Original of the Species 4: The Robots and the Saiyan: Cell Chapter Twenty Two, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer + Dragon Ball Z Crossover fanfic

Chapter 22

'Give Up the Ghost'

AN: Okay, I've done two chapters where I've stuck to canon like glue, time to go off-canon again. This is stuff I've been planning for a long time. Stuff I've placed hints for in previous parts. Break out the previous parts and see if you can recognize some of it.

Uruzgan province, Afghanistan

As the two Lancing Attacks were fired off things suddenly happened in slow motion for Buffy. Slowly but surely she could see the Lancing Attack speed towards her and her sister. With Belmo caught in the middle between them. Which meant he could only try and save one of them. Trunks might come to Mayan's aid, but he was further away then Belmo.

If this was logical Belmo of Borg he would save his real daughter. At best she was only adopted, Mayan on the other hand was his real flesh and blood. But lately Belmo of Borg seemed to have taken a backseater, as Crazy Belmo was running the show. Anything could happen, really.

Still, she didn't mind dying. She may have come to an uneasy truce with her being the Slayer, it still didn't mean she liked being it. Also, what good is being the Slayer in a world chock full of Saiyans who can now go to the second level? Hell, even Xander had now surpassed her.

Xander!

Of all people, he who at one time had been mister useless in a battle was now way beyond her.

In a world full of Super Saiyans who still needs a Slayer?

So she closed her eyes and let herself be killed.

Then she got hit and fell to the ground.

At least its over, was her last thought.

Then Buffy opened her eyes and looked into the skies of Afghanistan again.

She was still alive. She looked around and saw the faces of the others as they stared at her.

"I'm not dead?" she said, then she looked to her right.

And saw Belmo's crumpled body lying on the ground in front of her amidst a pool of his own blood.

"Belmo," she said as she got up and made for his side. He must have pushed her aside. But that meant…..

Looking elsewhere she saw Mayan's dead body lying on the ground. And Trunks' lying a couple of feet in front of her. He must have thrown himself in front of her. But where Belmo had pushed her aside and taken the hit himself Trunks had only managed to get the both of them got killed. Not to diminish his incredibly brave sacrifice in any way, but stu….., no, not so smart much?

Then she looked at Belmo again and realized why was she thinking that?

He was dead.

"Don't be dead, Belmo," she said frantically, "Please, Belmo, don't be dead!"

Then she looked around.

"A senzu, anyone, please? A senzu!"

"Buffy," Willow's voice said as tears began to well up in Buffy's eyes, "There are no more senzu."

"Then you do your magic thing," Buffy asked as her voice began to choke, "Do something! Bring him back!"

"Buffy, I, um, can't," Willow said as she bit her lip, "He's dead. It went right through him. T-there's nothing I can do."

"No, that's not true," Buffy said as she began to pump Belmovekk's chest, causing only more blood to flow from his gaping stomach wound, "We can save him! I know we can. We just have to keep trying."

"But Buffy…..," Willow objected, but then Piccolo put his arm on her shoulder.

"Let her," he said calmly, "She's lost it."

"Come back," Buffy said as she blew air into Belmovekk's mouth, "Please, father, come back. Don't leave me. Not again! You promised! Don't leave us! Don't leave your daughters like this…"

It didn't work.

Whatever she tried to save his life, it didn't work. Then she again looked around.

"Somebody, help me!"

But there was no help.

Not because nobody cared, or was oblivious to her plight.

They just had bigger problems to take care off.

Cell had returned.

A-Day minus 241

1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale.

"Are you talking to your imaginary boyfriend again?" Buffy said as she saw Belmovekk sitting on the couch hammock that was at the porch of their home. She had overheard him talking to somebody again, and since he was sitting there alone she figured he was talking to Amūn again.

"I think you just hurt his feelings," Belmovekk chuckled, causing Buffy to shake her head.

"I wonder what Mom would think if she knew that every time she slept with you she was actually having a threesome," Buffy replied, then she made an ugly face, "Ew, I don't even wanna know."

"Is there something you wanted to talk about, young lady?" Belmovekk asked.

"Funny you should ask that," Buffy said and sat down in the hammock, only to look around and smile, "Oops, I hope your boyfriend didn't mind me sitting down on his lap."

"He is gone," the Saiyan said as he reached for his ice tea, "Now what do you want to talk about?"

"I've just been on the phone with Faith in the motel," Buffy said as she pointed over her shoulder in the general direction of the telephone, "Guess who's been having dreams together again?"

Belmovekk had just taken a sip of ice tea and then sprayed it out in shock.

"Gee, I wasn't hoping for that reaction," Buffy said smiling, then her smile turned evil, "then again, this is better."

"Was it a prophetic dream?" Belmovekk asked as he put down his glass and looked for a napkin.

"No," Buffy said, "This one was different. Cause I know Willow also had the same dreams, she also just called and I have a pretty good feeling Giles and Xander are also going to call."

No sooner had she said those words as the phone began to rang inside.

"Belmo," Buffy asked as she looked him straight in the face, "What do you know of the First Slayer?"

Belmovekk looked at Buffy as he stopped cleaning himself. Then he stood up.

"Alright, let us get everybody, we are going on a trip."

"Whoo, road trip!" Buffy said in mock excitement, "where too?"

Belmovekk looked up into the skies.

"Kami's Lookout." He said, "There is something there that I must show you."

"And that has what to do with the First Slayer?" Buffy asked as she got up from the hammock.

"Come and you shall know."

Using his instant transmission they had gathered everybody and made it to Kami's Lookout. There with the help of Mr. Popo they had made for the hall of records. Inside Belmovekk began to draw intricate symbols on all the walls and doorways, including the roof and floor. But Buffy noticed that he was mostly redrawing symbols that had already been drawn before and had just faded away.

"Are those glyphs of Silence?" Giles asked as he watched Belmovekk do his thing.

"Sort of, Master Giles," Belmovekk said as he continued to draw.

"What are those glibs?" Buffy asked Giles.

"Glyphs of Silence," Giles couldn't help as he corrected her, "They're powerful wards to make sure nobody's eavesdropping on you."

"Oh," Buffy said, then she looked at Giles oddly, "Why didn't we have those back at the Library?"

"Because they take great skill to make?" Giles said chiding, "Because I'm not that good? Because they only last for a short while? Because having the whole library covered in glowing glyphs would have tipped off even Principal Snyder that something was out of the ordinary?"

"Master Giles is right," Belmovekk said as he finished the last drawing, then all of them began to glow, "They would have alerted even the dumbest of student that came inside the library. But these are different then the ones Master Giles mentioned.

"In what way?" Willow asked.

"For one, they are not Glyphs of Silence," the Saiyan explained, "These are Karand Wards of Solitude."

"What's the difference?" Faith asked, "Seems like different words, same stuff."

"Well, for one Glyphs of Silence only prevent other people from listening in," Belmovekk said pointing to the glowing wards, "These prevent anyone, including Gods for that matter, from learning what is going on."

"That seems kinda…., extreme?" Faith said back, to which Belmovekk shrugged.

"The Karands worship Demons, Faith. And not just the cuddly variety that you get to fight here. I am talking about real powerful nasty Demons. Demons who can do whatever they please whenever they want too."

"You mean the Old Ones?" Giles said with some horror to his voice.

"Yes," Belmovekk nodded, "Demons so powerful that even those who worship them feel the need to keep some stuff secret from them. After all, if one has to negotiate with a Demon, it pays to have some things remain hidden from them. Every Karand temple used to have a room covered in markings such as this, although they drew the markings in human blood. But that's not really necessary, it is just for show."

"Lucky us," Buffy said as she looked at the many markings and imagined the amounts of blood needed to draw them all.

"Fine," Faith said impatiently, "You've drawn your funny markings on the wall, you've told us a scary anecdote, what's this all got to do with the First Slayer?"

"Everything," Belmovekk said and pointed at the hall of records around them, "These halls contain records going back to Ra's occupation of Earth 10.000 years ago. And even before that. Together with documents that Master Giles secured for me from the Council these present the oldest known record of the real history of this planet. And I can tell you, it is different then what you were let to believe. Including the origin of the Slayer."

A-Day minus 12.000 years, galaxy NGC 3109

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1139.34 , science officer speaking."

"The Ilúvatar made system fall two hours ago after our probe reported sighting hinting of intelligent life. This has not been the first instance of such a thing occurring, as this galaxy seems to be teeming with life. There seems to be incredible numbers of planets here with intelligent life and we have found yet another one. In that sense this Galaxy seems to be a very good candidate for relocation of our city of Atlantis"

"The current planet we are investigating has lush green fields and forests, not seen since we abandoned our original home long ago. Some of the crew even suggested that we should notify Atlantis that we have found a prime candidate for the move. That is until they learned this world has ten times normal gravity. It's lucky we brought gravity neutralizing boots indeed!"

"Strangely enough, despite the high gravity our telescopes reveal that even here there are human like inhabitants, who live in primitive settlements. That humans can evolve under these kinds of condition is remarkable. The fact that their bodies don't show signs of being adapted to 10G's is even more remarkable."

"However there is something odd about this planet. Several odd things for that matter. First is the coincidence that this planet, which so much reminds us of our original home world, also has inhabitants that look so remarkably like us. It's a strange case of convergent evolution.."

"Secondly there seems to be something strange that has happened to this planet. Even though the current inhabitants live in primitive squalor, a cursory sensor glance at the planet's surface has revealed that there are literally thousands of sites full with the remnants of ancient cities which are no more. And many of them seem to be built right on top of earlier ruins. The record seems to be one place that my sensors said was built on top of at least twelve earlier destroyed sites. If I were to pose a guess I would say that something here causes the continued collapse of civilization."

"And thirdly there is the irregular orbit of the planet's moon. It is nothing special in size compared to the moon of the planet Earth we used to inhabit, It's just a very small moon. Most likely it's a captured planetoid that strayed too close to this planet. Just like the moons of the fourth planet of Earth's solar system."

"But what's odd with this moon is its strange irregular orbit. It orbits the planet at a very slow rate, which means it revolves around this planet once a year. That is way too slow for a moon to orbit a planet of this size. By all accounts it always stays in the dark side of the planet, never seeing sunlight. Or much of it anyway. This is highly improbable. By all accounts it should have crashed into this planets millions of year ago. It's even on a slowly decaying orbit as we speak off.

This is an interesting riddle that I would like to solve. Far more interesting then the planet itself which I will leave to the Ilúvatar's other scientists. Scientific officer out."

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1142.36, science officer speaking."

"We have made planetfall and parked the ship on a high mountain plateau that the locals seem to avoid. Chief anthropologist Priya claims it holds religious importance to them. Why, she doesn't know. I have to recommend her though for being able to make contact with the locals."

"She and others of the crew descended down the mountain and made contact with a local tribe. They are a smelly race of human like creatures, who live under extremely primitive conditions. They also happen to be very war like. Our team was immediately challenged to a duel within seconds of meeting them. Luckily chief anthropologist Priya is very experienced in handling first contact situations, including ones with warrior societies and she managed to diffuse the situation using skilful negotiation. As it turns she correctly understood that despite their primitive living conditions these people live in a very strictly regimented society where rules apply for everything. And that these apply to combat as well. We are very fortunate indeed to have her with us."

"Still, it's hard to comprehend that the ancestors of these people built some of the ruined cities we discovered. Chief archaeologist Magis and his team have begun excavating at the most promising site and he thinks there are even more layers underneath then we thought there were from space. Civilization here has indeed fallen multiple times. And as it turns out even more then we originally thought about."

"I am still puzzled by the planet's strange lunar orbit, and I have yet to find a clue."

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1147.01, science officer speaking."

"Chief anthropologist Priya made contact with the locals again. They call themselves the Saiya-jinn. Which in their language roughly translates as 'the People of the Moon'. She doesn't understand what it means other then that they fear the moon and refuse to speak about it."

"Chief anthropologist Priya also discovered something else. Those furry bands that we thought were primitive belts aren't belts at all. These people have actual tails! So there goes the convergent evolution theory. These people may look like us but they still differ from us."

Chief archaeologist Magis performed excavations at another site and again came upon several layers of cities being built on top of another. It's actually scary to read his reports. What could have caused their collapse? I'm starting to become more intrigued myself. Were these people invaded? While we have encountered several spacefaring civilizations in the area, none of them seem to be particularly aggressive."

"Magis today brought some examples today of some of the art that has been recovered from the first dig site. They were of exquisite design. He had placed them in a series that showed a remarkable progression in quality. When I remarked that this showed an improvement in both style and craftsmanship Magis corrected me and said it showed actually a regression. Magis told me that the finest examples of art came from the deepest layers and those of lesser quality came from the top. Again this example of continual cultural collapse.

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1149.21, science officer speaking."

"Today we managed to extract DNA from the locals and learned that these people are almost completely DNA compatible with us. We could actually mate with these people. This goes beyond convergent evolution, almost into, dare I say it? Intelligent design? No I dare not."

"It would also seem that the locals now know that we are on this plateau, for they left us some offerings of meat and fruits. The captain thinks that this is a sign that they trust us, Chief anthropologists Priya on the other hand thinks they might think we are gods. Henceforth the offerings. Having seen it myself I happen to agree."

"Chief archaeologist Magis today began cataloguing the finds of the second dig site and again came up with same pattern of crude craftsmanship in the top levels and superior craftsmanship in the deepest layer."

"On a side note I today discovered a cloud of asteroids moving through the system. I think they will pass close to this planet in fifteen days time. It should make for a spectacular sight. To bad we probably won't be here by then."

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1155.21, science officer speaking."

"Today we observed a fight between two rival groups. They met at a river, which seems to mark the boundary between their territories. One group strayed into hostile territory and then the other group attacked. Not directly, as a lot of rituals and formality was being observed. Nor did both groups attacked each other en masse. Instead each appointed a champion for them to fight. Then the two champions fought to until either the death, or until the loser would submit and give up. Then the group with the victor declared victory and the losing side withdrew."

"In itself that is not odd behaviour. We have observed similar kinds of behaviour in the past. In way its quite civilized because unlike regular warfare it spares the general population from the horrors of war."

"What was remarkable was the actual fighting itself. We have never seen anyone move quite as fast as these people could. Considering that these people are fairly normally built like us it should not be possible with the high gravity. We also never saw anyone be able to do the kinds of things these people could do. Showing highly advanced martial arts. Chief security officer Gayn is so impressed he wants to enlist these people in the war against the Wraith, thinking they could actually turn the tide."

"Now that we know these people have these strange fighting abilities Chief xenobiologist Aynd wants to examine one. Gayn thinks we should just stun one and grab one. Priya on the other hand fears we might lose the rapport we have build up and should instead seek to convince them to agree to an examination. In the end Captain Rand ruled out abduction for now, stating we are not the Wraith. But he did give Priya only three days time to convince one to be examined."

"News of our presence seems to have spread. Not only did we find more offerings at the plateau's edge, even chief archaeologist Magis today reported signs of offerings at his current dig site. And he's half a continent away."

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1158.13, science officer speaking."

"What incredible findings we made these past days. Chief anthropologist Priya managed to convince a man from a nearby local tribe to come with her to be examined. He seemed quite eager to show of his prowess."

"First he gave us a demonstration of his fighting abilities, again displaying superior speed and handling abilities which should not be possible despite the high gravity environment. And yet he did so with ease. He also showcased something we hadn't seen before. An ability for their bodies to generate energies and use it to push against objects. It's like telekinesis only he seems to do it with his body's natural energy."

"It has Chief xenobiologist Aynd absolutely enthralled though. She has a working hypothesis that somehow these Saiya-Jinn are able to both consciously and unconsciously harness the body's natural energies. She thinks that this is why despite the planet's high gravity their bodies are still sleek and slender, rather then short and stocky as it should be. That they compensate for the high gravity through increased bio-electrical energies instead of greater physical muscle mass. She also thinks that if you take one of these Saiya-Jinns to a planet with a more normal gravity then they would be able to harness those energies to even greater devastating effect."

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1159.05, science officer speaking."

"Today four more Saiya-Jinn males showed up on the plateau, demanding to be examined. It had us baffled until Chief anthropologists Priya spoke to them. She now thinks that her God hypothesis is correct and that the Saiya-Jinns now send their finest too us to be judged. At first the captain was sceptical but now, like me, he's inclined to agree with her."

"Chief archaeologist Magis began working at a fourth site, claiming he has again found one with many layers going back thousands of years. The man is unstoppable once he has dug in into a mystery. At least he will get the chance to explore it as the Captain has decided to extend our stay here to learn more about the strange energies that these Saiya-Jinn possess. He thinks they could be of some influence in our war with the Wraith."

"Concerning Magis' mystery, despite Priya's best efforts to learn more of the Saiya-Jinns' history they refuse to tell us of their myths and legends. Telling her that the 'Before time' is something that is best left taboo. Strange how these Saiya-Jinn are so willing to let themselves be examined by us and yet remain so mysterious regarding their own history.

"Well, since we are staying a little while longer I shall relish the chance to experience the meteorite swarm that will pass in five days time. It should be quite…. spectacular?

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1162.17, science officer speaking."

"We are making definite progress with these Saiya-Jinn here. So much so that the Captain is contemplating using our own Stargate to contact Atlantis and set up a permanent Stargate here. An army of these Saiya-Jinn has to be nearly invincible, just what we need to stem the tide against the Wraith's superior numbers."

"Unfortunately Chief security officer Gayn seems to have little success organizing these Saiya-Jinn into an army. Those that appear at the plateau all seem to be loners who refuse to work together. Even if they do come from the same tribe. Somehow the idea of fighting as an unit seems anathema to them. To bad one of them isn't so strong he can take on a whole army of Wraith by himself!"

"Science officer report, ASS Ilúvatar, mission time 1163.29, science officer speaking."

"I am so excited! Today I've solved the mystery of this planet's strange decaying lunar orbit! As the meteor cloud got close I discovered that suddenly this planet's moon began to rise again. It was like some unknown gravity well was lifting the moon up. It was spectacular! I've never experienced anything like it! This is pure science at its best!"

"What I discovered is that the meteor cloud is not a meteor cloud at all. It's a black dwarf star! They were thought to theoretically exist by this is the first confirmed case ever! It's the remnant of a collapsed star that turned into a white dwarf and then cooled down to the point of being virtually undetectable. It must be the oldest known star in the universe! And it passes right in front of me! I'm giddy with excitement!"

"It must have been captured by this star's gravity and now passes in a elliptical orbit through this solar system, capturing asteroids and meteors as it passes through the star's Oort cloud."

"But here's the truly genius part! As it passes through this system once every 227 years it comes close to this planet. And then it's gravity pulls on this planet's moon and lifts it into a higher orbit, thus preventing it from collapsing into this planet. I wouldn't be surprised if this moon wasn't originally part of the debris field surrounding the black dwarf that got captured by this planet instead. It so explains so many things!"

"What's also interesting is that when the black dwarf passes this planet at its closest it will actually pull the moon so far up that it be lit by the local sun. So we will also get to see a full moon on this planet, one that only happens once every 227 years."

"Acting science officer ASS Ilúvatar reporting, mission time 1166.21, Chief archaeological officer speaking."

"It's been two days since the Event."

"I was on the sun side of the planet, together with Chief anthropologist Priya working on the dig site when I noticed an odd pattern. Using advanced carbon dating performed by our second engineer I discovered that each layer was separated by the next one by a strict margin of 227 years. Like clockwork the city would be destroyed, another would be built over it, more crude then its predecessor and then 227 years later it would be destroyed as well."

"I immediately cross checked these findings with the ones of my other three digs and while not as conclusive as the results of this dig, the 227 year pattern more or less held up. And then I remembered our Science officer's discovery of the black star passing near this planet every 227 years. I tried to call the Ilúvatar but got no response. Then Priya and her team came by and told me the natives were getting restless. That something was about to happen. So we immediately abandoned the dig site and used the explorer module to return to the Ilúvatar, which just happened to be at the planet's night side."

"By the time we got there we learned the awful truth about why civilizations collapse every 227 years, why the Ilúvatar wasn't responding and why the Saiya-Jinn are called the People of the Moon."

"It would seem that when this black dwarf causes the planet's moon to be exposed to the sun and become a full moon the Saiya-Jinn change physically. And I don't mean this in a modest sense, like grow some sharper teeth, they actually transform into huge towering mindless monster apes! Who trample everything underfoot and belch up fiery balls of energy that can destroy anything."

"No wonder civilizations fall. With a pattern like this what civilization could survive? No wonder civilizations became cruder each time as knowledge got lost. And no wonder these people eventually gave up on civilization all together."

"When we arrived at the Ilúvatar we found our ship to be soundly trashed. Probably because our presence drew the Saiya-Jinn to us to begin with. We were unable to land as it was just too dangerous. We were shot at by these apes at least half a dozen times so we had to retreat into planetary orbit and wait for the black dwarf to pass."

"After the black dwarf had passed we returned to the wreck of the Ilúvatar to look for survivors. Thankfully we found at least seven survivors, including Chief engineer Ross who has managed to rescue the spare ZPM."

"After we had landed and began examining the wreck of the Ilúvatar some of the local Saiya-Jinn came by and apologized for what happened. That the moon had exacted its curse on them again. I guess in the end it doesn't matter. For better or for worse we are now stranded here. And I guess we should count our blessings. At least now we'll be safe for at least 227 years."

"This is the personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"It has been ten years since the Event that destroyed the Ilúvatar and left us stranded in this system. It's been ten hard but very satisfying years as we adapt to leaving on the Green Planet, as the Saiya-Jinn call it. Well, maybe I shouldn't say we, as it's been mostly me who has adapted."

"These past ten years I have spent mostly wandering with the local tribes of Saiya-Jinn and I have come to admire them greatly. I know some of the other survivors call them oafish brutes but I have come to know them as warm caring individuals, who love their families greatly, even if they are terribly harsh to those newborn infants who they find lacking, which they often abandon."

"To a normal person this would seem barbaric and uncaring. But I am still a trained anthropologist and I was taught to look beyond the moral confines of our own society and seek the ones of the society I am trying to study. And it tells me that life here on the green planet is hard and unforgiving. Only the strongest survive here, especially with the 227 year cycle on top of that. So there is no room, nor resources, for the weak."

"And yet as I travel among them I find that these practices do not come lightly to them. A family that abandons a child that is too weak does so with great visible pain in their hearts. But they know they have too, for the greater good of the tribe. Loyalty to family, friends and the tribe goes before everything. And you can have no greater friend then a Saiya-Jinn as I've discovered with my good friend Aang."

"Aang is a Seeker, a Saiya-Jinn who lives alone and travels from tribe to tribe seeking knowledge. Usually martial arts techniques. While the tribes can be fiercely territorial when it comes to their neighbours, they seem to tolerate these Seekers whom they hold in high regard. If there is any modicum of civilization left, it's because these Seekers continue to spread them. Probably because in their case knowledge actually is power."

"I came upon Aang shortly after the Event when I found him not far from the wreck of the Ilúvatar. He appears to have been wounded during the Event, as the Saiya-Jinn apes often turn on each other, and was close to dying. Sharing some of my food and offering the aid of my auto-healer I was able to restore him back to life and he has been my faithful companion ever since, thinking himself my bodyguard."

"Together we have been travelling the Green Planet, going from tribe to tribe, seeking knowledge. Him trying to learn new martial arts techniques so he can fulfil his quest of becoming the best martial artist ever, me trying to better understand these people."

"I had completely lost track of time during this time. It has been the scientific journey of my life. I found that while the Event caused many, if not half of the Saiya-Jin to get killed, the lose tribal structure of their society probably allows them to better survive as a culture then the earlier cities did. And this, as it turns out, was by design!"

"Aang introduced me to various tribal elders who told me stories of a mysterious ruler of a mythical city who had figured out the Cycle. This ruler managed to predict the next Event and led his people into safety in specially constructed caves. Thus they survived as other Saiya-Jinn, transformed in their ape state rampaged through their city. Figuring that the next time his people would not be so lucky he ordered for them to abandon the cities. That only by living in small scattered tribal communities could the Saiya-Jinn survive as a culture. It seems strange but it works. Even now I see how the tribes reform and regroup. Some tribes get assimilated into bigger tribes, others split, forming new ones, but the Saiya-Jinn as a whole endure."

"Aang and me were near a small community near the Eastern sea when we suddenly spotted something I'd never expected to see again. It was a puddle jumper!"

Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"It's been three days since we spotted the puddle jumper."

"The Ilúvatar carried two puddle jumpers in addition to the larger science module so we could move about a planet after the ship had landed. But both of them had been aboard the Ilúvatar when she was destroyed, only the science module remained as our sole mode of transport throughout this solar system. I had seen the damage done to the puddle jumpers and they were beyond any hope of repair. Which meant that the only way for a puddle jumper to be here was if they had come from Atlantis."

"Upon seeing the puddle jumper I activated the personal beacon I still carried in my med bracelet, after which it came down. I was greeted by one of the pilots, who was a junior scientist aboard the Ilúvatar, but the biggest shock turned out to be the other pilot, who I recognized back from Atlantis. Which meant that my suspicion was right. The puddle jumper had indeed come here from Atlantis. But they told me that soon enough anyway."

"Apparently the war with the Wraith had deteriorated badly after the Ilúvatar had left the Pegasus galaxy to the point that the Wraith had overrun all our remaining outposts and then laid siege to Atlantis itself. The decision was taken to abandon Atlantis, sink the city into the ocean and return back to Earth. Only to discover that a new foe was waiting for us there."

"It was around that time, the darkest hour of our race, that the survivors of the Ilúvatar managed to jury-rig a Stargate and contact the others. And that is how I wound up back at the plateau where the wreck of the Ilúvatar still was. Only this time it was a sprawling city full of both Saiya-Jinn and Lanteans alike."

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"As I arrived in this new city I was greeted by many of my friends and former colleagues who thought that by now I was dead. For ten years I had been living out on the green plains with Aang without any technical support and they thought that by now the gravity neutralizers had stopped working without recharging. Great was their surprise when I told them I had stopped using them years ago. I didn't go cold turkey of course, but by doing it gradually and with the aid of Aang I managed to overcome the gravity and feel fine about. In fact I now feel better then ever. The idea alone that it was possible had them quite shocked."

"Next I was taken to the city administrator, Namath, who used to command our biggest outpost around the time the Ilúvatar left Atlantis. He greeted me warmly and congratulated me on surviving for this long on my own. We talked about what I had been up to these past ten years. Then he offered me a job again as chief anthropologist. I laughed him in his face. He then pleaded with me using the plight of our people. After which I laughed some more. The war with the Wraith was over as they had abandoned the Pegasus Galaxy to go back to Earth. Now they were as well. What plight was there?"

"Boy, was I in for a treat!"

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"Okay, so the Earth and parts of the galaxy are overrun with demons and my people went from fighting one losing war straight into another. What were they thinking? The Wraith, our backwards cousins back at the homeworld and the plague weren't problematic enough? Now they had to add fighting Demons from other dimensions to it as well?"

"Faced with the new plight of our people I relented and agreed to become chief anthropologist again. And because, I have to admit it, I could never say no to science."

"This is the personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"Okay, something odd is going on here."

"What is the point of this city I wonder? I mean, if this was a refuge from the Wraith and the Earth Demons I could understand it. But most of the city seems temporary. And I hear a lot of talk in the cafeteria about going back to Earth, about the war against the demons. I've even heard a few talk of retaking the Pegasus galaxy from the Wraith. I'm starting to have suspicions about this place. I wish Aang was here .

"In the week that I've been here I've socialized a few other survivors from the Ilúvatar. While it has been fun meeting old friends again I can't help but notice how much they have changed. The war on Earth is all they talk about. Or maybe it is I who has changed?"

"I had a weird incident the first time I went to work in a 1G environment again, I smashed two computers before I learned to control myself. They sent me to medical and to their surprise, and mine, they discovered that I now also had some of the same increased energies and strengths that the Saiya-Jinn have. The doctor thinks this is because of my constant exposure to the planet's 10G gravity. Could it be that easy?"

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"I knew something was wrong here. I knew it!"

"Despite me giving extensive reports and detail about Saiya-Jinn culture, administrator Namath is only interested in the martial aspects. He then said I was to be transferred to another facility, on the other side of the mountain. I was to report there to administrator Na'toth."

"The other facility, Camp D, is totally different. From the outside it looks more like a prison then a research facility. And that's because it is!"

"Administrator Na'toth showed me around the place and was very open about. So much so that I had to hide my astonishment at the brazen openness at what they were doing here. Then again, why should I have been surprised? This was why we stayed on the Green Planet longer then we should have in the first place. We Lanteans are drawn to things we can use, and abuse, like moths to a flame."

"To put it simply, Camp D is a research facility where Lanteans experiment with Saiya-Jinn women. And in ways that are too horrible to even imagine. And why women one might ask? Because they find them easier to control."

"Administrator Na'toth showed me the room where they expose these girls to the simulated light of a full moon to trigger the transformation. Naturally this would be to absurd to even contemplate. Who in his right mind wants transformed Saiya-Jinn running around? Right? They have found that if they drug these women just the right way the transformed beast becomes docile enough to be controlled. Or that at least is the theory. They're not that far yet. Something is holding the women back. Once they succeed however they plan to use the Saiya-Jinn as cannon fodder against the Demons and maybe even the Wraith as well."

"I was so much appalled that I came close to attacking administrator Na'toth. Instead I just asked why I was needed here. I'm just an anthropologist. I don't know why I said that. Why I didn't give him a piece of my mind or even worse. Was I too cowardly to speak out? Why did I submit instead of rebel?"

"Administrator Na'toth said that he thought my ten year experience of living amongst the Saiya-Jinn gave me an unique insight in the specimens, he actually called them that, one that was sorely needed amongst the xeno-biologists that had worked on the girls so far. Again, instead of speaking out I just said yes, like a good little Lantean scientist should."

"I disgust myself."

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"I spoke with some of the Saiya-Jinn girls today. They think they are pleasing the Gods, that's us that is. In most cultures we have come across that usually means fulfilling a sexual role, as matriarchy is a rare thing. And while Saiya-Jinn culture allows its women more freedoms then most, it's still a male dominated society. While I have seen women being allowed to fight, they tend to do so as part of male dominated war bands. Even when a woman is exceptional enough to lead a war band she will still mostly lead men. And while Saiya-Jinn women can be competitive, go out hunting and be quite vicious even amongst themselves, they still tend to be subservient towards the men. I guess that's why they chose to experiment on women, not men."

"While the girls are more then eager to please us 'Lantean Gods' I noticed a reluctance coming from them which is highly unlike Saiya-Jinn women. Normally amongst each other you can't get them to shut up. These girls are unnaturally quiet. I feel this is something I should explore."

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"I've had many a conversation with the Saiya-Jinn girls here at Camp D. I was more convinced then ever that these girls are holding back something. But I couldn't figure out what. It had me torn for weeks. On the one hand I was glad, because this whole project disgusts me in every fibre of my being. On the other hand, like the good obedient little Lantean that I am I was intrigued by this puzzle. I wanted to solve it. I really do! How do I even sleep at night?"

"Just when I was about to hit rock bottom and do what I should have done in the first place I went outside for a walk and sat down looking at the moon. I did this often out on the green plains, much to Aang's amazement. He never understood why anyone would look at the thing that caused so much trouble for Saiya-Jinn like him. He hated the damn thing. Because of what it could turn him into. All the more so because he had recently experienced it."

"And that's when it hit me. That's why the girls were holding back! They too had experienced the full moon before. They knew the pain and shame of the transformation. Maybe if they never had seen before and it had just been a story they might have committed fully. But after the events of a decade ago, seeing their society shattered, loved ones dead or missing….."

"I should have left it at that. I had solved the puzzle. Walk away from there. But no, I had to see this through till the end!"

"I talked to one of the girls, told her that I understood her reticence, related my experience with Aang, how I really miss him, then I did the really disgusting thing and convinced her that submitting to the moon's light was not a shame. That it was a natural thing to do, and above all it was what the Gods wanted of her. I felt so vile."

"But it seems to have worked. Namath reports that since my talk they've had great improvements with the girls. Soon they may achieve what they have come here to get. An army of obedient transformed Saiya-Jinn to fight their wars for them. When I realized that my curiosity had condemned these girls I went back to my room and drank myself to sleep. What have I done?"

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"While all the girls have made great progress, there is one who's ahead of all the others. Which is funny because when you look at her you'd think she's the runt of the litter. But when she's transformed Namath swears she's almost in complete control. Of course, when he says almost he doesn't really mean it. After spending a year studying these transformed Saiya-Jinn in their feral nature he doesn't really believe she might be sapient in that state. To tell the truth, neither do I. "

"And yet….."

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"I observed that girl again. When I watched as close as I dared she transformed something strange happened. For a moment, the briefest of moments, I could have sworn that her eyes turned blue green for a moment. It was also a moment that her power spiked to absurdly high levels. Na'toth has tried to recreate the moment but has failed so far, leading him to conclude that it might have been a fluke."

"I am not so sure myself to dismiss it this eagerly. Something strange is going on here. I can feel it. Even the other Saiya-Jinn girls seem to feel it as they now shun the girl. I feel like I am back on the Ilúvatar again, in those days when we first detected the black dwarf and thought it was going to be fascinating. And boy, did we pay the price for that."

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"With the project nearing completion I decided to leave and return to the city. Disgusted as I am with the project, if I can't live with the consequences of my actions at least now I won't have to look at them any more."

"Yet out of sight does not mean out of mind as far as my conscience is concerned. I hide in a small apartment and only alcohol's sweet embrace helps me sleep at night."

"It was after a heavy bout of drinking that I woke up and suddenly looked into Aang's concerned face. I thought I was dreaming. Aang here? Last time we saw each other was at the shores of the Eastern Sea. It took us ten years to travel there. There's no way he travelled to here in less then ten weeks."

"And yet he did. Aang, my good friend, how I've missed you!"

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting."

"All is not well in this city."

"Aang told me that despite the awe and reverence the Saiya-Jinn have for us Lanteans, many are growing dissatisfied with their arrogance. If I had heard this on any other planet but here I would not have believed this. But the Saiya-Jinn have a very….., 'direct' relationship with their gods. If their personal god does not deliver it's not beyond them to curse them and turn to a different deity. As we do not believe in gods, yet observe many around us who do so at a very profound level, it's beyond us Lanteans to realize that we might have pushed the God button a little way too much."

"I told Aang what was happening at Camp D, what they were doing to the girls there. He shared my outrage and together we came up with a plan. This evil would stop here, right now. Tomorrow night we storm Camp D!"

"Administrator Mobiros, head of the board of inquiry dealing with the NGC 3109 Galaxy disaster reporting. In the case of administrators Namath and Na'toth's we the board come to the following conclusion:"

"Regarding the charge that gross negligence of the part of administrators Namath and Na'toth in regards to the renegade, Priya Anhali we find that there was no grounds for suspicions that her loyalties had changed. For weeks she performed the tasks that were set out for her, which eventually led to the breakthrough. There was no cause for administrators Namath and Na'toth that she would lead a rebellion of the local Saiya-Jinn against Lantean rule and Camp D in particular. We hereby clear both administrators Namath and Na'toth of these charges."

"In regards to gross negligence in regards to the security of both Main base and Camp D the board concludes that while there was much to be left desirable in regards to both base's security, based on previous experience with the Saiya-Jinn, an attack seemed unlikely. Administrator Namath also stated for the record that he did request for additional security measures but was denied so by the Council."

"As for what happened on the fateful night the board has concluded the following: That the renegade Priya Anhali and her rebel Saiya-Jinn penetrated Camp D's security using her still active security codes and made for the testing area. There they tried to free the test subjects and in doing so caused an incident whereby her rebel Saiya-Jinn were exposed to the simulated lunar emissions and transformed. In the process Camp D was destroyed, half the staff killed and the test subjects escaped with the rest of the rebel Saiya-Jinn."

"As the survivors retreated back to Main Base they were chased by some of the transformed Saiya-Jinn, upon which the Saiya-Jinn in the city rose up. Using the last test subject administrator Namath drove off the rebellious Saiya-Jinn, but knew he could not hold out indefinitely. As the de-transformed rebels regrouped under the renegade Priya Anhali's leadership administrator Namath decided to evacuate back through the Stargate. We conclude that in doing so he probably saved the lives of the rest of the expedition and we recommend administrator Namath for his quick thinking."

"Since renewed attempts to reopen the Stargate in the NGC 3109 Galaxy have proven unsuccessful we conclude that the renegade Priya Anhali has most likely sabotaged the gate there to deny us renewed access. Since we lack the resources to send another expedition to the NGC 3109 galaxy we recommend that further attempts to exploit the resources there be terminated. Instead we recommend to direct all attempts on using the specimen that administrator Na'toth managed to bring back instead."

"This board inquiry is hereby officially concluded."

"And? How did it go?" former administrator Na'toth asked as the former administrator Namath returned from the board of inquiry.

"It was as we expected," Namath said as he sat down in a chair, "They cleared our names. There was nothing we could have done to foresee what had happened."

"Other then you not sending that bitch Anhali to me," Na'toth scoffed.

"Not funny," Namath said annoyed, then he continued, "Oh, and don't expect another expedition to the NGC 3109 galaxy. Moribos used the board to finally kill off that idea. The bastard was always against it and now he got what he wanted."

"Is he still riding that physical ascension bandwagon of his?" Na'toth asked.

"He claims he's very close," Namath sighed.

"Well, maybe we don't have to go back," Na'toth said and activated a view screen, "Look what she did!"

On the viewing screen there were scenes of a lone Saiya-Jinn girl, standing in a large arena. Then five massive demons entered the arena.

"Those were taken when the Alliance took back the Rigel system," Na'toth said excited, now look what happens when we activate her neck bracelet."

On the viewing screen the girl suddenly began to transform into a giant ape. Like all Saiya-Jinn did when exposed to the light of a full moon.

"Are you dousing the place in full moon light," Namath asked, to which Na'toth shook his head.

"We no longer need actual full moon light," he said excited, "all we need is the correct electro stimulation through the neck bracelet and it will trigger the tail glands. But look!"

Once she was fully transformed the girl roared defiantly at the demons. And then she transformed again, this time her fur coat turned to gold and she got surrounded by golden flames of energy. She then charged into the demons and utterly ripped them apart from limb to limb."

"Impressive, huh?" Na'toth said eagerly as he looked at a spellbound Namath, "I wish I knew what that bitch Anhali did when she tried to take our specimens but in her case it backfired and caused this new transformation in this girl. She now alone makes up more the loss of the other specimens. She actually has insane amounts of power now. In this state she's like a ZPM on legs."

"You have got to be kidding me?" Namath said shocked.

"Do I ever?" Na'toth said deadpan and pointed to the screen, "I can tell you know, Namath, this girl is now our ticket at taking back Earth."

"Personal journal of Priya Anhali, former Chief anthropologist, ASS Ilúvatar reporting, final entry."

"I am dying."

"Before my time it would seem. I guess the medical bracelet can't fix constant exposure to 10 G's of gravity to one who is not naturally accustomed to it. But it's okay, I am at peace with it."

"Much has changed since Aang and I led the Saiya-Jinn in a rebellion against my fellow Lanteans who were exploiting them. After they fled through the Stargate I de-activated the device and considering the desperate state my people were in I don't think they will ever come back. The Saiya-Jinn are now free to live their lives from their corrupting influence."

"And yet their corruption remains. For the Saiya-Jinn are now no longer content to live in small tribes. They want more. And there is still one form of Lantean corruption on these people."

"Me."

"The Saiya-Jinn now revere me as a sort of half-god who delivered them from evil and look to me for council. Now that they have learned from the Lantean experiments that it is possible to control their transformations they seem dead set on replicating that feat. They're also impressed by what happened to that one girl at Camp D, the one who transformed into something even more terrible. She's already becoming the stuff of legends. The Legendary I've heard them call her."

"I have tried to help these people as best as I could. I taught them everything I knew about the Cycle, about the strange black dwarf that rampages through this system and once every 227 years drags this planet's moon out in the open, where it catches the light of the sun and becomes a full moon. That the transformation gets triggered by a gland in their tail. And that it has been the cause of the fall of their civilization. Repeatedly! Now that they fully know they seem eager to overcome this challenge. And if there is one thing that these Saiya-Jinn love it's a good challenge."

"I know that the Saiya-Jinn venerate me. No matter how many times I've tried to tell them that I am not a God or the prophet of one they continue to worship me. Mothers bring forth their children and ask me to bless them, wise men come to me for council, rivaling tribes ask me to mediate. Even now thousands are gathered outside my tent as they await my death, firm in the belief that once my physical body dies I will transcend and become their God. Try living up to those expectations!"

"I've tried running away, but they won't let me. I've tried talking them out of it and it only seems to re-affirm their faith. By now I have come to accept my fate and I've spent the past decades trying to come up with something, anything, that will guide this faith into proper channels. If it is my fate to become the Goddess of these people then I might as well come up with all the proper teachings and gospels before others, less scrupulous people, do it for me. I wish I had another lifetime to refine them further, but I don't. I hope that what I create will be able to stand the test of time and those who seek to abuse my name for their own good."

"I wish Aang were here. Dear, sweet Aang. But he died years ago of old age. Which I never saw coming as these Saiya-Jinn don't age physically very much once they reach adulthood. Aang had to have been way past middle age when we first met."

"But he left me with a son, Be'ijita, who has taken up his father's legacy. As one of the leaders of the rebellion Aang has garnered quite some influence and as both his son and mine he stands to be a pretty powerful man. All the more reason why I spent decades molding and shaping him to prevent him from getting perverted by the power. And to help shape my impending religion into the right direction. With any new religion, while it's the 1st generation that creates it, it's the 2nd generation that molds and shapes that religion for the generations that comes after it. It's upon Be'ijita to make sure my legacy does not get perverted. I just hope that…"

Putting down the recording device Priya Anhali, last of the Lanteans on the Green Planet, began to cough. She put her hand in front of her mouth and noticed that she was coughing up blood. At this point she didn't need a medical bracelet to tell her that she was going to die. Only a Lantean medical facility could save her now and there were none.

"Be'ijita…..," Priya called out weakly, "I…"

Then Priya Anhali, last of the Lanteans on the Green Planet died. Next thing her son, Be'ijita entered the tent, knelt by her bed and checked her vitals. Feeling none he gently closed her eyes, kissed her forehead tenderly as he allowed a single tear to fall down his cheek, then he got up and left the tent. Outside there were thousands of Saiya-Jinn who got up as soon as they saw Be'ijita emerge from the tent.

"Our beloved mother is no longer with us," Be'ijita said resolute as he held his arms, "She has passed on to the afterlife and is now reborn."

As the assembled devoted multitude outside gave expression to their grief, inside the tent something happened. From Priya Anhali's lifeless body, a light began to shine, then the light arose and left her body.

Personal log, administrator Namath, New Atlantis, Earth.

"It has been a long fight but we have retaken Earth and cleaned the Galaxy of the demon infestation, in no small thanks to the monstrous powers of the Saiya-Jinn warrior. But our dreams of using her to retake the Pegasus galaxy and Atlantis have been foiled. On two fronts."

"For some strange reason the power of the Saiya-Jinn girl seems to increase every time she transforms to the point that we can no longer control her. In that sense it is fortunate that we have defeated the demons out there. For we cannot risk sending her into battle again. Na'toth now reckons she is so powerful that she might actually tear the planet apart that she's on if we were to lose control."

"As a result we have placed her in a controlled coma. For even when not transformed she has grown unruly and rebellious. While she loves to fight demons Na'toth suspects she misses her own kind and home planet. She has already tried to escape once and while doing so almost managed to transform without the stimulus of her control collar."

"It is most unfortunate that we cannot use her no more. For while the demons from other dimensions have been beaten back from Earth and we managed to close the interdimensional gateways, during their reign on this world they conducted some experiments of their own with the local humans. We don't know why or to what end, as none of them seems to have produced a particularly powerful hybrid, but many of these demon hybrids remain on this world, hiding, and sometimes preying upon the local humans. Like with the interdimensional demons our technology is unable to deal with these hybrid demons. Only the power of the Saiya-Jinn girl can really deal with them."

"Meanwhile we lose more and more of our people to Mobiros' newfound ascension. The old goat has finally found a way to shed our mortal bodies and reach a new level of existence. Great was his shock when he learned that the Others, our backwards cousins from back home, already learned how to do this. So more and more of us are ascending, tired of life on this physical plane. And because only through ascension can they hope to stop our backwards cousins from coming to this Galaxy."

"This leaves only a small group of us to continue the war against the demons. Which makes it even more unfortunate that we can no longer use the Saiya-Jinn girl. It means we have to rely even more on our human assistants, the demon watchers. But Na'toth is ever more creative. He and his team have extensively studied demon magic and think they can transfer her essence into a human. And by doing so create a less powerful version of her, capable of continuing the fight against the hybrids."

Personal log, administrator Namath, New Atlantis, Earth.

"Today we transferred the essence of the Saiya-Jinn girl into another human test subject. She has been genetically altered with two retro viruses after the failure of the previous test subject. The first to allow for the introduction of Saiya-Jinn DNA into the human population, the second, and even more important, to act as a check against the influence of these genes. As it turns out humans are extremely susceptible to Saiya-Jinn DNA and the girl proved unable to cope with the massive power influx. Her pain receptors literally killed her from pain overload. Luckily we were able to rescue the essence of the Saiya-Jinn girl and transfer it into this girl. So far the test subject seems stable. Soon we will know if we have succeeded."

Personal log, administrator Namath, New Atlantis, Earth. Final entry.

"The transfer was a success. The girl not only lives, she's showing remarkable increases in strength. She is everything we had hoped for, our warrior in the fight with the remaining demons. Too bad we cannot create a small army like her, as she has nowhere near the power of the Saiya-Jinn girl when transformed. Luckily the remaining demon hybrids require nowhere near that amount of power. Although there does remain the chance that through sheer numbers they might overwhelm and kill her."

"But Na'toth has planned for that contingency as well. As a final step he has created an airborne version of the retro viruses that will spread to the general human population. It will attach itself only to a small number of human females, who just happened to have the right kind of genetic receptability, genetically altering them to be susceptible for the transfer of the essence. While small enough to be controllable it will be large enough to serve as a replacement pool for his other plan. By using demon magic he has made the Saiya-Jinn essence transferable. Upon death of what he has termed the Slayer it will transfer to a random next candidate. It will only affect human females for two reasons, because they tend to be more controllable, and because the retro viruses doesn't seem to take hold in human males."

"Unfortunately it's selection cannot be controlled, but that was the best solution he could come up with considering our limited grasp of demon magic and the limited time we have left in this physical plane. By now most of our kind have ascended, tired of the constant battle against everything we encounter. Only a few small groups have remained, including ours, still dedicated to securing this planet and the Galaxy from future demon infestation. And soon that number will dwindle even further as most of us have decided that they can devote themselves to that task even better when ascended. Only a few of us will remain behind to help shape the human demon watchers into something that will be able to look after itself and Na'toth's Slayer without our direct leadership."

A-Day minus 241

"What?" Buffy exclaimed after she had heard the tale that Belmo had reconstructed from these old documents, "So let me get this straight. This supposed demon that they stuck in us isn't some demon after all? It's a watered down Super Saiyan?"

"The Legendary Super Saiyan in fact," Belmovekk replied, "the very first. The one that became the stuff of legends, that drove Vegeta's quest for power. She was the very first one and they took her from my world and used her as a weapon first, and then as a template to create the Slayer. Your battle instincts are Saiyan, young lady, they're the source of your power. Transferring from one potential to the other throughout the ages."

"I….., um…," Buffy said speechless as she grabbed her chair to steady herself. Meanwhile Faith spoke up.

"Okay, I get it," she said less shaken by Belmovekk's revelation, "So I'm part Saiyan. But why don't I get a tail? And if she's the first Slayer, why do I see her like she's some bush bitch straight out of the jungle?"

"Because you are not a direct copy of the Legendary Super Saiyan," Belmovekk explained, "They took elements from her and turned her into something different, something a little more… human perhaps? Also, it wouldn't do to have her crop us as the Legendary Super Saiyan in your dreams. You wouldn't have a common frame of reference. So they probably modified her dream appearance as well. From what I was able to discern those Ancient scientists and mages were pretty big on control. Only Aldur might know how many safeguards and obfuscations they built into the template they took from her."

"How about Super Saiyan?" Faith asked, "Does this mean that I could go Super Saiyan too?"

"I have no clue," Belmovekk said as he shook his head, "I would not count on it if I were you. Like I said, there is no telling what those Ancients did to the template, what they changed and what they omitted. I have been keeping track of the progress each of you has made over these past years and other then giving a slight initial boost and a somewhat higher rate of advancement there does not seem to be much difference between training a Slayer versus a regular human, like those soldiers."

"Hmm," Faith said somewhat disappointed, then she looked at Buffy, "So, B. whaddaya think?"

To which Buffy said nothing as she was lost in her thoughts.

"I think the Buffster's too busy coming to terms that she might be related to the Big Guy after all," Xander said, then he looked at Belmovekk, "Okay, that explains the Slayers. But how about me? Where does my Saiyan gene come from? How come I get all the fun stuff, like a Saiyan tail? And don't tell me it's just leftover from that stupid spell."

"Well, that is a different story altogether," Belmovekk said, "but not so different as you might think. Let me take you back to a story I once told you before."

France 1764

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"I arrived in Paris a few days ago. What a different city it is from London, both in spirit and appearance. So much more vibrant, and alive then cold dreary London. I have to also admit that it feels strange to be in the capital of the very country I had fought against for these past years. Yet the Parisiéns seem friendly and bear me no ill will despite my British nationality. If anything they blame their own king for the war."

"I met with the French head of the Watcher's Council today and he welcomed me to Paris. Then he told me the bad news and immediately handed me a new assignment. Apparently the current Slayer had been killed in Constantinople and none of the projected Potentials has been activated. This means that an unknown Potential has been activated somewhere anywhere actually. Which means that the whole Council is currently up in arms looking for her. And as it so happens the French head thinks that she might be somewhere in France. So it was welcome to Paris mes ami, now off to the provinces! When I protested that I was barely in the country and just passing through he told me that thanks to the war he was dangerously understaffed and that as a former soldier I should know when to shut up when receiving my marching orders."

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"I may have only been in Paris for a few days and be impressed, but I recognize a provincial town when I see one. Besançon is bereft of anything remotely interesting other then its local cuisine. I feel like I'm being exiled."

"Tomorrow I travel on to a small village near Besançon, where rumour has it that the new Slayer now lives. With my current luck it's probably a dead end. I console myself that all across the world fellow watchers are skulking about on similar errands, all desperately trying to find the next Slayer."

"The sooner I get this over with, the better."

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"Good God! I have found the Slayer! The actual honest to God Slayer!"

"When I traveled to the village I met the parish priest, who told me that the daughter of the Marquis de Besançon, who lives nearby, had confessed to him having strange dreams of fighting vampires and demons. These are usually the tell tales of a newly activated Slayer, but some Potentials are known to have such dreams as well around the time that a new Slayer gets called. It is thought to be a sign that they were considered for calling but got passed over. While rare it does happen."

"I'm amazed at the readiness of the local parish priest to betray her confession, which I was taught in the Catholic faith is a sacred act. But it would seem the French Catholic church does things differently from the Roman Catholic church. And the French Catholic church seems awfully chummy with the French department of the Watcher's Council. It's probably why despite having less Watchers then most other departments they still get things done. Having all the local priests available as intelligence gatherers can be a major asset. Having said that I still think the man's a cretin for abrogating the sacred act of confession."

"So I traveled on to the chateau of the Marquis de Besançon. I found the marquis and his son and heir not at home, the son attending military academy and the father already serving in the French army. That left only the mother to introduce myself to. A charming woman I might add, but not a very bright one. I easily conned my way into her trust using the techniques taught to me by my trainers at the Council."

"I then met the daughter, who's only function in this family seems to be to get married to a more influential family. As soon as possible that is! Other then that her family cares very little for her. Which meant that the girl, Victoria, was starved for attention and very open to my expression of interest. I managed to gain her trust and she told me of the dreams she's been having. And then she showed me the coup de grace, her torn corset which she tore out off around the time she had those dreams. This girl is the Slayer alright!"

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"I secured the permission of the mother to take the girl with me. The official cover story is that I will take her to one of the best prep schools in all of France. Unofficially of course I am to take her to the Council for training and re-assigning. Frankly I'm amazed that I got her so easily. Madame de Besançon must have been desperate to get rid of her. I have heard of this before, how Slayers of noble birth are easier to obtain from their parents then those of common descent, but this is the first time I have actually witnessed it. I am ashamed to say that I am ashamed of my own class that we place so little stock in our own children."

"On the way back to Paris I quickly learned why the mother was so desperate to get rid of her daughter, she is incredibly headstrong and loath to obey orders. I pity the watcher who has to be in charge of her. But I do confess her strong opinions do make for interesting conversations to while away the long journey towards Paris. I have not been so 'intellectually challenged' since the days of my Cambridge debating club. Or when I was debating captured French officers during the war."

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"Today I tested the new Slayer in combat during our stopover for the night at Dijon. I took her to patrolling the streets with me and just when I thought there were no vampires in this town we were attacked. Luckily for her it was but a newborn as she had quite some difficulty handling the fiend. And luckily for her her Slayer instincts staved off defeat. Even though there were times I considered jumping in. But in the end she came through and killed the vampire. She then looked at me with eyes that told me that now she understood. That she had finally found her purpose in life. That she was not useless after all. I must admit that I found that discovery to be exhilarating myself. It is not everyday that you give purpose to a life. Even if it is only destined to be a short and brutal one."

"After that she wanted to comb Dijon looking for the newborn's sire. Because where there are newborns, there are also the elder ones who sire them. But I didn't think it was prudent for her to take on a real vampire, let alone the possibility of a master vampire. Not without her receiving more training that is. When I told her that she demanded that I train her on the spot. What a delightful girl. I showed her some of the stuff that I was taught in the army. Fencing, that sort of stuff. She surprised me at the speed with which she picked it up. These Slayers are amazing!"

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"What is it with France? It seems to be overrun with vampires these days. We ran into more vampires in both Auxerre and Melun. I'm starting to understand why the French head of the Council was so strapped for manpower. I'm glad that Victoria is such a fast learner, while we were in Auxerre I had to jump in to save the fight but in Melun she deftly handled things herself."

"We finally reached Paris and I presented Victoria to the French department head of the Council. I fully expected her to be transferred over to a real Watcher, but great was my surprise when he assigned me to be her permanent Watcher. When I protested that I was only a fairly new Watcher, having been recruited from the army at the end of the war, and that I lacked seniority he laughed away my objections. He stated that he had no Watchers to spare to begin with and that it was Council policy to pair a Slayer off to the first Watcher that came into contact with her. Unless he was a Searcher. Since I wasn't the latter, that now made me her official Watcher."

"Great!"

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"The French department head of the Council wasn't lying when he said he had no Watchers to spare. Victoria and me were awarded only a few days to outfit her with the tools of her trade and for some training, then we were shipped off to the provinces again. France is awash with vampires since the end of the war and with the previous Slayers being too far away the Council had been unable to really do something about it. And now that he had an actual Slayer the French department head seemed eager to exploit this sudden windfall."

"After leaving Paris we travelled through various cities of Eastern France, Meaux, Troyes, Reims, Saint-Dizier, Châlons sur Marne, Verdun, Strasbourg, Metz, Thionville, Epinal, Mézieres, Charleville, Laon, Soissons, Saint-Quentin, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Roubaix, Lille, Amiens, Compiègne, Noyon, Beauvais, the list is endless. And that was just our first six months."

"For a Slayer with no prior training other then look marriageable Victoria handled herself with valour. She may not be trained beforehand, she got a lifetime's worth of training out in the field. She has to be one of the most gifted Slayers in history. At least as far as I'm concerned. And while she remains to be headstrong and persists in wearing those stupid corsets, when on the job she is all business. Which is just as well because when she's not on the job she's driving me mad."

"And yet, I fear for that inevitable day when she will strive too far, meet a demon too powerful or a master vampire too crafty to kill. I now fully understand why no Watcher who has ever commanded a Slayer seeks to get assigned to a new one. Why they teach us Watchers to be detached from our charges and view her only as tools to be used. To do otherwise is too emotionally damaging once she inevitably dies. And yet I cannot do so. No matter how much I try to remain detached I cannot remain so. Whenever she comes to me for comfort, whenever she misses her family, whenever she gets confronted with the fact that she will never be able to love someone, I can never push her away and just tell her to focus on her training."

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"It has been a year and a half since Victoria got called and I think in that time we have seen about every town and city in France, killing vampires and demons by the score. The French department head of the Council is most pleased with us, so it came as no surprise that when the Council itself ordered that Victoria be transferred to Germany he was royally pissed. But there is no arguing the orders from the Council so we saddled up and went to Germany."

"The German states are even worse off then France in regards to the occult infestation. Especially the states that were hit worst during the recent war are rife with the creatures. Hanover, Saxony, East-Prussia, Silesia, Bohemia all suffered greatly in the war and they have the greatest manifestations of these creatures. For more then a year we travelled from one country to another and killed vampires and demons on a nightly basis. Frankly, after a while even I lost count and just submitted 'lots' in my reports to the local Council department heads."

"The move to Germany has been hard for Victoria, who already suffered much from home sickness while in France, but suffers even more so when in these strange German lands. It has caused her to come even more to me for emotional support. Lord give me strength to be the best Watcher I can be to her under these stressful conditions!"

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"We are nearing a fateful date."

"It is less then a month until Victoria reaches her 18th birthday. And like any Watcher I know I dread what that means. The Cruciamentum is upon her. I have already received orders to take her to Hanover where she will receive the much feared test. I have already received several doses of the much feared drug to administer to her. Lord give me strength! How can I even do such a thing? To her! My beloved Victoria!"

"I cannot remember when it happened but these past months we finally transcended the last boundaries between Watcher and Slayer. We became lovers. Two lost souls coming together out here far away from home. I realize it's a severe breach of my professional oath, both as a Watcher and as a soldier. But I cannot deny my heart any longer and neither can Victoria. We love each other and it's our love for each other which in my opinion makes us such a formidable team fighting the forces of the underworld."

"But now I am forced to chose between my duty and my love. Do I have the strength and conviction to see this through and hope that Victoria has the willpower and resourcefulness to survive the Cruciamentum? My mind says she does, but my heart fears she won't. Either way I have to make a choice. Do as the Council says and let her undergo the test. And hope that if she survives we will be free to carry on as we did before. Or defy the Council and have the wrath of the Council come down on us. Neither way holds much attraction to me."

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"There is less then one week to go before the Cruciamentum. We are near Hanover now and I can no longer dally my decision. If the drug is to take effect I must start administering it to her now. My heart is torn! Lord give me strength!"

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"I had made up my mind and was about to administer the Cruciamentum drug to Victoria when I changed my mind and told her everything. My confession shocked the poor girl. While we were often out on our own in the field without much support from the Council, she still had some respect for this organization. After all, it can be hard out there and sometimes one must act fast and loose, not wait weeks for approval from some far away Council department head. The Council also understands this so it works both ways. But the very idea that the Council would subject the very people it is supposed to support to such a cruel and unnecessary test was enough to shatter any remaining loyalty Victoria might still have for it."

"Now that I confided in her I fully expected her to refuse to undergo the Cruciamentum. But instead she volunteered to do so. In that sense the girl is much smarter then I am. She instantly realized that the Council would come after us if we were to run away. The question however becomes, can I still go ahead with this? Can I live with the very substantial risk that she might not survive the test? I know this though, if we were to disappear the Council will come after us and we might not survive. But on average only one in three girls that do undergo the Cruciamentum survive this brutal test. Can I live with that one in three chance?"

Council report 1767AD.4.12, the right honorable Klaus Fuchs, Hanover station.

"It is with great sadness and regret that I have to announce that Watcher Marcus of Fletcham and his Slayer, Victoria de Besançon, have both failed to appear at the due date of said Slayer's Cruciamentum test on April the 8th. I gave them two days leeway in case of delays along the way but at the same time alerted my agents to be on the lookout in case they tried to get away or that they encountered an occult emergency along the way."

"No such instances were reported and my agents did report that both Marcus and Victoria were last seen on April the 4th in Bad Sachsa near the Thüringen border. In the absence of any explanation in regards to their sudden disappearance I am forced to concluded that Watcher Marcus has reneged on his duties and is now on the run from the Council. I hereby alert all bureau chiefs to be on the lookout for them and to terminate the rogue Watcher and Slayer on sight."

"Signed, April 12th, year of our lord Jesus Christ 1767, the right honorable Klaus Fuchs, Hanover bureau chief."

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"I could not go through with the plan. Each time I administered the Cruciamentum drug to Victoria I saw her get weaker and weaker, way faster then should have been the case and I now greatly feared for her life if she were to undergo the test. And then I learned the truth of her condition and that settled it. I'd now rather die then let her take that cruel and outdated test. "

"We are now on the run. And I must plan our actions accordingly. First we must seek shelter. The Council has agents everywhere. They know of my past and that I served with the British army in Hanover and that I have many friends in the Hanoverian and British armies. They will expect me to come visit my old friends and seek their help. With such a gargantuan organization out to get us I cannot afford to be predictable. I therefore must never seek my friends' aid and instead seek the aid of new friends. An old saying goes that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I must now seek out the aid of those we once fought. That will not be easy. There is also another old saying that as a former military man I hold dear, the best defence is a good offense. If we will never be safe as long as the Council exists in its present form then maybe we should bring down the Council."

A-Day minus 241

"This is all fine and dandy," Xander said as he interrupted Belmovekk's story, "But you told me that story already around Buffy's 18th birthday. I thought you were going to tell me about my Saiyan genes."

"You're such an imbecile," Faith said derisive, "He just told you."

"No he didn't," Xander bit back, "He just told me a story he'd already told me before."

"And that's why you're an imbecile," Faith sniggered.

"I don't get it," Xander said as he looked around the room.

"For god sakes, Xander, do we need to spell it out?" Giles said as he reached for his polishing cloth, "The reason Marcus ran off with Victoria was because she was pregnant."

Xander didn't respond for a while as his brain digested the information. Then his jaw slowly opened with no end in sight to the downwards motion.

"Houston, we have lift off," Faith sniggered.

Venice, Italy, 1768

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"As she nears the end of pregnancy Victoria experiences more and more strange dreams. Each morning as she wakes up and the dreams are still vivid she tells me of them. Strange dreams of worlds not our own, a vast green planet bathed in the light of an orange sun. Of strange people with apelike tails. Of people who sail across the heavens in strange metal ships. And of a monstrous golden ape devouring and ripping apart demons so huge and powerful not even a Slayer could hope to defeat them."

"At first I wasn't worried much. Slayers are said to have prophetic dreams of the evils that they are supposed to fight. But we are no longer fighting evil. At least not in the sense of that the Council used to define it. I can write whole volumes of our adventures these past nine months, but those are tales for other days. Suffice to say that when you are in the abode of the biggest master vampire in the city of Venice prophetic Slayer dreams should not come as a surprise. I'm amazed that Victoria's Slayer instincts haven't made her drive a stake through our host's undead heart."

"As time went on however, and she began to describe more and more details I began to note them down. And I began to draw sketches of what she was seeing in her dreams. I used to do this a lot in the army, taking descriptions of army scouts and turn them into maps or depictions of what we could expect ahead. I must be good at it because when I showed them to Victoria she looked like she had seen a ghost."

"To be frank, they make me look pale as well. The images are very….. alien? Strange beasts, strange vistas. Strange everything really. It is like being granted a view into different worlds. Maybe even hell itself."

A-Day minus 241

"These are some of the drawings that Marcus made," Belmovekk said as he handed out some old drawings.

"Ozaru much?" Buffy said as she saw a drawing of a giant Ozaru crushing a demon underfoot.

"More like our great-great-great-grandmother," Faith said, then she held up a drawing of a girl being strapped on a table while men in white robes were doing stuff to her, "Ugh, Initiative flashback here."

"I feel like I know this place," Giles said as he looked at a drawing of a crashed spaceship on a mountain plateau.

"It is the sacred plateau of Azarg-Marg on mount Selyesna, back on planet Vegeta," Belmovekk said and pointed to the spaceship, "Think away the spaceship and instead imagine a temple standing there."

Giles took another look at the drawing, then his eyes grew big.

"Oh dear," he muttered uncomfortably.

"So that fruity French Slayer had some weird dreams," Xander said dismissively as he put down his drawing, "I still don't see what this has got to do with me."

"And…, straight back into denial," Willow said pouting, "Poor Xander."

"The denial is strong in this one," Faith said as she patted Xander on the shoulder.

"Where did you get these?" Giles said as he examined another drawing, "The Council never was able to retrieve anything from Marcus other then what he was wearing when he got caught. As far as the Council was able to find out Marcus destroyed everything before his last desperate act."

"The Council is not the only global institution going back millennia on this planet, Master Giles," Belmovekk said and held up a file cover with a logo that said 'Wolfram & Hart', "Like Marcus said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Oh, and before I forget, Xander, Lilah says hi."

"Bitch!" Xander scoffed.

"So the rumors of Marcus being involved with Wolfram & Hart were true," Giles said softly.

"Indeed," Belmovekk continued, "but in this case not directly. Marcus handed his personal diaries and records off to a friend, a fellow disgruntled Watcher who helped him plan the assault on the Council, that friend would later find himself destitute and pawned these records off to Wolfram & Hart."

"You must have paid a fortune for them," Giles said as he looked at another drawing, "Or considering it is Wolfram & Hart sold your soul to them."

"Surprisingly enough they were quite cheap," Belmovekk replied as he scratched his hair, "It has been more then two centuries ago. Whatever information Marcus had is no longer relevant. Not even the Council itself seems that much more interested in retrieving them. The only reason Wolfram & Hart kept them in the dark was, well, to piss them off it would seem. For me I only had to perform a few minor tasks to get them."

"I don't like the way you say minor," Faith said, "It makes it sound….., ominous? What did you do?"

"Nothing for you to worry about," Belmovekk said dismissively, "Anyway, back to the story…."

Venice, Italy, 1768

From the diary of the right honorable Marcus of Fletcham.

"Victoria gave birth today to a healthy baby son. To bad the attending midwife was a vampire but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Neither can I complain much about the small mob of vampires watching as our son was born. It is not every day that a Slayer gives birth, much less in the company of vampires. Oddly enough rather then wanting to devour our infant these monsters all wanted to hold and cradle him like any other human. It would seem that despite having become demons there is still some parental instincts in them left. I wonder if this is because they cannot have any natural offspring themselves."

"Never in recorded history has there been a case of a Slayer who gave birth. At least that I know off. It is official Council policy that were such a thing to happen that the child must be killed immediately, even if it is still inside the mother. For the resulting child would be an abomination. It doesn't even say what the exact abomination would be, just that it is. Which made me all the more curious to see what our child would look like."

"In the end surprisingly normal and human as it turned out. I counted five fingers and toes on each hand and foot. Considering the taboo the Council places on Slayers giving birth I had expected at least horns, cloved feet and a very nasty tail. Well, that last part seems to have been true. As I turned my son around I noticed a small, almost tail like protrusion above the anus."

"That aside our son seems completely normal. A fine heir to the Fletchham name. Under normal circumstances that is."

"Unfortunately we do not have the luxury of normal circumstances. We are on the run. We cannot afford to keep our son. With great sadness I therefore must seek accommodations for him elsewhere. Victoria is heartbroken over this but she understands. We can never be a family as long as the Council is after us. Therefore we can never be a family until the Council is no more."

A-Day minus 241

"How come I didn't know about this 'enforced right to chose'?" Buffy asked Giles, "You never told me about this."

"I…, um..," Giles stammered uncomfortably and without thinking his hands reached for his cleaning cloth again.

"Now you've done it, B.," Faith sniggered, "He's British, you do know they don't do sex very well, right?"

"That didn't stop him from making constant remarks about my sex life," Buffy countered, causing more strangling noises to come from Giles.

"He probably figured there was no need for a pregnancy test," Faith grinned, "You dating only men who lacked a heartbeat in all."

"If anyone should have gotten the speech it should be you," Buffy bit back, "The bars back in Sunnydale still lament you being away and all."

"Oh, but I did get the speech," Faith said deadpan, "My Watcher told me to not get pregnant. Like in ever! She even bought me birth control."

Before Buffy could say something to Giles, the former Watcher held up his hand.

"Please, Buffy, for all that's holy, please don't go there," he said uncomfortably.

"Fine," Buffy shrugged, then she looked at Belmovekk, "What's the big deal with this pregnant thing anyway?"

"Oh nothing much," the Saiyan said and picked up another piece of paper, "Only that the child of a Slayer is rumored to have powers comparable to a Slayer."

"What? A male Slayer?" Buffy exclaimed.

"No," Belmovekk said shaking his head, "I am not sure. I even asked Oma Desala about it and she could not tell me. Either the child has Slayer like powers, or…., it has Saiyan like powers, the ones on which the Slayer is based. And that the barriers that have been placed on the Slayer do not apply to the child."

"Which would mean the Council would have no way to control it or even know what to expect," Giles said, then he looked aside and mused, "No wonder the very idea fills them with dread."

Meanwhile Willow put her hand on Xander's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" she asked concerned.

"Why shouldn't I be," Xander shrugged like everything was alright, "As it turns out I'm an even bigger freak then I thought I was. A bloody freak!"

"You're not a freak, Xander," Willow said as she squeezed his shoulder, then she looked at Belmovekk, "Tell him he's not a freak!"

"Is it even certain that Xander's a descendant from Marcus and Victoria?" Giles asked, "I mean, do those files even mention that?"

"Not as such," Belmovekk said as he put down the file, "Marcus wrote down lots of things regarding him and Victoria, and his plans to assault the Watcher's Council. But not where he hid their child."

"See!" Willow said encouragingly, "You're not a freak. You're just a non-freak with freakish strength and freakish Saiyan DNA and stuff."

"Now I feel so much more better," Xander said sarcastically.

"However….," Belmovekk said ominously as he reached for a different piece of paper, "Xander's family tree does go back to a certain family from Quebec called the Lavalieres. Who emigrated to Canada from France right around that time. Jean de Lavaliere was a former French army artillery officer serving in the army of the Duc de Richelieu, occupying the Electorate of Hanover. Marcus served in the opposing army of Ferdinand of Brunswick and when it captured the port of Emden, Jean got captured by forces led by Marcus."

"Despite being from opposing armies a friendship seems to have been struck and when Jean de Lavaliere and his wife boarded for Canada they had with them a baby boy. Since Marcus knew that the Council would check his old Hanoverian and British army buddies he probably thought it prudent to hide him with a friend from the opposing camp."

"That's not much of a proof," Giles interjected, "For all we know this child was their son, not Marcus'."

"Let the record show that in 1773 the Lavalieres went to the registry office in Montreal to adopt a now five year old boy called Eric, as their son. And this Eric de Lavalieres just happens the furthest I could trace back in Xander's family tree. Let the record also show that Eric would later work as a lumberjack and was known for his, and I quote, freakish above human strength. Who upon his death at age 77 still looked like he was in his forties. Do I need to go on?"

There was no reply as everybody looked at each other not sure to say.

"I guess that proves it once and for all," Xander sighed, "I'm a freak."

"But you're our freak," Willow quickly said and put her head on his shoulder, "our special Xander shaped freak."

"Thanks Will," Xander said and patted Willow on the hair, "I guess I should be grateful. At least now I know the truth. Warts and all."

Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, the now

"Don't die, father," Buffy said as she desperately tried to do what Mayan had done before, infuse raw chi into Belmovekk's body to get his heart starting again, "Please don't die! You promised. You promised that you would never leave me!"

A-Day+15, Room of Spirit and Time, day 239.

Gathering in her energy Mayan concentrated very hard. Was this the day that it was going to work?

Imagining Cell to stand in the distance Mayan began to grunt.

"You're going down, my mottled friend," she said with grim determination, then she shouted, "HAIL OF FIRE!"

THOOM!

Firing off a massive blast of a reddish pink hue Mayan shot her energy attack towards her imagined foe. Then, right before it should have hit home it veered upwards and split into dozens of tiny beams that shot into every directions. As she poured more energy into the attack Mayan began to sweat heavily, then she yelled as she tried to maintain control of her attack.

"Do it!" she grunted through gritted teeth, "Do it!"

As the energy dispersed into every direction the beams suddenly began to curve back, then like a hail of rain it converged back on the intended target and hit at the same moment and time.

DOOM!

"Yes!" Mayan shouted exultant as she did a little happy dance, then she turned around and extended her fist towards the little child that stood behind, "Come on, punch!"

Little Mayan extended her fist in response and gently the two Mayans bro-fisted.

"What do we say?" Mayan said to her past self.

"Mayo power!" little Mayan smiled proudly.

"Mayo power indeed!" Mayan said as she picked her past self up and began to swing her around. Which was much to the little child's delight.

"Do it again!" little Mayan said eagerly, "Make it go boom again!"

"Ooh, you like that, don't you?" Mayan smiled, "You're like me, huh? You like things that go boom, don't you?"

The child nodded eagerly.

"Alright," Mayan said as she put little Mayan on her left arm and aimed her right hand towards the horizon, "Let's go boom, shall we?"

"Boom boom!" little Mayan said excited. Then Mayan fired off a series of chi blasts that disappeared into the distance.

"Wait for it," Mayan said as the toddler seemed disappointed that there was no big boom. Then 12 flashes appeared on the horizon and seconds later came the noise of 12 explosions happening in series.

"Mayo power!" little Mayan clapped happily.

"Punch," Mayan said as she held out her fist towards little Mayan and the toddler tapped her fist with hers again.

"This has got to be the most twisted scene I've ever seen," a voice said behind them, "Not only are you turning the power of the Super Saiyan into something from the Teletubbies, playing with your past self has just got to violate at least dozens of tempory objectives. I'm surprised that Jean Claude van Damme hasn't burst into this place to stop it."

"Hi, sis," Mayan said as she slowly turned around and faced Buffy floating a few feet above the ground behind her.

There had been times, when the sight of her sister had made her sick to her stomach. And it wasn't that she didn't understood that the Buffy from this time, or this universe for that matter, was different from the one back home. And even if she wasn't, this one had done nothing to deserve the scorn that she had been heaping on her.

It was just that seeing her every time hurt so much. Seeing her reminded herself of everything that she had lost. Everything she had suffered. And that hurt. It really hurt. In those first days it had taken her every ounce of self control to not fall apart. And while Mayan was good at many things, dealing with emotional issues of her past just wasn't part of it.

But they say that time heals all wounds and after 239 days of being cooped up together in this place that was a lot of time for time to heal stuff. Just like playing with her past self had become something that was no longer freaking her out, so was seeing her older sister.

"What can I say," Mayan said as she winked at little Mayan, "She just likes being with me. I guess she senses a kindred spirit."

"It's unnatural," Buffy said as she shook her head frowning.

"Everything about us is unnatural," Mayan shrugged, "what's a little bonding between two Mayans compared to that? Punch."

The two Mayans tapped each other's fists again.

"Go bond back at Time Square," Buffy said pointing behind her, "Belmo wants to train me again."

Time Square of course was their reference to the small domed structure full of clocks and hourglasses that they used for sleeping and eating.

"What does he want to do?" Mayan asked.

"Oh the usual bout of 'let's see if we can turn Buffy into Super Buffy," Buffy said without much enthusiasm, "Sometimes it would seem that's all that's on his mind."

"You'd think that if it were possible that by now it should have happened," Mayan said as she put little Mayan on the white surface, "I mean, how many more creative ways can that man think off of trying to make somebody go Super?"

"Exactly!" Buffy echoed, then she looked at her almost three year old little sister walking around in almost 80 G's worth of gravity like it meant nothing to her. And then it really hit her.

She's going to be a Super Saiyan long before I do.

Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, the now

Despite her best efforts to revive him, Belmovekk would not come back to life, no matter how much chi Buffy pumped into him.

Of course the gaping whole in his chest might have something to do with that.

A-Day+16, Room of Spirit and Time, day 663.

As he watched Buffy and Xander spar Belmovekk sat down on his hunches on the floor of the Room of Spirit and Time. And he was not feeling good.

What the hell was he supposed to do?

In two months time their time in the Room of Spirit and Time was going to be over and he had nothing to show for it.

He had failed to make her go Super. Despite everything he had tried nothing seemed able to make that barrier that those accursed Ancients had placed in her disappear. They must really have feared letting another Super Saiyan go and walk this Earth again. And yet there had to be something. What if the dimensional portals re-opened again and real demons, true demons emerged again? The old style Slayers would stand no chance against those. Surely they must have placed a back door, something that would allow her to release her true powers. Otherwise, what would be the point?

His own training had come to a dead stop as well. As did Xander's. Well, the last was to be expected. While he had nothing but respect and admiration for Xander, there was no denying the fact that whatever allowed him to go Super was tenuous at best. He just lacked the genes to really take advantage of what would have been possible for him. Maybe if he had been born several generations earlier his abilities would have been stronger. He might even have been able to give Vegeta or Trunks a good run for their money. But he wasn't, so he was just the best he could be under the present circumstances. To his credit he seemed totally comfortable with that.

If only he could bring out the Super Slayer that lurked inside Buffy….

For himself he had no excuses. While he knew that he knew a lot of tricks, he also knew that his own potential for growth was limited. He just wasn't as good as his fellow Saiyans and his initial superiority stemmed from a millennia long head start, not innate ability like Goku seemed to have. In the three years since he arrived on this planet his own abilities had grown. But never by as much as Goku and the others.

His father knew about this. It was a problem that ran in the family. That was why both his father and later he himself had pushed him to become so adapt at all the martial arts. Or as his father used to say, if you cannot impress them with strength, show them skill instead. It had netted him quite a promising career in the Royal Household. After all, somebody had to train all the royal and Elite brats and beat it into their thick pampered skulls that there was more to fighting then just brute strength.

"Why are you so obsessed with turning her into you?" a voice asked curiously, a voice laden with harmonic overtones. Then Amūn walked into view and then sat down next to him.

"Why can't you just let her be herself?" the Goa'uld specter asked.

"Because I do not like having to depend on Goku's plan alone," Belmovekk replied sullen, "It makes for bad strategic planning not to have at least some sort of backup plan."

"You have fought plenty of times without a backup plan before," Amūn countered, "Against the Majin for instance. In fact you didn't even had a plan other then finding that thing. Nor did you have one when you took on the Mayor. It was all one giant hail Mary exercise."

"That was different," Belmovekk shrugged, "the future of the Earth is now at stake."

"Like the battle of Sunnydale and the Majin were such picnics," Amūn said back, "You nearly got us both killed. Again, why this obsession with her? Why not strive for some power of your own? If you at least had strength equal if not more then Goku, who knows what the two of you might accomplish together."

"My power is just not sufficient," Belmovekk said again sullen, "Maybe if I had a decade or two in this place, who knows, but two years? I am just not like Goku and Vegeta. I cannot advance as fast as they can."

"You sure as hell won't advance if you're as morose as this," Amūn snorted, then he nodded towards Buffy, "Again, why her? Usually you do everything you can to keep her out of harms way. It's not like you to suddenly push her to the forefront. And even if by some fluke you do manage to make her go Super, what's it going to accomplish? Super Saiyan is no longer cutting it. You need that Super Saiyan beyond a Super Saiyan to do that trick."

"Do you think I like doing this?" Belmovekk said indignant, "Do you think I like putting her life in danger? Fuck you, worm!"

Further away Buffy and Xander stopped sparring as they suddenly looked at Belmovekk who had started to yell.

"What the hell?" Xander said surprised, "Did I just hear the Big Guy drop an F-bomb?"

"He's talking to the Goold again," Buffy said.

"Sounds like a huge family feud," Xander said.

"This is not good," Buffy said worried, "He's not talked to that thing since we came here. And that Goold only comes when there's trouble."

"Then I guess there's trouble abrewin'," Xander grinned and rammed his fist into her face, "My kind of trouble."

Buffy rubbed her face, then she looked at Xander with eyes that spelled bloody murder.

"Oh, you're so going to get it!"

"I hate that I have to put her at risk," Belmovekk said after his anger had subsided and he sat down again, "But I have no choice. And neither does Goku. He is not a fool. At least not of the kind we all think he is. If he could defeat Cell himself he would have done so already. If he banks his son's life on it he does so because he has no other choice."

For a moment both Saiyan and Goa'uld said nothing, as they resumed watching Buffy and Xander spar again.

"Maybe Goku is right," Belmovekk sighed, "And his son will be able to reach that new level of power and destroy Cell. But what if he is not? You are right that we have often fought without a backup plan. But we were forced to under duress to make things up as we went along. This is different. Each of us has been given two years in this place to come with something that will defeat Cell. With that kind of lead up it would be foolish not to come up with some sort of backup plan."

"You do realize that her merely becoming a member of the Super Saiyan community, despite the many fringe benefits, will not win you the day, right?" Amūn said as he reached out and put his hand on Belmovekk's shoulder, "Like you said, if Goku could defeat Cell, he would. Super Saiyan is not going to win the day."

"What about him?" Belmovekk said as he pointed towards Xander, "From the moment I met him he has continued to amaze me with his ability to keep up. Sure he has some Saiyan-like genes in his origin, but they are watered down, both by time and circumstances. And yet he has managed to become a Super Saiyan!"

"In no small part helped by you placing him at the heart of a chaos spell," Amūn snorted derisively.

"We do not know that," Belmovekk said, "Maybe it was fated. And if that was fated, what else is fated?"

"You're clutching at straws here," Amūn said as he shook his head, "This is not like you."

"I have been in the hands of fate for most of my life," Belmovekk shrugged, "It is my business to know fate. And my gut tells me, has been telling me since I first met her, that she is fated for great things. If that kid can become a Super Saiyan despite his tenuous link, what power could there be in her? She could be off the scale!"

"You keep dreaming that, Saiyan," Amūn said disbelieving, "In two months time it won't matter any more. Then your 'vacation' in this place will be over and you'll be out in the real world again. You've tried everything but throwing the kitchen sink at her. It's not going to happen."

"But it worked with Xander," Belmovekk argued.

"He's a man and only tenuously related to the Slayer," Amūn said as he stood up, "Whatever he is, the normal bounds that shackle the Slayer do not apply to him. Face it, Saiyan, your meditations and techniques are not going to cut it. Maybe if you bring out the doomsday weapon, take one for the team and die it might work. But I forgot, you did that already."

And then he was gone, leaving Belmovekk to himself as he pondered the Goa'uld's words.

Take one for the team.

Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, just moments before

"No, it is not possible," Belmovekk said horrified as he recognized the emanations of chi that were coming from the strange cloud that was before them..

"T-that chi," Vegeta said shocked.

"Oh no," Piccolo said as he recoiled.

"You guys have way too much fun at our expense," Xander said as he looked upwards and rolled his eyes.

Then an arm appeared from the cloud, followed by another, then two index fingers extended themselves. One aimed at Mayan, the other at Buffy.

"Fee-fi-fo-fum," a smug voice singsang, "Which of his two daughters shall the Saiyan save this time?"

Then two Lancing Attacks were fired. One each for both Mayan and Buffy.

Around Belmovekk time suddenly felt like it was slowing down, almost coming to a stop.

What am I supposed to do? I cannot save them both, Belmovekk thought horrified, I must chose between my daughter, and the girl that I love like my own daughter. How can I make such a choice? Aldur, give me stre….., no, Priya, Goddess of War, hear my prayer! I know that I have not prayed to you in a long while. I also know that you do not care about worship. That you only demand that we worship ourselves. But I come to you with an impossible dilemma. What am I supposed to do? I know that our world is gone. And with it maybe you yourself. But if you can still hear me, Goddess, grant me the insight to do what is right.

As the two lancing attacks inched forward towards Buffy and Mayan there was no reply. There never really was. Such was the way with Gods, only helping those who helped themselves.

Then it hit him.

Take one for the team.

And he knew what to do. Cause when the chips were down there really was no choice. Only one recourse left.

Forgive me, Mayan, my dearest daughter, may Priya have mercy on both our souls.

Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, the now

"No, Belmo, don't die," Buffy wailed in despair, "You promised. You'd never leave me. Not like….. FATHER!"

Looking up with eyes that shone in cold blue green Buffy yelled up towards the heavens.

On a hilltop not far from where Bruce Schnitzengruber and the FOX NEWS team were watching on in horror an old woman stood and watched as well.

"Yes," she said approvingly, "Let it go, Slayer, let it go. Let it go and let the heavens tremble and the earth shake! They took away my children, now let Them feel my wrath."

She had heard Belmovekk's prayer. And although he now belonged to someone else, she still listened to one of her own. She knew that if Belmovekk saved Mayan Buffy would die and nothing would come of it. Neither of them had the potential to fight Cell. But if he died saving the Slayer, it might serve as the last straw to break the shackles that the Others had placed on her. He knew it himself. It was why he had tried to get himself killed by Cell before. He didn't need much encouragement.

The bonds that the Others had placed on the Slayer were strong. Very strong. But so was the connection between the Slayer and the Saiyan. Incredibly so. A bond carefully crafted by the Destinies. Maybe even for this very purpose. His sacrifice might serve to finally break those shackles.

And it did.

Never let it be said that Priya Anhali, Saiyan Goddess of war, did not look out after her children.

Wherever they were.