[Author's note: I've had a few reviews lately that essentially reminded me that I never discussed what I consider 'canon' for this story, so I guess I'll clarify that here. For this story, I consider this a branched timeline from the original one. Everything up to and including the Cell Games I consider canon as per Toriyama's original story, but Toriyama's Majin Buu arc and everything coming after that (end of Z, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball AF etc.) are all not taken into account as canon for this story.
What does this mean? Essentially it means that while this story, especially the beginning part, is based on the original Buu arc, the powers of characters in this story are not necessarily the same or even similar to those in Toriyama's Buu arc. So if Dabura, Majin Buu, Bobbidy, or any other character appears too weak/strong compared to Toriyama's Buu arc, that is because I believe these powers fit this story better. After all, any character is generally as strong as the plot demands that character to be, while staying believable within the context of that fictional universe (Toriyama's Buu arc does not happen in the same fictional universe as this story basically).
What does it mean that I don't take end of Z, Dragon Ball Super, etc. into account? It essentially means that events may happen in this story that contradict or prevent events in those other series from taking place. For instance, this means that the ending for this story may not necessarily hold the same status quo as the original Buu arc. Some techniques learned in the original Buu arc may not exist in this story, and vice-versa. I do not want to go into more detail in this for the sake of not spoiling the story, but I hope this clarifies it somewhat.
Another note is more specific to this chapter itself. It has come to my attention that the background lore in Chapter 18 - History of Kais was not clear to some readers. I've summarised the lore in this chapter to hopefully alleviate some of the confusion. This is the first fictional story I've ever written, so I will inevitably make mistakes and screw up from time to time. I hope you will continue sending me feedback either by sending me a PM or by posting a review. It really helps me learn and improve.]
As Erasa saw Gohan and the others disappear from sight she called after them.
'And don't tell those guys about your weakness!'
As Erasa flew back, she realised she had no idea if she was flying the right way. The question of how she would find her way back hadn't popped up in her head at all when she was still with the others. And now she was all alone… on a weird magical golden cloud above a sea that seemed to extend indefinitely.
Erasa halted the Nimbus and considered her options. She could try to fly back to Gohan and the others and ask them for help, but finding them back might be just as hard. And according to that Shin guy it was probably quite dangerous. What if she ran into those zombie creeps? Erasa remembered Gohan fighting with Videl, and Gohan's dad fighting that Vegeta guy. There was no way Erasa could help out if it came to that kind of fighting. Finding Gohan and the others was not an option.
To think that it was only this morning she flew to Papaya Island expecting to cheer Videl on in her Tournament. That seemed like ages ago now. She never expected to learn all this weird stuff about energy and monsters and Videl flying and shy dorky Gohan actually fighting so well and Gohan's dad being dead but still walking around and everything else, it boggled her mind. As comfortable as the Flying Nimbus was, she was scared as shit being all alone without Videl or anyone else.
Maybe she could try calling Videl? Maybe she could fly already and come get her? Videl learned how to sense people right? Erasa took out her phone. No signal. Of course – she was above the ocean with no signs of civilisation in sight. As Erasa was about to put her phone back she noticed the little navigation symbol on it. She still had satellite navigation! She could use this to find her way back! Erasa opened up her maps app – it showed her location was surrounded by water. That seemed about right. She entered Papaya Island as her destination and zoomed out until she could see both her own location and Papaya Island on the screen. The phone told her she still had over three thousand kilometres to fly.
Holy shit that was far! Had they really flown that far? The Flying Nimbus must be ridiculously fast. How fast could Gohan even fly? That couldn't actually be real could it? Erasa wondered if her phone might be broken.
Suddenly Erasa heard a loud explosion from far behind her. The bang startled her so much she fell off the Nimbus for real this time. Erasa shrieked as she fell towards the water, but the splash never came. Erasa felt a soft fluffy surface catching her. As she opened her eyes again she saw the Flying Nimbus had caught her and her phone.
'Woah.' Erasa said out loud. 'That was close. Thanks a lot!'
She patted the Nimbus, unsure if it actually had feelings or not. It definitely decided on its own to fly down and catch her. Erasa looked around. What even was that noise? Was Gohan alright? Was Gohan or one of the others the cause of that noise? Erasa remembered the last thing she told Gohan, some stupid comment about him being adorable. She ought to have said something a bit more encouraging.
What are you doing Erasa?! You've got to help out too remember?! Tell Videl and the others!
As scared as Erasa was, the thought of seeing Videl again sparked her fire. Videl always had the kind of confidence and determination that assured Erasa everything was going to be alright. She turned on the speed measuring option of her phone and tried to fly Nimbus in the direction the phone told her. She sped up the Nimbus as fast as she could while glancing at her phone, and she saw the displayed speed increasing at a ridiculous rate. 500 km/h, 1000 km/h, 1500 km/h, 2000 km/h … and it didn't look like the Nimbus was even close to going as fast as it could. She looked down to the water - she was flying a lot lower than she had flown with Gohan and the others. The waves looked like a vague blur due to the ridiculous speed. But for some reason it didn't feel like she was going fast. She barely even felt any wind at all. It was still really comfortable on the Nimbus.
She should ask Gohan's dad where he got this cloud, now she wanted one of her own too, it was far more comfortable than any airplane. And a freaking flying golden cloud that even saves you when you fall off?! That's freaking cool!
Come on Erasa, focus for once in your life! Gohan told you to help out and tell the others!
As Erasa flew towards Papaya Island, she saw land appearing in the distance. From the map on her phone, it definitely looked like she was going the right way. She should soon be seeing South City. Only 1500 kilometres further. What was it again she had to tell the others? Dragon Balls, that's it! They had to go do something with Dragon Balls. And tell the story that the Kaio-Shin guy told her. Erasa summarised the story that Kaio-Shin had told her to help her, and the reader of this story, to remember.
All the Kai's and the Kaio-Shin were born from the Kaiju tree. There were the normal ones for their world, and the demonic ones for the Demon Realm. The Kaio-Shin were responsible for creating life and planets in the universe, and the Lower Kai's looked if everything was alright.
At one time, a Kaio-Shin that was not really from their world but also not really demonic was born from the tree, and they called him Bibbidy. Because the other Kaio-Shin were racist he wasn't allowed to create life himself, but Bibbidy did so anyway to prove himself and made Majin Buu. Majin Buu did not have a proper mind however, and it could manipulate others - it drove Bibbidy mad. When the Kaio-Shin tried to stop Buu they were all killed apart from the one guy that had been with them today. And after that Bibbidy and Majin Buu started destroying many planets, wanting to destroy the entire universe and the Demon Realm to create their new world for hybrid creatures like them.
But Majin Buu was too difficult to control for Bibbidy, so Bibbidy sealed Majin Buu in a ball as a means of control. As he did so, Kaio-Shin destroyed Bibbidy and took the ball that contained Buu, hoping it'd never be released again. Kaio-Shin created a lifeless planet without any resources and buried the ball there.
Kaio-Shin hadn't known about Bobbidy however, a being created by Bibbidy, which was just like him. And Bobbidy was created to be just as crazy as Bibbidy. Kaio-Shin hadn't known about Bobbidy until recently.
There had been this genocidal alien emperor called Freeza who had a lot of planets under his control. Bobbidy had wanted to manipulate Freeza and get him under his control, but before Bobbidy ever got anywhere near him Freeza had come to Earth and was killed here by Gohan and his friends. But because Freeza had been killed on Earth Bobbidy knew strong people lived here and that's why he came here.
During the Cell Games Gohan's dad somehow teleported Cell to the planet of North Kai and Cell blew himself up causing that planet to be destroyed. They lost vision over Majin Buu's ball. And when they had made another planet for North Kai, Bobbidy had managed to steal Buu's ball in the meantime. And Bobbidy had sent those zombie creeps to the Tournament to try and get the energy he needed to release Majin Buu. So now Gohan and the others were going after Bobbidy and those zombie creeps to try and prevent Majin Buu from being released.
It was still all very surreal for Erasa, it sounded like a crazy story. How could something like that possibly be real? By comparison Gohan's dad walking around and talking with people while being dead seemed perfectly normal. Erasa checked her course on her phone. Apparently she was going close to 7000 km/h now, holy shit! And she was almost there.
Within a minute Erasa saw Papaya Island. And the next moment she had already flown past it. She really was going ridiculously fast. She quickly slowed down the Nimbus and flew back to the Tournament stadium. Erasa wondered whether she should land outside to not draw attention, and then she saw bright lights and heard loud explosions coming from the stadium. It looked like Gohan's dad and Vegeta were still fighting each other. Erasa decided to land outside of the stadium, she didn't want to get hit by either of them.
Erasa stopped the Nimbus right outside the stadium entrance next to the security guards and jumped off. They both stared at her dumbfounded while the Nimbus flew off into the sky.
'Are… are you an angel?' One of the guards asked.
'Ehmm…'
'You're definitely an angel.' The other one remarked. 'A beautiful girl appearing right before me from the sky; that's gotta be divine.'
'Oh thank you.' Erasa replied giggling. 'But I'm in a bit of a hurry for angelic business, would you be so kind to let me through? I've got a ticket.'
She flashed her ticket.
'Sure thing Miss Angel, you're always welcome here.'
Erasa quickly entered the stadium while they both bowed to her. She still remembered where she'd sat before with Gohan's mom and the others, she could only hope that Videl would be with them. Erasa hurried there, and heard loud noises coming from the ring on the way there. She glanced over at the ring and saw Gohan's dad and Vegeta still fighting. There wasn't really anything left of the ring, the area was covered in scattered concrete from the ring, mixed with soil and ground. Erasa still couldn't really follow anything of their fight, they moved way too fast for Erasa to register what was happening.
Erasa quickly found the rest of Gohan's family: his mom, his little brother Goten, and his gigantic grandfather. They were sitting together with Videl, Bulma, Trunks, Master Roshi, Yamcha, a slim blonde woman, and the little girl Marron who sat on the woman's lap. And among them was also an older man Erasa recognised as the man Gohan fought first, what was his name again? Erasa had already been introduced to all of the other people earlier when Videl fought Gohan, except for the blonde woman, whom she only recognised as the woman who fought earlier while Videl was buying her new gi. And wasn't she also around when she flew off with Gohan? As Erasa approached the group, Chi-Chi noticed her.
'Erasa!'
Chi-Chi jumped over several seats to approach Erasa.
'How is Gohan doing?' Chi-Chi asked desperately. 'Where did you all go?! Where's Gohan? Is he alright?!'
'Gohan was fine the last time I saw him.' Erasa replied quickly, trying to calm Chi-Chi down, while walking to their seats. 'I came back because they asked me to tell you to get something. I think it was called Dragon Ball or something.'
'Erasa!' Videl cried out, and she hugged Erasa so tightly Erasa started to fear her spine might break. 'I was so worried! Are you alright?!'
'Videl!' Erasa struggled. 'Stop it! You're hurting me!'
Videl quickly released Erasa.
'Oh, sorry about that.'
'Hello Miss Erasa!' Goten said and he bowed to her. 'Did you have fun flying with Gohan? Flying's really cool, do you still not want to learn how to fly?'
'Goten, you're not teaching her!' Chi-Chi interrupted. 'You're grounded remember? Besides you're too young, didn't I tell you that when Miss Videl came to learn how to fly?'
'Aww but mom…'
'Did you say we should go get the Dragon Balls?' Bulma asked.
'Yeah, Gohan said we might need it as backup or something.' Erasa replied, glad with the escape from Goten. 'But I don't know what it is.'
'Let's go immediately.' Bulma decided. 'Are you and Videl coming too? Chi-Chi, what about you?'
'Well uhmm…' Chi-Chi hesitated. 'What about Goku?'
They looked at Goku and Vegeta fighting in the ring, or what was left of it. It also looked like Goku and Vegeta were both pretty worn out. Goku just charged in with another attack, again with that strange red energy surrounding him.
'They're worn out so much by now they won't endanger anyone here anymore,' the blonde woman said.
'They'll find us if they need us.' Bulma decided. 'Erasa can tell us everything on the way. I think Gohan needs us if he asks for the Dragon Balls!'
Hearing Gohan's name seemingly snapped Chi-Chi out of her hesitation.
'Goten, father, let's go!' Chi-Chi decided.
'I will come too.' The older man said.
'Okay then.' Bulma announced. 'Let's go!'
The entire group left their seats. The blonde woman approached Erasa while they were moving out.
'So you're Erasa? Videl told me a bit about you.'
'Yeah, that's me. I know Gohan from school. But I don't know your name.'
'My name is Lazuli. I am Krillin's wife, and this is our daughter Marron.'
Lazuli showed her Marron.
'She's so cute!'
'Do you know if Krillin is alright?' Lazuli asked.
'He was still alright the last I saw of him.' Erasa replied. 'I don't know what happened to him afterwards though, same with Gohan.' They were passing the security guards again.
'Good afternoon there Miss Angel,' one said. 'If you need any help on your divine business just let us know!'
'I will, thank you.' Erasa replied and she waved at them. The other one pointed to Videl and poked the first one, whispering something Erasa couldn't hear.
'Why did they call you Miss Angel?' Goten asked. 'You don't even have any wings!'
'Well, they saw me fly on Gohan's cloud.' Erasa tried to explain friendly. 'Maybe they thought I was an angel that didn't need any wings.'
Videl broke out laughing, suddenly understanding why the guards had been pointing to her, while Goten looked confused.
'Mommy, where's daddy?' Marron asked.
Lazuli picked up Marron as they were hurrying towards the airport.
'Marron, listen to me.' Lazuli said, keeping her attitude and voice confident. 'Your daddy is doing something very important right now to protect all of us from some very bad men. And daddy is one of the bravest and strongest men in the whole world! I'm sure he'll be just fine.'