The boy tells them to go to a certain point and wait for Goku's arrival. Just like he said, Goku arrives right on time, and everybody is astonished. Goku says his hellos and shows them his new trick "instant transmission". The boy requests to speak with Goku alone. He reveals his name, Trunks to Goku. And also that he is from the future and is Vegeta and Bulma's son! He can't tell anyone incase Vegeta and Bulma don't get together after hearing it. He informs Goku of androids that will attempt to destroy the Earth in three years. Everybody but Trunks will survive, not even Goku, due to a heart disease. He gives Goku the remedy and goes back to his normal time line in his time machine.

Of course by now Goku forgot half of what he says, but luckily Piccolo's ears picked up on the whole thing. The Z team spends their 3 years training and preparing for the androids assault. Trunks is born, and Future Trunks comes back to help with the battle. Two androids appear and start attacking the city. Trunks finds that these androids aren't the ones he described before. These androids were #19 and #20. The Z Warriors attack the two robotic menaces. Goku can easily take #19, but is seeming to lose energy quickly. It is the heart disease. Goku didn't take the medicine because the disease was late and he thought it wasn't coming at all. Goku get's trampled by #19, and almost all of his energy is sucked from him by #19's energy absorbers in his hands.

Just when it seems Goku is out forever, Vegeta appears, in Super Saiyan form! He had been so mad at himself for not becoming stronger than Goku or even Trunks, that he went Super Saiyan from his own rage towards himself. Vegeta beats #19 around like a rag doll, and eventually rips his hands off, then blowing him to bits.

Dr. Gero, who is actually #20, nearly escapes to his lab, with the Z warriors close behind. Gero activates the two androids Trunks saw, #17 and #18. These two are way more powerful then #19 and #20. The disobedient androids kill Gero.

(IN TRUNKS' TIME LINE) Cell, aka #21 (Gero's finest creation, made from all the cells of the greatest fighters in the universe, such as Goku, and Vegeta, and Frieza among others) is absorbing humans with his special tail to gain more power. But he can't be perfect without absorbing #17 and #18. But in this time line they have been destroyed by Cell. Cell finds Trunks inside his time machine and kills him. Then Cell makes his way through time to the point that we are at now, where #17 and #18 are still alive, keeping Cell's perfection chances alive.

(NORMAL TIME LINE) #17 and #18 have just activated a huge android called #16. He is another android, only programmed to kill Goku. Cell has appeared, he is making his way through the cities to absorb people, and looking for his missing parts he needs, #17 and #18. The fighters try to take out #17 and #18 but to no avail. They try their best to take out the androids before Cell gets there. Piccolo has now merged with Kami to take out the androids. Piccolo goes after Cell, but takes in a hard beating, finding out that Cell know's every bodies moves!

Vegeta, Trunks, Goku and Gohan have been training in a special room, called the "hyperbolic time chamber" where a year passes in one day. Piccolo also trains here later. The four train in this chamber to get as strong as possible. During Goku and Gohan's session, Gohan reaches the Super Saiyan form! Trunks, Vegeta, and Goku all have reached the Ultimate Super Saiyan form, but it is slow due to the bulky muscles is gives you.

Over many battles, #17 is absorbed along with #18 later. Cell has now reached his perfect form. He is phenomenally strong, and makes up a "tournament" called the Cell Games. He makes a stage for fighting, and invites all the greatest fighters of the world to go and fight him. He gives 10 days to prepare. The Z Warriors and Hercule, the greatest fighter (or at least to normal people) in the world enters too. He is very weak with a power level of 140. Two of his lackeys also fight, but are beaten without Cell moving a millimeter. Hercule takes his turn, and gets in a couple of punches before being rocketed into a mountain by Cell singlehandedly.

Goku is the first of the Z Warriors to fight Cell. He fights Cell holding back, and Cell is holding back. Cell tires of staying on the fighting stage, and destroys it in a huge blast. Now there aren't any rules. They battle more, and Goku blows off Cell's top half with a point-blank Kamehameha using the instant transmission move. Just when it seems the battle is finally over, Cell regenerates himself completely. The two battle more and Cell overpowers Goku. Goku has a plan though. He gives up, much to the dismay of the others, especially Vegeta. Goku chooses to send in Gohan for the next fighter. Gohan fights with Cell, and gets a huge beating. But he never gives up. Cell learns that he can have a real fight if he can release Gohan's savage anger he has inside.

Gohan still holds back. Cell beats on Gohan even more and the giant #16 (who now is on the side of good, and has been rebuilt by Dr. Briefs and Bulma) can't stand it anymore. He jumps in and gives Cell a giant bear hug. He claims that he has a self-destruction system that will destroy Cell along with himself. Krillin then informs #16 that his bomb has been removed by Bulma and the doctor during his reconstruction! Cell hears this and blasts #16 into a million pieces. He continues his emotional onslaught with attacking the Z warriors with his spawn, the Cell Jr.'s. They are smaller blue versions of himself, but pack quite a punch, and only Vegeta and Trunks can defend themselves (Goku has been worn down by his battle with Cell)

Gohan looks on in horror. #16's head (which was still intact) asks Hercule to carry him over to Gohan. The fraidy-cat Hercule tosses the head right in-between Cell and the young boy. #16 gives a very touching speech about how it's sometimes okay to release his anger. And to do it for the nature and animals that he loves so much. Upon hearing this, Cell turns around and stomps on #16's head, crushing it. This pushes Gohan over the edge, and he goes to a new level of Super Saiyan, level 2.

Gohan then takes out all 7 Cell Jr.'s with ease, and nearly destroys Cell with a huge Kamehameha. Cell regenerates once more, and pumps himself up just like Trunks did when he went Ultimate Super Saiyan. Cell is too slow, and Gohan plants a well-placed kick into Cell's stomach, causing the menace to cough up #18, reverting back to his second form.

Cell knows he is no match for Gohan now, and ops to self-destruct, which will kill them all, destroying the planet! Gohan is beaten. He could have killed Cell, but he was just flaunting his new power. He has failed. Nobody has a plan but Goku. Goku appears in front of Cell and Gohan. He says his goodbyes to his son and tells him to be strong. Goku places his hand on the huge Cell, and teleports to the only place he can think of, King Kai's Planet.

The behemoth explodes as Goku apologizes to King Kai, and kills Goku, King Kai, and his pets, destroying the planet. In heaven (or the next dimension, whatever) Goku and King Kai can't see Cell, since he died too. Little did they know, Cell regenerated from a single surviving cell, into his Perfect form, even more powerful then before. He also has learned Goku's newest technique, Instant Transmission, and teleports back to the battlefield. And in a matter of seconds, a blast shoots right through the chest of Trunks, nearly killing him. Cell shows himself, much to the horror of the grieving warriors. All the warriors fight Cell, especially Vegeta, enraged by what Cell did to his son. But he can't take him out, and Vegeta is knocked flat. Cell powers up to blow Vegeta away, but Gohan bravely jumps in front of the huge blast, and injures his arm to the point of no use. Gohan faces Cell as he powers up a Kamehameha, and Gohan gets a message from his dead father. He tells him to do a Kamehameha at Cell, even if his arm is broken. Gohan charges a huge one-handed Kamehameha, and the two attacks clash. They put all their energy into the attack. Vegeta gets up and blasts Cell from behind, causing Cell to lose concentration, giving Gohan the power to finish him off. Gohan incinerates Cell with his Kamehameha, powered by him and the spirit of his father.

The fight is finally over, and everybody can relax, for now. Since Goku gathered all of the Dragonballs, they can make their two wishes. They wish for everybody killed by Cell to return including Trunks, but that doesn't include Goku, due to his being resurrected once already. They pose the plan to go to Namek and have Porunga do the wish, since that dragon can grant as many life-giving wishes as he feels. Goku telepathically talks to the group, telling them that he should stay in heaven, since all the enemies that they've had been looking for him, and not anyone else. The group sadly accepts. The second wish is used by Krillin, to wish #17 and #18 to be human, but #17 is gone with Cell. #18 thanks him for the wish, but doesn't like him for it, poor Krillin.

Future Trunks returns to his regular time line and easily destroys both the androids and Cell, now that he has gotten much stronger since he got here.