Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Chap. 16

"Are you sure about this, Mr.Popo?"

"Yes."

Sean and Mr. Popo were flying through the sky on Popo's magic carpet. In the carpet were five of the seven magic dragonballs.

"I just don't know about these dragonballs. Granting peoples wishes sounds too much like a fairy tale or something."

"As strange as it sounds, it is true. Just wait and see. Dende thought that we may need them and he only gathers them when he believes it is a real emergency."

"Hmm, that bad, huh? Do you think things will get that bad?"

"I'm afraid so."

Outside of the dome...

C. Akuma stood face-to-face with SSJ3 Vegeta. Vegeta gave his trademark grin and suddenly vanished, only to reappear beside C. Akuma and smash in his face with his fist. Akuma went flying and crashed into a nearby hill which collapsed on him. Vegeta then shot his arms out and a swarm of fireballs destroyed the area. However, Akuma warped right in front of him and gave him a powerful roundhouse kick. Vegeta flew into the air, only to spin through it, land on the ground and charge back at Akuma. C. Akuma charged as well and the two of them met in an explosion of power that shook the area. But it was C. Akuma that went flying. Vegeta followed him in the air and knuckle-bombed him into the ground.

"Whoa. So that a Super-Sayian 3."

"His power...it's unearthly!"

C. Akuma rose from the debris without as much as a mark.

"Aw man, what does it take to beat him?"

Vegeta dove at him, but C. Akuma merely stood there. When Vegeta got close enough, C. Akuma warped again. Vegeta traced him and charged toward the side where he re-materialized. However, before Vegeta could land a blow...

"Metassatsu Gou-Rasen!!!!"

C. Akuma spun around in a fury of spin kicks that hammered in on Vegeta and ended with another powerful roundhouse kick. Vegeta flew down and hit the ground and C. Akuma powered up while still airborne.

"Tenma Gou-Zankuu!!!"

A fury of massive fireballs smashed into the ground, exploding in all different directions. C. Akuma then landed, only to see a golden aura burst out of the debris he had caused. Vegeta shot out and connected a blow on C. Akuma. In return, Akuma sent a knee in Vegeta's gut. The two of them exchanged viscious blows with each other.

"Hm. It seems that we have vastly underestimated Vegeta."

"It makes no difference. He still is nothing compared to me."

"It seems that the others are left to themselves. They haven't been copied yet. Send units

11(Sagat), 61(Gohan), 75(Yamcha), 6(Piccolo), 5(Ken), 39(Hokuto) to retrieve them."

"Yes, sir. Oh, one more thing. Omega units 1-3 are at 85% completion."

"Excellent. Everything is going according to plan."

"Not everything."

"Patience my friend. They will come soon enough."

"I think I'll need a warm-up. Excuse me."

Dome...

Rose battled with Freeza while Tien fought D. Dark. They had managed to take the fight just outside of the dome.

Tien rushed up to D. Dark, only to feel a thin wire wrap around his neck.  Tien grasped the wire tightly. Damn, it's bad enough that this guy's a tough fighter, but he also has all the other hidden weapons too. D. Dark reeled him toward him and he was about to stab when Tien let go of the wire and put his hands on is face.

"Solar Flare!"

A burst of light energy flashed out and blinded D. Dark. However, it didn't stop him from slashing Tien's hand. Tien winced back and D. Dark pulled out an EX-plosive. He flung it at Tien and it exploded right in his face. Now Tien was the one that was blinded momentarily. He regained his vision just in time to see D. Dark about to impale him. Tien quickly caught the blade with both hands and tried to push it away, automatically powering up as he did so. D. Dark struggled, knowing full well that he couldn't compete with Tien's strength. He let out a sharp kick, hitting Tien in the chin, but Tien held onto the blade although now it cut him and it was much closer. The point was inches away from his chest and moving closer.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

"Soul Spark!"

An energy projectile flew out and caught D. Dark off guard. Using the distraction, Tien finally managed to move the blade away and hammer him in with a heavy punch. D. Dark fell and rolled on the ground, but the warrior didn't let up as he flew in and battered him again. D. Dark slid across the ground and raised his head to see Tien come at him again. Reaching back, D. Dark tossed out another bomb, but this time Tien zanokuken just before it exploded.

"You're not catching me with that again!"

Tien kicked him in the ribs, causing D. Dark to scream in pain. Tien then pushed his arm out and fired a beam which blasted straight into D. Dark. D. Dark fell down, unconscious. Tien took a breath and checked his hand. It was cut, but not too badly. He then looked to Rose and saw her in a heated battle with Freeza. Freeza was rapidly firing beams out of his fingers while Rose kept dodging them. Tien noticed that various shadow-like images were behind her as she moved closer to Freeza. Freeza didn't notice that until she suddenly lunged at him. Panicking, Freeza zanzokened into the air. Rose anticipated that and suddenly shot herself upward. She grabbed Freeza and quickly hurled him back into the ground, his body engulfed in blue flame. Tien stared wide-eyed. Incredible. She's taking Freeza apart.

Rose softly landed on the ground while Freeza picked himself up. Freeza suddenly raised his finger in the air and a small ball of energy formed. Slowly, the ball began to grow and grow.

No. He's using a Death Ball!

The ball began to reach a considerable size and Freeza floated into the air. Tien was shocked, but Rose kept her usual calm. Freeza grinned at her and suddenly crackled with laughter as he tossed the giant ball of energy at her. Rose closed her eyes and began to focus her energy.

Oh no. I underestimated its power. I won't be able to stop it.

The Death ball flew straight at Rose, but suddenly Tien jumped right in front of her. He placed his hands in front of himself in a triangle.

"Tri-Beam, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!"

The beam connected, but it only held off the Death Ball for awhile before slowly moving down again. Tien strained to hold it off, but his energy was beginning to dwindle and fade. Nevertheless, he continued to fight it off, using all of his power to slow it down.

"Now, Tien."

Tien turned to see Rose complete bathed in a purple aura. Rolling out of the way, Tien watched as the Death Ball came at her once again. Her eyes opened as the ball came in contact with her.

"Aura Soul Reflect!!!!"

Sharply, Rose waved her scarf down and then back up. The Death Ball suddenly hit an energy field and as soon as it reached her, it shot away from her at a faster rate. The energy flew straight back to Freeza. Freeza shot his arms forward to stop the beam, but it came at as such a high speed that he didn't have time to defend against it. The ball flew straight up into space and exploded, taking Freeza with it. Rose breathed heavily for awhile before slumping to the ground. The purple glow around her was gone. Tien knelt beside her.

"You did it, Rose."

Rose looked up, "Thanks to you. I wasn't ready for such an attack. If you hadn't stalled for time, I wouldn't have been able to deflect it."

 "Well, when I heard what you said, I figured that you needed more time."

Heard what I said? Rose wondered.  I wasn't aware…Oh, that's right. He's empathic as well. He must have overheard my thoughts.

She smiled at him, "Regardless, thank you."

Tien's face flushed a bit and he helped her to her feet. "I have to thank you back there as well." Looking around, he saw that D. Dark had disappeared.

"We'll have to worry about him later. The others need our help now."

A distance away from them...

Hercule and Dan had been walking for almost an hour now. After 'fighting' for a long time, they noticed that their transports had left them behind.

"I can't believe they all just left us behind."

"You said it. I guess they were just jealous of my fighting ability."

"Are you kidding? They left because of me. After all, I am the martial arts champion and savior of the Earth."

"Champion for now. But just wait. Once we find out what happened, then we'll fight. And the world will know the true grace of the Saikyo style of karate."

A sudden flash of light appeared a distance away. Both men looked toward it.

"What was that? You don't think it was trouble, do you?"

"I don't know. Hey, maybe that it!"

"What's it."

"Maybe we are to go there for the final battle. You know, where everyone can see us fight. And the others must have been taken away because they lost."

"Yeah, you're right. Meaning that we are the only two fighters left. Hahahahahahaha. Well, it just goes to so that when the chips are down, there's nothing like true skill to keep a martial artist at the top."

"Yeah. Let's go. We don't want to keep our audience waiting."

Elsewhere...

The fight between Akuma and Vegeta was reaching its zenith. The vast energy and power both fighters were putting out were tremendous. Yet it was Vegeta who was coming out on top. With his new SSJ3 abilities, he had severely damaged the cyber-demon. Yet C. Akuma was still fighting back. Launching himself, he landed a fierce kick to Vegeta. Vegeta whirled and smashed both his fists into Akuma and followed up with a knee to the face. Akuma stepped back and fired another Gou-Hado, but Vegeta zanzokukend out of the way and head-butted him. Akuma slid on the ground and Vegeta stood ready. But Akuma sudden stood up again.

"Heh. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

Akuma then suddenly began to flare with intense energy. Vegeta watched as C. Akuma's body became engulfed in flames. He dropped in his stance and the ground underneath crumbled.

Akuma suddenly vanished and reappeared. Vegeta barely had time to register it as Akuma came rocketing toward him from above like a comet. A giant explosion erupted and a pile of dust shot up as he made contact with Vegeta. However when the dust cleared…

"That almost worked."

Vegeta had caught Akuma's arm seconds before it crashed into his skull.

Vegeta grinned, "But almost doesn't cut it."

Raising his other hand, he blasted C. Akuma back. The cyber-demon rolled over the ground, his armor and mechanical part badly damaged. Vegeta kept his hand raised with his palm toward C. Akuma.

"It's almost a pity we won't do this again. Sayonara."

The Big Bang attack flashed and completely destroyed C. Akuma. Vegeta grasped his arm and powered down to normal.  Vegeta looked at his hands, which were scorched form the Kongou Koretsu Zan attack Akuma used on him. How was he able to generate so much power in a short time? Vegeta suddenly heard a sound of clapping behind him. Looking up, he saw Sherac standing there on the side of the dome, clapping his hands.

An obnoxious grin lined his face. "Well done Vegeta. I must give you credit. To defeat an opponent like Akuma is truly worthy of praise." He jumped down before him, "Akuma was no ordinary warrior. He was the master of the Dark Shotokan arts."

Vegeta breathed heavily, but wasn't fazed. "Now it's your turn." Sherac didn't appear to have heard him and began powering up. Vegeta powered up himself to level 2 Super-Sayian.

Sherac began to power up himself and he transformed into Super-Sayian mode.

Now Vegeta laughed, "If that's the best you can do, then you already lost." However, Vegeta noticed that he was still powering up. What is this? His energy is growing. And changing? Sherac's skin began to get darker and his clothes began to tear at some points. His golden hair changed and now had red with golden streaks in it. Sherac grinned at Vegeta's shocked expression.

"As I am. Now you will know the power of a Dark Super-Sayian."

Lookout...

Sean and Mr. Popo had just returned with all seven dragonballs.

"Good job, you guys. And just in time too. It's time for Goku and the other to come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."

The three of them walked to the door to the chamber. Mr. Popo opened the door and a light shone out. Ryu, Goku, Chun-Li and Android 18 all walked out. Their clothes were partially shredded and they all looked fatigued.

"So how did it go?"

"Well enough, Dende. Well enough."

Goku and the others have just emerged from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. But will their new skills prepare them for the battle to come? And can SSJ3 Vegeta fight off a Dark Super-Sayian? Stay tuned…