GT Timeline, Earth
Boom.
Even after swallowing all six Dragon Balls and reaching his complete form, the One-Star Shadow Dragon could only dominate Super Saiyan 4 Goku. His power had indeed skyrocketed, but not to some unreachable realm.
Roughly seven hundred trillion.
Facing the dark-gold Super Saiyan 4 Gohan, whose battle power sat at eight hundred trillion, he was still clearly at a disadvantage.
"Impossible. I am already the strongest in the universe. There is no way I lose to you!"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon roared in impotent rage.
"You are indeed the strongest being in this universe," Gohan said coldly. "Unfortunately for you, I am not from this universe."
"Freezing Beam!"
The dragon's expression darkened. Twin green beams shot from his eyes.
It was the Three-Star Shadow Dragon's signature move, a ray that could freeze its targets solid.
"Kid stuff."
Gohan did not even flinch. Dark-gold light flashed in his eyes as he fired his own eye beams.
Whoosh. Sizzle.
The freezing rays were instantly devoured and erased.
The dark-gold beams punched forward twice as fast, streaking straight toward the One-Star Shadow Dragon.
Crack.
He jerked his head down, trying to avoid them, but forgot one tiny detail.
Those horns on the back of his head.
Both of the backward-pointing spikes were shot clean off.
Thunk.
"Born with a rebellious bone in your skull, no wonder you look like bad news," Gohan mocked.
"Grow back!"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon called on the Five-Star Shadow Dragon's electric slime, trying to regrow the shattered horns.
To his shock, no matter how hard he tried, the spikes on the back of his head simply would not regenerate.
"Heh. Not coming back, are they?"
Gohan's tone was all amusement.
"What did you do to me?!"
For the first time, panic stirred in Syn Shenron's heart.
The Five-Star Shadow Dragon's electric slime was comparable to Majin Buu's cellular regeneration.
The only drawback was that it was slow.
"I am not telling you. Bleh."
Gohan's playful side came out.
The light he had just fired from his eyes had carried a trace of Destruction. Anything annihilated by that force simply could not regrow, unless there was an equal rule-type power that could erase the mark of that destruction.
The power of Shenron was indeed the power of miracles and wishes.
But after being twisted and polluted by negative energy, the Evil Dragons clearly no longer possessed that kind of ability.
Of course, that did not mean the Evil Dragons were weak. They had simply been born not long ago and were still not fully accustomed to their own power.
"Hey, you two. This is not my home turf. How long are you planning to just watch?"
Gohan turned his head and looked at Goku and Vegeta.
Goku blinked, startled.
"If you can beat him yourself, isn't that enough?"
"You idiot. He is giving us the chance here."
Vegeta's tone was full of frustration at Goku's simplicity.
"An enemy like the One-Star Shadow Dragon is not someone you meet every day. Kakarot, are you really fine with just standing aside and admitting defeat?"
"You have a point. He really is strong. Vegeta, let's go!"
Goku transformed back into Super Saiyan 4, fighting spirit flaring like a blaze.
"Wait, Kakarot. You know very well that even if we work together at full power, we still cannot beat him."
Vegeta raised a hand and stopped him.
"So what are you saying?" Super Saiyan 4 Goku still had not caught up to his thought process.
"Fusion."
"What?!"
Goku's jaw dropped.
"Hurry up and decide!"
Just thinking about having to do those ridiculous fusion poses again made Vegeta's shame shoot through the roof.
"Haha. I never thought I would live to hear you suggest fusion first."
Goku could not help sighing in amazement.
Vegeta's pride had never changed from beginning to end. Hearing the word "fusion" come out of his mouth left Goku genuinely surprised.
"Less nonsense, Kakarot. This is our one chance."
Vegeta snapped, face dark.
"Alright. Let's do it."
Goku hopped three steps to the right.
"Fu… sion… ha!"
Their movements were mirrored opposites, as if they were reflections in a mirror.
Their ki rose and synchronized, reaching the exact same level.
On the final syllable, a golden light erupted and wrapped the two of them together.
A wild, terrifying, suffocating energy surged out from within that sphere of light.
Crackle.
Gohan hooked a finger into his ear and popped out a tiny scouter device.
"Ow. That's hot."
The scouter sizzled and burned out on the spot.
When Bulma had designed it, she had set the upper readout limit at trillions.
Clearly, the battle power of the fused Saiyan princes had already surpassed even that unit of measure.
"Hahaha! This power… this never-ending surge of energy… it is incredible!"
A double-layered voice echoed out from within the glow.
The golden light faded. A new figure appeared, surrounded by a blazing aura flecked with golden sparks like a burning starfield.
Red fur, red hair, and the familiar Metamoran-style vest.
"Gohan, leave him to me."
Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta's confidence was absolute.
"Alright. But let me give you a word of advice. Do not get cocky. Your energy is too strong right now. You will not last thirty minutes."
Gohan retreated, yielding the battlefield to Gogeta.
"Relax. Against him, I will not even need a few minutes."
Gogeta did not take Gohan's warning to heart at all.
"Arrogant. Could not beat him and now you are talking big? What are you supposed to be?"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon's figure blurred and vanished.
Bang.
He flew backward an instant later, purple blood spilling from his smashed nose.
His face was already bruised and swollen.
"Did you see it that time?"
Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta teased.
"Die!"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon roared and lunged again.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Two heavy blows landed in quick succession.
"This time I slowed down for you. Did you see it clearly?"
Gogeta's voice was full of mockery.
"Damn you. You damn Saiyans… Negative Energy Ball!"
The seven Dragon Balls embedded in the One-Star Shadow Dragon's chest began to glow a sickly green, all aiming forty-five degrees up into the sky.
Buzz.
A blood-red sphere of energy appeared, swelling crazily.
Once it reached a certain limit, it suddenly compressed.
It shrank into a negative energy ball over a hundred meters wide.
"Looks a lot like a twisted Spirit Bomb."
Gohan watched the ball with a sigh.
Whoosh.
The sphere descended, pressing down on Gogeta. Everything nearby was crushed and shattered under that terrifying pressure.
"If you have any guts, do not dodge!"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon tried to goad him.
"Heh."
Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta floated upward slowly until he was directly beneath the falling ball.
"Get out of here."
A faint golden glow spread over his skin, then he drove his knee up into the energy ball.
The meteor-like Negative Energy Ball suddenly stopped, then reversed direction and shot back upward.
At the same time, its color changed, turning into a pure blue sphere of energy.
Pop.
The ball pierced straight through the rainbow aurora that had sealed Earth off from the rest of the universe.
On the Sacred World of the Kai, Kibito Kai and Elder Kai watched in shock as Earth reappeared in their crystal ball.
"Impossible. That was the combined negative energy of all seven Shadow Dragons…"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon stared in disbelief.
"If you have any other tricks, you had better use them now. If not, then you die here."
In a flash, Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta appeared in front of him.
"Get out of my sight! Blade Storm!"
The seven Dragon Balls across his chest flashed once more. Hundreds of razor-edged ki shards, like spinning glass blades, howled toward Gogeta in a tornado. It was the Six-Star Shadow Dragon's ultimate technique.
Using that opening, the One-Star Shadow Dragon turned and sprinted for his life.
"Heh. Child's play. Haa!"
Gogeta merely flared his ki.
The shockwave alone shattered all the incoming blades.
He disappeared in an instant, reappearing directly in front of Syn Shenron.
"Die, One-Star Shadow Dragon! Ultra Big Bang Kamehameha!"
Gogeta pressed his hands together at his chest, one knee raised as if bracing for the recoil to come. A world-shaking wave of power surged out, and a blue energy projectile seemed to tear in from another plane entirely.
Boom.
"No!!"
When the blinding light finally faded, the One-Star Shadow Dragon's body was gone.
Clatter.
Six Dragon Balls fell to the ground. Their cracks closed up, their color returning to a clear, brilliant orange.
"It's finally over."
Gogeta exhaled lightly and was just about to release the fusion.
"Wait, something is wrong. The One-Star Ball is missing!"
Gohan called out sharply.
"Hm?"
Gogeta's gaze snapped down to a puddle of pink slime on the ground.
The slime squirmed like maggots, wriggling at high speed until it gathered into a single mass.
"Huff… huff…"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon's form reconstituted itself once more.
"Five-Star's electric slime, huh? It really is almost identical to Buu's regeneration. In that case, we just do it again."
Gogeta understood immediately.
He moved in front of Syn Shenron once more.
"Ultra Big "
Pop.
Gogeta suddenly split apart.
The fusion ended.
The One-Star Shadow Dragon froze, then burst into crazed laughter.
"Hahaha… Son Goku, Vegeta, you are finished!"
Bang. Bang. Bang.
He raised both fists and smashed them down like hammers, sending Goku and Vegeta flying with a single brutal blow.
He glanced at the six Dragon Balls scattered across the ground and opened his mouth wide, sucking them toward his stomach.
Seeing this, Goku scrambled to his feet and snatched up the Four-Star Ball at his side.
Even so, the One-Star Shadow Dragon swallowed the other five.
His ki surged upward once again.
"Hey, does this not violate the law of conservation of energy? He dies, comes back, and gets stronger every time? Makes my own talent feel pointless."
Gohan could not help spitting out a complaint.
"Son Goku, even if you cling to the Four-Star Ball, it is useless. With my current power, killing the two of you is effortless. Heh heh heh…"
The One-Star Shadow Dragon's laughter dripped arrogance and malice.
"Hey, hey, hey. Put away that disgusting laugh already. You seem to have forgotten something."
Gohan floated forward and stopped in front of Goku and Vegeta.
The smug look on Syn Shenron's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a dark scowl.
"Why do you have to meddle?!"
Of all of them, he had the least confidence in dealing with this stranger named Gohan.
"No reason. I just really hate that creepy 'keh-keh-keh' laugh of yours. It makes me sick."
Gohan spread his hands in a shrug.
But his tone, clearly, was just him poking fun at the dragon on purpose.