Gohan's eyes lit up as Piccolo's words finally clicked. "Right… I almost forgot about that."
Piccolo looked at him with the exhaustion of someone who had watched this boy grow into a scholar and somehow become less practical. "Gohan, maybe school was a mistake. Your head worked better before all those books."
Gohan gave an awkward laugh and scratched his cheek.
Cabba and Caulifla stayed quiet for once. Kale was the same, but for a different reason. She had no attention to spare for anyone except the fight below, where Vegito and Majin Buu still faced each other over the desert.
Buu tilted his head. "New state? What new state?"
"I don't know if it'll work," Vegito said. "I've never tried combining them before."
"Then try."
Vegito took a slow breath. "If this still isn't enough, I'll admit it. We lose."
He closed his eyes.
The blue aura around him faded first. The Super Saiyan 4 body followed, red fur and tail vanishing as he dropped all the way back to base.
Buu blinked. "Why did you get weaker?"
"Because Super Saiyan 4 won't hold what I'm about to do," Vegito said. "Not safely."
Buu nodded with the serious interest of a child watching someone set up a new game.
Vegito opened his eyes.
"Here goes."
Two powers rose out of him at once.
One was calm and silver-bright, quiet enough to feel almost empty, yet sharp enough to make the air around him pull away. The other came rough and purple-red, heavy with pressure, pushing forward like it wanted to crush everything in reach.
For a moment, the two forces twisted around each other.
Then they divided cleanly across his body.
One side of Vegito carried the cold, star-like flow of Ultra Instinct Sign. The other burned with the violent purple-red pressure of Ultra Ego. Even his hair split between the two states, half dark, half purple-red, the two powers sharing one body without ever truly mixing.
Buu's smile thinned.
For the first time, he stopped looking only amused.
Vegito's mouth curved. "Now we can start."
Buu braced himself.
Vegito vanished.
He crossed the distance before Buu's eyes could follow, and his fist drove into Buu's stomach from below. The hit lifted Buu off the ground. Vegito followed with a hard kick that sent him spinning higher, then appeared above him before the monster could recover.
His hand settled on Buu's head.
Buu still had not turned around.
"We can't fight properly on Earth," Vegito said. "Let's move."
He prepared to use Instant Transmission.
The Potara gave out.
Vegito split apart in a flash, and in the space where one warrior had stood, Goku and Vegeta reappeared side by side—Goku still wrapped in Ultra Instinct Sign, Vegeta still burning with Ultra Ego.
Goku looked at Vegeta. Vegeta looked at Goku.
Neither of them moved for a second.
Goku broke first. "Huh. Why did we split?"
The whole "permanent fusion" thing had lasted less than an hour. Shin being unreliable was one thing, but Elder Kai had apparently joined the same club.
Vegeta's face twisted. "Kakarot… I knew you would find a way to ruin this."
"I don't think I did anything."
Vegeta tore the Potara from his ear and crushed it between his fingers.
The earring broke into dust.
"Hey!" Goku winced. "That was my Potara!"
"It failed," Vegeta snapped. "Why keep a broken tool?"
"Don't get too relaxed," Goku said, pointing past him. "Buu's coming."
Buu drifted toward them with an easy smile. "That fusion was good. It hurt a little."
Goku's expression tightened. "Yeah. This is bad."
Piccolo, Gohan, and Kale rushed over from the distance and took their places beside Goku and Vegeta, each of them already pulling up their strongest power.
Buu crooked a finger at them. "All of you, then."
Vegeta charged first, forcing himself into Super Saiyan 4 as he flew. Piccolo followed, orange power swelling through him in the same breath.
Their fists hit Buu together—Vegeta across the face, Piccolo in the stomach.
Buu's body warped around the blows like rubber and snapped back a moment later. His hands shot out, caught them both, and slammed Vegeta and Piccolo into each other hard enough to blur their senses.
"Piccolo!"
Gohan attacked from the side, but Buu turned and slapped him out of the air like an insect. Gohan spun down into the desert and buried himself in the sand.
"Gohan-nii!"
Kale's aura exploded into Legendary Super Saiyan Two. She came at Buu with everything she had, fists pounding into him again and again, each hit carrying all the fury she could not put into words.
Buu let her finish.
Then he dropped onto her face with his full weight.
Kale crashed into the ground and disappeared into another crater.
Red fire flared in the distance.
"Majin Buu! Miss me?"
Zarotenks came roaring back, long red hair whipping behind him, Super Saiyan God Three burning at full power. Zarek, Goten, and Trunks had not run far after all. Once they recovered enough strength, they fused again and threw themselves straight back into the fight.
Buu looked almost pleased to see him.
Then he punched Zarotenks in the stomach.
"Not playing anymore."
Zarotenks folded over the blow, spat bile, and collapsed clutching his gut.
Cabba and Caulifla had been moving forward.
They stopped.
Caulifla stared at Zarotenks on the ground, then at Buu, then made the most sensible decision she had made all day.
"Earth is too dangerous. Cabba, we're going back to Sadala."
"Now?"
"Before he remembers we're here."
Cabba did not argue.
They left.
Buu glanced after them and let them go. They were not worth chasing.
Not long after, the two reached their spaceship. The engines ignited, the ship lifted off, and Earth shrank behind them as they shot into space.
Cabba finally let himself breathe. "We're out."
"Good." Caulifla leaned back in her seat and pressed a hand to her chest. "That planet is insane."
For a moment, they only sat there, feeling the relief of still being alive.
Then Caulifla sighed. "Goku and the others are probably in trouble. That Majin Buu is worse than I thought."
"When we get back, I'm training properly," Cabba said, his hands tightening. "This can't happen again."
Caulifla reached into her clothes and pulled out half of a broken sword.
Cabba stared at it. "Is that the Z Sword?"
Caulifla set the piece aside, then pulled out the other half.
Cabba's eyes widened further. "Where were you hiding that?"
"On me. Where else?" Caulifla shifted the broken blade with a grunt. "This thing is heavy. Once we get back, I'll have a blacksmith fix it up. Maybe it'll still make a good weapon."
"It snapped in half."
"That's why I said fix it. Add better materials, reinforce it, whatever blacksmiths do." Caulifla grinned. "A divine sword has to be worth something."
Cabba rubbed his forehead. "I'm more worried about when you stole it. I didn't notice at all."
"I wanted the old man's crystal ball too," Caulifla said, sounding honestly disappointed, "but that thing was too obvious. No way I could hide something that big."
She glanced down at herself, measured the space with her hands, and frowned.
"Wrong build for smuggling crystal balls."
Cabba went quiet.
Then a much more important thought hit him.
"Caulifla… what did we come to Earth for?"
Caulifla said nothing.
"We were supposed to bring Kale back to Sadala."
Caulifla snorted. "Kale? Did you see her around Gohan? She's not coming back with us."
Cabba thought about it.
Then he nodded.
"Exactly," Caulifla said.
"We came with three people and left with two," Cabba muttered. "And Frost got taken out the moment he reached Earth."
Caulifla smiled. "Three seconds of silence for Frost."
Neither of them lasted one.
…
Earth.
Vegeta, Zarotenks, Piccolo, Gohan, and Kale lay scattered across the desert, all beaten down.
Only Goku remained in the air.
Mostly because he had not actually fought yet.
Buu looked up at him and smiled. "Your turn."
Goku's playful look disappeared. "Guess I have to try."
The star-bright aura of Ultra Instinct Sign rose around him again. His hair stayed black, but his breathing changed, and the air around him seemed to grow quiet.
Buu's eyes brightened.
They were about to move.
A ringtone rang across the battlefield.
Everyone stopped.
Buu looked down, lifted the waistband of his pants, and pulled out a phone.
Goku stared at him.
Buu answered. "Hello? Satan?" His face lit up. "Dinner's ready? I'm coming."
He hung up and tucked the phone away.
Then he waved at everyone. "You're too weak. Train more, then come fight me. The fused guy was fun, though. Bring him next time."
Goku blinked. "Wait. Where are you going?"
"Home. Dinner."
"Home?" Goku asked. "And did you say Satan?"
"Satan's house is my house." Buu floated upward and waved. "Bye-bye."
He shot away as a pink streak and vanished.
For a while, the desert was quiet.
Majin Buu had left.
Not because they beat him. Not because he was tired. Not because some grand plan worked.
Mr. Satan called him for dinner.
Dende arrived soon after and hurried from one fallen fighter to the next. His healing closed their wounds, mended broken bones, and left everyone physically recovered.
Mentally, no one looked healed at all.
Vegeta's fists shook. "Explain that."
Goku looked in the direction Buu had gone. "I think Buu might not be a bad guy after all."
Vegeta slowly turned toward him. "What?"
Piccolo almost lost it. "Shin said Majin Buu destroyed countless worlds!"
"He did," Goku said. "But since Buu woke up, we haven't seen him kill anyone." He paused, then added, "Maybe it's like the Androids. History changed."
Gohan scratched his head. "That does make sense…"
Piccolo's anger began shifting into something more painful. "So we attacked him first, and he beat us down because we kept challenging him."
"Looks that way," Goku said.
Kale did not know what to do with that.
Zarotenks looked furious, but even he seemed unsure where to aim it.
"Well," Goku said, forcing a laugh into the wreckage of everyone's pride, "Buu did help us get stronger."
Vegeta's face turned so dark it could have swallowed light.
He had put on the Potara. He had nearly fused with Kakarot forever. He had gone through all that to save the world.
And the monster had gone home for dinner.
"Kakarot," Vegeta said, each word colder than the last, "take me to Universe 7's Sacred World of the Kai."
"Take me too," Piccolo said.
"I'm going," Zarotenks snapped.
Goku looked at the three of them and, to his credit, did not ask why they were angry. "All right. You've never been there, right? I'll take you."
Then he glanced toward Gohan and Kale.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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