One sentence. It was all that was needed to bring the Earth back to it's usual state of war. A fight for survival was about to take place that was beyond anything the universe had ever seen before. The evil Android 21, with a few simple words, had brought a plague upon the world that could easily bring upon the destruction of all life.
Gohan felt his heart stop in his chest. 'Is that really what I just heard? Could it really be? This isn't possible...' he thought to himself. Placing a hand gently on his little brother's shoulder, Gohan pulled him back, out of the way of this new assailant. Goten didn't know what to think, he was too young to know of the evil that was Cell, before Gohan had defeated him 7 years ago.
"I can grant that wish. However, since Cell is an unusual organism, I can only bring back the base form, no added power. Is this your wish?" Shenron broke the moment of silence that felt as if it had lasted forever.
"Yes." the mysterious man replied simply, before turning and flashing a wicked grin to the group.
"It has been done." Shenron boomed.
The Z-Fighters stood in silence, watching the man before them. He had blonde hair, with a "mohawk" type style on the front, and a few long, wispy strands that stuck out at the base of his neck. The rest of his head was shaved. What caught everyone's attention, however, was his face. The man's face had two tattoos, below the eyes, like arrows pointing downwards. They were a shade of blood-red, and gave him an appearance that was as sinister as his wish. His green eyes showed no sign of emotion, and no hint of humanity anywhere. He was very muscular, but still slight in stature, and his clothes appeared to have been chosen to show off his physique.
He wore a dark green tank top, with a black denim vest over the top. The vest was tattered and torn in places, particularly on the sleeves, giving him a rough look. His black jeans and green and black boots completed his tough-guy look, but there was one other thing that caught Gohan's attenion.
On the inside of the man's right forearm, there was a tattoo. The tattoo was shaped like a ribbon, and it was coloured red. Two letter "r"s decorated each side of the carefully placed ribbon, and as Gohan's eyes widened in understanding, the Android's menacing grin grew wider across his face.
"He's an Android!" Gohan called out, finally pushing Goten behind him, in case he needed to protect his younger brother.
"What?" Piccolo snapped, turning his head from the Android to Gohan, then back. "How do you know that?"
"The eyes, the face.. The attitude. And the Red Ribbon tattoo on his right arm!" Gohan yelled back to Piccolo, who gazed at the tattoo; which the Android seemed to have no intention of hiding it.
Gohan and Piccolo got into their fighting stances, taking a few clear steps in front of the others. Dende backed off, and Goten watched with an eyebrow raised as his brother got ready to fight. Videl, unsure of what was happening, pulled Goten and Trunks back, though Trunks - after hearing stories of his future doppelgänger - seemed to have some understanding that they were in trouble.
Gohan stepped forward to make a move, knowing the Android could be dangerous, but the Android shook his head, wagging a finger at Gohan like a parent punishing a small child. Gohan stopped in his tracks, shocked. At first he thought the Android was going to attack him, but instead he just spoke 2 words in his deep, husky voice.
"Not today."
The confusing, multiple meaning phrase were the Android's last words before he took off, flying away too fast for any of the Z-Fighters to follow, and as an Android, they couldn't even sense where he was; which explained how he had managed to sneak up on them so well.
"Someone tell me what just happened?" Videl asked, finally stepping forwards toward Gohan.
Gohan turned around to Videl, who knew all about Cell and what he had done - and more recently the true story as to how he had been defeated - and swallowed hard, preparing himself to try and explain the baffling event that had just taken place.
"I think... I think we have to fight Cell again." Gohan explained simply. "That guy there, he was one of Doctor Gero's Androids - a group of synthetic humans that were designed to fight; or more specifically, fight and defeat my father before he died. Cell is one of those Androids, but a much more powerful one. I'm not sure where this guy came from, because Doctor Gero is dead, but it's worrying, because he clearly had more plans than we could ever realize."
"But why? Goku is dead. There's nothing left for Gero to take out, Goku was his only target." Piccolo argued, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Unless... Unless this Android was created for the sole intention of reviving Cell if he should fall." Dende cut in, stepping forwards.
"What do you mean?" Gohan asked the young Namek, and the newest Guardian of the Earth.
"I mean, when Trunks first came here from the future all those years ago, he warned you guys of 2 Androids, that were 17 and 18, that were going to terrorize the Earth, right?" Dende waited for the others to nod before he continued. "Yet he had no clue about Cell coming here, or Android 16. Or the fact that 17 and 18 would turn on Doctor Gero so early."
"What are you getting at, Dende?" Piccolo asked, becoming impatient for the younger to make his point.
"Gohan, you also said that Cell came here in Trunks' time machine, yet Trunks had his on him the whole time he was here?" Gohan nodded again, beinning to catch on to what Dende was telling him. "Which means the only possible way for that to happen is that there's another split timeline. Even though both Cell and the future Trunks came from the same timeline, there would have to be a split somewhere in order for both to exist in one place at the same time.
"All I'm saying is, what if there's more timelines going on than we thought? What if in one of those timelines, Doctor Gero predicted that Cell would be defeated - or perhaps Cell had already been beaten - and he created this Android for the purposes of bringing him back for another chance. After he died in our timeline, or any other, if he knew about his own death in any other timeline, he would have become enraged at Goku, you, and all the others who fought at the Cell games and helped you beat Cell, and he may want revenge for that."
"That makes sense. But I just don't understand why it happened now." Gohan sighed.
"I guess because this is the first time we've gathered the Dragon Balls in one place and summoned Shenron since we beat Cell." Piccolo interjected. "Maybe this was the first chance he had."
"Either way, we need to focus on finding this Android to get some information, and maybe our last wish can help us do that." Gohan looked to Piccolo, who nodded.
"What? No! The last wish was to bring mom back, remember?" Goten yelled angrily, tugging on the leg of Gohan's pants to get his attention.
"Hey, little guy," Gohan bent down to his 7-year-old brother's height, and placed a hand atop his head, "we can wish mom back another time, but we really gotta find out what's going on here. The whole Earth could be in danger."
"But why can't we bring her back?" Goten asked again, not seeming to understand the circumstance.
"Look, Goten," Piccolo stepped forward, gaining both brothers' attention, "we can't wish your mother back now. We don't want to risk it. If we bring her back now, and Cell is on the loose, if she's killed again we can't revive her. But if we wait until we know the world is safe, then we can bring her back peacefull without any problems. Understand?"
Goten looked between Gohan and Piccolo for a moment, tears filling his eyes, but he nodded. Taking a moment before he spoke, the child sighed and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.
"Do you really thing we could be in that much trouble?" Goten asked.
"Afraid so, bro." Gohan replied, standing up.
"Your wish. I am growing impatient." Shenron finally spoke up, reminding everyone he was still there.
"This isn't exactly a wish, but can you tell us where you revived Cell to?" Gohan asked, willing to try anything to get the information he needed.
"No, I can not. But I can tell you that you need not search for the creature "Cell". In time, you will discover the plans of Doctor Gero. But you must be ready. That is all I can say. Farewell."
With the final words, Shenron slowly faded away into a beam of light, which served as a centre for the ring of Dragon Balls to rise up around, spinning in a circle. They began spinning faster and faster, until finally they broke apart, disappearing in an instant to all corners of the globe, and the dark skies finally returned to normal.
Gohan thought hard about Shenron's words as he looked out to the now-clear skies. He had a lot of explaining to do to everyone, and a lot of training to do if it was true that Cell was back. They had to be ready.