Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Who would've expected that just a few changes could have such a major impact. Read as Gohan and Kai journey through life and across the universe in this exciting retelling of DBZ, with changes and surprises around every corner. Yamcha x Bulma, Raditz x Android 18, Gohan x Erasa later on. Other pairings undecided at the moment.

24. Cell on the Prowl, Z Fighters Struggle

(Kami speak)

Ericsofly2: Thanks, glad to see you enjoyed it.

Guest: As interesting an idea as that would be, I explained before that the Kaioken requires such extreme Ki control that it puts a massive strain on the body. The Namek-Ken is derived from focus on willpower, which makes it easier for someone like Kai to use.

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There had been little to no progress in the search for Cell.

Launch let out a sigh as she piloted the submarine back towards Kame House, following another failed attempt at catching Cell "Well that could've gone a hell of a lot better, should we go back and scour another city?"

"It won't do much good." Krillin muttered "If we can't sense Cell's Ki signature then that just makes it way too easy for him to slip away before we even get there."

"Dammit!" Piccolo let out a growl of frustration "There's no way of telling just how much stronger he is now, and if he's started hunting 17 and 18 he could reach his Perfect Form at any time he wishes! The way things are going, the only hope we have is that Goku and the others really can find a level beyond Super Saiyan, and then we'll hope it's enough to deal with whatever Cell may still have in store for us."

"And if not?" asked Raditz.

"Then we're doomed, plain and simple."

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Kai opened his eyes and found himself in the icy labyrinth "So this is it."

"Hey kid, up here!" Korin called from above "Listen to me Kai, if you manage to find the Ultra Divine Water then be sure to return here to this exact spot and I'll be sure to pull you back out again."

"Got it Korin, thanks." and he walked off into the maze "It's cold in here, I'll have to be careful so I don't freeze to death or anything. I doubt I'd be able to explain that one to Dad." he then continued onwards only to stop when he saw something.

A frozen corpse laid on the side of the path.

"Poor guy, he must've gotten lost in the maze I'd better hurry before I end up like him." he then started to walk forward, only to stop when he heard a crash and looked back to see the path behind him disappear "Okay that's not good, I think it's safe to say now that there's something coming."

That was when a large snow cyclone emerged from the cracks in the ground and took on the form of a massive ice monster, which promptly unleashed a monstrous blizzard.

"I don't have time for this. Nail Gun!" he fired a quick Nail Gun at the ice monster, only for it to regenerate "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, it's like I didn't even hit him at all!"

The ice monster lunged at him, but suddenly stopped as the head evaporated into nothing.

"Okay scratch that, I guess it just had a delayed effect. Now then, down the hatch!" he slid down an ice slide on the side of the path until he reached the end and found himself at the bottom of a deep ravine "Well that was fun, now I'd better get moving." he continued walking "I'm gonna have to hurry or I'll end up freezing to death."

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Morning came, and while training was progressing more or less, the hunt for Cell was making very little progress, or any at all.

"...find a cabin in the woods, and if anyone comes knocking make sure you let the right one in, or you'll be dead by dawn."

"Dammit!" Piccolo gritted his teeth in frustration "Come on Cell, show yourself!"

"The death toll continues rising as the unknown creature continues its terrifying siege across our nation."

"I get it, he's absorbing people! I'm trying to stop him dammit!" Piccolo fired a Ki blast out the window out of pure frustration.

"Maybe you should get some sleep like the others." Raditz told him.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead!"

"I can help with that." that was when 17 and the others touched down on the beach, catching the attention of Piccolo and Raditz right away "So can Goku come out and play or what?"

"...Son of a bitch, I have no idea if this is good timing or the worst."

"I say it depends on who you're talking to." Raditz glanced over at 18 and smirked slightly, earning a look of disgust from Piccolo "Yeah I might have a problem."

"No shit. Go get the others up, I'll greet out visitors." he made his way outside.

16 looked around "I do not detect the presence of Son Goku in this location."

"Yeah you heard the ginger Android, Goku isn't here so I'm going to ask you only once to leave quietly."

"Somebody's trying out the tough guy act." 17 let out a chuckle "Tell you what, once you tell us where we can find Son Goku then we'll be on our way." this was followed by Raditz and the others rushing out to join them.

"So it's just like that, you think we're going to talk so easily?"

"Well yeah actually, this kind of thing can either be very easy or very painful for you. You see we came all the way out here to kill somebody, so you guys have two choices. You can either tell us where Goku is or, well…"

"Or what?"

"What else, we kill all of you and go find him anyway."

"Fine by me, if it's a fight you want then it's a fight you'll get."

"I preferred that option anyway."

"Hey, excuse me Androids?" Master Roshi spoke up from the second story window "If you guys are going to fight it then could you please move it off the island? It's quite literally the only thing I own."

"That's fine by me, but after I win I'm blowing it up for funsies."

"Alright then, follow me." Piccolo pointed to a series of islands a fair distance away "There's a series of uninhabited."

"Why the hell do you know that?"

"Because of reasons." Piccolo turned back to Raditz and the others "The rest of you stay behind, no offense but if you do come then you'll only get in the way." and so he promptly took off along with the Androids.

Krillin looked over at Raditz "So to put it simply, if Piccolo fails then we're all going to die right?"

"That's one way of looking at it, but keep in mind that we don't have any Dragon Balls right now." Raditz pointed out "But still all he has to do is stall them, Kakarot and the others should be finishing their first day of training soon so if Piccolo can hold out until then, or maybe he could actually manage to defeat one of the Androids, preferably not the blonde."

"What?"

"Huh?"

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It didn't take long for Piccolo and the Androids to reach the island "Alright, this should be a good spot. We'll have more room here."

"Works for me." 17 shot a glance over at 18 "Hey sis, since you look bored as fuck just being here, why don't you go ahead and sit this one out?"

"Already on it." 18 promptly sat down on a nearby rock "Too bad the Saiyan with the Sonic hair didn't come, at least with him things wouldn't be so stupid and boring."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"...Okay then. So just out of curiosity Green Man, are you trying to buy time or are you just looking to throw your life away? Because if I remember correctly, the last time you and your friends tried to square off against us it didn't exactly end very well."

"Oh believe me I know, and I'm not the same Namekian you faced before." Piccolo promptly threw off his weighted gi and turban.

"Oh. Oh shit, are you talking metaphorically? Because if not then I'm going to start feeling like a racist, you know because you look exactly the same as you did before."

"I might look the same on the outside, but what counts is what's on the inside."

"Well alright then, if you really do have a death wish then go ahead and show me what you've got already."

"If that's what you want." Piccolo glanced between him and the other Androids "So you're saying you intend to fight me one on one, is that about right?"

"It would just be overkill if all three of us came at once, besides in case you hadn't noticed I'm the only one of us who gives enough of a damn to fight you right now."

"Looks that way. This is good, if I only have to take them on one at a time then I might actually be able to get somewhere. Even if I don't win, if I manage to take one of these two down with me I'll at least be able to stop Cell from reaching his Perfect Form.'

"But you haven't seen the full extent of their powers yet, you can't rush into this."

'But I can't play it slow either, the way I see it it's worth a shot.' Piccolo dropped into a stance, gritted his teeth and let out a roar as he began powering up, a milky white aura surrounding his body and shaking the entire island with the shockwave that followed.

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Kai looked back and let out a low whistle "Okay I'm feeling a hell of a lot of Piccolo right about now, either he's showing off or he's about to fight one of the Androids. Dammit, he hasn't even started fighting yet and I can already feel the shockwaves from here. Looks like I'd better pick up the pace."

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Mr Popo's head snapped up as he felt Piccolo's Ki soaring to new heights "Oh no, Kami…"

"So you can feel it too, it's starting." Goku muttered "Piccolo's getting ready to fight, either that or he's showing off."

"Yeah but who, do you think it's Cell?" asked Gohan.

"No I doubt it, whoever it is I can't sense any Ki from them. It has to be the other Androids he's fighting right now."

"What?! He can't fight them alone, we have to help him somehow!"

"No Gohan we can't help him, you know as well as I do that even if we go Super Saiyan we'd do more harm than good by being there. Nail and your future self are going to come out of there any minute powered up to the max, and then they can join the fight and help, so please just hold on until then. Piccolo is more than twice as strong as he was before, he can definitely at least hold his own until then."

"I know, but…"

"Besides, if he does need some kind of backup he has Raditz and Tarble there."

"...Fine, I get it but I don't like it."

"We don't have to like it, we just have to wait. Come on Gohan, where are you? If it really is possible to go beyond Super Saiyan, I know you've done it by now, so what the hell is taking you guys so long?!'

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17 grew bored as he watched Piccolo continue to power up "Dammit, our Jolley Green Giant here has been at this for like 20 hours."

"It has been 5 minutes." 16 pointed out.

"It's called hyperbole big guy."

"...Something is wrong."

"What are you talking about?"

"This Namekian is not Piccolo."

"Who is he then?"

"DODGE!" Piccolo blitzed forward and elbowed 17 in the back of the neck, followed by dealing him a fierce rapid barrage of punches and kicks that ended with Piccolo slamming his fist straight into 17's face.

17 caught the fist and dealt Piccolo a kick to the jaw, sending him flying backwards "But seriously, if you're not Piccolo then who the hell are you?"

"You really wanna know?" Piccolo recovered and charged at 17, resulting in the two of them clashing in mid air, though neither one of them could get a hit in.

"Okay you know what, that does it!" 17 charged at Piccolo and aimed an elbow straight at his spine.

"You're finished!" Piccolo dealt 17 an elbow to the spine, sending him crashing to the ground with massive levels of speed and force "And to answer your question, I am Piccolo, but after reuniting with my other half Kami."

"Kami?" 17 spat out some dirt "Okay so follow up question, what the hell is a Kami?"

"It means God, now bow." Piccolo promptly extended one hand and fired an Explosive Demon Wave at 17, engulfing him and the entire island in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, 17 was revealed to be alive and well, hovering above the crater left by the blast "Too bad Jolly Green Giant, looks like you missed."

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Meanwhile, at Capsule Corp…

Yamcha knelt down next to where Bulla was sleeping in her crib "Okay there, it took about three hours but she's finally asleep."

"What? Oh good, thanks." Bulma barely glanced back from where she was hard at work at her computer.

"So out of curiosity, how's that shutdown device for the Androids coming along?"

"It's coming, but did you look at Dr Gero's notes? As it turns out he only attributes models to his successful projects, the crazy bastard was kidnapping dozens of orphaned teenagers and experimenting on them. Though it is pretty interesting that he set explosives in their chests the way he did, it must have been some kind of fail safe, in case they went rogue.

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Meanwhile, back at the fight…

17 wiped the blood from his lip and shot a smirk at Piccolo "Alright then Namekian, I say no more screwing around." he blitzed out of view.

"I couldn't agree more." Piccolo blitzed out of view herself, resulting in the two of them clashing throughout the skies trading even blows, only for the clash to end when Piccolo ran out of patience upon seeing 17 floating upside down mocking him "Let's see you dodge this!" he fired a quick Ki blast.

"Dodge." 17 promptly dodged it with ease "You know it's weird, I find that people yelling dodge is more distracting than helpful. Anyway looks like you missed, you wanna try again for a quick Zeni?"

"Does this answer your question?!" Piccolo fired a barrage of Ki blasts at full speed and with very little accuracy apparently.

17 just nonchalantly dodged every Ki blast being thrown at him with ease and deflected a larger one, causing it to explode a short distance away "Well isn't this quite the surprise? I have to admit you really are good, a hell of a lot stronger than before. I think I can have some real fun with you, at least for a few minutes or so." and so he charged.

Piccolo met 17 in a fierce and blinding collision that caused an uproar with the seas large enough to create a rainbow.

"So what gives, why did you stop? Was it too much for you?"

"Oh for crying out loud, would you just finish it already?" 18 called up to him "Stop screwing around with him and do something already, or do I have to just come up there and do your job for you?"

"Not a chance, this is the most fun I've had since I woke up and I plan to enjoy it!" 17 glanced over at Piccolo "You want to keep going too right?"

"You'd better believe it." Piccolo shot him a smirk.

"Well then as long as you're game that's good enough for me, so how about I start working my way up to full power and we see how that goes?"

"That suits me just fine, so bring it on then!" Piccolo blitzed forward and fired a barrage of Ki blasts at full speed.

"Oh come on, you're not even trying anymore are you?" 17 nonchalantly dodged and weaved around every Ki blast being thrown at him.

'Yes that's right you cocky little bastard, go ahead and take the bait.'

17 eventually got bored and just stopped dodging, the Ki blasts flying right past him "For the record I stopped dodging. No seriously, are you even trying to hit me?"

"NO!"

"What the hell do you mean no?" 17 looked around and noticed all of the Ki blasts scattered and hovering around him, surrounding him "Oh. Ooooh. Ooooh… shit."

"Looks to me like you're out of tricks to show and places to go Android, I guess you won't be getting the chance to impress me with that full power of yours that you were bragging about. Say hi to Dr Gero for me when you see him on the other side! Hellzone Grenade!" with a wave of his arms he made the Ki blasts swarm towards their target.

'Oh god dammit, it's even got a cool name!' 17 was promptly engulfed by the blasts, resulting in an explosion that levelled the island.

Piccolo waited for a few tense moments for everything to settle down, only to freeze in shock at the sight that awaited him within the smoke "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, he has a forcefield too!"

"The technical name is Android Barrier." the smoke cleared to reveal 17 alive and well, having protected himself with his Android Barrier "Nice try, pretty creative idea but it's still not enough to beat me."

"Just wait and see, I'm still just getting started."

"Good then follow me, we'll need a new island now that someone's blown this one to hell worse than Sokovia in Age of Ultron. Some people just have no respect for nature."

"Fine by me."

"And you know something I just don't get? You try to kill Goku and that's fine, but when we try to kill Goku and suddenly you get all uppity."

"True, but when I did it I did it for revenge. You're just doing it for shits and giggles."

"Tell you what, you try living for a couple of years in stasis with your creator repeating the words "kill Son Goku" over and over again in your subconscious, then you can ride that high horse all day long."

"...Wow."

"What?"

"Nothing, just… nostalgia…"

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Meanwhile, in some random city on the other side of the world…

Cell was in the middle of absorbing the citizens of some other city, when he sensed the Ki being put out by the battle "No doubt this incredible energy I'm sensing is coming from the Namekian, he must havve quite the fight on his hands to power up to this level." he dropped his next victim in shock as the realization dawned on him "It can only be 17 and 18, he's found them, and now so have I! 17 and 18, my brother and sister, I'm coming for both of you, and with the power I've gained you'll have no way of resisting me!" and on that note he bolted out the window and soared off into the skies in the direction of the battle.

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Meanwhile, back at the battlefield…

Piccolo touched down on another island not far away "This should be a good spot for us to keep the battle going."

"Good a spot as any, as long as you don't torch it like the last one." 17 and the others promptly touched down in front of him "You have gained a surprising amount of power in such a short amount of time, you really aren't the same old Piccolo anymore are you? Not that it really matters, I really don't care whoever or whatever the hell you're supposed to be. As fun as this has been, and I've already established that it has, but I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me where Son Goku is, or I'm going to have to start taking this seriously."

"It would be a nice change of pace. You can forget finding out where Goku is, the only way I'd help you is over my cold dead corpse."

"So be it then, what do you say we pick up where we left off." both of them promptly dropped into combat stances "Don't expect me to go easy on you this time."

"I won't expect anything less."

"That's what I'm counting on." 17 floated towards Piccolo and shot him a smirk "Hi."

"Uh, hi-"

"DODGE!" 17 dealt Piccolo a blow to the face and aimed a kick at his side.

Piccolo leapt over the kick and retreated from 17 with a series of backflips in order to gain some distance, and he shot 17 a smirk "You might have a slight edge over me in speed, but speed alone won't do you much good if you can't punch worth a damn."

"You're just determined to piss me off aren't you? Well get this, I was built to be the ultimate fighter and there's no one in the world stronger than me." he blitzed past Piccolo and elbowed him square in the spine.

Piccolo spun around and kicked 17 square in the face, then aimed a kick at the side of his head.

17 leapt under the kick and slugged Piccolo across the face, sending him crashing to the ground with a thud.

Piccolo burst back up to his feet and headbutted 17 square in the face, sending him skidding backwards.

17 pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some blood 'Okay, so Green Man is doing a little bit better than I thought he would.' he burst forward and smacked Piccolo straight to the ground with a loud thud.

Piccolo recovered, blitzed above 17 and dealt him a smash attack to the back of the head, which sent him crashing to the ground in the middle of a large crater.

17 recovered and met Piccolo in the middle of a clash that let out a shockwave powerful enough to rip apart the ground of the island, the clash continuing as the two continued trading even blows with each other, until the two of them caught each other in a power struggle that unleashed a shockwave so powerful it caused a volcano to erupt and destroy the entire island as a result.

18 was less than amused with the chaos being brought on by the battle "For crying out loud, these two morons are going to run out of islands before they're finished."

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Meanwhile, at Kame House…

Raditz let out a low whistle as he observed the chaos from his place with the others "From the looks of it I'd say Piccolo is still giving the Androids one hell of a fight."

"Dammit…" Tien gritted his teeth and clenched his fists "We shouldn't just be sitting here like a bunch of cowards, we need to help him!"

"How the hell are we supposed to do that, us going up against the Androids is like trying to watch a chihuahua fight a horse. The most we would do is-" Raditz cut himself short and looked in a certain direction "-curse out whoever is trying to screw us over by making events unfold like this."

"What do you mean, what's the matter?" asked Krillin.

"You can feel that can't you? Cell is coming and he's getting closer by the second."

"Dammit, Piccolo must be pulling him towards the Androids with all of the energy he's putting off in the fight!"

"...Well Triclops it looks like you're about to get your wish, we're gonna have to get involved sooner or later."

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Meanwhile, up at the Lookout…

Gohan gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stay on the ground 'Piccolo please hang in there, I know you can do this. If you can take at least one of the Androids down that will stop Cell from reaching his Perfect Form, and even if you can't my future self and Nail shouldn't be in there for too much longer, so if you can just hold on until then. Dammit, I hate feeling so helpless like this, it's sickening!'

"Gohan, listen." Goku got his attention "I know what you're feeling, I get it, I really do, but there's nothing we can do to help him right now.

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Meanwhile, back at the fight…

"You think I'm gonna go down that easily?!" Piccolo burst downwards from above and dealt 17 a sharp fist to the gut.

"You don't have a choice in the matter!" 17 attempted to hit Piccolo with a quick Ki blast at point blank range.

Piccolo countered the Ki blast with one of his own and dealt 17 a fist to the gut and a brutal smash attack, sending him crashing into the sea below. Moments later, both of them resurfaced following an underewater explosion, trading even blows as they soared away towards another island.

"Yeah it's official, this fight is just annoying now." 18 and 16 promptly followed after the two of them.

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Meanwhile, back at Kame House…

Raditz gritted his teeth "Dammit this is bad, you guys can all feel how powerful Cell is right now can't you?"

"So what do we do?" asked Upa.

"All I know is we have to come up with something fast, we've got maybe a few minutes at the most before Cell gets there, and if he manages to absorb the Androids then we're all as good as dead."

"Hey guys!" that was when Chichi rushed out of the house with a phone in hand "Bulma's on the phone and she says it's urgent, she told me to tell you she's figured out a way for us to turn off the Androids."

"She did what now?" Raditz snatched the phone away "Talk woman, you'd better not be fucking with us right now."

"Why would I fuck with you at a time like this, especially when it comes to me showing just how brilliant I truly am? Anyway thanks to those blueprints you gave me I figured out that both 17 and 18 have an emergency shutdown circuit wired into their neural network, I was able to hack the frequency so all we have to do is push the button and they'll be as harmless as a couple of mannequins in a department store!"

"Well is it done or can you give us the ETA?"

"Relax it's already finished, I have the controller in my hand right now."

"Your timing couldn't have been better. Listen Bulma, we need you to bring the shutdown thing to us right away. Piccolo is fighting the Androids as we speak, if Cell shows up in the middle of it there's no guarantee he'll be able to win!"

"Right, I'm on my way. I just have to make sure Yamcha and Yajirobe don't end up sumo wrestling for the fridge again." and then she hung up.

"Okay, she's on her way and she should be here soon."

Tien breathed a sigh of relief "Okay that's good, now we can finally destroy those Androids once and for all and keep Cell from becoming an even bigger problem."

"Yeah, and all we have to do is blow them sky fucking high."

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just brooding about my boner that will most likely never be satisfied."

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Gohan's head snapped up as he detected a certain Ki signature "Dad this isn't good, you feel that don't you? It's Cell's Ki, it feels like he's heading right for Piccolo and the others!"

Goku nodded "Yeah I know, and Piccolo is so caught up in the battle he probably has no idea that Cell is even coming. Dammit, we could really use future you and Nail right now."

"Shouldn't they have finished their training a long time ago?"

"Exactly, so they should be out here by now. Come on you guys hurry up, pretty soon it's going to be too late to undo the damage!'

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The battle in the islands raged on furiously.

"Oh that is IT!" 17 dealt Piccolo a palm strike to the face that sent him flying into a nearby plateau, and then he unleashed a shockwave that caused the plateau to erupt in flames "I have had it up to HERE with your BS!"

"The feeling is mutual!" Piccolo burst out from within the smoke and slugged 17 clear across the face, sending him flying into a mountain behind him, and then he fired a quick Explosive Demon Wave.

17 blitzed in front of Piccolo and aimed a kick at his torso.

Piccolo blocked it, as well as a few oncoming blows, grabbed 17 by the face and attempted to throw him to the ground.

17 quickly leapt over Piccolo and instead flipped him straight into the ground.

Piccolo responded by grabbing 17 by the shirt and hurling him into the ground.

17 grabbed Piccolo by the arm, hurled him into the air, then burst forward and slugged Piccolo square in the gut as hard as he could.

Piccolo mustered up just enough strength to slug 17 straight in the gut, causing him to gasp in pain as the two of them began exchanging painful blows to the gut, which ended with two simultaneous kicks to the face that sent both of them rolling away from each other.

17 burst towards Piccolo and dealt him a kick to the face.

"Masenko!" Piccolo recovered and quickly 17 with a full power Masenko, sending him hurtling down to the Earth below.

17 rebounded before hit the ground, panting slightly, and locked eyes with Piccolo as the latter returned to the ground "Dammit Green Man, I've gotta give it to you, you're proving to be pretty hard to put down."

"Yeah… Not gonna lie, I'm actually beginning to enjoy myself."

"As entertaining as this battle is Piccolo, I'm afraid we have a problem."

'Yeah I know, I'm bluffing. I'm starting to reach the limit on my Ki, but his energy supposedly never runs out.'

"Make that two problems."

'What, the other Androids?'

"Okay make that three problems."

'What else is there-' Piccolo glanced over to the side and nearly froze in shock 'Oh, that's the problem you were talking about. Shit.'

17 blinked at the sight standing before them "What the fuck is that thing supposed to be?"

"Something I was never planning for you to see, he calls himself Cell."

Sure enough, Cell was standing on the edge of the coastline looking down on them a malicious smirk plastered across his face "Hello boys, room for one more?"

'Dammit, I was so caught up in my battle with 17 I didn't sense hom coming!'

"So who's this spearmint, your inbred mutant cousin or something?" asked 17.

'Wait a second, the Androids don't know about Cell? Then that means they don't know that they're his target!'

Cell let out a chuckle "At long last, a feast for the eyes, the two key components I require to complete my design and realize my Perfect Form! Androids 17 and 18, my dearst brother and sister." then he set his eyes on 16 'And who do we have here? Considering he wears the mark of the Red Ribbon Army I can only assume he is also an Android created by Dr Gero, but if that is the case then he must be an older model, so he's of no concern to me.' he lowered himself to the ground and his malicious grin widened "I do owe you my sincerest gratitude Piccolo, without any power levels to track I would've been left searching for them blindly. But thanks to your little skirmish, I have at last been reunited with my family, and let me tell you just how much catching up we have to do!" he dropped into a stance and began powering up, his yellow aura reeking with the souls and cries of anguish of the people he had previously absorbed, and he let out a shockwave that left Piccolo too stunned to even move "Is it hard to bear Piccolo, my overwhelming power? It's weight… it's girth…? Well considering this little piece of advice my way of thanking you to guiding me towards perfection, this time stay out of my way if you want to live until I reach perfection."

"You… You managed to power up to a greater extent than I had imagined. How many thousands of innocent lives did you have to sacrifice?"

"Oh a few give or take, though I say they should be honored. Thanks to me they will become one with perfection."

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Krillin gritted his teeth as his aura flared slightly from the frustration he was feeling "Dammit this just keeps getting worse, how the hell are they supposed to hold off Cell when he has power like that?!"

"It's simple, they can't." Raditz told him flatly "The most Piccolo can do at this point is just stall for time."

"Is that the only choice we have?"

"There is that shutdown device that Bulma has, that could still help but even if she's flying at top speed there's no way she's going to make it in time to make a difference. Frankly the best thing any of us could do is for one of us to meet her halfway, it's better than standing around out here like a bunch of stooges. Look, the fact is that I'm the strongest and fastest out of the five of us so I'll go and meet Bulma and grab the shutdown device, and I'll be back as soon as I can." so with that in mind, Raditz flashed into Super Saiyan and blasted off away from Kame House at full speed.

"Well at least one of us gets to do something. Honestly, I miss the days when we actually meant something in the grand scheme of things, now all we can do is wait until Goku and the others get back-"

"ENOUGH! I AM NOT A SPECTATOR, I AM A WARRIOR!" Tien suddenly exploded and blasted off in the direction of the battle.

"Seriously, I don't think any of us can ever get a read on that guy."

"I'm going to help them too." Tarble suddenly flashed into Super Saiyan "I may not be able to compete with any of them or offer any significant contributions, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself or face my wife again if I didn't at least try!" and so he blasted off after Tien at full speed.

"Dammit guys, they're throwing their lives away!"

"I know, but I do get it." Master Roshi let out a sigh "If I was a few years younger then chances are I would probably do the same thing, at least if I thought it would make a difference. It's hard to believe this helpless old man used to be the greatest Martial Artist in the world. Goku it's up to you and the others now son, you have to hurry back. Even if you can do a year's worth of training in a single day, I'm afraid a day might be more time than we have to spare."

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Meanwhile, back at the battlefield…

17 shot Cell an overconfident smirk "You know we're kind of in the middle of something here, so whoever the hell you're supposed to be you'll just have to sit back and wait your turn until I'm done with him."

"No 17 don't underestimate him, he's dangerous!" Piccolo barked at the top of his lungs "He came here in order to absorb you, get the hell out of here now!"

"Wait what?" 17 quickly dodged a thrust of Cell's tail, as well of the series of thrusts that followed that one, only to end up getting flung to the ground "Come again?"

"If you insist." Cell stomped down on 17's arm and prepared to absorb him, when…

"DODGE!" Piccolo suddenly burst onto the scene and deatl Cell a swift kick to the face, sending him.

"A surprise attack huh, now that's just rude." 17 pulled himself to his feet and promptly stood side by side next to Piccolo "Who the hell is this freak, and what do you mean he came here to absorb me?"

"I don't have time to give you the full story so here's the short version, what we're looking at now is another one of Dr Gero's creations built by a computer back in the basement of his lab back in North City. The only thing is he's not complete yet, in order to reach his final form he needs to absorb both you and Android 18 into his body."

"And so you fight me in order to try and take me out before that could happen."

"Yes it's all true." Cell shot them a smirk "Once I've completed my design I will become the ultimate being of unimaginable power, the likes of which the universe has never seen. Take this opportunity to join me and together we can fulfill the lifelong ambition of our father, to create the ultimate warrior."

"Yeah you know what, I think I've heard more than enough of this crap. Dr Gero has already created the ultimate warrior, he's standing right in front of you, so why the hell would I want to join with you?"

"What you want really doesn't matter at this point, whether you want to or not you're going to be absorbed."

"I think we'll just have to see about that, I say bring it on."

"No 17, you must retreat!" 16 barked at him "His power is much greater than yours, you cannot win against him! If we allow this Cell to reach his Perfect Form he will not be satisfied with simply destroying Son Goku, he will destroy the entire universe!"

"...Well how about that, you finally decide to open that big metal trap of yours and its to tell me to run away? Yeah, fuck that." and so he charged at Cell at full speed "I won't run from anyone, especially not some overgrown bugman!"

"Not a wise decision." Cell blitzed above 17 and elbowed him in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.

"Get the hell away from him!" Piccolo charged at Cell at full speed.

Cell easily blocked both of his attacks and smashed him square on the skull, sending him tumbling backwards, and then he dealt Piccolo a brutal kick to the face that sent him tumbling across the island in a bruised heap.

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18 blinked at the sight of Piccolo and 17 getting pummeled "What the hell is this, are 17 and the Namekian holding back for some reason?"

"Negative." 16 slowly shook his head "You should leave."

"What, why the hell would I do that?"

"Neither of them have the power necessary to stand up to this Cell, and if he defeats them then you will not be safe."

"There's no way in hell I could do that, I'm way too curious to see how this plays out."

"I believe that is a poor decision."

"Maybe, but it's mine to make."

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Piccolo pulled himself to his feet and spat out some blood "Dammit…"

"I believe this is what the young people refer to as, getting rekt."

'Yeah, thanks for the commentary.'

"But seriously, if you have any other techniques you've been hiding up your metaphorical sleeve then now would be the time to use them."

'Yeah, actually I think I've got one.'

"Really, since when?"

'About now-ish.' so with a roar, Piccolo pressed his hands together and began charging a ball of Ki in between his palms, his aura flaring wildly as Cell continued advancing ever closer with each passing second.

"...Nope!" 17 didn't hesitate in running out of the line of fire.

"LIGHT GRENADE!" using every ounce of Ki he could muster, Piccolo fired the Light Grenade forward at maximum speed, engulfing Cell and about ⅔ of the island in the absolutely massive explosion that followed, which resulted in seawater and debris raining down over the island, or what was left of it. When everything settled, Piccolo fell to one knee from the exhaustion he felt 'Did… Did I get him?'

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16 looked on at the scene and let out a sigh "He never stood a chance."

"Yeah, you see?" 18 shot him a smirk "And to think you were so afraid of the big bad bug all this time."

"That is not what I was referring to. Cell did not take any damage in that attack."

"What?!"

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Piccolo shared the exact same thought as 17 as he watched Cell emerge from the bottom of the ocean without even a scratch on him 'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!'

"Okay, so the last-ditch effort didn't work. I don't suppose you have any last, last-ditch efforts in store?"

'Just one. NAIL GUN-" Piccolo's would be last, last-ditch effort was promptly cut short on the spot by Cell slugging him across the face so hard, it broke his neck on contact and sent him crashing to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Tarble and Tien could only look on in horror at the sight "He broke his neck, if Piccolo couldn't stand up to Cell then what chance do we have?"

Cell made his way over to Piccolo's form and picked him up by the collar "I guess I just don't know my own strength, I was having such a fun time absorbing people that I didn't realize I had taken so much more energy than I actually needed. So then, do you have any last words by big green friend?" he was met with only the sound of pained gurgling "Well said, good game." he promptly fired a See Ya blast through Piccolo's chest, blowing a hole clear through what used to be his stomach, and then he proceeded to nonchalantly throw Piccolo's unconscious body into the sea, leaving it to sink to the bottom."

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Kai's head snapped in the direction of the battlefield as he felt Piccolo's Ki vanish "Oh boy, that's not good, and the painful part of it is that either way, we still wouldn't have any Dragon Balls. I can't waste anymore time with this, if I'm gonna get to this Ultra Divine Water I'll have to do it fast." and so he promptly took off running through the icy maze as fast as he could.

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Goku's head snapped up as he felt Piccolo's Ki signature vanish into nothing "Piccolo… No, we were too late. Dammit!"

"Piccolo… no… not again… I WON'T LET HIM DIE AGAIN!" Gohan flashed into Super Saiyan and burst forward at full speed.

"Gohan don't!" Goku flashed into Super Saiyan just to hold him back from speeding off the Lookout in a berserk rage.

"Let me go dad, there's no way I'm letting Piccolo die again! He needs me, I can still save him, LET ME GO!"

"Stop it Gohan, it's too late for Piccolo, we both know that!" Goku's grip held tightly "Even if there was a chance Piccolo was still alive, if you went down there now Cell would wipe you out before you could even blink!"

"But I… I can't just…" Gohan powered down and fell to his knees with tears streaming down his face.

"I know it hurts, but if there's one thing I learned when I was out in Space, it's that you can't save everyone." Goku looked over at the door to the Chamber 'What the hell is taking you two so long? You should've been there.'

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Krillin gritted his teeth "Piccolo… dammit…" with little more he could actually do, he dashed towards the nearest phone and dialed the number "Come on Bulma, pick up dammit!"

"Hey guys."

"Bulma listen, hate to drop formalities but we don't have much time, or really any. Have you seen Raditz yet?"

"Raditz? No I think I'd see a guy with Sonic the Hedgehog hair flying around me, why?"

"Just make sure you keep an eye out, he's heading towards you to get the controller for the Androids any second."

"Oh really, good that should be a big help. Especially since I had to leave Yamcha alone with our daughter. Don't get me wrong, I love him but he's kind of an idiot at times.'

"That's not really the biggest issue right now, Cell is about to get his hands on 17 and 18 and if we can't shut them down right away then I think it's safe to say we're all good as dead!"

"I gotcha, in that case I'll pick up the pace until I spot Raditz. I'll be sure to find him, looks like it's Bulma's turn to save the day!"

"Great just what we need, another boost to her ego."

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Meanwhile, back at the battlefield…

Cell watched as Piccolo sank beneath the surface of the sea, then turned back to 17 with a malice filled smirk "So much for the mighty Super Namekian, but what about you? Well no matter, we might as well just get on with it. I hope you're not still planning to resist me, you're going to be absorbed no matter what you do, so you might as well make it easy on yourself. I'll be sure to be with your sister shortly after I make you part of my perfection." and so he promptly began to close in.

"Fine go ahead and come and get me, but if you think I'm going down without a fight then you've got another thing coming! You can go to hell!" 17 promptly charged into the fray himself and attempted to deal Cell a full force kick from mid air.

Cell blitzed above the attack and attempted to smack 17 with his tail.

17 dodged the attack and the follow up, and he started dodging Cell's next barrage of attacks "If you think I'm just gonna roll over and die like a dog then you're in for a rude awakening!"

"I think you don't have a choice in the matter!" Cell smacked 17 to the ground with his tail, then dealt him a brutal barrage of attacks that caused him to drop to his knees in agony "Now what was it you were saying before? Because it seems to me that you rolled over fairly easily. I tried to warn you before, there's no point in resisting."

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18 gritted her teeth as she watched 17 get the crap beaten out of him by Cell "You know you're right 16, maybe it would be a good idea to run."

16 nodded "Yes, you should go now, but I will stay behind."

"Wait what?"

"If both you and 17 are absorbed, there will be no way to stop Cell from destroying this world, and he will win."

"So what are you going to do?"

"There is only one thing I can do. I will destroy Cell. The time for me to fight has come. My search for Son Goku will have to wait." he started advancing forward.

"Have you lost your mind 16? You can't go out there, Cell will kill you!"

16 stopped, then looked back at 18 and gave a small smile "I am glad to have met you. Thanks to you and 17, I have seen that the world is a good place worth protecting. I enjoyed the time we spent together."

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Tarble and Tien shared an uncertain look "Now the big one is going to fight. Does that mean that he'll be able to defeat Cell?"

Tien sighed and shook his head "I honestly have no idea, but just in case we have to be prepared to do anything we can."

"Right."

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Cell dealt 17 another brutal barrage of attacks that drove him into the ground, causing him to cough up blood "Well what do you say 17, are you ready to be absorbed?"

17 looked up at Cell and spat in his face "There's no way in hell I'd ever join a hideous freak like you, just looking at that slimy shriveled up face of yours makes me want to puke!"

"You know you really should let up on the harsh words, after all in a few moments this is about to be your face too. You have nothing to fear, once you're part of me you'll be reunited with our sister in about… I dunno give me 5 minutes, 10 tops. And once I've achieved my perfection I'll take my time killing every last person on this planet, even the mighty Son Goku!" then he felt a hand on his shoulder "Hm?"

"Would you care to repeat that you son of a bitch?" that was when 16 dealt Cell a brutal fist across the face, causing him to retreat and release his hold on 17.

"Got another one in you?"

"Stop. It. I have no intention of warning you a second time."

17 spat out some blood and looked up at 16 "Dammit 16, where the hell did that come from, and what took you so long?!"

"I was waiting to see how things played out."

"Wait a second, was that sarcasm?"

"I am not programmed for sarcasm."

"I'm proud of you. But in all seriousness, don't tell me you're planning to fight him!"

"Affirmative, there is no other choice."

"But that's suicide, you don't have a chance in hell!"

"According to my calculations, Cell and I are almost equal in power."

"Wait what?"

"Retreat to a safe distance." 16 promptly charged at Cell.

"Oh okay, I guess we're doing this now!" Cell promptly charged at 16 as they began trading even blows, the two taking their clash to the sky and then back to the ground, in which they charged each other at full speed and clashed headbutts, but Cell took the opportunity to slug 16 across the face and stab him in the neck using his tail "Oh such a shame, it was such an admirable attempt by the read-headed stepchild! But don't feel too disappointed, for now you shall soon become a part of me!" he tried to absorb 16's energy, but nothing happened "Of me!" he tried again, same result "OF ME!" again, same result "God dammit, what the hell are you made of, pure metal or what?!"

"Affirmative." 16 smirked and grabbed the end of Cell's tail "I am ANDROID 16."

"...Oh. Errors have been made."

"Yes." 16 swung Cell around by the tail and hurled him to the ground, then stomped down on Cell's tail, causing him to cry out in pain as he grabbed hold of it.

"Okay okay, now I know what you're thinking; Should I rip off his tail? And the answer might surprise-" he was cut off by 16 ripping his tail clean off, causing him to shriek in agony.

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17 just blinked at what he was seeing "I was not ready for today."

"I don't think any of us were." 18 told him flatly.

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16 promptly threw aside Cell's discarded tail "And with the absence of your tail, there is no longer any danger of you absorbing 17 and 18. You no longer have the means to achieve your Perfect Form."

"You little…" Cell pulled himself to his feet and let out a snarl "Do you… have any idea… how long it will take me… to regrow my tail?!"

"...Pardon me-"

"Boop." in a split second Cell had regrown his tail with ease "I have Piccolo's Namekian DNA as part of my genetic makeup, I can easily regenerate something so minor as a tail. However, if it is any consolation, that hurt like hell."

"Then in order to prevent you from absorbing 17 and 18 and reaching your Perfect Form, I will have to destroy you completely."

"That right there is your mistake, assuming you'll be getting a chance to do such a thing." so on that note, 16 charged into the fray.

"Perhaps not, but even so I must still try." Cell's aura flared slightly as he leapt over 16's charge and dealt him a kick to the face, followed by a fist to the face sending him flying backwards and crashing to the ground "And here comes Cell, closing in for the kill!" he promptly charged forward in order to finish 16 off.

"Rocket Punch!" 16 suddenly bolted upright and fired off one of his fists like a rocket, the fist slamming straight into Cell's face, with 16 then slamming Cell into the ground so hard that it left a deep crater, leaving everyone else present stunned.

"Oh what is happening right now?! Where the fuck am I?!"

"In your grave." 16 removed his wrists, tucked them under his arms and started charging energy in both of his arms.

"Wait, what's that noise? Hold on, now I see a light."

"Walk towards it! Hell Flash!" 16 promptly fired his Hell Flash down into the crater at point blank range.

"WHAT THE HEEEEEELLLLL?!" Cell could only scream in comical agony as the explosion detonated beneath the surface of the island, leaving dozens of energy beams to burst up from beneath the ground all over the island.

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Raditz stopped flying in mid air when he noticed the explosion in the distance that was left by the Hell Flash 'God dammit, that's one hell of an explosion. What in the hell is going on back there? It can't be Piccolo, I felt his energy disappear awhile ago. I can only sense Cell in that direction, so that means it must be him and one of the other Androids.'

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Gohan looked up and then turned towards Goku "Hey dad, you felt that too right?"

Goku nodded "Yeah no doubt about it, Cell's Ki is dropping but we have no idea who he's fighting right now. Whoever you are, please keep it up for just a little bit longer, until Nail and the future Gohan get out and get there.'

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Kai continued running as fast as his legs would carry him, only to skid to a stop, his eyes wide with shock, a single tear falling from his cheek as he tried to keep himself composed "M-Mom?"

Sure enough, Scarlet stood before him with a gentle smile on her lips "Yes that is right Kai, I am here in the flesh."

"But you're supposed to be… I saw you… Oh wait I get it, this is one of the traps this Darkness guy set up in order to stop anyone from reaching the Ultra Divine Water."

"What are you talking about Kai?"

"The fact that you died from whatever the hell happened to you when I was three, the only difference being that unlike with Goku, we didn't have a miracle cure from the future to save you. Plus there's the fact that you're pronouncing every syllable of every word you speak like some kind of Transformer reject, and the fact that your accent is different. Nice try asshole, I'm not falling for it."

"So you noticed." the fake Scarlet's expression darkened "The Ultra Divine Water is sacred, it is not meant for the likes of humans. Your presence defiles it, you must leave this place or your life will be forfeit."

"If you were really my mother then you would know that isn't an option, I haven't gone to hell and back pushing myself to surpass my limits since I was three and there's no way in hell I'm turning back now."

"...I see, so your resolve rings true after all." that was when the fake Scarlet disappeared in a white light, followed by the entire cavern shaking, and the figure of a large black creature emerged in front of him.

"So you've shown your true self at last, now who are you?"

"I am Darkness, the guardian of the Ultra Divine Water, and you have proven yourself to be worthy. Look ahead."

Kai looked ahead and saw a pot and a cup on a small table "Is this it? Is this the Ultra Divine Water?"

"Yes. The sacred liquid is very dangerous, one must be both mentally and physically strong in order to survive its effects. For those who are unsuited, it means certain death."

"But it will make the one who drinks it stronger just like Korin told me right?"

"There is no guarantee. The Ultra Divine Water takes advantage of special powers held deep within you, if you have no special power within you then nothing will change and only those who carry a special power will become stronger. The others, if too weak, will die."

"Just like Korin said. So tell me Darkness, how many people have drank the Ultra Divine Water before me?"

"15 people in total."

"I'm guessing that includes Goku and Upa. So out of curiosity how many have survived the effects of drinking it?"

"Only 3 have survived."

"Goku and Upa would have to be pretty obvious, so who's the last one? You know what it doesn't matter, you don't get anywhere without saying fuck you to all safety procotions and taking a few life threatening risks."

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17 and the others could only look on in awe at the devastation left by 16's Hell Flash "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, there's no way he's that strong!"

"Oh my god, he actually did it." 18 muttered.

16 promptly rounded on both of them "What are you still doing here? You must run, you are not safe here!"

"What the heck are you worried about? You just took care of Cell from the looks of it."

"Negative, it will take much more than that in order to defeat Cell! My Hell Flash has only succeeded in momentarily slowing him down, you must escape from here while you still have the chance to!"

"Are you kidding me?" 17 shot him a smirk "After all of the crap he put me through before, you really think I would just up and run before I got a chance to score some payback on him? You messed him up pretty good I'll give you that, but I'm going to be the one to finish him off, you got it? You hear that you hideous freak, you're mine now! If you still want to absorb me then I say come and get me, the only way I'm leaving this place is after I squash you like the overgrown cockroach you are!" he failed to notice Cell rising up from the crater behind him.

"17 look out, he's right behind you!" Tien barked.

"What?!" 17 whipped around, but too late.

"So sorry to keep you waiting!" Cell wasted no time in absorbing 17 into the tunnel of his tail without any noteworthy resistance.

"Oh god this is totally disgusting, this isn't how this is supposed to work! I'm not supposed to die like this, I'm too cool! Someone pull off his tail! I'm too cool for this, I'm too cool-" and on that desperate note, 17 was fully absorbed into Cell's body.

Cell was left struggling and grasping as his body began glowing, and within a matter of moments he had transformed from his Imperfect form to his taller, more unappealing and more powerful Semi Perfect form.

16 wasted no time in making a straight beeline away from Cell "Hurry 18, we must get as far away from here as we can!" he shot a glance over at Tarble and Tien "The two of you would be wise to do the same."

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Meanwhile, up at the Lookout…

Goku bolted to his feet as he sensed the situation change for the worse "Cell's power level is rising like crazy, that's definitely not a good sign. They couldn't hold him off, he must have been able to absorb one of the other Androids!"

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Cell's transformation into his Semi Perfect form was complete, and with a triumphant smirk he set his sights on 16 and 18 'And then there was one.'

"Come with me if you want to live!" without missing a single beat, 16 grabbed 18 and started running at full speed.

Cell suddenly blitzed in front of them "Wrong sci-fi, if you're going to do it then at least do it right."

"It would seem that running is no longer an option."

"You say that like it ever was in the first place."

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Tien gritted his teeth as he slowly and subtly flared his aura around his body 'I'm sorry about this Chiaotzu, it looks like I might not make it out of this one alive.'

Tarble slowly and subtly flashed into his Super Saiyan form 'I'm sorry Sensei, I never wanted to waste your time training me over the past three years. But at least this way, I'll get a chance to see my wife Gure again.'

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Cell knelt down and looked at his reflection in the water "On one hand, I'm kind of enjoying knowing what it feels like to have lips. On the other hand, I'm almost as enraptured by my new speed as you are. It would seem that absorbing 17 was well worth all of the trouble I got from all of you. I wonder what other abilities I've gained." he was met with a fist to the face from 16, but it didn't even faze him, and instead he blasted 16 in the face with a Masenko, sending him flying across the battlefield and severely damaging part of his head "Yes, it would seem that my raw power has been given a substantial increase as well. Now then 18, I believe you and I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"You son of a-!" 18 rounded on him in a rage "Give me back my brother you fish lipped son of a bitch!"

"Oh come on now, being hurtful isn't going to bring him back. Punching me in the stomach on the other hand, well we might get a chance to prove that in the future."

"You're a monster!"

"And he was delicious."

"And you honestly think I'd let you do the same to me?"

"To be honest, your compliance isn't a factor."

"Well if that's the case, then I guess I'll just have to do this." 18 placed a hand on her chest defiantly.

"...Give yourself a boob exam?"

"No! Explode my bomb."

"In your boob?"

"No! In my chest-"

"Booby bomb!"

"I'm serious! Take one step closer and I'll self destruct, I'm guessing that would prove to be pretty inconvenient for you."

Cell frowned, then smirked as he started using a very familiar sounding voice "Please don't do anything foolish 18, I promise you everything will be okay."

18 froze at the voice she was hearing "17…?"

"I didn't like the idea of joining Cell either at first, but I was so wrong. You should let him absorb you right away! Trust me, you won't believe how incredible it feels to have this kind of power!"

"Is… Is that really you 17?"

"No 18 don't listen to him, it's a trick!" 16 pulled himself upright despite the damage he had sustained "Do not listen to him, Cell is only using 17's voice in order to manipulate you!"

"I…"

"Silence toaster, unless you want me to turn you into a can opener!" Cell snarled at him "I think our dear sister here is more than capable of recognizing the voice of her own brother. You know this as well as I do 18, hear him out." he switched back to 17's voice "It's good in here now, but will you it will be just perfect! We would be the ultimate android, the most powerful being in the universe, and we could fulfill all of the wishes our father had for us! We could defeat Son Goku and then turn this entire world into our playground!"

"...Alright cut the crap, I've heard enough to know that's not 17! We hated Dr Gero for stealing our lives away from us and turning us into his pet Androids, fulfilling his wishes was the absolute last thing 17 cared about!"

"So you saw through that, well if you refuse to come to me willingly then I will simply take you by force! And don't bother trying to self destruct, it will take you at least a second or two to power up the blast, which will be more than enough time for me. With my newfound speed I can close the distance between us before you even lift a finger. Frankly it's like a game of tag, only for keeps, and now that Piccolo and 16 are out of the way, we're free to play." he prepared to make his move, only to stop and look around, and his expression dulled "Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

As it turns out, it was Tien floating a short distance above him, his arms crossed over his body in order to perform a certain technique "What, are you that surprised? You have the cells of all of us, including me, so you knew this was coming. Multi Form!" he promptly divided himself into four copies, each eyeing Cell from one different side in mid air.

"What I know is that the universe prefers to send me worthless punching bags who like to run their mouth too much, but apparently Kai was too busy. I mean come on, you just can't be serious. With your power level? You're no Android, you're no Namekian, and you're sure as hell no Super Saiyan. You're just human."

"Yeah, well you know what? Fuck power levels!" each Tien's body bulked up slightly, the crimson aura of the Kaioken surging around them "Fuck Super Saiyans!" each one formed a triangle with their hands aimed down at Cell "And fuck you! Shin KIKOHO!" each Tien fired a full power Kikoho at Cell at full speed.

"Oh that's just adora- SHIT!" yeah, Cell underestimated the power of Tien's assault and got blasted down into a deep crater left as a result.

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"What the hell?!" Goku's head snapped up as he sensed this new development "Is that Tien's Ki down there, don't tell me he's trying to take on Cell by himself!"

"Actually he isn't, but I don't know if that's better or worse." Gohan told him slowly "I think I can sense Tarble down there too."

"What the hell are those two doing?! At this rate all they're gonna end up doing is throwing their lives away!"

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18 opened her eyes and looked down at the crater left by Tien's assault "Okay, that's honestly kind of terrifying."

"UPSTART TRICLOPS BITCH!" Cell soared back up towards the surface at full speed, the only thought on his mind being ripping Tien's head off, when…

"GALICK GUN!" that was when Tarble soared down from above and slammed a full power Galick Gun directly into Cell's face, sending him hurtling down into the crater below, and then his head quickly snapped towards 18 "Go now's your chance, we'll hold him off for as long as we can but we can't make any promises!"

"DIE!"

"Kikoho!" one of the Tien's fired another Kikoho at Cell, sending him hurtling down into the crater yet again.

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Kai slowly stopped squirming and got back to his feet "What… Did I…? Yeah I did. I did it, I survived! Booyah mother f*ckers!" then he looked down "It's weird though, I don't feel any stronger. I mean sure I feel a little bit different, but I can't really explain it."

"It is done."

"So it is, I owe you one Darkness."

"You have been granted this new power, use it wisely." and with that, Darkness disappeared.

"I'd better hurry back too." he looked up "It's so clear now, I can see it plain as day." and he flew off into the sky, taking the pot of the Ultra Divine Water with him.

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Krillin, Upa and the others looked on at the scene from afar from their place at Kame House "I think I can hear that all the way from here, and the Ki they're putting out is incredible. Looks like a few people are putting up a fight." he looked back at a certain figure "Hey there, are you alright?"

As it turns out, the figure in question was none other than Chiaotzu "It's Tien you guys… and that Saiyan, Goku's student… they're giving up everything…"

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"NOW YOU DIE!" Cell soared back up towards the surface and fired a quick Masenko at one of the copies of Tien, when…

"Galick Gun!" Tarble slammed a Galick Gun into the side of Cell's head, sending him soaring across the island, and then he snapped his head back towards 18 "GO GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!"

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Gohan gritted his teeth "Wow, it feels like Tarble and Tien are both hanging in there, but even so… Tien's Ki is fading and fast, and who knows how long they'll last out their on their own like that."

"Dammit…" Goku gritted his teeth furiously "Tien knows that he can't keep up the Kikoho that long and use it that many times at once, and Tarble doesn't stand a chance in hell of being able to match Cell's power! What in the name of hell do those two think they're trying to prove out there?!"

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Meanwhile, back at the battlefield…

18 looked up to see Tien firing one Kikoho after another, and combinig it with Tarble's barrage of Galick Guns, blowing Cell all over the archipelago, and in the meantime she quickly turned her attention to 16 "Can you still fly?"

16 gave a weak nod "Yes, more or less…"

"LOOK OUT!" Tarble burst towards them and kicked Cell in the face hard and fast enough to knock him away a short distance and disorient him "Don't waste anymore time, we'll be fine dealing with him here so GET MOVING!"

"Right, and… thanks." and so on that semi touching note, 18 slung 16's arm over her should and she carried him away from the island as fast as she was able to.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Cell burst up from within the crater and attempted to chase after them, only to find Tarble barring his way and attempting to hit him with a rapid barrage of punches and kicks, only for Cell to grab him by the neck "Your death is going to be slow and painful for that, so do you have any last words?"

"Just… a few… Super… Galick… GUN!" using every ounce of Ki he could muster, as well as drawing on a certain other source, Tarble hit Cell square in the upper part of his head with a very well timed Galick Gun far more powerful than its normal variant, the force hitting Cell square in the head and slowly ripping away of his face, causing him to howl in pain and agony as blood, guts and gore splattered all over the place, splattering across Tarble's face as well. Having no more Ki left, and with his life force fading, Tarble dropped to the ground as the Super Saiyan faded from him "I'm sorry… Sensei… Tien… the rest… is up… to you…" and he collapsed forward, the life fading from his eyes.

Cell took a moment to regenerate the damaged parts of his head and looked over to see the fading forms of 18 and 16 in the distance "No you won't-"

"Kikoho!" each Tien fired one Kikoho after another, blowing Cell into another crater in the ground 'Tarble knew that a normal Galick Gun wouldn't even slow Cell down, he channeled his life force into that blast! Tarble… you did what you had to do, and I promise I'll make sure it wasn't in vain!' he gave up on the Kikoho assault from all directions and calmly lowered himself to the ground 'I know what I have to do.'

Cell slowly floated out of the crater looking mad as hell "You know, if you want my personal opinion on the matter, Kikoho is a pretty sad choice of last words. But to be fair, it's far from the worst decision you or that other Saiyan brat have made today."

"I know full well I can't beat you Cell, but you're in for one hell of a rude awakening if you think I'm going to go down without a fight!" one Tien charged at him at full speed, Kaioken 20x flaring wildly.

Cell cranked his neck to the side to dodge the attack and elbowed the Tien square on the center of his skull, sending him crashing to the ground.

A second Tien attempted to attack Cell from behind with a Dodon Ray.

Cell stopped the Dodon Ray with his bare hand, then blocked a kick to the side and smashed the second Tien square on the skull and threw him to the ground, causing those two Tien's to merge back together.

The third and fourth Tien's both attemped to charge Cell from different sides.

Cell leapt over the attacks and slammed them both into each other, causing them to merge back together, and then he grabbed both remaining Tien's, kicked one in the gut and slammed his fist into the other one's face, sending both of them tumbling backwards in a heap, causing them to merge back together "And then there was one."

"I'm not… giving up…" Tien pulled himself back to his feet, his Kaioken 20x aura barely holding on "I have… one last trick… up my sleeve…" he slammed his hands together and formed a triangle, his arms crackling with energy as Cell continued advancing ever closer without a care in the world "It's just like Kai says… Fuck power levels… Fuck Super Saiyans… and FUCK YOU! SPIRIT KIKOHO!" using every ounce of Ki he could muster, Tien fired a full power Kikoho blast at Cell, engulfing him in the massive explosion that followed, which decimated the island, or what was left of it.

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Goku slammed his fist into a nearby pillar, unable to contain his frustration "This is just perfect dammit, first Tarble's Ki gets snuffed out and now Tien's just sank like the quality of Game of Thrones!" he was met with odd looks from Gohan and Mr Popo "What? Raditz and I had to do something when we weren't training or driving cars, especially after they banned us from the roads for life. You know what that's it, I can't take this anymore! Gohan wait here, I'll be right back." and so he disappeared via Instant Transmission.

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As debris and water rained down from the skies above, Tien fell to his knees in exhaustion, unable to even stand 'I hope that was enough… I hope she was able to get away…'

From within the shores emerged Cell, missing one of his arms and part of his head, and he had some significant burns across his body, and he looked mad as hell "Like I said, Kikoho is a pretty bad choice for last words, but it's far from being the worst decision you've made today."

"How… about this… Ki… Ko… fuck yourself…"

"Okay you see, that's the spirit." and so on that note, Cell unleashed a quick Masenko, the blast engulfing Tien instantly and vaporizing him on the spot "Good game."

"And the game is just getting started."

Cell's head snapped up and his eyes widened in disbelief "No, is that… Goku?"

Sure enough, Goku was standing a short distance away, his expression deadly serious and filled with suppressed rage "So we finally meet Cell, I have to admit you're every bit the monster I was expecting you to be."

'But this doesn't make any sense, how did he just appear before me?'

"As much as I'd love to settle things right now, considering you indirectly killed one of my closets friends and my own student, I think we both know for a fact that I don't have a chance in hell of defeating you. But I only need one more day, then I'm coming back and I promise you're going down."

Cell paused, then barked out a laugh "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, you're too weak to beat me today but tomorrow you're going to magically wipe the floor with me?"

"It might be me, it might not be me, that's the question."

"...Did you seriously just quite Shakespeare?"

"Yep."

"Okay. Anyway that's nonsense, what difference could a day possibly make?"

"Why don't you give me that day and we'll find out." Goku tensed slightly, then he looked around "I can still sense Piccolo's Ki, he's in bad shape but he is still alive."

"What?"

Goku looked down at Tien's body, only to see it vanish, and then he looked over to see the same thing happen to Tarble's body 'I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you guys, I promise I'll find a way to bring you back when all of this is over.' his head snapped in a certain direction, and in a fraction of a second he was by the shore helping the badly wounded form of Piccolo out of the water "Hey take it easy Piccolo, I just need you to hang in there a little bit longer."

'What the hell is this, how did he get all the way over there now? I couldn't even see him move, is this some new technique I wasn't aware of?'

"Alright Piccolo just hang in there for a little while, as soon as I get you back to the Lookout I'll head down to Korin and ask him for a Senzu Bean." he placed two fingers on his forehead.

"What a fool, does he really believe I'm going to let him get away that easily?" Cell promptly charged at Goku at full speed, only for him to disappear in a flash 'He's done it again, it has to be some new technique I wasn't aware of! But when did he learn to do that, and how? You know what that can wait, right now I need to focus on finding 18. Knowing her she's probably still flying around with that piece of junk 16, if that is the case then they couldn't have gotten too far from here.' so on that note, he promptly soared off the island in search of Android 18.

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Meanwhile, with the other Super Saiyan…

Raditz continued soaring through the skies at full speed, until he finally came across a hovercraft flying towards "Well it's about time Bulma!"

Sure enough, Bulma was flying towards him but screeched to a halt right before she ended up hitting him "For crying out loud don't just jump out at me like that, what the hell would've happened if I ended up running into you?"

"My guess is a meme would've come out of it, either that or a series of Vines on YouTube or some other crap."

"...Yeah that's probably true."

"It is without a doubt. Anyway we don't have time for meme talk, I need that controller you made to shut down the Androids right now!"

"Yeah I've been expecting you, Krillin called me a little while ago so here it is." she handed him the remote, a small remote with a single red button.

"Earth technology is something I'm probably never understand, this little thing will be enough to take them out."

"You just have to push the button but you should know that the signal is pretty weak, so you'll have to be within 30 feet for it to work on them."

"Just 30 feet, that's cutting it a little bit close for my liking."

"Hey that's how it is, if you don't like it just make your own controller!"

"No no it's fine, thanks. I just have to play my cards right then."

"Yeah, and before I forget do you remember when you asked me to make those new battle suits awhile back? Here I left them with Yamcha back in Capsule Corp and I made few extras too, one for everyone just to be on the safe side Would you mind running over and grabbing them so you can take them with you, believe me when I say they're pretty awesome."

"I know, I've worn them since I was two. For the record Kakarot and the others will probably need them more than I do, they're all training at the Lookout so go ahead and fly them up there yourself while I go search for the Androids."

"The Lookout, as in Kami's place right?"

"Not anymore."

"Oh yeah, that's pretty sad but we've been so caught up in all of the chaos."

"Welcome to my world."

"Well anyway I'll have Yamcha head over there now, you focus on shutting down the Androids, and don't forget what I said about the range, 30 feet."

"Yeah I know, thanks."

"Well okay then, I guess I'll be seeing you later!" and on that note, Bulma blasted off at full speed.

Raditz looked down at the shutdown remote in his hand "It's weird, but… this little thing feels a lot heavier than I expected. Huh…"

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Soon enough, Kai found himself back where he had started "Hey Korin it's me, are you still up there?"

Korin poked his head out in the sky "Hey Kai is that you?"

"Yeah it's me alright, mission accomplished."

'So the kid didn't die after all, he really is impressive.'

"So you mind letting me back up? My nipples are rigid right now."

"Alright, just hold on a second." Korin whisked him back up and out through the jug, where he landed safely on the ground "Welcome back, I take it your mission was a success?"

"You tell me." Kai flared his aura slightly "I do feel different though, somehow my whole body feels different. I feel this huge reservoir of power bubbling up inside of me, I feel really at peace too even more than I had ever thought possible."

'Yamcha and Scarlet both said that he would survive no problem but I never considered just what it would mean, could this boy truly be the one? Well done Kai, I'm impressed. I'd like to give you a little something to reward you for all the trouble you went through but it looks like we don't have time for that, Gohan and the others are on their way up to the Lookout. You might wanna hurry up and meet them up there."

"Duly noted." so Kai set down the Ultra Divine Water and blasted up towards the Lookout at full speed.

'I've gotta admit I'm actually pretty amazed, Scarlet mentioned the kid had potential but to get the Ultra Divine Water all by himself at his age was something even not Goku could pull off. Is it possible that he'll surpass even Goku? Well I guess only time will tell.'

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Meanwhile, up at the Lookout…

Gohan looked up at Piccolo and breathed a sigh of relief "I have to admit Piccolo, you really had me worried for awhile there. I mean you were putting up such a great fight, but then Cell showed up and I was really worried you weren't going to make it."

"I did what I could." Piccolo let out a sigh "But in the end it wasn't enough, Tien and Tarble were the ones who did the heavy lifting."

"You guys all did your part, and in the end that was enough to hold Cell off long enough so that at least Android 18 was able to escape."

"Their sacrifices weren't in vain, but even so it was only a temporary victory at best. As powerful as Cell has become, right now I doubt we have anyone who could actually beat him in a head on battle. Even your father wouldn't stand a chance, he's just too much for all of us right now."

"Maybe, but after we train inside the time chamber-"

"It wouldn't make a difference before the awesomeness I'm radiating."

Gohan whipped around and his face lit up at the sight "Kai!"

Sure enough, Kai dropped down onto the floors of the Lookout, his body radiating pure white energy around him, and he shot them a confident smirk "So what do you think, do you like what you see?"

"Your power level is amazing, it's like you're a totally different person!"

"I might as well be, while I was travelling through the depths of that icy maze, I had to look within myself and confront my own greatest fears, and only then was I able to pass the test and awaken a new level of power." he flared his own aura slightly "You like that Green Man, already over 1/10 of your full power and I'm not even using the Namek-Ken. Which raises the question, how high can I push that now?"

"Everyone!" that was when Mr Popo rushed out towards them "Everyone you must come quickly, I believe that Nail and the boy from the future are about to exit the Hyperbolic Time Chamber!"

"And just like that your future self and Nail just stole my thunder."

"Let's just go." Piccolo told him dryly.

"Whatever green man."

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Cell was searching through one island after another for 18 and 16, his mind racing alongside his frustration 'So I'm a hair's breadth from Perfection, and the Triclops and Junior just show up out of nowhere and decides, "We're just gonna turn triangles into fucking squares and then blast the ever loving hell out of Cell!" Then Goku shows up, apparently he can teleport, I'll have to look into that later! But at the very top of this long list of stupid questions is: WHERE! ARE YOU! ANDROID 18?!"

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As it turns out, 18 and 16 had chosen to hide on one of the various islands "Looks like we got pretty lucky, with all of these islands it will be tough for him to find us."

"Technically it is an archipelago." 16 noted "Noun. A group of islands."

"Thank you 16."

"You are welcome."

"Well we could sneak away if we could get underwater, hey 16 are you waterproof?"

"I was. Not anymore."

"Shit. Well in that case, all we can do is wait and hope he moves on."

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Cell had now resorted to trying to convince 18 to come out willingly "Do you understand what we could be together?! We could be perfect!"

That was when some dude called up to him from one of the islands "Dude! I know you're having your issues with your girl- trust me, I get it- but you're making a scene man!"

"Can I help you, uh…?"

"My name's Tom!"

"Oh well hi Tom, I'll try to make less of a scene while I liquify your insides and proceed to drink you!"

"Hey, no need to be hostile man!"

"Do you people mind?" some other woman got into the conversation "My child is trying to nap!"

"I'm just trying to help this guy out with his lady problems!"

"I don't need your help Tom, but thank you-" Cell was cut off by the sound of a baby crying.

"Well now you've done it!" the woman rounded on Cell.

"Okay ma'am, first of all…" yeah, this is going to take awhile.

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Gohan and the others rushed towards the Hyperbolic Time chamber in anticipation 'I just hope they got strong enough to make a differernce.'

The door creaked opened, and out stepped Future Gohan, his hair considerably longer than before, and his clothing was ripped and scorched in numerous areas "Hey everyone, we're sorry we kept you waiting for so long."

"So how did it go in there son?" asked Goku "We all thought you would be out a lot sooner than this."

"Sorry about that, but I had to make sure that I maximized my training time as much as I could. I was able to surpass the barrier of the initial Super Saiyan form, that happened about three months after I went in, but I had to consider the possibility of Cell absorbing either one or both of the Androids while I was in there with Nail, so for the rest of the time I've focused on improving the efficiency of this new form and making sure I could regulate the Ki output properly."

"So what you're saying is then, it went well."

"I could explain all of it, but it will make more sense when you actually see it in action. But just to be safe, even if we did get considerably stronger in there, it's a chance I'm not willing to take with this kind of threat."

"That's definitely for the best." Piccolo told him "Things have changed since you two were inside there, and they've definitely changed for the worst, so if you were underestimate these opponents it would be a mistake you wouldn't live to regret. Myself and the Androids fought against Cell with everything we had but it did next to nothing, he managed to absorb one of the Androids and his power is off the charts compared to before. The only reason the other Android managed to get away is because Tien and Tarble sacrificed themselves."

"Is it really that bad?"

Goku nodded grimly "Yeah it's that bad, I just had a chance to take a look at Cell myslef upclose and personal, and he's not like any monster any of us have ever faced.'

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Not like it will do you much good." Kai shot him a smirk "I know damn well what's been going on and I'm more than prepared for it."

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Meanwhile, with our happy family of three…

Yamcha was flying alongside Bulma (who was flying in a capsule plane with Bulla) in the direction of the Lookout "Yeah see there's Korin Tower right there, now all we have to do is go all the way up! But be sure you take care when you get up there, the air is definitely a lot more thin!"

"Got it, I know what I'm doing babe!" Bulma soared up alongside the tower, leaving Korin to be considerably startled and earning a large string of yelling from him as a result "Well what do you know, it sounds like Korin is happy to see us, but who could blame him?"

"Happy to see you at least, I never got on his bad side." it didn't take them long before they reached the top of the Lookout "Wow, so this is the Lookout huh? Nice place, but to think it just kind of floats there."

"This never would've happened before Raditz showed up, it's kind of hard to believe how much has changed in all these years." they touched down on the ground of the Lookout as Yamcha then proceeded to help Bulma and Bulla out the plane.

"Hey guys is there anyone still here, in case you hadn't noticed you have a few visitors!"

"Give them a minute, like I told you they're in the middle of training."

"Not any cause to be a dick."

"Not like that ever stopped me." that was when Kai came out first, with Goku and the others soon following "So what the hell are you guys doing up here?"

"I heard from Raditz where you guys ended up, so I figured we'd pay you guys a little visit and see how it's going."

"Oh joy, note the sarcasm."

"Yeah, we pretty much noted it." Yamcha looked down at Kai and studied him for a moment "So your little plan to surpass Goku actually worked?"

"You tell me Sherlock, you liking what you see?"

"Yeah, if only your mom could see you know." Yamcha knelt down and ruffled Kai's hair as he gave him a small smile "She'd be so proud of you."

"Don't go there man, not now."

"Right, right, sorry." then Yamcha set his sights on Future Gohan and Nail "What the hell happened to you guys, you look like you just walked off the set of Terminator. And what's with the hair, I don't remember it being that long, and you seem taller too."

"I can assure you Yamcha, it's all natural." Future Gohan gave a sheepish smile "I don't know if you were here for this, but there's this special room in the Lookout that has the ability to compress time. To put it simply when you're in there you can do a year's worth of training in a single day, so I was in there with Nail until a little while ago."

"Well that explains why you look so ragged up and shaggy." Bulma noted "But how come Nail looks exactly the same?"

"Keep in mind that the Namekian people have a much longer lifespand than Humans or even Saiyans have." Nail pointed out "Although I'm not sure if you noticed, the reason this young man's appearance has changed so much is that he's only half Saiyan, Saiyans do maintain the same style of hair from the day they are born, but that only happens with full blooded Saiyans, not halfbreeds."

"Huh, I never noticed. Come to think of it, aside from his hair looking like a mix between permanent bedhead and a palmtree it never really changed since the day I met Goku."

"As entertaining as it is to talk about Goku's hair, I doubt anyone would disagree with me pointing out that we've got bigger shit to deal with." Kai pointed out flatly "Seriously get on with it, I've got a bug monster to slaughter."

"Yeah yeah I know, awhile back Raditz asked me to make him a new battle suit, so I got it done and it turned out so well that I figured I would just go ahead and make one for everyone." she pulled out a capsule and opened it, revealing numerous battle suits inside "Well go ahead, give them a try."

Gohan was the first one try it on, with Goku soon following "You know it's kind of funny, I never thought I would be putting on one of these things but they just fit so well, and they're lighter too."

"Yeah I'm pretty proud of that myself, it wasn't easy to get the material just right."

"Thanks a ton for these Bulma, they're perfect."

"Well what can I say, I do what I can." Bulma glanced over at Kai and the others "So what about you guys, aren't you going to try them on?"

Piccolo let out a low growl "If that armor is based on the same technology as that of the Saiyans and of Frieza's organization, then I want nothing to do with it. I wouldn't be caught dead in the same outfit as them."

"Suit yourself, any more rejections?"

"You know damn well why." Kai pointed at the crimson gi he was wearing.

"I do. Gohan, what about you?"

Future Gohan slowly shook his head "I think I'd rather stick with my Father's colors if it's all the same to you."

"Suit yourself."

"Hey come on you guys, don't be so picky." Goku finished putting on his armor "If it's going to help us beat Cell then I'll take it."

"Something about that does suit you." Kai tightened the belt on the waist of his gi "Something about that armor does suit you, it's a damn shame you're not going to get a chance to use it. Let me make this clear, Cell and the Androids are mine."

"Hey think of it this way Kai, if you actually can handle them all by yourself then I say you go for it. This is one fight I'm definitely hoping you win."

"You said it not me, but in the meantime I say I go down there and get a look at the new and improved Bugman Alpha."

"Just say the word and I'll take you to him with Instant Transmission."

"As if, where the hell would the fun be in that? I'd rather go the old fashioned way and break in the new power." and with his Namek-Ken activated, Kai promptly blasted off the Lookout and into the open sky.

"Looks like he got his confidence back."

"We should probably get moving too." Future Gohan and Nail stepped forward.

"Yeah that's probably for the best, but before you do just wait a second." Goku handed them a few Senzu Beans he had been keeping in his gi pocket "You'd better take a couple of Senzu Beans with you too just to be safe."

"Good idea, thank you Father."

"Good luck guys, but if things get too out of control then promise me you'll get out of there as fast as you can."

"Believe me Father, I have no intention of dying until every last one of Dr Gero's evil creations is sent to hell where they belong, and I wish the best of luck to you and my younger self with your training."

"I'll be holding you to that from here on out."

"Duly noted." and so Future Gohan blasted off as well.

"Nail, I hate to ask but please, just keep them safe."

"You have my word, even if I die, I will ensure they return alive and well." and Nail promptly blasted of after Kai and Future Gohan.

"And that just leaves us Gohan, are you ready to do some hardcore father and son training with your old man?"

Gohan nodded eagerly "Yeah you bet dad, let's do this."

"Right! We've gotta hurry though, who knows what kind of atrocities Cell is committing even as we speak."

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Meanwhile, back with Cell and his so called atrocities…

"My husband and I go to couples counseling every Tuesday, and it's really helped us!"

Cell let out a groan "Yes and I'm happy to hear that Sally, but my situation isn't exactly-"

"Look bro, if you've love something then you have to set it free!" Tom told him.

"Okay listen, that's not exactly-"

"You can't be so clingy, it's kind of creepy!" the third guy, Harry told him.

"But it's-"

"Do you think it's inadequacies in the bedroom?" asked Sally.

"And we're done. 18! You have until the count of five, show yourself now or I'm wiping out these islands one by one until I find you!"

"Don't you think that's a little extreme?!" asked Harry.

"You're not involved in this anymore Harry!"

"I think I'm pretty inolved!"

"FIVE!"

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18 was growing nervous at the sound of Cell counting "This is bad, this is really bad!"

"Do not fret." 16 assured her "You are too valuable. He would not risk destroying you."

"And you're absolutely sure about that?"

"Trust me."

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"One." with a malicious grin, Cell fired a quick Masenko down at the island where he had been receiving his therapy from the natives.

"Can we please go back to talking about this?!" Tom received his answer in the form of the island exploding and killing everyone present.

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18 shot a pissed off look over at 16 "You were saying exactly?"

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Even with Kai, Nail, and the Son Gohan from the future through with their training and ready for action, Cell has already made it perfectly clear that his ruthlessness knows no bounds! Do our heroes even have of chance of preventing the monster from finally absorbing Android 18 and achieing his Perfect Form? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation!

A/N:

And while Goku and the others aim for even greater heights, Cell takes the opportunity to get one step closer to reaching his Perfect Form. The situation is even more grim this time around, seeing how the Z fighters. But at the same time, we got to see Piccolo's best and final real fight in Z, which was glorious.

One thing that I noticed during the Cell saga was that Goku was the only one of the Z fighters who actually died, so I decided to change that by having Tien and Tarble get killed off by Cell while trying to stall for time for 16 and 18 to get away. Plus keep in mind that both of them have never been wished back by the Dragon Balls before, so they actually can afford to die once.

Power levels:

Weighted Piccolo: 360 million

Unweighted Piccolo: 468 million

Piccolo (Hellzone Grenade): 475 million

Piccolo (Light Grenade): 500 million

Tarble: 6.2 million

Super Saiyan Tarble: 248 million

Super Saiyan Tarble (Life force Galick Gun): 620 million

Upa: 3 million

Upa (Kaioken 10x): 30 million

Tien: 4.8 million

Tien (Multi-Forms): 1.2 million each

Tien (Multi-Form, Kaioken 20x): 24 million each

Tien (Multi Form, Kaioken 20x, Shin Kikoho): 720 million

Tien (Spirit Kikoho): 960 million

Android 17: 450 million

Android 18: 440 million

Android 16: 510 million

Imperfect Cell: 535 million

Semi Perfect Cell: 750 million