Chapter Text
Cell shot up, drenched in what he could only assume was sweat. He wasn't on earth, he wasn't fighting Gohan anymore. That brat, he actually killed him! He wasn't perfect! He needed to get stronger... wait. He failed? The thought echoed through his head, he failed at his one mission, his one purpose. God damn it. He stood up on the hill he appeared on, looking over the sprawling city. It was strangely beautiful, and huge! So much larger than any city he knew of on earth. He leaped towards the city, flying through the streets and taking in the mesmerizing colors. As he was flying, he heard explosions in the distance and quickly flew to them. He arrived to see a massive airship firing upon two people hiding behind cover. Cell quickly charged a Makankōsappō, and fired it at the airship.
The Airship took the hit with a roaring boom, slowly crashing to the street below as Cell slowly descended to the people below. He smirked as he touched down, crossing his arms and looking at the two people. They weren't humans, one was a cyclops, and the other was a spider-looking fellow. "Hello, mortals." he silently sighed, at least he kept his voice. The two were shocked to have witnessed it, they thought only angels could do that. They stood up slowly, on guard after witnessing Cell effortlessly take out the airship.
"Uh... hey... so, what's up, uh..." The spider demon finally spoke. Cell chuckled, it's been all of thirty minutes that people have last been astonished by him, but it feels like it's been years. "My name is Cell..." He hesitates to add perfect to his name, he hasn't done that before. This feeling of incompleteness was new to his perfect form. He goes for it anyway. "...Perfect Cell." he smiles wide, looking down at the two. "Can you tell me where I am?"
The Cyclops was dumbfounded. This man, so unbelievably powerful, yet has no idea he's in hell. "Uh... This is Hell, mate." She spoke as she looked at him in awe. "Hell? hm, so I really did die to that brat..." He touched his face gently, remembering the feeling of his vaporization, he stopped for a second, remembering that they exist.
“So if this is Hell..." he begins, his finger resting on his chin while he thinks. "Then that up there must be heaven." He points to the glowing ball of light and holiness in the sky, the realm of heaven. The two follow his finger, and see where he's pointing. "Uh, yeah, that's heaven. Sorry, I still can't get over the fact that you destroyed Penni's airship that easily."
"Who?" The android responded, very confused. "Right, Sir Pentious, the snake fuck who was attacking us." Cell nods, acknowledging the Spider's words and also the fact that whoever 'Sir Pentious' is, is obviously strong for this place. "I believe I forgot to ask you for your names...?" He says, looking back at them. They state their names, the cyclops is Cherri Bomb, and the spider is Angel Dust. Hm, strange names, at least for him. Gero’s drones couldn’t follow Goku & the Z fighters to Otherworld, so for all he knows, this is what it looks like. He looks around for a minute, around at the city and the other sinners walking about, to the destroyed blimp sitting in the middle of the wide street before levitating with a small salute towards the two, and flying off towards the hill he woke up on. He doesn’t know why he did that, or why he didn't just absorb the two, or even just kill them outright.
He’s conflicted, he wants to kill Gohan, he wants revenge, but he’s not sure how to get out of Hell, or Otherworld, if those two places are even in the same realm! He knows that dying did something to his body, he feels weaker, like the DNA of Goku, Frieza, Piccolo, Vegeta, and all the others is just gone. Nothing is visibly wrong, he’s in his perfect form, he still has his infinite energy from 17 and 18, he still remembers all the techniques and fighting styles of all the Z fighters, as well as Vegeta, Goku, and Piccolo, but a lot of those techniques just aren’t there. He knows the Makankōsappō, the Kamehameha, Frieza’s death beam, Tienshinhan’s Solar Flare, but all the other techniques he’s supposed to know just aren’t there. He knows how they’re done and how to channel his energy in a specific way in order to do them, but something’s missing, it’s like he hasn’t used them in practice but has been educated on them thoroughly. Another thing is that despite being perfect, he feels that same incompleteness that he felt in his imperfect form. He grits his teeth as he lands on the hill, this is so frustrating! He achieved perfection! He fulfilled his purpose, he killed Goku! Why does he feel like this? If anything, he should be even stronger than when he was alive!
Well, he stops for a second, thinking about the Zenkai ability. It probably doesn’t work when you actually die, that makes sense. Goku came back from the dead stronger than before, but he knows that he had training from King Kai, whoever that is. Cell thinks a bit harder for a moment, calming down while trying to formulate his thoughts. He knows who Kami is, Piccolo absorbed him, he was the guardian of earth, basically God. He knows this Kami guy works under King Kai, and that King Kai is pretty powerful, he runs the north quadrant of the universe. He looks up at heaven, somewhat mesmerised by the holy light. He figures that whoever this King Kai guy is, he must be up there. He flies upward, but senses a magical barrier separating Hell from, well, Hell’s version of space? He’s not very sure. He stops for a second, he looks back into his mind again, he’s shocked. It’s quiet, unbelievably quiet, there’s no computer commanding him, no 17 yelling at him, there's not even a whisper of a person he absorbed. He’d usually have to consciously suppress those voices, but they’re just not there. He sighs, he can finally relax fully, he can make his own decisions, he finally has his own free will. Its… relieving. He still wants revenge on Gohan, and he still wants to be alive again, but he’ll get it on his own, not from someone telling him what to do. He doesn’t know if it's actually him, or the bit of 17 still in him, but he hates the fact that Gero controlled him.
He flies back down to the city, landing in a different part of it than before, near the opposite end. He lands, and immediately feels a malicious aura somewhere around, it seems to be coming from that huge skyscraper. He begins walking towards it, on guard and somewhat defensive, when suddenly three people emerge from the building. A short female, flamboyant in appearance, a very tall male, who looks like a pimp, and a final third person. A tall man, who has a television for a head. They look like they were expecting him, and the short female seems to be somewhat confused at Cell’s appearance, recognizing him somewhat. The television head steps forward first, and introduces them. “Hello, my name is Vox, and this is Velvette and Valentino.” Cell smirks, crossing his arms while looking at them. Vox seems to be the leader of the three, and also the strongest. Vox continues, “We’ve taken a great interest in your… abilities. And we’ve come to offer you a proposition.” oh great, another third party wanting to negotiate.
Cell scoffs, shaking his head with a chuckle. “And what makes you think I want any part of what you have going on?” he starts, levitating just a bit while looking them over. “You don’t know my motives, my desires, or even my plans. Do you know what that makes you? It makes you worthless to me.”
Velvette finally makes the connection, that voice, that power, that oozing arrogance, she knows who this is! “Alright, cut the bullshit! Tell us who you are, you smug bastard!” He laughed at the frustrated outburst and floated back down to the ground. “I… am perfection incarnate, a biological android created by a no-longer-present third party for the express purpose of killing Son Goku. My name is Perfect Cell.” yep, Velvette is shocked, this is exactly who she thought it was. “Wait a minute, bugboy! You mean to tell me that you’re Cell? From that one anime?” she nearly starts laughing before Vox asks what she’s talking about. The three of them huddle before they all start bursting into laughter, obviously not believing him. Cell is mildly confused, but is getting more frustrated by the second. The three calm down enough to turn and face him, still chuckling. He is on the verge of lashing out at them when Vox starts to speak through his receding laughter. “You… you mean to tell me… you appeared in hell, looking mildly like a character… and just decided to be him?! Thats fuckin’ pathetic!” The three start laughing again, pissing off Cell even more. He snaps, firing a death beam right through the mouth of Velvette, and then another through the chest of Vox.
Velvette lets out a shriek out of pain while Vox gasps, gripping at his chest. Cell purposefully missed all vital areas in order to teach them a lesson, he is new here after all, and killing the most powerful people here would just ruin the fun of a new realm. He assumes that he just caught them off guard, cuz their energy flares up immensely as they writhe on the ground, equaling, or maybe even overshadowing his own! Valentino takes out his dual pistols and fires at Cell, who just swats away the bullets like flies. He floats toward Valentino, continuing to swat away the bullets as he gets closer and closer, before eventually crushing both guns in his hands. “Consider this a warning to you and your friends. I am who I say I am, and if you doubt it again, it won't be a hole in the chest. I am the perfect lifeform, and you all aren’t even fit to lick the dirt beneath my boots.” he throws the wasted guns to the ground before smacking Valentino into the first floor of the skyscraper. He smirks, watching Velvette and Vox writhe in pain on the ground. At least he knows he's still strong, that’s good, even if it wasn’t an actual fight, he still somewhat enjoyed it.
A bit later, he’s beginning to get acquainted with the city, mostly due to random info picked up from the demons around the place. He’s learned that this is called Pentagram City, one of many cities in this ring, which is the Pride Ring. In this city, there’s Cannibal Town, the Entertainment District, the Industrial Sector, and the Doomsday Zone. He knows of the exterminations, the exorcists, and the overpopulation crisis. And finally, the Hotel, this could be his shot, his chance at revenge for Gohan killing him. He could get redeemed and enter heaven and meet this King Kai guy, then he could get revived and get his revenge against Gohan! Well, there's a tiny pinch of doubt in his mind. That woman, Velvette, said something about anime… and said he was a character? That’s impossible, him? Well… He thinks some more, and he starts to get more and more… scared. Nothing is as Goku described it, Hell isn’t a barren wasteland, it's populated by demons. There’s no snake way, there wasn’t a big line he had to take to meet a guy who judged him, and for the first time in his entire existence, he’s scared. This isn’t Otherworld, this isn’t even his universe. He starts hyperventilating, and freaking out. He flies up to the magic barrier and just starts frantically hitting it, slamming his fists into the barrier, begging to be put back. He wants to be in his own universe, the universe he actually belongs in, not this one! He yells before hitting the barrier one last time, actually putting a crack in it. He stares at the crack in shock, flying back to the ground while just… staring at it. He stares at it like he’s hypnotized. He looks at his hands, then starts thinking again. He shouldn’t be feeling fear, he’s perfect, he killed Goku for god sake! But… that doesn’t mean anything here. He knows why he’s scared, he’s human, it must be a side effect from having the DNA of the saiyans and that namekian expelled from his body. He’s flawed, this… feeling of emptiness isn’t a feeling of imperfection, it’s the feeling that something’s wrong, and that feeling is growing. He then figures out why that barrier exists, to prevent the sinners from taking over heaven. If they see that crack, that flaw in the barrier, they’ll find a way to break through it, and get to heaven.
He hears someone fly up behind him, and turns to see a horned, six winged figure, bathed in red energy. That must be Lucifer, the king of Hell, and the ruler of Pride. Lucifer looks down at Cell, then up at the crack, then back down at Cell, kind of deducing that he didn't mean to do that. “What happened?” he asks, the horns on his head shrinking in size. “No sinner should be able to do that.” Cell shakes his head, looking away from Lucifer. “Oh you know, just coming to terms with the fact that this isn’t my universe.” Lucifer is confused for a moment before looking into Cell’s mind, and finding the worst thing imaginable, genocide, his kill count alone is in the hundred thousands! But, something’s off, he looks deeper, and finds that this person he’s talking to, this maniac, wasn’t really in control. Sure, he had control over where he went, but his decisions were heavily influenced by something else, an outside force. And the weirdest part? There are only six years worth of memories in Cell’s mind, and there wasn’t any amnesia involved, he would see those memories too, there's just nothing. He sees what Cell’s world looks like, its lush and filled with grass, the buildings look nothing like those on earth, and there are people with amazing abilities there.
There’s more, Cell doesn’t seem the same way he was when he was alive, he seems to be… fearful, and more human. There's still that cocky arrogance he got from being perfect, but it seems less somehow. “Well you definitely deserve to be here, no doubt about it. But I can confirm that you are not supposed to be in THIS Hell. I’m gonna have to set up a meeting with heaven about this, in the meantime…” Lucifer begins, waving his hand and releasing a magical gold streak of light that hits the crack in the barrier and fixes it. “You have nowhere to stay, so you see that huge building across town? That's a hotel that lets you stay for free, you just need to go over there, sign in, and then just wait until I can get in touch with heaven.” Cell nods and looks over at where he was pointing, seeing the hotel, and flying off.