Buu kicked Vegeta hard enough to send him flying.
Vegeta shot upward, dipped into a rough arc, and slammed back down with blood pouring from his mouth. He tried to breathe through it, but even that came out broken.
Buu clapped and laughed.
Then he jumped high, came down with his full weight, and sat right on Vegeta.
Vegeta's scream tore out of him.
Buu stayed where he was and started hitting him. Again and again, his fists crashed into Vegeta's face until the Super Saiyan 4 form did nothing to hide how badly he was being beaten.
Goten turned away for half a second. "He's going to die."
Trunks shook where he stood. His hands were curled into fists, but he had no idea what to do with them. "Damn it…"
"Trunks, don't," Zarek said. "If we go in now, we're not helping him. We're just next."
"No!"
Trunks burst into Super Saiyan and flew straight at Buu.
Zarek stared after him. "Sure. Run straight into it. See if I stop you."
"I'm going too!" Goten shouted.
Gold light flared around him, and he chased after Trunks.
Zarek looked at the two of them, then at Buu.
"So I'm the coward now?"
He sighed and flew after them.
Trunks reached Buu first and kicked him off Vegeta.
Goten dropped beside Vegeta and pulled at the pink strip binding him, tearing it loose enough to free him.
Vegeta groaned as the movement dragged at his injuries.
"Vegeta, are you okay?" Goten asked.
"Dad, stay with me!" Trunks grabbed him from the other side.
The two boys helped him up.
Zarek landed nearby, took one look at Vegeta, and clicked his tongue. "What a mess. Prince of the Saiyans, right? You're doing a great job making the rest of us look bad."
Vegeta slowly turned his head toward him.
If he had even a little more strength, he would have shut that brat's mouth himself.
Even Kakarot knew better than to talk to him like that.
Zarek went on, because apparently survival instinct had skipped him entirely. "And what did you learn destruction energy for if you're not going to use it?"
Vegeta forced himself to stand on his own. His red tail shifted behind him in the wind, but his eyes had already gone somewhere colder.
Zarek noticed.
"…You listening?"
"Trunks," Vegeta said, "look after your mother."
Trunks froze. "What?"
He stared at his father, waiting for the rest of it.
"Dad, what are you talking about? Why would you say that?"
"Get out of here," Vegeta said. "All of you. I'll deal with Majin Buu."
"No!" Trunks shouted. "He'll kill you! We can fight too. If all four of us attack together, we can beat him!"
"Not like this." Vegeta shook his head. "Ordinary fighting won't work on him."
"We're strong!"
Goten nodded quickly. "Yeah."
Zarek stayed quiet this time.
Vegeta looked at his son. "Come here, Trunks."
Trunks hesitated, confused, then stepped closer.
Vegeta pulled him into a brief embrace.
Trunks went still. For a second, he looked more embarrassed than scared.
His father never did this.
"Take care of yourself," Vegeta said.
Then he struck the back of Trunks's neck.
Trunks collapsed in his arms.
Goten stared at them. "Huh? Why did you—"
Vegeta punched him in the stomach.
Goten dropped at once. His Super Saiyan form vanished before he hit the ground.
Zarek descended until he was level with Vegeta. "You planning to knock me out too?"
"Zarek," Vegeta said, "you called yourself their elder. Prove it. Take them and run."
"I'm younger than your son," Zarek said. "You know that, right?"
"You're the son of a God of Destruction. Do something useful."
Zarek looked at Goten, then Trunks, then Buu walking back through the wreckage.
"Fine." He grabbed both boys. "You're going to blow yourself up, aren't you?"
Vegeta did not answer.
"That won't necessarily kill him," Zarek said. "Why not use destruction energy?"
"It may not work either," Vegeta said. "But I'll try it."
Buu came out of the dust, still humming to himself.
Then he saw Zarek holding the boys.
His smile faded. "Was it you? Did you kick me?"
Zarek's temper snapped. "Are you blind? Which eye saw me kick you?"
Buu glared at him.
Vegeta's face darkened. "Leave. Now."
This brat was going to get himself killed by talking.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going."
Zarek took off with Goten and Trunks.
"Don't run!" Buu shouted, raising a hand toward him. "Come back! I don't care if you're a kid!"
"Hakai!"
Vegeta fired before Buu could attack.
A sphere of purple-red destruction energy shot from his palm and tore across the battlefield.
Buu turned.
Then he opened his mouth and swallowed it.
Vegeta stopped breathing.
Buu chewed a few times, swallowed, and burped. A few sparks of destruction energy drifted out with the sound.
"Good." Buu grinned. "I haven't eaten destruction energy in a long time."
Vegeta stared at him.
So even that was useless.
"You know Hakai?" Vegeta asked.
Buu nodded.
"Who told you about it?" Vegeta said. "Broly? What are you two to each other?"
"You don't need to know."
Vegeta closed his fist.
"Then pay attention. This is the last thing I'm showing you."
His energy began to climb.
Buu tilted his head. "Oh?"
"I know how to destroy you now," Vegeta said.
Power poured out of him, thick and violent, pressing down on everything around him.
On the Lookout, Piccolo felt it and stepped to the edge.
"What is he doing?"
Goku said nothing.
Piccolo's eyes narrowed. "He's going to self-destruct."
Goku still did not answer.
Piccolo looked down at the battlefield. "This is the first time Vegeta has fought for someone other than himself. And he's ready to die for it."
Goku's expression softened. "Yeah. He's changed."
Below, Vegeta's power kept rising.
"This time, I'll blow you apart so completely you won't have anything left to regenerate from!"
Buu stared at him.
Then his face twisted.
"Wait. You came after me first," Buu said. "I've been holding back this whole time."
He really had.
He had let them hit him. He had played along. He had not killed them.
And now Vegeta wanted to erase him?
Buu puffed his cheeks.
Did this Saiyan think he was that easy to kill?
He was a God of Destruction too.
A little one, maybe, but still.
Vegeta roared.
His energy exploded.
The blast swallowed Buu in an instant, spreading into a massive golden dome that drowned the battlefield in light. The ground split beneath it. Clouds rolled in above, dark and heavy, with lightning cutting through them as the explosion tore the area apart.
Far away, Zarek looked back with Goten and Trunks under his arms.
He shook his head. "Idiot. Why go that far?"
The light kept burning.
When it finally faded, a huge crater scarred the earth.
Vegeta hung above it, drained white and barely alive, still in his Super Saiyan 4 form.
Goku appeared beside him.
He grabbed Vegeta before the last of his strength gave out and poured healing light over him. Color slowly returned to Vegeta's skin, but not enough.
"Vegeta, we're leaving," Goku said. "I got here in time, but I can't fix all of this. Dende can."
They reappeared on the Lookout.
"Dende!" Goku called. "Now!"
Dende ran over and began healing Vegeta at once.
Goku had only pulled him back from the edge. Vegeta had poured almost everything into that blast. Without help, his body would have broken down completely and vanished with the wind.
Dende worked for several long seconds before Vegeta finally looked alive again.
Vegeta opened his eyes.
He saw Dende.
Then Goku.
Goku let out a breath. "You really pushed it."
Piccolo gave him a faint smile. "Vegeta. You almost died saving other people."
"Hmph." Vegeta turned his head. "Don't misunderstand. I just hated that thing."
"Still," Goku said, studying him, "that transformation is amazing. You passed out and still kept the form."
Vegeta ignored the praise. "Majin Buu. Is he dead?"
Goku walked to the edge of the Lookout and looked down.
Piccolo joined him.
"Well," Goku said, "you blew him to pieces."
"Can he come back from that?" Piccolo asked.
Vegeta stayed silent.
If Buu survived even this, there was nothing left to say.
Piccolo glanced at Goku. "Why didn't you fight him?"
Goku kept watching the battlefield. "From what I saw, Buu hasn't killed anyone since he broke out of the seal."
Piccolo frowned. "The Supreme Kai said he's evil."
"Ken said that Supreme Kai is the dumbest one in the universe," Goku said. "I'm not sure we should trust his opinion that much."
Vegeta froze.
Damn it.
Kakarot had a point.
A terrible, irritating, completely reasonable point.
And Vegeta had nearly killed himself.
Piccolo's face changed. "Goku."
"He's alive," Goku said.
Vegeta snapped toward him. "What?"
"He's in pieces," Piccolo said, voice low. "But the pieces are moving. They're coming together."
Vegeta said nothing.
His face grew darker with every second.
Down below, the pieces of Buu snapped back into place.
Buu reformed completely, shook himself once, and burst into laughter.
Piccolo stared. "He's fully healed. Is this thing immortal? At this point, we'd better hope he really isn't evil."
Buu patted his stomach.
"I'm hungry," he muttered. "Where should I eat?"
He looked around, then spread out his senses.
Ken was not on Earth.
Broly was not on Earth either.
Then Buu brightened.
Mr. Satan.
Mr. Satan would feed him.
Lots of food. Good food.
"Mr. Satan!"
Buu shot into the sky and flew toward Mr. Satan's house.
Piccolo watched him go. "Where is he going now?"
"Let's see," Goku said.
Vegeta stepped up beside them. "Where is that monster headed?"
"No idea," Piccolo said. "But he isn't coming here."
Vegeta clenched his fist.
"I don't care where he goes. I'm going to beat him myself."
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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