~Chapter 26: The Monster~

I explained what had happened to a disbelieving audience of revived fighters, leaving out any mention of the kiss. I was surprised to find that no one came to the same conclusions that I had. In the eyes of Tenshinhan and Piccolo, what had happened only enhanced their perceptions of the cyborgs' cruelty. They spoke as if the act of letting us live was somehow a mocking act.

That line of thought didn't make much sense to me. After all, they hadn't even started the fight. We provoked them. Even then, they could have easily killed us all, but they didn't. I failed to see the evil in that. The only thing that I was worried about was Goku.

Vegeta fumed silently. His renewed pride had been beaten down yet again. He'd been the strongest for a grand total of about an hour and a half. Imagine what a crushing blow it must have been for him - a Super Saiyan at last, the strongest in the universe! - to be beaten by a girl. Don't you feel sorry for him? Nah, I didn't either.

Trunks was worried when Vegeta took off that he was going to follow the cyborgs, but I knew better. Vegeta was a fool, but he didn't have a death wish. He was probably going off to train some more.

Piccolo was scowling. "I have a plan," he said.

Finally, some good news. We could count on Piccolo. However, when I tried to confide in him, he yelled at me.

"Shut up! Have you forgotten who I am? I am Piccolo, the Great Demon King! Don't call ME your friend!" With this unexpected outburst, Piccolo too flew away violently.

Tenshinhan was worried about Piccolo, but I assured him that he was lying. Piccolo was just going for his ace in the hole - ever since Namek, we'd been told that Piccolo and Kami would be much stronger if they became one again. It was finally time for Earth to give up its God.

Trunks, Tenshinhan and I murmured nervously, feeling left behind. I sighed at our whole situation. It was hard to believe that these were the people upon whom the Earth depended in its time of crisis. In the epic stories, such people are heroes. There were no heroes among our ranks. We were only a bunch of overgrown martial artists, competing in the biggest tournament ever and trying to do what's right somewhere in the middle of it all. Of all of us, only Trunks may have been a hero. What he'd seen had forced him to become one.

I took Trunks to Goku's house. Tenshinhan left us and said to call him if there was more trouble.

"...Although," he said nervously, "I'm afraid that I won't be much of a help..."

Tenshinhan's eyes darted at me and we exchanged a brief glance. It must have lasted about two seconds, but it carried a deep sympathy. How strange the world had become, that Tenshinhan and I should feel such a deep link simply because we're both human. Neither of us are what you would call normal humans - to start with, he has three eyes and I have no nose - but we are human, and no matter how close you may be to people from other species, there's something to that. I felt kind of as if I was representing the entire weak, unfortunate human race, which was itself defenseless, by fighting. Yet, as strong as I was - for a human, anyway - I wasn't quite good enough. I could tell from that short eye contact that Tenshinhan was feeling something similar.

Trunks and I flew, for the most part, silently. Occasionally, Trunks would speak despondently of the cyborgs. He said that they were much, much stronger than they had been in his time, and that it looked like we had no chance. I agreed that we had no chance at fighting them, but I still wasn't sure that we'd have to. They did seem pretty threatening, but they didn't look so evil. I thought that maybe if we didn't attack them again, we might be able to just talk them down. Of course, I really didn't know that much about them. Trunks, I reasoned, probably knew more about them than anybody, but how could I get up the nerve to ask him? How could I possibly manage the audacity to question a man who has witnessed the fall of civilization as to his opinion of its perpetrators?

Then, however, thoughts of 18 filled my mind. Thinking of her seemed to give me courage like I'd never had in my life.

"Hey," I said to Trunks, "I have to ask you... are the cyborgs really that evil?"

Trunks looked at me as if I had just suggested that water was, perhaps, not wet.

"I mean," I fumbled, "Because, if they weren't, it'd be a lot easier..."

Trunks composed himself. "Don't count on it," he said.

I apologized profusely. What was wrong with me? How could I be so stupid as to suggest a thing like that? Actually, in retrospective I can see what I was really thinking. I was thinking, "How dare I disagree with Trunks/Piccolo/Goku/Tenshinhan/etc.?" "They ought to know better than me." "I'm just an idiot." Basically, I valued my opinion at about diddly-squat over that of these people. Still, even in the face of my total lack of faith in my own convictions, I couldn't manage to purge this particular thought from my mind. It lingered still.

We found Yamucha and Chichi at Goku's house. Yamucha, at least, showed some concern for my well-being. Chichi seemed more disappointed that I wasn't Gohan than anything.

Giving only minimal explanation, we had everyone pack up and move to the Kame House, which would be more isolated and probably a better place to hide out than Goku's house. Gohan arrived shortly and we all went there. We had to carefully carry Goku out into the airplane - he'd taken his medicine and was out cold.

I briefly explained the situation. We started trying to come up with a plan. It looked like we had no chance fighting the cyborgs. Of course, I was still secretly hopeful that we wouldn't have to fight them at all, but I decided not to suffer the consequences of bringing that up again.

I think that some time on that plane ride was when we received Trunks' explanation of time travel. I'm going to relay what I know about the subject to you.

As you may have guessed, assuming that you haven't yet totally dismissed my memoir as ridiculous fantasy, the complexities of time travel are a far cry from the simple rules followed by any kind of travel through space. One cannot simply travel into the past, alter it, and return to see the results (it's a good thing - that would create so many paradoxes that it doesn't even bear thinking about). By the same token, one can't travel into the future and necessarily return with an accurate knowledge of what's going to happen. The very act of time traveling creates a number of diverging timelines. At least, that's the going assumption - it's just as possible that they already exist, and in time traveling, you're hopping between them. We don't really know - not even Bulma, who invented the time machine in Trunks' time, or her father could figure it out for certain.

The point is that no matter what we did in our time, when Trunks returned to his own timeline, everything would be the same as he'd left it - and he knew this. I think that it came up when someone suggested that we just go back in time and fix things, but it really brought Trunks' motives into question. We were extremely grateful to him for saving us, but you had to wonder - If nothing that he did with us could save his own time, what was he hoping to achieve?

Anyway, we didn't even make it to the Kame House as a whole group. We had a phone conversation with Bulma on the way and she faxed us a very strange picture of a machine that was rotted and overgrown with moss, as if it had been standing in the same spot for a few years. When I showed the picture to Trunks, he said that it was, without a doubt, the time machine that he'd come back in. That was very strange. There was no way Trunks' time machine had been sitting anywhere long enough to look like that.

Needless to say, Trunks left immediately to investigate. Gohan went with him, and so we arrived at our destination a bit lighter.

It was good to see the Kame House again. Muten Roshi and Oolong were relieved that I was all right, but were shocked to see us carrying a comatose Goku. I had another big explanation ahead of me.

I don't mind having to be the one to bring people up to date. In fact, it seems like that's what I'm usually doing. Even at times when someone else could have supplied the explanation, I'm the one who ends up doing it. I'm good at it - I'm perceptive and I retain things well, and while I don't enjoy delivering bad news, I've had so much practice at it that I know how to soften the blow - when to bring up what, how to convey my sympathy. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, maybe that's my true gift, rather than fighting - I'm a storyteller. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I'm writing this book: to reprise my role, to fill in the world on what they've missed.

The next thing that I remember is getting a call from Bulma telling us to turn on the television.

The reporter said that 15,000(I have the reports, and that was just the beginning) people were missing. The camera showed images that looked as though they had been taken from a horror movie - piles of clothing and human effects just lying on the street, drained of their former owners. It was terrible to see, and worse to imagine. Of course, our first thoughts went to the cyborgs, but Bulma told me that she thought I was wrong. I immediately agreed with her. I wanted to believe her so badly. I had to, or all of my hopes were completely dashed. If the cyborgs were truly responsible for all of those deaths, then there was no question - they were terrorizing innocent people, and as Roshi-sama once said, we must use our strength to crush such beings with a mighty blow - if we can.

Trunks and Gohan arrived in time to join us in witnessing that piece of news footage that has been immortalized - the reporter looking into the camera, seeing something and turning ghastly pale. The camera drops and we hear the reporter's screams for several seconds before they stop with alarming suddenness.

Then, we all felt a very strange and enormous ki. It felt like a cluster of ki, but my senses told me that it was one person. However, all at once I felt the kis of Vegeta, Trunks, Piccolo, Gohan, Goku, and Frieza. Of course, this was impossible - Goku was fast asleep, and Frieza was dead! For a few moments, I doubted my senses, but everyone else seemed to be sensing it as well.

"I have to check this out," said Trunks. "The rest of you should stay behind - it might be dangerous for you."

Normally, I would have been perfectly content to stay behind. Yet, this time, before I even realized that I was doing it, I blurted,

"I'm going!"

Everyone stared at me.

"I mean," I said, "I really want to see what this thing is..."

"Fine," said Trunks. "Let's go."

Trunks and I flew off toward the strange ki. I didn't want to admit it to him, but the real reason that I was coming was that I wanted to see this powerful creature with my own eyes, to prove to myself that I wasn't wrong, that the cyborgs hadn't been responsible for all of this death. Somehow, I couldn't bear the thought of that.

We found the source of the ki in Ginger Town, one of the towns massacred by Cell. As we got closer, we sensed another incredibly large ki with the one we were searching for. They seemed to be fighting - there were a lot of explosions that made it hard to stay in the air.

When we arrived, I clearly recognized one of the combatants as Piccolo. His ki was amazing, even stronger than the monster's. He had obviously fused with Kami-sama. The other fighter was the source of all the odd ki we'd felt before, and now that we were close, I could sense Tenshinhan's, Yamucha's, and even my own ki emanating from it. It looked like a giant humanoid cicada, encased in bumpy green armor and with a horrible mouth and green eyes like a cat that's just stared into a bright light. The worst part, though, was a long tail ending in a stinger - immediately, I knew that this monster had used that stinger to absorb its victims. It made me nauseated to picture human beings being sucked through that thing like a straw.

We landed next to Piccolo, who warned us about Cell. It was pretty shocking when the thing replied to him in a slimy, scratchy voice. I hadn't expected it to be capable of speech. It even addressed me by name!

I don't really remember what words were exchanged - my mind is filled with a constant image of Cell's horrible form. I do know that it didn't go on for long before Cell screamed something about 17, 18, and perfect forms and threw his hands up to his forehead. I recognized the Taiyoken and moved to protect my eyes, but he was too fast. The bright flash blinded all three of us long enough for Cell to escape.

When we could see again, not only was Cell completely out of sight, but he'd also hidden his ki so that we couldn't find him. Piccolo was extremely upset, to say the least. The force of his anger caused him to erupt in a furious ki flare. It was kind of scary. I could scarcely believe he'd become that powerful.

Vegeta quickly arrived, attempting to track the enormous power he'd felt, and then Tenshinhan. Only then did we get Piccolo's explanation of Cell.

Cell was a bio-android made by Dr. Gero. It derived its strange ki from the fact that it contained genetic material from great fighters. Apparently, after Goku destroyed the Red Ribbon Army, Gero made a tiny robot that collected DNA from fighters at all the major battles that occurred on Earth - the fight against the Saiyans, the short-lived 'fight' against Frieza, and who knows what else. Cell gained power by killing and absorbing people - lots of people. Eventually, he was to absorb 17 and 18, after which he would attain his supposedly unstoppable "perfect" form.

Cell had come from the future in Trunks' time machine to a few years previous and waited us out. As if that wasn't complicated enough, I don't think that the Cell we met came from either our timeline, or Trunks', in which he probably destroyed Cell upon his return, but from yet a third timeline.

We tried very hard to come up with some sort of a plan, a way to keep him from attaining his perfect form, but it seemed that he would just keep hiding from us and absorbing people as he liked. Vegeta, for one, had no part in planning. His unbelievable arrogance yet endured, causing him to go into hysterics and eventually state that he would surpass the cyborgs, Cell, and any foe - he would even surpass the limits of the Super Saiyan. He left us with a remark that dismissed the lot of us as worthless trash and took off violently, deliberately in such a way as to throw a blast in our faces.

I paid no attention to Vegeta. There's nothing you can do about idiots.

I brought up the fact that we should probably find the Cell of our time and go ahead and destroy it before it becomes a problem. Trunks said that that was a good idea and went with me to do just that.

We went back to the Northern Mountains where 17 and 18 had emerged from Gero's lab. Although that lab had already been destroyed by Trunks, we found an underground tunnel.

Inside was a massive computer hooked up to a stasis chamber with some kind of embryo inside it. It was only about the size of my finger, but there was no doubt that it was Cell. Trunks and I destroyed the computer, the chamber, the lab, and, to be honest, the general area with numerous ki blasts, but not before he noticed blueprints lying around for 17 and 18. Those we took: we reasoned that they might be helpful.

Trunks left me to train with his father. He spat the word "father". Poor Trunks, he had probably been very excited to meet his father when he'd come to the past.

I took the blueprints to Capsule Corporation headquarters. Bulma and her father were very impressed with them. They promised to look for some kind of weakness in their structures. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about that, but I thanked them and went back to the Kame House. It was only about 7 PM when I got there, but I took a shower and went to sleep. I'd had enough of that day.

The next day, Pu'ar came to us - she and Yamucha were certainly glad to see each other. For the next couple of days, we sat around the house restlessly, watching the news all day and hoping for an opening to attack Cell, although even if we got one, I wasn't sure how much we'd be able to do - surely Cell would soon become so strong that not even Piccolo could do anything. The Kame House has never held more people than it did those few days - Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Gohan, Chichi, a still unconscious Goku, Yamucha, Pu'ar, and of course Roshi-sama, Oolong, Umigame and I were there. We had people sleeping on places all over the floor. Although we were all scared stiff, it was a comfort to be with basically every friend I had in the world (minus Bulma). I don't make friends so easily, so these people were really all I had.

One day the news gave us the location of Cell, and we rushed out to find him. I mean the fighters, of course - Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Gohan, Yamucha and I. We took a plane so that we'd be able to keep our kis suppressed in the hope that Cell, not being able to sense us, would still be out in the open when we arrived.

However, Goku appeared in the airplane while we were on our way. We'd been told that the medicine would take ten days to work, but that's Goku for you. He told us about a place at Kami's lookout called the Room of Spirit and Time. There, time is altered so that you can spend an entire year there while just a day passes for everyone else. He said that he was going to take Gohan with him.

I asked Goku if he was happy or scared about our powerful new opponent.

"Both," he said. He took Gohan's hand and they both disappeared.

For the first time in at least a few days, I was psyched. Goku's mere presence had made me hopeful once again.

Predictably, we were unable to find Cell. He was too smart for us. We had no choice but to go home and wait it out again. There were a lot of news reports about Cell, but we acknowledged now that he'd never let us find him. I decided to get a little sleep.

It was Piccolo who woke me up. "We have guests," he said.

Indeed, we did. 16, 17, and 18 were standing outside, rather politely asking to know where Goku was. Piccolo, of course, refused. 17 retorted that he'd have to force it out of him. Piccolo responded that he could try...

Thus, they went off to fight. Tenshinhan, Yamucha, and I stayed behind. There was nothing we could do.

It was extremely aggravating to have to just stand there and wait. We were worried for Piccolo - as strong as he'd become, it was doubtful he could win if he had to fight all three of them. The only indicator we had of what was happening was Piccolo's ki. It spiked a lot and dipped a little lower every time. At one point, an explosion destroyed the island that they were fighting on and they had to move again.

Just when we thought things were really bad, something new entered the equation: Cell. We could sense him coming. Then we really started to panic. Cell was probably so strong then, we thought, that even if Piccolo and the cyborgs fought together they probably wouldn't be able to do anything. However, it was about then that we got a call from Bulma.

She said that she'd finally managed to find a weakness in the cyborgs - a shut-off device was installed in them, and she'd made a remote control that could activate it. Once the cyborgs were shut off, they would be easy to destroy. We said that that was great, and to bring it right over. At the time, that looked like our only chance - if the cyborgs were destroyed, Cell couldn't reach his perfect form. He'd still be tough, but maybe when some of the Saiyans finished training, they'd be strong enough to defeat him.

Yeah, it looked like our only hope, all right. So, why did the thought of "destroying"
(Killing)
...The cyborgs put such an awful feeling in my stomach? I tried to put it out of my mind. I really did. Go for the greater good, Kuririn, I told myself.

In fact, when we sensed that Cell's ki had gotten more powerful than ever, I flew off to get the remote from Bulma myself. At least I would be doing something, rather than just sitting around. Still, it was hard to keep myself from turning around as I sensed horrible things happening. Someone was fighting Cell, but it wasn't Piccolo - Piccolo's ki had disappeared. I thought that meant that he was dead, which strengthened my resolve. The greater good. Definitely. I was going to do this.

I met Bulma's plane in the air and she gave me the remote - a black box with a red button protruding from it. I got it from her and returned as quickly as I could, but even though I was traveling at well over the speed of sound, it took me a while. It's a very long way from the Kame House to the Capsule Corporation headquarters.

When I got back, the fight was no longer anywhere near where it had started. I had to follow the ki that I sensed. As I got close, I realized that the incredibly large ki I was feeling was Vegeta's. It was even larger than Cell's, and Cell had somehow gotten a lot stronger. I think that I realized at the time that Vegeta must have been through a year's worth of training in the Room of Spirit and Time, but it was still shocking. I wished that Goku had been there first instead of Vegeta. I also spotted Trunks nearby - he had probably trained with Vegeta.

The power of Vegeta and Cell was humbling - it was about twice the level Piccolo was at after his fusion with Kami-sama. For a minute, I wondered if Cell had already attained his perfect form, but I dismissed that notion - he had become stronger, but not that strong. I may or may not have figured out that he'd absorbed just one of them, but that fact was quickly made apparent to me by sight. 18 and a badly damaged 16 were hiding nearby.

"Damn it!" I thought. "Why did it have to be 18?"

Bulma had told me that I had to get in close in order for the remote to work. Okay. I swallowed hard and landed. I snuck up on them, and did it quite well. They never noticed me. I edged closer and closer. I think that I got closer than I had to, really.

There was 18. I had a clear shot at her. She was watching Vegeta fight Cell, and she would never have noticed me in time to do anything. Once she was deactivated, I could have killed her. I was strong enough, if she couldn't defend herself. 16 looked too badly damaged to do anything about it.

I knew that it would probably be my only chance. If I didn't destroy her, she would be absorbed by Cell, and then it would all be over.

She looked afraid. She wasn't panicking; she had courage. However, I could see in her expression that she was feeling afraid, just like me. Were cyborgs supposed to be capable of emotions like that? To me, in that moment, Number 18 looked more human than ever. And no matter how I tried, I couldn't see anything evil in her. Wherever my mind tried to find such a quality, my heart cut it off brutally, scolding it for being so foolish. No, Number 18 was not evil, and that wasn't all. There was no use in denying it; I liked her. I really liked her.

"So what?" I asked myself. "That doesn't change the fact that this is the only way to save everything. If it bothers you that much, when everything's peaceful again, you can contact the Namekians and have them bring her back with the dragon balls!" But I knew, and more importantly, I felt that doing such a thing would not erase the action that felt more loathsome and terrible to me with every passing second. No matter what you have at your disposal - strength great enough to destroy worlds, time machines, stones that have the power to alter reality - the great truth that one cannot change the past always holds firm. The past is a reality, and nothing that anyone can do can alter that. The only time you can change something is when it is happening.

Staring at the hopeful, terrible little remote, I called forth one final burst of resolve. This was my great chance to save the world. I had been unable to fight, unable to do anything - I had been worthless. Now all I had to do to save everything was press a simple little button. If I couldn't do that much, then I really was worthless. I had to do it. It was for the greater good. It was the only way. It was...

Wrong, I ultimately realized. It was wrong, and I couldn't do it any more than I could massacre cities full of innocent people as Cell had done. I dropped the remote.

18 saw me then. She looked shocked.

I cast one last despondent glance at the device. I apologized to Bulma - she had worked so hard to make it. I crushed the remote with my foot.

"Run," I said to 18. "Don't let Cell absorb you."

"Why did you destroy that shut-off controller?" she said. I could find no words to answer.

The next thing I knew, I heard a shout and I saw Cell coming straight toward us at alarming speed. There was still one hope, in the form of a heavily muscled Super Saiyan called Trunks, who was flying after Cell with all of his might, doing all he could to stop him from reaching 18. It looked like he would get to Cell in time. Then, however, a horrible thing happened that would replay endlessly in my head for days: Vegeta kicked Trunks out of the way.

Cell landed near us and smiled. "Vegeta's helping me to reach his perfect form," he said.

I cursed Vegeta with every obscenity my vocabulary allowed. This was not the time for his macho stupidity. He had doomed us all; at least I felt vindicated of any guilt I'd had about not using the remote. If everything went to hell, the universe had Vegeta, not me, to blame.

Cell used the Taiyoken and began to absorb 18. I couldn't see anything, but I knew that he was doing it. I sensed some kind of very slight ki disturbance that let me know exactly what was happening, but I didn't know whose ki I was feeling. It wasn't Cell's.

I painfully wrenched my eyes open in time to see the last of 18 go into Cell. He didn't absorb her as he had all of the humans he killed; his tail opened to swallow her. The sight was far more painful to me than the blinding light of the Taiyoken. Cell transformed. His perfect form looked more human, kind of like a man wearing insect-like armor.

I can't express what I felt then in words. It transcended anger; it surpassed even the limits of what we might call rage. My senses were blotted out; all I saw was Cell, engulfed in seething waves of my hatred for him, and all I could think was, "How dare he?"

(Forgive my melodrama; I was really pissed off, ok?)

Without thinking, I threw myself at him, putting all I had and probably a good deal more into a punch. It connected solidly with his head. That punch would probably have seriously hurt even Frieza, I don't mind saying. Of course, it had no discernible effect on Perfect Cell.

I couldn't believe it; no one could be that powerful. I tried a few kicks just to be sure. Cell took them calmly, and then kicked me. He must have broken my neck. I woke up a few hundred yards away after being force-fed a senzu by Trunks.

"Are you okay?" he said.

"This is bad," I said. Weak compared to Cell though I was, I knew how to sense an opponent's strength, and I knew that Vegeta had made a pretty severe miscalculation. If they fought, Cell was going to annihilate him.

--END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX--