From his hiding place within the small cave, he glanced around at his outside surroundings nervously. Nothing but tall pine trees and underbrush, lit only by the stars. No sign of the big cat that had chased him across the forest. Granted, it could be laying in wait behind a log somewhere, as big cats are apt to do… No sounds but the slight breeze and the crickets chirruping, and no movement. You would assume it was safe to come back out, but Cell wasn't stupid. He knew damn well that cat was prowling around out there somewhere, just waiting to have him for dinner. And just what the hell was he supposed to do? He just came out of the egg he'd cocooned himself in when he entered the time machine, and he had not yet grown enough to even bury himself in the ground, much less defend himself from a forest predator.

Wouldn't that just be wonderful? In his own timeline, he'd killed a few thousand people, as well as a Super Saiyan by the name of Trunks, whose time machine he'd pilfered. And now he'd spent all that energy traveling to this past timeline in pursuit of the androids he would need to reach his perfect form… DEVOLVING himself just to fit into the machine for the trip here, and now it would take him three years to reach the level he'd been at only hours earlier! All of this… ALL OF IT… only to be eaten by a cat before he could even set his plan into motion.

This was all just going swimmingly. He rolled his eyes and sighed, backing further into the cave. There was nothing he could do at the moment but wait until the dawn, when hopefully the cat would have given up on his hunt and gone to bed. He curled up in the back of the cave and closed his eyes. When he achieved his perfect form, this godforsaken forest would be the first thing he'd destroy.

A few hours after Cell had gone to sleep, on the outer edge of the forest, a young woman stepped out of her home with a basket in hand. She gazed up at the sky and smiled. The light of dawn was just bright enough to see clearly, and the current lack of sun made the air and ground around her feel nice and cool. A perfect spring morning. Now all she needed were some chives and she'd have the perfect breakfast to go along with it. Fortunately, these woods flanking her house were filled to the brim with them. Unfortunately… they were much further in. But she'd gotten used to this area over the last few months, and had a good knowledge of its danger. This was definitely the most optimal time of day to venture out there. So that was that then! Armed with a basket, a few knives, and the determination to properly season her breakfast, she set out into the trees to go foraging.

As the light grew brighter, Cell also began to venture out into the forest from the cave he'd been shielding himself in. It had been hours! There was no way that cat would still be out here wandering around. He was rather certain of it, but proceeded with caution anyway. Slowly he poked his head out of the entrance and looked around. The only movement around him came from squirrels and other little critters. Good. He took a few more steps out, testing the waters. Still nothing. That was all the assurance he needed to continue on with his plan. Scurrying through the underbrush, he headed toward what he assumed would be the edge of the forest. There were probably farmlands surrounding this place, and he needed a safe spot to hole up in until his strength grew enough to dig underground. An old abandoned barn would be perfect. A cave being stalked by a cat was not.

He froze as he heard a rustling right behind him, a sound that was quickly replaced by a low growl. The cat jumped in front of him so fast he didn't have time to react before it pinned him in place.

"Are… are you kidding me?! Did you really have nothing better to do than sit out here all night?!" He shot the creature an outraged look and growled right back. "If you knew who I was, you wouldn't dare have the courage to so much as touch me!"

Not that his angry protests even mattered to the cat, who just wanted a free meal. It opened its mouth, revealing long, sharp teeth, and moved in closer. Cell closed his eyes and braced himself, incredibly annoyed that this would be his sad, unsatisfying end.

"BAD KITTY! Get away from that!"

His eyes shot open as he heard the sudden voice shouting from behind him, just in time to a see a knife come flying over his head and bury itself into the right eye of the beast. Yowling in pain, it released Cell from its grip and backed away.

"I've got more where that came from!"

The cat gave up on Cell and stumbled off, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. Well, that was a relief. But now he'd have to deal with whoever this human was behind him, and humans were much more unpredictable than any cat. He originally wanted to avoid them at all costs, and now he owed his life to one. Pathetic.

The leaves rustled as the human walked closer to him. "Well… you're interesting! I wonder what you are?"

He turned around to face his new threat. Standing before him was a pale-skinned woman, probably in her early 20s, who didn't really seem like much of a threat at all. She was quite average in stature, with long bluish-white hair that flowed down to just above her knees. A delighted smile spread across her lightly freckled face and her dark blue eyes sparkled with curiosity. Nothing that indicated any sort of danger. Though it would be nice if she'd just leave. He frowned and continued staring at her.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were frowning at me." She grinned and moved in closer, only about two feet away from him now, and crouched down to get a better look. "Let's see… not an insect. You've only got four legs. I mean, you're segmented, and that is most definitely an exoskeleton! Some kind of strange arthropod…"

She honestly had no idea what she was looking at here. This creature seemed to be some insect-reptile hybrid. It was pretty big, with the top of the creature at knee-height, and its length was four feet easy. It was covered with a greenish brown exoskeleton and had two small wings on either side of its body. Not old enough to be flying age yet, apparently. The four legs were strange, in that they didn't quite match up with the insectoid theme that the rest of its body had going on. Instead, they looked much more reptilian - they had outer joints, but the feet reminded her of a lizard's, and they had the beginnings of claws starting to form. But what really caught her interest were the eyes. Its head was triangular shaped, like a praying mantis, but its eyes were lower and on the front of its face. They were light red with cat-like pupils, and it was so strange… sheswore she could see some kind of intelligence and emotion radiating from them.

"Man, I could easily write my final thesis on you someday and get it published in academic journals!"

Cell inwardly sighed. This woman was not going away and now she intended to study him. He'd assumed she would get bored and leave if he just stood still and didn't say anything, but now a change of strategy was in order.

He put on the most menacing face he could muster… as menacing as he could look in this small form anyway, and began to speak. "Do you wish to die, human? If you value your life, I would recommend getting as far away from me as possible, as fast as possible."

"…OH MY GOD!" She jumped up in surprise and staggered backwards. "Did… did you just TALK?!"

"Are you deaf, girl?"

"N-no…" She stuttered. Was this a dream? A really weird dream? Here she was, talking to a bug. Well, scientifically speaking, not a bug. But yes, she was talking to a friggin BUG.

"Ah, now you look afraid." Cell smiled maliciously. "So you realize it would be in your best interest to leave."

"Not really?" This was only speculation, and she hoped her instincts were right, but Mr. Talking Bug looked about as dangerous as an infant in this current form. "You don't really have any way of attacking me, I mean, your claws aren't really grown in yet and your exoskeleton looks very soft. Plus your wings are underdeveloped. I bet you're a newborn, huh? I wonder what your parents look like…"

"I am NOT a 'newborn', I am merely devolved. And I am also quite busy, so go back to whatever you were doing and I will continue on my way." He continued his trek towards the edge of the forest and hoped she would get the hint. Unfortunately, she didn't, and instead she ran up to walk alongside him.

"Hey, come ooooon. Let me walk with you for a while! Tell me about yourself, where are you from? What are you? Do you have a name? A family? Where are you headed in such a hurry? What did you mean by devol-"

"ENOUGH!" Cell stopped in his tracks and glared at her. "I do not have the time nor energy to sit here and play twenty questions with you!"

She frowned and crossed her arms. "Hey, I saved your life. You would've been eaten by that forest cat! You could at least satisfy my curiosity, you know. You owe me that, at least."

He considered this for a moment. After all, she was right. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd be dead right now if not for this human. Too bad for her that she didn't realize just WHO it was she had saved, and what that would mean for her species. Heh. "…I am Cell."

"What?"

"You asked my name. I am called Cell."

"Oh…" She pondered asking him how he was given such an odd name, but thought better of it. He seemed to be losing what little patience he originally had for her. "My name is Yuki. Yuki Mouka Miyamoto."

"Well, Yuki Mouka Miyamoto… because you did save my life, I'll let you ask me a question then. ONE question. Then I will continue my way, and you will turn around and go back your way. Is that acceptable to you?"

"Yeah, I guess…" What could she possibly ask him that would give her the most information about him? Probably asking him what he was would be the best way to go, but if she asked him where he was heading, she might be able to find him again later. Decisions, decisions…

Yuki sighed and looked up at the sky. The sun was much higher now, and the ground was starting to heat up. Soon the bigger predators, the dinosaurs, would be out and about, and they were much more fearsome than any cat or wolf. And yet, here was Cell, completely defenseless against them but willing to trek through these woods to get to some important place…

Her mind was made up! That would be her question. "Okay Cell. You're out here in this forest, filled with all kinds of things that could easily eat you. You are obviously not stupid, so you must know that. And in that case, you'd need to have a damn good reason for putting yourself in danger like this. So what is it? What is so important that you would be out here in the woods where you clearly don't belong? You seem to be in a really big hurry to get somewhere important."

Cell smiled. "A good question."

"So you'll answer me then?"

"I am out here because this is where the time machine I stole happened to land. That's a long story, I'm sure you realize, but I don't have the time to delve into that. I emerged from an egg in said machine, having had to devolve myself to this form to fit inside. You see, the machine was too small to accommodate my larger, more evolved form."

Instead of being satisfied, Yuki's curiosity piqued even further. A time machine?! Was this guy some kind of evolved bug from the future? Did the cockroaches really inherit the earth after some nuclear attack? Cell was a futuristic evolved cockroach! Maybe… but she only got one question. Ugh…

"Well, Miss Miyamoto, are you satisfied with my answer then?"

No way, there was more and she had to get it out of him somehow. "Well… no, you didn't answer my whole question."

"Oh?"

"You could be hiding somewhere, but you're wandering around out here. I said you looked like you were in a hurry get somewhere important and you didn't tell me anything about that."

He sighed. "That's because you answered your own question. I am looking for a safe place to hide. To reach my previous form, I must hibernate underground for three years. As you can see, I'm currently not grown enough nor strong enough to bury myself yet. I still require another week, perhaps two. As to where I am headed in such a hurry, that would be the edge of the forest. I'm assuming this forest empties out into farmlands, correct? All I need to do is seek refuge in an abandoned barn until I grow. I'm sure you understand that these caves dotting the landscape hardly provide safe refuge."

That was it! That was her opportunity! Yuki stifled a giggle. She definitely had something he wanted now.

"And just what, pray tell, is so funny?"

"Why didn't you just ask me?"

"Ask you what?"

Yuki rolled her eyes. "How to get out of the forest… you're right about the farmlands, by the way. There's also an old barn near here that probably hasn't been used in decades. I can take you there if you want."

"How about you just point me in the proper direction, then?"

"Nope, I get to come along with you."

Cell was miffed. So much so, that even Yuki could see it on his face. "That was not the deal. You ask one question and then you go on your way, THAT was the deal."

"Yeah, that was the deal to make me leave. That had nothing to do with helping you get out of the woods and find a shelter. You gave me an offer to leave, now I'm giving you a counteroffer."

She certainly had Cell backed into a corner, and he didn't like it one bit. As he weighed his options, the distant roar of a dinosaur out on the hunt told him his final decision. "Fine, I'll go with you. But my original deal still stands. You don't get to ask me any more questions."

So this is the fanfiction I'm writing for Camp NaNoWriMo this year! I set a goal of 30k words, but judging from all the bits of scenes I've written so far, it's going to wind up being much more.

Current warnings/triggers for the future of this story: Gratuitous amounts of cursing and perversion, a few fleeting moments of suicidal thoughts, and a couple weird smutty lemon-chapters.

So anyway, it seems Yuki's run across poor Cell in his little larval form! Will she get any more information out of him? Will she just lead him to the barn and leave him be? (You know damn well she won't.) Or will they become bestest buddies and watch The Princess Bride together?! WHO KNOWS?! BUT YOU'LL KNOW, IF YOU STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF DRAGON BALL Z! (insert rockin' riff here)