Fumetsu no Senshi Tachi Z
An Alternate Mirai Dragon Ball Z Fan Fiction by Aoikami Sarah
Part Two - Chapter Two
"Artificial Human Cell?!" Gohan cried and glared at Zen'i who quickly shrugged.
"That's what I said, Gohan." It grinned wider and its power level rose steadily.
Gohan sneered and prepared for the blast. He wanted to test this thing's strength but what it said next distracted him.
'Masenkosappou!!" Piccolo's trade mark blast spiraled out of the monster's fingers.
"Gohan! Look out!" Polian shouted. He, Koneko and Zen'i shot off their own blasts and diverted the attack.
"How the…" Gohan stuttered. "That attack… that ki…!" His eyes bulged. "No, there's not just one!"
"Who's are they?" Koneko looked around. "Did those just come from him?!"
Cell laughed. He looked at Polian. "You're a Namekjin," it said, amused. "Just like Piccolo. I have a little bit of him in me, so I guess that makes us related."
"What are you talking about?!" Koneko yelled.
"I might as well tell you before I destroy you all. Well, almost all of you." He eyed Zen'i. "I was created to destroy Son Goku and to be the strongest thing in the world."
"By Dr. Gero," Zen'i finished. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Very good, Juuhachigou. But even you don't know the source of my power."
"Got me there, Cell. Tell us," she replied. Fortunately, Cell did not seem to understand the concept of sarcasm.
Gohan collected himself and scowled at Cell. "How do you know how to do a Masenkosappou?! How do you feel like… like…"
"…All the Z Warriors and their opponents? I was genetically engineered from all their DNA which Dr. Gero collected samples of with a tiny robot through the years. I have finally come of age, and now, I shall destroy you."
Cell rushed at Gohan and the fight began. Gohan leapt away and charged up. He blocked Cell's punches and kicks, waiting for a slip up. He blurred and tried to punch Cell in the back of the head, but Cell saw him and dodged. Gohan looked around wildly for it, but it was gone.
Then, from the left, Cell seemed to reappear and slammed Gohan into the ground. It followed him with a ki blast. Polian charged up through the dust and took his turn, but soon ended up back in the dust as well.
Koneko and Zen'i looked to each other and nodded. It was time for a tag team. They darted around it, taking turns punching and kicking and landed more and more hits.
"Now!" Koneko cried and they launched twin blasts at the creature. When the dust cleared, Cell was gone.
"That was too easy!" Koneko grinned, feeling self-confident. "Gohan, Polian, you ok?"
"Don't get cocky. We didn't do anything," Zen'i looked for Cell. "Where is he?"
"Koneko! Zen'i! Look out!!" Gohan cried from the ground.
Cell swooped out of the sky and tackled Koneko. He rained punches down on her, driving her closer to the Earth. Zen'i chased after them and brought her arm up to hit Cell in the back of the head. Suddenly, he let Koneko go, spun and wrapped his arms and legs around Zen'i.
"Now, Juuhachigou. The time has come for my perfection!!" Cell's tail whipped around and the tip of it expanded, becoming a funnel.
Zen'i tried to fight her way free and was very surprised to feel his strength. "You guys! He's been playing with us! Get out of here! He's too…!!" she was cut off as the funnel came down over her head.
They watched in horror as Zen'i was sucked through the tail into Cell's body. He laughed maniacally and began to transform. The light and force he emitted rendered the Z Warriors helpless. They could only watch as his tail shortened, his face became more humanoid and he smirked at their reaction. "Now, I am perfect. I am the strongest thing in the world." The dust settled and Perfect Cell observed them coolly.
Koneko could take it no more and blinded by rage, rushed at Cell.
"Koneko, no! He's ten times more powerful now!" Gohan warned, but she wasn't listening. Her hair turned blonde and her eyes turned green. She tried as hard as she could to put a dent in his shell but her fist was about as effective as a light breeze. He flicked her away like an annoying gnat. She was slammed into the ground and lay there, stunned. Polian was next, and fell in even less time. Gohan's Saiyajin blood began to boil, but he knew that they had to regroup and plan. They couldn't run away in the state they were in. And if this thing had the Z Warriors abilities, it could certainly detect ki no matter where he would hide.
Goku's smiling face popped into his mind suddenly. His words were indistinct, but there was a memory resurfacing. Gohan concentrated as Cell landed and began to walk towards him. 'What was it?' he thought wildly. 'Dad, what was it you taught me?!'
There were clouds and strange buildings and lots of people. They trained on a flat plane for what must have been hours on end. Goku's voice became clearer. 'All you gotta do is think real hard, feel out someone's specific ki signature and then…'
"Got it!" Gohan cried. He placed his fingers to his forehead. Cell grinned, thinking he was going to try to attack him, but the smile fell when Gohan disappeared.
He popped up right next to Polian, quickly scooped him up and before Cell could even turn around, popped back out again. He did the same for Koneko and addressed the monster. "You are pretty strong. But we'll be back to defeat you." He winked out just as he had before.
Cell growled, not able to trace Gohan's ki. He snorted. "So be it, half-Saiyajin. In the meantime, I'll just have to satisfy myself with the waning population."
.x.
Mr. Popo fell on his rear and cried out as Gohan appeared and dumped his friends at his feet. "Popo-san! Get Dende!" He put his fingers to his head and disappeared once more.
"Ka-ka-ka-." Popo stuttered. "ka-Kami-sama? Come outside, right away!"
.x.
Bulma wiped sweat from her brow as she completed another set of wiring. Within the hour she would be able to interface with Gero's supercomputer. She took a break, stood up and walked backwards to take in the enormity of the machine. Her foot touched something unfamiliar and she found the missing Jinzouningen head.
"Oh, gross! Well, that solves that mystery." She sighed.
Her heart jumped into her throat as she heard footsteps behind her. She imagined the most hideous-looking locust-type creature possible slithering its way towards her and said her prayers.
"Bulma," Gohan said quietly. "It's only me."
"Oh, damn it, you scared me!!" She whirled around and berated him. "What are you doing here? Is it over?"
"No."
"Oh my God, are they dead?"
"No, but it got Zen'i."
Bulma swallowed hard and cursed. "I don't want to lose people anymore, Gohan."
He opened his arms and she hugged him as hard as she could.
"And I don't want to lose you. You're coming back to Kami's Lookout with me."
"No." Bulma pushed away from him. "I have to learn as much as I can about this thing."
"But…"
"No!" she cried, tears forming in her eyes. "I can't stop you from fighting. This is what I have to do. It's all I can do to help."
He pursed his lips and nodded. "You be safe. If anything happens, scream your head off. I might be able to hear you."
"Here," she said and handed him Capsule track phone. "Take this. If I come up with anything, I'll let you know."
Gohan took the phone and smiled at her. Bulma hugged him again. He kissed her gently before stepping back and touching his fingers to his forehead. When he vanished Bulma shrieked and looked around for where he had gone.
"Oh…" she recalled seeing that trick once before. "Could that have been…?"
.x.
"Ok," Polian growled at Gohan as he reappeared at the lookout. "What the hell is that little trick? And why have you never shared it with us?" The young God had healed Polian and Koneko in Gohan's absence.
Gohan grinned. "Well, I didn't know I could do it till it happened." Dende, Popo and Koneko listened intently as well. "I learned it two years ago when I was dead."
Koneko frowned. "What?! But I thought you told me you couldn't remember anything from when you were dead?"
"I couldn't! But then in a pinch, a little bit came back. My father taught me."
Popo smiled. "Good old Son Goku. Coming through for us again!"
Gohan smiled back and nodded.
"Well, that's handy." Polian folded his arms. "But it's still just a defense if we're too weak to take Cell on."
"Perhaps I can help." Dende clasped his hands together and stepped forward. "There is a way that you can train to become stronger very quickly."
"The Room of Spirit and Time, Kami-sama?"
"Yes, Popo. Everyone, you can spend a day in this room and train for a year!"
"What? When can we start?!" Polian yelled.
"As soon as you like, but only two people can go in at once and for no more than two days straight. After that time the door to the outside world will become closed to you, forever."
Koneko made a face. "That sounds horrible!"
"Oh, it's actually quite comfortable," Dende reassured her. "Who would like to go first?"
"Koneko and I will go first. And we'll only spend a half a day. Then Polian can go in for the other half. We need to stop this monster as soon as possible." Gohan made sure that everyone agreed then he and Koneko followed Popo to the room.
"Good thing I was wearing my armor today!" Koneko grinned and smoothed her hands over the fabric. Gohan looked down at his normal pants and Capsule shirt which were already covered in dirt and a little torn from the earlier fight. He made a face and wondered how long they would stay intact.
.x.
After they were sealed in, Dende turned to his friend and bit his lip. "How bad does it look, Polian?"
He gazed out over the edge of the floating palace. "Pretty bad. This thing said it was made up of DNA from all the old Z Warriors and their foes."
"That explains what we felt earlier, doesn't it, Popo-san?"
"Yes, Kami-sama. We wonder why Z Warriors return!"
"No such luck, I'm afraid. I can only imagine the arsenal of abilities this guy has."
Dende looked very worried.
"We're going to have to keep getting teleported back up here for you to heal us."
"But Polian, you could just…"
Polian shot Dende an evil look and God promptly zipped his lip.
Popo didn't seem to notice the slip. "You go down get Senzu from Karin."
He raised a brow at the small, black man. "Get a what from who?"
.x.
Koneko and Gohan emerged from the room almost exactly twelve hours later. Their hair had grown and Gohan's clothes were almost nonexistent. Polian chuckled at him as he got up to take their place. He shook hands with both of them and went in.
They sat down and rested. "Woof, that was fun." Koneko stared up at the blue sky. "But it sure was boring looking in there." She loosened the elaborate braids she had put her long hair up into and brushed her fingers through it.
"That's the point, Koneko-chan. To make you concentrate." Gohan stood up and felt out for Bulma, realized she was all right and turned to Dende. "What's Cell up to?"
Popo looked dejected. "He's destroyed at least half the Earth's remaining population so far, but he doesn't seem to know where you've gone, which is good."
"I think that's relative."
Dende nodded.
Gohan stuffed his hands in his pockets and his pants ripped considerably. "Uh, Dende?" he asked. "Would you happen to have some clothes I could wear?"
.x.
Early the following day, Polian emerged at last, grinning from ear to ear. "That was refreshing," he said as he strode towards the others. "Hey, Gohan. Nice duds."
Gohan smoothed his hands over the Namek style gi he now wore and picked up the long, white cape.
"Anyone think we have a chance?"
"No, not really," Gohan replied.
Koneko, Dende and Popo stared at him. "What do you mean?"
"We're no match for him, but we don't have a choice. We have to see what we can do." He handed the cell phone to Dende. "Can you communicate with Polian telepathically?"
He nodded.
"Good. If Bulma calls with information that will help us in any way, relay it to Polian."
"Will do."
Koneko debated snatching the phone away and bawling how scared she was to her mother, but looked to the men and changed her mind. Gohan had lost his life once already, she knew he had no fear. Polian didn't seem to be afraid of anything. She hadn't been scared to die when she was with the Jinzouningen, but they were human, sort of. This thing was tall and green and bug-like and creeped her right out the door. She shuddered as she remembered how it had sucked Zen'i up through its tail like she was nothing more than an icy lump in a slushy.
"You ok, Koneko?" Gohan put his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah." She frowned. "I just hate bugs, that's all."
.x.
A woman screamed bloody murder as she watched the monster turn her boyfriend into a husk. Her cries echoed thought the vacant streets and were heard several miles away by three people intent on putting a stop to the terror.
Koneko growled and put another burst of speed on.
"There's no rush, Koneko. There's nothing we can do to help people till we stop him," Polian advised. Gohan felt the last tiny ki die out as they approached. He scowled and said a silent prayer. Somehow, one of them had to win. He knew at this point that it wasn't going to be him.
Perfect Cell grinned and turned to watch the Z Warriors land a few hundred feet away from him. Koneko seethed as she took in the piles of clothes scattered around. This was just too much for her. This world had suffered enough, and no matter what Gohan said about their chances, she was going to try to stop this monster even if it meant losing her life. Crying out in anger, Koneko flared up to Super Saiyajin and charged Cell blindly.
He looked surprised for a second but his grin soon returned as he met her blows.
"Koneko!" Polian shouted. Gohan held him back.
"Let her. You can go in when she needs you."
The Namekjin nodded solemnly and watched them blur up and down the empty city street.
'He's still just playing!' Koneko thought as she noticed he was defending. "Attack me, you bloody bug!"
His grin seemed permanent. "If you want." He spun around and punched her square in the face. Koneko flew back into an office building.
"That's it. My turn!" Polian shouted and charged. He split in three but to his surprise, so did Cell. Within moments, Polian crashed through the same building, several floors below Koneko.
Gohan was done watching. He flared up to Super and fired off ki blast after ki blast at the monster. Cell dodged every one all the while flying in closer and closer. The half-Saiyajin was forced to go back to karate as Cell attacked him. 'It can't end this quickly!'
As if in answer to this, Polian and Koneko swooped in and kicked Cell in the back. The monster was propelled past Gohan into the Earth.
"Take that, bitch!" Polian shouted.
"Such mouths on both of you!" Gohan scolded as he smiled. But it didn't last long. Cell charged out of the crater and came at them again. Polian puffed out his bare chest and powered up first. His aura glowed faintly pinkish. Cell raised a brow but kept coming. Then Koneko looked to Gohan. His nod gave her the signal. It was time to show this bug what they had been up to for the last 6 months. Both half Saiyajin pushed their ki to the extreme. Their body mass increased to almost double what it had been and their auras glowed white. Cell stopped dead in his tracks and blinked at them.
"Well, isn't that impressive?" he snickered. All three of them charged and rained blows down on him. The monster took a few hits, but seemed to take no damage. Polian was the first to be knocked unconscious.
Bringing his hands together over his head, Gohan formed a ki blast. "Masenko!!" Koneko used this as a distraction and swooped in to beat on Cell while he was preoccupied with dodging Gohan's blast, but Cell simply deflected it and was more than ready when Koneko was within range. He leveled his hand at her and fired of multiple blasts all of which met their mark.
After another ten minutes of fighting, Koneko had been beaten up so badly that she had fallen out of Super Saiyajin entirely and Gohan looked like he was going to pass out. Cell backed off and let him catch his breath. "You know, it amazes me how determined you are, Gohan. But I have to tell you that your fight is futile." Without even so much as a grunt, Cell flexed and his power and body mass increased in a similar fashion as the Super-Super Saiyajin had.
"You don't think I know that?" Gohan spat some blood out of his mouth.
"Then why do you keep at it if you know you're going to die?" He glared at the monster but wouldn't satisfy him with and answer. "Hm." Cell touched down and walked around him. "It's a pity, really. I was so hoping to find a challenge. Oh well." He clenched his fist. "Do answer me one question before I kill you. How did you get so much stronger in the last day?" Still there was no reply. "Hm." He huffed again. "Well then, let me rephrase that. Do you think you could get even stronger still given, oh, let's say a week to train? Do you think you could defeat me after that?"
"A week?" Gohan grumbled. "I'd sure as hell give it a shot."
"Oh, good. You recall the Tenkai Ichi Budoukai, don't you?"
'The Budoukai?' he thought. 'What does this creep have up his sleeve?'
"You know, my original design was to terminate Son Goku, but since he's not around, my penultimate goal is to be the most powerful thing in the universe. I would like to prove this to you, once and for all. In one week's time, we shall meet again at a location of my choosing and we shall have a little competition. If you win, fine. If I win, which I will, great." Cell crossed his arms and waited for a response. "Agreed?"
Gohan hesitated, but he looked to the unconscious bodies of his friends and nodded.
"Excellent. See you in a week, Son Gohan." With that, the monster blasted off into the East.
Gohan jogged over to Polian and took a little bag off his belt. He removed two Senzu from it and fed one to each of his fallen comrades. They knew by the look on his face, that this ordeal was far from over. As the evening came, Gohan tried to explain what Cell had told him.
.x.
Almost thirty-six hours after the last time Bulma had gotten any sleep, she turned away from the monitor and massaged her face. Still no word from Gohan. She sat on the cold, dank cave floor and her thoughts ran wild. "I gotta get outta here," she said out loud and sloughed up stairs. As she ascended, images of death and destruction haunted her. Her worry turned to despair and the tears coursed down her now grubby face.
The wind whipped up the cliff and blew her long, aqua hair around her. She took another step closer to the edge and wiped the dampened hair from her cheeks. "I can't take it again!" she cried out into the canyon. Her voice echoed back. "I just can't!!"
"It won't be the last time."
"Eh?" Bulma turned to find the voice behind her. A slender, alabaster skinned young woman with wild, black hair smiled gently on her with her hands clasped behind her back. Rather than ask what the woman thought she was doing in the middle of nowhere or how she had mysteriously gotten there, Bulma simply hung her head and sighed. "I had a feeling it wouldn't be." She pushed her hair out of her face. "Ever since I met Son-kun my life has been filled with adventure and anxiety. We're evil magnets!"
"You also seem to be particularly good at taking on that evil, don't you think?" She tilted her head to the side and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The silver ankh around her neck slid from left to right over her black tank-top. She put her hands into the pockets of her pitch black jeans.
"What good were we last time?"
"Well, it did take a few years, but good eventually triumphed."
"At the cost of how many lives?" Bulma growled and looked into the woman's black eyes.
"More than you can count, I assure you."
The women were quiet. A warm breeze replaced the chill wind for a moment. Bulma blinked away the remaining tears, turned from her strange companion and took another step towards the breech.
"Bulma-san," the young woman's tone became more sober. "I don't think you're giving yourself or Gohan and the others enough credit."
Bulma's eyes widened.
"You'd better go home, soon. They're going to be hungry when they get back."
She looked down into the canyon and backed away from the edge. The idea of ending her life seemed so ridiculous now. It was almost as if she had been sleepwalking. "Whoever you are..." she turned to address the woman, but there was not a trace left to prove that another person had been there. "Thank you."
Bulma ran to her car, jumped in and sped off to the southwest.
.x.
Gohan shook Polian's hand as the Namekjin went back in for a full two year's training in the Room of Spirit and Time. "Do your best!"
He nodded. Koneko gave him a bear hug and wished him luck. "Ok, where's Mom?"
Her energy was on the move, rapidly southwest and towards home. "She must be in her car heading home. I guess she needs a break." Night turned the sky at this elevation a deep violet and a chill breeze blew over them. "We'll be back in two days, Dende. Thanks for everything."
God smiled and bowed his head. "Oh, do you want this back?" He held up the cell phone.
"No. Keep it. We may need it later." He began walking towards the edge. "Come on Koneko, let's get going."
She pouted. "We're not going to Shunkan Ido there?"
Gohan laughed a little. "I can't. No one's home yet."
"Oh..." She pouted some more and followed him into the air. "It's just it's getting cold." Gohan was quiet, concentrating on something or maybe nothing at all. "Will you teach me to do the Shunkan Ido someday?"
This snapped him out of his thoughts. He smiled at her. "Sure, Koneko-chan. I don't see why not. As long as you watch your language in the future!"
She made a face. "Sorry, Gohan-san."
.x.
Bulma ran into the house and was relieved to see Gohan and Koneko raiding the fridge. She hugged both of them tightly and asked about what happened. They informed her of Polian's training and of Cell's declaration. They had one week to get strong enough to defeat him.
"But, how do you expect to do that in such a short period of time?" she asked and sat down on a stool at the table.
"Oh, Mom, you should see this place! It's so vast and vacant that you can't believe you're only in one room! It's like another world!"
Bulma blinked. "'Vast and vacant'? Since when do you use words like that?"
"Oh, I guess Gohan's rubbed off on me." Koneko smacked her lips to express her thirst and went to get a glass of water. As she walked away from the table, she undid her hair. An extra six inches of her already waist-length, lavender hair cascaded down. Bulma turned slowly to Gohan and although he was talking to her, she didn't hear him. She stared at his shaggy hair.
"What the hell happened to you guys?!" she shouted and jumped back a few feet.
"Mom?"
"Your hair, it's grown!"
"That's because of the room we were in. One day equals 1 year in there!" Koneko sipped her water, relieved that that was all that was wrong.
The young mother began to sniffle.
"Mom? What's the matter?" Koneko approached her.
"My baby's growing up so fast!!" she cried and hugged the teen.
.x.
After dinner, Bulma broke the bad news about her troubles with Gero's encryptions. She had no information for them and wasn't sure when she could get any. They all talked about the crisis and encouraged each other. Bulma started nodding off around 9:30 so Koneko decided to call it a night.
"See you bright and early tomorrow morning, Koneko!"
"Oh, yeah, bright," she play whined.
When Koneko had disappeared around the corner, Gohan turned to Bulma. "Ok, you can stop pretending now," he said with a sly grin but there was no response from the overworked scientist. "Bulma?" Gohan asked and thought about nudging her but decided she deserved the rest. "Well, I suppose you've got the right idea." Gohan picked her up and took her to bed.
.x.
The landscape rolled below him as Cell flew across the continent looking for the perfect place. After forests and mountains and lakes he finally found a nice, flat plain. He touched down and nodded his approval. Now all he needed was granite. Well, there was plenty of that in those mountains he had passed. It wouldn't be long before he had everything he needed to make his own private Budoukai.
.x.
Dende had nearly worried himself silly by the time Polian emerged a few minutes late. He laughed at his short friend and thanked him for his concern.
"Holy crap, Polian. You look huge!" Koneko marveled.
"Yeah well, I guess I was jealous of you two." He winked at them.
"It's not as helpful as we hoped to go past Super-Saiyajin," Gohan replied. "The extra bulk of level two is harder to handle and it slows you down."
"I noticed that. That's why I've been training in this state almost the whole time."
"The whole time?" Koneko poked his muscles. They were as hard as steel.
"Yup. I suggest you guys turn on the SSJ and stay that way. It'll make level two fell like level one."
"Great idea!" Gohan smiled and flared up.
Koneko re-braided her hair and did the same. "Ok, let's go."
"Polian, I take it you're going back to Capsule?"
The Namekjin nodded.
"Take care of Bulma for us. We'll be back in two days."
"No problem."
.x.
Bulma fell asleep in the lab on the futon she had brought with her. The scientist had all but moved in to the place, but she made sure not to get too comfortable. It had all the ingredients for creating a mad scientist. To help ward this off, she propped the severed Jinzouningen head she had found against the supercomputer. There, it stared at her, egging her on to break through the encoding and find a way to aid her friends.
For two days she ate and slept in the underground chamber, emerging only when she knew Gohan and Koneko would have to take a break from the room of Spirit and Time.
There were two reasons why she wanted to remain in the lab rather than go home. The first was that she knew her daughter would now be nearly nineteen years old (only seven biological years her younger). The second was that after two solid days of work, she had made zero progress.
.x.
When Bulma did go home, the smiles her friends had for her erased all of her anxiety. They looked well, and were far more confident about the outcome of the battle ahead.
Cell seemed to be taking a breather as well. No one had heard from him since he had commandeered a radio station and announced his intention to take on all comers at a Budoukai he called the 'Cell Game'.
"Cell Game," Gohan spat. "He thinks this is amusing. That's all this is to him - a game."
"A game he intends to win." Koneko winked at him as she finished off a large bowl of rice. "Though he's going to regret letting us train so long, right, Gohan-san?"
"Yup, Koneko-chan. I hope so."
"Hope so?!" Bulma slammed her palms down on the table. "You told me you guys had this contest in the bag!"
Gohan put his chopsticks down and tried to calm her. He had lots of practice from years of living with his mother's explosive temper. "I guess I phrased it wrong."
Defeated, Bulma slumped into her chair. "You mean we're screwed?"
"I didn't say that either. I don't think I'll know if we can win till we get there."
She looked dismal. Gohan pouted and tried to think of some way to cheer her, but it was hard to do with such a burden causing all of them such grief. Koneko put her own chopsticks down and excused herself.
"Bulma," Gohan stood up and cleared the dishes. "I won't lie to you. I don't know." She was silent. "We could lose. He's tremendously powerful and he has Juuhachigou, er, Zen'i, inside him." Still, she hung her head and pouted.
"You might leave me, Gohan?"
Her words struck him in the chest. "Well, not intentionally." He regarded her for a moment and an idea came to him. "I'll try to stick around. At least, a little bit of me will," he muttered.
"Hm?"
He shook his head and smiled sweetly. Gohan extended his hand and invited her to retire for the evening.
.x.
Koneko walked the few miles to her best friend's little house on the outskirts of town. It was very dark, but she followed the road and utilized the scant starlight.
As usual, the door to the little house was unlocked. Koneko let herself in and yanked the dangling chain on the lamp above her head on. It was a very still, warm night. No breeze blew through the open windows. Koneko seated herself at the table and rested her head on her folded arms.
"Don't worry, Zen'i," she whispered. "We'll get him. I'll get him for you."
.x.
Two days later, as night fell on the ravaged world, Polian, Gohan and Koneko had traded off once more in the room of Spirit and Time. They gathered together now atop Kami's Lookout and waited through the last day together.
Bulma insisted she go back to the cave and work as hard as she could. Gohan and Koneko allowed her to do so with the condition that once she had found anything she take her air-car immediately to the lookout.
"Well, tomorrow morning," Polian grunted.
The others simply nodded.
.x.
Bulma had worried her upper lip a little raw. She sat on the floor, staring into a monitor, clicking occasionally on a keyboard. One virtual door would open then another would close again and again. "Come on, you bastard," she hissed. "You can't keep me out forever. Or can you?"
The nearby android head stared at her from the floor. "What do you want, you nasty thing, you?" she demanded. Bulma gasped and blinked as she finally recognized the thing's face.
"No way..." She tossed the keyboard aside, scrambled across the dirty floor on her hands and knees and grabbed the head. "Dr. Gero made himself into an android?!" She remembered his face from press releases she had studied during peacetime. It was unmistakable.
His cranium was a little damaged but with a bit of jerry-rigging, Bulma plugged it into her interface and then that into the supercomputer. She accessed and removed all the useful information from Gero's head's databanks. She then fed this into the super computer and it opened up like a flower.
"Well I'll be damned!!" she cheered and smiled. Her scientific mind was very pleased, but her heart soon caught up. This man had been the cause of her suffering for the last fifteen years or so. Her eyes refused to blink as she stared at the cybernetic head. Then she reeled back and spat in its face. Unplugging it and taking it by the hair to the lip of the cave, she hurled the offensive object with a cleansing scream down into the ravine.
"It's a pity," she said to herself. "That such a genius could be so evil."
.x.
Dende nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the cell phone ring in his pocket. He fumbled with the strange device and managed to turn it on.
"Uh, H-hello?"
"Dende?!"
"Um, yes, this is Dende..."
"Are they still there?!"
"N-no, they went to meet Cell."
"Shit! Hang on, I'm coming to you!" the voice on the other end shouted and the connection closed.
"Bulma-san, wait!" Dende cried, but she had hung up. He stared at the phone uselessly. "Polian and I can hear each other's thoughts."
.x.
"So, you showed up after all." Cell grinned as the Z warriors touched down. "Nice cape, Gohan."
"Guess he got a sense of humor with his last power up," Polian muttered.
"We're not here for small talk, Monster. What are your rules?"
He snorted but his smile was etched in stone. "You lose if you give up, die or fall out of the ring." Cell gestured to the large, granite, square arena behind him.
Gohan sneered. "Impressive, but you really shouldn't have."
"Now who's making small talk?"
The tension was high, but Gohan came back smoothly. "Got me there." His tone was peppered with animosity.
"Let's get started, shall we?" Cell bowed slightly to him, but looked a little shocked when Polian stepped forward. The Namekjin cracked his knuckles and walked into the ring. "Alright, this should be quick. You're pathetic. I'll destroy you so quickly it won't even be fun for me."
"Too bad." Polian charged Cell and the fight began.
Koneko and Gohan stood with their arms folded. Their heads flicked back and forth as they watched the Namekjin try his hardest to do any damage to the monster. Their green bodies flickered as they blurred about the ring. Polian's body was holding up fairly well against Cell's punches and kicks. Then Cell swung around and roundhouse kicked Polian in the jaw. They pulled back and observed each other for a moment.
"Oh come on, Namekjin. Don't play with me. I'm far more powerful than you could ever hope to be. You've had a week to train, so show me your true power!"
"Sure thing." Polian flexed and pushed his aura to pink. Cell raised a brow and took him on again.
"Wow, this looks good!" Koneko cheered.
"No," Gohan droned. "Cell hasn't powered up at all yet."
The smile fell from her lips.
The monster yawned as Polian tried to buffet him with his fists. Polian growled and back-flipped away from him in the air. Cell followed. The Namekjin powered up and Cell sneered. Polian shot of a huge power attack and Cell simply put up a hand to deflect it.
Suddenly, Polian seemed to flicker out, much like he was moving instantaneously, but then Cell realized that he was right behind him. The blast he expected to receive never came. Instead, Polian shot off his blast point-blank into Cell's upper, left back. When the dust cleared, everyone, including Cell was astounded to see that Polian had blown a huge chunk out of Cell's shoulder. He clutched his arm, dumbly and blinked in surprise.
Polian laughed loudly at the stupid look on his face.
"Polian! Don't just stand there, finish him!" Gohan shouted, but it was too late. Cell was already laughing back as he began to regenerate the missing body mass faster than any normal Namekjin could.
"What the hell?!" Polian gaped.
"I'm part Namekjin, remember?" Cell grinned and rubbed the new shoulder. "You will regret that," he muttered and charged him again.
Polian gritted his teeth and got ready for the next barrage. The people on the ground were shocked as Polian took a left hook and slammed into the granite ring. Cell flew down and waited for him to get out of the smallish crater. Polian took his time. His fang protruded substantially over his lower lip as he smirked at the monster.
"I give."
"What?"
"What?!" Gohan cried.
Polian walked off the ring and joined his friends. "I give up. I can't defeat him," he said loud enough for Cell to hear him.
"You know you're all going to die anyway. Why prolong it, Namekjin?"
"'Cause I know it pisses you off to not feel superior."
Koneko and Gohan stared at him, dumbfounded.
"And," he whispered. "I just got a message from certain short, green God we all know and love." They held their breath. "Bulma's on her way to the lookout. She has something."
Gohan raised his fingers to his forehead. "Koneko. You take care of him for a while."
"Sure thing, Gohan-san."
"Polian," he pulled a small bag off his belt "Here ya go."
Cell, who had been watching them, grew impatient. He spied the bag and knew what it had to contain. He leveled his hand at the group and shot off a small beam. The bag and the Senzu inside it were instantly vaporized.
"Ah ah ah," he scolded. "No fair. When I beat you, you stay beat."
Gohan growled at him, but knew that time was of the essence. "Kick his ass." He nodded to Koneko and Shunkan Idoed to the lookout.
To be continued…