//------------------------------//
// Cell: Hunting Cell 
// Story: Dragon Ball Z: Magic's New Life 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Twilight found that, after the trio recovered from the Solar Flare, Piccolo's plan was to wait for Vegeta and Tien to arrive, as both fighters were on their way to the ruins of Gingertown, allowing him some time to get his thoughts in order, though at the same time she found someone glaring at her.

"You... You're nothing but trouble." Trunks stated, as he had realized that Cell had been able to get away due to Twilight doing nothing, even though he knew the being's name thanks to Piccolo saying it before the figure had disappeared, so right now she was more of a foe than a friend in his mind.

In the next moment Twilight punched him in the chest, causing him to cough in pain as it happened, before she grabbed the side of his head and slammed the future warrior into the ground, surprising the others with her sudden movements, but this was a reminder that she wasn't to be annoyed.

"Know your place, Trunks, before I decide to put you in the ground for what you did three years ago." Twilight stated, as she was only staying her hand right now because she wanted to see the outcome of what happened between the trio of androids and the Z Warriors, and Cell now that he had revealed himself to them, before she let go as the late arrivals landed nearby.

Piccolo quickly informed the others as to what was going on, making sure to share all the information that Cell had given him before his departure, even though he was worried about why Cell wanted to be on Twilight's good side, and he could see that all of them were struggling to accept what they were now learning. Trunks openly wondered how they were going to track Cell down, because he had already hidden his Ki and there was no way for them to figure out where he was until it was too late to go anything, where the others said nothing to his comment. Tien, on the other hand, was more worried about what was going to happen if Cell was able to track down and absorb the two androids he was currently looking for, even if he was happy that they had no Ki to sense, so it made it near impossible for their new foe to find them. Piccolo added that this was bad for the rest of the universe as well, because Cell had the DNA of Frieza's family inside his body and that meant he likely had the power to breathe in space as well, and with all of the Saiyan blood in his system he'd no doubt head out to find a foe worthy of facing his final form's power.

Out of all of them Vegeta was taking the news of Cell and his growing power poorly, in fact he seemed annoyed by the fact that so many warriors were now above his level of power, especially Piccolo merging with another Namekian to get ahead of him, and it brought about something Twilight was expecting from him.

"I don't care what you cowards do... in fact, let Cell absorb the androids, as it'll save me the trouble of hunting them down in the future." Vegeta stated, as if he held the power to stand above any of the foes that were now wandering this world, though Twilight knew he'd need to do some intensive training to even overcome the androids, which wasn't possible in the unknown time frame Earth's warriors currently had, "I will find a way to kill each and every last one of them... that includes you, Twilight... I swear, I will find a way to go beyond a Super Saiyan and gain newfound power, and then I will topple you at long last!"

"You're more than welcome to try, Prince." Twilight replied, though she had to smirk as she said that, because there was no way that Vegeta would be able to overcome her own newfound power, and even if he did she knew that she would find a way to overcome him in no time at all, all while her usage of his old title was more of a taunt.

Vegeta, wisely, didn't fall for it and burst into the air, leaving them behind to talk about what to do next, since the last few minutes had been Piccolo telling the others about what Cell had told him, but even then he knew that they needed to get stronger to face the dangers that were coming their way.

"Twilight, can we count on your aid to stop Cell?" Piccolo asked, though this time he held his hand up to stop a retort that he knew was coming, especially after what she had said during his first meeting with Cell, and while he and the warriors of Earth had nothing to offer her he still had to try and convince her in some manner, "Listen, I know you don't care about what is right and what is wrong, only doing whatever you want, but you have to admit that allowing him to do whatever he pleases isn't right... he might go after your family, once he discovers where they are located."

"So you're pulling the family angle this time, are you?" Twilight inquired, taking a moment to cross her arms as she talked, as while she knew Cell was strong, more than the majority of the Z Warriors, she also knew that he was far weaker than her newfound power, and since he seemed to respect her, or even fear her, it seemed unlikely that he'd go out of his way to annoy her in some manner.

"If he absorbs your family, like what he did to the people of this city, they're as good as dead... and, since they've already been revived with the Dragon Balls, we can't wish them back." Piccolo stated, as the logic was sound when he considered it, especially when he focused on the power of the wish grant orbs, but at the same time he didn't mention the fact that the Dragon Balls didn't exist right now, because he had a feeling Goku would do something about this once he learned of his actions, "Plus he'll gain a massive power boost if he does so..."

"I'll consider it." Twilight replied, because while she didn't care much for the Z Warriors, not after everything she had been through since Namek, she was willing to inform them that she might go after Cell, at some point since she was still in the observation mood right now, before she considered something, "Also, I've already found Gero's secret lab, the one that Cell is located in... don't worry, my mother and I are taking care of the area so it can't be used by your enemies. No, I'm not handing over any of the information inside it, namely the blueprints for the androids, because I'm fairly certain that you'll just take them to Bulma, who will build a remote for the androids and then one of you will break it for no reason."

Piccolo sighed as he heard that, though he made no move to stop her from leaving the area, rather he decided that they would separate into two teams and search for Cell, he and Tien would go one way while Trunks and Krillin went the other, and that they would meet up at Roshi's to rest and swap information, though he could only wonder what sort of damage Cell would do in the near future.





Cell spent the next three days carefully tracking down the locations of the towns and cities that were scattered around the continent, as there was so much preparation work he had to do before he worried about the androids, namely devouring more people and adding their power to his own. The only city he refused to harm was West City, partly because it was the home base of the Z Warriors and Bulma would no doubt call in backup if things went south, though it was mostly due to the fact that it was Twilight's base of operations, meaning he should steer clear of it. He knew that she would be the death of him if he crossed her, hence why he was so eager to stay on her good side and hand over information to her, though that also allowed Piccolo and his friends to learn about him as well, which was fine since he had been planning on telling them it at some point, just to mess with them. The only thing that worried him right now was that Piccolo was stronger than him, a fact that could have cost him dearly had their battle gone on for much longer, hence why he hunted down more targets to feed on, as eventually he'd gain the power to stand before him and overpower both him and the androids he was looking for.

When he assaulted the first city, however, he discovered that some of the people fell while running from him, which wasn't uncommon when many of them noticed what he looked like, though he did notice that they stopped rather suddenly, as if they were hitting an invisible wall. Cell quickly discovered that Twilight had found him first, something he wasn't even a tad bit surprised by, meaning there was a chance that she was doing something to make sure he was nice and strong for the moment she deemed him to be a worthy foe. Such a thing meant that she had to be siphoning the energy of the runners, stopping them in their tracks so no one could radio in what was going on, while he found that his meals were left alone, as in he drained a full amount every time he tracked someone down. He only had to wonder why she was aiding him like this for a moment before it dawned on him, she was likely excited by the notion of his final form and wanted to see it in action, possibly even fight it herself, before realizing that he could also be overthinking everything and this was just an odd turn of events.

Either way he wasn't about to complain about the results he was getting right now, as each person who fell allowed him to grow stronger as time went by, meaning it was only a matter of time until he grew strong enough to overcome Piccolo and the pair of androids that he needed to absorb.

While he was doing that, however, Cell made sure to keep track of what the Z Warriors were doing, where they were going at any given moment, and how many were coming at any given time, as the first time it happened he rushed to a roof and hid in the shadows for a time, only to find Piccolo and Tien had come looking. He remained silent as Twilight floated down to talk to them, indicating that she had arrived some time before them and couldn't find him as well, though he could tell that both hesitated to believe her, given her nature, so he simply waited both of them out. Sooner or later they left for one of the other cities that dotted the continent, or even Roshi's place to wait for news about what he was doing, allowing him to move to another city as swiftly, and as carefully, as he could without drawing unnecessary attention to him. Cell also had to hide from Trunks and Krillin as they flew by at one point, where he used the trees as cover to make sure he stayed hidden, though he was delighted to see that both of them were annoyed and frustrated by what was going on, which was good news for him.

After that he spent those three days doing the same thing repeatedly, tracking down more cities until the point that even Twilight stopped showing up to check on him, which was great since he didn't need her assistance to hunt his targets, but around that point he was stopped by two strange figures. The first one looked like a human with a black shirt on and what looked like green pants that resembled his own color scheme, where he could tell that the male was a fighter, instead of a civilian, with pink colored eyes and short spiked green hair that was almost military like. The second one seemed to be a human as well, though she had a curvaceous body and long bushy auburn colored hair, in addition to a turtleneck dress that was sleeveless and had a red and blue checkered pattern, six squares anyway. She was also wearing black detached gloves, a pair of golden hoop earrings, a red heel boot and a blue heel boot, and opaque black tights, though she wore a white scientist coat over all that and had some glasses in front of her blue eyes.

While he felt no Ki from either of them, meaning they were capable of completely hiding themselves, he knew not to lower his guard, because making yourself seem like a weakling was a great way for someone to get the better of another, at least to some degree, and right now he didn't want any nasty surprises.

"You've made good progress, Cell." the male said, though he spoke in a tone that sounded familiar to his own while being far more mature, like what he imagined his perfect form might sound like, but if such a thing was true than it meant that this might be a version of himself from the future, a different one than his own, "What do you think, sister?"

"He only got this far because of mother... I'd like to see him do anything without her watching over him so she can see his final form." the female replied, where it sounded like she was more like a researcher, as in the get up reflected her nature as a scientist, though her words shocked Cell, just as he knew they would have shocked anyone else if they heard such a statement, before she considered something else, "Though I will admit that he is making good progress, even with the unexpected help that he's getting, and he should be able to do quite well if events play out like we've heard. With that in mind, brother, it would appear that we arrived sooner than we had originally planned, far away from the figure that we're supposed to be keeping an eye on... and our brother is missing as well."

"Don't worry about it, we'll get started on our mission once we're done here... Mira, on the other hand, is likely checking on grandma." the male said, causing Cell to wonder if there was some sort of game or special event someone was holding in the very near future, given the lady's statement, maybe something he'd hold so he could celebrate obtaining his perfect form, before wondering who this 'Mira' was, "Good luck in your quest, Cell... you're going to need it."

Cell really had no idea what was going on, and before he could ask the pair anything they disappeared rather suddenly, a fact that made him realize that their remark about their mother had to be accurate, before he shook himself and moved on to his next destination, intending to focus on the androids before anything else.





As that was going on 17 and 18 continued along the path that 16 gave them so they could reach Goku's place, as he had a map installed in his system as well, meaning Gero had given him every advantage that he could think of, even if some did seem a little odd when they first discovered them. With that in mind 17 made sure 16 kept a timer running for him and his sister, mostly so the pair knew when their transformations were going to run out, which came as a relief to 18 when her ears returned to normal and the donkey tail disappeared. 17, however, kept at it just so he could fully experience what all sorts of people went through, since it was something he hadn't really experienced until now since Gero had kidnapped the two of them just as the sensation exploded, so his timer was so he knew when he was getting close to his changes ending so he could fix that. 16 was more than happy to help, since it seemed like he had developed his own habit of looking out at the birds and watching them as they went by, or whenever they stopped to like 17 do his thing, and was slowly building his own mental library of birds, likely something he looked at whenever he closed his eyes to rest until his companions called on him for directions.

17, upon reaching the point where the first changes would wear off, almost twelve hours after first ingesting some of the TF Food item that had done this, stopped the van for a time and took off his shoes before diving into another slice, since 16 told them that the second instance usually targeted one's legs and feet. Once he did that 17 braced himself as his toes started to change, as they bulked up a little before pushing out into sharp claws, with the largest toe on each foot being pulled up the side of his new feet, before the sensations moved onto the rest of his legs. His feet arched, as if he was wearing heels, only to find that he now had the scaled feet of a dragon, powerful and deadly, before it moved up his legs, shifting his bones as it worked it's magic on 17's body. He enjoyed the transformation, as he felt powerful and believed that no one could stand in his way, in fact he was the strongest of his group, and by the end of it he had his own pair of blue scaled dragon legs, which took a bit to get used to.

Once he was done with his little stop, and 16 set the sixteen hour timer so he'd be able to catch it before the changes faded, they got on the road again, even though he did get off the road to stop in a small city so 18 could slip into one of the stores and get some new clothing. She ended up returning sometime later, wearing a brown country style vest and leggings, which she absolutely hated by the looks of it, to which he sighed and told her that when they got to an actual city they'd find some better clothing for her, since he didn't want to upset her anymore than she already was. As the trio departed from the city, however, one of the police hovercars came after them, where 18 jumped out and struck it's engine with a downwards punch, doing just enough to send it into the side of a rock wall without killing it's two passengers, as it was still intact. With that done she returned to the van and slipped back into her chair as they continued on their way to Goku's place, as he was sure to provide them with some entertainment while they figured out what to do with the rest of their lives, since she and her brother wouldn't spend it conquering the world or listening to Gero's orders.

Eventually they reached the point where 17 stopped and devoured more of his chosen treat, where 18 wondered what he saw in them to even allow the changes to happen to his body, where the third instance resonated with his arms and his hands, just as 16 predicted, though they weren't surprised in the slightest. His skin turned blue and scaly as the seconds went by, where he found that his new additions were tougher than his old arms, even when he took the modifications that made him into an android in the first place, which made him feel stronger than before. After that his fingers shook as they became more like claws, while still possessing his old hand structure, meaning he wouldn't have to worry about losing the usage of his hands, causing him to chuckle as he swung them, smashing a rock to pieces in the process. With that done he returned to the van and found that he'd have to be a little more careful with his new fingers, though he understood why, out of every creature available to him, that Krillin would have picked such a wild creature, as he certainly felt far stronger than he previously did.

During their journey 17 also decided to go off road for a bit, as 16 said there was a better road in the distance and that it would help them on their journey, where he smiled as they drove through a forest that seemed to excite 16, or at least to a degree that wasn't his usual expression. 18, however, decided that the bumps were uncomfortable and emerged from the van for a moment before blasting the forest, creating a clear path for them to use so they could reach the other road and get to Goku's far faster than before. Such a thing annoyed both 16 and 17, for their own personal reasons, though the one who reacted to her destruction was 16, who slipped one of the Pleasure Island Brews into her mouth and made sure all of it went down her throat, causing her to cough as she regained her donkey ears and tail. 17 realized that 16, while being completely mechanical, actually had his own personality matrix and that he was capable of doing things on his own, even if he had remained passive so far, so this meant he was a nature lover and that anyone who disrespected nature was to be punished, something he agreed with.

As such, during the remainder of the ride, 16 made sure to punish 18 for destroying the forest, basically forcing more of the brew on her at regular intervals, mostly so she kept the donkey ears and tail, as he was kind enough to make sure she didn't gain more features. It was basically him showing the world what he felt her true nature was, even though 17 had a feeling she was mentally cursing the other android out while it happened, since she hated having any donkey features, in fact it might be that she didn't like the feeling of changing, but he mostly ignored her. 17, on the other hand, continued on his exploration of what it felt like to be a Beastian as more changes washed over him, he could feel his chest bulking up and becoming scaly, with his lower body following suit, becoming more like the beast that 16 told him about, as many had their theories on dragons and Twilight had done something with hers. 16 even had to come over to where he was standing at one point and tore open two vertical holes in his shirt, as his back had started to push out and he quickly found that it had been a pair of large leathery wings, scaled like the rest of the new additions, hence why the other android ripped his shirt, to make some room for his newest additions.

Sometime after that, however, they finally reached Goku's place and 18 headed inside to see if he was here, though while she did that 17 took to the air and ignored most of the abilities he had, mostly testing out the new wings for a time, leaving 16 to keep an eye on the area... though he eventually landed and folded his wings close to his back, which he didn't know how to do before this point, meaning people did gain new information by eating Twilight's odd food.

"Hey, 18, is anyone in there?" 17 asked, because while he'd rather be doing his own thing right now, and he still could after his sister answered his question, he wanted to know if their target was here so he could have a bit of fun before 16 tried to steal all of it for himself.

"Nope. Looks like they bolted when Chi-Chi learned we were coming." 18 replied, where she stepped out and revealed that she must have raided someone's closest after verifying that no one was home, as she had switched to a black mini vest with a gold triangle pin on the left side, a white undershirt, a pearl necklace, dark teal jeans with a brown belt, and she had a pair of black flats with orange socks on, "Also, it looks like Goku married a princess or something, based on some of the clothing I noticed."

"Hey, at least you found something nicer to wear." 17 remarked, as while he had joked a little about her western attire he knew it wasn't in his sister's tastes, so the new attire, handpicked from what was available, meant she had to be happy and would likely focus more on tracking down Goku, before he sighed, "16, any ideas?"

"I do not feel his energy... but I suspect that they have either fled to Capsule Corp in West City, or to Muten Roshi's island house in South District F." 16 answered, while at the same time the siblings walked outside and waited on him to tell them which of the two was the closest, since neither of them knew the answer, but now the game was getting tiresome and that meant 17 or 18 might be changing things up in the near future, "Of the two, the island home is the closest."

17, upon hearing that, decided that it was time for them to stop using the van and just fly to the island, something that both of his companions agreed with, though 18 tossed her old western attire into the vehicle before removing the container that held the last bit of 17's desert. With that done she moved the van away from Goku's place and blasted it to pieces, wrecking the rest of the items that were inside and wiping away her old attire, though neither of the other androids bothered to say anything to that, since this allowed her to relax a little. After that they took to the air, where 17 mentioned that he'd like to get a boat a some point, as he found the more peaceful and slow journey to a destination to be more fun, but, for the time being, that would be put on the back burner, as he was eager to clash with Son Goku. Of course, with night approaching, he suggested that they take a break somewhere and actually get some rest, even if they didn't need it, since he was certain that their target wasn't going anywhere and that they would be able to catch him in no time.

As the others agreed, however, he had to wonder where the Z Warriors were, since he expected them to be trying to track him and his sister down for another battle, and had a feeling that they'd bump into them at some point, they just had to be patient and see what tomorrow had in store for them.