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 29: Borrowed Psi

"Hmmm, I didn't realize that Kakarot could pull up this much power," Bardock said as he watched the fight in the air. It had begun much as the previous battle had, a physical brawl with very little in the way of energy use except for flight and the occasional after-image display. It had been going for a good ten minutes while the others watched.

"Yeah. Dad and I put in a lot of late night sessions," Gohan mentioned with a slight frown. The sky lit up some as both Verto and Goku landed power punches directed at each other's heads.

"He's at his absolute maximum, and the kid is matching him, incredible," Tora said. Vegeta kept a deep scowl at the skies, his battered form now standing up on his own power.

"Something I don't get though," Gohan muttered a little loud.

"What's that?" Bardock asked while his eyes were moving back and forth.

"How can he keep his power up that high?" Gohan said, stunned slightly.

"Your father?"

"No, Verto I mean. His power shouldn't be able to stay that high in this form. At least not that high compared to earlier," Gohan said, studying his former friend.

"I'm not following this, he absorbed that huge ki attack and the Zerg cells are constantly regenerating him so that he can handle it. That I understand, but he hasn't used that much of that energy. So, what do you mean?" Bardock asked.

"Well Grandpa, the basic Mystic form is just like any form. Except I can call on all of my power without getting angry. But the Super Mystic form depends on a delicate balance between ki and Psi for the maximum output of energy, that's why my power doesn't go up as much by comparison like Verto's does when we transform. When this balance is disrupted, say I use up too much energy, I lose the form. But not because I was out of ki, it's because I don't have enough Psi to keep up the effort and balance. I would imagine the opposite is true as well. Whenever I tried simply putting forth more ki than Psi to maintain, it didn't work near as well," Gohan pointed out.

"So Verto should have lost the form when he absorbed that blast if he didn't pull up more Psi, is that what your saying?" Bardock asked, trying to figure out his grandson's logic.

"Yes exactly, I can sense that he was powered all the way up before he absorbed that blast. Then suddenly he managed to get more Psi from somewhere. It's keeping his level higher than it was. I can't tell from where, but I know it wasn't his," Gohan said, frowning deeper.

"Maybe it's the Overmind, who knows what that thing using for energy," Tora suggested.

"I don't think so, it wasn't an outside source," Gohan said, silencing himself as he tried to figure it out himself.

"That doesn't make sense boy," Vegeta said from behind him.

Gohan didn't even turn around, "Yeah, but it's the truth." Everyone then blocked out a bright light that appeared in the sky. Verto and Goku had fired dueling beams at each other and the collision was starting to grow very big.

Interlude 29.1: Overmind

The Overmind's large eye blinked a time or two as he watched the fight using his own sensory skills. Some of his other Cerebrates and minions were observing on some sort of organic video feed that needed a serious tune up for distortion. His lead Cerebrate Daggoth was in its own hive cluster nearby, watching from there. Kerrigan was also watching from her own hive cluster, but had also an active link to the Overmind currently being used.

"It's begun, Verto has begun to depend on you for power now. Soon he will bow before you directly," Daggoth hissed.

"Not me Daggoth, I do not know where he has gotten the extra Psi. I sense it within him, but from an unknown source. It is possible that is it the remnants of the Cerebrate, the last piece of energy left maybe. I would have thought he would have disposed of his other half and the Cerebrate by now, but it is hard to tell with such an unstable mind. I may have a look myself after all this is over. I would still prefer letting him keep his mind and body under his own control, however, that depends on his continued silent rebellion," the Overmind said.

"Is your plan still going as you said it would?" Daggoth asked.

"Overall yes. I would have preferred the Dark Templar destroyed, but they don't threaten me directly anymore. All I need now is the genetic samples from the other Saiyans before I can create what I need, assuming Verto does not fail me!"

"Which one of them is most appealing for your purpose?" Daggoth asked.

"All of them have the potential, however they all have a certain rebellious instinct within them that would create certain problems, especially Goku and Vegeta. However there is one that doesn't completely share that conviction. One that would serve my purposes greatly and ultimately will carry them out. Even Verto's current level of skill and power would be no match for him," the Overmind boasted.

"And which one is that?" Kerrigan asked in curiosity while listening to the conversation. The wall opened up just then, and a large darkened figure stepped in. Very little light reached his face, a result of a thick mass of dark hair that covered it. Daggoth's eye sharpened a bit, trying to figure out who it was. The figure walked to the center of the room, directly in front of the large eye, but large was enough that he was just as tall as the Overmind's eye.

"I am here, master," he said in a dark voice.

"Should Verto fail, he will do my bidding, won't you?" He didn't even turn, just simply grinned slightly and pushed its hair up, revealing the face. Daggoth's eye then turned many colors in shock before settling down. Kerrigan's reaction was closer to a scream without the sound. The large figure was very much humanoid in shape and size, except was very massive and looked like he could pick up buildings and throw them around for a while. When she saw his face though, she nearly had a heart attack.

"What is wrong, Kerrigan? You seem a little on the edge," the Overmind asked.

"Not at all, just a little overwhelmed at the slaughter machine you just introduced," she said, but her voice quivered slightly.

"What do you think, Kerrigan is a bit overwhelmed at your presence? Maybe she doesn't think you can destroy the other Saiyans?" the Overmind asked softly in his ear.

"She's right, I won't just destroy them. That word does not apply for what I will do to them, Muhahahaha!" the infested agent said, cackling for a good minute or so. Kerrigan managed to let blood flow to her face again, this isn't good.

Interlude 29.2: Good Verto-Cerebrate

"Cerebrate, your leg is fading!" I said in slight panic. We had been watching the battle with Vegeta and Goku in silence. But when my other self managed to absorb the extra energy from Vegeta's big bang attack, I felt some of the Cerebrate's pure Psi being pulled from his form and added to my physical body.

"Technically it's not my leg, but yes it is slowly fading. Your evil self is beginning to demand more energy from me to sustain his high power level, and it's going to take its toll very soon!" Cerebrate said, his head filling up with sweat beads.

"I don't get it, he already absorbed that huge attack and it powered him way up. Why does he need more power?" I asked.

Cerebrate sighed, "Your Super Mystic form is complicated, no doubt you have noticed that as well?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, it's a little different to handle at times, but what does that have to do with it?"

"Your higher form depends on a balance between ki and Psi to sustain itself, when that balance is broken, you lose the form. Do you understand?"

"Kinda, but my energies pretty much fuse themselves together in that form so I spend an equal amount of it unless I intentionally try to separate them or something. So how does that affect this?" I asked.

"Luckily you have a near balance, so yes you spend nearly equal amounts of each energy unless you intentionally separate them. Your friend Gohan isn't as fortunate, but he makes due with what he has. Your other self is balanced like you. He added a lot of ki to this body by absorbing that blast, that would have disrupted the balance enough for a power down, but.." he looked at me to finish.

"But he somehow knew that already, so he's drawing off your power to keep it balanced and got even stronger, right?"

"Exactly, the Zerg cells can maintain that kind of ki power for as long as he needs and will regenerate his physical body to handle it longer, but Psi can't be regenerated that fast. So he must draw off my own. Should he take too much, well…" he finished, looking away slightly.

"What happens to you?" I asked, seeing his other leg starting to become ethereal.

"First off you should know that this is only my astral form, I am held down elsewhere in your mind. I sent this vision of myself to assist you for now. As I lose more energy, I will lose some of my concentration and therefore I will fade away from here. Once he takes all of my Psi, I will no longer exist in your mind. The only way to stop the transfer is to find my form and take my energy for yourself, do you understand?" he asked.

I stared at him in shock, "I can't do that, and then you will fade away anyway!"

"You must, otherwise your evil side may rule this body forever. It is for your own good as well as others. He can't be allowed to continue like this!"

I stared at him hard, "I thought you said all we had to do was wait for him to screw up?"

He allowed his head to droop slightly, "Yeah, well, things have changed. I assumed that since you had not mastered your Super Mystic powers, that he hadn't either. I assumed your abilities were the same, and it seems that I was incorrect, or perhaps he only understands the balance issue and nothing else." I cocked my head to the side in confusion before rethinking what he had just said, prompting another response.

"It's possible that he still doesn't quite understand how to successfully regulate Psi, there are better ways to use it other than overwhelming power. Hopefully you will learn how someday under a trained master, but he understands enough that to use his maximum power he needs that balance. I'm a temporary fix to that problem it seems, otherwise he would struggle to defeat the Saiyans. You must find my true form and take all of the energy from it before he does. I can't here stay much longer, it is too draining. This may be the only way to get your body back now!" he said as I noticed his entire lower body had vanished now, his stomach and chest area were now fading along with his arms. I sighed slightly, I didn't want to have to end someone's life to save others, but it seemed I didn't have a choice.

"Alright, I'll do it, where can I find you?" I asked.

A blank look entered his face, "I'm not completely sure, but that answer can't be far from you now. Just look around and you should find me quickly. Hurry before my power is gone!" he said as he then faded completely.

"Great," I muttered, looking around at nothing but black. The viewing globe was still flashing as my other self and Goku continued to clash, having a duel of energy waves at the time. I sighed as I picked it up and hovered off the ground, flying around and looking for anything unusual.

Interlude 29.3: Fasha

"Beep, Beep!" BAM!

"Shit!" Fasha shouted as she instantly broke whatever the Protoss called a bedside lamp. She blinked a few times before rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She took another minute to realize there wasn't an alarm clock of any kind that woke her up, and that the beeping came from the door.

"Come in," she mumbled. Krator then walked through as the door slid open.

"My apologies Miss Fasha, did I wake you?" he asked.

"Yeah, how long have I been out?" she asked, trying to figure it out herself.

"About eighteen hours, your friends.." he was cut off quickly.

"Eighteen hours?! Why the hell didn't anyone wake me up?! How the hell did I sleep that long?! The prince is gonna kill me! Are we there yet? Well answer me!" she practically exploded. Krator checked for his own pulse before continuing.

"Yes we arrived on Char an hour ago, your friends left the ship upon arrival. I have been trying to wake you since then. One of our officers reported some sort of sleep inducing residue on one of your meal platters. Which may explain why you have been asleep for all this time," he calmly explained. The look on her face went from shocked and angry to subdued and sad.

"So he really didn't want me involved, I see. How far away are they? I need to at least show my support!"

"About one hundred miles to the north and west. I can give you a better direction once we are outside. I will give you a moment to change garments," Krator said, leaving the room promptly. Fasha slowly slid out of the clothes she had been sleeping in and into her battle gear. Prince Vegeta must have done this, he must have figured I would have tried to come with them to the battlefield. Well I don't care now, I have to see Verto again. Even if we are not meant to be together, I have to know that he is okay. Fasha silently walked the halls while remembering some of the good times she and Verto had shared. She followed the direction of Krator's gaze before seeing the skies light up and sensing the power struggles occurring. She took off slowly, but headed straight for the battlefield.

-

Zerg-Verto growled under his breath as he pushed his own energy beam against Goku's Kamehameha Wave. He had planned to use all ki against this clash so he could conserve his extra Psi supply a bit. Since that energy would regenerate decently fast, he intended on saving the Cerebrate's power supply until he faced the Overmind. He quickly found that it would not work, Goku's ki power was much higher than his and he was forced to use a mixed energy beam once again when Goku threw more power against his. The other problem with it was he would have to drop out of Super Mystic form if he used too much pure ki. While holding Goku's wave at bay, he rescanned everyone's power with his own. Despite absorbing Vegeta's attack, his ki alone was less than even Bardock and Tora. That meant that only the mixed power of his Super Mystic form was going to be effective. He felt that it would be more than enough against Goku and the others, however Gohan would be a different story.

Well that's just great, I'm gonna have to beat them down and somehow save it all for Kakarot's brat. Odds are that big ugly may start interfering soon, so I better end this quickly. Damnit, I wanted to have a real fight with him. He shut off his beam and dodged to the side, phasing in and out while Goku was still concentrating on his beam. His plan worked and he nailed Goku in the chin with a direct uppercut that sent the Super Saiyan flying. Verto then calmed himself a bit, holding his hands up and sending out a massive amount of energy and surrounded Goku with it. Once Goku recovered from the blow, Verto ignited the energy field and struck Goku with lightning bolts of mixed energy over and over again.

This unexpected attack not only caught Goku off guard, but also beat him into unconsciousness, causing him to revert to normal form. Verto panted in anger slightly as he unleashed this attack. He had wanted to enjoy himself in this fight, as he wanted the honor of defeating Goku at his own game. Time wasn't with him at the moment, so he had to end it early with his new technique. It was based on the idea of the Psi Storm attack that Kerrigan had shown him, though he understood it better when Aldaris used it on his other self. The mighty Saiyan resisted against this with a yell of pain, but was quickly put down when Verto increased the energy output of his attack. Once he sensed Goku was out cold, he relinquished the hold and watched as Goku plummeted to the ground. Bardock flew up and caught his son before anyone else moved. He slowly drifted to the ground with his son held in his arms before putting him flat on the ground.

"Kakarot, speak to me son!" the elder Saiyan begged and pleaded several times. Verto thought he spotted a tear or two in Bardock's eye before the unmistakable sound of sobbing. It didn't last though, and a war cry filled the lands before Bardock shot into Super Saiyan two and charged Verto in the air.

"You will pay!" Bardock snarled. His rage filled eyes said it all before Verto dodged his first punch and gave him a sharp kick to the jaw, followed by several dozen hard punches to the chest and stomach. Bardock fell backwards but recovered decently fast before charging a one handed attack.

"Riot Javelin!" he shouted, tossing the white and green ki ball at the younger Saiyan. Verto batted it into the air easily, keeping a strict eye on Bardock as the skies darkened. Bardock's attack fell and exploded off the ground, blinding everyone for a moment before clearing.

He growled a bit and took a step back, charging a familiar two handed attack this time, "Argh, take this! Ka me...ha me...HAA!" The blue beam seemed to hit dead on and keep on going as Bardock grinned. As it went by and sailed into the sky, he was suddenly hit hard in the back of the head by a small knife hand chop. Verto was right behind him, unscathed, as the attack had even not touched him before he moved. Bardock's ki plummeted as he groaned in shock, and his hair changed back to normal black. Verto charged energy into the last blow that sent Bardock back to the ground in a heap next to his son. Verto then lowered himself to the ground and stared down the group.

"You call yourself a true Saiyan. Why use these cheap moves to down a warrior like Kakarot? Were afraid he was going to beat you?" Tora asked, one of the two who still had plenty of power. Vegeta grunted himself a bit, he hadn't really liked what he saw either. He had trained Verto to be quick and equally powerful with his fights, but not to use deadly force unless he had to, a Bulma aspect primarily. Not only that, but he was trained to enjoy the draw of a good fight, and not to go for the win so early. The kid impressed him even further when he constantly wanted to train and spar, but when quizzed on killing others, he wanted no part of it unless absolutely necessary. To Vegeta's eye, he had performed nearly flawless. He glared at what had developed, his opposite in character.

Verto slowly took a breath or two before answering, "He lived. I didn't maintain that attack long enough to kill him, it wasn't my wish to end this fight so soon. I admit Kakarot is an honorable warrior, despite his weak points. And the technique I used is just new, it's not my fault he wasn't prepared for it. If one of you are lucky enough to beat me and get off this planet, then maybe I'll carry out a real fight with him later. But I don't have the time right now. Who's next?" he beckoned with one hand. Vegeta noticed that his overly arrogant attitude had all but vanished. Meaning he might be worried or distracted, or perhaps exhausted. While Tora wanted to fight him now, he stared back at Gohan, who was giving Verto the piercing glare from hell.

"Gohan, take him down!" Vegeta ordered. Verto's gaze quickly shifted off of Tora, who backed up quickly, he didn't want to be in the middle of this one. Gohan stepped forward until he was only twenty feet away from Verto before starting his power up.

"I will...defeat you!"

Power levels:

Super Mystic Zerg-Verto: 660,000,000 (ki alone: 330,000,000)

Goku (SS3): 575,000,000

Bardock (SS2): 440,000,000

A/n: Sorry to the many fans that wanted to see a drawn out Evil Verto vs. Goku fight. I wanted to write it but it was going to interfere with the storyline the way I had it planned, therefore there wasn't much of a point to it. There will possibly be another Verto vs. Goku bout in the future, but not yet. Besides this one had to end this way to continue to show the extent of Verto's new powers and some of their limitations. The next time these two hook up, it will probably be the knock down drag out you all want to see. Next up though is Gohan, who is no pushover. This one is going to be a slobber knocker, I'm pretty sure ya'll knew it was going to come down to these two.