(September 15, 2001 A.D.; 6:30pm; Canton, Ohio)

About 3 and a half hours later, Goku had decided he was finished watching Alex, Jason and Vernon train to do their Kaioken abilities, telling them that now that they had the basic idea of the attack in their heads. That and of course, the fact that only minutes ago, the three of them had finally regained their ability to transform to Super Saiya-jins, and then to Super Saiya-jin 2s. Although they claimed they would keep training the Kaioken, Goku wasn't too sure if they really would or not.

He had sternly warned all three of them that using both Kaioken with a transformation could have lethal consequences, even for someone as strong as himself. Although Devin had turned out to be right about his battle with Pikuhan in the Anoyochi Budokai, Goku had realized that by using Kaioken with Super Saiya-jin that there was a good chance it would be much like the first uses of Super Saiya-jin 3. He knew it would either cause one or the other to peter out, or just plain out kill him if he were alive and doing it. Goku and Vegeta still had about 30 minutes before the curse would wear off on them, since it had taken longer for Oyatsu to place it on the older two Saiya-jin than the younger three.

Goku had decided that he was going to go and see Paula concerning what she had told him in their mental conversation earlier 3 or so hours back. She had sounded concerned and he had the feeling he was going to want to know. Besides, Goku had realized that in all of this time since they had remet that the two old friends had actually found little time to talk personally, aside from THAT particular night.

Goku grumbled to himself, referring to the 2nd of the month when he had made a flaw in his planning and had Shunkan Idou'ed to Paula during one of the worst possible times, while she had been cleaning up in the bathroom shower. Although Goku had teleported in with his back to her and had never actually seen anything indecent, Paula had horribly chewed her friend out about it, literally kicking him out of the bathroom until she could get dressed. Only Vegeta knew about that little incident, which had been the one that had made him realize teleporting to people without warning could yield bad mojo, hence his reasoning to teleport only in emergencies.

Goku walked over to the phone and picked it up, dialing the number that he knew which would contact his old friend.

Seconds later, the phone clicked and Paula responded, "Yes?"

"Paula, it's me. I wanted to know if I should head over there yet or not?" Goku asked.

Paula responded, "Could you wait like one or two minutes. I need to wake up first. You kinda startled me a bit ago."

"Sure, I'll wait for about five, okay? Don't need to get in any more trouble with you than I did the other day." Goku replied.

Paula sighed, "Thanks... you just had to bring that up didn't you? I had pretty much forgotten that until now." she now sounded slightly annoyed.

Goku sweatdropped, "I hadn't thought you'd forget something like that so easily."

Paula replied, "Anyways, enough of that. I don't think Chichi would be too happy if she had any knowledge of this conversation."

"But I never actually saw you. Why would she be so concerned?" Goku asked.

Paula sighed, and stifled a giggle, He's still a bit of a bumpkin. I guess he doesn't have this problem too often. "Even so, I don't think she'd be big on hearing about this, especially about another girl you knew in your past. I remember she was just a bit cautious of Bulma when I saw those two meet back in those days, and even more so of me since I was closer to your size. Man I remember how short you were when you were just 13. I was barely any shorter than you as a 6 year old."

Goku sighed to himself, remembering just how runty he was as a kid. Although those were simpler days, he realized that Goten and Trunks were both taller at the age of eight than he was at the age of thirteen. He then realized that Paula was now taller than he was, by a few inches.

"Hey, I'll be there in a bit. I wanna talk to you as well when I get there. I think it's time we spoke over the stuff that's happened since we split off after Damiaou in detail." Goku replied.

Paula sighed, "Finally you find some time. I've got stuff to tell you, so I hope what you got on your end is just as interesting." Paula replied, and then Goku heard her hang up.

Goku looked around his place a little more, and he noticed Vegeta was absent from the kitchen and the living room as well, which were usually his two main spots when they were resting, and not playing around with Alex's Playstation gaming console he had lent the two of them. He figured Vegeta might be playing solo or doing something on the computer in the upstairs. It was not the most advanced computer in the world, especially when stacked up with the likes of Vernon and Alex's own machines, but it was a hand-me-down from Vernon as a gift of good-will from back when they had all returned to Canton.

Vegeta must've been curious again to see what the hot topics were in the world. What Goku had not realized was that Vegeta was actually on the hunt for a piece of important information, and wanted to see if any of the media of the merged world had began to figure out the truth yet or not.

After about 4 or 5 more minutes passed, Goku had ate a piece of cake, and was ready to teleport off to Paula's house. He placed his index and his middle fingers on his forehead and hoped for heaven's sake that this time he wouldn't screw up his timing. After a second, he suddenly vanished into thin air. Goku then found himself standing in the middle of a large room he had only vaguely seen before. Paula was not in his sight, so he could only guess she was somewhere behind him.

Sure enough, he found out right when her voice came up, "Again you teleport in backwards. Don't worry, I'm dressed this time, you goofball."

Goku turned around and saw to his relief Paula was dressed in the knee-length pink-dress outfit, with the red bow in her hair she usually had on. In fact, Goku remembered even as a child Paula wore a child's size version of the same getup, except her shoes were not originally red, but brown.

"Paula, first things first. Have you been wearing that kind of getup since the entire time we parted ways?" he asked.

Paula looked at him with a strange expression, "Yes, the dress is my usual type of outfit. I don't ALWAYS wear it, like on special occasions, but I haven't changed in appearance too much since we split off."

Goku chuckled, making her look at him funny, "Well, you... certain changed in the assets area..." he said while scratching his head.

Paula blushed and grumbled slightly at this remark, realizing Goku was still in a sense his usual naive self, "Let's NOT talk about that Goku. You have a wife and a son. Besides, back then you never understood that stuff too well. You thought marriage was a kind of food if I recall." she then laughed at Goku's embarrassed expression.

Goku cleared his throat, "Actually, it's TWO sons, and a granddaughter now."

Paula's eyes slightly widened, "Two sons and a granddaughter? Who'd have ever known the Son family would grow so much?" she said in a teasing voice.

"Well, Gohan as you know, is my oldest. He's about 28 by now, and he has a wife, Videl, daughter of one of the strongest non-ki using people in my own world, Mr. Hercule Satan. Although she's technically a good deal stronger than her father now, since she can use ki as well. Then there's my youngest son Goten. He's about the age of Alex and his group, around 17 or 18 actually. He's a great kid, and a hell of a fighter, but he has been slightly lacking lately. I think he's been trying to find a girlfriend. Maybe you'd be interested." Goku replied, ending it with a grin which Paula could almost swear had a hint of mischievousness.

"Oh god no. I might be 20 years old, but I feel more like the kid's aunt than a girlfriend." Paula replied and stuck her tongue out at her friend. She could swear he could be a handful, even in the present day.

Goku then put on his confused expression again, "Yeah, that's reminds me. I was 13 and you were 6 when we first met, and then three years passed basically before we split off, and I was more of 15 and you were 9. How can you be only 20 when over 25-30 years have passed since we split off?"

"25-30 years?! You're serious?! It's only been 10 or 11 years for me." Paula replied in shock, realizing Goku's confusion on her age might have a deeper mystery behind it after all.

She then narrowed her eyes, "Since you claim it's been almost 30 years, I think YOU need to start and explain your story to me first. You've got a lot more to cover on this than I do, at least if the 30 years thing is really true. Now I know why you said you're about 40 or so. How old is Vegeta, and were exactly did you meet with him anyways? I got the feeling he was like Piccolo in a way at one point."

Goku sighed to himself, but he knew he owed Paula much of an explanation, "First off, it was after you and I parted ways that I had to meet back with Korin. He congratulated me and you on defeating Damiaou, but we found out that Shenron had been killed prior to the battle."

"Shenron? The eternal dragon died?" Paula asked, shocked at this.

"Yes. Damiaou apparently was after the dragonball we had because he strived for eternal youth. Apparently he killed Shenron after he had made his wish. However Korin told me after the battle, that one man could resurrect even Shenron, the creator of the Dragonballs themself. He was known as Kami, or technically, Piccolo Kami. You see, when I first saw him, he looked almost exactly like Piccolo Damiaou at a older age, the same one that I thought had killed you when we first confronted him." Goku explained, as Paula recalled the first confrontation the two had shared against Piccolo's terrifying father, and how he had nearly sent both to their deaths with minor effort, even apparently in his older, weaker state.

Paula only vaguely remembered from her interference in the final battle that he had grown younger, apparently because of the Dragonballs.

"I tried to attack him, not realizing this, and Kami effortlessly blocked me and sent me flying backwards, but he told me that understood my feelings and how I could mistake him for Damiaou, and he offered to explain himself to me. He told me that he and Damiaou were actually two halves of the same person. The first Piccolo had originally come to our world from another known as Namek. I'll explain Namek to you later, but either way, the wars left behind in history by the human race had plagued the first Piccolo so badly that he would eventually split himself off into two halves, Kami and Damiaou. Damiaou wrecked havoc on the earth, but was soon sealed away by Mutaito-san with the first Mafuba attack, while Kami would eventually inherit the former Kami's position as watcher of the Earth. When I found out this, I soon learned that while we had killed Damiaou, he had spit out a final egg, transferring his essence and memories to the child within." Goku further explained.

"I take it that would be OUR Piccolo of now you're talking about?" Paula replied.

"Yes, unlike Tambourine, Cymbal and Drum, who were apparently mutations based on the food chain from which Damiaou ate, Piccolo Jr. was meant to be a perfect copy of the original. This was why Kami didn't die when we killed Damiaou." Goku then told her.

"Wait, so if Piccolo dies, Kami dies, or the other way around?" Paula asked, concerned now to Piccolo's qualification as a Z-senshi. She knew that Oyatsu had done some good damage to the Namekian in their battle earlier that morning, and it could've easily have become lethal.

"Well, Kami and Piccolo are now technically a single person again, but again I'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Goku replied, and Paula sighed with relief as he continued, "Kami told me that it was imperative I train as much as possible for the next three years with him and his assistant Mr. Popo, since Piccolo Jr. had been planning to come to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai to eventually kill me. In exchange, he said he would revive Shenron, and Chappa-ou, Chaozu, Muten Roshi and the other people slain in the rampage of Damiaou and his minions would be revived for us." Goku said, as Paula looked forlong.

"I didn't know Chaozu and Roshi had died too... Are they both still alive now?" Paula asked.

"Yeah, they're doing well, although Roshi's never let go of the pervertedness he's known well for." Goku explained as Paula sweatdropped.

He continued explaining his story, "After Mr. Popo and Kami revived Shenron, and the wish was granted, I trained with Mr. Popo for the three years as promised, and it was during that time that I finally got a growth spurt." he then grumbled as Paula giggled at that declaration.

"I would hope you weren't still tiny by then. You would've been one of the smallest 18 year olds around." she teased, and then let Goku continue.

"Anyways, I met up with Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Bulma, Roshi, Lunch, Puar and Oolong at the gates. They were shocked to find out I had grown up so much too. Me, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu proceeded to the prelims, and all of us won our prelim matches. However we soon learned from the shocking defeat of Namu that an old enemy was not quite so dead. You remember how Tao Pai Pai gave both of us so much trouble? Imagine him as a Cyborg, although not on the same level as #17 and #18." Goku said.

Paula was a bit shocked, "Tao survived our battle? Is he still around now?"

"Yeah, he's alive, but he's not been doing much. Last time I saw him was about 17 years ago during a dragonball hunt which I'll explain in more detail when we get that far. However he was rather boastful in the 23rd Budokai. Despite defeating Namu, he was actually weaker than even Yamcha was then. He was to face Tenshinhan in the first round of the main tournament. However Tenshinhan made sport of him, and Tsurusennin and him were forced to flee the tournament. They claimed they'd be back, but they never really did much more after that. It's been even longer since I saw Tsurusennin than Tao, that I wonder if he's even still alive. We never knew if he too was supposedly immortal like Muten Roshi is." Goku explained.

Paula chuckled, "I wouldn't really miss him. Not after he forced poor Chaozu to cheat during your match with Tenshinhan in the 22nd. If I had been able to do a Kamehameha then I would've sent him packing so Roshi wouldn't have had to dirty his hands doing it."

Goku laughed, "Yeah, but I remember Tsurusennin was horrified practically when he found out your telekinetic powers were just as strong if not better than Chaozu's. If you hadn't intervened, the fight might not have ended in the correct manner."

"Speaking of that, did either of those two jerks say anything about my 'absence'?" Paula asked.

"Not really. Tao apparently didn't even remember much of you, because I mentioned of you, and he didn't react to it. Tsurusennin had been boasting about Tao being invincible during the 23rd, and he was more bent on killing Tenshinhan because he 'betrayed the Crane school.'" Goku explained, and then decided to continue his backstory, "As for me, I did find out a rather interesting twist in the tournament. During the prelims, a pretty woman had walked up to me, knowing me by name and everything. Being the total bumpkin I was back then, I had no idea who she was. I got promptly called a bastard and she stomped off in anger." Goku said, chuckling at that memory.

"Don't tell me... it was Chichi, right?" Paula snickered.

"Yes, that was Chichi. Trust me, she had definitely grown up, just as I had. She ended up being the first opponent I had in the main tournament. When the fight began, she came at me with more power than I had believed she could have. Although sadly she could not use ki at the time, and while her hits would've easily defeated any normal fighter, even Mr. Satan himself, I was able to dodge everything perfectly. However I was curious about why she had gotten so mad at me, and I asked her if we had met. After a little more banter at me, she mentioned I didn't understand a young girl's feelings. I was still clueless, until Chichi told me that I promised to take her as my wife. When I promptly asked Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Yamcha what a wife was, I was told it was a special woman who would live with you for the rest of your life. I then had a better idea of all of it, but I still didn't remember her directly. She told me if I could beat her she would tell me. I accepted this proposal." Goku explained.

"How did you actually beat her?" Paula asked, curious.

"Well, I didn't want to hit her directly out of fear of doing her much harm, so I basically punched at the air and created a concussive force of wind that picked her up and sent her out of the ring. Although I put a bit too much into it, she recovered pretty quick, and told me she was actually Chichi, to my surprise. I had finally realized more or less what marriage really was. Although I had still thought it was a food to that point, I didn't want to back out of my promise, and I told her we'd marry after the tournament. She happily followed me back to the others and watched the rest of the battles commence."

Goku then sighed, "Next was Chaozu vs. Ma Jr., which I had learned earlier in the prelims was actually Piccolo's nickname for the tournament. Although Chaozu was actually at one time able to hold him in place for a few seconds with his telekinesis, poor Chaozu was not really able to hold out long against Piccolo. Although he fought to the end, Piccolo made the battle look like cake. Luckily Chaozu actually recovered after the battle pretty fast, but he felt really bad he didn't last long. He did stay along with us for the rest of the battles however. The next fight was a one of the more humorous battles I had seen at first. A seemingly-normal person named Shen versus Yamcha. Many of us believed Yamcha had an easy victory ahead of him. At first, Shen appeared to be a bumbling fool driving totally on luck, but after a few incidents I knew were a bit too convenient, he soon dropped his dopey guise, revealing he was a powerful fighter. Yamcha had even been forced to use his Soukidan on him, but Shen recovered a bit too fast, and Yamcha got hit out of the ring. Bulma was in shock at this, and Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Chichi were also shocked. However I had realized something, and after Shen came back to refresh, I confronted him, correctly guessing it was actually Kami borrowing the man's body to get into the tournament."

"Kami can possess people too?" Paula asked, "Can Piccolo do the same if he had to?"

"I'm not sure. I never asked Piccolo if he retained Kami's ability to do that. However Kami told me that the reason he came to the tournament was that he knew I would not kill Piccolo Jr. if I defeated him, knowing it would kill Kami too. He was a little miffed at Popo for telling me, but I argued that it was not worth Kami dying just for Piccolo's own demise. He told me that he might not necessarily have to kill Piccolo to win. However before I could ask further, it was time for the semi-finals, and Tenshinhan and I were up first." Goku replied.

"Tenshinhan and I fought seemingly in a stalemate at first, until he revealed he had been holding back some of his speed from me. Although he believed he had the upperhand at that point, I called for a time-out to discard some of my extra clothing. Now, you must understand that this was one of the first times anyone had seen one of us utilize weighted clothing, so Tenshinhan was both shocked, yet also greatly pleased I had been holding back. However it turned out I was a lot faster than he was hoping for, and I had managed to steal his belt without anyone seeing me do it, not even him. After regaining his dignity, he told me he had devised a special ability that he was confident would defeat me. He then slowly split himself into four bodies, all of them real. This was a move you might have heard us call the Shishin no Ken, or the '12-eyes' as Tenshinhan like to call it. The move at first seemed really cool, and Tenshinhan had even nailed me a good shot by forcing me skybound. However I immediately realized his two main flaws. The first was that I used Taiyoken to blind all four Tenshinhans, and this was also when ki sense was a relatively new thing. Kami and Popo had been the ones who had helped me learn it as well as I did, and Tenshinhan had no knowledge of it yet. The second flaw was the fatal one. Shishin no Ken splits the powerlevel, strength and speed of the person among the amount of copies, so each Tenshinhan was more of only 1/4 of his original strength. I was able to beat him quickly after that, but he had a good idea going with the technique." Goku replied.

"So that's why you said Teresa's energy clones seemed unprecedented when she mentioned them." Paula replied, now knowing exactly how the Shishin no Ken worked.

"Yes, Teresa's clones only knock off 10% of her total powerlevel for each one she uses, instead of an even division. That's why they're effective enough for her to use." Goku replied, "Now back to the story though, after I defeated Tenshinhan, it was Shen vs. Ma Jr. At first, the two traded a couple of blows, but it was soon realized Piccolo was stronger than Kami, especially as he currently was. They then spoke a long argument to each other in Namekian, although at the time we had no idea what it really was. Then Shen pulled out a small bottle, stating the human world had taught him an important ability. He then used the Mafuba and tried to seal Piccolo in the jar, however Piccolo had apparently learned a COUNTER-Mafuba and used it to reverse the move. Kami shed himself from Shen's body, but he himself was sealed in the jar. Shen on his own was not very strong, and he was knocked out from the impact, making Piccolo winner by default. When Piccolo came back to confront us, he actually put the jar in his mouth and swallowed it, saying that the only way to free Kami was to kill him, which he knew would still kill Kami anyways. He said he looked forward to my eventual destruction, and then yours after he was through with me. He was quite agitated to find you weren't present, but apparently he figured you'd be a later target." Goku explained.

"So you and him were in the final match. You told me you won the Budokai, so how exactly did you manage to beat him and free Kami?" Paula asked.

"Well, the battle was rough, although at first I admit we were trying to fake each other out. It got to a point where he threatened to blow up the spectators in order to force me to take some blasts. I then fired a Chou Kamehameha, my first at him, however at best it merely did a little damage and destroyed his disguise. Soon the people figured out it was Piccolo, especially after Piccolo declared his rule would return after my death. Everyone but Bulma, Roshi, Lunch, Puar, Oolong, Tenshinhan, Chichi, Chaozu, Yamcha and the announcer ran for the hills, much to our relief. Although for the most part I was able to keep one step ahead of Piccolo, it came to the point where he enlarged his body to try and scare us. Although I was freaked out at first, a clever idea hit me. I taunted him into growing even more, than flew into his mouth, and flew down into his stomach, grabbing the bottle with Kami in it, and flew out, tossing it to Tenshinhan, who freed Kami quickly. Piccolo was pissed I managed to do this and went back to normal size, firing a tracing blast which I managed to trick into blowing off his own arm. However, he soon revealed to us for the first time his kind can regenerate limbs, but it had weakened him a little. He tried gathering all his energy into a large area explosion, but I managed to both contain the blast in a small area and escape it relatively unscathed. I then attacked Piccolo while he was weakened, bringing him to near unconsciousness. However at the last second, he fired a blast from his mouth which pierced through and out my shoulder. I was badly hurt, but he didn't hit any vital areas, so we continued fighting, but he appeared to gain the upperhand, and smashed my limbs to uselessness. Kami tried to make Tenshinhan kill him in order to kill Piccolo, claiming he could not commit suicide, but I managed to halt it, and after a seemingly fatal blast from Piccolo, I escaped by revealing the my knowledge of the Bukujutsu to everyone. Piccolo had not been expecting this, so I used all my ki to ram him as hard as possible. The final hit worked. Not only did the blow knock him out, but he was sent out of the ring boundary, and I won the tournament." Goku explained, and then continued.

"Yajirobe came to my aid with sensus, and I learned they could even heal wounds that left holes in your body, as my shoulder had healed instantly. However despite all the cheers and celebration, I saw Kami trying to finish Piccolo off, and stopped him. Although he tried to protest he didn't deserve to live because of releasing Piccolo, Roshi told Kami that if it had not been for him and the Dragonballs the world would have fallen into a rut. Kami was convinced to let Piccolo live, but I wanted to be sure he would be okay, so in an act of mercy I gave Piccolo a sensu bean of his own. Of course, back then he was barely grateful, but apparently he stated he would kill me another day and fled the tournament. After Piccolo departed, Chichi and I decided it was time we went off and got married, and that I began my new life with her. After meeting with Gyuu-maou again, I complemented Chichi's fighting skills, although after we left, she claimed she had done a pathetic job fighting me. I didn't think she had done bad at all, and explained to her about ki and all the means the rest of us had used. I even offered to train her how to use her Ki, stating she had at least as much bottled up as Yamcha or even Tenshinhan did. Chichi decided to accept, and it turns out her mother had apparently been able to use Ki as well, but had died before she could teach Chichi. I also learned Gyuu-maou was not able to learn ki, unlike my grandfather. Chichi shocked me by shooting off this one large ki blast that was about as strong as most of my kamehamehas. I think she calls it Aura Blast or something." Goku explained.

Paula smiled, "Anyways Goku, when did Gohan come into the picture. You told me he was your first son."

Goku smiled, "Those were the simpler days, before Radditz came and told me of my true heritage. From here on Paula, things are going to get really interesting, so I hope you're ready for a long explanation..." Goku then began to explain to her the events from the day he met Radditz and learned of his Saiya-jin heritage, continuing on into the night...

****
(September 15, 2001 A.D.; 7:05pm; Canton, Ohio)

Meanwhile, in the small area of Fohl Village, Clint was not in the greatest of moods. He had returned home later that day after Dan still failed to repair the gravity machine in Goku's ship for the day. Although Clint had told his parents earlier that day about the Oyatsu battle, he knew he also needed to fill his parents on the condition of their original neighborhood, but most importantly he needed to let them know about the missing garage. He had told them of how he and Paula explored around the neighborhood, when Clint had come upon his house and found the garage missing.

Clint was a bit surprised to learn that his parents had known of this. His dad explained that about back in the summer of the previous year of 2000, they had received a call from a group of people who claimed they were going to build a house for the Habitat for Humanity foundation, and that they needed to find a place to put the stuff in the garage. Realizing that more than likely they would never get a house with the room for most of the stuff, his parents had decided to sell off stuff for money and other valuables.

It was in fact this time when Clint learned of an important fact that they had used some of the money to create a savings account for him. The reason they didn't tell Clint about the account or the garage was due to wanting to keep it as a surprise, since it had a small amount of money in it for future use and they wanted Clint to be out of school first before telling him. They had not expected he would want to go back to his old neighborhood, nor back then had they expected he would gain the ability to fly around with ease.

Although that problem had been handled, his parents were surprised to find out that he and Paula had actually be able to go inside of the first house. Clint had expected to get chewed out by his parents for this, but they had apparently been a bit too surprised by his and Paula's findings to think of getting on his case. Although he did remember his mom complaining that Canton was simply getting worse in the crime stats. In fact it had recently been revealed that Canton had been the 34th worst city in America when it came to the crime rate.

It was after that afternoon Clint was finally realizing just why his parents had been so eager to leave Canton so far back. However he still told his parents he one day planned to move back to the city if it could be helped. Although they weren't the biggest on this decision, they told Clint it was more or less his choice after he left. Clint then had to explain of his battle with Rowan, and of the strange stuff he and Paula had found. His parents were worried when he mentioned the Jade Ring Paula had picked up had given Rowan a kind of magical power.

It was then the two parents asked their son again about teaching them how to use their ki. Clint sighed to himself, and reminded them that even if he did, they would have to train to use the flight for any effective amount of time. But his parents didn't relent, saying it could be considered 'punishment' for him being so curious about his old place. His parents knew that technically Clint was too powerful to force him into staying behind or 'grounding' him anymore, and they were painfully aware their son wanted badly to train to prevent more 9-11 scale tragedies from occurring.

Clint had then asked his parents to follow him to the field south of their house, the same one where he had been practicing Energy-Controlled Super Saiya-jin a few nights ago. Clint had a hard enough time putting ki usage into words, and after about 10 minutes of no results, had called Piccolo over to help them. Piccolo was a bit annoyed to be called over to teach Clint's parents' how to use ki, but he did as he intended, and within about 20 minutes, his parents had both finally figured out how to push up and hold their energy.

Clint tried to explain flight, but it again came down to Piccolo explaining it in a better way. Piccolo then decided to just teach them sense and masking another time, and that Clint had to do that himself. Piccolo left, and Clint's parents had realized soon just how right their son was when he said it would take a lot of training to use their ki right and fly effectively, but they left Clint to his own duties after that, saying they were going to rest off their stress.

It had been then that Clint finally realized he could finally transform back to Super Saiya-jin again. He sighed in relief when his hair stood up and turned gold and greenish. He knew it was time he reached the next level. He figured he'd seen enough of it on TV and from Alex, Jason, Vernon and even Dan to finally get all the requirements down. Closing his eyes, he growled as he reenvisioned himself getting the crap kicked out of him by Rowan, and how his Wing Blaster easily overwhelmed him. He also built his anger at the fact this guy was the leader of the Crips, the gang of which was basically turning his neighborhood into a garbage dump. Although he could no longer blame them for the garage, it did not stop the fact that Clint was losing some control of his anger.

His anger at Rowan for being a backstabber and breaking his promises also weighed on his mind, and the fact he had killed a former leader himself was also building on his rage. He was also mad at what Paula had mentioned to him about Morgan calling Nina's wings a hunting trophy. And finally, the straw that would finally break the camel's back: Oyatsu's involvement, and teaching Rowan of ki and of the merger. Oyatsu's attack on him and the others had also clinched it for him, and his anger surged outwards, erupting into a towering plume of ki which flared erratically.

However unlike Jason, Alex and Vernon, Clint did NOT scream feral rage, and he had actually managed to contain himself from screaming at a Dusty or higher level of volume, but his growls would've scared the crap out of a full grown Oozaru had one been close by. Clint's hair spiked up more sharp, and more vertical this time, and even the bang of his cowlick spiked up completely. The electrical characteristics of the Super Saiya-jin 2 level were also apparent.

However, as Clint continued releasing his energy, he closed his eyes in an attempt to control his anger, and he was suddenly bombarded with more visions. He had remembered what he had learned about the existence of Paula's own arch-enemy Giygas. He was not stupid to the horrors that creature could unleash if he ever returned, and he had suddenly had horrifying visions of his friends being attacked and some even killed. He had even seen a frightening vision of Alex, except Alex had not been killed, but it had looked as if he had become a vessal for Giygas, as his eyes were glowing a blood red, although Alex appeared to be struggling to keep the entity from taking him over completely.

However he saw Alex soon succumb, and fade into a shadowy figure, only the glowing red eyes seen. However, it did not end there, he saw the shadow of what was Alex transform into a taller figure with beastly features, which soon lunged at him. Clint had been so immersed into his vision he had not realized just what he was doing. His energy aura had grown so massive it was literally engulfing the entire field he was standing in, towering nearly 40 feet into the air, and part of it was even covering over his trailer in the distance. He had also not noticed his eyebrows were slowly fading, and that his hair was now growing down his back, and his muscles tensing so great.

However he suddenly screamed out in horror and fell back onto his rear. Clint's hair suddenly shrunk back to its' normal length, and his eyebrows reappeared back on his head slowly. He regained his Barings as he saw his dad rushing over to him.

"Clint are you okay?!" his dad asked in worry.

Clint heard him, but the shock of what he had seen, the shock of what he had almost done had been fresh on his mind, "MY GOD! I transformed TWICE! I just couldn't hold 3 without that horrifying vision." he said, not really caring who was next to him.

"You transformed twice more?" his dad asked. Clint realized that while he had lost hold of Super Saiya-jin 3, that he was still in the form of a Super Saiya-jin 2.

"Yeah, it might not be easy to tell the second level from the first, but the hair should be standing up more rigidly now." he said to his dad at last.

"I see. Well look, I think you better get inside Clint. That scream probably woke up half the park. What were you trying to do anyways?!" his dad said with a bit of admonishment.

"I was actually just trying to reach Super Saiya-jin 2. I hadn't even planned on 3 at the time, but I was suddenly stuck by this vision of Alex in grave danger, and I snapped." Clint explained.

With a bit of concern on his face, Clint's dad helped him up, confused to what his son's statement meant, and Clint agreed it was time to take a break. He had already had a hard enough day, and he needed rest. He soon got to the point he could walk on his own, and he and his dad solemnly walked into their house, not to come out for the rest of the night...

****
(September 15, 2001 A.D.; 7:20pm; Canton, Ohio)

Back at Paula's house, Goku had basically about finished up his entire story about his heritage, and the history concerning his first battle with Radditz, then the battle with Vegeta and Nappa, then how he had gone to Namek and confronted Frieza, first learning of the Super Saiya-jin legend. He then told her about Frieza's coming to Earth, and his death at the hands of Mirai Trunks, and then the future son of Vegeta's dreaded warning about the androids and cyborgs. He then told her of the 3 years of training, how Vegeta had semi-reformed and married Bulma, and conceived Chibi Trunks. He then told Paula about their battle with #19 and #20 and of the heart virus he caught from the planet Yardrat.

Paula was shocked to learn the Goku of Mirai's future had died of the same virus, and she knew she owed him a major thank-you if she had ever gotten to meet the future version of Trunks. She then learned from Goku that #17 and #18 were originally not such-good people, although they never wanted to kill anyone but Goku himself, due to their directives. She had also learned #17 and #18 had a companion android known as #16, and then of Goku's second most powerful enemy, the bio-chimera known as Cell, who she learned absorbed people and their bio matter, and had also absorbed both #17 and #18 to attain his perfect stage.

Goku then explained of Vegeta and Mirai attempting to defeat Cell using the Super Saiya-jin 2nd/3rd Grade levels, and of their defeats. He then told her that Cell had declared the Cell games, and that Goku and Gohan had learned how to use Energy Controlled Super Saiya-jin, and that Goku had learned of Gohan's true potential while training in a place known as the Chamber of Spirit and Time. Paula was perplexed by the idea that one room could slow down the flow of time so much, and she realized it might make a good training place for her and the others.

Goku had then explained of the events of the Cell games, mentioning Mr. Satan for the first time, and Paula immediately got the impression of Mr. Satan being a nutcase for challenging Cell at his level of strength. Goku then told her of his own fight with Cell, but also of his surrender, which had shocked Paula to the core to hear. She had never believed Goku would've ever given up in any fight. Even though she felt better when Goku explained that Gohan faced with Cell and finally ascended to Super Saiya-jin 2 with #16's death, she was already a little shocked Goku had actually died once already defeating Radditz, that she almost fainted when she found out Goku had sacrificed his life to save the Earth from Cell's attempt to self-destruct, only for the bio-chimera to return and kill Mirai Trunks in the process and critically injure Vegeta and Gohan in the attempt.

She was relieved though when Goku explained that he helped Gohan overcome his lack of confidence in himself and finally finish off Cell with his massive Kamehameha wave. However she found it hard to swallow that Goku had back then decided to stay dead for seven years, believing back then he was the reason all of his enemies were coming to Earth because of him. Goku admitted to her that he felt extremely bad when he came back for one-day seven years later to discover Goten had been born only 9 months after the Cell games.

Goku had admitted if he had been told about Goten sooner that he would've tried to find a way to come back to life sooner. However he also explained that one day back to the living world was the day he met Videl, Mr. Satan's daughter, and Gohan's future wife. He also explained it was the day he would discover an evil being even more powerful than Cell, known as Majin Buu.

Paula was a little alarmed at first when she discovered Majin Buu initially looked virtually identical to Mr. Buu. Goku explained that Babidi, the wizard who released Buu, and his servants Dabura, Pui Pui and Yakon had challenged him, Gohan and Vegeta inside the wizard's spaceship, assisted by the East Kaioshin, now known as Kabitoshin. She was little concerned when she learned Dabura's spit could turn most people to stone, but she realized that Buu had been immune, as Gohan told Goku in their first confrontation with Majin Buu that Dabura had tried to spear Buu, and then spit on him out of fear for Babidi's safety and failed.

Goku explained then that Buu managed to take Gohan down with little problem, and was about to kill East Kaioshin when Vegeta, still Majin had erupted out to fight Buu. Paula had known earlier that Vegeta had not always been the nicest person, but she was little shocked to hear that Vegeta had let Babidi change him like that so easily. She truly wondered if Vegeta was over all of that by now, but Goku continued to explain that even Vegeta could not defeat Buu by conventional means, and had given up his life a second time in an attempt to erase Buu from existence.

However Buu's superior regenerative abilities allowed him to pull together, much to Goku and Piccolo's horror. Piccolo soon took Goten and Chibi Trunks to the Tenka where Kami and Mr. Popo had lived, and Goku had realized that the art of the fusion dance might allow his youngest son and Vegeta's son to fuse into a warrior capable of defeating Buu as he currently was. However Buu and Babidi had caused a small rampage which was on route to West City where she remembered Bulma lived.

They needed to get the Dragon Radar from West City for a later dragonball hunt, and Trunks had to get the radar while Goku demonstrated all of the known levels of Super Saiya-jin to Buu and Babidi in order to stall for time, and revealing his new ability to become a Super Saiya-jin 3 to them. Although it was powerful enough for Goku to keep even with Buu, he could only hold it for a few minutes, and he ended up shortening the time he had left on Earth, and Piccolo had ended up having to finish teaching the two kids how to use the fusion.

She soon learned that Mr. Satan had managed to make friends with Majin Buu as he had currently been, learning Buu had destroyed Babidi after his battle with Goku, out of anger of Babidi trying to control him. Mr. Satan apparently found out Buu only killed people because it was all he knew how to do. Mr. Satan had managed to convince Buu that killing was wrong, and Buu agreed, and built him and Mr. Satan a small house and befriending a puppy named Bee. However Buu's foundation of power had been nearly shattered with two gunmen attacked and almost killed Bee and Mr. Satan.

In his rage, Buu had expelled his evil side, creating Thin Buu, and turning himself into the Mr. Buu everyone had finally known all too well. However the Evil side defeated the Good side, and in this, the Evil side had absorbed the good one back into himself, becoming a more powerful Super Buu, who could now use Ki sense. The Super Buu had immediately found the Tenka and challenged Goten and Trunks, who managed to fuse into Gotenks, and had even managed to use the Super Saiya-jin 3 transformation. During then, Goku also found out that Gohan had survived and was undergoing a special training from an older Kaioshin of ancient times to unlock his hidden powers.

Soon Gohan was ready, and was returned to Earth in time to fight Super Buu, just as Gotenks defused at a very inopportune moment. Gohan had managed to defeat Buu in that state, but he managed to trick Goten and Trunks back into fusion, and using his body to absorb the fusion into him, adding to his power, and making him basically even with Gohan. However Super Buu had managed to also absorb Piccolo into him, pushing his power just high enough to get the upper hand on Gohan, and also increasing his intelligence greatly. Goku told Paula then that the elder Kaioshin decided to give up his life to restore Goku's, and then given him a special pair of earrings called the Potara.

Goku arrived on Earth and tried to fuse with Gohan using the earrings, but Gohan could not catch the earring, and Buu took advantage of this and managed to absorb Gohan as well, becoming even more powerful than before, and leaving Goku with little choice either to fuse with Mr. Satan or Dende. However to his luck, Vegeta had been given a body and sent back to Earth, and the two Saiya-jin rivals managed to fuse, becoming Vegetto, who at his Super Saiya-jin 2 state made sport even of the new and improved Buu.

However the fusion had wanted to save the others that Buu had absorbed and purposely let Buu absorb him, at the cost of the fusion wearing off. After some antics inside of Buu's body, they managed to find the pods in Buu's mind with Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, Gohan, and even one with Mr. Buu inside. Vegeta severed the pod with Mr. Buu inside, causing the real Buu to devolve back into his weaker, original form, known to them as Kid Buu. Although Kid Buu was weaker than almost all the Buu's with the exception of Mr. Buu and possibly the original Super Buu, his mind was gone, and he was far more dangerous to everyone than all the other forms, even going so far as to destroy the entire Earth in one blast.

It was at this point Paula had realized their worlds really had separated before this, because Paula knew her world had never been destroyed like that. However by a stroke of luck, Kabitoshin had teleported Goku, Vegeta, Mr. Satan, Dende and Bee to Kaioshin-Kai, the holy planet of the Kaioshins, but Kid Buu had learned Kai Kai as well and followed them, enacting the final battle, which had resulted in Vegeta suggesting that Goku use the Genki Dama to allow the people of Earth to contribute to their own liberation to an extent. With his vitality restored by a wish on the Namekian Dragonballs, Goku was finally able to push the Genki Dama over Kid Buu and destroy him forever, however he did admit to Paula he had mentioned he wanted Buu to be reincarnated as a good person someday, he had been disappointed to realize it had not yet happened to this day.

Mr. Buu had also come out of the battle alive, and had become friends with the Z-senshi in the process. All of the people of Goku's version of Earth were resurrected and wished to forget the events of Buu, however Goku knew his world and Paula's were not the same, even then, and then 10 years of peace had finally passed, before the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai occurred, which Goku finished up by mentioning was only 2 months prior to the merger itself.

Paula now realized that Radditz, Vegeta, #17, #18 and Mr. Buu had all had rough pasts of their own, and had not been perfect angels either, and after hearing of many of Piccolo's own heroic efforts, she realized the reincarnation of her second worst enemy had really changed for the better. She was of course really surprised to know Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo had each died twice after she had split off from him. She also now knew the Dragonballs of Earth could not grant someone the same wish twice, or resurrect those who had been dead over a year. She had also learned about the Namekian Dragonballs, and she was none too impressed by the mention of Cell or Frieza, although she despised Frieza from what she had known about him, and now understood why Vegeta hated to speak of him to an extent, knowing Frieza had destroyed the Saiya-jin race down to a small few.

However one thing suddenly rung in her mind. "Goku, I know Radditz and Vegeta didn't start off on good terms with you, but what happened to that Nappa guy?" she asked.

"Honestly, I don't know what happened to him. Normally I would guess he would still be in Hell serving his sentence, but Radditz told me earlier this week about how Nappa had vanished from Hell about a month or so before the merger even began. However none of us have actually seen him. I need to ask North Kaio about that now that I think about it." Goku replied.

He then realized, he had given his entire story to Paula, and she had not yet done her share of things, "Hey Paula, you think you can get to your side of everything now?"

Paula sighed, "Well, there's not anywhere near as much to tell you in the long run, although I still don't think what Frieza had could compare to a few of the beings I had to fight. You see Goku, when we traveled together in the past, I was better with mental powers and not as much my fists. Sure my speed was unprecedented even to Roshi in those days, but my physical strength was nothing like yours. I'm sure you remember how we defeated that creature Buyon in Muscle Tower."

Goku chuckled, remember how tough Buyon was at first, due to his rubbery body be able to withstand all of his, Paula and #8's physical and ki hits, "You used a mental power or something along that line to chill the air around him to arctic levels. You remembered what Sunou told us about how cold the north was, and realized something just before I could go to knock out the wall in that fourth floor for a similar reason. When the cold air got him, he froze solid and I managed to shatter him with a good kick."

"Yeah, but after I split off from you, my grandparents met up with me, and I returned home to my hometown of Twoson with them, and I basically stopped my physical training. My own homecountry was relatively tame compared to the places we went to during our travels, so I stopped training in both ways for a while, and 4 or 5 more years passed before my true adventure began. I admit Goku that the likes of Frieza, Cell, Buu and that sound very harsh, but at least your enemies could be killed, some of mine can't be defeated permanently." Paula replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Goku asked, curious.

"First off, let me explain that while I might appear much stronger now than when we split off, most of the powerlevel jumps came only during two major timespans, the first was my own big adventure, and the rest is from me and Nina's training, which I know she mentioned of to you. After I returned home from my adventures with you, I reverted to a more pacifistic nature, and wasn't big on fighting anymore. However I would have no choice, because when I was about to become 14, I got suddenly kidnapped by a group of blue-robed nutcases. If I had seen them coming, I might have been able to keep away, but they jumped me and chloroformed me to sleep, so I was mostly out of it until it was all said and done. I found myself awake inside of an enclosed cabin, locked in a prison cell. The bars were pretty strong, and even with what I did know from our past training, I couldn't budge them physically. I thought at one time of freezing the bars brittle and shattering them, but then I remembered of a dream I had the night prior to my kidnapping. This boy around my age appeared in it. He wore a red baseball cap with a yellow backpack which stood out on him. I learned in the dream he had been on his own adventure, for at-the-time unknown reasons. However the dream basically indicated we were supposed to meet, so I took a chance and called out to him with my telepathy. To my luck, he had received my message, and within less than a couple days he had managed to find me. However, the cult that took me hostage had kept the key to my cell somewhere else. I know I could've probably broken out right then and there, but I knew I had to see if this boy was really the one I was looking for, so I told him the cult leader had the key, and I gave him a object that would help him fight the leader. These people were intending to convert me into a high priestess for their real leader, who I wouldn't learn more about yet for a while." Paula started off with her own story, as Goku looked on in curiosity.

Paula continued to explain about the boy, named Ness, and how he had come back and freed her from the prison. She had joined with him out of both thanks, but also wanting to help him on his own journey. She had told Goku many of the things that Clint had told her about her own journey, including of the many places and locales she and her future friends had traveled too, and of all the creatures and friends they had also encountered. After a while, Paula had began to explain of Giygas to Goku, who at first didn't think he sounded too much more powerful than Frieza.

However Paula explained that Giygas wasn't just another bad person, but that he had basically become the personification of evil, and that despite the fact Paula's own prayers to the people of Earth had caused Giygas to break down to a harmless level, that she, Ness and her other two friends Jeff and Poo had all known that despite their victory that Giygas would always live on, no matter how strong or weak, as long as evil itself existed. Goku was still a bit skeptical that someone could live on in such a way, although he felt pity for Paula and her three friends when she explained of how Giygas had become so powerful he had literally destroyed his own consciousness and turned into a mental case. He realized that Giygas had been far worse in the insanity department than Kid Buu himself had.

Kid Buu never spoke in droning, continuous repeats of his words, and he never spoke Goku's name out several times in succession for one example, or saying that he was hurting one moment and then that he felt good the next. Paula also told Goku that Clint had also been aware of a lot of this despite the fact that their worlds had been separate during the merger. She explained that just like how Goku's own history had been semi-accurately explained in Akira Toriyama's version of Dragonball that someone similar also existed in Clint's world explaining her own adventure. She then told Goku the same thing applied to Nina and her own ordeals, but that Goku would have to ask Nina for the story on that, since Paula herself only knew a few things instead of the whole truth.

****
(September 15, 2001 A.D.; 7:15pm; Canton, Ohio)

Back at his own place, Vegeta was in the middle of an important search on the computer Vernon had given him and Goku back on the first. When Vegeta had first gotten the computer, he had been only slightly aware of the concept of the internet, as his universe had its' own version on Earth. However, his version of the internet had only began to form within the 10 years of peace after Majin Buu, and it was nowhere as far along as the internet in The Misfits' version of Earth.

Vegeta was a little impressed on the advancement, and knew he would have to make sure Bulma and the people of Capsule Corporation followed the examples he was seeing. However, Vegeta had decided he wanted to learn more about what people in Vernon's world had known on him, Goku and the other Z-senshi, and had used a search engine to look up various information concerning the Dragonball series. Although some of the information he found was accurate to what had actually happened to him, others were fictional theories about specific things, stuff that Vegeta either didn't know, or knew were untrue. Other aspects that Akira Toriyama had written into his version of the history were also at times off kilter to the way Vegeta actually knew it.

However one thing he soon found would really make him wonder, not as much about his supposed 'past', but his 'future'. He had found something the people called "Dragonball GT", the GT meaning "Grand Tour" apparently. According to the information Vegeta had soon gotten from reading on this 'GT', it was 10 years after the 28th Budokai, 10 years ahead of the current time, and that Goku was somehow turned into a kid again by the use of a totally different set of Dragonballs on Earth known as the Black Star Dragonballs.

He also learned that the kid-Goku, Chibi Trunks, now a grown adult and the president of Capsule Corporation, and Goku's granddaughter then-teenager Pan had set out on a journey in space to retrieve the Black Star balls. Apparently these balls scattered all over the UNIVERSE instead of just Earth, and that if not regrouped in a year, Earth would explode.

Vegeta wondered if Dende had really created another set of Dragonballs, or if like the 'GT' series claimed, that the first Piccolo had created a set of Dragonballs before splitting himself off into his good and evil sides. However what he found the most interesting was the Vegeta in GT was still horribly rivaling with Goku, as opposed to the fact that the real Vegeta had admitted that Goku could in fact be stronger than him most of the time. He didn't totally give up in trying to be better than Goku in reality, but he had lost a lot of the pent-up aggression at his Saiya-jin comrade over the 10 years of peace, and the GT version of him apparently showed little to no indication of this fact.

However, Vegeta scowled as he found out his GT counterpart had been stupid enough to cut his own hair and let himself grow a mustache. Vegeta blanched at the pictures of his GT incarnation. The mustache was one thing. Vegeta didn't give two shits if he had a mustache, but the fact his GT self cut his hair like that, and that it never appeared to grow back made him pissed. However when he realized his GT self was at one point yet AGAIN a villain, possessed by some machine-made creation called Bebi or whatever, he was tempted to stomp down to Toei Animation and blast a couple of the creators for both being so uncreative, and also for defacing his GT self like that. Oddly enough, Vegeta had not given a damn that GT Goku had been the one again to defeat GT Vegeta, however the means GT Goku had found to fight GT Bebi Vegeta had made his jaw drop.

As he looked over the information, he had learned of a Super Saiya-jin 4, a level of Super Saiya-jin one level beyond what the real Goku could actually do at this point in time. Although Vegeta had been immediately tempted to skip on to find out the requirements, he looked over the rest of the information on GT. Apparently, Super Saiya-jin 4 made GT Goku look like his original age, but yet the other levels he had GT Goku was still a kid. Vegeta soon learned that Piccolo had supposedly given up his life for the rest of the series to destroy the Black Star Dragonballs. He then found out that apparently Dr. Gero and the same person who made Bebi, a Dr. Myuu or something, had created a version of #17 that was fully android instead of a cyborg, and caused the fabric of space and time between Hell and Earth to open, causing a kind of insurrection.

The two GT #17s had fused to create a "Super #17", which was supposedly stronger than Cell was at his perfect level, and even stronger than his GT self when possessed. Vegeta grumbled, realizing that this Super #17 was also defeated by Goku, by using a technique he had never known Goku to have, a Ryuken or something that apparently shot a golden dragon out of Goku's fist to hit the enemy and destroy them. However that was not the end of it. He had also learned Gohan did not apparently have the unlocked full powers from Rou Dai Kaioshin that he remembered, and could only go Super Saiya-jin 1 now. Vegeta chuckled, knowing that was far from true about the real Gohan, who still trained on a semi-regular basis and still had his Mystic powerup.

Looking further over the information on GT, Vegeta had learned of the Evil Shenrons, the seven evil dragons that supposedly would emerge from the now cracked original Dragonballs. Apparently GT claimed the reason this happened was because of an excessive use of the Dragonballs, due to Bulma creating the Dragon radar. Vegeta had remembered though that Rou Dai Kaioshin actually had warned them about not overusing the Dragonballs, but never went into detail exactly why.

Vegeta read on, learning about the seven dragons, and how most of them were horribly weak, while others were much more powerful than they probably should've been. However he soon learned of Ii Shenron, the strongest of the seven dragons, and how even Super Saiya-jin 4 Goku could not defeat him at first, and was then able to swallow the damaged Dragonballs to merge the powers of the other 6 dragons to create the "ultimate villain", Omega Shenron. Vegeta than read that his GT self had come in, along with Bulma and a new invention of hers, which allowed Vegeta to skip over Super Saiya-jin 3 and basically go straight to 4.

Vegeta growled at this, realizing the show was probably better called "Goku Time", or "Kakarott Time" instead of "Grand Tour", since Goku seemed to be the only one who could do anything significant in the series. However, Vegeta looked over the information as he saw his GT self and Goku's GT self had done the fusion dance to become apparently the strongest character on the show, named Gogeta, who oddly enough had RED hair during his Super Saiya-jin 4 level. Vegeta literally burst out laughing when he first saw SSJ4 Gogeta like this, thinking it was some joke. However Gogeta was even more arrogant and idiotic than Vegetto had even been, clowning around most of the battle as opposed to destroying Omega right away, so badly it screwed them in the end, and they defused before they could finish Omega off.

Vegeta grumbled again, reading off how Omega had finally been defeated. Apparently after their GT selves had unfused, they had both reverted back to base and had gotten their asses kicked, until Goku had managed to pull off a Genki Dama far more powerful than the one he used to kill off Kid Buu. Vegeta had even found a small video showing the death of Omega Shenron in full time. Vegeta laughed at how pathetic Omega had turned out to be.

Kid Buu had managed to at least hold off the Genki Dama used on him at first, because Goku had not been at full health. However Omega had been killed instantly by a Genki Dama fired at him by a younger Goku who was himself even closer to death than when he fought Kid Buu. Basically after that, the Dragonballs were purged, and supposedly things were all happily ever after, except that Goku had apparently died in the battle and left forever on Shenron's back, after one final wish to restore that which was destroyed by the insurrection, Super #17 and the Evil Dragons.

Vegeta regarded GT with a mix of humor and contempt. Although he admitted that most of the concepts were likely impossible, especially now, he did also admit that he was concerned if these "Black Star Dragonballs" existed, if the whole "Evil Dragons" thing could really happen to them, and of course, the most important thing: the Super Saiya-jin 4 level. Vegeta went and looked up more information on this form. If it really could be obtained, Vegeta wanted to know the requirements for it, because he seemed to recognize the whole method involved becoming an Oozaru, while being a Super Saiya-jin of a lesser level, as well as gaining control over yourself.

He in fact remembered how he had originally envisioned the Super Saiya-jin of legend in times before he could transform. He had always recalled the legends had said the Saiya-jin could only hold Super Saiya-jin in the Oozaru form, but the Saiya-jin lost himself and ended up annihilating himself and the world he stood upon. Vegeta wondered if what he had heard might have held some truth to the Super Saiya-jin 4 matter. Maybe "Super Saiya-jin 4" was actually the TRUE "Legendary Level" of the Saiya-jin race. Vegeta knew it was a long shot, but he had to try to get to Super Saiya-jin 4 at all costs, even if it ended up he wouldn't be the only one who eventually could.

Vegeta then scowled at himself, realizing that Alex, Vernon and Jason, and probably Clint even knew of Super Saiya-jin 4. He remembered on the 11th when Alex had asked him and Goku about how far they could both transform.

That little clown! He probably knew all this time and wanted to be sure if we knew or not! Why the hell didn't he or the others tell us?! He then realized, even if Goku were still his 'rival' to an extent, even he deserved to at least know about GT and of all of this stuff, even Super Saiya-jin 4.

Vegeta wondered though, since Oozaru usually required a tail to transform if there was even a remote way he or any of the other Saiya-jin Misfits could become Super Saiya-jin 4 at all. Vegeta realized that the way he transformed to SSJ4 in GT could technically be a potential way, since although 99 out of every 100 Oozaru transformations required a tail, there were rare cases in the Saiya-jin society where a Saiya-jin could in take far more Zenos of Brute Rays through the eyes than normal. The tail of a Saiya-jin was also in a sense a amplifier for the Brute waves.

A Saiya-jin needed to take in a total of 17 million or more Zenos of Brute Rays through the body to transform to Oozaru. Without the tail, a Saiya-jin could usually only take in a little over half that many zenos in a fast enough span of time before the Zenos would disperse from the Saiya-jin's body. The tail of a Saiya-jin could quickly multiply the zenos taken in by the body, which was why almost all transformations to Oozaru required a tail and also occurred within seconds of looking at a full moon, but a rare couple of Saiya-jin could transform even WITHOUT a tail, although not almost instantly as Saiya-jin who did have tails.

Apparently the method used in GT for both instances GT Vegeta had become a "Golden Oozaru" had come because of the machine used was able to create an abundance of artificial brute waves, which could cause anyone with Saiya-jin blood to transform even without a tail after a few seconds of exposure through the SKIN, not even having to take them in through the eyes. However, Vegeta knew he had no true way of making an artificial brute waves machine for that purpose. He was decent with mechanics, and so was Radditz, but Vegeta knew only someone of Bulma's genius could actually build a machine like that, and Bulma was nowhere around at the time.

However Vegeta suddenly smirked to himself, "Wait a minute! No shit! I still have my old Power Ball attack. The one I used against Kakarott in our first battle! It probably won't produce the waves at the same speed as an artificial emitter, but it might still do the trick!"

He then realized something: even if Vegeta had known 100% that what his attempt to prove Super Saiya-jin 4 was true, he remembered how pathetic GT had made him out to look, not having the ability to go Super Saiya-jin 3. In fact, Vegeta had noticed Clint's powerlevel had taken a large jump, and then an even larger one for a short few seconds earlier. Although Vegeta had realized Clint had not quite fully made it to Super Saiya-jin 3 himself, he had gotten close, and Vegeta realized that he had never gotten Goku to tell him exactly what had been happening to him when he first went Super Saiya-jin 3.

In fact, no one, even on the internet really seemed to have a straight answer for the transformation. Maybe Vegeta was not approaching it right, but he knew Goku had to be hiding something about how he had actually transformed. Vegeta realized he needed to talk to his old friend as soon as he got back. He knew he was over near Paula's ki, as Goku had told him he was meeting up with her to chat about the old times. Vegeta wished at the moment that he could do Shunkan Idou as well, so he could just teleport over to Goku to get the information he needed. Vegeta decided it was time he flew over to see him. He saved the sites he found to his bookmarks, and shut off the monitor, and walked outside, taking to the air and flying off in the direction of Paula and Goku's kis.

****
(September 15, 2001 A.D.; 7:20pm; Canton, Ohio)

Back at Paula's house, she had finally gotten to the point where she was going to tell Goku about what she had originally intended to mention.

"Now that we're caught up on our pasts for the most part Goku, it's time to talk to you about the real reason I called you here. You see, you might've noticed I was with Clint most of the afternoon. We were both checking out his first neighborhood. His current home is actually his third place, and this house we're in right now is ironically his second, but when we found his original home, the neighborhood looked on the verge of collapse. Clint found an important storage garage of his had been demolished and his stuff stolen, and we found out a local gang calling themselves the Crips had taken over his old house and many of the other abandoned houses."

Goku looked at her with interest, but still a bit confused to where this was going. Paula realized this and just went on, "I had a vision that one of the leaders, a guy named Rowan had stashed some important stuff in a hidden section of the house, and we went and nabbed it while they were away. We found a large amount of money, a strange drug I haven't bothered to open yet, and a ring with a jade gem in it. It turns out Rowan owned the ring and when he found we stole it, he got extremely mad, and almost went nuts trying to find it. When Clint made me come back here with the stuff and distracted him and his two friends, he found out the hard way about the ring's true power. Rowan told him the ring was enchanted by a strange power, which Clint claimed could make him a god or something. He was also able to defeat Clint in their battle via both the use of a special wing-based magic, and the fact that he knew how to use his ki like we can."

Goku looked a little concerned, "Wait, someone else we don't know can use their ki? And you say he basically defeated Clint?"

"Yeah, Clint was still affected by the curse, but Rowan's powerlevel was still higher than what he could reach at the time. Not to mention Clint had no defense at all against the wind attack. I think he called it the Wing Blaster or whatever. I was able to help Clint and defeat this guy when I sensed his power spike, and it turned out his wind attack was useless on me, but after I threatened the three of them and they boogied off, Clint told me that it was Oyatsu that had taught this guy how to use his ki back on the 1st, before you even called us over to train our ki, and that he also give Rowan the ring, and the drug." Paula explained.

Goku frowned, "Wow... Oyatsu's into more than I ever realized. I forgot to mention, he knew Oolong and Puar. He was a student at the same shapeshifting school."

Paula was now looking shocked, "I don't believe it!"

"Yeah, he knew more about me and Vegeta than we realized, and he used it well against us when we fought as I mentioned. Due to his powers, he can look like almost anyone and blend in, and Vegeta, Piccolo, me and the others never had any idea we were being shadowed for 30 years or more. Even Gero's efforts to monitor us for his projects seemed to pale to Oyatsu's. I still wish I knew how he got his damned hands on my old spaceship though." Goku replied.

"I got that stuff in my room if you want to examine them." Paula said.

"Please go get them then. I think I outta see this ring and the drug or whatever it is." Goku agreed, and Paula got up and went to her room to retrieve the five metal boxes, and she took the jade ring out with her.

Goku took a short look at the ring, and although he did feel something odd emanating from it, he could not really sense magic like Nina or Buu could, so he didn't know exactly how much power the ring could've had. Paula then took out the drug bottle and handed it to Goku. Goku was a little cautious about what was in the bottle, and the two of them ended up walking outside the house before they opened it in case it might've been a kind of poison or toxic substance. After he opened the cap, a puff emitted from the bottle. For just the shortest of moments, both Paula and Goku had noticed their ki had dropped almost to zero, despite the fact they didn't actually feel any physical side-effects, but their ki quickly returned to normal. Looking inside the bottle, the two of them saw a strange powder at the bottom of the bottle.

"I don't know what this is, but for some reason, my ki dropped dramatically for a split second after I opened it." Goku replied.

"Same here." Paula agreed, "Whatever this stuff is, I don't think we want to expose ourselves to it too much."

Goku quickly put the cap back on the bottle, but just after he did, he perked up and to the southwest.

"Vegeta's coming towards us." he stated.

Paula blinked, "What does he want?"

"I guess we're about to find out." Goku said, as they saw Vegeta's form land nearby in the night-sky.

Vegeta looked over at both of them, "Kakarott, I need to talk to you, NOW."

His voice sounded a bit agitated, and then he asked, "And why the hell did both of your kis suddenly drop to near zero for a second?"

Paula replied, "It happened when Goku opened this bottle. There was some strange powder inside of it." Vegeta frowned, and took the bottle from Goku and opened it. Goku and Paula both felt Vegeta's ki drop to almost bottom for a split second in the same way theirs had.

However when Vegeta had seen the contents of the bottle, he growled, "SHIT! This is Destronic Powder! No wonder your energies dropped for a moment! You must've whiffed in a vapor or it or something."

He then looked to Paula, "Where the hell did you find this?!"

"Clint's first house. Someone had hid it along with a bunch of money and a jade ring." Paula replied.

"You two better explain this to me quickly! I got to ask Kakarott a question of my own when I'm done here." Vegeta growled, not liking this development.

"First off Vegeta, what is Destronic Powder exactly?" Goku asked.

Vegeta sighed, "Destronic Powder, or 'Destron Powder' for short, is a basic form of a much more potent and dangerous substance. The powder can be used to be converted into a gas. The Destron Gas isn't dangerous to a person's physical health immediately, but it can be just as dangerous, for Destron Gas disrupts the body's flow of Ki, effectively causing it to drop to next to nothing and stopping it's use if continuously inhaled. Also, if ingested by living organisms for so long, they eventually begin to break down and die slowly."

Paula and Goku looked shocked at this explanation, and Vegeta noticed this, but continued speaking, "Destron Gas was also a primitive means of restraining a person's ki, like that of a prisoner or torture victim. It's supposedly a creation of the Tsufuru-jin, the original inhabitants of Planet Vegeta, known back then as Planet Plant. The Tsufuru-jin were a much weaker race than the Saiya-jin, but they were technologically superior. They are the ones who created the first scouters Kakarott, and they are also the reason we became so much more advanced when we conquered them at last, and the real reason Frieza had made the Planet Trade expand in the technological sense so much after he met us. Although there were many other methods of ki restrainment developed by the Tsufuru-jin, many of the concepts were destroyed in the final battles of the war between our races, so they are lost forever."

He then looked over to Paula, "Do you know who was using this originally?"

"I think Oyatsu originally had possession of it, however he had given it to the leader of one of the gangs in this city. I have a feeling now what connection it has with that jade ring. Rowan must've been planning to use the wind-powers in the ring to spread the Destron Powder over the city or something like that in the form of that gas." Paula explained.

Vegeta cursed, "Damn that shapeshifting bastard! This is only one bottle. I'm pretty sure this isn't the only one he gave to this Rowan guy you speak of!"

Paula sighed, realizing Vegeta made sense, "You're probably right. He's probably got more bottles of this stuff in the other abandoned houses."

Paula and Goku decided to explain to Vegeta of what Clint and Paula had been doing in Clint's first neighborhood, about how Oyatsu had also allowed Rowan to unlock his ki, as well as filling him on the understanding that the merger had occurred, and how Rowan had managed to defeat Clint since the Durty Durt Dur curse had still been directly affecting him. Vegeta was very unhappy to learn of this, and he wasn't the happiest with Paula when she said she had let Rowan, Morgan and Harry escape, but he realized Clint was more to blame for not telling her about Oyatsu's involvement beforehand, and promised he would give Clint a bit of hell for his accidental part in this mess.

Speaking of Clint... "Kakarott, now that we've discussed this little matter, it's my turn to ask you something. I'm tired of you darting around me when I ask, so you are going to tell me right here, RIGHT NOW, just how the hell was happening to you when you first became a Super Saiya-jin 3!"

Goku was taken back a little by Vegeta's harsh tone, as Vegeta rarely spoke to him with such anger in the last 10 years, but he realized that he couldn't keep hiding the truth from Vegeta anymore.

Goku took a deep sigh, and looked at Vegeta, "Can we go back inside Paula? I think we outta get situated, because what I'm about to tell both of you might be very hard to take."

Paula was confused, and Vegeta twitched an eye at Goku, but Paula brought both of them back into the house. She then got the three of them some food and drinks, having the feeling the three of them would be in the room for possibly hours. After Goku felt more comfortable, he looked at Vegeta and spoke up.

"I suppose it's time you need to know the truth about Super Saiya-jin 3, Vegeta." He spoke.

Vegeta growled at his comrade, "What truth? Don't you dare tell me I'm never going to obtain it!"

"No no... what I mean is that... I lied about a few of the facts. When I told Alex, Vernon and Jason it might take a very long time to transform, that was lie to keep them from the truth. They're probably nowhere near ready for it yet, not with what I had to endure to reach it." Goku replied.

"Just get to the point Kakarott!" Vegeta growled, starting to lose his already fading patience.

"Alright then Vegeta. It was only 2 years after the Cell games, at least by normal time standards. I had long since reached Super Saiya-jin 2, and I had decided I was going to go off and meditate in Hell. Since I was so revered in Anoyo, I was given free roaming rights around the place, with the exception of Kaioshin-Kai. I decided for a change in atmosphere and went to Hell that day. Maybe it was the fact it was Hell I was at during the time, but as I meditated, I began to receive visions in my mind. At first, I had thought little of what I was seeing. The visions were nothing I wasn't used to, mostly ones of me fighting past enemies, usually in my own strange fantasies and all that. However after a while, my mind began to feel strange, and the visions gradually became darker and darker, to the point I would begin to see people dying for apparently no reason. Although I had not realized it then, these people were actually being killed by a savage force." Goku had began to explain.

Vegeta and Paula looked over at him, wondering how this had anything to do with his transformation.

"Will you please get to the point, Kakarott?!" Vegeta asked.

Goku growled, "Will you let me finish?! This is very important for you to know, Vegeta!" Goku snapped back, which surprised both Paula and Vegeta. Vegeta would've normally quipped back at his comrade, but for some reason, he realized Goku was serious in all he had been saying.

Goku calmed himself down and continued to talk, "A few more visions in, and I finally got a glimpse of you Vegeta. When I saw you, it had looked like you were just standing there, like you were in a trance. After a few more seconds, I saw Radditz, and then Nappa appear on each side of you, looking out of it, in the same trance-like state. Curious, I looked closer, and noticed all three of you had red, glowing eyes. I was a little spooked at this, and my mental self even tried to call out to all of you, but none of you reacted in anyway whatsoever. It was as if I was only a silent witness. I then heard a voice echo through the room. I knew somehow that despite the fact I could pick out the words, I knew you three where the ones the voice directed itself at. The voice kept repeating worlds, such as 'OBLITERATE, SPREAD, PERSPIRE', over and over, like a mantra in your heads. After hearing this strange voice for a few minutes, Vegeta jerked up his head, followed by Nappa and then Radditz. The three of them let out one of the most fear-inducing screams I had ever heard in my life. I then heard the voice tell them to annihilate anything they saw in their path. The strange thing was that while Radditz and Nappa appeared as they had when I first met them, Vegeta had appeared the way I had last saw him during the Cell and Cyborg conflict, and yet he had apparently succumbed to this voice. In fact, to my horror, all three of you suddenly powered up, to the point Vegeta, Nappa and Radditz were all Super Saiya-jin 2s."

Vegeta cut in immediately, "Wait, BOTH Nappa and Radditz too?! Radditz can only use Super Saiya-jin 1 NOW, and Nappa, only the Kaios know what's going on with him!"

Goku growled, wanting to get his explanation off his chest as soon as he could, "I know that! Can you let me finish please?! As I was saying, all three of you had transformed to Super Saiya-jin 2. I then began to endure a onslaught of horrifying visions. I saw the three of you killing innocents and non-innocents alike, all over the entire universe, and also Earth and Namek. Vegeta, I saw you kill Bulma effortlessly, and then Mirai just as easily after so, and then I saw you mercilessly kill baby Trunks and the Briefs family as well." he saw Vegeta's shocked expression, but continued speaking.

"I saw Radditz murdering Gohan, Chichi, even Piccolo. I then saw Radditz kill some of Frieza's men as well, including that Dodoria guy he hated so much. I then saw him kill other people who were apparently part of Frieza's army, even though I never met them before, I even saw him kill Rikoom. I then saw Nappa kill that Zarbon guy, as well as Gurudo, Jeice and Ginyu. I also saw him destroy Chaozu, Tenshinhan and Yamcha with even more brutality than he had ever really used on them. I then saw you killing Baata, then Cell, and even #18 with such little effort. Then I saw Nappa kill #17 and #20, while Radditz had blown away #19 and #16. Then I had saw the three of you approaching Frieza, King Cold, and a third creature that had looked like a white and purple version of Frieza's fourth form. The three fought against you for a short time, almost looking like they had been even with you, but then it appeared you had been toying with them the entire time for sport. Radditz blew King Cold to bits with one blast. Nappa did his mouth-blast attack at the unknown creature and shredded away all the skin from his body, leaving just a skeleton. Then I saw you mercilessly hammer Frieza himself."

Vegeta had to admit though, while he had been a little shocked at some of the people Goku had seen him kill in these visions, at least he appeared to taking his revenge on that bastard Frieza. Goku didn't really care, and continued explain his visions, "Frieza was greatly weakened, and unable to fight back. You, Radditz and Nappa looked to each other, with what I could swear were such horrifying grins, as if you were totally intoxicated with your actions, and all three of you combined your power into a massive blast that shred Frieza away before it even fully engulfed him. Then, you looked all to each other and said my name, as if I had been next. Sure enough, my next vision, I found myself back in my own spiritual state, and I had finally confronted the three of you. You all spoke my name all at once again in that creepy way, and attacked me all at once. Although I was slightly stronger than any of you three in my vision, all three of you combined eventually began to wear me out, and I had become overwhelmed." Vegeta and Paula were now totally held in the vice of the story Goku was telling to them.

"After what felt like hours of getting the holy tar beat out of me by you two, it was as if a great force picked me up and dusted me off for what was to come. I began to fight back with renewed vigor, that now I had turned the tables on you three. However, as I had thought I was about to win, I had seen all three of you look to each other with a strange expression. All three of you suddenly turned into light and merged with each other, forming into a new being who seemed much like a fusion of the three of you. This new fusion was very strong, and I was again back on the ropes. Again, it felt like hours that I was struggling just to keep up, and I had even received a blast that about took one of my arms off. It was at that point I began to slip into a state of rage I had never felt before. I saw a field of electricity literally engulf me from top to bottom, and I could swear it felt like I was getting heavier. I also realized that my mental self was slowly losing his rational thought and reverting into a savage nature. After I stopped the strange change, I suddenly jumped forward and smashed the fusion of you three all around the place. Even all in one body, you were not able to lay a hand on me after that point. I realized my mental self had gotten tired of the farce, and I saw myself charge in and gut your fusion right through the stomach. Although the blow had mortally wounded you, I could swear I could see the glow in your fusion's eyes fade away, into a look that expressed a kind of horror, as if the fusion had no memory of what he had done. He looked at me as if I had betrayed him in the worst possible way as he slid off my fist and hit the floor dead." Goku continued to explain.

Vegeta decided to cut in again, "That state you entered... that... that was Super Saiya-jin 3... wasn't it?"

"Yes Vegeta, but at the time, I did not realize that in the physical plane that my body had in fact done the same thing as my mind had. However even after I had killed the fusion of you, Radditz and Nappa, I had one more challenger meet me. Although at the time, I had no clue it was him, but looking back, I now remember that it was Majin Buu in the first state we knew him for." at this, Paula looked a bit shocked, and Vegeta grumbled.

Goku continued, "Buu's form attacked me quickly, not even bothering to speak. It was a fierce battle, and unlike my previous fight with the fusion of Vegeta, Nappa and Radditz, it was relatively even. Buu was not able to regenerate in my vision though. At the time I must not have realized of it. After what felt like again hours upon hours, Buu's mental form began to weaken and relent and I was able to land a blow that basically end up causing him to split into two parts. Although I had not known it at the time, one part had looked much like Mr. Buu now, and the second looked like Kid Buu. Apparently this was some kind of sign I had knocked his two natures separate from each other. However as the battle had progressed, I had lost all state of rational thought, and only my savage instincts remained. Although I destroyed Kid Buu's persona easily after this, I also immediately killed Mr. Buu's persona, revealing that my mind could not tell good from evil. It was just after this that I finally woke up in a screaming mess." Vegeta and Paula had looked visibly disturbed by Goku's story.

"However when I woke up, I was barely aware of anything around me, and my mind was still mostly in that feral, savage state. North Kaio found me lying in a heap down in Hell and tried to find out what happened. I had smacked him away without realizing it, and I was about pounce on him for what would've been a killer blow had he not already been dead, but my rational mind woke up and realized what I had about done. I apologized quickly to North Kaio, but he apparently understood what I had endured. He told me of my visual changes, of the fact my hair had grown down to my knees, and my eyebrows had faded, making me look truly savage in nature. He and I had realized that I had ascended to a level thought to never exist, and we both called it Super Saiya-jin 3 because of the bizarre differences from Super Saiya-jin 2. Although I had survived my transformation with my mind intact, I learned that I did not have to go through the torturous hell of those visions anymore when I transformed, although I could not use Super Saiya-jin 3 for too long at a time at first." Goku said, and gave a long sigh.

Vegeta was amazed at just what his Saiya-jin comrade had been telling him, "So basically, you're telling me that in order for someone to become a Super Saiya-jin 3, they have to induce some kind of nightmarish visions on themselves?"

"Well, I don't think I intended to induce the visions on myself, but yes, you have to be able to mentally survive long enough in the visions to properly transform into a Super Saiya-jin 3." Goku explained.

"Just how do you know this is a necessity?! Our sons' fusion was able to become a Super Saiya-jin 3 with little training!" Vegeta said.

"No, I don't think it was so 'little training'. You've got the remember the majority of their training for fusion was in the Chamber of Spirit and Time, and it wasn't really something Rou Dai Kaioshin could keep an eye on in his crystal ball. I've got the feeling Gotenks had his own nightmares or visions in the time he had to train for his battle with Buu." Goku replied, "We'd have to ask Goten or Trunks, or both if they remember, but I got the feeling they might recall it well."

Vegeta however was still not convinced, "As you just said Kakarott, Rou Dai Kaioshin had no way of viewing if that was true or not, so you can't confirm that yet! Do you have any more 'proof' these nightmares are some kind of necessity for the transformation?!"

Goku sighed, "Yes I do Vegeta, and you know this person better than even I do."

Vegeta then gasped in shock, as he realized just what Goku was talking about, "No, you don't mean... Mirai too?! He had these nightmares as well?!"

"Yes, Vegeta. After Mirai had returned to his timeline and set things right, he explained to me a month back when he revealed he could transform to Super Saiya-jin 3 of just how he attained it. I know his story, and he knows mine. They are very similar."

Vegeta growled, realizing he was curious to his future son's 'nightmares', "Tell me Kakarott, what where Mirai's nightmares? Where they about the cyborgs?"

"Yes, but it was so much more Vegeta. Mirai told me that after he destroyed Cell in his timeline that Bulma had built a spaceship that had found new Namek with North Kaio's help. Mirai gladly went there to find someone who could replace Kami after he died from his connection to Piccolo there. Like we ended up doing, he had met Dende, and he agreed to help by volunteering to be watcher of Mirai's version of Earth. After they returned to Earth, they restored the Dragonballs, although they could not revive our future counterparts. Mirai then told me he had a strange dream, and had asked Dende to show him the vivid memories of exactly how the Cyborgs killed Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Yajirobe, Yamcha, you, and of my future self's last living moments before he died of the heart virus. He had only seen more or less how Gohan had died, and that alone had been what allowed Trunks to reach Super Saiya-jin. He had also gained the understanding of how to use Super Saiya-jin 2 prior to this event." Goku spoke, and then continued.

"Although Dende had not understood just why Mirai wanted to see these memories, Dende reluctantly showed him. Mirai fell into a catatonic state, much like I had, and he had visions of the memories of the others' deaths. However as he began to see the visions, they became increasingly darker, just as mine had, and some of the memories had become tainted, and darkened. He had told me he saw #17 and #18 kill many many others than those they really had killed. Again, it appeared as if the two had been all over the universe doing these killings. Soon he confronted the two after he had witnessed them tear Cell himself apart, and they attacked him. Much like how many of his older battles with them had gone, they vastly had the upper hand on him, even as a Super Saiya-jin 2. Basically, he went feral and savage just as I had, transforming to Super Saiya-jin 3 in the process. He told me he then killed both of the cyborgs with ease, but then he too had confronted his own final challenger. However Mirai had not confronted Buu like I had, but he had confronted me, also a Super Saiya-jin 3 myself apparently, although he said at the time he did not realize what form it was. He said the two of us fought, and it had been even, until my mental self lost his power and reverted back. However Mirai told me he merely continued attacking my mental self, as far as maiming me to the point I has lost both my arms. He said his mental image than fired a large blast that incinerated me, and then he had awakened. He told me than in his physical awakening that he almost committed a tragic error. He told me that he had released a blast that had come dangerously close to the sun, and he said had he hit his mark, the sun would've gone Supernova, killing everyone in the Solar System. He had broken down in hysterics on the Tenka that day, not realizing at first just what he had done." Goku explained.

Vegeta looked visibly pained at hearing the ordeal both Goku and Mirai Trunks had to endure in their path to ascension. He then realized he had to ask the important question, "Kakarott... do you think I would be able to handle transforming?"

Goku sighed, "I can't be sure. I would expect you probably could, although I also know you probably harbor far more nightmares than I ever did due to your own past. I'm just confident Alex, Jason and Vernon would go insane trying to reach Super Saiya-jin 3 now. I don't think they're ready."

"Wait... what about Dan? Didn't he reach Super Saiya-jin 3 as well?" Paula asked, suddenly remembering what Nina, Teresa and Dan himself had told her and the others about that.

Goku sighed, "Paula, you have to remember than Oyatsu had control of Dan's mind and body at the time of his transformation. Oyatsu told us himself that his presence in Dan extends the limits of Dan's potential while inside of him, much like Vegeta when he had been taken over by Babidi. However I think the real reason Dan can't go back to Super Saiya-jin 3 was because it was not HIS MIND that endured the nightmares, it was OYATSU'S MIND. Dan told me that while Oyatsu had possessed him that he had some access to his memories. He learned Oyatsu greatly hated Buu for destroying the Earth, and that Oyatsu was on the verge of foaming at the mouth when he had confronted Buu earlier. Also, if you didn't realize it, Nina, Teresa and Dan himself can vouch for the fact that Oyatsu literally lost his mind after he transformed to Super Saiya-jin 3. It didn't help matters that he had just become a Super Saiya-jin 2 minutes before that, but Oyatsu's mind was not at the time ready for all the nightmares and visions, and he literally went nuts until #18 had dispersed him out of Dan's body. Oyatsu's folly is a perfect example of what can go wrong with Alex, Vernon or Jason if they try to go 3 so soon."

Paula gasped in realization, and Vegeta looked forlong, even for Dan, realizing that Goku was also likely right about Alex, Vernon, Jason and Dan not being able to go SSJ3 for a long time.

"Vegeta, there were a few other things I lied to some of you about concerning this matter. Remember when I told you the reason I didn't kill Buu when I first fought him was because I wanted the boys or someone else defeating him for once instead of me? That was just a lie to keep you from realizing what I had to endure. I could've killed him if I had fought him for any more amount of time, but before I faced Buu, I had never gotten a glimpse of him, so when I did, I realized Buu was the same creature I killed completely at the end of my vision." Goku replied.

"You knew there was good in him, and you didn't want to lose your sense of good and kill both, so you let him live... you feared killing him would destroy your sanity, and turn you into a bigger monster than Buu." Vegeta realized.

"Exactly Vegeta. Remember when I told you of the torture of having to endure the Chosuishinsi, Korin's holy water? I told you how I struggled to survive for 20 hours straight. Until that day in Hell, it had been the worst torture I ever endured. My visions leading to my transformation were at least fifty times worse than that. Super Saiya-jin 3 is not a level to be taken lightly Vegeta. Maybe you can do it, but as of now, you're the ONLY one among any Saiya-jin here that I believe COULD do it without losing his mind." Goku said with a frown.

Vegeta sighed to himself, and now he realized why he had never even come close to transforming for so many years. He had been looking at it the wrong way, and Goku had been concerned for his state of mind back then that he didn't want Vegeta to know the truth. That was why MIRAI, his future son of all people had also been able to do it, while he could not.

"Kakarott... I'm... sorry... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry I doubted you back then. I had no idea... of what you two had to endure. I truly wonder if I would be able to take the terror if I tried to do it..." Goku looked at him sadly, but Vegeta continued to speak, "But I MUST. I must become a Super Saiya-jin 3! I have to! Not because of my pride, not to become stronger than you Kakarott! No... I cannot allow that I am so weak that I have to SKIP Super Saiya-jin 3 just because of these visions."

"Wait a second?! What do you mean 'SKIP Super Saiya-jin 3'?!" Goku asked, completely taken back from Vegeta's speech.

"Kakarott, listen to me carefully. There was another reason I needed to speak with you. Through searching on the internet on Vernon's computer he gave us, I learned some startling information, information that MIGHT have relevance to our own futures." Vegeta replied.

Goku was now in a state of shock, as Vegeta continued, "It has been brought to my attention that there is the possibly of a Super Saiya-jin 4 in our futures."

"WHAT?! SUPER SAIYA-JIN... F... FOUR?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Goku shouted, almost acting as if Vegeta was just playing a joke.

Vegeta sighed, expecting his ally would act much in that manner, "It's not 100% confirmed, at least not in reality. However I have learned that there was a THIRD series based on us, a series that was not based on that manga or comic-thing Alex and his friends told us about. It's called Dragonball GT, and it apparently begins 10 years after this point in time."

"10 years in the future?" Goku asked, now interested in his friend's explanation.

"GT apparently introduces some potential problems we MAY or may NOT face in the future. One such example is that there may in fact be a SECOND set of Dragonballs on Earth, a tainted set known as the Black Star Dragonballs. Another is that your original nemesis Pilaf, or whatever the hell his name was, might end up making a wish that turns you back into a child. Also, if these Dragonballs exist and a wish is made, they apparently split off over the entire universe, and if not collected within a year, the Earth is supposed to explode." Vegeta said.

"No way! You're serious?!" Goku asked with a great look of concern. Paula was also very scared of this declaration.

Vegeta sighed and continued explained, "Also, supposedly I could get possessed again, but this time by some weak machine thingy created by a surviving Tsufuru-jin scientist, called Bebi. My power is expanded so much that even your Super Saiya-jin 3 can't stop me, so you have to undergo a process that eventually allows you to reach a Super Saiya-jin 4. Basically, it seems to be based on the original legend of the Super Saiya-jin that I was told about as a child. The process involves having to transform into an Oozaru while in the form of a Super Saiya-jin, and gain control of yourself, causing you to regress in size, but increase in power, and becoming the Super Saiya-jin 4."

Goku was amazed at this prospect, "Wow, you got me thinking about it now Vegeta."

"There's more than that too. It's possible Hell might have an insurrection because Gero and Bebi's creator manage to create a purely mechanical version of #17, and use both #17s to open a rift between Hell and Earth. Also, it's possible that we might have to stop using our own Dragonballs soon, lest we release a swarm of dragons from the negative energy which all possess great power." Vegeta continued.

"Wait, Evil Dragons from our own Dragonballs? Negative energy?!" Goku asked, not understanding this last part.

"Remember when Rou Dai Kaioshin warned us against overusing the Dragonballs? This GT seems to elaborate on one of the possibilities of us doing this, and the consequences are dire, because although we save the universe again, and I even find a way to become a Super Saiya-jin 4 myself, you end up dying for good at the end, and Shenron also disappears forever, rendering the Earth's Dragonballs useless for the rest of time." Vegeta replied.

Goku was shocked, "Woah... I had no idea that could happen. You'll have to show me more on this later. So you believe this Super Saiya-jin 4 really exists?"

Vegeta smirked, "It sounds so much like the original legend that there has to be SOME degree of truth to it. I want to transform to Super Saiya-jin 3 because I feel I would be cheating myself if I skipped over to 4."

"Wait, how can we even do all of that? We don't have our tails at all anymore." Goku asked.

Vegeta smirked, "Actually, not ALL Saiya-jin have to have their tails to transform to the Oozaru state, as long as their body can absorb 17 million Zenos within enough time, they can still transform. Our tails are merely a means for amplifying the Zenos already in the body. I remembered in my youth that there were apparently reports of a couple of Saiya-jin a long time back who could transform without their tails."

Goku looked interested in this prospect, "Maybe I could get right onto trying that myself."

Vegeta sighed, "Well I need to let you know something else. I think Alex held this information back from us on purpose. Do you remember on the 11th when he asked each of us how far we got with our transformations?"

Goku grumbled, realizing he needed to have a talk with Alex for that, "I guess that makes sense. Why would he hold back that knowledge from us though?"

"Beats me, but we need to talk to him tomorrow about this. I think we also need to get a talk in with Clint. I think he tried to go Super Saiya-jin 3 today. I know for sure that he reached two, but he might have not been able to endure some of those visions or something, like what you said." Vegeta replied. Goku and Paula frowned at this.

"I think I'm gonna call him in a little while. I need to let him know what we found out about the Destronic Powder anyways." Paula spoke up.

"Yeah, I think Vegeta and I outta go for now. It's been nice catching with you Paula, so I'll talk to you tomorrow." Goku had said. However before Goku could take even a couple of steps, he got a surprise when North Kaio had teleported in front of him suddenly, panting as if he had found out something major and was in a rush to get there.

"N.. North Kaio?" Goku said in surprise.

"Goku, sit down please. I need to talk to you three specifically. I think I got the information you were looking for." North Kaio replied.

"What information?" Paula asked.

"Goku asked me earlier if I had any information on Oyatsu, or about how his ship on Namek had remained intact to this day. Although my intel on Oyatsu himself isn't too great just yet, I believe I figured out how he got the ship." Kaio replied.

"Really? What is it that you know?" Goku asked him.

"Well, let me put the mental vision in your own heads, so you can get the gist of it in a more direct sense." Kaio replied as he channeled his antennae around in circles, many times to the point that Goku, Paula and Vegeta had all fallen into a trance.

****
*(August 5, 1994 A.D. / December 24, 762 A.Z.; Unknown Time; Planet Namek)*

It was a along time in the past where Goku, Paula and Vegeta would be taken to. It was almost as if all three of them had literally been sent back into the past, but they could not interact with the activities of the planet, and only observe what was about to unfold before them.

Although the exact time of the day was not known, Goku and Vegeta immediately realized this was before Goku's transformation to Super Saiya-jin, because Namek's green skies were still intact, and the planet was not literally tearing itself apart. In fact, calmness seemed relatively abundant at the time. Goku could only wonder at exactly what point between his landing on Namek and its' explosion this had been. There had been no signs of any familiar looking creatures, although the scenery seemed to overlook a lake, of which Vegeta could swear he was trying to piece together in his head. As the vision continued, they began to notice that the water was rippling from below, as if someone had been underwater and coming up for air.

Suddenly a hand lunged from the water and gripped the land nearby. The hand looked to be a greenish-blue, and as the hand pulled its' occupant out of the water, Vegeta would've went agape in shock as he began to make out the feature of the person pulling themself to the land. The hand was connected to an arm wrapped in a pink-glove which came only to the back of the hand, and another arm pulled out which had a similar glove. The person's head emerged next, matter with a green, frazzled hair that looked clumped together near the back, as if the person had been wearing a braid or a scrunchie to hold it all together. Although the creature initially might have looked like a female due to the length of the hair, it was actually a male, as the figure pulled itself completely to land, its' muscles clearly shaped in a male form.

The green-blue skinned creature's face was a little bloodied at the mouth, as if he had recovered from a horrifying attack, and he wore what looked almost identical to the same armored-plate Vegeta himself wore, of the shoulder-bladed kind. However they noticed there was a large hole in the stomach of the armor, and a decent sized wound in the creature's stomach beneath it. Vegeta growled in a haze, he already knew the person who they had been watching. The back of the creature's armor looked even more torn up at the stomach level, but to Vegeta's shock, he saw there was no wound through his back like he had remembered.

I killed him! I swear to the Kaios that I killed him! There's no way a blast through the stomach could just be laughed off like that! Vegeta growled as he looked down and watched as Frieza's right hand-man Zarbon staggered from the edge of the lake. Although Zarbon had been horribly injured and/or apparently killed in his fight with Vegeta, he had somehow recovered from the otherwise lethal hit to his stomach. Although he had still seen better days, Frieza's right hand man only expressed relief, shock and terror. They saw Zarbon smash his fist to the ground, in anger, but at what?

He then spoke out, "I gotta get off this planet now! Damn Vegeta! He... was right! I can't let this go on any longer!" Zarbon rested his body for a few seconds, and observed the remains of what should've been his fatal wound, as it was regenerating at a pace while slow to the human eye, was still much more than the average human healing rate. After a few minutes, Goku, Vegeta and Paula watched Zarbon pick up into the air and fly slowly in the western direction. Vegeta realized he was flying in somewhat close towards where he and Goku had faced most of the Ginyu force while they were on Namek.

However Zarbon would soon find exactly what he was hoping for as he closed in on the location of the Ginyu force's battle area. He saw a small island in the distance, with a large and round object laying on the side. As he landed near the object, he almost fell over from the injuries he still had left. In front of was a large round ship with the words "Capsule Corporation" on the side. Although Zarbon had not recognized the name, he had an idea this might just be the spaceship he could use to get off this planet. As far as he was now concerned, he had to get away from Frieza, from Vegeta, from this entire damned planet trade business.

It had finally triggered in his head after he should've otherwise died that Frieza was not worth serving anymore. He had to return alive, not for Frieza, but for his mate, who also was a member of the planet trade, and get her and him as far away from Frieza the organization as possible. Zarbon managed to open the door to the ship, and staggered inside. However before he could get a good enough look around, the ground shook violently enough that Zarbon tripped over and hit his head on the stair rail and fell into the lower compartment, unconscious as he hit the floor below...

Zarbon had been awakened later by a violent series of earthquakes, and as he recovered, he could swear he felt the planet falling apart. Although his head hurt, his other injuries had healed more while he was out of it, and he flew out onto the main floor of the ship and looked out a window to see the skies black over Namek, and volcanoes erupting in the distance. Mountains were crumbling apart at the seams.

"Damn Frieza! He must've finally gotten sick of this mudball! I gotta get out of here now!"

However Zarbon had noticed as he went to the controls that the door to the ship had been closed, as if someone had come back in to use it to leave, but he could find no one. However he had little time to worry who had owned this ship, as he quickly worked the controls to the ship. The ship's engines powered up to full strength, and the ship plowed from the planet's surface quickly. Zarbon fell back into the seat next to the controls, and waited until he could stand again.

He quickly looked out at the erupting Namek in its final death throes, as he saw the planet finally explode into fiery meteors that covered the skies. However he could swear he had seen a small object flying away from the exploding planet, just safely clearing the planet's fatal blast. Goku had realized this had probably been the Ginyu-Force space pod he had found and managed to escape Namek with just in time as he watched from his omnipresent standpoint.

"Damn... I better find out where this ship is going..." Zarbon had then realized out loud.

****
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 6:02am; Canton, Ohio)

Later the next morning near 6 in the morning, Alex stepped out of his house, through the back sliding-door exit next to his fishing pond. He was mostly awake and eager as hell to get to today's training. Because of both the fact Goku and the others had decided to take a personal day off yesterday, plus the interference of Oyatsu, he was feeling like his powers were already beginning to atrophy. He also knew that Oyatsu's appearance was proof that he was supposed to embark on the path of a glorious hero, and he wanted to be as strong as possible for the next coming of the shapeshifting possessor. Also, he felt a need to get the bastard back for that blasted curse of his!

He could sense Jason and Vernon's ki energy approaching at a steady, normal pace. He could also feel Piccolo and it was likely also #17 with them, although Alex could obviously not feel his energy. Apparently all of them grouped up on their way to him. He also sensed Goku and Vegeta's large ki energies moving around inside their own house nearby. He walked over to the middle ground between both his own backyard and the yard belonging to the two Saiya-jin renters, waiting as patiently as he could for them to arrive.

Alex then glanced over as he saw the door to their house open up. The two Saiya-jin elders walked out casually and looked over at Alex. Goku waved a normal greeting, and Vegeta was his usual frowning self, nothing all out of the ordinary. The two walked over and met with Alex.

"Hey Alex, good to see you. I sense the others are almost here, so we'll just wait a couple minutes for them to arrive, and we can get started." Goku replied, in his usual semi-cheery tone. Alex nodded silently, but not exactly catching the look exchanged between Goku and Vegeta, one that would've looked a bit suspicious had he been paying attention.

Soon, Piccolo, #17, Vernon and Jason flew into view and quickly landed within a couple feet of the other three. Goku and Vegeta gave that odd look to #17 and Piccolo, who upon receiving it knew somehow, someway, there was something up. Neither Vernon or Jason noticed the looks exchanged anymore than Alex had.

They had sensed that Mr. Buu had apparently woke up from his meditative sleep and had been on his way at a leisurely pace. Vegeta cleared his throat abruptly and Goku realized that was his cue.

"Alex, Jason, Vernon, please sit somewhere for a bit. There's something we need to discuss with you. Piccolo, #17, you guys are gonna also wanna hear this as well, so I suggest you prime yourselves..." Goku said, his voice becoming a halfway point between normal and serious. The three teenage Saiya-jin sat down, wondering what was going on...

"Alright," Vegeta began, adapting a slight tone of agitation to his voice as he began to talk, "In the last few days, things have shown to all of us that despite our trials of the past, we are indeed still enduring new challenges to our welfare and that of the world. The events of the 11th, and yesterday's encounters with that asshole Oyatsu and his possession of Dan were enough proof of that. Although neither event might have escalated to a worldwide scale, there will no doubt be worse things to come. It appears Kakarott and I were correct about wanting to raise a new generation of fighters in addition to having ourselves around to keep some semblance of peace, especially in this new world of which we still are learning about and trying to comprehend."

Vegeta looked at the rest of them, most of them having a look that was suggesting he get to the point, but still curious nonetheless. He grumbled incoherently to himself and continued, "Our own group, composing of the eight of us, and Buu included, have done a good enough job so far, despite our setback with Oyatsu, but there are still problems to iron out among us. Some of your bear past rivalries and grudges, be these with each other, yourselves, or the others who don't train with us in this very group, but who nonetheless still work to become stronger, and some of them, or you, might even be keeping things from the rest of yourselves, or even from us."

Goku took that as his cue to begin speaking, "If we cannot get along with each other, or be willing to tell each other the important details that need to be known, our effectiveness as a team is reduced," he then looked at Alex, now a stern, though piteous look on his face, "This is why it is imperative we bring this into light: Alex, please explain to us why you failed to mention of the possibility of there being a Super Saiya-jin 4?"

Piccolo and #17's faces did a near double take at this mention, Jason and Vernon raised their eyebrows at Alex, and his expression suddenly turned to one of incredulous shock, "What do you mean?" he almost stammered, surprised by this question.

Vegeta's expression turned slightly more stern, though he continued on in his usual normal tone of voice, "Last night, I decided to do a bit of digging around on your 'internet' to learn more about the works of your Akira Toriyama, and of the differences between our lives and the versions of them depicted in his own version you call "Dragonball" and "Dragonball Z". However in our search, we learned about something called "Dragonball GT"."

Alex's eyes twitched slightly, Son of a bitch! That's why they're on my ass. They must've discovered of Super Saiya-jin 4 that way! Wait a second?! How the fuck does Vegeta know what the internet is?! he spat mentally.

"Vegeta wait a second, how do you even know about the internet?" Jason asked, asking Alex's mental question for him, and also curious to this whole fiasco.

Vernon's eyes showed realization though and he answered before Vegeta did, "I think it's because I gave those two my old computer as a welcoming gift. Vegeta must've finally gotten time to use it last night."

Alex looked over at Vernon with a look of anger, "Why the hell did you give them your old computer?!"

"When Goku and I talked at the hotel in Tokyo, I noticed he seemed quite curious to know more about the origins of their story as Toriyama saw it. I had also been looking for someone to give my old computer to, so I gave it to them." Vernon replied, and then looked over at Alex, now with a rare but annoyed look on his face, "And exactly why didn't you mention anything of GT to them? I would assume you'd have been willing to tell them all they needed to know, being Vegeta's biggest fan that you are."

"I already know why." Goku answered before Alex could reply, "Now I understand what you were asking me on the 11th about "how high you two can go". You knew about Super Saiya-jin 4, and kept it from us. Why? Why keep it from us?" he finished, sounding a little betrayed.

Alex sighed, and replied, "Alright, I admit it, I did keep it from you, but I wasn't planning to keep it from you for too long. Just... until I attained Super Saiya-jin 4 myself."

"Wait a second! You're saying you held it back so you could reach it before US?" Goku asked incredulously.

"You little sneak!" Jason growled, "You were gonna act like you achieved a miraculous thing before they did so you'd look good!"

"It's not completely like that Jason!" Alex growled back, knowing Goku and Vegeta were staring at them, "The main reason was that I felt that if I had told them immediately about it, they would've found out how to do it long before me, or any of you did, and frankly, I'm honestly sick of them always being the first ones to get a new transformation!" he then looked over to Goku and Vegeta, "That was the reason I asked you about your current limits. I wanted to know how much work I had to put into it before I could surpass you."

Vegeta chuckled darkly, which surprised Alex, "Hah, even IF you could've kept this from us for so long, you would've never gotten there before us."

"What the hell do you mean?!" Alex growled, taking his words as a challenge.

"Calm down Alex... What he means is that we don't even know if the level really does exist, or if the other events of that series will happen. It is 10 years from now, in theory." Goku replied.

"Are you telling me you don't think it exists?" Alex asked incredulously, not even considering that Super Saiya-jin 4 might not actually exist in the way he thought of.

"Kakarott might be a bit skeptical, but I... I DO believe it exists, and I feel it is our birthrights, and likely the birthrights of you three clowns as well to obtain it!" Vegeta replied in a proud tone.

Goku cut in, "And on that subject... I mentioned about the problem of us keeping things from each other. Alex, it's wouldn't be fair for me to lecture you about such a thing without revealing what I held back from you guys, else I'd just be a hypocrite."

"What you held back?!" #17 asked, still a little shocked about the chance of their being yet another level of Super Saiya-jin down the road.

"Yes... listen carefully guys. I held back and lied to you a lot about the circumstances of becoming Super Saiya-jin 3. While it was true I was dead and in Anoyo when I achieved it, you don't have to be dead or fused in order to learn it, nor does it take close to 300 years to acquire. There's a complicated process to achieving it, one that I would explain in full to all of you guys right now, except I need to conduct one final experiment to make sure I'm 100% correct. And it's because of this experiment that to your regret, Vegeta and I cannot train with you guys today, and Piccolo, #17 and Buu will have to do so for you."

"What a second?! You're running off on us again?!" Piccolo growled.

"Yeah come on, you pulled this shit on us yesterday, and look what almost happened!" Alex growled in agreement.

Vegeta smirked at Alex, "Consider this a punishment for holding back what you did then, if you wish. The fact is, this "experiment" Kakarott wants to conduct involves myself becoming a Super Saiya-jin 3, which I can honestly say that I have been wanting to do for 10 to 11 years now. I think if anyone deserves to achieve it next, it'd be me, and not a bunch of greenhorn brats still less than 2 weeks into their own training. I can see Radditz's irritation at your quick learning. Don't get us all wrong, it is a good honor you've shown us with your quick achievements, but it just seems like every damned generation of fighters learns things exponentially faster than the last, and in Alex's own words, "I'm honestly sick of it"."

Dully chastised by Vegeta's use of his own words, Alex couldn't find a retort to answer with. Jason and Vernon sighed dejectedly, but neither of them argued with Goku or Vegeta's plans. #17 sighed dully, and Piccolo grumbled.

"I do hope you understand, you'll owe us AGAIN for this little stunt, Son. You too Vegeta." Piccolo said, giving in for the time being to his friend's request.

"That's fine by us. I guess we could attempt to train these clowns at learning Super Saiya-jin 3 tomorrow, but I doubt they'll get it within a day. Hell, it might honestly take them weeks to get it, now that I too finally understand what Kakarott and Trunks had to go through to get it." Vegeta replied coolly.

"WHAT?! Trunks can go SSJ3 too?!" Alex asked, his expression pure shock and awe, "I thought he slacked off during the 10 years after Buu!"

"The PRESENT Trunks did slack off some, but my son from the FUTURE has not slacked off in the slightest since the Cell Games, and he has been able to do what I could not, until today." Vegeta replied.

"MIRAI Trunks?! He can go Super Saiya-jin 3?! He couldn't even go 2 when Dragonball's storyline parted with him!" Vernon choked out at Vegeta's declaration.

"As we both have stated before, things in our actual lives are indeed different from the events of Toriyama's 'reenactment' of it." Goku replied.

So much more is different than any of you realize, and I just know what you're going to learn in the future will shock some or even many of you to the core, based on what I've learned you guys believe happened. Goku then though to himself in afterthought.

"Alright then, so what do you want US to do today?" Jason asked.

Goku replied, "Well, the fact of the matter is, part of the requirements for Super Saiya-jin 3 is better control over Super Saiya-jin 2. It's not totally necessary to attain an Energy-Controlled state for it, but it will probably help a good deal. That is your mission. You must transform to Super Saiya-jin 2 and try to maintain it as long as you can, at least until we meet here again tomorrow if at all possible. Do what it takes, sleep while in the form, eat in the form, play your video games in the form, whatever you guys would normally do. Try to make Super Saiya-jin 2 casual as can be, much like some of you have Super Saiya-jin 1."

Vegeta looked over, "Kakarott, it's time we got this over with. I cannot wait until I have finally held Super Saiya-jin 3 in my grasp. I will not allow myself to skip over it to reach Super Saiya-jin 4 like my pansy-ass GT self apparently does."

Goku nodded, "Right. Let's do it!"

With that, Alex, Jason, Vernon, Piccolo and #17 watched Goku and Vegeta lift up into the air and take off southwest-ward, to find a suitable location for their training. As they began to disappear from view, Mr. Buu soon came into their view from the Northwest, and landed close by.

Noticing a lack of his two Saiya-jin friends, he asked, "Where Goku and Vegeta going, Piccolo?"

Piccolo sighed dejectedly, "They have a special mission to complete, one that will not involve any of us. However you on the other hand can be of help, so get over here and help us come up with ideas for these three misfits to do for their training," he then looked to the three Misfits in particular, with a very agitated expression on his face, "And you three, you heard Goku, go to Super Saiya-jin 2, NOW. We'll be with you in a few moments."

Alex, Jason and Vernon grumbled, as they soon summoned their latent powers from within and reached the Super Saiya-jin 2 levels. Despite the suckiness so far of the day though, the three of them were very pleased that they were able to access the power once again, not having to worry about losing it due to the curse of Oyatsu and Dan...

***
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 6:19am; Canton, Ohio)

Waking up early enough that morning, Dwayne and Steve had been wondering of a good spot to train their special moves for the event at Gund Arena later that night. They had considered going to a training gym in Canton, however both knew of how well known their faces and personalities were, and they did not feel like having a mini-paparazzi harassing them left and right as they tried to train. They had also considered finding a wide enough open area in the surrounding areas around their neighborhood, but they wouldn't have the time to construct a makeshift ring for such an occasion. They had until 8:00pm to get ready for the event, because they had one hour to fly north to Gund Arena from Canton, and power up to act as a beacon for Goku to teleport their other friends to them. Luckily both wrestlers also had been to Gund Arena a few times in the past, so finding it wasn't going to be a problem.

Suddenly, both Dwayne and Steve had felt what was apparently Dusty's energy signal come in close to them. Sure enough, Dusty had walked over to where they had been staying and knocked on the door for them.

Dwayne opened the door and looked over, "Morning Dusty, I take it there's a reason you came..."

"Yeah, I was actually curious to know if you had picked a place to do your training yet?" Dusty asked, pretty sure the two of them were trying to find a good ring in a not-so-public area.

"To be honest, yeah, we considered some gyms in Canton, but obviously the media will be down our throats wondering why we're here, and with a Pay-Per-View less than 16 hours away, which is no doubt been advertised to hell and back as a special-occasion, people will definitely be trying to get a piece of us for interviews." Steve replied.

"Well, I prepared something in that particular case. I figured that would be a problem, and I figured you didn't wanna just go to some random secluded area with no ring, so I took a ring Dan, Ryan and I constructed a couple of years ago and made some more professional adjustments to it. It's at my backyard, but you're welcome to use it." Dusty replied.

"Appreciate the gesture Dusty, but is there a particular reason you did this? Are you trying to weasel your way into watching us train?" Dwayne asked with a bit of his persona's smirk on his face.

"Yeah, I admit that it'd be cool to watch you guys train for a real match. But to be honest, what fan of yours WOULDN'T?" Dusty replied.

"Ya make a good point. But... if we do allow you to watch us, you might as well train some moves along with us, or at least drop by Devin's place and get those weighted clothes for yourself. We might need to take this down to normal human levels for the event, but you need no such restrictions, and we'd hate to see you fall behind because of this." Steve replied.

"Yeah, apparently also with Dan having jumped a huge amount in power since the Oyatsu ordeal yesterday." Dwayne added in.

To Dusty, Dwayne and Steve, the ability to sense ki was a new thing to them, having only recently gained it at last for the Kaioken training. All three were still trying to fully get used to the fact they could feel their friends' energies on a kind of mental radar, like flames in the darkness. Also, this allowed them to tell that Dan had jumped immensely in power due to the great number of 'zenkai' boosts he had received that day.

"Alright, I guess I could drop by Devin's place before he and the others go to Dan's place and get my weights." Dusty replied.

"Why're they going to Dan's house again?" asked Steve, not having been fully aware of things going on there.

"Dan is still apparently convinced he can do something with the gravity chamber on that punk Oyatsu's spaceship. Also, I heard Devin mention something about possibly pitching in a hand. Both of them are machinists. Devin's better with vehicles, but there's general mechanical knowledge bunched in there with it, and he wants a working gravity chamber just as much as all of us probably do." Dusty answered.

"Ah yes, I remember now. Yeah it would be nice to get that damn thing working properly. Tell those two we give them our regards and good luck when you see them." Steve replied.

"Alrighty. I'll be back in a few minutes. The ring is in my backyard, and my mom will know why you're there, so don't worry about her. I explained it to her before I came over here." Dusty replied, then flaring up his ki energy and taking off into the air, flying over towards Devin's house.

As he disappeared from their view, Steve and Dwayne quickly headed over to Dusty's backyard, and took a look over his ring. It was not a completely professional ring of course, and some of it looked a bit to be desired on the outward appearance, but they found the ring floor was quite made of a very durable wood and steel setup, more than they had expected. The ropes were also very similar to the profession WWE ropes, three on each corner, much as they should've been. The turnbuckles were solid steel, with proper padding around them. The canvas mat was the standard blue color the two had been used to seeing in most of their professional matches. Underneath the stage of the ring were a pair of somewhat stiff spring coils, similar to the real kind used in professional wrestling as well.

"Not a bad setup actually, considering the short time this thing was probably made in." Steve said.

"Very true. I'll have to ask Dusty, Dan and Ryan the specifics of its' original construction sometime." Dwayne agreed, "But enough musing about this thing, I think it's time we see if it works as good as it looks."

Steve nodded to his partner, and the two of them climbed up into the ring, and both positioned themselves on the opposite sides of the ring. Both wrestlers, using the recent training given to them by Goku, lowered their powerlevels as low as they could to what they had originally began with, scaling in closer to 100 than 26,000. It would be important the two of them try to keep things as close to a 'human' level of training, not as much for their own safety, but because it was likely the two would be competing in matches later that night with people who had no choice and capped out close to their original powerlevels. Properly filtering their power was very important...

***
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 6:26am; Canton, Ohio)

At his house, Devin was packing up most of the new training materials for the day to take over with him to Dan's house. Since making their agreement to rejoin with Radditz, Teresa and Dan, Dan has asked they all train in close proximity to his house, at least until he could get some results with the gravity chamber in the ship Oyatsu had left behind. Devin had asked Dan about pitching in some hand in working on it, his mechanical knowledge from Auto-Tech just itching to be used. Dan said that he'd see if he needed help, but recommended that Devin train and get stronger otherwise.

Devin had also spent most of the early hours of the previous night by calling Piccolo over to his house, asking the Namekian to use his strange item materialization powers to recreate Virgil's broken training mallet. With a grumble, the Namekian had fulfilled his wish, but told Devin that he wasn't a genie to call on every time something broke, and left him to his own devices.

Devin also remembered that Dwayne and Steve weren't planning on doing their normal training, due to wanting to practice for the event at Gund Arena later that night. Devin was looking forward to the event, not often getting an opportunity like this. He usually had to go with Alex and Vernon to a place called BW-3, to watch the pay-per-views on the restaurants' TV. Devin also knew there would likely be other wrestlers to talk to and meet in person aside from just Steve and Dwayne. He was wondering who was exactly going to this event. The event did not really specify exactly the matches or feuds that would be going on, as it was a surprise event in Dwayne and Steve's honor.

Devin looked up as he felt Dusty's energy come in close to him, and only Dusty's. He went outside and met up with Dusty as he landed in next to him.

"Devin, I need my training weights and stuff. I'm gonna be over with Dwayne and Steve today. They suggested I go here and get my clothes for this. They don't want me falling behind because of them." Dusty said.

"Yeah, I agree there. Here, I'll give you their clothing as well. If nothing else, you can put your clothing on and carry theirs around as an exercise when you get bored." Devin replied.

"So, you're gonna help Dan with that gravity machine, right?" Dusty asked.

"Well, he prefers I train most of the day, but I do wanna help him here. I'm the only other person here who knows any real mechanics aside from him, even if mine is more specific to cars." Devin replied.

"Oh, and did you get Virgil's mallet reconstructed?" Dusty asked.

"Yeah, but I had Piccolo do that for me. I didn't have as much time as I wanted to considering all that transpired yesterday." Devin replied.

"Good, I know he'll have an ulcer if you don't get that thing to him soon. I think he's in love with the damn thing." Dusty joked.

"Don't remind me. It's annoying enough that I got Clint with me, his ability to transform hanging over my head like bait. Virgil still is a handful despite his efforts." Devin replied.

"Well, why don't you ask Clint and maybe Radditz to help you with those 'anger flashes' you mentioned. If you can learn to get control of them, you might indeed learn something about their nature. Maybe you have a transformation of your own, just like you always wanted." Dusty said, ending it with a smirk.

"Har har Dusty, I wish. I guess I have nothing to lose by asking about it. I just hope he doesn't ask to get Virgil involved like last time." Devin replied, remembering how annoying Virgil's interference had been in the spar.

"Dude it was your idea in the first place. You only got yourself to blame. Besides, Virgil's not as bad as you think. Sure he might not be learning as fast as us, but you also have to understand he didn't have as much of an interest in this kind of stuff before the 11th. Also, he DID learn how to do Kaioken, so he can't possibly be a lost cause." Dusty replied.

Devin sighed inwardly. Dusty DID have a very good point about the Kaioken issue at least. "Alright, I'll talk to them. I still wanna do work on the gravity room though. Even if I miss out a little on training, getting it to work faster would more than make up for it. We need it badly, after the whole Oyatsu thing."

Devin saw Dusty grimace at the mention of Oyatsu. He knew Dusty hated the shapeshifting feline for possessing his best friend and using him against the rest of them like that.

"Now that you mention that, I guess I could stand to train like usual. Actually Devin, do you have the next level of training clothes you can just give me. I wanna use that instead. I'm tired of restrictions with the older set and want to bump forward." Dusty replied.

"Well, I can give you these," Devin replied, handing him level 4 training weights, which would have 1600 to 1750 lbs of distribution, compared to the 850 to 1300 lbs of the level 3 training clothes that Dusty had been wearing prior. Dusty also remembered Dwayne and Steve had already gotten comfortable in level 4 clothing, and he felt today might be a good day to catch up with them while they did more down to Earth training.

"Thanks man. I'll see you later. Steve and Dwayne told me to wish you and Dan good luck on the gravity machine. Give Dan my regards as well when you see him. Same for Heero and Teresa." Dusty said, gathering his ki once again, and flying off back towards his own house, and Steve and Dwayne.

After Dusty had left his sight, Devin decided to go back inside and gather up all of his weights as well and sensed for Dan's energy. It was not hard to miss, being almost three times Devin's own. Devin grumbled, remembering that Oyatsu had confirmed of Dan being at least partially Saiya-jin, and that he too benefited greatly from healing from serious injuries which Dan's body had suffered many times the day before. Dan's base power was not too far behind Radditz's own as well. At the moment, there was no one else at Dan's house except for Radditz and Teresa's energy, so he decided to leave his house, with his stuff on hand, although wishing he had a capsule to store it all in, and flew off eastward towards Dan's house.

After about 5 to 10 minutes of flying, Devin arrived at Dan's house. He saw Radditz sitting on the ground casually, waiting on the others to arrive. Teresa wasn't immediately visible, but Devin could sense her near Dan. It was then he noticed that the Spaceship that they found from Oyatsu, once belonging to Goku, was already uncompressed from its' capsule and the door hatch was open. Dan and Teresa were probably inside, already working on it. Devin landed next to Radditz.

"Yo, whassup?" Devin asked, putting all of his stuff on the ground next to him.

"Hm, Dan's been up for 3 hours now, working on the infernal machine. Teresa and I just got here about 10 minutes ago, and she's trying to get him to take a break right now I think." Radditz replied, and then noticed all the training stuff.

"Good, I think I could use some better training clothes. What do all those weigh?" Radditz asked.

"There's 4 levels so far. What weight are you used to?" asked Devin.

"I'm used to about the equivalent of 2100 to 2250 lbs as you Earth people call your weight units." Radditz replied.

"Shit. Level 4 usually maxes out at 1750 lbs. I guess you'd be a level 5 or 6." Devin replied.

"Was worth asking." Radditz replied, a bit disheartened.

"How much does your battle jacket weigh normally then?" asked Devin.

"800 lbs for the full distribution of it. The one I used for you when we did our original training was a trainers' jacket at best, about 200 to 300 lbs." the long-haired Saiya-jin replied.

"Try combining it with the level 4 set. That should be about... 2500 lbs or so. My math's not the best in the world, so I'm probably wrong." Devin replied.

"Meh, I'll consider it. By the way, I sensed you with Dusty earlier. Is he going to come here or is he staying with those two wrestlers?" Radditz asked.

"Staying with them, but I gave him level 4 clothing, and also their clothing just in case. If nothing else, he can carry theirs around while wearing his." Devin replied.

"Good. Anyways, you might as well try talking to Dan until the rest of the others arrive though. Maybe you can take over for him and get him to stop working just for a bit." Radditz suggested.

Devin shrugged and went over to the spaceship, walking through the door and looking inside. Teresa was sitting and a fold-out chair on one side of the ship, looking a little annoyed, staring at Dan. It was apparent even she hadn't been able to get him to stop working. He then saw Dan positioned under one of the main computer panels, looking as busy as one could be. Devin walked over and stopped just a few inches in front of him.

"Hey numbnuts, I think you can stand for a break. You've been working on that thing for what, 3 hours now?" Devin piped in.

Dan's body almost jumped up at Devin's sudden voice, "Can't! I'm actually getting somewhere! Ask Teresa for details if you need!"

Devin looked over to the brown-haired girl, who replied, "Yeah, I can't get him to stop either. But he's apparently got the thing to turn on up to about double the normal gravity ratio. And I can definitely notice the difference!"

"2.2 times actually, but yes, I am definitely getting a handle on it now!" Dan exclaimed.

"I understand man, but you gotta get SOME rest every so often, or else you could buckle from the pressure and set yourself, and all of us back along with you." Devin replied.

Dan's sighed slowly, and he realized that from a fellow mechanic, Devin was probably right. It was just that he was on a roll, "It's really been 3 hours?"

"Yes! Clint, Heero and Virgil will be here within a few minutes. I can sense them moving away from their houses as I speak. Dusty, Dwayne and Steve will be over at his house though, but I did give Dusty his training equipment nonetheless." Devin explained.

Dan suddenly scooted out from underneath the computer panel. He looked slightly scorched on his cheeks, but otherwise normal, "Fine, I'll stop for a while. But I can't stay away from this thing for too long."

Dan got up and stretched his body, and Teresa quickly got up and followed him as he began to exit the ship.

Dan looked back at Devin slowly, "If you want to test the gravity, go ahead, but don't squash yourself. 2.2 times gravity is a good deal harder than you might assume."

Devin thought about turning it on at that point, but he decided he'd tempt fate later. He went back outside, just in time to see Virgil, Clint and Heero come in for a landing. He went back outside of the ship and decided to see what Virgil would say about the reconstruction of his prized mallet, and to talk with Clint and Radditz about his 'anger flashes'...

***
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 6:31am; Canton, Ohio)

Nina was just beginning to fly away from her and Radditz's house. She had wished him on his way 15 minutes ago, telling him to wish Dan luck on fixing the gravity machine in the spaceship they had recovered from Oyatsu yesterday. She had also thought over the other involvement Oyatsu had been revealed to have with the Crips leader Rowan, and what Clint and Paula had told her about his actions. She did admit, looking back on it, slapping Clint like she had might not have been the most tact idea, but she had known of the magical energies from within Rowan for a good long while. However, she had not told Paula or #18 at Canton Centre Mall the day prior because she did not know the full circumstances of how Rowan had that energy, just that she knew he did.

Speaking of her training partner, she had thought more about what Paula had suggested to her they do for the others a couple of days ago about the gravity aura magic she could use. Even though Nina still personally questioned if the less-experienced Misfits were ready for it, it wasn't all just what she had told Paula that made her reluctant to use it. The fact was, the Inryokureikiha, or "Gravity Aura Wave" was still an ability in development, developed by Nina during the first days since the merger and the Tokyo incident where she had met with Goku's part of the group. Although she had developed it well enough to emulate 7.5x gravity, she was not sure of how much drain certain levels of gravity taxed on her magic energy, or of how many people she could apply it to at once. She was worried in part about getting everyone else's hopes up only to come short.

It had been one thing to just use it on herself and Paula... that was easy enough when it was only the two of them, but even if they joined Alex's group, that was still eight or more people to add onto the drain. Also, she was absolutely certain she would not be able to emulate any level of gravity that would make Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, #17 or Buu even flinch yet. And knowing the stubbornness of Alex, Vernon and Jason, they'd want her to start at some obscenely high number like 10 or 20 times gravity. There was also Devin and Clint's group, which now had re-added Radditz, Dan and Teresa to their ranks. There were 10 of them already in that group, and she had no clue of what level of gravity they would ask her to put on them. She remembered now she had steadily increased the gravity for herself and Paula by slightly greater amounts each time, but not so much that it would seem like dropping a mountain on their heads. Gravity was not something one could mess with so easily, as the majority of them were still human, and not Saiya-jin.

She sighed to herself. Powerlevel alone was not an indicator of the amount of gravity one's body could take. Vegeta and Radditz had both been born on the same planet, with the same gravity of 10 times. Both of them did indeed get used to it, but there had apparently been a major difference in the powerlevels of both. Radditz had capped out at 1,200ish when he was killed before, and Vegeta had first appeared to fight Goku with roughly 18,000, nearly a difference of 15 times. Another example was Vegeta's own son when he was a child of 8. Trunks was estimated to have a powerlevel of several million in his base form, and yet he still struggled with a light amount of gravity, probably less than 50 times, in comparison to Vegeta, who could move fine in 10 times gravity with a powerlevel of 18,000.

Suddenly, her sensory caught Paula's ki energy moving in towards her at very fast speeds, faster than what she normally did. Within a second or two more, Paula darted up in close and stopped a few feet away.

"Oh good! I caught you before you got too far away!" Paula said, looking as if she had been in a rush.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Nina asked her.

"I wanna talk to you before we train. Can we set down for a moment?" Paula asked.

"Sure." Nina replied, and both lowered their altitude until they were standing back on the ground.

"Thanks. Now I hate to bring this up again to you, but I think it's time we reevaluated our training options." Paula said, sounding straight to the point.

"Um, okay. But why bring this up so suddenly?" Nina asked.

"With what happened to us yesterday, I feel we need to train with more people than just ourselves. We should join with one of the other groups." Paula replied.

Nina raised an eyebrow, "Well, I guess I can see where you're coming from. But what group should we join with?"

"I'm honestly not sure. I talked with Goku this morning on the phone, and he said if we wanted to join his group, he would be fine with that, but at the same time, I also know that Clint and Devin's group are the next closest in power to comparing with us and that they might get a greater benefit from working with us. Besides, Goku's about as good as you'll get for a teacher. I don't think the two of us would be of much use to them yet." Paula explained.

"You think we should go and join Radditz's bunch, eh?" Nina said.

Paula looked at her quizzically, "Radditz's bunch? Oh wait, that's right, Radditz, Dan and Teresa decided to unify their group with Devin's, didn't they... Oops."

"Yeah, Radditz left about 20 minutes ago to Dan's place. Since Dan wants to repair that gravity machine so much, the others decided to hang out and train in and around that area." Nina said, and then realized she might have just unwittingly invited Paula to reiterate her point about the gravity aura wave.

Paula did not disappoint her, reminded now of her other thought, "Yeah, speaking of gravity machines... We have to consider revealing to the others about your gravity magic. I know you're probably still weary about it, but in all honestly, Goku and I were talking on the phone this morning, and we came to the conclusion that if we hold back information from each other, our effectiveness as a team is lessened. We found out Alex and him where both holding certain information from each other, and I don't want us to get into trouble for the same reasons."

"Huh? What kind of information?" Nina asked, now curious about this.

"Goku was holding back information about the process of how he originally become a Super Saiya-jin 3 from them AND Vegeta for a long time, and Alex apparently held back knowledge of a possible FOURTH level of Super Saiya-jin no one has yet to get to." Paula replied.

"Ouch. I guess I can see where you're coming from again. You know, I honestly have been reconsidering what you said as well. I agree more with your logic since the Oyatsu and Rowan deal, but I have to admit I was holding something back from you too about the ability. You see Paula, this ability is extremely new to me, and I don't know the true limits of how high I can set gravity, how many people I can use it on at once, or how much drain a certain level of gravity has on me. For just you and I using it, that's simple enough, there's only the two of us, but if we join with Devin's group and reveal to them of this, that's about 10 more people in addition to us I'll have to use it on. I have no clue to their preferences and if I could use it on 12 or more people at once." Nina explained.

Paula nodded, "Well, now that you told me this, I can understand your worry. It's not like I can use my own PK abilities endlessly and on a whim either, and I'm sure Vernon and Radditz have little magic energy yet with how new they are to it. Still, even if we can't do things completely as we want to, it's always good to try to help the others as much as we can, at least until this gravity machine is fixed, well, IF it gets fixed."

"For all our sakes, I do hope it does, because at best my gravity aura spell is a temporary fix for all of this." Nina replied.

"Hey, let's get over to Dan's place and join up with them as well." Paula suggested, "The sooner we get this behind us, the quicker we can get each other stronger for the next meeting with Oyatsu." Paula replied.

"Wait, have you told anyone else about Rowan and all of that?" Nina asked.

"For now, just Goku and Vegeta, but they're probably gonna tell others about it, because we discovered what that drug was that Rowan was carrying. It's a powder that can convert into a gas form, which when ingested causes the person's ki energy to drop to dead bottom, making ki useless until it dissipates." Paula explained.

"What?! Man, that's not good at all!" Nina exclaimed, "Damn that little bastard."

"Yeah, I think that might be something we need to tell Devin's group. I know Clint is over there, and I know he might not want to bring this up, but he also hasn't been told about the Destron Gas yet either, so it's important he knows." Paula replied.

"We're off then! Let's fly!" Nina replied, soaring her energy into the air, herself included, and suddenly taking off towards the large group of 7 energy signatures at Dan's house. After about 5 minutes of flying, they came in close to Dan's neighborhood, and noticed Radditz, Teresa, Clint, Virgil and Heero on the ground below. Dan and Devin weren't in sight, but both girls saw the spaceship open, and sensed them inside. They must've been working on the ship at the moment. The two landed in near the other five visible on the ground, getting their attention.

Clint looked over, currently attempting to use his new Super Saiya-jin 2 level to his best advantage, and noticed them. The other four also looked on in confusion.

Clint dashed over to the other two women, and asked, "What're you two doing here?"

"Hey, we need all of you to gather up. There's some things we need to talk about before you all get too deep into your training." Nina replied.

"Um, right." Clint said, but Radditz already heard both of them and dashed to the open spaceship.

He called inside, "Dan, Devin! We need both of you to take a break! Paula and Nina are here with something they want to discuss!"

"Geez Radditz, I JUST got back to work!" Dan grumbled.

Devin looked over to Radditz, "What the hell do they want?"

"Nina just said we needed to talk to them before we get too far into our training." Radditz replied.

Devin mumbled incoherently to himself, but did indeed push himself out from under the computer panel. Dan sighed reluctantly, and also removed himself from a similar place. All three walked off of the spaceship and dashed over to Nina and Paula. Devin noticed that Virgil had already been training with his newly reconstructed training mallet, and was resting on it as a support cane. He noticed Clint was in his Super Saiya-jin 2 level. That had made him a little annoyed when he had learned Clint could also now become a Super Saiya-jin 2, but Clint had left out the mention of his visions of Alex and his near transformation to Super Saiya-jin 3.

"Alright, we're all here, you two, now please... what's going on so much you had to rip me away from my work?!" Dan asked, visibly irritated.

"We've come to ask that we join with your group to train from here on out for one." Paula replied, to the point.

Devin pondered over this, "Why the sudden want to train with us? I thought you two trained alone?"

"The same reason Radditz, Dan and Teresa joined with you once again: the situation with Oyatsu had reminded us painfully of how much we need to improve ourselves, and we realized that together we stand a better chance than separate, just like the lot of you did." Nina replied.

"Yes, that's makes plenty of sense to me." Heero said, agreeing with Nina's point, "I don't see why we shouldn't. You're both stronger than the rest of us, even when Clint's new Super Saiya-jin 2 level factors in."

Paula looked to Clint, "So Goku was right, you DID almost reach 3 last night, didn't you?"

"Wh, what?!" Clint stammered, not expecting her to have noticed that, "What're you talking about?"

The others looked at him with intent stares as well, as Paula continued, "I invited Goku over to my place last night, and Vegeta soon joined us. We learned a good deal of things during that hour. It's imperative you guys know this stuff. I agree with the fact that holding things back from each other only makes us weaker."

Clint sighed, wondering if she was going to bring up their encounter with Rowan and the other Crips, and then of Oyatsu's involvement.

/Sorry, Clint. Yes I'm gonna have to tell them that./ Paula's voice echoed in his head. Clint almost jumped in surprise, but then realized she had just read that thought of his and telepathically spoke to him. He grumbled, not knowing how to respond back, and also because he was sure she had dug that out of his head.

/No, I didn't invade on your thoughts. I'll have to explain that later as well. For now, call it a kind of uncontrollable ability I've got./ Paula replied back mentally to him again.

Clint sighed again, and decided to let them speak to everyone, prepared to pitch in his part that he knew he would have to eventually.

Paula started off, "As I mentioned before, Oyatsu showed all of us just how under prepared we were as a team to react to a bad situation, and that alone is enough of a reason for our decision, but we learned last night that Oyatsu has more involvement with events than we realized. After Oyatsu fled and we broke off for the day, I came upon Clint running around in the city area of Canton. Curious, I asked him what was going on, and he told me he was examining his old houses of the past. I decided to go with him. We learned my current house used to be one of the houses he lived at in the past."

"What?! Wait a minute! You never told me this!" Nina said, not knowing about that last fact.

"Wait, you live in one of Clint's old houses?" Devin asked, and then turned to Clint with a chuckle. "Well, fate is just screwed up ain't it, skippy."

"Oh yeah..." Clint remarked with a slight hint of sarcastic humor, but gestured to Paula to continue.

"Later on, I followed Clint to his first, original house. Needless to say, we both realized how run down his old neighborhood became, but when we got to his house, we found one of the doors was unlocked, to our surprise. Going inside, we went on an unofficial tour, but we were interrupted when these other people arrived at the house, all bearing various attire, but all in all bearing a mark that we learned belong to a gang here in this city called the Crips." Paula replied.

Clint decided to interject here before any of the others could possibly interrupt, "Yes, they were using my house, and probably other abandoned houses in the area to hide stuff from their mortal enemies the Bloods. After we narrowly escaped their detection, Paula had this vision of them hiding some important boxes in a part of my old house, and she insisted we go and retrieve them, and so we did, but the leader of the gang, and two of his friends came back before we could leave, and they discovered their stuff had gone missing. I distracted them and lead them to one of the parks nearby, and it lead to a confrontation with their leader Rowan. It was then I learned a nasty surprise: Rowan can use and manipulate Ki energy."

"What?!" Devin exclaimed, "Someone else from our version of Earth learned how to use Ki that we didn't know about?!"

"Not only that," Paula cut in, "He also had access to a minor level of magic, similar to Nina, Vernon and Radditz's kind. Among one of the things we took from him was a ring with a Jade-jewel in it. When he discovered it gone, he ranted about how someone had given him the ring and that it would make him into a god or so. We believe it was what gave him his magical abilities, or at least the foundation of them."

"Yeah, to make a long story short, Rowan totally kicked my ass though both his magic and ki abilities. He's stronger than I was at the restricted level of energy I had from being jinxed by Oyatsu's little curse. I still couldn't go to a complete Super Saiya-jin level, and as we all got told the other day, there are multiple types of powerlevels, and I had little if any defense against magic. Luckily for me all it was, was some wind-gust attack. It could've been far worse. Paula had to intervene and basically tossed Rowan like a salad, and had threatened to obliterate all three of them if they ever pulled this again. However he had told me something I was unable to tell Paula until after she let them leave due to my injuries: Oyatsu was the one who enlightened him about the events of the merger, AND he's the one who gave him the ring, and some strange drug in a bottle we haven't figured out yet." Clint added.

"Goddammit! That son of a bitch!" Dan growled venomously, "He's responsible for all of this?!"

"Honestly, I can't say I'm totally surprised though." Teresa said, "He did try to send Al-Qaeda after Dan in the past too."

"Yes, basically Rowan is another potential threat to us, and possibly the other Crips as well if he decides to teach of them how to use Ki as well." Clint said, "Nina and I are both worried about what could result from this. If that gang learns how to train like we are, they can get strong enough the police and other law enforcement won't be able to stop them, and that it will come down to us to beat them. We have to be especially on alert. I don't know how many of us Rowan knows about, or if he knew much about the rest of our identities as well, but he certainly knows of me and Paula now."

"Great, just fucking great..." Devin growled. This was not what he wanted to hear... "Not only do we gotta worry about Oyatsu, but now we have the threat of an entire gang of potential ki users looming over our heads!"

"Yes... and that's not the end of the bad news." Paula replied.

"Why am I not surprised..." Radditz grumbled, having gotten used to droves of bad news from his past.

"Clint, last night Goku, Vegeta and I were able to identify the drug we recovered from your old house. Vegeta identified it as a "Destronic Power", which can be converted into a gas form. If it is inhaled by someone, their ki energy drops to dead bottom, and their ki becomes useless for anything while under it's effect." Paula continued.

"Oh shit. That IS bad. This is definitely bad." Clint replied.

"A powder that can block ki-usage?" Devin said out loud, and began to think to himself, "For some reason, this sounds familiar..."

"What do you mean?" Nina asked.

"Wait... wait wait wait! Now I know too what you're getting at. That Dragonball 'OVA'... that "Revenge Against the Saiya-jin" or whatever it was called. In it, there were these vapor generators that emit a gas similar to this gas you just described, one that can make ki useless or inaccessible. Destron Gas or something, it was called." Clint replied.

"We can talk about that in a bit, because there's even MORE concerning Oyatsu you all need to know. Dan, you might specifically want to hear this, because this information has to do with the Spaceship." Paula said.

"Oh fucking joy..." Dan replied in a half-monotone, half-sarcastic voice, knowing this was going to be quite interesting to hear.

"Yesterday Goku apparently asked North Kaio for help in finding out the fate of his ship after he thought it was lost on the Planet Namek. Kaio caught up with the three of us last night and revealed what he found out. Apparently one of their old enemies, a minion of Frieza named Zarbon survived his fight with Vegeta, and managed to escape Namek by using Goku's ship. He managed to travel it back to a different planet, where met this one guy named Sauza who was apparently overjoyed about Frieza's defeat. As time went on, the ship had broken down completely, and Zarbon was surprised when a strange bird-man like client named Ryokucha asked to meet on a planet called Delmire. On Delmire, Ryokucha offered a huge amount of the Galactic currency for the ship. Zarbon accepted it, and Ryokucha gained possession of the ship. This was about 15 to 20 years ago." Paula replied.

"Wait, lemme guess..." Devin said, a mocking sing-song tone to his voice, "Ryokucha is actually Oyatsu..."

"Bingo." Paula replied.

"Son of a bitch!" Clint growled, "This means Oyatsu has the ability to travel through space too then!"

"Yeah, and you guys know how he came from Goku's universe and trained at a shapeshifting school in the past. This guy's apparently a master at blending in. And that ki-concealment ability of his is a total bitch to deal with." Devin replied.

Teresa was very surprised to know the last bit of news, "Oyatsu is definitely up to something huge if he's done all of this in preparation for us."

"Yeah, that's all I can think of. Oh yes! Kaio said one more thing. He looked into the other parts of Oyatsu's past, but he found a section very close to the present time where he could get nothing at all, as if were forbidden for him to access it. There's something very fishy about him, that's for certain." Paula replied.

"Well, after learning all of this, I don't think it should be a problem adding the two of you in with us. In fact, we probably should all merge as one super group with Goku's team as well." Clint suggested.

"We did think about joining with his group too, but Goku is pretty much the best teacher those guys can have, and that brings me to the next section of news. Apparently Vegeta learned something big for him and Goku last night. He mentioned about the potential for a Super Saiya-jin 4 in their future or something." Paula replied.

"I would hope they know about it. It's not exactly hidden information." Devin replied.

"What do you mean? Are you telling me you also knew about such a level?" Paula asked him.

"Paula, practically all of us here who know anything about Dragonball the series know about GT and Super Saiya-jin 4. I'm surprised those two DIDN'T know about it until just last night." Clint replied.

"You guys too?" Paula asked incredulously, "Why didn't you tell them anyways?! Were you guys trying to hold it back from them like Alex was?!"

"What?! Alex held it back from them?!" Dan asked.

"That moronic, stupid... son of a assclown!" Devin growled, realizing Alex was capable of indeed such a thing, "Damn it! He probably knew and wanted to achieve it before them, just so he could brag about being the first one to do it! Man, now I feel like a dumbass for not thinking of telling them. I figured it was common knowledge."

"No, they were quite annoyed that Alex apparently held the entire existence of this "GT" from them. How many more of you know about it?" Paula asked.

"Me, Devin, Jason, Vernon, Dusty and Dan know about GT and many of the events. Not all of us have actually watched it in its' entirety though, so we don't all know the specifics on everything." Clint answered.

He then grabbed into his pocket, and pulled out the Blue Scouter he had been given by Vegeta. He put it on his face and pressed one of the buttons.

"Alex! Alex pick up your scouter and respond. Now!" Clint growled into his earpiece.

"Clint? What the hell do you want?! We're trying to train right now!" Alex's voice replied in his ear.

Clint put on a vicious smirk as he snarled back, "Trying to reach SSJ4, are we?!"

"The hell!? What're you talking about, you retard?" Alex grumbled back.

"Heard you held back some rather big information from Goku and Vegeta." Clint replied sternly.

"Hey, it's not like any of you morons thought to tell them! It was only because of Vernon giving them his old computer they found out!" Alex replied.

"Give Vernon my regards then." Clint joked, "So what did they do to you for it?"

"Feh, Goku and Vegeta flew off somewhere else to train. Apparently they were talking about getting Vegeta to SSJ3 today." Alex replied.

"About time." Clint replied, "But yeah, we didn't tell them because we figured it was common knowledge that would get to them, and never considered we'd need to say anything. I guess not." Clint replied.

"Clint dude, it's not my fault no one else thought to ask them. I didn't tell them right away because I was tired of them always being the first ones to transform to a new level." Alex replied.

"Oh, and you were gonna tell Vernon and Jason, right? You weren't gonna try to totally hog the glory for yourself, right?" Clint asked.

"Look, it doesn't matter now. They know, and apparently I wasn't the only one holding back something either. Goku revealed he was lying about how to get Super Saiya-jin 3, so I probably wasn't gonna get to 4 even if they didn't figure it out for a while." Alex replied.

"Alright fine... I'll let it go for now. I'm gonna get that information out of our guests now anyways. Talk to you later at Gund Arena." Clint replied.

"SHIT! I don't think Goku and Vegeta remember about that! I gotta make sure they don't forget!" Alex said and cut off contact with Clint.

Clint looked over to them, and then to Paula, remembering her comment about him almost reaching Super Saiya-jin 3, "Paula, one more thing: when you said I almost went Super Saiya-jin 3, what did you mean?"

Paula sighed, "Last night, Vegeta demanded the explanation out of Goku. He wanted the truth, and nothing but. Goku told us the truth alright. Basically it has to do with inducing horrific visions on yourself and enduring them while a Super Saiya-jin 2 or something. After so much of it, apparently you transform to 3 in both the visions AND real life.

Clint's face went pale, and he realized that what had happened with his visions of Alex and his 'possession' were not just a hallucination. "Oh god... damn it all to hell!"

"What's wrong?" Devin asked him.

Not wanting to worry the others, but knowing he couldn't yet speak to Paula directly with his mind, he tried reliving some of the briefer visions of his ordeal with Alex being possessed by what was apparently Giygas. He hoped she'd see them and pick up on the hint. He noticed after a moment that Paula took on a more worried expression, indicating she probably did indeed see those visions.

/Are you serious?! You saw Alex possessed by something?! And he attacked us?/ she asked him.

"Yes." Clint said physically, making the others confused to what he was answering.

"Yes what?" Devin asked.

"Don't worry about it. It's nothing." Clint replied quickly, not sure yet if he wanted to introduce the concept of Giygas to the others. Paula appeared to be thinking similar at the moment.

/That would explain a lot about you almost becoming a Super Saiya-jin 3 at least./ Paula said to him mentally.

Clint only nodded very subtlety at her to answer her question.

Devin suddenly had a thought cross his mind, one that he figured he needed to try to find out now, however he realized he didn't want to make everyone freak out yet, and decided to withdraw it for now.

"Well anyways, we've talked for a good 5 to 10 minutes here. I appreciate the news about Oyatsu, and this Rowan bastard and all the other stuff, but I really outta get back to work. Devin you gonna come with me?" Dan asked.

"Sure, I'll be right with you." Devin replied.

"Woah woah woah!" Nina chimed in, "I have my own news to tell you, and this might hopefully be more of good news for us at least."

Dan and Devin stopped and looked back to her, and Virgil, Radditz, Teresa, Heero and Clint also looked over at her.

"I have to admit something now as well. Like Alex and Goku were, I too was holding something back from you all." Nina said, noticing the sighs coming from most of them, except Paula, who knew already what she was going to say, "However part of the reason I held back what I did was because both I didn't know if you were ready to take it yet, and secondly because I don't know how well I'll be able to use it on this new group of the twelve of us."

"Well, try to tell us anyways." Virgil replied, eager to hear this and get back to his training.

"Actually, why don't I just show you. Virgil, thanks for volunteering to be my guinea pig." Nina replied, with a smile at him.

"For what?" Virgil asked, a little taken off by her reply.

Nina focused a light and transparent black aura around her hands, and then threw the black aura to Virgil. The entire group suddenly saw the aura manifest itself over Virgil's entire body, and also around the training mallet he was holding. Virgil suddenly felt a lot heavier than he was used to, and on top of that, the hammer he was holding also grew much heavier, and he barely managed to avoid crushing his own foot with it as it slammed to the ground.

"What the fuck is this?" Virgil asked, "I can barely move my body, or the mallet!"

Devin's eyes rose with realization, and he saw that both Clint, Radditz, Dan and Teresa had also caught on. Heero hadn't yet figured it out though.

"Well I'll be damned, did you just alter the gravity around Virgil?!" Devin asked incredulously.

"Yes I did. See I've had knowledge of this ability for a couple of weeks, since we all returned from Tokyo. It's relatively new though." Nina replied.

"Well damn that could've been a big help to us before, Nina! Why didn't you reveal this to us sooner?" Heero asked, having figured out the implications of this.

Paula cut in, not sure yet if she wanted Nina to tell them she didn't yet deem them ready for it until Oyatsu had attacked, "Nina explained that since this power is new to her, she likely has a current limit of how high she can set the gravity around someone. Also, there's the matter of the size of the groups now, and before now. Originally, for just the two of us, it was pretty simple, but there's going to be twelve of us most of the time, and Nina doesn't know the exact specifics of the drain each level of gravity has on her, or if there's also a limit to the number of people she can use it on at once."

"Yeah, I guess does make sense. Still, even so, it'd still make a good filler for until the gravity machine on the ship gets fixed. Do you have any idea what your upper limit for the ratio might be?" asked Devin.

"Paula and I have gotten to 7.5x in the past, and I know I can go above that, but I don't know how much further just yet. I could be very close to my limit already. Plus, I don't think I got the energy to set all twelve of us to more than 5 times gravity at once, not without having some major rest. The good news is that the aura usually lasts until I manually remove it, and there's no cost to removing an aura, and also there's no area limit on it, as long as I put it on you first." Nina replied.

"Sweet, this could be the break we've been looking for!" Dan replied, however he did realize the gravity machine was still a top priority nonetheless.

"Okay, if anyone else wants to test this, I'll set it to 1.75x on them for now, like I did on Virgil. I know you might complain about being able to take more, but I'm trying to experiment with how draining this is, and the fact is just because you have high powerlevels doesn't mean much for the gravity a body can take. We'll try a larger amount of gravity tomorrow though if this works out." Nina replied, "Something like 3x to 3.5x."

All in all, Clint, Heero, Radditz, Teresa, Dan, and Devin were all given a 1.75x gravity aura. Nina was relieved to notice she still had about 70-80% of her magic energy left at that point, and she the placed a 9.5x gravity aura on herself and then Paula. An interesting side-effect of the ability was that the higher the aura was on someone, the easier it was to notice the black, wavy aura around their bodies, and this meant the aura showed a lot stronger of the two girls.

"Well, this isn't TOO bad." Clint replied, although realizing everyone was probably also in their weighted clothing on top of the extra gravity auras, realizing that maybe going to 10x gravity was stretching it a little at this point. He also realized the fact he was in Super Saiya-jin 2 might have also been helping his case a small bit. Devin had also had similar thoughts about the aura, although it definitely seemed more challenging to move his limbs for the moment. It was definitely a different feeling from the normal weighted clothing.

Devin and Dan however decided to return to working on the ship, using their new gravity auras along with their mechanical work as a special exercise to train their arms and hands, while the rest of the newly merged group resumed their training...

***
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 8:56am; Canton, Ohio)

A couple of hours later, back at Alex's neighborhood, he, Jason and Vernon had been able to (though not without some difficulty) hold their control over the Super Saiya-jin 2 levels each possessed. In the distance, Piccolo and #17 were initiating in some light sparring, while Mr. Buu watched the other three.

Alex was not feeling in too good of a mood. After he had gotten off the scouter transmission with Clint, he had immediately tried to call Goku, and then Vegeta on their own scouters, but there was no answer from either Saiya-jin. Taking a quick glance into their house out of curiosity, he discovered to his dismay that the two older Saiya-jin had not taken their scouters at all, probably to prevent anyone from bothering them during their attempts to get Vegeta to Super Saiya-jin 3. Alex knew that if those two forgot to take them all to Gund Arena later that day that he would be pissed about it, and no doubt, more than likely would a large amount of his other friends too.

Jason was also in the midst of his own training, and was thinking mostly about Alex's stunt of trying to hold back the knowledge of GT from their teachers. Jason had known about it and the Super Saiya-jin 4 level as well, however he had not considered that Goku or Vegeta would have NOT known about it by now, and had not considered he'd need to tell them. He was very disappointed in his best friend for trying to sneak it behind their backs. He had the feeling Alex wasn't planning of having him or Vernon in on his plan either, since Alex always was prideful and had a secret desire for power. On the flipside, he was quite interested to hear what Goku was planning to tell them about the origins of his Super Saiya-jin 3 transformation. Although he wasn't too happy that Goku and Vegeta had skipped out on them for the day, he figured he'd wish Vegeta luck in his quest.

Vernon was also in a rarely-annoyed mood, of course mostly at Alex about trying to hold back the knowledge of GT from Goku and Vegeta. Along the same thoughts as Jason, he was pretty sure Alex wasn't going to include them on his path to Super Saiya-jin 4 either, but when he discovered that his own actions had a part in busting Alex, it made him feel smugly better about the whole situation. Vernon realized he was gonna have to try to keep his friend in line and from holding back any other secrets that could potentially compromise the team. Vernon had admitted that he had not thought to tell Goku or Vegeta about GT out of all the training and other work he had been doing had been distracting him from telling them.

As Piccolo continued his minor sparring session with #17, he admitted to himself that his mood was quite sour to be exact. He didn't try to show or vent anger on #17 though, despite sparring with him. #17 wasn't the target of annoyance this time. No, it was Alex, Vernon and Jason, but mostly the former of the three for holding back the information about this "Dragonball GT". When Piccolo had asked the three of them to fork up the info they had as a collective on the show, Piccolo was simultaneously intrigued, pissed off, and curious about it. What intrigued him the most was the whole thing concerning the Dragonballs, both the normal set, and the supposed "Black Star" Dragonballs which seemed to be the main focus of GT's first plotlines. Piccolo was one with Kami [and Nail still as well], and from the memories the three souls within him dug through, Piccolo could not find evidence his father and Kami's combined form had ever created an unstable set of Dragonballs. Piccolo wasn't too concerned with that...

But the news about the potential for "Evil Dragons" DID concern him. He had remembered Goku and Vegeta being told by Rou Dai Kaioshin that overusing the Dragonballs may have dangerous consequences in the future, and this Evil Dragon thing could very well be one of the results. However what had pissed Piccolo off had been two things: first off, the whole thing with Alex concealing the existence of a potential FOURTH level of Super Saiya-jin from everyone else. Piccolo groaned. He had come to the terms long ago that Goku and Vegeta would always be stronger than him power-wise, but the concept of them being able to get even stronger than they were now by such an immense amount made him quite annoyed.

However, the worst of the things that pissed him off WASN'T the Super Saiya-jin 4 deal, but information he learned about his own GT incarnation. Apparently, the GT Piccolo decided to die and stay dead to exterminate the existence of the Black Star Dragonballs, and then intentionally made a mess in Heaven in order to be sent to Hell to help Goku escape a trap laid by Dr. Gero and some other genius. This was not something Piccolo was happy to know, considering GT was considered at the least a "potential future" of his. That, on top of his agitation at the younger three Saiya-jin, not only for their own antics, but for what Vegeta said about even THEM having the potential to reach Super Saiya-jin 4 someday, was making him quite grumpy. As we all know, a grumpy and pissy Piccolo was always a cause for concern when his pupils and other allies were concerned.

However, Piccolo had reflected back to the other day when he and #17 had been exploring Canton and acquired their motorcycles. #17 kept stressing to him that day about all work and no fun making him way too unbearable and stingy to be around. #17 kept telling him even he needed to have fun once in a while. Piccolo had told him he had had fun terrorizing people, and it had suddenly contributed to a terrible, horrifying idea he had come up with for his immediate company.

#17 actually cringed slightly as he saw Piccolo's face twist into an unnaturally venomous smirk, and saw Piccolo survey him, and then Alex, Jason and Piccolo.

"Oh boy... what're you up to Piccolo?" #17 asked, too curious to not ask.

Piccolo bared his teeth and his Namekian fangs in a cruel smile, "#17, I just came up with a brilliant training idea. And most of us can benefit from it."

"Care to let me in on this?" #17 asked.

"No need, you'll find out in a second." Piccolo said, reaching over to grab his training shoulder-plate with one hand, and his turban-like headpiece with the other, and pulling them free from his body, throwing the 25,000 lbs weights aside, causing a sizable indent in the grass near him. #17 cringed, knowing this meant Piccolo had decided to get truly serious, and that if they continued fighting, the Namekian would truly pound his ass into paste.

However to #17's relief, Piccolo looked over to Alex, Jason and Vernon, still smiling that ever-cruel smile.

"Alex, Jason, Vernon! Attention!!" Piccolo growled over at them, making the three teenage Saiya-jin look to him. Piccolo took this as his initiative to continue. However, instead of verbally replying, he crossed his arms into a focused stance, and to the surprise of most of his immediate audience, in a spurt of green, blood-like liquid, what appeared to be a SECOND Piccolo began to tear his way out of the first. The others sensed that his powerlevel had now split exactly in half. #17 realized this made each Piccolo roughly even with himself.

What the hell is he up to? the cyborg male thought to himself, not totally used to seeing Piccolo do such a thing.

Alex, Jason and Vernon looked on with wide-eyed stares, realizing and remembering that Piccolo had apparently a version of split-form training in the show which he had used on three or more occasions: once while training Gohan as a kid, a second when fighting Nappa, and a third when he pretended to be under the control of the imp Garlic Jr.'s "Black Water Mist". The second 'Piccolo' walked over towards them, a menacing smirk on his face. The real Piccolo looked over at his copy, and giving it a mental command to halt, to which it complied.

"Alright you three, here's the deal!" Piccolo called to them, "In light of these events, I have come up with an idea for sparring today, and possibly for in the future when those fools Goku and Vegeta aren't around and it's just us. This little exercise also applies to you too #17, so listen closely!"

All four of them listened in, while Buu just sorta watched on, wondering why he wasn't being included in whatever Piccolo had planned.

"#17, in my current split state, you can probably tell that the two of us are now very close to each other in power, probably the same ratio we were when we had our first serious battle that got interrupted by Cell. I'm tired of getting nothing serious out of training with any of you, so I will fight you in my present state for more of an even fight." he then looked over to Alex, Jason and Vernon, and sent a mental command to his 'copy'.

The Piccolo copy crossed his arms in the same focused state as the original Piccolo. Another Piccolo appeared to suddenly rip itself free from it, until there were now three Piccolos. The two 'other' Piccolos, again each split off, into four copies, and then again each one split itself off into 2, making eight copies, and then finally, all eight split into two one more time, making a total of seventeen Piccolos: the original half, and 16 substantially weaker Piccolo copies. Suddenly, the ki energies of the 16 Piccolo copies fell substantially, to the point where all of them were now almost each perfectly even with Alex, Jason and Vernon at their Super Saiya-jin 2 levels.

It was then Vernon came to a realization, "These copies of you are gonna fight us, aren't they?"

"Yes Vernon. You three will fight these sixteen copies of myself in a set of endurance battles. Each copy of me has lowered their powerlevels to be SLIGHTLY weaker than you, but they still have the advantage of my skills, abilities, and at least a 5 to 1 ratio in numbers over you." Piccolo stated.

"5 to 1? There's 16 of them, it's more of 5.33~ to 1 isn't it?" #17 asked, using his computer-like math to analyze the statistics.

Piccolo chuckled darkly, "No, it's 5 to 1, for Vernon and Jason that is."

Alex looked at Piccolo as if he were being singled out, "What about me?"

"YOU... you are taking on SIX copies of me instead of just five." Piccolo stated.

"Hey! That ain't fair! Why six on me and five on each of the others?!" Alex protested.

"Heh heh... Goku and Vegeta might consider running off on us by themselves your 'punishment' for withdrawing information from us, but in my opinion, they're going FAR too easy on you. I thought about having you fight 8 of my copies and Jason and Vernon each fighting 4 of them, but I figured they need a more even challenge than that." Piccolo replied, "Alex, consider this your true punishment for the info you held back. Like I said, don't think you'll win this easily, if at all, your experience pales to what I have. Hell, even some of Goku and Vegeta's experience pales to mine. I've lived overall hundreds of years longer than either one of them have."

Alex growled outwardly, as if he weren't too worried to accept this little challenge, but mentally, he was really sweating bullets, OH SHIT! This is NOT what I had in mind for a punishment! Piccolo's not kidding about the skill thing! And it's gonna be more like when Tien was fighting the Saibamen, except the 'Saibamen' are a hellavulot more skilled than usual!"

Piccolo could also sense these thoughts from Alex, despite the fact he didn't show it. Yeah, you better worry, you over-cocky fool. Even if you and Vernon and Jason do one day surpass my power, I'm not gonna make it a cakewalk for any of you, and I will make you experience true labor to get your powers. None of this "easy road" each new generation seems to be taking.

Piccolo looked over at Buu, and called, "Buu! I will need you for part of this as well."

Buu, finally happy to be getting attention asked, "What you need Buu do?"

"You can heal people like Dende can if I recall. It's very likely in the case of these three greens here that my copies will at first overwhelm and beat the shit out of them, to the point they can't move. Since we don't want that to stop them from training, and since we can't afford to waste sensu beans healing them, you'll be necessary to heal them whenever they cannot fight anymore." Piccolo explained.

"Buu might not have much energy to heal soon!" Buu replied, to Piccolo's surprise.

"Wha... what do you mean?!" Piccolo growled.

Buu's putty-like body began to become wavy and distort crazily, splurging and gurgling in many directions, until half of it split off, and both sections, suddenly reformed into two smaller, but identical Mr. Buus. Piccolo looked at this in shock, Dammit! I forgot about his body being able to do that.

"Buu also tired of getting nothing out of training. Hate Oyatsu, Buu did nothing to Oyatsu, and Oyatsu hate Buu anyways! Want justice for Oyatsu's wrongdoing! Want stronger!" one of the Buus said.

Piccolo nodded, realizing that despite his greater power, Buu made a good point, "I understand. However, do try not to totally drain your healing powers, we still can't afford to chew through sensu beans right now like the plague. Dende's not here as a backup, so you're the next thing we got for healing people."

"Buu understand. However Buu suggest we fight at stadium, not here." the first Buu replied.

Piccolo nodded, realizing that as many of them there were now [23 entities to be exact], that fighting in the middle of Alex's neighborhood would be a disaster, and the stadium was indeed the best training spot they could think of, "Yes, good idea. All of you, we're going to go with Buu's suggestion and head on over to the abandoned stadium to do this. I don't think I really need to explain our reasoning. So let's move, on the double!"

With that, the main Piccolo picked up into the air, and the other sixteen copies of Piccolo followed. #17, the two Buus, Jason, Alex and Vernon also picked up into the air with their ki manipulation, and make a quick burst of speed, all of them flying northward to the location of the abandoned stadium near Massillon...

***
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 9:13am; Canton, Ohio)

Meanwhile, back at Dusty's house, Dusty himself was currently decked out in the level 4 weighted clothing that he had gotten from Devin, plus using special straps to attach other various sections of both Dwayne and Steve's currently unused level 4 sets onto his body in a somewhat crude method. He was mostly doing more human-like exercises such as sit-ups, push-ups, curling, leg lifts and other aerobics that would've make the CSHS weightlifting teacher Mr. Miller proud to call him a student. He also took occasional glances over at Steve and Dwayne, who had been at it for more than two hours now. Although both wrestlers had taken a couple of short 15 minute breaks, they were doing their damndest otherwise to keep their powerlevels regulated to their original levels.

At the current moment, Steve had put Dwayne into a reverse choke-hold, where he was sitting upright, and holding Dwayne behind him by one of his feet, and bending his friend's head upwards and over in his own direction. Despite the training they had, they also knew that as most true fans of wrestling had realized, that the sport itself was staged and choreographed into a story, and that most of the moves they used were meant to be flashy and APPEAR to badly hurt their opponent, and they had to remember that often during their current skirmish.

Suddenly Dwayne pulled a surprise move and managed to roll himself over and took Steve with him, reversing their upright positions. Dwayne used a burst of still-repressed strength to break his neck free of Steve's group, and suddenly flipped away, getting up quickly. Steve replied by advancing on them, and the two ended up grappling in the traditional professional wrestling manner. After a few seconds of this grappling, they began to turn and stalk around the center of the ring, grappling along every second. Suddenly Dwayne pushed Steve back, and did a accurate punch to Steve's face, although not really hurting him, and just making him fall back, a typical move really. Steve traded a similar blow, then Dwayne, then Steve again, and then, Steve managed to kick Dwayne in the stomach, and grabbed his friend's head and turning 180 degrees, doing his Stone Cold Stunner, and knocking Dwayne for a loop. Despite the flashiness of the moves on camera, some of the moves did still inflict some pain and damage, but not usually the level of what a non-casual watcher would've assumed.

Dusty had grown somewhat bored and sensed out with his new found ki sense, just to get more into the hang of it. As he and Devin had discussed, Dusty did not like the fact he had made himself miss out on the original opportunity to learn it. However he was glad to possess it now at all. He felt the energy levels of Dan, Devin, Clint, Virgil, Heero, Teresa, Radditz, and apparently now he felt Nina and Paula's energy levels in the same place, and they apparently had stayed in that spot for a good amount of time now. He also felt Alex, Jason, Vernon's energies as well, but what surprised him was that first off there had been no Goku or Vegeta, but instead what felt like TWO Buus, and ten... no... fifteen... no make that SEVENTEEN Piccolo's, one feeling about half the strength than he was used to from the Namekian, and the other sixteen being almost the same strength as Alex, Vernon and Jason.

Woah, how the hell can there be two Buus and SEVENTEEN Piccolos?! Dusty thought to himself, as he was not very knowledgable about Piccolo's split-form ability, nor did he think about Buu's ability to divide himself. He sensed those apparently 23 energies heading to the spot where he was told there was an abandoned arena or stadium. However he still couldn't find Goku and Vegeta anywhere near them. He then found they were well off from where he remembered Alex's house at.

"What's up with those two?" he said to himself.

"What's wrong Dusty?" Dwayne asked, having recovered him being Stunner'ed, him and Steve noticing their friends lack of movement.

"Well, Goku and Vegeta aren't with Alex and them, and there's two Buus and seventeen Piccolos with them instead." he answered.

Using their own ki sensory, the two wrestlers discovered this was indeed true.

"Woah! You weren't kidding about the 'many Piccolos' thing. How's that possible?" Steve asked.

Dwayne also couldn't place a finger on it though, despite having some experience with the TV show himself, he had not see THAT much of it to know things on the level of Alex, Vernon, Clint or Devin.

"Well, whatever this is, I'm sure they're fine. We should get back to our workout. We got about 10 and a half hours left before we gotta head out." Dwayne replied, and with that, he and Steve resumed their training, while Dusty continued his own weight training, only wondering how Dan was doing on the gravity machine, and how the others with him where doing...

***
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 9:15am; Canton, Ohio)

Back at Dan's house, the last two and a half hours had turned out to be a lot more excruciating for a lot of the members of Devin and Dan's training group. Although most of them weren't originally too daunted by the 1.75x gravity, as they began to train their first few minutes and hone some of their reflexes, they began to notice the gravity was slowly feeling more troublesome. It was definitely a different experience from using weighted clothing. The clothing in itself, while an effective method especially in training speed and limb movement, did not constantly feel like the entire body was being overworked.

For example, Virgil had particularly found 1.75x gravity to be tough. The enhanced gravity had caused his breathing to increase slightly and his blood to pump a lot faster than he was used to. Sometimes he felt like he would pass out from lack of oxygen. The level 3 training clothes and the weighted mallet on top of that did not help his matter, and he had in fact had to resort to putting the mallet down for a while and just training without the extra object and weight due to how worn out he was becoming. To his credit though, he had not completely given up and sat down for a break yet, but it was clear even a mere 75% increase to gravity was having quite an effect on him. He understood that it would be tough to handle the gravity for the first hours or even maybe a day or two, but he had not expected it to be so intense as it was.

On the contrast, Dan, after some more work on the gravity machine on Goku's own ship, along with Devin, had decided to go to actual training after an hour passed, wanting to get a better feel for real training with the gravity auras. Dan was not having nearly the difficulty of Virgil, or even most of the others. It wasn't so much though that his higher powerlevel was helping him, but all of the recent beatings he took the day before had strengthened his durability somewhat. It also helped that in his quest to fix the gravity machine, he had gotten it's artificial gravity to reach 2.2x gravity prior to receiving the auras. 1.75x gravity didn't feel quite as hard for him to handle as 2.2x, and even 2.2x didn't feel TOO bad for him.

Devin also didn't feel as bad off as Virgil was, although he wasn't adapting quite as fast as Dan. For some reason, the gravity gave Devin an odd feeling of a rush. Despite his slower, sluggish movements and reactions, he felt it to be a truly refreshing experience as he finally started to understand somewhat the trouble Goku had endured while training for his first battle with Nappa and Vegeta in the original Dragonball Z series. Devin also tested out some more of his ki attacks while under the aura's effect, much as the Dodompa and the Kamehameha. However he did not seem to have the focus, or apparently the power to creature that odd blade of energy he had created when he faced down Oyatsu the previous day. He had also come up with another attack idea, but his efforts only resulted in botched attempts, as the central aspect of his new attack was not working as it should.

Radditz was on the other end of the field. Having been raised in 10 times gravity, he had asked Nina if she could possibly give him a level closer to 15x gravity. Nina was a little concerned for her magic reserves, but to her surprise, she was indeed able to raise the gravity around him to 15x. However, Nina felt a moderate chunk of her magic reserve fade as she used it. She realized she might only be able to cap out at using 10-15x on an entire group before losing all of her energy. She would have to know for sure though. However, Radditz was also wearing the level 4 weighted clothing over his Saiya-jin battle jacket for more compensation. Although Radditz was indeed showing signs of struggling and slower movement, he had prior gravity experience, and was working his way gradually to the point he hadn't been worn out in less than 15 minutes of training under the gravity aura, unlike a lot of the others.

Nina and Paula were also closer to Radditz's level of gravity experience, having had more time to accustom themselves to using the gravity auras in the past. They were still at 9.5x gravity, but unlike most of the others, who were currently training on their lonesome to break in the feeling of the auras, both of them were currently duking it out in a second spar, which was being watched by some of the others as they too struggled to get the hang of the gravity. The majority of the sparring was the two of them moving around at each other as fast as possible and trying to improve on their melee combat skills. Again, Paula had the advantage of both her speed and her experience at hand-to-hand over Nina, but Nina did have some purchase against her with having her two wings as additional limbs, added to the threat of her magic spells. She and Paula had traded some PK Fire blasts and Fireball blasts earlier, and Paula had also revealed she had a ice-based attack which had completely caught Nina off guard and gave Paula a free hit. Nina was luckily able to recover and revealed she also had an ice-type magic called Freeze, using it to blindside Paula with a large and cold ice-cube type blast.

Meanwhile, Clint decided to NOT use any of his Super Saiya-jin levels immediately as to try to break in using the gravity auras in his base form. The reason was that he knew from the fact the Durty Durt Dur Curse was still somewhat intact, and anyone could accidentally [or intentionally] invoke it on him or other Saiya-jin in Canton for a 12 hour loss of their Super Saiya-jin form. This would be around for about another week of time according to Dan, and from his experience in the fight with Rowan, Clint wanted to be prepared to have to fight more in his base form. He did occasionally transform to his basic Super Saiya-jin like state to test the combined stress of the transformation with the gravity, but he found it was indeed easier to move around in the gravity, and he simply powered-down to base form again, wanting the challenge to feel proper. He also trying to [carefully] gain more accuracy in his Kienzans. Although indeed powerful enough to kill much stronger enemies, he realized his accuracy with them was to be desired. He also kept his eyes on the others, as to not allow them to get too close to one of his testing Kienzans. He was afraid even Nina or Paula could get seriously injured or killed if he accidentally hit one of them with a Kienzan.

Meanwhile Teresa was, to the surprise of some of the others, using the gravity in a slightly different way. She had discovered that when she used her Energy Clone ability, that her clones also inherited the gravity aura placed on her by Nina, and therefore both Teresas would endure the aura evenly. She even had herself and the Energy Clone she made use a basic Kaioken while under the extra gravity. It didn't seem to have much of a differing effect as Teresa had believe it'd have though. She was still keeping her body in good enough shape using Kaioken with the gravity wasn't messing up her breathing or blood flows. However, soon she had come up with a new thought. Gathering her energy forward, she suddenly formed a large sphere of ki above her head and threw it out about 10 to 15 feet in front of her. After about 2 minutes of struggling with her focus, the sphere of energy had managed to turn into a SECOND Energy Clone, now creating TWO for her to spar with.

When this had happened, Radditz couldn't help but notice it and want to scan all three of them with the new Navy-Blue overclocked scouter he had. Pulling it out and putting it back over his head, he scanned Teresa at 16,541, and her energy clones, both of them read out at around close to 16,541 as well, with some minor changes depending on which of them was attacking or defending. He hadn't thought to scan her at the beginning of the training session, but he knew once they merged again that she would return to her normal power. The energy clone ability wasn't as taxing on a person's powerlevel as the Shinnoken was, but it did still have a minor cost to it. He knew that Teresa using only one clone was last scanned at upwards of 18,200 for both her and a single clone.

After about 20 more minutes, Nina suddenly had a thought cross her mind, and she called to Paula, "Hey Paula, I got a training idea for all of us! You game?"

"What kind of training idea?" Paula asked.

"Paired matches. Basically we pair these guys up with each other depending on how close their power is to one another, like how we're doing, and hopefully it helps to benefit both of them." Nina replied.

Paula nodded, and she looked over at the others.

She drew in a deep breath and called out, "Attention!! Can I have you attention?!?!"

Everyone heard her, and turned over to look at her, wondering what she had to say.

"Can you guys come over here? We got an idea to speed us up a little!" she said, as all of them, including Virgil with his mallet, came in closer to hear her idea.

"What's up? What's the idea?" Dan asked her.

"Nina thought about having us all pair up in spar matches. The idea is to match people close to you in strength for a more effective method of improvement." Paula replied.

Nina took over explaining for her at that point, "For this first attempt, I'd like to ask that Clint, Dan and Radditz don't use their Super Saiya-jin forms, out of means of keeping it slightly fair. However, I would believe Kaioken can be used for this. In fact, I'd recommend it we want to improve on what we can already do. I know some of you can't do more than a basic, and this might help a little."

"Sounds interesting. However, can we decide on our partners, or are you guys going to pick them for us?" Devin asked.

"We were going to pick them for you, but why do you ask?" Nina replied.

"Because I was curious to see how well I'd do facing off with Heero." Devin replied.

Heero glanced over at his, "No offense Devin, but Clint's closer to me than you are."

"I know that, but I've never really sparred you before. Dusty has, and so has Steve and Dwayne, so I'd like to have a crack at you for once." Devin replied.

"If Heero wants to, you two can face each other." Paula said, wanting to prevent an argument.

"Then who should I fight with?" Clint asked, curious to suggestions, "I don't think Virgil's ready to face me, especially if he has to use his mallet. Heck, I don't know if he's high enough to participate in any of the pairs. Obviously you two will probably just continue your sparring match, but..."

"Why don't you spar with me?" Teresa suddenly interrupted him.

"With you? Hm. You and Devin would be more even than you and me would be. That's why I was expecting to be paired with Heero." Clint replied.

"Even? You think it'll be easy for you to win? I recall you can only use the basic Kaioken, I can use a 2x, which would probably make us even." Teresa said with a hint of a smirk, trying to play on his pride.

Although that wasn't going to work on him like it would on most people, Clint did realize she was right about the Kaioken part.

"Alright, I guess we'll try this. I hope you know what your doing though." Clint replied to her with a bit of concern.

"Feh, don't be concerned about me so much. You'll need to save that worry for yourself." Teresa taunted.

"Hah, I ain't gonna make it that easy for you." Clint challenged back.

"ANYWAYS." Nina interrupted before either one could continue, "I would suggest Dan and Radditz train, as Virgil probably wouldn't do all too well with either of you."

"Me against Radditz?! That's a big suicide risk. Radditz has Kaioken x3, and I can only do the basic Kaioken. He also stronger than I am to begin with. He'll stomp me!" Dan replied.

"You that scared?" Radditz taunted him with a smirk, "Come on, we've sparred before. I know I was holding back, but you didn't do too bad before. I won't use more than a basic Kaioken if we must, unless you manage to pull off a better one."

"Fine fine, I'll get my ass kicked again. At least when I heal, I'll be a lot stronger, since I do have Saiya-jin DNA in me too, and there's also that Sculptor Curtain thing Oyatsu managed to use while in my body." Dan replied, blowing a raspberry at Radditz.

"Just watch yourself, kid. You're still a lot more inexperienced than I am. Healing yourself like that won't be enough to help you in a serious battle yet." Radditz grumbled.

"We'll see..." Dan replied in challenge.

"Alright, I think we should get started with this." Paula suggested, as she and Nina began to lift off the ground and moved over 40 yards away.

Dan and Radditz then moved over about 30 yards northwest, while Devin and Heero moved over about 30 yards south, and Clint and Teresa decided to just stay where they were.

Clint placed himself in his battle stance, "Alright, let's see what this results in."

Teresa replied by dashing at his with a quick kick, which Clint was able to block with his forearm. Teresa swung her other leg and tried to trip him, but he jumped up quickly and fired off a small Soukidan down at her. Teresa was forced to jump backwards, while Clint zoomed behind her, and was about to hit her from the back with a swinging punch. Teresa managed to just evade the swing and then flipped on her back and gave Clint a quick kick into the air. As Clint flew up, he quickly regained control and zanzokened away as Teresa was about to reach him from the ground. He reappeared behind her and managed to smash her forward with a swung kick to the back, sending her flying about 5 yards. Clint followed up with another launch of his first Soukidan. Teresa dodged, but not in enough time to completely evade the Soukidan, and it clipped her on the top of the head, knocking her down slightly.

Clint charged in again and axehandled her over the head, sending her plummeting towards the ground at high speed. However Teresa swiftly changed her angle and caught the ground with her hands and flipped away 1 yard and landed on her feet. Clint charged in and started swinging punches at Teresa with as much speed as he could muster under the gravity aura on him. Teresa didn't fare too badly in blocking his blows, but she could hardly find an opening in his offense to counterattack, and was slowly losing ground. Soon Clint managed to swing his leg in a flash-kick style, catching Teresa on the chin and sending her flying back about another 4 yards. However Teresa managed to zanzoken away before she flew back any further and quickly blasted the ground in front of him from above, raising dust and choking smoke into the air. Clint was distracted enough for Teresa to create an energy clone, and it flew down in close and managed to smash Clint across the face with a two-punch combo. Teresa herself appeared behind him and grabbed him by one of his arms and swung him over her shoulder and body slamming him to the ground.

Clint quickly recovered and jumped back with a flipping motion, regaining control over his Soukidan and guiding it at Teresa, however her energy clone intercepted the Soukidan, however taking a moderate hit in the process. The real Teresa lunged in from the front angle and began throwing punches at high speeds at Clint, who had to go on the defense for a short time. However he found an opening quickly and landed a hard punch to her stomach, and then grabbed her around the head, and then heaving her over his shoulder towards a large tree nearby at high force. Teresa only managed to shield her head as she crashed into the tree, knocking it aside and knocking her for a loop. As the dust cleared, Clint saw her energy clone suddenly turn back into a ball form, and zoom over to where he last saw her crash. He suddenly felt her power rise back to her original level. However Clint could swear she felt a little bit different after doing so.

Then he suddenly felt her power rising rapidly, and a red aura began to blow the smoke around her landing site away.

"KAIOKEN TIMES TWO!!" Teresa screamed and charged back out of the dust and gave Clint a sudden double kick to his chest. Unprepared for her use of Kaioken x2, he took a good deal of damage and flew back nearly 10 yards and landed to the ground on his back.

Well that was unsportsmanlike of her... he grumbled, getting to his feet.

Teresa stood there, waiting for him to get up. He looked over at her, but she looked a little stressed, and impatient.

"Alright, let's do it." Clint replied, "KAIOKEN!"

His power climbed more, but once it stopped, he realized Teresa was indeed a little stronger than he was now. He knew the only way to he could probably win now was to try using Kaioken x2.

However Teresa wouldn't let him have any of that, and charged at him again...

Meanwhile, Radditz had gotten Dan on the ropes from the beginning. Although neither of them had tried to use Kaioken yet, Radditz still had a large advantage over Dan, as Dan was finding it hard to even get a chance to start attacking him. Radditz would constantly keep him on defense with constant punches and the occasional kicks. Every 2 or 3 swings, Radditz would land at the least a moderate hit on Dan, whittling away at his defenses and leaving him open to more blows. Dan had been forced to break off from him and try to flee to a distance. He began to charging up a Kamehameha, while Radditz closed in on him quickly. Dan suddenly shot it forward, hitting Radditz just as he had reached point-blank range. Radditz attempted to put himself into a blocking stance to reduce the stress of the attack on his body, but he found Dan's Kamehameha was a bit stronger than he believed, and was slowly pushed backwards.

Radditz growled as he realized he wouldn't be able to use the Atomic Ray with his limbs occupied like this, and also realized a lot of his attacks would be of little use unless he got out of the range of the blast. He screamed loudly, summoning a Kiai which began to expand outwards and push Dan's kamehameha away from him, to the point it suddenly swerved OVER his head and gave Radditz and opening. He charged forth at Dan. However Dan had not been completely caught off guard.

"KAIOKEN!!" he screamed out, being immersed in a red, frantic aura, and charged straight at Radditz, swinging an overhead haymaker which clocked Radditz over the head with a strong enough blow to send him to the ground, bouncing and skidding up and down like a basketball. However Radditz was hardly down and jumped back up and formed his hands into a box shape, forming his Monday Hatred blast.

"MONDAY HATRED!!!" he screamed and shot the square-shaped attack at Dan who was continuing to close in on him. The blast connected and exploded, disorienting Dan and stopping him in his tracks momentarily. Radditz charged in and swung a roundhouse kick right to Dan's face, strong enough to knock him backwards and also out of his Kaioken level momentarily as he hit the ground and skidded to a halt.

Radditz quickly screamed, "KAIOKEN!" and adorned the erratic red energy aura himself. Dan reacted in reply and screamed, "KAIOKEN TIMES TWO!!!"

At first, Radditz frowned, not noticing a change, but suddenly, Dan's aura expanded out slightly, and he felt Dan's powerlevel rise further, to around double his original strength. Dan groaned slightly at the change in the stress on his body, but grit his teeth tight as he just decided to let it run it's course. He screamed and charged in at Radditz, and the two began to trade swings of their fists and feet. Both of them mostly met defense from their opponent's blocks, but once in a long while, Radditz found he was still slightly stronger with the basic Kaioken to sneak a small hit through Dan's defenses. However the second chance he found landed him into a trap of sorts. Dan had intentionally let Radditz hit him the second time and flash-kicked Radditz in the chin, sending him into the air violently. Dan flew up towards him, still gritting his teeth in anger and pain, and with his left hand clenching a large ki ball ready to toss up.

However Radditz stopped his upward motion and zanzokened aside, causing Dan to fly well above where he had been moments ago. From his new position a few feet away, Radditz growled, "Time to turn this up another notch! KAIOKEN TIMES TWO!!"

His aura expanded out, now giving him back his original power advantage from the beginning of the fight. Dan growled in anger and tried to put more energy into the blast he had been charging before.

Radditz charged up and raised both hands above his head, "Have my DOUBLE SUNDAY!!"

He then shot both blasts down at Dan. Dan tried to dodge around the first one, but as he did, Radditz flew down and landed his foot straight on Dan's face, knocking him downwards into the second of the two blasts, causing it to explode after Dan crushed it against the ground below. Dan growled up at Radditz, who smirked at him, "Remember, I can use up to times 3, you can only just now reach times 2. I hope you can do better than this."

"You'll see! SCULPTOR CURTAIN!" Dan yelled up, as his body began to heal and vanished from Radditz' sight, and his ki sense.

Radditz groaned, "Shit! I forgot that ability makes him disappear too!"

Now healed somewhat of his injuries, Dan rose to his feet and jumped back about 20 feet. He reached down and decided to try to use Kaioken x2 again. The red energy flared up around him again, however as this happened, Radditz suddenly charged in at him. Dan cursed, remembering now from Oyatsu's uses of the ability that using ki in any complicated manner disrupted his invisibility granted by the Sculptor Curtain. Radditz kicked Dan in the stomach, knocking him backwards another 10 feet, and then gave him an uppercut to the face, knocking him up into the air. He flew up and zanzokened above him, and gave him an overhead elbow to the back, and knocking him towards the ground.

Dan managed to correct his fall and landed on his hands in feet in a frog's position, and then lifted to his feet, charging up a Final Flash, and shot it up at Radditz. Radditz flew backwards about 5 yards ahead of the blast and charged an Atomic Ray and shot it forward, meeting Dan's blast in midair. Although the ki aspect of the blast was battling with the Final Flash from Dan, the magic energy was beginning to spread through both his and Dan's ki, causing a flaming aura to trail down Dan's weakening Final Flash.

Dan realized he would likely lose the beam struggle, but he decided to hold his ground and growled, "I'm not through just yet! KAIOKEN TIMES THREE!!"

Radditz's eyes widened at Dan's shout, and he let up on some of the pressure of his blast out of worry Dan's foolishness would cost him a lot of damage or his life. Dan growled as his body began to tense up tightly and his muscles began to bulge outwards and inflate in size. The muscles in his legs slightly bulged and inflated as well. The red Kaioken aura exploded out another few inches. Dan jumped up quickly, evading the Atomic Ray and smashed Radditz in the face with a headbutt before he can react to use his own Kaioken x3. Dan followed up with a axehandle over Radditz' head and then zanzokened down below him as he fell and kicked him in the back just before he managed to hit the ground. Radditz smashed into the ground face first, skidding 2 feet forward.

Dan looked on, as his aura began to crackle erratically. His muscles felt like they were on the verge of spasming. He growled, realizing that Kaioken x3 wasn't something he was going to be able to hold much longer, and he quickly dropped it to a Kaioken x2 for the time being, as Radditz pulled himself to his feet and looked over at Dan.

"I see you're at your limits with the Kaioken for now. I guess for now we'll ease up a bit for now. But don't think it'll be any easier on you." Radditz said, lowering his Kaioken to a basic level, making the two of them almost neck and neck now.

"If you want to play it that way, then let's continue." Dan replied...

In the meanwhile, Devin and Heero were both already long at it. As to Devin's expectations, Heero was giving him a very hard fight. When Dusty said that Heero possessed prior experience with hand-to-hand fighting, he hadn't been kidding. Even with Devin's stockier and more defensive frame, Heero's blows were much faster delivered and more then often Heero had Devin on the defense. Devin's primary saving graces in the battle were the fact his ki manipulation was still a lot better than Heero's. After a few failed attempts to break through Heero's offense directly, Devin had retreated slightly, able to create a couple of Soukidans which he controlled with great precision. Like he had with Clint days ago, he had used the confusing movements of the Soukidan to catch Heero off guard in nearly 5 different situations, where he'd smash Heero with one of the Soukidans, or even charge a Kamehameha to fire towards him.

Heero however proved that although the Soukidans pestering him were a problem, they were little more than being bombarded by bees. He managed to actually kick one of them away and detonate it against the ground, and then charged in with a vicious kick to Devin's side, and then following it up with a spinning, Shouryuken-like uppercut which also had the side effect of spinning Devin's body around as he flew up in mid air. Heero flew at him to intercept him again, but Devin suddenly threw out his arms, turning his body into a spinning helicopter of vicious punches even Heero's speed and power were unable to completely dodge. Heero suffered four quick hits and was knocked backwards. Having gotten annoyed at this, he growled.

"KAIOKEN TIMES TWO!!" he growled, as the red aura filtered in around his body. Devin quickly shouted out a similar command, also raising his level to Kaioken x2. Although the difference between them had not changed due to their Kaiokens being the same, the factor of fatigue on both would be a much greater concern to them. Devin tried to focus his energy into one of his ideas for a new attack, but the best he got from his efforts was to fire a large ki sphere forward which had just managed to skim Heero's arm and knock him aside. The damage was almost non-existent though despite the skimming. Unfortunately, Heero's counterattack was much more successful, as he had managed to return Devin's exact attack back at him, except formed from his ki this time. Devin managed to raise his arms to block, but even then the blast inflicted a fair share of damage.

Heero capitalized on that distraction, not letting up, and zanzokened behind Devin, swinging down with an axehandle which Devin just managed to turn around and block with his crossed arms in time. However Heero again reacted quickly and tripped Devin's legs aside and sending him up into the air uncontrollably, where he did a double jump kick to Devin's back, sending him flying out of control towards a tree. Devin shouted in anger and barely managed to flip his legs properly and landed on the tree more or less safely, and then bounced off, heading back in Heero's direction. Devin's aura suddenly began to become a dark red as he approached Heero, and he managed to swing a vicious uppercut to Heero's chin, and then hammered him over the head with a reverse flash kick, knocking Heero down in altitude, almost all the way to the ground.

Heero looked up at Devin, but his eyes went wide as he saw Devin's aura change from Dark-Red to a pure black. But that alone wasn't the reason for his expression.

"What the hell?! His power's rising rapidly, and fast!" he gaped on, as Devin's eyes suddenly flickered a faint purple and then back to black. He raised his right hand in the air, as if holding up a sword, and a near-pure-black color blade began to appear in his hands, much like a sword. He looked down on Heero with a look of intense anger.

"CRESCENT SLASHER!!!" he screamed, and swung the blade of black-colored energy at Heero.

At that very moment, Nina had sensed a magicpowerlevel spawn into existence, and she and Paula turned to see Devin's energy blade flying at Heero.

"That attack has magic energy in it!" Nina yelled out in surprise, now finally having a chance to see one of her friends use one for the first time on a personal basis.

Another two pairs of eyes were glued to this, including a pair of eyes which displayed dismay.

"OH SHIT!! I remember this, Radditz!" Dan yelled, stopping any more fighting either might have done, "When Oyatsu possessed me and I fought Devin, he managed to shoot an attack exactly like this. Why the hell didn't I remember to bring that up to him!?"

Heero on the other hand had sensed the colossal strength of the attack, and screamed, "KAIOKEN TIMES FOUR!!!" and with a sudden and [very] temporary burst of strength managed to JUST evade the brunt of the attack, but was still hit by the explosion, and sent flying backwards. Unfortunately Heero was by no means ready to use Kaioken x4, and it had probably messed him up almost as badly as if he would've been hit by the direct hit of the attack.

Devin looked down at Heero and began to accumulate energy into a ki sphere of black and purple energy, crackling with electric pulses around it. He looked over Heero, but then suddenly decided to turn his body and threw the attack straight towards where Paula and Nina were still watching.

"What the heck?!" Paula screamed, seeing the black sphere of energy flying towards them. She braced herself and grabbed the attack with quick reflexes, but for some reason, despite the fact the attack was a lot weaker than she was, there was still a weird sensation of pain as she held it. With a pained grunt, she managed to swing the attack completely away from where she and Nina were.

Unfortunately, she had not taken into account that Dan had been approaching all of them from that direction in an attempt to get a better assessment of Devin's strange powerup, and he had barely anytime to react, knowing the attack had been from Devin, and therefore just managing to transform to Super Saiya-jin as it hit him, sending him flying back onto his side and rolling in the grass. Nina and Paula yelled out in fear and horror as they felt Dan's energy plummet severely despite his transformed status. In fact, the hit had sobered up almost everyone else immediately and Radditz looked concerned, and Clint and Teresa had also stopped their actions and looked over at Dan, who did not appear to be moving all too well.

Clint then turned and noticed Devin, and his eyes went wide, "Oh shit! I remember this! This happened before a few days ago during a spar we had!"

He quickly powered up to Super Saiya-jin 2 level and flew forward at Devin, just as he made another move, this time to jump at Heero again. Clint managed to intercept Devin and punch him to the side, causing him to fly back somewhat, but Devin recovered almost immediately and focused on Clint now and soared into him, punching and kicking at him with all of his might. Devin's power was strong enough to keep Clint on his toes, but he had a power advantage and was able to block the majority of Devin's attacks.

"Devin!! Devin, what the hell's your problem?!" Clint growled as he kept blocking his enraged friend's blows.

Devin didn't react verbally, but instead he suddenly formed a second Crescent Slasher and swung it, hitting Clint at point blank range. Clint yelled in protest as he took the hit and was blasted back a surmountable distance from Devin. Devin charged in and gave him a good haymaker to the face, stunning him more, and then released a SECOND Dark-Purple energy blast like the one he hit Dan with and blasted him with it, causing more damage.

Luckily, Devin didn't get the chance to see his handiwork, as Dan had managed to recover and suddenly leaped back into action and gave Devin a good roundhouse kick to the back of the head. Devin turned around, not as affected as Dan hoped, but was blasted from behind by a Double Sunday courtesy of Radditz before he could counterattack. Devin was blown forwards 20 feet from Dan, but he again recovered in almost an inhuman way and charged a third ball of dark-purple energy over his head. He then prepared to hurl the ball at Radditz, when a large white ball of energy from Nina's own hands collided with his dark-purple ki sphere from behind and above him, and causing them to have a violent reaction, and they exploded, rocketing Devin forward unexpectedly.

Nina quickly moved in close and in a surprising move, performed a quick elbow drop on Devin from above, almost like Dwayne's 'People's Elbow', and driving Devin into the ground with a loud boom. When the dust cleared, Devin laid on his side in the crater, unconscious, but breathing, and no longer with the dark black aura around his body.

Everyone else sighed in relief when they gathered in close and saw this.

"Alright, exactly... what the hell just happened?!" Nina asked, not ever having seen Devin like this before.

Dan and Clint looked a bit uncomfortable, having both seen this happen before in their own ways. However, neither one had been yet aware the other knew identically about it. They knew this would be an interesting story to explain...

*********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 9:54am; Canton, Ohio)

Meanwhile, nearly 3 miles Southwest of Alex's house, Goku was sitting in the middle of a large open field, watching closely over Vegeta. He had entered the meditative stance to begin his attempts to reach Super Saiya-jin 3 about an hour and a half ago, and Vegeta appeared to be in a state of distress and was sweating bullets. Goku watched him carefully, knowing that at any time he could change over into Super Saiya-jin 3, with a surge of power that might have consequences for him and anyone else in the area. Luckily they had picked a large and open spot. Hopefully it would be enough...

On the other hand, Vegeta was certainly enraptured into the depths of his mind. In fact, he was struggling viciously to understand all of the visions he had been going through. As he had expected, his old employer and master, Frieza was at the center of a lot of it. However, while Vegeta had long ago discovered of Frieza being the one who destroyed his race, he had never gotten to see it actually happen, having been unconscious on Frieza's ship at the time. Among the visions he saw, were that of his father's attempt to rescue him from the ship, and the quick end he met at Frieza's hand. He then saw Frieza fly from his ship in his hoverchair, and look over the view of planet Vegeta. He then saw Goku's father Bardock fight his way through a large entourage of Frieza's soldiers and confront the tyrant himself. It was then he witnessed both the death of Bardock and the end of his planet at Frieza's hands in real time. Vegeta's blood boiled at these images as he watched Frieza's death ball splinter the planet from surface to surface, shattering it inward under it's own weight. And then it was no more.

However the visions only got worse. Unlike most of Goku's visions, which were dark perversions and things that never actually happened, and more like nightmares, Vegeta's nightmares were truly close to the real dark parts of his past. He saw the many times he suffered beatings and humiliation at Frieza's hands, and even more at the hands of his first-class soldiers and elites as a child. He saw how Nappa and Radditz were similarly tortured, however for some reason he could swear it seemed they were suffering even worse than he had for some reason. He witnessed the many times he was also ridiculed by Frieza's men or Frieza himself in spite of doing his jobs as efficiently as he could. Many times he would have to hold his tongue and his want to blast away those guys. He was nowhere near as powerful as he currently was in those days.

The visions began to accumulate to the point he, Frieza, Goku and his friends met up on Namek and began the final battle. However, when Frieza finally appeared for the first time, he had already been in his final form as opposed to his first form. And for some odd reason, Vegeta found himself on his own, staring down Frieza.

Frieza looked at him with a coy smile, "So Vegeta, at last you have began to figure it all out."

"What?! What do you mean you bastard?!" Vegeta asked him, not understanding what he was blabbing about.

"Do you really think you're worthy of Super Saiya-jin 3, much less ANY level of Super Saiya-jin?! All you are is a punching bag for every single major enemy you've ever come across. And most of the times, it's your own damned fault for it!" Frieza growled.

Much to Vegeta's shock, he found himself at Super Saiya-jin 2 status already, and he looked over at Frieza, "So obviously you're the one I have to fight. You're merely my fears taking form as Frieza."

"Exactly. But don't think you can win even now just because you know that. You've always been afraid of me Vegeta, even when I'm nothing but a nightmare! I doubt you've changed that much in 20 years." the dream-Frieza replied.

"I've changed more than you can ever imagine, Frieza!" Vegeta screamed and charged in, meeting Frieza with a barrage of lightning fast attacks.

However the battle did not initially go as well as Vegeta hoped. Being that Frieza in this form was just a manifestation of his Vegeta's fears, it made him just as strong if not stronger than he was. Frieza was definitely getting in his set of his blows. Both of them had been bruised and banged up after about 10 minutes of fighting, but neither looked yet ready to give in. Unfortunately Vegeta was a lot more banged up than he'd like to admit.

"Now Vegeta, I believe it's time to use all 100% of my power! Again, as always, I will always be too much for you, regardless of your strength. I am a superior mental force to you and you'll have to live the rest of your eternity understanding that!" Frieza growled as his body began to bulk and increase in size, and veins forming along some of the muscles on his body, indicating of his increase in strength.

At this point, Vegeta had an uphill fight on his hands, although it wasn't by any mean a total domination on Frieza's side. Vegeta did occasionally strike a few good blows on Frieza's dream state, and had even managed to incinerate the first 3 inches of his tail with a point blank Final Flash, but Frieza was also not letting up on his power or weakening slowly, unlike when he battled Goku on Namek in the real world, and Vegeta was wearing out fast in contrast. Suddenly Frieza managed to smash him with a good uppercut, and then managed to kick him viciously to the ground, embedding him into the ground. Frieza then landed nearby, and shot his Daichiretsuzan beam through Vegeta's right arm near the elbow, immobilizing it, and causing Vegeta to growl in pain, keeping him pinned in his little crater with agony and pain.

"So Vegeta, how does it feel to fail once again? It must have gotten familiar to you by now though. It's only happened so many times now." he stated, pointing his finger at Vegeta's body. He then looked as if in thought and as if he were about to read a list of sorts to him.

"Let's see, there was that monkey Goku..." he said as he shot through Vegeta's left arm near the elbow joint as well, "Then there was Rikoom..." Frieza fired through Vegeta's left shoulder, "Of course there was me..." he said again as he then shot Vegeta through his right knee joint, causing him to scream out in anguish, "Then there was that Cyborg woman who might have been your most humiliating defeat." he then shot through Vegeta's left thigh, causing him to grit his teeth further.

"Oh yes, there was also your foolish desire for a good fight, which resulted in Cell kicking your ass." Frieza then shot though Vegeta's right shoulder, "And then despite the anger at him for killing your son from the future, Cell smacked you around AGAIN." Frieza shot through Vegeta's left knee joint this time, "And there was also that Fat version of Majin Buu. The one you tried to sacrifice your life for, all for nothing..." Frieza shot another beam through Vegeta's right thigh this time, "and then there was that crazy, child-like Buu that almost totally destroyed your spiritual existence."

This time, Frieza shot Vegeta in multiple spots, but with less lethal beams which did not penetrate through him like the last ones, but nonetheless whittled away at him and were quite painful.

Then Frieza smirked cruelly at him, "...and finally, there's you."

"What... do you mean... myself?!" Vegeta growled angrily through all of his pain.

"Your doubt... is your ultimate undoing Vegeta." Frieza said, as he raised himself into the air and began to hold both of his hands close over his head, forming a large orange ball crackling with electric around it: a Death Ball, the same type of attack that destroyed planet Vegeta and also planet Namek.

"Give my regards to the rest of your monkey race!" Frieza screamed as he threw the Death Ball down at Vegeta, ever growing in size as it came closer. Vegeta growled in rage as he tried to move his body. However he began to feel the intensity as the Death Ball began to smash into him. Vegeta closed his eyes in angered rage.

"I am NOT a failure! I am a SAIYA-JIN. I am the Prince! I am Royal Blood! I will lead what remains of my people to glory! Kakarott... Alex... Jason... Vernon... Dan... they still need me to guide them! I WILL BECOME A SUPER SAIYA-JIN 3!!!" he screamed out.

Suddenly Vegeta felt a strange sensation of simultaneous ease and heaviness. His vision began to dim to a red-color, as a huge crater nearly a mile mile was dug out below his body. The death ball Frieza had tossed at him began to be repelled away. The pure ki surging through him began to close his many puncture wounds and heal the wounds and injuries on the surface of his body. Through his red haze, he rose out of his lying position and rose further into the air, causing the Death Ball to bounce back, engulfing Frieza in his own energy, inflicting further damage to him.

Frieza squinted at Vegeta and looked on with narrowed eyes, "So, perhaps you can succeed once in a while."

Vegeta didn't reply, and he simply charged in with speed unheard of to even himself and smashed Frieza in the face with an incredible blow, following it up with many more devastating blows to all of his different limbs, chest and more to the head. After he was finished, Frieza fell back and fell to the ground face first, extremely messed up in appearance and on the verge of death. Vegeta growled and flew in at Frieza with horrible speed.

*KER-ACK!!*

With one foot to the back of Frieza's neck, it was snapped like a twig, killing the dream-version of Frieza instantly on contact. Vegeta looked down at him with a wordless expression. Despite the situation, he did not grin, he did not smirk, nor did he even frown. In fact, it had almost appeared that his pupils were dilated and lifeless. Vegeta looked on, and he began to bend over, as if in pain.

"Gwaag..." he groaned, as he began to see through a clearer haze, and his eyes began to lose the dilation in them.

"Did... did I do it?" he asked himself in wonder.

"Of course you did it! Why wouldn't you? You're the Prince of all Saiya-jin!" said another voice from behind Vegeta.

However the tone of the voice made Vegeta freeze in confusion. He turned around, and come face to face with a shocking site.

Standing only 10 feet away from him, appeared a SECOND Vegeta, his hair long like Radditz's and golden, with no eyebrows. However the second Vegeta was also nearly 4 inches shorter than he was, and appeared to wear the same armor setup as from when he and Nappa first came to Earth for the Dragonballs 20 years in the past.

"Look at you, you old badger! You actually did it! At last!" the second, shorter Vegeta spoke to him.

"Who are you supposed to be this time?" Vegeta asked to him, "You can't be my fear. That was Frieza."

"Of course not, I'm your darkness. Your evil, your true power. I'm the side of you that you abandoned for all those lowly Earthlings. And now, it's time we settle this." the second Vegeta replied.

"I don't think so, you're not going anywhere." Vegeta replied in a deathly calm voice.

"Trust me, you should be taking this seriously. Whoever wins this battle will gain control of your body. I've got plans for those four new Saiya-jin you and Kakarot discovered! They have such potential for mere children!" the second Vegeta explained.

Vegeta growled calmly, "Again, I don't think so. The only person walking away from this is me."

"Let's find out, 'your highness'.' The second Vegeta replied with a challenge in his words.

The battle that resulted from such was indeed a long and tedious endeavor for both of the Vegetas. Neither one had any form of physical advantage on the other. Both possessed the same attacks, the same killer instincts, the same personality. The only difference was the contrast of light and darkness in them. Well, there was also one other difference. While Vegeta seemed to bide his time and remain patient enough, the second, dark Vegeta was a lot more brash, impulsive and impatient. Although he had managed to find a few good openings at first to attack his original counterpart, the original Vegeta handled all of the attacks with little loss to his demeanor, and it was now beginning to show the darker Vegeta was wearing out a lot faster than the original was.

"Damn you. Stop trying to mess with me!" he growled at Vegeta.

"Hmph, looking at you makes me realize what a mistake it was to let Frieza's teachings affect me at all." Vegeta said in a disappointed voice.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?!" the second Vegeta growled.

Vegeta smirked for the first time since his nightmares began, "Only now do I truly see how much of a fool I was in my youth. The Saiya-jin were supposed to be a proud race of warriors. Sure we were a violent kind, but even among ourselves there were other emotions than just anger and destruction. You are a prime example of the weakness of having no positive emotions. You're impulsive and brash nature has expended you far more energy than I have, and therefore your power is about to run out."

"That's just bullshit there! Only the strong survive, and the weak die! There are no things as love and remorse! You have truly grown soft!" the second Vegeta growled, but then his expression turned to shock, "Wh... what the hell?!"

Suddenly the second Vegeta's appearance changed, his hair turning back to black and returning to it's original size and his golden, electrical aura fizzling out.

"Do you see what I mean now!?" Vegeta replied with a shout, "Your arrogant attitude has gotten you in over your head once again. Frieza's way was never meant to be the way of the Saiya-jin, and now you're about to see that the hard way!"

Vegeta swooped in and smashed the second Vegeta before be could react with a vicious headbutt to the face, and then kicked him up into the air. Vegeta prepared a position in which it almost resembled the Kamehameha in hand structure, but what he was about to do was vastly different.

"Give my regards to Hell! Galic Gun!!!" Vegeta screamed, releasing his large purple and gold blast drilling upwards at the second, now-defeated Vegeta, who did not even have a chance to scream a curse as he was vaporized immediately. Vegeta smirked up at the smoke and dust created from the other Vegeta's destruction, "And that is game, set and... ugh..."

Vegeta suddenly buckled to his knees and collapsed to the ground, his unconsciousness leaving him...

Meanwhile, in the real-world, Goku watched on in amazement as he witnessed his friend transform to what was indeed Super Saiya-jin 3 with his own eyes. Interestingly enough, unlike his change while in the afterworld, Vegeta's transformation was a lot less eventful and damaging to the area around than his own. The initial transformation did indeed melt in a large crater nearly a mile and a half long, but he did not see Vegeta acting completely savage or feral like he himself had. He noticed now that Vegeta was hovering in mid-air, curled almost in a fetal position, his hair still as long as it was when he first changed.

Vegeta suddenly groaned and opened his eyes slowly. He began to see the area around him and uncurled his body into an upright position, and it took him a couple moments to realize that he was awake again. He also saw electrical pulses charging around him, and he felt the difference in his hair, and the dramatic increase to his powerlevel. He looked down and saw Goku.

"Kakarott, I did it, didn't I?!" Vegeta asked.

"Yes! Congratulations, Vegeta! You finally reached it!" Goku cheered with a grin.

Vegeta grumbled, "Yeah, only 10 to 11 years after you learned it. I'm still annoyed that you had to hold it all back from me all of this time!"

Goku frowned, "I'm sorry again Vegeta. I realize now that maybe I was being too cautious for your sake."

Vegeta lowered to the ground, intent on seeing how long he'd be able to hold Super Saiya-jin 3 before all of his power ran out.

Goku looked over at him again, "I am curious though, what kinda nightmares did you have to put up with? Was Frieza a part of them?"

"Yes he was Kakarott. In fact, I think I even got to witness the destruction of our home planet, Vegeta. Also, I saw your father's last stand against Frieza himself, and my father's death. We both lost our fathers that day, and the rest of our kind. Only me, you and Radditz live on today..."

"I know, I realize it must suck to be part of a near-extinct race of people, but there is other hope, and it might even lie in us and this new generation." Goku replied.

"The interesting part of the vision though... I faced myself at the end. My old, brash and impatient self that faced you originally on our Earth." Vegeta replied, "He was also a Super Saiya-jin 3. However despite the evenness of our power, my patience was much greater and refined from my years spent around you, Bulma, Mirai, Trunks and the others. He wore himself out of his Super Saiya-jin 3 long before mine was half depleted, and I defeated him easily afterwords. I have been in many ways reborn, and it feels marvelous, and not just because I finally reached Super Saiya-jin 3, but because of the fact that I got to see and compare my new self to my old self, and realize what ended up the better choice."

"Wow, I never would've thought you'd have it so much easier to deal with than I did." Goku said, knowing his battle with Buu in his nightmares was a lot more down to the wire than Vegeta's encounter.

"Feh, listen to me, I'm actually getting sentimental. Just don't tell anyone else about this yet, Kakarot. I don't want those clowns to yet realize I've really grown softer because of you." Vegeta replied.

"How bad was Frieza's part of the nightmare though?" asked Goku.

"Much as you'd expect. He basically tried to point out all of my failures and my faults as always. Of course, it was more of my fears taking his form, so he was as strong as I was for the time, but eventually I stopped trying to further just myself, and thought of the bigger picture, and I reached out for Super Saiya-jin 3... and I grabbed it by the horns, and that's how it changed, that's how I changed." Vegeta replied.

"You know, maybe from the experiences we've all had, perhaps the visions and nightmares will differ for various people. Maybe the others might have a chance of making it sooner than I realize." Goku replied.

"Even so, it's still nowhere near as easy as you might believe my experience was. Frieza had me on the ropes basically the entire time. The psyche of my nightmares were vicious and heartless, and no doubt, even if the others don't have the dark past I do, they will still have their own personal problems that'll likely get used against them." Vegeta explained.

"Alright. I guess we should focus on the present though. Do you want to train the form yet? Let me know and I'll transform as well." Goku replied.

"How long have I been transformed? You said you could only hold it for 10 minutes back when we faced Buu 10 years ago." Vegeta asked.

"Damn, you're right... you've been transformed about 7 or 8 minutes now. It won't be long before you run out of energy if it's anything like how it was for me." Goku replied.

"Since you're so much more experienced than me with this form, I'm going to have to swallow the small remnants of my pride and ask you to help me get this down better. You know better how to rest up to use it again. So how long will it take me to recover to try it again?" Vegeta asked.

"As I am now, it takes me 10 minutes to regain all of my energy for transforming again to the level. However back when I first used it, it would take closer to 50 to 60 minutes for me to use it again after exhausting its' energy." Goku replied.

"Upwards of an hour. Damn it. I should've known." Vegeta grumbled.

"Hey, there are other things we could do or think about while passing that hour you know?" Goku suggested.

"Like what?" Vegeta asked, as he noticed his Super Saiya-jin 3 powers fading, as they finally wore out for the first time ever.

Goku began to discuss his ideas with Vegeta, however we would not be able to find out what it was yet...

*********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 10:11am; Canton, Ohio)

Although there were questions about what kind of odd state Devin had fallen into, Paula and Radditz seemed to immediately make it known that Heero's welfare was a little more important. With his body in not so great shape from using a Kaioken x4 too soon and the added damage from the blast radius of Devin's first Crescent Slasher attack, they had to move Heero over and prop him up against a nearby tree. Nina looked at him in concern. Although he was conscious and speaking, he was not in the greatest of shape. It had also turned out that Dan had run out of energy to heal him or anyone else with his Sculptor Curtain, having healed himself in order to recover from Devin's first dark-colored energy sphere.

At this point, there was again concern about what had been going on with Devin's state of mind, and it was time to address the issue of him again.

"Alright, once again, it's time to see if there's anything we can find out about what happened to Devin. As I came in close to hit him, his eyes seemed to appear different, flickering a purple color at random intervals. There's also the issue of his large power jump and the fact he wrecked up Heero and Dan pretty badly." Nina began.

"Nina, I've seen this state of him before actually." Clint started.

"What?! You too?!" Dan asked him in surprise.

"Dan, when did you see him do this?! When did this happen?" Clint asked back, interrupting any possible questions from the others.

"When I was possessed by Oyatsu and during the battle with you guys, it was just after you were shrunk down and knocked out. Oyatsu tried to shrink Devin, but he dodged it and flared up into that state we just saw earlier. His aura was a healthy pitch-black and everything. You also know that sword wave he shot at Heero and then you? He hit me with it yesterday and dealt a good deal of damage to me and Oyatsu with it." Dan explained.

"Seriously? Well, as for what I know, it was a couple of days ago I first saw a faint notice of it. Devin and I were sparring each other in our base forms, and I managed to get the upperhand by tricking him with an attack of mine. However he suddenly powered up a great amount and summoned that black aura, except it was much more transparent and the boost wasn't nearly as strong. He managed to deflect one of my stronger attacks and dodge another of mine before it petered out. However on that day it wasn't a big deal and both of us thought it was a kind of 'miracle shot' he found. Although I did notice a slight flare up of his black aura the next day, it went away as suddenly as it appeared, and nothing else came of it." Clint explained.

"So you're saying this is some kind of desperation powerup or state he's falling into? Clint, when Devin did it for you, did he show any odd behavior?" Paula asked, curious and worried about the possibilities of this.

"Well, not that I can tell. As I said, this boost of power was maybe 5 seconds long at most. That's a lot less time then this time around." Clint replied.

"When he faced me and Oyatsu, he was probably in a desperate situation from Oyatsu's attack and well, that's all I know. He didn't seem to act all that different from normal though as I can recall. Only today did he seem to lose his wits." Dan explained, before someone could ask him the same question.

However, before any more questions or arguments could pop up, they heard Devin groan loudly as he grabbed his head, rising up slowly into a crouching position, looking as if he had been hit with the biggest headache of his life.

"Damn! Wow, did anyone get the number of the train that hit me?" he joked involuntarily.

Everyone else cautiously stared down at him. He looked up at them.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked.

"I figured you'd be able to tell us." Clint asked him seriously.

"Tell you what?" Devin asked, and then he saw Heero slumped against the nearby tree, breathing somewhat laboriously.

"What the hell happened to Heero?" he asked.

"You mean you honestly don't remember what you just did a few minutes ago?" Clint asked.

"Um, the last thing I remember doing was flying at the tree Heero sent me at, and then flipping around to bounce off of it. Suddenly I find myself on the ground, apparently 50 feet or so away from where I last was, with a big headache and my body wrecked to Hell." Devin replied.

"Oh goodie." Radditz replied sarcastically and then continued, "Well, let's just say you did indeed cause a lot of havoc. When you changed into that black-aura state, you did a lot of damage. Heero got wrecked up by some kind of energy blade you hurled at him. He just managed to evade the brunt of it by using Kaioken x4, but that alone was too much for him, not too mention the explosion of your attack hurt him worse."

"Energy blade? Out of curiosity, did I give it a name?" Devin asked, troubled by what he was hearing.

"Yeah... you called it "Crescent Slasher" or something." Heero groaned from his place under the tree.

"Yes, and it's the same attack you used to injure me and Oyatsu yesterday." Dan said.

"Yeah, yeah I know now. If that was how I got Heero, then how did I hurt you so badly?" Devin asked Dan.

"You formed this ki sphere of dark purple and black crackling energy and threw it over at Paula. She caught it and then smacked it away, but it ended up flying right into me as I tried to fly over to you, and I barely transformed in time to save myself from critical damage. I'm healed a little bit now, but that still hurt for a while." Dan replied.

"A ki sphere of purple and black energy? That's sounds like one of the new attacks I was trying to do!" Devin replied.

"Anyways, a little notice for you Devin, both of your little tricks had magic energy in them." Nina mentioned.

"Yeah, I had an odd feeling about that. Something felt off about the Crescent Slasher the other day when I used it on Dan and Oyatsu. It felt mostly like Ki, but there was a type of darkness and emptiness to it I couldn't put my hand on, and now my other attack also apparently appeared to work. But what exactly happened that allowed me to do those anyways? Did I show any odd auras or anything?" Devin asked.

"Yes, your aura turned from red to pitch-black and your power climbed a large amount, and then you started throwing around attacks. It took Clint, Dan, Radditz and then finally Nina to knock you out and revert you back to normal." Virgil replied.

"Nina, what did you hit me with anyways? That hurt!" Devin grumbled.

"Sorry, but I didn't have time to think of what to use, so I just smashed you to the ground with an elbow drop." she replied.

"Ouch, no wonder my back feels out of whack!" Devin grumbled.

"Sorry. Don't feel bad though, you're not the only one I had to knock the senses back into. When Vernon first became a Super Saiya-jin, he also went feral on Piccolo and #17." Nina replied.

"Yeah, trust me, Vernon told me all about that about a week ago." Devin said, and then he suddenly had an odd revelation, "Wait a second! You know, I wonder... could these strange powerups I'm having be some kind of transformation?"

"What?! Oh boy... you know, you make a point, the boost to your power does remind me of a transformation, except you can't seem to hold it very long." Clint mused to himself.

"Maybe we should try to push me more into getting the hang of all of this. I mean, I'm sure if I go nuts, someone could stop me again, right?" Devin asked, mostly looking to Nina and Paula, and even Radditz.

"Well, so far it seems we could, but who knows if what you're doing is your full strength or just part of it. I mean, again, you can't hold the energy very long and it wears you out." Paula said.

"Well, I'll only improve on it if I keep going. Who knows, maybe I'm not so normal after all. Maybe I am more than just a human." Devin replied.

"Man, it just seems like you guys are turning out to be not-as-human as you initially appear. Alex, then Vernon, then Jason, then Clint's odd transformation, the Dan, and now YOU." Teresa replied, having known the information about Alex, Jason and Vernon's older training during the groups meeting at the McDonalds two days back.

"You know, I think we need to take a bit of a break here. Heero's injured for now, Dan's also a little injured and out of energy to heal himself, Devin's of course worn out to crap and back, Clint's a little torn up as well, and it just seems like a lot of us need to rest for an hour or two." Nina suggested, "And not to mention Paula and I have been wearing each other out as well."

"Feh, you're all a bunch of weaklings." Radditz said jokingly, although everyone could tell his remark was sarcastic. He too was a little worn out from his fighting with Dan.

"Agreed, let's rest over here and take a break. I need to see about trying to get back to work on the gravity machine anyways. Let's head back to my place for a while." Dan suggested.

With that, they all agreed. Devin offered to carry the injured Heero gently to Dan's house, feeling responsible for his injuries.

"Hey man, sorry about going all fruity on you. I don't usually go through that." Devin apologized.

"Understandable, but just try to keep your head on the next time you do that powerup." Heero replied, "I don't want to die too young, you know. Too much battles and fighting left to go in my life."

"You and me both man, you and me both." Devin agreed, as they head off to Dan's house...

********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 11:02am; Canton, Ohio)

Meanwhile, back at the abandoned stadium near the city limits of Massillon, the training of Alex, Jason, Vernon, Buu, Piccolo and #17 had long been underway.

As both he and #17 had predicted, Piccolo found that, after split into multiple bodies that the two of them were fighting much on a closely even basis, and it felt a lot similar to the fight they had battled over 17 years ago, the same one that was Piccolo's first true coming-to-terms with the new powers granted to him by his fusion with Kami. However where as that fight had been interrupted by Cell 17 years ago, there was no enemy to interfere this time. #17 was proving that although not as battle-hardened as Piccolo, his speed was indeed giving him a small advantage in dodging the physically-stronger Namekian's strikes and kicks. Piccolo's ki had a better effect than before, but he knew that #17 also possessed the odd ability to call out a ki barrier around his body, and knew his Kakusanyudokodan, or as most of the others called it to his dismay, the "Hellzone Grenade" would likely be put to waste in this situation, much like it had 17 years ago.

Meanwhile, Mr. Buu and his other body double were engaged in their own sparring battle. The first Buu jumped up into the air and fired off a quick and speedy array of smaller ki blasts at his second self. The second Buu dodged backwards from most of the attacks, and jumped up into the air, where the first Buu began to clash with him in a fast and furious battle of fisticuffs. Being that Buu had divided himself evenly, the punching exchange would eventually become tedious to both Buus, causing them to move backwards from each other. The first Buu cupped his hands and charged up a Kamehameha, while the second Buu prepared a Galic Gun, having Vegeta's attack knowledge in him. Both Buu soon fired off their beams, causing a close and furious beam struggle that swept up loads of dust clouds that sometimes would interfere in Piccolo and #17's battle, and then Alex, Jason and Vernon's battle with the 16 other weaker split-Piccolos.

As that was happening, Vernon had been struggling to keep from getting too close to more than three of the split-Piccolos he had been fighting, lest he be ganged-up on and beaten up too quickly, as had happened to him 2 other times already, leaving him to be healed by one of the Buus. As Piccolo had warned, the many Piccolos did indeed share their originators skills and demeanor, but they lacked vocal cords and means of communication, and therefore they did not scream out their attacks when they fired them, making it harder to anticipate what each one was going to do. Vernon could swear he had been hit by Masenkos, Gekiretsukodens and even some Tsuno Beams from their antennae, giving Vernon a decent jolt of electrical energy. Luckily none of them seemed to be trying to charge the Makankosappou at this point, as that attack was easily Piccolo's strongest and most lethal.

Jason was not having it quite as good as Vernon. He had found the many Piccolos quick and very relentless, and he did not possess the speed Vernon did to keep away from too many at once. When he'd go at one of the split-Piccolo, 2 or 3 others would converge on and start gang-beating the snot out of him. Luckily Jason was stronger than all of them by a decent amount, now having been healed 3 times by Buu due to getting beaten up so badly. However the problem was that the Piccolos were smart, raising their powerlevels slightly every time Jason was healed. The ones attacking Vernon and Alex would also be doing the same, but it was problematic for all of them nonetheless. Jason also suffered his fair share of Masenkos, Kousengens, and Makosen attacks. Like with Vernon's Piccolos, these ones also seemed to not focus for Makankosappous. Perhaps they were instructed not to. Either way, Jason did sometimes find openings to give a few good hits on a Piccolo copy, but again, the rest would start swarming him while he was occupied, still giving him problems.

However even as Jason and Vernon had their problems with their split Piccolos, Alex was at an extra disadvantage with a SIXTH copy to fight in his set. The others had to fight five Piccolo copies a piece, but he had to fight six. To his surprise, he was not doing quite as bad as he thought, and had only gotten his ass kicked and needing healing 3 times, however he could swear that one of the Piccolos he was fighting seemed to have particularly interesting ways of beating the snot out of him. That particular Piccolo had managed off a Kakusanyudokodan after electrocuting Alex with a Tsuno Beam, and then rounding it off with a vicious pair of vertical roundhouse kicks to his chest and then his head, knocking him upward to get swarmed at by the other Piccolos. Luckily for Alex, he had recently began learning how to use Vegeta's special Bakuretsumaha explosion attack, and quickly screamed out and released some energy that repelled four of the five incoming Piccolo copies backwards and doing some damage.

Unfortunately the fifth incoming Piccolo wisely kept his distance, and then managed to hit Alex was a close range Masenko, blasting him back into the other, more vicious Piccolo copy, who grabbed Alex by the back of his neck, and bared his fangs menacingly as he body-slammed Alex down into the ground with great force, leaving a small impression in the ground in his shape. Alex managed to get away from his position in the ground and dodge one of the incoming Piccolos, just in time to see Vernon getting gang-beaten by all five of his own Piccolo copies, one or two of them having found a weak spot in Vernon's defenses.

Needless to say, Vernon was left on the ground in need of healing by Buu, which was done with about a minute's time. Alex growled about Piccolo's angry tendencies, but received a kick to the back of the head from a Piccolo copy he had not been paying attention to, making him growl and turn at it in anger. He saw that vicious snarl on it's face, realizing it was the one that was messing with him the most. He could swear it felt a little stronger than he remembered it earlier though.

The three younger, less-experienced Saiya-jin had learned already of the Hell of being Piccolo's punching bags, even though these Piccolos were a small fraction of the original's strength, and they would probably not forget this day for a long time, as their grunts and yells continued raging amidst the other Piccolo copies...

Meanwhile, back at Dusty's house, Dusty continued to wear his level 4 weighted clothing, but was now resting from a long session of having used Dwayne and Steve's weights as extra luggage by wrapping them around his arms and legs. Unfortunately, this didn't do as much good as Dusty hoped, and after about 3 hours of movement, flight, and shooting off small ki blasts, he just realized his training wasn't going anywhere. Watching Dwayne and Steve train wasn't quite as interesting as he thought, or it might have been because of the weight he was carrying making it hard to focus on them. It was then he decided he would probably just go back and meet up with Devin's newly grown group.

He had earlier felt Devin's power spike, as well as Clint's, and he also felt Dan's power rise back up to Super Saiya-jin status, and it made him wonder what was going on. He never remembered Devin having that much power, even though it did eventually taper off to more normal levels. He also felt Heero's powerlevel drop a large amount, and even Dan's drop a little earlier. All of this was making him consider going back even more than before, his concern overcoming his want to watch his other two friends train.

He looked over to Steve and Dwayne, who had been practicing submission holds on each other, training to regulate their power to normal level still. He could tell that despite their training, that they too had been sensing what was going on and wanted badly to go there as much as he did to find out what was going on. After a few more minutes of practicing their holds, they got back to their feet, and looked over to Dusty, who was just sitting there and watching them with a minor look of boredom.

"Dusty, you okay?" Dwayne asked.

"You guys, it's been fun and all, but I think I'm more cut out to training with someone else. I can't stay and train on my own anymore. I know you guys got your match, but as we can all tell, a lot has been going on with Dan and the others. I can't hold back from going and seeing for myself what happened." Dusty replied.

"I agree with you. Unfortunately, as you know, we have to get this all down right as so we don't hurt our buddies at the WWE too badly tonight in our matches. There's no way we can fight with our full strength as I'm sure you can see." Steve replied.

"Anyways, I do think you should train with the others. I can tell you're having a hard time training on your own, and right now, you just work the best with a partner or two. In fact, I noticed Virgil's hardly doing anything. Maybe you can help him get something set up. I don't know." Dwayne cut in.

"Virgil eh? I guess it won't hurt to go see what I can do with him. At least he hasn't given up on us yet. I hope he doesn't, but I can't help but wonder if he really thinks this is all really worth it yet." Dusty replied, "Well in that case, I'm heading off. I'll leave your weights here though. You might as well wear them for a bit after your done to get some real training in." he joked, and he rose up into the air and began to flying over towards Dan's neighborhood.

"I'd love to follow him and join in with the others, but there's other things on my mind other than just the training to keep our strength regulated." Dwayne said to Steve after Dusty disappeared.

"Dany and Simone I take it?" Steve asked.

"That's part of it. But there's also talking to Vince and then telling all of the others like Paul, Kurt, Robert, Mark, Solofa and Glen. I mean, who knows how they're going to react to our changes. We're gonna have to tell them at some point you know." Dwayne replied.

"Dammit, that's true. Yeah, Solofa, Paul, Mark and Glen are probably gonna find this hard to swallow, especially when we tell everyone about the whole merger thing. I mean, even after all of this time, it still feels like it's sometimes a big dream, or nightmare, like when we had to deal with Oyatsu." Steve replied.

"Let's just hope the next time we deal with him it's on better terms. Also, we're gonna have to find out more about how Vince got 'tipped' about what happened to us yesterday. I mean, who else knows about what happened really aside from us and Oyatsu? It makes no sense." Dwayne replied.

"Patience my friend. We'll find out more tonight. However we can't dwell on that now. Although we're not far off from getting this just perfect, we're pretty close. Maybe an hour more at best and we should have this nailed." Steve replied, referring to their special training.

"Yeah, let's finish up. I wanna get back to the others and see what's going on as much as you probably do." Dwayne finished.

With that, the two went back to their guns for the time being...

Back at his house, Dan had decided to take some of his time resting and healing from the previous mishap involving Devin's mysterious power up back in his new garage, the same area he had first run into Oyatsu in his natural feline state. Inside, he had been mulling things over, bring himself to remember his actions of the previous day. Oyatsu... well needless to say, the feline shapeshifter knew how to leave his victims paranoid. Dan knew that with the shapeshifter possessing a stealth mode of sorts to mask his ki signature, that finding him preemptively was nigh-impossible. In fact Dan didn't even rule out the possibility Oyatsu might make another move to take him over, even to the point that the shapeshifter might have even been keeping tabs on him and his other friends even this minute.

He had remembered how efficiently Oyatsu had used Dan's body, Dan's powers, Dan's new powers, and his own smarts to take down even people of significant power like Goku, Vegeta and Mr. Buu, three of the strongest members of the team, with only few issues. Goku had given him some problems at one point, but the power of Dan's new stealth and healing ability, the Sculptor Curtain, it had saved their asses and given them the chance to defeat Goku by confusing his senses and sight with illusions. Dan could only wonder however, what other strange powers had Oyatsu planned to bring out of him? Although he could not really utilize Super Saiya-jin 2 or 3, he could still use the original level with no real issues, nor did he lose the ability to use Sculptor Curtain after Oyatsu bailed and ran away the previous day.

Additionally, Dan also felt a strange feel to the forces of energy involved in the Sculptor Curtain and it made him wonder what designation of energy it fell under. It certainly didn't feel like ki, but he didn't think it was a psychic or 'PK' power either like Paula's. At the same time, while it felt like it might have some natural connection to the forces of magic, he had found out Nina couldn't sense his use of the ability the way she could feel it when other magic spells had been used, least of all by Devin in their earlier skirmish. His chance to put anymore thought into it however would be cut off, when he heard a familiar voice call out.

"Dan, you hiding in there? Or are you on the spaceship?" Radditz called out from outside.

"Radditz, in here!" Dan called back.

Seconds later, he saw Radditz step inside, a expression on the older Saiya-jin's face that seemed to indicate Radditz had something he needed to talk about.

"Radditz, what's up? You look like there's something you need to talk about. Does this have anything to do with what happened yesterday with Oyatsu and our encounter, or is this something else?"

Radditz sighed, not having been having his mind on that particular situation, but another... another issue that he needed to get off his chest as soon as possible.

"No Dan, this won't be involving that little scuffle, not this time. I have to talk to you about something else that I've been trying to figure out how to tell you for the last couple of days." he replied.

"Is this related to you getting the McDonalds' job?" Dan asked, now curious.

"Actually, it's something I've been trying to find time to tell you about before that came up. Now if you may let me continue..." Radditz responded, his tone implying he wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible.

"Go on, I'm all ears. Don't got anywhere to go anyways." Dan replied.

"I'm sure you recall on the 11th when I came back to you guys with Teresa's parents, grandfather and her brother, right?" Radditz started.

"Uh, yeah... you told me you found them and the Al-Qaeda operative who had kidnapped them, and basically killed him, and saved her family afterwards." Dan replied, "So then what exactly does this have to do with that?"

"Here's the deal, Dan. Earlier that morning, I was sleeping in while you guys were at your high school, much as Kakarott and Vegeta had decided to. Now, I won't beat around the bush here. I tend to have nightmares and other crazy dreams from time to time. Too much shit happened in my past and such, most connected to that bastard Frieza and his elites, like that fatass Dodoria. My point however is that in spite of these dreams, they were nothing compared to one I had the morning of the 11th." Radditz started, seeing if Dan would cut in at this point.

When Dan had not indicated this intention, Radditz continued to speak, "I had a very vivid and weird... dream I suppose. If you ask me though, it was more of a damn premonition. I saw hundreds of images... images of things related to the attacks on those two large towers that Al-Qaeda attacked, as well as that pentagon-shaped building they hit, and even of various images of the culprits and their victims. A lot of these images were things that were happening as I slept or had already happened. But I noticed mixed within these images... I saw images of... of Teresa's mother, then ones of her brother, than some of her father and then her grandfather. Many of the earlier images were apparently from the past, showing them living in peace much like a normal human family would I guess."

Dan cut in however, "Wait, wait... so you saw her family in this... this vision you had? And also the victims of the 9/11 attacks? How in the world did you make the connection between all of that?"

"Well, at first I didn't. As I saw the images of her family, I could hear a voice speaking to me, telling me to 'Save Them'... It repeated to me many times as the images played... until the images starting showing Teresa herself. Some of the images were also from her past, others were from that day, when she was still being manipulated by the other Al-Qaeda operative, ones of her with you right before everything went down, and then some of I guess both of you together in our training field. When this happened, the same voice... it told me to "Save Her". After having enough of just drifting around, I called out at the voice angrily because I wanted answers about what I was seeing. To my amazement though, I did get an answer. The voice began to speak to be directly in response." Radditz replied, "And if what I've assessed is true, it was trying to prompt me into action to rescue Teresa and her family."

"Wait a minute," Dan asked quickly, "Did it tell you WHY you needed to do all of this?"

"The gist of it is this Dan, the voice told me that Teresa... she would grow to become a vital component of the team, the entire 'Misfits' group as you might call us. It said she would grow to be one of our most powerful members in due time, but that Al-Qaeda's interference would ultimately become her end if something wasn't done to save her and her family. Now I might not have shown it clearly around you or her Dan, but I'm... I've never been someone who just trusts a mysterious and disembodied voice I can't see, I can't sense, I can't perceive in a normal means. I'm not a very superstitious or a religious type of person... I've always preferred dealing with cold and hard truths as they set out in front of me, so I was far from trusting of what I was being told, and asked bluntly why I should believe this being when it was being so cryptic and evasive." Radditz replied, taking a short pause to collect his next words and a couple of short breaths.

He continued, "The voice ultimately revealed that I was not the first of us it had spoken to in the last many weeks. You see, if indeed this voice is trustworthy, I think it's the same one that spoke to Dusty, Steve and Dwayne, back on the day of the rifts and the beginning of the whole merger fiasco, the same voice who claims we had to all band together to face down a dark threat emerging from the embers of the merger."

"Wait, that same voice came to you in this dream to warn you about Teresa? So if that's the case, why didn't it inform you, or one of us about her importance in things sooner than it did?! Hell for all we know, this being might have known the events of the 11th were coming. We could've done well to know about information like that!" Dan growled, realizing the implication of Radditz's words.

"Look, even now... I don't trust this voice at all. It's hard to, when you've been betrayed so often in your past. Now, I tried to press some information out of the owner of the voice about itself, but the only clear thing I learned was that the being was apparently like me, not always a good person, and claimed to be giving us this assistance as a means to atone for past misdeeds of its own. We discussed the idea it might have been manipulating us for it's own ends, but it told me that we must carve out our own paths, and that fate isn't really pre-determined. It also told me of some things only I would know, things I've yet to tell the rest of you about myself, my past. Confronted with these painful truths of my past, I began to realize at least, at the time, the voice, the being behind it, had truthful intentions this time. So I decided to hear it out. It then gave me images depicting the house where Teresa's family were being held hostage, and images of their captor. Soon I woke up, and attempted to call Kakarott and Vegeta to get help on this matter, but they had not awakened yet, so I was forced to set out on my own to find them." Radditz finished.

"So that's how you knew where to look, in spite of them very likely not having strong enough kis to distinguish them under normal circumstances?" Dan asked.

"Yes... in fact, the house were this guy had shop set up... it was on that same street we trained near, Faircrest Avenue. It's further east of the McDonalds and Marathon station I work at too." Radditz replied.

"Really, now that's interesting. Wait... so why did it take you so long to tell me this, and have you told anyone else about this yet?" Dan asked.

"Well, first off... at first I wasn't sure just how I was going to tell everyone this. As to who else knows... you can probably guess, but Teresa was the very first one I told about this, pretty much back on the 12th. Because of how heavily she was involved in the dream I had, I felt she needed to know first and foremost. I had planned to tell you second, considering you also appeared alongside her in some of the images I saw, but so much shit ended up delaying me time after time from telling you, and Nina ended up finding out during a phone call we had with Teresa on the 13th, and she ended up coaxing me into telling her as well." Radditz replied.

"So it's just me, Nina and Teresa who've been told this? If that's so, you need to find time to tell the others, but you especially need to tell Dusty, Dwayne and Steve about this. If you really DID have an encounter with the same voice they did, they'd definitely want to know about it, Radditz." Dan suggested.

"You know, now that you mention it, you're right. I probably had many opportunities to tell them the past two days, but I was so focused on finding out how to tell you about this first, I didn't even cross the idea of telling them yet." Radditz mused, "But I will tell the others eventually. I just felt you needed to know this before most of the others had, considering this involved you directly."

"Fine, I can understand that, and I can understand you telling Teresa about all of this first. I guess it WAS her business more than anyone else to be told about it. However... I'm not done with you yet, mister." Dan grumbled, "Can you at least tell me what crossed through your head to get a job at McDonalds of all places? Why even try to get a job in the first place?"

"That is a simple matter. As I had to tell Teresa and Vegeta a few nights back, we need some form of monetary means to support our training efforts. Paula seems to have a fair chunk of change on her, but neither she alone, nor Vernon or any of the others can hold us up forever at our current rate." Radditz explained, "We're also missing a critical piece of the possible team. Vegeta's mate, Bulma Briefs. I'm sure you know of her, right?"

"Yes of course I know of Bulma. No fan of the series wouldn't know who she was, but what does that... wait a minute! Of course! She is one of the richest people in your universe's version of Earth, and her connection to Capsule Corporation and her genius at machinery! Of course... without her, we don't have a steady flow of cash... I think I get it now, you wanted to contribute to the war chest and you got this idea you needed to work a job for it, right?" Dan realized.

"Well, most of us in the team certainly don't have time to work a job with all the training and other shit we've been doing Dan. Teresa herself even went over something with me about her own job the other night. Her father has had to pull strings in order to keep her job position at UPS locked in, due to her not having had the time to show up to work since the 11th. In fact as we found out yesterday, she had been planning to take half a day off from training to resume work for a while at the job... but obviously other matters broke that apart." Radditz said, giving Dan a look suggesting the younger Misfit knew exactly what that meant.

Dan sighed and looked down at the ground dejectedly, "Dammit. Oyatsu and I... not only did we almost kill her since I couldn't fight his influence off, I might have possibly cost Teresa her job due to our interference. I feel like such a fucking fool now."

"Dan, don't beat yourself down like that. Oyatsu had ALL of us played for fools. Even Kakarott and Vegeta were taken off guard by his intimate knowledge of their pasts. We're all equally to blame in a sense. Oyatsu was also a totally new enemy we didn't expect, with a strategy we weren't prepared for." Radditz cut in sharply, and Dan looked up to him as he continued to speak, "Teresa won't blame you if something did happen, and besides, she explained to me earlier that her job is alright for now, but that the chances of having an off day from training to go there might in fact been put off for some time. She's even considering the possibility she might not get back to work again for a long time and might even resign to dropping her job for this. I think after yesterday's incident, her chances of being a full-time Misfit soared. She played a huge role in defeating Oyatsu last time, even if only due to her stalling tactics."

"Yeah... my damn she did incredible in the face of such a crazed bastard like him, even not knowing then he was the one partially responsible for her and her family's plight. I suppose Oyatsu brought it on himself by messing around with fate and trying to send those Al-Qaeda goons after me and them using her as a puppet against me. I don't regret any of the pain she put him through, physical or mental for what he did to her." Dan responded, with a smirk of sorts on his face, although it might also looked to Radditz like more of a smile of respect for Teresa's bravery, "Not to mention, she was able to conceal herself well enough and pick up those awesome scouters for our own use in addition to all the other loot Oyatsu left behind for us!"

"Indeed. Looking back... my old self would've called her a coward for hiding out of site of our little battle, but obviously had she come in charging like a bull, she'd be dead or captured long before I was. I wonder now though... had I told you this a couple of days ago, would that have changed the outcome of our battle with Oyatsu? Would he have devised a more solid plan to account for Teresa's involvement? I have to assume he didn't expect she would become a full out Misfit because of this, and didn't plan as thoroughly for her interference." Radditz replied.

"I don't know Radditz. Remember, that bastard can take many forms, and we would've had no idea if he were watching us. For all I know, he might have been stalking around that day when you did talk to her about the dream. He did find out about Dusty's encounter with that voice, although I'm not sure if Oyatsu knows anything about the identity of our mysterious entity." Dan replied.

Radditz snarled to himself, realizing Dan had a damn good point, "Yeah... I wouldn't be too surprised if Oyatsu's hanging around here in some concealed form right now, watching us having this very conversation right now. I wouldn't put past him to do so. He probably still has eyes for you due to what he managed to pull last time."

Dan sighed with a shiver at that though, "Don't remind me... I don't want to think about that possibility right now."

"Yeah, me neither kid... me neither. Well, I think I'm gonna step back inside to see the others. I'm probably not gonna tell them yet about the dream, not until they're all together. I'm pretty honestly tired of going over this explanation over and over again, so I want the others to be together for the next time I speak to them, Dusty, Dwayne and Steve included." Radditz grumbled out loud.

"Fine, just make sure they hear about this soon. This might be important for them to hear. Maybe it'll give a clue to what's really happening in this new, fucked up world of ours." Dan sighed, "See you in a little while man."

Radditz smirked back and turned away, walking out of the garage door. As he did, he saw Teresa had been standing just adjacent to the door, expressing a look of surprise when he turned back to her, "So you did hear most of that conversation I assume?"

"Yeah, I did. Not all of it, but I caught wind of it when you mentioned your issues of trusting the voice. I heard everything from there on. I guess Dan really does feel positive about my being here with you guys." she responded, walking over behind him as he stepped forward.

"Of course he does, girl. He's always held a form of respect for your courage, not just with Oyatsu, but for being willing to not break down during the whole incident on the 11th, even when you had to keep your family on your mind over him. As I said, he has a family of his own he cares about." Radditz replied. However deep down, Radditz believed there was more than just respect for her forming in Dan's mind. He wasn't certain yet if he was right or not on his theory, but only time would tell if he was right or not.

"Come, let's give him some personal space. He might go back to working on the space ship soon anyways. I'm pretty sure he hasn't noticed you here like I had." Radditz called back.

Teresa nodded at his back, and continued walking behind her teacher, and back to the porch of Dan's house to go back and see Nina and their other friends...

In the last two hours, Goku and Vegeta had gotten two chances to test Vegeta's initial limits as a Super Saiya-jin 3. As to Goku's beliefs, it did seem Vegeta could only hold the form 10 to 11 minutes at a time before all of its' energy ran out. However in light of this, Goku also brought up how close the two were now in power. However to Vegeta's ever-so-slight annoyance, Goku was still a small deal stronger than he was in that form, and the fact Goku could hold SSJ3 for 50ish minutes was also a bit agitating. Vegeta was going to have find a way to try to train his energy limits and extend them to higher levels in a much quicker amount of time than 10 years.

However in all honestly, even though both of them had trained during those 10 years after Majin Buu's attack to the present, it wasn't the near-constant, almost everyday training they had done for 10 years since Mirai Trunks had warned them about Dr. Gero and his artificial humans. Goku admitted that had he tried training SSJ3 to it's limit more often in that 10 year span, he'd have probably been able to use it for almost thrice or even as much as four times his current time limits. Vegeta had come to the conclusion that they had to find a way to train each other again, while at the same time helping Alex, Vernon and Jason improve on their own skills.

During the training however, Vegeta had began to conceive another new fighting attack. The attack involved him holding up a hand over his head and forming a pulsating and flubbing ball of ki into his hand, which he charged energy into and building it up to nearly half the height of his body. When he threw the attack to hit Goku, his sparring partner evaded the initial burst to his expectations, and that's where Vegeta activated it's latent ability, where the blast suddenly expanded and split off into nearly 10 to 12 snaking and drunken looking ki beams that shot back towards Goku, managing to hit him with 7 or 8 of them, and causing some pretty decent craters in the ground where the smaller beams had missed. Vegeta however had not yet come up with a name for his new attack.

Goku found it to be a rush once again now that Vegeta had now rose back up to being the strongest person in the team below himself. He knew Vegeta still somewhat strived to be at the least as good as he was, but he also knew Vegeta no longer let it bother him in a dangerous or confrontational way either. The encounter with Buu's many forms had helped iron out the wrinkles between them after Vegeta renounced Babidi's Majin charm earlier on in that era. Goku and him had become almost the best of friends by the 28th Budokai, where they also learned that day Mirai Trunks, who had apparently come back to see them, had also the ability to use the Super Saiya-jin 3 form. Mirai was roughly as experienced as Goku, but his powerlevel at SSJ3 was lower than his or Vegeta's had been, at least it had been back then. Mirai was still in their timeline at the time of the merger, and it was possible he knew something was going on and hadn't left yet.

Again, he started to think about his friends and family. He could only wonder if Chichi, Gohan, Goten, Pan and Videl were alright without him. He dearly hoped for their sakes Oyatsu for example, didn't try to attack them out of vengeance for what had happened to him the day before, but somehow he had the feeling the shapeshifting feline would be too focused on him, Vegeta and the other Misfits to care.

Of course, Vegeta was equally curious about Bulma, Trunks, Mirai and Bra's status. He was also wondering if they might be meeting soon. Evidentially #18 had managed to find everyone else not too long after everyone had joined together, but it did not seem the others were with her yet, and they might be on their way, or perhaps something was going on that was keeping them from trying to find them.

It was odd though, Gohan was likely as strong as both of them were at the current point in time, or perhaps even stronger, and yet they could not sense him, or anyone else they had been thinking about. Did something really happen to them, or did the merger make the planet big enough or dim ki sensory enough that they just couldn't sense out far enough to find any of them? There was no doubt this new 'Earth' was bigger than their Earth was. It was at least 2 or 3 times larger. When they had all been flying to Canton from Japan, they realized that the distance they had traveled was about equal to a trip and a half around their version of Earth, and that might have only been half the planet's circumference!

Vegeta then began to think about the events going on for the others in recent hours. He and Goku had been aware due to their senses of the fact Piccolo had split up into a large number of copies and that they were giving Alex, Jason and Vernon probably a major workout slash beat down at the moment. Even Vegeta cringed the slightest at the thought of the three of them getting the tar smacked and beaten out of him by the Namekian's copy bodies. He knew Piccolo was no nonsense from the beginning. From his surfing of the internet into the fan's world of the Dragonball series, he noticed they had the odd thought that Vegeta was even more of a stick in the mud than Piccolo was. That was far from the truth. Although Vegeta could be grumpy when his training was interrupted, he was quite the mischievous Saiya-jin, especially when it came to his interactions with Bulma in their earlier days. He recalled the two of them would be harassing each other left and right, him often getting her most flustered about various issues.

Also Vegeta, despite his ability to fly, had indeed understood the thrill of riding in vehicles himself. Although he initially hated to use them, he did understand the semi-usefulness of not having to use energy to just fly to wherever he had to go, despite the laziness of it. He noticed a lot of cars on this new Earth were not as advanced, as some models of cars on the Earth he knew could actually hover, while others even had limited flight capabilities. Of course, he would not just admit this interest in vehicles to just anyone, and normally kept it to himself.

Goku and Vegeta had also been aware of a change in Devin, having felt his anger-flash a couple of hours ago. At first, Vegeta had cursed slightly that Devin had also been possibly a Saiya-jin, but Goku mentioned that his power felt a lot different from a normal Saiya-jin powerup, much less that of a Super Saiya-jin's. Goku also noted that the bursts of power were more reminiscent to Gohan's hidden anger-based power. Vegeta did indeed sense some anger and miscontrol in Devin during that time, but at least they were relieved it didn't last long and that there were no major injuries now. Heero's powerlevel, although weakened after that tirade, had gone back up close to it's original strength not too long ago, indicating he had been able to rest it off, the same had occurred with Dan. He had also noticed Dusty had arrived over there with them about 20 minutes ago, and was apparently training with Virgil for a bit.

Goku had also noticed Paula and Nina's energies over with them. He had grown curious if they had decided to also join forces with another team of people. He hadn't honestly understood much of Nina's want to keep the training secret from everyone else. It wasn't like they were really weak or anything. Sure they had a good deal to go before they caught up with him, Buu or Vegeta, but at the rate they progressed, he honestly wondered if #17, #18 and even Piccolo might find competition with those two soon enough. He also remembered the raw power coming off Nina on the 11th when she had almost strangled that Jackson kid to death. He also knew it was like how Devin's anger-flash had occurred, although her energy didn't feel anything like how Devin's had, and he could almost swear there was something trying to come up during that little experience which had not quite been able to.

With roughly 30 more minutes left before Vegeta would have enough energy to transform to Super Saiya-jin 3 again, Goku had tried to offer to teach Vegeta how to use the Kaioken since the thought had crossed his mind. However Vegeta still adamantly believed that it was too risky of a move for him to use when he normally can transform to Super Saiya-jin anyways. Goku sighed at him, but respected his feelings on the issue, and with that, he had suddenly began to wonder something. He knew he was thinking somewhat dangerously, but he figured it was worth a shot.

"Vegeta, take these for a moment." Goku said as he pulled out his sensu pouch and tossed it to Vegeta.

"What? What the hell are you thinking about?!" Vegeta asked with a glare of annoyance on his face.

"I'm going to try something that might wreck up my body just a bit, but I have to know if it's possible for me to do this while I'm alive." Goku replied.

"What are you talking about?!" Vegeta asked again.

Goku reacted by transforming to his normal Super Saiya-jin level. He then bent down and clenched his fists. "SUPER KAIOKEN TIMES TWO!"

Suddenly, Goku's golden aura turned to a strange light red, and his aura flared out violently around him, as his current powerlevel doubled in strength. Vegeta looked at him with a confused look. Meanwhile, Goku felt that while there was some semblance of strain, more so than being a Super Saiya-jin 2, it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be to use the Kaioken with one of his transformations. He suddenly decided to get a bit more risky with it however moments later.

"SUPER KAIOKEN TIMES THREE!" he shouted.

At this point, Goku indeed noticed a much greater strain on his energy and on his body, however even then it still didn't quite feel as draining as using Super Saiya-jin 3 had been on the energy. However his muscles indeed begin to pump up, almost to the point he resembled a Super Saiya-jin 2nd grade state, and he definitely felt a painful enough strain on his body. He then decided that he wasn't going to tempt fate anymore and suddenly powered down completely from both Kaioken and Super Saiya-jin. Vegeta looked at him with a interested expression that also contained a bit of puzzlement.

"Alright Kakarott, explain to me, what the hell was all of this about?" he asked.

"You remember I told you that I once used Kaioken with the Super Saiya-jin level not long after I was killed at the Cell Games, right?" Goku replied.

"Yeah, you warned the others not to use it with a transformed state too." Vegeta said, recalling Goku's stern warning to Alex, Jason and Vernon earlier the previous night.

"Thinking about the Kaioken again got me curious to know if I could do now while alive what I did back then when I was dead. When dead, you use up far less energy, in some cases almost no energy at all, and Kaioken tends to have a better effect, although it's still not a perfect strategy. I had to know if I could do it, and if so, if I could do it higher than a basic Kaioken. It looks like 3 times is my limit with the basic Super Saiya-jin level, and I don't even know if I can use a basic while a Super Saiya-jin 2 yet." Goku replied.

"Why didn't you try to?" Vegeta asked.

"You think I really should? I'm still a bit strained from what I just did. I'd rather be at full strength first. Maybe after we train your Super Saiya-jin 3 again and get some more rest." Goku replied.

"Speaking of that, I'm curious. What happens if you try to transform again too soon anyways?" Vegeta asked.

"Well, nothing dangerous to your body happens, and nothing usually happens to your energy levels, but it just won't activate until enough time has passed. The more we use the form, the better it works apparently." Goku replied.

"I see. I guess there's no point in trying it too soon. I wish I could quicken this up a bit more. Now that I think about it, I wish we had the Room of Spirit and Time available again." Vegeta grumbled.

"Well, there's several problems there. One, we don't know where the Tenka is yet on this merged world. Secondly, most of the others would probably go nuts from the conditions in there even if we did find it and took them there. Third, you've used up both your days in the Room, remember? I've also used up one of mine." Goku replied.

"Except on your last point that there is a loophole in that." Vegeta said, and continued before Goku could ask, "Dende and Piccolo explained to me one time that every time we die and come back, we begin a new 'lifetime', and therefore our days in the room are 'wiped', as some people on Earth would say. Both of us died after use of the room, and therefore both of us can go in for at least two days. However two days probably won't be enough to do with the others what we'd like to do with them."

"So we could both use the room again? I never knew about that." Goku replied in surprise.

"Well, again as I said, two days isn't much. I sometimes wish we had a improved version of that room to train in. One where we don't have a limit of time to spend in there, or any other stupid limits." Vegeta grumbled.

"Well, we can all dream, can't we?" Goku replied.

With that, Goku decided to rest by sitting on the ground and meditating/sleeping for the rest of the time they had left to wait. He asked Vegeta to rouse him when the time came, and Vegeta just sighed in annoyance, having to sit there and do about nothing but scan everyone's ki energies... It would be a boring 15 minutes indeed...

Meanwhile, back at Dan's house, Dusty had arrived about 30 minutes ago. Upon his arrival, he was quickly filled in on the events concerning Devin, Heero and Dan and all of their perils and whatnot. He had also been updated about the entire deal concerning Clint, Paula and their encounter with Rowan and the Crips in Clint's old neighborhood, and also of the Destronic Gas and even of all the stuff concerning Alex and his holding back of the concept Super Saiya-jin 4 from Goku and Vegeta. He was then given a 1.75x gravity aura, having noticed the light-black aura around everyone else that represented its' effects. Soon, Dusty had been asked to train with Virgil and serve as a sort of target for his mallet-weight training. Dusty and Virgil then departed and had flown off about a mile west of Dan's house, to a nearby forest cluttered with trees, where they began their training.

Meanwhile, Heero had just now fully healed up from his encounter with Devin. Devin had also mostly regained his energy, and everyone else had rested up from their training as well. Despite this, Nina had insisted of keeping their gravity aura on them even while resting as to keep some benefit going for them even when resting. She said that even though the auras lasted indefinitely until she made them go away, she did want to know how many of them wanted to go back to their homes with the auras up later that night. However after being reminded of the trip to Gund Arena, she realized she'd have to let up the auras anyways, and either recreate them later, or just let the others go without them until the next day. Paula had suggested, to Devin and Clint's slight dismay that they offer to give auras to Alex, Vernon, and Jason as well. Nina was concerned that they would constantly get bothered by those three though everyday, and she had to remind Paula of the fact there was a limit to how many auras she could create during any period of time without rest.

Meanwhile, Dan had healed up a lot sooner than Devin and Heero, and after his discussion with Radditz at his garage over the older Saiya-jin's prophetic dream, he had gone back to Goku's old spaceship to work more on getting the gravity chamber back up to full speed. He had to admit that Nina's auras seemed a lot more convenient than the gravity room though. He knew that at least back when Earth was unmerged that higher volumes of gravity also made the air in those areas denser and therefore a little more complicated to breathe in. He also had concerns to how the gravity in the chamber would affect someone who already had one of Nina's auras put up on them. Would the gravity aura be multiplied by the gravity chamber settings? Would the machine's gravity merely add on to the auras? This and other questions put Dan's mind a bit off track, and as a result, he ended up a bit off with his reach, and his hand had smacked into the side of a closed panel-siding near him. However when Dan heard a clatter of metal on the ground, he looked immediately over, expecting he had knocked a important component loose.

However what he found surprised him. A small flip-top capsule case, much like the old-school kind seen in most of the earlier Dragonball episodes was laying there, looking almost completely brand new. He hadn't recalled taking the other capsule cases he found in Oyatsu's overcoat into the room with him, so this one intrigued him. Could this be another set of capsules Oyatsu left behind? In the manga and anime versions of Dragonball and it's later series', it was never shown if it were possible to compress capsules within another capsule, and it made Dan wonder, as the spaceship had been originally in a capsulated form itself.

He picked up the case and flipped it open. There were four capsules inside of it. He took out one with a fuchsia-colored stripe on it, and then pressed the button, throwing it to the ground. The capsules erupted into a cloud of smoke, and revealed an odd looking piece of machinery, at least it looked odd to Dan. He went over and picked it up, and examining over it. He noticed it looked like a generator part of some kind. He could swear it looked slightly familiar to him, but his attention soon came to a gold-striped capsule. Uncompressing that one revealed what looked like an instruction manual of sorts. On the cover, there was the Capsule Corporation logo. Taking a closer look, he discovered the book was apparently a manual for replacing various parts in gravity chambers, even older ones like the above. He wondered what this was doing here, and then grabbed a green-striped capsule.

Inside of this capsules was a second, but smaller manual, with a blueprint of the generator part Dan had found in the first capsule. The manual called it "CCS-GC-784-0629h", and it appeared to identify the part as what appeared to be a very very recent model of GRAVITY GENERATOR, which Dan found with help from the other manual was indeed compatible with the spaceship's gravity machine. The part would allow the gravity to be increased to as high as 1500x, much to Dan's amazement. He had apparently realized that Bulma or her father Dr. Briefs had very recently built this generator, probably originally for Vegeta's use, and that somehow Oyatsu had gotten his hands on all of it.

He realized that maybe trying to fix the current gravity generator might not be as good an idea anymore. It's gravity maximum was 100x, less than 10% the amount of this new generator part he now had. He came to the conclusion Oyatsu had some grand plan for the spaceship, or at least its' gravity chamber. However Dan knew that with the shape the ship was in, the gravity levels could likely tear it apart in it's current condition. He recalled one time on the show that Vegeta had accidentally blown up one of his gravity rooms due to the intensity of his training added on with the gravity. He wondered if this actually happened to him often though. He could only wonder how Oyatsu would've found a way to fix the ship's structural damage.

He then suddenly remembered of the last of the capsules, a black-striped one. He took it out and uncompressed it. Or at least he tried to. The capsule did not decompress for some odd reason. Maybe whatever was in it was too big to be spawned inside the ship? He decided to walk about and THEN tried to uncompress it. This time it erupted into smoke, and this time, in it's place was a HUGE black cube of some kind, almost 25 cubic feet large. He looked at it with confusion.

However, him uncompressing this new object had gotten the attention of Teresa, who had been staring out one of Dan's windows at the gravity machines. She dashed out and stopped nearby, looking at the new black cube of whatever-it-was on the lawn.

"Dan, what the hell is that? Where did it come from?" she asked in concern.

"I don't know what this is, but I do know it came from one of the four new capsules I found. In fact, I got some news to give to the others. Can you bring them all over here? I gotta gather the rest of this stuff up for show-n-tell here." Dan asked her.

Teresa sighed and walked back in, and then came back out a minute later with most of the others, and Nina had even found Dusty and Virgil and gathered them over to Dan and the large black cube.

"What's going on?" asked Radditz, staring at all the new stuff laying near Dan.

"You're all never gonna believe this, but our ol' 'buddy' Oyatsu left us another good little gift." Dan said with a smirk on his face.

"Oh goodie." Devin replied sarcastically, "Get on to it."

"Anyways, first off, I don't yet know what this big black cube of whatever is, but I assume it's some unknown alloy or material. What I do know is Oyatsu planned to UPGRADE the spaceship, or at least it's gravity machine." Dan said as he grabbed the new gravity generator part he found, "This little beaut is a new and VERY NEWLY made gravity generator, apparently able to reach limits as high as 1500x gravity."

"WHAT?! Are you serious?" Clint replied, "I think that's MORE than Goku and Vegeta have ever trained in combined!"

"There's more. I found a manual for the part specifically, apparently it was made less than 3 months ago, and it IS compatible with the spaceship. I also found a general manual for repairing various Capsule Corporations machines, including this model of spaceship. Also, it's date is almost as recent as the manual for the new generator part. It also explains how to UPGRADE these older model machines. Oyatsu might have even been thinking of completely repairing the whole ship. For some reason I think that this black cube here is supposed to be something for patching up the ship or some other purpose." Dan continued.

"So where did you come upon these new things" Devin asked in curious amazement.

"When I was working on the gravity chamber, I got distracted by various thoughts about the mechanics of gravity, and my hand went off course and smacked into a covered panel, and a capsule case fell off of it, allowing me to find these things." Dan explained.

"Well, that's interesting and all. But I got a bad feeling we won't be able to make use of that black cube for now." Radditz replied.

"Why not?" Dan asked, confused to Radditz's statement.

"I think I know what that material is. When Kakarot, my nephew and Vegeta were fighting Buu, I learned of a material known as 'Cachin' from watching their actions with the East Kaioshin and Kabito. This material is said to be the densest and most durable metal in the universe. My nephew even broke their legendary 'Z Sword' on a block of the stuff a third the size of the cube behind you. That's how that old perverted Rou Dai Kaioshin was released in the first place." Radditz explained.

"Wait a minute, you think this is Cachin?!" Clint replied, as he looked over it.

His eyes then narrowed in a defeated dread, "Sonuava... you're right. I do remember all of that from the show. The Z Sword was believed to be so heavy not even the Kaioshin race themselves couldn't lift it. Gohan had to become a Super Saiya-jin to pull it out. But even that heavy weight of a sword was broken with ease when Goku threw a large block of Cachin at Gohan to test its' cutting power."

"Well, that would certainly explain Oyatsu wanting to upgrade the spaceship. A capsule ship made of this material would be invaluable all over the universe, not to mention the amount of G-Force it could withstand. That stuff can probably take several hundred-thousand times Earth's gravity without being bent or distorted." Radditz replied.

"Wait a minute, back up a moment." Paula asked, "Just HOW did Oyatsu get all of this other stuff anyways? We know now Zarbon give him the ship for a large sum of money, but North Kaio never said anything about him stealing or finding this stuff. Wait a second! Could this be the timespan he couldn't see of Oyatsu's recent activities?"

"I don't know. I mean, I don't see anything universally grand about how he got this stuff that could make him want to block people from seeing those specific memories. Maybe Kaio just hasn't gotten along far enough to know this stuff yet." Dan replied.

"Still, it would make me wonder HOW he got the generator and the manuals anyways? He'd have to break into Capsule Corps AND evade Vegeta and Trunks' ki detection and... shit, I just remembered, he seems to have the ability to block any sensory ability when in his natural states, and he can look like any old person on the street, maybe even take another person's exact form." Devin mumbled.

"We may never know. However, since we're all up and at em', we might as well get ready to go back to our guns. You all think we're ready to continue?" asked Nina.

"Wait a second. I wanna suggest a method of training this time." Radditz called in.

"Shoot." Nina replied.

"Why don't we form two teams of people, five a piece. We pick them by as much balance as possible among our powers." Radditz replied.

With this suggestion, two teams of people were form. On one team would be Nina, Dan, Devin, and Heero. A second team would be Paula, Radditz, Clint and Teresa. However Virgil and Dusty had asked to go back to what they had been doing before with the mallet training. They did not quite feel ready to participate with Dusty not yet as experienced in the gravity settings he had, and Virgil obviously needing someone somewhat close to his power to spar with and try to hit with his weighted mallet. The others agreed to this, and Dusty and Virgil took back off to the forest west of Dan's house, but this time it would be a lot further away due to what was happening. Dan also recompressed all of the objects he found in Oyatsu's extra capsule case and put them back on the ship, closing it behind him. He then flew off southeastwards to catch up with the others to begin the team sparring exercise...

Goku flew back quickly at amazing speeds as Vegeta dashed in at him, moving at a slightly quicker rate of speed than expected. He jumped up in time to avoid a large spray of ki blasts from Vegeta's hands, both of them at Super Saiya-jin 3. The Renzoku Energy Dan was one of Vegeta's more common methods of fighting when a strategy was not in his mind. Although a move that seemed brash and hotheaded, many times it could get the job done. Goku kept trying to dodge backwards in weird directions as Vegeta kept on his trail while firing these blasts. Suddenly he popped up a larger, faster shot that smacked into Goku's head, knocking him downwards in altitude. Vegeta appeared above Goku and axehandled him to the ground with greater acceleration, making a crater about 40 yards wide around his impact point. Vegeta smirked and prepared his stance for the Galic Gun, charging the energy as much as he could with what time he had left.

"Try this one Kakarot. GALIC GUN!" he shouted as he shot the beam of purple and gold intertwined energy down at Goku. Goku jumped up quickly and held out his hands and began to grab the attack, attempting to push it away from him. It was obvious he was struggling quite a lot due to Vegeta's newly found strength as a Super Saiya-jin 3. He quickly charged his own energy and began to force a small ki shield around him to buffer some of the incoming energy and to give him a chance to prepare a Choukiai attack. With a sudden scream of anger and frustration, he let the Choukiai expand outwards, pushing the Galic Gun blast back several yards from him, and then with a thrust of extra energy, he unleashed a second Choukiai that sent the Galic Gun repelling back towards close proximity to Vegeta.

The Saiya-jin prince grumbled as he began to see his aura flash erratically. Suddenly his energy completely died down, and his hair reverted to it's original form and coal-black color, and he had to dive further away from the intensity of his former attack to avoid getting wiped out from it. Goku sighed at this, knowing that now Vegeta was probably going to continue complaining about his lack of time to stay transformed.

Vegeta landed on the ground quickly, slumping into a reclined position on the ground, his arms spread out as if he were plastered up against the ground. For the fourth time he had gone through the experience of running out of power for his transformation. He did however notice it lasted maybe a minute longer than the time before. That had somewhat contributed to his use of the Galic Gun, as a final attack against Goku for the current training session.

Goku descended to the ground not too far from Vegeta, "How bad is it this time?"

"Actually, I noticed I lasted just the slightest bit longer than before. What do you think?" Vegeta replied.

"Well, you seem to be right. That was more than 12 minutes long. Maybe we're on to something here." Goku replied.

"Alright, I think we've figured out part of the secret to mastering the Super Saiya-jin 3 form. The challenge is finding enough time to get it trained up to the proper time and energy limits." Vegeta added on.

"Vegeta, now that we're back to our resting, I wanted to discuss something else with you. How exactly should we go about trying to reach this Super Saiya-jin 4 level you spoke of last night? Did you read anything about power requirements or states of mind?" Goku replied.

"I did look a little more into it this morning before you woke up. Again, the fact that this 'GT' version of me went skipped Super Saiya-jin 3 seems to indicate it's not so much a powerlevel requirement as it is being able to attain the proper state of mind. Again, in order for us to supposedly become Super Saiya-jin 4, we need to attain the Oozaru state while we're transformed at Super Saiya-jin state, and then manage to gain control over that form. For me, I don't actually expect there to be a problem with this. As I'm sure you painfully remember from our first battle here on Earth, I retained my consciousness as an Oozaru. However I am aware you have not trained your feral natures in that form, and that's where I'm a little concerned. This area and the cities around can easily become fodder for an enraged Oozaru of Super Saiya-jin level strength or greater, and I'm also worried that even if I reach Super Saiya-jin 4 and you can't revert back that I might not be able to stop you from causing a rampage of epically horrid proportions." Vegeta explained.

"Couldn't you teach me about keeping my ferality in check or something?" Goku asked.

"It's not quite as easy as you think. Keep in mind we'd have to do the same thing for Radditz and the others once they are ready to try to reach for the level." Vegeta explained, "With what I was taught by my father and his subjects about it, I can probably help any of you with it, but as to how easy it will be depends on the Saiya-jin in question. Some don't deal with it as well as others. Some can't deal with it at all, or require a special form of interaction with someone they remember or cherish to revert back. Your granddaughter Pan helped you revert on that GT thing after she managed to reach your consciousness, but I don't know if I can depend on something like that to work so easily here. As we know, our pasts are different in places from the show and comic book about us Akira Toriyama made and that the others watch or read, so there's no telling what'll happen." Vegeta continued.

"Would destroying the source of the moonlight revert me back if that did happen?" Goku asked.

"Well, since we'll have to more than likely use my Power Ball ability to do it, I'm sure I could disperse it if I needed to. However to be honest, it's been forever since I tried it, so I don't honestly remember." Vegeta replied, "Also, this is a new form of Oozaru. It's possible destroying the Power Ball will mean nothing too."

"You sure we have to use the Power Ball? Doesn't that temporarily weaken you somewhat? Also, what about this Earth's moon? I know there is one, unlike our version of Earth before this merger happened." Goku suggested.

"Yes, I know I weaken when I use the Power Ball, but the Earth's moon alone won't be enough for us since we don't have our tails anymore. The Power Ball with the proper usage can be used to transform us even without our tails. Also, the moon is exactly the in opposite phase for us to be using it to transform. It'll be a NEW Moon tomorrow night, meaning it won't even be visible in the sky. Third, apparently if we did destroy the moon this time, it would have dire consequences for this planet. It affects the tides and gravity on Earth, and destroying it would cause the planet's oceans to go out of control. I don't know why it didn't work like this on our Earth, but that's what I was told by Alex a few days ago when we were talking about Oozaru in general." Vegeta replied.

"Wow, that sucks. So, do you think we should try to do it later tonight?" Goku asked.

"I'm not ready just yet to risk it with you Kakarott, so not tonight. Besides, we have that little trip with all the others to that wrestling event, and they need you for a quick flight to the arena when the wrestlers get there and to get back." Vegeta replied.

"Dammit. That's right, that is tonight isn't it? Well, what about tomorrow night?" Goku asked.

"Tomorrow might work, but remember what I just told you. This might not go as well as we hope it to be. Also, there is the slim possibility that Super Saiya-jin 4 DOESN'T exist, or that it's something completely different from what this 'GT' talks about and that we might be wasting our time." Vegeta said.

"Well, if it'll help us protect everyone in this new universe, I'm for trying it. I'm sure you wouldn't mind it yourself, you know." Goku replied.

"I'm sure I wouldn't. Anyways, I'm exhausted... and you're not helping me with the fact I actually want to take a small nap." Vegeta grumbled.

"Are you growing weak on me?" Goku taunted playfully.

"Next time I will make you regret those words, peasant." Vegeta said back with a smirk, as he closed his eyes and began to take a slow nap.

Goku decided to also take a small meditative sleep, and sat down cross-legged about 10 feet away, and let his awareness fade away into a dream state again...

Back at Dan's neighborhood, the group's team sparring had not started long ago...

Teresa and Heero both immediately went to Kaioken x2. Heero charged in at Teresa first, but Teresa swung an uppercut and caught him on the chin just before he could throw an attack of his own, knocking him back with moderate stun. Teresa jumped up and left and right crossed Heero 5 more times, and then roundhouse-kicking him in the head, sending him flipping backwards lopsidedly. Luckily Heero had caught himself before he could stumble to the ground. Heero narrowed his eyes and fired off a chain of ki blasts towards Teresa, the first 3 or 4 hitting her in the chest, and another couple hitting her in the left thigh, knocking off her balance. Heero charged him and picked her up around the torso and lifted her over his head, as he flew up into the air, and then flew down towards the ground, throwing her downwards halfway back. She crashed into the ground and bounced a few times into a laying position, where she quickly flew up and split off an energy clone.

The energy clone flew in at Heero, but he jumped back and gave it a right cross to the face, and then a left cross. He tried to follow it up with an uppercut, but the clone swooped him into a trip and then grabbed Heero around both legs and began to swing him around violently, while the real Teresa had cupped her hands to charge a healthy-strength Kamehameha. The clone threw Heero towards her, and she yelled out as she shot her beam into Heero, engulfing him slightly and blasting him back into the energy clone, who also shot off a weaker but nonetheless strong enough kamehameha, pinning Heero between both of them. Heero grit his teeth, trapped between both of them and unable to move. He realized he would probably need to try a Kaioken x3 to escape, lest he be defeated quickly. With a yell of anger, Heero's aura expanded, and pushed both Kamehamehas away for just enough time for him to break out, and then charge the real Teresa with a violent kick to the side of her ribs, smashing her to the side, and causing her Kamehameha to swerve around and hit her own energy clone, mangling it badly.

Teresa flipped lopsidedly to keep her balance, and called the remnants of her energy clone back to her, returning her powerlevel to normal, or at least a little stronger than normal. Teresa however was suddenly tripped from behind and kicked in the back, up into the air. Teresa turned herself around, but Heero had appeared above her and swung a vicious axehandle. However she had the shattering foresight to flip her body vertically enough that Heero's axehandle hit her in the chest instead of the head like he meant to, only knocking her downwards a few feet. Suddenly he saw both of Teresa's hands glow with energy.

"DOUBLE SUNDAY!" she yelled, shooting pair of Radditz's signature moves towards the former-Gundam pilot. Heero cursed as he dodged the first, and then was clipped by the second. However that attack had only been a distraction.

"KAIOKEN TIMES THREE!" Teresa screamed out, her aura also expanding outwards. She suddenly channeled more energy and fired a second Double Sunday, both shots managing to hit Heero, although he had managed to defend against the second blast this time. Dropping his guard, he prepared to charge her, only to suffer hits from the original pair of Double Sunday shots she had shot at him earlier, inflicting a few more scrapes on him. Heero continued his charge and managed to catch her with a good blow to the face, and then an uppercut, sending her upwards further. Heero jumped up with a yell and gave her a drop kick from above which sent her falling towards the ground. She managed to just catch the ground in time and flip out of an otherwise nasty impact. However now she was beginning to run out of ideas. She thought about the Kaioken and taking it up again, but she didn't know if it would work, or if it would short her out like it had Heero during his earlier battle with Devin.

"What the hell, to win you need to take risks." she said to herself, "KAIOKEN TIMES FOUR AND A HALF!!"

Her aura rapidly expanded another 30% in size and her energy soared further. Heero looked at her in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?! You'll wreck yourself up like I did!" he protested.

"We're gonna end up doing that anyways to get anywhere, won't we?" she asked with a frown on her face.

"4.5 is still too much for you or me right now!" he protested back.

"I'm not gonna back down! I'm not just a punching bag!" she growled, and released a pair of energy clones from her body.

Heero could sense he was nearly even with Teresa and her clones now, but it was 3 on 1, and he was in quite a spot of trouble. He grit his teeth as they began to attack.

"Fine, what the hell?! Why don't we just be total masochists today?! KAIOKEN TIMES FIVE!!!" he screamed out in anger, his aura exploding with vicious force.

Teresa went agape at his sudden move. He charged in quicker than she could react, and quickly assaulted one of her two energy clones with a tremendous barrage of punches and a few kicks. By the end of it, the clone hardly looked recognizable and faded away, it's energy returning to her in seconds. Heero noticed some of her energy returning again, but thought nothing of it as he finished his assault by doing a similar attack to her remaining energy clone. Within a few seconds of vicious and angry hits, the second clone was just as disabled as the first had, and it's energy returned to Teresa.

However at that moment, Teresa instead of reverting back to just her original level of power, had appeared to have gained a significant boost to her power, and she too had noticed it with her own expression of brief astonishment. However Heero had been suddenly caught off guard by this and the fact his Kaioken aura had faltered back to x4 from overexertion.

Teresa, however not having been as exhausted now as Heero rushed in and hammered the dazed and weakened former-Gundam pilot with a headbutt to the face, a trip of his feet, and then a final double-kick to his back than sent him flying backwards, landing on his stomach, and his power fading from him, as his energy regressed to about half his normal output. He did however manage to retain consciousness despite all of his fatigue and pain this time.

Teresa realized the battle was over and she had beat him, and powered down to her normal base as well. But she was astonished at what she felt next. Her energy was STILL stronger than Heero's despite neither of them using Kaioken. She was perplexed. Just how the hell did she suddenly gain THAT much power all of a sudden? She was only about 70% of Heero's strength at the beginning of the fight, and now she was slightly stronger than he was at the end of it.

It had suddenly hit her like a pile of bricks. She had felt a boost of great power surge into her after her second energy clone had recombined with her. She had also noticed a couple times during the fight that it seemed every time she used one of her energy clones, her powerlevel would go up just slightly further above it's previous level after the clone reintegrated with herself. However until now it had only felt like minuscule increases, not large ones like this one. She walked over and got Heero standing wearily on his own feet, holding him up with her own body like a support. Heero had also felt that her energy was now higher than his.

"Damn! Teresa, how did you get so much stronger so quickly?! You were weaker than me when we began, and now you're stronger than me! Are you some kinda Saiya-jin too?" he asked.

"No, it's not that. I think it has to do with my energy clone ability. I don't understand how it works, but I guess it was enough to help me win." she said with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, THIS time. You lucked out Teresa. You managed to goad me into overexerting myself, and that probably helped your cause on top of that boost to your power." Heero grumbled, "But don't think next time it'll go the same way."

"Well, it won't be happening today. We're done. I'm done too. I've done enough of this for now, and that Kaioken x4.5 wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world either." Teresa laughed.

Heero smirked at her with a chuckle, "The stuff we go through..."

Meanwhile, Dan and Radditz had both immediately started out transformed as Super Saiya-jins, not in the mood to mess with the Kaioken at the moment, and for the purpose of them getting in some 'real' training. Immediately Radditz had taken note that Dan had improved in his use of the level, and he was not actually all to far behind Radditz in power, however there was still a noticable difference. Radditz still had speed and experience that Dan lacked. More often than not, it was going more of Dan being on the defensive against Radditz and the occasional offensive against him.

Radditz was curious as to if Dan would be able to far better with his Super Saiya-jin 2 level or not. He decided to stop the fight for a moment.

"Dan! Why don't you try to use Super Saiya-jin 2 for now and see if you can hold it for enough time." Radditz asked.

"What about you? You can't go to that level yourself!" Dan protested.

"Maybe that can help persuade me to reach it if you're giving me a desperate need to." Radditz suggested.

Dan sighed and tapped into his excess energy, igniting to Super Saiya-jin 2. At least this time however, he felt a lot less drain on himself from it. Perhaps the gravity and all the Kaioken usage was doing some good for him, as opposed to the first he time had tried to use it without the 'help' of Oyatsu. That thought made him refocus his training on Radditz. He didn't want to just beat on him until he attempted to transform. He felt that was a bit too barbaric for his tastes, not liking to fight against people who couldn't or wouldn't fight back. From what he could sense from Radditz, he knew he was more than 3 times stronger than him at the moment. He then had an idea form in his head. He wanted to give Radditz a fair warning though.

"Radditz, if you don't mind, I'm gonna charge up one of my attacks to a moderate strength, and hurl it your way. I want to see how well you can hold it off, and if it might help give you a boost to transform over to SSJ2 yourself. You understand?" Dan alerted him.

"I don't see how warning me is gonna work too well. We Saiya-jin tend to react better to being put in genuine distress, as my nephew demonstrated with Kakarott a few times. If you attack me without any real attempt to truly defeat me, it probably won't work for me to your intended effect." Radditz advised.

"Fine, I'll charge my energy to maximum strength and use a Kamehameha! Will that work?" Dan asked, not very keen on Radditz's method, but deciding it was probably at least worth a shot.

"That's more like it! Go ahead. It's not like I'll be able to damage you all too much with the power misbalance we have right now, so I might as well save my energy for your attack idea." Radditz agreed.

"Alright." Dan said, as he cupped his hands to his side, focusing as much of his energy as possible into a colossal Kamehameha wave, trying to focus all of his intents on using it to defeat Radditz. He figured having that mindset might actually help him keep from backing down on the attack, in turn maybe helping the long-haired Saiya-jin change as well.

Dan had finished chanting the verbal form his Kamehameha, with a mighty "HA!!!" he launched a tremendous sized wave straight at Goku's older brother. Radditz hunkered down, digging his feet into the ground a half a foot, and put out his hands as to try to catch the blast. Immediately upon impact Radditz was shoved backwards about 10 to 15 inches, but his willpower kicked in and he began to struggle against the Kamehameha, holding it out as far away from the rest of his body as possible. Radditz was definitely suffering friction burns on his hands en masse, and grit his teeth in agony as he continued to attempt to hold off the blast. He felt a small spike of power rise up from within him, but it was a little more like what he thought was like how Jason became a Super Saiya-jin, 2nd grade.

No, even so, this isn't enough dire stress yet! I need him to try to put more effort into the attack! Radditz thought to himself.

"DAN! POUR ON MORE ENERGY INTO YOUR ATTACK!" he screamed to him over the roar of the energy wave.

"WHAT?! IF I DO THAT, I COULD ACTUALLY KILL YOU! IT'S ONE THING TO KNOCK YOU OUT COLD, BUT I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU EITHER!" Dan replied.

"LISTEN TO ME, AS I SAID, THIS IS HOW KAKAROTT'S SON MANAGED TO TRANSFORM! JUST TRUST ME ON THIS!!" Radditz screamed back angrily.

Dan growled, "FINE! BUT IF YOU DIE, I WON'T BE ABLE TO FORGIVE MYSELF! RAAGH!!"

Dan channeled more of his energy into the attack causing the width and size of the Kamehameha to increase by 25% in size.

Radditz began to be pushed back at a rate of 2-3 inches every second by the intensity of Dan's Kamehameha. He knew this might indeed end badly for him, but he tried to tap into his hidden anger and reserves of rage. This time, as opposed to thinking about Dodoria and the death of his to-be mate, he instead thought about the next person down the list of people he hated: Frieza himself.

Radditz began to recollect all of the horrible memories of Frieza and how he and his elites and first-class soldiers would torture and harass him, Nappa and Vegeta during their time serving under him. He remembered of how Frieza had nearly killed him personally after Dodoria killed his future mate, only for Dodoria to suggest Frieza let him live as a humbled man for the rest of his days. He had actually wished Frieza HAD killed him on that day. Even to this day he sometimes wished that would've happened. Still, focusing his thoughts on Frieza, he realized that Frieza had also changed his demeanor to an eviler one that it should've been.

His mother Tanipuu had basically died giving birth to Kakarot, and she had asked him in her final words to take care of his baby brother and to protect and guide him at all costs. Radditz told her he would keep that promise. Unfortunately, due to Frieza and the Saiya-jin's stupid method of determining the fate of newborns, his brother was immediately sent away to Earth. Then his father Bardock had been killed trying to save their homeworld from Frieza himself. Radditz had met his father in Hell and had been informed of the truth long ago, and it only further raised his rage with Frieza.

However the final straw came from his memories of his first arrival on Earth, and his nonchalant and despicable nature towards his own younger brother Kakarot, his nephew Gohan, and the other humans that were his friends. Radditz realized he could truly admit now he could be sick to his stomach about how he treated his younger brother as little more than a mere tool for a potential rebellion against Frieza. A rebellion, which had Radditz gotten his way, would've crashed and burned. Frieza was eons above any of them at that point, and after his death at Piccolo's hands, it actually did not take long to see that his evil natures had bit him in the ass, and he had gotten himself AND his brother killed by Piccolo, Goku having sacrificed himself to hold Radditz in place long enough for Piccolo's attack to hit them. He had only been relieved to learn his brother had indeed been revived by the Dragonballs 11 months later to fight Nappa and Vegeta. He regretted for 20 long years not being there to guide his younger brother through the arts of Saiya-jin history and heritage, and tell him of his family and of the class-system among his people.

Frieza... this was all truly FRIEZA'S fault. Even the death of his to-be mate at Dodoria's hands was truly FRIEZA'S responsibility. Frieza had ordered Dodoria to kill her, the fat minion didn't do it for simply his own mere amusement. He still hated Dodoria the most, but he began to truly understand Frieza being the central connection behind it all. Frieza had also inadvertently took away his original chances to get to know the family he had sworn to originally guide and protect, therefore being responsible for Radditz breaking his promise to his dying mother. Suddenly, through his pained gaze, Radditz's visual interpretation of Dan began to change in form, until he could only see Frieza in his ultimate form, at the bulked up 100% strength, and not Dan launching that massive Kamehameha at him.

"GO TO HELL FRIEZA!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as his golden aura erupted violently outwards, causing the Kamehameha he was holding back to no longer feel nearly as straining on himself.

Electricity began to flare and crackle through his aura. His hair also felt to slightly stand up more and some of it floated in the air on the ends at his back, and he felt the sheer power increase of the Super Saiya-jin 2 form embrace him at last. With an sub-feral roar, Radditz swung a violent kick and gave the Kamehameha a rebound back at Dan. Dan growled and realized his plan had worked, possibly a bit too well and he let up on his attack, and then managed to smack the head of the beam upwards into the air with his own hands, causing the rest of it to follow, dispersing it from causing any more damage.

Dan observed Radditz closely. He also noticed the other groups had shortly taken a look at what had happened, and realized the implications of what had happened as well. However they went back to their own training within a few seconds to finish up theirs. Dan however was quite worn out from his massive beam attack, and wondered if he could hold Super Saiya-jin 2 for too much longer. He also wondered how long Radditz would be able to hold his version.

Suddenly, Radditz lunged at Dan again, and it was back to Dan mostly being on the defensive from a newly reinvigorated Radditz's fast blows, with Dan occasionally going back on the offensive. This would continue for a few more minutes...

Nina had recently began to get the hand of using Kaioken x2 as she began to spar with Paula for the third time that day. For some reason, the two of them seem to always find there way to each other when it came to the sparring aspect. More than likely it had to do with them being the closest to each other in power, to actually grant another challenge. However even with her slightly stronger powerlevel, Paula always seemed to be substantially quicker and speedier than she was, throwing flurries of attacks that were hard for Nina to even SEE much like defend from. Although Nina had her fair share of counterattacks and two extra limbs to use against Paula in the form of her wings, it seemed to not feel like enough to truly level the playing field between them.

During their recent matches though, Nina and Paula both had pulled out many abilities neither had used or shown to one another before. One ability Nina found to be quite unique was the fact Paula could actually increase her physical strength in small, but temporary spurts with an unique power she called 'Offense Up'. Nina also learned Paula classed her many unique 'PK' abilities by various levels, usually named after letters in the Greek alphabet. She remembered how particularly nasty the Gamma version of Paula's PK Freeze attack was against her. It had taken sheer willpower for Nina to break free the first time she had been hit by that level. Luckily Nina was also somewhat resistant to the cold, which made the damage against her a little weaker, but it still did a lot of damage nonetheless, and she knew from Paula that she possessed even still a STRONGER level of the attack.

Nina however had retaliated with her fair share of new magic. In counter to the Offense Up ability Paula had, she revealed she too could increase her Attack strength somewhat. However in addition to that, she could also raise her physical defense in her own small but temporary spurts. Nina even had a version for increasing her movement and attacking speed, helping her close some of the gap between them in that area, but still not enough to seem fair. It was as if Paula had a truly superhuman amount of natural speed and movement, dancing around Nina at times in confusing attack patterns. Although Paula considered herself a defensive player more than an attacker, she still proved to have efficient defensive methods through her speed. She had even revealed an ability to reverse Nina's defense-raising ability she called 'Defense Down', which she showed could even lower Nina's lacking defensive abilities even more than before.

Nina did however reveal to possess two interesting 'magic' abilities that Paula found hard to deal with. One of them was a magic attack that appeared to deal direct physical damage that her magicpowerlevel didn't seem to do much to protect her from. Nina had called it ChopChop if she remembered it right. The other ability was one that although not perfectly accurate against Paula due to her speed, if it did hit seemed to cut Paula's stamina by half it's current amount everytime it hit her. She had called it 'Boombada'. Paula also knew that technically Nina did possess one other ability that could be used as a nasty cheating method: her Gravity Aura manipulation. If Nina had truly been in the mood, she could easily try to make Paula's gravity aura even stronger than it usually was. However Nina didn't like using that unless it was against an enemy or in a dire situation, so Paula wouldn't actually need to worry about it.

At one point in the battle, Paula surged her Kaioken to x4, in an attempt to push Nina to do similar, even giving Nina a few seconds to make an attempt. Nina gladly obliged and attempted to go to Kaioken x3, an it seemed that she was indeed able to handle the surge of energy, although it seemed to put a lot more stress on her then she'd like to admit. On the other hand, Paula looked to hardly feel any more strain from her Kaioken x4, and Nina wondered if Paula would eventually get bored enough to try x5 or even x6 or higher. Paula however did mostly believe in fair sparring with her friends, even though she did admit she didn't feel the same with a real enemy and would use any trick she had to in order to stop someone from causing damage if need be. Paula decided to regress to Kaioken 3.5x to give Nina a slightly fairer fight, since she realized Nina had probably hit her limit for the time being. However Nina now found it progressively harder to get a chance to strike back now. Their spar continued for the time being, though as Nina didn't feel like throwing in the towel yet...

Meanwhile, Devin decided to target Clint, being that they were currently the closest to each other in power and strength. Clint charged in forward, and launched himself over Devin's head, forming a pair of moderate strength Soukidans, and then tossing them Devin's way as he landed. Devin grumbled and flew to their sides, as Clint created two MORE Soukidans to launch at him. Devin had requested that Clint try to push him as hard as possible. He wanted to try to get some grapple on his so called 'flashes' of power he seemed to be having, and he noticed that being put in desperate enough situations seemed to trigger it. Devin managed to fly down beneath the third Soukidan, and flew just past the fourth as it whizzed past.

Clint formed two more of the blasted things and sent one up wards, and kept the sixth hovering close to him. Clint then charged at the distracted Devin and gave him a good kick to the stomach, and controlling one of the Soukidans to hit him in the back as he sailed backwards, causing some immediate damage. Devin tried to reposition himself to regain control, but Clint quickly activated Kaioken x2 and charged forward, smashing Devin with a severe blow over the head that smashed him to the ground, leaving him dizzy for a couple of seconds.

Devin pulled back to his feet and noticed Clint was in Kaioken x2, "Oh fun, as if you didn't already have enough powerups, now you have times two."

"You said for me to push you, so I'm gonna push us both as much as I can without having to become a Super Saiya-jin." Clint replied.

Devin grit his teeth and activated his own Kaioken x2, and then began to charge a Kamehameha, but Clint suddenly veered two Soukidans at him, one from above, and another from in front of him, forcing Devin to jump backwards to evade the blasts, and interrupting his concentration. Clint charged in fast and swung a fast kick, but Devin just managed to evade him in time, and gave him a good uppercut, sending him flying into the air. Devin then continued charging his Kamehameha, and quickly released it at Clint. Clint cursed and dodged away and began to attempt to swerve around the beam attack in an attempt to regain his control over his Soukidans. He managed to control one of them hovering to Devin's left side to blast forward and nail a direct hit on Devin, interrupting his attack and giving Clint an opening to charge right into him, knocking him backwards and causing him to land on his back in the grass.

Devin growled and began to focus himself, trying to regain a grasp on his 'hidden' power, however for some reason, he couldn't seem to find the means to do so. He sighed to himself, deciding he'd have to do something else this time.

"KAIOKEN TIMES THREE!" he screamed, as his red ki aura grew and flickered frantically. Devin regained his momentum and suddenly flipped upright and flew forwards, giving Clint a right cross to the face, then a left, and then a vicious kick that sent him plowing skybound. Devin flew up at great speeds and caught up with him, giving him a roundhouse kick backwards and then appearing behind him with another to his back, and would move and back forth, kicking Clint back and forth like a pinball for nearly 10 seconds.

Clint grumbled, I'm not letting him beat me this easily. Let's see if this works!

"KAIOKEN TIMES THREE POINT FIVE!!!" he screamed out, his energy erupting out in an extremely violent display of energy. Devin was taken off guard by the sudden burst in Clint's strength and was distracted enough that Clint broke free from his juggled state, and gave Devin a vicious and brutal headbutt to the stomach, and then an uppercut of his own, ending it with a reverse-flash kick to Devin's head, sending his friend plummeting to the ground at near-breakneck speeds. Devin cursed his bad luck, as he was about to crash into the ground, but suddenly Clint appeared in Devin's path and gave him a double bunny-hop kick to the back and sent him flying forward at higher velocity than before. Devin growled and began to feel that sensation of power surge over him.

Clint groaned as Devin's aura began to turn to a Dark-Red, and then back to a dark-black. He only hoped THIS time Devin wouldn't lose his rationality. Devin immediately planted his hands on the ground and stopped himself, flipping into an upright position. He stared at Clint with his flickering black and dark-purple eyes. Clint also growled in pain. That Kaioken 3.5x stunt he pulled, while not as crippling as what Heero did against Devin earlier, was still giving his body a serious strain. Of course, now he realized even that wouldn't work, and released Kaioken quickly and transforming to his basic Super Saiya-jin state.

"Devin, are you still conscious?!" Clint yelled at him.

Devin's expression softened slightly "Yeah, I think I actually am this time! Woah, this energy output is tremendous compared to normal! I suggest you prepare yourself for a little pain skippy. I might not be crazy this time, but I need someone to test this on. Let's see how long I can last with this..."

Clint grumbled as he charged Devin with a pair of large ki spheres in his hand. He shot one out in front of Devin about half way to him, making Devin jump back a few inches, and then threw the other straight forward. However Devin simply smacked it aside and jumped in, smashing Clint, head-to-head with his own headbutt. Screaming in agony, Clint flew backwards uncontrollably, until he crashed right into a tree behind him, cracking it down the middle.

"Dammit! Shit, he's stronger than me as a normal Super Saiya-jin for sure! But I know going 2 will overwhelm him. What the hell should I... no, it's not smart... it's not something I'd prefer to do... oh to hell with it. If Jason can do it, so can I!" Clint grumbled, focusing his energy reserves and ki directly into his muscles, and causing them to tense and slightly pump up. His leg muscles also did the same, and his body grew about 2 inches taller.

Now in the outdated Super Saiya-jin, 2nd Grade state, Clint felt a little closer to Devin in power, but Devin still had an advantage on him.

Devin smirked, "So you're using that form? You must be a bit tweaked! You know how useless that is!"

However Clint suddenly released a Kiai around him, raising a huge amount of dust in an attempt to catch Devin off guard, and charged in with his slightly increased speed and new power, and swung several punches and kicks, only for almost all of them to be blocked by Devin in his current state. Devin quickly formed a Crescent Slasher and swung, but Clint only got clipped along the arm by some of the energy, and spared the majority of the hit. Devin however continued to counterattack, giving Clint a good flash kick to the chest sending him flipping backwards into the air. Devin soared up with renewed confidence, and flew above Clint, charging another of his Dark-Purple/Black energy spheres.

"Try my Shadow Ball on for size!" he screamed, having finally revealed the attack's name, and fired it down, enclosing it around Clint, the sphere growing larger as it enveloped his body and smashed Clint to the ground, exploding in a violent display of energy, even shaking the area a slight amount. The crater left behind was about 15 feet wide. Clint got to his feet slowly, but Devin didn't let up and charged in close.

"Come on Clint, you can do better than that! Go Super Saiya-jin 2 again! Give me a real challenge!" he yelled as he grabbed one of Clint's arms and began swinging him around violently, heaving him several yards, almost right into Heero and Teresa's fighting area. Clint managed to save himself from crashing a second time and reverted to normal Super Saiya-jin 1 state, but then smirked.

"Fine, he wants his ass kicked. WISH GRANTED!" Clint screamed, powering up to Super Saiya-jin 2 and quickly charging back at Devin with amazing speed even to Devin's eyes.

Clint decided this time to try using a new attack, and began to charge energy on the ends of his index and middle fingers, As he came in close at Devin, Clint swung his fingers towards him, and Devin suddenly felt a walloping hit smash him in a lined pattern of explosions across his stomach and he went flying back with a good deal of damage inflicted. Clint swooped in closer and gave Devin a good axehandle right on the head and smashed him down into the ground a few inches below, almost burying him like a radish. Devin recovered quickly and powered up more, burning away the dirt and plowing out, and giving Clint a sudden Crescent Slasher at point black range. However this time, Clint had anticipated this one, and blocked most of the damage with a defensive position. Clint and Devin jumped back from each other, and Devin grinned at him.

"Now that I have some moderate control of this, I wanna put this to its' true limits! KAIOKEN TIMES THREE!!!" he screamed, as his black aura began to turn into a blood-red aura that grew nearly to 150% it's original size and washed the area around with violent winds. However now Devin looked like he had lost control of himself again, as his eyes became more dilated and flickered between Dark-Purple and Black even more viciously than before.

Devin had also managed to charge up a quick Kamehameha and shot it right at Clint's way, almost as large as both of them were. Clint cursed, knowing that in his current state, he could do nothing but try to put up a defense. Clint bunkered down into a defensive position again, as the blast quickly slammed up against him, pushing him backwards slowly and causing friction burns on his arms as he continued to defend from it. Clint could only wonder if Devin or him would walk away from this alive due to the fact Devin was already in an unstable state of energy, and his attack was at least twice Clint's own strength.

Clint growled, his eyes suddenly going dilated and his eyebrows slightly fading away. The hair on his head began to grow slightly. For some reason, Clint was having odd visions again as this happened. This time he could see Devin overexerting his power to the point of death from his attack, as if it were some kind of premonition.

Clint had become scared of this, and realized if he didn't do something, Devin would likely kill both of them on accident with his anger, Clint from his attack, and himself from total overexertion. Clint screamed out at the top of his lungs as his hair began to keep expanding out, and his eyebrows completely faded. The Earth beneath them shook with a light 3.5 tremor on the Richter scale as Clint's energy suddenly raged out and pushed Devin's Kamehameha nearly 40 feet away from him.

With a final scream, Clint charged forward, flying THROUGH the Kamehameha in flight, and right over to the still control-lost Devin. With one swing, Clint hammered Devin on top of his head with a single fist, causing his power to regress to normal levels, and he dropped to the ground, completely passed out on the ground yet again.

However Clint did still sense some of his energy, meaning Devin was alive, but unconscious again. Despite this, Clint was able to keep hold of his new Super Saiya-jin 3 state a few more seconds, just long enough for everyone else to come running, and then he suddenly found his world going black as he passed out into base form on the ground next to Devin...

However, not too long later, Devin and Clint both found themselves returning to consciousness. They both came to their senses to see Nina kneeling over next to them, a glowing hand poised just above each of their battered bodies. Suddenly, within moments, both found not only were they awake, but their injuries had partially healed up. The others looked at Nina with surprise.

"Nina, you didn't tell me you can rouse people back to consciousness!" Paula exclaimed, a little sore with her about the discovery.

"Yeah, if we had known that earlier, it would've been easier for us to heal up." Radditz replied, now dropped back to base form. Dan had also reverted back to base form as well.

"Listen up." Nina interrupted, "This ability can't heal injuries on its' own. It's only useful for restoring consciousness and the ability to move to those who're wounded or knocked out. It's not a healing ability in that sense like one of those sensu beans are."

"So you can like revive people, like in RPG games." Devin stated.

Nina looked at him with a odd stare, "Whatever that's supposed to mean."

Clint chuckled, having got Devin's joke, "Makes sense coming from our mouths I guess."

"Whatever you say." Nina mumbled, as Clint and Devin got up.

"Clint, it's time for explaining." Dan cut in, "Did you seriously just become a Super Saiya-jin 3 back there?!"

Clint's eyes widened, as he indeed remembered that he indeed had hit that level and he groaned, "Oh my god... yes I did, I actually DID."

"But how? I thought you had to meditate and induce some kinda bad visions on yourself." Paula said, remembering what Goku told her.

"Well, I kinda DID have a bad vision. I saw Devin overexerting himself with that Kaioken x3 AND his angered-form, AND his stupid little Kamehameha stunt. He would've killed BOTH of us if I hadn't tried to do something." Clint grumbled, looking at Devin with an annoyed look.

"Hey, look at it this way, I got you up another level, as much as it annoys me, and you helped me hold my angered-state for a lot longer than usual. I actually could rationalize what I was doing... for the most part. I guess using Kaioken with it however fucked up my perception... AGAIN." Devin said, ending with an indignant grumble.

Teresa looked over at Radditz, "As for you, I think I can say a lot of us noticed your new transformation and outburst."

"Yeah. I decided to think of Frieza this time instead of just Dodoria, and I realized that Frieza is indeed the worse of the two, but not by much. I broke my promise to my mother to protect and guide Kakarott in part because of his influence. My anger at both Frieza and my lack of commitment, and even my blatant disregard for Kakarott in past times was the trigger for this transformation." Radditz explained.

"A promise to your mother?" asked Nina.

"My mother died from medical complications not long after giving birth to Kakarott, and she asked me to promise to her I would watch and guide him through his life. Unfortunately, due to many outside forces, that ended up being impossible, and then Frieza screwed up my perception of emotions by killing my to-be mate through Dodoria's dirty work. I guess I become bitter and hostile towards the others. Even at times Nappa didn't want to mess with me despite our vast differences in powerlevel back then. He understood all too well what I had gone through, having lost a potential mate of his own when Planet Vegeta was destroyed." Radditz replied, "In fact, it makes me truly wonder what happened to Nappa in recent times. He's not apparently in Hell anymore, but there's no sign of him here on this new version of your world either."

Dan sighed to himself as he listened in. It was at this point he had put things together. Radditz had told him the voice in his premonition on the 11th claimed to know things of the older Saiya-jin's past that he hadn't yet told them, and Dan had to assume this issue Radditz had involving his mother's dying wish was one of the big sticking points of his past.

"Maybe he got sent to a different part of this universe or something." Clint thought out loud.

"I hope not. He's a bit of a hothead, but you guys might have already known that." Radditz replied.

"Yeah, you can say that." Devin replied with a smirk.

Soon, Dusty and Virgil had arrived from their own training session. To their surprise Dusty had appeared to be holding his side in pain.

"Hey guys, you won't probably believe it, but Virgil actually managed to do it!" Dusty told them.

"You actually managed to hit him with the hammer?!" Devin said in shock at Virgil.

"Hell yeah! I don't like that it had to be Dusty I hit. I'd have much rather hit YOU instead." Virgil replied with a bit of annoyance.

It had seemed that Virgil had some form of respect to Dusty and didn't like putting him through that. In return, Dusty had also always believed there was more to Virgil, and he honestly believed Virgil intentionally acted less intelligent and even 'retarded' to fool others or to mask his real personality. He did not have proof this was true yet, but Virgil rarely ever expressed annoyance at the Heritage Room chef even when they had been at CSHS during the first weeks.

Devin grumbled at his annoyed voice, "You got to make a lot of effort to make to hit me, buddy. I'm a little stronger and probably faster than Dusty right now, and if I were in my angered-state, good luck even getting a chance to swing the hammer before I'm long gone."

"I will get you eventually too. Don't mistake that, Devin." Virgil replied, however he looked over to Teresa, as if he had just now noticed her contrast in power to less than an hour or two ago, "Wait a minute, Teresa just when did you get so much stronger?"

Everyone else, except Heero had then noticed her energy level, and realized he was indeed right, not having paid her or Heero quite as much attention as they had Dan, Radditz, Clint and Devin.

"He's right! How the hell DID you get so much stronger than before?" Clint asked, remembering his earlier fight with Teresa, "Radditz, I know you ALWAYS have your Scouter, can you get a reading on her for us?"

Radditz pulled out his Navy-Blue OC-Scouter and scanned Teresa's ki intensity. His eyes expressed astonishment, "Amazing! She's at 27,674! She was only slightly above 20,000 a couple of hours ago!"

"What the fuck?!" Devin asked in confusion, "That's a pretty substantial jump in power when a lot of us present are concerned. Care to tell us your little secret?" he then ended with a teasing glance at Teresa.

"Alright... I think my energy clone ability is the culprit this time. I don't think I'm a Saiya-jin or anything." Teresa replied.

"Your energy clones? How the heck does what work?" asked Paula, just as confused as a lot of the others.

"Clint, when we battled, I used a few of my energy clones against you. When they reintegrated with me, did you ever notice if my powerlevel felt slightly higher then it was BEFORE I used them?" Teresa asked.

"Honestly I didn't pay a lot of attention." Clint admitted.

"Well I DID notice it in our battle. She actually beat me. She's stronger than I am by a small amount now." Heero confirmed for her.

"He's right. Heero's powerlevel is 26,953, about 720 degrees less than Teresa is. He was at 26,100 at the beginning of the day." Radditz added to the confirmation.

"Son of a bitch, that's a boost of nearly 35%!" Dan almost stammered. His admiration of the UPS driver turned Misfit-in-training was only becoming more and more bolstered by this new development.

"To be honest, I have no idea WHY the energy clones seem to strengthen me further when they reintegrate, or HOW it could work. All I know is that it seemed to be the obvious reason after one of them reintegrated during my battle with Heero. In fact, most of the time, the boost is tiny, not even worth noting, but that one clone seemed to just bolster my strength significantly this time." Teresa shrugged.

"Woah, this is something we might want to tell at least Goku or Piccolo about. Perhaps one of them might understand it." Dusty guessed.

"Somehow I don't think Goku or them ever dealt with an ability like this one, Dusty." Clint said back to him.

"Hey Radditz, since you have that thing out, how 'bout giving all of us a scan, eh?" Dan asked.

"Hold your horses, I'd recommend we rest up before I do, so I can give an accurate reading. Remember, the more drained you are, the chances are what I'm reading off you isn't your maximums." Radditz replied with a stern voice.

"He makes a good point." Devin replied, "Besides, I think we're done with this experiment for today. Maybe we'll try this again for tomorrow, but we gotta rest up for the event at Gund Arena later."

"True. Yeah, good idea. I think we're done for today on that. Let's head back to Dan's house and rest off the rest of these injuries and fatigue. We've earned it I think." Nina suggested.

The others, even Virgil, all agreed with her and Radditz's logic, and the ten of them flew back off to Dan's house...

********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 1:24pm; Canton, Ohio)

Meanwhile, back at the abandoned stadium, the training between a half-strength Piccolo and #17, another session including Mr. Buu split into two weaker halves, and then the large battle of Vernon, Alex and Jason against 16 much less-powerful Piccolo copies continued.

The three teenage Saiya-jin found themselves constantly being swarmed and attacked on multiple sides by their group of Piccolo copies. Jason still having five attacking him, Vernon still had five attacking him, and Alex still had six of them attacking him, including what he swore, was one particular copy of Piccolo who was starting to get more vicious, and seemed to be even increasing his powerlevel slowly, to the point Alex knew it was staying ever so slightly higher than him in strength.

Also, Alex could swear this Piccolo copy seemed a lot more 'intelligent' than the other ones. Sure Piccolo did say they all had his skills and experience, but none of the other fifteen Piccolo copies showed any form of cruel smirks or other gestures of taunting at him like this odd-man-out seemed to. Alex could just swear this particular copy was out to get him, and after about 2 or 3 hours of it, he was sick and tired of it.

Focusing his efforts into not getting pounded on by two other copies attacking him from his front and his 2'o-clock position, he appeared to not be paying that Piccolo copy attention at the moment. As it watched Alex, preparing his next move, it couldn't help but chuckle and smirk in an evil-grin at him. This was also something none of the other copies were doing. The other copies had no vocal cords, no outlaying mindsets aside from 'get the job done and put them through as much hell as you can with efficiency without killing them'.

Suddenly, it groaned and began to powerup significantly to the point Alex, Jason and Vernon had not missed the change in it's powerlevel. Alex looked over at the copy, realizing it was indeed that annoying sonuvabitch copy that was taunting and smirking at him.

"Shit! What the hell's that damned copy doing now?!" he yelled.

"RWAGH!" the odd Piccolo copy growled and charged in at Alex with amazing enough speeds, swinging a tremendous overhead blow Alex only managed to lopsidedly block, knocking him away from the other Piccolo copies he had been fighting. Even those copies looked on in what might have been confusion as the odd Piccolo copy continued attacking Alex, giving him a powerful chop to the side of Alex's head, knocking him off balance and more than likely leaving a nasty mark as Alex flew to the side uncontrollably.

"Dammit! What the fuck's your problem?! You're nothing like the other ones! You're pissing me off!" Alex grumbled, as he began to charge a kamehameha to shoot at it.

The copy smirked cruelly and zanzokened quickly, and Alex was kicked in the back of the head from behind before he could even begin to charge any energy, sending him flying forward, where the copy zanzokened above him and did a vicious vertical roundhouse kick from above, and sending Alex flying to the ground, smashing to the ground. Alex flipped up with aching muscles and bones, his anger only rising.

"Alright, that's ENOUGH, you faggot Namekian copycat!" Alex screamed as he pumped out more power than he was used to and charging in close at the odd copy, swinging his fists at it's face in an near-blind attempt to hit something. The odd copy of Piccolo kept smirking cruelly as it lazily ducked his attacks. He even noticed half way through it YAWNED at him as if he were nothing of a threat.

"How dare you, you piece of shit! I know Piccolo's not the happiest with all of us, but this is ridiculous, none of the rest of you are acting like this!" Alex growled, as the copy jumped back to a sizable distance from him.

Of course, even if he wanted it to, the copy could not respond with words. They rarely had the ability to do more than grunt and growl as they fought. This one seemed to be no exception.

However that did not seem to prevent it from chuckling at him as if amused at his own insults. It suddenly charged up a small amount of energy and shot forth nearly a dozen large ki spheres towards Alex in rapid succession. Alex, not expecting this and not the quickest of people in the group, was hit by six of them and the other four only missed him due to him being knocked out of their path and vicinity. Alex went down and smashed into the ground again.

As he pulled himself to his feet, he noticed the other Piccolo copies had stopped trying to fight him, as if they had taken interest in their oddball copy's antics and his own. Maybe the figured the other copy was already giving Alex enough of a fight and they didn't care to make it that much worse. He probably wouldn't really ever really know, though. He continued to hear the droning, menacing chuckles of the odd Piccolo copy, and the chuckles began to turn into more coherent laughter.

"What the hell's your problem! Why are you acting so strange and overpresistantly ANNOYING?!" Alex growled as he charged his body with energy and began firing off a torrent of medium to large ki spheres up at the copy. The copy continued laughing manically as it either took a few blasts, dodged them in an almost drunken pattern of movement, or even smacking them aside uselessly. As the copy continued to dodge, it quickly closed in up to the point the copy was nearly face to face with Alex. Alex stopped and growled up, attempting to stare down the amused copy. It glared back, still that ever ominous smirk present on it's face.

"Whatsamatter, kid? Can't hit what doesn't want to be hit?" the copy suddenly SAID to him.

"What the fuck?!" Alex jumped back, shocked at this, "You can SPEAK?!"

"Of course I can speak, you weakling Saiya-jin!" the copy suddenly turned it's smile to a snarl, and backhanded Alex with a surprising blow than causing him to almost hit a nearby wall behind him.

"Damn you!" Alex screamed, charging forward at the copy, his rage starting to mask and subdue all of his other rational thought.

"You've done that to yourself I think." the copy said, as it appeared to have timed Alex's charge with enough time to swing a vicious upwards kick that caught Alex and sent him flying into the air. The copy zanzokened below Alex and smashed his first into Alex's back, causing him more pain and accelerating his ascent into the air. It then zanzokened above Alex and fired off a large Gekiretsukoden, exploding against Alex's body violently and smashing him back to the ground once more, now Alex being in a lot worse shape than before. The copy landed close to Alex.

At this point though, most of the other fighting around them stopped. Vernon and Jason and their Piccolo copies had also stopped and had directed their attention to this, and even the original Piccolo, #17 and the two separated Mr. Buus had started to notice what was going on.

"What the hell?!" Piccolo said to himself, "That copy of me is actually SPEAKING to him?!"

"What's the big deal? Don't they do that anyways?" #17 asked.

"No, not when I don't arrange for it they don't! At most, only 3 copies can be active and still have the ability to even use simple speech!" Piccolo replied back, as he edged in a little closer.

Vernon and Jason had also flew in close to Alex, sensing his friend's predicament. The odd Piccolo copy chuckled with amusement as the other two lifted Alex to his feet, who was not nearly as grateful as he should've been.

"Hey, what the hell?! Let go of me, I can get up on my own!" Alex growled at them.

"Shut up and just stand up." Jason grumbled, "There's something wrong with this Piccolo copy."

"No shit. You only NOW noticed?!" Alex growled, still extremely mad.

"You two would do well to keep out of our business." the Piccolo copy said to Vernon and Jason.

"And what's it to you if we don't?!" Vernon growled, "It's one thing what we had been doing before, but you're not like the other copies! The fact you're talking alone proves this, and your cruel attitude towards Alex is another!"

The copy responded by powering up further, to it's maximum power, which was almost four times the strength of either of the three young Saiya-jin.

"I'd say if you don't, all three of you will DIE!" it yelled and charged in forward, and swung a giant ki sphere over it's head and quickly threw it into the clustered group of three Saiya-jin, hitting them with a nasty blow. All three where plastered to the ground, badly damaged from that attack alone. Piccolo had not been kidding about his power, and this copy was only a small part of it.

The copy flew in close to them, knowing they were all still alive, and with the intent to probably finish the job, but suddenly the original Piccolo made his move.

"REINTEGRATE NOW!" he screamed out. All of the Piccolo copies, having heard him, began to fly in towards him, their bodies fading away into green light as they appeared to go back inside of the Namekian's body.

However, to his shock, after he was done, he noticed the odd copy had NOT returned to him.

"HEY!! What the hell are you doing?!?! I told you to reintegrate!!" Piccolo yelled at it.

The odd [and now only] copy appeared to ignore him, and grabbed Alex by his collar and lifted him up, and poised his hand in a position to attempt a killing blow, and then it turned its' head to Piccolo, "And I tell you to go to Hell."

"What!? What the hell's your problem?!" Piccolo growled.

"I'm tired of listening to you and your do-gooder patheticness! I'm going to do things the way they should be done!" the copy growled as he turned to Alex, "Starting with this one and his friends' demises!"

However Piccolo had had enough. The copy had appearantly forgotten how much weaker he was than the original Piccolo. With a swift movement only Mr. Buu could pick up, Piccolo had swooped in and grabbed Alex from his copy's hands, put him down on the ground, and then gave the copy a single right cross to the face, knocking it out and crashing it to the ground with a single hit. Piccolo stared at the unconscious copy's body, and reached down, putting his hand on it's chest. The copy turned into a green light, which was absorbed into his body, returning Piccolo to his original and complete strength.

At the same time, Alex was getting to his feet, "Piccolo, do you wanna explain what the hell that thing was smoking?!"

"I honestly have no idea what was wrong with him." Piccolo said dejectedly, "I've never seen a copy of me go rouge before. Although this is also the first time I've split off so many. Maybe it's some once-unknown symptom of too many active copies."

Vernon had also gotten back up, "Man, was that guy serious? What did he mean 'going to do things the way they should be done'?"

"How the hell should I know, Vernon?!" Piccolo growled back, obviously not happy to be dealing with this problem.

Jason also got to his feet, but he didn't say anything for the moment.

Meanwhile, Mr. Buu had reintegrated into one body again, and he and #17 drew closer to the others.

"So... now what?" asked the cyborg.

"Damned if I know, #17." Piccolo replied, "Looks like my idea wasn't so great after all."

Buu had in the meanwhile gone over and rehealed Alex, Jason and Vernon, returning them to nearly full health and condition. They had also powered down back to base form for the time being. However they immediately noticed how much stronger they had gotten from all the fighting and the many beatings they received.

"This is great! I feel a lot stronger now!" Vernon cheered.

"Only because we got our asses kicked what, four, maybe five times?" Jason suggested sarcastically.

"Even so, it still helped a lot!" Alex yelled at him, admitting to that.

"Alright, I think we're done with the training for now. I am quite aware of your little wrestling event, and while I'd like to keep you from going, I got a feeling there's no point in stopping you. You're all gonna probably want to make preparations for it anyways. You guys can go home, or do whatever. I'm heading back to Vernon's house. Whatever it is you guys decide to do, it's your decision." Piccolo spoke up.

"You're still coming tonight, right?" Vernon asked.

"Yeah, might as well. I won't have anything else to do anyways." Piccolo replied, "#17, it's up to you where you go right now. But don't try to bother me about what happened for now. I'm gonna have to get more information about it later."

"Fine fine, be that way." #17 replied with a sigh, and looked to Alex, Jason and Vernon, "I guess I'll follow you guys around for now."

"What about you, Buu?" asked Jason.

"Buu gonna head back with you." Mr. Buu replied.

So what that, Piccolo had already began to head back to Vernon's house to think about the implications of his rouge copy, and the others would be heading back over to Alex' neighborhood for a short time, where they were then probably split off to head home for some things to take with them to Gund Arena that night...

**********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 5:58pm; Canton, Ohio)

Four and a half hours later, most of the Misfits, including #18, who had been out doing only lord-knows-what, had gathered to Dusty's house in order to meet up with Dwayne and Steve, who had just finished their training and were going to rest for about 30-40 minutes before heading off to fly over to Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The reason was a chance for the others to meet up and discuss their stories and training tales for the day before heading off for a more relaxing night.

For Dwayne and Steve, the training had been monotonous and fairly uninteresting all day, but ultimately it did pay off for the two wrestlers, and both had come to be able to restrict their powerlevels a lot more substantially than they were used to. Come to think of it, in a sense, they had probably come close to maximizing the use of ki concealment and scaling down of their strength, a feat which they realized might assist them in future training endeavors, specifically ones involving the use of the Kaioken technique.

Although Dwayne in particular had been eager to test said theory out, he and Steve didn't want to jinx their efforts for the day by doing the normal training regimens of the other Misfits until after the Gund Arena event. Dwayne's curiosity would have to wait.

However the two wrestlers needed to speak with Goku. They knew now of his power to teleport others around to distant spots, the 'Shunkan Idou' technique. The Saiya-jin had however mentioned of a need to be able to sense a ki signature of significant levels to lock onto them.

Steve walked over and got Goku's attention, "So, we need to quickly discuss getting us all to Gund Arena. Are we all gonna choose to fly there, or are we going to try to use your technique for this?"

Goku looked over, "Well, as I mentioned, I need an unique ki signature of decent strength to lock onto for that to work. I don't think there's anyone up there in Cleveland with such an energy level right now."

Dwayne cut in, "Well, it so happens both Steve and I can probably get there by air. We actually know the city fairly well. We can go to Gund Arena, raise our energy levels temporarily, and give you that 'beacon' you need. Will that work?"

"Yeah, that'd actually be perfect. The rest of us can just wait here until you arrive there and give us the signal. However, I'd suggest you guys take your scouters. I'll get mine so I can receive word when you're ready." Goku responded.

"Alright, see you in a moment, man." Dwayne replied as Goku turned and walked back into the house. The two wrestlers went back to their residence quickly to pick up their own scouters.

Vegeta looked over from Goku to the rest of the group and called over, "Just to make things clear, are any of you missing your scouters? I'd recommend you all have them gathered up for tonight, in case there's a mishap and Kakarott forgets to teleport someone!"

A couple of them, specifically Virgil, Jason and #18 perked up and looked over to him with a look of realization. All three had left their scouters at home.

"No, I need to go back and get mine!" Jason responded in concern.

"Dammit, same here. I'll be right back!" Virgil cursed and flew off quickly to get to his house. Jason quickly followed his lead and flew off over to his house as well.

#18 sighed, "Oops... my bad."

Vegeta then saw her take to the air and fly off towards her own home residence, sighing to himself, "At least I warned them."

A minute later, he saw Goku return outside, his Purple Scouter in hand. He also soon saw Dwayne and Steve returning with their own scouters on hand.

"Jason, Virgil and the cyborg girl had to rush back home to get their scouters. I had to make sure everyone had them for tonight Kakarott." he said, when Goku looked for the missing three Misfits.

"Oh, good thinking Vegeta." Goku responded.

Over the next 5 minutes, Jason, #18 and then Virgil returned, their scouters in hand, and all of the group now seemed to be ready and waiting together for the time of the event to come.

However Radditz had seen this as the absolute best opportunity he could get to tell the rest of his allies about the premonition dream he had on the 11th, and to finally it get it completely off his chest.

"Dwayne, Steve, you guys gonna be here for another 10-15 minutes?" he spoke up.

Steve turned to him, "Yeah sure, probably another half an hour at least. At our speed, we shouldn't take more than an hour to get to the arena. Wait, is there something you wanted to talk to us about?"

"Actually yes, but not just you, but Dwayne and Dusty need to hear this as well. Also I figure all the rest of these guys need to hear this too." Radditz replied, and then turned to all the others to call at them, "HEY! You guys paying attention over there?! I have something I need to get out into the open and it's best you all pay attention, because I'm not gonna say it again. I've already done this enough times with a few of the others earlier!"

Vegeta harrumphed with a sigh, Goku raised an eyebrow at this, some of the others looked straight at him, while Dan, Teresa and even Nina looked over intently, taking a breath or two, realizing what Radditz was going to say and were preparing to jump in with any extra cents they'd inevitably have to add.

"So what's up Radditz?" Goku asked of his older brother.

"Do all of you remember back on the 11th, when I came to you guys with Teresa's family in tow?" he asked.

"Yeah, you said that you found where the terrorists who attacked those buildings and then lead the attack on Dan had been hiding them." Heero responded.

"Also, I think you said something about killing the operative there as well." #17 added.

"Yes, and yes. Both of those are true. However I'm certain some of you have probably wondered in the back of your minds, exactly how was I able to find them in the first place." Radditz added.

"Actually, I don't think the thought ever crossed my mind, man." Alex chimed in, honestly having not let that set of details hang on his mind with all the training and other stuff that had occured in the wake of the attacks.

"Well it should've made some of you curious, considering Teresa's family had no uniquely distinguishing powerlevels to track them by." Radditz grumbled back.

"Hey wait, you're right!" Goku cut in, "Just as I said earlier regarding Shunkan Idou: you can't really lock onto just any ki signature at random if you expect to go to a specific point. So yeah, how exactly DID you find out where they were being held?"

"To put to the point here, I was sleeping in on the 11th, like you and Vegeta had, since most of the others were revisiting the high school. Anyways, something to quickly make note of, and Vegeta already knows this, but I'm the type who can have sporadic nightmares. Things related to my past, events I haven't told some of you about yet, some I have recently told some of you, but again... Vegeta will probably know what I'm talking about." Radditz responded, as some of the others looked to Vegeta, who sighed despondently under their gazes.

"Indeed Radditz, I assume this has to do... with THAT incident... the one Dodoria was all but behind." Vegeta replied, having also quite well remembered the events of the death of Radditz's to-be Saiya-jin mate. In fact, thinking of those events again brought back a reinvigorated anger at Frieza and the wretched Planet Trade he had ran. Said mate of Radditz's had been like an older sister to him, even though after her death Vegeta had grown so cold and stony to emotions that he pretended to never let it bother him again.

"The nightmares do, yes. Not THIS dream though. This dream was a lot more... surreal than any of the usual ones. In fact, it was outright prophetic in some ways. To make it short, images of the attacks on those two large towers, the pentagon shaped building, the crashed plane in the fields only about 100 miles away, images of the individuals responsible for those attacks, their victims inside both towers, the other buildings, and even their hostages on the plane. It was basically like I was seeing the events play out in almost real time. I even saw images of the collapsing of the two larger towers, and the horror of all those people falling to their deaths." Radditz spoke.

As he had, Goku looked at Radditz with a remorseful frown. He had to figure this dream wasn't going to be easy for his brother to discuss, being that it had taken him this long to finally spill the beans about it.

Paula however, was intrigued about this. Apparently she hadn't been the only one who had seen visions of something that day, "Radditz, this isn't a common thing for you, is it?"

"To have dreams like this one, hell no it isn't." Radditz replied, "But to continue my story here. A strange thing was happening as I saw these images. In between certain swathes of images... I saw other images, ones of all the different members of Teresa's family, some of them individually, some of them together, but they were images from times before the attacks, and even a couple of them tied up in that bastard's house. Every other time I saw a series of images depicting them though, this voice would call out to me, telling me to "Save Them, Save Them". It repeated almost a dozen times overall before I began to get impatient. But before I could yell out for more answers, more images came to me, but this time, they were all of Teresa herself..."

A lot of the others turned over to look at Teresa herself when Radditz mentioned this. She sighed, trying not to wilt back under the differing gazes she had been receiving, "Yes... I should indicate here, I've already been informed on all the details of this dream. It was back on the 12th."

"Wait, so you told her first, and didn't consider telling the rest of us?!" Devin mulled with agitation.

"Devin, you have to understand, the dream actually ended up chiefly revolving around Teresa. So if I may continue my story here, I began to hear the same damn voice calling out, now telling me to "Save Her, Save Her"... and it was at that point I snapped and yelled out into the void around me for answers and not just cryptic double-talk. To my surprise, I got a direct answer." Radditz started, then looking from Devin over to Dusty, Dwayne and Steve, "Dusty, you guys need to hear this most importantly. If what I've gathered... if it's not a joke or some trick... the voice I heard is the same one that you, Steve and Dwayne encountered on the 29th, during all the rifts opening up around the universe during the first stages of our merger."

"Wait WHAT?!" Dusty jumped in surprise, "The voice also spoke with you?! It was telling you to save Teresa?"

"Yes Dusty. Wanting more answers, I pressed this mysterious entity for more answers. I'm not a religious, or a superstitious person. I don't easily trust the advice of beings and voices I can't see, that I can't perceive, or sense. I didn't trust this voice at all. For all I knew, it might have been the very dark force you claim it was trying to warn you about, trying to use us as its pawns."

Dwayne sighed, "Damn, that's... that's a good point to consider. We didn't exactly know what to make of the being who spoke to us, but we didn't exactly expect foul play. So anyways, what else did he tell you? I can tell there's more to this than just a short chat."

"You'd be correct Dwayne. The voice told me that I had to save Teresa, and her family. I had to save her because according to the entity, she would join us, and become one of the strongest members of the entire team over time." Radditz continued, as some of the others, specifically Alex, Goku, Vernon, Vegeta and even Devin and Clint had looked back to Teresa, with a mix of different stares, from disbelief, curiosity, or even some of skepticism.

"Did it really say that, Radditz?" Vernon asked, wanting to be sure he didn't mishear him.

"Yes, I'm not making this up Vernon." Radditz continued, "Again, I didn't know what to think about this. I pressed our entity for more answers, attempting to learn more about who it was. I didn't get too much, but it claims it too, much like a lot of us, including myself... it wasn't always a good person, and that part of it's reason for helping us is to atone for some kind of horrible misdeed or something. We got into a discussion about the possibility of us being used as it's pawns, as mentioned before. However the entity told me that all of us are supposed to set out and make our own paths in life, and not expect fate to be pre-determined. One other thing it claimed however, was that trying to reveal itself to us as we are at this time would drive every single one of us totally insane right now. I'd believe that when I see it, but I couldn't really force anything else out of it."

"Great, clear as friggin' mud." Piccolo responded, "I have to agree with you on this one Radditz, I certainly wouldn't flat off trust this voice in a truly dire situation. But I assume it said something that made you at least rethink your opinions on this? Or am I wrong?"

"No Piccolo, you'd be right. Sensing my mistrust, it revealed to me a few things, some things about my past that I've mostly not told most of you yet. Again, Vegeta knows about some of these events, but there's a couple I never even told him or Nappa about back then." Radditz answered.

"Wait, what are you talking about when you say this Radditz?" Vegeta cut in.

"You mean the stuff I never told you or Nappa?" Radditz responded, and then sighed bitterly. Vegeta gave a silent nod of 'yes' to him.

Radditz looked to Goku, "Kakarott, pay close attention to what I'm about to say, for this involves our family, most specifically, a member of the family you've probably all but not heard about to this point: our mother."

"Yeah, I'm listening, brother." Goku replied.

"The short version of the story is that our mother, Tanipuu, died of complications hours after you were born. Now, she was conscious long enough before her passing that she did get to pick up and hold you, but beyond that, that was the only contact you ever had with her. She fell ill not long after and you were taken away for your protection. Our father Bardock was not there to see this, and he was away on a mission to a planet called Kanassa. Frieza apparently felt the powers of that specific race were a possible threat to him, so our father and his squad were sent to wipe them out. However, I was present to see my mother's final moments, and hear her last words. Those last words were basically her having me make a promise to her..." Radditz then looked down and closed his eyes, "One that to my present regret, I broke horribly in the end. But nonetheless, she made me promise to watch you Kakarott, she wanted me to guide you through life as a Saiya-jin, to protect you and give you the chance to grow up, grow up in an era free of Frieza. She actually had this strange feeling you'd come to grow up without the influence of Frieza's iron hand over you. In a strange way, she was right in the end, but not the way she believed. The point is, I told her I would keep that promise to the best of my ability, and then she gave out, and finally perished. Unfortunately I did not have much time to contemplate her words. Frieza's people had suddenly had me called in for a mission, one I later learned would be to get me off Vegeta-sei so I would not be there to see the planet's end, or to know that while this was happening, you had been set up to be sent to Earth."

"Nappa and I were also called out on our own mission for Frieza at roughly the same time, Kakarott. Same reason as they did Radditz. They didn't want me to be immediately aware that Frieza had planned to destroy the Saiya-jin for his fear induced reasons. Ultimately as you might have heard, he fed us a lie that a comet had smashed the planet to atoms, leaving no survivors. However... there were of course survivors, you whom were on his way to Earth for a simple purging mission. Radditz, who had been called to a mission on a distant planet known as Ulyos, then Nappa and myself to a planet known as Katrelica, and then there... there was a fifth survivor... the only female of our kind left... an younger adult by the name of Danishelle." Vegeta continued, his final words about the female named Danishelle causing Radditz's to squint his eyes in fury, and shake a small bit.

Goku and the others noticed this visual cue, and realized this was probably not going to end happily for the younger Saiyaness, but held in their words, as Vegeta looked to Radditz, who swallowed in some air before continuing.

"Now from what I've picked up, the widely known story among most of you is that only Vegeta, Nappa and I had been taken in under Frieza's wing that day, but that was likely something your 'Dragonball' series didn't catch or pick up on, or just didn't care to go into more details on. But yes, there was indeed a fifth survivor, a female of a few years older than me. Danishelle... she was quite a Saiya-jin. She wasn't as powerful as Nappa or Vegeta, but she came damn close to Nappa's level, and he looked down on her as a prized cadet, being she took orders well from him. You might not have thought to believe him Kakarott, but Nappa was indeed telling the truth when he claimed he was the general of the Saiya-jin armies. He led them proudly into battle, winning us many decisive victories. He wasn't always just a hard-headed brute, but the times... they addled away at him, to the point only wanton carnage and the protection of Vegeta mattered to him anymore. You might have decimated Nappa to save your friends on Earth, but you tore apart most of what remained of his pride as a Saiya-jin in those moments, and then Vegeta... no offense to him, but Vegeta tore away the final remnants of his pride when he chose to put Nappa out of commission just after his defeat."

Vegeta sighed bitterly. Although when he had killed Nappa on Earth, he had seen it mostly as disposing a broken and crippled tool, he had come to greatly regret it over the later years. However he couldn't help but growl over at Radditz, "Look, I might have indeed saw him as worthless at that time, but his damn back was broken! He was paralyzed by Kakarott's Kaioken attack. There was nothing I could've done to help him even if I wanted to outside of fleeing the planet to get him back to a Frieza-controlled planet to heal, and I wasn't about to let that stop me from acquiring the Dragonballs and attaining immortality. Call it callous, call it evil, but that's just how I was Radditz, and that's something the rest of you need to know and understand. I've never been sunshine and rainbows. I'm never been about being soft on others, even in this time and age. However I don't do things to an evil or extreme degree anymore."

"Look, I do realize you also executed Nappa in a perceivably honorable way Vegeta. I didn't intend to offend either you or Nappa with my words, it's just I have to be blunt about the fact." Radditz sighed.

"That's fine with me if you wish to be blunt, but don't you dare think it was a total act of murder either." Vegeta replied with a huff in his voice.

"Well, either way, I got to meet with Nappa in Hell after his death. He was pretty hollow, pretty damn broken for the first couple of years. He came out of his shell eventually, but the eventual arrival of Dodoria and the Ginyu Force in Hell didn't make our afterlives any easier." Radditz replied, growling again as he had to mention the name of Dodoria.

Vegeta continued, "However, back to the subject of Danishelle. I was the youngest of all four of us, and... hard as it might sound to some of you to hear this, I saw up to her as an older sister figure. She taught me some things about combat even my father and the royal fighters in the palace didn't know."

"So wait, wait a moment... why did Frieza even decide to let a female Saiya-jin survive if he was trying to all but exterminate them?" Alex asked, suddenly intrigued to hear this story.

Vegeta grit his teeth before responding, "Though Danishelle was a powerful Saiya-jin in her own right, Frieza brought her into the fold for a specific reason. He told us if the rest of us did our missions, and the rest of our work to maximum efficiency, he would eventually allow us to mate with her. She was powerful, but to Frieza, she appeared to be intended as a sort of broodmare to dangle over our heads, some bullshit promise to revive the Saiya-jin."

Nina growled at the mention of this woman being intended as a broodmare. Her opinion of this 'Frieza' character was beginning to get even worse than it already had been. However she remained silent in her anger for the time being, as Vegeta continued to speak.

"However, as I said, it was nothing but utter bullshit, a means to keep us in line. The truth of it was, while Nappa and I pretended to give off the impression we would appreciate the chance to mate with her, we secretly loathed the idea. I was far too young to even care about that kind of thing, and Nappa felt like he was far too old for the likes of his own cadet. That left only one person who was remotely interested in this idea." Vegeta then slowly turned to Radditz.

The long-haired Saiya-jin sighed, deciding Vegeta wanted him to continue the story, "Indeed, Vegeta and Nappa were far from interested in Danishelle that way. They were more focused on staying alive, and getting as powerful as possible. Even then, we had all come to the conclusion that Frieza didn't have our best interests in mind. However, Danishelle and I had a special sort of interaction. Frieza didn't actually realize it at the time, but Danishelle and I, the closest among us four in age, had already began a sort of 'relationship', one that would've eventually led us to mate with each other. We had been friends from back in our late childhood. I was 11, and she was 14, in terms of human's years, when we met, so we had some time to grow up as friends and then become closer than that."

Some of the others noticed Radditz was slowly beginning to shake as he continued his story, "But we soon learned Frieza had many spies, many methods of secretive surveillance that we didn't catch on to. He learned of our bond and of our intent to mate for real. On top of that all four of us had planned to try to find a way to get us all away from Frieza's clutches and he had caught wind of that as well. Not to mention Vegeta's general tendency to taunt and pick fights with his elites. This culminated into the day that changed all our lives, for the worse."

Radditz stopped to take a deep breath before he continued, "It had been 2 years since Vegeta-sei's destruction, possibly 3. The four of us were gathered in Nappa's quarters, we had been discussing a plan of attack for a planet we had been assigned to purge by the name of Telkawi. The natives of that world were another one of the kind that Frieza felt Saiya-jin like us were effective in dealing with, due to a moon that was constantly full when compared to other lunar cycles. The Oozaru form would've made quick work of them, but regardless Vegeta and Nappa both felt it was for the best to plan ahead. However we were interrupted by our door suddenly opening. Turning around... we saw Dodoria's shadow in the light behind him. Suddenly, faster than any of us except Vegeta could perceive, a lancing beam of ki pierced... right through Danishelle's heart. She fell back onto the bad, already on death's door. The shock of such a thing had rooted Nappa and Vegeta to the floor. At first... I was also stunned speechless... but that didn't last long..."

Vegeta cut in, "I'll pick up here, since Radditz... well... his memories of what happened next aren't perfect since... to put it blunt, he totally LOST IT. It was the first time I ever saw Radditz's demeanor just collapse like that. Sure, he was the weakest of us, but he almost never complained about his issues with his weaknesses. He had never whined or cried about it, least of all not in front of us. But Danishelle's imminent demise... it broke him to the point he literally tore at Dodoria like a mad beast! I screamed out for him to stop, thinking his effort would be for nothing. I was shocked when Dodoria's head suddenly appeared to twist almost 160 degrees! Radditz had dealt him a blow that had he been a human, it would've snapped his neck in twain. Dodoria flew back and smashed against the wall. Radditz prepared a second onslaught, one that would've ensured Dodoria's demise, but unfortunately Dodoria had not been the only one to come to our room."

Radditz growled, "FRIEZA. He had accompanied Dodoria to Nappa's room in order to likely gloat at us about Dodoria's actions, to put to fear of him in us. He saw me about to finish Dodoria and snatched me out of the air around my neck with that wicked tail of his, smashing me to the ground as easily as one would smash a mere insect on the floor. It was at that point I completely regained my senses, and felt incredible pain after the adrenaline wore off. The expression on his face was pure murder. He ranted and howled at me, promising my death a quick yet painful one for nearly decimating Dodoria like that, and the pressure around my neck increased to the point it was only a matter of time before he popped my damn head off like a cork."

"But ironically it would be DODORIA who saved Radditz from such a brutal end. Of course, far from it being a kind reason. Somehow the fat bastard was able to recover and get to his feet, even with his head twisted nearly a full 180. He saw Radditz, and at first, he had no intention of letting him live, being Frieza had already intended to finish him off himself. However I suppose Dodoria had this sick idea that if Radditz died, he'd be immediately reunited with Danishelle in Hell or something, and all but convinced Frieza to spare Radditz out of a cruel form of mercy, to leave him a battered and broken man for the rest of his life." Vegeta cut in, to the astonished looks of Goku and a lot of the other Misfits, "Frieza agreed to so, but then he turned to me and Nappa, bellowing at us that we were to never under any circumstance attempt to mate with ANY female of any species, be they in his army, or one of our intended purge victims, for if he learned of such, he claimed he would personally tear our faces off and bury them six feet under as he killed us. He then told me to make haste to heal Radditz in a healing chamber before he changed his mind. With all that happened, we took Radditz and rushed off to the infirmary as fast as our feet could. It was one of the few other times in my life Frieza had made me truly come to fear him, and I'm not proud to admit that..."

It was in these moments, a lot of the others had began to see the horrors of what Radditz had experienced. Nina had always wondered why Radditz was so reluctant to accept her help when she found him at Dodoria's mercy in Hell on the 29th. She had always wondered what could've caused such horribly bad blood between him and Dodoria. Now she knew exactly why it was they were mortal enemies, and why he constantly spoke of him with even greater rage than Frieza himself.

"As for... as for Danishelle's body. They quickly disposed of it. We never learned exactly HOW they had, they would never even let us speak a word of it, lest a horrible series of beatings would ensue. Vegeta tried a few times, but said beatings from Dodoria and Kwei were just too numerous and Vegeta slowly grew to the point he didn't care anymore. Vegeta had slowly began to believe that emotions were pathetic and that it was what led us up to Danishelle's murder, due to the fact we tried to work as a team and like a family as opposed to a mere unit of soldiers. As for Nappa, it was her death that also broke him, but unlike Vegeta and I, who slowly grew colder and more stony, he slumped into a depression of which he found only wanton destruction could really soothe. He never did get over her death. He might have been a brutal fighter Kakarott, but Danishelle meant a lot to him as both a soldier and a fellow Saiya-jin. I guess perhaps he was even beginning to see her like a niece or a daughter. He never really did recover from that before your fated battle with him on Earth." Radditz explained, as Goku looked him over in pity, "As for yours truly. As Vegeta did, I grew cold, distant and my heart also became like a stone. I couldn't find myself able to even shed tears weeks after the event. I began to see anyone beneath me as nothing but tools to my end. Vegeta also had a similar mindset, but he was a little... wiser about it than I was. However we became a lot more volatile as a team, and I think ultimately that was something else Frieza had intended for to happen. He always was paranoid about us rising up to try to depose him."

"Radditz... I'm sorry... I never knew this kind of... atrocity had been committed by a bastard like Frieza..." Goku said to his older brother, "If only... there was a way I could've done something..."

"What could you have done?! You were still just a child Kakarott, and you were light-years away! There's nothing you could've done to help us, and... you know... I just realized something... I think it makes more sense now... The reason I regarded you with such disdain when I came to Earth. I had come to find you, and recruit you into the fold, but I knew deep down, you'd never be another Danishelle. You'd be far too weak, far too flawed, far too... imperfect for me to deal with. Truthfully, I had wanted to just leave you on Earth to rot and never bother the planet again, but Vegeta was adamant I find you as soon as possible, so I abided his order and landed on Earth. I think you can piece together the rest of it from there, Kakarott." Radditz responded.

Goku sighed with sadness, and Piccolo grumbled under his breath, as it was obvious the next events involved both of them and Goku's son Gohan having to deal with the arrival of Radditz, all of it leading up to the reveal of Gohan's hidden powers, and Radditz and Goku's demises at the hands of Piccolo's Makankosappou beam. The others of the original Misfits were also filled with a sense of more completion to the understanding of Radditz's past now, having some of the blanks before the beginning of the Dragonball Z written in at last for them. However for the moment, most of them were having issues speaking up with any questions they had.

"Kakarott, worst of all, I FAILED YOU. I failed our mother, and even failed our father in a sense when we both died. I met with him almost immediately after our deaths. When you didn't appear to go in Hell with me, I mused on why you got special treatment and I didn't. Father appeared before me, and he was not happy about what he had witnessed. However instead of chewing me out like he would when I did disobedient things as a child, he simply spoke with the tone of a disappointed father, telling me that you had been destined for great things. For you might not know this about our father Bardock, Kakarott. In fact I don't think Vegeta knew this either, but apparently he had gained this strange psychic power from one of the final survivors of Kanassa, given to him by a desperate Kanassan as a sort of curse." Radditz continued, "The powers allowed him to see visions of the end of our planet, it's destruction at Frieza's hand, and then the most jarring thing I heard at the time, that you were the one destined to defeat Frieza himself. Angry at him for reasons involving him not being there to see Mother to her final moments, I barked out about how weak you had been and that you had deserved to die with me. Father only sighed back at me and explained in more detail WHY you were supposed to defeat Frieza. He had a vision after his demise of you becoming a Super Saiya-jin, and then the defeat of Frieza on the planet of Namek."

Hearing of this, both Goku, Vegeta and Paula's interests had perked up, for different reasons. Goku's due to the fact he had never known his father had such powers to see the future. Vegeta's for a near similar reason, not to mention he had heard the stories of Bardock's immeasurable strength for being a mere third-class Saiya-jin. Paula however was concerned to how much trauma and suffering such a power to see these kind of... uncontrollable visions of future events could have on his psyche. She even compared Bardock's ability to her own, the same she had unwillingly endured when she saw the now-prevented vision of Teresa shocking Dan to death at Canton South High School, and then the one of Rowan and the Crips hiding the Jade Ring, the Destronic Powder and all that money in Clint's first house.

"Wait a second Radditz." Goku cut in, "You said Dad would have these... visions from time to time, right?"

"Yes, what of it?" his brother responded.

"Do you think... do you think it's possible this dream you had might be some product of that? That you might have inherited part of Dad's power to see things?" Goku continued.

"What?! No! You dumb fool! The visions he saw were an ability 'given' to him by another being as a curse for his destructive actions working for Frieza, it wasn't something he knew when I was born!" Radditz growled, not understanding how his brother couldn't connect those dots.

"No, listen... What if it's possible he might have had the ability to see these visions but they were dormant until that alien 'cursed' him? How do you know it wasn't some untapped ability of his?" Goku questioned back.

"I... Father never seemed to give off the impression he could use any kind of foresight before that mission. For the same reason, I'd doubt you'd have inherited those powers. You were conceived months before he went on that mission." Radditz sighed.

It was then he realized in spite of his compelling story, he had almost lost track of the original topic: that dream. He needed to finish telling them about that.

"Kakarott, Vegeta... forget about the past for the moment! I need to finish explaining the rest of this dream and the intentions of that voice. Getting back to that... the voice pulled up memories and references to Mother's death and my promise to her, and also of the events surrounding Danishelle's death, telling me that even in spite of those things, I found my way towards the light. I guess that's true, and it managed to calm my concerns about the entity's intents for the moment. I decided I would give it the benefit of the doubt and listened out to the rest of what it had to tell me. As it began to dissipate, the entity showed me images of the neighborhood, and the house the Al-Qaeda operative had made home out of, and that Teresa's family had indeed been being held there." he continued, "Soon, I finally woke up. However, something strange that happened after... I could've sworn I heard a woman's voice, a voice whispering these words to me: "YOU ARE NOT ALONE..." It was so faint, so quick, I had until now completely forgotten that I had even heard it until now. I have no idea what it was about, or WHY I heard this person speaking to me after I woke up. However... after that I had little time to ponder about it, as I quickly went to try to call you and Vegeta to get help with dealing with the situation. The more of us that could go to that house, the quicker and better we could deal with what was waiting. However you two had also been sleeping in, and after about 10 rings of the phone, I basically broke off and decided to handle the situation myself. Luckily I managed to slip in through the back door of the operative's residence, and took him by surprise. I gutted him and left him to bleed out to death on the floor. I saw it a fitting demise for a bastard like him. Then I quickly gathered Teresa's family and got all of us the hell out of there, and then I flew back with them to you guys at the high-school, and you know the rest."

"Damn, that was a very interesting dream, and... such a terrible set of events in your past..." Clint replied, realizing Radditz had all but finished his story.

"Look, don't apologize for my problems, none of you. It wasn't your faults Frieza was such a tartless bastard in times past." Radditz sighed. Somehow, now having finally shared not only the circumstances of the dream, but the more painful parts of his past with the others, it felt like a huge weight had been taken off of him in general.

"Yeah, I'm done now by the way. If there's any questions for me, now's the best time to ask them." he finished.

"Yeah I got one. I can understand I guess that Teresa had to be told this first since she was the central focus of the dream, but why did Nina and Dan find out before the rest of us?" Devin immediately spoke up.

"Nina found out only because Teresa called our house a few days ago and we had a conversation over speaker-phone and Teresa referenced our chat about the dream and Nina had been there to hear it, so she basically asked me to tell her what I was hiding from her about this. As for Dan, I literally only just got done finally telling him earlier this morning. I had been intending to tell him second, but with all the stuff happening one thing after another, I kept losing my opportunity to tell him. Dan then told me during our conversation I needed to make sure the rest of you guys learned about this as soon as possible. And I understand why now. The pattern I've come to conclude concerning our mysterious disembodied voice is that it doesn't seem to speak to the same people twice. It spoke to me despite past contact with Dusty, Dwayne and Steve, and I have a feeling I won't be hearing it again any time soon. I advise all of you to be prepared to have an encounter of some kind with this entity. And for the love of all things, if you do have such an encounter, don't be an idiot like me and wait forever to tell the rest of us about it. We need to get all the information on this being that we can and as quickly as possible. The sooner we find out who this person is, and what their true motives are, the sooner we can adjust ourselves."

"Smart thinking Radditz, I don't see any reason I'd hold any information back if the voice got in touch with me for example. Although I hope the others, like Alex can handle that." Piccolo replied, giving Alex a frustrated glance.

"He.. hey... don't worry Piccolo. You certainly taught me a lesson about that today, considering that rouge copy of you beat the unholy fuck out of me earlier!" Alex replied, trying to keep Piccolo's temper in check.

"Huh? Rouge copy?" Goku asked with some slight concern to his friend.

"Long story short Goku, Piccolo was really furious with us about the whole 'holding back about GT' thing and such, so he came up with this idea to use his own split-form technique to create sixteen copies of himself, and sent 6 after Alex, and 5 after Jason and I each in order to give all of us a brutal training session dealing with fighting multiple opponents of near-even power at once. Needless to say, we all got ourselves pretty wrecked up a few times out there. Buu healed us each time though, and it did get us stronger in the end, so I'm mostly not gonna complain." Vernon started.

"Yeah, but Alex, as we mentioned had gotten an extra copy sicced on him, I guess due to him having been holding back that information from you guys. The extra copy... let's just say it was a little different from the other 15 copies. It was twice as vicious, it turned out the damn thing still maintained a level of sentience that the other 15 lacked, and it had it out for Alex to the point it was ready to flat out kill him for real. Vernon and I tried to help Alex out, but it flattened all three of us with one really powerful blast and was going to finish us all off. Piccolo quickly called his other copies back, the the rouge copy was refusing to reintegrate, even going as far to tell him off. Piccolo them shut it up with a quick few blows, knocking it out and forcing it back into his power collection like the rest." Jason finished.

"Yes, none of that was really exaggerated, Goku." Piccolo pouted, "I don't know how it happened, why it happened, and why the copy had become that vicious. Yes, I was mad at those three, and I was pretty angry at Alex, but I had no intent on killing him, just putting him through some hellish training. The copy's attitude was also the strange part. It was telling me that it was time that it did things 'the way they should've done a long time ago'. I wish I knew what that meant."

"Like you suggested though Pic', it might've just been some 'glitch' as you called it, of having so many copies split off at once. You told me you've never split off more than 3 or 4 copies at a time until today, so who knows what weird anomalies can occur through that technique. Maybe some repressed aspect of yourself was funneled mostly into that copy, and by extension it decided to take it's wrath out mostly on who you were mad at most at the time." #17 replied.

"You really think that might be it, #17?" Piccolo asked with some wonder.

"Just a theory, but it's the one that sounds to make the most sense to me." the cyborg boy replied.

Paula had been listening to this, and she was wondering if #17's theory made the most sense, or if perhaps there was something more... strange and dangerous reflected in fact this 'rogue copy' had been able to manifest itself.

"Piccolo, hear me out on this. Are there any remnants left of Piccolo Damiaou within you that might be being repressed by the other aspects of your psyche?" she asked to him.

Piccolo looked at her with a surprised expression, and then one that suggested he had never considered to think of the possibility of her theory until just now. "Dammit, I didn't even think about the possibility of that! Do you think my father's traits somehow got indebted to one of my copies?"

"Well, that is a possibility. You did say using 16 copies of yourself was a new thing. Maybe your aspects divided across them in such a way that most of your father's personality and darkness got clumped in with one of them." Paula replied.

This had felt to be a bit consistent to Alex with the babbling about "doing this the way they should've been" that Piccolo's rouge copy had stated before its attempt to kill him, "Actually... that might not be a hard pill to swallow either Paula. Thinking about the kind of cruelty I experienced, there might actually be something to that idea."

Piccolo growled, but mostly to himself at these words. It wasn't that he thought they were lying, but Piccolo could've sworn that his experiences: being befriended by Gohan, his fusion with Nail on Namek, his fusion with Kami during the Cyborg crisis, and then the 17 years that had passed after it had all but weeded out the darkness his father had reincarnated him with. Sure he could be a little grumpy and testy about training others, but then again... he had realized perhaps his anger at Jason, Vernon and especially Alex had left him so bitter that he had been starting to see some red, and didn't think about the possibility of Damiaou's traits attempting to seep their way back into him. It was then Piccolo realized that perhaps there was more work to do with his life.

He had to not be so angry, frustrated and testy with his... friends, even with the younger and brattier members of the group. It's just that even Goten and Trunks hadn't been this bad at the same age. Sure they had been a handful as children, but that actually made sense to him at the time, being their minds hadn't fully matured yet. Then again, his foray into human psychology seemed to suggest the human mind doesn't completely mature until the age of 24 to 25, so that was something he had to keep in mind while dealing with most of his new friends and allies. Yeah... calling them 'friends'... that was tough enough for the wisened up Namekian to do.

Uncrossing his arms to relax them, he turned to Alex, Jason and Vernon, "Listen Alex, Jason, Vernon... I apologize for getting so angry and worked up about earlier today. I guess all the stuff I found out from Goku and Vegeta, and then you guys, about our possible future, this Super Saiya-jin 4 thing, and even things involving my future were getting to me so much I just started to see red around you. Hell I'm surprised none of my anger ended up getting misfocused at #17 or Buu during all of this."

"Yeah, you did do incredibly well not trying to totally tear me apart earlier before you started breaking off your copies. If it means anything, I don't think you're going to go berserk and kill someone yourself. I still believe that in spite of what Paula believes, this was still mostly a glitch in your ability. I think if you tone down the number of copies, it's far less likely to ever happen again. What do you think?" #17 replied.

"Perhaps that is for the best, but glitch or not, Paula makes a lot of sense. I never was able to completely purge Damiaou's soul from me. Sad to say, I am his reincarnation, and while he couldn't hold my soul down, there are still fundamental aspects of him woven into my physical and spiritual essence. I just hope it doesn't go south for us because of this. I'd hate to think if Damiaou's traits somehow managed to seep to the surface at a critical moment." Piccolo answered.

Suddenly, they heard Dwayne clear his throat from a distance away, and they turned to notice him and Steve were crowded together, a phone in Steve's hand, "I apologize for interrupting Piccolo, but... Steve and I just got off the phone with Vince. It's time for us to get ready to head out for the arena. We'll have to continue our discussions on this later, unless there's anything else vitally important."

"Fine, I agree... we need to get our minds off all this shit for a while." Vegeta replied, wanting to clear his head of the events involving Danishelle and her death. He was sure Radditz was feeling that urge to an even greater extent as well.

"Alright, we'll see you guys in about an hour. Keep your scouters active and wait for our signal, like we said..." Steve responded with finality.

Dwayne and Steve picked up to the air, and then ignited their ki auras to maximum strength, and blasted off northwards...

**********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 6:45pm; on the way to Cleveland, Ohio)

The trip to Gund Arena would be traveled about 50 miles to the North-Northwest of their starting point. Along the way they noticed it seemed to take them about 40 seconds to fly a full mile at their maximum powerlevels. This meant within about 35 minutes, they would arrive at the arena. Dwayne was anxious about what was to come. He knew his wife and daughter were also at the Gund awaiting him. Steve didn't seem to really be all too anxious. Dwayne wondered if he might have been thinking about his estranged wife Debra at all. Dwayne had know their relationship was on shaky ground after some rather interesting domestic disputes in the past months. He couldn't tell what kind of arguing and bickering might happen if she had decided to be there as well. He did hope for his friend the two of them would iron out their relationship soon enough though.

Steve had far from that on his mind though. His thoughts were more on meeting with their old friends in the WWE and WCW at the time, and finding a way to explain all of the recent events to them and Vince. As they had discussed in the past, a few of them would probably not find it easy to believe their world was now a lot more than it used to be. He wondered if they would laugh it off as a joke, or take it as a serious 'cry for help', or some other reaction. Also, there was concern for Dwayne's newly flourishing movie career. Dwayne had already done one movie, "The Scorpion King", released about 3 months ago, and there was concern being a Misfit would override that completely. There was also his concern of how Dwayne was going to explain everything to his own family.

He had to admit, Dwayne was much better connected to his family than he was to his own wife Debra. Although he and Debra had not been on the worst of terms since the last time they saw each other, she was concerned a lot about his beer-drinking and his bad attitude while drunk. He then realized to himself that he ironically had drank little beer since he had joined with the Misfits. He could recall maybe 4 or 5 cans at the most that he might of drank since then. He figured it must be all the training with everyone else making him too exhausted to enjoy them as much as he used to.

He began to wonder to himself, could that voice that spoke to him, Dwayne and Dusty on August 29th have possibly known about his marriage problems, and if so, perhaps this was some kinda wake up call in his life? He knew the whole 'merger of worlds' thing had indeed been a wake up call in itself. But would Debra even try to listen to him about the fact? Would she believe him, or even believe Dwayne? Steve knew Debra liked Dwayne as a friend on a similar level as himself, but would she actually believe even him about the recent events? Would she even in the end give a damn about what the two of them were doing?

Also, he and Dwayne both were thinking over the recent bombshell of information Radditz had laid on them only a half an hour ago about his own premonition-like dream on the 11th, and of the identical sounding voice he had heard in his dream. The fact the voice seemed to be watching out for not only all of them, but Teresa, the 2nd newest 'member' of the team, only lingered around in their minds stronger than ever before. Both wrestlers in their own way were still questioning the reasoning behind the mysterious disembodied voice and it's reason for trying to 'guide' them.

Dwayne and Steve also shared one other set of thoughts: how would all of the others in the WWE and WCW handle being around Goku, Clint and the others anyways? Some of them were major fans of the sport, while others were just connected to the two wrestlers as friends and training partners. Would there be complications between one or of their Misfit friends and a WWE friend, or would it all go off without a hitch?

However, suddenly Dwayne had gotten an interesting idea for something to do in one of their appearances together at the event. As they closed in on the city of Cleveland Ohio, where Gund Arena was located, they began to discuss their idea for the last 2 or 3 minutes of their flight. At the end they agreed it might be something to clear up any possible tension the following 4 to 5 hours would bring to them or their friends, and decided they would go and try it.

Soon, Dwayne and Steve found Gund Arena, right adjacent to Jacobs Field, the baseball field of the city's team: the Cleveland Indians. Also, not too far away was the Tower City Mall, probably the largest of all Malls in the state of Ohio. They had been to this place often. In fact, it had only been since July for WWE Invasion 2001, where the WWE were pit in several matches against various NWO and WCW wrestlers. Steve remembered of his own role in that event, being in the main event of that one, betraying his original team to help the opposing side for a win.

As the two of them landed at the Bolivar Road Entrance, they looked around for any sign of Vince, Dany, Simone, Debra, or any of their other friends and acquaintances from the WWE and WCW. Not immediately seeing anyone, they decided to turn the corner onto Ontario Street's side of the Arena. It was over there that they found Vince not too far away from one of the entrances, talking to a manager of the Gund Arena, apparently about the event. Sneaking their way over, Dwayne and Steve made it about 3 feet away before Vince recognized them. He looked to them and gave a hearty laugh.

"Rock, Austin! Great to see you guys made it! Did you guys, um..." he then leaned in and whispered to them as not to get people to stare at them, "...fly here?"

"Yeah, we just arrived a minute ago." Steve replied.

Vince looked around them, as if he were expecting to see something, and had a disappointed look on his face, "Didn't you guys say you had a bunch of people coming with you?"

"They're still coming, I'll explain everything in a little while. Let's just say, when they do arrive, their appearance will be... very sudden, to put it best." Dwayne replied, understanding how Goku's Shunkan Idou worked.

"I see. Well I hope they come, I've saved about 20 good seats near ringside for those guys, and I really don't want it to be a waste, you hear me?" Vince replied.

"Right. So, who else is here for the event anyways?" Steve asked.

"Angle, Helmsley, Van Dam, Rikishi, Undertaker, Kane are here, and of course Rock, Dany and Simone are inside waiting for you too, as we all arranged." Vince replied, focusing his last statement at Dwayne.

"Is Debra here tonight too?" Steve asked suddenly.

"Yeah, she is here. She heard you managed to find your way to Canton somehow. She was actually a little worried about you. You might want to see her at some point." Vince replied.

Damn! I guess I have no choice. I don't want her to worry endlessly. She knows we'll have to bump into each other soon anyways. Steve thought to himself at that point.

"Well, I guess I better get this over with. Let's head inside, Rock." Steve said, calling Dwayne by his ring name again, as Dwayne would be doing for him as well now that they were at an event again.

Dwayne saw him walk in, and Vince following him not too far behind. He decided he would reunite with Dany and Simone first before giving the word to Goku and the others for them to arrive, wanting them to share some semi-alone time, and followed them into the Gund as well...

**********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 7:34pm; Canton, Ohio)

Back at Dusty's house, about 45 to 50 minutes had passed since the rest of the Misfits had seen Dwayne and Steve vanish into the distance. They had been aware that the two of them had stopped somewhere roughly 10 minutes back, but due to Goku wanting to wait until the word was given, they had to wait for such word to come. Alex for one was showing a bit of impatience.

"What's taking them so long to contact us?" he asked

"I'm not sure." Goku replied.

"Yeah, they have been stopped in the same place for a while now, I wonder what they're doing?" asked Virgil.

Dusty cut in, "I have a feeling they're getting reacquainted with their other buddies in the WWE and family and other friends first. You know, business and personal matters usually come first for celebrities. Also you have to remember, Dwayne's got a wife and kid, not to mention Steve has a wife too."

"I forgot about that." Vernon admitted, not having been well informed on the matter of Dwayne's family, although he was aware of the relationship between Steve and Debra.

"Alright, but I do hope they contact us soon anyways. I'm sitting here, getting stiff as a board." Jason complained.

"Tell me about it. We lost a few hours of what could've been precious training, all because of this stupid event." Piccolo grumbled in partial agreement.

"Aw come on, lighten up Piccolo. We have to have some diversion from constant serious work sometimes." Goku urged him.

"Kakarott's right, Namek. Even I, the fuddy-duddy I'm called by some of you, still have some time to appreciate a little humor from TV and general Earth entertainment." Vegeta agreed with a smirk at Piccolo, again a crack at the Namekian's super-serious attitude.

"It's still ridiculous to me, Vegeta. You guys all know Oyatsu and his other potential cronies are still out there, and we all know how close he came to defeating us before, and with all of the recent things happening, it seems like this isn't the time for fun and games." Piccolo grumbled.

"Says the one who actually challenged me in a vertical-thrust motorcycle riding contest." #17 cracked.

"#17, just shut up." Piccolo grumbled, and Paula actually give a tiny giggle at the hint of blush on the Namekian's face.

"What's so funny?" he asked her impatiently.

"I still can't believe you of all people actually got on one of those things!" she laughed in reply.

"Hmph, whatever, it was #17's little idea to embarrass me, and it sure as hell worked!" Piccolo replied, aiming the last part in a louder voice at his cyborg colleague.

Of course, it was not all fun and games during the last few hours. A lot of exposition had to be shared among the Misfits about the events of the day: Vegeta's new Super Saiya-jin 3 level, Clint's new Super Saiya-jin 3 level, which had made Vegeta, Jason, Alex and Vernon annoyed [Vernon, Vegeta], jealous [Jason] or pissed off [Alex] at him to some extent, then Radditz' Super Saiya-jin 2 level, and then the big jump in Teresa's power, then there was Devin's anger flashes and all the injuries and havoc caused by those, and then of course there was discussion about Piccolo's 'faulty' copy that had tried to kill Alex, Jason and Vernon earlier. Last but not least, there was that shocking reveal by Radditz of his strange premonition on the 11th involving Teresa and Dan, and the mysterious voice that accompanied it, a voice that if Radditz was correct, was the same as the one that spoke to Dusty, Dwayne and Steve back on the 29th during the coalition of the merger's rifts.

It was however at this point that Goku suddenly heard a strange series of beeps from from the scouter attached to his belt. He picked it up and hit the button on the backside of the scouter for the send feed.

"Dwayne, Steve, is that you?" he asked.

"Goku, we're ready. I'm sure you can sense our location, do you not?" Dwayne replied.

"Yeah. How big and wide is the space you're in? Remember, there's about 19 of us coming in." Goku asked.

"Don't worry, we're in the back lobby, where there's few people around. I don't think anyone will notice you come in, except Vince and some of the others. I want them to have a small taste of some of the stuff we're gonna have to tell them later." Dwayne replied.

"Alright, we'll be over there in a couple of minutes. Goku out." Goku finished, cutting the transmission.

He looked to the others, who had all gotten to their feet upon realizing it was time to move, "Alright, I need everyone to make physical contact with me or with anyone else touching me. We need to conjoin as one in order for us all to teleport. If you don't, you'll have to fly there on your own, and you'll probably miss some of the events to come. Are you all ready?"

As he was saying that, the group gathered around him, all of them conjoining as one massive congregation, most of them touching Goku on his shoulders, back or chest. Putting two fingers to his forehead, he focused on Steve and Dwayne's ki energies, and then in a flash of light, he and the other eighteen Misfits vanished into thin air...

**********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 7:36pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

Soon, they regained their bearings, noticing a contrasting change to the environment around them. Looking around, they all found Dwayne and Steve were almost right next to them, along with their manager Vince McMahon, the wrestlers Kurt Angle, Triple H, Rikishi, Rob Van Dam, the Undertaker and even Kane(with his mysterious mask on). Not too far away from there was a woman in her early 30s, of Cuban heritage and with long wavy hair to her shoulders. In her arms she carried a small baby, sitting in her arms and looking to everyone with a curious look on it's face, which then became a smile of sorts.

"Welcome to Gund Arena, Goku, Dusty, and everyone else." Dwayne welcomed them, and then turned to his WWE friends and the woman and baby in the back, "Guys, these are my friends I told you about," he then directed their attention to each person as he spoke their names, "Dusty, Dan, Clint, Vernon, Alex, Devin, Jason, Virgil, Nina, Goku, Paula, Vegeta, Mr. Buu, Piccolo, Heero, Teresa, #18, #17 and Radditz."

Steve then looked to the other Misfits, "I know some of you know or at least have knowledge of most of our friends behind us, but for those of you who don't," he then referenced to each of them, "Robert "Rob Van Dam" Szatkowsi, Kurt Angle, Paul "Triple H" Levequse, Mark "The Undertaker" Calaway, Glen "Kane" Jacobs, and Solafu "Rikishi" Fatu Jr.," and then he referenced over to Vince, "And finally, our manager and Chairman of the WWE, Vince McMahon."

Dwayne then looked over to the Cuban woman holding the baby behind them, "And this is my lovely wife Dany Garcia, and in her arms is our daughter, Simone Alexandra Johnson."

Clint looked over at her, having remembered Dwayne talking to him about these two a few times during their stay at the hotel in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, "So you're the ones he's always thinking about."

Dany looked at Dwayne, with a blushing smile, and then back to Clint, "So I see. Since he's talked to you about me and Simone, I might as well ask you all how he's been doing since he disappeared from Las Vegas two weeks ago."

"Well, aside from his concerns for you two, he and Steve been mostly working out with us and we're all getting really really strong!" Dusty replied.

"So I heard too. Dusty, I wanted to thank you for finding those two a place to call home for these last few weeks. But now things can finally go back to normal, well as normal as it can be with what I've been hearing from both Dwayne and Steve about all of you." Dany replied.

"Speaking of 'normal', how much have you tried to tell these guys about all of the stuff that's been going on in the world lately?" asked Goku.

"We've only gotten to tell them a couple of minor things. Obviously none of them don't know about most of what happened on the 11th, but we haven't told them about the merger and the events that brought us all together in the first place. We're a little worried about how they're gonna take it." Dwayne replied.

"Wait a second? Merger? What's that supposed to mean?" asked Robert.

"It's a doozy of a story, and a lot of you are gonna find it hard to believe, but I guess we're gonna have to tell you all eventually, so tonight's probably our best bet. Maybe we should head to the main locker rooms first. We should get situated, as we have about 80 to 90 minutes before the event actually starts." Steve replied to him.

Vince looked to them, "Alright, the rest of you can come with us. I got a feeling you're gonna probably want to add your two cents on this."

"You bet we're gonna have to." Clint replied mootly.

With that, the 31 of them had been escorted over to the main entertainers' locker room, and after about 5 to 10 minutes, all of them were situated, most of them on comfortable sofas or beanbags. Alex, Goku, Virgil and Clint particularly liked their accommodations. However they knew what was to follow wasn't going to be completely light-hearted. Also, most of them noticed upon reaching the locker room was that another woman was sitting on one of the sofas at the back end of the room.

She was blonde, 5'6" and looked to be in her early forties. Upon seeing Steve, the others noticed a interesting gaze shared between them. Alex, Vernon, Dusty, Dan and Devin realized this was Steve's slightly-estranged wife Debra Marshall Williams. The five of them knew that there were minor domestic disputes between them concerning Steve's beer drinking, and they had wondered why she had not been with everyone else when they had arrived. However most of the others wisely decided not to ask her for the moment.

Debra looked at most of the Misfits with a curious interest and she spoke up, directed at Steve, "So, are these those 'Misfits' you keep talking about?"

"Yeah, they are. Just arrived, and we wanted to gather everyone up and explain what and all has been really happening since we vanished in Las Vegas." Steve replied.

"Well, don't let me stop you." she replied back.

Dwayne decided he would start them off, "Alright, I'll speak for me and Steve's own experiences first. As you had known, we were training in the basement of Caesar's Palace for a later match that night. We were just about to get started when suddenly the air around us suddenly went cold. Surges of electricity began to appear at the middle of the ring, then this... I guess it was some kind of portal, opened up and someone began to appear through it, all rattled and confused. This turned out to be Dusty. But anyways, we went to see if he was okay, and he revealed he last remembered himself being all the way over in Tokyo, Japan with 7 of his friends. At first, we were skeptical of his own story, but honestly, we couldn't find a reason not to believe SOMETHING was wrong however. I mean, he just APPEARED out of nowhere."

Steve picked up at that point, "The lights went out completely after about a minute of all three of us talking, and it grew cold again. However, suddenly we heard someone else completely new to us speaking to us from all around, as if some kind of poltergeist of something. You guys know I'm not a big believer of that stuff, but I can swear this... thing knew all three of our names. It told us we were united due to some accident in the space-time continuum or whatever. It told us that the world was changing forever, that the 'rules' would change, that we'd see things from our nightmares, our greatest dreams, or even learn things we never realized about ourselves, all of that kinda stuff."

Dusty then decided he would donate his two cents, "The voice or thing also said that my own friends had also met up with people in their own experiences, apparently they too had been thrown through portals and rifts of their own. However the voice seemed to stress something about all of us working as one united team. We all tried to ask why it was telling us this stuff, asking it who it was, but it would not answer, or that it didn't have the time remaining to go into further detail. The voice began to fade away, and I just passed out, the next thing I know, finding myself back in the theatre in Tokyo I had last been with my friends at. However now all of them were there with me, along with nearly 10 other people, including Steve and Dwayne."

"Wait wait wait a minute..." Triple H interrupted, "So let me get this straight, these portals were throwing you and your friends all around the place, and they managed to shove you into Steve and Dwayne's laps? Do you know why they might have done that specifically?"

"I would like to say that it was because I'm one of the biggest fans of WWE out of everyone present in my original group of friends, but that's not something I'd see as a logical reason I got sent to them. Alex, Vernon and Devin also have similar knowledge to me, but they ended up in completely different scenarios." Dusty replied.

"Tell me this then, did you figure out if there might have been some reasoning behind these so-called portals that zapped all of you around?" Triple H asked again.

"Yes, we believe a kind of 'merger of universes' had occurred and that the portals were a kind of byproduct of the space-time continuum being altered in it's first stages. One of the reasons we refer to it as a merger is because as Stone Cold said, the 'rules', referring to the rules of physics themselves I guess, changed. I mean, in the past, people couldn't harness their inner energy for uses like flight and attacking." Dan replied.

"Inner energy?" asked Kane, wanting more clarity on what Dan meant.

"He refers to the Ki or 'Chi' energy flowing through every living person's body," Goku cut in for him, "Even in your world before the merger, it was there in all living things, but it couldn't be manipulated by anyone like it can be now. However where we came from, it was something any living creature with the intellect and determination could eventually master. As Dan said, it can be used to allow actual flight through the air, or it can be used to strengthen the body's muscles, durability and perception. And of course, it can be used as energy to attack people or defend from similar attacks from another person with it. When the portals and the merger occured, the rules of our universe and several others overlapped or rewrote your universe's old rules, therefore you could theoretically learn how to use your ki for real purposes now."

"Alright, I know this sounds all interesting and all, but can we see some actual proof of manipulation of your energy or some use it has?" asked Kurt.

For a moment, most of the Misfits were thinking of a good solid way to prove this, WITHOUT accidentally blowing the room up along with possibly everyone else.

Teresa looked up, "Why don't I demonstrate?"

"Well don't do anything stupid now." Vegeta warned nonchalantly.

"Yes Vegeta, believe me I know how to control my energy well." she replied back just as mootly.

She concentrated and focused her ki energy to the point that everyone else began to see a blue, wavy aura of energy surround her, giving off a dim-blue light. Most of the other WWE wrestlers, Debra and Dany also noticed this with a degree of astonishment. Baby Simone merely giggled at this, making cute baby noises. Teresa however wasn't finished, she figured there was the chance the most skeptical of them would still think of it as nothing else but a trick of the light or an illusion.

She opened both of her palms and formed two medium sized spheres of ki in her hand. At first some of the other Misfits were worried she might decide to blow something up, they were relieved when she manipulated the spheres together, the combined energy forming into a new energy clone. This energy clone looked mostly like herself, but with a slight tint of blue all over the shape.

"Did she make a copy of herself?!" Vince asked in amazement.

Teresa's clone looked to Vince and walked up to him slowly, and gently put a hand on his shoulder, as a gesture of firm contact, a way to prove the clone wasn't also a trick of the eyes.

"Well, this thing certain feels like it's not a trick." Vince said, a bit concerned the clone might do something undesired.

"Return!" Teresa shouted to her clone. The clone removed her hand from Vince's shoulder and shrunk down into a large ball of ki, which soon reintegrated with her body, and disappearing completely. Teresa however noticed that once again, her energy went up a bit more than she usually felt when doing this, however it was not nearly the same boost she had gotten at the end of her earlier battle with Heero. However no one else appeared to notice since she concealed her energy back to casual levels immediately. She'd tell them later she figured.

Goku looked at the other WWE wrestlers and such, and asked "So, any questions?"

"Alright, so apparently this ki energy you talk about can be used as you said, but when you said 'merger of universes', what does that actually mean?" asked Rikishi, "Are you trying to say there are some universes that we considered fictional that are actually real now?"

"That's exactly what we're talking about," Clint replied, "And yes, many fictional media, rather we know of them or not, have probably merged into this universe. We're not aware of the extent of just HOW MANY universes have merged with ours, but we believe there's at least 4 or more. Of course, we're probably heavily underestimating that number, and it's probably at least anywhere from a couple hundred to a few thousand universes. But the only way we'll find out is to press on and experiment."

"All right, now I need to ask the big question that's on my mind here. Rock, Austin, can you guys explain what happened yesterday morning? As I mentioned, I heard you two got attacked by something that seemed like it could take a person's shape or form." Vince replied.

"What?! Dwayne and Steve were attacked?! By what?" Dany asked, now worried about them. Debra also appeared to express some worry for Steve at this point, although she did not voice it.

"Yeah, just how DID you find that out?" Steve asked, having been curious about that.

"I received an anonymous e-mail at around noon yesterday, saying that something had happened in Canton, that you two and your friend Dusty, and probably many others had been attacked by some thing that could shape shift and possess people." Vince replied.

"Alright, I guess I'll explain this, since I'm the one he possessed and forced into attacking everyone." Dan replied.

"You?" Dany asked, a but skeptical.

"Yes, let me explain. The creature Vince heard about that possesses people or shape shifts as others, he calls himself 'Oyatsu'. He's been responsible apparently for some obstacles in our path lately. Not only his own attempt to use me against my friends, but some other group of gang members over in Canton. Anyways, Oyatsu also organized some other things, such as an attack on my life on the 11th. And before you ask, yes... I was a target of the terrorists that attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon."

Many of the non-Misfits in the room gasped or expressed some kind of shock at this.

"Why would they attack a kid like you?" Dany asked in horror.

"Oyatsu possesses apparently a limited form of mind-reading. Somehow I guess he discovered I had once thought about joining the Army or the Navy. With some of the recent training I endured before the 11th, if I had joined them out of retaliation for the attacks, apparently I would've been one of the strongest soldiers in the army, and according to Oyatsu, I would've defeated and stopped their leaders. Taking the form of some old lady, I guess he told them about this and convinced them I was a threat to their future, and they tried to take me out. However to try to prevent them from being linked to my attempted demise, they took advantage of Teresa, using her as a cover-up for their plan by threatening to kill her family. Thanks to some quick thinking on the part of Paula, Nina and even Devin, they were able to stop the operative watching us to make sure the plan worked, and also save Teresa from doing anything bad."

"Believing I owed them for helping me, I decided to train with them for a while, especially Dan and Radditz, as I felt I owed Dan for what almost happened, and Radditz because he found my family, killed the second operative and saved them." Teresa added on, deciding to currently leave out the part Radditz mentioned to her and later the others about his prophetic dream on the 11th.

"Anyways," Dan continued quickly before someone else could interject, "About 3 days later, Oyatsu apparently had come to the conclusion he had made a mistake to have them try to kill me. He kept telling me about some kind of potential I had that none of the others did, and he possessed me by taking the form of a cat and tricking me into picking him up early in the morning last night. He was a tricky bastard though, he planned further ahead of us than we expected, and if it had not been for #18 having found were we are and surprising Oyatsu completely, we'd have lost to him simply due to his cunning. Oyatsu was forced to give up control over me and he fled, but he's still out there, able to take practically any form he wishes, possibly impersonate anyone or anything. We can't sense him for some odd reason unless he is inside of someone's mind at the time."

"Wait a minute..." Dwayne suddenly cut in, "Do you guys think he was the anonymous tip Vince received? I know it sounds a bit far-fetched, but thinking about it, no one else aside from us or him knew about what he had been doing that day."

"That makes sense, except why would he give someone who knows one of us a HELPFUL tip?" Devin asked.

"Maybe he wants to stir up confusion amongst us." Clint pondered, "I mean, who really knows what his intentions are? He never really told us, except something about some employer or 'master', but he never went into any more detail about it."

"Sounds like this Oyatsu's a major pain-in-the-ass!" Triple H grumbled.

"He is, trust me. He's partially responsible for other stuff going on, like a run in I had yesterday with a newly-crowned gang leader who he also apparently taught how to use his Ki energy, as well as the ability to manipulate magic of some kind." Clint replied.

"Magic?! Oh god, you're telling me magic is real too?" Rob asked.

"I'm living proof." Nina replied, "I used to learn it from a special school I went to as a kid. I have learned some newer magic on my own, but only now have I really started training again it and myself again in light of all that's happening."

"Wait... I take it those wings on your back... they're not some kind of prop are they?" asked Rikishi with realization.

Paula groaned at this, remembering what Morgan had said about Nina's wings, but Nina cut her off before she could reply, "Yes, the wings are indeed real, and I am indeed this tall. I'm not on stilts or anything."

"Again, I know I'm sounding like a bit of a buzzkill, but could you show me proof of your magic?" asked Kurt.

Nina sighed, "Alright, do you think you can briefly handle 2 times the planet's gravity force on your body then?" Nina asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Kurt asked.

"I have many spells, but the safest one that I can use that anyone will clearly see proof from is my Gravity Aura Wave." she replied.

"Nina wait. Can you use an aura emulating LESS gravity than Earth?" Paula asked.

"Well damn, I didn't consider that. Alright, you ready for HALF the planet's gravity?" Nina replied.

"If you can, lay it on me, babe." Kurt replied.

With a smirk, Nina channeled her magic energy, throwing a transparent black aura to Kurt's body. The aura, although very faint, did indeed glow around him. He noticed his body felt significantly lighter. He got up and started flexing his body and shadowboxing in the air to test the speed he noticed from the change. After 10 seconds of this, he grinned.

"Well I'll be damned, it's really true! Alright, I think I can finally start to understand this for real now." he replied.

Nina focused her energies again, and the aura suddenly vanished from around Kurt, reverting him back to his normal g-force.

"Aw man, I was hoping to use that later on!" he joked with a false pout on his face.

"Sorry, no cheating beyond the script." Nina teased, as Kurt chuckled back and went over and sat back down on his part of one of the sofas.

"Alright, so in spite of all of this, exactly what have you two been doing during all of this time? You vanished on the 29th, but you didn't come back to us until just today." Debra asked to Steve and Dwayne.

Goku decided to cut in for Steve or Dwayne before they replied, "Well you see, apparently the voice that spoke to them said we all needed to band up and work together as a team, and keep in touch often. It implied all of us have some kind of future as something akin to heroes. Well, some of us already do, but what I mean by that is that everyone here has the potential to become much more than they started off with."

Radditz interjected and pulled out his OC-Scouter and cut in, "For example, Dwayne and Steve, when they first joined up with us, had powerlevels close to 100 or so, and now they're closer to 26,500. Powerlevel is a way of explaining the intensity of one's ki energy. The higher it is, the stronger they can make themselves."

He then put the scouter on his face and decided to scan all of the non Misfits for a comparison, "Alright, and just in case you want a comparison of your own strengths and ki intensities, they're as follows," he started by looking at Vince, "Yours is 28, which is about 2 or 3 times above average human strength, according to what #17 claims anyways," he looked then Triple H next, "Your powerlevel is 102," then he scanned Kurt Angle, "You're 100 on the notch," then Rob Van Damn, "You're 99," then Rikishi, "Yours is 97," then The Undertaker, "You're 104," then Kane, "And you're 103," and then he looked to Debra, "You're at 35," then he looked at Dany and Simone, "You're at 14, and your daughter is 1.56, but she's an infant, so it'll be a lot lower than an adult's powerlevel anyways."

"So basically most of us are in and around each other in overall strength?" asked Rikishi.

"Yes, now we seem to have noticed something however: when Dwayne and Steve learned how to manipulate their ki directly, they were able to adapt to their original training and work out conditions with significantly improved efficiency, and in fact, they had apparently started training with Dusty and Dan, all of them getting nearly 10 times their original powerlevels within a day's worth of time." Radditz continued.

"What?! How's that possible?" asked Robert.

"We think that when one unlocks the understanding of using their ki to strengthen themselves, it vastly accelerates the process of any training they do afterwards, making them grow stronger much quicker than beforehand. Most of you trained a long time in your lives with rigorous training exercises for your level of strength, and you've all worked yourself to a meaningful level of strength. 10 is the average powerlevel for a human it seems, and most of you are 10 times that average due to your past training, however if you had known how to unlock your ki manipulation long in the past, you'd probably be at least a fifth as strong as Dwayne and Steve are now." Goku explained.

"Wait, would you be able to help us all do that then?" asked Vince.

"Well, if we had more time, I could do it now, but for one, there's still just a bit more to go over about the past days, and secondly, I'm responsible for taking these guys back home when we're done, so I couldn't do it tonight either. If Piccolo or Vegeta were willing we might be able to do it tonight, and they could come back on their own by sensing our energy, but they're not big on training people that are completely new." Goku replied.

"Sorry Kakarot, but you're right about that. I don't got the time with having just learned Super Saiya-jin 3 and all. And I got a feeling the Namek won't do it either just out of spite." Vegeta replied.

"Hmph." Piccolo grumbled, "Perhaps I could do something for these guys sometime within the next few days, if they're willing to really learn, but I don't think we'll have time to actually train them with what's all going on now with Oyatsu being such a potential threat. They'd have to train themselves or group up somewhere else."

"What do you guys want to do then?" asked Steve to his colleagues.

"Well, maybe I'll do it at another time. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for the hero gig yet." said Rikishi.

"To be honest, I'm fine where I'm at, but if the need arises, I'll let you know." Kurt replied.

"I'm with Angle," The Undertaker spoke, for the first time that night, "The WWE is my home right now. Besides, I'm sure the knowledge will catch on and if need be, I could learn it from someone else."

"Although the offer's tempting, there's a lot more to being a 'hero' than you might assume. Maybe when things around here settle down a bit, I'll consider learning about it." Kane replied.

"I'll think about it, but I don't promise I'll have time to learn it immediately. It might be weeks or months before I get the time." Robert replied.

"My leg's still a little torn up, so I don't know if it's the best idea to be moving around too much." Triple H admitted, referring to an injury he had suffered on May 21 of that year, when his left quadricep muscle suffered a serious tear during the main event of the night. Steve sighed to himself at what he said, remembering that night vividly enough, having been Triple H's partner in that event when it happened.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Steve replied in concern for him.

"By the way, speaking of injuries, how is your neck faring?" Triple H asked.

"Paul, did you have to say it in front of them?!" Steve asked in annoyance.

Appearantly, only Debra, Dusty and Dwayne seemed to have had any awareness of Steve's injury.

"Wait a second, you have a neck injury?" Nina asked in curiosity.

"Yeah, I do." Steve grumbled angrily, not liking the fact the others all knew now.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Debra asked, a little annoyed at her husband's stubbornness.

"Because I didn't want all of them to worry about whether I was 'fit' enough to train or not." Steve replied bitterly.

"You should've told us!" Devin shouted, "What would've happened if fighting Oyatsu had made that worse?!"

"It didn't, alright?! I've had the injury for at least 4 years, and I've done fine despite it! Just lay off already!" Steve barked back at them.

"Wait a second!" Alex cut in, and then looked to Nina, "Nina, tell me, could you do for him what you did for me back in the summer?"

Nina's eyes showed realization, "Yes, I can do that! I think I can heal Triple H's injury too if he wanted me to!"

"Heal it??" Triple H asked in shock.

"Alright, listen carefully," Nina replied, "I know Alex doesn't like it when people bring this up, but since he gave me the idea, I'm guessing he won't mind me saying it this time. Alex used to have Cerebral Palsy up until the previous summer. It had gotten to the point he used to use a wheelchair to get around at most places outside his home."

"What?! That's terrible! I'm so sorry about that!" Dany had sympathized.

"Well, that doesn't matter anymore, as you might have noticed, I don't have it anymore! I can walk just fine, and trust me, most of the others can vouch that this is no joke, a lot of them have known me since First Grade. Nina healed me of it, she was able to cure my synaptic functions, bringing me back to full mobility. If she can heal something like that, a neck or leg injury of a long-term kind should also be healable too." Alex replied.

"Well, considering you were able to do all those other things, maybe it's not a far-fetched idea." Triple H admitted.

"Wait, so that was true? You really did have Cerebral Palsy?" Steve asked, not knowing so much about it due to the lack of time the two had been around one another since the merger.

"Yeah man, it's fine now, as I said. Remember how that kid Jackson kept harassing me and Nina at Canton South? That's where part of his scorn comes from. He used to taunt me about it, but then Nina healed me and destroyed a lot of credibility and now he really hates her and me even more because of it." Alex explained.

"And to think that idiot used to be one of your friends too." Nina replied.

"I know, little backstabbing bastard." Alex grumbled.

Steve looked over at Nina, "I don't know, are you sure it'd work on me or even Paul's injury?"

Dwayne looked at his friend with a look of reassurance, "Steve, listen to me closely, you said you felt that might actually think you have a purpose in your life outside of the sport now, like I originally found in movies. If you really want to pursue this, I'd take up her offer. To be honest, I seriously doubt Oyatsu is going to be the only enemy we ever have. Even so, what if he found out about your injury and decided to use it against you? This guy's not a WWE Superstar and he won't do things by a script. He seemed bent on killing or disabling us as quickly as he could last time."

Steve then realized with those final words that Dwayne was completely right about that, "Alright, if you think it'll work, go ahead and try to heal my neck. Just be careful and don't kill me, will ya'?"

Nina walked over closely, and she walked around him, her gaze centered around Steve's collar and neck, as if she were look for where the proper place to begin her healing would be. Alex recognized this, as he had remembered her scanning his brain and the synaptic connections to his legs when she had healed him. Soon, Nina had stopped at a 10'o clock position relevant to Steve's head.

"Alright, turn your head slightly to the left for me. This will speed it up." Nina replied, as the other watched on.

Steve did as she told, and turned his neck slightly to the left. Nina then reached up and put on of her hands on the back of his neck, and then another on the front of his neck. She closed her eyes and began to generate her focus. Immediately, the room felt as if a breeze were beginning to pick up all around them, papers on the floor being picked up and blown over the place. The light in the room also began to gradually dim. Over the course of 10 seconds, Nina began to form a rainbow-prismatic aura around herself, which began to spread down her hands, and started to cover Steve, from top to bottom.

The light in the room had dimmed nearly half way and the winds were picking up to nearly 20 MPH around them. Nina suddenly opened her eyes, a brilliantly gold glow flashing outwards. Steve's body suddenly flashed over into a glow of golden energy. Alex looked at it in amazement, recognizing this as the end of her healing process. After a couple of more seconds, the gold aura around Steve and in Nina's eyes faded away, as did the prismatic energy around them. The winds also died down around them and the light in the room returned to full brightness.

Nina let up her touch on Steve's neck, and spoke, "Alright, it's done. I don't know how you normally cause it to act up, but you might want to try whatever method it is to make sure it's fully healed. Also, even though you're probably healed now, you might need to do some minor rehabilitation on your neck to get it back to full speed. I know Alex is in the middle of that for his movement and walking right now too."

"If you say so." Steve said, although he already knew that it had worked. He didn't feel the slightly dull pain he had felt when he had turned his neck a moment or two ago, "I think you were right, it really did work."

"Good. Now," she turned to Triple H, "Do you want me to heal you now? I can do the same thing to repair your leg muscles to full strength. However again, you'll have to work that leg out some afterwards and you probably won't be good enough to make a sudden reentrance into the sport tonight."

"Why not, if Steve and Alex seem to think it works, I might as well give it a shot. I'd love to get back into the ring sooner than later." Triple H replied.

"Don't move, I'll handle it from where you are now." Nina replied, kneeling down next to Triple H's left leg and placing one hand on the front side, and another on the back side of his quadricep muscles.

After 20 to 30 seconds of glowing, winds and dimming lights, Nina had finished healing Triple H's leg. He got up and decided to try to just balance himself on that leg to test it out, and to his surprise, he was balancing on it just fine. Although he did notice a slight atrophy in that leg compared to his right leg, so he realized Nina was right about him needing to train the leg a little before making a return to the ring.

"That really worked! That did the trick! Thank you Nina, now I really begin to have some idea about the possibility of 'rules changing' and all of this mystical hubba-jubba." he said to her.

After those events, a few more minutes of discussion went on between the Misfits and the other Wrestlers, Dwayne's family, Debra and Vince, before it would be time for the events to begin...

**********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 8:59pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

As the 19 non-wrestler Misfits were escorted to their seats by personals of the Gund Arena, they had noticed that a couple other wrestlers had also arrived and were on their way to the backstage areas were they had just come from. Soon, the group had found their seats, in the front rows of the 109 and 108 segments of the seating chart, the north end of the seating chart. From the left to right they sat; Goku, Piccolo, #17, #18, Heero, Virgil, Jason, Alex, Dan, Dusty, Devin, Vernon, Clint, Teresa, Paula, Nina, Radditz, Mr. Buu and Vegeta.

"Woo! This is probably the sweetest set of seats I've ever been able to sit in! We've got to thank Vince, Dwayne and Steve for these seats next time we see them!" Dusty cheered, loving his position at the very center of the seats, giving him [theoretically] the best view of the events from the north end of the seats.

"True to that, man!" Jason replied only a couple of seats away from him, he had never apparently been to a live event himself.

"Wonder what matches they'll do tonight. The event was never really given any real description on TV." Vernon asked.

"You're right." Alex replied, "I'm gonna guess Rock and Austin are going to be a big part of it though. Vince apparently moved the event here because of them."

There was no more time to make small talk though, as the lights suddenly dimmed in the entire arena. Spotlights from the overhead began to shine down all over the place as the loudspeakers began to boom, the voice of Tony Chimel, the Ringside announcer for most WWE-related events began to speak.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to a Special Pay-Per-View event of World Wrestling Entertainment! For clarification, this is not WWE Unforgiven 2001 moved up a week in time. WWE Unforgiven 2001 will still be on Sunday, September 23, 2001, at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This event was a near last-minute event organized by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, and it is believed the event will pay tribute to two of WWE's greatest entertainers..."

However Chimel would be interrupted when suddenly...

"IF YOU SMEEEEEEELLL... WHAT THE ROCK... IS COOKIN'?!" suddenly blared loudly over the loudspeakers... The intro to The Rock's WWE theme song.

Then suddenly, a sound of shattering glass, followed by a loud blare of drums... the intro to Stone Cold Steve Austin's WWE theme song.

Alex's eyes showed a perplexed expression, "Oh... my... god... they're playing both themes at the SAME TIME?! Oh man this is gonna be a disaster..."

However despite this odd combination of music, a tremendous roar of cheers erupted from the crowd, enough that Piccolo's sensitive ears were blaring in pain.

"RWARGH! Dammit! Too loud!" he groaned.

Goku admitted it was just a bit on the loud side as well, and Vegeta looked slightly uncomfortable as well on the other end of their seats.

Suddenly, from the eastern side of the arena, a walkway modeled after the WWE's usual walkways burst with activity, as everyone would see Dwayne step in from the left side of the offstage area, and Steve from the right side, both simultaneously. Both would walk and strut down the walkway side-by-side, looking over to their fans on the left and right sides of the east seats, giving their trademark and traditional poses as they drew in closer. Then about 2/3s of the way to the ring, they picked up speed slightly, and then they jumped up onto the ring, Dwayne pulling himself up and over the turnbuckle ropes, and Steve crawled into the ring with a Texan-style crawl. Both then walked up to Chimel, Dwayne snatching the microphone.

"Finally, the Rock... has come back to Cleveland!" Dwayne yelled, turning to all of the crowd around him. Steve gave him a stare as he did so. The crowed went into an uproarious cheer.

Dwayne then turned to the north west of the arena, just keeping eye contact away from the other Misfits as he spoke up, "Do you smell... what the Rock in cookin' tonight... in Cleveland! The Rock has quite a show planned for the audience tonight, as this event is dedicated in The Rock's honor. The Rock calls this event 'WWE Bring It!'"

The crowd started to cheer loudly again, as Steve walked up and suddenly snatched the mic out of Dwayne's hands, obviously a planned out script the two were improvising for the event. Steve spoke into the mic, "Now now, don't you forget, Rock. This event is also devoted to yours truly, Austin 3:16, the Texas Rattlesnake! In Stone Cold's honor, the event shall be called 'WWE Austin 3:16', and that's the bottom line, 'cause Stone Cold said so!"

The crowd went into a cheer as Dwayne snatched the mic back from Steve, "'Bring It!' or 'Austin 3:16'? What name shall The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin use for this event?"

He then looked over directly to the other Misfits in their seats. Dwayne and Steve had both took this as their cue, and Steve took back the mic from Dwayne.

"Why don't we ask for someone else's opinion, eh Rock?" Steve spoke up.

Both wrestlers walked up and exited the ring, and walking casually up to the middle of the group's seating arrangement, and they looked over at Dusty.

Steve handed the mic to Dusty, "So kid, what do you think we should call this event?"

"Me? Well..." Dusty thought, realizing this was part of a script, and tried to improvise to his best knowledge, before someone else next to him tried to steal his thunder, "How about 'WWE: Smackdown Hotel; Room 316! NO VACANCY!'!"

"'WWE: Smackdown Hotel; Room 316! NO VACANCY!', eh?" Dwayne replied, where the mic could still pick them all up.

"That's not a bad idea!" Dan cut in next to him, also being picked up by the mic, and adding in this two cents, "How about you Alex? What do you think we should call it?"

"I think they should name it after me!" Alex replied in a joking voice, also getting the joke, which caused most of the crowd to laugh loudly, "But seriously, that's a good enough name for me!"

"There you have it!" Dwayne replied, throwing the mic back to Chimel.

"You heard them! Welcome to 'WWE: Smackdown Hotel; Room 316! NO VACANCY!', here at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio!" Chimel continued, as the crowed cheered wildly.

Chimel went on to announce the many matches that would occur over the event. At the end of the roster, he announced that there would be a main event consisting of The Rock vs. Stone Cold, a homage to the two wrestlers the event was commemorating. The other Misfits were curious to what those two had planned for this match.

Still standing in close to their Misfit allies, Dwayne and Steve realized this was possibly the best opportunity to put on their first of several planned surprises that night. Dwayne gave Chimel a visual cue to throw them over the mic, which he did. Dwayne caught it lazily in his hand and held it up to his mouth.

"The tension builds. The Rock knows this, and so does Stone Cold Steve Austin!" The Rock stated, "Listen carefully to The Rock! The Rock says that he and Stone Cold Steve Austin... have agreed to make the individual stipulations for our match at the end of this event!"

The crowd cheered on, and it appeared the ringside announcers were expressing some degree of shock at this from what the other Misfits could see of them, not too far from their own booth.

Steve took the microphone from Dwayne, "As the event progresses, you will see Stone Cold and The Rock making these individual stipulations after each match leading up to the main event!"

Dwayne took the mic back from Steve, "And at the end, will it be the Brahma Bull, or the Texas Rattlesnake that walks away?!"

Steve took the mic back again, "Personally, the new arsenal of tricks that Stone Cold's learned over the last couple of weeks will make it known who the victor is!"

Dwayne took the mic back yet again, "You think so?! Well The Rock has been learning some new tricks in the last couple of weeks, so perhaps The Rock will surprise your roody-poo candy ass tonight!"

Steve took back the mic from Dwayne, and he got a look of interest on his face as he spoke up, "You know what Rock? How about I sing you a little song right here and now, to relieve the tension..." he looked around at the entire crowd and then back to Dwayne, "between The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin."

Dwayne looked at him with a faked look of perplexment, as did a lot of the other Misfits sitting in their seats not even 2 feet away, although their looks were mostly authentic. However Dwayne also realized that Steve was getting their first surprise of the night set up.

Steve continued, "You remember that old rock band called Boston?" a pause and cheers from the crowd, "Rock n' roll? Boston, you remember the band? Well I may not know many of the songs now, but I'll sing you a little favorite of mine that my dad used to sing to me back when I was a kid." another pause and loud cheers, "I'm gonna sing it to you to make things between us a little less tense." a short pause and cheers, "Also, this song goes out to a new friend of ours, Dusty Fausnight, from Canton, Ohio. This song's for you too. Goes a little like this..." a pause and more cheering as Steve gives Dwayne a pat on his shoulder, "I hope this, this clear things up between you and me."

Steve then began to sing, "Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on... could it be a faded rose from days gone by... and did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today... to take you to his mansion in the sky! She's forty-one and her daddy... still calls her "baby"! All the folks around Brownsville... say she's crazy... 'cause she walks around town with... a suitcase in her hand... looking for a mysterious... dark-haired man!"

At the end of the verses, the crowd cheered on in the background, while many of the Misfits were either awestruck at what Steve had done, though some were also confused, or even in a couple of people's cases, a little embarrassed, finding Steve wasn't the perfect singer. Dusty however appeared to take it with no real discomfort, almost as if he had heard Steve sing this song before. Dwayne gave him an interesting look as Steve caught a bit of his breath.

"That make ya' feel better?" he asked to Dwayne.

Dwayne raised up an flat land in a 'so-so' type position at face level. Steve stared at it with a half-smirk of amusement.

"What's that mean? You're a little funny?" Steve joked.

Dwayne took the mic from Steve and looked at him intently.

"The Rock appreciates you're trying to ease the tension! Appreciates that! He appreciates entertainment! How about..." Dwayne the gives Steve a pat on the shoulder, "how about the Rock sing a song... to you?"

The crowd went even more wild in the background, and many of the Misfits nearby looked even more astonishment, but decided they would let this pan on for the moment. Dwayne pointed a finger in Steve's direction.

"You're from Texas!" Dwayne said.

"Yeah!" Steve replied, although only those close to both of them would hear him due to Dwayne holding the mic at the moment.

"You like that country music?" Dwayne asked.

"Yeah!" Steve replied.

Dwayne turned for a second, and turned back to Steve with a point in his direction, "Here you go!"

"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run! You never count your money, when you're sittin' at the table! There'll be time enough for countin', when the dealin's done! Ev'ry gambler knows, that the secret to survivin', is knowin' what to throw away, and knowing what to keep! 'Cause ev'ry hand's a winner, and ev'ry hand's a loser, and the best that you can hope for, is to die in your sleep!"

A tremendous uproar echoed throughout the entire crowd. Even most of the other Misfits were ecstatic about it, most of them noting that Dwayne appeared to have an extremely well-toned singing voice. Dusty merely looked smugly at them, his look not noticed by anyone but Dwayne or Steve out of the corners of their eyes. The cheering died down somewhat.

"That make you feel any better?" Dwayne asked.

"I feel like crap!" Steve said, in a fake as-a-matter-of-factly tone.

Dwayne turned away from him and paced a few steps away, and then turned around and walked back to him with another pointed finger at him, "The Rock got it! How 'bout this! How 'bout this! You're gonna feel great, The Rock is gonna feel great, they all gonna feel great, you and The Rock, why don't we sing a song, togetha'?!"

They heard the crowd go ballistic with cheering. The other 19 Misfits, except Dusty had looks of even greater surprise on their faces, almost as if it looked they couldn't have got any more surprised. Again, Dusty had a smug appearance on his face at this. Steve turned around, paced away from Dwayne a few steps and then turned around and returned to him.

Dwayne finished his dialogue as Steve came back to him, "Any song ya want!"

Steve took the mic back and gave Dwayne an amused expression, "You wanna sing a duet with Stone Cold Steve Austin, that's what ya saying?" he finished with a point at Dwayne.

Dwayne took the mic back and looked all around at the crowd as cheering commenced, "Does Cleveland wanna The Rock and Stone Cold sing?!"

The crowd's reaction was obviously very positive. Even most of the other Misfits, only 1 or 2 feet away from where the pair were standing, had been cheering and urging them on. Dwayne handed Steve the mic.

Steve walked up a few steps past Dwayne, "Let me put like this, if you wanna hear The Rock and Stone Cold sing a duet together, gimme a 'Hell Yeah'!"

"HELL YEAH!!!" screamed the majority of the crowd. Included in that chant were Alex, Devin, Dan and Dusty, who's screams were a little quieter due to their close proximity, but the two wrestlers heard them all loud and clear.

"What?!" Steve replied, using a famous catchphrase of his, a way to prompt the crowd to cheer louder.

"HELL YEAH!!!!" more screams from the crowd, Alex, Devin, Dan, Dusty, and now even #18 had joined in to everyone's surprise, as had Radditz.

"What?!" Steve replied with the catchphrase again.

"HELL YEAH!!!!!!" more screams from the crowd, Alex, Devin, Dan, Dusty, #18, Radditz, and now even #17, Goku, Virgil, Clint and Vegeta added in their cheers.

Steve turned to Dwayne, "You wanna duet, you got a duet! Since I sing country music, rah, hah hah, lemme warm up a little more! Hah hah hah, aha ha! Maybe this will bring back a few memories! I catch it about mid way though, anybody who's anybody knows who Jimmy Buffet is!" a pause and more cheers from the crowd, "Goes a little like this! Ah Ah!"

"I blew out my flip-flop! Stepped on a pop-top! Cut my heel had to cruise on back home! But there's booze in the blender! And soon it will render! That frozen concoction that helps me hang on!" Steve started.

As he sung this verse, he and Dwayne began to circle around one another, appearing to show signs of what the crowd would believe to be the two giving smirks and friendly pointing gestures to one another. Not many non-wrestlers or people outside the WWE aside from the Misfits however knew that the two were really the best of friends outside of ringside.

Dwayne leaned in close and grabbed the lower end of the mic, the two now sharing it and the began to sing together as one, "Wastin' away again in Margaritaville!" a pause and more cheers, "Searching for my lost shaker of salt!"

Cheers continued in an uproar, even from their friends only 1-2 feet away. Both broke off from each other, Steve still holding the mic.

Steve pointed to Dwayne and began singing solo again, "Some people claim that there's a... Rocky to blame!"

Probably a small joke between the two. Dwayne gave him a smirk/smile at the end of his verse, and Steve handed him over the mic.

Putting a hand on Steve shoulder, and looking 90 degrees to his left towards the crowed he sung, "But I know... it's all Stone Cold's fault"

Another inside joke between them. Steve returned the half-smirk/smile Dwayne had given him from before, and the two took a couple steps backwards.

Dwayne then reached out his hand, with the mic still in it, at the point it was right next to Dusty. Steve held out his own hand and grasped the mic on the bottom end this time. It at first appeared they had finished, as the crowd cheered uproariously.

Suddenly, they leaned in closer, and Dusty leaned in his head, and all THREE of them suddenly sang at once in their loudest voices, "YES AND SOME PEOPLE CLAIM THAT THERE'S A... WOMAN TO BLAME!!! AND I KNOW... IT'S MY OWN DAMN FAULT!!!"

The entire crowd went ballistic with cheers mixed in with the clapping of hands. Most of the other Misfits looked at Dusty, Dwayne and Steve in bewilderment, not expecting Dusty to have suddenly joined in on their duet. Steve and Dwayne leaned in and gave each other a close bear hug, to which the crowd continued to go wild. They then pulled a short distance away, but with Dwayne still holding the mic in his now free left hand, while his right was holding Steve's hand in a clutch like they had before the final part of their duet. The two appeared to shake hands and turned to the many angles of the crowd around them, to the point the two were about half way between the ringside, and their Misfit allies.

Dwayne looked over at Steve, and they Steve looked over them, their arms raised, almost looking as if one of them were in the position to go heel on the other, they then both looked over to the crowd, "Oh and by the way, by the way..." Dwayne started.

Then he and Steve both screamed, "THE ROCK AND STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN WILL NEVER, EVER... FORGET OR FORGIVE... THE MONSTERS... WHO DESTROYED THE LIVES OF OVER THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE ON SEPTEMBER 11TH!!"

Steve then took the mic from Dwayne and spoke.

"When the people of Al-Qaeda are found, Austin 3:16 will run rampant on their asses, guzzling beer all the damn way! The Rattlesnake will stomp a Mudhole through them that will reach all the way to China! And that's the bottom line, 'CAUSE STONE COLD, SAID SO!!!" Steve continued, attracting cheers aplenty, and handing over the mic to Dwayne.

"And The Rock tells this to Al-Qaeda, and all others who murder in the name of 'religion' and voices in their heads like a bunch of jabronis! You can take those planes, take those suicide bombs, take those missiles and warheads of yours, you can shine them up really nice, turn those sonuvabitches sideways..." the crowd cheered for both of them as Dwayne finished, "AND THEY CAN STICK ALL OF THOSE PLANES, WARHEADS, MISSILES AND BOMBS, STRAIGHT UP... THEIR CANDY ASSES!!!"

The two of them were bombarded by a massive congregation of cheers and hollers. Signs expressing people's feelings on the tragedy of the 11th were also mixed in along with signs devoted to many of the wrestlers, including Steve and Dwayne.

Suddenly, the lights went out completely, causing the arena to become almost completely pitch black, and Dwayne and Steve had suddenly become impossible to see by the crowd within the darkness. Most of the other Misfits suddenly sensed them raise their powerlevels, and then move with vast speed away from the ring, and the main portion of the arena, before they felt the two power down again less than 2 seconds later. The lights suddenly turned on, and the crowd and the announcers for the event found to their astonishment that Dwayne and Steve had just vanished from where they had been standing within less than 2 seconds.

"Woah! Did they use their ki to pull a disappearing act on them?!" Devin asked.

"Yep! That whole little ditty there with the event's name, the songs, the duets, my joining in at the end, the tribute to the 11th, and the vanishing trick were all something the three of us planned out with Vince ahead of time." Dusty said with pride in his voice.

"Damn! That was actually fuckin' sweet Dusty!" Alex admitted, "Although Steve's singing voice is to be desired."

"No kidding Alex." Devin replied, "No offense, but Dwayne's by far a better singer than Steve."

"None taken." Dusty replied, "They rehearsed that a few times with me before we got it all right, so I know how they both sing already."

"It's no wonder you looked all smug instead of shocked at that." Clint replied.

"Yeah, I realized that being there with us and suffering along with us through the pain of the 11th, along with what almost happened to Dan, they probably wanted to do a tribute to all those who died on that day." Dusty replied.

"One can only wonder what those two will declare though as their stipulations." Vernon mused, "Both of them are facing each other as opposed to one of the other superstars, so they can actually go all out on each other if they wanted."

"I sure hope they won't go to their maximums." Goku said with concern having overheard their conversation, "There's over 200,000 people in this arena and thousands more around it. If they lost control of their powers here, they could accidentally hurt or even kill a huge number of people."

"Somehow I don't feel they'll go all the way, just enough to maybe make it seem like they've appeared to vastly improve to the eyes of the people." Clint theorized.

Of course, to be honest, there was no way any of them could know what might soon happen at the main event that night, but that wasn't to say what was to come shortly wouldn't be entertaining either...

**********
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 9:16pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

As the event began, there were a set of five other major matches planned for that event.

The roster would begin with Kurt Angle, and his opponent would be the well known Booker T, one of the most popular African-American wrestlers in both the WCW and the WWE. It was also revealed during the beginning of the match that none of the matches at the event were part of the normal kayfabe storyline and were exhibition matches for the fans. Despite this, It was revealed that Angle and Booker T had recently had some dealings in battles over the WCW World Title, but this match had no effect on the fact Kurt Angle currently held that, taken from Booker T back on July 30, 2001.

During the proceedings of the match, the two fought for over 25 minutes, and it was during this match that some of the newer Misfits had noticed the apparent similarity of Booker T's finishing move, the "Booker End", to Dwayne's own "Rock Bottom", and that the only difference was that Booker's was a more kneeled over version. At the end of the 26 to 27 minutes, Booker T lost by kayfabe loss of consciousness from the pressure that appeared to be applied to his ankle by Kurt Angle's signature Ankle Lock technique.

After Angle and then eventually Booker T left the ring and returned backstage, the lights dimmed and Stone Cold Steve Austin's theme: Glass Shatters from Disturbed began to play in the background. Steve walked out and onto the walkway, stepping down confidently to the ring and stepped through the turnbuckle ropes. He had a microphone in his hands from the start this time, and the cheers and chorus in the background showed the anticipation to his announcement, as this was apparently going to be the announcement of the first condition of his match with Dwayne later that night.

"All right Cleveland, listen up!" Steve called out, looking around at the crowd slowly as he began, and the crowd's volume died down, "Your buddy Stone Cold Steve Austin has an announcement to make... and he's going to make it a quick one! As the first of the conditions for the match... I will have with The Rock at the end of the event, the two of us have agreed... the match will be a 75 Minute Iron Man!"

"75 minutes!? Oh Jesus..." Devin replied at this in some despair, "Hopefully we don't start losing audience members."

"For those of you who have been living under a rock for years..." the crowd cheered and laughed at this statement, "Iron Man means whoever has the most falls at the end of the time limit wins. The match will go for the entire 75 minutes! Wrestling 101 is over for now, kids!" Steve finished.

He then climbed out through the ring, and ran back up the walkway, turning right as he reached the back end.

*************
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 9:44pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

The next match in the roster would put Rob Van Dam against a more 'rookie' WWE star named Rhyno. Although Van Dam was a well seasoned wrestler from his previous experiences, Rhyno wasn't a pushover either. Constantly Rhyno would able to get in a 'Gore', a striking spear move, and had even nailed Van Dam with a couple of Rhyno Drivers, a vicious looking Piledriver that showed no mercy. Van Dam also had his own array of moves, such as the 'Rolling Thunder', the "Air Van Dam", and the vicious "Skateboard" chair-attack. Van Dam eventually won the match after a pair of ‘Skateboards’ and then topping it off with his finisher, the ‘Five-Star Frog Splash’, and winning by pinfall. The match had lasted about 20 to 25 minutes.

As soon as Van Dam and Rhyno had left the ring, "The Rock Says...", the The Rock’s theme blared to life, and Dwayne marched down the walkway from backstage, and climbed into the ring. He looked in a bit of a rush, and he was also carrying his own mic like Steve had at the end of the last match. Cheers echoed through the arena as Dwayne looked around at the entire audience.

"The Rock has an announcement to make. The Rock has discussed the conditions of his match with that piece of Texas-Trailer-Park-Trash you all know as Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock and Stone Cold agreed that in addition to there being a 75-Minute Iron Man match, this match will also be No Holds Barred, and any object at hand can be used as a weapon with no disqualification. Only a pinfall or knockout will constitute as a fall for this match. The Rock also says this, if you think it’s gonna get bad tonight, you haven’t seen anything yet... IF YOU SMELLLLLLLLL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING?!?!" he said, all in one burst of reply.

Dwayne then climbed out of the ring and walked somewhat hurriedly back up the walkway, accepting cheers from his fans and even giving a few along the walkway a high five, before disappearing around the right corner to the backstage area.

*************
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 10:11pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

The third match on the roster would be a tag-team match. The Misfits in the stands had to explain a bit of that concept to their less knowledgeable friends. They also knew that The Undertaker and Kane were both teamed up together, under their dossier "Brothers of Destruction". Their opponents would be Matt & Jeff Hardy, two real-life brothers that formed the tag team known as "The Hardy Boyz". Both teams have had a record of facing each other in the past, usually the results would be the Brother of Destruction would dominate the Hardy Boyz during most of the matches and usually win.

This time however was really not too much different. Although the Hardys were in themselves an effective enough team in most cases, the sheer size and power of both The Undertaker and Kane would again be enough to overwhelm them. Both of the Brothers of Destruction were able to pair up for a Double Chokeslam on Jeff Hardy, causing him to be unable to get up after Kane pinned him to the mat for a 3-count. But that had not been to say the two bigger wrestlers hadn’t suffered their licks throughout the fight. Matt Hardy had been able to luck out and get at least one good hit on each of the Brothers of Destruction with his turnbuckle-facelock cutter called the "Super Twist of Fate". Kane had almost been pinned by Jeff Hardy after being tagged in by his brother, but he was too weakened from earlier fighting to apparently hold down the similarly weakened Kane.

However at the end of this 19 minute-match, there was apparently no appearance by either Steve or Dwayne. The match would just move on to the next one...

*************

(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 10:31pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

The next of the matches would include the moderately experienced Test verses the equally experienced Rikishi. The match would mostly be kept well dominated by Rikishi, who would constantly throw Test up against the ropes and body slam him to the mat. At one point, he was even able to hit Test with the "Rikishi Driver" after bouncing him off the turnbuckle, doing a fair amount of damage. Test then get in his own licks, nailing Rikishi with a Diving Elbow Drop off a turnbuckle in a recovery move, then following it up with a TKO.

Rikishi managed to recover and smash Test back into corner, and gave him a powerful Thumper/Butt Thumper, similar to one of Jason’s physical attack ideas, following it up with a harsh Stinkface. However Test had had enough and managed to turn the tables by hitting him with a powerful version of his "Test Drive" cutter, and then managing a Reverse Frankensteiner off one of the turnbuckles which had stunned Rikishi long enough for Test to pin him for a fall on a 3-count. That match had lasted close to 20 minutes though.

After both Test and Rikishi left the ring and the arena, "The Rock Says..." played yet again, as Dwayne stepped out from backstage and walked down the runaway with still the same confident stride he had the last time he came out. He climbed back into the ring, listening to the cheers of the crowd.

"The Rock has come back, with another announcement!" he yelled accompanied by cheers, "The Rock and that Texas-Trash Stone Cold Steve Austin have agreed on more rules and conditions for this match! The Rock says that this match will also be free reign of movement around the entire building! This means that any place in the Gund Arena here in Cleveland can be a battle ground for The People’s Champion and the Trailer-Park-Trash we like to call Stone Cold Steve Austin! The Rock says he looks forward to see how much Stone Cold Steve Austin has claimed to improve in the last couple of weeks. The Rock will see about that, you piece of trash! IF YOU SMELLLLLLLLL, WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN?!?!"

After that, Dwayne climbed from the ring and walked back up the walkway, vanishing from the right side of the exit.

"The entire arena?! Dammit! That means we could end up missing out on part of the match..." Vernon was a bit disappointed.

"I hope they decided to stay here for most of it though. I am curious to know how their training will effect their in-game performance." Alex said, sharing his friend’s disappointment.

"I’m sure with 75 minutes we’ll get a good dose of the action." Clint tried to calm them down.

"Who knows, really? I mean, not all of these events can be perfectly planned for..." Dusty said, almost as if he knew something all of them didn’t.

However none of them thought to ask or pressure him about it, as the next match would soon begin...

*************
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 10:54pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

Unlike the previous four matches on the roster, the contenders for the upcoming match were not disclosed to anyone ahead of time. As the referee began to reenter the ring...

"Come on, here we go, you know I got ya, yeah! Come on, break the wall DOWN!!" the loudspeakers blared up.

"Oh boy, here’s comes the Walls of Jericho." Devin said with slight sarcasm, referring to Chris Jericho, whom the song belonged to.

Said wrestler began to strut down the walkway, looking left and right to the cheering crowd with a smirk on his face. Jericho pulled himself into the ring, and stood up on the turnbuckle, receiving a large amount of cheers from the crowd and then stepped down, doing warm up flexes of his muscles as he awaited for the wrestler only he knew would be coming.

Suddenly, "Time to play the game...... TIME TO PLAY THE GAME!!" blared on the speakers.

"Oh god... he’s gonna risk it already?!" Dusty asked outloud, recognizing the song as Triple H’s theme.

Triple H stepped out from the backstage area and strut down the walkway, receiving a large amount of cheers, possibly more than Jericho had.

Nina frowned, "What the hell’s he doing?! I told him he should be rehabilitating that leg of his, not competing right away!"

"Hey, maybe Triple H feels his fans should be told he’s okay again." Teresa replied, "I did noticed he looked like he really wanted to get back into the ring tonight. I guess he couldn’t resist."

"He better not tear that muscle AGAIN tonight, or I’m gonna whack him a good one on the head after I heal it again." Nina grumbled with her arms crossed. The others just chuckled at her agitation as Triple H entered the ring momentarily, but giving a signal to the referee to hold the match for a minute. He climbed back out of the north end of the ring and walked over to the other Misfits, particularly Nina.

"Hey, I’m sure you’re not exactly thrilled to see me here so soon considering the leg, but I told Chris about what happened, and we’ve agreed to make this as short as we can within time restraints. This shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes long at best." Triple H told Nina specifically, noticing her slightly annoyed look at him.

"Well, if you can keep yourself from tearing that leg muscle, do what you have to, but I don’t wanna have to heal you twice in the same night. I just wish you told us you were gonna go off and do this anyways." she replied with a resigned sigh, "Good luck, and make it interesting for us, you hear me?"

"You got it, babe." he replied, and then climbed back up into the ring.

The ringside commentators, Jim Ross and Paul Heyman, had also been watching this exchange from the sidelines, and had only overheard what Triple H had said. Nina’s comments had been too quiet for them to pick up anything on, except the mention of his leg, and the last part where she asked him to make the match interesting. They started making their usual comments to the TV viewers, wondering what Nina’s connection to Triple H was. They had even remembered she was close to Dusty, who they remembered joining in on during the last part of Dwayne and Steve’s duet, and also the same kid who gave the event it’s current name.

Ignoring them for the time being, the Misfits watched as the bell had rang and Jericho and Triple H began their match.

"How ironic this match is though." Dan replied, mostly to the other Misfits who didn’t know so much about the kayfabe history of the WWE, "I’m not sure if Steve told you, but he and Triple H had been part of a tag team called the "Two Man Powertrip", and it was during one of these matches that Triple H tore his quadricep muscle trying to assist Austin when Chris Jericho had him in his 'Walls of Jericho'. In a strange sense, Jericho is a minor cause of that same injury Nina healed. I guess it kinda makes sense, they could be pushing this as a ‘revenge match’ of sorts.

Nina was indeed intrigued about that comment, but she then thought of something else, "Wait a second. How exactly did Steve get HIS injury in the neck?"

Dusty sighed sadly, almost as if he didn’t want to explain, but he figured he owed her some explanation, as she had never heard this particular story before, "August 3, 1997: SummerSlam 97. Steve challenged another wrestler by the name of Owen Hart for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Somewhere in the match, Owen Hart had Steve set up for one of his signature moves, the "Hart Driver", which was basically a jumping Piledriver. However he had not noticed that Steve’s head was about a foot below the recommended height to safely perform it. As a result Steve was really dropped right on his head, causing him to be temporarily paralyzed. Despite this, Owen Hart improvised to buy him time for a pin, as Steve was apparently meant to still win, and he did."

"Ouch." #18 replied, having overheard this, "So that injury basically never cured completely?"

"Until tonight, I guess not. Austin was out of the main competition for a few months, but he did come back and continue his wrestling career. Steve never held any grudge against Hart for what happened that night though." Dusty replied, still looking sad.

Nina noticed something wasn’t completely truthful or complete to his story though, "Dusty, what’s wrong? You look like you’re not telling us something."

Dan sighed, knowing exactly what Dusty was not wanting to tell them, so he decided to tell Nina for him, "I’ll tell her Dusty, don’t worry."

Dusty sighed, but thankful he didn’t want to say it.

"What happened then, Dan?" Nina asked.

"On May 23, 1999, there was the ‘Over the Edge 1999’ event in Kemper Arena in Missouri. Owen Hart, the wrestler who accidentally caused Austin’s neck injury, was to be lowered from the rafters into the ring from 80 feet high by a harness, a stunt he would do in his "Blue Blazer" persona. During the stunt, and live in front of the entire audience, the harness released far too soon. Hart fell over 70 feet into the ring, smashing his chest against the turnbuckle and landing in the ring. He died minutes later in the ring. He had suffered severe blunt chest trauma and his lungs had filled with blood." Dan replied.

Nina’s expression turned to shock and dismay, and a lot of the newer Misfits had also expressed sorrow and dismay along with hers, "My god... What a terrible way to go..."

"Interesting thing is, Owen Hart had a fear of heights, and it was believed his anxiety was an accidental part of what happened to him that night," Dusty cut back in, deciding he could finish this off, "The next day, a special show of ‘WWE Raw’ called ‘RAW is Owen’ featured a tremendous number of tributes to him. They did a 10-bell salute to him at the beginning of the event, and all of the other Superstars even made their own unique tributes to him in the form of either interviews, special matches, or other methods."

"How did Dwayne and Steve tribute to him exactly?" Nina asked.

"Well, Dwayne decided to face Val Venis in a match that night, despite having a kayfabe broken arm at the time. He said he would dedicate his People’s Elbow to Hart that night. After a 2 minute fight, Dwayne did indeed hit Venis with a People’s Elbow that finished him quickly for a pinfall. However it was Austin’s that was the big one of the two. Just after that very match, Steve walked down to the ring by himself, dressed in casual clothes, and asked for two beers. He turned to the monitor with Owen’s picture on it, and did his tribute by smashing the two beers together like he normally would, but he only guzzled one them, while looking on sadly at the screen, and then put the other one in the ring ‘for Owen’. He didn’t say a thing, but his actions expressed his feelings, and his good sportsmanship. Even if the man who ended up dying wrongly had been the one who gave him his neck injury, Steve showed he was just as good a wrestler by not harboring a grudge against him in any way." Dusty finished up.

While the discussion was occurring between then, Triple H had appeared to have the advantage on Chris Jericho, constantly kicking him high on the chest, and against the turnbuckle. He then pulled him away and threw him towards a second turnbuckle and then rushed at him, but Jericho recovered and did a jumping double kick that knocked Triple H down to the ground. Jericho got up and then managed to grab Triple H around both of his ankles, and placing him in his infamous ‘Walls of Jericho’ move. Nina had cringed at the move as she knew it was possibly going to have some effect on Triple H’s newly healed leg.

However suddenly, Triple H managed to use his arms to make a reverse maneuver which turned Jericho over on his back, pinning his shoulders to the mat, causing the referee to count. Triple H was able to keep Jericho pinned with this method long enough to get the 3-count, allowing him to win the match. Jericho let go of him too late and realized his error. After appearing to process what just happened, he stormed off in fake anger from the ring, and Triple H got to his feet and climbed back out of the ring. He walked up to the Misfits again.

"Nice reverse man." Dan complimented.

"I figured he’d try to use that on me. He did it to me the same night my leg got torn up, so I figure it’d make an ironic twist of fate to beat him that way." Triple H replied, "I’ll see you all later backstage, alright."

"Later man." Devin replied as Triple H walked off to the walkway and disappeared backstage...

*************
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 11:05pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

Soon after, ‘Glass Shatters’ sounded off over the loudspeakers, as Steve walked out from backstage and down the walkway. Instead of climbing straight into the ring, he started to circle the ring counter clockwise, keeping a vigil on his fans and the rest of the crowd as the circled around. It seemed as if Steve was going to announce the final condition of the match, and then Dwayne would come out so they could begin.

As Steve passed his Misfit allies/friends on the north end, he gave them a fleeting glance, but he didn’t say anything to them yet. After making a full circle around the ring, he walked up the corner steps of the ring. They also noticed he was wearing a new vest they had never seen before. Although the outfit initially appeared to be much like his usual blue shorts and a black vest with "Austin" on the left side, and a human skull with "3:16" on the right side.

However it was on the back of the vest that something new stuck out. It appeared to be an icon that looked a lot like a upside down pentagon with a pentagram inside of it, also upside down similar to the Satanist version of the pentagram. However inside the top two points were what looked to be circular eyes. The one on the left was a blood red, while the one on the right was blue. The inside of the pentagram was otherwise a dark-gold color, and in the middle pentagon formed by the pentagram had what looked like a straight vertical line through the middle of it.

On the bottom of the pentagram, the left point appeared to have what looked like a large silver tooth dropping from it. The right point opposite of it also had a similar tooth sticking down. The bottom point had two similar teeth jutting out from each side about halfway down, angled about 252.5 degrees on the left side and 117.5 degrees on the right side. It made the pentagram look more like a monster’s face when one looked at it. The outside of the pentagram in the symbol was blue in the same way as the ‘face’s’ right eye had been.

Everyone in the crowd who could see this new symbol sticking out on Steve’s vest were curious and dumbfounded to what it was, and what it meant. Jim Ross and Paul Heyman over at the announcer’s table were also curious and were making a prediction it might be the symbol of a brand new wrestling stable Steve had joined. The other Misfits themselves were also dumbfounded at the logo.

"That’s certainly not anything I’ve seen before." Paula remarked, "Though I guess the logo’s creative enough."

"I like it a lot!" Alex exclaimed, "Did any of you noticed the pentagram inside of it looks like a monster’s face?!"

"Yeah, I did notice that." Clint replied.

"Is this some kind of new alliance Austin’s making with someone?" Dusty asked, not apparently in on this particular change.

"I wonder..." Jason replied, "Do you think Dwayne’s gonna have the same logo somewhere when he comes out?"

"I doubt it. Even if they’re good friends in real-life, they’re extreme rivals in-story, remember?" Vernon reminded him.

Steve had now reached the center of the ring, microphone in hand again. He looked around one more time to all of the crowd and then spoke, "I see you’re all just fired up for Stone Cold’s fight with that Barahma Bull’s ass you call The Rock! Stone Cold has an announcement to make concerning one of the new conditions of this match! Now, I know this is a bit different from anything you’ve ever heard of, but stay with me if you can," the crowd cheered and laughed at his remark, "This match is set that any other of the Superstars in the WWE are allowed up to 2 minutes of interference in the match against either me or The Rock, or even against another Superstar interfering! When their two minutes are up though, they must wait five minutes before they are allowed to interfere again, and so on!"

"What?! This is new to me!" Alex replied. Sure there were always run-ins of wrestlers during most major matches, but a rule stating that it was all but allowed was not a very common thing for a match to have.

Steve continued, "I would like to advise any Superstar planning on interfering with me though that you will end up regretting it later if you do! At the last half of the match, we shall begin to ‘turn up the heat’, as I like to put it!"

Steve did know that people were giving expressions of puzzlement at his new logo as well, but he didn’t think it was time to explain it to anyone yet, not even his Misfit friends in the front row of the north side of the arena, or even the ringside commentators.

Suddenly, "The Rock Says" blared to life over the loudspeakers, as Dwayne strode out from the backstage area, looking over at Steve with a look that said, ‘Let’s make this look good’, although no one else in the crowd would be able to make that connection. Dwayne also carried his mic from earlier, as he stepped down to the ringside and also circled the ring, but this time in the opposite direction Steve had.

As everyone got a good look at him in closer range, they noticed his muscle shirt and were showing looks of surprise and astonishment. Although the front of Dwayne’s shirt had the usual symbol of his ‘Barahma Bull’ persona and the words ‘Bring It,’ above it and the word ‘Jabroni!’ below the face, the back of his shirt, like the back of Steve’s vest, sported the same EXACT multi-color symbol that resembled the pentagram-in-a-pentagon-with-a-face.

"Damn Jason, I guess you were right about the symbol. But what the hell does it mean?!" Alex asked his friend, who he figured was just as clueless as he was.

"I don’t know. I was actually just making a wild guess about that, man." Jason said with his own expression of shock.

Dusty and Dan were also shocked at this, and Devin gave a look of exasperated surprise, "Oh god... why do I have this feeling that symbol has something to do with US?"

"What do you mean?" asked Virgil.

"It’s only AFTER they meet us that both of them are sporting this symbol, Virgil. I mean, doesn’t that seem kinda suspicious to you?" Devin asked.

"Honestly, I think you’re overreacting, dude." Virgil said with a sigh.

"If you say so." Devin replied, rolling his eyes. He knew there was something very odd about this.

At this point, both of the announcers, Jim Ross and Paul Heyman, were completely befuddled, knowing that Dwayne and Steve were serious rivals and enemies in-sport and didn’t know what to make of it, still holding the assumption the symbol represented a wrestling stable. Some people up close to the ring, including all of the Misfits in their seats also noticed that Dwayne was holding a two foot long tube of some kind in his other hand as he walked around. As he made a full 360 around the ring, he also climbed up into the ring by the corner steps, entering and walking up to Steve.

Both of them glared at each other with a look of false murder for about 5 seconds, and then Dwayne turned away from Steve and to the crowd, putting the mic up to his mouth as he surveyed all of the crowd.

"Finally, The Rock will have his chance to show his new found skills, in the ring with the Texas Rattlesnake, the Piece-of-Trailer-Park-Trash, Stone Cold Steve Austin! However before The Rock or Stone Cold can begin their match, there is one more condition to be said, or The Rock should say, one more special condition to set up!"

He then popped the lid off of the long tube, taking out what appeared to be a black and white striped shirt, the shirt of a referee. On it’s shoulders were a pair of patches of the multi-colored symbols that Dwayne and Steve had on the back of their shirts.

He unrolled the shirt, and looked out over the audience and crowd, as if contemplating something. Suddenly, with one quick motion, he walked over to the north end of the ring, and yelled into the mic, "Dusty, catch!" and threw the shirt over to Dusty in the middle of the seats.

Dusty caught the shirt, although dumbfounded. He didn’t know about this! He was quite shocked to say the least.

Dwayne smirked at him, noticing his surprise, and adding it to his promo, "Dusty Fausnight, from Canton, Ohio, Come on up here! The Rock says you’ve been chosen to be the special guest referee in this match!"

"WHAT?!" Dusty exclaimed, trying to get to his feet and boost himself over the walls in front of his seat. Soon, he had made it over the side, still a bit surprised.

"What the fuck!?" Alex exclaimed, "They’re making Dusty the referee?!"

"Holy shit!" Vernon replied, just as surprised.

"Woah! Congrats, Dusty!" Dan called over to his friend, surprised just as much as the others.

A lot of the other Misfits were also quite surprised, but some were also smiling at this, knowing that Dusty was probably one of the ones who really deserved this chance to be part of a real match.

At the announcers table, Jim Ross and Paul Heyman were also expressing shock. They had only now realized that Dusty was the one Steve had devoted his earlier song to, the same kid who gave the event it’s title, and the one who joined in at the end of the duet Dwayne and Steve made. They also noticed his close proximity to Nina, who Triple H had been talking to in the previous match.

Dusty quickly slipped the referee shirt over his other shirt, noticing it had been made to fit his size, apparently a planned out gesture from Dwayne, Steve and probably Vince too. He had also noticed the emblems on the shoulders, but he wondered if he should ask now, or wait until the match was over for the answer. He soon climbed into the ring and got in close and between Dwayne and Steve.

Steve and Dwayne leaned in closer and both said, "Surprise."

"I noticed." Dusty whispered back, "So I’m gonna follow you guys around the arena, eh?"

"Basically. Don’t worry, we won’t be out of the inner arena the entire time, we will be coming back here for the big part of our match later on." Steve replied to him in a whisper.

"Wait, what’s with the logos?" Dusty asked.

"We’ll tell you and everyone else about it after the match. It won’t quite be the end of the event then, as we have one more thing we’ll have to do." Dwayne whispered back.

"Alright, I just hope I can do this right, since I have to improvise." Dusty replied.

"Calm down, man. You’ll be fine at this. You’ve studied the WWE a lot, didn’t you?" Steve asked.

"Of course, but I’ve never actually regulated even a backyard wrestling match, much less a real-life WWE match." Dusty said back.

"As Steve said, you’ll be just fine. Only knockouts of longer than 10 seconds or 3-second pinfalls will count as points in this match anyways." Dwayne replied.

"Alright, I guess I’m ready when you are." Dusty responded.

The three of them then pulled away, and Dusty backed off a bit to give Dwayne and Steve room to begin once the bell went off. He sensed their ki strengths, and they felt more or less close to their original levels of 100ish. He had realized he had forgotten to ask then if they were gonna raise their powerlevels as the match continued.

Seconds later, the bell rang...

*************
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 11:08pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

Immediately, Dwayne and Steve walked up to one another. Instead of either one throwing any attacks immediately, the two glared at each other, into a stand-off. Dusty watched as the two continued to stare each other down for almost an entire minute.

Suddenly Steve swung and decked Dwayne in the face with a left cross, following it up with a right cross, then another right cross, then a left cross. He grabbed Dwayne's left arm and swung him to the ropes, and he bounced back off. Dwayne however ducked under Steve's attempt at a clothesline, bouncing off the next set of ropes and back at Steve, trying to immediately pull off a Rock Bottom. Steve knew this was coming and swung a leg and hit Dwayne in the chest, causing him to fall backwards onto his back in the ring. Steve walked up and grabbed Dwayne's right foot, and prepared to smash it down into the floor, but Dwayne recovered and swung his body with his foot as a pivot, hitting Steve with a vicious kick to the shoulder, knocking him off balance and sideways where he had to catch himself haphazardly on the rope.

Dwayne got to his feet quickly, and walked up to Steve, giving him a strong left cross, then another left cross, and then a right-backhand to the face. And then he jumped back, bouncing off the ropes and jumped over at Steve with a clothesline, causing him to flip over backwards and out of the ring, crumbled in a heap. Dusty climbed out of the ring after him, as Dwayne climbed out the other side of the ring, and walked in close to Steve. Dwayne picked up Steve by his head and pulled him to his feet, and then threw him down face first into the ringside steps, smashing them aside. Dwayne went at Steve again, but Steve rolled over swiftly and jumped to his feet, with a kick to the stomach which knocked Dwayne backwards, but too far away to follow up with a Stone Cold Stunner.

Steve charged forward to follow up with a clothesline, but Dwayne ducked beneath him and grabbed him around the waist from behind, and turned him sideways, jumping into a kneeling stance, smashing Steve's back up against his outstretched knee. Steve recoiled off of him and onto the floor. Dwayne got up and moved in to grab Steve's right foot, but Steve rolled forward into a near somersault and jumped to his feet quickly, hitting Dwayne with a strong left cross than caused him to stagger back. Steve followed up with another left cross, then a right hook, and then give him a kick to the stomach and grabbed his head with an underhooked arm, poised to perform the Stone Cold Stunner. Dwayne however managed to spring himself out of Steve's grasp before he could pull it off but almost stumbled as he landed.

Dwayne charged in at Steve with a kick towards the chest, but Steve caught his foot with both hands, and then outstretched one to Dwayne's chest, and flipped him over backwards, power diving him against the mat. Steve walked up and began to use his Mudhole Stomp, attempting to back Dwayne against one of the corners of the front stands, constantly appearing to hit Dwayne mostly in the chest, and even a couple of times in the face. Suddenly Dwayne jumped up and grabbed one of Steve's legs and swung him to his left, and Steve narrowly prevented his leg from swinging high into the turnbuckle pole. However Dwayne took advantage of this and gave Steve a powerful double jump kick that caused Steve to fly face forward toward the turnbuckle. Steve just managed to steer his head from making contact, but his left shoulder took the hit instead. Luckily the 'pain' didn't seem to make him fall back, and he staggered out, only to be clotheslined by Dwayne.

Dusty only watched the two trade blows for the time being. He knew that there were only two conditions for a fall in this match, so he had to be vigilant, but he also knew there was a possibility that part of the match might include one of them or another Superstar accidentally hitting him and knocking him down or knocking him completely out for a thrill from the audience. He had not been prepared to be chosen as a referee, and he knew the referees in high-end matches were especially prone to getting hit 'on accident' by a Superstar's attempt to hit another Superstar.

Dwayne had just grabbed Steve's leg and twisted himself around, putting Steve in his patented 'Sharpshooter', a submission leglock. However the match hadn't stated whether or not this was means of a pinfall specifically, so he didn't know whether it would count as a fall or not if one of them tapped out. Not that Dusty expected Steve to though. Steve wasn't called the Redneck Badass for nothing, he knew. He also knew Dwayne wouldn't tap out and it would likely knock one of them out, which did however count as a fall if any of them were out for 10 seconds or longer.

Steve knew that his position was a cue to use his extra reserves of power to break free as a part of the show. He and Dwayne were still only fighting at their original strength levels from back on August 29th, only using sporadic bursts of energy to put on a suspension of belief. Steve suddenly used his arms and pushed his upper body off the ground, and then with one mighty push of his arms, he sprang himself backwards, with Dwayne still locked onto his leg in the Sharpshooter. Dwayne suddenly found his torso smashed into the 4-5 foot walls of the outer seats and was forced to let up on the Sharpshooter as he slumped against the wall.

Steve quickly capitalized again, returning to mudhole stomping on Dwayne's back as he attempted to get up, using the wall as support. The 'punishing' blows however were keeping him from making much ground. Dwayne took about three more stomps, and then suddenly turned his body to Steve, though suffering a hit to the chest, and then dived between Steve's legs, grabbing them and hoisting them over his shoulders as he rose up and then jumped backwards, smashing Steve's stomach against the mat with his Samoan Drop move, appearing to stun Steve. Dwayne then walked up and quickly began to appear to stomp on Steve's head several times, until he had stomped about nine times. Steve managed to roll sideways to evade the tenth stomp and flipped his body up and gave Dwayne a double kick to the chest, knocking him backwards, but Dwayne was able to halt his backwards movement before he hit the seat-walls behind him. Steve pulled himself to his feet quickly.

Dwayne suddenly pulled out his microphone and spoke into it, "So Austin, you having fun with The Rock yet?"

Steve pulled out his own microphone, replying, "I'm having a lot of fun stomping your buffalo's ass into the ground!"

This was a bit interesting because most of the time matches didn't have this kind of dialogue, and it was usually an all brawl fest. Dusty was also a bit surprised at the fact.

"The Rock has an idea! Austin, why don't you take that new vest of yours, shine that sonuvabitch up, turn it sideways, and..." Dwayne was interrupted as Steve lunged forward and tackled Dwayne to the ground, making him drop his microphone, and Steve got up, pinning Dwayne's stomach to the ground and started smashing into him with quick and vicious looking punches to the head. Dwayne appeared to attempt to shield himself from Steve's punches. Dwayne was mostly boosting his powerlevel in brief enough bursts that although Steve was indeed landing what truly appeared to be real punches, that they weren't really damaging Dwayne much. For the most part, a lot of their blows had been real, but both had planned it out to raise their powerlevels to blunt the major damage of their attacks.

Dwayne suddenly with a burst of strength flipped over, and started to pin Steve's shoulders to the mat. Dusty jumped in and started to count, "One... t..."

Steve quickly kicked out before Dusty could finish saying 'two', but also freeing Dwayne from his previous attack. Dwayne grabbed his microphone, and got to his feet, looking at Steve and finishing his previous sentence, "Turn it sideways, and stick it up your candy ass!"

Steve smirked at Dwayne, but didn't reply via the mic, and Dwayne knew it was time to continue this. Putting his mic away quickly, he managed to dodge Steve's next attempt to body slam him, but Dwayne's follow up didn't miss, a flying body press against Steve's back, which almost forced Steve to flip over one of the seat walls. They were currently on the south side of the ring, where most of the other Misfits couldn't see them too well. Dwayne walked up to Steve and grabbed him back the back of his head and dragged him west, and smashed his head into the top of one of the seat walls, causing Steve to fall to the ground from the impact. Dwayne grabbed him by the head again, but Steve managed to swipe a quick blow against Dwayne's stomach, knocking him back, and giving Steve room to rise to his feet. Dwayne swung a right cross, but Steve blocked it, and swung his own left hook, but Dwayne blocked it, and he swing his left fist, but Steve ducked his head aside and gave Dwayne a headbutt to the face, knocking him backwards into the turnbuckle. Dwayne recovered and jumped to the side, causing Steve's follow-up punch to almost hit the metal post of the turnbuckle behind him.

Steve quickly moved in and gave Dwayne a pair of middle fingers, and kicked him violently in the stomach, grabbing his head with an underhook and smashing him down with a sitting press, executing his first successful Stone Cold Stunner. The Stunner, while by the standards of the veteran Misfits like Goku and Piccolo didn't look like an impressive move was indeed one that if used for real in a battle could inflict a lot of damage to a person's neck. Luckily Dwayne and Steve were putting on a show and Dwayne used his ki to cushion the majority of the hit, but decided to sell the fact he was damaged slightly from it, sprawled out on his back afterwards. However he pulled himself to his feet quickly, only to get smashed in the back of the head by a clothesline by Steve, knocking him down to his knees. Steve rushed in to giving him a flying boot to the head, but Dwayne sidestepped just slightly, and hooked his left arm around Steve's shoulders and neck, and then flying forward and smashing them both to the ground, which was in actuality the execution of Dwayne's 'Rock Bottom' move, his own answer to the Stunner.

Dwayne leaped over Steve's body and pulled one of his legs up, into a pin. Dusty jumped in and began to count, "One..."

However Steve recovered quickly and kicked out of the pin before Dusty could even begin a two count. The crowd was roaring with excitement, as both of the wrestlers pulled themselves to their feet. However Dwayne was still on the offense, giving Steve a left hook, a right cross, and a powerful open-hand strike to the face, sending Steve stumbling back towards the walkway. Dwayne continued his offensive, knocking Steve back several feet within 10 seconds, with several left and right punches. As the two began to reach the back end of the walkway, Steve recovered and kicked Dwayne, and then grabbing his arm and flinging him to his right, almost smashing Dwayne into the nearby wall. Steve attempted a lunging jump-kick, but Dwayne dodged aside and Steve only ended up hitting the wall.

Dwayne hit him from the side with a headbutt, making Steve stagger close to the exit off the walk way. Dwayne then jumped forward and attempted a clothesline, but Steve ducked down and grabbed him around the waist and flipped backwards, throwing Dwayne backstage and out of most of the crowd's view. Steve got up and proceeded after him, disappearing from the view of most of the Misfits allies, with Dusty following behind them both...

*************
(September 16, 2001 A.D.; 11:13pm; Cleveland, Ohio)

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