As the rest of the day wore on, the group traveled across the globe. With the sole exception of 21, everyone continued to fight and destroy more clones.

And more clones.

And even more clones after that.

Finally, the early evening arrived, and the group went back to the rocky landscape, the same one that Mafin and Begu first landed in.

The duo collapsed on their backs, now fully exhausted by today's events.

"Please...tell me...we're finally done...with this crap...", said Begu as he let out a few breaths.

"Yes, please...tell us...I'm very tired...", panted Mafin.

16 stated, "My sensors aren't picking up any signs of nearby clone activity."

21 added, "I don't sense any of them either..."

Upon hearing this, the boys quickly stood back up in excitement.

"Does this mean...", Mafin began.

"We're finally...", Begu continued.

"Done with the whole mission?!", they both eagerly asked.

21 smiled, "Yes. We are officially finished with the mission."

16 nodded, "Affirmative."

Mafin and Begu grinned with excitement, and they let out big, euphoric laughs, "YES! WE'RE FINALLY DONE!"

18 smiled, "Thank Dende..."

17 muttered, "You got that right."

But before anyone could celebrate the newly found victory any further, a large, golden ki blast suddenly rocketed towards the entire group.

16 quickly got in front of the group, and he punched the attack away, sending it flying towards a distant rock formation, and preventing any further harm towards his allies.

"I finally found you.", said a mysterious voice.

Everyone looked up and saw a rather tall, green, insect-like person, floating several feet above them.

"Cell?!", exclaimed a shocked 16.

Both Mafin and Begu's eyes widened, and they turned to 21.

"Um...isn't that supposed to be the other bio-android that Goku's son defeated?!", Mafin fearfully asked in a hushed tone of voice.

Begu added, "I thought you said he was dead!"

"I'm sorry! I thought so too!", 21 replied, also in a hushed tone, "I assumed the computer was fully accurate with its data!"

The insect-like man floated downwards, and landed on the rocky terrain.

"Well, what a lovely reunion.", said Cell, "I wonder, 17, is that android woman controlling you too?"

Android 17 was taken aback by this question, "What do you mean? No one controls me!"

Cell smirked, "I have a few collaborators on this. They have given me some...interesting information. Now, I can say that I have the complete truth."

Mafin nervously thought, "Wh-What is he talking about?"

Begu thought, "The heck does he mean, 'the complete truth'?"

The green bio-android pointed directly at 21, and declared, "It's the woman! 21! She's responsible for everything!"

The researcher gained a sorrowful expression on her face, and looked away, "I'm sorry...but I think that he's right."

18's eyes widened in shock, "WHAT?!"

17 added, "What the hell are you talking about?!"

16 spoke up, "I think she is referring to what happened earlier, before she was able to get her urges under control. But as of now, 21 has no memory of that time."

21 stated, "I can't explain how or why I revived Cell and the others. But, traces of my creation still remain. Artificial souls and the link system are all there."

She sighed, "I...I guess I really am a-"

"NO!", shouted both Mafin and Begu as they ran over, and stood in front of the entire group.

Mafin stated, "Our 21 is a sweet, thoughtful, and kind-hearted person. We don't believe she would ever do anything that malicious!"

Begu nodded in agreement, "We figured that if anything, it's probably her crazy side that caused all this horrible stuff to go down!"

21 smiled at the duo. She was deeply happy that they would stick up for her like this, even though they really didn't have to.

"Well, in any case...," continued Cell, "Android 21 is still the main cause of everything in my eyes. So I'll have to take matters into my own hands."

He evilly grinned, "Feast your eyes...on my TRUE POWER!"

The green bio-android began powering up, and massive amounts of golden ki energy swirled around his body.

Mafin and Begu covered their respective faces as large amounts of wind blew in their direction.

Begu said, "Damn...so strong!"

Mafin added, "His energy is enormous!"

21 looked at 16 and questioned, "Wh-Where is he getting all of that power?!"

16 stated, "I'm going to assume he's linked with an artificial soul. But even so, he shouldn't be able to unleash this much energy!"

Cell smirked, "Oh, are you talking about the other soul? That thing that was inside me? I merely suppressed it, and bent it to my will. This is what my great power affords me."

16 exclaimed, "What?!"

21 also exclaimed, "That's...impossible! How can anyone bend an artificial soul with such ease?!"

Cell responded, "Well, I just did. Now all that matters is that I have regained my true power. A power that I plan on using to my advantage."

17 growled, "You monster!"

Cell chuckled, "Yes! And now that monster's going to gobble you all up again, along...with 21!"

Begu looked over at the twins with a confused expression, "Wait...what? What the heck does he mean by gobble-?"

"It's a long story!", quickly replied 18.

Meanwhile, 21 looked at 16, then looked back at the green bio-android. She knew what she had to do.

16's eyes widened, "No! 21! If you fight, you won't be able to suppress your energy any further! You need to escape for now!"

21 shook her head, "No! 16, remember. You promised to stay with me. So let me do this. Please."

She sent him a very warm smile, one that could melt even the coldest of hearts.

16 said nothing for a few seconds, then relented, "Alright."

21 nodded and took her lab coat off.

Holding the coat with one hand, she walked over to Mafin, much to his confusion.

She asked, "Could you hold onto my coat? I don't want my headphones and my MP3 to end up vaporized."

Mafin, confused by this request, replied, "Um, sure, but what do you mean, 'vaporized'?"

The researcher stated, "You're about to find out."

The Pesutorian didn't understand what that meant, but still nodded in response.

Mafin grabbed 21's coat from her, and put it on. It was a bit big on the average sized Pesutorian, but still managed to be quite comfortable.

21 then calmly walked over to face Cell, and sent him a determined glare.

Cell looked on with a curious expression.

The researcher let out a mighty shout, and in a flash of light, Android 21 underwent a startling transformation.

The light soon faded, and everyone (minus 16) looked on in shock upon her new appearance.

She now had pink skin, pointy ears, massive locks of white hair, and a massive pink tail, which swayed around in an elegant manner. She also wore a golden choker, a black tube top, black stockings on her arms (along with two golden bracelets on her wrists), a golden belt, baggy white pants, as well as dark gray, golden tipped heels.

A dark red aura, along with smaller pink electric sparks, danced and flowed throughout her body.

Both Mafin and Begu were both amazed by this new appearance.

Cell smirked, "So...this is your true form. Intriguing."

21 said, "I'm...very scared of my hunger, losing control. But, I'm more scared of seeing someone I love get hurt, or much worse!"

Cell grinned with anticipation, and clenched his fists together.

He exclaimed, "So be it! Now it's time to teach you who the ultimate android really is!"

Both Cell and 21 got into their respective battle stances.

In a flash, the two opponents rushed towards each other, and quickly disappeared from view. Several shockwaves punctured the air, and the two opponents soon reappeared. They began their match with a barrage of rapid fire punches and kicks.

The two opponents flew back a few feet from each other.

Cell rushed towards 21 and unleashed dozens of jabs onto her, but she quickly blocked each and every one of them with a guarded stance. 21 tried to strike at the green bio-android's face with an elbow jab, but he blocked that oncoming attack, and fired a pair of eye beams at the researcher. 21 immediately dodged the small attacks, and palm struck Cell in the nose, catching him off balance.

She then sent several blows to Cell's jaw, chest, and stomach area, and roundhouse kicked him upside the head, sending him crashing through several gigantic rock formations.

Back on the ground, everyone (with the exception of 16) looked on with awe.

Begu grinned and exclaimed, "Hell yeah! 21 really thrashed that dude to a pulp!"

Mafin questioned, "How is she even capable of fighting so well? She didn't even move a muscle back when we were fighting all those of clones!"

16 informed, "It is because of 21's DNA. Since she has the DNA of Earth's greatest fighters, she can automatically use their combat knowledge to her advantage."

Everyone saw Cell fly up out of the debris, now covered in bloody bruises and scratches.

Cell stared down at 21, who silently glared at him.

Cell frowned, "You've made me quite annoyed..."

He placed two fingers on his forehead, and shouted, "SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!", unleashing a golden spiral-like blast at 21.

21 blocked the attack by firing her own red colored ki wave, causing a beam struggle between both opponents.

It lasted several seconds, until finally, 21 managed to overpower her opponent, much to the green bio-android's surprise.

But before the attack could vaporize him, Cell managed to get out of the way.

He panted heavily, and exclaimed, "H-How?! How did she overpower me so easily?!"

In a flash, 21 instantly arrived in front of the green bio-android, and kneed him in the stomach. She whipped him in the face with her tail, sending him spiraling towards the ground. He subsequently landed with a massive crash.

21 floated downwards to where he was, and landed softly on the rocky terrain.

Cell tried to stand up, but he fell to his knees in a weak manner.

He coughed up a few pints of blood, and said, "Th-This...can't be..."

The green bio-android collapsed to the ground, falling into unconsciousness.

21 walked closer to Cell's unconscious body, all the while breathing heavily.

An unsettling smile formed on 21's face, "I...can't take it anymore..."

Everyone's eyes widened. They all knew what that statement meant.

16 shouted, "21! NO!"

18 questioned, "What do we do?!"

Mafin and Begu flew towards 21, preparing to take her down by tackling her to the ground.

21 immediately formed a red force field around her body, prompting the duo to crash into it, sending them flying back towards where 16 was standing.

The duo sat up, and rubbed each of their heads.

"Ugh...now what?", asked Begu.

Mafin nervously replied, "I...I don't know!"

The Pesutorian thought to himself, "This is bad! Why is 21 acting like this again?! I thought she absorbed some of my technique in the last location we were in...Unless..."

He gasped in realization and thought, "I FORGOT TO REMIND HER WHEN SHE WAS ABOUT TO FIGHT CELL! DARN IT!"

"Mafin. Begu.", said a certain voice.

The duo turned their heads towards 16.

"Get behind me right now."

The large android pulled off his right hand, revealing a powerful ki cannon.

The duo ran out of the way, and got behind 16.

As that occurred, 21 formed a pink crackling beam on her finger, looking almost mindlessly gleeful. She pointed towards Cell's body, and was about to fire.

"Heh heh...you look so tasty...", grinned 21.

16 fired out a giant golden ki blast at his companion.

Once again, the researcher deflected the attack with a much larger force field, but the resulting attack engulfed her in a massive explosion.

The smoke of the explosion quickly died down, and the force field around 21 faded in the process.

She sent a chilling glare at the large android.

"What are you doing?!", growled the researcher, "16!"

16 placed his right hand back on, and responded, "I'm just...keeping my promise."

21's right eye twitched madly, and she clenched her head in pain, "Sh-Shut up! Shut up! Get out of my WAAAAY!"

The researcher then formed a large red ball of ki in the palm of her left hand, and hurled it at 16.

16 managed to catch the ki attack, and was pushed back several feet away from the rest of the group in the process.

Unfortunately, he was barely holding on for long.

The rest of the group called out, "16!"

16 grunted and managed to say, "All of you...protect her! Please protect...21's heart!"

Those were the final words Android 16 ever said.

The ki blast fully engulfed his body, and he disintegrated. A massive explosion of ki occurred afterwards.


The light from the explosion faded out, and all that was left was a large crater.

21 panted heavily, and fell to one knee, her sanity quickly returning to her.

"What have you done?!", angrily questioned 17, "16 just died for you!"

It was at that moment that the real 21 came back to life, "Wh-What?!"

She looked over at the smoking crater where 16 formerly was.

21 felt her heart sink upon realizing what she just did.

Her companion, her most loyal companion.

The one that always listened to her occasional observations and ramblings.

The one that always stood by her side, and protected her.

The one who she treated like family...was now gone.

Killed by her own attack.

And there was nothing that could bring him back this time.

"N-No...16...this...this can't be...", stammered a heartbroken 21.

The researcher stood back up, and let out a skyward scream, "NOOOOO!"

Massive amounts of red energy pulsated around her in a rapid manner.

Everyone guarded their faces against the surging wind pressure.

17 stated, "Ggh! How did it come to this?!"

Suddenly, 21's body glowed brightly, and she was engulfed in a massive flash of light.

Both Mafin and Begu collectively shouted, "21!"

The bright light soon dimmed and faded.

21 looked back at the group with an exhausted expression, and started to fall towards the ground.

Mafin sprinted over to the researcher, and caught her before she fully collapsed.

21 rubbed her head, and looked up at the Pesutorian, "M-Mafin...?"

Mafin worriedly asked, "Are you okay?"

The researcher sighed and said, "I...I am now..."

"I don't understand. What the heck just happened?", questioned a confused Begu as he walked over to his two friends.

"Um, guys...you might want to look up at this...", stated 18 from afar.

The trio looked up and gasped in shock, as they couldn't believe their eyes.

Another version of Android 21 was standing a few inches away, examining her features.

She looked identical to the original 21's current appearance, except she had black eyes with red pupils, and dark pink highlights on her lower hair bangs.

"Phew!", exclaimed this new, eviler version of 21, who held her hands up in the air, "I'm feeling so much better now!"

Normal 21 questioned, "Who...who are you?"

The other android looked down at her counterpart, and let out a small chuckle, "Don't play dumb with me. You and your Pesutorian friend have been trying to hold me down all this time."

Normal 21's eyes widened, "You mean..."

Mafin added, "That's impossible..."

Begu added, "Holy crap..."

Evil 21 smirked and replied, "Yes...I am the best of you, the other side of you, you know, the hungry one."

Normal 21 exclaimed, "No! It can't be!"

Mafin fearfully asked, "H-How is that possible?!"

Evil 21 explained to the Pesutorian, "It's quite simple! Since your 21 still cared about that stupid machine, I decided to finally release myself from her."

She smiled at her original counterpart, "So sad. You don't even have the power to stop me. No one can ever stop me now!"

"I won't! I won't let you do this!", stated Normal 21.

Evil 21 exclaimed, "Such a fool! Do I have to spell it out for you?"

The evil bio-android then elaborated, "Listen closely. I've already absorbed almost all of your power, so you're in a much weaker state than you were before."

Evil 21 smirked, "I'm so bad, right?!"

She unleashed a short, but powerful gust of wind onto the trio, knocking all of them back a few feet.

Evil 21 grinned madly as she turned towards Cell's body, "Oh, goodie goodie! Snack time, snack time! Watch while I prepare a fun snack!"

The trio slowly sat back up to see what this crazy bio-android was about to do.

Evil 21 fired her pink ki beam at the green bio-android, which consumed his entire body. The beam instantly transformed Cell into a chocolate-covered donut.

Evil 21 picked up the small pastry, and began devouring it, in a rather...sensual manner.

Mafin blushed a deep crimson at her suggestive movements, while Begu held back a few chuckles, thinking, "Where'd this side of her come from?"

"Yummy...", blissfully sighed Evil 21.

A dark red aura then consumed the pink android's body, and her body underwhent another transformation. This time around, the only thing that changed was her skin, which was now a light lavender color with dark spots spread around various areas of her body.

She grinned evilly, and proceeded to power up, wanting to get a sense of this new ki within her.

Evil 21 giggled, "I am loving all of this power! I feel so much more invincible!"

18's eyes widened at this new development, "She...absorbed him?!"

17 stated, "Doesn't make any sense! Eating one android can make her that much stronger?!"

"Who cares about strength?! 16 died because of you! You're nothing but a monster!", exclaimed Normal 21, "No matter what it takes, I will stop you!"

She glared at her evil counterpart with a determined expression.

Evil 21 smirked, "What are you talking about? Don't blame me! That happened when we were still one, remember?!"

She folded her arms in a confident manner, "Besides, 16 dug his own grave. As will anyone else who dares to stand in my way. Like I said before...no one can stop me at this point. Not even Goku and his pathetic friends!"

Evil 21 evilly grinned, "And certainly, not you three."

Feeling anger rise up within her, Normal 21 charged up a ki blast with her right hand.

Mafin and Begu decided to follow suit, and they charged up their own respective ki blasts.

Normal 21 noticed this, and commanded, "Alright. All together. Three, two, one..."

The trio fired their blasts at the evil bio-android, and a small explosion occurred afterwards.

Begu asked, "Did we get her?!"

The smoke settled, and all three heroes gasped in shock.

Evil 21 was still standing. She was completely intact, without a single scratch on her. And she was severely unimpressed by what occurred just now.

"Oh...what a bore...Is that really the best you can do?", mocked the evil bio-android, who stared down at her original counterpart, "I expected that level of power off of these two weaklings you call 'friends', but you're even weaker than I expected. What a disappointment.

"But-", blurted out Normal 21.

Evil 21 continued, "Sorry, but I don't have time to play around with you anymore. First things first, I need to make sure you never get in my way again.

She turned around, and smirked, "Ta-ta for now!"

Evil 21 floated upwards, and rocketed away from the group, cackling madly.

The group was left in disbelief at what they just saw.

Normal 21 covered her face, and began sobbing to herself, feeling a combination of shame, guilt and sorrow wash over all at once.

At that moment, she felt both Mafin and Begu embrace her tightly.

Neither of them said anything, but 21 knew that they wanted to comfort her.

And the researcher was internally thankful for that.

Because she really needed some comforting right now.