Dragon Ball GT: Maximum

by Kensh3h

GT is bad, goes without saying. Not nearly as much as Granolah, but still a work of very poor quality that's cemented itself as a contentious topic. To rectify this, in 2021 I decided to rewrite GT to a better standard of writing quality, hopefully living up to the quality of the original manga, with an expanded universe. Constructive criticism is welcome. 17 chapters remaining.

25. The Decisive Final Battle: Part IV

Chapter 25: The Decisive Final Battle, Part IV: An Unexpected Reversal

"Potara Gotenks, is it…? Don't get cocky, brat…" said Baby, "I've defeated your fathers once before, and I'll ensure you meet just the same exact fate!"

"A victory you achieved through petty trickery. I've seen through your tricks, you won't succeed a second time in besting a fusion created through the divine Potara Earrings!"

Potara Gotenks immediately blitzed Baby, taking advantage of the fact that Baby was missing a large portion of one of his hands to quickly gain the upper hand in close-range combat with the length of his sword. Baby, however, did not appear fazed at all by Potara Gotenks' swings and kicks, saying "Your power indeed nearly rivals Vegetto's in this lower form… but something tells me that you are not quite taking this bout with utmost seriousness, if you reserve your full power for the endgame of this fight. FOOL! Fused with the Potara or no, it is I who make the rules in this battle! Come at me with all you have, or I will end you immediately!"

Baby furiously attacked Potara Gotenks with a series of Kiai cannons, an attack from which Potara Gotenks shielded himself with rapid swings of his sword, which created a cluster of vacuums to repel Baby's Kiai blasts. Baby, however, was not deterred, and then fired off a volley of Ki blasts which suddenly enlarged themselves and took the shape of Kienzan, forcing Potara Gotenks to dodge using Zanzoken afterimages. Baby, having faced this trick a tiring number of times at this point, simply formed an explosive aura around himself to dispel all of the afterimages at once and then attacked the real Potara Gotenks in the stomach before he could react. Potara Gotenks was knocked back thousands of miles, but teleported right back, at which point Baby simply used his superior speed to attack the base of his neck at a speed that surpassed instant. Potara Gotenks used the momentum of this move to his advantage and did a 360 degree flip to attack Baby with the full force of his sword swing, which Baby mockingly defended himself from with his injured hand, which only bled slightly even from the mighty Fusion's attack.

"Now do you see the futility of your efforts? Your powers have increased significantly indeed compared to when I fought you last in the mortal, Metamoran fused form… But your strength pales still in comparison to a power rivaling the Gods themselves! My power will grow stronger still throughout the ages, and one day the throne of the mighty Zeno will be – "

"I told you you ramble too much, Baby. Going on and on like this with your enemy's sword lodged in your wrist is something you'll regret here and now!"

Potara Gotenks smirked and immediately turned Super Saiyan 3, causing his power to explosively skyrocket and driving Future Trunks' sword deep into Baby's wrist, which Potara Gotenks propelled even further inside with a deep shout, cleanly cutting off Gohan's left arm.

"Grrrr..! Filthy little cur!"

"I swear there's something about you megalomaniacal types and getting way too wordy when you're trying to boast. You knew I still had power in reserve, you knew that was the weak spot I generated in my previous form, yet you got so self-absorbed you didn't even stop to consider I'd power up more still."

"You shut your… FILTHY LITTLE MOUTH!"

Baby finally lost his cool demeanor entirely and flared up a black aura, charing Potara Gotenks with his one good arm and attacking him at speeds that Potara Gotenks could hardly keep up with even in Super Saiyan 3 form. Baby's flurry of punches was so fast that Potara Gotenks lost use of his sword when Baby quickly crushed one of his limbs and knocked his sword aside, and realizing that going back to retrieve his sword in this dire moment could cost him his life, Potara Gotenks repeated his previous maneuver of enlarging his muscles in a Grade 2-esque fashion, allowing him to obtain the speed and power to somehow or other defend himself from Baby's punches.

"S-Shit… I-I don't think Baby's quite giving his all yet, the power rivaling the Hakaishin must be greater than this still, but even while using the Potara, and enlarging my muscles beyond the ordinary limits of Super Saiyan 3, the most I can do is parry his blows…"

Baby then yelled, "HWAAAAAAAARGH!" and kicked Potara Gotenks in the stomach to knock him all the way to location in the strange dimension where strange, purple-colored space debris releasing toxic fumes the atmosphere of a hospitable planet would filter out obscured the two's vision. There's Potara Gotenks reverted to his base form and hid in wait, knowing that in Baby's completely enraged state, he was too worked up to use his clairvoyant detection powers properly.

"Brat! If you think that you can somehow take advantage of this body's severed arm to weaken me, you are sadly mistaken! Using a portion of my main body to enclose the wound is the simplest of contingency measures! If you won't come out, I will simply level this whole area and you along with it!"

Potara Gotenks taunted Baby through telepathy saying, "Hah! But I know you won't do that, after decades you spent hiding in that faggot-ass tube of yours hoping that you'll have the perfect revenge on the lineage of King Vegeta's blood, killing me that quickly won't satisfy you at all!"

"Fool! Connecting your mind to my superior machine brain?! You've given away your location, I HAVE OUTWITTED YOU ONCE AGAIN!"

Baby extended his metal parts covering Gohan's left deltoid to form a metal tentacle and attacked the location where he detected Potara Gotenks' psyche, only to realize that it was Piccolo that he attacked. Piccolo was reduced to a head, which Pan caught, having emerged from the debris. She then yelled, "Taiyo-ken!" and blinded Baby, and Potara Gotenks, transformed to Super Saiyan 3, teleported behind Baby in his moment's consternation and enlarged his muscles to Grade 3's proportions, yelling, "FINAL KAMEHAMEHA! THIS IS MY FATHERS' MOVE!"

Potara Gotenks fired off a yellow, electric burst of massive energy, in the nexus of which was a blue beam resembling a regular Kamehameha – truly befitting the attack's combined namesake. Hit by this surprise attack, Baby was knocked all the way to the most distant corner of the dimension, and the six Ultimate Dragon Balls he kept on his person were thrown in disarray with him. Potara Gotenks then yelled, "Pan! You keep three of those Dragon Balls on you, and throw the other three in random directions at full force… In fact, do it in Grade 3 form, using the same principle as the power up I used just now! I never taught you that useless state, but with your talent, you should be able to perform such a transformation simply from having observed it!"

"I-I've got it!" yelled Pan as she took a deep breath and supercharged her Ki, using it to enlarge her muscles to Grade 3's levels in mere moments. She then threw three of the Ultimate Dragon Balls in directions sixty degrees apart each, before then stuffing two of them in her pockets. Potara Gotenks then took hold of the remaining one, incidentally enough the four-star Ultimate Dragon Ball, the first Dragon Ball that Trunks and Pan found on their journey.

"Looking at this ball makes me reminisce… But I don't have time to dawdle, this ends here and now!"

Potara Gotenks turned around and fired off a massive Ki blast to propel himself toward Baby's location to overcome the handicap of his enlarged muscles' debilitating speed decrease, upon which he reached Baby's location in mere moment. There, Baby was left shirtless with his artificial metal limb severely damaged, and fairly significant burns being scorched onto the left side of his face.

"Not bad in the slightest…" mused Baby, "Potara-fused or no, with the inferior arsenal of your two unfused halves I had not expected this level of resistance. I shall now drop all pretense of composure and attack you at full strength."

"Then we'll make this a short and final exchange that'll be remembered for posterity. This move is gonna strain the living hell out of me, but I really have no other choice but to finish this here and now," said Potara Gotenks as he grunted and yelled, "HMMMMRFFFFF!"

Potara Gotenks used Ki welling up from his deepest reserves to compress his grossly enlarged muscles back down to a regular Super Saiyan's body proportions, causing blood to spurt from several veins and his vision to slightly blur due to the severe pain that this compression caused him. In return, he obtained incredible speed, at which point Baby reciprocated this effort by powering up to his full strength. Baby's massive, electric, pink and black aura reached a size as great as a planet's satellite, while Potara Gotenks' aura was now that of a pure, blinding white glow that was as brilliant as the rising sun illuminating a dark, everlasting night – signifying that this exchange truly was the dawn of a new age – and only one man was now going to be victorious.

Potara Gotenks used this overflowing energy to forcibly reconnect the bones, nerves and tendons in his broken arm and charged at Baby while forming a massive, durable barrier, which Baby shattered with a number of kicks. Now wanting to flatten his opponent without the need for petty tricks, Baby transformed his metal tentacle into the shape of a regular, anatomically human arm and grappled his opponent, driving him all the way to the site where their battle first began with his superior force. Potara Gotenks fired off a mouth blast that did not even singe Baby's face, and Baby kneed him repeatedly in the stomach, at which point Potara Gotenks threw up blood, but took advantage of the moment to fire off a Kamikaze Ghost, which exploded and obscured Baby's sight for a mere moment. Baby, however, was even faster than this and countered Potara Gotenks' umpteenth attempt to blind him by utilizing his own afterimage, grabbing him by the base of his neck and knocking him down to the base of the dimension, where Baby stomped on his back repeatedly. Unwilling to conceded defeat, Potara Gotenks flared up his aura even more and knocked Baby back, upon which the continuous effort he had to sustain to keep his muscles from enlarging back to debilitating proportions caused blood to erupt from some of the veins on his head – but Potara Gotenks was still not deterred, and fired off a massive, one-handed Ki blast that Baby stopped with his good arm. After this, Potara Gotenks took hold of the sword Baby had knocked off his grip earlier in the fight and swung precisely at Baby's vital points, only for Baby to form a shield using his metal tentacle. Unwilling to give up, Potara Gotenks stabbed his blade deep into Baby's metal shield and then punched the blade further in, shattering Baby's shield and his already-damaged left arm with it.

"HWAAAAAAAAAARGH!" yelled Potara Gotenks as he then concentrated all of his energy and formed a golden, celestial-looking dragon of pure Ki, attempting to end it all with a Ryu-ken. Baby, however, concentrated his own energy into his right palm and formed another shield, this time composed of pure, black Ki. The Ryu-ken could not break through the sheer durability and resiliency of this attack, and the two moves were at a standstill for the next fifteen minutes – fifteen minutes that felt longer than entire years in the middle of the massive tension. Eventually, both parties ran cleanly out of energy to maintain this horribly straining effort, and Potara Gotenks was the one knocked back, his Ryu-ken having failed to dispel Baby's shield after all.

"It ends now, brat! I commend you for surpassing your limits and then surpassing the limit you can keep up such an effort – BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US THAT IS A GULF UNSURPASSABLE! IN THE FACE OF PURE STRENGTH AND SUPERIORITY, MAN'S EFFORTS ARE BUT FUTILE!"

Baby began to form a Revenge Death Ball, albeit one significantly smaller than the one he'd used on planet Earth due to his fatigue and lack of subjects to donate him energy – and hurled the blast at Potara Gotenks. Pan, unwilling to let their last hope die, jumped in the way of the blast, only for Potara Gotenks to shield her instead by embracing her tightly. The blast exploded and illuminated the dark dimension in a blinding light, changing the atmosphere again to a deep tinge of a dark red.

"A fitting environmental change for your destruction… However, I controlled the intensity of the blast so that you wouldn't die immediately. Come out, 'Potara Gotenks,' I'm going to seize the Ultimate Dragon Balls you stole from me and kill you only after I've made my coveted wish!"

At this time, Vegeta and Future Trunks had descended to Planet Namek utilizing the one day they were allowed to roam the land of the living.

"Dad, are you sure this is the right time to make the wish to restore Earth? Baby and the others may be AWOL, but if what you tell me about Gotenks being able to scream through dimensions as a child is true, confinement like that could never stop Baby! Seems like you're rushing into things, honestly."

"Feh! Shut your mouth already, Trunks! When Kakarrot and I died as Vegetto, the Potara we had on us was left behind… And there's no way those two wouldn't make use of it! If in the past twenty minutes Baby hasn't escaped that dimension, then the other you and Goten are clearly giving him the fight of his life! I even had to swallow my pride and beseech that ugly pink ogre Enma to allow me to keep my body and train you on Kaio's planet, the other you's been training just as diligently!"

"S-Still, this Baby thing's reached the level of a God of Destruction… Restoring Earth only to save him the trouble of wishing it back sounds a bit out there…"

"You shut your mouth right now! I will not allow Bra and your mother to remain dead even another second because Baby used them as props for his demented little broadway revenge show, got it?! We're wishing back Earth and the Earthlings he killed, and that's final!"

"Fine, fine… I saw from the afterlife that Bra turned Super Saiyan just from having the other me's energy pumped in her, I honestly want to train her myself and see what she's truly capable of. But if I know you as well as I think I do, then there's another reason why you're wishing everyone back, isn't there?"

"Oh yeah. You just wait, the Kaiba brat who put this ridiculous course of events in motion will get what's coming to him."

Muri called upon Porunga, restoring Earth and the inhabitants of it to life with the first two wishes, including Future Trunks and Vegeta. After this, Vegeta said, "Do whatever you want with the third wish, get a lollipop, a lifetime's supply of protein shakes, whatever. You Namekians have a wealth of untapped potential to be good fighters, and it's a shame that your pacifist nature compel you to constantly waste it. KAIOSHIN! TELEPORT TRUNKS AND MYSELF TO EARTH RIGHT NOW, I AM NOT WASTING MY PRECIOUS TIME GETTING THESE NAMEK PEOPLE TO TRANSLATE MY COMMAND AND WISH ME THERE!"

Kibitoshin used Kai Kai to teleport himself to New Namek beside Vegeta, where he sighed and said, "Prideful to a fault as always, Vegeta-san… But you are in the right here, reserving a wish is smarter at the moment than wasting it on something I could do for you. I assume you want to be teleported to Kaiba's location?"

"Yes. Threatening the demise of my wife and kid I could tolerate for the greater good of whipping the other Trunks into shape, actually causing their deaths indirectly through stirring the pot I cannot."

"Kai Kai!"

Kibitoshin teleported the two Saiyans to a large stealth ship that was undetectable by radar, where Kaiba and his minions were sitting atop a large marble statue resembling Shenlong, one that Future Trunks destroyed right away saying, "A devious, greedy money-monger like you who'd toy with innocent people's lives has no room to even use Shenlong… I have no grudge against you personally because I'm from another time, but that doesn't mean I will protect you from my father."

"This won't even be sufficient for a warm-up… Any last words, Kaiba-brat?"

"Feh… Hehehehehe… You think I hadn't prepared for this exact moment?! I have researched you Saiyan filth for the longest time, ever since you destroyed my hometown and birthplace of East City! You space trash aren't above killing even our friends and family if they cross you, and your pride goes above and beyond arrogance!"

"Arrogance? Ho, you have quite the nerve to say that. Believe me, killing an ant like you isn't something that I will need to exert myself to do at all. Far from arrogance… This is just me taking off some steam."

"I think not!" yelled Kaiba as he flared up an aura and charged at Vegeta, who was slightly surprised to see such a weak fighter charge at one of the universe's mightiest fighters so brazenly. Vegeta attempted to simply kick off Kaiba's head, only for a gadget he'd strapped onto his back to form an impenetrable shield – one that Vegeta, to his surprise, could not break through with his kick.

"This technology isn't of Earthly origin… Nor should any planet be able to resist my attack with a mere gadget. I get it… You used the remaining two wishes you had after you'd wished yourself to be rich to arm yourself with protective devices, is that it?"

"Yes! This is a motion-activated device that uses your own Ki against you to shield me, crafted from the wishing power of the Dragon Balls themselves!"

"And since there was a third wish, there is another gadget that you are hiding?"

"Precisely! Feast your eyes on this!"

Kaiba hurled a smoke bomb that released a cloud of smoke that instantly killed his minions, from which Future Trunks had to shield himself from with a Ki shield, while Kibitoshin teleported away. Vegeta, however, simply held his breath and suppressed his Ki to zero, after which he instantly turned Super Saiyan and punched through Kaiba's stomach and his gadget with it.

"Whether it uses my Ki against me or not, the Dragon Balls are limited by the capacities of the people who created them. If I simply were to raise my speed to a greater degree than the Namekian creator could perceive, then utilizing my Ki to kill you faster than the device could operate was child's play."

"G-Grr…. I thought you'd try that… But it's too bad I have another plan, the gas wasn't created with my third wi – "

Vegeta ripped off Kaiba's tongue and said, "Shut up already, will you?! I've had enough of your prattling for one day!"

After this, Vegeta destroyed each and every one of Kaiba's gadgets, saying "He had another instant-kill device strapped to his belt… A fool's only trick."

"Yes. Kaio-sama told me, his grudge against our family wasn't merely due to being showed up by Satan-san and Boo, his parents were killed by a rival corporation in a money laundering scheme gone awry, and his grandmother kept the wealth he'd inherited from being embezzled by greedy tricksters wanting to pocket it."

"And she was one of the lives lost when I blew up East City… Or was it Nappa? I honestly don't care to remember. Either way, forcing him to linger in this pained state is in poor taste, I'm killing him now," said Vegeta as he vaporized Kaiba, upon which Future Trunks began to pilot the airship toward Dende's castle.

"Trunks, don't tell me you have your counterpart's hobby of bothering with these petty, primitive contraptions? Valuable time you could be spending training, you're going to waste flying these things?!"

"H-Hahaha! In my time, flying stealth ships isn't even an option because the twin Androids shoot down anything that moves! I always wanted to do this at least once in my life, it feels quite different from flying on my own!"

"Feh! But in your childlike optimism I can sense that you now believe your other self can handle himself against Baby," said Vegeta.

"I sure do! We already 'wasted' a good five minutes on this detour, and Baby hasn't broken out yet, right? I heard my other self promise Goten-kun and Pan-chan loud and clear that he'll keep all his promises by the end of the day, and who better to believe in him than himself, right?!"

"YES! If Kakarrot's half-breed son could defeat Cell when no one else could, my flesh and blood is capable of far, far more! Once we're there, I'm training you even more harshly! You better not be stiff on me just because we just came back to life!"

"Aye aye, sir! I'm not falling behind those two, no way in Hell!"

As these events transpired on the restored planet Earth, however, things could not be more hopeless on the flipside dimension.

Potara Gotenks, reverted to his base form from injury, was being beaten mercilessly as Pan was held psychically by Baby's will.

"Gwarrraggh! Bwarrrrgh!"

"You… STILL…. HAVE… NOT… SUFFERED… ENOUGH!" yelled Baby as he grew tired of choking Potara Gotenks with his metal tentacle and beating him with his good hand, and decided to mix things up by grabbing Potara Gotenks' collar with his right hand and then whipping him repeatedly by transforming his metal tentacle to the shape of a thorny whip.

"Now you see, truly, the difference between us. You're about to pass out from the pain, so I think I will secrete some neurotoxins that will keep you awake and alert when I stab your vitals and then make my wish. After that, your death will finally be at hand. You've waited and suffered long enough, I will now put you out of your misery," said Baby as he transformed his tentacle to the shape of a pump, and then walked toward the battered Potara Gotenks bristly.

"Prepare yourself!" yelled Baby as he swung the grotesque appendage at his adversary, at which point Potara Gotenks unexpectedly glowed, momentarily blinding Baby. Much to everyone's surprise, the Potara Fusion came undone, and from the light Trunks and Goten emerged, at which point the two, not understanding what had happened but quickly realizing that this was their last chance to injure Baby, quickly formed a Kienzan together and sliced off Baby's metal pump, injecting it into his bloodstream instead.

"Bwaaargh! Y-You little shits!"

"W-What just happened, Goten? Wasn't the Potara meant to be permanent?!"

"Y-Yeah, it must be! Kaioshin-sama was clearly fused forever when he merged with Kibito… Is it maybe because we aren't Kaioshin?!"

"Whatever the case, you two die now! I've had just about enough!" yelled Baby as he reabsorbed the metal appendage into himself and then blasted Goten away, upon which he attempted to attack Trunks with intent to kill, only to realize that his body was completely frozen in place before he could attack Trunks, with the message, "Error! Error! Cannot self-terminate through attacking a registered host!" appearing in his Machine Mutant CPU.

"W-What?! What is going on, I abandoned the Trunks brat as a host months ago! D-Don't tell me…"

"HAIYAAAAH!" yelled Trunks as he took advantage of the opening to muster up all his power and rage and turn Super Saiyan, at which point he gut-punched Baby and nearly made him regurgitate his main body. Feeling intense pain both from the neurotoxin being inserted into his system and from the connection between his main body and Gohan's host body weakening, Baby realized that he made a fatal mistake that was finally going to cost him his life.

"T-Trunks has, through me using two versions of him as a host on Planet Reito, been registered as my main host! I-I cannot attack him physically, because high-ranking Machine Mutants are programmed to be unable to self-terminate! In being fused whenever he fought me before, he unintentionally kept this invulnerability secret from me!"

"What's wrong, Baby?! You're not looking so lively now, is something bothering you?!" yelled Trunks confidently.

"T-This isn't happening! If only… If only my injuries weren't so severe, I could then escape to another dimension and reprogram my CPU to rewrite myself out of this predicament!"

"That's not an option! You die here, Baby!" yelled Trunks as he kicked Baby in the stomach, causing the majority of his main body to be thrown up out of Gohan's mouth.

"I'll force you right out of Gohan-san… And end you in under a minute," said Trunks.

To be continued…