Chapter 12 - Hellbound
Gohan's eyes traced the figure of the new arrival carefully, and a pit formed deep in his stomach as the details soaked in.
The demon was quite tall, easily the size Buu had been in his Super form. His skin was a dark, blood red, with a suit of pale purple skeletal armor adorned his form. A thick, powerful looking tail dragged along behind him, and out of his helmet, there were two curved horns, as sharp as daggers.
His yellow eyes were deep and cold, with small purple pupils. The depths within them displayed a raging madness and a cool intellect simultaneously. The demon's gaze, combined with his shadowy aura, had a way of making Gohan feel insignificant.
He gritted his teeth as a memory surfaced, a none too pleasant one. "I saw you before…" he realized.
Dabura chanced a glance at him. "Where could you have seen him? This demon was only born as of recently."
"I had a dream" Gohan said. "I was in this city, when it was torn apart, and I saw the silhouette of the creature responsible." He swallowed, maintaining a level head. "At the time, I thought it was just a stress dream. He has physical similarities to some of the enemies I've fought before, like Frieza, Cell, and Buu."
The horns and tail were definitely reminiscent of Frieza's second form. His size and body resembled Buu, while his stance and exoskeleton definitely reminded him of Cell's perfect form. "But now I see… somehow, I had a dream of this monster's coming."
Dabura frowned. "I don't see how that's poss-"
Janemba roared, startling the pair with a ferocious battlecry. A wicked purple aura flared up around him, lashing at the street and surrounding buildings, tearing the stone structures apart. As soon as he started, Janemba suddenly dashed from his spot, careening towards Dabura.
Gohan's body reacted before he did, as he leapt into action, white energy crackling around his body. "WATCH OUT, DABURA!" he roared, pushing the Demon King to the side, before raising his left arm to meet Janemba's attack.
The red fist of the demon connected with Gohan's guard, and he let out a pained growl as the impact strained the not-yet fully healed connections in his shoulder. Ignoring the pain, he went on the offensive, closing his better fist and striking out, landing a solid blow to Janemba's chestplate, sending the demon skidding backwards, a fracture running out of the point of impact in the bone-like chestplate.
A searing heat ran along Gohan's side as a wall of flames shot past him, washing over Janemba. Gohan turned back to see Dabura, lips puckered as he blew out his evil flames at full force. He jumped back, lining himself up beside the Demon King, removing himself from the trail of fire completely, before bringing his hands to his forehead, gathering energy rapidly. "MASENKOOOOO, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The technique of the demon school combined with the demonic flames, forming an explosive core of energy that rocketed through the previous fire. Gohan felt the energy of the attack stop short, however, and the moment of confusion that followed placed him off guard as his own energy appeared behind him.
The explosive blast of fire slammed into their backs, sending the pair flying through the air. Dabura crashed through the upper levels of an office building, while Gohan landed hard in the street, wind knocked out of him. "My own attack…?" he wondered.
The flames that remained in the air slowly dispersed, embers setting to the ground and licking the streets with their scarlet tongues. The smoke and heat was swept aside as Janemba emerged from the inferno, looking none the worse for wear. Although several meters away, the demon cocked his fist and reached back. The air rippled in front of Janemba, and as he threw his fist, it vanished within the miniature rift.
Gohan coughed up spit as the fist embedded itself in his stomach, having appeared a mere foot before him. He staggered back from the attack, and Janemba reached back again, with the other fist.
Recovering his wits as quickly as he could, Gohan braced himself, guard going up. There was a shift in the air to his right. He twisted as the next blow appeared, barely missing him, and he saw his chance. He grabbed the closed hand before it could retract back to its owner, and gave a mighty tug. Janemba jerked and vanished, appearing beside Gohan, connected to the grasped limb. "You're mine now!" he yelled, twisting and throwing the demon overhead, slamming him hard on the ground. Charging all the energy he could muster into his right arm, he followed him down, elbow crashing into the floored demon with massive force.
Channeling the remainder of his power into his other arm, he took aim and unleashed a torrent of heat from his palm. Allowing himself to limpen, the recoil of the blast pushed him away as he left Janemba in the middle of the flaming maelstrom. Planting hard in the ground, he came to a stop, slamming into the wall of a building. His shoulder made an unpleasant popping sound, but there was no sudden rush of pain or loss of function. "Thank Kami for that senzu Krillin had on him" he silently thanked.
There was a crunch as a piece of stone fell to the ground and shattered. A glance up showed that Dabura had braced himself against the edge of the top floor of the building, cape in tatters, but his eyes just as grimly determined as ever. He held a hand outstretched, black flames spreading through his palm, congealing into a rather wickedly designed spear. "This is far from over, Gohan!" he called down.
With a nod, Gohan agreed. As much as he'd like to believe that his assault there had been enough to send the demon on a one way trip back to HFIL, it was nothing if not impossible. Already, he heard the angry roars from within the smokescreen his last attack had left. Roars and… a scraping sound?
There was a movement at the edge of the cloud, and Gohan noticed a flash of gray. He raised his hands, but realized that it was simply a fallen lamppost. He cocked an eyebrow in confusion, as a red hand retracted it, the dust around falling. Janemba looked at the broken structure with a maniacal grin upon his, and Gohan had no idea why.
It happened so fast, he almost missed it. The rather large streetlight, which was thicker than Janemba's arm, and almost twice as tall as the demon, changed rapidly, shrinking and transforming. The dull gray color of the main stem transformed into a sleek purple shaft, while the light shifted shape, becoming a blood red curved blade, honed to a deadly point.
In a matter of seconds, the lamppost had transformed from a useless, broke structure, to a demonic scythe within Janemba's grasp. Gohan gaped, not believing what he just witnessed. Janemba studied the weapon in his grasp, light catching the blade and making it appear even more evil than it already did.
The light caught on the weapon did catch on something else, glinting in the corner of Gohan's eye. Tracing it, his vision settled upon the form of Kogu's blade, lying in the street. "The sword… if I can reach it, maybe it'll give me an edge." He didn't know how powerful of a weapon Janemba had just created, and frankly, he didn't want to find out. But like it or not, he was about it, it every advantage he could have when it happened was one he wanted to have.
He tensed, willing his energy to gather in his legs. "If I can just reach it before Janemba goes on the offensive, I should be able to-"
The blade cut through the air, a ribbon of purple energy forming along the blade's path, and flashed across the empty reality between the two of them. Gohan leaned back, barely avoiding the energy wave that the scythe had created. At least, he almost avoided it. A lock of his own jet-black hair fluttered down before his vision, as he felt the attack brush by.
He stood back up, heart pounded. "That's no normal attack" he realized with a grim sensation. The wave hadn't been making to cut his body. It had been on course to sever through his existence! It didn't split his hair, it spliced the reality between the two points that existed in his hair, separating them as a byproduct.
He stumbled backwards. "How… How do I counter something like that?" he gasped aloud. An attack on that level, above reality itself, there was no stopping it. And if there was, Janemba wasn't going to give him the time to figure it out, as the scythe was swung again, another ribbon of energy slicing through reality on a crash course to the young demi-Saiyan.
Hell
"I don't like this" Pikkon murmured.
Piccolo gave a curt nod of acknowledgement. "Agreed, this is putting me on edge."
"..."
Pikkon wheeled around. "Alright Goku, why are you so silent? I've known you for 7 years, and you've never been this quiet."
"I've known him practically since I was born and I have to agree" Piccolo frowned.
Goku, in an odd picture, had stuck a thoughtful pose as they ascended out of Hell. The trip was long, as they were literally travelling between realms. Brow furrowing, Goku uncrossed, and looked sideways at the green duo besides him. "I dunno, didn't that feel too easy to you guys?" he asked.
Pikkon blanched. "Uh, Goku, that thing had us all an inch from death… and we're already dead. What were you looking for, a glimpse at what lies beyond the afterlife?"
Goku shook his head. "Something's just not sitting right with me" he muttered. "I dunno, but Janemba… he was able to regenerate almost as well as Buu was. How did we manage to take him out with our attacks like that?"
"Those were three extremely potent attacks, Goku, and he was weakened when he received them" Piccolo pointed out. "I'm not sure all that the monster was capable of, but I'd say that combined with the fact that his energy completely disappeared afterwards…"
"Hold up, Piccolo…" Pikkon murmured. His face scrunched as he looked downwards. "Those glass-like structures, they were tied to Janemba. I figured out his weakness through them, and they persisted through his influence."
"You mean those jelly bean things?" Goku asked.
"Whatever those are, yeah, I guess" Pikkon nodded. "They were sort of bubbles of his reality distortion, if I had to guess. Without his effect on this place, theoretically, they should have all vanished upon his defeat." Pikkon growled. "The way I see it, there are two possibilities, each with major problems attached to them. One, Janemba's damage to the fabric of reality isn't directly tied to his influence, meaning the universe could potentially be permanently altered-"
"Already leaning towards the second option" Piccolo admitted hesitantly.
Pikkon grimaced. "Which, of course, is that Goku's hunch is right, and that Janemba hasn't truly been defeated. He's either masking his energy, or fled somewhere else."
"Janemba wasn't really smart, kinda like Kid Buu was" Goku noted. "I don't think he'd know to mask his energy until he was rested."
"Then I don't understand. Where could he have fled to that's so far away we wouldn't be able to sense him?" Piccolo asked. "An energy that massive and evil would have to practically be-"
Goku paled. "EARTH!" he shouted, earning shocked glances from the other two around him. "Janemba was able to send everyone else in Hell back into the living world, why couldn't he go there too?"
Piccolo's face betrayed worry. "And last I saw, Gohan was on the frontline of the biggest access points to the planet" he said.
Pikkon and Piccolo were nearly blown away as Goku jumped into his Super Saiyan state. Donning a mask of seriousness, he glared at the two beside him. "Grab on. We have to move fast, we're still too far down for me to get a read on Kibito Kai."
"Kibito… the Supreme Kai?" Pikkon asked.
"He's the only one I can think of to get us to Earth right now, but we're too far away for me to use my Instant Transmission to get there" Goku said. "There's no time to lose, grab on tight!"
Satan City
"NOW!"
Ducking underneath another of Janemba's reality cutting attacks, Gohan rocketed forward, planting a solid blow into his chest plate, shattering the material at the point of impact with a focused power attack. Janemba roared in apparent pain, staggered by the force of the blow.
"It's now or never!" Gohan thought grimly, ki flooding into his leg, and he wheeled around with a roundhouse kick. However, rather than aim at Janemba, he brought his leg down through the scythe the demon had created. It was a sturdy weapon, but the power Gohan brought down on the weapon caused it to shatter in a blinding explosion of purple energy, zapping the area around them and blowing Gohan away, the odd electricity-like energy running across his body.
A heatwave that washed over the area, streams of fire streaking past, the silhouette of a long object sitting dark within. Janemba staggered backwards, another pained roar echoing out as the blazing spear pierced his midsection.
Gohan took the opening to backpedal, gaining some distance from the demon, swooping down to grab the blade embedded in the ground as he passed. Gripping the hilt tightly, Gohan took a defensive stance as the flames licking Janemba's body began fading.
Janemba reached around, groping at the shaft of the weapon embedded in him. Purple energy crackled down his arms as a centered blast of energy obliterated the spear at its entry point. Reaching around, he gripped it just beneath the spearhead, and yanked it out with a roar. The open wound left in his stomach did not bleed, rather, his exposed inner flesh appeared as little more than a black void. But even as the spear was removed, the wound began to close on its own, and Janemba's evil, yellow eyes bored into Gohan's own.
The roar came on, startlingly loud, blowing all trace of debris near him into the distance, the building behind him completely collapsing as the ground was torn apart. Space warped around the broken spear in his hand, and Dabura, who had been preparing another to throw, stopped short as it began to morph.
Like before, what remained of the staff thinned, though not so much as before, this time maintaining a rather thick grip. The tip of the spear changed far more drastically, however, ballooning up and rounding out, turning into a rather spherical shape. A purple club, glowing red spikes popping out of the head, completing the forming of a rather wicked-looking mace, sitting heavily in Janemba's hands.
"You must be JOKING right now!" Dabura shouted. "Can this thing turn anything into a weapon?!"
Gohan stepped backwards hesitantly. "It's looking that way" he muttered. "Dabura, let's make a new plan of attack that doesn't involve giving him anything physical to turn and use against us!"
The spear in Dabura's hand turned to flames, transforming itself back into his demon sabre. "If we get a moment enough to strategize again, I assure you that it will be at the forefront of my mind!" he called back.
The evil gaze shifted away from Gohan and up towards the demon king who last spoke. Gripping the mace tightly with both hands, Janemba brought the weapon back…
"Oh no you don't!" Gohan roared, crackling white energy sparking to life around him as he vanished from the spot.
"That thing looks a lot more cumbersome than his scythe, maybe I can get in there before he can-"
Janemba wheeled on the spot, leveraging the weapon and swinging it down, directly towards Gohan. His aura reversed, backpedaling so that the weapon didn't reach him, but his following reaction was too slow.
As the mace struck the ground, each spike layered on it shone brightly, before exploding outwards, spraying dagger-like projectiles in all directions. Gohan leapt backwards, but the attack came on blindingly fast. He twisted, but not before one spike shot straight through his half-healed shoulder, ripping through the flesh and bone anew, and another cut through his right hip, gouging out a fair piece of flesh in its wake. A final attack grazed his forehead, shallowly cutting a corner above his left eye.
Gohan crashed to the ground, crying out in pain. The sword clattered from his grasp as he crumbled, his arm going completely limp for the second time as pain exploded all throughout his body. His hip felt rather hot, and the wet feeling told the tale of what was coming out of it. His tail twitched, slapping the ground as he cringed from the pain.
Another crash sounded as Dabura was sent into the street. With a much larger frame, the demon king was less fortunate than he had been. A malicious cackle rang out as Janemba retracted the weapon, yet even as it was brought back, it began to wilt, eroding and crumbing, first back into the broken spearhead, and then into dust.
Gohan pushed himself back to his feet, eye closing as a wet trickle slipped down into it. He tried to settle back into a fighting stance, but as he worried, his arm wouldn't respond to any of the signals he tried to send down it. The pain had dulled in it, but all other feelings in it had as well, as the limb failed to react.
Trying to ignore the shooting pain in the functioning parts of his body, he raised his good arm and channeled it full of energy. "That's it… I'm ending this NOW!" he announced. Fingers curving down, his palm began to fill with a blueish-white energy. "Kamehameh-AH!"
A blood-red hand appeared in the air before Gohan, gripping his throat and stretching impossibly far, slamming him into a building. Breathing closed off, Gohan choked, resisting the urge to claw at the hand gripping his throat. Focusing as sharply as he could, he took aim at the demon. He didn't have the breath to say the incantation, but all the same, the core of energy imploded in his hands, before bursting forth in the form of a devastating energy wave, on direct course with Janemba.
His vision of his foe was obscured in the blinding flash, but he was still able to see the rippling fabric of reality, well before his attack had connected. There was no detonation, as an identical blue energy appeared high in the sky…
Right above the downed demon king. Reality twisted again as the energy wave shot down from the heavens. Gohan's eyes bulged, cutting off the energy supply to the wave. "How could I have been stupid enough to forget?!" In the heat of the moment, he let his mind get clouded, and completely forgot about Janemba's rift opening. And his attack had been a killing shot, with a lot of his power behind it, meaning that if it struck… Dabura wasn't the only one that would be destroyed in the blast.
Again, he fought the instinct to claw at the grip on his throat, even as his vision began to blur, and braced himself to do what he needed to. Retracting his arm, he straightened it into a knife hand, and with his remaining reserves, formed a searing energy blade. With a swift motion, the blade turned, and he cut through Janemba's wrist with a flick of his own, severing the hand's grip on his neck.
Janemba howled in pain as his arm snapped back through the portal, holding the blunt stump. It would regenerate soon, but it gave Gohan the moment he needed. Discarding the severed hand from around his neck, he sprung forward, out towards the descending doomsday of his own creation. Racing against the clock, he channeled a storm of energy into his palm, reinforcing his flesh as he reached upwards to catch the blast.
And not a moment after he braced himself, the blast connected, striking his palm with a force he had rarely felt, the violent energy spraying out in all directions, the shockwave threatening to bowl him over while all the buildings in the area were blown apart, shattering like sugar cubes after the effort to preserve them during the long fight.
He sank into the ground, the force of his Kamehameha wave threatening to shatter his reserves as he used them to try and stop it. Dabura shifted beneath him, but he was still in no condition to help. The demon king had been turned into a pincushion by Janemba's mace. Vital areas had been avoided, but much of his torso was pieced, a kneecap was blown through, several lacerations wound around his arms, and even a part of his ear had been shot clean off.
His feel on the wave told him more about the risk. Perhaps he wouldn't have shattered the planet with the attack, but it would definitely blast the surrounding many miles to dust. The people of the city hadn't evacuated that long ago, most of, if not all of them, would likely still be in the blast radius. His wounds burned as he kept up the effort required to keep his beam at bay.
"If I can just keep this up for a few more moments…" he thought determinedly. "I cut off the energy flow, I just need to wait for it to run out." He ground his teeth tightly as he tapped deeper into his reserves to keep his barrier up.
There was a roar nearby, and his spirits dropped as he heard how much less pain was evident in the demon's call than before. The evil energy spiked and began rapidly moving towards him, and he barely had time to turn enough to see it coming before Janemba tackled him, evil smirk growing on his face.
Time seemed to slow down to a snail's pace for Gohan, the contact of the demon pushing him aside as he left the ground, being pushed by the momentum. His hand slid across the burning tip of the blast, which bore down onto the prone body of the demon king. Janemba's grin enlarged, pure maliciousness oozing from him as the blast prepared to detonate…
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
A stream of force, crashing through like a hurricane of energy, blasted past Gohan and Janemba, catching the pair's attention as it collided with the Kamehameha wave the instant before it force carried the attack with it turning skyward and slowly vanishing into the atmosphere.
Before either of them could react to what just happened, a large, yellow gloved hand smashed into Janemba's face, the cracking of his nose audible as he was sent reeling, growling and clutching at his nose.
The energy was especially hard to detect in the middle of the spatial anomalies in the area, but there was no mistaking who's hand that was. And with a thunderous footfall, he was proven right as the large Majin himself pulled up alongside Gohan… and he did not look happy.
"You bully Buu's friend?!" he asked angrily. "You NO bully Buu's friend! You bully Buu's friend, THEN BUU BULLY YOU!"
Reaching back, Buu's arm sailed forward again, Janemba barely catching the massive fist in his hands, but leaving himself open when Buu's foot came out of the ground, planting itself into Janemba's stomach, winding the demon. With a deep breath, Buu puffed up, and a high pitched whistle rang out alongside the force expelled, which crashed into Janemba just as he looked up, explosion ringing outwards.
Gohan blinked, staring at Buu's assault. "Wow, I thought that Buu lost a lot of his edge when he split from Kid Buu…" he murmured. He glanced downwards. "Hey, Dabura, how are you doing?"
"Peachy…" the demon king muttered. His eyes were closed, and his breathing shallow. He tensed, arms scraping at the ground, trying to get a firm hold, but the effort was abandoned shortly. "I love… dead weight…"
There was an explosive collision as Buu and Janemba crashed into each other. The subtle glances that Buu shot their way in the middle of the struggle spoke volumes of his purpose. The Majin was doing his best to give them a chance to rest and recover. He was landing many solid blows on Janemba with his massive fists and feet, but Janemba seemed to land twice as many attacks, his more combat-streamlined body giving him an advantage. Buu's drive was high, but his stamina didn't last as long as it did when he was whole.
Resting wasn't gonna do Gohan much good while he stayed a pincushion. Rather, his strength was slowly trickling away along with his blood. He allowed his energy to raise to a searing point, white aura flashing around him. Objectively, Buu was stronger than Dabura. There was a chance that if he and Buu fought together, they could overwhelm Janemba. That all depended on whether or not their strength and stamina lasted, though.
Gohan took off just as Janemba struck a heavy kick into Buu's rather large stomach. Janemba made to sledgehammer Buu down, hands clasping, and his eyes shifted to Gohan…
There was a ripple in the air between Buu and Janemba, and Gohan felt a tremendous impact strike him in the back, smacking him out of the air like swatting a fly. He bounced on the ground, hacking up blood and spit. While Janemba retracted his hands, Buu recovered, body stretching elastically and wrapping around the demon, squeezing tightly. Hands stretching wide, he reached out and began clapping around Janemba's head repeatedly. Every time his eyes were revealed as the large mitts retracted, he looked a little more dazed.
Gohan hacked as he stood back up, a splatter of blood coming out. "Alright, that one hurt" he groaned. He ran across the street, towards the two brawlers. "If I stay on the ground, he can't do quite as much damage to me with an attack like that" he reasoned, sprinting into the fray.
Buu's hands came off again, and a bloodcurdling sound rang out, an unholy, netherworldly shriek. The wave of force blew outwards, slamming into Gohan head on, as he barely held his ground, and Buu was blown apart, pieces of him plastering the buildings in the area. Janemba's mouth closed, and he took a deep breath as he locked eyes with Gohan once more.
His body behavior told Gohan a key piece of information. "He doesn't know that Buu's gonna regenerate!" he realized. His guard was completely focused towards him, nothing around or behind him, even as the pieces of Buu began wriggle. "But, that means that he's gonna come at me like a bat out of… well, technically, he is out of hell." Buu would take a couple moments to piece himself back together. As he recalled, his current form had slowest regeneration. It was still an amazing skill, but it was nothing compared to the evil Kid Buu's near instant regeneration speeds.
Raising his arm in a claw hand, Gohan assumed a defensive stance. He placed his weight heavily on his front foot, which would normally be a bad choice in fighting stance, but considering Janemba's abilities and his lack of a second functioning arm, he needed to keep his back foot light if he was to counter another portal attack.
Janemba jabbed a hand forward, causing Gohan to tense, but no attack came. Instead, he raised a single finger towards Gohan. Confused, Gohan saw Janemba bring his finger to the side, as it began to glow white. With a swift motion, Janemba moved his hand towards the otherside, an afterimage forming of the light, except, it didn't fade. A thin white line hung in the air, and as Janemba formed his hand back into a fist, Gohan got ready to take off.
With a fierce batting motion, the white object shattered, like glass, spreading into a maelstrom of dagger-like projectiles, not unlike the projectiles shot out of his mace. He formed a loose ball of ki in his hands and threw it as his feet. The energy exploded with more force than power, blasting Gohan into the air, narrowly avoiding the Lightning Shower Rain attack. Residual energy growing in his hand again, Gohan took aim, and made sure he was ready to move, before firing a Masenko down at the demon.
To his joy, it connected, detonating. Apparently, he had been unable to create a portal in time while performing his attack. His victory was short lived, however, as a flurry of glowing cubes formed in front of him, congealing back into Janemba, who had a rather deadly looking purple blast in his hands. Gohan hadn't the time to dodge as Janemba thrusted to blast into his chest, exploding and sending him crashing backwards, skipping across multiple rooftops, crashing through the railing of the last roof and barely stopping as his upper half hung down over the edge.
A red fist materialized in front of his upside-down face. He pulled up as fast as he could, barely avoiding the fist as it crashed through the building right beneath him, his foothold collapsing and sending him into a freefall.
He righted himself in the air, blasting back upwards to meet the demon as he careened towards him. Pumping his reserves into his fist, he launched forward to meet him. Gritting his teeth, he prepared to take a risk.
He swung wide and sideways as he approached. There was a tense moment where he was worried he had miscalculated, before Janemba began to dematerialize again. Letting the momentum of his heavy attack keep him going, he spun around, his punch returning full force as Janemba appeared behind him, satisfyingly cracking across his jaw and blasting him through a line of buildings.
He backpedaled, soaring backwards as he kept his eyes on the spot Janemba entered, leaving him off guard as he crashed into an unyielding body behind him. He didn't have a chance to turn around before a pair of large fists both crashed into his temples from both sides. He felt an immense pressure in his skull, eyes bulging, before a fierce kick to his back sent him flopping back onto the rooftop, dazed.
He moaned, trying to clear his vision, before becoming aware of green light shining over everything. He looked up, and a powerful looking core of energy was gathering in Janemba's mouth. He tried to move, but his back screamed out in pain, stunting his movement. Accepting his situation, orange energy began crackling around his good hand again. He took aim as best he could, his energy worryingly low, but it wasn't like he had any other options.
Both energies reached critical stages at the same time, and the powerful green blast rained down on Gohan, who kept gathering energy. "Come on, last moment…" he muttered, pouring more energy than he should be using at the moment into his hand, The energy was practically on top of him, and he prepared to fire. "MASE-"
A gargantuan beam of erratic purple energy shot from behind him, clashing with the attack and rapidly pushing it back. Janemba hadn't a moment to react as an explosion rocked the air with him at the center.
He felt a rough hand grip his shoulder and drag him up, and he turned around to a very shocking sight. "Vegeta?!" he exclaimed.
The prince's muscles were swollen to the extreme once again, his hair spiked blonde and bolts of energy zipping across his frame. He deflated before him, his energy dropping drastically with it. "Why am I not surprised that you knock me out, and I wake up to find you on the ground with some creature above you?" he growled.
He released Gohan, who summoned all his remaining strength to not crumple when he hit the ground. "This wasn't exactly planned" Gohan chuckled. "And besides, you missed Cell and Frieza by about ten minutes."
Vegeta's brow twitched, and he couldn't seem to decide whether or not Gohan was playing with him. "What?" he demanded.
"Long story short, big guy up there is breaking dimensions and brought all the enemies we've defeated back to life, but we put them back and then he came over from Hell" Gohan explained briefly.
Vegeta scowled, shaking his head. "If it wasn't for some of the crazy shit I've been involved in since I've met your pitiful planet, I wouldn't believe you."
Janemba roared from a ways away, smoke blown away as the force pushed against them, nearly knocking Gohan over. Vegeta turned towards the sound, a serious look upon his face. "This energy… it's overwhelmingly evil" he muttered.
The energy began moving towards them, Janemba flying through the air towards them. Vegeta bulked up slightly, his energy increasing with his size. Gohan raised his eyebrows. "So you did" he realized. "You found the second and third grades of Super Saiyan in the ascended state."
"It's the best substitute I can manage until I reach Super Saiyan 3" Vegeta muttered.
He had been much larger a moment ago when he saved Gohan, which meant he must be in the second grade right now. Vegeta was a battle genius, he had to give him that. The third grade had power well beyond the second, as he recalled his dad showing him, but it also burned through energy and stamina quicker, and sacrificed mobility. The second grade, however, barely affected agility at all, and wasn't much more difficult to maintain than the base state. He had used the third state for a moment where his mobility was not a factor in play, firing his Galick Gun attack.
Janemba neared, before a thick pink object wrapped around him, sending him sideways into the side of a building. The object wriggled, and Buu formed himself more completely around Janemba, beginning to strike him again.
"I see the Majin is here" Vegeta noted.
"Dabura's down there somewhere too" Gohan added.
Vegeta lost his composure momentarily as he looked at Gohan full on. "What?!" he asked.
"Apparently, dying changed him. He helped me take out everyone who escaped Hell, and prepared me and himself for Janemba to come here ahead of time" Gohan explained.
"If it wasn't for everything I've seen since-"
"Yeah, I know, caught me by surprise too" Gohan admitted.
Buu released Janemba, gaining some distance from the demon with a powerful Flame Shower Breath. Janemba took off after the Majin again, momentarily forgetting about the Saiyan duo on the rooftops.
"Stay here brat, you're not in any shape to do anything than get in the way" Vegeta demanded, taking off after Janemba.
Gohan felt like arguing, but the first step he took sent a bolt of pain through his back, so he figured that Vegeta's eye probably wasn't far off.
There was the sharp crack of stone cracking behind him, and he wheeled around, blast in his hands ready to fire, but stopped short at the bizarre sight before him.
A pink, bubble-gum like blob landed before him, before wriggling, forming into… a miniature Buu. Barely 2 feet tall, the small Buu was an exact replica of the larger one, scaled down.
"Buu?" he asked.
"Buu leave pieces apart to help!" Buu announced, voice even higher than before. "Big Buu fight meanie while small Buu help friends!"
Gohan looked curiously at Buu. "Help?" he asked.
Without talking, Buu held his arms out, hands splayed, and a glittery green energy began to wave. Gohan didn't have to wait very long to find out what was happening, as his strength gradually ebbed back into him, and his aches slowly faded. His shoulder seemed to heal far slower than anything else, but he could feel the rest of his body coming back together.
Looking down at the miniature Majin, he cracked a grin. "Buu, you're amazing!"
Vegeta soared high over the dueling duo beneath him, reaching back and gathering a violent core of power in his hands, ballooning until it was almost as big as he was. "Now DIE!" he roared, chucking the powerful blast straight into Janemba's back. There was a violent explosion, and Vegeta kept the gates opening, reaching back and unleashing a flurry of mighty blasts, heating the air and shaking the earth below.
Stemming his flow of energy, he dived, a flash of power flowing through his palm as he swung, feeling the blow connect, connect into flesh that felt far too soft…
"Damnit!" he roared as he accidentally spiked Buu down. The lack of burn marks affirmed that his earlier blast had at least hit his target. "Where did he-"
A disembodied fist collided with the side of his head, sending him wheeling through the air, ears ringing. The air shifted above him, and he reached up, just in time to grip another attack as it came towards him. He gave a mighty tug as his palm flattened, sparking energy. As Janemba fell through, he pressed into him directly, energy expanding. "BIG BANG ATTACK!" he roared, monstrous detonation sending the demon falling away.
He landed on the ground below, dashing towards the path the demon was falling in, reaching down to grab Majin Buu as he passed. Wheeling around, he chucked Buu at Janemba, who, to his own credit, caught on and righted himself to grab Janemba and slam him into the ground. Clasping his hands behind him, his body became cloaked in purple energy as his body swelled massively. "You'd better move, Buu! SUPER GALICK GUN!"
The added power of the third grade backing him, he launched an extremely powerful blast down at the demon. Buu bounced up, leaving a parting blow dazing Janemba enough to keep him from avoiding the attack as the purple plume flew up. The ground shook as several nearby buildings were blown away.
Shrinking, Vegeta jumped back in, only for a powerful grip to find its way around his throat. Janemba's arm stretched almost like Buu's were able to, claw cutting off his breath as he was pushed through the air, into a building. He clawed at the grip to no avail, choking as he tried to free himself.
A gust of wind blew past. "BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" the shriek sounded, and a pink energy wave careened into Janemba. As much as he despised being saved by Kakarot's signature move, Buu's Kamehameha caused him to release his throat. Bracing himself on the wall, he pushed off, launching himself towards Janemba, fist raised and guard up this time. Janemba sent a blast in his direction, but there was no focus to it. Charging his fist, he pierced the blast, and continued on, delivering a fierce blow to his skull, before gaining some distance.
Buu landed beside him, same silly grin plastered on his face. Vegeta scowled. "Hey, Buu, why are you smaller than normal?" he demanded.
"Buu help friends" Buu answered.
"What do you mean by-"
A storm of dagger like attacks darted through the air. Vegeta swore and jumped up into the air, almost avoiding them all, but having his shin get pierced clean through. "GAH!" he shouted. The attack went cleanly through, sawing through his bone as easily as his skin. Buu, on the other hand, took the full brunt of the attack, but his unique body allowed him to take no damage from the attack, each dart going right through him without so much of a flinch, holes fitting themselves back together the moment the attacks went through.
Vegeta gripped his forearm for bracing as he took aim at Janemba with a splayed hand, violent energy within. "Atomic Blast!"
The thin ray of energy darted forward, directly at the demon, who raised his hands. The air rippled, and his attack vanished inside it.
"What in the-" Vegeta exclaimed, before he was tackled to the ground, just as his own attack reappeared overhead, flashing through the sky. He looked down. "BRAT?"
Gohan stood up, able to move much easier, though his arm still wasn't responding well. "Buu managed to heal me a good bit of the way." He clenched his good hand tightly. "I can fight again."
His other arm attempted to clench, only twitching. He looked down in annoyance, but got over it. "Buu's ability to heal must have been reduced since he was only a small part of himself" he reasoned. "Listen, Vegeta, this thing is dangerous. He can manipulate objects, open rifts and portals to send his own attacks through and send our own blasts back. You can't just go in throwing full firepower, he'll send it right back and take us down."
Vegeta scowled. "Then what do you recommend?" he asked.
"I think I've noticed something" he said. "Janemba needs his hands to direct and open his portals." He kept a wary eye on the demon as he was in another phase of watching. Gohan's re-arrival appeared to have confused him. "Good, maybe that'll give Dabura a chance to get back up." He looked back to the Saiyan prince. "Here's what I think. He can't redirect melee range attacks. We use those to wear him out. Then, we can catch him off guard, and restrain him. Two of us do that, while the last one charges an attack to finish Janemba off."
Vegeta's scowl became one of the more thoughtful variety. "Sounds like a variant of the plan I had for Kakarot to defeat Buu back on the Kai's world" he mused. "It could work, though I can't get a proper read on this creature… Janemba?"
"Yeah, Janemba" Gohan nodded.
"I can't get a read on the bastard's power enough to know how much force is necessary to take it down."
Gohan looked down at his hand. "Honestly? I think that at full strength, I'm more powerful than he is." He looked back up. "In terms of raw power, anyways, but he has so many special abilities at make him incredibly dangerous to fight."
Janemba roared, charging them, but Buu got in his path, once again bowling Janemba to the side as their struggle resumed.
Gohan gave Vegeta a serious gaze. "I think it's best if I'm the one who delivers the blow to finish them off. Not that I don't doubt your power-" he said as Vegeta opened his mouth angrily. "-but more so that I don't trust that you can focus your Final Flash enough to kill Janemba but not kill us in the process. On the other hand, I'm certain I can condense my Super Kamehameha wave to leave the rest of you unharmed. My ki control's been a lot better ever since the Old Kai unlocked my potential, I can do this."
With a frown, Vegeta appeared to concede. "Your argument is sound, BUT, you'd better tag out of the battle as soon as that thing begins to tire. We're probably only going to get one shot at this, and you better have your attack charged and ready to fire by the time we have him down."
Gohan nodded, and opened his mouth to agree, when a third voice cut him off. "Or, we could give him the extra time to make it a guarantee and let me take his place."
Vegeta wheeled around, and Gohan allowed a smile to grace his face. "Dabura!" he exclaimed.
The king of the Demon Realm had definitely been better. He looked somewhat drained, and many of his more serious wounds looked more like freshly scabbed flesh than healed, but he was standing, and moving much easier. Vegeta looked rather angrily at him. "So, the brat was telling the truth, you're here too."
Dabura's hand shot out to the side, dark flames enveloping into his Demon Sabre. Rather than fade though, the flames continued to lick across his body, enshrouding him in a dark blaze, as the flames seemed to change from proper fire to more of an energy. "Without a second functioning limb, that technique of yours is much less potent, which means you need the additional time to charge and make up the difference" Dabura said objectively. "I'll stand in for you, between me, the Prince, and the Majin, we'll get Janemba restrained."
"Like Hell we need you" Vegeta spat. "Don't think I forget what happened the last time I was near you" he said as he jerked a thumb towards his forehead.
"You mean when the two of us were both under Babidi's will? And when you willingly succumbed to the dark desires in your heart?" Dabura asked firmly, effectively shutting Vegeta up. "If you want to prove that you've banished that darkness, as I have, then you will fight to protect this world and the worlds beyond from this creature."
Without waiting for a response from the proud Saiyan, Dabura charged in, a pink blob soon flying past them after him. Vegeta gripped his fist tightly. "That… Damn…" he wheeled back to Gohan. "Start charging, brat, we haven't a moment to waste for you to gawk!"
Vegeta's aura burst to life as he charged into the heat of the combat as well. His words resonated inside Gohan, and he agreed fullheartedly. He braced himself on the top, and reached his hand back.
"Kaaaaaaaaaaaa…"
The pink blob slammed into Buu, who grew slightly larger as it absorbed into him. In the moment it took to do so, however, Janemba landed a heavy blow, sending him tumbling backwards, as Dabura and Vegeta darted around, coming down on Janemba like a pincer. Janemba took to the air, avoiding Dabura's low cutting attack, and meeting Vegeta's furious blows head on, catching, clashing, and batting his attacks away.
Janemba's knee came up, striking hard into Vegeta's stomach, causing the Saiyan prince to retch and fall, but Dabura rose up from behind him and unleashed a torrent of Evil Flames, crashing into Janemba's back and searing his armor and skin black. Janemba whirled around, finger extended, a white line tracing through the air. Sensing danger, Dabura backpedaled, as Janemba swiped and sent a storm of dagger-like attacks his way.
He dropped like a stone to avoid the attack, and discarded his sword, spear forming in each hand. "I'm ready this time, you won't get a chance to use these against us" he promised. The power of his Demonic Will seeped into the spears, empowering them. "Are you ready, monster?!" he roared, his battlecry. "Meteo Lance Slicer!"
He tossed both spears simultaneously. Janemba dodged them, but he expected that. His demonic conjuration went into overdrive, giving him a seemingly endless supply of spears to cast. Janemba avoided several, but at least one managed to pierce him for every two that missed. Janemba began slowing down, the more he was punctured, and a final one dead through his chest caused him to stagger.
Bringing his sword back, Dabura charged, cutting right past the demon, sword flashing through his flesh, before he twisted around and unleashed another stream of Evil Flames, consuming Janemba's body entirely, and destroying all the spear shafts in him.
Vegeta and Buu shot up from beneath him, Buu tackling Janemba from behind with full force while Vegeta's fist buried itself in Janemba's chest, trapping the demon between the two forceful attacks. Vegeta let out a roar as he channeled a blast into him, unleashing it point blank and sending Janemba crashing down towards the street.
"This thing may have combat smarts, to an extent, but it appears to have great trouble when focusing on more than one threat at a time" Vegeta commented. "The more of us come at it, the poorer it's able to respond."
Vegeta dived, hands first, and prepared to deliver a ground-pounded blow. He was grabbed, however, and dragged through a portal, as Janemba saw the attack coming. Swinging him around, Janemba smashed him into the ground with full force. If it hadn't been for the padding Vegeta's extra bulk offered, his back may have been snapped.
Janemba prepared to stomp on Vegeta's stomach when Dabura appeared in front of him, hand outstretched before him. Before the demon could respond, Dabura unleashed his own point-blank blast, directly into the demon's face, a satisfying roar ringing up. Buu meteored down, coming down on top of Janemba and crushing him beneath.
Dabura looked up and saw the violent blue glow down the street. "It's time" he roared to the others. As Janemba threw Buu off of him, Dabura raced up behind him and grabbed ahold of his arms. The black flames licked down his wrists and onto Janemba's, forming a pair of shackled out of the blackest of metals. The demon struggled still, and Dabura gripped on tight, not allowing him to get the required leverage. "Buu, help me restrain him!" he called.
"Buu do!" the Majin called, rushing over, body stretching elastically. He wrapped around Janemba like a straightjacket before snapping off, falling to the ground and regenerating the flesh that kept the demon still.
Vegeta walked up beside him, blast ready in his hands, warily. "I see you are ready to sacrifice yourself to keep him in the line of fire?"
Janemba roared and continued to struggle, bucking Dabura around as he nodded. "I was always going to return once my job here was done" he said simply.
That was answer enough for Vegeta, as he gave a curt nod. The energy blast in his hands softened, and he took aim, firing it at Dabura. Rather than explode, it absorbed into Dabura's own aura, strengthening it. "To help make sure he doesn't escape at the last moment" he muttered.
Janemba still struggled, but Dabura's grip tightened as the extra power flowed through him, and the resistance felt slightly lessened. "Thank you, Prince" he acknowledged. "Please, if my sister ever comes looking for me, do you think you could tell her where I am, why I'm there?"
Vegeta gave a barking laugh. "YOU have a sister?" he asked.
"You'll know her when you see her, if she ever comes here" Dabura assured him, nearly being bucked off from a particularly violent jump from Janemba. "You must go, tell the boy to fire!" he commanded.
No other words were exchanged between the two as Vegeta took off down the street, and Buu backed up from the the demon and the demon king.
The energy became enormous in his hands as Vegeta charged towards him. He looked up, and Vegeta wheeled around him. "He's holding him as well as he can with assistence from the Majin, fire the blast, brat!"
Gohan looked down the street. He nodded, shaking from the amount of power he had gathered. His hand twitched back further. "Meeeeeeeeeeee…" he chanted, preparing to finish the attack.
"This is the blow that will do it, destroy the monster that's been responsible for so much destruction today" Gohan thought with determination. "Anyone who's been hurt, and Piccolo's death, he'll do no more!"
"THIS ENDS NOW!"
The blast in his hands reached critical mass, and he thrust his hand forward. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The energy exploded outwards, it taking all of Gohan's control over energy manipulation to keep him from anihalating half the city with just the sheer scope the blast wanted to expand do. The beam bore down on Janemba and Dabura, the street turning molten as it passed over it…
Then a portal appeared right in the path of the blast.
A massive energy surge was forced out of the portal, and his beam was redirected, high into the sky. Gohan's eyes widened. "That's not what happens normally!"
He cut off the flow to the beam, letting the light fade, and the sight that met his eyes socked more air out of him than Janemba ever had.
Violent golden aura shaking the street, cascading blonde hair sweeping downwards, and piercing, angry eyes met his own. Gohan's arm lowered, as he stared at the last sight he expected to see here.
"D-Dad?!" he exclaimed.
"Wh- Kakarot?!" Vegeta shouted.
Goku looked out of breath as he stood there. Behind him, two other figures emerged, both sporting green skin. One, he didn't recognize, wearing what almost appeared to be Egyptian garb. Piccolo emerged beside him, the small grin he sent his way shocking him out of his stupor.
"Sorry if I'm late" Goku chuckled, his voice deeper, as it did when he was in his Super Saiyan 3 state.
Even as they stood on the street, the halos hanging over their heads vanished, and their bodies, while not transparent before, seemed to solidify fully into the world. "Where's Janemba?" Goku asked.
"He'd be dead IF YOU DIDN'T INTERRUPT THE KILLING BLOW!" Vegeta bellowed. "You imbecile, Kakarot, your son used all his energy in that attack, and you sent it away!"
Gohan frowned. He hadn't used ALL of his power, but he was definitely not feeling as hot as he had been after being healed by Buu. He had tapped a lot of his reserves dry, so he was reluctantly agreeing with what Vegeta was saying.
Goku shook his head. "No, Vegeta, this is good, we can't just kill him" he told him.
Gohan started. "What do you mean we can't kill him?" he asked. "He's destroying reality as we know it, we have to stop him!"
"You guys don't get it, Janemba isn't just some mindless monster" Goku said.
The unknown arrival stepped forward. "If you simply annihilate Janemba, you'll be taking an innocent life with it" he said. "Janemba isn't the demon itself, Janemba is a collection of evil energy attatched to a soul, congealed into this form."
There was a mighty roar, and Janemba broke free. The newcomer swore. "Damnit. Goku, explain the situation to them. Piccolo, lets go stall until they have something."
"Right, be careful Pikkon, I won't be there to get you back here if you get killed" Goku warned. "You too, Piccolo."
Pikkon nodded. Piccolo gave Goku a thumbs up, before the two turned and launched down the street, where Buu and Dabura were being blasted back by Janemba.
Vegeta growled. "Alright, Kakarot, whatever it is, spill it! What did the green man two-point-oh mean about an innocent life?"
There was a bright flash of light as Goku dropped into his base form, breathing hard. "There's a lot to explain, so I'll try to be brief" he said.
Yemma's Palace (Flashback)
"What do you mean that you can't take us?"
Kibito Kai stood there, looking worried. He had arrived shortly before the trio before him did. "Reality is too unstable for my Instantaneous Movement. It works by cutting through space and jumping to the point on the other end of the cut, but everything is working too weird right now for it to work."
"So we're stuck here while Janemba is terrorizing the mortal plane" Pikkon huffed. "This couldn't get much-"
"Don't finish that sentence, the surest way to make something get worse is to finish that phrase" Piccolo muttered.
Kibito Kai looked back at Goku. "I can't get you there, no, but you could."
"I already tried, my Instant Transmission can't get a read on the planet" Goku complained.
"No, I mean you could do what the boys did" he urged. "And what Buu did." He looked uncomfortable. "As dangerous as it is, I'd wager that Janemba is a bigger threat than a Vice Shout."
"Vice Shout?!" Pikkon exclaimed. "I thought that technique was a thing of legend."
"It mostly is, just because for the last several millenia, there haven't been many legends capable of pulling it off" Kibito Kai said.
Goku crossed his arms. "I kinda remember what they did, they just powered up and screamed, right?"
"They went to their maximum and poured their actual power into their voice, enough to pierce reality" he explained. "If Piccolo and Pikkon lend you power to your Super Saiyan 3 form, I'm sure you can pull it off."
"Alright, then that's what we'll do" Goku nodded. "Come on, you two, we need to destroy Janemba before he can do any more damage to the… well, everything."
The two approached Goku as he began powering up, but a booming voice went over them. "WAIT JUST A MOMENT, YOU THREE" Yemma yelled. "You honestly expect to charge right back in without knowing what you're truely up against?"
End Flashback
"Yemma explained it to us" Goku said. "There's something called a Soul Cleansing Machine in Otherworld. Whenever someone dies, they have to get ran through it. It basically siphons off all the darkness attatched to one's soul from the evil deeds they've done, so that the soul can hold together longer when in Otherworld." He rubbed the back of his head. "Apparently, the afterlife usually lasts between five and ten thousand years before your spirit deteriorates enough that you truely pass on."
"Get to the point, Kakarot" Vegeta growled, eyes never leaving the fight happened a ways away.
"Right!" Goku apologized. "Anyways, apparently, some destruction god thing is supposed to come around sometimes and destroy all the collected evil essense, since that's the only way to get rid of it permanently. Though, this guy hasn't been seen in about 35 years, so there was that much buildup there."
"This morning, Buu was sent through the machine. Everyone in Yemma's office thought they were prepared, but they were wrong…" those words sent shivers down Gohan's spine. "Buu's essence overloaded the machine. His soul came through alright, but the amount of darkness it had caused the machine to overload, causing an explosion that also set all the other evil essence free, and it all collected on the nearest living thing." Goku frowned. "A young ogre was taken over by the evil energy and turned into Janemba."
"The darkness used him as a host, and the darkness was brought directly from the villains we've fought since the last time the energy was dumped…"
"Thirty-five years?" Vegeta asked. He growled thoughtfully. "That would place it having last been cleaned merely 2 years after Frieza wiped out our race…"
"Yeah, which means that basically everyone we've fought since near our beginnings was a part of the evil that birthed this thing" Goku said. "Some of the strongest evils may even lend traits, Yemma said."
Gohan gasped. "Is that why I noticed that he looked a little bit like Cell, Buu, and Frieza?" he asked.
"Probably, Yemma didn't get too specific on that part" Goku shrugged.
"The history lesson is fascinating, Kakarot, but that doesn't change the fact that the ogre is now a demon, one that needs to be put down like a rabid dog" Vegeta said sharply.
"Wait, didn't you listen at all?" Goku asked. "The darkness is just using him as a host, if we can just destroy the darkness, then he'll be unharmed."
"Oh? And how do you suppose we just destroy an intangible force?" Vegeta asked. "I don't suppose that you have a plan for that?"
Goku looked Vegeta dead in the eyes. "As a matter of fact, Vegeta, I do…" he said coldly. "But I need your guys' help, big time." He looked between Gohan and Vegeta. "Do you guys remember the Spirit Bomb?" he asked.
Gohan nodded. "Yeah, of course" he said. "It's not like you used it just a month ago to wipe out the terror of the universe" he added silently.
"Are you implying that a Spirit Bomb wouldn't completely erradicate this thing, host and all?" Vegeta asked, the idea laughable.
Goku shook his head. "No, it totally would. But, I've been working hard in Otherworld, and part of that is, I've been trying to develop my own techniques." He raised his hand. "The Spirit Bomb is extra effective against dark energies, but can be used on anyone. I had the idea to take the idea of that part of the Spirit Bomb, and turn it into an attack that only targets the dark energy in a person. That way, if I fought someone like Frieza again, I could completely destroy their ability to fight without having to kill them, just by killing the evil intwined with their power."
Gohan looked at his father. "Wow, Dad, that's an amazing idea" he admitted.
"But…" Goku continued. "It's a really tricky technique to get down. I have the basis, but I haven't been able to get the power of energy control that I need to properly use it, not on my own."
Vegeta snarled. "Kakarot, are you leading us in circles with useless information on purpose?" he demanded.
"Vegeta, this isn't useless information, I know how to get the necessary power and control to use it" Goku said. He looked towards Gohan. "Gohan, this may be a little weird, but you're less likely to turn this down than he is." Raising a fist, he he clenched it tight, and looked at his son dead in the eye. "Son, if we fuse, my knowledge combined with our fused body will be more than enough to take Janemba down on the spot, and save the ogre he took. What do you say?"
Gohan wasted no time in nodding. "Yeah, of course Dad" he said.
Goku smiled. "Alright son, I'm gonna walk you through the motions real fast, alright?" he said. "We have to synchronize our powers first, then do this…" Goku demonstrated the Fusion Dance, how he swung his arms around, twisted, then leaned in. "Alright, are you ready… What's wrong?"
A pit formed in Gohan's stomach as he watched the movements, and something dawned on him. "Dad…" he muttered. He tried to move his left arm, but it was still mostly unresponsive. "My arm's shot, how am I supposed to do the dance with that?"
Goku's face paled. "You… You can't" he said bluntly. "So… Vegeta-"
"YOU ARE NEVER CONVINCING ME TO STRIKE THAT POSE, CLOWN!" Vegeta immediately roared.
Goku's face went from pale shock to red anger in the span of a second. "And here I was thinking you had gotten over your pride" he scowled. "Vegeta, are you honestly willing to let Janemba tear the universe apart, killing your wife and son in the process, especially knowing that he can go to Otherworld anytime he wants, and obliterate their spirits there as well?"
Vegeta opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. A couple more times showed the same result. The fourth time he opened his mouth, a barely audible phrase was whispered out. "Fine…" he muttered. "I'll do the damned dance, but just this one time."
"If we do this right, one time is all we need" Goku affirmed. Vegeta didn't seem that assured by Goku's attitude, but he walked up beside Goku all the same.
"So how is this energy attack performed?" Vegeta asked.
"Don't worry, when we fuse, our knowledge becomes shared by the new body" Goku said. "He'll know exactly how to do it."
Seeming satisfied enough, Vegeta, almost blushing, threw his arms out to the side, Goku mirroring.
"Fuuuuuuuuuu…" the pair chanted, shuffling towards each other while bringing their arms over.
They swung their arms back around, pivoting on the spot. "-Sion…"
The infitesmal moment seemed to last an eternity. Down the street, Janemba had Piccolo by the throat. Dabura looked to be out cold, and Pikkon and Buu were regrouping. They were getting slaughtered.
"HA!"
The blinding light emmenated outwards, searing Gohan's skin and blinding him with the sheer radience of it. Within the display, he felt his father's energy and Vegeta's energy blending together, each one distinct within the field at first, until it became something new… something tremendous.
The light broke away, breaking off into the air, and Gohan lowered his hand, uncovering his eyes to the sight before him.
A blazing, golden aura, roared around him like an inferno, the force of the power in it almost overwhelming at such a close range. Unlike Vegito, the warrior's clothing was not a hybrid of what the two had been wearing before. Rather, they wore baggy white pants, with a blue sash tied around them. The Metamoran Fusion vest adorned their torso, sporting a black and orange color scheme, as opposed to Gotenks' blue and yellow one. Simple black boots with a blue wrapping rested on their feet, and a rather durable black arm band on each wrist.
The new warrior stood slightly taller than his dad, and donned a face halfway between his dad's serious face and Vegeta's normal scowl. His hair was spiked and blonde, being in the Super Saiyan state, and that's what surprised him.
The two of them were only at the first level of Super Saiyan, yet their power was overwhelming. It completely outclassed anything else he had ever felt. He looked up. "Who… Are you?" he asked.
The warrior looked down at him. "A fusion of your father and the prince" he said, his voice a rich blend of the tones both warriors possessed. "I am neither Goku, nor Vegeta. I am Gogeta!"
Gogeta turned his back on Gohan, facing the fight down the street. Janemba still seemed to be busy choking Piccolo, when a just of wind pushed Gohan back. Gogeta moved from the spot impossbily fast. It was more than just an afterimage from speed. Janemba staggered back, multiple strikes shattering his chestplate before Gogeta even seemed to vanish from the spot, appearing behind the demon.
Janemba wheeled around to face the fused warrior, and was met with a fierce kick that sent him flying across the street (if it could really be called a street at this point, with so much of it molten and destroyed).
Gogeta flipped through the air, coming down on Janmeba and delivering a powerful stomp to the downed creature. Janemba's hand moved up, going through a portal and crashed right into Gogeta's face. The warrior didn't move, the attack striking him dead on without making him flinch. Picking up the demon, Gogeta punched him out of his hands, causing the demon to stagger to his feet while falling back from the attack.
Before Janemba could move again, Gogeta slammed into him, knee striking him across the jaw as Gogeta flipped backwards in a dazzling flourish of power. Landing lightly, he raised his hand, a glittering energy taking form there.
"This is the power that will destroy you, Janemba" Gogeta's voice echoed. "Every force you create has an echo, and so your own energy will be your undoing!"
Janemba looked like a tiger backed into a corner, and he reacted like one too. As Gogeta threw the attack into Janemba, he rushed him, and attempted to throw another attack, but the resounding CRACK that sounded told the tale of Janemba being batted away.
The demon tried to stand up again, but something was happening. Light began emmenating from within Janemba, bursting free. The demon's armor shattered completely, evaporating into the sky, as Janemba himself began to pixilate, much as he had done before, but he could go anywhere. A roar of torment and anguish echoed across the streets as Janemba collapsed, fading…
And in his spot? A young boy, who could have passed for a teenage human if his skin wasn't bright red and if not for the two small horns in his head. The young ogre seemed to be out cold.
The planet's energy began to shift and phase all around Gohan, and he suddenly felt very disoriented, being at the center of it. "What's going on?!" he called out.
"Relax, Gohan" Gogeta commanded. "With the evil energy destroyed, Janemba's influence is fading. This is the universe's walls trying to reconstitute themselves, nothing more." The warrior looked up. "A lot of damage has been done, we can only hope that it can completely right itself."
He gasped, and Gohan's eyes shot to the warrior as a shocked look flashed across his face. There was another flash of light as Gogeta's form seemed to be severed in half. When the light faded, Vegeta was lying in a heap on the ground. Gohan was about to rush over and check when Vegeta pushed himself up, muttering something about "never again."
But Goku was nowhere to be seen, sensed, heard, or anything otherwise. Gohan looked around for his father, but didn't see him anywhere. On top of that, Piccolo, Dabura, and Pikkon were nowhere in sight either. The only warriors that remained in the battlefield were himself, Vegeta, and Buu.
"Yeah, I suppose you've deserved that much, let him know what's going on."
The voice boomed across the street, as Gohan looked for the source. It was nasally and somewhat unfamiliar. The next voice, however, not so much.
"Heya, Gohan. Sorry about that" the sound of Goku's voice came down.
"Dad? Where are you?" Gohan asked.
"Back in Otherworld, with King Kai and everyone else" Goku said, as Gohan now recongized the first voice as King Kai's.
Vegeta looked up at the voice too. "I suppose that means everything's over then?" he asked.
"Yeah, with Janemba gone, the universe has tried to reestablish its balance" the nasally voice of King Kai came through again. "Unfortunately, that also meant total recall on those who had tipped the balance during it. Goku, Piccolo, Pikkon, and Dabura all got swept back here the moment the universe was ready to raise the walls between life and death."
Gohan frowned. "Wait, Piccolo's there too? Why?"
"The universe could recall the dead souls that came back to life. But lives lost at the hands of the villains who escaped aren't as reversable" Piccolo's own voice came through.
"Sorry about you getting caught in this, Piccolo" Goku apologized. "But hey, I'm sure the Namekians wouldn't mind bringing you back when I come back. I'm sure they want to look out for their own, after all."
"Namekians are too peaceful to have a thought process like that" Piccolo retorted. "However, I'm hopeful that they'll be happy to amend that wish."
Gohan's post-battle euphoria was wearing off. "So you're stuck in Otherworld for four more months?" he asked.
"Sorry, kid, we aren't doing this just to torture you, this is just the way the laws of the universe work" King Kai apologized. "Look at it this way though, you're getting some major brownie points for whenever you reach the end of your line… Er, I know it doesn't sound like a big comfort now, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it when it happens."
He was right, it wasn't much of a comfort. And even less comforting, the adreneline from the fight was wearing off, and the pain he had suddenly multiplied tenfold. Energy left his knees as he fell forward, a rough hand catching him before he could faceplant the ground. "Come on, brat, you've fought well today, you need to go rest" Vegeta's gruff voice a bit softer.
The last thing Gohan remembered before blacking out was the feeling of taking to the air, and hearing his father's voice, one last time.
"I'm so proud of you, Gohan."
Kame House
Krillin peered into the sky, sweat finally beginning to stop pouring. "All that big evil energy, it just vanished" he sighed. "That's a good thing too, the planet felt pretty strained there for a while."
"Still does" 18 commented neutrally, rocking Marron in her arms. "The energy of the planet is barely holding together right now, it seems like. Almost as if something is forcing it to stay intact."
"I feel that, and I'd wager Dende is really making Kami proud right now" Krillin nodded.
"Good, if people are proud and things are holding together…" another voice said lowly.
Krillin flinched as the two of them slowly turned around, face to face with the blazing blue eyes of one angry Satan.
"...Do you mind telling us exactly WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!"
And scene. Whew boy, that was a long one.
I know I say this every time, but sorry for the long update time. It's been almost two months since the last one, and I've been busy. Plus, sometimes I have trouble writing long fight scenes, and this? This is probably the longest straight fight scene I've ever written.
I hope you all enjoyed my lore expansion on Janemba. He's always been my favorite villain, design and concept wise, but was never really expanded. I figured I could open up on his lore, and his abilties. Hopefully my giving him the ability to craft more than just the Dimension Sword came off as a good idea. If not, well, you don't have to deal with it again.
This is the end to the first major arc in my story. There will be some wind down from here, and some plot advancements after, but as long as you guys enjoyed this first hurdle, I'm satisfied.
Now, before I end the story's dozenth chapter, I'll respond to reviews real quick.
Nickadiny - indeed I did, I worked hard to make sure it would be ready by that exact date.
Tsukimine12 - hopefully that answers your question, and hopefully it wasn't a predictable path to it
Calen - this is a Z story
Zfj - Fusion Reborn was a stop I rarely see get taken in any stories, I wanted to break the mold at least a little bit in that way
Intata - it wouldn't be DBZ without the world shaking baddies, but don't worry, they aren't gonna be the main focus of the story
With that, well, it's done guys. The first arc has been complete, and when the enxt chapter comes up, there will be aftermath.
But that's all in the future. For now, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please drop a review and maybe follow my story while you're at it if you haven't (I'm so flattered guys, and a little daunted. You've already pushed me to the position of 18th most followed story on the site!), and I will see you all next time!