--- Disturbance, Book 1: Convergence ---

Chapter C19 - Hate

Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that by the time you realise it doesn't say anything, it's too late to stop reading it. Also: See first chapter.

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-Bury the priest and burn religion alive-

"Wow, it's getting late," Gohan commented, "How long is Babidi gonna keep us waiting?"

"Relax Gohan," Goku replied, walking up to his eldest son. "He's probably just having a hard time finding someone strong enough to fight you."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Gohan agreed.

-Baptized at birth with the black brush's wine-

"I would've preferred to fight you Kakarott, then come to this place." Vegeta muttered sourly, "This has been a waste of my time battling these cretins!"

"I know what you mean Vegeta," Gohan added, "I was looking forward to duking it out with my dad too."

-The uncrowned king unholy-

"Oh yeah?" Goku replied challengingly. "I'm ready for the both of you, any time, any where."

Shin just gaped in silence. 'These Saiyans are impossible! They enjoy the thrill of a challenge so much that they ignore the dangers of fighting. Reckless!'

"Yeah, we do that Supreme Kai," Pi commented off-hand. When the purple man turned to face her, she grinned. "You're not the only one who can read minds you know."

-Forget about the crucifix-

"So Videl, just what in the... heck is going on?" Bulma asked, censoring her words for the kids nearby. In the past ten or so minutes they had just held the awards ceremony, with Videl stepping in, at Gohan's request, to receive the awards for him, and Kat taking Kaen and Pi's place; after all, for those two it didn't matter who got second and who got third. Now, there was just the closing ceremony remaining, so Videl and Kat had slipped away and returned to the group in the crowd.

The human girl shrugged. "To be honest Bulma, I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that Yamu and Spopovich stole Kaen's energy, and the guys took off after them to stop them."

-My rising sign is 666-

A grin on her face, Kat jumped up and down like a kid, exclaiming, "I know what's happening! Kaen told me telepathically." When she saw everyone was paying full attention to her, she continued, "Right, what's going on is that those two who attacked Kaen are working for this wizard guy who's trying to revive this ancient evil, and to do that he needs energy, so the guys went to go stop this wizard dude before he brings about the end of all life as we know it."

There was very little reaction from those listening, Yamcha even commenting calmly, "Ah, that old ploy."

-Can't you see the way they twist and turn, you watch it burn-

Videl gave them all a weird look, commenting, "You're all taking this remarkably well."

Chichi shrugged. "It's hardly the first time we've had to deal with our friends and family to stop some evil being bent on destroying everything we hold dear."

"You get used to it after the first couple of times," Bulma added disinterestedly.

-Just sign right here and watch the tables turn-

Strangely satisfied with that reply, Videl turned to Kaen's group of friends, asking, "So what's your excuse for being so calm about this?"

Hawk just shrugged, replying, "Would worrying change anything?"

Wrapping an arm around her boyfriend, Falcon added, "We've all been through a lot already, and if there's one thing we've learnt, it's not to stress about something you can't change."

-You want the world-

"Works for me," the pig-tailed girl commented, "The question is, what're we gonna do now?"

"Nothing," Yamcha replied. "Other than Tien, everyone that left is the strongest warriors we have; if they can't handle it, we certainly can't. There's nothing we can do at this point."

-I'll show the way-

Videl noticed the Saiyans present, Kellre especially, gave him a glare that seemed to say 'speak for yourself human'; she didn't know how she knew there was a 'human' remark tacked on to the end, and quite frankly, she didn't want to know either. Turning to Kat, she asked, "So what's happening now?"

The young redhead just shrugged. "Dunno. Last message I got was that they were heading into the ship, then nothing. Ship must be shielded against telepathy or something."

Fuming silently to herself at the feeling of uselessness now coursing through her veins Videl sat down heavily, trying to tune out the ceremony going on below; it was just her father blathering something or another anyway.

-Just raise your fist and let me hear you say-

"Who do they think they are keeping us waiting so long? Come on!" Vegeta shouted angrily. For ten minutes they had been waiting for Babidi's next fighter, and in that ten minutes the Supreme Kai had been required to talk Vegeta down from breaking his way into the lower levels no less than twice; patience truly never was one of the Saiyan Prince's strongest virtues.

-Hate!-

"I wonder who they're gonna send out next," Gohan wondered out loud, turning to his friend for his opinion; Kaen, after all, had displayed a high level of knowledge of Babidi thus far. Kaen, however, just shook his head; he and Pi were trying to maintain as low a profile as possible.

"There's really no telling," Goku commented helpfully; well, it was like help.

-You want it-

"Where are they? Sleeping?" Vegeta growled.

Gohan laughed, commenting, "Well, after those moves you and dad showed off in the last two stages, you probably scared them off!"

-Say hate!-

"I hope they didn't all run away," Goku remarked, "You haven't even had your turn!"

Gohan grinned. "This is kinda like being on a game show." He threw on a fake game show voice. "I wonder who's behind door number three."

-You need it-

Goku grinned excitedly, "I can't wait to see how much you've progressed over the years. I mean, you were just a boy when you defeated Cell; I bet you're twice as strong now."

Gohan scratched the side of his cheek, replying, "To be honest, I'm not sure how much stronger I'll be. I mean, I didn't get to train as much as I'd have liked - you know how kaasan is, plus I had Goten to take care of - so I couldn't push myself as hard as I would've liked. While I know I'm stronger, I'm a little afraid I might've reached a plateau."

-Say hate!-

"Gohan has been far too busy going to school and going out on dates to do any serious training," Vegeta sneered. Giving him a teasing smirk that was mostly serious, Vegeta continued, "Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe he's been training between classes, or during PE or something."

Gohan just shrugged away the insults, retorting, "At least I didn't get my ass handed to me by a fighter who couldn't even be bothered fighting at their maximum."

-You want it-

As he watched the vein in Vegeta's forehead start to bulge, the Saiyan Prince having no come-back for that, Shin thought to himself, 'This is amazing! As strong as these five are, they're not even at their maximum! But why wasn't I able to see this? I'm the Supreme Kai! How could mortals from the Lower World have this kind of potential without me being aware of it?'

-Come on, come on, come on, come on-

Before the Supreme Kai could think on it any more, the whirring of gears heralded the arrival of the next challenger, a pink hand preceding the blue-clad form. "What? Impossible!" Shin shouted, horrified. "It's Dabura!" Trying to reign in his fear, he mused, 'I can't believe Babidi would send him so soon! It's only Stage Three!'

-Get it, get it, go!-

Dabura smirked confidently. "I must say I'm impressed. Beating Yakon, and advancing to Stage Three is far beyond what any other mortal has managed to do. Yes, it was quite unexpected indeed. So now you must face me, which means, you will progress no further!"

Vegeta smirked back cockily, keeping his arms folded. "Hmph. Your boss must be nervous if he's sent out his number one guy. Why doesn't he come out himself? He too scared?"

-Get it, get it, go-

Dabura just held his hands up to either side, replying, "Let's dispense with the idle talk. I'd prefer it if you'd just attack; all of you, together!"

"Hey, wait a second!" Gohan shouted. "It's my turn to fight, and that's exactly what I plan to do!"

Dabura just growled, "Impudent fool!"

-Incarnation can bring down the stars-

Deciding to have some fun with the supposed 'Demon King', Gohan commented, "This is a lousy place for a fight though; it's way too small. A secluded place in the mountains sounds good, or maybe a nice spot on the beach... Wait, no, then we'll get sand in our boots..."

Dabura's growl returned, only louder this time, showing that Gohan had succeeded in riling him up. "Bah! Silence child!" Throwing an arm back, Dabura dropped into his stance, shouting, "You will fight me here and now!"

-Five-thousand times, and their service is ours-

"Dabura, wait a second!" The displaced voice of Babidi called out. "I was thinking, it might not be such a bad idea to pick another location for the fight. You see, to revive Buu we're going to need the space ship intact."

Relaxing out of his stance, Dabura replied, "Yes, I understand."

"Any preferences?"

-Obscene, unclean, unholy-

Dabura grinned confidently, "Perhaps a planet similar to this one. I don't want an unfair advantage."

Babidi's joyous cackle echoed around the room. "Dear me, you really want to show them don't you Dabura? Very well, as you wish. Here goes. Papara papa!"

-The losers, dope-fiends, and don't forget-

As the scenery flashed past, Shin gasped, "Oh, what's this?" The terrain soon settled, revealing a landscape of rivers and stone spires underneath a pink sky. This was a world Shin recognized: it was the Demon World, the dark mirror of Earth, and as such, it followed much the same 'rules'; it was, however, Dabura's home planet.

Bowing mockingly, Dabura asked/stated, "Well then, let's begin, shall we?"

-The worthless, no good, piece of shit-

When Gohan nodded, slipping into his own stance, Goku commented, "Gohan, stay focused."

Gohan grinned, nodding again. "Not a problem dad." After a moment of tense silence, in which Dabura seemed to be waiting for Gohan to act, the Demi-Saiyan's grin slipped to a neutral mask, as he leapt into the air, blurring forward, and the battle began.

-Come with me and we'll drink a toast to anarchy-

Trunks looked around quickly, checking to see if anyone was watching him. Trunks was bored, and whenever he got bored, he caused trouble, and usually dragged his partner in mischief Goten along for the ride; speaking of which... "Psst, Goten," Trunks whispered, keeping his voice to the minimum required for actual sound do the parents wouldn't hear him, "I'm bored."

"Me too Trunks," the other boy replied in a similar tone.

-All we need is excess and ecstasy-

"Sounds like our dads are gonna have a lot of fun," Trunks muttered sourly, hoping Goten would take the bait; it was always more fun when he could blame Goten legitimately.

The lavender-haired child was not disappointed, as Goten whispered excitedly "Hey Trunks, why don't we go see this wizard? Maybe we'll get to fight him!"

-You want it all-

Trunks grinned in triumph. "Cool idea! Let's go!"

The two boys started sneaking off slowly, trying to remain under the parental radar, but without even turning around Chichi barked, "Where are you going young man?"

-I know the way-

"Toilet!" Goten chirped quickly, using his usual innocent tone to his advantage. When no further argument was brokered, they kept walking up the stands until they were out of reach of their parents' ire. Grinning, the two of them let out an excited whoop and blasted off.

Realising she'd been had, Chichi shot up, spun around and shouted, "You two get back here this instant!"

-Just raise your fist and let me hear you say-

Oran sighed, he and his sister standing up as he commented, "We'll go with them, make sure they don't do anything stupid." Before he could get too far, Faile quickly grabbed his arm, jumped up, and kissed him on the cheek. Staring at her bewilderedly, he asked, "What was that for?"

-Hate!-

"For luck," She blushed. "Sis always kisses Hawk for luck before a race, so..." She smiled sweetly at him, "Be careful, okay?"

He smiled back. "Always."

-You want it-

As the twins started lifting off, Bulma asked, "You two think you can catch them? I think they jumped into Super Saiyan when they took off."

-Say hate!-

Lime just grinned. "We're a lot faster than we look." As if to prove her point, the pair of them took off like a rocket, leaving a sonic boom from a standing start.

As soon as the twins were gone, Chichi rounded on the Saiyans present, barking, "You knew the boys were going to take off didn't you?"

-You need it-

"Of course; didn't you?" was April's swift reply.

-Say hate!-

"If you knew, why didn't you stop them?" Bulma asked.

Raene shrugged. "A: They're not our kids. B: No Saiyan is going to stop another from seeing a fight."

-You want it-

"But they could get hurt!" Chichi shrieked.

April just frowned grimly. "If anything happens to them, it means the first wave of fighters has fallen, and as you said yourself, there is no second wave. Better to go out at the beginning than survive to watch everyone you care about fall."

-Come on, come on, come on, come on-

All was silent across the pink-skied planet, before the silence was broken by a demon's roar, followed swiftly by the collapse of a stone spire, and a series of explosions; one of Dabura's attacks had missed. Floating away from the dust, Gohan cast his eyes up at the chuckling Dabura, the pink demon floating back and flinging his cape open; he noticed now that Dabura's cape had been designed to resemble bat wings when thrown open, albeit white bat wings.

-Get it, get it-

Darting forward, Gohan quickly twisted out of the way as Dabura reared back and flung an arm forward, a wave of near-transparent blue energy streaking past. When said energy struck the pink river below, the water was neatly split down the centre from the force of impact, before filling back in again. He twisted out of the way again as Dabura flung two more, the waves of energy neatly slicing off a pair of stone spires behind him.

-Hate!-

To prevent himself being cleft in half, Gohan dropped down into the water, swimming until he was underneath the Demon King, and firing a blast upwards. Dabura smirked confidently, raising a hand to block it and commenting, "The fool." He was unprepared, however, when Gohan phased in on his right, charging towards him and forcing him to decide which was more important to block. He raised his other arm up to fend off Gohan, but received a kick to the head for his troubles, sending him flying into a spire a hundred feet away, as Gohan quickly dove out of the way of his own attack.

-You want it-

The rocks created by Dabura's landing started floating in the air, revealing the demon himself glowing red with energy, before he roared and sent them flying at Gohan. Quickly raising his hands up to block, the Demi-Saiyan was driven backwards into another stone spire, the rocks crashing down around him. Dabura landed near the crash site, walking confidently forward and laughing all the while, before a golden explosion sent the rubble flying, heralding Gohan's return, bigger, badder, stronger. The Super Saiyan teen glared down at his gaping opponent, the cold teal eyes noticing the trace of fear in the yellow eyes before him.

-Say hate!-

"Finally," Vegeta commented gruffly, "We'll get to see a real test. Let's see how this Dabura does against a Super Saiyan."

"Yeah," Goku agreed, "It always makes things more interesting, that's for sure."

-You need it-

Kaen grinned to himself. Now that there were no longer any walls to lean on, he and Pi had relocated themselves to the circle thing that once sat in the middle of the room, Kaen leaning back on his hands, and Pi leaning against his shoulder. A touch of mirth in his voice, he commented, "Has anyone else noticed that this fight is Pinkie verse The Brain?"

-Say hate!-

Still glaring at his opponent, Gohan suddenly disappeared. Shouting a surprised "What?" Dabura suddenly felt him reappear moments before he saw him, Gohan's fist now driven into his unprotected stomach. Rearing back, Gohan cold-clocked him with his left, sending the demon soaring backwards, before phasing in behind him and delivering a punishing back kick to Dabura's face. The Demon King plummeted to the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Landing calmly beside the crater, Gohan pointed his hands in the direction of his fallen opponent and began firing waves of attacks.

-You want it-

"Oh, what astounding power that young man has!" Babidi declared to himself in worry. "Oh no! Dabura!"

-Come on, come on, come on, come on-

Gohan stared deep into the dust cloud, awaiting Dabura's return, and his eyes darted to one side when he felt it. Sure enough, Dabura phased in behind him, aiming to punch him in the back of the head, but Gohan calmly spun around and grabbed his wrist, stopping the growling demon cold. Smirking, he swung his leg up to kick the captured Dabura, and the two began trading blows, two lights dancing across the sky before, with one final explosion, they separated, the two fighters landing on opposing spires.

-Get it, get it, go!-

Powering up to about half of his maximum in his Super Saiyan form, Gohan shouted, "Come on Dabura! Show your true power; you can't win at this rate."

Dabura scowled, before chuckling to himself. "You want a glimpse of my true power? Well so be it! I didn't know you were in such a hurry to die!" Letting out a primal roar, green lightning began shooting around him, jumping between his outstretched fingers, and pulsing along his limbs. His power level rising, Dabura began laughing demonically, confident in his strength.

-And you know it's plain to see-

As one, the two fighters leapt towards each other and began trading attacks, each of which was blocked or dodged by their opponent. Fist met fist, knee met knee, until finally Gohan connected with a kick to Dabura's face, sending the Demon King careening towards the ground. No sooner had he landed, however, when he began leaping around, finally landing on the side of a cliff, before a second kick from Gohan drove him through it and out the other side.

-In our society-

As Gohan charged towards him again Dabura leaned back, taking a deep breath, before belching a massive gout of flame at his opponent, burning a semi-circular tunnel through the rocky surface the ground they stood on. Gohan, however, dodged to the side and continued his charge, only to be forced to dodge a second burst, and then a third. Growling, Dabura stopped belching flame and stood stock still, fading out as the charging Gohan's fist flew through the air he'd stood in.

-All of us will bleed-

The real Dabura, floating over the river to the left, growled, "Looking. For. Me!" before firing a deep red energy blast. Waiting until the last possible second, Gohan coated his fist in ki, before punching the energy ball back where it came, and catching the unprepared Demon King in the chest, and sending him skipping across the river to crash into the bank behind it.

-But your war is not with me-

Vegeta growled to himself. "He's wasting time! Why doesn't he just finish Dabura off?"

"Relax Vegeta," Goku soothed, "I'm sure he has his reasons."

"What do you mean Goku?" Shin asked in shock, "How can Gohan win? Dabura is a lot stronger than Yakon or Puipui."

"That's okay Supreme Kai," Goku replied, "So's Gohan."

-There are many of those who oppose us-

"Alright then, round two," Gohan declared, floating over to Dabura. "Let's do it! Whenever you're ready big guy!" Dabura smirked, and the two fighters faded out, blurred lines dancing around until the collided with a resounding crash, one of them flying backwards and digging a trench through earth and water. The phase dance continued, the two reappearing for just long enough to make a single attack - usually one that wound up blocked - before disappearing again.

-There are many of those who oppose us-

Watching them from the bank, Goku mused, "What does Gohan think he's going? A direct attack won't work on this guy; he should know better than that."

"This is what happens when you don't train enough," Vegeta remarked, "He's lost his fighting sense. Pitiful."

"You're wrong Vegeta," Pi commented. "Gohan knows exactly what he's doing."

"Oh, and what's that?" The prince asked, one eyebrow cocked.

Pi smirked. "Making him over-confident and sloppy."

-There are many of those who oppose us-

With a massive explosion of power, a twenty-foot wall of water erupted out of the pink river, Dabura landing on the bank behind it, Gohan floating in the air in front of it. In truth, Gohan did know exactly what he was doing, and exactly what he wasn't doing. Puipui had stated that any energy they lost in the Stage rooms would be fed directly to Majin Buu, and logically the same applied when the room was changed.

-Who oppose us-

Gohan knew that Super Saiyan 2 bled ki, which would be fed to Buu, so he had to beat Dabura in the base Super Saiyan. He also knew that using too many ki attacks would also speed up Majin Buu's release, so he wasn't going to risk using too many; his earlier barrage against Dabura proved less effective than he would have hoped, so he wasn't going to try that again. The most frustrating part was that he didn't know how much energy they already had from what they'd drained from Kaen; if he had known the gauge was only at about one third, he would have powered up to the max and erased every molecule of Dabura at the start.

-Who oppose us!-

When the wall of water fell, Gohan smirked. "Not bad."

Dabura smirked back, chuckling deeply and turning away from him, beckoning him closer with his hand. "Come on. If you dare."

Gohan knew it was a trap, but, as Pi had said earlier, the best way to survive a trap is to know it's there and deliberately spring it. Reigniting his aura, he growled, "All right," and sped forward. Just as he expected, when he was close Dabura spun around and spat at him, but Gohan was prepared. Raising his right arm, he blocked the spit using his wristband, and without even slowing down tore it off and flung it at Dabura.

-All of this could always be the way that you would want it to-

It was only the pure shock that the 'lowly mortal' didn't even slow down that saved the Demon King from being struck by the petrifying circle of cloth, as he jumped back a foot, and the wrist band landed on the earth where he'd been standing, shattering on impact. That didn't stop Dabura being struck in the face however, and once more the Demon King was sent flying.

After a few more moments of fighting, Dabura sneered, "I feel your power decreasing. It's only a matter of time before you make a mistake."

"What if you make one first?" Gohan countered.

Dabura just laughed. "I wouldn't count on it."

-Come on sell your soul, it's what you want to do-

"Gohan's taking a lot longer to defeat this Dabura guy than I would have expected," Goku commented worriedly.

"He's tough, but he's not unbeatable," Vegeta spat, "Gohan's wasting time."

"Oh let him have his fun Veggie," Kaen commented disinterestedly, "I mean, when's the last time Gohan fought someone he could go all out on that he didn't have to worry about accidentally killing?"

Vegeta just growled. "I could beat Dabura."

-This could be the only way-

Dabura turned his head to look at Vegeta, his massive ears picking up on the conversation behind him. However, he quickly faced forward again when he heard Gohan shout, "Mistake number one!" The Super Saiyan teen clocked him across the face, sending the Demon King sailing backwards.

Dabura growled to himself, holding his left hand out and shouting, "Sword!" I wickedly curved blade appeared in his hand, and he leapt towards his opponent, shouting, "Taste my blade!" He was understandably shocked, however, when a single finger on Gohan's left hand stopped his sword cold.

-Forget the fucking judgment day-

"What! Impossible!" Babidi shrieked in panic, quickly checking Buu's gauge; whereas before it was at the one-third mark, now it was slightly past. "Dabura's losing, and he's hardly done any damage at all!"

-Ignorant is bliss, so raise your fist and say-

While Dabura was still reeling in shock, Gohan pushed forward with his finger, sending the blade back a bit, before chopping it with both hands, one higher than the other. The result was two clean cuts through the metal, the sword falling into three pieces: the point, the middle, and the haft, which Dabura still held.

-Hate!-

"I can't take this any more! This is ridiculous!" Vegeta barked. "Why are we subjecting ourselves to this? Look, call him down Kakarott, I'll finish this."

"What are you talking about Vegeta? He's winning." Goku replied confusedly.

"Dabura's toying with him, you know that; come on!" Vegeta shouted back.

-You want it-

"Actually, Gohan's toying with Dabura," Pi countered.

"What difference does it make? Either way my time is being wasted!" Vegeta growled, "Why should I sit around all day acting like this matters? I could end this in five minutes if I wanted to! I'm not here to play games Kakarott, or to create nice father-son memories; I'm here to win! Stop pretending! Knock off the sentimental rubbish! The strongest one is the one who should do the job, and Gohan has clearly proven he doesn't have what it takes; I'm the one who should be fighting, not him!"

-Say hate!-

Dabura grinned to himself, having heard the argument clearly. Relaxing out of his fighting stance, he reached out with his mind. "Master, please bring us back to the ship immediately. I have made an important discovery."

"A discovery Dabura?" Was Babidi's sceptical reply.

"Yes, it's vital to our plans." Dabura answered confidently. "I think you'll agree."

Surprised by this, Babidi conceded, "Very well then, but it better be a good one to interrupt a fight."

-You need it-

With his master's agreement to bring him back received, Dabura began flying away from Gohan, and towards where the door would reappear once the room returned to normal, based on where the circle in the centre was. Chasing after him, Gohan shouted, "Don't run! You're just gonna die tired!" Just as Dabura landed, the room faded back to normal, and Dabura stepped through the door, which closed up behind him; only swift control on Gohan's part prevented him from putting his fist through the door.

"What? What are we doing here?" Vegeta shouted.

"I dunno," Goku replied cluelessly, "I guess they wanted us back on the ship for some reason."

"But why?" Shin wondered out loud.

"Where are you going?" Gohan shouted through the door, "Are you giving up?"

"Oh no, it's just a brief intermission," Dabura's voice echoed back through the thick steel; the intercom helped. "We just need a few minutes to rework our strategy. It seems we've found a new recruit; the perfect warrior, capable of handling all of you, so just take a little rest while we bring him up to speed." His echoing laughter filled the room for several minutes, before fading out.

'What are they up to?' The Supreme Kai asked himself, 'They don't have any warriors stronger than Dabura.'

-Say hate!-

"Welcome back," Babidi commented dryly as Dabura reappeared on the bottom level. "What's this that you were saying? Did you really make a discovery? Hmm?"

Dabura chuckled, replying with a simple, "Yes."

Babidi turned his back, commenting sternly, "Good. I was beginning to think you'd lost your nerve and were looking for an excuse to run away, but I guess I was wrong wasn't I?"

"The Demon King fears no mortal!" Dabura bellowed, before conceding, "Although I will admit they were stronger than I thought."

"Well I'm glad to hear it." Babidi stated. "Now, about this discovery of yours, why don't you fill me in, please?"

-You want it-

Babidi may have said please, but it was still a direct order, so Dabura replied directly. "I saw that one of the mortals has a terrible rage burning in his heart. He lacks the conviction of the others. He could be made to serve our purposes."

A massive cheerful grin broke out across Babidi's face. "You're kidding me? Now I know what you're thinking; we can revive Buu and defeat them all without even lifting a finger! Brilliant Dabura!"

When Babidi broke into laughter, Dabura added, "I'm here to please you my master."

"You are priceless!" Babidi commented, before chanting cheerfully, "Here comes the Buu!" After a few cycles of this, and a lot of cackling, he calmed down enough to turn his attention to his crystal ball, commenting, "Well, let's take a look at him shall we?"

-Come on, come on, come on, come on-

"Well, what now?" Gohan asked semi-rhetorically.

"I don't know," Shin replied seriously, "I don't understand what's going on. Dabura is Babidi's greatest fighter; it doesn't make sense that he would withdraw from the fight. They don't have anyone after him; he's their best!"

-Get it, get it-

"He mentioned a new recruit," Goku pointed out, "Do you think he was bluffing?"

The Supreme Kai thought it over for a moment, before replying, "I'm not sure, but it seems unlikely that a fighter of that calibre would drop into their laps at a time like this."

Dropping out of Super Saiyan, Gohan stated, "Yeah, they're definitely up to something, but what?"

-Hate!-

"Argh, this whole thing would be over with if it wasn't for you!" Vegeta barked. When they turned to face him, he continued, "I hope you're proud of yourself. You have Saiyan blood running through your veins; a warrior like Dabura should be dead!" To accentuate his point, he shoved Gohan back a step. "And now you're sitting here scratching your head, wondering what's next when it should already be finished!"

Scowling, he sneered, "You are pitiful, fighting with that soft righteous look on your face. It's brute strength that determines the outcome of a battle, not goodness; the mighty survive and the weak perish! Your Piccolo and Krillin were turned to stone; that's because they're weaklings. Is that the kind of fate you want for yourself?" He growled in frustration. "Garden statues! If they're lucky someone will make a birdbath out of them!"

-You want it-

Gohan growled back, "I don't need to stand here taking lessons from you! If I had fought with pure brute strength as you say, had jumped to Super Saiyan Two and eliminated Dabura with a massive ki beam, I would have bled so much energy that Majin Buu could have been revived. I fought conservatively because any other way would equal a victory for them!"

"Hey, break it up you two!" Goku interjected, "Look, if Gohan had've known Dabura was going to run off he no doubt would have finished him off sooner."

-Say hate!-

"Oh yes, now there's a pleasant excuse," Vegeta snorted sarcastically, pointing his finger accusingly before adding, "You're as soft as he is Kakarott. And I'm tired of playing around! I'm going to put an end to this thing once and for all!" Pointing his hand towards the ground, fingers splayed, Vegeta began powering up a blast, cutting Goku off and declaring, "No more weak-hearted excuses Kakarott; I'm taking control of this operation now, and for starters I'm going to blow this ship to Kingdom Come!"

"Wait! That might do us more harm than good!" Goku protested.

-You need it-

"Goku's right," Shin agreed, "If you blow up the ship now you'll most certainly revive Buu." When his words failed to sway the irate prince, he continued, "Vegeta, please. You don't know Buu; his power if horrible, he's pure evil. Not even the Kai's combined could stop him; he's murdered millions of innocent people!"

"Shut up!" Vegeta shouted.

"Don't be a fool!" The Supreme Kai argued, "If Buu's revived this planet's finished! History! All living things will be exterminated! He'll turn the Earth into a dark, lifeless tomb!"

-Say hate!-

"Enough!" The Saiyan Prince shouted, aiming his blast at Shin's face. "Now you listen to me! What happens to this planet is none of my concern! The strongest shall find a way to survive and the weaklings shall perish!"

"What kind of person are you?" Shin stammered fearfully.

-You want it-

Scowling, Goku phased in between the two of them, grabbing Vegeta's arm and forcibly cutting the flow to the beam before declaring, "Hey, cut it out; this has gone far enough!"

"How dare you!" Vegeta growled. "You better let go of me Kakarott."

Goku didn't waver. "Come on, let's put what's happened behind us and move forward from here."

Snatching his arm away, Vegeta turned his back on them, folding his arms and scowling. "All right, whatever you say, Kakarott."

-Come on, come on, come on, come on-

Babidi cackled gleefully, "Yes, yes yes yes, I love it! I love it! This is too good to be true!"

"I take it that you are pleased master?" Dabura asked rhetorically.

-Get it, get it, go!-

"Oh ho yes, immensely so," Babidi replied, "What a great discovery you have made Dabura. This one is nothing like the others. Yes, you hit the nail right on the head. What a beautiful, arrogant, selfish piece of work! Oh my, look how uptight he is."

As Babidi broke into another round of laughter the Demon King commented, "Yes, he is a rare find indeed. Can you imagine the energy he'll create when he turns on the others? Resurrecting Buu will be all so easy."

-Get it, get it, go!-

Still chuckling, Babidi held his hands out to the crystal ball, commenting, "All right, what are we waiting for." As he began to focus his magic through the ball, he stopped suddenly, exclaiming, "Wait a minute! There's something odd about this other one." The image shifted, displaying the seated warrior with hair similar to Vegeta. "I can't explain it, but I can feel the taint of magic on his soul, as if he's already been controlled before by another wizard."

"What?" Dabura asked, "How is that possible?"

"I don't know Dabura," he replied, "However, that's not what's important. The important thing is that he too can be controlled; like the other's arrogance, this stain gives me an access point." He grinned. "Looks like I get two for one; let's do it!"

-Get it, get it, go!-

"Now what I wanna know is why they withdrew from the fight," Goku stated, his voice in business-mode.

"Yes, it doesn't make sense does it," Shin replied, feeling a lot better now that Vegeta wasn't being such an ass. "It was the perfect opportunity. They could've gathered more energy. Maybe Dabura wasn't bluffing; maybe they did find a new recruit."

-Come on, come on, come on, come on-

"It's definitely a possibility," Goku agreed, "But I don't see how. Happening upon someone that can beat us all? What are the chances of doing that? Slim to none I'd say."

Shin mulled it over in his head. 'Perhaps the perfect warrior that Dabura was speaking of was right here among us.' His gaze drifted from Goku, to Gohan, to the still-seated couple, and finally to Vegeta's back. A horrified look covered his face as he realised who they were talking about, far too late. "Oh no! Don't tell me... it's Vegeta!"

"Papara papa!"

-Get it, get it, go!-

To be continued...

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Author's notes:

You know, I must admit I was surprised at the number of people who didn't understand how Kaen and Pi had so much knowledge about Babidi and the Majin, considering the fact that, in one chapter of When World's Collide, the word 'Babidi' appeared 11 times, and the word Majin 3 times. That's right folks, in chapter 21 (23 if you go by this site's chapter numbers) of When World's Collide, the alternate world featured Majin Kaen and Majin Pi. In short, they had knowledge of the Majin because, at one point in time, they were one.

I have come to realise that my readers - or at least those few of them who review - don't find the same things I do funny. I mean, the DBZ soundbyte remixes on YouTube (mentioned in last chapter's notes) cause me to practically piss myself laughing, yet not a person commented on them. Oh well, to each his/her own.

Next time, Book One draws to a close.