Chapter 24 – The Terror of Omega Shenron
"But…but this is impossible!" whimpered Syn Shenron. "You're apes! Just a couple of apes!"
"Did you hear that, Kakarot?" smirked Vegeta. "The chameleon thinks he can take on a couple of apes."
At this, the dragon roared and flew toward them as quickly as he could. Throwing both arms out to the sides, he slammed into the two of them, dragging them up with him. Goku and Vegeta each grabbed the arm that held them and managed to flip the dragon over, using the momentum to hurl him back to the ground. He crashed with tremendous force.
"You...bastards!" cursed Syn Shenron. "I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!"
"And how will you do that?" asked Vegeta disdainfully from above. "You have no more dead dragons to absorb."
Syn Shenron's eye glinted dangerously. "Oh, yeah?" he rumbled. The ground resumed its trembling around him.
Goku's eyes widened. "He's serious, Vegeta! This is bad! We have to GET HIM!"
He rushed forward with Vegeta close behind. Syn Shenron threw his arms out to his sides again and emitted a hideous, booming roar. The sound reverberated all around the area as the ground began to shake more violently.
"No!" cried Goku.
"Get up!" yelled Nightros Shenron, kicking Trunks with Goten's foot. Trunks staggered to his feet.
"Let...go...of my...friend!" he yelled, making another attempt to power up.
The dragon smiled. "No," he said.
Trunks roared with anger and darted forward with his fist drawn back. Nightros Shenron did the same.
Right at that moment, a painful expression crossed Nightros Shenron's face. An instant later, Trunks punched with all his might, and to his immense surprise, the dragon went flying. He skidded along the ground on his back, and Trunks flew over to him.
Goten's face was twisted in pain and shock. "Gra...aah...what's happening!" echoed the dragon's voice, as if from a distance. A few horrible gagging sounds echoed as well. Suddenly, a ball of black energy burst out of Goten's mouth and flew across the desert and out of sight.
Goten lay on the ground, sputtering and coughing.
"Goten!" yelled Trunks in disbelief. His friend slowly opened his eyes.
"Trunks," he croaked. "What...happened?"
Pan could avoid it no more. Rage Shenron's beam hit her from behind, and she fell forward, her face in the ground.
"Now DIE, you miserable Saiyan!" came the dragon's voice from somewhere above her.
She had no time to move. All she heard was a yell coming from Rage Shenron, and knew that she, Pan, was about to be destroyed. There was a bright light...and nothing happened.
Pan flipped over onto her back and saw a ball of purple energy, which was cursing in midair. A moment later, it shot off across the plain and out of Pan's sight. She had no idea wha had happened. She fell back onto the ground and passed out.
Capsule Corp. was practically in ruins. Goku and Vegeta's battle had wrecked it severely. All that remained almost intact was the freezer on the sub-level, which Bulma was guarding.
Yamcha kept her company. They hadn't spoken much; they had both been wrapped up in their thoughts. Every now and then the ground would rumble threateningly, and it was at these times that Yamcha would protect Bulma and keep her from harm. It was a system they had worked out as soon as the planet started shaking: Krillin helped Chi-chi, Tenshinhan helped Videl, Buu helped Hercule, and Uub helped Bra.
The Earth began to shake again, more violently than it had before. At once, Yamcha jumped to his feet, grabbed Bulma and lifted her out of the way of the falling debris.
"Yamcha, I'm fine!" she cried. "But the Dragonballs are in the freezer! I don't want them to be crushed!"
"Oh! Uh, right!" said Yamcha, reluctantly putting Bulma on higher ground, and flying down to open the freezer door, which was in danger of collapsing. Just as he reached it, the door exploded outward, and Yamcha covered himself with his arms.
"Aagh!" he grunted, struggling to see through the dust. As he was attempting to sift through the rubble, two balls of energy popped out of it, nearly knocking him over. As Yamcha watched, struggling to comprehend this, the green and dark blue energy balls flew past him, up over the wreckage of Capsule Corp, and out of sight.Gohan was still perfectly even with Eiss Shenron. Every time one of them threw a punch, the other would block, dodge, or counter it.
Eiss Shenron lashed out at Gohan; Gohan blocked it by interlocking his hands with the dragon's. They stood there for a moment, grappling, until the dragon began to lighten his grip. A moment later, Gohan discovered why.
Eiss Shenron had started to glow light blue, and was too intent on his struggle to notice. When at last he began to shrink into a ball of light blue energy, it was a great shock to him.
"Wait...WHAT!" he stammered. "This isn't fairrrrrr!" The ball flew off in the direction that Goku had been fighting Nova Shenron. Gohan could barely see what was happening, but it looked as though there were other balls of light converging on the area as well. Frowning slightly, and preparing himself for anything, Gohan popped his senzu bean into his mouth and followed the light. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" boomed Syn Shenron triumphantly, as the five balls of energy entered his body simultaneously. At this point the Earth shook so violently that cracks formed all over the surface. The cracks widened and became more pronounced, until, with an earsplitting crack, an entire layer of the crust detached itself from the planet and disintegrated in the wake of the dragon's terrible energy. Goku and Vegeta flew up out of the way of the destruction.
"No!" yelled Vegeta over the noise. "Our friends!"
Goku felt around with his mind. "Uub and the others got them out of the way!" he yelled. "But the rest of the population..."
"We'll have to worry about that later, Kakarot!" yelled Vegeta. "How can we stop this dragon?"
As if to taunt him, the glow around Syn Shenron suddenly faded, and he stood there, all seven Dragonballs shimmering in his chest, with the one-star in the center. He looked at himself and smiled.
"Aaaaah," he said. "That's better. That's more like it! This is what it means to be a shadow dragon!" He paused for a moment. "I need a new name to reflect this power. Yes...Omega Shenron seems fitting."
As Omega Shenron laughed at his opponents, Goku suddenly realized with a start that, though his transformation was finished, the Earth had not stopped shaking.
At that moment, Gohan flew into view and took in the situation. He looked first at Omega Shenron, then at Goku.
"Dad!" he exclaimed. "Vegeta! What happened to you?"
"Gohan!" yelled Goku. "We have to do something about this! The Earth can't take this much power! It's falling apart just from Omega Shenron standing here!"
"What?" yelled Gohan. The thunder and rain combined with the increasing rumbling of the Earth to create a terrible din.
Omega Shenron was still facing Goku and Vegeta. One of the spikes on his back, however, had started to glow white. With another noise and a burst of energy that made the planet shake still harder, a blast of ki flew out of the spike, straight at Gohan. He yelled, and dodged just in time.
"HAHAHA!" laughed the dragon, though it was hard to hear him. "It looks like I have a new skill! Hyaa!" He threw a small blast at Vegeta.
Vegeta jumped out of the way, and the blast hit the ground. A gigantic explosion occurred, and Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan were all thrown off balance onto the ground. A giant crater lay where the small blast had hit it, and cracks were beginning to form all along the planet's surface again.
Trunks pulled Goten up out of the way. Goten was slowly recovering, but the condition of the Earth wasn't helping him. Trunks could barely think because of the mind-numbing ki signal he was feeling. Gritting his teeth, preparing himself for anything, he flew off toward it, holding Goten.
"We've got to get off this planet!" screamed Goku.
"How, Kakarot!" raged Vegeta. "How! Even with your teleportation, there's no way you'll be able to catch that dragon! Even if we get off the planet, it won't make a difference if that damned dragon is still on it!"
Goku concentrated, trying to focus his mind. It wasn't easy, with everything that was going on around him, but he forced himself to remain calm.
The first thing he became aware of was how easy Instant Transmission seemed to his new form. He could do it without using his hands, and...maybe, just maybe...
His thoughts were interrupted by another tremendous crack that rang clearly over the other noise. Another layer of the Earth's crust had broken off and disintegrated. With no time to check if his friends and family were all right, Goku yelled as loudly as he could.
"Vegeta! Gohan! Get close to me!" They obeyed. Omega Shenron followed.
Goku had no idea if this would be as effective as it had seemed in his mind, but he had no other options. He closed his eyes and spread his arms out in front of him. All at once, a thin, almost imperceptible wave of ki rippled out of his hands, going up, down, and around his surroundings. The invisible wave enveloped him, Vegeta, Gohan, and Omega Shenron. He snapped his eyes open. They were all connected.
Trunks couldn't believe what he was seeing. It looked as though Gohan, some strange form of his father, and a shadow dragon were all being watched over by what seemed to be Goku; he was floating near them with his arms outstretched, almost in a peaceful way. Shaking his head, not bothering to figure it out, Trunks flew forward.
"All right!" yelled Goku. "I hope this works!" Focusing his mind on Kibitoshin, he teleported.
"What the--?" yelled Trunks.
"Oh no!" wailed the Elder Kaioshin, preparing himself for the worst. "They're coming here! Those morons!"
What Kibitoshin said in reply was interrputed by the sudden appearance of Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Omega Shenron, and Trunks holding Goten.