Chapter 20 – The Split

Sweat was rolling down the Namekian's face. The weight of the situation before them was immense; the monster had discovered their hiding place. He'd also gone through a transformation, shedding the fat innocence for a form which was tall, lean and with a ki full of malice. His eyes were colder, his aura far more deadly than before. As soon as the transformation had been triggered, he'd come straight for them, no sign of a diversion. Piccolo knew this meant that this Buu could sense ki, unlike his predecessor.

"Bring," The monster ordered.

'Bring? Bring what? What could he be possibly talking about?' Piccolo was stumped. Was he looking for something or someone? Had he been in search for Goku, after having battled him the previous day? "Bring what?" He asked cautiously.

Buu's face contorted with annoyance, making Piccolo's pulse raise higher. "Bring!" He snapped, far louder than before. The sound of his voice sent shockwaves across the tiles, the entire palace shuddering under the pressure.

This was too dangerous a situation. There were people here who would suffer and die under Buu's might – Piccolo knew that realistically none of the fighters here would be that more capable of protecting themselves and the others. The fused warrior Goten and Trunks had created – Gotenks – was no match for the previous fat Buu's strength, so to expect them to take on this stronger, wiser Buu… It was going to take a miracle for them to survive this encounter. Piccolo was still none the wiser on what Buu was waiting for and he dared not ask again, in fear that he would attack with frustration. But then what other choice did they have? He'd attack if they didn't produce whatever it was he was here for…

"T-Tell me what you're looking for… and perhaps I can bring it to you," He tactfully suggested. It was getting harder to speak with confidence in front of this monster.

The sickly smile that crept on his face made Piccolo shudder. "The ones who want to fight me. Bring them to me. They're here. This is the only place with big powers."

"So he can sense ki," Krillin realised, muttering somewhere behind Piccolo. Piccolo dared not work out exactly where Krillin was and turn his eyes away from Buu. It was of little importance anyway. He was more concerned about Goten and Trunks. This had to be it. Goku must have told him something about a fighter training to battle with Buu. Piccolo cursed under his breath. 'Goku, why did you have to go and mention it to him?' They needed more time; the boys still didn't have a good grip on controlling themselves when they were fused. Their power was impressive for a pair of children so young, yet they were inexperienced, obnoxious and reckless beyond belief.

As soon as their fusion dance had succeeded, their fused alter ego had gone charging off to fight the fatter Buu. The battle hadn't gone well and it had been very lucky that the two of them had made it back alive. Gotenks was far too dangerous and far too unreliable to call on right now. But then their only other option…

He'd have to call her out of the Room of Spirit and Time. The boys wouldn't be ready but just in case Chiri fell, it would be a good idea to have them raise their power levels higher within the room itself.

Buu was becoming more and more agitated but Piccolo managed to make contact. 'I'm going to try and stall him for as long as possible. I'd like you to stay in there for another half an hour, our time. That would be around another seven days for you. Train as hard as you can. When you come out, I'll explain to you, Goten and Trunks what we're going to do.'

From the sounds of things, the others had come outside and were muttering amongst themselves. The boys' mothers and friends were standing close to the palace, all eyes having spotted Majin Buu standing on the opposite side of the lookout.

"There are two fighters who are here," Piccolo started. "But they're both resting right now, getting ready for the battle."

"Wake them," Buu demanded. "I fight them now!"

That was not the response Piccolo had wanted. "P-Please, wait for them to be rested. Don't you want to fight them at their best, don't you?"

Buu seemed to mull this over, rolling his head back and forth. "… Nah, I hate to wait. Wake them up, now."

She'd done as instructed and spent her last week training and resting, preparing for the battle that would be waiting outside. Chiri took a small nervous breath and opened the door to the outside world. It took a moment for her senses to register the dimmer corridor of the palace, her hearing to adjust from the silence of the world she was leaving. Her ability to detect life was flooded with signals from several immediate life forms… but no one else. Her heart dropped into her stomach. Why couldn't she feel any life down below them? What had happened since she'd gone in?

Buu's energy was stronger than before, far stronger. It felt more acrid in her throat, more dangerous and volatile. So it was true, he had changed. Piccolo hadn't gone into much detail about what'd happened. She hoped she'd be able to get her answers, especially as he hadn't seemed to have heard her requests when they'd last spoken telepathically.

As if on que, Piccolo emerged from down the corridor. Chiri approached him, "How bad is it?" She asked.

"Bad. Follow me," Piccolo instructed. He led her through several corridors, climbing up two flights of stairs and entering one of the outer rooms of the palace. Goten and Trunks along with Krillin, Dende and Mr Popo were waiting. The two boys looked worried but well-rested, to Chiri's relief. The plan was they were meant to be going into the Room of Spirit and Time to work more on their fusion and strength, just in case things turned for the worst. Inside Chiri resented the lack of faith the more seasoned fighters seemed to have in her. She may not have had a great track record of battle victories but she was by no means a push over. Majin Buu would find this out soon.

"Is he still waiting?" Piccolo asked quietly.

"Yeah," Krillin answered, glancing over the balcony. Chiri spotted the pink form of Buu come into view as she drew closer. He had definitely grown and slimmed down. If anything he reminded her a little of a troll. A very pink and creepy-looking troll. He seemed to be squatting in front of a sand-timer…

"Buu is in every way more powerful than before," Piccolo warned as he turned to the three youths. "I'm sorry to drag you out of the room, Chiri. I didn't see any other option." His eyes scanned over to the two boys. "Mr Popo will show you two boys to the Room of Spirit and Time. For every minute out here, you'll get six hours inside of it. You have half an hour; that will give you around a week inside of the room. Train as hard as you can. We may still need you two boys to fight against Buu, we can't take any chances anymore."

"B-But what about Chiri?" Goten asked anxiously. "Are you sure you wanna let her fight against that Buu?"

"What are you trying to say?" Chiri folded her arms indignantly. "Of course I'm going to fight Buu. That was the entire point of me going into that room to train!"

"Chiri will fight against Buu if he doesn't last the hour," Piccolo interrupted, causing Chiri to whirl around distraught. "Our odds are better if we get you to work together. It would be foolish and downright suicidal of us to assume one of you would be a match for him. The way things are now, nothing short of a miracle could save us… Don't give me that look!" He snapped, growing irritated with the looks of offence he was receiving. "Your fathers and Gohan fought this monster and failed – he is now far stronger than he was when he killed Gohan and Vegeta!"

"It's gonna be fine, Piccolo," Trunks interjected. "With Goten and me fusing to make Gotenks, and with Chiri having trained, I'm sure we'll get to whoop his ass!"

"Yeah, we can do it," Goten nodded in agreement. "I'm sure we'll find a way – especially with Chiri helping us."

"Hey – it'll be you two helping me," Chiri cut in. "I get that things look grim right now but that's no reason to be such a downer, Piccolo."

Piccolo bared his teeth, "None of you seem to understand the situation we're in. Buu is far stronger now than we ever could have imagined."

Chiri smiled. "So am I."

"H-Hey!" Goten perked up, glancing over the balcony. "Mum – what are you doing?"

Chiri's heart leapt into her throat. Immediately she was by her brother's side, glancing down onto the outer area of the lookout. Their mother was walking away from the building, approaching Buu. Judging by her posture, she was in a bad mood. Chiri wasn't sure how to react to this, her feet seemingly rooted to the spot.

"What does she think she's doing, the fool!" Piccolo sneered.

Chichi stopped in front of Buu. Her hand rose.

Chiri didn't need to see it to know what was going to happen. She bolted from the floor as her mother slapped Buu around the head.

Whilst she admired her mother for having the guts to go up to a monster fully capable of killing her with a blink and smacking him in the head, she felt very uncomfortable watching the scene play out. Landing by her mother's side, she snatched hold of Chichi's hand and pulled the two of them high into the air as Buu's tentacle released a bolt of pink energy, barely missing her mother. Instead it struck the ground, turning the unfortunate tile it made contact with into an egg.

Anger seethed through her body as Chiri landed safely on the floor, carefully putting her mother back onto her own feet. "That was close!" Chichi had cried, suddenly finding herself in her father's hold. "Dad, let me go! I have to go back and tell him off for what he did to Gohan!"

Chiri ignored her mother's feeble protests, eyes pinned on the pink beast before them, who was eyeling her back. Perhaps he was annoyed he'd missed his target. Perhaps he was curious about her and was sizing her up as a fighter. Chiri didn't give a damn for the reason. She was furious. He'd just tried to kill her mother and whilst her mother had launched the first blow, she couldn't abide the idea that a creature with its strength would so callously launch an offensive against a helpless life form. And it was her mother, of all people. Her mother was strong, she didn't back down and was downright determined. Her mother was the rock of their family. What she said usually went – unless of course their dad was about. She could be a pain, she was strict and loud, her voice sometimes hurt Chiri's ears when she yelled. There were times when Chiri wished her mother would just lighten up and give them more freedom. But she would never in a million years allow anyone to hurt her.

Buu had to pay for his actions. They may have not been successful but she was not going to pretend nothing had happened.

She darted towards the monster. Buu rose to his feet and blocked off her incoming punch. Moving at a reasonable speed, Chiri launched off several more punches and kicks, Buu blocking every single one with not so much as a twitch. His face was static, glaring at the attacking hybrid as she dealt out blow after blow. A limb snatched her by the wrist and tossed her into the air, Chiri quickly gaining control of her flight. She charged back towards him, striking him square between the eyes with both her feet. The move sent him skidding several feet back across the tiles but still seemed to deal no damage.

So he really had gotten strong.

Chiri landed metres from him, putting up her guard in anticipation.

Buu's head tentacle twitched again; Chiri instinctively jumped up and away.

The pink light headed in the opposite direction.

It stuck her approaching mother; just her mother. When she'd broken free of her grandfather's grip was beyond her. But the beam hit.

Her life force weakened significantly as she turned into an egg. The egg rolled across the floor at quite some speed, heading towards Buu's waiting foot.

"Don't!" Chiri cried, bolting forward horrified.

Buu's tentacle turned and faced her. Another beam of light shot out from it, Chiri having to barrel roll out of harms way. She couldn't make it in time now; the cracking sound of the pressure Buu's foot applied became engraved in her memory as her mother was reduced to nothing, her life force wiped out in an instant.

She'd gone in to attack Buu again, there was no doubt about it. Chiri wouldn't know the stupid reason why her mother had deemed it necessary to approach Buu. What more warning had she wanted from him; he'd already tried to kill her! But then that didn't excuse the actions she'd witnessed. And it'd been her own damn fault for not being more protective. Even with the blatant attempt on her mother's life, Chiri had decided that saving some power for later was still the better option.

She could feel the anger and horror of all the eyes on them. She could see the distraught look in her baby brother's eyes, even from this distance. She realised the reason she couldn't sense anyone else down below was because this Buu had done what the other Buu seemed to be taking his time about; he'd killed everyone else on the planet apart from them. The shame swamped her. What would she say to her father and brother when she saw them? How could she face her brother knowing that he'd seen her fail to protect their mother?

"Enough!" Piccolo's barking voice was just about reaching her. "You will waste all of our efforts!"

Buu had killed her mother.

Blinded with rage and fury at herself, Chiri hollered like a wounded animal. Her energy burst from her body shimmering brightly, her ki rising higher and higher. Her heart ached, her body burned with the shame and anger. The anger was directed towards her opponent, the one who had caused all this pain and suffering, the one who was shredding her family to pieces and destroying everything she knew. Goten and Trunks would have to train like mad because she was ready to go all out – and if going all out didn't work then they'd have to do what she couldn't.

Chiri shot down from her position in the sky, her golden aura and electrical energy dancing around her as she closed in. This time her punch pushed Buu several metres back across the ground, shooting over the edge of the lookout. Chasing after him, she grabbed hold of his right ankle and tossed him back towards the lookout. Teleporting, she kicked him high into the air, Buu seemingly unable to stop himself. Chiri didn't care if he was mocking her right now, all she wanted to do was cause him pain. She powered up further, gathering energy into her palms and began to fire multiple energy shots in his direction. Quickly the skies above the lookout were smothered in dark, dense smoke. The energy released forced the atmosphere to move, creating powerful winds which buffeted those on the lookout. The light from the exploding ki blasts was blinding, whilst the shockwaves of the explosions was near-on deafening. Chiri continued to fire shot after shot, giving it everything she had until finally, she conceded against her lungs. Huffing and puffing, she descended back down onto the lookout, feet tapping hard against the floor.

Up above, the smoke was beginning to disperse. As it spread, small blobs became visible. Her eyes stayed on these blobs, it dawned on her that these where Buu. She'd blown him to pieces. As cathartic as it'd felt during the moment, she knew it wasn't enough to finish him off. So, gathering more and more energy in her hands, Chiri started firing off a second round of energy attacks, aiming for every blob she could spot.

The lookout shook with every hit; those behind her clinging to the building or floor. Out from the corner of her eye, she could see the boys and Piccolo had disappeared. Hopefully Piccolo had taken the two boys to the Room of Spirit and Time.

The undestroyed blobs were starting to shift towards one another. An idea struck Chiri and she ceased her second barrage, instead choosing to charge up a dense single energy blast. Cupping her hands to the side, she began to draw strength and charge up the familiar blue energy wave. "Ka… Me…"

The blobs were growing into a single larger ball of pink: Buu was regenerating.

"Ha… Me…" Chiri was anticipating this. "HAA!" Throwing her hands forward, she fired off her father's Kamehameha wave. The blue beam of energy shot straight for the gathering ball of pink and hit home. Amidst the blinding light, Chiri felt her attack hit Buu. She felt the resistance start to fade as the Kamehameha overwhelmed him, disintegrating his body and throwing the remains towards the vastness of space.

Her arms dropped to the sides, her lungs now more devoid of oxygen than before. Sweat was rolling down her forehead, stinging her eyes as the weight of what had happened hit her. 'That was for mum, you bastard.'

They'd have to use the Dragonballs to bring her back with everyone else. Chiri hoped that if Gohan was in the other world, he was taking care of their mother. She hoped that her father had felt her release of energy from the dead. She hoped that Buu was dead so they could get on with bringing everyone back.

"Don't let your guard down!" Piccolo's voice barked from behind, surprisingly close-by. Dende was by his side, hands out ready. Before Chiri could even protest, he was there healing her. Piccolo looked furious.

"What?" Chiri frowned, not really wanting to find out what had irritated him.

"Be grateful he didn't turn you into an egg and crush you!" Piccolo spat. "What did you think you were doing? We're supposed to be waiting for the last thirty minutes for Gotenks! You've doomed us all with your reckless actions! Now you'll have to survive the whole thirty minutes without Gotenks!"

Chiri was furious. "He killed my mother! What were you expecting to happen – of course I was going to go and fight him after that! You of all people wouldn't know, not having parents or a family!"

"How dare you!" Piccolo glared back. "We are going to be in serious trouble if you do not get control of your emotions! Your reckless actions have guaranteed that we will now lose the battle! You cannot do this on your own!"

"Guys, sorry to butt in…" Dende cut in quietly, having finished his job. "… but Buu has regenerated."