An hour and thirty minutes had passed since the fusion...
Gogeta floated in the restored otherworld, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. The calm, collected demeanor he'd maintained during the battle was gone, replaced by visible panic.
"Come on... come on!" he growled. Nothing happened. He tried again, this time attempting to force his power level down to its absolute minimum. Still nothing.
The fusion remained solid, unshakeable.
"This can't be happening," Gogeta muttered, pacing back and forth on the floating platform.
He could feel both sets of memories within him....Goku's carefree nature screaming to get back to Chi-Chi and the boys, Vegeta's pride demanding he's separated from Goku. But those weren't separate voices anymore.
They were his thoughts, his feelings, his desperate need to return home too.
Except he couldn't. Because home didn't know "Gogeta" existed.
He tried the fusion dance again, this time attempting it in perfect reverse. His movements were precise, calculated...surely if the dance could create fusion, reversing it could undo it?
Nothing.
"Damn it!" Gogeta shouted, golden aura flaring around him in frustration. "DAMN IT!"
The otherworld trembled slightly from his power spike before he forced himself to calm down. Destroying the afterlife wouldn't solve anything.
"Having trouble, are we?"
Gogeta spun around to find King Yemma materializing behind him, the massive deity's face bearing an expression of deep concern. His ornate robes rippled in otherworldly winds as he floated closer, his ancient eyes studying the fused warrior with unnerving intensity.
"King Yemma," Gogeta said, hope flooding through him. "Thank the Kais you're here. Something's wrong with the fusion. It won't....I can't defuse. The time limit passed over an hour ago and nothing's happening."
King Yemma's expression grew even more grave. "I sensed a disturbance in the timeline. A paradox forming where there should be two souls, but now there is only one." He raised one massive hand, and otherworldly energy began swirling around Gogeta, examining him like a spiritual X-ray.
Gogeta stood still, letting the deity work.
He could feel the energy probing deep into his being, searching for the seam between Goku and Vegeta, looking for the boundary that should exist.
After several long, agonizing minutes, King Yemma lowered his hand. His face said everything before his words did.
"It seems,the fusion is permanent," King Yemma declared, his voice heavy with finality. "Your souls....Goku's and Vegeta's...they haven't just temporarily merged. They've completely unified into one entity. There is no separation anymore. There is only... you."
Gogeta felt his breath catch in his throat. "That's... that's impossible. The fusion dance only lasts thirty minutes. It's always been thirty minutes. Every single time gotenks uses it!"
"Under normal circumstances, yes," King Yemma acknowledged. "But the otherworld's spiritual environment is unlike anything in the living realm. When you performed the fusion here, in a place where souls are processed and transformed, and then released that massive amount of power against Janemba..." He shook his head slowly. "The otherworld's energy didn't just facilitate your fusion...it reinforced it. Made it absolute. The power output you generated while fighting in this realm essentially... welded your souls together."
"No..." Gogeta whispered, looking down at his hands. They were trembling again. "So Goku and Vegeta... they're..."
"Gone," King Yemma confirmed quietly. "Or rather, they continue to exist within you. Their memories, their techniques, their personalities...all of it lives on in the being you've become. But as separate individuals? They no longer exist."
Gogeta's mind reeled. He had their memories...all of them. Goku's wedding to Chi-Chi, watching Gohan grow up, training Goten.
Vegeta's first meeting with Bulma, his pride when Trunks was born, every battle for redemption. All of it was as real to him as if he'd lived it himself.
Because he had. He was them. But he wasn't.
"I'm still dead," Gogeta said suddenly, another horrifying realization hitting him. "Which means I'm stuck here. I can't go back to Earth, can't see the families, can't—" His voice cracked slightly. "Nobody on Earth even knows what happened. They think Goku and Vegeta are just... normally dead. Waiting to be wished back someday."
King Yemma nodded grimly. "That is correct. You exist in a unique paradox. You're technically still deceased, but you're neither Goku nor Vegeta anymore. The families don't know to wish for 'Gogeta' because they don't even know you exist as a permanent entity."
"Then I'm trapped here," Gogeta said flatly. "Forever??."
"Not necessarily," King Yemma said slowly. "If they gather the Dragon Balls and wish for Goku and Vegeta's return..."
"Shenron will only find me," Gogeta finished, understanding immediately. "Because I'm all that's left of them. But will he be able to revive me? Will the wish even work?"
"That depends on the dragon's interpretation and power," King Yemma admitted. "Shenron has never encountered a situation like this before. When he searches for Goku and Vegeta's souls, he'll find yours....containing both of their signatures but merged into one. Whether he can fulfill such a wish..." The deity shrugged his massive shoulders. "That remains to be seen."
Gogeta turned away, his hands clenching into fists again.
Memories....no, his memories...flooded through him. Chi-Chi's smile on their wedding day. Bulma's fierce determination.
Gohan's tears when he thought his father was dead. Trunks trying so hard to make his father proud. Goten's innocent laughter.
All of it belonged to him now. All that love, all those bonds, all those promises to return.
"They'll wish for us eventually," Gogeta said quietly. "When something bad enough happens, when they need Goku and Vegeta's strength... they'll gather the Dragon Balls and make a wish."
"And when they do, they'll get you instead," King Yemma said. "One warrior instead of two. How do you think they'll react?"