--- Disturbance, Book 2: Divergence ---

Chapter D04 - Avarice

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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-Politics and evil-

Floating in front of the fleeing Gohan and Shin, Majin Buu dragged it's tongue back into it's mouth, a childish grin of amusement slapped across it's putty like features. With a loud exclamation of "You drop dead!" Majin Buu reared a hand back, slamming the stunned Gohan in the head before the Super Saiyan teen could react, and sending him careening into the ground, kicking up a massive dust cloud.

Staring in horror at the pudgy pink monster that had laid out Gohan in a single hit, the Supreme Kai began slowly floating backwards, but Buu floated forwards at the same speed, keeping them the same distance apart; namely, within striking distance. Laughing as he observed the two in the sky, Babidi shouted gleefully, "Yes! Now torture him Majin Buu! Make that purple rat scared like a baby!"

-All one in the same-

Still slowly floating backwards, Shin cast a fearful eye at Gohan's fallen form, the golden-haired teen finally pulling himself up again, still quite worn out from his fight with Dabura; he'd had to fight in base Super Saiyan against a stronger opponent for too long, it seemed. Buu's excited whoop drew his attention again, the pink monstrosity's gut bulging in his direction. In an effort to stall, he asked, "Do you remember me Buu?" When no reply was forthcoming he thrust his hand forward, letting out an echoing shout as a massive gust of wind created caused the fat blob of a creature to tip backwards.

As the wind died down, Buu's case and vest flapping for a moment before settling, it became obvious that this was all the wind had done, Buu righting himself again and shaking like a bowl of jelly before settling back to normal, his cheerful grin still present. His eyes opened into angry slits and his teeth bared, however, as his mood swiftly changed, and he swung his hands forward, trapping the Supreme Kai's head between them in a mockery of a clap.

-Satan hides behind a different name-

When Buu removed his hands, the Supreme Kai's face had a distinct concave shape, purple blood trickling from his lips, and more coming out when he coughed. Buu, however, wasn't finished yet; raising one hand, and closing the festive yellow glove into a fist, he chirped, "Down, down!" and clubbed the Supreme Kai on the top of his head, sending the other planar being crashing into the earth with another dust cloud. Satisfied, Buu began alternatively chanting "Ow" and "Pow" childishly again.

Roaring in anger as he blasted back out of the dust, Shin stopped on a dime before Buu, throwing his hands forward so they met at the wrist and began charging energy. With a rising shout, the energy was released at point blank range, creating a blinding pink sphere that encompassed Buu's form. When the light faded, however, Majin Buu was perfectly fine, albeit knocked back a dozen metres or so.

"It's... no use," he stammered fearfully, watching the humming Buu carefully; not carefully enough, it seemed, as before he could react Majin Buu sent him flying downwards with a massive headbutt.

-Take these chains away-

"He's... getting butchered," the observing Gohan commented slowly; that hit had hurt, and the landing was no softer.

When the Supreme Kai's form impacted with one of the increasingly few mountains, Babidi cackled, "Oh ho Buu, you are a beauty! Yes! YES!"

Focusing his energy, Gohan sent the rocks pinning him flying with a burst of golden energy. Staggering to his feet, Gohan stated determinedly through grit teeth, "I'm not letting you down..."

-Free my hands from bondage-

"You broke'd! Drop dead! Nya-nya! Buu has win!" The pink monster cheered excitedly to itself, as Shin dug himself out of the rubble-filled crater his landing had made. Noticing the purple being's success, Buu cried, "Hello! You back!" He dropped down to the ground, landing near the Kai, before exclaiming, "I drop you down! You hit dead! Now you back I drop you more!" He finished his bout of laughter with a growl.

The battered Kai dragged himself upright, glaring hate at Buu, barking, "You stop this!" Clamping his eyes shut and clenching his fists, he began focusing his power.

Buu remained unphased, however, striding forward confidently, his feet digging little holes, as he repeated "No stop" over and over again.

Opening his eyes and letting out a echoing shout through his grit teeth, Shin's eyes glowed a brilliant blue, the discharged energy knocking Buu off it's feet and sending it tilting backwards through the air. However, like both attempts before it, Buu simply righted itself again when the wind died, completely unharmed and laughing gleefully. Grinning broadly, Buu cried, "Me try!"

-Can't explain away-

The pudgy pink terror's eyes opened from their usual perpetual squinted state, and began glowing pink as Buu copied the Supreme Kai's technique. Screaming in horror and pain from the energy discharge, the Kai was sent flying backwards at high speed, before crash landing right next to Babidi.

Coughing a bit as the dust settled back down again, Babidi cast a curious eye over the fallen Kai, before taunting, "Well, what do we have here? Has the rat Kai come back so soon? That's funny!" Striding confidently over to the injured purple man, he laughed, "And I thought you were running away." Prodding him with his foot, he added, "Oh look, you seem to be in a great amount of pain. Oh, what a terrible misfortune!"

Babidi's taunts were cut off by a loud cry of "BUU!" that was getting closer quickly. Casting his gaze upwards, the wizard saw his father's creation fast approaching, and he dived out of the way as Majin Buu landed ass-first on the Supreme Kai's back; by the sound his landing made, and from the pained cry wrenched from Shin's mouth, Majin Buu landed quite heavily.

When Shin's cry tapered off Buu climbed off him, as Babidi strode back and taunted, "What's going on here Kai? You taking a nap on the job? I don't know how a guy like you got so high up on the food chain!" Shin struggled to get upright again, but his strength left him, and the mohawk'd being flopped back onto the dirt. "He's out folks," Babidi cackled, "Can't go another inch. Maybe I should be polite and give him a mercy killing."

Again Babidi was cut off by an approaching cry, but this time the cry came from the fast approaching Gohan, the Super Saiyan teen sending Buu flying with a kick to the side of the head, before landing where Buu had been next to the Supreme Kai. Babidi took off running, but Gohan paid him no mind, turning to the injured Kai and saying, "It's me Supreme Kai. Let's get out of here." Shin managed to gather the energy to turn back and smile at him.

"Darn it! Mocking him was just getting fun!" Babidi growled.

-Avarice will kill you in time-

With a curious noise, Majin Buu, currently balanced on one leg a fair distance away, began cartwheeling back towards Gohan, leaping off the ground metres away and landing on both feet, a satisfied noise escaping it's lips as the side of it's head reinflated with a pop. Buu took a moment to laugh hootingly at the stunned Super Saiyan, before glaring at him, his eyes and teeth becoming visible, as he held his hands before him. "You a big pest. You leave!"

With a growl, Gohan charged towards him, moments before Shin shouted, "Watch out for his blast!" It was too late. With a shout, a wave of green energy blasted forward, engulfing Gohan for a second before forming into a large ball upon which the teen was sprawled. As the green ball carried Gohan far away, beginning to ascend, Shin commented painfully, "He'll die!"

Babidi burst into laughter again. "And that's the end of you! You're headed straight into outer space!"

Shin forced himself up, gathering all his energy as he willed his body onto his hands, turning his head to face the ball that carried Gohan away. With a pained grunt, Shin's eyes briefly glowed blue, and the giant green energy ball exploded, Gohan's lifeless body tumbling down into some woodlands far away. 'Stay down Gohan,' the Kai willed, 'They w-won't... f-find you...' His strength leaving him, he collapsed again.

"Hey," Babidi commented curiously, "You didn't do something tricky now did you?"

Even had he the strength to do so, Shin wouldn't have replied. 'You have to keep living Gohan. You could be our best hope.'

-Violent upheaval-

"Is everyone settled?"

Truniz saluted his brother semi-sarcastically, replying, "Aye aye Cap'n. The entire city has been stowed aboard, all crew are present and accounted for, and our guests have been shown to their quarters."

Kellre ignored his younger brother's antics; at least he knew where Pi got it from. "Good. We'll break through the atmosphere in thirty seconds, and have achieved geosynchronous orbit within three minutes."

"Hey, I got a question," Kat interjected. "We have an entire city full of Saiyans on board right? Why aren't we all off fighting this Buu thing?"

Avarrdo fielded the question. "Because, young Kat, less than a hundredth of a percent of the population has ascended, and of that fraction of a percent, at most a hundredth of a percent of them have breached the second level, but even then, no one has been recorded consistently reaching the power output required for such a task. Goku, Gohan and Vegeta are our three strongest warriors, and if they have fallen to Majin Buu, there is nothing we can do; fighting him would only result in death."

"But that wouldn't stop them," Kat pointed out. "How did you get them to agree to the retreat?"

Kellre shrugged. "We didn't. As far as the population of the city is concerned, this is just a drill. There have been instabilities in the planet recorded, and until we can ascertain the true danger, if there is any, of this instability, the entire city has been evacuated via proper procedure and relocated to a safe location."

Avarrdo continued before the young redhead could comment. "It is the primary role of the Council to take whatever measures are necessary to prolong the survival of the Saiyan race, even if that means taking actions that leave a bitter taste in our mouths."

Kat blinked, previous question forgotten. "You guys are on the Council?"

Avarrdo gave her a level stare. "It's the Council of Learned Elders; of course we're on it."

Turning to his console, Kellre mused, "Now, let's see if we can find the others..."

-Cities drenched in flame-

"What a wonderful day this is!" Babidi cackled to the fallen Kai, "Now, I fully plan to rip you into pieces, but let me first say 'thank you'; after all, if it weren't for all the incredibly strong fighters you brought me I wouldn't have been able to bring Majin Buu back to life." Sobering up, he continued, "Normally I'd let one of my slaves do the dirty work, but to show you my appreciation I think I'll kill you myself! See what a marvellous circle this is? You kill my father and now I kill you!"

As Babidi reached for him, the Supreme Kai began grunting, either in effort or pain. "Eh, forget the circle," the wizard muttered sourly. "Hey Buu, what do you say you finish off this rat for me like you were supposed to do in the first place?" The pink monster didn't reply. Growing angry, Babidi shouted, "Buu! I'm ordering!"

"Ooh, ordering," Buu muttered, it's stomach growling loudly; well, what passed for a stomach anyway. Turning back to the wizard, Buu stated cheerfully, "I have hungry now. Buu eat him now yes?"

Babidi blinked a few times, before his face broke into a brilliant smile. "That's just terrific. Eating him up! What an appropriate end, lost in your belly. Yes; what are you waiting for Buu? Eat every single bit of him. Don't even let a strand of his hair escape your gorgeous stomach."

Buu erupted into gleeful laughter, bending over the Kai slightly, but before he could do anything, a wicked looking spear erupted from his stomach; had it not stopped inside Majin Buu, it would have speared Babidi through the head. Babidi gaped in shock, taking a few steps back and exclaiming, "What in the world is that thing?" Looking behind Buu, the wizard could see a haggard Dabura, covered in dirt and his own purple blood, panting harshly, still standing in post-throw position. "Dabura, have you gone absolutely insane over there?" Babidi shouted, "I just hope for your own sake you were aiming that spear at the Kai!"

-Wickedness we know we can contain-

Two golden comets soared through the air; said comets being comprised of the Super Saiyan forms of Trunks and Goten. Looking around their surroundings a bit, Trunks observed, "We must be getting close now. That weird feeling's stronger than ever."

"It makes my stomach feel funny," Goten commented.

Spotting something, Trunks exclaimed, "Look Goten, there they are straight ahead!" Three dots were visible on the ground a long way ahead of them; fortunately, they both had good eyesight, so they could make out that said three dots were three people of varying heights. "Landing time!" Trunks shouted, Goten signalling his agreement before the two dived down to one of the bordering mountains.

After they'd landed, their aura's burning out, Trunks suggested, "Hey Goten, let's rest from being Super Saiyans and try to find 'em like we're secret agents." The younger boy nodded his agreement, and the two faded from Super Saiyan, creeping forward to peer over the ledge they'd landed on. "Mysterious," Trunks commented, "I don't know any of the guys down there."

"Wait, isn't that Mister Shin there on the ground?" Goten asked.

"Mister who?"

"Shin." Goten replied. "I saw my brother talk to him at the tournament."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Trunks nodded. "He looks pretty torn up. I wonder if he's done for."

After a few moments of thought, Goten asked, "Which do you think is the Buu monster? The red guy or the pink guy?"

"The pink one," a female voice behind them declared. Turning around, they noticed Oran and Lime standing there, the former with his arms crossed. Neither boy asked how they'd managed to sneak up on them; that'd force them to admit they'd been caught unaware

"Are you sure?" Trunks asked, "It's kinda hard to tell when we're this far away."

Oran smirked, "So then, you think you're brave enough to get closer?" Before either of the boys could reply Oran had vaulted over the edge, his sister trailing after him. Spluttering, Trunks jumped after him, with Goten bringing up the rear. The four kids let gravity do most of the work, using their ki to soften the landing as they jumped from ledge to ledge, until they reached the very edge of the mountain they were on; any further, and the only place they could go would be to ground level.

Looking over the edge, they noticed a tiny man jumping up and down in rage, spluttering, "Argh, of all the stupid, mindless..."

-Take these chains away-

Leaning back, the four kids sat cross-legged on the ledge, Trunks exclaiming, "Man, I don't understand any of this. If all the bad guys are over here then where did everybody else go?"

"I dunno," Goten said reflexively, before looking up and spying something. "Uh, could that be them?"

Turning around, Lime commented, "Well, it looks like a person."

"Then, let's go and check it out," Oran suggested. That decided, the four kids started climbing up towards the ledge; well, Goten and Trunks climbed, eventually running up the cliff, while Oran and Lime jumped up a series of ledges to get there, arriving shortly after the two boys.

What they found there was quite surprising. Gaping slightly, Goten chirped, "It's Piccolo!"

"I see, it's just a statue of him," Trunks commented, breathing a sigh of relief. "That scared me for a second." The two boys began examining the statue; a poke here, a prod there, a tap somewhere else. "Whoever did this was really good. It looks just like him. They even got his cape."

Looking around a bit, Lime pointed to a lower ledge and stated, "Hey guys, it looks like there's a statue of Krillin too."

"Well, that's weird," Trunks commented, punching the Piccolo statue lightly; as it turned out, it wasn't light enough, as the statue fell forward, shattering on impact, much to the boy's horror. "Uh oh, whoopsie."

"Trunks, that looked expensive!" Goten chided.

Oran looked over the edge towards the guys down below as the other three ran over to check. "Do you think they heard us?" Trunks asked fearfully.

Oran shrugged, "Doesn't look like it."

"Phew," Trunks sighed, "Good, I thought I was gonna get in trouble."

"You still broke it," Lime commented.

-Free my hands from bondage-

Babidi twitched with barely repressed rage, glaring at Dabura as the exhausted Demon King staggered towards him. "Babidi," he breathed roughly, regaining more strength as he approached, "Don't be such a fool. This Majin Buu creature is far too powerful to be kept under your control for long. If he's allowed to keep reaching into his power, it will only be a matter of time before he destroys you." Growling, Babidi cast an eye at the speared Buu, before Dabura shouted, "Make the best decision of your life and help me crush him while we can!"

"Dabura, Dabura, Dabura, DABURA, ARE YOU CRAZY?" Babidi shrieked, the force of his yell actually lifting his tiny body off the ground. At Dabura's shocked gasp he screeched, "There is no 'us' anymore, don't you understand? He has been my life's ambition and now that he's here you are nothing!"

"Master Babidi..." Dabura commented pitifully.

Tears in his eyes, Babidi growled, "And you hurt him." As if purely to spite Babidi's words, Majin Buu took a firm grip on the spear sticking out of his stomach, and yanked it out with an audible pop, much to the other's shock. Looking him over as the pink monster carelessly hurled the spear way, Babidi asked, "Majin Buu, do you think you'll be okay?" The answer to his question was obvious, as the hole in Buu began shrinking quickly until it was like he was never damaged; even his cape was whole again.

"What is this thing?" Dabura cried.

Babidi burst into more hysterical laughter. "Yes! It's incredible! My father was a genius wizard just like I've always said!"

Dabura just gaped in shock as Buu glared at his, his eyes opening as he commented, "Now new plan. Now I eat you!"

-Can't explain away-

"Let's see," Vegeta mused to himself, staring at the circular portal that lead to the next level in Babidi's ship; the magic that had transported them to this wasteland made sure they were still linked to the ship, otherwise the energy they lost would not go towards resurrecting Majin Buu. "The fastest way for me to get into Babidi's space ship might be for me to smash through the top. But it might be easier just to destroy the whole ship, and go in after Majin Buu instead. Then if I catch him off guard I've got him; I hope."

He growled slightly to himself. "I can sense it; Kakarott's son is gone." Looking skyward, he commented sadly, "Cellotto, I'm sorry. I guess that's two debts I owe you now." It was his pride that had prevented him from joining the fight, and now his pride had cost Gohan his life. He turned back to his rival. "Kakarott..." He said nothing more, though the words were on his lips, instead turning back to the portal and igniting his aura.

It was time.

-Avarice will kill you in time-

Dabura gaped in shock as Buu's declaration of 'I eat you' echoed in his mind. "What?" the demon growled, "You wouldn't dare!"

The two stared one another down for a moment, the wind blowing their respective capes, before, when said wind died down, Buu performed a brief dance before ending balanced on one leg with a cry of "Buu!" As Dabura growled Buu began taking massive hopping strides forward, leaping onto one leg and bouncing a little, before leaping onto the other leg, and so on. With each step, he announced cheerfully, "Me eat you up!"

"Oh what fun," Babidi commented to himself, "Majin Buu is going to take care of everything for me now."

Fed up with the pink thing, Dabura shouted, "I'll show you!" Rearing back, he drove his fist into Buu's face, launching into a series of punishing punches to the pudgy pink monstrosity. With a roar, he delivered a finishing kick, sending Buu skyward bound, before launching up after it and stopping it cold with a second kick, before clenching his hands and bashing it over the head, sending it down into possible the only remaining spire in the entire clearing.

"Oh no! Majin Buu!" Babidi shouted in fear.

Dabura landed calmly a few metres away from him, also facing the crash site. "Good riddance."

A sudden explosion of dirt proceeded Majin Buu's form catapulting through the air, flipping a few times before it landed feet first on the ground in a bow. As Babidi, his mood swiftly switching gain, cheered him on, Buu performed a victory dance, before resuming his 'Me eat you up' marching chant. Growling ferociously, Dabura began glowing red, as he floated upwards.

-Who will we murder now?-

"That guy looks pretty scary when he gets mad doesn't he?" Trunks commented casually.

Lime shrugged, "You should see Kaen when he gets worked up."

-See what we are becoming-

Halting his ascent, Dabura aimed the palm of one hand at Buu, the red glow that was his aura still around him. "This will finish you off." An orange ki ball pulsed into life in his hand, a second overlapping it, and then a third, the colour deepening each time. With a roar, the Demon King fired wave after wave of blasts at the pudgy monster, too many to count, kicking up enough dust, still glowing from the explosions within, to blanket the area. Halting the flow, he landed slowly next to the stunned Babidi, falling to one knee and panting from exhaustion. Strength recovered, he climbed back to his feet, commenting, "What do you think of your pet now Babidi?"

Before the wizard could reply, a sound could be heard from inside the massive dust cloud; the continued chant of "Me eat you up." Ignoring Babidi's hysterical cackling and blind worship of his new toy, Dabura leapt towards Majin Buu, roaring as he approached, before spitting at him twice. Buu calmly dodged the two projectiles, however, and before Dabura could react he declared, "Turn into a cookie!" The tip of the tail on his head began glowing purple, and it flicked forward, firing an electrical-looking wave at the floating Dabura, the violet energy engulfing him.

The onlookers gaped in awe (in Babidi's case) or fear (in the case of the kids) as Dabura let out a pain-filled roar. His arms, it could be seen, were forced straight by the energy, as were his legs, his mouth was forced closed, and his eyes forced into a relaxed position; even his cape was forced straight. Once Dabura was statue-still, he seemed to explode into a cloud of smoke, which soon parted to reveal a giant Chibi-Dabura biscuit, which fell towards the ground; Majin Buu caught it before it could hit, and, despite it being about as big as his ass was wide, he jammed the entire thing into his mouth.

The kids could only gape in horror as the pink thing ate the giant biscuit that had once been a person. "Oh beautiful!" Babidi declared, "Well done Majin Buu! What a tasty performance!"

-An onyx veil that filters out the light-

"I don't believe it," Goten commented dazedly, as the four kids sat up away from the cliff edge. "He ate him."

Trunks just nodded his head slowly. Out of the corner of her eye, Lime noticed what looked like steam rising off the Krillin statue nearby, as it began changing from grey to colour. "Look!" She exclaimed, "It's actually Krillin!"

Looking up at the voice, Krillin remarked, "Hey, what're you guys doing here?" The four kids jumped down to greet the short monk; well, to them he was about the same height, but that was short for an adult. "What happened?" He asked. "I don't remember a thing."

"You don't?" Goten exclaimed.

"Somebody turned you into a stone statue," Oran remarked.

"That's right! I remember now," Krillin replied, "It was that Dabura guy's spit. It turned me to stone; I couldn't move! What a creep!" Examining himself quickly, he added, "Well, looks like I'm okay now."

"He must be talking about the guy who just got eaten up," Goten commented, as if it wasn't obvious.

"Well duh!" Trunks replied, "I'll bet his powers wore off when he got turned into a cookie. That's why Krillin's back to..." He trailed off as he suddenly realised something, and he looked like he'd seen a ghost; actually, scratch that, he looked like he'd been told he'd have to eat his mother's cooking for a month. "Oh no, you know what that means?"

"What's wrong Trunks?" Krillin asked, concerned for the young boy.

Trunks didn't respond, instead slowly flying up to the ledge above, Oran following after him. "Oh, I know," Lime replied calmly. "Trunks knocked over Piccolo's statue and broke him."

-I'll savour this anger-

Cresting the ridge, Trunks stared in horror at the sight that lay before him. Behind him, Oran made the typical whistle-then-boom noise one associates with bombs being dropped. "Man, what a mess," the older boy commented. Terror stilling his tongue, Trunks shot back down to the ledge the others stood on, not noticing the smirk Oran bore.

"Is he there?" Goten asked curiously.

"Uh... You don't wanna go up there," Trunks replied slowly.

"Trunks, what is it?" Krillin prompted.

The lavender-haired child continued to sweat bullets. "Please, we've gotta keep this a secret, okay?"

"Keep what a secret?" a deep, bass voice boomed from behind him. Straightening up in shock, Trunks spun around and looked up, finding Piccolo smirking down at him, a very pleased look on his face at the young boy's expression. That satisfied look lasted until his senses noticed the massive power in the valley. Quickly laying down on the cliff looking over the edge, he asked, "What in the world is giving off all that terrible energy?" He gasped at the sight of the pink thing. "Is that thing, Majin Buu?"

Climbing up to crouch next to him, Trunks had to ask, "Hey Piccolo, how did you get back to normal?"

Oran answered for him. "Nameks can regenerate as long as their head's intact."

"Enough about that, what's been going on around here? Where are Goku and the others?" Piccolo barked.

-My hate makes me stronger-

"Goku and Vegeta are beating the shit out of each other up north somewhere," Lime replied 'helpfully', "Or at least they were; being near this 'Buu' thing is messing up my ki sense."

"Hey, you mean that pink guy down there?" Krillin asked. "Is that Majin Buu?"

Oran shrugged. "Seems that way."

"Well, he doesn't seem very tough," Krillin commented, clearly lying through his teeth, "So, if it's alright with you guys I think I wanna go home right now."

"AH! Is that the Supreme Kai down there?" Piccolo cried out, moving to go help him.

"Hey, relax big guy!" Oran exclaimed, "Don't do anything stupid now. You just got back to life; you don't wanna die again do you? We should at least wait for the others to get back here; they're surely on their way."

"Yeah, I bet my dad could beat him up!" Goten agreed. "He wouldn't let that stupid Buu turn him into a cookie!"

"I guess you're right," Piccolo muttered, slightly weirded out that this child was being the voice of reason.

-Free my hands from bondage-

Majin Buu strode purposefully towards the fallen Kai, the sun behind him casting a huge shadow over the purple skinned being. "What should me turn you into?" Buu asked himself. "Chocolate, or cake?"

Babidi, for possibly the millionth time that day, burst into laughter. "He looks tasty! Why don't you do both? Go on now, eat him up!" Majin Buu leaned over the fallen Kai, his head-tail swinging forward to point at him, as purple energy again began gathering at its tip. However, before he could say the words that would seal the Supreme Kai's fate, there was a massive golden explosion behind Babidi. Spinning around, the wizard shouted, "What's that?"

The golden explosion expanded into a massive golden dome, completely enveloping Babidi, Shin and Buu, scorching the earth, and kicking up gale force winds. "What's going on down there?" Krillin shouted. Piccolo and the others just gaped in shock. The force of the wind was so strong, Babidi was wrenched from his feet, driven back into his pet Buu, and the injured Kai was swept up and carried away, rolling to a stop well out of sight of Babidi. Only Buu seemed unaffected, chuckling to himself.

Before too long the dome imploded on itself, before erupting out again with a massive cloud of thick black smoke. As the smoke began to clear Babidi climbed back to his feet, his cape over his head as he coughed and muttered, "Where am I? I can't see." Realising his eyes were covered, he threw his cape back again, and gaped in horror at what he found. "AH! My space ship! It's been blown up!" He screeched, staring at the massive smoke-filled crater that had once been his ship. "No! NO! No, my ship! Oh no, how could this happen!" Turning back to his father's creation he ordered, "Majin Buu, I want you to find out who did this!"

Buu just made a confirming sort of noise, gazing into the thick smoke as though it could see through it. Picking up something at the edge of his senses, Babidi commented, "Wait, someone's coming." Sure enough, a dark humanoid shape could be seen in the smoke, before descending to the ground and into the light, revealing spiky golden hair, and a tattered blue bodysuit. "Oh, it's Vegeta."

The prince smirked, chuckling to himself. "Yes."

-Take these chains away-

"DAD!" Trunks shouted excitedly, although not loud enough for the others to hear.

"I never thought I'd be glad to see him," Krillin remarked.

-Running from destruction-

Still stunned from the destruction of his ship, the shrivelled yellow wizard asked, "Vegeta, what are you doing here?" Vegeta just laughed. Suddenly realising what had gone down, Babidi shouted angrily, "Are you the one who blew up my space ship?"

"That's right," Vegeta replied mockingly, "It was a little messy, but it was the quickest way to get the job done. Most amusing way too."

"Why?" Babidi growled. "I never gave you an order to destroy my ship. Why did you do it?" Vegeta just laughed again. "You clumsy fool! Do you know what you've done? How am I supposed to get off this wretched planet?"

Vegeta paid him no mind, instead focusing his attention on the pink thing standing next to the wizard. "I assume that ugly blob there is Majin Buu." His smirk slipped, becoming a scowl. "If so, you're the one that killed Gohan! He will be avenged!"

-Avarice will kill you in time-

Piccolo gaped in horror; surely he couldn't have heard that right, could he? He collapsed to his knees as he stretched out his senses as far as he could, and felt the bottom of his stomach drop out at what he found; or rather, at what he didn't find. Gohan was gone.

"Piccolo, what is it? What did my dad say?" Trunks asked excitedly.

"It's... nothing you need concern yourself with," Oran remarked.

"Hey, how did you hear him?" Goten asked curiously.

The older boy shrugged. "Simple; I'm a full-blooded Saiyan. I don't have human genes dulling my senses. Now pay attention to the fight."

'Gohan...' Silently thanking the boy for changing the subject, Piccolo started growling softly to himself. One of the galaxy's greatest hopes was gone, and already the world felt that little bit darker with his absence. There would be a time to grieve later however; for now, they had to hope Vegeta had what it took to ensure they didn't join the fallen teen in his fate.

-Kill you in time-

To be continued...

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Author's notes:

And the losses begin. Sometimes, it honestly weirds me out how much I had to ramp up Buu's power level in this story to make things work the way I wanted, but, whatever.