Trunks' Death and Cell's Coming
Bulma looked on as Trunks got the time machine ready. He was going to go back to the past again, to right the events that had gone horribly wrong on his last mission. Three years ago, he had returned from the past where the cyborgs were destroyed , but not before they had killed all the Z warriors, including Son Goku(*). And from that past, he had acquired the remote control which he used to disable cyborgs No.17 and No.18 before destroying them. Later, he brought back another cyborg to Bulma's lab. It was from Dr.Gero's secret lab, where No.17 and No.18 also came from. For some reason it was never unleashed in this timeline. Trunks told her it was No.16, and in the past it was No.16 who had killed Goku. When Bulma asked him why he brought the cyborg back, he asked her to create a remote stopper for the cyborg so that he could go back to the past again and prevent the deaths of Goku and the others. She had agreed. It won't change what's happened but maybe this will help him deal with what's happened in the past he's visited.
Cyborg No.16 was different from No.17 and No.18. While the two were real cyborgs as they were built from humans, No.16 was really an android. He was not human-based and Bulma could only marvel at Gero's brilliance in creating such a complex being. If only he had used his genius to help mankind rather than destroy it.
She had taken three years to study No.16 and create the stopper. It was no easy task; even though she had single-handedly built a time machine, cybernetics wasn't really her field of expertise. Plus, resources were scarce, and she was heavily involved in other projects to rebuild Capsule Corporation and the rest of the Western Capitol. During that time, Trunks had gradually started to talk about what happened in the past. At first, soon after he destroyed No.17 and No.18, he became very withdrawn. He would sometimes not talk for days. Sometimes he would just lock himself up in his room or the gravity room, or disappear somewhere for an even longer period of time. Bulma was worried that he might end up like poor ChiChi, who had practically stopped living the day Gohan died. But thankfully, Trunks gradually returned to his old self again, although not completely. At least he was normal again, as normal as could be for anybody who's been through what he's been through.
"I'm going now, Mother," Trunks said. Bulma smiled. "Be careful, Trunks," she said. Trunks just nodded. He needed to do this; even though his own timeline is safe now, if somewhere he could prevent the deaths of his father and friends, he would do it.
Then suddenly, Trunks froze. He just felt something. That ki... but it couldn't be. It was his father's ki, and Goku's and Piccolo's. He even felt Freeza and his father's ki. But how...? They're all dead! And just as suddenly he was hit dead on by a powerful ki blast from the direction he was facing.
"Trunks..!!!" Bulma watched in horror as her son crashed into some computer terminals. And where he was standing a second ago, there was a strange monster. It had green spotted skin, a strange face without a mouth, and a tail. The tip of the tail was needle-like and it swished menacingly. Bulma wanted to run to Trunks, see how badly he was hurt, but all she could do was stay rooted at the spot, staring at the monster.
Finally Bulma found some strength to stammer "Wh..What...Who.. are you...What do you want...." She wasn't sure if the creature could understand her, but then it answered her in a strange cold voice, finally revealing its mouth, "My name is Cell. And I want No.17 and No.18."
Bulma's eyes widened. "But... but ..they're dead. What do you want with them anyway..."
Cell replied calmly, "I know. That's why I want to use your time machine to find them in the past so I can absorb them and achieve my perfect form."
"And for what?" Bulma asked, just to buy some time to think. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't fight this monster and Trunks was hurt ...or dead. She pushed the thought from her mind. She's got to find a way to stop this monster and get Trunks some help.
"I was created to become the strongest being in the world and defeat Son Goku. After that... oh, I don't know," Cell said nonchalantly. He gathered a ki ball in his right hand. "Now show me how to use the time machine or I'll blast you to hell like I did that precious son of yours."
"No!" Bulma cried out.
"Very well." Cell raised his hand and
aimed...
Trunks barely managed to stay conscious. He tried to get up. That ki blast took him by surprise and he didn't have time to block it. His body was aching all over, as it took a direct hit from the blast. He didn't know what it was that hit him, or why it had the kis of Son Goku and the others. He opened his eyes and to his horror, saw a monster and it was going to kill his mother!
Somehow Trunks managed to find enough strength to get up and fly as fast as he could to get his mother out of the way of the ki blast. But, he wasn't fast enough, as just as he managed to push her away, the blast hit him instead and he fell on top of her. He felt a crushing pain in his chest, in addition to the pain already caused by the previous blast. Trunks couldn't breathe. He opened his mouth to draw in air, but found himself choking in his own blood. Then things just slowly went black for Trunks. He never saw what was coming next. Bulma, however, did and she knew there was nothing she could do as Cell glared at Trunks and produced a very thin, razor sharp disc-shaped ki blast and threw it at them. She could feel the searing pain as it cut through Trunks and herself, and she knew for certain that this was the end for them. Then slowly, things went black for Bulma too.
Cell looked at the mangled bodies in front of him. "Hmph..what a mess." He threw a couple more ki blasts at them for good measure. He was a bit surprised that Trunks was still alive just now, so he used the kienzan attack to cut him up, just to make sure he'll stay dead this time.
Now Cell turned his attention to the time machine. He spent several minutes studying the controls before finding the button that would activate the machine and take him to the past. Lucky for him, Trunks had everything set up. All he needed to do now was get in and push the button. As he tried to get in, he found another problem. He was too big for the machine! Well, no big problem, Cell thought as he concentrated on his energy. Soon he was turning smaller and smaller and just before he turned into an egg, he pushed the button and the machine whirred, as it starts to run.
"No.17, No.18, Son Goku... here I come!!! MWAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahaha.........!!!!!!!"
Even as the time machine disappeared, Cell's evil laughter still echoed eerily inside the lab.
* To find out exactly what happened in the past, read Prologue. Back to top.
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