The Semi-Perfect Holiday

[Cell]

Nah. All of that positivity is bullshit.
 
Cell crouched in the shade of a palm tree, his feet half buried in the sand. His tail lashed about behind him as he stared at the tides. The water rushed up the beach, retreated and gathered its strength, then threw itself forward again. The bio-android watched the undulating sea, stewing.
 
I tried to convince myself, I really did, he thought to himself, hands balled into fists. But anything short of my perfect form is worthless. That human might have raised me out of my imperfect form, but this is not good enough!
 
Cell hated this. What could he do? Davin, the little rat bastard, had fled when the attempted upgrade took place. At first, Cell thought the human scientist couldn’t have gotten far in the boat, but then he didn’t know how long he had been unconscious for, and a quick scan didn’t turn him up. With no assistance from Doctor Gero and no possible way to hunt down the last remaining android, let alone even knowing if one existed in this strange afterlife dimension, Cell had no clear path to follow.
 
The rage in his chest broiled at the thought. Left impotent, with no way forward? Impossible! Outrageous!
 
He couldn’t keep still any longer. Cell clenched his teeth and strode furiously to the shoreline. He stood shaking as the water swelled up and down his knees, his tail thrashing about like an enraged sea serpent.
 
The anger got the best of him. Throwing his head back, Cell yelled into the clear blue sky. A blazing yellow aura consumed his rigid body, thrusting the ocean water into a fine spray around him and forcing waves to rush away from him in an expanding circle.
 
“It’s not fair!” he shouted. “I was perfect! Why am I cursed to such a worthless existence?!”
 
The fury escaped him and he stumbled to the shoreline, collapsing on his hands and knees. A crab scuttled past his fingers. He couldn’t even muster the desire to snuff out its life.
 
“Excuse me, uh... sir?”
 
Cell craned his head upwards. A human woman in green and black lycra stared down at him, hands on her hourglass hips. She furrowed her brow in either concern or confusion.
 
“What is it?” Cell asked. All his anger had leaked out of him.
 
“Well... you seem upset,” the woman said. She pointed down the beach where a group of four other women in similar attire stood on mats, watching the scene unfold from a distance. “We’re about to do some early morning yoga. You know, some stretching, deep breathing... it’s all very calming. I thought I would invite you over in case you would like to join us? You might feel better.”
 
Cell’s tail twitched. A meal might make him feel better too. Ah, what the hell. If this ‘yoga’ didn’t help, he could always eat the class.
 
“Fine,” Cell said, noticing how calm the woman was around him. Perhaps the inhabitants of these islands were as accustomed to alien sights as the bustling crowds in Coruscant.
 
“Oh, that’s great!” she said, hopping once, her short brown hair bouncing. “Come this way! Have you ever done yoga before?”
 
“No. What is this ‘yoga’?”
 
They approached the other women. One of them rolled out a red mat for Cell. “It’s a series of stretches and exercises that releases tension and promotes a healthy body and mind. It’s wonderful, especially if you’re feeling a bit down.”
 
Cell raised his eyebrows, eyelids half lidded. “Exercise does usually make me happy.”
 
“There you go!” she said. “What sort of exercise do you enjoy doing?”
 
“Fighting, mostly,” Cell said, smirking. “I’m quite proficient, if I do say so myself.”
 
“Well that’s great! You might find that yoga helps stretch out some of those muscles you need for fighting.”
 
“A fair point,” Cell said, rolling his shoulders. His feet planted on the mat rolled out for him. “I think I pulled a muscle when I was remote controlling a Death Saucer in my fight with Goku. That forces a few sharp movements.”
 
“Death Saucer? I’ve never heard of that sort of plane before,” the yoga instructor said, shrugging. “Oh well. Are we all ready to start the class?”
 
“Yeah!” the women surrounding Cell shouted in unison. The bio-android jumped.
 
“All right then! Let’s all start with the downward facing dog. Put your hands flat on the ground and straighten out your arms. Then straighten out your legs and stick your bum in the air so your whole body makes an upside down ‘V’ shape.”
 
Cell shrugged his shoulders but decided to try it out anyway. He entered the position easily.
 
“Great job everyone!” the trainer said. “Now hold that position and breathe deeply through your nose. Then purse your lips and jet it out your mouth. Keep that hold for thirty seconds.”
 
What is this nonsense supposed to- oh. Cell followed the instructions, and as laughably simple as it was to stay comfortable and unchallenged by the downward facing dog, he understood why these human women were on the beach doing this. He breathed deep, feeling the tension uncoil in his body. Was this...relaxing?
 
Cell participated in the whole session. At the end, he felt rejuvenated. His body thanked him for the treatment it just received.
 
As the women bundled up their yoga mats and trundled off the beach, the brunette trainer came back to Cell. “So how did you find it? Did you enjoy yourself?”
 
“I’ll admit, it was more effective than I originally anticipated,” Cell said, sitting with forearms on his knees. “But...it still doesn’t fix my problem.”
 
“What’s that? I might be able to help,” the yoga trainer said, sitting next to the bio-android. “I’m a good listener.”
 
“It’s just...” Cell’s eyes darted back and forward between nothing. “I met this guy, and...he told me things. He told me things would be perfect again, like they used to be. And just when things were getting better, when we were so close to perfect...he ran off without a word. My perfect vision fell away so quickly.”
 
The trainer pressed her lips together in a firm line and nodded. “I see. I’ve definitely dealt with this problem before. Look, you can’t go around looking for your world to suddenly be perfect because of someone else. The perfection you’re searching for is deep inside you. You just have to look for it with an open heart and it will rise to the surface. Trust me, you don’t need anyone else but yourself.”
 
The human woman was right. Perfection was inside him – it was coded into his very genes, hidden away until the right catalyst activated it again, as it did after his self destruction. He didn’t need that cowardly scientist. Even if the androids weren’t in this dimension, there would be another way to ascend, just like he ascended to his semi-perfect state.
 
But how? Maybe he could train? He’d never trained a day in his life. The power he owned had been gifted to him at birth, or stolen from absorbing others. But the saiyans...Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Trunks all surpassed their old limits within a day. No doubt there was some secret trick to the astonishing difference in the power levels after twenty four hours, but a large part was due to their genetic advantages as saiyans. Being comprised of both Goku and Vegeta, he had the same potential within him.
 
Or maybe a large enough source of power could trigger his transformation. The androids held almost limitless sources of artificial ki in their bodies that somehow mixed with Cell’s own physiology to produce the perfect warrior. Maybe to induce his final form he only needed another object that surged with energy. This dimension could hold such an item, couldn’t it?
 
Cell leapt to his feet. The human woman was taken aback by the sudden motion but got to her feet too, smiling. “Thank you. Your words have steered me back onto the right path. For that, I won’t absorb you.”
 
“Oh, uh...thanks,” she said uncertainly. “I’m just...glad I could help you.”
 
Cell grinned. “Farewell.”
 
The bio-android rocketed into the air, knocking the yoga instructor over amid a spray of sand. It was time to go on a fact-finding mission.