Disclaimer: I own nothing from Dragon Ball Z, just having some creative fun with it. I do own the plot of this story and any additional characters.

Chapter 2: The woods at night can be a scary place.

18 moaned in pain as she came to. Her head was spinning and pounding at the same time making her grit her teeth as she sat up. She felt sick and very disorientated. She blinked a few times as something sticky ran into her eyes, stinging them, and she soon realised it was blood from a nasty gash above her left temple, probably the source of her headache.

Wiping her eyes she tried to make sense of her surroundings, finding that it was night and squinting through the darkness she found that she appeared to be in a thick woods. None of this made sense to her until she spotted a figure lying in a motionless heap a few yards away from her and terror quickly replaced her confusion. It was Cell. Her heart was racing as everything came back to her, the fight on the island then being sucked into the rip.

She slowly backed away from Cell not taking her eyes off his unconscious form, praying that he really was out cold and not trying to fool her, while she desperately tried to locate 17 but he was nowhere in sight and she couldn't sense him anywhere.

18's heart almost leapt out of her chest as a sudden explosion ripped through the silence and the night sky seemed to light up with the flashes, through the trees. Loud shouting and gunfire soon followed and she could see strange green lights blinking in the distance a head of her. The loud screeching of sirens soon added to the din of explosions, bullets and peoples' angry shouting and it all seemed to be heading her way.

Panic invaded her mind as she heard Cell groan in pain and looked over to see two violet cat-like eyes glinting in the darkness and fixed squarely on her. She gasped in fear and began to scramble to her feet but was knocked over and blown a few yards back as another explosion hit very close by. Whatever the commotion was it was much closer as she could see the outlines of figures now scattered throughout the woods and strange lights flashing in and out of the trees were almost everywhere in front of her.

She wasn't particularly interested in what it was about as she was more worried with the fact that Cell had disappeared. She turned in a full circle, frantically trying to see if she could spot him but he was nowhere. If she looked up in the tree next to her she would have seen Cell was perched above her, enjoying her panicked and fearful expression.

Her fear was overwhelming and the loud explosions and gunfire that was getting progressively nearer wasn't helping her from panicking. She just decided to run, the noise and her fear was too much so she just bolted through the woods in the opposite direction of all the turmoil. Cell grinned to himself, watching her stumbling figure slip further away into the woods. He counted to 10 before jumping down from the tree and proceeded to chase her down, too caught up in his amusement over the whole ordeal to be bothered by what was happening around him.

18's clothes were now muddy and torn where she had been whipped and scratched by branches and fallen over on numerous occasions, her heart was pounding in her ears and all she wanted to do was find 17 and never have to see that monster again. Much to her horror, that wasn't going to happen as she smacked straight into Cell and fell to the ground hard. Cell frowned thinking this was a little too easy and grabbed 18's arm yanking her to her feet and bringing her face to face with him.

She stared at him wide eyed with fright, too scared to move or say anything. Cell fanned out his tail as before, getting ready to absorb her. 'Games up my dear, I had hoped to absorb your brother first but due to current circumstances you'll have to be absorbed now instead.' He stroked her cheek with a clawed finger, making her flinch and turn away in disgust. 'Such a shame I would have liked to get better acquainted with you.'

There was a strange hovering noise close by and a green light passed over both of them. Cell and 18 both turned their heads to see what only could be described as a huge metal sphere with two robotic arms sticking out either side of it hovering 5ft off the ground. It had a glowing red circle in the centre of it that acted as an eye and beneath it was a small hole where the green light had projected out.

'Unidentified organisms, negative data codes, proceeding to exterminate.'

Cell's eyes widened in alarm as two huge guns came out from behind the sphere and aimed straight for him. Dropping 18 he dived out the way just as a barrage of bullets and lasers were fired at him, leaving a huge smoking crater in the space they had previously been. Cell powered up a ki blast intended for the machine and 18 saw this as a perfect opportunity to run. The machine caught onto her movements and aimed the guns on her but before it could fire it was blown to pieces by Cell's ki attack.

Cell growled in annoyance at 18's departure and quickly chased after her only to be set back by more machines that now seemed to be everywhere. A much larger machine that was heavily armed smacked Cell hard causing him to crash into a tree. He stood up dazed but more than pissed off to find he was surrounded by six of these machines and the fact that he had lost track of 18.

Powering up he stepped into a fighting stance, cupping his hands to one side of his body and angrily hissed KAAME HAA ME HAAAAA! The huge explosion created by his ki blast raged through the woods and he stood there angrily trying to relocate 18's position as bits of the machines clattered to the floor around him. He smiled as he sensed her and quickly sped off in her direction, not wanting to fool around anymore.

18 was meanwhile having some trouble of her own. While making a mad dash away from Cell she had been ambushed by several of the machines and what looked like a group of humans geared up in strange futuristic armour and they were all armed with some mean looking guns, all pointed at her. She was currently on the floor were she had fallen over when one of the machines had shot her leg with a laser. She had been very surprised that it had managed to hurt her, she couldn't stand up, her leg was that badly injured.

One of the humans stepped forward and signalled to the nearest machine. 'Scan her!' 18 noted that it had been a male voice and he hadn't sounded too friendly. She was considering powering up a Ki blast but there was more than 15 guns aimed at her and she decided against it, if they were like the lasers she wouldn't come out too good.

Again a green light passed over her. 'Unidentified Organism, negative data code, ready to exterminate on order.'

The man put up a hand to signal for them all to hold fire. 'Are you sure she's not human; she doesn't look like one of them.'

'Affirmative.'

'Very well, get rid of it.' He addressed the rest of his troops. 'C'mon clear out, there's plenty more of these bastards out there.'

18's eyes widened in fear as all the machines aimed and targeted her. Before she knew it something flickered in front of her and she suddenly found her self in the arms of a complete stranger, up in a high tree above the machines. Slightly in a daze she looked up to find she was staring into the face of her rescuer. He was a very pale looking guy, with dark messy hair that stuck out in all angles. He looked to be about her age, which was supposedly around 18 or 19, and she became almost mesmerised by his eyes, they seemed to be all the different shades of lilac and shimmered in the night like they were absorbing light and reflecting it, almost like shards of crystal.

He grinned down at her and winked, then she suddenly found that in a blur he was gone and she had been left alone in the tree. The sudden screeching and crunching of metal brought her attention down to the scene below. There he was with the machines, ripping them apart. She could barely keep her eyes on him; he moved so strangely, like fluid water that would suddenly burst with speed then slow down at a point and speed up yet again leaving colourful blurred trails of where he'd previously been. It was making her dizzy.

Her mind fled back to her nagging fear, Cell. He was still about and looking for her. Being up in the tree gave her a good viewpoint and she scanned her surroundings in search for him. Her eyes frantically moved through the trees and shrubs around her, everything seemed to move and catch her attention, her heart stopped when she thought she saw a shadowy figure a few yards off crouched in some bushes watching her rescuer destroy the machines but it quickly vanished.

Panic retook her again as her eyes darted back and forth, having a sinking feeling that that had been Cell. She needed to get away from here. She almost fell out of the tree in shock and would have screamed very loudly had her mysterious rescuer not clamped his hand over her mouth.

'Shhh! I won't harm you but you need to be quiet, these woods are crawling with droids.' He had a strange accent that she couldn't pick up on. He took his hand away from her mouth once he sensed she was calmer.

'My name's Valan by the way. And may I ask what a beautiful young girl like you is doing in such a dangerous place as this after dark; there are lots of bloodthirsty monsters about. What do you think they're hunting down?'

'I'm not sure where I am and I don't care for what's going on I just want to get away from here, he's here I have to leave.'

18 began to shuffle across the branch and pushed her self off, resulting in her falling hard to the ground. She cringed and fell backwards as her injured leg jolted and couldn't support her. Valan looked down at her inquisitively with a lopsided grin and shook his head as she struggled to get up. He could leave her, he had important things to do but he was curious as to why the droids were about to destroy what appeared to be a harmless human girl, a spirited one at that.

18 glared at Valan who was now crouched next to her, still grinning. He was beginning to annoy her as all he was doing was just getting in her way. 'What?'

'I'll gladly leave as you feel that I'm slowing your progress down, but first tell me who is Cell?'

18's eyes widened in surprise. 'How do you know that name?'

'It keeps repeating in your mind over and over again, why are you so afraid of him, you're not afraid of me?'

'I have no reason to be afraid of a pathetic human now leave me alone and stop reading my mind.'

Valan's grin grew wider and he suddenly burst into a fit of laughter while rolling around on the floor holding his sides in a very childish manner that grated 18's nerves.

'Yo you think that I'm..HUMAN! Ah that's funny. Cheers! Haven't had a good laugh like that in ages.'

18 was getting irritated as well as being very confused, worry was now pushed to the back of her mind. 'What are you talking a..' She choked on her words as Cell appeared out of nowhere and stood over both of them. He looked more than angry and a little beaten, obviously having had some trouble with a lot of the machines and humans.

Valan instantly stopped laughing and looked up at Cell while still lying on his back with his hands crossed behind his head. 'I never thought I'd see the day when a giant hybrid lizard bug lived in these woods.'

Cell didn't even glance at Valan, ignoring his remark. 18 tried to get up but found it impossible, her leg hurt every time she moved it and she was too exhausted to build up the energy to fly. This was going to be it she couldn't run this time. Cell stepped over Valan and smiled as 18 tensed and started to crawl backwards.

'Now my dear I believe we have some unfinished business to attend to.' Cell's tail moved out from behind him, swaying dangerously. 18 noted Valan had stood up and was dusting himself off and a flicker of hope flashed through her mind.

'Oh so now you want my help, sorry, I've really got to go. Have fun.' He began to walk away.

'Please you can't leave me with him.' But it was too late he'd already vanished.

Cell chuckled. He was finally alone to finish what he had started and he needed to get stronger, there were things in this world he didn't particularly want to face in his current form. He turned his thoughts back on his prize, she was completely helpless and his to devour. He loved the look of despair in her eyes as he lifted her up with his tail, bringing her closer to him but what he found really amusing was how she struggled to free herself and hide her fear by masking it with defiance.

He complied with her struggling by unravelling his tail and letting her drop to the floor in a crumpled heap at his feet. The sharp needle at the end of it hovered above her head for a few seconds before it opened up ready to swallow her. Cell looked down at 18's horrified face, a predatory smile gracing his lips. 'Goodbye 18!'

'Goodbye Cell!'

Cell's eyes widened in surprise, then in pain as searing agony ripped through his body. Purple blood trickled down his chin as he looked down to see that there was the end of a large blade sticking out of his abdomen. He grimaced as it was twisted viciously and yanked back out of him only to be swung at a downward arc slicing him cleanly down the middle.

18 kneeled there in complete shock as she watched the two halves of Cell full apart in opposite directions, revealing Valan to now be standing in front of her holding a huge blade smeared in Cell's blood. Cleaning it off with his black coat he looked over at 18 and smirked at her surprised face. Slinging the blade onto his back he walked over to her and held out his hand. She hesitantly took it and he pulled her to her feet noting that she winced as she stood up.

'Why did you come back for me?' 18 was completely confused and a little wary of this strange human.

'My curiosity got the better of me. C'mon we need to leave, I don't know how but the lizard bug survived that and I've got dregs hot on my trail.'

Valan picked her up in his arms much to 18's displeasure. 'Hey what are you doing? Put me down. Who said I wanted to go with you?'

'Nobody, but this isn't about what you want, I didn't go out of my way just to save you out of kindness, plus if I leave you here you'll die so be grateful.'

18 just glared at him thinking how obnoxious this human was and foolish. She'd have to kill him once she was back to full power.

'You might have a problem there, I'm already dead.'

18 was startled having forgotten he could read her mind but didn't have much time to consider what he had just said as everything became a rapid blur and she instinctively clung to Valan tighter as they whizzed past trees and suddenly shot into the air. She was struggling to keep track of everything, they were moving so fast, she wasn't even sure she could match his speed.

Cell groaned as he finally pulled himself back together. Pushing himself up into a crouched position he looked up to find the end of a big gun pointed directly at his face. Glancing around him he noted that nine humans surrounded him, eight armed with guns, the same as the one pointed in his face, and one human was strapped into a big robotic vehicle, also heavily armed. He swore mentally at his growing bad luck, extremely pissed off that he had been so close to absorbing 18 until that meddlesome boy had interfered and now faced with a gun thrusted rudely into his face. Well he had just about had enough.

He could hear the humans' bewildered comments over what he was, never having seen anything like him before but their attention was immediately brought back to him as a deep menacing growl erupted from his throat and in one quick movement he had grabbed the end of the gun, pushing it upwards and roughly backwards into the mans chest, causing him to full onto his back hard and a long round of bullets to shoot into the air towards several of his team mates who were forced to duck, completely missing Cell who was currently dodging more gun fire aimed at him by several others of the group.

Cell angrily hissed as a laser shot his arm by the human strapped into the machine and was momentarily surprised to find he couldn't heal the wound but that only fuelled his already infuriated anger. Two of the humans charged at him, shooting at him as they did. He quickly dodged the bullets and lasers and dashed forward towards the nearest one colliding his fist into their stomach, which would have gone straight through them had it not been for their protective armour. He instantly twisted his body round and up into the air, performing a roundhouse kick to the head of the second human which resulted in an audibly sickening crack as the man's neck snapped and he dropped lifeless to the floor.

More humans and machines had obviously heard the commotion as now the area was swarming with them, all attacking Cell who was cursing as he noticed more than five heavily armed vehicles arriving and a lot of equally armed sentient machines. Powering up he sent back his equivalent of firepower, Vegita's gallet gun to be precise, managing to blow up seven of the machines and a fare amount of humans in the process. But it wasn't enough as things were getting on top of him as more swarmed in and these humans weren't like the ones he'd left behind, these had far more advanced weaponry that he couldn't heal from. They were slowly beating him down, the bullets weren't a problem, yer they packed more of a punch than any other bullets he'd faced but they couldn't penetrate his skin. The lasers were a big problem. They were doing him serious damage, he had painful burns all over his body and he couldn't heal them. There seemed to be no end to the amount of people and machines turning up and he was getting very tired, he had been tired from the very start when he had woken up, the trip here had taken a lot out of him and that wasn't helping him now.

Breathing hard from the pain of his sore and exhausted body he got ready to power up another ki blast but he suddenly found himself covered in a strange sticky net that seemed to bind and tighten around his body the more he struggled to get free. One of the humans, a lot braver than the others who were all standing around him at a distance ready to fire if necessary, came up to him laughing and jeering at his inability to get free. The human took out a cigarette and lit it with a lighter, he then grinned at Cell and then to his other colleagues, re-igniting his lighter and getting ready to throw it on the sticky net that was extremely flammable, and now wrapped tightly around Cell making it impossible for him to move.

'What do ya say guys, fancy some barbecued lizard?'

There was a lot of cheers and laughing from the crowd and he was about to chuck it on when a hand clamped down on his arm.

'That will be enough lieutenant. I've got orders from headquarters to bring this in a live they're interested in studying it, get it tranquillised.'

'Yes sir!' the lieutenant was disappointed with the order, wanting to have some fun and revenge as many of his troops had died tonight fighting this thing and generally just in the hunt. It would have lifted the rest of the troops' spirits but he couldn't disobey orders. Sighing he signalled to one of his men.

Cell watched the man who had ordered him to be kept alive, retreat to an armoured car angrily, not liking what he had said. He was weird looking completely dressed head to toe in black complete with a black hat and black glasses, which Cell found very strange as it was night. He noticed he had a limp on his left leg as he hobbled along to the car and he mentally made a note to kill this human once he got out of this mess. He was seething when he felt two darts being shot into his arm and as everything became very dizzy and he slowly faded into darkness he vowed that once he had absorbed both of the androids he was going to make the inhabitants lives of this world a long and gruelling hell.

****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/****/

You Like? Please review and tell me what you think....Pleeeeeeeze. ^-^