Gohan fell to the ground, tears filling his eyes. Consumed with nothing but guilt over the loss of his father, he started punching the dirt, taking out his frustrations.
"It's all my fault!" Gohan yelled. "If I hadn't been so careless, dad would still be here!"
Piccolo flew over to Gohan's side in order to comfort the half-saiyan, who was still in his SSJ2 form. Gohan, still sniffling, eased up a little bit when Piccolo appeared next to him.
"You've made us all proud, Gohan," Piccolo said, "and you don't need to beat yourself up. Your father was proud of you and he did what he had to do in order to protect the planet. He went out on his own terms, and we need to respect that."
"I just…wish I hadn't been so stupid out there," Gohan said, appearing to calm down.
"Consider it a lesson, kid," Piccolo replied, "when you let your power and abilities go to your head, you're going to think that everything will work in your favor. It's not like that. And it's best you learned that now as opposed to later on in your life. You're becoming a man, Gohan, and it's time to start acting like one."
Gohan knew that Piccolo was right. He respected Piccolo to the same degree that he respected his father. The values that he instilled in him after Raditz was defeated always stuck around in his mind, and he took all of the advice Piccolo gave him to heart.
The rest of the Z-fighters flew over to Gohan's side, now seeing that he calmed down.
"Dry your tears," Vegeta said, "it's not fitting for a saiyan warrior to be such a sniffling mess on the battlefield."
"You were amazing out there, Gohan," Trunks said, "and just know that your father had to do what he had to do for the betterment of the world. Don't dwell too much on letting your ego get the best of you. I made that same mistake against Cell, too, so we can relate!"
"Goku would be proud," Krillin said, smiling. I've known him since I was a kid; always the selfless kind of guy, willing to sacrifice himself to guarantee the safety of everyone else."
Gohan powered down to his base form, reaching a state of emotional stability after talking to those who he considered his friends. He couldn't help but still feel a lingering sense of guilt, but the words from the other fighters relaxed him.
"What do we do now?" Gohan asked. "The world's at peace now, but there's still a lot of damage that Cell left behind."
"Dende made a new set of dragonballs capable of granting two wishes," Piccolo replied. "We'll use the first wish to bring all of Cell's victims back to life, and we'll decide on the second once we return to the lookout."
"I'll grab 18," Krillin said, "Dende can probably heal her, right?"
"No!" Trunks yelled, growing angry. "If there's one thing this planet doesn't need, it's more androids! She should be destroyed right now!"
Trunks started powering up, turning super saiyan in the process. With rage in his eyes, he sought to blast Android 18 into oblivion. He wanted to make damn sure that the Earth would be rid of these monsters.
"Stop it, Trunks!" Krillin yelled back, running in front of Trunks. This surprised Trunks quite a bit, and he immediately let the energy he was gathering dissipate.
"What are you thinking, Krillin?" Trunks asked. "Do you really want even one of these monsters remaining on the Earth?"
"She's not like the ones in your time, though," Krillin replied, "I think she's actually good-hearted. Let her live. Please, Trunks."
Trunks sighed in response. Had Krillin absolutely lost it? In any case, he didn't have as bad of a feeling as he initially thought he would.
"Fine," Trunks said.
"If it's any consolation, Trunks," Piccolo said, "if the android acts out of line, most of us are now powerful enough to easily take her down. In other words, you don't have much to worry about. In fact, you should be strong enough now to where you can save your timeline from those machines."
Trunks thought about it, and knew that Piccolo was entirely correct. All of that training in the hyperbolic time chamber did make a world of difference, and he now felt strong enough to hold his own against those monsters from his time. It was also reassuring to see just how strong Gohan, Piccolo, and his father had grown since he first met them.
"I'll get a night's worth of rest, then head out in the morning," Trunks said.
"Now, if there's no more concern, I believe we have a couple of wishes to make."
With that, the fighters took to the sky and flew to the lookout. Shenron was summoned, and the first wish to bring those who Cell killed was granted. Gohan, disappointed that Goku was unable to be wished back, asked if there was any way for him to come back to life. The idea of the Namekian dragonballs was entertained, until Goku used King Kai's ability to communicate to state that he did not wish to return. While this made Gohan and the other fighters sad (excluding Vegeta, who mainly stood silent with an angry expression and folded arms), Goku explained that he seemed to attract evildoers, and found it best to not come back for that reason; Gohan promised to his father that he would do what he could to make sure that the Earth stays safe. Understanding Goku's request, they agreed on their second wish to have the bomb removed from Android 18.
The following day, they all met outside of the Capsule Corporation building to say goodbye to Trunks, who was able to do away with the androids in his time, along with Future Cell, who posed no threat to the half-saiyan warrior.
For the time being, all appeared to be well.
Cell sat in the darkness of space, in quiet meditation, thoughts of his quest to perfection running through his mind. He had almost felt sickened with how driven he was by his initial goal, only to be humiliated by a kid. His one desire, to become the ultimate being, all meant nothing. Cell knew that he had unbelievable power, but what did it mean if he couldn't do away with those earthlings?
In fact, Cell had begun to question the entire concept of perfection.
"Absolutely miserable," Cell thought. The time during the fight against Gohan where he expanded himself into a ticking timebomb played in his head, which caused the bio-android to open his eyes and snap out of his trance.
"How pathetic I was," he thought, "this is not the course of action that a perfect being would take. A perfect being would NOT act like such a coward. If I had actually been confident, then the event would have transpired in an entirely different way."
Cell was starting to play scenarios in his head of what would have happened if he hadn't resorted to such idiotic measures. What did it all matter now, though? He lost, and took the coward's way out.
Why couldn't he go back to Earth and do away with the fighters now? He certainly could, but something was stopping him. Cell perceived blatantly attacking them while they're off-guard as being pitiful.
"I could stay in space," Cell thought, "but…this is getting rather boring. And I am growing tired of being trapped inside of my own head."
Cell was fortunate enough to have acquired the instant transmission technique, and he used to it scan the universe for energy signatures. After a couple of minutes, he located one with powerful enough signatures to lock on to, and he teleported there in a matter of seconds.
Arriving on Planet Vorsye, Cell appeared in the middle of a forest at night. Though he felt the power of their species, he knew that they posed no threat at all to him. And lucky for them, he had no intentions of doing away with their species. His ego was still somewhat crushed after his fight against the half-breed Gohan on Earth, and all Cell wanted to do was relax.
Using telekinesis, he converted some trees into a material that was fitting enough to lie down on. As he was about to lie down and pass out, he heard what sounded like footsteps coming towards him.
A humanoid child approached the bio-android, dressed in a black cloak. The kid had light-blue skin and red hair, and didn't seem at all intimidated by Cell's presence.
"So, what brings you to these parts of the woods?" The kid asked.
"Get out of here, right now," Cell replied, "as you can quite plainly see, I'm in no mood for social interaction."
"Ah yeah, I gotcha. You know it's just a little strange to see someone-"
The kid was cut off by a swift kick to the gut by Cell, who appeared in front of him in an instant.
"It seems as though you didn't hear me the first time. Get out of here, and leave me be."
The kid knelt to the ground, holding his stomach with both hands, but appeared to be smiling.
"What is this kid's deal?" Cell thought to himself.
"Ah yeah, you're – agh…strong al…right. Ow. Name's Ponchack, by the way."
Cell stood looking at Ponchack, bewildered by his nonchalance. Why was he showing no signs of fear in front of him? This was a first for Cell, who was so used to seeing the look of fear in the eyes of all of those he encountered.
"Well, aren't you the amicable one? I just kicked you right in the gut and you…play it off like it's nothing. Kid, I could kill you right here and now if I so desired. I suggest you start getting afraid and run on out of here." Cell said.
"That's actually good!" Ponchack replied, his voice emphasized by a bizarre sense of enthusiasm. This only made the bio-android more confused.
"Alright, just what is your malfunction, exactly? Why would you be so ecstatic to meet your end?"
"Well, that means you're probably strong enough to rough up those other guys."
"Other guys? Okay…Ponchack was it, now? As you might be able to tell, I'm not from around here, and I don't know anything about this pitiful rock you call your planet."
"Oh right, shoulda been able to guess. See, there are these two really strong guys who have been terrorizing our planet. Think their names are…Avo and Cado or something. Long story short, they killed my family and my friends, and they're not quite done here yet. Managed to escape the bastards and it seems like they're going to be coming back soon to finish the job. Family always said I should be as happy and energetic as possible so that's why I don't seem so distraught. Came out in the woods so I could train and make home here, then I ran into you. And you're kinda my only real hope at this point, so…do ya mind helping me train a bit? It's cool if ya don't want to."
"So he wants me to play superhero, does he?" Cell thought, beginning to laugh. When Cell transported himself to this planet, he didn't expect anything like this to occur. Never a dull moment in the life of the bio-android.
"Can't believe I'm saying this, kid, but come here tomorrow morning. For now, I need to relax, so I suggest you leave now before I turn you into a pile of dust."
"Awesome, man! Thanks! I'll be the best student ever, just you wait!"
Ponchack ran out of the woods, jumping up and down out of joy. Cell merely looked on, feeling rather confused at how unthreatening he seemed to this strange kid in a black cloak.
In any case, Cell felt somewhat relieved that he had something to look forward to after waking up.