[1] Cell - Wastelands

[Burter]

9. Cell

The map blipped over to the left. A green dot, labeled '9' appeared out of no where. Brim smiled, the alien had taken the bait. His hands moved over the dials, mainly to unleash a particular amount of FoF Goons to warm his up.

"He's ready, Kao," the emerald executive told his son. "Go get him."

A shuffle behind him. Kao had gotten up, stretching to get sense back in his body. "Why do I have to do this again?"

"This, my dear boy, is how you manipulate the viewers," he grinned evily. "Make them like who you want them to like. Make them hate who you want them to hate."

"So, why this guy?"

"The fans think this loser has a chance. Make them think differently."

-----

As Cell expected, the entire ordeal had been an elaborate trap to get him alone in the middle of nowhere. He had been teleported away from his group after volunteering to leaving; something Brim counted on. Now the bio-android stood in the middle of the rocky wastelands under the starry sky, waiting for what he expected to be an ambush.

"Ahh...right on time."

He looked over to the left. Five of those large purplish green monsters wearing the corny 'FoF' shirts were moving towards him. He took a breath, waiting a few moments, as they neared closer...

With speed that rivaled a jet, Cell blasted three ki blasts, one after the other. Two of them blasted past one goon and hit another, while the third just took out one. It was a short two second battle that resulted in all five landing on the ground, dead, at once.

His celebration was short lived. A pain seered through his neck like a needle had been jolted deep down inside it. The young powerful green boy, Kao, had elbowed the transformer in the neck, forcing him to his knees. Kao then kicked him forward violently. Cell groaned, struggling to get up with the pain still soaring in his body. "You... fucking... coward."

The android had gotten to his knees when Kao punched him across the jaw, forcing a drop of liquid blood from his aritificial lips. "So here's what I'm thinking we say happened to you, let me know what you think." Kao said absent mindedly, chuckled as he kicked the man while he was down. "You got into this fight with Tereformer Wolves, and the cameras were disabled by the vicious fight. Needless to say," he kneed the man in the face, cracking his nose, "You got pretty beat up."

"I'll never play your game!" Cell snapped, trying to lunge forward but not getting far with the pain now moving into his legs.

Kao headbutted him, laughing when he fell to his knees again. He looked down into that face, so filled with hate for the green teenager. "You're already playing it." He punched Cell once. Twice. Thrice. He finally dropped to the side. "Thanks for cooperating, buddy."

Cell wanted to say something, but the boy had vanished before he could. He was speechless anyway. He had been jumped by a teenager. The boy was probably artificially enhanced anyway; given the many inventions his father had made. That's why he was so strong.

The transformer laid there, letting himself recover. Things weren't looking good.