04-09-2018, 07:56 AM
Cell wiped his brow with his forearm. The humidity of the island jungle bore sweat all over his body as he forced Davin forward. The unblemished sky above, at least what could be gleaned through the spaces of the canopy, relayed to Cell that no relief in the form of rain was on its way. The human scientist pressed through the undergrowth, shoving aside stubborn branches and parting thick patches of grass to allow a path forward for the bio-android. He winced and occasionally sucked in a deep breath when a spiky plant scraped at his skin or a bent branch uncurled and slapped him in the back. Yet Davin’s attention to detail was so perfect that Cell’s greatest injury was a light brushing of leaves against his shoulders. This human really meant what he had said earlier; he treasured Cell in a way he deserved to be treasured.
That didn’t mean Cell couldn’t enjoy playing with the poor human’s instinctual fear.
“You know Davin, jungles can be very unsafe places. Creatures of all shapes and varieties of lethality love to live in them. Snakes, tigers, dinosaurs, giant birds, venomous insects ... and that’s not counting all of the different plants that can and will kill you as well. Some are instant, others make you feel like you’re burning for days until your organs finally give out, and you won’t even know you’ve touched one until it’s too late.”
Davin shrugged under a low lying branch and brushed the leaves off that snagged in his coat. “In most jungles you would be right. But this island was cleared of all dangerous life forms when the facility was built. The jungle was designed to hide the facility and we didn’t want an obvious trail that led to it through all the plant life. So this walk is really quite safe, as long as I don’t knock my teeth out on a swinging branch or twist my ankle.”
Cell frowned. “Bah. You’re no fun.”
“Well, there is a chance that the security systems are still active,” the human scientist said. “I’m hoping that they recognise me and let us pass, but this facility has been left alone for a span of years. It’s hard to say if the power is even still functioning. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Hold on!” Cell said. “Are you saying there’s a chance that you can’t return me to my perfect form? How are you supposed to help me if this facility is lacking the power it needs to run?!”
“I’m probably wrong,” Davin said, holding back two branches to let the bio-android through. “It’s just something to be aware of. Besides, the equipment is still in the facility. Even if the power is off, all we have to do is repair it and we’ll be back in business.”
Cell spat but said nothing. The human scientist was risking an awful lot to do what he was doing. The bio-android couldn’t imagine this was some sort of ploy to waste his time or capture him. He gave Davin the benefit of the doubt and continued trekking through the dense jungle.
Davin parted another bush and Cell stepped into a small clearing. A wall of rock was situated not far from him, enclosed on all sides by the ironclad grip of the jungle.
“You’ve led us to a dead end,” Cell said flatly, his tail whipping about.
“No, this is it,” Davin said. “The entrance is disguised in this rock wall here. Just in case anyone got shipwrecked on this island and somehow made it this deep into the jungle, just happening upon this spot, we camouflaged it.”
“I see this Empire shares the same paranoia of discovery as Dr. Gero did,” Cell said. “Or should I say, does. Seeing as he’s apparently alive here.” Cell ran his slitted pupils over the irregular rock face. “So where’s the door? How do we get in?”
Davin stepped forward to the wall and looked up. A glint of light reflected off a round object where the human scientist was staring. A camera.
“It’s verifying my identity now,” Davin said. “Give it a second.”
A negative beep went off.
“What was that?” Cell said.
“I don’t understand,” Davin said. “Gero wouldn’t have thought of this place. He couldn’t have locked it down. The only thing I can think of is ... oh no.”
The bio-android was livid. “What!?”
“The disguise!” Davin said, hands gesturing to his face. “I still have the disguise on! The security camera doesn’t recognise me!”
His hand fumbled behind his neck, fiddling with a button. He clicked it and the fiery red hair dimmed until it was a dull brown, the beard absorbing into his clean shaven face. The nose shrunk and ended with a bulb instead of the sharp point, and the wide jaw retreated to reveal Davin’s true face.
The rock wall shuddered and split in two noisily, parting open to allow two sentry robots to wheel out on miniature tank treads. Their arms, consisting of two bullet-fed mini-guns, swivelled with their single-eyed head on a stiff metal pole. The rock wall clapped shut quickly as the robots levelled their weapons at the intruders.
Cell stood proudly, hands on hips. “This is all we have to worry about?” His eyes widened as he swiftly remembered his newfound weakness to steel. “Oh, right.”
The robots aimed their weapons at the confident bio-android. Barrels turned end over end and bullets buzzed through the sky. Cell dropped to the ground and tossed a ball of ki at the dirt before them, forcing a sheet of sand and dust to blind the robots and their aim. They continued firing, perhaps capable of tracking heat signatures despite hindrances to their visuals.
Cell flew close to the ground and stuck his forefinger and index finger to his forehead. Yellow sparks leapt from his fingertips as he rounded on the robot sentries, placing both of them one behind the other from Cell’s perspective.
“Makankosappo!” Cell yelled, pointing his two fingers forward. Two yellow beams exploded forth, one as straight as an arrow and the other coiling around it. The head of the attack bore into the first robot and penetrated through its back, slamming into the other robot and drilling through its steel body as well. Both sentries sagged and exploded in a shower of flame and black smoke.
Davin peeked out around a tree, face awed. “Wow! That was amazing!”
Cell scowled at the shattered remains of the robots. With the expenditure of ki for his Kamehameha and now the Makankosappo, he felt far more fatigued than he should have. He clenched and relaxed a fist. What was going on here? Was this more power that this Omni had stripped from him? Did he need to be careful of his output? Surely reaching his ultimate form would fix this annoyance.
“Enough praising!” Cell snapped. “Get me to my perfect form already!”
Davin jogged over to the rock wall and stared at it. “With my real face unhidden, the security system should work now.”
As he predicted, the rock wall hissed open. Cell followed Davin inside and the wall closed behind them.
Davin led the bio-android down a long corridor. Doors to either side opened into small laboratories and testing areas. Most were filled with chairs festooned with cobwebs and desks draped with old sheets and dust. The air entered Cell’s nostrils musty and damp.
“So how are you going to do this?” Cell asked, his feet disrupting the fine film that covered the cold tiles. “How are you going to induce my perfect form?”
“I have a machine,” Davin said, still looking forward. “I was using this place to continue my own research, my own life goal. Most of the tools here can apply directly to you. But with the data I stole from Dr. Gero and the equipment in this facility, I know I can awaken the power lying dormant inside you.”
The human scientist turned into a doorway and Cell followed. The room billowed out before them. A glass pod sat in the centre of the room, its surface caked with grime. A computer terminal took up most of the wall, its control panel plagued with accumulated dust.
Cell ran his hand down the cold, curved surface of the pod, his palm coming away slick with dirt. “What now?”
Davin’s fingers jabbed a few keys on the terminal and inserted the data stick with Dr. Gero’s stolen information into it. The screen flickered to life, streaked with filth. A light above the pod stuttered, found its strength and shone. A door in the back of the pod creaked open. Buzzes and beeps filled the room.
“Climb in,” Davin said, fingers moving in a frenzy over the keys. “Once you’re in the pod, it will fill with a special fluid. Through this fluid, I will be able to send a special electrical charge to every one of your cells to awaken your perfect form. I read that your unique biology allows you to breathe in water, so you won’t drown.”
Cell clambered in, his tail slithering in as the door clicked behind him. It was risky to trust his safety to the human, but Davin knew things that only an understudy of Dr. Gero could. There was little reason to distrust his words so far. Perhaps Cell’s yearning to become perfect again after having tasted it for such a short time was driving this reckless behaviour, but as far as he knew, this was his only chance. There was no proof that the androids were in this dimension.
A thick, soupy liquid the colour of the sky bubbled from the base of the sealed pod, filling it at an alarming rate.
“Know that if this is a trick, I will destroy you and the entire complex in an instant,” Cell said in the last moment before the fluid engulfed his head.
“Trust me,” the scientist said, swiping his wrist over his sweaty forehead. “You are everything I’ve been looking for my whole life. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Or an elaborate trap set by Dr. Gero to capture me, Cell suddenly thought.
Before the bio-android had an opportunity to voice the startling possibility, a surge of electricity coursed through the pod and into his body. Cell opened his beak to scream, but found where he expected pain, he found none. Instead, he felt the same giddy, adrenaline-filled rush that accompanied...
... the moment he absorbed Android 17 for the first time.
Cell's laughter caught in bubbles and floated lazily upwards. Light poured from his body as it started reconfiguring and birthing a familiar strength that bloomed in his core and streamed into every part of his body. Pure adulation flooded his mind. The stupid human had been true to his word! The memory of his perfect form held in his cells was being unlocked!
The lights stuttered and Cell felt the process flounder for a moment.
“Just a technical hiccup,” said Davin, furiously typing away at the console. “Just need to reroute some systems to the pod ... and ... there. That ought to -“
Cell didn’t hear the end of the sentence. A jolt of electricity blasted through his body and mind and he went limp.
That didn’t mean Cell couldn’t enjoy playing with the poor human’s instinctual fear.
“You know Davin, jungles can be very unsafe places. Creatures of all shapes and varieties of lethality love to live in them. Snakes, tigers, dinosaurs, giant birds, venomous insects ... and that’s not counting all of the different plants that can and will kill you as well. Some are instant, others make you feel like you’re burning for days until your organs finally give out, and you won’t even know you’ve touched one until it’s too late.”
Davin shrugged under a low lying branch and brushed the leaves off that snagged in his coat. “In most jungles you would be right. But this island was cleared of all dangerous life forms when the facility was built. The jungle was designed to hide the facility and we didn’t want an obvious trail that led to it through all the plant life. So this walk is really quite safe, as long as I don’t knock my teeth out on a swinging branch or twist my ankle.”
Cell frowned. “Bah. You’re no fun.”
“Well, there is a chance that the security systems are still active,” the human scientist said. “I’m hoping that they recognise me and let us pass, but this facility has been left alone for a span of years. It’s hard to say if the power is even still functioning. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Hold on!” Cell said. “Are you saying there’s a chance that you can’t return me to my perfect form? How are you supposed to help me if this facility is lacking the power it needs to run?!”
“I’m probably wrong,” Davin said, holding back two branches to let the bio-android through. “It’s just something to be aware of. Besides, the equipment is still in the facility. Even if the power is off, all we have to do is repair it and we’ll be back in business.”
Cell spat but said nothing. The human scientist was risking an awful lot to do what he was doing. The bio-android couldn’t imagine this was some sort of ploy to waste his time or capture him. He gave Davin the benefit of the doubt and continued trekking through the dense jungle.
Davin parted another bush and Cell stepped into a small clearing. A wall of rock was situated not far from him, enclosed on all sides by the ironclad grip of the jungle.
“You’ve led us to a dead end,” Cell said flatly, his tail whipping about.
“No, this is it,” Davin said. “The entrance is disguised in this rock wall here. Just in case anyone got shipwrecked on this island and somehow made it this deep into the jungle, just happening upon this spot, we camouflaged it.”
“I see this Empire shares the same paranoia of discovery as Dr. Gero did,” Cell said. “Or should I say, does. Seeing as he’s apparently alive here.” Cell ran his slitted pupils over the irregular rock face. “So where’s the door? How do we get in?”
Davin stepped forward to the wall and looked up. A glint of light reflected off a round object where the human scientist was staring. A camera.
“It’s verifying my identity now,” Davin said. “Give it a second.”
A negative beep went off.
“What was that?” Cell said.
“I don’t understand,” Davin said. “Gero wouldn’t have thought of this place. He couldn’t have locked it down. The only thing I can think of is ... oh no.”
The bio-android was livid. “What!?”
“The disguise!” Davin said, hands gesturing to his face. “I still have the disguise on! The security camera doesn’t recognise me!”
His hand fumbled behind his neck, fiddling with a button. He clicked it and the fiery red hair dimmed until it was a dull brown, the beard absorbing into his clean shaven face. The nose shrunk and ended with a bulb instead of the sharp point, and the wide jaw retreated to reveal Davin’s true face.
The rock wall shuddered and split in two noisily, parting open to allow two sentry robots to wheel out on miniature tank treads. Their arms, consisting of two bullet-fed mini-guns, swivelled with their single-eyed head on a stiff metal pole. The rock wall clapped shut quickly as the robots levelled their weapons at the intruders.
Cell stood proudly, hands on hips. “This is all we have to worry about?” His eyes widened as he swiftly remembered his newfound weakness to steel. “Oh, right.”
The robots aimed their weapons at the confident bio-android. Barrels turned end over end and bullets buzzed through the sky. Cell dropped to the ground and tossed a ball of ki at the dirt before them, forcing a sheet of sand and dust to blind the robots and their aim. They continued firing, perhaps capable of tracking heat signatures despite hindrances to their visuals.
Cell flew close to the ground and stuck his forefinger and index finger to his forehead. Yellow sparks leapt from his fingertips as he rounded on the robot sentries, placing both of them one behind the other from Cell’s perspective.
“Makankosappo!” Cell yelled, pointing his two fingers forward. Two yellow beams exploded forth, one as straight as an arrow and the other coiling around it. The head of the attack bore into the first robot and penetrated through its back, slamming into the other robot and drilling through its steel body as well. Both sentries sagged and exploded in a shower of flame and black smoke.
Davin peeked out around a tree, face awed. “Wow! That was amazing!”
Cell scowled at the shattered remains of the robots. With the expenditure of ki for his Kamehameha and now the Makankosappo, he felt far more fatigued than he should have. He clenched and relaxed a fist. What was going on here? Was this more power that this Omni had stripped from him? Did he need to be careful of his output? Surely reaching his ultimate form would fix this annoyance.
“Enough praising!” Cell snapped. “Get me to my perfect form already!”
Davin jogged over to the rock wall and stared at it. “With my real face unhidden, the security system should work now.”
As he predicted, the rock wall hissed open. Cell followed Davin inside and the wall closed behind them.
Davin led the bio-android down a long corridor. Doors to either side opened into small laboratories and testing areas. Most were filled with chairs festooned with cobwebs and desks draped with old sheets and dust. The air entered Cell’s nostrils musty and damp.
“So how are you going to do this?” Cell asked, his feet disrupting the fine film that covered the cold tiles. “How are you going to induce my perfect form?”
“I have a machine,” Davin said, still looking forward. “I was using this place to continue my own research, my own life goal. Most of the tools here can apply directly to you. But with the data I stole from Dr. Gero and the equipment in this facility, I know I can awaken the power lying dormant inside you.”
The human scientist turned into a doorway and Cell followed. The room billowed out before them. A glass pod sat in the centre of the room, its surface caked with grime. A computer terminal took up most of the wall, its control panel plagued with accumulated dust.
Cell ran his hand down the cold, curved surface of the pod, his palm coming away slick with dirt. “What now?”
Davin’s fingers jabbed a few keys on the terminal and inserted the data stick with Dr. Gero’s stolen information into it. The screen flickered to life, streaked with filth. A light above the pod stuttered, found its strength and shone. A door in the back of the pod creaked open. Buzzes and beeps filled the room.
“Climb in,” Davin said, fingers moving in a frenzy over the keys. “Once you’re in the pod, it will fill with a special fluid. Through this fluid, I will be able to send a special electrical charge to every one of your cells to awaken your perfect form. I read that your unique biology allows you to breathe in water, so you won’t drown.”
Cell clambered in, his tail slithering in as the door clicked behind him. It was risky to trust his safety to the human, but Davin knew things that only an understudy of Dr. Gero could. There was little reason to distrust his words so far. Perhaps Cell’s yearning to become perfect again after having tasted it for such a short time was driving this reckless behaviour, but as far as he knew, this was his only chance. There was no proof that the androids were in this dimension.
A thick, soupy liquid the colour of the sky bubbled from the base of the sealed pod, filling it at an alarming rate.
“Know that if this is a trick, I will destroy you and the entire complex in an instant,” Cell said in the last moment before the fluid engulfed his head.
“Trust me,” the scientist said, swiping his wrist over his sweaty forehead. “You are everything I’ve been looking for my whole life. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Or an elaborate trap set by Dr. Gero to capture me, Cell suddenly thought.
Before the bio-android had an opportunity to voice the startling possibility, a surge of electricity coursed through the pod and into his body. Cell opened his beak to scream, but found where he expected pain, he found none. Instead, he felt the same giddy, adrenaline-filled rush that accompanied...
... the moment he absorbed Android 17 for the first time.
Cell's laughter caught in bubbles and floated lazily upwards. Light poured from his body as it started reconfiguring and birthing a familiar strength that bloomed in his core and streamed into every part of his body. Pure adulation flooded his mind. The stupid human had been true to his word! The memory of his perfect form held in his cells was being unlocked!
The lights stuttered and Cell felt the process flounder for a moment.
“Just a technical hiccup,” said Davin, furiously typing away at the console. “Just need to reroute some systems to the pod ... and ... there. That ought to -“
Cell didn’t hear the end of the sentence. A jolt of electricity blasted through his body and mind and he went limp.