Honestly, I should have expected something like this to happen. Seriously, I've made a dozen or so references to Dragonball to the girls and I even made a senzu bean to save my own ass. Why in the hell did I not see this coming? It's one of those things that just screams that it's going to happen.
That was not what I was thinking when I spotted Cell in front of me. Those thoughts came later in the day. I was thinking something completely different when I was looking straight at Cell. In fact, what I was thinking came out in two simple words.
"Oh, shit."
"Anata dare?"
Oh great. What was worse is that my translator was broken and I couldn't understand almost any Japanese. That really bites.
"I don't speak Japanese."
"Pity. However, I do speak English," said Cell in flawless, well, English.
"Oh really, that's good," I said while I think my brain was going on autopilot.
"I'll ask again, who are you?" he asked with an exasperated tone.
"Oh, uh, my name is Seth. I'm a bit lost. I didn't mean to impose on you."
"So you are not here for the Cell Games then?"
Thankfully, my brain switched back into manual at that point. Avoiding a fight with Cell was a must. Sure, I had reality warping powers, but I wasn't sure that they were that powerful.
"Well, I heard that there was a fighting tournament here, but I'm not really the fighting type. Is that what this is?"
"Indeed it is. Then if you are not here to fight, are you here to watch in person?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Then perhaps you should leave the ring."
I blinked hard. It was then that I actually got a good look at my surroundings. I was standing in the middle of the ring for the Cell Games. Not a place that I wanted to be, that was for sure.
"Sure, I'll do just that. Though, how long is it until the start of the Cell Games anyway?"
"About half an hour."
"Ah, thank you."
He then snorted and closed his eyes. You know, Cell wasn't as bad as I thought he would be. As I left the ring and headed for this little hill near the only road, I contemplated where I was exactly.
The obvious part was that I was in Dragonball Z. That was pretty obvious to anyone with any awareness of the series. However, that was the only thing that was obvious. Everyplace I went to was a fanfiction universe. I wasn't sure yet if this was a crossover, a self-insert, or an alternate universe. Well, I didn't have any data on the place other than that was Cell and this is the area where he would fight the Z warriors. Everything was the same as before.
However, this was a vastly different situation. It was basically a fixed point in time, as the Doctor would say. I honestly believed that in this situation Twilight was probably with someone who would find their way here and I could meet up with her here. If I was wrong, well it was just thirty minutes of wasted time.
You know, that's not true. In thirty minutes or so, I would be able to meet the Z warriors in person. That was worth the wait as well. Seriously, how often do you get to meet one of your lifelong heroes in person like this? I can tell you right now. It has never happened to me. Well, I don't count my dad, but that should be obvious if you knew me.
As I reached the hill, I heard the sound of a car. I looked over to where it was coming from and saw a familiar sight. It looked as though Mr. Satan had shown up.
For those who never watched the Japanese version, basically the guy was named Hercule Satan. At least I think that was his full name. It was always Hercule in the dub and Mr. Satan in the sub. Either way, the guy was the reigning martial arts champion of the world. In the years Goku and his friends hadn't been there, there really wasn't that big of a competitive pool and he was technically the best of who was left. And damn was he a braggart about it.
Still, it didn't really concern me. Well, unless he decided to come and talk to me. I didn't really care. He was technically a good guy, but he didn't really fit in until the end of the series. In other words, he was not really a big deal to me.
I ended up just sitting up against the hill watching as he made a spectacle of himself. He then walked up to the ring and started pointing at Cell.
"Kutabare!"
Stupid, razzle frazzle, translation, son of a, argh!!! Why did my translator have to get destroyed? I'm pretty sure I could've taken that bullet. I doubt it would have hit my heart.
"Soredewa, hajimemashou," said Cell.
Yeah, I was definitely hating this. Cell was probably the only one here who could speak English well enough to want to do so. I watched as Mr. Satan took his sweet time getting to the ring. As he took his first step onto it, he paused. If I knew my DBZ properly, he was about to motion to a camera crew that was nearby.
Which is exactly what he did. A quick nod soon followed. If nothing else, that crazy bastard was filled with confidence.
I thought about that for a second while the camera crew came over. Is that what I was doing? Was I so filled with confidence that I was being thoughtlessly reckless? No, that couldn't be it. I actually was aware of my situations. Mr. Satan can barely create a battle aura and even then only when he's mad. He had no idea what he was getting into here.
After a minute, the camera crew made it to the ringside.
"Dakara, watashi wa, watashi wa sai zenretsu no seki no misutā. Satan-sama no tame ni anata ni kansha suru hitsuyō ga arimasu to katei shimasu," said the announcer guy.
Okay, that's really getting annoying.
"Koko made oide. Jinsoku ni!" shouted Mr. Satan.
"Kashikomarimashita. Anata ga iu mono wa nani demo," said the announcer.
Alright, that was it. I decided to just tune the whole thing out until the important people showed up. They were pretty much just speaking jibberish to me anyway. Of course, I couldn't help but chuckle as the announcer actually flipped Cell off. Man, that guy had a death wish.
That was nothing as Mr. Satan actually bent over and taunted Cell by slapping his own ass. I couldn't help but think that it might actually be worth it to see Cell kick that guy's ass just for the crap he was going on with. He then kept going on with a bunch of facial gestures that really made no sense to me at all. It was just getting sad at that point.
Thankfully, that was when I noticed Cell turn his head. I knew that must mean that someone important was coming in. I moved slightly away from the hill and looked out as far as I could. Then, I finally saw it. It was a blue speck in the sky that was slightly off from the natural color of the rest of it. It kept getting larger and larger and finally it zipped down to the side of the ring.
It was Vegeta. Holy crap that was cool! The guy just seemed larger than life. Seriously, the guy was ripped. Even as the crew came over to speak to him, he was calm, yet kept up that angry face he was known for.
"Shizuka! Watashi wa jūbun ni anata no gōman o motte ita!" I heard him shout at the camera crew.
I guess I wouldn't get to hear him say anything cool like back home. Oh well. Just being near that kind of awesome was good enough for me.
The two of them kept their gaze trained on one another. I watched as they just seemed to size one another up. It was interesting, yet kind of boring. I guess that was to be expected since no one else had shown up yet.
Of course, as soon as I say that on the opposite side Cyborg 16 dropped out of the sky and landed silently. Crap, that guy was big. I didn't just mean that he was well built. Heh, built. Anyway, I mean that the guy was well over six feet tall unlike everyone else around here.
Cell then said something to him, which I tuned out because it was still Japanese. I was honestly surprised that no one had noticed me yet. Of course, they may have noticed me and still didn't care. I was probably an ant compared to them.
Cell then said some more unintelligible things that I didn't understand with the exception of one word.
Goku.
Goku was about to arrive on the scene. That was when I got really excited. Dragonball got me into anime and it's biggest hero was always my biggest idol. Needless to say I was pretty giddy.
I looked off into the distance again to get a look at them. I could see them a little bit. The white specks actually blended in with the clouds pretty easily. The two gold spots, however, were a different story. Those two specks were Goku and his son Gohan. I didn't have to see them to know that's who they were. After all, this show is ingrained into my life-blood.
Hey guess what? I love Dragonball! Did I mention that yet?
Anyway, I watched as they picked up speed and left a bright contrail behind them. I was left thinking if there would ever be a moment I wouldn't love about this particular trip. There was one blue amongst the white that I realized was probably Trunks. Why did that matter? I still don't know.
They all dove in and landed peacefully at the ringside next to Vegeta. To someone who couldn't fly, it was pretty impressive. However, there was one amongst them that didn't quite belong.
That would be the lavender pony that was being lowered to the ground by Krillin.
There was still no one who was paying attention to me, though. Not really a surprise. Cell was the main attraction here. I was a bit surprised that nobody noticed me from the air. I decided that I ought to let myself be known.
"Hi Twilight!!!" I yelled.
Pretty much everyone collectively turned to acknowledge me for the first time. However, Twilight was the only one who looked ecstatic to see me.
"Seth!!!"
I watched as she literally teleported herself into my face. She was literally in the air in my face and dropped herself on me. I was just glad that I had enough time to brace myself and catch her.
"I knew my friends would come and retrieve me! I just knew it!"
"Oh please. As if something like traveling to different universes would stop me so easily," I told her as I set her down. "Hell, I'd fight Cell to get you back safely. I'd probably get my ass handed to me, but it would be the thought that counts I hope."
"Where is everypony else?"
"I've managed to get all of your friends back home safely. I'm the only one who can traverse through safely so I was pretty much on my own the whole time."
"So they all went to different places just like I did."
"Not just different places. You all went into entirely different universes than your own. In fact, Pinkie Pie got stuck in an alternate universe where Nightmare Moon was in charge."
"Nightmare Moon!?! We need to stop her!"
"The Twilight Sparkle of that universe will handle it eventually. I'm sure of it. However, right now you are my responsibility. I have to return you home."
"Not yet."
"Wait, what?"
"I promised Goku that I would help him in any way I could even if it wasn't by fighting."
I stared at her for a few seconds, utterly dumbfounded.
"Seriously, what?"
"I told him about how you were an enormous fan of his. He was quite surprised by that. I wasn't able to go into much detail, but I did mention how you imitated his Kamehameha Wave as you put it."
"Oh no. Did he end up asking about how I fought or something like that?"
"Yeah he did! I told him about how you fought Discord and helped us defeat him!"
"Oh great. Did he mention something about wanting to fight me to test himself?"
"Wow, that's right! How did you know?"
"Holy crap, it feels like a child wrote this," I said almost disdainfully.
"Wrote what? What are you talking about?"
"I've now been to six different universes and in each case they were the work of fiction by a fanfiction writer. Basically, somebody wrote a story about a story. Oh God it sounds like a horrible version of Inception. And that's saying something."
"You do realize I only understand about half of what you're talking about right?"
"Yeah, I do. You know how I said that your world was a story right? Well...wait."
I looked back over to the crowd by the ring. It seemed that their attention was no longer on us. However, I looked in particular over to Piccolo. Namekians had an excellent sense of hearing. I knew from this distance that any of them could hear me if I talked loud enough. However, Piccolo could hear us even if we were whispering from that current distance. I was not ready for him to find out that his world was basically just a story.
"Well? Are you going to tell me?" asked Twilight almost impatiently.
"I'll have to tell you when we get back. Piccolo can hear us from this distance and there are some things better left unheard by his Namekian ears."
I could tell that he heard me as I watched him turn to regard me.
"Yeah, I know things Piccolo. I've got vision like Kami did so don't be too shocked."
I couldn't see his eyes from this distance, but I doubt he liked that by any means.
It was about then when Hercule started getting into a rant with the others. It did remind me of something.
"Hey Twilight, how can you talk with the others anyway? They're all speaking Japanese."
"I used a translation spell. It lets me understand the first spoken language I hear after casting it."
"You think you can cast that on me? I can barely understand a word anyone here says."
"But I thought you knew about them?"
"It was either subbed or dubbed. Either way, I only know a bit of Japanese... Wait a second. How did Piccolo know what I was saying? Doesn't he speak Japanese?"
"Apparently he also speaks Equestrian as well. He was the only one who could understand what I was saying originally."
You know, I should have picked up on that sooner. I am such an idiot sometimes. I pulled my glasses off and slowly brought my hand down my face in the presence of my utter fail.
"Let's just get the spell cast before I completely wreck my own brain," I said flatly while putting my glasses back on.
Twilight nodded and took a stance. Her horn then lit up and a beam of magic flew from her horn and hit me; encasing me in a purple hue. A few seconds later, it disappeared. I then listened in to the conversation that they were having over at the ring.
Only to be interrupted by the loudspeaker coming from above.
"Hold on everybody! It's time to get happy!" came the voice of a woman from a pink helicopter.
"Ugh, I totally would rather my first thing to hear be that of someone I actually cared about," I said dejectedly.
"What is that?" asked Twilight.
"It's a helicopter. It uses rotating blades to create a down burst of air strong enough to lift the weight of rest of it into the sky."
"That's incredible!"
"I agree. It is quite the feat of engineering. You ought to see a jet. Those suckers can fly just as fast as Rainbow Dash."
"REALLY!?!" she pretty much squealed.
"Yeah, though they aren't as maneuverable as her I'll bet. Anyway, we might as well take a seat somewhere. This is going to be really idiotic until Goku gets into the ring."
"Um, okay."
The two of us walked back over to the area where the real fighters were. I then thought of something that I needed to ask her.
"Hey, did you tell Goku about that final move I used on Discord?"
"Yes, I did. Why do you ask?"
"He hasn't ever used it yet. The first time he uses it is during this fight."
"You mean you already know the outcome of this tournament?" she asked in complete shock.
"Remember what I said about your world, Twilight. I've also seen how this world plays out. Though, I was expecting something different to happen at some point. So far, it's exactly the same."
"Then if you know how things are going to happen, shouldn't we leave after all so that we don't interfere?"
"Normally, I'd say yes. However, I'm a little concerned with your appearance here. I need to make sure nothing has been changed."
"But things don't change. Time travel is consistent and things always happen the way they should."
"This isn't time travel. This is an outside context problem. We are a third party here and our actions can change things from the way they should be. Be careful what you say and do. I, especially, have to watch what I say. One slip up and bam! People get whitewashed out of history. I'm not having that on my conscious."
"Alright. I understand."
I realized our pace had slowed considerably and by the time we were done talking we had arrived in the fighters camp. We were also getting some looks from several of them.
"So, are you one of Twilight's friends?" asked Gohan.
"Yeah, I am. I'm Seth. Her newest friend."
"You were the one that defeated that Discord creature?" asked Goku with sudden interest.
"Yeah, though it wasn't as much defeated as it was outwitted. It was a first to land three blows format of fighting. Still, I managed to win three to two."
"You don't really seem like the fighter type."
"I'm not. I was just lucky. It was mainly using my head and my magic like so."
I snapped my fingers and a top hat appeared in my left hand.
"That's some strange energy you have there," said Piccolo.
"No kidding," added Goku. "It feels kind of murky."
"I'll take your word for it. I can't really feel energy," I said and snapped my fingers again; making the top hat disappear.
Holy crap I was talking with Goku! BEST. DAY. EVER!!!
Before I could continue, I heard a yell come from the ring. It looked as though Hercule was doing his tile gimmick. Just like on television, he broke all but the last tile. What a meathead. In fact, I could almost hear the voice in Cell's mind from when I watched the show. I could almost hear him say how Hercule's ignorance was painful.
I softly facepalmed and tilted my head as far back as I could. That guy was so lame. Then again, back home that might actually be considered impressive. Maybe that's why he was so highly lauded. If I managed to do that back home, I'd be pretty pleased with my weak ass self for doing that. Ah crap, I'm starting to see the appeal of that dork.
However, instead of looking back into the ring to see him get utterly humiliated, I noticed something in the sky that grabbed my attention. It was, for lack of a better term, a line in the sky. It was just hanging in mid-air over the ring. It started to bug me a little.
"Is it just me or does anybody else see a line in the sky above the ring?" I asked.
I kept my gaze trained on it as I waited for someone to answer me. It wasn't that big, but it did seem to be slowly expanding.
"I don't see anything," said Twilight.
"Neither do I," I heard someone else say.
I kept looking at it as it kept getting bigger. Suddenly, it stopped for a moment and then it began to expand the other way. It was then I came to a realization. It was like a light bulb went off in my head.
"You guys seriously don't see that?" I said with a little more urgency in my voice.
"I can't see anything, but I'm starting to feel some dark energy up there," I heard someone say.
"Please just be a coincidence," I said half-heartedly.
In my mind, however, I knew better. There wasn't really anything else it could be. Someone was opening a Garganta in Dragonball Z.
It was a damn Bleach crossover.