60: A Deal with the Devil

"Welcome to my castle, please make yourself at home." The newly revived Cepa called out from behind an icy tone to her voice.

"I'm not sure if you're new to hell, or if you've somehow managed to avoid my watchful eye during my reign, I can assure you though, you now have my complete...and undivided attention!" He shouted as her transition from the Super Saiyan form she had just achieved into something beyond that, arcs of electricity flowing off every inch of her body.

Slug stared at the electrified Saiyan warrior with a mixture of shock, awe, and a sinking feeling that he had just made the mistake of his afterlife.

Quickly he snapped himself out of his stunned state, already he could feel the pressure pulsing off of the Saiyan Queen. Without hesitation Slug powered up to his own maximum letting out a low growl. He had several centuries of combat experience, he wouldn't let this obviously youthful warrior get the better of him. As he started to move forward, it was as if he was frozen in time as Cepa rushed him at speeds he could barely comprehend before slamming her fist into his stomach.

Slug gagged painfully before launching backwards, out of the roof of the castle and high into the air. After several seconds of flight, without being able to concentrate enough to even try and slow down, the Namekian warrior came to a sudden, painful stop as he slammed into the upper edge of hell.

The world blacked out for an instant as Slug's brain rattled around in his skull, as he started to fall back towards the Earth his fall was stopped by Cepa's hand grasping around his throat. "Well color me impressed a blow like that would've splattered most fighters I've encountered." Cepa tightened her grip on Slugs throat, her nails started to dig into his green throat enough to draw a small amount of the Namekian's purple blood.

The need to breath forced Slug's mind awake again, his hands desperately grasping onto her forearm as he tried to pry her iron grip from his throat.

"I see you are overmatched in this form, so let's start with some simple questions, then we can worry about having some more fun." Although Cepa tones tone had lightened some there was still a dangerous undertone to it, like a feral animal was lurking underneath it all. "First how long have you been here?"

Despite powering up to his maximum Slug was unable to even draw blood trying to dig his fingers into her arm, a sense of total and completely powerlessness was washing over him. After a few more seconds of fruitless struggle he relaxed his grip on her arm, the edges of his vision rapidly turning black.

In response Cepa's grip loosened enough to allow for Slug's oxygen starved lungs to draw in a small amount of air.

Slug gasped desperately trying to pull as much air in as possible before Cepa slowly started tightening the grip again. "Answer the question or I will start having my fun with you now." Cepa threatened.

"I've...been here... for a few years…" Slug managed, again desperately breathing in when Cepa loosened her grip.

"Good, that wasn't so hard now was it? Next question what sent you here? And what are the odds of them joining us soon?" Cepa asked her curiosity getting the better of her anger for the moment.

Slug's lips turned into a snarl knowing she would enjoy the answer "A damned monkey-guh" Slug immediately gagged as Cepa completely crushed his windpipe with no apparent effort.

"I think you'll find using such terms around me won't score you any points." Cepa growled as she dropped what she expected to be a dying body to the ground. She had to admit she was curious as to what living Saiyan had the strength to defeat such a powerful being as this, she couldn't imagine the one she had met nearly 2 years ago could've improved enough to defeat him. As she began to play back what he had mentioned during her visit she couldn't help but remember mentions of multiple Super Saiyans being alive. A smile crossed her face as she thought about the day she would meet those Saiyans.

Slug threw as much of his power as he could manage into his regenerative abilities, restoring his throat to proper order in the matter of seconds. All of his instincts were screaming one thing at this point, 'Escape!' In one swift movement he fired a blast up at Cepa and blasted off in the opposite direction.

Cepa was so distracted by the idea of a new Saiyan worthy of challenging her arriving in hell she failed to notice the weak attack until the last second. At the same time she noticed Slug rocketing away from her.

Putting aside how he was able to concentrate enough to fly at the minute, Cepa's fists tighten enough to draw blood as the coward showed his true colors yet again.

Not even bothering to blow the weak attack, she tanked through the attack, waited another second and then blasted off after the Namekian warrior.

After several seconds of flight Slug began to actually feel like he could escape, his hopes were immediately dashed though as he felt a bone crushing impact to the center of his back.

When the ancient warrior hit the ground he could only groan, and even that only brought him more pain. He had more broken bones than whole ones as he lay in his newly formed crater.

A few seconds later Cepa landed, pressing her foot down on his already crushed rib cage. "You know something I really hate? Cowardly sniveling creatures like you who think that with just a bit of strength you are destined to rule everything. Then at the first sign of real opposition you try and flee. If you had fought honorably I might've been generous in my treatment of you, instead you've done nothing but show your true colors. Believe me I will be giving you my full attention for many, many years." Her voice was more growl than speech at this point as she watched Slug die for the first of many times under her care.

In the distance a recently escaped Frost Demon could only let out a sigh of relief as he noticed his captor completely focused on her new favorite. Cold could only hope he could put enough distance between himself and that monster that she would never be able to find him again. For once he was hoping hell really was limitless in scale.

A quietly as possible he took to the air flying tangent to Cepa's current position hoping that once they noticed he was gone that they would look in the furthest direction first.

He had only made it a few dozen miles away when the Frost Demon heard the sound of something cutting through the air behind him.

Without hesitation Cold wiped around lashing out with a powerful kick. His blow only found home against his stalker's forearm.

Standing before him was a Saiyan he was familiar with, one of Cepa's lieutenants. "Tawas, was it?" Cold asked trying to sound civil, on the inside though he was enraged to be confronted so quickly. The Saiyan was well prepared for the confrontation too, his blonde hair evidence of that.

"I'm sure Cepa will be disappointed to learn of your cowardly escape." Tawas responded flatly. "Personally I'm glad you tried, I've been itching to see how you measure up." A confident grin briefly crossing his lips before returning to his stern glare.

Cold's lips curled into a snarl, as he immediately powered up to his maximum. As long as he wasn't fighting the she-devil that ruled over hell, Cold was confident he could quickly overpower his Saiyan challenger.

In response Tawas's golden aura blasted out in all directions easily matching the size of the purple aura given off by Cold.

Cold's body froze up for a moment, his eyes wide with disbelief, 'Impossible! There can't be another Saiyan more powerful than myself!' He shouted inside his mind. Still he couldn't force his body forward to prove that belief. Instead he was tense, his body wanting to go on the defensive instead of launching into an attack.

"What's the matter? Getting cold feet?" Tawas asked with a smirk as he took the fight to Cold.

Cold braced himself to counter attack as soon as an opening presented itself, but in that instant he saw, not Tawas coming directly at him, but Cepa instead.

Adrenaline surged through him, his entire body tightening up expecting the blow to land. Out of pure instinct at this point Cold's body reacted in a purely defensive manner, desperately trying to keep any of the golden blows from landing a clean hit.

Finally in frustration at both his own cowardice and Tawas's tenacity, Cold unleashed a wall of energy pushing the persistent Saiyan warrior back.

"Well this is disappointing." Tawas muttered with a scowl, as he watched Cold barely resisting the urge to run.

"It seems Cepa did too good of a job breaking you in. It's going to take me months to get you into fighting shape again. Unluckily for you, down here I have nothing better to do. But first let's get you back to your den you filthy coward. We have a lot of work ahead of us." Tawas said with a smirk as his aura suddenly doubled in size, filled with bolts of electricity flying in all directions.

Cold felt true dread for what seemed like the millionth time since arriving in this dimension, his arms falling to his side in utter defeat, there would be no escape, and never would be. The Saiyans seemed to always have an inner reserve of power, one he could never hope to compete with. He would simply be passed around from Saiyan to Saiyan nothing more than their chew-toy for all of eternity.

(Dr. Gero's lab)

After arriving back at the secondary base they had set up to coordinate their efforts with Dr. Wheelo, Dr. Gero immediately checked the status report of the other Android team's, only to be met with a nasty surprise. All 3 members of 13's team were listed as inactive, no doubt new victims of the Saiyan Prince who had foiled his plans before. He quickly typed in an emergency activation code and prayed it would work, as he began preparing for 16's extensive repairs.

In the far corner of the laboratory he heard plenty of discussions going on and frantic work, no doubt Dr. Kochin's efforts to repair the ever rebellious 18.

Dr. Gero was once again glad he decided to have brought Wheelo's team into the fray. If nothing else but to be the ones who would incur 17's wrath if the repairs failed.

Focusing at the task at hand, within a few minutes he had pulled out all the replacements for all of the most powerful Android's missing parts. And with the help of his hovering repair droids already had the missing leg lined up to be reattached.

Allowing his machines to take care of the simpler tasks, he began work unattaching 16's damaged chest cavity, a replacement waiting nearby.

As the 2 scientists continued their work, 19 and 21 stood on opposite ends of the laboratory both looking anxious for different reasons.

After another 10 minutes the tense atmosphere was broken by 19 speaking for the first time since leaving the battlefield, simply stating "Power levels detected." A moment later the lab was filled with first the sound of the laboratory doors opening, then was followed by the obnoxious sound of wailing echoing from the passageway.

All eyes turned to Android's 20 and 22, each carrying a special guest.

Immediately 19 began to make his way towards their new guests a starved look spreading across his broken face.

"19 what are you doing?" Dr. Gero asked surprised as 19 continued towards them. "Incorporating the new power sources." 19 added as both 20 and 22 began to retreat slightly unsure what else to do.

"Stop immediately they are vital to this plan working." Gero ordered as 19 reluctantly came to a halt, before returning to his original position.

With that occurrence out of mind, Dr. Gero returned to more important matters, such as imagining his ultimate victory finally taking shape. He couldn't help but to break out in a mad laugh.

It had taken the two tired Saiyans over 15 minutes to cross the distance from the now destroyed West City to the lookout.

An eerie sight greeted the two as they rose upwards, both immediately noted the tip of the tower just below the lookout was reduced to nothing but debris, the few non-stone parts that had once made up the small dwelling there left to smolder under the rubble.

When they arrived instead of the other warrior's celebrating, already back at full strength, they instead found the group to be despondent, beaten fighters gathered around what appeared to be the remains of their group's healer and the guardian's keeper.

"What the hell happened here?" Nappa practically shouted, in his mind he had no idea how the battle could've followed them all the way back to the lookout.

"We...I guess 13 and the others must've found the lookout while we had to retreat fighting the main force and...what happened to you two?" Lime suddenly asked eyes wide at the rough condition of the two Saiyan warriors.

"We just got done dismantling the 3 worthless machines that ambushed us." Vegeta said with a scowl, his hatred for these artificial fighters growing with every encounter. It was plain to both he and Nappa that their end of the battle had apparently gone less favorably than the Saiyan duo's own struggle.

"If the Androids were fighting you who could've attacked the lookout?" Lime's eyes were clouded with uncertainty. A silence filled the lookout once more as no one present had any answers.

Goku looked especially despondent, his fists were balled tightly up as he looked at the bodies, the air around him already turbulent with energy brimming right beneath the surface, but at the same time there was a look of defeat on his face. Vegeta lips curled into a snarl of pure disgust, the Saiyan who had stolen his birthright, looking like a whipped dog angry and seemingly ready to lash out.

'It's my fault...Dr. Gero is after me, I failed them.' Dark thoughts continued to cloud the Earth-raised Saiyan, similar to the doubts he experience in his fight against Frieza, a soul crushing weight was teetering on crushing him again. Even by transforming the Androids were proving too much, they could hurt anyone he cared about at any minute. 19's distorted face flashed through his mind, the deranged laughter. To make matters worse the Eternal Dragon was gone. Even Korin and his senzu beans were gone now so they couldn't even heal.

"KAKAROT!" Nappa bellowed with enough force to cause each and every warrior on the lookout to flinch. Even Vegeta could only stare, surprised as his second in command made his way across the perfect marble floor.

"Why the hell are you just staring at them? This make you pissed your friends died? Making you feel weak and worthless like you low-blood heritage?" Nappa got right up to Goku standing toe to toe with him as he looked down with a look of contempt.

Goku could only look back at the Saiyan General momentarily at a loss of words. "Where's your Saiyan pride? Are you going to let this loss break you when you've lost so much more already?" Nappa asked as his hand lashed out only to meet Goku's own arm, somehow managing to block the blow in the knick of time as he looked up at Nappa, his face one of anger, but much more focused than before.

"That's better. Focus on what you can do, not what's already happened? We're Saiyan warriors, we're not going to let a few unexpected losses do us in." Nappa said with a confident grin, as he put his hand on Goku's shoulder. Each giving the other a nod of understanding.

"Thanks Nappa." Goku quickly added before turning to the others, the fire back in his eyes, and a new idea forming in his mind. "So, I think I can get King Kai to help me find the Namekians, if someone else wants to see if there are any senzu beans left at Korin's that could really help out during the next fight and-" Goku's plan was interrupted by Chi Chi a concerned look on her face.

"When you go visit the Namekians I want you take the children there too, I'm sure Bulma would feel the same." Chi Chi insisted, completely going against her usual stance of keeping Gota as close as possible to her.

"Uh sure I can do that but why?" Goku asked seemingly the only person on the lookout to not understand immediately.

"If the Androids can find the lookout, they can find...Goku get the kids now!" Chi Chi suddenly screamed, a horrible thought crossing her mind.

This time her fear actually was able to pass to Goku who immediately put his hand on his forehead preparing to teleport. But paused, a look of panic crossed his face, as he was unable to locate either child, the ox king or... that was when he felt a weak pulse of strength threatening to drop off completely. In a flash he was gone, standing inside ruins of the Ox King's palace.

A sense of dread, a thousand times worse than what had crippled him just moments ago washed over the Saiyan Warrior, and with it a wave of adrenaline. His father in-law lay dead a few feet away, a massive hole blasted through his chest, dozens of other bodies were scattered around the palace as well. Some vaguely familiar others not, all clearly servants of the Ox King.

If he looked further towards the door, he could see Hercule's headless body collapsed in the doorway.

His eyes frantically scanned the rest of the parlor, a few small fires were flickering around him; from the craters nearby he could only assume they were caused by energy blasts. Finally he found was he was looking for and quickly began digging in a large pile of rubble, at the bottom he found the badly beaten Videl barely clinging onto life.

Closing his eyes and stretching out his Ki sense as wide as he could he desperately tried to find Gota and Trunks one last time, before reluctantly giving up, he could only hope they were not among the dead. Videl would hopefully be able to help him figure out what happened.

Gritting his teeth in frustration the Saiyan warrior summoned up as much energy as his battle weary body could muster and teleported back to the Lookout, hoping they had found a senzu bean.

When they arrived Goku collapsed to the ground, after nearly being drained dry by 19 he had gone well beyond his limits with the repeated use of instant transmission.

All eyes were on Videl's mangled body in Goku's hands as the warrior tried to raise himself to his feet again, he didn't have time to sit by.

"Goku...where is she?" Chi Chi asked her voice barely above a whisper.

"Chi Chi…" Goku couldn't say it, he could only look down, his body beginning to shake in frustration and shame at his failure.

"NO! Don't you dare give me that, where is she! Goku where is our daughter!" Chi Chi screamed as she grabbed the sides of his tattered Gi.

"I...I think Gero took them, I couldn't find their bodies I-"

Chi Chi didn't wait for the rest of his sentence, instead she launched herself into the air blasting off the lookout before anyone could object her Kaioken aura burning as bright as possible.

"Wait, you mean Prince Trunks is gone as well?" Nappa asked his lips curling into a snarl.

Vegeta's face was much harder to read given the situation, but it was clear even he was less than thrilled with the idea of his child being taken hostage.

Piccolo who had been silently watching everything unfold, while processing his own shock at Dende's untimely death finally stepped forward when he noticed Videl in Goku's arms. He quickly felt her throat making sure the trace amounts of Ki he could feel on her were not from Goku's technique.

Taking charge of the situation Piccolo ordered "Contact King Kai now and find New Namek." Then turning his eyes to Videl's battered body one last time "Hang in there kid." He added in a much softer tone before lifting into the air to join the human fighters in searching the remains of Korin's home for any senzu beans that had escaped destruction.

On the ruined plains that had once held one of the planet's great metropolis, West City, a soft mechanical whine cut through the otherwise desolate silence.

13's eyes slowly opened as power was returned to his most vital functions by an emergency power source stored near his main computer. Running a quick self-diagnosis he determined his body was not in operational shape as it currently stood.

He let out a frustrated sigh as he activated his emergency beacon and a small sensor designed to help him locate 14 and 15, beginning to drain his limited backup power supply.

He detected 2 responses but neither was a sentient response, simply the other two beacons began to light up in response to his own search.

"Damn it." He muttered as he slowly began to crawl towards the closest of his brother's remains. With any luck they could all live on together.

After basking in the glow of his victory for a moment Dr. Gero, ordered for 20 and 22 to carefully knock each of the two half-Saiyan children out, bringing peace to his laboratory once more, before returning task of getting 16 fully functional again.

After a few more minutes of work Gero noticed the sounds of frantic work from the back corner of the lab had finally subsided ass Dr. Kochin emerged, covered in a mixture of blood and other fluids of more mechanical origin. "I don't know how I managed it, but 18 has been stabilized. She will make a full recovery as long as you don't press her back into combat again too soon." He added as he began to examine Dr. Gero's own repair efforts, and then the two demi-Saiyan toddler's unconscious remains.

"I have to say these two would make interesting specimens, though I question the need of bringing them to the laboratory at this point in the mission. Wouldn't it have been more effective to have used 20 and 22 in combat operations?" He asked breaking Gero's own inner train of thought.

Gero turned to his contemporary with a superior sneer on his face, "You underestimate our opponents Kochin. Goku and his allies were destined to retreat when the battle began to turn in our favor. Now not only have we eliminated their abilities to heal and that infernal wish granting dragon that would have trapped us in an endless cycle of struggle, but we've gained the bait that will ensure that Goku will not be able to retreat again." Gero declared with a triumphant smile.

"Dr. Gero...I do not approve of this plan." A surprise objection rang out from the one Gero thought the least likely to complain, 16, still in the final stages of his speedy repair.

"16 what are you talking about, this is the plan, it's perfect." Dr. Gero countered haughty.

"I do not agree with the involvement of these children. They should be released. I will kill Piccolo as I have been designed to, and then I will kill Son Goku." 16 said as he rose from the table, and locked his own chest cavity into place.

Before Dr. Gero could counter another voice seconded 16's sentiment. "Yeah Doc, don't you think this is playing kinda dirty. I mean they're just kids." 17 added, walking to the main group, with 18's in his arms, their faces remained passive not revealing their disgust at his captor employing the same tactic that had lead them to loss the majority of their humanity.

Dr. Gero immediately pointed his remote out at the two most rebellious of his creations, sweat beginning to build on his brow. "You do not get a say in this matter. This is the plan, we are killing Son Goku by any means necessary do you understand!" Gero shouted as Kochin began to move further away from the main group, sensing the tension rapidly rising.

"Whatever you say Doctor Gero." 18 replied evenly as both Androids continued to glare at the on-edge mad scientist.

Suddenly before the conversation could go any further 19 walked right through the group towards the main doors of the lab.

"19 where are you going!" Gero shouted, beginning to fear all of his Androids were rebelling at once.

"Energy level detected." 19 replied without breaking his stride.

"I order you to stop this instant!" Gero shouted as 19 reluctantly came to a stop.

"19 is correct Dr. Gero, a high energy level is one its way to our location as we speak." 16 added calmly trying to determine which of the handful of fighters capable of generating this level of strength could've found their location so quickly.

"Impossible! They have to just be shooting in the dark, probably just passing through. Maybe they noticed their children are missing and are searching desperately. But there is no way they could find out location, not with the Ki blocking field activated." Dr. Gero answered confidently.

He was proven wrong a few seconds later as the door began to open.

A strange creature slowly made its way into the room, its eyes scanning the various beings inside, noting a few more additions than expected. Finally he locked eyes with Dr. Gero, and immediately dropped a kneeling position near the entrance, "Dr. Gero, I have come a long way to meet you, my creator, or should I say father. And especially you my brothers and sister." Cell's gaze slowly shifting between Dr. Gero and the confused 17 and 18.

Dr. Gero looked at the newcomer and blinked his eyes a few minutes before turning to Kochin, "How did you and Wheelo get it completed so quickly? When did you even have time?" He asked astonished, He had been under the assumption that Wheelo's disembodied brain had only been useful for the computational portions of their work.

Kochin's mouth was wide, as he tried to find words to say, this clearly was their payment for working with Dr. Gero, but it was at least a decade away from completion the last time he had returned the lab.

"Wheelo is that you in there?" Dr. Gero asked Cell clearly realizing that Kochin was withholding answering for some reason.

"Wheelo? Dr. Gero don't you recognize me? No I am Cell, your perfect creation. I came from the future in which all life was wiped out by Android 13's final form, in order to complete my mission to become perfect, and kill Goku." Cell explained, clearly realizing that drastic changes had happened.

"How? When did you learn an ability to travel time?" Dr. Gero asked shocked.

"No technique necessary. You did give me cells of not only your own brilliant mind, but those of several of the planet's other genius, such as Bulma Briefs, after all. I found the scorched notes for her research into time travel in the future and was able to complete a time machine of my own." Cell declared triumphantly.

"Amazing, you're intellect, it is clearly operating at levels beyond what I thought was possible." Dr. Gero managed, in complete shock.

"What's your problem huh?" 17 asked after catching Cell staring and him and his sister again, a predatory look in his eyes. "And what's all this perfection bullshit."

Cell looked taken aback, "I'm sorry, I did not mean to be rude, I suppose it is natural that Dr. Gero would've held off informing you of my coming to keep you both from getting too impatient. Once we join together we will become the perfect being!" Cell declared with clear enthusiasm.

"Ok so it's been fun but we're done, we're out of here. I don't even care anymore." 17 said as he began to walk towards the back door of the mountain the opposite direction of the bizarre newcomer, 18 watching behind them nervously.

"Stop!" Dr. Gero ordered pointing the remote at them again. Dr. Gero couldn't believe his luck, Cell, unlike his other two creations seemed perfectly loyal, just as he was intended to be. "Cell you have my full support. 16, 19 please restrain the defective models.

19 began moving towards his two cyborg allies without hesitation, while 16 continued to stand still, deep in thought.

"16 I gave you an ord-Agh!" Gero let out a yell of pain as 16's hands lashed out faster than any normal human could ever hope of seeing let alone dodging, one hand 'lightly' gripped his arm, while the other 'gently' pulled the remote from his creator's hand.

"I am sorry Dr. Gero but I do not agree with this plan either. 17 and 18 have decided to leave, and I believe I will be joining them." He declared much to Gero's shock.

"You...You traitor!" Gero snarled, as 16 crushed the remotes in his hand and began to walk towards 20 and 22 who again looked unsure how to respond, their eyes darting towards Kochin for orders.

"No please wait! Don't you understand what you are passing up? We could be perfect! We'd be complete." Cell argued rushing forward.

"I have a better idea" 19 suddenly cut between Cell and his targets. "I will take your power now." 19 declared as he extended his arms out towards Cell, his own motions in slow motion compared to the supercharged android,

Before they could connect through a singular blast hit 19 with enough force to knock the Android back a few steps. "I believe the Doct'r said we'd be working with Cell not starting a ruckus with him." A new voice, with a familiar accent, but much deeper tone to it said.

All eyes turned to the new arrival, as a pale blue Android stepped out of the shadows by the doorway.

"13! Perfect timing...Oh I see the damage was more severe than I initially estimated. No matter, quickly help me stop this mutiny." Gero pleaded.

13 just nodded as he, 16, and 19 formed a triangle each unsure which of the other two they should focus on first.

In the back corner of the laboratory Kochin had moved as far away from the Androids as possible, as he slowly began whispering into his mike, "This is about to turn messy. 20, 21, 22, leave the children our job here is done. We need to check on Dr. Wheelo."

Slowly the three Androids along the outer edge of the compound began slowly coalesce near Kochin as tension continued to build towards the center.

"17, we need to grab those kids." 18 whispered to her brother, there was no way in hell she was going to leave more children in the care of Dr. Gero.

"Got it...just waiting for an opening and then we're gone." He replied.

From Dr. Gero's perspective everything was calm one second, the next he was airborne, caught flying backwards in a viscous shockwave as all three of the Android titans collided at once,

The elderly doctor could barely stay conscious from the initial blow between himself and the stone walls of the cave turned lab. He barely had the strength to push himself up to see the three blurs already threatening to cave the entire lab in.

"Stop you fools! Listen to me I'm your creator! You'll destroy everything!" His words barely carried to his own ears as the shockwaves drowned out all other noises.

Cell's eyes were wide, he had no idea Dr. Gero had created so many other powerful creations. 16 seemed to operating well above what his initial designs indicated he was capable of. 19 was also fighting at incredible levels, and his unlikely savior, the Android he would most like to see turned into a pile of refuge instead defending him fighting at a reduced level from his future counterpart. Nothing made sense to the time traveler.

It didn't escape him the beautiful opportunity that had just been presented though as he watched 17 dash across the lab, leaving 18 leaning up against a shelf exactly opposite him. 'Sister...perhaps I can reason with you now.' He thought as he made his own move across the tightly confined battlefield.

He had almost made it to the clearly hampered Android when, seemingly out of nowhere a fist collided with his face, the blow didn't stop after the initial hit though, it continued to drive him back all the way into the rock wall behind, burying him in rubble.

"Stay away from them monster!" 16 shouted now left with only 1 arm to defend himself with in the three way Android throw down.

On the far side 17 had scooped up both of the demi-Saiyan children and was carefully making his way back towards 18.

As soon as the three had made it clear of the thickest part of the combat, 16 strategically dropped his guard, allowing 13's fist to slam into his chest and send him flying backwards towards the very same rubble pile Cell's body had created just seconds before.

Quickly 16 slammed his feet downwards slowing his backwards momentum, as he reached out and grabbed his missing hand from the rubble pile as he passed.

Effortlessly he established the connection and gave the seemingly dying Cell a final warning. "If you survive, do not follow us or I will be forced to end you."

In a flash the 3 Androids vanished out the emergency exit at the back of the lab, allowing 13 and 19 to continue their struggle.

'Impossible...they rejected me!' Cell thought to himself in disbelief, his regenerative abilities quickly repairing the otherwise potentially lethal damage. Nothing about today had gone how he had dreamed, Dr. Gero's creations had all seemingly suffered catastrophic meltdowns.

Looking over at Gero, who was struggling to move crawl towards the exit, he realized the doctor's condition would likely be lethal as well, without a regenative ability like Cell's own. To his right the roof of the cave was finally failing as rocks began to rain down on the two titans still struggling for supremacy.

Quickly Cell made his way over to Gero.

"Cell, you must help me! We must leave now, I can receive medical attention and then we can discuss what to do about your rogue siblings." Gero pleaded as he looked up at his future creation.

"Father, I cannot save you, instead I will grant you the greatest gift I know. I will allow you to become part of your perfect creation." Cell declared.

Before Gero could object, Cell's tail had already entered his back, along his lower back, just below where the scientist had suffered a major spinal injury sparing him the pain of being stabbed.

Within a few seconds it was over, and Cell was quickly making for the exit. A new plan of action already forming in the back of his mind.

(King Kai's world)

The Blue deity was overwhelmed by the information he had been taking in the last few days. He knew something major had begun on Earth, but he couldn't spare the attention at the moment, he was onto something major brewing in his quadrant of the galaxy.

From the East two parallel lines of destruction were forming, each marked by the appearance of the same massive trees he had first found while aiding Goku in his search deep in East Kai's territory. Every time he thought he had gotten ahead of them though, one line or the other would veer off, denying him the clarity he so desperately seeked.

From the South Kai's territory into East Kai's territory and now into his own was a zigzag pattern of planets left completely obliterated, not a sole survivor left.

His fellow Kai's seemed to be completely oblivious to the destruction, simply chalking it up to the chaos that was destined to ensue with the removal of the Frost Demon's iron grip from the galaxy.

He had been watching an unnamed planet in one if the middle sectors for almost a week now. It was lush with life, which appeared to be one of the few common denominators between targeted planets.

Suddenly and without warning a voice entered his mind, "King Kai we need your help."

It was unmistakably his prized student Goku. His mind immediately tried to remember all of the details he knew of the current situation on Earth.

After reviewing the details King Kai answered "What do you need Goku? I'm very busy."

"Please we need to know how to find New Namek, our Guardian is dead. We need Cargo to heal us, please King Kai it's urgent. They took my daughter." Goku pleaded.

King Kai closed his eyes trying to tell himself a few minute diversion wouldn't hurt anything. "Just give me a second Goku." With that he began to reach out, trying to remember where the Namekian had been moved to.

After an extended time digging through the rubble, Yamcha struck gold. "Guys! I found some!" He yelled gingerly picking up the few non-burnt or cracked beans from beneath a large slab of concrete.

"Give me that. Keep looking, we need all the senzu beans we can get." Piccolo ordered before blasting up to the lookout again, every second counted right now.

Landing next to Videl's still form, Piccolo knelt down, crushed the bean in his hand and allowed the power to flow down into her mouth.

Within a few seconds the magical effects began to take place as her many wounds began to quickly vanish, as if they were never there to begin with.

Another few seconds and the 10 year old's eyes flew open, a look of panic on her face. "Trunks! Gota!" She shouted, her arms extended in front of her as if she was reaching for something.

Surprised she blinked her eyes a few times, realizing she was in fact safe atop the lookout. Almost immediately tears started to fall. "I'm sorry, they were too strong...the yellow one...my dad...he…" Videl broke down completely.

Lime, both of her arms still broken immediately bent down trying to comfort her friend, as best she could given the circumstances.

"I take it this 'yellow one' is another Android you failed to warn us about?" Vegeta said with an accusatory tone as he glared down at the human messenger from the future.

"Look I don't know why but it seems like there are Androids in this timeline that weren't there in my own. It's the only explanation, I've seen the battle tapes enough to know every Android Dr. Gero had built inside and out. Hell I even broke in and watched the restricted tapes." Lime said defending herself.

Vegeta just turned away in annoyance, with how damaged their group was they were little more than sitting ducks, waiting for the next wave of unknown Androids to arrive and finish them off.

"We scoured as much of the debris as we could but this is all we found that wasn't already burnt to a crisp." Yamcha said as he and the other human fighters rejoined the group. In his hand was a measly 5 beans, several of which appeared partially crushed already.

"Goku we think you, Piccolo and anyone else who stands a chance of actually fighting one of those monsters one on one should take them." Tien offered.

Off by himself Cooler continued to silently watch the events unfold, with how poorly the tide seemed to be turning, the option of running was getting more and more appealing. All it would take was a few minutes of focus away from where the other fighters could see and he could charge up an attack that could destroy the entire miserable planet in an instant.

Something was holding the Frost Demon back though, the whole situation was leaving a bad taste in his mouth, so he continued to hold off on his plan as he accepted the senzu bean meant for him.

Goku stood at the center of their hastily assembled strike force, hoping it would be enough. He, Piccolo, Cooler, Vegeta, and Nappa were chosen, they decided to allow Trunks to continue to recover naturally since his wounds did not seem life threatening.

Now all they needed was for King Kai to get back to them with the location of New Namek and they could get the second phase of their fight against the Androids.

"It looks as if you are more prepared to resume the fight against Androids than I was initially lead to believe." A sudden new voice called out causing all the fighters to jump, some even dropped into defensive postures as a new green being landed in their midst.

With a polite bow, he said "I am pleased to meet all of you, you can call me Cell." before straightening up and continuing with his offer. "I am a warrior from the future, a combination of this era's greatest fighters. I've been build perfectly for one purpose and one purpose only, to rid the world of Android 17 and 18. Please allow me to assist you in your fight."

Goku immediately felt a sense of hesitation at the offer, something didn't strike him right about this new arrival. Piccolo too seemed wary of him. But the discussions were suddenly cut off by another relatively new member of the team deciding it was time for him to take the lead in negotiations.

Cooler stepped forward confidently, "I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say, if you truly can defeat two of the Androids on your own then the fight will undoubtedly shift in our favor. If his claims are true that is, how do you intend to prove what you say?" Cooler's tone was accepting, carefully hiding his own true inner thoughts. It was clear to all present unless this fighter was concealing much more power than it appeared he was he wouldn't be a match for any of the Androids.

"As if a this creature could hold his own against one, let alone two of the Androids." Vegeta snarled, pointing out what everyone was already thinking.

Goku and Piccolo exchanged a quick glance, "Look we appreciate the offer but-" Goku was cut off as Cell prepared to play his trump card.

"I just survived a fight against them. I cannot defeat them on my own. If you can get me in a one on one fight against one of those two androids I can win, and then I can eliminate the other. Believe me I can do it. I cannot show you what I have up my sleeves, but this is what I was designed for." He pleaded.

Neither Goku nor Piccolo felt any of hint of the deceit they had initially felt, and both began to wonder if they had been too far on their guard.

Goku especially was tempted with the offer, anything that increased the odds of saving his daughter was a chance he was willing to take, there was just the lingering sense of doubt.

Cooler though had his smile turn into a frown, he didn't like the idea of putting his faith in such a fighter without proof.

Cell continued his speech though, "I was just in their base, they have taken two children hostage, if I am not mistaken they are half-Saiyan which would mean they are related to you. Dr. Gero had his forces disperse to prepare for later ambushes as you search aimlessly for the children. He is counting on your dividing your forces again. I know which Androids have your children though, they are the very same group of Androids I seek. If we can get to them fast enough we can thwart their plans." Cell pleaded with all of his heart.

"How could you know something like that, it's not like they would discuss their plans in front of you." Nappa countered with a snarl. He didn't like the feeling the new arrival was giving him, Vegeta and now Cooler fully agreed with the Saiyan General, it was clear to the Frost Demon the creature before them was trying to use the softer members of their team's emotions against them. Before he could say this though Cell continued.

"I was overconfident in my abilities at first and attacked them on my own. They thought they killed me, so I laid low and made my escape. Here watch." Cell said as he charged up a Ki blast, causing every fighter on the lookout to prepare for evasive action. In the same instant though Cell pointed the attack at himself and let it loose.

A massive hole was left in Cell's chest, the bio-android staggered for a moment, smiling internally at the collective shock on the Z fighter's faces.

"What did you-" Before Piccolo could finish his question though, Cell's own regenerative abilities had already taken over as the hole rapidly closed.

"As you can see I have taken you regenerative abilities and perfected them. Unless they were paying close attention to my body there was no way they could've known I survived." Cell explained, hoping the Z fighters would just hurry up and agree already.

Even the three most skeptical fighters were stunned silent for a moment, having regenerative abilities like the could potentially be useful in a fight after all.

Goku gave one last look to the gathered fighters for any other objections before stepping forward and extending his hand, "Well it looks like we're going to believe you Cell. Let's defeat the Androids once and for all."

Cell extended his own hand grasping Goku's a genuine smile forming on his insect like face, "Yes together they will be defeated."

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! It's been a while since I was as excited to write one as I was this one :)

Before we go too far I am going to warn everyone this is going to be a very long author's note, but on the plus side after last chapter's disaster I am going back to the old style so hopefully everyone finds it acceptable.

I have had an incomplete version of the power level list on my page for the last week or so, I say incompletely because there were some intentional omissions due to potential spoilers, and one character I simply forgot about. I now present to anyone who is interested the slightly more complete power level list.

Tien - 3,000,000 - Cannon Tien - 3,000,000

x25 - 75,000,000

Chi Chi - 2,500,000

x25 - 62,500,000

Yamcha - 1,800,000 - Cannon Yamcha - 1,000,000

x25 - 47,000,000

x40 - 72,000,000

Krillin - 1,600,000 - Cannon Krillin - about 3,000,000

x25 - 40,000,000

Lime - 1,500,000

x25 37,500,000

Chiaotzu - 1,200,000 - Cannon Chiaotzu - 1,000,000

x25 - 30,000,000

Goku - 100,000,000 - Cannon Goku - 25,000,000

Ssj Goku - 300,000,000 - Cannon Ssj Goku - 200,000,000

Piccolo - 250,000,000 - Cannon Piccolo (post fusion) - 250,000,000

Piccolox2 - 500,000,000

Piccolox3 - 750,000,000

Cooler (5th form) - 425,000,000

Vegeta - 100,000,000 - Cannon 30,000,000

Ssj Vegeta - 300,000,000 - Cannon - 200,000,000

Nappa - 50,000,000

Ssj Nappa - 225,000,000

Trunks - 10,000,000 - Cannon - 5,000,000

Ssj Trunks - 175,000,000 - Cannon - 155,000,000

Android 13 - 225,000,000 - Cannon - 225,000,000

Android 14 - 225,000,000 - Cannon - 225,000,000

Android 15 - 225,000,000 - Cannon - 225,000,000

Super Android 13 (incomplete) - 450,000,000

Android 16 - 400,000,000 - Cannon - 350,000,000

Overdrive - 800,000,000

Android 17 - 250,000,000 - Cannon - 250,000,000

Overdrive - 500,000,000

Android 18 - 250,000,000 - Cannon - 250,000,000

Overdrive - 500,000,000

Android 19 - 150,000,000 - Cannon - 100,000,000

Android 19 super charged - 500,000,000

Android 20 - 225,000,000

Android 21 - 225,000,000

Android 22 - 225,000,000

Slug (post power up) - 1,500,000,000

Cell (imperfect) - 150,000,000

Cell (post zenki) - 170,000,000

Tawas, and Cepa will not be revealed for the time being. Both are Ssj 2 in case that isn't obvious from this chapter ;)

Reviews:

Thank you to RKF22, son122, Luke, Yoshi, Guest, wetham 444, Harry1002, HERGE 8, Omni King, Yamen, God Goku for your reviews. I would give a better response but there is a lot of questions to answer and I don't want you to have to wait any longer than necessary for this chapter. But thank you again everyone for your reviews!

JAYDEN 123 -

Glad you are still enjoying the story, Yes the Saiyans still get Zenkais it's just they passed the peak point of it helping. When I watched the show it seemed like Namek saga saw the greatest boost from zenkais and then it gradually falling off in terms of percentage after that.

Joesy554 -

Glad to hear it :) The threat is not a God, I can mention that without ruling out any of the 3 characters I've been hinting at. More chaotic evil than pure evil I guess. Good catch I was hoping someone would catch those hints I put all that time ago. Don't worry you'll get your name right eventually ;)

The Lord of the Pies -

You should never count a character out in my story :) Remember Nappa's role back in the Saiyan fight :) 4 Androids were out of commission temporarily but as it currently stands the only real change is Super Android 13 got formed, but is an incomplete version compared to the movie version.

I'm glad you like the overdrive idea. When I was coming up with it I realized I had to come up with a realistic response on Gero's part to the Z fighter's preparations. boosting their strength seemed difficult based on how their generators work in my mind at least, without adding more generators. I always picture 17 and 18 having 2 a piece and 16 having 3. So without bulking them up that wouldn't work well. The other option was substantially increasing their numbers. Again didn't seem realistic in my mind, so I went ahead and came up with this instead.

Nappa is a character I hope I am doing justice, I just can't imagine him becoming the Saiyan General without being a brilliant fighter.

I always enjoy reaction reenactments :) Thank you for that they always make me chuckle.

JOEL -

So the way I imagined the legendary transformation having a 1000 year gap is because so many Saiyans perished during the extinction event that destroyed Cepa's empire that I have hinted about in previous chapters. I do intend to go into more detail on that at a later date. There is a legendary ssj colony in hell. I have named 2 of them so far.

I haven't really thought about reincarnation or if it happens for those who get to keep their bodies.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter as per how it pertains to the last 2 questions :)

SCIENCE 9

Thank you for the review. Yes the world saw Nappa and Vegeta attack, then they also say them flee. Since Nappa and Vegeta have spent the majority of their time since returning inside of the gravity chamber. The world will find out eventually and there will be mixed feelings.

The world has a mixed opinion of them currently. Many do believe what they've seen or sometimes experienced. There is a significant number of people believe it could be a conspiracy in order to boost King Furry's popularity.

I don't currently have plans to use anything from Super or GT. It will be probably 3 years before we even reach that era something could change, or a few elements of either show could start to appeal to me, or seem like they might fit. As things currently stand I put the odds of that at under 10%.

Jimmy 45 -

Well that just means you got to have a longer reading session :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter too.

Bro123 -

That is something that I've wondered about for a long time too. Him and Chiaotzu both seem like there is a chance they might not be human. I've heard plenty of theories that Chiaotzu is based on a creature from Japanese mythology. It is possible it could work in at some point, I would need to figure out a reason to bring it up though. That could be a way for some characters to get to use the ultra divine water like you suggested. Thanks :)

EXTRA 9 -

Thank you!

I haven't done a great job keeping up on Super so it would be kinda hard for me to gauge their strength relative to Beerus. From the little bit I have seen I suppose Beerus is in all likelihood stronger.

The threat is old but I can't say how old yet.

It is possible like Super but unlikely. We are still a very long time before entering that territory.

I can't answer that question, there are three possibilities I've hinted in the story as possibilities, and I am going to do everything possible to not tip my hand until we get to each of the possible choices arc.

Glad you are enjoying the story :)

Cibi -

I'm not sure how other people place Pikkon's strength, in terms of strength I place him on par with Super Perfect Cell, one-shotting SPC appeared to be a fluke. I won't say who won but I will say She respects Pikkon more than the vast majority of fighters in hell because he is more powerful than the vast majority of them and has proven himself not to be a coward.

As a whole she sees them as little more than wild animals.

We are a ways off from them being revealed, I'm not the greatest with OC names I have some ideas but I probably won't make a final decision until I actually post the chapter.

Theoretically yes, he needs Piccolo to do some insane training though.

I think all dragons can reverse a wish. I see wishes as 1 time events that can be changed at any later date.

MATHEW -

Since Kuriza was so young he was probably was weaker than Taiga. Taiga while not a top tier frost demon was an upper level member of one of the noble families, training for many decades to reach his current level of strength.

19 is more powerful than 16 without overdrive. With overdrive 16 crushes.

Upa ended up joining the EDF, he is on patrol somewhere.

I'm estimating about 125 at the minute. I'm weird and like multiples of 25, and to a lesser extent 5 hence why arcs are generally a multiple of 5 chapters in length, and initially I was aiming for 100 but the story keeps ballooning so 125 is the minimum I am thinking at the moment.

I wouldn't necessarily say she fears anyone, she probably doesn't want to fight the horrors more unless she has to. If she has to though she is going to aim to get a kill. Her K/D against them isn't the greatest at the moment.

Sort of, they're endless fight slowly migrates through hell. it is a large area though so most residents can just move out when the battle gets close. Thank you :)

Spirax570 -

A few parts of your prediction are close, you'll have to wait another couple of chapters to see which ones though, Kakarot screams are coming soon though, how soon I cannot say ;). Yes Ratchi is the one major villian I am having trouble deciding what to do with, or if I will something with. If Ratchi does appear it will be towards the end before or after Buu I can't say. The tuffle bioandriods were one of the arcs I enjoyed more out of GT so they have a better chance of appearing than much of the show. I'm not sure if they will be included or not though. Thank you for the review.

So some parts of Turles' past will likely come up at some point. There is a lot left for me to do with him, especially since he is the character I feel like I have done the worst job of matching the image I have of him in my head. I've always pictured the Tree of Might being worship by an ancient cult more or less, and that Turles came across the Tree of might in some ruins on a planet he was purging, giving him the motive to go rogue.

I haven't really planned on including the galactic patrol or the galactic King. How I imagine the galaxy is a series of empires, with the PTO's domain being the juggernaut of the group, crushing any federations, alliances, or small interstellar kingdoms that try to start.

There will be several warriors that appear in the later stages of the story more than capable of being a universal conqueror. Hope I answered all of your questions adequately :)

VlaudFenikkusu -

Thank you for the review, i'm glad you are enjoying the story :) Yeah those are two of the big wastes I've tried to fix in the story, some of the others include how useless the human fighters were for the entirety of the story. I've done my best to keep them as relevant as possible, but it is a tall task. Hopefully i can continued to do a good job utilizing all three of those elements :) I tried watching the video, but the link appears to be broken for some reason.

KING KAI - I really enjoyed getting to follow along as you read through the chapters :) until you explained that you had already read the story once I kept debating on whether you were just skimming the story or if you were some sort of champion speed reader lol. Getting to follow along really made my night though so thank you :)

Anonymous -

Completely understandable, glad you are back though :) I know life can easily interfere with what we want to do (like writing this story sometimes). ding ding ding you hit the nail on the head with that guess. Yeah they are sort of their version of semi-perfect cell.

HTC was a good guess, but you might have to wait a bit longer to see it's glorious blankness. Slug's powerlevel is closer to Perfect Cell at the moment, Super Perfect Cell is quite a bit stronger than that in my estimation. I've always pegged him around 3Billion as opposed to 1.2 Billion in just Perfect form.

I wouldn't say transforming again was necessary for Cepa to fight him, more Cepa was kinda ticked off at getting her skull crushed without even getting a chance to fight back. Saiyan honor is a dangerous thing to mess with.

That makes two of us :) It has been just an unbelievable amount of support from everyone lately, it's truly amazing that the story has taken off so much :)

Pirate King -

No problem all the reviews end up in the same place on my end regardless of chapter :). I'm not sure she has ever tried to go beyond Ssj 2, hasn't had much need for it. If I remember right any pure blooded saiyan seemed to be able to do that in GT so if that comes into play in this story I'm sure she would be able to.

We'll have a whole bunch of Cepa in the future don't you worry. :). I'd say it is a 70-30 split in each of the horror's favor over her. She can win sometimes but it is because she is a very intelligent fighter when she has to be.

Nick -

Thank you to both you and your friend for your support :) and for the review. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

JOEL -

It has been a while since we've discussed how super saiyan works in the story. For a long time I was a believer in the times 50 multiplier seemed simple enough and everyone else seemed to believe it etc. That started to change after I started reading Bringer of Death. the arguments the author made for how Super Saiyan worked actually seemed to be a better fit to me than the multiplier did. So I decided to adopt that idea as I started this story. How it works is Super Saiyan is basically unlocking a inner well of built up power. It starts off as a well of around 150,000,000. Then after that if you train in your base form your base form will get stronger. If you train while a Super saiyan the well of extra energy available will get bigger etc. Hopefully that makes sense.

Cibi -

Thank you for the review, if you would look to the review above you hopefully it will answer your question :)

EXTRA 9 -

I might end up updating it periodically like when I go in and give updates on how the chapter is progressing.

Pro 10 -

Hopefully it didn't disappoint :)

Anonymous -

Thank you for another review, I've taken some of your questions along with some of the others reviews as well. Some power levels have been revised some, I think these are more consistent with how the story should go. Now then you have to remember where Trunks was starting from, he went from a power level of 100-200,000 to 10,000,000 base in just over 3 years. His gains far outpaced even the strongest human fighters like Tien who was stronger than Trunks to start with but still only ended up at 3,000,000. Yes Zenkai's came into play as well, but part of it was because of how much harder his training is.

So the reason fused Piccolo's power level was initially lower, and since then it has been raised to be equal with his canon self, is because isntead of being able to focus on training himself or training against someone stronger than himself i.e. canon based Goku, he was lowering himself to the level of his opponents. Furthermore instead of focusing on increasing his raw strength, Piccolo has also been spending an extended amount of time trying to force himself to reach higher levels of Kaioken again.

Goku also had the later problem of becoming the trainer. His best challenge for the last year and a half was Trunks who was well below his own level.

Hopefully that answered your concerns.

Josey554 -

Yes just about everyone is a bit stronger :)

So Nappa was running up against what I believed the upper limit for not transforming mid to upper 20 Millions. I figure it might vary from Saiyan to Saiyan a bit. As far as Cabba go, I just haven't seen enough from him to have any idea on what his strength is. I know he got played around with by Vegeta and that's about it. I know supposedly his biology is different so maybe that has something to do with your perfect cell estimation?

Beerus101 -

Yeah, hopefully this is better, the other way didn't end up saving time like I hoped, it was just a mess all around.

You are so sure :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter

Harry1002 -

Thanks for the review :) Hope you liked this chapter as well. Super Android 13 at full power is slightly stronger than Semi Perfect Cell. 675,000,000 vs 600,000,000

Nick -

Cepa i'm holding off for now. King Cold, was discussed in a previous chapter, basically he doubled his power level to 800,000,000 in his 5th form. I will try to find which chapter I had Taiga and Turles power levels posted on and add it to the sheet after I post, I think it was the last chapter they appeared in.

Frieza does not have the ability to outdo decades of training by the Saiyans with only a year of training, unless of course he spent an extended period of time in the hyperbolic time chamber and learned to transform.

I think I mentioned a long time ago that he had been forced to use his 2nd form once before or something like that, it has been a long, long time since I've re-read that part of the story. Generally there is nothing strong enough to challenge even 1st form frieza due to generations of frost demon rulers, and their sibling challengers running amok across the galaxy for centuries, crushing all resistance.

I would say current odds for any elements of super or gt to be included as below 10% currently, we're 3 or so years away from that time in the story though so something could change.

I don't currently have plans for Beerus, could change but as of now not much if anything from super is being included. I think the only think I've partially included is some bits about the Super Saiyan god as discussed in a previous A/N it helped inspire the idea of the ancient super saiyans, but there are no plans to include that transformation in the story.

Alright thank you again everyone for the reviews, next chapter we check in on a certain Demi Saiyan, so get pumped for that ;)