JUMP FORCE: IN THE HEART OF WAR

It all started without warning…

This was just supposed to be a nice trip. My family, my best friend and I were on vacation, touring through New York City without a care in the world. I finally got done with my studies for the semester and my friend got a few days off from work in order to make this trip possible. We were admiring Time Square; it was amazing, and it looked better in person than what it did in the movies. The buildings, the colourful billboards, and flashing images on the screens was truly breath-taking.

But this entire vacation was shot to hell when they arrived. Just as we are going to cross a street, a loud sound shot through the air like thunder. When the noise came there was a loud shockwave that caused the giant monitors to turn off and everyone stopped what they were doing and stood as still as a statue. Some people stood on the sidewalks, some stood in the middle of the street. Even the cars that were once flowing, stopped. And then a wormhole opened up right above our heads. The wormhole itself was fairly big. There was a wavy purple colour that formed the edges and in the middle was a black void with pink and violet stars that were floating, within the dark abyss.

Everyone was confused and some even had bleeding eardrums that was caused by the shockwave. I looked up to see what was going on. After a few minutes, people came flying out.

Yes, you heard me….

People came flying out.

I didn't recognised what they were wearing, but they floated in a line, like soldiers ready for an order to be giving out. And then there came the last one. This one I immediately recognised.

As a matter of fact, the last being that came out of the wormhole, would have caught everyone's attention. This last one was predominately white, save for a few areas on its body that was purple. It didn't have any clothes on, so anyone could see it's muscular proportionally to its small frame. However, the two things that stood out the most was its long, thick reptilian-like tail and its cold piercing, red eyes. In that moment I immediately knew who it was.

Frieza. One of the antagonists from the Dragon Ball franchise.

"How is this even possible?!"

"Good afternoon, everyone…." Frieza started in voice that somehow suited his size perfectly (*He has the voice of Chris Ayres, just like in DBS*). "I understand that me and my group's unexpected arrival in your lovely Earth city, can be quite confusing..." Just from the sound of his tone, I could tell that he wasn't sincere about any of the words coming from his mouth.

"But you have nothing to fear, my utmost gracious audience…. For soon your entire meaningless existence will be snuffed out. Like the ants beneath my feet." Yep called it. At the mention of that, everyone started to grow restless and some even tried to run away from the scene. But for what was to come, it was too late.

"Everyone…" Frieza called out to the soldiers and gained their attention. "You have your orders…" He lifted up his finger and a bright purple glow started to form on his fingertip. Without warning he shot a laser from his fingertip and it went into a building, causing it to explode. But it didn't stop there, he motioned his entire body in a circle and the laser followed, causing the laser to destroy more buildings within its vicinity. I guess that was the signal, because straight after that the flying men started causing chaos wherever they went. Cars were being destroyed and thrown everywhere. People were yelling and screaming trying to get away from the chaos and destruction. Debris were falling on the sidewalks and in the streets. Explosions were going off left and right. This was like a scene inside of an action movie.

But I was pulled out of my shock when I felt someone grabbing my shoulder and turning me around. It was my dad. "Zac! Come on, let's go!" He screamed as he dragged me away from the scene. We were running down the street, dodging every debris that was falling and explosions that was going off. "How are we going to survive this?"

"God please, protect us" I silently prayed, because if we are going to survive this, we are going to need a miracle.

(Scene change).

I don't know how much time has gone by, but we were still running for our lives. My mom and dad were running hand and hand. My father was in the lead, with my mom behind him and she was also holding my brother's hand, who was behind her. My friend and I were close behind them trying to dodge and cover our heads from falling debris.

My dad then saw somewhere we can hide. It looked like a pharmacy, but there was nobody inside. The place also didn't look that grand, but hey I wasn't complaining. When we entered my mom fell down on her knees, looking exhausted from running so long. As me and my friend were trying to catch our breath, my brother looked like he was going to lose it.

My brother was standing in the corner near the entrance, in the designer jean jacket, and expensive yellow Nike's, He seemed to also clutch both his hands in his brown hair, completely ruining the style it was in. After a while, my brother spoke up. "WTF was that?!" My brother screams out. "How the f*** can this be happening?!" My brother goes on.

"Ronny!" My father yells out to gain my brother's attention and it worked. "Calm down. We can make it out of here if we all just calm down." My father said trying to calm him down. It didn't work.

"Calm down? Calm down?! How the f*** do you want me to calm down. There are people f***** flying around out there, shooting lasers, and destroying things. And you want me to be calm. How f**- "He couldn't finish that curse word, as my father came at slapped him in the face. "Ok if we make it out of here, I am so gonna remember that". After he slapped him, there formed a giant red bruise on his cheek and then he grabbed my brother by the collar and brought him close to his face. The thing about my dad is that he can do that. You see my father used to be a bodybuilder when he was younger and from the photos that my mother showed me, he was pretty much build like a truck. Even if a few cans of beer caused him to explode like a balloon, he still looked pretty much intimidating. Nevertheless, him standing there at 5.9m tall, still made him look scary, even with his white golfing shirt, his brown cargo pants and his navy blue and turquoise Adidas.

"Shut up and listen for ones in your life…" My father said he held my brother close. "How do expect to get out here with you yelling for the entire world to hear us?" He let go of my brother and caused him to stumble back a bit and fall back. Now he knew that if he shouted again, he was gonna get another slap. In the meantime, my father also tried to calm himself down. "Listen, I know you're scared, believe me I do. But now is not the time for that." My brother looked up with tears in his eyes at my father.

"Ronny, if we want to get out of here, we have to calm down and stick together." My brother then wiped his tears and stood up, finally calmed down. It was weird to hear that kind of speech from him, but I guess even in dangerous situation, people are allowed to change.

"Zac" I heard my name being called out. I turned to look at a relatively smaller, woman (I mean if we stood next to each other, her head would reach the bass of my neck) who was dressed in a brown T-shirt and normal looking jeans. It was my mother. She looked pale and sweaty and looked to be in a lot of pain. She then collapsed on the floor again holding her left arm.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I answered. She didn't respond back. As she laid on the ground, she was sweating buckets and resembled a ghost. She was also breathing harder than she was before. I went up to her only to see why she was like that. In her upper left arm looked to be a shard of glass, making blood leak out of the wound. I'm no doctor but that doesn't look good at all. "How did neither of us see that?" I thought as I looked at the wound.

I then got an idea. This is a small pharmacy, so there might be some medicine round here that we can use.

"Jason, help me" I called out to my friend who was standing near the window.

"Right" He said as we went to the back of the store to look for some medicine and maybe something else to help us clean out the wound.

As we looked around, we started to talk to each other, trying to make sense of all that is going. "Dude, did that alien guy look familiar to you?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, Frieza. From Dragon Ball Z." I answered back.

"What really? How do you know that?" Jason asked in disbelief.

"I'm not kidding…" I said as I walked into an aisle that looked to full of medical products. "I never watched the show, but everyone always told me about it, and I might have seen him on YouTube everyone once and awhile."

While I was looking, I tried to ignore the sudden tremors and sound of random explosions going off all around us. Luckily, after a long while of searching, I thought found what I was looking for….

But in the end, it wasn't.

"Damnit all that's left are salves and bandages!" I growled out in frustration.

"Yeah and it looks like there isn't any other medication in stock. But we can use the bandages and salves, can't we?" Jason mentioned. "Yeah we can, but we don't have anything to get the glass out and help deal with the pain."

After a while of thinking, Jason then looked like he got an idea. "I know, maybe there's some in the back and the owner couldn't get around to restock." Jason said and he might be right. He turned around and walked to the back door leading to storage. I sat down and thought on how this entire day just took a turn for the worst and got shot to hell. All of this should not even be possible. I mean we're talking about fictional worlds here. Worlds that were created by authors for the world to enjoy.

"What the hell is happening out there?! Is this some kind of cliché fanfiction, where the main character discovers that all the fictional worlds he watched and enjoyed are actually real? I mean come on." Unfortunately, my inner rant was stopped when Jason rushed back to the aisle where I was sitting with a lot of haste. "Uhm dude, we have a slight problem." He said with a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"It's best if you come and see for yourself."

I stood up and walked with him. He turned the knob and opened door. I was shocked, clearly this was a bigger problem than what it actually looked like. Now don't get me wrong, the problem wasn't that was no medicine or even boxes of medicine. It was because the entire "back" was missing entirely. When the door was opened, I saw a half-destroyed loading dock, bricks lying everywhere and the entire stock for the store was crushed beneath the pile of bricks and concrete. Scratch that it looked like the entire half of the building was missing.

"I think we're screwed." Jason thought out loud. All I could do was nod.

This looked like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. You know, instead of zombies, we have flying people and a walking, talking purple alien, the size of a life-size doll that is trying to take over the world.

Our gazing was then interrupted when we heard the sound of an incoming jet coming over our heads. At that moment we thought it was the air force or something. Unfortunately for the both of us it wasn't the air force.

When we looked up, our blood ran cold. There directly above us was one of the invaders floating and staring at us like we nothing but insects, waiting to be squashed. Before, I couldn't quite see what those invaders looked like, but now I have a clear image standing right in front of me. The man looked to have a greyish skin colour. His hair was white as a sheet of paper and has been cut into a Mohawk. His clothes looked like some type of anime/alien armour, which was completely black to make a contra- "Damnit Zac not the time to bring up high school art class."

"Oh. What do we have here?" The grey-man said he slowly floated down towards the street in front of us. All the while eyeing us like we are pests.

"It seems I found two humans, trying hide from the fight…" He started with, what it seems like his little villain monologue. "Like a bunch of spineless cowards." He finished with a smirk that can rival the devil. Its piercing red, glowing eyes looked like it was staring right through us. Jason and I could not move a muscle. It looked like we were staring death right in the face.

"And it looks like you two aren't the only ones. I can sense three others hiding in the building behind you." Damnit. I don't like where this is going. "If you wanted a way out of this fight. I can make it happen…" At this moment in time, it sounded like my heart was beating in my throat and inside my head. He then lifted up his one hand and a giant ball of yellow energy formed in his palm. It looked like the size of basketball. "You should count yourselves lucky. Some of the others, who wanted to fight back died slowly and painfully. But at least this way it will be quick and painless!" Without another word, he shot the ball of energy towards us and for a moment it looked like my life flashed before my eyes. There were some happy times and some really bad ones that I don't want to not remember, but unfortunately, I couldn't control it.

My trip down memory lane was suddenly ended when I felt Jason push my shoulder to the right. In actual fact he tackled me to the right and the yellow energy ball flew right past us. When it hit the building, it created an explosion of fire so big I felt heat on my shoulder as we were falling. My ears were ringing, and the shockwave sent the both of us flying further into the alley. With a giant smile of satisfaction on the grey-man's lips, he flew away, back to the chaos and fighting that was still going on.

I sat up and rubbed my head. "Man, my head." It felt like a rock hit me on the temple… No pun intended. But my aching head went away when I realised something important…

It felt like all of time has stopped. My heart sunk all the way into my stomach and my blood ran cold again…

Mom

Dad

Ronny

They were still in the building. The same building that is now a raging inferno. I turned around and grabbed Jason who is lying next to me and started shaking him, without any regard if he had any injuries. "Jason! Wake up!" I yelled at him, hoping that he will wake up. Luckily, he did. He woke up. "O-Oww my head". He groaned out. He saw my face and looked at the building behind me and then realised why seemed so distraught. "Quick, we have to get to the front!" I yelled again and this time stood up and ran out of the alleyway with Jason behind me… At least I hope so because I wasn't paying attention.

It didn't take long since we ran very fast around the block and stopped at the entrance of the pharmacy. The entrance was blocked by debris and smoke that was flowing out was blocking my vision of what was going on inside. Without even thinking, Jason and I grabbed bits and pieces of the debris trying to open up the entrance so we can get in and… hopefully get my family out. The heat radiating from the cracks and holes between the debris blocking the entrance was so bad it felt like I was standing in front of a furnace with the door wide open. My face felt like it was melting, and it looked like I will have the chance of losing my eyebrows. Jason and I couldn't get very much done when suddenly fire erupted from between the debris and blowing near our faces. If I had my beard, it looks like I would have stood the chance to lose it as well.

The heat was so severe that both of us jumped back in hopes of not cinching our hair… and losing our lives. We stood back up, ready to go back at it, but we were stopped when we heard banging and coughing on the window of the entrance. I looked closely and saw it was my father desperately banging on the glass. I rushed towards him. "Dad! Dad! Can you hear me?!" I cried out. "Zac! Thank God you're alive!" My dad answered.

"Where's Jason?!" My dad cried out again.

"I'm here!" Jason answered.

"Thank God" My father thanked again. His face was covered in smoke and ash, as well as, what looked like 3rd degree burn marks on the one side of his face. His one eye was also closed shut and he was breathing heavily. Some of his hair was also burned off of his head.

"Both of you, listen to me!..." Dad said gaining both of our attentions. "You have to run away, now!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My dad wanted us to run and leave them to die.

"Dad, what do you mean?! What about Mom and Ronny?!" I cried out. My father's one good eye than started producing tears. He looked down and shook his head. My heart almost stopped beating… They can't be dead. They just CAN'T.

"Dad, I can still save you. I can think of something! Please you just have to hang in there!" After saying that I started to step back, and shoulder bash the glass. I wasn't going to give up. I've lost my Mom and my brother. I can't lose my dad too.

When I hit it for the third time, my shoulder was screaming in pain. So, I then switched to kicking the glass. That looked like it was making some progress, because a crack formed in the glass and it got bigger the more, I kicked it. But once again, I was stopped by my dad, just when I was gonna deliver what I thought was gonna be the final kick.

My dad suddenly fell on his knees and his breathing got heavier. "It's too late for me son *cough* *cough* You have to leave me. *cough* you have to get away from here." My heart was pounding, hoping, praying that what's going to happen is not going to happen. "Dad? Dad, please. I- I can't lose you too." I started crying. Deep down inside I was pleading to God to please spare my father at least.

My father then placed his hand gently on the glass and mouthed something. I couldn't hear the whole thing, because of the sound of burning wood and cinders in the air. Then he fell down completely. His body looked lifeless. It felt like my entire world fell apart and was stomped to bits… I. Felt. Powerless.

I turned to Jason and he also had tears flowing down his eyes. Right at that very moment we were kindred spirits. But I then saw his eyes going wide as he looked inside of the store. Curiosity took over and turned to look as well. You can say that at that moment, my curiosity killed the cat. My eyes widened as well when I saw a large gas tank sitting under the counter and it looked like a small flame was blowing out of a hole in the tank. At that moment I had only thought going through my head:

"Ohhh shit."

Both of us immediately turned to run for cover. We luckily made it a few meters into the street when another explosion went off behind us and threw us through the air and into a car. The car was crushed from the debris. For the second time today, I heard ringing in my ears as well as having a sore body. Luckily, none of the glass stuck into us when the explosion went off. I sat up again and looked at what remained of the pharmacy, while holding my aching torso. I tried to see, but everything was blurry, then I realised that my glasses was knocked off my head.

I squinted my eyes and looked around my person. I got irritated because it didn't fall off when the previous explosion happened. Luckily, I didn't have to search for a long time, because I then reached out to grab the square shaped frames lying next to me. When I put them on, I realised that one of the lenses was cracked and the frame looked beyond repair. But it didn't look like I needed them to see what was going on right in front of me.

The building was completely destroyed and in ruins. Once a place of life, now a tomb… for my parents and brother. Damnit.

Why?

Why?!

"WHY?!"

I screamed and slammed my fist into the cracked pavement. It damn well hurts like hell, but it was nothing compared to the pain I was feeling right now in my heart. My family was gone. This was supposed to be a family trip. What the hell did I do to deserve this?

My thoughts were cut short when I heard moaning and groaning to my right. It was Jason. That's right I still have my friend. But Jason looked to be in a lot of pain. He was rolling around while clutching his arm. And that did not look good… not at all. I saw a piece of bone sticking out and the arm bend in a bad way.

"Jason, are you alright?" I asked as I stood up and walked towards him. "N-N-No, it- it h-h-hurts." Jason was practically talking through gnashing teeth at this moment. And I can't blame him. I looked at the shop, or well the burning remains of it, and remembered what my father's last words were. "Jason, I'm sorry. I know you're in a lot of pain, but right now we have to move, before more of those guys show up." Jason seemed to agree with me, and I gently threw his good arm around my shoulder and picked him up slowly.

"God. Please, give me strength. Help us get out of here safely." I gave a quick prayer and walked out of there before everything would get worse and we would lose this opening. This may be the only opportunity we will ever get.

(Scene Change).

Narrator P.O.V.

It all happened without warning.

Two boys. One looked barely conscious and the other trying to hold the other up, was walking through the ruined city. They couldn't believe in what felt like hours the entire area they were in was destroyed and devoid from any life. They make their trip back to the spot where the first breach opened right above their heads. Before they could walk any further, a bright purple explosion made them stop in their tracks. It shot across to another building beside them. They immediately ducked for cover by a nearby car tipped on its back. Hoping that they won't be spotted by whoever fired that beam.

The scene changes to the first breach, where more of those grey men are flying out and two individuals are floating right beneath it. "My, my… Another city gone completely to ruins. Good work, all of you." Frieza said. The one grey-man beside Frieza also held a look of amusement and satisfaction on his face when he gazed out over the destroyed city.

These fearsome foes from another world, wrought catastrophic damage upon the city. The henchmen destroyed everything in their path. They seemed to do it without hesitation. But even as the shadow of despair spreads across the world, the light of hope is certain to appear.

The scene changes back to the two boys sitting by the burned car. They felt like all hope was lost, but that thought changed when they heard a sonic boom echo through the air. The one, Jason was busy minding his almost popped eardrums, but the one who is carrying him, Zac saw hope come in the form of a glowing stream of light. The shape within that light reminded him of someone he saw before.

The scene changes back to the breach with Frieza. The stream of golden light is revealed to be Son Goku, the main protagonist from the Dragon Ball franchise. He flies through the air, clad in his famous gi. That is coloured orange, with a blue undershirt and a blue belt wrapped around his waist. His air isn't the known black in this case, but gold and glowing.

"FRIEZAAA!"

Goku attacks Frieza. But Frieza stops Goku's fist dead in its tracks and a shockwave was caused from this. "What's this? I don't see your little friends." Frieza said as he continued to block and parry Goku's punches. "I don't need anyone's help to stop you!" Goku responded as he continued with his onslaught. Their fight then starts to go faster than the untrained eye can see, with another set of shockwaves erupting from the attacks, blocks, and parries.

Back with Zac and Jason, Zac is in complete awe from the whole fight going on in front of him. He saw videos on YouTube of Goku's fights, but this beats the anime experience any day of the week. But he knew he couldn't stay here so he decided to stand back up to get away from there.

Zac wasn't a very big guy. He had strawberry blonde hair along with a small but growing ginger beard. Normally he would have a pair of black square-shaped glasses on, but not in this case. His black T-shirt had a picture of Garfield on with his slogan "I hate Mondays" in a thought cloud above his head. He also wore blue jeans with a pair of black and green Nike's. Jason on the other hand had ash-grey hair held in a comb over style. He had a normal blue T-shirt on. He wore a pair of grey jean shorts along with black vans on his feet. Both of them had injuries on their person from their earlier confrontation at the pharmacy. Zac had a few cuts and bruises on his arms as well as his face and a large cut under his left eye. Jason, along with the broken arm, also had a few scrapes and bruises as well.

Back to the fight, Goku and Frieza gave one final clash before breaking off to get some distance between them. Frieza then turned smug and said: "This world is all but done for." That made Goku mad and caused him to respond. "That's not for you to decide, Frieza!" What kind of right does Frieza have to say something like that? Might be what's going through Goku's mind… but maybe not in that many words.

That retort annoyed Frieza, which caused him to lift up his finger and charge up another purple beam. "Oh Goku. You truly don't know when to give up, do you? But enough of this, time to die!" Frieza then extended his arm and fired a laser from his index finger. Goku dodged it, but unfortunately it caused the beam to go towards two passers-by. When Goku looked back at the beam's trajectory, he was shocked when he saw two boys standing in the path of the oncoming beam. His only thought was: "Aww Crap!"

Zac saw the beam coming towards them, but there was no time to move the both of them out of its way. The beam then pierced right through his chest, and it caused him to fall over. He let go of Jason and he also fell right next to him. That caused Jason to cry out in pain because he landed on his broken arm. But when he looked up at his friend, he could have sworn his heart would stop dead on the spot. The beam missed Jason, but its pierced Zac through the waist, making a huge hole in his chest. The force of the beam caused Zac to fall down on his back. For Zac, the pain was excruciating. It felt like lava exploding from within him and his lower body felt like it was going numb. He thought he was going to die… but to be honest, in the back of his mind, he was hoping too.

"Hahahaha, oh the poor thing. If only he dodged that." Frieza said with mock sympathy. Making Goku angry. This made Goku turn to the villain with a newfound motive. And that is to defeat him before anyone else could get hurt. With a war cry, he and Frieza resumed their battle.

By Zac and Jason, if the struggle wasn't real a few moments ago, it was now. At first there was pain shooting through his body, but now it was starting to go numb, as a matter of fact, it felt like everything in Zac's body was going numb.

All of a sudden, a weird sound comes from both of the teen's sides as well as a weird flashing light. In the light's place stood a slim, yet well-built young man of below average height and light skin-colour. The young man also seemed to have blue eyes as well as long lavender hair. His clothes consist of an indigo jacket that reaches his abdomen with a large C-logo on his left shoulder sleeve, a black undershirt, and dark grey pants with a white and golden boot. He also carried a sword on his back and not the typical Japanese katana, but the typical sword you would find a knight using. This person is Trunks, another one from the Dragon- (Ok, I'm just gonna assume that everybody who's reading this, knows about Dragon Ball and the characters. Because honestly this is getting annoying.) The thing next to Trunks, as I would put it, looked like a mechanic, floating cat. It wasn't that big, but it's kind of looked like R2D2 from Star wars, but instead of being on the ground it was floating in the air and it didn't seem to have legs. It had a big round head with big yellow eyes sitting on a bigger body. On his stomach was a large "J" logo in brown. When Trunks saw Jason and Zac, his eyes went wide with worry and then he rushed to action.

"Hang in there!" Trunks said as he sat at Zac's side. "Navigator run a vitals check. Stat!" Navigator, the mechanised cat, pulled up a hollow screen in front of him, showing him Zac's body as well as vitals. And it did not look good at all. "Reduced lung capacity… Severe blood loss…Severed spine. At this rate, the odds of survival are pretty slim." When Jason heard that piece of information his fears was confirmed. He tried to stand up to get some answers, but he struggled. At least he could make to his knees, but his broken arm still ached like hell.

Trunks made a grunt sound. "Then I guess we have no choice." Trunks reluctantly said. Zac at that time couldn't stop hearing sounds and noises coming from around him and decided to open his eyes. When he did, he saw Trunks and Navigator by his side, and they saw him as well. "Good you're awake. You've been attacked by Frieza and are in a highly precarious state. There's only one way left to save your life. We have to bring you back as a hero." When Zac heard, he was confused. What was he talking about?

"Navigator begin reconstruction."

"Yes sir." Navigator said. After he said that his eyes glowed yellow and he started to construct a cube of sorts. It looked like it consisted of silver metal and green lines glowing all around it. It looked like a large computer chip to be honest.

Trunks then grabbed the cube and positioned it on Zac's wound. He carefully inserted the cube into Zac's body. After the insertion process happened Zac's body glowed blue and the cube started doing its intended purpose. Jason could not believe his eyes when he saw what was happening right in front of him. This day just got weirder and weirder. But his wonder came to an end when his arm started to ache even more, and he felt like he couldn't breathe. He collapsed on his back which started Trunks. When Trunks saw Jason, he got Navigator's attention. "Navigator, go check out that man's injuries."

"Yes, sir." Navigator then floated to Jason's side and scanned his wounds. After the scanning process, he brought up the same hollow screen he did with Zac. "Not good. It looks like his left radius broke in half and punctured his main artery. He's losing a lot of blood fast." Was Navigator's answer. Trunks got alarmed with this.

"Quickly, take him back to the base and get him to the infirmary." Trunks said to Navigator and he responded with a 'Yes, sir'. After that Navigator summoned a beam and teleported them away. The bright blue light that was shining over Zac's body was still going on, but after a few more minutes, the light stopped. Meaning its job was complete. But it seems as though that wasn't the only thing it did.

You see before the cube was inserted into Zac's body, Zac was about 174cm tall and had a hybrid built. His build was a cross between a fit person and an overweight person. In other words, he was fit, but his muscles weren't well defined, and he still had a bit of fat in some areas. Well since he is 20 years old, he might as well.

However, now his entire appearance changed. Now he is 184cm tall. His physique has lost all traces of fat and now has a bulky - lean and well-cut body. His hair is no longer ginger, it was now blue… Yes, you heard me, ocean blue. There also seems to be a black diamond tattoo in between his eyes. His clothes also changed. Now he is wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a black pair of grey baggy pants and some kind of sandals. When the healing and transformation process was done. Trunks looked down at Zac with hope that he will wake up, because right now is not the best situation to be sleeping. Luckily, his worries stopped when he heard a groan coming from Zac.

When Zac woke up. He felt strange. But in this case strange would a major understatement. He sat up and looked down at his body, expecting to see a giant wound somewhere. But there wasn't. He then took notice of changes and let's just say it very well justified to be freaked out. But his mental freak out was short lived.

"It looks like the reconstruction was a success." Trunks said next to him. Zac turned to Trunks with a confused face. "Reconstruction?" Zac muttered, but after that he grabbed his throat in shock. Even his voice was different now. Now Zac was confused. What the hell is going on?!

"What are you talking about? What did you do to me?" Zac asked.

"You almost died from Frieza's attack, but I inserted an Umbras cube into your body in order to save your life." Trunks answered. "How are you feeling? Are you experiencing any kind of side-effect?" Trunks asked, but this time with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I still don't know what's going on." Zac answered.

"I know you want answers at the moment, but I'm afraid I can't give more to you right now. Sorry, but this is going to have to wait until we get back to base camp." Trunks said.

"Ok, but after we get to this base camp of yours. I want answers." Zac said. As if it was planned all three of them then turned to where Goku and Frieza were still continuing their fight. Zac was still confused and desperate for answers, but unfortunately for now he had to wait until Trunks brought him to their headquarters. Wherever that may be.

It all became worse when Goku and Frieza flied all the way down to their spot and continued on with the onslaught. Trunks then grabbed Zac's shoulder which grabbed his attention away from the oncoming fight. "Come on. It's not safe here." Zac nodded to that and was just about to move. But an unfortunate calamity stopped both Zac and Trunks in their tracks. The calamity being in the form of three enemies surrounding the both of them. Seriously where the hell did, they come from?!

"Damn it!" Trunks cried out.

He then took a fighter's position, which also caused Zac to take one as well. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to fight your way out." Trunks said.

"Damnit."

"Don't worry. You should be more than capable now. The cube inside you will give you all the power you need." Trunks explained. Hoping that it would at least calm Zac's nerves. It didn't help much.

(Scene Change).

Zac's P.O.V.

Ok right now it looks like I'm majorly and royally screwed. There are two of us and three of them, which from all my times playing video games, aren't very good odds. Now that these guys are right in front of me, I can now see what their uniforms look like. The one man seems to be wearing a leaf village shinobi outfit, the girl seems to have an outfit from Dragon Ball Z (The ones that looked like a one piece swimsuit, but with armour plates covering the vulnerable areas), I'm guessing, and the other guy seems to have a marine sailor outfit from the One Piece anime.

Before I could get any more details from the three opponents, the one in the marine suit attacked. The marine disappeared and reappeared right in front of me and pulled back his right arm for a cross to my face. But the funny thing was that I could see it coming. Without thinking I dodged to my left and let the punch fly past me. Before the marine could retaliate, I gave a left cross to his face, which landed. The punch though was stronger than I thought, because after the cross landed it send the marine into a broken-down taxi. Making it skid away a few more meters. I was stunned. I didn't think it would that easy. But my moment of triumph was interrupted unfortunately when the girl in the Dragon Ball outfit attacked.

"YAAAAHHHH" She cried out as she flew towards me and pulled back her fist. Just like with the marine, I dodged to my left again and let the attack fly right past. But instead of having time to counter, she lashed out with a back kick to my chest. I then braced myself for the pain, but it did not come. What happened next was really, really weird. Instead of feeling the kick hit my stomach, I felt air. When I looked around myself, I then saw the Dragon Ball girl was now standing behind me.

"What the hell just happened?" I thought. But my thoughts were interrupted when she quickly got over her shock before me. The girl kicked the same kick again, but with the other leg. It struck my back, but the strength behind it was enough to send me off into the air and into a wall face first.

The impact was so hard, it caused cracks and it knocked the air out of my lungs. I then fell down on my tender back. "Owwwwch" "Damn that hurt like hell and she even kicked with the heel." It felt like she could have stabbed me in the back, because of that heel. I got on shaky feet, but the pain didn't last very long. Good thing too, because here she comes again. She blurred out of my field of vision and reappeared right in front of me.

When she did, she was still in the middle of a rotation. She then extended her leg in what looks like a tornado kick to my head. I quickly brought up my arm and blocked the kick, but damn that also hurt like hell. When she saw her attack fail, she immediately blurred away and reappeared a distance away from me. But unfortunately, it didn't look like she was running away.

"You have some pretty good instincts…. For a pest…" Ok not the best compliment, but I'll take for now at least. "But let's see if those instincts of yours will help you survive this." She then squatted down and brought both of her hands in front of her chest. In between her hands looked like a big yellow ball of energy forming. I don't know why but my gut is telling me to move…. As in RIGHT NOW!

"LIGHT GRENADE!" After she said that, she shot the huge ball of energy towards me. This was just like before with the other guy at the pharmacy. But the only difference is that I can finally do something.

With speed I didn't even know I had, I jumped up to the side. But in this case, I practically launched myself high up into the air. The big ball hit the place where I stood and now, I realise why she called it a grenade. Because the moment it hit the spot, what followed was a giant explosion. The explosions' shockwave knocked me while I was in the air and sent me to the ground. Luckily, I knew what to do in this situation. Before the ground could touch my body, I immediately rolled my body so that my back would hit the ground first. After that I rolled up on my feet and looked back at the grey she-devil.

"Well, it seems you're not as weak as I thought. But just because you dodged my attack don't think you can beat me; you would be in over your head if you thought that. In any case I should probably take this seriously." Her body then looked like it was glowing purple and then after that there seemed to be purple flames erupting from her whole body. The air felt like it got a lot denser, but for me it wasn't that bad. "Now it's time for you to meet your maker." She said.

"Seriously?!" That is really the cheesiest line I have ever heard. But I couldn't say that to her right now.

She then launched towards me again with a punch, but I luckily weaved my head to the left. The punch flew past my head, but she didn't seem to see my right fist coming up and tagging her in the face. The speed of her launch towards me caused my fist to have a greater effect by knocking her back and stunning her.

Without hesitation I lashed out with a left hook to her chin, turning her head to the side. I then send a right uppercut to her midsection, successfully making her upper body bend forwards and causing her spit to fly out of her mouth. I then send a left front kick to her midsection again, not a hard one, but with just enough force to get some distance and also set up my real attack. While still in the motion and with added momentum, I brought my other leg up and gave a sidekick to her jaw that, surprisingly, shot her up into the air. Her air travel was stopped by a wall, and it also formed cracks on impact. Luckily after she slid down, she didn't get back up.

But the freaky part was when she suddenly dissipated into a swarm of what looked like cubes. "What the hell?" Was the question that came to my mind, but again I was interrupted when the marine tackled me into a building. He grabbed me by the throat with both hands and started squeezing. It didn't hurt straight away, but after a while I felt the pressure starting to build up. I tried to wrestle his hands off, but he had firm grip and it didn't want to budge.

"You idiot." The marine said. Don't tell me he is going to monologue now. "Do you really think we can be defeated like the rest of those weaklings? You have GOT to be an idiot if you think you can. Look around you! Look at all the destruction to this city!" The marine cried out in my face. "How about you go look for a mint?" Would have been my response, but its kind off hard to do it right now.

"We did all of this. Now what I'm going to do is…" The marine said to build up suspense. Yeah not working pall. "I'm going to crush your airway slowly and watch your life fade from your eyes. So, don't worry, it will only hurt…. A lot. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The marine bellowed out a laughter. But what he said caused me to gasp.

A brief memory came to my mind…

My dad… My mom….

My brother.

It was a happy memory of me and my family. We were laughing and happily chatting around our dining room table. Those were times that heavily annoyed me but were actually secretly making me happy. But the sad thing right now it is just a memory. I can never relive it ever again.

No…. My family is gone… I couldn't save them… I couldn't protect them and keep them alive… God please give me strength because right now I'm going to live, not just for the sake of living… but for my family too. So, I'm not going to die today….

NO WAY IN HELL!

With newfound resolve and strength, I grabbed both of his arms and forced them away from my throat. His smile quickly turned to shock and confusion. "Save your monologues for the movies, dumbass." I then slammed my head into his face, stunning him long enough for me give my actual attack. I then connected with my right elbow across his chin and with a solid knee to his solar plexus. That wasn't enough to knock him out, but it at least got him off of me.

I then pulled my right fist back again and with all of the strength at my disposal I gave out the punch to his face, literally unleashing all I had left from that fist of mine and launched the guy all the way to the other side of the street. Into the building. It didn't just stop his flight; it also broke on impact and fell on top of him.

It did not look as if he will get up from that. The adrenaline in my body then left and I slumped onto my knee, holding my throat because it was still sore and also trying to regain my breath. I didn't know that punch would take so much out of me. And I definitely didn't know that the "reconstruction" or whatever would make me like this….

Also, I probably should have warmed up first, because right now my body is aching.

But I then noticed someone running to me. It was Trunks. "Thank goodness you're alright. That was quite the fight" He said. "Wait was he watching me fight?! If he did why didn't he give me a hand?" He then offered me a hand….

Ok that wasn't funny…. Not one bit.

"Thanks" Was my response. "Ugh, Damn". I said when my head started to ache. "Guess that guy's head was harder than I thought". Looks like this is the reason why they only do the head-butt in the movies.

"How was your fight?" I asked.

"I finished my fight with the venom long before yours. I have to say, even though you just received the umbras cube, it looked like you knew your way around a fight." Trunk said.

"I trained in martial arts." I said.

"Ohh really, what kind?" Trunks asked, clearly that perked his interest.

"I don't think it ever existed in your universe. But here, it's a very popular style." I explained.

"Oh…" That got his attention. "So, you know that we are from different universes. I see, that would save a few explanations on my part." I nodded to that. "But I'm afraid we have to get out of here before more Venoms show up." I nodded to that as well.

"Yeah"

But we are then stopped by that Navigator-bot thing (whatever the hell he is) before we could get away from here. He looked to have just arrived.

"Navigator, how's the patient in the infirmary?" Trunks asked Navigator.

"I got to the infirmary just as you requested. It took a while, but we finally got him stable and prevented any more blood loss and internal bleeding. But the arm is going to pose a problem until the medics can find a real solution." Navigator explained. But the mention of the arm got my attention. What do they mean by – Wait a minute! I quickly looked around me to see if my suspicions were true. And it was because Jason's body was nowhere to be found. So that obviously means that Jason is the patient they are talking about now.

I then looked back at the duo of outsiders and let them continue their conversation, because right now to know that my friend is save is enough. I know I should be sceptical, but right now my gut I am telling me I should trust these guys…. But only until I have a reason not to trust them.

"Navigator, before we leave. Get the cubes from the venoms before others arrive." Trunks said. Navigator complied and beamed up the cubes. It didn't actually bother me, but at this point I don't think can bother me anymore.

Scene change:

"*sigh* this is why you can't rely on humans."

Frieza witnessed the entire fight between the human and Trunks and his venom subordinates. And right now, being pissed off would be a major understatement, but he couldn't exactly voice his frustrations out right now. At this very moment Frieza realised that he is outnumbered. He wasn't really worried about the human, but he didn't want to take chances with Goku and Trunks. Besides, they already accomplished their mission.

Frieza said as he turned his back to Goku, which caused Goku to become confused. "Let's pick this up another time." Frieza said as he ascended towards a breach that opened up right above him.

Goku was not really in the mood to consider that request. If Frieza left now, then there is a chance that he will try to do the same thing he did today, somewhere else. "Hey, get back here!" Goku cried out, which caused Frieza to stop his ascension and look at Goku.

"Don't you need to attend to your new friend?" Frieza asked Goku making him stop and think. Maybe Frieza had a point. "Good day." Frieza said just as he disappeared through the breach. Goku made a *tsk* sound as he powered down and descended down towards the street where Trunks and the new guy was standing.

As he walked over to them, his frustrations faded away. The reason for this is because of the new guy's fight. As Goku was fighting Frieza, he noticed how good the new guy was fighting. That got his attention. Maybe they can spar when they get back to HQ.

(Scene change)

"You're pretty good, new guy!" Goku announced his presence to Zac and Trunks. At first Zachery was kind of shocked at Goku right…. Mostly because who knew that he would be meeting a famous anime character today.

"Uh Thanks." Was Zac's response.

At that moment, Trunks' eyes widened. "Ohh right. I don't think I've asked your name yet." Trunks asked Zac.

"My name is Zachery Nelson… But my friends call me Zac." Zac said as he raised his right hand to Trunks, which he returned and shook. Damn he has a strong grip, well that what you would expect from a Saiyan. "Nice to meet you Zac. My name is Trunks, and this is Son Goku." Trunks introduced.

"Yeah, I already know that. You guys are pretty popular here in this world." Zac said as he folded his arms.

"Wow really?! That's cool." Goku responded.

The conversation would have drawn out longer, but it was cut off when Trunks started talking. "Goku, I think we should head back to base camp for now. Luffy and Naruto should be finished helping the others." Wait did Trunks just say, Luffy and Naruto. As in Monkey D. Luffy, the main character from One Piece and Naruto Uzumaki, the main character from Naruto and Naruto Shippuden….

Oh yeah, today is definitely gonna be a day I will remember.

"Sure. Besides, I'm getting hungry." Goku said as his stomach started growling… "Damn man do you have a dragon for a stomach or something?" Was what Zac thought.

Trunks then turned to me and said. "You too, Zac! I did promise to give you answers when we arrive at base camp. Besides, I could tell from your reaction earlier that the patient in the infirmary is your friend." Zac then became sad when Trunks said, but he could only nod.

"Don't worry! We've got lots of great food." Goku said, as if he could sense that Zac was down. Zac's smirk returned a little but was interrupted when his stomach growled the same as Goku's. All three of them stopped what they were doing and looked down at his stomach.

"Well I guess, I can only believe on that. Hehe." Zac said and chuckled.

Navigator then floated in between us and said. "Activating teleportation portal." And just like that all three of them disappeared in the same flashing light.

(Scene Change).

"Here we are" Navigator said, just as the trio reappeared in a beam of light.

The trio appeared in what looks like a large office. The office looked really, really advanced though. As in it looked like something Iron Man would think about on a lazy day. Zac looked around and saw a large desk in front of him with a bunch of screens on the wall behind the desk. On the screens, were videos and images of those venoms destroying everything as well as destruction that was left behind, like broken down buildings, holes in the pavements (and I'm not talking about small potholes, I'm talking holes large enough to shallow a bus and would then have room for more cars). There was also a giant flower or plant that grew in one area of New York. "Ok that's disturbing." Zac thought.

To Zac's right side stood a large metallic door, which kind of resembled those high-tech slide doors on Star Wars. Behind Zac were some stairs that lead somewhere, but where was the question that came to Zac's mind.

"Hmm… It still feels weird having a machine transmit me around like that." Goku said as he started doing some stretches.

It wasn't long before he heard footsteps coming down the stairs behind them. Trunks, Goku and Zac then turned around to see a bald, middle aged man with large glasses coming down the stairs. The man wore a black buttoned up jacket, which seemed to drape down his back, baggy light brown pants, and a pair blue boot. The man wasn't alone. There were two other characters that came down with. These two, Zac recognised. They were Monkey D. Luffy and Naruto Uzumaki (Monkey D. Luffy's attire resembles the one in the post-time skip arc and Naruto's attire is the one in Shippuden).

"Hey Goku's, back." Said Naruto as he saw the trio. At this time, it took all the willpower at Zac's disposal to not completely geek out at that moment.

"Yeah, sorry guys. Frieza got away." Goku said, somewhat shy at himself.

"Don't worry about it. Just get him next time!" Luffy said.

"Yeah you're right…. So, do we have anything to eat? I'm starving." Goku asked.

It was at that moment that Luffy started laughing. "Shishishishi! I already ate it all!" Goku then fell on his back and got up faster than what Zac thought was possible.

"Wha -?! No way!"

Luffy just laughed further and Naruto sported a fox-like grin. At that moment Trunks turned to Zac and saw the amazed look in his eyes. It's kind of looked like a child's eyes whenever he arrived at an amusement park.

"Everyone from your world freaks out a bit when they first come here." Trunks said to Zac. "Yeah I can- Woah wait a minute. Are you telling me there are more people from my world here?!"

"Yes, there are. The attack didn't just happen where you were. It happened around the world. In every major city on this planet." Trunks explained, which caused Zac's eyes to become dinner plates.

"Naturally." Said the old man in glasses. Gaining everyone's attention. "After all, they're seeing a world straight out of a comic appear before their very eyes. So, then it is understandable that some would be unnerved by this."

"If that's the case, then…." Zac thought, immediately thinking about his home now. That caused more grief to swell up inside him.

"Director" said Trunks. "This is Zachery Nelson. One of two survivors of today's attack." Trunks introduced Zac to the man in front of them, who is apparently the director of the entire base. Said director then stretched out his arm in a handshake towards Zac, which Zac grabbed and shook. "Welcome to the Umbras base, Zachery." Said the director.

(Scene Change).

Back to Goku, Luffy and Naruto, they were talking about their newest arrival to the base. "Hey, old man Goku." Naruto called, which Goku responded too.

"Yeah"

"What's the deal with the new guy over there?" Naruto asked. Which caused the three powerhouses to look at Zachery.

"Ohh Zac…. Uhm…. I don't really know." Goku said, after doing the best analysis he could do. This caused Naruto to face plant, anime style and also caused Luffy to laugh.

"Huhh?! What do you mean you don't know?! You're the one that brought him here with Trunks!"

"Hey, hey. Take it easy. I only fought Frieza the entire time, so I only met him after Frieza got away." This caused Naruto to calm down a little bit. But not enough to sooth his curiosity.

"But I can tell you one thing… He's really strong. While I was fighting Frieza, he and Trunks fought three venoms and he took down two of them" This sparked both Luffy and Naruto's attention. If that's the case, then he would prove valuable for the base. But they had to see this for themselves.

In order to do that, Naruto turned towards an old friend. "Hey Kurama, you awake?" Naruto thought/asked. "What is it now brat? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but I need your help on this one." Naruto proceeded to ask. "Can you sense the new guy's power over there?" Kurama then responded with a huff. It took a while for Kurama, the Nine-tailed Fox, to sense Zachery's power level. I mean after all he was woken up from his nap. But after a while Kurama answered Naruto. "Hmmm. Not bad… for a green horn." Naruto got confused, why would he say that?

"Why did you say that Kurama? I don't get it."

"Ugh… if you would spent some time concentrating, instead of daydreaming and asking stupid questions, then you would realise what I meant by that!"

"Ok, Ok. Sheesh I'm sorry, can you just explain it to me already."

"*tsk* Fine. For a human that just received a cube, or whatever you call it, he has a high-power level. Compared to the other humans from this world, who also received cubes, this one's power level in exceptionally high. It would be like to compare a wolf pup to an adult and that's only his base power."

"Wait is he really that strong Kurama? And what do you mean by base power?"

"*growl* WOULD YOU LET ME FINISH, YOU STUPID BRAT?!" Naruto then flinched from that outburst, causing him to shut up. "As I was saying, what I am sensing now is the power he has at the current moment. He is not as strong as you or the other two next to you, but I can tell he can become stronger in the future. And that's not all."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "I can't sense any further. It feels like something is blocking me." This made Naruto even more confused. "What are you talking about? What do you mean, something's blocking you?"

"*growl* I swear if you ask me another stupid question… *sigh* I meant what I said, something is blocking me from sensing his power even more. Now enough, I'm going back to sleep."

"Hey wait, Kurama! I'm not done asking!"

…..

"*tsk* Stupid fox."

Naruto couldn't think of any more things to say to his inner demonic companion before he heard Luffy laughing. "Shishishishi. That settles it…" This caught both Goku's and Naruto's attentions. "Huh?" Was both Goku and Naruto's thought.

"He's gonna join my crew!" Luffy announced for the entire world to hear him.

"HUUUUUUHHHH?!" Was Goku and Naruto's response.

TO BE CONTINUED…