"That's enough," Buu said, his patience finally gone. "You're weak. I'm turning you into chocolate."
"What?" Zarotenks snapped, bristling at once. "Big talk from someone who has no idea how strong I am. You're going to regret that. You just made me mad for real."
A red blaze snapped around him.
The pressure in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber shifted at once. Zarotenks stood inside that burning divine aura, his hair and eyes changed, his whole body wrapped in the power of a Super Saiyan God.
Piccolo's hopes, battered as they were, rose again. "He can use Super Saiyan God now?"
Vegeta only snorted. "What are you so surprised about?"
Buu's mood changed just as fast. His anger faded, replaced by a bright, eager little grin. "Ooh."
Zarotenks rolled his shoulders and lifted his chin. "Playtime's over. I'm going to wipe you out right here." He tapped his chin, pretending to think it over. "Now, what should I finish you with? Hmm… yes. That one. I'll erase you with this!"
Buu waited, almost polite about it.
"Watch closely!" Zarotenks raised one hand, a red point of divine energy gathering at his fingertip. "Galactic Donut!"
His finger carved a circle through the air. A glowing ring formed above his palm, sharp and bright, then shot straight at Buu.
Buu did not bother moving.
"Got you!" Zarotenks shouted.
The ring snapped tight around Buu's body, pinning his arms to his sides. Zarotenks clenched his hand and poured more power into it, forcing the ring tighter and tighter.
Buu howled. He twisted, squirmed, and cried out like the attack was crushing him from the ribs inward.
Piccolo leaned forward. "Good. Keep it on him!"
Buu kept wailing for another few seconds, then his mouth stretched into a grin. "Just kidding. It doesn't hurt."
He flexed.
The Galactic Donut shattered into red sparks. The pieces rained down around him and vanished before they touched the white floor.
Zarotenks's confidence cracked for the first time.
Piccolo's jaw tightened. "Vegeta. Super Saiyan God still isn't enough."
"Keep watching," Vegeta said. "The brat hasn't shown everything yet."
Buu vanished.
One blink later, he was right in Zarotenks's face, so close their noses almost touched. He pulled down one eyelid, stuck out his tongue, and made the ugliest face he could manage.
"Bleh!"
Zarotenks recoiled. "Gross!"
That was all the opening Buu needed. His fist came in hard, but Zarotenks sprang backward just in time, the punch missing by a breath. Buu followed through with a kick instead, catching him under the guard and launching him high into the air.
Buu shot after him and appeared above him before Zarotenks could recover. A second kick smashed him back down toward the floor.
Zarotenks twisted at the last second, hit feet-first, and immediately shot upward again.
Buu dropped from above.
They met headfirst.
The crack rolled across the empty white space. Zarotenks and Buu both staggered back through the air, clutching their heads.
Buu rubbed his forehead, teeth bared. The little brat was stronger than he looked. Maybe it was time to stop playing around.
Zarotenks laughed and threw him the middle finger. "Serves you right! I was going to show you a few more moves, but this is getting annoying. I'll just finish you now."
Piccolo watched the exchange carefully. Zarotenks was still a fool, but he was no longer the same fool from before. "He's improved a lot."
"Of course he has," Vegeta said. "I trained him."
"He may actually be able to win."
"He will."
Zarotenks grinned wider. "Now you get my real secret technique. The one I trained like crazy to perfect." He puffed out his chest. "Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack!"
Buu tilted his head. "Huh?"
Zarotenks made a strange noise in the back of his throat, cheeks bulging. Then he spat out a small white ghost.
The ghost looked exactly like him from the waist up. Below that, its body tapered into a wispy tail.
"Heehee! I'm a ghost!" it announced.
Piccolo stared at it despite himself. Of all the techniques in the universe, this was what the boy had been hiding?
The little ghost floated toward Buu, pulling faces and sticking out its tongue. "Heeheehee! I'm scary!"
Buu watched without moving.
"Go!" Zarotenks ordered. "Show him what you can do!"
"Attack!"
The ghost rushed in.
Buu punched it in the face.
The explosion swallowed him on the spot.
Buu's body stretched and warped inside the blast, his head and limbs knocked completely out of shape before he hit the floor in a smoking heap.
Zarotenks burst out laughing. "You idiot! The second you touch one of my ghosts, boom!"
"Don't waste time!" Piccolo barked. "He'll recover!"
"I know, I know." Zarotenks planted his feet again. "Then I'll finish it properly. Ten ghosts!"
He puffed up, gagged, and spat out ten more.
The ghosts popped into the air one after another, each one already posing. Some flexed. Some made faces. One floated upside down with its arms crossed like it was the leader.
Zarotenks's smile twitched. They were showing off harder than he was.
"Line up!" he snapped.
The ghosts snapped into a neat row.
"Eyes front!"
They stretched out their arms, straightening the line.
"At ease!"
One ghost raised a hand. "Boss, we don't have feet. How do we stand at ease?"
Zarotenks's eyebrow twitched. "Shut up. Just face forward."
The ghosts obeyed.
"Hey, careful!" one of them complained. "If you touch me, I'll explode!"
"You're the one floating too close!" the ghost in front shot back.
"No talking!" Zarotenks shouted. "Right turn! Count off!"
"One! Two! Three!"
The ghosts turned their heads left and snapped them back as they counted.
"Ew, you almost kissed me," one muttered. "We'd both explode."
"That's because your face is huge."
"Our faces are exactly the same size!"
"I said shut up!" Zarotenks looked ready to beat his own ghosts himself.
Piccolo stepped over and tapped him on the shoulder.
Zarotenks turned, irritated. "What?"
Piccolo sighed. "He's already back."
Zarotenks looked past him.
Buu had fully reformed. Worse, he had found an apple from somewhere and was eating it like he had been waiting for the show to continue.
Zarotenks's face tightened. "That bastard is eating an apple?"
Buu chewed happily.
"Hey, Majin Buu!" Zarotenks shouted. "Ready?"
Buu swallowed. "Oh? We can start now?"
"Number One, Number Two! Attack!"
Two ghosts shot forward.
Buu spat two apple cores at them.
The cores hit both ghosts square in the face.
They exploded in midair.
Zarotenks's mouth fell open.
Vegeta's expression hardened. "Idiot. I knew that would happen."
Buu gave Zarotenks another smug little face. "Dummy. You think I'd fall for that again?"
Zarotenks huddled with the remaining ghosts at once, lowering his voice as they gathered around him. A minute later, he straightened up with the confidence of a commander who had definitely not lost control of his own technique.
"Good. Follow the plan. Go!"
"Yes!"
The ghosts lifted their hands.
"Do your best!"
"You too!"
Two of them got carried away and grabbed each other's hands.
The two ghosts looked down.
The others went silent.
Piccolo felt disaster coming a heartbeat before it arrived.
The explosion blew across the chamber with enough force to throw Zarotenks, Piccolo, and the remaining ghosts in different directions.
Buu watched from a safe distance, blinking through the smoke. How was someone this stupid? It almost reminded him of Broly.
Zarotenks pushed himself up, coughing. "Those two idiots…"
Piccolo wanted to bury himself in the floor. Why had he been standing so close?
Even Vegeta, farther back, had to brace himself. If he had been near Piccolo, he would have been caught in that nonsense too. These three brats were going to drive him insane.
"Forget those two!" Zarotenks shouted. "Everyone except Number Ten, attack together!"
The remaining ghosts flew at Buu.
Buu lifted one hand, ready to blast them out of the air, but the ghosts suddenly stopped short and gathered around something on the floor instead.
"What is this?"
"It looks weird."
"Is it poop?"
"Can we eat it?"
Buu lowered his hand. "What?"
The ghosts kept pointing and whispering.
Buu walked closer, curiosity winning. He craned his neck to look. "You like eating poop?"
"He's here!"
The ghosts threw themselves onto him all at once.
The explosion tore through Buu's body and rolled outward in a thick burst of smoke. When it cleared, he was a shredded, half-melted mess.
"Number Ten!" Zarotenks pointed. "Get inside his mouth and blow him apart!"
"Yes, boss!"
The last ghost bowed, zipped forward, and disappeared into Buu's body.
Another blast went off from the inside.
Pink chunks scattered across the floor.
Zarotenks landed beside them and stomped on one. "Heh. Done. Now you know how strong I am."
"Don't celebrate yet!" Piccolo shouted. "Majin Buu regenerates. Burn every piece before he pulls himself back together!" He turned sharply. "Vegeta, help!"
"I don't take orders from you," Vegeta snapped, but he moved anyway.
Vegeta, Piccolo, and Zarotenks spread out and blasted the pieces one by one. Pink smoke rose into the chamber as the chunks burned away, leaving nothing behind but scorched marks on the floor.
Zarotenks paused with one hand still raised. "Wait. Why don't we use destruction energy and erase the pieces?"
"Because he absorbs destruction energy, idiot!" Piccolo barked. "He already absorbed Vegeta's."
"Oh." Zarotenks nodded, then grinned again. "Right. Good point. But he's dead now, isn't he? We burned everything."
"You did well," Vegeta said, grudging but honest. "Better than I expected."
Piccolo nodded too. "For once, yes."
A heavy pressure rose above them.
The pink smoke twisted in the air. Tiny scraps of Buu's body, pieces so small they had been almost impossible to see, gathered out of the haze and pulled together. In seconds, Majin Buu was whole again, round belly, blank face, and all.
Piccolo's stomach sank. "No…"
Vegeta's fists clenched. "Damn it. Is he immortal?"
Zarotenks looked up at Buu and laughed, though the sound had a little strain in it. "Back again, huh?"
Buu floated down, clutching his stomach as he laughed like this was the best game he had ever played.
"He doesn't even look hurt," Zarotenks muttered.
"Fire won't work," Piccolo said. "It's useless against him."
"Then what will?" Vegeta demanded. "He can absorb destruction energy too."
"Ki," Piccolo said after a moment. "Pure ki. If we destroy every last cell at once, he may not have anything left to regenerate from."
Vegeta clicked his tongue. "Then we have no choice."
"And to be safe, we should destroy the chamber entrance," Piccolo added. "Trap him in this dimension for good."
"That traps us too."
"If we die, Ken will find a way to get us out."
Vegeta gave him a flat look, then turned back to Buu. "Fine."
Piccolo kept his voice low. "Vegeta. You trained in here for fifteen days. Did you improve?"
"Fifteen days is nothing," Vegeta said, irritation cutting through every word. "And I spent most of it teaching this brat."
Piccolo looked to Zarotenks. "Use the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack again. Or any other finishing move you have."
Zarotenks froze, then let his shoulders sag with theatrical despair. He grabbed his head and wailed, "I can't! I'm out of energy! It's over! He's going to kill us!"
Piccolo said nothing.
Vegeta didn't even bother reacting.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]