So, the last few chapters can boil down to, "Babidi uses Mind Control. It was Super Effective!" Now, we can have a little wind down from the nonstop action.

But how will our heroes, ahem, recover? To find out, we must move...

ONWARD BRAVE HEROES!

"I don't get it." The chirpy blonde stated. Erasa sat at a window seat, Videl beside her. After the incident at the tournament, the entire group quickly gathered together at Gine's request, telling them what she knew. They then piled into Bulma's travel ship, going some place called the Lookout?

Although... the core of the information seemed to just be 'something is attacking the Earth' with a side of 'bad things are happening'. Whatever the ki users are able to sense from it, they can't say for sure, which seriously started irritating Erasa's nerves.

"Come on, Videl. You got that energy... spirit whatsit stuff! Can't you be straight with me?"

The raven haired teen beside her had been quiet, giving nothing more than small utterances for a while now. She stares dead ahead, face falling. "I... I can't tell..."

Erasa waits a moment for Videl to continue, but frowns when she doesn't. "Is it that bad?" As if her words flew straight through, the fighter didn't respond. The blonde glances back, seeing Chichi. "Um, Mrs Son? Can you tell what's going on?"

Chichi simply shakes her head. "Just Chichi is fine, but no, I can't. Even the kids are better at it all than I ever was." She sends a side glance to the children across the transport cabin. Erasa followed the gaze.

Despite Marron being charming distraction and 18 keeping them in line, the three half Saiyans periodically froze in place. Their outbursts were curbed by the android, thankfully. Speaking of a Saiyan, Erasa turned ahead.

At the front of the cabin, Gine stood rigid against the wall. Her expression shifted quickly between muted horror and panic on repeat, though Master Roshi seemed to help with that.

She couldn't take anymore. Erasa got up, moving seats up to Yamcha, who was with the others. "Hey, so, you have that ki sensing junk, right?" The baseball bandit blinks at her, seeming troubled as well. "What the hell is happening, right now?"

The fighter sighs. "Well-"

"No sugar coating. What can you detect or whatever?" The blonde huffs out.

The human sighs. "There were a bunch of massive powers clashing. I could tell that Broly was involved." Erasa's eyes widened, but he continued. "Half a dozen powers the likes of which you can't even imagine just, ya know, appeared and started fighting on both sides, but now, none of them are there."

"What do you mean? Is everyone okay?" Her response had been immediate, but he simply shrugged.

"For all we can tell, they're just powered down and blending in with their surroundings, probably on their way somewhere else. We can't know until one of them powers up or comes back with some solid intel." He offered a weak smile. "But don't worry, the place we're going is home to the planet's guardian. His job is to watch over these things, so he'll tell us plenty."

Erasa tilts her head, incredulous. "I... guess I'll take your word on that?"

"Don't need to. We'll be landing in less than a minute." He responds with a smirk, tipping his head to the window.

She whips around, moving back to her seat with Videl. The other teen barely noticed the return. "Hey, we're here apparently." The two glance out the window, seeing a single pillar poking from the green forest below up into the sky. The jetplane begins to lift, rising higher as they start following the pillar up.

Videl frowns, her own curiosity returning and spurring her to ask. "What is this place?"

"THIS is Korin's Tower." Master Roshi responds, shuffling to a seat nearby. "Climbing the tower to meet Korrin himself used to be a fantastic feat of strength, but these days most fighters can fly. Such a cheat against it."

Erasa and Videl watched as more and more of the tower passed by as they scaled further to the sky. "So, this Korrin guy is the planet's guardian?" Erasa asks. "This is the Lookout?"

"HA! No, no, Korrin lives at the top of the tower, but the Lookout itself is even higher." Roshi couldn't help snicker as the kids' eyes grew larger with that. "You'll see, hehe!"

Finally, the two teens saw the top of the tower, a bulb like top with an open balcony on all sides. Erasa and Videl lean in, looking closely. There's... "Is... is that a cat with a cane?"/"Is that a fat man with a sword?" Erasa and Videl question at once.

They passed it over, going higher. Though, Roshi couldn't help the snicker. "Right on both counts!"

Higher... and higher...

"Uh... where?" Erasa questions out loud.

"Keep looking up!" Yamcha calls out.

The two teens do as told, each of their gazes widening. Mouths go agape as they see the bottom of the floating palace. "W-w-w-what?" Erasa stutters out.

The plane flies up, giving them a full view of the MASSIVE floating structure in the sky. The entire top was a flat platform decorated with patches of grass and its palace like entrance. "Erasa, you're seeing this, too?"

The plane starts to land in the center of the platform. "I'm seeing it, but don't ask if I believe it..." The thud of the plane landing shakes them out of their shock. Looking over, they see the others already filing off the plane.

Chichi chuckles at them. "It's amazing, isn't it? My first time here too, actually."

The group exits onto the Lookout, the first time visitors looking about, though Erasa and Videl being the most curious.

Gine and Bulma head towards the palace itself, Dende and Popo exiting to greet them. Dende smiles at the blue haired woman. "Bulma! It's been too long."

"I know! You're so big, now!" She greets happily.

Dende turns to Gine, frowning. "You've sensed a lot of what's happening, haven't you?"

"What happened? Sensing it is nothing compared to your view here." Her tone is strained, charged. The tone made Dende's eyes soften.

"Well, I'd rather let Krillin and Piccolo explain. They arrived just before you did."

The other visitors approach as the short man and Namekian exit as well. "Krillin!" 18 calls out, Marron already sprinting forward towards the man.

Krillin lights up, sweeping the girl up in a hug. "Hey, squirt. You take care of your mom for me?"

The giggling child chirped back. "She eck-sore-ted the man with the funny hair!"

Krillin's blank stare answered, blinking twice before looking towards 18. She smiled lightly. "I made us rich."

He chuckles. "Ah, yeah. That's good." He sighs. "Well, if we get there, that is."

"Krillin, what's wrong? What happened?" Bulma demands.

"AH!" They all turn to the side at the scream, Erasa falling under her back side to the side of the group. They look and see, leaning against the palace wall... a cookie?

Bulma shrieks out. "What the hell?! Is that 16?"

18 gasps and looks to Krillin, who sweats, not sure what to say. "Um..."

"Is there a reason you made a 16 cookie?" Bulma looks at them, suspicious.

"Well... that, uh, actually IS 16." Krillin mutters.

"Say what?!" Yamcha calls out. "You're kidding! Like, what could even do that?"

In the background, Erasa mutters. "Finally, someone other than me and Videl is shocked at something." She gets up, still shell shocked. "But, what happened?" She steps away from the cookie, eyeing it suspiciously.

Krillin groans, looking to Piccolo for help. The Namekian steps up. "The man at the tournament named 'Shin' was actually the Supreme Kai. He'd come to the tournament seeking followers of a wizard by the name of Babidi."

"Hold up." Videl calls out. "What's a Kai?"

"Uh, hold up. Did you say 'wizard?'" Erasa speaks after.

However, Gine is the one that answers. "Kais are supposed 'gods' of life. Their job is to oversee the growth of civilizations and facilitate life in the grand scheme of things. Above the Kais are the Grand Kai, who supersedes the individuals, but the Supreme Kais are supposedly the top of the top, both in authority and responsibility."

"So... Gods and magic are real?" Erasa questions weakly, then asks alert at Videl. "Wait, does that mean Sharpner is going to Hell?! We have to fix him!"

Videl double takes at that. "Whoa-wait, why Sharpner specifically?"

Gine once more chuckles. "The after life isn't quite like that. I was dead for two and a half decades. Trust me, unless you're truly monstrous, you won't be in Hell." This caused both humans to stare with wide eyes at her. "I AM Gohan's actual grandmother after all."

While the two girls reel, Master Roshi chimes in. "Ditto for magic, by the by. Though, it's rare." He then looks to Piccolo. "So? Spit it out. What happened? We're all on the same page now."

Piccolo scowls forward, fists clenching. "We went to fight the wizard and his minions, but Krillin and 16 were incapacitated for a while. While the two were out, the majority of us went into Babidi's ship and began battling his warriors.

"Vegeta defeated the first warrior with ease, and Goku the second. I fought and killed Babidi's right hand man myself, but the wizard had a trick up his sleeve..." He continued.

The group took this in, waiting for the answer. "What happened?"

"The wizard used his powers to affect our minds. It took us into our own heads and tempted us with dark desires..." Piccolo spoke, reflecting on it, eyes trailing off. "Goku, Gohan, and myself resisted it, but Vegeta..."

Bulma's eyes widened, though Trunks spoke up beside her. "What do you mean? My dad wouldn't fail where you guys succeeded!"

"It wasn't a battle of strength, Trunks." Piccolo left it at that. He continued. "Under the spell, Vegeta forced his fight with Goku. That was the largest clash of powers you all would have felt. Their powers fought hard until they disappeared entirely."

"Wait, by disappeared, you don't mean..." Bulma quietly interjected.

"Goku?" Chichi muttered.

Piccolo shook his head. "We don't know, yet." He paused for a moment and continued. "This bought Babidi enough time to accomplish his goal, to resurrect a monster that once wiped out almost all the Supreme Kais years ago. A monster by the name of Majin Buu." He looked over towards Cookie 16. "The monster appeared to have the mental state of a child with strange abilities. It turned 16 into a what you see with the intent to eat him."

"WHAT?!" Yamcha shrieked out. "That's crazy!"

"It's true!" Krillin spoke up. "Piccolo was unconscious by that point. I was the one that saw this." The short man looks away, knowing what he had to say. "I had to get Piccolo and 16 out of there... and Gohan took on Majin Buu alone."

The pit in Videl's stomach deepened. She waited just a second, but Goten spoke up before she could ask. "So, where's Big Brother? He beat the monster right?" He looks at Piccolo, who glances away. "Right?" Krillin does the same. "Where is he? What happened to Gohan?"

Videl's eyes teared up as she asked. "Did... did Gohan?"

Krillin looks the girl in the eye. "... Yes. He bought me time to escape."

The news landed like a punch, but it was the child who responded. "You're lying! Where's Gohan?!" Goten demands.

Raunch broke down, her blue haired self looking at the adults for answers, but none came. Chichi simply stared at them. The mother's eyes clouded as she fell back, landing unconscious on the ground. Bulma and Launch begin tending to her.

Yamcha looks around, panicked. "So... so, what's the plan? I mean, Bardock is still around, right?"

Krillin groaned. "We felt the other fights happening... I felt Raditz and Nappa fight each other. I think they were hit with the same spell Piccolo's group faced."

Gine snaps her gaze to Krillin. "I sensed Broly fighting Bardock! Broly went down before Bardock did, and Bardock wouldn't kill him, so what happened to them?!" She gets in his face, demanding answers.

He couldn't keep the gaze, looking down. "After Gohan..." He gulps. "Broly was down long before Bardock powered down... I felt Majin Buu go towards them, and Bardock was still fighting while Broly was out." He looks fully away. "Majin Buu is still around now... and I haven't felt Bardock OR Broly since."

She simply glared at him, eyes wide as can be. Her teeth clench, muscles taught and shaking. "No..." She growled under her breath. The others around her noticed her stress.

Dende frowned, approaching. "We don't know for sure. Things like this have happened before-"

He recoils slightly as she turns towards him. Tears hang on the edges of her eyes, but her eyes are teal. "My husband, both my children, and grandchild?" One aggressive step was all she made before Piccolo's hand clamps onto her shoulder. The Saiyan's full attention centers on the Namekian, but he stares her down unfazed.

Piccolo briefly looks up behind the group to the edge of the Lookout. He smirks, glancing back down at the emotional mother. "Count your blessings. One of them seems to have returned."

Eyes still tinted green, her muscles ease, head whipping to look behind the group. They all turn towards the edge, gasping as they see Raditz landing, lowing Nappa on the ground with Shin over his shoulder.

"Raditz!" Gine lights up, relief pulling her back. Raunch immediately echoes beside her, "Daddy!"

The Saiyan breathes heavily, sighing. "Could I get a damn medic over here?"

. . .

The group watched as Dende healed the Saiyan, Raditz flexing and stretching. "Ah, feels so much better." He glances over as Dende moves towards Nappa. "Leave him."

"What? But he's hurt!" Dende objects.

"We don't know if the effects of that wizard's spell will just make him attack immediately. Raise the Kai first." Raditz barks out, taking in the group. A look behind then sees the cookie version of 16. "Um... is that?"

"Yes. Babidi's monster, Buu, can do that." Piccolo answers imnediately.

The Saiyan takes a second to blink and process before running a hand over his face. "Well, isn't this a sad state of affairs."

The group spends a minute hearing Raditz's account, that the weird spell affected their group. Broly had fought it off, but he still went rapid. Raditz took Nappa down, but was too late to save Gohan. He,d found the Kai all alone in the aftermath, bringing them all up to speed.

In seconds, Dende heals the Supreme Kai to full power, Shin gasping for air and getting up. He looks around, amazement filling him. "We got out of there? Good..."

"What kind of god are you? Maybe it would have been nice to know that we had a monster sleeping in our back yard?" Bulma harshly snaps. "Jeez, just like the stellar job Kami did warning the world about King Piccolo, you gods aren't exactly good at keeping your crap together!"

"Bulma!" Krillin cried out. The name shout makes the blue haired woman scowl and walk away in a huff. He sighs, looking around. The fighters gathered away from the rest: Raditz, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Dende, and Shin. "So, what's our game plan, guys?"

Yamcha scratches his head, frowning. "Well, first, what about the big guy?"

Shin responds first, looking at Nappa. "Ah! He's here, then. You haven't revived him yet?"

"Not without knowing if Babidi's influence will remain." Raditz grumbles.

"I see." Shin walks towards Nappa, placing a hand on the man's head. "hmm... When if comes to Majin magics, it is usually enough to weaken the victim until they are powered down from their possessed state, but Babidi's variation is not quite the same, not as potent, but longer lasting. I should be able to expel the influence now that Nappa is unconscious."

A gold ki forms around his hand, glowing against Nappa's head. With an inhale, he powers up. "HA!" A bright purple flashes for just a moment before Shin pulls his gold laced hand from Nappa's head.

The group watches in awe as Nappa's head is clear of the majin influence. Shin breaths heavily, looking up at Dende. "You may heal him, now."

Dende nods, getting to work on Nappa, while Shin steps back to the others. Krillin unsubtly leans towards Shin, pointing to the 16 cookie. "I don't suppose you could also fix that, could you?"

Shin glances over, seeing the kids had naturally gotten close to it, Marron looking up at it while 18 stood by with the children. Trunks took a step closer in a frown, looking interested in the thing.

Shin shouts out. "DO NOT TAMPER WITH THAT!" The shout made Trunks and Marron both jolt away from the cookie 16. 18 stood by, but frowned at the Kai. However, Shin breathed out in relief, speaking calmer. "Majin Buu can use his magic to transform any matter into other material. He most often prefers to make people into food. It's a sock and twisted means of death. Worse yet, those transformed remain completely aware of everything that happens around them!"

At that, 18 whips her head around at Trunks, a full glaring threat at the child. The stare makes Trunks jolt away, apologizing profusely.

Shin continues. "All is not lost, however. While Buu can choose to have people remain in these forms forever, without Buu's presence, the magic can weaken. This tends to happen more with people of high battle power. It's possible he may return to normal on his own."

Bulma mutters. "And if he doesn't?"

"Then he will remain that way until Buu's defeat or Buu wills his change."

Just as he finishes, Nappa is fully healed, Dende standing up from the tall man. "Alright. Good as new."

The large Saiyan awoke, looking up and rubbing his head. Ow! What happened?"

Raditz faces the older Saiyan, scowling. "You fell to mind games. You got knocked out. Moving on. I'm done explaining." he looks to Shin. "What are we doing now?"

Shin looks them all over, seeing them all staring back. He sweats with a touch of nerves, but nods. "Krillin, before Gohan faced Buu and I passed out the first time, I heard you claim you would wish Gohan back to life, yes?"

The monk is taken aback, but nods. "Uh, yes. We have the Dragon Balls for that. Our current balls can make two wishes, though they can't grant the same wish twice. Gohan's never died before, so they can bring him back, along with anyone else killed today we might want to bring back."

"Amazing!" Shin took that in, astonished. "And how long would such a task take?"

The z fighters share looks with one another, Krillin answering again. "Roughly two day's worth of traveling about and collecting them. Why?"

Shin's astonishment turned to determination, nodding with confidence returning. "Then I'm off to Otherworld to prepare Gohan. I believe he is our best shot at ending this."

Piccolo raised a brow, facing the Kai. "Hold on a second. Explain. Goku, Vegeta, and Bardock were all three stronger than Gohan. Why him specifically? And what kind of preparations are we talking here?"

Shin turns fully to the Namekian. "There is a relic on the world of the Kai. I would like to let Gohan use it, and I am fully able to allow Gohan to train there, even while dead. After witnessing the power of these Saiyans, I am fully convinced of their power.

"However, I cannot trust Goku, Vegeta, OR Bardock with this task. The former two were willing to disregard the world to fight one another, and Bardock is far too predisposed with his own goals with that man, Broly."

The others seem to take the information in stride, though Raditz growls out a sigh. "And what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Act as lambs to the slaughter?"

Shin spares him a glance, but looks away. "I'm afraid I don't know what else to tell you."

Silence falls over them, solemn faces, save for Nappa's confusion. However, Yamcha speaks up. "I'll head after the Dragon Balls. Get a head start for you guys."

The monk interjected. "Hold on, I'll come too!"

"Nah, man. You got a family to look after. You keep those little Saiyans under wraps." He waves the concern off. "If I can, I'll try to warn 17 and Tien as well. No sense in leaving them out of the loop."

Dende chimes in, a small smile. "Piccolo and I will monitor Buu's movements then, right?"

"Yeah, and if the worst comes about, Raditz, Nappa, and I will see what kind of time we can buy." Piccolo finishes.

Shin nods at them, taking one look at them. "I thank you all for your help, and wish you luck in the battle to come." His eyes close, focus centering, before his form flickers away. Instant Transmission.

The group gasps at the departure before sharing grim looks between them. Nappa finally chimes in. "So... We're dying is what I got from that."

So, we got a pretty long road to recovery, but things are moving. A bit about the majin symbol business, a lot of xenoverse and time patrol stuff stems from fighting people empowered through majin magic. This is a LOT different from Babidi's method, as all that is required to 'correct' things is to simply beat the victim out of their rage state, but Vegeta still held his Majin state until his death and even on his statue after Final Explosion.

In many instances of Time Patrol business, the Supreme Kai of Time could revert majin magic, and could even counter act parts with her own magic, which is supposed to be a dichotomy of a "god of life" vs residents of the "demon realm." As such, Shin as a Supreme Kai would probably be able to do SOMETHING about the mark, but given how weak he is compared to everyone is why such things are left up to the victims themselves to fix. He wouldn't be able to fix Vegeta or Dabura because Oh, My would he die long before getting there.

Even if he couldn't, I'm fairly certain Old Kai could since he assists Supreme Kai of Time in Time Patrol events. So, Even if Shin can't do it, its well within his capability and I'm gonna use that here.

Powers are the same, but just for reminder:

Fat Buu – 10,000,000,000

Raditz SS2 – 2,160,000,000

Nappa SS2 – 1,800,000,000

Piccolo – 1,800,000,000

17 – 1,200,000,000

18 – 500,000,000

Krillin/Yamcha Kaioken x20 – 360,000,000

Shin – Less than 360,000,000

All kids Super Saiyan – 60,000,000

Gine – 15,000,000

Just all the ones... available. Not a good look that all of them combined is barely over half our big phat boy.

Reviews:

TheDarkChronist – Yeah, Gohan is one of those characters that only dies the one time. It'd be a hard time to name DBZ characters that haven't died across any timeline... Hercule?

Wait, no. Died in the future timeline. Nevermind.

Super Mystic Gohan – Before the timeskip, I established King Kai knew Instant Transmission when talking to Bardock. So, in this, Goku has known it for about 7 years, having learned it over the time skip.

SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta – Thanks for the complement! And eh, Vegeta's been given SS3 in some DB properties and still proceeds to disregard using it. I think SS3's drawbacks aren't always worth it.

IliekFishes – Ya know, I don't say this often enough, but I'm absolutely, completely shocked at the following this story gets. It's far, FAR above and beyond my most positively looked upon story and most popular. Now, if only my other stories could garner such positive attention. Nah, I'll take the blessing I'm getting so far. Thanks for sticking by!