Gohan winced as his palms locked with Cell's with such force, the surrounding dust was blown in every directed. Their faces were inches part, both of them applying so much pressure, a vein protruded from under the skin above their temples.

Gohan stared into the cold, menacing eyes of Cell, who equally stared right back at the strong, determined eyes of Gohan. But of them stuck in a powerful lock, neither of them budging. After a short power struggle, Gohan's Saiyan power eventually took over, throwing Cell backwards.

The futuristic bug performed a black flip in midair, regaining his balance as his feet touched the ground gracefully. Upon touching the ground, he wasted no time in dashing towards Gohan, getting an offensive edge to his attacks.
Gohan predicted this, but only had to time cover his face and chest with his arms crossed over him. He could feel the rapid succession of Cell's punches, denting his skin and bruising his bones. Surprisingly, that was all he felt.
Suddenly, something hot and stingy ripped at his skin. A ki ball. Cell had used ki against him. Gohan fired back, a massive beam of blue ki shooting forth from his palms. The energy released blew his hair backwards, and threw the dust in his face so that he couldn't open his eyes. Cell could be anywhere...

* * * *

"So you're back for more, huh?" Goku asked, a childish grin spreading across and equally childish face.

"You will pay for what you did to me so many years ago," Frieza said. The lizard felt threatened by Goku, more so than he wanted to admit. He remembered exactly how he died, having a sharp beam of ki slice his body neatly in two. Frieza remembered lying on the warm soil, distant booms in the distance, choking on fumes released by a planet that was about to be destroyed. He remembered begging Goku for his life. "You're not going to win this time. We have the power of the Firebird on our side."

WHAM!!

Goku's shin connected with the side of Frieza's head with blinding speed. A sharp crack split the air when the lizard's teeth collided with each other upon impact. "Shut up and fight," Goku said.

* * * *

Juunana Gou let his gaze settle upon the soft ivory skin of his former partner. He licked his lips at the sight of her blonde hair, now cut short to her chin. Her pale blue eyes bore a threatening glare, captivating nonetheless. She was a traitor, but such a beautiful one at that. It was a waste that he had to kill her, really.

But now, he had her in a warm embrace with her back to his chest. He breathed in her scent of lavender perfume and his mouth began to water. Juunana Gou ran his lips up and down her shoulders and neck. This was what he wanted. And she didn't offer any resistence either. Maybe there was help for Juuhachi Gou after all.

Juunana Gou's mind raced. Light fog seemed to surround him in this perfect moment. It was like a dream, out of hell and into the heart of the woman he wanted.

"Let me go!" Juuhachi Gou demanded. Despite her flailing and kicking, nothing seemed to suffice. It was as if her fellow android were obvlivious to her kicking and screaming, not to mention the biting and scratching.

He held her body by he waist with her feet a good six inches off the ground. It was when he started kissing her neck and shoulder so passionately, that her stomach began to turn.

Fortunately, Juuhachi Gou had felt a small, but intense beam of heat near her head. It was a laser like shot, straight from the fingertips of Piccolo. Juunana Gou collapsed in a heap in a spray of dust. Juuhachi Gou stared at her savior with grateful eyes. "I owe you my life," she said.

"He wouldn't have harmed you," Piccolo said.

"No, but I would've killed myself if I'd been in that position any longer."

* * * *

A lavender haired Trunks fell onto his butt out of exhaustion after hauling the unconscious body of Doale to safety behind a rock. His spikey haired buddy Goten sat down beside him, as both boys panted in exhaustion.

"I think... he's... still... alive...," Trunks wheezed.

"Yeah...," Goten replied. He swallowed some spit. "I sense... his... ki..."
Goten looked at Doale, wondering how this mere teenager, not even into manhood could've been the Emperor to such a powerful empire. Goten had sensed his good intentions too, and acting upon Chichi's instruction, he saved Doale from anymore harm that could've come to him.

The Emperor's eyes were closed. The left eye had been bruised. His lip was cut and bleeding, various scratches all over his arms and legs, and that was just the outside. There was no knowing how much internal damage he suffered.
A young Namek teenager materialized beside Doale's body. Kamisama and the others must've been watching their progress from up above. The Namek healer, known as Dende, raised his clawed hands towards Doale. Both of their bodies were engulfed in a warm, radiating light. Trunks and Goten watched in awe as the wounds very slowly became fainter and fainter.

"You can do it, Dende," Trunks said, crossing his fingers. Dende didn't budge. His gaze remained focused, even as a bead of sweat began running down the side of his face. It was only a matter of time before Doale could be saved. All they needed was time.

* * * *

"Some final battle this is turning out to be," Vegeta spat at Buu. "Your forces aren't even phasing us." This couldn't be right. It seemed to easy.

"Perhaps we've underestimated you Saiyans," Buu said, putting his hands up in the form of surrendering. "But you know, Vegeta, you joined us once. Why aren't you doing it now."

"Asshole! Don't even think about holding that against me! You know it was the biggest mistake of my life."

"And what is it that makes you think that? Your family? Love?"
Vegeta nodded. "And I'll be dead before I let you take that all away from me today."

"That's why you are pathetic! You let meaningless things like love get in the way of the power you are SO capable of getting."

"I don't want to hear anymore," Vegeta said preparing a ki ball in his palm.

"Prepare to die you pink fool." Confident as Vegeta might have sounded, deep in his heart there was a feeling of dread. He'd spent too much of his life as a warrior and he knew, something was telling him this was far too easy of a victory. Something big was about to happen.

* * * *

The young, mysterious boy, Ken, stood at the cliff edge gazing at the scene before him. The night air was quiet and cold. The distant songs of crickets could be heard. Above, the brilliant starlight lit everything around. Everything was so clear, they could see a river of stars, all shining with different intensity and sizes. Behind him, his former comrades stood silently, as if anticipating something to happen.

"I can't hear anything," Chaz said, breaking the silence.
"Something's coming," Ken said, "I can feel it." The others continued standing quietly for a moment, and suddenly out of nowhere, the wind picked up.

"Oh my god," Marshall said, pointing at the sky. "Did you see that? I saw a shooting star!!"

"Haha, not many days we get out of the city to see something like this," Chaz laughed. "Great idea, Ken!"

"It told me to come to a place where we are most open," Ken explained. "It told me to go to a place where we can see the universe in a single glance. This was the only place I could think of."

"Oh look, there's another one!!"

One by one, the meteors appeared, streaking their way across the heavens. At first, they only came individually. But they continued to come in pairs, gradually increasing in intensity, it looked as if the earth itself was travelling at high speeds as the stars went sailing by.

"What's going on?" Marshall asked, looking up towards the sky. The brilliant lights of the meteors outshone the original starlight. The sky was almost as bright as daytime. The wind continued to pick up. By now, it was howling, even threatening to pick the boys off their feet.

The light continued to increase with intensity until it blinded everyone. The moment it reached its peak, a powerful energy wave knocked everybody to the ground, and the wind, whose pitch had reached to that equivalent of a screaming girl, had died.
Now, only the sound of dry wind could be heard and it was dark once again. Marshall got up painfully to his feet.

"Is everyone alright...?" His first thought was to check up on everyone. But upon observing his surroundings, he realized they seemed to be floating amongst the stars! There was no cliff, no dusty ground. Just empty space beneath their feet. But it was that light where Ken was standing that caught his immediate attention. He momentarily forgot about his unconscious comrades lying on the "ground" before him.

"Ken? What's going on?"

Ken turned around to face Marshall. He was bathed in an immaculate light and behind him there was a huge image of a crystal ball, glittering in the light. In its center, eight stars were carefully positioned in a ring. It was the mysterious ball Ken had described from his dreams.

"What the hell just happened?" Chaz mumbled, regaining consciousness from his ordeal. The others began to moan in pain.

"I have to go now," Ken said, his eyes looking downward in sadness.
"Go home, right?" Marshall asked. "To the home that you have no idea where it is."

Ken nodded, aware of how ridiculous it sounded. Yet it was true. "I don't know what's going on either," he said, "it's like something is guiding me. And I get the feeling ... once this is all over I'll be back. Whenever that is."

Marshall didn't know how to take this. Ken's warning had been too short of notice. And for the past few years, they'd been fighting as a team against the forces of evil for so long. How could Ken leave them just like that?

"Ken, I..." Marshall wanted to scream at him, he wanted to tell Ken not to go, he wanted to remind him how ridiculous this whole situation was. "Take care, buddy."

Ken nodded, his face threatening to burst into tears. "Dont have too much fun without me. I'll be back soon."

Marshall suddenly found himself standing at the cliff edge. Chaz and the others were right behind him, gazing at awe at the star filled heavens once again. It was just like moments ago, but Ken wasn't there with them anymore.

"What just happened?" Chaz asked.

"Ken," Marshall replied, "Ken went home." And as he said that, a single, solitary meteor raced across the horizon and disappeared into space, creating the longest tail of brilliant light that anyone of them had ever seen.