Android 16
The area was shrouded in darkness with black rain falling out of the sky in thick torrents. The composition of the atmosphere was toxic as hundreds of tons of vapourised rock condensed. 16 despaired at the thought of all the nature that had been destroyed by the blast.
But it had been worth it. 13 had done what he could not. Cell was dead. And so were 17 and 18.
The crater was so immense that he couldn't see the bottom, only the flashes of lightning arcing through the black air. Even lacking organic components he could feel his throat filling with the pollution, giving him a phantom choking sensation. He was in critical need of repairs.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I went a little bit overboard. But I wanted to see how many of my Deadly Bombers I could shove down that bug's throat before he choked on them."
All he could see was the devastation that had left behind. He couldn't share 13's glee.
"What now?"
13 grinned at him, oblivious to his withdrawn attitude, "Now? Now we go crack open a couple of cold ones to celebrate. Then I find 17 and smash his brains in with my fists. If the brat is still alive."
"Your mission was to capture Android 17," Android 16 said, confused. From what he had seen of 13 and 14 before they lacked the ability to make their own decisions like he and the cyborgs could. Even deciding to eliminate Cell he had rationalised as the transformed android taking advantage of a programming loophole. To go against orders like this was unexpected.
"I'm thinkin' I set my own missions now. And if the speak-n-spell back at the lab don't like it, well, it can try and make me obey and see what happens."
If his newfound power didn't corrupt him, there was hope for 13. Maybe he would be different from the twins and choose to use his freedom to do good. Maybe he wouldn't. There was nothing 16 could do about it. There wasn't a reason to even. Thanks to Cell, there might not be any humans left to kill.
Above him, Android 13 raised his head to the heavens. His body crackled with arcing energy, the crimson shield around him pulsing like a beating heart. With a resounding crack the energy bubble around him surged upward, pushing past the roiling black stormclouds. Even there, above the chaos, the sunlight was dim and sickly, choked by the black curtain of ash and particulate matter pouring into the stratosphere.
16's sensors tried to compensate, but even they struggled to find light in the shadowed wasteland.
The earth stretched out before him in a lifeless sea of grey. The signs of civilization had been pulverised, no buildings, no roads, not even any burned husks of trees. Just a flat, silent plain of dust and wreckage. It looked less like a battlefield and more like the surface of a dead planet.
A hollow ache formed in his chest. Not mechanical. Something deeper, something closer to grief.
His throat tightened. His hand balled into a fist.
A green orb appeared out of the darkness. It was the last person he expected to see.
"17, thought you'd be pushin' up daises," 13 jeered, uncrossing his bulky arms. "Thanks for savin' me the trouble an' all, but I figured you'd be headin' for the hills in your condition."
The teenage cyborg spat to the side. "You think I'm some coward? I'm not just going to run and hide like some weak human. We're settling this."
"Ain't nothin' to settle little man. I'm the strongest Android. Or did you miss what I did to Cell?" 13 bragged, throwing his arms wide to gesture at the apocalyptic environment around them.
"I don't care. I'm still the ultimate android," Android 17 snapped, dropping into a fighting stance. 16 wasn't fooled. His voice betrayed him, it was too sharp, too loud, the way people speak when they're trying to drown out fear. To his sensors, the tremor in his limbs was clear. It all made a clear picture. Resignation.
He was forcing a brave face onto his own suicide.
There was something deeper here, buried beneath the arrogance and bravado, something 16 couldn't quite decipher. A desperation, maybe. A final attempt to force meaning in a world that no longer made sense.
"I'll prove it," 17 said, voice cracking ever so slightly. "Even if it kills me."
What did someone like him know about sacrifice? 16 wondered.
The 17 he knew was callous, reckless, selfish to the core. But this - this wasn't that same boy. This was almost someone new.
With a dark laugh, 13 dropped the barrier. The pressure that had held the storm back vanished, and the moment it did, 16 had to brace against the sudden turbulence as he struggled to remain in place. The air was thin and scorched, vibrating with residual energy.
"17, there is no point in fighting," 16 said wearily. "Surrender and-"
"No!" 17 barked, his eyes blazing, "I'm not going to surrender! I'm going to fight till the end, and if you want to stop me, you'll have to kill me!"
There was a beat of silence.
"Gladly."
Android 13's azure frame rippled with energy before he rushed 17.
16 didn't need his scanner to know that the dark-haired cyborg didn't stand a chance.
Android 17
If Eighteen had still been here, he would have retreated.
Cutting your losses was easy when you didn't really have anything. So a city was destroyed, maybe a few of them, big deal. There were more. Super steroid freak with blue skin and bad hair going on a power trip? Who cares, they could relax somewhere tropical till it all blew over. Maybe come up with a killer strategy or something.
But Eighteen was gone. And she wasn't coming back. So this was something he couldn't run from.
He felt cold on the inside even as 13's fists hammered his body. His head felt like it was filled with ice in a way that had nothing to do with the dizzying way he was ragdolled through the storm clouds. Rain lashed his face and he became soaking wet as he neglected to protect himself with his energy.
His combat subroutines fed information to him about 13's fighting style, gathered from their first encounter and refined by observing his fight with Cell. Recommendations were shared that were continuously ignored and updated by the second as the damage his body took mounted. He had made a half-hearted effort to fight back at the start, and Android 13 had laughed off his attacks. This was even worse than 16. 16 hadn't toyed with him, and hadn't enjoyed this so damn much.
It was over before it had started, and he didn't care.
The sooner this was over, the sooner he'd see Eighteen again.
That thought, quiet, bitter, and treacherously comforting, was the only thing keeping him upright. Revenge was no longer an option. The bastard who'd taken her from him, that twisted freak Cell, was gone, buried somewhere beneath the smoldering kilometers of cratered earth.
So what was left? Nothing but the yawning pit inside him, the despair so deep he felt it like a physical weight in his chest. Rising above it felt impossible. Drowning in it felt inevitable.
13's latest strike hit him like a freight train.
He skipped across the ruined terrain like a stone over water. When he finally came to a stop, he just lay in the mud and struggled to breathe. The pain in his arm was gone. Not healed, numb. Bludgeoned beyond the capacity for nerves to scream. He only knew it was still there because every time he tried moving it for some hopeless attempt at fighting back, a raw surge of electrical pain shot up through his shoulder like a warning flare.
If he had less pride, he'd have told 13 to finish it. But he wasn't going to give the big blue bastard the satisfaction. He'd make him work for this and spit on that insufferable smug face while he had the chance.
"How disappointin'. Looks like you weren't built to last, boy."
13 was striding towards him almost casually, boulder-like fists splattered with his blood.
"Not even gonna do the cocky punk routine one last time? Shame. Guess it's hard to deny that I was built better now, huh?"
17 plastered on a smile as he shut his eyes.
Maybe one last time.
"Built better? The only thing you're better at is being a can opener. Or wait, beer opener in your case. You've got the hideous skin colour down, but I think the shade should be yellow instead of blue to be more accurate to your condition."
He opened his eyes. The bulging armoured form of the Super Android was looming in front of him. He looked pissed for the first time that Seventeen had seen.
And now I can die happy
He slowly raised his hand to his chest, getting ready to prime his self-destruct sequence.
"And while you've got that hick accent, you'll never be better than me."
Seventeen felt his limbs get pinned to his sides. But 13 was still in front of him, looking just as confused as he was as the invisible force lifted him up and dragging him through the air. He couldn't do more than silently struggle against whatever force was holding him.
Then he saw a spectre rise out from the ground and shock bloomed on his face.
Cell
He only lived through using 18's Android Barrier. Even then, he had to sacrifice parts of himself to the hungry explosion. When his consciousness had returned, he had just been a head and torso, with stumps for limbs. At great effort, his legs had been restored, and when he had seen Seventeen be brutalised by 13, he had summoned the energy to regenerate his arms.
When he had transformed it had felt like his power had grown limitless, but now he was painfully aware that it was not. The little that he had recovered since clawing out from his shallow grave would not change the outcome of his battle with 13 if he used the same tactics he had before.
But Seventeen was in his grasp, figuratively, and soon to be literally. There were only a few meters between them now but that would soon close and then –
The loud thud of Android 13 crashing in between them made Cell freeze.
"Look what the cat dragged in. It's a grasshopper that got shit out by the cat." 13 said, smirking. "Now you got something there that don't belong to you. You had your turn. When I finish taking care of Number 17, you're next."
You brutish buffoon. I don't even require Seventeen to beat you.
He had been too consumed with elation at the power he had gained earlier to notice, but Eighteen had given him more than just strength. She had given him insight. Tactics. Awareness.
Knowledge.
All he had to do was apply it correctly. Difficult, yes. His energy reserves were taxed and his body screamed for rest. And Android 13 stood there, virtually untouched.
But it was possible to win.
I will succeed and become Perfect. It is my destiny.
As soon as 13 twisted his shoulders and drew his arm back, Cell's mind raced. He could already see it—the next four moves, like pages in an open book.
Punch to the face. Knee to the gut. Hook to the ribs. Charge.
Predictable. All of it. Thanks to his darling Eighteen.
She had cracked two of these fools already. 13, a brawler who relied on anger. And 14 an enforcer whose fighting style came out of a training manual. And based on his observation, 15's contributions were negligible. Now, this so-called "Super Android" was laid bare.
When 13's punch launched forward, Cell was already inside his guard, slipping through like a shadow and smashing a brutal blow into his abdomen. The metal core didn't yield, but the giant stumbled.
Soaring knee strike - telegraphed. Cell rotated to the side before it was halfway up and countered with two vicious strikes to the side of 13's head. A retaliatory hook flew in blind fury.
Perfect.
He ducked low, pivoted beneath it, and used the momentum to hurl 13 aside in a full-body toss.
Cell was on him in an instant, landing on 13's back with a flurry of precision kicks. The blows drove him face-first into the ashen soil, pummelling him into the crater floor.
It was incredible. Even exhausted like this, simply knowing his opponent's every move was enough to turn the tide. His blows weren't enough to damage. Not yet. But that wasn't the goal.
He didn't need to hurt 13.
He needed to humiliate him.
He skated 13's body across the ground, dragging it through rubble and dust with mocking control. Sparks flew. Metal screeched. The damage was surface level at best.
But the shame?
That would sink in deep.
Because Cell understood now, he wouldn't win this if 13 kept his composure. The brute was dangerous when cold and focused.
But angry?
Angry, he was clumsy.
To end this quickly, Cell needed him enraged. Furious. Frothing. Thinking with his fists instead of his brain.
So, he kept smiling - just enough to be seen.
And prepared the next layer of his trap.
A red tinge appeared in the air around 13 for a brief moment before energy exploded around him, that tiny window allowing Cell to fly out of the range of the blast. He startled as 13 was already flying up at him yelling in rage with his fist outstretched to deliver a punch.
Cell's left fist met 13's, a white shockwave shaking the air. In his right hand he formed a shimmering red orb that he thrust into 13's face a microsecond later. The explosion that followed was like a miniature star being born.
13 landed on his feet, skidding back and dragging twin lines in the dirt as his military boots sunk through the blasted earth. Smoke wafted off his form, skin scuffed, but the most damage he had taken was to his ego.
"That all ya got?"
Cell's expression was unreadable, an emotionless mask as he assessed every moment of the battle. He glanced down, his gaze cutting across the wasteland, to where Android 17 stood encased in his emerald shield. For a moment, his eyes lingered on him, calm and calculating.
Then, with a sly smile, Cell turned back to 13.
"Not even close," he said coolly. He gestured for the Super Android to come at him.
Without hesitation, 13 rocketed toward him with a roar of fury, his fist raised high. Cell, unfazed, met the charge head on. The clash echoed through the sky like a thunderstorm as they exchanged blows - fists crashing into fists, feet into ribs - before they broke apart, each vanishing just to come at each other again.
Cell feigned a low kick, baiting 13 into reacting, and the Super Android took the bait, lifting his massive foot to block. But that was exactly what Cell wanted. He pivoted and smashed his palm into 13's head, knocking the android off balance. Without missing a beat, Cell swung his other leg around, delivering a brutal roundhouse kick that snapped 13's head back again. A grin tugged at Cell's lips. He could feel the balance of the fight moving in his favour, even with his power at a disadvantage.
Cell fired a rapid series of jabs, each one landing with a crack that echoed in the air. He pressed forward, arms blurring with speed as he threw a cross that met 13's oversized arm, knocking it aside. That split-second opening was all Cell needed - he sidestepped a wild jab, then fired a volley of energy blasts into 13's exposed abdomen. The explosions sent 13 reeling, a grunt of pain escaping him as his body twisted in the air.
For a moment, it seemed Cell had the upper hand.
But then 13 was back in action, like a beast unaffected by the damage. He disappeared from Cell's line of sight, only to reappear in a blur, his foot swinging through the space where Cell had just been. A kick followed by a powerful punch. Cell blocked the punch but couldn't avoid the low kick, which hit him square in the side. The impact was enough to send him tumbling back through the air, his body spinning, forced to regain his balance mid-flight.
In a blink the battle raged on with furious intensity. The sky above was a canvas of rapid-fire attacks.
As much as Cell knew he was still the better fighter, 13's power was undeniable, but it wasn't just about brute force anymore. It was about the rage he could see growing on his opponent's face.
He just needed to wait. Waiting for that precise moment when the cracks in 13's defenses would open just wide enough for him to strike.
It won't be long now.
He could see the cracks forming already. 13's movements were becoming more erratic, the loss of control evident in every motion he made. Even if he was burning energy keeping up with 13, even if his limbs screamed when he forced them to block the brutal attacks sent his way, it was worth it.
Cell couldn't help but smile.
Cell cocked his fist back, aiming a punch at 13. The android blurred out of the way, just as Cell had planned, and was smacked in the face by his tail. 13 jerked to the side, and his stomach almost caved in as Cell drove his knee up as hard as he could into it. 13 growled and grabbed Cell by the horns, then rapidly punched him in the face. He finished by thrusting a blazing stream of energy into Cell's chest that blasted him away.
The bio-android threw out all his limbs to stop himself. He could feel his muscles burning from the attack and feel the purple blood oozing out of the punctured black chitin on his chest. The damage was minor, irritating. With a minimal expenditure of energy, he could remove it.
He chose not to.
"Damn it, I've lost so much power," he panted dramatically, shivering on the spot as he saw Android 13 smugly approaching through the air. "Stay away from me!"
13 had a cruel grin as he barrelled towards him, just as Cell predicted.
"I'm gonna break you in two!"
Cell barely saw the fist before he felt it. His head snapped backwards, and his body shot through the air, two thunderclaps following the brutal hits that had landed. He crashed into the ground, carving a deep trench through the dirt and rock with his body.
Pain flared. Real, growing pain. His body was barely able to stand, but he forced himself upright anyway. He was trembling, covered in dust and blood. 13 was striding toward him, confident, casual, swinging his arms like he was already celebrating.
Perfect.
Cell hid his smile behind a terrified, quivering voice as he stepped back.
"N-No! Don't come any closer!"
Android 13 laughed, taking booming steps toward him. Like a lion cornering a crippled prey.
Purple energy began to swirl in Cell's hands. Slowly at first, then it flattened and sharpened. Death Saucers, a move taken from Frieza that he would put to better use than the tyrant had.
He spun once, launching the twin energy discs. They tore through the air with a vicious hum, shrieking toward 13.
The big android leaned lazily out of their way.
"That it? You really on your last legs, aren't ya, bug?"
The smirk dropped from 13's face the moment Cell raised two fingers and flicked them sideways. The saucers curved hard, doubling back at impossible angles.
13 barely had time for his yellow eyes to go wide before the twin blades carved through him - one taking off his head from the right, the other slicing diagonally through his left side.
"You should have paid more attention," Cell sneered.
"It can't be…"
The transformation reversed mid-collapse. his skin paling from cerulean to flesh, his eyes losing that predatory glow, hair growing out and turning white again. All the power, the arrogance, the fury vanished in an instant.
13 didn't continue. He couldn't. His head hit the ground a second later, mouth still moving uselessly.
"I know," Cell said as he stepped forward, voice soft with mock sympathy. "It's hard to believe… finding out that you aren't invincible. But the truth speaks for itself."
Cell extended a finger and casually flicked a crackling energy orb into the fallen corpse. The blast tore through it, blowing the remains into scrap. Twisted metal and shattered parts scattered to the wind.
"I win."
He stood tall, the wind brushing against his body, scorched and ragged but unbowed.
And the credit went to Eighteen. Her insight into 13's fighting patterns, and the steady stream of energy she fed him, had given him the edge even after the damage he'd taken.
"Now to take what is rightfully mine," he murmured, his eyes sweeping the field. A satisfied smile curled across his lips.
"Come here, Seventeen."
With his speed it was child's play to vanish and appear in the path of Seventeen's attempt to retreat.
Of course even so close to the conclusion they were meant for, his brother was determined to make this final step difficult.
"Stop right there! I told you how this would go!" Seventeen yelled, fist over his chest.
Cell sighed, and turned to Android 16, who had managed to limp into the general area. "You're not going to do anything to stop him?"
"This is the only way," was all the stone-faced android said.
Cell exhaled and made a show of lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "Well if you insist. I can't force you to become one with me. I guess I'll be on my way."
He knew he'd accomplished something rare when Android 17 was speechless.
"But you're not just becoming one with me. If you won't take my word for it, perhaps you need to hear from someone else."
Cell closed his eyes and relaxed. And when he opened them again, his face tilted with a slight, almost tender smile. When he spoke, it wasn't in his voice.
"Hey Seventeen."
The words hit Seventeen like a bullet. He froze, breath catching in his throat. His eyes went wide, haunted and desperate.
"Eighteen?" His voice was practically a whisper, and his body trembled as he uttered the words. "Is it really you?"
He looked like he had seen a ghost. Which in a way, he was.
"Yeah, it's me," Eighteen said sweetly. "Who else would stop you from doing something stupid like killing yourself?"
Cell inched forwards.
"I know it's hard to understand, but I really am happy like this. The power I have now is beyond anything I ever felt before." The ghostly image of Android 18 smirked, "You saw how we destroyed Number 13. I told you that idiotic loudmouth would get what was coming to him, and I got to enjoy ripping him to shreds myself."
Another step advanced.
Eighteen's voice softened, "I know it hurts, being apart from me. It's the same pain Cell felt. It's the same pain I feel with you still out here… alone. Incomplete..."
His tail stealthily rose behind him, hidden by his silhouette as the funnel opened.
"It's all going to be better Seventeen, I promise. When we're together again, our bond will be stronger than ever," she purred. "We were always meant to be one, you, me and Cell. When we're perfect nothing will ever hurt or humiliate us again. You want to kill 16 for what he did to us just as badly as I do Seventeen, and when we've merged, we can do it together."
There was a tremor in Seventeen's hand. His arm dropped slightly.
"You want revenge for what 16 did to us. I know you do. We'll make him pay, together. As one. As family."
His hand lowered further.
Seventeen grit his teeth.
Whatever decision he was making was taken out of his hands as Cell lunged at him, tail striking forward like a serpent. It clamped on him and gave him no time to do more than futilely kick out as he was swallowed whole.
Cell arched backward, body glowing with searing white energy, a wild, guttural laugh tearing from his throat as the Android 17 was consumed.
His body convulsed as incandescent energy ripped through him. Every cell lit with power; every nerve screamed in ecstasy.
For a heartbeat, everything stopped.
Even the storm above, swirling with thunder and lightning, seemed to hesitate. The wind died, dust hung in the air, the world held its breath.
And then his scream began.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A detonation of power exploded outward from Cell's body. The blast flattened what few jagged remnants of the ruined landscape remained. Entire slabs of rock were tossed into the air like weightless debris. Craters cracked into existence in a widening spiral around him, and the very sky recoiled - shifting from a stormy grey to a blinding, electric jade as the atmosphere bent to accommodate the birth of something unnatural.
Clouds spun into a vortex above him, dragged inward by the gravity of the power swelling below. Lightning rippled upward into the clouds in unnatural streams of green and white, defying gravity.
Then the world screamed too. Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions were unleashed around the planet as it was forced to endure the apocalyptic apotheosis inflicted upon it.
His body lifted off the ground, suspended in a radiant pillar of blinding light. His carapace cracked and peeled away like molten armour, chunks of old flesh disintegrating in the raw heat pouring from within.
The green of his skin lightened. His limbs became sharpened and refined, rough musculature tightening into something sleek and efficient.
The thick tail now retracted into his spine and a pair of smooth, shimmering black wings unfurled and flared with a sudden wave of force that sent a final shockwave rippling outward, scattering the energy of his chrysalis to the winds.
Two piercing magenta eyes opened, glowing like twin suns.