Chapter 88: Monster Within

I came this close to calling it 'Fantastic Voyage'.

And speaking of alternate titles, chapter 85 ('Aware of Emptiness') was almost called 'Bring Me the Head of Majin Buu', but it was too long to fit. And then I thought of a better name anyway.

Some minor edits have been made to old chapters recently. I actually do this fairly often, so if you ever went back and read some of the earlier stuff for some reason, it might be a little more polished than you remember. (And I'm still convinced that some people never saw the final version of chapter 21. I uploaded an unfinished version by accident and edited in the fixed one an hour or so later, so the first few readers probably missed it.)

Raditz stared up at the bizarre scene. Majin Buu had just absorbed Goku and Gohan at the exact moment that they'd fused with the magical Potara earrings. Yet Buu didn't appear to have changed at all, and was equally confused, blinking as he glanced down at himself and found no new appearance or surge of power. What happened? Raditz wondered, and the exact same thought was burning in Buu's ancient, malevolent mind.

Raditz, however, would have felt a lot more confident had the action not drowned out a single word. A very important word, a word spoken in a voice both familiar and alien to him, a voice like Goku and his son speaking in unison.

That word was, "Barrier!"

Inside Buu...

Within one of the many pink, fleshy corridors, shrunken down to fit inside Buu's body, and surrounded by an energy barrier to prevent absorption, stood a saiyan.

He wore an eclectic mix of orange and blue, and his hair stuck out in all directions, some arching upwards overhead, some hanging down his neck. His face and body were an adult's, but his eyes twinkled with the energy of youth. The Potara dangled like Christmas baubles from his ears. A furry tail twisted around behind him.

"Well," he said contemplatively, in his double voice. "I suppose...that makes me, hmm...Goku...han? Wait...Gokhan! Yeah, that's it!" He took a deep breath, trying to adapt to his new body. "Okay, just don't think of Chi-Chi...that'd be confusing...anyway." He tilted his head sideways. "Positives: Buu doesn't know where I am, who I am, or even what I am. I've got Goku's fighting smarts and Gohan's book smarts. And..." an aura fired up around him. "...I'm up to here...IN POWER!" The cascading waves of energy flashed yellow, interspersed with jagged red bolts. "Super Kaioken!" Goku may have had trouble combining the two, but for me, nothing's impossible.

He raised one hand towards the 'ceiling'. "Full-sized, I'd be the most powerful being in the universe by far. Even at this size, I'm betting I can still make a dent. HYAAAA!" An expanding wave of energy exploded from his hand, tearing through the ceiling and ripping through Buu's insides like nothing.

Raditz was just then wondering if he should try and distract Buu, or run away, or at least do something. Buu had just made up his mind that whatever was going on with this strange mess of absorption, he should probably eliminate Raditz before he could make himself a further nuisance. They were both brought to a mental screeching halt as Buu's chest exploded outwards.

"Hah!" Raditz was the first to realise. "Looks like you've bitten off more than you can chew this time, Buu! Now you've got a fusion running around inside of you...just a little too late to absorb them."

"Ghaaahk..." Buu focused on regenerating his body, his energy recovering much slower. They fused successfully...and resisted my absorption! The kind of damage he could do running loose in there...!

Gokhan lowered his arm, powering down. "All right...now what? I'm still too small to destroy him completely, so I guess I could blast another hole and leave...that should hopefully return me to full size. But then again, Break and Tien are still in here. I guess I should rescue them before I go...first thing, though." He wiped his forehead, panting. "Keeping up this barrier is pretty draining, and he's not trying to absorb me any more." Cautiously, he lowered the barrier. Initially nothing happened, but the anticipation didn't last long—almost immediately, Gokhan was struck with a tearing pain down the centre of his head, spreading down throughout his body, as if he was being pulled in two—

A flash of green light followed, and when the slowly-pulsing dark of Buu's insides returned, two people stood in place of the previous one.

Goku and Gohan, each wearing one Potara earring, stared at each other.

"Hey, I'm me again!" Goku said, somewhat redundantly.

Gohan curiously fingered the earring. "Yet we're still wearing these...what happened?"

"I guess...something about Buu's insides counteracts the enchantment on the earrings. I s'pose he is enchanted himself. Weird..." He shrugged. "You think we should try raising another barrier and fusing again?"

"Not yet," Gohan answered quickly. "I think if we can find some way of defeating or weakening Buu from in here, that'd be better—we could beat him without having to be stuck as one being forever."

"Good point..." Goku took off his Potara. "In which case, we shouldn't have 'em on unless we're set on fusing, just in case different parts of Buu's body work differently or something. And let's try and find our friends and get 'em out before we leave. Anyway, let's get moving," he decided, and yet didn't, pausing and turning back to Gohan. "Uh, any idea where we're heading?"

"The brain?" Gohan suggested. "Or whatever's inside his head. That seems like a good place to start."

Goku nodded. "Right, makes sense. Don't know exactly where we are, so...just head uphill, I guess..."

It didn't take long for Buu to find them. Maybe five minutes of trudging through 'corridors' had passed, when they first encountered Buu's internal defense mechanism.

Both saiyans started in surprise as a humanoid figure appeared at the end of the corridor, moving in an eerily familiar gait. It stepped out of the shadows, leering—an exact copy of Majin Buu, as he'd been before absorbing anyone, recreated in miniature within his own body in perfect detail. "Hehhhhh...found you."

"What the...!" Gohan took a step back, watching the copy warily. Is this like human immune cells—Buu's body reacting to fight off outside invaders? Or is he doing this consciously? He prepared to power up as the thing stalked closer.

"Wait." Goku held out a hand. "Relative to us at this size, its ki is like Buu's before he started absorbing people. You couldn't quite handle him then—let me."

Gohan nodded thankfully. "All right, Dad." Truth be told, even the thought of having to go up against any form of Buu again was giving him the chills. He was a little ashamed of this; he wished his resolve wouldn't sometimes falter like this. His father's, he knew, never did.

"You'll never leave here..." 'Buu' hissed, then sprung.

Goku shrugged. "Eh. THREE-FOLD!" He shouted at the last moment, intercepting Buu's charge with a backhanded swipe that sent Buu careening off into the wall. Its body warped slightly, then began to regenerate. Goku swung a hand in its direction, firing off a kiai that blasted it apart. "HYAAA!" This time, it didn't heal, damaged pieces melting away into the fleshy walls and floor.

"I see..." Gohan noted. "These copies can't stay together if you do enough damage."

It wasn't long before they were attacked again—Buu was tracking their movements now. This time, three Buu's descended upon them at once in a tall, cylindrical chamber. "Gohan, stand back!" Goku warned.

"Dad, you need to save your energy!" Gohan countered. "When we get out of here, we still might have to deal with him; you're our best shot." He powered up to Super Saiyan 3, sending a shudder all the way up Majin Buu's spine, and blocked the nearest mini-Buu. "At least let me take this one!"

"...All right." Goku leapt into the air as the other two fired energy beams at the spot he'd just been standing. Burning aura flashing into life, he dived back at them.

Gohan found himself fighting defensively, icicles of fear digging into his mind every time he saw those hollow eyes, every time he went to attack. The previous battle with the real Buu kept weighing on his mind-the overwhelming hopelessness, the desperation, the ultimate futility Finally, the 'Buu' made a mistake too large to ignore, creating an opening he'd have to have been blind to miss. Gohan's eyes narrowed, right fist clenching and glowing with power. I'm...not...afraid of you! This Buu was fast, frighteningly so, but unskilled, and Gohan's punch sent it sprawling to the floor before it could co-ordinate a defence.

Gohan let adrenaline carry him forward, unrelenting. He shot a beam-sword from one hand, stabbing through Buu's neck and dragging it to its feet, before pinning it against the wall. He slammed his other hand flat into its stomach, forcing a wave of ki through it. "KAMEHAMEHA!" The explosion disintegrated Buu's midsection and blew its legs through the wall, and Gohan finished by slicing its head from its shoulders before extinguishing the sword. As he'd hoped, this was enough, and the rest of the monstrosity dissolved into a congealing puddle on the floor.

A crash from above him signalled Goku's fairly decisive victory over his two opponents, but the older saiyan was now running dangerously low on power. Goku dropped unsteadily to the ground, doubling over and taking in deep gasps of air.

Gohan powered down, trying to conserve his own energy—and right at this moment, with the two of them at their most unprepared, another Buu formed itself out of the ground behind him, snarling and raising its arms to strike.

Before either saiyan could react, though, a gaping hole blew itself through the Buu-copy's chest, followed by more and still more, until it was completely blasted to pieces. Behind it, raised hand still smoking from repeated ki blasts, stood—strangely enough—another inner Buu.

Gohan tensed—then immediately relaxed. This Buu's eyes were encircled by familiar red rings.

"Baby!" Goku realised, laughing joyously. "You're controlling that thing!"

"I am," Baby spoke with Buu's voice. He inclined its head, listening, feeling. "More are coming. Follow this body, quickly." Explaining to each other in rushed, snatched sentences the circumstances which had brought them, alive, inside of Majin Buu to each other, they rushed down a twisting, lightless maze of corridors. Occasionally, the tramp of footsteps would echo ahead or behind, and Baby—Buu would scramble off down a side passage, beckoning for them to follow.

"How do you know where you're going?" Gohan asked at one point, breathless.

"I'm just sensing my way back to the others," Baby's host explained.

"Others—" Gohan trailed off as they reached a larger chamber, which he soon realised was in fact just several tunnels with the walls knocked in, creating a larger area. The organic 'walls' had, after being torn down, been assembled in a ring around the position, and were currently being used as cover by a group of twenty or more Baby-possessed Buu's, which crouched behind them. Every few seconds, movement would be seen down a distant corridor, and the three or four closest to it would jump up and open fire, driving the potential attacker away.

The Buu that had guided the saiyans there now dragged a collapsed wall-section into place behind them and took up position guarding the spot where they'd come in. In the centre of the whole operation stood Baby himself, directing operations mentally, sometimes accompanied by a nod of the head or a frown.

"Hey." Gohan waved to the mechanical Tuffle scientist, then felt slightly silly, as they'd already met just now. "Uh, you aren't using one of them as a main body?"

Baby shook his head. "No...they're not fully-complex life forms; more constructs created by Buu. This simple control is all I can manage. Still, on the bright side they're easier to fight; their regeneration is easy to overload, they can't absorb people, and they haven't been physically or mentally 'upgraded' when Buu himself absorbed people. Except the fat Buu and the ancient Kaioshins, I guess, but they must have been one being so long that they're metabolised, or something..." he realised he was going off on a tangent, and stopped sheepishly.

Goku attempted to steer the conversation back in a useful direction. "We're trying to find some way to damage or weaken Buu before we go back outside and fight him. Any ideas?"

"I was actually trying to get up to the brain myself—I'm pretty sure the people he's absorbed are up there. If we removed them, that might weaken him. Unfortunately, I can only control so many people at the same time if I have to do all their thinking for them, like these idiots, so I'm pretty much constantly outnumbered. Eventually I got pinned down here, but superior skill and defensive positions meant I could drive them off; they've been more cautious since then." He pointed down a corridor to their left. "However, now you're here we might have a shot at this. If we break out in that direction, my guys can cover for you so you can get to the absorbees."

"And maybe we'll find something else to mess with while we're there," Gohan pointed out. "Sounds like a plan."

"The sooner the better," Baby said anxiously, "they're massing their forces. I think they're going to try another charge, and there's way too many to hold this time."

"How can Buu even create so many mini-me's in here anyway?" Goku wondered.

Gohan turned Super Saiyan, trying to make it as quick as possible to reach full power if he got jumped again. "If I had to guess, I'd say it's something to do with the Multi-Form technique. Buu knows it now, and while they're tough relative to us, at this size each one can't use up much energy to make."

"Let's go!" Baby urged, and they began to move uphill. A screen of possessed Buu's moved in front and behind, and the saiyans took up flanking positions to protect Baby. No sooner had they abandoned their position, than a great roar, a multitude of voices crying out for blood, echoed down the tunnel behind them. A tide of pink bodies appeared around the bend in hot pursuit, and the invading group broke into a sprint.

Gohan turned, still running, and after hurriedly going Super Saiyan 2 fired a machine-gun volley of energy beams at the 'ceiling', bringing a large section down into the passageway. It wasn't long before their pursuers smashed through the obstruction, but it took enough time to widen the gap. Pink beams began to scream through the air at them, blowing searing holes in the tunnel walls and frying the ground at their feet. They returned fire, the saiyans' long years of training and Baby's pre-programmed skill providing them with far superior marskmanship to the horde of un-enhanced Buu's, who, liked their originator pre-absorbtions, had power but lacked the skill to use it to its full potential. The group's combined fire scythed through the entire front rank of the onrushing pink tide, blasting dozens apart, many beyond their ability to regenerate. Even those who lived on were trampled underfoot by those behind and set back in their pursuit by precious minutes.

Finally, just as the faint ki signatures of their absorbed friends were becoming clear in their minds up ahead, the corridor in that direction seemed to open out into a brighter chamber. The pursuing group had fallen far behind. Their goal was less than a hundred metres away.

Which was when the opening, directly ahead of them, was flooded with quite literally hundreds of Buu copies.

"This is just getting ridiculous!" Goku moaned.

"We have to go straight through!" Baby said grimly. "And quickly, or the ones behind us will catch up and this'll go from hard to impossible!"

Straight through this? Gohan gawked, fear rising in his stomach again. An army of this thing—when I can barely even handle one?

"Gohan!" Goku was looking back sternly at him. "Come on, now or never!" Doubt had never even entered into his mind, of course. This was simply a fight. This was what he did. What he was.

Gohan took a deep breath. "A-All right. Hhhhhh...GAAAAAAAH!" He let his Super Saiyan 3 power well up to the surface, illuminating the dim corridor, golden light gleaming off countless pairs of hollow eyes. Hair swirled out behind him, his skin glowing with barely-contained energy. He gritted his teeth, and charged after his father and their unlikely allies into the sea of snarling horrors.

I'm...I'm not afraid of you!

If I ever end up re-doing BTtL for any reason, an "ultimate edition" or something, or I get a wish to Shenron and end up with a comic or animated series, I'm definitely changing chapters 54 and 55 to make it a bigger deal that Goku, Vegeta and Broly were working together, however briefly. There needs to be a badass scene there with the three of them doing the cool slow-motion walk.

(But it's kind of customary now for fanfic authors to say "it'd be really, really nice if I got a comic or animated series", isn't it? Ah well, it's the truth. And also the truth that it's almost certainly never going to happen.)

Um...couldn't think of anything else witty or clever for the author's notes this week. Move along, please. Nothing to see here. Go and bother the Q&A section.

Q: Hey check out my story The Dragon Ball Z Rewrite Raditz survives, Movie Villians get sagas and the humans keep up with the saiyans and piccilo

A: I appreciate the desire for readership, but please don't leave a review that's just a plug for your own story and not, y'know, a review.

Q: What I like most about this story is that, disregarding the plot, and characters, and everything else (I don't want to waste too much time gushing about how awesome those are), it has a sense of DBZ-ness to it that you just don't get in most other stories. It has the same charm and childish excitement factor of the original show, and for that I commend you. Good work, sir.

A: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Q: also I hope when kid buu comes about you don't do the same a cannon basley kill nearly everyone and its only two people fighting kid buu would like to see gohan radits and goku fight him together

A: I can confirm that Kid Buu will not go like canon in that way. As for your suggestion, er, possibly. Though that might be a bit much

Q: Oh, brother.

As for Son Goku's name, you can forget the attempted correction. Do you know what Americans who went to Japan and asked the Japanese what "Son Goku" means got as an answer? "I don't know, ask the Chinese."

Goku aka Wu-K'ung's name got somewhat of a translation, Sun however, did not. Son is merely the Chinese Sun that slowly changed pronunciation and spelling over time in Japanese. Whatever Japanese words sounds or looks like Son has nothing to do with Son Goku's name. Sun is a shortened form of Husun, and Husun means Monkey. The same designation is given to Sun Go-kong (Indonesian), Sun Ngokong (Thailand), Sun Hou-zi (another Chinese name), Suen Ng Hung (Cantonese), Son Oh Gong (Korean), Tôn Ngộ Không (Vietnamese).

He is after all, not the legendary child king, but the legendary MONKEY king, in English often shortened to just Monkey; the Great Sage equal to Heaven. Indeed, whenever he isn't played by a human being he's always depicted as an actual monkey. Only in Dragon Ball is he essentially just drawn as human with a tail. Everywhere else, all across Asia, he's a monkey.

A: I'm just going to stand back and let this debate go on, because I'm sure the other person involved in it (Ryu no Ohi) will have a rebuttal, and no doubt you (TD Master) will have a re-rebuttal to said rebuttal, and so on...

Can I make a request? Can you two genuinely continue this debate? Either through reviewing here and I'll keep posting them so the other can read it, or alternatively just PMing each other and letting us know when there's a conclusion?

Just because I'd really like to know who's right, and you're both very confident of your correct-ness.

So, yeah. *stands back nervously to avoid crossfire*

Q: Interesting that you'd have Goku and Gohan fuse; I'd thought it would be Gohan and Raditz, since Goku would've been too busy keeping Buu busy, but I liked how you chose the option that the lowest number of people would probably have considered. Hopefully they won't just get absorbed and then split apart again after being fused for like two seconds; that would just be a complete cop-out, in my opinion, considering that you haven't even mentioned fusion as a possibility up until this chapter. If it does last, I'm guessing that they'll have one of three names; Gokhan, Gokan or Gohaku. I'd say Gokan or Gokhan would probably work best, since Gohaku is kind of a mouthful.

A: I'm sorreeeeeeee (that won't be the last of fusion in the story, don't worry)

Q: The Dragon Fist thing is very intriguing; I'm eager to hear more about this. So Goku and Raditz somehow "shared the same dream" while Raditz was still in Otherworld, and they each came up with the Dragon Fist (or, in Goku's case, the Ryu-ken) at the same time? Why would they have different names for it, though? Especially when Goku does use the name "Dragon Fist" in canon? I do think I know why they couldn't both use the technique at the same time, and why it had exactly the same appearance and power level; I heard somewhere that the Dragon Fist technique calls on the power, or spirit, or something like that, of Shenron; that's why the golden energy dragon that is created looks almost exactly like him. But since it draws on Shenron, there can't be two created at the same time, because there's only one Shenron. That's the best guess I can come up with, anyway.

A: Close. Oh so very close. And yet so far.

(This is another one of my epically long plant-and-payoffs that won't be revealed for the equivalent of, like, five seasons. See also: Tree of Might fruit. There's actually another one that still hasn't paid off, and won't for a while, that was set up back in the android saga. But seriously don't worry about it. I won't write these things with the assumption that people can remember these details from so ridiculously far back.)

Q: I noticed the moment when Raditz refers to the Fusion Dance; a very efficient way to reference it and remove the problem of "Why didn't Raditz learn it in Otherworld?" that I'm sure many people have asked. I also caught the bit where he says, "I liked their dress sense, though"; that links to the part during the Janemba story arc, where you said that Raditz's new pants are the same as the ones worn by fusion characters like Gogeta and Gotenks, and that it wasn't a coincidence. Nice touch.

A: And nice catch!

Q: Regarding the "previews" for Even Further Beyond, I have a couple of comments and questions. Regarding the Red King, I have no idea as of yet what that could be, unless it refers, possibly, to Tarble (you did put in that moment where Myuu/Baby says that Tarble could claim the title of the Saiyan King and that he might involve himself in galactic politics at some point). With regards to that brief rhyme, I did have some ideas; first of all, you mentioned Svartalfheim, which is the name of the home planet of the Dark Elves in the new movie "Thor: The Dark World". Since you've already had a planet called Alfheim, where Gohan picked up the Shifting technique... I'm guessing that'll link to the part about Svartalfheim at some point. Also, I saw that it says, "Thirteen safe beyond our ken / The Fallen One shall serve his time...". That means you're referring to fourteen of something. Now, what are there fourteen of in this series? The Dragon Balls. Seven on Earth (Shenron), and seven on New Namek (Porunga). Could that mean that there will be Shadow Dragons made out of all fourteen of these Dragon Balls, not just Earth's set? And could "the Fallen One" refer to Omega Shenron?

A: Ooh, not quite. I'm not actually referring to fourteen of something. There are thirteen somethings.

But yeah, Svartalfheim is a part of Norse mythology, and when I saw the Thor movie, I was like, "Hey, I have an Alfheim already! Idea!" And then nefarious plottings ensued.

Q: I do have another question about EFB; will the seven Shadow Dragons you've previewed for us (Helios Shenron, Glacius Shenron, Gaia Shenron, Hades Shenron, Prometheus Shenron, Kronos Shenron, and Omega Shenron) still be in Even Further Beyond? Or have you changed some of them?

A: Omega Shenron is now Alpha Shenron.

Speculate away, Wild Mass Guessing machine.

Q: I was wondering, just out of idle curiosity; where would you put Janemba on your power level scale? I would've put its first, fat form at 1.5 (since SSJ2 Raditz and Pikkon were able to beat it), and the second, smaller form at 2.5 (since it was outclassed by a SSJ3 in terms of strength and speed, and only managed to overcome SSJ3 Raditz through its durability and superior stamina), but I'd like your opinion.

A: I'd probably agree. Janemba's durability is much higher, but its overall 'power level' is more like a 2.5, on par with Fat Buu, post-training Majin Piccolo, and the BTtL Super Androids.

Q: Going along with that, actually, where would you put Kibitoshin (Kibito Kai in canon) on that scale? My guess would be somewhere like a 0.5 (I'd put the first level of Super Saiyan as a 0.5 too, since Dabura was a 1).

A: Not a clue.

Q: As for the power level teaser at the end of the chapter... You say Hercule's at 12 on the arbitrary scale, then tell us that the scale doesn't stop being serious where we expect. That makes me think that Hercule is stronger than I expect, but by now you've begun to expect a higher level of intelligence from your readers, so you would have factored that in to your scale, which means that Hercule ISN'T as strong as you would otherwise have us believe. But, not all of your readers are smart, so you wouldn't expect them to get the logic puzzle you've layed before us, and you are a considerate author, so you would make the puzzle easy enough for ALL your readers to solve the logic puzzle, so clearly Hercule MUST be stronger than I expect. But then you might be employing reverse psychology, so obviously Hercule can't be as strong as I expect.

...I feel like Mazzini from The Princess Bride. And just like him, both outcomes are gonna be wrong, and he's gonna end up already dead from the Human Extinction Attack or the instability of the world or something. But then that opens him up to being an Otherworld Fighter of something... GAHH! This paradox makes my brain hurt.

A: Don't think too hard about it. It's a trap to explode the brains of the unwary.

(I think you mean Vizzini. Or is it Vezzini? Gah, I don't know either.)

Q: Good job as always, and update soon, please!

Merry Christmas, by the way! ...Or happy holidays. I know some people who aren't Christian who get offended when I say merry Christmas.

A: Try 'happy Frieza day'. Ignore all the strange looks you get. People are just jealous.

Q: nice job. keep up the good work. also for commedy sake, one of the shadow dragons should look like natsu from fairy tail (cus he'se a dragon slayer...). please consider it

A: Interesting idea, but there are so many dragons, dragon slayers, Dragonborn, Dracomancers, half-dragons and so on, in existing fiction, anime, movies, books, comics, games, TV, and so on and so on...if I was going to be fair about it, I'd end up with about a thousand Shadow Dragons.

Q: First things first I really liked this fanfic, I caught up to it in about 1 sitting and this is coming from someone who usually can't get through really long fics without jumping around alot or just quitting.

Gained so much respect for super saiyan 3 from reading this fanfic. It's treated how I feel super saiyan should have been in the first place.

I like your ideas for super saiyan 4 becoming another base and hope you implement them either in this or another fanfic.

A: Hooray for new readership!

Q: Gokhan, yes!

Now, Gokhan vs. Vegito, who'd win?

A: Good question.

See, both have an SSJ3 fusee, but Gokhan also has mystic Goku, who's stronger than SSJ2 Vegeta...

...but, Old Kai did say that Vegito/Vegetto had a power boost because Goku and Vegeta were such fierce rivals...

...so it's impossible to say.

Vegetto is almost certainly a more skilled fighter (coughslackerGohancough), but BTtL Gokhan would have a greater variety of strange techniques. Then again, Vegetto would have Instant Transmission...

Yeah, I really don't know.

Q: [people wondering if Buu's Fury was indeed a DBZ game]

A: Buu's Fury was indeed a DBZ game.

Q: Goku and Gohan? If Gohan's mental state is slowly becoming unstable (because of the Might fruit?), I feel that it will play a big part in the fusion.

A: Errrr, guess not. Evidently just one fruit isn't having as much of an effect as however many Turles had. YET (wait what who said that)

Q: What "Christmas Special" are we talking about here?

A: It's looking less likely now, what with normal chapters being lateish the last couple of weeks anyway, but if I have the time it's a half-finished chapter taking place in the future timeline that I started a while back.

Q: I hope Goku and Gohan don't fuse/stay fused. I just can't imagine how that would work between Gokuhan and his Momwife.

A: And neither can he.

Q: Hey, nice chapter pal so that's how Bulma and Gohan got that countdown number visions/dreams, right? And finally we're about to see the mighty fusion between Goku and Gohan, the amazing... Gohan lol. And reading the Q and A of this chapter I realised something now that that guy said it, when did Goku learned the Kaioken in your story? I recall that Coola killed him, so Goku trained with King Kai or Tenshinhan taught him later?

A: Yes, it is.

He saw Tien using it a lot. And Goku, being Goku (learning Kamehameha in one try, for instance, after being told it'd take 50 years)...

...plus having a lot of time to test it out in the Time Chamber...

...figured it out.

And then used it against Cell. But it didn't work so well-or pretty much at all-combined with Super Saiyan.

Q: Errr...Wait, sorry about that, but it was SSj3 Gohan who fused with Base Goku;What's gonna happen here?! Crazy! Is hegonna be able to use Kaio-Ken?

Oh, and just noticed the Chapter name, nice.

A: In my headcanon (yes I have headcanon for my own story), Gokhan was entirely capable of going SSJ3 and still using Kaioken, like, times twenty or something.

Hey, if Vegetto could get turned into a piece of candy and just get more dangerous...

(Then again, if you use DBM's model of SSJ3 getting harder to use the stronger you are, then obviously no he couldn't use Kaioken with it. But I don't use that.)

Q: [chapter 20 review] Nice story! I loved all the arcs, the battles, the character interactions and their development!

I loved how you gave other characters much bigger roles and diverged majority from canon!

My predictions:
The girl is Raditz's daughter
Bulla ends up with Zarbon instead of Vegeta

I have loved all your chapters and look forward to the 67 I still have to read :)

A: And more new reader-ness! I do love these reviews. Spot-on guesses, by the way.

Q: I like your take on the SSJ4, it makes a lot more sense. I like the exaggeration of the negative traits of said saiyan.

The ability to control Super Saiyan and Oozaru only points to one person so far and he died like 30 chapters ago :P Is Vegeta ever going to make a return?

A: ...Maybe...?

Q: Well that's what I mean, piccolo is a descendant from the original piccolo so therefore his power is still incomplete. Kinda like how uub and buu were originally the same being. But there's also slug, besides Piccolo could just beat the tar out of father piccolo and slug an force fuse them to him to increase his power. Idk, it's your story. Just a thought. XD

A: I don't think 'father and son' is the same as 'incomplete halves of a complete whole'. I mean, Gohan and Goku got stronger from fusing, for instance...doesn't mean that unfused, their power is 'incomplete'. When King Piccolo died, he transferred his entire essence to Piccolo Jr., kind of different to how Kami and Piccolo, or Uub and Buu, actually split in my opinion though, you raise a good point.

Q: Ummm...Sorry for writing this here, but when's the new chapter coming?

A: NAO.

I've already given some of these, but here, have numbers for characters who appeared this chapter:

Super Buu at the moment: 7

SSJ3 (Raditz and Gohan*): 3

Mystic Goku*: 2

Mystic Goku (Kaioken x3)*: 6

Inner Buu*: 4.5

*(Relative to miniature size inside Buu)