darkness, away from where the others still chatted and played around. Then, spreading her glossy black wings, she leapt into the air and beckoned for him to follow her lead. He did so. Keeping totally silent, she led him through the night sky. They explored the coasts of Australia a little bit, then settled down to relax by a waterfall. Jadeite jumped in and Cell followed her. Soon they were splashing and playing in the water, giggling like children. She splashed him and he splashed her right back. Then they took turns diving down the big waterfall and into the deep blue lagoon that lay right below it. When they tired of doing that, Cell climbed out of the water and lay down on a flat rock. Jadeite came to him and nestled against his chest. Cell hadn't known that such bliss was possible. They breathed together, and their hearts beat as one. She nuzzled up against him and said softly, "Cell, no words can ever describe the love that I feel for you. Wherever you may go, whatever you may do, I will be here for you. Remember that fact, please." She paused for a moment and then said, "I will sing you a song now, Cell. Whenever you're feeling lonely, when you think no one cares about you, remember this song and think of me." She folded her slender hands against her greenish chest and then took a deep breath as her milk-white face relaxed and grew supernaturally calm. She then opened her mouth and emitted a high, lilting series of bell-like notes. The flowing melody resonated in the air and just seemed to hang there, suspended in time. The entire moment froze into a single crystal-clear memory. He smiled at her and she reacted with an even bigger smile. She cuddled in a bit closer to him and then they both fell deeply asleep right then and there.
Morning came quickly. Jadeite awakened to find that she was lying snuggled up against Cell's chest. He was still deeply asleep, smiling as he felt her presence in his dreams. She sat up and looked up at the sky. "Comes the dawn," she said softly. At long last, after so much waiting, the time had finally come to begin the war she had so dreaded. A soft little sigh indicated that Cell had awakened. He sat up and laid his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him, then looked back up at the rising sun. "We have to get back," she said, "Shade and the others are probably already preparing for battle. They need us, Cell." He nodded and stood. She stood as well. Turning away from him, she took a step forward and looked up at the sky. Then she turned to Cell and said urgently, "This is a war, Cell. We may not survive it." He repeated, "War…" The word seemed strangely familiar to him, and its familiarity shook him to the core. She looked down, looking like she was about to cry, and then said to him sadly, "Just one last thing…before we go…" Lunging forward, she snared Cell in a fierce embrace and kissed him full on the mouth. When she pulled back, Cell was practically staring at her cross-eyed. That was a definite first for him. Giggling, Jadeite turned and leapt to the air. "Come on, silly," she shouted to him. Too surprised by her actions to even try to speak, blushing furiously, he followed her.
It was still early morning when they descended on the plain that would soon become a battlefield. The Saiyans and hybrids watched them both descend. As soon as they both landed, Mewtwo and Shade both stormed straight up to them. Shade yelled right in her face, "Where in the heck have you two been?" Jadeite, not reacting to his display of anger, replied simply, in a flat voice, "Out." Smacking himself upside the head with an utterly exasperated groan, he said accusingly, "Fine, then. Be that way." Mewtwo impatiently interrupted, (In case you've forgotten, we have a war to start. Can we cut the inane chatter and just get to it? I want to see Team Rocket go down.) A look of pure bloodlust settled on Shade's face and he hissed lowly, "We'll make them burn!" Across the way, Vegeta saw that and growled in a low, rough voice, "The boy's a true Saiyan, all right. But I still don't see why we Saiyans have to work with these ugly freaks." Jadeite sneered at him and then flipped him the bird. He fairly roared at her and tried to attack her, but several other Saiyans held him back. She stepped up closer to him and then said, "We don't have any time for any of this craziness. We have a war to fight…and win. You appointed me the war leader a long time ago. This is a war. I'm the leader. Fall in!" The Saiyans and the hybrids all lined up in perfect regiments, divided up into groups based on their individual strengths and their special abilities. Then Jadeite grouped everyone in twos, giving everyone a partner to fight alongside. Vegeta, regretfully, had been teamed up with the one person among them all that he had least wanted to ever have to have anything to do with. His battle partner was going to be Cell. He expressed his extreme displeasure with the whole situation loudly and repeatedly until everyone was more than willing to yell at him just to shut him up. Mewtwo and Shade weren't assigned to any group, so they just blew off the idea of soloing and partnered up. Jadeite would be the leader in the coming fight, but she would also go around helping out whatever group seemed to be in need of her aid. She first dismissed all the Mews. They wouldn't participate in the battle. Fairy kittens were never meant to take part in such vile events as war. Under her express orders, the whole flock of Mews returned to Washington D.C in the guise of ordinary pigeons. With all of the little Mews safely out of any and all danger from the upcoming war, Jadeite finally began to lead the army…her army…forward.