Chapter 80: Nightmare Begins
Holy crap, guys, I think I just found the origin of the Dragon Fist.
Okay, so I just got the combined 3-in-1 volume 4, 5 and 6 of the Dragon Ball manga (around the time of the first tournament and the introduction of the Red Ribbon Army). In the back is some Q&A with Akira Toriyama. One reader sent in this: "This is the first time I've written to a manga artist. Do you think that the technique I thought up is good for Dragon Ball?" Next to it is the fan's drawing of Goku (still a kid at the time, of course) with both hands raised in the air, and a fiery dragon coming out of his hands, swirling around in a spiral towards the reader. It's entitled 'Dragon of Fire Technique'.
Toriyama responded with: "Wow! This technique is most certainly impressive. I may be able to use it in the manga. Thank you for your assistance!"
Make of this what you will.
(Before anyone tries to support this theory by pointing out that Goku says "Dragon Fire" in the English dub of Wrath of the Dragon, that particular point of evidence is hardly compelling, since in the Japanese he says "Ryu-Ken", which literally means "Dragon Fist".)
And while I'm here, can anybody tell me what "Tenkaichi Budokai" or "Budokai Tenkaichi" (or whatever spelling translation you prefer, there are a lot of possible variations) actually translates to? I've heard that it's "Sparking Meteor", and then also "Strongest Under the Heavens Tournament", and then simply "World Tournament". What does it mean?
I'm sure, if you're reading this, you'll remember Majin Buu. Perhaps I should clarify, though, in case this book is ever read by a future generation, when time has somehow forgotten this monster.
Majin Buu was, undoubtedly, the single greatest catastrophe to ever befall the planet Earth. Its mindless drive to destroy, its cruel nature, its sheer power and nigh-indestructibility...hopefully you haven't skipped ahead in this book, and you've already read about King Piccolo and Cell. They have nothing on Buu.
And I had the misfortune of fighting it.
-from Groundbreaking Science by Son Gohan, Second Edition, Historical Notes section.
"Ggaaahhh..." Gohan felt himself sinking into the ground as the enormous energy sphere bore implacably down on him. His hands burned from contact with it. "Aaaaah...can't..." His famous strength-from-anger was useless now. Majin Buu was impossibly strong.
One thing I could try...but I'd need a couple seconds to recover, and I can't do that while pushing this back...! His thoughts, so close to the surface, did not go unheard.
"Well, why didn't you say so?!" A harsh voice from beside him growled. Instantly, the pressure crushing down on Gohan was relieved. He turned, seeing Piccolo standing tall, both hands raised to fend off the deadly energy ball. In that instant, Gohan thought of running—trying to see how fast he could get everyone away and let Piccolo take the hit. But there was easily enough power there to destroy the planet—that wasn't an option. Piccolo almost slipped, the attack inching closer to the ground. "Get on with it!"
"R-Right!" Gohan powered down to the first level of Super Saiyan. Have to think clearly. He put his hands out in front of him, moving them in a slow circle. The air began to ripple around him. Focus. The ripples spread, flowing out to encompass the entire lower hemisphere of Buu's attack. Focus! Jolts of pain stabbed through his head—he'd never attempted this on such a large scale before, and his mind was being taxed to its limit. Blood streamed from his nose and rose in his mouth.
I...got this! The ripples coalesced into a spiralling, translucent vortex, hanging in the air, and Piccolo found himself cut off from the sphere. He stepped away, and with nothing more to hold it back, it surged down, vanishing into the portal.
Several dozen metres away, a second portal appeared, facing upwards, and the giant energy sphere muscled its way past the walls of reality to emerge, before flying off into the upper atmosphere. Well past escape velocity, it continued a good ways into space before detonating and lighting up skies throughout the solar system.
Gohan staggered around a few haphazard steps, ears ringing. A voice penetrated through the blur of white noise.
"...did you do?"
He stared dumbly at Piccolo for a second. "Uh. I Shifted the attack—turned it around so it was heading away from us. Um."
"Interesting," Piccolo said, before laying the dazed Gohan out with one punch. He looked over to where Majin Buu had wandered off—he could still feel its ki, moving relatively slowly away from them. Now what am I supposed to do?
"Oh, dear." Piccolo turned at the voice, taking a minute to identify the strange sight—a little old woman in black, beady eyes peering out from under a large pointed hat, sat atop a floating crystal ball.
"What are you doing here, fortune-teller?" he asked dismissively.
Baba drifted right by him, coming to a halt above Raditz. "Just here to pick this up," she muttered. "The idiot went and used that new transformation of his for too long—he's drained away all his life-energy. And he was supposed to have a whole day..."
"Wait...you mean, Buu didn't kill him?"
"Well, he is dead," she said off-handedly. "But then, he's been dead for seven years. It is possible to destroy an Otherworld body—and nobody knows where you go if that happens—but they're very durable. He'll be fine. However, he can't stay in the living world any longer." Her eyes flashed slightly, and Raditz's body was lifted into the air with telekinetic force, halo bumping on the ground as he rose. I'm just lucky they don't get heavier as they get stronger... "Well, goodbye." She departed, carrying Raditz ignominiously behind her.
"Tch. Good riddance." Piccolo surveyed the sorry scene around him. Kibito was already gone. I can't beat Buu alone...and I can't have it destroying everything...guess I've got no choice but to make these clowns help me. The Lookout should be the safest place for now.
It took quite some time, and quite some convincing, to get the group from the tournament up to the Lookout. The tournament itself hadn't contained any more interesting battles, and Eighteen had taken the prize money with little effort. She, along with Bulma and Trunks, were in fact not present at the Lookout, but had promised to get there as soon as possible.
Piccolo examined what help he had. The main assets are the three half-saiyan kids. I'll have to count on them... "All right, I know none of you want to work with me. Frankly, the thought disgusts me as well. But if the alternative is that we all die, that's just the way it is. Goku is dead. The Supreme Kai, too. Raditz has used up all his time on Earth. Place your hopes in me...or not at all."
Krillin gulped nervously. "Well...I don't like it, but...like you say, we've got no choice. Do you have a plan?"
"Yeah." Piccolo indicated the entrance to the Lookout's interior. "Gohan." He stared blankly at the two younger saiyan kids, no names coming to mind. "Ahhm...Gohan's brother...and...girl...you're all coming with me into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. You two are going to get to Super Saiyan 2, and you—" he indicated Gohan. "—are going to train like you mean it for once."
"Now hold on a minute!" Chi-Chi snapped. "If you think I'm just letting my children spend a whole year alone with a monster like you, you've got another think coming, mister—"
"Don't question me, human!" Piccolo balled his fists. "I wasn't asking!"
"And don't you threaten my mother," Gohan growled, aura beginning to glow.
"If you think you can take me, go ahead." Piccolo stared into Gohan's eyes, unflinching, and finally the saiyan backed down.
"I will get stronger than you."
"That's the spirit." Piccolo grinned, showing his fangs.
"Hold on a second," Krillin interjected. "Doesn't the Time Chamber only have enough food for two people at a time?"
"It's true...I require only water, but there are three of them...Mr. Popo." He looked behind him, seeing the cowering genie hiding behind a pillar from the creature that had once been his friend.
"Y-Yes?"
"Halfway through the day, you will prepare extra food and restock the Chamber."
"Several months' supply of food, prepared in only twelve hours?" Popo spluttered.
"Yes. Good to see you understand—better get cooking."
"Tch! You're heartless," Chi-Chi grumbled, stomping off to help Popo with his monumental task, followed by her father—a knack for cooking ran in their family, though it seemed to have skipped the half-saiyans' generation.
"All right. Let's not waste any time—Buu will only be content with random destruction for so long. Get in there." Followed by Gohan, Break and Goten, Piccolo marched up to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, flung the door open and swept inside.
As the other three filed in behind him, those left outside grew grim-faced. "I do have to wonder..." Roshi said sourly, "...just what those four can do against Buu, even all together. I mean, even a Super Saiyan Three was no match for him."
Videl put a hand to her head. "I just hope that creature doesn't do too much damage before they can stop it. I can't believe we're giving it free rein on the Earth for twenty-four hours..." Hercule, beside her, nodded wordlessly. He had no intention of trying to fight Buu, but his pride wouldn't allow him to say so.
"In any case..." Yamcha flung off his suit jacket and opened his shirt, revealing the martial arts uniform beneath. "...if Buu gets bored and comes after us—or tries to destroy the planet—it's down to whoever we've got left to stall him for as long as we can manage." He hesitated. "Did I just say that? Oh God, we're all gonna die..."
"This'll be three times, for me," Krillin muttered. "What a weird life...er, lives?"
Kibito, now back on the Kais' sacred planet, had just finished recounting his tale to the Elder Kaioshin, who gave an exasperated sigh. "What a bunch of idiots! This'd be funny if it the consequences weren't so severe..."
"I deeply apologise, my lord. If I had—"
"Don't go blaming yourself—there's nothing you could have done. I know you felt your master's death quite deeply, but we can't let emotions cloud our thinking. Majin Buu has struck the first blow; it's time to plan our counter-attack."
"Y-Yes." Calming himself, Kibito bowed. "What do you propose?"
"First let me examine the situation for myself." Old Kai materialised a crystal ball in one hand, setting it down on the grass in front of him. "Hmm..." The view rapidly flicked from location to location. Buu hovering over a city—a small, tense group at the Lookout—a couple of bodies—finally, he stopped, tapping the ball in deep thought. "Yes...just as you described...oh, and about Buu's change. My descendant said the fat Majin Buu was composed of the original, pure evil Buu, and the innocent spirit imposed upon it by this generation's Grand Kaioshin; however, the good was dominant. I'd have to guess that whatever magic was cast on it brought the evil half to the fore, repressing its good side...and, it seems, giving it the combined power of both. Or something like that...its actual level of ki is very difficult to determine for some reason. Hold on..." He paused, narrowing his eyes and peering closer. "Kibito, you'd better get on back to Earth. There's a matter that requires your attention."
Goku blacked out for a second, almost falling. He recovered quickly, putting his free hand out beneath him and catching himself before he hit the ground. Despite his other hand clamped firmly around the wound on his shoulder, and a significant portion of his shirt currently being employed as a bandage, an alarming amount of blood spattered the rock beneath him. He shook his head, stood. I'm not done yet! I can still sense Buu...that way. He winced as he began to walk again, pain shooting down from his shoulder into his spine. Damn...he shot clean through me...at least, unlike Piccolo, he missed all my vital organs.
A flicker of noise—Instant Movement—alerted Goku to Kibito's arrival. "Uh...hey!" He struggled for the name. "Supreme Kai's helper guy?"
"That is I. Now, Son Goku—" Kibito held out his hand, his expression grave, "—come with me if you want to live."
There were three hundred thousand people living in the city that morning.
For instance, a young man by the unusual name of Jiminy—scarfing down bacon, trying not to stare at the waitress, realising his new shirt didn't quite fit. Blissfully unaware until he saw the pink glow fill the sky. And he'd only just discovered this wonderful restaurant, was his last thought.
Antonio, three blocks away, actually saw Majin Buu beforehand. The sight—of the distant humanoid figure hovering above the city—made him practically drop his guitar. He rubbed his eyes, maybe he just wasn't sleeping enough. He nudged another student-"Yeah, I see it. What is—"
Five seconds later.
Buu watched the flames dance in the remnants of the ruined metropolis. Gleefully, it noticed a house on the outskirts still standing, making for it and landing just outside.
The door swung open, and a woman carrying a baby rushed out. She stumbled to a halt upon seeing Buu. "Y...Oh God." She froze, trembling. "You did all this...what are you?"
Buu's antenna twitched. "Hungry..." it breathed. The antenna rose, pointing at the pair of humans. "This time...want candy..." The tip began to glow pink. Buu licked its lips. Its victim screwed her eyes shut, hugging her baby to her chest.
The beam shot out as before, but halfway to its target, it was stopped short by an explosion of energy.
"That's enough."
Buu, perplexed, turned to the left, seeing a three-eyed, robed man standing amidst the ruins, his hands raised in a triangular formation. "Who are you?" The creature hissed.
Tien Shinhan ignored it, talking directly to its intended victim. "Get out of here, now! I can buy you maybe a minute—find somewhere to hide!" Silently, the woman ran to her waiting aircar, scrambling in and blasting off. Buu took a step in the direction of the fleeing vehicle, but was stopped short as it sensed a rising battle-power. Tien moved with slow, measured strides, coming to a halt in front of Buu. "Not a chance—until you can get through me."
"You're pissing me off..." Buu said irritably. "Not...smart."
Tien threw off the outer layer of his robes, forming his hands into the Tri-Beam position again. "We'll see."
Goku, again healed, stood by Kibito and Elder Kai, shifting from one foot to the other restlessly. "Thanks for your help, but I need to get back at Buu! I know I can find a way to beat him this time!"
The old guardian shook his head. "No, not yet. We need some kind of plan—a head-on attack at your level of power is just suicide."
"Goku! You're alive!" The three turned at the voice. A pair of figures, newly arrived with Instant Transmission, stood behind them: Raditz, looking the worse for wear but at least conscious; and the younger Kaioshin, smiling weakly. Both had haloes hovering over their heads. Raditz broke away from his passenger, running over to his little brother and clapping him on the back. "When I woke up, I couldn't even sense your ki..." Tears welled in his squeezed-shut eyes.
"I was surprised that I didn't die myself, to be honest..." Goku chuckled. "It's great to see you both again!" I know Kaioshin's supposed to be a god and all...but I could have sworn he was looking up to Raditz just then. Almost like Raditz was his big brother. I guess he has that effect on people—he's really changed these last few years.
Relief flooded over Kibito. Well...he can no longer visit the living world...but I have not completely lost my most trusted friend. He gave silent thanks to the universe.
"I have to wonder, though," Raditz said, "if this Kai planet is part of Otherworld, and spirits like us can come here...where are the past Kaioshins? Like the ones Majin Buu killed?"
"Well, the ones who were absorbed wouldn't have become spirits, since they never died in the traditional sense..." Elder Kai explained. "As for the ones Buu simply killed, I can only assume he also destroyed their spiritual bodies when he came here."
"What about all the previous generations, then?" Goku pointed out.
"Well...Kaioshin are not born in the sense you would know it. There is a great tree in the heart of Otherworld, from which magical fruit grow. These develop into our race, the Shin-jin. A very few of these fruit are golden in appearance, and from these the Kaioshin are born. As such...when a Shin-jin dies, their spirit body remains in Otherworld for about a thousand years—which is a long time to you mortals, but trust me, not to us—before their energy and consciousness is absorbed back into the tree that birthed them, renewing the cycle. So my descendant's got a while left, though not as much time as he might otherwise have had."
"I see..." Raditz shook his head. "But anyway. What are we going to do about Buu? Goku's the only one of us here who can fight him now..."
"And we all saw how well that went," Old Kai mumbled. "Well, your friends seem to have come to the same conclusion—a few of them are training in another dimension right now."
"Another...?" Goku snapped his fingers. "Oh! The Hyperbolic Time Chamber! Well, you can only use it twice in your lifetime, but I guess Gohan's only been in once. It's a shame there's a limit to supplies too, otherwise I'd love to go and join 'em..."
"That wouldn't be an issue," Elder Kai replied. "They're preparing extra food to re-stock their supply in twelve hours. But stay put!" He snapped as Goku turned towards Raditz. "Tell me something, Goku. You saiyans with your transformations...do you think you can get much stronger in your current form?"
"Super Saiyan 2? Not much, no..." Goku sighed. "And whatever small improvements I could make, Buu's already beaten a Super Saiyan 3..."
The god raised an eyebrow. "Could you unlock that form, then? If you had a year in that room?"
"I...don't think so, no. I mean, I'm sure Raditz's Otherworld training and spirit body helped a lot..." He glanced over at his brother, who nodded to confirm this. "Right. Even aside from the spirit body, if I trained here I'd only have a day, not a year, and I definitely couldn't ascend in just one day."
"So—there's not much point in you rushing off to join your friends' training, is there?"
"No...there isn't," Goku admitted. He clenched his fists, a rush of ki flattening the grass around him. "Damn it! There's just no way to get strong enough in the time I've got!"
"Now..." Elder Kai said slowly. "...I never said that."
"What...?" Goku's surprise was echoed by all, and a general silence fell, which the old god stepped up to fill.
"You fools didn't think the legend of the Z-Sword was entirely baseless, did you? 'The blade can grant its user unimaginable power', or something like that...well, that's me. I'm not a fighter myself, but I possess the ability to awaken the hidden power in anyone—to take them beyond their normal limits, in fact. It's my gift. Why did you think there was an enemy who feared me enough to seal me in that sword, eh?"
"R...Really?!" Kaioshin was as shocked as the rest. "Why did you never mention this?"
"You never asked." Old Kai held up a finger before the others could protest. "Hold on a minute! Don't get mad—think about it, and first let me tell you that the ritual takes a while. Five hours' preparation, and twenty hours for the actual thing. When Raditz first released me, I couldn't just stop the fight with Janemba for a day to power him up, now could I? And ever since then, you've seemed fairly convinced that he was more than capable of handling Buu. So why would I need to use my ability? But now..."
"Well...if it'll take more than a whole day, we'd better start right away." Goku stood apart from the others. "Since my brother can't go back to Earth anymore, I guess I'm up. Okay, go ahead."
"Mmm..." Old Kai scratched his head. "I don't know if I want to...it's a very rare privilege, you know. And not one usually bestowed upon a mortal—besides, you don't look like you have too much sleeping power; almost all of it's already drawn out."
"Aw, c'mon!" Goku pleaded. "Uh..." He thought of the only old man he was regularly acquainted with—Master Roshi—and hoped this one would share his vices. Dirty old men will be dirty old men, right? "Uh...I know this guy, Roshi...he has some great magazines you might like...if you know what I—"
"No, no, won't work," Old Kai insisted. "With my omniscient vision—or just this crystal ball if I get tired—I can watch girls sunbathing all around the universe!"
"Uh..." Goku racked his brains, stumped. Maybe if...no, Chi-Chi would kill me. Then Bulma...?
"How about you just give him the damn power-up?!" Raditz shouted in a sudden outburst. "Or maybe you want to go fight Buu!"
"Gah!" Old Kai flinched back at Raditz's glowering wrath. "All right, all right! Tch, you people are so impatient. But remember, Goku, as I said, you're not the type with lots of sleeping power; most of what you've got came through effort. Even after this ritual...you still probably won't be able to beat Majin Buu."
"I understand." Goku nodded, squaring his shoulders. "But if it'll give me a better chance than right now, we've gotta try it."
"Very well-stand still."
Goku gulped. I wonder what intense trials I'll have to undergo? What strange, mystic techniques is he going to—
"POWERRRRR—" Old Kai screeched, thrusting his hands in Goku's direction. "AWAKEEEEENNN!" With that, he began to prance in a circle around the bewildered saiyan, hopping up and down, waving his arms, puffing and panting, and intermittently spouting gibberish phrases. The whole spectacle was undignified in the extreme.
"Um..." Goku said cautiously. "Are you sure you're—"
"Quiet!" Elder Kai squawked. "This is important! Just try and stay still for five hours—then we'll be able to begin for real!"
"Awww..." Goku straightened up, staring wearily into space. This is gonna be a long day...
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Bulma asked, adjusting some settings on the large device—a tube, about twice human size, bedecked with protruding wiring.
Eighteen nodded wordlessly, lying on the flat table by one end of the machine. "If they're right about this Buu thing, there's really no time to waste."
"All right, but...well, you're only part human as it is. This'll replace even more of that with artificial parts...you..." The scientist drummed her fingers on the table behind her. "...you and Krillin won't be able to have any more kids. For one thing."
"We've been over this. Do it, before I change my mind." What would be the point of having another child, if I can't even protect the life of the first? Logic she knew she'd come to disagree with, soon enough; which was why this had to be done quickly.
"Right. It's the setting up of the process that took me a long time-the actual conversion should only take a few hours. It's basically like an assembly line in miniature. Theoretically, you won't feel any pain from this—well, I hope—but...try not to look, okay? It might look unpleasant partway through. Like, horror-movie unpleasant. You're literally having parts of your body reconstructed from—"
"Start the machine, Bulma."
Just for quick reference for relative character strength, I've come up with another arbitrary scale, which is in no way related to the previous one I gave in the Cell saga. This is an entirely new scale. It is also not meant to provide proportionality, or indeed anything more specific than "X character is stronger than Y character".
With that said:
Dabura: 1
Super Saiyan 2: 1.5
Majin Piccolo: 2
Fat Buu: 2.5
Super Saiyan 3: 3
Super Buu: 4.5
For reference, some canon characters:
Kid Buu: 3
SSJ3 Gotenks: 4.5
Mystic Gohan: 6
Buutenks: 9
Buuhan: 10.5
SSJ Vegetto: What?! That can't be right! That's impossible! The scouter must be broken!
Y'know, if anybody could find Chris Sabat at a convention...and ask him to say "Put that cookie down!" in Piccolo's voice...and show me the video clip...that'd be the greatest gift I've ever received in my life.
Can anybody help me think of a chapter title that's related to, or a pun on, the phrase "Rocks fall, everyone dies"?
Now doing the Q&A without italics, if anybody cares. It's just generally easier, and it's not exactly easy to mistake it for in-story text.
Q: Great chapter, I like the kibito flashback a lot, so how do you say a kaioshin is born?
A: Elaborated on in this chapter. It's based on some stuff I recall reading in some supplemental DBZ-related material sometime.
"Objection!" I hear you cry, as you remember that I have a low opinion on the canonicity of supplemental material written by random people at Toei (such as the Daizenshuu). "I remember that you have a low opinion on the canonicity of supplemental material written by random people at Toei (such as the Daizenshuu)!" You cry, presumably leaping to your feet and dramatically pointing for effect while speed lines rush past you.
Well...yeah, this explanation isn't canon. But seeing as there is no canon explanation, and unlike the power levels thing I am unable to come up with a better, more logic-founded system, I think nobody can object to me going with that.
But again. It isn't 'right'. I'm not trying to say "oh, we've got nothing better so we might as well accept this explanation". No. Don't do that. If you do that I shall hurt you. I am saying "eh, I like this interpretation so I'm using it for my fic and other people can use whatever they want since there's no right answer. Unless Toriyama does, I don't know, a sequel on the Supreme Kai's childhood. Which is unlikely.
...
...oh yeah, I opened speech marks back there. Better close them." Long-winded answer (in which I spent most of the time suspiciously-defensively justifying a very short point) is long-winded.
Q: Why didn't Goku go SSJ2!
A: He did.
Q: I've been following this story for some time and I must say that, you sir, are one awesome writer. Your writing is superb and constantly improving and your story is just glorious. Keep writing you magnificent motherf*cker
A: Thank you kindly, sir/madam.
Q: [one person who loves fat Buu and much prefers him to Super Buu] [one person whose favourite villain is Super Buu] [mixed opinions on Super Buu taking much of fat Buu's 'screentime']
A: Fight! Fight! Fight!
Q: Wow it's worse than I thought, Super Buu is going to have a long reign of death before anyone stops him. At least with Kid Buu, Raditz would have been able to beat him still. I'm afraid to ask but how many people do you plan on Buu absorbing? And when will the first fusion happen?
A: MUAHAHAHAHAAAA!
Hey, who let Cell get at the computer again?
*loud thuds*
*explosion*
*anguished scream*
Sorry about that. But yeah. Between none and all of them; and between now and the end of the story.
AWAY! *vanishes unhelpfully into the night*
Q: Alas poor Raditz and Supreme Kai. We knew you well.
I think that removes Kibito Kai as first fusion. Hmm, Gogeta/Vegito? Potara Gotenks? Brogeta?
A: Having PM'ed this person, I've established that Brogeta (a Broly/Vegeta fusion) wasn't intended too seriously, and they were just throwing out random ideas, but...Brogeta now sounds to me like a very nineties Vegeta.
Nappa: Hey yo, Brogeta! Like, what does the most bodacious scouter say about this dude's power level?
Brogeta: IT'S, LIKE, WAY OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!
Nappa: Duuuuude, uh, what?!
Gohan 'n' Krillin: Excellent! (Air guitar riff)
...Okay, I'm done. Moving on.
Q: I enjoyed the twist of it being Super Buu so early in the story. However I wonder why he is beating an SSJ3 so easily? He must have received some sort of power up. My guess is that he has Fat Buu's power in addition to his own. If not I look forward to learning how he got so powerful.
In the show when Super Buu loses the fusion power up, Goku says that he can take Buu alone without any help. Now Goku isn't stupid when it comes to reading power levels so he must have thought he had a really good shot. But this Super Buu is smacking an SSJ3 around like its nothing. I suspect he has at least a 25% power edge on him.
A: Nope, regular Super Buu. That line was only in the English dub, I believe. In the manga he says "Gohan can handle you now..."
Also-the scene when Goku and Vegeta are inside Buu's body. Even after they remove their friends, Goku says that they still couldn't beat him if they went back outside and fought right then.
Hence, Super Buu is stronger than an SSJ3. Quite how much so is open to interpretation, so I decided on "a lot" to make Buu a more threatening enemy.
Q: I'm going to miss Evil Buu. Even though he had such a short appearence, I really liked him and his theme song espically. I like your idea of activating Fat Buu's hidden evil and making him Super Buu, but I wish that Piccolo had a more central role.
A: Writing Evil Buu would have been interesting. But I somehow doubt that the heroes and other villains would've stood around while the two Buu's fought each other, and certainly not let one eat the other. Then there'd have been no Super Buu and Raditz would have killed everything and gone home, the end. So I had it just bring out Buu's evil half (instead of evil within good, it's now good within evil. Kid Buu was just evil with no good...and don't ask me why Kid Buu and Evil Buu aren't the same, despite both being Buu without any good...I don't have a clue.)
Q: Ur best served cold fanfic is interesting ... i was wondering why is it updated once in a while ? i enjoyed reading it ...
A: The fact that I'm incredibly inefficient when it comes to anything other than this main story, combined with my co-author's personal issues that I'm probably not at liberty to discuss here.
Q: Through... The planet? Through the planet. You lost me.
A: I figured if Gohan and Buutenks could knock a ki blast through the planet...why not? (I mean, it's not too much of a stretch even given that Raditz and Buu here are weaker than those two. I mean, they're already strong enough to destroy the damn thing...so why not?)