Vegetto:

That was ... interesting. He felt inside his body. Was this the power that was now available to him? That was clearly more than Vegeta had conceded after Babidi's transformation. He stumbled. He considered.

He was no longer Vegeta, nor was he Kakarrot. The memories of both were available to him, but he did not think like either of them, but as a completely new being.

He looked down at himself. He wore a battle suit in the style of Kakarrot, but in dark blue, as Vegeta preferred. White gloves were on his hands. He stroked his hair. The hairstyle was also a mix of Kakarrot and Vegeta.

"What are you?" Buu, in the meantime, had come within a few steps of him and was looking him up and down.

"I'm the one who's going to kick your ass now. I'm Vegito." He grinned. His voice didn't sound like Kakarrot, or Vegeta. He would now show this demon that he could not mess with the earth and get away with it. "Come on now, you ugly pink thing."

Buu bared his teeth. Steam rose from the vents on his head and he raced towards Vegito.

He hit his opponent hard with a kick. Vegito was thrown backwards and landed in a rock. Dust and debris swirled up.

"And what's different about you now? You can't do anything either!" shouted Buu into the dust.

For a moment there was silence. Then Vegito rose from the smoke and ran a hand through his hair once.

"I beg to differ." He fired a beam of energy at Buu, catching him so off guard that he barely dodged it. His legs had disappeared.

Serenely, Vegito waited until Buu had regenerated his missing body parts and made the next attack, which followed immediately. A huge ball of energy hurtled towards the earth. Instead of dodging, Vegito passed the energy like a volleyball back to Buu, who now dodged. The energy ball disappeared into the vastness of the sky.

"Shall we play on the next level?" asked Vegito. He did not wait for the answer, but concentrated his energy. With ease, his hair turned blond and his eyes green. "Tremble before Super-Vegito," he called out to Buu, who just stared at him, bored.

Dende:

"Hercule, are you all right?", Dende asked the elder.

Trembling, he had crouched down in an alcove in the rock and held his dog tightly against him. "Y ... yes. It's all right. I'm used to such a sight," stammered Hercule.

Dende was not really listening to him. He only had eyes for the fight between Buu and Vegeta and Goku. Vegito, Dende corrected himself in his mind. This new warrior was stronger than anything he had seen or sensed before. The fusions of the children had been impressive, but this was something entirely new.

He couldn't tell who had the advantage. He wasn't even sure if Vegito was consciously taking the punches and kicks he was taking, or if he really couldn't dodge them. Was he perhaps pursuing a larger plan?

What would happen to the absorbed bodies if Vegito killed Buu? Piccolo and Kera, Gohan, Trunks and Reyak, Goten and Menka.

Dende sighed as he thought of Menka. It was bad that so many had died already. He had failed as a god of the earth. But the loss of Menka pained him the most. What if he really would never see her again? Was she even dead now or just trapped in Buu's body? He wished he could contact her.

Then the realisation hit him. Maybe he could. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He sent his soul on a mental journey. It was difficult because, if she was still alive, she was trapped in Buu and he was constantly moving. But they had practised it many times. He would always recognise her soul. Anywhere.

At last he saw a faint glow. That was indeed her soul. She was not dead yet. She was somehow trapped in Buu's body.

'Menka?'

Only after several attempts did he get an answer. Weakly. As if her body was trapped and held her soul so tightly that it could not break free.

'Dende?

Dende sighed in relief. 'I'm here. Goku and Vegeta are fused and fighting Buu right now.'

He thought he sensed relief from her, but wasn't sure. It all seemed to come through to him only through a thick fog. 'Our bodies ... set free.'

Dende nodded. He had already guessed that. 'I'll pass it on.' He was already pulling back when he paused once more. 'I will try everything to get you out of there.'

Was she smiling? He wasn't sure.

He returned to his body. At the same moment, a piece of Buu's body landed in front of him. He looked up at the demon. Vegito had cut off a piece of his long antenna.

'Vegito!' he called to the warrior in his mind. The latter nodded, barely perceptibly, to indicate that he heard him. He did not take his eyes off the demon. 'Menka and the others are trapped in Buu's body. They are alive. You have to free them somehow.'

Again a curt nod. He sank a little lower and positioned himself immediately near Dende.

"Well, Buu, it looks like I'm the better of the two of us. I'll give you ten seconds now. If you don't come up with a better tactic by then, I will destroy you. One ..."

With a slightly panicked expression, the demon looked around. He was thinking feverishly. Searched the ground with his eyes, clenched his fists, bared his teeth. Dende thought he saw desperation welling up in the demon.

"Eight ..."

A nasty grin flitted across the demon's features. He jerked his arms upwards. The piece of his body that had been lying lifeless at Dende's feet floated upwards.

A sound of surprise escaped Dende, but he was too slow. The pink mass spread out ...

"Nine ..."

... and wrapped itself around Vegito from behind. It contracted, enclosing the fused warrior, and floated towards Buu. He stuck out his chest and received his missing body part.

Vegeta:

As if the fusion was going backwards, his body solidified in a flash. He stood next to Kakarrot in a ... yes, what? It was quite dark. The ground beneath him felt soft and slippery.

"I thought this fusion was permanent," was the first thing he said.

"I thought so too." Kakarrot seemed to shrug his shoulders. "Anyway. We need to find the others."

Annoyed, he yanked the earring from his ear. He wanted to crush it in his hand, but then he hesitated. What if they didn't stand a chance otherwise? Even if Vegeta deeply disliked the idea of fusing with Kakarrot, together they had actually stood a chance against the demon. And if the fusion wasn't permanent after all ...

Vegeta tucked the earring into his suit and concentrated on something else. He was sure he could sense Trunks' and Kera's energies. "That way."

He didn't care if Kakarrot followed. He would waste no more time now.

Vegeta followed the winding path. Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the darkness. The walls of the strange tunnel were as soft as the floor. Were they really inside the demon? Vegeta fought down the feeling of disgust. Free the others, that was all that mattered now.

Seemingly endlessly, the path wound its way upwards. Kera's energy grew stronger. Vegeta quickened his steps. He heard Kakarrot behind him.

The tunnel opened into a kind of hall, criss-crossed with pillars. Kera's energy was very close.

He hurried into the hall. Here it was a little brighter and he recognised a ball only a few steps in front of him, which was fastened from above and from below with ropes. He circled the sphere and was about to look further when, out of reflex, he turned around. Kera's face was facing him.

She was trapped in this sphere. Only part of her head was sticking out. He had to free her, but how? He took a step back and looked at the suspension. Determined, he jumped up and cut the rope with one blow. Even as he was about to land, he cut the other rope and caught the ball.

"Kaya?" She showed no movement. He cursed. He felt the material she was encased in. It felt like the floor and walls. Soft and slightly slippery.

Carefully he slid a hand along beside her head. He got hold of the edge of the sphere and began to tear.

"What are you doing?" Kakarrot had finally caught up with him.

"Don't babble. Help me instead."

"Kera!"

Realising who Vegeta had found, Kakarrot immediately jumped to his side and was now tearing at the cocoon as well. Together they managed it. Kera was freed.

Coughing, she knelt on the ground and then took a rattling breath. "Are you okay, Kaya?"

She looked up. "Vegeta!" She fell around his neck. He put his arms around her. "I thought I'd never see you again," she sobbed. Then she pushed him an arm's length away. "You have a halo. Where are we anyway?"

"Hey, Kera!" called Kakarrot from behind her.

Smiling, she hugged him too before looking at him more closely. "And I thought I'd never see you again either. Where's your halo, then? And where the hell are we now?"

"If you'd let us have our say, we could tell you where we are," Vegeta said a little snottily.

They quickly told Kera what had happened since the demon had absorbed them and the others.

"So you've actually merged."

"Only reluctantly," Vegeta admitted.

Kera yanked him and Kakarrot towards her. "Please stop giving each other such a hard time already. We are together again now and together we will defeat this demon."

Vegeta and Kakarrot nodded. "We should look for the others first now and then get out of here."

Together they continued to search the hall.

"It's Piccolo!" shouted Kakarrot after a while.

"Good, I found Trunks," came Kera's call from the other corner of the hall.

"Put them together in the middle. I found Reyak," Vegeta said, putting down the cocoon with Reyak before continuing to search.

It only took a few minutes and they had the four children and Piccolo laid down next to each other.

"After all, the children are no longer fused either. Why would our fusion be permanent then?" remarked Vegeta.

"The fusion the kids did only lasts thirty minutes anyway. It's a different kind of fusion," Kakarrot replied.

"A different kind? Does that mean if you fused like the inhabitants of Meta-morph, you'd look different?" asked Kera with a gleam in her eyes.

"Don't get any ideas," Vegeta grumbled.

"I found something else here." Kakarrot had moved away from them again and had roamed the hall.

"What is it?" cried Kera, running to him. Vegeta followed her.

"Fat Buu," he stated when he reached Kakarrot and Kera. "Should we free him too?"

"I don't know. Is that maybe his good side? I wonder if he'll change if we remove this Buu?" pondered Kera.

"I don't think it will have any effect," Vegeta replied, cutting the brackets.

"Get out of my body," Buu's voice suddenly boomed out at them. Five paces away he stood facing them. His complexion turned reddish. "You are interfering with my cake eating and planning my universe conquest!"

"Oh, damn it!" shouted Kera, Vegeta and Kakarrot simultaneously.

Buu roared and ran at them.