I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.

Chapter 16: Aldaris Arrives

Kerrigan brought me breakfast much like every other day, but today seemed a little different. She didn't seem quite as cheerful or talkative, which got my attention. Granted she was supposed to be somewhat emotionless anyway, but it was in a sad sort of way.

"Aren't I supposed to be giving you the silent treatment?" I asked.

She frowned slightly, "Listen Verto, I may not be here much longer to guide you through this period of your life. You're going to have to fend for yourself." I raised my eyebrows slightly, a bit confused as to what that meant.

"What do you mean? I'm a Saiyan. I can handle fending anything, and where are you going?"

"Well maybe not anywhere, I don't know yet. But something is going to change very soon...be prepared," and she left it at that. The Psi presence I sensed during the night had gotten much closer and it felt like it might have landed on the planet already.

"You're sensing him too?" Kerrigan asked.

"I've been sensing something for quite some time now since I went to bed yesterday, not quite sure what it is. I thought it was big ugly for a while, until I sensed it wasn't on the planet. Feels like it's here now," I said with a smile.

"Well I expect we will receive orders to check it out here shortly, no doubt he senses it as well," she said, referring to the Overmind obviously. Not a half minute later I got a telepathic message, and so did Kerrigan.

"The Protoss are here! Cerebrate, send your forces to eradicate them. Use caution, there is something amiss here," a different, slightly more snake like voice said. It wasn't deep like the Overmind's voice was, sounded more like Zasz only with a gurgle sound to it.

"That was Daggoth, and he's right there is something amiss about this," she added.

"A few Protoss eh, well don't ask me to get involved. I've had a bad enough memory of them," I said, crossing my arms.

"I won't have to ask you, I can tell you who is in charge of this small fleet. Aldaris!" A lot of things went through my head suddenly, many of them involved the torture that old prune had put me through shortly before I was locked in that icy stasis cell.

I growled slightly, "We're leaving!"

"Verto wait!" Kerrigan called out as I ran out the organic door. I turned around only for a second as she ran up to me.

"Tell me why I should? That old bastard interfered with things that he shouldn't have. He hurt me and my friends, and now he's going to pay! I've fought him before, and he wasn't much to think about then, when I wasted him!"

"But Verto, something about him is different this time! At least let me come with you and bring some Zerg along, okay?" she practically begged.

I rolled my eyes slightly, "Okay, but that Overlord better be moving fast!"

Kerrigan didn't say anything to me on the way there, or just didn't know how to say it. I didn't care; I was completely refocused on how I was going to dismantle Aldaris' head. The only thing I wasn't sure of was how I should remove his eyes, with ki beams or just my bare fingers. I sensed that Kerrigan has brought a small amount of Zerg along for the ride, which was okay just in case he still had some of that ki disruptor technology. My physical abilities were probably still enough to deal with the rogue Protoss; they had worked before as long as I kept aware of everything that was happening. Kerrigan never did tell me the complete story on how everyone escaped, other than they had busted loose and chased him off the planet. That didn't really surprise me, he seemed pretty careless about bottom details. Still, she wasn't telling me something that I needed to know.

"So what is it you want to tell me?" I asked.

"Oh nothing, nothing that will help anyway," she said quickly.

"Gee. Good answer," I said pitifully.

"Well, nothing you want to hear right now. If you're going to fight him, you don't need any distractions!"

"Got that right," I agreed finally.

"We're here," she said as the Overlord suddenly dropped, making me a little queasy.

-

We got off the Overlord to see there was indeed a Protoss ship on the ground, though it looked a little different from the rest. It looked slightly smaller than a Carrier ship, but more advanced like a private shuttle. It didn't matter to me, I'd gladly destroy it if I had to. No Protoss soldiers had come out yet, but the ramp was starting to descend. A lot of the Zerg perked up then, but Kerrigan made them stay back. I watched a few Zealots come down the ramp first, then a black-headed Templar that I thought I recognized as Aldaris' assistant, but I wasn't sure. Then the gray-headed bag of shit made his presence known, walking down the ramp slowly with a thick green robe covering his gold plated armor underneath.

"Well well, look what we have here. Inferior creatures all around," he said slyly as he turned his head up and locked eye contact with me.

"What do you want here Templar?" Kerrigan snarled. I cast an eye her way for a second; she had made it quite clear she wasn't too fond of the Judicator either.

"Well...it's the Terran shrew that likes to hide in the shadows! My dear Kerrigan, I am only here for the boy. Just leave and I promise nothing will happen to you or your precious Zerg. Interfere and I'm afraid I can't make that guarantee," he said, continuing his cocky tone.

I snorted a little louder, getting everyone's attention again, "You want me, come and get me. I dare you!"

"Ah the foolish boy, I admit I underestimated your powers before. A mistake I will not make again, for its now your turn to feel pain like you've never felt! Then I'll find out what makes you so unique, give up now if you want to skip the painful part!" he suggested.

I grinned, "Yeah, right, like I would back down from you. Gonna try that trick with the ki disruptors again, huh? I'm ready for it!"

"I have no need for that pitiful device, I will take care of you myself!" he boasted.

"If I recall, I downed you in one punch, and trust me it wasn't a hard punch. I'd be glad to use one now!" I warned. Aldaris stepped forward and beckoned his troops back into the ship, though his assistant stayed outside. Then some of the Zerg got restless. Since he was being a bit arrogant, I decided to scan his energy. What I felt was about the same as I sensed before with the Protoss, very little ki and a lot of Psi. I didn't feel too concerned, as I understood they couldn't channel it like I could, nor had I felt them do such a thing.

"I'm warning you Aldaris, leave here now!" Kerrigan said, but she didn't sound quite sincere about that. More like she was nervous or afraid.

"Gladly, after I've conducted my business here. Disposing of all of you un-evolved pond scum will be easy enough. Then your precious lord the Overmind, and of course this little rodent. He may be the simplest of all," he grinned as he verbally jabbed at me again.

"You're going to do all that? As much as I'd like to see that, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel your schedule. An important call came up for you; it's from the Grim Reaper! I'll let you meet him in just a moment," I declared.

"I don't know who this Grim Reaper is, but I'll be more than happy to take care of him as well! Let's get started, shall we?" he asked.

"Of course," I said, cracking my knuckles sharply and getting my senses in order so I could keep an eye on everything around me. Suddenly I felt the Zerg shifting around and they all went in after Aldaris, probably about forty groundlings in all. I sensed Kerrigan had ordered them to do so.

"Aw, and I was gonna have all the fun too!" I whined slightly. Kerrigan didn't have a smile on her face, more like a hopeful determined look. I glanced back at Aldaris, who wasn't running in fear to my surprise, instead I saw a sharp grin shine up on his face. The energy in the air shifted slightly and the Zerg got closer. Then several Zerglings hit some sort of energy shield that extended about ten feet away from Aldaris, causing them to bounce back.

Not bad, I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise. But then again, I thought their shield only covered their skin. Well, he's supposed to be a hot shot Templar after all, maybe he does know a few tricks. The shield lit up as multiple Zerglings pinged off of it and fell backwards. Then I felt Aldaris' Psi level skyrocket as an energy ball formed in front of him. He raised his hand and shot it forward. It exited his shield and zapped many of the Zerg in front of it with lightning bolts coming out of it in quick spurts, before exploding in the middle of the pack, leaving only a few stragglers left.

Okay, that was different. I almost couldn't believe it; he had used his Psi just like ki. I frowned slightly for underestimating what he could do, but since I hadn't engaged him yet, I wasn't too concerned, just more careful. The few Zerg left then attacked him again, this time a shield didn't go up. He shot one in the face with a Psi beam, and it clipped another in the chest. The last Zergling leapt at his face only to be caught by his hand. Psi lightning erupted from his grasp and shocked the Zergling until it burned into ash. I growled slightly, the loss of Zerg didn't bother me as much as the general bloodshed did.

"Now that the scum is out of the way, shall we begin boy?" he asked, sneering.

"Gladly," I said as I began to powerup.

-

Since he had already displayed his further knowledge with his Psi, I didn't hesitate to access mine as well. It did provide a slight drain my ki for the time being, but it would give me a few more options, plus give my senses a boost. My aura seemed to scare the other Protoss into backing up the ship into the air, but Aldaris and his assistant remained on the ground. I began to circle the old Templar slowly, hovering a foot or two off the ground.

"You might as well give up boy, or suffer greatly!" he said with his continued smile. I kept my focus, figuring he had planned this battle out thoroughly, but probably hadn't counted on any tactics I might come up with. I fired a small ki blast directly at him before phasing out and coming at him from the other side. As I predicted, the Psi shield appeared to cancel out the ki blast, and it left me with an opening. I dashed in and kicked him in the back of the head. I noticed his outer skin seemed to light up with blue Psi right before each hit, from his regular plasma shield no doubt. His bouncing form skipped a few feet before he dropped to the ground, rubbing his mouth full of blood. I phased out again before he could get up, and hammered his back this time with a double axe handle. I smashed right through his smaller shield again, but it did shock me just a little in response. He dropped and groaned in pain.

"So where's that power at? I dropped you in two hits! Hardly an improvement," I said, kicking his gut and breaking the armor.

"Whoever said I was done, boy," he suddenly asked as if he hadn't taken damage at all. I sensed he then covered his body in his Psi energy.

He's using his Psi to strengthen his body much like we do with our ki, or maybe its just his shield. Either way he can take more damage this way; I better be more careful about close combat. He cast his hand forward and fired another Psi beam, but this time it was aimed at Kerrigan and traveling way too fast for her to dodge it. I growled and phased out again, reappearing with Psi sword in hand, ready to handle his beam. Then he empowered it and it turned into the equivalent of a big Kamehameha. I thrust the sword forward, holding it up to block the beam.

"Move, now!" I shouted at Kerrigan, who didn't waste a second. The huge Psi beam hit and took me off my feet initially. My sword was barely holding up to it, so I powered it up more and got a better grip on it before turning the beam upwards into the sky.

"Using a woman as your shield? Coward!" I said loudly.

"That and conducting a few experiments of my own. Something you can't really do in the isolation of your own ship," he explained as if he had an excuse for it.

"Bring it here, this is where the battle is," I waved him on. He then hovered off the ground and rose a little higher into the air. I sensed that he was not using ki to levitate himself, all Psi. Maybe I outta try that for my training. I prepared for his next attack, whatever it may be. He held his palm upwards and started charging something big. Oh great. A house-sized ball of energy appeared in the air, and judging by the power I felt from it, it wasn't going to be as easy to deflect.

"Here's another little test! If you care to remain alive, you will have to deflect this, otherwise say goodbye to Char!"

"Is there something you missed about this?! You're fighting me, so leave the planet out of it!" I shouted at him. He didn't seem to listen, instead he tossed the ball of Psi my way.

"Fine then," I lined up with him and the ball as it dropped towards me, and shot a red Galic Gun into it. The ball started pushing my beam back on the initial contact, so I pumped power into it, using both energies. That got it rolling as my beam turned green and it sped back at Aldaris. There's no way his frail body can stand up to that! The ball and beam hit and lit up the skies with its explosion. I grinned when I saw no sign of him.

"You know, that might have hurt if it had hit me!" a voice said. I turned only to get a hard fist in the face. It was Aldaris, but I hadn't even sensed him move! I flipped up and wiped the tiny blood trail from my mouth. He then started to chase me, fully intent on punching me again. Well if it's a physical fight he wants, I'll gladly oblige! I sped in with my fist drawn back; only he seemed to fade out as I swung. Then an armored boot got me in the gut. Damn, after image!

"Aren't so tough now are you boy? Once you face someone with higher skill you falter, who's going to be the coward now?" So he wants it that bad. I wiped a small trickle of blood as I rose off the ground and powered up to the max. Granted it wasn't that much of a power up since I was almost up there already, but with two energies it would do. I sped forward again and waited for him to phase out again, which he did, then I did. This confused him long enough for me to get a good punch in from behind. He recovered quickly and punched back at me. I blocked and kicked. The melee was on.

-

Okay, since when did a Protoss learn to fight like this? Aldaris wasn't as physically strong as I was, but his speed was impressive, and I had trouble hitting him. A few minutes went by before we separated and landed about thirty feet from each other. I kept scanning him with my energy senses, constantly picking up that Psi coating around his body. Just as I thought, that's how he's able to keep up with these hits. He's obviously learned how to channel his Psi like we do ki. Where he learned it from so quickly is the question though. That and he's making a more tightly wrapped shield with it and that probably prevents him from taking a whole lot of damage. Maybe it's the mastery of the energy making him tougher, one or the other.

"What's wrong, boy, a little dazed and confused? Not so cocky anymore are we?"

I snorted slightly, "Just cause you can fight a little more now doesn't mean you have the advantage. You think I don't know how to fight like this? You don't train with the Prince of all Saiyans and not know how to handle a physical battle!"

"Then the question is, boy, how long will you last?" Aldaris pondered.

"That's your question old man. You might be fast and powerful, but your body is not strong at all. One hard hit will drop you for the count!" I said in defiance.

"I don't know if you noticed, but you're not exactly hard iron...but by all means. Show me if you can!" he said, waving a hand towards himself. We engaged in another scuffle that had me chasing after him constantly at almost top speed. He was faster, and I again sensed it was all Psi he was using, no ki. He didn't try to hit me at all, instead just evasion, which stirred some anger and made me a little sloppy. I cleaned it up by phasing in and out multiple times in front of him, making him guess where I was going to appear.

Now I've got you! I phased behind once he was looking around forward and drew back to take his head off. Suddenly his energy spiked and I was shocked by his Psi and sent flying backwards. I growled sharply for not sensing that trap, he had spread out his shield again and combined it with the Psi Storm move. But there was a lot more energy behind it this time, totally stronger than what had been used against me before. My theory about adding energy to the effect was certainly true, and I never even sensed it coming.

"Obviously you cannot do what you promised. Now I guess I'll show you something...something I've been saving especially for you!" He charged his Psi again into his palm, but I didn't think it was going to be a big blast by the way he was concentrating it. I was right.

"Death Beam!" A blue version of it shot out of his finger quickly. I ducked and let it blast apart the mountain behind me. Another was fired, but I dodged that too. He fired three more; the last one nearly hit when I phased out using After Image.

"Is that what you were waiting to show me, pathetic! What did you do, consult the handbook of Frieza's crappy moves?" I shouted from his left side now.

He grinned slightly, "You could say that. I guess I did underestimate you again, won't happen anymore!"

"Famous last words. Bring it!" Then he turned partially to the side and started channeling his energy like a power up. A blue aura appeared around him and shined brightly with lightning striking around him. His some of his armor blew off and his head dressing did as well, revealing silvery gray hair that stood long and draped down along his shoulders. I gasped slightly as I didn't expect this much power to be coming off of him, and it was rapidly getting too big for my liking.

I have to remember, I have to beat him with ki now. Psi probably isn't going to work quite as well. I kept that thought in mind as he laughed silently, looking at his hands in delight. The ground seemed to vibrate just a little, but the air around him seemed awfully charged with energy. This was going to be a tough fight, especially if I had to stay at a minimum range, which looked like it would work to his advantage.

A/N: Next time on DBV: The battle continues and Aldaris' new power becomes too much for Verto to handle and our young hero begins to lose power. Can Verto find the power he needs to defeat Aldaris, or will the evil Templar capture Verto and carry out his evil plans? The fight concludes next time on DBV.