The Last Warrior

Chapter 17: The Fight Begins

By: Daniel Graffio

April 27, 2005

Kane walked outside slowly, followed closely by Zenyu. He left his palace and proceeded to an area about 500 yards away. This area was just a dusty wasteland of dirt and rock. It would be a fitting place for the final battle. Kane looked to the sky with a sadistic grin. Today was the day his victory over the Earth would be complete. Today he would kill the last Saiyan. He laughed into the pale blue sky.

Slade flew straight on until he could feel it, Kane's power. The young Saiyan used it as a beacon to find him, staring at him in the sky, a large grin spread across his face. Slade couldn't wait to knock that grin off permanently. He landed quickly across from Kane, staring him down with an expression of pure loathing. Kane merely continued to smile.

"Dressed up for battle I see." he said, smirking at the combat suit Slade wore. Slade didn't respond.

"That's armor from the Freeza empire if I'm not mistaken. I can only imagine it must have once belonged to the Saiyan prince Vegeta."

"I think you need to worry less about the suit," said Slade, removing his sword and trench coat, "And worry more about who's wearing it."

"We'll see boy," said Kane, taking off his long black cape, revealing a suit much like Slade's, only pitch black, the shoulders of the armor jutting out prominently.

"Enough talking!" Slade yelled, putting his fists at his sides and gathering his ki. It flared around him a brilliant blue, and the wind began to swirl around him in an updraft. The wind seemed to go faster and faster as Slade's power grew stronger and stronger. Slade finally threw his hands into the air as his Ki exploded, leaving a small crater under him. Both Kane and Zenyu's scouter's exploded in the flash. Kane had expected as much, knowing the Saiyan would undoubtedly be much stronger than last time they fought. He started at the boy as the white light began to fade. Slade stood there at the edge of the crater his ki had created, staring defiantly at Kane.

"Very Impressive." said the tyrant with a smirk. Then, in a mimic of Slade's stance, began to raise his own ki. The sky around them turned dark, the wind blowing even more fiercely than before. Lighting seemed to strike Kane as his power grew stronger. Kane's ki flared dark purple before exploding in a white flash. When it cleared, Kane stared down Slade in the same way, motioning with one finger for the Saiyan to attack. Slade did just that, leaping straight for him and throwing a punch straight for Kane's head. Kane dodged easily and kicked out at Slade, who zanzokened behind Kane and aimed a kick of his own for Kane's neck. Kane once again dodged easily, ducking down and landing a punch straight into the young fighter's chest. Slade moved back a bit, but countered quickly with an uppercut to Kane's chin and a kick into his stomach. Kane recovered from the attack quickly, unleashing a series of lighting-fast kicks and punches at Slade, who managed to block almost all of them. Slade then unleashed his own combo of attacks on Kane, getting a few good hits in before Kane managed to duck under a punch, and sent Slade flying into the air from his fist. Slade rightened himself quickly, putting his hands to his sides and charging an attack.

"KAME-HAME-HAAAAA!" The attack sailed straight through the air towards Kane, who jumped out the way and into the air himself. The attack hit the ground and exploded in a bright blue flash. Kane then unleashed a blast of ki of his own, which Slade avoided just as easily. Kane zanzokened behind Slade and knocked him back to the ground with a stiff chop. Slade managed to land on his feet, but barely had time to get his bearings before Kane appeared behind him and kicked him in the back hard. Slade fell forward onto his hand, deftly walking along the ground in a circle and jumping up to land his own kick right into Kane's face. Kane flew back a few feet, and leapt back towards Slade. The last Saiyan jumped straight at him, ready to continue the fight.

Eve sat alone in Slade's room, sitting in a chair and staring at the floor. Her mind was wracked with worry. She thought of how they had met, how he had saved her life, and then carried her in his arms to see her safely home. How he had first turned down her offer to join them, and how she had later found him nearly beaten to death by Zenyu. She thought of how he had joined them, how he had shared his past with her, how he had taught her how to fight, and how he said he would lead them all. Her thoughts finally turned to their last conversation, how he had said he wanted to protect her, and how he had promised he would come back alive. Her hands brushed against her lips as she remembered the touch of his lips against them. She had never been kissed before, and the feeling was something she promised herself she would experience again a million times if he came back.

"No Eve, when he comes back," she said, trying to shake the fear out of her head, "When he comes back, he will, he promised." She felt tears run down her face again.

"Eve?" said a voice from the door. It was Aiden, a worried expression on her face.

Eve quickly wiped her tears away.

"Aiden, you scared me." she said sharply.

"Sorry." he said, walking in and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"No, don't be, it's nothing. I was just..." she began.

"Worrying about him?" said Aiden, cutting her off. She looked up at him briefly, then looked back to the floor and nodded.

"Well you're not the only one," He said, gripping her shoulder tightly, "We're all worried about him."

"I know," said Eve, almost choking on these words, "I just don't know what to do."

"Well first of all you need to stop blubbering." said another voice. It was Janice.

"B-Blubbering?" said Eve, almost indignantly.

"Yeah, c'mon girl." Janice said, walking in, "I remember when I first joined up, you used to be almost as commanding as that boy you're crying over. Show some guts!"

Eve almost smiled, but looked at the ground despairingly again.

"I just don't know what to do." said Eve.

"Well, all I know is, Alex and Nax are all ready in the hanger, they just sent Aiden here to figure out what was taking you so long." said Janice, jabbing her thumb in Aiden's direction.

"Wh-what?" said Eve, sounding confused, though a smile was growing on her face.

"I'm just here to tell you we'll take care of things here; you four go make sure our leader comes back safe, ok?" Janice smiled at Eve, who smiled back. She got up, smacked her face lightly a couple times, and pumped her fist in the air.

"Yeah, I'm gonna make sure he keeps his promise. Let's go Aiden." she said, sounding more like her old self than ever before.

"Yes ma'am." said Aiden, smiling to match hers. They ran off to the hanger, Eve keeping a good distance ahead.

It had been almost 3 hours since the start of the fight. Both combatants were sporting there fair share of cuts and bruises, and both showing signs of fatigue. Slade spit some blood out of his mouth and flew back into the fray, Kane did the same, and both were soon throwing attacks at each other with such speed that even Zenyu was having trouble keeping up with them. The fight took into the air, the sky seeming to erupt with the impact of the two fighters respective blows. Kane finally landed a knee into Slade's abdomen, and then sent him back to the ground with an elbow to the back. Slade managed to land on all fours. He struggled to get back to his feet. His entire body was aching. It felt to him like the fight had been going on for 300 hundred hours rather than three. Kane landed a small distance away.

"I'm growing tired of this game boy." he said, lifting his hand and extending one finger, "I believe it's time to end this." He shot at Slade with a tiny red beam that moved almost too quickly for Slade. It grazed his cheek, leaving a small cut which began to bleed.

"You like it?" mocked Kane. "It was one of Lord Freeza's favorite finishing maneuvers. He used this one to kill the Saiyan prince himself." He shot another blast at Slade, who dodged it. Kane then began to fire them like a machine gun. Slade managed to dodge unscathed for awhile, until one grazed his arm, then his leg, which caused him to fall.

"You've gotten very good boy!" said Kane, Slade's death glowing in his mind and on his extended finger, "You just weren't good enough."

Slade prepared for the worst, but before Kane had a chance to fire, another blast of ki flew out of the sky above them, moving straight for Kane. Kane zanzokened into the air to dodge the blast. Both he and Slade looked around to see who had fired it. Slade found them first. It was Eve, with Alex, Nax, and Aiden.

"What the hell?" Slade said to himself

"SLADE!" Eve called as she flew down to him. She knelt down next to him trying to help him up.

"What the hell are you doing here!" Slade said angrily.

"What? No thanks for saving your life?" yelled Eve, an angry tone to match Slade's

He grunted angrily and said,

"Thank you so much for saving me, now will you please get out of here?"

"Not a chance bucko." said Eve, pulling Slade to his feet. "I'm here to make sure you keep your promise."

"You're gonna need to have some faith in me Eve." said Slade, getting increasingly frustrated with her presence. "Now get the hell out of here before he kills you!"

Kane looked down upon this scene, growing as angry as Slade was getting.

"So boy, you're friends decided to help you out!" He charged another quick killer beam, "That's fine, they can all watch as I send you to hell!" He fired the beam; it zipped through the air, straight for Slade's heart. Slade saw it coming, but knew he couldn't dodge it in time. Just before it hit, he felt himself violently shoved out of the way.

"SLADE, LOOK OUT! Eve screamed as she knocked him away with her shoulder. The beam found a target, hitting Eve straight through her abdomen. She fell to the ground, her blood pouring out of her. Alex, Nax, and Aiden's eyes widened with shock, as did Slade's.

"EVE! NOOOOOOO!" he screamed as he ran to her side. He lifted her head in his hand, putting his hand on her wound to try and stop the blood. She looked at him with a small smile.

"Eve...why?" Slade choked.

"I'm sorry Slade. I had to come and help you. I couldn't let you do this alone. I want to always be with you. I-I love you Slade." her eyes filled with tears again.

"Eve." Slade whispered, shutting his eyes. He felt something warm running down his cheek. He realized he was crying, for the first time in years. Eve's bloody hand brushed his cheek.

"Looks like...you found...your tears." Slade grabbed her hand and held it tight.

"Eve...please...don't you leave me too." he said, his tears coming down stronger.

"I'm...not...done yet..." she said, her eyes then closed, and her head fell back. Slade put her down gently, staring at the blood, Eve's blood, on his hands. His hands shook violently. He threw his head back and screamed so loud the Earth seemed to shake with it. Nax, Alex and Aiden rushed to Eve. Slade bent down briefly and kissed her unmoving lips again. He then tore a section of his trench coat and wrapped it tightly over her wound. Kane looked at this display, and began to laugh again, Zenyu joining in with him. The sound tore through Slade's soul like a jagged blade. His eyes shut tight, tears still wet on his face; he rose and faced his opponent again. Kane laughed more.

"Yet another person dies for you Saiyan," he said, "And yet another person you failed to protect." He laughed harder, Zenyu laughing with him. Slade's eyes then snapped open, and the sight of them all at once stopped Kane's laughter and filled him with terror. It wasn't the murderous intent behind them, it was something else. Something he had feared for countless years.

Slade's eyes had turned green.