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 rights to 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 25: Rage

Gohan stared hard into the odd sight. Nine minutes. That was about how long had passed since Mercurial and Verto had stopped moving. Both of them were still enshrouded with dark red energy that felt like Verto's Psi power, but was so much darker. Goku and Vegeta had woken up within a few minutes once the activity stopped, though they were both exhausted and sore. The strange woman named Leira had been standing near Piccolo, discussing what might happen next. Gohan was too focused on the raging red energy of Verto to notice most of the conversation until Vegeta blew up again. Not surprisingly, this happened within seconds of him waking up.

"Woman! What the hell is happening?" he bellowed, announcing his presence.

Leira barely noticed his outburst, "Something necessary I'm afraid. When those two start up again, I suggest you three stay out of it. The Namek will handle the containment wave when the time is right, and only then!"

"What the hell is the supposed to mean?" Vegeta roared again.

"It means that things are about to get rough around here. Is that clear enough for you?" Leira retorted. Vegeta grumbled and didn't answer while Goku tried to figure things out for himself.

"What is all this weird energy they're giving off? I can't sense it too well, but I can tell it's very dark, almost evil," he said softly.

"It feels like Verto's Psi energy dad, but at the same time, I just know it can't be!" Gohan replied.

Leira turned her head to them, eyes fully narrowed, "Rest assured Son Gohan, it is his spirit power you are sensing, all of it. There's a part of him buried deep that greatly enhances his energy when he's extremely enraged. This is not unlike the way your Saiyan blood reacts to the same conditions, but this isn't something that he can just find and use at will, not yet. If this happens like I think it will, do not stand in his path until things settle down; he most likely won't be in complete control of his actions!"

"That doesn't make any sense woman! He's been angry plenty of times before and this has never happened!" Vegeta argued.

"True, due to circumstance. But you will see the bulk of it very soon. He partially learned how to tap into it from the self-titled demon king Dabura. He believes it's just a very potent attack that he can control ahead of time, but in reality, it is the key to something else altogether. It is generated by focused anger and rage that darkens his spirit energy into an unstable power source. Any contact with any of his energy based attacks can be very bad when he is like this," Leira explained.

"So is he able to kill in a single blow or something?" Gohan asked carefully.

"Much worse than that I'm afraid. If one of his attacks pierces the body at a vulnerable point and remains in place for as little as half a second, the victim's soul begins to burn," Leira replied with a cryptic voice.

"What?" all four fighters shouted at once.

"You heard what I said, and trust me, I am not exaggerating. The amount of power used in the attack and the strength of the victim will determine how quickly this happens, if it does. If the core of the victim's body is struck hard enough, death will occur, whether it be quickly or slowly. If it is a limb or other extremity, they will feel unimaginable pain. It is possible to hold back enough that any damage is inflicted onto the mind of the victim, and thus the person would survive. What mental state they would be in is a different story, but I would not wager on anything functional. However, the chances of him holding back in that state is minimal, so I wouldn't even consider that to happen. When enough power is used, the soul could burn up almost instantly, you will be able to tell by the amount of activity upon their eventual death!" Leira explained further.

"So this is what he was like when he broke into the afterlife?" Piccolo asked.

"Nearly, he wasn't quite to this point yet. He still had to completely focus his rage. I don't expect this time will be the same," Leira said.

"But Mercurial is immortal. She can't die!" Piccolo pointed out.

"Incorrect. Immortality doesn't cover souls, only their physical bodies. If Verto is able to destroy her soul, she will die. Hopefully he does it quickly," Leira said with a serious tone.

"Why would it matter?" Vegeta asked.

"Because Mercurial is possessed. There is a demon soul that is generating her powers. If Verto finishes the job fast, the demon will die along with her. However, if he is too slow, the demon will be able to escape, and we cannot let that happen. Thus why I needed you to use the containment wave, you don't want that thing floating around this planet unopposed. It would be able to hide from us all and we would never find it again if it doesn't want us too!"

"Something doesn't fit with all this," Goku chimed in a moment later.

"What is it?" Piccolo asked as he glanced at Leira stern glance.

"Well, couldn't we sense Verto's ki when he did this before. Any angry Saiyan would get the attention of everyone nearby who can feel power levels!" he pointed out.

"Not only that, why wouldn't he just transform?" Gohan asked, "When he's that angry, he should transform instantly. And anytime I transformed out of anger, I could calm down very easily once I was used to it. I know he's the same way."

Leira snorted slightly, "Ordinarily yes, due to his high ki level and Saiyan blood. In a situation like this, that form will also act as an instinctual inhibitor no matter how upset he may get. He wouldn't completely lose control of himself. But that will not be the case this time, I promise you!" A sudden power change in the area grabbed everyone's attention, but only Leira appeared unaffected. Verto's aura was glowing partially silver again, but it seemed to be much brighter than usual, like he was powering up something big.

"It's nearly time," she said.

"His energy is draining!" Goku exclaimed.

"To be expected," Leira said calmly. Vegeta glared at the ground for a moment, deep in thought before he came up with something.

"Oh of course! So that's why!" he barked at the air.

"That's why what?" Goku asked out of confusion.

"That's why he wouldn't fight me with his full power that day, before the Kai dragged him back to us. He knew he had to wear himself out first to do whatever you're suggesting he's going to do! I figured he was just pouting over all those humans that had been killed and had lost his drive. His power is leveling off to a similar level that it did that day!"

Gohan nodded, but felt something else, "His Psi level is rising rapidly!"

"Yes, I suggest the four of you do not dare to move unless you have to save yourselves from what we are about to witness. Verto may not be able to stop himself from taking action upon you! During the initial stage of this, he may even see or hear things differently!" Leira warned again. Verto's silver aura turned blue for a moment before a bright flash went off, and both warriors went flying backwards. Mercurial managed to stay on her feet and skidded to a stop, smoke coming from her burned hands like she had grabbed onto a hot iron and never let go. Verto laid flat for a moment before getting up and glancing around.

"What the hell happened?" Mercurial shouted. Verto's eyes darted straight to Goku, Gohan and Vegeta, and he reacted almost instantly, but his reaction wasn't what they thought would happen. His head turned instantly to Mercurial, who was stunned into silence.

"You…you killed them!" he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Mercurial cocked her head in confusion, "You must be losing your wits kid. Now how did you manage to block me out? I'm interested!" Red smoky waves started flowing around Verto's body, and his expression had gone from shock to anger in a heartbeat. In very little time, the red Psi energy became a thick and rapid flowing aura, and all of Verto's hair stood up on end, but remained black. His eyeballs vanished next, but the whites of his eyes turned red and started to glow. Gohan had seen this before when he was charging up with Kaioken, but his eyes had been glowing blue in both normal and Super Mystic forms. All of a sudden, the Psi energy being emitted smashed into him and nearly knocked him over. Both Goku and Vegeta were also struggling to stay on their feet, and Piccolo was crouched down, holding onto his containment jar. Mercurial's shield seemed to protect her, but she still felt the force of this new power. Only Leira was unaffected aside from her hair and clothing waving about.

Mercurial actually looked concerned now, "What is this?" she asked.

"You…I'll kill you! Arghhhh!" Verto shouted as he charged in. He rushed in with full force and crashed into her energy shield and tried to push further even as he stopped.

"I don't know what your issues are kid, but you won't take them out on me!" she boasted. Verto's red aura brightened suddenly, and the shield fluctuated a lot like it had earlier. It didn't take but a few seconds before it cracked apart. Mercurial couldn't even react before she was floored by a hard punch that nearly took her head off and sent her sprawling.

"Well, that's a first," Gohan noted.

"He broke through with just one charge?" Goku asked.

"Is that the Kaioken technique he's using?" Piccolo added.

"No. It's the effects of this deep pool of spirit energy. The source is very deep within him and in his enraged state it's just as potentially evil as she is!" Leira pointed out. Verto didn't wait for Mercurial to recover, and chased down her flailing form, giving her a rough knee to the stomach before bashing her into the ground.

She coughed up blood when she hit, but managed to smile, "So, one of you isn't a complete waste after all! But you can't kill me! I can't die!" She got up and charged up a larger version of her Shadow Bolt and fired it quickly. Verto batted it back with his bare but red glowing hand. Enough distance was set between the two that Mercurial got her shield up in time to block it, but smoke and dust clouded the area between them. Gohan saw Verto rush into the smoke cloud and plow right through Mercurial with his shoulder, breaking what was likely several ribs at once. It was like he didn't even notice the shield at all. Verto kept moving ahead with Mercurial nearly impaled on his right shoulder, and flipped over as he grabbed hold of her body, throwing her back into the ground. He was standing in front of her within the blink of an eye, and his fist was crackling with energy as he backhanded her in the face and she fell to the ground. Verto didn't move and waited for her to get up, only to see her vanish briefly before reappearing next to the tree line, floating in mid air.

"You're starting to annoy me boy!" she growled as she spat out some blood and rose higher into the air. Her palms went straight up and a large shadow ball swirled into view again. Verto started walking towards her, his expression cold and empty. For a moment, Gohan thought he was simply on autopilot, except for the angry look in his eye.

"You had better stop! Unless you want another batch of humans to be incinerated! Let's try that city over there!" Mercurial stated as she turned to the direction of North City. Verto was already in her path at the same altitude. The glow from his eyes had faded, and his pupils had returned, but they were red now instead of blue. Gohan sensed a very slight drop in his energy, but it was almost negligible.

"You shouldn't bother; you'll just waste your energy! They aren't worth the effort and I don't give a shit about them anyway!" he replied in an eerily calm but scratchy voice. Everyone in the area looked shocked to hear him say that, except Leira.

"I can't believe he just said that," Goku cried out.

Vegeta managed a grin, "He's probably just bluffing Kakarot, and it probably won't work anyway!" Gohan and Piccolo both grimaced, as they had felt some sort of certainty about those words. This new Verto didn't seem to care. The Z fighters weren't the only ones dumbfounded by this defiant statement. Mercurial hovered in the sky as her attack started to catch fire, stunned at his demeanor.

"You're bluffing! Just trying to scare me! I know you'll stop it!" she claimed. Verto didn't respond and stayed in the air. As her attack finished, Mercurial took a good long look at Verto's glaring face. It was almost emotionless, except all that incredible battle rage bouncing around in the air.

"I guess we will see your true colors soon enough! Will you dodge and attack me with my guard down, or will you stop it and valiantly protect them? I'll make the choice easy for you by intentionally missing!" Mercurial suggested.

"I wouldn't worry about them if I were you. Your shield cannot protect you from me anymore. Rest assured, if you miss, you will regret it! The same happens if you attempt to hit me! It would be much simpler for you to give up, I'll make your death quick if you do," Verto offered. Goku and Vegeta both looked surprised by this calm control he was showing now, but Gohan felt differently. He means it. He's regained control of himself, but it's like he is a whole other person. Whatever compassion that normally holds him back is gone, Gohan thought as Leira glanced over towards him for a brief moment, nodding. Mercurial wasn't sure what to make of Verto's declaration, but seemed determined to prove him wrong.

"She has to attack him directly, otherwise he's going to eat her alive!" Vegeta surmised.

"But does she know that?" Gohan asked.

"We're about to find out," Leira replied. Mercurial seemed to figure it out and launched her fireball straight at Verto, backing off to the ground as she did. Verto's right hand slid across his body as if he was going to try and knock it back with a knife hand slash. Instead, his Psi sword emerged; only it was deep red this time. The shadow and flame ball was blocked by the sword, but kept spinning into it, pushing Verto backwards and towards the ground. Once he got within a few feet of the dirt, he expelled more energy and stopped all momentum. The fireball began to fluctuated, signaling detonation, but then it promptly started to shrink away. Gohan saw Verto's sword glowing a brighter red before it turned purple and orange.

"What's happening?" Piccolo called out.

"He's absorbing her attack!" Gohan explained.

"Impossible!" Mercurial shouted in disbelief. All of the attack was absorbed into Verto's red sword, which in turn began to flow out with random bursts of shadow and fire energy. Verto remained in position, but lowered to the ground and started focusing on the sword, holding its power out in front and away from him. Gohan felt another surge of energy from him before the sword lost its shape, and then blasted outward in a thick, flaming beam. Mercurial's eyes shot open as it rushed towards her, and dove to the side, barely dodging the beam as it ripped into the nearby forest. The beam could be seen even as it moved through the trees, flash burning everything in a half-mile wide path of destruction. It didn't stop until it moved up the side of a mountain and roared into the skies and space above. Nothing but a burnt path of dirt and rock remained, and all of the snow on the mountain was gone. Mercurial watched all of it happen and got up slowly before turning back around. Verto was already there, sword in hand. Mercurial lashed out in surprise, letting loose a storm of purple lightning. Verto's red sword flipped up and caught it all at a safe distance from his body, and then he started pushing back. Mercurial's lightning burst turned slightly red and reflected back into her, striking her head, arms and legs. She screamed in pain as this happened, but she didn't let up on her attack, which made it worse. Her face began to burn and wrinkle, filling with deformed scars as her hair turned gray and fell out. She gasped loudly and stopped channeling her attack, and Verto paused and stepped backwards. Her well-defined body was ruined and smoking all over. All her muscle mass was gone, and her skin was sagging and wrinkled badly wherever exposed.

"What have you done to me?" she shrieked and panted as she looked at her wrinkled hands.

"You should have surrendered when you had the chance. Now, you'll die slow!" Verto growled as he held his sword at the ready.

She managed a weak laugh, "Go ahead then! See what happens! When you realize you can't win, I'll gladly make you suffer just like this! Every moment for the remainder of your short life will be filled with pain! And then your friends, I'll make sure they all die before you do, it will be absolutely delicious making them suffer while you can't do anything about…AHHH!" Mercurial suddenly screamed louder than before as Verto plunged his bright red sword into the right side of her chest. He kept his hand on the sword for a moment before letting go and backing off two steps.

"What is this power? No! What did you do?" Mercurial shouted. Verto didn't answer as black smoke slowly began to rise out of both the stab wound and out of every natural opening of Mercurial's body.

A sudden purple stream of it emerged from her eyes just as she screamed again, "Get out of my body!"

"Huh?" Gohan and Goku asked when this happened. The purple stream of smoke started to reform itself into a small cloud-like vapor with dark eyes.

"It's the demon! Now Piccolo!" Leira shouted.

"Evil Containment, Wave!" Piccolo shouted as Leira held down the jar. The large green beam shot out of Piccolo and smashed into the darkened cloud before turning back around, carrying the demonic essence with it. Piccolo's control of the beam kept it turning tight circles in the air before he cast his hand down towards the jar, and the demon was carried into it with the beam. Leira slammed it shut once the move was complete, and Piccolo sagged to his knees, breathing hard. Gohan turned his eyes to Verto, who didn't appear to be affected, but a closer look revealed salt water coming from his eyes. He turned his attention to the fallen Mercurial, who was still smoking, and he knelt to her side.

His bottom lip quivered just a bit, and his expression lightened, "Why Kara?"

"There was no other way. I've lived a fuller life than most, and I don't want an afterlife. I'd rather be nothing; god knows I deserve it," she admitted. A distinct sniffling sound came from Verto, and streams of tears ran down the side of his face as Kara's body continued to emit black smoke. Gohan sensed Kara's life fading very quickly, and felt the need to step closer, only to be held back by Leira's glare.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way. Hopefully you won't ever have to do that again. Thank you Verto, for giving me my peace. I hope you…" Kara said before fading. Gohan had suddenly lost the sound of her voice and so did everyone else. Whatever she said in her final seconds, only Verto heard. A large puff of smoke emerged, and all life that Kara had left went with it. It rose into the air and slowly broke apart. Verto watched it go, openly weeping without much sound. Once she was gone, he didn't even look at the body or his friends. But he did set eyes on Leira, and for a moment, his angry aura reappeared.

"You could have stopped this!" he shouted. Leira didn't answer immediately, nor did she even move. It was like she was frozen in place by his glare.

"You don't know that Verto," she said calmly.

"Bullshit, I saw it! She showed me her memories and I saw you beat her easily in the past!" Verto claimed. This got the Z fighters' attention; and all of them stared at Leira in realization to what may have happened.

"You don't understand how dangerous and powerful that demon was. What you faced was nothing compared to his true power! This had to be done! If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for not acting fast enough and taking the demon out along with her!" Leira said, her voice rising. Verto's glare didn't lose any of its intensity, but he suddenly seemed unable to speak. Then he blasted off into the distance, his red aura slowly turning back to a dull gray as he did. No one said anything for easily a minute, but all of them wanted to follow.

"Leave him be! He needs time to get through this, a few hours minimum. Any contact now could reawaken that evil power before he's able to bury it again!" Leira warned again.

Piccolo held up the jar that the demon was trapped in, "And this?"

"I'll take that. He's going back to where he belongs," Leira said as she took the jar from Piccolo, "For what its worth, I'm sorry for what he had to go through, but it was for the good of this world and many others!"

"So, that girl was innocent before she was possessed? She was never corrupted by anything, was she? Did that creature orchestrate all of this? Or was it you?" Piccolo asked with a scornful look.

"You sent us on this wild chase with no idea what to expect, but I'm willing to bet that you could have stopped this at any time! The boy claims that you could, and if that is the case, you have burned up any kind of allied ties to us!" Vegeta growled a warning.

"You forced Verto to murder an innocent person to stop it without trying something else! For what, to make him learn to tap into an evil power he has buried within? You made things worse than they already were!" Gohan shouted at Leira.

"I thought you were here to help, but obviously I was mistaken! Leave now!" Goku said sternly. Leira seemed taken aback at their statements, but merely shrugged it off.

"None of you understand anything!" she said as she walked away with the jar, vanishing into the remaining forests.

"You're sure that he had nothing to do with this?" Bulma asked into the phone.

"I wouldn't doubt it, but from what I can tell, he doesn't have the resources to unleash something like this so soon. There is something on the horizon, but I'm positive this wasn't it. His agents were all over the place trying to track down whatever this was and collect any samples they could. The only thing they found was a mutilated woman's body on in the middle of ground zero, and there was nothing about her that was unusual, according to the police report anyway. The only thing odd they noticed were the searing burns covering her body, and the one in her chest that likely killed her," another feminine voice answered.

"Alright, keep an eye out Erin. You don't want to be pulled into this any deeper," Bulma warned.

"I want this dirt bag gone as much as you do. I'll call you tomorrow," Erin replied as she hung up. Bulma sighed as her computers stopped picking up the unstable power signals. She had been monitoring things from Capsule Corp ever since she had first picked them up. A few of the power signals she knew to be her family and friends, but the unstable energy that was bouncing around out there made her very uncomfortable, even if she couldn't sense it herself. Bulla had continually cried during the crisis, though had stopped a few times for a nap before she started up again. Bulma knew they couldn't be out of the woods yet though. Her scanners had picked up a second source of unstable energy, and it matched Verto's unique power signal. She had no idea what that could have meant, but it did register as something different then what she had seen before.

"Anything yet dear?" Dr. Briefs asked as he entered the room.

"I haven't heard anything, but I'm still picking up all of the power levels I'm familiar with. That strange, chaotic one has vanished, so I can only assume that they defeated whatever it was. I can't shake the feeling though that something terrible happened out there. I guess I'll have to wait until Vegeta gets back. I sent Lenz out to meet up with them, but judging by the way they've scattered it may not be quite over," Bulma said, looking hopeful.

"Don't worry too much dear; you've got Goku and Gohan out there as well. They can take care of themselves," he assured as he departed.

"Dad?" Bulma called before he could get far.

"Yes?"

"Do you think it's possible that whatever this was could have been engineered?" Bulma asked, mentally crossing her fingers.

"Well, I'd have to analyze the data more thoroughly. But judging by the power output that fried half my satellites over North City, I'm guessing no," he replied.

Bulma's eyes widened, "Only the North City ones?"

"A few were taken completely out by that battle, but others were overloaded during it. I couldn't tell you how that happened without retrieving them. Could you ask Verto or Gohan to head up there and bring one back down? It will take several days to get the proper equipment together along with a trained team otherwise," he suggested.

"I'll see if they're up to it," Bulma said, a pure look of dread displayed as she turned back around. Damn, that's not good. I won't be able to monitor Cash as well without those. Guess that'll be on the to-do list tomorrow.

"Bulma sweetie! You have a few visitors!" Bunny called from further down the hall. Bulma promptly shut off her main display and turned to get up as Bulla started to cry again.

"Miss Briefs, are you in there?" a voice called.

"Yes, come on in," Bulma said as cheerfully as possible. A young brunette, probably somewhere near seventeen years old, entered the room, bearing a corporate office type of look. Her hair was tied back carefully, and she wore a button down shirt covered by a black business coat. Behind her, an even younger red head followed, bearing a yellow skirt and matching top. Bulma eyed the bruise on the side of her face, but didn't indulge just yet.

"I'm sorry if we're interrupting anything," she said as she glanced around the room, wincing about when Bulla's screaming got louder.

"Oh, no. Just thinking about getting my daughter a fresh bottle. What can I do for you?" Bulma asked as she turned to tend to Bulla.

"We are doing a school paper on the restoration of West City after the Zerg war. Since Capsule Corp had a lot to do with that, we're wondering if we could ask you a few questions?" the brunette asked.

"I suppose we can arrange something then, do you mind waiting a few minutes in the lobby before we start? Bulla's crying is enough to make your ears bleed," Bulma claimed as her daughter continued the harsh noise.

"Sure, that would be swell," the red headed girl said as they both followed Bulma out of the room. Bulma really didn't want to talk to anyone outside of her family right now, but she had too many questions swarming through her head. I'll have to drill Vegeta and Verto about what happened when they get back. Maybe it's time I filled them both in about what Cash might be up to. First things first though, give the high school girls some boring information about construction. Bulma placed Bulla in a lobby made crib before settling down in a chair across from a couch that both girls sat down in.

"Can I ask your names before we start?" Bulma asked as she held out her hand. The red head's hand came out first and Bulma felt something strange from the handshake, but didn't say anything.

The red head smiled widely when their hands made contact, "My name is Ranso."

The brunette placed her hand over Bulma's trapped hand, "Kati Fushi, Cash."

Power levels

Verto (Psi only): 311,000,000; Enraged: 500,000,000

Mercurial: Capable of 650,000,000

A/n: Dun dun dun!

WDG: Twist and turn, twist and turn. Be careful you don't go off the road. :P

VB: If I do go off the road, I'm taking all you fuckers with me! Down in a blaze of glory!