Chapter 6: Leather Jacket

"Cell…"

I had no control over it. The name just slipped out of my mouth as the image of his face flashed into my mind from when I was a kid in my first life.

[Trunks...I'm going to be honest with you… I don't know what to do? Gohan still hasn't returned any of my calls. And you're the strongest person that I know.]

I could hear the turmoil in her voice. I could hear her inconsistent breathing over the phone and the sniffling of her nose… She was crying and was trying her hardest to remain composed.

My mother was strong… She was brave. But she wasn't a fighter. She was a regular human who went through trauma and hardship like the rest of humanity. Seeing all of the clothes left behind by the dead was probably activating her PTSD.

Her first instinct probably was to call Goku and my father… They were dead. The next option was Gohan… He was missing. All she had was me.

I was her son. Putting me into harm's way was probably destroying her. Her heart already had so many cracks in it. If I were to die, that would probably be her final straw.

Returning to an abandoned West City, she probably was mortified and felt powerless right about now. Even with all of her emotions running rampant, she still tried to save face for my sake.

The problem was, what if I failed her?

What would happen then?

Would Gohan return to pick up where I left off?

He had been missing, so probably not.

Nightmare scenarios began to flood my mind.

What was I gonna do?

I hadn't properly gotten the chance to mentally prepare for a situation like this. In these 2 years of peace, my guard was down.

That small little bubble of hope that I had floating in my mind that wished that the Androids hadn't returned… The same bubble that told everything would be alright… had popped.

Cell.

The very idea of him waking up years too early and roaming the earth at the same time as androids 17 and 18 disturbed me deeply.

Although my memories of Dragon Ball were slowly fading, I did remember that if he absorbed the two of them, he would manage to reach his ultimate form.

I didn't know if he was stronger or weaker here in comparison to other timelines.

17 and 18 intimidated me on their own. Here I was potentially facing all three. Or even worse, an amalgamation of them.

I could only pray that I would be able to face them all, 1 on 1. But that was very unlikely to happen.

Something else that made me apprehensive was that time and time again, before he vanished, Gohan stressed over just how strong 17 and 18 were. Under all circumstances, he wanted me to avoid them until the day I was ready.

How could I be certain that today was that day?

Me being a person who grew up in this world, I wasn't sure if facing the Androids in this life would end up in my favor or not. They didn't have Ki that I could sense.

Again, perhaps, due to this being a different timeline, they were far stronger. Perhaps, they were far weaker. I had no frame of reference because I had only ever fought my mentor. And from his analysis, they were untouchable.

Although I knew that I had long since surpassed Gohan, with the lack of information I was presented with, I was in a state of being beyond highly alert.

There were no Z-fighters to watch my back. I even discovered years ago that 17 and 18 discovered the lookout here and destroyed it and by proxy, the hyperbolic time chamber.

There were no Dragon Balls to wish dead people back, which meant that if I died today, I would be dead permanently, along with the rest of the world's people. There was no life insurance policy in sight.

I was a Saiyan. A part of me wanted to rush out and test my limits, the self-preservation part of me suppressed my stupidity.

If I fought today, it wouldn't be a sparring session. Someone was going to die.

[Trunks?]

"Y-yeah. I hear you, mother."

[I don't mean to put this level of pressure on you, but you just might be our last hope. Beyond that, the earth's last hope… There's no telling what kind of monster this is, but everything is dependent on you now. Everyone needs you to be strong.]

"..."

[I don't know if this is the work of the androids or something else, and I don't know if this helps you feel any better…but before Gohan left to take out more Red Ribbon bases, he said to put all my faith in you… I told him that it went without saying. Even without him saying that, you're my son. I believe in you and all of your dreams. I believe you can stop them.]

My mother's words dug their way into my heart.

She was right.

She made me realize that I had to catch myself before relinquishing more of my composure. With my mom's help in grounding me to reality, I halted the panicking and took a deep breath.

I was losing myself. Momentarily, I had forgotten about all of my accomplishments.

It was now my time to take control. It was now time to start making my own adult choices after so long.

"Thanks… I needed that."

I replied with a fire sparking in my heart. A new objective was put into my to do list.

I was strong now.

Now, I was a 4 Grade Super Saiyan with a multiplier of 80 times that of my base which was achieved through countless hours of meditation, dedication, and Ki training.

I could utilize the Super Saiyan transformation freely as I could my base form, unlike the buff Super Saiyan grade 2 where I would run out of energy rapidly but in turn, get a power multiplier of around of 75.

Activating Super Saiyan grade 4 was as simple to me as blinking. In it, I could maximize the output of my power without exercising any Ki on top of being able to use the multiplayer of grade 3, my Broly muscle form.

In the last 720 days, I slept while I was in Super Saiyan.

I ate while I was in Super Saiyan.

As I breathed, I was in Super Saiyan.

I had to remember that with all the things I put myself through, there was a high probability that I had become stronger than anyone on this planet.

Fighting some bums from the 3rd arc of a cartoon series… That should be nothing to me.

Today, I would get rid of the androids.

With a new confidence, I began reflecting on all the information I had on the source material for this world.

As I did, I remembered that Goku was strong enough to intimidate Cell in his perfect form after reaching Grade 4. A grade 4 that he hadn't even spent a full year utilizing.

On the other hand, I had spent 2.

With just the sheer weight of my body, I was capable of creating sinkholes from walking too slowly. I wore weights that the main cast of Dragon Ball would have struggled with. On top of everything, I was in a gravity chamber that was previously exerting 150 Gs.

I wasn't the midget who had to run and hide from birds anymore. Now, I ate them.

'That's right. I'm freaking out for no reason.'

I voiced internally.

"*sigh*"

"Where are you right now?"

[Home.]

"Alright. It should take me 5 minutes to get there from the jungle."

[Trunks… Be careful. Please.]

"I will. Go to the bunker If you're not in it already."

With that last comment, I hung up the phone, taking off my training gear.

Going to my closet, I put on a lavender button-up shirt with a sunflower pattern. For pants, I put on yellow slacks, a brown belt, and brown hiking boots. On top of everything, I threw on a black leather trench coat and made my way out the door which led to the garden I had built myself.

Releasing my Super Saiyan form for the first time in a long time, I suppressed my energy to as low as I could.

If this was really Cell I was after, which it most likely was, then I would have to.

Lifting myself off of the ground, I rapidly flew past hughe leaves, branches, and vines, reaching the sky. Then, with a sonic boom, I blasted forward toward the direction of West city.

Because of my superhuman speed, it only took me moments to arrive.

Once I did… anxiety flooded my body.

Mangled corpses were scattered everywhere.

There were buildings on fire while others were crumbling to the ground.

Cars were abandoned.

Clothes belonging to men, women, and children alike… They filled the streets.

I sensed no signs of human life.

"What… Happened."

Slowly descending down to investigate further, I realized that there were signs that the civilians of the city had attempted to put up a struggle.

There were dead military troops scattered a few blocks away while there were tanks and other weapons that were stacked in a pile.

'This is a message… He wanted everyone to know that there was no hope in fighting back.'

This scene was far more gruesome than my mother had depicted over the phone. This was terrorism to the highest degree… This city was left in worse condition than it had ever been.

'I have to get to her.'

Not wasting another second, I flew as quickly as I could to my mother's destination.

Briskly arriving at capsule corp, I was relieved that the building didn't seem to have taken any damage… But when I realized that it was the only building in the area that that statement applied to, the worry in my heart had transcended into trepidation.

Someone purposely left it untouched.

Why?

The sun was shrouded by darkness.

Cinder replaced oxygen.

Embers from flames replaced all forms of lighting everywhere... Except for my family's home and place of work.

Something was terribly wrong.

Stepping into the building using facial recognition, I walked down the halls, seeing our family portraits splayed

on the shelves.

Everything looked normal… But that only made me all the more suspicious.

It was quiet. I sensed no sign of life, just like I did outside.

Stressfully walking my way down to the bunker, I saw that the security hatch that was made out of 10 inches of steel had been pried off the hinges.

"No…"

My heart started to beat rapidly.

I started sweating profusely.

"Mom! Are you here!?"

I screamed, not getting a reply.

"Where are you?!"

The bunker was huge and filled with a countless number of my mother's projects. One of those products was her treasure. The time machine that she didn't know I knew existed with the word Hope written on it. But no one was there.

"*step-step-step*"

What sounded like the clacking of heels, from behind the machine approached a large imposing figure looking to be about 8 feet tall.

Upon realizing my mother was nowhere to be found, I felt my soul leave my body.

"Ahh… You're finally here."

Said an insectoid-looking humanoid.

"I've been waiting for you, Trunks."

Its voice was deep and imposing.

I was disturbed. I was sick to my stomach and felt like vomiting. Not because of something as silly as the creature's image… But the fact that it had a hollowed-out blue-haired human husk in its hand.

"I heard that it was your birthday… I thought it best to give you an appropriate gift. Seeing as you're a fan of leather, judging from your jacket, how about you make another one out of this pelt I found?"

He said, dangling the remains of my mother.

"..."

"What? Too overwhelmed with happiness that you can't speak?" He said with a twisted and vile smile.

Tossing the skin on my face, it slid down my body while I remained motionless.

It was still warm. It still smelled like her… It was her.

Due to gravity, the skin dropped to the floor making a sound akin to dropping a plate of spaghetti.

"Don't you like it?"

He asked while his disgusting tail waved from side to side.

"..."

"*sigh*"

"How the youth can be so ungrateful."

He replied.

"To think, I even went through the effort to not drain her completely. I guess that's what I get for being generous. I'm just too kind for my own good, Hahaha!"

He laughed maniacally.

"Anyway, it's good to see you Birthday-boy. Congratulations on making it to the big 17. Unfortunately, I'm the only one who was kind enough to show up… But to be fair, your friend, Gohan probably would've. Unfortunately, because he was so self-righteous, he went and killed android 17 before I could absorb him. Reasonably upset, I consumed his life essence."

"..."

"I have to say, it might have been worth it. Although I'm stuck in the disgusting semi-perfect form, I can't say that there weren't any benefits to absorbing the guy. To be frank, my programming wasn't aware that Saiyan's could get that strong. When we clashed, it almost ended in his victory…"

Then, putting his finger up as he didn't want me to interrupt, he continued.

"Emphasis on the word, almost. You see, as you probably already know, Gohan had a thing for destroying Red Ribbon basses. A few years ago, I happened to be residing in one. Incubating, if you will… When he attempted to destroy my birthplace, he didn't account for us having fail safes."

Not a word slipped from my mouth... As the bug spoke, darkness slipped into my heart. Anger filled my core. Thoughts of revenge, blood, and death filled my mind.

"Incredibly dumb, on his behalf. But that's beside the point. Anyway, after the laboratory was destroyed, I was awakened earlier than expected with one goal in mind… To become complete. To become perfect. Perfection was engraved in my genetic code. It was my destiny to absorb 17 and 18. Before I could do that, I needed biomass and energy to absorb in places I knew I couldn't get caught. places that were near the other androids so as not to alert that so-called martial arts who for whatever reason, got stronger than Goku and Vegeta."

"..."

The bug began to pace back and forth.

"Even while that may have been the case, and managed to stealthily, killing a few thousand people, I arrived at a level of strength where I could target my true prey. 17 and 18."

"..."

"On the very day I planned to strike, I sensed a large energy. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this energy was Gohan. he intended on killing the both of them. I couldn't allow that to happen. as they were in the midst of combat, while 18 had her arms ripped off, and was crippled on the ground, I took the opportunity to absorb her. Catching me moments too late, Gohan sensed what was going on as my power had increased over 100 times."

" It was then that he absolutely eviscerated 17, completely vaporizing."

Cell then stopped pacing and balled his fist up.

"That stupid bastard had almost ruined my destiny. So as any other rational being would do, I pierce through his chest with my arm. And oh boy, did that make him mad.

He powered up as much as he could while missing a heart, and began to beat me relentlessly. At one point, I'm pretty sure I even begged him to stop… but he didn't. Right when I was at death's door, he collapsed from blood loss. It was in that moment that with my regeneration abilities that I received from Piccolo, I healed. Because of the cells I received from your father , Goku was stronger than he was. Once he realized, boy, did he look pathetic. I absorbed every last morsel of his being."

"…"

"He was absolutely appetizing… but before he died, the last thing that came out of his mouth was the name, Trunks. And he didn't say the name by itself either. No. To repeat what he said exactly, it was "Trunks will stop you." I had of course laughed in his face and stomped on his skull exposing his brain matter, but I couldn't deny it, his statement did make me curious about you."

My eyes started burning as if I just smelled so for an experience form. He killed him. He killed Gohan in cold blood with my name being his final words.

"So, over the years I started doing research which led me to the briefs family. Although I took longer than expected, I have to say that my time was well invested."

"…"

"Why, you may be thinking. To that I would reply, figuring that you were a part of the briefs family led me to a second chance at life. I can absorb you, go back in time with this machine, and perfect history, along with myself! Now doesn't that just sound amazing?"

"…"

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot to mention that I killed those old people upstairs by the way. I think that they were your grandparents, I didn't care to ask though. That aside, I realized that I've been quite rude. Allow me to formally"

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

My friend… My grandparents… My mother… He had killed them all.

Looking down, I stared at what was left of my mother.

Where her eyes were was now empty sockets.

Her cheeks once had a red blush to it.

Now, her pale skin was now ingrained into my mind.

This memory… It would stay with me for the rest of my life.

(Cell's Pov)

'Look at that stupid look on his face. Just looking at him, I want to rearrange his bone structure with my fist.'I thought, becoming more infuriated as seconds passed.

Trunks stood there for about 5 minutes with that same annoying blank stare. Just how much taunting did I have to do? He was draining all of the fun out of this.

Where was the suffering? Where was the dread? How could he so selfishly take the joy out of my torture?

I even killed his mother and threw her remains at him as if she was a fish for crying out loud, yet, he hadn't bitten my bait.

I understood that he was half-human, but weren't Saiyans supposed to be hot-headed and temperamental? He should have tried to tickle my face with a flimsy punch by now… Or something.

I came here with the expectation that I would be able to relieve at least a little of my frustration that Gohan created. Because of that bastard, I now had to go all the way to the past to absorb 17. On top of that, I would have to kill my former self.

Perhaps killing Goku and the rest of that troublesome bunch would make me feel better later, but what about the now? The brat in front of me was running my merriment. Perhaps it was best to kill him and get it over with.

As those thoughts crossed my mind, an interesting spectacle transpired.

Trunk's statue-like poster had begun to shake. His little fist even balled up. The toothpicks on his back even started to exude a little bit of Ki. Strange…

What were they made out of? It didn't matter. Finally, The show was about to begin.

'Wait… Wait? Is that a tear I see?'

The teenager was finally starting to show a crack in his armor. He was finally starting to break.

'Oh… How fun.'

A smile manifested on my face that went from ear to ear.

"Ha… Haha! Are you crying? Aweee. You're making me feel like I'm a bad person or something, Trunks."

"..."

Without saying a word, the boy glared at me with quite the fierce look.

"Haha. Little Trunks… Those are some mean eyes you have there. It almost looks like you want to hurt me."

Taking a few steps towards him until our bodies were almost touching each other, I stomped and stood on the beef jerky he called a mother. I then crouched down to meet him at eye level.

"You wouldn't want to hurt little ole me, would you?"

I smiled with excitement.

I could feel it. The hatred and pain in his eyes. I loved it.

Perhaps, instead of instantly killing him, I would toy around with him for a little while just like I did with Gohan. If he gets me injured enough, the Saiyan blood in me would allow me to get even stronger.

Then, for the first time since the mute got here, he spoke to me directly.

"Cell…"

He uttered.

"Oh, what deep voice you have, Trunks. Yes? Do you need somethin- *kek*"

Before I could finish speaking, Trunks' hand was on my throat, stopping any oxygen from getting to my lungs.

'What?!'

I screamed internally. I hadn't even seen his hand move. I couldn't even sense a spike in his energy… And yet, I couldn't move.

I grabbed onto his hand with two of my own in an attempt to pry it off, but no matter how hard I tried, he wouldn't budge.

'What is this strength? He should have been relative to Gohan, but I can't even move a single one of his disgusting fingers!'

"L-let M-me Go."

He was crushing my esophagus with more force than anticipated making it hard for me to get a single word in.

Without even acknowledging my comment, Trunks continued to speak

"Today, I am going to kill you. Before that, today I'm going to torture you until you end up begging me to and that miserable fucking existence of yours. After that, I'm leaving this miserable fucking timeline and going into the past."

The boy began to squeeze even tight, causing blood to shoot out of my mouth.

"Once I'm in the past, I know that there's gonna be another version of you there because you're a cockroach. literally and metaphorically. I'm going to allow that version of you to get as strong as he possibly can. When he thinks he's at the top of the world, I'm going to rip his head off with my bare hands." He said with hot tears still coming down his face.

His eyes… They… They were different. Although crying was a sign of weakness, there was no weakness in those eyes!

"*cough*"

Although I tried to speak, he stopped me by squeezing even tighter.

That look. That dreaded look. It made me feel nauseous. I felt hot. I felt my chest getting tighter.

What was this feeling? I was trembling. It was as if… As if I was scared. Did this Saiyan scare me?! Impossible!

No, this couldn't be the case. How dare he make me question myself?! I was the perfect being!

'He's stronger than I calculated. But… So was Gohan.'

With that, an idea sparked in my head. A smile formed on my face. Although my head was restricted, my tail wasn't.

Increasing my power to the highest degree, I focused all of my Ki into my tail and struck at him.

"Ha!"

As I attempted to puncture his abdomen, I felt a hot sensation burning sensation at my tail…

It was then that I had realized that Trunks had in his hand whilst it was detached from my body!

While tears continued to flow down his face, he… He was smiling!

"Ugh!"

Turning his back to me, he began to drag my entire body, as if he didn't consider me a threat.

What was this? How could he look down on me when I was the perfect being? Why was he allowed to do this when the DNA of his father was inside of me? It shouldn't have been this way! I should have never been forced into a situation where I was completely powerless, yet, here I was.

I tried to punch him. I tried to kick him. I even tried to bite… But my teeth wouldn't even penetrate his skin.

What angered me most was that I couldn't use any of my real attacks. If I did, then I would jeopardize my only opportunity to go back to the past.

Trunks continued to drag me up 8 flights of stairs, causing me to bang my chin repeatedly, injuring my pride beyond belief. A trail of my blood was left behind, but he didn't seem to care. He did all of this without saying another word.

'Just wait, you bastard. I'll kill you. Then, I'll kill your family all over Again.'

(Trunks' Pov)

Finally making it outside with Cell still in my hand, I coiled my arm back as far as I could, and launched him through the sky, causing him to crash through several buildings.

Without giving him the time to recuperate, I appeared right before his eyes as he rebounded in the air.

Looking afraid, he flinched.

Angry at me, he scowled.

"Trunks!!!!"

He screamed as he powered up.

His tail had shot out from his back, regrowing anew.

From this, I recognized that his regenerating of body parts happened to take a lot out of him mentally.

Sweat dripped down his face as he took deep heavy breaths, confirming my suspicions.

"You bastard… You don't even realize that by you cutting off my tail, you've made me even stronger than I was before-"

Not giving him enough time to speak, I dashed over to him, grabbed him by his face, and slammed him to the ground at full speed with enough force to cause an explosion that destroyed several buildings and vehicles around us.

With the strength that I used to slam his head into the ground, I created a crater large enough to appear as if a meteor had collided with the earth.

This weakling… This pathetic bug is what stripped everything for me. What angered me most was that my overly cautious nature was partially the cause of this.

I would never allow something like that to ever happen Again. This was my internal vow.

Standing over him and lifting up my hand, I saw that his face was now mangled and caved in. His teeth had disintegrated while his lips had been burned off.

"Fight back."

I articulated as I grinned my teeth.

He didn't even try to move out of his spot which angered me more.

"*Booom-Booom-Booom-Booom-Booom-Boom*"

I struck his abdomen over and over again until my hands were absolutely coated in his purple blood. Even then, I kept going until I impaled his body with my fist.

Each punch that I threw sounded like Gunshots. Because of how fast and how much Ki I infused into my fist, I could see tiny flames spark with every impact.

Stopping momentarily, I looked into the creature's eyes as he tried to play dead.

"Dead people don't regret. Even now, your stomach's growing back. Stop playing games and fight me.'

At my words, Cell quickly broke out of his fake death faze and tried to pierce my heart with his arm, as if I hadn't been on guard.

Grabbing his hand, which had so much power behind it that the air pressure alone could kill a person, I squeezed firmly.

"*crack*"

"Ughhhhhhhhh! You devil! I'll kill you for doing this to me! You'll pay for this the moment I heal."

He shouted angrily.

His gall… I couldn't take it. He had crossed every boundary that existed, yet he looked at me as if I was in the wrong.

'Fuck this.'

Feeling a ridiculous amount of primal rage coursing through me, I felt my body scream, telling me to turn Super Saiyan. I had only felt this extreme level of stress One time before… When the tigers attacked me. My body demanded that I use more power in this stressful situation.

And so I did.

"*Booooooom*"

An explosive amount of energy pushed all the debris that I created out of esight.

Electricity slithered around my body as if it was alive.

Power... I felt so much in my fingertips that I felt like I could move a planet alone.

My hair… It was as if it was magnetized.

A bang had fluttered over my eye.

The bug in front of me who was squirming didn't know what had just happened.

He could never fathom an individual's power to rise so dramatically in the blink of an eye.

"W-what is that? What are you?!"

I knew what had just happened. It was the result of him pushing me to my breaking point… I had reached Super Saiyan 2. But I would never explain this to him.

I wanted him to die unresolved. I wanted him to feel anger, frustration, and confusion for the rest of his afterlife. I wanted him to remember me forever.

As I stared down at his cowering frame, I watched as his teeth grew back. I watched as his nose mended itself back.

I watched the slimy flesh on his lips recover. I was disgusted.

This vile mass of flesh is what killed my mother and grandparents. This fucking bug is what killed Gohan.

I needed payback. I needed to take an eye for an eye.

Luckily for me, he had two.

Taking my left sword, noir, from my back, I coated it in my own Ki which made it glow a white color.

"Stop. S-stop! What are you doing!?"

He guarded his face with his hands, trying to protect it… That wasn't going to work.

"*slice*"

With one motion of my arm in the shape of an arc, I smoothly chopped both of his arms off.

"Ahhhhh!!!! DAMN YOU!"

Wiggling away with all of his strength, he had managed to slip away from underneath. He was about to fly away until I grabbed his ankle, slamming him back to where he originally was.

"*Booom*"

The impact had caused his eyes to roll to the back of his head while also cracking the back of his skull.

"Ughshh"

His grunts of pain were inaudible to me.

Preventing him from tring to pull another fast one, I took out my other sword, Owl, and pierced the center of his chest.

"*slick*"

He started to choke on his own blood. I didn't care. That wouldn't kill him. I knew better than that. If he died, I would have been angry. He still had 2 too many eyes.

Letting him regain his barring he started to scream at me. But I didn't care. He didn't care about my mother. He didn't care about my grandparents. He didn't care about Gohan. He didn't care about anything. His pain meant nothing to me.

Crouching down, I slowly moved Owl closer and closer to his face.

"You wouldn't be able to do this if I was in my perfect form! You know it. That's why you won't let me go back isn't it? You're afraid of me and what I would do to you! I would make you just like your mother!"

His taunting no longer had an effect on me. I was in the position of power.

As my blade got closer, the more violently he began to shake his head in fear. He knew what was coming.

"Stop. Stop it!Stoooop!"

Already sensing the Ki that was being built up in his mouth, I covered it with my free hand while continuing to cut out his left eyeball.

"MMMMMMH! MMMMM!"

His legs started to kick out randomly… But to no avail.

There was nothing he could do. If he struggled more, I'd chop those off too.

"*Pluck*"

"MMMMHHH!"

After plucking one eye out, his entire body began to convulse.

It was no longer hate in his eyes… It was fear.

Especially when I showed him the tip of my sword with his other eye.

After waiting a few seconds, his eye, unlike his arm, had regenerated completely.

Was it because they require less energy to repair?

I also noticed that his power level didn't escalate as quickly when I cut off small pieces of him. It was something to note.

(4 hours later)

"Y'know, while playing with you, I noticed something about you… Cell."

This entire time, I had been making good on my word. For 4 straight hours, I had been plucking out his eyeballs and ripping off his fingers because I had discovered that he grew them back the quickest.

The Android had blood running down his face as if he had been crying bloody tears. He had no will. He had no drive. He had almost lost all hope of escaping… But I knew he had one plan left. To endure.

Endurance would lead him to power. That power would lead to freedom. That was what he thought. This wasn't the case though and I would enlighten him on exactly that.

"As I kept chopping you up, your power level increased by quite a bit… In fact, right now, you're about 5 times stronger than you were when I met you initially… The thing is, both you and I know that's still not enough to kill me."

Once I said that, his newly regenerated eyes sunk in his head.

"You thought I was stupid, didn't you?"

Hysteria and alarm flooded his mind as he tried to decipher how I discovered his secret he was so adamant about hiding.

"How? I was suppressing my energy! You mean to tell me all that suffering was for nothing?"

He shouted, but I only looked at him in malevolence.

"No. It wasn't. You were suffering because you deserved it."

Anger, something I hadn't seen from him in a bit had made its appearance once more.

It was at that moment that his Ki started to increase rapidly… But I could read him like a book. I already knew what was going on.

Realizing his back was against the wall, he was about to explode like how he did on the past King Kai's planet.

"You stupid baboon. This is your fault! You've made me do this! You've ruined all of my plans! Now, I'll ruin this Godless planet you care so much about." He said as his body became more and more bulbous.

Removing Noir from his chest, I smiled.

This was not a smile of happiness. The grin that I had adorne was that of someone who was mentally broken.

I didn't enjoy any of this. I didn't enjoy touring this creature. I knew that I wasn't going to be satisfied killing him either. I hated him. I hated him so much that I wanted him to suffer for the rest of eternity. Perhaps then, he would feel a fraction of the pain I was feeling now.

I seeked revenge. I seeked consequence. I seeked justice.

"Is that right? You really think that I'm going to sit here and allow you to explode?" I asked with alien laughter coming from my mouth.

"You have no choice in the matter. You are going to die alongside me. If I can't go to the past, you won't be able to either!" He declared angrily.

"That's cute that you think that, Cell. There's a problem with your little scheme though."

Coating my Ki around Noir, I summoned a familiar purple aura around it. This was the mastered version of the technique I had developed as a child. I named it, The Adephagia Blade.

The reason being, it was a bladed Ki-based attack that had the ability to consume an opponent's Ki greedily, Giving me the ability to integrate and redirect the energy it captured into my next attack.

Gohan had helped me come up with the name, which originated from Greek myth, Adephagia, the god of gluttony. He even helped me develop the move to the prestige it was at today.

Striking down on Cell's SUV-sized body, his rapidly rising Ki began to decline.

"What's happening?! What are you doing to my body? All my energy… It's disappearing!"

He screamed as he began to rapidly shrink back to his original size.

The more he tried to increase his Ki, the thirsty my sword became.

Rather it had been denial or sheer ignorance, the android kept trying to push my blade to its limits. Problem was, if my blade had any limits, he wouldn't be able to reach it with his low power level.

"No! Please! Stop this. I'm sorry for my actions! I didn't mean any of them! Your mother, I apologize to you for Killing her! I mean it."

Ignoring his comments, I just waited and allowed the sword to do its magic.

Cell's body started to shrink more and more.

Ki was essentially the life force of every living being in the universe. Having it drained, it was the worst form of pain that any living being could ever feel. I knew from testing the Adephagia blade on myself.

One small cut from it felt like the equivalent of 1 billion.

"Please… Trunks…. I'm sorry."

His face became paler and paler. The green that was all over his body had turned into a brown color. In a matter of seconds, his face looked to have aged 100 years.

He attempted to pull the blade out in sheer desperation… But all he managed to do was cut his palms.

I knew that he had a nucleus in his head that I could have destroyed at any moment in time ending his life, but as I told him, he wasn't going to die easily.

"I'm sor….ry."

He cried.

He now looked unidentifiable from his previous form.

He was at death's door. I could have probably killed him if I continued, but I wasn't taking chances. Picking my sword, Noir up, holstering Owl, I grabbed Cell by his ankle and launched him into the air with all the strength of a Super Saiyan 2.

As he was hurled into the sky, he couldn't move a single limb and just ragdolled.

With both hands on the hilt of Noir, I slashed the sky with all my Ki along with the built-up Ki in the sword.

8 purple arcs soared through the sky faster than the speed of light, creating a vacuum for all of the smoke, smog, and fire in the area.

"*Boooooooooom*"

A large condensed Ki explosion created another sun in the sky.

When the arcs hit Cell, his entire body had been obliterated. Not even ash remained. He was dead.

With that… All the strength left my body.

My knees buckled from underneath me.

I released transformation and allowed myself to feel emotion.

While the morning sun had beamed down on me signifying hope, I felt hopeless. I cried. I tried to stop myself… But I only cried more.

(1 Day Later)

Last night, I dug a grave for my mother, grandparents, and Gohan. Only one of the caskets had remains in them.

This morning, more military officers came to the city. No one knew what had happened. I didn't feel like becoming this world's version of Hercules, so I didn't even bother to interact with them.

For the majority of the day, I drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes. Heck, I was smoking one right now. It was my way of coping, having everything snatched from me. Was it healthy? No. But I didn't care. Given my Saiyan Heritage, it probably made me stronger on a microscopic level. Or at least, that's what I told myself.

Right now, I was in the bunker of Capsule Corp.

I had my leather black trench coat on, and a black button-up shirt. I wore black pants and a black belt, along with black boots. The only thing that had color on the outfit that I was wearing was the Red bandana around my neck. It was the same one my mother wore while she worked. It was now mine, something I would wear to remember her.

For an Hour, I sat in front of the time machine. I had already read the manual on how to use it, but I was still contemplating a few things.

Those few things being, should I wish for my family back with the Dragon Balls? Would that make them truly happy? What if they missed their dead loved ones in the afterlife? Would wishing them back really be a good thing?

I loved my mother, but I loved her enough to know that she missed my father dearly. Would snatching her away be selfish?

What about Gohan? He would tell me Time and Time Again how much he missed his father. Chi-Chi had even Died recently due to a heart attack. Why would I bring him back to this empty world?

It hurt that I would never see these versions of the people I cared about, but I knew in my heart, they were somewhere above, happy. Proud.

Thinking this, I started to brainstorm about other wishes I could make. I had long since forgotten the rules of the dragon balls, but I would find them out soon.

"*sigh*"

'I guess it's time to go and kill Frieza.'

I thought. I set the year and time to the same point the alternative version of myself did. But unlike him, I planned to live in the past. It would be my future.

I had nothing for me here. I was alone… But there, I wouldn't be.

Hopping inside the cockpit, I shut the hood. With a few clicks of buttons, a blue portal appeared above my head.

It was time to start the next chapter.