A single blonde bang hung between Gohan's eyes, but there was no mistaking it. The symbol of the Majin sat burned into his forehead.

"No," Shin muttered under his breath. "Bardock has failed."

"Gohan?" Videl asked tentatively, making her way to Chi-Chi's side. "That's… Gohan?"

"It used to be," Shin admitted, looking grim.

"Kill that thing!" Babidi demanded. Looking at Gohan, he pointed frantically at Cell. "Kill that overgrown grasshopper!"

"Gladly," Gohan replied.

Cell barely had time to raise an arm to block a vicious hook. Seeing an opening, Gohan launched a vicious uppercut, slamming Cell into the air. Using instant transmission, Gohan transported behind Cell in the air before pummeling him to the ground.

"Buu play, Buu play!"

"No!" Babidi yelled, jumping up and down in frustration. "That thing is being taken care of, you idiot! Go after the Supreme Kai!"

Growing tired of his master's insults, Buu decided to ignore the wizard.

A fat fist hit Gohan in his injured side, and he soon found himself in a triangle of assault. One after another, the three fighters exchanged blows.

At a loss of what else to do, Chi-Chi ran toward Babidi. The creature screeched and tried to call for help, but the Z-Fighter wrapped a hand around his neck. "Stop this!" she ordered. "Fix my son or I'll kill you!"

"Please, please!" he begged, pleading for his life. "I'll do anything!"

Dropping the wrinkled little man, Chi-Chi looked at him, poised to attack should he try anything else. Clutching his throat, Babidi opened his mouth to speak.

"Destructo Disk!"

Krillin's attack decapitated the wizard. Eyes wide in realisation, Chi-Chi turned.

"It didn't work!" Krillin confirmed, his heart racing as the situation grew even more out of hand.

The calligraphic mark on Gohan shimmered in the light, but did not waver or fade. With Majin magic running through their systems, Gohan and Buu felt invigorated by the energy boost. But as the battle wore on, Cell found himself outmatched. An idea coming to mind, Cell smirked through heavy breaths. Falling back for a moment, he let Buu exchange a few blows against Gohan while he spread his long wings.

From deep within the folds of his back, a wrinkled, beige tail fell out, its large opening twitching in anticipation.

He slammed forward, knocking Gohan down as he struck Buu in the face. Stunned, Buu froze as he felt the hood of Cell's open-ended tail squeeze over his upper body.

With a victory laugh, Cell began to absorb the pink monster.

"Seriously?" Krillin yelled. "What the hell!"

Gohan kicked Cell from behind, jostling the android's tail loose.

The blob known as Buu started to melt, his flesh deforming into a gooey, unrecognizable mess. The pink substance then crept over Cell's tail, to the android's torso, and over his face, countering Cell's absorption by absorbing the android first.

The Supreme Kai simply watched, all hope lost, as Buu's body elongated, and Cell's dark, grotesque spots formed across pink skin.

"Boy strong," the newly fused villain rasped. Standing just shy of eight feet tall, the muscular being's voice had dropped several octaves. "But Buu strongest."

The pain came back, almost as strong as before. Gohan grunted and hissed in pain, stumbling a few steps backwards.

"You need to fight this, Gohan," Bardock shouted, his sense of panic growing from deep within the recesses of Gohan's mind. "Do you hear me? Babidi gave you major power boost, and it's time for you to abuse it!"

The voice of his Saiyan grandfather was swallowed by the overwhelming presence of Babidi's magic. He couldn't reach the boy anymore.

"Gohan!"

Bloodshot eyes snapped open as Gohan registered to whom the new voice belonged. This voice, however, was not confined to his head.

"Dad?" he gasped. A sharp pain blasted through his head, and Gohan realised he was not only being attacked from the inside with Majin magic, but from the outside as well. Perfect Buu landed another kick to the side of Gohan's head, displeased that the boy had ignored his previous punch.

"I need you to end this, Son," Goku said, a hand placed carefully on King Kai's back. "I know you're not the same little boy you were when I died. But I also know you're not the monster Babidi has made you out to be."

His chest heaving, Gohan hastily blocked another attack, every fibre of his being hyper aware of his dead father's voice.

"Babidi is dead, Gohan!" Goku said, his voice growing louder with passion as he spoke. "You are the only one who can stop Buu and Cell now. You need to take control back! The fate of the universe depends on you!"

"I can't," Gohan snapped, getting smacked in the face with a harsh backhand. He flew backward several hundred feet, crashing into a mountain. The formation crumbled around him, and he felt Perfect Buu's approach.

"I can't control this," Gohan said, voice cracking. "I can't, Dad, I can't."

"You can," Goku asserted.

"I let you die!" Gohan shouted in response. "I let Mom die! I couldn't bring out my power in time, Dad- I couldn't control it!"

"And if you don't control it now, she'll die again!" Goku argued. "Your mother, Piccolo, Krillin, Bulma, Trunks, Vegeta- all of them. Dead! Even you. Is that what you want? Do you want to die, Gohan?"

Feeling the last of the intense Majin magic wearing off, Gohan blasted his way out of the rubble. He powered up to his absolute maximum, his father's words striking a chord somewhere deep within him.

This would be his last stand- a tribute to his father.

Perfect Buu watched in amusement as the boy's hair faded from blonde to black, a white aura springing to life around him. Letting loose a scream, Gohan felt his latent power finally burst free.

Able to feel his energy all the way in Otherworld, Goku and King Kai jumped in surprise, and their telepathic connection ended when Goku's hand fell of King Kai's back.

"No way," King Kai exclaimed.

"What?" Goku asked. "What was that? Is that still Gohan?"

Nodding in disbelief, King Kai reasoned, "That power boost your son got from Babidi- it must've helped him break through his ceiling."

"What!" Goku cried out. "You mean he's a Super Saiyan 3?

"No," the Kai said. "He's already far past that. This- whatever this is- It's past Gohan's limits."

"I always knew he had a hidden power, but…" Goku trailer off, in awe.

Sweat formed on King Kai's brow. "Well, he was the first Saiyan hybrid ever born," the deity revealed. "It was a big deal to the Kais. We didn't know what to expect, so we took some… precautionary measures."

Goku's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You mean... he never told you?" King Kai questioned, face pale.

"Told me what?"