MY GLORIOUS IMPERFECT LIFE: CHAPTER ONE

It was just a typical normal day in an unnamed city in the US. People would go to work, school, or somewhere else altogether to forget about how mundane life could really be. Some watched film, others preferred to spend their time out at the gym.

Our hero here however, had something a little less exciting in mind on how to spend his days. He’d just finished picking up the newest issue of Dragonball Super from the book store and was eager to add it to his collection.

Ever since he was a kid, he’d been entranced by the franchise. But his intrigue really piqued during the Android arcs of the Anime and Manga, and he was more than happy to always speak up about it on online forums. One of his biggest topics of debate was, what if Cell had ignored Dr.Gero’s programming for perfection.

Some people just ignored the ideas of a What-If scenario like that, because the story couldn’t be driven any further if Cell’d not tried to achieve his perfect state. Our friend here however disagreed. He imagined that the world of Dragon ball still could have thrived even if Cell hadn’t been bent on seeking out perfection.

When he got home, he examined his extensive collection of Dragon ball Manga. Not only the single original release prints, but even the Omnibus volumes. Nobody could deny that he was a hard core fan. He’d even left on a video playback on his television.

He’d been re-watching the entire Android and Cell Saga’s from morning to night, in particular he always found himself drawn to Imperfect cell. A creature that was unique in design compared to most of the characters of the series and looked more monster than man, but at the same time it’s features were so interesting. Why it ever decided perfection was a drastic change from that design he never really understood.

“Oh well.” He dropped his bag down onto the couch and proceeded to watch the remainder of the arc that was on the current disc. He’d resumed playback just as the Bio Android came into play and explained his whole part of Gero’s plan to the Namekian, Piccolo. What came next was filled with the back of the human’s eye lids as he drifted off into sleep from a long day…just letting the sound of the animation fill his ears and lull him to sleep, as per usual in his schedule.

Except this time, when he woke up he had a feeling of weightlessness. Fluids surrounded him keeping him buoyant yet somehow…breathing. Opening his eyes he saw the world in green. This was probably due to the fluid just barely keeping him in place within a tank…wait…a tank?

Checking over his surroundings, he realized he was NOT in his lab anymore. Had someone kidnapped him while he was sleeping? That didn’t feel quite right…The explanation didn’t fit, and when he looked at his hand, grasping at the glass that contained him he realized something far stranger and worrisome was happening.

It was not his own hand. If he could even call it that. It was more like a clawed appendage. One could call it a paw. It was Beige in coloration, and the armored attributes that he could gleam of it told him that it may have been more of a shell than anything.

Looking at his reflection within this strange container he caught the image of a giant Cicada glaring back at him with glowing red eyes with a pair of reptilian slits. They were eerie…monstrous even and he had to wonder if that was really him. How long had he been in here…What’s happening…?!

He would give one last glance back at his reflection and into this horrifying red eyes. And in a brief bout of panic, there was an odd spike of power that radiated through him, allowing to burst free of his glass container! Glass shattered and the green fluid that once encapsulated him now spilled out into the dimly lit research lab that he found himself in.

Slipping out, he found himself standing now under the power of his own four legs. With his mind still under the impression that he was a bipedal human, this was a strange sensation. He’d somehow turned into an insect of some kind! And what was going on here…? Was he being experimented on…? Is that how he turned out this way?

A brief screech over a pair of loudspeakers filled the lab. Had he been able to, he would have covered his ears if not for the voice that followed that would answer his questions and bring about a startling revelation.

“If you are receiving this message then it means that I have not lived to see your completion. You name…is Cell! You are my ultimate achievement and most remarkable creation.” The voice sounded tired. Tired but full of ambition as if it were passing on whatever task this voice wanted to accomplish to him. “I am…WAS Dr.Gero. The greatest scientific mind in the universe.”

Dr.Gero!! That couldn’t be right! But if the voice was real…then suddenly the way he looked now was beginning to make some sense.

“I have spent many years, researching and constructing you out of the cells of the most powerful warriors in our current generation. Some data was extracted from other worldly beings. Your evolution however is still as of yet incomplete.”

The voice continued, that tiredness turning into one of slight disappointment as a sigh filled the speakers. “It saddens me greatly, to know that I will not see your completion, but my revenge will be realized. You will not be stopped or swayed in your quest.”

My quest…Is he talking about world domination? That was the goal that Dr.Gero had been seeking in the original Dragon ball material…Somehow he’d wound up inside of it! Inside of Cell…Ok dream…time to wake me up now.

The voice however continued. “You will need to absorb the bio-extract from living beings to move onto further stages of development. You will feed and you will grow. But your appetite will be insatiable. THAT is the true beauty of your design. You are the apex predator of this world and will always have an insatiable appetite for power like myself. All of my enemies shall become yours from this day forward. Seek them, and destroy them without mercy. Your true goal however will be to become completed in your designs. Seek out the androids 17 and 18 and absorb them into your bio mass.”

“Now then…Go forth Cell. And show this world that it is yours. Show my enemies that which they are to fear!”

The voice ended it’s glorious speech. A speech that was meant to fill this Cell with purpose…to tell him of his designs and destiny. Now that he’d finished hearing it…He couldn’t help but think Dr.Gero was just a little bit crazy. But at the same time the voice was instructive. Like a father if anything. A DERANGED father, but still. “I am…Cell.” His voice came out as gravelly and shocked even him. Right now, staring up at the large super computer that was sitting in the middle of the room, he was starting to finally get his bearings. Somehow…he’d reincarnated as Cell. A powerful creature that from all his knowledge of manga and anime of the dragon ball series, would wreak unfathomable havoc.

Dr.Gero had it right. He would become the apex that all creatures feared. But knowing what he knew…he was determined to make a difference…a change in the doctor’s plans.

But first…he felt hungry. A echoing grumbling sound came from within his middle, indicating that he needed food. An unending hunger…An insatiable appetite. With his current body, that would pose an issue…as he wouldn’t be able to defend himself well until he matured to the next stage of his life cycle.

With heavy steps, Cell began to march his way out of the lab, as there really wasn’t any other need to be down here. His first step to this supposed ‘completion’ was getting out of here and building up his strength. “There’s just one thing that I’m going to change in your plans doctor…I won’t become perfection.”

Noting a few of the spy drones that the doctor had used to spy on the dragon team and collect his cells…He wondered what else they might have had for him to gleam. The anime and manga told him everything there was about Cell but not how some of that information had been relayed to him.

Some of it was already in his memory…part of the process of his cultivation within the tank. Different aspects of the greatest warriors in the galaxy lived inside of him…but there was still information that he needed. Even imperfection needed good intel.

Reaching towards those drones, jaws open wide, he grabbed hold of each one with his tongue and pulled them inside. Something told him he could organically assimilate whatever data remained in those drones records, and consuming them would give him access to all the information he needed.

A few swallows was all it took, and the last 15 years or so flashed into being around his head…The heart attack that Goku had suffered was recorded so vividly, his siblings encounter with Vegeta as a Super saiyan, and the remaining warriors all suffering at the hands of the android duo.

Knowing about these events, and then witnessing them first hand was horrifying, even if it was from the perspective of the drones now part of his being.

“Gohan’s next…” He thought to himself as a cold sense of dread crept up on him, for he knew that he would not be able to gather nearly enough energy to stop the androids in time to prevent his demise. It was a horrid realization…But maybe…He could save the others. Save Trunks and this timeline from the fate that it would suffer many years down the line.

“Well Father…I will definitely become the Apex of this world. It’s mine, and I won’t let the androids, or those from other worlds ruin it.” His thoughts were full of weird conviction. He felt like he was dreaming, and at the same time, he wanted to make his own what if scenario actually come true. All those days spent on online forums debating on what if Cell became good. Now he was going to make that happen with his actions.

But first…to get out of this lab…and to get out of this shell…!

(To be continued)