Majin Buu, suddenly yanked into an unfamiliar environment, went on full alert — not only did he crank his ki-sensing wide open, but his eyes swept the room with naked suspicion.
The Galactic Patrol headquarters had erupted into total chaos. Not only had the big boss himself, Majin Buu, been teleported in, but a whole crowd of aliens from the Sixth Universe had come along for the ride.
Patrol officers yanked out palm-sized laser pistols and opened fire. Most of the rest simply ran.
"Let's slip out quietly — hide first. Come on, this way..." No. 18 hissed under her breath, grabbing Krillin's wrist, hunching low, inching backward step by step.
"You know this place?" Krillin whispered.
No. 18 gave a small smile. "Well enough... Here we go — we hide behind that crate. Get down!"
Krillin looked up, and his eyes went wide. An enormous metal box stood there, and printed across its face in large characters of the common universal language were three words: SUGGESTION BOX.
True to its name, it was meant to encourage the rank and file to pass feedback up the chain — except it was mounted five meters off the ground. If your average alien actually wanted to drop a suggestion in, would they need to drag over a ladder first?
From what No. 18 had told him, the Miss Supreme Kai had set up quite a few of these boxes across the universe. The intention had been good. Execution, unfortunately, had gone sideways.
Both of them had the Sky Dancing Technique, so five meters — or fifty, for that matter — was nothing. They tucked themselves neatly behind the box.
Apparently the box was made from some kind of rare metal. No. 18 didn't know exactly what, but the moment Krillin slipped behind it, he felt his leaking ki get completely swallowed up. Forget sensing — even if Majin walked directly underneath, he wouldn't be able to detect them.
Half an hour passed. Krillin felt like he'd never been more at peace in his life. He could've stayed there forever.
No. 18 suddenly frowned. "Damn."
"What?"
"...A pain-in-the-ass has shown up, and Majin Buu is right behind him. You run — I'm going to go pull someone out!" No. 18 said, no room for argument in her voice.
"Help me — SAVE ME!!" The head of the Galactic Patrol — the Galactic King, who looked like a giant octopus — was sprinting in a blind panic through his own headquarters. Majin Buu wore the gleeful look of a cat toying with a mouse, one palm raised as he flung a golden shockwave from a distance. Fortunately, No. 18 burst out from the side and threw up a barrier just in time, shielding the Galactic King from the blast.
Ordinary aliens could die. The Galactic King could not. The man carried enormous prestige — he was one of Ino's key partners in building a civilized universe.
In the era when Supreme Kai Shin was slacking off and Destroyer Beerus was checked out, the peace of the Seventh Universe had actually been maintained by the Galactic King — a self-funded temp worker, when you really thought about it. For every reason, he had to be saved.
"Get out of here. I'll hold the Majin." No. 18 and the Galactic King knew each other, so she cut straight to it.
"I'm staying to help!" Krillin was terrified, but he still stepped in front of No. 18. Want to hurt her? You'll have to walk over my dead body first.
"Not a single trace of ki... What a bizarre woman. And this little baldie — I feel like I recognize him. An Earthling, aren't you? Heh." Majin Buu smiled — cold and cruel. The energy pooling in his hands swelled to monstrous proportions as he readied himself to take out both No. 18 and Krillin in one shot.
But the moment he raised his hand, his whole body seized with a violent tremor. Something inside him had slipped out of his control.
He froze on the spot. Krillin blinked — and in the next instant, grabbed No. 18 and bolted, waving for the strangely-shaped Galactic King to come with them.
"Hello, and thank you for saving me. Do either of you happen to know what's going on?" the Galactic King asked politely.
No. 18's eyes went flat. She seized the thing around his neck that looked like a tie and yanked. "Less talking, more running! I risked my life saving you today — don't forget that. You're paying me back for this later!"
...
The shockwave from the Sixth Universe had reached Frieza and Leila as well. They had no idea what was happening in the outside world — all they knew was that the energy inside Majin Buu was churning like a sea in a storm. Baffled and worried that something had changed without their knowledge, the two of them frantically fled out through the pores on Majin Buu's skin.
With their escape secured, the brief alliance between "mother and son" had more or less run its course.
With Leila gone from his body, Majin's form began twisting and warping again. He let out a series of roaring screams, trying to use his shapeshifting to restore the balance between his cells and his energy.
Frieza had trained for years on end, but had always been shackled by that half-mechanical body, which prevented his potential from ever fully translating into fighting power. Now, borrowing the extraordinary regenerative ability of Majin Buu's cells, he had regained a complete body of flesh and blood.
With a thunderous shout — much like a Super Saiyan transformation — flame-like golden ki blazed around his body as savage energy reinforced him from the inside out. The portions of flesh that had originally been his turned a deep gold, while the parts newly regrown to replace the discarded mechanical frame were a pale gold. The dividing line between the two was plainly visible. That new flesh would need some time in the gym.
"Power. Incomparable power. You would be proud of me, wouldn't you, Mother?" Frieza turned a cold gaze on Leila, and made ready to act.
"Mother and son" falling out — it happened in the span of a single breath.
Leila had seen it coming. She drew a hand through the air and, using a Supreme Kai's matter transformation abilities, conjured a small vial of pale blue liquid from nothing, tossing it to Frieza.
"Oh? And what might this be, dear Mother? Some kind of poison?" Frieza asked with perfect courtesy.
Leila wore the fond, indulgent smile of a doting aunt — a role she was growing ever more comfortable playing. "Using the Majin's cells doesn't come without a cost, you know. This is a divine elixir I prepared myself. It can effectively suppress the malice and madness embedded in those cells. I know, I know — you're going to tell me you're the evil Emperor of the Universe, that you're cruel, that you're all of this and that. But let me tell you, not all evil is the same. If you don't want the Majin to take over your mind and be reborn inside you, you'd best take this elixir on schedule and at the proper dose. Don't worry, my son — it's all for your own good."
Go to hell, Frieza thought, rage spiking toward the point of screaming it aloud. This wretched woman actually thought she could control him with some random potion.
A dozen thoughts crashed through his mind at once. He weighed the situation carefully — and concluded that this cozy little mother-son charade still needed to continue for the time being.
Frieza could indeed feel an abnormal agitation stirring within the cells he'd absorbed. The Majin's madness was, to some degree, bleeding into his own consciousness. He turned it over again and again, then made his decision. He tipped his head back and drank the elixir Leila had given him in one go.
The Majin-sourced malice pressing in on him from inside was pushed back. His mind cleared noticeably.
"Thank you, Mother."
"Think nothing of it. It's the least I could do."
The two of them turned to look at Majin Buu.
The Majin's shape kept shifting — his body was shrinking at a frightening rate. But as his intellect was stripped away, the malice filling what remained grew larger and larger, and darker.
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