Piccolo was hovering in the middle of the spaceship, surrounded by a radiant aura that undulated around him with serene precision, like waves of a calm ocean. The pressure emanating from the meditating Namekian made his cape rustle and flap over his head, almost as if Piccolo had been meditating from the bottom of the sea.
Bardock stared at the readings on the display screen, seeing the distance between their spaceship and the location of the Ultimate Dragon Ball getting smaller and smaller until it was too short to ignore. The Saiyan turned his eyes down and glared at his clenched fist. Cell was not an opponent that they would defeat by just swinging fists around and yelling really loud. Moreover, that's not the kind of warrior Bardock wanted to be anymore.
To make up for the mistakes of his past, also to become the kind of man that deserved to protect that gentle, blue-haired soul, Bardock needed to change. He needed to find a different way to overcome his opponents, instead of just swinging his fists around and relying on his strength. As much as it made Bardock roll his eyes in frustration, he needed to become a smarter fighter, like Piccolo. Even if the two of them were rivals to some extent, ever since their first meeting when Bardock first landed on Earth, as much as it pained Bardock to admit, he had at least a few things to learn from Piccolo and the way he fought.
"We're getting close," Piccolo said before the undulating aura around him vanished and the Ultimate Namekian placed his feet down on the ground, flexing his rejuvenated and rested body in a pose that telegraphed that Piccolo was ready to challenge the whole universe if need be. "When we land, leave the fighting to me. You just focus on finding the Ultimate Dragon Ball. I need this fight."
"It's not that I object to being assigned the role of Earth's savior, but that's a bit of a sudden turn for you. Something's wrong?" Bardock wondered.
"Nothing's wrong. It's just that I'm the last Namekian warrior, the inheritor of the strength of all the Warrior Clan Namekians, and the one who carries on the legacy of Namekian fighters. It's occurred to me that the universe forgot what that meant, and I'm here to remind everyone what that means. To remind everyone of the weight of the Namekian fists," Piccolo hissed, surging with the exact opposite emotions that he radiated during his meditation session.
"Suit yourself, I'm not exactly itching to beat on some mini-Cell punks anyway," Bardock shrugged and pressed a regulator to his chest. The regulator burst open, wrapping Bardock in a tight and sterile, sealed spacesuit before activating the life support functions. Piccolo hesitantly followed the Saiyan's example. The two warriors approached the porthole and glared through it, eyeing a dark blue planetoid with raging cosmic storms, occasionally illuminated by raucous rumbles of ripping thunder and flashes of strident lightning bolts.
Positioning itself at the level where the spaceship peeked through the planet's atmosphere, the spaceship opened up, letting Bardock and Piccolo jump off and glide down. The two plunged through thick and turbulent clouds that looked bottomless, but proceeded to descend to ground level, suspecting that Cell wouldn't have wasted its time leaving the Ultimate Dragon Ball in some gas-giant world.
"The wind's not messing around," Bardock noted, looking down at man-sized blades of emerald grass shuffling and bending to the wind's tyrannical demands. From where the two fighters stood, to as far as their eyes could see, this entire world was nothing but a luscious grass field pelted by a warm rain and caressed by the rough yank of an endless cosmic storm. Despite the tough weather conditions, the grass on this planet has grown tough enough to withstand it, bending and waving alongside the storm, as opposed to fighting it and getting rooted out with the dirt it grew on.
"If you can't handle some rough weather, you could have stayed on the spaceship," Piccolo gnashed his teeth, pressing the sides of his space helmet and letting it open up and close shut inside the Namekian's space suit. "As expected, Cell wouldn't have wanted the toxic atmosphere to kill us before we have a chance to show it what we've got…"
"Hmm… And there comes the cavalry," Bardock followed Piccolo's lead, deactivating his space helmet and turning toward the source of some incessant cackling and the rumbling of surging energy auras somewhere in the whirl of the storm raging above their heads.
Racing toward Piccolo and Bardock was a pair of four-legged Cell Jrs with twin buzzing dragonfly-like wings protected by a black armored shell. The slender arms and legs of the two local apex predators of this world were green and fragmented with black patterned decorations while the chest armor was black and white. The soaring buzzards had four-horned heads with their horns splitting in each corner, and a fishlike, pale-white face with fishy lips and razor-sharp teeth for chomping and ripping flesh. When these Cell Jrs opened their mouths to cackle, it became apparent that their cores were stuffed inside their mouths, behind all those teeth.
"They're mine!" Piccolo declared, surrounding himself with a strong, crystal-clear aura and powering up to the point where his body became rippled with veins and his muscles bulked up to where they strained Piccolo's space suit. The furious Namekian threw himself at both assailants, looking to tear them apart.
"Hmm…" Bardock looked down at the handheld version of the Dragon Radar, realizing that the Ultimate Dragon Ball they were looking for was nearby. The Saiyan took off to look for it, grumbling to himself in frustration when it became apparent, based on the readings, that the Ultimate Dragon Ball's location was changing.
Just before Piccolo could crash into the pair of Cell Jrs, one of them shuffled in front of the other and extended their arms to the sides, erecting the Android Barrier that slammed against Piccolo and engaged the Ultimate Namekian into a tug-of-war competition against the expanding electric force-field. Piccolo grunted from the physical effort demanded of him until the forearms of his space suit ripped from the strength he was using as well as the violent backlash of the Android Barrier he was struggling against.
With a sadistic cackle, the other Cell Jr. positioned itself above Piccolo, pointing its four armored legs down. Much to Piccolo's surprise, the legs splintered like mechanical spider legs, sliding off and forming four separate plasma cannons that fired concentrated Ki blast cannons at Piccolo, forcing the Ultimate Namekian warrior to back up and disappear in a flurry of snap vanishes, eluding getting submerged in the calamitous energy beam by vanishing before either beam hit him.
"I guess attacking you two recklessly won't do me much good," Piccolo squinted his eyes with a solemn look at the goofy pair of engineered apex predators, perfect for this world of Cell's making. "I need to find out what uncanny abilities Cell put into you before I can formulate a battle plan…"
Meanwhile, further ahead, Bardock crashed into another triplet of these Cell Jrs, unique to this planet. The Cell Jr. extended its arms and fingers, revealing plant growths underneath the arm sections of the armor that splintered and burst forth from underneath with lashing and thorned vines. Unable to keep up with this unorthodox manner of attack, Bardock gnashed his teeth and hunkered down, taking a few nasty licks from the Cell Jr. but weathering the thorny lashing with just some minor grazes.
"What are you doing picking yourself a fight!?" Piccolo barked out at Bardock, noticing the Saiyan's struggle. "Leave them to me, focus on finding the Ultimate Dragon Ball!"
"Shut up, you dumbass!" Bardock exclaimed, bursting with a golden aura and turning Super Saiyan to blow away the oppressive whipping of the thorny vines springing from the elongated arms of the Cell Jrs. "The Ultimate Dragon Ball's inside one of them. Specifically, one of those three, that's why I took them on!"
A Cell Jr. crossed its arms and tucked its knees, exploding with a blue electrical field all around it that sent volatile thunderbolts Piccolo's way. With a bemused look on its face, Piccolo closed its eyes, taking the incoming energy thunderstorm and feeling the cosmic storm surging up and down his body while a sparkling electrical field took over Piccolo's own aura, intent on obliterating the Ultimate Namekian's body. With a smirk, Piccolo engaged his aura with a fragment of his actual strength, dispelling the violent electrical field and glaring at the Cell Jr. that only squeaked in fright, realizing the trouble it was in.
"Hmph…" Piccolo whiffed through his nostrils, vanishing and plunging from the air with an elongated palm strike that slammed the terrified Cell Jr. into the ground and dragged him across the rustling and moist grass. After landing down himself, Piccolo dragged his arm back, alongside the captured Cell Jr., and kicked him away into the sky.
With a sharp snap, Piccolo appeared in front of the airborne opponent and kicked him away again, pursuing after him and round-housing the Cell Jr. a few more times, before smashing a knee into its face, then kicking its face again to knock Cell Jr's rattling brain loopy. A flash of malevolent electricity of Piccolo's own making surged around him, a purple lightning vortex surrounded by a burgundy outline, shortly followed by Piccolo's disappearance and an elbow crash from behind the poor Cell Jr., and an elbow smash from the top to crash him into a collapsing pit of swirling dirt.
The force with which the overwhelmed Cell Jr. hit the ground was so intense, that it caused the moist dirt to swirl in a sort of muck whirlpool, pulling in grass and mud and flushing them down a bottomless pit to which the poor Cell Jr. had been smashed into and expanding for several kilometers in diameter while Piccolo admired the show of force, hovering above with crossed arms. His eyes moved to the back corners, noticing the attempt from another Cell Jr. to sneak up from behind him. Piccolo moved his arms to the sides, making the other Cell Jr. gulp in fear, realizing Piccolo noticed it.
Meanwhile, Bardock vanished from place, appearing in front of one Cell Jr. and slamming a flying kick into its chest that sent it flying away. Then, the Super Saiyan vanished again and appeared in front of another Cell Jr., but this one crossed its arms and blocked Super Saiyan Bardock's leg sweep. Bardock winced in pain and felt a painful jolt shoot him away from the Cell Jr. After shaking the shock off, Bardock was confronted by the sight of electrical surges shooting off the four separate horns of the Cell Jr. and shooting into the clouds, forming massive ionic energy pillars that thundered down, homing in on Bardock's location.
Bardock whited out and sprawled as the strident energy pillar slammed him against the ground. He felt static electricity building up in his hair and his torn space suit getting electrized, prompting Bardock to kick himself back to lift and vanish from place, evading the thundering slam of ionized lightning pillar while the Super Saiyan raced around it, enveloped in a golden aura, like a curving bullet across the endless stormy grass field.
"ASSHOLE!" Bardock clamored out, smashing a powerful right into the jaw of one of the Cell Jrs and sending him flying away. "I've been wantin' to become a different kind of guy. To learn to solve problems some other way except for my fists, but I guess I was being a real blockhead and ignoring the fact that some problems in life can only be solved by smashing them to bits with all your strength!"
"Eek!" the injured Cell Jr. with one horn bent out of shape squeaked out as the golden-clad Super Saiyan crashed into him with a flying, spinning roundhouse and then knocked him down into the ground from the sky with a double ax handle slam. Tearing his damaged space suit off, Bardock glared at the rest of the Cell Jr. trio with a death-inducing stare. In a flash, his hair spiked up more intensely and his aura attained electrical crackles.
"Let's see you freaks handle Super Saiyan 2!" Bardock slammed his cheeks with both his fists, getting lost in the tide of the heated battle for the Ultimate Dragon Balls against the perfect predators designed by Meta-Cell itself.
"D-Die!" Cell Jr. squeaked out, pressing its middle and index fingers to its forehead before extending them out and aiming them at Piccolo's back. "Devilmite Beam!"
"Hmph…" Piccolo grumbled out, bursting with an electrified force-field that interfered with and deflected the Devilmite Beam before it could connect with Piccolo, and made it careen off somewhere off to the side. "Getting desperate, are you? Well, it's not like I can blame you…"
Seeing the sadistic smirk on the Cell Jr's face made Piccolo gasp and turn his attention back to his front again. The injured Cell Jr. he had knocked away earlier had emerged from underground, covered in mud, and swelled up like a balloon. Even the Cell Jr's cracked armored shell was vibrating from the massive tension inside the creature's body. Before Piccolo could react, the Cell Jr. opened its mouth and released all the air it had drawn in as a tunneling sonic shockwave, engulfing Piccolo with enough ripping force to tear off his space suit and even leave Piccolo himself defenseless.
"A… A sonic attack!?" Piccolo exclaimed, even though the rowdy supersonic force tunnel engulfing him deafened him to his own thoughts and drowned out his voice. Piccolo's eyes rolled back as blood squirted from his ears, his eyes, and his nostrils. It felt like Piccolo's entire body was vibrating, every tiniest fraction, every cell, shaking in an unmatched, overwhelming tremor. Bloodied and dazed, Piccolo slammed into the grasslands, fading in and out of consciousness. "My… My body…" Piccolo winced in pain. "That frequency… It's the same as whistling, but immeasurably more intense. Any Namekian other than me would have died instantly!"
Cackling, the pair of Cell Jrs descended and loomed over Piccolo, raising their index fingers and forming fuchsia-colored sparkles at the tips, threatening to skewer Piccolo with Frieza's Death Beams at their own leisure now that they had him at their mercy.
"Super King Kai Fist!" a Cell Jr. exclaimed, bursting with a scarlet aura with a golden outline, combining Super Saiyan and King Kai Fist into one power-up and utilizing regenerative properties of its perfectly molded body to repair the unbearable damage to his body from such a strain in an instant.
Super Saiyan 2 Bardock collided with the amped-up Cell Jr., exchanging blows and dancing around one another with ruthless aggression, attacking and defending billions of times a second and spraying sweat left and right. The two slammed clamorous fists against each other's cheeks, sending each other reeling, but it seemed like the Cell Jr. was the first one to recover. With a cackle, it positioned itself horizontally by laying on its back in mid-air and spread its armored four legs, revealing a stinger in between its legs, that widened upon being pointed at Bardock and sent a wave of noxious gas the Saiyan's way.
"Damn it… Quit fightin' dirty!" Bardock braced himself, realizing that the corrosive gas was digging into his eyes and threatening to melt them out of his sockets. Not only that, but it was stinging at his nostrils and burning his lungs. With intensely clouded and blurred vision, Bardock could make out his veins, turning pitch-black, as if gooey ink was pumping through them instead of blood. "Poison, tear, and pepper gas all the same time? I'm flattered…" Bardock hissed to himself, trying to shake the insufferable fumes off and power through them.
"Drop dead!" the Cell Jr. exclaimed, pointing its hand at Bardock and expelling an electrical jolt from its arm. The thunderbolt ignited the gas, causing a vicious rip that burnt the gas away in one blast, but also sent Bardock flying, weakened, singed, and bruised.
"D-Damn it…" Bardock cursed, feeling the blast catching on and burning away even the whiffs of gas inside Bardock's lungs and the filth pumping through his veins. While it may have been more destructive long-term to leave the noxious stuff in him, rather than to burn it all away, the sudden and destructive chemical reaction caused a real short-term ruckus and added a real blast on top of the severe weakening that the gas put him through. "That Cell really stacked you with all sorts of abilities, huh?" the Saiyan cursed his luck for having to face off against a ridiculous group of foes such as these three, forcing himself to shake the pressure off and erupt with a radiant and electrified aura of Super Saiyan 2.
After a blink, Bardock appeared in front of one of the three Cell Jrs bothering him and punched clean through its chest with a fist packed with sparkling, golden Ki. After kicking the miserable creature away and pulling it off his fist, Super Saiyan 2 Bardock pursued after it and slammed at the back of its head, smashing it through the ground with a rumbling quake that splintered the very foundations of Cell's planet and fractured it into chunky, muddy mounds, ruining its gloomy, emerald landscape.
Before Super Saiyan 2 Bardock could pursue and finish off his foe, the third Cell Jr. charged up a yellow energy wave and fired it off toward the rampaging Super Saiyan. Before it could hit him, however, it careened off to the side and splintered into a dozen faster, bombarding scattershot energy waves that attacked Bardock from behind all at once, knocking the weakened Super Saiyan 2 off his feet. While Bardock was shaking off the sneak attack, the second Cell Jr. burst forth from its muddy grave, revealing itself to have regenerated the damage promptly, and joined its brothers with a psychotic peal of laughter.
"I've never really gotten the chance to cut loose in this state. And it feels really lousy to be cornered by immature punks like you three, but you're kind of bringing it on yourselves. Get ready!" Super Saiyan 2 Bardock clenched his fists and swelled up his muscles with tension, exploding with a violent golden aura and firing off vicious electrical discharges in all directions, scaring the Cell Jrs that were hassling him straight. Even the psychotic delinquents torturing Piccolo turned around, as the intense light washed over them and nearly knocked them off their aerial hover.
The true battle against the Cell Jrs only began at this point!