Author's Comments – I'M BACK! ZOMG! xD I am honestly so sorry…! I'm notoriously bad for just losing my inspiration to write on certain stories for VERY long periods of time, as I work on many different things at once, am primarily an artist, and lead an often hectic life. I really want to apologize to everyone who has been forced to wait around a freakin' year and a half to read any more of this story… Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed and enjoyed the first four chapters. It honestly means a lot to me. I'm sorry again that I'm such an inconsistent writer. But I do have more or less this entire fic written in my head, so I do plan to get it all down on paper (or Word, rather :3) sooner or later.

Anywho, as for the chapter, I had a bit of an issue with this whole turn of events, which is probably part of the reason I got writer's block with it. The idea was always a pretty key part of the fic, so even though the explanation is a little bit far fetched, and I'm not entirely sure it's even necessarily possible by the rules of the anime/manga, for the purposes of my fic, we'll say it is.

I also want to note that I think Perfect Cell is totally hawt (), and I wouldn't have minded C staying the way he was (and Zoa would agree), but for both the reasons given by the characters in the story, as well as for upcoming plot devices, and finally, for the sake of originality, I do like this idea. I hope you do, too.

And finally, enjoy!

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Chapter 5 - Changes

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"So we were thinking of anything we could do to help everyone accept C as a potential ally, and Gohan came up with this idea, so we've quickly gathered the dragonballs… And we figure we'll ask the dragon to give C, er, that is, Cell's son, a way to look more human in appearance. I mean, not to 'make' him a human, just to kind of separate his armor plating from his body and give him a bit more color and such. So that people won't connect him with Cell, and he'll be able to live normally. I think it will help all of our friends who were actually involved with the original Cell to be more comfortable with having him around, too."

After finishing her brief explanation, Zoa looked first to Gohan, then to Dende, as Piccolo frowned, pacing back and forth in front of the three as he mulled things over in his head. "This is a crazy idea you know… And either way, do you really think he'll just agree to this? He won't hear of it."

Zoa scratched the back of her head, studying a tile on the floor as she shifted her weight. "Ah, yes, well, we're kind of going to just go ahead without his consent…"

Piccolo raised an eyebrow, arms crossed tightly over his muscular chest as he mulled things over in his head. "If he actually sticks around after all of this to become an ally, I'll be honestly surprised. But do what you will."

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"Ughh…" C groaned as he tried to open his eyes, which were heavy with oversleep. Where am I…? He thought groggily, attempting to search his foggy memory for the last thing that he could remember…

"GOHAN!" Sitting upright with a sudden jerk, everything came flooding back into his mind. Yes… He had fought Gohan. …If that pitiful performance could even be called a fight... He shook his head, dizziness overcoming him as he did so, as he recalled how pathetic he had been. He had been utterly annihilated by his opponent… Groaning, he thought to himself, But why didn't Gohan finish me off…?

Because of her. He squinted over to his left, and made out a familiar head of light blue hair. Zoa was sleeping quietly, sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking metal chair in the corner, head nodded downward in her slumber. C frowned, looking around through blurry eyes for the first time at exactly where he was. He was in some kind of strange, windowless room filled with numerous metallic objects and mechanical devices; almost like a laboratory of sorts. It was rather cold, and had a strange oily smell about it.

It was then that he realized that it actually felt as though all of his wounds had healed, although he had that notably murky feeling of having been drugged, or asleep far too long, or some other such thing. He blinked again a few times to help clear his vision, and rubbed his hands against his heavily lidded eyes…

…And suddenly stopped dead still, not so much as moving a muscle for a moment, not even to breathe. Very slowly, he lowered his hands from his closed eyes, pausing hesitantly before opening them again just as slowly, to see…

Flesh colored skin. He looked away, and then back again, as if the image was a hallucination. Roughly throwing the blanket that had been covering him from his body, he looked down to see not his usual hard, metallic armor encasing, but thin, white, robes, and a body that looked...

…human?

He struggled rather clumsily to his feet, and looked around for some kind of reflective surface he could use. Seeing an especially shiny piece of hard polished steel, he lunged for it, and hoisted it up in front of his face. His own, familiar eyes stared back at him. But from the face of a young, seemingly human man, who looked about in his late teens, with messy, spiky hair of a dark shade of violet. The shape of his nose, chin, his entire face, remained the same, but his once white skin was now a smooth, pale pinkish tan color. He stared blankly for a few moments before dropping the metal, which hit the ground with a loud and unceremonious 'clank'.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Zoa sprung from her chair like a cat doused with water, tripping over her own left foot and almost face planting into the side of the metal table in front of her. She spun around wildly to see C, who was clutching his head, and pointing, mouth open and wavering as if he were trying to speak. Looking over slowly at her, with an incredulous look on his face, he stiffly rushed forward and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders.

"YOU!" He hollered in an exasperated voice, "What in the HELL is going on? What- I mean, why- Why am I- WHAT IS THIS?"

Zoa coughed, a sweat drop rolling down her forehead as she gave him a weak attempt at a lop-sided smile. "Ahaha… You're awake…" She trailed off, clearing her throat and tried to hurriedly explain. "Yes. Well. Um, alright, well you see, we thought that you might like to try seeing things our way, and that to help others to trust you it would be best for you not to look so much like your father… You know, how he tried to annihilate mankind and all… Well anyway, so, uh, we sort of summoned the dragon Shen Long and wished to make you appear more human…"

"YOU DID WHAT!"

Zoa cringed as he bellowed, the strength of his vocals actually blowing her hair back from her face. "I-I'm sorry…" She began, her deep blue eyes pools of guilt, "You have every right to be angry… But honestly, we really think this is for the best…! And overall, it's not that bad, right?" She smiled a smile that positively dripped with endearment. "I mean, you're still just as handsome as ever!" She tried a wink and nudged one of his ridged arms. "Just, less people will associate you with doom, and the destruction of the earth! That's all!"

C was quiet for a few seconds before he released his grip on her and stumbled backwards. She rubbed one of her shoulders slightly as she watched him. He seemed to be shaking slightly with something that was probably a mixture of anger and disbelief. He turned left and right then, his eyes darting around the room for some kind of way out, and he spotted a door to his left. Zoa, following his line of view, realized instantly what he was thinking.

"No, please don't leave! You can stay, I've talked to the others, and we've also still got-"

And he was gone. She tore out the door after him, a loud crash sounding out and echoing back down the hallway as she ran. In no time at all, she had come to the door that led outside, which was now off of its hinges, and lying on the concrete a short ways from the frame. Zoa shielded her eyes and looked up, but C was already far off on the horizon, disappearing into the glare of the sun.

She sighed heavily, and sank to her knees, not sure exactly what to be feeling at that particular moment. She certainly didn't blame him for being mad at her, but she really hoped, and somehow partially convinced herself, that he would actually stay…

Doors flew across the way, and Gohan and Bulma came bursting outside from inside of the main part of the building, which happened to be Bulma's home, Capsule Corpoation. "What in the world happened?" Bulma called out as she and Gohan rushed forward to where she was now slumped on the ground. Kneeling down, Gohan put a concerned hand on her shoulder and looked her over to make sure she was alright. "What was all, that just now! Oh, I knew it was a bad idea to leave you in there with him alone, even for a minute…! You're not hurt, are you?"

Zoa shook her head, lifting her right arm up, and gesturing towards the sky. "No, I'm fine… but he took off, just like you all said he would." She looked away and ruffled a hand through her hair. "I guess it only makes sense… But I hope that after he's had some time to think about everything he might decide to come back…" She laughed and flashed Gohan a silly smile. "Even if it's just to try to kill me or something."

Shaking his head, Gohan stood, and held out a hand, which Zoa accepted. After helping her up onto her feet, he cocked and eyebrow and replied, "That's a pretty weird thing to hope for." Squinting off into the sun, he shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't worry about it; he can take care of himself. And if he wants to come back, fine, but if tries anything, or hurts anybody… he'll have me to deal with."

"Well… You can't blame him for being angry..." Zoa protested as she dusted off her knees, "But I definitely agree that I don't want him to hurt anyone… But I don't think he would… He doesn't seem the kind that would just beat up innocent people for kicks."

"No," Gohan agreed, "He'd probably just come after me again. Especially if he found out I'm the one who initially came up with this whole idea. He hated me enough to begin with…" He let out a small breath as they all slowly started to head back inside. "Honestly, I don't see why he'd be so pissed about it, anyway. I personally think it's an improvement…"

Zoa frowned as she took one last look in the direction C had gone before heading inside. "Well, he kind of left before I was able to mention that we've still got his armor here…"

Bulma, who had remained silent during their interlude as she had been quietly studying the door, smiled as she followed the teens back into the house. "That door will have to be fixed!"

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Author's Notes – Ahhh my chapters are too short. I need to start making them longer. Anywho! Hope you liked the chapter; and I have just a few last things I wanted to mention about all of this. First off, I've been sketching some pictures of both C in his new form and Zoa as well, so I hope to get those up sometime soon, at which point I'll provide links for anyone interested to see them. And for curiosity's sake, his hair is the color that the stripes under his eyes were. (You know, Cell has those purple stripes under his eyes… myeah.) I say were, since he won't have them in his more human form… I thought about keeping them, but I think it would probably make him look too much like a rock star or something. xD And I've managed to sneak in that the armor is still around… Although I don't know how he'd get some of it on anymore. xD Maybe he'll still wear the leg armor or something. :3 It's just so cute. But we shall see! Thanks for reading.