Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z. Period, dot, end of statement.

Chapter 2: Fighting

The announcer of the World Martial Arts Tournament was in a panic. His beautiful tournament was falling to pieces! First Videl Satan had been beaten into a pulp by Spopovitch, then Majunior forfeited to Shin, and then Krillin was attacked by Spopovitch and his weird friend Yamu. And if that was not enough, half of the fighters flew off in hot pursuit after the two men! There were four fighters left of the original sixteen that had made it into the finals. The crowd was getting restless; what was he supposed to do?

His answer came in the form of the sudden appearance of a man in the middle of the arena. It was not one of the original fighters that had left, but what he was wearing left little doubt that he was a martial artist. He hurried up to the stranger. "Excuse me sir, are you here for the tournament?" the announcer queried desperately.

Cold green eyes glanced at him. "In a manner of speaking," the man replied. "I'm here to fight Goku."

The announcer's face fell slightly. "Well, you see," he began to explain, "Goku isn't exactly here right now. He left about an hour ago."

The man's mouth curved into a smirk. "Oh, he'll be here," he replied. "He has to figure out where I went, but once he gets here…" The smirk broadened as he was cut off by the arrival of three of the fighters who had flown away an hour prior.

"Gohan!" Goku cried desperately. The announcer looked confused, but before he could open his mouth to speak a growl from beside him cut him off.

"I told you, my name is Maze," the man growled. "Gohan is gone! Do you understand me? He's DEAD! Babidi made sure of that."

Goku's eyes hardened. "I don't believe that, Gohan," he replied steadily. "You're in still there! Wake u-" He was interrupted by Maze's fist slamming into his mouth, sending the orange-clad warrior flying back. Vegeta leapt at the teenager and was batted away as easily as a fly, heading for the stands at high speeds. The prince gained control of his momentum and landed on the seat next to his wife.

"Vegeta," Bulma screeched, "what's going on?" Vegeta turned to her.

"That's Gohan down there," the man replied. A gasp and a thud alerted him to the fact that Chi-Chi had fainted and if the situation had not been so dire (and if he had been any less of a Saiyan) he would have rolled his eyes at her theatrics. "Something's wrong with him; he's been possessed." And with that, Vegeta launched back into the air to stand next to Goku, who had stumblingly gotten to his feet, rubbing his jaw tenderly. "Are you all right, Kakarotto?" he asked emotionlessly, as though he were not the slightest bit worried about his rival and sometimes friend.

The taller Saiyan's eyes were thoughtful as he regarded his son. "Vegeta, you and Supreme Kai need to go back to the ship and try to stop Babidi from resurrecting Majin Buu," he ordered, ignoring Vegeta's question. "It's obvious that he wants to fight me." The Saiyan prince groaned but conceded. Gohan's attention had been fixated on Goku since the moment they arrived on the third floor of that blasted ship.

"Fine," Vegeta grunted, turning to the Supreme Kai. He was standing in the same spot he had been in when the three arrived back in the ring, completely in shock for some reason or another. "Well?" he demanded harshly. "Take us back to the ship, you imbecile! Or do you want that Majin Buu character to be released?" Shin blinked.

"B-but what about Goku?" the shorter man stammered.

"Kakarotto is dealing with some other problems at the moment," Vegeta said shortly. "I will have to suffice. Let's go!" The Kai nodded hesitantly, glancing back at the two fighters they were leaving behind. The last thing he saw before Babidi's ship swam into view was Goku turning into a Super Saiyan and the cruel smile on Gohan's lips.

Babidi watched the unfolding events in annoyance. Damn that Saiyan! If he saw that Maze again, he just might have to kill him. Because of him, his entire day had been thrown out of whack. Majin Buu should have been resurrected by now and the Supreme Kai should have been dead. But no, the little rat had to find allies that were stronger than Babidi's own men. And now his secret weapon that was no longer his secret weapon was gallivanting around the planet. At least one of the stupid spiky-haired guys was staying behind with Maze. Dabura could easily handle the other spiky-haired guy. Vegetable? Veggie? Well, whatever his name was, Dabura would have no problem defeating him. Probably. But in the meantime, how was Majin Buu going to get the energy he needed? Even with two fights, the hits Maze and Dabura scored would not be enough unless the fights dragged out thanks to their enemies' talent. Unless…

The Majin smirked happily. He would just alter the spell a bit and let the hits from all four fighters give Majin Buu energy. Not difficult for a wizard of his caliber, he thought, raising his hands at the crystal ball and giving his traditional spell words. If he saw that Maze again, Babidi just might have to kiss him for making the resurrection going so much easier than planned.

A sudden shockwave shook the ship just as the wizard finished the modifications and Babidi shrieked, diving behind Dabura. "What was that?" he asked shakily. The crystal ball flashed in response, a picture of Vegeta and the Supreme Kai appearing within its depths. Dabura stirred.

"Master Babidi, isn't that–" A second explosion cut the demon king off, this one much closer. The far wall exploded in a flash of light and smoke and Babidi cowered even further behind his minion.

"Knock, knock," someone called. "Anybody home?" The man with the blue spandex bodysuit strolled nonchalantly through the hole he had just made in the spaceship, a cocky smirk on his lips as he looked his competition over. The Supreme Kai cautiously walked in after him, looking around at the damage the Saiyan had caused. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Majin Buu's egg still intact.

"Dabura, take care of this pest," Babidi ordered. "He shouldn't be any match for you."

"Yes, Master Babidi," the demon king replied, bowing slightly. The Majin nodded nervously and scurried off to find another place to hide, his ever-present orb hovering along silently behind him. Dabura easily blocked the energy blast that his opponent had aimed at the little man and turned to regard the person who had fired it.

Vegeta was pleasantly surprised to find that his opponent batted the attack away as though it were nothing. The blast had been as strong as the one that had killed the alien on the first floor, not that Pui Pui had been very powerful in the first place. The ease with which this Dabura had blocked it, however, pointed to what looked like a good fight in the near future. He smiled, ignoring Shin's attempts to warn him of something or another. He did not need help from a man so much weaker than himself.

"Shall we dance?"

There were very few people left in the stadium now. The audience had expected to see a fight after the new fighter had clocked Son Goku in the chin, but once Shin and Vegeta had disappeared yet again, the former two people had quite suddenly disappeared. Being mere ordinary humans, they could only see the aftermath of ki blasts that had missed their marks and the occasional crater made by one of the two fighters knocked out of the air. This was all well and good, but what was the use of going to a martial arts tournament if one could not see the actual fighting? Disappointed and disgruntled, the vast majority of the populace had left, all griping about getting their money back.

The few that had remained were all vitally interested in the fight. Bulma, Yamcha, the Ox King, Roshi, Oolong, Krillin, Eighteen, a miraculously sleeping Marron, and a still unconscious Chi-Chi (Trunks and Goten were nowhere to be found) had migrated to the ground, true, but that was as far as they went. If what Vegeta had said was true, Gohan had returned from wherever he disappeared to seven years ago. What should have been a happy reunion was marred by the fact that Gohan was fighting his father as if he wanted to kill the man. From what the group could see of the fight (not much considering that both were fighting in at least Super Saiyan form, if not higher) Goku was not holding anything back either.

Father and son reappeared in the middle of the rubble of what used to be the ring. Goku looked much worse for the wear than Gohan did. The top of his gi had been burned away and his torso was covered in bruises upon bruises and burns upon burns. He was breathing heavily and slouching, keeping a wary eye on his opponent as he tried to regain his breath.

Gohan, on the other hand, looked like he had only been exercising hard. He had a few wounds on his arms and an ugly-looking bruise marred his cheek, but his face had not lost its evil smile and the malice had not faded from the green eyes. "What's the matter, Dad?" he asked mockingly. "Getting tired already?" He shook his head in mock-disappointment. "Really, Dad, I'd expected more from you. Getting soft in our old age, are we?"

Goku glared at him, a strange expression for so gentle a man. "Why are you doing this, Maze?" he demanded. He had finally put the thought that this was Gohan from his mind: Gohan had never fought like this. Gohan always hung back, never wanting to take the offensive and finish it. Maze exploited every opening he could, no matter what the risk to himself.

His son laughed openly and the Saiyan flinched at the cruel sound. "Why not?" the demi-Saiyan replied, shrugging. "You put me through hell; it's only fair that I get to do the same to you, right?"

"What are you talking about?" the older man replied confusedly. "You're my son! I would never do something like that to you!" Maze's smile vanished a split second before he did. Goku only knew where the man was after Maze knocked his feet out from underneath him and smashed his face into the remaining tile.

"You did!" the hybrid hissed, picking the Saiyan up by his neck. He threw Goku toward the stadium wall and the man only barely managed to avoid hitting it. Dredging up as much speed as he could, Goku phased behind his son – right into the man's fist. He fell hard on his back, clutching his stomach as he tried vainly to regain his breath. Maze stood over him, whatever amusement he had derived from fighting the other man gone. "You seem to think that I liked to fight from the time I learned how," he said, voice dangerously soft. "You thought that I enjoyed it. Well, guess what, Dad? I hated fighting. I hated hurting people. I didn't care who it was. Hell, I probably would have let Frieza do what he wanted."

Suddenly the teenager let out a breath, almost a sigh. "It was probably thanks to Mother," he said contemplatively, tapping his chin. He was quiet for a moment. Goku was not sure what scared him more – the obvious anger or the abrupt mood swings. He moved slightly and was pinned under his son's angry gaze once more. "Both of you, really. All the arguing about what I was going to do with my life, the training with Piccolo, the schoolwork at home… I hated all of it. But schoolwork was better than fighting. No one could compare me to you there." Young eyes bored into older ones. It was not the young ones that looked away.

"I could hear them whispering about it. Everyone wondered. Even Piccolo did at first. I was a crybaby, a nuisance, someone who was always underfoot and always getting into trouble that I couldn't get out of alone. Would I ever measure up to my father? Would I ever be as great a fighter as the legendary Son Goku was? It didn't matter that I could beat each and every one of them in a spar. I still wasn't as good as you and it was obvious that I never would be. I was written off as a failure."

Goku could only listen to Maze's words with increasing horror. This was how his son had felt? How had he not noticed this before?

"Of course, you never noticed," Maze continued. "How could you? You were never there. First you died, then you stayed away for nearly a year instead of coming home when we asked the Dragon to bring you home. You were too focused on training to notice me before the androids."

"What are you talking about?" Goku interjected. "I was training you! How could I not notice you?"

Maze laughed mirthlessly. "Sure you trained me," he said, "but you never noticed me. I had to please both you and Mother. During the day I trained with you, at night I did my schoolwork for Mother. I couldn't let anyone know how I felt about it. So I bottled it up.

"I keep saying 'I'," the teenager said suddenly, "but it was really your precious Gohan that heard and saw all this, you know. Gohan was the one who thought all of this. He just shoved it all to the back of his mind, horrified that he would ever think such things about the people who raised him. He can't really remember much of the bad stuff that he went through either – it was mixed in with the emotions that he so conveniently forgot about. Add Babidi into the mix and I was born. Gohan has no clue what's going on right now. It'll just be one big blank spot in his memory. But he'll be fine – he's used to it. After all, what's one more hole in his head?"

Vegeta was having the time of his life. It had been a long time since he had fought a totally new opponent that could actually give him a good fight. This Dabura was a tricky character and the Saiyan prince had barely missed being hit by the demon king's spit more than once. But he was Vegeta, Prince of All Saiyans (capital letters and all), and he had been weaned on such tricks while growing up under Frieza. He had had to learn very quickly how to avoid the tyrant's henchmen. Nappa had not always been around to protect him, after all.

A slight heaviness on his hand alerted Vegeta to the fact that his glove had suddenly turned to stone. He hurriedly ripped it off and glared at the offender, mentally kicking himself for letting his attention wander. "Those were my favorite gloves, you bastard!" he seethed angrily, yanking off the other glove as well.

Dabura merely smirked. "Perhaps you should have been paying closer attention," he said condescendingly.

Vegeta saw red. If there was one thing he hated, it was people being condescending to him. He was the Prince of All Saiyans and people did not talk to him that way without getting seriously hurt in the ten seconds after their mistake. He had worked on not reacting to jabs at his pride, but it was slow going, and what little self-control he had painstakingly achieved had already been stretched to its limit with the appearance of the obviously super-powerful eldest brat of Kakarotto. He launched at Dabura, who had not expected such a foolhardy move and therefore was too surprised to block the first attack and the ones that came after it.

It did not take long for Vegeta to do away with the demon king after that. Anger always made him stronger, though it took a toll on his reason. Soon enough he was standing over the lifeless body, still glaring. He could faintly feel the Namekian's ki shoot back up to a normal level, but he did not really care. The only person he even slightly considered an ally was Kakarotto and that only because the man was a Saiyan. That was what he kept saying to himself, anyway, but it was a litany that he chanted half-heartedly at best.

The ground suddenly shook and Vegeta, caught by surprise, lost his balance and fell on his back end. He struggled to his feet with difficulty and swore as the huge orb in the middle of the room (how the hell had he missed seeing that thing, anyway?) began to emit plumes of steam. This must be the thing that Majin Buu had been sealed in so long ago.

The Supreme Kai, who the Saiyan had forgotten about when the fight began, gasped in horror. "No!" he cried. "This can't be! Majin Buu is hatching! How could so much energy be collected?"

A giggle sounded from behind the egg and Babidi peeked out. "I'm a genius!" he crowed. "Getting power from all four fighters all at once put us ahead of schedule! Majin Buu will rise again!" Vegeta growled and sent a ki blast in the Majin's direction. Babidi squeaked and hid behind his makeshift shield. The prince made to go after him, but before he had taken a step, Shin grabbed his arm and they were suddenly back on land. Vegeta whirled around, bearing down on the smaller man in his fury.

"Why the hell did you do that?" the Saiyan demanded angrily. "I could have stopped him from coming back!"

Shin quivered, but stood his ground. "You couldn't have. Majin Buu is too strong." He shook his head sadly. "We are doomed." One black eyebrow quirked incredulously, but before Vegeta could say anything more, there was a tremendous roar and the ground beneath their feet disappeared as the spaceship buried in the earth imploded.

Being a stone statue sucked, Piccolo decided. Although physically all he could do was provide a perch for the odd bird, his mental facilities, or perhaps more accurately his spirit, went unhindered. This included his ki-sensing ability. Despite being stuck in one place, he was relatively sure about what was going on. From the feel of it the Supreme Kai, Vegeta, and Goku had split up – the former two were in the spaceship, and with Vegeta's ki as elevated as it was, the Namekian was willing to bet that he was fighting Dabura. The two fighters seemed to be on par as far as power levels were concerned, but Vegeta still had not shown the full extent of his own power.

Goku was far away now, his ki close to Yamcha's and Krillin's. Accompanying him was a power that was achingly familiar to Piccolo even as it scared him. There was something wrong with Gohan, that much was obvious. His ki felt wrong. Evil. He had been too late to save the boy he thought of as his son.

Suddenly, pain shot through Piccolo's body, all the more painful after not being able to feel anything for the past hour or so. Through the blinding sensation, he could barely feel that Vegeta's ki, while spiking erratically, no longer indicated that he was fighting. The lack of Dabura's ki meant that the Demon King was dead, which in turn meant that… The pain reached an all-time high and then faded quickly. Cautiously, the Namekian tried to make a fist, rejoicing silently when he was able to do so. Dabura was definitely dead.

Although he dearly wanted to rush off in Gohan's direction, Piccolo knew better than that and reluctantly stayed put to assess the situation. By the feel of it, he was needed much more here with Vegeta than with Goku and the others. Majin Buu had been released, his power greater by far than anything the Namekian had ever felt before. Piccolo lifted off the ground and cautiously made his way in the direction of the ship. He could just make out the forms of Vegeta and the Supreme Kai standing on the patch of earth covering the ship. Suddenly, the structure below the pair collapsed and the two just barely escaped falling into the resulting pit. Piccolo flew at breakneck speed to get to them. The instant he was in the Saiyan's hearing range, he demanded, "Vegeta, what's going on?"

Vegeta barely spared his newest companion a glance. "Gohan is possessed," he replied shortly. "Majin Buu is released."

The Namekian barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he landed. "Thank you, Vegeta, I hadn't realized that," he snapped back. Then his mind backtracked and he repeated, "Gohan is possessed?"

"He was." The Supreme Kai answered this time, his fearful gaze still locked on the slightly smoking crater. Piccolo turned his attention to the higher being. "In the same way as Dabura had been before his death."

"And you can't do anything about it?" the Namekian demanded helplessly.

Shin shook his head. "Nothing. Babidi lost control of him and he is acting of his own volition now. I believe that Gohan is somehow being controlled by his darker emotions and cannot escape them. He also calls himself 'Maze' at the moment, and is quite averse to being called 'Gohan'."

Piccolo did not understand any of this. How could Babidi lose control of something he created, something he possessed? Was Gohan's strength of will too great? Or Maze's? How did Babidi even gain control of Gohan in the first place? So many questions and no answers for any of them, the man thought worriedly. This did not bode well.

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~tp