DragonBall Z: The Baby Brawlers Saga

Chapter 25: Time's Up

Gotenks smirked and looked down at the massive crater that contained Buu's body before looking back at Piccolo. "But he's already almost taken down! No need to worry!" At the glare he was receiving from Piccolo, Gotenks sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, jeez, I get it. Hey Majin Buu! Come out here! I know you're still down there!" Gotenks taunted. He heard a crackling sound next to him and he turned to see Panona with one eye closed wincing in pain as electricity crackled around her. Piccolo was at her side, with a hand on her back trying to see if she was fine, and she gave him a reassuring smile. But Gotenks knew better. That smile was a lie. She didn't have much time left before she'd separate violently. He turned back towards the crater and glared, knowing he had to finish Buu soon. "Hey! Come out here now! We only have five more minutes before we separate and then you'd have to wait an hour before we can fuse again! Come out and fight us! We're about to lose all of our powers, really! It's just poor little Gotenks and Panona here, all by our lonesome, weak and defenseless!"

A large blast of energy exploded from the crater.

"Get back!" Piccolo warned, grabbing Panona's arm and flying her backwards as Gotenks joined them, all of them gaping in surprise at the large surge of energy and the amount of power behind it.

Panona growled and pulled herself away from Piccolo, tensing as she fell into a fighting stance. "How can he still be that strong? We're throwing everything we've got at him and still nothing's putting him down for good! That's unnatural!"

"Hey, you're the composed one!" Gotenks retorted, flying next to her and mirroring her stance. He tossed her a half smile. "You can't get all freaked out on me!"

Panona gave him a small smile, but it didn't reach up to her eyes. She turned her attention to Buu who was standing in the crater with a smile on his face, but she continued to address the fusion Saiyan beside her. "I fused first, remember Gotenks. That means we separate first. You may have five minutes but I have four. And it's getting harder to control this form."

Gotenks tensed, realizing what that meant for her. "Then we just have to finish him in three minutes!" Gotenks rose up his hands and started to fire Ki blasts at the monster, with Panona joining in just seconds after him. The intensity of the blasts and the sheer number the two were throwing put Piccolo on edge.

"Slow down you two, you'll destroy the entire planet!"

"Make up your mind!" Gotenks demanded as he continued firing his blasts. "Do you want us to take this guy out or not?"

"Of course, but not at the expense of the planet we're trying to save!" Piccolo retorted, getting Panona to stop her firing and look at him. "The Dragonballs are scattered all over and if you destroy just one of them we won't be able to wish anyone back!"

Gotenks abruptly stopped and turned to stare at Piccolo. "Really? I guess I forgot." The boy turned around to survey the area before he looked at the massive cracks in the earth that he'd created and he grinned a bit. "I don't want to toot my own horn, but look at the size of that hole! If he can still walk after that one, I'll be really surprised."

"Don't lower your guard, Gotenks," Panona advised, breathing heavily and narrowing her eyes slightly. The three warriors all turned suddenly at a spike of energy they felt and saw Buu flying out of the ground a hundred yards away, covered in dirt but otherwise unharmed. It was clear, however, that he wasn't happy in the slightest.

"He's barely even bruised!" Gotenks groaned in annoyance. "Man this is getting old!"

"No, you both did hurt him," Piccolo assured as he noticed the positively malicious look on Buu's face and the way his body trembled slightly. "It's not his body you hurt, you've damaged his ego. As fighters you're his equals. He's never fought anyone as strong as himself. This creature has never faced a true challenge, and I suspect he doesn't know how to handle it."

"I can't blame him! He's fighting the two strongest fighters ever to live!" Gotenks boasted. "I bet he's too scared to do anything else!"

"Taunting isn't going to help the bruised ego he already has," Panona warned as she held her shoulder slightly.

"No way! He's too much of a scaredy cat to do anything!" Gotenks laughed loudly. As he was laughing he didn't noticed Buu fly up past Piccolo and Panona and head-butt the boy in the face, sending him flying backwards. Gotenks looked up and saw that Buu had flown after him. The pink creature wrapped his arms around the boys' body and then flew down to the ground, tossing Gotenks into the ground where he created another large crack in the earth. Gotenks flew back out of the ground and glared at Buu, holding his cheek in his hands. "You wanna fight dirty? Fine then, we'll fight dirty!"

Panona flew in from behind Buu and whistled to the monster to catch his attention. Once he'd turned Panona reeled back and punched him in the face. Just as he was about to fly backwards she grabbed his antennae to yank him forward before punching him once again, sending him towards Gotenks who had kicked the monster away, sending him into four different buildings that crumbled upon impact.

The two quickly followed after into the crumbling city with Gotenks leading the charge, preparing to punch Buu once again. Buu quickly morphed his body to evade the attack before he stretched his arm in order to grab Gotenks and put him in a choke hold. He retracted his arm so the boy was against his chest so he could secure the hold before laughing as the boy tried to squirm. Gotenks tried to muscle his way out, but when that didn't work he relied on his default.

He bit down on Buu's arm.

Buu wailed in pain and let the boy go, allowing the boy to fly back and try to punch Buu in the gut. The pink monster quickly created a large hole in his stomach for the boy to fly through and nearly crash into a building before he steadied himself. The building he'd been so desperate not to crash into, however, was quickly demolished as Buu tackled the boy into the structure, collapsing the entire thing. As soon as the dust cleared, Gotenks shot out of the debris and glared at Buu who was smirking in his direction. "You'll pay for that," Gotenks shouted before leaping towards Buu, trying to aim a kick at his face only for Buu to blast at him with an energy beam from his mouth.

"Boom-Boom Bullet Barrage!"

The blasts rocked Buu's body, causing explosions and dust to kick up into the air. Panona flew around Buu and stopped near Gotenks who was shaking off his body from the attack. There was sweat dripping down the side of her face and she was breathing heavier than she had earlier. "Are you okay, Gotenks?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you're not," Gotenks spoke up with a frown on his face. "You should drop the form now or the effects are going to be worse."

"I still have… a few minutes," Panona assured before giving Gotenks a thumbs up. "So let's make them count."

Gotenks smirked before he and Panona shot off after the newly reformed Buu, punching him away and back out of the city. They flew after the monster before they quickly took turns throwing punches and kicks Buu's way. It was obvious that the two fusion Saiyans had the advantage as they savagely picked apart Buu. Panona was about to punch at Buu when her body twitched and electricity started to crackle around her. She stopped her attack and dropped onto the ground holding her torso and shaking. Gotenks cursed and grabbed the girl before flying her backwards so they were out of range of Buu, dropping down to his knee and looking at her in concern. "Panona, what's wrong?"

"S-S-Sorry… I couldn't… do more…" Panona whispered out with a sad smile before she dropped her SSJ 3 form and collapsed onto her side, electricity crackling around her as she writhed in pain. Gotenks' looked horrified as he saw the form of his friend before looking up to glare at Buu. He needed to end this to make sure she was safe. He quickly shot up and continued his assault on Buu, delivering punches and kicks with more force before he jumped back and prepped for his next attack.

"I'm going to cut you up into bits and then burn the rest," Gotenks smirked. "Too bad, but you're days on Earth are over Buu! Big—" Just as Gotenks was about to call out his next attack he reverted back to normal, just as Panona had done thirty seconds earlier. His eyes widened and he immediately realized that with both him and Panona back down to normal, they were screwed. "This isn't good." Gotenks watched as Buu healed himself before smirking at the now normal Saiyan, racking his mind for something to do. "Darn it… if I can't fight at Super Saiyan 3 than I won't be able to beat him. And Panona's a sitting duck right now… I'll have to distract him."

"Ha!" Gotenks exclaimed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Normal fighting! My greatest move yet!" Gotenks sucked in a breath before he started blowing out his ghosts again, creating ten and grinning at Buu. "Just when you thought that you were safe the Super Ghosts come back stronger than ever! Attack!" The ghosts surged forward but Buu merely sucked in a large breath and blew them away so they knocked into each other and detonated. Gotenks blinked once before rushing over to grab Panona under his arm and took off. "Okay time to run!"

Buu noticed the boy trying to escape and fired at a rock face just in front of him, causing it to explode and send the boy backwards. Gotenks crashed onto the ground and lost his grip on Panona, causing her to land and roll on the uneven ground closer towards Buu. Her body was crackling with electricity and she was holding her torso tightly as she screamed in pain. Buu's attention was immediately drawn to her and he narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Quiet," Buu ordered, a vein throbbing in his forehead when Panona didn't stop. "I said quiet!"

"Don't focus on her, you're my problem!" Gotenks shouted, glaring at Buu. Panona screamed louder as her body started to glow gold and Buu growled, forming a Ki blast in his hand.

"I said quiet!" Buu roared before firing the Ki blast at the girl. An explosion filled the air, kicking up dust.

"Panona!" Gotenks shouted in horror as his friend was obscured from view. The dust cleared and Panona was nowhere in sight. Gotenks felt his heart stop and he froze. N-No… Panona… Goten thought, clutching his hand into fists and squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the familiar prickling of tears. Not Panona… not her. She's my best friend… I've lost everyone… why did Buu have to take her too?!

"Gotenks… quit shouting."

Gotenks immediately snapped his head up, his eyes wide in shock as tears flowed down his cheeks. "Pan? Is that really you?"

"Gotenks, on your right," Piccolo's voice piped up in his head. Gotenks was in the middle of turning his head when Piccolo's voice sounded again. "Other way." Gotenks followed the direction and saw Pan lying on the ground by a cliff, her forehead bloody and eyes closed. She was lying on her stomach, not moving but the rise and fall of her chest showed that she was still alive. "Just before the attack hit, she and Kona split. It was sheer luck that their fusion ended and that they separated so violently that it threw the girls away from each other."

"Where's Kona?" Gotenks asked, searching for the blue-eyed girl. He turned his head and saw her lying on the far left, electricity crackling around her body. She was lying out on a pile of rocks—which looked more than uncomfortable—and had her left hand covered in blood. She was wincing and writhing every few seconds, but she was thankfully still breathing. "Piccolo, can you—"

"Already on it. Keep Buu busy and I'll get the girls out of harm's way."

Gotenks pushed himself up from the ground and frowned. "Easier said than done."

As soon as the words had come from his mouth Buu had rushed forward and punched Gotenks in the face before he continued his assault on the boy, delivering kicks and punches that Gotenks couldn't defend against. Buu then wrapped his antennae around his leg and swung him around before throwing him into a cliff, where he crashed and created a large amount of dust. Piccolo looked up briefly from scooping Pan up and adjusting Kona in his arms and winced as he saw the dust clear.

"You're dead!"

There was a pause as the two boys realized that they were standing on their own feet. They turned their heads and saw each other next to them and flinched. "Hey wait, you're there!" They chorused in unison, before looking forward in shock. "The fusion must be over!" Goten and Trunks stared in front of them and froze seeing Buu stalk towards them with a malicious smirk on his face. "Aw man, without the fusion we're cooked."

"What?" Goten asked in fear. "You mean there's a chance we might die?"

"It's more than just a chance," Trunks retorted, sweat running down his forehead. "You and me are about to bite the big one buddy. Shoot, this isn't any fun! We're way too young to die!"

"Yeah, we're just little kids!"

The two boys shook as they stared down the monster before their vision was obscured by the back of their green mentor. Goten and Trunks blinked in confusion. "Piccolo?"

"Can't let you too have all the fun," Piccolo retorted, turning around and handing each boy one of the girls. Trunks shifted Pan on his back while Goten blinked up as soon as Kona was on his back. Piccolo gave them a serious look before turning around again to drop into a fighting stance. "I'll do the best that I can, but if it doesn't work at least we'll die together."

"What do you mean the 'best you can do'?" Trunks demanded. "We were Super Saiyan 3 and fused and we still couldn't beat him!"

Goten nodded animatedly. "Yeah, it might not matter to you because you're old, but we're just kids! We don't wanna die!" The black-haired boy turned to look at Trunks while he adjusted his grip on the little girl on his back. "Do you have any ideas, Trunks?"

"Hm… yeah! I got one! And I think it might work!" Trunks exclaimed excitedly. Piccolo's ears twitched slightly as he listened in on their conversation while keeping an eye on Buu who was merely watching the exchange in confusion.

"Well what is it Trunks?"

"We apologize!"

Piccolo fell to the ground.

"Yeah, why not?" Trunks continued. "We'll just apologize and say we're sorry then we'll give him lots of candy and chocolate and stuff as a peace offering! Cool huh?"

Goten smiled. "Yeah! It's a great idea, especially the part about the candy. Plus it's a heck of a lot better than Piccolo's idea!"

"Awesome, then go get us some candy Goten!" Trunks demanded, only for the boy to pout. "What's wrong?"

"Well I have Kona on my back and she's too hurt to fly around to get candy," Goten reminded the boy. "Plus, there aren't any stores around here."

"Darn it you're right… I guess we'll have to find some other way to get the candy then."

Piccolo's eye twitched as he watched the two boys plot ways to get candy to apologize to Buu. Whether it registered in their brains or not that Buu had systematically killed all their friends and destroyed a large portion of Earth because he just wanted to, Piccolo would never know. And honestly he didn't want to know. His annoyance only grew when Goten suggested they ask him to materialize some candy for them. Piccolo was just getting ready to take on Buu—and more than likely die—and they wanted him to use some of his energy to create candy so they could try apologizing to the mass murdering monster no more than twenty yards away.

"Huh… it's worth a try. Hey Piccolo can you—"

"No! It is not worth a try!" Piccolo cut Trunks off, glaring at the two boys.

A loud yawn caught their attention and the three turned to see Buu stretching his arms before sitting on the ground and closing his eyes. "Uh… hey Piccolo, what's the matter with Majin Buu?" Goten asked. They all continued to watch the unmoving monster before they heard deep breathing and saw a snot bubble growing and shrinking consistently from his nose. "Hey… is he sleeping?"

"Let's go see!"

Piccolo tensed as he stared at the monster. Is he really asleep or is he just toying with us?

The Namekian didn't have long to ponder on his question, seeing as Goten and Trunks both started to run off towards the monster. "Wait, are you two nuts? What in the world do you two think you're doing?"

"We're going to check to see if he's really asleep!" Gotenks exclaimed before Trunks shushed him.

"We're too close to talk so loud."

Goten gave a sheepish smile before they approached on their tip toes, trying to be as quiet as possible. When they were within touching distance the bubble from Buu's nose popped, immediately startling the two and causing them to turn around and run before dropping down to the fetal position with their backs to him a few feet away, switching the girls so they were holding them in their arms protectively. "I-Is he awake?" Trunks questioned after a few seconds.

"I don't know! My eyes are closed!" The two boys sucked in a deep breath before they turned and saw that Buu was still sleeping. Frowning they put the girls back onto their backs once more before they ran up to Buu. Goten lifted one of his hands from behind Kona's knee and started to wave it in front of Buu's face with no effect. "He's sound asleep. How can he fall asleep sitting up like that?"

"You dummy, he's probably faking it so he can trick us," Trunks rationalized, though neither boy made a move to get farther away.

Goten blinked. "Oh, right, that's pretty sneaky! But I think I can sneak up on him! If he's faking it we'll know," Goten assured as he walked around to stand by Buu's back, reaching his hand up towards his antennae, stretching on his tip toes and trying to balance Kona at the same time. "I'm going to squeeze his horn!"

"That's not a horn, horns aren't soft," Trunks pointed out as he stared at the appendage.

"Whatever it is, I'll just give it a little—"

"No!" Piccolo shouted at the two boys.

Goten ignored him. "Hey Trunks, give me a boost!"

"No! No boost! No boost!" Piccolo shouted once again, throwing his arms up into the air. "Are you two insane?!" That outburst caught the attention of the two boys. "We finally get a chance to buy a little more time and you two want to wake him up?!" Piccolo hissed before promptly covering his mouth as he heard his echo, before muttering in lower tones. "You two are making me crazy! Now listen up, let's use this time to prepare for the next fusion and so I can heal Pan and Kona so they're ready to fuse again! Don't you get it? It's our only chance, now get back over here!"

The two boys grumbled and started to make their way back over to Piccolo when everyone in the area sensed a massive power level approaching. Piccolo snapped his head in the direction of the incoming power as did the two boys and Buu who had woken up from his nap at the new power level. "W-What is that?" Piccolo questioned, looking up to the sky. "It's mindboggling!"

"I-It's a person…" Trunks spoke up in confusion.

Goten nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, someone's coming!"

"But who? I've never felt a power like this before," Piccolo announced, moving to stand in front of the boys. "It could be a new enemy. Boys stay close and if I tell you to, you run and get the girls out of here, got it?"

"You'd want us to leave—"

"I'd want you to survive," Piccolo retorted, leaving no room for argument. As the figure started to get closer Piccolo's eyes widened. "What? I don't believe it, it's Goku!" Piccolo announced in shock.

Goten narrowed his eyes, trying desperately to see the face of the person approaching. Is it really dad? Goten thought as he focused harder. As soon as he could see the face, however, it became obvious to the small boy who it was. A large smile broke out onto his face and he could feel a surge of joy overcome him. It was the face he'd seen ever since he was born and someone he knew would always be there for him. "No you guys, it's my brother! It's Gohan!"

An orange blur flew past them before feet touched the ground skidding to a stop. The warrior clad in a Gi identical to Goku's turned around to face them showing that it truly was Gohan. "Hey guys, what's up?" The eldest Son child looked at his mentor and the four kids. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the blue-eyed girl on her brother's back, electricity crackling around her and a grimace of pain on her face. And his blood began to boil as he saw his daughter—his precious baby girl—with a bloody forehead, unconscious on Trunks' back. Clenching his hands into fists he turned around to face Buu, taking in a deep breath so he didn't snap.

"Piccolo," Gohan spoke quickly. "Take care of the kids. Heal Pan and Kona and take a rest. You all earned it. Don't worry. I'll handle things from here."

Piccolo looked at Gohan's back and narrowed his eyes. Gohan, I've known you since I was a boy, but I hardly recognized you. Your face is different and your power is incredible, but it's not just that. You're whole attitude is so different. You're so confident… "I'll take care of them," Piccolo assured, after snapping himself out of his thoughts.

"Where are the others?" Gohan asked after a few moments of silence.

"They're all dead!" Trunks exclaimed.

Gohan shifted his gaze back to them, clearly surprised. "What about Dende? Is he alright?"

"He's dead too!" Goten shouted, his face clearly distraught. "He killed mom, Videl… everyone, Gohan!"

Buu laughed, causing Gohan to shift his eyes back to the pink monster. "And they were good. I turned them into chocolate and gobbled them up." Gohan clenched his jaw before he looked down in surprise. Piccolo watched, trying to figure out what he was doing, before Gohan looked up and smirked. He started stalking forward before he and Buu were standing chest to chest, the Son looking up into the face of the large monster. Buu smirked. "So hotshot, you want to fight Majin Buu?"

"Fight you, no… I want to kill you."