Chapter 5: Super Vegetto vs. Buu! Gohan Progresses!
Vegetto and Buu stared at each other for quite some time before Buu got antsy and made the first charge.
"Impatient are we?" Vegetto remarked as he began to defend Buu's offensive. Absorbing Gotenks definitely increased Buu's power greatly, as now not only were his movements swifter but his impacts were even harder.
Piccolo looked on in amazement as the two titans clashed. 'To think at one point I was even with Goku… Man… Wait, I'm sensing two power levels coming this way… They're weak, but substantial nonetheless. Who are they?'
Piccolo looked behind him in the direction of the power levels to be amazed. It was Dende! And he was with Krillin! And… Mr. Satan?
"Piccolo!" Dende greeted as he dropped Mr. Satan off and landed alongside Krillin. The world champ was cradling his puppy Bee in his arms, sweating bullets at all the excitement.
"Dende! Krillin! This is unbelievable! How did you survive?" Piccolo asked.
"Mr. Popo was thinking proactively and shoved me off the lookout before Buu launched his candy attack." Dende explained.
"Mr. Popo… Of course, genius." Piccolo smiled. "And what about you Krillin?"
"I… I was using the bathroom when Buu returned. I was too late… He already killed my family before… Before I could do anything." Krillin grimaced as he looked up at Buu and Vegetto fight. "Who the heck is that, because that sure isn't Gotenks."
"He calls himself Vegetto, he is the fusion of Goku and Vegeta. He is our last hope." Piccolo explained to the group.
"A fusion of Goku and Vegeta?" Krillin gasped. "He must be the strongest guy ever! Wow!"
"Truly incredible." Dende beamed, seeing there still might be hope for the planet he is tasked to guard.
As they watched the fight progress however, they got worried. Buu was getting far more hits onto Vegetto than Vegetto could land on Buu.
"Oh no." Supreme Kai said while watching through his crystal ball, "Vegetto is losing!"
"Maybe," Kibito rationalized, "if I know these Saiyans, they like to play with their enemy before beating them. Remember Supreme Kai, Vegetto hasn't even gone Super Saiyan yet."
"That's true. The question is though, can he even go Super Saiyan?"
"Well, I sure hope so."
Vegetto made a crater in the ground after taking a serious blow by Buu. "This is fun!" Vegetto laughed, his Saiyan blood boiling. "I have to give it to ya Buu, you are the strongest guy I have ever fought by a mile!"
"Buu having no fun, Buu finish you." Buu began to charge a blast.
"Wait!" Vegetto yelled, "I'm not done, I just wanted to see your fighting style, that's all. Now I'm gonna go full out."
"What!?" Piccolo stammered.
"I'll tell ya, these Saiyans are something else." Krillin sighed. "I wish he would just get this over with."
"Are you ready Buu! Are you ready to see the true power of the fusion of Vegeta and Son Goku!?" Vegetto boomed as he began to charge up in a brilliant golden light.
"Here we go…" Dende braced himself for impact.
A sonic boom raced across the countryside as the brilliant light surrounding Vegetto began to condense around him in a gold sphere. "What go on!?" Buu screamed as the gold sphere dissipated to reveal Super Saiyan Vegetto.
"I call this form Super Vegetto. Buu, you are so done." Vegetto mocked as he took the offensive and started demolishing the pink monstrosity.
"Wow! What power!" Krillin gawked at the seemingly infinite amounts of energy this so called 'Super Vegetto' was emitting.
"I just hope he beats him before he runs out of time." Piccolo fretted.
"You won't have to worry about that Piccolo, Vegeta and Goku are fused forever." Piccolo Krillin and Dende spun around to see Supreme Kai smiling at the heroes.
"Supreme Kai, why are you here? And what do you mean forever?" Piccolo inquired.
"I'm sick of sitting on the sidelines, I want to help out here… And Goku and Vegeta did a different kind of fusion to stay fused forever with no time limit."
"Wow, I'm surprised Vegeta went for that." Krillin chortled.
"I was too." Supreme Kai replied as he looked up at Vegetto and Buu fight. "It's really something else-wait…"
"What's wrong?" Piccolo asked.
"God—God dammit! Vegetto still isn't going full out! He's pausing at times on purpose to—to MOCK Buu! What is he doing!?"
"WHAT!?" The others shouted as they looked up at the fight.
"VEGETTO! TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!" Supreme Kai screamed.
"Man, fusion really makes Saiyans cocky," Piccolo sighed.
"Well… Maybe he's planning something?" Krillin suggested.
"What on Earth would that be Krillin?" Piccolo stammered.
"I don't know, I'm just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt."
"Big bang-Kamehameha!" Vegetto howled as he shot a fierce blast Buu's way. Buu narrowly dodged it, but only to fall into Vegetto's other new move. "Spirit Sword!" Vegetto made a sword of pure ki and sliced Buu into 8 pieces. However, he waited and let Buu reform. 'Just a little bit more,' Vegetto thought to himself, 'I know he's going to try and do it soon.
Buu was not happy, "STOP TEASING BUU!" Buu wailed as he unleashed a fury of ki blasts Vegetto's way which he dodged easily.
"You're gonna have to do better than that you big dummy!" Vegetto teased smacking his butt towards Buu.
"YAAAAA!" Buu launched a wall of ki blasts in a blind rage.
"Getting annoyed are we?" Vegetto mocked as he deflected the blasts with ease.
"DIE DIE MISSILE BARRAGE!" Buu shrieked, launching a fury of missiles at Vegetto.
"Oh, now you're stealing my sons attacks? Very sloppy Buu. Very very sloppy." Vegetto sighed as he dodges the missiles with ease, quickly landing a powerful blow on Buu.
"Buu has had enough!" Buu began to try and think of a plan, and a smile grew on his face as he got one. "Buu calls for no more fight. Buu promise to live a nice peace life. Buu want to shake on it with Really Really Strong guy." Buu conceded, reaching his hand out to innocently shake Vegetto's.
Vegetto grinned and reached his arm out, know what would happen next. On the ground, everyone began yelling.
"Don't do it Vegetto! It's a trap! Buu means to absorb you!" Piccolo hollered.
"What an idiot!" Supreme Kai cried.
Piccolo was right. As Vegetto grabbed Buu's hand to shake on the 'truce', Buu used his powers to shoot out pink goo at Vegetto to absorb him. Except, Vegetto didn't fight it. Vegetto just grinned as he got sucked up.
"No! It's all over now!" Piccolo cried, "It's all over…"
Gohan was stuck failing at that simulation for a year and a half. He could never even land a punch on any of them. He just kept having the same nightmare over and over again. And it never got any easier to live down either. It never got any easier to witness his whole family, all his friends, Videl, all of them being tortured and slaughtered by his most feared and hated enemies. He felt so helpless, as if he was a kid again, except now, unlike when he was a child, his anger does nothing to help him.
It was the worst experience of his life.
It was not until his five hundredth and forty seventh try when it finally clicked. Gohan paced over to his friends and family as usual as if it were clockwork. He then turned around to see Frieza, Nappa, and Cell all standing there sadistically. He went SSJ 2 and unleashed his anger on them… But nothing. This time though, something was different…
"I can never lay a finger on any of you… You are all far superior to me," Gohan kneeled, finally giving up on fighting them.
"Of course we are, you are nothing you puny insect!" Frieza laughed.
"Whatever you are about to do to me… To them… Just know… I… I forgive you." Gohan forced out of his mouth as he kneeled even lower.
"Wh—What!?" Cell asked, shocked, "What did you just say?"
"I said… I said I forgive you!" Gohan stated as he looked at Cell, but something was off. Cell looked… He looked damaged. For the first time in all these days Cell looked damaged!
"How dare you! You don't really mean that! Not after what we're about to do to your family!" Cell protested, clenching his gut.
"No, I forgive you Cell. I forgive you. You had no choice but to be evil. Dr. Gero made you that way. I forgive you." Gohan reached out to hug Cell, but before he could fully hug him, Cell disintegrated with a piercing shriek.
Gohan bubbled, " And I forgive you too Nappa. I mean, after all, you were just following Vegeta's order after all. If you had grown up in an environment like my father did, then maybe you would have been good. I forgive you." Gohan reached out for Nappa, but Nappa followed Cell's suit and disintegrated.
"And Frieza," Gohan smiled as he turned to the universal tyrant.
"You have no sympathy for me! How dare you!" Frieza shouted.
"I forgive you. As awful and cruel and sadistic as you were, I know you will forever be shamed by being defeated on two separate occasions by the 'filthy monkey saiyans'. You pride is shot, and I forgive you… I'm done being angry," Gohan once again reached out for Frieza, but Frieza ran away crying into the dark void. He then turned to see all his friends turn into balls of light! 'What is this?' Gohan wondered as he saw the balls of light line up and make a path out into the never ending darkness.
Gohan began to follow the path of light until he came to a shrine of sorts atop a large tower with a winding staircase along the outside. Gohan tried to fly up, but he couldn't for some reason. He realized that he could no longer feel any of the ki in his body! It was all gone!
Nevertheless Gohan continued to press on to the top. After a surprisingly tiring climb, Gohan made it to the top… To see none other than Elder Kai smiling at the center of the shrine.
"Incredible Gohan… Incredible… Now. Your final step."