Chapter 27

The egg-shaped machine stood on the floor of the long-abandoned Capsule Corporation Labs, fully charged and ready to go. Trunks and Goten got ready to leave for home, and Videl was there to see them off.

"So, this is it," Trunks said. "We're ready to leave, Videl-san."

Videl nodded. So this was the time machine that had brought salvation from the past. Her thought returned to her interrogation session with the boys two days ago. Thanks to them, she's learned all she needed to know to solve the case, and more, especially regarding the relationship between the Briefs and the Son family. Her suspicions were correct all along. Bulma and Trunks Briefs were the ones who had actually saved their world from the cyborgs. Bulma's time machine had enabled her son to return to the past to train under the greatest warriors Earth had ever known, and return strong enough to defeat the cyborgs. So he was the one Gohan meant when he said somebody will defeat the cyborgs one day, so they musn't give up yet but continue living. He didn't mean himself as Videl had assumed, but Trunks Briefs, the son of the genius scientist Bulma Briefs and a warrior prince of an extict alien race. He was the one Gohan had abruptly left school for to train before his death. Videl had never known the boy personally; indeed, the closest she'd ever been with him was when investigating his death in this very lab. She'd seen him a few times before, however, when he was escorting his mother during her various charity projects. He never talked much, mostly acting as a bodyguard for Bulma. But even when he's not guarding her, he always seemed serious and withdrawn, like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, which in a sense, he did. It was far different from the one who was with her now, and this made Videl wonder how the other Videl was like. It was then that she realised something.

"How did you know my name when you saw me in the street just now?" She asked them. And they told her about the Videl and Gohan in their timeline. They were reluctant at first, but after Videl's repeated urging, they finally told her. In their timeline, Videl and Gohan were happily married, and had a daughter. Videl wasn't sure what to feel when she heard this. She supposed she should be happy for them, but what she felt at the time was closer to jealousy. Here she was, waiting all these years to see Gohan again, and now she just learnt that he's dead, and if he'd been alive she could've been the one who was happily married with a daughter, instead of being lonely as she was now. But what's happened in the past can't be changed, not even with a time machine, as proven by the presence of Trunks and Goten here. The only thing they could do was to go on. At least now she knows she'll never see Gohan again, and she could go on with her life. But sometimes she felt like she wasn't sure she wanted to. However, she quickly shook the feeling off. She had to be strong, if not for herself then for her father. Besides, now she had solved the mysterious Briefs family murder case. Thanks to the information from Trunks and Goten, she had been able to piece together the events that lead to Bulma and Trunks' deaths. After returning from the past, Trunks Briefs destroyed the cyborgs. Three years later, a monster called Cell which was created by the same madman who created No.17 and No.18 appeared and killed Trunks and his mother in order to steal his time machine so that he could go back to the past to absorb No.17 and No.18, who had been destroyed by Trunks in this timeline. Cell needed the cyborgs to complete his transformation into the strongest being in the universe. As it turned out, however, he wasn't the strongest being, not even after absorbing No.17 and No.18. He was defeated by Son Gohan, who was only eight years old at the time. How different it was from her world, where Gohan never attained that kind of power, and the cyborgs never turned good. How she envied these two boys, never having to grow up with the pain and horrors she had to go through. But that's not entirely true. Even without the cyborgs, Earth continued to be threatened. Eight years after Cell's defeat, Earth was again threatened by a creature called Majin Buu, who was defeated by Earth's heroes, with the help of Mr.Satan. It's fortunate, Videl thought, that Buu never came to this timeline, now that this world is truly without a protector. No Super Saiyajin warriors, Dragon Balls or even a Kami to watch over them.

"Videl-san?" Goten's voice distracted Videl fom her thoughts. "We're leaving now," he said. Videl nodded.

"We're going to fuse," Trunks said, "so you better stand back."

Fusion. It was another fantastic technique these warriors had. In the short time that they'd been here, she managed to learn one technique from them, namely the ki technique, similar to the ones she saw Upa use during the last Tenkaichi Boudukai, and the Tsuru brothers during their botched kidnapping attempt. After training half-dead in these two days, she could now produce a small energy burst from her hands, but still a tremendous amount of effort was needed just to concentrate on focusing the energy, or ki, as Trunks and Goten called it, on her palms. It would take a whole lot of hard training to be at the level of Upa and even more to match the Tsuru brothers.

"Well, goodbye," Videl said to Goten and Trunks. Trunks nodded, and Goten held her hand his his. "Remember to do as I asked," he said to Videl. She smiled. "I will, don't worry," she assured him. Goten smiled a mixture of gratitude and sadness, then took something out of his pocket. "I'm afraid I don't have any goodbye gift for you," he said. "All I've got are some candy from my timeline," he extended the round candies in his hand to her. But they were distracted by voices and sounds from outside. Videl, who was closest to the window, looked out. "Looks like you can save those candies of yours, Goten," she said. "For some strange reason, it's raining candies outside."

"What?!" Goten and Trunks exclaimed simultaneously, and looked at each other in shock. This was Majin Buu's style. Had he come here after all? Their suspicions were confirmed when they felt the unmistakable ki signature. It was very strong and distinct. It was Majin Buu, but he was stronger than they had ever known him to be in their own timeline. They ran outside, followed by Videl, to see candy falling down from the sky everywhere.

Out in the streets, children were shouting happily as they collected and ate as many candies as fast as they could. The adults looked up in wonder as to who was the kind soul who distributed all these sweets in this fairy tale-like manner. Trunks and Goten were stricken. Videl picked up a candy from the ground, and Trunks shouted, "No! Don't eat it!" Surprised, Videl dropped the candy.

"Why?" she asked. "Those are people Majin Buu turned into candy," Goten replied grimly, and Videl turned green, glancing at the children chomping down the sweets, never suspecting what it was originally. She looked up at the sky, where more candy were still falling. "But... if these are all people..." her voice trembled, "there wouldn't be anybody left..." Presently, Earth's population was only a few hundred thousands. Already candy seemed to be falling down by the thousands, with no signs of stopping.

Trunks turned grim, looking exactly like the late Trunks from this timeline. "We have to stop him," he said. He looked around, concentrating on the source of Majin Buu's ki. It seemed to come from everywhere, encompassing the entire planet, and Trunks had trouble pinpointing the exact location. He concentrated harder. The ki seemed to concentrate above them, and it felt like it was moving closer down below. "I think he's in space," Trunks said, "but he's coming down, fast." He turned to Videl. "Videl-san, you have to warn the people. Gather as many people as possible, and hide somewhere safe. Without the dragon balls, the people he killed can't be brought back to life."

Videl nodded. "I understand. But what are you going to do?" she asked him. "We're going to fight him," Trunks replied. "Can you win?" she asked. "Honestly, I don't know," Trunks answered. "We've fought him before, but this one's stronger than the one we fought in our timeline. But we don't have any choice. We have to win, otherwise this world is doomed."

The ki is overwhelmingly strong now, and it seemed to have stopped moving. "He's here," Goten remarked. "Go, Videl. We don't have time to lose," hes urged. Videl nodded and was about to leave when Trunks interrupted her. "Wait!" he cried out and ran to the time machine. He decapsulated it and tossed the capsule to Videl, who caught it in her palm. "I leave it to you for safekeeping," he said to her. "Go now," he continued, and she nodded in understanding and left without saying more. Just as she did, a huge pink blob appeared right in front of Trunks and Goten. The pink blob that is Majin Buu smiled childishly and pointed at them. "I'm going to turn you into candy and then I'm going to eat you!" he exclaimed and charged.

Chapter 28
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