"A room that distorts time and space..." Escallion mused, his tail flicking with interest as he stepped forward, his cold yellow eyes locked onto Goku. "A year of concentrated gravity and environmental pressure condensed into twenty-four hours out here. That is an absurd strategic advantage."
"Yeah, but it's no cakewalk," Goku warned, stepping up to the ramp as the jet hummed through the sky. "The air is thin, the temperature swings like crazy, and the gravity is ten times Earth's. It puts a heavy strain on your body just existing in there. Plus, a person can only spend a maximum of two days in their entire lifetime inside before the door vanishes forever."
"We'll buy you that time," Piccolo said firmly, his arms crossed over his chest, his dark eyes set with grim determination. "If that monster comes out of hiding to feed again, we'll make sure he doesn't get a single drop of energy without fighting us first."
"Hold on," Piccolo interrupted, his brow furrowing as he looked closely at Goku. "If you only woke up a short while ago, how did you find us out here so quickly?"
Goku explained, rubbing the back of his neck with a small grin. "Bulma told me you guys took the transport jet to track Cell, but on my way here, I spotted Vegeta and Trunks flying low over the canyon. I dropped down and told them about the Time Chamber first."
Escallion's eyes narrowed slightly. "And how did the Prince react to that news?"
"Just like you'd expect," Goku chuckled. "The second he heard he could get an entire year of training in twenty-four hours to push past Super Saiyan, he took off like a rocket straight for Kami's Lookout with Trunks right behind him. They should be at the entrance by now."
"So Vegeta and Trunks will be the first pair in," Tien noted, crossing his arms thoughtfully.
"Yep," Goku nodded, turning back toward the open ramp. "Mr. Popo's setting up the room for them. Me and Gohan are heading up there right now on foot to wait our turn. Once Vegeta and Trunks step out, we're going straight in."
He turned to his son, his expression shifting to one of quiet determination. "Ready to fly, Gohan?"
"Ready, Dad!" Gohan answered, stepping up to the edge of the ramp beside Goku.
"Keep your guards up, everyone," Goku called out over the roar of the wind. "Buy us as much time as you can!"
Inside the cabin, Escallion watched them vanish into the clouds before turning his attention back to the floor of the jet, his arms crossed tightly against his chest plate.
"One year of brutal, isolated pressure..." Escallion murmured, a sharp, dangerous glint flashing in his yellow eyes. "Enjoy your head start, Vegeta. When my turn in that chamber comes, I will reach a level of power that makes your Super Saiyan look like child's play."
Yamcha's voice broke through the cabin speakers from the pilot seat. "We're over the outer district of West City now. Lowering altitude, keep your energy completely suppressed!"
Below the transport jet, the sprawling suburban grid came into view: empty streets, driverless cars sitting at green lights, and discarded clothes scattered across the pavement like ghost towns. The hunt for Cell was on.
--------------------
-Elsewhere-
The van glided off the main interstate, its tires humming against the asphalt as the coastal highway gave way to West City's outer suburban ring.
17 kept one hand casually on the steering wheel, his eyes scanning the quiet landscape through the windshield. Up ahead, the usual mid-afternoon traffic density was eerily absent. The gas stations along the road sat empty, pumps hanging loose, and several commuter cars were parked at odd angles on the shoulder, their doors left wide open.
"Well, this is underwhelming," 17 said, leaning back into his seat with a small, amused scoff. "I thought West City was supposed to be a booming metropolis. Looks more like a ghost town."
From the passenger seat, 18 rested her elbow on the door frame, her chin propped in her palm as she gazed out at a deserted intersection. "Something's off. Look at the sidewalks."
Piles of discarded clothing littered the pavement; jackets, shirts, shoes, and dresses collapsed into hollow heaps, as if the people who made them had vanished into thin air.
"How quaint," 21 muttered from the back seat, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she adjusted her glasses. She set aside a half-empty box of pastries and squinted through the tinted window. "Either the citizens of this place have a sudden fetish for public nudity, or something vastly more sinister has occurred here."
"It is not a trend," 16 spoke up from the far rear, his massive, armored shoulders barely fitting between the van's side panels. His artificial eyes glowed with a faint digital pulse as he looked at a small bird perched atop an abandoned streetlight. "Life signs in this sector have decreased by ninety-eight percent. The local fauna remain, but human bio-signatures are absent."
17 pulled the van up to a red light, not bothering to stop as he coasted straight through the intersection. "Sounds like someone beat us to the fun. 21, check that fancy scanner of yours. Are these those 'Z-Fighters' cleaning house, or what?"
21 clicked her tongue, pulling a compact diagnostic pad from her lab coat pocket. Her slender fingers tapped rapidly across the interface, analyzing the ambient energy readings drifting through the air.
"No," 21 said, her brow furrowing slightly. "The lingering energy patterns aren't Saiyan or Namekian. They're... chaotic. A composite mixture of multiple distinct genetic profiles, laced with organic absorption traces." She tapped the screen harder, her pink eyes narrowing with sudden, professional curiosity. "Fascinating... it resembles a biological harvesting technique."
"Harvesting?" 18 turned her head, her blue eyes sharp. "Meaning someone's eating the locals?"
"In a manner of speaking," 21 replied, a strange, hungry flicker flashing across her face before she quickly suppressed it with a clear of her throat. "Whoever or whatever did this is consuming organic matter to increase its power output. And judging by the decay rate of the residue, it was here mere minutes ago."
17 smirked, resting his wrist on top of the steering wheel as he accelerated down the empty boulevard. "Great. So on top of hunting down Son Goku, we've got some oversized parasite stealing our scenery. If it gets in our way, we'll melt it into scrap."
"Do not underestimate it, 17," 21 warned, stowing her pad. "The bio-signature profile I'm reading carries trace elements of powerful martial artists. If this creature is growing exponentially, it could prove... problematic."
"Let it try," 18 said coolly, crossing her legs. "We have infinite power supplies, remember? I doubt it would be much of an issue."
The van rolled further into the heart of West City, passing under the shadow of silent skyscrapers, blissfully unaware that high above the cloud layer, Yamcha's transport jet was making its final descent, bringing Escallion, Piccolo, Tien, and Krillin right into the same hunting ground.
The high-speed transport jet dropped out of the heavy cloud cover, its engines silent as Yamcha glided the aircraft into a low-altitude swoop over the deserted skyscrapers of West City.
"Uh, guys! I've got eyes on a van cruising down the main strip. Looks civilian... but there aren't any other cars out there, and I can't feel any ki from it."
Escallion's head snapped toward the cockpit window, his eyes narrowing. "That isn't Cell. A monster consuming entire populations wouldn't be cruising down a highway in a stolen transport."
"It's them," Piccolo said flatly, his dark eyes fixed on the road below. "The Androids."
"Yamcha, drop the ramp!" Krillin shouted, tightening his grip on his boots.
With a low hiss, the rear hatch of the jet slid open. A torrent of wind rushed into the cabin as Piccolo, Escallion, Tien, and Krillin unbuckled their harnesses and stepped up to the ledge. Without flinching, all four dropped into the open air, free-falling silently through the shadow of the skyscrapers before touching down in a hard formation directly across the four-lane boulevard.
SCREEECH!
17 slammed his foot onto the brake pedal, leaving two thick streaks of burning rubber on the asphalt as the van skidded to a halt just thirty feet in front of the four fighters.
Inside the vehicle, 18 didn't even flinch. She simply turned her head toward the windshield, her cold blue eyes locking onto Piccolo and Escallion.
"Well, well," 17 smirked, resting his arms over the steering wheel as the engine idle died down. "Look who decided to drop in."
"Doesn't matter how many times they come back," 18 said smoothly, pushing her side door open and stepping out onto the pavement. Her dark boots clicked sharply against the road. "They're still blocking our path."
17, 21, and the towering 16 stepped out right behind her, forming their own line across the street.
Escallion stepped to the front of the Z-Fighters, clad in a dark sleeveless bodysuittucked withwhite-and-gold boots. His golden-shouldered white battle chestplate stretched firmly over his muscular torso, showing off his heavily scarred bare arms, while his brown Saiyan tail wrapped securely around his waist.
"Where is Son Goku?" 17 called out, crossing his arms with a bored, cocky grin. "We came all this way to pay him a visit, and all we find is a dead city, the Namekian, and the armored Saiyan playing bodyguard."
"Goku isn't here," Piccolo spat, dropping into a heavy fighting stance, his white cape fluttering in the wind. "And you aren't going any further."
"You really don't learn, do you?" 18 chuckled, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder as she glanced between Piccolo and Escallion. "We already beat you all down last time."
"The situation has changed," Escallion interjected, his bare, scar-marked arms crossed tight over his yellow-paneled chest armor as his eyes locked onto 17. "We did not come here to replay our last battle or entertain your petty hunt for Goku. A creature known as Cell is roaming around, absorbing human populations to build its strength."
"So? What's that gotta do with us?" 17 sneers, but 21 looks like she's realized what Escallion is saying. "Are you saying that we are in danger of being preyed upon?"
17 let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Prey? Us? Doc, are you hearing yourself?"
Before 21 could register the statement or reply, a laugh not from any of the people on the ground echoed through the empty city.
Piccolo's eyes widened in horror as he spun around. "HE'S HERE!"
From the shadow of a shattered glass storefront behind the Androids, a tall, chitinous tail slithered out into the light, its stinger dripping with thick, digestive fluid.
"Such wonderful timing..." a rasping, layered voice echoed from the dark, sending a shiver straight down Krillin's spine.
Cell stepped into the sunlight, his pink eyes gleaming with unhinged, malicious triumph as he looked past Piccolo and locked his sight squarely on Android 17 and 18.
"I was wondering when the main course would finally arrive."
Before Android 17 could even comprehend the threat looming behind him, Escallion and Piccolo moved in unison, taking immediate tactical initiative.
"Now!" Piccolo barked.
Escallion's green Ki exploded outward in a shockwave that cracked the surrounding asphalt. Leaving a crater where he stood, the Saiyan vanished into a sonic blur, closing the gap in a fraction of a second. He reappeared directly in front of Cell, hurling a brutal fist straight toward the creature's beak-like jaw.
Cell's eyes widened in brief surprise as he brought up both arms to block, but the sheer force of Escallion's strike smashed through his guard, sending the bio-android skidding backward down the street, his heels tearing deep grooves into the concrete.
Escallion's hair stands up, becoming golden as he transforms into a Super Saiyan! His emerald Ki erupts into a towering column of brilliant golden aura that shatters the surrounding windows and sends a massive shockwave tearing down the boulevard.
Cell barely recovers his balance before Escallion is already upon him, his fiery teal-green eyes locked on his target with predatory focus.
Without giving Cell a single second to recover, Escallion drove a golden-and-green-infused knee straight into Cell's midsection, forcing a spray of purple fluid from the creature's beak-like jaw. Following up instantly, Escallion grabbed Cell by the shoulder, spun him mid-air, and drove a savage kick into his chest, blasting the bio-android straight up into the sky to keep him far away from the Androids on the street below.
"Piccolo! Now!" Escallion roared, his green aura flaring as he vaulted into the air after Cell.
Piccolo flew up alongside Escallion, his palms already charged with dense yellow energy as they closed in on Cell from both sides. "Don't let him recover his footing!"
Cell stabilized himself mid-air, wiping the fluid from his jaw, his pink eyes flashing with venomous rage. "Interfering fools... you're only delaying the inevitable!"
Cell's tail whipped through the air, sending a fan of razor-sharp Ki blades cutting through the sky toward them. Escallion didn't dodge; he crossed his bare, scar-marked arms, letting his dense green aura deflect the projectiles before bursting through the smoke to drive a heavy right hook into Cell's ribs. Simultaneously, Piccolo zipped behind Cell, driving a heavy sledgehammer strike into the back of his neck, sending the creature plummeting back toward the rooftops.
Cell hit the rooftop hard, skidding across the concrete tile and sending shattered gravel flying in every direction. As Escallion and Piccolo plunged from the sky to press their advantage, Cell's pink eyes flared with unhinged desperation.
"I've had enough of you insects!" Cell screeched.
Bringing his hands up to his forehead, fingers spread wide, Cell released a blinding torrent of light. "SOLAR FLARE!"
A supernova-like flash illuminated the entire district. The light cut straight through the air, burning through Escallion's and Piccolo's vision and forcing both fighters to reel back, clutching their eyes as temporary blindness struck them mid-air.
"Dammit!" Piccolo growled, teeth gritted in frustration as his senses scrambled.
Escallion gritted his teeth, his green Ki flaring wildly around his body as he dropped his posture, but the damage was done. Cell didn't bother following up on the Z-Fighters. Instead, he dove straight down from the roof toward the street below like a lethal projectile.
On the ground, Android 17 was still shielding his eyes from the blinding flash above when the shadow fell over him.
"17, move!" 18 screamed, but it was already too late.
Cell landed right behind 17, his massive chitinous tail opening wide into a gaping, fleshy funnel. Before 17 could even turn his head or raise his barrier, the stinger clamped over his head and upper body, swallowing him whole.
"GET OFF HIM!" 18 yelled, launching a rapid volley of Ki blasts straight at Cell's back.
The blasts detonated against Cell's shell, but the bio-android didn't even flinch. His tail expanded violently, pulsing with dark purple light as Android 17 was forcibly dragged up through the trunk of the tail and absorbed directly into Cell's body.
"NO!" Krillin yelled from the sidelines, his voice cracking with horror.
A grotesque, violent transformation erupted across the street. Cell's body expanded, his chitinous armor shifting and warping. His beak-like mouth split open to reveal a human-like jaw, his feet lengthened into heavy boots, and his power level surged so high that the shattered concrete beneath him disintegrated into fine dust.
High above, Escallion cleared his vision just in time to see the blinding golden-purple aura erupt from the street below. His eyes narrowed to razor points as the suffocating pressure of Semi-Perfect Cell filled the entire city.
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