"What do you mean, directly?" asked Gohan.
"I mean he's going to consume the earth from space without the use of machinery. It's much less efficient, but it's his only recourse after his machines have been destroyed," replied the Surfer.
"We've got to attack him again! Slow him down, delay him, something!" yelled Eighteen.
"No, it's hopeless," said Norrin. "It won't do any more good than last time"
"There has to be something we can do!" yelled Uub in panic.
"Wait a minute! How long does this process of eating the planet take?" asked Goku.
"A few minutes, maybe more. Why?" replied the Surfer.
"I think I've got an idea!" said Goku excitedly.
"A spirit bomb?" asked Krillin skeptically. "Are you sure that will work?"
"No," replied Goku, "but it's our best bet. Everyone, give me your energy!" Goku raised his arms, and began the process of summoning the ki from everyong throughout the world. He absorbed the ki from his friends and allies first. The Surfer transmuted his own cosmic energy into ki and fed it into Goku's growing spirit bomb, which now encompassed a sphere of at least 5 meters in radius, and it was still growing.
"We have the same problem we had last time we tried this!" said Vegeta, annoyed. "We have to get every imbecile on earth to voluntarily give up their energy!"
"Don't worry, I can... persuade them," said the Surfer, as he closed his eyes and concentrated. His cosmic senses reached out to every mind on earth and filled them with a subconscious suggestion, to make them receptive to commands.
"They should listen now," said the Surfer as he went back to concentrating his energy into the spirit bomb.
"Thanks!" Goku said as he opened a telepathic link to the people of earth.
"Everyone, listen! Galactus is going to eat the planet! We have no time left, you have to give me your energy! Raise your arms and concentrate on sending all of your energy to me!" Surprisingly, they listened. Everyone around the globe surrendered their ki, siphoning it into the ever - growing spirit bomb. The glowing sphere immediately enlarged to over 50 meters in radius. However, Goku was not done yet. He continued absorbing energy, not just from people, but from the earth itself, from all the plants, animals, rivers, rocks, deserts, oceans, all of the centers of the planet's life force. The spirit bomb continued to swell to absolutely massive proportions, even larger than the one that finally killed Buu. Meanwhile, Galactus, up on his ship, was making the final preparations to devour earth, however his cosmic senses suddenly detected an absolutely massive concentration of energy on the surface. Taking a closer look, it appeared as if one of the planet's defenders had summoned an incredibly powerful orb of energy. The Devourer of Worlds considered this to be an interesting development, but paid it little heed as he began to consume the world. He raised his massive arms, and energy flowed out of them, striking the planet along its equator and its poles. The entire earth shook with a vicious quake that began to tear it apart.
"It's now or never!" Gohan shouted over the din of the planet-quake.
"Got it!" Goku yelled as he flung the spirit bomb as fast as he could directly at Galactus. It flew upwards into the sky, past the atmosphere, and approached the mighty cosmic being at a velocity that beggared the imagination. Galactus stopped his feeding momentarily to assess the new threat. Reaching out an arm, he caught the spirit bomb, and he glowed bright blue as the energy sphere slowly shrunk away into nothingness.
"He - he absorbed it!" screamed Uub.
"This is not good!" yelled Vegeta.
However, the doom they were waiting for did not come. Instead, the entire earth heard the booming voice of Galactus once more:
"With this life energy, the hunger is satiated. For now. Your planet will be spared!"
Next: Epilogue