Chapter 24: Knuckles vs. Majin Buu! Protect Planet Mobius!
The group of heroes fell to the ground, and landed in a deep snow drift. There Buu stood cackling over Gotenks' still body. "Stupid boys! They thought they could ever beat me! I put them to sleep! Now it's the spiky haired man's turn!" Tails gasped. "What's gonna happen, Sonic?" Sonic shrugged, and kept watching. "HEY! STEP AWAY FROM THE KIDS! THEY CAN'T FIGHT ANYMORE! NOW YOU DEAL WITH ME!" Sonic whipped his head around. He couldn't believe his eyes. "It's Knuckles! He's alive!" Tails gasped again, and looked behind him. Sure enough, the red echidna stood proudly with his brown cowboy hat on his head. "You caught me off guard before, and I paid dearly. But now I'm back and better than ever! And I'm ready to beat you." Knuckles released his aura, and raised his fists. "Oh ho ho ho…. It seems like the red guy I killed earlier is back for more, eh? It was your power I sensed earlier. Hahaha… I'll play with you nice and good, before ending you! And warning beforehand, it won't be quick." Knuckles had obviously improved in his skills since he was last on Mobius. He took off his hat and tensed up. Majin Buu roared and prepared to attack Knuckles. Just as he swiped past, Knuckles grabbed one of his lanky arms, and swung him into the air. Buu flew skyward, and dropped down. Just before he hit the ground, Knuckles kneed him in the back. The Majin dropped like a stone. "Oh, wow. He really packs a punch! I never expected this. I guess I need to bring out the big guns." Majin Buu doubled over, and began to yell.
Not just any power-up yell, but a yell of sheer anger. His power level shot up, and kept rising. "Vegeta! Come over here now! He'll kill you!" Goku yelled. Vegeta had been standing quietly in the background, in shock at all this. He ran over to the snowdrift where Sonic and co. hid and sat on the ground. "Vegeta, are you okay? You don't seem to be on your A-game." Goku asked. Vegeta waved a hand dismissively and said, "I'm okay. I think this cold is getting to me. Could we move somewhere else?" he asked. Goku nodded. Meanwhile, Buu had been powering up all the while. His muscles bulked up, and his veins bulged dramatically. His head tentacle grew longer and thicker, and he became slightly taller than usual. His yell finally powered down, and he stood in the snow bent over. "*huff* *puff* Now, I'm at full power. I'll kill you ALL! Just wait and see! Hey, red guy! Follow me! Let's go somewhere more suitable for our little match." The new Buu leapt into the air, and looked around a little. "Hmm… where on this planet could we go? Oh look, there's the perfect spot." Buu looked down at Knuckles, who tapped his foot impatiently. "Hey you! I found a good looking spot to go! Come on!" Buu zoomed away, closely followed by Knuckles. "Come on, team! Follow those two!" Sonic said. The rest of our heroes followed Knuckles and Majin Buu to the battleground. They headed to Desolate Dust Zone, an empty, dusty desert located roughly on the equator of Planet Mobius. There was hardly anything there. Buu touched down on the ground. Knuckles followed suit. Sonic and the gang hid nearby behind a large boulder. "Why are we hiding and not fighting? This isn't what a true Saiyan does. He rushes into battle, not worried about the outcome. But here we are, retreating like cowards." Vegeta said. His unwavering Saiyan pride was getting the best of him.
Suddenly, Goku realized something. "Vegeta! We left the kids back in the Ice Cap! I'll go get them, and bring them back home!" he said. Goku jumped up, and Instant Transmissioned back to the Ice Cap Zone. Sure enough, Goten and Trunks had unfused, and were laying on the ground, cold and confused. "Hey guys! I'm here to take you home! You did an awesome job out there against Buu, but I think it's time for you guys to rest up. Leave it to me and Vegeta!" Trunks stood up and shook the snow out of his hair. "Aw man! That's not fair! We wanna keep fighting! It's what we do!" he said. Goten agreed, but Goku shook his head. "As the adult here, I'm gonna have to say no. I'm taking you home to Bulma, and that's final! Now come on." Goku said. Trunks and Goten sagged their heads sadly, and held onto Goku's hands. He teleported to Planet Earth, and suddenly appeared in the main laboratory of Capsule Corp. Bulma sat in a recliner sleeping. "Okay, guys. Don't wake her up. When she does wake up though, tell her that we are all okay, and she has nothing to worry about. See ya!" Goku teleported back to Mobius. Sure enough, he hadn't missed a beat. Knuckles and the powered up Super Buu were going at it, just as usual. Goku laid down in the hiding spot next to Sonic. "So, when do you think we can tag in? I'm itchin' for another fight!" Goku said. Sonic shrugged. Knuckles and Buff Buu stood high in the air, throwing punches and kicks. While Knuckles was a more experienced fighter, Buu had a vast reserve of stamina. He was also quite battle smart. Knuckles' fists flew, and Buu blocked some, and dodged others. The energy emanating from the fight was immense. Wind blew, and purple lightning sparked each time someone's fist landed a blow. Suddenly, Knuckles was struck square in the jaw. A small trickle of blood came out of the corner of his mouth. He wiped his face with his hand, and his white glove came off bloody. "He drew blood… I can't believe it! Now he's done for!" Knuckles said. He transformed into his Super State and instantaneously disappeared from sight. "What?! Where'd he go?" Knuckles reappeared right in Buu's face, wound up his arm and gut punched him with all the force he could output. Purple blood spewed out of Buu's mouth, and he staggered back. Steam shot from the various holes in his body. Then he dropped to the ground. His muscles smoothed down, and his veins stopped bulging. His head tentacle decreased in length, and finally, Buu's power level dropped down to where it was before. "Well, that takes care of that! So much for the 'legendary Majin Buu'. Legendary. HA! More like legendarily WEAK!" Knuckles said. He de-transformed and went over to Sonic. "I think he's dead. We can go now!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all shared a group high five and celebrated their landslide victory. But, Vegeta was still skeptical.
"On your guard everyone! I don't think he's fully dead. He's just knocked out. He could pull any trick on us at any time so be vigilant!" Unbeknownst to any of our beloved heroes, Majin Buu did in fact have an ace up his sleeve. Secretly, two small slivers of Buu's gelatinous body sloughed off, and squirmed and wiggled away. Their targets: Sonic and Knuckles. "I could go for the Saiyans…" Buu thought to himself. "...but I think Sonic and Knuckles are just weak enough to be able to keep under my control. The Saiyans could just escape my clutches with enough time and energy." Sonic and Knuckles both sat on the ground discussing their next move. Then, a loud yell. Almost a scream. "SONIC! KNUCKLES! WATCH OUT!" Tails had spotted the two Buu slabs approaching Sonic and Knuckles from behind. "Dammit! The fox boy saw me! He could prove to be a problem." Sonic turned around and saw the small pink puddle moving towards him. It grew in size and engulfed him. Sonic fought back, but was eventually overtaken. Buu jumped up, and absorbed the pink blob. Then, Knuckles was captured in the same way. He was absorbed too. Majin Buu's entire body turned to a pink, squirming blob, and he began to change shape. His head tentacle split into three parts, mimicking Sonic's spines. His brown shoes turned red, and had green coverings. Metal plates grew onto the topside of his feet. His hands grew spikes on each knuckle, and his irises turned purple, resembling those of Knuckles. His transformation finally completed; he smiled. "Majin Sonuckles is the name, killing you is the game! You might know everything I'm going to do, but that won't help you, because I know everything you're going to do. Deadly, aren't I? Hahaha!" Vegeta yelled in terror. "AAAAAH! I can't deal with this anymore! I'll kill him!" Vegeta transformed into Super Saiyan 2 and punched Majin Sonuckles right in the jaw. Even as the Majin flew backwards from the punch, Vegeta was directly behind him. He delivered a few hard punches to his midsection, and ki blasted him a little bit. Each time Vegeta hit, his power increased. "I'll never let you get to your final form again! I won't let you!" Goku laughed. "Hahaha! Yes Vegeta! Get him!" he said, hyping up the fight. Tails cowered in a corner. "Hey, Tails! Why don't you join us in the fight? It'll be fun!" Goku said. Goku went Super Saiyan, and jumped into the fray. "Kakarot, what are you doing here? This is my fight! Get out!" Vegeta yelled. The two Saiyans kept punching relentlessly. "No, Vegeta! I haven't fought hard yet at all today, and I feel that it's my turn now!" Vegeta sighed, realizing that he'll never get rid of Goku's childish nature. Majin Sonuckles was getting pounded on, but he was taking minimal damage from Goku and Vegeta's small attacks. Suddenly, he jumped up and out of the Saiyans' hit range and hovered in the air. Unfortunately though, he moved too fast for Goku and Vegeta to follow, so they ended up punching each other in the face. "Ow! Vegeta, what was that for?" said Goku. "Same to you, Kakarot! Watch where you punch!" Vegeta said. Majin Sonuckles cackled. "You guys never know when to quit, huh? When will you realize that you can't beat me?" Blood trickled from a wound on the Majin's face. "Don't mind that! Now what do you say I get rid of you for good?" He rolled himself into a ball, and began to spin. Faster and faster he went, and the energy emanating from his attack was intense. Suddenly, small yellow sparks of light appeared on the horizon, and got bigger and bigger.
"What are those things? They're pretty…" Goku stared at the rapidly approaching shiny objects. Then, Vegeta realized what they were. "Kakarot, watch out! Those are gold rings! He's attracting them from all over the world to power his attack!" The rings came pouring in from far and wide, and the chime sound was deafening. Lightning came down from the skies as Majin Sonuckles' attack finally charged up. "LIGHTSPEED ROLL… ATTACK!" He dashed forward, still in a rolling ball, headed straight for the Saiyans. Goku panicked. Majin's spinning body spun right above Goku's head, just barely making it over. It was so close, that little strands of Goku's hair were cut clean off. "Ah! My hair! He sure is sharp!" Vegeta ducked down, and was just barely missed. Majin Sonuckles turned around and dashed right for them, target locked. "Oh no! Goku and Vegeta are gonna die!" said Tails. He grabbed a small remote, and pressed the red button in its center. The Majin approached our heroes with blinding speed. Suddenly, a blue blur of metal slammed into Majin Sonuckles' ball of death, and knocked him away. It was Mecha Sonic… yet again. "Oh, look! It's the robotic reject from Eggman's lab! What's he doing here?" said Majin Sonuckles. Mecha Sonic just stood there. Suddenly, a loud voice from down below. "Hey! Go and get him, Mecha Sonic!" The voice was Tails! He had been hiding away all that time, and when he saw the need, he summoned the newly reformed Mecha Sonic! Goku rose up next to the robot and said, "Wow, Tails. You really got him under control! Good on you!" Goku stood back and let the robot handle his business. Mecha Sonic's eyes shone, and his robotic clawed hand came down on Majin Sonuckles head like an axe. He split in half. "No! My perfect form! How could you do this, Tails?" The two halves separated, and morphed back into the three beings; Sonic, Knuckles, and Majin Buu. All three dropped to the ground. Knuckles was the first one conscious and he sat up. He rubbed his head, which had a small bump on it. "Ow. What happened? Where's Buu?" he said. Mecha Sonic pointed to a spot behind Knuckles. There lay Majin Buu's decimated body. It was all bruised and battered, and his eyes were closed. His body no longer had its unique fusion features; it had reverted to its default form. Suddenly Sonic gasped and coughed. "Ack! It was disgusting in there! Good thing he's rid of. Now we can all go home and rest. Just to make sure he doesn't get back up… have a Super Sonic Boom!" The yellow energy blast was released and it hit the possibly dead Majin Buu head on. A huge explosion ensued and the Majin was finally gone for good. Hopefully…
Goku and Vegeta deactivated their Super forms and dropped down to the ground. Mecha Sonic followed suit. Goku looked at Mecha Sonic and scratched his chin. "Hmmm. It seems like you got this android pretty much under control. What a good addition to our team. Can he talk?" Goku asked. Tails nodded. "Yeah, he can talk. Actually, he's almost sentient, so you can have pretty decent conversations with him!" Goku was impressed. "So, Kakarot. It's over, finally. Now we can go home at last to our own planet. Come on." Vegeta said. Goku was abou to follow when he sensed a small Ki signature. "Oh, what is it now? Kakarot, do you feel that?" Goku looked very focused. "I don't know what he's doing over there, but Buu's not done yet!" Suddenly a tall pillar of purple-and-red deadly energy shot out of the ground and the once-still body of Majin Buu rose up. "Did you really think you could defeat ME?! The great and most powerful MAJIN BUU?! Think again maggots!" His eyes turned blood red as he flew high in the sky, and charged up a pink energy ball. It was small at first but quickly grew to be a massive sphere of destruction. "This energy sphere is the culmination of eons of destruction! Good luck blocking this one!" said Buu. He threw his Vanishing Ball, which tore through the air, dead set for Team Sonic Ball. Will they be able to deflect this final attack? Let's find out. The huge energy ball neared our heroes and was beginning to break the ground underneath them. "Sonic! We gotta deflect this thing! Use your Super State!" Knuckles said. "Right on, Knuckles! Let's do this! For the sake of Mobius!" Sonic turned Super, and cupped his hands. "Hyper...Sonic...BOOM!" Sonic threw his hands out and the huge golden beam shot out. Knuckles also activated his Super form and charged up his attack. "Super Knuckles Cannon! HYAAA!" Knuckles shoved his hands forward and his energy blast zoomed out of his gloved palms. Both Sonic and Knuckles' attacks closed in on the Vanishing Ball, and slammed into its surface. "Sonic and Knuckles got the right idea! Let's do this!" Goku said. He cupped his hands to the side. "Super…KAMEHAMEHA!" Goku's energy blast rushed into the fray, closely followed by Vegeta's. "Galick Gun… FIRE!" Vegeta's attack hit the Vanishing Ball and added to the huge beam struggle. Finally, Tails joined in with his Arm Cannon. The tiny weapon seemed insignificant, but it really packed a punch. "Ohooho…. Looks like the weak little Mobians have organized a defense squad against me. How puny." Majin Buu said as he pumped more and more power into his attack. Our heroes were struggling hard, their energy spent, their bodies exhausted, but they still kept pushing. "Come on guys! We can do this!" Sonic said. He transformed into Super Sonic Azure, and his beam grew larger and wider. "Goku, Vegeta! Join in on this! Go full power!" Sonic yelled. Goku transformed into Super Saiyan 3, and Vegeta did the same. Their respective energy blasts got bigger and finally began to push Buu's attack back at him.
"What the-?! How can this be? A moment ago they were barely keeping up! I can't hold this much longer!" Buu groaned. He was finally weakening up. "You guys heard that? He's gonna give up! Now's the time to go all out!" They all yelled and all the beams combined to form one humongous energy wave. At last, the Vanishing Ball was put over the edge, and was deflected. Buu was caught right in the center of the explosion. "NO! This can't be! This… can't be…" The explosion disintegrated Majin Buu's body and blew all his bits and pieces away. They shot into the atmosphere, never to be seen again. "Guys, get down!" Sonic said. No sooner than Sonic had given that warning the huge blast wave hit them. It blew chunks of rock down toward them and dust clouds rose. When the air finally cleared up, the team inspected the damage. The Desolate Dust Zone was a wreck, and there was a huge crater where the giant beam struggle had just occurred. "Wow, Sonic. We really did a number on this place. But, at least Buu is finally dead. Great job team!" said Tails. Sonic and the rest were exhausted. "Yeah guys! We all did great out there. Now let's go back to Sonic's place to get something good to eat! I'm starving!"
So, the team made their way back to Sonic's house, ready to rest after their huge battle. Tails opened the door. Suddenly, an object fell from the sky. It was Mecha Sonic. He'd been silently following his teammates home. "Oh hey, Mecha Sonic. You did good out there. Anyways, let's go inside!" Tails opened the door, and was surprised at what he found sitting on the floor in front of him. Tails was suspicious. "I wonder who left us this?"