Chapter 38

The fighters and their opponents had all lifted themselves up from the ground and were now fighting high up in the air.

Their opponent´s auras were all glowing with the dark energy Demigra had gifted to them and made their power even stronger than it had been before.

The slightest fraction of their power, they all knew, if they did not kept perfect control of it, could easily rip the planet apart. So it was saver, at least a bit, to bring at least some distance between themselves and the ground.

One of the few exceptions was Cabba, who was now like most of the others starring at what had happened to Gohan.

Had part of this been his fault? he asked himself.

It was the Demon he had let escape who had distracted Gohan and made it easier for this obviously parasitic creature to get to him.

But on the other side, none of them had even known about this creature that had been hiding inside the giant monster.

It didn´t really matter right now. What mattered was that the creature did get him.

What Cabba missed was that, while he was being distracted by what happened to Gohan, the Second Generation Demon he had beaten had come up again and was now aiming at his back.

In the last split-second he sensed the ki blast the Demon was charging up. But it was already too late to turn around and deflect the shot. Given the power difference between them, it would probably not cause any real damage, even if it hit him right into the back,

but being shot was still not a good idea... and it would cost him energy to get out of being hit by it unscathed.

But before the Demon could even fire the blast, he himself was hit by an attack that pierced right through his chest and let him drop down dead. It was Piccolo´s Hell Spirale.

Cabba noticed that the Namek was standing a few meters beside him.

Piccolo had overpowered his opponent Mira for a moment and then seen the Demon aiming at Cabba from behind.

"You should be more careful," Piccolo said. "It was just a weak opponent this time, but the next it might be different."

"Yes - thank you," Cabba replied.

But Mira had followed Piccolo down to the ground and was already charging at him again from the other side.

"You think a bunch of lower creatures like you could beat me?" he shouted.

Piccolo´s aura was suddenly shimmering red from the use of God Ki, to that his skin was suddenly glowing in a orange color.

"You are the lower creature here," he said, while he grabbed Mira in the move with one hand and punched him in the face with the other.

xxxxxxx

Future Trunks was in a situation that was not much different. Like Cabba he was still fighting on the ground.

After Brinka had moved in to assist him and was now fighting Super Android 18, he was now able to fight Super 17 on his own more or less evenly.

"Not bad Trunks," the fused Super Android commented. "The Trunks I remember fighting was not nearly as strong."

"You two were formed from the Androids from a timeline like my own," Trunks realized, "not from the past ones."

"Right," Super 17 replied.

"He has figured it out," Super 18 said.

She was exchanging punches with Brinka as she said this.

It was like a twisted version of the fight between Eighteen and Ribrianne from the Tournament of Power.

"That is the reason you are so much weaker than your counterparts," Trunks added.

Both Super Androids glared at him at this statement.

"Just kill him 17," Super 18 said. "This Demigra will give us a new planet Earth anyway. With a lot of humans to kill and a group of Z-fighters to play with. We can even fulfill our original mission to kill Son Goku then."

It seemed that the personalities of these fused Androids were not completely identical with the ones from his timeline, Future Trunks thought. The 17 and 18 from his world didn´t give a damn about their mission (or at least were not willing to admit it). This part seemed to come from their artificial copies.

But their malicious personalities seemed at least to have made a heavy impact on their fused selves.

In this moment Trunks sensed the sudden terrifying change in Gohan´s aura, as if it were being overlapped by something else.

And as he took a short look around, he saw the silvery parasit entering and corrupting his body. He could not help but freeze.

And this was a mistake... a deadly one.

In this moment Super 17 leaped forward and landed a vicious blow into his side.

Pain was flashing through Trunks body. He realized that the last blow had broken at least a few rips. Damn it.

"Made a mistake? Too bad." Super 17 said mockingly.

He blasted him at short distance, right into his injured chest.

Trunks fell out of his Super Saiyan Blue form and back into normal Super Saiyan.

"You don´t need to fret," 17 told him, "you will not be the last Trunks that I kill."

"No - you will not," a voice said, as Super 17 was suddenly himself attacked from behind.

Cooler flew into him and rammed both his fists into his back.

Super 17 was thrown aside and slammed hard into the ground.

"Thank you," Trunks said.

"You... who do you think you are?" the Android yelled.

"My name is Cooler. Maybe Demigra has mentioned me?"

"Ah yes - he said you are Freeza´s brother, but weaker than him. So I thought you are no big deal," Super 17 replied.

"You will see, I am not longer weaker than my brother had been."

Cooler was glowing with God Ki.

Then he moved forward and he feigned a punch, but then grabbed Super 17 by his wrists instead, trying to hold him in place.

"Do you really think you are strong enough to hold me?" the Android asked.

"Yes - I can," he answered.

Cooler´s body started to change. He transformed to his final form.

"Wha..." Super 17 called out in surprise.

Cooler moved his grip from his wrists to his hands... and 17 let out a loud scream of pain, as Cooler crushed the energy-absorbers inside his palms.

"How - how dare you..." the Android hissed.

"Trunks," Cooler said, "go and get yourself a Senzu Bean and see what had happened to Gohan. We will be taking care of these two here."

"Yes - do that," Brinka called out as well as she dodged a blast from 18.

"Okay," Trunks replied.

He didn´t want to leave his allies to fight these Androids by themselves, but he also wanted to help Gohan. And in his state he was not much help anyway.

Besides, it looked like these two could deal with the Super Androids.

xxxxxxx

Goku had sensed what was happening to his son as well from the distance. But he had still his hands full with Saek and could right now do nothing to help.

He and Seventeen were now fighting Saek and Towa high up in the the sky, nearly in the orbit.

The now possessed Gohan, Eighteen and Cell´s even more monstrous successor were also fighting high up in the air, but not as high as Goku and the others... and in some distance away from them.

At other places Broly was still struggling with Rum and Kefla with Broly´s evil double.

Goku had now activated Ultra Instinct. But his opponent was using it as well.

"Tell me," Goku said, "why are you serving Demigra?"

Saek didn´t answer.

"I know he is your father. But you realize that he is no longer the person he once had been," Goku stated. "We have heard from the Grandpriest what happened to your old universe," he told him.

"But Demigra is bringing death and destruction to all the others now. He is evil. I can tell you are not."

"You don´t understand," Saek replied.

He fired a couple of blasts at Goku, which he evaded.

"What do I not understand?" Goku asked.

"Lord Demigra will make things different. Something like this will not happen again."

"Do you truly believe this? How many worlds have you already seen destroyed by him? Do you really think it will be better with him?" Goku shouted.

"That´s a good point," Seventeen called out, while he was fighting Towa.

She had just formed a group of three apparation of herself made of ki energy to distract him. But it didn´t work on Seventeen. Even if he couldn´t easily sense the difference between herself and the doubles naturally, the sensors Doctor Gero had given to him could.

"You realize that this will never work on an Android," he commented.

His hands ripped through the doubles like paper.

"Really?" she shot forward, trying to land a punch on him.

"Really," Seventeen confirmed as he caught her arms with his own and held her on distance.

Saek had said nothing to Goku´s question so far.

"You are wasting your time," he said. "I have been at my father´s side for hundreds millions of years," he finally replied.

"Let me try to help my son," Goku finally said to him.

Saek hesitated for a moment. Then a smile formed on his face.

"Letting you go to your son?" he said. "Maybe I could. But you realize then I would just fight another opponent during that time. Do you think Seventeen here can deal with two of us at once?"

Goku gritted his teeth.

If we wanted to do anything for Gohan, someone else needed to take care of one of the Angels here.

xxx

At the same time Vegeta was busy exchanging attacks with Moro.

Better said after a few blows to test the other out, Moro had begann to use his magic to absorb Vegeta´s energy.

Vegeta in return just used Forced Spirit Ficcion to force some of the energy Moro had already absorbed out of him.

Moro chuckled.

"They have told me about this technique, but I had not thought it would be this effective," he admitted. "I guess we will have to see who is faster, me taking your energy or me taking yours."

So they started a strange contest of it.

It was then when Vegeta sensed Gohan´s situation. But like Goku and the others, he had his hands full.

xxx

"You... You are not Gohan - who are you?" Eighteen called out.

While she was asking this, she was dodging a couple of attacks from Cell Max.

"Who I am? Yes - that is the question, isn´t it?" the creature answered from Gohan´s mouth, chuckling. "You can call me Beby."

"Beby?" she asked incredulous.

"Someone called Number 18 is hardly in a position to critizise it," the creature replied sardonically. "But seriously - I have no real problem with you Android. Why don´t you and your brother just change sides and join us. We will win either way."

`Beby´ made a small gesture and the giant Cell Max suddenly stopped in his movement and halted his attack.

"It is just the Saiyans that I want."

"The Saiyans?"

"Yes - it is my destiny, the sense of my existence, the great revenge I am about to take in the name of my people," he announced.

One of the races the Saiyans had destroyed, Eighteen thought. The rest what he said however reminded her all too much of Doctor Gero.

"You and your brother however, you are very impressive," Beby said. "In fact you two remind me of my own creations. You would be very valuable. I am sure Demigra will offer you your own universe as well. Or we could work together. The technology of my race, combined with your could make us all even more powerful. And we could create more of your kind."

"Forget it you freak," Eighteen replied.

"As you wish," Beby/Gohan said scowling. "It would have been a nice thought. Too bad... for you."

He and the by him controlled Cell Max both unleashed a volley of ki blasts at Eighteen from two sides at the same time.

She raised up an Android Barrier to block the onslaught before it reached her. She was glad that she had learned that technique from Seventeen.

But Gohan/Beby just laughed. His form was suddenly changing. The silvery liquid that made Beby´s true self was now moving over and covering Gohan´s entire body, including his skin. His eyes were covered and replaced by two window-like technological sensors made of some kind of a bluish glass.

And his power grew even higher than before as Beby´s own energy, the energy he had already absorbed from countless other beings from this universe and the one Demigra had granted him and Gohan´s merged completely into one.

This transformation was the final stage of his evolution. Instead of a body he just possessed, one he had completely merged with and shaped into his own image.

Now Gohan-Beby fired an even stronger, concentrated blast at her.

At the same time, the Cell-like monster growled and charged up an even more powerful blast that it fired from it´s mouth.

Both kept up firing their attacks, that was strong enough to threaten even the life of an Angel and that clashed with Eighteen´s barrier, which was starting to crack under their combined aussault.

Damn, Eighteen thought. When her barrier fell she would be in the center of the explosion. She had to get out of there.

Eighteen let herself fall into Ultra Instinct. With her last conscious command to her body she lowered the barrier.

She dodged the blast that was closer to her and moved away right before the two attacks collided with each other.

Less than a second later she errected another barrier around the resulting explosion, trying to contain it somewhat.

It managed to stop the worst of it it, before this barrier broke as well, but the remaining force of the explosion still send a shockwave through the entire atmosphere and cause the surface miles below them to shake.

It hit Eighteen as well, who used her energy to protect herself - in opposite to Seventeen she was not able yet to form two barriers at once.

But Beby used the short moment that she was off-guard, trying to contain the force of the two colliding blasts to shoot at her again.

This time she had no chance to evade the attack. Beby´s blast hit her right into the stomach. It burned her shirt and her skin. But as incredibe powerful as the blast was, it did not manage to cause greater damage.

But in the next moment Beby´s puppet Cell Max appeared beside her and landed a terrifying blow at her with it´s large claws that send her flying downwards.

xxxxxxx

Meanwhile Towa had drawn back a small distance from Seventeen, while Goku was talking to Saek.

Not because she feared the Android of course. Instead she had materialized her staff in her hand and was now conjuring a large sphere of dark energy, just at the point where Goku and Seventeen were standing.

Seventeen however realized what she was intending and moved closer to Goku and raised a barrier around both of them and keep the energy-sphere that was growing around them at distance.

"Goku," Seventeen asked him, "are you ready to break out?"

"Yes. Kamehame... ha!" Goku charged up his energy.

Seventeen lowered his barrier and both of them fired ki attacks in different directions, that ripped through Towa´s dark energy-sphere and caused it to collapse in itself.

"You," Towa hissed as she saw how easily the two had broken her trap.

In this moment they saw Eighteen falling down after being attacked by both Beby-Gohan and Cell Max and Goku decided he had enough.

He used Instant Transmission to transport both him and Seventeen away.

Of course he could not lock it on Eighteen, so he used Piccolo´s energy instead who was below her and then they flew upwards to catch the falling Eighteen.

Seventeen and Goku caught her in the fall and sank with her down to the ground, right next to Piccolo, Cabba and the very beaten up Mira, who was kneeling on the ground before them.

"Do you have a Senzu Bean?" Goku asked Piccolo.

"Yes." He gave it to Goku, who laid it into the mouth of the injured Eighteen, who then recovered instantly.

Seventeen then released her to the ground.

"Thanks," she said. "Just let me get another go at these bastards."

"We need to find a way to free Gohan," Seventeen pointed out.

"I only had three of the Beans, so two are left now," Piccolo said. "As you remember, we thought it was unwise to leave all of them with the same person."

"Yes right? Who have you given the rest?" Goku asked.

"Gohan," Piccolo replied darkly.

"That´s just great," Eighteen commented.

xxxxxxx

Vegeta and Moro continued their contest to take each others energy.

Moro stole Vegeta´s and he forced it out of him again.

"How long do you think you can keep this up?" Moro asked him. "I just use my magic and all my energy get automatically refilled. You however loose energy and put strain on your body automatically every time you use your technic. And you are getting only a part of it back. Admit it, you are on the loosing side here."

"You know? you are right," Vegeta replied. "I will stop toying with you."

He transformed into Super Saiyan Four... and moved forward, so fast that it shocked Moro.

Vegeta now flew forward to fast for him to react and landed one quick punch on him after the other. Each blow was combined with Forced Spirit Ficcion, which cut more and more of the stolen energy out of him.

With every hit Moro was getting weaker and was taking more damage.

But as Moro was struggling and close to fall, Gohan´s figure suddenly appeared behind Vegeta and blasted him into the back.

"You..." the injured Vegeta said, "who are you?" The blast had left a visible injury on his back, even on his Super Saiyan Four body, allthough he was not at full strength.

"The same question again. You will know very soon... Vegeta," Beby told him.

But before either of them could say or do anything more, Goku, Seventeen and Eighteen, Piccolo and Cabba suddenly appeared next to them per Instant Transmission.

"Vegeta." Goku gave him a Senzu Bean.

This was possibly not the smartest thing right in front of the enemy who had the rest of them. But without it Vegeta would not be much of a help any longer and given that this parasyt controlled Gohan´s body, he probably already knew about them anyway.

"I will take care of that guy," Eighteen said pointing at Moro.

"And I of this Cell reject," Piccolo and started to grow his body until he was the same size as Cell Max.

"And I will try to hold them off," Seventeen pointed upwards, where Towa and Saek were approaching them again.

He flew upwards. Like years ago against Jiren, he created a line of wide barriers, one place before the other, to keep the two Angels at distance.

He knew even this would not stop them for long. But it bought some time for the others for their current fights, before they had to deal with the two Angels again.

xxx

In this moment Future Tunks arrived next to them. He starred in horror at the thing Gohan had become. What had happened?

The others saw the state he was in.

"Trunks," Goku called out and threw the last Senzu Bean at him.

But before it has reached him, Beby-Gohan fired a small blast and disintigrated it.

"Kakarot - you fool," Vegeta called out.

"So this Beans really work as well as Demigra´s information and my host´s memories suggest," Beby stated. He took something out from his liquified skin. It was the bag with the other beans. "Good to know." With a short burst of energy, he burn and vaporized this beans as well.

"It seems no quick recovery for you anymore Saiyans." He laughed. "So you are now all here with me. You don´t know how happy I am about that."

"Release my son," Goku told him.

"I think not. You are reluctant to attack him after all. Besides, I hear your Gohan screaming from inside his own body and... I like it."

Goku gritted his teeth in anger.

"Now - why don´t you come here and fight me? Kill your own son to have a good fight, just like a good Saiyan would do it," Beby said to him.

"What are you talking about?" Cabba called out. "You are the one who has taken over his body and is holding him hostage - creature."

"I ask the last time, who are you?" Vegeta said. "What do you want from us anyway?"

"What I want? I want to see you bleed. I want to see you suffer - your entire cursed race - until you beg for death... before I finally grand you that wish."

"You are from a race that was destroyed by the Saiyans," Vegeta realized.

"Not just any race. The first race. The one that neither Cold or Freeza had ordered you too. It was your Grandfather Vegeta the 2nd, who had started the genocide. It was your father Vegeta the 3rd who finished it," Beby stated.

"The Tsufuru," Vegeta said, "but you are not one of them."

"Oh - I am more than just one of them. I was the embryo of an artificial lifeform, made from the cells of the king of the Tsufuru-race himself. I am Beby - the infant of a new-born improved race of Tsufuru and the incarnation of their revenge."

"Is that...?" Cabba asked.

"Yes," Vegeta said in a hard and grim tone, "the race native of the planet the saiyans of Universe 7 had taken over after Planet Sadalah had been destroyed."

Here is the new chapter. It takes the spotlight from Demigra for some time and concentrates on Beby instead. A mini-arc inside the larger one in a sense.

The fights of the other characters that are not focussed on here are continuing parallel to this ones.