Buu's arm snapped out like a rubber whip and caught Zarotenks by the ankle.
"Hey—!"
That was all Zarotenks managed before Buu started slamming him around the Hyperbolic Time Chamber like a broken toy. Left, right, over his shoulder, straight into the floor—each hit drove another yelp out of him.
When Buu finally pulled his arm back in, he held Zarotenks upside down and grinned at the bruised mess dangling from his hand.
"Let go of me, you octopus!" Zarotenks groaned.
Buu's smile vanished. "Who are you calling an octopus?"
He punched Zarotenks into the floor.
Zarotenks bounced across the white ground, rolled several times, then pushed off his hands and sprang back up, battered but furious.
"That hurt, you bastard!" he shouted, baring his teeth. "I'm done messing around. Now you'll see what I can really do. I'll show you real fear!"
A violent crash cut him off.
Zarotenks turned toward the sound and froze.
The chamber entrance was gone.
Piccolo had destroyed it.
Vegeta stood nearby with his arms folded, calm enough to make the whole thing worse.
"Piccolo?" Zarotenks said. "What did you do?"
Piccolo faced Buu and forced a grim smile. "You're trapped now, Majin Buu."
Buu looked at the broken entrance, then patted his belly like this was only mildly interesting.
"Just like you guessed," Piccolo said. "If things got bad enough, I destroyed the only exit back to our world. None of us can leave now. Not you. Not us." His smile sharpened. "I didn't expect you to be this strong. I didn't expect even Zarotenks to lose. But now you'll stay here forever."
"Oh," Buu said.
"This place has nothing," Piccolo went on. "No food. No people. No sky. Just endless white."
Buu nodded along.
Zarotenks stared at Piccolo as if he had lost his mind. "Why would you do that? I still had a stronger transformation!"
Piccolo's confidence died on the spot. "You had what?"
He looked at Vegeta.
"Don't look at me," Vegeta said, frowning. "As far as I knew, this was his final form."
"You idiot!" Zarotenks shouted. "I figured this one out while you were asleep! Of course you didn't know!"
Piccolo's green face somehow looked even greener. "You said you were out of energy."
"That was a joke!"
Piccolo exploded. "What kind of moron jokes about that now?"
Vegeta's calm finally cracked. "Why am I trapped in here with a child this stupid?"
"You two are the stupid ones!" Zarotenks threw both hands up. "Before destroying the exit, maybe ask the person who still has another form!"
Piccolo and Vegeta both looked like they were seconds away from beating him unconscious.
Buu yawned.
The sound was lazy, almost bored, but the space in front of him tore open with it.
A ragged hole appeared in the white void, and beyond it was the Lookout.
Buu blinked at the gap, then smiled proudly and patted his stomach.
Vegeta, Piccolo, and Zarotenks all turned toward it.
Zarotenks pointed. "Vegeta. Piccolo. What is that?"
Piccolo's voice went thin. "He opened a hole in the dimension… with a yawn."
"It's closing!" Zarotenks shouted.
Buu waved at them. "This place is boring. You stay here. I'm leaving."
His body stretched into a long pink strip and slipped through the shrinking tear.
The hole snapped shut behind him.
The chamber went quiet.
Only Vegeta, Piccolo, and Zarotenks remained, staring at each other in the endless white space.
Piccolo was the first to snap out of it. "This is bad. We need to get out before he destroys everything outside."
"Hmph. I said this plan was unreliable from the start," Vegeta said. "Piccolo, this is your fault."
Piccolo turned on him. "You agreed to it."
"I agreed to the idea. I did not tell you to destroy the exit at the worst possible time."
"Stop arguing!" Zarotenks shouted. "You're both adults. Figure out how to get out!"
Piccolo and Vegeta looked at him.
The longer they looked, the more punchable he became.
"Vegeta," Piccolo said, "should we beat him first?"
"I was thinking the same thing."
Piccolo's body swelled into Orange Piccolo. Vegeta's tail lashed once as he transformed into Super Saiyan 4, his power rising sharp and brutal.
Zarotenks backed up. "What are you two doing?"
Vegeta answered with his fist.
He crossed the distance in a blur and buried a punch in Zarotenks's stomach. Zarotenks coughed blood and doubled over, only for Vegeta to kick him toward Piccolo.
"Catch."
Piccolo slapped Zarotenks back the other way.
Vegeta met him with another kick.
Zarotenks became a red-haired ball between them, flying from one furious adult to the other until Piccolo finally hammered him straight into the floor.
Zarotenks lay there for a second, face-down in the white ground. Then one hand twitched. He was still alive.
He sprang up a moment later, blazing with rage.
"That's enough! I'll deal with both of you!" His aura flared. "Now I'll show you my real power. When you wet yourselves, don't blame me. You hit me first!"
Vegeta held his ground. "Show me, then."
Piccolo's mouth curved slightly. He did not look afraid either.
"You'll regret that."
Zarotenks clenched his fists.
His divine power surged.
The red aura around him deepened, climbing higher and higher until it shook the broken space around them. His red hair spilled backward, growing past his shoulders, down his back, and below his waist. Fire-red lightning crackled over his body, snapping in jagged arcs.
Super Saiyan God Three.
Vegeta and Piccolo both went still.
Zarotenks smiled at their faces. "What? Surprised?" He turned his head slowly toward Piccolo. "Now, who should I start with?"
Piccolo's confidence evaporated.
"Ready, Piccolo?"
Zarotenks vanished in a red streak and appeared right in front of him.
Even Vegeta's eyes tightened. "Fast."
"Don't worry," Zarotenks said, grinning. "I'll be gentle."
His kick landed before Piccolo could guard.
Orange Piccolo shot upward like a meteor, a bright orange point tearing through the white sky. A moment later, that point shrank, shifted back to green, and vanished from sight.
Zarotenks clapped his hands, delighted. "Whoa! That went farther than I thought!"
Then he turned toward Vegeta.
Vegeta's face hardened.
"You should probably not fight back," Zarotenks said, walking toward him. "The harder you resist, the harder I hit."
Vegeta moved first.
He poured a massive blast of energy over Zarotenks at point-blank range. The explosion shook the chamber and tore several new holes through the dimension at once.
Zarotenks looked around, untouched. "Huh. You really messed this place up."
Vegeta didn't waste the opening. He shot toward one of the gaps.
Zarotenks appeared in front of him.
Vegeta stopped short.
"You hit me and now you're running?" Zarotenks drove a fist into Vegeta's stomach. "That's rude."
Blood burst from Vegeta's mouth. His knees gave out, and he collapsed, teeth clenched against the pain.
Zarotenks sighed. "Now I have to carry both of you out."
He grabbed Vegeta by the tail and tossed him through one of the open rifts.
Vegeta flew out onto the Lookout, hit the tiles, and rolled across the ground.
Piccolo fell from above a moment later. Zarotenks kicked him cleanly through another gap, sending him crashing out onto the Lookout as well, already unconscious.
"Piccolo! Vegeta!" Dende felt the impact and rushed over, staff gripped tightly in one hand.
Buu stood nearby, grinning as he looked from Dende to the fallen Piccolo. He made no move to stop him.
Dende's stomach tightened. Had Buu done this? He had escaped from another dimension and still beaten Piccolo unconscious?
For one tense second, Dende kept one eye on Buu. Then he crouched beside Piccolo and poured healing energy into him.
Buu only watched.
Piccolo's wounds closed quickly. Dende let out a breath and hurried to Vegeta next. When Vegeta was healed too, Dende glanced back at Buu, confused despite himself.
Buu had let him do it.
Then a red flame emerged from the remains of the chamber entrance.
Zarotenks flew out, still wrapped in Super Saiyan God Three.
Buu's eyes lit up.
Zarotenks landed in front of him and lifted his chin. "Well, Majin Buu? Pretty surprised by this form, aren't you?"
…
Universe 7, Sacred World of the Kai.
"Goku," Shin said, staring at the scene. "Is that the three-person merging Ken mentioned?"
"It's Fusion, Supreme Kai-sama," Goku corrected at once. "Not merging."
"Is there a difference?"
"You idiot!" Elder Kai snapped from nearby. "If Goku says it's Fusion, then it's Fusion. Why are you arguing?"
Shin stared at him.
"Elder Kai… aren't you supposed to be drawing out Gohan's hidden power right now? How do you still have time to yell at me?"
"That's none of your business." Elder Kai picked his nose, then made a face at him.
Gohan had no idea what to say anymore.
"Goku," Elder Kai said suddenly, raising one hand. "Do you know what this is?"
A crystal ball appeared in his palm. He tossed it over, and it landed near Goku and the others.
Goku, Shin, Kibito, Cabba, and Caulifla all crowded around it.
"Oh!" Goku brightened at once. "Isn't this a Supreme Kai crystal ball? You have one too?"
Shin stared at the crystal ball in silence.
Why didn't he have one?
"I kept asking Fuwa-sama for his," Goku said with a laugh, "but he said he still needed it, so he wouldn't give it to me."
Elder Kai suddenly felt that he had made a mistake.
"I've used one before. I know how it works." Goku put both hands over the crystal ball and focused.
The surface flashed.
A moment later, an image appeared inside the crystal ball: Earth in Universe 6.
"It's showing a picture!" Cabba said.
Caulifla leaned in, eyes narrowing with interest. "That thing's pretty useful."
"Yep, same as Fuwa-sama's." Goku grinned and turned to Elder Kai. "Thanks, Elder Kai. Thanks for giving it to me."
Elder Kai's face went stiff.
"Hold on. When did I say I was giving it to you? I only let you look at it!"
"Huh?" Goku scratched his head. "You weren't giving it to me? Then why did you bring it out? I can already check what's happening in our universe by myself."
"I was showing off!" Elder Kai shouted. "That's all!"
Goku scratched his head again, helpless.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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