-- Disturbance, Book 3: Endurance --

Chapter E06

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.

--

-The fortunate ones-

A deep, resonating laugh worked its way out Majin Buu's mouth, as he felt his stolen powers. Yes, this was his birthright, for lack of a better term. He was the Omega, the ender of all things, and all things were destined to become part of him. This power was his by right.

The new memories, however, were a strange bonus. Because of how he had absorbed them, they were less part of him, and more captives, batteries, from which he could draw power. And techniques. And with those techniques, came memories.

'So, Goten is this pest's little brother, huh?' Buu mused to himself, sifting through the minds of his new toys. 'And the other brats belong to the three that killed themselves trying to destroy me. How... delicious.'

"Well kid," Buu sneered, deliberately using Piccolo's nickname for him, "What do you think?"

Clenching his teeth, and gripping his sword tight, Gohan replied slowly, "I think... that I'm going to enjoy cutting them out of your worthless hide."

Buu just laughed again. "Foolish boy! If you hurt me, you'll only wind up hurting them."

"I'll kill them before I let you keep them." Gohan's voice was as ice.

-To be fast and free and young-
-I want to count myself among-
-The fortunate ones-

"You really think you can?" Buu sneered again. "I have more power than you could possibly imagine!"

"I wouldn't count on that," Gohan replied flippantly, "I can imagine a lot of power. And I've barely scratched the surface in what I can do. Besides, I don't need to overpower you; not right away."

When Gohan said no more, Buu asked suspiciously, "What on Earth do you mean by that kid?"

The demi-Saiyan teen just grinned. "I know for a fact that the Fusion Technique only lasts thirty minutes, and with the fifteen or twenty they already spent trying to avoid being absorbed, I just need to survive ten or fifteen more until the Fusion ends. And believe me when I tell you, surviving, is my specialty."

-We won't be denied-

'Uh, Gohan?' Dende's voice resounded in his head. 'Would now be a bad time for me to point out that Oran and Lime stated their fusion can last a whole hour?'

If it wouldn't have given him away, Gohan would've slapped his forehead. 'Uh, yeah Dende, it kinda is.' He groaned back mentally. 'Fortunately, I know something else about the Fusion I picked up from watching the kids earlier: The higher level of Super Saiyan they attain, the shorter the fusion lasts.'

He could almost feel Dende's joyous agreement. 'You're right! I mean, I don't know exactly how long they were fighting in the Time Chamber, but I'm pretty sure once she hit Super Saiyan Two, Liran's fusion was over in mere minutes!'

'Exactly,' Gohan mentally nodded. 'All I need to do to burn his time up faster is make him angry enough to over channel, and drain his 'Fusion Batteries' dry faster.'

'That's pretty risky Gohan; are you sure you can survive that?' He could feel Dende's concern the answer would be no.

Gohan just grinned back. 'With a healer on my team? No problem.'

-We know that time is on our side-
-We've got the passion and the pride-
-We won't be denied-

The entire mental conversation took all of three seconds; a fortunate thing, considering how impatient Majin Buu was. "So boy," the monster sneered, "You think you can beat me?"

"I don't have to think it," Gohan replied smoothly, his sword becoming wreathed in white energy again, "I know it."

"So you're gonna use your weapon are you kid?" Buu grinned, a smirk on his face, He held his hands before him, almost as if he were holding onto a pole, before pink energy began swirling around him. With a brief flash of light, a long green shaft appeared, clenched in his hands, and as he moved it to one side, it became very obvious said shaft was topped with a two-to-three-foot pink scythe blade, the back and top end of which were spiked. "Then I guess I will too!"

Gohan had just enough time to think to himself, 'Holy hell! How did he get a scythe?' Before he was forced to duck, lest the charging Buu decapitate him. Rolling away to put a little distance between the monster and himself, he raised his weapon, preparing to parry the next strike.

This fight was just getting started.

-This generations-
-With fire in our eyes-

"This is very bad." That pretty much summed up the thoughts of everyone on board the Icebreaker. For Earth's Finest, seeing Gohan having to fight against the combined powers of Majin Buu, Piccolo (both of whom they knew he could easily beat), Liran, and Gotenks, was more than enough to sow fear and doubt through the ranks.

It was considerably worse for the Icebreaker crew, and by extension Videl, because they knew exactly what powers Buu had now acquired. "That's not good at all," Kaen commented quietly, so only his family (and Videl) could hear.

The human girl, quickly catching on to the need for secrecy, remarked in a similar tone, "Buu having that weapon means he's using Liran's powers, doesn't it? That's beyond 'very bad' isn't it?"

"Well beyond 'Del," Kat breathed fearfully, "Now there's no telling what Buu could do..."

"If this fight doesn't go well for Gohan, we're interfering," Kaen stated firmly; the tone of his voice, and the direction, showed he was clearly speaking to his mate.

-Strong are the ties that bind us-
-We don't need no alibis-

Glancing towards him, Pi replied, "But, you're not ready. If we go out there, there's a good chance you'll die! You can't put too much stress on-"

"If it goes bad, we're jumping in." Kaen's tone left no room for argument, though the slight smirk on his face revealed his hidden plan to her.

Like the proverbial light bulb, her face lit up, a matching smirk coming to her face as she interpreted him. "You're gonna use Liran against Buu. If she can't defeat us, then he won't be able to."

"You really think that'll work?" Videl asked, feared for the safety of her... wait, was Gohan her boyfriend? Eh, close enough.

Kaen nodded but once. "It'll work. They've never let me down yet."

Turning to his father, he found the old man already preparing the teleporter. It was the best plan they had, and Avarrdo wasn't going to waste time trying to talk his son out of it; not only was it all but impossible to change Kaen's mind at the best of times, it had the highest probability of success of anything he or Kellre could come up with, so it was worth a shot.

If Gohan, Kaen and Pi fell, they were all doomed anyway; it's not like they had anything else by way of reinforcements was it?

-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-
-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-
-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-
-Not tonight-

"Oh man, he's getting killed out there!" Goku wailed, watching the battle between his son and the pink monster through the Supreme Kai's crystal ball.

"Buu's certainly got all the advantages," Elder remarked thoughtfully, rubbing his chin with one hand. "Faster, stronger, more stamina, more techniques, more collective fighting experience, and more experience fighting with a weapon too it seems."

"He's not doing too badly though," Shin offered hopefully. Despite Buu's supreme advantage, Gohan had yet to be hit by Buu's deadly pink weapon, and had even managed to land a few hits of his own, though the monster had healed them away.

Grunting sourly, Kibito remarked, "Buu's just toying with him. They haven't used a single fighting technique yet, and when that damn breaks, Gohan, and indeed the universe, is doomed."

-We want it all-

"I can't just sit by and watch as my son gets killed!" Goku shouted, rocketing to his feet. "I made that mistake once before, and I'm not about to stand by and do it again!"

"But what can you possibly do Goku?" Shin asked rhetorically. "You mustn't forget, you're dead, ergo, you have no chi. If you go back to Earth, you will be there for a matter of seconds - one minute, tops - before you are dragged back here by cosmic forces you would rather not tangle with."

The deceased Saiyan's face fell, as he replied weakly, "But I've got to do something..."

"Is that the only thing stopping you?" Elder asked, continuing on before anyone could reply. "That's easy fixed. I'll just give you my chi, and you'll be returned to life. Then you're free to go and do whatever you want."

His face brightening considerably, Goku cried hopefully, "You'd do that for me Elder?"

The old Kai waved a hand absently. "I'm old; life should be for the young. Besides, I'm a Kai, the rules work differently for us, and even if I needed to go somewhere - as unlikely as that is - I've got more than enough magic to sustain myself."

"Great!" Goku exclaimed excitedly, giving Elder his full attention. "So, what do I need to do?"

Smiling slightly at the Saiyan's enthusiasm, Elder replied simply, "Just stand there." The elder Kai's eyes slid closed, and for a moment, it looked like nothing happened, before a tingly sensation washed over Goku's body. To the outside observer, Goku's halo faded out, as one faded in over Elder's head. Nodding once, Elder remarked, "There, all done. Just don't waste it now."

"I won't Elder," Goku replied sagely.

-And tonight we got the call-
-We're running high but we won't fall-
-We want it all-

"Goku," Shin cut in quickly, "Majin Buu seems to have been, for lack of a better description, locked into a weapon battle with Gohan. When you show up there without one, it might 'unlock' him back into a techniques battle, and I fear you can't win that even with Gohan's help."

"Don't worry Supreme Kai," Goku grinned, placing two fingers to his forehead, "I've got a weapon on my own I can use."

"Wait Goku," Elder cried out suddenly. "Before you go, take these with you." He unclipped the earrings he wore and held them out to the newly revived Saiyan. At his questioning look, Elder explained, "These are Potara Fusion earrings, worn by us Supreme Kais for generations; yes, even you Shin, though your training appears to have been lacking in that regard. These earrings are capable of fusing two people together perfectly, if worn on opposing ears. Unlike that Fusion Dance of yours, this is a perfect merger of powers."

-We won't be denied-

"What's the catch?" Goku asked suspiciously, examining the strange purple earrings he now held. He knew there had to be one; there was always a catch to anything this powerful.

Pausing briefly in his eager attempt to convince Kibito to try it with him, Shin turned to Elder as the aged Kai explained, "They are to be used as a last resort only, as the fusion they bring... Is permanent."

"Whoa, not good." Goku remarked, stuffing the earrings in one of the many hidden pockets of his gi. "I really hope it doesn't come to that; I don't think Chichi or Videl would forgive me if Gohan and I ceased to exist separately." Placing two fingers against his forehead again, Goku focused his mind on his destination, and without another word, vanished.

-Like a breaker at high tide-
-We're gonna take this sweet joy ride-
-We won't be denied-

Majin Buu was very swiftly getting annoyed with... well, everything, but specifically, Gohan; more specifically, the fact he had yet to so much as graze Gohan with his scythe. The instinctual, animal part of his mind was wondering why he was even bothering with the weapon in the first place, but it was overridden.

Something even Majin Buu himself didn't know about how he had absorbed those three, was that their personalities changed his own to varying degrees, based on the strength of their psyche: from Piccolo, he gained strategic thinking; from Gotenks, impulsiveness; but from Liran, oddly the strongest psyche, he had gained something of a, for lack of a better description, code of honour.

Because Gohan had drawn his weapon, Majin Buu was psychologically not capable of 'breaking the rules' of the engagement, being forced to fight weapons with weapons. However, something else he was not aware of, was that the dominant psyche could change, and the angrier he got, the more Gotenks took over.

Eventually, the balance had to break, and with the proverbial 'snap, Buu shouted, "That's it! No more games!" Swiping his scythe forward, he unleashed a 'bladed' wave of pink energy towards Gohan, and while the teen was distracted with dodging that, used his other hand to fire three rings of ki towards him, binding him around the shoulders, hips, and ankles.

-Grew expectations-
-Moments in the sun-

Buu grinned at his helpless prisoner, mocking him. "Galactic Donut. That particular technique came from your brother. How does it feel to know your own flesh and blood is going to be responsible for your death?"

"Well," Gohan replied slowly, "I always knew the little tyke would be the death of me some day."

The grin fell, as Buu raised his scythe to the fore, charging forward and shouting, "Say goodbye!"

A very familiar black boot impacted with the side of Buu's head, before an equally familiar voice remarked, "Goodbye." Raising one hand, Son Goku, returned to the mortal plane, fired a blast towards the swiftly receding monster.

Normal people, in such a situation, may have proceeded to thank their saviour. Others still may have asked how said saviour was now alive, when they had been dead not one hour ago. These people were not Son Gohan. "I recognize that kick," The teen commented simply, rotating his shoulders; the ki bonds had faded as soon as Buu'd lost his concentration.

"It's one of Piccolo's."
"I thought so; he used it against Frieza."
"Yeah... Good times."
"We should probably stop the homicidal monster shouldn't we?"
"Yes, I should. You, on the other hand, have an appointment with the healer."

-We've waited all our lives-
-And now we know our time has come-

"You make a fine point." Exhaustion was quickly catching up with the teen. Yawning once, he tapped his newly revived father's shoulder, remarking, "Tag, you're it." Floating slowly down to the ground, Gohan all but flopped onto the soil, content to watch his father kick some ass while he recovered. "You got a plan?"

"Yup." The happy-go-lucky fighter remarked, flaring into Super Saiyan 2. "I'm not sure if any of my strongest attacks are capable of beating Buu, and I don't want to risk going into level three in case my body can't handle it, so I'll keep him busy until you're recovered, and keep him distracted while you kill him." With a flick of his wrist, he produced a blast from the past Gohan hadn't seen since he was a kid; the Power Pole.

Spinning it around like a propeller, he remarked, "Guess I better go tend to our guest," before charging off. With every rotation, the Power Pole extended that little bit further, and, following his son's trend, he charged the weapon with his ki. By the time Buu had climbed to his feet and turned to face the approaching Saiyan, the Power Pole whipped out and cleaved him clean in half, from the crotch up.

"Ouch," Dende remarked, walking to up heal Gohan. "I don't care whether he actually had anything there or not, that had to hurt."

Pulling himself together again, Buu cried incredulously, "You cheated! You didn't call for it to extend!"

Goku just smirked; clearly he was using Piccolo's memories now. "Oh you'll get over it."

-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-
-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-
-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-
-Not tonight-

If Gohan's calculations were true, and they usually were, Gotenks had one minute left of fusion if they were lucky, and six if they were unlucky. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford to spend any more time on the bench; in his Super Saiyan 2 state, it was only his father's tenacity and unpredictability that was preventing Buu from stomping him into the ground. It was time for father and son to tear it up together.

Re-igniting his weapon, Gohan powered up to his limit, placing two fingers to his forehead and concentrating; if he was going to do this right, he'd need to teleport behind Buu, which meant being on the opposite side of his father. Locking onto his desired destination, he disappeared with the slightest of whistles, warping in behind the battling duo, and, wasting no time, slashed his weapon along the monster's back.

Howling in pain, Buu swung around to cleave the teen in half, swinging his scythe in a massive arc, but Gohan deftly parried the deadly weapon, swatting it aside like an annoying fly. With Buu's attention diverted, this left Goku the perfect opportunity to strike the monster repeatedly from behind; an opportunity he didn't waste.

When Buu's attention switched back to Goku again, this left Gohan, armed and very dangerous, at Buu's exposed back, and he began carving Buu up like a turkey. And so the first game of Buu-pong began, Goku and Gohan virtually batting Buu between them as he struggled to fend off attacks from both sides. Eventually, however, as Gohan managed to sever one of Buu's arms, the monster's anger finally got the better of him.

-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-

Venting steam in his mockery of a power-up, Buu let out a primal roar, unleashing a wave of violent pink energy to drive both Sons away from him, the Power Pole being wrenched from Goku's grasp to clatter against the dirt below. Twisting around unnaturally, Buu planted first one foot into Goku's midsection, winding the elder Saiyan, then axe kicking him to the ground with the other. Simultaneously, he lashed out at Gohan with his head tail, sharpening it to a point, and stabbing Gohan in his left shoulder.

Crying out in pain, Gohan released his sword to clutch the wounded shoulder, as he hit the dirt hard. Buu's attack had struck the exact same place as Cell's attack had all those years ago; Gohan's Achilles Heel. Something Piccolo knew all too well. Glaring up at the furious monster, Gohan took pride in the fact the wounds they had inflicted weren't healing, slowly rotting away the putty substance the creature was constructed from; a pity, then, that he didn't have enough time to inflict any more of them.

-This generations-
-With fire in our eyes-

"Now you die boy!" Buu shouted, rearing back and taking in a deep breath, before exhaling a long string of white clouds, all of which reshaped themselves into legless mini-Buu's; this had all the hallmarks of one of Gotenks' moves, the teen realised with a groan. "Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack!"

As the ghosts literally screamed their way towards him, Gohan had to wonder if his father would be able to finish the monster off; he needn't have bothered. In an unexpected turn of events, Dende raced past the fallen teen, throwing his hands out in front of him and shouting, "Shield!" A green wall of energy formed around the two of them moments before the ghosts struck, and though it shuddered against the rain of blows, the shield held.

"Foolish boy!" Buu growled; it wasn't sure now which 'boy' he was referring to, Gohan or Dende. "How long can your shield possibly hold? I can do this all day." As if purely to spite him, the vest he wore shifted rapidly to a different colour; this time, it matched Liran's vest, as the matching undershirt that appeared attested to.

"Or not," Gohan quipped, a grin coming to his face. "Looks like Gotenks just ran out of time. It won't be too much longer until Liran does the same." He hoped.

-Strong are the ties that bind us-
-We don't need no alibis-

Buu just grinned. "You still don't get it yet, do you boy?" He inclined his head towards his missing arm. "There's a reason I didn't call this back, you know." A cry of surprise drew his attention, and he watched in horror as his father was encased in pink goo, something - no, two something's - falling to the ground as the cocoon almost covered him. It was only the briefest of mental messages that passed the knowledge of what, exactly, his father had dropped was, before he was completely consumed.

As the pink putty merged back into Buu's main body, Gohan watched as the arm regrew, and the festering wounds were healed over, his entire torso reshaping, until he wore a copy of his father's gi; the top half, at least. Laughing deeply, Buu cried jubilantly, "Ah, now this. This is power! I had wanted to draw this out more, hurt you more, but you've already proven quite the thorn in my side. Besides, I think you having to watch as I consumed your beloved brother and father, and knowing that their power will be used to kill you, will hurt you far more than any technique." Cupping his hands to one side, he shouted, "Time to die! Kamehameha!"

-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-

A veritable wall of blue ki slammed into Dende's shield, and the minor God threw everything he had into it. Wincing slightly as he sat up, Gohan asked tiredly, "I don't suppose you're gonna be able to heal me are you?"

"Sorry Gohan," Dende replied through grit teeth, "If I so much as move from this spot, the shield will shatter."

A defeated smile came to the teen's face. "I thought as much. Well, we gave it a good run didn't we?"

-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-

"Surely you're not giving up already are you Gohan?" A new voice declared, a split second before either Dende or Gohan noticed that the thundering noise of the Kamehameha trying to punch through the shield had stopped. Glancing up at the source of the voice, Gohan noticed a humanoid blue figure in the path of the beam, stopping it dead in it's tracks without so much as using it's hands. "This party's just getting started!"

Cutting the flow to the beam, Buu stared at the blue figure, revealed now to be made of blue flames, with a mix of horror and wonder, breathing, "No, it can't be..."

-Nothing's gonna stand in our way-

"Oh but it can," the figure replied, before the flames faded, revealing a very familiar smirking visage. "Rejoice. For very bad things are about to happen." (1)

"Kaen?" Gohan felt hope rising once more. He was right; this party was just getting started.

-Not tonight-

--

Author's notes:

(1) - This is from a webcomic called Looking For Group.

Man, I should've had this done ages ago. I mean, it's been mostly written for at least two weeks, I've just been so swamped recently that I never had a chance to finish it. But it's done now, and the next chapter is already underway.