Borrowed Powers

is the third episode of the Imperfect Cell Saga and the one hundred forty-second overall episode in the uncut Dragon Ball Z series. This episode first aired in Japan on June 3, 1992. Its original American airdate was October 6, 2000.
==Summary==
This episode begins with Piccolo confronting a green monster who has a man in his grasp; the creature’s hostage starts to bargain with Piccolo, saying that he is by far the richest man in the town, and that he will reward him if he saves his life. Piccolo stares down the creature, and adamantly tells him to release the man. Without a word, the monster lets him go, and drops him to the ground. Piccolo is obviously surprised by how easily the creature obeyed his command, but then suddenly, without warning, it stabs the man through the back with the long, sharp tip of his tail. A strange “sucking” noise begins, as the creature slowly begins to absorb the man, just as he did the other townspeople. The man starts to scream, then slowly begins to wither away, then melt, and eventually disappears completely, leaving only his clothing behind. The creature then calls Piccolo by his name. Piccolo asks him why he called him by that name, but the monster will not give him any answers, except that he and him are a lot like brothers. The creature then starts powering up to try to impress Piccolo, but Piccolo is not impressed.
Meanwhile, at Kame House, Gohan feels a huge power level that feels like there are two Piccolos and Krillin feels it too. They run outside and now they feel like it is Frieza and King Cold's power levels and Master Roshi does not believe it is them because Future Trunks destroyed them both. Yamcha feels it too and he thinks it is Goku, but Gohan flies up to where his father is sleeping and tells it is not him either. Krillin flies off to find Future Trunks as he is heading to Gingertown. Krillin and Future Trunks start talking about what huge power levels they sense at Gingertown.
After the anonymous foe is finished powering up, Piccolo starts powering up too. A bigger crater than the creature's is formed under Piccolo, and a huge light form as all the rocks and cement is coming up from the ground. The insectoid monster is pretty impressed with Piccolo's power. Piccolo forms a huge ball of energy and sends it at the enemy.
Elsewhere, Krillin and Future Trunks flying, and a huge flash is seen over the horizon. Krillin tells Future Trunks how Piccolo fused with Kami and is now a Super Namek.
After the blast, the Gingertown monster is not that banged up. Piccolo charges at the monster and dodges a punch from it. He flies up behind it and kicks it in the back. As it recovers, Piccolo does another backflip double kick that the foe dodges. Piccolo disappears and reappears behind the beast and performs his backflip kick again, sending it flying through the air. Then, he runs really fast under him and stops right in front of the creature, but it flies up and surprises Piccolo with a Special Beam Cannon. Piccolo easily deflects it, as it destroys a nearby building. The beast charges Piccolo and they ascend into the sky, trading blows. Piccolo manages to strike the creature in the mouth, dashing downward. As the creature reasserts controls of its flight, Piccolo flies up behind it, and, just as the creature turns to face him, kicks it in the face, sending it crashing to the ground.
Piccolo tells the monster that he is quite impressed by its strength, something he didn't give much credit for. The Super Namekian then asks again how the beast knows his technique, but the creature won't tell, saying it will take a lot more than beating him to unlock his secrets. Piccolo then asks who was responsible for sending the creature back in time and demanded to know what kind of sick motives that person had. The creature, smirking, then makes clear that it alone was responsible for traveling through time and did so of its own accord.
The monster prepares a Kamehameha, and Piccolo is frozen in disbelief that this enemy knows that technique out of all of them. Elsewhere, in the badlands, Vegeta then turns towards the direction of Gingertown while training and says "Kakarot?" with some confusion. In addition, at Kame House, Gohan looks out of the window and then looks towards the comatose Goku behind him and says "Dad?" in a similar tone of confusion (strongly implying that the beast had recombined his own genetic data to match that of Goku's to perform the attack). The monster then shoots the beam, covering the whole screen in the blast. That is when the episode ends.
==Major Events==
*The Z-Fighters sense and are confused by Cell's multiple ki signatures.
*Piccolo destroys Gingertown upon attacking Cell.
==Battles==
*Piccolo vs. Cell (Imperfect)
==Appearances==
===Characters===
*Goku
*Gohan
*Krillin
*Yamcha
*Chi-Chi
*Master Roshi
*Oolong
*Piccolo	
*Mr. Popo
*Vegeta
*Future Trunks
*Android 16
*Android 17
*Android 18
*Cell
*Richest man in Gingertown
===Locations===
*Gingertown
*The Lookout
*Kame House
===Bruce Faulconer tracks===
*"Ginyu Transformation" - When Piccolo confronts Imperfect Cell in Gingertown.
*"Imperfect Cell Theme" - When Imperfect Cell powers up after absorbing the richest man in Gingertown.
*"Cell & Piccolo Face Off" - When Piccolo and Imperfect Cell face off in Gingertown.
*"Super Namek (soundtrack)" - When Piccolo powers up while encountering Imperfect Cell in Gingertown.
*"Kame's Tale" - While Piccolo continues powering up.
*"Cell and Piccolo Fight" - When Piccolo battles Cell.
==Differences from the manga==
*The rich man is seemingly unconscious when Cell reveals himself to Piccolo initially and doesn't stir until he notices the latter. In the manga, he is fearfully awake as Cell drags him towards Piccolo.
*In the manga when Cell powers up and the others at Kame House sense his strange energy, Future Trunks is there with them all. In the anime he is not, being alone while traveling through the skies.
**As a side effect of having Trunks already en route to Gingertown, Krillin is depicted having joined him as backup. The manga never actually shows Trunks leave Kame House and also doesn't depict Krillin volunteering to accompany him; they are already shown flying toward Gingertown before sensing Piccolo's energy wave.
*A scene of Tien and Chiaotzu sensing Cell's multiple energies is not included in the anime.
*Yamcha's line on how Frieza and King Cold were killed by Trunks is given to Master Roshi in the anime.
*In the manga, Goku's energy is immediately felt by all present at Kame House just after Cell powers up. In the anime, they don't detect "Goku" specifically until after they feel Frieza and Cold's powers.
*Cell utilizing the Special Beam Cannon on Piccolo during their battle is only in the anime.
*The scene where Gohan and Vegeta sense "Goku's" energy at Gingertown with some confusion around the time Cell is charging the Kamehameha against Piccolo (and by extension the implication that Cell had recombined his own genetic structure to match Goku's specifically to perform the attack) is exclusive to the anime.
==Trivia==
*In the original Funimation dub, when Imperfect Cell absorbs the richest man in Gingertown, the intro of "Cell Kills Man" is drowned out by the unreleased "Devastation" theme, then gradually the "Cell Kills Gunman" beats until it fades toward the middle of "Cell Kills Man". In the remastered version, "Cell Kills Man" is played in full after the "Ginyu Transformation" theme.
*Cell's absorbing the wealthy man of Gingertown was trimmed slightly in the aired Funimation dub and the Westwood dub, cutting out two shots of his withering face.
*The title "Borrowed Powers" has a double meaning: it can refer to Piccolo utilizing Kami's powers, as well as the fact that Imperfect Cell has the abilities of everyone whose cells he possesses.
*Android 16 specifies 17 alone when measuring Piccolo's new power in English whereas the Japanese has him compare Piccolo's energy to both 17 and 18.
==Gallery==
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