The Secret of Cell's Birth! What Lies Below the Laboratory!?

Large craters lie all about Gingertown. Piccolo, "That's it. He came from the future to absorb Number 17 and Number 18 and become the Perfect being." Kuririn, "Wow. Then we have to find Cell somehow." Trunks, "Can we find him? He found about about Piccolo's new strength, so he'll go killing people while keeping his ki low." Ten, "Damn! We have to keep Cell and Number 17 and Number 18 from combining or there will be hell to pay." Piccolo, "Not only for Earth, but all the planets in the universe will be affected. He's got Freezer's and Freezer's father's blood in him." Vegeta, "My blood, as well. Making all these wimpy plans... Let him combine. It'll just lessen the number of opponents we have to destroy. I don't care who my opponent is. I'll just kill them." Piccolo, "Don't take this so lightly, Vegeta. If he combines with them, he'll be a lot more powerful than Number 17 and Number 18, who are giving us a hard time as it is." Vegeta, "Don't talk to me like that. You want to die before those Artificial Humans do?" Piccolo raises a fist, but doesn't respond. The "camera" moves up Vegeta from his feet. Vegeta laughs. "I'll become even stronger, surpassing even Super Saiya-jin." Tenshinhan and Kuririn stare at him in awe. Trunks, "Surpass Super Saiya-jin?" Vegeta, "Kakkarotto will do the same. Count on it." A quick image of Super Saiya-jin Son Goku is shown simply standing out in the middle of no where. "I will definitely do things my own way. You guys can do whatever you want." That said, the Prince of the Saiya-jin makes his exit.

Piccolo, "Surpass Super Saiya-jin? The super powerful Super Saiya-jin? For real? Is it even possible?" Kuririn, "Hey, Trunks." Trunks, who was staring off after his father, turns to Kuririn. "Would it do any good if we were to use your time machine and go back in time to destroy Number 17?" Trunks, "Yes, in that future, it might do some good, but it would have no effect on us now." Kuririn, "Then if we go back to Dr. Gero's lab and destroy the unborn Cell, will that be useless as well?" Trunks thinks for a moment, then responds. "No. Let's destroy it. At least in other futures, he will have never been born." Piccolo, "Okay, you two go to the laboratory. I'm going to stick around here and look for him." Trunks agrees to that. Ten, "I'll stay here, too." Piccolo, "Okay." Kuririn, "If you guys can't find Cell, come over to Kame House." He turns around to Tenshinhan. "Keep checking the news on the TV for clues that might give you a lead." Ten, "Okay, got it." Kuririn, "See you." Trunks nods and the two of them take off for Dr. Gero's lab. Trunks ponders what his father said while on his way to the laboratory with Kuririn. "Surpass Super Saiya-jin? I never thought of that being possible." Kuririn, "Of course, but Vegeta and Goku might be able to do it."

It seems to be a relatively calm day at Kame House...until Son Gohan starts screaming, anyway. Out in front of Kame House, the young warrior attacks air and water, attempting to make the best of his time at Kame House by training himself. The ocean flies up around him and reshapes itself as he performs different attacks. From inside the house, a call rings out. "Gohan-chan!" Gohan suddenly turns around. Umigame, "Gohan, your mother is calling." Gohan looks around frantically, then pulls out a capsule and throws it onto the beach. "BOOM!" The capsule explodes into a desk and chair, complete with books. A white shirt flies into the air. "Gohan-chan!" Chichi appears at the door. "Oh, Gohan-chan." She walks over to her son. "Gohan-chan, were you studying here? Good, good. I've made some snacks for you." She sets the snacks down on his desk, then stares into the sky. "I want you to keep studying so that you can make something great out of yourself. You're going to be a great philosopher one day. That's my dream for you." Gohan laughs nervously. She looks back down at him. "Okay, study hard now." Gohan, "Yes." She turns and walks back into the house. Gohan watches until the door shuts behind her. He turns around when she's gone. "I'm sorry, Mother. I want to become strong like Father and help everyone out." He stands up, walks away from the desk, and begins powering up again. Kamesennin watches from out a window. "A frog's child will still be a frog." He turns around and looks over at the unconscious Son Goku.

Dr. Gero's lab lies in ruins. Tanks like the ones the Artificial Humans came out of, as well as other scientific instruments, lay strewn about in the rubble. Kuririn rubs his arms, shivering. "It's freezing! But is there a basement in the lab? How are we going to find it?" Trunks, "Kuririn-san, please step back." Kuririn looks over at Trunks. "Huh?" Trunks begins blasting the rubble to clear it out and Kuririn takes his lead. They clear out most of the debris. The smoke clears and they look around for a basement. Trunks walks over to an area where smoke or steam leaks out of a pipe. "Kuririn-san!" Kuririn walks over. "What is it?" Trunks, "Kuririn-san, it's probably here." Kuririn peers into a hole where the mangled top of a ladder pokes through. "You're right." Trunks, "Okay, let's go." Kuririn, "Okay."

They drop down into the shaft, not even bothering to use the ladder. It's a long drop, but they reach the floor below quickly. They stare into the cavern for a few seconds. Kuririn, "Be careful." Trunks, "Yes." They begin to walk, moving deeper into the basement. At the end of the corridor is a thick metal door, much like the one that blocked the original entrance to the lab before Trunks destroyed it, except this one is much smaller. Trunks pushes on it and it swings open. Inside is a giant machine with a dome-type thing on top. Trunks steps into the room, moving his hands along the wall as he searches for a light switch. Finally finding it, he flips it on. The room is large, but rather empty. The giant computer sits in the middle, and to the left of it is Cell's tank. Various other machines sit around the room and pipes run around the walls, ceiling, and floor. Kuririn looks at the giant machine in the center of the room. "Damn, so this is the computer." Trunks stares up at the computer until something else catches his eye. He walks over to a tank filled with some liquid. "Kuririn-san, look at this." Kuririn joins him at the tank. Trunks, "This is probably Cell." Kuririn gasps and stares at the tiny mass floating in the middle of the tank.

Kuririn, "Damn, so this has the DNA of the greatest warriors of all time? Mine and Goku's included. It makes me sick." The baby Cell remains motionless in the tank. Trunks, "This is going to become a larva." An image of Cell in that original huge shell that Gohan found crawls out of the cave. The shell cracks apart and Cell steps out. "And then come out to become Cell. It will also gain more and more energy to become a Perfect being. Everything is controlled by this computer." Kuririn throws his arms out. "Trunks, let's destroy the whole laboratory." Trunks holds an arm out. "Wait, wait a minute." Kuririn, "Huh?" Trunks walks over to a nearby table and examines the sheets of paper on it. "Blueprints." Kuririn, "Blueprints for what? Cell?" Trunks, "No, it says here 'Number 17'." Kuririn, "Number 17?" He sees the two Artificial Humans, then he sees Number 17 up close. It goes back to the paper that Trunks is examining, and now we see that it has a large "17" stamped on top. "Oh, him." Trunks, "I could show this to Mother and maybe she'll be able to find some weakness in Number 17, Kuririn-san." Kuririn, "Yeah, that's a great idea. Are there anyone else's? Like Cell's?" Kuririn steps over wires and pipes to make his way over to the table with Trunks. Trunks, "These others... They aren't any good." Kuririn, "Okay. Let's blow this basement up." Trunks, "Yes."

Explosions go up all over the basement. Trunks and Kuririn throw ki blasts around the area to destroy it. Cell's tank cracks. Trunks, "This place has made our lives in the future difficult." He throws several ki blasts straight at the computer. Another crack appears in Cell's tank. Trunks, "Take this!" He finishes off the remains of the computer. Kuririn and Trunks both turn their attention to the baby Cell. The liquid inside the tank seeps through the cracks. They both blast it, incinerating the Artificial Human-to-be and destroying the tank. What's left of the computer sits in flames in the middle of the room. "Kuririn-san, let's get out of here." Kuririn, "Okay." Small explosions jump out from various places on the computer. The entire thing is quickly devoured by the flames and explosions. The whole computer finally explodes, and the flames from that coupled with everything else quickly rushes down the rocky corridor toward the fleeing Kuririn and Trunks. The two make it to the end and rocket up through the ladder shaft. They get out and float above the opening to the shaft, staring down into it. Kuririn, "This is it!" He throws a ki blast straight down the hole. The entire area subsequently explodes.

"We did it, Trunks. We got Number 17's blueprints, too. That's a plus for us." Trunks agrees. He files silently alongside Kuririn for several seconds before speaking up again. "Hey, Kuririn-san, can you take these blueprints to Mother's place?" Kuririn, "You're not coming with me?" Trunks, "I'm going to train with my father. That's if I can really surpass the strength of Super Saiya-jin." Kuririn, "That's great, but... He's your father, so I didn't want to say anything bad, but I don't think he'll work with you." Trunks, "I really don't want to, either, but it's better to train with someone else. Father knows that it will be better for both of us, as well." Kuririn, "Okay, I understand. Train hard, alright?" Trunks holds out the blueprints and Kuririn takes them. Trunks, "Thank you." Kuririn, "Good luck." Trunks, "Yes." Trunks flies off in another direction while Kuririn continues on to Capsule Corporation headquarters.

Piccolo and Tenshinhan examine the sports team... or their clothing, anyway. Piccolo holds up an empty shirt. "This is definitely Cell's handiwork." Ten, "Just as we thought. He's feeding on energy from humans." Piccolo, "He hasn't had much time. He should still be around here." Ten, "Let's check it out." Tenshinhan jumps into the air and Piccolo follows. They hover above the ground with their backs to each other, watching the land below them in hopes of catching a glimpse of their foe. Piccolo, "Feel anything?" Ten, "No." Piccolo, "Damn it."

People go about their daily business in Nickytown, completely oblivious to the approaching danger. Cell stands out in the middle of a street. All is still around him. A man picks up a glass and takes a sip of his beverage, but upon seeing "something" that's offscreen, but obviously Cell, he drops his glass in shock and fear, gasping. A flock of birds flies away. Other townspeople at the restaurant all mutter "Hmm?" and look up. The man is gone, his empty clothes sinking further and further into his chair. A fat woman slaps her hands to her cheeks and screams. Other people take notice and gasp as they turn to the source of the scream. Tenshinhan, "That way! There is some minor energy activity over there." Piccolo, "You're right." A man floats into the air, but quickly melts away, leaving only his clothing. Cell chuckles. Piccolo and Tenshinhan race toward the ki activity. Ten, "It's towards that town." They land in the middle of the town, but find that they were late. Everyone is already dead. Piccolo, "Damn, we're too late. He moves fast." Ten, "We can't do anything about it now. He sensed our ki and took off. If we keep our ki at undetectable levels, we won't move fast enough to catch him." Cell stands atop a tall building. An empty suit sits behind him. "It's no use, no use. I'll go feed some more as they go wandering around."

Bulma, Dr. Briefs, and Kuririn stand over the blueprints of Number 17. Bulma, "As I understand it from this blueprint of Number 17, we've got to find his weakness and stop him from combining with Cell." Dr. Briefs, "Man, this is great. I don't even understand half of this stuff. Too bad that Dr. Gero wouldn't use his brains for better. He could have done a lot of good for the world." Bulma, "Using the human as a base, this was made mostly with organic substances and converted over. With this combination, things became possible. I won't be sure until I see, but the little machinery used might turn out to be the weakpoint." Dr. Briefs, "Let's check it out, Kuririn." Kuririn, "Yes, thank you!"

Gohan continues throwing water around outside Kame House. Inside, Son Goku sleeps peacefully. The Artificial Humans continue their journey to the Son house. Number 17, "Number 16, is Son Goku's house much further now?" Number 16, "Not far now." They drive off down the highway. Cell runs over a rocky area toward the next town. He climbs up a rocky hill and laughs when he sees a town sprawled out before him.