Chapter 85: *Title in the end*

"What did you say?" Piccolo wanted to make sure.

"That's right, Doctor Gero gathered the dragon balls and asked how I wish to accelerate my larval development to the last stretch"

Piccolo was shocked. 'I see, that's why the sky darkened then, and if we don't feel Gero's Ki it's because he was already an android' he reasoned.

"In total my development lasted a year, for that reason doctor Gero woke up androids 17 and 18 before the normal time" Cell answered.

Piccolo understood why the androids appeared now and not in the three years that Trunks said, everything was related to Cell.

"Wait, what do the androids have to do with you? Do they have the same goal of killing Goku?" Piccolo asked wanting to know.

"Not really, my only goal is to be perfect. And for that I must absorb both 17 and 18" declared the monster leaving Piccolo stunned.

Despite the distance, the two androids managed to hear such words. That left them petrified, especially poor 18.

Piccolo understood everything then. If Gero had awakened the androids it was so that they would kill Goku, and then Cell would absorb them.

And if that didn't happen in Trunks' future, he guessed that because Cell wasn't born in a year, that's why Gero woke up the androids later. Now everything made more sense!

"That man really was a genius, he created a monster by stealing cells from powerful warriors" Piccolo pointed out with a smile.

"And all thanks to those insects, they are so tiny that nobody detected them" Cell spoke pointing robotic insects in the sky.

Piccolo frowned at them. "Tsk, I will not allow you to absorb the androids damn Cell. You are a great threat to the universe"

"And how do you plan to stop me?" the monster inquired, crossing its arms, smiling.

Piccolo returned the same smile and disappeared like a hologram, leaving Cell dumbstruck. "H-how?"

"Idiot!" Cell spun around, receiving a hard punch to the stomach that knocked the wind out of him followed by a powerful elbow to the skull.

Piccolo linked his hands and took an ax blow to his head before kicking him the side.

Cell fell a few meters away from him while the androids watched in astonishment. "H-how is Piccolo s-so strong?" asked 18.

"I don't know" 17 responded resigned to the facts observing how Cell tried to recover.

"I-I see, you created a clone just a second before my attack hit you" Cell concluded as he stood up, "Pretty clever"

Cell jumped back, and stopped a few meters from Piccolo. He didn't wait any longer and engaged in a melee battle against Piccolo.

He slowly started to get the upper hand but Piccolo still wouldn't give up. He rose into the air and began shooting Ki blasts at the creature.

Cell began to deflect them but he noticed something strange and that is that those bursts seemed to deflect his position almost automatically.

"What are you up to?!" Cell demanded looking at Piccolo, who smiled.

"Look around you" Piccolo replied and when Cell did, he saw all the deflected blasts floating around him, "Die!"

Cell was stunned as the blasts suddenly headed towards him surrounding him, until there was a thunderous explosion on the spot.

"Incredible" 18 muttered in surprise.

"What are you still doing here? Leave if you don't want to be absorbed by Cell!" the namekian exclaimed, looking seriously at the androids.

"Listen to me! You're not the one to give us orders, greenish man" 17 pointed at him with a mocking look, "Don't think you're strong!"

Piccolo looked at him with an arched eyebrow, until he instantly felt a Ki behind him but suddenly his entire body froze.

"I never thought that Chiaotzu's stun technique would be useful to me, but you were naive to let your guard down" Cell snapped, smiling slightly.

"W-what are you planning you wretch?"

"Despite the accelerated development that I had, I need a certain amount of vital energy before absorbing androids 17 and 18 as I already said"

"Before coming to this place I absorbed the vital energy of several humans, but I am far from compensating for the energy I need" Cell spoke.

He took a year to develop, but in return he had to ingest a large amount of life energy to make up for his short development time.

"And that's why I'm going to absorb you first!" Cell exclaimed using his tail as a tube and completely engulfed Piccolo's body.

The poor namekian tried to free himself but with each attempt he went further. Until Cell totally bought it. Piccolo has been absorbed.

18 was stunned by what he had just seen and 17 began to tremble, it seemed that being absorbed by that beast was not a joke.

"We have to go NOW!" 17 took his twin sister's arm 18 and started to fly, but incredibly Cell appeared in front of both of them.

"Where do you think you're going? The party has just started" Cell commented smiling. Now his skin had a more golden hue, like Piccolo's.

"Ah! Damn demon!" 17 began to attack him but none of his attacks were able to touch the powerful Cell, who got tired of dodging him.

"Your attacks are useless!" Cell kneed him in the stomach, and 17 stayed on his knees, trying to absorb the pain.

"17!" the girl looked at her brother with great concern and then looked at Cell angrily, "You wretch!"

18 attacked Cell with all her power but the result was the same. The bioandroid grabbed her by the neck and lifted the helpless girl into the air.

"After absorbing Piccolo my power doubled, do you think you have a chance?" Cell asked with a smirk.

18 tried to free himself but it was an impossible task. Her brother 17 was trying to get up despite the strong blow he received.

'How is it all going to end like this?' 18 wondered refusing to end up inside a terrifying monster like Cell was.

Would this really be the sad end?

But suddenly, Cell was knocked down by a golden flash that trapped 18 in his arms.

"Are you okay?" 18 opened his eyes and met with familiar turquoise eyes: a Super Saiyan. And not just anyone.

Gohan had returned.

______________________

Chapter 85: Piccolo has been absorbed