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 32: Verto's decision

Broly's loud cackle continued for easily a minute while the other Saiyans stood there, stunned. To them it was unmistakable that Broly was alive right in front of them. Everyone also recalled seeing Broly blow his entire body up in an effort to take the Overmind out back on Earth. There was not one trace of him left after that explosion. Yet here he was, his skin a little on the green side. From the waist down he was drenched in Zerg tissues that appeared to be a hardened armor. His arms and chest were for the most part barren, except for a few little strips of Zerg cells. His hair was just as long as before, dark green in color as it flowed off of his head and halfway down his back.

"You can't be here, we all watched you die!" Gohan shouted at him. Broly then stopped laughing momentarily and simply cocked a nasty grin.

"You are correct, son of Kakarot, I did die. But as you can see I have been restored!" he said, spreading his arms a little.

"How?" Goku asked before anyone else could.

Broly chuckled, "I don't see how it matters now, but since the same thing may happen to you soon. I will enlighten your little troopers here! As I was told, after the explosion I was indeed gone. However my master, the Overmind, managed to find some blood residue nearby, enough in which to create a clone. I am that clone, though I have been made smarter, faster, tougher and all in all more powerful than the original Broly. I will replace his legacy as the ultimate Saiyan killing machine! Prepare yourselves, you will be the first to taste my new power!"

Gohan frowned deeply, "In other words your just as insane as the original Broly once was!"

"If that is what you think of the perfect warrior, then yes I am. Your friend Verto has learned the hard way not to cross the Overmind, and now you six will learn the same lesson that I taught him!" Broly declared. All six Saiyans dropped into a fighting stance, not yet powering up.

Broly laughed at this. "You have no chance at winning this fight, you should simply give up!"

Gohan grinned back now. "You're not much of a clone. The real Broly would know that we – never – give -up!" Gohan yelled sharply as he summoned his Super Mystic form, pushing for as much power as he could muster with it. The other Saiyans backed off slightly, seeing that Gohan was going to take care of this one. Broly narrowed his eyes slightly, getting a feel of Gohan's power. Once Gohan was done powering up, Broly took his turn at it. The skies darkened a bit as the gold and green aura surrounded Broly as his power grew sharply. His hair flashed a brighter green before turning more gold and standing straight out. His eyes turned from black to green like usual, before vanishing completely into white. Broly's body mass increased dramatically, making him taller and bulkier than before, much like his Ultra Super Saiyan form. His power grew more as the wind from his energy pushed the other Saiyans back. Gohan stood up to it without much trouble, but it did make his hair go crazy. When Broly was done, even Gohan was stunned at the power he was sensing from the overgrown Super Saiyan.

"Incredible, how did his power get so big? Even Borgos didn't get this strong when he was infested!" Tora pointed out.

"Oh man, I think he's stronger than Gohan," Bardock dared to say. Gohan wasn't phased much by this statement, but he could tell that Broly's power was definitely as high as his, maybe more so. Great, that fight I had with Verto is gonna seem so much easier after this one is done! Gohan thought to himself. Broly laughed at the looks of dismay on his former brethren's faces.

"Don't worry, your deaths will be as painful as possible!" he said before flying quickly towards Gohan.

Interlude 32.1: Evil and Good Verto

Zerg-Verto slowly awoke from a pain filled slumber. He awoke in a dark and slimy room that was part of the Zerg hive he had called home lately. He got up off the floor only to wince in pain when he got to a standing position. His back and chest ached badly, more than he could ever remember. He glanced down to wonder why, seeing that there were deep cuts of clotted blood all over his chest and stomach. Wait a sec, why was I bleeding badly enough for that? The Zerg cells are supposed to regenerate me!

He glanced down to notice that most of his body was barren of Zerg tissue, with the exception of his tail. He reached behind to feel some of the surface of his lower back and then up along his neck, finding similar blood clots in long and deep incisions. Then he remembered what had happened. He was taken out of the air and pushed around a bit by the Overmind. The tail weakness was back and he was none to pleased about it. After the hold was released, he rose to meet what the Overmind referred to as his knight. When he saw him though, he shook with fear. Then he remembered trying to face him. It was over before it began because of all the energy he had used in his previous fights. What made it worse was the fact that his Zerg cells once again were blown off by a strong energy blast, but saving his life in the most painful way. Not only that, but they still hadn't come back to at least allow him to breathe without wheezing. The rest had been a black and red blur of a beating. He rubbed his still sore head, feeling all the bumps and bruises that covered it. Broly, of all the Saiyans that he could bring back he chose that one! Verto thought, punching the floor slightly.

I am no match against Broly, even with my added powers. I don't think I can absorb enough ki to power up to past his level even with the Cerebrate's extra Psi, I need more training. But how am I going to get away, it's hopeless! He continued this mental argument with himself as the chamber opened up. He scowled when he saw who walked in.

"I see you're feeling slightly better," Kerrigan said with a deep frown.

"Leave me alone wench, I don't want your help!" Verto growled. Kerrigan ignored him and stood right in front of him.

"I said go!" he shouted again. A hard slap connected a half second later. It happened to hit a sore spot of his cheek, causing him to grab it by instinct.

"How dare you," he said, ready to blow her to kingdom come.

"Be silent Verto, if that is truly your name. You have done enough damage to this situation!" she shouted right in his face.

He grinned slightly, "So you know what truly happened eh, I guess your mental abilities aren't completely overrated are they?"

"Shut up. I don't know how the Overmind convinced you to join him, but I guess you are as dumb as you look. He is just going to use you until he is through with the Protoss, then you can kiss your life goodbye! I'm sure you have figured out by now that you're never going to be free, just a puppet for his entertainment!" she said harshly. His arrogant grin vanished quickly as he thought over what she had said.

"He can't! Oh, I've been such a trusting fool!" Verto said, punching the floor some more, causing it to bleed now.

"No doubt you got that from your better half. I suggest that you two reconcile your differences if you are to get out of this!" Kerrigan beamed at him. He looked up at her, stunned that she would suggest that.

"Ha, no way that weakling is never taking this body again. He doesn't know how to use it properly, nor can he control the potential it has! And what is his goody-goody attitude going to do against Broly's kind of power? You might as well kill me now if I have to resort to that!" Zerg-Verto laughed at the idea.

"Oh really, is that why the Overmind feared him so much! Didn't know that? Well surprise, surprise, it should have been obvious even to someone as dense as you! The way he was training himself before Aldaris got here sure left an impression, I'll tell you that much. The Overmind knew that you were the weaker half and decided to exploit it, knowing that a Saiyan like you would be easy to control. Still want me to kill you?" she asked sweetly, raising a single hand. Zerg-Verto stared at the ground in dismay, he had indeed been played for a fool this entire time.

"Now I suggest you two get your broken personalities back together if you are going to break free, otherwise you can count on an eternity of torture. He isn't going to let you off by bliss of death!" she ordered sternly.

"Forget it. Even if it were possible, that pacifistic weakling isn't going to do any good out here now. All he can do is try to talk someone out of a fight! He isn't a true warrior!" Verto argued back. Kerrigan sighed slightly, placing one finger onto Verto's forehead and pressing hard. He tried to shake her off, but his injuries were too painful to allow it.

"I beg to differ young one, you don't know him as well as you think. I happen to think your other half is the only true warrior that has emerged, you should go and get to know him!" she shouted at the end as a white Psi charge came from her finger into Verto's forehead.

"No way, he is the weakling, and he will fail..." he gasped as he collapsed into her arms without another movement. She sighed as she laid him down on the ground, I hope this works.

-

I was sitting nearby the Cerebrate's containment field, trying to figure out when my other self was going to wake up just so I could see the extent of my body's injuries. I had seen the Zerg tissues get blown off several times by Broly's energy blasts. What was scary was the fact that he was using low power ki blasts to do it. With my other self so low on power, he could literally just beat the crap out of him over and over again. In fact, that is what he did, he waited for the Zerg cells to regenerate a bit, and then he would blow them off again and beat him senseless. I wasn't sure how long it went on, because my evil half passed out midway. The Cerebrate had been quiet for a long time, and appeared to be asleep as well. He mentioned once that he had to recharge some of his energy and the only way to do it was to sleep while my evil self slept. That made for a very lonely time in the black void that was my mind. I tried to meditate a bit to pass the time, but I just couldn't, I was too distracted by the whole situation. After what seemed like hours and hours of nothing, my other self woke up. I saw that my body was littered with scars now; the Zerg tissues were not regenerating it at all. Great, I'm sure that'll look good from now on.

Shortly afterward he got into some sort of argument with Kerrigan, but the Cerebrate was still asleep it seemed, so I had no idea what was going on. I put my hand on the solid force field like chamber, getting nothing at all back. I sighed and slumped down against it, wondering how I was going to get out. A bright white flash then went off in front of me, very bright. I covered my eyes to see what it was as I stood up. The light vanished quickly, but it its place appeared to be my other self. His body was hovering a bit and was transparent, meaning I could still see the black void behind him. His body though was covered in a dim silver light. His eyes opened and blinked a few times, before locking onto me.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted at me.

I crossed my arms, "You tell me, dipshit!" He seemed surprised that I would answer him like that, but disregarded it quickly.

"Must be that bitch's doing, I'll kill her when I get back out there!" he said, looking around.

"What did Kerrigan do, slap some sense into you?" I asked, not resisting the urge to laugh a bit. He blushed slightly, getting a little ticked at that remark.

"So, what do you want? Haven't you done enough to my life? You trapped me here like you and big ugly wanted! You've ruined my life and betrayed my friends. I can't stop you, so what else do you want huh?" I asked, much more serious this time.

"Look, you hate me, I despise you. But it seems that we are going to have to work together to overthrow the Overmind. I can't believe that I'm going to ask this, but will you join with me?" he asked in a slightly sorrow filled voice.

I stared at him like he was crazy, "You mean re-fuse?"

"No, you and I were barely one to begin with. I was formed from the energy of extreme bloodthirsty anger and hatred that Saiyans are known to give off and I was given more from with the negative energy from the dragon wish. What I am suggesting is that we fuse for good. As I see it the only way we can override this control over our body is to combine our efforts to overthrow the Overmind!" he suggested.

I gave it a thought, "So you really think we can gain that much power?" I asked.

He looked stumped now, but I could see a shift with his body movement, "No, we won't gain any power from it right away, but our hidden power potential should increase, and we will no longer have a split mind. We will be able to focus our power to destroy that damned thing once and for all, then once he's out of the way we will be free to do what we want!" His face suddenly shifted to a gasp when he realized that he said way too much. It didn't help that I could see through his words easily, I always shifted nervously when I lied through my teeth.

"Forget it, I'd rather it remained this way if it meant giving in to your little urges and power trips. I have to remain true to myself and not what some split personality thinks!" I said with a glare before turning my back to him.

He appeared in front of me again though, "No-no-no-no-no, forgive me. That's just an old habit that I can't seem to help saying sometimes. I need you, otherwise all our friends may suffer the consequences! What would Vegeta think of this cowardice you are displaying!" he said, suddenly serious.

"You apparently don't understand me like you think you do! First of all, old habits are not easily broken! It sounds to me like I'd just be turning another monster loose from his chains, I don't intend to do that again! Secondly, you say our friends like you know them. They are my friends, not yours, nor will they ever be! I would never hurt them like you have! I would much rather they have to kill this body just so everyone would be safe, even if I go with it. As for the coward remark, you have no room to talk. If there was a personality problem to begin with, we could have somehow solved it rather than letting the Overmind get involved. I don't know how I got such evil and hatred into my system, but I'm certainly not going to help you succeed now with all you've done to me and my life. Now get lost! I'd rather be stuck here and alone rather than to help you ruin my life and those around me. Go please your master or something!" I shouted at him, giving quite the speech as well. His face turned from shock to sorrow.

"Fine, I'll be waiting when you change your mind!" he said quietly before his form vanished into thin air.

-

I wasn't truly sure that he was gone when he vanished, but I saw the viewing ball light up again shortly afterward, signaling that he was back in the real world. I sighed, I had wanted to get back to my life. But that meant to not only possibly sacrifice everything I believed in, but also who I was. If it was to be temporary I might have considered it, but I knew better. He wanted nothing more than to conquer or destroy everything in the universe, or maybe beyond that. I wanted nothing to do with that, nor did the idea of a fusion sound that appealing. It would merely combine our personalities together, and I would still have to deal with that sort of psychotic bloodlust that my other half seemed to enjoy. I wanted nothing to do with those murderous traits. The Zerg may have forced it upon me a few times, but no more, I was done with meaningless slaughters.

"Well now, congratulations, you have passed the test!" I heard behind me. I glanced back to see that the Cerebrate had woken up, though the way he spoke I'd say he had been awake the whole time.

"What test?" I asked.

"You know Verto, even when my master sent me here for you, even when I was infused with your memories, I wasn't really sure what sort of person you were. Pictures are worth a thousand words as they say, but they never really tell the story. As random as your personality seems to be at times, you understand the meaning behind the words right and wrong. I can truly see that now. Your desire to get your body back didn't affect your decision to stay here. You'd rather be stuck here or dead instead of helping your own dark side in getting what you both want to an extent. But I believe that deep down you understand that all he wanted was to break free of the Overmind and then continue on his own destructive path. Not many can see past a choice they have to make. I must say you did wonderfully. You didn't trust your own feelings over what was the correct thing to do. I must say that I am impressed with you, I can safely say that my trip has been a success!" he said with a smile.

"By what do you mean? I can't let that guy run wild, but I may be letting a bigger monster out again if I did fuse with him. I can't do that to those I love, I already made one mistake, but trying to correct it like that would be making a bigger one for the future! For all I know he could just use all of that negative energy you said he had to corrupt my side of things. I can't let that happen!" I explained.

"And that is absolutely right. I can tell that you were indeed the right person for the job!" he said.

"What job?" I asked.

He covered his mouth temporarily, "Oops, I slipped up again, it's a trait that I now have! What I meant is that you are truly the right person to control these powers that you now possess, only one committed to doing the right thing will be able to use them to their full extent! I guess the only thing left to do now is to get you back to your life on the physical plane!" he said with that big smile once again.

I shook my head a bit at what he said, "You mean this has been a test the entire time?! Are you saying that the other me wasn't real?" I shouted up at him.

"No, he was real, everything that has happened has been real. The best test of a person's character is to put them in with real situations, and everything that you've seen happen has happened. The other you is a separate soul, and I had to make sure things remained as such. I can tell that you will be a great person one day, maybe more than my master. Now then, you have to absorb my power just as we discussed before. The trick is to wait until he gets really angry before you do such a thing. Like I told you before, it may take a little while. But when he does, take all of my power and you will be able to overpower him and eject him from your body!" he explained.

"I thought you said you would vanish if I did, that means I have to basically kill you?" I asked.

"Yes technically, but some of my traits will pass to you. Not my memories though, they are a guarded secret that you will figure out someday. Trust me, I would not lie to you. Actually I can't!" he said, rubbing the back of his head ala Goku.

"I'm getting tired of these so called tests," I said.

"Yes I know, they should calm down pretty soon once I'm out of the picture," he said with a knowing smile. I thought that over, I really didn't want to do it, but it seemed that it was the right thing to do for the good of everyone else.

"To be honest, the thought of getting killed is scary to me as well, but if it wasn't for the good of the universe and all...well, things would get ugly if I didn't agree to it. But, it is up to you!" he said, somewhat encouraging.

I sighed, "Okay. I'll do it!"

Next time on DBV: The battle between Gohan and infested Broly gets going and Gohan struggles against the infested legend. He finds that this Broly clone was not infested like Borgos was, and thus is just as tough as the original. He soon begins to lose power as Broly's resilience proves to be more than he can handle. Goku and Vegeta join the fight to stall Broly long enough for Gohan to power up further to finish the job, but will it be enough?