A Monster and His Shadow...

(Kron-POV)

Flying with Piccolo, arms folded as it came to this. Androids Seventeen and Eighteen, android Sixteen… These three I rather liked in the show, then there is the whole Cell part of this saga. Inner turmoil had me floored at this juncture, the big question. You know what, fuck Cell. Though killing him had consequences for Gohan… though Goku would live this time around, 'Super Saiyan Two' is within my reach, there was two ways I knew to reach it. Losing someone I love or care about, or mastering 'Super Saiyan' in general. The second one I felt very close, as in one more battle against a serious opponent. So, killing Cell… he has the ability to become that opponent so I'm not sure about it yet. I better make up my mind soon though.

Landing nearby Piccolo, he took the lead and stood forward a couple steps. Android's Seventeen, Eighteen and Sixteen landed not too far from us. Seventeen approached a healthy distance back opposite from where Piccolo stood while Eighteen commandeered a rock for which she used as a seat. Sixteen stood watching Piccolo and Seventeen while I stood further away from Piccolo, ready to move at a moment's notice. Seventeen, ever cocky, spoke up.

"Tell us where Goku is, or well make you. You hear, this is your last chance… got it?" Piccolo grunted, replying for the two of us as I watched. Piccolo answered by first removing his weighted clothing and then he spoke.

"It won't be easy for you as it was last time. This time, I'm going to enjoy this, putting you in your place…" His weighted clothing tore the earth apart where the pieces of clothing landed, which as I could see, had Seventeen interested. Seventeen replied, a smirk once again adorned his features.

"I don't think you comprehend what had happened to you and your friends the last time we fought. Like, really… I remember wasting you and your lot, including Blondie over there. What, are you stalling? For Goku, is that it, or are you some kind of fool?" Seventeen said, Piccolo though… he gave the android an answer by chuckling, I looked over to him, seeing him smirk towards Seventeen who in turn, laughed right back while folding his sleeves and holding his hands in a queer way, stretching his arms wide while he spoke up.

"...Very well, if you're going to bring it, bring it!" I stood by and then called out to Piccolo.

"Piccolo, if the others jump in. I will help-"

"-What? I remember you getting a beating last time… Saiyan, perhaps you want to help your friend here" Seventeen interrupted, scoffing to my words while he sneered, looking towards me, amused by me. Piccolo growled out, stepping forward on pace.

"This one is mine, if I can't handle the fight, you're free to step in." Eighteen, over on the rock then added, amused.

"Which is when I will do so too." Piccolo replied, looking directly at Seventeen.

"Keep those two out of this, and I'll keep Kron out of this bout too, what say you?" Seventeen replied quickly, sending a brief look over his shoulder

"Don't worry about them, they won't interfere… there only spectating this fight, as long as your friend here doe too. No… this is between me… and you." Piccolo paused, before getting ready to build up his KI, getting into a pose and he begun to grunt, pushing everything out. Soon, the earth begun to shake from his fierce howls, his Ki rising to higher levels than I've felt from him before.

"-Harrrrugh Rarrrrrrghhh- ugghrrrraaaaaahhh Haar… harrr…-" Piccolo continued to howl, his Ki ripping up the earth, debris rising from his new power obtained by fusing with Nail and that other Namekian. I watched unaffected by his pulsing Ki, pushing off randomly in waves. Over the explosion of energy been brought to the forefront for Piccolo to use, I heard Sixteen speak up to Seventeen.

"...I sense three powers, this isn't Piccolo from our data." Seventeen turned sharply, replying in shock.

"W-What-" Piccolo took that moment of vulnerability to strike, a sharp right elbow to the back of Seventeen's head as Piccolo afterimaged across the field and reappeared behind Seventeen. The elbow jab shocked android, making him stumble before the android caught himself from stumbling further. Thought… not quick enough for Seventeen as he turned, taking a heavy right jab to the face for his troubles. More hits as Piccolo lead the bout, laying blow after blow onto the android, who barely could get up a usable defense to retaliate. Their bout begun with Piccolo, aglow in his blue, bright Ki surrounding him, dominating Seventeen as the 'Super Namekian' outclassed the stunned android. A further beating of swift strikes, the 'outclassed' Seventeen took a hit to the face, but this time he took the blow and then, took Piccolo's right hand and gripped him tightly, bloodied face filled with laughter.

Retaliation, as Seventeen launched a fierce kick to Piccolo's face in turn, sending the Namekian back a way, though he caught himself from stumbling further, landing upon the nearby hill, using the hill as a kick-step to which he launched himself back at Seventeen, attacking head on.

Their bout of melee, a dance which continue to grow fiercer, with only the most attuned able to witness the fight, they slowly climbed into the sky, afterimaging, taking and receiving blows to their person.

The fight then continued up in the air, between island where I could still see them, enhanced eyesight and hearing made the bout a play for which I enjoyed, my Saiyan blood boiling in anticipation.

(Piccolo-POV)

Piccolo continued to hammer against Seventeen, his fists or kick in order to continue to have this android on the defensive but Seventeen was beginning to adjust to his newly improved fighting prowess. Flickering away, Piccolo paused in his attack, then flickered behind and above Seventeen, using Ki to enhance his speed in order to launch another elbowed blow at Seventeen's head. The blow connected at the back of Seventeen's head, sending him downwards, spiraling as he fell uncontrolled towards the ground below. Piccolo followed along, keeping pressure on him, his elbow as a means to make sure the android didn't recover from his blow which didn't work. Piccolo landed a vicious kick onto the top of Seventeen's head instead, the attack hit and did its work, Seventeen lay sprawled on the ground while Piccolo smirked in triumph. Piccolo landed then, not looking at the android but instead, glaring at the other two androids in warning… Seventeen was his to finish… Turning then, he glimpsed the android Seventeen struggling on the ground though Piccolo didn't believe it was because he was out of the fight. Possibly because the android believed until now, that he was invincible compared to him, no… compared to everyone else on then planet.

Not anymore. Piccolo made sure of that now. Piccolo's enhanced hearing heard from behind him, the words of the female android, Eighteen, she sounded amused…

"Dear me… well." Piccolo continued to watch Seventeen while Kron, still a 'Super Saiyan' watched one with arms folded, watching though he looked bored. Scoffing at that, Piccolo waited for the android to get up for round two when Seventeen spoke aloud, more in denial than to anyone else.

"...He- h-he beat me, that should be impossible! I must have miss-calculated… his strength somewhere-" Piccolo raised a hand, he had to stop Cell from absorbing these two and who knows about Sixteen, so he begun to charge while he spoke to Seventeen.

"Stay down." he once again gathered his energy, intent to dismiss the android once and for all but Seventeen got to his feet Piccolo's blast launched from his hand. The yellow Ki enshrouded the area, even obscuring his ability to track the android as his blast engulfed Seventeen. Waiting for the smoke to clear, lack of a body or better, parts of one, Piccolo looked around for any trace of the android. Not seeing him in the immediate vicinity, he looked upwards into the sky. Even now, debris continued to rain down upon the island of their bout but the smoke obscuring the area began to die down, Piccolo seen the android up above and with no wounds, he dodged his Ki-blast. The crater Piccolo created travelled towards the beach and Piccolo smirked at his new strength. Calling out to the floating android Seventeen, mockingly as he smirked.

"What's wrong android, you out of juice already? I can plug you into a wall socket if that is your wish!" Seventeen heard, his enhanced hearing helped for him to reply, yelling in reply, finally serious about the fight.

"No. Getting cocky with me, eh? You know I will never give up, I cannot give up… I am unable to man, so… round two?" Seventeen said neutrally. Piccolo smirked, liking the prospect of a bout against an opponent of this caliber. Seventeen in reply, smirked as he spoke up, yelling from where he was up in the sky.

"Heh… nice shot, but… you'd better off bracing yourself, you oversized scumbag. You wasted effort only leads to your downfall…"

(Bulma-POV)

With the schematics, she continued to hammer away at the keyboard, working on a device for which they could shut-down the androids that Dr. Gero created. So far, her work was going… well, it was going, but she hit a snag or three here or there. The man, Gero was a genius, but the guy tended to have a habit of writing very badly written schematics, she was having trouble deciphering them even now. Her dad, minded Trunks as she continued to work out the kinks in the flawed devices design.

She, even hammering away on the keyboard, could hear the lulling sound of her father, as he continued to watch over her son with Kron, a union she herself couldn't keep from smiling. Oh sure, the man had an entire harem at this point, she herself joined and hadn't regretted it since, he easily found time for all of them via his uncanny ability to clone himself. Though right now, she could have used him here, massaging he kinked neck, but he was on the battlefield according to what she heard from Weiss. Winter was going to be coming later on today, a separate meeting about her company, Winter wanted to get moving forward with their plans to begin space exploration, creating many more jobs in the process-

"-Shouldn't think about that now, this design schematic is a real piece of work-" her father interrupted her quietly.

"-Ah… Trunks has fallen asleep Bulma, not to worry." he spoke softly, Bulma spoke though she didn't look at him, instead being glued to the monitor.

"Great, thanks dad. That's good." She spoke monotone, frustration seeping in though she tried not to raise her voice more than she was, for fear that Trunks would awaken again and ruin her dad's hard work.

"...So, how's your device coming, any luck reading those inferior designs of Gero, the madman…" Bulma replied, focusing on the task at hand.

"Yeah, there's still a lot of work need to be done but I've gotten through most of it. I'm trying to isolate the androids main power sources to shut them off but so far, I'm stumped. There are a thousand of circuits to sort through, to find the right ones." her dad replied behind her.

"You'll get there dear… don't give up." Bulma replied, hammering away on the keyboard.

"I've gone too far to let this beat me. I still have to input it on all frequencies for each circuit within this here remote I'm creating based off Gero's designs. It's making me feel faint just thinking about it- huh, what's wrong?" she grumbled, looking at the designs once again, looking for the fault. Then, the compute sent a warning, she must have miscalculated somewhere in the circuit. The monitor begun to buzz, a loud noise as it warned again and again to her that her designs were flawed.

"Damn it, what kind of schematics are these anyway! That damned oath Gero! That fool made it too complex to figure it out, even for a genius like me! Ugh! oh well, I will get it..." she watched the keyboard, accidentally waking up her sleeping son, Trunks begun to cry as he was startled from his nap. Ugh… dammit Bulma…

"... I want to cry too…" she bemoaned on the fact that these designs were ass, they didn't make sense! That madman was a right hick, coming up with these androids!

(Android Eighteen-POV)

"-Scatter-shot!" Piccolo yelled out, firing a beam of yellow Ki towards Seventeen. Though he missed the first strike, Piccolo begun to launch shot after shot towards her brother. None of the Ki-blasts connected but-

"'Masenko'… haaaaa!" this attack, much larger, Seventeen was able to block and send it further away from him. The blast detonated further up in the sky. She watched as her brother said something to Piccolo, she spoke up to Sixteen as she eyed her brother and Piccolo before eyeing up the Saiyan.

"...Seventeen is just playing with him… he really is disingenuous, don't you think Sixteen? Why delay the inevitable, wasting time when we could be searching for Goku." she heard Sixteen grunt, but he kept his eyes trained on Piccolo and Seventeen.

Piccolo powered up again, launching himself against her brother as they reengaged in melee combat against each other. Their speed and movement would be hard to see for someone not attuned to their senses, she watched on as they flickered and fought as low as to cause the ocean to rise and break underneath their flying battlefield. They kept this little skirmish up for a time, about ten or so minutes until again, they paused as if gauging each other. Hovering close to the ocean, the waters below begun to resettle into its usual pattern, no longer effected by their engagement. They floated a decent way apart from one another before once again, they begun to yell at each other for which she scoffed.

Seventeen said something first, to which she seen Piccolo answer and by reading his lips, the Namekian only said 'No'. Getting up from her hard on her ass seat, she stepped closer, yelling out to Seventeen.

"Come On! Let's go already. Finish him off or if you can't! I will put him away for good!" Seventeen turned, this time from her better position, she could hear him reply, yelling her way.

"Hey Eighteen, stay out of this yeah. I'm having a blast, don't ruin my fun, eh?" Seventeen turned to Piccolo and then spoke more quietly. She decided to stand, turning to the Saiyan.

"Hey, you, are you content with your friend becoming a punching bag? Don't you want to help him? It would make my day… to put another one of you Saiyan's in the dirt." he, unlike what she got from the angry one called Vegeta, didn't acknowledge her and instead grunted as he continued to observe Seventeen and Piccolo. She glared at him but huffed, turning her gaze away from him and back onto her brother and Piccolo, intent to watch them fight it out once again. After an exchanging of words, she grew more frustrated by their insistent desire to talk to one another, they begun their bout once again.

Watching Seventeen being moving target practice as the Namekian Piccolo launched blast after blast of condensed Ki-spheres towards Seventeen almost amused her. Idling by, she smirked upwards as Seventeen begun to laugh, chuckling along with him before she continued to play with her pearl necklace. Idly sitting by, hoping to see Seventeen have the initiative, instead her eyes were assaulted by the yellow hue of Ki, Piccolo's Ki attacks hadn't exploded and instead stood still, floating in the air.

"Seventeen-" she called out, as Piccolo controlled his Ki blasts to descend upon Seventeen from every angle, homing in on her brother with deadly accuracy. The explosion, fed from Piccolo's blasts continued to envelope the area, growing in size. The Ki blinded even her and Sixteen for a time. Blinking a lot, the explosion ran its course once all the telekinetically controlled Ki-spheres had added themselves to Seventeen's position, detonating one after the other. After that, a brief time passed as the sky, below the battlefield and even on their island remained obscured from the continued explosion of Piccolo's attack. She and Sixteen came closer to the battlefield, looking for Seventeen but her worry was unneeded as she folded her arms and seen his silhouette. Then, the glow of one of their best defensive ability, their 'barrier' move both of them have in their arsenal. Eighteen felt silly for yelling in worry as she chuckled.

Seventeen, with his hand held to his sides, started to chuckle at Piccolo's shocked expression. He then added further insult by speaking.

"Now do you see Piccolo, now do you understand. You stand no chance, and have you noticed once again, while your stamina continues to drain in this bout, I am still fresh and rearing to go… you won't win man. Give up. There's no way for you to win" Piccolo grunted, replying hoarsely.

"Well, it isn't over until it's over! And I'm not alone. Kron down there… I can tag him in anytime when I get, as you say… in need of rest for my 'stamina' so don't think this fights over and done with yet. You're going to have to earn your 'right' to find Goku. You haven't really impressed me thus far android…" Piccolo said while Eighteen noted the Saiyan, he was behind them though she didn't bother watch him as Sixteen noted where he was with his eyes just now, looking at the 'Super Saiyan'.

"Hey, you see that island there, lets finish this there. Seeing as you destroyed our previous location after all. As for the Saiyan… tell me when you'd like to 'tag' him in… I have no problem beating on him too." Eighteen wanted to fight too, though for now she was content to watch her brother getting dirty. She after all didn't want to have to go through the effort of finding another outfit again… the one she had on currently was bad enough and still wasn't to her satisfaction.

(Green)Cell-POV)

They continued to use their most powerful blasts, the red Cell and himself easily healed from their mortal wounds as they healed thanks to Piccolo's regeneration cells in their gene makeup, since they weren't fighting, their Ki continued to raise higher though they lost some from regeneration exhaustion, but their 'Saiyan' cells had helped to accelerate any loss from healing. Their strength continued to skyrocket and as the defenders of this planet hadn't come after them, they continued to decimate each other, though they would move into random areas in the northern hemisphere of the earth encase the defenders of earth decided to track them down. An hour ago, though they decided not to bother moving any longer, their strength was far above Piccolo, the two of them, Cell and himself were easily three times stronger than Piccolo as he was in their last battle they fought, or well the 'Red' Cell fought. There leaps in strength would eclipse them once they decided to go after the androids, taking them into their superior form.

"Hmm. Piccolo or whoever he now goes by… seems to be exerting himself in a bout… I cannot sense the other fighter and as you know Cell, our prey cannot be picked up due to their 'artificial power' So… are you ready to become complete?" Cell replied to him, the 'red' Cell chuckled before replying to the more intelligent (himself) Cell.

"Yes… though what become of the other… seeing as we both want to become complete… there are two of them, and absorbing just one each would not allow us to attain perfection-"

"-No matter Cell, you see… we can still absorb each other. I for one am not in a worry in either one of us absorbing the other. So, let's make it a game… The first one to absorb one android, will be allowed to absorb the other… just think of the power we would get if we combined. Once perfect, with our new powers, creating an army of 'Cell' or going at it as one being, we would be unstoppable. So… are you in agreement, the first to absorb one android, will be allowed to absorb the other one?" he asked, the 'red' Cell readily agreed, chuckling in amusement before he replied.

"Yes, you are right. Whether or not one of us becomes the 'dominant' Cell, we would attain perfection… together. Once our full power is realized, none of the defenders of this planet would come close to a perfect 'Cell'… a perfect being… So be it, let's shake on it and head on out. I can feel how strong Piccolo is from here, he is pushing out at least one quarter of 'your' full strength. He will be easily swept aside while our prey would be fair game… to take into one of our being…" Cell agreed with 'red' Cell, nodding in tune, chuckling at the same time as they begun to rise into the sky and fly off in the direction of the battlefield, they could feel Piccolo, their beacon to their ultimate goal…