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 40: Reunion
Another day passed by slowly for Gohan. Even after the others told him he should go to bed and rest, he wouldn't. Gohan sat in the same seat in the mess hall, eating slowly and watching the radar. He saw occasional spots of Zerg activity move about and also vanish. But he couldn't be sure of what may have killed them, Verto, or themselves. If they had vanished in a certain pattern or line, he would have known, but they didn't. He sat there and nodded off a few times. He jolted awake whenever a Protoss warrior would stray into the room, only to see that barely anything had changed on the radar display. He finally fell into a deeper sleep with his head on the table and stayed that way for awhile. He woke up a few hours later, seeing that the display had been turned off at some point.
"You really should get to your resting quarters, you can't afford to run yourself into the ground you know," Tassadar said at a table across from him. He was eating a small portion of what the Protoss considered a meal, mostly meat though.
Gohan stretched but didn't leave, "Sorry, I just can't abandon my friend like that. I didn't do anything to stop him before, I can't make that mistake again!"
"Don't worry Gohan, I'm sure we're going to pick him up again at some point. In the meantime, you should rest yourself!" Tassadar suggested.
Gohan nodded slightly, but had another question, "What have you been doing with that Zeratul guy? We haven't seen much of you two."
"Oh, that. Well, even the most patient beings can have their fill of Prince Vegeta as you must know," Tassadar said, causing them both to laugh a bit.
"That aside, Zeratul has been teaching me the ways of the Dark Templar. Their arts, beliefs and formidable powers, it has been quite enlightening! A very different way of using our Psionic Templar abilities, but also more freedom involved. We needed some privacy to do this. That is why we have been scarce as of late!" Tassadar explained.
"Oh, hey can he teach me anything? I'm kind of new at this Psi and mixed energy thing myself," Gohan said.
"I did speak to him about that, but he declined teaching you anything about their ways," Tassadar said strictly.
"I understand, against the rules right?" Gohan asked.
"No, actually it is not against any of the Dark Templar teachings. He said he didn't have anything that you could learn and use effectively. He said it would be a waste of time and energy for you to try to learn from him or any other Protoss. He said that should Verto be turned back to normal that he would be a much better choice to learn Templar abilities, both light and dark," Tassadar said, confused a bit.
Gohan looked down for a minute, but then back up, "I think I know why. Verto's energy balance, he could probably handle more techniques that are Psi or otherwise in nature. I mean he could hold his Super Mystic form a lot better than I could!"
"Perhaps. I must go, there is much more for me to learn!" Tassadar said, waving slightly. Gohan got up himself, heading for bed. When he reached the room he and his father shared, he simply collapsed onto the bed, despite a very loud snore coming from Goku.
Interlude: Verto
I wasn't sure where I was. I thought I was asleep and perhaps dead after what happened with Fasha. It was very fresh in my mind that my other self had killed her. I had powered up high enough to kill myself just to get rid of him. I knew I was successful, and I no longer felt the Overmind watching me. I had pushed him right out of my body with my Kaio-ken burst, and the link to big ugly had gone with him. I was free, but yet somehow alive. I didn't know how I was alive, I knew I couldn't withstand that kind of power flowing through me at once. I glanced over myself, seeing that most, if not all of the Zerg cells had vanished. I had found myself walking towards some sort of energy source. I wasn't sure what it was, nor where it was, but it felt warm and familiar. All I knew was that it was ahead of me and I had to get there, like it was calling out to me. I had woken up walking towards it, and had been in the process of killing a Zergling that had been in my way. I let it go when I realized what I was doing, watching it run towards this energy source as well. My fingers had both Zerg blood and what appeared to be human blood on them. I didn't have any clue as to how that had happened, nor did I want to know. My body felt heavy and was hard to move. I wanted to just drop somewhere and hope I died quickly, but whatever was calling me seemed to supply me with enough energy to keep going. I did fall down once, but was able to pick myself up when I heard a voice in my head.
"You mustn't die yet! You have to stop him!" I wasn't sure what the source was, my head and my whole body ached so much that I couldn't focus at all. It was repeated a few times as I tried to just keel over right where I was. Its message reminded me of what the Overmind had planned with regards to its continued destruction of the universe and other dimensions. I picked myself up and continued to follow the energy signature I was sensing ahead of me, feeling that it might be able to help me, whatever it was. I could only hope that it could, I didn't want what I remembered to actually happen. A lot of Zerg had passed by me in that time, none ever stopping to even notice me, but were also heading the direction I was. I came upon the purple creep I had come to know so well, the stench of it rotted my insides. The energy surge grew stronger and seemed to compel me forward.
After passing countless amounts of small and large Zerg, all of which ignored me, I came upon what looked to be a new Hive cluster. It's colors, along with the stray Zerg, were shifting to a purple color, the color of the brood I had been associated with. I entered the Hive uninhibited, but the Zerg had ignored me this far so it wasn't a surprise. I managed to find the ramp that led into the depths of it, passing many minions that were starting to gather resources and deliver them to the appropriate places. New Zerg were being spawned there as well, some of them looked like they were under a different master. I reached the bottom, seeing no minions of any kind. I approached what should have been a Cerebrate's chamber, and entered. Instead of a large and gooey beast in the room, some sort of machine was running. I walked up to it and examined it. It was some sort of generator by my guess, about four feet in height and just a little taller than I was. It's top was rotating and that rotation was generating the energy field I was sensing. It felt a lot like Psi, but not quite like my own energy. It felt similar to what most of the Protoss used for weapons, a pure but non-concentrated form of Psi that was artificial in nature.
"You're right, it is Psi," a voice said. I glanced around, seeing a figure emerge from the other side of the room.
"Who's there?" I asked.
"Short memory eh? I'm not surprised, most in your condition would have just died on the spot, but you have quite a will to live, truly remarkable!" a women's voice said. The blue light from the machine revealed her scaly face.
"Kerrigan? But what is this? What is going on?" I asked.
"This is a Psi emitter, I think I told you about these before. They are used to lure stray Zerg to other places, it's also how I called you here. The Overmind has left Char with most of the Swarm with it. I have lured the stray and broken Zerg here to my control and started my own Brood again. The Overmind has left because of you!" she said softly. My mind had started to clear of emotional pain once I had laid eyes on her, and I got into the subject pretty quickly.
"Yeah, I know of its plans for domination. When I took back my body, I sensed the link. Since it failed to beat my friends, it's going for Aldaris and the rest of the Protoss now!"
"Somewhat correct, however its plans may have changed now that you Saiyans are in the mix. Originally he had planned on trying to create a new breed of Zerg spliced with Protoss genes. Those types of creatures would be capable of impressive destructive power. However I think he may try to combine the DNA of a Saiyan and a Protoss now, but it would have to be with a Protoss that has discovered its true power, like Aldaris has. Aldaris has surely learned by now that he cannot use mixed energy like you can, and thus has converted most of his ability to pure Psi and strengthened it I imagine. I would think that his Psionic power would be on the level of a Super Saiyan, one maybe even as powerful as Broly is now. Imagine if you will, those two powers brought together much like your Super Mystic powers, get the picture now? There would probably be a splice of Zerg thrown in there for a stability factor, as well as control. To stop the Overmind, you're going to have to go to Auir and kill Aldaris before the Overmind is able to accomplish this! Then you will have to deal with the Overmind and Broly directly, but I feel you can do this. Do you understand?" Kerrigan asked directly. My mind felt sharp and focused again, she had been doing something to it to heal its scars, but my energies were still low as expected.
"Yeah, I need to heal and train though. My evil self didn't stand up to Broly, so I probably have no chance right now, and I need a way to get there, can you help me?" I asked.
"No, I cannot, I was made to stay here and I cannot openly defy him. He would crush my free will and strand you in space if we even tried. However your friends are still here, and they will be leaving for Auir soon," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, but after what I did...How can they even trust me?" I said in sadness.
"Cheer up, I told them what happened, though I think Gohan figured it out with Zeratul's help. They know that your evil self committed those murders, what you must do now is atone for them. Go and find your friends! Train hard and make the Overmind pay for what he has done to your life and those you care about!" Kerrigan said with inspiration. I nodded and left promptly, feeling that I had enough energy to at least fly. I wasn't sure what direction I had to go to find Gohan and the others. But I figured if I just guessed at it and kept my energy level as high as possible, I would find them.
-
Gohan's head snapped up when Goku shook him awake. He had been having a bad dream about Videl getting killed once again, a painful reminder as of late.
"Gohan, wake up son, something has happened!" Goku whispered. Gohan managed to shake off the effects of his nightmare in order to focus on what was going on. Goku seemed surprised to say the least, but said nothing as he almost drug Gohan to the command center. Gohan was still pulling his armor on when they got there. Vegeta and Bardock were already there, watching a radar display on the video screen.
"What's up guys?" Gohan asked, rubbing his eyes.
"That is a good question Gohan. The remaining Zerg are gathering from the looks of it, all of them are going to this point here! And there is some sort of Psionic energy signal coming from there as well. Whatever it is, it's calling the Zerg to it and then controlling them from there!" Tassadar pointed out, showing a red arrow over the center of the growing Zerg mass.
"What could it be, perhaps a remnant Cerebrate that the Overmind left behind to take control of the planet?" Zeratul asked, not sure himself.
"Maybe, but that should have shown up before. This has gradually occurred within the last eight hours. And most of these Zerg were of the brood that was shattered by young Verto, maybe that has something to do with it!" Artanis suggested. The radar suddenly came alive with one green blip separating from the Zerg area and coming towards them, but not quite in line with their base. It moved like it was going to just miss seeing their photon cannons.
"We are reading a large energy surge from that object moving our way, at its current speed it will be in cannon range in about twenty minutes!" a Templar announced from the scanning station.
"Wait a sec, I can sense that energy. It's Verto!" Gohan said.
"I can also, he feels normal, and the way he's coming I think he wants us to know that he's in trouble. His energy is dropping fast though, we should go meet him now!" Goku suggested.
"Can you teleport us out of this cave Kakarot?" Vegeta asked.
"Not quite, but once were outside I think I can go right to him!"
"Let's do it then!"
-
I was gasping for breath as I started to fall to the ground. I had enough energy to fly slowly just fine, but I was afraid I might get shot down if they didn't know I was coming. So I flew as fast and as hard as possible at the time. It didn't help that I didn't know where to go, but I felt that anyone with energy sensing skills would know I was out there. I had to descend to the ground before I dropped since I was still very tired from using all my energy the day before. Actually, I was starting to think it had been more than one day, but I wasn't sure, Kerrigan never said. I landed and sat with my legs straight out, getting my wind back. I was about to try to go further when I suddenly felt a gust of wind right next to me. I got up defensively, but turned around to see four familiar figures.
"Verto! It's us!" Gohan said first, holding his hands up.
I nodded, "Yeah, I know, it's been awhile!"
"Good, you're back to your normal self. Looks like most of that Zerg crap is out of your system as well!" Vegeta pointed out.
"Not quite all of it, and some of it will be with me forever now," I said with a sly smile.
"What do you mean?" he barked back.
"Guess Kerrigan didn't tell you, I had to fuse with a Cerebrate to get my body back, but I actually don't sense much of it there anymore. Just a slight power boost and a bit of a mental boost, that's about it!" I said, giving my best Goku imitation with the Son grin. I blinked sharply when I realized that I was in a surprising good mood considering the situation, and that reminded me of the tasks at hand.
"She did mention that actually, I thought it was all nonsense. Let's get back then, we have much to discuss!" Vegeta ordered.
"Yeah, there's a lot I need to tell you guys. I know what the Overmind has planned!" I said, a bit more serious now.
"What?!" Vegeta asked in surprise.
I sat back down, "Well it's a bit complicated, but I'll do my best. Basically he's always wanted to create the greatest army ever and conquer the universe. Well, from what I sensed, it goes a little deeper than that. Whoever created the Overmind and the earliest Zerg, also created the Protoss, that's why they are so linked in wars. The Overmind wanted to continue that experiment by combining Zerg and Protoss genes together, supposedly those kinds of creatures would be capable of some impressive power. Then he found us, the Saiyans. More specifically he found Gohan and me, we possess more impressive power than a Zerg-Protoss hybrid would have had I guess," I explained, pausing for everyone to catch up. Goku had taken a seat and looked mildly interested, Vegeta and Bardock just grunted while Gohan listened intently.
"Now he wants to create a Zerg, Saiyan and Protoss hybrid that is capable of an even greater amount of power. He was going for Gohan and me at first. He wants to enslave all of us Saiyans and needed us out of his way or on his side first. Once that was done, he could get to the rest of us easier, mostly as bait. If he won, he would have had his Super Saiyan army, then it's easier to take out the Protoss. He kind of screwed up the other day, he's afraid of my deepest power. Kerrigan seemed to think that perhaps he will be gunning for Aldaris now, she said that his pure Psi power is maybe on the level of that infested clone of Broly, and that he's the only Protoss who can truly channel their Psi. We have to get to Aldaris before the Overmind does!" I stated.
"What, to save him from those little cretins? He deserves everything he gets!" Vegeta grumbled.
"No, I mean so he can't mess around with the idea of making a hybrid between say Broly and Aldaris with a balance of power. I don't know about other races, but with an even balance my power doubles when I use it as one. We don't want to deal with another Majin Buu do we? That's what it may seem like if the Overmind nabs him before we get there! Only its gonna be worse, the Overmind doesn't just aim to take over this universe! It wants to take all realities, every dimension, every world, we can't let that happen guys!" I urged, getting Vegeta's attention now.
"What about you boy? If this thing is so scared of you, then we should go to Auir right away and take it out!" he suggested.
I shook my head, "I need training first, I still don't completely understand my power. I didn't expect to live through that little outburst the other day, and I only did it so my power wouldn't be used for evil anymore. I really didn't want to live anymore without Fasha around," I said with a slight tear in my eye.
"Don't think that way boy. You didn't know this, but we planned on breaking it up. You and she know it wasn't meant to be, and so does everyone else. Now it's going to tear you apart until we bring her back to life, but you're going to have to tough it out for now," Vegeta said strictly. That was going to be hard, I felt horrible and it still hadn't sunk in yet.
"When, when she and Tora died, I just didn't care anymore. I figured that if I died then everything would be okay again, and then I would be with her. I couldn't even do that right!" I shouted, pounding the ground in mid-sob.
"Hey, it's okay, it wasn't really your fault! Remember it wasn't you that did it. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Aldaris, the Overmind and the Zerg! Let that be your focus!" Goku said, putting a comforting arm around my shoulder.
"Thanks, I'll try," I nodded slightly as he got back to his feet.
"Let's get back to the cave. You need to recover if you're going to get any sort of training done!" Gohan said. I didn't dare argue. I don't even think I could, because I felt like passing out right there on the jagged terrain.
A/N: Good Verto is back, not ready for action yet though. What sort of training must he go through, I'm sure a lot of you have been wondering how I was going to put that in. What sort of deadly techniques is he going to learn? You may find out, next time!