The portal opened on the other side, and through the vortex came the organic android with his tiny hostage. No longer was he in the eternal suffering of Hell. Cell had finally returned to the land of the living. The only Hell that would exist here would be the Hell Cell himself would dispense to the pathetic worms that infest it.
High in the sky over a barren land where nothing seemed to live, Cell surveyed his surroundings. Nothing more than rocks, ravines, and some patches of grass similar to the place where the Vegeta and Goku had their epic battle. Cell knew this. Gero was meticulous in programming every significant bit of history pertaining to Goku into Cell's mind; the defeat of Piccolo Daimao at the hands of a young Goku, the results of every martial arts tournament, the defeat of the weakling Freezer on Earth, all were loaded into his mind by the brilliant genius's computer as he grew deep in the private subterranean lab.
He almost forgot he had a hostage until she tried screaming.
"Oh, yes. You." He smiled as he raised her to eyelevel.
"You, you won't get away with this," the old witch said. Her eyes were filled with fear, a tear rolled down her cheek as she struggled in Cell's vise like grip. He noticed her crying, his expression changed from malevolent glee to one that was cold and analytical, it was as though wondered what this was. God knows Cell had seen humans cry before out of sheer terror, but never up close.
He could see the tear stream down her face, leaving a wet trail left from her eye, down her cheek, and dangling at the tip of her chin. But Cell didn't see "tears." He saw salt. He saw sodium. He studied the color patterns given by the light reflecting off the droplet; the blue and purple glittering in the light reminded him of the crystals Gero had in his palms. She tried to pull away from him as his finger came up to her face.
He scooped up the tear and felt tiny droplet dissolve as he rubbed it between his index and thumb. He sniffed it. It smelled like…nothing. It was odorless. Cell contemplated this, "What makes these creatures cry? Is it fear? Certainly, it must be an emotional reaction inside these people, are the functions of the tear ducts located under the eyelids triggered by specific signals sent by the brain. Or is it pain? Can pain, an outside stimulus, trigger tears? Can a person cry as an independent action, independent from commands by the brain? Can it be me making her cry, or is she making herself cry…or maybe it's a sign for something deeper. Maybe it's a sign of the damage this little creature will suffer, her fear of the damage that she will be taking…and already HAS taken. Not so much the physical damage, but the inevitable emotional damage, the sweet traumatizing pain that I plan to inflict. It has to be." Cell recalled the terror he spread the day he hatched from his pupa stage, he saw women and children crying. Many of them ran in fear from him, he ignored their tears as his sharp tail pierced their chests and robbed their young little bodies of energy. Of all the targets he attacked, Cell preferred to attack children. They were so weak and slow; he enjoyed the fact that he not only brought cold death unto them, but that they were in fear as they died. Cell felt empowered when he shattered the lives of young children, that he can have an irreversible impact on the life of a child. Enma Daio said that after all of the innocent children that died, it was the greatest justice that a child killed Cell. Cell always thought Daio was a fool.
Cell never thought of the tears, but he knew they were there. He never wondered why they cried, he never thought about it. All he knew was that it gave him a feeling of power, the power in causing pain to those who were weaker and smaller than him. Those are the tears he remembered and relished, but this was the first time he got to actually analyze it. Cell was built for death, for murder, another android was built with the capability for feeling and understanding emotion. That android was weak…on many levels. Cell realized the connection between him and that soft Android and his face slowly contorted to reflect this.
"Pathetic little insect, you worm; Uranai Baba, you make me sick. Such a weak being like you does not deserve to live, nonetheless be allowed to live within my presence."
"Goku, help me, Goku!" Baba cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks. "GOKU!!!!" She cried out. Cell sneered in disgust at the sight of such a pathetic life form in his hand crying for help…he felt his hand tighten around her neck. The more she struggled, the tighter he squeezed.
There was a loud snap.
In Enma's office, the crystal ball that floated loyally under Uranai Baba for countless of years finally came under the grip of gravity.
It fell to the floor and shattered.
Enma rose from his chair, and dashed to the remains of the ball.
He knelt down and scooped up the little shards of shattered crystal into his giant hand. He stood tall again, looking at the remnants of the crystal ball in his palm, his eyes watered to the realization. His breath quickened as he studied the color patterns given by the light reflecting off the crystal. He drew a deep breath, and he closed his hand, crushing the crystal into a fine powder; tears rolled down the giant's red cheeks.
The accountant demons employed for all eternity at the office of the Great Enma Daio stopped what they were doing, and everything went silent; typewriters stopped clacking, phones stopped ringing, pencils were dropped, all this happened when, a loud roar of anger thundered from the lair of lord of the Afterworld Enma Daio.
Baba's little legs hung limp, lifeless. Cell held the tiny witch in his hand; her little head hung back, her eyes rolled back and white. Her chin stained with blood from her mouth. Freezer had the tendency to taste the blood of his victims, he went mad with ecstasy as the thick blood tickled his taste buds, but Cell was disgusted with the taste of blood.
He grunted in contempt at the body and tossed it away. It almost fell in slow motion; the winds seemed to cushion the body, trying to gently set it to the ground with arms and legs spread wide; but halfway to the ground, Cell casually extended his arm and released a huge blast from his palm.
Goku looked up from his bowl of fried noodles, his chin was stained with sweet-and-sour sauce but his eyes were fierce. He sensed a ki, a familiar ki. His brow furrowed with worry, and he looked to Vegeta, who had the same look of urgency. The Saiya-jin glanced at each other; they felt a sense of duty.
The light flash disappeared, and the natural light of the Earth returned. The body was gone.
Now Cell was ready for the cause he came for. He shut his eyes and concentrated deeply as the wind passed over his face. The echo of the wind was all that could be heard. After several moments, he sensed several presences, several ki. It was interesting to find how much this world has changed since he left.
He turned his head…as usual, the strongest ki on Earth…Goku. He turned his head a little to the side…Vegeta, and he's MUCH more powerful than last time, but he still pales in comparison to Goku. A young ki, yet a familiar ki, could it be…yes…Trunks, the Trunks of this timeline has matured, and he's quite powerful, he must be about as strong as the Androids were so many years ago. There was another one close to Trunks, Another young ki with Trunks. Was it Gohan? No. It was like Gohan's and it was like Goku's, but not quite. It had to be possible; it has been many years, a new warrior. Interesting, he seems to be the same age as this timeline's Trunks.
Cell turned to another direction, in the direction of the tropical islands, the land of papayas. A ki there he recognized, it was the same ki as that of the scrawny pink fellow he met in Hell. What was it doing there? Could it be that person, could it be that his soul was erased of all memory and placed back on earth? That was the eventual fate for all evildoers; it happened to Raditz, to Zarbon and Dodoria, to Babidi, he saw them dragged away to this fate, one by one. Just one of the many memories of the horrible term he spent in Hell.
Never mind, that ki is too weak, a newborn ki, one that is not worth my time. Cell continued scanning the earth, Piccolo…Gohan…Tenshinhan…Krillin…where could Android 18 and Android 17 be? No matter…I have no need for those two insignificant components. Cell's body retained its perfect form in death. All of its strength and power were preserved in his journey to the afterlife. Very interesting, the virtue of preserving the body at the height of the warrior's magnificence was an honor reserved for the greatest and noblest of warriors, and it was bestowed onto Cell. How ironic.
Hmm, this is a new ki. It is almost identical to that of the pink man in Hell, only…it isn't evil at all. It is one of…pure good? Cell needed to know where this ki came from; it was the most powerful on Earth, aside from Goku's. It was coming from one of the Capital cities. It would not be wise to attack the Saiya-jin at this moment; I think I need to explore this new world first. I need to know how this world has changed and if there's anything here that I can exploit for my eventual battles. Once I can think of a plan of attack and ensure a method of success for that plan, Goku and his friends will all feel the pain the deserve. But first, I must know to whom this ki belongs to. If I can subvert his will, he can be a very useful asset…whether he wants to or not."
Cell spread his wings, allowed an aura of ki to form around him and burst off leaving a trail of blue ki behind him.