--- When Worlds Collide ---

Chapter 24 - A Vicious Circle

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He pored over the plans again, for possibly the twentieth time that night alone; he had to make sure there was nothing wrong with the design. His father had retired for the night roughly five hours ago, and he would be back in, at most, another three, and when he did, the finishing touches on the device would be completed. He had to make sure it would work. It was his only chance to get her back again...

It was about two days ago that she'd been killed, and he hadn't slept since; every time he closed his eyes, he saw her face. He still wasn't sure exactly what happened, it all happened too fast... All he knew for sure was that she'd been killed by another Saiyan, one of surprising strength, who'd been rambling about how his 'Tuffle masters wanted their homeland purged of infidels.'

The man had been captured and subdued, but that wasn't good enough for Kaen; he, understandably, wanted blood. Nevertheless, he took heart in the fact that the captured Saiyan was going to be experimented on, to find out what caused his mind to decay as it had, because he knew that live experimentation would be extremely painful. It wouldn't bring Pi back to him though, so he, his father, and hers, all began work on their latest creation, the creation whose plan he was rechecking this very minute. A Space-Time Continuum Disruption and Realignment Device; in layman's terms, a time machine.

If... No, when, they got it working, Kaen was all set to rewind time to before Pi was killed, and more than prepared to make sure she survived the attack of the deranged Saiyan. He already had a few special techniques lined up, ones he'd been meaning to save for the right time; this, he decided, was well past the right time. If everything went to plan... Grr, no, when, the device would be finishing in five hours, and he would have Pi back again in no more than another three (ignoring the fact that, as the device would rewind time, all the hours that had passed would have never come to be). He returned to checking the plans again; they had to be correct. They just had to be...

--

Nijuushin watched the situation unfolding before him in abject horror. He'd been here for two days now, and he had to check and recheck the settings on The Device to make sure that it hadn't sent him to the past of his own dimension; it hadn't. By some horrible twist of fate, this dimension seemed to be a time-delayed version of his, right down to who killed his mate, and he had arrived just in time to watch her die again; once more, he had been unable to save her from death.

For two days, he'd been forced to relive the most horrible moment of his life, as he watched his dimensional double working with their fathers on The Device; he still remembered exactly why it was built the way it was. The flux capacitor was designed to reverse the flow of time; they hadn't been sure at the time whether it would reverse his time flow, re-integrating him into the time stream as himself back at the right time, or whether it would simply insert him at the right time, resulting in two of him existing at once, but he'd been willing to take the chance either way. The energy shield was added so he would have a viable means of protecting Pi from the insane Saiyan's wild blasts. The essence collector was installed such that, if and when Kaen killed the loony, they could still study what happened to him.

He wasn't sure why those memories had been lost to him until recently, when his jailbird double pointed out the flaws in the design; perhaps, in his trauma, he'd subconsciously suppressed all memories of this time. As frozen, lost within his thoughts, as he was, he didn't act until he saw his double prepare to use the newly completed Device, walking out of the shadows and calling out, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Spinning around, but not yet seeing the face to match the strangely familiar, echo-y voice, Kaen growled, "Who asked you? Who the hell are you?"

Stepping into the light of the workshop, and revealing his blood-stained face to the shocked gasps of the three men present, he replied, "I am more than mortal, but less than Saiyan. I was once you, but now, I know not what I am, so I use the name Nijuushin."

Recovering quickly, Kaen asked, "If you are, or were, me, why are you stopping me? You, or all people, should know why I'm doing this."

A haunted look in his eyes, as he gazed through them, Nijuushin replied, "Part of me wants to stop you to save you the pain I have been through. The Device you wear, like the one on my arm, does not work as planned. Rather than rewind time, it breaches the borders between parallel dimensions; so far, this is the twenty-fourth dimension I have set foot in, baring my own. My sanity, and Saiyanity, has been slowly corroded away as I trek ever closer to my new goal..."

His eyes darkened again, filled with malice, as he added, "The other part of me wants to stop you from halting said new goal. If I allowed you to begin the same journey I have, no doubt you will eventually become a threat to me, my equal in power, and this I cannot allow." Raising his hand to prepare a killing blast, knowing that The Device had not yet been activated, and thus the shield not switched on, he continued, "I will kill you, reuniting you with your lost love, and sparing you my fate."

He fired the blast before any of the men could react, destroying his double, and The Device he wore, in a single red explosion, before vanishing again in the usual hail of blue lightning. It wasn't until hours later, when his double's memory sifted through his minds eye, that he discovered that The Device he had destroyed was, unlike his, a fully working time reallocation device, one that could have returned Pi to life.

o-o-o

The raven-haired girl yawned widely, rubbing her tired eyes as she tried to focus on the documents in front of her; when Gohan had said 'expect to be home late' she'd never guessed that 'late' would be around two in the morning. Absently, she realised Gohan would have gotten home later, knowing he lived way out in the 439 Mountain area and had been gentleman enough to drive her home, but she quickly kicked those thoughts down; she had work to do, and focusing on her crush was counter-productive to that work.

When she'd gotten home last night - or rather, this morning - the report the chief had promised her had been waiting her scrutiny in her room, but she'd been far too tired then to even glance at it. At breakfast, her father, back from his 'business trip' a few days ago, had been very annoyed that a police officer had come to his house yesterday, as it was 'harmful for his image in the public's eye to have cops frequenting his house', and even more annoyed that Videl was still helping said cops, but nonetheless the officer had been there on official police business, so the 'champ' had been forced to let the young man in.

When she'd found the time to look at the file, she'd been surprised at how small it was. She almost contacted the chief again, demanding to know why there wasn't more, but, despite how nervous he'd been when she called in her favour, he had promised her that she would be given a full background check on Kaen, but would deny any knowledge of said background check if asked; that was good enough for her. Obviously, there just wasn't much information about him.

Setting aside the file for now, she sat down at her desk, writing down all the information she currently knew about the flame-haired man. By his own admission on Friday, he was a killer, and an alien, and, from what she'd seen last night, had no problem with flaunting the latter off to everyone; she wondered why everyone else in the club failed to notice the obvious use of his tail. Also, he had what was obviously a bite-mark on his left shoulder, and, from what she'd felt when she, subtly, placed a hand on Pi's left shoulder last night, the girl too had one, which was, to say the least, bizarre. She wondered how she'd missed that, and the tail, when they were at he beach that day...

Also, from what she'd heard in the club, Kaen was this 'Phoenix' she'd heard about, the latest 'hero' to make a showing in Satan City, the one she'd never seen in action; absently, she wondered why he called himself that in the club, because whatever the reason, it was a pretty boneheaded move to use your alias like that. Obviously, he also had a way of changing his eye and hair colour, because reports of the Phoenix that had been at the fire at the Satan City Sports Emporium were of a man with red hair and eyes. Absently, she realised that this meant Gohan had to be Saiyaman, but she had no proof of that, so set the thought aside.

Judging from what she herself had seen in PE, Kaen was extremely fast, and extremely strong; inhumanly so, which added credence to his claim of being an alien. It also meant that he was, without a doubt, that mystery man who had, two weeks ago, ripped an engine block out of a moving car. From the reports of the fire, Kaen was also able to blow holes in brick walls, and jump out of a fourth floor window - or rather, a hole he'd made in a fourth floor wall - and land on his feet, unharmed.

Pulling the file over, she took out one of the few documents inside, adding to her notes. Kaen had been granted diplomatic immunity, along with the title of ambassador of New Saiya, a country that hadn't existed until ten years ago... 'Wait', she thought to herself, 'Saiya? On Friday, Kaen had mentioned that his race was called Saiyans. That means that entire country is made up of alien refugees.' Jotting that down, she continued reading, finding out that the ruling body of New Saiya was headed up by one Prince Vegeta.

"Prince Vegeta, that was who those kids said their dad, Kaen's dad, worked for," she mused aloud, jotting it down, but pausing when she realised something, "Wait a minute; Vegeta? That was the name of the man at the bar, the one with hair like Kaen... That was the prince of New Saiya?" Adding that note, she shook her head before continuing to read, idly wondering why his title was 'Prince' and not 'King'; things were just getting weirder and weirder.

There was nothing else of much interest in that document, just information about New Saiya, and something about a village in the 438 Mountain Area, but she already knew that Kaen lived there. Setting it aside, she moved on to the next document; financial records. "So, the girls weren't lying when they said he was well off..." she muttered to herself. His account held no less than 25 billion zenni, and that was just his day-to-day bank account; reading further down, she saw he had a whole lot more invested in shares and the like.

Looking over the document, she wouldn't have been too surprised to find he was richer than her father, and probably more deserving of it too. The documents showed that the accounts, and investments, had been all transferred from gold and precious jewels - obviously, that was the currency in outer space - and that they both had been set up in trust by a Ms. B. Briefs about ten years ago.

"Ms. B. Briefs?" Videl muttered to herself, tapping her pen against her chin as she thought, "Now who in the world could that..." She stood up roughly, sending her chair flying back, as she exclaimed, "BULMA Briefs! They not only know, but also had accounts set up by, the richest and most influential person, male or female, in the world? Wait; B! Kaen mentioned that some woman he called 'B' had warned the school about him; that must have been Bulma. That must mean Gohan knows her too." Some part of her mind was curious as to how a backwoods boy like Gohan knew the richest woman in the world, but thinking about Gohan could wait for another day; today, she was focused on uprooting all of Kaen's secrets.

She physically reeled as another breakthrough occurred to her, "Hold on, Bulma Briefs' husband has been reported to be a man named 'Vegeta', and I've seen him myself at a few functions, and it was definitely that guy from the bar. Why didn't I see it before... That means Bulma Briefs is married to an alien, an alien that just happens to rule over a nation of aliens founded ten years past; the same time Kaen's account was set up." She knew it could have just been a coincidence, but Videl was not one to believe coincidences existed; besides, how many people could there be named 'Vegeta' in the universe?

Setting that document aside, she moved on to the next one, and was a little surprised to find that it was the last document the file contained; for a 'complete background check', there wasn't much to it. Maybe the last one would help her understand why... Her eyes widened as she read it over, and she had to read it several times to make sure she'd read it right; it couldn't be correct... According to this, Kaen, Pi, and Kat, along with those kids Oran and Lime, didn't exist until around three and a half weeks ago. There was no birth certificate for any of them, or any other document to prove they were born and existed, until recently; how then could Kaen have had an account for ten years?

She smirked to herself as she set the documents back in the folder; she now had all the evidence she needed to get what she wanted. All she had to do was wait until Monday, and hope she could put her plan into action.

o-o-o

Kat paced nervously up and down the hall; it was Monday, the start of their third week at school, and she was worried that something bad was going to happen today. Videl knew something; of this the redhead was certain. The human girl had seen a lot in the club, and unlike the rest of the humans, Kat could tell that Videl didn't just see things, she noticed them; the normal humans may have passed Kaen's antics off as tricks, or special effects, but the young cat girl could tell that Videl was different. Kat was just worried about how Videl was going to use this knowledge...

Kaen and Pi hadn't noticed anything, but both had been far to busy Saturday night to keep an eye on Videl, and Gohan's eyes may have been on Videl all night, but he didn't see what Kat did; they all thought she was worried for nothing, as Pi showed right now as she casually leant against a nearby wall with Gohan, but Kat's gut had never been wrong. She continued pacing, thinking up all possible scenarios, and ways to explain her way out of them, but her musing was cut off as she noticed the girl in question approaching.

"Hey Videl!" The girl cried out with forced cheerfulness, a smile on her face.

She was a little relieved to see Videl smile back, but not completely. The pigtailed girl waved back, saying, "Hey guys; thanks again for the invite Saturday." She paused, looking around a bit before asking, "Kaen not here today?"

Kat noticed that the disgust in her voice when she normally said 'Kaen' was replaced with, dare she say, curiosity, but she was prevented from saying anything when Pi replied, "Nah, he's gonna be here, he just had something to take care of first, so he's gonna be a bit late."

"Come on!" Kat cried, "We can't stand here waiting for him, we gotta get to class." Inside, she figured that, once in class, whatever Videl might or might not be thinking of doing would have to wait until after, and by then they could work out what she knew, what she was going to do with it, and, most importantly, how to rebuke it.

The four friends started walking to class, but all of a sudden Videl began searching her pockets, and her bag for something. Turning around, Gohan asked, "What's wrong?"

Blushing a bit, Videl replied, "I just noticed I don't have my copter capsule with me; like an idiot, I think I might've left it on the roof when I arrived this morning. You guys go on ahead, I've gotta go back and get it; I need to keep it on me in case I get called out today." The girl walked off, but Kat could see no viable reason to follow her, so she just hung her head and continued on to class.

"Come on Kat, cheer up," Pi said, putting an arm around her, "You're worrying over nothing."

"I hope you're right Pi," Kat replied mournfully, "I really do..."

--

Videl smiled to herself as she strode down the hallway; she was so glad that worked. Now, she could wait until Kaen arrived, and ambush him on his way to class, while he had no one around to hide behind. Fate had handed her the perfect opportunity, and she intended to collect.

o-o-o

Kaen strode down the empty hall, a smile on his face. Sunday had been a fairly busy day at home, what with his parent's discovery as to how he spent his spare time; his father, while a little surprised, had been a lot more supportive than he'd given his old man credit for. Avarrdo had also been surprised that both of the twins had potentially found a mate, Lime with Vegeta's son Trunks, and Oran with the human girl Faile; as he'd explained, both Saiyan and human DNA were highly adaptive, so hybrids were perfectly safe, and while there may be potential downsides to such hybridisation, like a loss of some of the Saiyan protean ability, he was positive there would always be a positive that counteracted it completely, if not improved it. He hadn't worked out what yet, but he claimed it was one of his and Kellre's side projects.

His mother April had, of course, been delighted to find out that her babies were growing up, and, when she'd found out that Faile wanted to come over this morning, was more than happy to accommodate her and her older sister, provided Kaen was the one to pick them up. Given how happy it would make his mother, and, while the young boy refused to show it, how happy Oran was by the idea, Kaen was more than ready to help, even if it meant less time with his mate.

The smile on his face slipped a bit as he saw Videl leaning against a nearby locker, but he refused to let her get to him, instead just nodding his head to her and continuing on; she may not have been his friend, but Gohan liked her, so it couldn't hurt to be nicer. He heard her say, "We need to talk."

Shaking his head, he just kept walking, calling back, "Not interested girl."

He could hear the smirk in her voice as she called out, "Oh, I think you'll want to hear what I've got to say Kapskaen." He froze mid-step, turning around to face her with a scowl as she added, "Or is it Phoenix? I'm not sure now."

Ignoring the second remark, Kaen growled, "Where did you hear that name?"

She just smirked wider, "Well, I overheard a most... interesting conversation Friday, Mr. Mass-Murdering Alien." That was Videl's first mistake, admitting to having spied on him.

One eye twitching, Kaen growled again, more animalistic this time, "You were listening in on us? Have you no shame girl?"

Videl just crossed her arms, "I don't give a damn what you think of me."

Standing upright again, Kaen remarked, "You do know that you can't touch me, right, no matter what you may or may not know about me?"

She smiled, replying far too cheerfully, "You're absolutely right, there's nothing that I can legally do to you, but what do you think would happen if, say, the press got a hold of information from an anonymous source that an entire city of aliens, called 'Saiyans', were living near West Capital?"

Shaking his head, Kaen said, "All that would happen is that the population of Earth would panic, attack, and be killed. If we wanted, girl, we Saiyans could have taken over this planet and bent it to our will, but we were tired of conquest. Instead, we approached your King of the World peacefully, requesting the mountain area as a location to set up our nation because of, well, sentimental reasons really. He himself knew that we could have exterminated the human race, but we were willing to settle for living in harmony, to rebuild our race. You tell the press, girl, and you can be assured that your race will die."

Clenching his fist, he added, "Hell, if I need to I'll glass the planet myself; it wouldn't be the first time, and, unlike most humans, we have a way off this rock. There are more than enough planets out there, and plenty of races who are more appreciative of their saviours."

Resisting the urge to stomp her foot in anger, she asked, "What do you mean 'saviours'?"

He just grinned, "In recent years: Cell. Now, I wasn't here for that particular jaunt - a damn shame that, would've enjoyed the challenge - but you can rest assured that there's more to the story than you know. You want answers? Ask Gohan; I'm certain you heard more of that conversation than just my piece."

Putting the questions that arose out of her mind, Videl pressed on, "Maybe so, but what if the paparazzi got a hold of information as to the secret identity of Phoenix, where he lived, where his family lived? Day in and day out you would be hounded by reporters, and believe me when I tell you that they will not go away; do you think Oran and Lime would like that? You're right Kaen; legally, I can't do a thing about you, but I can still use what I know to ruin your life." That was her second mistake; threatening his family, especially his brother and sister; he was highly overprotective of them.

Kaen sighed; this was getting nowhere. Meeting her eyes, he asked, "What do you want?"

She smirked in victory, "I know for a fact you're super strong, can fire those explosive beams of light from your hand like Saiyaman, and I assume that, like him, you can fly. You are going to train me." That was her third mistake.

Kaen's eyes narrowed as he growled, "WHAT?"

Not noticing the danger in the air, Videl just spun around, replying, "You heard me. The way I see things, you have two choices: one, train me, and keep your secrets secret; or two, don't train me, and watch your peaceful life crumble around you."

Kaen chuckled darkly, his vision fading to red, as he said, "You forgot the third choice..."

Spinning back around, she asked, "Oh really? What's the third choice?"

Her eyes widened in shock as Kaen lunged for her, and despite what she believed she knew, she was still surprised with both his speed and his strength as he wrapped his left hand around her throat, slamming her into the lockers behind her, her feet off the ground; slamming her through the lockers was probably a more accurate description.

Panicking slightly, she lashed out with her legs, and was again surprised when her blows did nothing. Kaen just chuckled darkly again as he answered her question, "I kill you, and all knowledge dies with you; believe me when I tell you, Miss Satan, that no jury on this world will convict me."

'He's... He's really going to kill me!' Videl's panicked mind screamed as she felt his hand tightening around her throat, cutting off her airway. She kept struggling to get free, but nothing she could do even seemed to hurt him, as she felt the darkness starting to take her into it's embrace.

To be continued...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's notes:

This chapter marks the last ever alternate world intro, and, hopefully, the last ever separate intro bit in my stories. You think I would have learnt my lesson from my first story, but no... For those who are interested, there's going to be a summary later in the story of the different dimensions shown, or some of them at least.

For those who wanted to see some action, you need only wait until the next chapter, when worlds collide (as the title would suggest), and Kaen meets his next, and thus far greatest foe; himself.