Part 10, Chapter 46.

PART TEN: VEGETTO'S LAST RESOURCES.

Chapter 46

Translated by American Vigor

Vegetto had defeated Broly!

He was the first winner of the first round’s second half!

Throughout the spectator section of the Multiverse Tournament’s arena, hundreds of Nameks were in the midst of roaming throughout the crowd, caring for those who had endured minor injuries as a result of falling from the points in the air at which they had been as a result of Vegetto’s Super Saiyan 3 transformation warping the gravity in the vicinity.

However, the vast majority of those who had been injured felt quite ecstatic.

“It was great!” said one of them.

“Whoa! That was a great fight!” said another.

“Now I know what it’s like to fly!” said another, who then began to sedulously pour hot sauce onto one of his refreshments while a Namek was in the process of healing his leg.

“The excitement of that fight was grandiose!” said yet another.

“It almost blinded me, but it was worth it!” said another, who then wondered if the Vargas were going to be creating merchandise related to the fighters of the tournament, as he wanted to add a mug with Vegetto on it to his vast collection.

Among the fighters from across the universes, many shared the general sense of inspired awe and had been humbled by the experience, while others considered all they had seen to have been ineffably discouraging.

For some of those who had been discouraged, they recognized that it would be highly unlikely for them to achieve even one-thousandth of the strength of either of the two Super Saiyans who had fought in the most recently completed match.

However, many of the fighters indeed viewed the experience rather positively, especially those among the winner’s family, friends, and counterparts from other realms.

“What do you think, Dad?” Gohan of Universe 18 asked his father.

“It was … amazing!” Goku said.

“Vegetto seems much stronger than I’d thought he’d be,” Gohan said. “Are you at all surprised?”

“When Vegeta and I fused in our own universe with the Potara Earings, we didn’t push ourselves nearly that far,” Goku said. “Against Buu, even after he absorbed you, Goten, Piccolo and Trunks, our own Vegetto was able to overshadow Buu’s power even after just transforming into his basic form of Super Saiyan. At the time, there was no reason for us to try transforming further.”

The two warriors remained in silent contemplation for a few moments.

Goku reflected upon his memories of the brief time in which he had been part of his own universe’s Vegetto, and he remembered that all those years ago, after they had fused, a part of Vegetto’s personality attributable to Vegeta had felt compelled to exert his full power to experience the maximum extent of the fused warrior’s newfound capabilities. Vegeta at the time had still fervently strived to be the ultimate warrior in the universe, and the opportunity to surpass the basic form of Super Saiyan, as Vegeta and Goku had done, had been tempting for Vegetto.

It was quite possible that had Vegetto of Universe 18 had more time to fight Buu, he would have demonstrated his Super Saiyan 2 strength, and for all Goku knew, Vegetto of Universe 16 had done so in his own fight with Buu from that universe.

Now, however, Vegeta did not significantly care about whether he was his universe’s strongest fighter. Without considering Gohan’s strength, Goku knew that Vegeta was satisfied with being at least the second-strongest.

Goku wondered, though, what would happen if he and Vegeta fused again. 20 years had passed since they had fought Buu as Vegetto, and as they each now were stronger than they had been then, he wondered if upon a second fusion, they could collectively surpass Vegetto of Universe 16.

In any case, Goku was extremely proud of Vegetto, as defeating Broly was a legendary accomplishment itself.

While Goku finished reflecting upon these considerations, the occupant of the Fourth Universe Balcony also expressed congratulations to the fused warrior. Even though Vegetto was about to land in the 16th Universe Balcony, Buu spoke aloud even so.

“Well done, Vegetto,” Buu said. “I wasn’t expecting a match of such intensity. You’ve impressed me, … truly.”

He looked toward the 16th Universe Balcony and noticed that others were doing so as well, for many sought to congratulate Vegetto for his achievement.

“As everyone else is relatively occupied celebrating your victory or fixing that which was damaged, it seems that I have acquired the liberty to venture away from the arena for a brief while,” Buu said, right before suddenly disappearing from the arena, without anyone noticing his departure.

Vegetto was in the midst of emphasizing to his family and friends that he was comparatively fine when a Namek healer arrived in the 16th Universe Balcony.

“Would you like to be healed?” the Namek asked.

“No thanks,” Vegetto said. “Namekian healing isn’t enough for me anymore, but no worries! We have Senzu beans!”

The Namek healer remained for a few moments just to make sure that Vegetto was actually alright, and Piccolo then opened up a bag of Senzus so Vegetto could benefit from their remarkable restorative nature.

At an extremely far distance from the arena, on a small, remote asteroid in the vastness of the cosmos, something – or rather, someone – suddenly appeared.

He was mostly pink in coloration and was dressed in white trousers, with forearm pieces and boots of black and yellow. Despite the billions of years that had passed since the asteroid had been formed, this was the first time a sentient being at set foot on it, and it also would likely be the last time.

Buu looked out into relative infinity, toward the glistening stars whose appearances echoed across time.

‘Ah yes, … that’s the general direction in which I need to concentrate,’ Buu thought to himself.

He was looking for something specific ... something moving very fast and that he ineffably wanted.

He wanted it even more than another of his incarnations wanted candy.

He wanted it more than almost everything else he had ever wanted before, and while he had acquired similar elements of excellence in past years, it had been so long since he’d had an opportunity of this significance.

‘The Instantaneous Movement technique I acquired from Kibitoshin is still quite useful,’ Buu thought to himself.

The technique had enhanced his versatility considerably, as he was even more unbound by constraints of space and time than Goku had been with Instant Transmission. Buu knew that while Instant Transmission was a more limited technique than Instantaneous Movement because Instant Transmission requires the user to focus on an energy signature of a target before being able to travel toward it, wielders of Instantaneous Movement can go wherever they desire, even remote places without detectable energy signatures.

Buu continued to scan the relative direction of space he was facing until he suddenly determined he had made an important detection.

“Am I close enough?” Buu asked himself. “Yes … I found the energy of the attack that pushed Broly farther out into space!”

With a grin, Buu teleported again, this time with the Instant Transmission technique, to reach his destination.

At the Multiverse Tournament arena, Vegetto had a startling revelation.

“Where is he?” Vegetto asked with great seriousness, as he looked toward the Fourth Universe Balcony and confirmed that its supposed occupant was indeed not there.

The fused Saiyan then placed his right index and center fingers to his forehead and began to use his energy-sensing capabilities to search for Buu across the cosmos.

“Where is who?” Piccolo asked, while continuing to hold the bag of Senzu beans with his left hand.

“I’ve found him,” Vegetto said. “Follow me.”

Vegetto then transmitted away from the arena, leaving Piccolo, Bra, and the others of Universe 16 still in their universe balcony.

“Follow him?” Piccolo asked, with alarm.

“What does he expect us to do?” Gohan asked. “We don’t even know where he went!”

Gohan felt exasperated as to what had happened, as this was not the first time that Vegetto had instant transmitted to a location and asked others to follow him, despite the fact they still did not know the technique.

However, Bra was quite aware of how to perform Instant Transmission, and while she was not quite ready to leave the arena herself, she placed her left index and center fingers to her forehead in an attempt to locate her father.

Buu emerged from Instant Transmission in the middle of relatively nowhere, although a bright ball of energy was radiant in form.

It was not a star, but rather, the remnant of Vegetto’s Final Dragon Flash, and within the sphere was Broly himself.

Although Broly was unconscious inside the sphere, he still was in his Legendary Super Saiyan form, which had probably saved him from being killed.

‘That’s the beauty of relative speed,’ Buu thought to himself. ‘You are now motionless from my point of view.’

The analysis was reflective of an advanced understanding of physics, for Buu had acquired an enormous breadth of scientific knowledge as a result of absorbing many highly intelligent beings from across Universe 4. It was true that emergence from teleportation had the effect of giving the user the speed of the reference point which he had transmitted toward. With no atmosphere to slow them down, both fighters, and therefore the energy ball as well, were racing in a vacuum at the same speed.

‘It's been years since I have found someone worthy of being absorbed, ...’ Buu thought to himself, while savoring his memories of past physical and mental adjustments.

With evolutions of mind and body had come evolutions of purpose.

Buu was a being who had been created for the purpose of destruction. He was intended to be a manifestation of obliteration, surpassing the gods in capability. His creator’s focus on annihilation had been so absolute that Buu had not been gifted with the ability to properly speak.

But then, with the progression of time and his ventures through space, he gained an identity and embraced the value of true consciousness and sentience.

Absorbing all whom he had absorbed had enabled him to truly have intelligence, tactics, and rational technique, ... he was now an entity who cherished the blessing of being able to think for himself, and loathed his residual memories of when his other incarnations had been treated like enslaved robots.

What was his destiny?

He wanted to somehow become the true embodiment of perfection.

He knew quite a lot about Cell and all he had sought to achieve, and Buu wanted to become better than Cell had ever been.

Cell had gained his supposed ‘perfect’ form through absorbing two cyborgs, and while Cell could augment his strength over time, the process of doing this was by no means as efficient as outright absorbing entities as Buu could.

Buu recognized that this was one of the many ways in which he was more capable than Cell, and he relished the knowledge of this.

But to become the most knowledgeable being his universe had ever known, yes, … this had become his ultimate dream, to be not just the embodiment of perfect physical capability, but the unparalleled master of the mind.

With his newfound knowledge of other universes, though, the hope to reach an extent of knowledge greater than that experienced by anyone else among all the universes was becoming an even greater goal he was tempted to achieve.

This was the entity whom Buu had become, an aspirant for the divine who dedicated himself to researching methods and practices of achieving absolute perfection of body and mind.

He knew that with absorbing Broly, he would be able to further his quest for the paramount of existence.

‘You should feel honored that I consider you to be worthy of absorption!’ Buu thought, while looking toward Broly. ‘Now, how am I going to free you from this energy ball?’

While thinking with celerity of several effective ways to achieve this goal, someone suddenly appeared, eager to thwart his goals.

Again.

I knew it!

The voice echoed in his head.

Vegetto had emerged from Instant Transmission and now was in front of Buu.

However, Vegetto could neither breathe nor survive very long in space. He had surrounded himself with a thin energy shield that was protecting him from the temperature and pressure conditions of space, which were inauspicious for organic life.

Without air, neither Vegetto nor Buu could not speak normally, and they instead were using telepathy …

What? How the heck did you find me? Buu psychically asked.

Buu was furious. Although he was so close to greater perfection, the Universe 16 counterpart of the warrior he had fought 20 years ago was attempting to prevent his progress!

Oh, I had detected that you had needed to teleport twice to get here, and through sensing his energy, I never lost track of Broly, Vegetto psychically said.

‘So, I was under his surveillance after all,’ Buu thought to himself. ‘I should have expected that he would attempt to assert himself as an enforcer of his ideals across the multiverse.’

You can’t attack him, Vegetto psychically said. The rules are clear. Rules? Buu psychically asked. We are millions of kilometers away from the arena! The rules of the tournament can’t be enforced here!

Majin Buu, I destroyed you once, and I can do it again, Vegetto psychically said. You will not absorb Broly!

‘A threat? How arrogant!’ Buu thought to himself. ‘He is nothing more than a vigilante!’

And what are you going to do? Buu psychically asked. I’m already certain I can beat you, but a weakened version of you? Your pathetic challenge won’t even make me laugh!

Vegetto did not respond to the taunt.

Their eyes met, focusing on each other’s intentions and thoughts. A small psychological battle began to rage.

Buu was very sure of himself. He had seen what had appeared to be Vegetto’s complete power as a Super Saiyan 3 during the fight, but had he really seen the full extent? Buu doubted that Vegetto had in any way restrained himself toward the end of Broly, as it had seemed abundantly clear at the time that Vegetto had intended to ensure that Broly would be defeated.

Vegetto also was still quite injured and exhausted, as he had not eaten as Senzu bean when he had possessed the chance. It seemed to Buu that for now, he would not have to consider the possibility of Vegetto exerting a greater power than he had exhibited during his fight with Broly.

Buu also wondered, especially because of Vegetto’s current state, where his reinforcements were, and if he had asked them to join him at all.

What kind of a fight do you expect to realistically offer me? Buu psychically asked. How much time can you spend in space without breathing?

Buu smiled, as he sensed that Vegetto recognized that his weakened powers were at the moment no match for Buu’s own.

I would prefer to fight you for real, when you can challenge me at your greatest level of capability! Buu psychically said. You can’t even imagine the powers I now possess!

Vegetto’s eyebrows arched for half a second as a result of the destructive energy he had psychically manifested. With that quick effort, he destroyed a small part of Buu’s body that he had voluntarily separated from his own leg in a covert attempt to absorb Broly.

Buu was surprised by this performance, but he quickly refocused his attention.

You saw that I was discretely moving a part of myself toward Broly! I had thought you would be distracted by my comments, but you were not! Well done! Buu psychically said. I guess we can’t catch you by surprise, Vegetto. And although I am unconcerned by this, it’s also unsurprising that you’ve mastered the only technique that can destroy me.

Indeed, no energy ball had actually destroyed the part of Buu that he had deployed for his insidious plan to absorb Broly. Even if Buu’s structural material was burned, shredded, or scattered, he always managed to regenerate. Vegetto was unaware of the fact that a Spirit Bomb was capable of permanently eradicating Buu, as per the different course of his universe’s history in comparison to that of Universe 18.

However, in his own universe, he had learned to swiftly project a very powerful concentration of energy that could thoroughly disintegrate Buu. During a portion of their struggle 20 years ago, a portion that had taken place in the same way in Universes 4, 16 and 18, Vegetto had demonstrated a more rudimentary version of this technique.

In Buu’s twenty years of life since then, no one else had been able to attack him with a technique of that effective design.

Despite Vegetto’s demonstration of the technique, Buu was purposely exuding confidence. He was endeavoring to show his opponent, as he had shown others, that nothing was necessarily preordained, and that he had a secret weapon, a net benefit, that he could use at any time. This usually inspired fear, or at least a slight destabilization in an opponent’s psyche. But Vegetto remained virtually nonchalant at Buu’s apparent confidence. He knew the main characteristics of Buu, and although he knew Buu had likely evolved much in 20 years, he knew to be prepared for anything.

Buu slowly parted his arms, opened his hands and grinned. Then, the outline of his body seemed to become blurred. He moved subtly, which gave him a somewhat transient form, instead of being clearly perceivable.

Buu then exerted his energy in various directions, scattering hundreds of fragments of his body, with some moving toward Vegetto and others moving toward Broly. Each fragment took the shape of Buu’s face and seemed to move independently!

Behold, Vegetto! Can you destroy each of these parts of me? Buu psychically taunted.

Vegetto reacted with haste and transformed into his basic Super Saiyan form, rapidly firing energy blasts into the fragments of Buu that were beginning to encircle him. With significant alacrity, Buu seemed to be creating as many heads he had cells in his body ... not infinite in number but something that many across the universes would consider to be unlimited.

Vegetto knew, despite the challenge, that he would do everything he possibly could to destroy all the fragments of Buu ...

In the 16th Universe Balcony of the Multiverse Tournament arena, Bra was still in the midst of attempting to sense her father across the vastness of the universe in which the tournament was being held.

“I can’t find him!” she said to her brother Gohan and Piccolo.

“Search in this direction,” Piccolo said, while pointing in the direction toward which the Final Dragon Flash had been emitted. “That’s the direction in which Broly was carried away. I don’t see where else your father would go.”

Gohan nodded, with a sweat drop almost falling down his cheek. If Broly was about ...

Gohan interrupted that path of thought upon a sudden revelation, and he turned to look toward the Fourth Universe Balcony.

Buu was not there!

He imagined all sorts of scenarios to explain the mutual absence of Buu, his father, and Broly.

Imagining the worst, Gohan looked at his half-sister and hoped that she would be able to find her father quickly, before it was too late ...