Goku jumped back, falling into a ready stance. "You're a clone," he snarled. It wasn't a question.

The white robed look-a-like nodded. "That's right. Unlike the other two, I am from this timeline." Despite Goku's change in stance he kept his own neutral.

"Start explaining what's going on!" Goku shouted. "What is this place-" he gestured at white void surrounding them "-and how are you alive? Gohan and Trunks found your charred corpse!"

Weariness overtook the blank expression on the clone's face. "Technically I truly am dead," he said. "My body was destroyed when your friends destroyed Gero's lab." He placed a hand on his chest. "What you're seeing is only the manifestation of my soul."

"Y-your soul?" Goku stuttered. He moved out of stance. "Does that mean…I really am dead?"

The clone laughed and shook his head. "No, no, no. If you were dead you'd be in Otherworld right now. Don't worry, we're still on Earth." His eyes looked past Goku and focused on the white nothingness. "This place is actually your subconscious."

Goku's eyes widened. "My subconscious?"

"Yep," the clone said. "When you're out cold there's not much to see here, but because of that vacancy you can focus in on my presence. Thus this is the best way for us to communicate. Sorry I had to barge in uninvited.

A breath of relief escaped Goku's lips, but his expression quickly sharpened. "Okay, so I'm alive, but you're not. Why didn't you go to Otherworld when you died?"

The weariness returned. "Gero might have been able to perfectly copy your physical body, but that's only one half of the equation." A melancholic smile formed on his lips. Goku was struck by how different the expression was compared to the other two clones. There was no malice in his smirk. "Our souls are nothing more than an echo of yours," he continued. "When I died, my spirit was too weak to pass on. I've spent the last nine years existing as a ghost."

Goku allowed the clone's words to sink in and thought about the best way to ask his last question. "Okay, so what exactly do you want with me?"

The clone's expression changed, the melancholy turning to determination. "I need your help…

"To beat the Master, and his servant."

"Kaio-ken!"

The Master charged out of the ruined skyscraper, his intent to break Gohan in two. In response, Gohan shouted a curse and tried to throw up his guard, but the Master was already on top of him. He flinched.

There was a flash of light and a loud crack that echoed through the air.

A second past, and Gohan realized he was still in one piece. He opened his eyes and gaped at the sight in front of him.

The Master had stopped dead in midair; the red aura was gone and he was hunched over moaning. Only a few centimeters in front of him was Gotenks – powered up to Super Saiyan 3, his fist planted firmly in the clone's stomach.

"What are you guys doing here?" Gohan asked, trying to recover his wits. A surprise appearance by his little brother and Trunks was the last thing he had expected.

Gotenks slowly pulled his fist out of the Master's gut, but kept it tightly clenched. The clone groaned trying to overcome the waves of intense pain flowing through his body. "D-damn…it…" he managed to gasp out.

"If you think that was bad," Gotenks snarled, "You better brace yourself. I can keep up this form for five minutes, and I'm gonna make sure you spend the entire time in agony." The Master only growled in response.

Gohan noticed the concealed rage in the combination of Goten's and Trunks's voices. The sentai-like flashiness that they usually put up when they fused together was completely absent. "Are you alright?" he asked carefully.

"I know about Dad," Gotenks said, keeping his attention focused on the clone. Gohan's eyes went wide. "And this guy's gonna pay for it," he continued.

Unable to conceal the look of pain on his face, the Master tried to take a fighting stance, but Gotenks charged forward and slugged him before he could throw up his guard. The clone tried to fire off an energy blast, but the pain shot through his body again leaving him open once more. Gotenks took advantage of this by nailing him with a hammer-fist over the head, followed by a smash kick to the chest.

The Master was sent flying, but managed to recover. Gotenks gathered his ki and fired off a barrage of energy blasts, no bothering to shout "Continuous Die-Die Missiles."

With the blasts closing in on him, the Master held up his arms in a defensive posture and braced himself. A moment later, Gotenks's attack stuck its target.

Another huge explosion lit up the sky, creating the illusion of a second sun. "Damn, I didn't want to kill him right away," Gotenks muttered. "That guy must not have as strong as he said he was."

Gohan watched with amazement as the energy died down. They're as strong as me now… Goten, Trunks…you guys are incredible!

The smoke slowly began to clear. Gohan and Gotenks looked on in apprehension. They both gasped; a figure emerged from the vanishing smoke. The Master's robes were shredded and his body burned, but he was still there.

And he was shaking with barely contained rage.

"Why?"

The white covered-clone cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Why do you want me to help you defeat the other clones?" Goku elaborated. "Aren't you on their side? Don't you want to kill me?"

For a moment the clone was silent. Finally he said, "No I don't. I'd love to fight you certainly, but I don't want to kill you."

A look of doubt crossed Goku's face. "The Master told me that Gero created you for the sole purpose of killing me."

"He did," the clone admitted. His eyes narrowed. "But I don't want to. I don't know why, but deep down in the recesses of my damaged soul I know it's wrong. And I don't want the other clones to hurt anyone else either."

Goku was struck by the intense emotion in the other man's eyes. The truth in his words was undeniable. He smiled. "Okay, I'll help you. How do we do this?"

The clone crossed his arms and looked up at the white void above him. "That's the trick. We clone's have a pretty nasty advantage; our bodies are extremely resilient to ki attacks. Not even your Ryu-ken would be enough to destroy either one of them. You might be stronger than them, but your energy will give out before their bodies do."

A lump caught in Goku's throat. He managed to swallow and then said, "I don't care. Even if I have to form a Genki-dama out of energy from everyone in the Universe, I will stop these guys."

"I knew I could count on your determination," the clone said with a smile. "We'll need the Genki-dama to win, but we won't need that much power." Goku gave him a quizzical look. "We don't have to destroy their bodies to kill them," he continued. "Not if we attack their spirits."

"I see where you're coming from," Goku said. "But how do I do that?"

"That's where I come in. As a ghost, fighting someone's spirit is all I can do." He frowned. "I tried to overtake the Servant clone on my own, but his fighting spirit forced me out."

A memory of the Servant screaming "Get out of my head!" entered Goku's mind. "Even though his soul was weak too, you still couldn't beat him?"

The clone shook his head. "No I couldn't, but not because I wasn't strong enough. The soul of every living thing is protected by it's own ki, and without a life force of my own, I can't pierce it. However, there is a way to get around that obstacle.

Goku smiled as realization dawned on him. "The Genki-dama?"

The clone nodded.

Unable to hold in his anger any longer, the Master screamed, "You bastards will suffer for the humiliation you've dealt me! I swear on my life that before this day is done, all of you will die by my hand!"

Gohan merely scoffed. "You're in no position to make threats." Gotenks said nothing, only shifted his weight into a ready stance.

Despite his bravado, the Master tried to consider his remaining options. Only one still remained: retreat. The very thought made his stomach turn more than the smell of his burning flesh, but there was nothing else he could do in his current condition.

He eyes quickly darted over to where the Servant was still fighting Vegeta and Trunks before shifting his attention back to Gohan and Gotenks. He could easily escape by himself, but if he left the Servant behind the Z-Warriors would finish him off. Even at full power he would still need him to kill Goku's friends.

Recovering his cool, the Master took a deep breath and tried to flash his favorite smirk. "That concludes the second act. Before the finale, there will be a brief intermission."

"Oh hell no," Gotenks snarled, catching on, and charge forward. "You're not going anywhere!"

Before he could reach him however, the Master snapped his fingers to his forehead and disappeared.

The Servant charged his ki as he prepared for to charge Vegeta and Trunks again. The two warriors stood ready to defend themselves.

They were all surprised when the Master appeared between them. "We're pulling out," he said to his counterpart.

"What?" the Servant shouted. "Why the hell should we?"

For a moment the Master's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. "Don't question me! You still follow my orders!" Inwardly, the Master knew words alone wouldn't be enough to command the Servant anymore. His fighting drive had completely overtaken him.

"Out of my way!" he shouted and darted past him towards Vegeta and Trunks. The Master reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"I said, we're leaving!" the Master shouted and teleported out with the Servant in tow.

For several long moments, the only sound came from Vegeta and Trunks's auras. With their enemies gone, both warriors dropped their guards and took the chance to catch their breath. A few seconds later, they were joined by Gohan, Gotenks, and the others.

"So did we win?" Krillin asked carefully.

"Of course not!" Vegeta snapped causing Krillin to flinch. "Damn it, I can't sense them; they're suppressing their power levels. We can't go after them!"

"The Master was on the ropes and he ran," Piccolo said. "He knows we won't forget about him, just because he's decided to hide in a hole somewhere."

Gotenks thought back to the last words the Master had spoken to him. "He said it was 'intermission.' I'm sure he plans on striking back once he gets his strength back."

"So we should just let him go?" asked Eighteen. "If we want to finish him off, now is our chance. There's no telling what he'll do once he's back to full power."

Trunks nodded in agreement. "And thanks to his Saiyan cells, once he does recover he might be strong enough to take the advantage over us." He looked briefly at his father. "Together, Dad and I were evenly matched with the Servant, but if the Master was weak from fighting with Goku. If he get's his strength back, he might be stronger than Gohan…"

"It doesn't matter," Gohan said resolutely. "Even if the clone does increase his strength, I'll still beat him down again." He clenched his fist tightly. "He might have sworn to kill us…but I swore to avenge my father."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth did a giant spike in ki wash over them.