"Can someone please explain to me how we ended up in this situation!?" I screamed at 17 and I continued to run for our lives. What was chasing us? Things I never thought I would see again.

"What the hell are those things!?" 17 asked me.

"I call them Cell Juniors, and I thought Gohan blew them up!" I told him as we ducked through the jungle we were in. To elaborate on this situation, let me tell you what happened a few hours before this horrific chase.

It had been almost a month since Cell was defeated and Trunks went back to his timeline. Life had pretty much returned to normal. I was trying to get back into a normal work flow after being out of it for over a month thanks to the heart virus and androids. I was at Capsule Corp helping Bulma work on those advanced weapons she was telling me about before I got sick. We were in the middle of the project when one of Bulma's assistants came into the lab and told us that I had a visitor. Confused as to who would be visiting me of all people, but when I got to the door, I was pleasantly surprised. "17? What are you doing here?"

"I came to take you up on your offer of helping me figure things out." He told me.

"Really? What about 18?" I asked.

"She's staying with Krillin right now. They're hitting it off quite well."

"Well good for them. How about you? What have you been doing before this?" I asked while bringing him inside.

"Camping, really. Just been enjoying life and nature, but I should really find something to do. I was hoping you could help me out."

"Of course. What exactly are you looking for?"

"Not sure. Haven't really needed to think about this stuff for a long time."

"Then let's start with things you like. We can probably find a job or something that matches your interests and then find a house nearby."

"Well, I guess I like nature and animals. Wouldn't mind a job where I'm by myself either." 17 told me.

"I think I know a place just for you then." Bulma butted into our conversation.

"Really?"

"Yeah. My dad has a friend who owns a private island that is being used to help protect endangered animals and such." Bulma explained. "I haven't been there myself, but I'm sure they could use some help."

"Ha! You hear that, 17? If you're lucky, you'll actually be a park ranger." I jokingly said.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." 17 sighed. "Whatever. Sounds like fun. Where is this place, anyway?" He asked Bulma.

"Hmm… I think dad said it's some place called Monster Island." 17 and I stared at Bulma for a bit with a concerned disbelief when she said this.

"Monster Island…?" 17 repeated.

"That sounds absolutely lovely…" I muttered.

"Well, we might as well figure out where 'Monster Island' is." 17 sighed before taking out his phone to look at a map.

"Wait, you still want to go?" I asked.

"Sure. With a name like 'Monster Island', it'll probably be more exciting than a normal park ranger job."

"If you say so." I nodded. With Bulma's help, we managed to pinpoint Monster Island's location. It was a little, isolated island in the south. I was about to fly off to the island when 17 suggested we make it a fun road trip, which did actually sound like fun. Bulma let me take the time off, and thus my adventure with 17 began.

We got in a car and drove north for a bit while chatting until we got to the ocean. There we got a boat and started heading over to the island. "I wonder what this place is like." I said as we made our way across the sea. "'Monster Island' sort of gives it a not pleasant vibe, but maybe it's a nice place."

"Who knows? I wonder what sort of animals, or monsters in this case, they have here." 17 added.

"Bulma said they protect endangered animals, right? Then there are probably some creatures we've never even seen here." I suggested.

"Maybe." 17 pondered as we got closer to the island. Soon, we made it to the shore of the lush island. We got off the boat and took it all in. "This place is larger than I thought it would be."

"Yeah. Tiny island my ass. That map lied to us! I don't even know where people would be in a place like this." I mumbled as I scratched the back of my head. "Might as well start looking around though, right?" 17 nodded and we walked deeper into the jungle of the island. Why weren't we flying? Because who knows how these people will react when they see people flying around their island. Last thing we want is for them to be terrified of 17 when we're trying to get him a job here.

We walked through the jungle and were amazed by the island's natural beauty and wildlife. It wasn't just endangered animals that we saw, but many of the animals were some we had never seen before. There were rhinos, lions, platypuses, flamingos, and even woolly mammoths. Animal life wasn't the only thing in large amounts. The floral life was also abundant. There were so many different kinds of flora I didn't even know were in the Dragon Ball world, like giant Venus Flytraps. After what felt like hours of walking through endless jungle, we made it to a rocky desert area on the island that had many rock formations and structures. Again, there was no sign of any humans here, which was more than a bit strange at this point. "Seriously, where are the rangers?" I sighed while looking around.

"Do you think that they're on the other side of the island?" 17 asked.

"I hope not, cause it'll take a while for us to get there without flying." I groaned. "At least this place is nice. I could get used to having a job in a place like this. I wonder where the animals are though. We were seeing so many before, but now they all seem to have disap-" I didn't finish that sentence as I took a step and was caught in a large explosion. I was sent flying a couple of yards and skidded across the ground before stopping. "Why…?" I groaned in pain.

"Hands in the air!" 17 turned to see an orange-haired woman in a MIR shirt walk towards us with a gun pointed at us and what looked like a trigger for bombs. "Alright, poacher, no need to make this hard. Your friend is already dead, so why not come to me and we can talk to the proper authorities." She told 17.

"You think he's dead?" 17 questioned with an uncaring tone. "You couldn't kill him with a blast 10 times stronger than that."

"I'm stubborn like that." I added as I slowly got up. "I'll be real though, that caught me off guard and hurt like a bitch because of that." The woman looked at me as if I had just come back from the dead and aimed her gun at me.

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" She shouted. "How the hell did you survive that!? That mine could destroy tanks!"

"Relax, we're not here to hurt you." I told her as I moved towards her and 17. The woman kept to her word and immediately shot me in the head. "OW!" I screamed while rubbing where I was shot.

"Wha-What are you!?" She was about to shoot again, but 17 swiftly grabbed the gun and disarmed it.

"How about you listen to us before you start firing again." 17 stated with an uncaring glare.

"You could have done that before she shot me." I muttered while moving towards them.

"You're a Saiyan, you can handle it." He deadpanned.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt!" I shot back. The woman was about to hit the trigger she had again, but I took action this time and ran up to her and stole the trigger away. "It's rude to blow people up for no reason."

"As if I care what happens to poachers!" She shouted.

"Poachers?" 17 and I questioned. We looked at each other with raised eyebrows before realizing what was going on.

"Oh, we're not poachers." I told her. She glared at me, so I sighed and took out my Capsule Corp employee badge. "I'm an employee of Doctor Briefs and Doctor Bulma." Her eyes widened when she saw my badge and looked at both me and 17 before quickly jumping into a dogeza in front of us.

"I'M SORRY!" She apologized desperately. 17 just sighed while I nervously laughed and told her it was alright. She took us to a ranger outpost nearby and offered us some drinks before we sat down and began to talk. "Again, I'm so sorry about that. Poachers are a recurring problem here on Monster Island. I just assumed you were some fresh meat sent in by them to scout the area or something."

"Again, it's no big deal. You were just doing your job, we understand." I told her.

"Well, my name is Rio. I'm a ranger here at Monster Island. I'm also one of the zoologists that helps take care of the animals here." The woman, Rio, told us. "Doctor Bulma must have told you how Doctor Briefs was friends with the man who founded Monster Island, Doctor Stone, as a sort of animal protection park. With him getting up there in age, he can't visit the island anymore, but I'm here to answer all your questions."

"My name is Orion. And my friend here is… huh… what should we call you now? I haven't asked yet, but do you want to go by Lapis or-"

"You can just call me number 17." 17 responded.

"Orion and 17. Got it." Rio nodded. "So, what brings a Capsule Corp employee here?"

"17 was looking for a job, and Bulma told us about this place and said it would be a good place to check out." I answered. "17 here loves nature and animals, and he's super strong, so I'm sure he could help out with those poachers you were talking about."

"What's going on with these poachers, by the way?" 17 asked.

"You see, we have a lot of endangered and rare animals here at Monster Island. The rarest of the bunch, however, are the few Minotauros that live here." Rio began to explain. "They're horns go for a fortune on the black market, so people come here hoping to snatch them to make a quick fortune."

"How disgusting…" 17 grimaced.

"There are Minotauros here?" I asked. "I didn't know Earth had Minotauros."

"Oh, are you an alien too?" Rio asked.

"Too? You've seen aliens?" 17 asked.

"Yeah. Capsule Corp helps us here by giving us money and supplies, so we've seen some of their alien friends like Jaco." Rio said. "That, and Orion has a tail, so it was sort of obvious."

"Jaco… Where have I heard that name before…" I pondered.

"He's a Galactic Patrolman, so you might have seen him out in space."

"A Galactic Patrolman, huh? I never really had the chance to interact with them." I sighed. Not like interacting with them would have been a good thing since I'm a Saiyan and was a member of the Frieza Force back then. "But I am an alien. I'm a Saiyan. We're actually an endangered race, so you've probably never heard of us. Hope you don't freak out because I'm not human." Rio nodded in understanding as she continued explaining things.

"Well, aliens aren't usually a problem here. The poachers are usually humans. And with the weapons and supplies Capsule Corp supplies us, we've been able to defend the island for this long. But if 17 here is as durable as mister alien over here, then this is an easy hire." Rio told us. "But before that, I want to see what you both can do. So here." She got up and moved to a closet and threw some MIR uniforms to both of us. "Suit up and then meet me on the ground."

"Wait, why do I have to suit up? 17 is trying to get a job here." I asked.

"True, but you're here, and we could use the help if any poachers show up. Sure, we have weapons to deal with them, but after seeing you get blown up and shot and not get a scratch on you, I'd feel better having two super-powered people here with me today." Rio said while exiting the outpost. I shrugged as I put on the uniform. Might as well help them out today. Bulma did give me the day off to come here at 17, so why not? Sounds like fun.

17 and got into our MIR uniforms and climbed down the outpost and saw Rio staring out into the jungle. "Hey you two, I got your first assignment. The birds over in the jungle over there seem to be freaking out for some reason. There might be poachers heading here from that direction. I want you to check out the situation and handle it if necessary." Rio told us. "I'll check the other areas and make sure the animals are ok."

"Got it. Let's go Orion." 17 nodded as he walked off into the jungle. I hurried along after him and we began to walk towards the disturbance.

"So what's your thoughts on the place so far?" I asked him.

"Seems like a nice place to work at. Rio seems competent enough."

"She seems to be the only one here though. Is she really in charge of protecting this entire island by herself?"

"Seems so. The outpost had cameras that seemed to survey the island, as well as track the animals. And with those weapons she had, she seems to know how to handle herself. That trigger she had seemed to activate specific mines that are hidden on the island. There are probably more weapons and security measures on the island."

"That makes sense. That mine she used on me was pretty strong. She probably wasn't lying when she said it could take out tanks."

"The fact that they have weapons to fight something like that shows just how much trouble these poachers are."

"Well now we're here. So there shouldn't be any-" I then got hit in the face by a blast and was knocked away.

"Orion!" 17 shouted. He turned to see what hit me and saw something with glaring eyes in the shadows. It slowly came out and 17's eyes widened as he backed away from it slowly. I got up and looked at the creature, only to freeze up when I saw it. A Cell Junior. How?! The other 10 showed up as well and began to laugh as they got closer to us. I quickly got up and grabbed 17's hand and started running in the opposite direction.

"Can someone please explain to me how we ended up in this situation!?" I screamed.

"What the hell are those things!?" 17 asked me.

"I call them Cell Juniors, and I thought Gohan blew them up!"

"Cell Juniors!?"

"Yeah, Cell made kids, it's weird!"

"If Gohan blew them up, then how are they still here?!" 17 yelled. I thought about it as we ran before I realized the answer.

"Oh you've GOT to be kidding me! They have a nucleus too!"

"A what!?"

"If a lump of mass in them that Cell had. He told us if it's intact, they can regenerate indefinitely! And Cell's nucleus survived his own self-destruction!"

"Then these things are indestructible?"

"No, we just have to destroy every trace of them like Cell. Luckily for us, they aren't as strong as Cell. You seem to have gotten stronger since you fought Piccolo, at least a bit, and I'm much stronger now, so we shouldn't have a problem."

"Good. We just need to get to an open area so we don't harm the wildlife nearby."

"That's the plan." We made our way back to the rocky desert area of the island and turned to face the Cell Juniors that were following us. They grinned evilly as they moved toward us. "Alright, be careful around these guys. They have the same powers that Cell did and there are 11 of them. Try to take them out as quickly as you can, otherwise you'll get overwhelmed."

"Right. I'll take the 6 on the left and you take the 5 on the right."

"Screw you, I'm stronger than you! I'll take the 6."

"Are you now? Let's make this a competition then. Whoever defeats the most Cell Juniors wins."

"You're on!" With that, 17 and I rushed to the Cell Juniors and began to fight them. Two of the Cell Juniors created Swords of Mars and began to swipe at me, but I effortlessly dodged their attacks. "I noticed this last time we fought, but now that I'm a lot stronger than before thanks to my Saiyan DNA and daily training, I'll just say it plainly for you to understand." I then grabbed one of the Cell Junior's blades and pulled him close to me so that I could look him in the eyes. "Your swordsmanship sucks." I then stabbed him with my own blade and tossed him aside before blasting him to pieces. Unfortunately, I didn't completely erase the Cell Junior from existence, so he began to regenerate. I sighed as I continued the fight.

17 was handling his own Cell Juniors as well, using his barriers to strengthen his punches as he fought them. He charged electric like energy in his palms and jumped up before tossing the blasts at the CJs, causing a large electrical explosion. When 17 landed, the CJs were injured, but not completely destroyed, allowing them to regenerate. "What a pain. Let's try this then. SUPER ELECTRIC STRIKE!" He charged green energy in his hands and threw it out like a cyclone, catching a few of the Cell Juniors in it and tearing them apart while sending them flying.

"Oh! Are we using super moves? Let me do that!" I shouted as I charged my energy around the Cell Juniors. Soon, multiple orbs appeared around them in a dome. "I was hoping to use this on Cell, but you guys are a good replacement. Now, Mercury Blast." With a snap of my fingers, the dome began to fire the orbs at the other Cell Juniors with speed and power similar to a gatling gun firing from all directions. The orbs would also continuously reappear if I kept using my energy, so the Cell Juniors were under assault from hundreds of orbs that wouldn't stop until I stopped supplying energy to the attack. And I have a lot of energy, so…

After pelting the Cell Juniors with my Mercury Blast, I stopped the attack and found them all on the ground, heavily injured and barely able to stand. "They're still alive after that? These pests are troublesome." 17 groaned.

"Not for long. With them like this, we can easily dispose of them now." I told 17. "It's hard to believe these imps were causing us so much trouble during the Cell Games. If I was this strong back then…" I shook the thought out of my head. No time for regrets. Not right now. Later. "Well, time to kill them, right?"

"Wait!" 17 and I turned to see Rio running towards us with sparkles in her eyes. She dashed past us and immediately crouched down next to one of the Cell Juniors. "Oh my god! It actually is a tiny Cell! I saw on TV that he made offsprings, but to think they would survive what that kid did to them! How did a bio-engineered android make offspring? These things are one of a kind because of that!"

"Hey! Get away from there!" 17 shouted to Rio. The Cell Junior she was next to smirked as he charged ki into his palm and aimed it towards her. Before it could fire the attack though, Rio slammed her hand into the top of it's head angrily, causing the Cell Junior to stop charging the attack.

"No! None of that! Shame on you!" Rio told the Cell Junior with a glare. The Cell Junior, along with me and 17, looked at Rio with shock after she did that. She then began to examine the Cell Junior a bit more closely, the Cell Juniors just confused as to how a normal woman just attacked one of them like that. After getting enough of a look at the Cell Juniors, Rio nodded before standing back up and moving towards us. "So these little guys were causing the disturbance?"

"Uh...yeah?" I answered her with a still shocked voice.

"Well, I'm glad you taught them a lesson, but I don't want you to kill them."

"What!? Why!?" 17 shouted.

"Because these guys are the type of creatures that completely fall under what Monster Island seeks to protect. One-of-a-kind monsters. Well, I guess 11-of-a-kind here." Rio answered. "Besides, after the beating they just received, I'm sure they know they don't stand a chance against you both. And if they ever become an issue, you could just call the kid that killed Cell, right?" She asked while looking at me.

"Well...I suppose, but-"

"Good." Rio cut me off and turned to 17. "Now then, I think I've seen enough. 17, you're hired. You can stay here with me and help me protect the island. And as your first official assignment, I want you to train these...what did you call them? Cell Juniors? Either way, train them so they aren't violent towards people."

"Wait, but-"

"Good. Now meet me at the outpost with the Cell Juniors later. We'll have to figure out where they'll stay." With that, Rio walked away. 17, me, and even the Cell Juniors just stared at her as she walked away.

"She...marches at her own pace." I muttered.

"Yep. This is gonna be a pain…" 17 groaned before turning to the Cell Juniors. "I won't kill you today. Boss's orders. But if you do anything I don't like, I'll kill you all on the spot. Are we clear?" The Cell Juniors each nodded fearfully as 17 huffed and before turning back to me. "Well, I suppose I should thank you."

"Nah, no need. I didn't do much anyway." I said nervously. I then offered 17 a hand as I gave him a smile. "Good luck, park ranger."

"Hmph. Sure." 17 smirked as he took my hand and shook it. "See later, Orion." With that, he walked off with the Cell Juniors towards the direction Rio went in earlier. With that done, I left Monster Island and returned to West City. It was an interesting trip, to say the least. I hope 17 enjoys working there. Who knows? Maybe I'll visit every once in a while? Seeing the Cell Juniors being trained might be enjoyable. But for now, I'll just continue my normal life. I've got an interview coming up soon, anyway.