SSV/N: Obviously this is super, super late. I'm really sorry about that! I was just in a particularly long funk and the weather wasn't helping. I'll do my best to get the next chapter out much quicker.

Chapter Hundred-twenty-five

Behold, Super Saiyan 3! Too Little, Too Late?!

Babidi had all of his father's memories. He knew what Bibidi had seen. He knew that Majin Boo was the single most powerful entity of destruction and chaos to ever be born into the universe. He had personally watched him slay a God and knew that he'd killed three more. He'd seen him destroy the Kaioushin and her champion this very day, with his own eyes.

So who was this golden woman with her insane hair and how was she battering him senseless?!

Majin Boo came screaming back over the horizon when he'd recovered from Goku's opening punch, right into a lightning-fast kick from Goku that hit him with a thunderous crack. Boo rebounded from the impact thanks to his rubbery consistency and tried to fire back with a punch, windmilling his arm back to give it plenty of windup, but Goku stopped him in his tracks with a left hook that caved in his head. It popped back into its proper shape and Majin Boo retaliated with a kick of his own, catching Goku in the ribs. She took the blow head-on and fired a ki blast into Boo's stomach, blowing a chunk out of it and sending him hurtling back. Boo had barely begun to recoil when Goku pursued with a dropkick so fast it made the air around her sizzle. Boo rebounded from the attack and retaliated with lightning-fast punches, the kind of blows that had incapacitated Gohan and Vegeta in one hit, but Goku was dodging them all. With every blow she avoided, she paid Boo back in kind tenfold, creating craters in his smooth, gelatinous pink form. Each hit seemed to be harder than the last as Majin Boo, great and horrible terror of the cosmos, was completely defenseless. Steam whistled out of Boo's holes once again and he seemed to grow stronger but even the hits that Goku actually took didn't even seem to be slowing her down.

Goku had only transformed into Super Saiyan 3 once before, to test the limits of her power and see if she could do it, to try and break the through the barrier she could feel within her mind. She'd never actually used it in combat before. It was incredible. It was like some primal part of her had been awakened again. It crashed over her like a tidal wave, pulling her down into a sea of fury and power that she'd never imagined. She moved effortlessly, like a wild animal, a force of nature. She snarled at the impact of every blow Boo dealt her and responded with instant ferocity, striking on instinct, lashing out with punches and kicks without even needing to think. This wasn't a fighter's instinct, brought on by years of training and work until it was ingrained in the muscle and the bone. This was a lower kind of instinct. The reactions of her body to the fight, primal and pure.

Majin Boo was the perfect opponent to discover her new combat capabilities on since he was a literal giant punching bag. Especially since, with every hit he took, he made an almost-comical high-pitched cry. When Goku sidestepped one of Boo's wild swings, she grabbed him by the antenna with one hand as the other hand delivered a counterpunch. Boo went flying out before the elasticity of his antenna pulled him back to Goku, who smacked him away again with a kick, then another, then an elbow and a palm and a punch. The eldritch, unstoppable destroyer of worlds and slayer of gods was being turned into a giant paddleball.

As Babidi watched on in horror, he realized belatedly that his spell was still in effect and the entire world, who he'd hoped to cow into submission, was watching all of this.

OoOoOoO

"Yeah, Goku!" Upa cheered while Iris and Mai hooped and hollered as Mercury did his best to mimic Goku's punches and kicks as he saw them in his mind. "That's it! Give it to 'im!"

OoOoOoO

"Man," Lazuli murmured in shock. "Nice to know Goku hasn't been taking it easy the last seven years, huh?" Marron was trembling in her arms and pressing herself into her mother's chest, not that different from the first time she'd seen a hurricane.

"Holy cow," Shouronpo whispered, her eyes wide with awe and wonder. "Aunt Goku's awesome!" As she and Ocha had only seen Goku one or two times since they'd been born, she'd never seen her in action, only hearing stories from their dad. She was the best!

"Come on, Goku!" Suno growled through clenched teeth as she balled up her fists. "Hit the son of a bitch! Make him pay!" Goten gasped when she heard her mother swear, but was too excited to remind her about the swear jar back at the house. She was actually getting to watch her mom fight, really fight! It was so cool! Her mom was the best fighter ever!

OoOoOoO

Boo's antenna slipped out of Goku's fingers and he was sent reeling back, spinning and tumbling through the air before he managed to catch himself. He glared at Goku before it turned into a grin. She was strong. Really strong! Stronger than anyone he could remember! This was really fun! He reached back and swung an arm forward in a huge punch, his arm shooting out across the sky to strike at Goku. She evaded the blow and the follow-up cross from his other telescoping hand before she began to fly up further into the air. Before she could go too high, however, Boo's long arms reached up and he grabbed her in his yellow oven mitts. He shot forward like a rubber band and headbutted Goku in the face with a terrible crash, sending her reeling back.

Goku wiped a hand under her nose and saw blood when she brought her hand away. She felt her pulse pound faster and grinned at Majin Boo, a primal fire burning brightly in her green eyes. Now they were getting somewhere! "Is that all you got?" she asked as she flew at Boo. She kept up her relentless assault of punches and kicks, swarming all over him and battering him from every direction. But now that Majin Boo seemed to know what he was dealing with, he was able to hit Goku back, as if he'd just been playing before, and his blows were starting to hurt. But the pain only made Goku fight harder as she swam deeper down into that ocean of power and primal energy. Something was tickling at the back of her mind, but she ignored it as she pushed deeper into the fight. What else could be more important than battle?!

Boo attacked with wild, windmilling punches and Goku managed to evade some of them, but others were getting through. She grit her teeth and took the blows head-on, retaliating with punishing punches of her own. Majin Boo tried his hand at a couple of kicks, but since his legs were so stubby, he either had to stretch his legs out or throw his whole body into them to get any momentum behind them. Because of this, Goku was able to avoid them and counter with kicks and knees to the enormous target that was Boo's stomach. Because of this, Boo learned and adapted quickly, sticking to punches and ki blasts.

"Boo make you candy!" Boo shouted as his antenna whipped forward and a crackle of pink lightning shot out at Goku. She wasn't sure what the heck that meant or what that lightning would do to her but she wasn't in any mood to find out. She evaded one blast of lightning, and then another, and after a third, she closed the distance and kneed him in the face. Boo retaliated with a series of punches. It was okay that he'd missed. He still hadn't decided what kind of candy he wanted her to be yet. Maybe… nougat? Maybe licorice? Ooooh, maybe the ice cream with the gumball eyes!

"Come on!" Goku taunted even as one of Majin Boo's right hooks made her head snap to one side. "Show me what you're really made of!" Her eyes were burning as she gave Boo an uppercut with such force that his entire body caved in down the middle. Boo flipped and floated away before he regenerated and, to her surprise, actually brought his hands out to his sides, stretching his arms out wide. Pink lightning raced up and down his arms as ki gathered in his mitt-wearing hands. Then he slammed his hands together as the ki ball grew and grew in size, sparking and flaring like a small star.

"Final Flash!" Boo roared out in his high-pitched voice, the pink blast roaring toward Goku. She balled up her fists as lightning ran along her body, putting some extra ki into it as she swung her hands upward and smashed the blast, sending it high up into the sky where it disappeared.

"Not bad!" Goku retorted, her voice still a growl. "Now let me show you how it's done!" She brought her hands over to her side and Boo watched expectantly as if he was eager to see what Goku had up her sleeves next. 'Well,' Goku thought, 'Glad to see I'm not the only one having fun!' "Kaaaameee… haaaameee… HAAAAA!" Goku cried out as she thrust her hands forward, firing off a titanic blast of bright, blue-white ki. It pierced through Boo like a bullet being fired through soft cheese and he was sent flying back, an enormous and perfectly round hole punched right through his stomach.

OoOoOoO

"THAT'S WHAT I'M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT!" Suno cheered as she pumped a fist in the air, hopped up on adrenaline and feeling particularly vindictive as she watched Goku (who looked amazing, by the way), land what looked like a mortal blow on the monster who had taken their son away. "MY WIFE IS THE GODDAMN BEST!" she screamed.

"Hey!" Launch snapped as she threw something at Suno's head, getting her attention. "Watch your language around my fucking kid!" That made Tenshinhan snicker as Suno turned red with sudden embarrassment. Lost in the moment, she'd forgotten that there were… other people around. She'd even forgotten, to her sudden mortification, that Goten was around. She was going to have to put a hundred zeni in the swear jar later. For her part, Kani didn't seem to mind. In fact, Kani had sketched three of her pencils down to nubs and was well on her way to doing the same with the fresh pencil that she'd produced only a minute before.

OoOoOoO

Babidi gawked in disbelief as Majin Boo floated lifelessly through the air like some kind of parade balloon, listing and helpless. How?! What sort of creatures were these Super Saiyans to have such power?! The moment passed, however, and Majin Boo soon floated upright and regenerated, repairing the hole in his stomach with a gleeful giggle. Babidi joined in Boo's laughter, cackling maniacally. Goku just frowned, glaring at Majin Boo. Regeneration. Right. She should have noticed before now. Maybe that was the danger of diving too deep, she decided. Lost in the haze of battle, she couldn't think above and between the steady thrum of "Attack, attack, attack!"

"My Majin Boo is invincible!" Babidi crowed. "Indestructible! Undefeatable!" He laughed again as Goku turned her glare on him.

"But you're not," she pointed out coldly as her lips curled back and a snarl bubbled out of her throat. The laugh died and Babidi's face went pale as his mouth puckered up.

"Me try, me try!" Majin Boo called, getting Goku's attention. Her head snapped to the side and watched him just as he was cupping his hands to one side, pivoting his body and grinning at her. "Kaaa… meee… haaa… meee…"

'You gotta be kidding me!' Goku thought in a mixture of astonishment and exasperation. 'He learned the Kamehameha just from seeing it?!' The cosmic irony of that complaint was lost on her.

"HAAAAA!" Boo cried out as he thrust his hands forward, a pink beam of jagged lightning flying from his outstretched palms. Goku threw out her hands to grab the beam and grunted as it hit her palms painfully, holding the blast and squeezing it down. She guided the energy, spiralling it and spinning it around in her grasp until it turned into a pink ball. She held it in one hand and hurled it at Majin Boo, who stretched out of its path and they both watched for a moment as it sailed off into space.

"Okay," Goku panted as she wiped her brow. "Not bad." She grinned and Boo grinned back as they got into their stances again. 'Okay,' she thought, 'So I can do more damage to Boo than he can to me but he can regenerate and I can't.' She really would have to see if there was anything she could do about that at some point. 'I might have to go all-out to do enough damage to blow him up.' She could try using Kaiouken, but she hadn't mixed Kaiouken with Super Saiyan in a long time. She'd tried it once to see what would happen about six years ago, just to see if it could be done. It could, but she'd only used it for a second and hadn't been able to move for three days. She was pretty sure if she tried to combine Super Saiyan 3 with Kaiouken, she'd literally explode. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt like she was forgetting something.

Not wanting to take any chances, Babidi ended the spell with a snap of his fingers so that no one could see whatever came next. He knew that his Majin Boo would be victorious, of course he would, he was invincible. But just in caaaase…

OoOoOoO

"Dagnabit," Roshi muttered as he leaned on his cane. "Now we're back to being' in the dark." A few seconds later, Trunks landed on the Lookout with the Dragon Radar in his hand.

"Got it!" he declared triumphantly as he dropped out of Super Saiyan, holding the Radar overhead.

"Great job, sweetie!" Bulma told her son encouragingly, which made Trunks roll his eyes. "Did you tell Goku you found it?" she asked. Trunks' eyes stopped rolling and went wide.

"Oh crud," he muttered. He knew he'd forgotten something!

OoOoOoO

Goku was just about ready to retaliate when she heard Trunks' voice in her head. 'Hey! Goten's mom!' he shouted. 'I got the Dragon Radar and I'm back at the Lookout!' Her eyes widened at that and she smacked herself on the forehead.

'Ah, crud!' she thought as she dropped out of Super Saiyan 3 and her hair returned to its normal length. She knew she'd forgotten something! Now that she was out of the form that fed into all of her primal instincts, it was like a window had been opened and a cold blast of air snapped her back to reality. Particularly, the reality of an invisible hand tugging at the back of her shirt. 'Ah, crud!' She thought again. Did exerting all of that power really burn through nineteen hours?!

"Why you stop fighting?" Majin Boo asked curiously as he cocked his head to one side. "Why you turn hair off? Do you not want to play anymore?" He almost sounded like a sad child. Goku gave him a sympathetic smile and shrugged.

"Sorry," she apologized, "But I'm all out of time. I gotta go." Boo whined and pouted, crossing his arms in a huff. "But," Goku added, "If you'll just wait two days, I promise that there'll be someone for you to fight that's even stronger than me!" Unlike last time, Majin Boo didn't laugh. He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully and actually seemed to consider it before Babidi scoffed.

"Not this again," he scoffed. "It's still an utterly preposterous idea. Why in the world would I let any threat appear that might challenge Majin Boo?" Then he turned to Boo and pointed at Goku. "Destroy her," he commanded. Boo was still thinking. "Majin Boo! Do what I said, you simpleton!" Goku chuckled and shook her head.

"See ya around," she told them with a wave. Then she was gone. Majin Boo gave a startled noise and Babidi gawked. She was just… gone!

OoOoOoO

Goku heaved a sigh as she appeared on the Lookout and gave the others a small wave. "Hey, everyone," she greeted. Nobody said anything and it took Goku about two seconds to figure out why. As she'd expected, Uranai Babai was there.

"Hello, Goku," the old witch said in a somber tone. "I'm afraid it's time."

"Aw, come on!" Goku protested, clasping her hands together and holding them up in a pleading gesture. "There's no way I burned through all my time! It hasn't even been six hours!" Baba only shook her head.

"Your watch is right," Baba agreed, "But I'm afraid that there was more going on here than the simple passage of time. It takes energy to bring someone's spirit to the physical world. With the Dragon Balls, that sort of thing can be circumvented, but with a spirit like yours, it requires a lot of energy. With all that fighting and especially the whole Super Saiyan three nonsense, you burned through it all pretty much like that."

"Baba, please," Suno pleaded, "I-we need Goku to stay!" She'd lost her son. She couldn't lose Goku again. She couldn't be all alone with Goten. More importantly, they still needed Goku's strength against Majin Boo and for her to keep teaching Goten and Trunks about fusion.

"I'm sorry," Baba told them sincerely, "But a spirit in the mortal realm without the magical protections of Enma's blessing can cause tremendous damage on the fabric of reality itself, especially a soul as powerful as Goku's, and things are gonna get pretty hairy as it is with Majin Boo running around." Goku guessed that made sense. Kaiou had said the same thing when Goku had tried to return to the living world when Gohan had been fighting Perfect Cell and she was much stronger now than she'd been then. "...I'll see what I can do when we get back about getting Goku more time, especially if this Majin Boo thing continues."

"Don't worry," Goku assured Baba with a thumbs-up. "Goten and Trunks can take care of him once they've mastered the Fusion Dance." Everyone looked at her like she was insane. "But… can I say goodbye first?" she asked. Baba gave a weary sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I can give you five minutes," she muttered, ushering Goku to proceed with a little wave. Goku nodded and turned to the others, giving them an apologetic little shrug.

"I… I guess this is goodbye again, guys," she said with a little bit of a sigh. "This isn't really how I thought today was gonna go," she admitted, "But it was really nice to see you all again!" Suno hugged Goku tightly, putting her head on her chest and sobbing softly as Goku stroked her hair. It was just… too much. It was more than she could take any longer without cracking. "Hey," Goku told her gently, "Hey, hey. It'll be okay! I know the kids can handle this and then Gohan'll get wished back with everyone else." Videl huffed a little, still insistent that Gohan was alive. "As soon as I get back to Otherworld, I'll go look for him," Goku promised before looking at Videl and giving her a little smile. "Wherever he is," she added.

"You'll look for my dad, too, right?" Trunks asked with Goten at his side, fighting to hold in her own tears. The others waited tensely for Goku's response. She could be pretty blunt at times and, of all of those assembled there, she was the most likely to know about the afterlife's structure and that there was almost no chance Vegeta would be there.

Goku gave Trunks a smile and nodded at him. "Of course I will," she assured him. "I know he'll be very proud of you." That made Trunks smile and Suno pulled away from Goku long enough to look at their daughter.

"Goten," she said softly, sniffling and rubbing her eyes. "Do you want another hug from your mom?" Goten nodded and Goku got down into a crouch, holding out her arms. Goten ran to Goku and hit her in the chest like a cannonball, her arms clinging to her as she curled up in a ball. Goku hugged her daughter to her chest and closed her eyes.

"It's okay," she whispered, feeling Goten's tears start to press into her shirt. "It's okay, Goten. It's alright to cry." Goten nodded against her and the tears started trickling a little faster. Goten hadn't meant to cry but it just wasn't fair! She'd barely gotten to know her mom, now big bro was gone, and now she was leaving again! "You'll get strong and master fusion, right?" Goku asked. Goten nodded and made a little whimpering sound in the affirmative. "And you'll protect your mom and look after her?" Goten nodded and whimpered again. "I know will." Goku assured her as she pulled Goten carefully away from her chest. "I'm so proud of you," she told her daughter with a smile as she held her up, "My little girl." Then she let Goten back down onto her feet and turned to Suno again.

"It's just not fair," Suno muttered as she stroked Goku's face with one hand. "Even if we do win, it'll be so long before I see you again."

Goku nodded and held Suno's hand in hers, squeezing it gently. "I know," she admitted, "I know. But hey," she added encouragingly, "No matter how long it takes, we'll have forever after that, right?" That made Suno smile and Goku gave her an all-too-brief kiss before Baba cleared her throat.

"Goku," she reminded the other, "We can't put it off any longer." Goku nodded and turned to her friends, giving them all a wave.

"So long, everyone!" she told them cheerfully. "I mean this in the nicest way but I hope I don't see you for a really, really long time!" The others waved and then she was gone.

Goten wiped her eyes and turned to look at Trunks. "Trunks," she told the boy with a determined look in her eyes, "Let's dance." Trunks' expression mirrored her own and he nodded.

OoOoOoO

"Moron!" Babidi screamed in Majin Boo's face. "How could you let her escape?! How dare you disobey me?! You addle-brained, worthless, waste of–" Boo's enormous mitten-garbed fist wrapped around Babidi's skull.

"Gold lady right," Boo said coldly. "Boo not need listen to you. Boo can make own candy. You mean to Boo. You die." Then he squeezed and Babidi's head burst like a grape. Boo let his headless corpse fall into the sea and looked out over the horizon. He was free. He could do whatever he wanted!

...He wanted cookies.

OoOoOoO

Hercule stopped before getting off the plane on the lawn of his family's lavish estate, a frown on his face. Miguel was nearly at the door and stopped, looking back over her shoulder to look at him.

"Darling," she asked, "What are you waiting for?" Hercule shook his head.

"I have to take care of something," he told her, "I'll be fine. You get to the safe room and keep trying to call Videl." Neither of them had heard from their daughter or seen her since all that business with Goku and Vegeta at the Tenkaichi Budoukai. He knew his daughter was probably with all of those other superpowered people but it would be nice if she'd told them. Miguel nodded and went inside the house. Once the door was shut, Hercule got back in the plane and shut the door. "Straight for the palace," he told the pilot as he sat back down in his chair and strapped in. "I need to see the King." It was a completely insane idea, he knew, but it was the only one he had. 'I'll show 'em,' he told himself with a resolute expression. 'I may not have any powers, but I am the world's hero.'

OoOoOoO

Everyone gathered in a circle around Goten and Trunks as they waited to see the effects of the Fusion Dance. They had no idea what to expect, whether they did the dance right or wrong. Suno and Bulma were still a little wary of whatever "a mess" entailed that Goku had mentioned earlier.

"Are you sure you wanna do this right now?" Krillin asked. "You guys don't wanna practice a few more times first?" Goten shook her head.

"I wanna know what happens when we do the dance before we go fight Majin Boo," she explained. "So we know what to expect and we won't mess up."

Trunks nodded in agreement. "We can't screw up," he added resolutely. "We gotta get this right." They looked at each other and nodded.

"Fuuu… Sion! Ha!" Their fingertips touched and there was a bright and blinding flash of light. The sudden burst of power knocked everyone off of their feet and they gawked in astonishment. It felt even stronger than Goku! How could the two of them have so much power?! There was a short silhouette standing with hands on hips in the blinding light with tall, spiky hair.

"I'm Gotenks!" the child shouted as the light faded away. The child's voice had certain notes of both of the children from before. Goten's bright, cheerful exuberance and her love for adventure and excitement, mixed with Trunks' boastful pride and attempts to sound like his father. "I'm Gotenks," Gotenks declared again, "And I'm awesome!" Like the two who made Gotenks, the child was all young, energetic, lithe muscles. Gotenks' hair was black like Goten's, high and spiky, with a blue streak shooting up from the temples like Trunks'. Goten's pendant was hanging around Gotenks' neck and the child was wearing an outfit that had seemingly come from nowhere: a blue vest with yellow trimmings, a blue sash around the waist, and baggy white pants with black boots and black wristbands. "I'm Gotenks!" Goten said one more time with the emphatic pump of a fist. "And I… I…" Gotenks fixated on the fist in the air before looking up and down as a sudden rush of panicked confusion revealed itself. "WHAT AM I?!"

SSV/N: So, lotta notes today, lotta housekeeping. First off, a (belated) Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Blessed Ramadan, and any other spiritual or religious days that have happened in the last couple weeks!

Secondly, another big shout out to all the tropers working on the Works page on TV Tropes. It's like every other time I check, the thing explodes. You guys rule!

Thirdly, as you might have noticed, I deliberately kept from using any gendered terms when introducing Gotenks. That's because Gotenks is going to be intersex and I'm not entirely sure what pronouns I should use. I was planning on using "They/Them", but someone sent a PM a while back saying that the proper pronouns for intersex people is "Xey/Xem." This is my first time writing this sort of character and I don't wanna foul it up. So let me hear from you guys! What pronouns should Gotenks use? Leave it in a PM or a comment/review! Any and all suggestions of "It" will be ignored aaand probably blocked.

Lastly, speaking of comments/PMs, the next update will have some juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits in the notes about the writing process with the series, why we went with certain things instead of others, and characters/storylines that almost were. So if there's anything you want to know, send in your questions!