Piccolo's lookout, outer space
The new galactic lookout was very similar to Dende's lookout on Earth, except for the scenery. Instead of floating in a planet's atmosphere, this lookout hovered near the center of the galaxy. Ordinarily no living thing could survive there, but a magical shield protected the lookout from the dangers of the void. In addition to that, the promenade at the entrance of the temple contained magical trees which provided air to breathe, in addition to an enchanted fountain which provided water and a steady flow of ki. While constructing the new lookout, King Kai had asked Piccolo if he wanted Ajisa trees from New Namek to grow there, but Piccolo preferred the more familiar Earth plants.
Gohan and Piccolo sat down on one of the benches surrounding the fountain, Piccolo meditating and Gohan staring at the stars in amazement. The half-saiyan knew that stars were much closer together at the center of the galaxy, but actually seeing it in person, from inside, was almost too much for words.
After a long period of quiet star gazing, Gohan turned to his friend, who was still levitating, meditating with eyes closed and legs crossed. "How is it, Piccolo?"
"It's hard to describe," answered the namekian. "I can see anywhere if I concentrate hard enough, but everywhere I look I see death. It's like an abandoned graveyard. There are..." the namekian hesitated, but eventually continued, "ghosts… souls of the dead who couldn't find their way to the otherworld, they're all flying around the remains of a hundred thousand broken worlds, surrounded by hundreds of billions of lifeless planets. So many of them."
Gohan had sensed the disturbing emptiness of the galaxy after the ritual, but he couldn't sense those trapped souls. Their presence only hardened his resolve.
"The remaining planets feel like candles about to be snuffed out," Piccolo continued. "I can sense my offspring on their assigned worlds, I see Corun is still in the galactic capital with Chell, and Cthon… wait… ah, Cthon is fighting dozens of opponents at once in the arena of the world called Hub, the crowd is chanting his name." The tall namekian smiled. "I used to want that, a long time ago, even if I never admitted it to myself."
A sharp gasp from Gohan caused Piccolo to open his eyes. "What is it?"
Gohan looked up at him. "It's Beerus, he's awake."
Piccolo couldn't sense beings and events outside the galaxy, but he had no reason to doubt Gohan's words. "Are you sure it's urgent?" he asked, "Beerus may not find out about what you did to Freeza for a long time. And even if he does, maybe he wouldn't care that much."
"I don't know, Piccolo," Gohan closed his own eyes and reached out with his ki sense. "He feels agitated, I better get moving."
Gohan stood up and walked towards the lookout's rim. "I hope you're right," he turned to look at Piccolo and ignited his aura, "but I think we just ran out of time."
Otherworld, Hell, a short while later
Beerus and Whis appeared in the otherworld and immediately descended into hell.
"Can't you go any faster, Whis?" Beerus asked in annoyance, waving away strands of thick, yellow clouds.
"I'm going as fast as I can, my lord," Whis answered in a slightly accusing tone.
Beerus sighed. "Fine, fine, let's just get it over with."
A few minutes later they reached their destination, an area of hell that appeared to be a training ground for ogres. It was a large, open compound on a tall plateau that towered above the surrounding landscape. On it groups of guardian ogres were engaged in various training exercises, some using ornate weapons, some using hand-to-hand combat, and others using simple energy attacks.
All activity stopped when the ogres noticed Whis and Beerus flying towards them. Every ogre, from junior trainee to senior instructor, froze in place and stopped moving.
Whis and Beerus landed on the platform and walked towards one group of ogres. They were the most experienced guards, all veteran warriors, and their instructor was the only non-ogre on the plateau. He was also the only one who wasn't frozen in fear. When he saw the others stop moving, the tall instructor noticed Whis and Beerus and simply waited there to see what will happen next.
Beerus, impatient after minutes of flying through space and dimensions, approached the instructor and looked up. "You're Cell, right?"
"Yes, who is asking?" Cell answered, curious and annoyingly fearless. His eyes were drawn to the top of the newcomers' heads, noting the distinct lack of halos. These were living beings, out of place in this realm.
"My name is Beerus, and this is Whis", said Beerus. The tall angel looked down at Cell and smiled.
"Very well," Cell answered, "you already know who I am. Why have you come here?"
"We're here to bring you back to life," Beerus said and paused for a few moments, allowing his words to sink in. "We bring you back to life, you destroy Earth, and after that you're free to do as you wish."
The tall, green-armored warrior considered this for a few moments, then answered "no, thanks".
"What!?" Beerus asked angrily.
"He said no, my lord," Whis said helpfully.
"I heard what he said, Whis," said the annoyed Beerus. Turning his attention back to Cell, the god of destruction said "I thought you wanted to destroy Earth, we're giving you a chance to do it."
"I wanted to, for a long time," Cell admitted, "but that was another me, a young fool indoctrinated and brainwashed by an insane, long-dead creator. To put it simply," Cell smirked at the catlike god, "I got over it."
Beerus growled in annoyance. Everything was wrong, this Cell character was supposed to be a murderous psychopath who wanted to be the perfect warrior. And here he was, training these pathetic ogres to fight better? That wasn't right at all.
"What about perfection?" asked Beerus with barely restrained anger. "Are you content to stay here and toy with these ogres?"
"That was just part of my old brainwashing," Cell answered calmly. "What is perfection, really? If an artist creates the most perfect painting, is he more perfect or less perfect than me, the perfect warrior? And if I am the perfect warrior and then meet a more powerful warrior, does that make him the perfect warrior, and will I be perfect again when I overcome him?" Cell paused for a moment and then continued, "It's an illogical waste of time. Embarrassing, really, when I look back at my old self."
"Bah!" Beerus spat, "A philosopher? Really?! This is what hell does to you, turns you into a philosopher?!" He raised his right arm towards Cell, palm open and fingers extended upwards.
"Tell me, Cell," Beerus smiled menacingly, "What do you think about non-existence?"
"Lord Beerus, no!" Whis called out. The angel rushed forward and grabbed Beerus' arm. "Please, my lord, remember my warning."
"Fine, fine…" Beerus sighed and lowered his arm. "Let's just go meet the second target."
Without saying anything else, Beerus launched himself into the skies of Hell, followed by Whis.
A moment later he paused, turned around and launched a tiny pinprick of energy towards the plateau. A titanic explosion lit the sky for miles, causing the tall rock formation to shatter and crumble. A column of dust and smoke rose from the ruined plateau and almost reached the yellow clouds above.
Beerus smiled grimly and watched the destruction for a moment before continuing.
Back at the former training site, piles of rubble and large pieces of broken rock started levitating into the air, raised telekinetically by Cell and allowing the grateful ogres to extricate themselves and their wounded friends.
"I don't think about non-existence all that much, to be honest," Cell said to himself, looking at the two figures vanishing in distance.
Otherworld, Hell, maze of mirrors
It was the most wretched place in the hell, at least in the eyes of the prisoner. A maze of mirrors, each one showing only the truth. There was nowhere to go where he couldn't see his pathetic reflection. He never got tired, never got hungry, never got thirsty. All there was to do was stare at himself in a multitude of mirrors.
How long was he trapped there? Was it days? Months? Years? The prisoner honestly couldn't tell. Time just went on and on, and his reflection — that gray, weak and pathetic reflection — was his only companion.
At least until the explosion, that was completely different and new. Was it a test? A new way of torturing him? The prisoner didn't care at this point. He gathered his energy and ran towards the sound of destruction, stopping only when, to his delight, he arrived at an area where the ceiling was gone. For the first time in forever, he could see the yellow clouds of hell, and they looked like the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his existence. Too bad hell didn't have refreshing breezes, but the sight of the sky and clouds was enough.
Only when the excitement wore off he noticed the strangers, and the mirror shard stuck in his foot.
"Argh! That hurts!" The prisoner hopped on one leg for a moment, then sat down and began extracting the shard from the wound.
The strangers floated a few inches above the broken glass covering the floor and approached the prisoner. One of them, a hairless alien with big ears, asked him what his name was, and if he wanted to destroy Earth.
The prisoner's mind immediately began to overflow with thoughts of revenge. "There's nothing I want more. Sadly, I've been stuck like this for a while."
The stranger smiled, grabbed him by the hand and pulled him upright. His tall, blue-skinned friend waved his staff, and suddenly the prisoner's lungs filled with air. His heart began to beat again, and the fog interfering with his mind began to clear. His hands wandered above his head, searching for an halo and finding none. Now came the familiar part, then. The prisoner's body tensed, preparing to make a move.
"Don't even think about it," the feline alien said, as if reading the prisoner's thoughts.
The prisoner grimaced, then smiled. These aliens were clearly wise and powerful. "My sincere apologies, powerful ones, it's a force of habit. I assure you I have no intention of attacking you."
"Of course not," said the catlike alien with a knowing grin. "Can you fly?"
"I'm afraid not, lord, my power was restricted ever since I came to this realm."
"Doesn't matter, take my hand and hold on," the stranger said, "I'll explain your task on the way."
Earth, upper atmosphere
Beerus and Whis hovered about the blue-green planet, looking down. The former prisoner was in place, his task underway. Watching it unfold was pointless. Whis had been masking their ki ever since they left hell, there was simply no way this could fail. And even if it did, he'd just try again later.
"Great, we're done with that. Now let's go find Gohan," said Beerus.
"Yes, lord," Whis responded in a strangely subdued tone.
"What's wrong with you, Whis?" the god of destruction asked.
"Nothing, lord," Whis hesitated, "it's just…"
Beerus waited, tail flicking about more and more rapidly, until he snapped. "Well, say it already, Whis!"
"I… I like this world, my lord," Whis began, then grew quiet.
"Oh come on, Whis," Beerus said. This happened once or twice in the last few million years. Sentimental angels were the worst. "They're just mortal in the end, they don't matter. Snap out of it and let's go find Gohan. He has a lot to answer for."
"Yes, lord," Whis said cheerfully and began scanning the galaxy for Gohan's location.
"Good to have you back, Whis," said Beerus sarcastically. "Now hurry it up, will you? I'm getting hungry. Maybe we can go grab something on Champa's Earth."
Earth, Satan City, a while later
The former prisoner wandered the city for a long time, observing the people, the buildings, the street signs. He stopped in front of an electronics shop and watched TV for a while, entered an internet cafe and used the primitive computers to search for clues, always gathering more information. He discovered that the idiots had an open global net full of juicy knowledge, available for free!
His benefactors didn't give him any intelligence at all. He didn't even know where he was, exactly. All the catlike alien said was "destroy Earth as quickly as possible", and that was it. Well, fine. Destroying planets wasn't that difficult. As long as he maintained a low profile and got it over with quickly, none of Earth's warriors would have enough time to stop him.
Eventually he approached a policeman on a relatively quiet street corner.
"Excuse me, sir, I'm lost. Can you help me?"
"Eh?" The policeman looked at the stranger curiously. He wore simple robes, not city clothes, and didn't look human at all. A short, very thin humanoid with gray skin, large head and two black, saucer-like eyes. "Err…" it was impolite to stare, and the stranger did appear out of place. "Of course, where do you need to go?"
"I'm looking for Mister Satan, sir, I heard he accepts alien students and came to study martial arts from him."
"Wow," the policeman was stunned. "You're an alien, really?"
"Yes, sir," the prisoner tried to appear as innocent as possible. "Can you help me?"
"O… of course. In fact, I'll take you there myself!"
A short while later, the policeman arrived at Mister Satan's mansion, having coordinated a meeting with Hercule himself. A group of photographers were already there to document another historic meeting between Satan, champion of Earth, and a new alien disciple.
Gods, these Earthlings are stupid, the former prisoner thought as the policeman escorted him through the journalists blocking the way to Satan's mansion. He's practically doing them a favor by destroying them.
Eventually Satan himself opened the door and faced the journalists, speaking about it being an honor to act as Earth's ambassador to other species. He even put his hand around the prisoner's shoulders as the photographers took pictures, bending his tall frame down.
After he was done with the media, Satan took him inside the house, closed the door and looked at him skeptically.
"Are you really an alien?" the tall human asked.
In response, the prisoner spread his hands to both sides, looked straight into Satan's eyes and shouted "CHANGE, NOW!"
Without missing a beat, Captain Ginyu, now in Satan's body, stepped forward and punched his old, powerless, original body in the face, then held his fist up in pain as the gray, wretched form fell down. The human fool was completely unconscious. Ginyu knelt down, snapped his neck and stuffed him in a closet.
This human was almost as weak as his original body! He barely had enough ki to light a match, never mind blowing up a planet. Absolutely pathetic. Ginyu reminisced about his time in Tagoma's body, then grimaced as he remembered his end. To hell with Freeza and to double hell with that traitor Vegeta, all Ginyu had to do was find someone moderately powerful, destroy Earth and escape.
Oh well, on with the mission. Ginyu then remembered his supposed alien student. Maybe that one wasn't a complete weakling, although it would be very difficult to equal his current body's weakness.
Ginyu wandered the mansion for a few minutes, hearing movement in one of the rooms ahead. It seemed to be a kitchen, and in that kitchen was a fat, blob-like pink alien stuffing his face with various items of food. That was the same alien he saw in those pictures on the internet, Satan's student.
Look at him go, thought Ginyu. Well, no time like the present.
"Hello, my student," said Ginyu.
The confused Buu looked at him. "Huh? Student?"
Ginyu spread his hands and once again shouted "CHANGE, NOW!"
Power! Magic! All of it his to play with! His mind, flooded suddenly with the power of ancient sorcery, took a few moments to adapt. When he came to, the other was gone. Never mind, the now-pathetic alien was helpless in Satan's body, while he, Ginyu, controlled one of the most overpowered bodies he ever had the pleasure of inhabiting.
He knew he was supposed to destroy the Earth as quickly as possible, but his new power was too tempting… No one will know if he spent a few minutes rampaging around the city. It wouldn't hurt, right?
Otherworld, King Yemma's palace
"Gohan's father in law?! Murdered?!" Yemma's good mood evaporated at a record speed.
"Yes, sir king god, sir, that's me!" Satan said proudly.
"I'm not judging you. No. No no no. You are staying right there in one of the side room. Guards! Take this soul away!"
