The Last Warrior

Chapter 15: The Beast Within

By: Daniel Graffio

April 26, 2005

Eve staggered to her feet from the rocky canyon floor. She could feel blood running down her chin and tears running from her eyes. Spitting the excess blood from her mouth, she launched herself at Android A once again. She moved much faster than anyone who had seen her fight before had expected, throwing a storm of punches and kicks trying to find a weakness in the murderous android's defenses. A however, was having no trouble either blocking or avoiding all of her attacks. He knocked her away again with a stiff backhand, almost daring anyone else to attack. Aiden flew straight for him, but rather than attacking him head-on, zanzokened behind him and kicked him right in the head. A didn't even flinch from the blow, instead grabbing Aiden's ankle and slamming him into the ground. A blast then soared through the air straight for his head, which he swatted away like a fly. Alex took the opportunity to attack A from behind. A managed to dodge the initial blow, and had no problem blocking all the subsequent attacks from the former Kane general. A landed a hard kick to Alex's face, knocking him back. While his attention was focused away though, Guldan jumped in and scratched deep into the Android's chest with his claws, and following it with an uppercut to his chin. A back flipped a few times to regain his balance.

"Not bad, tabby cat." he said, zanzokening behind Guldan and smashing him into the canyon wall with both fists. Nax jumped in at that moment, followed closely by Alex and Aiden, and the three attacked the android simultaneously. Even against this barrage of attacks though, Android A proved more than adept at countering them all. A spun around like a top on one foot and landed hard kicks to each one of their faces, knocking them all back. Nax recovered the quickest, and sent a series of ki blasts straight at the android, all of which hit dead on. Nax quickly finished it up with his "Energy Body" technique, causing an explosion that shook the canyon. When the dust cleared, to the dismay of everyone, A stood perfectly fine, a shield of light surrounding him.

"Pathetic." he said, sailing over to Nax and knocking him into the stone walls of the canyon with a quick series of attacks. The android then flew into the air and looked down at them all.

"You people are no fun at all." He said smiling cruelly, "I guess I'll just kill you know, starting with you." He pointed his hand at Eve, who was just getting up from A's last attack. He fired a blast that Eve had no chance of avoiding or blocking. This was it, she was going to die, she thought. Eve shut her eyes and prepared herself. She then felt herself being lifted off the ground, and heard an explosion.

"If this is what death is like, it's not so bad," she thought, "And I'll get to see him again."

She opened her eyes, and saw exactly what she had seen in her mind only seconds ago. The black hair, the deep dark eyes, and the smile.

"Slade?" she said, "Is this heaven?"

"Far from it." he said with a laugh, "Look down there."

He motioned below them, at a large crater blown into the ground.

"But...If I'm not dead...that means..." she stammered as he placed her gently on top of the canyon wall.

"I haven't bit it yet either lady." said Slade, smiling wider at her.

Eve was completely overcome, throwing herself around Slade's waist and hugging him as hard as she could.

"Oh, Slade, I was so worried. I thought...I thought..." She said, practically sobbing into his chest. She then realized what she was doing, and quickly let go, wiping her eyes dry.

"I'm sorry," she said blushing, "It's just that I didn't think I'd ever see you again...and I..."

"I know, its ok." said Slade, rubbing her shoulder a bit and going slightly red himself.

"I'm impressed Saiyan." came a voice from below them, "You're harder to kill than I thought."

"You'll find I have knack for that." Slade called back, then without turning said, "Eve, I want you to take everyone here back to the base. You all need to get away."

"No, we'll fight him together. Now that you're here I know we'll beat him." said Eve.

"That's just it Eve, I'm not sure if I can beat him." Slade then added, "Not like this anyway.

"What do you...?" started Eve, but Slade cut her off.

"I have to use a technique that's supposed to be a last resort." he said.

"What is it?" asked Eve.

"I don't really know. I haven't used it since I first learned it. I don't even know what happened after I used it. I only remember waking up a few hours later, and my tail was gone. I know it's dangerous, that's why you need to get out of here right now!"

"But..." Eve started to protest, but Slade had already begun his technique. He concentrated a small ball of ki in his hands, his father's words ringing in his mind.

"Slade, this technique has to be used as a last resort. It's unpredictable and extremely dangerous, so make sure you don't use it where a lot of innocent people could get hurt."

Slade threw the ball into the air, waiting until it got high enough, and then closed his fist tightly. The ball exploded into what seemed almost like a miniature sun. Eve watched it, not understanding the point of it.

"Slade?" she said, looking to him, and the sight of him shocked the confusion right out of her being. Slade was staring transfixed at the ball of light. His tail was sticking straight out, the hairs of it standing on end. He could feel something boiling inside him, rage, anger, and the desire to utterly annihilate his enemy.

"Slade?" said Eve, her tone desperate, "Are you okay?"

Slade turned and yelled,

"GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Eve jumped back, the tone he had used was not his own, but that wasn't what scared her the most. His pupils had completely disappeared, and his teeth had become fangs. His body was growing larger and larger and becoming covered in brown fur. His clothes tore off his massively increasing body, except for his armor, which only grew with him. His eyes turned blood red and he let out a mighty roar. He had turned into a giant ape. The only thought on his mind now was "Kill."

Android A stared up at the monster with fear in his eyes, amazed he was programmed to even feel such an emotion. The creature let out another ear-splitting roar, which shook the android back to his senses. A fired a blast at the monster, which bounced off like a pea shot from a slingshot. The ape turned his massive head to the Android, who backed up a little.

"Was that your best shot?" said the Ape with a dark laugh.

"Why you..." said A, leaping into the air and charging another attack. Before he had the chance to fire it though, the ape slammed him into the canyon wall with his fist.

"Where the hell did that thing come from?" asked Aiden. None of them had seen what had happened on the canyon wall. Eve landed next to them at that moment, distraught.

"It's Slade." she said, "That thing is Slade."

"How?" was all anyone could ask.

"I don't know, he made that thing in the sky." she said pointing at Slade's ball of ki, "And it turned him into that monster."

"Well, it looks like it could be good for us," said Guldan, "That android's seeing now what it's like to be toyed with."

"Yeah, but can you feel that?" said Aiden, "Slade's ki has completely changed. Before you could sense human emotion, but now all there is a murderous rage. He's become a killer."

Eve looked back to the battle with worry in her heart and mind.

"Oh Slade," she thought, "What's happened to you?"

Android A flew back up for an attack, but was knocked into the ground by the ape's tail. The beast followed it up with a punch, which A barely managed to dodge. He flew high into the air and fired a massive blast of energy straight for the towering monster. The blast hit dead on and exploded. The force of the explosion nearly knocked the gathered Z warriors off of their feet. A smiled, but as the explosion faded away, so did that very same smile. He could see the outline of the ape in the dust, but he wasn't looking long, as the beast leapt out from the dust with incredible speed.

"Pathetic," it laughed, knocking A back to the ground with a punch that could have flattened a mountain. A flew through five stone walls before landing on the ground. just outside the canyon. Before he even had a chance to react though, the ape's massive foot came down right on top of him.

"He's so fast." said Nax, "That shouldn't be possible for something that big."

"Looks like it's over now." said Alex.

Indeed it was over, as the ape lifted his foot to reveal the crushed remains of Android A. The massive creature wasn't finished with his opponent yet though. Scooping up the mangled metal body of the android, the ape threw it into the air, and opened his mouth wide, blasting the android into oblivion. Only a few charred pieces of metal fell gently back to the ground.

"All right!" yelled Aiden, "He did it!"

The ape's ears picked up this sound, and he turned around.

"Ah, more victims." It said with a cruel smile. "It looks like I can even eat these ones." It leapt towards them and fired its fist right to where they were all standing. The z warriors managed to escape, but the ape was too quick. Nax was knocked into the canyon wall by the ape's tail. Alex attempted to blast the ape, but only managed to shift the creature's focus from one victim to the next. Alex caught the massive fist of the ape and was flattened to the ground. Alex saw black forming in his vision, but could barely make out the ape opening its humongous mouth to finish him off as he had done to the android.

"SLADE!" someone shouted. The ape turned around and saw the shouter. It was Eve, who had climbed the canyon's wall. The ape's eyes squinted in malice.

"Slade! Why are you doing this? Don't you remember us?" Eve pleaded, adding, "Don't you remember me?"

The ape stared for a second, his eyes going wide. It then grabbed its head, roaring as if in pain.

"Eve." came Slade's voice in her head, "Help me."

"Slade?" she said to the sky, "How?"

"Tail..." said his voice, "The...tail..."

Eve didn't understand at first, but then remembered what Slade had said.

"I only remember waking up a few hours later, and my tail was gone."

"Aiden!" she screamed, "Cut of the tail!"

"Are you crazy!" Aiden screamed back.

"Just do it!"

Aiden quickly charged his ki, hoping Eve had a good plan.

"Destructo Disc!" he yelled, throwing the blade of his own ki straight for the ape's tail. Distracted as he was by his own howling, the ape only stood still as the disc of ki cut through his tail like a hot knife through butter. The ape stopped his howls of pain immediately, standing as though frozen.

"Oh boy," said Aiden, "I think I just made him madder."

He quickly saw he was wrong, as the ape slowly began to shrink, its fur disappearing. Little by little, the monster turned back into their friend Slade. Slade collapsed on the floor of the canyon, only covered by the armor which had survived the change. Aiden quickly covered him up with his trench coat and picked him up.

"It's ok, he's just passed out." said Aiden as Eve came up with a worried look.

"Poor guy." said Nax.

"Let's take him home." Said Eve, touching Slade's hand gently.