-- Disturbance, Book 3: Endurance --
Chapter E07 - Indestructible
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.
--
-Another mission-
-The powers have called me away-
Kaen smirked as he watched the waring emotions on Majin Buu's face. The monster seemed half excited, and half terrified; clearly, blowing him into atoms had left a lasting impression. More importantly, however, Kaen could see that even with Goku now a part of Buu, his brother was still in there somewhere.
Which meant this plan just might work.
Clenching his fists, Buu cried out, "You again?!"
"Not again; still," Kaen jibbed back, a grin on his face. "'Again' implies our match actually ended, but seeing as how neither of us died, that means our fight's still going."
-Another time-
-To carry the colours again-
"You can't beat me this time boy," Buu sneered, "I know you're not going to be able to do that Super Saiyan Three trick again, so I'm stronger than you can ever hope to be."
"That's certainly true," Kaen replied conversationally, "I won't be able to reach the third level. Not that I'll need to."
This barb caused Buu to start quivering with rage, before a thoughtful smirk spread across his features. "Trying to rile me up isn't going to work boy," Buu remarked casually, "But I'm in a rare good mood. Call it sportsmanship, or curiosity, but I'm going to let you and the boy use those fusion earrings Goku dropped. I want to see what happens."
Forcing himself to his feet, Gohan called out telepathically, "I think we're going to have to do it... There's no other way we'll be able to defeat him."
-My motivation-
-An oath I've sworn to defend-
"Sorry, no can do," Kaen replied to both at once. "Pi would surely kill me if I fused with anyone but her. And I'm pretty sure Chichi would kill me for corrupting her little boy." That was a double-edged statement. He was telling Gohan that, if he fused with him, there was a good chance they would no longer be 'good' enough to destroy Buu once and for all.
"You think you can defeat me alone boy?" Buu sneered.
"What makes you think he's alone?" A new voice asked, preceding the sound of rock cracking, and a green flash. For the briefest instant, a hulking green form could be seen, before the light faded to reveal a familiar smirking female face.
"You?!" Buu screeched incredulously, "You're supposed to be dead?"
-To win the honour-
-Of coming back home again-
"Am I not?" Pi quipped back, looking over herself quickly to mock him. "Huh, would you look at that? Guess you're too weak to kill either one of us for too long."
That was a loaded statement, and Buu stepped right into the trap. "What do you mean 'for too long'?"
"The dragon balls are a wonderful thing, aren't they?" Kaen replied conversationally. "Truly, you can wish for almost anything, if you phrase it right."
"You wished for eternal life?" Buu was starting to be afraid. This was a good sign.
-No explanation-
-Will matter after we begin-
"Why would we want to live forever?" Kaen replied. "Me personally, I always thought that returning from the dead whenever you get killed is a much better wish for a Saiyan." Kaen couldn't lie. This was almost as solid a fact as the sun rising in the east. However, he could string together non-related statements into an elaborate bluff.
Had either of them made a wish on the dragon balls? Only on Flute's set, and even then only twice: once when they'd helped him find them, and again a month ago when all that shit went down. Not wanting to live forever, and thinking consistent returning from the dead was better than eternal life, were both independent statements from the dragon balls being amazing. However, when thrown into the same context, it made a wonderful lie.
"So what?" Buu spat. "I'll just keep killing you, every time you come back! I'll kill you until you die from it!"
"I think not," Pi replied, striding over to stand beside her mate, as he descended towards the ground. "We're going to tear you apart."
-Another dark destroyer-
-That's buried within-
"Oh? And how are you going to do that?"
The pair smirked, replying in synch, "We're going to show you the power of a true, perfect fusion! Fusion Ha!" Before the monster could so much as blink, they had gone through the motions, and were engulfed in a blinding white light. The fighter revealed when the light died down had Kaen's unruly locks, and a ponytail trailing halfway down his back. This was a figure both Buu (through Oran and Lime) and Gohan had heard about. One not seen in this universe for close to forty years.
"Kai," Buu breathed fearfully, clutching his scythe before him, like a cross to ward off evil.
"I see my reputation precedes me," the twin voices of Kai remarked, holding his hands out to either side and giving the monster a mock bow. A brief flare of fire erupted from each palm, before the fused warrior closed his hands around a pair of swords eerily familiar to Kaen's, with a few minor differences; colour and the like. "It's time to show you what happens when you mess with the family of a true Saiyan Elite!"
-My true vocation-
-And now my unfortunate friend-
"You think I'm scared of you, boy?" Buu asked dryly. "Don't forget Goku knows all about the fusion dance. You've combined with someone who can only reach the first level of Super Saiyan, so you've actually lowered your maximum."
Kai sighed, holding one hand to his forehead and muttering, "One who knows nothing can understand nothing..." Looking up at Buu again, he continued, "Look, let me break this down for you. Kaen is a Super Saiyan Three; that much you know. What you should know is that Pi is almost exactly as strong. The only difference is that she is yet to break through the level two and three barriers"
With a shrug, he added, "Sure, she can't become a Super Saiyan Two or Three, but I have no such problems; I have the knowledge and ability provided from Kaen, and enough power from both halves to do whatever the hell I want."
-You will discover-
-A war you're unable to win-
A very noticeable tic developed in Buu's right eye. "So what?!" The monster shouted, "All I need to do is live out the half an hour - or less - it takes until your fusion wears off, then I'll just kill you again!"
"Wrong again buddy-boy," Kai jeered, flipping his swords around so the blades rested against his forearms. "Pi and Kaen share the same soul. That's the power of the Saiyan bond, to merge two souls into one, which is why memories are shared; your memories define your soul. With the bond, Kaen and Pi are quite literally one person in two bodies. No one knows the limit of our fusion."
Kai hadn't really intended to tell Buu all that, but the sudden appearance of doubt on his ugly pink face was far too delicious to pass up. Wasting no more time on words, Kai charged towards Majin Buu, and the battle for Earth began anew.
-I'll have you know-
-That I've become...-
Watching the battle through the view screen, Videl had but one question about all of this: "Can Kaen and Pi really remain fused forever?"
"Beats me," Truniz replied with a shrug, pre-empting the other two elder Saiyans, "I'm still tryin' to get over the fact that silly dance actually works. I mean, I heard the stories, but..."
"It does sound feasible though," Kellre supplied.
"So wait," Bulma asked, a touch of curiosity entering her voice, "You guys had never actually seen it work before?"
-Indestructible-
"Well, once," April admitted. "Oran and Lime were so excited that they'd been taught something new they wanted to show us; and by 'us', I mean just Avarrdo and I. They fused, went and trained for an hour, and that was that."
Silence descended upon the group for a moment, as they watched the fight down on Earth with a rising hope, before Videl broke it again, asking slowly, "So is that... Is that really the way this 'bond' thing works?" The human girl really wanted to know, for... fairly obvious reasons.
"More or less," Raene replied with a shrug. "It's different for everyone, but the basics are mostly correct. It's not really something you can describe with words."
-Determination that is incorruptible-
"Of all of us, though," Kellre added, "Kaen and Pi have delved the deepest into how, precisely, the bond works." In actual fact, it had been one of Kaen and Pi's alternate selves that had experimented with the bond, as they'd explained when Kaen got out of the tank, but the humans didn't need to know that just yet.
"So they really might be able to remain fused forever?" Krillin asked, a touch of awe and wonder in his voice.
Avarrdo just smiled cryptically. "Well, I wouldn't think so, but if it can be done, they would be the couple to do it."
-From the other side a terror to behold-
Gohan watched in awe as Kai and Buu fought, though a more accurate description would be that Kai attacked, and Buu blocked; the monster hadn't a chance to do anything else since the fight had begun. 'Damn,' he mused to himself, as he felt his wounds knit themselves back together, thanks to Dende's healing technique. 'I knew he was good with a sword, but this is something else.'
The only way he could think to describe it was that Kai's swords were a part of him, an extension of his very body. He didn't fight like he was wielding a pair of swords; they just blended seamlessly into his fighting style. He held them in such a way his arms resembled a praying mantis, and he was vicious and unrelenting in his assault.
The teen had to admit, however begrudgingly, that he was impressed.
Buu, however, was not. Having been forced onto the defensive ever since the fight began, he was very swiftly getting infuriated with his opponent. Plus his arms hurt from blocking all those attacks, and he didn't even know they could hurt! He was a hair's breadth away from snapping, when Kai suddenly stopped.
-Annihilation will be unavoidable-
The fused Saiyan sighed disgustedly, remarking, "You bore me. I thought I'd finally found a worthy opponent in you, with all your stolen power, but I've eaten steaks that've put up more of a fight than you have."
"Oh?" Buu growled irritably, "And what are you going to do about it?"
Grinning, Kai held his arms, or more specifically, his swords, out to either side, and with the slightest of ki flares, the orange spheres on the hilt of both swords began glowing. When he released the weapons, they continued floating in mid air, gravitating towards his shoulders and hovering behind them like steel wings. "I'm going to make things interesting," he replied, throwing his arms out again, as blades of black ki formed around his hands.
Buu had just enough time to think the very human thought of 'Oh shit!' before Kai charged towards him, lashing out with the ki-wrought katar. The monster swung his scythe up in time to block the first blade, and angled it just right to block the second, but that left him wide open to the two hovering swords, now coated in blue fire, that raked through his pink flesh.
-Every broken enemy will know-
Buu forced himself back a few feet, gasping as he held a hand over his two new wounds. 'Why aren't they healing properly?' the monster thought to himself, willing his body to force them shut. He felt, for lack of a better word, drained.
"You like that?" Kai grinned, the two swords spinning around behind him. "Soulfire. You know, I really should thank you. It was due to you that I'm at full power now; when you tried to kill Gohan with that blast, I was able to use it to recharge myself." Smirking, dropped into a fighting stance, adding, "Let's see how long you can continue to function when I drain all your energy away, shall we?"
Without another word, Kai blasted towards the demon, resuming his unrelenting assault, and despite his speed, his strength, and the years of combined fighting experience he had from all those he absorbed, Buu could not possibly block more than three out of any four simultaneous attacks, and the Soulfire swords, and Hellfire blades, were slowly sapping his energy.
Thinking fast, Buu quickly back-pedalled, keeping himself out of reach of Kai's blades; though the free-floating swords could still reach him, as long as he flew backwards at the same speeds Kai flew forwards, he could easily block the two weapons. That plan worked right up until one of the black blades embedded into his arm.
-That their opponent had to be invincible-
A grin on his face, Kai yanked on the black ki chain extending from his hand, ripping the black blade free. "Surprised?" He asked cockily, the second blade extending from a similar chain. "You didn't really think it'd be that easy did you?" Without waiting for a reply, he whipped one of the ki chains towards the monster, the bladed head slashing him across the chest, as the attack resumed with gusto.
'Almost there' Kai could feel it. Buu was getting weaker and weaker with every strike, and with less energy to spend blocking, more and more strikes were connecting. When the demon was weak enough, he lashed out with a spin kick, knocking Buu's scythe aside so he could no longer block with it, and almost wrenching it from his grasp.
Spinning in place like a tornado, Kai swung all four weapons around in series, slicing and dicing the defenceless monster, the force of the blows actually causing Buu to turn full circle, and receive wounds on all sides of his body. Finally, Kai had enough of playing around with the monster, whipping the blades out one more time, and, when they dug into Buu's shoulders, detonated them, blowing Buu's arms clear off.
Cupping his hand sin front of him, Kai intoned, "It's time to end this game." Flicking his head, he willed his swords to float in front of him, coming to rest next to each other with the orange crystals just on either side of his hands, the tips of the blades pointed towards Buu. Then, like some bizarre magitech turbine, the swords began spinning around, slowly at first, then picking up speed until they formed almost a tunnel; or a barrel.
-Take a last look around while you're alive-
Focusing his energy, the orange ball of ki between his hands began to pulse, then stretched out to full the sword-barrel, forming a bar of solid energy. It took maybe five seconds at most, but the attack was ready, and now packed enough punch to blow the sun up, if he so wished it. "Volcano Blast!" The swords opened up, and a veritable wall of energy was released, ready to erase every last trace of Buu.
The monster, however, had other ideas. In a sudden burst of energy, the severed arms, one still holding the scythe, reanimated and shot back tot he body. However, rather than reattaching, or blocking, the incoming blast, the hand holding the scythe severed Buu's head off his body, as the free hand grabbed his head-tail and threw his head clear of the blast, moments before the body was completely obliterated.
Buu's head let out a deep, mocking laugh, as the pink putty stuff that comprised him flowed out of his neck-hole, fairly rapidly reforming his body. "Nice try boy," Buu sneered, his regrowth almost complete, "But I saw through your plan. Why else would I not regenerate? I concentrated all my energy into my head, knowing you would try to destroy me."
Kai, however, was not phased by the fact his plan failed; truth be told, he didn't think it's be that easy anyway. Instead, he just mused to himself, 'So, it seems he's adapted Piccolo's regenerative ability. Now he can regrow from any wound quickly if his head's intact. The reverse, then, may also be true; destroy the head, destroy the monster.'
-I'm an indestructible master of war-
"You'll never beat me, boy," Buu jeered, his body now completely restored. "I know how you think. I know all your tricks."
"That may well be true," Kai admitted with a shrug; planning had never exactly been Kaen's strong point, a fact both his brother and sister knew well. They also knew almost exactly how he thought, except on a few issues he had yet to correct them on, like how to live in peacetime. He did, however, have a foolproof plan. "But there's one mind you can't crack; not even I could."
Buu cracked one hairless eyebrow. "Oh? And who is that?"
Kai grinned, clasping his hands before him as though praying, before he was engulfed by a white flash. When the light died down, Kai was gone, and in his place someone entirely different. Someone female.
-Another reason-
-Another cause for me to fight-
She wore a variation of the black fusion vest, but bound together across the middle with a cross of orange straps, to match the orange trim, but unlike Liran's fusion, she wore no undershirt. The usual white baggy pants were gone, and in their place were fairly form fitting black pants. Adorning her feet were a pair of leather-look black boots, with an inch-high heel.
Gaping in shock, and a good touch of fear, Buu asked, "Who... Who are you?!"
"You know, I've asked myself that exact same question before," she replied; her voice sounded much like Kai's, though the female voice was more prominent this time. "I'd tossed up several names, and for a while, I took a liking to Pan; short, simple, just like my other half. However, for this situation, I have something much more appropriate in mind."
"What's that?"
Reaching behind her, she withdrew a strange cylindrical object, about a foot long, capped at both ends by what looked like large claws, and clutched it with both hands. "My name, is Paine." Giving the object a twist, a blade shot out each end of it, almost entirely straight-edged, save for the slight flair at the tip, and revealing the object to be what was known as a butterfly, or two-ended, sword. "And it's time for your lesson."
-Another fuse uncovered-
-Now, for me to light-
"Okay, I'm lost," Videl remarked, turning to face the older Saiyans - the most likely people to know what was going on - and asking, "What the hell just happened?"
"Remarkable," Avarrdo commented, not entirely in answer to Videl's question. "They managed to switch their own dominant mind."
The human girl blinked. "Uh... Come again?"
It was Kellre who responded. "From what we have observed about the Fusion Technique, and keep in mind this is all speculation, but the mind and personality created is a combination of the two people involved. However, one mind is always more dominant than the other, as in any combination of anything, and it is this dominant mind that appears to determine appearance, among other things."
-My dedication-
-To all that I've sworn to protect-
"With two people of the same gender, the difference between the dominant and recessive mind is fairly small," Avarrdo continued, "As can be seen with Gotenks; by appearances, he inherited more of his looks from Trunks, but his personality was more Goten. With Liran, however, there was a very noticeable difference. Lime was definitely the dominant mind in that fusion, both in appearance, and personality."
"I think I understand what you're getting at," Videl interjected suddenly. "You're saying that Kai, as we could see, was more Kaen than Pi, and somehow they've found a way to reverse this, and that by reversing this balance, Kai changed into Paine."
Kellre smiled; yes, this girl had a sharp mind. He would have to see to it that she, and Gohan, received more technical training after all this was over. "Exactly. It will be interesting to see what differences there are between the two."
A grin spread across Truniz's face. "So, what my brother just said, in a very long way, is that this is going to be one hell of a fight."
-I carry out my orders-
-With not a regret-
A smile came to rest upon Paine's face as she and Buu fought; though 'fought' may not have been the textbook description for the ass-whopping she was dishing out. Butterfly sword in hand, she didn't battle in the traditional sense: there was no jerky movements, no rush of attacks. Just one attack, constantly changing, constantly adapting.
Paine didn't fight. She danced.
She'd yet to land a blow though. With only two blades, both of them on either end of the same weapon, Buu seemingly had no trouble blocking all of her attacks, despite the constant flow. A fact he sneered a reminder to her about. "Is that the best you can do, girl? Pathetic!"
-A declaration-
-Embedded deep under my skin-
Paine tuned out his attempt at taunting; he wasn't very good at it. And besides, she'd deliberately not hit him, to cause him to let his guard down. Which he did. And she was right there to capitalize.
Spinning around to attack with the top (left) blade, she aimed for the scythe instead of the monster, throwing enough force behind it to knock the weapon aside. Continuing the spin, she pressed a discrete button located just next to her pinkie finger, and the back end of the butterfly sword detached, flying blade first towards Buu, and stabbing directly through his head right up to the hilt.
"Surprise asshole!" Paine grinned, twisting her grip on the sword she still held to reveal the silvery ki chain still connecting the two. Moments later, she sent a gout of flame careening down said chain, where it erupted into a massive conflagration and annihilated Buu's head. With a flick of her wrist she recalled her weapon, swinging it around for a few seconds before catching it with her other hand. "Sword chucks, yo."
-A permanent reminder-
-Of how we began-
"It's attached by a chain?" Kellre drawled, with the closest to incredulity he'd ever expressed in his voice. "I know I always taught her about using the element of surprise, but..." Turning to Avarrdo, he added, "This reeks of your sloppy teachings."
Avarrdo would've refuted that remark, if it didn't sound so much like something he would've done; he hadn't, but hey, he was a scientist, and taking credit for things that weren't his doing came with the territory. "Sloppy? What's more surprising than attacking your opponent with an unorthodox weapon when they believe they're out of range?"
"Coping a blade to the face when it misses?" Truniz offered 'helpfully'
"Uh, guys?" Videl interrupted, staring at the screen. "I don't think she's gonna have that problem."
-No hesitation-
-When I am commanded to strike-
Paine wasn't entirely surprised when Buu's head regrew; annoyed, and maybe a little disappointed, yes, but not too surprised. 'Damnit!' She growled to herself, throwing herself back into the fight with a lot more anger. 'Destroying the body doesn't work, destroying the head doesn't work, and I'm having serious doubts about whether destroying all of it will do any different. Looks like it's time for Plan B.'
With a growl rising in her throat, Paine's two swords became wreathed in white flame. "I grow tired of these games," she intoned coldly, lashing out with her weapons; they carved cleanly through Buu's scythe, the intense flames quickly consuming the remains, until all that was left was pink molten slag, and ash.
Whirling the still-flaming weapon around her head, the chain extending with each rotation, Paine hurled the weapon at the pink monster while he was still too stunned to react. Like a bola, the two swords swung around Buu's form repeatedly, wrapping around his neck, binding his arms, and stopping just short of his legs, when one blade stabbed into his neck, and the other what passed for a crotch.
Squeezing one hand into a fist, the fused girl commented dryly, "Boom." With a rapidly building, high-pitched whine, the weapon exploded into a brilliant, violent white light, the force of the explosion rocking the earth for a good minute, and sending Buu parts scattering in all directions.
-You need to know-
-That you're in for the fight of your life-
When the roar of the explosion died down, Paine surveyed her handiwork with a sense of satisfaction; she knew the monster wasn't dead, but blowing him into chunks was still very, very satisfying. "Pull yourself together," she ordered, "I know that didn't kill you."
Sure enough, the pink pieces began to liquefy, flowing back to reform Buu's body entirely; the last thing to form was the self-satisfied smirk on his face. "You see girl?" He jeered, "You can't hope to defeat me."
Ignoring him, she remarked dryly, "I'm a little tired of chopping you up." She cupped her hands near her right hip, an odd red-and-purple fireball forming between her hands. "Thought I might try fire, for a change." Throwing her hands forward she shouted, "Gallic Inferno!"
Buu's eyes widened as the blast approached, a rich purple core surrounded by intense red flames. He dived out of the way at the last second, watching the red shell explode in a mushroom cloud; what he didn't expect, however, was the wave of energy that washed over him when the inner core detonated into a cross-shaped explosion.
-You will be shown-
-How I've become...-
Paine grinned as she watched the scorched Buu emerge. "Ya like that?" She jeered. "I've got plenty more where that came from. I've got more attacks than you've eaten candy, and I plan on showing you all of them. Painfully." Unless she missed her guess, Paine had about ten minutes of fusion left, assuming that tripe she'd spouted earlier about being able to remain fused forever wasn't actually true; unlikely, but an amusing thought all the same.
Twitching, Buu growled with rage, the tip of his head tentacle glowing slightly. Swinging it over his head, he aimed the tip at the fused girl, shouting, "Turn to candy!"
Paine yawned as the beam approached, snapping her fingers and mouthing a word no-one heard; not because she spoke silently, but because the second the air left her lungs, the world around her ground to a halt. "Stop."
Floating lazily around the now-stationary pink beam, she paused in front of Buu, placing her hands on her hips as she tsk'ed. "You really are pathetic aren't you?" Smacking him about a bit, she grabbed one of his arms and hurled him in front of his own beam, before snapping her fingers again, and time resumed.
-Indestructible-
The pink monster had just enough time to gape comically at the incoming beam, and give a shocked "What the f-" before he was struck by his own attack, disappearing in a puff of smoke, to be replaced by a floating gumball.
Flying over, Paine snatched the candy out of the air, giving it a once over with her eyes before throwing into her mouth and chewing it. After three seconds of this, however, she spat it out again, remarking disgustedly, "Ugh, I'm gonna be tasting that for weeks..." Forming a fireball in her hand, she tossed it at the rapidly descending, chewed candy, igniting it, before remarking, "You can change back now. I know your attack isn't permanent to you."
With another puff of smoke, Buu reappeared again, the occasional part of him still on fire. Patting said fires out, Buu scowled, stating, "That was unpleasant for all concerned." His plan had been simple, and Paine knew it; he hoped that, once in candy form, Paine would eat him, where he would change back and kill her from the inside.
Not bloody likely.
-Determination that is incorruptible-
"I'm through screwing around with you," Paine intoned, flaring into Super Saiyan with little ceremony, before clenching her fists and continuing to power up. Rapidly approaching the Super Saiyan Two barrier, she added, "Time to show you the fruits of six hundred and sixty-six collective years of Saiyan fighting experience!" With a roar of power, the air around her shattered, her aura exploding into life around her, and blue lightning dancing around her form.
'This is as far as I can go without weakening reality again,' the girl observed to herself, the subtle vibrations in the air triggering Kaen's deep-hidden memories of his brief stint as a Super Saiyan Three; specifically, the green rifts his uncontrolled power had wrenched open. 'Let's just hope this is enough.'
-From the other side a terror to behold-
Focusing her power, Paine felt a tingling sensation along her shoulder blades, before a pair of leathery black wings, seemed to grow out of her body, expanding to a wingspan or at least twice her height. As they were comprised purely of ki, they didn't actually work (not that she actually needed wings to fly), and thus were created mainly for shock effect; in that regard, they were most successful.
Majin Buu seemed almost frozen in horror as he gazed upon the demonic girl before him, though that may have been, in part, because he had the minds of four children melding with his. Folding her wings around herself, the girl focused her energy once more, before throwing her wings wide and unleashing her first devastating attack. "Hellfire Caress!"
-Annihilation will be unavoidable-
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of thin black threads erupted from her wings, twisting and weaving through the air towards the terrified Buu. The monster howled in pain as the first thread pierced his body, hooking around to lock in place, and he quickly dove out of the way of the other threads. They would not be denied, though, weaving through the air to chase him, even as the single thread embedded into him began slowly draining his energy.
"You can't run from everything!" Paine jeered, hoping to get Buu's attention; it worked, the monster how tearing ass straight for her. She was prepared. "Meteor Bomber!" With her ki wings directing the Hellfire Caress, her hands were free to prepare another attack. The pulse of energy between her cupped hands disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing less than a foot in front of Buu, and by then, it was far too late for the creature to stop.
-Every broken enemy will know-
Rocked by the explosion, Buu was sent flying back towards the mass of threads, which swiftly began piercing his body, puppetting him like a marionette; one mass of threads even wove into a net that ensnared his head. With escape all but impossible, Paine was free to prepare her next attack; slower than the others, but far more powerful. Holding her hands out to either side, waist high, a rising shout began deep in her throat as she focused power into the crystalline blue balls of ki in either hand. Merging the two together before her, she shouted, "Fusion Grenade!" before lobbing it at her enemy.
Buu struggled vainly against his bindings, his struggles weakening as the threads sapped his strength, pulses of light running back to their origin. It took just a second to reach its target, but to Buu, that seemed like a lifetime. The ki grenade exploded just shy of Buu's form, sending out a massive wave of frigid energy, freezing Buu's very molecules, and creating a gum-and-ice statue, suspended by dark ki threads, floating in the air.
-That their opponent had to be invincible-
"Pathetic, just like I always knew you'd be," Paine's twin-voices commented disgustedly. "I've barely warmed up, and you're already defeated. Oh well, I guess this is game over. Time to d-"
A gasp was wrenched from her throat as she felt Buu reverse the flow of her Hellfire Caress, draining a mass of energy back again, so much so that the ki wings faded out, the last of their energy sucked up by the black hole that was Majin Buu. As the threads too began to be absorbed, she could feel a build-up in the monster's core, moments before a massive sphere of pink energy expanded outwards rapidly, stopping just shy of reaching her. When the light faded, Buu was animated once more.
-Take a last look around while you're alive-
Paine grinned. "Ah, you've still got a little fight left in ya? Good, I was beginning to think this was too easy." Without giving the monster another second to recover, she curled one arm around by her side, charged up a deep red ki blast, and hurled it forwards with a shout of, "Nova Javelin!"
Too sluggish to dodge, as he was still recovering from being frozen solid, and too weak to deflect, waiting for his energy to restore itself, Buu was left with one option: block. Bringing his forearms up to block the blast, he howled in pain as the Nova Javelin ripped straight through his defence like it wasn't even there, burning a cannonball-sized hole straight through both his arms, and torso.
-I'm an indestructible master of war-
Before he could even considering beginning to regenerate, Paine pressed her advantage, forming a pair of translucent black spheres of ki, one in each hand. With a cry of "Black Fission!" she smashed them together before her, cupping her hands as she did so, but unlike normal ki balls, these didn't fuse together; they shattered, like glass. And it was these glass-like shards that were suddenly, and rapidly, thrown towards Buu by the wave of energy that followed the breaking.
Using some of his restored energy, Buu tried to erect a barrier to block the shards, but the glass-like fragments ripped through it like it paper, before doing the same to his faux flesh. Grinning at the devastation before her, Paine held both hands near her waist, two fingers extended on each hand, as she focused her energy; there was no visible sign she was doing anything, save the odd wave of heat near her fingers.
-Indestructible-
"Is... that... all you've got?" Buu growled slowly, concentrating his energy and forcing the holes to heal; his strength was returning swiftly now, as his anger caused him to tap further and further into his endless well of power.
"Not even close," the girl jibbed, throwing forward both hands and shouting, "Mirage Twister!" A ripple in the air was the only sign anything had happened, before the two nearly invisible beams she had fired, comprised purely of superheated air, punched holes straight through Buu's head; in a feat of perfect aim, she managed to burn out both his eyes in a single strike.
-Determination that is incorruptible-
As Buu staggered around blindly, Paine moved on to preparing her next attack; she had maybe five minutes of fusion left, and Plan A had failed, so if Plan B didn't work, the whole universe was screwed. Aiming one hand at the ground, there was the briefest of ki flashed before a large circular patch of dirt began glowing. Mere seconds later, a mass of small pale yellow ki balls erupted out of the ground, all pausing at different heights, before the girl shouted the attack's name: "Havoc Disruption!"
The sea of ki balls exploded at random heights and random times, each sending out a powerful sonic shockwave; there was no destructive force behind any of them, but the concussive force was enough to ricochet Buu around like a ball in a pinball machine. While the monster was still disoriented, the girl focused more ki into her right and, forming a white lash with a crackle of electricity, and with a flick of her wrist, sent the Lightning Whip to wrap around Buu's neck.
-From the other side a terror to behold-
A shuddery shout escaped Buu's mouth as ten thousand volts of electricity passed through his body; golem though he may be, he still had something passing for a nervous system, and the Lightning Whip was playing merry havoc with it. Grasping the whip with both hands, Paine dragged the monster down, slamming him into the rocky ground, using the momentum to slam him into random terrain around the area, before slinging him skyward again.
With an animalistic roar, Buu unleashed another sphere of pink energy, shattering the whip, as he glared down at the girl with his newly reformed eyes with every ounce of hate he could muster. Smirking up at the monster, Paine formed spheres of light blue ki in either hand, before flinging blast after blast up at the creature. It wasn't until she had fired over fifty blasts that Buu realised not a single one was aimed for him.
-Annihilation will be unavoidable-
Glancing around at the field of blasts from the safety of his shield, Buu remarked dryly, "You didn't really think you could hit me with Hellzone Grenade did you?"
"Of course not," Paine replied, snapping her fingers, and with a mighty thunderclap every blast was connected to every other by a bolt of blue lightning. "That's why I made it better. Gigavolt Deathzone!" She snapped her fingers again, and Buu's world lit up in pain, as every single ball of ki sent a bolt of lightning straight through his shield, and directly into his body. Before the first shriek of pain had even left Buu's mouth, Paine was already preparing her next attack, her right hand glowing a deep crimson as she performed a swift, complex hand gesture and shouted "Blast Storm!"
-Every broken enemy will know-
The lightning died down, leaving blue sparks trailing along Buu's frame, but her cry heralded nothing else. "Just... what did... that do?" The monster panted out, glaring at the girl. Paine, however, just grinned, and moments later, a ring of deep red blasts launched out of the ground, surrounding the monster at waist height. Eyes widening comically, Buu had just enough time to mutter, "You dirty rotten bi-" before they detonated, massive sonic seismic shockwaves radiating outwards. The force of the waves sheered Buu's lower half clean off, reduced it to a lumpy pink slurry that hit the ground with a disgusting splat, and sent his torso spinning wildly through the air before the monster managed to right himself.
Looking down at what remained of his lower half, Buu screeched, "OW! Do you have any idea how much that stings?!"
-That their opponent had to be invincible-
Paine waved him off lazily. "Oh quit crying you big baby. You grow back." As if to prove her point, Buu's lower half swiftly grew back down from his torso, restoring the creature to its original state in a matter of seconds. "See? Now, are we ready to continue, or would you like to bitch and moan some more?" 'Four minutes.'
Growling like an animal, Buu charged towards her, screaming, "I'LL KILL YOU!"
-Take a last look around while you're alive-
Taking a deep breath, Paine shouted, "Elemental Ghost Kamikaze Attack!" Exhaling, she spat out five white objects, which quickly reshaped themselves into legless miniature versions of her. Miniatures that began cackling to a joke only they knew.
Stopping his charge suddenly, Buu stared at the white ghosts with new eyes; when they weren't on his side, they really were creepy. "You stole my attack?" Buu asked incredulously.
-I am indestructible (indestructible)-
"Of course not." The girl replied swiftly, before snapping her fingers. Signal given, the five ghosts all changed: one erupted into flame, one became sheathed by ice, one shrouded by lightning, one disintegrated into a dust storm, and the last faded into darkness. "I made it better. Ghosts, attack!" Cackling again, the five elementals streaked towards the now-scared monster. 'Three minutes.'
Buu grit his teeth; if these creatures were any like those he stole from Gotenks, all he had to do was hit them, they'd explode, and the attack would be over. With that thought in mind, he stretched one arm to strike the fastest one, the fire ghost. However, instead of exploding, the ghost burst into a massive gout of flame, tearing right through his fist, and burning clean through his arm, all the way up to the shoulder.
-Indestructible-
Crying out in pain, Buu clutched his hand to the smoking hole his right arm once existed at. Before he could so much as flinch, however, the lightning ghost exploded into a shower of bolts, the arcs of lightning punching holes through both knees, both eyes, and both his one remaining elbow and his chest simultaneously. Cackling in glee, the dust ghost was next, exploding into a torrent of gouging sand, and ripping Buu's left leg off at the knee. Then came the ice ghost, crashing into his torso, and freezing it solid.
-Determination that is incorruptible-
Through all this the shadow ghost floated nearby, arms folded, until only it remained. Then, locking eyes with the smoking holes where Buu's once were, it faded away, unleashing two beams of black energy from it's eyes to Buu's, and it was then that Buu knew true pain; not truly physical, nor even his own. It was the pain of hundreds, thousands, countless millions upon billions of lives. Every life Buu himself had destroyed, he was forced to suffer their pain. 'Two minutes.'
-From the other side a terror to behold-
Hands held above her head, parted as far as she could reach, Paine focused all energy she could gather, from herself, and everything on the planet she could still sense, into two midnight-black energy balls, each the size of a small car; it was time to end this. "Suffer, monster, for everything you have done. Suffer and die. I take solace in the fact the last thing you will experience by my hand, is excruciating pain. FINAL JUDGEMENT!"
-Annihilation will be unavoidable-
Swinging her arms around and slamming the two massive balls of ki together before her, she unleashed a veritable wall of energy, engulfing Buu's form entirely in dark flames, and punching a hole into the earth itself. The flames continued to burn, melting a crater in the crust of the earth a mile wide, leaving naught but ash behind. Nothing, that was, except for the battered, charred remains of Buu. Paine smirked, as she floated down towards what was left of the creature, a vision that, were the monster able to see it, he might have thought demonic; that was intensely satisfying. 'One minute.'
-Every broken enemy will know-
Blinking at the destruction wrought before his eyes, Dende muttered, "Wow. That had to hurt."
A smirk on his own face to match the one the fused girl wore, Gohan replied, "I imagine that was the general idea, yes."
-That their opponent had to be invincible-
Striding across the broken earth towards the creature, Paine intoned, "It's over. You've got no energy left; completely tapped out. Look at you, you've even lost the ability to regenerate. And me, well, I just finished warming up." The irony of it all was that, lies you believed were the best kind, and the hardest to be caught out on. If Buu had've realised the urgency of her attacks, he might have realised she was pressed for time; that the fusion may be running out. Of course, she had managed to obliterate effectively two hundred percent of his body, so rational thought was very likely the last thing on his mind.
A shame she was so pressed for time, this was such fun. 'Unfortunately, all good things do have to come to an end. And bad things too.' Aiming one hand towards what remained of Buu, she said, an air of finality about her, "It's been fun, but now, it's game over."
-Take a last look around while you're alive-
A deep, resonating laugh worked its way out of Buu's battered body. "It's over..." he began slowly, "when I SAY IT'S OVER!" A massive wall of pink slime erupted behind the girl, the wave of goo washing over the girl in a fraction of a second; the remains of Buu's lower half. A cackle issuing forth from Buu's shattered body, the wave of pink slime engulfed Paine completely, before flowing over his broken form, repairing, rebuilding, reforming.
Majin Buu lived once more.
-I'm an indestructible master of war!-
--
Author's notes:
Man, this one just took forever. I've had it sitting half finished for two weeks now, and just couldn't work up the ending. But it's done now, and, thanks to a friend of mine, the next chapters already half written . Hopefully, it'll be out soon.
Also, it wasn't until I uploaded this that I realised I'd neglected to fix up any of the formatting, so I had to go back and do it again... Not fun.
For those interested, Paine's attacks, and who originally used their components are, in order:
Gallic Inferno - Gallic Gun (Vegeta) + Inferno Blast (Kaen)
Hellfire Caress - Hellfire Strike (Kaen) + Caress of Ten-Thousand Hells (Kellre)
Meteor Bomber - Meteor Blast (Kellre) + Bomber DX (Nappa)
Fusion Grenade - Cold Fusion (Frost) + Lightzone Grenade (Flute)
Nova Javelin - Nova Blast (Kaen) + Riot Javelin (Bardock)
Black Fission - Black Ice (Kat) + Fission Wave (Avarrdo)
Mirage Twister - Mirage Cannon (Korin) + Demon Twister (Flute)
Havoc Disruption - Disruption of Gaia (Pi) + Havoc Cannon (Truniz)
Lightning Whip - White Lightning (Viola) + Hellfire Whip (Kaen)
Gigavolt Deathzone - Gigavolt Hellzone (Viola) + Deathzone Storm Grenade (Flute)
Blast Storm - Blast Burn (Korin) + Giant Storm (Nappa)
Elemental Ghost Kamikaze - Elemental Form (Kaen/Pi/Kat/Viola) + Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack (Gotenks)
Final Judgement - Final Flash (Vegeta) + Hellfire Judgement (Kaen)
Edit (10/08/08) - minor formatting issues