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Quick Links: Part 1: Enter the
Mantra (August 29, 2001 A.D.; 7:32am EST/4:32pm Tokyo Standard Time; Shibuya-ku (Ward); Tokyo, Japan) Shibuya-ku ("都渋谷区") district bustled with activity as it always did, being the central nerve point for all the young people of Tokyo, Japan. Located in the Eastern part of the world, Tokyo was considered to be the largest of all cities in the entire world, with an estimated 33,750,000 people living within it's 23 different wards. Shibuya-ku was just one of many, around 15.11 square kilometers, but it was one of the most busy places in East Tokyo. In fact, it was home to the Shibuya Crossing, a large crossing that utilized four-way stopping of traffic to allow people to cross on all four sides at once without worry of cars running them over, better known as a 'scramble crossing'. One of these intersections was right in front of the Shibuya Station ("渋谷駅"), one of the central stations of Tokyo's massive Transit system, also believed to be one of the biggest in all the world, receiving anywhere from 2 to 3 million passengers per day. In fact, it was from this station that history would begin to write itself all over again, as from the front of the transit station, eight varying figures emerged, one by one... The first one was around 6 feet and 1 inch, and had a slight crew cut. He also appeared to have a small amount of width to him, although not enough to truly appear wide or fat to many around him. His brown hair wasn't very out of place, although his eyes reflected that he was of western decent. He wore a black shirt which on it's front depicted an illustration of the bust of a built man in his thirties turned to the left, looking towards the viewer, possessing a fairly long mane of hair. The logo representing the "WWE" was also embroidered into the shirt, telling that the man shown was likely one of their Wrestling Superstars. Most people would properly assume he was American due to this design. The second one to arrive was around 5 feet and 8 inches, and he was much thinner, almost stick-like compared to the first. His hair was almost completely shaved, and only blackish-brown stubbles showed through. He also wore a thin pair of glasses on his face. One defining characteristic to bystanders was his very light-blue shirt which had a single "Security" on the front, and a "You will respect the fist" on the back with a clenched-fist symbol. Many speculated he was actually from either America or from Europe because of the design. The third person to come out was 6 feet and 2 inches, and with a black hair dyed slightly towards a more blondish-orange color, and slightly spiked upwards. He was also particularly thin and slender, almost like a fashion model, wearing a dark-orange shirt which had the "Abercrombie and Fitch" insignia on the front, and written on back was "Am I Not a Sexy Beast?" He also carried himself around with a slight air of importance, which seemed to show he was also likely Western as well. A fourth person also soon emerged behind the third one. He was roughly 6 feet even, and he was by far the roundest looking of the bunch. He had slightly messy blackish-brown hair and hazel-brown eyes. He wore a grey shirt, in which on the front was a picture of a character dressed in a red-orange and blue pair of karate gis doing a strange pattern of movements, each time his hair and appearance looking different, until the last where his hair was waist length, and he was missing his eye brows. On the back of the shirt were some strange Japanese kana ("ドラゴンボール"), and the word "Dragon Ball" with it. One the other side of the shirt read more kana ("孫悟空") which translated to "Son Goku" or more so to "Son Wukong". The shirt caused a couple of the local people to look at him, but they would then go back to what they were doing. Then a fifth person arrived, a smaller boy of around 5 feet and 8 inches, who looked to be ever-so-slightly hunched over, although only his close friends would've really noticed. His brown hair was also dyed black, more in a slight bowl-cut, and his black-colored eyes were slanted, and one might actually mistaken him for a Chinese person if they weren't paying attention. However his other features suggested he was American. His shirt was black with the picture of a strange lavender-haired boy in a jacket, and carrying a thin t-shaped broadsword on his back on the back of the shirt. A faint image of a similar boy with different hair was behind the image. The front of his shirt had the same "ドラゴンボール" kana and "Dragon Ball" on it, and also more kana with it ("トランクス") that formed the word "Trunks". A sixth person, around 5 feet and 9 inches came in behind him. He appeared to have a short-medium length brown hair with a barely-noticed cowlick in the front, and appeared to be just a slight bit round on the sides, and wore a red shirt with 3 pictures of a strange man with hair that stood up on end like a black flame or the hair on a troll doll. In one of the pictures the same man with golden hair was in the middle of a strange hand motion. On the front of the shirt, it looked almost the same as the fourth and fifth peoples' shirts, but additionally, the name "Vejita" was also on the front in plain English along with it's respective Japanese kana ("ベジータ"). To some bystanders, the fourth, fifth and sixth people might have looked like they were brothers due to seeming to have a taste for the same stuff, although in truth this was far from reality. Soon, a seventh person walked up behind them, so far the tallest of the lot at 6 feet and 4 inches, his brown hair appearing to frame his unusually tall and slightly wide head. He wore glasses similar to the second person's own glasses, both thin and clear-framed in the front. He was wearing a dark-green shirt which had the words "Cheese Wam Chickens" on the front, and "Durty Durt Dur" on the back, and their Chinese name-counterparts beneath each set of English words. Locals would be initially confused to the meaning of the boy's shirt, but they soon would go back to their own duties. And finally, an eighth and final person emerged from behind them. This person was easily the most recognizable out of the group of eight. A young woman of a substantial height of 6 feet and 6 inches, even taller than the prior boy who had been in front of her, and in addition, she appeared to possess a pair of blackish-purple, folded wings which towered up to 6 to 8 inches over her own head, making her appear even taller than she really was. Her outfit was also one that stood out: A blue-dress like outfit, with a black royal belt with a reverse-S emblem on the front. She also wore black arm-braces with purple-arm length fingerless gloves. The dress also only covered one of her legs fully, the other leg mostly visible, although not to the extent anyone could see too much of her one thigh. A strange pair of straps over that leg made the dress hug around her legs somewhat tightly in order to keep her undergarments from showing in any way. She also appeared to have blondish-orange hair which went down her back, but was also somewhat standing up in the front and in the back. A few locals could swear she looked like someone out of a video game or so with her appearance. After the eight friends had left the station, the fifth person looked out, and breathed in a large amount of the Japanese air. "This feels a lot like home." he stated, being envious of the Japanese, and their animation shows, known as "Anime" and their drawn book counterparts known as "Manga" by non-Japanese especially, as well as some of their fighting movies and shows. "Don't plan on staying here Alex. We're only on vacation you know." the sixth person said flatly, revealing the identity of the fifth person. "Yeah, well Alex would eventually be booed out of Japan due to his like for Chinese fighting movies anyways, so I don't think you have to worry about that." the third kid in the Abercrombie shirt replied to the sixth person. "Hey Vernon, unless I ask you for an opinion, you don't give me one." 'Alex' looked at the third kid with a glare, attempting to intimidate him, but 'Vernon' didn't react at all like he wanted. "Well guess what Alex, it's a free world." the fourth, rounder kid replied to Alex in Vernon's defense. "Devin, I also didn't tell you to say anything, you fatass!" Alex grumbled, slowly getting more annoyed with the people around him, also revealing the fourth person's identity. 'Devin' rolled his eyes, "Eh bite me, you clown. Who made you our boss anyways?" "Hey you two, lay off Alex. He's just goofing around like always!" the seventh person replied, stopping Alex and Devin's argument from continuing. "Yeah maybe Jason, but he's still a otaku at heart, he might one day come back here. But he outta be prepared if he does, this place's culture can be radically different from what he's used to." the sixth person replied back to the seventh, revealing him as well. "'place's culture can be radically...'" Alex mocked the prior boy, "Clint, stop prattling on to me about that! I can do this without your technical nagging." Alex replied, revealing the sixth person's identity. "Whatever Alex... whatever... You never take my advice, so why do so now?" 'Clint' replied, a bit of his own mocking in there, "'I'm Alex... I'm gonna mooch off of a hard-won trip to Japan, because I think I'm such a cool cat... hurhurhur'." he mocked Alex's own voice. The first kid laughed heartily, "Hahaha, that's Alex alright!" he then said in a slightly louder voice than he should've. "Dusty, Clint... just shut up before I like, decide to kick your asses or something." Alex replied, still trying to keep his cool. "Guys, not to interrupt your goofy little argument, but where the hell did Nina go?!" the second kid with the glasses asked, referring to the winged girl who had been with them. 'Dusty' began to look around somewhat frantically, as did Clint and Jason. Alex, Vernon, Devin and 'Dan' didn't appear as obvious in their efforts, but still looked nonetheless. However Jason soon spotted 'Nina' on the other side of a street, having been staring back at them, a look of slight annoyance in her eyes. She wasn't a big fan of her friends arguing left and right, and decided to fly over the passing traffic, surprisingly not giving any drivers underneath her a halting surprise. "Oh! She's on the other side of the street there, Dan." Jason replied, as the seven boys walked up to the intersection, and waited a bit before the cars stopped, allowing them to cross over to meet Nina on the other side. Nina harrumphed and rolled her eyes at all seven of them, and then said in a sarcastically sweet voice with a faint sort of 'smirk', "Boys will be boys, won't they..." "Ah come on Nina, Alex was being a 'tard again!" Devin complained. Nina grumbled softly and gave a sigh, "Look, we came here on vacation. We can argue amongst ourselves just fine at home, or anywhere else for that matter. I for one don't want to waste any time we got here on senseless dribble. Are you guys coming or not?" she then asked a bit more softly to ease up on them. She sometimes got tired of having to be the 'grown-up' of the group often, being she was 20 years old, to the others' 16-18 years of age, and it showed. "Yeah, you're right. I also don't wanna waste time here." Alex replied in sudden agreement, "I mean, this is the birth land of anime and manga, and the home of the great and mighty Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragonball Z itself." "Yeah, and art for other games." Clint added in, as he felt he had to, to make sure Alex wasn't behind on the culture of said man. Alex grumbled, but continued, "And art for other games, like that Dragon Quest series and yes Clint, even Chrono Trigger." "Wait, you knew about Dragon Quest huh? Didn't even think you had heard of that." Clint replied. "Well, I do know he made the art for that series, even though I've never played it or even Chrono Trigger... maybe I need to look into those sometime. But either way, you all know I wanna meet him, so I'm gonna go to see him as soon as I can. Who wants to come with me, being this is a once in a lifetime opportunity?" Alex asked. Devin walked up, slightly to Alex's dismay, and so did Clint and Vernon, and even Jason. Dusty, Dan and Nina weren't as interested though. "I guess the five of us are going to see Mr. Toriyama. What about you three?" Vernon asked the remaining of their friends. "Well, I know I'm gonna do some shopping to see what kinds of clothes they have here." Nina replied, pointing to a clothing shop across a couple of streets, "And... I don't know what Dusty and Dan are doing yet." Women... Vernon and Devin thought to themselves, almost simultaneously, not too surprised at Nina's decision. However Vernon had to admit, Nina usually only wore the same type of outfit, so perhaps a change in clothes might make her less bland to look at, not that he didn't think Nina wasn't a looker or so. Devin had similar thoughts on the subject of her having the same wardrobe as well, but they were a little more fleeting than Vernon's were. Dusty and Dan were left to think of their own place to go. Dusty truthfully wanted to follow Nina, but he also didn't want to leave Dan on his own to probably get bored to tears. Also, Nina didn't yet know of Dusty's secret, and he wanted to keep it that way. However, Dan soon had figured out where he wanted to go. In the middle of the district appeared a large building, one which had Neo from "The Matrix"'s face on a sign above the entrance, and a two TVs above it, one playing a baseball game, another playing some other Japanese show. He read the name, and from what he had learned on Japanese kanji, it read "ハチ公タワー", which translated to "Hachiko Tower", named after the faithful Akita Dog who lived in the 1920s to early 1930s, renowned for his loyalty to his owner, even long after said owner's untimely death from an aneurysm. The tower also had flyers for various anime and manga, some familiar to him and his friends, and others completely unknown or new to them. "Yo Dusty, let's go to Hachiko Tower over there. I think we can learn more about the new things Japan's been cooking up. Stuff we might get to see eventually over in the US." Dan spoke up to his friend. Clint, being the planner of the whole vacation nodded, "Yes, that reminds me. We have to meet back here at six in their time, which is about 1 hour and 20 minutes from now. The tower Dan pointed over to is actually having a special movie for guests and foreigners which is supposed to explain the origin of the manga culture, and its' other little known facts." The others appeared to nod in their own ways, although Jason, Dusty, Nina and Vernon weren't as interested as Dan, Clint, Alex, and Devin were. "Alright, we'll have to make sure to get back here soon. At least two of us will already be there, that is if Dusty's going with Dan anyways." Devin replied. Dusty blinked, not knowing if Devin was somehow aware of his secret when he said that comment or not. With these words, the group split off into three, and began heading to reach their destinations. ***** Nina had soon found herself at the "多くのショッピングの" (Shikotama no kaimono) store, which literally translated to the "Plenty of Shopping" store. Shaking her head faintly at the odd use of language in Japan, she entered quietly and as non-chalantly as one who had large two wings on their back could. Having knowledge of Japanese was helpful in this region, as she had began to hear people speaking, some about the clothing they were looking at, some to clerks about orders, one woman even blabbing to a second woman about how her husband was "too small", which she did not really wish to hear. And one child even said something about her wings looking cool, which actually made her give a small smile. At home, she did not have as much positive discussion on her wings as she would've wanted. The criticism primarily came from the younger people around her friends' age, and not as much from older people, although in her earliest days and even on occasion in more present times she had encountered drunks who would at one time or another hit on her, and then the next minute scold her for having "freakish wings", probably not at first able to see them clearly in their drunken haze. Though her wings were a subject of annoyance, in the case of scaring off drunk perverts, she didn't mind freaking out them to the point of avoiding her so much. Nina began to check around, looking into the women's clothing section, and checking out various garments, including underwear and bras as the first set. She realized that she needed a slightly different color than black for undergarments at times, not because she necessarily wanted them to be seen by others, but because she felt too restricted by having everything always the same all the time. As she was looking, one almost adult Japanese boy walked by, observing her shortly, and then turning back and saying in his language about having sworn he had seen her before in his life somewhere. Nina had caught that, but didn't think much of it. Clint himself had actually said similar when they first met, but he never could put a hand on what he was trying to remember. After picking out a few bras and undergarments in general, she started to look over the tank tops in the store. Nina had never really worn much outside of her outfit, and it was always a one-part outfit. There had been a time when Nina had first shown up in their hometown of Canton, Ohio where due to the strange nature of her wings, she had once worn a special cloaked mantle to try to cover them up as well as she could to avoid unwanted attention, even wearing it when she first met the other members of her to-be friends. However an incident had basically caused her to expose her wings, and once it had happened, she stopped wearing the mantle, feeling she had been making a mistake overall in hiding what she really was, even if people would be unsettled or fearful of her. She had also stopped wearing anything too unique from her original outfit since then as well. However, even in spite of that, she was getting tired of being confined to the same overall wardrobe, so she felt she should get a few shirts, pants, shorts and tank tops, especially for the next year's summer. She remembered the recent summer and how hot it was at times in Canton. She seemed interested specifically in a white tank-top with a couple of kanji of "雷の鳥" on the back. It literally translated as or "tori no raikou" or "bird of lightning", and the name interested her. As one who looked at her could probably guess if they had any semblance of intellect, Nina was not actually a human, and she wasn't even a kind of mutated human, like some people including a lot of the kids at the high school believed. She was of a race of winged, humanoid beings from another world. Only she herself knew the full back story of her arrival on Earth, and was not sure if it was something yet worth telling everyone else about in intimate detail. Her past was sometimes painful to recall, and she had been forced to endure a lot of it on her own, even when she had been a young girl. She was a bit leery of just telling her friends, who definitely seemed to have much better upbringings than she had, about it yet. However in the mean time, the name on the tank top seemed to fit with her for some reason, so she grabbed it and went to check for more clothes. She looked at her watch she got from Dusty, saying 4:52pm, telling her she had about 1 hour left to search. Humming to herself, she decided she would make more use of her presence here than she had been planning on. **** Knowing that Akira Toriyama was a major forerunner for the popular manga enterprise known as "SHONEN JUMP", Vernon, Jason, Alex, Clint and Devin had asked a few locals information on where he might be. Part of the vacation Clint had won had included a possible meeting with various anime and manga artists. And Toriyama was meant to be one of them, and would be located in Shibuya-ku at a Shonen Jump HQ nearby. The locals had told them to look north about a half of mile from the Crossing, and that they'd need a special pass that Clint was carrying, given to him by the contest officials, to be admitted in within quick order. That had been about 12 minutes back, and they had taken a taxi to reach the Shonen Jump headquarters, their fare thankfully free of charge due to Clint's special vacation pass. Once they entered, they came upon a reception hall, and to their surprise, they saw various other groups of people, almost clustered like the five of them where. However these were not Japanese groups, they were people of other countries, including Britain, Germany, Russia, China, Australia and even a couple of Egyptian natives. "Woah..." Clint remarked at the sight, "I guess the contest wasn't just being held in America." "What do you mean?" asked Devin, curious. "Europe at the least has their own variation of Toonami. I guess they had a similar contest to win their own trip here." Jason replied before Clint could. "What? You mean all of these people are also waiting on Toriyama?" Alex asked with some dismay, hoping they wouldn't cause them to be late, having only about 1 hour to talk with Toriyama. "Alex, Toriyama's not the only person here people want to see. So we'll probably still end up seeing him." Clint explained as he walked to the reception table, pulling out the vacation pass he won as proof he was a contest winner. The reception guy looked over it and spoke in Japanese, "鳥山さんは訪問者のための後ろに待っている。" which both Clint and Alex translated to, ("Toriyama-san is waiting in the back for his visitors.") He then said as an afterthought "私は8あなたの想定されると思っていた。" ("I thought there were supposed be 8 of you.") Clint spoke back in his own dialect of Japanese, "観光している彼らは、彼らが興味を持っていないため、小規模なグループです。" ("They're sightseeing, and they weren't as interested, thus the smaller group.") "それから私は鳥山さんを知ることができます。してください入力してください。" ("Then I will let Toriyama-san know. Please enter.") the man replied, pressing a button, causing a two-part sliding door to open. "Aw man... Clint, I could've found that out for you!" Alex complained, not having many chances yet to speak in Japanese around the others. "Well, maybe you can talk to the people at the anime convention tonight and tomorrow." Clint replied, as the group of five entered into the back to meet Akira Toriyama. At age 46, time had actually treated Akira Toriyama incredibly well compared to what some would've assumed. He still looked somewhat young and lively for his age. His glasses were similar in ways to both Jason and Dan's, except they were of course of a well known Japanese brand. His beard and mustache were trim and short, and he wore a special plaid artists' shirt which had a picture of a green-skinned being dressed in a white cape and turban, and kanji "ピッコロは、悪魔キング" that would translate to "Piccolo, the Demon King". Although sometimes he wondered if he should take a large break from writing and drawing, it was actually sections like this that made him a bit more lively each time. He sometimes tired of the pressure put on him by his local fans, and liked hearing the opinions of foreign fans when they did come in. American and British fans were the more lively of his fans, and he admitted that not all Americans or British were as egotistical or loud-mouthed as most Japanese culture made them out, though sometimes it was unavoidable nonetheless. Soon he saw Clint, Vernon, Jason, Devin and Alex enter, all five of them taking seats around the room, Clint sitting at the one closest to the front of his desk. He thought to himself, So what will this group bring to the table? Clint decided to usher Alex to the table, and told him, "Since this is your obsession more than mine, you start off." "SWWEEETT!" Alex said, and immediately began speaking in Japanese, "だから鳥山氏は、今日元気ですか？" ("So Mr. Toriyama, how're you today?") "私も、若い欧米をしています。クリントているか、このコンテストの優勝者はアメリカですか？" ("I am doing well, young westerner. Are you Clint, the American winner of the contest?") Toriyama replied back in Japanese. Understanding all of this, Clint spoke up, "いいえ、それは私がいいのですが。私はあなたに最初にこの話をもらって以来、アレックスはやりたいと思っている1つの主要なものの一つです。" ("No, that'd be me. I'm letting Alex talk to you first since this is one of the main things he wanted to do.") "オなるほど。離れて、若い西洋人に問い合わせてください。" ("Oh I see. Ask away, young westerners.") Akira replied in a chuckle, "ここに私には何の話をしてはいい考えがある。" ("Although I have a good idea what you're here to talk to me about.") he chuckled more as he referred to the shirts Clint, Alex and Devin where wearing. Alex actually laughed giddily, having the chance to finally ask the questions he know only Toriyama could answer, "私がしなければならない、理由を悟天とトランクス超サイヤになるような若い年齢でジンをすることに最初の推測ですか？" ("I guess the first must be, why did you decide to make Goten and Trunks become Super Saiya-jin at such a young age?") Devin looked at Alex oddly, able to understand his Japanese, "I never thought he'd ask that question." he said to himself outloud. Toriyama pet his stubby beard as he answered, "You could say it was a gene inherited by their fathers." although to the group's surprise, his answer was in pure English, and it was pretty well structured as well. "Wait! You speak English?" asked Vernon, after doing a minor face take. "Yes, young westerner, I have learned American English and the British's equivalent of it over the years. I love surprising groups of fans with this fact. Anyways, you may continue your questions." Toriyama replied, laughing a bit heartily. Clint spoke up, "I got one: If Goku and Vegeta were at the same strength in both situations, would Vegetto or Gogeta be stronger?" Toriyama chuckled, "Gogeta and Vegetto are perfectly equal in strength, and in fighting ability. However Gogeta has an advantage when it comes to quickly solving situations, while Vegetto has an advantage of no limit of time. Honestly, it comes down to how serious Vegetto is. Although against Majin Buu I must admit I might have made him a bit too arrogant. Either of them can win, but the odds are totally unpredictable in either situation," Toriyama said, and then sighed deeply, "I don't count Dragon Ball Grand Tour for Gogeta's personality. I loathe to admit it, but Toei and Bird Studios really messed his personality up." Devin quickly asked then, "I thought you gave the ok for Toei to make Grand Tour? I take it that you didn't think so much of what it became after a while, right?" Toriyama smiled, "At least I feel better that more westerners than my own people realize Grand Tour was far from perfect. There were so many inconsistencies in it. The only things I really contributed, as you may or may not know, are Super Saiya-jin 4 Goku's appearance, and a couple of other designs. Even then, I didn't call it Super Saiya-jin 4, I called it another form. I called it 'Compact Oozaru', and it was actually meant to have been a couple more stages down from any actual Super Saiya-jin 4, more like maybe 5 or 6." he then chuckled, obviously making a joke on the 5 and 6. "I must ask my own question: I know you don't work on Dragon Ball anymore, but if you ever got back into it, would you ever do another series, or possibly work with someone who cared enough to work more to your preferences than Toei?" Vernon asked. Toriyama's smile turned into a neutral expression as he pet his chin more, "If I were to become interested in continuing Dragon Ball, I would probably say first that Grand Tour was a type of, what you would call an "alternate reality", or a different timeline. As for working with another idealist, I might be inclined, as long as they wouldn't easily be swayed by the legions of Goku fans that live here. Those fans have given me so much grief during work time. They were the reason I began to lose interest in Dragon Ball in the first place." However Toriyama had not decided to mention of the fact that some of his fans were psychotic enough to send him death threats as well, he didn't think the five American teenagers needed to hear that and get all worried about him. Clint decided to speak up, "I know this is something you discontinued in the series after Frieza, but I must ask, is the rumor that Super Saiya-jin 2 Gohan's powerlevel was 300 million actually true? And if it is, what was Super Perfect Cell's own powerlevel in their final battle?" Toriyama looked intrigued by his question, "Yes, despite what spreads around the internet, Gohan was 300 million upon his transformation to Super Saiya-jin 2. Super Perfect Cell, as you call him after he regenerated from self-destruction, was around 290 million to 295 million. He was only slightly weaker. Also, Gohan never lost half of his power when his arm was broken, to clear that up. He only thought his power was cut down due to the injury." "Okay, then secondly going by that logic, how strong were each version of Majin Buu at their first appearances?" Devin asked. "If I think about it, Fat Majin Buu in his first appearance out of Bibidi's shell, had to be between around 450 million. Lean Majin Buu had to be around 550 million. After absorbing Piccolo and Gotenksu, he reached 650 million, and then he reached 800 to 850 million after absorbing Ultimate Gohan. Chibi Majin Buu was around 500 million, and Mr. Buu was around 400 million." Toriyama replied. "I got to ask this then," Jason was curious for this question, "Saying GT, er... Grand Tour never happens, what would you have done with Ubuu and Pan's roles, considering they were the newest characters to appear at the end of Dragon Ball?" Toriyama smiled, liking this question, "If I truly had it my way, Ubuu would eventually become the first of Goku's potential successors, and Pan would be the second. Despite what Grand Tour suggests, due to her father's power, she has great potential, more than Grand Tour implied." he shook his head sadly, "Uubu and Pan's lack of power were another part of the inconsistencies that plagued Grand Tour to Hell and back, pardon my words." Devin then spoke up, "Then I have to ask this, would Pan have eventually reached a Super Saiya-jin level, or does Gohan's ultimate powerup have something to do with restriction?" Toriyama looked to be in deep thought for a second, and then answered, "I honestly do not know if Gohan's genes restrict her or not. I do know that she could likely become a Super Saiya-jin at a younger age than even Goten or Trunks, at least going by the pattern I set. Honestly I did used to think female Saiya-jin would have it far harder to transform since not many of them appeared, and they don't get angry as often as male saiya-jin. However that'll probably remain an object of speculation for times to come. The real issue was and still is for me would be how to portray a female Super Saiya-jin appearance-wise." "Well, these have been interesting questions and answers..." Clint trailed on to himself, checking his watch, which now said 5:19pm. He knew it would be only forty more minutes, but to them, it felt only one a couple of minutes had passed. He knew Alex would especially be sad to leave, but Clint was responsible for making sure he didn't get lost, so he had not much of a choice. He personally still wanted to see this movie pretty bad. "So, I never got all of your names. I know you are Alex, and you are Clint, but who are the other three?" Toriyama asked, wanting to get more acquainted with them. "Well, this is Jason... Vernon... and this is Devin." Clint introduced them one by one, and they replied in their own choice words, "We're five of the eight people who won the American part of the Toonami "pick-an-engine" contest. We have 3 other friends with us, but they're at the Shibuya Crossing, checking out sites, while we came here to see you." "You appear to be nervous of the time, Clint." Toriyama pointed out. "Yeah, we only have until 6pm. We're all going to the Hachiko Towers to see a presentation of the birth of the anime culture and other little known facts. We don't have a lot of time here, so we have to be quick with our questions." Vernon replied in Clint's place. "Well then, please by all means talk to me, ask me questions. Heck, I'll even see if I can't draw you all some souvenirs to take along with you." The five friends perked up immediately at this, and decide to put the next few minutes to good use... **** Dan and Dusty were looking around with mild perplexment. The Hachiko towers were also the home to several special anime conventions, including one that happened to be in progress when they had all arrived in Japan. Due to this, Dusty and Dan were lucky enough to learn of several other anime they were either vaguely aware of, or had no knowledge of at all. Dusty personally recalled titles such as Gundam Seed, Naruto, FLCL, or "Furi Kuri" as some called it, also Natasha, Trigun, One Piece, Cowboy Bebop, Soul Reaver and several other anime had been noticed by both boys. Dan was particularly into Gundam Wing, and Dusty was more into Cowboy Bebop. Dan continued to look over some Gundam Wing merchandise, including some statuettes of Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, and Quatre Winner, his three favorite characters. He was also looking at the Shenlong and Deathscythe Gundam statuettes. Dusty however wasn't able to find much Bebop merchandise, besides a couple of smaller figurines of Spike Seigel and the data dog Ein, and ended up beginning to get bored. "Dan, how much time is left before everyone arrives?" Dusty asked him. "5:26." Dan replied, detecting the impatience in his friend's voice, "Come on, there has to be something here you like." "There is, but I can't find much for Cowboy Bebop here. Not like you are for Gundam Wing over there." Dusty replied, "I wonder if Japan has their own version of wrestling. Boy that would be entertaining." "Dusty, must you always think of wrestling?" Dan asked, a bit annoyed. Although Dan did indeed know of a series that might fit under this, he did not want to encourage Dusty to get too into something too similar already to his favorite past-time and limit his opinions. "Well what else should I think about? Nina? You told me that keeping my mind off her and on other things would help out, so I'm doing as you said." Dusty replied, revealing that Dan had already known of his secret crush towards Nina. "Well, you've got to divide your interests. Having only one or two major hobbies can be end up being worse than better." Dan replied. "Well help find an anime or two I could go with!" Dusty replied. "You like more normal-looking fighting anime, right? Try Trigun, Naruto, and Fist of the North Star. Perhaps something out of those three will work." Dan replied, but left out mention of an anime known as "Kinnikuman", aka "Ultimate Muscle" however, which was the series that had similarities to wrestling. Dusty grumbled and began to trot off to see the three anime in question, however as he passed, he noticed something unique that caught his eye. "Now THAT looks interesting..." he said, referring to a TV playing a scene of a battle on a large bird-shaped glider. On this glider, a crazy man was looking on at two different looking women, one of which was wearing a tight black jumpsuit and violet hair, and another with long brown hair, glasses, and a two piece coat. The scenes in the battle were rather interesting. The first girl appeared to have the power to become intangible at will, passing through a set of girders inside a large building. The other girl seemed to be able to manipulate cards and paper into solid shapes, using them to inflict heavy damage on the glider. "That's more creatively down my alley." Dusty said, as he went off to see if he could find out about this anime he saw... **** Another 25 minutes later, Dusty and Dan had left the convention area and met up with Nina, now a few bags greater after her trip to the nearby stores. The three of them however had not yet seen hide or hair of Vernon, Clint, Alex, Jason and Devin yet. "Could they have gotten lost in Shibuya-ku?" Dan asked out loud. "More than likely, they don't wanna come back, considering they were going to meet one of their favorite creators himself." Dusty reasoned back. "Well we have 8 minutes roughly. Maybe we should look around before the others get back." Nina suggested, getting both Dan and Dusty's interest. "Well, where should we go then? We were just at the anime convention." Dan stated. Nina shrugged, yawning as she leaned on a seat she was sitting in, not easily of course, with her wingspan creating a natural blockade for others who might have wanted to sit there. Dusty however had moved off by himself, with little notice from his two friends, and began to walk up to a small cart-store a ways near one of the escalators. The middle-height Japanese woman at the counter looked towards him, and smiled unnervingly at him, "私があなたを得ることができますか？" ("What can I get you?") Dusty had understanding of Japanese as well, although he was not as much a speaker of it as a listener, so he replied somewhat roughly "まあ、私は主に、探していたが、周りは私に役立てることができます場合は、たぶん私を理解するいたします..." ("Well, I was looking around mainly, but if you can help me, maybe I'll understand...") he trailed off as he began to explain his dilemma. Back at the front of the tower, the doors had opened, and in walked Jason, Clint, Alex, Devin and Vernon, most if not all of the five wearing looks of disappointment on their faces, although Vernon's seemed slightly less noticeable than the other four. Dan and Nina had seen this and wondered if the five had even been able to find Toriyama at all. "Clint, how'd it go?" asked Dan. "Well, we found Akira Toriyama, and we met him, and I must say we're bummed out now after having to come back. Not even I truthfully want to hang around here for the movie now, and the others agree, although I noticed Vernon is taking it in good stride." Clint replied. "I take it no one wanted to come back for a while," Nina replied to this, "Just remember Clint, you told us yourself this is a necessary part of the trip, and even YOU can't back out of that." "Yeah, that's why Vernon and I had to begrudgingly drag Alex, Jason and Devin out of Shonen Jump HQ. Although we DID get Toriyama's calling card, and to our surprise, we even ended up getting his personal e-mail address, but it's still not the same as talking to the guy in person." Clint replied. Dusty had then decided to enter the five returning friends' sights with his own reply, "So I take it the interview went well." "Actually... it went extremely well Dusty, in fact, we had NO arguments whatsoever at Shonen Jump HQ, just a flood of questions and art requests, which Toriyama did one or two of. We'll show you ours later, and maybe we can even go back and see him later and take you three with us this time." Devin replied. Nina raised an eyebrow, staring between Alex and Jason, and then Vernon and Devin, "So... you're serious... no bickering at all? I can officially say I'm shocked out of my mind." she then stated part-sarcastically, part with genuine surprise. "Hey, we took your advice for once, did we not?" Alex complained back. "Yeah, you make a point for once. I guess we should all get ready for this movie." Nina replied, changing the subject. "Man, this movie's gonna be a snooze fest..." Alex grumbled. "Origin of anime or not... we really should've done this BEFORE we split up." Vernon had agreed. "Hey... it's the way the movie's schedule is set up, guys," Clint replied, "There's nothing I could've done to change it. Blame the people hosting the movie if you really want to complain about it." The 8 friends decided they'd leave it at that, and walked over to the ticket counter. Clint reached into his pocket and pulled out a string of 8 tickets, given to him by the organizers of the contest he had won in order to use to get into the movie. The cashier looked at the tickets and looked over, saying "片付ける。を入力してください。" ("Clear. Enter please.") in his native language, and the eight walked into the theatre. Inside there were a few straggling viewers who had also decided to come to see the movie, but only 5 or 6. In fact, the offer on the tickets seemed almost pointless with so few people here. The tickets gave the eight friends the front rows of the theatre from which to watch the movie for free, but the consolation felt close to useless with so few people even watching anyways. Three sets of rows lined the front, and the friends split two rows, Devin and Vernon sitting at the left edge of one row, Clint and Dan sitting at another edge of the same row, Dusty and Nina unwittingly sitting together at the left end of the other row, and Alex and Jason setting at the right end of that row. Within seconds, the movie screen began to turn on, and a movie projector at the front of the room began to roll, telling the group that this was either an old movie, or that it was meant to be in the old style. As the movie began, a small slideshow of scenes from several old anime most of the friends had never seen, or barely known of began to cycle through. The styles of the scenes began to slowly change as more scenes played, looking more and more towards modern as they played. Some of the friends even began to recognize some of the scenes, including some from modern anime such as Cowboy Bebop, Gundam, Dragonball, and even one of the newer series that Dusty recognized as Soul Taker. After the flash of scenes, the movie began to explain, in Japanese of course, that the history of anime dated back to the early 20th century, the year 1918, when an anime called Momotaro(translated to "Peach Boy") had been made, but that it was a rarity back in the time. Another mention involving Momotaro was of a feature-length movie which was the first of the anime variety. The movie then moved on to the 1956, speaking of a familiar name to most of the friends, Toei Animation, having been created and creating the first full-color anime-based movie known as "The Tale of the White Serpent", released in 1958. Over the next 10 years, Toei released similar types of films. Then the movie came to tell of a man named Osamu Tezuka, who founded the company Mushi Productions in order to rival Toei. Tezuka was also the creator of one of the most remembered older anime, Astro Boy, which was the first true series of anime, as opposed to a one shot series. In this same era, Tatsuo Yoshida created a racing series known as Mach Go Go Go, which would come to be known popularly in America as Speed Racer, much to the surprise of most of the 8 friends. Tezuka then began to create the first adult-oriented anime series', known as 1001 Nights, Cleopatra, and Belladonna of Sadness, the latter being what helped lead to another gem of the elder anime era, Lupin the Third, a crime-centered anime about a group of three vigilante thieves, and of the detective named Zenigata who would chase them to the ends of the Earth. However it was at this point that Alex and Jason were beginning to lose their already fading interest in the movie. Akira Toriyama and their interview with him weighed on their minds heavily, and they began to wonder if the movie would even give mention to him. "Oh... maaannn... this really IS boring Alex..." Jason admitted, not wanting earlier to spoil the mood outside the theatre. "Yeah dude... the movie's only caught my interest at a couple points Jason. I don't care much about all of these pioneer anime shows. I never was a big fan of things like that retarded Astro Boy. Not action-packed enough. That Belladonna of Sadness sounded interesting though." Alex replied. "Yeah, you probably think it's something like hentai1, you goof." Jason replied, playing on Alex's hormones, but with an undertone of annoyance at something he had said. "What? You wouldn't want to at least get a look at something like that yourself?" Alex whispered back, trying to shush Jason to a point no one else would hear them. "That's fine and all, but dammit, you insulted ASTRO BOY, the pioneer of all anime series' in the world! That show is God, Alex!" Jason grumbled in reply, revealing his agitation. "What??! How the HELL can you like such a piece of junk like that? Look at how fruity an derpy looking the main character was!" Alex barked back, now beginning to get annoyed at his best friend. "The Japanese probably didn't see it the same as you, you retard." Jason mumbled back. "Well still, the characters are too cliché!" Alex grumbled. In actuality he didn't know all that much about the show, and was pulling out random insults to keep Jason thinking he was on the level. "Alex first off, Astro Boy was a very early series of anime, so at the time it probably wasn't cliche at all, and you're just comparing it to modern shit. Also may I ask how much of Astro Boy have you actually seen, or are you just talking out of your ass?" Jason replied, beginning to see through this. "Hey! I'm not talking out of my ass!" Alex replied, and then added, "Besides, you do that more than enough to fill my share!" Jason grumbled and brought his hand down and smacked Alex on the top of the head, causing him to grab his head in agitation. "Ow! Jason you 'tard! What was that for?!" Alex said, throwing a small punch to Jason's rib, agitating the latter. Jason and Alex suddenly began to grapple, and struggle to hit one another. Now Dusty and Nina had caught a glance at them. "Oh no... Damn it all to Hell!" Nina growled at them under her breath. Dusty growled over, "Hey, Alex! Jason! knock it off you two!" However both of them ignored Dusty's calls, and began to rock back and forth as they continued to 'fight' and grapple with each other. Suddenly Alex's back slammed into the front wall of his seats, and he began to lose his balance. "Wah... woah... WOOOOAAAHH!!" Alex screamed as he literally flipped backwards over the front of the seat and landed on the floor on the other side. However as he fell, his left leg crashed into the stand in which the camera was lying on, causing it to topple over, and smash into pieces violently and ending the movie, and causing the room to go almost completely dark. Jason and Alex froze as Clint, Vernon, Dusty, Nina, Devin and Dan immediately turned a group of angry faces at the pair of idiots they had for friends, especially at Alex, assuming once again he had been the instigator of the entire ordeal, his pride and arrogance having been a central cause of fights between them before. "ALEX!!! JASON!!! YOU DAMN MORONS!!" Dusty growled in a tone that even the others had to somewhat cover their ears, due to how abnormally loud Dusty could scream when he had to. "What?! Jason started it by hitting me on the head!" Alex growled back. "No, you called Astro Boy retarded, fruity and cliché!" Jason argued back. Clint now had a slightly amused expression on his face, I didn't even think either one knew much about Astro Boy, but then he turned serious again, not easily forgetting what just happened. "Alex, Jason... you both know you'll be paying for the projector you just shattered." he stated flatly. "What?! Why?!" Alex growled back at Clint. "Alex, you fell and knocked it over! Jason probably has some twisted hand in it too!" Devin growled back. "Devin shut up! I wasn't actually trying to shove him over!" Jason growled back, "He insulted Astro Boy!" "You hit me on the head, tard!" Alex argued back again. "Calm down you two!" Dan grumbled, "Your damn bickering's giving me a headache!" However in the midst of all the babbling, no one noticed the small sparks beginning to emit from the smashed projector. The cord lead to a section behind the TV screen, and the sparks began to slowly snake down the cord, to the unnoticing group of 8 friends. As the sparks began to reach the TV screen, the 8 of them were still arguing about the smashed projector. "You know what, fine! I guess I can pay the meager amount for this thing. It's probably not that expensive anyways." Alex grumbled to his friends, trying to give the impression he was loaded when it came to money. "You can't pay all of it. Jason's got to pay some of it for his hand in the matter." Vernon replied. "I don't have any money on me right now Vernon!" Jason protested. "Well, you'll have to pay one of US back when we get home then, won't you." Clint replied sternly. Jason sighed in defeat, "Alright, I guess I didn't help by hitting him, but he shouldn't have insulted Astro Boy! That show's God you know." "Shut up about that crappy piece of junk, Jason!" Alex grumbled. Jason stared at him with a dark glare, "Don't make me hit you again." he threatened. "Whatever! You just caught me off guard. If I had been more aware, I'd have blocked you like Bruce Lee and kicked your ass the same!" Alex boasted, having a love for the deceased Chinese/American martial artist, causing many of his friends, especially Vernon and Devin to roll their eyes, and Clint to suppress a silent grin. However, their argument would suddenly be cut short, when the ground began to tremble a slight amount. The entire theatre and its few occupants felt the small tremors. "Hey, an earthquake?" Devin was the first to reply to the shaking. "No you 'tard, it's probably just an aftershock. It's not uncommon over here." Alex grumbled at him snidely. "There's been no actual earthquakes here in weeks, you assclown... Aftershocks don't occur without previous Earthquakes having already happened!" Devin grumbled back at his arrogant friend. However the trembling actually began to pick up in strength, now shaking with the equivalent of a 4.8 on the Richter scale. "Woah! It must be a big earthquake!" Dusty shouted, as the intensity began to reach closer to a 5.2 within seconds. Nina quickly flapped her wings into action and floated a few feet off the ground, expecting the intensity to increase, to which she had been right. The shaking was now equal to 5.7 on the scale, and Vernon began to panic, "Oh man! Why does this have to happen NOW of all times?!" Alex, still trying to pick himself up off the floor, and also not perfectly accustomed to pulling himself up due to various variables of his own past, was struggling to even keep his head off the ground during the intensifying Earthquake, which was now at around a 6.2 on the scale. The shaking was getting so great that most of the 8 friends, minus Nina and Alex, were struggling to keep standing upright, as small objects, speakers, shingles and other things began to fall around them from above. "The place looks like it's gonna collapse on us!!" Nina exclaimed. However what they had not noticed was that some of the falling objects appeared to become slightly pulled in closer to the still-standing projector screen in the front of the theatre, falling inches closer towards the monitor, like it was a magnet. Clint was trying to remain as calm as possible, as the earthquake appeared to hit a peak of intensity at a point which felt like a 6.5, but no one in the group of 8 friends except possibly Nina had ever experienced a serious earthquake, nonetheless one of such a magnitude. Clint also wondered if the fact the ground was shaking in random directions was supposed to be a commonplace trait in earthquake development. However Dan, who actually studied major geology to a degree, realized the shaking wasn't the way it should be. Earthquakes generally shook the ground more in a back-and-forth pattern as opposed to the erratic pattern shown here. "Something's wrong here! This ground's not shaking like it should be during an Earthquake!" he yelled over the shaking, but it didn't seem like anyone had really heard him over the sound. Suddenly, the group saw a tiny dot of white in the middle of the projector screen, as the supports for it were coming apart slowly, and one snapped, causing the screen to tilt down at an angle and hit the floor. The other support gave way, and the smash of the screen into the ground caused an extra boost the quaking. However that ominous point of white remained in the middle of it. Suddenly, Clint noticed peculiarly as the white dot began to expand, and even began to give off a light. Falling objects were being pulled towards the screen at a more noticeable rate, almost as if the screen were trying to suck the objects inside. Suddenly, the dot of light expanded and quickly took over the whole screen. The entire theatre was suddenly covered in an unearthly bright light, instantly blinding all of the 8 friends, and the other bystanders were stumbling as they ran out to safety from the debris. Even Alex, who's face was turned AWAY from the screen due to his position on the ground, was blinded to the point of not being able to do anything but growl in pain. "AAAUGGGH!!" Clint screamed out, really not liking hurt, blinded eyes, "What the hell is happening?!" Nina had still been flying, even with her blindness, but she was the first to notice a worse situation. She could feel a vacuum from behind her, slowly sucking her towards something, like a magnet. She suddenly realized that the screen was going out of control, turning into a dimensional rift, a concept she was only mildly familiar with. She had been drawn through one before from her own world, which had been how she had ended up on Earth in the first place. None of the others were likely aware of this though, having she had not yet gone into full detail on her past. However that didn't mean she couldn't warn them. "THIS FEELS LIKE A DIMENSIONAL RIFT!! I THINK IT'S TRYING TO DRAW US TOWARDS IT!!" she screamed out, as she saw pure white even with her eyes closed their tightest. Suddenly her screams faded as her presence was completely sucked into the projector screen. However Nina wasn't the only one about to get drawn into the rift. Alex, being right in front of the screen and with nothing rooted to the floor to grab on to, was easily being pulled towards the screen, just as helpless to escape as Nina had been. "OOOOOH SHIIIIIIIIT!!" he screamed as he was overwhelmed and passed out, flying into the rift in the screen. Jason had been trying to escape the force of the pull, but stumbled and smacked his head on the wall of the front seats, passing out on the ground. However despite this, he seemed to have fallen into a position where he was now safe from the pull now, as the chairs were miraculously holding up against the force of the pull, even as it began to intensify, suddenly yanking Dan and Clint from behind their seats, both of them screaming bloody murder as they vanished through. Vernon tried to bolt behind a set of seats to avoid the pull of the rift, but because he couldn't really see, he only smacked into a seat and tripped over, falling down on his back in the middle of the isle, which resulted in him being picked up and sucked into the screen, with screams of protest. Devin and Dusty were also feeling the effects as they were struggling to keep in place, but even their larger and heavier frames weren't enough to help them keep rooted in place, and they soon smashed through the chairs, breaking them apart, sending chair shrapnel into the rift in the screen, then Dusty and Devin thereafter. Suddenly, the entire ceiling of the cinema room began to break down, pieces big and small being sucked into the rift. The bright light was now being declawed by the dusky-night skies above, which in themselves appeared to be swaying under the thrall of some supernatural force. Jason groaned, still unconscious, not aware that he had been the only person in the cinema that was still not either sucked in the rift, or fleeing from the Hachiko Towers. Little did Jason know that what had sucked his friends in, was not a dimension rift in the classic sense...
Still screaming bloody murder, Clint was soon able to gradually see again, and he found himself surrounded by a strange, prismatic tie-dye of colors, almost as if he was being held inside a sphere of rainbows. What the hell is this?! he thought to himself, really unable to say it screaming as he was. For about 40 seconds he felt as if he were uncontrollably thrusting forward like a rocket at high speeds, which didn't do much to help his situation. However he found it odd when he suddenly came plowing to a stop, smashing into something solid, but he still saw the odd tie-dye around him. Now gasping for air to regain what of it he lost while screaming, Clint picked himself up slowly, sore all over. However to his surprise, miraculously none of his limbs were broken or even seriously injured. Man is that what astronauts feel when they're in the middle of lift-off?! he thought to himself in wonder. However he didn't have much time to think about it, as the coloration around him began to pulse into erratic flashes, as he saw electrical pulses around his body, though they were harmless and appeared more for the sake of appearance, as the prismatic colors began to fade away, as what looked like a rip in the fabric of time and space started to opened up. The scene began to resemble grass and trees in front of him, as the strange colors soon completely vanished from all around him. Clint looked around in astonishment, now finding his surroundings looked more like a place he as a human being could actually exist at. He was standing on a concrete path, in the middle of what looked like a small park. Tables littered both sides of the path, and many of the vendors were also staring at him with looks of horrified shock. Apparently these people had seen him materialize in front of them. He ignored them for the moment, and looked around more, noticing it looked like he landed in the middle of some kind of small, rural town, like the kind that appeared outside of a major city. At one end of the path was a small house, looking like it might belong to the park-owner. On the other side it merged with a sidewalk along a quiet looking road. Clint knew already that whatever had happened had separated him from the others. He realized he was gonna have to find out where in the world he really was. Although for some reason, he couldn't shake off the odd feeling this new location wasn't so new to him. He looked around for someone who might know something, and walked up to a man with a hairstyle resembling the popular character 'The Fonz', and red-slacks, who still looked to be in some shock. "Hey, you guys wou..." "Hey you! Get away from him, you crazy invader!" one elderly woman from the other side of the path sharply cut him off. Clint almost fell over in shock, and went to turn to the voice, "I...Invader, what the heck are...?" Again he was cut off, "HELP!! Those aliens and their possessed humans have returned!!" another man nearby called out. "What?! Hey, I'm not an alien!" Clint protested. "Then w-why are y-you here?! H-how did y-you just teleport in l-like that?!" the man with the Fonz-type hairdo growled at him, or least he tried to, it was obvious he wasn't doing a great job of putting up an intimidating front. "I... I have no idea why I got dumped out here! I was actually with my friends watching a movie when..." Clint retorted. But again he was cut off by a older man with brown hair and a white shirt at a booth with many rulers spread out all over it, "Aha! You must be an invader! You and your darn 'friends' are planning an invasion! Call for help! Quickly!" Hearing this, the Fonz-haired man quickly scurried away from Clint and outside of the park. Clint was beginning to get really annoyed. "WILL YOU ALL JUST LET ME SPEAK?!" he roared, "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE IN THE BLUE HELL I'M AT!" "You have to be lying!" another elderly woman at a banana-vending table growled back, "No one else, but them knew how to just materialize like that!" Clint grumbled, and tried to suppress his urge to strangle someone in annoyance. "Exactly who are 'them' anyways?! Where am I? Why me?!" he growled, and then he began to have a strange thought, and then narrowed his eyes, "Wait a damn second... Maybe... just maybe YOU'RE the ones at fault for all of this! Yeah, it makes sense now... you stole me and my friends, and brought me to this strange little ditty, and you probably sent my friends to other places, where your own buddies are probably trying to pull some freaky-ass crap with them! What do you guys want from us?!" Clint growled, getting looks of shock and astonishment at his accusation. One smaller kid meagerly spoke out, "W-Why would you t-think we did this? You're the one w-who just suddenly p-popped up here!" Clint sighed and looked down at the ground for a moment, taking a deep breath to try to calm himself down, readying another reply. He realized his outburst was probably wrong, and that these people didn't have it out for him. He had just wanted to throw their own accusation back in their face to see how they would react. He still had a sense this place was familiar and due to such, he didn't really believe these people had any real ill intentions for him. But it still didn't explain his experience with that 'rift', or why his other friends were gone. He looked back up to try to explain the whole story to these psychotically freaked out people, when he suddenly felt a sense of dread, and had the feeling he needed to turn around. As he did, he realized his day was getting from bad to worse. He wasn't even able to mouth a reaction... "Aw s..." *CLANG* The last thing Clint saw before he lost consciousness was a mass of greyish-black flying right into his face. The hit was perfect and left a red mark on his face as he landed on his back, knocked out completely cold. Thankfully the hit didn't seem to have broken any of his facial bones or give him a concussion, though Clint would likely feel the soreness of the blow for some time... if he survived this. However in the meantime, down the path on the end at the park entrance, Clint's assailant stood, examining his downed form silently. Standing around 6 feet and 1 inch, she was a young woman dressed in a pink, knee-length dress with a white-colored sash tied around it, with shoulder-length blonde hair, a little longer than Nina's in the front. but not longer in the back, and the hair was smoothed out and not sticking up anywhere on her head. There was also a red ribbon, or bow tied in her hair, and her eyes were an ocean-blue color, a more pure-looking feel to them. She appeared to be about 17 years old, although she was actually a bit older than she looked, around 20 years old. The young woman looked over the Fonz-haired man with a look that indicated a tinge of doubt, and said, "Hey... Are you sure this is him?" "Yeah, he just... popped outta nowhere!" he replied, not sure what to do now Clint was out cold... he didn't feel so victorious now for some reason. The woman walked over to Clint's body, and kneeled down to retrieve what she had thrown at Clint, a greyish-black, steel frying pan, almost skillet-sized. She then looked over him, and put her hand on his forehead, and then shortly closed her eyes for roughly half a second. The other onlookers stared on, almost as if they knew what the woman was doing, and with a sense of anticipation. After about 10 seconds of this, she opened her eyes, and looked up at the people around her with a blushing look of embarrassment at them, "Sorry, but I think we just screwed up. According to what I'm sensing from his mind, this young boy really WAS lost and sent here by some kinda freak accident. Something about a portal in a theatre and his other seven friends... he wasn't lying when he said they were separated..." The other people in the parked winced visibly, realizing Clint would more than like get a bad impression of them from this. However their winces were soon replaced by a look of shock. Suddenly, strange electrical pulses began to surge around Clint's prone form, and by extension the young woman near him, much to her shock as well. "What the...? What's this?!" she spoke up with confusion. Soon the erratic pattern of the pulses began to form to the point a spherical shape, which soon converged into a prismatic rainbow around a short area, started to engulf Clint and the woman. She got up and attempted to move out of the way, but her body hit the edge of the sphere, and she was repelled back in towards Clint, apparently trapped inside with him. "Oh no! This... is this the same rift that brought him here?! Oh... crap..." she screamed out, as the energy surged around them, and then appeared to close around them. When it cleared, both she and Clint had completely vanished. The other bystanders looked on in shock. "What in the world?! I thought she said he wasn't an invader!" the elderly woman shouted in alarm. "It has to be whatever put him here that caused it," the Fonz-hair-styled man commented, "I just vaguely heard Paula mention it might have been the 'rift' that sent this kid here. Knowing how her powers work, she's really never got any of those mind-scans wrong yet. I just hope wherever she ends up, she'll be alright. "Well, I'm sure SHE'LL be fine. But I can't help now but feel sorry for that other boy. Separated from his friends, with no way of knowing if they're all alive even..." said the younger woman... "Well that's just terrific, so who's gonna tell her parents she's been whisked off into another weird situation this time?" the elderly woman at the banana stand asked. None of the other people in the area could really respond, instead they decided to send out silent prayers for Paula, and even Clint...
As with Clint, Alex was also experiencing a similar situation after being dragged into the portal. His sight had gradually returned to him only moments ago, as he too saw he was trapped in a strange void with pulsing prismatic colors around him. He had collided with the ground just as hard as Clint, but due to not having as much mobility, he was a little more shaken and rattled, and found it harder to get up than Clint had, despite having no serious injuries or broken limbs from the impact. Soon though, as with Clint's experience, the colors began to fade as electrical pulses surrounded him. Soon, a rip in space appeared to open up, and Alex saw a dirty ground beneath him as the vortex of colors faded away. Alex looked around, a little day blinded from his experience, and from what he saw, he felt like he was literally in the middle of nowhere. The terrain looked like a desert mixed with parts of a wasteland, with patches of grass in random spots, and only on one side did he see any semblance of a cliff or mountain. He also noticed there were what appeared to be small craters dug into the ground, like small meteors had smashed up the area in the recent few weeks. Alex managed to pull himself up and looked around more, trying to determine where in the blue devil he was. He saw no sign of Clint or the others around him, and began to wonder if they were even anywhere nearby. "HELLO?!?!" Alex called out, checking to see if anyone was nearby, but he got no answer, so he shrugged to himself, and decided at best he should head toward the small mountain range ahead of him. Maybe some kinda nomadic tribe made their home out here. However, like Clint during his own trip, Alex couldn't help but feel a faint sense of déjà vu, Why do I feel like I should know where I am already?! And why am I alone?! I know we all probably got sucked into that 'rift'! At the very least Nina should be here too, since she got sucked in before I did! However, Alex was able to notice something Clint had not, since Clint did not really pay attention to the sky at the place he came out at. Alex noticed the sky appeared to be bright, like the early day, but he could swear he could see fluctuations and rippling in the sky, like a supernatural event was in progress at that very moment. Alex began to question if what was happening was even real. "Could... this just be some fucked up dream?!" he asked himself, not expecting anyone to answer. He decided to just press on when he realized he was correct about that. He walked up closer for what felt like hours, although it was only mere minutes, as he began to get more feelings of déjà vu looking at the spires of rock around him. Some looked naturally formed, like they should, while he saw one appeared to have a large, uneven hole through it, and a couple others that look like their tops had recently shattered. He assumed this of course because large chunks of rock lay around the said spires. He began to realize something when he looked back at the hole, but decided he'd walk on further to see if he was really right. More than likely, even if he was right, it probably was just a dream. Soon, Alex suddenly got shaken out of his mind-drifting mood by another earthquake, although this one felt short but violent, he could even swear he faintly heard an explosion in the distance. Alex looked around, alert as he could be in his half-disoriented state, for any danger nearby. More than likely he had been hearing things, although that explosion FELT real. *BOOM!!* THAT earthquake felt a lot stronger, and he definitely heard an explosion that time. Suddenly he heard a closer explosion, and turned his head to see a small figure moving a way from a large spire, and then a blue beam of what appeared to be energy cutting past where it had been, and piercing right through the spire, and continuing into the distance. Alex looked at the retreating beam in a shocked expression, watching it fly over the horizon, then suddenly he saw a large mushroom cloud of dust and an explosion, with an earthquake once again. The shockwave carried over far enough that Alex even felt some wind smash against him. That... it IS! I think I know where I'm at now! This IS a dream!! It has to be! He tried to look around for the small thing that had been moving around, but couldn't see anything anymore. He decided he'd only get his answers if he moved onwards. However suddenly a portion of the mountainside ahead erupted into pieces as another small thing was seen zipping out. Pieces of rock flew all over the place, and Alex threw himself up against the side of a spire to avoid getting pelted or crushed by any strays. He realized if he didn't try to do something else but walk, he'd most likely be killed as collateral damage in the exchange. He realized, dream or not, he didn't want to risk that dying in a dream could kill you in real life and screamed out, "HEY, IS ANYONE HERE?!?!?!" Alex then stopped and listened. At first he heard nothing at all. He frowned and realized he must've been too late to reach whoever was around. However he began to hear a small sound much like a roaring-jet nearing him. Soon he began to notice there were actually TWO sounds like this, and not one. He looked up, expecting whatever was coming was flying his way. He decided to call out again to be absolutely sure, "HEY, I'M OVER HERE!!!" Now he began to really hear something closing in on him... However he had not seen that two figures had just appeared behind him, almost as if they had teleported to his position at the sound of his voice. "What the hell do you want, boy?!" growled one of the two in an annoyed voice. "WAAAHHH!!" Alex jumped almost 8 feet off the ground in shock, a feat that would've shocked Vernon, and would've had Devin and Clint rolling on the floor laughing their asses off if they had been present. Alex soon landed on his feet with a grunt. "Ow, hey! Why did you have to startle me like... like..." Alex had stopped trying to talk when he turned and realized who he was talking to, "OMIGOD OMIGOD... It.. it... it... it's... you!" he stuttered as he surveyed the two people he stared at in shock. Both were men who appeared to be in their young 20s, even though they were actually both at least about twice that age. One of them was roughly his full height standing up, almost Clint's height of 5 feet and 9 inches. He wore an orange martial arts gi that covered almost head to toe, with a blue under-gi. His hair was the oddest thing most people would've ever seen, spiking out all over the place, somewhat like a palm tree, but more on his left than right, and he looked to have an assessing, yet calm and relaxed look on his face. The other man, the one who Alex figured had shouted at him, was smaller, small enough to look funny to most common people, around a little over 5 feet tall. He wore a blue spandex-like jumpsuit that also was from shoulder to foot, white gloves on his arms, white boots on his feet, and his troll-like black-flame hair was impossible for Alex to forget, having it in pictorial memory, and the scowl adorning the man's face was a severe contrast to his friend's look, and his eyes bore a fierce almost "death"-like glare, as if one staring into them was staring into the blackness of Hell itself. However the smaller man's glare softened only the slightest as Alex's outburst, "What? You know who we are?! Who are you, brat?!" Now he was asking Alex questions, causing his friend to shift his glance between him and Alex for a split-second. Alex was contemplating just how likely it was he was in a dream. He decided to pinch himself on the arm to see if he was awake or not. But the pain in his arm signified that he seemed to really be awake. He realized what he could do in this situation, and then smirked, in a way that made the taller man look at his with a quizzical expression, and he said, "Tsk tsk tsk... typical typical Vegeta, growling at anyone who dares cross his path and interrupt his aspirations in defeating that '3rd class baka Kakarott'! I guess what I've seen and heard about you both is true." The shorter man, Vegeta, stared at Alex in an expression both showed confusion and annoyance, although underneath the face, he was extremely shocked and intrigued at Alex's reply. The taller man, suddenly looked at him with a slightly shocked and admittingly stupid expression at him, "Hey he knows us Vegeta!" "I'm aware of that, Kakarott." Vegeta replied with a hint of mocking, and Alex smirked even more intensely, and Vegeta squirmed with more annoyance at his smirk, "Alright boy, start talking! How the hell do you know of us? Who are you?!" "Calm down, Vegeta. Geez, don't pop a vein over it." Alex coolly replied, "Name's Alex Binder, Alex to everyone I know though. And I all know is that I've somehow found myself here, looking upon a strange landscape, wondering where the hell I am, and then I see you, Prince Vegeta of the Saiya-jin race, and Kakarott, 3rd class Saiya-jin fighter, also better known as 'Son Goku', am I right so far?" The taller man, Goku, gave a genuinely shocked expression at Alex, but still gave a faint nod to him, as he continued talking... "At first I thought I was dreaming, but somehow by some freak twist of fate, I think this is really the real deal. In fact... I recognize this place perfectly now that I've gotten my bearings straight. This is where the two of you first fought each other some 15 or more years ago, when you both were still enemies and first met each other. That was a battle that rocked the world, didn't it?" NOW Vegeta looked genuinely shocked, "Just how do you know that?! There was nobody as weak as you around to witness our battle! Only Kakarott's friends where witness to that. Someone like you would've been obliterated by our powers within moments had you been anywhere near us!" Alex looked at him, and sighed, "Listen... if you're willing to let me, I'll explain what I know here, because I think we both have explanations for each other. Also, just to make this clear... I'm not your enemy either. You could say I'm one of your greatest fans Vegeta. And Goku... er... you're pretty well known too, just I don't usually talk as much about you to my friends." Goku actually rolled his eyes just a bit in response, as Vegeta actually smirked at Alex, "Is that so? Then please by all means... explain yourself first. We have all the time in the world over here I think, isn't that right, Kakarott?" However, Vegeta would not be getting an explanation anytime soon, as at that moment, they began to see a surge of electrical energy form around all three of them. "What the hell!?" Alex exclaimed in frustration, "Not that odd portal thing again! This is extremely bad fucking timing!" "'Portal thing'?! Tell me you're not talking about dimensional portals and rifts and whatnot!" Vegeta growled. "Vegeta, something's happening! The Earth feels like it's changing!" Goku called out with an extremely alarmed voice, however neither Vegeta or Alex heard him, as the electrical surges began to get so loud, they were deafening to a normal human, so Alex could hear nothing, and due to Goku and Vegeta's sensitive Saiya-jin hearing, they had even less luck hearing anything else. Vegeta charged some ki energy into his arm and shot a medium-sized blast into the field, but the blast was absorbed, fizzling out immediately on contact! "What the hell's happening around us?!" he growled, as a rainbow colored sphere formed around all three people and began to shrink down. When it cleared, like with Clint and the woman who had knocked him out, there was no sign of Alex, Goku or Vegeta anymore. The deserted wasteland was a silent witness, but the sky seemed to pulsate all the more violently as this had been happening...
As with Alex and Clint, Dan was also experiencing the same thing in the middle of the rainbow colored void he had been sucked into it. Like before, he was also by himself. He was wondering what could cause this, and why he had been separated. He knew Clint had been pulled into that odd rift along with him, and it unnerved him he was alone. He wondered if Clint and the others had survived their own trips. Trying to get up from hitting the solid ground, he was dazed and a bit dizzy as the ground began to change beneath him, and the colors around him began to fade into a new scene, one that looked more to Dan's liking. He appeared to be on a bridge over a large body of water. A bridge somewhat similar in appearance to the Golden Gate Bridge. Dan finally lifted himself to his feet, and started to look around, and survey the area. He noticed he must've landed in a large city of some sorts, as he made out several buildings of various sizes on both sides of the bridge. However he couldn't help but feeling something was out of place. Some structures looked out of place compared to what he was used to seeing, quite a bit on the futuristic side. "Some of these buildings, they look like something out of a Blade Runner rip-off." he said to himself. He had no idea where he really was, and he realized that perhaps someone else could be of some help to him. He turned around, and decided he'd proceed towards the less populated looking side of the city. As he walked down the long bridge, Dan began to reflect on possibilities to what might have happened to him. Like Alex, he had began to notice the odd fluctuations in the skies above. He began to wonder if some kind of major change was occurring all over Earth. Whatever it was, he hoped his friends were still alive, and he hoped those who did survive would notice the skies changing. He had been carrying a cell phone, but he didn't really have any luck contacting any of his friends, so he was seriously doubting any of them where either alive, or dare he think of it... on the same world. Dan had began to wonder if they had been sucked into different parts of the universe. He himself even had doubts he was actually on Earth. However the sight of a pair of people near the end of the bridge snapped him out of his doom-and-gloom mood. Dan walked over to the pair of people, both at least appearing to still be human. One was a young man standing at a surprisingly short height of roughly five and a half feet, shorter than Dan's own height. He had light brown hair, sorta messy in appearance, with brown eyes, and wore a green top, and a pair of brown shorts. He also appeared to have what appeared to be a bandage set around one of his legs, although his leg did not appear to actually be injured. The other person was a woman roughly five feet tall exactly, with long hair, blonde, and in a light violet business-like outfit. Her eyes were purple, and she appeared to be just sitting over the edge of the bridge while the man was leaning over the side, staring into the waters below. Dan walked up and spoke out, "Hello, can anyone here tell me where I am?" The woman looked over at him first, with an assuring look, and Dan could sense a slight deal of déjà vu. The man also moved his eyes over on Dan, but really didn't turn his head. He did speak up however, "Where'd you come from?" he had asked, in a voice Dan could swear he had heard before somewhere. "Shibuya-ku, Japan. I think. I... I was separated from my friends. Some kinda freak dimensional rift, at least I think it was a dimensional rift, I can't be too sure about that... but whatever it was, it opened up and sucked us all in. I regained my bearings and arrived on this bridge. I have no idea where I am, or my friends." The young man actually turned to him completely, a little interested in his story. Dan's eyes widened, now he recognized that woman as well, he recognized both of them. Am I in some freak parallel reality?! "I... I know you! You're... you're Odin Lowe Jr.2, alias Heero Yuy! And... wait does that mean... she's Relena Peacecraft?!" he spoke out loud, not exactly aware of how awkward his outburst appeared to his company. He was brought back to reality as he felt something poke him in the shoulder. He then saw the man pointing a gun into his shoulder, and the woman staring in shock at his action. "Wait Heero, what're you doing?!" she asked. "He knows both of us by name, and more so he knows my real name, which isn't exactly wide-spread information around here!" Heero growled venomously, looking at Dan, "He might be very well be a survivor from Oz." Dan had a freaked out expression both at the gun, and the accusation, "Woah! Wa.. wait! I'm not from Oz! I'm from here on Earth! I might know you two by name, but I've never really seen much into your lives! I've never even been to one of the space colonies!" Heero sighed irritably, "Look, you have to either to be working for Oz, or you're some kind of fortune seer. Few others on Earth in these parts knew I had ever been in space, and no one else knows me by my original name." Dan gulped, wondering if Heero, one of his favorite anime characters, in some screwed up alternate dimension, would actually kill him. Relena attempted to quell the coming conflict, "Heero, why would Oz still be after us now? And why would they send a boy of his inexperience after us even if they were?" Heero softened up, if only slightly. Dan wasn't wanting to take chances and making Heero mad at him, and stepped back, hoping it would make him feel less threatened. However no one had been aware that small portions of the bridge were weaker than others. Dan had stepped back a little too far, and a large crack began to form under his feet, the crack slowly snaked under Heero, who began to ease up on his glare at Dan, and pulling his finger away from his pistol's trigger, but keeping the weapon pointed at him, just in case, "IF you're really not from Oz like you claim, just how in the world do you know about me and Relena like that?" Dan grumbled mentally, not having an easy time trying to figure how to explain it to him without sounding nuts. "Well, it's gonna sound crazy and all, but..." "Well crazy or not, try me." Heero grumbled with a sigh, still training the gun on him, though he was starting to doubt this kid was an Oz member now. The boy was too damn hesitant to be any kind of killer or assassin, but he could still be some kind of undercover agent or hoodwinked pawn, and he didn't want to risk more political issues by allowing this to go out of control. However, the bridge chose at that moment to give way, and Dan suddenly screamed as he lost his footing and fell towards the water. Heero had little time to react, and he too lost his footing and fell in after Dan. Relena had safely gotten back, but screamed out at the falling pair, "Heero!!" as both hit the water and sunk under... Luckily, fate had been kind to both Heero and Dan, as they would soon wash up along the shore. Although they had been rendered unconscious by the impact with the water, they would both survive. It would only be a matter of time before Relena and help would arrive for both. That was, if it weren't for the fact that electrical pulses of energy began to pulse around the area both Dan and Heero were laying at. Soon, the rainbow-colored field of energy enveloped both, and shrunk inwards, and like Clint and Alex, and their stowaways with them, both Dan and Heero were gone. Again, just as this was happening, Relena had noticed the skies were in fact pulsating with energy, and she began to wonder what was going to happen, running off to find help to see if she could find what had really happened to Heero and Dan... **** Just as with Clint, Alex and Dan before her, Nina's experience was that of being inside a rainbow-colored psychedelic void. She too found she was alone on her uncontrolled trip. However unlike the others who had never before been through a gateway of some kind, Nina had a small amount of experience. She remembered it was in fact a gateway, a portal of sorts in her own home world which had sent her through, dumping her out in Canton, Ohio, on a one-way trip as far as she could tell. She was lost for a while in their world, having little concept of their technology, and also having little understanding of their society. She however soon managed to get on her feet, finding herself a house and a living space. It was from there a strange pull in her intuition told her to find a place known as Canton South High School. The School was in fact the place where she first met Clint, Alex, Dusty, Devin, Vernon, Jason and Dan. She had also met others as well, some not so friendly to her, but it was this very trip that brought back those memories. That had all happened only 3 or 4 months ago too. As she stopped suddenly and crashed into the ground, she began to open her eyes, seeing the colored void beginning to fade out, revealing something totally different, and totally foreign to her. The ground she rested on was much like dirt, also in appearance. However the land appeared to have to reddish and yellow sky, and her surroundings, which appeared to be only small mountains and/or rock formations, made the place look like a wasteland of epic proportions. She saw no sign of anyone present at all, and that worried her deeply, "Great, just perfect. Where did that portal dump me? I don't like the look of this place one bit!" She looked around more, noticing a small group of rock spires to her northwest, and she decided she'd go that way. Her wings suddenly unfolded fully outwards to the side and started to flap slowly, as the bird-girl rose up and began to fly along on her strange journey. As she flew ahead, she overlooked the area from above. More of the same appeared in terms of terrain, but there were times she would come across small ponds which appeared to be filled with a red, blood-like liquid. She wasn't sure if it WAS blood or something else, like a hot spring, but she didn't think she'd want to fall into some. However as she flew on further, her eyes suddenly fell upon something out of place. Down below, near a much larger pond, more of a quasi-lake of the red liquid, were two figures. One was apparently lying down on the ground, while the other looked to be standing on top of the first. She flew in closer, landing out of their site, and hid behind a rock formation to survey. She soon realized that there must have been some kind of fight that had recently occurred. She first looked upon who appeared to be the loser of the battle, a tall-looking man, with a long spiky hair that appeared to go down his back to his thighs, and wearing a kind of black armored plate over a Kevlar-like underarmor. He looked to have been placed through a brutal beating, as she then turned to look at his assailant. This one did not look so human, but was still humanoid. He appeared to a large, pink-skinned, hairless creature who was noticeably wide. He also appeared to have rough spike-like protrusions on his arms and even some on his head, and he had a malicious sneer on his face as he appeared to be stomping his foot down on the other man's back. His armor also appeared similar in structure to the other man's, but it was more a blueish-violet than a pure black color, and there appeared to be no crotch guard on his armor. Nina also noticed he had a slightly purple-shade on his lips, which made him look creepy enough on top of his vicious appearance. "Dammit! When will you learn your place, you stupid ape?! You just can't defeat me! No matter how many times you recover and strengthen, I will still be too much for you! You're so lucky you can't die again when you're already dead, or you've have been gone from existence a long time ago!" the pink-creature boasted at his foe as he stomped down on his back again, causing the loser to spasm violently. "Go shit yourself, Dodo-brain!" the loser growled back, causing him to receive a third foot to his back, but he growled and continued, "You never grow stronger like me Dodoria, so that little boast won't hold true forever!" "Yeah, sure, and Buu was just a little angel wasn't he? YOU IDIOT!" the pink creature began to smash his foot into the loser's back several more times. Nina thought grimly to herself, What did he mean by, "When you're already dead?" She looked back, and noticed that now the pink creature had held the other man's head up by his hair and was now dunking his head up and down violently into the blood-like liquid near them. "God dammit! This guy's already proven his point! Is torturing that guy anymore really necessary?!" she whispered to herself. She looked on as the pink creature spoke up, "You think I'm not growing any stronger Radditz, but that's because I'm not the one you need to fear! I'm not one of the ones who that strange demon invited to that tournament, and that special training. Compared to them, I'm like an ant!" he said, then swinging the other man around by his hair and throwing him was great force, causing him to smash into a nearby rock face close to where Nina had been hiding. The pink creature walked up near the fallen man, and held out his hand at him, and Nina could swear she saw a ball of blue energy forming on the end of his hand, "I guess my day of fun with you has run out. Oh well, just as weak as always, Radditz!" the pink creature called at him mockingly. Nina looked on in confusion, "Is that a Magic attack?", then her eyes narrowed sternly, "It doesn't matter, this guy's way too psychotic! He's done enough already!" She darted out quickly from behind her set of rock formations, to a spot where she was clearly behind the pink creature, and aimed out her hand in a strange pose. "Hey tubbo!!" she called. The pink creature turned around, just as Nina unleashed a massive fireball, a literal fireball, drawn from magic energy from her own hand, barreling straight into the guy before he got a glimpse of her. The fireball erupted into a large explosion which clearly was too much for the creature to resist, as he was sent flying backwards, his armor torn to shreds and his now unconscious body burned horribly. His body crashed to the ground nearby, and he stopped moving, though he did appear to not be completely dead. Nina quickly went up to the fallen human-like man nearby, and looked over, "Man, that guy wrecked you up good, didn't he?" The man's eyes opened suddenly at her voice being so close, as he looked her over, he looked confused, "Who... who the hell are you supposed to be?! Where's Dodoria?" "The pink guy? I blew him away from here with one of my attacks. He looks to be out cold." The man growled, "Agh! Dammit, I don't need your help, woman! I can take care of myself!" "Easy there 'Spartacus'." Nina said, calling him a name she learned from Earth history, "It sure didn't look good for you earlier!" she then chuckled a bit at his attempt to grumble at her. "Big deal! We're both already dead! None of us can die a second time down here! Besides, I grow stronger ever time I get beat up like this. That fat pink piece of shit will get his deserts soon enough!" he replied. "How can you two be dead anyway!?" Nina asked, her expression suddenly serious, wanting to know about Dodoria's comment earlier. "Isn't it obvious, girl? We're in Hell, the place the evil go when they die! I thought you knew, unless you're also brain-dead!" Nina looked surprised, Hell?! How can I be here?! I know I'm still alive, and the others are nowhere around! Something's horribly wrong here. Nina looked down at the man, and bent over, grabbing his hand to pull him up. He reacted by trying to jerk his hand away, but he realized her grip felt like a vice, a much stronger vice than that clown Dodoria had him in. "Unhand me dammit! I can get up myself!" he growled at her. "Geez, you're Mr. Angsty today aren't you? What's the problem with accepting a little help!?" Nina spat back at him, now seriously annoyed at this guy's attitude. "Bah! You'd never understand any... what the?!" the man was interrupted as he saw strange pulses of electrical energy forming both of them. Nina had also saw it, and she had a strange feeling. She was so distracted by the sudden events, she didn't realize she was still holding tightly onto the other guy's arm, as both were suddenly engulfed by a rainbow-colored field of energy. As the field intensified, Nina and the other man, the Saiya-jin 3rd class warrior Radditz, both found themselves at the mercy of fate itself. Radditz's final thoughts were along the lines of: Why must everything weird happen to me!? as the two finally vanished from sight. It would only be hours later when Dodoria would recover from Nina's attack, strangely looking a lot less burned up, to find Radditz missing, the culprit who blindsided him nowhere in sight, and odd scorch marks around where Radditz had been thrown. He realized in horror, "SHIT! It wasn't supposed to happen this way! He wasn't supposed to be taken from here!" He gulped, out of fear of what his superiors were likely gonna do to him when they found out this little undesirable piece of news... **** Just like all of his friends before him, Devin was also heading off on his own free-floating ride through the tie-dye-like void of rainbow colors, flying at hyper speed to a place he could only try to imagine. Like most of the others, the portal was an new experience to him, in fact one that didn't logically seem possible at their time in history. Earth was in the Digital Age, but it still had a long way to go, before things like transdimensional movement and time-travel could be considered. Soon Devin thoughts were cut off as he smashed into a hard surface, now believing it was time to open his eyes, having them still closed from in the theatre. As he opened then, the rainbow-colored void faded away as it had with his other friends, and now he found himself on a concrete floor, apparently inside a small, closed off structure of some kind. Getting to his feet, his eyes danced around, surveying the room. As soon as he figured out his current location, he sighed and wondered why fate put him in such a strange place... Some kind of bathroom or something. Good thing no one's in here right now. Devin quietly stepped out of the bathroom, and found to his relief the portal had at least dumped him out in the men's bathroom, so he didn't look too out of place to anyone nearby as he stepped out. In fact, as Devin looked on, he saw a large concentration of people around him. Some where at various game booths, others at concession stands. It looked much at first glance like Devin had stepped into a fair or a carnival of some sort. He decided the only way to find out for sure was to walk around and get a feel of the area. As Devin roamed the grounds, he heard many different groups of people chattering about various subjects, but the thing he seemed to hear the most involved fighting, and the 'tournament'. Devin also got a glimpse of other people who in their own right appeared to qualify for wrestling matches and other martial arts. He had come across a cotton candy stand, and as he looked on, he could swear he thought he recognized someone at the booth. He stood around Clint's height, and was wearing a kind of red gi with a strange kanji on the back, with hair that frizzled out all over the place. And with him appeared to be a small child, about 2 to 3 feet, with a bowl-cut of sorts, who was getting some of the cotton candy. Devin soon realized from the child's voice that she was a girl and not a boy, and she called the other man her grandpa. You know, I could swear that pair looks like... *SMASH!* Devin found himself being knocked over on the ground violently, but he wasn't the only one. Another large person, apparently the careless culprit, had also tripped and fell along with him, Devin looked over to yell at him, but his eyes went wide with confusion. "No way..." Devin's 'assailant' appeared to be a large, round pink creature, standing about 6 and a half feet tall, about as tall as Nina, wearing a kind of overvest, with a pair of white, baggy pants, with a stylized "M" Devin actually recognized. But the guy's face was what confirmed Devin's suspicion. He appeared to have both his eyes closed all the time, with a kind of childish, innocent looking face, and his forehead had been the weirdest thing, appearing to have a strange tentacle-like appendage protruding from the middle of his forehead and wrapped over the back of his head like a mohawk. "Ouch!! Buu go crash!" the creature said in a strange, single-minded sounding voice, confirming Devin's assumption, "You be okay?" Devin grumbled to him, "Oh sure, just fine, considering I got smashed into by a creature that could probably destroy half the world by sneezing." "Buu sorry! Me help you up!" Buu replied sincerely, though not getting Devin's joke, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him up. "Thanks. Sorry about that reply. That just HURT." Devin replied. "Me heal you. Whee!" Buu replied, and his strange forehead appendage turned up and pointed at Devin. "Hey wait! I don't need to be turned into candy, thanks!" Devin said, but then realized as the appendage was actually shooting a beam that was healing him of that hard fall, "Oh yeah... I forgot... you can heal people with that thing too." he sweatdropped. "You welcome kid! Buu need return to tournament quickly!" Buu replied. "Wait, WHAT tournament?" Devin asked, wondering if he had been sent to what he thought he had. "Tenkaichi Budokai! 28th Buu believes." Buu replied back, as he was about to head out. "Wait, could you give me a lift there? If I recall, admission is free, but I'm new to this place." Devin half-lied. It was true he didn't know the area perfectly, but he was interested if this tournament really was what he thought. "Sure! Buu take you there now if you want!" Buu said, lying down on his stomach. Devin noticed he didn't seem to mind the attention this was attracting. "Get on Buu back! I fly us to stadium!" Buu replied. "Sure... if you say so..." Devin said, getting on slowly. Buu soon lifted up into the air, and took Devin along with him to the tournament stadium. At the stadium, Buu landed at a special group of stands near the top of the arena. "Buu is friend of Mr. Satan, so Buu gets special seats! Enjoy!" he said to Devin, and headed off, apparently if Devin thought correctly, to join the other fighters. As Devin began to look around, he figured out quickly these special seats allowed anyone sitting in them to see down into the area where the fighters gathered to watch the matches before theirs would occur. As he looked down, he surveyed several familiar looking people, including Buu himself. He looked more, but than got a surprise when his eyes fell on one particular fighter, a second one with lavender hair. "Wait! What the hell's HE doing there?! Where's that Ubuu kid? I don't see him anywhere!" asked Devin. Apparently he saw the strange person he spoke of, and then the red-clothed man with the spiky hair he witnessed at the cotton candy booth walking into the ring. Both appeared to place themselves in a fighting position. Devin watched the battle begin, and surveyed with an awe he had never had before. Their movements quickly become so fast he couldn't see them at all anymore. "They really are fast moving... But why's HE in this tournament? That's not how it happened in the show!" Devin mused. Soon, he noticed the two fighters take a break, as he could be able to see them again. He then witnessed the two men's hair change from black and lavender, both to a golden color, and standing up on end. "Hmmm... this is definitely new to me." He then saw the lavender kid do something he was very sure he wasn't supposed to be able to do, "NO WAY! How can HE also go that far?! Hell, why is he even here?! It makes no sense!" At that moment, Devin noticed Buu had come up to the stands for some unknown reason. "Hey, what're you doing back here?" Devin asked. "Buu forgot his cupcakes!" Buu replied, causing Devin to sweatdrop, as he recalled Buu had a serious sweet tooth. However, it was at that point, Buu looked around left and right as if confused. "Hey? What that sound?" he asked out loud. "What sound?" Devin asked, just as he saw a pulsing surge of electricity appear around the special seats. Buu and Devin both began to see several pulses of energy surge around each other, and then the pulses merging, beginning to form a prismatic field that began to surround them. "Shit! The portal must be opening again!" Devin replied, although he couldn't be 100% sure where it was planning to take him THIS time. "What's a portal?" Buu asked, but it would be the last thing anyone else would hear him or Devin say, as the field completely engulfed the two, causing them to vanish into thin air... **** Vernon was no different off from any of his other friends as he was flying at high speed through the prisma-colored void of the dimensional rift. Vernon was still blinded and was still a little sore for his fall that he blamed for getting him sucked into this monstrosity. He honestly had no idea if he'd survive the exchange or not, and he was worried he'd never get a girlfriend, as only one of many thoughts passing in his head at the time. However, much as the others had experienced, he suddenly felt his body smack into the ground with enough force to make him open his eyes, and look around. He noticed the colors of the rainbow void were beginning to fade away, just as it had for all his other friends, and as the land below him began to take shape, he had a sudden sense of danger hit him like a truck hitting a deer. He looked around at the ground in front of him, and found he was lying on the outer edge of a very large crater, roughly 250 yards wide. He soon realized the crater was not the work of a meteor, and quickly got out of it, on to more solid ground. As he looked around, dread filled his mind to some extent, as he realized he was gazing upon what appeared to be the ocean. He looked around more, noticing there were a few raised plateaus around him, but he saw more ocean water all over the place, and he began to realize he was probably either along a large coastline, or an a large enough island. Vernon decided that standing in place would not get his dozens of questions answered, and proceeded to move inland, away from the oceans, and away from that spooky crater. He took one last look at it though, wondering to himself, "I would guess only one thing could technically make a crater that huge with such efficiency, but that stuff isn't real." he tried to assure himself, but then he grew more worried. DUH. I was just sucked into a large projector screen in a movie theatre, and Nina called it something like a portal or so. Maybe this isn't so farfetched. he thought, as he then looked up and around for any signs that might confirm the theory brewing in his head. As he walked on, several minutes passed, although Vernon felt it had been more of a couple of hours. The lands around him looked a lot alike, almost like something in a cartoon. This was only making Vernon more and more nervous. Suddenly his ears perked up, as he could swear he felt a minor vibration beneath him, and a tiny sound from the distance. He decided he needed to get closer to the source of... well whatever that was. Vernon continued to walk towards the source, getting in roughly another 40 yards, before he heard a louder sound, and felt a much stronger shockwave, one that almost threw him off balance. Vernon saw a crack forming beneath him, and panicked, quickly lunging upwards, reaching his usual maximum jumping height of 8 feet and 6 inches, and even a little beyond that, grasping along the side of a plateau, and pulling himself up as fast as he could/ "Damn! What the hell's causing that?!" he called out in surprise. Vernon's answer soon came to him: A large, yellow-colored beam of energy came streaking along the sky, coming in close to the very plateau he was standing on. Although the blast didn't get too close, Vernon's eyes bugged out a little as he turned to survey the still streaking blast as it came down and smashed into the naked ground behind him, tearing a large crater into the trench. That was a close one! "Okay, calm down man, calm down! This is probably just a dream, some kinda hallucination from the portal. There was no way I just saw a ki beam rip past me." he said, pinching himself on the cheek to try to wake himself up, but he felt the obvious pain that came with the dread of knowing it was no dream, "Shit! This isn't a dream! Who's fighting around here anyways?!" Again, Vernon would soon get his answer, but in a frightening manner, as he suddenly saw a figure streaking along the sky to his left, but what he noticed with an increasing feeling of nervousness was that the figure appeared to be approaching back first. He then looked on in amusement as the figure, who he could identify as having black hair at least, smashed into a plateau close by, smashing it into rubble, which started to collapse in on the person. Vernon grumbled. Normally he'd be horrified to see something like that happen to someone, but he figured if his suspicion was correct, the guy would just get back up and be relatively undamaged. As he looked ahead, he began to realize just how right he was, as he saw the rock pile slowly crumble aside and apart, as the figure broke out, and rose into the air, and looked ahead, almost as if his enemy was over in that direction. It was then he looked over at Vernon. Vernon looked upon the figure closer, now having a much better view of him. His hair was shoulder length, and black, with strange ice-blue eyes, and wearing a long black shirt, with an orange scarf around his neck, and a pair a special jeans, which appeared to have a strange red logo on the side pocket. "Ju... Juuanagou?!?" Vernon urked out the Japanese word for "seventeen" in shock. At the mention of that name, the figure had his attention totally focused on Vernon now. Apparently Vernon had guessed correctly, as the figure floated in closer to Vernon, much to his dismay, and landed softly on his plateau. He looked at Vernon with the look of an amused child or pre-adolescent teenager, "Well, you look to be a long way from home, kid." "It IS you," Vernon said absentmindedly, "How is it possible for this all to really exist?" Juuanagou, or #17 as he preferred to call himself, looked at Vernon, still with that amused smile. "Look, I don't mean to butt in, but you really need to head home. This is no place for some human kid to be roaming. I'm training with one of my partners right now." Vernon grumbled, "Just great, who're you sparring with anyways?" "#17! Where'd you go?!" a gruff, mean-sounding voice boomed from ahead of them, partially answering Vernon's question. Vernon looked in the direction of the voice, for his expression to turn more shocked. The incoming figure appeared to be a green-skinned man of roughly 7 and a half feet tall, even taller than Nina was, he wore a familiar white and purple turban-like cap, along with an armored shoulder-plate covered in a white cloak. His ears were also long and elongated like an elf's ears. "P... Piccolo... speak of the devil's child himself..." Vernon said without thinking. #17 looked at him with a look of more shock than amusement, "Hey kid, how did you know both our names?" "I don't know if it's possible to explain it in a sane way." Vernon replied, only with one eye looking at #17 and the other at Piccolo, "Let's just say I'm quite aware you two have fought before, before Cell interrupted your little match." That declaration had #17 really curious, and intrigued, "Hey Piccolo! Come here a second! I think we got ourselves someone of importance here!" "Stop playing games #17! We must continue!" Piccolo growled back, but then he got site of Vernon, "Wait a second... who's this brat?!" "He claims to know of us both, and of our past battle 17 years ago, he also appears to know of Cell's involvement in interrupting it too." #17 replied. Piccolo's mouth dropped, and he landed in close to both the cyborg and Vernon, "What?! How is that possible! No one but me, you, your sister, Tenshinhan, #16 or Cell would know about that!" Vernon interrupted, "Look all I know is that some how I was sucked through some portal in a projector screen, and it dropped me off here in bizzaro-land." Piccolo chuckled darkly, baring his fangs, "Listen kid, nothing is bizarre about this world! It's all real! I don't know what kind of joke you're going at here, but I don't appreciate people trying to make a fool of me!" "Hey, you're not the only one getting a joke played on them here!" Vernon growled back, "I have no clue why I got dumped out here. All I know is I find you two sparring for who-knows-what reason over here." However Piccolo had lost his attention half way through his reply, and looked as if his eyes were tuned in on something. "Piccolo, is someone coming?" #17 looked over, knowing that look meant something. "No, I hear some strange disturbance in the air." He then looked up, and saw something horrifying, "Hey you two! Look up at the sky! It's pulsing out of control!" "But the Dragonballs are still scattered!" #17 replied in confusion. "I know that genius! This is not a natural alteration, not something I would know about! Wait! I feel... millions, tens of millions, no HUNDREDS of millions... of new energy signatures, new life is appearing around us! It's all over the damn place!" Piccolo replied, his face agape in horror. #17 activated his internal scouter-like scanner, and sure enough, Piccolo had been correct. Literally millions upon millions of new energies were suddenly popping up all around them. Suddenly they saw an hemisphere of electricity pulsing down around their plateau, and Vernon felt a dread sense in his gut. "What's going on here?!" he yelled, as he saw the electrical energies flare up around him, #17 and Piccolo. The cyborg and Namekian attempted to fly out of the field, but a great force repelled them before they could move too far. "Shit! This energy field is incredible! I can't escape it!" #17 growled. "That makes all three of us!" Piccolo growled, as a rainbow-colored sphere of energy began to encompass all three of the puzzled people, soon flaring up to incredible size, and then as quickly as it grew, it shrunk back down, all the way until it was less than even a tiny dot. With that, #17, Piccolo and even Vernon had vanished from sight... **** Inside the Caesar's Palace casino within Las Vegas, a special show was to be put on for it's fans later in the week. The WWE had picked Las Vegas as one of the many locations on its' RAW tours, and in order for the wrestlers to train, a special ring had been placed deep in the basement of one of the casinos. It was in fact on this early Las Vegas morning two men in particular were stepping up to enter that very ring. Although on the air the two men were great rivals for their fans, they were actually good friends in real life outside the ring. The man entering from the left was a stout man of 6 feet and 2 inches. He was a six time WWE champion, a three-time Royal Rumble winner, and also a King of the Ring champion. His head was shaved bald, preventing any from seeing his otherwise blond hair, and his mustache thick and slightly bushy. He wore a black vest with a picture of a rattlesnake with an open mouth on the front, and on the back were the words "Austin 3:16". He also possessed the air of a proud Texan in his stride as he walked forward. The man entering on the right was a taller man of 6 feet and 5 inches, roughly Nina's height. He was an Intercontinental champion, a Tag-team champion, winner of at least one Royal Rumble, and a damn good speaker and charismatic as hell. There were even rumors he was ascending to movie-stardom at the time. His head was also nearly shaven bald, but some hair, appearing black, stuck out slightly. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses over his eyes, he wore no shirt, but along the side of his right shoulder appeared to be an extremely complicated-looking tattoo, looking to be one of a Hawaiian or Samoan heritage. The second man took off his sunglasses, throwing them into a pile of towels laying nearby, as he walked up to pull himself over into the ring, where his opponent had arrived first. After reaching the other side, his adversary looked over, trying to stare him down to intimidate him. The second man reacted in a similar manner, even going as far to raise one of his eyebrows in an odd, yet menacing manner. The first man looked over, "So you're eager to get beat, Rock?" he mused. The second smirked back at his opponent, "Eager? Yes I am, Austin. But I'm 100% sure it won't be me who gets beat." 'Austin' looked back returning the smirk, "Let's get it on then, 'People's Champion'." Steve Williams and Dwayne Johnson, better known to the public by their ring names "Stone Cold Steve Austin" and "The Rock". looked on at each other one final time, as they began to stalk around the edges of the ring, each looking for an opening in the other's defense. Wrestling wasn't mostly about martial arts, but the two wrestlers were also not exactly competing in front of anyone expecting a show, so the two could fight realistically instead of just going by a script. The Rock decided maybe some collective banter would open a hole in Stone Cold's defense and spoke up, "So how's that neck injury faring up anyways Steve?" although it was also a question of genuine concern, The Rock knew his partner had a good dose of pride, and might choke on it as a minor insult. "Speak no more of it Dwayne, the neck is no problem now." Stone Cold grumbled back, knowing somewhat of his partner's attempt to open a hole to strike, and decided he'd speak of another subject close to Dwayne's own. "So how's the wife and new daughter anyways?" Austin replied. The Rock almost stopped, thinking quickly of the fact his wife Dany Garcia had just gave birth to a daughter: Simone Alexandra Johnson only a week or 2 ago. He felt a slight bit guilty he was still on the road for the RAW tour, but he also looked at it as getting money to support his new family. "Fine, Steve, actually if you really must know, they've both recently returned home from the hospital." "Well hopefully Dany won't think too low of you when I stomp your ass to the ring today." Stone Cold smirked with his challenging voice at The Rock. Both suddenly tensed up, decided they were going to make a full beeline and see who could clothesline the other first. However before either man took two or more steps, they stopped suddenly, and looked around at exactly the same time. "Rock, did you feel that!?" Austin asked, his voice now truly serious, and slightly spooked. "If you mean that chill in the air, yes I definitely did." The Rock echoed back, sounding equally chilled and scared. Suddenly, a small pulse of electric began to form close to the middle of the ring. The two men saw it and quickly jumped back, noticing more surges were appearing, as if there was a disturbance causing the pulses near the ring. Both men wisely flipped over the side of the ring and backed a few more steps away, as to make sure they wouldn't get shocked to death by the pulses. Soon both men began to see a sphere of rainbow colored energy form at the center of the disturbance, and they began to see something... no someone fade in at the center of it all, looking like they were lying on the ground. As soon as it happened, the rainbow sphere faded away and shrunk down, and the pulses died down, leaving the strange figure laying in the middle of the ring, dizzy as hell. The two wrestlers slowly grabbed onto the ring side, and pulled themselves inside, as to check on the strange, but still alive... well he looked to be a borderline adult, around 18 years of age. He was about 6 feet and 1 inch, with a crew cut of brown hair. His shirt and pants did not tell too many tales, but from his face, he appeared to be of American ascent. The boy looked around wearily, not totally aware of where he was. "Ugh, that was the worst ride I'll probably ever experience." he spoke, sounding slightly nauseous. "Hey man, are you okay?" The Rock asked the boy, realizing he was conscious enough to respond. The boy looked over to him, and then over to Stone Cold. Although at first he didn't recognize them due to his dizziness, it quickly cleared up, and his eyes began to widen at them, and then at this surroundings. "W... woah! There's no way! Where'd that damn portal dump me anyways?!" he spoke out loud, seemingly to himself. "Portal? As in sci-fi portal-that-takes-you-from-one-place-to-another, kinda portal?" asked Stone Cold. "Y... yeah... I know it's gonna sound crazy, but I need to ask, where am I in the world?" asked the kid. Although they were seriously wondering of the validity of this experience, they decided to just go along, and Stone Cold answered, "You're in Las Vegas, gambling city of the world of course! More specifically, you're kinda in the middle of me and Rock's training ring!" he then added out loud. The boy's eyes snapped open, "WAIT A MINUTE!" his voice raising abnormally high even though he wasn't trying too much, "You two really are Steve Williams and Dwayne Johnson, better called "Stone Cold" and "The Rock"! I thought you two looked familiar, but this... this makes no sense. I was just in Tokyo, Japan a couple of minutes ago, hanging out with 7 of my friends in a theatre and trying to watch that movie, when that crazy 'quake hit, and then that portal... or whatever Nina called it." he mused, totally disbelieving of his situation. The two wrestlers looked at him with a strange expression, but decided to play along for now, not sure themselves what to think of this yet. "So man, what's your name anyways? Might help us get you back to where you came from." The Rock asked. "My name's Dusty Fausnight. And I'm not sure if you'd be able to help me much. I think my other friends have been sent all over the world too. I know many of them got sucked into the same portal." the boy replied, identifying himself at last. As the two wrestlers heard this story, chills began to creep over all three of them. Dusty was horribly confused to why everything was happening to him. The Rock was nervous that there might have been some kind of government conspiracy behind this 'portal' that sent Dusty here, and Stone Cold was merely wondering if anything like this could be anymore than just some crazy dream. However, any doubts they had of what was going on were about to be erased. The bright lights overlooking the ring and the whole room began to flicker on and off, as if possessed by a ghost or apparition, and the ground was also starting to shake. "Wah.. what's happening?!" Dusty said, more spooked than before. After about 10 seconds, the lights were completely black, and apparently not going to turn back on, and the intensity of the small quake slightly increased, but it felt nothing in intensity compared to the 6.5 that had happened in Tokyo prior to the opening of the dimensional rift, maybe more of a 4.6, but none of them really knew for sure. Now covered in pitch darkness, the three onlookers could only imagine what would come next. And then they heard it speak, a voice with a strange distortion, which made it sound like something from beyond anything possible to living ears, "Fellow friends of Earth, I must give you an important message." "Who's in here?!" asked Stone Cold in a tone of anger, not sure if an attack was coming or not. "I'm sorry, Steve Williams, my time is short. I must be quick and blunt with you three." The voice paused, and then it continued, "Dusty Fausnight, I'm sure you're quite rattled to this dimensional portal that has scooped you and your seven friends up. I am sorry to say that there is nothing I can do to reverse the events of this day. However, all of your friends are all alive, and they will all survive, and so will you three. You are all strong, stronger than you think. This I know..." "Excuse me, what the hell are you talking about?!" Dusty screamed in pure concern. "You were not sent here by a mere accident. A high and mighty force, possibly a grand cosmic one, is responsible for all of this, and likely this event will not be the end... and in fact, this is only the beginning. Fate will bring forth more on you all, but you were all banded with those you met in the portals because you eighteen are among many who will save this world, and beyond, from the infinite darkness, and the forces of evil. When you all recover from this day, I warn you, your world will not be what you remember it. Things will change, physically, mentally, and even spiritually. Many of the rules of your old world will no longer exist Dusty. Things you believed only a dream will be able to be done in reality." the voice continued. "Woah woah! Man, can't you explain a little more clearly to us about this?" The Rock called out in response. "My time is running out. Do not worry, Dwayne Johnson, you and those you know and love will find your ways soon. But I must stress one thing above all else. All of you must stick together. Only united do you hope to stand a chance against what will come at you in the future. I will be honest. You will face what may be unspeakable horrors of your imagination. Some of you will realize your greatest dreams, and some of you will learn things about yourselves you never knew, but above all else, you "Misfits" must all work together as one to truly succeed. the voice replied. Dusty's voice snapped up, "Misfits?! That's the nickname Nina gave our group of us 8 when we all met her, and we became friends with her! How do you know of that?!" "Please understand this Dusty, but I cannot tell your future, but know that you will all grow to be incredibly powerful, more so than even I could've ever been." the voice explained. "But, who are you?!" asked Stone Cold, asking in Dusty's place. "I'm afraid I'm not allowed to reveal my true identity now, but I assure you all, we will speak again someday. Farewell... Misfits..." the voice spoke a final time. After the last echoes of his voice, Dusty, Dwayne, and Steve all felt as if their minds were being overwhelmed by a strange and painful force. Soon all three had completely passed out in the darkness of the basement ring room. However the darkness would soon be replaced by a rainbow colored light, and more electrical pulses. After about 30 seconds, the shaking of the world ceased, and the lights returned into focus. Revealing nothing in the ring, not even a scorch mark like the other friends of Dusty's own portals had left behind. The world groaned in agony, although it was not a fatal agony, but as if it were getting stronger, larger, and bigger... The string of events that many in the future would eventually come to call the "Merger of Impertinent Chaos", had began at last! **** The theatre in Hachiko Towers was horribly wrecked. The ceiling was almost completely gone, and there was even a slight drizzle falling over the area. Most of the chunks of the ceiling were completely gone, apparently having been sucked into the rift inside that projector screen. Many chairs had been uprooted from their original positions, and the fact many were bolted down said much for the strength of the rift. However as for the rift itself, the projector screen was still giving off a faint, lingering light, which appeared to be fading away. There was still a very low level of shaking, around 4.1 on the Richter scale, occurring in the area. Soon, the light in the projector screen completely faded away, and the shaking appeared to completely cease. However the weirdness was about to spike again. As soon as all the shaking ceased, about 15 to 20 feet off of the ground in front of the seats, or what was left of them, a strange anomaly began to crackle and pulse with strange surges of electrical energy, and slowly a strange rainbow colored hole began to appear in the fabric of reality. The hole began to slowly expand and grow, to the point it was over 15 feet wide and high. The electrical pulses began to weaken in occurrence and intensity, but that hole still remained, as strong and looking as ominous as ever. Soon, the electricity totally vanished. As soon as this occurred, the portal began to spit out several people in succession. First Clint popped out, along with the young woman named Paula that he 'met' in his experiences. Both crashed to the ground at different places, not conscious of what was going on and out like lights. Afterwards Alex, then Vegeta, and then Goku were spat out of the portal and landed randomly along the ground, all three just as knocked out. Soon, Vernon, then #17 and Piccolo went flying out of the gateway, landing all over the place, just as unconscious as the other 5. Soon, Devin and also Buu went falling out. Buu momentarily landed right on top of #17, but then rolled over off of him onto the ground nearby, while Devin hit the ground close to Alex. Soon, Dusty, Stone Cold and The Rock also fell out of the portal. Dusty landed near Goku, while the Rock was flung over near Clint, and Stone Cold landed close to Vernon and Piccolo. Dan, and then Heero went flying out after them. Heero landed on top of Piccolo directly, while Dan landed near Buu, and also Paula nearby. Then finally, Nina and Radditz came tumbling out. Radditz landed dangerously close to Vegeta's left foot, while Nina, landed ironically right on top of Vernon. Soon, after the portal had finally dumped out the contents it needed to, it began to erratically pulse and shrink down, until it finally appeared to vanish in a zipping light up into the air, causing the sky to quickly change to day and then back to night before it was finally done. However there had been one more person laying just as unconscious as the rest of them. Jason was still snoring behind a couple of seats, laying sideways. He had lucked out and he had not been sucked up into the portal like the others. Jason suddenly opened his eyes, still blurred and dizzy, and a bit blinded as well. He felt a surge of pain in his head and felt around along the crown of his head. Luckily he detected no blood or any serious injury despite his fall. His vision still fuzzy, he stepped out from behind the seats that he had fallen behind, and looked around upwards, noticing the ceiling was missing. "Woah, what kinda disaster hit this place?" He then slowly walked forward a few steps. Until he felt his foot land on something soft and bouncy. Looking down to see what he stepped on, his eyes came upon Mr. Buu's unconscious form, his body being the bouncy surface. Jason, finally recognizing him, began to step back, his eyes wide, "No way! I must be dreaming! That wasn't just Majin Buu's stomach I stepped on..." he droned to himself until he looked further around on the floor, he found Clint, Devin, Alex, Vernon, Dusty, Dan and Nina all laying on the floor along with Buu. He also recognized several other figures, including Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and #17. And although he did not recognize Paula or Heero, he knew their presence was also cause for concern. "What is going... NO WAY! How can those two be here too!?" Jason suddenly yelled out as he recognized Dwayne and Steve laying amidst the pile of people in front of him. "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" he screamed in disbelief. "Grragh..." he heard coming out of what appeared to be Vegeta's mouth. The short Saiya-jin was the first among the large pile to wake up. Not taking too much interest in his immediate surroundings, he tried to regain his full composure, "Dammit! That felt like getting hit with one of Buu's attacks while forgetting to transform." "Buu no hit that hard, do he?!" Buu's voice suddenly sounded, causing Vegeta and Jason to look over towards him. "Buu how did you... WHAT IN THE KAMI-FORSAKEN HELL IS THIS?!" Vegeta roared as he finally saw practically everyone sprawled out over the theatre floor, including Goku, and even that Alex boy. He then spotted Jason gaping on at them, and yelled, "And just who are YOU, boy?!" "Vegeta, j.. just calm down, I don't know what's happening either." Jason stammered. "AGAIN some weak human I've never met knows me by name! You wouldn't happen to know this clown, would you?" he stated, grabbing the unconscious Alex by one of his arms and pulling him up into Jason's view. "Vegeta, don't hurt Alex! He's probably just as confused as you!" Jason replied, not bothering to cover the fact he knew Alex. "So you know him after all. I just wanted to be sure. This fool bumped into me and Kakarott only minutes ago, and then we find ourselves flying through a rift in space or something!" he then put Alex back down, but this caused a light enough blow to jar Alex to consciousness. "Argh... what the hell! I feel like I got hit by a commuter train!" he grumbled. Buu looked on in amusement, finally noticing the vast amount of people in the room with him, and he also spotted Devin nearby. "Ah, boy is still okay! Portal must be kind of transportation!" Buu figured out on his own. "Yes Buu, a portal takes you from one place to another." Vegeta grumbled non-chalantly, looking at the form of Alex struggling to get to his feet. "Man that was a hell of a dream..." he grumbled, apparently not having recognized Vegeta's voice a moment ago. "Boy if you're referring to you meeting me and Kakarott, you're very wrong." Vegeta growled, making Alex look up right into Vegeta's scowling face. "HOLY SHIT! IT'S NOT A DREAM! IT'S REALLY NOT A DREAM!" he said and scrambled backwards a little. "Quiet! You too loud! Buu got headache!" Buu growled, getting Alex's attention. "Fat Majin Buu?! What're YOU doing here?!" he then finally got a good look at the entire room. "Piccolo?! #17?! Goku?! Them too?!" "What?! The Namek and male cyborg?!" Vegeta perked up, and turned to in fact get sight of the two he had been looking for, "Just perfect! How the hell did they get there?! Who are all of you!?" Clint was the next one to wake up. Although he was facing away from the commotion, all the loud yelling soon made him turn around. He saw everyone sprawled our all over the place. Jason was standing to the side watching everything, just as curious and scared as he was. He also saw Alex getting to his feet slowly, yammering on with... Vegeta... and wait, I see Buu... Goku... Piccolo... #17, and The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin?! "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Clint yelled out suddenly, getting every conscious person's attention. "Stop yelling! Buu got headache!" Buu replied back again. Clint sighed, and then looked around more, noticing Dusty, Dan, Vernon, Nina, were also among the bunch of people. Apparently they were back at the theatre again. Clint then took sight of Heero as well laying on top of Piccolo, although he didn't really recognize him at the time. He then looked over more near Dan, and his eyes bugged out... Aw shit! Now my head hurts again... he thought, seeing Paula lying near them, just as out of it as most of the others were. Apparently somehow, someway, he knew she was the one responsible for his aching head and face. He didn't want to have to face her again in the off case she had been out to kill him. Buu soon aimed his tentacle protrusion at Devin's body, and again zapped him with the strange healing beam. Devin soon opened his eyes, and managed to regain visual focus, seeing Buu standing over him. "Oh goodie. Buu's still here... What happened Buu?" he asked, and then noticed where he was, and looking right at Alex's sneering face. "Hey fatty, enjoy your nap?!" Alex growled, noticing this. "Oh no... you're back to wreck my day. I was actually having fun without you around." Devin joked sarcastically back at Alex. "Hey welcome back man." Jason replied behind him. "Hey man, I wondered if you got sucked in too." Devin replied, getting up and looking to Jason. However he also took this chance to see who all was actually here. He noticed all the old gang had come back, if not all of them conscious at the moment, but also noticed Piccolo, #17 and Goku, in addition to Vegeta right near Alex. He looked over at Clint, but couldn't help see his face was a bit more red. "Clint, man what happened to you?" he asked. "Don't ask." Clint said sternly and bluntly, "Maybe I'll explain later. Ow.." he rubbed his sore face, "But we have a couple more local celebrities in here with us. Look down and close to you and then look behind me." Devin whistled, "Yeah, I already saw Rock and Stone Cold, Clint. Wonder who brought them back?" "That'd be me." Dusty growled, now conscious and rising to his feet. "Good morning Dusty. Have a good sleep?" Alex asked mockingly with another small sneer. "Shut up Alex! This is not funny!" Dusty growled back, the words of the strange voice in his head echoing loudly as he woke up. He had not forgotten. "Geez who pissed in your corn flakes?" Jason asked sardonically. "Look, I'm gonna assume each of you bumped into someone or another when we got sucked into that projector screen. Well I ran into Stone Cold and The Rock, and I'm sure you each can name who you bumped into, but that's not as important at the moment. Our world is changing on us guys." Dusty replied. "Feh, that's preposterous!" Jason growled back. "Jason, look at this!" Clint growled back, "Half of these people aren't supposed to be real, and yet, they are all standing here, as real as they could ever be!" "What do 'ya mean we're not 'supposed to be real'?" Goku pouted as he got to his feet, having woke up a few seconds ago during Dusty's grumbling. "Good, you're awake Kakarott. We're in a lot of trouble." Vegeta spoke, referring Goku to Alex, and then to the bodies of Piccolo and #17, and then pointing out Buu over near Devin. "I see, Piccolo's here, as well as #17 and Buu." Goku replied, but then looked over tensely somewhere behind Vegeta, "Vegeta, stay right there a second..." "What? What's going on?" Vegeta growled. Goku floated up and landed behind Vegeta, "I don't believe it. It is him! Buu come here please!" he called over to the fat, pink creature, who reacted quickly, and was next to him in no time flat. "You want me heal him?" he asked, pointing to Radditz's unconscious form. "What?! What the hell is HE doing here of all people! He's supposed to have been over 20 years dead!" Vegeta growled as he turned to see Radditz, "Buu don't heal him!" "Oh calm down Vegeta, he's alive now anyways. There's no halo around his head like the dead would have." Goku responded, defending his brother's presence. Indeed, Radditz no longer had a halo over his head, which apparently meant that his trip out of Hell had brought him back to life somehow. "He tried to kill you and your son, and the Namek!" Vegeta protested. "Yes, and so did you and Nappa." Goku retorted in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice. Vegeta grumbled, dully chastised, "Alright, you make a point, but if you're going to give him any chance, I say only one. We'll have to see what comes out of this." Vegeta sighed and let Buu heal Radditz's body. Radditz's eyes opened suddenly, and he looked around as if he were trapped in a prison, recognizing the faces of both his younger brother and his prince, "Kakarott!? Vegeta?! Where am I?!" "Radditz, listen carefully." Goku replied, "I don't know where exactly we all are, but we're not in Hell, and you are alive again." Radditz looked up to find his halo gone, "But how?! Wait!! That one girl! She must've caused the portal that ripped me out of Hell!" he yelled. Goku helped his older brother to his feet, as Vegeta watched him sternly, "A girl huh?" "Wait!" Radditz looked over, seeing Nina on top of Vernon's unconscious body, "That's the girl! She took out Dodoria pretty fast, and tried to help me down in Hell. She seemed to act like she didn't know where she was. She must've been right." "Buu, could you heal those two please?" Goku asked, pointing out Nina and Vernon respectively. Buu grabbed Nina and set her down on the steps nearby, and he healed Nina's body with the magics of his forelock like he had Devin and Radditz. He then turned to do the same to Vernon's body, which looked a little roughed, probably by having Nina land on him. Nina woke up first, a little pained from her fall, but otherwise fine, she looked up to see Buu and her eyes went wide, "Wah! Get back!" she growled, using her magic focus to throw Buu a few feet away, to his surprise. "Me heal you! Buu not want hurt you!" Buu replied quickly, holding out his hands defensively. Nina blinked a couple of times and everyone looking on could actually see she sweatdropped, "Oh... um... oops... sorry... I get a little shaky when I see odd creatures near me." "Um Miss?" Goku cut in, causing Nina to look his way. She blinked, "Wait... wait a second... you're Goku, aren't you?" Goku was taken off guard by her sudden statement, "How did you..." "And Mr. Troll-hair over there is Vegeta, right?" Nina continued. "'Mr. Troll-hair'?! How dare you!" Vegeta growled indecently, but holding back the urge to blast her, partially because she also knew him and Goku by name, "And just how do YOU know us?" "Devin's shirt has a strange picture of Goku doing one of his attacks on the back, and Clint's shirt has you on the back in two states." Nina replied. Vegeta looked over at Clint, seeing in fact this was true, "YES!! FINALLY I GET SOME RESPECT!" Vegeta chuckled somewhat evilly, then he grumbled as he looked over and saw Devin's shirt again, "Wait... of course.. Kakarott's on the fat kid's shirt, isn't he?" he growled at that. "HAHA! Even Vegeta thinks you're fat!" Alex laughed loudly, he couldn't help but find that comment hilarious. "Aw bite me, you assclown!" Devin grumbled, not amused. Nina looked over at Radditz, "Hey, so you did get taken back with me." Radditz looked back, "Yeah, but I guess I have to thank you. I'm alive again now!" "But aren't you evil?" Nina said, eyeing him suspiciously, "You did tell me we were in Hell." "Well, you could say I wasn't the best of people in my past. I certainly did a lot of damage in those days, but so did practically all people of our race, Vegeta included. However, I don't know if I consider myself that way now, since I've been dead for 20 years now." Radditz replied, "Besides, my little brother Kakarott and Prince Vegeta here would easily be able to kill me if I even thought to try something. They can become Super Saiya-jins, and I can't. Hell, my powerlevel probably didn't even breach 30,000. And you took out Dodoria with ease. You could kill me even easier if you needed to." Vegeta looked on with awe, "Well, I guess you gained some common sense while dead after all. Just how did you find out we were Super Saiya-jins? Surely Frieza wouldn't just admit it to any of our people down there." "Hell has a type of viewing globe, allowing us to look on at some of the events on other places, kinda like what the humans on Earth call television or TV. Nappa and I specifically kept tabs on you two and your families. I am amazed by your progress, especially my nephew's growth. When I found out Cell was defeated by him, I couldn't resist taunting him about it, even if I got beat up often for it. However in honesty, I am jealous somewhat of Kakarott's achievements. Who'd have known there was a Super Saiya-jin 3 so long back, much less the fact the original form was actually more than a legend?" Vegeta grumbled at this, but Goku smiled his goofy, trademark grin and patted his brother lightly on his back, "You know Radditz, we could teach you to become a Super Saiya-jin, but that's gonna take time either way." "I think I'd like that. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for my deceit 20 years ago, little brother. I was consumed so deeply in my desire to bring you to our side that I thought nothing of what you could've become back in those darker days if you stayed as you had, but I guess it doesn't matter now. Frieza's dead anyways, thanks to Vegeta's son from the future, and at least a few Saiya-jin survived." Radditz replied, and even Vegeta had to admit Radditz made plenty of sense and smirked. Vernon had come to during Radditz's conversation and he looked around, appearing calm on the outside as he looked over at all of these people. He also looked around and realized just as he had been suspecting, that Piccolo and #17 were in fact present, although still out of it at the moment. He also noticed Goku, Vegeta, Radditz, and Nina talking to each other, and Alex was hovering close to Vegeta. "Hey Alex, having fun gawking over your idol?" he taunted jokingly. "Vernon, shut up! At least I actually met Vegeta and Goku, you didn't!" Alex growled back. "Yeah, but I still met Piccolo and #17 here, so it makes us even." Vernon replied, amused at his friend's reply. "Yes I just remembered... Buu, could you revive Piccolo and #17 as well?" Goku asked, overhearing this. Buu gave a mock military salute with a grin and floated over to both Piccolo and #17's bodies. He healed #17 first, being a little harder to heal with his methods due to his mechanical parts, and then healing Piccolo second, the easiest one due to his own healing properties. Piccolo woke up first, and he looked around, noticing immediately of Buu's presence, and then he saw Goku, Vegeta, and even #17 and Vernon near him, but he soon recognized Radditz, and growled, "YOU. WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE!?" Goku gulped, knowing Piccolo would quickly kill his older brother if he didn't intervene, and got up in front of the Namekian before he could fire off a potential killing blast, "Wait Piccolo! He's one of us now! He's alive, and he wants to join us!" "Did your trip through the portal warp your brain more than it already was, Son?! Remember the last time he said he'd change?! He got you and him both killed because I had to fire my Makankosappou through you two!" Piccolo protested. "Listen Namek! I understand, and I agree that Kakarott might be letting his heart control him a bit too much, but I got the feeling Radditz is being sincere. He seems in awe of the fact we're both Super Saiya-jins, and he wishes to become one too so it seems." Vegeta cut in, at least proud the weaker 3rd class hadn't quit trying to get stronger even in death. Piccolo growled, "Vegeta, for all you know, he could be doing this to trick us someday." "Yes, but even so, he is still weaker than any of the Ginyu clowns. Even if he became a Super Saiya-jin now, you could still kill him yourself if he went evil again." Vegeta replied. Piccolo gruffly said, "Well fine, but if he does try something, I will make sure he lives to regret it. These new people here might not impress me too much, but I won't stand for him or anyone else threatening them or hurting them like that." he then turned to Radditz, "Do you understand me, Radditz?" Radditz looked at him, "Fair enough, green man. Piccolo was it? I'll even promise you that if I go nuts, you can kill me with that little corkscrew of yours again." Piccolo smirked, "Fine, but you might not wish to go through it again. I'm much stronger than before, and the pain will be much worse." "So exactly what is going on all around here?" asked #17's voice from behind them, interrupting a possible retort from Radditz. Dusty looked over at #17, "I think we've been all gathered up here for a good reason. Wait! Where's Dan anyways?" Clint replied, "He's laying near me and this other girl, and also The Rock over here beside me." "Hey, um Buu! Could you go over and heal the small boy with the glasses, the shirtless dude with the tattoo, and the girl in the dress over by Clint?" Dusty called to Buu. Buu flew over to Clint, and looked over at the three he was to heal, and zapped Dan with his healing ray first, and then zapped The Rock second, and then zapping Paula last. He then flew over, and noticed Heero was laying near Piccolo, and decided to heal him before someone else asked him in order to save time. He then saw Stone Cold's body, and healed him as well. Heero began to get to his feet, as did Dan. Both's first sights were each other, and Heero instinctively reached for his gun out of reaction, but found it had not been taken along with him in the portal. "Woah! Heero?! What're you doing here?!" Dan asked, "I last remember falling over that bridge! Now I'm... I'm back in the theatre in Japan!?" Dan looked around in disbelief. "Japan?" Heero suddenly perked up, looking at his surroundings, "This doesn't look much like Japan. It looks more old-fashioned than where I came from." "Maybe not the 'Japan' your used to, but this is my world Heero." Dan replied. "Heero?! As in Heero Yuy?! The one from Gundam Wing?!" Dusty asked out from behind. Dan turned around, realizing all of his friends, and then some where all over the place, some talking to each other and some of the new people, and he even recognized Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Buu. He did not know so much of #17 and Radditz however, but he knew they were probably from the same place by their appearances. He then saw the Rock getting up nearby. "Dusty, you might wanna look over here..." "Yeah, I know, the Rock's right next to you. I ran into him and Stone Cold during my trip through that spooky portal." Dusty replied. "Austin too!?" Dan then noticed Stone Cold was getting up near Piccolo and Goku, and stammered, "We... well... this is cool... freaky, but cool!" The Rock looked around cautiously, noticing the large number of people in the room. He didn't really recognize most of them, although he spotted Austin near the spiky-haired man and the green-skinned man, and he saw that Dusty kid at the other end of the floor. I guess that strange voice wasn't kidding. These must be Dusty's friends, and all the odd people they brought back with them. This is really happening. But why? However he saw Piccolo's face turn into one of shock, as he stared over at Dwayne. The Rock wondered why Piccolo was looking at him so odd, only to realize, He's not looking at me, but... that one girl who just got up. He observed the odd scene. Goku had also focused on Piccolo's strange expression. I haven't seen such a look on Piccolo in years. As he turned to figure out what his Namek ally was staring at. He soon realized he was staring at the girl in the pink dress, and his own eyes narrowed, as if he was trying to remember some loose memory. Clint was also watching this in a strange manner. He could only wonder why Piccolo was staring at her so odd. Maybe she had nailed him in the head one time like she had him. All he knew was that he wanted to be careful around her. He could swear she looked familiar to him though in those thoughts. Of course he was probably wrong, but he soon began to get more answers, as Paula's expression turned dead serious, and spoke up for the first time, "So you're not dead after all." and the comment was straight at Piccolo. "What do you mean I'm not dead after all?!" he asked back. "I very well remember you were killed when Goku used that one-armed blast and tore right through you with his fist! I saw you explode!" Paula growled back in reply. Piccolo's eyes bugged out, as Paula was actually talking about the death of his evil father, "Wait a second! My father?! You knew my father?!" he stammered. Goku's eyes grew wider, She knows of how Piccolo Damiaou died? But only Tenshinhan, me and... WAIT! Her hair, her bow, her dress!! Am I hallucinating!? He looked Paula over from head to toe, and he soon had the epiphany. "Hey you! Over here!" he called out, getting her attention. Paula looked over and set her eyes on Goku, then they went wide, "No way... that hair... there's no one else I ever knew with such a wild hair style." she mused towards them, "Goku is that you?!" Goku jumped up with joy at this, pumping his fist up, "All right!! It is you! You have no idea how long it was since we last saw each other! It had to be nearly 30 years! Boy, you look young for being 39 years old!" Paula sweatdropped, and looked as if Goku had just eaten a mountain in front of her, "Um... what? I'm only 20, you goofball." "Huh?!" Goku looked back, equally as surprised now. "Goku, who the hell is she?! How does she know of my father?!" Piccolo growled, ready to strangle Goku for being so dense. "Piccolo, you should know already. Your father's final memories, before he died." Goku clued him in. Piccolo's eyes suddenly turned narrow. "You... now I remember you. You're the girl that distracted my father when Goku got the chance to land the finishing blow." Piccolo grumbled. "Wait a second." Paula mused realizing something, "You must be the creature in the egg he spat out when he died, aren't you? You look nothing like any of your father's minions did." "Yes, my father transferred his genetic memories to me before he died. I was supposed to kill Goku, and you as well if we ever met again, but over the years, I began to realize my father was wrong. I became friends with Goku's son, and you could say I reformed. I even gave my life to save Goku's son." Paula stared back at him, almost looking to be looking right through the Namek, which unnerved him. Her look then eased up a little, "You're right... I just saw it myself... you trained him yourself, and you saved his life twice at least. I also saw that you apparently became one with another like you on some distant planet, and then later with one who was apparently your good-half." "How did you know that?! Have you been spying on us?" Piccolo asked. "No. She's a mind reader Piccolo. A psychic user more specifically." Goku replied. The others were looking at this situation strangely, "Kakarott, who is she?" asked Vegeta with a puzzled and a slight agitated look, "You've never mentioned any of this to me!" "Her name is Paula. She is an old friend from my childhood, back when I also was weaker than Radditz. She came along with me and Bulma after we met her in Yanyan Village along with Oolong, if you remember him at all. She helped on many adventures of mine, including when I fought Piccolo's father, but she vanished completely after we parted ways after the battle. I never saw her again, and I could never find where she lived, but now we suddenly have met again." Goku explained. Alex looked at Goku with an odd expression, "Are you okay Goku? You must have bad memory recall. I've never heard of her before, and I certainly don't remember her being part of your past." "No, that's how it happened Alex. I don't know what made you think that. However I'll explain more to you all, some day." Goku replied again, still having a hard time believing his first 'best friend' had just returned to him out of the blue like this. "Yeah really, first things first," Stone Cold piped in, preventing anyone else from continuing the subject for the time being, "Like finding out what the hell is going on here!" He then turned to Dusty, "Kid, do you think what that voice said is true? About us all having to join as one force? About the rules changing?" he asked. Dusty looked around, "If it weren't for all these people running around here, I'd be very skeptical of this, but I recognize some if not most of these new people. It's almost as if..." "As if what, Dusty?!" Dan asked. "As if our worlds have suddenly become one." Dusty replied. "What?! You mean to tell me you think this odd event has somehow... merged several... universes?" Clint asked in disbelief. He didn't want to admit it, but it did indeed appear that way to him as well. Piccolo added in, "It would make sense. #17 and I were sensing a large increase in the world's population just after we ran into Vernon. Goku, do you sense a larger number of kis on Earth now?" Goku adjusted his ki senses to a low range, and he replied, "Yes Piccolo, I sense it just as well. I thought something was happening to the Earth. First the pulsations in the sky, and then the odd feelings in the climate when Vegeta and I met Alex. I feel... over several billion new energy signatures all over the world! I think most of them are from the other 'universes' if this whole merger thing is true." "Wait a second! You guys saw pulsing skies too? Heero and I noticed it during our encounter as well!" Dan replied. "I hadn't been paying attention, but I found myself at the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai when I got warped by the portal." Devin replied. "We were underground in a basement when all of this happened." Dusty replied. "I couldn't see the sky where I was. Too many trees." Clint replied. Paula turned to him at the sound of his voice, and she smiled at him, an apologetic smile "Ah, there you are. Hey, s..." "Ah! Don't close any closer!" Clint backed away from her, making everyone else curious to why he was suddenly so alert in her presence. "Wait! I wanted to apologize for what I did, and how some of my friends in the park were treating you," Paula then turned back to Piccolo and Dusty, "And by the way, I think I did happen to see the sky acting strange when I went out and bumped into him." "My name is Clint, not 'him'." Clint grumbled in a slightly subdued voice. "Yes, Clint." Paula added with a slight look of humor on her face. "I couldn't tell if anything going on was strange where I was. Hell had red skies and a strange landscape, so I couldn't really tell normal from strange down there." Nina replied. Radditz looked up and spoke, "Same here, I was sorta getting the shit kicked outta me by Dodoria, so I was too occupied to notice if anything was wrong." "Well, don't look at me." Jason said, "I didn't get sent anywhere, I've been here in the theatre the entire time, unconscious. Although it sounded like what you all did was cool. Why couldn't I have gotten sucked up into that thing?" Jason then pouted. Alex, Vernon, Devin and Clint looked at him and sweatdropped, although Alex did secretly feel a little bad for Jason. "Might I make a suggestion?" asked Heero, "This place appears to have gone through a wreck. Why don't we all move from here to a more stable ground. If this is the site of the portals that took you around, I don't wanna be here still if they come back." Heero replied. "They won't. I don't think they will. We were sucked in specifically to meet people and come back with them, at least according to that voice." Dusty mused on. "What voice?" asked Devin, intrigued by what Dusty had said. "You mean you guys didn't hear that ominous voice before you teleported back?" Dusty asked. "Noooo... Explain this to us Dusty." Vernon replied, also curious about this. "Dusty means that before he, I and Rock were sent back here, someone spoke to us from in the darkness. We couldn't identify it, nor did it tell us anything about itself. However it told us something about how the world was about to change, and that some rules would no longer apply, and that some of us would encounter things from our dreams, our worst nightmares, or other things. It told us that above all else, we're all supposed to stick together to conquer the dark forces that are supposed to come after us soon." Stone Cold responded. "You guys sure you didn't just hear odd things?" asked Goku, "Because Vegeta, Alex and I never heard anything on our end." "Ditto for me, Vernon and #17." Piccolo replied. "Buu no hear any voice." Buu said. "Hmmm... I can't say I heard a voice either." Paula commented, "And I don't think Clint would've heard it either with how he was when we warped out." "Nope, I didn't hear anyone either." Clint confirmed. "Look, why don't we just get situated somewhere else. Is there somewhere like lodging around here?" asked Vegeta, obviously annoying at getting nowhere on understanding these events. "Well, we don't live around here, so we'll have to look around. We came here on a mini-vacation because we won a contest, and Clint picked some of us to go with him. We then went to see this one movie, and the projector got broken, causing the movie to stop, then the earthquake, and then the projector screen turned into a portal which sucked all of us, except apparently Jason, into it." Dan replied. "I see..." Piccolo said, with a slightly odd look, "Goku, Vegeta, #17, Buu, Radditz. We need to test our Ki to make sure we can still fly or if we're gonna have to walk." The other five nodded slowly, and began to concentrate slightly, and lifted up off the ground, floating a few inches off the ground. Piccolo then did similar. Alex and Jason looked up. "Sweet! They can still fly!" Alex said giddily. "Maybe that's one of the examples the voice was talking about when it said some rules would no longer exist." The Rock thought out loud, knowing that ki manipulation like that would be impossible in their world prior to all this. "If that's true, that means we could learn to use Ki, and fly, and shoot energy from our hands too!" Vernon suddenly became interested in this situation. "Yeah! That'd be quite cool!" Clint even perked up. "Hmmm... that makes me wonder..." Paula then said almost to herself. She looked up at the sky, and sucked in a bit of air. With a loud scream, she called out "COME TO ME, KINTOUN!!" "Huh?!" asked Jason, "Who's Kintoun?" "Jason you idiot! She means the 'Flying Nimbus'!" Alex replied, having knowledge of some of the Japanese names over Jason. As Paula and now Goku, Piccolo and Vegeta looked up, they heard a distant purring sound, as a golden cloud began to zoom in at all of them. The cloud then came in close and stopped right beside Paula. "No Way!" Vernon said with wide eyes, "That's means Dragonball's universe has merged with ours for real! There's no such thing as the Kintoun in our universe." "Wait... 'Flying Nimbus'... isn't that the cloud that Goku rode in the old series when he was still a kid?" asked Dusty, his information on the older series missing some patches in parts. "Yeah, but if I remember, you have to be pure of heart to ride it." Dan replied, trying to dig up his rustier Dragonball information. "Cool! It's still working!" Paula cheered, as she was soon seen sitting cross-legged on the cloud, "Although I swear it's gotten a lot larger since last time." "Yeah, I used to take Gohan, my oldest son, on rides using Kintoun." Goku explained. "Yeah, by the way, who did you marry Goku?" Paula asked back with a mischievous smile, "Please tell me it was Chichi." "Actually yeah it was. She met me at the 23rd Budokai. She and I got married right after I won and we went home." Goku replied. "You won a tournament? Finally!" Paula raspberried Goku, "You lost the last two by mere inches." "I know..." Goku looked down, "But my experiences have made me better or for worse." "Hey, um, Paula... can I get on too?" asked Jason, "I wanna ride Nimbus!" "KINTOUN you 'tard!" Alex corrected him. "Shut up Alex! Whatever you call it!" Jason grumbled back. Paula jumped off the cloud and said, "Go right ahead and try. But remember..." "I know, but I'm very good." he said, as he jumped up. Alex snickered, "Yeah right!" Jason landed on the Kintoun, and for a split second it looked like he'd stay on, but then he fell right through the cloud and onto his butt, "Ow! The hell? Damn cloud!" "HAHAHAHA!! You moron! You steal from people! That alone makes you impure!" Alex laughed, trying to agitate his friend. "I do NOT steal Alex. That's more of something you'd do." Jason retorted with his own sarcasm. "Hah! I don't need to steal! I have all I want already Jason!" Alex grumbled back. "Then why don't you try to ride the stupid cloud?" Jason asked. "Duh! I know I'll fall through. I'm not gonna lie out of my teeth that I'm pure hearted, because I'm not!" Alex admitted. Kintoun floated over and Paula jumped back on, and sat back down in a cross-legged position and chuckled at both of them, "Alright, easy does it you two." "Eh, don't bother trying, they fight like this all the time." Devin replied with a groan at Jason and Alex. "I'm sure they do, but can we please get out of this place and somewhere else?" asked #17, with slight impatience. "Fine, let's go then. I agree we need to get out of here." Clint replied. The eighteen of them soon moved out of the wrecked theatre. Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, #17, Buu and Radditz all used their Ki to fly out over the exposed roof, and Paula followed on Kintoun, and Nina decided to fly out with her wings in a similar fashion. After landing on the other side of the debris, they found themselves along the Shibuya Crossing again. "Alright, so we're in Tokyo Japan, right?" asked the Rock. "The Shibayu-ku ward specifically." Devin answered, "But yes, this is the youth center of Tokyo." "Wait a minute, I think I know of a hotel we can go for the night." Clint replied. "Small problem, Clint." Alex spoke up," The eight of us who came here originally have free passes, but the other 10 of us will still have to pay. I don't think many of them have money for the situation." "Shit. You're right. Do any of the rest of you have money?" Clint asked. "Well, I think Rock and I can pay for you guys, if it's not too expensive." Stone Cold replied. "Um, I don't know if they'll accept American dollars straight up, Steve." The Rock said, "We'll probably need to convert it to yen." "Let's just find a place to stay, and we'll get it sorted out from there." Clint suggested, "There's a nice hotel westward up the road from here. If it hasn't been too badly effected by the quake, it should do fine for us." "Very well Clint, lead the way, and quickly!" Nina said, the rain was starting to pick up, into a steady shower over the area. With that, Clint lead the entire group of eighteen up the street, until they reached their destination, and they all scrambled inside as quickly as they could... Part 2: A Rogue Cell of Problems
After the group of eighteen 'Misfits' had entered the hotel, they had gone up to the service counter, and Clint, Alex, Jason, Devin, Vernon, Dan, Dusty and Nina had used their contest passes for their free-of-charge stay. However as predicted, Goku, Vegeta, Paula, #17, Piccolo, Heero, Steve, Dwayne, Mr. Buu and Radditz all had to pay for their rooms. The total had come to roughly 43,556 yen, or roughly $363.60. When presenting his money to the clerk, Steve and Dwayne asked about converting the money to yen. Yen on that day converted at 119.79 yen to 1 US Dollar. The Clerk had pointed the two wrestlers over to an exchange ATM, where the two were able to take are of their problem. Given a 1198 yen tip(or $10.00), the clerk had asked the eighteen of them about which rooms to take. He told them that each normal room held two people. Paula and Nina immediately volunteered a room together, not wanting to worry about the males perving on them, such as Vernon or Dan, or any other potential perverts among the other new Misfits. The two soon had gone off to their room, room 215 on the third floor, leaving the other 16 to bicker about who got to share a room with who. After about 2 or 3 minutes of senseless bickering, Piccolo had wisely come up with the idea to draw straws. Using his item-materialization ability, he had created 8 pairs of straw in the palm of his hand. Each pair was a different length. The shortest pair of straws was for the first room, and the longest pair for the last room. After the straw picking had finished, it had been decided. Devin and Mr. Buu had gotten room 32 on the first floor of the Hotel. Jason and Radditz had gotten room 49, also on the first floor. Dusty and Vegeta had ended up with room 103 on the second floor, much to Dusty's major worry. Clint and Dwayne ended up with room 106, not very far from Vegeta and Dusty, and also on the second floor. Dan and Piccolo had ended up with room 214 on the third floor, right across from Paula and Nina ironically. Heero and Steve had ended up with room 226 on the third floor. Vernon and Goku had ended up with room 125 on the second floor, and Alex and #17 had gotten the last room, room 4, right near the lobby, and the closest to all the noise of the hotel, much to their dismay. Although some where disappointed in their picks, they soon parted ways from their rooms. **** Devin and Mr. Buu had reached their room about 30 minutes ago. While Devin had a few things to put away, Mr. Buu immediately had gone and turned on the TV in their room. An episode of "Iron Chef" had been on when this had occurred, and Mr. Buu had immediately been captivated by it, and he was getting hungry. "Buu hungry! Buu hungry!!" he whined. "Go order for room service. Just don't overbuy food." Devin advised, not wanting to know how it would get under Steve and Dwayne's skin if the other 10 had spent too much on food. Devin had decided that while Buu was doing his thing, that he would go in and take a small shower. Although we do not know all the details, Devin had gotten out after 10 to 15 minutes, drying off and only wearing a pair of boxer shorts, that he became witness to Buu with 3 trays of food at the foot of his bed. On the TV now was the anime called "FLCL", or Furi Kuri. "Buu, how much did that all cost?" Devin asked, his eyes slightly perplexed at all the shiitake, sushi and even some pocky that he had seen on Buu's trays. "4192 yen the man say." Buu replied. "That's about... 30 to 40 dollars I think. Buu don't buy anymore for a while, okay?" Devin asked. "Why not? Buu will need eat again when wake up." Buu replied. "I mean tonight. I don't want Stone Cold and The Rock letting off steam at you. I can get as much as I want, and so can Clint, Alex, Vernon, Dan, Jason, Dusty and Nina, but the rest of you have to pay for what you get." Devin explained. "Oh. Okie dokie!" Buu grinned and continued to eat. Devin had looked at FLCL on TV, "What the hell are you watching?" he asked. "FURI KURI!!" Buu said loud and happily, "FURI KURI!!" "静かに！静かな！" ("Shh! Quiet!") said a male voice in Japanese from a room nearby, "私たちは睡眠しようとしている！" ("We're trying to sleep!") "そのことについてごめん！私は彼を静かにしておこう！" ("Sorry about that! I'll keep him calm!") Devin called back in his own attempt at a rough Japanese. "してくださいよ！" ("Please do!") said a different voice, this one female, also in Japanese, and then Devin and Buu heard a strange set of moans from behind the wall, indicating the couple were not really trying to 'sleep'. Devin sweatdropped, and Buu looked confused, "Why they so mad?" asked Buu. "I take it you have no idea what 'intimate love' is." Devin replied. "Me know love, but what 'intimate' love?" Buu asked. "I'll explain it when you're older." Devin joked, making Buu confused. Devin decided he was going to curl up in his bed, and put the pillow over his ears, in order to muffle out the unnecessary sounds of the room next to him. Buu merely went back to watching TV, and enjoying FLCL and his sushi meal. **** Having gotten to their room, Jason had decided to put some of his belongings away in one corner of the room. Radditz just kinda drug himself over to the closest bed and plopped down in it, burying his face in the bed without a care to who was watching or looking. Jason looked over at him, surprised, "Wow. I thought the Saiya-jin were a lively bunch." Radditz heard this, grumbled, and turned his half covered face to Jason, "Usually we are, but if you haven't been listening, I had my ass kicked by Dodoria before I met you guys, and my body still needs to rest it off." "Wait, you said your powerlevel was 30,000 or more right?" Radditz just nodded, a but irritated. "Then how could Dodoria defeat you? Zarbon I could possibly understand, but Dodoria maxed out at 22,000." "He WAS 22,000 when he died on Namek at Vegeta's hands, but he and the rest of Frieza's minions got stronger from later training in Hell. Unfortunately, I still couldn't close the gap on any of them before they died, so Nappa and I were considered their punching bags. However Nappa vanished in the recent months for unknown reasons, and so I got double the beatings from that fat pink piece of shit." Radditz growled. Jason couldn't help however but notice that the mention of Dodoria made Radditz look angrier than he should have. "But if you came back to life, shouldn't you be healed anyways?" asked Jason. "Look, I was unconscious the entire trip to your world from Hell. Also my BONES were healed for the most part when that good version of Buu healed me, but he didn't completely heal me. I'm still badly bruised up and sore. I need to sleep it off." Radditz replied, "Now would you just go do your own thing, and let me sleep?" "Wait. Why didn't you just ask Goku, Vegeta or Piccolo for a Sensu bean?" Jason asked. "A sensu what?" Radditz had never actually seen the sensu beans used, so he wasn't aware of their power. "You don't know of the Sensu Beans?" Jason asked. Radditz shook his head no at him. "Sensu beans are if I remember right, a magical bean that when eaten, will basically heal the person completely. It also can fill an appetite for 10 days, or so it was said." Jason explained. Radditz opened his eyes wider at that statement. "Um... I'll be right back. I need to find Kakarott or Vegeta and get one of these beans..." Radditz got off the bed, and ran quickly out of the door, to track down his younger brother, or Vegeta. Jason sighed to himself, and like Devin, had decided to clean up, and took a long bath for around 30 minutes. After finishing up, he left the bathroom with his towel around his waist, noticing Radditz had been in the nearby bed, his head buried in the pillows, and Jason could tell he was long asleep. Jason just decided he would get into his night clothes and after going back into the bathroom and doing so, crawled over into his bed and fell asleep as well. He wasn't going to risk waking up a possibly temperamental Saiya-jin right now, much less one that was last known to have been a bad guy. He also didn't know if he had been right to tell Radditz of the Sensu Beans. "Oh well... shit happens." Jason whispered to himself as he began to try to doze off... **** Dusty and Vegeta had also made it to Room 103, and Dusty soon unpacked his belongings in a shelf near where he had picked out his bed. Vegeta looked around with a neutral expression, and decided while Dusty was looking around to get into the shower first, having been dusted up from his prior training session with Goku, the same one Alex had interrupted. Vegeta thought intensely to himself about the turn of events as he was in the shower, and was almost in a distant glare at the wall as he though, That kid in my room, Dusty. He mentioned a voice told him that we were all supposed to band together to fight some great darkness. But exactly what could be a threat to either Kakarott, Gohan, or I anymore? Buu might in our league of power, but he's the good half, not the evil one. Even so... few of those people have any kind of decent powerlevels. Most of them have somewhere under 11, Alex seemed to have roughly 8 or 9 as I could tell. The 'wrestlers' are stronger by a good deal... they feel to have around 100 for a powerlevel, but even to Kakarott's human friends, they're nothing. That Heero has something around a 80, a slightly lesser strength then the wrestlers. In fact, the only others people aside from Kakarott, the Namek, myself, Buu and Radditz are the two women. Both of them are actually giving off powerlevels that could threaten anyone in Frieza's old army, both seem to be near 1 million. Still compared to even the cyborg, that's very minor. Radditz... he appears to be close to 32,500 right now... and he's... wait why the hell's he coming to me?! Vegeta heard Dusty talking to someone, who he assumed was Radditz, outside the bathroom door. "Hey, Vegeta, you busy?" Radditz's voice came through the door. "What do you want, you fool?! I'm in the showers!" Vegeta snarled, still a bit concerned about Radditz's allegiance. "I just wondered if you had a sensu bean or something." the 3rd class replied. Vegeta scowled, "How did you know about those? Did that viewing globe in Hell show us using them too?!" he asked cautiously. "Jason was the one who told me." Radditz replied. "Great..." Vegeta said sarcastically, "I owe him a scare for blabbing it to you like that." "I guess he just thought it'd be more convenient and..." Radditz started. "Look, Radditz, I'm not exactly able to come out right now. Why don't you just get a damn bean from Kakarott! I'm sure he'll be more than happy to give you one!" Vegeta interrupted, not fond of having his shower interrupted. "Okay then, thanks Vegeta." Radditz then was sensed to be moving away quickly from Vegeta, and closer to Goku. "Finally! I can get out now." Vegeta grumbled, not having to worry about anyone else walking in on him. Outside, Dusty had turned on the TV and was watching a program much similar to Ultimate Fight Night. He wasn't able to find wrestling on TV, so he had to compensate for it. He had ordered a little bit of food as well, although when Vegeta had come out of the bathroom, he noticed Dusty was glued to the TV, and quickly grabbed a blue pair of boxers and pulled them back into the bathroom to change. Dusty began to examine the food he had ordered, as he was additionally a Senior Cook at his school's personal restaurant. He was considered to be one of the best cooks in the school, and looking over other peoples' work helped him in making his own dishes. Vegeta soon came out of the bathroom. However his eyes narrowed slightly, as he felt Radditz's powerlevel slightly rise. About 2,000 degrees, now reaching close to 34,500. Figures. I knew Kakarott would give Radditz a sensu. But why does his energy still feel so fatigued? Maybe being revived by a freak accident of nature does that to you. I don't really know, I felt perfectly healthy and energetic when the Namekian Dragon resurrected me though over 20 years ago when Frieza killed me. the royal Saiya-jin thought to himself, as he got a better look at Dusty watching TV. "What the hell is this show?" he asked, watching the kick boxers hitting each other around the ring on TV. Dusty looked back, "Hey finally you're out! I need to clean up now!" Dusty said and tossed Vegeta over the remote, who lazily caught it in his hand as Dusty closed the door behind him. Vegeta looked over the food Dusty had left behind, and he took a sample of the sushi, and he was actually impressed. "Well, I think I'll order some of this myself." he smirked as he picked up the phone near what he had picked to be his bed... **** Dwayne and Clint had also followed Dusty and Vegeta as they went to their own rooms. They were barely any real distance from the Saiya-jin prince and the loud-voiced cook down the hall. Clint immediately went to the bathroom to clean up. Dwayne grumbled as he realized that he had no other clothes to sleep in. He had only his special shorts given to him for his act by the WWE, and he had left his sunglasses back in the basement in Las Vegas. He figured he might want to contact them and let them know he was okay. However his encounter with that odd voice made him wonder if he should call them right away. Of course, there was a good chance Steve would still contact them anyways. He picked up the phone, and went to dial the WWE's number, but for odd reasons, he got an operator on the other end who said there was a mysterious error with the phone lines to WWE. Dwayne no doubt figured Steve would soon have the same problem as he did. Maybe those disturbances behind the odd events of the day hadn't fully cleared up yet from earlier. While cleaning up in the bathroom, Clint had been thinking deeply about the events causing the merger. His headache from Paula's frying pan had mostly cleared up, so he wasn't so grumpy anymore, however he still felt he couldn't help but be weary around her, even if she had apologized. He however began to wonder if what he had encountered in the rift made sense. The people of her town had accused him of being some kind of invader, and claimed only "THEY" could teleport like he did. He began to blink his eyes as he suddenly gotten something that was allowing him to slowly put this together. He now realized he did in fact recognize Paula, and he had a good feeling of where he ended up. But all he could wonder is where in the world would her hometown be on the world map now, especially if the 'merger of universes' had been in fact true. Of course, he didn't just think about her hand in this. He was confused as hell about the fact Goku, Vegeta, Radditz, Piccolo, #17 and Mr. Buu, characters who were supposed to be only a product of one Akira Toriyama's imagination, had actually existed in reality. The more he thought of it, the more he believed this 'merger' was the real deal. He also thought of Heero, who himself was supposed to be just a character from an anime series. Clint soon had dried off and changed into his own night clothes, and walked out to see Dwayne tapping the end of his bed phone on the dresser lightly, as if he too appeared to be thinking deep. "You okay?" Clint asked wearily. "Oh hey there, yes I'm okay. I just got done finding out I can't contact the WWE or anyone else like my own family in America to tell them that I'm alright." Dwayne replied. "What happened?" Clint asked, "Is something wrong with the phone lines?" "I think those disturbances from earlier are still not fully cleared up. I mean, I'll admit, but I can't honestly begin to think of how all of this could happen." Dwayne replied. "Yes, speaking of which, I know you probably don't believe any of it, but do you think this whole 'merger' is really happening or already happened?" Clint asked him. "Yes I do believe it. As your friend Dusty said, he, me and Austin all heard that strange voice speak to us before we got sent here to Tokyo. And I didn't tell the others back there, but I have seen Dragonball Z a few times during our tours. I'm sure Steve has at least heard of it too. I recognized Goku, and I think Piccolo too. I don't know too much more though." Dwayne replied. "Yeah, Dusty and Stone Cold said something about the voice telling us all to stick together as a team. Do you agree with this or not? I mean, for example, we don't know how volatile Vegeta or Piccolo might be, or even Radditz. He used to be a bad guy if the show is any indication." Clint asked back. "Well, I admit I am worried about my wife and my newborn daughter back in Vegas, but the voice also told us we would learn things about ourselves that we never knew, and that we would one day grow much stronger than he imagined." Dwayne replied. "I had no idea you had a kid now." Clint replied, distracted from his original thoughts by Dwayne's mention of family. "Her name is Simone Alexandra Johnson. She was born only about two weeks ago." Dwayne explained. "Ouch... Well damn... I can see why you're so worried about them." Clint replied, "As for me though, I'm not much to talk about. I myself am only a Junior in High School, and I have no real relationship, but I never bothered to try either. I don't think I'll find anyone too easily. Nina named us all, herself included, very accurately as "Misfits". We're mostly in a way outcasts where we come from." Clint replied. "That makes me wonder, was Nina one of you BEFORE this happened?" Dwayne asked, having been curious now that she had been brought up. "Yeah she joined with us a few months ago, why?" Clint asked back. "Because she seems like someone who would have come through like Goku and them had." Dwayne explained. "I know what you mean by that. The wings alone are enough to make people wonder, not to mention how tall she is. But I don't think she'll just come out and easily explain it to us. I always thought I recognized her somewhere, but then again, I think I also recognize that Paula girl too, but I honestly can't say if any theories of mine are right yet..." Clint replied. Their talk would continue for another 10 to 20 minutes before both of them would decide to try to get to sleep... **** Earlier back, Nina and Paula had both reached their room. Nina set down her bags from 'Shikotama no kaimono' in her corner of the room. Paula on the other hand looked a bit more tired and just sat down on the bed, and looked over at the ground. "Hey, are you okay?" Nina asked. "Yeah, I'm just fine. How about you?" Paula asked back. "Um, a bit shaken by this, but not too worse for wear." the winged girl asked back, it was then she realized that she should probably take a shower of her own, and wash the dirt out of her clothing. "I'm gonna go clean up." Nina said to her. "Alright. See you later." Paula said, as Nina shut the door behind her. As soon as Nina was gone, Paula got off the bed, and quickly climbed in. She was actually a bit tired. It wasn't that she disliked Nina or anything, despite her quickness to exchange few words. She just wanted to sleep after her encounter with Clint and the portal. Although she did wonder why the portal chose to drop him off in her hometown of Twoson. Burglin Park had gone completely insane at his appearance, and she had been called over to help handle the problem, only for it to be a false alarm when she read Clint's memories, including of the rift forming in the theatre. As she drifted off to sleep though, thoughts about both Goku and Piccolo had began to cloud up her mind. She had last seen Goku when she was 8, and he 15, but she was confused. Goku thought she was 39, but she was only 20 years old. Why would Goku had thought she was that old? It hadn't made any sense to her. However she was too sleepy to keep thinking, and drifted off before her thoughts could continue... Nina had realized that taking a shower might not have been the best idea afterall in her hotel room's shower. Although she could compress her wingspan in certain confined areas, she also wanted to try to clean them off as well, no doubt the dust and air from Hell had been stirred up all over the place when the portal brought her and Radditz back to the theatre. She began to really wonder if her wings were truly worth having around. She could only wonder if that old bat's curse about her wings were true. Her purplish-black wings were in her world, the sign of what was a bad omen. Her home country believed the omen would lead to the country's destruction. Her parents had to either destroy her, or send her off on her own, away from her home country. They had chose the latter to keep her alive. The trials of her life would have made many other women cold and uncaring, but Nina, despite having gained a slight annoyingness towards peoples' bickering, and towards being hit on by men, was still rather caring about her friends. She wasn't so soft as to not scold a friend when he or she was being stupid though, and she believed that was how anyone's friends' should be. She did wonder a little about Paula and her own history. Paula had said she knew Goku as a child, but according to what she knew about Goku from Clint and the others, Goku never had a friend like her helping him in his childhood. Maybe their history was just messed up, or something else was out of place. When Nina had looked at Paula, and into her own eyes, she saw more than just any other woman. She saw the feelings of a similar spirit in her. Paula appeared to have undergone trials of her own. Although she seemed unwilling to talk much about it, Nina was suffice to say, a bit worried about her. When Nina finally dried off, she had slipped into some of the undergarments from the store, and decided to break them in that night. However as she walked out of the bathroom, that Paula had fast drifted off to sleep. Maybe that's why she wasn't so talkative. She was just tired. Nina realized, "I'll talk with her in the morning." she said out loud, "But she's making a great example. So I'm gonna get to sleep in case Vernon or Dan decide to try and sneak a look at me or something, those goofs." the winged girl said, slipping under her own covers, and slowly drifting off to sleep herself... **** In their own room, Piccolo and Dan had set down their things. That is, Dan set down his things. Piccolo had no problem in continuing to wear his weighted clothing even as he began to meditate over the bed he would've otherwise been sleeping in. Piccolo was a Namekian, and obviously he wasn't in much need of sleep. However he was having problems mediating, but not because of Dan running the shower in the bathroom. It was because he was surrounded by several kis that scaled in around 10, and some over 75 aside from his familiar allies, and two around 1,000,000. He didn't completely understand it, but for some reason, all of these weak ki-signatures around him was making him uneasy. It was probably because of what Dusty, Dwayne and Steve had been claiming about. Feh. Most of these fools are so out of it. That loud-mouthed kid and the wrestlers keep speaking that we're all supposed to be one large group. Ha, they'll have to get some extreme training before they can even think of trying. Powerlevels of 8 to 12 are barely worth it. I'm not sure if we trained them that it would do them much good, not against the stuff we used to face in past times. Although Piccolo was still skittery about his encounter with Paula. He had given up any thought he'd see her in his lifetime, the same girl who help lead to his own father's death at the hands of Goku. Her presence would no doubt be one of constant watch over him. She might have been convinced they were not enemies anymore, but he knew no one just went out and trusted him so easily, so soon. Only Goku or Gohan had any show of quick trust. His other friends were slow to accept his change of heart, and even then it was Gohan of course that even led him to that decision. Dan kept thinking over his encounter with Heero, and he was also thinking over the fact that he really had been in Gundam Wing's universe, at least he assumed it HAD been independent until that rift, and the rest of the merger Dusty had been hinting at, had occurred. He had been on unstable ground with Heero, after blurting that he had known about Heero and Relena. He did not know how Heero was attempting to take these major changes in his life. He wasn't even sure of Heero was going to believe in all of this. He didn't care though for the time being. He knew from his best friend's words that things were going to definitely be changing, and that made his thoughts about Heero's situation feel insignificant. Even before hand, he had been at one time thinking about joining the army or the navy, and putting his thinking skills to good use in the wars overseas, or in national security. However he was wondering if training to become like a Z-senshi would be a better choice. Soon he had gotten out of the shower and into some nightclothes, and he walked outside, and saw Piccolo trying to meditate. Dan knew from what knowledge he had on Piccolo that he was usually deadpan serious and he was a big mediation buff, but Dan could tell he looked disturbed by something. "You okay Piccolo?" he asked, weary of what he would receive in reply. He know Piccolo could easily be irritable around certain people. "Dan. I want to ask you a serious question." Piccolo replied in a surprisingly neutral tone. "Yes?" Dan could only wonder what the Namekian would ask him. "Do you really think it's possible that if we decided to train all of you and your friends that you could become a group of competent fighters and planetary defenders?" Piccolo threw the question at him blunt. "Why do you ask me this?" replied Dan. "Because I thought about what your friend said about that strange voice... and also because if you are willing to do so, you probably realize by now due to the changes in your universal laws that it is possible for all of you to train yourselves, much in a way like us. However, I don't believe you'll become too horribly strong though. You're only human it seems, and most humans I know peak at around 100,000 for a powerlevel. Compared to such fighters like me, Buu or even Goku and Vegeta, that's almost nothing." Piccolo admitted. "Who knows though, Piccolo. Maybe that limitation no longer exists either." Dan said in a challenging voice. Piccolo snarled lightly, "Hah. I wouldn't be so confident about what your friend told you about the rules. I don't think limitations are affected by the so-called rules." "Oh really? You know what I think Piccolo? I think no one has any true limit at all. No one, not a human, not a Namekian, and yes, of course not a Saiya-jin. I think Yamcha and the others are just weak of will!" Dan replied, although somehow he felt that he was lying to himself. That claim couldn't be completely true, could it? Piccolo smirked and actually chuckled, "Well you certainly have balls to say that about them. You know what. Perhaps a bet... would work out for this." "What kind of bet?" Dan asked. "If we manage to train new humans to a base powerlevel higher than 45,000 degrees within the next 3 months, I'll teach you and your loud-mouthed friend personally how to do the Makankosappou3, and perhaps even some other moves I have learned over the years." the Namekian replied. "And if we lose?" Dan asked. "Then I personally declare all human training a lost cause. What do you say?" Piccolo added on with a confident smirk. Dan grumbled to himself, but he thought about it. "DEAL." Dan said. The two shook hands. "Now if you don't mind, I wish to meditate, and I'm sure you need sleep, just like all weak humans do." Piccolo ended with a challenging smirk. "Trust me, I will make you eat those words." Dan grumbled, as he decided he did need to rest, and pulled himself into bed, and decided to put his head under the pillows. The last thoughts on his mind as he feel asleep were Piccolo's arrogance, and how he was going to enjoy proving him wrong in 3 months. At least, he hoped he would in 3 months. **** Heero and Steve had quickly reached their own rooms. Aside from Paula and Nina, who's own powers were apparently equal to each other; Heero and Steve were the next closest pair of Misfits to be close to each other in strength. The fact both were more down to earth than the other pairs of Misfits made them more relaxed around each other. Although Heero was having a hard time accepting the fact his world, and probably several others were forming, or already formed, into one, he still wished to get an understanding of some of the other 'allies' he would be around for who-knows-how-long. He felt relieved he hadn't gotten paired up with Dan out of the fact that he'd have Dan scared out of his mind after threatening to shoot him earlier. Heero had realized Dan and none of the others had any connection to OZ by now, but he knew Dan would be shaken over that incident for a while. Oh well, he'll eventually snap out of it. he thought to himself. He had noticed Steve had decided to sit down on the bed, looking around the room. Although he himself didn't have much else clothing wise, he decided he'd wash up first, and walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Steve watched Heero walk into the back, and was also thinking heavily about his encounter with Dusty, and how he, Dwayne and Dusty had also heard that strange voice. He also knew that by now the WWE would be looking around frantically for both of them. He also knew Dwayne's family would become extremely worried if they didn't try to contact them soon. He picked up the nearby phone on his bedstill, and dialed up the number for the WWE. He put the phone to his ear, only to get an operator, who claimed there was an unknown error in the dial-up sequence. Steve cursed softly and tried dialing a second time. The same error occurred. "Dammit. Something's wrong over there. I wonder if Rock's having a similar problem as I am." Steve said, knowing Dwayne was likely trying to call his family to let them know he was fine. Steve himself wasn't on perfect terms with his own wife and on-stage manager Debra, but he knew he needed to at least try to get a hold of her as well, and dialed the number for their house in Texas. However oddly enough, he had gotten the same error as when he tried to call WWE. "Maybe the disturbances from this 'merger of worlds' are responsible. If that's so, it'll probably be cleared up by tomorrow or so." he figured. Soon, Heero had come out of the bathroom, and looked at Steve, "Is something wrong with the phone?" he asked, noticing Steve's expression, and the fact he was just holding the phone absentmindedly. "I think the merger thing's still messing things up over in America where I live. I can't contact the wrestling federation I work for, and I can't get a hold of my wife in Texas either." he explained back. "Hm. What about your partner? Same federation as you?" Heero asked. "Yes, Rock and I work for the WWE, and I can't help but think he's having the same troubles as me. But he's in a bigger bind than me. His wife recently had a kid a couple weeks ago. He was on the current tour to help raise more money for them." Steve replied. "So, are you two friends or rivals?" Heero couldn't help but ask. "Well in the script we're rivals big time. He's supposed to be a good guy or 'face', and I'm supposed to be a bad guy or 'heel'. More of it is that I'm just the no-authority type who does what he wants when he wants. Outside the script though, we're pretty much best friends. We had been practicing for a show later tonight when we met that Dusty kid, and heard that voice." Steve explained, "So what about you? Where do you come from?" Heero looked up at the ceiling, as if to look into his memories, "I'm sure you won't believe me anyways, but I was once a space-fighter, who would pilot a large robot-like machine known as a "Gundam Mobile Suit". I came from Earth as well, but in my... er... universe, there were many space colonies and Earth was only one place of many important locales. I was one of the most pivotal mobile-fighters in the rebellion against a corrupting organization known as 'Oz', which had their own agenda for the colonies. That war had ended a couple years before I met Dan, but we didn't start off on the best foot. I thought he was an Oz spy since he knew me and a friend of mine by both name and appearance." "Hmmm... well for what it's worth, I'm sure he'll get over it soon enough." Steve replied, "You seem to have realized the truth yourself." "Yeah I know, but I can't help but wonder if my life's only beginning all over again now. You and your friend said yourselves a voice told us all to band together as a single group to fight some evil power or something." Heero replied. "Something like that. I'm not sure just how much I can believe it though, but the voice did say all of us would grow in many ways. Strength, understanding of ourselves, etc." Steve replied, "So what about all the others? What do you think of them?" he then asked Heero. The Gundam pilot thought to himself, "Well. Dan's friend, the one you met, you called him Dusty... well he seems he's a bit of a loud blabbermouth to be truthful. The green man, I believe his name was Piccolo, seems a little bit TOO serious even for my own tastes. The fat, pink one, Buu or whatever, he seems a bit naive and borderline... childish... for his own good, but so does that Goku character too, except without the childishness. The one named Clint, as he called himself, seemed levelheaded, as did Vernon and Devin. I don't know so much yet about all the others yet." "Well, I need to wash off before I go to bed, but I wish the portal had at least sent some clothing over with us. Rock's probably mad at that fact. He didn't even have a shirt with him when he came through, and his beloved glasses are probably back in Vegas." Steve said, chuckling at the last part, rising from the bed and walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. Heero decided that tomorrow might help sort things out, and curled up under his sheets, and put his head under the pillows. **** Back on the second floor, Vernon and Goku had reached their rooms around the same time as Piccolo and Dan had. Goku had little he needed to put away, although he did take out a small hemp-like pouch under his belt and placed it on his bed stool. Vernon had been putting his stuff he got from Akira Toriyama back in a corner of the room. Goku had actually turned over to look at him, and noticed a picture of Piccolo was on one of the papers Vernon had put away. Goku couldn't help but notice how realistic [by his terms] that picture looked in displaying Piccolo. "Hey, that's a good picture of Piccolo! In fact, I noticed our likenesses are on quite a few things around here. Who made all of those?" he had asked. Vernon turned and replied, "I'm not sure if you'll understand, but in our world, before this 'merger', you, Vegeta, Piccolo, #17, Radditz and Buu, as well as your family and friends, were merely figments of one man's imagination, drawn to life in forms of animation and arts called anime and manga." "And who is this man?" Goku asked, sitting down cross-legged on his bed, intrigued to know more. "His name is Akira Toriyama. Although he has drawn other characters on TV, and in video games, you guys are probably his most popular characters, or were at one point. I wonder what he'd say if he actually ran into one of you now that this whole merger-thing occured." Vernon had wondered as he spoke up. "Yeah, that makes me wonder just what everyone else I know that didn't come along with me is doing now. It's no doubt the worlds are apparently becoming one. I've sensed roughly a few tens of billions or more energies since Vegeta and I met Alex. Also, it seems I can't find the location of my sons, my wife or most of my other friends yet. There's too much disturbances, or they're apparently too far away for me to sense them." Goku replied, troubled by that last fact. "Alex... That lucky bastard. He got to meet you two first out of all eight of us." Vernon grumbled, "While I ended up nearly getting killed by a stray fight between Piccolo and #17." Goku looked on, "Aw cheer up Vernon. We're still here at least, and we..." Goku was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. "Who is it?" asked Vernon, a little taken back by the knock. "Is Kakarott in there yet?" Radditz's voice came up from behind the door. "I'm in here Radditz! Come in!" Goku replied. Radditz entered, and saw Goku sitting on the bed, "Ah good. Kakarott, do you have any of those sensu beans you use for healing?" he asked. "Speak of company!" Goku said as he grabbed the hemp-like pouch on his bedstill and reached into it. Wait. Maybe I shouldn't give him a full bean. He doesn't look in horrible shape. I might need these for later. He then managed to find a half-bean he had broke off earlier back, and pulled it out, "Here, I won't give you a full bean since you're only bruised up. I think it'll do fine." "Whatever I can take. My bones are in fine shape from that good incarnation of Buu, I just want to get back to sleep so I can think over all of this." Radditz said, taking the bean and chomping on it quickly, as Vernon looked on. Vernon looked on in amazement as the bruises and cuts on Radditz's body suddenly faded away, and he even saw Radditz' muscles spasm slightly. Goku sensed his older brother's powerlevel as this occurred. It felt to have jumped around 2,500 degrees. He was somewhere around 34,500 now. However he could still sense Radditz was worn out slightly. Radditz was perplexed, "Woah! So these really do work. I'll have to thank Jason for telling me about these sometime." he said as he looked back to Goku and Vernon and said, "I'll talk to you later Kakarott." and left the room and closed the door behind him "Jason told him? I hope that wasn't a mistake." Vernon mused. "Aw come on. I think he can change. He's had 20 or more years to reflect on his fallacies." Goku explained his reasoning. "I guess that might make sense. By the way, just how old do you Saiya-jin get?" Vernon had been curious. "Well, Vegeta says we can live roughly 170 years on average, although almost all Saiya-jin die in battle at some point, so we can't really be so sure." Goku replied. "Not to mention you and he are the only full bloods left." Vernon commented. "Pretty much." Goku agreed, almost absentmindedly, and then he heard his stomach rumble. Vernon sweatdropped, also hearing Goku's stomach. However Vernon realized he was hungry himself. "Oh god... knowing your stomach, the Rock and Stone Cold are going to have an ulcer when they get the service bill." Vernon joked. Goku chuckled and picked up the phone on the bedstill next to his sensu pouch. After finding out what he could order from room service, he had order 5 orders of sushi, 10 orders of shiitake, 3 orders of pocky, and 14 orders of ramen. Vernon then took the phone from him and made an order for a couple plates of sushi and ramen himself. After about 10 minutes, Vernon's food arrived, and then about 10 more minutes later, Goku's full order finally arrived, much to his delight. Vernon had decided to go shower while Goku chowed down. Besides, knowing how messily he ate, Vernon wasn't really up for watching the Saiya-jin stuff his face. While he washed off, he thought to himself, If the rules and laws of our universe are different now, and we can learn how to fly, I should probably try to get training of my own. For one, I could end up running circles around Alex, Clint and Devin, and two, I could actually become a superhero and get a girl or something. he thought to himself with a smile. After cleaning up fully, he had left the room with night clothes on, only to find Goku had sprawled out on the bed, and in the process, he had knocked over his thankfully cleaned out trays onto the floor. "Feh. He's just as sloppy and disorganized as I thought." he said to himself. Although Goku wasn't snoring too loud, and Vernon was actually thankful he had been wrong on that assumption. He went over to the TV, and figured Goku was a deep sleeper, and began to surf channels... **** Alex and #17 had quickly found their room, being so close to the Hotel lobby. #17 however was quite curious about the place, and had mentioned he was going to look around, leaving Alex to get settled in the hotel room by himself. Alex grumbled to himself, "This has been one weird day." as he entered his room. He looked at his bags, and decided he would put them away in one of the corners of his room. He also realized he probably needed to wash off from his encounter in the rift earlier, and soon walked into the bathroom, turning on the bathtub. As he soaked in the water, the events of the day and what of their future weighed heavily in his mind. "I hope they'll train us soon. I wouldn't mind being able to fly around, shooting ki blasts at things. I could fly circles around that fatty Devin, and also improve my newly-regained mobility, and I could even humiliate Vernon at track. Hell, maybe I'm even a Saiya-jin myself. Although that wouldn't make sense. It'd still be cool." Alex yammered to himself, "Man I wish I were able to become an SSJ. I would be able to anything I wanted, and no one could stop me. Hehehe." Alex chuckled to himself, "I'll have to ask Goku and Vegeta to train me sometime soon." After about 20 minutes of soaking up in the bathroom, Alex had finally come out in his pajamas and other night clothes. However he still hadn't seen sign of #17. However it wasn't much longer before the cyborg had entered and immediately went into the bathroom to wash up. However he did not go into the showers like Alex, but he had simply washed his face and skin off a little, not really that conscious of it at the time. He soon walked back into the room. He saw Alex had the TV on, and he decided to sit on his bed, and idly look on at what Alex was watching. On the TV appeared to be an episode of the anime Cowboy Bebop. Alex was a little absorbed into the episode to the point he hadn't really noticed #17 was staring at him, until he turned around for a moment, and saw the cyborg looking at him with an odd, but amused stare. "Yo, what's up man?" Alex asked, a bit curious to #17's stare. "Hm, your powerlevel's 8.4... you seem slightly below average for someone your age." #17 suddenly replied. "What? Isn't that above average?" Alex asked him with a trace of confusion. "The average powerlevel is usually 10 for your age. You are about 17, right?" #17 stated as if it were common knowledge. "Not quite, but I always thought 5 was average for an adult." Alex thought to himself outloud. "Heh, where would you get that idea?" the cyborg asked him with a small chuckle. "The show. According to the scouter, most humans were around 4-6 in powerlevels.4" Alex said. "Show?" #17 said. Alex explained, "You, Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Radditz and Buu were supposed to be only characters on a anime known as Dragonball Z. Apparently we know it's not so true now, but in this universe you were all thought of by someone named Akira Toriyama." "Well, that makes little sense to me. I still don't totally understand how this 'merger' or whatever the rest of you call it even could happen in the first place." #17 replied. "I see you're not all that into Sci-Fi. But I know what you mean about it not making total sense though. This merger has really fucked things up, although I'm all for it if I can get some training." Alex replied. "I see, so you wish to be like me." #17 mused on jokingly. "Well, I wanna be a saiya-jin to tell the truth, but I'm sure that's not possible." Alex replied with a sad sense of hope. "Heh, you never know." #17 smirked, as if he had figured something out that Alex hadn't. "Oh come on, the planet Vegeta was blown up over 40 years ago. I'm only 16 years old. You can't argue with logic like that, can you?" Alex said, trying to do what Clint would in this situation, God Clint I suck at this stuff! I hate how you're all like 'Ben Stein' about everything! #17 turned his head a little, "Since you know of me, I have to ask, do you know of #16 and #18?" "Yeah, I know of them. I know #16 was destroyed by Cell, and that #18's still around. Your sister, right?" Alex replied. "Yes. Somehow though I wonder how her life would go if she had come to live out in the wilderness with me instead of what she's doing now." the cyborg said to himself. "Yeah, I'll admit, I don't think much of Kuririn being with her, if you know what I mean." Alex replied. "Right." #17 said, as if Alex was supposed to make sense, but he didn't drag it on much further. Alex might have been right for all he knew. He hadn't seen too much of his sister in years, so he couldn't really say Alex was right or wrong. "So anyways, #17... what do you think of this situation?" Alex asked. "Honestly, I think it might give me more opportunities to have fun in this 'new' world." #17 admitted. "You're... not gonna go blowing up people are you?" Alex asked, a little cautious of the cyborg's answer. "Nah. Killing's not my idea of fun. Not like my other counterpart from that one kid's timeline. From what I heard, it just made me sick he would kill the kind he once belonged to. Same with the other #18. I might be far stronger than a human, but I know I am still mostly human inside and on the outside. It's like being a cannibal what they were doing." #17 scowled at the idea of killing humans. Alex shrugged, "Fair enough I guess." and then he yawned, "I'm gonna get to sleep. Do what you want. Just try not to keep me awake." Alex asked as he curled up under his sheets, trying to sleep. #17 decided he would probably just recharge a little and sleep himself, since he was concerned about making too much a ruckus by leaving the room for the moment. **** Later that morning, the eighteen Misfits had gathered up in the lobby of the Hotel, with Nina, Clint, Alex, Jason, Vernon, Devin, Dusty and Dan carrying their luggage and other baggage. Dwayne and Steve had bought some extra clothing in the shop near the lobby. However they were still a bit annoyed at Goku and Buu when they discovered the room service bill of 15,734 yen(about $131.78). Goku admitted he had been the biggest culprit, and Buu had only been charged around a total of 5200 of the yen(about $43.55). Vegeta had scoffed at Goku for his piggish eating habits, however the two wrestlers told them they were lucky they had brought plenty of money from their account overseas. As they all finished their arguing, Dwayne asked, "So now what exactly?" Clint thought to himself, realizing that more than likely their vacation was already gonna be ruined due to the rift, and that the earthquake had done some damage to other parts of Tokyo. "Who thinks we should just cut our losses and return home?" he asked all of them. The opinions among the other 7 of the original group were slightly mixed. Alex was a little disappointed about the prospect of leaving so quickly. Vernon didn't care so much however. Devin was also a bit disappointed though. Dan and Dusty were all with the idea to return home, saying that the so-called merger more than made up for what was probably ruined. Alex then suddenly changed his vote towards going home after hearing them mention that, and Nina didn't really care either. She only dreaded the fact that things were going to get much more complicated when they got home to Canton, especially since it seemed like the other 10 might be coming along with them for the time being. After asking the other 10, Dwayne and Steve were eager to at least get back to their home country. Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Heero, Radditz, Paula and #17 were indifferent, since they would only end up tagging along in this case anyways. Buu asked about the food in America, and he sounded interested when the others had explained to him. The majority vote was that the group would return to Canton. However this brought up another issue, "How will we get everyone else back home? I don't think The Rock and Stone Cold could pay for tickets for the other 10 of them. We still have free airfare home because of the contest, but it doesn't help any of them." Dan brought it up. Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Radditz, Buu and #17 whispered a bit among themselves, and Goku spoke up, "I think most of us can just fly behind your plane, and follow you that way. Piccolo says he'll probably meditate on the plane itself though, and we can use him as a beacon to track you since most of your ki signals aren't very high." "I think I can just fly along with you all the same." Paula replied, "Kintoun is easily faster than any normal aircraft." "Yeah, that's fine and all, but Heero, The Rock and Stone Cold still have no alternative way to get back." Dusty mentioned. Paula then pulled two dollar bills out of the handbag attached to her dress-sash, both being worth 5000 American dollars. She gave both bills to one of the two wrestlers, "That should help pay for the tickets for you three." "Woah! Where'd you get American money?" asked Clint, curious about this, wondering if it might help support his theory about her. "Well, I'll tell you all another time. I think we should focus on this first though." she replied. "Alright... Then I guess we outta get back to the airport and explain what's going on to all of them." Clint said, deciding to let his question go for the time being, as he began to lead the group of eighteen out of the hotel. As they entered the outside, Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Buu, Radditz and #17 used their energy to float along with them, and Paula called out for Kintoun and hopped on, and floated along with them all the same, as they headed off to the Shibuya Station, which would probably have a subway train ready to take them to the airport... **** After arriving at the Shibuya Hikoujou, Clint immediately took his seventeen comrades over to the nearest service counter. He showed the counter lady the passes for him, Nina, Alex, Dusty, Devin, Dan, Vernon and Jason. He also explained that Heero, Dwayne and Steve were returning with them on their plane as extra passengers. The lady looked up their flight, and asked if they wanted the other three to be in first class. The other three decided that they should, in order to find more time to interact with their to-be allies. The lady then looked to Goku, Vegeta, Buu, Radditz, #17, Piccolo and Paula and asked about them. They told her they were merely here to see them all off. Although she was a little freaked out at the sight of Buu and Piccolo. She, and more than likely many others on Earth were going to find it a huge surprise when they learned the full truth of the consequences of the merger. It was then Goku and Vegeta, and even Clint had realized that they would need to find a way to explain to the world, both what they were familiar with, and the parts that were brand new to them, that things had taken a very sudden change. It would only be about 25 minutes before their plane finally arrived. Piccolo looked back at the other 7 who were planning to fly via their own methods. Nina almost regretted not be able to fly along with them, but she didn't care to waste her energy since her ride was free. They watched as Clint, then Dusty, then Vernon, then Heero, then Dwayne, then Steve, then Alex, then Devin, then Dan, and then finally Nina had boarded the plane. Piccolo nodded to his other 7 companions to head outside, and to tune their senses on him, and told those who could not sense energy yet, such as Paula and Radditz, to just follow behind Goku, Vegeta, #17, Buu and himself. The other six waited outside, while Piccolo kept his eye on their plane, also using his senses to keep locked on Nina's high powerlevel, being his own anchor in case the planes got jumbled up. Soon, their plane took off, and Piccolo suddenly did a 'zanzoken', or afterimage, and had jumped over the airport gate faster than any of the bystanders could notice, and flew up to the plane as it began to lift in altitude. He then landed on the plane softly, and decided the best place to stand was right above the cockpit. He walked over and then began to meditate, sending a psychic call to Goku, and even Paula that it was time for them to follow, which they all promptly did. Although they were all able to easily catch up and floated alongside the plane, they realized that it was going to be a slow trip back, and Radditz was honestly wondering if he could waste that much energy. He decided to take his chances and landed on top of the plane and just sat on it, although keeping alert in case he needed to take off into the air again... **** In the first class seats, it had become a little bit interesting, to say the least. Most of the people heading back on their flight had recognized Dwayne and Steve. This had lead to several people going up and asking them for autographs. Although neither wrestler minded doing this for their fans, they could only wonder what ramifications could come of all of this, being that they had been seen in Las Vegas the day before. Clint looked on and wore his headphones again, listening to something none of us are able to figure out. Devin too was again wearing his own head phones, listening to a band of recent popularity known as Linkin Park. Dusty was again talking to Dan, and also Dwayne and Steve. Apparently during the last hour and a half, the two wrestlers had made the decision that instead of going back to Vegas, that they were going to go back to Canton with Dusty and since he was a fan of the WWE, they were both going to try to personally teach him some moves, and they were also talking something about arranging a show somewhere in Ohio. Nina was looking out the window, where she would occasionally get a glimpse of Goku or Vegeta flying along near the back of the plane. The sky was slowly going dark outside, telling her they were already about half way back to California. As for Vernon and Alex? Vernon was again, perving on the flight attendants, although he was trying to keep it concealed from Nina. Alex had started talking to Jason and trying to convince him that becoming a fighter would be the main thing to do when they got home. Jason, having been around Radditz the other night, and been slowly swayed to agree. Vernon had overheard this, but apparently he didn't let this bother him. Piccolo had still been meditating on the top of the cockpit. However he would also take an occasional look out over the ocean below, trying to get a personal understanding of the world's new geography. He was a little taken back by how much had changed, but he kept it in stride for the moment. Goku, Vegeta, Buu, Paula, #17 and Radditz also continued to fly along with the plane. Paula had almost fallen asleep on Kintoun, which had been following the plane on a type of auto-pilot, knowing Goku was around in some odd and twisted way. #17 had decided at one point to sit on the plane wing, but when he got a couple of people looking at him with shocked expressions, he quickly decided to just fly normal again. The people who had seen him had managed to convince themselves it was just their imaginations he had been there. Buu also took his example, wanting to stop flying as well, but #17 had him sit on top of the plane for a while. Although the plane had a slight bit of turbulence when that happened, they plane remained otherwise fine, as it continued to fly on towards the Los Angeles airport... **** After a rather eventful landing where Piccolo had jumped forward upon landing and shocked the hell out of the captain and co-captain, the eighteen Misfits had regrouped inside the Los Angeles Airport Terminal. Clint had realized they had forgotten to tell some of them that they weren't home just yet, and that they had to board a second plane to actually get back to their home in Canton, Ohio. Piccolo grumbled at this, and Vegeta and Radditz looked visibly irked. #17 didn't really care, and Buu looked unaffected. Paula was also annoyed, but knew she could still follow them in Kintoun if she needed. However realizing how dark it was, she then decided that she probably should get most of the others seats on the next plane. Another 5000 dollars had been procured, and after some talking with the service manager, they had managed to get tickets for all eighteen passengers, although due to the complications, they would have to put some of them in Coach, including Goku and Vegeta. Radditz and Piccolo too were going to have to sit right across from them. By some kind of miracle of fate, Buu still managed to weasel into first class with the other thirteen of the remaining Misfits. It would be around another 40 to 50 minutes before their next plane bound for Akron would be ready to take off. They had all taken some time to look around the terminal, including to get some food to prepare themselves for the final trip back home, and soon their plane finally arrived. The eighteen Misfits, all gave their tickets to the gate attendant, and they all checked clean for searching, and they boarded their plane, and it soon was up and into the air. **** After take off, another 2 hours had passed, before the plane was now flying over the southern-most section of Illinois, only two states away most of the Misfits' home state of Ohio. Although some rain and clouds had caused turbulence around the area, the plane was able to keep relatively stable. Inside the plane, Goku and Vegeta had been paired up in a set of seats in coach, much to Vegeta's annoyance. Goku might have been his ally, but he was never comfortable with just sitting next to him for so long at a time. He'd have preferred to fly, and he was betting himself Goku was thinking similar thoughts about wanting to fly. Across the row from them were Piccolo and Radditz, an even more unstable pair of seat-buddies due to their past conflicts. Goku looked over at the two of them with a hidden smile of amusement. The two of them weren't talking too much. Radditz had found a magazine in the compartment on the back of the seat in front of him and was looking over it in boredom. Piccolo had his eyes closed, trying to sleep, but he wasn't able to get much sitting in his position, or with the minor shaking of the plane. Sometimes he would furrow his eyes over at Radditz, never noticed by the older Saiya-jin, and grumble to himself about being stuck on the plane. Goku had noticed Vegeta grumbling similar. And once in a while, he'd see Piccolo and Vegeta glance at each other and try to stare each other down across the aisle. Sometimes one or the other would suddenly burst out laughing at the other, making other passengers a little restless. In the back, in the first class seats, Clint and Devin were sleeping against their seats with their headphones on yet again. Jason and Alex had joined them as well, having brought their own headphones. Alex was listening to the band Slipknot, and Jason was listening to Metallica. Vernon was still looking around the room, trying to perv on an attendant or two, but he didn't seem to be so interested in the ones he saw this time. Nina had noticed him doing it this time, with Paula sitting right behind her, but neither girl appeared to really care at the moment, making up for the lack of communication with each other the other night. Heero was talking with #17, and the two of them were talking about driving, and how it got #17 going in the morning. Heero was explaining to #17 about how he had been a Gundam pilot before the merger had began, and also explaining about him and Dan. Again, Dusty and Dan were talking with Dwayne and Steve over wrestling, and the first two had also finally learned more about Dwayne's wife and newborn daughter. They had also remembered that Steve had a small concern of riding on planes, but that the wrestler was too concerned with getting to his destination to let it bother him. The two wrestlers had also mentioned of the strange phone problems they had encountered back at the hotel in Japan. Buu sat at the front-most seat, enjoying the plane's food, much to the amusement of Dusty and Vernon. They continued on their own agendas for the time being... However outside, the clouds were beginning to darken more intensely. Thunder was rumbling more erratically, and rain was pouring on the plane all around. The winds had also began to pick up. Back inside the plane, one brown-haired boy of around 17 years old, and about 6 feet and 2 inches, with a strange pair of orange eyes had gotten out of his seat, and walked back to the bathroom, closing it behind him. He took a strange looking round object out of his pocket. He looked as if he had to time this just right. If he could take the plane down here and now, he would get those idiots out of his way. These "Misfits", and perhaps knock the wind out of the stronger ones. He might take out many other 'innocents' in the process, but he didn't really care about that. It was as if he believed he could not die, or was immortal like a god. He looked at his strange device, and apparently he had been planning to take out hull of the plane, to attempt to blow it apart. He didn't care if he was caught. He would do it one way or the other. He put it down on the sink, and prepared to press a button to arm the bomb, when the plane had suddenly shook violently, and he was thrown backwards, smashing into the wall behind him. The device had been shaken so much, that it fell off into the toilet, and the detonator was flooded and shortened out. The boy cursed and got back up, and tried to grab for the object, however the plane rocked violently again, causing his hand to smash into the handle of the toilet, causing it to flush the small device out of the plane through the suction shaft on the toilet. He looked at the site in total shock. SHIT! SHIT SHIT SHIT!! STUPID TOILET! he growled to himself. After thinking to himself for a couple of minutes, he groaned to himself. He quickly left the bathroom, and walked back to his seat. No one had any real idea this boy had almost caused their plane to crash, but Mother Nature had won out, as that close strike of thunder had done enough to cause the plane to shake violently those couple of minutes ago. The boy thought to himself. Oh well, I'll have time some other day to get rid of them. It's not like they'll get too powerful anyways, even if they do train the weaker ones. What could possibly go wrong? he grumbled to himself, as the plane continued to soar along the skies, it's date with doom averted. **** After another hour, the plane would finally come to its' final stop at Akron-Canton National Airport. Clint, Alex, Devin, Jason, Vernon, Dusty and Dan all cheered to themselves, finally having gotten home. Nina however sighed to herself, Well, back to the senseless bickering, back to Canton South, and back to 'Jackass'5. The de-boarding procedure was called, and the 8 friends, and their 10 new allies soon were able to get off the plane, and on Akron grounds. As they entered the terminal, Dan told Goku and the other 9 new Misfits that they were not too far from their hometown of Canton, which was only about half a mile to the south. It was at that point they all began to realize, "Just where are you all going to stay at anyways?" Clint asked. "I'm going to ask my parents about having Steve and Dwayne stay with us for now." Dusty replied, answering that part of the question. "Don't worry about me. I'll stay in touch with Dan and follow him back to where he comes from. Maybe something will pop up for me there." Heero replied. Goku and Vegeta looked to Alex, "Boy, do you know of any places to stay. I'm sure we can come up with some way to pay them." Vegeta has asked Alex. "Well, I need to talk to my dad, but I think he can rig you two up something." Alex replied, "If it works out, it'll be so sweet because we'll be neighbors!" he smirked. "I can hardly wait..." Vegeta said with half-sarcasm, although Goku didn't seem to mind this at all. Vernon had looked over to #17 and Piccolo, "Why don't you two come home with me, and maybe we can get you some accommodations." "I don't see why your parents would just allow that." Piccolo replied a bit suspiciously. "Trust me, I can convince them if I need to. I have my ways." Vernon smirked back, which unsettled the Namekian slightly. "I can probably find a house in the city. I can just call you guys when I find one." Paula had replied to the question. Oddly enough for most of the others, Clint didn't bother asking her to stay near his house. Buu replied by saying that he would find somewhere close to Devin's neck of the woods. Alex revealed that Devin didn't live too far from him, so he, Buu, Devin, Goku and Vegeta would likely be close to each other. "Radditz, you can rent out my basement if you want." Nina offered, knowing he had no money, and no idea of how it worked on Earth. Radditz sighed, "Oh goodie. If you wish." he told her. Dusty and Dan snickered at him for that comment, and Jason realized that he had no one to bring to his neck of the woods, and pouted a little, although that had led to Alex taunting him about stealing again, which made Jason growl at him and smack him over the head. After a few minutes, Clint had contacted his parents to come to the airport and pick him up, followed by Alex doing similar, and also telling them about Goku and Vegeta. Devin then called his mom, and asked her for a similar ride home. Dusty, Heero, Dan, Dwayne and Steve ended up taking a taxi back to their homes, while Vernon and Jason also would phone to their parents for pickup. Soon enough, all of them had finally managed to leave the airport. However even as they had all finally headed off to return to their homes for a much needed rest and explanation time, the strange boy on the plane had been watching them the entire time. He had been thinking of ways he could wipe out Clint, Alex, Jason, Dan, Dusty, Nina, Vernon and Devin all in one fell stroke. Soon, a malicious idea popped to mind, and he soon walked behind a clear alcove. However it would not be a boy of 17 who emerged from the alcove, but an semi-elderly-looking woman of 59 years old. However her strange orange eyes never changed from the eyes she had used in her other form. Yes, that's a splendid idea. It'll go great with my master's plans, and it can show to this world just what we're capable of! she thought to herself as she walked off outside of the airport, and her silhouette walked off into the darkness, unseen by all... Whatever you would make of it, a new era was beginning, and whether you want to participate in it or not, that will not stop it from coming. For the Misfits are about to emerge from their collective cocoons... As the greatest of all heroes to ever live... Author Note: The Recent Japanese additions to these two parts are not perfect translations[they're basically google-translated :P], but were put here to try to emphasize more use on the use of the Japanese languages. If anyone has the true texts for all of these, please send them to me so I can find a way to replace them properly. :P Footnotes: Part 1: 2 1 Hentai = Japanese Word for 'pervert'. Also a more well known meaning is "X-rated anime". :P 2 Odin Lowe Jr. = A theoretical real name for Heero, which will probably be rarely used in Misfits, except in high-scale situations Part 2: 3 3 Makankosappou = "Demonic Penetrating-Light Death-Cannon" aka "Special Beam Cannon" for you hopeless dubbies :P 4 Some versions of the Dragonball series say that 5 is the average human's powerlevel. However in Misfits, 10 is average for a human of around 17-19 years old. 5 "Jackass" is a nickname for a non-villain antagonist that is seen in later parts every once in a while. Nina is no fan of him. :P Quick Links: |