(Mental landscape, battle ruins, fading contact)

Goku and Vegeta hovered above the blasted crater, in a flying standoff across from Freeza, Cell and Buu.

The light grew dimmer, and on the crater rim Tien fell to his knees, almost overcome by the effort of maintaining the group's telepathic contact with Gohan. Next to him lay Piccolo, barely conscious as the heat and radiation ravaged his physical body.

Below them, Videl and Krillin were propping Gohan up, supporting the fallen half-saiyan and trying to wake him up from his stupor.

"Gohan...", pleaded Videl, "wake up, please!"

Krillin looked at the darkening sky and turned to Videl. "Look, it's getting harder to see. I think Piccolo and Tien can't keep doing this for long. We need to get this big guy back to the tree as fast as we can."

"But why won't he wake up?" Videl asked the short warrior, "What's wrong with him?"

"To be honest I'm not really sure," Krillin answered. "I'm not an expert like Tien or Piccolo. I don't think this guy" Krillin tapped Gohan's back a few times, making the young man cough, "is really Gohan, you know? He's more like another aspect of Gohan, or something Gohan's mind made to represent a part of himself."

Krillin looked around, worried. "I think this entire place is Gohan, somehow. We can't talk to him directly, it probably won't help. We just need to bring this aspect of your husband back to the tree, then he'll probably be okay." Krillin frowned. "I hope so, at least."

"This is crazy," Videl sighed, shifting the weight of Gohan's unconscious body across her shoulders. "It's like some kind of therapy, only instead of going to see a shrink and paying thousands of zeni, you just pop into a person's mind, complete a few tasks and boom, problem solved?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Krillin smiled despite severity of the situation.

Now holding Gohan securely, the two started to fly out of the crater.

Meanwhile, Vegeta's patience was running out. "I've had enough of this," he muttered. Refusing to wait any longer, the saiyan prince transformed into his ultimate blue form and charged at Freeza in anger. The tyrant blocked Vegeta's extended arm with his own, the impact releasing a shock wave that shook the demolished buildings on the crater walls and almost caused Gohan to drop back to the ground. As a cloud of dust spread across the crater floor, Vegeta and Freeza began exchanging lightning-fast blows, flashing across the sky.

"Is that the best you can do, monkey?" Freeza smirked while blocking Vegeta's attacks. Vegeta frowned, refusing to answer the tyrant. "Damn fool" Vegeta thought, "if our mental contact was at full strength I'd destroy that smug bastard in an instant"

Goku's eyes shifted between Buu and Cell. The majin was looking at Gohan on the ground below, barely paying any attention to the hovering saiyan. Cell, however, smiled and charged. Goku blocked Cell's flying kick, but it was only an afterimage. The real Cell appeared above him and hit Goku's shoulder with a powerful spinning kick, releasing yet another immense shock wave. The saiyan was launched down, out of control, and crashed painfully into the ground.

"Cell can't be this powerful," thought Goku as he stood up, "Gohan isn't trying to make accurate images of him or the others, he's just lashing out. It's time to get serious."

Cell laughed. "Is that it, Goku? Is that all you have?" The saiyan looked at Videl and Krillin, who were flying slowly towards the crater rim while holding on to Gohan.

"Hey, guys," Goku shouted, "this is getting dangerous. Don't stop for anything, me and Vegeta will handle things here." The two warriors nodded at the saiyan.

"Handle things?" Cell smirked while hovering above his enemy, "How are you going to do that?"

Goku's answer came in the form a yell as he transformed into super saiyan blue.

A fraction of a second after Goku's transformation was complete Buu suddenly pointed his head-tentacle at the saiyan and fired a jagged beam, forcing him to dodge. This allowed Cell to fly down and flank Goku, striking him with a powerful kick to the ribs that Goku couldn't avoid. The saiyan was once again launched away, but managed to stop himself in midair.

While Goku and Vegeta were engaged with their opponents, Videl and Krillin reached the rim. They were just a few ruined buildings away from Tien and Piccolo when Beerus appeared before them with shocking speed.

The catlike god of destruction stood there calmly, his hands behind his back. "You're free to leave, earthlings," Beerus said, revealing sharp fangs in a savage smile, "but Gohan stays right here."

Krillin looked at Beerus defiantly while Videl spoke to Gohan again, hoping that her appeal would cause Gohan to come to his senses. "Gohan, come on, wake up already! It's us! What are you doing?!"

As the saiyans clashed with their enemies towards the center of the crater, Beerus frowned and seemed to hesitate. "Videl," Krillin whispered, "get Gohan back to the tree, I'll try to manage here." Videl nodded and started flying away, carrying Gohan with his arm around her shoulders.

Beerus snapped out of his reverie and was about to act, but Krillin acted first, unleashing a solar flare. A ridiculously bright flash of light stunned Beerus for a moment, forcing him to close his eyes. Krillin used that short period of time to charge a barrage of deadly ki discs, launching them at the god of destruction one after the other.

The discs hit their target, cutting deep into the god's skin before vanishing in a shower of bright sparks. Beerus screamed in pain, the piercing sound shaking the entire area and shocking everyone to their core. Krillin had to cover his ears as the sound went on and on.

"Oh no, I've made a huge mistake..." Krillin thought, "I didn't think I could actually hurt Beerus, but this version of him isn't as invulnerable as the real one. Am... am I stronger here, like Videl? My attacks still didn't cause any real damage, but I can feel Gohan's anger rising more and more."

Nearby, Tien almost fell over, barely holding on. "No... Gohan's rage is growing, it's getting more and more difficult to maintain the contact..." he murmured.

The sky grew even dimmer. The entire area was shrouded in shadows now, making it difficult to see. And it wasn't just a matter of simple darkness, Goku found that he was having trouble sensing the others' ki. "Vegeta!" Goku shouted, trying to be heard above Beerus' scream. "The contact is fading! We have to finish this now!" Even the sound of his voice was somewhat muted.

As the god's scream went on and Tien's hold on the telepathic contact weakened, the villains seemed to grow more powerful. Instead of replying to Goku's shout, Vegeta found himself fighting desperately against a reinvigorated Freeza.

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" Freeza smirked as he assaulted the saiyan with a barrage of kicks, punches and tail strikes. "Not feeling well?"

"You fool!" Vegeta retorted angrily as he barely blocked a series of punches and ducked under a tail swipe. The prince calmed down a moment later, and murmured "I can't believe I'm actually talking to this apparition."

Freeza's face twisted in anger. "What was that?! Apparition?! You insolent monkey!" He turned around for another tail strike, and when Vegeta leaped up the tyrant followed with a powerful spinning kick. This time his kick connected with Vegeta's head, causing the saiyan prince to shout in pain and almost black out in midair. His aura flickered, almost going out.

Meanwhile, Goku was barely holding on against the combined attacks of Cell and Buu. It was getting more and more difficult to sense their positions, and all Goku could do was try to avoid their attacks and keep them busy for as long as possible.

"Stand still and fight!" shouted the frustrated Cell, his voice barely registering above Beerus' scream of pain.

"No thanks", said the saiyan as he dodged another of Buu's candy beams.

"Run as much as you want!" shouted Buu, "you'll weaken and then I'll eat you right up!"

Goku blocked a kick from Cell and let the impact carry him backwards before Buu continued. "What should I turn you into? Chocolate? A juicy steak?"

"Ooh..." replied Goku after dodging another series of strikes from Cell, "I could use a steak or five right about now".

Cell's face grew cold with anger at Goku's flippant attitude. Buu's rage actually made the majin's face go red. "I have had ENOUGH!" Buu shouted, aiming his tentacle at Goku and firing a massive candy beam.

"What are you doing, fool!" Cell shouted. Gero's monster was too close to the saiyan, and Buu's reckless attack threatened him as well as its intended target. Abusing his opponent's moment of distraction, Goku grabbed Cell's arm and maneuvered him into the beam's path. Cell managed to kick Goku in the stomach before the beam hit, and his face became frozen in rage as he began to transform.

"You know," Goku shouted at Buu while grimacing in pain and rubbing his hurt stomach, "this is why we always fight one on one!" Well, he thought to himself, it's mostly because one on one fights are better for getting stronger, but also this.

To Goku's disappointment, Cell turned into a large tablet of chocolate, and Buu charged at the wounded saiyan with an incoherent shout of rage.

While the saiyans were fighting and Krillin was drawing Beerus' attention, Videl flew towards the gigantic tree. At first she could still barely see it in the distance, but after a while it became too dark. A powerful wind began to blow, and flying became more and more difficult.

As the distance between them and the crater grew, the wind became stronger. "It's like it wants to keep me in that crater," thought Videl, "but I can't go back now." Mercifully, the roar of the wind masked that terrible scream.

Holding Gohan tight, she landed on the ground, leaned into the wind and began to walk forward. "Left, right, left, right", she muttered to herself as the storm's intensity continued to increase. Soon each step required her complete concentration, and the the last ray of light vanished behind her. At this point she could no longer see the sky above or the ground below, the darkness was complete.

Thinking about her years with Gohan and their laughing baby daughter, Videl strengthened her resolve and kept going, both of the couple's capes flapping wildly in the wind. "Left, right, left, right..."

Back in the crater, there was no wind and still enough light to see.

Suddenly Beerus stopped screaming and slowly lowered his eyes towards Krillin. Silence seemed to cover the entire area like a blanket. The god was bleeding from long gashes along his torso and his face was twisted in savage rage.

"Umm..." the short warrior stumbled back in fear. Faster than the Krillin could see, Beerus appeared in front of him and punched him in the gut.

Krillin was shocked by the sheer power of the attack. He was launched into the air, only to be met by a hovering Beerus a short distance away. Krillin couldn't even see the feline god move as Beerus kicked him in the back, striking from above and sending Krillin plummeting down. The former monk crashed into the ground with a massive explosion of earth and dust.

Still locked in combat with the evil Buu, Goku shouted "Hey, you okay down there?"

Krillin groaned in pain as he tried to sit up, but didn't have time to answer. Beerus was hovering above him with an evil smile. The god of destruction raised one knee up to his chest, stretched his other leg heel-first towards Krillin, and charged down at the stunned earthling with a world-splitting kick.

Krillin closed his eyes, concentrated, and hoped he was quick enough. Deciding that enough was enough, he imagined severing his mental contact with the group like cutting a string with a pair of scissors. "wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!"

Beerus hit the ground with a deep thunder, sending cracks deep underground and causing the area to shake violently. The entire crater floor vanished in the aftermath of the strike, replaced with an apparently bottomless pit. A few buildings on the lower edges of the crater walls crumbled and fell into the abyss.

(Goku and Chi Chi's house, early afternoon)

Krillin woke up with a shudder and looked around him. He was still sitting in Bulma's tent along with the others. Turning towards the entrance of the tent, he saw the people gathered there talking in hushed voice. Eighteen noticed Krillin snap out of the meditative trance and immediately approached him with Maron.

"Hey pumpkin," Krillin hugged his daughter. Maron buried her face into Krillin's chest, clearly agitated. He looked at Eighteen questioningly. "Did anything happen?"

Eighteen took one look at Krillin's face, turned away and began to walk toward Dende. The confused Krillin touched the side of his face where Eighteen was looking, then grimaced. His fingers came away bloody. "Bleeding from the ear... that can't be good," he muttered to himself.

The businesslike Eighteen picked Dende up, brought the surprised god of Earth over to Krillin and put him back down on the ground. "Please heal my husband," she said coldly.

"Your form of prayer is unconventional," smiled Dende, "but I'll grant your request." He moved to stand behind Krillin and laid both of his hands on top of the former monk's head. Krillin immediately began to feel better.

"Thanks, Dende," said the smiling Krillin. The small namekian removed his hands after a few moments, stood back and nodded.

Satisfied that her husband wasn't about to die, Eighteen asked "did you manage to calm Gohan down?" The others came closer to the group of meditating fighters, hoping to hear some good news.

"Sorry," said Krillin apologetically, "not yet. I had to bail out, Gohan wasn't holding anything back." Looking around, he asked "What happened here?"

Eighteen looked down as Bulma put a hand on her shoulder. "It was Seventeen," said Bulma, "he saved the world."

(Mental landscape, battle ruins, unknown time)

The shock from Beerus' strike almost caused Tien to black out completely. The crater grew darker and sounds became even more muted as the group's telepathic contact with Gohan was almost severed.

Suddenly, Tien felt Piccolo's arm on his shoulder. The Namekian stood up, somehow revived.

"I'll take over," said Piccolo, "you did good."

Tien nodded, barely conscious. He felt Piccolo's power flow into the telepathic contact, bringing it back to full strength. Tien stood up, brushed the dust from his robes and crossed his arms. After a few deep breaths, he resumed his efforts at a much more comfortable level. Piccolo wasn't at full strength, but what strength he had left was more than enough.

"Good to have you back," Tien nodded at the tall namekian, still somewhat shaken. "Is everything alright?"

"I don't know," answered Piccolo, "I'm not taking damage anymore, so the others must have done something to fix things."

The light and sound returned as the mental contact grew more stable. Goku and Vegeta felt much better despite their wounds, taking deep, satisfying breaths of fresh air.

Videl was completely focused on moving forward, and had no idea how much time had passed in the dark, wind-swept dreamscape, or if she made any progress towards the massive tree. She stumbled when the light returned and the storm subsided, no longer having to lean forward into the wind.

Videl could see the tree now, still far away. Groaning in disappointment but determined to reach her goal, Videl flew up and sped forward.

Goku could see Beerus turn his attention away from the crater and toward the escaping Videl and Gohan. "Vegeta!" he shouted, "handle Buu, I'll take Beerus!" Goku kicked Buu in the chest, hurling him down almost to ground level, and began to fly away.

At that very moment, Freeza's kick caught Vegeta in the chin, sending him flying up. Reeling in pain, the prince manage to come to his senses and dodge Freeza's followup attack, a beam of deadly energy. Now that their telepathic contact was back to full strength, Vegeta's reaction speed was also increased. In his eyes Freeza and Majin Buu were moving in slow motion.

Vegeta began to answer Goku's request, but the other saiyan had already turned away. "Ordering me around as if I'm one of his sons..." Vegeta muttered to himself in annoyance, but chose to channel that feeling into his next attack.

The prince's aura flared back to its full power as he charged towards his opponent. Vegeta launched a ki blast at Freeza while charging, forcing the surprised Freeza to block the attack. Vegeta flew behind the distracted tyrant and grabbed his tail. Faster than Freeza could react, Vegeta spun him around and launched him down towards Buu at an incredible speed.

The two villains collided with a sickening crunch that made Vegeta smile, Freeza's momentum carrying both him and Buu towards the ground. If the crater floor was still there they would have hit it, but instead they simply fell down the massive pit until the angry Buu pushed Freeza away.
Vegeta looked down at his two hovering opponents and spread his arms to the sides, gathering his ki.

The majin, who had the form of Buu as he was after absorbing Piccolo and Gotenks, reacted first. "Freeza! Prepare to counter his attack! Fire back!" Buu shouted. The pink majin extended his arms forward to prepare his own blast.

"Don't presume to order me around, fool!" shouted Freeza, but extended his arm as well.

Vegeta brought his arms together in front of him, a massive ki blast growing between his palms. "FINAL FLASH!" he shouted, and launched a colossal beam of fiery ki towards the two villains.

With a roar, Buu and Freeza released their own energy beams at the saiyan prince. The three blasts collided in midair just above ground level, forming a turbulent vortex of energy. As the two beams from below struggled to overcome the beam from above, all three combatants started to pour more and more energy into their attack.

Tien and Piccolo watched as the vortex started to grow. When it reached the rim of the pit created by Beerus' kick, the raging energies began to destroy the rest of the crater, consuming more and more ground as the vortex expanded. Eventually the two were forced to fly up, the vortex having consumed the entire crater in a storm of ki. Vegeta retreated up into the air as his opponents descended farther down into the pit.

After a while the saiyan's power began to overwhelm Buu and Freeza. The vortex of ki stopped expanding, having already consumed the crater and some of the surrounding area, and the massive, raging sphere of battling energies began to move down. With a final roar, Vegeta pushed the sphere deeper into the earth, launching it away at great speed. He couldn't see it, but he clearly felt Buu and Freeza engulfed by the massive blast, their auras sputtering, failing and vanishing completely. The gigantic ki sphere continued down, burrowing into the earth until it disappeared. There was no explosion.

The crater was gone, replaced by a bottomless pit almost a mile across. Tien and Piccolo hovered above its edges and looked down into the darkness. "Interesting", said Tien, "It must have reached the limits of this mental landscape and vanished."

Vegeta joined them, and the three warriors flew away to team up with Goku.

They failed to notice the hovering form of Whis some distance away. The angel landed on a nearby rock and sat down. He removed another boxed meal from his storage space, opened it and continued to eat in small, measured bites.

Vegeta, Tien and Piccolo caught up with Goku and Beerus a few miles away. Beerus was holding Goku up by the neck and punching the saiyan in the stomach repeatedly, the tendrils of evil ki surrounding Beerus writhing with every punch. Goku was back in his base form, barely conscious and with a broken left arm.

"Vegeta..." Goku said weakly, "don't..."

Beerus turned his head to look at Vegeta and threw Goku down. Tien flew after him as fast as he could, catching the saiyan before he hit the ground. Tien laid Goku on the ground gently and flew back up.

Beerus suddenly appeared behind Vegeta and slammed the side of his palm against the back of Vegeta's neck. There was no warning, Vegeta didn't even see him move. The saiyan was hurled down, half-paralyzed with pain, but rotated around and began to charge a ki blast in a purely instinctive motion.

Suddenly he stopped in midair and dispersed the blast, understanding Goku's words. In the brief instant of contact with Beerus, he felt Gohan's rage exploding against his mind. This Beerus was, for all intents and purposes, Gohan's unconscious mind. Every attack against Beerus not only made Gohan angrier, it also damaged his mind even further and probably made him burn up faster.

"Great," he growled. "I'll just have to draw this overpowered lunatic's attention while his mate saves us all." Vegeta's aura decreased in intensity as he concentrated his divine ki inside his body, strengthening his skin and bones as much as he could. To the others it looked as if tiny bursts of lightning danced across Vegeta's skin.

Beerus attacked Vegeta relentlessly, appearing and disappearing around him, launching a flurry of kicks and punches that the saiyan could barely see. He blocked what he could, but dodging was out of the question and most of Beerus' strikes went past his defenses. Vegeta seemed to be hovering in midair, growing more and more wounded and tired as a series of shock waves surrounded him.

Suddenly Vegeta roared in pain as a particularly savage kick broke his leg. His concentration completely broken by the assault, Vegeta's aura sputtered and the prince went back to his base form. The deranged Beerus held Vegeta upside down by his broken leg and bared his fangs. Moments later he started punching Vegeta in the lower back, each punch releasing a shock wave and causing the prince to heave in pain.

Tien was about to charge in when he felt Piccolo's arm on his shoulder. "Stop, we have to maintain the contact no matter what." Piccolo's arm went back to his side. "Vegeta knows this, we all have our roles to play." Tien nodded, still angry, and remained hovering next to the namekian.

"Had... your... fun... Gohan?" Vegeta said, his teeth clenched in pain.

Beerus considered his words for a moment, tilting his head to the side. Suddenly he threw Vegeta towards Tien and Piccolo, and Tien caught the battered saiyan in his arms.

"You let them all die," Beerus said, his voice full of hate. "You let them all die, and now you'll join them." Beerus raised his arm and pointed towards the three warriors, gathering a small orb of red, fiery ki just beyond the point of his extended talon.

"Wait!" Tien shouted, "Who? Who died?" He looked around, addressing Gohan's mind and hoping that the young half-saiyan could somehow hear them. "Talk to us, we're your friends!"

"Everyone," said Beerus, and the crackling red orb grew to the size of a house. Tien, Piccolo and Vegeta could see their death in the red ki.

At the last moment, just before Beerus fired the attack, the red ki dispersed. The catlike god's arms dropped to his side, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he started falling down. A cool breeze began to blow, carrying the scent of flowers.

Far out in the distance, Videl and Gohan had finally reached the tree.