A Slithering Conspiracy!! Gohan's Power is Stolen

Gohan's abandoned sunglasses sit on the stage, vibrating just a bit. Brief sparks of lightning run through the gaps between tiles. A low rumbling sound fills the arena as Son Gohan spreads his feet and prepares to raise his ki. "As you wish, I will become a Super Saiya-jin. I'm not sure exactly why, though." Kibit doesn't respond. The sparks of electricity begin running more frequently, some jumping up into the air instead of simply running through the cracks in the stage. Kuririn turns to Kaioushin. "When Gohan becomes a Super Saiya-jin, then what is going to happen?" Kaioushin takes a step forward. "Quite probably, I believe Gohan-san will be assaulted by those two from earlier, Spopovitch and Yamu." Goku turns around. "Hm?" Kaioushin continues, "However, as I said a moment ago, please do not take any action against this." Kuririn, "Sure we won't take action! Gohan can easily defeat those two!" Kaioushin, "I'm not so sure." Goku, "Kaioushin-sama, you think Gohan will be beaten by them?" Piccolo struggles in the corner with his own unhappiness about the situation, but says nothing. Kaioushin, "It's alright. I do not think they will take his life from him. It's more likely those two are only after strong energy." Goku blinks. "Energy?" Kaioushin nods as Videl appears in the background and shoves her way forward. She jumps up and watches Gohan over the partition in the doorway.

"Shall I turn all the way into a Super Saiya-jin that has further overcome the Super Saiya-jin wall?" Kibit, "What!? Further overcome the Super Saiya-jin wall!?" Gohan nods. His sunglasses begin bouncing on the floor nearby and the entire stage trembles. Gohan holds his hands up to about chest height and clenches his fists. He throws his head back and screams, and a shockwave erupts out from around him. Within the shockwave, the ground lightning reappears much stronger than it was at the beginning. Gohan hunches over and clenches his teeth as he begins raising his ki. His eyes turn turquoise. Electricity runs around his body, particularly his arms. An invisible explosion lifts the slabs of stone that comprise the stage into the sky around Gohan and Kibit. There's a brief flash of gold around Gohan's head, and then his black hair fades into gold and sticks straight up and back, with, of course, more lightning. Kibit watches, not exactly "shocked," but not completely calm either. There's a faint golden glow around Gohan and lots of lightning as his ki rises. Yamu and Spopovitch watch in surprise as their target reveals himself. The platform lifts higher into the air as the powering up progresses, and the crowd watches in stunned confusion. Suddenly, Gohan throws his head back and screams. His pupils disappear briefly and that "faint golden glow" explodes into a strong gold aura around him. The tiles are, of course, thrown around like small stones, and as his aura expands, it seems some of the closer ones are going to get fried. A blinding flash of golden light fills the stadium, and then it quickly fades away again.

Son Gohan stands before Kibit, as well as the Tenkaichi Budokai audience, as a Super Saiya-jin 2. The tiles begin to fall back into place. Clouds of dust are thrown up around the stage, but in the end, the platform is left without any new damage from Gohan's power up. The hand on Spopovitch's meter begins spinning around quickly and the black tickmarks slowly turn red. Spopovitch watches in shock. "Hey, look at this!" Yamu turns to him and looks down at the meter. "Terrific energy! It's him!" VIdel stares out at him with wide eyes. "It can't be! He transformed! Gohan-kun has... It can't be! It can't be!" Sharpener's mouth hangs open. "W-who would have thought that Gohan was the Golden Warrior!?" Eliza slowly holds her hand up and, pointing at Gohan, asks "Th-that is the Golden Warrior, isn't it?" Tireman kid, "I-impossible! Him?" Chichi holds her fist up. "How 'bout that!? Just like I said! Right!?" She jumps up. "Somethin' even more incredible's gonna happen, so watch closely!" She spins around and points at the battle, and then entire crowd nods in unison as if in a trance.

Gohan smiles. "As you wished, I have become a Super Saiya-jin for you. Now what do we do? Can I fight this way?" Kibit stares, astonished. "W-what incredible power this is! I can hardly believe he is of the Lower Realm." Vegeta, "Hmph. That lowlife! When he finished off Cell, he had a lot more power on him than this! He's gotten soft during this peace, and has neglected his training!" Kaioushin, "Even so, he has wonderful power, greater than I imagined. As to whether or not I can contain that power..." Goku, "Contain it?" Kuririn looks from Kaioushin to Piccolo. "Piccolo?" Piccolo squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head. He makes some incoherent noises, and might be choking on the word "Gohan," but it's hard to tell (and there is no subtitle for it). Lightning running freely around him, Super Saiya-jin Gohan stands in the middle of the stage, watching Kibit. "What's the matter, come at me!" Kibit doesn't move, and he doesn't respond.

The audience is still in shock over this, even though they already saw it happen earlier today (Goten vs. Trunks). Old man, "H-hey, when Mr. Satan was fighting Cell, there were some guys like that there, huh?" Another guy nods. "A handful of them. You're right. They were alright. He looks the same." Yamu rubs the "M" on a big white thing that looks like an enormous, misshaped tea kettle with an oversized spout. "Alright! Let's take that energy from him! Be sure you hold him tight, Spopovitch!" Spopovitch, "Yeah!" They both leap forward. Kaioushin, "They're here!" Gohan turns and sees them both leaping at him. "What!? You!" He prepares to fight them, but Kaioushin throws up his hands and screams. His hands glow blue for just a second, then the glow disappears. Goku, "W-what are you doing!?" Suddenly, Gohan's aura disappears and his arms go straight to his sides. He gasps in surprise and struggles to move.

Spopovitch and Yamu finally reach him. Spopovitch warps his arms around Gohan's neck and Yamu jams a sharp thing at the end of the spout on their tea kettle into Gohan's side. Gohan screams. Yamu and Spopovitch grin as they hold Gohan and the M thing in place. Goku, "W-why!?" Kaioushin, "Please trust me." Videl watches in surprise, speechless. Kuririn, "Why you rotten...!" He gets ready to go, but Piccolo grabs him by the shirt. "Let me go, Piccolo!" Kaioushin, "I told you, take no action!" Spopovitch, "I'll kill anyone who does anything funny! Got that!?" Gohan's hair fades back to black and his eyes return to normal. Kibit bites his lip. "Please have patience..."

Chichi steps on people's heads. "O-outta my way! W-what are you doin' to my Gohan!? Goku-sa, what are you lookin' at!?" Finally, Videl gets too angry to sit and stare. "What are you doing to Gohan-kun!?" She leaps forward, but Goku catches her arms. "Let me go! Gohan-kun will be killed!" Goku looks down at her and states calmly, "Gohan ain't going to die that easily." Videl looks up at him sadly. "Why? Tell me why!?" Goku is silent. "Well?" Kaioushin, "Be silent and look on." She looks over at him. "Why?" Goku slowly lets go of her arms. She turns around and watches sadly, and Goku puts his hand on her shoulder.

Spopovitch and Yamu laugh, and suddenly there's a bright flash of light. It fades away, and then there's another. Another. The power drainer tea kettle thing is what's glowing. Birght white light fills the stadium. Mighty Mask stands on top of a nearby building, watching. "Big Brother's going to get killed!" Trunks, "Why don't our Papas go help him!?" Goten, "I have to save him!" Trunks falls back and cries out in surprise as Goten tries to get out of the costume to go help Gohan. They lean back and forth on their rooftop, struggling to keep balanced. Kaioushin watches grimly as the energy thing continues glowing on and off. Suddenly, some brigher and more frequent flashes go off and Goku turns from Kaioushin back to Gohan. There's a blinding flash of light and then, grinning, Yamu says, "Spopovitch! That's enough! We've absorbed a full portion of energy!" Spopovitch nods and still brigher light flashes on and off from the center of the stage. Finally, in one blinding flash, the entire island is bathed in white light. After a few seconds, it fades away. Gohan collapses on the stage. Spopovitch laughs. "That was easier than I thought!" The announcer watches, speechless and confused. Yamu and Spopovitch leap into the air and fly away, leaving a weakened, pale Gohan on the floor of the stadium.

Kaioushin throws his hand back. "Not yet! Do not do anything yet! It's okay. Kibit will soon restore Son Gohan-san back to normal." Goku, "What exactly is this all about?" Kaioushin looks over his shoulder at Goku and responds, "I will now follow after those two such that they do not notice me." Goku, "After them?" Kaioushin, "If it is alright with you, you may all please come with me. You will be of great help." He turns and flies away. Sharpener and Eliza watch in shock. "Just what is going on?" Eliza, "What's happening down there?" Chichi, still standing on heads, watches in fear and surprise. "G-G-Gohan-chan..." Kuririn, "W-what should we do, Goku?" Goku clenches his fist. "I'm going with him! Kaioushin-sama said that Gohan will live, after all. Plus, I just gotta know what's happening here!"

--COMMERCIAL--

Videl runs out to Gohan, who is completely still except for some twitching eyebrows. She kneels beside him and shakes him. "Gohan-kun! Are you okay? Shake it off!" She turns around. "Hurry and get a stretcher ready!" Eliza, "S-say, isn't that Videl? It is, right?" Tireman, "It couldn't be!" He looks through his binoculars. Eliza, "I wonder if I'm just having a bad dream..." Sharpener reaches over and pinches her cheek. "Ow!"

Kuririn stares at the ground, then turns to Goku. "You're going, Goku? W-well, maybe I'll go too. I'm a little uneasy about it, though." Goku, "Kuririn, what are you gonna do?" Kuririn, "Hm." After a moment, he says, "Go on ahead first, I'll come as soon as I let my wife know." He turns and runs back into the building as Goku says, "Yeah." Vegeta uncrosses his arms and angrily steps forward. "Don't jerk me around, Kakkarotto! What happened to our battle!? It comes the match after next!" Goku, "Vegeta, this ain't the time for that, is it?" Vegeta grabs Goku by the shirt. "Don't you cheat me! I don't know from this Kaioushin, or whatever. His business doesn't matter! All I want is to settle everything with you, one-on-one! That's the only reason I came to this ridiculous tournament!" Goku waves him off. "Okay, okay. I know how you must feel. We'll fight later for sure, even if it ain't at the Tenkaichi Budokai. Okay? Is that fine with you, Vegeta?" He pushes Goku. "Damn it all! You can only be in this world for one day, right?" Goku scratches his head. "So then you'll come with me. We'll do it over there!" Vegeta looks away angrily. Piccolo, "Now that that's settled, let's go." Goku, "Piccolo!" Piccolo flies away, and Goku drops down on the stage for a second. He looks up at Kibit. "You can assure me that it's okay if I leave Gohan in your hands?" When he first starts speaking, Videl looks up. Kibit responds, "It's alright. Once I revive Son Gohan, I will go as well." Goku turns from him to Gohan. "I believe Son Gohan will be going too." Goku smiles and flies away. Meanwhile, back in front of the building, Vegeta angrily clenches his fists. "Damn it!" He follows Goku. "You are really getting on my nerves."

Two men run out with a stretcher as Kuririn talks to Number 18. "Sorry, but that's the way it is." Number 18, "I'm not going. There's no money in it, right?" Kuririn, "Yeah. Well, make sure you don't kill anyone in your matches!" She nods. "See ya!" He starts to fly away, and she calls after him, "If things get nasty, you get out of there!" Waving and smiling, he replies, "Right!" and departs.

Kibit puts his hands on Gohan's back. Gohan weakly asks Videl, "W-where is everyone going?" Videl looks up at Kibit, who replies, "You'll find out when you go too." The stretcher finally arrives. "Okay, please move aside. We need to carry him off!" Kibit, "Just be quiet and watch." Attendant, "B-but this man has collapsed!" Kibit growls at him. He fearfully shies away. "W-we'll leave it to you!" Kibit turns his attention back to Gohan and they both begin glowing. Suddenly, Gohan's eyes open wide. "His full power has not returned even yet! His power knows no end! You know, I cannot believe there are those among mankind under the power of such great, such pure energy! It's no wonder they were after it."

Trunks, "What!? What's going on!? Goten, did your brother just lose?" Goten had been out of Mighty Mask, but Trunks now lowers the costume back over him. Goten, "I hope big brother's okay!" Trunks, "Where did our Papas fly off to?" As soon as Trunks lands, Mighty Mask loses his balance again. And back down on the stage, Kibit finally finishes healing Gohan. "That's enough, Son Gohan." Gohan climbs up, shocking the attendants who brought the stretcher. Videl, "Gohan-kun! You're okay, aren't you?" He clenches and unclenches his fists, looking back and forth from one to the other. "It's like I have more power than before!" Kibit starts to walk away as Gohan asks, "W-who are you?" Kibit stops and looks back over his shoulder. "Come with me. I will tell you everything." He flies away.

Satan walks out toward the stage. He yells to an attendant, "Hey, have you seen Videl?" The attendant looks back at him. "Ah, the young lady is over there." He points at Videl. Satan, "She's with that kid again!" He watches as they talk, but they're too far away for him to hear anything (thus, we only see their mouths moving). He clenches his fist. "Damn it! I don't care if he did heal Videl's injuries with that mysterious bean, I absolutely forbid them to associate!" Videl moves a little closer to Gohan, then Gohan looks down at her as their conversation continues. Satan runs forward to separate them, but trips over a rock and bounces into the stage, landing upside down. He slides down the side and lands on his head; a huge bump forms.

"Say, can I come along with you?" Gohan, "Huh?" Videl, "There are lots of things... I want to know. Please?" Gohan, "No, you'd better not. There's going to be some danger for sure. I know that much, more or less." He turns from her and watches the sky in the direction Kibit went. Videl jumps out in front of him. "I won't get in the way, I just want to come along. I'm coming, even if you say no." Satan, "Videl!?" She ignores him. Gohan, "Can you promise me that when things get dangerous, you'll be sure to run away?" She nods. Gohan smiles. "Okay. Let's go." Videl, "Thanks." They both turn and fly off, leaving Satan behind. The whole crowd watches in amazement even though Videl has already flown and so have nine or ten other people. Satan, "She's f-f-f-flying... V-Videl's flying through the air!" Attendant, "Starting a few moments ago, everyone has been flying." Satan jumps up. "V-Videl, I..." He clenches a fist. "...should have grounded you." The attendant screams. "Wow! That joke sure is an old one!" Satan, "Huh?" Chichi stares at the sky with her hands folded. "I got a bad feelin' about this." The announcer slowly falls to the ground. "W-what about the Tenkaichi Budokai!?"

Two bright lights on the horizon eventually reach the 'camera' and turn into Yamu and Spopovitch, racing over the ocean. Yamu grins. "With this, the Majin-sama can return to life! Babidi-sama will be so pleased!" Spopovitch nods and they continue on, disappearing once more into two bright lights on the horizon. In hot pursuit is the grim-faced Kaioushin. He flies low over the ocean, throwing up a trail of water and also eventually becoming a dot of light on the horizon. Further behind him, a palm tree is bent in the strong winds created by several more passerby, led by Piccolo. Each is silent as they try to catch up with Kaioushin.

Satan's face fills a city's TV screens on the sides of buildings, blimps, and in store windows. A woman turns to a kid. "What do you suppose happened to the Tenkaichi Budokai?" The kid shrugs, and a man replies, "The broadcast relay has stopped, and there's nothing but Mr. Satan's face now!" There's suddenly a strong wind and one woman loses her hat. Two figures pass by overhead. Son Gohan and Videl head straight toward the waiting Kibit. Kibit smiles, and Gohan smiles back. As Videl and Gohan approach, he turns and begins flying again, and they follow.

"Hey!" Kaioushin smiles and looks back to see Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Kuririn a few yards behind him. "So, you have come after all. This will be most helpful. If I cannot borrow your powers, we will not likely win..." As he speaks, Goku and Piccolo come up on either side of him. Goku, "Not win? You mean against those two?" Kuririn flies beside Goku opposite Kaioushin. Kaioushin, "No. Those two are merely being used by an extremely clever 'Madoshi,' or warlock." Piccolo, "A Madoshi?" Kaioushin, "Yes. Long ago, around the time when mankind on Earth was just starting to walk on two legs, deep in space, there was an evil Madoshi named Bibidi. One day, this Bibidi accidentally conjured up an extraordinary monster. This incredibly fearsome Majin was named Buu." Goku, "Buu? He sounds like a fart..." Kaioushin, "Majin Buu had no reason or feeling and did nothing but perform destruction and savagery over and over. He was a monster born only to raise terror in living things." Piccolo is obviously troubled when he hears this, but Vegeta simply smirks. "In only a few years, he had turned many hundreds of planets into worlds of death." As Kaioushin speaks, we see a view from outer space of shockwaves expanding out from planets, which then explode. The ones farthest from the 'camera' explode first, but eventually, all of them are destroyed. Glowing debris floats in space where the planets were just moments before, and then it begins to grow dark.

Vegeta, "Something along those lines sounds like us Saiya-jin..." Kaioushin looks back at him. "No, Vegeta-san." Vegeta suddenly sports a surprised expression and he gasps. "At the time, there were five Kaioushin. Each of us were such that we could have defeated the likes of Freezer in one blow." Vegeta glares angrily, but remains silent. "Among the Kaioushin, four of us were killed by Majin Buu." Goku, "Incredible!" Vegeta, "That punk! He can read minds too, can he?" Kaioushin, "Majin Buu's ferocity was more than even his creator Bibidi could handle. In any case, time came when he needed to rest..." Kaioushin turns into an orange silhouette. "...so he temporarily sealed Majin Buu inside a ball so he could not move." In the silhouette of Kaioushin's head, we see a picture of Buu's ball.

Kibit continues, "Bibidi brought the sealed Majin Buu to this Earth. The Earth was supposed to have been his next target." Buu's ball falls to Earth. Gohan and Videl stare at him in disbelief. Gohan, "T-that's unbelievable!" Kibit, "It was our chance. Kaioushin-sama was able to kill Bibidi before he could break the seal." Gohan nods. "However, Majin Buu's sealed ball was left as it was." Gohan, "But why? You could have destroyed it way back then!" Kibit, "It was thought best not to stimulate it any more than necessary." He turns to Gohan. "Besides, Madoshi Bibidi was supposed to have been the only one who could break the seal." Gohan, "Supposed to have been?" Kibit looks ahead again. "Quite recently, we discovered something terrible."

"Madoshi Bibidi had a child!" Goku, "Eh?" Kaioushin, "He was another Madoshi, who had the same heart of evil as his father. The child's name was Babidi." Goku, "Madoshi Babidi?" Kaioushin, "It seems that Babidi is nearly ready to break Majin Buu's seal."

The M on Yamu's power stealer glints in the sunlight as he and Spopovitch continue toward Babidi and Majin Buu with the Z Senshi following not far behind.