Watching Lady Buu attempt to absorb Son Goku, the dark memories of the past sent a wave of terror through Shin — he practically felt his gallbladder leap into his throat. His voice trembled as he shouted, "Mr. Son, watch out!"
Son Goku had never seen that shameless absorption trick before, but instinct told him it was an absolute nightmare to deal with. The warning gave him just enough pause to take it seriously. He used Instant Transmission to flash to Vegeta's side, paused for a half-beat, then — before Vegeta could even open his mouth to bark at him — kicked off the ground and charged straight back in.
He launched a flying kick that sent the Majin tumbling, then faced the off-balance, upside-down Lady Buu and cupped both hands at his side, unleashing a Kamehameha Wave.
The blue pillar of light vaporized half of Lady Buu's body. She hung suspended in midair, a grotesque grin spreading across what remained of her face. She let out a roar, and her body instantly reformed.
She dropped back to the ground and fired off an identical Kamehameha in a diagonal upward direction.
Son Goku burst forward, appearing behind the Majin. He let out a sharp cry and brought the edge of his hand down hard on the back of Lady Buu's neck.
Lady Buu's feet drove into the ground like stakes. Her neck and torso bent into an "S" shape, her body completely unbound by anything as mundane as a skeleton. Her right leg shot backward in defiance of all human anatomy and connected squarely with Son Goku's chest.
Son Goku leaped back and swung his right fist forward. Lady Buu's arm coiled around his like a striking snake, the absorption ability active once more. Goku had no choice but to use Instant Transmission to escape again — but he hadn't counted on her having already learned it herself. She had calculated his landing point in advance. Not only did she kick Tien Shinhan clean off the spot where Goku was about to appear, she also spread her body open like a sheet of fabric, poised to swallow Goku whole the moment he emerged from the teleport.
"Idiot! She already figured out your moves!" Goku couldn't chain Instant Transmissions back-to-back, but fortunately Vegeta had fired a shockwave ahead of time, knocking him outside the Majin's absorption range.
"Thanks, Vegeta! I honestly didn't think she could be this... smart..."
Son Goku couldn't wrap his head around anything too complicated, but being absorbed by Lady Buu — never seeing Chichi again, never going home for dinner — that much he understood perfectly.
Super Saiyan 3 was burning through his stamina at a frightening rate, and on top of that he had to keep his guard up against that bizarre absorption ability at every moment. He found himself fighting more cautiously than usual.
The arena of the World Martial Arts Tournament had long since been reduced to powder. As the intensity of the battle escalated, the destruction spreading outward grew worse with every passing exchange.
Lady Buu had absolutely no concept of fighting with honor. Fragments of her body scattered across the battlefield as they fought — sticky, clay-like globs of pink matter that wriggled through the rubble and debris, hunting for their chance. She intended to use those fragments to absorb the remaining Saiyan warriors.
Based on her observations and calculations, Son Gohan, Vegeta, and Kale were the top priorities. Absorb even one of them, and she could steamroll Super Saiyan 3 Son Goku without breaking a sweat.
The problem was Shin, who had his eyes locked on her every move. Each time she was about to make a grab for someone, the Supreme Kai would pop out like an alarm bell, shouting a warning at the top of his lungs.
"Damn it!" Several failed absorption attempts in a row had Lady Buu thoroughly irritated.
With Shin watching that closely, quietly absorbing any of those Saiyans was going to be nearly impossible.
As for absorbing the other Earthlings? She didn't see the point.
Absorb Krillin, become Monk Buu. Absorb Tien Shinhan, grow an extra eye. And then what? Both she and Son Goku were already past ten billion in battle power — what was a few hundred thousand or a million going to do for her?
She had also considered absorbing Ino, but Ino was in meditation and no longer present in the physical world. What everyone around her could see was nothing but a temporal afterimage. Lady Buu didn't quite understand what sort of state that actually was.
The prolonged stalemate was making her restless. Son Goku, for his part, was showing a clear and steady decline in battle power thanks to his stamina drain, and looking at the state of the battlefield, neither side could claim a decisive advantage.
After one more exchange of Kamehameha Waves that filled the air with smoke and dust, Lady Buu craftily slipped away.
Son Goku was exhausted, and more than that — he was kicking himself.
During the fight he had gotten a bit too caught up in the excitement and let slip something about sensing ki. Just like that, the Majin had picked up on it too. Now that she had fled, she had hidden her ki the same way the Earth warriors did — and after three laps around the sky, Son Goku still had no idea where she had gone.
The group swept the area. No sign of her anywhere.
Lady Buu had vanished.
With no other option, they made their way to Dende's Kami's Lookout to regroup and figure out their next move.
Worried that Lady Buu might go after everyone's loved ones, a whole crowd of people — Master Roshi, Bulma, and many others — were brought to the Lookout and kept together for protection.
Ino, Shin, Kibito, and the weakened Grand Supreme Kai came along as well.
Shin held the Grand Supreme Kai in the highest regard and kept his eyes fixed on the elder, hoping the old master's wisdom would light the way forward.
The Grand Supreme Kai furrowed his brow deeply and spoke. "My estimation was wrong. I originally believed that unlocking this warrior Son Goku's potential would be enough to defeat Majin Buu. It seems I was thinking too simply... Perhaps... perhaps fusion is the answer for facing Majin Buu?"
He chose his words carefully. He was worried his suggestion might step on someone's pride or sense of honor — and more than that, he was worried that in the time he had been gone, Shin might have issued some kind of ban on using the Potara Earrings for fusion.
He hadn't said it outright, but his eyes kept drifting toward Son Goku and Vegeta.
Vegeta stared at him blankly.
Fusion? With who? With Son Goku? Just the thought of it made every single part of him crawl with discomfort — an almost physical revulsion.
Son Goku, during his time delivering packages across the universe, had made quite a few new friends, and he happened to know about the Metamoran Fusion Technique.
He scratched his head. "Lord Grand Supreme Kai, you want us to do the Metamoran Fusion Dance right now? That's going to be tough — I'd estimate we need at least a whole day just to practice the coordination."
The dance? What dance?
The Grand Supreme Kai, sealed and absorbed for five million years, had genuinely never heard of the Metamorans.
He glanced sideways at Shin and Kibito. Neither showed the furious outrage he had half-expected.
He supposed he had been overthinking it.
As long as it wasn't banned, they were fine.
He cleared his throat. "What I meant was the Supreme Kai Earrings — the Potara Earrings. When we Supreme Kais use them, the fusion is permanent. But for you warriors, the fusion only lasts an hour before you separate naturally. It won't affect your lives afterward."
The Grand Supreme Kai looked heavyset, but he was in fact a razor-sharp thinker, and everything he said was measured and precise.
Glancing over at Ino, who drifted in and out of physical presence as she drew power from the river of time — her whole state uncanny and half-there — and at Shin, whose expression read as "how did I not know about this," the Grand Supreme Kai prepared to hand his earrings over to Son Goku and Vegeta.
"Use my earrings. I think the two of you should... well, why not give it a try." He could see the sour look on Vegeta's face and couldn't quite find the right way to phrase it.
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