Krillin's feelings won out against logic in the battle that had been waging inside his head. 18 was hiding within a crevice on the side of a cliff to try and stay out of sight, but she was poking her head out slightly to look for any danger. When Krillin found that he didn't have it in him to press the button on the remote, it slipped from his grasp and clattered on the ground.
18 looked over and was surprised to see him when Krillin revealed himself. "It's you." And then she was shocked to see Dr. Gero's remote on the ground.
He further surprised by smashing the remote underneath his foot. "You need to get out of here," Krillin told 18 seriously. "If Cell absorbs you then it's all over!"
"Why are you doing this?" 18 asked, stepping out of the crevice. "You're taking a huge risk by letting me go."
Suddenly Trunks appeared in the air. He had left the broken 16 behind and begun to search for Krillin to make sure he took care of 18 as soon as he saw that his father was falling for Cell's goading. To his confusion he saw the two were just staring each other down. Then he noticed the broken remote beneath Krillin. At first Trunks was stunned that the remote was destroyed, but then he recalled how Ranch confronted Krillin outside of Goku's house, and it made sense. Damn him! Trunks thought furiously, now sympathetic to how Ranch had reacted that day.
Trunks powered up, his muscles bulking up in the process, catching the attention of not just 18 and Krillin, but Cell and Vegeta, too.
"Vegeta!" Cell cried in desperation. "If Trunks kills 18 then I won't be able to transform, and you'll lose a worthy opponent!"
Vegeta grimaced. "We'll see about that!" He then flew off in Trunks' direction.
When Trunks finished powering up, he bolted down to 18, who was shocked at how fast he got to her. Trunks pointed the palm of his hand in her face, and charged up a shot, shouting, "Die!"
But before he could get the shot off, Vegeta showed up and kicked Trunks, sending him tumbling away.
"Bug man, the cyborg is here," Vegeta called over his shoulder. As Trunks got back on his feet, Vegeta said to him, "Don't get in the way, boy, this Cell promised me a proper challenge if he absorbs the woman."
"Has everyone here gone insane?" Trunks shouted angrily. "Father, if Cell absorbs her he'll be unstoppable!"
"For you maybe."
Not bothering to retort, Trunks put his hands together, aimed, and quickly shot a beam. But the beam completely missed Vegeta, and it went straight past him. Instead it hit Cell, who appeared and was barreling towards 18. Trunks then shot forward, again going past Vegeta, and punched Cell into the ground.
"They're distracted!" Krillin told 18. "Get out of here!"
"Oh, uh, right." 18 and Krillin began to run away from the fight.
Up in the air, Trunks was looking at where he hit Cell, and saw that there as a hole in the ground. Damn! Noticing that 18 was making a run for it, he started for her, but again Vegeta got in the way.
"What's wrong with you?" Vegeta asked. "Aren't you at all curious just how strong that Cell will get?"
"Of course not!" Trunks yelled back angrily. "My time is a hellish landscape! I'll prevent that from happening here even if I have to go through you."
Vegeta scoffed. "Between that and how you're carrying on with that low-class brat, how can you possibly be my so—?"
Trunks put hands together, and shot a two handed blast at Vegeta, who was caught off guard and was sent flying away. He turned back towards the fleeing cyborg and flew towards her. When he got close, Trunks prepared a shot to vaporize her, but in front of 18 and Krillin the ground erupted.
Cell appeared, put his hands in front of his face, and shouted, "Solar Flare!" Trunks, Krillin, and 18 were all blinded the bright light.
Krillin stumbled forward and threw his arms out in front of 18. "Stay behind me!" But Cell threw a weak shot at him that flicked him aside. With a yell, Trunks threw caution to the wind and charged in the direction of where he last saw Cell, who dodged him, grabbed Trunks, and threw him far away. Cell walked towards 18, opening up the tip of his tail.
"Hey!" shouted 18, hoping that Krillin would hear. "Please. Help 16." And like the others, 18 threw herself at Cell. But it was futile as Cell brought his tail down on top of her and sucked her down.
By the time Krillin and 18 got their sight back, they were horrified to see Cell glowing as he transformed. Vegeta, on the other hand, had returned after he was blown away and came back looking satisfied as Cell's power grew.
"No!" Krillin cried.
"No!" shouted Trunks. He desperately attempted to do something by shooting a barrage of blasts at him as Cell transformed, but it was for nothing.
As Cell's power continued to grow, the group on the lookout looked on both terror and awe at what they were feeling. The whole planet seemed to vibrate as Cell grew stronger by the second and his body changed its shape. All Krillin and Trunks could do was look on in terror, while Vegeta was elated at that he would be getting a worthy opponent. A final blast of light issued from Cell, and in its wake was Cell in his new, more powerful form.
At the lookout, Piccolo anxiously announced, "Cell's transformation is complete."
"What?" Bulma asked, confused. She looked at Tien, Goku, and Gohan, who all confirmed. "How? Didn't Krillin use the remote?"
"No," Goku told her, looking down at the earth. "He crushed it and let her go."
"But why would he do that?" she asked in a panic.
"It wasn't just Krillin," Gohan said shakily. "Vegeta just let it happen when he could've just ended it in a second. All because he wanted a stronger opponent." Gohan then shot his father a look. "Sound familiar, dad?"
"Hold on, if you all knew this was going on, why didn't you teleport down there to help take the cyborg out before Cell could absorb it?" Bulma asked Goku accusingly.
Goku threw up his hands defensively. "Hey, cut me some slack! In case you haven't heard, I was only able to take on Cyborg 19 before the virus got to me. I wouldn't have stood a chance down there, so I've got to train before I'm useful again."
"How convenient," she said, unconvinced.
Inside the time chamber, Ranch opened her mouth in her great ape form and shot a beam at Raditz. She just didn't shoot it in an uncontrolled, primal rage; rather, Ranch knowingly shot it at the ape she knew to be her father. Seeing an opening, she jumped at him and landed her giant fist against his snout. Raditz countered by grabbing her and kneeing her in the stomach. They kept on trading blows, only stopping when ninety minutes passed and the glowing orb above them dissipated. When they shrunk back down to their normal forms, Ranch and Raditz fell into a sitting position on the ground, and were breathing heavily.
"I think you have the hang of this now," Raditz told her.
"Thanks," she said, gasping for air. "Hate to say it but we should take a break. Start focusing on reaching that next level of Super Saiyan we've been touching on."
"You read my mind," agreed Raditz. He stood up, went over to Ranch, and offered her a hand up. "But first food and sleep."
Ranch sniffed herself and cringed. "More like a bath, food, and sleep. I swear that monkey form's smell sticks with me even after going back to normal."
Back at the island, Cell was floating above the crater his power up created, and he touched back down on the ground as everyone around him gawked at him. Cell began to admire his new body and threw a few punches to try it out.
Above them, Vegeta continued observing with a sinister smirk. "So that's his ultimate form?" he said, unimpressed. "What a joke, he's even smaller than he was before."
Krillin, meanwhile, was looking furiously at Cell with tears in his eyes. Destroying the remote meant nothing. Either way 18 was now gone. "You monster!" Krillin yelled, flying at Cell.
"Krillin, no!" Trunks tried to warn.
But Krillin was already kicking and punching Cell, but it had absolutely zero effect. Cell simply ignored whatever Krillin was doing and continued to examine his new body. Seeing what he was doing was futile, Krillin charged up his Destruco Disk. "Eat this!" The circular blade of energy caught Cell on the back of the neck, and for a split second Krillin was elated, but then saw that it had no effect whatsoever.
"So you want to play?" asked Cell, looking back at him. Cell closed in on Krillin, smirked at him, and kicked him in the head, sending Krillin tumbling away unconscious.