Seeing Seventeen barreling in, Cell was first startled and then ecstatic.
To him, Seventeen was essentially a growth gift handed on a platter — and what surprised him most was that Seventeen had come alone!
With the energy he'd already absorbed, defeating a lone Seventeen would be a walk in the park.
Luna heard Seventeen's voice and immediately grabbed the only friend she had left, rushing behind Seventeen; Cell made no move to stop them.
The value of absorbing one Seventeen outweighed all the humans on Earth combined.
And the only reason he'd been absorbing humans was to eventually absorb Seventeen and Eighteen.
Cell's mouth opened and closed; his voice was low and hoarse.
"Seventeen — I never expected you'd deliver yourself to me. What a wonderful surprise!"
Seventeen had no time to pay Cell any mind; he was busy calming his girlfriend.
"Are you okay, Luna? Are you hurt?"
Luna shook her head hard, sobbing in her voice.
"I'm fine, but Maya—she was eaten by that monster! We have to run!"
Cell frowned at Seventeen's behavior. In his memory, Seventeen didn't care about human lives. But judging by the face in front of him and the way he'd charged in, this was definitely Android Seventeen — no mistake.
Seventeen spun and glared at Cell, furious.
"Monster! I'll tear you to pieces!"
With that he wrenched his arm free from Luna's hold and vanished in a blur.
Cell didn't even blink; he casually swung an arm and intercepted Seventeen as he appeared at his flank.
Seventeen's expression changed; he cried out in surprise.
"Nani!?"
Cell sneered. While Seventeen hesitated, Cell grabbed his arm and slammed him hard into the ground.
The earth erupted and cracked; the group plunged downward together.
At that critical moment, Seventeen pushed through the pain, burst upward, and sprinted out with Luna and the other girl, clutching them to him.
The moment he burst out, the entire school building collapsed, reduced to rubble in the smoke.
Seventeen put the two girls down in the open of the playground, barely saying a word before he turned back to look for Cell.
The rescued girl stared at Seventeen soaring off and asked Luna in a daze,
"Luna, is this the boyfriend you keep talking about? Is he really human?"
Luna stiffly shook her head. She'd known Seventeen was strong, but she hadn't expected anything so inhuman.
Seventeen usually hid most of his strength around Luna so as not to frighten her, but Cell's actions had utterly enraged him — his killing intent surged like never before.
A thick pillar of light shot up from the ruined classroom; Cell's silhouette flashed within it. Seventeen immediately launched several energy spheres and bombarded Cell.
Smoke rose again; the rubble on the ground was pulverized, and Cell's figure vanished into the haze.
But by Dragon Ball's infamous "smoke-without-injury" rule, Cell would be fine.
Before long Cell strode out of the smoke completely unharmed. He looked at Seventeen like a tasty dish, and Seventeen felt nauseous.
He roared,
"Don't look at me like that! You disgusting monster!"
More energy blasts flew, but Cell swatted them away like flies.
He was growing impatient. Clenching his fists, he entered a powered-up state.
Seventeen's detector immediately reacted; the numbers spiked wildly and forced him to cool his head.
This Seventeen wasn't as arrogant as some versions — seeing the digits on his device, he knew clearly he wasn't Cell's match.
A fine cold sweat dotted his brow, but thinking of his girlfriend, he didn't back down.
He tightened his fists and shouted,
"I'll protect Luna! Die!"
He charged at the pressure Cell radiated. Cell didn't dodge; he let Seventeen's fists land on his face.
With his energy cloak acting as protection, Cell didn't even flinch. Seeing Seventeen's shocked face filled him with pleasure.
He raised a hand, ready to put Seventeen in his place for good.
Suddenly a brilliant golden light inexplicably enveloped Cell.
Both Cell and Seventeen were stunned by the phenomenon. Seventeen assumed Cell was about to strike; Cell didn't know what was happening.
Then, in the next instant—
"Pop!"
The golden light snapped, and Cell's body vanished along with it. Seventeen hung frozen midair, blinking in disbelief as he scanned the surroundings — but after a long while he still couldn't find any trace of Cell.
It seemed Cell had truly disappeared.
Landing back on the ground, Seventeen looked at his fist in puzzlement and thought,
"What just happened? Was that light caused by my punch? Do I have that kind of potential??"
As he ruminated, Kaito's voice sounded around them.
"Quit daydreaming. Cell's been erased by me. Go find your girlfriend."
Seventeen was startled by Kaito's voice.
"S-sis' husband!? Is that you? Where are you?"
"I'm at home. You were brave just now — props to you."
Seventeen scratched his head bashfully.
"Heh, sis' husband saw that? Well, I couldn't help it — my girlfriend Luna is still here, I have to—"
"Lapis!"
Seventeen's voice cut off. He turned and saw Luna running toward them.
Luna was hopelessly love-struck; her friend had long since run off from the playground, but Luna had stayed behind worried about Seventeen.
If Kaito hadn't intervened, her fate probably would've been to watch Cell absorb Seventeen and then have the blast turn the whole city to ash.
Still, she hadn't rushed over earlier to interfere; she'd only run up when things had quieted down.
She reached Seventeen and scanned him from head to toe. Only after confirming he wasn't hurt did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Seventeen gently wrapped Luna in his arms, repeating over and over,
"It's okay, it's okay — that monster is dead!"
"Really? Lapis, you're amazing!"
"Uh, actually… it was my sis' husband who killed it…"
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