Chapter 9: Following in their Footsteps
The air before each rendition of the saiyan Gotenks distorted into a wave of blurry wind as each ghost began to ascend. Translucent energy flickered and flared like an indecisive torch as they ascended into the legendary form of the Super Saiyan before rapidly bulking up even further to become the thunderously charged Super Saiyan 2.
With the mind of Uub now absorbed into his system, the new, red Majin Buu no longer retained the dense outlook of his pink predecessor. He knew that one of his comrades, Broly, had been given the power of the Super Saiyan 5 as a blessing from Alpha, and he'd seen its incredible power first-hand. As sure as he was in his own strength, Buu knew that if Gotenks's claim about attaining such a power was true then it would be best if he prevented him from ascending to such a level.
He blasted one of the three Gotenks with all the power he could summon up in a second. To his dismay though, this one had been one of his kamikaze ghosts. It erupted in flames as the two remaining ascended higher, eyebrows fading into a pronounced brow ridge and hair flowing down to meet the back of the fusion's knees.
Super Saiyan 3 had been accessed already, and so with a wave of panic Buu fired another volley of ki towards another. Just as before, smoke and fireworks remained the only thing that answered his attack; this one had also been a fake. Only one Gotenks remained, and within just another blink of the eye his power had swelled to grant him with a coat of fur and eyes a light shade of blue.
Buu knew that this was the real Gotenks, but at such a level it would take more than just a careless swing to deal with him now. Having learned the technique from absorbing Uub, Majin Buu cupped his hands into a loose ball as a sphere of glowing energy formed between his palms. He charged the attack as fast as he could, though with Gotenks's eyes brightening in colour by the second he knew that time was short.
He'd seen those eyes before; those glowing, fierce eyes without pupils that Broly had exhibited the moment he'd received his power up. As soon as they flared to life entirely the transformation would be complete, and Buu vowed not to let that happen. As Gotenks screamed in fury the ground beneath him quaked and pebble fragments slowly rose to the sky under the pressure of the energy he put out, though Buu's attack had neared its maximum.
With a final shriek of hatred Majin Buu pushed forwards the Kamehameha wave, which tore up the surface of the planet along its devastating path and careered headlong into Gotenks before dealing an explosion that left a crater so massive that it could be seen from space. As the dust settled Buu panted in fatigue, still left in the pose of the Kamehameha as he stared past the misty veil with a look of anticipation.
An open, blank expression from the creature then morphed into a look of wondrous joy; he'd done it. The blast had completely annihilated every cell of the saiyan hybrid. It had taken him the destruction of a few ghosts and the expenditure of some precious energy, but Majin Buu had stopped Gotenks from his transformation into a Super Saiyan 5.
Or so he thought.
The sudden roar of two conjoined voices forced Buu's eyes to the sky as a fully ascended Gotenks swooped down from above with his sword in hand. No matter how much sharper Buu had suddenly become, he'd never even considered what was now an undeniable truth: all three of them had been ghosts. The real one had been hovering not too far above him in the sky, using the mirages he'd created to buy himself enough time to transform.
Unable to dodge the incredibly fast saiyan meant that Buu felt every ounce of pain as the sword of Trunks hacked through him right down the middle. His vision split into two before Gotenks continued his assault, slashing away with relentless strikes until Majin Buu finally managed to reform, only to be met by a powerful blunt attack from the free left fist of Gotenks.
With one side of his face flattened inwards, the monstrosity sailed far into the banks of the crater he'd made with the Kamehameha, the diameter of a small moon. Emerging finally meant that Buu finally got a proper look at his adversary as Gotenks took a moment to simply stand slap-bang in the middle of the planet's hollowed-out scar, admiring his new strength.
His muscles had expanded to the point where they could get no bigger, as his whole physique had achieved perfection in its new form. An auburn, reddish brown colour had painted his fur, contrasting against those apathetic, sky-blue eyes that glowed like blasts of energy, peering right into the Majin's soul and wrenching out his most intimate fears for all to see.
Similar to his most basic form, Gotenks's hair took on a shade of traditional saiyan black with Trunks's signature lavender dyeing its tips. At the front it remained sophisticated and combed into an array of thin spikes, yet at the back it flurried out into Goten's unruly wave. His body had taken over a similar state of confusion, with a trio of white stripes extending in a cross from his abdomen coupled with a golden design of tribal markings to decorate his upper arms.
"But how?" spat Majin Buu. "How did you acquire that power? Only three saiyans are capable of that transformation, and you aren't one of them!"
"Oh, this?" Gotenks turned his body to the creature, hardening his stare that looked intimidating already. "I've got my two composites to thank for it. They worked themselves to the brink of death in order to give me this power. The least I could do was to repay the favour and beat up that giant ape to access the Super Saiyan 5; it didn't take me long at all – piece of cake really."
Frustrated, Buu launched his rosy beam of pink, candy-turning energy at the saiyan. Gotenks casually sidestepped it as another was thrown his way, to which a simple sweep of his body into limbo evaded it again. As Buu's expression contorted into a savage snarl he attacked again and again, the small antenna on his head blinking on and off with every ray it produced. Whether from twisting his shoulders, stepping away or a simple hop, Gotenks evaded every single one until a precise blast made for his chest.
A sudden flash of the purest solar light blinded Buu momentarily, as the massive sun's radiance briefly bounced from the surface of the smoothly raised sword, deflecting the beam harmlessly into the sky. As cocky as he was, Gotenks knew that letting such an attack hit him would be unwise. With his last attack Buu finally stopped, allowing the saiyan a moment to inspect the edge of his smoking blade.
"Honestly I think this is what the others were missing when they last fought you," Gotenks said, admiring the instrument of death. "Your body is so soft and squishy - a good sword is exactly what they needed."
Before the Majin thought up an acceptable response, Gotenks disappeared from his view and left only a sonic boom in his wake. Gusts of powerful winds rushed towards him along with the form of the blindingly fast saiyan, and before Buu could move to defend himself Trunks's blade had been stabbed through his shoulder, searing down through his right clavicle before exiting smoothly by his left hip, cutting him in half diagonally until a fist met his upper body.
As he spun through the air Majin Buu temporarily lost sight of the man. He began to redevelop his legs and steadied himself into a controlled hover, though Gotenks was upon him already. The man approached in a blind rush and a smile found Buu's lips. Another wave of pink light rocketed from his antenna, and in his eagerness the saiyan found himself caught in the blast before he had time to dodge.
Light spewed out in all directions as the fusion was shrunk into a flat bar of solid chocolate. Buu grabbed the falling treat and inspected it. Where once a grin had formed though, Majin Buu's smile suddenly warped into a look of horror. The bar was carved out in the shape of Gotenks as he'd expected, though with his legs forming into a wispy tail and his tongue extended in a cheeky expression of mocking, Buu's new mind prevented him from eating it.
He threw the bar as hard as his power would allow him as the solidified kamikaze ghost glowed with energy, blowing a new crater in both the ground and the left half of Majin Buu's face.
"Tut, tut, tut." Gotenks descended slowly to ground level behind him, allowing Buu to turn and ready himself. "Come on, you really think I'd be defeated that easily in this form? Take your eyes off me for one instant and I can conjure an exploding ghost by the time you look back. You never know; maybe I'm a ghost. Maybe the real Gotenks is coming up behind you right now with a blast big enough to wipe your vile existence off the face of this planet."
With a yelp in terror Buu looked over his shoulder into nothingness, giving the bluffing Gotenks the opening he needed to traverse twenty metres and dice Majin Buu into eight distinct segments. Buu's reform was then met with an uppercut that the saiyan had charged up during his dissection, and after sheathing his sword Gotenks pursued him to the skies, pummelling away with blow after blow before hammering him back down to the planet with a wheeling, crushing kick.
Actively taunting him, Gotenks landed and sat down for a while as he waited for Majin Buu to push himself out of the hole that his impact had buried him into. Tired, blurry-eyed and hungry still, Majin Buu's temper had evolved from irritated to a complete rage. Steam vented in a display of helpless fury until an idea struck the creature – Uub's intelligence had been worth something at least.
"You can't kill me," he stated at last.
"Hm?" Gotenks stood up and tilted his head.
Buu smirked; he had everything worked out. "Your friend is a part of me now. If I die then he goes with me!"
Gotenks sighed and nodded his head. He hated to admit it, but killing him just yet was out of the question. "You're right," he admitted, shrugging. "I can't kill you, not until I get Uub out safely. Unfortunately fusion doesn't work inside you, and if I remember rightly, Vegeta told me that the tools for them would disappear the moment I go in there. I can't afford to lose these rings."
Twenty Three Years Ago
"Hey dad," said Trunks, struggling to keep up with Vegeta's incredible standards of gravity as a Super Saiyan. Even just a few weeks after Majin Buu's destruction, Vegeta was still training with every spare minute. "You know when you and Goten's dad beat up Buu?" Trunks continued. "I forget - how come you didn't use fusion to destroy him?"
Vegeta paused from his rapid flurry of punches and kicks into thin air and turned to his son. "Kakarot and I separated the moment we were consumed by Majin Buu," he answered.
"Yeah, but why didn't you fuse again as soon as you got out of there? Surely it would've been easier than making that giant Spirit Bomb."
Vegeta recoiled momentarily as the moment he'd crushed the earrings came back to him in a flash. With his saiyan pride he was safe in the knowledge that he'd prevented an abomination like fusion. However, his own son knowing that he'd actively destroyed the only hope they had of surviving was another matter; and after his disgraceful actions at the World Martial Arts Tournament he couldn't give Trunks any reason to distrust him further. So he lied. Slipping into an obvious poker-face, Vegeta finally replied. "The earrings we used for fusion also vanished when we were absorbed."
"That doesn't make sense," Trunks stated. "Why would they do that?"
"Well I don't know do I?" hastily snapped the Prince, intimidated now that he suspected Trunks was onto him. "They must've been digested or something, the floor was made of acid remember! It was Kakarot's fault!"
Twenty Three Years Later
"So that means either Trunks or Goten will have to stay out here whilst the other goes in," said Gotenks, unknowingly acting under false information.
"Enough of this!" yelled Buu. He fired another volley of pink energy from the tip of his drooping antenna, though by the time the blast had reached him Gotenks had already slipped off the yellow ring from his right hand. With an instant popping noise the single saiyan became two as Goten suddenly found himself staring down the path of Buu's attack.
Before he could shield himself however, Trunks had intervened. Blocking his partner's fate with his own body, the saiyan eclipsed the flash of light to protect Goten from the blast, nominating himself as the person to enter the Majin's gut without any room to debate.
"Trunks!" cried out Goten, as before his very eyes the saiyan's closest friend was downsized into nothing more than a harmless gumball of green yumminess, leaving only an emerald ring that he'd slipped off at the last second. Like Vegito before him though, Trunks's strength allowed him to retain full consciousness and mobility even whilst shrunken down to such an insignificant form. He sailed headlong right to his destination, where Majin Buu opened his already drooling mouth to meet him. Before Goten could protest any further Trunks was welcomed like an old friend into the endless pit that was Buu's stomach.
"Ahh." The creature licked his lips and rubbed his tummy. "A noble effort I'm sure, but your friend doesn't have a chance in hell of rescuing my other half. What's more, he left you out here to die like a dog."
"Shut up!" Goten insisted. A rage began to swell within him that he rarely experienced as his saiyan blood heated to a boil. "Trunks is the strongest out of the two of us; he knew that he had the best hope of getting Uub out alive, that's all! And I don't have any intentions of dying just yet Buu!"
"Is that a fact?" Now that only one half saiyan stared him down Buu had quickly forsaken his fatigue and sorry state. He walked menacingly over to his target, pronouncing every step as his glower of evil intent darkened further. In spite of his mocking though, Buu's words fell deaf to the warrior.
"It is," Goten said, calming himself and stilling his breath for a transformation. "Take a good look at me Buu. You recognise me don't you? It was my brother who battled you on Earth and my father who finished you off for good. Well now it's my turn! You'll die because of me today!"
"Oh?" Buu mocked. "Is that why your hands are shaking?"
Goten looked down; Buu had been correct, his hands were trembling, but not in the way that he'd guessed. Saiyan blood flowed through his veins. Even if he had no chance of winning, the prospect of a battle so challenging was a delight to him. His aura flared as within just a few seconds he'd transformed into a Super Saiyan 3, his hair, physique and power showing four different levels in the space of an instant. Still he ascended, knowing that his power was nowhere near the level required to challenge such a foe.
"My hands are shaking. . ." he began, closing his eyes as a deep scarlet fur like that of his father's spontaneously grew out around his chest, covering the rest of his torso and arms down to where blue, elastic bracers covered his wrists. A strong tail whipped out from his newly granted beige trousers. He'd always been one of the smallest of the saiyans, but as a Super Saiyan 4 even Goten's physique broadened immensely. His chest expanded, his shoulder span widened and his muscles were pumped full of energy. His hair also took on a similar style to his father's, though it fanned out to one side at the back where his own blend could be seen.
As he opened focused eyes of a deep sea-green he looked back at Buu through onyx pupils, daring him to attack before he spoke again.
". . . With excitement," he finished.
Buu snorted. "Big deal. You should know that it takes more than that to handle me. You're just about stronger than that weakling I disposed of earlier, and now that I've added his power to mine you don't stand a chance of beating me."
Goten took a few moments to consider his words, and to Buu's surprise he finally nodded and shrugged his shoulders. "You're right," he admitted. "I can't defeat you. And even if I could, I wouldn't. Trunks and Uub are in there with you. But what I can do is hold you off until Trunks gets back and Gotenks can take control again. My friend trusted me to keep you occupied for as long as it takes, so that's what I'll do."
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"
Goten ignored the fiend's query. Instead he answered through actions. Placing both palms flat together and holding them up before him, Goten mimicked the sign of prayer as faints clicks of ki bounced from the tips of his fingers. He closed his eyes and focused hard, concentrating his power to the centre of his closed signal. Adding power from the crying, static denizens of this frozen planet along with the trees and water that inhabited it allowed him to bring his technique into full power. His eyes stared hard at his hands held up before him, and his expression warped into a silent look of intense focus as the veins upon his arms and temples began to throb.
"What are you doing? Praying? The Kais fear me more than anyone so I doubt they'll answer your calls."
Only noises of effort made a reply from Goten as he poured more power into the concealed palms of his hands. Buu waited for just a few more seconds; if this was some kind of attack then it shouldn't have taken this long to power up and would've at least shown some effect by now aside from the random chaotic sparks of leftover energy. Despite the pose being different, Majin Buu still checked with a glance to the sky in case of another Spirit Bomb, the attack that had been the death of him. When he saw no sphere in the sky he decided that Goten was simply stalling for time, and so without a second thought the creature rushed at him with a flying fist.
As he raced towards the saiyan, Goten merely kept his eyes focused on his hands and didn't even seem to acknowledge the titan's approach. It was only in the moment before Buu's punch struck that he acted. Slowly separating his hands with a charge of excitable green ki, an attack jolted to life before Buu could even see it materialise.
"Life's Blade!"
In the blink of an eye Goten dashed out of the way as the creature hit empty rock, though it was only when he turned to pursue the saiyan that Buu realised something: His lower body had been removed, cleaved perfectly from the waistline down and preventing him from running until he reattached himself. One look at Goten was all it took for him to know what had happened.
In his right hand Goten flourished a deep green longsword, comprised entirely of wickedly frantic energy running up and down its length. That same energy made up both the handle and a straight crossguard to protect his fingers should he ever clash with another fighter. Despite being made of energy the blade was as sharp as any sword; sharp enough to cut through Majin Buu in his ultimate form like slicing bread.
"What is that technique?" snarled Buu, enraged that he'd been bested by a fighter of such a poultry level.
"Oh, this?" Goten held up the sword and admired it. "This is Life's Blade. Gotenks was right – a sword works best against someone like you, which means that even though you might be stronger, I've managed to give myself better odds. See, Trunks can't practice against me at full strength without his sword, so I figured I'd make one for myself so the two of us could spar properly."
Hearing no more, Buu threw his right arm like a pistol, stretching it across ten metres of broken land for a punch with more momentum than mortals could produce. Goten held up the Life's Blade and readied it into a stance; he slashed down just at the right moment to cut the red fist in half right between the second and third knuckles. With all the speed they'd gained, the two halves of Buu's stringy arms streamed by either side of him before knotting themselves together behind him and pulling back towards their maker.
Before he had the misfortune of being caught in the attack Goten ascended to the skies. A flash of supersonic speed faster than his eyes could follow allowed Buu to disappear, making him frantically search the area for his presence. He turned straight into the incoming fist, pummelling his face with brute force and sending his limp body soaring across the canyon and back into the city.
After flipping into a steady posture Goten landed vertically on the wall of some candy-coated leviathan. He scanned the area again; logic told him that Buu would attack head on, yet his mind insisted that he lurked where the saiyan would least expect. After a moment or two, Goten gave in to his battle instincts. He turned right in time to see Majin Buu smash through the tower where he'd stood from the inside, and defending himself with the Life's Blade, he slashed out twice to hack off both Buu's right arm and left leg.
Unfortunately for Goten though, his attack had only given him more trouble. As Buu ploughed another sledgehammer hook to his jaw, both the arm and leg he'd carved away followed him through the air, latching onto him and exploding on contact in a series of fireworks that lit up the sky.
As a flaming comet Goten soared from the blast headlong into a nearby building. Dazed and tired from his unfamiliar transformation, the stress upon his body had become great already. Charred fur smoked from his body, and underneath it patches of blood pooled where the explosion had done its worst. Still he clung to the sword he'd taken so long to create, even as Majin Buu touched down beside him and made his way over before grabbing him by his Super Saiyan 4 tail.
Having not been accustomed to it yet, Goten let out a yelp from the pain his tail gave him. It was sensitive enough just to grab, but it was even worse when Buu held him up by it for inspection. Being attached to his backbone, the tail sent him into a state of paralysis. He focused every single ounce of his willpower just to stop himself from losing hold of the energy blade.
"You're beaten," observed Buu.
Until the creature had spoken Goten had considered just giving in to death. With his mocking, taunting words though, something snapped within him. The man was suddenly driven by the same thought that had pushed his training to new extremes beyond anything he thought possible. What would Gohan do? He wondered. What would his father do? They wouldn't just give up; they'd keep fighting through the pain no matter how difficult it got. This was nothing to what they had felt – if he gave up he'd be disgracing his family name.
Pushing past incredible pain allowed Goten to pull himself up, and in one slashing motion he'd lopped off the arm that clung to him. As Buu recoiled in pain the saiyan found his feet, pulled out a series of punches with his left hand and then kicked the fiend straight into the sky. Then he readied his sword, concentrating energy down its length.
With the tip of the blade aimed as a perfect crosshair for the falling Majin, Goten suddenly blasted away, letting loose a concentrated snipe of volatile energy from the blade that pierced a man-sized hole straight through Buu's chest. One leg failed him suddenly, and he leaned over the handle for support.
"I'm not done yet – not by a long shot!" he announced.
Goten gave himself as much time as he dared to catch his breath before falling back into stance. Only five seconds passed before Buu had regenerated completely, and he seemed less than happy about being repelled again. The kid was as stubborn as the rest of his family; he just refused to die.
A roar of fury was the signal for Majin Buu losing it completely. He flew through six stories of chocolate where Goten stood atop its roof, waiting with a well-timed dodge and a loose swing of the Life's Blade to keep him at bay. Buu's aura flared out to destroy what remained of the building as he raised his hands to the sky. With a scream, the Majin fired out a countless platter of dark fireworks, twisting and turning through the sky as they homed after their target.
Knowing better than to try and deflect them, Goten fled through the city. In using the labyrinth of buildings at his disposal he managed to lose a few of them, though over three dozen still pursued him through the air, pervading the view with their negatively charged energy. Goten dipped his flight to a dive-bombing plummet to the road beneath him, and in the moment he landed, he sprung back into the sky, leaving only a crater from his impact and the explosion of a few more violet-black firecrackers in his wake.
He smashed through a sugar-smelling wall of glass into one of the towers and began to zigzag between the pillars of a cramped series of office booths. Several of them hit the stall doors and others were caught on the supporting columns, though as Goten made to exit out of the other side a presence approached.
He halted to a stop immediately, as right outside the window he was about to fly through, Majin Buu stood primed and ready with a fully charged blast cupped between his palms. Behind Goten the network of fireworks closed in, and before him the creature he most feared held his father's attack in his hands. With nowhere to run, Goten flared out his aura and covered his face, praying it would be enough to save his life.
Buu smiled. "Kamehameha!"
Simultaneously the beam of azure and fleet of tailed fireworks struck the Super Saiyan 4 in an explosion that slowly reduced the building to a ruin. Support beams collapsed and the candy-blue walls buckled in on themselves until all that remained was a crumpled heap of charred, smoking rubble only a fraction the size of its original tower. Laughing maniacally, Buu descended to the ground, watching the flaming tomb of Goten with a look of glee. The fire expanded with a crack as more confectionary caught ablaze and joined the funeral pyre in celebration of the saiyan's defeat.
Majin Buu then seized a handful of grass, transformed and sugar-coated it, stuffed it in his mouth and turned his back on the site of the dead saiyan, his laugh loudening into a deep howl through mouthfuls of food. He patted his stomach and continued marching away from the furnace until a sound halted him in his tracks.
The noise of a slicing blade screeched from the flaming dead skyscraper. Buu turned only to see that a straight, diagonal line of green swiped across the full length of the ruin. The top half neatly slid away, revealing its destroyer to be Goten, breathing heavily with the Life's Blade still clutched between his fingers. Burns that could easily scar covered him from head to toe and were illuminated by the fire he bravely walked through.
"Don't you dare. . ." he began, dissipating the sword into nothingness. "Use that attack in front of me!" Enraged by the sight of such an impure being using his father's signature attack, Goten cupped his hands into a ball, determined to show this abomination what a true Kamehameha looked like.
"Kamehame. . ." A tiny sphere of blue swelled into the size of a football. He roared and fired off the attack."HA!"
Like a directed meteor Goten's blast cut up the ground beneath its path into nothing more than scattered pebbles as it homed straight for the creature. It blew him into no less than a thousand pieces of gum with an explosion that tore a crater in the planet so large that it could be mistaken for a mothership crash site. Goten panted like a thirsty dog and sunk to one knee in exhaustion. He clung to his consciousness like he had to the Life's Blade, knowing that he had about thirty seconds of time before Buu regenerated and put him down for good.
Every instinct told him to lie there and get some rest. The burns on his body and the bruises down to the bone cried out for him to stop and collapse with only the slightest movements as provocation, yet still he persevered. Gohan and his father had both set the bar, now it was time for him to live up to his family name; to follow in the footsteps of his father, brother and uncle; to be a shadow of them no more and to one day surpass them.
Although his attack had worked, Goten realised that he shouldn't have let go of the Life's Blade so hastily. It had been his most effective technique; it helped him get the edge over Buu despite the power gap; if not for the Life's Blade he'd be dead already. Seeing Buu perform his father's technique though had ignited the spark of rage he'd triggered earlier. After just a few moments to himself, Buu was put back together. Even if Goten could destroy him he wouldn't dare for fear of killing Trunks and Uub, though he had no time to contemplate his weakness as the Majin launched into a ferocious kick to his chin.
As he felt his jaw dislodge painfully from its socket Goten barely had enough time to crack it back into place before another crushing kick sent him back down to the ground. A hand suddenly groped around his neck and pulled him up, choking him with a vice-like grip and holding him to roast like a skewered marshmallow over the scorching building he'd slashed in two.
"Why carry on this pointless battle? Why don't you just die? What is it you have to prove?" Buu asked.
"None of your damn business!" cried Goten, struggling to keep a scream flying from his tongue as his back was barbequed by the fire.
Buu flashed a look of irritancy, and instead of a reply he simply generated a violent, spastic current of bioelectricity down the hand he held the saiyan with. Being made of rubbery gum meant that Buu was impervious to the current; Goten on the other hand felt every jolt that sent his body into uncontrollable shakes. Lightning coursed through his muscles and that scream he'd been holding back finally escaped him, howling into the empty ghost town where no one would answer his calls.
For a whole minute the sadistic creature tortured the saiyan. He held Goten closer to the fire and sent more shocks down his arm to earn more cries of pain, but never once did the saiyan beg for mercy or ask for a quick death. Instead, once Buu had squeezed all the fun out him and prepared a humming bolt of ki in his spare hand to finish the man, Goten's screams of pain faded into a laugh. Breath by breath he chuckled away between spits of blood and gasps for air.
"Something funny?" quizzed Buu, preparing his attack.
"Yeah," Goten managed. He winked one eye open and cast a crooked smile; a look of smug victory. "We've won."
Buu mocked, "You've won have you?" and held up the cackling sphere to the saiyan's face. He held it inches away from Goten's broken nose to assure him that the moment it made contact he'd die. "And how exactly have you won?" he continued.
Goten chuckled again; his view was obscured by the glowing ball of ki, but his senses were not. "I can feel their energy," he revealed.
At once a column of steam vented from one of the many holes in Majin Buu's shoulder, bringing Trunks with it as he grew back to full size, fully transformed. He held a barely breathing Uub under one arm and his sword in the other, so with a spinning swing he cut right through the creature to send him toppling backwards. Buu's attack blasted harmlessly into the sky. Goten hit the floor, unable to stand. He forced himself into a sitting up position and cast a knowing, albeit broken look up to his friend.
"You had to make it right at the last second didn't you?" he coughed, knowing that Z-Fighters as a general rule had a knack for this kind of behaviour. "You know I was about to die there right?"
"Quit complaining you big girl," jested Trunks. "What say we finish this lowlife?"
"I'm with you on that one." Goten slid the emerald ring from his middle finger and passed it to Trunks right as Buu regenerated his lower body. He snarled and rushed towards them, though by the time he reached his mark Trunks had already slipped on the ring and exchanged a triumphant fist bump with Goten.
"Fusion!"
Their two voices echoed off each other, and by the time their second and final syllable was uttered they had merged into a single, two-toned speech. Majin Buu's punch was repelled by the shockwave emerging from the heavenly light that encased the warrior. He blew on his hand to cool it down as the light subsided, revealing his worst nightmare: a Super Saiyan 5 Gotenks back in action. And now that Buu no longer held Uub hostage there was nothing holding him back, save for his injuries.
"Ughh." Gotenks cracked his neck and circled his shoulders, noting all the damage he'd sustained thanks to Goten's injuries. "Alright what the hell?" he demanded. "I'm gone for like ten minutes and they do all this? Were they being beat down the whole time I was away? I swear if I could talk to them in person I'd give them a piece of my mind! Right Uub?" He looked for confirmation from the half-dead man, though only the sound of an inaudible groan came from him when he tried to respond.
"Yeah that's what I thought," bantered Gotenks. "Anyway you just sit tight while I get back to kicking Buu's ass." He turned back the creature he'd repelled for the time being, though something peculiar struck him immediately. Rather than reverting back to his old pink self after Uub's rescue, Majin Buu remained at full strength. He'd been able to handle Buu's maximum before, but in such a damaged state Gotenks knew he'd find it much more difficult to obliterate every single piece of him.
"You actually thought I didn't fix that little weakness?" mocked Buu. "I figured something like this might happen, so while I had that boy absorbed I got to work on draining every last drop of his power."
With a gasp Gotenks turned back to the downed reincarnate, prompting Buu to continue.
"All his strength belongs to me now, and there's nothing you can do to get it back. If he'd been in there any longer then he'd be no stronger than those pathetic beings that live on your home planet."
"Alright that's it!" cried Gotenks, the limits of his patience finally reached. A blast of wind from his breath expelled over a dozen Kamikaze Ghosts; they were complete replicas of himself that chased Majin Buu into the sky. Quickly they caught up to him and latched on, preparing to explode with a burst of energy. Before they had the chance though, Buu took to simply shedding the parts of his body that they clung to with an oily discharge and regenerating immediately after, saving himself from the bulk of the explosions.
Being preoccupied with the stubborn ghosts meant that Buu was blind to the saiyan's true whereabouts, and it was only when Gotenks flashed into view with a burst of speed that the creature realised he'd been fooled. The fusion hovered just a few metres above Buu, eclipsing the sun behind him and preparing a fantastic jet of bright blue ki.
"Kamehame-" As Buu flew towards what he thought for sure was his doom a choke and a cough of blood from the saiyan Gotenks broke apart his chant of the blue technique. A brief lapse of control was something the Kamehameha didn't take kindly to. It veered off target, soaring right past Majin Buu and taking out a few ghosts before crashing to the ground. Buu took his chances. Upping his speed, the creature raced towards the recovering saiyan and grabbed both of his shoulders as hard as he could. After taking one last glance behind him Buu then twisted around, putting all his might into a throw and pushing Gotenks right into the path of the five incoming ghosts.
Even from orbit the bang from the explosion could be heard. Dizzy and barely conscious, Gotenks sailed from the ashen blaze to the ground, landing right where he'd taken off next to the downed Uub.
"Damn it!" he cursed, annoyed by his crippled state. "I'm gonna kill those two!"
"Gotenks. . ."
The saiyan paused, turning eventually to see that Uub had managed to pull himself back to his knees. His speech remained a series of spluttering wheezes and his eyes flickered dangerously into the back of his sockets; Gotenks wondered how he was still conscious. He'd told him to lay low and get some rest, but Uub wouldn't sleep until he'd seen Majin Buu destroyed with his own eyes. Even after getting almost all his power sapped away he still persevered.
"Let me handle this Uub," muttered Gotenks, scanning the field as fast as his eyes could track in an attempt to pick out the hiding foe. "You're not the only one who's got a score to settle with this freak."
"Can you really beat him though?" Uub quizzed.
It was a good question. One half of him had been beaten to the verge of death and the other half had expended nearly all his stamina in trying to get Uub out safely. As a result, he was in little shape to fight. "I reckon that if I focus, I've got enough energy for one or two more big moves," he revealed. "But there's no guarantee I won't just blow him into tiny pieces; if just one slither of him survives then he can regenerate from that."
To Gotenks's shock, Uub slammed a fist to the ground, pushing hard against the planet's surface to stagger back to his feet. "Then you just worry about blowing him apart," said Uub. "Leave the rest to me. I'll make sure there's nothing left over."
"And how do you plan on doing that? In case you forgot already, that red freak just drained you of all your power."
"With this." Uub opened his right palm, showing Gotenks that he held a tiny sphere of rose-coloured ki, no bigger than a table tennis ball yet more destructive than any technique in the saiyan's arsenal. "It's taking everything I have just to keep hold of this," he added. "I made it just before I got absorbed. Once you've blown him apart, if I can get a clean shot then it's all over."
"Right." Gotenks nodded in understanding, determined not to let Uub's last attack go to waste. "Consider it done."
He braced himself and closed his eyes. Taking a sharp intake of breath, Gotenks prepared to push his battle instincts to the limits; the strain on his body from his injuries meant that going back to full power would be an ordeal, though after telling himself that his pain was nothing to Uub's, he finally readied himself.
Absolute focus took over Gotenks as he waited in total silence for any sign of the creature. After just a few seconds, the blink of a nearby warp caught his attention, and his auburn-furred arm shot up just in time to block a world-crushing blow from Buu. Following through with another kick aimed at his ribs, Majin Buu dragged him into a rising exchange as they duelled higher and higher into the sky. Sparks of lightning amplified the saiyan's strikes and the world vanished into cloud cover beneath them. Even with his maximum speed, Majin Buu kept up blow for blow, showing him no quarter with which to unleash a final attack.
Eventually an idea struck Gotenks. His hand fell to the shaft of Trunks's blade pinned to his back, and in seeing this Buu dropped into a defensive position long enough for Gotenks to remove his hand and dart right past his guard, coming down with a thunderstruck haymaker. A barrage of kicks faster than any machine gun followed, and once Majin Buu recovered from his battering the monster leapt forward right into the path of a hammering slam. Through layers of cloud Buu plummeted faster and faster to the floor. The water from them splashed him out of a momentary daze, allowing him to regain focus just long enough to land on both feet. The impact dented a massive basin into the planet itself.
Panicking now, Buu looked back to the sky for any sign of his saiyan adversary. Peering past the clouds did him no good however, as Gotenks had already landed, and stood a sports field's length away from him, charging ki into his left hand. It was only when an attack name cried away that Buu noticed his foe's proximity.
"Life's Blade!" ordered Gotenks. Unlike the hybrid he was made from, it took Gotenks only a few seconds to conjure up the energy based sword. He took it into his left hand before drawing Trunks's own sword into his right. With two at his disposal the level of Gotenks's killing potential doubled, earning a look of fear from the Majin in his sights. He rushed across the planet's surface faster than he'd ever travelled before. Even so, Buu still managed to put up a defence in time for his arrival, for whatever little good it did him.
Gotenks sliced right through Buu's shielding arms in a heartbeat with the Life's Blade before doubling back and hacking him down the middle with Trunks's sword. In a swift flourish of slashes undetectable to Buu he hacked the fiend apart, carving him into countless tiny servings of red sizzling meat after one hundred cuts separated him. The cauterisation made from the boiling hot sizzle of Goten's new signature weapon meant that regenerating took much longer than usual. As Buu frantically attempted to magnetise himself back together though, he wondered why exactly he hadn't been attacked again yet.
Finally he managed to reform himself back into some oddly shaped humanoid, still slowly regenerating and throbbing with tumorous lumps as he wove himself back together. Once his mouth filled back into place and his eyes were reconnected he looked around, blinking away what he initially suspected was a serious case of double vision from a failed regeneration. After wiping his eyes with a two-fingered, stumpy hand though, Buu realised with horror what exactly he was seeing.
Some forty metres ahead of him, a row of countless Gotenks stood in a line. He turned around only to realise that the ghosts encircled him completely, providing no chance of escape. With their distance away and the fact that they stood shoulder to shoulder Buu estimated that close a thousand had been formed around him, all wearing the exact same expression and speaking in identical tones.
"I told you not to take your eyes off me Buu!" They each said as Buu's gaze frantically searched for an exit; a gap in their ranks. He could flee to the skies, but they'd only chase him down. Attack one and the others would swarm him. Attacking them all would be even worse, as one solid shot on these things was all it took for them to explode. The only chance he had was to locate the real one before time was up, though with the vast platoon of identical faces such a task was impossible.
"Super Ghost Army!" they cried in unison. "Kamikaze Finale!"
Before Buu had the chance to comprehend the attack's meaning all one thousand ghosts set off at a rush towards him, closing in with every passing blink. His eyes wandered frightfully in trying to guess the real culprit as they began to glow with a fierce light, a sign of their self-destruct. Finally he took to the skies, though as he expected, the ghosts simply altered their course and geared up towards him in perfect synchronism. Whatever move Buu had planned next was never executed. Again the ghosts upped their speed, whipping up fresh currents of wind behind them as they reached their mark. Twelve of them latched onto Majin Buu, with the others each grabbing a foot or an arm of their brothers to form an impenetrable human wall, now glowing so brightly that no individual features could be recognised.
As Buu struggled and squinted his eyes from the light of the glowing ghosts, he suddenly noticed that a single one stopped its ignition and broke off the wall to take to the sky. It was undoubtedly the real Gotenks, though with an army of copies holding him down the monstrosity could do nothing but feebly reach for the saiyan and cry out in rage.
"You can't kill me!" he roared, maniacally laughing in an insane cackle. "I'm the Dragon of Gluttony! I'll come back again and again!"
Silence then spread across the planet for a single second before the noise of nine hundred and ninety nine ghosts whispered the countless echoes of stifled, childish giggles in his ear.
"Nyehehe. . ."
All together the group exploded as the real Gotenks soared away. The blast demolished the entire area for miles around and its light nipped at his heels, blinding him momentarily as the sound filled the planet.
"UUB! NOW!" he cried.
Already tiny, almost microscopic fragments of the devourer could be seen squirming on the floor against the light of the explosion, wriggling slowly towards one another. With all the damage their rate of movement had been reduced to a snail's pace, meaning that it would take him hours to regenerate. Uub, however, had no intentions of letting him do so. With eyes half shut and knees violently shaking he pushed himself back to his feet, inching forwards with a pronounced limp whilst holding out the glowing sphere of energy he'd saved for so long. The shockwave from the blast still ruffled his hair into a mess and the dust slashed away at his face, serving to hinder his vision even more. None of it mattered though; Uub knew that if he could muster up the strength to throw this attack their battle would be over.
"Gotenks! Get back to your ship!" he warned. "This planet is about to blow!"
Gotenks shook his head. "What about you?" he called over the roar of the new wind.
"I can still survive in space! Just go!"
Being sure not to insult Uub's wishes, Gotenks nodded and immediately set himself on a course for his ship, still parked nearby in a small clearing. As long as he was inside it with the doors sealed nothing would be able to harm him, as the exterior was built to withstand even Goku's attacks. Still, he felt it wise to hit the red button and ignite the underside thrusters in case Bulma was wrong.
"I told you I'd be the one to kill you Majin Buu!" Even with the blast doors sealed he could still hear Uub's scream from the planet below. "Now take this! . . ATOMIC BLASTER!"
The gem-sized bomb of Uub's own creation suddenly rocketed straight for the midpoint of the ghosts' attack, erupting in a vast blaze of pink energy that sent the entire planet into flames, taking Majin Buu along with it.
.
Author's Notes: Hellooo guys. Super Saiyan 5 Gotenks is up like I promised! Remember he's made from a different form of fusion so he looks a lot different, and that's not just an excuse for my crappy drawings! Honest! I know some of you might have been expecting the whole SS5 trial thing that Vegeta had to undergo but there are a couple of reasons I decided to skip it over in favour of just a comment of how he beat it. Firstly I want to use that scene used for a different character later on, and having it occur twice in the same story I can imagine would be a little boring. Secondly, you might remember that with Vegeta, the trial brought out his greatest fears – Gotenks isn't like that at all, he's really optimistic and isn't really frightened of anything, so it makes sense for him to beat it easily.
Anyway I decided to make this into a more Goten-centric chapter since I felt he didn't get any kind of crowning moment in The Room of Spirit and Time Saga and the Life's Blade is something I wanted to incorporate for a while. You probably noticed that I mentioned it draws half of its power from the planet, like the Spirit Bomb.
The reason for this is that whilst he might've been portrayed as a bit of a misogynist in GT, in his youth he was practically a doppelganger for kid Goku, so I figured he retains enough of that naïve purity to be able to pull off a similar move without receiving training from King Kai. Besides, all the main Super Saiyan 4/5s in this series have had a new special move: Goku's was the Dragon Kamehameha, Vegeta's was the Crimson Oblivion, Raditz's was the Kaio-Cannon (Which he's only used once so far to beat Novus), Gogeta had the Galactic Spirit Bomb, Gotenks has the Super Ghost Army and Trunks has the Echo Force, so not giving Goten one would be unfair.
Also I'd like to extend my annual thank you to all of my supporters. You guys are all awesome and you keep this story alive just as much as I do, although since he doesn't have an account I'd like to take this opportunity to extend a message to "Joe B", who had this piece of golden advice to offer me in a rather confused review of this story:
"Last but not least, ["Please do not use anyone else's work and pass it out as your own."] From the rule book of journalism, Yellow journalism is the wost possible form of
journalistic writing or reportive story telling to ever exist. For example stealing somone elses fine work giving your self credit for somone else's hardwork is not a good idea at all."
Now I'm not sure whether this is just really badly worded and unintentional or not, but it almost sounds as if you're implying that I plagiarise the work of others and pass it off as my own. If this is the case then I must retort: WHAT THE HELL? I didn't work my arse off on this story and the one before it just to be called a fraud at the end of the day. I've been working on AF for almost two years now and I'd like to assure you all that I don't copy from anyone else's plot, I haven't stolen a writing style and there's a reason all the pictures I upload have my bloody signature on them. This is probably the most insulting thing I could imagine, so thanks. And I know what the word 'Descriptive' means but cheers for clarifying that for me, what am I six years old?
Whew, rage over. Maybe I overreacted - I think my hair was turning gold for a minute there.
