Majin Buu had fallen asleep.

It was the last thing any of them had expected. For the last few days, the pink skinned Djinn had been active and exercised to the point of ludicrous improvement. He had even been dubbed as 'Fit Buu' due to his lanky thin stature he had taken upon. But now that everything was about to become underway, he had passed out from exhaustion and swelled back to his normal shape of plump gumminess.

They were all doomed if they couldn't find a feasible replacement in the next few hours!

"Oh man oh man oh man!" Kuririn paced back and forth with his hands nervously scratching his hairless scalp. "This is bad! Real bad!"

"You're telling me!" Beerus, the Hakaishin of Universe 7, snarled with visible outrage. Veins pulsed visibly across his face, his hand raised up with indignation that he shook with angry futility. "If I had my way, I'd destroy him outright! But, I can't threaten someone whose asleep, and there's no one left on this blasted rock who can even be a decent replacement!"

"Buu was pretty strong too," Gohan confirmed, raising a hand to pensively stroke his chin as he narrowed his eyes at the ground in serious contemplation. "We could call Yamcha, but he hasn't been into martial arts seriously for years. I mean, I think he said he was trying to train a couple years back, but he's probably not even on the same level as Tenshinhan or Kuririn."

"Would it be terrible that I think we could ask Mr. Satan?" Kuririn questioned aloud with a faint glint of humor in his eyes.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Mark shouted distantly from inside of the house they were now gathered outside of. "I AM NOT GOING TO JOIN YOU FREAKS TO GET TORN INTO PIECES! COUNT ME OUT!"

"I'd sooner be erased than trust him to lend any strength to our supreme battle royal," Vegeta stated aloud, his body leaning against the house of the current reigning champ of Earth; in title but little else, of course. "It's such a shame we don't know much else substantially in the rest of this Universe. You'd think there'd be someone even remotely competent we could snatch up, even by force."

Whis sighed at this. While he had plenty of cosmic data on hand, available for him to scroll through to the far past, he had no contextual knowledge of specific individuals who could have become strong enough to assist this Universe's odds of survival. There was also the problem of the constant erasure of warriors of worlds they were intent on replacing through the Kaioshin's natural instinct to create. However due to the past eons of Shin's amateurish neglect, there was a large slew of star systems in various galaxies that were devoid of anything resembling impressive life forms that could be comparable to those of the Milky Way's.

"Wait!" Goku raised a hand up, his face brightening up with realization. "We do know someone!"

"Really?" Beerus inquired with sudden interest, his temper quieting as he now had vested interest in someone to aid his continued existence; ironically perpetuated by the Saiyan that instigated the Tournament in the first place.

"Well, not outside of Earth, actually," The Turtle Schooler replied. Using his raised hand to scratch the back of his head, he squinted his eyes shut and sheepishly answered. "Though you may not like it."

Vegeta's eyes first widened then deepened into an instinctive scowl, "No. You are not bringing him back!"

"It won't be forever!" Son Goku pleaded, turning around to pinch his forefinger with his thumb as he winked at Vegeta. "Just for Twenty Four hours! I can get Baba to help make it happen, but we'd have to be quick!"

"Who are you talking about?" The feline destroyer growled with impatience, placing his hands on his hips with insistence. "Out with it."

"Freeza!" Goku blurted out with eyes wide and a broad smile on his face. "He's super strong, and-"

"NO!"

"-he's someone we've surpassed-"

Beerus finally chopped Goku's head when the earth raised Saiyan refused to stop talking. The force of it was so great that Goku's rolled back and he fell onto the ground on all fours, steam rising from his scalp that swelled into a comical pulsing bruise. Grimacing at the blow he looked up and suddenly looked nervous, seeing the Hakaishin glaring dangerously at him.

"I do not trust Freeza, nor do I trust your judgement. The last time he was alive, he almost destroyed the planet and killed everyone else. If we hadn't shown you mercy, you would have been defeated. I cannot accept this as an alternative," He sneered with a rare purple light blistering around his body with a genuine threat to kill Goku. "Think of someone else, or I'll erase you and await my own demise in the next few hours."

"Ah! Geez, Bee-"

"And don't call me BEE!" Beerus sputtered out with bulging eyes, spurting spit over Goku's scalp much to the Saiyan's dismay. "It's Beerus! Lord Beerus!"

"A-Alright, L-Lord Beerus! Stop spitting on me, please..."

Vegeta snorted with contempt, turning his face to look away from the pair. Personally, he knew that Freeza was as untrustworthy as they came. There was a list of scum that he had personally saw to their deaths or had at least played a part in their downfall. There was none more treacherous than Freeza. His father too, and practically every scumbag that worked under the Freeza Force banner were as underhanded and cutthroat as he was, even if on a much smaller scale.

But just as Vegeta was recounting his long history of foes he's faced and adversaries he's clashed, everyone was still reeling from Goku's choice. While many could recount his horrors firsthand during his resurrection return for vengeance -unlike the absent cyborg twins- all knew what kind of villain he was. It'd be a cold day in Hell before they'd dredge someone that heinous back up.

However, a look of shock crossed the eldest child of Son Goku.

"Of course!" Gohan acknowledged with a glint of epiphany struck his mind. "Why didn't I think of it sooner?"

Whis leaned over with curiosity. The most talented of the group yet least combat minded had achieved some sort of selected memory that could aid them? He was most intrigued to see what the elected team captain of Universe 7 had to say.

"Now this is going to be a risk, but I think it'd be a far more manageable one," The half-blood Saiyan acknowledged, looking more cautious but still resolved as he looked over to Beerus across the idly postured cyborg twins and the standing Kuririn. "Instead of resurrecting Freeza for the Tournament, why not bring Cell back?"

Now it was time for the rest of the collective of Universe 7's assembled fighters to be stunned. Everyone was tangentially familiar with the organism in question, artificially created through splicing the genetic material of the strongest five warriors Doctor Gero had crafted. But, just like with 17 and 18's ignorance of Freeza's horrific actions firsthand, Beerus and Whis looked completely lost as to the significance of this individual.

"Who?" Beerus parroted out.

"How can you even ask that?!" 18 questioned aloud with a look of horror and rage flashing over her face. She took a few steps towards Gohan, only for 17 to hold an arm up in front of his sister. This caused her to give him a look and his own face showed a far darker expression than his stoicism usually allowed. As she quieted, they allowed Gohan to explain himself.

"Cell is what you'd call an Android, but even more unique than 17 and 18," Gohan informed Beerus, feeling odd at how he had to give descriptors to a being he was personally responsible for destroying to the last nucleus. "He's a biological creation, composed of the genes of five of the strongest warriors of the time of his conception: My father, Vegeta, the Trunks from the Future you met, Freeza and his father Cold. Along with various other functions he's a very crafty creature and when he achieved his Perfect form he became so strong that not even my father could beat him; it took all I had to destroy him."

"Curious I was never informed of this happening," Beerus sneered, looking over at Whis with a flickering glare.

"You were only curious of Son Goku's encounter with Freeza. I never thought you wanted to know his whole life story," He dismissed airily with a nonchalant shrug.

"Well he definitely sounds impressive, for an artificial creation," The Hakaishin of Universe 7 nodded with acknowledgement, looking around to the rest of the assigned contestants for the Tournament of Power. "Anyone got a problem with working with him?"

"He's a vile organism with all the guile and sliminess of Freeza coupled with Vegeta's negative flaws and Goku's love of battle," Piccolo informed Beerus, his arms crossed over his chest as he turned to face the Hakaishin with a thin glare poised to the destroyer. "But, he's strong and quite cunning. And he loves a good competition. A chance for him to show off in front of the highest of gods and the opportunity to get a wish might be too much for him to ignore. As long as someone can convince him, he's far more reasonable than Freeza would be, as hard as it is for me to admit that about him."

"He is strong," Tenshinhan admitted aloud, looking sullen at the prospect of bringing back such a terror to life, even if temporarily. "But he's power hungry. He might eliminate us if he finds it suits his interests better."

"He'll follow the rules if it means keeping himself alive," Gohan argued, raising a hand up to gesture to 17 and 18. "Look, I know you two have every right to hate me for asking this, given what he put you two through. However, given recent events, I'd try my hand on keeping around the weaker of the two."

"I know I can't stop you from choosing him," 18 intoned with gritted teeth, blue eyes shining angrily towards him. "But know this. If he jeopardizes our chances of surviving this battle royal in any way I won't hesitate to blast him off the ring."

"That goes second for me," 17 roughly grated, crossing his arms over his chest as he nodded to Gohan. "You do what you got to do, Team Captain. But I'm a lot stronger than the last time I squared off with that giant, ugly cockroach. If he tries anything to hurt my sister and I, I'll crush him faster than he can blink."

"Fair enough," Gohan grimly acknowledged with a blink.

"Ah man," Goku suddenly spoke aloud, now standing upright as he nursed the bump on his head with his right palm. "Cell, huh? I completely forgot about him. How long has it been?"

"Not long enough," Vegeta spat with a dark look shown to Gohan. However, it didn't last long as a grin formed as a direct contrast to his glare that brought chills from the son of Kakarrot's spine. "However, it'd be nice to have a punching bag to soften up the weaklings of the Tournament. If nothing else this will be amusing to see him struggle with the other Earthlings present."

"You best not underestimate us, Vegeta," Tenshinhan intoned with a scowl from his three eyes. This was backed up by Kuririn nodding to Muten Roshi, whom had been mostly a silent spectator to most of the antics shared by the rest of them. "We're far more capable than you believe us to be."

"I know. But Cell has a lot more tricks than any of you put together. At least he has his uses in that respect," He snorted, closing his eyes as he resigned himself to this choice. "Still, we should go get him while we still have time. If you can convince him, that is."

"I'll go!" Goku offered, smiling with a more eager grin on his face than a silly one. "It's exciting to see an old foe of mine, face to face. Plus, I know the way, and I think I can smooth things over with Baba and King Yemma in a jiffy."

"Fine, just hurry up!" Beerus insisted with an angry swish of his arm. "The clock is ticking, and we need him to show up here, now!"

"Gotcha!" He waved, finger pressed on his forehead as he fixed himself on Baba's energy. "See you in a bit!"

And, in a flicker, he was gone. Everyone was left in somber contemplation about the reckoning they may face in inviting someone as notorious as Cell into their ranks. Truly they were desperate that they'd choose him as a more 'manageable' teammate than someone like Cell. They could only hope that Goku was convincing enough that Cell would be on board with it.

"Dad, you are the only one that he respects and wants to beat you with his own hands. If you can use that to bargain with him, I'm sure you can get him on your side; or at least, get on his good side," Gohan thought, staring hopefully up into the starry night sky of planet Earth.

Clock was still ticking, and it was under two hours before they had to leave for the Tournament of Power; or risk immediate erasure.

Flaws.

He was surrounded by imperfection, at every turn.

Cell had, upon his immediate disintegration by Gohan's Kamehameha, been thrown into his own personal Hell. Though this wasn't entirely accurate, Cell -disembodied at the time- had to wait in line with a slew of other souls trafficking what seemed to be a highway in the middle of the clouds of Devil Realm. Once he arrived for judgement, a behemoth of a man in a suit with horns and red skin with a long flowing beard looked down at him. The alleged 'King' Yemma said he was damned for Hell and would be reincarnated with all memories of his past life cleansed. The Perfect Being refused to budge, believing he was judged by petty moral compasses lesser beings possessed and shouldn't be ascribed a similar punishment as any other being, villain or otherwise.

His judge agreed, but not in the way he wanted it to be.

Thus his sentencing was placed in a particular place that he now regrets to be damned in. Arranged in such a way where he maintained his body to some capacity but was held aloft, suspended by vein-shaped tubes. He was trapped in a tank, not too dissimilar from the claustrophobic incubator that he was groomed into adulthood since the beginning. But unlike before where the tight space itself was an excruciating experience, it was insignificant compared to the horrors he was surrounded by.

Cracked mirrors. Slanted sidewalks. A glare of a spotlight just out of focus, inverted glitching television. The list spiraled on and revolved around what he could see from the glass shell he couldn't break, let alone move. All he could do was scream with rage as well as indignation from within his liquid prison and the wired restraints that kept him still. It was all an eternity of obstructive distractions that the Perfect Being was slowly being driven mad by.

However, an oversight of the fact this cosmic torture room kept him physical to enhance his suffering had left a solitary issue unguarded. He could still think, feel, and comprehend. Thus, when he had been granted a glimpse of Goku's energy within the Afterlife, he had been brought clarity for the first time in who knows how long he's been imprisoned? He'd get glimpses, mentally imagined pictures of what was transpiring through sensation of ki alone before he learned to tune his awareness even further.

It was easier with larger bodies of life force but he soon found this to be reflective of even the smallest bundles of living things that existed. He could even detect others like himself that were trapped in seemingly endless abysses of terror and horror of their own making. Yes, each one was naturally affixed to make them suffer in a way that was antithesis to their existence or a karmic response to their evil deeds. Among that which was clear was that his situation wasn't unique; he was just one of many that had 'special punishment' unlike souls that were either sentenced into limbo or were good enough for reincarnation.

He found some dry sense of irony that Gero was likely experiencing the same horrors that he and others of his ilk were going through.

Through several instances in the years after his epiphany he began to detect events unfold with near perfect clairvoyance. The battles against Majin Buu, the near end of everything by something beyond his comprehension and then, only a short while ago, Freeza has been revived. He had been carefully observant of this tyrant's activities, especially since his genes were a part of him. What he had discovered through peeking through the void of his hellish tank was not only Freeza capable of self improvement; he excelled at it.

He could at one point feel it tower outwards, eclipse all other energies he had felt, even the ones that he could detect facing off against the unseen enemy. But he could tell that Son Goku himself had transcended his own limitations and his own ki had become incapable of being felt. There was a level beyond simply Super Saiyan and Freeza had unlocked the key of circumventing it.

So in his carefully astute observations, Cell knew what he had to do. Though he lacked the ability to train in the brute force of trial and error that Freeza was given, he acquired something else he didn't have. His heightened state of awareness and acute ki control gave him all of the information he needed from his constrained prison. So he just focused his energy and built it up inside of his tank, distancing himself from the noisy imperfections that continued to taunt him without ceasing.

It was agonizing. A slow process of improvement that worked up in increments. But slowly but surely, the Bio-Android could feel it within his bones that he was getting instrumental progress. The energy flowed so much differently than it ever had in the past. In retrospect he found it so utterly absurd how simple of a technique it was to polish that he fundamentally knew that Freeza -and in line with his genes, his father- lacked the ability to think like a true fighter. Even if he trained in an efficient way, he had no grasp for self discipline like Goku or Vegeta had; even Trunks had a better understanding and he was a rank amateur compared to the latter two!

As a consequence of his training, he had blocked himself from the outside world. Concealing his own mind from the eternal punishment he was incurred with, he had no idea that a future possessed doppelganger of Goku had come to this timeline's past to fight the original article. Nor did he know of the events that would play out in the original timeline -the Trunks of the Future's timeline- and the events that would cascade into the current predicament. Even as seconds ticked by that turned into days, weeks, months and so on, he didn't know of the deadly exhibition match that was used as a demonstration for events soon to come.

So, when he finally felt something swoop in without warning, he was understandably rattled.

"Yo! Cell! You here?"

That voice!

Cell could hardly believe he was hearing it right. After only being in touch with the Saiyan through his advanced form clairyvoyance it was hard to fathom this wasn't just a trick of the mind. But no, on the other side of his tank's glass, he could see him! He was peering in with a bewildered expression, smudging his visage against the barrier while cupping his hands around his wide blinking eyes.

"Huh! So this is your little Hell? Never thought I'd see you cramped up in a space like this!"

"If you're quite done," Cell spoke telepathically, knowing full well his voice wouldn't carry over to Goku's ears. After all, his mouth was breathing this gelatinous fluid that kept him alive but also impaired his ability to speak. It was a noxious liquid he wished to be rid of as much as the backdrop of imperfection cycled in front of him; given reprieve only by Goku's dumbfounded expression. "What are you here for, Son Goku? To gloat? Can't you see I'm suffering enough as it stands?"

"Nah, I'd never do something as low as that," Goku admitted, leaning away from the glass enough to show his face show a more serious expression. "Actually, it's quite the opposite. I got an offer you don't want to refuse."

A deal? What is he playing at?

"You'll find I'm a bit skeptical," Cell stated, his eyes narrowing into a scowl from amidst his cramped fixture. "Can you explain this deal?"

"Oh, you'll love it!" He started with an ecstatic tone. Eyes were that familiar bright white with black centers, his mouth spread broadly with simple angle to express his sincerity. If there was one advantage to talking with him, it was that he was impossible to be fooled by and that you could pretty much gauge his intent simply by observing how his expressions changed with his speech. "There's this big tournament coming up, and we need the best! We were talking it over and, well, at first I was thinking of Freeza but nobody trusted him-"

"You had me at tournament, but lost me at Freeza," The captive Bio-Android intoned with an angled scowl to emphasize his telepathic sneer. "Why did you go to him? Aren't I superior to that fossil?"

"Oh, you probably don't know!"

That's it, tell me your secrets, Goku.

"Elaborate," Cell demanded with wider eyes of scarlet staring through the glass back at his black orbs.

"Freeza got resurrected by the Dragon Balls!" He explained, raising a finger with emphasis and a chuckle. "Apparently his goons from the Freeza Force thought to swipe them when we weren't paying attention. Then, after that, he trained like crazy for a few months and got ridiculously strong!"

"Hmmm, interesting," Cell feigned curiosity, finding confirmation in what he already had suspected awhile ago and what led to his own increase in strength. "So if he's so strong, why come to me? Surely you can just go to him again, right?"

"That's the thing," He whispered, his eyes shifting to the side with a look of annoyance present on his simple face. "Lord Beerus threatened to kill me if I picked out Freeza to substitute Majin Buu. And a lot of people were giving me mean stares so I don't think they liked that idea very much either. So yeah, it was a no go."

Majin Buu? That must be the energy that clashed against Goku's and the others awhile back. But Lord Beerus? He sounds like someone higher up than that. Was he the unseen fighter that Goku fought before Freeza's return? Questions to be answered later, I suppose.

"So, you wanted someone you could easily control and was more trustworthy for this tournament," Cell parsed together, arching a brow from behind the fluid encased space so Goku could see him expressing a dubious thought on the nature of his visit. "It sounds fascinating enough. What are the stakes? The prize? And the competition?"

"Ah, right!" Goku scratched the back of his head, looking a little nervous. Cell didn't know that previously the Turtle School trained Saiyan had, at several points, had poorly lied to some of his friends to convince them to join under false pretenses through his son's insistence of keeping the nature of the tournament a secret. But, given how it nearly backfired as they all turned on him for having so little faith in their commitment, he relented as he raised a hand up to one side of his face as he whispered at the tank's glass while glancing away to the side. "Well, the thing is, this guy I met awhile back named Zen'ou? Turns out he's the highest of all the gods. I wanted to compete in a tournament awhile back and insisted he host one right away; but I think he got too excited and now he wants to make it for keeps."

I don't like where this is going...

"Goku, what did you do?" Cell inquired with a scowl behind the tank.

"I-I didn't do it on purpose, exactly," He winced, raising his hands up defensively. "But apparently, according to the Grand Priest -er this guy who takes care of them, oh yeah, there's two thanks to-"

"I don't need the context, just the explanation!" The damned Android telepathically shouted.

"The Universe will blow up if we lose the Tournament of Power! We need you to fill in a spot because Buu fell asleep, and no one wants Freeza on the team!"

What? Did I hear that right?

"So you're telling me," Cell began to repeat, his eyes twitching angrily behind the tank's glass obscured film and the bubbling fluids he was anxiously inhaling and exhaling. "That the whole Universe, including my damned spot in the Afterlife here, will be eliminated from existence by this Zen'ou if your little team loses this tournament?!"

Nodding, Goku swallowed hard as he sweated at the information slipping out so poorly.

Terrific. Now if I say no, I'll be worse off than here. I won't be anywhere!

Not wanting to let his thoughts show, Cell calculated a way he could still make it out on top. There was no guarantee that they'd keep him around, dangerous as he was, even if he assisted in their mutual continued existence. What was stopping them from putting him right back where he last was condemned to spend the rest of eternity in?

"Okay, at least I know the stakes," The Bio-Android continued, his eyes now seriously fixated on Goku's behind his tank's glass. "Now, tell me the competition. Who are we dealing with; and don't tell me exactly, just give me a broad generalization."

"Well," Goku craned his head up, staring at the endless spiral for a ceiling that continued to usher on a conveyor belt to loop more imperfections just behind him for Cell's unpleasant viewing experience. "Well, including us, there's about eight teams from eight Universes. The team we faced in an exhibition match was no joke either, they were pretty nifty and the other teams are said to be even stronger!"

"Understood," Cell fathomed, his mind already reeling out the details as Goku fed him information he could process. "How many people per team?"

"Ten, so on our own it'd be you, and I plus eight others. That goes for every team."

"Alright, and what about rules?"

"I don't know all the rules but I know we can't fly or kill people," He admitted with a shrug.

"Hmph. They want to erase everybody but they don't want to dirty the arena with dead bodies? Whom are we appeasing, children?"

"Actually, Zen'ou does seem like a kid-er-kids, when I think about it."

"Nevermind, then," Cell dismissed with a mental sigh. "And, what is our prize?"

"We get a wish from the Super Dragon Balls," Goku unveiled, now grinning as he raised a finger up to Cell's now shocked eyes. "Yeah, I didn't know they existed either. But apparently they're able to do anything at all, anything we could ever want! And the last team standing can choose what to use the wish for. Sound pretty exciting right?"

"Indeed," Cell narrowed his eyes, a smile brewing across his barely movable face. "That is very interesting."

"Right?!" The Turtle Schooled Saiyan exclaimed with glee. "So, you'll help us?"

"Not quite."

"Aw, why not?" Goku let out a whine, childishly slumping his adult body forward with exasperation. "We can't afford to waste any time. I got a little over an hour before I need you back with me on Earth! If we don't show up on time, we'll be erased by default!"

That means you really are in a hurry, aren't you, Son Goku?

"Here's the deal," Cell begins to inform him, his eyes darting side to side for visual emphasis for his simple-minded visitor. "I'm not fond of this little space nor the view of constant imperfection assorted before me, every second of every day. If you want me to help you, I need you to get me out of here for good; and do so with the Dragon Balls."

As Goku visibly winced, Cell couldn't help but deepen his smirk. He knew he had him. He was far from a silver tongued individual and he could only negotiate when it came to things he was familiar with. As far as everything else was concerned, there was no way he could manage a counter offer. He almost dared the Earth raised Saiyan to attempt to fool him.

"Well, it seems I don't got a lotta choice here," Goku affirmed with a sloppy smile. "I can't let you be revived for good just yet, but we will be giving you a temporary body for the next twenty four hours. If you're good and help us win the tournament, then we can get you your body back."

That's a lot of ifs...then again, I don't have a lot else to bargain for, given we have so little time.

"I'll hold you to that, Goku," Cell intoned with a dark smile behind his chamber. "Now, if you don't mind, can you get me out of this thing?"

"Ah! Sure!"

After agreeing to it, Cell saw Goku just casually discharge a kikoha, blasting the cage that held him prisoner for so long yet denied him any action from the inside from taking place.

Once freed, he could tell that his body was truly restored. Unlike the effigy that Hell had granted him to feel nothing but continued agony and be suspended in a cramped, tight space, this one resembled all of his finest moments right until the last breath he drew. Better still, it took all he had endured in this prison of the Afterlife and imbued it with the quiet, secret fruits of his labor that he toiled in hiding without anyone knowing any better.

Grinning, the Bio-Android made tense squeezes of his palms into fists, flexing his carapace covered chest and rolling his shoulders side to side. He was so tempted to unveil his power in front of Goku, and reveal that he had indeed grown stronger, but he decided to wait until he was at least out of this place. After all, he didn't want to give his newfound ally any reason to doubt his intentions were genuine now, right?

"Glad to see you haven't lost any strength from being cooped up in there," Goku kindly said with a happy smile, hands placed on his hips as he gave him a once over. "Yep, you even got the halo."

Halo?

Sure enough, as Cell looked up at the space between his head-crest, was a floating ring of softly glowing golden white. It was ridiculous, and he wondered if there was any merit to having it on him. Then again, it was the only indicator that he was running on 24 hours of borrowed time and counting. He just hoped that this tournament wasn't going to shave off time by any considerable margin.

"I guess I'll have to live with it until I get a more permanent body," Cell sighed with resignation, placing emphasis on a more continued existence with a look poised that not even Goku could ignore the meaning of.

"Right-Right, I'll make sure you get a second life if we win," He chuckled, rubbing his nose at saying so.

With more clarity of the situation, however, Goku furrowed his brow and focused on the place he was going to exit. Baba's house had a distinct energy thanks to her and he could shortcut using his Instantaneous Movement. Raising a forehead as a mnemonic initiation of the technique, he raised a hand for Cell to grasp.

"Come on, take my hand and I can transport us there."

"If you don't mind," Cell proffered with a smug smirk, raising a pair of his own fingers to place to his own forehead. "I think I can follow after you."

"Tch, you're so stubborn."

"Where do you think I got it from?" The Bio-Android scoffed with wry grin.

"Haha, you're right!" Goku laughed in remembrance, soon renewing his concentration. "Alright, see you in a flash."

In a flicker of motion, the Kaio trained Saiyan vanished. Transferring his matter from one spot in the cosmos all the way to Earth, Cell felt the whole journey in an instant. As soon as he got a bead on his progenitor and rival's signature ki, he himself teleported from his spot of Hell.

All the way to Earth at Baba's house.

"-you are Gok-AH!" The aforementioned wrinkled sister of Roshi recoiled in shock as the second figure teleported beside Goku. If it wasn't for the ball she used for levitation and movement, she would've fallen straight to the ground at the surprise of seeing someone move exactly as the impulsive tail-less Saiyan did. "I-It's him!"

"Yes, it's me," Cell announced with monstrous glee, his eyes poised at her with a perverse delight of malicious intent. "You must be the mystic Baba I was told responsible for my reprieve from damnation. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, truly."

"Yes, there's not doubt about it," The witch-hat hag snorted, her eyes peering past its brim with a scowl at him that only furthered to humor him. "This is the monster who ravaged the planet all those years ago."

"Yeah, it's him, but we're cool for now," Goku assured Baba, his hands gesturing between himself and Cell with an easygoing grin. "Isn't that right, Cell?"

"Yes, we're cool," He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest as he slanted his eyes in a dangerous stare. "So long as you don't intend on going back on your word, I won't have any reason to be unkind to you, Son Goku."

"See?"

Sighing, the fortuneteller shook her head with disbelief. Even now as Goku was quite proud of himself, she could only feel bad omens twining about the existence of the alleged 'perfect being'. But it wasn't her place. They needed to get to the others pronto, before the Tournament of Power was going to commence.

But, in her thinking of convincing them to move along, she sensed something else. Something not of this world.

"Goku!" She rasped out. "Enemies have approached!"

"Yeah," Goku answered her, his voice becoming more low and his face construing into a look fitted for the situation they were now in. Shadowy figures surrounded them on all sides, adorned in painted masks and emitting an ominous ki about them. "They don't feel like people I've met before. Where did they come from, and why are they picking a fight with us now?"

"Are they that foolish?" Cell inquired rhetorically, taking a few squeaking steps into the open to look over at the only figure of any substantial worth. He wasn't masked, like the others. It was something akin to an elegantly embroidered set of garbs, almost as if he was belonging to something of a religious cult or organization. With a dog-like body with rotund features and sagging cheeks, the Bio-Android squared him out with a curious stare while maintaining a civil grin. "Hello there! Might I ask why you've gathered outside of such a remote location?"

"I don't have any obligation to answer you," The dog-like leader replied, narrowing his eyes straight towards Goku with a tilt of his thick flabby neck. "Just stay here, until the tournament begins without you. Resist, and we'll make this painful."

"So, they are here to stop us!"

"Thank you, Goku, that was fairly obvious," Cell rolled his eyes as he chided his companion.

"Yeah! We've got you cornered now," One of the floating henchmen crowed out in a shrill voice. "There's no way we'd let you pass us!"

"Universe 7 will be finished!"

"Do you have any last words you'd like to say?" The Bio-Android questioned, his arms unfolded to his sides as his eyes closed. "They better be important if you threaten your existences by challenging us."

"Are you deaf?" The pug-faced enforcer questioned incredulously. "We're here to ki-LK!"

It was quicker than any of them expected it. Despite being numbered in the hundreds not a single one of them seemed to pose any significant threat. When Cell unleashed a piercing kikoha, penetrating his shoulder out the other side in a blaze of red outlined white. His eyes seemed to look glazed, then roll back as blood and spit spew out of his bestial maw; right before he plunged into the lake surrounding Baba's house.

"Boss!" The thugs all but said in unison.

"Well, if you want my personal opinion, 'we're here to ki-lk,' isn't the most dignified last words to die on," Cell lightly chided with a slew of dark chuckles. As he lowered his steaming finger, he'd place his hands on his hips, glaring at the now visibly less confident host of masked assassins in the sky above him. "Still, you might do something to get the blood flowing."

"We don't have time for this, Cell," Goku spoke hastily, urging him from behind with faint gestures away from the house. "C'mon! Let's just get back to the others and-"

"Do you think they'll just leave us be?"

At that, Goku became silent and sullen.

"They may even begin to target innocents of this planet, or hold someone hostage. Truly they are a hindrance that should be eliminated," He announced, his face now facing forward as flecks of gold began to rise up from his body, tendrils of bio-luminescent blue crackling around his very being. "Trust me. It'll take a measly portion of my strength to wipe these simpletons out. Grant me this courtesy for dragging me into this glorified death match of yours, Son Goku."

He knew the peace loving Saiyan disliked needless murder, but this was a special case. These weren't helpless Earthlings or targeted Nameccians. This gaggle of goons were out to see to the destruction of an entire Universe. Even if they weren't going on a rampage like foes of his in the past, they couldn't be dealt with casually.

They needed a permanent end to them.

Pale fingers bundled up into knuckles, balled up fists clenched tightly, and the flesh upon his digits pulsed with throbbing veins. The whole of the sky darkened as his ki began to rise. But unlike before where he'd let it explode outwards in a fantastic roaring inferno, a majestic gleam began to radiate from his very carapace. The bio-armor quivered, contorting in and out with systematic pulses of white peering out from the recesses. Energy flowed in a rhythmic circulation from one partition of his body to the next, soon congealing within his core, stemming from his crown.

Then, he stretched his arms upward with his hands raised to the sky, his body releasing a column of hallowed golden outlined white. A magnificent flare of light filled up the heavens, splitting the clouds and enrapturing the valley with the aurora of overwhelming power. Within the jetstream of light that the ki emitted came a silhouette that was radically transforming. As the light dwindled over his person, they could see what had changed to his body as much as the quality of his newfound strength.

The flesh on his body shifted from a chalk-white to a stark purple, the emerald of his body's carapace becoming a glowing gold that shined in between amethyst dots that enamored every iota of his being. His musculature structure bulked, eyes shining of a bright red and his face became a mask of violet. An aura of soft Sun colored flames thrummed with an ominous pulse, the whole of the surrounding body of watering shining in reflection of his form's new transformation.

"Waitaminute-!" Goku cried out, looking as surprised as he was terrified of this sudden change in power that he didn't even feel from before. "That's...that's Freeza's form!"

"That was quicker than expected," Cell intoned, turning to look over his shoulder to address the earth raised Saiyan casually; given the rest of the masked assassins were just as shocked to witness it, he had no qualm with explaining himself. "Yes, this is the form that Freeza used when he resurrected himself. Though I didn't know the name I expect he made it really simple for you to understand. So, to err on the side of caution I chose it for its design as much as its representation. Just call me, Golden Cell."

"It doesn't matter what you call yourself!" One of the assassins cried out, creating a pair of violet orbs of ki in each hand. Compressing it together he fired it forward, unleashing a hail of piercing lances of purple light, each one aiming to pierce his body. "I'll tear you apart with my killer move!"

Goku would see the man who had a striking similar appearance to Freeza be unmoved by the sudden hail of shredding spears. Each one that connected with his plated skin shattered upon impact, returning to flecks of dissipating particles and hitting the earth in a disturbance of earth. The dust swirled around the constant pulsing flame, undaunted by the attempt to harm him.

"So, that was supposed to slice through my ki and tear my body apart?" The Perfect Being asked with a dark smile, his eyes turning to address the now petrified assassin. "Let me show you what a real killing spear is like."

Cupping his palms together, he thrust his clasped wrists together, he'd make a brief shout of, "Makankōsappō!" as he let loose a spiraling ring of golden-violet with a white beam at its center. The massive corkscrewing drill homed in straight for the assassin who saw the technique as instantaneous. Drilling a hole through his diminutive proportioned torso, it'd exit out of the other side and then do the unthinkable to the other assassins.

It separated into twelve spiraling copies that all snaked out towards them.

Screams filled the air as they sought their prey, swiftly catching them and slamming through their flesh like a knife to butter, cutting them down like flies. None of them even had time to plan, or even react. The slaughter was efficient as it was ruthless, with each one of them sputtering out please, begging amidst their retreat from the attacks before faint strangled gasps were made as their life was torn as much as their innards was from their flesh.

"That's it? That's all you have to offer in order to stop me?" Cell laughed out loud, his face a mix of humor and disgust as he found himself a bit insulted that he went out of his way to transform into this new state. "What a pathetic Universe you must hail from to send such wretches to be disposed of! I almost feel sorry you died so quickly. Almost."

"Cell!"

"Oh come now, they were going to be erased in the Tournament of Power anyways," Cell scoffed, lowering his arms to rest on his hips with a smug grin on his face. "They were going to do something to keep us occupied. Now you got to see a hint of my true capabilities and we took care of the problem. What's that saying? Two birds, one stone?"

Grimacing, Goku knew that arguing the point of rampant killing was a moot point, given he had no regard to fight in the first place due to their time table for the tournament's start. Additionally he felt a bit overwhelmed by the sudden skyrocketing of power that came from Cell. He had thought being stuck inside that tank, suspended without moving, would've inhibited his ability to increase strength in the slightest. However, just like how Freeza surprised him, Cell seemed to do something he couldn't begin to imagine him achieving.

"You should at least not waste too much energy. The tournament starts in under an hour," Goku muttered as a weak attempt of a chastisement.

"If you're worried that I'll drain myself dry on such pitiful excuses of fighters, then you don't know me well at all, Son Goku," He chided. He'd then turn to face Goku, his hands raised for emphasis as he turned his back on the floating corpses; the assassins' bodies now bobbing morbidly in the lake surrounding Baba's hut. "I won't complicate things for that simple head of yours so I'll just say I managed to find a way. Through polished observation honed from stretching by awareness to the darkest corners of the Afterlife to the highest of the Heavens and then across the Universe I could feel the insurmountable challenges you faced, and the strides of progress you've made. It wasn't until I found myself observing your battle with the revived Freeza that I had an epiphany, a belief that from seeing his own enhancement through rigorous trial and error, I too could achieve the impossible. Through careful increments of molding my own life force in the body that was given to me as a curse in that dreaded Hell of mine I managed to find a perfect balance of might and restraint, increasing my substantial abilities to the apex of perfection that you see before you."

"I'm not sure I get all that you said, but it sounds like you've been spyin' on me," Goku wryly grinned. He was pleased to see that his old rival wasn't simply decaying or forgetting how to fight, but, he couldn't help but visibly sweat at the prospect of being peeked on from beyond the realm of the dead. It was both unnerving and creepy.

"Well I wasn't finding my method of punishment all that enlightening so forgive me for taking a vested interest in the Universe outside my quaint prison," The Bio-Android rolled his eyes, finding Goku's anxiousness unwarranted.

Suddenly, a tremor formed within the earth. Everything trembled as some seismic activity happened that sent the bodies within the water bouncing and cascading to the shoreline. The Turtle Schooled Saiyan took a few cautious steps back while Cell's smile deepened, and his eyes gained a sinister expression. Looking over his shoulder, the golden apex being saw the anthropomorphic leader of the assassins raised up, swathed in an eerie purple light that twisted with tendrils of black, an inky substance that appeared almost otherworldly.

Clutching the wound over his shoulder, the canine enemy growled with blood oozing between his razor sharp teeth. With his eyes fixated with anger and desperation towards his target, his backward hand formed what looked like a swirling sphere that roiled into a black epicenter. Cell couldn't tell what kind of energy this is, and that intrigued him as much as made him cautious.

"Gehehehe," The Assassin Leader chuckled with a raspy malice that made his shrunken eyes seem almost demonic. "You won't survive this, Cell!"

"Oh, so you've heard of me?" Cell asked with an elated smile, his eyes widening enough to show joy at being known. "Then you probably know whatever you're plotting is going to be futile. But by all means, do try; it wouldn't be much fun otherwise."

He hesitated at his bragging. One could tell this was a one chance strategy, given this being didn't appear to have this energy by default. This was a trump card, hence why the assassins didn't turn tail and run when their leader was incapacitated earlier. It was why Cell aimed for a non-vital spot; he wanted to know if he had anything else to offer than simply speeches.

Gritting his teeth, he lifted the orb up and hurled it straight towards Cell's front. It spiraled forward, zigzagging its approach with a wildly chaotic unpredictability. As his wide-eyed descended into pins, he'd laugh as he saw it make contact with his palms-

-right before it completely stopped in midair.

Blinking, he had to see that right. Was his attack, not moving at all?

No, he could see a field of energy of a coral hue surrounding it, placing it within a telekinetic prison. It was so thin that he almost mistook it as a mirage but no, the Bio-Android had technically 'caught' his attack.

"N-No way! That's Lord Sidras Energy of Destruction!" He choked out, his throat emitting a pitch far more shrill than his bulbous body thought capable. Pointing with accusation, he tried to find out why the attack failed. "What did you do?! No mortal can stop it once its cast towards its target!"

"Ah, so this energy is someone else's," Cell stated as fact, raising the crackling sphere held within his psionic barrier he formed through a variant of Freeza's own Capturing Light Shell. Though smaller and contorting in a way that allowed him to catch another foreign collection of ki, it still served its purpose in holding the hostile sphere of sinister dark light at bay. "I wonder though. What would happen if I hurtled this back at you?"

"EEEK!" The bipedal canine shrieked with visible terror at the insinuation, his hands raised up and waving in a panicked motion. "N-No! Please! Mercy!"

"What a curious choice of last words," The Perfect Being grinned devilishly.

Raising his arm, he'd suddenly feel his arm jerked back, a tight grip formed around his elbow. His smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed into slits to look at his flank to see Goku gripping his forearm with a tense grip, his body now wreathed in a ki he couldn't sense. Red eyes stared back his own, his body seemed to thin and his hair remained at its typical angle but now a bright crimson.

"I didn't even feel him transform! Is this that mysterious power I sensed from the orb? Or is this a different blend entirely?"

"He's beaten, Cell. Let him run away and we can return to the others," He spoke in a calm but completely authoritative manner.

"Oh sure, he can run," Cell grinned slyly, tossing his hand out, letting the tangerine barrier streak away straight towards the trembling assassin. "But how quick can he?"

"You bast-ngh!" Goku attempted to move to halt the projectile only for him to feel a charlie horse kick to his right back leg. Crying out in pain, he winced as he saw much to his dismay as the barrier-shrouded Energy of Destruction collide straight into the flying assassin.

And then was covered in a howling void of onyx-purple that ate away at his flesh and tore through his natural defenses. His scream teared through the sky, his body decaying within seconds before the horrified Saiyan's eyes and to the Bio-Android's pleasure. The whole of his being radiated with nothing but agony as every last partition was wiped away within the shrieking orb.

Just as quickly as it was shot, it collapsed in on itself in an implosion and left an elliptical shockwave that shook the whole of the valley surrounding Baba's house.

Staring agape, Son Goku looked with a grimace towards Cell, seeing the golden sheen of his appearance bleed off in a rising shine of radiant yellow. Once the solar exterior of his form was gone, his face and hands returned to a pale white, and his body returned to its normal shape. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, the Perfect Being squared his gaze at his once hated enemy's eyes with contempt.

"Let's get one thing straight. I'm risking my neck for you and you're worried about what's morally right for me to do when the very fate of everything in this Universe depends on it. I don't know what you were expecting but every single person we're going to fight is going to die when they lose. Do not think your holier-than-thou attitude puts you on an elevated pedestal to make decisions for me. When we fight," He leaned forward, watching Goku shift from his unnaturally red form back to his Base State as his quivering anger calmed but still glared back at him defiantly. "We fight to survive. So don't get in my way, and I won't get in yours. Understand?"

"I don't like your methods, Cell, but I don't seem to have a lot of choice," Goku intoned honestly, backing away with a huff. Placing a finger between his scowling brow, he saw the Bio-Android do the same, only serving to fuel his ire. "Just make sure you don't cause trouble with the others."

"Now that's up to them, isn't it?" He quipped with a dark chuckle.

It was then at that moment, Son Goku knew, he may have gotten more with Cell than he bargained for.

A/N: And this is the first chapter of a few for this Mini-Series of "A Perfect Tournament"; my take in preference to having him brought back to life instead of Freeza. I mostly wrote this for myself but I definitely am keen in seeing what anyone else thinks of this. It's definitely a contentious pick with many people wishing Buu had stayed in the roster or finding someone else to replace him when he fell asleep. Freeza's placement felt wholly contrived and there was plenty of others to choose in place of the guy who *recently* tried to kill everyone. Even though Cell is a bit of a sore spot for others, they'd have no idea if Cell was able to get stronger from this hypothetical scenario so they'd go after the easier to manage of the two dead antagonists.

With that, I bid you all adieu and hope to see you in the next eventual update!