PART TWENTY SEVEN: THE NEW ABILITIES OF FUSION

Chapter 133

Translated by npberryhill

As the final preparations for the upcoming fight were taking place, the participants were surprisingly unworried. Considering all that Buu had done previously, that was saying something. Vegetto had made his way to the universe 1 balcony where the djinn was being kept — earning him a mischievous glare from the pink blob. Additionally, the Namekian organizers had been posted everywhere throughout the arena, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. After a final check, the Varga up in the booth switched on his microphone.

“Ladies and Gentlemen and every creature in between, we can now move on to the next fight! We call Gotenks from Universe 18 and...” there was a slight pause for obvious reasons, “Buu from universe 4. We encourage all present to be cautious, and report suspicious activity right away.”

“We’ve got it covered,” the Great Kaioshin said with an excited grin. “Time to let you out I suppose.”

He released the energy held in the palm of his hand and immediately the coral-colored grime fell flat to the ground, a fuschia puddle with a set of black eyes blinking in surprise. Buu looked left, then right, quite hilariously, at those before him — who were quite on edge, except Vegetto and the Grand Kaioshin. His normal body then shot up out of the gummy gloop, regaining his seriousness. Buu then bowed respectfully.

“My sincere thanks for keeping a faithful watch over me, venerable Kaioshins,” he began, smiling. “I assure you I harbor no ill intent, and will provide the audience a fair fight.”

“I’m counting on it,” the Great Kaioshin replied. “Be on guard against the various personalities within you rising up — otherwise, you’ll find yourself being summoned back to prison, relegated to a mere spectator for the rest of the tournament.”

Buu bowed once again before heading to the arena, leaving behind a set of confused Kaioshins. Why, if he were to act out again, would he not be banished to his own universe immediately? What was the Grand Kaioshin thinking, threatening only to make him sit out? Buu was decidedly the most dangerous being they’d ever dealt with, and yet their leader continued insisting on keeping the Majin present at the tournament with no regard to the risk. Stranger still was how their chief seemed to be almost friends with Buu. Vegetto gave a short, mean smile, then went back to the Universe 16 patio.

Over on their own veranda, Goten and Trunks glanced at one another, chuckling. They seemed indifferent to the scale of foe they were about to face, overconfident as ever.

“Hey, birdbrains,” came a haughty female voice. “If you guys lose, you’ve got to be my servants for like, a month? Deal?”

“Hah, whatever you say, sis,” Trunks replied. “But when we win, you’re going to treat us like Kings!”

“As if,” Bra chuckled. “This guy is way too strong, even I can tell. Just hurry up and lose, I’ve got my first set of orders ready!”

Piccolo turned to them, eyes stern. “What are you two waiting for? Hurry and fuse, you can’t enter the ring unmerged.”

Trunks suddenly turned to the audience. “Woah, no way! Hey Piccolo, do you know who that is up there watching us?”

“Get serious,” the Namek frowned. “This isn’t the time —”

“Woah, how awesome is that?!” Goten joined in, pointing to one of the stairways. “Check it out, Piccolo!”

Exasperated, Piccolo huffed and turned his head, if only to shut them up. As he did so, the others from Universe 18 turned as well, intrigued in spite of their better judgement. A flash of light suddenly appeared in the corner of their eyes, causing them to turn back quickly. Piccolo’s reaction of shock was two-fold: not only had they fused instantly, but the two foolish knuckleheads had actually managed to inexplicably gain yet another useful skill.

“What... how?” the Super Namek stammered, speechless.

“Woah, how’d you do that?” Goku exclaimed, impressed.

“Standing before you now is the new and improved Insta-Gotenks!” the boys answered, pointing proudly to their chest. “Let’s just say, through our insights into fusion, we’ve made some incredible improvements. Our powers have been doubled — now make way for the greatest hero in all the universes!”

He leapt backwards, spinning and somersaulting towards the arena, his showmanship drawing the full admiration of the crowd. While each member of universe 18 was surprised, it was Uub who felt a different type of shock. He, too, had experienced an unexpected and sudden advancement in his magical aptitude last night. The mysterious friend from his dreams, that had spent hours teaching him, seemed to have helped out others in the tournament as well. Upon a second thought, everything about that dream felt strange and unnatural — like no other dream he’d experienced before.

Several other spectators had viewed Gotenks' movements from afar, Vegetto in particular. He was pleased to see the advancement of fusion, and was excited that it would be a more interesting fight now — he’d also memorized the ultra-fast movements in case they ever came in handy. The Trunks and Goten from his universe, however, boiled with envy. With only a glance they had confirmed that neither had experienced any revelations the previous night — which meant that their Gotenks was now clearly inferior, needing a much longer time to be created.

In the arena, the two warriors now faced each other. Zen Buu, finally free to move again, stretched and warmed up by swinging a few sharp punches around himself. It felt incredible to be free of his restraints, even though he’d been mentally on a hike just a short time ago. Across from him, the fused Saiyans cracked their fingers and stretched as well. He then extended a finger towards the pink djinn.

“So, we finally meet again, demon! You thought you could attack everyone here and get away with it? Well, now I’m here to stop you!”

Bra of Universe 16 balled up her fists, irritated as always by Gotenks’ lame posturing. Acting like a self-proclaimed superhero just really rubbed her the wrong way. Her counterpart of the 18th universe felt the same, looking elsewhere and murmuring.

“Don’t you mean Gast and the Grand Kaioshin are here... pssh.”

Nonetheless, Buu was amused, and decided to accept the role of big bad for now — a part which he found ironic, for it was neither entirely false nor true. He smiled at his old rival.

“Very well, “hero”, if you think you can... try and stop me! But do you have enough power? Observe and admire as I show you what you’re really up against!”

It was time to give them a show! Buu, for the first time in years, unleashed an enormous amount of his power. The entire asteroid shook from the force, the very stadium rumbling as if it could collapse at any second. Gale winds threatened to tornado the spectators out randomly into space, and even the artificial planets above were repulsed. The Vargas, panicked by their devices and gauges overloading, transferred all available power into the energy shield, pushing it to the extreme of its limits. The competitors from below were jettisoned backwards and flattened against the wall, including the soldiers from Universe 8 and a Cell Junior. Buu finally began to diminish his aura, now swarmed with lightning, but it was still considerable. Before such power, the spectators were completely enthralled.

“Wow!”

Those in universes 1, 12, 16, 17, and 18 were completely silent. Goku was the first to finally speak, lowering his chin, his tone soft but serious.

“This level of power... is amazing, far beyond any of us. It’s definitely in the same league as Vegetto and Broly from before.”

“Incredible,” Gohan uttered, with some bitterness. “I suspected he had become stronger, but not this much. Then again, it explains why he was so confident earlier when those two were fighting.”

Vegetto might’ve been the most surprised of all, a shiver of realization instantly tingling down his spine. First and foremost, Buu had been holding back far more strength than he’d given him credit for. In fact, he was still holding back. Second, although Vegetto still held the upper hand, were Buu to train seriously he could probably close the gap between them in no time. It was both exciting and terrifying. What if Buu were to immunize himself against Gast’s magic? Who could stop the djinn from annihilating everything then? Even Vegetto, in all his ridiculously overpowered glory, might not be up to the task. Earlier, when they’d clashed in the depths of space, Buu had merely been toying around. There was a new validity to his claim that were they to have a serious fight, he would be sure to win.

Bra, unsure of how to gauge the situation, frowned in her father’s direction, glancing back and forth at him and Buu. The puzzled look on her Dad’s face was something she’d seen so rarely she didn’t know how to properly interpret it. Begrudgingly, she had to admit that even Gotenks was not a real challenge for Buu — although she still possessed a technique capable of obliterating Buu. Inwardly and discreetly, she prepared to use it if things were to go awry.

Standing all alone in the ring, a certain fused Saiyan was shaking like a leaf. His eyes bulged, petrified at the energy his opponent was giving off. Seeing the effects of his power, Buu snorted forcefully.

“So, ready to fight?”

Gotenks snapped out of it, assuring himself he still had enough power to compete. Sure, he had some surprises in store, although what Buu had just shown was amazing.

“You bet!” Gotenks exclaimed, instantly powering up to level three. His own power shook the asteroid as well, projecting a spectacular gust of wind all around.

Pan let out a cry of amazement and admiration. Piccolo, beside her, couldn’t believe it either. Gotenks was twice as powerful as before, it seemed. The universe 16 Goten and Trunks had fallen to their knees, stammering incomprehensibly. Their own fusion was now obsolete in comparison, and even Bra seemed shocked. Gotenks’ energy wasn’t that far removed from Buu’s now, definitely enough to give his sister a challenge and even rival Vegetto in normal Super Saiyan — he wouldn’t last long against Super Saiyan 2 though. Buu’s true power was higher than even that, but he didn’t intend to show any more than he already had. He wanted a challenge, a good show, and revealing more strength was overkill.

On the Universe 18 Patio, Goku had begun to pester Vegeta with questions. “Hey, I think he’s even stronger than us now, don’t you? What do you think? Hey, Vegeta! Vegeta?”

A strong explosion in the ring prevented Vegeta’s scathing reply from reaching Goku. Gotenks and Buu had rushed one another, both striking a hard right. The blows hit each other’s cheeks, a battle smile shared between them, excited. The force repulsed them both, each planting their legs before launching back at one another. A fierce exchange of hand to hand combat began, too quick for even the two Gohans to perceive. And they weren’t the only ones, as Goku and Vegeta struggled to follow each movement as well, leaving Bra and Vegetto as the only two able.

Surprisingly, Gotenks gradually began to take the advantage over Buu. The Djinn was at an ever so slight speed disadvantage, but not enough to prevent him from parrying each incoming attack and countering. Gotenks was able to skirt off the attacks, and decided to change tactics. Moving at great speed, he positioned himself above Buu, not realizing the majin was following all of his movements without difficulty. He opened his mouth and blasted out a huge jet of energy, disintegrating two-thirds of the arena. The spectators as well as the participants covered their eyes or crossed their arms over their faces, but even so the intensity of the blast was enough to partially pass through the shield. The dissipated explosion gave way to a vast crater, leaving Gotenks floating in the air.

Goku was surprised to see his son’s fusion behaving so seriously, a being that would normally have taken every opportunity to crack jokes or try and be cool. The ground began to repair itself within a few seconds, a result of Buu's magic no doubt, astonishing Goku further. Gotenks was ready, though, raising his left arm and blocking a blow a few inches from his face that would’ve destroyed an entire planet. Buu’s head emerged from the smoke of the explosion, screaming with satisfaction.

“It would be a shame for us to not be able to continue fighting on dry land, don’t you think? Come on, let’s get back to it!”

He landed a devastating knee in the Saiyan’s ribs, who spat as he doubled over onto the ring. Even the casual blows of such a powerful monster could be devastating. Refocusing, he countered with a punch that sent Buu skidding across the ring. Gotenks then intensified his aura, relying on his speed advantage again, and rushed behind Buu — who blocked his attack by wrapping a wad of his pink flesh in circles around the fighter. He then uncoiled himself, flinging Gotenks wildly across the stage. But the Saiyans were far from finished, and braced by planting a foot in the ground.

“Pick up after yourself!” Gotenks exclaimed, cupping his hands back by his side. “Kamehame... HA!!”

The azure energy wave was enormous, encompassing the arena and engulfing both it and Buu once again. Only, this time the Djinn kicked the blast off into the vastness of space right at the last second, deflecting it far too easily. Gotenks was quick on the pursuit, appearing right in front of him to launch a hard down-smash. But the blow didn’t come, the fusion choosing that of all moments to separate them back into two components. Trunks and Goten’s eyes were panicked as they impulsively finished the last of Gotenks’ moves. Buu’s stretchy pink arms grabbed their faces and necks an instant later, smashing them against the ring several times like a percussionist banging a drum. There was an almost rhythm to it even. Pan covered her eyes, worried and frightened, while Vegeta frowned. Both of the young Saiyans were bleeding, faces and bodies covered in bruises and cuts.

“And that’s what happens when you’ve got no brains,” Bra of the 16th condescended. “At level three, the fusion lasts barely a minute. A perfect example of wasting your one and only opportunity...”

The Heloiites were dismayed at the unfolding scene on the battlefield.

“He’s truly a monster!” Xeniloum said anxiously. “I was lucky to make it out alive, seeing what he can really do!”

“He’s clearly stronger than anyone here,” Eleim continued, teeth clenched. “While I’m certainly grateful the two groups next door offered to fight for us, I just don’t see any way for them to get rid of this Buu. That warrior made from the two kids seems like he’s the strongest of their group, even though there’s still the girl from the 16th that defeated me, as well as her father — who might have a chance. I want to believe in them, I really do... but I've long lost my ability to hold out hope, especially when that means having faith in others.”

Back in the arena, Buu had finished toying around with the two Saiyans. He was satisfied with the result so far, but as he had been the one to pass on his secrets in the first place, he knew exactly what was going to happen next. To speed things along, he goaded them.

“So, is it over already? Is that all the great hero Gotenks has to offer? I seem to remember the Gotenks of twenty years ago being far tougher and more interesting than this!”

“Hey,” Goten grumbled, lying in a pool of his own blood and spit.

“Just you wait and see,” Trunks exclaimed, straightening up. “We’re not done yet!”

“This isn’t...”

“...over!”

Both boys stood and screamed simultaneously. Their movements appeared blurred, but precisely synchronous, before their tips touched once-more. A blinding flash of light illuminated the ring once again, the curtain unveiling Gotenks in Super Saiyan 3 once again.

The group from Universe 18 was beyond astonished, as evidenced by the fact that Vegeta had even uncrossed his arms. Vegetto grinned, confirming that his memorization from the first time was indeed accurate — now understanding that it was more than just a faster series of poses. This new merger could be performed right away without any waiting period.

“Wait... what?”

Gotenks had busted out laughing, quickly assuming a fighting stance and charging an ever-stoic Buu.

“And here he is — the incredible, ultimate, Insta-Gotenks! Back in top shape once again, and ready to demolish you!”

Buu grinned, pleased with how he had manipulated the fight so far. A purple spark shone in his eyes, and Uub shivered. He recognized the sensation, one he was growing more and more familiar with. He didn’t know quite what to make of the connection, but this Buu of Universe 4 seemed linked to both his and Gotenks' revelations — but how, he wondered.

“Ah is that so, oh great and powerful Gotenks!?” Buu scoffed. “Very well then, show me what you can do!”