Yo! Son Goku and friends! Babidi Saga (Chapter 27)
Tien
"What the hell..?" Tien let slip as he slid his hand across the oil slick. A gaseous feedback looked to strip his flesh effective immediately until he tightened up and activated his Ki. A spark fired off and the toxic flood scraped away from his radius. "So this is a Shadow Dragon?" He asked himself as his third eye sharpened through the fog.
The ocean stank and curdled up into green and blue luminescents. Certain life grew but it was mostly mushrooms and filthy, gunked up mutations. Putrid piles and strange sounds echoed out from within. An ethereal breathing permeated, as if the whole thing was alive.
"Jeez~ Awh~ That is foul~ What the hell..?"
"Heyyy~ I didn't say you could come in here. But first off~ What the hell? How are you still standing?"
"What..?"
Tien's vision blurred and mixed, and so did his hearing. The silhouette of a frog-like beast with sharp horns and spikes edged ever closer through the fog. The colours shifted periodically and the sound coming in warped and changed.
"It's kind of impressive how you're still standin' right now."
Tien raised his arm as a building mass lodged in his throat. He plugged his nose and locked eyes with the otherworldly glow Haze Shenron shined through on him. His doughy body was cast in shadows but The Green Shadow Dragon's immense, larger-than-life eyes shined like headlights through the muck. As soon as he made eye contact with Haze he vomited, blowing chunks into the reef of noxious fumes.
"Oh my~ You gonna take me out to dinner first before you start gettin' all hot and bothered? I ain't an easy lady, I'll tell you that up front."
"Geugh~" Tien heaved, looking for a second wind but only finding the odorous stench of the corroded ocean. The Crane locked eyes again with Haze Shenron and attempted to root into a stance only to find his limbs lacking, and muscles spazzing.
"I gotta give you a round of applause." He said, reinforcing the notion by bringing his hands together. "You're not even supposed to be able to stand in here without dissolving let alone breathe it in a few times."
Sklush!
Tien meandered and backpedaled, scooting his behind back up to shore, luckily standing on the outskirts of the ocean. The trash, plastics, and leftovers of the sea washed up on the dirtied sand. He tried to get a real breath but still couldn't, falling over himself trying to simply stand.
"Welp. You had a good run. It's time to say goodbye." The Green Shadow Dragon lamented as he stuck his giant claw hand out to palm Tien's head like a basketball.
"Kaio-Khen!" He shouted desperately as the tea kettle whistles and lime green aura lashed back against the grime and dirt traveling up his frame like an entity all its own.
TWIIUUUUUUUU!
Tienshinhan shot back like a bullet, aiming for the tropical treeline past the edge of the beach. He grinded along the sand and scuffed his way into the grass and dirt, gulping in as much as he could manage from the non-toxic streams provided by nature's embrace. His spinning head sort of came back to a neutral alignment and the image in front of him normalised. Warping spirals blotted out and confused his vision but the colours weren't the mishmash they were moments earlier. He breathed in deep through his nose and the wash of clean air filtered in. He gasped like he had never taken a breath in his life and watched as the piss yellow fog lights of Haze's eyes squinted.
Haze left The Crane with merely a wave of his left hand before turning tail and trudging back into the black oil sludge. It took a couple seconds before Tien realised that he was just staring at nothing, like time had skipped by.
"Doh~ God~" Tien cursed, looking at his mucked up skin and clothes. Most of it had either gunk, or patchy holes, some of it had straight up disintegrated under the pressure. He let out a yell and fired up his Ki, blowing off the gunk in an epic roar only to end up with nothing at all on his body. He looked to the swamp and shuddered, rubbing his itchy and reddened skin. "What the hell was that?"
"..."
He plugged his nose and popped his ears, a single tear falling down from his third eye as he did it. The sound of nature was present, rambunctious animals in the tropics made their presence known but it only took a couple steps for the drowned out drear to rear its ugly head. The slippery gunk seemed to move and shift of its own accord, sometimes popping or slipping out to snatch trash from the bay. A slippery green slug thing pulped onto the beach to grab a red plastic cup only to retreat back into the mist, a green line following it into the abyss.
"We certainly can't take this guy out using normal means. What in the world was that?"
Tien looked down at his naked body and scoffed.
"Bastard ruined my clothes."
Eis
"Found ya~"
"Just the man I wanted to see."
East City was crowded. Not because it was bustling with life in the city streets with their cart stalls and bazaars but because the populace was evacuating en masse. Many of the inhabitants took to the streets, snatched up things they wanted and filed out, most with a sharp M overlaid on their foreheads, their skin tight, and bunching up, showing the vascularity of each of their figures.
Pretty much not a single person spared a moment's concern as Syn and Eis yelled at each other from across the busy morning in East City. Eis weaved through the crowd, icicles forming on the cart stalls through their fryers and whatnot, glistening up the cobblestone and causing a few frosted flakes to flitter throughout. Syn wiped down the last of his dragon's blood with the help of a lovingly crafted rug hung up on the stand of someone who was no longer occupying it.
"You're looking a little under the weather~" His chilling, staticky voice radioed out as he got in range.
"Well, maybe these Earthborne have hands. I wouldn't rule it out. Just so happens that a five on one isn't the best odds."
"Fancy that." Eis replied with a shit eating grin. "So did you hear what that wizard Babidi just said?"
"I think it was pretty impossible to not hear it. Little rat wants these peons~" Syn said as he snatched up a passerby with kid in tow. "To show up to his little hideout. I think it's quite interesting that he thinks he can challenge us. How strong is that guy?" He asked while throwing the mother to the concrete with little regard. She didn't care much either quite frankly, just standing up and marching along to the beat with the other citizens of East City, even her child walking on without her.
"Not very."
"Exactly. How does he hope to keep those 5 from The Black Star set away from us?"
"Us?"
"Are you in?"
"I never thought I'd see the day."
"Well I don't feel like waiting it out and having any of the others get first dibs on it. I'd rather share The Black Star set than not eat any."
"Feeling very spontaneous today, are we? Lead the way then, Syn." Eis said as he waved his hand out to the open stretches of bamboo forests, rustic eastern elements, and mountain ranges dotting the countryside.
Nuova
The calm waters of the ocean turned into portraits of the universe, a magical mist spread along its turbulent edge. Strange spirals and pulsating streams cut across. The image distorted frequently at the heat displayed by Nuova, soon enough, The Golden Shadow Dragon breathed in, sucking in all the nearby heat and allowing the pulsating landscape to take shape.
Hyahaha-Ha-Huh-Heh-Hah-Hah! Of course it is! Hello! My name is Babidi, son of the great wizard Bibidi and am from a long line of illustrious mages! I'm going to be your new ruler from now on! This planet is a great choice for my goals because many of you aren't pure, far from it! Being as weak as you are too from a person-to-person basis means that I can just do this~"
The constellation he seemed to be trapped in bulged inward, a screeching sound blaring out as Nuova simply raised his brow.
"And control you from this far away! It's kind of unfair really. I want all of you to report to~ Here! Now. It's come to my attention that there's been a little speedbump in my strategy."
"Who the hell is this?" Nuova asked aloud as his wings flapped a single time and he looked at the soupy image in the purple and maroon mix.
"I expected the people of this world to not necessarily let me put my hands on The Dragon Balls for free. But what I didn't expect was not only just how much of a match a few of them were, but that there were… complications, with one of the sets. I am in possession of five Dragon Balls myself but there are at least 7 distinct life forms that spawned on this planet as soon as I used the first set. Now, they are more of a nuisance than I would like simply because I don't know their motive. All of you that I just snatched, please report to me with The Dragon Balls found here Aaand here~"
Another flash surged throughout the thoughtscape and nothing happened, Nuova looked around, just the etherium as it was moments earlier.
"Thank you."
The high pitched voice stopped and Nuova looked about the waters as the shadows receded. The grip it had on the surroundings was palpable but started to displace the more Nuova moved.
"Some sort of Telepathic spell. He didn't get into my head so much as force it onto the environment…" Nuova stated as he looked down at his shimmering gold hand, slashing away at the rest of the cosmos inhabiting the sea. "Whoever that creature is certainly is no slouch when it comes to spells…"
Nuova's senses surged and he smiled.
"He's over there, huh?" He let out into the open as he looked across the calm waters of the deep. "Pretty foolish to broadcast it when Syn's prowling around…" His brows furrowed, the last hurrah of the thoughtscape vanished under the heatwave sizzling out of The Golden Shadow Dragon's scales. "Wait… If Syn heard that, then he's going to make sure to get dibs on those five Dragon Balls."
His eyes closed, Nuova placed his left hand squarely over his face only to have it sink in like molten mud. He pulled out The 7 Star Dragon Ball and gripped it tight. As he did so, the orange orb tainted blue pulsed, and the ocean fell away again to a different dream realm. There was only one of that true golden glow that hit back against his inherent draconic sonar.
"Did someone already snatch it? Doubtful. It's only been a couple of seconds… But in any case, that means there's only one left." He stuck The 7 Star Ball right back into his forehead like it was quicksand and let out a grunt as another wave of energy pulsed and he received the feedback of The 4 Star Ball.
Bubblubblubblu~
The shining sea around him bubbled to a boil, hot steam rising into the air as he stared down the horizon, nothing but miles and miles of ocean in every direction. A whirlpool of displaced and locked out fluids culminated under his sheer simmering pressure and he took flight, bursting along the sky like a molten spout of lava.
"... There." His droning cantor finished as he carved through the roof like butter and landed right in the middle of a cafeteria.
"What the he-"
"Stop right there!"
"Security can't get any worse in this place, can it? They just be letting anyone in here." Monster Carrot claimed as he rolled his eyes. "Damn, it's pretty hot in here."
Sweat broke out on the guards as they raised their weaponry.
"Don't come any closer!"
"Freeze!"
"Stay right where you are!"
With guns trained on him at all angles, Nuova spared a passing glance at the officers and prisoners alike, standing right in the middle of already leaving inmates, strewn about plates, and the cleaning crew. His brow narrowed and he looked up at an upper lip of cells placed just above the room.
"I said don't move!"
Fwoffffff~
"Intruder! We've got an intruder! I repeat! We've got an intruder in South City Penitentiary! Superman level threat! We need Superman on the phone asap!"
As the guards squabbled back and forth, Nuova just hopped up to the second floor, placed his hands on the bars and pushed them out of the way like they were nothing more than foam noodles.
"What!? Superman level threat up in North City!? What's going on!? And he's not even there!? Talk to me!"
"Ahh~ There it is."
Out of the shadows walked a green bug man in a stark orange jumpsuit. Cell smiled as the shining gold Shadow Dragon glimmered even brighter in the darkness. The 4 Star Dragon Ball illuminated rainbow colours brilliantly and an even more luminescent black took shape as Nuova's light shined on its starry surface.
"I happen to need that thing you're carrying. I don't really care either way, but I'm going to be nice and just ask first."
Cell made enthusiastic duck lips and pointed his soft white hands at the sphere in question.
"This? This right here?" He goaded, all smiles as he shook the shining orb and held it close to his face.
"Yes. The 4 Star Dragon Ball of The Black Star Ball set created by Garlic The 1st."
"I have no idea of any of what you just said, sir, but I find that quite interesting."
"Cool. Now are you going to give me The Dragon Ball?"
"Perhaps. But I can't really do much of anything while I'm stuck here in this jail cell. And it wouldn't be very nice of me to just hand over this item to someone who broke into prison."
The embers lighting up on Cell's inmate jacket lit aflame, not only that but the entire rest of the prison burst into a roaring blaze. The heat hit hard, burning Cell's jacket to nothing but ashes, peeling off his body at a startling rate. The floor shifted from a so-so grey to a matte black and charcoal covering.
The guards of the second floor screamed as their skin sweltered and melted off the bone.
"Master! Help us!" The big brown one of the two hollered from the floor as he caught fire and groaned out a smokey incantation of death. "Guuu~"
FWOFFFFF~
At that, Carrot realised the true monster and hightailed it out of there, still stuck in the cuffs but able to leap and bound much farther and faster with his bunny legs than the officers lining the jail.
Kah-KOOOOOOOHMMMM!
"Oh my!"
It wasn't a joke. Not at all.
The sunglasses lining Carrot's nose fell to the sandy outskirts of South City's Penitentiary as it blew up. The strong foundation corroded inwards and all that was left were smokey fumes that filtered out into the sahara. Carrot plugged his bunny nose as the black fog filtered out into the dust. The last gasps of the prisoners and the guards were let known, screaming for help without a sign of it to be spoken of.
"Welp." Cell remarked, eyes a tad wide as he saw the scorching, alive-right-now bodies of those who clearly wouldn't be in the next few seconds. "There they go."
"AAAAAaaaaaaaghckaugh~"
As he watched the flesh peel away from the various guards keeping watch over the prisoners, Cell's eyes glinted both from the light cast from the fire and of his own amusement.
"Such a beautiful expression of power…" Cell didn't even realise left his lips.
FWOOFFFFFFFFffffff~
"Help Meeeee~"
"So sorry~" Cell waved as another ashen figure knocked to its knees, the structural support not there to meet his upper body and atomising instantly. "It's their job not to die, it is Not my job to save them. My job is to watch over this Dragon Ball. I did make a promise, you know."
"Oh~ What a cunning adversary I seem to have run into."
"Oh darn it~" Cell claimed as he snapped the fingers of his off hand in a whimsical way. "It seems my tenure at South City Penitentiary has come to an end at the hand of some dastardly devil. But at least it wasn't my fault. You want The Dragon Ball?"
"Yes. But I thou-"
"Kick rocks, Bitch!" The way it came out of Cell's mouth slapped Nuova in the face. Immediately after, Cell jammed The Dragon Ball in his throat and swallowed, the orange sphere shining one last time before disappearing down his gullet.
"I can see you're not the type of person that can be persuaded."
"Not true." Cell countered with a smirk, standing tall and pointing at the shining gold adversary across from him.
"I don't even have to say anything to prove my point." His voice stated with a staticky cackle. "Guess I'll just rip it right out of you~"
FWOFFFFFFFFF~
Cell could feel it immediately as the heat turned up tenfold. Not only did it feel like he was standing next to the sun, it looked like it too. Searing reds and crumbling blacks around him fell away next to the radiant gold illuminating off of his shiny Shadow Dragon scales.
Cell Vs Nuova Shenron
Objective: Lay claim to The 4 Star Dragon Ball!
The sweltering heat itself was enough to dissuade, but as Nuova predicted, Cell stood strong, not persuaded easily. The Dragon Ball hit the pit of his stomach and Cell grimaced, a strange feeling, and not the good kind. His eye twitched and The Golden Shadow Dragon rushed forward.
DOOOOOHMMMM!
Their fists clashed and a bellowing hurricane of flame bursted outwards on all sides. The remnants of the building's construction was still intact, but it was on fire and melting at the seams. As Cell and Nuova made contact, the upper lip of the prison dented downward and busted. The burning charcoal floor that caved underneath Cell wanted to glue itself to his feet but The Free Man resisted, unsticking his yellow appendages from the fiery flooring.
Wsht! Fwash!
Before Cell knew it, he was truly in the pits of something surreal. The fire around him grew stronger but dimmer as Nuova's golden glimmer took over. The heat licked onto his flesh and his skin sweat, his armour turning a golden brown as if the toast in the toaster. He was fast, meeting The Golden Shadow Dragon blow for blow, but with each hit, each trade, the burning sensation coming from within and outside came to a boil. He laid in a three-piece combo, right-left-left roundhouse to finish. Nuova ate in on the mouth and was forced to backpedal from the strength of the combination but Cell soon realised:
Fwofffff~ Crackle~
"..." Nuova smiled.
that there was no escaping the flame.
FWOFFFFFFFF~
The land surrounding South City Penitentiary lit aflame as well, the sands themselves turned into a true hellscape. The fire grew higher, Cell right in the centre of the bonfire, forced to fight as the fire somehow had viscous energy to it, pushing Cell and his wings back down to the ground with each attempt to take flight. The black blots on his bug skin wore through, and the rest of his shell started to resemble it, the healthy green it once took nowhere in sight.
And so. Cell stepped right back into the game, no advantage to be taken? So be it. His low-to-the-ground flight path was hard to adjust to, and Nuova took another couple of shots hard to the scales trying to pin him down. Ultimately, The Golden Shadow Dragon found the angle:
"Huuuu~" His radio static-like voice chimed out as he found Cell's chest breastplate with a firm right elbow. Fire burst alive from his chest in the single contact and blasted The Free Man back into the burning abyss, onto his ass. Cell rolled with the momentum and stood to his feet as the squelching building finally collapsed in its entirety, a smokey plumage in all directions. Cell sweat as Nuova reared back his left. Fired.
Fwuf~
Reared back his right. Fired.
Fweff~
Left. Right. Left right. Leftrightleftrightleftrightleftright~ He shot a veritable volley of firebombs over and over as Cell attempted to get out of the way, but there was nowhere to go, flames on all sides, fire covering not just forwards, but backwards, upwards. Downwards was a hazard in and of its own as his soles slicked off his body and burnt to a crisp. Existence was pain and soon enough Cell's body gave up the ghost. He grit his teeth and simply raised his arm to guard as Nuova Shenron launched fiery shot after fiery shot, walking forwards as he did so, gaining ground with his ludicrously powerful and fervent fire.
Cell let out a chuckle. He couldn't really even see his hands anymore, not because they weren't there, but because the only colours that existed now were black, red, and the gold shimmering just behind the walls of flame.
"Burn… To ashes." Nuova commanded with his radio cantor as he edged ever nearer The Free Man.
The flame blacked out his figure, but left his silhouette. Even through the fire, Nuova could see the man's smile as it took over. Nuova's brow furrowed as his foe screamed for his life.
"KAIYO-KEN!"
ZNNN~BHAMMM!
"Kuh~" He let out dumbly as Cell's melting elbow came crashing right into the side of his jaw. "Hah!"
Nuova whiffed clean as The Free Man took his drive-by and ran with it, spinning out wildly with flight only to come back in with the beat of his wicked wings. They flapped as hard as they could under the conditions, moving him back and forth with a beat akin to a dragonfly. Not just one, nor two, Cell landed three more shots from odd angles as he outmaneuvered and outperformed Nuova with his kinetic and pugilistic dance.
Nuova sharpened his eyes, flapping his own wings and leaping into the air to pursue, kicking out both legs in a true enter the dragon.
FWOFFFFF~
Cell took to the melting ground, forced to hike his feet up with each step lest he be glued to the floor as he made The Golden Shadow Dragon whiff his attack. Cell doubled back, looking to pursue the presumably fatal push Nuova committed as he took to the skies.
Slling! Fwofff~
With his tongue, Nuova turned around like he was playing twister, staying stationary with his legs but whipping his head back and following through with his tongue. The purple appendage grew gold and a line of lava spit out as he did so, lashing right through Cell's right arm, severing it with ease. The weave Cell had to perform was tight and the top of his V-shaped head went with it on the right side. The Free Man looked down as his right arm went free, falling into the blackened abyss only to burn up soon thereafter. The thoughts: "I could die..." echoed within his mind as his foe geared up for another.
"Plah~" His voice cooed as he shot out another molten layer of spit, barely weaved as Cell darted to the ground.
"Kkkkk~" The feedback of the Kiao-Ken hit doubly hard under the flames, his body unable to handle both simultaneously and the sheer enactment of the technique forcing him to evade rather than fight. He wasn't blessed with any adrenaline based blockout of his right arm's damages either. The ghost pain immediately made itself relevant, before fading away in the cacophony of nerve ends simultaneously firing and frying.
He skirted along the ground trying to avoid the licking flames of what was left of the prison and Nuova's lashing barrage of fire. The Golden Shadow Dragon stayed shimmering, throwing attack after attack from the cover of his burning blitz. Cell smiled once again.
"I've tried to stay true to myself…" He kept to himself, dodging the flames but still sweating off his bug armour in slow, slimy chunks. "Perhaps I could have done some things better. I really do quite like Son Goku and his friends… But it's been so long since I've fought someone to the death." He gripped his fist tight and dashed back in instead of running away. His eyes were full of life despite the conditions and he entered range zero with a dastardly rush that The Shadow Dragon clearly didn't expect.
"..!"
WHAMM!
Nuova was sent for a loop, spinning out over the melting pot of his own design only for his foe to keep pressure, keep pursuing. The flash of flames still burnt on all sides but Cell pushed through. He weaved through the walls of fire, keeping his pressure alive with frantic strikes.
Cell rushed in with his missing limb only to strike with his left hand. Whiff. Spin. Left roundhouse this time. Miss. Nuova was on the backfoot, but kept his composure, his domain after all, no real backfoot to be had. But on the last step, Cell leaped in again with the missing right hand, spinning for a third time, the 720 gyration and coming through with a phantom limb.
Splutt! WHACKK!
"..!" Nuova didn't say anything, just looking at the green limb that spawned to life under the pressure of the melting pot, green fluids that sizzled to ash as soon as they came to life. Cell booted his golden adversary right in the chest and thrust him back. Cell looked down at the hand with wide eyes, something to the tune of: 'Why? How did I do that?' But with no time to think, The Free Man went for broke, slamming in attack after attack, but only pursuing the line of offence with his new right hand.
"No problem. He can't kill me with only one hand. The rest of him is burning alive."
And he was right, Cell's face gooped and warped, it was a miracle that The Free Man was still fighting, brought along by the sheer presence of his right arm's lifespan. He laid in a machine gun barrage with one arm, but the liquifying heat The Shadow Dragon lit his scales up with was another story, with each hit, Cell drug back less and less of his right hand.
"I know I can kill him but I just can't Do It with one hand!" He shouted in his mind as Nuova was content to line up blocks. An epiphany mid-battle cut across and without thinking, his eyes sparkled purple and he aimed them down at his left leg. "DYAAAH!" He yelled, a true warcry, the likes of which to be feared as he fired the two lasers and separated his left limb.
"..?" Nuova looked down as his foe cut his own leg off only to: "..!"
WHAMMM!
Be knocked upside the head by the new limb that spawned in its place. Gooey lava spit forced into the air as Nuova ate the shot hard and almost fell over. He took a couple of truly hobbling steps only to realise his folly. Cell looked down at the healthy glow from his left leg and put it together, screaming and slashing off his entire right side starting from the hip with his only real hand remaining as the left charred into nothing but cinders.
Splatt!
He dashed in, his body tight and blackened, his right arm a 'healthy' toaster orange, and his legs quickly turning from green to the attempted matching of his hand. He dashed forward like an olympic runner, screaming as he did so, rearing back his right hand to start.
WHOCKK!
Duff. Right in the nose. His perfect nose literally fell off from the contact, nothing but ashes now. A left leg? Not that either as he took a right hook to the ribs for his troubles. The Golden Shadow Dragon even had a counter for the right knee, folding Cell over and forcing his swabbing spit that turned to dust immediately. He bent over in front of the sheer mastery of The Shadow Dragon, as if a king. His legs took a kneel forcibly and Nuova gutted him from the core, placing his hand right up to the black bug plate just below his chest and nuking it with a golden glow of perfect flame.
FWOFFFFF!
The blast echoed out into the dusty sands as Nuova gripped onto The Black Star Dragon Ball, taking it right out from Cell's midsection. He smirked at the ball.
THOKK!
A knee to the head thrust Nuova onto his ass. He looked up as a simple pair of legs rushed him, gooifying from the top. The flames intensified on all sides as The Free Man's lower body fought to the finish, laying in kick after kick, The Golden Shadow Dragon unprepared for such ludicrous combat.
"What?" Is all he could muster with his radio-static voice until Cell's legs laid in a thumper of a right thrust to the stomach, forcing a gasping of breath that culminated in:
THLOKKK!
"Okay, who is this guy, Whis? He's hard. He just took out Nuova and he was nothing but a pair of legs."
Nuova's head dropped to the flaming floor, his body still upright until it wasn't, falling over and letting out pouring lava instead of blood that impacted the sand just as you'd expect. The flames started to die down as Cell's legs held the pose, a beautiful high leg from the front, it was insane just how much power he generated from that position, it didn't even make sense, but it certainly wasn't the first time he finished an opponent that way. Cell's legs fell over themselves only for:
Squellt!
"Ga-Huhhhhh~" He breathed out as his body splashed out from the wound, a totally new top half to not-so-great go with the golden bottom half littered with chars and burns.
"That is Cell. He's perfect, you know."
Through the sputtering gasps for new breath, Cell watched as lava hit the sand, the fires drew back towards the ground, a smile formed.
"Why do I even leave room for doubt? I was Made for this!"
Cell struggled to let in the faint breaths the toxic vapour that the ruined building of South City Penitentiary allowed. With each new breath a cough came out and he was obligated to clear the way with booming blasts of energy and Kiai cannons that swatted away the foggy black air. The ruined rubble still contained a degree of fire and flame as The Golden Shadow Dragon melted into the ground. The goopifying sound of lava bubbles boiled and he meandered around the field looking for The Dragon Ball. Next to Nuova Shenron's decapitated body was the sphere. It shined brilliantly in the soup despite it being cradled in the lava. It showed zero sign of tampering or damage from the heat and an aura sparked to life in Cell's hand before he picked it off the ground with Telekinetic energies.
Zzzt! Tzztt! Bloip! Bloop! Gloupp!
Nuova Shenron's body began to rapidly decline and the scales morphed into more stew-like quantities. What used to be the precinct was now nothing but a black top stretching out for miles with a strange yet tiny puddle of lava stuck in the middle. It churned and spit out more goop until it was nothing more than that, no sign of a Shadow Dragon in sight.
Cell smirked as he looked down at The 4 Star Ball, each star within a deep an ominous black, illustrated with such striking imagery as the after-dawn sun rose higher into the sky.
"Someone else is looking for this, huh? What was his name, Babidi? Very well. I did my job, now I've just got to return this and get it off my hands." He said with that devilish grin, assuming the position. "Hmm~ And there are others with an energy similar to this one?" Cell remarked as he looked down at the shining pool of golden lava. "I think I'll play a different game this time."
Vwa-Vish!
Tien
Donned in the blue tunic and white parachute pants look, Tienshinhan prowled around the outside of a castle town. An entire village of sorts suspended in the air with shoddy, incomplete architecture. You could leave, but the dropoff over nothing didn't look too terribly inviting. He raised a brow as saw the people file in in droves from below. Hovering above the city, Tien scouted it out as he flew high into the sky. Soon enough, as he got close:
Clongkk!
"What?" He asked aloud.
Buyoin!
"Great. He's got some sort of shield up." He said as he knocked the back of his knuckles against the transparent-air-turned-blue each time he made contact.
"Hey~ Off the property, Three Eyes! Unless you've got something Lord Babidi wants I suggest you get a move on before you get hurt!"
"Haven't heard that one before!" He yelled back through the barrier as a bruised alien in white armour hovered on the other side, opposite him. "Crap. I got way too close." He made sure not to say out loud, floating backwards ever so slowly.
"... So you didn't get the memo?"
Tien stared at the flying guard's leg. The alien looking individual had suffered some sort of wound that was wrapped in not what looked like bandages, more like scrolls with ancient texts. Whatever it was, the foot was still there.
"..."
"Interesting. Ayy Babidi! Get this guy with the lock!"
Warping colours and magical runes dotted the landscape of the castle drenched in ethereal sunset reds. The palace was swarming with colours that mismatched the time of day and soon enough a response followed through.
"The Lock?"
"Thank you, Pui Pui. I'll get started on that right away."
As Tien studied the rest of the environment, a burning sensation etched into the skin above his third eye and his body curdled at the feeling.
"What..? Ahh~ Ahh!" He winced in pain. "What the hell..?" He put his hand up to feel and brought it back, expecting to draw back blood but there wasn't any. "..?"
The man cackled from through the invisible dome-like wall as the uncanny nerves fired in jittered responses. His eyesight dulled but then:
Snapp!
"Hey."
"Wha..?"
"Babidi! He's here! He's here again!"
"Who's here?"
As the Telepathic line came through for Pui Pui, so too did it for everyone in Ex-Castle Kress, all of Babidi's M tattoo'd minions staring up at the three beings floating high in the sky. With the top few buttons unbuttoned, Smoke flapped his sleek blue blazer and smiled.
"I don't know who you are, but I kind of don't like this other guy. I'll say that much. So I'll let you off the hook. Don't say I never did you Earthbornes any favours."
Tien, truly dumbfounded, put his hand up on his forehead only to draw back moisty black ink that then turned into nothing but displaced energy as it fluttered away on the light wind.
"What is going on!? ..!" As he asked, he felt the power flare right next to him. He swallowed and realised: "Shit. Are you a Shadow Dragon?"
"The one and not only. Alright, listen. I'm gonna do you a solid. You're pretty outmatched here, so why don't you just go home and leave me to settle the beef with this little goblin, got it?"
"..? What? No, I'm not going home, I-"
"Go home. Kay? I can smell Haze's bullshit on you already. You already Went home, once. So run along and leave combat to the real fighters for once." He stated, patting Tien on the cape draped over his shoulder.
"Ooo~ Oh shit!" Pui Pui cackled from the other side, only further driving reddened embarrassment to Tien's cheeks.
"I am a martial artist! I know my limits! This is not where they end!" He claimed with an air of adamance, pointing down as his brows strained.
"Oh please~ You martial artists are always blabbering on and on about that stuff. It's kind of pathetic. You'll never reach the upper echelons of a Kai, let alone-."
"What..?"
"Oh~ I've Definitely said too much." Black Smoke winced, neck veins straining in his goofy cantor.
"You're really starting to piss me off."
"Is this where you want to start shit? Right outside the enemy's lair? You're not very smart, you know."
Tien held his tongue as Pui Pui laughed at him from the other end.
"I was the one that bailed you out. Like a kid stuck with his hand in the hand in the cookie jar. Now run along before mom comes and finds out."
"Screw you~" Tien lashed out, thrusting his hand against Smoke's blue suit jacket. The Shadow Dragon's previous demeanor fell away entirely and his jaw wormed around at the prospect.
"Piss off!"
The sky exploded in an aura of blue and black as smoke combusted and Tien blasted towards the cliffside.
"Uh oh~" Pui Pui said as the man dressed in blue flared his energy, the pulsating reading feeding through the barrier almost enough to crack it even though his attention was solely focused elsewhere.
"He lived that..?" Smoke kept to himself as Tien hit the ground with a back handspring. He cleared his throat as he fixed his jacket back into place. "I'm a reasonable guy! Last warning, Triclops!"
DOONN!
Black Smoke raised a brow as the gummy man in boxing gloves and cape came crashing out of the barrier.
"Ahh~ Not the guy I wanted to see but it's a start. Hey, any chance I could get some sort of invite to the-"
Fsht! Wsht!
"That's not a very nice way to treat a guest."
"SHUT UPP!"
"Oh you're mad from last time, huh?" The Shadow Dragon said with a wry smile.
Fwoooommm~
"Lord Babidi! He's got powers like Buu!"
"Explain!"
"Uhh~" Is all Pui Pui could manage as the man turned into nothing but sparkly blue fog mixed with greys. He plumed downwards in a ravishing spiral before landing next to Tienshinhan with his hands tucked in his pants pockets. "Smoke? He can travel using some sort of smoke!"
Buu's warycry spread out in all directions and Tien's ears didn't survive the blast, the knockout power the pink gummy man's voice had was too much and he couldn't even hear the battle going on inches away from him.
"-, –. – – – – – –?" The Shadow Dragon said as Buu came in with a bomb, throwing overtop only to catch nothing but vapours as his body dissipated and then reappeared behind Buu, kicking him one in the cape for good measure.
"- –!" The laffy taffy with piercing red irises and black eyes had visible veins showing its true vitriol but Tien couldn't hear anything coming out of his loud mouth.
He fell over a rock and onto his ass cupping his ears. Pui Pui scouted the battle from inside the safety of the bubble as it warped and shielded from the winds whipped up by seemingly only one combatant.
"Babidi, he's not fighting back. This new guy."
"Alright, alright. What's all the fuss about?" The Wizard asked as he stepped out on his lonesome, bringing his crystal ball with him as he marched the many railless bridges and weaved through the now sizable M marked compatriots doing dutiful duties.
"Him, sir."
Black Smoke ran circles, disappearing in rapid volleys of smoke and dealing damage to Buu with increasingly more potent shots. He phase shifted and hit a spinning backfist with his right as he pivoted out only to watch Buu's head spin on backwards and then rear back for a headbutt.
WHAMM!
Smoke didn't bleed but his nose reddened at the contact and he let out a cautionary laugh.
"Okay. You're clearly not a regular Earthborne, I gotta give you that."
"Grrrrrrr~"
"..? ..! Hey! You're just the guy I've been looking for!" Smoke claimed with a point and a laugh, shifting in and out of Buu's attacks as he threw them. Maintaining strict, business level eye contact as The Madjinni ran rampant but hit nothing but the blue and black aether he left in his wake.
Fwofff~ Fwahhh~
"RRrrrrrrrr~"
"You have some of The Dragon Balls from the second set, right? You were the one babbling on about it. I see you got some cronies on board with the idea. Good for you."
"Stop! Ignoring me!"
"Jeez, know when to take a hint."
Tah-TWOKKK!
The Kiai splattered Buu into goop, sending a stringy mess of pink gum swirling backwards in the air far off.
"Alright. I'm listening."
"Babidi! Why are you listening to him!?" He roared as he detached his putty-like form from the rocks, dashing back into range.
"Retard! I have multiple spells that deduce intent and honesty. This man is clearly here to discuss something, Buu."
"Don't. Call me that."
"You see what I have to deal with?"
"Must be a pain." Smoke replied, sparing a glance for the absolutely fuming state of the hot pink figure as it shook its boxing gloves. The fog that permeated from his orifices started to melt the dirt around him and Tien finally cleared out his ears, dragging back a spurt of blood from his index.
"Eugh~"
"Apparently he was supposed to get a lot smarter after fusing with his other half but this… ehh… I'll just say less competent form took over."
"Huh."
"RRRRRRAHH! I'm Swingin'!"
Tien watched on with a curious glare, his third eye soaking in all the details of The Madjinni's erratic movements and the man in the blue blazer's calm dismissal, shifting in and out of reality with his smoke until:
"Come on, Buu, you're clearly outclassed." Babidi stated with a hand wave, shaking his head at the display. "You're clearly-"
Buu whiffed the left hook, not because he missed where the target would have been but because Black Smoke vaporised once more. Before the man could fully materialise to the right Buu opened his mouth wide and sucked.
Black Smoke's eyes widened as his form took half shape then reverted, draining into Buu's mouth as he took the biggest breath man has ever taken.
"Buu! Stop that!" He commanded, a warping bit of magic and unidentifiable language spilled out of his hands.
On a dime, the blue and black fog sucking into Buu's wide mouth like a vacuum spat out and Black Smoke hit the ground. Tien spared a glance for Buu and it was comical just how downwards and scrunched the pink gummy man's face was as he looked at the wrinkly yellow goblin behind the barrier.
"Huh. Can't say I expected that. Jeez." Black Smoke commented as he brushed off some of the steamy fluid that stuck to his suit from the attempted inhalation. "Alright can I come in and discuss things more frankly with you, Mr. Babidi? I'm having a little bit of a tough time out here."
"Yes, yes, hurry up. Just make sure that one over there doesn't weasel in."
"Weaseling isn't my style. I prefer to challenge things directly, unlike you." Tien claimed as he took in a deep breath through his nose.
"Isn't that fun?" Babidi chided as the invisible barrier parted for just a moment and Black Smoke entered the bubble.
"I'm just here to be a scout anyway." Tien made sure not to let aloud as he slowly chewed on his tongue in thought. "It could have gone better but maybe I should just go…"
"I'm here to make a deal. I know my brothers and sisters want everything you have because Shadow Dragons can absorb Dragon Balls to gain more power."
"What?"
"With that out of the way-"
"Idiot-"
GZNNNNN~
"Ahhgck!" Babidi yelped as he blasted to the ground from what looked like nothing.
"Lord Babidi!" Pui Pui slid into position, holding up a stance, squaring off with The Suited Shadow Dragon.
"Don't try to use Telepathy on me."
"Why are we talking right here!? That fool out there is listening! Don't you think tha-"
"He's not strong enough to do anything about it." Black Smoke claimed adamantly as he looked back at Tien's three eyes. "I really don't think he'll be any sort of 'speedbump' in our strategy."
"Dodon Ray!"
Kchh! Zzzzn!
Tien looked down at his hands like they moved without his commands, only to realise that the invisible barrier became visible and a tiny crack formed in the dome around the strange structure.
"That was your last warning. I'm going to kill you now." Black Smoke claimed as his faux marketing smile turned sour and the air pressurised, a foggy fume rocketing outward into a full commit right knee that shook The Crane's world and definitely broke a few bones in the jaw based on the unhealthy sound alone.
"You pissed me off!" Buu bellowed, jumping into action a moment after The Suited Shadow Dragon did, readying up a right backhand by using his gummy limb and lengthening the extension like a whip.
Whappp! Fsht!
Black Smoke was forced to abandon his finishing hit as Buu laid in the pressure.
"Sorry, Babidi, but I'm done giving this one free passes too."
The Wizard held his tongue as a sweat droplet took shape over his wrinkly skin. He warded the front entrance again and looked to maybe say something but:
"Is Buu worth keeping? He's strong but it takes active effort to keep him under control. If I slip up and don't have enough magic there might be a time where I can't tell him no. This guy looks reliable, and his intentions definitely aren't malicious."
With his crystal ball, it viewed the field like an X-ray, the rolling plains, mountains, and rocks, disappearing under the blue light that provided the skeleton view, a gummy strange fit of all muscles for Buu, a warping figure of foggy insides and scaly outsides for Black Smoke.
"No~ Buu's under my command as long as I have enough magic. I can't keep this one under rank and file no matter how much I'd want to. He'd be a good ally, but I don't need allies right now…"
"End of the line."
WHAMM!
Gummy spit and weird steam pressurised out like a popped tire and Buu's bouncy pink skin stained blue with some sort of bruise? Black Smoke stood over the creature as Buu's entire body depressurised and sunk into the ground like a used up tube of toothpaste.
"Hmm." He breathed out through his nose. Before he could even turn around, he felt a surge of energy from below and dodged a boot dug through the ground. Buu pulled along the string he sent and appeared upside down, following the boot's momentum and presenting his back towards The Suited Shadow Dragon. He even had a few of those empty crevices in his shoulder blades lining all the way down to his waist, something indicating a spine even though the crystal ball X-ray proved otherwise.
TWUUUUUUUUUUU~
Black Smoke shifted throughout the fog with his own means, bluish almost firework-like bombs set off as he evaded. Hidden by the smoke Tienshinhan launched with a knee strike of his own, jaw looking a little loose even through the beard on the left side. Black Smoke reacted just in time, his head turning to mist right at the collarbone. Tien whiffed and The Suited Shadow Dragon punished his attempt with a palm strike right at the back as he flew past.
WHOKK! Skffffff~
Tien grit his teeth and landed on all fours as he hit the dirt, his white cape glistening with cerulean embers that traveled down the rest of it, forcing The Crane to relinquish the garb and throw it to the wayside. The Three Eyed Man spared a glance at The Madjinni and the both of them rushed their foe at the same time.
The combination of their pugilistic pressure wasn't enough until it was, Buu calling out the turn-to-mist with a big swallow as Tien whiffed a barrage of crane jabs. Black Smoke materialised immediately, his legs halfway down Buu's throat until he grabbed onto the lumpy pink antenna on top and wailed down a nasty right hand on his brow ridge. Buu's head dented in like putty but Tien:
"Kaio-Khen!"
Landed a crane jab elbow strike, one-two right on The Suited Shadow Dragon's throat, thrusting him to the ground only for him to coalesce out on the right side of the battlefield in rushing smoke, billowing up like a coiling snake to attack from the flank while Tien flew straight with his commitment. Buu's chest blew up to massive proportions as Black Smoke gained on Tien. He let it rock, the sheer volume of his shout scattering the smoke The Shadow Dragon inhabited and thrust him atop the dome. His butt hit the 'glass' and Black Smoke's face turned into dumb far out stare at the fact that he was just shouted out of phasing.
Tien's foot scuffed against the dirt outside Babidi's mansion in the sky and he kicked back, launching towards Buu as he cupped around his ears. He shouted again and the lime green aura fired into overdrive as he blitzed into striking range.
Fwoo~
Buu whiffed a left overhand clean as Tien pivoted on the air with his Kaio-Ken, dashing a full rotation around and landing a high left boot to the pink gummy man's nape, his cape flailing wildly. Black Smoke laughed it off as he brushed away some of the dirt, grime, and slime left over from Majin Buu's ventilation as his three eyed foe dashed in.
Buu's head turned in a sharp 180 like an owl and slammed into the earth, a long taffy line accompanying it as his body held the line above ground. He fired volley after volley of Ki blasts, Tien doing his best to evade until:
Fwoffff~
he was forced to duck under a lazy slap from Black Smoke, appearing right behind him, one hand in his pocket.
Thwackk!
"Gahh~" Tien grunted as The Suited Shadow Dragon came around the other way with the back handed version.
BomBomBomBomBomBomBomBom~
The Suited Shadow Dragon just backed up and laughed as Tien held the entirety of Majin Buu's pulsating plasmic barrage.
KROMM!
"..?" Black Smoke hit a clean smoke-laden backdash as Buu's head popped out from under the ground.
With new info, Buu turned around and let the turquoise beam building up in his antenna rock, hitting Tienshinhan through the smoke.
Zzzzzzt! Zwerrrt!
Black Smoke once again cleaned himself of the debris and raised a brow.
"Nom!"
Cricc-Cricc. Cronch!
Black Smoke's smile faded into a frown once more and he sucked the fog and dust permeating in the air into his body, letting out the stony minerals with a guttural cough.
"..?" He raised a brow as the smoke lifted.
Majin Buu VS The Shadow Dragons
Objective: Become a God of Destruction!
Black Smoke watched as the pink gummy man grew a nose where previously there were only two openings. The Madjinni grew ever so slightly taller. His cape turned blue and the previously black and yellow boots turned brown, taken over by Tien's previous nomadic design. His boxing gloves disappeared under the guise of black and gold forearm bands. His face sharpened on all edges, his previous doughy, dopey look moved out of the way for a more posh existence. A harsh jawline grew from out of nowhere. And last but not least, a gigantic, onyx black eye opened above his brow ridge, a searing red iris accompanying it.
"My third eye is open. I am finally awake. My mind is clear." Majin Buu took in the surroundings from his new olfactory sense. "My movements were too self-assured." He shook his head and laughed as Black Smoke turned his head at the turn of the events. "I know just how far I am away from a God of Destruction. I'll make sure to enjoy the path there this time. It's a marathon, not a race. So simple."
"Damn. Didn't know you had That up your sleeve."
Majin Buu raised a brow, as if truly seeing the man across from him the first time. He ignored the comment and looked down at his hand, five fingers.
"..! Oh boy~"
At that, The Freezing Shadow Dragon and The White Shadow Dragon touched down on either side of Black Smoke.
"It would seem that you were trying to pull the rug out from under us." Eis said as his breath fogged out, and resembled that of the radio static cantor Nuova possessed.
"What is going on here? Who are they?"
"I don't know, Lord Babidi but uhh… better they stay out there than in here."
"I'm upping the wards!" The Wizard claimed as he raised his hands high and the invisible barrier became visible, thickening with a bluish tron line that ran throughout the entirety of its dome architecture.
"How selfish. Wanting all of The Black Star Dragon Balls for yourself."
"Please. Keeping them out of your hands is just as important as absorbing them is. I could do without the latter but all of us are better off with the former. You really gonna ride with this guy, Eis?"
"If he thinks he can take me out, he's got another thing coming." Eis said with a bit of coldness, literally, as the sparse tufts of grass out in the wasteland froze over.
Black Smoke just took out a cigar as Buu shed his cape and revealed a stark contrast from his centuries old skin and bones physique. After eating Tien, Majin Buu was jacked, standing almost as tall as Syn while only being a shade thinner than The White Shadow Dragon's bulky, and brawny stature.
"If this is how it's gotta-"
DNN~
"Ehh~Heghh~" Black Smoke grunted as he chomped down on his cigar, clamping his left hand over his temple.
"Kaaaa~" Eis gurgled out, frosty breath filtering in the air.
Syn tried his best not to let the mask slip, gritting his sharp draconic teeth with lips closed as he stared at The Suited Shadow Dragon with purpose.
"Nuova? How'd Nuova die first? I didn't… expect that."
As The Shadow Dragons returned to normalcy, Black Smoke vaporised, shooting low under the dome and reappearing on the other side.
"What!?" Babidi croaked as The Suited Shadow Dragon appeared before him, still toking on his cigar.
"We don't have a lot of time, Babidi. Those two are out there looking for The Dragon Balls you possess. You give them to me now and I can assure you don't die. Otherwise, you're probably not looking at a very good prospect for your continued existence."
"Slow down. I'm not giving you any of them i-"
"I'm not asking. I'll kill you first if you don't comply. It's that simple."
"Buu!"
Buu's body didn't need any sort of malleability to come straight through, the dome warping in like water and then returning to neutral. Buu stopped on a slide and raised his hands in crane style jabs.
"What are you doing!? Kill him!"
Majin Buu threw, and once again, whiffed, Black Smoke's foggy figure unable to be struck true with traditional strikes.
"Babidi. I suggest we listen to this guy."
"Where are your allegiances!? I thought you just said you hated this guy!"
Buu's limbs threw without his care, him turning his head to look at The Wizard as Black Smoke lazily dodged around.
"If you haven't noticed." Buu claimed, pointing an index at Eis and Syn carefully walking right through the barrier, the whole dome covering the strange castle in the sky shattering like glass.
KRSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~
Glassy plates and panels fell down everywhere only to dissipate and disintegrate into blue bubbles.
"Pui Pui." Majin Buu said as he shifted his eyes towards the pair of humanoid dragons walking the railless bridge.
"Buu! You~" The Wizard cried as The Madjinni and Pui Pui leaped into action over the bridge.
"You sure you want to stand in my way?" The White Shadow Dragon asked as his claw hand trickled with tantalising electricity.
Majin Buu said nothing as he held the line.
"I'm not even going to humour this."
Kuuuuuuuuu~
Blizzardly gales rushed in, freezing the bridge on the spot as Eis vaulted over, breaking the bridge upon his exit, flying towards Black Smoke and Babidi. Syn's brow furrowed as The Freezing Shadow Dragon flew off.
"Babidi. I'm willing to establish some sort of protection for you and your people, but you've got to sweeten the deal for me." Is all Black Smoke was really able to get out before Eis came in from overhead.
SHWINGGG! Fwuuuuuuu~
"Sorry. I've always had a hard time keeping it under control." Eis laughed out as the entirety of the brown, black, and grey stone of the strange Ex-Kress Kingdom architecture turned to cubic blocks of sky blue.
"Last chance~" Black Smoke said as he turned his head and then locked horns with Eis, high roundhouse kicking the silvery guard he put up in response. His webbed dragon talons slid across the ice and Eis laughed.
"Gahhh~"
With a zig-zagging line of sheer movement, Syn zipped past the two on the falling bridge in a flash, leaving behind Babidi's left and right hand men, soaring towards Black Smoke and his wannabe business partner.
"Crap!" Pui Pui exclaimed as the man pulled a disappearing act right before his eyes only to watch on as Majin Buu jumped right after him, puddying into the ground and coming back up at Syn with lunging left hand, coiling like a snake and shooting through the gap in The White Shadow Dragon's legs as he tried to land.
"..!"
Syn weaved it backwards just barely, but the taffy, gummy shape of Buu's body contorted and twisted like a yo-yo, looking to slam a long slapping tilt-a-whirl right leg into Eis' face.
WHOOOSHH!
"Nice try~" Eis said as more and more frost fluttered in and Black Smoke presented an open hand to Babidi.
The Wizard shook and jittered under the sheer cold breezing around the palace, freezing the area and providing a harsh contrast to the crimson red of the sky above.
"Take it! Take it! Just get me out of here!"
"You won't regret this decision." Black Smoke said with a wry smile.
The five Black Star Dragon Balls spawned from the open air, warping magics surrounding. Syn and Eis' eyes widened and Buu's brow furrowed as he slid into a limbo-like landing from the wild two-piece attack he just constructed.
Zzzzzz~Kooooo~
With a fit of lasers from his eyes, ice beams shot towards Black Smoke. He dodged them as close as you could get as Syn rushed in. Snapping his right arm like a whip, Buu's backfist made clear contact on Syn's cracked forehead, causing a gush of blue blood to spurt out once again.
"GGGAghhh!" He grunted, cupping the injury and pressing forward anyway after a moment's reprieve.
But that moment was all she wrote as Black Smoke funneled all five of them into his suit pocket with a bit of warping Telekinesis.
"See ya around, Babidi~"
"WHAT!?"
FWOFFFFFFFF~
"Not on my watch!" Eis screeched as he reared back a fit more eye lasers.
BWERRRR~
The smoke trailing behind The Suited Shadow Dragon's getaway turned to a blocky, dripping mess and Black Smoke's smile turned into a scowl as he fell from the sky and then exploded in a furious black and blue firework show, freeing his legs from the confines.
BAH-BOOOOHMMM!
Buu's eyes widened as well as he saw The Suited Shadow Dragon's daring escape.
"Buu! Get him! He just walked off without them! That wasn't the deal!"
Majin Buu assumed the position.
Vwa-Vuish!
But Black Smoke's evasive maneuvers were another level, spiraling around him in an impressive aileron roll. Syn roared and blasted off the newly frozen palace, pushing down blocks and taking a firm chunk of the structural integrity with him as many of the bridges leading out of the unsafe kingdom fell away, no real escape for those who were unable to fly now.
As Syn entered the airspace he realised:
"..!"
Fsht!
"Rat!"
Ice and hail rolled in on the icy gale winds and Eis smiled.
"My matchup against Smoke is much better than mine against yours. If he has The Dragon Balls then I can still definitely win. It would be foolish of me not to take the easy wins when they present themselves to me."
Fuuuuuuuu~ Bwerrrrtttzztt!
Eis' eyes glowed an ethereal sky blue and he shot a blistering bolt of ice into Syn's forehead, forcing a gaspy, frosty breath out of Syn in response, a funny bone style shudder as The Freezing Shadow Dragon came in to finish, rearing back a right hand for a knife edge chop.
"WHOOOOOOOO~"
Black Smoke's headway changed as Majin Buu opened up his massive maw and he began to filter back inwards.
"I'm Done with this shit!" The Suited Shadow Dragon claimed as he went with the momentum, unshifted and delivered a banger of a left leg to Buu's jaw, sending his gummy face back the other direction before bolting, refusing to channel back into his smokey form, flying free with his suit jacket flailing in the wind. "..! Shit! Are you kidding me!?" He let out loud in his anger as he fished one of The Dragon Balls out of his suit's inside pocket. The 1 Star Ball. "What!? Just one!?" The other four orange orbs glowed in response to his pulsating sensation and he looked back to see Buu's three eyed form gaining on him even through sharp turns, quick pivots, and blindingly fast flight.
Babidi looked back up at the fighters as he turned back.
"Lord Babidi! What are we gonna do now!?"
"Shut up! I'm thinking."
"He just got away with all The Dragon Balls! How are we gonna make our wish now?" Pui Pui exclaimed with hands on his head.
"They don't have them all, Pui Pui."
"..?"
"If I gave him a full faulty set, there's no way they wouldn't see through it. But these so called: 'Shadow Dragons' seemed to be integrated or linked to The Dragon Balls in some way. I'll forgo making my wish, I'll make planet Earth bend to my will without a wish, I'll do it with myself. But! I can't do it if I can't get rid of these nuisances in my way. If I study The Dragon Balls-"
WHAMM! Fwoooooooooooo~
Syn's left arm shivered and shook as icicles cooled over and frosted flakes fell off its frozen structure. Eis kipped off the ground in a back handspring, wiping his fish lips with his left wrist.
"Then I'll be able to cast my magics on these cretins. Don't you remember what they said, Pui Pui?"
Babidi walked and spoke with no mouth movements as he warded the melting ice area with his hands.
"Eternal Dragons have a natural resistance to magic. They don't negate it, they just resist it. I have to find a way to puncture that resistance, just like how I conquered two Lookout defence systems. I've done it before, and I'll do it again."
The Wizard's wandering eye furrowed and looked outward as The White Shadow Dragon and The Freezing Shadow Dragon threw bombs outside the walls of Babidi's Palace. The frozen landscape outside started to match more closely to the interior with each blow, glancing or not.
ZZZZZZzzzztttt! TZZZTYOWWW!
Lightning crackled and the whole area around the castle crumbled as Syn's foot made contact with the ground.
"If you all want to die so badly then I'm happy to oblige! I'll be the only Shadow Dragon left!" Syn roared as he rooted deep into the wasteland to pivot, the ice on his left forearm melting away under the pressure of his electronic energy.
"Buu! Get back here!"
"You sure?"
"What do you mean, am I sure! That's an order!"
Buu's left hand raised to his forehead and he watched as Black Smoke zipped across the open ocean, causing tidal waves to billow up on either side, tsunami level high rises that slapped onto the sea and echoed before he teleported out.
Va-Vuish!
As Buu teleported inside the bubble his gaze was stolen outwards, watching The Shadow Dragons duel it out. With nothing expressly telling him not to, he jumped right back into combat's high temperature, leaving Pui Pui and Babidi to continue putting up wards around the ice.
"Buu! Aghh~ Forget it. Maybe he'll get those two to leave here. Pui Pui!"
"Yes sir!?"
"With me."
The Wizard and his yellow eyed henchman retreated further into the compound as M marked minions cleaned up the place and attempted to shovel the leftover snow and ice. Hailstorms pelted the outside region as Syn and Eis threw everything at the wall, Ki blasts, energy beams, howling ice and thundering lightning strikes. Buu jumped headlong into the fray and splits kicked both in the mouth with springy limbs. Eis ducked under as foggy frost littered the air and Syn took it on the forehead, more and more of his white scales turning into a bluish fusion.
True to form, Syn didn't say a thing, gritting his teeth and bashing his own wounded head against Buu's, sticking the laffy taffy man into a turtled version of himself as he bounded around like a spring from the contact. Eis rushed in only to eat a right snap kick from Syn, his leg seizing up in the process from the cold until he shouted and electricity pulsed from every angle. The frozen limb cleared but a coiled, locked in headbutt from Buu kept him honest, forcing The White Shadow Dragon to weave backwards in a strange dodging angle as Buu's body more resembled a humanoid giraffe bubblegum hybrid.
Syn stepped right back in with a vengeance and slammed in a right fist to the gut as he lunged low for power. As soon as he made contact the sound of thunder blared out into the barren now-more-icy fields. But upon said contact, bellowing steam and fog blasted, a blistering combination of wet air and extremely high temperatures forced Syn to retreat as his whole body switched from cold to hot.
TWUUUUUUUUUUuuuwwwh~
"..." Syn let out a breath as he locked eyes with the three eyed freak's head floating high in the sky many metres above his own body, a gangly creature with limbs that didn't abide by any standards or practices.
Buu marched forward with his head swaying as he did it, dashing in and then going bananas with a gatling barrage of punches. With his hands up, Syn backpedaled only to be waylaid by Eis from behind, rearing back both hands with what looked like dry ice permeating from his scaly palms.
Missing by a scale, Syn launched into the Earth, digging up an escape route below rather than challenging any sort of angle left, right, or centre. Instead, Eis caught Buu's fist on incoming and froze it only for Buu to retaliate with a roar. The ground quaked and caved under the pressure but Eis held strong under the auditory attack, his frost weakening but he himself stoic in his facial expression.
Eis' brow sharpened downwards as he sent out a pulse of Ki Sensing and found Syn's form digging its way through the newly constructed barrier Babidi put out. With this information, Eis shot another potent beam from his eyes only for it to be met with the sound of train horns as Buu's head flung back and the open holes in his body screaming an orchestra.
DONKK!
Eis faltered, slipping on the ice he created like a dunce as Buu's head cracked onto the shark fin atop his dome.
"I gotta get im'! He's weak, damn it!" Eis' voice crackled as he got on all fours and then launched into hole. "I'll never get a chance this good again!"
Twingle~ Tingkk~
With a cold breeze, the digging tunnel blotted out with ice as Buu's head came back to naturally rest atop his shoulders instead of the loosey goosey performance. He stared at his left hand, still frozen, and then waited it out as the pressure from his steam sweated it out.
The Earth shook in massive quakes echoing throughout multiple continents, mountains shifted, snow fell, volcanoes erupted. They tore through the routes like nothing only to come across paths they didn't forge.
"Naturon's gotta be around here." Eis stated aloud as he pursued Syn through underground basins, stone wall tunnels, an underground laboratory, defunct and filled with cobwebs. A more open space dug by a large body or drill came to a boiling point as Syn saw the big behind of a purple entity.
"Move it, Naturon!"
"What? OHWAITDON'-"
WHAMMMLE~
Kshaaaa~
Clinical mist filtered out into a chrome room filled to the brim with wacky gadgets, test tubes, and practicing equipment tossed into a sink at the far end. Only one man stood in there except for the second one that stumbled dumbly out of the metal device with a long window segmented down the front. With his face somewhat wet and his vision blurry, Newman fixed the glasses falling off himself.
"Hah..?"
"Good news, sir. Your decontamination device actually works as intended."
"What?"
"Pretty much everyone left Pod Corp. after whatever that was."
"What?"
"I'm not about to let my paycheck walk out on me."
"..." It took Newman a few seconds, having to course-correct his lenses in order to even see a few inches in front of him. He patted down his chest and his shoulders as the droning of mechanical equipment banged on. "..!" He turned around with an instantaneous smile, slamming his hands against the chrome fridge that just housed him not moments ago. "Yes! It works!"
"Pretty much no one is left here at the office. I have no idea where they went."
"Antiq!"
"Yes, sir?" He fired off a tilted head and a curious brow.
"You're getting another raise!" He shouted, stomping around the facility. Antiq offered nothing less than an OK sign with his right hand, nodding his head in agreement with his boss' declaration.
"Sir?"
"What?" Newman asked with an air of sass just before they walked out of the lab and Antiq pointed towards one of the many windows of the large corporate building.
"They are definitely looking for you to do something about that mole, but I'm not sure the public is here for them to see you do it."
"Uhh~ Did they go somewhere too?"
"Do you not remember what happened?"
"Not really, my mind is a little hazy."
"It wasn't just our employees that left. Most of the people, including the police, left North City, like, I don't know… 20, 30 minutes ago..?"
"..."
Shhk!
Newman opened the blinds to see the fat purple mole's pudgy face scratching itself.
"Alright. But is this giant mole even doing anything?"
"Well he could tunnel into the lab we have below the city if he hasn't done that already."
"What a bitch~" Newman claimed as he put both hands on his pockets. "Alright, we need to get this guy out of here, prontuh~"
The building shook to its foundations, desks dribbled, staplers fell off, chairs knocked themselves over, clocks slammed onto the ground, bathroom doors opened, a monstrous quake rattled the pair's brains and even stole Newman's glasses from him.
WHAMMMLE~
Through soupy, drained vision, Newman saw the purple blot outside the window lift high into the air. He got to his knees and brushed along the ground until:
"Huh?"
"What the hell is going on out there!?"
DUH-DOOOOOOHNNN!
The already shaky foundations waned and creaked as the floor they stood on tilted ever so slightly forward and the glass from the windows shattered. The earth quaked once more and then another time as the wall to their left completely shattered and a teal coloured bat humanoid chokeslammed a blue blooded creature with black spikes protruding from every angle of its body. Blood curdling cold stuck the pair to the floor as they looked on in intrigue.
"Gotchyou~" The Freezing Shadow Dragon said with a bit of a chuckle as Syn's face froze over and his not-so-white-anymore scales turned into a jagged structure of sky blue and frosty white. "..?" Eis raised a brow as one of the two Earthborne raised some sort of instrument his way.
KLAMM! BLAMM!
Eis weaved both bullets fired from the handgun only for him to stand still and assess the damage that the third would do. He put out his hand and it met the metal fired from the piece in kind.
"Shit!" Antiq roared as the strange teal demon cackled, towering over him despite the man's pretty tall stature.
Fwooooooooo~ Kshkkkuhkk~
Antiq's healthy brown skin turned over into a ghoulish grey as the man froze in time, handgun still raised to fire.
Whum!
"Hehehe~ You Earthborne are so funny." Eis claimed as he sauntered forward and the middle aged man fell onto his ass, tripping on an office chair.
Fresh opened up a drawer from the random office desk and pulled out a Pod. He pressed the button, unscrewed it and then tossed it. Eis just laughed, batting it away with his left wing before shooting out a bolt of ice through his sharp draconic eyes.
Whooooo~
"Ahhhhh~" Fresh panicked, seeing his left arm stamped into the ground under the pressure of killer frost, the chill rushing to the rest of his bloodstream in a cold wave. He stuttered, teeth chattering.
The eye lasers stopped and the sound of:
Dum! Dun~Dlunn!
Echoed through the empty office.
"..!" Newman's senses dulled as his eyes locked onto the sight before him.
Dwuu~
The pill shook violently, almost slamming up against the desk.
Dwuu~WHONKK!
The Pod flipped it, almost taking Fresh's head off as it wobbled around.
Boo.
Newman's jaw dropped as the movement stopped and dawn's last breath rolled in through the busted up wall. The golden glow of morning faded away and birds chirped outside as Pod Corp. looked to tilt down even further.
"You've gotta be fuckin' Joking right now." Fresh cursed himself, the building entering an unhealthy lean as he attempted to stand up and failed, still nailed to the uneven carpet through Eis' ice. "Come Awn!"
Earnnnnnnnnnnnnnn~
"CrapCrapCrap!" Newman shouted, hanging on for dear life as Pod Corporation crashed down onto the empty streets of North City. There wasn't a car in sight, a ghost town except for the big hole near the entrance, a couple blocks roughed up from the big fat body of a purple mole and the giant building of Capsule Corp's only competitor in ruins.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrr~
"I'm outta hea' befoa' I get caught in the crossfia' again. I just wanted to dig a coupla' holes, man." The Purple Shadow Dragon claimed, rubbing his nose and digging straight through a neighborhood to leave.
The knocked over office building rumbled again as more and more debris rained down. Chairs bopped him, desks almost killed him, but most importantly of all a plaque hit Newman square in the back of the head.
"Ahhh~" He groaned out as the last bits of the aftershock left Pod Corp's destroyed facility alone.
The dust settled and Newman wiped the back of his head.
"..?" Through the miniscule amount of light filtering in under the cement, plastics, glasses, carpet, and other various materials, Fresh looked down at his hand and noticed the severe dark colouring now plastered on his palm. "That's gonna hurt once this adrenaline wears off."