-Note: At this point and time, I have no intentions to use the fusion technique in anyway. The only reason I even mentioned it in this chapter was because I thought it made for a good conversation piece, plus it leaves the option open to use it if I change my mind. Right now, I have something else in mind for this story, which seems a bit more original. Just thought I'd clear that up before I gave anybody the wrong idea.
Chapter 24
"Come on, I can do this…" Videl told herself, feeling the energy surging through her body, manifested in its physical form of a small ball forming in her hands. For the majority of her extended trip to this plain of existence this exercise had been a fifty/fifty proposition for her. Half the time she'd get the blast off cleanly and at a decent volume to boot, but the other half of her attempts she'd over exert her Ki and the ball would blow up in her face. For the past several weeks or so, however, she slowly improved until eventually she was getting 9 out of every 10 off cleanly. The tenth was still giving her trouble however… She'd gotten off nine straight on this occasion, and this would mark the first time she'd get off ten. Of course there was the matter of that very obvious reason she could never quite get the tenth right, but that wasn't a reasonable excuse as far as Videl was concerned. More times then not, she'd be forced to get these blasts off under pressure. Just as she felt she was ready, she once again felt that pressure coming in the form a large purple Ki blast. With a growl, Videl quickly turned to that side, and watched as the ball of energy left her hands. It connected cleanly with the on coming blast, and they exploded on contact. Videl smiled in satisfaction, and wiped the sweat of her brow before sitting down for a breather.
Ryo emerged from the shadows, and stood over his exhausted understudy. "Well, looks like you've finally got the hang of it... And most everything else for that matter…"
"My entire body hurts," Videl grunted with a weak smile. "You're a damn slave driver you know…"
"You think I'm bad, you should've trained with Piccolo. At least I didn't throw you into a cave of hungry wolves."
"Wolves?!" Videl cringed at the thought. "What kind of training is that?! How bad were the injuries?.."
"Not too awful bad… A couple of the wolves were a little beat up, but I tried to take it easy on them…"
Videl chuckled slightly, thinking that was just another example of Ryo's odd brand of humor. That was she thought that way until he gave her an odd somewhat serious look. "What? You mean you weren't kidding?!"
Ryo shook his head. "Oh, I see you thought I was… Oh no, I was a little more advanced before Piccolo put me through that… You know if you want I'm sure we can find a cave somewhere and…"
"Don't even think about it!" Videl huffed, as she looked up into the starry night setting. The exact same setting she'd been looking at for roughly a little over a years worth of time by now, so the overlay just didn't quite hold the same magic it had before… It just seemed so fake, and unnatural now. Videl let out a sigh, and Ryo could tell there was a little more to the story other than Videl simply being fatigued.
"You okay?… Oh, I get it… You thinking about Gohan again?"
Videl blushed, but she didn't bother to try and hide the fact. "Yeah a little… Okay a lot… I really miss him… It just seems like an eternity since the last time I saw him…"
"Technically it's been close to sixteen months," Ryo informed her. "But that's a good sign though. You've been apart from him for so long, yet you still feel the same way."
Her cheeks remained pink, though a small grin caught her lips. "I do… But the funny thing is, it hasn't felt nearly that long… It's felt like a long time I mean, but not nearly half as long as it has been…"
"Funny how time flies when it's standing still huh?" Ryo snickered. "It's just one of the oddities about his place you know?"
"Yeah, this place is unreal… I mean I never feel tired, I'm never hungry, and no matter how much energy I expend it's almost like I have this endless well of energy to tap into whenever I need it…" Videl frowned as her mind started to focus on the more negative side of the spectrum. "Of course it would be nice if I didn't feel pain, or get bored out of mind from the same routine day in day out… Speaking of which, is it day or night here right now because I have no clue."
"Both, and neither at the same time. Like I said, time doesn't move here. Speaking of the same old routine, I bet your sick of seeing my face day after day by now huh?"
Videl scrounged her nose as if she had to think about that, drawing a dirty look from her friend. "No, not really… Expect for when you get on me about the training you can get kind of annoying. Videl, you're not doing this right, your not concentrating hard enough, calm down and focus! Sometimes I'd just like to reach up and smack you if I could!"
"That just means I'm doing a good job I guess," Ryo grinned. "You know, we only have another day or two before we have to leave this place. Then you get to see Gohan again… And hopefully we can get past Buu, and use the Dragon Balls to make everything normal again… Then we could wish your father back."
"Yeah… If it's all the same to you Ryo, I'd rather not talk about that right now…" Videl said softly. "It doesn't bother me so much when I don't think about it…"
"I'm sorry, I'll leave it at that then." Ryo sensed Videl was growing uneasy, and perhaps maybe even a little lonely. Not for lack of better company, just somebody in particular she'd understandably wish could be around. So abiding by her wish, Ryo decided to change the subject and hopefully lighten the mood. He smiled, and looked over at Videl who turned her head towards him sort of instinctively. "Remember that time Sharpner wanted a drink, and got his head stuck in the toilet?"
Videl's eyes went wide, before starting to snicker at Ryo's sudden outburst. "What?! What in the world brought that on?"
"Nothing really… Just trying to lighten the mood I guess…" Ryo looked up towards the sky, as they both started to laugh.
********
"You go bye-bye now!" Buu snickered, ready to flatten Shin into a pancake. He would have that was, if some fool hadn't of thrown his arms around his neck. Annoyed at first then amused, Buu snickered as Gohan squeezed at his neck apparently trying to see if he could manage to squeeze the air out of Buu's lungs or something… Did Buu even have lungs? Whatever Gohan might've been trying to do it obviously wasn't working very well, for all Buu had to do was swing his neck around a few times until Gohan was sent flying off of him. Vegeta swarmed in next, hoping to catch Buu off guard. He succeeded, but the monster didn't seem to care at all. Instead of letting Vegeta's fist connect this time, Buu caught it instead and smirked straight into the face of an enraged Vegeta. Able to care less about Vegeta's mood, Buu promptly kicked him dead in the mid-section sending the Sayian Prince hurdling to the ground. Buu applauded himself as he looked around seeing all four of his playmates prone on the ground after being broken and pummeled almost effortlessly by him. A bit of a disappointed frown found his lips once he realized none of them were getting back up. "What? You done already… These toys break too easy. Buu get rid of you, and find better toys to play with!"
"Is the damn buffoon mocking us, or does he really think he's playing a game with us?!" Vegeta snarled as he struggled up into a sitting position.
"Hey, the games not over yet Buu," Gohan grunted, as he stood up to his feet, wiping his mouth clean of trickle of blood that had formed down his chin. "I'm still in one piece."
"Hum, hum… Not for long…" Buu grinned, almost daring Gohan to come at him. So that's exactly what the half-Sayian did. Gohan's fists came raining in on Buu one after another, and not a one of them even appeared to make Buu flinch. Buu allowed Gohan to pound away at his own leisure, burning off much of his energy until Buu got bored with him. Buu snickered and grabbed Gohan by the wrist, surprising the young Super Sayian with the speed of his hands. With a single solid whack, Gohan's body was sent soaring into the air. Gohan couldn't quite gain control of his momentum, and braced himself to crash into the ground… But he never got there. He felt his body halt it's decent towards the ground in mid-air, and found himself cradled in a surprisingly strong yet delicate set of arms. He looked up and blushed finding his eyes staring into the beautiful an all too welcome face of Videl. How he wound up there, he wasn't quite sure just yet.
"Hey Gohan, nice of you to drop in."
"Videl?…" Gohan stared at her a moment before realizing the slightly embarrassing predicament he was in. He blushed slightly, and hopped out of Videl's arms, hovering in the air next to her. "Umm… Nice catch… Thanks…"
"Why do you look so surprised Gohan?" Videl asked smugly. "Aren't you glad to see me?"
"Always…" Gohan smiled, still looking slightly stunned. "It's just that you feel so much stronger than you did before… And that was just a couple of hours ago… Amazing…"
A stupid grin spread over her face, along with a faint blush. "I was wondering if you'd notice that… I barely could myself…"
"Well there's a big difference Videl… Trust me!"
Ryo, who'd been watching from a few feet behind them, sweat dropped and smirked slightly. "Figures… Most girls worry about their hair, or what they're wearing when they see a guy's watching… Videl's only concern is showing off how bad she can kick somebody's butt…"
"Videl are you okay?…" Gohan asked her. "You're practically shaking… Is something wrong?"
"I know this might sound a little strange to you," Videl stammered, finding it difficult to restrain herself. "But I missed you so much!"
Videl lunged, and buried herself into Gohan's arms startling the already confused Super Sayian. Clamping her arms around his waist tightly, Gohan happily return the embrace though he didn't completely understand why Videl was so happy to see him. She'd only been gone a couple hours… Hadn't she? "It's not that I'm not enjoying this, but it probably isn't the best time." Gohan stared daggers down at Buu, who was busy exchanging punches with Vegeta. "We need to be worrying about him…"
"Humph… He doesn't look as tough as he did before…" Videl huffed, and flew out a few feet to get a better look at him. "Not that that means a whole lot…"
With Videl temporally distracted, Gohan turned his attention to Ryo who had recently floated over next to him. "You trained her didn't you?… Well that's a stupid question, of course you did but… Did you have to let her catch me?"
"Would you rather have hit the ground?" Ryo snickered.
"No, but you could have caught me instead… It's kind of embarrassing to be seen being held up by your girlfriend you know?"
"Oh, grow up Gohan."
"This is an interesting development," Shin said, looking up and to his left.
"What's so interesting about it?!" Piccolo growled, staring straight at Majin Buu, unaware that the Kai's attention had wandered. All his eyes saw was a fat bloated pink blob grabbing at his feet and tumbling around like a seal on a beach ball.
"Not him, up there." Shin pointed his head towards Gohan who had now been joined by Ryo and Videl.
Vegeta look up along with them and grunted. "It's about time the damn boy showed up!… Wait a second… The girl?… It's not possible!"
Piccolo looked slightly baffled by Vegeta's reaction. "I'll admit the increase in her power is impressive Vegeta, but I don't believe she warrants that type of reaction! She's certainly not up to par enough to stand up to the likes of Majin Buu!"
"I know that Namek!" Vegeta huffed in irritation directed more towards Buu. "It's just that… A woman, with that type of power! It's absurd! Unheard of…"
Shin smirked and whispered to Piccolo. "If Videl bothers him that much, then he'd hate to meet the Amazonian tribes of Religa in South Quadrant."
"I appreciate the cultural lesson, but this probably isn't the best time of it sir," Piccolo grumbled, looking back over at Buu. "We need to focus our attention on stopping that!"
"You know, from this angle it's hard to believe this guy is a threat to the entire universe," Videl muffed, finding it a tad embarrassing they even had to fight this thing.
"Well, I believe it," Gohan grunted, remembering all the bumps and bruises covering his body courtesy of Buu.
"Well, I'm not afraid anymore! I'm going to rearrange that fat blob's face!" Videl growled, and jetted down towards Buu much to the dismay of her two friends.
"I see you didn't teach her any patience," Gohan observed.
Ryo frowned, and grunted. "Why don't you just ask me to grow a third arm?!"
"That girl's insane!" Piccolo yelped as he watched Videl race towards Buu, followed quickly by Gohan and Ryo.
"We better hurry over there," Shin suggested.
"Well, I don't see why I should risk my neck because some stupid woman suddenly thinks she's…" Vegeta didn't have time to finish his complaint, at least to non-deaf ears that was, as Shin and Piccolo were already rushing towards Buu. Vegeta had half a mind to stay where he was and let the stupid fools deal with their own fate. He considered that for all of about two seconds that was, before growling, and taking off after the rest of the group. "You're all a bunch of idiots I tell you!"
"Ba ba, la la… Oh…" Buu cooed as he caught a glimpse of a new face headed his way.
Here goes nothing I guess… Videl thought to herself as she closed in on Buu. It was time to see just how much she'd learned. "I'll give you something to gape about you fat tub of guts!"
Videl rolled over, and greeted Buu with the bottom of her foot into his face. Buu's face caved in slightly, staggering backward a few feet. Maybe it was the adrenaline heating her blood, but she got a little carried away and attacked Buu repeatedly leaving impressions of her fist covering Buu's body. Videl hesitated momentarily, unable to believe what her fist and feet had just done. Sadly however, when something seems too good to be true that usually means it is. Buu used the momentary hesitation on Videl's part to inflate himself back into shape, and snickered gleefully. Videl's face recoiled, suddenly finding herself wanting to be anywhere but there. She tried to fly away in the other direction, but that plan was foiled immediately when Buu grabbed her by the leg and held her there practically teasing her. Videl struggled to kick herself free of him, but Buu would have none of it. He pulled her back towards him like she was the rubber ball and he was the paddle, and adding visual effect gave Videl an almost playful, playful for Buu anyway, whack to the back sending her flying. Screeching as she flew, Videl slammed hard into one of the various rock facades surrounding the landscape, reducing a good chunk of it into rubble as it collapsed on top of her.
"Videl!" Gohan shrieked and flew after her. Before he could go in and dig her out of the mess of stone, Videl had already picked herself up out of it. She stood up coughing, and patted herself down looking quite surprised. "Wow, I'm in one piece… I thought that would hurt a little more than it did…"
After spouting a sigh of relief, Gohan smiled and shook his head. "You mean that didn't hurt you at all?"
"I wouldn't go that far," Videl stammered, and stumbled forward.
"Ah, you again?" Buu whined, as he stared up at Ryo who was floating a few feet above him. "Buu beat you up already."
"Yeah, and don't think I've forgotten that! And I know you haven't forgotten this…" Ryo smirked, and formed a small flickering ball of purple energy in his hand. "As I recall you didn't care for the way this felt all that much."
Buu frowned, for once showing those disgusting black dots of his that he called eyes. "You no hurt Buu!"
"Maybe not, but they might…"
"Huh?" Feeling something coming up from behind, Buu's head turned only to have his face smashed into by Vegeta's fist. With a few impassioned growls, Vegeta continued to lay his fists into Buu knocking him backwards. Just as soon as Buu had the chance to shift his focus to Vegeta, he suddenly found himself being ambushed from both sides. Piccolo from one, and Shin from the other. While their attacks might not have packed the same punch as Vegeta's, the combined strength of the two was enough to make Buu feel it. A few more blows rained down on him, and finally Buu went crashing down to his back, then rolling back over on his butt. He sat there a moment looking a mixture of irritated and surprised. He bounced back to his feet, but this time he didn't chuckle or perform a little celebration dance. He looked down right annoyed, but that butt-ugly grin soon returned to him. Piccolo and Shin both watched in horror as Buu tore yet another mound of flab from the blimp he called a stomach. He immediately flung it outward, slapping the Kai across the face with it, before wrapping itself around Piccolo like a lasso. Piccolo grunted as he tried to break free, but the pressure of the jello like substance felt like a ring of solid rock clamped around him denying him the use of his arms.
"Hey, what the hell is this?! Let me go!"
Buu denied Piccolo's request, and yanked him to the ground. Shin just looked down at him with his mouth agape, and before the Kai could act Buu had already beat him to it. Shin doubled over as Buu's knee suddenly came crashing into this gut, and with little wasted motion, Buu smashed his fist right underneath the Kai's chin sending him away screaming.
Refusing to just sit back and watch anymore, Vegeta charged forward locking his fist right onto Buu's bloated stomach. How could he miss the damn thing right? At least that's what Vegeta thought. Just as he was lunging forward, Buu's stomach suddenly sloshed to the side like it was suddenly made of water, leaving Vegeta connecting with nothing but air. Before the Sayian Prince could fully analyze what had just happened Buu's leg had already spun forward and smashed into the center of his back. Vegeta was sent surging forward, speeding like a dart toward yet another mountain, shielding his face with his arms before he went crashing head first into the rock. At least one good thing would come out of this, eventually they'd run out of mountains to be thrown into. Of all the places in the world the fat freak had to appear in, it just had to be a place like this.
While Buu wasted time reveling in his handy work, he flinched as soon as he felt a hard explosion at his back and numerous smaller explosions following soon after. Buu growled angrily, and looked up at the perpetrator who was already charging up another blast.
"What's the matter Buu? You stopped laughing?!"
Almost in defiance Buu did just that, as his smile returned to him. Only it grew even more sickening as it formed into a more sadistic looking smirk, forming up a little ball of concentrated energy of his own. Ryo gulped unsure of what to expect when the blast came suddenly hard and fast. "You no laugh either after this!"
Ryo broke off his Ki attack just in time to put his shield up before Buu's blast struck him head on. In retrospect, the shield did little good except if anything to save his life. It didn't save him much pain however as he was blown back, eventually crashing into the ground making a nice imprint of himself on the spot he landed. Smoking, and stained black with suit and dirt, Ryo tried to sit back up when a stinging pain erupted seemingly in every single muscle in his body, so he laid back down. "Make a note Ryo… Never take a pistol into a gunfight when your opponent has a bazooka…"
Buu snickered his disturbing childish laugh yet again, and turned his eyes back down towards Piccolo. Piccolo growled at the feel of the monster's gaze on him, not wanting to even fathom what Buu had in store for him. He'd almost given up trying to wiggle his way free. Buu's lard was very similar to quicksand in the way that the rope of fat seemed to get tighter the more the Namek struggled. "Now they all out of Buu's way… Buu hungry! Me eat you up now!"
"Eat me?" Piccolo laughed a nervous laugh. "I'd like to see you try… Hey, you know what go ahead! I hope I give you food poisoning you bloated freak!"
"You no upset Buu's tummy! Especially after I turn you into chocolate!"
"Chocolate?" was all Piccolo could manage to say before he felt a powerful ray shoot through his body. "AHH! What the hell are you doing to…"
In the meantime, Gohan was busy helping Videl as she regained her composure, when they both heard Piccolo scream's of torment. Videl gaped, and pointed towards them. "Gohan look! Piccolo's in trouble!"
"I'm on it…" Gohan's expression hardened, and he promptly flew off towards Buu and his mentor. He'd closed in to mere inches away from Buu when he suddenly stopped, and looked down with complete horror. Where his mentor had just been a mere second ago, was now a single bar of chocolate divided into six squares. As if it wasn't traumatic enough to see your mentor turned it a candy bar, then watching some bloated beast pick him up just to stuff him in his mouth was enough to warp you for life. While he might not have gone crazy, Gohan did in deed lose it right after Buu smirked at him, a smile highlighted by chocolate smears surrounding his lips.
"Spit him out you son of a bitch!" That might've been funny if the situation wasn't so traumatic. Gohan tried to force the issue by instantaneously going after Buu's bloated gut, pounding away at it with his fists as if he expected Buu to actually cough up his fallen mentor. Gohan's over aggressiveness may have done him more harm than good however. Exerting high amounts of energy at a high rate of speed, and allowing his concentration to wane in the process, Gohan left himself too vulnerable. As Buu utilized his incredible blubber stretching technique, Gohan suddenly found himself beating up air, and just as quickly found himself eating dirt. With a childish giggle, Buu rammed his hind end into Gohan's back driving the Demi-Sayian back to the ground. With yet another childish jeer, Buu sat back up and drove himself onto Gohan repeatedly, until Gohan wasn't much more than a Sayian pancake underneath the insurmountable power of Buu's fat ass. Buu sat up, ready for another splat when he felt a slender but strong pair of legs wrap around what everyone assumed was his neck.
"Let him go!" Videl demanded, squeezing her legs down tight enough that Buu's head inflated slightly. This seemed to amuse Buu more than it accomplished anything else. Using what was by far his most sickening shape shift of the battle, Buu literally sucked in his own face, easily allowing him to slide out of Videl's clutches. Videl's face recoiled at the feel of her legs clamping together, the small space in between them suddenly empty. Buu molded himself back into shape, and grabbed a hold of Videl's ankle. She tried to kick herself free of his grasp frantically, and surprisingly succeeded to wiggle her leg free, so easily in fact that she wondered if Buu had set her free on purpose. She didn't waste much time debating that matter over however.
"It's time to see just how much I've got I guess…" Videl flew several feet towards her left, wanting to make sure she didn't accidentally torch Gohan in the process of what she was planning. Summoning up as much energy as she could, unsure if this would do any good but hell, why not try it? So, Videl pulled back her arms, and fired a modest Ki blast Buu's direction. Buu waited patiently as the bright white light sped towards him, and chose a rather unorthodox way of defending himself. Rather then slapping it out of the way, or simply letting it explode off of him like he had so may times before, Buu opened his mouth and swallowed it whole. Videl gasped, and briefly froze in shock while Buu stared back at her. With a gleeful giggle, Buu's gut suddenly expanded slightly when a large lump formed in Buu's belly. His hips deflated again as the lump moved upward through this chest, traveled up his neck, and finally revealed itself as a large ball of Ki as it came rocketing out of his mouth. Videl screamed, and barely managed to roll out of the way as the blast whizzed by her, so close that it left a small burn mark on the side of her face. Videl watched the ball whiz into the stratosphere, and sighed in relief only to recoil immediately when she saw Buu hovering in front of her his face just inches in front of hers. She barely had time to scream, before Buu smashed his fist into Videl's chest. She fell to the ground like a runaway airplane, creating a decent sized crater after hitting the ground.
With a weak groan, Videl's eyes opened slowly. She managed a slight twitch of her hand, but other than that she couldn't quite move or even feel any other part of her body. Her eyesight was just as sharp as ever however, as they quickly noticed Buu was standing above her peering into her hole. Even with a broken body, she refused to give in to him in the only way she could manage. Instead of showing fear, or conceding defeat she simply scowled angrily up at him as he stood there staring at her. Her heart did stop for an oh so brief second, however, when Buu laughed and slowly began to open his mouth…
"Videl…" Gohan mumbled after watching Videl smash into the earth like a small meteor. With a growl, he forced himself up to his knees, upon seeing Buu landing next to the crater she made. "Damn it Gohan get up! She needs you… Get yourself together!"
From his prone position on the ground, Ryo had seen everything from Piccolo being reduced to a Halloween treat, to Videl's Ki blast being swallowed whole, and spit back out at her with double the force. Now with Buu towering over her with his mouth slowly opening, Ryo wasn't content to just sit around and find out what Buu had in mind for her. He tried desperately to pick himself up, but his body just wasn't responding. "Videl!… Damn it, I can barely even sit up! Where the hell did everybody else go?!"
Ryo wasn't aware of it yet, but the other fighters were in pretty much the same condition as he was. Shin was crawling on all fours somewhere nearby, barely able to do just that. Vegeta was at least mobile, but he was still shaking the cobwebs out of his head after pulling himself out of the pile of rumble that he'd been buried under for a short time. With a disgusted grunt, Ryo realized he could barely help himself let alone Videl or anybody else. At this rate they were all going to end up like Piccolo… One by one…
Watching Buu's jaw hinge upward slowly, she assumed he had a jaw anyway, Videl closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever Buu had planned for her. But he didn't spit another Ki blast out of his mouth... There wasn't any ray shooting from the whip of flab on his head turning her into some sort of food substance… He didn't even swallow her whole like a snake, which was something Videl wasn't about to put above him. Instead, all she heard was a loud lengthy yawn. One of her eyes snapped open curiously to the sight of Buu's mouth widening like a vacuum. Her other eye opened and she turned her head upward, and watched Buu's lips smack together sleepily while his beady eyes could be seen sagging slightly.
"Buu sleepy… Go bed now… Play more tomorrow okay?…"
"Huh?" Videl mumbled, unsure if she should believe what was happening or not. Sure enough, Buu turned his back to Videl, and walked off a few feet before taking to the air, heading for some unknown destination to crash for the night.
"He's sleepy?…" Gohan asked himself, as Buu flew off.
"Err… He's mocking us again…" Vegeta mumbled, clutching his side.
Videl looked stunned as she stared after Buu as he flew off in the distance. She wasn't about to argue though… With a sigh of relief, she let her head fall to the ground and promptly passed out.
********
Shin sat perfectly still, the very picture of patience as Dende's energy washed over him. As he finished, Dende smiled and lowered his arms watching the Kai with a look of fulfillment as Shin examined his body thoroughly apparently surprised Dende's treatment actually worked. With a couple flexes of his hands, Shin smiled contently and praised the young Namek. "Quite impressive Dende… Not quite on the level of Kabito just yet, but all my wounds seem to have healed nicely. I thank you."
"Your welcome Kai…" Dende said, blushing slightly. It was quite an honor for the guardian of any planet to receive praise from the Supreme Kai himself.
"Well… What do we do now?" Ryo asked him, impressed with his own recovery at the hands of Dende's magic touch.
Shin grunted solemnly, looking out onto the darkening Earth night with pessimistic eyes. "I'm not sure what else we can do Ryo… For now I suggest we bide or time, and lick our wounds before Buu makes another appearance, which he is bound to do. As far as I know we're the only living beings left on the planet, so I don't think there's much trouble he can get into on his own down there…"
Vegeta, who had been sitting quietly up against one of the pillars in front of Dende's house, had finally heard enough. With a growl, Vegeta shot up to his feet and began to rant in his typical frustrated and angry Sayian manner. "I'll tell you fools what we should be doing, we should be out hunting down Buu instead of hiding like a bunch of cowards on this pathetic lookout! If we strike him while he worn down we'll be at an advantage! So what if we wait and get our strength when he'll just get all his back as well?!"
"Even if Buu hadn't decided to take a nap, he'd still have had plenty of strength to finish us off Vegeta," Shin snipped sharply. "Besides, so what if you did attack him while he slept? Once you woke him up, he'd still be as strong as ever, not to mention crabby. All we'd be doing is getting on his nerves… Why not just ask him to kill us all?"
Vegeta grunted, and started pacing about the lookout. "So what if he does kill us?! I'd rather die with honor out on the battlefield rather than standing here and waiting for that bloated blob to hunt me down like a doomed animal! I'm the prince of the Sayian's damn it! Nobody treats Vegeta like that! Nobody!"
"So, in other words you're saying it's hopeless…" Ryo asked Shin, trying to tone out Vegeta's temper tantrum.
"If we go at him like we have been it is but…" Shin started, when a pair of young exuberant voices interrupted him.
"Let us help you!" Goten yelped pleadingly, jumping in between Ryo and Shin with Trunks quick behind him.
"Yeah, you guys obviously need help, and we're all that's left! Since Piccolo's gone now, you're already a man down so you really do need us! Why don't you just admit it?!"
Shin smiled, appreciating the fire and courage of the two youths. If he could only find a way to harness all that childish energy into experience and instinct, he wouldn't think twice about inviting the two little boys along. "I'm sorry boys, but that just can't be done. While you boys are indeed amazingly strong, you still lack the experience to be thrown into a battle of this magnitude. You'd only get yourselves hurt or worse, not to mention distract your brother and your father Trunks."
"We don't care if we get hurt or even killed!" Trunks persisted, tears starting to from in his eyes. "If we're all going to die anyway I'd rather go down fighting rather than stay stuck up here feeling helpless, just like my dad doesn't!"
At hearing this, Vegeta seemed to snap out of the mini-trance caused by his aggressive Sayian bloodline. Any other circumstance and he might've been proud of his son, but seeing the situation as it was, he needed to put an end to this line of talk once and for all. With a new look of conviction, Vegeta stopped his pacing and stalked over to his son. "You'll do no such thing Trunks! You'll stay here with Dende and the others, and not get in our way you here me! I'm sorry but it's just too dangerous out there for you, your fighting instincts haven't developed well enough to fight a monster like Majin Buu…"
"But Dad! I want to…"
"Don't argue with me! You'll remain here, and that's final!" Vegeta's arm cut through the air, and Trunks immediately fell silent. With a scowl, Vegeta's voice softened as he spoke. "Besides… All this nonsense talk about dying, and impending doom needs to stop right now! You are not going to die Trunks, I'll see to that… If I have to die trying then so be it, but Buu will be destroyed!"
Trunks didn't know what to say, so when his mouth opened nothing came out but a feeble little grunt. Any words he might've drummed up for any further argument were quickly forgotten once Vegeta had turned his back to his son, letting him know once and for all that the subject was indeed closed. Goten wisely, simply shut up on his own free will, knowing full well of Vegeta's sometimes nasty little temper, and the last thing the youngest still living earthling wanted was to somehow draw that rage towards him. Ryo eyed the two bummed out boys sympathetically. He knew first hand what it felt like to feel helpless, to be forced to watch somebody else defend you or fight your battles for you. It was true that the boys were very young yet, but the feeling still wasn't the most pleasant emotion to endure.
"You know guys, we really do need you boys to stay here," Ryo spoke, drawing the attention of the young Sayians.
"Yeah, we know. So we don't get in the way," Trunks grumbled.
"Well there is that…" Ryo admitted, but maintained a smile. "But there is another more important reason we need you boys to stay safe. Your dad is right Trunks, no matter how tough Majin Buu may seem we have to believe there is a way to stop him, otherwise we all might as well stamp dead on our forehead's and lay down to make a nice little buffet line for that fat blob! Even if we do pull off a miracle and stop Buu, that still doesn't guarantee any of us are going to survive long enough to celebrate the victory… If that happens then we'll need somebody left on Earth who's still breathing, so they can find the Dragon Balls and wish everything back to normal."
Goten almost looked hopeful, before quickly frowning with dejection when Trunks spat out. "But what about Dende and Krillen?"
Ryo sweat dropped. He had hoped the little tykes would let that little formality slip past them, but he should've known better with Trunks. He was Bulma's son after all, and Vegeta was by no means a simpleton in his own right. Ryo did have a backup answer just in case this little setback arrived. "Well now, how are they going to find the balls Trunks? Your family are the only people on Earth with access to a Dragon Ball radar as far as I know anyway…"
Trunks eyes bulged wide. "Hey, that's right! I'd be the only one who knows where we hid the back ups?!"
"Umm… Yeah, there you see!" Ryo improvised, of course having no clue whatsoever Bulma had hidden away any backup radar's, but he wasn't about to spit in the face of a lucky coincidence.
"At least now we now we have a way to find the Dragon Balls…" Dende spoke up. "But on to the more important question… How are you guys going to go about beating Majin Buu?…"
"That's the part we haven't figured yet," Ryo mumbled, then looked over at the Kai. "Are you sure there's absolutely nothing different we could try that might help us beat him?"
"Well…" Shin looked thoughtful, as he tugged at his earring, but then lowered his hand back down as if second-guessing himself. "There might be one technique we could try but… It's complicated, and packs some serious consequences at that but…"
Hearing this, Vegeta's head snapped back around before he stalked over to the Kai. "Well if you know, something than spit it out! And if you do, you better not dare tell me you've been with holding information from us that could've helped us stop Buu all this time!"
"Of course not Vegeta, what do you take me for?" Shin replied, keeping his cool but his voice remained sharp and pointed none the less. "Buu did kind of pop up unexpected, so there wasn't much time to devise any battle plans. Still, I haven't mentioned anything about this technique yet, because I was saving it for a last resort… I still wouldn't recommend using it however, unless there's absolutely no other choice…"
"Well, I think just about all the rest of our choices have been blown straight into orbit," Ryo reminded Shin of something the Kai was all too aware of. "What exactly is this technique, and will it even work?"
"I'm not sure, that's the other reason I've kept it under wraps, besides the drastic consequences the technique holds…" Shin removed his earring, and clasped his hand over it. "Have any of you ever heard of a technique called fusion?"
Ryo shook his head, while Vegeta snarled. "I know what the word means, but other than that you've lost me!"
"Well, it's a special technique where two separate beings can fuse into one individual, combining all there powers together and amplifying them to an even greater degree," Shin explained. "Basically, two different warriors can fuse together and create and even stronger being."
"I think I get what you're saying…" Dende popped in. "You mean like when Piccolo fused with Nail or Kami?"
"No, not quite," Shin smirked. "That's almost a amateur version of the fusion technique compared to the way of the Kai's. When Piccolo fused with the other Namek's, he pretty much maintained the same personality, though gaining a few traits, powers, and wisdom from the other's he fused with. With this method, the two fighters combine into one being. One mind, one body."
"Well, that doesn't sound so bad…" Ryo said.
"There is a catch though Ryo…" Shin sighed. "After the fusion is completed, the process is permanent. There's no way to reverse the effects. The two fighters that fuse together as their individual selves will no longer exist in a sense…"
Ryo and Dende's eyes went wide. "Man, you weren't kidding when you said drastic consequences were you?"
"Fusion huh?" Vegeta snorted, not liking the sound of where this was going. "Let's say that just by chance that we do have to resort to this method. Just who exactly were you planning on using to complete this littler merger?!"
"Well… The most logical pair to fuse would be the two strongest fighters available when the time comes…"
Vegeta's face recoiled. "What?! Are you out of your mind?! That would be me, and Kakkarot's brat! Besides, there's no way I'd ever agree to share my body with anybody else, so you can just forget it!"
"But Vegeta…" Dende looked over to him cautiously. "Um… What if you had no other alternative but to fuse, otherwise facing the complete utter destruction of the world and everyone we know that's still in it?"
Vegeta glared at Dende with a grunt of frustration, but other than that said nothing.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here," Shin told them. "That's just what I said, it would only be a last resort. All I'm asking is for everyone to think it over just in case the worst happens, and we have no other options present to us."
Vegeta snarled again, his fists clenching tightly as he shouted. "Look here! The only possible way I'd even consider pondering this ridiculous science experiment is if there were absolutely no other options you understand me?!"
"I understand Vegeta," Shin said with a grin. "That's all I was asking of you… Say, where have Gohan and Videl gotten off to? I should probably fill them in as to what we were discussing here."
A smile crossed Ryo's lips, so close to evil that it might as well have been considered such, various thoughts running through his head. "They ran off somewhere to be alone for a while… Doing whatever it is young lovers do I guess… You know what I mean don't you?"
"Well, now that you mention it no," Shin responded, looking confused. He scanned Ryo's thoughts, and his face recoiled. "Awe Ryo! Disgusting! You can't be serious, at a time like this?!"
"Hey, it's what I'd be doing."
"Hey Trunks…" Goten whispered to him, after they managed to slip away out of the earshot of the rest of the Z-crew. "What do think about this fusion thingy the adults were talking about… Do you think they'll really have to do it!"
"I don't know, maybe… I think it might be kind of cool actually… You know what I mean, to see what two people would look like when they became one person you know?"
"Kind of…" Goten looked thoughtful, as thoughtful as Goten could look mind you. "But what if my brother really did fuse with your dad... Don't you think that would be kind of weird?"
"Yeah But… Hey! If that happens we'd kind of be like brothers you know! Because my dad would technically be like your dad then."
"Huh?" Goten retained his more recognizable expression of clueless-ness, before smiling and actually assessing the situation pretty well on his own. "Well not really, but if you look at it that way then that means my brother would kind of like be your dad, and that would make me your uncle!"
"What?" Trunks frowned. "No wait... My dad would be your brother... No, then your brother would be my dad, and then… No, that's not right! When did this stop making sense?"
"I dunno," Goten giggled, a childish smile of glee plastered over his face. "But I do know one thing. If they do fuse, that means my brother would be sleeping in your mom's bed!"
"Ewe, Goten sick!" Trunks gagged, before getting a queasy look in his eyes. "On second thought, I hope they don't fuse now, or I'm going to need some serious therapy when I get older."
*******
"No way!" Gohan marveled, intrigued by Videl's story. "So you say you and Ryo trained in some sort of rip in the flow of time?"
"Yeah, it's hard to explain…" Videl went on. "Ryo wouldn't tell me much about it… All I know is that we spent over a year in that place, and though it would seem impossible somehow we only aged about an hour… And somehow, we managed to get spit out at almost the exact same point in time that we went in."
"Maybe you should stop there, my head's starting to hurt now," Gohan laughed, as the two of them wandered the halls of the house on top of the lookout. They couldn't really think of many other places they could be alone in that small cramped little place, and they'd have to spend the night inside those walls anyway. Truth be known, they had an entire planet they could've roamed at their own leisure with no one to bother them, but under the circumstances it was just kind of a gloomy place to be at that point and time. "That explains how you improved so fast however… Its amazing Videl, that's still relatively a short time to home your skills to that degree…"
"Ah, I didn't improve that much," Videl chuckled, as her cheeks tinted pint. "At least not enough to avoid getting pulverized by Buu that is."
"Eh, join the club. In case you didn't notice, none of us did very well against him… Hell, even when we gained up on him. You did well just to survive the onslaught you know? If you would've tried to face him the way you were before you would've been dead by now…" Gohan looked over at Videl, and noticed she still had her head hanging dejectedly. "Hey, didn't you just hear me Videl? You did the best you could, so there's no reason…"
"That's not what's bothering me!" Videl shouted, in what sounded more like a grizzled whine. "I can admit when I'm beat, and I don't cry about it, it's just… We've got to face reality for what it is… There's a good chance we might be looking at our last few days on Earth you know…"
"Videl don't talk like that!" Gohan said, as he came to a stop, and grabbed her by her shoulders. "As long as I'm still alive, nothing's going to happen to you, I swear it! I'll protect you with my life if I have to just…"
"You just don't get it, do you Gohan?! That's the last thing I want! If you'd shut up a second and let me finish what I was saying then you'd…"
"What?…" Gohan was taken back, though he wasn't sure if it was more because of the fact she blew up at him like that, or from what she had said to him in the process. "Videl…"
"I'm not afraid to die Gohan… Though the idea still isn't appealing to me," Videl told him in much softer tone. "Though I appreciate you worrying about me, I'm not a scared little girl that needs your protection okay… It's just that… So what if… Even if somehow I do make it out of this entire mess alive, what's the point if?…"
"Videl…" Gohan stammered, unsure of what else he could say. He wasn't used to seeing Videl like this, and with this foreign state she was in he wasn't as confident he could come up with the words to ease her mind, not like he was with the somewhat tomboyish and temperamental side of her anyhow. That version of her was hard enough to deal with as it was. "What are you getting at?"
Videl's eyes snapped shut tightly as if trying to fight back some sort of foreign substance trying to invade unconquered territory, where it wasn't welcome nor wanted. As she fought the feeling off however, she remembered a promise she had made herself a long time ago, and realized that on this one occasion it might be okay to bend just a little bit. Gohan winced when he felt Videl's hands touch the inside of his arms softly, and all of the sudden found himself being slammed against the wall, Videl's arms wrapped around his waist tightly. "Don't you try to be a hero on my account, you understand me?! Don't let me distract you out there… I swear if you let yourself get killed trying to protect me, I'll never forgive you! Do you understand me?!"
"Videl… I can't promise you that…" Gohan told her, resting his hand on the back of her head comfortingly. "But don't you worry… Anything that happens can be fixed with the Dragon Balls, so there's always hope. If anything happens to me, don't forget that okay?"
"That still doesn't make the thought any easier," Videl laughed weakly, practically sobbing as she chose to rest her forehead against his shoulder. "If anything happened to you I just don't know…"
"I feel the same way Videl…" Gohan said softly, feeling his heart wrench at the sound of a sniffle, and a soft crack in her voice. He knew what was coming, and it was the last thing he wanted to witness her do right now. "Videl please don't… Remember, you promised yourself you wouldn't cry? Not until you found somebody that's… That's worth it…"
"Just shut up Gohan…" Videl sobbed, as her eyes betrayed her, allowing a few drops of moisture to roll down her cheeks. "Just shut up…"
Gohan complied with her wish for moment, placing his arms around her protectively while her grip tightened around his torso. It was really the only way to guard someone from their own fears and emotions, in this case at least. It was strange how the closeness of somebody else could do that for you.
"It'll be all right…" Gohan muttered after a short time. Videl raised her head off his chest, with her eyes shut tightly not wanting Gohan to see her crying, as if it were the ultimate badge of shame for her. Without even the aid of her eyes, Videl managed to lean upward and plant her lips on his near perfectly, as if finding them on pure instinct alone. Not content with keeping it at that, Videl snuck her hand through a hole in his Gi, and rolled it across his chest. Gohan tensed up briefly upon contact, causing his hands to clutch down on the back of Videl's shirt, though he tried his best not to bare his fingers down on her skin. They parted sometime later, Videl's eyes now wide open as she peered deep into his. "Umm Videl… You want me to walk you to your room?"
"Well… Only if you're planning to make it a one way trip…"
"Huh? Videl what are you?…"
Videl's lips curved upward, watching the blood rush into Gohan's cheeks. Videl pushed her face up close to his, and said softly. "Look, I'm going to assume we're all going to find a way to pull out of this mess… But just in case this is our last night on Earth together… I don't want to leave this plain never knowing… Just stay with me tonight, will you?"
Gohan had to think about it… For all of about five seconds. With a nervous smile, Gohan managed to reply. "If that's what you want Videl…"
"Not if you don't too…"
Gohan's body shook, as Videl's moved in closer. Oh well… Rest, was highly overrated anyway.
End.
-Hum, hum… You know I had an entire little side story planned for this chapter that I can't use thanks to FF.net's new censorship policies. Oh well… Just one more note guys and girls, please remember the comment Gohan made in this chapter about the Dragon Balls. Something's going to happen sometime in the next several chapters, I know a lot of you aren't going to like, but just remember that little comment before you write me any hate mail or threatening reviews. Remember, you've been warned.
