The Rise of a Protector

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Wracked with guilt over Goku's death and blessed with a new power from the god of dragons, read as Gohan struggles with life, love, puberty, fulfilling his destiny, and above all, protecting the people he loves and his world. Please read each chapter until the very end and check for authors notes. Gohan x Kagome, OC x Erasa.

39. World War Z Part III: Trump Cards Arrive

Goku was left panting heavily as he powered back down to his base form 'Perfect… I got him… Still though, I guess Vegeta was right when he said that this form was a huge stamina drain that you can only feel once you power back down.'

Frieza climbed back onto the rocks, gasping for air, then struggled back onto his feet and glared at Goku with nothing but sheer hatred "You wretched…"

"I told you that you were gonna run out of gas, it's your fault for not listening to me. Now take my advice and get out of here, that way you can live to fight another day."

That just enraged Frieza even more.

"I'll be here waiting for a rematch when you're ready, I can promise you that."

The damn finally burst and Frieza let out a shriek at the top of his lungs "DAMN YOU!" with that shriek came an immensely powerful shockwave, causing turmoil in the ocean and catching it in a vortex "WHY?! WHY?! THIS SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING! I AM LORD FRIEZA!" he then fell to his knees.

Goku blitzed in front of him, still in his base form keep in mind "It's over."

"Yes it is… for you!" Frieza suddenly fired a blast from a ring he had been wearing on his finger, blasting Goku straight through the chest.

Goku coughed up some blood and collapsed to the ground.

Frieza let out a malicious chuckle as he got to his feet "Good thing for contingency plans right Goku? As if I would allow even the slightest chance of losing to you again." he then proceeded to kick Goku when he was down repeatedly as a way of getting the rage out, only to realize that he was unconscious, so he kicked him over "Wake up, torture is no fun if I can't hear you scream." he stomped down on the whole made by the ring, causing Goku to scream in pain and agony, then promptly kicked him into the cliffside "Your obsession with showing me leniency borders on the pathological, you're too strong for your own good and it's made you overconfident, a fearless fool who insists on second chances and ambitually lowers his guard and leaves himself wide open. Here lies one of the strongest mortals the cosmos has ever seen felled by a common ray gun, how pitiful does that feel? Now you're the one lying on the ground and facing defeat, you may have won the battle but you lost the war and now the dream that I clung to in that wretched cocoon is finally at hand."

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Bardock couldn't be more jaw dropped 'What… What just happened? For a second Bojack was about to unleash some full power or whatever, then the next thing me or any of us know he's a pile of ash on the ground. What the hell just happened?"

"That would be me?"

Krillin was the first one to spot a shadowy figure "G-Gohan?"

Sure enough, Gohan appeared from within the smoke "Small talk is gonna have to wait, do you have any Senzu Beans with you?"

"Y-Yeah, I've only got one though."

"That'll have to do, thanks." so Gohan promptly snatched the Senzu Bean and blitzed away via Instant Transmission, leaving everyone else in a stupor.

Raditz could only blink 'Who would've thought, my own nephew who I captured and then tried to kill would end up becoming the Dragon Saiyan of legend. It's weird how things work out isn't it?'

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Frieza held out a hand to Goku and began charging one final Death Beam "Now to pick the fruit of my labor, the sweet fruit known as revenge!" then he noticed a Ki blast behind shot towards him faster than he could blink and quickly retreated back in order to dodge it "What?! Who dares?"

"That would be me." a figure appeared in front of him, clad in a purple blue colored gi similar to that of Piccolo but somewhat larger, a red obi, white shin guards and black shoes "It's been a long time Frieza, not long enough for my taste though."

Frieza was quick to control his rage and smirked "So the prodigal son makes his triumphant return from the grave just in time to save his beloved father."

"And to ice an ugly arrogant space lizard."

"You…" Goku rasped out "Gohan… You're alive…"

"And you're a wreck for the sole reason that you let your guard down, we've all tried to warn you this would happen time and time again and yet here you are. I guess you always will be naive and foolish." Gohan promptly knelt down beside Goku and placed the Senzu Bean in his mouth.

Goku swallowed it and stood back up "Thanks Gohan, you really saved my skin."

"You can thank me by staying out of this battle, I'm gonna finish what you started. Besides, I've been wanting to try something out."

"Alright, go ahead. I owe you that much." and so Goku retreated to the sidelines.

"Now then, where were we?"

Frieza let out a scoff "Honestly boy, you're as arrogant as that fool Vegeta if you think that you have a chance at stopping me from claiming my revenge. Any sort of swing you take at me will surely miss, you're not in my league. You weren't on Namek, you aren't now, and you never will be."

"Is that so?" Gohan flared his Mystic white aura, which began crackling with blue electricity all over "That's right, you had no idea did you Frieza? I've been a Super Saiyan for years, and now I've gone farther than that ever could."

Once again losing his shit, Frieza fired a Ki blast.

Gohan deflected the blast with ease and just kept walking forward.

Frieza then grew even more desperate and began firing a furious barrage of Ki blasts with every ounce of strength he had left. You know, the one that guys always fire right before they lose any battle ever.

Gohan walked through without a scratch "Come on Frieza, when has this ever worked for anyone ever in all of history?" then his expression hardened "I don't exactly share my father's taste for forgiveness to the same extent that he feels it but I don't exactly enjoy being as cold or ruthless as Vegeta, and I'm a hell of a lot more pragmatic than either of them. I'm not the kind of guy who wastes time, I'm sending you back to Hell."

"Oh very humorous, you say that as if you could."

"Watch me." Gohan blitzed forward and slugged Frieza in the gut full force, causing him to cough up blood.

Once again letting his rage get the better of him, Frieza charged forward with a furious barrage of attacks.

Gohan dodged them all without breaking a sweat and slugged Frieza in the face, kicked him in the gut and sent him skidding back.

Frieza charged wildly with a rapid barrage of kicks.

Gohan laid a short yet very effective barrage of punches and one final kick to the gut,quickly sending Frieza crashing into the cliffside.

Frieza emerged from the cliffside only to realize that he had lost his Golden form and reverted back to his final form, and promptly fell to his knees in disbelief "No, this can't be real! This is not the way this ends!" he repeatedly punched the ground in frustration.

Gohan slowly walked forward and held out a hand "You should at least try to face your death with some sense of honor. And one more thing, don't dream of coming back again."

Frieza let out a snarl, then got an idea that came with a malicious smirk "You and your miserable kind can all go to Hell without me-"

"Nope." Gohan's foot collided with Frieza's face as he then caught Frieza by the neck "That's always how it's going to be with you isn't it? If you can't kill the warrior then you kill the planet, it sounds easy enough doesn't it?"

Frieza's only reply was angry kicking and flailing.

"Please, you should at least give me some credit. I love my father, but I'm a hell of a lot smarter than he is and I know that there's one big problem with that strategy." his grip tightened "Even if your little plan succeeded and you killed the planet, you still wouldn't have been able to kill me. I might not be able to breathe in space like you can, but that doesn't mean I can't withstand the explosion of a planet as I am right now. I would be able to last a good few minutes by simply holding my breath, more than enough time to deal you retribution for what you would've done. You would've taken the lives of my father, my mother, my younger brother, my mentor, my best friend, the love of my life, and everyone else on Earth!" he threw Frieza into the cliffside once again "And unlike my dad or Vegeta, I won't give you the chance." he cupped his hands, blue Ki building between his palms "Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HAAA!" he fired a full power Kamehameha.

Frieza tried to push it back, but he didn't realize he was disintegrating until it was too late, and his last words only came out as an inaudible scream of rage and agony.

Gohan cancelled out his blast to check, and smirked triumphantly 'I can't sense his Ki anymore, Frieza's really gone. Perfect, now all that's left is Buu, Janemba and Magatsuhi.'

"Gohan." that was when Goku came over to him "That was- That was amazing! You took him out like it was nothing and you barely broke a sweat!"

"Didn't actually, guys like Frieza aren't worth it." he was about to blitz away.

"Gohan wait."

He stopped.

"Are you going to fight Magatsuhi now?"

"...No, not yet. First I'll have to save Piccolo and Kagome and everyone else from Janemba, then I'll go fight Magatsuhi. I'm the only one who can."

"I see." in a surprising move, Goku wrapped his arms around Gohan "Good luck son, I have faith that you'll win."

"Thanks dad, that means more to me than you know."

"Hey Gohan?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you say once you beat this guy and everything settles down, how about the three of us, you, me and Goten, go fishing together again just like old times?"

"...Yeah sure, I'd like that." and with that, Gohan disappeared through Instant Transmission.

'Who would've thought, after spending my entire life protecting the Earth it ends up being threatened by an enemy set solely on destroying my son. It's weird how things work out, but then I again I did pass the torch onto him. I guess he never gave it back even after I was brought back to life.'

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Piccolo had been quick to use his regeneration to fix his wounds after having his stamina restored by Kagome "Thanks, I owe you one."

"So what about that Janemba creature?" asked Koga "Is it dead?"

"Sorry, but it doesn't look like that's the case. Just take a look." he pointed to where Janemba lay, severely disfigured after taking Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon but still alive.

"Oh shit."

"Pretty much."

Janemba was about to advance on the three of them when his body suddenly froze up again, then let out a furious shriek at the top of his lungs, his black aura flaring so wildly it was shaking the very heavens.

'This is bad, his power is shooting even higher than it was before, not to mention I'm feeling some kind of traces of that other massive evil power from before.' then Piccolo felt the realization hit him 'Is Janemba using that other power as a host of some kind?'

That was when Sesshomaru dropped in, with Inuyasha, Sango, Cooler and Shippo "Piccolo."

"Sesshomaru."

"It appears that this creature is growing even more powerful."

"Looks that way."

"You were outclassed."

"Even after fusing with 3 other Namekians, two of whom were actually stronger than me. We've got our work cut out for us."

"Clearly." Sesshomaru looked over towards Janemba "He's coming, prepare yourself."

"Right."

Janemba slowly walked forward, his body now completely black and purple, his voice warped and mangled in a way that disturbed everyone present greatly "I… am… a god…"

"Damn." Inuyasha muttered "Just looking at that thing makes my eyes burn. I know this thing was way too strong the last time we fought it and it's even strong now, but I don't think anything deserves to be that powerful. Or that ugly."

"No time for wisecracks." Piccolo said dryly "That thing is using one of the other Kings of Destruction as a sort of host and combined their powers to an extent, lucky for us though I don't think he's tapped into the full combined power yet so we might have a chance to take him down if we're careful."

Janemba let out an insane cackle as he brought down his deformed claw, forcing all of those gathered to scatter into the air, his claws slicing through rocks like butter, carving through the surface of the Earth itself.

"Damn, that thing is even faster now." Koga muttered.

Janemba then burst forward out of nowhere, sprouting gooey tentacles all over his body at random, striking Sango first, with Kagome following suit.

"Get away from them!" Piccolo burst forward and fired an Explosive Demon Wave at full power, the blast slamming into Janemba head on.

Janemba let out a shriek upon impact and was pushed back a great distance by the sheer force of the blast.

'So at least this thing can still be damaged, his raw power shot up like a rocket but his defense and durability clearly aren't as high as they were before.'

Janemba suddenly blitzed in front of Piccolo and slashed at him with his deformed claws, sending him flying through the air, then let out a deafening shriek that resulted in a shockwave that could be felt for miles around, leaving most of those present almost completely disoriented.

Piccolo himself was one of the few able to stand 'Come on Gohan, Kai, what are you guys doing? We could seriously use some backup right now.'

Janemba blitzed in front of Koga, Kagome and Sango and sent them all hurtling away with a mere sweep of his hand.

"Special Beam Cannon!" Piccolo fired off a Special Beam Cannon with whatever strength he could muster, drilling straight down on Janemba's arm.

Janemba let out a yowl of pain and sent Piccolo flying to the heavens with a mere sweep of his hand.

"Now!" Sesshomaru was quick to cross the distance and brought Bakusaiga down, striking Janemba in his left eye.

Janemba shrieked in white hot agony and clutched his eye with one hand, leaving him wide open from the left side.

"Meido Zangetsuha!" Inuyasha burst forward and fired a barrage of Meido Blades from his Tessaiga, though it only managed to rip off one of Janemba's arms and the entire left side of his ribcage, exposing a sort of gooey black substance inside of it.

Janemba let out yet another howl of pain as he gripped that gooey black substance.

'Now!' seizing the chance, Piccolo charged forward, having been charging his Ki into his fingertips this entire time "SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" he fired a Special Beam Cannon with every ounce of strength he could "Now Shippo, do it!"

"Right! Foxfire: Fox Howl!" Sango fired off a large blast of fire, slamming it into Janemba's already heavily damaged left side, the combined force between that and the Special Beam Cannon causing Janemba's shoulders to crack apart even further.

Janemba let out yet another shriek of pain, before his head did a complete 180 degree twist and he fired two Eye Beams, one of them being significantly weaker than the others, knocking both Piccolo and Shippo away into the horizon.

Then he set his sights on Koga and Sango.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango flung Hiraikotsu towards Janemba as hard and as fast as she was able to, only to be knocked across the sky faster than she was able to even blink.

This was when Koga had an idea 'Gohan and Piccolo both said that insults hurt this thing before, I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least check and see if that still applies. Ugly bastard! Filthy monster! Deformed jackass!"

Janemba just stared at him, tiny cracks forming along his body, but he either didn't notice or didn't care as he charged forward and slashed Koga across the chest, then kicked him in the jaw and sent him flying clear through the clouds.

"Dragon Burst!" Sesshomaru charged forward and fired off a full power Dragon Burst from his Bakusaiga.

Janemba knocked Bakusaiga out of Sesshomaru's hand and slapped him in the face with his tail, sending him tumbling back.

"Enough!"

Janemba looked up and saw a white and purple spiked figure floating above him, holding a large sphere of orange Ki, with only one name coming to mind 'Cooler…'

Sure enough, Cooler was floating above him and charging a Death Ball "I've had just about enough of you, I'm going to put an end to this right now!" he fired off the Death Ball at full power.

That was when Piccolo blitzed beside him "Cooler!"

"No time to talk right now Piccolo, you have to hurry and attack him with whatever strength you have left!"

"Right! SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" Piccolo fired a Special Beam Cannon with all of the strength he had left, which was a lot considering how much power he had gained from the fusion with Saonel and Pirina.

Janemba cracked open his jaw and unleashed a full power Hell Gate blast.

"Dragon Burst!"

"Heavenly Spear!"

"Wolf Death Storm!"

"Backlash Wave!"

Four more attacks joined the fray, increasing the combined attack power to titanic proportions, but overall the combined blasts only managed to slow the attack speed of the Hell Gate blast to that of a mere crawl.

"Now!" Sango and Kohaku zoomed in, firing off Hiraikotsu and a chain sickle enhanced by Kohaku's own Ki, finally succeeding in their attempts to halt the advancement of the Hell Gate blast.

'Come on, come on, COME ON!' Piccolo scraped together whatever Ki he had left and poured it into his Special Beam Cannon, eventually managing to turn the tide of the beam struggle as the combined power of the attacks finally began pushing back Janemba and his Hell Gate blast, closing the distance one inch at a time.

Unfortunately it didn't last, seeing how this prompted Janemba to use his absolute maximum power, the Hell Gate suddenly pushing the combined attack back full speed, sending everyone flying, and he let out a menacing and triumphant laugh.

Piccolo struggled to lift his head and looked around 'Sesshomaru… Inuyasha… Koga… they're all down… I'm the only one left…' he saw Kagome struggling to inch forward 'Correction, I'm one of the only two left but like me she can't even stand…'

Janemba opened his mouth.

'No!' Piccolo struggled towards Kagome and collapsed to his knees in front of her, but he remained firm.

Kagome looked up, her eyes wide and the sight "Piccolo… What are you…"

"I know for a fact that I would never be able to face Gohan if I let anything happen to you while he was gone… He's my student after all…"

Janemba fired his Hell Gate.

'This is it… Forgive me… I'm sorry… Gohan…" Piccolo raised and crossed his arms as he shut his eyes, awaiting the inevitable.

But it never came. Instead, all that came was a cry of "Masenko!" followed by a loud crashing sound.

Piccolo opened his eyes and saw various silhouettes surround him, consisting of Nail, Kami, King Piccolo, Saonel and Pirina 'All of them…'

Kami pointed forward without uttering a single word.

'What?' Piccolo looked ahead and his eyes shot wide "G-Gohan…"

Sure enough, Gohan stood in front of Piccolo with one arm crossed over his chest, the other extended outwards from firing the Masenko "I'm sorry I'm so late, but better late than never right?"

"Gohan… I thought you were-"

"Dead? Well both me and Kai would've been if it wasn't for the help of Supreme Kai and Kibito, but that's all in the past. I think it's time to start focusing on the here and now."

'That's Gohan alright but something has changed about him, he's carrying himself differently and he has a whole new look in his eyes but it's so much more than that. I thought Kai was far stronger than before, but now Gohan is in a completely different class. It's not even

"I met with my dad, Krillin, Raditz, Bankotsu and a couple of others before I came here, but where's everyone else. Where's everyone else?"

"Well from what I've been able to gather 17 was off with Miroku battling Android 13, Vegeta is with Tien and Yamcha fighting Turles and Slug, Future Trunks is off with Trunks and Goten fighting Cell, and your mother and Bulma and everyone else are hidden up on the Lookout."

"I see. Well at least I know that they're all safe, and the ones that are fighting down here are all still alive. I'm proud of you and the others for fighting as hard as you have, but your part in this war is done. Just stay back and keep an eye on Kagome and the others Piccolo, I'll take this battle from here."

"You'll what? You can't be serious Gohan, me and Kagome and everyone else were being toyed with by this thing and you expect me to let you fight him on your own?"

"Fight him? Oh don't get the wrong idea Piccolo, that's not my intention. I'm not going to fight that thing, I'm going to kill him." he slowly walked forward and faced Janemba "I can't say I ever expected to have to fight you again, and you're also even more ugly than I remember you being."

Janemba picked himself up off the ground, then let out a furious roar and powered up to his absolute maximum.

"So that's what happens when you get serious, I'll admit that you've grown a lot more powerful than I expected. Still though, this will be enough to deal with you. Ryuken 3x!" Gohan activated his Ryuken technique, then suddenly burst forward and slugged Janemba.

Piccolo looked on in disbelief 'No way… He's so fast!'

Gohan charged forward.

Janemba charged and let a fist fly.

Gohan pushed the fist out of his way and slugged Janemba straight in the gut as hard as he possibly could "It won't work. I don't care how much power you have from having Hirudegarn sealed inside your body, it doesn't have a hope in hell of standing up to the level of power I wield now." he blocked a kick and dealt a furious barrage of punches and kicks of his own, one slug to the jaw sending him flying into the air and forcing Gohan to follow him, two more punches pushing him even higher into the sky "I don't have the time or the patience to deal with you right now, I'll end this battle in one shot." he blitzed back to the ground and cupped his hands at his side, blue Ki gathering between his palms "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

Janemba stopped himself in mid air and fired a Hell Gate blast with every ounce of strength he had.

"HAAAAAAAAAAA!" Gohan fired a Ryuken enhanced Kamehameha, pushing back Janemba's Hell Gate blast with ease, before he put even more power into the blast, easily engulfing Janemba and obliterating him before he could even blink.

Piccolo just watched in disbelief 'Unbelievable, that monster was just toying with all of us but Gohan just wiped him from the face of the Earth like it was nothing.'

"Can you stand Piccolo?"

"What?" he was snapped out of his thoughts.

"Can you stand?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Can you fly?"

"Yeah."

"Then I want you to take Kagome and everyone else here back to the Lookout so Dende can heal them."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to end this war myself." he placed two fingers on his forehead.

"Gohan wait, even as strong as you are now do you really think you can win against Magatsuhi?"

"I don't think I can, I know I can. Anyway, if you still wanna help then once you've gotten everyone else back to the Lookout you can go help Kai fight Buu. He's fighting one on one too you know, and I'll be damned if I don't make sure that one of my friends fighting on their own can win." and with that, Gohan burst off into the skies towards the location of the final battle, in which he would face Magatsuhi.

With this in mind, Piccolo created clones of himself to carry Kagome and everyone else back to the Lookout.

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Erasa was rather concerned as she followed Videl through the skies and touched the ground "I don't know Videl, this just doesn't seem like a good idea."

Videl let out a snort "Does it look like I care? You forget that I'm the Satan City champion of justice, I can't just sit around and do nothing when that fat pink blob is about to blow it to bits like Dende said."

"Yeah but-" she paused when she saw people panicking and running like hell, though one of the people collapsed on the ground, one she recognized "Sharpner!"

Hearing someone calling his name, Sharpner struggled to lift his head "Videl… Erasa… get out of here…"

"Forget it, we're not leaving you." Videl slung his arm over her shoulder "Whoever did this to you is gonna have me to answer to, where is he?"

"It's right… in front of you…"

"Where-" Videl looked and saw Buu standing in front of them "Oh. Oh! Oh crap."

Buu smirked maliciously and fired his Shocking Ball at them.

Videl shut her eyes and looked away, awaiting the inevitable.

"Masenko!"

Videl opened her eyes and saw Buu flying back, but her eyes shot wide when she saw exactly who was responsible for it.

Erasa's eyes watered slightly "Kai…"

Sure enough, Kai stood before them, and he looked back and grinned "Hey ladies, what did I miss?"

"We… We thought that you were…"

"Dead? Please, you couldn't get rid of me if I tried."

They just stared.

"Okay fine, I would be dead if it wasn't for Gohan and the Supreme Kai but all of that is in the past. I think it's high time we start focusing on the here and now."

"You mean you're gonna fight that thing?"

"Fight it? No, I'm gonna kill it. In the meantime, you guys are gonna get the people as far away from here as you can while I try and lure the bubblegum monster over there to the mountain range outside the city. Once that's done, I want you two to head back up to the Lookout and inform everyone else about what's going on."

"Kai you can't seriously go into this alone, you'll get killed!"

"If you were telling me this about 3 or 4 days ago then you'd be right, but you have no idea what I've been through since then. Oh and Erasa, when this is over there's something that I wanna ask you. But that'll be after I win." he to the air and floated over to Buu and pointed "Not here, we do this out there." and he blasted off.

Somehow able to understand what Kai was saying, Buu grinned maliciously and followed after him.

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"Guys."

Dende looked with the rest and saw Piccolo arrive with his clones and everyone else "How did it go?"

"We nearly got killed by Janemba, but then Gohan suddenly appeared and wiped him out in the blink of an eye?"

"Gohan?!" this was when Chichi stormed up to the front "You mean-"

"Yes, he and Kai are both alive and well. Kai is about to fight Majin Buu as we speak, and Gohan is off to confront Magatsuhi."

"What?! But-"

"Chichi you need to face the facts, Gohan and Kai are the best and last chance that we have of ending this war." a new voice cut in.

Piccolo looked and saw Goku appear next to him, his gi torn considerably due to the damage he sustained from his battle with Frieza "Well it looks to me like you're alive and well."

"And I'm just relieved to know that my son is. I just hate that I'm so useless at a time like this. Is this what you guys have felt every time I've gone up against an insanely powerful enemy?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"Well it sucks."

"Tell me about it."

"Hold still Piccolo, this should only take a second." Dende was quick to heal all of the wounds that Piccolo had sustained during the battle with Janemba.

"Thanks." then Piccolo stood "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go help my second student in what may very well be the toughest battle of his life." and he blasted off.

'Piccolo… Kai…' then Goku looked in another direction 'Gohan…'

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Gohan was blasting across the skies of the Earth 'I can sense it, the Ki signatures of both Kai and Buu are on the move just outside of Satan City. Please just hang in there Kai, until I'm finished with Magatsuhi. I'll be there to help you as soon as I can, just don't give in!'

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The battle was about to begin.

Kai began stretching and readying himself for the battle to come 'To be completely honest, I think that Gohan probably could've beaten Buu if he had gone full power and used his Dragon Saiyan 3 form on him but he probably just went for Magatsuhi instead because he thought I should get a chance to prove myself so that I would be prepared for the future. Alright Buu, let's do this."

Buu didn't make any moves.

"You seem pretty calm, especially considering how you're gonna get slaughtered- Is that drool on the ground?"

Yeah it turns out Buu was actually asleep.

"Are you f*cking kidding me?! You're sleeping at a time like this?! It's because of this clown that about 90% of the people on Earth are gone, so I say it doesn't matter if he's awake during this or not. There's hell to pay, and he's gonna pay it! Ryuken 10x!" he activated the 10th level of the Ryuken.

This was when Buu woke up and began beating on his chest like a gorilla.

"What the- Is this guy supposed to be here to fight or not?" Kai blitzed above Buu and kneed him square in the face.

As weird as it may sound, Buu just kept beating his chest.

Kai then kicked Buu in the back of the head, sending him through a plateau.

Buu skidded to a stop and fired a single Ki blast.

Kai easily dodged it and kneed Buu in the gut, elbowed him in the back of the head and kicked him square in the face.

Buu skidded back slightly and growled

"Masenko!" Kai blitzed in front of Buu and fired a Masenko at point blank range, ripping Buu apart in an explosion, leaving an enormous crater in front of him 'It's nowhere near over, it's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to take out something as powerful as that.'

Buu was quick to regenerate in mid air and barked out an insane fit of laughter. Once that was done, he blitzed towards Kai and slugged him in the face, sending him flying, then blitzed above him and fired a Ki blast.

Kai quickly countered the Ki blast with one of his own at the last second.

Buu headbutted Kai square in the forehead.

Kai buried his fist into Buu's gut.

Buu slugged Kai across the face.

Kai aimed a spin kick at Buu's head.

Buu pulled his head into his body, then poked it back out.

Kai slammed his foot into Buu's gut.

Buu charged and aimed a barrage of kicks.

Kai blocked all of them and slammed his hand into the ground to propel his lower body upwards and slam kicked Buu in the head.

Buu fired a Ki blast.

Kai dodged it and fired a Ki blast of his own.

Buu dodged it and fired a second Ki blast.

Kai leapt over it and fired his own second Ki blast.

Buu opened a hole in his stomach for it to go through, then fired yet another Ki blast.

Kai caught it and pushed it upwards, then charged forward.

Buu stuck his foot into the ground and used his Mystic Attack to extend it and kick Kai square in the jaw.

Kai quickly dodged every attempted kick, the attempts ending when he stomped down on one kick and kneed Buu in the face.

Buu caught his ankle and slammed him into the ground, then fired a Ki blast.

Kai bolted to his feet and quickly blocked the attack, then pushed what was left of the blast up into the atmosphere.

Buu charged forward and attempted to slug Kai in the face, and when the didn't work he used his head tentacle to wrap itself around Kai's neck in an attempt to choke him to death and began swinging him around, which ended with Buu letting go and flinging Kai straight into the side of a mountain. Buu then floated down onto the top of the mountain and began doing his gorilla impression again, until he felt the ground beneath him beginning to split apart.

With a furious roar, Kai suddenly pushed both halves of the mountain apart with his bare hands, shattering it entirely "You bastard, I'm not someone you wanna mess with."

Buu blitzed above the planet and then charged down towards Kai at full speed.

Kai braced himself and met the charge, resulting in both of them slugging each other in the face simultaneously, the clash showing such ferocity and intensity that it was causing the ground surrounding them to sink even further.

Buu let out a maniacal laugh as he charged his Vanishing Ball.

'I can't just stand back and let him charge that thing, but if I try to fire at it then he'll probably just absorb it and make his attack even more powerful! Well then I guess there's only one thing to do.' he cupped his hands, blue Ki building between his palms "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

Buu fired his Vanishing Ball forward.

"HAAA!" Kai fired the Kamehameha forward, pushing it up into the atmosphere so that it would detonate harmlessly.

That isn't what happened, instead it came back down.

Kai quickly leapt out of the way to avoid the detonation, warmping the landscape and causing thunderclouds to clap overhead, when he noticed the ground splitting apart 'The entire planet is gonna fall apart at this point! His Ki isn't as power as the likes of Janemba but it's so wild and uncontrollable! He's not that smart to begin with and I'm not even sure that he's as sane as even the likes of Janemba, but his power and speed are out of this world and on top of that he's able to regenerate from any damage almost instantly. Aside from Magatsuhi, out of all of the Kings of Destruction he's definitely the most dangerous. I guess I don't have a choice now, I'll have to push it to the max!' he let out a furious roar and began powering up, his blue aura flaring even higher as it crackled with electricity, only to die down after a moment, and yet he didn't lose that geem in his eyes "Ryuken 20x!" he doubled the already immensely high level of the Ryuken, his power shooting even higher "Alright Buu, let's do this."

Buu grinned maliciously, one thought going through his warped mind 'Kill.' he blitzed forward and slugged Kai in the face.

Kai stopped himself in mid air, then charged forward at full speed.

Buu met the charge and clashed with Kai in mid air, trading even blows and sending various shockwaves throughout the battlefield.

This was when Kai grabbed Buu by the head tentacle, allowing him to deal Buu a furious barrage of punches and kicks

Buu attempted to choke Kai with his head tentacle and began repeatedly headbutting him, then kicked him away.

"Masenko!" Kai fired a Masenko, hitting Buu at point blank range and blowing him to bits.

Buu regenerated, though his body upside down and his head was on the wrong end.

"Go ahead and take your time Buu, you're getting sloppy. It's way too early in this fight for something like that."

Buu quickly fixed himself and began trading even blows with Kai while he was still upside down, ending when he repeatedly slammed his elbow into Kai's spine.

Kai slammed his leg into Buu's jaw.

Buu slammed his leg into Kai's chest, resulting in them once again trading even blows through the skies.

Kai backed up and burst forward and slugged Buu in the face, sending him crashing towards the ground.

Buu stopped himself and burst back upwards using his Mystic Ball Attack, attempting to slam Kai with it.

Kai dodged the second one but was forced on the offensive 'I've got it!' getting an idea, he burst towards the ground and tricked Buu into slamming straight through the surface, then looked at the giant crater left behind by his little scheme 'Where the hell did he go?' he felt the ground shaking like an earthquake and quickly leapt away from the hole, then began blitzing around at random "Dammit, he must be bouncing around down there. He's all over, now I can't tell where or when he's gonna come back up!"

Buu burst back up to the surface directly behind Kai, sending him face down into the dirt.

"...Well I asked for it, I brought that on myself. Dammit, I still can't keep up with him even when I'm using Ryuken 20x! It seems like he can anticipate every move I'm gonna make before I even know. I guess it's all or nothing now.'

Buu charged forward.

"I hope you're ready Buu, I'm giving you all I've got!" Kai slammed his hands together and began charging his Ki "Dragon Cannon!" he fired a full power Dragon Cannon, the blast hitting Buu dead on and blowing him to bits. With that done, Kai fell to his knees, panting to the point where he was gasping for air 'Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea.'

Buu's remains suddenly morphed into thousands of miniature versions of him, who then began firing a barrage of Ki blasts.

Kai was forced to brace himself, but he suddenly powered back down and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion 'This is bad… I'm all tapped out…'

"Kai!" a figure suddenly burst onto the scene and loomed over him.

Kai looked up with what little strength he had at the moment and smiled slightly "Piccolo… you came…"

"Just rest for now, I'll take it from here."

"No…" Kai struggled to crawl forward "You gotta… He's… You have to…"

"Just stop talking and get some rest."

"I can't… his power… it's insane… You have to… be ready… for it…"

"Oh believe me, I will." he burst up towards the Buu mini clones and began fighting them all at once, quickly charging up an Explosive Demon Wave that blew them all to bits.

Buu quickly pulled himself all the way back together and laughed maniacally as he hit Piccolo with a Ki blast and began pummeling him.

Piccolo found that he couldn't even find an opening to defend himself 'His attacks are so fast and so powerful, how the hell was Kai fighting this freak?' he blitzed away from Buu in an attempt to catch his breath, then charged forward with a furious barrage of fists, firing an Explosive Demon Wave that completely shredded Buu's bottom half.

Buu regenerated, the process repeating itself several times.

'Dammit, he's too strong for me!'

Buu extended his leg out to kick Piccolo in the gut, then pulled himself forward and headbutted him, sending him flying into a plateau.

Piccolo opened his eyes and found Buu right in front of him 'It's no use, I'm no match for this monster! I'm outclassed in every way! What can I do?'

Buu then charged a Vanishing Ball.

'This is it, he's going to finish me! Saonel, Pirina, please forgive me. I let you both down after the sacrifices you made.'

"Leave him alone!" Kai blitzed in between Buu and Piccolo and kicked Buu in the face, sending him flying away and dissipating his attack.

"Kai…"

"Thanks for giving me that minute to catch my breath Piccolo but this is my battle, I have to be the one to finish it. Majin Buu is way stronger than anybody I've ever faced before I have no doubt about it, but I'm nowhere near tapped out yet." and he burst towards Buu and powered up his Ryuken 20x again, then began pushing Buu back with a barrage of shockwaves "Alright ugly, now it's time for round 2."

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Piccolo lowered himself to the ground and watched the battle unfold from afar 'It's amazing, your strength is truly incredible Kai. Even after fusing with my father, as well as Saonel and Pirina, Majin Buu is still far too powerful for me, it's really that simple. Gohan isn't here to finish this fight, and Goku, Vegeta and Mirai wouldn't fair much better than I did. Kai, you're the only one who can defeat this creature. You've always been like this, ever since the day I first met you. It was back when we were still training for the androids. Gohan introduced you to me almost 9 years ago and you just seemed like this overly excited little kid who looked like he wanted to worship me. But as time went on and Gohan began teaching you the ways of Ki, I was actually interested in seeing how much you progressed and impressed by how fast you got the hang of it. To be honest, if you were born and at that level when I fought Goku at the World Martial Arts Tournament, or when Goku and I teamed up against Raditz, you would probably have been able to beat either of us in one on one combat. But while Gohan was with Kagome and the others fighting off demons in the Feudal Era you came to me with a request that I had never expected: You asked me to train you and teach you like I taught Gohan. At first I saw you as nothing more than a fodder rival for Gohan, someone to push him to get even stronger, but I realized that you were so much more than that. I hadn't seen that much determination or fighting spirit since I fought Goku at the World Martial Arts Tournament. You were always training until you were half dead, always ready to meet the next challenge, no matter how much bigger it was than you. I watched you willingly put yourself in harms way to help Gohan fight off some of the most powerful beings the universe has ever seen, including the likes of Broly and Janemba, and you were the first one to volunteer to help in the upcoming war against Magatsuhi. I watched you fight against Tien during the first match and I saw just how truly strong you had become, stronger than even me. I would never have thought that possibly for a simple full blooded earthling to be capable of as much power as that. But then I heard that both you and Gohan had been killed by Magatsuhi and his Kings of Destruction, I felt myself being plagued by unending grief. Not just because of Gohan, but because of you as well. I had always thought of Gohan like a son, but then I began to think of you like one as well. I had always wondered what it was that made you as strong as you were, both as a warrior and in character. At first I thought it was your bond with Gohan, that it was your instinct to protect him and stand by him that spurred you on and pushed you beyond your limits, and that was definitely part of it. I've seen enough of that grin and your actions to know just how much he means to you. But I had my own bond with Gohan, one that had been formed long before yours, but that still wasn't the key. It was something else in the way you approached every challenge. I used to live and breath every minute of every day solely for the purpose of killing Goku, it was literally what I was born to do. But you never fought to kill and never held any desires for revenge, you fought only to win, only to test your your skills and push yourself even further beyond your limits and become the strongest you possibly could, for the sole reason that you refused to let yourself fall behind Gohan no matter how much stronger he became as time went on. How is it that a simple earthling fight with such power and at the same time have a soul so pure and gentle that he wouldn't hurt a fly? It frustrates me to no end just thinking about it, although perhaps it's my frustration that's been blinding me to the reality of the situation for so long. I never thought that an earthling would become as strong as you, though perhaps my biased way of thinking was the problem. You're better than me Kai, better than me, Mirai, even Goku and Vegeta, and someday you just might even be better than Gohan. Hang in there Kai, you are the greatest warrior and most powerful earthling this world has ever known, and you have far surpassed even me. I'm truly proud to say that you were my student. Kai, you are my student! Don't you dare lose, not to that monstrosity! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

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Kai heard Piccolo's shouts of support 'Oh I read you loud and clear Piccolo.' he smashed Buu on the head, sending him crashing to the ground.

Buu slammed his foot through the surface, uppercutting Kai with a severe kick to the jaw.

Kai quickly blitzed back to avoid the next barrage of surprise kicks and blitzed behind Buu, then kicked him in the head, causing his body to stretch a great distance.

Buu quickly used this to his advantage as he slingshotted his upper half and headbutted Kai in the head, then leapt back atop a plateau and began charging a familiar looking attack.

"What the- Hey did you steal my Dragon Cannon?"

Buu let out a roar as he fired the Dragon Cannon.

"Dammit!" Kai was forced to block the blast at the last second, being hit dead on and engulfed in a massive explosion.

Buu smirked maliciously, thinking he had finally managed to destroy Kai, only to hear a roar at the top of his lungs in response.

"HYPER DRAGON CANNON!" from within the smoke Kai fired another Dragon Cannon, this one having the power of the Ryuken 20x channeled into it.

Buu attempted to deflect the blast, and he did, but both of his arms had been blown off by the blast, which detonated in the distance.

When the smoke cleared Kai was standing there, top of his gi having been practically shredded by the blast "There, are you taking notes ugly? That's a real Dragon Cannon and not some kind of cheap knockoff."

Buu just looked pissed off and regenerated.

"Dammit. Fine then, it's time to go to round 3!" Kai burst forward.

Buu met the charge, resulting in both of them slugging each other in the face simultaneously and then trading even blows, which ended with them kicking each other in the face.

"Gotcha!"

Buu caught Kai by the leg and swung him around, sending him flying into a plateau, then charged at him in an attempt to finish him.

Kai burst up from the wreckage of the plateau and began firing a barrage of Ki blasts.

Buu attempted to stop him with his hands and feet, only to be caught at four corners and pushed into a corner.

"Masenko!" Kai finished the assault with a Masenko.

Buu finally managed to deflect the blasts back down towards Kai, as well as the Masenko, engulfing Kai in an explosion.

When the blast subsided, Kai was nowhere in sight. See, he was actually above Buu and promptly slammed him down towards the ground.

Buu stopped himself just in time to be slam kicked even further.

"Masenko!" Kai hit the downed form of Buu at point blank range, blasting him deep underground.

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Dende observed the battle between Kai and Buu from the Lookout "Wow, this is absolutely incredible."

"What's going on down there?" asked Goku "How are Gohan and Kai doing?"

"Well Gohan hasn't even started fighting yet but as for Kai, well it's a tough battle but I think he's winning."

"I see." Goku looked down at the Earth below and gripped his fist 'Stay strong Kai, keep fighting for all of our sakes.'

"Perhaps we can be of some assistance?"

Goku looked back and saw Shin and Kibito appear "Supreme Kai, glad to see you're alright."

"All of you as well." Shin placed a crystal ball on the ground now you should be able to witness Kai's battle properly.

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Kai stood after finishing his attack, but was left panting heavily 'Good, at this rate I wasn't sure my stamina was gonna hold out.'

That was when Buu extended his arm from below the surface, grabbed Kai and pulled him down into an underground cave, then began repeatedly slamming him against the cave walls, floor and ceiling.

Kai sat back up and spat out some blood "Far be it for me to deny credit where credit is due Buu, you really are an amazing opponent."

Buu chuckled in a way that made him seem arrogant.

"I'm serious, if I had known that killing you was going to be as hard as this then I would've had Gohan come and fight you while I saved Piccolo and the others from Janemba instead. Still though, it doesn't matter how outclassed I may be. I'll keep fighting until I've got absolutely nothing left. I can't… no… I won't lose!" he burst forward with the sound of a drop of water hitting the cave floor and began hitting Buu with a furious barrage of attacks, not even giving him a chance to breathe, only to soon fall to his knees 'Dammit, the strain of the Ryuken on my body is beginning to get to me.'

Buu just sat where he had been slammed into the ground, whistling nonchalantly.

"Dammit, now my attacks aren't even damaging him and they're barely even slowing him down anymore. What the hell is going on?"

Buu flipped him off.

"Oh that's it! Well how do you like this one ugly?! Dragon Cannon!" Kai fired a Dragon Cannon, blowing Buu to bits and bringing the battle back up to above the ground.

Buu was quick to regenerate, looking like nothing had happened.

"Oh that's just perfect, now he's gonna reform and come right back at me as if nothing had happened. It doesn't matter how many times I blow him apart, he's not losing any of his strength in the slightest!"

"Kai." that was when Piccolo got his attention.

"Oh come on Piccolo, don't tell me you're gonna go back in again already. I've got this one in the bag, just give me a little bit more time."

"You don't have to patronize me Kai, we both know that you never had any intention of letting me fight Buu and you sure as hell don't now. You don't think I'm strong enough to make any kind of difference and to be completely honest I know for a fact that you're right, if he and I were to fight again then it would end with me dead on the ground and him dancing over my corpse."

"Don't be ridiculous Piccolo, that's not what I'm saying at all."

"I'm not a sensitive little kid Kai, I can handle the truth. It only took a moment of watching him in action to see it, he's far stronger than anything I could've imagined. He's in a completely different class from me, and so are you."

"That's not true."

"Don't act like you're struggling against him just to protect my ego, that's Vegeta's thing not mine. You can finish him off on your own, now that you've awakened your true potential to the fullest extent all you have to do is charge your Ki to the fullest that you can and vaporize that little beast."

"What the hell do you think I've been trying to do? I've been trying to find an opening this entire fight! I can't focus my power, I barely have time to react when that little bastard keeps coming at me let alone to think. I only need a full 60 seconds but he'll never give me even half of that."

"Seriously?"

"I guess I bit off more than I could chew, trying to be cool like I could wipe him out all by myself."

"...So you're really in trouble, you're not trying to protect my ego?"

"Like you said, that's Vegeta's thing not yours. Look at that arrogant little shit, he can regenerate faster than I can blink and dances around like he's taunting us. It really pisses me off."

"...You said 1 minute right? You're positive that's enough time to build up the amount of Ki you need to fire an attack powerful enough to finish him?"

"Yeah I think so, 60 seconds should do it."

"Fine, then I'll go ahead and make my stand against him for the next minute so you can charge that attack while he's occupied with me."

"What? But Buu is going to kill you!"

"That doesn't matter right now, what matters is stopping that little beast by any means necessary."

"You saw what he can do Piccolo, this isn't going to work. This is totally insane and you'll just get yourself killed, I'm not one to belittle others but even as strong as you are you won't survive for even that long."

"Face it Kai, what choice do we have left? Can you think of even one other way for this to work?"

"...No."

"Then I suggest you stop whining and start powering up, I know that I can get you that one minute at the very least."

"...Fine by me Piccolo, let's do this. But just stay alive, you got it? I don't want to have to be the one to tell Gohan that I let you get yourself killed."

"Oh you don't have to worry about me. Now then, let's go." Piccolo flared his white aura and charged into the fray, leaving Kai to charges Ki, and promptly hit Buu dead on with a Super Explosive Wave, blowing his bottom half clean off "You're not mocking us now are you?" he then proceeded to launch a Hellzone Grenade, slamming all of the Ki blasts into him and engulfing him in an explosion.

'Perfect, all Piccolo has to do is keep Buu bottled up like that and this strategy just might work after all.'

'Come on come on come on!' Piccolo finished the assault with another Explosive Demon Wave.

That was when Buu materialized behind Piccolo and slammed him towards the ground.

Piccolo stopped himself.

Buu kicked Piccolo in the face and back, then slam kicked him into some boulders.

Piccolo struggled to lift himself back onto his feet "One minute… I just have to keep him busy like this for one minute…" so he slowly got back up and charged, slamming Buu with a furious barrage of punches and kicks.

Buu dodged one, beginning the session of beating Piccolo within an inch of his life, in which he kicked Piccolo into the air and smashed him in the gut, sending him crashing down into the ground below.

"You little bastard!" Kai snarled.

Buu looked back and began slowly walking towards him.

"Buu… just where the hell… do you think you're going?" Piccolo struggled to get back onto his feet "Come on, let's go… I'm not through… with you yet… Are you scared? Are you really that much of a coward? Come on and let's finish this fight, aren't you angry? Fight me like a man you little beast!" he clasped his hands together.

Buu charged forward in a rage.

"I hope you like this one! Light Grenade!" he fired forward a Light Grenade.

Buu opened up a hole in his gut, causing the Light Grenade to fly right through it.

"What?!"

Buu began dealing Piccolo a furious barrage of attacks, causing him to cough up blood, then blasted him in the face, sending him flying back and leaving him in a crater out cold, while Buu himself was dancing around and laughing victoriously.

"What are you celebrating for? You haven't won yet…" Piccolo struggled to pull himself out of the crater "The Namekians are… a proud warrior race… with just as much pride… as that of the Saiyans… You shouldn't underestimate us… and you can't kill us… using attacks… as weak as those… This is no game… This is it… We're ending this… I'm not going to let a monster like you… be the end of a proud race. I am Piccolo, son of the demon king, a proud Namekian warrior, and I will not lose to you!"

'Piccolo…' Kai continued charging Ki into his hands, lowering himself to the ground 'This isn't right, I've been concentrating for more than 2 minutes. I should be done by now. Then again I did lose a lot of my stamina so that's a factor to consider, but either way I'll just have to keep on trying. Piccolo hold him off just a little bit longer, I'm almost there!"

"Right!" by this point Piccolo caught Buu in a power struggle that began shaking the surface of the planet.

The power struggle ended when Buu slammed his foot into Piccolo's gut, sending him flying, then wrapped his extending arm around Piccolo's neck in an attempt to choke him to death and began choking the life out of him, before finally slamming Piccolo to the ground, leaving him unmoving. He then prepared a Vanishing Ball.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Kai suddenly burst onto the scene and slammed his foot up into the blast, sending it flying into the atmosphere, his blue aura flaring even higher "I have to give you credit Buu, I didn't think I would have to resort to using my Zen Ryuken again. But now that I have you might as well give up, you can't beat me while I'm like this."

Buu let out a snarl which turned into a menacing grin, then exhaled slowly and leapt high into the sky, preparing to fire his ultimate attack, that being his Planet Burst.

'He's gonna fire a blast like that at me?' then Kai felt the realization hit him as he sensed the power packed into the Planet Burst "No that can't be it, that's way too much power. He must be planning to blow up the entire planet!"

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Kumiko's eyes narrowed when she saw the Planet Burst form "So that's it, Buu knows that he can't win against Kai so instead of taking the loss fairly he's just going to blow up the Earth and take Kai and the others with it. Come on Kai, I know you have more fight in you! You can't give up, not now!'

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Kai's mind was racing as he watched the Planet Burst grow larger and larger with each passing second 'Being able to build up that much Ki that fast shouldn't be possible, he's definitely aiming to destroy the Earth. Piccolo's down for the count right now and I don't have enough strength left to overpower that thing. Buu is like a pit of bottomless Ki, I can't feel any sort of end to it! I hate to admit it, but I was outclassed the minute I showed up! Please forgive me Mom, Gohan, everyone, the Earth is gonna be destroyed and it's all my fault!'

"Kai!" a voice called.

Kai looked back and saw Mirai drop in, along with Trunks and Goten "Mirai… Goten… Trunks…"

"Kai you can't just give up and wallow in your own self pity, that's not the Kai I know and it's not the Kai that Gohan knows. I know for a fact that this past year you've been training harder than me or any of us, harder than even Gohan and Goku, and I know for a fact that it wasn't for nothing. You just have to hit him with all of the strength that you have left, then you'll still be able to win this fight."

"But Mirai I can barely stand as it is, and in case you haven't sensed it I've barely got half of my strength left even with my Zen Ryuken. I can't do this alone."

Trunks let out scoff "Who said that you're alone? The three of us are right here with you."

"You guys…"

"Make that four…" Piccolo struggled to his feet "Kai… right now you're one of the two most powerful warriors in the entire universe…"

"Piccolo… Alright guys, I see your point. Sorry about that, that was just me starting to crack under the pressure. Every awesome warrior ends up letting that happen to them at some point right?" he turned back towards Buu "Remember this Buu! I am Kai Sato, the Crimson Dragon, the 25th master of martial arts, the second strongest warrior in the universe, and the best friend of Son Gohan, the legendary Dragon Saiyan!"

Buu grinned menacingly and finally fired the Planet Burst towards them, intent on destroying them and the Earth with them.

"I'll be damned before I ever lose to a hideous freak like you, and you'll have to give up on me EVER giving up! DRAGON CANNON!" packing every last of drop of Ki he could spare into his next move, Kai fired a full power Dragon Cannon, enhanced by the Zen Ryuken, and slammed it straight into the Planet Burst, slowing its decent but not stopping it entirely "Guys I don't have enough strength left to stop this thing on my own, if you're gonna help me then now would be the time to do it!"

"Right!" Mirai roared into his Super Saiyan Rage form 'Everyone from my home… Gohan, mom, Cabba, Tarble, Frost, Tapion, Saonel, Pirina, Zangya, Toga, all of you… please lend me your strength! FINAL FLASH!" he fired a full power Final Flash, slowing Majin Buu down somewhat more.

"Trunks come on, we're going too!" Goten flashed into Super Saiyan 2 and landed right on Kai's left "Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" he fired a full power Kamehameha.

"Don't think I'm out of this, I'm the son of a prince!" Trunks landed between them and promptly flashed into Super Saiyan 2 himself "Galick Gun!" he fired a full power Galick Gun as powerful as he could make it.

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" Piccolo fired a Special Beam Cannon with whatever strength he had left, and with the combined might of all five attacks, the Planet Burst was being pushed back.

Now Buu was struggling to hold the blast in place, but was failing and slowly being pushed further and further into the air.

Despite the strain and exhaustion he was feeling, Kai couldn't help but smile "I'm not gonna deny someone credit when they clearly deserve it Buu, you truly are an incredible warrior. It was you against the entire universe at one point, and you nearly won. I just wish that I could've beaten you myself with my own power, but having my friends there to back me up isn't too bad either. Maybe you can come back someday as a better person, as someone who could be a great force for good. I'd really like that you know, maybe we could have a little one on one. I'll be right there waiting for you when that day comes, only I'll be far stronger than I am now. Until then Majin Buu, I'll be waiting!" and with that, he gave one final push to his Dragon Cannon, causing the combined Ki beam to engulf Buu, pushing him and the Planet Burst out of the Earth's atmosphere and into the sun.

Buu could only shriek in agony as he was completely obliterated and destroyed, ending his threat once and for all.

With the beam struggle finally at an end, Piccolo powered down from exhaustion "It's over…"

Goten and Trunks fell to their knees and gave an exhausted high five "Awesome…"

"Yeah… We did it…" Mirai powered down and fell to one knee in exhaustion "No… more like he did it…"

"That was… excruciating… but awesome…" Kai powered down his Zen Ryuken, then his Mystic aura, then fell back in exhaustion.

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Goku watched the end of the battle and grinned "It's amazing, Kai really came through for all of us didn't he?"

"Well of course, he is my son after all." Daizo was trying to remain stoic and composed, but he couldn't hide the huge smile spreading across his face 'I've never been more proud of you than I am right now… Kai…'

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"Awesome…" Kai was left practically wheezing in exhaustion, but he had a huge smile on his face "There's no other word… to describe… what just happened…"

Piccolo smiled and knelt down beside him "You actually did it Kai, you destroyed Buu and saved the Earth."

"Not without… all of you…"

"Don't be modest." Trunks and Goten came up to him "That was totally awesome, and we're not kidding around or anything either. That was a thing of beauty."

"I just can't believe… we actually pulled it off… It hasn't really… sunk in yet, you know? Still though… I couldn't have won it… without you guys… all of you… you're the ones… who saved me…"

"Don't sell yourself short." Piccolo ruffled Kai's hair and slung his arm over his shoulder to support him "Whatever the case may be, the fact is that you've all made us very proud with your performance today, especially me. You really have gotten strong."

"Thanks to you… but it's not over yet… not by a long shot…" Kai's smile dropped and he looked up into the sky '9 of the 10 Kings of Destruction have been defeated, but one still remains. That is Magatsuhi, the leader and the most powerful of them all… As strong as I am now, even I wouldn't stand a chance against him… If there even is any sort of hope of any of us being able to defeat it then now it's up to you… Gohan, we're counting on you.

A/N:

Just for the sake of being clear, the Buu that's been appearing up until now is the form of Kid Buu.

I didn't add any of Gohan's fight with Magatsuhi into this chapter because I plan to give that battle its own chapter entirely, with a big climactic final struggle with everyone from his generation of Z Fighters present.

Like I said in the summary, Kai will be paired with Erasa once the war with the Kings of Destruction ends.

The monologue Piccolo had while Kai was fighting Buu actually based off of the one that Vegeta had while Goku was fighting Buu, and it was to focus more on the relationship between Kai and Piccolo, seeing how I had kind of pushed that off to the side for most of this arc. Also, I wanted to give them both some more character development.

Kai's Dragon Cannon is his version of Goku's Super Kamehameha, and his Hyper Dragon Cannon is his version of the True Kamehameha.

Now then, this is most likely going to be the last chapter I'm going to upload before Christmas. With any luck I might be able to get the final battle out before New Years but I wouldn't count on it. So just in case I don't, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!