A/N: Whoo, this was the longest chapter I've ever written! Hope you guys enjoy the second-to-last chapter of my fanfic.
Oh, and Toonami might be coming back. YAY! ^_^
Chapter 19: The Final Battle
"Since you've all gone through the trouble of coming back here, I take it that you all need another demonstration of my power," Z stated with a smirk that radiated total confidence.
"Whatever, purple eye guy!" Luffy yelled, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "Even IF you beat us again, we'll just keep coming back until we beat you!"
"…Except that we HAVE to beat him this time, or we won't get another chance," Itachi corrected. "The Uchiha Brooches only have enough power to work once. If Z manages to convert all of us back to trophy form this time, no one will be left to revive us."
"WHAT!" Luffy's jaw literally dropped to the ground from the revelation.
"Anyone could've figured that much out," Light interjected.
"So it's do-or-die time," Al reflected externally.
Ichigo brandished his oversized sword and pointed it forward. "Then we'll just have to give it everything that we've got!"
"But before that," Naruto took a step forward. "There's just one thing I have to ask you, Z. Why are you doing all of this? Why are you trying to destroy our world?"
"I'm not destroying the world, I'm saving it," Z answered.
"What! You said you're saving the world! What do you mean?" Frieza demanded.
Z folded his arms and closed his eyes for a few seconds, evidently in deep thought, before replying, "Maybe you guys do have the right to know. But I must warn you, none of you are going to like what I'm about to reveal. Are you sure you want to know?"
"I'm the last of my kind because of all of this! I DESERVE an explanation!" SD Gundam exploded in anger.
Z nodded in acknowledgment. "Well, if you're dying to know, I'll tell you. I suppose I should start from the beginning. After I was defeated by Tenchi, instead of being destroyed outright, I somehow ended up here in the Shadow Realm instead, a place of eternal suffering that exists outside of the multiverse that I was familiar with. To my surprise, I found that even with all of my power, I was unable to escape this realm. Being trapped here, I could do nothing but observe other worlds to pass the time. Eventually, a very interesting person caught my attention; Haruhi Suzumiya."
Everyone else blinked in surprise. "Haruhi?" many of them exclaimed out loud.
"That's right, the creator of your world," Z continued. "And she's quite special indeed. When I first discovered her, she was living the life of an ordinary high school student, completely unaware that she wields the power to reshape reality itself. Intrigued, I kept a close eye on her, believing that I could use her to not only escape from here, but to also get my revenge on Tenchi and those Chousins. After watching her for awhile, a few things became apparent to me. One important detail being that at times of great frustration, Haruhi would subconsciously create what others refer to as "closed space", alternate pocket dimensions where gigantic entities called Celestials would wreak havoc in the area encompassing the closed space. If left unchecked, closed space will expand until it completely overlays all of reality as we know it. Fortunately, however, there are espers in her world that can enter closed space and destroy Celestials, which will, in turn, dissolve the clo…"
Spike stretched his arms out and yawned loudly, interrupting Z's story. "Is there a point to all of this? You're boring the crap out of me!" the bounty hunter complained as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
"I'm getting to that!" Z snapped back. "Anyway, that's the normal way closed space works. But, the most recent closed space that appeared behaved quite differently."
"Behaved differently? What do you mean by that? TELL ME!" Yami demanded.
"Well, think about it. Haruhi desperately wants to seek out those outside of the ordinary, such as, for example, aliens, time travelers, and espers. However, for a major otaku like her, the only thing even cooler than meeting up with aliens, time travelers, and espers would be seeing them all fight each other to see which side would win. It was this continuously unmet desire that caused Haruhi to create a different kind of closed space; one that didn't house any Celestials at all, but were instead filled other lifeforms."
Amuro's eyes widen in realization. "Hey, wait a minute!"
"You're not trying to say that…!" Negi added.
"…I don't get it," Sailor Moon scratched her head in confusion.
Light buried his face into his palm and sighed. "He's trying to say that OUR world, the Anime World of Trophies, IS the closed space that Haruhi created."
Loud gasps were heard from the heroes that were slower at the uptake. With a nod, Z continued his explanation. "And within this new world, Haruhi unknowingly created copies of her favorite anime characters in the form of trophies come to life. Even more impressively, this world even has its own fully functional ecosystems, truly making it its own functional world. However, like all closed space, the Anime World of Trophies continuously expands its boundaries, except in this case, the catalyst of the growth is the fighting within the world itself. In other words…"
"…Our own existence puts Haruhi's world in danger," Kenshin interjected. "It's because we're nothing but trophies that fight each other; indeed it could be said that fighting is the sole reason of our existence."
"That's exactly right," Z complimented the former manslayer. "And because of those two fighting tournaments you've held before, the Anime World of Trophies grew to the point where the destruction of Haruhi's world, and possibly the entire universe, became imminent. To make matters worse, for some reason, the espers tasked with destroying closed spaces found themselves powerless to do anything about this. It was then when I decided to put my plans on hold and take matters into my own hands. I reached out into Haruhi's world with my Light Hawk Wings and brought her under my control. Of course, she could've easily overpowered me if she knew about her powers, but that's beside the point. Afterwards, I sent her into your world, and used her to recruit a crew a few villains to help me."
"WHAT! We were being used the whole time?" Marik yelled out in disbelief.
"Welcome to three chapters ago," Light sarcastically replied. Z's words lingered in Light's mind for a moment before Light realized something. "Hey, wait a minute! I'm not a villain! I am Justice!" Frieza rolled his eyes.
"But, I knew I would need more than that to enact my plan," Z continued. "Being impressed by the technology of the Isle of the Ancients…"
"I already explained this part!" SD Gundam snapped. "You captured us, enslaved us, and made us do all of those other horrible things!"
"And you took my ship!" Kaiba emphasized.
"But you still haven't explained why you did all of this? Why create bombs that send parts of our world into the Shadow Realm?" Yami questioned Z.
Z shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "Isn't it obvious? In order to save all that there is, the Anime World of Trophies needed to be 'quarantined', like I have been."
"But…you would condemn millions of innocent lives to an eternity of damnation?" the Dark Magician objected.
"In order to save billions," Z countered. "After all, I can't rule over the universe if it's destroyed, now can I? And besides, you guys aren't even the real versions of you. You're nothing but trophies brought to life; projections of a girl's imagination."
"So you're saying that the deaths of my people don't matter?" SD Gundam raged.
Asuna took a step forward. "He's right. It doesn't matter if we're just trophies come to life; we still have feelings, hopes and dreams, and we have just as much of a right to live as anyone else."
"So you're saying that you would rather sacrifice the rest of the universe for your own sake?" Z asked.
"Not at all," Negi defended his student. "Instead of going through all of this trouble, you really should've just found a way to contact us and discuss the matter with us. I'm sure we all could've come up with a solution to this dilemma without having to sacrifice anyone or any world."
Z laughed at the suggestion. "Are you really that naïve?"
"If there's one thing I learned from my trip to the Magical World is that there's ALWAYS another way!" Negi insisted.
Sailor Moon backed up the child mage. "He's right. There's no need for anyone to sacrifice themselves for anyone else's sake."
"Oh, and what makes you all so sure about that?" Z interrogated.
"For an anime character, you sure don't know much about anime characters," said Yusuke. "We ALWAYS take the third option. I guess we're just idealistic idiots like that."
Z lowered his head in disappointment. "So it seems you're not going to let me kill you."
"Give up! Trying to make us give up!" Naruto held a clenched fist in front of him. "If there's a way to save all worlds, we'll figure out a way! I know we will!"
Shinji was amazed at the determination of his allies. "I wish I had the resolve you guys have." The Eva pilot then felt a comforting pat on his shoulder.
"But you do, Shinji," Amuro reassured him. "The Pharaoh told me how determined you were to rescue me. I'd say out of all of us, you've grown the most out of this adventure."
A warm smile formed from Shinji's lips. "Thank you, Amuro."
"Which I suppose brings us to another reason why you must be stopped," Marik jumped in. "The kid finally grew a spine; we can't let all of that go to waste!"
"And since it seems that none of us will change our positions on the matter, we'll have to settle this through fighting, since we all know that in anime, whoever's right always has the most might," said Goku.
"And Might. Controls. Everything." Sasuke added as he swung his sword to his right side before raising it above his back and re-sheathing it.
"I don't personally agree with that philosophy, but either way, you must be stopped," Kenshin stated as he got into a battle pose.
"However, you all seem to be forgetting one important thing," Z reminded everyone else.
"Oh, and what would that be, mister?" Chi-Chi asked in an annoyed tone.
"THIS!" And with that, Z's Light Hawk Wings reappeared and everyone else jumped in alarm.
"AAH!" Speed Racer gasped.
"We sure could use some Spiral Power right about now," Shinji lamented.
Z looked downward at his cowering opposition and smirked in triumph. "And as I recall, none of you have the power to stop this attack, so it looks like I'm the one with the most might."
Z gathered energy into his Light Hawk Wings, preparing to take down the heroes with the same unstoppable attack as before. Just when Z was about to unleash his attack and doom the trophies come to life forever…a pillar of rock suddenly shot out from the ground right below him and ensnared his left arm.
"HUH?"
Z lost concentration of his attack just long enough for another pillar of rock to ascend from the ground and form around his other arm. As the former servant of Tokimi struggled to free his arms, the rock pillars lowered, dragging Z down to ground level and forcing him to kneel. It was then when someone rushed toward Z and placed their hands on Z's forehead and chest. After taking a deep breath, Z's assailant luminated blue light from his eyes and mouth, and after some sort of chain reaction, Z's eyes and mouths did the same, except that he produced an orange-red light. These lights soon expanded down their bodies and completely engulfed both of them in their respective colors. Afterwards, the blue light coming from the newcomer slowly began to cover Z until it completely overpowered the red light. The blue light intensified to blinding levels briefly before shooting to the sky in a pillar and finally dissipating completely.
With that, Z's aggressor finally released Z from his grip, and the once confident alien staggered weakly to the ground. It was then when Z took a good look at who attacked him. It was a twelve-year-old boy with a shaven head and an arrow tattoo on his forehead. He was wearing orange shawls over a long-sleeved yellow shirt, an orange sash, and a double-layered pair of pants with brown underneath and a loose layer on top.
"Who…who are you?" Z asked in an annoyed tone.
"I'm the Avatar!" Aang announced. "And you've upset the balance of this world by sending it to the Shadow Realm!"
"Oh, is that so?" Z sarcastically replied. He attempted to rematerialize his Light Hawk Wings, but found himself unable to. "What…did you do to me?"
"I took away your ability to manifest your Light Hawk Wings," Aang said. The airbender turned around just in time to have Krillin hug him tightly in gratitude.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought we were all goners for sure!" Krillin cried.
Aang gently eased his gratifier off of him. "Uh, you're welcome, but it's no big deal. My show was greatly influenced by anime, so it's only fair that I return the favor. Afterall, if Avatar: The Last Airbender was just another American cartoon, it almost certainly wouldn't have become the best show on Nicktoons.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What're you talking about? Dragonball Z Kai is the best show on Nicktoons," Goku objected.
"Please! Your show did so badly that they cancelled the Buu Saga!" Aang argued.
"That was only in Japan! In America, Kai was a huge hit!"
"Oh, well let's see how well Legend of Korra does!"
"Don't you mean The Last Airbender:The Legend of Korra? At least my show isn't called Dragonball Evolution Kai!"
"Actually, they just changed the title again."
"D'OH!"
"Ahem!" Z said loudly, interrupting the ensuing argument. "Are you two going to bicker all day, or are we going to fight?" To Goku's and Aang's shock and horror, Z's Light Hawk Wings reappeared, albeit far fainter than usual.
"YOU MONKEYFEATHERER!" Aang threw his staff down in frustration. "I Energybended you! You shouldn't be able to use your Light Hawk Wings anymore!"
"Just now, I bent the energy inside myself to partially undo what you did to me. Granted, I can't use my wings at their full capacity, but this should be enough to finish you all off," Z casually explained.
"That's just…ridiculously haxed," Itachi bemoaned.
Aang and Goku both excreted huge sweat drops in worry. "Oh, well…um," Goku stampered, completely at a loss of words. Then right afterwards, as if on cue, Goku and Aang attacked Z simultaneously with a Kamehameha Wave and a violent gust of wind. However, Z warped himself into the air, easily avoiding both projectiles. Goku and Aang prepared themselves for another assault, but Z teleported once again, throwing them off. This time, Z reappeared behind the Saiyan and Avatar.
"Look out!" Kenshin tried to warn the two.
Z formed a blade of energy with his Light Hawk Wings and dove straight for Goku and Aang, but luckily for them, Kenshin utilized his god-like speed and seemingly appeared right in Z's path to intercept his attack. He then gripped his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"HITEN MITSURUGI STYLE: ULTIMATE ATTACK!"
After a flash, Z suddenly found himself flying into the air in immense pain, along with a huge bruise across his chest, thus becoming the latest victim of the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. However, the former manslayer wasn't done with Z just yet, as he leaped on top of his still airborne opponent.
"HITEN MITSURUGI STYLE: MEI RYU SEN!"
Kenshin sheathed his sword in such blinding speed that it caused a localized sonic boom. Z hollered in pain as one of his eardrums burst, but he teleported away before Kenshin could do anymore damage to him.
"You'll pay for that!" Z threatened as he rematerialized high in the air. Z then produced a golden chain from his hand, similar to the ones he used to ensnare Haruhi. He swung the chain down at the combatants, grabbing Alphonse with it.
"Al, NO!" Ed cried.
Z effortlessly picked up the younger Elric brother and swung him around with the chain.
"Don't worry, Al! I'll save you! ADEAT!"
Asuna again pulled out her pactio card, but this time, the card transformed into an oversized sword. A single swing of the sword in Z's direction was all Asuna needed to do to dispel the chains, causing Al to land in a thud. As Ed ran to check up on his younger brother, Krillin took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Z.
"CHAIN DESTRUCTO DISK BARRAGE!"
Krillin threw four rapid fire Destructo Disks at his enemy, but Z warped away before any of them could touch him.
"What? No way!" Krillin yelled in disbelief.
"So, you like throwing sharp disks, eh? Well, try MINES on for size!" Z retaliated by producing his own giant, five-bladed shuriken that he then propelled at Goku's closest friend. The shuriken travelled faster than Krillin expected, but he still narrowly dodged the projectile.
"Ha, you missed!" Krillin laughed, which proved to be his undoing, as the shuriken boomeranged back and hit Krillin from behind, sending him flying far.
Frieza facepalmed. "Fool."
Z teleported yet again, this time reappearing far into the background. As Z harnessed energy into his Light Hawk Wings, Chihiro pointed to his location. "He's about to use the same attack that took us out last time!" the young girl yelled.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Itachi reassured her. "AMATERASU!"
Z's jacket inexplicitly ignited in black flames. Thinking quickly, Z warped from his spot, leaving the jacket behind as the black flames burned it to a crisp before it even touched the ground.
The moment Z showed himself, Luffy, already in his Gear Second Mode, took his turn to attack.
"GUM GUM JET GATLING!"
The pirate made of rubber barraged Z with a volley of punches so fast that looked like mere jet streams being fired from a gun. During his offensive, Sakura, once again transformed into her Inner Sakura persona, Body Flickered behind Z and spammed her own rapid fire punches, trapping him in place. "SHANNARO!" Inner Sakura yelled.
The kunoichi's confidence was short lived as Z dematerialized, this time leaving an explosion in his wake. Luffy and Inner Sakura were both blown to the earth hard, their hands badly burned.
"And let that be a lesson to the rest of you," Z lectured as he came back into sight. "Don't be so eager to attack me when I teleport." And with that, Z coated himself in a shark-shaped blade and darted towards the group of combatants at alarming speed, at least until…
"AUTOMAIL ARRRRRRRRM!"
Edward dashed forward with his automail arm extended in front of him, meeting Z's attack head-on. Surprisingly, the young alchemist completely overpowered Z's charge, and the powerful antagonist is sent spiraling into the air. Ed turned to Z and pointed while glaring daggers at him. "And that was for Al, you bastard!"
While Z was down, Al transmuted a large dome made of earth to trap him inside. This didn't imprison him for long, as Z birthed multiple explosive projections of himself and used them to detonate the walls surrounding him.
"HEY! Creating clones is MY shtick!" Naruto complained, already in Sage Mode. In haste, he created two Shadow Clones to gather and mold chakra into his palm.
Ichigo, meanwhile, placed a hand over his face, gathering spiritual energy. When he let his hand down, the gathered energy manifested into a menacing skull mask with two vertical black stripes on each side. Hollow Ichigo then rose his hand, ready to strike with the Tensa Zangetsu.
"WIND STYLE: RASENSHURIKEN!"
"GETSUGA TENSHO!"
Naruto and Ichigo both launch their powerful attacks towards Z. Undeterred, Z fired a small projectile from his hand, intercepting both incoming dangers and prematurely detonating them.
"You're going to have to do better than that," Z mocked. What Z didn't notice however, was the bullet Spike fired right afterwards, which led to said bullet embedding into his shoulder. "DAMMIT!" Z cursed as blood oozed down his arm.
"Bang," Spike said while still holding his gun.
The next to attack was Frieza, who emanated a purple energy wave from his right hand while declaring, "YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND!"
Z saw the incoming energy wave aimed his way. "YOU FOOL!" he replied, countering the attack by manifesting a dragon-head shaped cannon and retaliating with his own energy wave. The two energy waves collided, but Z's was clearly more powerful, as it pushed back Frieza's ki with relative ease.
Before Z could win the tug-o-war, Sailor Moon came to Frieza's aid. She held into the air a heart-shaped golden brooch with angel wings. "MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP!" After a lengthy transformation, Sailor Moon's uniform changed radically, the most noticeable addition being the two pairs of angelic wings that adorned her back and waist area. She was now in her most powerful form, Eternal Sailor Moon.
Eternal Sailor Moon summoned a white wand with a crown-like tip and a round, winged center from her hand. "CRYSTAL POWER KISS!" Eternal Sailor Moon's weapon, the Eternal Tiare, emitted golden beams of light that mixed in and strengthened Frieza's energy wave. The unlikely duo's combined attacks pushed back Z's wave and advanced until it nearly reached him.
"BEAUTIFUL!..Psyche!" Z teased. Adding only a little bit more power into his attack, Z completely overwhelmed Frieza and Eternal Sailor Moon energy beams within seconds and blasted both of them with his dragon-head cannon.
"MEOWWWWW!" Ryo-Ohki, now in her spaceship form, fired several shots of red lasers at Z haphazardly, hoping one would hit. The former space fighter pilot raised a hand to block a shot headed for him, but the laser gets through his defense, to his slight surprise.
"Oh yeah, that's right," Z reminded himself as he looked at his wounded hand. "She IS Washu's daughter, after all." The transformed cabbit then descended towards Z with her underside exposed, intending to impale him with her sharp end. Raising his hand again, Z stopped Ryo-Ohki attack completely. "Which means I must take her out now!" Z realized.
"Hey, Z!"
Shinji emerged from inside Ryo-Ohki and leapfrogged his way to Z in a single bound.
"LET'S SEE YOU GRIT THOSE TEETH!"
Completely taken aback by Shinji's boldness, Z was punched in the face so hard that he was knocked at least 50 feet back, leaving Shinji's fist smoking.
Still disoriented, Z got back on his feet, only to find himself standing on a racetrack. Speed Racer, while driving his Mach Five, rammed right into Z with his racecar, yet again smacking the villain airborne.
However, Z recovered in midair, the latest string of attacks only making him angrier than ever. "How dare you! I must now squash you like the bugs that you are!" As Z said this, he grew to a gigantic size.
"You think making yourself bigger will help you?" Aang pointed at the now humongous Z. "NOW I'LL SHOW YOU!"
Aang once again entered the Avatar State, this time encasing himself within a sphere a wind. The young monk then spat fire from his mouth and limbs, bending the fire to form a fire ring around himself. In addition, Aang controlled the rocks surrounding the area, as well as a nearby source of water, creating two more elemental rings to encircle him. With those powers combined, Aang took to the air in a collision course straight to Z.
Unimpressed, Z swatted Aang away with ease. "You will die!" the now colossal-sized enemy declared.
"Well, it's MY move now!" said Yami as placed three cards onto his Duel Disk. "I summon my three Egyptian God Cards and once again combine them to form Horakhty!"
As the three God Cards merged together to become the Creator God of Light, Kaiba walked beside his rival. "Don't think I'll let you show me up, Yugi. I summon all three of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons! Next, I use Polymerization to fuse my dragons to form…the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
The three dragons that projected from Kaiba's Duel Disk disappeared, replaced by an even bigger and more ferocious-looking, three-headed dragon. Side-by-side, the two Duel Monsters stared off against the giant Z.
"NEUTRON BLAST!" Kaiba commanded his monster.
"DJESERU!" Horakhty cried out.
Horakhty and the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon both fired their attacks, aimed straight for Z's head. Z countered with lasers shot from his eyes, which not only pierced through the Duel Monsters' attacks, but penetrated the monsters themselves, causing them to shatter in a spectacular fashion.
"My Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba called out in disbelief while Yami grunted in frustration.
With Z's attention drawn to the duelists, Huey pounced at Z, rearing his fist back in preparation of zapping Z with the Black Power Fist. On the ground, Sasuke noticed that the black flames from Itachi's Amaterasu still burned far off into the distance, creating the perfect conditions for one of Sasuke's most powerful attacks.
"As much as I hate to admit it, I guess I'll have to thank Itachi for that Amaterasu earlier, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this," said the younger Uchiha brother. Sasuke performed a few hand signs and raised his hand into the air. "KIRIN!"
Sapping the lightning from the thunder clouds created by the black fire, Sasuke guided the lightning towards Huey's Black Power Fist. The revolutionary's home-made weapon absorbed Sasuke's Kirin, augmenting its power even further, just in time for Huey to shock and completely paralyze Z with high-voltage electricity.
While Z was immobilized, Ryuk grabbed Light and raised him to Z's eye level. "Z, you don't look so good," Light taunted. "Here, why don't you take a potato chip…AND EAT IT!"
With that, Light chunked a potato chip into Z's mouth. Choking on the snack, Z gagged, desperate for air.
"Here! This will clear your throat!" said Chihiro as she fed Z an emetic dumpling. True to her word, Z regurgitated the potato chip jammed in his throat, along with everything else he ate that week, covering half the battlefield with his vomit.
"Eww, Chihiro!" Aang held his nose in disgust. "Warn us the next time you do that!" With his free hand, Aang waterbended the vomit high into the air and dropped it into the Amaterasu flames.
Z, meanwhile, had reverted back to his original size. "Maybe I shouldn't make myself such a huge target," he said to himself. Right afterwards, Z took a bullet to the knee, whereas the rest of the shower of bullets aimed in his general direction missed entirely. Z looked in the direction the bullets came from and saw the smoking barrel of Faye's Heckler & Koch MP5K aimed at him.
"Looks like I can still hit you even at your original size," Faye smirked confidently.
"And I can still utterly destroy him with my Millennium Rod!" Marik jumped in. The crazed Egyptian then let loose bolts of electricity from his rod whilst laughing like a madman. In his amusement, Marik didn't notice that Z teleported away and that Marik only succeeded in hitting Faye.
"Marik, what the hell are you doing!" Faye yelled at the tomb keeper. The momentary distraction was all Z needed to ensnare Faye with two glowing brackets and slamming her hard into Marik.
Inuyasha unsheathed his sword and pointed it threateningly at Z. "I refuse to allow such a bastard to continue to hurt my comrades, so go to hell! And I mean that quite literally! MEIDO ZANGETSUHA!" As Inuyasha called his attack, the blade of his Tetsusaiga turned black. With a swing of the sword, a portal opened up at Z's location. The portal swallowed up Z completely before dissipating, sending him straight to the underworld.
"Well, I guess that's the end of Z," Ichigo congratulated Inuyasha.
"SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKER!" Z randomly yelled as he reappeared and roundhouse kicked Ichigo in the face. Before Inuyasha could respond to Z's reemergence, Z warped right in front of the half-demon and repeatedly slashed him with his bare hands.
Sakura, now out of her 'Inner Sakura' transformation, rushed to aid Inuyasha. From behind Z, she flung several bags into the air. Next, Sakura threw some kunai to cut the bags open above Z's head. Cherry blossom petals rained on Z, distracting him long enough for Inuyasha to escape his assault.
"Petals? Is that the best you can do?" Z laughed. Right after he said that, Z took notice of an explosive tag that had attached itself on his arm. After further inspection of his body and surrounding area, Z's eyes widen in horror as he realized that Sakura merely used the petals to camouflage the explosive tags she covered him with.
"No, THIS is the best I can do! SAKURA BLIZZARD JUTSU!" With that, Sakura threw a kunai with an activated explosive tag attached right at Z's feet. The activated explosive tag exploded, igniting the other tags and shrouding Z in a spectacular explosion.
Teleporting to higher altitude, Z retaliated against Sakura by firing a barrage of bullets from his fingertips. However, a strong gust of wind, courtesy of Chi-Chi and her Bansho Fan, blew the bullets from their trajectory, saving Sakura from Z's assault.
Yusuke, in his demon form, stepped up to Z and pointed at him. "Hey, jerkass! I'M the one who shoots energy from his fingers around here! Here, I'll give you a taste! DEMON GUN MEGA!"
A huge concentration of demonic energy fired from Yusuke's index finger. Z countered by shooting an equally large energy sphere. The two projectiles collided in midflight and cancelled each other out.
Z dematerialized yet again, but upon his reemergence, a Dark Magic Attack struck him in the back of the head. Rubbing the sore spot, Z angrily turned around. "Which one of you shot me?" he demanded.
"It was I!" the Dark Magician confessed proudly.
"However, you'll have a hard time taking your revenge against Dark Magician once I play Magical Hats!" said Yami as he placed a Trap Card on his Duel Disk. Four overgrown magician hats with question marks on them appeared above Dark Magician. One of the hats hid the Duel Monster as the hats descended to the ground and shuffled around. "And now, you're going to have to guess which hat the Dark Magician is hidden under!"
Z did nothing but raise an eyebrow. "Really? I mean, REALLY?" With a mere pointing gesture, five flashes briefly appeared next to the four Magical Hats and Yami before fading away. After a few second delay, explosions occurred where the flashes appeared, blowing up the Magical Hats, the Dark Magician, AND Yami.
"You're not getting away from this!" said Amuro, finally entering the fray. The Newtype launched both his Fin Funnels and his miniature beam rifle after Z, commanding the weapons through thought alone. As Amuro's artillery surrounded and opened fire upon Z, the apparition of a woman appeared, but only for a fleeting moment. The crossfire of lasers and beams converged upon Z, but to Amuro's disappointment, Z projected an atom-like barrier around himself, remaining untouched from Amuro's weaponry.
Z took this opportunity to gloat. "You see this? This is the ultimate defense of the Light Hawk Wings. See for yourself just how powerless you really are."
"Roger that."
Gasping, Z looked up at the direction of the voice, only to find himself staring at the barrel of SD Gundam's beam rifle far above him. SD Gundam pulled the trigger, breaking through Z's defenses and flattening him with a beam of immense destructive power.
"THAT'S IT, NO MORE GAMES!" Z declared, finally at his limit. Z again warped to the far background and gathered massive amounts of energy into his Light Hawk Wings.
"Oh, so you're going back to that?" Negi questioned. "Well, then, I suppose it's time I use MY trump cards! SINISTRA EMISSA STAGNET CHILIPL ASTRAPE! DEXTRA EMISSA STAGNET CHILIPL ASTRAPE!" Negi summoned two big balls of lightning, hovering over each hand. However, the young mage wasn't done yet. "DUPLEX! COMPLEXIO! SUPPLEMENTUM PRO ARMATIONEM!" The two lightning spells were absorbed into Negi's very soul, transforming his body. A shroud of electricity emitted from Negi's body, and his hair grew to waist-length.
In his new form, Negi began chanting yet another Latin incantation. "DUABUS EMISSAE, DEXTRA STAGNANS 'KHILIPL ASTRAPE', SINISTRA STAGNANS 'IACULATIO FULGORIS'! UNISONENT!"
A HUGE spear made of lightning, large enough to pierce even a giant, materialized in Negi's right hand. Negi pointed the dangerous weapon in Z's direction and smiled confidently. "How about we end this in a contest of strength; your Light Hawk Wings versus my Spear of the Lightning God."
Z laughed at the challenge. "You really think that spear of yours could possibly stand up to the power of the Light Hawk Wings? If you want to die so badly, far be it by me to keep you waiting!"
Without any further hesitation, Z again unleashed his most powerful move. Even as the shockwaves edged closer to Negi, the young teacher opted not to throw his Spear of the Lightning God.
"Why are you hesitating, are you giving up?" Z asked in a mocking tone.
But Negi stood his ground, even as the deadly shockwaves encroached upon him. Just when it seemed that Negi's demise was imminent, the ten-year-old held his left hand forward. "NEGICA MAGIA EREBEA: CIRCULI ABSORTIONIS EXTREMPORE!"
Underneath Negi's feet, a magic circle big enough to cover the entire battleground suddenly became visible. The magic barrier protected Negi perfectly as Z's Off Waves made contact. Not only that, Negi also soaked up and took control of all of the energy of the attack.
"WHAT? He ABSORBED my attack?" Z yelled with an 'Oh Crap!' look on his face. "But when did he have time to prepare a giant magic circle?" And then realization hit Z like a ton of bricks. "Wait! Don't tell me that he prepared that while I was fighting everyone else!"
"That's right!" Negi confirmed. "You may be more powerful than us, but with all of us working together, we can accomplish many things. Including toppling a power even greater than the gods themselves!"
And before Z could even process another thought, he felt the titan-slaying Spear of the Lightning God, augmented with his own stolen power, pierce into his stomach and pinning him to the ground. He laid there electrocuted and motionless with the spear still embedded in him.
Smiling in satisfaction, Negi depowered back to his base form and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Yusuke ran to his aid and helped the mage get back up on his feet. "Holy crap! You actually did it! I can't sense Z's energy at all anymore!" Yusuke stated in disbelief.
"Then…my plan…was a success," Negi said in between heavy panting.
"Alright! Let's all go out for some ramen to celebrate!" Naruto proposed excitedly.
"Eh," Huey shrugged.
"'Eh?' What do you mean 'Eh?'" Naruto interrogated Huey, behaving like the younger boy had just performed sacrilege.
"'Eh' means 'Eh.'"
"Oh, so I guess you want meat instead!"
"I didn't say that!"
As the two went back and forth, something troubled Yami. "But something is wrong. If Z is indeed no more, than our world should be returning to normal, but we're all still here in the Shadow Realm," the King of Games voiced his concern.
"That's a very good observation," said a voice coming from behind him.
Everyone turned to find the source of the voice…before being sent flying by a fully-charged Off Waves attack coming from a very much alive Z.
The Trophy World inhabitants were all thrown to the ground in random directions, battered and bruised to the point where they could no longer stand up, let alone fight.
"Well I must admit," stood Z with his arms folded, "You guys actually put up a good fight, but it's over now. If you admit defeat now, I promise I'll make your deaths quick and painless."
"NO!" Shinji balled his fist in frustration. "I didn't run away! I fought valiantly, we all did, but despite all of our efforts, it just wasn't enough!"
"Is this really how it ends?" Al asked, his suit completely unresponsive now due to the extensive damage it took. "I just wanted to remember what it was like to feel one more time before I died."
"Mom…Dad…Haku…I'm so sorry," Chihiro despaired as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Don't throw in the towel just yet, guys. This fight isn't over yet!"
Chihiro, along with all the other fallen fighters, looked up and saw that, despite his major injuries, Goku was up on his feet, prepared to make a last stand against Z.
"Still some fight left, I see. Well then, I'll just have to fix that," said Z. True to his commitment, Z formed a sword of energy on his arm and made several attempts to slice Goku, but the Saiyan dodged each slash.
As he remained on the defensive, Goku communicated telepathically with his teammates. "Everyone, right now, I'm almost out of energy, so all I can do right now is avoid his attacks and keep him at bay for as long as I can. But, if all of you transfer your remaining energy to me, I just may be able to beat him at his current level of strength. C'mon everyone, this is our last chance!"
Krillin nodded. "Alright, Goku. Here's my energy." Krillin raised his hand, guiding his remaining energy from his body to Goku's.
"We're just going to have to put our faith in Goku," Sakura followed suit by giving Goku her energy.
"So it all comes down to this last draw. Heart of the Cards, guide us," prayed Yami before lending Goku his energy.
"Go get him, honey," Chi-Chi encouraged before surrendering her energy.
"Well…this is awkward," Frieza admitted. Nevertheless, he too gave Goku his remaining energy. "There's your stupid energy! Just don't think this'll change anything between us, you no good Saiyan monkey!"
"This all sounds like a bunch of hocus-pocus nonsense!" Kaiba complained. He then felt the murderous glares of everyone else. "But I suppose there could be some truth to this nonsense," he retracted before giving up his energy.
It wasn't long before everyone contributed their remaining energy to Goku. Z swung his sword again, and Goku, now rejuvenated, finally went on the offensive by snapping Z's sword into pieces with his bare hand.
"NO WAY!" Z shouted.
"Yes way!" Goku replied with a smirk. Goku then surprised Z again by powering up to his Super Saiyan 3 form.
Z was foaming in the mouth in anger. "But HOW? You were so weak that you couldn't even attack before, and now you're back to full strength? Where did this power come from?"
"Boy, Yusuke was right. You really don't know much about anime characters, do you? Well, let me break it down for you. For us anime main characters, our friends ARE our power! Except in the case, I mean that quiet literally!" Goku explained.
"W-What?" said Z, now backing away in fear.
"And on behalf of everyone who united together to combat your threat, as well as all the lives you destroyed, I'll make sure that you will PAY for all the atrocities you committed, Z! DRAGON FIST!"
Goku put his fist forward, and a golden Chinese dragon made out of ki exploded out of him. Z gasped in absolute terror as the dragon let out his ferocious roar. "N-no! Stay back!" Z begged and pleaded, but it was too late for him as the dragon ripped right through his body, leaving a gaping hole in his stomach.
"This is impossible! How could I lose to the likes of you! I have the Light Hawk Wings! Only I deserve to rule over everything! N-N-NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" were Z's final words before he exploded into a flash of light.
The Shadow Realm threat to the Anime World of Trophies was now truly over.