AN: Hi all! I know it's been a while. I know I said May, but I didn't know that literally May through June my life was going to be a shitstorm of weddings, funerals, and traveling. Not to mention, my second book came out. It's called #Hipster (pronounced Hashtag Hipster). It's a mature romance novel following two writing student rivals who are stuck together in a class project for a month, working on a NaNoWriMo. It's up on amazon, and if you have KindleUnlimited, it's free. The first few chapters are posted on my author's site, www. amhjohnsonbooks .com (spaces added, so you can see the site name), if you aren't sure if you want to commit to it yet. But I will tell you, it's a fun book you can finish in 3-4 hours. The link to the book's amazon page is also on my author's site.

Anyway, enjoy! And remember to review, like and favorite!

Disclaimer: All DBZ content is owned by Akira Toriyama, Funimation, and Toei Animation.

Chapter 19

Inside Out

"YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT!?" The old lady screeched, nearly falling off her crystal ball. "King Yemma, you must be joking."

"On the contrary, Baba, I'm deadly serious," King Yemma responded, inspite of his pun. She gulped as he continued, "We need our best fighters at the ready, dead or alive, which is why I left his soul intact in case such an emergency arose."

Baba scoffed at the heavenly gatekeeper. "But you want me to take him!? Earth is a warzone right now!" Yemma nodded with her as if waiting for her to make her point. She scowled as she added, "I could die."

"But the Earth will be saved, as will the entire cosmos," King Yemma replied.

"And what makes you think I can beat him?" a gravelly voice interjected behind the old witch. Baba nodded agreeingly at his sentiment as he continued, "The first time I fought him, I died and didn't even make a dent in him. He's stronger now."

"Well, if Goku hadn't already used up his twenty-four hour credit, we'd ask him. But he did when this whole thing started, so we can't," Yemma stated, glaring squarely at the Saiyan prince. "Right now, you are the best we have."

"'The best we have'?" Vegeta laughed bitterly. When Yemma answered him with a cold, stoic glare, Vegeta laughed harder. "We're screwed."

"My sentiments exactly," Baba huffed, ignoring Vegeta's pointed scowl aimed at her.

King Yemma's gaze narrowed on the Saiyan prince. "Vegeta, need I remind you I read your file. I know it was yours and Goku's fight that released Majin Buu. I know it was your pride that started that fight. You confessed, 'I'm sorry, Mia. My pride killed you.' So you knew this as well before you died. So, it's to be assumed that this whole Majin Buu situation is mostly your mess." Vegeta looked away from the giants judging scowl. "If you go and beat Buu, 100 years will be lifted from your sentence in Hell."

"And visitation," Vegeta added quickly. King Yemma frowned at him, but it was Vegeta's services they needed. He was in a position to negotiate. "Allow me to see my family occasionally. And I want to see Mia before I go." The last request was to apologize. He knew after the smoke cleared, he wasn't getting wished back this time. He needed to make sure she knew that he was sorry for being selfish that day at the tournament. He put his pride first, and it cost him his daughter, as well as his life. "Do that, and I will fight Buu."

King Yemma eyed him oddly, before stating, "Vegeta, Mia never came here. Neither she nor Gohan died."

Vegeta frowned at the new information. "What?"

"Goku asked the same thing when he came through here, when his twenty-four hours were up. And I looked then. Neither of them were listed, and I never miss a soul. Let alone two."

Vegeta opened and closed his mouth twice, trying to think of a response. Suddenly he growled, "Well, then where the hell are they? They're powerlevels were gone on Earth."

King Yemma shrugged. "All I can tell you is they didn't come through here, meaning they didn't die on Earth."

Vegeta nodded blankly as he processed that. He didn't kill his daughter. Buu may have gotten close, but Gohan and Mia were still alive. He looked up with a smirk. Things were looking up. "Let's go then."

"I'm not taking him!" Baba argued again. "Forget it!"

"Baba, I can't sanction you using Otherworld for your personal bunker," King Yemma growled. "If you're here, you do as I say. And I say take Vegeta back to Earth." Baba opened her mouth to protest, but the look King Yemma gave said his word was final. And when the man who decided if she went to Heaven or Hell for eternity gave her that look, she knew it was better to do as he said before she was smote.

"This is as far as I take you. Sorry I couldn't get you any closer," Baba huffed angrily. "Good luck." Vegeta opened his mouth to respond to her, but she had already disappeared, likely back to the safe distance of Otherworld. He let out a derisive snort. Doesn't matter anyway. I'll be dead again shortly, he mused.

"I thought that power level was familiar," someone scoffed. "It was you, Vegeta." Vegeta spun around, his gaze settling on the new figure behind him. He looked like Gohan. Could easily be the hybrids older brother if Kakarot and his wife had any older than the bookworm. His black hair stood on end, except three bangs hanging over his forehead. He wore the same obnoxious orange outfit Kakarot insisted on wearing. And his voice was strange. It was like someone had mixed Kakarot's voice with his eldest son's. He scowled further as he saw a Saiyan tail wagging behind him.

Vegeta frowned. "Who are you?"

"I haven't picked a name for myself yet," the man stated. "I'm a new being created by the fusion Goku and Gohan." The man paused, putting a finger to his chin as he mused, "Although, I should have a name. Gokhan sounds the most doable."

Vegeta wasn't listening to him picking out his name however. His gaze rested solely on the tail of this new Saiyan. He had heard of Fusion before, a technique that multiplies two persons' powers by combining them into a single body with traits of each person performing the technique. That meant the tail came from either Kakarot or his son. Vegeta long knew that the only way to restore an adult Saiyan tail was through claiming a mate. As far as Vegeta knew, Kakarot had never mated his wife, and he was dead when this whole thing started. Not to mention ChiChi was a human, so her bite might not be strong enough to make a mating claim mark. So logically, the tail couldn't have been his. That left Gohan, who was dating his daughter, a saiyan. King Yemma's statement rang through his ears. "… they didn't come through here … they didn't die on Earth." Vegeta's fist tightened, and he bared his teeth as he growled, "You Son of a Bitch!"

Gokhan, or whatever he was calling himself, froze with a frown, his head tilted in confusion. That just made Vegeta angrier. The prince charged at him, throwing punch after punch, which Gokhan deflected as Vegeta yelled, "YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO IGNORE THAT TAIL, GOHAN!? HOW DARE YOU LAY A HAND ON MY DAUGHTER! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

"Vegeta," Gokhan tried, blocking and parrying every blow with ease, "we don't have time for this. Buu will be done transforming and find us any second."

"Sit still and let me hit you, you little shit!" Vegeta snapped. "You think you can just fuck my daughter and get away with it!? I'll fucking kill you!"

Gokhan moved quickly, shifting behind Vegeta and ensnaring him in a tight stranglehold. The Prince fought against it, but Gokhan used this moment to speak. "Goku had the tail."

Vegeta calmed. "What?"

Gokhan licked his lips as he stated, "The tail is Goku's. Not Gohan's."

"But ChiChi's a human," Vegeta blurted out. "Not to mention Goku's dead! Which how are you even back!?"

"I'd rather not go into the specifics of that evening," Gokhan stated, still holding Vegeta tight. "He was dead when it happened, you're right." Vegeta grimaced in disgust at the confession. "But he isn't anymore. An old kai gave him his life force to help Gohan and Mia fight Majin Buu."

Vegeta scoffed, turning around. "That's disgusting."

"You know what? We've got bigger issues," Gokhan rebuffed. When Vegeta refused to look at him, Gokhan added with a growl, "Look! Buu has killed or absorbed everyone we care about. And if you can't get over your pride, then we're next."

Vegeta scowled at him. Then let out another huff, looking away.

Gokhan bared his teeth, grinding them together a little. "Fine. Act like you don't care. But Buu has absorbed our sons, your daughter, and her mother. And just so you know, they're stuck there forever. The kais informed us that their spirits can't move on. They're not dead. They're not alive. They're just stuck." Vegeta bristled at the news, his heart aching a little, and he realized the pain in Gokhan's voice. The fused being's voice shook with pained fury. That was something the prince understood well. "I need your help to save them. Because if we don't, we won't even be able to wish them back."

"Alright!" Vegeta growled, crossing his arms tightly over his chest, his gaze turning towards Buu's power level, which was starting to plateau. The pink monster would be headed this way shortly. "What do you have in mind?" Kakarot may fight battles by the seat of his pants until he found a weakness, but Gohan was a bit more smart, even if recent history proved he tended to fight more flashily. Them being fused together conceivably had more advantages than setbacks. That and they were incredibly strong. Vegeta could sense enough of that.

Gokhan gave the prince a small smile. "We need someone to be absorbed by Buu to save the others, protecting themselves from whatever Buu uses to add them to it's body by using a barrier of ki. The other person needs to stay out here and make sure the world doesn't get destroyed."

"You want Buu to absorb me?" Vegeta grumbled.

Gokhan smirked. "On the contrary. Whoever goes in needs to be strong enough to do significant damage to Buu's body to escape. That means me."

Vegeta scowled at him. "You want me to be his punching bag?"

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Gokhan joked. Vegeta clenched his fists, glaring at the fused Saiyan. Gokhan looked up, his smirk falling as he said, "She's done. Buu's coming."

Vegeta's face fell, turning towards Buu's power level, inbound. He frowned. She's coming. Those were Gokhan's words. Buu's absorbed both Siyaka and Mia. Does Buu look like them now? He'd know soon, but the thought gave him pause.

"We're clear right. I get absorbed, you hold Buu here," Gokhan asked, not looking at Vegeta.

Vegeta gave a bitter scoff as he asked, "How do you know Buu's going to absorb you?"

"Buu prefers a masculine form, but the most dominant power Buu absorbed is Siyaka, so he's now a she. She doesn't like that, and so she'll try to absorb one of us to go back to being a man. She tried to absorb Gohan for that reason, but Mia intervened," Gokhan explained. It was weird to think about, he knew. His head hurt just trying to wrap his logic around the pronoun game so many rapid transitions presented.

Buu was on them in seconds, and Vegeta could see what Gohan was talking about. Buu's face shape and body were now effeminant, and strikingly similar to Siyaka. Her antenna, now long, spiraled in a strange curl, and she wore over her chest Siyaka's old Frieza Force armor. Vegeta would recognize it anywhere. Instantly, he transformed to Super Saiyan, a ki blast forming in his hand as Buu formed one as well. Buu fired first, and Vegeta threw his into hers. Gokhan followed up behind Vegeta's with a small blast, knocking Buu's purple energy ball off course, exploding a distant cliffside.

Buu zoomed up to face off with Vegeta, knocking him down into the craigy rocks below. He rebounded finding his footing, and shooting back up a distance away. Buu hovered in between Gokhan and Vegeta now, looking at both of them, before her gaze settled on Vegeta with a smirk. Vegeta noted Gokhan clench and unclench his fist nervously, his eyes focused on the prince as if willing him to pace himself to execute the plan correctly.

Buu scoffed, "You. I remember you. I fought you before."

Vegeta smirked. "Back when you were a man," he taunted.

Buu's own smirk faltered for a second. Her gaze flicked up to his halo as she added, "At least I'm not dead. Tell me, will they be able to take you soul back to Otherworld if I kill you now?" Vegeta didn't show any emotion to the remark. Her voice sounded so similar to Siyaka's, if not for the monstrous tambor around her words. Buu glowered a little at him, realizing she wasn't getting the exact reaction she wanted. Then a small realizing glimmer entered her eyes as if she just read his mind, and she tilted her head and asked, "How does it feel knowing I killed your lover?" Vegeta did his best to keep his anger in check. She was goading him. Wanted him to get upset. To lash out. "That she's a part of me now. Forever." Again, Vegeta remained stoic. But the slight move of his jaw told Buu she'd touched a nerve, and she smirked. "That I remember everything of her life. That she hated you when you died."

She heard him growl, saw him bare his teeth as the monster talked. "Don't listen to her, Vegeta," Gokhan tried as she began to move towards the prince with a smirk.

She glided over towards him gently, asking, "What about your daughter and son? They're in here too," she tapped the side of her bald head for emphasis. "Wondering how 'Daddy' couldn't save them."

That did it. Vegeta threw a punch which was caught by Buu, then he was tossed around and flung to the ground by the bubblegum monster, landing in the rubble with a heavy crash. Gokhan used that moment to jump in, landing a blow on Buu's cheek, grabbing her by the antenna simultaneously. He got a few good punches in, then threw her to the ground as well. Vegeta launched at her as she crashed to the ground, giving a kick to her abdomen sending her flying through a few craigy cliffs. He lifted one hand, sending several energy blasts after her.

"Vegeta, get out of there!" Gokhan called down, seeing how Vegeta had placed himself so precariously. He was doing his energy volley as Buu flew around, but didn't notice how the terrain trapped him while she still had open mobility. And worse, he was ignoring Gokhan.

"After all, family should stick together, don't you think!?" she howled with laughter as she dodged every one of the shots, slicing off her own antenna as she flew around the blasts before phasing behind him. "You should join them!" She hissed, throwing the severed pink goo from her antenna at him Vegeta froze as he saw the pink goo expand like a net before capturing him. He powered up just before the goo sealed itself into a ball around him, shrink down.

"Vegeta!" Gokhan yelled, watching the ball of goo holding Vegeta zoom back to Buu's body, crashing into her and being reabsorbed, and her body reformed. "DAMMIT! Why! Why did you target him!? I'm stronger than he was! Why didn't you go after me!?"

SaiBuu smirked at the fused warrior, stating, "Then it wouldn't be any fun."

Gokhan looked at her apprehensively. "What?!"

"The strongest person in the universe needs to be able to prove that, don't you think?" SaiBuu chuckled. "Otherwise there's no point, is there?"

Gokhan clenched his fists. Fun. That's all this was to the monster. Fun. "You just made a big mistake!" Gokhan growled, forcing a smirk at the monster. He powered up with a quick yell, and the face Buu made clearly showed she wasn't ready to fight him. Too late for regret.

Gokhan flew at the pink monster, landing a hit on her, sending her flying back through several cliffs. As she flew back, he put his hands together in a familiar stance as he said in a low growl, "Ka … me … ha … me … HA!" The blue orb that formed in his hands was fired forth, chasing down the monster. He felt it connect as he heard SaiBuu let out a yelp, and he shoved more power into it, but was careful not to kill her. They needed her weak, not dead. Not until everyone was saved.

Gokhan had noted the delayed transformation, or really lacking transformation. Vegeta's base form was stronger than Siyaka's, so that would easily have been enough to turn SaiBuu back into a male based Buu. But she hadn't. Her power also hadn't shot up, just like when she absorbed everyone else. That meant Vegeta was following the plan, except that he had decided to be the guinea pig rather than let Gokhan do it. Even though there was no guarantee Vegeta could make it out, at least by himself. There was no telling what state their friends were in. Had Vegeta let Gokhan handle it, all Vegeta would have to do is last against Buu, and blasting out of Buu wouldn't have been an issue. Gokhan could easily handle Buu now, if it wasn't for the need to save their friends first.

He dropped the Kamehameha wave, seeing in the distance SaiBuu melted and choking on her own goopy body. She chortled against the goo, making gagging sounds as she slowly began to reform. Gokhan was on her before she could, and he landed a kick, sending her flying back. He flew after her, but she liquified her body, slipping under the rocks in a plop. Gokhan skid to a stop , glaring at the ground as Buu disappeared among the cracks. "Dammit," he hissed. He did his best to sense for Buu, but she was everywhere. Her power had been evenly distributed around him.

"That was a cheap shot," he heard all around him. "But not so much enough to really hurt me. But you've lost all elements of surprise, so it won't happen again."

He huffed, looking around. "Damn." He whipped his head around, only to find Buu had reformed above him, throwing a blast at him, sending him crashing into the ground below with and explosion.

It wasn't enough to really hurt him. Just caught him off guard. If Vegeta was able to get everyone out, Buu was toast. That much was certain. He powered up, sending the rocks that had fallen on top of him flying, and he gave his neck a twist and crack. His gaze settled on Buu, who smirked at her small victory. Gokhan sneered, "Was that your best shot? If so, I'd surrender now." He cracked his neck again as he commented, "The body's still new. So I'm still getting used to it. You should know. You've been stealing bodies all day, transforming."

Buu scoffed at his blasé attitude. "You and I both know that's just talk. All that fusion seemed to do is make you twice as foolish. Trusting Vegeta to censure himself. Even Siyaka knew that was foolish."

Gokhan smirked, then sprung up faster than Buu could react, clotheslining the monster, then delivering three punches to her face, and a final kick, sending her flying back. Gokhan smirked at the monster, looking at his hand as he clenched and unclenched his fist. "Are you so certain?" His gaze flicked back to the monster, who looked taken aback from the onslaught. He then charged a blast, firing it at Buu who flung up her hands to block it. But the blast was too powerful for her and overtook her again. The blast exploded, black smoke billowing around them. Gokhan suddenly worried he overdid it.

As the smoke cleared, Buu dropped down eyes wide at the damage done to her person. Her lower half was blown off. One of her arms was gone, and her breast plate hung off her in tatters. "What have you done!? CURSE YOU!"

Gokhan smirked again. "I did warn you."

"NO!" Buu snapped. "That's not right!" Gokhan frowned at the outburst. "I have within me all the strongest warriors I've faced! You can't be that powerful!"

Gokhan smirked, crossing his arms as he remarked, "All the strongest except me." Buu sneered, a glint in her eye telling Gokhan he gave her an idea. He decided it was best to attack her before she fleshed it out. "So, are we just going to stand here chatting!?" Gokhan huffed.

Buu quickly reformed her body, her stance back to a ready fighting position. One Gokhan recognized as a Saiyan staple. "Bring it on. If you think you'll win, let's end this once and for all."

Gokhan eyed her carefully, trying to piece together how he should approach the fight now. She was acting as if she had him all of a sudden. That she was laying a trap for him. He bared his teeth before launching at her, realizing that was it. All she had was talk and mindgames. Even so, what trap could she pull that would hurt him? He was stronger than her by far. All he had to do was drag this on for a few more minutes, so Vegeta could get everyone out of Buu and to safety.

Once he was within a couple meters of her, she grinned, "You'll make great candy!" Her antenna swung around, and a purple beam shot out, enveloping Gokhan in purple light. The fused warrior let out a yell as he was shrunk down, then poof. Buu held out her hand, catching the jawbreaker that had been her greatest foe. She closed it in her fist, straightening herself as she sighed, "What a shame. Looks like I won." She grinned as she tightened her grip, adding, "A sucker for a sucker. That's what you are." She laughed at her pun as she opened her hand, looking at the candy. "Now, it's time to eat you."

The ball of candy shot up, nailing Buu in the forehead right between the eyes. Buu grunted, grabbing at her dented forehead, as the jawbreaker began hovering in front of the monster. "GAH!" Buu growled. "What the fuck!?"

"Language," the sucker chided.

"What?" Buu breathed, watching the sucker hovering in front of her eyes. "How are you still talking?"

"Don't know," the jawbreaker laughed. "But that's not all I can do." It immediately started flying around Buu at a pace that she couldn't keep up with it, nailing her in places all over her body, causing her to yelp out in pain. He tore through her antenna, and he stopped, laughing as he said, "You know you can still surrender."

"Surrender? … To Candy!?" Buu growled.

"It'd be a whole lot easier than fighting something harder, faster, and smaller than you," Gokhan supplied before doing a move set in candy form, showing just how fast he could still move and punch.

Buu frowned. "I don't plan on fighting you. As soon as I grab you, I'm eating you!"

"Oh," Gokhan laughed. "Then eat me!" He zoomed towards her, colliding with her stomach, making her gasp. Then up to her chin, rebounding off her before flying through her opened mouth and ripping out the back. She garbled again as he zoomed above her, and knocked her down to the ground. He floated above her collapsed form, hautily asking, "What's the matter? I thought you said you were going to eat me. I mean I flew right in."

She scowled, her body reforming its damaged portions, and shot a blast at him, which he dodged deftly, zooming around her and connecting wherever he could, making her howl in pain. "I told you," he laughed. "Smaller and faster always beats bigger and dumber."

She scowled at the jawbreaker before flicking her antenna back towards him and shooting another purple beam at him. Then poof. He was a real boy again. He yelped before crashing, not ready for the sudden change. He quickly picked himself up, dusting himself off before turning to Buu who glowered at him. He returned the expression. "So, what's your next play?"

Buu gave a mirthful smirk before asking, "Do you want to see something cool?"

Gokhan frowned, unsure of how to respond to the question. He watched as she steepled her fingers into a diamond, and a small whistling white ki ball formed. She then moved her hands as if they were carving out a geometric shape around the ki ball, until it grew large enough to throw. "PRISM BLAST!"

Gokhan braced himself as the blast rolled towards him, growing exponentially as it moved. He put his hands up to stop it, but it pulled him in anyway just as Siyaka's had done to Buu in the chamber. The nucleus exploded, ki blasts bouncing around within it and doubling as it rebounded off the sides. But, Gokhan was faster than Buu expected. He phased around the cage, dodging the nucleus with ease. Buu scowled before she clapped her hands together, and the cage lit up before exploding.

Buu smirked victoriously as the smoke billowed up to the sky from the blast. But as the smoke cleared, her face fell as she saw Gokhan standing there, whole. "Was that it?" Gokhan called back to her. When she didn't reply immediately, he charge a ki blast in one hand as he said, "My turn then." He threw it at her at such speed she didn't have time to dodge. She let out a scream as the blast went off. Gokhan crossed his arms, watching Buu as her body floated in pieces around her. "You should pull yourself together, Buu," Gokhan sighed, hovering over her. "It's been fun, but I think it's time I end this." She bared her teeth as her body reformed. "I think I'll give you one last shot, but it better be your best," Gokhan offered.

She straightened herself up as she eyed the fused fighter. "Fine," she spat. Gokhan raised an eyebrow at her tone, then curiously watched her lift one hand up, then flicked her wrist up. Gokhan was only confused for a second before he saw the shadow of something towering over him. He spun to see bubblegum pink goo collapsing over him like a net. "Shit!" Gokhan cursed, quickly powering up as the goo enclosed around him, shrinking him down and combining with Buu.

"YES!" Buu howled, punching the air victoriously "I DID IT! I WON!" She flipped a middle finger into the air as she added, "Suck on that!"

"NO!" Kabito howled, towering over the crystal ball. "They lost! How could they lose!?"

"Great Galaxies … it's over." Shin fell on his butt, a kind of numbed shock taking over his features. "Gokhan … he … he had it in the bag and then …" Shin shook his head, his gaze haunted as he gripped at the grass under his hands. "I failed. Th-the Earth … the universe is doomed. It's all my fault. I'm a disgrace to the kais."

"Master," Kabito tried, "don't say such things. You did everything in your power to destroy this monster. You've brought mortals to the sanctuary of the kais. You found someone capable of freeing the Z sword. You've done the impossible."

"But he's still won," Shin replied. He knew as well as anything else, none of that mattered if Buu remained a threat to the universe.

Elder kai's gaze narrowed as he looked at the crystal ball carefully, doing his best to ignore the weeping of the other kais. "Would you two ninnies calm down!?" Elder kai huffed at their antics. "Haven't you noticed something strange?" Kabito and Shin looked to the elder, who knelt down and picked up the crystal ball so they could get a closer look. "Observe, all the way up until Vegeta was absorbed, when Buu absorbed someone, he took on their characteristics. Logically, he should be back to being male now, having absorbed both Vegeta and Gokhan. Both at base form were much stronger than Siyaka, and either would have been the more dominant power when they were absorbed. Strange that this is not the case," Elder Kai stated wisely.

Shin looked closer, seeing Buu still in the feminine form adopted after absorbing Mia. The change made that time around wasn't necessarily obvious. Just her antenna was longer now. But Shin realized the elder kai was right. Buu should be back to being male, given Vegeta and Gokhan were absorbed. Shin frowned. "Well, what does this mean?"

"It means it's not over yet. He's having some issues digesting them," Elder Kai stated, looking down at the ball, seeing Buu flying around, doing her victory lap around the world. Both Kabito and Shin looked at the Elder Kai blankly. Elder Kai continued, "I'm sure if we focused on Vegeta or Gokhan, we'd be able to see them."

Shin wasn't sure, but Elder Kai closed his eyes, and soon an image appeared, dark and wet, and it looked like the insides of some creature. But in the middle of that darkness, a lone figure stood shining like a beacon. "I don't believe it," Elder Kai said with a laugh. "He's intact."

Shin let out a relieved sigh he didn't realize he'd been holding. There was still hope, however small it was.

Gohkan landed in the belly of Majin Buu with a small "tpp" of his feet. "At least we know the barrier worked," the fused Saiyan breathed, taking a look at his surroundings. He could hear Buu's laughter echoing around them. The monster was celebrating its victory. Albeit slightly prematurely, but what Buu didn't know was best left to their advantage.

With a slight unflexing of his hands, the barrier came down, fizzling as it dropped. As soon as the barrier was down though, something from within him flashed, and threw apart Gohan and Goku, both looking confused and surprised by the sudden action. Gohan felt for his earring confoundedly, feeling it still in place. He pulled it out, letting out a small sigh of relief. He had some serious reservations about permanently fusing with his dad, and he definitely wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth either.

"W-wait, Son," Goku started, as Gohan pocketed the earring. "Put it back in. We still need to defeat Buu."

"If the plan works, we won't need to be fused to do it," Gohan stated. While their time fused together was still rather hazy to Gohan, and no doubt his father as well, he still remembered the crucial parts to the plan. Goku frowned, and Gohan explained further, "We just need to get everybody out. Then he'll be weak enough that we can destroy him no sweat." Gohan turned away from his father, starting to walk up towards what looked like an incline. He added in a mutter, "Not to mention, for something permanent, I'm very happy it didn't stick. Who knows if we do it again."

Goku frowned behind him. "I don't see why you'd have such an issue being permanently fused with me." Gohan shot his father a weird look, and Goku shrugged adding, "My life is good. I'm the one who'd have to worry about ChiChi sending me to school fused to you."

"School!?" Gohan scoffed. "That's the only thing you'd have a problem with?"

Goku crossed his arms at his son's tone. "What? Like your life would change all that much?"

Gohan stared at his dad blankly before stating, "You do know that if we survived this and were still fused, Mom wouldn't just be Mom, because she's your wife." He surpressed a gag just thinking of it. Goku still looked at his son absently, not sure what Gohan was referencing. Gohan grit his teeth, tersely adding, "You know, husbandly duties."

Goku frowned in confusion before asking, "You mean, like, gathering firewood?" Gohan shook his head in disbelief, turning and walking away from his father. He completely understood Mia "not even"-ing with his dad in this instance. He heard his father huff behind him, "What do you mean by 'husbandly duties'!?"

Gohan was red in the face, not even looking at his father as he snapped at him, "Sex, Dad. I'm talking about sex." It was bad enough when Vegeta grilled them about Gokhan's tail. The vivid image of his dad with his mom, then his mother ripping a tail hole for him in his gi right after they'd done it. How his mother gasped when Goku sank his teeth in her. Gohan surpressed a gag, feeling it was best to push away the memory, push it down as deep as possible.

"Oh," Goku laughed blankly, before adding a small darker, more understanding, "Oh." His dad let out a light laugh as he added, "Yeah, that would be kinda' awkward for you."

"'Kinda'!?" Gohan balked at his dad's nonchalance about it. "It'd be full blown Oedipus."

"Eda-what?"

"Nothing," Gohan huffed, continuing to hike up. "Just suffice to say, I would officially know too much about yours and Mom's relationship." He muttered to himself, adding, "I probably already know enough to gouge my eyes out."

Goku looked at his son curiously, asking, "What do you mean by that?" Gohan shot him an annoyed look. The past few days had taught the hybrid way more than he wanted to know about his parents' relationship. Goku's brow furrowed perceptively as he eyed his son. "It was the tail, wasn't it?" Gohan stared wide-eyed at his father, whose tail wavered between them for a second. "That's how you know your mother and I …"

"You really don't need to say it," Gohan interrupted, his face turning comically red, his own tail squirming in discomfort in his pants.

His father shrugged. "What's there to say? You know it happened."

"Please," Gohan sighed painfully, "just stop."

"But I don't even know how it came back, except –"

"You mated!" Gohan snapped, not wanting to hear his father talk about it anymore. "Mating marks restore tails while … doing IT."

Goku frowned. "What do you mean mated? All we did was have sex."

"GAAAAH!" Gohan shreiked. His father moved to say some more, but Gohan childishly shook his head plugging his ears, walking away from his father as he sang out loudly to drown out his dad, "LALALALALALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

Goku frowned at his son's antics. "And how do you even know?" Goku huffed with a frown. He guessed Mia told him, but he couldn't understand how it would even come up aside from them having sex and restoring Gohan's tail. Goku paused at that thought, freezing mid-step. While his memories fused with his son were also hazy, he did remember Vegeta getting upset about Gohan being the one having a tail. A thought popped in their heads when Vegeta mentioned it, with Mia naked under the moonlight, her body pinned to a cliff by his as they kissed. Or was it a memory. It had only lasted a second, but Goku remembered it. Goku looked at his son carefully. Gohan seemed to realize Goku had pieced something together, and he lowered his hands, his gaze at his father nervous. "Did you and Mia have sex on the kai planet?" Goku asked, preferring to be blunt with the topic.

Gohan blanched. "What? No," he lied quickly.

"Gohan!?" Goku asked reprimandingly. His son was always a terrible liar.

Gohan averted his gaze as he added, "I can't believe you'd even ask that. Seriously."

Goku frowned at his son. "Well, suddenly, you know an awful lot about tails regrowing during sex. And when Vegeta mentioned the tail being yours, we thought of Mia, naked, being pinned against a cliff."

"Pillar," Gohan corrected, then his eyes flew wide, realizing he'd admitted to his father what they'd done.

Goku eyed his son incredulously, a small shocked smile on his face and his eyebrows so high they reached his hairline. "So that's a yes," Goku deduced. He wouldn't ever say he was the smartest person in the world, but he knew how to read between the lines.

Gohan blushed, his brow furrowing in anger. "That's supposed to be private," he hissed.

Goku crossed his arms annoyedly at his son. "Well, it wasn't on purpose. We were fused." Gohan huffed, looking away. Goku dropped his hands, now asking a little excitedly. "Well, are you going to tell me about it? Gotta say, it seems kinda strange, timing wise."

Gohan rolled his eyes, "I could say the same about you and Mom." He mentally berated himself again for bringing up the cursed image in his mind.

"We both know that is a completely different situation," Goku grumbled to his son's dodging, looking at Gohan a little disappointedly. When Gohan just gave him a shrug, Goku sighed and continued, "Fine. If you must know, it was the last time your mother and I were going to have a private conversation, and I'd just learned what kissing was." Gohan looked away, pursing his lips as Goku continued, "However, your mother and I are married, which means that timing isn't that important for us. You, on the other hand, are not married and still in school."

Gohan didn't look at his father while he thought it over. Should he tell him. Neither Gohan or Mia were worried what Goku would say. Out of all their parents, he wanted them to get married two days ago. And a part of Gohan wanted to talk to someone about it. Someone knowledgeable at least. And after hearing his father didn't even know what a kiss was a few days ago, he wasn't sure if Goku fit that bill. On top of that, his father was horrible at keeping secrets. Gohan knew once the world was safe, Goku would inadvertently tell his mother that Gohan and Mia were doing the deed, which would sufficiently end any private moments between them, as ChiChi would make sure she or another chaperone was in attendance.

"Well?" Goku huffed.

"We only did it because Shin told us to!" Goku raised an eyebrow at that, and Gohan continued. "She was in heat the past couple days, and Shin told us the only way her condition wouldn't affect the both of us, and interfere with her teaching me the sword was if we got each other off. Shin even talked to this guy who knows everything to make sure." Gohan took a breath, noting his father's skeptical gaze, and Gohan continued, "So, we had sex so I could train with the Z sword. We claimed each other, and I got my tail back, so that's how I know." Goku frowned, looking towards his son's rear to try and see it, because he was pretty sure he hadn't seen Gohan's new tail. Gohan rolled his eyes at his father's wandering gaze, adding, "Mia helped me hide it, because we didn't want anyone else to know." Goku made a small "Ah," sound as he stood straight, then noticed his son's nervous look and frowned. Gohan scowled at his father's dim look as he added, "Especially not Vegeta or Mom."

Goku raised a confused eyebrow at him. "Why?"

"Really? You didn't see Vegeta's reaction to us just kissing? What about just a few minutes ago when he thought the tail was mine before we told him it was yours," Gohan offered, looking at his dad skeptically. "He'd definitely try to kill me if he found out we did that." Goku looked up, clearly thinking about it, before giving an agreeable shrug. "And Mom will never let us near each other again without supervision. You know that."

"Gohan," Goku growled with a serious frown, before laughing at how worried his son sounded. "It's ok. It was bound to happen some time. Your mom knows that." Gohan looked at his dad, somewhat surprised by his cavalier tone. Goku frowned, crossing his arms as he stated, "And I can understand doing it if it meant training to save the world or not. Your mother might be a little harder to convince, though," Goku added the last part more to himself, but Gohan nodded along with it. At least his father could see that. "Still, you know it's not smart to try to have any kids before you're married."

Gohan looked at his dad weirdly. "What? Kids? No. We weren't trying to have any kids."

Goku gave his son a confused frown. "Having sex makes babies," Goku stated pointedly.

Gohan blinked at his dad, as that comment just brought on a whole slew of other questions from "Dad knows people do it for reasons other than having kids, right?" to "Were Mom and Dad trying to get pregnant when Dad was still dead?" Gohan decided to ignore them. Sometimes, things were better left unknown. Gohan cleared his throat awkwardly, then stated, "Dad, people do it for reasons other than having a kid. Sometimes a kid is just a side effect, usually if you're not being careful, which we were."

Goku frowned. "Careful?"

Gohan nodded uncomfortably, chewing on the inside of his lip, refusing to look at his dad. He cleared his throat again before stating, "Yeah, so I wouldn't worry about us having kids anytime soon."

Goku shrugged. "If you say so."

"You aren't going to tell anyone, right?" Gohan pressed, eyeing his dad worriedly. When Goku didn't respond, Gohan urged, "Dad!"

"What?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone," Gohan growled, looking at his father pointedly.

Goku raised his hands in surrender. "I promise I won't tell anyone. Yeesh," Goku huffed, "not like it would come up anyway." Gohan pursed his lips, not liking his father's answer entirely, but accepted it. As long as the secret didn't go past his father, they were fine. Gohan clenched his fist, and walked off, feeling slightly demeaned by the whole discussion. He heard his father grumbling behind him, "Aw, come on! Wait up!" as they ventured further inside Buu.

"Damn goo. Damn worms. Damn everything," Vegeta growled as he trudged through Buu's insides. A part of him wanted to vomit especially when he came across the worms. The smell of them was so horrendous, he killed the ones he came across. His gear and hair dripped with stomach acid. That had been an entertaining diversion. Taking a wrong turn to Buu's stomach and almost being digested. Just the cherry on top of this already shitty day. At least he learned down meant no where good in the body. So, he'd been steadily trekking upwards.

He stopped, seeing a fork in the path. He looked down both, and each path looked identical. A thin bridge to a hanging chamber, dark holes marking each chambers entrance. He frowned. "Now what?" he huffed. His gaze flicked between both before he sighed. "I guess I should just pick one. If I'm wrong, I can always come back here." He furrowed his brow, flicking his gaze between both paths. With a huff, he held out a hand resigned, pointing at one, "Eenie …" He pointed to the other, "Meanie …"

"How far do you think Vegeta went?" Goku asked, his hands behind his head as they walked through Buu's bowels.

Gohan shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. As far as we know, he hasn't found them yet. Otherwise, Buu would have already regressed."

"I guess you're right," Goku sighed. Goku looked around, taking in their surroundings with a frown. The walls dripping with bodily fluids. The squelching of organs pumping around them. "Kinda disgusting, isn't it," Goku remarked.

"Yeah," Gohan agreed, glancing around. He slowed to a stop when he saw their path diverge in two. One going down, the other up.

Goku ran into his son, huffing out a, "What the -?"

"It's a fork in the road," Gohan grumbled, ignoring his father's outburst.

Goku peered around his son, seeing the two paths. The one going down was lighter, while the one going up was darker and louder. "I think the one going down is promising," Goku stated.

Gohan frowened, looking at both paths. "If my anatomy serves me correct, down likely leads to the stomach and digestive track, while up would lead past the heart to the brain." Goku frowned at his son. Gohan continued anyway, "While I could be wrong about ending up in the brain, I think that's the most likely place we should look, given he's able to use their moves, without using the time it would take to perfect those moves."

Goku nodded along with his reasoning. Made enough sense to change his mind. "So, right?"

"Yeah, I think right is our safest bet," Gohan answered, walking towards the upward path, his father close behind him.

Vegeta stepped into the right sided chamber, and relief immediately flooded his being as he saw Mia, Trunks and Goten standing at the other end of the chamber. A part of him wanted to run and grab them, make sure they were real, but the part of him in control remembered Siyaka was still missing, and they couldn't leave without her. "Good, you three are alright," Vegeta sighed as he walked into the middle of the chamber. "Where is Siyaka? We need to get you all out of here."

He paused, looking around the chamber. For the most part it was empty and dark. Maybe she's in the other chamber, he reasoned.

"Fuuu-sion … HA!" he heard the boys yell.

Vegeta frowned and turned towards the children. The boys joined into one being, which was trippy enough to watch, then they went super Saiyan together. Next to them, Mia had powered up to super Saiyan as well. Both the fused boys and Mia glared at the Saiyan prince. "What's wrong?" Vegeta asked.

Mia launched first. Pulling out a sword and slicing at him. He caught the blade with both hands, surprised by her sudden strike. When did Mia get a sword? He didn't have hold of it long, as she pulled back and sliced at him again. "What are you doing!? It's your father! I came to save you!"

The only thing that answered him was their silence before Mia lunged at him again, her sword aimed to lop off his head. The boys joined in moments later as he dodged, and began a full defensive against his children.

Goku and Gohan continued hiking up in silence, Goku constantly eyeing his son. Gohan could sense his father's dark eyes watching him carefully, and every time Gohan peered over his shoulder to his dad, Goku would look off as if observing Buu's innards was his new fascination. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the hybrid knew this. Gohan slowed to a stop with a sigh. "What is it, Dad?" Gohan grumbled.

"Huh? What? Nothing," Goku said quickly, crossing his arms as if he wasn't sure what to do with them.

Gohan turned to his father with a frown, his arms crossed as well. Except Gohan's expression to his father was clear that he didn't think Goku was being honest with his sheepish response.

Goku pursed his lips before letting out with a huff, "I guess I'm just still trying to figure out yours and Mia's relationship." Gohan frowned as Goku added, "You say you don't want to marry Mia, but you've both done something that you're only supposed to do once your married."

Gohan set his jaw uncomfortably before growling out, "And?"

Goku blinked at his son, clearly confused by his nonchalant tone. "And you said that you and Mia weren't planning on getting married." Gohan groaned, rolling his eyes as he continued on. "I'm sorry. I'm just having some difficulty understanding exactly where you and Mia stand."

Gohan shrugged while continuing on, not looking at his father. "It's not something we've discussed."

Goku frowned, following closely behind. "Not even when you were … you know …"

Gohan pursed his lips annoyedly before gruffly replying. "Nope. Hasn't come up."

Goku blinked at his son, still a little incredulous at his lax response. Goku was silent for moment before asking, "How?"

Gohan rolled his eyes, looking up as if something above would save him from his father's insistence. "I don't know, Dad," Gohan huffed. "We've been kind of busy with trying to save the world and getting power boosts that we haven't really had the time to stop and say, 'You know what? Instead of fulfilling your dreams of becoming a geneticist, and mine of becoming … I dunno, probably a scholar of some sort, what if we'd just threw that all away and got married!? Sure, it might take some time to get a job and move out of my parents' house, and you definitely won't be getting a fancy wedding, like most girls dream about, but we love each other, and that's enough to throw our futures away, right?'" Gohan shot his father an annoyed look once he finished his sarcastically animated speech.

Goku eyed his son carefully, not appreciating his son's glib tone at the prospect. The palm haired saiyan held back a knowing look as he more asked than stated, "So, you do love her." Gohan blanched, starting to mutter a, "What? No!" Goku knew that was a lie. Gohan had already tried to tell her so back on the kai planet. "You just said you did," Goku argued back, looking at his son pointedly. He couldn't understand it. Why was Gohan refusing to acknowledge the obvious? What Goku knew as the inevitable.

"It's only been a month!" Gohan howled.

"And you've both already had sex," Goku argued back. Gohan blushed, grinding his teeth as his father added, "Somehow you found time for that amidst saving the world."

Gohan crossed his arms, doing his best to control his blushing. "You know, this is the kind of grilling I'd expect from Mom. Not you."

Goku looked at his son pointedly before stating, "Well, I've known you and Mia were supposed to get married for so long, it's frustrating to see you fighting it for no reason. Especially when you've just informed me you've both done stuff you aren't supposed to do until you're married."

"You can do that without being married," Gohan stated smartly. "It's recommended, not a requirement." Goku's brow set into a skeptical scowl. Gohan brushed him off with a shrug. "I can't even count how many kids at my school have done it already, and none of them are even close to married." Goku's jaw dropped a little at the shocking statistic, but Gohan just nodded pointedly. He had the same reaction when his classmates, even Mia, informed him that was going on.

It took a moment for Goku to school his features, before stating awkwardly, "Well, I can't say for their parents, but I know for a fact that we raised you to be more responsible."

"Please, believe me when I say we were being responsible," Gohan huffed, his annoyed glare connecting with his father's worried stare. He saw his father begin to chew on the inside of his cheek, and Gohan frowned further. "What?"

Goku shrugged in surrender, walking past him as he said, "If you say so."

Gohan frowned. What was this sudden turn? "I do say so," Gohan huffed. Goku nodded along. His father had more to say, but was now remaining suspiciously silent. "What?"

Goku shook his head. "Nothing," Goku sighed. Gohan's obsidian gaze narrowed. After a moment of silence, Goku said, "It's just that you've already admitted you love her."

Gohan rolled his eyes, exasperatedly muttering, "Oh, here we go."

Goku ignored him as he continued, "And there's no reason better than that to marry someone."

Gohan huffed, "Except that we're only eighteen." He paused before correcting himself, adding, "Seventeen and eighteen. We're not even out of school, yet."

"Your mom and I were eighteen when we got married," Goku stated with a shrug. Gohan pursed his lips, shaking his head. He looked up, seeing they were coming up on a fork. Goku apparently hadn't noticed it, because he kept talking about how he and Gohan's mother, while being married young, had been able to make it work. And if they could, so could Gohan.

Gohan, although, had tuned his father out as soon as Goku brought up his marriage. Gohan already knew too much about their relationship to think it was the perfect marriage. They slowed down as they came up to the fork, and Goku frowned, looking at the path. "Now which way?"

Gohan looked at both paths carefully. They looked identical. The hybrid let out a sigh. There weren't a lot of places the paths could leave, and both pointed up. "Which way do you want to go?" Gohan asked.

Goku pursed his lips, looking between the two. "If I had to choose …" Goku drawled, looking over each path carefully, and seeing that they were exactly the same, "I'd chose right."

Gohan nodded sagely. "Alright. Then I'll go left."

"Wh-what!?" Goku's wide eyes fell on his son, a disappointed gleam in them. "You and I both know it's better if we stick together. That way we can escape together." Goku frowned before adding, "If it's because I'm talking about you and Mia…"

"It's not that," Gohan said with a huff, then shook his head, realizing he wasn't fooling anyone, "Well, not entirely. But you are getting really annoying, and I wish you would stop."

Goku's eyebrows shot to his hairline. His son had never been so rude to him before, except when training in the time chamber. But even then, Goku knew it had only been to goad him into training him harder. To not go easy on him.

Gohan looked ahead pointedly before stating, "Both paths look identical. If I were to guess, we should be getting close. If that's the case, it's better that we split up. Cover more ground, you know?" Gohan stole a glance at his father, who just frowned. "We can meet back here if we don't find anything." Goku frowned, but Gohan started walking towards the left path. When Goku didn't move, Gohan pointed to the right, ordering, "Go that way, and we'll meet up back here."

Goku gave a disgruntled grunt before walking towards the right path, muttering something to himself. Gohan pretended not to listen as he continued forward. Before long, he'd entered the cavern at the end of the left path and was surrounded by darkness. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he started to see a figure standing at the opposite end of the cavern. He frowned, clenching his fist, readying for a fight. Slowly, the silhouette of a woman with curly hair became more apparent, and Gohan started to recognize her. "Miss Jicama?" he asked. Either his eyes adjusted to the darkness or she seemed to glow a little, he wasn't sure which, but it was clearly his girlfriend's mother. Her gaze fell on him, and he let out a relieved sigh, dropping his hands to his side. "Thank Kami, I found you. Where's Mia and the boys? We gotta be quick, so we can get out of here."

Her hard gaze bore through him, and he frowned, sensing something was wrong. An aura started flaring around her as she glared at him, power radiating off her as she transformed to Super Saiyan three right before Gohan's eyes. A part of him was in awe at the Saiyan noble's raw power, but at the same time, he wasn't sure why she was powering up. "Siyaka?" he asked, a little sheepishly.

He blinked, and she was on him, her fist colliding with the side of his face, sending him flying back. What the … He massaged his face for a second, and she was on him again, and he just barely had enough mind to roll to the side. "Siyaka, what's wrong?" She just growled, and launched at him again, engaging with him in a series of kicks he only barely had the wherewithal to dodge and block. He landed a hit on her, and backflipped back a few paces to gain some distance. He pulled himself up into a defensive stance, seeing Siyaka fall back into the same Saiyan fighting stance Vegeta and Mia liked to use. But the glare in her eyes chilled him to the bone. She wanted him dead.

He couldn't understand why Siyaka would be so angry with him that she would attack him as such a level. Until a thought crossed his mind. What if she heard Dad outside? What if she knows Mia and I …? He blanched at the though.

She launched at him, and he jumped back to dodge. The crazed look in her eye made it clear she was enraged about something. He felt in his gut it was best to just assume that she overheard his Dad's incessant talking about Gohan and Mia on the kai planet. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. She launched at him with a vicious growl again, and he rolled to the side to dodge again. "You shouldn't have found out like that. I'm so sorry," he tried. She let out another growl, and pummeled into him. "We had a good reason!" He blocked her next punch and they struggled against each other. He realized that his excuse sounded like bullshit. "Fine, I'm sorry. She was in heat, and I could barely control myself near her, but I needed her to teach me. It was the only way." She punched him, and it landed again. He stumbled back a few steps before she was on him again. He punched her away, not wanting to hurt her. He was feeling guilty enough. Painfully, he admitted, "I love her. I promise, I'll never hurt her, if that's why you're angry."

She glared at him, before moving her hands in a familiar motion. He sagged a little in resignation. "I don't want to hurt you," he said, "but I will if I have to." He pulled his hands to his side, murmuring "Kaaa-meee-haaaa-meee…"

"PRIZM BLAST!" she yelled as she fired the expanding energy blast.

"HAAAAAAA!" He fired his, the room glowing blue from his blast as it hit the Prizm Blast. They struggled against each other's blast until the unsteady energy combined and exploded.

Goku and Vegeta stood back to back, eyeing the approaching saiyans. Gotenks against Goku, and Mia against Vegeta. "Alright, any bright ideas?" Vegeta huffed, looking at his daughter who brandished her sword, glaring back at her father.

Goku shook his head as he gasped for breath. "I don't get it. It's like they don't even get tired." He tightened his fist as Gotenks took a step closer. The fused boy smirked mirthfully as he settled into a fighting stance. Goku cursed. He'd jumped up to Super Saiyan two to take them down the first time. And then again. And then again. And now he was starting to get tired.

"You're telling me. I've been fighting them for thirty minutes," Vegeta growled.

Goku opened his mouth to snipe back at the prince, only to be interrupted by a giant explosion sounded behind them. They looked up and saw the wall they were using as a backer expanding and glowing before blasting apart, and they dove foreward for cover. They felt goop, blood and whatever else buu was made of landing all over their bodies and in their hair. Vegeta let out a groaning gag as he and Goku pulled themselves up. Goku turned to see Gohan on the otherside looking sheepishly at them. "Gohan? What the …"

"Sorry, Dad. Can't talk right now," Gohan breathed nervously before Siyaka launched at him again. Gohan moved quickly and floored the Saiyan noble. He jumped back, not wanting to stay on her as he said, "I'm sorry, Miss Jicama."

"Gohan!" Goku said quickly. "That's not Siyaka."

"What?" Gohan asked, hovering above the Saiyan noble.

"They're thoughts," Goku explained, pointing towards Gotenks and Mia. "At least that's what we think they are. They're pretty impossible to beat."

"Maybe for you," Vegeta scoffed.

Goku scowled at the prince, setting his jaw as he commented, "You've been fighting them for thirty minutes, and they haven't gotten tired."

Gohan frowned landing near them, but also looking a little relieved, muttering a small "Thoughts. Ok." As soon as he landed, Gohan noted that Vegeta was staring at his ass, and he snidely remarked, "Take photo. It'll last longer."

Vegeta scowled, "Just making sure you don't have a tail." Gohan looked at the prince wide-eyed. So he didn't know. Didn't hear why Gohan apologizing to Siyaka. And Goku didn't blab. "It doesn't matter." Gohan let out a relieved sigh, as the stood back to back, seeing they were surrounded by these bizarre thought projections.

"Sooo," Gohan trailed, lifting his fists in front of him as he saw Siyaka and Mia's projections make their way toward them. "How do we beat a thought?"

"If we knew, we wouldn't be stuck here!" Vegeta growled, seeing Mia brandishing her sword.

"Well, we better think of something quick," Goku huffed as Gotenks began to advance on him. Before Gotenks could launch into action, though, he turned into a strawberry cheesecake. Goku's arms and jaw dropped in shock at the scene, just as Siyaka became a Chocolate cake and Mia became an éclair. "What the …?" he breathed.

Gohan was the first to say, "Better to not question it. We need to move on." Vegeta gave a vague nod, seeing Gohan already walking off. The prince quickly followed behind him. When Goku hadn't moved, Gohan yelled back at him, "DAD, COME ON!"

"Coming!" Goku yelled back, catching up to them quickly.

They marched in mostly silence, especially when they came across the forest of tubing. Vegeta was about to make a funny remark, but Gohan surged forward, as if possessed by a singular, serious thought. As soon as they cleared the tubing, the stepped into a huge pink cavern with a few connecting columns stretching down from ceiling to floor. Gohan looked ahead, and relief washed over him. "Dad! Vegeta!" he called back to them, seeing them still struggling throught the last of the tubing. "They're here!" He ran up, seeing Mia closest in the group. Each one had been settled in a round, pink pod, with their faces poking through the tight hole. Each of them unconscious. Gohan floated up, his hand caressing Mia's cheek. A pang of guilt shot through his heart as he thought, She sacrificed herself so I could live.

Behind him, someone gruffly cleared his throat, and Gohan turned, seeing Vegeta glowering at the hybrid teen. His father watched his son knowingly, but had purposely pursed his lips. Gohan backed away from the princess's pod, and breathed, "Right. We need to cut them down, and then blast our way out." Gohan took a surveying look around, then up. He flew as far up as he could, nearing the ceiling. He tapped on it, as if to test its thickness. He frowned, going back down to land. "It should work if Dad goes super Saiyan three, and I power up to my max." Vegeta scowled, not liking feeling left out of the plan. "We're going to need to pull them down in order though," Gohan added. "Since Siyaka is the dominant personality, we should probably get her last."

"And why's that?" Vegeta growled. In his mind, pulling Siyaka would weaken Buu significantly, and therefore should be first.

"Ah," Goku hummed as if enlightened. "You don't want Buu being tipped off to our plan." He put a finger on his chin as he tilted his head in thought. "But why would it matter?"

"We're still in his body," Gohan argued, "meaning he can still thwart our plans. Just look at what he did with the thoughts."

"Well, if that's the case," Vegeta ground out, "then he already knows we're here."

"Look, just pull Siyaka last," Gohan snapped back, done with the arguing. This had been his plan to begin with. Well, his and his father's in their Gokhan form, but still, it started with him wishing he could go in and save Mia during the fusion process. He wasn't going to have Vegeta's need to not take orders supercede his wish to save Mia, Goten, Trunks and Siyaka. He stomped back over to Mia's pod, and shot a small blast at the bottom chord, which fell dead on the ground, leaving Mia's pod hanging precariously from the ceiling. He hovered up, grasping her pod by the base of the ceiling chord, and cutting just above it. He held her pod carefully, dropping it down gently, and making sure it would roll any way that could suffocate her.

He looked at the other pods, seeing his father doing the same with Goten, and Vegeta with Trunks. "Alright," Gohan breathed. Vegeta scowled at the hybrid's authoritarian tone. "Dad, we need to power up. Then we'll fire our strongest blasts there." Gohan pointed at a point where the ceiling began to curve into the wall. "It's going to be difficult, but I think we can manage it if we are both at our max levels." Goku nodded. Gohan turned to Vegeta. "Once we start firing, then you cut down Siyaka. And make sure no one rolls off." Vegeta rolled his eyes at the direction, but Gohan ignored him. "Once the hole is blasted, we'll have to act quickly. He'll recuperate fast, so we may only have seconds to get everyone out."

He looked at both Goku and Vegeta, who were both frowning and pursing their lips. "Are we clear?" he asked.

Goku gave a nod, then Vegeta rolled his eyes, taking his position under Siyaka's pod. That was good enough for Gohan. He turned to his father, jerking his head back towards where they were planning on firing their blasts. Gohan settled into his charging stance, and Goku mirrored him, both screaming as they harnessed their power and transformed.

Buu couldn't think how it happened. It just did. She'd found a desolate bakery she'd decided to chow down on. Her victory feast over her ingenious idea to fight the microscopic invaders with thoughts. A thought can't be beaten to death. After her cakes, she walked out of the town, burping loudly. Then she felt a twinge at the back of her skull. Nothing much, just a pinched nerve or something. Then a minute later a burning headache, and she realized her plan had not been successful. Before she could think to peak in on the invaders, she changed into a he. The shock from the sudden change gave him too much of a pause though, and a few seconds later, a beam shot out the back of his head, leaving a gaping hole.

Behind him, he heard three distinct pops, and someone giggled as more pops happened, "Hey look, People-Popcorn."

"Are you high?" Someone growled back.

Buu turned around dumbly, his brain feeling like it leaked out behind him as he tried to register what happened. He saw that three conscious men floated behind him, with four unconscious fighters floating in the air. The palm haired Saiyan was quick to catch the youngest of the two as they started to fall. But Buu's observance was cut short as a fist collided with his face, sending him flying back into several buildings.

"Dad, Vegeta! Get them out of here!" Gohan called out. He settled into a fighting stance, his gaze leveling on where Buu was doing his best to recover from his surprise punch. "I'll take it from here."

Buu pulled himself up, scoffing, "You think you can beat - HU-!"

Gohan cut him off with a punch in the gut, leaving the pink thing gasping for air. "That was for Mia," Gohan spat, digging his fist into the monster's gut. Spit dribbling down Buu's lips from the sudden impact. "I am going to make you pay for everyone you've hurt," Gohan promised. The pink monster's black eyes looked up to the face of the hybrid he'd faced twice before now, but this time, the monster saw the face of death. And for the first time in Buu's long existence, he was afraid.

Suddenly, the world seemed bright, and Siyaka's eyes stung from the attack on her retinas. She winced as she opened her eyes, hearing two voices she thought she'd never hear again. "Wow, well done, Gohan," she heard Kakarot say. Her vision was fuzzy as beams of light blinded her.

"Yes. It's finally over," Vegeta said with a huff.

"Gotta say, it's a proud moment, watching your son save the world," Kakarot laughed. He added jokingly, "Especially since this time, I'm alive to enjoy it."

"You know, last time, that was your own fault," Vegeta grumbled.

Kakarot laughed. "Well, hindsight…"

Siyaka turned her head to open her eyes, pulling her arm up to shade her eyes. As she finally was able to see around her, she saw that she'd been laid out on a roof of a building. She blinked as she moved to look around carefully, noting the bright blue sky, and the generally destroyed land and town around them. She saw Kakarot's orange legs and navy blue boots standing towards the edge of the ledge, and next to him Vegeta's tight, navy blue spandex and white boots. She frowned. But they're supposed to be dead. She looked to her side, and her breath caught in her throat as she saw who lay next to her. She felt the tears pricking at her eyes as her throat ached with hope, praying what she saw before her was real. Mia lay sleeping soundly, dressed in strange green clothing, and her hair splayed out around her. Siyaka reached her hand out to Mia's face, gently caressing her cheek, praying this wasn't some ghost sent to torment her.

But the skin under her fingertips was real and warm. She could feel the puffs of breath from her nose on her hand. Then Mia's eyes opened, her coal black eyes connecting with her mother's. "Mom?"

Siyaka immediately sat up, pulling her daughter into her tightly. "Oh, Mia! Thank God you're alright!"

Mia hugged her back, equally as fierce as Mia cried into her mother's shoulder. "When Buu absorbed you, I thought I'd never see you again!"

All Siyaka could do in response was half laugh and half cry, holding her daughter tighter than she'd ever had before. Feeling eyes on her, she looked up, seeing Vegeta looking back at them with a bittersweet glint in his eyes. Something in his expression told her everything she needed to know. He'd saved them. He'd pulled her from Buu's body, and reunited her with their daughter. She mouthed a small "Thank you," to him. He looked away, and she looked up, seeing his halo hovering over his body.

"Hey, Bardock. How's it hanging?" a majin named Gloober cheered, seeing the Saiyan hero walk into the apartment complex's courtyard. Bardock recognized him immediately as the time patroller who lived underneath him, with his brother.

"It's good, Gloober," Bardock replied blandly.

"I'm Bloober," the majin corrected with a frown, pointing to himself. "Gloober's my brother."

"Right," Bardock breathed, shaking his head. "Sorry." There really was no way to tell the brothers apart, except the slightest shift in color. One of them was a hair more magenta than the other. But if they both weren't present, they looked identical. Both were short and stubby. Round in the gut and coming only to Bardock's elbows, antenna included. They both had this blank, wide-eyed look that would resemble what some would term "crazy-eyes" were they not a majin.

The slightly less magenta majin waved him off. "It's alright. A lot of people get us confused. By the way, we've been meaning to ask you … uh." The "uh" was shaky and nervous, and Bardock looked back it him, seeing that Bloober had been pointing at him, but now his hand was disappearing. Suddenly, the entire courtyard erupted in screams, drowning out Bloober's own terrified howls. Bardock's gaze swung around, and everywhere a majin stood they were now disappearing. But everyone else around him, the Namekians, the humans, the other Saiyans, hell even the Frieza bastards weren't even reacting.

He saw a human girl walk by him, and he grabbed her, recognizing her as another time patroller. "Rachne, are you seeing this?"

Rachne frowned, her puple pigtail hanging limply as she tilted her head innocently. "Seeing what?" Bardock gestured to where Gloober … or Bloober or whoever the hell he was, was just standing, but there was nothing there. He felt his heart stop for a second. Towa had warned him of another big change. This is what she meant. Rachne snapped her fingers in his face, drawing his attention back. "Hello? Are you ok?"

He just shook his head, dropping her arm as he started to back peddle, then run back to his apartment. He ran to his room, pulling open the drawer in his nightstand where it hid. A large, bright red scroll. He's sure he was just imagining it laughing at him as he quickly grasped it. He took a steadying breath as he opened it, reading it closely, starting with his change back in 736. He'd been careful to watch and make sure there was no significant branching. Then he reached the world tournament he'd just attended three days ago. "Shit," he breathed as he saw his branch start to spiral off. "Shit shit." He let out a slew of curses as he read thr scroll, past where his son and the prince failed to save the pink blob known as Majin Buu, or as they probably called him at the time "Good Buu." Which meant the Majin race, which the good Buu started fifteen to twenty years down the line, never existed.

He dropped the scroll in a clatter on the ground he massaged his open jaw in shock. There was no amount of seduction he could perform where Chronoa wouldn't notice something this big. In short, he was completely and utterly fucked.

He snatched the scroll up again, reading further down the timeline, shaking his head as he realized there were a lot of changes about to happen that he couldn't miss if he was to keep this universe safe. He cursed as he read that the next crucially important event in this new timeline didn't even have a working scroll to transport him to in the time patrol headquarters. He rolled the scroll back up, trying to calm his breathing before throwing it on the bed as he howled, "FUCK!"

AN: Again, sorry this took so long. Buu is done, and I am happy. And I'm betting these next several chapters will come out a lot faster because Buu is gone. Before writing this, I didn't mind him. He was just kind of an "eh" villain. But I loved watching Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan during that arc. But now having written it out, I now hate Buu with a visceral passion. He's impossible to write. And there was no good way to kill him except off screen.

I also know some of you are probably less than pleased with some of Goku and Gohan's interactions in this chapter. I decided to go this way with them for two reasons

1. Goku now understands intimacy rather than just sex, but he still doesn't have a grasp on what it all brings to a relationship. Goku's understanding is "a man and woman get married, so they can make children," and sex is kind of just a step in that process. Kinda in the same vein of "Marriage is living in the same house as a woman." Now that he understands intimacy, he gets sex can be fun, versus his previous understanding which was it was a weird process one must do to make children. Whereas Gohan understands the complexities of a serious relationship, and has realized his father is an idiot where this is concerned (which doesn't happen until Super, and even then Gohan can just brush it off because he doesn't live with his parents anymore, which he does here). SO, these conversations are an adult Gohan explaining a serious relationship to his adult father (arguably) who should understand, but doesn't.

2. Which piggybacks off of that, which is that Gohan is starting to rebel a little, as a teenager usually does. They only show this a little in Fusion Reborn (when Goten says he saw Gohan and Videl making out). This is different because of who Mia is, and the kind of catalyst she is for him. Videl, I've felt, is too nice and respectful when she and Gohan finally started dating. Then look at Mia who is blunt and honest, and demands her respect be earned first. Because of that, Gohan is traveling down a different character path than in the show. One I think is more redemptive.

Also, if you haven't yet, read Ripples in Time: History of Trunks. There's a lot in that story that explains what's happening in this story's timeline, and some of the changes already made.

As always, remember to leave a review!