Blecker x Dragonball

Stone and Fire

Stone and Fire

Videl stood trembling. The mark on her forehead had burned itself out, leaving behind nothing but bruises, blood, and the crushing weight of everything she had done. Babidi's body was gone—erased with a single word: Hakai.

And with that word, so too went Videl's will to fight.

She collapsed to her knees, panting, trembling, the last shreds of her purple aura vanishing into the air. Gohan was beside her in an instant, catching her before she hit the ground.

"Videl! It's okay, it's over," he whispered, holding her tight.

Her voice was weak, cracked. "I... I just wanted to be strong..."

"You are," he said gently. "But now we heal."

Across the battlefield, the others began to stir. The shock of Babidi's death lingered in the air like static. And yet... the mark still glowed on Bulma's forehead.

She and Dabura stood back to back, facing Goku in a coordinated assault. Fists flew and shockwaves tore across the ground. Bulma had no right to move like this, to fight like this—but the power Babidi gave her still burned. And she wasn't about to let Goku ignore her.

"Stop holding back!" she shrieked, her eyes glowing with fury. "I'm not just some support character!"

Goku grunted, deflecting her wild attacks. "Bulma, Babidi's dead! You don't have to fight anymore!"

"I know!" she screamed.

And that was the scariest part.

Krillin, rushing through the chaos, tossed Senzu Beans left and right. "Come on, people! Up and at 'em! We've got a Buu to brawl!"

As the Z Fighters rallied, Buu tilted his head and floated forward with a childlike hum. He looked down at Babidi's scattered robes, then up at the warriors gathering.

He grinned.

"My turn to play?"

The ground quaked with his power.

Bulma snarled. "Oh no, he doesn't get all the attention."

She turned toward the petrified form of Cross, still standing mid-motion, encased in stone.

"You don't get to sit this one out," Bulma snapped. "Stop playing statue. I need Megazord Power, now!"

The stone started to crack. Flakes drifted off like old paint, but what emerged wasn't Cross's usual organic form. Instead, a mechanical dragon hissed with steam and gears, rising and growing until it loomed over the battlefield, a mix of tech and majesty.

Bulma leapt upward, her Majin energy launching her into the cockpit embedded in the dragon's crown.

From within the machine, a weak voice crackled over the speaker. "Bulma, stop—please. I can still feel the stone in my blood. I'm not ready—I can't fight yet—"

Bulma screamed. "You're a damn robot! Robots don't get to whine!"

With a savage twist, she yanked open a panel, sparks flying, and tore out the command interface, severing Cross's voice. She slammed the board to the ground, shattering it beneath her boot.

"Robots don't talk back to their master!"

Inside the husk, Cross watched in horror, her consciousness still scattered from the petrification, barely aware of her form. She felt every step, every blow, every jolt. She wanted to scream, to beg Bulma to stop, but her voice was gone.

And Buu... was watching.

He tilted his head again. This wasn't a game anymore. This was interesting.

His grin widened.

And the battle between Majin Ranger and her DragonZord and Majin Buu began.

The mecha-dragon lunged forward, a towering engine of fury piloted by a woman who never thought she'd feel real power. Bulma grinned, wild with energy, hurling plasma bolts and steel strikes toward Majin Buu, who danced around the attacks with giggles and flickers of pink mist.

"YES!" Bulma shrieked, adrenaline and magic singing in her bones. "Now THIS is what I'm capable of!"

Inside, the machine hissed with steam and pressure warnings. Somewhere in the deep fusion core, Cross's voice flickered, barely a whisper in her own mind.

Please stop.

But Bulma had silenced that voice. And eventually the dragon froze, the controls no longer responding to Bulma's commands.

"Stupid machine! I'm not done yet!" She tore open pannels hot wiring controls to her console but Cross was getting slower. The great mechanical dragon didn't fall. It didn't power down. It simply stopped.

Rigid.

Frozen.

Cross's consciousness didn't shut off—it was still active, still aware—but she could no longer move. Her organic nervous system, having been rerouted into machine control for the transformation, had lost its bridge. When her body reflexively tried to change back, there was nowhere to map her brain back to so it just stopped.

A massive, imobile mechanical dragon.

On the battlefield, the Z Fighters stopped. Even Buu paused, staring with a curious tilt.

Bulma was panting, sweat on her brow. "Why... why isn't she moving?"

Then she saw the look on Gohan's face.

Pure, unfiltered horror.

"You broke her," he whispered.

The other fighters looked toward Cross, still standing silently, eyes no longer glowing, but glossy and unfocused.

Goku arrived seconds later, sensing something had gone horribly wrong. "What—what happened to her?"

Krillin stumbled back. "She's not... she's not dead. I can sense something. But she's not there."

Videl, still recovering on the sidelines, looked up—eyes haunted. "That's what I felt... when Babidi was still inside me. That helplessness. Like your body isn't yours anymore."

Bulma jumped out, and took a step forward, dazed. "No... no, I was just trying to help..."

Buu started laughing again, loud and booming. "Ohhhhh this is great! You break your toy all by yourself! Can I play with it now?"

The fighters formed up in front of Cross's unmoving form.

"No," Goku said firmly, stepping in front. "You don't lay a finger on her."

And just like that... the mood shifted.

Majin Buu, who had been teasing and playing up until now, let his grin fade.

"Okay. You wanna protect her?" he said, stretching his arms. "Then let's fight for real."

Meanwhile, inside her own head, Cross stood in darkness. She could feel everything. Hear them. Feel the air. The pain. The sorrow. But she couldn't scream. She couldn't even blink.

She was still in there.

Waiting.