A/N: Okay, it took me a really long time to have this chapter completed. It's rather complex, to tell the truth. But I'm glad it's over and done with all the same. Thank goodness for inspiration!

And to all Muslim members, happy Ramadhan Al-Mubarak, and may Allah bless your entire Ramadhan!

Chapter Two: To Thine Own Self be True

The palace of Tytania was never short of being known as a grand one. From afar, one can see the white walls of the palace glowing in the sun's light. Indeed, the palace is completely white, with its ivory marble floors and white limestone walls, white pebbles littering, rather orderly, around the path connecting the gates to the main entrance, and white flowers lining the gardens. It was known as the White Palace, and was one of the most beautiful infrastructures known in the land.

Inside, there were approximately 230 rooms, of which most of them were located in the servants' quarters. In the upper section of the palace, there were only 30 rooms, of which half of these were used by the palace officials, the King and his princes, and special rooms reserved for special occasions. At the centre, the throne room was located, and if you were to walk up the stairs located at each side of the throne, you would eventually reach the dining hall. This hall was rarely used unless there were any special feasts being held in the palace. The King and his sons usually ate their meals in a smaller, family-sized room located just three rooms next to the King's.

The dining room was small as compared to the dining hall, but enough to fit in many people at once, perhaps may accommodate up to 20 people. In the middle of the room, there was a fairly large, rounded teak table, and a few chairs. A fireplace was located north of the room, with a few bookshelves and armchairs, covered by a warm rug littered with cushions. This was where the family can relax and enjoy time together for a while after dinner.

And this was where Vegeta, Broly and Turles hung out after dinner. Vegeta's brothers had retired earlier to bed and King Vegeta had gone together with Lord Paragus to discuss about the latter's latest invention.

"So I told him, 'No way, YOU can have the furball instead, I don't want any fuzzballs in my house!'"

Peals of laughter were heard as the boys chatted on while sipping hot chocolate from their mugs.

"You never were a big fan of animals, Broly." Vegeta remarked with a smile.

"Yeah, true, I never liked them nasty vermin." Broly replied, taking another gulp of his chocolate. "Better off without them, unless they wanna be crushed by all those machines in my house."

Turles laughed. "How will you know how nasty they are if you never kept one yourself?"

"Hey, I just do, okay? No pet can survive in there unless it's a great big dinosaur. Speakin' of which, how's the mutt?"

Turles cocked an eyebrow as he laid himself on a green satin cushion. "What mutt?"

"MY mutt." Vegeta retorted dryly. "And his name is Zanzo. Honestly Broly, it's only been three YEARS."

"Three years is enough for me to forget its name, dumbass."

"Hmph. If it wasn't for you who helped him out, I'd have thrown a rock at you right now. And for your information, yes, he's okay, and he's sleeping in my father's room."

"He seems to like the old man better than you, huh?" Broly ducked as a red pillow sailed through the air. "What the hell was that for?" he said in mock annoyance.

"Because you, sir, touch yourself at night!" Vegeta retorted, jokingly.

"Don't change the subject, just answer the damn question!"

All three of them laughed.

"Hey," said Turles, "how are you guys going to prepare for the Trials?"

Vegeta hugged a large blue pillow. "Training, of course. How else can we prepare for it?"

"I know, but HOW exactly?"

"Hmm." Vegeta mused, leaning back on an armchair, which was his father's favorite chair. The fireplace crackled whilst warming the room. "I'm thinking of focusing on my physical attacks and this wonderful new magic I learned."

At this, the other two perked up. "You never told me you learned magic, you sly dog!" Broly remarked.

"What kind of magic is it?" Turles asked, eager to know.

Vegeta smiled. "Watch." he said. He brought his hand in front of the fire in the fireplace, and concentrated, staying silent for a few moments. Within a few seconds, a circle of glowing incantations circled his body, channelled through his arm and centered itself around his hand. Then, the fire, which was previously only small flames and ember, grew bigger in a flash, brightening the room with its red glow.

Broly and Turles were clearly impressed.

"A-MAZING!" Broly exclaimed. "Inferno magic! That's uber cool!"

"Yeah!" Turles piped up, agreeing. "Not many people can master that easily, you know!"

Vegeta chuckled. "If you actually think that's already a mastery, I'd hate to think how you'll make a really bad mage!" he remarked. "I'm still new to this, though I have to admit generating fire with alchemy is much easier than with magic."

"Nothing beats alchemy, Veg, you know it." Broly replied.

"I guess so." Vegeta responded, looking at the burning fire. They remained silent for a few moments until Vegeta spoke again. "Are you guys excited?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course we are. Why'd you ask?"

Vegeta leaned back on the edge of the chair again. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just nervous."

After spending a few more hours in the room, they soon retired to Vegeta's bedroom. One would be surprised at how they can fit into the Prince's room. They slept on the bed where Vegeta was supposed to sleep on while Vegeta assumed his favorite spot - the single window sill-bed he would always sleep on. Within minutes, they were already asleep while he remained awake. He looked out the window, peeking out from the curtains.

The city was absolutely quiet. Not a soul stirred, not a light on save for the street lamps. Vegeta kept on peering at the silent city when he saw it.

A figure dressed in black hobbled along the empty streets, as though leaving hastily from somewhere. Who would want to travel so late at night? Vegeta kept on watching as the figure kept limping and hobbling about further and further away from his view, but then it stopped.

To Vegeta's surprise, the hobbling figure suddenly made a high leap onto a roof. It wasn't a slow movement either - it was almost the speed of light. This figure continued to flit from roof to roof until it disappeared into the night.

Surprised as he was, Vegeta took no further notice of it. Must've been a ninja, he thought. He then settled down comfortably as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Somewhere out in the night, a maisonette situated in the corner of the city's shopping district was still well-lit. It appeared that the residents in the house were still not asleep yet. However, it would have posed many questions - the maisonette had been abandoned for a long time.

Inside, there was a young man. This was the man Turles had described earlier, the boy who vanished all of a sudden. His hazel eyes reflected the bright fire lit up in the old fireplace, shielded only by his spiky bangs. Tytanian nights were always known to be bitingly cold at times. Hugging himself for warmth, he kept on peering at the fire, reminiscing the days since he left Master Roshi and went on training on his own.

He looked up at the ancient grandfather clock, which, surprisingly, was the only thing that actually worked in this house. It was already 2.33 am. He looked again at the fire, as though he was pondering something very deeply. He knew he couldn't sleep, not when he felt a small, but highly prominent, negative aura in the city. And though he was only there for almost a day, he could feel it growing stronger. It was slight, but definitely stronger.

"Something bad's going to happen." he said to himself, his bright eyes looking around the house, as though he was talking to the spirits still lurking inside the small house. He was still sitting in front of the fire, watching as the flames danced while they consumed the rotted logs, turning them into cinders. At last, he closed his eyes and slept.

"You want to start training today?" King Vegeta asked with puzzlement over breakfast. They had their breakfast in the same room, where Broly was busy wolfing down his egg sandwiches while Vegeta was still finishing his half-boiled egg. Turles simply had a waffle.

"Well…yes." said Vegeta, playing around with the yolk. "Anything wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. It's good that you boys decided to take it up earlier."

Vegeta smiled as he took another spoonful of egg. "Can we practice in the old abbey? At least there are a lot of strong monsters in there."

At this, Broly spluttered. "WHAT?"

This surprised Turles and King Vegeta as well.

"I forbid you." said King Vegeta.

"Why?"

"It's too dangerous. Nobody has ever been able to survive in there. Those who do end up mad or possessed. I CANNOT allow you to go there."

King Vegeta expected his son to object to this, but to his (and the others' surprise), he just stayed quiet and said "Oh well, that's okay. I was only suggesting."

For once, King Vegeta felt that he had the upper hand. "Good." he said as he rose up to leave. "You may train anywhere you like, BUT the old abbey. I have a lot of work to do. Have fun." he said, and left the room.

As the doors closed, both Broly and Turles looked at Vegeta. "It'll be a sad day if I actually said YES when my father said NO."

"Vegeta? You can't be serious?" Broly squeaked.

"I am serious."

"But that place is full of violent ghosts."

"You're not scared, are you?"

"No, but I'm trying to say it from a logical point of view. Geta, NOBODY survived that place."

"I don't know what place you guys are referring to, but from the sound of it, he has a point." Turles commented.

"Chickens." Vegeta retorted. "Fine, I'LL go there myself." He got up to leave, but no sooner than he was a few steps away when he heard Broly say "Wait!" He turned around.

"Fine. You win. We're comin' with ya." he said with a disapproving frown. "Where should we meet?"

Vegeta smiled, as though saying 'I knew you'll agree to me eventually!' and looked around. "Where's the abbey again?"

Broly stopped to think about it for a while, while looking out the window. It was still quite early in the morning, and the sun hadn't fully risen yet. "You remember the old maisonette located at the corner of the shopping district?"

"Yeah."

"One of the rooms hid an old staircase where it leads to a tunnel. That tunnels connects the maisonette with the entrance to the old abbey. I don't know what connection could it have to the abbey, though."

"Adds more to the mystery, I see. Okay, let's go." said Vegeta.

They walked on the streets, aware that the place was still relatively quiet. It was a good thing Vegeta decided to wake up early for once, or else someone was bound to notice something amiss. They soon reached the maisonette, and entered it.

The place was empty for years. Cobwebs and dust coated the furniture, the furniture was old and worm-eaten, and even the fireplace seemed like it could collapse. Some of the stair steps were missing, while the ones that were still intact seemed as though it would give way at any time.

Vegeta and Broly looked around, awed at just how old the place is when Turles spoke.

"Someone's been in the house."

"Huh?" Vegeta blurted out.

"Look at the fireplace. The ashes here - it's only been here for a couple of hours."

"Who'd be here anyway?" Broly asked. "I don't think it's a charming place for people to live in for even a day."

"You never know. Tramps, gypsies; anyone who'd only stay here for a day or two and then leave. So, where's this room?"

Broly looked up. "It should be somewhere up there, I think."

"That's not possible." said Turles. "If it leads to a tunnel, it should go DOWN."

"You never know!"

While Broly and Turles were bickering about where the exact place should be, Vegeta looked around the room. Everything seemed to hold secrets - secrets that were otherwise unknown to them. He looked at the old ornaments on the mantelpiece tucked next to the staircase when he noticed something. There was a small door.

"Guys." he called out. "Come over here."

They stopped arguing and went over to Vegeta's side. "A stairway cupboard." Turles remarked.

"Can you open it?" asked Broly.

Vegeta tugged at the doorknob and turned it. Surprisingly, the door opened easily despite being old. They peered inside, expecting a small, enclosed space of junk.

To their surprise, there was only a vast darkness.

"Looks like we found our hidden staircase." Vegeta remarked. "Come on." He took the first step, and continued downward, his cousins following closely behind. Turles closed the door behind them.

"It's dark." Turles remarked.

"I'll fix that." said Broly, and clapped his hands together. Sparks flew around them, and he was able to produce fire in his hand. The staircase instantly lit up.

"Still looks like a long way down." Vegeta remarked. "No turning back, I guess."

"This better be good." Broly grumbled, and they went downwards.

The man returned from his breakfast, and noticed some other auras mingling together with the dark energy. However, they weren't as intimidating - he could recognize one of them.

"They're here?" he mused to himself. He noticed the stairway cupboard as well, where remnants of the energy lingered around. Opening it, he discovered the hidden stairway - and the negative energy hit him in full blast. Knowing that it could be where the energy was coming from, he hastily went down the stairway himself, ignoring the darkness.

Vegeta couldn't explain the change going on, but the deeper he descended down the stairs, the more agitated and angry he became. He had to repeatedly clench his fists to avoid punching any of his cousins for no apparent reason at all.

What was going on?

He tried to think of the possible reasons why this change was happening. But he couldn't, and it only made him more frustrated. He did, however, notice that there was a dark, menacing aura lingering about the place - and it got stronger as they descended the stairs towards God knows where.

So preoccupied he was of this matter that he didn't realize Broly had reached the last of the stairs, causing him to collide into the other Saiyan in front of him.

"Oh - ow! Watch where you going, idiot!" Vegeta hissed as he bumped into Broly.

"No, YOU watch where you going. We're already at base." Broly hissed back, and raised the flame high in the air. From what little light they could make out from the dim fire coming from Broly's palm, they could see it - the dark, vast tunnel that connects the maisonette to the old abbey.

"Um..." Turles hesitated, "...it's not too late to turn back now."

"Maybe we should. Geta, I don't think this is a good idea. Let's turn back. This place keeps giving me the creeps."

Vegeta turned to them with a malicious stare. "But you two already AGREED to it. Once a Royal agrees, there's no turning back. Now stop acting like a bunch of yellow-bellied cowards and keep going." He took a few steps ahead, and stopped. Turning back, he placed his hands on his hips and looked at them. "Well?"

Turles only shook his head. "I can't believe you. I thought it's obvious how much negative energy is in here. And it's really strong."

"Yes, Turles, I know."

"THEN? You're still gonna go even though it's possible you won't even come out of the abbey alive?" Broly exclaimed. "No Veg, we're turning back, even if you DON'T want to." he growled, grabbing Vegeta's hand and tried to pull him away from the tunnel. But the prince wrenched free from his hand.

"I'm getting sick and tired of all this 'Vegeta-don't-do-it" talk! Fine, if you don't want to come along, I'LL go myself!"

"Are you CRAZY?" Broly shouted, but calmed down. "Veg, stop all this nonsense. Let's get the fuck out of here before your old man notices we're gone for too long."

"He's right." Turles chipped in. "Forget the abbey. Let's just GO."

Vegeta stayed quiet.

"Well?" Broly asked. He sighed. Sometimes he wasn't sure who was the more stubborn person - him or Vegeta. He reached form his cousin's hand again, but was shocked when Vegeta slapped it away.

Shooting an angry glare at them, he answered to them in a cold voice: "Fine. You don't want to come along with me. You could have just said it before we even stepped foot here. If you're going to chicken out and retreat now, be my guest. I'LL GO MYSELF!" With those words, he hastily turned round and ran into the tunnel.

"Vegeta, no! Come back!" Broly shouted. But he was stopped by Turles.

"It's no use. Even if you did catch him and drag him back he's still going to come back in here anyway. I don't understand. He was so cheerful this morning. Why would he suddenly be so...angry?" said Turles.

"Well, what the hell do you propose we do? Follow him?"

"No. Following will not give us any benefit. From the way he's acting now, I say he'd attack us at the next possible moment. We'll have to go back and tell his dad about it."

"And get into big-ass trouble, oh yeah, why don't you." Broly retorted sarcastically. "He'll kill us if we come back telling him we went to the abbey without even BRINGING his son back home! I say we - "

"What are you doing here?"

The voice behind them was so unexpected that it made them jump. Turning back abruptly, they saw the man - the man that looked like Turles, but much fairer. His eyes were a bit larger than Turles', and was of a bright hazel hue. He peered at them questioningly.

"You're not supposed to be here." the man remarked.

"Yeah, well so do you, mister smart-ass." Broly retorted in return.

"Broly! I'm sorry, but we don't have the time to...our friend just went into the tunnel."

"But that's dangerous. Too much negative energy clumping and growing there." the man remarked casually as he walked in front of them and raised his lantern. "We have to get him back."

"Yeah, but you don't know Vegeta, see. Once he sets his mind on something, he ain't never gonna put it down until it's done." Broly explained, rather dryly. "Unless you propose we catch him and knock him cold and tell his dad that a goddamn coconut just fell on his head."

"No, we can't do that." Turles snapped. "Let's just go back and tell his father about it, maybe he knows what to do."

"Turles, he'll fucking KILL US if he knows we actually THOUGHT of going into the abbey! What's more, if he knows Vegeta just suddenly decided to bite our heads off and ran to the abbey - "

"Look, I know you're worried about your friend, but if you're going to keep fighting, it's not going to help anyway." the man remarked, making the two shut up instantly. "I'll go and get him back - it's a good opportunity for me to find out what exactly is contained in that abbey to emanate such a strong negative force."

"Then I'm comin' with ya." Broly grunted. "Better than get me and Veg-head in trouble." Turles was still indecisive.

The man nodded. "Alright, let's go. If your friend wants to go back, it's fine." Broly turned to Turles, cocking an eyebrow. Turles only stared back at them, rather blankly. "You don't want him to die, right?"

"No, of course not! I just thought - "

"Fine, I know, you work on logic, and everything you think is the best solution to everything." Broly said, sighing. "Yeah, okay, go back and tell the King about it. We might need some backup." Nodding at the man, he walked forwards. "Let's go, ah..."

"Goku." the man answered with a smile. "Son Goku."

"Yeah, whatever, Goku. Let's go." They both left and walked towards the tunnel. They were about to disappear into the darkness when they heard footsteps catching up to them. They turned to see Turles joining them, rather hastily.

"I thought you said you - "

"Why let only the two of you get into trouble when you need all the support you can get." Turles answered. "Come on, let's get that fool Vegeta back. Oh, nice knowing you, Goku. Sorry we had to meet like this."

Goku smiled as they marched on, their path lit up by Goku's lantern and Broly's flame. "It's fine. It's a nice change from the conventional introductions."

It wasn't hard for Vegeta to navigate through the darkness - he was well-adapted to it. However, he felt that it became a little too cumbersome, and activated his fire magic, forming a medium-sized torch in his right hand. He raised it high.

It was still a long way to go.

He looked back. Broly and Turles were probably either catching up to him or had already abandoned him. He couldn't tell for sure. He decided to walk on.

He could see a small glow of light as he kept walking, which became bigger and bigger as he came nearer to it. The tunnel had ended, and he stepped outside into a forested paradise.

The clearing around him was beautiful. He knew, from that instant, he was somewhere in the edge of the Garden of Arjuna. The trees sheltered the clearing well that the sun's rays only shone in small rays, peeking through the leaves. Flowers grew in abundance around the place, and the ruins where the abbey used to stand were covered in ivy.

It didn't seem like a deadly place at all.

Vegeta went towards the ruins and examined it. He noticed there was a platform, but had no idea how to open it. He searched around the rocks, the pillars. Nothing. He sighed and leaned against the wall when he noticed a plaque. He peered at it closely.

"O child of God! Thou who wisheth to enter the gates of this abbey,

Give us a brief sacrifice; an item of great value to thine life,

Only when the value is deemeth worthy in the eyes of God

The doors to the path of Heaven shalt open wide to thee."

Vegeta thought long and hard. A item of great value to the self? He fumbled around and had an idea. Yes, the keychain! Quickly he took it out and peered back at the plaque. He could see a small slit there - just enough to stick the small sword keychain in and pull it out again. He stuck it inside and waited.

Nothing.

He pulled it out and tried it again. Still nothing. Was there something wrong? He doubted it - the keychain was a valuable asset to him, so why didn't it work? He stuck it back inside when he felt his thumb graze against a sharp corner, drawing blood.

"Ah!" he interjected, quickly withdrawing his hand and the keychain away. There was a small cut on his thumb, with a little blood. He sucked the blood away while figuring out what else needed to be done.

He didn't have to figure it out for long.

The platform suddenly gave way, and Vegeta had to step away from it lest he fell down. He watched, awestruck, as the platform collapsed one by one, forming a stairway. At last, the collapsing stopped, and the entrance into the old abbey was wide open to him.

"So that's what they meant when they said 'great value to thine life'?" Vegeta mused, slightly disgusted at the thought of blood sacrifice. "That's pretty twisted even for an abbey." He was about to put his keychain back into his pocket when he decided against it. Instead, he fastened it onto the front zipper of his vest, and went hastily down the stairs.

The abbey reeked of death and poison, which greatly surprised Vegeta. Death and poison, despair and negativity - none of these neither have any connotations with a holy place nor should be associated with it. The abbey was in great shambles, with ruins and remnants of what used to be walls and statues, cracked and holed floors, and the relics that did survive any destruction seemed as if they would crumble any time soon.

And the place was littered with bones.

Though unnerved at the sight, Vegeta moved downward anyway. Just as he stepped down on the last of the stairs, he heard the platform moving, and as he stepped up, the platform closed altogether. He was trapped.

It seems that there was no other way to go but move forward.

He was glad that the many torches around the abbey's walls were still lit up, as though there was someone - or something - maintaining the flames to ensure the abbey was always well lit. Grabbing a nearby torch, he walked forward, looking around. He saw a door located in the near end of each wall, and directly in front of him was an opening, which seemed to lead downwards. Vegeta decided to check the doors first.

The first door he opened revealed nothing but rubble. Huge boulders blocked entry into the door, and even when Vegeta gave it a mighty push, they wouldn't budge. Giving up, he tried the other door.

The next door revealed what seemed to be a storeroom, with a treasure chest placed right in the center of it. Cocking an eyebrow, the prince began to wonder what a treasure box was doing there for no apparent reason. Had the priests kept something of value in it? No matter. He decided to save the box for later and explore the storeroom a bit.

From one of the shelves, he managed to procure a small vial of healing potion, a rare Senzu bean, and a book. Judging from the faded gold lettering that said "Journal", and its old, yellowing and tattered pages, Vegeta knew it was a diary - and it had been here for a very long time. When did this happen? He wondered. Carefully, he flipped through the pages.

Most of the entries were of praises and prayers to God, which led Vegeta to think that the diary must have belonged to a priest. He had to admit, the praises and prayers were beautiful, almost poetic. Whoever the priest was, he must have been more religious than anyone else. But then, towards the end of the diary, things began to get more depressing.

Vegeta had learned that, apparently, a terrible plague had hit the abbey many years ago, and that many people had died. The plague was devastating - it would infect the people, make them suffer for months on end, and in the final stage, their bodies would slowly and agonizingly melt into a purplish, poisonous substance, leaving nothing more but bones. A good plus was that those who were splashed in this purple liquid don't get any effects of the plague, only weakened by the poison. That was the diary owner's observation.

What did struck Vegeta with admiration was how the priest managed to keep such an optimistic view even though everything else around him was nothing but suffering and devastation. The prince held his breath as he read one line: The priest eventually was inflicted with the deadly disease as well.

Slowly he turned the page. He read more pages of praise and prayers, and realized that the priest didn't pray for his disease to be gone, nor pray for God to end his suffering quickly. Instead, all he asked for is that this will pass eventually, and that no one else would have to suffer, and that God give him the strength to live on until the day he would join his fallen friends in the vile river of purple flooding the abbey. In the end, Vegeta reached the last of the page:

"Dear God, my time in this world is reaching to an end. I can feel my insides melting, slowly. It hurts, especially as it pulls my veins and beating heart so! but I care not of the pain. I have such difficulty in breathing, but I let it slide, as I know I must have this recorded. God, I thank You for answering my prayers, for letting me live on as a strong man. I wanted to thank You, too, for making me the last person to go. Even though I am all alone in my deathbed, I do not feel alone. All this suffering had taught me to be strong in the face of adversity.

I hope to be able to face Thee in Heaven.

I know not who will find this diary, but if you read this, remember that God would not impose a test unto you unless He knoweth that you can handle it. Take this not as a tribute to the fallen, but rather a lesson of life; to be strong at all times not matter what.

I must now take my leave, and succumb to my fate."

Vegeta felt hot tears stinging his eyes as he read the last line. He was ultimately touched by such a show of courage in such dire circumstances. A plague! So that was what happened in the abbey. Hastily wiping his eyes, he tucked the diary in his bag. "No sir, thank you for teaching me something I never thought of looking all these years." he said to himself, in the hopes that wherever the priest's spirit is, he would hear it. He searched the place, but found nothing more. All that was left was the treasure chest.

He kneeled down and examined it. It didn't have a lock, so Vegeta assumed that it was easy to open. He tried to lift the hood up. To his surprise, it wouldn't budge at all. He tried pushing and pulling with considerable force. Still it won't open. He did it with more force just as he felt himself slapped by something wet and was flung onto the side. Rising up, he felt his cheek, discovering that it was sloppy and very slimy. Saliva! He wiped it hastily, nearly barfing as he did so. He turned to the box.

But it wasn't really a box. Instead, he saw a long tongue sticking out of the lid, a set of impressive teeth lining the lid, and a pair of grumpy eyes staring back at him.

"Why is it that nobody can tell the difference between a box and a cannibox?" the living box complained. "If you're lookin' for the map to this abbey, it's downstairs. DOWNSTAIRS! Not with me! Now leave me alone and let me sleep in peace! It's bad enough hearin' all the wimpy priests moaning about every night, now some cocky little boy decides that I'm a BOX, and so RUDELY PRIED ME OPEN without even BOTHERING to KNOCK!"

"Wait - wait! You live here?" Vegeta asked.

"Stupid question! Of course I live here!" the cannibox snapped. "I lived here long before you humans even made an abbey of this place! And they only made the abbey like 3000 years ago!"

"It was that old?"

"Of course! Naturally, they kept me in this place; see, because they don't want me snappin' at the heel of people who come here to pray. I don't mind - all I do is eat and sleep, and eventually I learned how to speak your language, see. But then the plague hit, and as a monster, I don't get infected by it. Poor humans, though."

Vegeta merely sat as he heard the cannibox's story. He understood - Mystics don't get affected by diseases humans procure, but even they weren't free from the common cold.

"In any case, what brings you here? This place is dangerous. Sure you don't come out melting but nobody makes out of here alive."

"I'm here to find out why it's so." Vegeta answered.

"Ah, idiot, idiot! You're as good as dead the moment you find out what caused it! At the bottom of this abbey, the spirit of the abbot who governed this place resided there. Watch out, mind, he's very vengeful - I tried warnin' everyone but who listens to a cannibox? He just kills and that's that. And people come here only for the treasure."

At this, Vegeta got up. "Thanks. At least now I know what's going on in here."

"Good, now be a good boy and - "

"And I'm going to put that spirit to rest in peace."

"WHAT? You're crazy! Nobody would be able to do that!"

"People come here for the wrong reason, that's probably why they met their doom in the first place. What if this soul only wanted to return to God but was prevented from leaving this place? So I'm going to send him back and put an end to this."

The cannibox sighed. "Fine. Truth to be told, you're the first person to actually think that. Everyone else comes here for the treasure, see. I wish ya good luck."

"Thank you." said Vegeta, and turned to leave. He was out the door when the cannibox hopped to him and nudged him. He looked down.

"What's a cannibox if he doesn't have anything to give, eh?" the cannibox said. Protruding his tongue out, the cannibox revealed a pendant to Vegeta. Picking it up, rather gingerly, he wiped off any drool on it and looked. The pendant was beautiful, with a diamond-shaped crystal in its centre, encased in brass filigree shaped in the form of two angels holding the crystal in place. As Vegeta peered closer, he could see the sword-shaped crucifix inside the crystal.

"It should help protect you from the soul when ya meet him." the cannibox explained. "That way, he can't hurt you too badly." The cannibox hopped back into the storeroom. "Come back to me when you're done, I'll give you a great reward for it. I'll just sleep on it while you do that."

"You have great hopes for me." Vegeta remarked.

"Yeah...it suddenly dawned on me that there's probably something worth waiting for in this world, see." the box answered, and drifted off to sleep, snoring. Smiling, Vegeta closed the door and headed towards the opening he saw earlier. There was only a ladder leading down. He climbed down the ladder and landed neatly. Fastening the pendant around his neck, he looked towards him. Purple liquid oozed around, but he was unafraid.

Broly, Turles and Goku reached the end of the tunnel, and as with Vegeta, they, too, were awed by the beauty of the place.

"We're probably in the edge of the Garden right now." Broly remarked.

"I never thought the abbey would be this far off!" Turles gushed. Looking around, he noticed the ruins. "There it is." he said, pointing at its direction. "Let's go."

They examined the place. Broly kneeled down and touched the stone 'floor'. Noticing a few things, he got up. "It's a platform." he said. "But it looks much like a floor. Clever, huh?"

"I should think so." Goku answered. "Is there any way we can open this?"

"There should be a device somewhere." said Turles. Let me see if there's any around here…"

"Who needs a contraption?" Broly admonished. "Get out of the way, I'm gonna force this baby open with a little alchemy." Moving away to the side of the platform, they watched as Broly prepared himself. He stood up and clapped his hands together. As he did before in the tunnel, sparks flew around him, and he slammed them on the floor. Instantly, the stone platform disappeared, and reappeared again, transmutated into a stairway leading downwards. At last, when it was done, Broly dusted his hands. "See?" he said. "Science rules." He rushed down the stairs and the other two followed suit.

Vegeta remembered that the cannibox mentioned of a box containing the map of the abbey. Where was it? Looking around closely, he searched for doors. No sign of them around. Then he spotted it - in plain sight, it was located on a small 'island' amidst the wide gap of purple liquid. He smiled. Things seem to be quite easy.

Vegeta had also noticed there was a makeshift passageway across the liquid, and luckily, it connected to the bit of floor where the chest is. He leapt up to one of the boards, and walked carefully, balancing himself as he crossed. Reaching the platform, he examined the box, just to make sure he didn't come across another grumpy cannibox. Opening it, he was relieved it wasn't. He could see the map inside, and reached out for it, unscrolling it to read its contents.

Currently he found that he was in the third floor of the abbey, and there were two more floors to cover. He surmised that the soul must be in the first floor, so that was his destination. Scrolling it back, he tucked it in his pocket, and walked across the other part of the bridge to the other side. He landed neatly on the floor and dusted himself. No sooner was he gone a few steps when he realized there was something in front of him.

In front of Vegeta, a slow-moving zombie sauntered about, its eyes not taking their gaze off him. He froze. It was the first time he encountered a zombie, and truthfully, it frightened him. Warily, he brandished the gunblades tucked beside him.

The zombie charged at him.

Frightened, Vegeta lashed at the zombie, slashing it across the chest. The zombie was thrown back, but it was unfazed.

"Oh God." Vegeta muttered.

As the zombie mindlessly charged again at him, he rushed forward and swung his gunblades at him, praying fervently in his head that the zombie won't injure him, or worse, bite him. He chopped of one of the zombie's arms, but it kept coming at him. By now Vegeta was completely frightened out of his wits and frantically attacked and hacked away at the zombie, not even stopping. At last, he chopped off the head, in his terror, and he watched in horror as the head flew and landed with splash into the purple liquid. Only then did the zombie stopped moving. What remained of the body fell down, limp, onto the floor.

Vegeta sighed in relief. "I DON'T want to go through that ever again." he muttered, and left the place towards the second floor.

Goku, Broly and Turles reached the fourth floor, and looked around. Turles examined one of the doors, and closed it again, shaking his head. "No use." he said. "It's blocked."

"What about the other one?" Goku asked.

Broly came out of the storeroom "Nothing much in there, just an old box and a store of rotten stuff." he remarked.

"Then down we go." Goku remarked.

As they walked downwards, Goku shot concerned glances all around the place. The negative aura surrounding this place - it PAINED him. He bit his lip as he tried to withstand the pain he felt as they went one level deeper into the abbey.

Vegeta had reached the second floor and observed his surroundings once again. He took out his map and read it. He soon noticed something - there were also indicators of where treasure chests were located. Looking back up, he realized there were a lot of doors. "No harm in going for some treasure hunting, I guess." he remarked to himself, and examined one of the doors near him.

He was taken by surprise when he saw what inside and jumped back. There was a chest inside, but a skeletal form seemed to guard it. The skeleton wore a standard soldier's get up, and was looking at him menacingly.

"Come for the treasure and I shall chop you into pieces!" the skeleton admonished. "No humans are allowed in here! Be off with you!"

As Vegeta didn't feel like fighting any more monsters (and still recovering from the shock of fighting the zombie earlier), he decided to heed the skeleton soldier's advice. Closing the door behind him, he looked at the other door. To his relief, no skeletons guarded the room this time, and he opened the chest to procure a large bottle of potion.

The next door revealed two more boxes. One was empty, but the other kept an impressive shoulder guard and a gunblade in it. Vegeta smiled. He took out the gunblade and examined it. It still looked very new even though it had been kept for years, and from the looks of it, it had been well-crafted. He reached into his pocket and took out a small capsule. Clicking on the top, he threw it in their air. There was a small explosion, and a box appeared in front of him. He stored the gunblade and the shoulder guard in the box and pressed a button on the side of the box. The box exploded again and the capsule formed in its place. He placed the capsule in his pocket and resumed his journey to his last destination.

He wondered about how the abbey came to be. The purple liquid must have used to be hundreds of humans, if they were found almost everywhere in such a large capacity. What could have happened here? Surely those who had been here before couldn't have caught the same disease? Or did it have something to do with the ghost?

Vegeta held his torch high so that he could better see his surroundings. Nothing more can be seen except the few doors and the stairway that would lead him to his next destination. Walking towards the stairway, he kept looking around warily in case any zombies decided to jump out of nowhere and pounce on him. He peered down at the stairs and whistled. Wherever it would lead him to, it was a really long, long way down.

There really wasn't a choice anyway. Down it was, then. With a hesitant step, he went down, hoping that whatever it was he might face, it won't be so bad.

"I can feel their presence." Goku stated, rather matter-of-factly, as they walked along the makeshift bridge, the glow of the purple liquid reflecting on their skin.

"'Their'?" Turles asked. "You mean there are other people in here besides Vegeta and us?"

"Well...there is, but I don't think it's...human." Goku said, condescendingly, his eyes darting around cautiously. They reached the stairs to the third floor, and climbed down. Looking around at the place, they were awed to see how big the space was, but how little the number of doors was.

While Goku and Turles looked around if there was any other passage down, Broly just stood and focused his sights at the few doors available. His attention turned towards the very door nearest to him. Say, what's in this door? Broly thought to himself, and opened it, peeking inside. A sword immediately flew at him, and it took a matter of seconds for Broly to dodge aside before it could stab him in the face. He fell on the floor.

"Hey, what the hell?" he exclaimed as the door stood ajar, revealing the skeleton soldier, who looked at him in a menacing stare as he picked up his sword. Irritated, Broly got up and brandished his large sword. "Hey!" he exclaimed. By now, Goku and Turles rushed towards him to see what was going on.

The skeleton soldier couldn't take it anymore. Having to deal with nosy humans invading his place was the last straw. With a deafening scream, it charged at them, with sword raised in the air.

Broly wielded his sword, and swung it at the skeleton the moment it reached him, sending it flying towards the wall. It crashed, but was unfazed. It once again charged at them, but not before detaching its skull and throwing it at them.

The skull hit Turles on the head, causing him to lose balance. Before any of them can react, the skeleton soldier swung its blade, which managed to slash the now defenceless Turles' arm, creating a deep gash across it. The dark-skinned Saiyan cried out in pain as he held the wound in one arm. It tried to stab Turles before it was knocked off by a powerful kick delivered by Goku.

Broly hit it with his sword again, at the blade this time, crushing its bones with massive force. It was cleaved clean in half, and fell to the floor. However, it still had more in its sleeve – before Broly could smash it into pieces, it formed an Earth spell to his unknowing. Suddenly Broly fell, his sword dropping with a loud clang. He looked back to see a rocky arm holding his leg in place. Acting quickly, he smashed the arm with a forceful kick and picked up his sword hastily. But before he could cleave the skeleton into half, the skeleton was given a powerful electrical shock, causing it to convulse and spasm violently. It still moved a little, but greatly weakened. It was about to attempt to get up when it was engulfed completely in ice, frozen.

Broly turned back to see Turles kneeling, arm raised. He had performed his Frost magic as the final blow. Without hesitation, Broly raised his sword up and, with a mighty swing, smashed the ice-encased skeleton, causing shards of ice to scatter around.

He puffed. "The king wasn't kidding when he said this was a dangerous place." He sighed. Looking back, he realized that his cousin was in trouble, and rushed to see to him. "Hey, you alright?" he asked.

"I'm okay...just a flesh wound." Turles said reassuringly. Goku, who was calmly inspecting the wound, reached for something in his pocket. He took out what seemed to be a small sachet and untied the knot that kept it shut. Reaching inside, he produced a small green bean out of the sachet, and handed it to Turles. "Senzu bean," he explained. "Here, take one."

Nodding, Turles took the Senzu bean and consumed it, rather weakly. Swallowing it, he suddenly felt a sudden change in his body. He felt completely energized and could feel his strength returning. Glancing at his wound, he noticed that it had stopped bleeding – and it didn't hurt anymore.

"This is..." he remarked, lifting his arm up, "…amazing."

Goku merely smiled. "I take it you didn't know what the Senzu bean can do, huh?"

Turles shook his head. "No, I have to say I never had." He shrugged, and got up, dusting himself. "Shall we make a move?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on to your hats. I need to see what's in this box." Said Broly, halting them. Cautiously opening the box, he lifted the lid to discover a pair of guns.

"What? I bloody went through all that trouble just to get a pair of guns?" Broly growled, holding the guns in his hand. Both the guns were white, and gleamed in the dim light. Black and gold markings surround both guns, and at one side of each gun, a gold emboss of the Church's symbol glinted most beautifully. Both of them were also adorned with rubies on the handle. Broly whistled. "I take back what I said. These are some wicked guns."

Turles took a gun from Broly's hand and inspected it. "A holy weapon." He remarked. "Hm?" He noticed that there was something on the gun. "Looks like this gun was part of something else as well."

"Part of what?" Broly asked, taking the gun from his cousin's hand. While he handed Goku the other gun so that he could see it as well, he inspected the gun closely. He saw it. It was a sort-of link that enables the gun to be attached to something. It was large enough to enable it to bear something about (from his observations) 7 times its weight, approximately the weight of a blade. Coming to think of it, the size of the guns were much larger than normal guns.

"It's part of a gunblade." He said, most casually.

"Huh?" Goku blurted out.

"A gunblade. These here guns are part of a pair of gunblades. God knows what happened to its blades, but since this thing's detachable, it's the ideal weapon for any gunblader lucky enough to come across these babies. I'm guessing the blades must be HUGE."

"How do you know all this?" Goku enquired.

"Broly's a weapons specialist too." Turles remarked. "Some special ability passed down in his family for generations."

"Ah."

"Anyway," Broly continued. "Gunblades are hard to learn. You don't only need to know how to utilise the blade, you need to be really good at long-range combat to wield it too. And your arms have to be really, really strong to be able to even HOLD it. It's hard, considering that gunblades can be damn heavy. And that's why those who want to learn how to use one had to go through some crazy weight training on their arm muscles to be able to handle a lot of weight from those things. But once you're able to use it, you're practically unstoppable. I know this crazy guy who can actually do a RAPID FIRE with the guns on his gunblades as well, and I can only assume that he must be really good."

Goku nodded, quite solemnly, while digesting the information. "My grandpa DID say that among all weapons, gunblades are the most powerful of all..." he remarked. "Do you personally know any gunbladers?"

"Actually, the one we're going after is a master gunblader himself." Broly explained. "I'm guessing this abbey must really be gunblade heaven for Vegeta."

Touch down. Vegeta landed delicately on the fourth and final floor as he reached the last step of the stairs. He checked his surroundings. He was in a vast hall, and at the end of it, a beautiful altar. A light shone at the far centre of the hall, emanating the whole hall and reflecting itself onto the altar, causing it to look as if it was glowing.

"Dear Lord, I cannot believe that a place so beautiful should hold something so frightening and evil." He whispered to himself, almost a prayer. "Whatever You have in store for me, please protect me. Give me the strength to vanquish this holy place of the evil being held captive here. Let these souls rest in peace. Give me the power to end the eternal suffering trapped in here. Let me guide them to Your light." Vegeta didn't know why he was praying, but by the time he said "Amen" and opened his eyes, he found himself on his knees, hands held in prayer.

He looked around. He couldn't feel any evil presence anywhere. Was there another floor to descend? Surely not. This is the last floor already. Vegeta walked around the hall, inspecting every single bit of the place, hoping, at least, to call upon the evil trapped in the place.

He heard someone clear his throat behind him, and Vegeta turned abruptly to find an abbot behind him. The abbot wore his full regalia, and appeared elderly, but tall and quite lean.

"You must be a very adventurous person." The abbot remarked. "To come in this painful place...only to offer it peace. I hadn't thought I'd see the day someone would dare traverse the dark to offer light, instead of fulfilling their own selfish desires."

"Are you...I thought you'd appear vengeful." Vegeta remarked, quite nervously. "I guess I was wrong."

The abbot merely chuckled. "Oh no. I operate like this. I promised myself that I will only protect the last of our treasures from the avaricious, and somewhere along the line, I was forced to acknowledge that force was necessary, seeing that now the mortal had become so greedy to the point that they would do ANYTHING. I vowed not to hurt those who came for reasons other than avarice, and I am sad to say I haven't found anyone like that...until today." He looked towards the altar. "I was prepared to face off against you when I heard your prayer. It was then that I knew...you, child, were not of the avaricious."

"But the negative energy?" Vegeta asked.

The abbot sighed. "That's another thing I must acknowledge. What you sensed was not from the souls of those who died from the plague, those were the souls of the greedy that I had vanquished. I remain trapped here, to protect the treasure from their souls, and I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to hold them off much longer. There has been someone...someone not of those living in here. He seems to be able to convince these spirits to co-operate with him...and by that they become stronger and stronger."

"They were that powerful?"

"Indeed, child. Perhaps..."

"You want me to lend a hand? No problem."

"Are you sure of this?"

"I came here with a promise that I'll set every lost soul here free. And that's a promise I'm going to keep."

The abbot smiled. Seeing that smile made Vegeta feel calm and reassured, which almost frightened him a little. But for some reason...he knew it was going to be alright.

But then he felt an aura coming closer to the hall.

"Oh dear." The abbot remarked as he parted his robe, revealing a gunblade. Vegeta's eyes widened a little as he watched the abbot take it out and wielded it like nothing. "Be on the ready, child! They have arrived."

Vegeta wielded his own two gunblades and got ready. "I didn't know you could wield a gunblade, sir."

"You may not know much of this place, child, but I can tell you that everyone who lived in this abbey is a master of the gunblade."

They both were about to strike when the realized that it wasn't really something evil – Broly, Goku and Turles had caught up.

"What are you doing here?" Vegeta called out.

Broly dusted himself off. "What else, smarty-pants? To get you back!"

"Strange." Goku remarked. "I can't feel any evil in here. It feels so...peaceful."

The abbot eased himself. "Your friends, I presume."

Vegeta sighed. "Yeah, but I don't think I recognize one of them."

Broly looked at Vegeta. "Hey, why are you talking to yourself?" he snapped. "Gone crazy or something?"

"Uh?" Vegeta remarked. "Hey, we're in the presence of..." He stopped when he felt the abbot touch his shoulder.

"They cannot see me, child." The abbot explained. Vegeta merely nodded, and turned to Broly, who was looking at him with a very puzzled look on his face. "Um. Surely you already know I like talking to myself!" he explained.

Broly wasn't convinced. "Yeah, right." He murmured. "Well, let's get the hell out of here, get back up, and return to the palace. This place gives me the creeps."

"No." Vegeta remarked.

"Oh God, not this again. You think I didn't notice the dead zombie on the second floor?"

"But I made a promise..."

"Guys." Goku said. "You might want to get ready. We've got company and I don't think I like what I'm feeling right now."

Vegeta can feel the negative energy radiating around the hall. He looked at the abbot, who nodded at him gravely. "Guys. Get around me." Vegeta ordered, eyes darting around warily as he noticed the changes happening in the hall.

They all backed against each other, each of them forming a sort-of support for the other. The negative energy made itself seen now, enveloping them in a cloud of black mist. It was nauseating, it made Vegeta feel almost faint. He glanced beside him to find that Goku looked very weak, but still holding his weapon firmly, trying very hard to fight against whatever it was that was paining him.

The black shroud gathered round and formed something that looks like a form of a man. It took shape and wrapped itself around so precisely that when the mist cleared, in front of them stood a man. This man wore a casual black suit, and was considerably dark-skinned, his purplish-black hair tied in a neat ponytail.

"It seems that they have united." The abbot remarked. "Be on your guard."

The man smiled maliciously. "Old man still hangs around, huh? You don't know when to quit, you old fish."

Broly frowned, gripping his sword. "What the hell are you talking about? There's no old man around here, you idiot."

"He's talking about someone you can't see right now." Vegeta explained. "Whatever you have in mind, you're not taking anything from here." He called out to the man.

"I don't like people butting in on my business, my friend." The man remarked, straightening his suit. "You could have lived easily – you didn't have to come all the way down here. You could even STAY alive. Come here and you'll end up dead. I guess the zombie didn't do his job well."

"You sent that thing?" Vegeta asked.

"Oh yes. See, I control ALL death there is here. I manipulate the spirits, the dead, and the undead. They can only do so much – I offer them MUCH more than just lolling around thinking vengeful thoughts. But this old hag – " he said, pointing at the abbot, "- he always comes around to ruin our plans."

"Okay, I'm confused." Said Turles. "Who IS he referring to?"

"He's referring to me, my children." The abbot said, materializing himself to the view of all. Broly's eyes widened like saucers when he saw the abbot. "In the name of the Lord, I will stop you from harming these children and stealing what is not yours!" he admonished the man.

The man flicked a strand of hair away from his face and harrumphed. "Nothing can stop the powerful Betrote from getting what he wants. And I'm not even doing this for myself!" He laughed. An eerie, chilling laugh. "See, I'm not THAT greedy. So why don't you just stop all this and hand over the crystal?"

"It is not yours to begin with." The abbot remarked.

Betrote, as the man referred himself, simply shrugged. "Fine then. Have it your way." He spread his arms, and formed a magical circle under him, emanating an eerie purple aura as he did so. Suddenly the ground rumbled, and a rotted hand shot out from the ground below. It anchored itself onto the ground as it emerged, revealing a zombie – only much more grotesque and deformed than what Vegeta saw earlier – arms and torse much larger and muscular, some insides jutting out from the torn stomach, glowing red eyes and a missing lower jaw and chest, revealing a ferocious set of teeth and some organs. The other zombies begin to emerge, one by one, and in a few seconds Betrote was surrounded by a group of powerful zombies at his command.

"Look closely, abbot. The bodies of those you killed. And now they're hungry for life – and revenge." He said, smirking smugly. He looked down lazily as he produced a pocket watch from his left pocket. Clicking at the button on it, he looked at the watch with disinterest and pursed his lips. Then he kept the pocket watch back. "I really don't want to miss all the fun, but I have other things to attend to." The black shroud formed around him again, disintegrating him. "La revedere!" he said, as he vanished, quite literally, into thin air.

The zombies began to strike.

"Have you seen your brother, Tarble?" King Vegeta asked. "It's almost night and they still haven't returned."

Tarble shook his head. "No, father, I don't think I have. I've been trying to get into contact with him, but I can't even so much as reach his pager. Whatever it is, he must be somewhere out of range."

King Vegeta nodded solemnly as he looked out the window.

"Father, you don't think brother's in trouble now, right? I mean, I know he can take care of himself, but..."

King Vegeta smiled as he heard his younger son's words. He placed an arm around Tarble's shoulders and gave the boy a light hug. "You've always been a great support to your brother." The elderly king remarked. "Don't you worry. Your brother is a tough man. No matter where he is, he's bound to return."

Vegeta really couldn't make head or tail of what was going on. He couldn't see clearly, there was a ringing noise in his ears that threatened to deafen him, he was unable to speak, he was swaying back and forth like a drunk man...and then it clicked.

The unmistakeable stench the zombies were giving was far too overwhelming for him.

"Urgh." he groaned, stepping aside just in time before a set of frighteningly sharp claws sliced towards him, close to ripping his torso open. The smell was way too close for him, he nearly barfed at the stench that hit his face full force.

The others handled the situation well. Broly hacked away at the his set of zombies, swinging his enormous blade at them with full strength. One zombie was chopped clean into half, black blood spraying everywhere as its body was dismembered. The other ones charged at him, jaws wide open, arms outstretched as they tried to claw at him and rip him to pieces.

This was something Broly had foreseen, though - dodging very neatly, he dropped to the ground, and with his arm, sprang his body back up, his legs delivering an almighty kick towards one zombie. It flew backwards, crashing into the other and sending them towards the wall, crashing onto the solid marble. The Saiyan saw his chance and propped his hands to the ground, activating his alchemy. A brilliantly-glowing blue light formed around him into a symbol, and suddenly the marble below the zombies gave way, swallowing them and closed in on them just as quickly.

Turles and Goku were back-to-back, each of them firing as many lightning and ice spells as their magic could allow them. None of them seem to be wavering - any zombie that comes nearby was unfortunate enough to meet with their blades or fists. As one of them got too close and threatened to clamp its jaws down onto Turles' head, Turles swiftly swung his blade, chopping off its head. Goku delivered a few swift punches that sent some of them back, and immediately summoned his strongest lightning spell, fatally electrifying them.

Vegeta had to admire how easy they handled the fight. He had to admit, his habit of getting nauseous far too easily was hindering him a lot - right now, he only had just enough power to defend himself from the endless clawing and hacking of his zombie, sparks flying around every time the zombie's claws clashed against his gunblades.

"YO!" Vegeta shouted, "I NEED HELP HERE!"

Broly managed to kick off a zombie that was clinging on his foot, and chopping its head off. Another zombie charged at him, and met the same fate. "SORRY! MY HANDS ARE FULL- ARGH!" Several zombies flung themselves on Broly, sending him tumbling down to the ground, crushing him under the sheer weight of so many zombies. But it wasn't long before, struggling with all his might, Broly powered up, the burst of aura exploding underneath the pile of zombies and scattering them across the room. As Broly got up shakily, his hair had suddenly spiked up and was a golden blonde instead of jet black. "Damn, I wasn't expecting to go Super Saiyan too soon." Taking his blade, he began hacking away randomly at the zombies once more.

Vegeta groaned, thinking frantically of ways to get the one zombie off his back. Dear Lord, he thought to himself, I really could use some help right now!

A clean shot sent the attacking zombie away from him, thrown to ground and laid there motionless. Vegeta looked up to see the abbot smiling at him, helping him up.

"You don't seem to be able to overcome them." the abbot remarked.

"I can't stand the stink." Vegeta admitted. His eyes caught sight of another zombie lunging towards them, and without thinking, he brought one gunblade up and pulled the trigger, firing at the zombie. A single bullet sliced through the air, hitting the zombie squarely on the head. It dropped to the ground immediately and became lifeless.

"Then you know what to do, child. Attack from a long range." With that, the abbot took his own gunblade and fired several rapid shots at the zombies. Vegeta took up his own and did the same, firing as rapidly as he could, killing off as many of them as he could.

A few of them remained, and the room was beginning to be drenched in black, the blood of the zombies slain by the team. Several shots. One clean slice. And the last remaining zombies fell.

Wiping off sweat from his brow, the rest walked over towards Vegeta and the abbot. Vegeta himself had to avert his eyes somewhere or risk throwing up there and then - the sight of so many dismembered, rotted bodies and that strong stink of death and rot was far too much. He couldn't take it anymore. He bent down and threw up.

Broly went over and patted Vegeta on the back. "Whoa, take it easy there, this isn't a time to be sick."

"You.." Vegeta began, and hurled once more, then looking at Broly again, "..never had a queasy stomach, you DON'T know what it feels like, okay."

"Oh, stop it, YOU'RE gonna make me throw up." Broly grumbled. "Everyone else alright?"

"Yeah, we're okay." said Goku, dusting himself off. "That was fun." he said, smiling.

"No, that was rather UNPLEASANT." Turles commented, grimacing as he realized there were black stains on his shirt. "The last thing I wanted was to be attacked by a horde of zombies."

"Well, at least..." said Vegeta, now weak after throwing up too many times, "...that wasn't so bad. We DID survive, after all."

"Of course." the abbot said. As they looked at him, he was glowing a bright white - the light emanating from him was so brilliant, that they had to shield their eyes. It intensified and filled the entire room, and slowly it faded away, returning the entire floor back to how it originally was. The abbot stood in front of them, now surrounded by a few chests.

"I gave my word. These are the treasures I've been protecting. They're yours now." he said. Vegeta nodded and reached forward to shake hands with the abbot, but he couldn't even touch his arm - the abbot was fading away.

"Thank you, children, thank you very much. Now, the souls here can rest in peace. I was the last one remaining here, wishing that God would take me to his Heaven - but as I lay dying, I realized that...I still had a duty to fulfil. And I remained here for as long as I was allowed to, keeping watch over the abbey. And now...I'm free. I cannot thank you enough. Farewell my children, and may God bless you always." Circled once more with the bright white light, the abbot closed his eyes as his being became more and more faint, until he faded away completely.

They witnessed it all with great astonishment. Vegeta looked down and reached for his pocket, fishing out the journal. "So that was him." he said to himself. "I never would have guessed."

"Well, if all's well, let's see what they have here." said Broly.

"No, I think it's getting late now. Why don't we pack these up in capsules and open them at the palace?" Vegeta suggested. As they nodded in agreement, he turned to Goku. "What about you? Would you like to stay with us tonight? We've got plenty of room - and my father wouldn't mind."

"Can I?" Goku asked earnestly.

"Of course." said Vegeta. He glanced over to see Broly and Turles busy packing the chests into boxes fashioned out from the capsules they carried. Extending his arm to Goku, he smiled at the fair-skinned warrior in front of him. "I'm Vegeta. I don't think I caught your name."

Goku smiled, taking Vegeta's hand in a hearty handshake. "I'm Goku. Son Goku."

"Oh, so you made it. Impressive, kid. I didn't think you'd had it in you." the cannibox said to Vegeta, witnessed by three most astonished Saiyans behind him.

"Yeah." said Vegeta. "It was a little awful, but we did manage, so it's alright."

"Yeah, impressive all the same." said the cannibox. "And yeah, like I promised. Stand back." Vegeta took a few steps back, and the cannibox lolled out its tongue, this time with another amulet at the tip. Gingerly, Vegeta took it and admired it all the same - it had the same design as what he received before, but this time the crystal had a soft, pinkish hue.

"Give it to your lover - if you two have them, you'll be protected forever." the cannibox said. "Now, be off with ya, I need some sleep - it'll be another 3 years before I can generate any more treasure." Nodding at them, the cannibox closed its mouth, and began snoring a few seconds later.

"So..." Broly began, as they climbed out of the abbey. "who's gonna get that amulet?"

Vegeta looked up to see stars around him. It was already night, and if they don't come home soon, his father would have been flapping like a mother hen until God knows when. "I don't know. Maybe I'll give it to Naella. She likes these kinds of things."

Turles whistled. "I haven't heard you talk about her since we came here. Honestly, Veg, at the very least you could've told us how your fiancée's doing."

"Sorry." said Vegeta, blushing a little.

"Ah, well, let's talk about that when we get home. Right now, we're gonna have to fly back if we want to get home ASAP." said Broly, and as he said that, he jumped up and levitated in the air. The rest followed suit, and flew into the night sky, heading back home.

"I thought you said you had it covered, Betrote."

"Look, I didn't know they had it in them, alright?" Betrote grunted. Talking to people he couldn't see, with only a pool emanating an eerie purple glow in front of him was rather clichéd.

"You better do better next time. Or we would have to...demote your position."

Betrote glared. "You CAN'T do that."

The voices chuckled. "Oh, Betrote, we KNOW how much class and status means to you. If you succeed this time, we MAY consider a promotion for you."

Betrote glanced at the pool, and smirked. "So," he said, leaning back on the wall. "what's this brilliant proposal you're dying to tell me?"