The stranger flies to the Z Warriors and tells that Goku will be back in exactly 3 hours at a location not too far away. The Z cast follow the teen and wait. The boy refuses to tell anything, except for his age. In three hours, Goku really does land on Earth on a spacepod. More startling, Goku has never seen the teen before. The boy tells Goku to talk to him alone. The stranger introduces himself as Trunks. (his story is told in the Trunks Story) He tells that he is the only surviving warrior in a future 20 years from now. He traveled back in time to alter the past so that his ruined time would change. Trunks mentions that in exactly three years, two super strong beings will appear. These beings are cyborgs of Dr. Gero, the scientist of Red Ribbon who was thought to be dead. They will kill everyone (including their creator Dr. Gero and live only to destroy, recking everything in path for no reason). Trunks also tells that Goku will develop a heart disease and die from it. The disease is incurable now, but its curable by Trunks' timeline. Trunks hands Goku the heart disease medicine and tells him to prepare for the future. Trunks also slips out that he is the son of Vegeta and Bulma. (Bulma and Yamcha broke up and Bulma felt sorry for Vegeta's loneliness. They fell in love and Trunks was to be born in two years.) Trunks tells that he will be back in three years and flies off in his time machine. Goku returns to his friends on the other side of a cliff. Goku tells how he survived Namek. When Namek prepared to explode, Goku entered Freeza's spaceship, but the ship didn't work. One of the Ginyu Force's ship was nearby and Goku rode in it. He crashed in a nearby planet, Yadrat, where the Yadratrians taught him how to teleport. Then, Goku traveled back to Earth. Piccolo then tells that Nameks have better hearing than Earthlings and Saiyans, and that he overheard the entire conversation between Goku and Trunks. Piccolo tells everyone of Trunks' news.

Everyone is now training to get ready for the Androids that Trunks warned them about. Gohan, Goku, and Piccolo train in the mountains. Vegeta trains himself under to 450 times the gravity of Earth in Capsule 3, keeping in mind that his main goal is to get stronger than Goku. Yamcha, Krillen, Tenshinhan, and Chauzu also undergo rigorous training to prepare for the future.

Three years pass...
Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo fly to the southern island 90 miles away from where Trunks appeared to regroup with the others. They encounter Krillen on the way and everyone lands to meet with Yamcha and Tenshinhan (Chauzu was left behind because he wasn't too strong to be of any use in fighing.) Bulma is also there holding a baby, to whom is introduced as her child, Trunks. Bulma tells that she is there to see how the Androids look like. Everyone except Goku and Piccolo becomes startled that the baby is Vegeta's kid. Yajirobe flies on a hovercraft in to give the warriors a bag of senzu beans from Korin. Everyone looks at the city below the cliff in which they stand on but see no signs of the Androids. Yajirobe is leaving and his ship mysteriously explodes. The Z Warriors separate to investigate while Gohan brings Yajirobe to safety. Two mysterious figures, Androids 19 and 20 jump around the city killing the people they pass by. Yamcha unknowingly encounters the strange figures in his search for the androids. Android 20 grabs Yamcha by the mouth, stealing energy in the myst, and jabs his hand through him. The others sense Yamcha's troubling ki and arrive to the scene. Krillen takes Yamcha's body back to Bulma for senzu. Goku, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, and the Androids fly off to more deserted areas for better fighting grounds. The Androids request to stop at Stone Mountain. Piccolo sees it as the androids' advantage for fighting because they can hide in the mountain mazes if they lose the battle. Goku and Android 19 battle first. Goku has the advantage, but doesn't do too well even in Super Saiyan level.

Yamcha is revived with a senzu. He tells that the androids have the ability to absorb energy. Gohan, Krillen, and Yamcha then go to warn their comrades of this factor. Android 19 absorbs part of Goku's energy via Goku's kamehameha before he is warned of the androids' ability. Goku suddenly suffers from his heart failure and collapses. Android 19 beats Goku around and then begins to absorb the remains of Goku. Vegeta leaps in to save Goku, telling that it will be he who will be the one to defeat Kakarot. To everyone's surprise, Vegeta powers up into Super Saiyan too. He tells how during training, he relaized that he training methods were not going to be good enough to defeat Goku, so he got so angry that turned into a Super Saiyan. Yamcha goes and takes Goku back to Master Roshi's place to recover. Vegeta beats Android 19 and purposely lets him steal some of his energy. Then, he kills the android off. Android 20 watches and realizes how he miscalculated the power levels of the Z Warriors. Thinking that he will lose to Vegeta, Android 20 runs away. Vegeta demands a senzu to restore his energy and then pursuits after his target. Everyone joins in the hunt.

Meanwhile....
Trunks returns from the future and looks for the Z Warriors. Seeing the decapitulated head of Android 19, he realizes that the Z Warriors were fighting the wrong androids. Android 20 sees that he's been surrounded and makes a move to absorb Piccolo's energy. Gohan comes and saves him, and Piccolo is restored back to full energy with a senzu. Android 20 is surrouned again and is about to be killed. Trunks also arrives to the scene, telling that Androids 19 and 20 are not the ones that will terrorize the future. Bulma flies in with baby Trunks and Yajirobe. Dr. Gero shatters the ship with a fireball to create a diversion for escape. Trunks rescues his mother and his baby self. Bulma tells the identity of the android she saw. Android 20 is really Dr. Gero, who created Android 19 to which he used in turn to make himself into an android. Trunks tells that Androids 19 and 20 are the wrong set of androids to fight. Androids 17 and 18 are the real targets, but are not yet awaken. Gohan carries Bulma, baby Trunks, and Yajirobe to fly back home. Everyone else flies off to destroy Dr. Gero's lab before Androids 17 and 18 can be unleashed. Dr. Gero realizes this plan and also races towards his lab. Dr. Gero, knowing the hidden location of his lab, gets to it faster than the Z Warriors. The Z Warriors catch up, but by the time they reach the lab Androids 17 and 18 have already been released. Everyone watches the androids. Androids 17 and 18 make a mess of their creator's laboratory and then Android 17 slices Dr. Gero's head off before crushing it. Androids 17 and 18 also head to the pod of another android, Android 16, and release him. Finally, they head to face the Z Warriors. In a remote area, Androids 17 and 18 easily beat Tenshinhan, Piccolo, Trunks, and Vegeta. Android 16 refuses to fight, telling that he was created to destroy Goku only. Krillen, too scared to fight, watches the horror. The androids head to Krillen and tell him that the Z Warriors are not dead yet. They confess that everything is a game, and that they'll be glad to fight their enemies again once they get stronger. Before they leave, Android 18 gives Krillen a kiss on the cheek and the androids fly away.

The Z Warriors suspect the Androids of coming to Goku's house to kill him and move Goku to the Kame House. On the journey, Bulma contacts the crew and tells our the discovery of an abandoned time machine much like Trunks', but Trunks has his machine a capsule with him. He tells that Bulma only made one capsule in the future, and Trunks and Gohan fly in to investigate. Nearly, the shell of a creature hatched not too long ago is discovered. In a closeby town, the mysterious creature is absorbing everyone. Piccolo sees that the only way to defeat the Androids would be to power up dramatically, and decides to fuse back with Kami. Kami, God of the earth, watches an enemy unlike any other attack Gingertown. Victims are completely consumed, and no one is spared. Kami tells Piccolo that the earch does not need a god now, but a super warrior instead. The two fuse with Piccolo as the base, and the two become one again. Piccolo flies to the town with the strange evil being who is absorbing everyone. (All the inhabitants of the town have vanished and only empty clothing remain.) The being hatched from the time machine shows itself. The two fight and the creature holds Piccolo captive and absorbs an arm. Piccolo breaks free and demands to know more about his opponent before he loses his life to it. The creature yields to what he believes to be Piccolo's final wish before he absorbs him. It introduces itself as Cell, another one of Dr. Gero's creations. When Trunks returned to the future and killed Androids 17 and 18 of that time, Cell killed Trunks and stole his time machine to return to the past where the Androids were still alive. Cell reveals about how Dr. Gero abandoned the project on him but left the computer on to develop him on its own. In order to reach perfect form, he needed the beings of two figures crucial to the powerup- Androids 17 and 18. As newly hatched, he needed energy. That is why he has been absorbing people. Piccolo laughs and tells that he won't let Cell reach perfect form. Then, he tears off his useless limb and regenerates his arm. The two fight again, but Cell escapes the town to enter other parts of the city, where he continues to kill for energy. Piccolo and his comrades hunt for Cell before it is too late...

The Androids are heading for Goku's house via car and trashing any unlucky cities they pass by.When they finally reach Goku's house, they find it abandoned and then slowly travel to Kame's House, thinking the whole process of "hunt and kill Goku" is a game. Goku recovers from his illness and, hearing everything while asleep, prepares to join in fighting. He teleports for Gohan and then to Vegeta and Trunks' location, telling of a place where they can train for one year in one day. Everyone goes to Sky Palace and enter the Room of Spirit and Time, where time passes by slower. Only two people can train at a time in the room. Vegeta and Trunks enter first. After devouring many civilians, Cell grows strong enough to face the Androids and head for them. The Androids reached the Kame House. The Non-Saiyan Z Warriors are there and Piccolo stalls. Piccolo and the Androids fly to a nearly island and battles Android 17 while the remaining Androids watch. As the two fight, Cell reaches them. Cell easily beats Piccolo and heads for Android 17. Android 17 knows nothing about Cell and attempts to bully him, but Cell also easily beats the android. Before Cell is able to absorb Android 17, #16 interferes and challenges Cell. He proves to be a much fairer opponent, and an even match for Dr. Gero's DNA experiment. Cell tries to absorb #16's energy, but finds that there is nothing to steal. It is then that #16 reveals he is 100% robotic, and contains absolutely no organic material (#17 and #18 are based on human beings). He continued to rip Cell to pieces. However, with Piccolo's ability to regenerate, he takes little physical damage. #16 and Cell continued to duel, with the big android getting the upper-hand. The recepient of a Rocket Punch and a Hell's Flash, Cell was looking down and out. Thinking he was dead, #17 and #18 refuse to leave, despite #16's pleas. After realizing Cell is still alive, #17 challenges him to fight. This was the break Cell was looking for. He sneaks up behind #17 and quickly absorbs him with his tail. The first transformation begins. #16 grabs #18 and flies away as fast as he can, but apparently it's not fast enough. Cell steps in front of the two fleeing androids and blasts #16 in the head, tearing a part of it off. As number #18 frantically threatens to destroy herself, Tenshinhan steps into the battle.

The first blast hits Cell and drives him into the Earth. Tenshinhan tells the androids to get away, and continues to use his Kikoho attack on the monster. Since the area of affect is quite large, Cell is unable to escape the hole in the ground Tenshinhan has confined him to. However, this was taking a massive toll on his body, and he couldn't keep it up for long. With the last of his energy gone, Ten's unconscious body drifts to the ground. Cell gets ready to evaporate his body for letting the androids get away, but Goku teleports in. He tells Cell that in one day he will be ready to mop the floor with him. Goku senses Piccolo's ki, and realizes that he's alive (but barely). He teleports to his body, then transports both fallen warriors to Kami's palace just before Cell can get a hit on Goku.

Kuririn and Buruma reach each other. Bulma gives him the device to destroy the androids. However, it must be used no more than 10 meters away. Cell begins his search for #18, who is hiding with #16 on an island. To everyone's surprise, the door to the room of spirit and time finally opens. Vegita and Trunks emerge, and inform the others that they have both surpassed Super Saiya-jin. Buruma arrives in her jet, bringing special light-weight battle uniforms for the Z warriors. After putting on these new clothes, Trunks and Vegita rush to Cell's ki. Cell is becoming increasing frustrated with being unable to locate #18, and flies high into the air. He screams so loudly that everyone on the islands below can hear he cries. He threatens to destroy each and every island until #18 comes out, and begins to do so. With the room of spirit and time now vacant, Goku and Gohan begin their "year" of training. Cell continues to obliterate island after island until only one is left. He charges a large energy attack, but Vegita interupts him. To his surprise, Vegita has suddenly become a lot stronger. He shows Cell what is beyond Super Saiya-jin, and Cell does not like it one bit. Blow after blow land, and Cell is powerless to stop the onslaught (though he does retaliate with a few weak attacks in edgewise). Vegita toys with his opponent, who is nowhere near his level, and holds back in killing him. Cell begins to whine about not being complete. Meanwhile, Kuririn had arrived on the island, and was searching for #18 to deactivate her. He finds her, and manages to sneak very close. However, our emotional hero begins to have second thoughts about destroying the woman who gave him a playful peck on the cheek earlier. Cell desperately tries to convince Vegita that he will be a challenge if he becomes perfect. Luckily for him, it works. Vegita lets Cell search for #18, but Trunks stands in the way. He refuses to let Vegita's pride endanger the lives of the people of Earth. Kuririn finally makes a decision: He walks into #18's field of view, and smashes the controller. The androids are very surprised by Kuririn's action. While father and son are bickering, Cell spots #18.

As Cell swoops down towards his meal, Trunks once again blocks his path. Cell is pounded into some mountains, where he quickly masks his Ki and burrows underground. He sneaks up on #18, and Trunks tries to prevent Cell from devouring her with his tail. However, Vegita wants to see Cell reach perfection, and bats his own son away. #16 and Kuririn try to interfere, but are easily dispatched. In his desperation, Trunks launches an energy ball at Vegita, and blasts him far from the battle scene. Cell makes more advances on #18, but AGAIN Trunks kicks him away. Frustrated by all the interference, Cell uses a Taiyoken on the Z warriors. With everyone blinded, he zips down and absorbs #18. Cell begins his transformation to perfection. Waves of energy spread across the Earth, and Cell completes his transformation. In the room of spirit and time, Goku and Gohan are still busily training. When Goku finally goes all out on Gohan, his son finally reaches Super Saiya-jin. Back on the ground, Cell is admiring his new body...so much that he just ignores Kuririn and Trunks who are busy trying to kill him with a flurry of attacks. Kuririn forms a Kienzan, and chucks it at Cell. To his surprise, the attack bounces right off him. Cell smashes his body in response, but Trunks aids him with a Senzu almost immediately. Vegita flies down to challenge this new Cell, and seems fairly even with him in power at the beginning. His confidence slowly fades as he realizes he's not putting a dent in Cell. Vegita is kicked around a bit, and becomes severly pissed off. He flies into the air and challenges Cell to take his energy attack head on. Cell stubbornly obliges. Vegita's Final Flash packs a huge punch, and disintegrates Cell's right arm and shoulder. But thanks to Cell's regenerative capabilites, he just grows a new one in its place. He quickly knocks Vegita unconscious, and is about to kill him...until he notices Trunks is charging up a massive amount of Ki.

Trunks and Cell begin to do battle, and it looks like Cell has the upper hand. As Trunks lies on the ground from one of Cell's hits, he looks at Kuririn and points at Vegita's body. Kuririn realizes that Trunks was letting himself get attacked on purpose so that Vegita would not be harmed. As he flies away with Vegita, Cell tells Trunks to fight all-out. The warriors exchange more attacks, this time not holding back. Trunks powers up an insane amount, and grow tremendously buff. Cell admits that Trunks has much more power than he does, but the Saiya-jin had no chance of defeating him. Goku and Gohan are still training in the room of spirit and time, honing their skills. Goku demonstrates USSJ for Gohan, but tells him that it is a foolish form. Since the muscles grow to such a large size, the form is very slow and easy to dodge. Attacks pack a lot of power, but it's doubtful they'll hit their target. Cell is telling Trunks the exact same thing. Thinking himself as a fool, Trunks orders Cell to kill him. The green monster has a better idea: A martial arts tournament. He tells the Z warriors that it will be held in 10 days, and that if anyone can kill him, the Earth will not be destroyed. When asked what his goal is, Cell informs them that he has none. He just fights for the fun of it, and is not interested in world conquest or killing Son Goku. Meanwhile...

The training in the Room of Spirit and Time is complete and the Saiyan warriors emerge stronger than ever. The parts of Android 16 are gathered and Bulma rebuilds him to fight as a Z Warrior. Everyone is ready to face Cell again. A tournament is held to fight Cell in what is known as the "Cell Game". In this "game", if Cell wins he will destroy the earth. Goku and Cell battle to a standstill. The battle gets intense, but Goku suddenly surrenders and tells Gohan to take his place. Goku gives Cell a senzu bean to make it fair for Cell. Everyone is shocked at what Gokou did. This is by far one of the dumbest things Goku did. But thanks to Goku Gohan did get a certain advantage....

Gohan tells that he understands why his father is making him fight. He tells that whenever he gets angry, he powers up unbelievably. Cell boasts that he wants to see this hidden strength of Gohan's and begins torturing him to make him angry. Goku calmly watches while Gohan is still not angry enough to fight back. Gohan is getting beaten badly but Goku tells his comrades to just watch and wait. Android 16, a robot, has no "ki" so he can't be sensed. The android silently walks to Cell and puts him into a grabs him. Android 16 tells everyone to clear out because he will ignite the doomsday device that Dr. Gero placed in his creations as a backup plan. Krillen shouts that it won't work because Bulma removed the bomb when he rebuilt the robot. Cell laughs and shatters Android 16 again. Cell grows tired of this and threatens to harm the spectators- Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, Klilyn, Tenshin-han, Yamcha, and Piccolo. Cell flies to Krillen to steals his bag of senzu beans and heads back to Gohan. He counts seven spectators and, from his tail, spits out seven Cell mini-mes, blue duplicates of himself. The Cell Juniors are born. Gohan watches desperately as the seven little monsters fly towards his comrades. Goku, too weak to fight after fighting Cell, is unable to fend off the Juniors. The other Z Warriors get beaten as well. Gohan only watches in distress, seeing that it's because of him that Cell afflicted the attacks upon his comrades.

In the background, Satan (the earth's most popular and greatest martial arts fighter. but of course we all know that any of the Z warriors can beat him like he was nobody.) his disciples, a reporter, and a camera-man have been boardcasting the fight. Android 16's head was thrown in the direction of Satan. The head begins to talk and request that it be brought close to Gohan, telling that this is the only way that the world can be saved. After much reluctance, Satan cowardly carries the head across the battlefield, throws it in front of Gohan, and hides behind a rock again. Android 16's head encourages Gohan to fight. Cell sees the touching scene and crushes the head with his foot. The death of Android 16 triggers the hidden rage in Gohan and he powers up to Super Saiyan level 2, surpassing the limits of the ordinary Super Saiyan and Ultra Super Saiyan levels. Gohan steals the senzu back from Cell and then single-handedly kills all Cell Juniors. Gohan heads for Cell and bullies him. Cell powers up to 100% and attacks, but is still unable to defeat Gohan. With a kick in the body, Cell spits Android 18 back out and degrades back into form 2. Seeing no way to win in an even weaker form, Cell activates his self-destruct sequence (the bomb in his body) so that the planet will go with him. To save the Earth, Goku teleports Cell to Kaiou's planet (another of Goku's brilliant well thought strategy, if u still havent guessed this was one of the most sarcastic things i have ever said). Cell explodes and Kaiou's tiny planet gets ruined. Goku, Kaiou, Bubbles, and Gregory die at the cost of saving the earth.

The Z Warriors stand stunned at what happened, not knowing whether to mourn the loss of Goku or cheer the victory that the earth has been saved. An unexpected fireball flies out and pierces through Trunks. Trunks dies before he hits the ground. Cell, in perfect form, appears smiling. The Z Warriors must face Cell again, without Goku. Cell tells that when he exploded, the nucleus of one of his brain cells survived. From the cell, mitosis was possible and he was able to regenerate his entire body. Cell boasts that he was also able to rebuild himself in perfect form, commenting that it may be the work of the Saiyan cells in possesses. Saiyans grow stronger each time they reach the brink of death, and likewise with these cells, Cell is now stronger. Vegeta becomes outraged and shoots hundreds of fireballs at Cell. The smoke clears and reveals Cell unscathed. Cell flies over and knocks Vegeta out. Then, he aims a fireball at Vegeta's helpless body and shoots. Gohan intervenes the blast to save Vegeta's life, taking the blast for him. Gohan gets back up with half his body bloody. Cell and Gohan blast Kamehameha blasts at each other and a fireball duel is followed to see who can hold out longer. Cell's fireball begins to overwhelm Gohan's, but Gohan simply tries to hold out without much effort of fighting back. Through Kaiou, Goku yells to encourage his son. The remaining Z Warriors (Yamcha, Tenshin-han, Krillen, and Piccolo) shoot fireballs at Cell to try to help Gohan, but Cell's aura blows them away each time.

Vegeta wakes back up and flies above Cell, telling himself that it is impossible for low class Saiyans (Goku and Gohan) to be stronger than him, an elite warrior and also Prince of all Saiyans. He charges up a fireball and blasts it at Cell. In this distraction, Goku tells Gohan that now's his chance. Gohan strengthens his fireball and overwhelms Cell, disintegrating the monster in the blast.The Z Warriors cheer over this victory and head to Sky Palace. Vegeta staggers away in disbelief that Gohan is stronger than he. Satan and the news reporters revive back to consciousness. Satan, seeing the area empty, takes advantage and takes credit for killing Cell, taking titles for "The World Champion who saved the world from Cell" and "The Strongest Man in the Universe". As the world parades for Satan, the Z Warriors are in Sky Palace. Dende heals Gohan and Trunks. Android 18 awakens. The Z Warriors threaten to kill her, but Krillen tells them not to. Android 18 flees. The warriors yell at Krillen for his decision, but then tease that he has a crush on her. The dragonballs have been gathered. Two wishes are permitted. A wish is made to remove the bombs in the Androids. Another is made to revive all those killed by Cell. However, Goku is still dead. Through Kaiou, Goku tells that it is okay. The Z Warriors all reflect on Gokou's life.Satan emerges a hero. Gohan breaks the news about Goku to his mother.