Vegeta:
Kera and he immediately ran to Kakarrot. He had completely spent himself, was at the end of his tether. So he hadn't lied to them after all when he said that the Super Saiyan 3 would eat up too much energy on Earth.
"Hey, buddy!" Vegeta propped Kakarrot up so he could sit up a little. Kera sat behind him and rested his head on her lap. "That attack wasn't bad, but it wasn't quite enough, huh?"
Kakarrot smiled in agony. "Sorry, guys."
"Kera, watch him here. Let him get some rest. I'll take it from here."
She reached for his hand squeezed it once tightly and gave him an encouraging nod. "Finish him off!"
Determined, Vegeta turned to Buu and pushed himself off the ground.
Kera:
"He doesn't stand a chance," Kera whispered as she and Kakarrot watched the fight. Vegeta was able to land a few hits at first, but soon the tide turned and he had to take a lot more. Eventually Buu slammed him into a rock and went for the final blow.
"Kera, you have to take over," Kakarrot said to her, who had recovered enough to sit upright again.
She nodded and raced towards Vegeta and Buu. Before Buu could unleash his energy on Vegeta, she stood between them and deflected it. The ball of energy had only briefly touched her hand as she had directed it in another direction, yet she had felt the power, the malevolence that resided within it.
Buu, who had expected to destroy Vegeta with that blow, roared angrily when he saw that a third person was now joining the fight.
"Kera?" asked Vegeta in a hoarse voice. Kera only half turned to face him. Looked at his bloodied face and his swollen eye.
"Now it's your turn to rest, big brother."
Grimly, she glared at the demon. "Start digging your grave, you ugly thing!"
Vegeta:
His sister fought for him. Maybe for the whole universe. It was probably what made her and Kakarrot different from him. The two of them fought unconditionally to protect, and not with the thought of becoming stronger.
Vegeta smiled. Maybe he had more potential in him after all.
He dragged himself over to Kakarrot, who was still in the same place he had left him with Kera. He had sat down and was watching Kera in her fight against Buu.
She was doing well, but it wouldn't be enough. The demon was just too strong for that.
"Not looking so good right now, is it?" Vegeta dropped down beside Kakarrot, exhausted.
"Not really," the latter confirmed grumpily. "We've been fighting for what must be an hour and our energies are getting weaker and weaker while Buu's just stays the same. Shall we fuse again?"
Vegeta made an undefinable noise. " Hate to."
"Good. Either way, we'd have to destroy him in one blow. I could probably do it if I had time to gather energy."
"How long will it take you?"
"A minute, I guess."
"Good, Kera and I will distract him, you gather energy."
"Vegeta, you must be careful. If you die now, your existence will be wiped out!"
"I know. Concentrate on gathering energy!"
Kakarrot nodded and turned to stand. Vegeta sprinted to Kera, who had just hit the ground with a thud. Quickly, he helped her up. She looked bad, probably as much as he did.
"We have to hold on for another minute. Kakarrot says he can gather enough energy in that time to defeat Buu in one blow."
Kera gasped heavily. "All right, let's do it."
Vegeta knew that a minute could be long. Especially when you were already at the end of your rope.
Kera:
Just one more minute. They had to make it. She was becoming more and more inattentive. Buu hit her so heavily on the shoulder that she was flung backwards and hit the ground hard. Immediately Vegeta took her place. She heard more than saw Vegeta being hit by several blows and finally being swept aside by Buu like an annoying fly. Kera rose into the air and headed for Buu.
At the same time she felt for Kakarrot's aura. What was going on? She felt no surge in his energy. Why wasn't he doing anything? Hadn't the minute already passed?
"Kera! Vegeta!" Kera couldn't turn around. She tried to focus on Buu. But she saw out of the corner of her eye that Vegeta was turning to Kakarrot. What were they discussing?
Buu's punch hit her in the face so painfully that she went black for a moment. She cursed. She had not been paying attention. Again her body hit the floor. The air was pressed hard out of her lungs.
"Are you okay, Kera?" Vegeta was right beside her.
"Never felt better," she brought out with a gasp.
"Kakarrot can't focus his energy," she informed Vegeta.
"I've noticed." She tried a grin, but her face hurt too much. She felt like she couldn't lift the corners of her mouth. Her left eye was swollen shut, so she could only see through a narrow slit. She felt slightly dizzy and knew she wouldn't last much longer.
"Shit!" yelled Vegeta.
Kera looked up and followed Vegeta's gaze. Buu was right on top of them, just preparing to give them the final blow. They wouldn't be able to dodge fast enough.
"Hey, Buu!"
With a jerk, the demon turned his head in the direction from which the voice had come.
Kera could not believe her eyes. Hercule. She had completely forgotten that he had stayed here with them. Apparently he had hidden behind a rock or something during the fight. Either this person was very brave for distracting Buu from Vegeta and Kera or he was very stupid. Kera wanted to shout a warning to him, but Buu was already racing towards Hercule.
However, the demon did not get far. He stopped in mid-flight and doubled over. He held his head as if he was in great pain. It reminded Kera of the situation on earth when they had seen Gine's face in Buu's stomach. Suddenly Buu cried out. Hercule took the opportunity and disappeared behind a nearby rock.
Buu threw his head back and roared. Then his head jerked forward again and he retched. He spat something on the ground, which immediately disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the fog cleared, fat Buu was standing there.
"He was still in there," Kera whispered.
"And he's fighting," said Vegeta.
Almost instantly, the fat Buu had broken from the ground and leapt at his evil counterpart. This fight was even so much faster than Kera had witnessed between Kakarrot and Buu or Vegeta and Buu. She was not so fast either. Fascinated, she watched the fight with Vegeta for a few seconds until she realised again what it was all about. About the fate of the universe.
"Kakarrot, concentrate, this is a once in a lifetime chance. The fat one won't last much longer!" shouted Vegeta.
"I'm trying, but ..." Kakarrot broke off in mid-sentence and went down on one knee. His hair had turned black again.
"You're joking now, right?"
"I'm sorry!" Kakarrot breathed heavily.
Cursing to himself, Vegeta struggled to his feet. "Hey, Supreme Kais, I know you can hear me! Get to the planet Namek right now. Before you start arguing that the Namekian Dragon Balls are only for Namek: Leave it! When Buu is done with us here, he'll be looking for the next planet."
"What have you ...?", Kera began her question. Vegeta looked at her for a long moment until she nodded and smiled. She had understood.
"Now, can someone please explain to me what you're up to?" Kakarrot didn't like not knowing what Vegeta was planning.
"How many times have you saved the Earth, Kakarrot?", Vegeta asked him.
"A few times, I think."
"It's about time the humans took care of the Earth themselves for once," Kera said, looking into Kakarrot's still confused looking face.
"Vegeta, we're on Namek now and the Elder has already had all the Dragon Balls collected since they overheard what happened on Earth." Kera now heard Dende's voice in her head as well. A glance at Kakarrot told her he was still clueless.
"Good. Then the earth shall be restored to the state it was in before Buu's resurrection."
Kera heard Dende pronounce the wish in Namekian. Then he reported back and asked for the next wish.
"All Earthlings should be revived, except the very bad ones," Vegeta replied.
"Wouldn't it be better if we said that those who were killed by Buu should be revived?" interjected Kakarrot.
"Then Dabura would also live again," Vegeta opined.
"And Babidi," Kera added.
"Man, you guys are really smart," Kakarrot said.
Vegeta rolled his eyes, but stifled a comment.
Dende formulated the second wish as well. This time a little more time passed before he spoke up again. "The wish was granted as well. What is the third wish?"
"We don't need that one."
"Hey, Vegeta, you don't have a halo anymore," Kakarrot remarked, pointing redundantly at a spot above Vegeta.
The addressed looked up and widened his eyes in astonishment.
"The dragon didn't count you as one of the bad guys, I knew it!" Laughing, Kera fell around Vegeta's neck.
"That's alright. We can do that later," he brushed off her emotional outburst.
"Now, do you want to send the kids back into battle?" demanded Kakarrot.
"No. Get ready!", Vegeta urged him.
"For what?"
"For a Genkidama," Kera replied.
Vegeta:
It took Kakarrot a moment to understand. "But how ..."
"Hey, Supreme Kais, can you make it possible for me to talk to the Earthlings?" Vegeta paid no attention to Kakarrot's questioning expression.
"Did you have this plan all along?" Kakarrot persisted.
"Of course I had this plan all along." He ignored Kera's clearing of his throat. "Don't interrupt me. We're running out of time." He looked to the two Buus. The fat Buu's aura was visibly weakening.
"No, I'm afraid they can't," he heard Dende's voice in his head.
Vegeta was about to curse out loud when he heard another voice in his head. "I can help with that."
"Who ...?"
"That's King Kai," Kakarrot shouted excitedly.
"I see. I need to speak to the Earthlings so that they can give Kakarrot the energy to make the Genkidama."
"You can speak now!"
"Hey, earthlings! The demon Buu has destroyed the earth. Thanks to a mysterious power, you are alive again. Warriors completely foreign to you are currently fighting for the fate of Earth on a distant planet. The fate of the entire universe. We need your help to defeat the demon Buu. So reach your hands to the sky and give us some of your energy so we can avert this danger."
Kera cleared her throat, but Vegeta did not look at her.
"Go, Kakarrot!"
The latter nodded, hovered a few steps above the ground and stretched his hands towards the sky. It took only a few seconds and a ball of energy began to form above his hands.
"Look, Kera, Vegeta, there are the energies of our children with it!"
Acknowledging, Vegeta nodded. He felt Bulma's energy as well. He couldn't wait to hold her in his arms again. "But that's not enough!"
"Maybe you should ask a little more ... uh, nicely, for the Earthlings to give up their energy?" asked Kera cautiously.
"That damn rabble!" Vegeta couldn't believe it. How selfish could so many Earthlings be at once that no one seemed to have any interest in saving themselves and Earth and maybe the whole universe?
He looked to the fat Buu. He wouldn't last much longer. "Hey, Earthlings, we need your energy to save you!" he almost shouted.
"There's nothing coming!" said Kakarrot. "You want me to give it a try?"
"Fine by me." Would they actually fail at enforcing this plan now?, Vegeta thought.
"We really need your help. We're fighting the evil demon Buu and we only stand a chance if you give us your energy. We mean you no harm, we just want to defeat the demon so he can't destroy more planets."
Kakarrot's words actually earned them some more energy, but it still wouldn't be enough.
"Mister Vegeta!"
Vegeta turned around. Hercule ran towards him and stopped between him and Kera. "Please, help me. Help my little Buu. He can't take it anymore." He was breathing heavily. He was scared. Then he looked from one to the other in confusion. "What are those voices?" he asked in a whisper.
"They are the voices of the earthlings who doubt. Who don't want to give us energy. Who don't understand that the fate of the Earth and maybe more depends on it."
"Ah, great, now you're talking sense," Kera remarked with an undertone of sarcasm.
"Would you like me to talk to them?" asked Hercule.
Vegeta was about to hurl a no at him, when Kera replied, "Yes, please."
"All right," Vegeta conceded defeat. "Kakarrot, do you still have your potara earring?"
"I thought you weren't going to ..."
"Answer the question! Do you still have it," Vegeta snapped at him.
Kakarrot rummaged in his suit with one hand while the other continued to reach up to hold the energy ball and produced the earring. He tossed it to Vegeta, who caught it deftly. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to merge with Kera. We're going to distract Buu and you're going to gather energy, got it?"
"Okay!"
Vegeta dug his earring out of his suit and handed it to Kera. "On the left ear," he instructed her. She nodded and did as he said.
As soon as he attached the earring to his right ear, he instantly felt the pull he couldn't fight. Before he met Kera, his body dissolved.