DB Multiverse

Chapter 107

Translated by npberryhill

Buu’s frustration was visible. The tournament was dragging on. The Vargas had completely lost control of things. But he was here, seeing all that transpired and fully capable of taking control himself. His hope had merely been to have fun, but things were beginning to slip into the realm of serious annoyance. Vegetto’s attitude was perhaps most disappointing of all. While Buu had fully expected him to usurp the rules and insist upon the continuation of his match with XXI, what was he doing? After popping back into sight, he’d merely gone back to his apartment as if nothing had happened! Bullshit! Even if he had wrestle them both back into the ring himself, Buu would see this fight happen!

“I demand a rematch! I don’t care if those two cowards want to give up! We’ve seen enough amateurish mockery”

Declaring his intention might just work. After all, it worked for the fight of Gast Carcolh and the Cell Jr, hadn’t it? Buu had made certain of that. The crowd had clearly voiced their opinion, and in response the great Namek had readily agreed to fight Cell’s offspring. With a simple snap of his fingers, he had established the order of the supposed randomly drawn matches! It was by his will that he allowed the Varga’s technology to even operate, as when he prevented Broly from returning to his world. But this time, he was done being the puppet master in the shadows. The West Kaioshin, the same who had intervened in the ring when Vegetto reappeared, came to meet Buu of Universe 4. Unlike the number of Vargas who had come into contact with the djinn, her demeanor was quite Zen.

“Dear sir, it’s not for you to decide,” she replied, landing on the ground in front of him.

“Not for me?”

Buu grinned as the goddess approached smugly. Such arrogance! She believed herself to be above everything, untouchable! Buu would take great pleasure in putting her back in her place. He began with a violent left swing, sending the Kaioshin careening into a nearby wall.

“What a joke! I’ve controlled everything since the beginning!” cried the djinn.

Buu summoned forth all his power. His body became a collection of independent cells which gooped out from his legs and torso, flinging outwards in every direction. Soon, his entire feet and calves had become a gelatinous molasses that oozed across the ground, threatening even the participants like a tsunami. Up in the bleachers, the floor and benches seemed to come alive, imprisoning spectators, impotent victims. Buu’s terrible yell echoed across the arena.

“I’m everywhere! I have your DragonBalls, I have your technology! I know your secrets and I toy with your feeble minds! I decide who lives, who dies, and who gets absorbed!”

He was, in fact, already the omnipotent emperor of his own universe and did precisely what he wished at any time — deciding who had the right to live, as well as who was worthy of being absorbed, were they to interest him. This tournament, this empty universe, had now been claimed as part of his domain.

Tenshinhan, who had fought the djinn earlier, understood a key factor — he couldn’t have actually defeated Buu, and the creature standing before him had only been the parts of him within the ring. Buu had planted fragments of himself absolutely everywhere, in each contestant's dugout, the bleachers, control tower, private apartments, perhaps even the ships around the arena! Tien was convinced, if Buu said he was everywhere, then he was! Already, the bald fighter was preparing to defend against the threatening wave of pink headed for he and his friend Kulilin, which was about to engulf them.

In Universe 18’s area, Piccolo was trying to make sense of things.

“How does he have the Dragon Balls? What does that mean?”

“It’s not possible for the Kaioshins to have been robbed without noticing,” Gohan added, clenching his fists as he helped his daughter and wife struggle against Buu’s body.

Up in the Varga tower, it was a scandal once again. One of the panicked pits squeaked.

“He’s lying, he has to be! It’s not possible!”

“Send him back to his universe, immediately!” ordered a Namek.

“I already tried, but...but it stopped working again!” he squealed, rapidly pressing the button in vain.

“Fools!” Buu shouted, his head forming from a puddle on the ground. “I decide when it works! I’m done pulling strings from the shadows...now I’ll do so openly!”

The pink blob seemed to suddenly accelerate its pace towards all Buu’s opponents (that is, everyone). The strongest fighters responded immediately, successfully countering the first wave of imprisonment goo. Cell, Freeza, U13 Vegeta, and Dabra (at first), guarded themselves without difficulty. However, the girls from universe 6, the cyborgs of the 14th, and spectators like Piccolo of U16 and the ultra warriors did not escape. Others who could not mount a defense were imprisoned immediately. Babidi, for example, could have easily uttered a protective spell. But Buu knew the yellow-skinned wizard well, and had prevented him from even pronouncing the slightest syllable. Dabra had rushed to his rescue, but the attempt only resulted in the Demon King’s own entrapment.

Fat Buu of Universe 11, however, was completely avoided by the pink tsunami. The other Buu had rather appeared at his side, chuckling and resting his elbow on the Fat one’s shoulder.

“See? That’s how you do it.”

“Super! Super!” applauded the simple minded version.

In the area reserved for universe 8, everyone but the Frost Demons had been ensnared. Coola and Freeza leapt high, hoping to avoid any attack from below. But they knew little of the djinn’s abilities, his power being on a completely different level than their own. In fact, Buu even had the gall to toy around with them. He first grabbed Coola by the ankle, who then called his brother for help. Freeza merely smirked, ignoring the plea and continuing to dodge through the air! Buu chuckled, releasing Coola intentionally, hoping to see a brawl between brothers! Of course, every joke had its end, and these two were far from the most entertaining — he wrapped them in goo from above simultaneously.

Down in the ring, Baddack and Cold had mounted a fairly impressive defense on their own... and without the slightest exchange between the pair, had even covered one another’s blind spots. Who would have believed it? It was no alliance, certainly not out of respect for one another, they were merely being pragmatic and self serving.

In Universe 19’s area, the Ultras had begun to give way. Their lasers, their energy shields...were somehow ineffective against Buu. The creature had clearly seen and tested the weapons already, countering them easily.

“I’ll use the carbonite!” one of the warriors cried, at the last edge of hope.

“Don’t you dare!” the leader replied, himself in an even more desperate situation. “Best case scenario, you’ll kill him, us, and everyone else!” he continued.

Buu was too powerful, and eventually he overcame the resistance of each individual. No defense, whether physical, psychic, energy, or technology seemed able to stop the pink creature’s imprisonment. That is, no individual defense...

“All together!” Son Goku shouted, motivating his friends. Each warrior from Universe 18 had gathered in a circle, hands held outwards, unleashing their energy. Videl and Bra ducked in the center, protected on all sides by formidable warriors, who together produced the sole energy shield left on the battlefield. For the moment, it was holding fast against the repeated assaults of the djinn.

This last stand against him was more fun than anything before. If he had wanted, he could’ve swallowed everything in half a second. But this way had been far more entertaining! The mosquitoes that struggled, the flying gnats fighting to resist, the immobilized microbes... even the gods were now helpless. Now reduced to prisoners, Buu laughed as he approached them. He morphed his body into the shape of South Kaioshin, imitating his voice.

“He’s breaking the rules!” Buu laughed. “Watch as I protest while doing absolutely nothing.”

East Kaioshin busted out laughing.

“What are you doing!?” his friend the real South Kaioshin yelled. “This is serious!”

Both were wrapped in a coil of pink glue.

“Sorry, it was just a nervous laugh,” he tried to excuse himself.

Further proof of Buu’s attempt to amuse himself were how several low level warriors, those of universe 9, were still barely managing to flee from his pink wave — until now. Kulilin, surprisingly agile, whirled and struck Buu’s gummy form with his stick, unleashing Ki with the strike of impact. He did not, however, notice as a small piece of candy crawled up his foot, growing suddenly and immobilizing his leg. Before he could react, he’d been completely imprisoned. Tien came to the rescue instantly, but was stopped by Buu. As for Videl, her maximum Kaioken enabled her to evade the djinn through the air briefly, but a pink tentacle caught her by the leg and slung her to the ground. Unexpectedly, at the last second, she was saved by a warrior of even lower rank, but whose heroism had long been proven. Armed with a broken sword and surrounded by a glowing aura, Trunks of universe 9 went blow for blow with the pink molasses that attempted to grab them both — and for a time he succeeded.

“It’s stuck! I can’t get it off my ankle!” Videl panicked, having punched the rest of the pink off of her body for the moment.

“Don’t worry about it!” Yamcha said, barely maintaining an energy shield around himself. “You won’t last much longer here anyway! Join the fighters from the 18th!”

“What? Anything but that, Yamcha! I won’t leave you behind!”

“And we know nothing about them!” Trunks added.

“They’re your only chance, and they seem like good people! Go ahead!”

Yamcha’s shield suddenly yielded. Trunks grabbed Videl’s hand and forced her away just in time, the expanding pink gum immediately overtaking Universe 9’s entire area. Ever courageous, and knowing she was the stronger of the two, Videl stopped to defend her companion.

“No, you go, Trunks!”

But rather than flee, the opposite of what she expected happened. Trunks grit his teeth, standing in front of her at the last moment and bracing to be overtaken. The girl screamed in rage. Was she really about to lose the person closest to her? Never! And certainly not when she could still fight! She didn’t need protecting! And if Trunks was going to be taken, so would she! Videl braced for a final assault when two new people suddenly came to her aid from the direction of Universe 12. One was a Saiyan, the other a Android. The first immediately grabbed her, carrying her like a princess, while the second saved them both with an energy blast from both of his arms. “Hell’s Flash!”

“Let go! Let me go back!” Tears streamed down her eyes. Tears of anger, of sadness.

“Back? I just saved your life! Universe 18’s fighters are our only chance, just look around!”

Videl glanced quickly. It wasn’t going well. In U13’s area, Raditz had turned into a giant monkey, but what could such a colossus do but be entangled even more easily? Even his mouth was sealed shut as if tied by a pink rope. He attempted to struggle with his massive arms, but his slow movements were completely futile.

Above the arena, Buu himself materialized to inform the audience of his plans.

“I will decide all the fights from now on. I’m a very good referee, you’ll see. Here are the new rules. You can get all the help you want, and you win when I decide you do.”

Universe 16 had now been compromised as well, only Bra remained in the fight. Even Gohan had been caught, spending his last strength to defend his wife. One might have noticed a certain tick of impatience in the Super Saiyan girl as Gohan pleaded with her not to go to the next level.

When Videl of U9 and Trunks of U12 arrived at the 18th, even they were beginning to tire.

“The shield won’t hold forever, Vegeta. We’re going to have to unleash our full power!” Goku said to Vegeta.

“Pssh! No way! I can keep this up for hours!”

Trunks set Videl down in the center of the shielded circle before joining the defense himself. His muscles instantly expanded as he added his own full power to the defensive wall of energy. Videl’s mind raced. All these people had such enormous strength. Why hadn’t they branched out to help the other combatants? They’d merely huddled together like some sort of special group, allowing all the rest of the arena to be overtaken. She didn’t really know the Saiyans. All she knew was what her elders, Kulilin and Tenshinhan, had told her. But these were not the same people, this was a different time, everything was different.

Goku and Vegeta were in Super Saiyan 2, which was a ‘good’ transformation — at least in the sense that they could continue to generate impressive power continuously while in this transformation, as Vegeta had said. In addition, due to his special form obtained from the Old Kaioshin, Gohan was not quickly exhausted either, unlike his father when using Super Saiyan 3. Gotenks likewise, couldn’t stay at that level very long, as it shortened the time-limit of their fusion. Vegetto himself had only maintained it a few seconds. But something about the statement caught the attention of Uub. What power was Goku talking about? Super Saiyan 3 for him, of course. But was he talking about Vegeta too? Was Vegeta capable of surpassing Super Saiyan 3? It had been twenty years in the making, the rivalry between the two, and Goku seemed to be aware of something secret, something new. What were they keeping hidden? In any case, Vegeta did not seem content to spoil the surprise just because of this small ‘incident’. Was he too confident in things turning out alright? How could he bet the lives of all these people, his friends and family, just because he didn’t want to reveal his full power to any future opponent? Cell perhaps?

Speaking of Gero’s bio-android, he was still managing the fight against Buu, barely. In the ring, Cold and Baddack were screwed. In U3’s area, Tapion and Raichi were prisoners. They had been among the first trapped, having had no time to retaliate. Hildegan could have rescued them though... Bra, of course, continued her battle as well. Her battle drew her closer towards universe 13, where Vegeta was the last of his group to be free.

Meanwhile, Gast stood stock still, his giant arms folded over his barrel chest. The pink gum spun around him like a pool, but seemed unable to find a weak spot in the Giant Namek’s defenses.

“So, the first fight will be...let’s see...”

Buu’s voice echoed through the entire stadium by magic, and for a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath. Had it really come to this point? Had Buu really won? Did he control everything? Would the rest of the tournament go according to his wishes?

“I choose...Cell of Universe 17, against Gohan of Universe 16!”

As this Gohan had previously been imprisoned, the molasses stretched out towards the ring and finally released the half Saiyan. Buu also removed Cold and Baddack from the ring, and set Cell down in the ring opposite from Gohan. The bio-android had been created as a fighter, believing himself perfect. To have him fight against Gohan would be an incredible rematch. A great idea certainly, but the conditions worried Buu. He suspected Gohan would not fight freely against Cell, having his family kidnapped by another. How could he push the half-Saiyan to give his all in the fight?

“Gohan,” said the djinn, “if you don’t fight as hard as I hope, I’m going to kill your family! Understand?”

“Cell, if he tries to flee this battle, I will reduce you back to your imperfect state!”

This threat was indeed menacing for them both. To slaughter an entire family? Buu could do it without hesitation, sure. Make Cell imperfect again? Certainly, it was within his abilities. Of the millions of different powers and skills he had acquired across the universe, one of them would surely do the trick. The two protagonists had no choice... This was a fight they could not avoid. At least, Gohan thought, it might buy them enough time until his father Vegetto came back and put an end to Buu’s shenanigans. Unless his absence was the result of Buu?