Super Saiyajin level 3 Gotenks panted heavily. They were in a middle of a desert which should be familiar to the older generation of fighters; in their world it was the battleground of the fight between them and the first cyborgs. To this warrior, however, none of this was known, or mattered. He was fighting his own battle here; against the most powerful foe they had ever known, and he knew he had only himself to depend on. Gotenks pulled no punches this time; unlike the child Gotenks who years ago fought Buu and half treated it as a game. This time he was serious, and he was losing. This Buu, though still the fat Buu who turned people into candy for fun, was even more powerful than Gotenks remembered. The Super Kamikaze Ghost Attack, while it managed to hurt Buu, did just that, and no more. Buu recovered, and countered, nearly blowing Gotenks up.

***

Meanwhile, on Karin Tower, Tea and Supper felt the powerful ki in the distance. Until today, they were still building the Karin Tower as part of their training. Karin the brown cat always waited for them at the top of the tower. He had been tending to a plant which he called senzu. Recently the plant had started to bear fruit, but only one survived. According to Karin, it was because the altitude wasn't high enough for the plant to grow well, so he kept pushing the twins to finish the tower. Today their training was interrupted, first by the unnatural rain of candies, then by the fight far in the distance which produced frighteningly strong ki. As they were looking in the direction where the ki originated, Karin appeared behind them, holding a bean from the senzu fruit.

"What powerful ki," Supper remarked. "Who could it be? What's happening?" she wondered.

"I'm afraid I don't have answers to both your questions," Karin said. "I've never felt anything like this. It's unbelievable." He was practically recoiling from the force of the ki, even at this distance.

"I'm going to take a look," Tea declared. "I'm coming with you," his sister said, but Karin stopped them. "I can't allow you to go," he said. "It's too dangerous. Can't you feel that ki? It's inhuman. Whoever's fighting is so powerful it can't be imagined. And if you heard the news, one of them is causing all the trouble and the other is fighting it to save us all. If you go you'll only be in the way."

"I guess you're right," Tea said, after a brief, defiant silence. Supper nodded in agreement, but remarked, "Maybe the person fighting the bad guy, whoever it is, is the one who defeated the cyborgs. I think we'll win. I really wish we could see him, though."

'It's not him. He's dead. And Trunks was never this powerful.' Karin wanted to say it out loud, but then Upa appeared. "Come on," he said. "We better hide underground. It's not safe here." Karin nodded. "Kintoen!" he called, and the orange cloud came and hovered above him. As he hopped on it, Tea said, "Supper and I will fly down. See you down there," and promptly they both jumped from the tower and flew down. "Those two are up to something," Upa said, frowning. Karin just sighed resignedly, tightly clutching the senzu bean.

***

Down in the underground tunnels, Videl explained the situation to her father as best as she could. Poor Mr.Satan practically threw up when he found out what he had been eating, spilling vomit on the already dingy tunnel floor. The tunnel was yet another invention of the late Bulma Briefs. It was designed to withstand powerful explosions on the surface while providing not just shelter but also ventilation, and at some points food, medicine and other amenities. The tunnels were interlinked like underground subways, although there was no transport from one 'station' to another, and their capacity as well as points of entry were limited. Now that the cyborgs were gone, the tunnels were abandoned. Many thought they'd never have to come down here again. There was chaos as people were confused and lost, some were panicked, others fell into gloom and refused to cooperate. It was up to the police to keep order. Videl once again resumed her duty, keeping the people safe and orderly.

As she was helping a group of people find their way around, she saw a little boy running around, looking anxious. "Mama!" he called, "Mama, where are you?" The boy was looking around him while running, and ran into Videl. She helped him up.

"Are you OK?" she asked him. He nodded, then looked around him wildly. "Ma..," he started to call out again, and Videl put her hands on his shoulders to calm him.

"Calm down, kiddo," she said, and smiled reassuringly. "I'm a police officer. Come, I'll help you find your mother," she offered, and the boy nodded, a little calmer but still quite distraught. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find her. You'll be fine," Videl said as she took his hand and walked with him.

The boy wiped a tear from his eye. "Mama, she's blind. She can't find her way without me. I have to find her," he said, and Videl remembered her promise to Goten. "ChiChi..." she whispered.

***

Somewhere in the Eastern District, an old lady sat in her chair, holding a picture of her dead husband and son, but her eyes were far away. It was not certain whether they were really seeing anything. ChiChi continued to sit still, oblivious to the dangers the world outside was facing.

***

"Oof!" Gotenks picked himself up after taking a direct hit from Buu. He wiped the blood trickling from his nose. This was not good. He knew he didn't have much time left; he'd already powered down to his regular, non-Super Saiyajin form, and Buu was not getting any weaker. The pink demon threw another ki blast at him, and Gotenks barely managed to put up a ki shield to protect himself. The shield absorbed the blast, then disappeared, leaving him defenceless. He readied himself for another blast, but Buu didn't attack. Instead, he turned his back to the teenaged fused warrior. "This is getting boring," Buu murmured to himself. "Even the candies don't taste nice anymore," he continued murmuring to himself as he fired random shots at things animate and inanimate around him, turning them into candies, which he made no attempt to eat. Gotenks' eyes bulged, even as he was panting from exhaustion. "Stop it!" he yelled angrily. "If you don't want to eat them anymore, why turn this planet's people into candy?" he demanded.

Buu finally turned to face him. "They're not all from this planet," he said. Gotenks looked at him questioningly. "Babidy and me went to lots of planets before we came here," Buu said. "I turned all their people into candy. Sometimes I even turned the whole planet into a giant lollipop," he continued, sounding rather pleased with himself, like a child who has done something he was particularly proud of. "I brought some over when we came here, in case I got hungry."

"Wh.." Gotenks was too shocked and angry to say much more. He coughed, and a blood clot spew from his mouth; a sign of internal injuries. He spat the rest of the blood out. "That's it," his voice was a ragged whisper. His anger had reached its peak, and he didn't care anymore how weak he was compared to Buu - he will destroy the mindless monstrosity for all the damage it's caused the universe.

Gotenks took a deep breath, and powered up - first to Super Saiyajin Level 1, then Level 2, then finally to Level 3. SSJ3 Gotenks continued to concentrate on gathering ki, eyes closed, as Buu watched with renewed interest. Gotenks was going to play with him again. Then Gotenks opened his eyes, determination radiating from his stare. "I will kill you, Majin Buu," he stated, and shot the most powerful blast he could manage, straight at Buu.

Chapter 30
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