A/N: Here it is, the finale to our little side story! Time to see just how hard Xeno Gorun and Azura can push themselves against the likes of Shadow Shenron and Cumber. Will the might of the Super Saiyan gods be enough, or will they need a helping hand to overcome their foes?

P.S. Cover art was done by yours' truly, and you can see it and an alternate pencil medium on my Instagram in higher quality. I hope you like it, and the chapter that goes with it.

Cry of the Dragon Balls Arc: Chapter 3

The Ultimate Dragon Slayer

"You're up late," Gorun said quietly as he walked over to a small clearing where Lucy was sitting alone, gazing up at the trees from which strange fruits were hanging. Earlier, the Saiyan had heard Carla yelling at Happy for eating the foreign plant, but so far he seemed healthy, so it had been a moot point.

"Can't sleep," the blond girl said with a shiver. "What Zash did those girls… What he would have done to Azura and me…"

Gorun gazed at her with sympathy before he sat down next to her, making sure not to sit on his tail as he did. "When I went on my first mission in the employ of Conton, I was sent to help with the takedown of two nearly-immortal men that hate my people," he said, keeping his voice down. "The younger brother tried to eradicate every one of us a long time ago, but a handful of them survived. It took many years, but my forefathers managed to come back from the brink of extinction to rise up against him with a mighty vengeance."

He gave vent to a slight shudder himself as he remembered his travels across time to fight against a powered-up Frieza and his brother, Cooler. Up until then, his time travelling had always been supervised by his mother or father, and it had never interfered with the main timeline of Universe 7. That time, he had been sent back on his own, with nothing to aid him but his own power and intuition, and it had still nearly gotten him killed.

It wasn't set to be a merciful death, either. While Cooler may have been more inclined to grant a warrior's death, Frieza was not. He had toyed with the boy, which had likely saved his life in the end, but it had been a terrifying, excruciating experience that only ended when Goku managed to pull through and save his eventual descendant. His physical recovery was easy enough with a senzu capsule that had been provided to him by Elder Kai, but his mind and confidence took much longer to put back together.

Lucy couldn't see his memories, of course, but she could see the pain reflected in his gaze. "What happened?" she prompted him.

"I fought him alongside one our mightiest warriors, and we won," he sighed in response. "But during the course of the battle, he tortured me- a lot. I had more broken bones than not, I lost enough blood to kill a normal man, and he kept taunting me with the knowledge that he could have just snapped my neck, like he did with our prince just before I arrived to fight him. It was months before I could get a good night's sleep, or fight at my best again."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Lucy said sympathetically. "My reason for staying up seems pretty stupid now."

"It's not," he assured her with a tired grin. "I believe that we each suffer through our own trials in order to become the people that those we love need us to be. I'm sure that if you told me about the things you've had to endure, I would find that some of them would be enough to break me, and vice versa. But we were made to endure these things, and to grow stronger for it. That's how we protect the people that we care about."

"Is that how you managed to come to grips with what you had suffered?" Lucy inquired.

"Yes," Gorun nodded. "In part, anyway. The other thing that got me through it all was a desire to see the world around me preserved so that others could enjoy it, even if they never knew what kind of sacrifices were made to protect it. I had the power to allow people to be happy, and it would have been selfish of me to keep that to myself."

Lucy giggled softly at that. "You're a pretty interesting guy, Gorun," she told him. "You'd fit in really well back in our guild."

Gorun laughed at that, though not in a harsh way. "Thank you for that," he replied. "If your guild is home to people like you, it must be a good place for those in need of help from forces that seek to steal their joy."

"It certainly is that," Lucy nodded. "And you're right- there are things in this world that should be preserved, like this island's Stellanium, and the stars that give them their shine."

"Oh yeah?" Gorun asked as he looked up at the dense trees that covered the night sky above them. "Too bad we can't see 'em from down here."

"Yeah, and I'm not exactly dressed to go tree-climbing," Lucy giggled as she looked down at her attire; a short skirt and a crop top that revealed plenty of her attractive figure.

"Heh." Gorun stood up and held out a hand to the girl, who looked surprised at him. "Come on," he encouraged her. "Erza told me that you fought pretty hard to make sure that all of those captured women were set free. Time to see what your efforts are gonna help preserve."

Cheeks tinged with red, Lucy took his hand and allowed him to pull her close before they began to rise into the air. It wasn't five seconds before they were floating above the tree line, and above them was a sea of stars more dazzling than anything that Lucy had ever seen in her life. Not even the glory of the Celestial Spirit realm held her attention like the skies above Stella did now.

"This is amazing…" she murmured in awe.

"I've seen a lot of skies in my lifetime, but this definitely tops them all," Gorun admitted, feeling equally impressed. He made sure to avoid looking at the moon, as he did not want to accidentally turn into an Oozaru. "I can think of only one thing that could turn something like this into a surreal experience."

"What's that?" Lucy asked him curiously.

Gorun allowed a sad smile to play out across his lips as he answered, "I'd like it if I could share this with someone that I shared my heart with."

Lucy's face reddened further, but she managed to keep her voice neutral as she inquired, "Do you not have anyone like that back home?"

"No," he admitted with a sigh. "I'm always so busy with my work, and- I genuinely say this with no way of not making it sound like bragging- my social status puts me so high up that it feels like any girl that approaches me is fixated on the idea of me instead of wanting to know who Son Gorun really is. It's pretty lonely." His eyes were so sad that it made Lucy feel for the boy.

Before she could ask him anything, he shook himself and put a smile back on his face. "Sorry about that," he chuckled. "I didn't mean to be a downer. How about you? Got somebody that you'd want to see the wonders of the world with?"

"W-Well, not really…" Lucy stammered as she looked away from the taller wizard. Despite her protests, her mind kept replaying images in her head of a certain boy with pink hair that was always ready to make her smile, even when he drove her crazy. "I mean, I get to see pretty amazing things like this with my friends in Fairy Tail fairly often, so I'm pretty happy with my life right now."

"Hehe," Gorun chortled softly as he lowered the both of them onto a thick branch where they could sit together. "Sounds like you have a great life, then, Miss Heartfelia."

"Please, call me Lucy," the blond girl insisted. "And you know, if you ever get tired of being an untouchable warrior all the time, you should come check out Fairy Tail. My friends and I will make sure that you're welcome anytime."

Gorun didn't answer with words this time, but Lucy didn't miss the happy look in his eyes that accompanied the smile on his face as he gazed up at the sparkling night sky above them.

Later in the evening, when Gorun and Lucy had both managed to fall asleep, Azura and Gray took over the pre-dawn watch. As they took a moment to stretch out their limbs, the ice wizard decided to ask, "So what kinda stuff do you do in your off time in Conton?"

"Train," Azura answered shortly.

"You don't place a lot of importance on relaxing, do you?"

"No."

The next day, the combined teams were ready to move in to take back what had been stolen from their homelands. The women that the Fairy Tail wizards had rescued were being led back to their ship by Riana, who had been supplied with an armor set and sword by Erza, just in case they ran into trouble along the way.

"It's go time," Gorun murmured as he watched the guards on the city walls begin to change out.

"Remind me again why we're gonna charge in there all obvious-like instead of sneakin' around?" Gray complained.

"We need to spread out their forces as much as possible," Azura answered him as the group started walking toward the city entrance. "We teleport in, and everyone will converge on our location within minutes, and a lot of civilians would be in danger. With this strategy, we can draw the stronger pawns away from the city and engage them more safely."

"Remember, leave the large man to Azura," Erza reminded the others. "Son Gorun will handle Zash if he appears, as well as the dark elf that they mentioned. The knights of Stella fall to us, as does the retrieval of the dragon artifacts."

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Natsu huffed, clearly itching for a fight.

"Then let's do it," Azura said before they all broke into a run, power levels on the rise.

Before they even reached the city gates, the female Stellan wizard that had taken part in their capture the first night swooped in to engage them. She aimed a kick at Erza, but was intercepted by Azura's open palm, who swiftly yanked her close in order to punch her hard enough to go flying over the trees, and out of sight.

"There, you've got a head start," the bluenette told Erza, who looked impressed by their ally's reflexes. "Go finish the job."

"Gladly." With that, a glow of magic accompanied Erza's requip while she chased after the woman that had attacked them.

"Happy?!" Natsu suddenly shouted as he looked his friend up and down while they ran. "Why are you that color?!"

"Huh?" The little exceed looked down at his fur, and was immediately frightened to see that his hair had turned bright red, as opposed to his usual shade of blue. "Waaaaah! It must be from that fruit I ate last night!"

"I told you not to eat that!" Carla chided him.

"Not to interrupt or anything, but I think that the kingdom must have known we were coming," Gorun muttered as they charged in past the city walls. A moment's thought from him and Azura blasted the section with the most guards on it to pieces, though they made sure not to use lethal force.

"What makes you say that?" Lucy asked him as she trailed slightly behind him and Natsu.

"Just that there's multiple high power levels coming right at us, and that leg wizard chick was waiting at the gate we chose," Azura answered with a frown. "Probably Fu's doing."

"How could he have detected us?" Gorun asked. "We've been keeping our battle power hidden since yesterday."

"We have, but these wizards obviously don't have that skill," his cousin grumbled. "Doesn't matter. We've got two of those Stellan wizards coming in hot, and they're not alone." The last part was directed at the Magnolian mages, who looked less than thrilled about their abilities being disparaged so easily.

"Is it Zash? Or that Cumber guy?" Gray inquired.

"It's Cumber," Azura said with a feral smile, a gold magic circle beginning to take shape over her head. "The other two are not Zash, so they're all yours', Fairy Tail."

"Natsu, Happy, and I will go ahead with Gorun," Lucy informed her friends. "We'll need as many people as we can get to fight Zash."

"Then let's get this party started!" Gray shouted as the three enemy figures leaped into view over the rooftops of some apartment complexes. He immediately launched an ice barrage at a beefy man, who turned out to be surprisingly nimble for someone of his stature. Wendy engaged her Dragon Force while Carla transformed into a demi-human that could fight alongside her friend in order to take on the wizard that rode on a shape-shifting transport made of stellanium.

Lastly, Azura let out a challenging shout as she transformed into a Super Saiyan and aimed a gut punch at Cumber, who had discarded his cloak to reveal his massive bulk and wild mane of hair. The blow connected, but it didn't seem to do very much to the larger Saiyan, who let out a savage bellow and back-fisted her with enough force to send her back out past the city walls. Fortunately for Gorun's party, he decided that they weren't worth the chase, and he flew off in pursuit of Azura.

"Hey, is she gonna be okay?" Lucy asked worriedly.

"My cousin is the toughest woman I know," Gorun answered confidently. "If anyone can hold her own against that monster, she can."

"And we got a monster of our own to stop," Natsu reminded her as they redoubled their speed. "Our friends can handle those clowns!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

Genora let out a furious snarl as she slashed at Cumber with dual spirit swords, but he managed to evade every blow. There's no doubting it, she thought as she zipped out of the way of his massive fist. He was holding back the other night.

To most people, this would have been the worst kind of news to possibly receive. It had taken both her and her cousin to defeat the monstrous saiyan two nights ago, so it stood to reason that she had no hope of stopping him on her own. Except that you weren't the only one holding back, Genora thought as she reached inside for another form.

When Cumber came in for another strike, his fist was halted in place by that of a Super Saiyan goddess', who glared at him with a calm contempt. Before the evil Saiyan could try for another strike, she punched him in the jaw, sending him rocketing up into the stratosphere. Giving chase, she became a crimson comet in the night sky, among all the other dazzling stars above the world.

"Come on!" she taunted Cumber as he righted himself, his scarlet eyes glaring at her with pure malice. "Is that all you can do?! I thought the saiyans of old were supposed to be feared across the known universe! You're a shadow of the tales that have been told!"

Cumber seethed at her as he dodged her attacks, something registering in his eyes as she came at him. Then, for the first time since he had come to this world, he spoke. "That red light…!" he growled angrily. "You will die, traitor!"

So he does know of the Super Saiyan god, Genora thought as she knocked his kick away from her, whirled her body around his, and delivered a thunderous elbow strike into the middle of his spine. This blow would have killed most opponents, but all it did to Cumber was make him angrier.

Screaming his hatred of her, he became wreathed in a dark aura that Azura knew meant trouble if it touched her. Anyone infected by the aura of an evil saiyan was driven mad, especially those with Saiyan blood in them. Concentrating harder, she made sure keep a layer of divine ki wrapped around her body before she moved in to engage him again, glad that she had spent time in Beerus' training realm for this sort of situation.

Briefly gathering her energy into a point between her hands, she let Cumber get in close before she unleashed a Kamehameha in his face at point-blank range.

Gorun and the others had little trouble getting past the guards that secured the palace, especially with the Saiyan's help. Natsu could feel the presence of the Dragon Cry within one of the castle's deeper chambers, so they made a beeline for it, swiftly knocking out any security measures that they encountered.

There was one moment that scared Happy and Lucy when a giant blade fell from the ceiling to cut Gorun in half, but he didn't even look up at the mechanism. He simply conjured a blue shield around his body that smashed the weapon into harmless pieces as he went on his way.

"This guy's hardcore!" Natsu laughed as they chased after him. "Wonder how he'd do against Laxus and Gildarts?"

"I get the feeling that he'd come out on top against either of them," Lucy answered.

"Nah, he can't be that strong!"

Their discussion was interrupted by the sight and sound of Gorun smashing down a set of large double doors, revealing a large central chamber inside with a raised platform, three mirrors, and Sonya clutching the Dragon Cry to her chest. The Saiyan youth paused where he was, a slight frown on his face as he held up a hand for the others to stay behind him. "I take it you're having second thoughts about all this?" he asked her.

"I…" The girl looked around frantically, confusion and fear warring on her face. "Where is…?"

"What's with her?" Natsu asked Gorun, who declined to answer as he began to feel something strange coming from the girl- a power signature that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar.

"Sonya," he said with a little more strength in his voice. "Will you hand over the Dragon Cry and wish orbs peacefully, or do my friends and I need to take them by force?"

"Where is King Animus?" the girl blurted out as her eyes continued to flick around the room, until she finally turned to look in one of the mirrors with horror in her eyes. "Sire…?"

Before any of the others could move toward her, the girl's voice took on a harsher cast as she laughed at her own reflection. "Finally figure it out, did you?" she chuckled, making Gorun's scalp prickle. "You've always been naïve, Sonya, but I thought it would have been sooner before you realized who was pulling all the strings."

"What's going on with her?" Lucy asked, but Gorun held out his arm again to keep them from approaching.

"Something weird is going on," he told them in a tight voice. "I'm sensing power coming from her, but it's not hers'. I think there's someone else in her body."

"Not bad, stranger from another land," Sonya smirked as she suddenly whirled the Dragon Cry with a practiced ease to point the hooked end toward him, her power level spiking at an alarming rate. "You die knowing that you were onto something, I suppose." Gorun prepared to throw up a shield for himself and the other wizards, but then something else bizarre happened.

Sonya clutched at her head as the arm holding the Dragon Cry began to tremble. "Please, Gorun…" she begged in her normal voice. "Take the staff!"

The Saiyan launched himself forward, but a blast of dark energy intercepted him, knocking him to the floor and leaving him winded even as Lucy cried out in fright at the appearance of Zash riding some kind of hellhound chimera. The former knight of Fiore chuckled as he snatched up the Dragon Cry from where the blast had thrown Sonya and the staff.

"Trying to back out at the last minute, Sonya?" he taunted her. Cocking his head slightly, he then asked, "Or is it King Animus right now? Honestly, trying to tell you two apart has been quite the headache for me. As Animus, you gave orders, while as Sonya you followed mine."

"Zash…!" Sonya growled as she struggled to get up on her hands and knees.

"Animus it is, then," the dark knight laughed. "Well, as much as I would love to stick around and rub the irony of a betrayal in your face, I have a wish to make. Have fun with my chimera." With that, he leaped off his beast and bolted for a set of stairs on the far side of the room.

"Zash!" Sonya/Animus shouted, her eyes glowing bright blue. "You're not getting away with that!" There was a blinding light, a savage roar, and the sound of crashing rubble that held the wizards and Saiyan in place for a few seconds.

When it was cleared, there was a massive hole in the wall that led to the outside of the palace, huge chucks of rubble scattered everywhere, and a shaken-looking Gorun, who wobbled to his feet as he rubbed at a cut on his head.

"Are you okay?!" Lucy called out as she started to run toward him, only to be stopped by Zash's chimera.

"Lucy, get outta the way!" Natsu shouted before he drew in a deep breath. "Fire dragon…!"

"Move it, you stupid mutt!" Happy yelled at the same time, his cheeks puffing outward as if he were about to vomit.

"ROAR!"

"Aaaah!"

Both Natsu and Happy bellowed streams of fire that engulfed the chimera and left it as a charred mess in front of Gorun. As the exceed reverted back to his normal color, Natsu turned to his friend and asked, "What the heck was that, man?! Did you learn dragon slayer magic when I wasn't looking?!"

"No, I… think it was that fruit," Happy said before he sat down, looking tired.

"King Animus…" The trio turned to see Sonya with tears running down her face as she gazed up at the partially destroyed ceiling. "What have I done?"

"It wasn't your fault," Gorun said as he made his way over to her, ripping off one of his sleeves to make a bandage for her left leg, which had been cut by the rubble during the explosion. "But I do need to know… Is Animus what I think he is?"

"I smell a dragon nearby, and it wasn't here before the room exploded," Natsu answered for the weeping girl. "He must've been hidden inside of her with the dragon soul spell."

"What is that?" Gorun asked curiously.

"I'll explain later," Natsu answered as he popped his knuckles. "Right now, there's a traitor and a dragon I need to stop from destroying my home."

"Lucy, Happy, can you two watch after her?" Gorun asked as Natsu ran for the same staircase that Zash had taken. "He's going to need backup."

"Sure," Lucy said, even as they heard the shouts of soldiers coming from down the hallway. When Gorun looked another question at her, she nodded and insisted, "I can protect us, I promise. Go on and keep Natsu safe."

Gorun returned the nod and said, "I'll bring him back to you, I promise."

Night had rapidly fallen on the island of Stella, and still Genora continued her battle with Cumber. He was a mass of bruises, while she appeared untouched, save for damage done to her uniform. The energies of the Super Saiyan goddess kept healing her body, but she was no closer to taking her opponent down than when she began. The wounds didn't matter to the ancient Saiyan brute- they only served to make him stronger.

Just as the moon cleared the horizon, Cumber finally underwent a change that made Genora nervous. The man let out a roar as a dark gold magic circle appeared underneath him, and the ground below began to rumble as his power levels spiked.

"That's not good," she muttered as she backed up about a half-mile away from him. As Cumber's hair began to turn yellow, she began to channel the power that she knew she was going to need, her aura changing to match the hair color of her birth.

Even as Cumber finished his ascension to Super Saiyan, Genora screamed to renew her challenge as she transformed into Super Saiyan Blue. "Let's go, ugly!" she yelled as she lit up a new Spirit Sword. "I'll show you what a real legend looks like!"

Cumber's only response was to unleash a large ball of dark ki at her, which she cut through with her energy blade before rushing to close the gap between them. They swiftly exchanged blows that sent shockwaves rippling through air, reaching all the way down to the surface of the island.

"I guess a big guy requires a big solution," Genora growled just before Cumber slugged her in the chest, sending her higher into the sky, where the air was bitterly cold and thin, though the energy burning around her kept her warm enough. She righted herself so that she could see Cumber rising in the air to meet her, and realized that this was an opportune moment. Raising two of her fingers to point above her right shoulder, she drew in a breath before conjuring her energy into a small blue ball and shouting, "Back to the hell from where you came!" Pointing her fingers at him, she fired off the ki blast which grew exponentially in size as it travelled before it impacted with Cumber's hands as he tried to block it. "Divine Wrath!"

She could barely hear Cumber's scream of defiance as the bolt of energy continued to swell in size at her behest, threatening to explode at any moment. Just when she couldn't hear his shouts any longer, she flicked her fingers and caused the ball to explode, lighting up the skies of Earthland for hundreds of miles.

Giving vent to a satisfied snort, Genora began to descend back toward the ground, intent on retrieving his corpse from wherever it might lie, only to realize that there going to be a very large problem with that. Cumber, now missing his shirt, looked up at her with more hatred than ever before he was upon her again, his power continuing to grow by the second.

How did that not finish him?! She wondered as she blocked and dodged his furious fists. I've mastered divine ki, and he's a dusty old relic that probably doesn't even know the full potential of a Super Saiyan!

Cumber swiftly dodged around her counterstrike and slammed his meaty fist onto her head, sending her hurtling toward the ground. Only the power of Blue prevented her from getting a concussion, but it still wasn't looking good for her.

Not like this… Genora seethed as she struggled to maintain her ability to fly. I will not lose like this!

Flexing her power once again, she reached deep within herself for one last gambit that she had yet to try in a live combat situation. "Okay, you giant lummox," she snarled. "Times ten… Kaioken!" Red fire engulfed her blue aura, magnifying her power tenfold, and giving even the crazed Cumber pause.

Not wasting the opportunity that this gave her, Genora crossed the distance between them faster than the speed of time, driving her shoulder into his stomach, and causing him to vomit blood. She followed this with a spirit sword that stabbed into his pelvis, twisting it sharply before pulling back and delivering a reverse-spin kick that broke his jaw and sent him far away from Stella.

Again, she closed the space between them faster than mortal comprehension and delivered a series of vicious kicks, punches, and elbow strikes to the wounded man. It was all happening so quickly that his body's pain sensors couldn't keep up with the agony that she was inflicting on him. She could land fifty strikes in the time that it took for his mind to register even a single one, and she wasn't quite done with him yet.

Punting Cumber up toward the stars, she gathered her hands to her sides and charged up Master Roshi's technique in the time it takes one's subconscious to form an idea. "Kamehameha!"

The blue light blasted the evil Saiyan up and out of the planet's atmosphere, and beyond that, to parts of space unknown, where the residents of Earthland would never hear from him again. This left behind a very smug Genora, who allowed her power to fade away right after she used Instant Transmission to get back to Stella, where she collapsed from exhaustion in the ruins of what had been the palace.

It's down to you, now… Gorun.

"Eternal Shenron!" Zash bellowed as he stood before the seven wish orbs bestowed to him by the dark elf. He had used his mind control to send the dragon Animus on a rampage, which would keep him occupied long enough for him to do what he wanted. "By your name, I demand that you appear before me!" There was a large puff of black smoke, out of which appeared a large blue dragon with red eyes that looked down at Zash with a blank curiosity.

The rogue knight let out a triumphant laugh at the sight of the creature. "Yes!" he crowed as he held the staff aloft for the dragon to see clearly. "I command you to use the power of this Dragon Cry to eradicate the kingdom of Fiore!"

The dragon merely stared at him for a few moments before letting out a guttural laugh. "Who do you think you are, to command me what to do?" he snorted, releasing a puff of smoke that blinded and choked a furious Zash.

While this was happening, Fu stood in another realm entirely in front of a red dragon whose size was incomprehensible. "State your wish, and I shall grant it," the giant reptile rumbled.

"Cool!" the demon grinned. "I want you to fuse the Shadow Shenron in Universe 17 with a half-dead crystal dragon named Animus into one living being."

Ultimate Shenron's eyes glowed for a brief moment before he said, "Your wish has been granted. Farewell…" With that, his body glowed and retreated into the black-star dragon balls, which then shot off into the distant reaches of the galaxy.

"All right!" Fu giggled to himself. "Now to get back to the lab and see how all this plays out!"

The dark Shenron was about to crush the impudent worm in front of him, but then he felt something bizarre happening to his body- as if somehow he were no longer in control of himself. Before he could wonder at this phenomenon, he was yanked off of the rooftop from whence he had been summoned, the damaged dragon balls trailing after him as he suddenly found himself on a collision course with an angry dragon that seemed to be made of some kind of crystal. The two were lost in a blinding light that swallowed up the tower that stood above the rest of Stella's palace.

This was the moment that Gorun and Natsu charged onto the roof to see a furious Zash holding the Dragon Cry above his head, an incantation upon his lips. He saw the two interlopers, and a gruesome smile twisted his mouth. "You're too late, wizards!" he shouted at them as he held the Dragon Cry like a quarterstaff. "Whatever lies that elf fed me, I can still use the power of this relic to destroy Fiore! I will- eh?!" The staff suddenly went berserk, lighting Zash up with yellow energy that disintegrated him in less than a second, leaving the staff standing on its end, seeming harmless by all appearances.

Still, after what had just happened, neither of the fighters were willing to go near it. "Is it supposed to do that?" Gorun asked.

"All I know is that the last time I touched that staff, I could feel the sorrow and anger of every dragon whose magic now lives on inside it," Natsu answered as they cautiously approached it. "It probably didn't like being used by a man like the one that killed them."

"So… we should be okay?" the saiyan warrior asked hopefully.

"As long as we don't try to use it, I think so," Natsu answered.

"Back off, little boys," an ominous voice rumbled, followed by the sound of heavy wings beating the air. "The Dragon Cry is mine!"

"Oh, crap," Gorun grimaced as he and Natsu backed away from the appearance of a massive dragon. "I hope you've said your prayers, Natsu, cos we may not be walking away from this one."

The beast was larger than any dragon that Natsu had ever seen, easily twice as big as Acnologia, with dark blue scales, red eyes, and crystalline horns, wings, teeth, and claws. It was built like Animus' dragon form, save for that its body was slimmer, and it had the head of Shadow Shenron. In his stomach were wedged the seven cracked, lifeless dragon balls that contained the essence of the seven shadow dragons.

"The time of dragons will once again fall across this world, followed by the rest of the galaxy!" the dragon bellowed.

"Not if I have any say about it!" Gorun shouted before he aimed a ki ball at the staff, and basted it right off the roof, sending it plummeting down toward the earth, far below them. With another motion of his hands, he fired a Double Sunday into the dragon's eyes, temporarily blinding it.

Already running, he shouted over his shoulder, "Come on, Natsu! We gotta keep that staff away from them! If they absorb any more magic, we won't be able to stop them!" Natsu let out a blast of fire from his feet that saw him rocketing toward Gorun, and out into empty space. Reaching back, the saiyan grabbed his ally's outstretched hand before they streaked down the side of the building.

"What is that thing?!" Natsu demanded as they flew, barely managing to stay ahead of the now-pursuing dragon. They could see the staff, but it was going to be a close call as to who got to it first.

"I don't know how, but Fu must have merged the shadow dragons from my homeland with the dragon that was inside of Sonya!" Gorun answered right before the monster pulled up alongside them.

"A dragon slayer and a saiyan warrior…" the fused dragon rumbled as it chased the staff.

"What's it to you?!" Natsu spat back as he became wreathed in flames that allowed him to keep up with Gorun's flight speed.

"Because of vermin like you, both the dragons of Earthland and Shenron fell from power!" the best roared as it leaped away from the building. "So it's only right that Omega Animus will annihilate the both of you!" With a flap of its wings, he swerved around to aim his horns at them, the tips crackling with raw magic.

Natsu let out a raw-throated yell as he leaped right at him, his arm drawn back for an Iron Fist. "I ain't called a dragon slayer for nothin', pal!"

Gorun grit his teeth, emptied his lungs, and unleashed Super Saiyan 3, not having enough time to concentrate in order to summon up his divine powers. "Dragon FIST!" A spectral dragon similar in shape to Shenron appeared around him and crashed into Omega Animus at the same time as Natsu's magic, resulting in an explosion that obscured the entire castle and tower in a cloud of smoke and dust.

Down below, Lucy and Sonya held onto each other and Happy while Leo and Taurus beat back the rubble that threatened to crush their master. The five of them had fought their way past the guards that tried to stop them, only to get out of the palace just in time for the clash of magic that was threatening to rain destruction upon them. It seemed like an eternity before the ground stopped shaking and the air began to clear of the dust that had settled upon the city.

"Jeez, Natsu sure knows how to rumble," Leo muttered as Taurus returned to the spirit world. "He should learn how to…" His voice trailed off, leading Lucy and Sonya to look up and follow his gaze.

Both girls were horrified by what they saw, even as Happy began to wail for his friend, who was currently being used as a skewered ornament on Omega Animus' right horn. Meanwhile, Gorun was barely holding on to life in the dragon's jaws, which glistened with his blood before the fused dragon spat him out and tossed Natsu to land over next to his fallen ally.

Done with them, the dragon sniffed out the Dragon Cry and promptly ate it, increasing his power by leaps and bounds while turning his scales and crystals bright red, like that of Ultimate Shenron. "Now let the wrath of every dragon flow through me, so that I may end this world!" he cried. As he spoke these words, a series of huge crimson magic circles appeared in the sky all across the world and began raining down destruction upon the lands below.

Omega Shenron laughed gleefully as he felt life after life being snuffed out by his power. "The war between our vile slayers and the dragons is over!" he declared. "Today, the mightiest race of all returns to reign supreme!" He continued to guffaw, drunk with power.

So caught up in his revelry was he, that he failed to notice Lucy and Happy kneeling over Natsu, calling his name and praying for him to return to them. His body was cold, and no breath escaped his lips.

Gorun was likewise dead in body, even as Sonya tried again and again to use her magic to see if his soul still resided within him. "I'm sorry!" she cried as tears spilled down her face. "I wanted to bring joy to my people, but all I brought was anguish, and it's because I didn't listen to you! Please come back! Show me how to atone for this, please! I don't know what to do!" She pressed her brow to his bloodied corpse, begging whatever gods there were that the young man with the kind warrior's soul could return to the life that she had robbed him of.

Gorun sighed as he felt himself floating in a black nothingness that seemed eternal. "So what, because I didn't die in my home dimension, I have to spend the rest of existence in a void?" he grumbled. "That blows."

"Like hell you're allowed to die here." Gorun turned himself around to see Vegeta hovering in front of him, translucent and glowing slightly. "You are the epitome of everything that the Saiyans could become, Kaidon. And our people do not give up after a setback, even one like this."

"Vegeta's right, Gorun," said Goku as he appeared on his descendant's right. "You need to wake up. This world is depending on you."

"I gave up once, and it went on to cost our people their world," Yamoshi told him as he came into Gorun's awareness. "Had I fought harder, perhaps the Saiyans would have been able to stand up to Frieza after I was gone. But because I succumbed to the weakness of my flesh, everyone on Planet Vegeta paid in blood for my mistake."

"You are not allowed to repeat the mistakes of those that have gone before us," Azura said as she appeared on his left. As she reached out to place a hand on his heart, she added, "The Time Breakers cannot win- don't give in to a reality ruled by a madman's curiosities. You… are Son Gorun."

Light poured from her into him, as it did from Yamoshi, Goku, and Vegeta, infusing him with power and resolve to go beyond what his flesh had allowed him to accomplish.

"Hrgh…"

Sonya gasped and sat up off of Gorun as he groaned before hacking up a lungful of blood. "You're alive!" she exclaimed.

Not quite, he thought as he reached for his satchel, his fingers desperately scrabbling for a senzu capsule. He couldn't breathe due to his crushed ribcage and punctured lungs, which meant that he had only a few seconds, at best. He managed to get one out, but he dropped it, and he was close to blacking out again from the lack of air.

Sonya saw the item fall out of his hand and picked it up uncertainly. "What is this-medicine?" she asked him through a sniffle.

He nodded weakly, so she put it back in his hand, which allowed him to click the button on the capsule, releasing a healing aura that instantly repaired his devastated body and returned his power to its peak level. "Thank you," he gasped as he sat up.

"Gorun, I'm so sorry I-"

"Later, I promise," he said with a slight shake of his head as he staggered to his feet while tugging at the blue earring that he wore on his left lobe. "Sorry, but I need to try and make sure that we all live to see tomorrow."

"Y-You can't!" she cried as he walked away, toward Natsu, another senzu capsule already in hand. "The king will kill you again!"

"Not if I kill him, first," Gorun said with more confidence than ever before. "Trust me, Sonya. I know what I'm doing now."

Natsu was just beginning to sit himself up when he felt something small hit him in the shoulder, followed by a relief from the horrible pain in his stomach where Animus had skewered him. Looking down, he and his friends were stunned to see that all of the damage was gone, not even leaving so much as a scar behind. "What the-?"

"I have a way to beat this thing." Gorun walked over to stand beside the Fairy Tail wizards with a serious look on his face. "It won't be easy, but we can do it, provided you're willing to trust me."

"Did you save Natsu just now?" Lucy asked him as she wiped at her eyes.

"No," Gorun said with a negative shake of his head. "Your bond with him is what called him back from the nether, just as my bond with my people saved me. I just gave us a fighting chance." He reached out his hand for Natsu to take, waiting for one them to say something.

"I'm in," the dragon slayer said as he gripped the offered hand that effortlessly hauled him to his feet. "How do we stop that dragon?"

"Put this on your left ear," Gorun answered as he handed Natsu the ornament that he had taken off of his own lobe. He could feel Omega Animus' power continuing to grow, so he knew that they didn't have much time.

Hoping to distract the fused dragon for a moment, he walked out into the open and stood before the beast, his arms folded over each other as he silently regarded the massive threat to their worlds. This did not go unnoticed, for Omega Animus soon growled out, "So… the one that lives only to fight and conquer has returned to die by the talons of a dragon!" He bellowed a new challenge at the saiyan, as he stood up on his hind legs, making him rise above every building, save for the ruined tower.

"Wrong," Gorun replied as he allowed his tail to unfurl from around his waist, and he gazed up at the shining moon. "I've never lived for the thrill of battle or to conquer others. We've got better reasons to live than that." His earring began to glow on the side of his face, which got him to smile a little

"For our friends!" Natsu declared as he stepped out from behind the rubble that was hiding Lucy and Happy, the potara earring on his head shining as it drew nearer to its twin. "To protect them!" Fire danced on his body as shouted, "That's why we're still alive! That's why we fight!"

"And why we're gonna STOP YOU!" the two of them roared together as they charged at the fused dragon, the earrings drawing them closer and closer to each other as their enemy echoed the challenge and moved to stab them with his horns again. Just before they all collided, there was a flash of light from which Omega Animus was flung backwards, staggering with a bloodied snout.

"What the-?! Damn you!" His fury saw to a multitude of lasers flying out from his wings, blasting the spot where the glow was coming from. Apparently this was not enough, because he then spat out a Crystal Dragon's Roar that obliterated the hilltop where the palace had once been.

Fortunately Sonya, Happy, and Lucy had all possessed the sense to retreat from the combat zone before things got really heated, so they were relatively safe. But could the same be said of their friends?

Omega Animus didn't really seem to think so. Landing in the crater that he had made, he growled out, "Miserable, weakling humans… Did you really think to stand against the might of a Shenron and the Dragon Cry combined?" He was about to leave when he caught a whiff of something- a smell that could well make trouble for his plans. Then there was a shape in the midst of the smoke and ash- something that did not seem like a scattered bit of rubble. "What's this?"

A sudden burst of wind soon revealed something straight out of a dragon's nightmare. A single being stood before him, blue jewels decorating his ears beneath a mane of shaggy black-and-pink hair. His skin was deeply tanned on his chest and face, but nearly everywhere else was covered in dark red dragon scales, including the long tail coming out of his backside that lashed itself back and forth, flicking the last embers of his enemy's attack from his body.

Natsu's scarf was tied around his waist above white pants while purple armored gauntlets with the emblem of Fairy Tail donned his wrists. His eyes burned like coals in a raging fireplace, and their attention was focused entirely on Omega Animus, who couldn't help but tremble a little bit at what looked like an amalgamation of Super Saiyan 4 and Dragon Force.

"Are you some kind of dragon?" he asked the combined being- for there was no doubt that this was a potara fusion. As he sniffed at the strange scent, the part of his mind that was made up of Animus' consciousness remembered something that had long been forgotten. "No… You're something else!"

"I am a combination of Dragneel and Kaidon," the fusion answered. "Drakai is my name, and I… I am the ultimate dragon slayer." His muscles rippled with movement, and that was the only warning that Omega Animus had before he was knocked skyward by a powerful blow to the jaw.

Drakai was wreathed in golden flames that scorched his enemy, even through his magical crystalline defenses. He scored blow after blow against the merged dragon without a word, evading every counterstrike and spell that both Shenron and Animus had in their arsenal. He was even able to intercept stray energy blasts that would have flattened Stella as they battled in the sky.

"You impudent little pest!" Omega Animus roared after receiving a particularly harsh blow to his head that knocked off the horn that had stabbed Natsu. "You don't know when it's time to lie down and be crushed!"

"You're the one…" Drakai shot back as he broke one of the dragon's legs with a Fire Dragon's Rebellion Spear, "who doesn't know HE'S BEAT!" This was followed by a wing attack so hot it made the residents of Stella feel as though a fierce summer heat wave had rolled in to beat down on them.

Omega Animus retaliated with a Crystal Dragon's Radiant Spear, which sent thousands of rainbow-colored energy blasts at Drakai, who nimbly dodged the ones that would sink into the ocean, and smacking away the lasers that would have hit the island. Glaring at one burst of magic that nearly hit the capital, the fused warrior stretched out his hands to either side of him as his different magics grew in his palms while he chanted, "Fire in my right hand, and etherion in my left… Together they create…" His hands came together, compressing the different energies into one shining ball of fire that immediately tripled in size as soon as he raised it over his head. "Fire Dragon's Etherious Flame!"

He hurled the new technique at the massive dragon, who was too slow to dodge it, engulfing him in an explosion that shone like the sun. Omega Animus screeched in agony as he fell out of the smoke that was left behind, but he turned his body to aim his maw directly at the island before growling, "If you insist on standing in my way, then I have no choice but to end your little friends!"

"I won't let you hurt them!" Drakai shouted before he stabbed the dragon's belly and kicked him higher into the sky, putting him between the island and the power-mad monster above him. Putting his arm to his side, he began to gather scarlet fire enhanced with raw ki in his right hand in preparation of what would be his most powerful technique. "I will overcome every crisis in front of me, dragon! I will always give it everything I have when it comes to my friends! Because that's what makes Kaidon and Dragneel who they are!"

"But I know who you truly are!" Omega Animus bellowed as his ceased powering the magic circles across the world, and instead focused the power of the Dragon Cry solely within himself. His body glowed a blinding white as he flapped his mighty wings to charge directly at Drakai. "One of you is the destroyer of all! E.N-!"

"I am the protector of all I hold dear! The Time Nest, Fairy Tail, all of it! I would throw everything else away, if it meant that I could keep them safe!" the fused fighter retorted, the fire in his hand growing hotter than Namek before it exploded. "Super Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus… PROMINENCE BURN!" A ruby-white beam of pure dragon fire slammed into the dragon, punching a hole in its stomach before it exploded inside his body, scattering his every atom to kingdom come in a shower of embers. Not even a single shard of the dragon balls survived the brutal attack, so complete was the fused dragon's destruction.

Drakai cast out his senses to make sure that the threat was well and truly gone before he exhaled a sigh of relief and allowed himself to revert back to his base form as he began his descent back toward the earth. His scales faded away to be replaced by tanned skin, though it wasn't as dark as when he had merged the powers of the primordial saiyan with Natsu's Dragon Force. His muscles became more compact, and his tail had grown back Gorun's brown fur, while his hair reduced in length to become more like Natsu's save that the primary color was black with a few pink highlights.

When he touched down on the ground, he was immediately greeted by a relieved Sonya and Lucy, along with an ecstatic Happy. "That was so cool!" he exclaimed as Drakai favored them all with a smile. "It's like a unison raid, but instead of combining magic, you combined people! How does it work?! Can I learn it? How much stronger does it make you?!"

The fused warrior laughed a little bit before he answered, "Gorun's earrings have a very special magic in them, no, I can't teach it to you, and it depends on the people that are fusing."

"Aw man…" Happy looked disappointed, but he moved aside to let Lucy hug Drakai tightly as she cried tears of relief into his chest, much to his embarrassment.

"Whoa," he chuckled nervously as he returned the embrace with no small amount of awkwardness. "I guess Gorun isn't used to getting attention from beautiful girls."

"Wait, aren't you both of them?" Sonya asked as she stood a few feet away from them. "How would you not know what one of them is like?"

"Their personalities are very different from one another, so it's kind of hard to tell which traits I inherited from each of them," Drakai answered with a shrug as Lucy pulled back. "It's not permanent, so it won't matter too much in the long run. Besides, once Azura and Gorun leave, your memories of them will fade away."

"What?!" Lucy gasped, while Sonya looked alarmed. "But I don't wanna forget you guys! You helped save us, and our kingdom! You're our friend!"

Drakai gave her a sad smile before he said, "It's the nature of their job. No one can know how they influenced events, no matter who they are, or what they mean to Azura and Gorun."

"So… none of us will remember each other?" Sonya asked sadly. "We won't know who was really responsible for saving my people?"

"As far as you'll be aware, Natsu will have defeated Animus while your other friends will have taken care of the Stellan knights, Drakai answered with a single nod. "Not even Natsu will remember Gorun, despite sharing a mind with him at this very moment."

"Our minds may not remember, but our hearts will," Lucy insisted stubbornly. "We don't forget our friends, no matter how far away they go from us."

Again, the fused warrior let out a sad chuckle. "I wish that you were right, Lucy," he told her. "But the laws of existence are absolute, and they say that you cannot have knowledge of Gorun or his cousin."

"But you'll remember us, right?" Happy asked. When Drakai nodded, he added, "Maybe someday we can meet again, when you're not working whatever job it is that you're doing."

"This job will probably take up the rest of Gorun's life," Drakai said with a negative shake of his head. "With power like his, he has a responsibility to watch over people everywhere, for as long as he can. …If things were different, I know he would join your guild in a heartbeat. Your passion and desire to live life to the fullest in spite of the hardships that you face is something that he really admires." Giving vent to a helpless shrug, he added, "But there's no use in wondering what might have been. All we can do is work with what we have been given, and learn to be content with it. You have your guild, and Gorun has his duty."

"Yeah, well…" Lucy said before she stood up on her tiptoes and gave the fused warrior a kiss on the cheek, much to his surprise. "Since I won't remember this, I just wanna say 'thanks', Son Gorun. If you ever change your mind, you'll be welcome in our guild- and if you're part Natsu, you know that offer is good for life, got it?"

"Uh… yeah," the young man said as his fingers brushed his anointed flesh. "He'll remember."

"And if you do come back to this part of the world, please don't forget to visit Stella, too," Sonya said as she walked a little closer to the fusion. "I know that it's going to be a while before it can be restored to its former glory, but when it does happen, I'd love to show you the wonders of our kingdom." And just like Lucy had a moment ago, she kissed him on his other cheek.

"Thanks, Sonya," Drakai said as he reddened further. "If the day ever comes that I can be relieved of my duty, I will come to visit. You won't remember who I am, but I'll be glad to see you, regardless."

"Hey, it's like I told you," Lucy giggled as the sun began to rise over the horizon. She raised her hand over her head gave him the Fairy Tail salute as she reminded him, "Our minds may not remember you, but our hearts will. Don't you forget it."

Conton City, Two Days Later…

"And that completes our report," Azura said as she handed the Supreme Kai of Time a small stack of papers. "We didn't recover the dragon balls, but considering the circumstances, I think it was best that they were destroyed." She had come in to deliver the report that she and Gorun had spent the afternoon compiling while her cousin returned home, having claimed that he needed some alone time. Azura didn't understand why that would be the case, but she didn't argue with him about it, either. She owed him a few favors, so this seemed like a trivial enough errand.

"Fu and Cumber got away, but you managed to foil their interference with the flow in that timeline," Chronoa nodded as she accepted the papers. "Based on a discrepancy in the scrolls for Universe 9, I found that Fu travelled to that dimension in order to use the black star dragon balls without any interference. His wish was for the shadow dragons and Animus to merge into one being, which explains the monster that Gorun had to fight."

"Speaking of which…" Azura said with a frown. "He mentioned that he performed a potara fusion with one of the local wizards. Are you sure that he won't remember anything of us?"

Chronoa immediately shook her head in the negative at that. "Now that the interference has been dealt with, I was able to repair the scroll and set everything to the way it should have been to begin with. They won't remember anything about you or your mission there."

"That's a relief," Azura sighed. "Although…"

Chronoa tilted her head at her elite subordinate. "Something wrong?"

"I don't know," Azura admitted. "Kaidon seemed… shaken, I suppose is the word. He hasn't seemed quite like himself since we returned, but he keeps insisting that he's fine."

"Hmm," Chronoa mused aloud before she clicked her fingers. "I'll have him talk to Majin Puddin'. She's been proving herself pretty good at working as a counselor, like her father."

"Good idea, but I dunno how much he'll open up to her," Azura muttered. "He's so damn stubborn."

Chronoa laughed at that. "Genora, we have yet to encounter a Saiyan that wasn't stubborn," she giggled.

Azura was irritated at that, but that was probably because her master was right. "Well, hopefully he'll have his head in the game for when we go on our next mission."

"Yes, which will be a week from now," the pink kai said. "For real, this time. Lettis and Goken have agreed to run interference if something like this happens during that time. You both need some proper rest, got it? Train if you want, but no missions for the next seven days."

"Yes ma'am," Azura sighed, making no effort to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"Dismissed, Genora. Have a good day."

That Same Day in Fiore…

"In the end, the Dragon Cry was destroyed, and thus it no longer constitutes a threat to the kingdom," Erza concluded as she and her teammates stood before the king, his daughter, and Colonel Arcadios. "Thanks to Natsu's defeat of the dragon Animus, we were spared further casualties, and Lady Sonya has pledged to send a sizeable amount of jewel in order to assist in the rebuilding of Crocus. She will be visiting next month to discuss a treaty, if you are amicable, sire."

"Very well done," King Toma nodded gratefully. "Our kingdom is in your debt once again, Fairy Tail."

"Well, it's not like we did it by ourselves," Natsu said with a large grin. "We actually had a lotta help from… Uh…?" He turned to Lucy with a slight frown and asked, "Hey, who was that guy that helped us?"

Lucy went to scold him for being so forgetful, but then she realized that she couldn't recall the identity of the person that he was talking about. "I don't know," she said after a moment.

"Are you both quite tired?" Princess Hisui asked with concern. "You both seem out of sorts."

"Yes, it was a woman that helped us defeat Zash's henchman, remember?" Erza chuckled. "She came from… Wait." Now she frowned, unable to recall the name or face of the person that had helped them. Who was it?

"Must've been a local," Gray said with a shrug. "Maybe they didn't want their name mentioned in relation to the destruction that they caused, so they altered the memories of the people that knew 'em."

"That does seem a prudent measure, as I doubt everyone in Stella would be pleased with the death of their monarch," Carla commented.

"Well, whoever helped you, I do hope that they come to see you again, someday," the king said with a favorable smile. "If they do, please let them know that they have the undying gratitude of a man happy to see his kingdom safe."

"We will," Erza promised as they all bowed to him.

Before they could leave, however, Natsu exclaimed, "Oh, wait! Before I forget, you gotta check out this fruit that Happy ate when we were over there!"

If the day ever comes that I can be relieved of my duty, I will come to visit.

Gorun sighed as he stared down at his folded hands while he sat on his bed. "Good thing they won't remember that promise," he murmured. "I'd hate to be a disappointment."

He didn't know why he was feeling so down. The mission had been mostly successful, and the damage to the timeline had been completely repaired. His grandmother had sent him congratulations earlier via voicemail, and he even had a week's vacation to do whatever he wanted in Conton.

Why do I want to go back? He wondered as he laid back on the bed to stare at the ceiling. I hardly know those people. And yet it felt… right, to be fighting alongside them. I've never felt that so quickly with anyone before, not even Azura. So why?

He could see the Fairy Tail wizards in his mind's eye as they bade him and his cousin farewell. Gray had given him a firm handshake and well wishes on his journeys while Erza and Azura had exchanged a few words and a laugh. Wendy thanked him for helping treat the kidnapped women, and Riana had once again expressed her gratitude for their hand in her escape from Zash. There had been a few other wizards from Fairy Tail that had joined their comrades during the battle, but they didn't know the Saiyans at all, so they just stayed in the background while Lucy and Natsu came to say their goodbyes.

The dragon slayer had wished him luck on his journey to ever greater power, and Gorun had returned the sentiment. Both of them had exchanged memories while being fused into Drakai, so they understood each other much better now.

Lucy once again told him to keep their guild's offer in mind, and then she had hugged him goodbye, much to his surprise and embarrassment. When they separated, he told the girl and Natsu to take good care of each other, which seemed to embarrass the two of them equally, bringing laughter to his lips.

Sonya had been the last to say goodbye, and when she did, she gave him a tighter embrace than Lucy had before she put something in his hand. "Remember us, and the people that you helped to save," she told him. "I pray that you will be safe, wherever you go, Son Gorun."

Then, they were gone back to Conton, putting Universe 17 and Fairy Tail behind them. Fu's interdimensional interference had been removed, and they even found their scouters in the remnants of the king's chambers. There were signs that they had been tampered with, but as far as they could tell, no data had been stolen, though they did have to submit them for inspection by the tech department, just in case.

I should have no reason to want to return, but…

Shaking his head, Gorun decided that he should go out for a flight to try and clear his head. As he floated out his window into the night air, he looked up to see the sky twinkling with many stars, but now that he had seen the twilight above Stella, there was no comparing the two. Sadly, he reached into his shirt and pulled out the Stellanium necklace that Sonya had given him before he had left.

Perhaps in another lifetime.

Gorun: All right! We're going back!

Azura: Yippee skipee.

Gorun: What are you mad about? You got to fight Cumber, on your own, and you kicked his ass!

Azura: While yes, that was awesome, now I have to go back to a world so lacking in good fighters.

Mataras: That's not what you were saying when Torafuzar introduced you to the ground several times.

Azura: You wanna say that again?

Mataras: Nah, you heard me fine the first time. Besides, we got more important things to cover before we lose our readers' interest.

Gorun: First off, we'd like to thank everyone for allowing our writer to indulge in this little side project of his. We do hope that you found it interesting, even if not entertaining.

Azura: Second, the next chapter will be available in time for Halloween of 2020... Wait, why does that matter? That's only a day early! Is it a spooky chapter or something?

Mataras: No. I just like holidays, plain and simple.

Azura: Well then, anything totally useless you wanna inform our audience of?

Mataras: First off, it's not useless. Second... Actually, I'll let it speak for itself.

Gorun: What's that supposed to mean?

Mataras: Just make sure to stick around after the story profile for an idea of what's to come- and why this little side project of mine might not be as insignificant as it first appears.

Gorun: Isn't the part after the profile just the preview for the next chapter?

Mataras: Next time- Clouds Gather

Azura: Stop dodging the question! What's after the profile this time?!

Mataras: Bye!

Saiyan Tail Profile
Subject: (Xeno) Azura

Saiyan Name: Genora

Code Name: Janara

Current Age: 20 yrs

Conception/Author's Commentary

As I've mentioned last chapter, I wanted a chance to look at what Gorun and Azura's relationship might have looked like if he had not fled to Universe 17. I found myself liking this version of her character a lot more than I thought I would, because we still get that inherent Saiyan pride and stubbornness, but this time around it's been tempered by her partner so that those traits are useful assets in battle as opposed to detrimental character defects that make it almost impossible for her to form healthy friendships. She's still very abrasive to those she doesn't care for, but she doesn't just stab people she doesn't have a use for, either.
With regards to both versions of this character, I am actively trying to avoid a trope in the original Dragon Ball franchise, which is to push female fighters off to the side after they've served the initial plot device. I want to keep Azura on the front lines of the story alongside Gorun, because that's where she belongs, even if neither of them will admit to it. They serve to push each others' limits, both physically and mentally, and I hope that I can continue to generate dynamic interactions between them, but I suppose only time will tell.

Known Techniques

-Kamehameha
-Spirit Bomb
-Tyrant Lance
-Spirit Sword
-Kikoho
-Deadly Dance
-Divine Wrath
-Chaos Control
-Prominence Flash

Known Transformations/Enhancements

-Kaioken
-Super Saiyan
-Super Saiyan 2
-Potential Unleashed
-Super Saiyan goddess
-Super Saiyan Blue
-Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken x10

Equipment/Items Used

-Senzu Capsules
-Time Patrol Scouter
-Clothing Capsule

Accomplishments

-Became an elite Time Patroller a year after Gorun at age 17
-Became a Super Saiyan goddess in the same year, making her the youngest person to ever achieve the power, as well as the second female Saiyan to accomplish the feat
-Unlocked Super Saiyan Blue at age 19
-Is the only individual to have fought off Cumber without assistance from others, though it was an earlier version of the ancient Saiyan

Somewhere in Universe 14, Age unknown...

"Well, that plan was kind of a wash," Fu sighed as he readjusted his glasses as he stared at the screens that he had been monitoring for the last few hours. "But it's not a total loss."

Shrugging to himself, he hopped out of his comfy office chair and headed out into the open air, where he could see a vast, swirling storm of dark energy centering around his laboratory. Drawing his sword, he aimed it skyward and grinned as he added to himself, "At least now we know of a super-fun universe ripe with uncounted possibilities for untapped power!" The blade began to glow as the storm converged upon his weapon, filling him with its energy and refreshing his weary body.

As he let out a sigh of contentment, a slim figure stirred from next to his doorway and muttered, "You're welcome. I held up my end of the deal- you'd better pull through on yours', if you know what's good for you."

"Hey now, let me take second to chill," Fu giggled as the skies above began to clear. "I'll deliver in good time, don't you worry."

"I suggest you deliver on my time," the other speaker growled as they stepped into the light to reveal dark crimson eyes that burned with hatred. "You know what happens to people who disappoint me."

"Well, your time is gonna have to wait," Fu shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not a good move to act right now, not with the Time Patrol breathing down our necks. You oughta know that messing with Conton's time stream directly is a risky business, even on a good day." As he finished speaking, the last of the energy he had summoned drew into his blade, which he quickly sheathed. He had been hoping to generate more of a tear in the fabric of time with his experiment on the cracked dragon balls and the dragons of Earthland, but now he had better idea of what to expect when the real scheme began to proceed in earnest.

"When my plan goes into action, the Time Patrol will be the least of your concerns, and you will be free to reshape the book of Beginning to End however you please," said the speaker with blood-red eyes that narrowed. "Just do what I tell you, when I tell you to do it, and five seconds ago if possible. Else…" A ruby red blade appeared next to Fu's face, slicing his ear and drawing a trickle of dark demon blood from the wound. He froze in place as he felt his 'ally' draw near enough to feel their breath on his neck as they whispered, "You'll be joining Demigra in his final destination."

Fu swallowed past a dry throat before he forced a laugh and said, "You're a regular riot at parties, aren't you? Don't worry, things are all set up. Just give the word, and your puppets will be ready for the show, Vajra."

"That's what I wanted to hear," the other figure said as the blade retracted and the owner stepped in front of Fu, who unconsciously reached for his sword as a precaution. Vajra chuckled in a dark tone before adding, "If you think that little toothpick can kill me, you're not as bright as your reputation depicts you."

"Hey, with friends like you…"

"I'm not your friend," Vajra hissed sharply. "You're my tool, nothing more. Friends are nothing more than a liability, something that our Fairy Tail wizards about to find out the hard way."

"Any in particular that we should target first?" Fu asked as he rubbed his palms together, the scientist in him eager to begin the experiment in earnest. Despite his earlier remarks, he was intrigued to watch the firework display that they were sure to get.

"Send them after the saiyans first," Vajra said after a moment of thought. "I need to be sure that the time rift you just closed hasn't had any undesirable effects on the timeline that we're targeting."

"Donezo," Fu grinned as he rubbed his wounded ear. With a click of his fingers, he giggled, "It's showtime."