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 58: The Reach of Infestation – Violence Fetish part 2

"Commander Verto, come in please," Fenix announced into my scouter. I chuckled slightly and shook my head as Vegeta groaned. The whole honorary commander title bothered me more than it did Vegeta, and that was saying something.

"Go ahead," I said as I pressed the button. Vegeta and I were probably about halfway to Gohan and the others, flying over a lot of dead Zerg lands. Any Zerg we spotted were pretty much fighting with each other with little in regards to organization.

"The four Zerg broods have been destroyed. Our forces took quite a hit, but your battle plan appears to have been successful, we are now reading only one active Brood away from the Overmind itself. We are also reading tremendous energy levels and distortions coming from Commander Gohan's general vicinity," he reported. I had detected a drop in energy levels for a short time after Gohan kicked it up a notch. However I soon sensed two huge powers that concerned me, both were as high as Aldaris had been when I fought him.

"Yeah I'm sensing the same thing. Request that you go back to the capitol and rest the remainder of your forces, we'll handle whatever Gohan is facing out there! Oh and send a ship over towards where we were, Zeratul needs a lift and we are heading over to help Gohan," I replied, hoping he wouldn't argue with it.

"Understood!" Fenix said quickly, cutting the chatter as he closed the connection. As soon as his transmission ended, Vegeta and I both heard some sort of loud smashing noise coming over from Gohan's scouter. It sounded like something or someone was getting trampled or blown apart by energy blasts, but I didn't hear the usual sound of an explosion that generally came with that.

"Verto to Gohan, come in Gohan!" I tried again once I started hearing this. No response came, and I considered using telepathy to contact him. However since his power level was so high and he was certainly fighting someone very powerful, it may distract him, which would not be good. After about half a minute of this, whatever had been tearing up the lands must have hit the scouter and it gave us a generally unpleasant high-pitched noise before no sound came at all.

"What do you think it was?" I asked.

"Not sure, but judging by the power I am sensing, it isn't something to be trifled with. We should move carefully," Vegeta warned.

"Agreed," I nodded as we flew closer towards the massive energy sources.

Interlude 58.1: Power of the Golden Ape

This wasn't what I had in mind for today's events, Gohan thought as he dodged a mouth beam from the Zerg version of his father. Since Infested Kakarot was slightly stronger than the infested Bardock, he had elected to gun against him while Goku and the real Bardock went for the other. He was regretting that decision a bit, but splitting the two giant monkeys up sounded reasonable at the time. They had gone for the two golden tails multiple times, only to get swatted away quickly. They hadn't been hit by their large attacks yet, but the energy beams were getting closer than Gohan would have preferred.

"Keep running you worthless son, you will taste my wrath eventually," Kakarot growled in a big burly voice as he dug his huge hands into the ground, narrowly missing Gohan again. Man, I've got to get that tail cut off! Gohan thought as he soared through the air. An energy beam came at him from behind, one that had been aimed at Bardock and Goku from the other giant infested Saiyan. His eyes went wide as he phased out of the way. As he reappeared below it, a large furry hand nailed him and sent him skidding along the ground, tearing up his bodysuit in multiple places. He groaned a bit as he pretty much hurt everywhere after that kind of hit.

All right big guy, let's see about cutting you down to size! Gohan thought as he wiped the blood from his mouth. He slid into stance and shot a fairly large green Kamehameha at the huge ape. He cut off the beam a few seconds after releasing it, seeing what Kakarot would do about it. The golden ape put out his hands to block it, leaving him a good opportunity to move undetected. Just as the beam smashed into Kakarot's hands, Gohan teleported out. He reappeared and shot a quick overhand series of energy bolts straight at the base of the large Saiyan's golden-green colored tail, as he was a sitting duck. Most of them struck as the huge ape growled in pain, but to Gohan's great surprise, it didn't cut it off. It wounded it in several places and was certainly felt, but it didn't do much other than bleed a whole lot. Gohan flew up into the air while Kakarot dealt with the serious pain in the ass, watching the bloody and broken outer tissues slowly start to mend themselves almost as soon as it was injured.

Great, now what, he groaned slightly. He wasn't allowed another moment to think about it as the other infested ape came at him from behind. He dodged upwards, but got swatted as the much bigger Saiyan anticipated it. Another crater formed after Gohan hit it, smashing through whatever rock was there. He held his silver hair slightly as his head pounded in tune with his heartbeat. His aura flickered a bit, causing him to groan even more. He was starting to lose power, the constant demand for his Psi energy to be regulated became a pain when using the Super Mystic level, and the fusion of energies wasn't easy to handle for a lengthy amount of time. It didn't help when Gohan had a lot of extra ki power to use, it could upset the balance at almost any point if he got too angry. He sighed and dropped back into Mystic form, but released his extra ki power and kept his Psi active, just in case he needed it.

"Hahahaha, looks like your starting to run out of gas, what a shame. Now I'll smash you into the ground so far that you'll end up on the other side of this mud ball of a planet!" Kakarot roared as Infested Bardock joined him at his side. Goku and Bardock came down and landed next to him, looking pretty bruised, but for the most part had been able to avoid the other monkey's huge blows, as they were indeed trying to single out Gohan. They had also gone for the tail, with not much better luck than Gohan.

"What now?" Bardock asked as he noticed the two giant apes lowering themselves just a bit. When they're hands dropped back, it was a pretty good hint. Then both apes rose into the air while charging two very big beams in their palms, aimed straight at the Son trio. The skies darkened as the light from these two blasts lit up the area with their evil energy.

"You can dodge this if you want, but this planet will go up in flames if you do!" Kakarot threatened.

"We can't, we have to send it back at them," Gohan said, gathering all of his energy at once. Goku shot up to Super Saiyan three instantly, knowing what Gohan had in mind as Bardock joined their power up.

"Ka...me...ha...me...HAAAA!" all five warriors shouted at once. The two huge beams merged into one just as the other three came together and clashed with it. The struggle seemed to be over already, as the upper blue beam was slowly pushing the other into its owners foot by foot.

"Gohan, concentrate!" Goku urged, "We have to do it together, we can't let them win!" Bardock brought his foot backwards a bit to step into his attack better and added more energy while doing so. The two apes had a large grin plastered on their cruel faces, seeing their attack was barely having resistance.

"Now you all die!" Kakarot roared as he pushed his energy further with his infested father following suit right beside of him. The blue beam plummeted to the ground more quickly as the Son family pushed with all their might to stall it. All three of them pushed their full energy outwards at once, causing both Goku and Bardock to drop to Super Saiyan one as Gohan kept going.

"We can't quit now!" Goku shouted encouragement as he managed to push his power back to level two and kept his effort up. Bardock kept going with what he had left, but it wasn't much. The two apes laughed slightly as their beam was stalled in mid air, and they weren't even tired yet.

"Is that all you can do?" the giant Bardock laughed aloud.

"Please, father, give them some credit. They are giving us a good show before they peel off like dead skin from our feet!" Kakarot laughed even harder. Gohan was now starting to shake, he was dangerously low on energy; though his family wasn't any better off. His anger at the two cruel Saiyans above sparked his power a bit and he disregarded his well-being and went for it all. His hair went silver again and the great beam turned slightly green. The beam shoved against the upper one, surprising the golden apes a bit.

"I guess he really wants death, he must be going insane!" Kakarot roared with laughter along with his counterpart. Both of them laughed for about five seconds before a sudden pain erupted in their tails. They kept their power flowing, but looked behind them to see two large golden tails plunging to the ground, and clean burn marks in place of their own. Not far away, they spotted another silver haired warrior with a green energy sword in hand.

"Oh shit!" they both uttered. Their bodies started to shrink greatly as their power levels dropped. Their beams did not power down though, and the stalemate continued without much effort on either end as the Son family were down to their knees panting harshly and barely keeping awake. The silver haired figure floated downwards from the powerless apes and shouted towards Gohan.

"Yo, hears your chance!" Verto shouted. Gohan and Goku looked up to see the former giant apes were down to normal size and their beams were fluctuating a lot. Three feral yells of pain came all at once as a final burst from the Son family rode the Kamehameha wave all the way to the failing giants. Kakarot cringed in fear, but saw that his counterpart was closer to the wave than he was. He shut off his power and dove for the ground just as it arrived. Infested Bardock was blown into smithereens as the overly large beam smashed through his molecules and drove into space. Normal lighting returned, showing one infested Saiyan huffing and puffing while the Son family had all but passed out in their normal forms, drained completely. Kakarot grinned as he slowly stood, he believed that he now had the advantage.

-

I frowned slightly as the infested Goku had gotten back up despite the exhaustion he must be feeling from burning up that much energy while transformed. Vegeta and I were very surprised to see this cross of the Ape form and Super Saiyan form, making us wonder why we hadn't tried it out with me before all of this business with the Zerg. I instantly knew why though, that kind of power was too hard to control. Probably the only reason these two pulled it off was their already high power levels, and the fact that they had Zerg genes to assist them. Those reasons and possibly combined with the upper influence of the Overmind. I had powered up quickly and flew in while they were distracted to cut their tails with my energy sword. Gohan and the others were so tired that they didn't even know what had happened, they were only on guts and instinct at that point. Once the skies had cleared and the infested Bardock was gone, the Son trio had collapsed. Their power was almost down to nothing by what I sensed, they had given it all to save the planet, and themselves. The reality of it all was that the two big apes were probably really aiming for them, the Overmind would have had a cow if the whole planet blew up just like earlier. It's okay guys, I'll handle this one, I thought as I turned to stare down the infested Goku. I quickly decided that he didn't deserve that title, his Saiyan name Kakarot fit his evil programming much better.

"So, you ready to have a go with me?" I asked with a death glare. Vegeta had flown in shortly thereafter, landing near the others to check their vital signs. He quickly rose to watch what was about to transpire. Kakarot was still catching his breath, but I could sense his Zerg cells recharging his ki power slowly. The evil in his spirit grew more hostile by the moment, and I knew then that this wasn't going to be any sparring match. He didn't deserve that luxury anyway. I detected energy flowing to him from the air, coming from the distant West. It wasn't a whole hell of a lot, but it was noticed because it seemed to be coming from the Overmind. He powered back up to Super Saiyan three just a moment later. I frowned slightly as it rose to just under my own power level. It also showed me something: That the Overmind was starting to get desperate. From what I could tell, he hadn't sent out the big gun yet, no Broly at all. I had detected a lot of familiar power levels, but Broly wasn't one of them. For the Overmind to resupply his minions with fresh energy, it showed me that it was fearful of my abilities. Kakarot's power then matched my own within a few moments, and I decided that it was time to act before it got any bigger. Guess I won't disappoint his worries.

So tell me what am I supposed to be
Another god damn drone
Tell me what am I supposed to be
Should I leave it on the inside
Should I get ready to play
You're pushing and fighting your way
You're ripping it up!

Bring the violence
It's significant
To the life
If you've ever known anyone
Bring the violence
It's significant
To the life
Can you feel it?

I separated a small part of my fused energy into a Psionic blast in my hands, but turned it into a positive force of justice in the process. I'll go for the easy win first, it should help me determine my next move. If this version of Goku was being directly controlled or at least influenced by the Overmind's watchful eye, I'm going to know rather quickly.

"Feedback!" I shouted, letting the more potent attack fly right at Kakarot. He ignited his aura and flew away from it just as he heard my words. Yep, he knows about it, oh well, can't have all the easy battles. I guided it towards him anyway, following his golden trail through the surrounding area. He threw ki bolts at it to try and trip me up, but I casually avoided them with my concentration, making the white blast accelerate a great deal towards him. He stopped and powered up for it. It smashed into Kakarot and started to work its magic with a sudden drop of his energy. He cringed tightly and balled up a bit, his power surging against the power of my attack and stalling it.

Shit, that over grown weed has figured it out, oh well. In truth it was probably the fighting brain of Goku's that had figured it out, and the Overmind's possible warning of its affects. The other version of me had recognized it and the Overmind probably observed its properties while it hit him and the infested Vegeta in a relatively close amount of time. I wasn't sure how fast the Overmind's brain could work, but I figured the secrets of that attack would eventually be revealed. Zeratul had warned me that the attack could be countered if the enemy acted fast enough, or was purely evil and powerful enough to do it, no matter what energy was being wielded. Basically they could shield themselves from it, or at least partially. Then their evil energy would overload the positive and cancel it out, making the small amount of Psi energy worthless. Then it could easily be dispersed back into the air once they powered back up. Kakarot's intelligence in the arts of battle had proven this theory correct, and now the Overmind would know by default. I growled slightly as the white lightning slowly lifted away from Kakarot's aura and dispersed into the air harmlessly while he caught his breath again, his power level dropping off notably. Good enough, he's drained. That feedback energy should be able to serve a dual purpose if I act on it now.

I gathered the leftovers of the feedback move and held it into place around Kakarot, layering it up and preventing it from moving. Blue Ice formed very quickly around Kakarot, surprising him to say the least. As soon as it was formed, I started flying towards him with full speed. The Ice glowed gold from inside and broke apart an instant later as he powered out of it with a mighty war cry. His determination to break it and success allowed me the opening I wanted. I clobbered his neck as hard as I could with a forearm, about taking his head off in the process as he fell backwards from my quick blow. I didn't dare let him recover and shot towards him just as he fell. I dug both fists into his chest and stomach as I collided with him, sending him into the hard ground with deadly force. I jumped back as the barren lands split from the impact, powering up and charging an energy blast in preparation.

I felt an energy surge from his position and released it, "Super Galic Gun!" The green beam surged into him as he shot out of the ground, clipping him and sending him into a nearby cliff. The beam smashed through him once he stopped moving with it and it exploded, leaving a good hole in the mountain. Kakarot's power level dropped as fast as his body did, going almost as low as the real Goku was now. I floated over there as Vegeta joined me in the air, landing at the base of the fractured landscape. Kakarot was in shreds now, and not in a good way. Everything below his waist was missing, and there were deep wounds everywhere with barely a sign of any Zerg cells on his skin surface. Blood and intestinal fluid leaked out of whatever was at the bottom of his body, and also out of his throat as he choked on it.

"You didn't have enough to ….ack, finish me completely you weakling, what makes you think you can defeat our master?!" he said as he coughed out a blood splash midway. I was a bit surprised that he wasn't screaming in pain, but then again he probably only felt his torn up midsection now.

"I'd say you're finished in about a minute, use it to give you master a message! You can tell him that this will happen to him in just a few days. He can make all the clones he wants, it won't make a difference! If he doesn't leave this planet, he will regret it!" I said with anger.

"Heh, I don't need to tell him you idiot; he can hear everything you say through our mind link! And you merely got lucky today, next time you won't get off so easy!" Kakarot laughed despite choking on his own blood. I scowled for a moment at the insult, but decided to finish the job instead of waiting it out.

"He can hear everything I say through you, eh?" I asked with a darker look. Kakarot kept his grin and nodded.

"Then since I have nothing left to tell him, you've outlived your usefulness, now go back to him!" I shouted, shooting a strong blast at him from near point blank range. His smile faded in the bright green light as the remains were destroyed instantly. I panted slightly in anger, but I wasn't tired physically. Vegeta stood by, looking impressed as I turned back to him after powering down.

"You've still got a mean streak boy," he noted.

"Only to those who deserve nothing less," I growled slightly as I walked past him. I walked back towards my friends and kept a single thought in mind. The Overmind had learned of the effects and counter measures of my potent feedback attack. It had also learned that I had done much more than just practiced one attack on my journey to Auir. I had adjusted to my deeper power and ability, and soon it was going to come at him. Today I had sent the Overmind a message: its days were numbered.

Power levels:

Verto and the others remain the same.

Goku (SS3): 580,000,000

Infested Bardock (Golden Ape Form): 790,000,000

Infested Kakarot (Golden Ape Form): 830,000,000; SS3: 600,000,000