The Misfits, Series 1: The Beginning of All Things

by Lord CyroMinion

The 28th Budokai has passed. The threat of Buu was 10 years ago. Goku and the Z-Senshi thought their lives would finally slow down from there. They'll soon learn just how wrong they really are when they are thrown into a massively confusing merger of many realities, meeting many new friends, but making new foes... Progressive-Crossover of many series, minus GT's plotline/plotholes.

2. Part 1: Enter the Mantra

-----DISCLAIMER-----
Nina © Capcom
Clint, Alex, Jason, Vernon, Devin, Dusty, Dan © Themselves
Goku, Radditz, Vegeta, Piccolo, Juuanagou/#17, Mr. Buu © Akira Toriyama
Heero Yuy © Sotsu Agency Co. Ltd
Steve Williams, Dwayne Johnson © Themselves (Their ring names are © WWE)
Paula © Shigesto Itoi
-----------------------------

Part 1: Enter the Mantra

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; 7:32am EST/4:32pm Tokyo Standard Time; Shibuya-ku; Tokyo, Japan)

Shibuya-ku 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 kms, 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 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, one of the central stations of Tokyo's massive Transit system, also believed the biggest in all the world. In fact, it was from this station that history would begin to write itself all over again...

From the front of the transit station, eight varying figures emerged, one by one. The first one was around 6'3", 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.

The second one to arrive was around 5'8", and he was much thinner, almost stick-like compared to the first. His hair was almost completely shaved, and only black stubbles showed through. He also wore a thin pair of glasses on his face with see-through lens. 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 fist symbol. Many speculated he was actually from either America or from Europe because of the design.

The third person to come out was 6'2", and with a black hair dyed slightly towards a more blondish-orange color, and slightly spiked upwards. He was 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 6'1", and he was by far the roundest looking of the bunch. He has slightly messy black hair and obsidian-black eyes. He wore a grey shirt, in which on the front was a picture of a character known in a red-orange gi 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 eye brows. On the back of the shirt were some strange Japanese Kana, and the word "Dragon Ball" with it. 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 5'8", 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 blue-colored eyes were slanted, and one might actually mistaken him for a Chinese person. 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 t-shaped sword on his back. A faint image of a similar boy with different hair was behind the image. The back of his shirt had the same kana and "Dragon Ball" on it, and also more kana with it.

A sixth person, around 5'9" came in behind him. He appeared to have a short-medium length brown hair with a cowlick in the front, and appeared to be just a slight bit round on the sides, and wore a red shirt with a picture of a strange man with hair that stood up on end like a black flame. In the background the same man with golden hair was in the middle of a strange hand motion. On the back of the shirt, it looked almost the same as the fourth and fifth peoples' shirts, but additionally, the name "Vejita" was also on the back in plain English. 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 6'4", 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. He was wearing a 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 were confused to the meaning of the boy's shirt, but they soon went 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 6'6", towering even over 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 3 to 4 inches over her own head, making her appear even taller than she really was. Her outfit was also a stand 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 gloves with no finger-covers. 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. A strange strap over that leg made the dress hug around her legs somewhat tightly in order to keep her looking decent enough in that area. She also appeared to have blondish-orange hair which went down her back, but was also somewhat standing up in the front. A few locals could swear she looked like someone out of a video game or so with her appearance.

Now that 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 anime shows especially, as well as some of their fighting movies and shows.

"Alex, don't plan on staying here. We're only on vacation." the sixth person said flatly, revealing the identity of the fifth person.

"Don't worry, Alex would eventually be booed out of Japan due to his like for Chinese fighting movies." the third kid in the abercrombie shirt replied.

"Vernon, when I ask you for an opinion, you don't give me one." Alex looked at the third kid with a glare, attempting to intimidate the now revealed third person, 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 ask you to say anything, you fatty!" 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."

"Hey you two, lay off Alex. He's just goofing around anyways!" the seventh person replied.

"Yeah maybe Jason, but he's still a otaku at heart, so he might one day come back. He should just be prepared if he does." the sixth person replied back to the seventh, revealing him as well.

"'He should be prepare if he does...'" the fifth boy mock-said, "Clint, stop prattling 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 Clint's hard-won trip to Japan, because I think I'm such a cool leech... hurhurhur'." Clint ended by mocking Alex's own voice.

The first kid laughed softly, "Yeah, 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 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 and Devin weren't so obvious in their efforts, but still looked nonetheless. 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.

"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 crossing over to meet Nina on the other side.

Nina harrumphed at all seven of them, "Boys will be boys, won't they..."

"Ah come on, Alex was being a 'tard again, Nina!" Devin complained.

Nina grumbled, "Look, we came on vacation. We can argue just fine at home. I for one don't want to waste any time we got here on senseless dribble. You guys coming or not?" she then asked a bit more softly.

"Yeah, you're right. I also don't wanna waste time here." Alex replied, "I mean, this is the birth land of anime, and the home of the mighty Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragonball Z itself."

"And art for other games." Clint added in.

Alex grumbled, but continued, "And art for other games, like Dragon Quest and yes Clint, Chrono Trigger."

"Wait, you know about Dragon Quest huh? Never thought the series appealed to you." Clint replied.

"Well, I know Toriyama made the art, but I wanna meet him, so I'm gonna move out to find him soon. Who wants to come with me?" Alex replied.

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 Toriyama. What about you three?" Vernon asked the remaining of their friends.

"Well, I know I'm gonna do some clothes shopping to see what they have." 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, not too surprised at Nina's decision. Although Vernon had to admit, Nina usually only wore the same type of outfit, so perhaps a change in clothes might make her less boring to look at. Devin had similar thoughts.

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, it translated to "Hachiko Tower". The tower also had flyers for various animes, some familiar to him and his friends, and others completely unknown or new to them.

"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 to is having a special movie for guests and foreigners which is supposed to explain the origin of anime, 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, if Dusty's going with Dan anyways." Devin replied.

Dusty blinked, not knowing if Devin was aware of his secret when he said that comment or not. With this words, the group split off into three, and began heading to reach their destinations.

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; 7:43am EST/4:43pm Tokyo Standard Time; Shibuya-ku; Tokyo, Japan: 'Shikotama no kaimono' store)

Nina had soon found herself at the Shikotama no kaimono store, which literally translated to "Plenty of Shopping" store. Shaking her head at the odd use of language in Japan, she entered quietly and as non-chalantly as one who had 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 person even blabbing 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 semi-smile a bit. At home, she did not have as much positive criticism on her wings as she would've wanted. It primarily came from the younger people around her friends' age, and not from older people, although 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.

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, so she felt she should get a few shirts, pants, shorts and tank tops, especially for the summer. She remembered the recent summer and how hot it was at times in Canton. She seemed interested specifically in a white tanktop with a couple of kanji on the back. It literally translated as "bird of lighting", and the name interested her. Nina was not actually human, and she wasn't a mutant human, like some people believed.

She was of an odd race of winged beings from another world. Nina didn't remember all of the details of her arrival on Earth, but she remembered a portal was responsible for it. The name on the tanktop 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 thinking.

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; 7:59am EST/4:59pm Tokyo Standard Time; Shibuya-ku; Tokyo, Japan: Shonen Jump HQ in Shibuya)

Knowing that Akira Toriyama was a major forerunner of 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 to be admitted in. That had been about 12 minutes back, and they had taken a taxi to reach the Shonen Jump headquarters.

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 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." Clint replied.

"What? You mean all of these people are also waiting on Toriyama?" Alex asked, 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 see 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 which both Clint and Alex translated to, ("Toriyama-san is waiting in the back for his visitors."). he then said as an afterthought ("I thought there were gonna be 8 of you?").

Clint spoke back in his own dialect of Japanese, ("They're sightseeing, and they weren't as interested, thus the smaller group.")

("Then I will let Toriyama-san know. Please enter.") the man replied, pressing a button, causing a two-part sliding door to open.

"Clint, I could've found 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. He stilled looked somewhat young and lively for his age. His glasses were similar in ways to both Jason and Dan's, except they were Japanese made. 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 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.

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, ("So Mr. Toriyama, how're you today?")

("I am alright, young westerner. Are you Clint, the American winner of the contest?")

Understanding all of this, Clint spoke up, ("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.")

("Ah I see. Ask way, young westerners.") Akira replied in a chuckle, ("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 giggled giddily, having the chance to finally ask the questions he know only Toriyama could answer, ("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, "I never thought he'd ask that question."

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.

"Wait! You speak English?" asked Vernon.

"Yes, young westerner, I have learned 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 a seriousness advantage, while Vegetto has a time-limit advantage. 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 I think 6 times out of 10, Gogeta would win due to being so serious," Toriyama said, and then sighed deeply, "I don't count Dragon Ball Grand Tour for Gogeta's personality. 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 express as he combed his chin, "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 he 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."

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, 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 400 million. Lean Majin Buu had to be around 500 million. After absorbing Piccolo and Gotenksu, he reached 650 million, and then he reached 750 to 800 million after absorbing Ultimate Gohan. Chibi Majin Buu was around 450 million, and Mr. Buu was around 350 million." Toriyama replied.

"I got to ask this then," Jason was curious for this question, "Saying Grand Tour never happens, what would you have done with Uubu 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, Uubu 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."

"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 Toonami 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...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; 8:23am EST/5:23pm Tokyo Standard Time; Shibuya-ku; Tokyo, Japan: Hachiko Towers)

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 animes 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 Inuyasha, 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, and ended up beginning to get bored.

"Dan, how much time is left before everyone arrives?" Dusty asked him.

"5:26, Dusty. Come on, there has to be something here you like." Dan replied.

"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.

"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 got to divide your interests. Having only major hobby 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."

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 whether 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...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; 8:51am EST/5:51pm Tokyo Standard Time; Shibuya-ku; Tokyo, Japan: Hachiko Towers)

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?" 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. 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 mid-height Japanese woman at the counter looked towards him, and smiled unnervingly at him, ("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 ("Well, I was looking around mainly, but if you can help me, maybe I'll understan...") 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. Not even I truthfully want to hang around here for the movie now, and the others agree, although 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 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."

"Extremely well, in fact, we had NO arguments whatso-freakin-ever 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." Devin replied.

Nina raised an eyebrow, staring between Alex, and then Vernon and Devin, "You're serious...? I can officially say I'm shocked out of my mind." she then stated part-sarcastically.

"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 snoosefest..." Alex grumbled.

"Origin of anime or not... we should've done this BEFORE we split up." Vernon had agreed.

"Movie's schedule, guys," Clint replied, "Nothing I could do to change 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 ("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 2 or 3. In fact, the offer on the tickets seemed nulled with so few people here. The tickets gave the eight friends the front rows of the theatre from which to watch the movie, but the gesture was 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 some of the 8 friends. Tezuka then began to create the first adult-oriented anime, 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.

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.

"This IS boring Alex..." Jason admitted, not wanting earlier to spoil the mood outside the theatre.

"The movie's only caught my interest at a couple points Jason. I don't care much about pioneer anime shows. I never was a big fan of things like Astro Boy. Not actiony enough. That Belladonna of Sadness sounded interesting though." Alex replied.

"Yeah, you probably think it's something like hentai1, you goof." Jason replied.

"And you wouldn't want to see that yourself?" Alex whispered back, trying to shush Jason to a point no one else would hear them.

"That's fine and all, but you insulted ASTRO BOY, the pioneer of all anime series' in the world! That show is God, Alex!" Jason grumbled in replied.

"How can you like such a piece of junk like that? Look at how fruity looking the main character was!" Alex barked back, now beginning to get annoyed at his best friend.

"The Japanese probably don't see it the same as you, you retard." Jason mumbled back.

"Well still, the characters are too cliché!" Alex grumbled.

"Alex, how much of Astro Boy have you actually seen, or are you just talking out of your ass?" Jason replied.

"I am not talking out of my ass!" Alex replied, "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. "Jason you 'tard! What was that for!" Alex said, throwing a small punch to Jason's rib.

Jason and Alex suddenly began to grapple, and struggle to hit one another. Now Dusty and Nina had caught look at it.

"Damn it all to Hell!" Nina growled at them under her breath.

Dusty growled over, "Hey knock it off you two!" However both friends ignored Dusty's calls, and began to rock back and forth.

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 back over and landed on the floor on the other side.

However as he fell, his foot tripped into the stand in which the camera was lying on, causing it to topple over, and smash into pieces violently 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.

"ALEX! JASON!" 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 fruity!" Jason argued back.

Clint now had a slightly amused expression on his face I didn't even think either one knew much on Astro Boy, but then he turned serious again, realizing just what 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 over and tripped it! Jason probably has some twisted hand in it too!" Devin growled back.

"Devin shut up! I wasn't trying to shove him over!" Jason growled back, "He insulted Astro Boy!"

"He hit me on the head!" Alex argued back again.

"Calm down!" Dan grumbled, "You're incessant babble gives 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.

"Fine! I guess I can pay the meager amount for this thing. It's probably not that expensive anyways." Alex grumbled to his friends.

"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!" 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 stare, "Don't make me hit you again." he threatened.

"Whatever! You caught me off guard. If I was aware, I'd have blocked you like Bruce Lee and kicked your ass the same!" Alex boasted, having a like for the deceased Chinese/American martial artist, causing many of his friends, especially Vernon and Devin to roll their eyes.

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 aftershock?" Devin was the first to reply to the shaking.

"No you 'tard, the only way an aftershock can occur is after a full earthquake!" Alex grumbled at him.

"Well there's been no earthquakes here in weeks, assclown!" Devin grumbled back at his arrogant friend. However the trembling actually began to pick up in strength, now shaking with the equivalent of a 3.5 on the Richter scale.

"Woah! It must be a full earthquake!" Dusty shouted, as the intensity began to reach closer to a 4.0.

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 shake was now equal to 4.5 on the scale, and Vernon began to panic, "Why does this have to happen NOW of all times!"

Alex, still picking himself up off the floor, also not perfectly accustomed to pulling himself up, was struggling to even get his head off the ground during the intensifying Earthquake, which was now at around a 5.5 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 attracted to the still-standing TV monitor 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 6.2, but no one in the group of 8 friends except possibly Nina had ever experienced an 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 Jason, who actually was an earthquake buff, realized the shaking wasn't the way it should be.

"Something's wrong here! This quake's not shaking like a normal quake!" he yelled.

Suddenly, the group saw a tiny dot of white in the middle of the 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 TV into the ground caused an extra boost the quaking. However that ominous point of white remained in the middle of the slightly cracked screen.

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 them 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.

"AAAUGGGH!" Clint screamed out, 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, and none of the others good at.

"IT'S A DIMENSIONAL RIFT! IT'S SUCKING ME IN!" 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 in to the TV screen. However Nina wasn't the only one about to get drawn into the rift. Alex, being right in front of the screen, was easily being pulled towards the screen, just as helpless to escape as Nina had been.

"OH SHIT!" 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, he seemed to be 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, screaming bloody murder as they vanished through. Vernon tried to bolt behind a set of seats to avoid the pull, but he smacked into a seat and fell down on his back in the middle of the isle, being picked up and sucked into the screen, with screams of protest. Devin and Dusty were also beginning to feel the effects as they were struggling to keep in place, but even their large and heavier frames were 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 in to the rift. The bright light was now being declawed by the 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...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; , Unknown Small Rural Town)

Still screaming bloody murder, Clint was soon able to see, and he found himself surrounded by a 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 being thrown around like a rocket into the atmosphere, 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 he lost screaming, he picked himself up, sore all over, but nothing broken or seriously injured. Man is that what astronauts feel they're in the middle of lift-off!

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, as the colors began to fade away, as what looked like a rip in the fabric of time and space opened up. The scene began to resemble grass and trees in front of him, as the colors soon completely vanished from all around him.

Clint looked around in astonishment, now finding his surroundings looked more like a place he could 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 in a Fonz-style hairdo and red-slacks, who still looked to be in some shock. "Hey, you guys wou..."

"Hey! Get away from him, you darn invader!" one elderly woman from the other side of the path sharply cut him off, causing Clint to almost fall over in shock,

"Invader, what the hell are...?"

Again he was cut off, "HELP! Those aliens and their possessed humans have returned!" another man nearby called out.

"I'm not an alien!" Clint protested.

"Then why are you here, alien slave!" the Fonz-style-haired man growled at him, or least tried to, it was obvious he wasn't doing a great job.

"I have no idea why I got dumped out here! I was 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 ruler booth, "Aha! You are an invader! You and your darn friends are planning an invasion! Call for help!" 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 lie!" another woman at a banana-vending table growled back, "No one else, but them knows how to just materialize like that!" Clint grumbled, and tried to suppress his urge to strangle someone in annoyance.

"Exactly who is 'them' anyways! Where am I? Why me!" he growled, and then have a strange thought, and then narrowed his eyes, "Maybe... 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 hellhole, and sent my friends to other places, where your friends are probably trying to pull some crap with them! What do you people want from us!" Clint growled, getting looks of shock and astonishment at his accusation.

One kid meagerly spoke out, "Why would you think we did this? You're the one who popped up here!"

Clint was about to reply, and 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. The last thing Clint saw before he lost consciousness was a flying mass of black flying right into his face. The hit was perfect and left a red mark over him as he landed on his back. Down the path on the end at the park entrance, Clint's assailant stood, examining his downed form.

Standing around six feet, one inch, she was a young woman dressed in a pink, knee-length dress, with shoulder-length blonde hair, a little longer than Nina's. There was also a red bow tied in her hair, and her eyes were blue the same as Nina's.

She looked over the Fonz-style-haired man, and said, "You sure this is him?"

"Yeah, he just... popped outta nowhere!" he replied.

The woman walked over to Clint's body, and kneeled down to retrieve what she had thrown at Clint, a 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 5 seconds.

She opened her eyes, and looked up at the people around her with a look of embarrassment at them, "I think we screwed up. According to what I'm getting here, he really WAS lost and sent here by some kinda freak accident."

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 and the woman near him, much to her shock as well. "What the..."

Soon the erraticity of the pulse began to form into a sphere, which soon converged into a prismatic rainbow around a short area, engulfing Clint and the woman. She got up and attempted to move out of the way, but was repelled back, trapped inside.

"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.

"She said he wasn't an invader!" the elderly woman shouted.

"It has to be whatever put him here that caused it," the Fonz-hair-styled man commented, "Paula's never got any of these wrong yet. I just hope wherever she ends up, she'll be alright."

"Yeah, but I also have to feel sorry for that other boy. Separated from his friends. He doesn't look that strong to me." said the younger woman...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; , Unknown Desert-Cliff Region)

As with Clint, Alex was also experiencing a similar situation after being dragged into the portal. His sight had returned to him only moments ago, as he too saw he was trapped in a strange void with pulsing prismacolors 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. Soon thought, as with Clint, the colors began to fade as electrical pulses surrounded him. Soon, a rip 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 blind 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, with patches of grass in random spots, and only 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 ascern where in the blue devil he was. He saw no sign of Clint or the other 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 nomads made their home here. However, like Clint during his own trip, Alex couldn't help but feel a faint sense of deja vu. Why do I feel like I should know where I am already! And why am I alone! I know we all got sucked in!

However, Alex was able to notice something Clint had not, since Clint could not really see 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 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, as he began to get more feelings of deja 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 other 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 mid-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 semi-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. 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 energy cutting past where it had been, and burning right through the spire, and continuing into the distance. Alex looked at the 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.

That... it IS! I think I know where I'm at now! This IS a dream! 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 again the side of a spire to avoid getting pelted or crushed.

He realized he didn't try to do something but walk, he'd be killed. 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, "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.

"What do you want, boy!" Alex jumped almost 8 feet off the ground in shock, a feat that would've shocked Vernon, and 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, one was roughly his full height standing up, almost Clint's height. He wore an orange gi that covered almost head to toe, with a blue undershirt. His hair was the oddest thing most people would've ever seen, spiking out all over the place, but more on his left than right, and he looked to have an assessing, but calm 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 gi-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 hard for Alex to miss, 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.

However the smaller man's glare softened only the slightest as Alex's outburst, "What? You know who I... we are? Who are you!" Now he was asking Alex questions.

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 heard about you both is true."

The shorter man, Vegeta, stared at Alex in an expression both showed confusion and annoyance.

The taller man looked at him with a slightly shocked and admittingly stupid gape at him, "Hey he knows us Vegeta!"

"I'm aware of that, Kakarott." Vegeta replied, and Alex smirked even more intensely, and Vegeta squirmed with more annoyance, "Alright, start talking! How the hell do you know of us? Who are you!"

"Calm down, Vegeta, don't pop a vain over it." Alex coolly replied, "I'm Alex. Alex Binder if you need to know full names. And I all know is that I'm somehow here, looking upon a strange landscape, wondering where the hell I am, and then I see you, Prince Vegeta of the Saiya-jin, and Kakarott, 3rd class fighter, also known as... Son Goku." The taller man, Goku, gave a genuinely shocked expression at Alex, 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. This is where the two of you first fought each other some 15 or more years ago, when you both were still enemies."

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."

Alex looked at him, and sighed, "If you're willing to let me, I'll explain what I know here." Alex said, "I'm not your enemy. You could say I'm one of your fans Vegeta, and Goku, you're not bad either."

Vegeta actually smirked at Alex, "Is that so? Then please by all means... EXPLAIN."

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 asked in frustration, "Not that odd portal thingy again!"

"Portal thingy!" Vegeta growled.

"Vegeta, something's happening! The Earth feels like it's changing!" Goku called out, however no one else heard him, as the electrical surges began to get so loud, they were deafening to a normal human, so Alex could hear nothing.

Vegeta charged a blast of ki energy through his arm and shot into the field, but the blast was absorbed.

"What the hell's happening!" 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 desert was a silent witness, but the sky seemed to pulsate more violent as this had been happening...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; , Unknown Bridge)

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 had survived. 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 onto 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.

"Some of these buildings, look like something out of a Blade Runner rip-off." 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, as he like Alex, 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 or 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 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. One was a young man standing almost 6 feet, roughly 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. The other person was a woman roughly the same height, 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 a assuring look, and Dan could sense a slight deal of deja vu. The man also moved his eyes over on Dan, but really didn't turn his head.

He spoke 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 was separated from my friends. Some kinda freak rift 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 know you! You're... you're Odin Lowe Jr.2, alias Heero Yuy! And... she's Relena Peacecraft!" he spoke out loud, not exactly aware of his outburst.

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.

"Heero, what're you doing!" she asked.

"He knows both of us by name!" Heero growled venomously, looking at Dan, "He's a survivor from Oz."

Dan had a freaked out expression both at the gun, and the accusation, "Wa.. wait! I'm not from Oz! I'm from Earth! I've never even been in space!"

Heero growled, "You have to be working for Oz. Not many others on Earth 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 age 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, but kept the gun pointed at him, just in case, "IF you're not from Oz like you claim, just how in the world do you know me and Relena?"

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..."

"Crazy or not, try me." Heero darkly grumbled, still training the gun on him.

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 Heero and Dan...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; , Unknown, Hot Location)

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 gateway in her own homeworld which had sent her through, dumping her out in Canton, Ohio. 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 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 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 quasi-wasteland.

She saw no sign of anyone present at all, and that worried her deeply, "Great, just perfect. Where did that portal dump me now?"

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 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 fly higher, 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 blackish-violet than a pure black color, and there appeared to be no crotch guard on his armor. Nina also notice he had a slightly purple-shade on his lips, which made him look creepy enough.

"Damn! When will you learn 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 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, so that little boast won't hold true forever!"

"Yeah, sure, and Buu's just a little angel isn't he? 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.

"Dammit! This guy's already proven his point! Is torturing that guy anymore really necessary!"

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 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.

Nina looked on in confusion, "Is that Magic? No, it doesn't matter, this guy's too psychotic! He's done enough!"

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 fatty-boy!" she called. The pink creature turned around, just as Nina unleashed a massive fireball 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.

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 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, "I don't need your help, woman! I can take care of myself!"

"Easy there Spartacus. It sure didn't look good for you earlier!" Nina growled back at him.

"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, 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 half 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! 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.

"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, 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, 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...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; , Unknown Island Gathering)

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, 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 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. 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 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 feet tall, 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 face, and his forehead had been the weirdest thing, appearing to have a strange tentacle-like appendage running down the back of his head.

"Ouch! Buu go crash!" the creature said in a strange, single-minded sounding voice, confirming Devin's assumption, "You okay kid?"

Devin grumbled to him, "Oh sure, just fine, considering I got smashed into by a creature that could destroy half the world by sneezing."

"Buu sorry! Me help you up!" Buu replied sincerely, grabbing onto Devin's 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.

"Ah! 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... I forget... you heal people." 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!" Buu replied.

"Sure... if you say so..." Devin said, getting on.

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 go on.

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, one with lavender hair.

"Wait! What the hell's HE doing there! Where's that Ubuu kid?" 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.

"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. He then witnessed the two men's hair change from black and lavender 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!"

At that moment, Devin noticed Buu had come up to the stands for some unknown reason.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" Devin asked.

"Buu forgot his cupcakes!" Buu replied, causing Devin to sweatdrop.

However, it was at that point,

Buu looked around left and right as if confused. "What that sound?" he asked out loud.

"What sound?" Devin asked, just as be 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.

"What 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...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; , On a strange island)

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 portal. 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 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 somewhat, 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, 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 TV 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 height of 8 feet and 6 inches, and even a little beyond that, grasping along the side of a plateau, and pulling himself up.

"Damn! What's causing that!" he called out in surprise.

Vernon's answer soon came to him, but it was a close call. 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.

"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 was the figure appearing 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 figured 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, now having a much better view of him. His hair was shoulder length, and black, with strange 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 in shock. At the mention of that name, the figure extremely had his attention 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.

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 armor 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, "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, "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 a fan here!"

"Stop playing games #17! We must continue!" Piccolo growled back, but then he got site of Vernon, "And who's this brat!"

"He claims to know of us both, and of our past battle 17 years ago." #17 replied.

Piccolo's mouth dropped, and he landed in close to both the android and Vernon, "What! How is that possible! No one but me, you, your sister, #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 TV, and it dropped me off here in bizzaro-land."

Piccolo chuckled darkly, "Listen kid, nothing is bizarre about this world! It is 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 being played a joke on 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, "Look up at the sky! It's pulsing!"

"But the Dragonballs are still scattered!" #17 replied in confusion.

"I know that genius! This is not a natural feeling! Wait! I feel... 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 arc 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 android 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.

"Makes 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 site...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; 9:02am EST/6:02am PST, Unknown place in Las Vegas, Nevada)

Inside one of the Caesar's Palace casinos within Las Vegas, a special show was to be put on for it's fans later in the week. The WWF 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. In 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 six feet and two inches. He was a six time WWF 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 six feet and five 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 should appeared to be an extremely complicated-looking tattoo, looking to be one of a Hawaiian 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 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, "Show 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 not a 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 Rocky's own.

"So how's the wife and new daughter anyways?" Austin replied.

The Rock almost stopped, thinking quickly of the fact his wife 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 Garcy 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, almost like twins. "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 equaled 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. 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 strangely still alive... well he looked to be a borderline adult, around 18 years of age. He was about 6 feet and 3 inches, 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.

"Yeah 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.

"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 sounds 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 kind of 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're 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, when that crazy quake hit, and then that portal." he mused, totally disbelieving of his situation.

The two wrestlers looked at him with a strange expression. "So kid, what's your name anyways? Might help us get you back to where he came from." The Rock asked.

"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 was 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. Now enwrapped in pitch darkness, the three onlookers could only imagine what would come next.

And then they hard it speak, a voice with a strange distortion, which made it sound like something from beyond anything possible, "Fellow friends of Earth, I must give you an important message."

"Who's in here!" asked Stone Cold in a tone of anger.

"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 portal that has scooped you and your friends up. I am sorry to say that there is nothing I can do to reverse the events of this day. Your friends are all alive, and they will all survive, and so will you three. You are all strong, stronger than you think."

"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 is responsible for all of this, and likely, that force will not stop here. It 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 darkness, and the forces of evil. When you all recover from this day, I warn you, your world will not be completely what you remember it. Things will change, physically, mentally, and even spiritually. Many rules of your old world will no long 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 name Nina gave for us when we all met her, and we became friends with her! How do you know of that!"

"You must understand Dusty, I cannot tell your entire future, but understand 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 am 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...

(August 29, 2001 A.D.; 9:05am EST/6:05pm Tokyo Standard Time; Shibuya-ku; Tokyo, Japan: Hachiko Towers)

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 TV 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 TV screen was still giving him a faint, lingering light, which appeared to be fading away. There was still a very low level of shaking, around 0.5 on the Richter scale, occurring in the area. Soon, the light in the TV 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 as ever. Soon, the electric totally vanished.

As soon as this occurred, the portal began to spit out several people in succession. First Clint popped out, along with the odd girl Paula he met in his experiences. Both crashed to the ground at different places, not conscious of what was going on, as 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 ironically 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 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 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 Fat 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 Stone Cold and The Rock 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 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 BLUE 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, "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! Do you know this clown?" he stated, grabbing 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.

"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 Buu! What're YOU doing here!" he then finally got a good look at the entire room. "Piccolo! Juuanagou! Goku! Them too!"

"What! The Namek and male cyborg!" Vegeta perked up, and turned to infact get sight of the two he had been looking for, "Just perfect! Our spar is ruined! 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... Android 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.

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.

"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.

"Welcome back man." Jason replied behind him.

"Ah, 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 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 see Rocky 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.

"Shut up! 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 TV. 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. Our world is changing guys." Dusty replied.

"That's preposterous!" Jason growled back.

"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'ya mean by we're not 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 floated 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 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 presense.

"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, "Nevermind, you make a point, but if you're gonna give him a chance, I say only one." 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, "Kakarott? Vegeta! Where am I!"

"Radditz, listen." 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, and 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.

"Me heal you! Buu not want hurt you!" Buu replied quickly, holding out his hands defensively.

Nina blinked a couple of times and 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... you're Goku, aren't you?"

Goku was taken off guard by her sudden statement, "How did you..."

"And troll-hair over there is Vegeta, right?" Nina continued.

"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. "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.

"Aw bite me, you assclown!" Devin grumbled.

Nina looked over at Radditz, "Ah, so you did get drug 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, but I don't know if I consider myself that way now." Radditz replied, "Besides, baby brother and 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. How did you find out we were Super Saiya-jins?"

"Hell has a type of viewing globe, allowing us to look on at some of the events on other places. I specifically kept tabs on you two and your families. I am amazed by your progress. Especially I am jealous somewhat of Kakarott's achievements. Who'd have known there was a Super Saiya-jin 3 so long back?"

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, brother. I thought nothing of what you could've become back in those darker days. I was so focused on getting you on our side to combat Frieza, but I guess it doesn't matter now. He's dead anyways, and at least a few Saiya-jin survived." Radditz replied.

Vernon had soon come to, 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.

"Vernon, shut up! I actually met Vegeta and Goku, you didn't!" Alex growled back.

"Yeah, but I still found Piccolo and #17 here, so it makes us even." Vernon replied, amused at his friend's reply.

"Yes... 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, "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! Remember the last time he said he'd change! He got you and him both killed because I had to fire my Makankosoppo through you two!" Piccolo protested.

"Listen Namek! I understand 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."

Piccolo growled, "Vegeta, for all you know, he could be doing this to trick us someday."

"Yes, but 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."

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."

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.

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, 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, "This doesn't look much like Japan."

"Maybe not the one your used to, but this is my world Heero." Dan replied.

"Heero! As in Heero Yuy!" 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 could tell 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 odd 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.

Of course he was probably wrong, but he soon began to get more answers, as Paula 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! I saw you explode!" Paula growled back in reply.

Piccolo's eyes bugged out, "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! 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 wild hair." 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 met each other! It had to be nearly 30 years! Boy, you look young for being 39 years old!"

Paula sweatdropped, "What? I'm only 20, you goof."

"Huh!" Goku looked back, shocked.

"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 lay the finishing blow." Piccolo grumbled.

"Wait a second." Paula mused realizing something, "You're the one in the egg he spat out when he died, aren't you?"

"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 realized my father was wrong. I became friends with his own son, and 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 calmed down, "You're right... I saw it... you trained him, and you saved his life twice at least. You apparently become one with another like you on some distant planet, and then who was apparently your good-half."

"How do you know that!" Piccolo asked.

"She's a mind reader Piccolo." Goku replied simply.

The others were looking at this situation strange, "Kakarott, who is she?" asked Vegeta, "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. 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."

"No, that's how it happened Alex. I'll explain more to you all, some day." Goku replied again.

"Yeah really, first things first," Stone Cold piped in, "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 skeptical of this, but I recognize some 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.

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 form, 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."

"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 tournament 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, "Ah, there you are."

"Ah! Don't close any closer!" Clint backed away.

"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.

"Yes, Clint." Paula added with a slight hint of annoyance.

"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."

"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.

"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.

"You mean you guys didn't hear an ominous voice before you teleported back?" Dusty asked.

"Noooo... Explain Dusty." Vernon replied.

"Dusty means that before, he, me and Rock were sent back here, someone spoke to us from the darkness. He 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. Is there somewhere like lodging around here?" asked Vegeta.

"Well, we don't live here, so we'll have to look around. We came here 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 TV 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.

"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 KINTOUN!"

"Huh!" asked Jason, "Who's Kintoun?"

"Jason you idiot! She means the Flying Nimbus!" Alex replied.

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 a Kintoun in our universe."

"Wait... flying nimbus... isn't that the cloud that Goku rode in the old series?" asked Dusty.

"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, "Please tell me it was Chichi."

"Actually yeah it was. She met me at the 23rd tournament. 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 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.

"I do NOT steal Alex. That's more of something you'd do." Jason retorted.

"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, "Alright, easy does it you two."

"Don't bother, they fight like this all the time." Devin replied.

"I'm sure, but can we please get out of this place and somewhere else?" asked #17 impatiently.

"Fine, let's go then." 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, they found themselves along the Shibuya Crossing again.

"Alright, so we're in Tokyo Japan, right?" asked the Rock.

"Shibayu-ku ward specifically." Devin answered, "But yes, this is the youth central 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 18 up the street, until they reached their destination, and they all scrambled inside as quickly as they could...

---

Footnotes:

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