Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball / Dragonball Z / Dragonball GT.

Happy reading!

Mid February, Age 763.

Just like those preceding this particular one, this day was just another day full of fun and training for three particular Saiyan hybrids by the name of Trunks, Goten, and Gohan.

Ever since the former two's arrival on earth, they had assumed the responsibility to take the latter under their wing and prepare him to be the defender of the earth. True, they had taken this course of action by choice, but there was no denying it needed to be done out of necessity. Trunks and Goten, by satisfying their desire to see Frieza and going to the past, had created another track for this timeline to run on, and this change had proved very radical and totally unexpected. Why?

One of the two main reasons was that they had robbed Goku's chance of becoming a Super Saiyan by taking his spaceship to Namek, effectively barring him from going there. Not only that, mind you; when the twin terrors thought nothing could have gone even worse, the not-so-trivial act of hijacking the ship would bring about unbelievable repercussions and consequences, each and every one of which was more than what they had expected and prepared for beforehand.

The other main reason was that instead of Goku, Gohan was the one who first attained the fabled transformation during a fateful battle with Frieza. Triggered by pure anger and indignation due to the murder of Dende and torture of Goten, the little kid ascended while attacking the space alien and he was more than capable of giving him a very rough time. Despite the fact that Gohan's transformation was unexpectedly undone in the middle of the fight and he was nearly killed by Frieza's retaliation, Goten succeeded in intervening just in time to save his brother from his doom.

Considering themselves privileged for having seen the birth of a legend in this timeline, Trunks and Goten smiled with pride brimming in their heart. Heck, even they weren't that young when they first transformed! After this revelation, they knew what to do; to redeem themselves, make up for their mistakes, and strengthen the earth's defences, they willingly volunteered to take care of Gohan and mentor him while waiting for their time machine to be repaired by Bulma.

That was the best way they could think of to ensure the earth's survival. By being the first Super Saiyan ever—and surely the youngest one there would ever be—Gohan had unknowingly agreed to step up to the plate and commandeer the Z-fighters from then on. At first, Trunks and Goten had their doubts; would a mere five-year-old be able to carry the burden all by himself, not to mention having to help his father and Vegeta attain their own Super Saiyan transformation? However, it wasn't like there had been any other choice, and since they weren't going to stay in this timeline forever, they could only entrust the mission to Gohan. Besides, he was one very strong young boy; what he had gone through on Namek had tempered him, and in a hard way for that matter.

Gohan was their best bet, and seeing he was more than ready and enthusiastic, Trunks and Goten knew their investments would be well worth it.

And now, let's take a peek on what the three Saiyans were doing.

"Wow, Gohan! Now that's a Kamehameha wave! Super fast!"

"Really? This is because of your training."

"But I'm sure my attack is stronger."

"You're gonna regret saying that, Trunks."

"Wanna see the proof? C'mon, Gohan. Show him how much more high-octane it is!"

"Here I go! Get ready, Goten!"

Gohan extended his arms to the side and spheres of energy started to form on his palms. Instead of yellow, his version was blue; perhaps it was due to the fact that he wasn't in transformed state. Then, just like Trunks, he clasped his hands and pointed his index fingers at Goten, and that was when a wave was released.

"Wah! That's a huge one, alright," said Goten. However, he didn't even need to Afterimage away to dodge it; he just stepped aside and pushed the blast away from its trajectory and into the sky with his Kamehameha to prevent it from destroying the landscape.

It seemed his actions elicited a delighted response from Gohan. "You're fast, Goten!"

"Uh, not really…" he shrugged and grinned at Trunks, "You see, it's not that I'm fast. Trunks's attack may pack more firepower than mine, but it's just too slow!"

Goten's remarks didn't miss Trunks's ears, and the eldest quickly retorted. "Oh, so you wanna see fast? Then take this!"

With that, Trunks fired a quick salvo of energy blasts. He managed to catch Goten, who was hovering in mid-air, off guard; the first blast connected and the boy staggered backward. Before he could recover, Gohan dashed right behind him and delivered a swift kick to his back, sending him tumbling onto the ground. Goten broke the fall with a burst of energy and was just in time to step back to dodge Trunks's straight.

"Not fair! You're ganging up on me!" Goten protested.

"Heh, you let your guard down, didntcha? That's the price you gotta pay," said Trunks smugly, "Alright, Gohan. Let's—"

"Boys! Dinner's in fifteen minutes!"

Before Trunks and Gohan could launch their combined attack, they were interrupted by Chichi whose voice could be heard from some fifty metres away. Being half-Saiyans, food took priority over anything in their list, so they promptly ended their fight, called it a day, and returned to the house. While waiting for the dinner to be ready, they took turns in taking a bath to wash themselves clean; by the time they were finished, Chichi had just put the final dish on the table. It being crammed with food aplenty was a beautiful sight to behold, and Goku was already waiting there.

Really, nothing really interesting was happening this day, and all in all it was just an ordinary day for Trunks, Goten, and Gohan…

… because they weren't aware of the existence of three ladybug-like devices that had been hovering around them all along. Unbeknownst to them, these microbots might well be the harbinger of a very bleak future…

"Hmhmhm… this is wonderful. We should have sampled enough data by now. Get the tracker devices back here at once."

"Right."

Before a very large monitor in some kind of a very sophisticated laboratory stood a man, possibly in his fifties, with his attendant. Comprehending the information displayed on it, the man giggled in evil amusement, then sat by his desk and initiated a program in his computer. His action opened another application window on the monitor which displayed a huge amount of information in colourful fonts. With a click on the keyboard, yet another window popped up just beside the main one; this one showed three schematics of a DNA sequence.

At the sight, the man smiled in self-satisfaction. Leaning on the backrest of his chair, he asked his attendant, "Look at this, #19… it's a treasure trove. What do you think of it?"

"I do not have much information about genetics in my data bank. But whatever it is, #20," said the pale-skinned being through his voice synthesiser, "I am sure it will aid us in achieving our objective of killing Son Goku."

"Hmph… my agenda is beyond that little vendetta. Behold!"

Androids #19 and #20 then turned to one of the three panels with the DNA sequence. On the tab was written 'Son Goten'. "You are looking at the genetic information I have extracted from the cells of Son Goten. He must be one of Goku's two sons, the other being Son Gohan…" said Android #20. He enlarged the panel with Gohan's name written on the tab. "… and somehow they are way, way stronger than his father. The same can be said about this Trunks Brief boy. I don't know who he is, but it's safe to say his power level is equal to that of Son Goten and slightly higher than that of Son Gohan."

With his computer terminal, the half-human studied Goten, Gohan, and Trunks's sequence of nucleotides, intent on comparing them with other data he had collected from an earlier point of time. A click of the mouse revealed his saved work on the monitor; this time, four other panels with Goku, Vegeta, Krillin, and Piccolo's names were brought into display, and Android #20 began to analyse the seven sequences with careful scrutiny. Much to his surprise, his little analysis—with what he deemed appropriate extrapolation—showed that Trunks, Goten, and Gohan were currently the three strongest people to walk the planet, with Gohan surpassing the fourth in the list by a very large margin. His astonishment just got accentuated when he found out there was more than fifty per cent match between Vegeta and Trunks's genetic composition…

"Trunks Brief is Vegeta's son," said Android #19.

"Stop stating the obvious. But it seems things have taken an interesting turn of events," replied Android #20. However, he went on to say it didn't concern both of them and there was no need to worry, since he now had with him everything he needed to achieve his goals. "With this much power in my hand, I can do absolutely anything! My ultimate creation will be unleashed in no time!"

"I am happy for that. We will finally be able to create a world dominated by androids, and none shall surpass us as the supreme head of the earth."

Hearing the words of his attendant, a roguish glimmer sparkled in Android #20's eyes. "No… you've made two mistakes in your statement, #19," he flashed an evil smirk.

"Pardon me—WHAT?"

"One, you can't possibly feel happy. Unlike me, you're just an assembly of electronic components without a heart."

Faster than his optical receptors could register what was happening in his brain chip, Android #19 felt an arm finding its way to the interior of his torso where a human's kidney would be; it was Android #20's. The coot had very quickly made his way behind his creation and planted his arms to his lower back, causing the reaction he let out earlier. It seems the scientist was reaching for something inside; when he finally got his hand on what he was looking for, he tightened his grip on said object and forcefully kicked Android #19 away, causing him to go offline and fall onto the floor like a marionette. For all intents and purposes, the pale-skinned artificial life form was now nothing more than a heap of junk.

Holding Android #19's energy core before his face, he said very coldly, "And two, you won't enjoy what I will… but don't worry. You'll be a part of my success."

Android #20 walked toward a somewhat huge tube at one corner of his laboratory. The tube, which was around three metres high and a metre in diameter, was filled with clear blue liquid in which some kind of a culture of cells was afloat. It pulsated every time it bobbed up and down, and those with very keen eyes would notice the culture was actually growing ever so slightly by the minute. He then pressed some buttons and a slot opened on the control panel. With a chuckle, he inserted the core into the opening, feeding more energy to the incubator and making the liquid briefly turn scarlet red before reverting to its clear blue hue.

"Hahaha… now, #19, along with Androids #13 to #18, you have become one with my most powerful creation! And thanks to you, its birth has been further accelerated! Yes, the birth of a novel being through which fine art and science is wedded together!" he said triumphantly, "With the energy cores of my creations and cells of the most powerful fighters ever walked on earth, there's no doubt this one's going to be the most perfect warrior ever created."

Yes, Android #20 was extremely confident of his latest creation's capabilities he decided to feed his previous ones to it. According to him, this one—which he dubbed his ultimate masterpiece—would surely blow the others out of the water, especially now that he had gotten his hands on Trunks, Goten, and Gohan's cells. Upon his microbots' arrival, he would promptly integrate their genetic information into this precious culture of cells of his.

Even though there was no one around to hear him, he continued with his soliloquy as though speaking to an unborn child. "Cell, huh…? Well, how about I give you a better sounding name, now? As an emissary of pure terror, you shall reduce the world into empty, desolate, barren fields of death and misery. Yes, your goal won't be limited to elimination of Goku!"

"Hmhm… Goku. Knowledge of the sky. That's too great a name for someone as pitiful as him… it sickens me to no end!" he glowered at the name of the person who had robbed him of his future many years ago. In the middle of his unpleasant reminiscence, however, he suddenly noticed something interesting about that name. "Goku… the second syllable can also be read as emptiness. How very amusing! Sky… and emptiness. They share the same character, the same concept of space… ironic, isn't it?"

"Yes, I've decided. Cell, my ultimate creation… a biomechanical being, more than just an android, and more than just a human being…" he paused before continuing, "I hereby christen you a name infinitely more fitting for you, the bringer of death and emptiness…"

Turning away from the tube, a sadistic smile graced his lips as he completed his sentence, "… Vanitas."

Post-note: Yes. In case you can't tell from the title and the setting, this is a sequel to The Passage Not Taken; you who haven't read the story may encounter some difficulty in following the story at first. I sure hope it's worth continuing. And I apologise in advance that I won't be able to update this story as quickly as I did the prequel, but as I said, I'll eventually finish what I have posted.

As for the name affair, for those not familiar with Japanese, the second syllable of Goku's name in kanji can be read as sora (sky) and kara (emptiness, or vanitas in Latin), hence Cell's new name. Vanitas is also a type of still life painting symbolic of mortality. I know… I was playing Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep when the idea came across my mind.