Well, I am glad that I managed to surprise with Majin 18. As this story winds closer and closer to its conclusion, surprises are growing slimmer. There are still several worthwhile and somewhat novel elements remaining, however, that I feel will carry us to the end. In this chapter there is one event of arguable science... but this is DBZ, who has ever been counting?

In this paragraph I respond to an individual reviewing earlier chapters, with full knowledge that when they actually read this it will be out of context. Yes, the story's flow is somewhat halting and at times insufficient. About this I will merely say what Aldous Huxley did of [i]Brave New World[/i]: If I were to write it again it would become better, but it would lose some of what made the original worthwhile.

Yes, I did mean that telepathy is in italics, not telekinesis. I was in rather a hurry in getting out the last chapter, partially due to some terrible problems involving data corruption. But I have not come here to speak about my personal issues. The chapter:

-

Breathing heavily, Majin 18 glared at him from across the field. Goku remained in his aura, unscratched. By now, he had a pretty good impression of what had happened. Somehow, some form of magic was confusing her mind. Whoever had done it was good, too. She had mentioned the name Babidi, so whoever that was had done this.

"Go ahead," she hissed, "finish me now. I can't stop you."

"No." Goku shook his head. "I won't kill you. I said I wouldn't fight."

"Why would you do that? I'll just keep trying to destroy you!"

"That's not what this is about." Goku powered down, dropping to his normal form. Instantly 18 flitted to him, one hand on his chest, ready to send energy ripping his body to shreds.

"Why'd you let down your guard?" Majin 18 asked. "You had me there, but now I could kill you at any time. I have to know why!"

"You hesitate, don't you?" He smiled. "There's still good in there."

Her eyes blinked and shut tightly, but her hand never wavered. Goku knew he was walking a fine line and made his gamble. It was now or never.

"End this charade," his voice was almost a whisper, "this is nothing more then a magically-induced mindset. Think about it and you'll understand how this is impossible. Babidi awakened your dark side? That cannot be, as there is no dark side to release."

"But-"

"No. There is only one you, not two. The 18 I fell in love with doesn't have two opposing sides, there is only one. And what is evil, anyway? I'll tell you one thing, Gero forcing you to do his will, slaughtering everyone, that is an evil. A vicious side come to the surface again? Just as improbable. Nothing has been suppressed, you are the same person you were before. Whatever viciousness in you hasn't been buried, it has just been changed. No matter what you say has come to the surface, it really doesn't matter."

While her hand stayed there, she still hesitated, thoughts tormenting her. Goku went on.

"I love you, 18, and I can tell you that you don't have to do this. All Babidi's magic can do is set a taint, and that doesn't matter," he continued, his voice raising in intensity as he went. "All that has changed is a mindset, but it has no power over you. This is merely a frame of mind and as such, can be dismissed as such!"

He ended the final note nearly shouting and then for an instant there was silence. The quiet shattered as 18 fell to her knees, sobbing. Goku sensed the dark energy from the M on her forehead immediately diminish down to a mere taint. Bending down to her, Goku tenderly held her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I was teleported and I couldn't stop them from doing it. There was too much dark energy. I just didn't understand quickly enough."

"Shhh, it's alright, Babidi has no power over you."

Eventually she acquired the strength to stand again.

"But now what are we going to do about this taint?"

"We have only one choice," Goku told her. "We have to cleanse the taint. That's all that's left."

"But how?"

Goku thought about it for a while, then an idea came to him.

"Replace the taint from you to me, trust me on this."

Standing a few feet apart, Goku breathed deeply and concentrated; 18 closed her eyes. At first, nothing happened, but then an unearthly wind began blowing around them, circling in a vortex. Light seemed to flow from the sky, striking both of them. Goku winced, trying to push aside pain, but 18 had it far worse, and she screamed. Between them a ball of a putrid grey mass began to collect, growing in size and hideousness. Just as 18 thought she couldn't keep it up anymore, the pain burst one final time, and then ended. She collapsed, being held up only by the energies surrounding them. Goku was relieved that the M was removed from her forehead. Just then, his pain intensified greatly. The grey ball before him seemed alive.

[i]We want you.[/i] it hissed into his mind, [i]we will control you, make you ours.[/i] The voice was a ghastly one he had never heard before, but it rang very similar to something he had. Darkness.

Throwing up mental barriers, Goku instead embraced the dark power itself. The orb flew toward him and as it entered he screamed in agony. Only a portion of his consciousness that refused to give up remained. Then, as suddenly as it had began, it ended, and there was a white explosion of everything.

Babidi gaped. What was that? He had no idea, but then suddenly the energy that he had gained from transforming 18 vanished. How had they done that? How? Well, if they came here they'd get a surprise. Chuckling, he turned back and began making plans.

Finding himself lying on the ground, Goku tried to muster the strength to stand but couldn't. 18 was awake as well, but seemed just as powerless to move. Still, he sighed happily. They had actually done it. The taint could not be directly destroyed, but things had worked as he had expected. In attempting to enter a host that was completely pure of heart, it found that it couldn't survive. With nothing dark to bring out, it simply destroyed itself.

"We did it," he coughed, "now all we need to do is survive and we'll be fine."

"That was supposed to be impossible, you know that?"

"Welcome to the club."

"Can you heal me?"

"Not at this level of energy, and I'm dropping fast; I'd need an outside power source. I have an idea though. Can you give me your infinite power cell?"

Coughing blood into her hand, 18 handed him a small blue matrix. Goku took it and clenched it in his fist, energy suddenly flowing through him. As soon as his body was functioning again, he raised his hands toward 18 and healed her as well. 18 took the cell back and swallowed it. Catching his breath and refilling his energy, Goku was incredibly grateful for that infinite power cell.

"Well, problem solved. Almost too easy."

"Yeah," Goku nodded. "I just hope we haven't lost too much time."

"I wouldn't worry about it, I'm pretty sure I've drained the energy that he gained from me anyway."

"This wasn't without benefit, either. You've gotten a lot stronger."

"Just from surviving a near-death experience your power has increased as well."

"Overall, we're stronger for it."

They stood for a second, just allowing their ki to again regain its maximum. 18 looked at him sadly.

"I'm sorry about that."

"Nothing you could have done." Goku shook his head. "Everyone's vulnerable in some way. It's alright."

"Thank you."

Fully charged again, they both blasted off from the ground and headed toward Babidi's base. They had a date to keep.

The dome came into sight over the horizon, and they both landed before it. There seemed to be a giant magic shield around the entire dome, and they were at it for an instant before a voice suddenly seemed to speak into their minds. 18 instantly recognized it as Babidi, and Goku inferred as much.

"Well, well," the sorcerer chortled, "glad to see you here. But even if you somehow manage to get through my shield, I fear you'll never be able to stop me, much less in time to keep me from my victory. You see, this shield prevents teleporting and flying. Even if you get through, there are five levels to this dome, each with at least one warrior that should instantly stop you in your tracks. That leaves you in a rather tight situation, doesn't it?"

His laughter faded in their minds, and Goku gritted his teeth.

"Can you undo the spell?" 18 asked.

"No, I have a hard enough time keeping him from interfering with his magic. However, I can try to pierce the shield and we can let ourselves in. From there, we can always just walk up the old fashioned way."

"Good. Do it."

Walking to the dome, Goku held out one hand, then spread it flat and drove it into the shield. Energy crackled away from it, and his hand began pushing further and further through. More energy rushed to it, and for a second he stopped. Then his hand went another inch and the shield seemed to pop, its energy exploding out and dissipating into the atmosphere.

They walked on to the doors. 18 blasted through them and they moved inside. The room that greeted them was a round circular one with nothing inside it. On the far side another set of stairs led up to the next level. As soon as they walked in, a form materialized before them.

At first merely a spirit was there, and then soon a body followed. Mists swirled around it, and then as they parted both of them could easily see their opponent. Neither of them had expected it. Standing before them was a saiyan, the living image of Vegita, except in different armor and with a goatee. Goku looked puzzled, not recognizing. 18 thought about it a second and then remembered.

"King Vegita!"

"It is I," he spoke bitterly, glaring at her with undisguised hatred. "I have no words to speak to you, android."

"Care to avenge all your fallen comrades?"

"My fight is not with you; step forward, Kakkarrot!"

"Who is he?" Goku asked. 18 explained, "That's the king of the saiyan race. I heard some about him briefly while I was destroying their planet."

"Hmm."

Goku stepped forward, crossing his arms and waiting to see when King Vegita would fight.

"Do you want to attack first, or should I?" Goku asked, King Vegita shook his head.

"There is no need for us to fight, Babidi's magic may have brought me here, but it cannot hold me. A battle would be needless."

"Really? You actually want to avoid a battle?"

"Not normally," King Vegita spat, like he'd tasted something disagreeable, "but this is a special case. Because- you're my son, Goku."

One eyebrow cocked, Goku took in the information fairly calmly.

"Is that a farce or do you really mean it?"

"It is true," the King sighed, looking away. "You were my son, along with Vegita. But when you were born your power level was a mere 2, and I thought that you would never become anything. My other son, Vegita, had over 1000, and so I kept him and got rid of you.

"I would have done you in right then, but, for some reason it didn't happen. I switched you with another baby, the boy of one Bardock, I believe. Needless to say, he got a bad deal out of it. It was unfortunate that he tried to overcome Vegita and was destroyed."

"Well that was touching." Goku was heavily sarcastic, unusual for him. "Is there a point?"

"Now, my other son is dead, and you are hardly the weakling anymore. I am considering accepting you back as my son."

"Considering," the word was spoken slowly and coldly. "Ha! You toss me out because I start out weak, give me to some stranger, then [i]consider[/i] taking me back?"

"The spirit of the warrior runs hot in you." King Vegita smiled. "I've seen that in the years past. But now that you are the strongest being on this planet, you have come to your full destiny. In fact, you are the only remaining saiyan, the last of the entire race.

"And you must be our new king."

There was a moment of silence, and King Vegita began to get hopeful. Kakkarrot would consider, then give in and continue the line. The saiyans glory would be restored! He would be remembered as the king that saved the saiyans! In an instant his fantasy was shattered, as Goku laughed.

"Getting desperate now, are we? You're first son doesn't work out, so you turn to the other."

"You must, it is your destiny-"

"Shut up," Goku's voice held a commanding quality that made even the King quiet, "and listen. What would I be king of- a dead people? There are no more saiyans. Do you really think it possible that the race could be restored? With what I've become I barely even register as a saiyan anymore. Even if it were possible, why would I want to? From the saiyans I've seen, you're all greedy, destroying killers. Why would I want to start up a kingdom that would wipe out entire planets and then sell them to the highest bidder? I've changed, and it is for the better."

King Vegita suddenly leaped forward, attacking in a haymaker. Before he even got close, Goku was long gone from his position and across the room. The King attacked again, and Goku effortlessly blocked his first strike. As they battled, Goku merely deflected every blow that came his way. While the King might have been strong among saiyans, his power was nothing compared to Goku's.

"You've betrayed us," he hissed, as he parted to catch a breath. "I had high hopes for you. You could have been the leader of the greatest empire ever! Why did you throw it all away like that?"

"Most people don't object to throwing away trash."

Howling, King Vegita attacked him. Goku ducked under his blow and hurled him into the wall.

"You have changed," his voice was now disgusted. "I should have realized it when you got that wench."

The next word in his mouth was stifled as Goku hammered him across the room with a biting kick. Crashing into the wall, the King barely made it back to his feet. Goku stared at him silently, and 18 smiled. Walking over to his father, Goku pulled him up, then pushed him back across the room.

"I'd suggest choosing your vocabulary more carefully next time."

"Why do you even mess with her? She's no suitable mate for a Prince!"

Goku considered ending the battle then, but after a split-second's thought decided against it. He may have deserved a beating for the first comment, but the second was more just an output of saiyan culture. Of course, King Vegita was going to get what was coming to him anyway.

"She killed all of us," King Vegita growled, "or did you already know that? We could have ruled the galaxy, until she and her brother came. You weren't there, you don't understand. You didn't see everyone you knew slaughtered, everyone die away before your eyes."

"Stop it." Goku's voice was tightly controlled. "Do you think I haven't seen pain? I had no one, everyone was either dead or worse, had betrayed me. There was no one on this planet who didn't want to kill me, until I ran into this so-called killer you're talking about."

"You're toying with fire! I can't believe you'd take such risks!"

Things were beginning to echo Vegita's words, years ago. Not wanting to put up with his babble any longer, Goku flew behind him and grabbed his tail. The King roared in pain, then collapsed to the ground. He tried to jerk his tail from Goku's hands, but it was useless. With what appeared to be his last breaths, he struggled to his knees, this time talking to 18.

"Why do you let this happen? You let him control you like this, why-"

Grabbing him by the neck, Goku lifted him up so they met eye to eye. The king realized, slightly startled, that his son had somehow grown, larger than he should ever have been before. He felt the very energy that held him bound both on earth and in the Afterlife being unraveled, sending him toward oblivion.

Speaking softly, Goku delivered a final message. "I may be your son, but I'll never call you father."

Dropping him, Goku watched as the King vanished into a mass of blue fire that soon was snuffed out. Gazing down at where it had been for a second, Goku suddenly turned and walked back to 18. They smiled sadly, and that smile said it all. Without another word, they mounted the stairs to the next level.

-

What follows does not contain any important or relevant information and may be skipped by any reader interested in an interrupted or efficient reading experience. I have no wish to be a typical plugger, and wish to offer you every opportunity to ignore me. That having been said, I have posted the first chapter of a heavily satirical work about fanfiction itself. At the moment it touches upon DBZ, but in any form I feel that it may have redeeming qualities.