Chapter 29: Humanity

Huh. It turns out the third Kai chapter has been done for a couple of weeks, but I kept forgetting about it. Well, it's at the end of this chapter. Enjoy.

The androids Seventeen and Eighteen faced off against Cell, the hissing bio-android calculating the perfect moment to strike. "All right, Eighteen," the male android said quietly, "he's got to be tired after taking on the Namek. If we work together, we can—" Cell disappeared, moving far faster than they could follow as it charged at them. So much for that theory! Eighteen thought, bracing herself for the coming attack.

There was a flash of green, and two fast-moving blurs condensed into solid figures, android 16's fist planted firmly in Cell's face. "I will not permit you to absorb Seventeen and Eighteen," he said calmly. "Come no closer or I will be forced to terminate you."

"Bah. Out of my way, you inferior model!" Cell shrieked. They locked hands, pushing against each other. Two loud cracks sounded in unison—Cell's foot smashed into 16's jaw as 16's kick drove into Cell's gut. Knocked back by the force of their blows, they separated, preparing to renew their attack.

"16's keeping up with this Cell creature?" Seventeen wondered aloud. "But it was moving so fast…could 16 be a more powerful model than us?"

Eighteen nodded. "And he's so obedient to his programming, too…why do you think Dr. Gero needed us?"

"I don't know…let's just be grateful for 16."

16 was knocked back again by an unexpected punch that followed a low feint, skidding to a halt in mid-air in front of Seventeen and Eighteen. "Leave now!" he commanded. "I cannot guarantee that I will prevail against Cell. Our power levels are about equal—it isn't weakened nearly as much as I predicted."

"Hey…" Eighteen smiled. "Thanks for protecting us."

"The Namekian warrior promised not to kill you—I saw no reason to intervene," 16 responded. "But I cannot allow Cell to harm you. Please, leave this place immediately."

"Run away?" Seventeen growled. "I'm not—"

"Yes you are." Eighteen grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away. "Come on, Seventeen. We're not helping 16 by hanging around."

Seventeen hesitated. "I…guess you're right. We're out of our league here…"

Eighteen sighed with relief. "Thanks for seeing sense. I was worried you wouldn't be able to get past your pride—"

"Hey, Seventeen!" Cell shouted. "What's this? Running away, letting the big guy fight your battles for you?"

Seventeen's eyes narrowed. "Rrr…you…" He brushed Eighteen off of him. "What did you say?!"

"Some ultimate fighting machine you turned out to be!" Cell taunted, goading Seventeen into charging recklessly at it.

"Seventeen, no!" 16 warned, but it was too late. Seventeen was lashing out madly at Cell, who was laughing and catching every blow. 16 and Eighteen rushed Cell from opposite directions in an attempt to divert its attention, but Cell saw them coming, grabbing hold of Seventeen's neck and pulling him with it as it dodged out of the way, the pair of attacking androids colliding in mid-air. Cell blasted them at close range with a high-powered bolt of energy, then turned its attention back to Seventeen, who was struggling in a futile attempt to escape Cell's grip.

Cell's tail swung around, the needle-like point expanding into a wide funnel. It swooped down over Seventeen's head and shoulders, enveloping him. He was trying frantically to push his way out, but it was no use—he was rapidly being sucked inside. Cell laughed deeply as Seventeen slipped entirely into its tail, vanishing into Cell's body. The tail closed up again, and Cell's entire form seemed to shudder and shake. 16 and Eighteen stared in horror, as did three other observers.

Zarbon, Krillin and Yamcha came to a halt, seeing the androids and Cell. "What just happened?" Krillin asked.

"I'm…not sure…" Zarbon answered. "Cell just…sucked up Android 17 with his tail…" he frowned. "I don't see Nail anywhere."

"You think Cell absorbed him too?" Yamcha wondered, then noticed something. "No, wait…I can feel his energy—it's faint, but he's underwater somewhere."

Zarbon nodded. "I'll get him." He dived down into the water.

"So what does that leave us to do?" Yamcha asked.

"I don't know…" Krillin said. "Hey, wait! Cell's changing…"

Cell's body began to glow with light, which then faded and appeared again, coming on in pulses that slowly increased in brightness and frequency. "Hyaaa!" It shrieked, either from the pain or the effort of its transformation. There was a low rumble, and in sporadic bursts Cell began to grow, its already massive height increasing even further. "Hrrr…Raaah…aaagh!" Its hands grew more human-like, and its toes fused into a boot-like shape. It grew further, becoming monstrously tall, bulking out as well—no longer the spindly, almost frail-looking insect creature. Bio-electricity sparked up and down Cell's body. He was now a more humanoid figure overall, with splashes of orange to his carapace, heavier armoured 'plates' and an almost human face, although he still possessed no nose. His former head orb and spikes had shifted back to become a smooth crown-like configuration resting on top of his head. Finally, his wings had completely gone. "Heh heh heh…that's better." Cell looked around, seeing the terrified gazes he was receiving. "Now, Eighteen, you've seen how pointless it is to resist…let's not go through all of that again. Don't you want to be a part of perfection?"

Eighteen spat. "If that's perfection, count me out." Seventeen…you idiot, you walked right into that one…now what can we do?

16 raised his guard. "I will not let you absorb Eighteen, Cell!"

"Just like you didn't let me absorb Seventeen?"

Ignoring this, 16 leapt at Cell, swinging a fist for his face. Cell caught 16's arm, grinning. "Come now, 16, you must be able to detect my power…it's far greater than yours now."

"That is irrelevant!" 16 replied. "You must not succeed!"

"Oh, really?" Cell had an amusing idea. "Well, how about this? You know if you fight me, you'll almost certainly be destroyed. If that happens, you'll never carry out your mission. Come on—your primary drive. Surely it takes priority, hmm? Go on, 16. Go kill Goku."

"I…" 16 hesitated. "N-No. NO!" He grasped around Cell's shoulders in a tight hold. "You…c-cannot succeed…" I must…protect Eighteen! I've already failed one of my 'family'…

He's overriding his programming! Cell realised. So selfless and strong-willed…No wonder Gero was afraid to use him. He narrowed his eyes. "Well, congratulations. You've got me. Now, before I tear you into pieces, would you care to inform me what, exactly, you plan on doing?"

16 smiled. "Detonating the bomb inside of me."

"W-What?!" Cell struggled. "Get off me, you fool! You can't be suicidal!"

"I can be whatever I choose, Cell. This is the end!" 16 began to vibrate, a slight hum emitting from his body. Cell pushed and pulled, and began to loosen 16's grip slightly, but he knew he only had seconds—not enough time to free himself. Thinking quickly, Cell flung a hand out to the side, accessing his schematics of Dr. Gero's androids and his database of the Earth's fighters' techniques simultaneously. "Kienzan!" he growled, the bright energy disc springing to life inches away from his fingertips. He swung his arm around, the Kienzan attack slicing right through 16. There was a noise of grinding, tearing metal, and 16's legs and most of his torso fell away. They fell into the ocean with a barely-audible splash—but the explosion that followed was deafening.

When the noise, and the sea, had died down, Cell spoke again. "Quite a clever move…unless, of course, your opponent has detailed blueprints in their memory of exactly where your self-destruct device is, all the better to cut it out with…" Slowly, Cell pried 16's fingers off his shoulders, holding the remains of the noble android up by its neck. "And now, to take out the trash."

"gzzt…you won't…kkk…win, Cell…" 16 was making an effort to speak, his voice coming out harsh and grating.

"What's this?"

"Someone…kzzz…will stop you…"

Cell frowned. "Bah! Like who?" He reached up with his other hand, crushing 16's head like tissue paper. "And one more down." He tossed the android's remains into the ocean, looking over at Eighteen. "Well? Didn't he tell you to run?"

Eighteen was frozen with fear, staring wide-eyed at the horror before her. Seventeen…16…how did this happen so quickly? Just a short while ago, everything was perfect…then… She recovered from her daze just in time to see Cell rushing at her. She flinched, trying to prepare herself for battle, knowing she couldn't win. There was a splash from below, and Zarbon, powering up from concealment in an instant, rocketed up out of the water, landing a solid uppercut to Cell's jaw. "Go!" he shouted. "Now!"

Eighteen turned and flew away as fast as she could. She heard an impact from behind her, and Zarbon flew past her, crashing to the ground on the shore—the battle had slowly moved back towards the coast. There was a flicker in the air, and Cell appeared in front of her, smiling cruelly, his tail curling and twisting.

"Okay, I'm going in!" Krillin decided. "Yamcha, cover me!"

"Right!" Yamcha nodded. "Hurry!"

"You don't have to tell me!" Krillin raced over to Eighteen and Cell, activating the Kaioken up to times ten. Cell's tail was snaking towards the trembling Eighteen. I'm not gonna make it! "Kaioken—times twenty!" His speed doubled instantly, and he pulled Eighteen out of the way, Cell overbalancing from the missed swing, snarling as he turned to face them.

"Get off me!" Eighteen snapped, pushing Krillin away. "I don't need your help!"

"Well, you weren't exactly doing a great job of dodging on your own!" He retorted.

"I—" she paused. "Aren't you afraid?"

"I guess…" he shrugged. "But I've been facing these kinds of threats all my life. I've actually died, twice. I guess I know what I'm getting into…"

"No, I really don't think you do," Cell said, swiping at them as they jumped back away from him. "Get out of the way—and Eighteen, stay right where you are. I'll get to you."

"Not a chance!" Krillin shouted, stepping up to Cell, but the bio-android just backhanded him away, knocking him out with the single blow.

Cell turned back to Eighteen. "And now for the main event—"

"Kamehameha!" Cell lurched sideways as he was hit in the side by the energy beam, quickly recovering and swivelling to face Yamcha, who hovered with his hands outstretched in front of him, a nervous grin on his face. "Yeah, how'd you like that?" he taunted.

"A little annoying, actually," Cell replied. "I wouldn't go as far as to say actually painful, but points for effort."

Oh, man…he isn't even shaken… Yamcha grimaced. I'll have to do better if I want to buy time for her to escape. How can I increase my power? Combining King Kai's technique with my own was a neat idea, but like the normal Wolf Fang Fist, it only works for close-range strikes…if I want to make my Kamehameha more powerful, I'd need the full Kaioken…

Far away, King Kai shook his head. "No, Yamcha! Don't try and pull off a Kaioken! You've never been officially taught! You'll just damage your own body!"

I've got no choice! Yamcha looked up at Cell. "All right. KAIO…KEN! Rrrrgh!" The red aura that appeared was unstable and flickering, blinking on and off and shooting off violent sparks, but it was there. "Ka…Me…Ha…Me…HA!" Yamcha fired the attack again, and Cell raised a hand to catch it. The force of the impact surprised him, pushing him back. Eighteen saw the opportunity and finally fled, soaring back towards the mainland.

"No, you don't—" Cell began, but Yamcha increased the power of his attack even further, forcing Cell to put both hands into him block, and focus on defending himself.

"Even with the Kaioken…" Goku was saying, "Yamcha still couldn't hold off Cell…he's putting his life force into the attack, too!"

"What?" Gohan jumped up and ran over to his father. "We have to go and help him!"

"No, Gohan. We'd just be getting ourselves killed. Yamcha…has to do what he has to do. We can't save him now—and hopefully, he's buying enough time for the remaining android to escape." King Kai had filled them in on current events via telepathic relay.

"But dad!" Gohan protested. "Can't you feel his energy? It's fading already!"

"I know…he hasn't got proper knowledge of the Kaioken, and it's tearing him apart from the inside…"

Gohan sniffed. "He's going to die, isn't he?" Goku was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"YAAAH!" Yamcha continued to pour all of his energy out through his hands.

"How long can you keep this up?!" Cell roared in frustration, knowing his prey was getting further away with every second.

"As long as I have to!"

"You can't keep attacking at this level forever! You're weak. You'll fall."

This just strengthened Yamcha's will further. Yeah, like always. That's what I'm here for, is it? To get beaten up until the real tough guys come and save the day? Not this time! Tien…you wouldn't back down…you could do this…so I can, too! I can—and I will! "You're wrong, Cell!" Waves of force buffeted Cell, driving him further back. "I will! Not! Fail!" Yamcha screamed.

Eighteen flew over the beach, searching for a hiding place. I need something out of the way, somewhere I can really stay concealed… she saw a small figure lying prone on the coast—Krillin. If he lay there in plain sight, Cell would no doubt kill him when he came this way looking for her. No time! Leave him. Why should I help him, anyway? A thought carved its way through her mind, overwhelming everything else. A hurried, snatched conversation. "I don't need your help!" "Aren't you afraid?" "I know what I'm getting into…" Thinking to herself the whole time that she was making a mistake, she flew down and picked up the small warrior. He sighed in his sleep, bringing a small smile to her face, but her expression quickly hardened and she took off again. Clouds began to gather, and the sky darkened.

Goku was shaking with anger, but managed to keep control of himself. "That's enough, Yamcha…stop! You'll kill yourself! That should be plenty of time for—" he stopped talking as he heard a click—the door to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber was opening. Goku and Gohan turned to see Raditz and Break emerge.

"Hey, guys!" Goku waved cheerily. Raditz returned his wave, and Break nodded in acknowledgement. She was a couple of inches taller than the last time he'd seen her, and her hair had grown—it was almost as long as her father's now. Her muscles were more developed now, too—she had previously had the physique of a runner, a survivor—now, she was a fighter. Both of them wore torn and shredded clothes, and after a few too many energy blasts unsuccessfully dodged, Break had completely discarded her Capsule Corp. jacket. Raditz was tying on his red headband as he walked, a sign to those who knew that he was fully prepared for battle. "What's happening?" he asked brusquely.

"Oh! You'd better hurry," Goku told them. "Cell's absorbed one of the androids, and become even more powerful! Yamcha's holding him off, but he could find the other android any time now!"

Raditz's brow furrowed. "Yamcha? We don't have much time, then. Hmm—ah. Found them. Break?"

"Right!" His daughter put a hand on his shoulder as he brought two fingers to his forehead.

"Wait!" Goku asked, excitement edging into his voice. "Tell me one thing. Did you find the next level?"

Raditz grinned, nodded, and then they were gone.

"AAH!" Yamcha could feel himself slipping. Cell was pushing back against his attack. Just a few seconds more! As long as he could. Who knew how long it would take for the android to escape? Just…a few more…a few… He had nothing left. Blackness crept up from the edges of his vision to envelop him.

There was a gentle splash as Yamcha's corpse, completely drained of all its energy, hit the water. The clouds, still gathering, were thick and black overhead. Cell heaved a sigh of relief, waiting several seconds to catch his breath before speaking. "Fool. He threw his life away…hmm? Damn him, he succeeded! She's gone!" He fumed with anger. "I had my shot at perfection, and now I'll have to start over again! Well…at least that tiresome battle's over."

"Wrong, Cell! It hasn't even started!"

"What—" a foot caught Cell across the face, throwing him back. He righted himself, to see Raditz hovering opposite him, Break just behind him. "Raditz? And Break, too…Where have you been hiding?"

"We're not here to answer your questions," Raditz said. "We're here to destroy you, Cell."

"Destroy me? Hah!" Cell laughed. "My power was already greater than you Super Saiyans' in my first, imperfect form—and now I've absorbed android 17, I'm even stronger! What are you going to do?"

"Well, if you're even stronger than a Super Saiyan, we'll just have to go one better," Raditz said nonchalantly.

"One better?" Cell gulped. I don't like the sound of that…

Raditz nodded. "Break? Care to demonstrate?"

"All right." Break stood in a wide, internally-focused stance, breathing deeply. "Are you ready, Cell?" She easily turned Super Saiyan, lighting up the darkened sky as the first raindrops began to fall.

"Ready? Heh heh…" Cell's confidence was beginning to return. What could they do? Cell was the perfect being—the ultimate creation of Dr. Gero's genius! Cell and Break smiled at each other, each assured of their coming victory. "Am I ready?" Cell continued. "My abilities have increased beyond your comprehension—and my perfection is only halfway complete! Clearly you don't understand why you cannot win."

"Maybe the old me couldn't win…" Break said quietly. "I couldn't win anything. Do you know, until I came to the past and destroyed Cooler and Cold, I'd never won a single battle in my life. Who was there to fight? The androids. But you didn't fight the androids. You ran away. Well—I'm done running!" Her aura blazed gold around her, vapourising the rain before it touched her. "Haaah…" The aura continued to grow, exploding outwards and sending gale-force winds crashing into Raditz and Cell—who watched with increasing concern. "Haaa….Raaah…Rrrgh…" she grunted as she reached into her soul and dragged the power to the surface, kicking and screaming. Her aura continued to intensify. Super Saiyan they'd got used to. It wasn't easy, but they could access it just about on command. But this—this was still hard every time. "Nnh…hhhh…RAAAH!" Veins stood out on her forehead and neck. Her Super Saiyan hair began to wave back and forth in the unnatural wind her transformation was generating. Streaks of light shot out of her body. The sea formed itself into a whirlpool beneath her, the water being pushed away by the unearthly force.

"Woah…her energy's still rising…" Goku marvelled. "It's incredible. Maybe they can win!"

"Hey, dad…" Gohan tugged on his arm. "Just in case…let's start training as soon as possible, okay?"

"Oh! Right." Goku nodded. "Let's go, Gohan. Even if they do win, it can't hurt to train for just one 'day', right?" He grinned, following Gohan towards the door.

Break's power continued to grow. Cell's smile slowly faded as he realised the scale of this new threat. Is there really…a level beyond Super Saiyan? "Hng…" she growled as power coursed through her body. "HUAAAH!" Her muscles began to grow, starting with her arms and upper body and flowing down to her legs, until her athletic figure had become almost Amazonian. "Arrr…hnng…rrrr…" Cell gaped in awe as another flash of light heralded her transformation's completion. "HYAAA!"

The huge power level shot through Krillin's mind like a bolt of electricity, and he awoke with a start, sitting up hurriedly. "Wha…where am I?"

"Not far from where you fell," came the reply. Krillin looked up, seeing Eighteen sitting opposite him, poking the small fire she'd made with a stick. They were in a cave near the coast, sheltering from the building storm outside, and the titanic battle developing over the shore. "Ah!" Krillin yelped, then instantly felt embarrassed as he realised she wasn't going to hurt him. "Oh…you saved me?"

She nodded. "You were right in the line of fire."

"Why?"

She sighed, standing up and walking over to look out of the cave. "I don't want to talk about it."

Break exhaled slowly. In addition to her heavily-muscled physique, her power had grown massively. She gritted her teeth as her ki fluctuated—this form was always difficult to keep control of. Not just the effort of maintaining so much power—for her in particular, keeping her emotions in check was even harder than as a regular Super Saiyan.

"Wha…what have you done?!" Cell demanded. "What is this?" He recoiled in terror as a smile spread across Break's face. Her mind raged, and every word was an effort. "I—have—ascended!"

"That's right." Raditz indicated his transformed daughter. "I achieved this form first, then she followed my lead. She's had less time to practice it, so her power isn't quite up to mine…so, just a warning. Should you somehow prevail, another, even stronger warrior awaits you…"

Cell wouldn't have believed it, had he not been standing right in front of it. "How…how did you get so powerful in such a short time? You couldn't have even been a match for Seventeen or Eighteen just a few days ago!"

Break began to give out a low growl. "No…more…talk. Fight me!"

"I—"

"NOW!" Break charged, her fist smashing into Cell's stomach, doubling him over. She followed up with a vicious elbow that staggered Cell back. "Heh. Ultimate…being, huh? Not…so much."

"Grr…you'll pay for—" Cell was cut off by a kick to the back. "Damn it—" Break punched him in the head. "Stop interrupting—" she knocked him away with both feet. "Aaargh!"

Raditz was laughing hysterically. "Hahahah! This is great! No dramatic, vengeful speeches for you, Cell!" Cell made an angry swipe at Raditz, but stopped short as Break grabbed hold of his tail in both hands. Swinging him around her head, she hurled him inland.

Cell skidded along the hard ground, throwing up his own canyon as he went. Finally managing to stand, he looked up just as Break slammed into him from above, hammering a string of short-ranged punches into his midsection.

Raditz came to a rest on a rock a few metres away, watching the battle unfold. Amazing…she has more power than I realised…I might not even get a chance to fight! Ah well, there'll still be plenty of strong fighters to test my new powers on—especially if Goku reaches this level…

Break stopped to wipe sweat from her forehead—practically a mocking gesture—and in the brief moment she left herself open, Cell kicked her away, jumping to his feet. Break straightened up, grinning. "Weak."

"Hrrr…" Cell knew he wouldn't win in a straight fight. Even in only a few seconds, her strength and speed had far surpassed his. He'd have to use his intelligence to his advantage—something which, he knew, she lacked.

Krillin smiled. "You're not really as bad as you're hyped up to be, are you?"

Eighteen looked around, surprised. "What?"

"Well, you seem to just want to have fun. You don't really want to kill anyone except Goku—and even then, that's only because it was programmed into you." He sat back against the cave wall. "Hardly the nightmarish machines of death I'd been expecting."

There was a long pause, and then Eighteen sighed, and sat back down opposite Krillin. "I was human once, actually."

"Huh?"

"Seventeen and I were just ordinary teenagers…Dr. Gero kidnapped us and turned us into what we are. I mean, he made us so powerful, but took away our lives…I don't know if I'm grateful or angry…"

"Oh," Krillin said solemnly. "I'm…sorry."

"Don't be. It's nothing to do with you."

"Hmm. Well, if you were human, do you at least have a name?" he asked. "Besides 'android number 18', that is."

"I must have," she said, "but Gero wiped our memories. I don't know who I was…what kind of person, where I was from…anything about myself, really."

"Oh. Wow. Huh."

"Don't worry," she said with a half-smile, "I don't mind 'Eighteen'. It's distinctive, at least…so how about you?"

"Eh?" This took Krillin by surprise.

"Well, you've heard my story, now you tell me yours." She indicated the cave entrance, the distant thunder and the constant barrage of rain. "While we're weathering the storm—literally, and your friends' battle with Cell—why don't you tell me your story?"

"Why, uh, why do you want to know? Uh." Krillin asked.

"Because I'm bored!" she exclaimed, pacing up and down. "It's better than sitting around, thinking about whether I'll ever see my brother again!"

"Okay…okay…" Krillin closed his eyes, recalling his childhood. "It's kind of a long story…"

Eighteen leaned against the wall. "I've got time."

"All right…" Krillin nodded. "Well, I was raised in the Oorin temple. That's where I got these," he said, indicating the six censer burn marks on his forehead—two vertical rows of three dots. "It was an initiation ritual."

"That must have hurt."

"I guess…I don't really remember it. The other monks used to bully me…"

"Why?"

"'Cause we were supposed to be fighting monks, but I was small and weak…it got so bad I ran away. I decided I'd become a great fighter, and return and beat them all!"

"And did you?"

He grinned. "Actually, yeah! I found the great martial arts teacher Master Roshi—he's taught me everything I know about fighting (barring a few techniques I've come up with myself…). Anyway, it was while I was training under Roshi that I first met a certain boy named Goku…"

"Right." Eighteen mentally checked her files. "You're good friends."

Krillin raised an eyebrow. "How much do you know?"

She shrugged. "Not that much. Gero didn't think it was important we knew every little detail about you—only what was important. Otherwise I wouldn't be asking." She paused. "Go on." She had claimed she only wanted to hear it because she was bored, but she was sounding increasingly interested to Krillin.

"Well, let me see." He tilted his head to the side, dredging up the memories. "Then we went to the World Martial Arts Tournament—my first of three, so far. I was up against one of the Oorin temple monks in the preliminaries—and it turned out Roshi's training paid off! I beat the guy in one hit!"

"Ah, justice."

"Is that why you killed 19?"

She grinned. "You catch on quick…uh, did you win the tournament?"

"Nah." Krillin shrugged. "I've never been the strongest of our fighters. This old guy called Jackie Chun beat me—though I'm convinced to this day he was just Roshi trying to steal our victory. He beat Goku, too."

"Did you ever win a tournament?"

Krillin shook his head. "I always made it through the preliminaries, but never got further than the semi-finals. You've probably got data on our fights after that—'cause by the second tournament we entered, Goku had already destroyed the Red Ribbon Army, so Gero's revenge, and blah blah blah, here we are."

She nodded. "Yes. I know about the rest. Although not your trip to space…"

"Well, I was dead for that part, don't ask me…" he shrugged. "I did get to train with King Kai, though. That was…an experience."

She yawned, then looked back at him. "You've had an amazing life, do you know that?"

"I have? I guess so. I mean, not many people have seen what I have. And I know most of the others…"

"Right." She smiled. "It must feel pretty special."

"Says the superhuman android…"

Cell beckoned Break to attack. "Come at me!" he shouted. "I won't lose this time!"

"Unlikely," Break growled, dashing along the ground towards Cell, her fist swinging through thin air as his afterimage faded.

She got too overconfident… Raditz noted. If she'd been paying attention, she would have noticed that. Cell stood behind Break, his hands forming a triangle. "Tri-Beam!" He yelled, the blast crashing into Break's back at close range, driving her face-first into the ground. There was a short pause, and she pulled herself up. "Hhh…Huh…Hhh…"

Cell grinned. "What's this? Crying?" It didn't take long for her to prove him wrong.

"Hhh…Heh…Heh heh heh…HAH!" she bellowed, wiping the dirt out of her face and brushing her golden hair back. "I hope…that wasn't…your best!"

"Wha—no! Impossible!" Cell hissed. "You can't be that strong!"

"No?" She closed the distance seemingly instantly, smashing Cell into the air with her knee and hammering him back into the ground with both fists. "Not even…trying hard!"

"Why, you…if I had my perfect form right now, you'd be nothing! Powerless before my supreme might!" He trembled with rage. "How can I have come so close to perfection, only to fail now?"

Break appeared in front of Cell again, looking curious. "Say that…again."

"If…" Cell hesitated, trying to turn the situation to his advantage. "If I could just attain my perfect form—my power would be unparalleled in the entire universe! Why couldn't you have come an hour later? Victory would have been mine!"

"How?" she demanded. "Become perfect? How?"

"W-well…I need to absorb android 18…"

"Go."

"Eh?"

"Absorb…android. I'll fight…perfect form. I'm the strongest."

Cell grinned. "We'll see."

"GO!" she shouted, and Cell flew up into the air to search for Eighteen.

Raditz jumped over to Break. "Hold on a second! You're not going to let him—"

"I am."

He scowled. "No. No, we're not doing that. We're stopping him now. Letting him get stronger—it's ridiculous! He's already amazingly powerful!"

"But isn't that…exciting?" Break grinned, panting like a hunting beast. "Want to see…perfect Cell? His most powerful?"

Raditz sighed. "A little. Yes. The prospect of a challenge…it's tantalising. But look, we can't let him do this. It's just too risky." Launch's face flashed up in his mind. "There are too many people who'll die if he wins. We have to finish this now…"

Break shook her head. "Not your choice." Raditz tried to raise his guard, but wasn't fast enough and her backhand knocked him flying away. "Cell!" she shouted. "Hurry up!"

"Yes, all right…" Cell muttered. Where has Eighteen hidden herself? One way to find out, I guess…

"EIGHTEEN!" The cry came, shaking Krillin and Eighteen into readiness. "COME OUT!" Cell bellowed. "YOUR TIME HAS COME! JOIN ME IN PERFECTION!"

"Not a chance," Eighteen muttered, clenching one fist. "I'm not going the same way Seventeen did. Cell can't sense me—he can search all day without finding us in here."

"I hope you're right…" Krillin murmured. I'll try and keep my own power level down as low as possible…

"BEING DIFFICULT, I SEE!" Cell continued. "WELL, YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO COME OUT OF HIDING BEFORE I BLAST EVERYTHING AROUND US TO ATOMS!"

"He wouldn't…" Eighteen whispered.

"He would," Krillin told her. "He's charging up a lot of energy…hey." He smiled. "I'll go and distract Cell. You can get away—if you can get to cover, he'll never find you."

"You'd do that…for me?" she asked. "Risk your life for mine, again? Just this morning we were enemies…"

"Things change pretty quick, huh?" Krillin grinned. "Between you and me, you're all right. I don't think there's any reason for us to fight, if you stay out of trouble."

"THIRTY SECONDS, ANDROID!" came Cell's roar.

"Heh." Eighteen walked over to stand next to Krillin, looking down at him. "You're a nice guy, Krillin." She leaned down slowly, and hesitantly, not entirely sure why, gave him a small kiss on the forehead. "But you don't have to be the hero every time."

"Uh?" Was all Krillin had time to say. Eighteen waved a hand in the air with superhuman speed, and the invisible wave of force knocked the bald fighter out cold. Let me save you this time, she thought.

"TEN SECONDS!"

"All right!" Flying up out of the cave, she approached Cell. "Here I am! Satisfied?"

"Ah, there we go…" Cell gave an evil grin. "Now, why would you come out without so much as a struggle…ah…someone in there, perhaps?" she froze. "Someone you don't want hurt?" Cell taunted. Beads of sweat ran down Eighteen's forehead. Cell could still kill him! I really didn't think this through… "Don't…"

Raditz rose to his feet, transforming to Super Saiyan almost as an afterthought. "You're overconfident! I think I need to teach you a lesson in humility. HYAAAH!" He transformed again, to the higher, ascended state, much faster and more controlled than Break's earlier ascension. "But that can wait. First, Cell—hah!" He took off, making straight for Cell, but Break appeared in his path.

"Be patient…heh heh…" she chuckled. "Not worth fighting…yet."

"Break." Raditz's hands formed into fists. "I'm only going to tell you this once. Get out of my way. I won't hesitate to—" she swung at him, and he caught her fist. "Fine. We'll do it your way." Twisting with the momentum of her attack, he brought his elbow around, smacking it up into her chin and knocking her back. "I know I'm trying to beat you, but that was just embarrassing!" he jumped back and away as she swiped at him again, still dazed from his strike. "Didn't I teach you anything in the Chamber?"

"How about this?" Cell suggested. "A deal. I won't destroy this place—so wherever your friend's hiding, they'll live—but you must surrender yourself to me. Become part of my perfect form." Cell's tail twisted over his head, funnelling out into its full-absorption mode. "What do you say?"

Eighteen was torn. Programming. Obey. Goku's allies are my enemies. Let him die. Save myself. I could make it, with the right distraction… the same scene, all of those humans, one after the other, putting their lives on the line for her, kept replaying in her mind. "Is that why you killed 19?" You know what? Programming can go to hell. "Between you and me, you're all right." Whatever has been done to me, I'm still a human being. I have a heart. And I can occasionally do stupid things for the sake of other people. She looked up, trying to keep her voice level. "Go ahead, Cell. Absorb me. Just don't…don't kill him."

"Him? Well, that narrows it down to about half the planet's population," Cell joked. "Not that I care. Don't worry. I don't plan on killing anyone who isn't in the way. I'm above draining random weaklings now. Well…let's get on with it."

Raditz pressed forwards with a high kick, but Break ducked under it, slamming both fists into his stomach. He gasped in pain, but recovered quickly, spinning and bringing his forearm down on the back of her neck, doubling her over. He prepared to deliver another blow, but looked up and did a double take. "Damn it, Break! It's too late! He's absorbing Eighteen!" He glared at his battle-hungry daughter. "What have you done?"

And that's a wrap. This was a long chapter, for me anyway. Not much to say other than, well, 2nd form Cell in this story is huge. Imperfect Cell in canon was quite a bit taller than Piccolo—Piccolo was 7'5", so I placed Cell at 8'. According to the DB wiki, the Nameless Namek (Katas as he was known here) was 8'2", and I wrote that Imperfect Cell was a bit taller than him, so BTtL Imperfect Cell is 8'6". Using this, I decided that Cell in this story (due to Raditz and Cooler's cells over Vegeta's and Frieza's) would be 6" taller in each form than canon Cell. In his Semi-Perfect form, canon Cell was apparently twice Vegeta's height—10'10". So BTtL Semi-Perfect Cell would be11'4"—gigantic. (For the record, Perfect Cell in canon was Piccolo's height, 7'5", so BTtL Perfect Cell would be 7'11", almost as tall as Katas, and around canon Imperfect Cell's height). Why did I go into so much detail? Not sure really. I just did. But really, the main differences with Cell are going to be in his perfect form—that's where the characters' personalities in him started to become more prominent, for one thing, not to mention his less monstrous appearance and diversity of techniques.

Also! I know some of you like to hear music for characters/scenes. I once said Raditz's theme was 'Vegeta powers up'. That worked while he was more morally ambiguous. After returning to Earth from Namek and becoming more heroic, his theme is now 'An Isolated Warrior' from the DBZ Kai soundtrack. From the same soundtrack, the theme for the android saga is 'The Braveheart Challenges the Strong'. So, yeah. There's that.

Q: Well this brought some developments that we wanted to see. Though I think that the emotional part with Gohan could have been longer for the simple reason that anime emotional parts aren't done that quickly. Other than that I have no complaints, so job well done!

A: Well, more of that topic/character development from Gohan and Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which we'll see some of in the next chapter.

Q: shame 'katas' had such a short existence but it was a good move of him to fuse into nail.
perhaps some (fan) art for characters like break and this new cell would be great.

A: I agree about Katas and Nail—it would have been cool for him to stick around, but well. Reasons. Anyway, yeah, fanart. That'd be cool. I have had some from I-Am-So-Original of future Trunks (go check it out on his deviantART page, it's pretty cool), but nothing else so far. I'll be sure to tell you about it if I get any.

Q: 16 will hold off Cell from the twins until Break & Raditz come out of the HTC, he just said he is at Nail/Cell level. It would be a hell of a twist for him to let Cell absorb them, though as many have said you do write a fast paced story & that would really shake things up.

A: You were semi-right. 16 held off Cell…for a bit. The humans had to take over until the ascended saiyans arrived. Of course, 16's death will almost certainly affect the plot—I mean, he was the trigger for Gohan to turn SSJ2 and defeat Cell in canon…so…how're they going to beat Cell now? Well, there are actually probably several ways. Hopefully what I've got planned will be a surprise to many of you.

Q: Loved your battle between Nail and 17 & 18! That 16 refused to fight an opponent who chose not to fight him is very interesting, and I like that instead of the Androids casually blowing off their programming like in most fics they can't help but complete the objectives Gero forced into them. It makes them more understandable, like they too are victims of the good doctor.

A: Well, they fought their programming in this chapter—twice—but hopefully I made it believable.

Q: Cell is very different from canon in his fighting style, much cleverer and devious. I have to wonder if he would stand a chance of becoming perfect before Raditz and Break finish their training. He is weakened from Nail, true, but he also has made no move against 16. I take it there will probably be no team up against Cell this time around if 17 and 18 are waiting to pick off the victor?

A: Well, in this respect we're sticking somewhat close to canon for a bit (although it was a bit less official and more rushed—no Bulma distributing armour and having time to change, or deal with longer hair or anything). It'll veer off again soon, but it just seemed the way that made the most sense, plus the way Cell became perfect here helped demonstrate how they're really going to have to do something about Break's loss of control when transformed…

Q: Nail owning 17&18 was fun to read. I sure hope you throw Goku into the mix! I've always wanted to see how he'd handle himself if forced to act in Tien's place and not just IT to safer territory.

A: As a matter of fact, it was Yamcha's turn to shine! But Goku will have his moment.

And now, for the moment you probably haven't been waiting for…

Break Through the Limit Kai Chapter 3: Cold Family Saga

*fight between author and characters from last time finishes*

Captain Space: Are we done now?

Raditz: All right, all right, we can get on with the plot. I'll just fight King Cold and—why am I in space?

Captain Space: You're getting on my nerves. I'll let somebody else fight Cooler and Cold.

Raditz: What, Goku's going to turn Super Saiyan, then? That would be…kind of cool, I guess.

Captain Space: Nah, that's completely implausible…for some reason…no, I'm going to write a whole new character to do it! And later on have Goku transform by introducing yet another character as a catalyst! That makes much more sense.

Break: Hi.

Goku: So, you're basically Trunks?

Break: No, there's also a Trunks.

Goku: I'm confused.

Krillin: So what's new?

King Cold: Stop ignoring me! *killed by Break, along with Cooler*

Break: Well, that's that.

Raditz: I'm back!

Break: You're late! And you're my dad. But you don't know it yet.

Raditz: Um…

Break: Oh yeah, androids in three years, have fun. I've got to get…BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Audience: Ooh, a reference. The highest form of wit. [/sarcasm]

Break: Once my power level hits 88,000, you're going to see some serious {don't know if I'm allowed to swear like that with this maturity rating…}!

Audience: Groan.

Vegeta: IT'S OVER 9,000!

Raditz: You don't say.

Goku: Well, let's fight some androids! But first, let's beat up Frieza's family some more.

Raditz: Um…why?

Goku: 'Cause it's fun.

*They proceed to kill Frieza again, then his aunt, uncle, third cousin twice removed, childhood friend and grandmother, then adopt his son for some reason, having already killed his father and brother (twice). Frost demons are now an endangered species. OUR HEROES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!*

Kuriza: How did I get here?

Goku: I'm a Super Saiyan!

Kuriza: That doesn't answer my question. Also what the hell.

Piccolo: DID I MENTION I'M EVIL?!

Dr. Gero: Stop! Android time!

King Kai: Already? Wow, this was a short saga.

Captain Space: Get off my case, I'm writing two chapters a week!

Dr. Gero: Get back to work, writer-drone!