Chapter 8: The Power of Fusion
With rock and rubble exploding up from his feet, the monsterous Janembuu skidded to a slow halt in an open dirt plain of Hell, now completely barren thanks to his destructive campaign. He glanced around, smiling to himself lightly at the carnage of the inanimate bodies of the dead lying about in twisted and mangled forms, only to glance up at the sudden shockwave of energy directly in front of him.
Two small feet lightly tapped the ground, the newly transformed Leiji locking her narrowed eyes on Janembuu, her fists clenched at her sides. Her golden fur and hair brightly glowed from the violent aura surging around her body, small pockets of electricity crackling around her legs and chest as she spoke.
"You can't win, Majin Buu. Give up."
Janembuu remained stone faced for a moment, silently looking the Super Saiyan 5 standing directly in front of him. His eyes narrowed with a frown, before suddenly breaking out into another sinister grin, clenching his fists.
"Is that so? You heroes are all the same; you claim victory over me when you're losing, and demand I surrender..."
The monster's skin began to darken from its bright pink tone, black lightning suddenly erupting around his body as a dark purple aura shot up from underneath Janembuu's feet.
"No, it is you who should beg for my mercy, little Saiyan. You have no idea what kind of power I wield...not even your Kais could predict their return. Soon, the universe will be theirs again, and you'll regret defying the true Masters that bind all of us to their will."
Leiji's glare intensified at the mention of the Masters once again, her aura surging steadily.
"There you go with mentioning those Masters again. What are you babbling about?"
Her eyes darted back over her shoulder, sensing the two fusions nearly half a mile away from where she stood, the sound of Janembuu's confident voice ringing out.
"The Masters know all...the Masters are watching us now. They herald the rebirth of power...order...and domination. The true prophets of terror and fear, the rulers of all..."
Leiji kept her glanced locked over her shoulder, half paying attention to Janembuu's praising.
C'mon...hurry up and fuse you two. I can't stall him forever...
"She did what?!"
Goku's eyes remained wide, his mouth hanging agape at Vegetto with Vegeta standing to his left. The Saiyan prince grunted, his narrowed eyes and crossed arms giving away his dismissal attitude.
"There's no such thing. Super Saiyan 4 is the pinnacle of our race's potential, you must've been smacked around harder than I thought."
Vegetto frowned, shaking his head lightly.
"I saw it for myself. She transformed and dashed after Janembuu with golden fur and hair. Like a Super Saiyan except with the power level of something much stronger than anything we've every achieved."
The Potara fusion then gestured to Gogeta, who remained silent.
"Gogeta saw it too, do you think he was beaten into delusion as well?"
Vegeta grunted.
"Buu hit him just as hard as you and us. Delusional."
Vegetto glared at Vegeta, clenching his fists together tightly and taking a step towards the prince.
"Your denial is starting to become a nuisance Vegeta. You seem to be the only delusional one here, you forget that I know you. And I know when you attempt to try and deny the truth just to prevent your own ego from taking a much needed hit."
Gogeta quickly stepped between the two, resting a hand on Vegetto's chest and stopping the Potara fusion's advance.
"Now isn't the time for us to argue with each other, certainly not over something as meaningless as this."
The fusion paused, staring at Vegetto with a frown. Vegetto kept his glare locked onto Vegeta, breating heavily through his nose for a few seconds before locking eyes with Gogeta, who then continued.
"She gave us time to do fusion, Vegetto. We need to take it, and we need to put a stop to Buu once and for all."
Vegetto kept his attention on Gogeta for a moment, his glare landing back on Vegeta. The two did not speak a word, glaring at each other for a moment before Vegetto grunted, stepping back as his fists loosened.
"Fine, let's get to it."
Gogeta nodded in response, turning back to Goku and Vegeta as Vegetto moved away from the group.
"Watch our backs."
Goku smiled, nodding once in confirmation, while Vegeta merely grunted once, turning on his heel to face towards where Leiji and Janembuu currently stood off.
Gogeta let out a small sigh, before rapidly leaping over to Vegetto, now fifty meters away from their original fusees. He raised an eyebrow as he approach, staring back at Vegetto with a frown.
"Are you ready?"
Vegetto glanced to his side, nodding slightly to Gogeta as he moved into the first stage of the dance.
Leiji kept her frown, staring at Janembuu as the monster spoke.
"Now..."
The Super Saiyan 5 gasped, rapidly bolting upwards as Janembuu suddenly appeared where she had been standing a second before, his foot crushing the ground beneath him in tremendous force. She quickly feinted to her left, narrowly dodging a black arm shooting past her face. Following her instincts, her arm then shot up to her head, Janembuu's midnight black arm slamming into her forearm with ground shattering power.
Leiji shot the forearm out away from her, opening Janembuu's chest for her free fist to slam square into his chest. The monster snarled, reeling back in pain from the strong attack.
He shook his head violently, his body continuing morph much to Leiji's surprise. The final bright color way of his purple armor had faded into a shade of pitch black, matching the skin along his body that used to be a bright shade of pink. The violent eruption of the black lightning intensified to a near aura like state, his eyes glowing a very sinister shade of dark purple.
Leiji floated backwards, frowning heavily as she studied the morphing Janembuu.
His energy signature...it's decreasing as he changes. But it makes no sense...he gets stronger as he loses energy...
Her eyes then widened, staring at Janembuu with an awe struck expression, blinking hard.
His signature...it's gone. But...but I can see him right in front of me, how is that possible?!
Her head then rapidly whipped to her left, letting out a cry of pain as she flipped backwards from the surprise punch to her head, flipping backwards with Janembuu dashing after her.
A sonic shockwave erupted around Leiji as she quickly righted herself in mid air, stunning Janembuu for a few seconds in shock. She roared, taking to the offensive as she extended her arm, barraging the villain with multiple golden blasts before bolting towards the two fusions and away from the smoke cloud.
However, she gasped once she turned her head away from the smoke cloud, rapidly coming to a halt before nearly slamming directly into Janembuu, who floated between her and the way towards to the two fusions. Leiji blinked, rapidly throwing her hands to catch Janembuu's left fist destined for her chest and his right looking to connect with her stomach. She snarled at the villain, using her strength to send his arms outwards before shooting her right knee forward, slamming into the monster's chest.
Leiji blinked, staring on at the unaffected Janmbuu as the two remained still in their own poses. She held her knee in place for a moment, unsure of how to proceed at the smirking monster who had clearly felt immunity to the blow. However, before Janembuu could follow up with an attack of his own, a massive shockwave suddenly pulsed from their sides, the sudden surge in energy catching both of their undivided attention. The two floated high above the ground, watching on as the blinding gold light shone brilliantly in the sky above. Her eyes landed towards the ground, making the out the small ant like specs that were Goku and Vegeta, who held their arms to their face at the storm force winds blasting in every direction. Her eyes then darted back to the source of the blinding light, watching it begin to retreat inwards as the winds began to lighten into a small breeze.
The pulsating bright light now shone brilliantly in the sky, having morphed into the form of a humanoid man, standing on the ground below. Brown fur along the muscular arms began to replace the light blue energy covering the body. The man's outfit became visible starting at the boots, Saiyan in design while his blue pants were identical to the fashion worn by Vegetto.
Flexing his arms, the man clenched his fists together, which where covered by white gloves that matches his Saiyan boots in design. However, the man wore the same vest as all products of the Metamoran dance, sporting the unusual colorway of blue and orange.
The man's hair had remained red, extended in length to match the style of Vegetto's, yet held a definite widow's peak resulting undoubtedly from the fusion with Gogeta. His eyes opened wide, narrowing up into the sky at the two distant fighters who stared back down at him.
Janembuu's chin then suddenly whipped back, groaning loudly as the fusion's fist suddenly appeared beneath him, having teleported the massive distance before the villain could register his presence. Wasting no time, the fusion spinned around to swing both arms together, holding the ends of his palms together in a sideways position.
"Final Flash!"
The fusion let out a thunderous roar, followed shortly by a massive blast of golden energy erupting from the palms of his hands at point blank range of Janembuu, rapidly engulfing him in the overwhelming size of the energy wave firing high into the sky. Leiji gasped, shielding herself from the massive attack as the fusion himself floated back a few feet from the powerful force of the energy wave blasting out of his palms.
However, the fusion abrubtly cut off the massive stream of energy, lowering his arms down to his sides as the golden energy fired high into the unknown depths of space. His eyes remained narrowed, holding a heavy frown and stared at the small smoke cloud formed from the force of the blast.
The primal roar of Janembuu suddenly filled the air, the smoke surrounding the black monster dispelling from a powerful gust of wind sent out by the beast. The villain locked eyes with the fusion now floating in front of him, holding a frown on his expression as well.
"Did you really think it would be that easy? That I would just roll over and die from an attack like that?"
The fusion scoffed in response, clenching his fists together. His voice came out in the same duel voice of Goku and Vegeta, but held a much deeper tone than either of his two fusees.
"Of course not. The goal was to distract you long enough for me to charge up a real attack, and it worked well enough."
Janembuu broke out into another sinister grin, watching the fusion floating before him stare into his eyes.
"Really? I didn't realize that was what you called a 'real attack'. Your energy barely even phased me, let alone distracted."
The monster's grin faded however, confused by the smirk of the fusion floating in front of him. The villain remained silent, blinking at the fusion who extended his left arm up, pointing beneath Janembuu's feet.
Janembuu followed the gesture blindly, whirling around to see the sight of the same fusion, standing alone on the ground beneath him. Janembuu blinked hard, the smirk on the fusion's face growing slightly once they locked eyes, a turquoise energy glowing strongly behind his back as the deafening surge of energy nearly blocked out any sound even at the distance Janembuu floated at.
Leiji had nearly copied the movements as well, her eyes wide in the confusion as she stared down at the fusion holding the energy blast behind his back below. However, she quickly turned her attention back to where the fusion had been floating previously, blinking hard once more.
The fusion continued to float directly in front of the two, his gaze having turned to Leiji with crossed arms. He side glanced over to Janembuu for a moment, who's attention remained locked on the real fusion below, before turning back to Leiji and his smirk widening.
He gave her a quick wink with his right eye, and the clone suddenly vanished into thin air, disappearing from sight for good. Leiji let out a small gasp, drawing Janembuu's attention in a deperate dash to her left at the clone's vague warning call.
The monster remained still, his eyes diverting back down to the ground below, nearly paralyzed in fear at the thunderous cry from the dual voice.
"Final Kamehameha!"
At the cry, the ground shattering blast of turquoise of energy rapidly erupted into the atmosphere, darkening the sky itself as it shot forward, tearing into the open space directly into its path. Janembuu's eyes widened, being only a mere black speck in comparison to the size of the energy wave itself, and the monster quickly threw bot arms out in a desperate attempt to stop the oncoming energy.
However, the villain's mouth hung open, letting out a cry deafened by the roar of the energy while his hands began to disintegrated from the potency of the energy, watching helplessly as his hands slowly disintegrated. Eyes wide to the brim, the monster squirmed and struggled, his arms began to vaporize next up to his shoulders along with his legs and feet soon completely eradicated. Letting out one final cry, the monster's voice was silenced forever as the last black piece of existence disintegrated away into the turquoise energy that had engulfed him, blasting away into the steady torrent firing into the depths of space above.
Leiji grunted, narrowly avoiding the powerful blast in her dash to get as far away from Janembuu as possible. The powerful surge of the torrent ripping into Janembuu himself threw the woman off balance, causing her to flip forward slightly and crash towards the ground while the energy continued to fire into the sky above.
Goku quickly teleported into her path, catching her in his arms now being in between Leiji and the hard dirt below. He blinked, opening his mouth to speak, but spoke nothing audible over both the roar of the energy firing into the sky and the shock from Leiji's transformed state.
After a few minutes, the massive blast of turquoise began to slowly relent in size, shaping down into a small and precise beam of energy before finally waning off into nothing. The fusion lowered his arms once the final trail of energy had departed his hands, straightening out his posture as the sky began to return to its normal hue. He glanced around for a moment, cringing to himself suddenly and gripping his side.
Vegeta floated over to the fusion first, landing at his side with an eyebrow raised.
"Is it done?"
The fusion turned his head to Vegeta, struggling to nod his head in recognition.
"Yes...he's gone. But..."
Vegeta watched on, remaining silent while the fusion leaned forward and groaned loudly, gripping his side tightly. The prince blinked, confused as the fusion suddenly descended back into his base form yet still groaned loudly.
Goku and Leiji joined the two shortly after, watching on as the fusion suddenly exploded into a brilliant white light, splitting rapidly back into his two fusees. Vegetto and Gogeta both grunted heavily, sent flying in opposite directions and bounced along the ground, landing within a few meters of the other three warriors. Both sat upright on the ground, blinking heavily in their base forms as well.
"What the?"
Gogeta was the first to his feet again, reaching up to the back of his head and scratching.
"Why did we split? It's only been five minutes...not even ten at best."
Vegetto groaned, rubbing the back of his neck as he rejoined the other warriors.
"I don't know. The dance is supposed to last thirty minutes, maybe the magic from the Potaras threw the timer off."
Goku furrowed his brow, rubbing his chin.
"I doubt it. It probably has more to do with the amount of energy we use as Super Saiyan 4s, the fusion probably split prematurely from the raw energy you two drew on to unleash that attack."
Vegetto sighed heavily, turning his gaze up to the sky.
"Well...I can't sense his energy signature anymore. He's gone for good this time, we should go see the Kais and let them know what happened here."
Leiji frowned in response, staring back at Vegetto in concern.
"His energy signature disappeared when I was fighting him. I don't know how it happened or what it means, but we shouldn't believe he is dead from the lack of an energy signature."
Gogeta then glanced over his shoulder to the sky, chuckling to himself.
"How's the fact that we could feel his body disintegrating from the energy as a way of telling that he's dead? Will that work for you?"
Leiji paused, before letting out a deep sigh herself. The golden fur began to disappear from her body while her hair returned to its normal, unbundled short blonde hair.
"I guess so."
Goku grinned in response, reverting back into his child form as he and Vegeta both returned to their base forms with the other warriors.
"Alright! Good job guys, we really took it to Buu this time!"
Leiji remained still, watching Goku and the fusions grin at each other in celebration. Vegeta, however, kept his frown, glancing down at the ground with narrowed eyes
None of this makes any sense though. Buu should've been wiped from existence after his defeat, but he was still here, fused together with Janemba who also should have been wiped from existence. They had an energy signature that matched the strength of a Super Saiyan 4, but that monster should've been no match for the fusions...
He glanced up, staring back at the four Saiyans before him.
And as his power grew...his energy signature began to diminish until he had nothing left. It was like he was dead once he had reached that power beyond even her level...
The prince's gaze turned to Leiji, who rolled her eyes at the three Saiyans grinning ear to ear a each other and playfully hitting each other on the shoulders.
And where did she come from? A Saiyan woman who also escaped Frieza's genocide...with a transformation beyond what we could achieve without having ever faced the same dangers that gave us the chance to ascend?
Vegeta glanced back down, the tug of Goku's grip forcing him out of his inner thoughts, the child grinning up at him.
"Everything alright Vegeta?"
The prince paused, his eyes still narrowed.
"Yeah yeah, everything is fine Kakarot."
He then turned back to Leiji, his expression stern.
"C'mon, we should really get back to the Kais. We need to tell them what happened here, and that the Otherworld is safe once more."
Leiji nodded, waiting for the four Saiyans to grasp onto her shoulders before suddenly disappearing into thin air, leaving the empty Underworld behind as they returned to the Kai's homeworld.