--- Disturbance, Book 3: Endurance ---

Chapter E02 - Blitzkrieg

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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-Let us have peace, let us have life-

Majin Buu grinned confidently across the Lookout at the golden-wreathed girl before him. He had her right where he wanted her, and now, that irritating boy couldn't save her. 'Now, do I kill her quickly, leave me more time to eat, or do I kill her slowly, and make her feel all the pain I did?' The second the question finished, the rhetorical nature of it became obvious. "I am going to rip you limb from limb. Every wound I suffered, I will give you ten fold!"

"In your dreams Pinko," Liran scoffed, folding her arms as the golden flames around her flickered in the breeze. "See, there's one thing you're not taking into account."

"Oh?" Buu smirked; he'd bite, if only to see the girl flounder. "And what's that?"

"Back there, in the room, I had to hold back, for fear of destroying the portal and trapping us in there," she stated matter-of-factly, uncrossing her arms and clenching her fists, dropping into the typical 'power-up' position. "Out here, I have no such problem!" With a rising shout, her aura doubled in size, bolts of lightning erupting from around her as she ascended again to the second level of Super Saiyan.

Majin Buu just yawned. "So you're one of those Super Two's as well are you?" He asked tiredly. "It won't help you know."

-Let us escape the cruel night-

Liran chuckled darkly. "Oh but it will. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, so to speak." Without warning, she was encased in a sphere of light once again, which shattered to reveal a new form, which one clad in a silvery-white, with long mostly-straight hair coming past her shoulders, both in front of and behind her ears, and more jarring, a cross-scar across her nose.

Groaning irritably, Buu slapped his forehead, muttering, "Not another of your stupid forms."

Liran grinned, holding one hand out in front of her as what appeared to be pure white light swirled around her hand, before 'exploding' to reveal a wicked spiked sword, longer than she was tall, with an odd star formation at the top. Holding it vertical, she twisted the base slightly, and the star erupted outwards, the spikes doubling in length. Swinging the weapon around behind her, she felt a sudden... sensation across her back. Glancing over her shoulder, a sadistic grin came to her face.

The full moon was out early today...

-Let us have time, let the sun shine-

"Oh this is bad..." Krillin bemoaned, watching the young blonde-haired girl upon the Lookout through the viewscreen, as she held her hands out to either side and floated upwards slightly, starting to glow with pale white light.

"I don't see what the problem is guys," Videl shrugged, "Liran looks like she has everything under control, and it's just the moon, so-"

"You don't understand Videl," Bulma cut in, not meaning to cut the girl off but wanting to speak her mind quickly. "In the light of the full moon, tailed Saiyans can transform into a giant ape monster capable of great destruction should they so choose." Frowning, she finished grimly, "And it looks like she's chosen to."

"I'm pulling her out," Avarrdo stated with an air of finality, striding over to the teleporter controls.

-Let us beware the deadly sign-

"No!" Kellre barked, marching over to him. "Doing that could give away our position!"

"Better to give away our position than have a Super Saiyan Two Oozaru running around."

"Shut it both of you!" Kaen snapped, dragging the pair of them away from the controls. "You will not interfere in this fight, understood? She's not going to shift." Pre-empting the 'how do you know that's he knew were coming, he added, "I recognize this move."

"How could you possibly know what she's doing?" Truniz asked, more curious than sceptical. "You haven't exactly been around these past few weeks."

Kaen just smirked. "Because I know where she stole it from."

-The day is coming-

"Just what the hell are you doing girl?" Buu drawled, staring across the tiled courtyard at her. For almost a full minute, she had done nothing but float there, a pale white glow around her. "I thought you said you had a few tricks left. If floating there is all this form does for you, you might as well give up now."

Liran just smirked, shouting, "Moon! Shine down!" The pale white light coalesced into a bright white explosion, just harmless light, but the girl it died down to reveal looked, to say the least, a lot angrier; the glowing red eyes were a bit of a giveaway, as was the now-spiky hair.

-Armageddon's near-

With a warcry Liran launched towards the monster, swinging her massive weapon in an overhand strike. At the last possible second, Buu leapt backwards, avoiding the white blade that he was fairly confident would hurt him, but he was unprepared for the waves of blue fire that streaked away from the contact point, when the weapon slammed into the tile. This was quickly followed by a second swing, the impact causing a similar streak of flame, before a cry of "Be gone!" heralded a third, much more powerful strike.

-Inferno's coming-

Still reeling from the explosion, Buu took to the sky, hoping to avoid any more attacks, only for the girl to leap up and catch him with the spiked blade, dragging him back down and slamming him into the tile, delivering a blast of blue flame directly to his chest. He quickly rolled out of the way of the second strike, but the explosion from the third caught him once more, and sent him sprawling.

Buu growled to himself as he climbed back to his feet, trying to shake off the magical burns, as a horrified thought ran through his head; 'I'm at war with a little girl... AND I'M LOSING!'

-Can we survive the blitzkrieg?-

"This is hopeless!" Piccolo growled in aggravation, clenching his fist until his claws dug into his palm hard enough to draw blood. "We've been yelling and trying to open another portal for hours. You've had enough time for the fusion to wear off, rest, and re-fuse five times now. Let's face it, we're trapped here, and..." The Namek shot the fused boy a tired look, adding, "And you're not listening to a word I'm saying are you?"

True to his observation, Gotenks wasn't listening to a word he said, which became quite clear as the fused boy muttered to himself, "Oh man, I really hoped I wouldn't have to do this. It cuts my fusion time in half."

Piccolo blinked, asking, "Have to do what?"

-The blitzkrieg-

A rising shout and a massive blast of wind answered him, as Gotenks was surrounded by a roaring golden aura. Blue lightning dancing around his form, he was engulfed in golden light, his hair extending down his back, before the light faded once more, revealing Super Saiyan Three Gotenks in his place. Cracking his knuckles and tilting his head from side to side, he remarked, "Right. Let's try this again."

A vein throbbed in Piccolo's forehead as he barked, "Why didn't you do this from the start of the fight?"

-The blitzkrieg!-

Gotenks gave him a bored look, replying, "Liran and I agreed it was too dangerous to fight at this sort of level in here, lest we destroy the entrance. We thought that together we'd be able to destroy Buu in our base Super Saiyan levels, but we kind of didn't count on him destroying the entrance. Plus, as I've already mentioned, using this level leaves me with only fifteen minutes fusion time."

Without waiting for Piccolo to reply, he focused energy into his voicebox, and unleashed a massive yell, tearing a new 'hole' in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. "Hurry up Green Bean," Gotenks drawled, the fused boy never before so resembling Vegeta, "There won't be another one."

-Save us from fate, save us from hate-

Liran was in trouble, and she knew it. Lookout deserted? Check. Alone on the planet with a homicidal monster? Check. Unable to cause any lasting damage against said monster? Check. Fusion almost about to run out? Double check. Like Gotenks, using Super Saiyan Two had sped up her fusion's 'decay'; using her silver form had only made the decay increase further. And though she could clearly cause Buu pain, he wasn't getting any weaker, so she wasn't doing any actual damage.

In short, her chances of victory were looking increasingly slim.

-Save ourselves before it's too late-

There was just one move she had left, and the way things were looking, at best she could expect it to hurt the monster. Nonetheless, she knew she had to try. "Moon! Shine down!" Powering up into berserker mode again, she leapt into the air with an explosive shockwave, the sky going dark save for the full moon, as she shouted, "All shall be lost to you!" Landing back on the ground, she surged forward, each step sending out a 'ripple' of pale blue energy, before she darted forward and slashed, fountains of blue fire erupting in her wake.

She chased after the fleeing Buu, each footstep still sending out those blue shockwaves, which proved to be fairly devastating to the surrounding environment of the Lookout, carving lines into the palace and cleaving trees off at the ground from the gardens. Each time he was just about to get away, she would dart forward, slashing and causing fountains of blue fire, and each time he would just manage to avoid the blade, though the flames still struck him, and caused the monster to howl in pain.

She'd wear him down yet. He would make a mistake before she would. And that mistake came soon enough.

-Come to our need, hear our plea-

"Whoa, what the hell happened here?" Gotenks asked rhetorically, as the portal he'd created closed behind him. "Looks like we missed one hell of a party."

Piccolo gaped in horror at what'd become of the Lookout. The once pristine white tiles now bore a series of gouges, waves of ripped up tiles, and scorch marks. The palace and the structures around it were pitted with blast lines; they too also bore scorches. As far as the Namek could see, the entire Lookout was ruined. That, however, wasn't as important as the pressing issue on his mind: "Where is everyone?"

"You think Buu got 'em? You think Liran failed?" Gotenks asked worriedly.

The boy was answered by a pillar of blue fire erupting from behind one of the palace's towers, preceding a battered pink form shattering through said tower to crash onto, and dig a trench through, the battered tiles. The rest of the tower was brought down as the glowing figure of Liran almost seemed to skip through it, swinging around her mighty white sword, each step, or maybe swing of her weapon, sending out a ripple of blue energy, before she leapt into the air and struck the fallen Buu with a powerful downward slash.

The fused boy blinked, replying to his own question with, "Well, I guess that answers that..."

-Save ourselves before the earth bleeds-

When the white blade struck the tile, a massive pyre of blue flames erupted upwards, the singed Buu being sent careening, before Liran leapt from the inferno, hurling her weapon at the monster as she shouted, "Be gone!" The whirling weapon sliced cleanly through the dazed monster, almost dissecting him, before shattering into fragments of light, as the silver form faded away, the girl collapsing to her knees in exhaustion.

Gotenks rushed over to her, asking worriedly, "Are you okay? What happened to the others?"

"Don't know," she shrugged tiredly, "I got here mere seconds after he did, and everyone was gone, so he didn't get 'em." Smiling tiredly, she asked, "I did good didn't I?"

The boy smiled back and nodded. "You did good. Now it's my turn." Cracking his knuckles, he watched as Liran passed out, before returning to the twins in a flash of light, and indicated to Piccolo to take care of them, before charging into battle against the regenerating monster. Time for Round Three.

-The day is coming-

Things weren't looking that good down on Earth. One of the fused warriors was out of the fight, having stalled Buu for long enough for the others to escape the Room of Spirit and Time, but their remaining fighter, Gotenks, like Liran before him, just couldn't lay down enough lasting damage. In short, they were losing, and it was Goku who summed it up best when he remarked, "Oh man, this isn't going well..."

"I was afraid of this..." Shin remarked sadly. "Majin Buu's regenerative abilities are just too strong for any of the children to overcome, and they're simply too young to possess enough 'good' energy to sever the ties he has with the Well of Evil."

"So you're saying they can't win?"

The Supreme Kai shook his head. "I'm sorry Goku. It doesn't appear they ever could."

Gohan grit his teeth, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white. He had to get down there. His little brother was going to die if he didn't. He was not going to sit idly by as another member of his family was killed by an evil monster that was his responsibility to destroy; a responsibility he had once again failed in. "Elder," Gohan asked pensively, "How much longer is this going to take? My brother needs me; Earth needs me."

The Elder Kai blinked for a second before commenting, "Oh, it's been done for a while now."

This was met by a facefault from everyone in earshot. Picking himself up, Gohan muttered dazedly, "But, it hasn't been thirty hours... Has it?"

-The time is near-

Elder just shrugged, replying, "Actually, it's been closer to sixty." This caused another facefault. "I thought I'd use the extra time to let your new powers settle, and see if I couldn't bring out a bit more." Seeing the confused look on Gohan's face, he added, "You're still thinking of time the way it works in the land of the living. In Other World, time travels faster; the only way your father has any concept of time as it exists on Earth is because he 'synchronises' his personal time every time he uses King Kai to contact you."

With a blink and a nod, Gohan accepted this news and filed it away. Standing up, he spun his sword around his wrist before sheathing it, and casting his eyes over his body in case there was anything different. "So, it's done then? You've drawn out all my hidden powers?"

"Oh heavens no," Elder replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, as he climbed back to his feet. "You never would have been able to survive that. All I could do was open the door to your true power, and draw out maybe ten to fifteen percent of that, but it should be more than you'll need to defeat Majin Buu."

Blinking owlishly, Gohan commented, "Okay... So, how do I access these new powers?"

Elder just walked away with another semi-dismissive wave. "Just do your Super Saiyan thing."

-Aliens calling-

"Does that mean Gohan can't access his Super Saiyan powers then?" Goku asked, worried for his son's hard-won Saiyanity.

"For now, yes," Elder grimaced, afraid of any possible repercussion. "It was the only way I could 'link' your new powers for now. You will still be able to use your Super Saiyan powers, but you'll need to relearn how to do so. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Gohan knew his father was probably about to say something - after all, though Goku didn't consider himself that much of a Saiyan, he did know how much it meant to his son - but before he could Gohan cut him off with, "It's okay. Desperate times call for desperate measures. In times of war, sacrifices must be made." With a resolute nod, he added, "I will regain my birthright, but for now, I have a war to win, so if you'll excuse me," he raised two fingers to his forehead, "I must be off."

And then he was gone.

-Can we survive the blitzkrieg?-

"Victory Cannon!" The massive golden beam streaked towards the pink monster faster than anyone could have anticipated, catching the creature off guard, leaving Buu to eat a mouth full of dirt. About ten minutes ago they had left the Lookout, Gotenks spiking Buu down towards the planet with what he called his 'Buu Volleyball' attack, and he'd been laying into the monster with everything he had ever since.

About five minutes ago Oran and Lime had regained consciousness, the twins having been carried down to the planet's surface by Piccolo, and the three stood nearby, watching the fight, and feeling more than a little bit helpless; after all, if Gotenks failed, that was it, there was no one else. And their worst fears were about to be realised.

-The blitzkrieg-

Gotenks reared back, taking a deep breath, and exhaling a white cloud with a cry of "Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack!" However, as the last word left his mouth, the golden mass of hair atop his head seemed to shatter, returning to the black-and-purple of his normal form, and leaving the ghost so created so weak it couldn't even blacken Buu's skin. Gulping, Gotenks muttered, "Uh oh..."

"Game over," Oran muttered sourly, watching Gotenks as he was consumed in a white light, leaving behind a tired and weakened pair of boys.

Buu chuckled deeply. Oh yes, this was the moment he had been waiting for. Now, he would kill them all, and there was no one and nothing that could stop him.

-The blitzkrieg-

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Author's notes:

Well, it may have taken me a while, but here's the next chapter, finally. I'm not entirely happy with it, as it seems rushed, but it's good enough. I have come to the conclusion that I just don't like Gotenks, and as such, just could not get into writing about his fight, which results in, shall we say, a less then best performance.

Hopefully the next chapter will be easier to write...