Okay, back from holiday! Normal schedule will now resume.

Chapter 15: Unity

No subtitle, same reason as last week, but there will be a little something to replace it after this author's note bit.

I wonder if anybody finds Alpha's speech patterns weird. I'm trying to convey that she's got an odd mix of informal (her natural style of speech) and formal (Kronos' influence, as he used to be a sort of surrogate big brother figure to her).

"You only live twice:

Once when you are born

And once when you look death in the face."

—Ian Fleming

"…ku! Goku!"

"Uh…? Wha…" Goku sat up, head ringing, vision swimming into focus.

Baby crouched next to him, breathing a relieved sigh. "Ah, you're awake. That was quick. What happened to you?"

"Alpha Shenron." Goku rubbed one particularly persistent bruise. "Only one Shadow Dragon left, but I don't know how we're gonna beat her…what're you doing here?"

"I was monitoring the energy around the Shadow Dragons' tower, and discovered something I thought the rest of you should know…but yours was the only ki I sensed still fighting. Then you got blasted down here…"

"Yeah. What was it you found out?"

Baby gave a hesitant look. "We might have more time than we thought. Or less. Basically, Alpha produces negative energy to open a breach for the Eternal, if you remember?"

"Sure, yeah."

"Well, we did some scans at various points in time, and it turns out she produces less when she's fighting—the stronger the opponent, the more effort it takes to fight them, the less energy produced."

"So basically it's even more important to keep at it than we thought…" Goku had a sudden moment of clarity. "If you know it depends on how strong the opponent is, you must've had someone to compare me with, right?"

Baby nodded. "Not a clue who, but from the apocalyptic scale of their battle, and the fact that almost no negative energy was produced during it, they must have been incredibly powerful."

"I wonder who…" Goku shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I guess I gotta get back up there…" He rose uneasily to his feet. "Prob'ly just get killed in a couple of seconds, though…"

"Is it really that desperate a situation?"

"Well…she's definitely got divine ki…but the only opponent like that I have to compare her with is Bills…and I couldn't say who's stronger." He shrugged. "Their powers are both so vastly beyond my comprehension…I really have no idea how they measure up."

"And…I guess we're all going to die anyway…there might be nothing else for it," Baby mumbled.

"What is it? You have a plan?"

"Maybe. It would increase your power significantly, but…well, when I describe it to you you'll understand why I never suggested this before."

Goku turned to face Baby, looking down at the self-made cyborg. "Go on…"

"I have, over the course of the last few years, modified my programming and my capabilities," the former Dr. Myuu began. "I no longer desire control over mindless slaves. I have, however, begun to feel…out of place. Wherever I go, I am extraneous, in the way. I wish to be a part of something…and as much as I morally oppose it now, I acknowledge that the only time I have ever felt that sense of belonging was when I fully possessed someone."

"Er, I know this is very important to you and all, but we're on a schedule and all, so…couldja get to the point, please?"

Baby rolled his eyes. "I'm getting there. I altered my programming so that I no longer have the ability to forcefully control minds—instead, I can now fully merge with someone…well, it was planned to be permanent, but in this case I can make it temporary."

"Let me guess…that's your idea."

"Indeed. It would be similar, physically, to the full possession I used on Broly during our battle, but very different mentally. It would be primarily your body to control, but I would be able to aid and assist you, add my concentration, skills and intellect to yours. In addition, as with Broly, this would provide you with a substantial power increase."

Goku considered all this. I don't doubt that he's telling the truth, for one thing… "You seemed pretty hesitant earlier, even though it isn't permanent…"

"It could be seen as intrusive, to have someone inside your head in such a manner…I know that many people would turn down a suggestion such as this outright." Baby turned away. "It is a desperate measure, and I understand if you refuse. It almost certainly will not be enough to surpass such a foe as this dragon, in any case…"

"No, I'll do it," Goku said with sudden force. "If there's any remote chance at victory, and we don't take it, we're letting everyone down." He brightened up. "Well, no time to waste, huh?"

Baby nodded. "Quite. Normally, this kind of operation would require more deliberation and mental preparation, but…"

"Let's go," Goku agreed, cutting him off.

"Very well." Baby frowned for a moment, and his body began to liquefy, flowing like a quicksilver ribbon into a wide arc and further dissolving into a silvery mist, surrounding Goku before being absorbed into his skin and vanishing inside of him.

Huh…Goku blinked. I don't feel any…whoa!

Spacious in here, Baby joked.

Goku groaned. Ha ha.

All right, I'm going to run a diagnostic…transform, if you would.

Goku nodded, turning Super Saiyan; it felt somewhat different, though. A quick check of his reflection in a nearby pool of water (formed as the impact crater he'd made had cooled) revealed that his transformed state had taken on a new appearance—his hair, rather than yellow, was silver, and small red lines extended up from his eyebrows to his hairline, with a third running down from his mouth to his chin. Kinda weird, but whatever. I don't think any of this is there in my normal form, so he must've added some kind of plug-in to my Super Saiyan transformation.

I'm now managing your power output to increase its efficiency, Baby informed him. This is taking into account Super Saiyan, Kaioken, everything—you won't have to worry about specifically using the latter to magnify your attacks. I'm squeezing the maximum possible amount of power out of your capabilities, while also micro-managing your ki flow down to the subatomic level; your attacks will be both stronger and less energy-consuming now. This is on top of the power boost you already received due to the fusion.

"Awesome…" Goku felt his new power rise to the surface. "Hey, if I'm sensing right, I'm about as strong as Pan was…that's pretty impressive."

I believe it is time to rejoin the fight.

"Think you're right." Blasting the crater beneath him even deeper into the ground, Goku took off, angling himself straight for the Shadow Dragons' tower.

The energy signature around the tower seems different to before, Baby noted.

"I see…" Goku considered this. "Come to it, we're pretty close now and nothing's stopping us—I guess what you're detecting is that she lowered that barrier that was keeping us from just skipping to the top."

She's sensed your approach, and is challenging you to face her directly.

"Right." Goku completed his steady ascent, touching down on the edge of the tower—Alpha stood waiting for him a couple of metres away.

"You're alive," she said, sounding uninterested. "I didn't expect that. You've even managed to improve your power substantially…but again, it's a drop in the ocean compared to the gulf between you and I."

"Let's find out," Goku retorted as he leapt to the attack—false bravado, of course, as he knew full well that she was right. The integration of the saiyan's tactical mind and the Tuffle's calculating genius was already showing, however—when Goku's fist swung up, Alpha went to brush it aside casually, but the moment it made contact with her forearm, a burst of energy knocked her arm back out of its guarding position. She was so taken aback by this that Goku had a moment to land another punch, this one to her upper body, a second explosion driving her back a couple of steps.

Heh, nice work, Baby, Goku mentally congratulated his new partner. Only a few minutes and you've already come up with a new technique…what you were saying about energy efficiency really paid off—I never thought I'd be able to strike every blow with the force of a full Kamehameha.

I aim to please… Baby responded.

"Tch…" Alpha shook her head at her ruined shirt, adjusting her jacket to compensate—the attacks hadn't caused her any real injury. "Well, I suppose there are two solutions. I could put more effort into blocking, or just dodge. And since I'm trying to save on energy…" She leaned to the side, avoiding his next punch and stepping back out of reach of a follow-up spin kick. "A surprise attack only works once, you know." She made a quick swipe, grabbing his head in one hand and slamming him into the ground face-first. "Hence why it's called a surprise."

Not having a clever comeback, Goku instead mumbled something unintelligible while tensing his body up, before springing back up at Alpha, resuming his attacks, which seemed to come faster and more frequently than before.

"I see…" Alpha commented, dodging and weaving. "You're allowing yourself to throw more attacks by saving on energy and only loading a blast into some of them. Unfortunately for you, I've observed this technique for long enough, and there is a faint energy signature on the energised punches—I can tell which is which! I only have to dodge about half of them." She retreated slowly, blocking and dodging his attacks according to whether they were charged with energy or not. Odd…I thought he'd stop trying this once I'd seen through it… She rolled her eyes. "Cut it out!" A lightning-quick uppercut hurled Goku away again.

He skidded to a halt on the edge of the tower, catching his breath. "Yeah…that was probably enough."

"Enough for what? You didn't land a single hit on me!" Alpha snapped, before an energy signature—even fainter than before—drifted into the edge of her awareness. "You didn't—" The Delay Kamehamehas planted on her with every blocked, seemingly non-charged hit detonated simultaneously, knocking her flat on her back. Combining the new charged-punch technique—Kamehameken, maybe? Goku wondered—with his Delay Kamehameha had been another on-the-spot stroke of genius of Baby's.

Goku wasted no time in following up, jumping at Alpha with a descending heel kick aimed at the back of her head. She rolled, however, throwing herself away across the floor in a desperate last-second dodge. As she slid, Goku sent a volley of energy beams to pursue her, alternating his firing between hands to allow greater charge time with no loss of rate of fire.

Damn, he doesn't let up! Alpha caught sight of the incoming barrage, flipping to her feet and kicking off the tower, vanishing from Goku's sight; the next thing he knew, an impact from behind had sent him spinning through the air, and his beams were arcing off into the empty sky, already dissipating. Man, he thought groggily, when I catch her off-guard, it's easy to forget how fast she normally is…

Alpha settled to the ground, rolling her shoulders. "Lesson learned, then. Even though it requires more movement than blocking, I shall dodge every one of your attacks."

Uh…any more ideas? Goku asked Baby.

One…but there'd only be a point if we had an attack actually capable of harming her to follow up may be a problem, then…

Namek, the far future…

Raditz stared up at Omega Shenron. "Wow…you're bigger than any Eternal Dragon I've seen so far, for one thing…" Other than this, and its colouration—red with piercing, all-blue eyes—Omega looked very similar to the original Shenron, and Gamma. "So…Gamma said you might be more—"

"I know. I know what you desire to learn, and what has transpired. I have seen your mind, saiyan," Omega rumbled.

"Well, that's…I guess you are supposed to have a lot of magic power, so that makes sense…" Raditz shrugged. "So, we've been summoning Gamma's power, only not all of it. Any way we can use all of it? Or at least my brother can, since he's probably fighting right now? Er…then? Gah. Time travel hurts to think about."

"Your presence here has caused our timelines to flow simultaneously," Omega informed him. "The amount of time that passes here is the same as the amount that passes in your home timeline." It paused. "Currently, your brother is fighting Alpha Shenron. He is holding her off, but will not last long."

"Oh! Then, uh, like I said, is there any way he can use Gamma's full power? That'd be helpful, I imagine."

"Indeed there is. Gamma's full power was not available to the two of you because, as he told you, when he performed what we call the Dragon Soul ritual, his projection split between the two of you. Now that you are physically here before me, I can purge that part of him from you and allow him to fully join with the other."

So I'll never be able to use the Dragon Fist again…ah, whatever, Goku needs it more than I do right now. "Do it!" Raditz urged. "Quickly!"

Omega's eyes flashed for a moment, and Raditz felt something leave him he'd never quite realised he had. "It has been done. Gamma is now gone from this timeline, completely merged with your brother. Interesting…it almost feels like…I'm granting wishes again. Those were better days…"

"It definitely worked?" Omega nodded in reply, and Raditz sighed with relief. "I have to wonder, though…why didn't Gamma tell me you could do this? He must care at least a little, or he wouldn't have tried helping us in the first place…"

"Gamma Shenron has a twisted sense of humour," Omega said with a slight hint of embarrassment beneath the regal tones. "He knew your curiosity at not knowing the complete truth would lead you to me just as soon as telling you directly."

"So he was screwing with me," Raditz muttered. "Good to know."

Shadow Dragons' tower…

Goku racked his brain for a solution. Gotta be something…gotta be…even the Ryu-Ken barely fazed her before…

Indeed…I'm not sure we're capable of seriously harming her, even with that attack, Baby agreed.

A third voice unexpectedly chimed in. Try it again. You will find a significant improvement from the last time.

Who are—

I do not have the time or inclination to tell you everything. Luckily, as the Dragon Soul ritual is now complete, I have no need to. Prepare for information dump.

Information—oh. Goku's question came to a halt as the knowledge of the origin of his technique, and of the possible future world, seamlessly entered his brain.

Getting kind of crowded in here, Baby muttered. Glad I'm not here forever.

Anyway… Goku focused the others' attention back on the battle at hand. Baby, your plan for landing a hit better work—and Gamma, I hope you're as powerful as you say. He inhaled, looking up at Alpha. Let's do it! He took a step back to gain run-up distance, and charged at Alpha, who was still unaware that anything had changed.

"Ah, he finally moves," she joked. "I was starting to wonder if you'd had a stroke."

Goku lunged, throwing another energy-charged punch at her face, and she dodged neatly. "I'm not stupid enough to fall for—" At this point, the energy detonated—but it wasn't destructive. The attack Baby had layered onto Goku's physical blow was not a Kamehameha, but a Solar Flare.

Alpha stumbled away, blinded, and Goku prepared to summon Gamma Shenron. This time was, indeed, different. "RYU…" A deep yellow flame burst to life around his right forearm, and as he took another bounding step towards Alpha, drawing his fist back to strike, rays of burning light pierced the clouds above him to focus on him, the fire and the incoming light merging to form the roaring golden dragon. "…KEN!"

Alpha grunted, eyes still screwed shut and stinging, as she heard him call the attack name, recognising it from before. "Egh…at least his attack is just another one of his little insect stings. Even if it hits…wha…" She panicked as her ki sense informed her, too late, of her miscalculation, crossing her arms to block at the last second. It's different this time…fully-divine ki…? How?! She had no more time to think, the incarnation of Gamma Shenron snatching her up in its jaws and carrying her off into the sky, biting down on her with immeasurable force. She pushed back, struggling to keep from being crushed, yelling in surprised anger.

Goku lowered his arm, smiling to himself. Hey…didn't even use up any of my energy this time, he realised.

No, but it did use mine, Gamma informed him. It will be some time before I can take physical form again, and hence before you can use this technique again.

All right, thanks for the heads-up…let's just hope once was enough to put her down.

However, mere seconds after the distant explosion that signified the technique's completion, a not-quite-as-distant-thunderclap followed it—the sound of someone breaking the sound barrier with contemptuous ease—and a wave of forcefully-propelled air washed past him, the slipstream of the figure that now touched down with a thump behind him. A hand gripped each of his arms, pulling them backwards almost to breaking point.

"You know, that dragon thing might actually be stronger than me," Alpha said testily. "But as you've so ably proved throughout our fight, a single attack from someone stronger than you isn't necessarily lethal."

Goku glanced back over his shoulder. Yeah, she looks a mess, but she's only really hurt a little…well, at least I finally did some damage. Anyway, gotta get out of this before she breaks something. He jumped up and backwards, kicking out at her face. She let go, ducking under his kick, reaching up and pulling him to the ground, before aiming a fist at his head. Evidently she was out of witty remarks, as all she said was, "Die!" as it raced down towards him with bone-shattering force.

"…Me…" a familiar voice intoned.

Alpha froze, eyes flicking over to the side. Who—?

"…HAAAAA!" Alpha had to leap away from Goku to dodge the blast, backflipping as she crested the arc of her jump and landing smoothly.

Goku sat up, eyes widening in relief. "Pan!"

His newly-reappeared granddaughter nodded, running over and helping him up. "You okay?"

"Been better, been worse." He shrugged. "I remember…Kronos said since Raditz took most of his attack, you only got sent a few minutes forwards…"

"Right, that must've been it. Everything flashed for a second, and then you guys were all gone; I still had my attack half-charged, so I ran up here with it, and you saw the rest. But hey," she added, "you look weird; and you're as strong as I am now…what'd you do?"

"Tell you later. We gotta keep fighting Alpha…if she's putting effort into stuff, it stalls the Eternal coming."

Alpha eyed the pair up. Brilliant. Now there are two…of equal power…then again, their combined power is still inconsequential to me, and I think—I hope—that I have finally exhausted his bag of tricks. I may be able to dispose of them both without too much difficulty. She chuckled. This is weird…I'm really starting to get tired of these people, but at the same time I'm highly entertained by them…and it's fascinating the lengths they go to.

"Are you ready?" Goku asked.

"Yeah." Pan focused her power, preparing to attack.

Alpha flexed her arms. "I know I am."

The three warriors ran at each other, meeting in the centre of the roof in an explosive clash of energy.

Inferno Gauntlet…

Hephaestus Shenron looked up to see a small group approaching the doorway he stood guard of—Goten, Vegeta Jr., Uub, Break and Eighteen. They neared him and the door, the silence growing more awkward as time went on.

He allowed Uub to pass without comment, then stuck out his good arm to block Goten and Vegeta's passage. "The merged warrior you formed earlier. Can you create him again?"

"Yeah," Goten replied. "We didn't get our full half-hour of fusion last time, which makes recharging easier."

Hephaestus nodded, and lowered his arm, letting them pass through. He raised it again, however, when Break and Eighteen approached. "Neither of you has demonstrated the potential even for demigod ki."

"So?" Break asked loudly.

"I have been defeated, and I will not fight against your side any more," Hephaestus said solemnly. "However…you are her friends. With only mortal ki, Alpha Shenron will kill you in an instant." He paused. "I owe her a debt. I am repaying it now."

Eighteen put a hand on Break's shoulder. "I'd better go, then…for one thing, somebody needs to tell people what's going on. For another, unlike me, you've got a chance of powering up like that, right?"

"I guess so…I mean, in theory…" Break answered hesitantly. She turned back to Hephaestus. "So if I can achieve that level while fighting you, you'll let me through?"

"I am not on your side—I will not help you," he said firmly. "I will merely prevent you from passing at your current level. If while doing so you happen to become strong enough, then so be it."

"Man, you take a long time to say 'yes'," Break complained. She pounded her fists together. "Let's do it."

Another clash, and the three fighters landed opposite each other; a second later, Goku and Pan swayed and fell to their knees, as Alpha stood up straight.

The saiyans rushed in again as soon as they'd caught their breath, Pan opening up with a pair of energy beams; Alpha strengthened her aura to her front, deflecting them away, her head flicking around as Goku appeared beside her, swinging a knee strike. She jumped over it, turning away and shielding her eyes as another burst of solar energy was emitted, but recovering fast enough to catch Pan's flying kick and throw her back where she'd come from.

"Ryu-Ken!" Alpha leapt away as Goku's most powerful technique thundered by, avoiding it this time. He cursed, turning to track her too slowly and being hit with a jarring blow to the head. Pan was already behind Alpha as she struck, firing a full-strength Kamehameha, but Alpha spun to intercept it, launching her own energy wave one-handed and overwhelming it, the resulting shockwave throwing Pan to the floor next to her grandfather.

"Man…" Goku groaned, rubbing his aching head. "We've been at this for a while…and getting nowhere fast…"

"Well…" Pan was first up, drawing on her remaining energy reserves. "I guess let's just keep stupidly throwing ourselves at the problem until one of us thinks of an actual plan."

"Sounds good…"

Random question: Who's your favourite BTtL Shadow Dragon? (I'm just curious.)

And for those wondering, yeah, BTtL Omega Shenron looks like GT Ultimate Shenron. Mainly because I think Ultimate Shenron is kind of a dumb name.

So apparently Dragon Ball Xenoverse will have character creation, and you can make your character female, which I always thought Ultimate Tenkaichi really dropped the ball by not doing. (Also awesome is that you can make a Namekian or Majin character as well as the whole human/saiyan dealie.)

I do have a confession to make: Until recently, I had never actually seen GT (though I made sure to read up on it whenever it was relevant for BTtL). I started watching it just before I left for my holiday, though, and I've now seen three episodes. So far…mostly frustrated. For one thing, there are just so, so many plotholes. So, so many. For another, there's potential for a good story! It's just…squandered, so frequently that it seriously frustrates me (in terms of the fact that I know what's coming and I know in advance that that potential won't be realised).

I mean, it isn't all negative, there are funny moments, there are cool moments, and it's great to hear both Stephanie Nadolny and Sean Schemmel's Goku voices in the same episode…anyway, overall: I'm not mad, GT, but I am disappointed.

Q: And if its not too spoilery in a straight up fight between full power Gamma and Alpha who would win?

A: Probably Gamma, as this chapter implies.

Q: So uh, is Whis not actually dead and Alpha made a mistake, or is the multiverse now without a "Creator" nor will it need one as the Eternal is about to be basically shut down, or...is there going to be a new "Creator" and will that be Son Gohan?

A: Well, Whis is dead.

Q: I'm a little confused about the difference between Porunga and Shenron type dragons.

A: Porungas are more powerful to start with. Shenrons are more versatile, and like saiyans have the ability to drastically and rapidly increase their power.

Q: So it occurs to me that Kronos apparently has more than enough time to discuss with himself exactly why Goku doesn't die to his attack, and yet he doesn't have enough time to, say... *DBZA Piccolo voice* DODGE? *normal voice* I mean, being a time master and all...

A: Anime time. Talking is a Free Action, as TV Tropes and RPG gamers would put it.

Q: so where exactly do omega and gamma shenron stand at their full power? Maybe powerful enough to stand against the eternal atleast?

A: Ahahahaha, no. But Gamma is more powerful than Alpha. Omega has magical power like the basic Shenron and Porunga, not combat power like Gamma and the Shadow Dragons.

Q: Is this next dragon going to be named Deus Porunga? Re-reas your story and remembered you throwing out the name..

A: Well-remembered/noticed. We shall see.