Every surviving fighter had gathered at Kami's lookout, and the atmosphere was gloomy to say the least. They had all gone through plenty of seemingly desperate situations in the past, and yet, this one seemed the worst one yet - with two of their strongest fighters taken down in a matter of minutes since the crisis had started, and their efforts amounting to not even a dent put into the enemy's overwhelming power. Among those present, the ones who weren't wracked by grief for those losses were at least feeling the fear and sense of impotence that came with facing the terrifying enemy that was Majin Buu, a creature emerged out of a past so distant, it wasn't even legend any more. Their last thread of hope lie where it always did - with the man whom they were all looking towards, waiting for him to come up with something amazing, a new plan, a chance to turn the tables around, as he always did.
Their hopes all lied with Goku.
"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head, halo and all. "I can't do it."
"Do you realise what you're saying, Goku?!," growled Piccolo, being the first to recover from the shock of those words. "If you can't destroy Buu, then the Earth is as good as doomed!"
"Vegeta and Gohan weren't much weaker than me," replied the Saiyan. "If Vegeta couldn't kill him even by giving his life, I wouldn't be able to do much better. And my time here is limited. Damn, if at least one of them was still alive-"
"What, you'd team up?," the other sneered. "And that would make a difference?"
"Not what I had in mind. There's a technique I learned in the afterlife."
Everyone perked up. A small ember of hope reignited in them all.
"It's called fusion," explained Goku. "It allows two fighters of similar build and power to temporarily merge into a stronger one. Man, if only Gohan or Vegeta were around, we could have solved this in an instant!"
Piccolo frowned. He had never heard of such a technique - the Namekians' ability to merge sounded similar, but it was limited to his species, a purely biological ability they had evolved. If it could be reproduced by anyone, that would make it a lot more powerful.
"Then maybe there's someone else," suggested the Namekian. "Think hard, Goku. This is the only chance we have right now. What's the exact effect of the technique? Does it sum the power of the two parties?"
"Oh, no!," he replied, with a smile. "It's a lot better than that! The resulting power is far greater than just the sum! It's got something to do with the resonance of spirit or such - I kind of dozed off when the Metamorians explained me that part."
"Far more powerful than the sum? That seems-" Piccolo trailed off. One of his earliest memories rose back to his mind, from a time in which he would have thought it madness to ever be friends with this man.
Piccolo smirked as he saw the technique. It might be surprising, after all, but an expert could see through its flaw really easily, and he was sure Goku would soon realise too. The man who had defeated his father wasn't such a chump that he would go down to a parlour trick.
At the four corners of the ring were four copies of the same fighter. All targeting with their beams Goku, who was standing in the middle, still befuddled by the sudden multiplication of his opponent. But just as he had guessed, that moment didn't last for long. A thin smile spread on the martial artist's lips as he realised he had actually victory in his grasp, now.
Because after all, regardless of how impressive it might look, the cloning technique also split the user's power exactly in four.
"Quick!," shouted Piccolo, suddenly. "Goku, use your Instant Transmission and go get Tienshinan! He's our only hope!"
Babidi chuckled as he saw the power of his new toy - he'd read his father's notes, but still, seeing the real thing was just something else. Admittedly, he'd at first found his appearance a bit disappointing, but now, he could see that didn't matter. Majin Buu was invincible. Majin Buu was immensely strong. Majin Buu, at his behest, had just telekinetically lifted the inhabitants of an entire city, turned them into chocolate, eaten them, and then blown up the place, all without breaking a sweat.
With Majin Buu at his command, the Universe would soon bow to his will! He would be like a God!
The sudden gust of wind blasted him away several metres in the air, before his levitation allowed him to catch himself. As he turned around to see who had been so impudent, he saw Majin Buu staring in a sort of strange fascination that didn't seem to much befit his dull intellect, and in front of him something - something so bright, it was hard to even stare directly at it.
But if you squinted hard enough, you could tell the silhouette of a bald man with three eyes, wearing something like a vest with a ridiculous fur-like padding.
"Who... are you?," asked Buu, and incredibly, he sounded nervous. Babidi didn't like this one bit.
The voice that answered was booming, reverberating, as if the same voice had bounced off in a thousand echoes within a cave. It was accompanied by a terrifying flare up of power that straight up eclipsed anything Babidi had ever felt - including Buu's own.
"I AM THE WRATH OF THE EARTH!," shouted the man.
Babidi's ears ringed from the terrible sound that he made with each word.
"I AM A MAN WHO BECAME A THOUSAND JUST SO HE COULD BECOME ONE! I AM MANY, AND WE ARE ONE!"
His heart beat faster with fear, and he broke into a cold sweat.
"I AM TIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENTIENSHINAN, AND I AM HERE TO KILL YOU!"
And then there was a single flare of blinding light, and that was the last thing he saw.