"I told you there was a drill," Mai sighed.
The group's collective jaw hung low. Having finally ascended to the top of the outer wall of Ba Singe Se, they could finally see it; on the other side of the mountain trail lie a vast desert landscape, and through it slowly crawled a massive spiraling machine, flanked by two squadrons of tanks which dwarfed by the metal beast between them; it pushed itself forward by extending its segmented sections and pulling its rear sections in like an enormous...
"WORM!" Vegeta shrieked in terror."THEY'RE SINKING CITIES WITH A GIANT WORM!" He whaled, clutching his hair as his wide eyes beheld the ultimate personification of his fears.
Tarble stared down at the massive vehicle with his own pair of bugged out eyes, but for a different reason."That..." he started."...is the single most impractical thing I've ever seen..." he blinked."Why didn't they just build a blimp and fly over the wall!?"
"What's a blimp?" Mai asked.
Tarble whipped his head to Mai."What do you mean 'What's a blimp'!?" He asked in disbelief."A blimp! You know, an airship, a zeppelin, a dirigible really big hot air ballon!?" he elaborated, levering his fore arms up and down with each word.
Mai just continued to stare at him with the same indifference as usual."Whatever you're describing, my people obviously haven't invented it yet."
"YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS!?" the shorter Saiyan exclaimed."You can invent tanks, steam powered iron battle ships, and a GIGANTIC FRIGGIN' DRILL, but-"
"The concept of a hot air balloon eludes us? Yep."
Tarble smacked to the ground anime style.
The actual Gaang looked on in dread.
"I can't believe this," Sokka lipped."We made it to Ba Sing Se, and we're still not safe!"
"No, no no!" Aang hit his forehead."This place is gonna end up just like Omashu! I won't let that happen!" he announced as he gripped his staff."I will not let this titan of a drill breach the wall! I will not let humanity be devoured by the fire of these monstrous soldeirs! I will sprout the wings of freedom from my glider and swing my blades of wind straight at the army's collective neck! I'll kill them all! Every. Last. ONE!" He shouted as he bit his finger so hard that it bled."Ow!"
"Why did you bite yourself?" Toph asked.
The airbender simply stared at his bleeding finger in more confusion than Toph."I dunno; I just thought if I did that, something crazy would happen..." he lamented, suddenly having strong craving for a baked potato.
After getting discovered by a an Earth Kingdom guard, they were taken near the barracks to speak to the man in charge.
"It's a honor to welcome you to the outer wall, young Avatar," happily welcomed the clearly out of shape General Sung."...But your help is not needed."
"Not needed?" Aang repeated.
"Not," the general paused,"Needed. We have the situation completely under control." Sung stated."I assure you that the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried, but none have succeeded." he assured.
"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph reminded.
General Sung was clearly taken off guard by this."Well...uh...technically, yes." but regained his composure."B-But he was quickly expunged!" he reminded with a raised finger."Never the less, that is why the city is called 'Ba Sing Se', which means 'Impenetrable City'; they don't call it 'Na Sing Se'!" he laughed. But when no one got the joke, his face became plain."...That means 'Penetrable City' ."
"Did somebody say 'Dragon'?" Vegeta butt in, the word catching his attention.
"General Iroh," Mai explained."They call him the Dragon of the West because he can breath fire; he laid a six hundred day seige against Ba Singe Se and barely managed to cause part of the outer wall to collapse."
General Sung perked up."Impressive! You seem to have an extensive education on Fire Nation history for a mild mannered Earth Kingdom peasant girl!"
...Mai sighed...
"Even so, General Iroh lost," General Sung chuckled," and he he home with his tail behind his legs! And I can assure you yet again, young Avatar, thanks to my efforts, that old has-been will NEVER make it beyond this wall again!" He laughed heartily.
"Arg!" General Iroh, currently waiting behind the wall to take the train into the city of Ba Sing Se, suddenly winced, holding his burning ears.
"But back to the subject," Sung continued."You needn't worry about the drill either; I have sent my most elite platoon of earthbenders to destroy it: they are called the Terra Team!"
"Cool name," Sokka noted."Maybe we should have a name for us."
"no," Vegeta grunted flatly.
They watched on as far down to the base of the wall, the Terra Team began their attack. Together they charged forth on a huge moving earth mound, launching one of the tanks in the air with columns of stone
"THAT WAS A TANK!" General Sung shouted, rattling his downward pointing fingers."THAT WAS A F*&(ING TANK! You see, Avatar? We have nothing to worry about..."
Azula, Ty Lee, and Perfect Cell were casually sitting in their receptive seats in the command center of the drill. Well, actually, Cell only standing upright in font of the seat where Mai was meant to sit, givin his huge impractical beatle wings restrained his body from taking a sitting position. Just then, something large and metallic flew passed the window.
"Was that a f*&(ing tank?" Cell questioned.
Terra Team attempted to stop the giant drill by driving more stone column into it side, but the columns shattered in mere seconds. Before they could try again, a pink laser bolted right through their leader's head, the body crumbling to the dirt. The rest of the team looked up in horror, as they saw Cell blasting downward, and slamming to the ground, kicking up a storm of dust.
Vegeta's eyes widened; he clasped stone the edge guard so hard that it crumpled in his fingers"IT"S CELL!"
"Hello there, Earth Kingdom!" Cell greeted with open arms."Listen, I'm going to level with you fine inferior beings: I'm not really in a fighty mood today, so why don't you just make this easier and kill yourselves? Trust me..." he raised a glowing hand in their direction."...taking me on is already suicide."
"This wall has stood protected as long as time!" one Terra Team member yelled back, pounding his bare foot into the ground and assuming a fighting stance."A true Earthbender never-!" he was cut off by an incoming ki ball, engulfing the earthbender in an explosion that blew the rest of the team away. They all looked to see that there was no one there.
"Come one, guys," Cell pleaded,"You're gonna make me look scary in front of the princess-"
The Terra Team roared, throwing a volley of boulders at the creature. Cell punched the flying rocks into sand, and dashed forward. He grabbed one man and snapped his neck; he blasted another man's head to nothing. He punched clean through another one, and, igrnoring the last man's begs, kicked him in the chin, sending him flying all the way up the wall, over the edge, over the heads of the group, and down the other side of the wall.
General Sung dropped his telescope."WE'RE DOOOOOMED!"
Vegeta's livid mood resembled that of last night."Tarble, Sokka, flank me!" he ordered, dropping over the edge and blasting off for Cell. Tarble and Sokka followed.
"But wait!" Aang called."What do we do!?"
"... the drill?" Katara asked.
"the drill," Aang agreed.
As they came down, Cell noticed them, his smile growing wider. Azula and Ty Lee erupted out of the windows of the control deck, touching down on Cell's flanks, followed by the other three touching down before them.
The two teams stared each other down as the drill wormed its way to the wall."One phobia at a time," thought Vegeta.
"We have got to stop meeting like this, Vegeta!," Began Cell,"All these new friends of yours getting in our way; it should just be you and me, to the death!"
"Speaking of death," Vegeta said,"How are you still alive?"
"Muffin Button," retorted Cell, enjoying the puzzled followed by pissed expressions Vegeta made. Just then, something small and weak caught the android's eye, and it wasn't Sokka."Wait a second," he frowned, gaining a puzzled face of his own."Tarble?"
The younger brother seemed puzzled as well."Have we met?"
"Only in my artificial memories..." joked the android."Now I remember, you were the weakling I took out with zero resistance! When Ty Lee told me you were Vegeta's brother, I thought she was just being racist; but now, I'm thinking she's a psychic."
"Hi, Tarble! I'm Ty Lee!," she beamed, waving her exited hand."Remember me? I beat you up!"
The shorter Saiyan's lips tightened."That's never happening again!"
"Yeah!" Sokka pumped his fist in the air."Because the Water Tribe Elite's in town!"
"The Water Tribe boy can fly now," Azula noticed,"Isn't that something, Cell...?" she slowly turned her head toward the android.
Cell took a deep breath, shaking his head and feeling his hips."I thought we discussed this already..."
"I don't care how you're alive, Cell!" Vegeta exclaimed."Because your life will end by my hand!"
"Alright, here's how this is gonna go," Sokka began."Vegeta gets the bug guy, I'll take Azula and the perky one, and Tarble can take out the tanks."
"What about me?" Ty Lee asked.
"No," Tarble objected, taking a fighting stance."I'm taking on the princess alone."
Sokka looked at Tarble in surprise."You sure?"
"I have reason to believe she won't pose a threat to me, at all." Tarble smiled.
"But she's over nine thousand!" Sokka reminded.
Vegeta glared at Sokka."Why did you have to phrase it like that?"
Sokka blinked."uh, Okay, I guess I'll take the perky one..." he said, taking a half hazard fighting stance, and drawing his boomerang.
"Oh, how cute!" Azula beamed, holding her together."The worthless one is going to try to redeem himself! Despite the fact that, according to him, my powerlevel is worth thirty of you."
"mhm..." Tarble muttered.
"Oh dear, quick Vegeta!" Cell overdramatized."Stop your brother from doing something stupid! You don't want me to take another relative away from you..."
Vegeta let out an enraged scream, flashing into Super Saiyan and blasting for Cell, forcing Tarble and Sokka to fly at his side. Cell lept in the air before Vegeta could land the hit, the Super Saiyan dashing after him. Tarble and Azula barreled straight for each other, their hands meeting, forcing them both into a pushing match, their aura's causing a small typhoon to erupted from the sand. Ty Lee and Sokka met in mid air, exchanging rapid blows between fists and boomerang respectively.
"So," the customs lady read the tickets," Mr. Lee and.. Mushy is it?"
"Actually, it's pronounced 'Moo-shee'" Iroh corrected the pronunciation of his fake name.
"You tellin me how to do my job?" the middle-aged woman rudely asked.
"Oh, nonono," Iroh dismissed, suddenly leaning on the desk," But may I just say that you're like a flower in bloom, your beauty is...intoxicating." he breathed
The lady suddenly smiled, charmed by the old man' advance."You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself, Handsome. Raorrr," she purred, clawing the air like a cat. "Welcome to Ba Sing se," she said as she stamped their papers and pushed them forward.
Zuko snatched his papers from Iroh disgustedly. "I'm gonna forget I saw that..."
"No you won't," retorted the voice of Cooler in a giddy tone."I'm going to play that memory in your dreams every night!" he announced with an evil laugh.
"You're insanely bored, aren't you?" Zuko whispered.
"Insufferably so..." admitted the alien."So, what's the plan from here? Are you going to start a new life in the big city, meet a girl, have a family that will never know the truth about your dark past?"
"Of course not," thought Zuko."We came here because we're looking for a safe place to stay from Azula."
"Have you looked around, Zuko?" asked the disembodied voice."Virtually everyone is avoiding the Fire Nation; everyone here is flee to the Earth Kigdom's protection. But you're not like them - you're their enemy, and yet your crowding up with them. You've alienated yourself from the Fire Nation, changed your names, and moviing to the capital of an enemy nation, and per Iroh's plan. It's also most as if your Uncle..."
"We have not switched sides!" Zuki hissed.
After a brief pause Cooler said something else."Just remember it wasn't I who finished that sentence..."
From a distance, the disturbed Zuko was being observed by Jet and his team of merry miscreants.
I think Lee would make a good Freedom Fighter," proposed Jet, "He's a little slow, but he's just trying to find his way in the world, like us."
"You don't know anything about him, Jet," Smellerbee warned.
Jet simply held his signature grass stalk up to his mouth. "I know he didn't get that scar from a waterbender."
"Besides, I thought we were going straight now?" reminded the boyish girl.
Jet shrugged." We are," he agreed. "And the new Freedom Fighters could use a guy like Lee. What do you think Longshot?"
Longshot just shot a meaningful look ...
Jet's eyes shot open."Possessed!?"
Vegeta and Cell sailed through the sky. The Saiyan swung a mad fist at the madly happy android's face, but the face tilted to the left safely; Cell simply punshed Vegeta's side, launching himself away from the Saiyan. Vegeta dashed for Cell fist-first again, and was met with the same tactic. Cell continued to dodge Vegeta's punches and kicks, his smile never leaving, but Vegeta's anger rising.
"FIGHT ME YOU GODDAMN COWARD!" The Super Saiyan roared as he gunned for Cell yet again. Finally, Cell parried that punch, but where one expected the android to respond with a punch of his own, Cell merely slapped Vegets on the cheek, inducing an equal amount of confusion to the pain he might have received. Cell just smiled back at the Saiyan, who bolted backwards."What the hell was that!?"
The android sighed, calmly rolling the shoulder of his slapping arm, an act of clear defiance to the Saiyan's temper."I dunno, I just don't feel very fighty today; you sure you don't wanna reschedule this warm up for tomorrow? Just not feelin' it today, you know?"
"FEEL THIS!" Vegeta burst with golden power and dashed for Cell as fast as he could; bu the faster Cell lurched forward, grabbing Vegeta's swinging forearm while spinning around, and flung the Saiyan away and into the wall, making a small humanoid impression in the stone. As soon as Vegeta shook the dizziness out of his head, we was up an' at'em ("em" in this case being Cell) once more."I'LL KILL YOU!"
Cell simply tilded his head back, avoiding the uppercut."Even if you could, I'd just come back again!" he replied, kicking with both legs, launching himself downwards. Vegeta furiously dashed after him.
Neither princess nor prince budged. Both opponents stood in place, their fingers interlocked, discharging waves of ki out in all directions, screaming indefninitely. It was only a good portion into this test of mightt did Azula realize something.
"THIS...IS...HIGHLY...IMPRACTACLE!" she yelled.
"THIS...COMING FROM...THE DUMB BITCH THAT...APPROVED OF THIS STUPID DRILL!"
"MY...FATHER...APPROVED OF...THE DRILL!"
"OH! I...AM SORRY!" Tarble responded, pulling back his right arm and uppercutting Azula off the ground. Tarble chased after the flying target, but Azula expertly nullified his incoming punch with her downward kick. The two limbs vied for dominance.
"I must admit, Tarble was it?" Azula began, crossing her arms."You've made some excellent progress from getting smack away like a fly. What's your secret? Pushups? Sit-ups? Plenty of-" she stopped though, upon seeing Tarble vanish before her eyes. He appeared behind her with a kick off his own, sending Azula flying through the air. Azula managed to stop her self, breathing audibly. The teen girl spun around furiously."Alright, no more Mrs. Nice-Princess!" she announced readying her body and powering up."It's time this 9,000 powerlevel of mine proved its worth!" she smirked. But then that smirk went away, at the sight of Tarble's smirk.
"Oh dear," The Saiyn felt his sinus."You seriously think your powerlevel is that high?"
"Of course I do, you imbecile!" Azula snapped back, hands on hips."You're the one who told me!"
"Yeeeaaah about that..." Tarble paused, trolling Azula by looking away with feigned sheepishness."I'm glad you reminded me, because I forgot to tell Vegeta-"
"Tell him what!?" Azula demanded.
"My was scouter was broken."
At this Azula was effectively silenced."...excuse me?"
"I did a little fiddling around with my scouter a while back," explained Tarble,"I used my scouter to scan the rest of Aang's friends, and a reference to compare with Sokka; and then I discovered something very very off," he crossed his arms."To my immediate shock, Katara's powerlevel was also over nine thousand; I then scanned Toph - hers was nine thousand as well. And then - get this - I scanned the Avatar's pet lemur...nine thousand. After this, I scanned all plant and animal life, every one of which was a wopping nine thousand!" he went on.
At this point the princess knew where he was going, and she did not like it at all...
"I even scanned myself! Nine thousand! By then there was no denying that thing was busted; so I gave it to some talking bird and that was it. To be straight with you, I have no idea of knowing what your current powerlevel is, but I highly doubt it even half of what the misread was," Tarble sneered, just staring at the intimidated princess."I really don't know why I'm being so facetious as of late; as suppose it's because, where I'm from, I was a weakling in a universe where power was all that matters." he gestured to the princess."And now I see you, a prime example of the strong picking on the weak, except it turns out I'm the stronger one here."
Azula's face scrunched."You're bluffing! I pummeled you into submission before!"
"There were three of you," dismissed Tarble."And I was just afraid to fight. But I get the rules now: whatever happened to the this planet causes all powerful beings, from strongest to weakest, to suddenly become equal. Hell, I just punched a Super Saiyan in the stomach with no regrets; I have positively no reason to fear you..." he smirked."...human..."
Tarble didn't know, but his struck a chord he didn't notice."I'll give you INFINITE reasons to fear me!" she screamed, releasing another burst of energy. But instead of charging him, she switched tactics, hoping she could still perform the technique as she hadn't bent how own element in a while. Tarble looked on as Azula swerved her fingers around gracefully, creating arcs of electricity that surrounded her.
The Saiyan was totally unimpressed."Oh wow, lightning, I'm just wetting my pants so badly right now, you just can't see it because Saiyan piss is invisible," he rolled his eyes. As Azula fired her lightning (but can she lightning her fire?), the Saiyan again vanished, again appeared behind the astonished Azula, gripped his hands together, and slammed them onto her head, Azula plunging onto the sandy ground with a small burst of dust.
Over ontop the drill, Sokka and Ty Lee continued their barrage of strikes.
"Ho ho!" exclaimed Sokka."You may think you will prevail over me, oh scandalously dressed combatant, but I should warn you: this isn't even my final form!" he bellowed, breaking the exchange with a swift and blunt head-butt, launching the stunned Ty Lee away, her shoes causing sparks as she skid to a halt along the metal surface.
"Ow! Bollocks!" she shouted randomly, holding her throbbing skull."How did your head get so hard!?"
"Whenever I see someone doing something stupid, I smack myself in the face," Sokka blinked,"I've seen a lot of stupid stuff on my way here..."
"Well prepare to see something stupidly awesome!" Ty Lee announced with a grin. The gymnast clenched her right fist, and swung her left hand above her head, her palm facing the sky."Check out my new moves!" a ball of red energy pulsated in Ty Lee's hand."CRUSHA BALL!" she cried, lobbing the huge ki ball at Sokka.
The teen boy charged his boomerang with ki, and with a considerable degree of strength battered it away."That all ya got!?"
"No," she said brightly. Ty Lee squatted forward, and smiled from ear to ear."ERASER GUN! BLAAAAAAAH!" a pink energy beam erupted from her mouth, colliding with Sokka with far more force than he expected, blasting him off his feet and against the outer wall.
"WHETHER YOU FACE THE PRINCE OF SAIYANS LIKE A MAN OR NOT, YOU'VE REACHED THE EVE OF YOUR LIFESPAN!" the raving Saiyan fired volleys of ki balls, none of which hit the mysteriously evasive android.
"I would but, do I even count as a man?" Cell called back after a dramatic loopty loop that only he could look cool doing."Recall that I am part Piccolo, so I do not have the required physiology to qualify-"
"NOT WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" The Vegeta shouted as he persisted to fire.
Cell took advantage of this moment to fly along the side of the wall, a trail of explosions tracing his every move. After an extremely elaborate series of banks and flips, Cell had successfully used the pattern of smoldering craters as a pencil to form an enormous replica of the Mona Lisa painting, the woman's head replacing with Cell's.
Yet again The Super Saiyan yelled and dashed for the android to resume his succession of punchs and kicks, to which Cell happily dodged even more. Though, as the oblivious Saiyan persisted, Vegeta's aura gradually shrunk, which was not lost on Cell.
The body of Azula, her face pressed into the dirt, twitched for a moment; she lazily flopped her left hand on the dirt, then a right, and sluggishly pushed her face off the ground, just in time to see her new arch nemesis gracefully touch down before her.
"I must say, it's amazing how such rudimentary combat training can make a weakling such as myself seem so unbeatable," Tarble said, closing his eyes with a consigning shrug.
Breath spouted from Azula's cringing teeth."Y-You think you're so special-" she was cut off by Tarble's heal pressed down over her left hand.
"No, no I don't" Tarble interrupted, his frivolous tone replaced with a spiteful one."Nor does anyone I've ever known. I'm a lower-class warrior, born on a planet where prestige and birthright, in the face of power and perfection, mean nothing. My name is Prince Tarble; at an unbearably young age, my father sent me away because I wasn't strong enough. But something tells me you you're different," he speculated, as Azula grabbed his boot and tried to pry it off,"I'll bet you're an elite, am I right? I'm sure your parents adore you for your raw skill and ferocity. To bad they don't really love you; if you were like me, they probably would've gotten rid of you long ago. You're just another one of the king's generals that'll eliminate you the day you screw up." like his elite forefathers before him, the Saiyan prince peered down at his opponent with heartless eyes, aiming what seemed like the energy blast that would end this fight."You just screwed up."
The light shone over the outraged face of the firebending princess; her mind could not accept her own futility. She stole a glance up at the marvelous work of engineering she proudly sat at the reins of. She could not beleive that she, the brilliant prodigy, the soon-to-be conqueror that was about to accomplish what no firebender could not was now at the mercy of this diminutive cretin. Why him? Why this nobody? Why not the Avatar? She was going to make history! But now, this worthless trash was going to bring ruin to her honor along with her life. She could not let this happen!
"I refuse to die like this! I cannot be defeated! You will rue the day you ever crossed me, you...you pathetic...you...!"
"...filthy monkey?"
"Filthy monkey! Yes, that's exactly what he-!" just then, Azula's consternation was replaced with rightful confusion."Who said that?" she muttered out loud, before her golden pupils turned blood red. Out of nowhere, a new surge of power blew Tarble off his feet, sending him tumbling away from his opponent, whom screamed with renewed vigor, her shimmering white aura replaced with a menacing purple one.
Tarble scrambled off the ground to restore eye contact with his opponent, and was met with his own confusion, as his opponent now floated off the dirt, engulfed in the purple aura her arms spread wide, her fingers cooly clawed, and her red pupils gazing back at him with an a disturbingly familiar glare of seething malice.
"I apologize for butting in like this," the double-voiced body grinned wickedly,"And I'm aware this is a highly inappropriate time to blow my cover, but I simply refuse to die once again at the hand of another contemptible, imbecilic, filthy monkey! Let alone another heir to that detestable throne of Vegeta-sei!"
For Tarble, it was as if a gail from the south pole struck him from behind, its frozen hand contracting around his spine, and inoculating his very skeleton with the icy clutch of death. His fingertips dragged along the sand as his terrified mind fully comprehended the familiarity of that evil voice and the implication that followed, imbuing his organs with a thrashing storm of unknowable terror - in short, Tarble shit himself, just a little."f-f-fiffififfre...ff-f-f-friiieeee..." he sputtered.
Azula rushed forward faster than his sight allowed, flying her knee into the Saiyan's jaw, sending Tarble rolling a hundred feet away, forcing him to dig his fingers into the sand until his stopped. The Saiyan looked up in dismay as the cackling tyrant came for him.
"PURPLE HURRICANE!" Ty Lee twirled in place in mid air, hurling a storm of purple energy blast down at Sokka who, lacking Cell's creative finesse, frightfully darted all over the starboard of the drill at complete random.
Where this gymnast was pulling all of these moves from was beyond this Water Tribe boy, but he was getting mighty fed up with it. Digging his left heel into the metal and skidding to a halt, he spun around and decided to snatch a move from Vegeta's bucket, cupping his hands back and powering up."GARLIC GUM FIRE!" he blasted an embarrassingly pink laser at the spinning figure, engulfing her in an equally pink explosion, her unconscious form falling head first onto the metal drill with a painful ding.
Sokka hopped off the floor with his right fist pumped the air, cheering over his first and successful try at creating his own ki blast."Now, to see how Tarble's doing..." he resolved as he confidently stretched, right before said Saiyan crashed into Sokka, the both of them rolling along the drill's surface, and off the other side, Sokka screaming all the way down to the painful ground.
As the two opened their eyes, Sokka took a pair of whiffs, and glared at the groggy Saiyan lying on top of him."Did you poop in your suit?" Before Tarble could answer, Sokka heard something slice through the air, and screamed as he saw Azula dive bombing straight for him. The two leapt away just before Azula's feet struck the ground with such force that they were knocked further back by the shock wave.
"What's the deal, Tarble!?" Sokka demanded, rising to his feet,"you said you had her!" he reminded, pointing at the princess.
"NOT HER! HIM!" Tarble hastily replied, pointing his own shaky finger." IT'S FRIEZA! GHOST FRIEZA!" he cried, huddling behind Sokka.
"Who's Frieza?"
"What a wonderful question!" the two-voiced entity raised its hands gleefully."Frieza is what you see when your worst nightmare comes to life, only for myself to appear and melt its skin off whilst wiping out your entire race!"
As she spoke, Sokka became quite unsettled."Um...did I just hear an even more evil voice next to her evil voice?"
Frieza despondently crossed Azula's arms."Alas, my return to the living is not without its kinks; I have been resigned to this pathetic human body, serving as a power-up for this up and coming conqueror, courtesy of one Perfect Cell."
The entity's choice of words placed an epiphany within Sokka's mind. He recalled that argument between Cell and Azula concerning that attempt Cell made to stab Aang in the back, and how he was stab in the Avatar's place; if Sokka had to guess, that was how Cell powered up Azula and Ty Lee. But if that was the case...
Sokka's pupils shrunk, his pulse quickened, forehead dripping, unfathomable feeling of dread freezing his guts.
Frieza raised an eyebrow, grinning sadistically."What's the matter, Water Tribe Elite? Has your tiny monkey brain pieced the facts together?"
Behind Frieza, the enormous drill suddenly released a violent metallic screech. Tons of slurry gushed from the segmented opening all over the drill, pouring out of the back end of the machine, and raining over the three.
Noting this as the technical she looked up, Frieza scoffed."I see the drill's been sabotaged, no surprise there..." she turned back to the pair of losers."Guess there's nothing to fight over, not that I want to risk breaking this adolescent body of mine. I'll see-no-KILL you later, Saiyan!" with that, Frieza blasted off, lighting up the air with her pair of sinister laughter, leaving Sokka and Tarble to wonder what the hell happened.
"WHY!" Vegeta inhaled "WON'T!" Vegeta inhaled"YOU!" Vegeta inhaled"FIGHT!" Vegeta inhaled."BACK!?" Vegeta screamed with each strike of the limb, as Vegeta let loose as many fists and feet in Cell's general direction as Saiyanly possible, which was a a lot given that the Saiyan only had two of each.
But try as the Saiyan might, Cell's face was having none of it, still banking away from every assault, still adorned with that smile that drove the Saiyan to continue fighting."To be honest, I'm just waiting for the right time..."
With one more scream, Vegeta swung his shin into Cell's left cheek, making the head tilt slightly to the right. Before the spine chilling sense of deja'vue entered Vegeta's brain, Cell smirked."..."when you finally run out."
Nex thing Vegeta knew, Cell's foot had connected with his chin, blasting him higher into the sky; high enough for the useless Gneral Tung to see clearly. Cell appeared at a fix point in the path of the soaring Vegeta, happily raising his elbow and swinging it downward into Vegeta's spine, causing him to whal in agony for a frozen moment, before he was launched downward at sub-sonic speed, all the way down with a resonating boom, having smacked face-first onto the muddy ground. His golden hair shimmered back to jet black.
The bio android dusted off his hands before flying away from the wall, and back to camp, having the feeling Frieza and his goons were done playing with the silly children.
After Katara and Aang had made shocking success in destroying the drill all by themselves, they assumed their victory was a cause for celebration, though that's not how the other three saw it.
"GOOOOOOODDAMMMIIIIIIIIIT!" the voice of Vegeta vibrated throughout the portion of the wall he was standing on."THAT DEVIL PLAYED ME FOR A FOOL AGAIN! HOW COULD I BE SO GODDAMN STUPID!?" he roared at the clouds, clenching his fists so hard that they might have bled if it weren't for the gloves (another good reason to where gloves).
In all the commotion (ie, his godawful temperament), Vegeta forgot precisely how this planet was affecting his ki; it was not merely limiting it, but causing him to rapidly burn through whatever small amount he could contain. Cell must have known this, perfectly explaining why the android didn't want to fight (the thought of the word 'perfect' straightway agitated the Saiyan further). Of course, there was other news for concern.
"Wait a minute," Aang raised his hands to stop Tarble."Are you saying Azula's possessed by an evil refrigerator?"
Tarble slapped his forehead Sokka style."Why do people keep asking that!? His name is Frieza! As soon as I had the advantage over Azula, Frieza's ghost took over her body! He told us that he got in there because Cell-I dunno-put his spirit inside her body somehow!"
"His spirit?" Katara reppeated."How is that possible?" she look down thoughtfully."'Course, I guess that could explain how she could use Vegeta's powers."
"Correction, Frieza's powers," siad Tarble,"And I can assure you, the only thing standing between him and the annihalion of your race is probably the same thing that's crippling our strength.
"Well this is just fan-rockin-tastic!" Toph growled."As if some bug monster coming back from the dead wasn't enough, now we have literal GHOST to deal with! I don't think we have enough bad news today! Hey, Sokka you got some more bad news!?"
"I'm possessed too..."
The group froze at the reply and turned to see Sokka; he leaned against the edge of the wall, staring down at the wreckage."I know how Cell did it...he used his tail to inject Azula with the spirit of Frieza...just like he did to me..."
"wha..." muttered the stun Katara, before the terrible implications sank in."...n-no...That's not true, y-Your fine, Sok-"
"Am I!?" Sokka spun around."Why is it that I only have superpowers after I got stuck by Cell!? If I were born with it, I'd have them all my life, not just up until some weird looking predator attacks me! I'm this way because Cell put some evil dead spirit inside of me!"
"Don't say that!" Aang begged."If you were like that, then...then why haven't you attacked us yet!?"
"I dunno! Maybe whoever's in me is bidding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike-!"
Just then, a certain gloved hand clasped around Sokka's mouth."First of all," Vegeta began tensely,"Please refrain from using the term 'perfect' as often as humanly possible; second, how in the name of Namek's three suns actually happen? In order for Cell to do what you said, he would have to have to the spirit of Frieza already within him, which he does not."
"Well, how do you explain Frieza then!?" Tarble demanded.
"I don't know! Do I look like an exorcist to you!?" counter demanded Vegeta."Listen, if he were possessed, assuming there's anyone for Cell to possess him with in the first place, he wouldn't have fought on our side just now,not to mention the multiple times he had the opportunity to kill us in our sleep! Explain that!"
The group looked among eachother...
"Be that as it may," Sokka said,"We can't keep going with 'Water Tribe Elite'; Cell clearly did this to me."
Vegeta scoffed."If I know Cell, he probably jolted your ki just to give himself a challenge. And another thing, possessing people isn't exactly Cell's shtick; which leads us back to the question of how in the known universe Cell could do just that!" he reminded, arms crossed.
Aang sighed is frustration."I have no idea...any thoughts, Ma-" but he froze, then whipped is head all through the wall."uuuuh...Guys, where's Mai?"
The goth was rudely dropped to the sandy ground. She fultily attempted to crawl awy crom the sickering android as he landed behind her, and promtply held her body in place, with his yellow foot upon her back.
"Now where are you off to?" Chuckled Cell."Don't you want some power? Look at your best friend, she's so happy, she could just wipe out an entire race!"
"THAT'S NOT AZULA!"
At this, Frieza put Azula's finger up to Azula's mouth and laughed."Ho Ho Ho! No, human, no I am not..." he admitted as he crouched down before Mai"But I'll make a proposition for you: you allow one of my friends to inhabit your body for a little while, giving them complete control over it one hundred percent of the time, and you...mmm...exist? Sounds like a complete win-win to me, what do you think, Ty Lee?"
Ty Lee's body happily saluted."Sounds like a right proper fair agreement, it does!" her eye twitched."Hey! Who made you land lord of this body!?" she twitched again."Duh, cm'on, guys! I thought we were gonna share!" she twitched again."Yeah, you say that, but I haven't gotten a hand on the steering wheel since I got in here! Don't make me stop time!"
Cell and Frieza continued to watch the poor girl argue with herself, having no idea which one of them was talking. Mai appropriately thrashed around like a maniac, begging the fire gods to spare her.
Friezula sighed."How long must we go on like this? It's bad enough my immeasurable power is being held in check by some seal of unknown origin; but at least I could have been merged with a more powerful body!"
"Hey, you picked that one, not me..." glared Cell.
"It was either this or you."
"Like hell I'd let you take control of my perfect body!"
"Your perfect body that can't even sit in a chair..."
"At least I wasn't stupid enough to get my existence exposed to my own host!" argued Cell.
Frieza shrugged Azula's shoulders."Oh please, so the worthless human knows, what's the worst that could-MAI! IT'S ME, AZULA! CELL TRICKED US! KILL ME BEFORE IT'S TOO-" Cell quickly bonked Azula on the head, knocking her out cold.
"Great, now I have this to deal with..." Cell rolled his eyes. He supposed he could just tell the princess it was all a bad dream, but she was clearly too smart for that. Cell huffed, he wasn't used to all this secrecy.
"See, this is why we went ahead and made friends with Ty Lee so we didn't have to go through all this cognitive dissonance and such..." Jeice pointed out, crossing Ty Lee's arms."And speaking of which..." Ty Lee herself actually said."Who'd you put inside Sokka anyway?"
At this Cell chuckled."Oh no no,"he said, wagging his pale finger," I'm not giving the surprise away just yet..." he said, crossing his arms and facing the wall in the distance."This all may have been Cooler's plan, but I couldn't help but add my own twist; I just hope Frieza didn't ruin it for me."
"Awwww, come on!" Ty Lee begged."I wanna know! What did you mean by 'get ready to meet granddad'..." she poorly imitated Cell's perfect voice.
"I thought about putting King Cold in there," Cell smirked,"But I noticed since Frieza's in the younger sibling, and Cooler's in the older sibling, it'd be too good to pass up putting Cold into you-know-who. So, I went with another granddad; that's all you get..." he concluded."But back to the subject..." he re-began, looking down at his prey ominously."I'm thinking, for this wet blanket over here, how about..." he hissed as his tail extended and plowed into Mai's spine, resulting in an agonizing scream.