Dr. Gero's Laboratory
In a tall, tube-shaped incubation tank, a fist-sized embryo pulsed and grew.
"How did you know there was a sub-basement?" Android 16 asked.
"You didn't?" Gohan shot back.
"My 'father' never treated me like a son," 16 said, voice flat.
"You're Dr. Gero's son?" Gohan's brow knitted.
"Yes. His firstborn. To perfect his androids, he turned me into a test subject."
His face didn't change, but Gohan could feel the pain under the metal calm.
"He's dead killed by his own creations. Fitting enough," Gohan said, unsure how to comfort him.
"I'm a machine now. No seven emotions, no six desires. Comfort is wasted on me." 16's tone stayed cold.
That, Gohan hadn't known. A memory from his previous life flashed Dr. Hedo, the man who made "Cell Max," was Gero's grandson; Hedo's father was Gero's second son. Which meant… Sixteen was likely the first.
"How do we handle this one?" Gohan murmured, staring at the tank.
"What is it?" 16 asked.
"A chimera your father brewed from our cells. Cell."
"Abomination," 16 said, a burr of anger in the word.
"Forget it. If a Cell from another future is already here, we end this one now."
Gohan clenched his fist and shattered the tank. Nutrient fluid gushed over the floor.
The embryonic Cell had no awareness yet. Gohan raised a hand and flicked out a modest beam.
The proto-Cell vaporized.
Then he went rack to rack, reducing every computer and server to molten scrap.
Outside
"Son Goku, my data says you shouldn't be this strong." Android 17 stood, wiped a smear from his lip, and frowned.
"I don't really get the numbers. I just know it's been a while since I had this much fun! Come on again!" Goku burst forward.
They traded blows midair, iron-on-iron clangs ringing from their bodies.
Nearby, 18 and Piccolo were in the thick of it.
Far off, a green shape crept toward the battlefield…
"Still not done playing?" Gohan stepped out of the lab and took in the scene.
Goku clearly wasn't going all out. He'd gone Super Saiyan, but kept his output pinned to 17's level. Piccolo, even after fusing with Kami, had hit a wall: about 2.1 billion by Gohan's measure. Eighteen was a shade weaker but had the trump of limitless energy. Her palms spat a barrage of ki blasts; to conserve stamina Piccolo had to weave and slip instead of trading power. As it stood, they were roughly even.
"Kamehameha!" Goku snapped a blue beam at 17.
"Not happening." 17 formed a domed, green barrier and took it head-on.
Kra-BOOM.
Rrrrip.
The barrier fractured, bleeding off most of the blast before the leftover shockwave hurled 17 through the air.
"Perfect," hissed the watcher.
Cell's eyes flew open. He kicked into a blur, angling for 17's flight path.
"Seventeen become one with me!" Cell roared. His tail lashed up, the needle tip unfurling like a hungry flower.
"Wha Who are Ugh!" 17 didn't finish the question. The tail swallowed his upper body in one gulp.
"Gotta hand it to you guy never misses an opening," Gohan admitted. If anyone in Dragon World worked relentlessly, it was Cell always scheming his way to perfection.
"Seventeen!" Eighteen's composure cracked. She shot toward them, desperate to pry him free.
Piccolo and Goku broke off, faces hardening as Cell loomed.
Do I let him take Eighteen too? Gohan weighed it. Without absorbing her, Semi-Perfect Cell wouldn't push anyone here. But… he glanced at the woman an old favorite in another life and felt a twinge of reluctance.
Slap.
Gohan smacked his thigh. "Right he's got Saiyan cells. Which means near-death recovery. I can beat him half to death and let him rebound."
In the original timeline, Perfect Cell had spat up Eighteen, self-destructed, then came back stronger, thanks to a chip in his head and that same Saiyan trait jumping tiers right into Super Saiyan Two territory.
Wummm.
Seventeen vanished down the tail. A cocoon of energy wrapped Cell, too dense for Eighteen to tear open.
"AaaaAAAAH!" Cell howled and bulged, climbing into his second form.
"Eighteen… you came to me. Perfect," he laughed. Power exploded off him, pressing her down like a storm front.
"Monster! Give Seventeen back!"
Fury drowned her reason. She charged. Cell didn't even bother to block he let the blows land.
Bam bam bam bam!
In seconds she'd thrown a hundred strikes.
She didn't notice the shadow above Cell's tail poised like a spear over her crown.
"Now!" Cell snapped, the tail yawning wide, plunging
"In your dreams."
A calm voice cut in. Gohan's ki-blade hissed and severed the tail with a clean, golden arc.
Eighteen jolted back to herself.
"Get clear."
"…Why help me?" she asked, baffled.
"You're easy on the eyes. Letting this walking roach eat you would be a waste," he said, shameless.
"Y-you little creep!" Color touched her cheeks despite herself.
"Move." Gohan's tone left no room, and she withdrew.
"Son Gohan you dare ruin my ascension?" Cell's face twisted.
"Try me, mutt," Gohan said, mouth curling, every word a taunt.
"Die!" Cell hammered a fist toward his head.
Gohan dipped past, slid inside, and thud buried an iron punch in Cell's gut.
"Graa " Bile blasted from Cell's mouth. Pain buckled him to his knees; he clutched his abdomen, gagging.
"Not much, are you?" Gohan's needling didn't stop.
"Damn you! Damn you!" Cell roared and lunged again.
Whud-whud-whud-whud
A storm of fists. Gohan's afterimages stacked like a wall; Cell couldn't track a single motion. His carapace cratered under a swarm of impacts.
"Gohan's amazing!" Goku whooped.
Vegeta, Raditz, Nappa, and Piccolo stared, stunned. Gohan hadn't transformed no gold hair, no aura blaze just a faint red shimmer licking around him.
Kaio-ken.
Nothing more and he had Semi-Perfect Cell on the ground, struggling to rise.
Cell's ki plunged like a stone.
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