It Lies Within
By Moonraker One
CHAPTER EIGHT – Meet "Spike" Tekora
As the trio headed away from Planet Velir where the gods went about their business of ruling their respective universes, Goten and Trunks were somewhat nervous about what kind of training they were about to receive. After all, Sonya was less than descriptive about what her training regimen involved. What they didn't know, was that the gods were not going to leave anything out when it came to the training that they were going to endure to become stronger. Goten, fidgety as ever, was beginning to lose his calm posture.
"Hey Sonya, ma'am?" He asked, getting the tall vampiress's attention as they zoomed through space in a ball of light. "What are we going to be doing for out training?" The statement caused her to turn around, and face the little Saiyan.
"Goten," she replied, "Your training will be whatever I decide it will be. So no more questions!"
Defeated, and shameful for being scorned by the queen of the vampires, looked down at the floor of the spinning energy ball they were riding in. Trunks walked over and put his arm on Goten's shoulder. "Don't worry Goten," he reassured his friend. "I'm sure we'll go through the training without much of a problem." He wasn't so sure of that himself, however.
The ball came to a rather violent stop. As they exited it, all four viewed their surroundings; this planet was certainly a vampire's paradise. The sky, the rivers that ran through the scenery, and even the mountains in the distance were all blood red. The blue sun that shone throughout the entire gods' universe was in sharp contrast to the red vampire planet sky; it made for quite a scene. If it wasn't for the extreme amount of the color red, this would look much like Earth. Off in the distance, was the place they would live at for the next few years of preparation for the battle with Pan and her evil power; Kakor Te La Donna, the Temple of the Vampire Queen.
Almost a second after they began walking in the direction of the temple, Sonya stopped, cautiously, and drew her enormous sword. Trunks sensed a strange ki nearby, but that wasn't as weird as the blade that Sonya had in her hand; it was six feet long, four inches wide, and the handle was gem-studded. Surely, this blade had seen the blood of many battles. The pre-teen trio stood back as Sonya, with her expert senses, scanned the area , remaining as motionless as is possible. She then moved the huge sword quickly—almost too quickly for the trio—in the direction of a nearby bush, just as a strange figure leaped from it. He moved rapidly out of the way, just mere seconds before the giant blade would have impaled him.
"Halt! Who goes there!" He yelled. When he noticed it was Sonya, he bowed and faced his master. "Sorry, Lady Sonya, I just felt ki that I hadn't felt before, and I thought it was one of those damned Kais again!"
Sonya smiled as she put her blade back in the sheath. "These kids, Spike," she said to her main warrior, "are the three that you and the girls will be training!"
Spike, with his badly scarred face making the trio cringe, quickly analyzed mentally the three teenage immortals. It seemed to him that these kids had lots of potential, but hadn't been receiving the proper training. Otherwise, they'd be far stronger than they are. He looked, to Trunks, like he'd lost a battle with a lawn mower. His face was torn, ripped-up, hell, just about any descriptive word for "cut up" would work to describe him. He had no hair—hell, he had pretty much no face—just a part of a skull bone sticking out of where hair should be. Maron cringed apprehensively as the vampire placed a hand on her head; almost a half-second later, his torn-apart face and skull took the physical appearance of her own. It seemed quite confusing to the trio, but obviously, he had an explanation.
"Excuse me, Mr. Spike?" Goten asked. "How come your head looks like Maron's?"
The vampire turned to the eight-year old. "Child," he replied, his voice even sounding like Maron's, "As a child, I lost a fight to a skilled elite vampiric warrior. Because this was a fight for honor, a curse was placed on my most damaged part; my head. I would never again be able to have my normal head; I would forever have to go from person to person, using theirs as my own. I have to hide behind other people's masks!"
The trio backed off, frightened by his anger. Spike walked over to the bloody river, and examined his new face in the reflection in the river. He didn't like having to have the face of a eleven-year old Earth girl, but he had no choice. To try and appear less childish, he unsheathed his sword and sliced off the bows holding the blond hair in pigtails. Quickly putting his sword back in the sheath, and getting a quick drink from the river, he was ready to begin training. If Trunks was ever uneasy about this before, he certainly was now that he had seen a freak-show example of a vampire. As Spike walked up to the trio, Goten looked at his new master; the aged muscular torso of the vampire, complete with a slice mark on the chest, seemed to be in sharp contrast to the young girl's head that he currently possessed. It made them all fell queasy inside.
"My name," Spike replied, "is Dekron Tekora. They call me Spike because I was impaled as a teenager. For the next year, or so, you will be training under my supervision. I will teach you the Vampire's method of swordplay, I will show you how to properly increase your ki power, and finally, I will fine-tune your dark inner power."
Goten did not like the last one. "Dark…power?" he asked, worried.
Sonya and Spike smiled menacingly at each other. The trio took off running in the opposite direction. Trunks's and Goten's feet felt like they were heavy as they ran in the wrong way, and Sonya and Spike caught up quickly. Spike, who already had Maron, used his illusion ability to trip the two young super Saiyans, just in time for Sonya to lift them up in her grasp. She smiled as she drove her vampire teeth into the soft part of Trunks's neck. "It has truly been too long since I've drank the blood of a being from Earth," she said, tasting his blood quickly. Goten wriggled in her tight grasp, screaming as he watched his friends getting drained. Then, horrifically, it was his turn.
"Spike!" Sonya yelled, tossing the young one over to her partner. "You can have him."
Spike smiled and drank the blood of Goten. Quenching their thirst for blood, Sonya and Spike put down the three children, who were all still in shock at their masters. Sonya, who had a rather sharp fingernail on her left index finger, made a small incision in her right wrist. She had an evil look in her eye as she let a few drops fall in the mouths of each pre-teen. "Welcome to my world," she said.
The first one to be affected was Maron. She grasped her chest as she felt her heart beat slow down, then stop all together. Goten looked over at her and screamed her name, worried she was dead. Then, frightened as ever, he looked over at Spike.
"You killed her!" he screamed.
Spike laughed. "Only her death as a human and a weakling," he replied. "She'll soon become one of us. Far superior and far stronger. Immortal too!"
Maron stood up her eyes no longer blue—now they were red. Her canine teeth elongated in the fashion of a vampire's. Yup, she had crossed over to one of them. Goten and Trunks, being saiyans, were in less pain as they changed, but they did transform nonetheless. Standing up, and examining their new forms, they also noticed something unusual.
They now possessed psychic powers as well as other abilities. Goten looked over at Sonya.
Is this real? He thought, intending to send her a message telepathically. Are we really like you now?
She smiled. Yes, she replied. Indeed you are.
Perhaps this wasn't so difficult after all.
