Kera:

"Stand still, I'll deal with the demon now. Alone." Vegeta took a step forward, but Kera held him back. The demon looked at them hatefully, apparently still trying to assess the situation. His eyes darted to the cocoons and back again.

"No more going it alone!" she growled at him. Confused, he stared first at her, then at his hand holding her.

Kera groped behind her and grabbed Kakarrot's hand. She placed her hands on her brothers', guiding them forward.

"Concentrate your energy into your hands!" she shouted, allowing her own energy to flow into her hands.

Without thinking, Vegeta and Kakarrot did as she asked. Kera felt her own energy and that of her brothers connect. Her hands lit up. She yelled, "Now!"

They released the focused beam of energy. It hit Buu in the stomach and sent him flying backwards several steps before he crashed into the wall of the hall.

"Wow, that wasn't so bad," Kakarrot said appreciatively.

Vegeta snorted disdainfully.

"No time to complain," Kera threw at Vegeta before he could say anything. "Grab the others. We have to find a way out!"

They ran towards the pile of cocoons. They each grabbed two. Following an instinct, Kera ran towards a bright spot she had just noticed. She looked up.

"I think that's a way out!"

"Possibly. It looks like the sky, at least," Vegeta confirmed her guess as he skidded to a stop beside her.

The opening closed again. They heard the demon behind them curse as he got back to his feet. He roared in frustration. The way out opened again.

"It's now or never."

Without hesitation, Kera leapt up. Hot air surrounded her. A suction took hold of her. She was thrown outside. She tried to hold on to the cocoons, but she lost her grip. She heard Vegeta and Kakarrot screaming behind her.

With a plop, she was suddenly free again. She heard the sound a few more times and saw that both Kakarrot and Vegeta were freed and the cocoons around the others were coming loose. Quick-witted, she snatched Menka and Reyak out of the air before they hit the ground. With relief, she noted that Vegeta caught Piccolo and Trunks and Kakarrot grabbed his two sons.

With Buu's screams in the background, they landed as quickly as possible and carefully put the children and Piccolo down. Kera, Vegeta and Kakarrot turned back to Buu.

He was still screaming, yelling like he was in pain. He held his hands to his head, doubled over.

"He ... he's changing," Kera whispered.

Buu's outward appearance was changing. He became smaller, more wiry. At the same time, he squirmed back and forth, as if trying to suppress the change.

After agonisingly long seconds, he was silent. And looked directly in her direction.

"He's smaller now. It should be easier to defeat him then," Vegeta said, already in a fighting stance.

Kera snorted. "Such a sentence from your mouth. Can't you feel the malevolent energy? Buu has changed. I'm afraid it wasn't a good idea to untie fat Buu."

"Hey, where is he anyway?" asked Kakarrot, looking around.

"Probably still in there." Kera gestured with her head to Buu. "But because he's no longer with the ..." She waved her arms around, trying to capture Boo's appearance. "... I don't know. They're no longer connected and so he's probably changing."

"Nonetheless, we have to defeat him somehow," Kakarrot said, floating up to Buu. Kera and Vegeta followed.

"I can now ... after all," Vegeta began.

"No going it alone!", Kera hissed at him again.

Resignedly, Vegeta shrugged his shoulders.

Buu, who now bore resemblance to a child version of the previous Buu, tilted his head and quirked the corners of his mouth. That grin sent a shiver down Kera's spine. It was creepy. Frightening. But it didn't help. Sitting down and giving up wasn't going to happen to any of them now.

Kera looked again at her children and Piccolo. Piccolo had opened his eyes! He was slowly waking up. She sent him a thought full of love. The urge to throw herself into his arms and catch her breath a little became overwhelming.

"Look out!" Kakarrot grabbed her by the arm and yanked her aside. Dumbfounded, she looked to her left. Vegeta had deflected a huge ball of energy aimed directly at her. She had been so distracted by the sight of Piccolo that she hadn't seen the attack coming.

"Thank you, both of you," she gasped.

"You're welcome," Vegeta and Kakarrot dismissed their actions.

"What now?" asked Kera the question.

"Nothing at all, I'm afraid," Vegeta said soberly.

Kera looked to Buu. He was just gathering energy again. The sphere above his head had already taken on a diameter of over three steps and was still growing. The energy was pulsing.

"Shit, you're right. We can't take this." She turned around. Piccolo flew towards her.

"Come on! I'll teleport us out of here!" shouted Kakarrot, picking up Dende and Hercule in flight as they ran below them.

Kera grabbed Piccolo's hand in flight and extended her other hand towards Kakarrot. Vegeta was close behind them. Suddenly someone else hovered in front of them and held out both hands.

Vegeta grabbed one hand, Kakarrot the other, Kera held onto Kakarrot.

Piccolo:

A short suction took them all in. Teleportation, Piccolo thought, and seconds later he no longer saw the rocky landscape below him, but a green meadow. For a moment they floated in the air, then they all fell to earth.

Piccolo suppressed a cry of pain and held Kera's hand tightly, who groaned.

Only slowly did they straighten up again. Who had come to their rescue? Piccolo looked at the creature with the long hair. He looked vaguely familiar, but he could not place him with certainty.

"I am Kibitoshin, the fusion of Shin and Kibito," he said, as if he had read Piccolo's question in his mind.

"Thank you for saving me," Goku said, straightening back up.

Vegeta stood up as well and grabbed Goku by the collar of his suit. "You idiot! The earth is destroyed. You left our children behind!"

Sadly, Goku looked to the ground. Piccolo looked around. Standing a little apart were Hercule and Dende, but he did not see his children. His eyes fell on Kera, who was crouched beside him, slumped over.

'Menka? Reyak?' he asked her.

Sadly, she shook her head. He saw tears moistening the earth.

His children. He had lost his children. He felt a black hole spreading inside him. Breathing became difficult and he sank to the ground beside Kera. She rested her forehead against his and sent him the images of what had happened since Buu had absorbed them. She, like him, lacked the strength to talk.

What were they to do now. All their friends, their family, were dead. The earth was destroyed. Dende was alive, but with the destruction of the earth, the Dragon Balls were also destroyed. Could Dende create new Dragon Balls? How long would it take him? His thoughts were interrupted by Kibitoshin's words.

"You released the good part of the demon. When there were still the five Supreme Kais, they had fought the mage Babidi and his demon. He defeated almost all of them. Then he absorbed the Great Supreme Kai and became controllable. This fat Buu is the essence of the Great Supreme Kai. What is left of Buu now is his original form, pure evil."

Piccolo looked up. "You're saying that Buu is still alive."

Kibitoshin nodded. "Earth is destroyed, but Buu is just now regenerating in space."

A collective curse escaped from those present. Kibitoshin pointed to a crystal ball lying in the grass beside him. There they saw Buu's form slowly growing out of a pink lump again.

"The Dragon Balls ...?" put in Kera.

"Are destroyed with the earth," Dende replied.

"What do we do now?"

"What about the Dragon Balls on Namek?" asked Goku.

"They're only for wishes on Namek," objected an elderly man, staring spellbound at the crystal ball. Piccolo couldn't remember seeing him anywhere before. Wearing similar clothes to Kibitoshin, Piccolo could only assume it was the Elder Kai that Gohan had accidentally freed from the sword.

"Oh, come on." Goku stood beside him. "Can't we make an exception? I'd provide some nude pictures too," he whispered to him.

"Naked pictures of who?" shouted Kera and Vegeta at the same time.

Goku began to sweat. "Uh ..."

"I'm pretty sure neither your wife nor Bulma nor I are okay with that," Kera hissed at her younger brother, who was visibly squirming under her gaze.

"Sorry, now is not the time to argue. Buu has finished his regeneration, teleported to the afterlife and is beginning its destruction," Kibitoshin rescued Goku from his predicament.

Immediately, everyone's attention returned.

"I will teleport there and stop him," said Goku.

"I'll go with you," Kera and Vegeta said simultaneously.

"But only if we have each other's backs," Kera said. Vegeta and Goku nodded.

"Kera, wait." Piccolo reached for her hand. Questioningly, she looked at him. He let energy flow into his hand. Kera smiled thankfully and took his energy gratefully. He breathed a kiss on her forehead and moved a few steps away. Dende joined him.

"We should transform into Super Saiyans already here so we don't waste time in the afterlife," Goku suggested. They began to gather their energy.

Kera:

They had just got into position when the air in front of them shimmered. Buu was there again.

"This demon is on the Sacred Ground!" the Elder Kai was outraged.

"You should get out of here!" shouted Kakarrot to Dende, Piccolo and the Supreme Kais.

"I will not leave the Sacred Ground ..." A ball of energy crashed into the grass beside him. "Maybe we should go somewhere else after all," the old man remarked meekly. Kibitoshin grabbed the old man by the shoulder while Piccolo and Dende quickly grabbed his hand. Piccolo gave her one last look in which she could read all his love. Then they were gone in the blink of an eye.

"They forgot Hercule," Kera said.

Vegeta shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter now. Kakarrot, who's first?"

Kera saw Piccolo roll his eyes in her mind's eye and was about to say that they had promised each other that they wouldn't each fight for themselves again, when she felt it vibrate in her body. She looked at the demon and sighed. She wanted to fight too. She wanted to show that disgusting pink scum who was the strongest. She would make him pay for destroying the earth and killing her children.

"I'll start!"

"Out of the question, Kera. It's my turn!" exclaimed Kakarrot.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to fight together?" asked Vegeta with a knowing grin.

"The demon killed my children," she hissed, feeling the energy rising within her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her hair change colour.

"Oh yeah, you think I don't have the same right?" Threateningly, Vegeta took a step towards her.

"Hey, wait a minute. We'll decide this fairly. With a round of rock, paper, scissors," Kakarrot shouted as he pushed himself between her and Vegeta.

Kera glared at her twin brother again, then nodded and took a half step back. Using the game, they settled the order of play. Kakarrot won, Vegeta was to be second against Buu.

Buu had waited almost patiently for them to finish, as if he didn't care who he faced first. As if he was sure he would beat them anyway. Now, as Kakarrot turned to face him, he drummed on his chest and roared ape-like at him.

Kakarott increased his energy and transformed into a super Saiyan. "Get ready for trouble, Buu. I'm going to kick your ass this time. I should have defeated you back on Earth, but I thought it was more important to let the younger generation go first," he shouted back at him. The demon was quite unimpressed.

"What, that was the reason you didn't defeat him?" asked Kera in amazement.

Kakarrot looked at her apologetically while Vegeta raised his fists angrily. "You are and always will be an idiot, Kakarrot!"

Kera watched as Kakarrot attacked the demon, hitting him so hard with his energy that Buu was unrecognisable. But Kera suppressed her cry of jubilation, for instantly the demon looked the same as before. Kakarrot's attack had done him no harm.

Both opponents concentrated their forces so much that the ground beneath them began to shake.

"If they release any more energy, this planet will soon be history too," Kera said to Vegeta, who nodded thoughtfully.

Silently they watched as Kakarrot and Buu gave each other not an inch of space. If one had landed a hit, the other countered immediately. They had no respite.

"Uh, that must have hurt," Vegeta remarked as Kakarrot was spun around by Buu and knocked to the ground.

"Do you think we need to help him?"

"No. He'll pick himself up."

Vegeta was right. Kakarrot peeled himself from the ground and remained suspended in the air for a moment.

"What's he doing?" asked Vegeta.

"Watch his energy!"

Kakarrot gathered his power and he transformed into Super Saiyan 3.

"I don't think I want to reach that level," Kera said. She admired the power that lay dormant in that transformation stage, but the look ... no.

"That Kamehameha was amazing!" exclaimed Kera. Kakarrot had disassembled Buu into his individual parts again. But again it was not enough. Buu began to regenerate and Kakarrot prepared another Kamehameha, but before he could fire it, he transformed back and sank powerlessly to the ground. Exhausted, he remained lying.