Chapter 79: Majin Buu

Yup, uploaded on Saturday, I'm busy tomorrow.

I've actually got some scenes for the future timeline written, which I was going to stick in here somewhere, then I decided to wait until I had enough material for a whole chapter. So sometime soon there might be a chapter or two with the future timeline.

The thing in the smoke was becoming clearer. Not in the smoke, Raditz corrected himself, it was the smoke, and it was forming into a solid shape. Humanoid? ...Yes, it seems so.

And abruptly, there it was.

Humanoid, yes—but round and pudgy at that. Bright, garish pink. Its tubby, dumbly smiling face was topped with a short, curving...tentacle? Antenna? It was clad in a black, gold-trimmed jacket that was far too small for its expansive torso, short baggy pants from which protruded stick-like legs in black leggings. The outfit was completed with childish mittens, boots and knotted cape.

All in all, it appeared that the great and terrible Majin Buu was anything but. The only indication of its affiliation with Babidi was the 'M' insignia on its belt buckle.

Kaioshin, however, seemed petrified. He choked on his words, staring in horror at the ridiculous creature, which for the moment made no move.

"Is this really what you were so afraid of?" Raditz snorted. "C'mon, look at it!"

"Yes...this is the monster that threatened the entire universe..." Kaioshin confirmed, voice shaking. "And now that Babidi is dead, there is no way of re-sealing it...it's exactly as I remember it."

Exactly? So the spell had no effect? Scarcely had this thought passed through Raditz's mind when he tensed up, detecting high-speed movement. Dabura, having recovered his senses, appeared in front of Buu. "Heh. Is this all?" He peered at the dumbly-smiling creature. "What a waste of time and effort. Though perhaps you will be some aid in occupying some of the many enemies that now beset us..."

At this, Buu finally showed a reaction. It grinned widely, and put one foot forward in a comically exaggerated fashion, taking almost clumsy steps towards Dabura. It gestured in a display of animalistic aggression as it slowly approached him.

Dabura laughed out loud. "Oh, you want to fight me? Seems it's not just your body's power that has degenerated in the millenia you were stored away—you've lost your mind, too. What do you think you're doing?"

Buu merely glowered at him, waving its stubby arms wildly. Steam began to pour out into the air from previously-unnoticed pores on its head, shoulders and upper arms. Dabura raised his guard in a leisurely fashion, intending to humour the clearly-insane creature. Inches away from the demon, Buu suddenly lowered its head, expression flashing into a malevolent grin.

Goku gasped, feeling a flicker at the edge of his mind. "What...this ki...?!"

Buu's balled fist shot up, hitting Dabura in the chin. The apparently casual movement had been struck with speed and force that could only be described as unbelievable, and Dabura was hurled away, trailing blood and collapsing in a heap.

Buu giggled, hopping from one foot to the other in a victory dance. "Buu! Buu! Buu!"

Piccolo walked up to the creature, which was facing away from him. "Seems you're not completely worthless, after all. Listen." He pointed to himself. "Your boss is dead—I'm in charge now. So you're going to do what I say, if you want to live."

"Heeheehee..." Ignoring him, Buu chuckled to itself, apparently crouched over something and examining it.

Piccolo tried to peer over its shoulder. "What are you..."

"BLEAH!" Spinning on the spot, Buu startled Piccolo, yelling and waving its tongue at him.

After letting out an involuntary shout in surprise, Piccolo flashed his fangs at the playful being. "Don't pull that crap on me, you. I told you—I'm in charge here!" In order to establish his dominance over Buu, he swung his fist full-force into its face. Majin Buu made no move to block or dodge, letting the punch knock its head to the side. Then, with disrespectful nonchalance, it raised its own hand, grasping Piccolo about the wrist and wrenching his hand away from its face. Piccolo, angered, pushed back, but couldn't overpower Buu. Snarling in frustration, he ripped free of its grasp, rubbing his aching hand as he stepped away. "Damn you..." he muttered. Buu simply laughed.

"Hey." Raditz was striding towards Piccolo and Buu, totally calm. "The Supreme Kai tasked me with stopping Buu from being released—and failing that, destroying it before it does any damage. We've just seen that it's certainly capable of that." He stopped a few metres away, standing about halfway between Piccolo and Buu, and his allies. "So I hope nobody will mind if I take this one from here."

Kibito couldn't restrain his outburst. "On your own?! Suicide—"

Kaioshin put a hand on Kibito's shoulder. "I may have expressed such sentiments with the previous fights, but this warrior is on a whole different level—his enemy, too." He gazed sternly at Raditz's retreating back. "Anyone else intervening...would just be getting in the way."

Raditz heard this, and allowed himself to be pleased by it. "Hey, Buu!" he called to the vacuous pink creature. "You like to fight, huh?"

Buu nodded happily. "Buu like fight! But Buu get hungry if Buu fight too long. Buu like food even more than fight!"

Remind you of any species? Raditz mused. "Well, I'm sure you can have plenty of food—if you can beat me."

"Ooh!" Buu clapped its hands together, cackling. "Hair-man want to fight Buu?"

"Hair-man, huh?" Raditz smirked. "You just wait..."

Piccolo shrugged, standing well back. "Knock yourself out. I welcome the chance to see what Buu can do—and you too, come to think of it."

"You can tell that wasn't my full power against Dabura?"

"I'd have been blind if I couldn't."

Buu waved its fists in the vague direction of a combat stance. "Fight now! Fight Buu now!"

Raditz turned back to Buu, nodded. "All right, but I'll have to become a Super Saiyan first."

Buu looked puzzled—which, to be fair, was only a step away from its usual 'vacant'. "Super...Saiyajin?"

"Close enough." Raditz began to summon up his internal spiritual power. "What you see here is my base form. Now, I like to think I'm pretty powerful, but after what you did to Dabura, I hold no illusions about being able to fight you like this. So, next we have...Super Saiyan, and...hrrg...Super Saiyan 2!" He transformed up to the second Super Saiyan form as he talked.

"Ooh..." Buu said. Raditz half-expected it to follow with 'pretty lights' or somesuch.

"But there's something unsettling about your ki...or maybe it's the dramatic occasion..." Raditz thought aloud. "Either way, today I just feel like pulling out all the stops."

What?! Piccolo thought. What could be stronger than the ascended form? W-What's he going to do, double-ascend? It's got to be a bluff!

Raditz let out a scream of exertion, nigh-agony, escaping from between clenched teeth as burning golden streams of light enveloped his body. His hands, clenched into fists, were flung out to his sides, and the world seemed to shake around him. "This..."

"No, no, quite impossible," the senior seismologist, devouring a bagel, assured the intern beside him. "An earthquake does not appear that suddenly, nor reach that magnitude instantly!"

"Nevertheless," she protested. "Look! The readings!"

The seismologist was about to scoff and say that the instruments must be wrong, when the entire room began to shake, hurling the delicate instruments to the floor and smashing them. The pair dived for cover. "My word!" he exclaimed. "But the distance the epicentre is from here...if it were a quake, we wouldn't have felt a thing. What on Earth could generate such force...?"

Brian pushed himself up on the picnic blanket with his elbows. "See, there it is—I told you the sunrise is beautiful from here."

Sasha looked to where he was pointing—indeed, a bright light was visible breaking over the horizon. Unexpectedly, it grew to blinding intensity, rising to a great column of shining gold. "That...isn't the sun!"

"What the hell?!"

General Ripper frowned, receiving a reort through his earpiece. He stood up from the conference table, heading over to the corner of the room. "Excuse me, gentlemen. –What do you mean, gone offline? Military satellites don't just 'go offline'! Do you know how much we invested in..." he paused. "What? 'Electrical interference'? In space? Don't be ridiculous! If something generated that much energy—!" His voice trailed off. He had a very good idea of what was capable of generating that much energy—of, in fact, generally flaunting the laws of reality as he understood them. Something that terrified him, though he didn't like to admit it. He was not a religious man—he did not pray. But, with all his being, he hoped.

"...is Super Saiyan Three."

Launch raised her head out of the cover she'd found. Wow...and I thought I'd achieved something. This is like...she stared at her transformed partner. ...like his physical body can't contain his ki. The physical change is just the tip of the iceberg—from an energy-sensing perspective, it's like being an insect standing at the feet of a titan. Beyond the physical shell, when one truly saw the saiyan's life force, he became a terrifying being of purest light—perhaps something more than mortal.

"Ooh, yeah! You cool!" Majin Buu cheered.

Raditz, head still ringing, turned his vision towards Buu. "I guess you can't sense ki...you should be proud of yourself. Nobody since Janemba has ever pushed me this far."

"Buu kill you! Buu have fun!" The creature declared. It shuffled a foot forwards slightly.

In the time it took to half-complete that one step, Raditz was upon it, and his first punch launched it flying through the air. He touched down with one foot, watching Buu sail away. It cartwheeled in the air, wheeling around and coming to a halt. Half-crouching in a parody of a runner's starting position, it rocketed back towards Raditz—ungracefully, but with surprising speed.

"Hmph." That didn't damage it as much as I'd hoped... He intercepted its charge with a kick to the stomach, halting it in its tracks and doubling it over. His foot seemed to sink slightly into its doughy...skin? Was that even skin, anyway? He pushed the thought aside, meeting Buu's snapped-forwards head with a sharp right uppercut, before drawing back his left hand and landing another punch to Buu's head, launching a kiai simultaneously at the same spot. Buu was thrown back with even greater force, carving a destructive trail through the town as it skidded along the ground.

Raditz dusted off his hands—touching Buu brought with it a strange, unnatural feeling that he had no wish to repeat. "This shouldn't take too long. Buu is pretty strong, and maybe back when he was around before, he was the strongest being in the universe—but we've grown beyond him."

Kaioshin and Kibito could scarcely believe what they were seeing—Kaioshin especially, having previously had to bear witness to his fellow Supreme Kais being slaughtered by Bibidi's monster. "Raditz is picking Buu apart!" he said in a hushed whisper, almost afraid to say it aloud as if that would cause it to become untrue.

Kibito looked slightly dubious. "True...for the moment. But Buu doesn't seem to have suffered more than a few scrapes even from that last attack—its durability is remarkable."

Raditz, hearing this, smiled. Still, I did leave a mark—compared to Janemba, this is going to be easy.

Buu was on its feet again, and once more billowed steam. "Buu no like you!" It fumed. "Buu kill—" It was stopped mid-sentence by a spear-head piercing through its head from behind. There was no blood or gore, it was just there, as if slotted into an existing hole.

Dabura stood behind Buu, chest heaving with exhaustion, face covered in blood. One arm was extended—it was clear it had been he who'd thrown the spear, and seemingly killed Majin Buu.

"Eh?" Piccolo frowned, disappointed. "Is that all it took?"

Raditz lowered his arms, face falling. "Ah, man...I was enjoying that."

Kaioshin shook his head. "No, you fool! Don't let your guard down!"

Before anyone could make a move, however, Buu turned around.

Dabura did a double-take, jumping away in shock, then watching, horrified as it reached up and removed the spear from its head. It threw it aside, frowning a little as the hole in its head closed up, like liquid rushing in to fill a vacuum.

Dabura edged away warily. "D...Damn it..."

"Buu hungry!" Majin Buu declared, stomping towards Dabura. "Should Buu make you cookie?"

Dabura was almost frozen in confusion at this nonsensical statement. "What."

"Or chocolate...?" Buu tapped its head for a few seconds, then seemed to come to a decision. "Buu want cookie!" With that, its antenna snapped forwards, pointing directly at Dabura, and began to glow with a soft pink light. It grew into a jagged beam, arcing through the air and striking Dabura, illuminating his twitching body in its sickly colour.

And just as Buu had instructed, the king of the demons was transfigured into a giant Dabura-shaped cookie. Almost all were stunned into silence. Buu trotted over to the cookie and picked it up, happily licking its lips.

Piccolo managed to recover his sense. I was counting on Dabura to even out the numerical disadvantage...this isn't good. "Majin Buu! Put that cookie down!" he ordered.

"Naaah!" Buu spat, waving its tongue at Piccolo.

"Put that cookie down now!" He roared, knowing full well how strange that would sound out of context. In reply, Buu shoved the entire thing into its mouth, swallowing the enormous food in one gulp.

"Excuse me." Raditz appeared between Piccolo and Buu, arms folded. "I hate to interrupt your snack, but we were fighting."

"Buu not hungry no more," Buu supplied helpfully. "Buu fight now!" It raised its fists, waving them like a child pretending to be a boxer.

Tien gasped, falling to his knees. "I'm...back to normal...what happened?" He felt a sharp shock in his mind. "There's a lot of power levels off in that direction...and they're all gigantic!" He stood up, indecisive for a brief moment, then made up his mind. I doubt I could make much of a difference in a fight like that...I'd better head for the World Tournament and let everyone know what's happening.

Buu drew its arm back, amateurishly telegraphing its punch, but Raditz knew not to underestimate it. When it did strike, he knew, it would be much faster than its appearance suggested.

However, Buu never attacked. Its face suddenly contorted in pain, and it bent double, hissing. Steam gushed from the pores on its head and arms, completely obscuring it from view. "Nyaaaa!" came its anguished voice.

From within the cloud of steam, the 'M' mark burned like a beacon, now a fiery red colour.

Raditz took a step back. "What's this...?"

Piccolo nodded, noting the M. "Maybe that spell is finally starting to take effect..."

"But surely in a creature like Majin Buu, there's no dormant evil to bring out!" Kibito objected.

Kaioshin was rooted to the spot, eyes wide. "No...oh, no...not again! He's changing...back to normal...!"

"Normal?" Launch, who had been standing near the pair, looked from Kaioshin to Buu and back. "What's that mean, normal?"

Kaioshin struggled to keep his voice calm as he spoke, addressing the various assembled fighters. "The Majin Buu you saw was not his original form...when Bibidi first created him, Buu had the stature of a child—but was even more powerful than he is now. One by one, the Kaioshins tried to fight him, but all perished. Our greatest warrior, the South Kaioshin, was on the verge of defeating Buu, when it absorbed him, taking on his muscular appearance and his great strength. Finally, to stop Buu, the Grand Kaioshin let himself be absorbed, allowing Buu to receive his almost childish personality, and—I know not how—severely weakening it in the process. This created the playful, almost innocent Buu you fought so far."

"I see..." Goku said. "So if that spell draws out hidden evil, it's gonna turn Buu back to his original self?"

"What else could this be?" Before he could say any more, a massive ki spike stabbed through all their minds.

Majin Buu slowly emerged from the steam cloud, giving everyone a feeling of déja vu.

It was tall now, dwarfing even Piccolo, and heavily muscled. Its eyes were pitch-black and sunken in, with eerie, hollow red rings for pupils. It was still obviously the same being—the pink 'skin', the steam-pores, the antenna—but in a completely new aspect. It wore only long, baggy white pants, black armbands trimmed with gold, and matching boots. Its expression, at first blank, slowly shifted to a malevolent leer.

"Oh..." Raditz tried to make sense of the situation. "This is the muscular one, right? After Buu absorbed the South Kaioshin?"

Kaioshin shook his head. "I'm afraid not. That Buu was still a child's height, and its muscles were truly massive—unnaturally so. I...have never seen this before. I'm of no help to you here. But if it's anything like the original Buu, all it wants is to destroy—with no sense or reason! At least the fat one could be pacified, or sealed away when Babidi was still alive."

"You..." The new Majin Buu's voice was like an amplified whisper—if a knife could talk, this would be what it sounded like. It pointed one stubby finger at Raditz. "You're...strongest here."

Piccolo, though he inwardly knew this was true, couldn't help scowling at this snub.

Raditz seemed surprised. "So...this Buu can sense ki, huh? Well, as for you...there's still something weird about you, and I can't quite guage the full extent of your power. But you're definitely stronger than the other one."

"I'll...kill you." It was a statement of fact, devoid of aggression.

"You're welcome to try." Raditz dashed at Buu, drawing his sword and striking in one swift motion. Buu, however, caught the blade one-handed.

Raditz grinned. "Gotcha." A shockwave blasted out from his sword's blade, slashing Buu diagonally from shoulder to hip and slicing it clean in two. "A little trick I picked up from Janemba." With that, he punched with his free hand, sending Buu's top half flying away. It pushed out its ki behind it, stopping itself—and Raditz realised with a start that in the brief instant before it had been hit, Buu had pulled his sword away and cast it to the ground. He growled, turning to run for it, but then to his surprise, Buu's lower half began to move of its own accord, attacking him furiously. Again, there was no blood on the wound, only a flat expanse of pink. Raditz leapt back, blocking the relentless barrage of kicks.

Finally, he found a small opening, dodging away and diving for his sword. He grabbed it, rolled, and came up in time to see Buu's fist making straight for his face.

The CRACK of the blow—which through sheer physical force, completely obliterated the town, Babidi's ship and the surrounding countryside, reducing everything to rubble—almost deafened the observers. When they looked again, Buu had simply settled back onto its lower half, rejoining effortlessly, and Raditz was gone.

"Where is he?" Launch asked, anxious.

"A long way away..." Piccolo said, furiously. "Somehow Buu knew just how hard to hit him, and at what angle, to let gravity stop Raditz from escaping Earth's atmosphere..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your boyfriend just landed," Piccolo grunted, "on the other side of the planet."

Two-thirds of the Earth is covered in water. So it's not surprising that Raditz landed in the ocean. He only blacked out for a moment—short enough that he remained in Super Saiyan 3—then propelled himself back up out of the sea, spluttering and trying to focus his dazed vision. What strength!

A gleam of light appeared on the horizon. What?! No, he couldn't be here already...nobody's that fast!

The gleam grew into a blaze, then a blur of movement shot past him. Fearfully, Raditz turned his head, seeing Buu behind him, facing away. "You just...ran halfway around the world...?"

"So?" Buu turned to face him. "Other Buu say...kill you, have fun." It pounded its fists together. "What Buu say, Buu do!"

Raditz groaned. His conversation hasn't improved, at least...how do I beat this thing? He tensed up, preparing to attack, but Buu was already gone. Its foot hit his back with a jarring crunch, flipping him over. He recovered, wheeling around and rushing Buu. It raised one arm to block, and he grabbed hold of the limb two-handed, snapping it fully backwards. However, it instantly bent back into place, repairing itself.

In response, Buu ducked around him, snatching a handful of his knee-length hair and throwing him away by it. Raditz winced—the pain in his forehead was jarring as it was unexpected. Crap...gone with shorter hair for a few years—kinda forgot about that!

"You're boring," Buu declared. "Kill you now." It rushed at him, swinging a full-force punch, but swiped through an afterimage.

"Will you?" Raditz said from behind it. "You'll have to catch me first." Roaring, Buu swung around, throwing a ki blast, but it passed through a second afterimage, then it fell for a third, lashing out as it heard movement from behind it. "STOP HIDING!" Buu yelled.

"Oh, I'm right here." Raditz's voice came from inches away. Buu's eyes opened wide as it felt a sudden build-up of energy. "KAMEHAMEHA!" Raditz shouted, the concentrated energy beam blowing right through Buu's midsection, ripping its torso to shreds. Its head and limbs floated separately for a second.

"Hah!" Raditz grinned. Of course, he might still regenerate...better disintegrate the pieces before he— A blunt impact to the back of the head—Buu's disembodied leg kicking him—interrupted his thoughts, launching him down towards the sea. The water did nothing to slow his hypersonic speed, and he plowed straight into the seabed, burrowing deep underground.

"Not good..." Goku muttered. "Raditz's power is dropping fast, and Buu's just keeps rising!"

"Hey..." Launch looked down at the ground. "Is it just me, or is he—"

Raditz, battered and bloody, burst out of the ground in front of them, soaring into the sky, then plummeting back to Earth like a falling star. He finally managed to get some control over his flight, landing shakily. "I'm...back?" He hit me all the way through the planet...Janemba was nothing compared to this! Damn it, how come every time I use Super Saiyan 3, somebody even stronger comes along and I get my ass kicked?!

He grimaced as Buu, fully healed, rose out of the hole he'd been flung through, that same mocking grin still plastered on its face. "I'm not beaten yet!" he shouted, diving back towards Buu. It kicked him in the side, spinning him around, and he used the momentum to add speed to his return punch, snapping its head a full hundred and eighty degrees around. Slowly, its neck twisted back to its normal position. His arm shook as he tried to keep his guard up. His vision was still blurred, and he felt his power slipping from him. Still leering, Buu easily took hold of his leg, descending rapidly and smashing him brutally into the ground. That, finally, was too much—Raditz lost consciousness, gold fading to black, lying still.

"Is he..." Kaioshin asked fearfully.

Buu crouched down, sniffing Raditz's unmoving body. "Dead," it said gravely, with a hint of satisfaction. An instant later, it was knocked sideways as Piccolo crashed into it with a flying kick. He dropped to the ground in front of it, grim-faced. "I've tried taking a look into your thoughts...nothing but chaos there, and death. I doubt you'd take orders from me."

"Hehhhh..." Buu stood up straight, rolling its head from side to side.

"Thought so. This is my planet, you hear? I can't rule it if you destroy everything!" He lunged, but Buu caught his arm, bringing its elbow down on his head and putting him down in an instant.

"Kamehameha..." Buu whirled, spotting Goku just behind it, swinging a ball of energy towards it. Hurriedly, it raised a hand to block. "...times ten!" Buu realised the power of the attack almost too late, twitching to the side. The beam roared past it, leaving it minus one arm. It growled, kicking Goku into the air, leaning back and then releasing an incandescent ki beam from its mouth—piercing right through Goku's body for the second time that day. The force of the beam carried him with it, bleeding horribly, and the saiyan was hurled over the horizon and out of sight.

"Dad!" Gohan rushed Buu, who had scarcely regrown its arm before Gohan was upon it. It dodged a few quick strikes, before smacking him aside and making straight for Kaioshin. Launch tried to intercept, but a kiai took her down, and a second floored Kaioshin. Kibito stood among the carnage, trembling. Buu approached him slowly.

Most Shin-jin—the heavenly race he belonged to—while long-lived, don't live for nearly as long as those special few who become the Kaioshin. As such, Kibito, despite his aged appearance, was actually much younger than his charge. He had never seen Majin Buu until now; he had scarcely believed that any creature created by a mortal could possibly match the Kaioshin. But now, feeling himself almost swallowed up by those red-on-black eyes, having seen the ease with which the universe's greatest warriors had fallen before the thing, he understood.

Majin Buu was no mere monster or demon. It was chaos and death incarnate. It would not stop, or tire, or die. It could not be defeated—it was the end of all things, the insane, laughing death scream of the universe.

Buu raised one hand, preparing to kill him, as casually as if it was swatting a fly. Kibito simply awaited death—why try to run? Where could it not follow him? Energy crackled between Buu's fingers, then after a single second which seemed to drag on for hours, it fired.

At that instant, Kibito felt himself roughly shoved aside. He turned, and saw the moment, suspended in time as if photographed. Buu's energy bullet was halfway to its target—which was now Kaioshin. The older Shin-jin had tackled Kibito, pushing him out of the way, and was now, in this frozen moment, hanging in mid-air, Buu's attack inches away.

Despairing, Kibito shut his eyes.

Greetings, young one. What is your name?

"K-Kibito, my lord."

I hear you are to be my retainer.

"Yes, sir."

Very good. I see a strong mind within you. We will need that...for I alone must do the work of all five, down the long millenia until the next generation is born.

It will not be easy, but history will remember us as torchbearers. Can you accept this responsibility, Kibito?

Is your hair graying?

"Only a little, lord."

You must envy me.

"It is true...that you don't appear to have aged a day since we met."

It's hard, you know. Getting to know someone...and then having to carry on without them. Over, and over, and over.

I had you marked out, you know. I saw you with the other children, learning the healing arts.

"You did? ...er...sir."

Yes. And then I saw one, a long-haired, red-skinned child. Such dedication in those eyes. The teacher told me he'd been awake for twenty-three cycles, and wouldn't leave until he'd done it perfectly.

It seems such a short while ago...

"I...am flattered, my lord."

It's hard not to think of you all as children, sometimes...I must try to remember that by mortal standards, all of us are possessed of extraordinary longevity.

"I hope that my age will not impair my ability to serve, sir. If you wish, I can search for a suitable replacement—"

Nonsense, Kibito. I won't hear of it.

You know what I'm like. How could I ever get anything done without you?

After an agonising few seconds in which his body, racked with destructive energy, had convulsed like a mad puppet, Kaioshin's lifeless form collapsed.

Kibito reached out a futile hand. "No, you can't...it was my job to protect you!" He clenched his fists, glaring with impotent fury at Buu, who simply laughed.

"Bastard, get back here!" Came Gohan's voice from behind. He charged in, punching Buu across the face and staggering it away. The demonic creature growled. "So...many of you!" It took to the skies, hovering high above its scattered enemies. It raised its hands, forming a massive energy sphere and hurling it down at them. "Die!"

"Yaaaaah!" Gohan's threats became an inarticulate scream as he collided with the attack, desperately trying to shove it back. It was too powerful, and he sunk back to the ground, barely holding it above his head. It felt like an entire planet was crushing down on him. "Gaaaah!"

Seemingly satisfied, Buu left them to die, heading off to find something else to destroy.

Just to clarify: It is Super Buu.

Q: In the manga ssj Goku beat 100% Frieza in 3-4 minutes. 5 minutes minus frieza powering up and Goku finding a space pod. Plus iirc he was holding back to test Freizas power. So he was quite a but above Frieza.

A: That's a valid interpretation. Though I personally interpret it as they were equal...but for a very short period of time, then Frieza began to lose power very quickly.

Q: And now that the official Buu saga is starting, I can't wait for my favourite villain to make his appearance. *waves Super Buu flag*

A: You happy?

Q: Questions: Will anyone else get SSJ3, or is that a Raditz only property? What was Vegeta doing during the Janemba incident?

A: Maybe, and nothing.

Q: Super Buu?

A: One person guessed correctly!

Q: Aw I wanted to see Piccolo and Dabura duke it out to prove who was the real Demon King. Jokes on them though, everyone knows King Piccolo himself played the Demon part better than the both of them.

A: That would've been pretty cool. For the record, Piccolo would have taken that fight easily.

Q: (Several people suggesting Kid Buu, or 'Majin Majin Buu', or some hyper-powerful new form of Buu, or no effect)

A: All perfectly plausible guesses. I mean, wrong, yes, but plausible.

Q: One of your best chapters so far, in my opinion. As a writer, I think you have improved dramatically over this story's course. With stories like Bringer of Death, the author(s) started off already at a very high quality and maintained it consistently, which is always great. With you though, I feel like I've been seeing you grow, and somehow that feels awesome and strangely, gratifying, even though I never met you. I eagerly await the next chapter, and everything that will come... further beyond. Keep up the excelent work.

A: I feel like I've grown a lot too, in terms of my writing, yeah—thanks! It seems somehow fitting, given how the DBZ characters are constantly improving...

Q: just caught up to this chapter. this story is awsome! definetly worth the read. keep up the good work

A: Another new convert! (Emperor voice) Good, good, ahahahahaaa!

Q: BTW, if you go on a hiatus, I'll beat the sh*t out of you and avoid your fic all over again.
*sigh* All the fics I've read are never finished. I hope this one (definitely my favourite one) dosen't end up like the other fics.

A: B...But...when summer comes around, I'll have exams! I might have to slow down again or even go on hiatus...I'm sorryyyyyyyyyy...

Don't worry. I fully intend to carry this story through to the end.

Q: But the majin spell, why at all would that even work on buu? he also had it didn't he (there is an M on his belt)

A: That's why it reacted so strangely. And what hidden evil is lurking inside the fat Buu? (Don't worry, there'll be a bit more in-story explanation later.)

Q: [chapter 15 review]

but what i wanna know is
you said raditz power
is 150,000 after getting 10x training and goku goes to 500,000 after getting 100x training nice thought
but why raditz power level is less than vegeta

i mean we know that saiyan's power level greatly increase when they revive from the brink of death (or we can say saiyan's power increase after each training session or fight)

i guess raditz got more time to fight than vegeta
both had 10x gravity training
but raditz also has senzu beans plus a saiyan partner
whenever raditz falls down from hard training he eats senzu bean to heal himself
but at the same time when vegeta do training he had to wait till his body naturally get healed.
so basically raditz has more time to fight and more chances to power up

so its clear raditz should have a greater power level than vegeta

i will be waiting for an ans... :)...nice story...keep going

you are right that goku is training in 100G according to earth and raditz training to 10G according to planet vegeta
but when goku and raditz had same power level and same type of training and also training in same G...so why is there so much power level difference
its just not make sense
and if we consider that goku is raining in 100g
than at 10G both raditz and goku were same...from there \both power level should have a same increase or atleast there should be only small difference also with the senzu beans in hand they have easily overpowered vegeta

A: Er...that was a long time ago, but I shall do my best to remember and answer.

Vegeta did heal pretty quickly—healing tanks and all.

Also...back then, Raditz really wasn't a big believer in his own potential. He had, well, issues. Many issues. He's over them now, of course. Back then, it seriously limited his ability to surpass Vegeta, Frieza, etc.

Q: I was also wondering; how does Piccolo know about Goku's 10x Kamehameha? Because he clearly recognized the technique when Goku was about to use it, as he realized how much danger he was in (if it had been a normal Kamehameha, I doubt he would've been quite so frantic to get out of the way, as he could probably have blocked a normal one), but the only other time Goku had ever used it was during the battle with the Tuffles six years earlier. I would think he would've been confused by the technique, at least until Goku actually said "Kamehameha", but he clearly realizes exactly what it is. Just wondering when he found out about that technique.

A: He saw Goku preparing to perform some kind of attack, and sensed his power level rapidly increase.

Q: okay, dr. space. nice theory, but you missed something. goku's pl on namek was just 90,000. 180,000 was with the kaioken.

A: I was referring to his maximum sustainable power level (as he said he could take the Kaioken higher "in short bursts"). Also, while it's entirely possible his base was 90K, it's not certain that he was actually using the Kaioken x2. It says it was 90K in the Daizenshuu, but I'm fairly sure by now that we all know my opinions on the Daizenshuu's power levels...

Q: The big question is, does goku have the power for ssj3 right now or not? I'm guessing he does but he has yet to unlock ssj3. Two ssj3's vs fat buu would be too easy a win. Granted, Sayians love to fight alone but still it'd be a little crazy. Besides, with gohan and goku alive, they can fuse and be much stronger than gotenks. One of them has to disappear somehow.

A: Interesting ideas. Well, Buu seems to be doing a pretty good job of 'disappearing' people...or as Deadpool, when censored by appearing on kids' TV, would put it, un-aliving them. I like that word.

Q: aw no broly the legendary super sayin chapter and brolys second comeing. [chapter 1 review]

A: By the time you get to this chapter, I hope that you'll be satisfied with the amount of Broly in this story.

Q: Honor trip and Bringer of death hasnt been updated for quite some time ... do u know what has happened? ur story is on par if not better than them , are break and goten going to come to snoop aroud too ?

A: Honor Trip did a bunch of recent short chapters, didn't they? They're going back to full-length chapters soon, I believe. And I really don't know what happened to Bringer of Death. They were going to continue after the summer...and now it's October, sooo...no idea. Apparently they were going through some personal issues, but I don't know if that's still going on or if it's serious, or anything really. I do hope both of those stories continue.

I'm flattered you think so! It's a real pleasant surprise to hear how many people rate this as their favourite fic...I suppose it is rising through the rankings...as for your question, we shall see very shortly.

I did have another theory to expound here, but I've forgotten it, so maybe next time. See you then!