Chapter Hundred-twenty-nine

Gotenks' Big Debut! Here Comes the Hero of Justice!

Goten and Trunks were sitting on the steps of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, heedless of the horrors that were occurring just beyond their door. Trunks was standing behind Goten, her absurdly long, spiky, shaggy hair bunched up in one of his fists while he raised the other hand high overhead, ki humming around it.

"Are you sure this'll work?" Goten asked warily, trying not to turn her head to look back over her shoulder at Trunks because she didn't want to make him mess up and take way too big of a chunk out of her hair, or hit her in the head.

"Yeah, don't worry," Trunks assured her, "This is how my dad shaves every morning. Just hoooold still…" The pair had decided that they'd needed to cut their hair once it was so long that they were worried they'd trip on them. Not to mention how crazy-long Gotenks' hair would be. So Trunks had taught Goten how to make a ki blade, which he'd learned from watching his dad. Trunks gave a swift chop through Goten's hair, holding the enormous chunk out for her to see with a grin. Goten gasped in shock at just how much of her hair he'd cut off, patting her head quickly just to make sure that Trunks hadn't taken it all off. In fact, he'd left her a good head of hair and Goten gave a relieved sigh when she realized this. Although she would obviously never know, her hairstyle had moved from that of her mother, to her long-dead uncle, and now at last to her even-longer-dead grandmother.

With an excited squeal, Goten shook her head from side to side. "My head feels so much lighter now!" she exclaimed. "Now lemme do you!" Trunks grinned and sat down as Goten practically rocketed to her feet.

"Make sure you get the heat right," Trunks reminded her as she grabbed his hair. "I don't want any kinda burnt ends." Goten nodded and pulled on Trunks' hair, making him wince. "Don't pull so hard!" he warned her. "Don't take too much, either. I wanna keep it kinda long." Goten loosened her grip a little on Trunks' hair and raised her hand high overhead, channeling her ki into her hand.

'Goten! Trunks!' Piccolo's voice boomed inside their heads, startling them both. Trunks jumped up in his seat and Goten yanked back the handful of hair, taking off much more of his hair than she'd intended. While she tried to fix it, Piccolo kept speaking. 'I'm bringing Majin Boo to you now. Be warned, he's much stronger than we thought before. I'm taking the longest way around that I can, so the most I'm buying you is six hours in your time. Drink some water, stretch your muscles, take naps if you need to. Make sure that whatever you do, don't exert yourselves, spar, or fuse. We need every second of Gotenks that we can have and we don't need you to injure each other. Be prepared for the fight of your lives.'

With that kind of message, it was difficult for the pair to relax or calm themselves. Goten managed to get Trunks' hair to what was basically an undercut before she got him to sit down and meditate with her, calling on the time she'd spent with her mother and brother doing the same.

Still, as much as the duo tried to focus themselves and find peace, it was difficult not to turn their minds to vengeance. Majin Boo had killed his father. He'd killed her brother. They were going to make him pay. They were going to pound him until there was nothing left.

OoOoOoO

Piccolo led Majin Buu on a winding path through hallways and corridors, taking the most roundabout way to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber he could manage. He could feel Majin Boo's eyes on the back of his head, breaking out into a cold sweat as he tried not to think too much about the almost-sickening levels of evil radiating off of his body. Piccolo had never been so afraid at any point in his life. His hands were trembling, though they were thankfully hidden behind his blue cape.

"Taking too long," Majin Boo growled with a glower. "Passed that vase already." Piccolo kept walking but turned his head to look back over his shoulder up at the monstrosity, putting on a smirk.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to get something to eat first?" he asked. Majin Boo slowly and deliberately reached into his bag of bonbons and placed one in his mouth, showing his blue tongue before chomping on the bonbon and eating it very pointedly. Piccolo swallowed and nodded, the point taken.

OoOoOoO

"Guys!" Goku called excitedly as she watched Piccolo leading Majin Boo toward the doors of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. "Xī! Kibito! Come quick! Goten and Trunks are gonna fight Majin Boo!" In a blink of Instantaneous Movement, Xī and Kibito were sitting on either side of her, the three surrounding the crystal ball. Man, Goku had to learn how they moved around so fast. It was even better than Instant Transmission! Kibito had ink stains on the cuffs of his sleeves and Xī was still wearing her sleeping mask, her eyes widening as she pulled it off.

"Oh," she muttered, "Majin Boo certainly looks… different." He'd changed drastically from his Shengda-esque form and his appearance now brought back some rather horrid memories of eons past. Majin Boo was taller and more muscular than he'd been when Bibidi had first released him but he wasn't quite so monstrous as he'd been after absorbing Nan. "What happened?" Xī asked while turning her head to Goku.

"I dunno," Goku admitted with a shrug. "I was kinda checking out the whole universe for a while and just came back a little bit ago." She'd seen what Majin Boo had done to her friends and Suno… but as angry as it made her, she couldn't fight him, for more than just one reason. "He's definitely stronger now," she admitted, "I definitely couldn't beat him now."

That made Xī's eyes go wide and her jaw dropped. "Wait," she said slowly, stretching out the word. "Are you trying to say you could have killed Majin Boo before?" Goku gave another shrug.

"Yeah," she said casually. "If I went all-out with Super Saiyan three from the start when he was fat, I could have killed Boo with one big Kamehameha. I wasn't trying to kill him, though," Goku reminded them, "I was just buying Trunks time to find the Dragon Radar." Xī's face began to darken with rage and she opened her mouth to hurl abuse at Goku.

"If you could have killed Majin Boo before," Kibito interjected before Xī could blow her stack, "Why didn't you do so?!" Xī watched Goku's shoulders start to move and she jabbed a finger in her face, poking her in the cheek.

"If you shrug one more time," she warned, "I will wrap you up in so many layers of katchin that you won't even be able to blink." Goku… did not shrug.

"It isn't my fight," she explained. "I didn't want to give the kids the idea that I'm gonna swoop in and save the day the next time a bad guy showed up, especially when I was gonna be dead again anyway. I wanted to give Goten and Trunks a chance to fight for themselves, to prove themselves and save the world on their own." Xī wrung her hands ground her teeth. On the one hand, what Goku said made sense. On the other hand, it made absolutely no sense! "Oh, hey!" Goku said eagerly as she returned her focus to the crystal ball. "They're gonna fuse!"

OoOoOoO

Goten and Trunks were standing out in the void with their hands on their hips and were already Super Saiyans as the door opened and Piccolo let Majin Boo inside. They did their best to mask their surprise at Majin Boo's changed appearance. He looked a lot different from how they'd seen him in their heads when the weird magic guy was doing his spell.

'Did he go on a diet?' Trunks asked Goten in a thought as Piccolo shut the door behind him and she tried not to snicker.

Piccolo noticed how much the pair's power had grown in what had to be close to six months for them. It was remarkable how much progress they'd made in a short time and at a young age. He hoped that Gotenks' combined strength had grown as much.

Majin Boo looked back and forth between Trunks and Goten, confusion written on his protruding brow. "Which one is the strong one?" he wondered. "You both stronger than this one," he jerked a thumb back over his shoulder at Piccolo. The Namekian in question tried not to bristle because, well, it was true. "But you not as strong as gold woman," he went on, pointing his finger back and forth between the two. "So which one is the strong one?"

Goten and Trunks grinned at Majin Boo, ready to get the drop on him and to see the look on his face! "We are!" They declared in unison, each one pointing at the other. "Get a load of this, Majin Boo!" they said triumphantly before breaking into the dance that they'd practiced hundreds of times now. "Fuuuu… sion! Ha!" There was a blinding flash of golden light and when it faded, Gotenks was standing there with a grin on their face, their spiked golden hair sticking out wildly in all directions.

"Aww, yeah!" Gotenks declared excitedly, pumping their fists into the air. "Finally! It's time for me to show what I can do!" They practically burst with excitement as they got into their fighting stance. "Get ready, Majin Boo! Here comes Gotenks!"

OoOoOoO

Goku gave an excited squeal and clapped her hands enthusiastically, excited to finally see the fusion in action. This was so great! She was already so proud of Goten and Trunks for all their hard work!

"So, this is the Metamoran fusion," Xī observed as she tucked a hand under her chin thoughtfully. "It's been a very long time since I've actually seen it in action. I must say, their synchronicity is already very impressive. They must be quite close." Goku only giggled, still beaming.

OoOoOoO

Majin Boo was still studying Gotenks quizzically, wondering how the two little people had turned into one little person, when Gotenks made their attack. "Here I come!" they roared as they raised both hands above their head. They flew toward Majin Boo with incredible speed and stuck out one leg for a kick, spinning around and around in a pirouette until their body seemed to transform into a glowing, golden tornado. "Daikaiten kick!" they cried out. The speed and power of their attack caught Boo off-guard, their foot crashing into the side of his neck and sending his twisting, malleable body careening off into the void before Boo spiraled back into a proper shape, landing on his feet and rocketing himself at Gotenks. "Power Tackle!" they called and met Majin Boo's charge with one of their own, their aura roaring around them like a comet before driving their shoulder into his, the two forces colliding together to make the air sizzle and the ground tremble.

On the one hand, Piccolo couldn't help but marvel at Gotenks' power. The Fusion technique really was incredible! It made him silently bemoan the fact that the only person of an equal height with him in their party was Chi-Chi. On the other hand, distressingly, Piccolo couldn't help but notice that Majin Boo didn't seem to be trying very hard yet. His own aura hadn't even flared up.

No sooner had Piccolo thought that before a pink aura flared around Majin Boo, pink lighting racing along his body before he shoved Gotenks away, overtaking their power and speed. Gotenks bounced hard along the ground and landed in a crouch, taking a moment to recover from the fact that they'd just felt pain for the first time in their existence. They still shared Goten and Trunks' thoughts and memories for the baseline of their being, so they were aware of pain, but they'd never felt it before. It was something they soon became familiar with as Majin Boo continued to attack with a series of punches and kicks, striking them with his long limbs before grabbing Gotenks by the throat and slamming them into the ground. Still, Gotenks fired off a ki blast right in the beast's face, making him stagger back before they bounded to their feet with a toothy grin. Majin Boo raised a hand and a volley of pink ki blasts shot out of its palm toward Gotenks. The blasts went right through Gotenks' afterimage, which faded away before Gotenks laughed at Majin Boo and made a face.

"Hey, over here!" they taunted, pulling down their eyelid and sticking out their tongue. Majin Boo growled and fired another series of blasts, which went through another afterimage. "Too slow!" they crowed before puffing out their cheeks and putting their hands behind their ears to make a monkey-face. After another shot through that afterimage, Majin Boo snarled when Gotenks turned and shook their butt at him mockingly, drawing his foot back and throwing it out in a kick, stretching his leg to kick them in the rump and send them sprawling across the flat ground of the infinite white void. Gotenks turned and rolled onto their back as Majin Boo came charging toward them, his fists raised high for a savage blow. They pressed their palms flat against the ground, charging ki into them and waiting for the moment to strike. When the pink monstrosity was right on top of them, Gotenks slid under Majin Boo, diving between his legs before swinging around before the creature could react. They fired the ki from their palms to kip up and rocket themselves up feet first to kick Majin Boo in the rear end, reciprocating his own attack. "Great Kick Special!" Gotenks cried as momentum sent Majin Boo sailing into the air.

As Piccolo watched Gotenks continue their assault, each name more ridiculous than the last–

"Miracle Super Punch!" they cried as they charged ki into their fist until it glowed a bright blue and punched Majin Boo across the jaw, making his whole body spin around to the waist down before he unwound, carrying the momentum to smack Gotenks with a backfist that they barely managed to block.

"Hyper Plasma Shortcake!" Which was a twisting flipping kick that caught Boo under the chin, Gotenks' body seemingly wreathed in flame. This, of course, led to "Ultra Missile Parfait!", where Gotenks gave Majin Boo another kick to the stomach, followed by a series of punches back down to the ground and a diving double stomp to smash Majin Boo down to the ground, his body contorting and blossoming around Gotenks like water after a giant rock was thrown into it before Gotenks leaped away as Majin Boo reformed.

-Piccolo couldn't help but notice that these absurd attacks were more confusing or surprising to Boo than they seemed to actually be damaging him. He seemed to be absorbing Gotenks' blows not just to prove that he could but to see if he could, gauging their power and his own durability. Not only that, but soon enough, Majin Boo began to block and dodge Gotenks' attacks instead, firing back with more and more attacks of his own. Attacks that were hitting and doing damage. Unlike Majin Boo, the child couldn't regenerate.

"Gotenks!" Piccolo shouted from the sidelines as he watched the pair engage in a furious exchange of punches, Gotenks having to duck and weave to get inside Majin Boo's much longer reach, since his arms were nearly as long as their entire body. "Physical attacks won't work against Majin Boo! You'll have to use your ki!"

"I was getting there!" Gotenks told him hotly, taking their eyes off of Majin Boo for an unfortunate second. A huge pink fist collided with the side of their head, snapping their head back before Majin Boo followed with a punch to the gut and a cracking axe kick to the top of the head, sending them shooting down to the ground at an angle before crashing, bouncing and skidding to a stop. With a frustrated and pained groan, Gotenks hopped to their feet, rubbing their cheek before spitting blood on the ground, staining a spot of the infinite and pure whiteness red. "See!" Gotenks whined petulantly, upset at seeing their blood for the first time. "You made me mess up!"

Piccolo groaned and lowered his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. It seemed, he had to remind himself, that not every child was Son Gohan.

"You not strong enough!" Majin Boo snarled as he glowered down at them, though his expression and tone were almost more of a pout. "The gold woman said Boo would find the strong one here! Boo wanted to fight someone strong!"

"Don't worry," Gotenks said emphatically as they got back into their guard, "It's time to turn up the heat!" Their golden hair spiked even higher, their teal eyes shone brighter, and lightning ran all around their body.

OoOoOoO

"Yeah!" Goku cheered as she and the Shinjin pair watched, pumping her fists into the air. "Go, Gotenks, go!" She was impressed that Gotenks had already unlocked Super Saiyan Two, given how long it had taken herself to achieve it. How strong were these kids going to get?! It made her proud and excited to know the Earth would be so protected after they defeated Majin Boo.

OoOoOoO

Gotenks smirked as they pulled their arm back, spinning it around and around until their arm turned into a golden circle, electricity crackling and shooting off their side. "Rolling Thunder Punch!" They rocketed toward Majin Boo, catching him by surprise yet again.

Their fist kept spinning as it collided with his pliant pink flesh, wrapping him around their fist and arm like spinning cotton candy around a stick. Majin Boo gave a startled sound as he was spun around and around before Gotenks slammed their fist down onto the ground, making Majin Boo splat into a puddle. Before their enemy could reform, however, Gotenks flew up into the sky with both hands clasped overhead. They charged a large ball of ki in their fists and reached back, making the ki ball stretch out on a chain of ki, growing large and larger as it stayed connected to their fists.

"Super Special Crush Hammer!" Gotenks cried as they swung their arms forward, bringing the flail of ki down on top of Majin Boo with a tremendous, blinding explosion. Piccolo hissed as he brought a hand up to shield his eyes from the light, the powerful gusts of hot wind from the explosion blowing back his cape.

'Ridiculous names,' Piccolo thought again, 'But undeniably powerful.' As he thought this, a half-burnt Majin Boo came hurtling out of the flash of light and crashed into Gotenks with terrifying ferocity, the pair locked in another titanic clash of punches and kicks as Majin Boo reformed the rest of his body. Now it seemed like Majin Boo was actually trying, his pink aura roaring around his frame like an inferno, matching Gotenks' own golden aura, pink lightning clashing with blue, intertwining before launching off into nothingness.

OoOoOoO

Xī's eyebrows nearly leaped off her purple scalp as she watched the battle unfold. It had been unbelievable enough for her to believe when Goku had described her battle against Majin Boo, that a mortal could battle so evenly with the beast that she knew had slain her fellow gods. So now, to actually see with her own eyes, a mortal so young locked in equal battle with a more fearsome Boo than she had last seen… was absolutely remarkable.

'Even so,' she reminded herself, 'This Gotenks seems to be at most equal to Majin Boo. If they can't find some way to amplify their power before the fusion runs out and take some kind of advantage…' she looked worriedly back over her shoulder. At least they still had Gohan. But why was it taking so long?

OoOoOoO

With a powerful shockwave, Gotenks and Majin Boo were sent hurtling away from one another, spinning through the air. Majin Boo managed to correct himself and actually laughed in excitement, grinning wolfishly at them with manic excitement.

"You are strong!" he told his enemy approvingly as he brought up his fists. "But not stronger than Boo! No one is stronger than Boo!" He pounded a fist emphatically into his chest as his grin widened. "Boo is the strongest one there is!"

Gotenks grinned in response despite themselves, cracking their knuckles. "Oh, yeah? Well, let's see how you like this!" They flew at Majin Boo, bringing a leg back to strike as it glowed a bright green with charged ki energy from the knee down. Piccolo had to admit, he was amazed what Gotenks could do with ki, in terms of visual presentation and appearance if nothing else. "Nuclear kick!" Gotenks cried out, kicking Majin Boo in the neck with the glowing leg, the impact actually creating a mushroom cloud that made Majin Boo splatter apart from the waist up from the impact.

Before Gotenks could follow up, however, Majin Boo reformed and retaliated with a hard punch to the gut that knocked the wind out of them before hitting a knee to the side of Gotenks' head to send them flying. Majin Boo shot out his hand before Gotenks could get too far, though, his limb telescoping out after them and his fingers enveloping Gotenks' foot, yanking them back into a vicious headbutt to send them crashing hard to the ground. Undeterred despite the bruise on their head, Gotenks got to their feet.

"Alright," Gotenks growled as they put their fists to the sides of their head with the index fingers pointed out while Majin Boo floated back down to the ground with a smug smirk on his long face. "Let's see how you like it!" They dragged their foot across the ground a few times like a bull as they put their head down and flared their nostrils.

Piccolo's mouth hung open in disbelief and he raised his hand, preparing to facepalm already while Majin Boo cocked his head to one side, smirk turning into a look of confusion. 'This is just… just–'

"Charging Mad Bull!" Gotenks called out as they broke into a sprint. Majin Boo grinned and charged forward to meet Gotenks, putting his head down as well. With less than a hundred feet between the combatants, though, Gotenks' ki flared up and surrounded them, taking on the shape of a bull. The bull's horns pierced into Majin Boo's shoulders and Gotenks lifted their head up, tossing Majin Boo into the air. He spun through the air, end over end, still too bewildered to retaliate, before Gotenks flew up after him, the bull's horns stabbing through his pink flesh again and again. On the last stab, Gotenks spun Majin Boo around and around before hurling him to the ground. Majin Boo was left writhing and wheezing in pain for a moment before he reformed with a groan, shaking his head. He looked up at Gotenks with another wolfish grin.

"You have a lot of moves," he pointed out, his tone clearly impressed while he looked up at Gotenks. They smirked and rubbed a finger under their nose as the bull-shaped aura dropped.

"You haven't even seen the best stuff yet!" They taunted. For six months, Gotenks'd had nothing to do but train and experiment with ideas for moves and discover that they could pretty much do anything they could think of with ki. So, while they wanted to defeat Majin Boo, they didn't want to rush it, either. They had a lot of moves to get through! Especially their big surprise for the grand finale!

"Well," Majin Boo growled, "Here's one of mine!" he bared his teeth at Gotenks as he brought his hands down to his side, remembering what his weaker self remembered, the techniques he had seen and used. "Kaaameee…." he growled, "Haaameee…"

Gotenks gawked in indignant rage when they saw what Majin Boo was attempting to do. That was Goten's mom's technique! Her brother's technique! They couldn't let him get away with this! "One of yours?!" They echoed indignantly as they brought both fists together, pointing them at Majin Boo with thumbs and forefingers extended into the shape of a gun. A starburst of golden light blossomed onto Gotenks' fingertips, power pulsing through it as it grew and grew, surging with energy as they glared at Majin Boo.

"HAAAA!" Majin Boo roared as he threw his hands forward to fire up a beam of malicious pink energy from his hands.

"Victory Cannon!" Gotenks called in response as they launched down a beam of their own, the golden light streaming from their fingertips to collide against Majin Boo's bastardization of the Kamehameha. The gold and pink beams surged and pressed against each other, each one giving ground for a moment before pushing back against the ground it had given. Completely even, the blasts canceled each other out and erupted, the combatants charging through the flash of the explosion to meet each other in a knuckle lock, slamming against each other with a force so terrible it nearly took Piccolo off of his feet on the ground below. Monster headbutted child and child headbutted monster, over and over again, before both finally collapsed to the ground.

Gotenks staggered to their feet with a groan, feeling sore all over from the battle. It was kind of fun being sore, though. The fight, the struggle, the rush of adrenaline. Still, it was about time to really show what they were capable of! But first…

Gotenks fell to a knee, holding one hand to their stomach as if in pain.

"What is it, Gotenks?" Piccolo asked in concern. "What's wrong?" Gotenks shook their head.

"I… I don't think I can keep going," they declared melodramatically. "I've done all my best moves! This is the limit of my power!" They fought the urge to snicker as they let Piccolo watch them in aghast horror. "But–"

Piccolo didn't have time for "But", though. He wheeled around immediately and blasted the doors to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, destroying them… and trapping the three of them inside. Forever.

"W-what did you just do?!" Gotenks asked in horror as they jumped to their feet, the performance forgotten as things suddenly became very serious. Piccolo turned around to face Gotenks and Majin Boo again, the ageless, god-killing horror looking at the Namekian in confusion, wondering why he'd blown up the door. Piccolo allowed himself a moment of grim satisfaction.

"I just defeated Majin Boo," he explained with a mirthless smile.

SSV/N: This week's Omake features a deleted scene based on the Arlia scene from the anime. After a bit of discussion, Zel convinced me there was no real need for this scene and that it didn't make sense, considering the fact that Vegeta and Nappa are supposed to be in stasis at this point, so why would Vegeta wake up with the need to do some random murdering? Still, it was fun to write, so I figured it might be fun to read, too!

"Nappa. Nappa. Nappa!" Nappa sat up at attention with a sputter and a harumph and noticed that Vegeta's pod was descending towards a nearby planet. "Course correct or you'll get to Earth before me." Nappa punched a few buttons and descended towards the planet after Vegeta.

"What are we doing, Your Grace?" Nappa asked as the planet's surface loomed closer, "We're not on Earth already, are we?"

"No," Vegeta replied, "I just needed to get out, stretch my legs. Don't want to be in poor shape when the time for battle comes, do we?"

"But Your Grace," Nappa reminded him, "The air in the Battle Pods is chemically treated to prevent muscular atrophy and stimulate the brain even when unconscious." The pods crashed into the ground and their doors hissed open.

"Damn it, Nappa," Vegeta said wearily. "I wanted to get out and kill something, all right? Is that acceptable to you?"

"Of course," Nappa started to say before they were immediately accosted by several members of the native species. They were strange insect-men with grey skin and bright red eyes.

"Put your hands behind your heads!" One of them demanded, "And come with us!" For the sake of his own amusement, Vegeta decided to do as he was told.

Several hours later, Vegeta was dusting off his hands, which were covered in blood. As was nearly every inch of his body. Even his hair was so sodden with gore that it was drooping. Nappa was similarly stained. Every single being on the planet was dead aside from the two of them.

"Well," Vegeta said, "Wasn't that amusing?"

"I have to admit," Nappa replied as he tried to wipe the blood off of his face, which was very difficult when his hands were equally bloody, "That was fun." Vegeta nodded before looking down at his clothes and sighing in frustration.

"Oh, this is ridiculous," he muttered, "I can't become immortal looking like this! We'll have to stop on Latheros and get cleaned up."

"The bathhouse planet?" Nappa asked eagerly.

"Only to bathe," Vegeta instructed sternly. Nappa huffed and kicked a bloody stone into the bloody, corpse-filled ocean.

"That's no fun," he grumbled as he and Vegeta made their way back to their Battle Pods.

"There will be plenty of time for fun once we're immortal." Nappa supposed that was true. Vegeta stopped before stepping into his Battle Pod, however. "Tell me, Nappa, can we sell this planet?"

"No, Your Grace," Nappa replied. The air was toxic, there was no vegetation and minimal natural resources. Not to mention that they'd killed all the wildlife. "Why do you ask?" Vegeta grinned malevolently and purple energy started to crackle around his hands.

"I've not gotten all my exercise for the day."