After the last crazy chapter, I tried to slow back down to my normal style in this fic. Hopefully this one reads better (thanks Volcanic!)
Chapter 14- Fusion
"You cannot be serious." Vegeta sighed, watching Goku perform one ridiculous movement after another.
"And that's how fusion works!" He continued to explain, deaf to Vegeta's criticism. He was currently leaning to the side and pointing in that direction with both hands, as if expecting someone to mirror his position. "Lucky we're about the same size now, so we should be able to pull it off." Goku nodded and stood up straight again. But this time everyone else seemed to have the opinion of Vegeta.
"Does it really work?" Trunks asked sceptically as his father's eye twitched.
"Sure! Why don't you and Goten try to do it as well? Just remember you have to mirror each other and match your power levels exactly."
"Hmph, yeah right," Trunks said, rolling his eyes. "Where did you find this guy again?"
Goten laughed a little guiltily. He didn't want to insult his own dad, but Trunks had a point. They hadn't felt anything from him beyond Vegeta's level, yet.
Goku just smiled, remembering he had had a similar opinion of Roshi when they first met. He had to get the boys to listen to him somehow… "What are you two laughing about? I bet you I can raise my power level higher than Vegeta's!"
The only reason Vegeta participated in the childish escapade was to see for himself just how strong his greatest rival had become. They quickly shifted up into their Super Saiyan 2 forms. Vegeta continued to push himself, aura glowing brighter, so Goku was forced to push his power higher as well. He could see the boys couldn't distinguish them yet, so pushed himself into Super Saiyan 3 for just a couple of seconds.
You didn't have to be able to sense power levels to see the gap between them. Vegeta growled in frustration. "What the hell was that, Kakarrot?" He demanded, though he had an inkling.
"Hehe, Super Saiyan 3… But it uses life force, and I only have a day left. I'd rather avoid using it. Fusion would be stronger, anyway." He explained. Goten and Trunks weren't the only ones gaping in shock at the display.
Vegeta appeared to be angered by the ongoing gap in their power. Eventually he replied, "Then we had better hurry it up, that thing could go on a rampage at any moment."
Goku nodded enthusiastically and the boys watched them practice, copying them closely. Gohan turned away from the odd display and went to sit next to Piccolo. The Namek was technically 'back on his feet' again, but he wasn't in any condition to fight.
"So… things turned out better than expected?" He began, wondering if the solution would really be this simple.
"Well, not being dead is a plus. But there's still something bothering me…" Gohan revisited their meeting on the Lookout from Piccolo's perspective. Piccolo's focus was on what he remembered of Dende's words. 'I think there's a more sinister side to it too…'
"Don't let your guard down just yet." He answered out loud.
Gohan was distracted from his serious contemplation by a sudden bright, white flash. Where Goku and Vegeta had previously been, an unbelievably powerful Saiyan stood. He smirked and stretched as though he'd been stuck in a cramped place for a long time.
"Interesting," he said in a strange mix of Goku's curiosity and Vegeta's arrogance, as he flexed his hand experimentally.
"Well, we'd better go see how Mr Satan is… doing…" Gohan trailed off as he felt a sudden surge of Ki. It was massive, like Buu's, but there was still something vastly different about it. As he further investigated the area, he realised that Buu's original Ki was much smaller than before, and this new thing was making up for the rest of it.
"Looks like that thing had some kind of fusion of its own," Piccolo stated, causing the fighters to look at one another nervously. Except for the new combination of Vegeta and Goku; he simply took off in the direction of the large Ki.
Gohan waved to everyone before following and, to his surprise, Android 18 went along with them. Krillin probably would have followed again, but he hesitated as 18 looked back at him meaningfully. He held his daughter a little tighter and reluctantly nodded in response.
18 turned her cool gaze upon Gohan, as though expecting him to protest. "What? I'm not going to pick a fight with someone with unlimited energy if I don't have to." He replied almost conversationally, even though his heart was pounding from nerves and anticipation.
She smiled before focussing on the fused men that were leading them into battle. "You wouldn't pick a fight with anyone if you didn't have to." 18 answered, before speeding up in an attempt to keep up with the impossibly strong Saiyan.
They arrived only to find Buu fighting with himself. They had to assume the other bubble-gum pink thing was what had come from inside it, anyway.
Without further ado, the recently dubbed 'Gogeta' kicked the monster in the back of its head. The other Buu couldn't do anything to prevent itself from flying through the air for just a few moments. But this was time enough for it to impact the ground and skid a fair way before coming to a halt.
Gohan and 18 landed near Mr Satan and the beaten up Buu. It seemed they would both live to the end of this encounter, so they focussed their attention on the other fighters. Gogeta was hovering in the air, staring down condescendingly at his opponent.
The other Buu slowly picked himself up and shook out his limbs, popping back into his normal shape. "That was interesting," was his only comment.
"I'm only just getting started." Gogeta smirked confidently, despite the overwhelming power emanating from the being before him.
"Buu hate you!" The monster's high pitched counter-part exclaimed, shaking in apparent rage.
"Don't worry, he'll be defeated." Gohan said, hoping it would be true. If it turned out that the fusion technique couldn't stand up to him, he felt confident that this time he could at least deliver the finishing blow...
He transformed at the same time the cocky fusion did. He felt the familiar slip on control, but it wasn't as pronounced as when he entered the second stage. 'Don't transform any further,' Piccolo warned through their familiar link.
'Why?' he asked as he watched the fused Saiyan's punches simply bounce off the monster. He shot off Ki blasts next, but any damage done was simply repaired.
'Just don't; something bad will happen if you change again, trust me. I'll explain when you're less preoccupied.' Gohan nodded once, at this rate it didn't look like he and 18 would be needed anyway.
Gogeta powered up a ridiculously strong Ki blast, yelling something indecipherable, which sounded like a cross between 'kamehameha' and 'big bang attack'. Gohan stared in disbelief as the thing began to pull itself back together. The way the pink goo moved about as it reoriented itself was actually quite disgusting.
Gogeta simply smirked in satisfaction and raised his arms above his head. "It'd be boring if defeating you was that easy!" he yelled, gathering what could only be some kind of Genkidama. But this wasn't going to work as well on this thing as it had on Frieza. The other version of Buu curled his body into a ball and flew at the fused pair.
Gohan saw the danger and immediately bounded forward. He wouldn't be too slow this time! Before the pink blur could come into contact with his opponent, Gohan booted him away as hard as he could.
"Keep your nose out of this, kid!" It was then that Gohan fully came to terms with the fact this person was neither his father nor Vegeta. He bit his lip at the hard glare being sent his way, suddenly glad the stranger was already distracted by powering up an attack.
"Oh sure, like that wouldn't have at least broken your concentration," 18 said from her position hovering slightly above them. "We'll distract it. You gather enough force to obliterate it."
Gogeta turned his glare upon her, but didn't make any further moves. This seemed to be their go ahead.
Gohan checked on Satan and Buu before leaping into battle. The larger pink thing appeared to have recovered, but Satan was trying to convince it to not enter the fight again. He glanced over his shoulder with that same scared silly expression, and his eyes briefly met Gohan's. There was recognition and disbelief, but Gohan had no time to think about that now.
He turned a split second later and charged at the thing he had been training for the last six months to defeat. He easily swerved between 18's Ki blasts, which she was using to try and corner their opponent, since she couldn't draw up enough strength at once to do any real damage.
Gohan instantly took advantage of 18's effort and sunk his fist into their enemy's gut. He was hoping to affect its respiration, but was instead caught off balance as his fist literally did sink into it. Usually it hurt to punch powerful opponents because their defences made them hard, but this thing was different. The give in the surface of its body put him off balance long enough for it to throw him into the ground.
The evil side of Buu really was ridiculously powerful. Gohan felt the ground give beneath him until the downward force could no longer overcome it. He rolled over groggily and rubbed his temple as both 18 and Piccolo yelled "move!"
He didn't question them, just blasted into the air as the crater he had just been in exploded in a flash of pink Ki. 18 continued to fire distractions, but the evil Buu seemed to have realised that these blasts would barely scratch him, and just allowed them to hit. Gohan flew back in anyway; he knew what not to do now and should be able to hold a longer exchange of blows.
'Piccolo, how long has it been since Dad fused? When will the Genkidama be ready?" He thought.
Given the long distance and his current activity, Piccolo was surprised by the clarity of the thoughts his student was able to get across. 'Bulma said she's timed it at just over twenty minutes so far… If I had to guess, I'd say they should fire it at the last second. For once, there's still plenty of life on Earth, so they should be able to gather sufficient energy in the time left.'
His blows didn't seem to be doing much harm, but that wasn't really the point of their confrontation anyway. An unexpected burst of Ki threw him back, but he managed to pull up before slamming into 18.
"You have to make sure they fire the Genkidama before they turn back. Dad said they only have half an hour, remember." He quickly got out, but it didn't matter because the other Buu was just grinning at them instead of coming in for an attack.
"Ok, seven minutes and forty-two seconds left." She nodded. Her robot side was obviously very aware of time increments. The monster tried to attack her before she could fly down to their other unwilling team member, but Gohan deflected the Ki blast. He almost pushed up to stage two, but then balked at the memory of Piccolo's warning.
A part of him was frustrated at Piccolo for some inexplicable reason, but he ignored that for now. It was easy to get confused in fast paced battles, and right now he really had to concentrate.
Neither of the furious fighters could gain an edge. A flurry of blows and Ki blasts were exchanged for several minutes before they broke apart. It seemed neither could focus for much longer.
Gohan noticed the wind pick up briefly and felt the sting of a few cuts he had managed to gain. They both had tears in their clothing, but already the other Buu's burn marks were fading. The monster laughed in a high pitch now that it was beginning to come clear who the winner would be.
Gohan smiled in return and wiped the sweat off his brow. This thing was extremely powerful, but it didn't have any allies. Heaven knew what they'd do if there was more than one. Actually, it wouldn't, that was the whole reason the thing was here in the first place…
"Gohan!" 18 called and held up one finger. As well as giving a message, she had also distracted their opponent from Gogeta, now that she was standing away from him. He guessed she was indicating the transformation would only last for one more minute.
Gohan dropped out of the sky and 18 quickly followed. Gogeta flew upward and threw the Genkidama. Now that it was locked on to an energy signal, there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
The evil being struggled to hold on to its life force, but energy from every one of Earth's inhabitants was just too much for it to overcome. Towards the end of the desperate struggle the fusion broke, and Goku and Vegeta fell to the ground, flickering back to their base forms on the way down.
Goku rolled onto his side and managed to sit up a little to watch the ball engulf the unfortunate being. Sadness and happiness used his face as a battleground until the light had faded. He turned to Vegeta, who was panting heavily in an attempt to regain his strength. Despite his weakness, the man was very much alive, and for that he was grateful.
"Well, we can see who… did all the work," Vegeta muttered, raising a shaky hand, only for it to drop back to his side.
"Right," Goku smiled, not bothering to say he was in better shape because he was stronger. "Now about that fight…"
"Shut… up," he forced out, finally managing to move his hand up further to rub his shoulder.
Gohan leaped at his father, giving him a bone-crushing hug. "Ow! Ow!" Goku complained, "Change down first, you're killing me," he gasped. They might have laughed if he hadn't been speaking literally.
"Sorry," Gohan muttered as he changed back. "We should get you up to Dende now."
Goku hung off his son's back, and Gohan and 18 balanced a barely conscious Vegeta between them. It seemed a lot of the energy in the Genkidama had come from their bodies.
They overheard Buu and Satan confirming their friendship, before they left. "Buu will help people so no one has to lose their puppy like that again!" He exclaimed passionately, and Mr Satan took what goodwill he could get.
"So," Gohan began as the dragon vanished and everything returned to normal once again, "there's something you needed to tell me?"
Piccolo nodded as they moved away from the others. "I don't think you've noticed, but when you dropped your mental barriers for me last night, I saw that you have an alter-ego."
Gohan stared at him blankly for a moment, "Huh?"
"Don't you notice how you radically change when you turn into a Super Saiyan? It probably began with your natural tendencies towards fear and anger, but it seems to have developed into something rather more sinister since then." He continued to explain.
"Well, no, most of the time I barely know what's going on around me after I change."
"Yet you are lucid and focussed when fighting. It's not your instincts, Gohan, it's your alternate personality. Frankly he is not the kindest of souls, so I suggest you either find a new way to transform, or accept the fact you can never transform again."
Gohan looked away to think. He really was crazy…
'We're all mad here,' Piccolo reminded mentally, and watched the corner of Gohan's mouth turn upward in response.
Goku's grin was a mile wide, beaten only perhaps by his wife, who was seated next to him. He was here in person because he had had a human lifespan granted in return for the sacrifices he made to protect the universe. He still made Chi-Chi look like a cougar, but for some reason she didn't seem to mind that anymore.
Their relatively small group of guests were seated in front of them. Vegeta grumbled about the weirdness of the human tradition while Bulma told him to shut it. Even Chiaotzu and Tenshinhan had come out of the woodwork for this.
Bulma added to the light chatter as they waited for the bride's party to arrive. "We should have a ceremony," she said, and immediately burst out laughing at the look of horror on her husband's face. It had been hard enough to get him to sign the registry after they found out about Trunks. Bulma still hadn't said anything about registering him as an immigrant, either.
Gohan continued to look around nervously, and adjusted his glasses. He still wasn't exactly sure when he'd decided to get married, but in just eight and a half months, he and Videl would have a little bundle of joy. Satan had insisted they get married as soon as possible to protect his family's reputation, and Gohan didn't have much of a problem with this. Except…
'For crying out loud Gohan, just be happy with what you have.' Piccolo mentally sighed. He was technically best man, but he was observing from a distance in case some form of paparazzi crashed their wedding and his similarities to his father caused a stir. Even without that, this kind of event was hardly his idea of fun.
He smiled at the brusque tone, and knew Piccolo was right. They loved each other in a way that couldn't be properly translated into human terms, and he was ok with that. It was time for him to raise a family, at least, if he could ever shift his focus from academia. He was due to graduate next year, but was already keen to reenrol to do his masters and doctorate.
Finally the last of the guests entered and the crowd hushed as music began to play. Erasa stopped adjusting her bridesmaid gown and waved at him cheerfully. He smiled despite himself, before turning to watch his bride-to-be enter the room.
She really was stunning, and he could feel her Ki flutter from nerves as she approached him. He felt the still-forming life of their child hovering inside her energy and found his smile beginning to enter the range of his parents'. Videl's father winked at him and Gohan found he was relaxing. It seemed Satan was just glad his daughter was marrying someone strong.
With that Gohan looked away from his past and began to look forward to what had yet to come. He just knew this kid was going to be quite the diligent one.
I ended up omitting quite a bit because I realised it just wasn't interesting to read, so now there's just the massive epilogue to come, in which Gohan's sanity is dealt with more thoroughly and his relation to Piccolo is explored again. Look forward to it, and hopefully I'll see you all around ;)
Thank you for reading thus far!