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 26: Coping with Morality
It felt odd to be taking in such a view. The bright sunshine over a lush green valley complete with a gentle blue waterfall that fed the river and split the valley in two. The sun sparkled off the water's surface, but not in a blinding way, just very subtle. It was calming, but in a way, it also made me suffer. What I had done to Kara, after what she showed me, it just felt so wrong. She might have been right in the long run; killing her might have been the only way to take care of that demon. It didn't make me feel any better though, and the worst potential part was that I had hesitated in the final moments, not finishing the job fast enough. I felt lucky that Piccolo had sealed Vang away, because once Kara came to her senses, all the guilt I felt over her came flooding back in. It had been several hours since Kara died, and I was still teary eyed. I almost wanted to outlet for my anger, and every sign in the world pointed to Leira. She had lied to me; I was sure of it. I didn't care what other secrets she had, even if they concerned me personally. I also didn't care that she might have been trying to help, in her own odd way. I just wanted her out of my life. But judging by what Kara had said to me, that wasn't going to happen.
"Thank you Verto for giving me my peace. I hope you find yours in the end. That girl, Leira, is the key. I don't know how I know, I just do. The feelings I've shared with you should disperse within a few hours. You will be able to trust her; and you must! For the good of this world! Farewell!"
Kara was right about one thing, my anger had passed, right past the levels of loathing and hatred. I didn't see how I could possibly trust Leira at all, knowing that she could have at least taken some sort of action. Throwing us into that situation just plain sucked, but watching on as I was forced into killing an innocent person in all this, it drove me to a new level of ill. Watching her soul burn up and knowing that I had done the deed, it was beyond sickening. I glanced back over the beautiful land, allowing it to sink into my mutilated spirit. It was soothing, even if it only lasted a few more seconds. My senses picked up on Goten and Trunks running around down there, disturbing random creatures in the process. There was a high human signal chasing them around, and not having much luck. It could have been anyone stuck with babysitting duty, but I didn't care to join in, and I quickly suppressed my power. I sat down and started to focus on Kara again, but elected to revisit what she had shown me about her previous life, before it was destroyed. It felt remarkably easy and real to experience, as if Kara's emotional transfer had also included memories. Several images flashed through my mind, without any control over them. All of them focused on Kara and her parents, every positive moment. I felt like I was floating in a pool of positive energy after awhile, and it was so refreshing that I just fell backwards and soaked it in. I stared up at the clouds as they moved about in the sky, and I felt dizzy. The sky turned strangely orange in color. Another image of Kara's mother flashed by, standing over as if I was really Kara lying on the ground. I knew she had to be facing Kara directly, but it felt like it was me instead. But when she spoke, her voice had an accent that I recognized.
"What you are experiencing is a temporal distortion of reality. It should pass relatively soon," she said. I blinked sharply, and the sky turned blue again. The figure of Kara's mother shortened, her hair turned red, and her eyes black. Her figure also tightened and enhanced in certain areas, and I realized that I had been hallucinating again.
"Are you alright?" Leira said, with what might have been genuine concern. I frowned deeply as anger returned; she was the last person I wanted to see now.
"Fine. What do you want?" I asked.
"You can't lie to me or yourself Verto. How do you really feel?" she asked. I thought it was a stupid question, but I truly didn't know how I felt anymore. I had just been through the emotional roller coaster from hell, and somehow I felt normal. When I didn't answer, Leira knelt down to one knee, looking me straight in the eye.
"Why, why did you…" I started to ask.
She put a single finger to my lips to silence me, "Why isn't important. I know you don't want to trust me anymore, and that is your business. I won't force you. After what happened today, what I put you through and how neither one of us had control of the situation, I don't expect you to ever see me in the same light again. For that I'm sorry. Do your best to regain control of your emotions and stop any inner turmoil you are suffering from. You will need too as there's a difficult road ahead. You will likely be severely weakened for the next several days, so keep your activity to a minimum, or more serious side effects may occur. This deep power of yours will be very taxing each time you use it, so be cautious. I'm going to leave you be for now, just like you wanted. But know that I won't ever stop watching out for you, even from a distance. If you ever need me for anything at all, just call out my name. I'll be there; I promise," she said as she stood back up. The air around her started moving and my vision distorted as she held her hand up. I thought I saw a warm but sad smile coming from her, as if she was saying goodbye. I blinked sharply again and shook my head a bit, I still felt weird. It was only for a split second and then I regained my focus. When I did, she was gone. What was all that about?
As the sun started to descend in the skies, I tried to figure out what I had just seen. First I had been swimming in Kara's memories like they were my own, and then somehow my thoughts flashed to Leira. It had to have been my imagination playing tricks on me; Leira had never felt so warm, so kind. She was always cold and demanding. At the same time, her words felt sincere. Ironically, when she vanished, so did all those warm feelings, and the frigid air of reality seemed to blow over me. When it did, all of Kara's memories and feelings vanished, just as she said they would. Hell of a daydream. I suddenly sensed a powerful presence coming closer from behind, but once I recognized it I didn't bother to look.
"Haven't you moped around enough boy? Maybe you should go cry it off in that girl's arms. Oh I'm sorry, she's gone now! Get over it!" Vegeta barked. I inhaled a deep breath and exhaled just as sharply. There were many things that I wanted and probably needed to hear in that moment, even from him. But that wasn't it.
"Leave me alone," I replied as calmly as possible. My ki had flared though, and knowing Vegeta, that had likely been what he wanted.
"Make me boy! Take those angry feelings and put them to good use! Or else go find someone's shoulder to cry on! Since that possessed girl is dead, maybe the Rotian will suffice. You're practically attached to her bosom anyway!" he laughed.
"Don't you think you've been beaten enough today?" I snapped back.
Vegeta scoffed at my answer, "It wasn't me that let that beast out; that was you! Haven't you been warned enough to watch yourself with your reckless power displays?" I felt myself slipping again once his words were heard; slipping back the place I had been a few hours prior. Vegeta was trying to piss me off again, and it was working. Push through it with my brain, not my gut! Don't let instinct dictate how the rest of this goes!
I sighed as I forced the burning rage back down, "No, but it was you that wanted to fight so badly today. It was you that couldn't stop pushing for your precious full round fight. One that you would have lost if it hadn't been interrupted. You got your wish in the end, now please, leave me the hell alone!"
Vegeta growled a bit before adding in his usual smirk, "You can stay out here all night for all I care boy! But it'll take more than your tiny words to get rid of me! That girl's death was necessary and you know it. Down deep, demon or not, she was a cold, heartless bitch! One worthy of being exterminated! Have some pride, because you certainly don't have much of a spine!" My effort to shut down any gut instinct vanished with just one of his usual insults, and I felt that red power surging through me again, making me feel stronger again. No, not like this! I won't allow myself to do that again, he doesn't deserve it that much. He's just trying to help in his own twisted way! Even as Vegeta continued his grin at my slight lightning display, I managed to see him the way I used to. A proud father figure, wanting the best for me. An honorable man, protecting his family and the entire planet without a second thought. My raging red Psi became as calm and as blue as the river below as I started to simmer down.
Vegeta's grin subsided for a moment, "You and your stupid human bred morals that always hold you down! You're pathetic!" I grimaced, he was still asking for it. Okay, I don't care what that was supposed to really mean in his world.
"Sorry, but I'm not letting that work again!" I said as I rushed forward and knocked him flat with one powerful blow to the head. My fist was glowing blue again, and I had hit him as hard as I could. A pain-filled, shocked expression remained on his face for several seconds as he passed out. I sighed heavily and sunk to the ground, worn out from the hellacious day.
"Well there's something you don't see everyday," a voice said from the side. I jumped up, startled and in a ready stance. Out of all the people I thought it could have been, I wasn't expecting the former monk. I hadn't sensed that anyone else was there, but I was still so messed up mentally that I probably hadn't noticed.
"Hey buddy, I heard what happened. You alright?" Krillin asked. Krillin wasn't dumb enough to pick a fight like Vegeta had, and I managed to calm myself down with that knowledge.
"That depends on your definition of alright. Who sent you up here?" I asked.
Krillin chuckled, "Let's just say that Goku is a little too naïve for man to man discussions like this. And by the look of it, Vegeta is either too stubborn or unwilling. Probably both. Gohan told me what happened, well the quick and ugly version anyway. He figured you needed someone to talk to, someone who wasn't there."
"I don't need anyone to talk to. I prefer to be left alone. Let me deal with this in my own way!" I suggested with a raised voice.
"I've seen how you deal with problems in your own way, and I'd rather not be sleeping next to Vegeta tonight. You may deny it, but deep down, I know you want someone to talk you through this. Flying solo might work in a battle, but not now,' Krillin said.
"How did you find me anyway? I was keeping my power suppressed all the way till now," I pointed out.
"Sorry kid, but I've been able to sense you nearby for awhile now. It's hard to miss when someone is in emotional turmoil. I admit, I couldn't pinpoint your location exactly, but after watching the twin terrors for a few hours, I was looking for an out. And if you truly wanted to be left alone, why pick a wide-open spot on a cliff edge? It just screams for attention!"
I let that thought settle for only a brief moment, "I could make it impossible to locate me. Fly into space or something."
Krillin stifled a frown, "Yeah, but running away from your problems doesn't fix anything. And somehow that just isn't your style either. You're smarter than that." I nearly caved when he said that; he was exactly right. I had been beating myself up pretty badly, but having Vegeta show up wasn't exactly anger management at its best either.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Come on, let's go for a walk. I'd rather not be here when he wakes up again," Krillin suggested. I nodded slightly and we strolled down the hillside. Krillin allowed an awkward silence for only a few seconds, but soon began talking again.
"I didn't get every detail from Gohan about what happened, or what you went through. But I can see that dealing with this particular crisis wasn't easy on you. Go ahead and tell me about it. I may not be the most understanding human on this planet, but I can listen as well as anyone. Talking it out usually helps rather than keeping everything bottled up," he suggested.
"Well, I'll warn you, the details are uglier than you heard. I'm still trying to figure out what truly happened myself. It started like any normal fight against a dangerous villain. But then, just when I was getting the upper hand, it came screeching to a halt. And she showed me her memories. Why? I have no idea. If she truly wanted me to kill her off for good, why show me that. She was innocent before being possessed by that evil demon. If she wanted me to kill her and the demon at the same time, all she had to do was wait long enough. I was getting pretty close to that point. Instead, she showed me her life story, and I pitied her. I just couldn't go through with it, do you understand that?" I asked.
Krillin stared at me with a curious expression, "I have a - decent idea of what that might have been like. I remember struggling with doing the right thing when it just feels wrong, several times. You're not alone in that one," he said.
"Really? You've had to kill an innocent person before?" I asked, finding it hard to believe.
"It's been put in front of me; I never said I did it. The decision was still just as big and potentially bad in either direction. Let's just say it involves my wife, back when Cell was chasing her around. I had the chance to shut her down and kill her, preventing Cell from reaching his final form. And I just couldn't do it. Even though my lack of action backfired, everything worked out in the end. Can't say the same thing about the other time, but it hasn't been all that bad, yet," Krillin said, glancing back at the hill.
"And which time was that?" I asked.
"When I had the chance to kill Vegeta. I had him cornered when he was at his weakest. I was beaten and out of energy, but that didn't matter. I knew Yajirobe's sword would be enough to finish him before he could get away in his ship. Just as I got to him, Goku begged me to spare him. I thought he was nuts; I just knew there was no way that I could let him go. No way that he would ever become a good guy like Goku thought he could and never threaten us again. Now look at him!"
I glanced back with him, sensing that Vegeta was still out cold, "That depends on what you consider a good guy."
"Yeah, there are some days that I regret it. Part of what makes us human I guess," Krillin said, continuing down the hill in silence.
"I don't think it's a good comparison. I'm on the opposite end of that decision. I did something that I can never take back. I can't ever fix it. Can you say that you've ever done that before?"
Krillin stopped, "No, I can't say I have. Maybe that's a difference that will stick between us, but it doesn't matter kid. I know you'll make the right choice, even if it feels wrong. We all have to face that at some point in life."
"What really sucks is that I almost enjoyed it," I muttered.
"Gohan mentioned that you weren't yourself. He said it was like you lost control and were unaware of what you were doing up until it was over, or did I hear wrong?"
"That might have been how he saw it, but he's wrong. I was in control!" I said with feeling behind it.
Krillin's eyes opened a little wider, "Wow, that's pretty heavy."
"Well, I wasn't aware of it at first. That possessed girl showed me her life story, and then asked me to kill her so the demon would die too. I refused, several times. I didn't think she could force me to do it, but as it turns out…" I trailed off as the weight of the events hit me again.
"It's okay, don't bottle it up. You can let it out," Krillin said with a reassuring tone.
"There's an evil power inside me that is linked with my Psi energy and she found it. I thought it was just a focused attack that I learned from Dabura, but it was more like opening a locked door that shouldn't have been touched. Sure wouldn't be the first time. Apparently that power doesn't work as long as my Ki remains stable. I guess my Saiyan power actually blocks it out, until it's too low. She forced the demon to drain it I think, somehow, someway. She used some kind of telepathic technique on me when I wasn't aware of it. It was some kind of emotional merge, so she could share any feelings she had with me. Three guesses what that might have been," I said, pausing for Krillin to figure it out.
"So you basically pulled a Gohan and went crazy?" he asked.
"I think it was worse than that. I think her little spell did something else and made me hallucinate for a few moments. It might have been her feelings overriding mine, I'm not sure. I saw things that weren't there and heard things differently too. When I came to, I saw Vegeta, Gohan and Goku lying dead on the ground. When that happened, it was like someone threw a switch in my mind, and that monster came out. Once that monster came out, it was like I couldn't stop myself until whoever pressed the button was dead. I just didn't care about anything else. I even gambled human life, and apparently it didn't come across as a bluff. And for some strange reason, I liked feeling that way. Shortly after that happened, I saw that everyone else was just fine, but it was too late. It felt good to let that side of me out with no inhibitions to slow me down. No resolve, no cares, just me and a victory," I explained.
Krillin let out the breath that he had been holding, "Wow, that's a little intense."
"Makes me sick, losing control like that," I growled.
"You shouldn't punish yourself too much for this," Krillin said.
"Yeah, but what if it happens again? I could become as bad and dangerous as whoever I'm fighting! I'm just so angry all the time anymore!" I argued.
"Maybe, but I don't think you're a bad person. In fact, I know you're not. You've just had a lot of bad things happen around you. What you're doing now, feeling guilty, that sets you apart from someone like Frieza or Cell. They could never feel anything like that!" Krillin replied. I stared at the ground, knowing he was right about it.
"Feel better now?" he asked.
"Yeah, a little," I admitted.
"Come on then, let's get you home," he suggested.
I hesitated just as Krillin lifted off, "I'd rather not go home right now. Being around Vegeta again today could stir the pot some more."
"Fair enough, I imagine he'll probably be pretty angry once he wakes up. Come stay the night at Kame House then. We'd love to have you over, and the ocean air should help you relax!" he suggested. I wasn't too sure about the choice, but it wasn't likely to be the very first place someone checked for me.
"Okay."
The screech over the phone was deafening to me even though I was outside on the beach, I couldn't imagine what Krillin's ear felt like, even if it was out of concern. I knew exactly who was on the phone, so I didn't bother asking. While the conversation went on and on, I worked on suppressing my Psi energy, the kind that was evil, or at least that's where it had come from. Once I did, I felt even more tired than before, it was like that was all I had been going on for the past few hours.
"Calm down Bulma, you can tell Vegeta to stop blowing up random cars now, Verto's over here. Nah, he can stay here until things simmer down. He's still a little upset about it, but he's calmed down. Yes, we have enough food, alright, bye Bulma!" Krillin said as he hung up. I waited patiently out on the darkened beach, letting the roar of the sea drown out everything else as Krillin walked back out.
"Thanks," I said simply.
"Don't mention it. I'm actually surprised that this didn't happen sooner, knowing Vegeta and how he likes to push people around," Krillin replied knowingly.
"In a strange way, I am too. Maybe I was just used to him not trying to completely mess with my head everyday. Whatever though, where's Eighteen and Marron?" I asked, changing the subject deliberately.
Krillin grinned slightly and nodded, "Probably out shopping, albeit a bit late. I think Master Roshi went along." Krillin suddenly frowned at that thought.
"Maybe I should watch for a bald head with a beard whenever a bird flies by." Just as I finished that sentence, we both picked up on a few presences approaching at decent speed, along with the sound of a hover car.
"That must be them now," Krillin noticed. I saw the lights coming towards us, but they were swerving pretty badly.
"Oh baby! Gimme a kiss!" an old voice called out. Krillin smacked his head as we both saw Eighteen driving the car, and Roshi trying to feel her up.
"Get off me you fossil!" Eighteen shouted back.
"Honey, slow down!" Krillin called out. Eighteen either didn't hear him at all, or was too busy kicking Roshi out of the car. He bounced off the water a few times and went down with a victory sign. Eighteen was still shaking her fist at him just as the air car came barreling onto the island. Eighteen gasped and stomped on the brakes. The car stopped, but her daughter didn't. The forward momentum combined with no seat belt threw Marron from the car and straight towards the side of the house. Neither Krillin nor Eighteen could react in time, but I did. I caught Marron gently, barely two inches from what would have been serious injury for such a fragile child. Eighteen was the first one there when I lowered us to the ground though.
"Marron! Are you all right? Do you hurt anywhere?" she asked. Marron looked confused as to what happened as I set her on the ground.
"I feel fine Mommy, can we have dinner now?" she said.
Eighteen sighed with relief and nodded, "Sure." Krillin gave my back a minor clap as I glanced back at him.
"What?" I asked.
"That's how I know you're a good person," Krillin replied. I managed a smile and nodded warmly and took a step towards the house. A good meal was exactly what I needed now.
Interlude 26.1: Leira's Cryptic Message
Vegeta stalked through the same dark forest he has visited the previous night, extremely angry about multiple things.
"Woman! Show yourself!" he bellowed.
"You're late!" a shadow behind him said, slowing revealing itself to be Leira.
"Don't dictate when I'm to be somewhere. I'll be there when I damn well please!" Vegeta shouted back.
"Fair enough. So, how is he?" Leira asked.
Vegeta's mood didn't improve any, "The boy has turned away from me. Whatever you did to him, it had better be undone!"
"Save the orders, because I had little to do with what happened today. Verto will return to you when he's ready. I doubt it will be very long, but at least try to have some patience."
"That's not good enough woman! Your ridiculous test released something inside of him. It made him crazy and more powerful at the same time!"
"Once again, you're pointing your finger in the wrong direction! Whether I was responsible or not, and I wasn't, it doesn't matter. That buried power is part of who he is; you can't deny that," Leira replied calmly.
"He's unpredictable now! I will not tolerate that!"
"That's probably a good thing. You'll have to deal with your feelings on your own. He will not be here forever. Sooner or later, you will have to let him walk his own path," Leira said.
"Even if that path leads to his own destruction?" Vegeta countered.
"You don't know that, so don't pretend to. Verto hasn't changed as much as you think. Ever since he first showed up at your door he has been the same, and I don't expect he will change."
"Are you blind woman? He is a completely different kid now!" Vegeta claimed.
"No, he isn't. Just different in your terms as his eyes are slowly opened to the world around him. The only real change has been physical. What he chooses to show you from the inside hasn't changed at all. If there has been any truly bad influence in his life, then I suggest you address that issue yourself. Start with a mirror," Leira said with contempt in her voice.
Vegeta's eyebrow went up, "Surely you're not suggesting that I had anything to do with his emotional problems?"
"You tell me. The kid no longer has a true parental figure in his life. He obviously looked to you and your mate to provide that! And don't give me the argument about his true age! That is irrelevant! "
"I know that woman! I've always looked after the boy's best interests!" Vegeta said.
"Was that before you became aware of his potential, or after? Admit it Vegeta, all you've done is obsess about this new power of his. Always trying to figure out each and every ounce of it since you don't have it yourself. And the more you dig, the larger the monster you will create! You've done it to him before, and now you're doing it again. Only now he's fighting that killer instinct that he picked up from you!" Leira raised her voice.
"That's ridiculous! All this pacifistic training is just making him lose his edge, the one he used to have!"
"Oh really? Haven't you wondered why he holds back on you now? Why you have to keep jabbing and insulting to get any real effort from him?" Leira asked.
Vegeta scoffed, "His soft feelings make him that way!"
"Wrong again. You might still believe that compassion will be his undoing, but you're the only that does. He doesn't need you to look over his shoulder all the time anymore, not that you really cared what trouble he might get into as long as you weren't nagged to death about it. When he was weaker and still inexperienced, he might have needed that harder edge to carry him along. Now though, he has surpassed you in nearly every way and you can't stand it. He holds back out of both pity and fear of hurting you. He may not admit that, but it is the truth, even if he's doing it at a subconscious level. If you're so jealous of his power, maybe you should go back to what you always did. Try to improve yourself and surpass him. It won't work, but it would certainly be better than wasting your time trying to get the better of him now!" Leira explained.
"You don't know what you're talking about woman!" Vegeta growled back.
"Ha, and you do? How has it been being fourth best? All those battles that you couldn't make a real difference in, just being an overly annoying bystander. How much of your pride will you try to salvage?" Leira asked.
"Shut up!" he shouted.
"Answer the question."
Vegeta paused notably, but didn't dodge, "My pride has endangered this planet over and over again. I do not intend to let it get that way again. Nor do I want the boy to repeat the same mistakes I have made. There, are you happy?" Leira stared at him, confused for a moment before laughing a bit.
"In some strange way, that actually made sense with the point I was trying to make. See how hard that was? Now just let him get out from your shadow and things will work out for the best. Let him do things his way, you will have to eventually rather you like it or not! One other thing, I suggest you allow him to rest and relax for the next few days until his power returns. He will likely be extremely weak until he recovers. That means no training or fighting, and very little stress would help as well. There may be added side effects if he does not take it easy," Leira added. Vegeta grumbled but didn't answer immediately.
"Was there something else you wanted to add to this delightful conversation?" Leira asked. Judging by the way he glared at her, she doubted that he even regarded her previous warning. Vegeta's energy settled into a remarkably calm aura around him, but he didn't let it go further before it vanished again.
"Well?" Leira asked, amused.
"A few things. First of all, why the hell haven't you aged a day since I first saw you?" Vegeta growled.
"You first saw me a few weeks ago, even humans don't show signs of aging in that small amount of time," Leira replied calmly.
"You know what I mean. I'm talking about the day that Frost should have died, back when I was a child!" Vegeta said in a much louder tone.
"You remember that?" Leira asked, stunned.
"I remember how much of a fool I was for believing this seemingly lost woman dressed in full battle gear. You were the one who told me where he was when that experimental mine went off. Being the stupid child that I was, I rescued him! Then he betrayed me to Frieza. If there's one lesson I learned from that ordeal, it was don't trust anyone!" Vegeta explained.
"I see, I thought that maybe that was too traumatic for you at the time. What were you, about fourteen Earth years?" Leira asked with a sly grin.
"Sixteen. But it's all irrelevant now," Vegeta grumbled as he stared at the ground.
"As usual you didn't have a true grasp of the situation and still don't. Even if you did, you would probably still be enemies. What other questions do you have?"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed even further, "How long will you wait before you bother to inform him about the girl, specifically her people? I know you're in on that mess, so when will it be?" Vegeta asked. Leira's frown was immediate; she hadn't been expecting him to go off topic like that.
"I don't know."
"Really? I doubt that," Vegeta claimed.
"You're right; it is a mess. But it's a part of a much larger mess than you realize, and I will say no more about it."
"Fine. You're about as informative as a Kai anyway. Lastly, how long do we have?" Vegeta asked, his teeth clenched. Leira saw the danger of answering directly and chose not to.
"What do you mean?" Apparently that didn't help; Vegeta's hair was gold before she even finished.
"Don't play me for a fool! There is obviously a reason you took the containment jar away before any of us could so much as look at it! And don't tell me that demon can't come back and kill us all!" Vegeta roared.
Leira's face quickly tightened to a serious glare, "That is not your concern, prince."
"Bullshit! Anything threatening this world is my concern!"
"Well, it soon won't be. For by the time Vang returns, I seriously doubt that you will be here! If everything happens as I expect it to, you and everyone on this planet will be gone! It's happened before, and there's no reason to think it won't happen again!" Leira shouted back.
Vegeta's face melted to shock, "What?"
"You understood me just fine. This meeting is over; I knew it would be a mistake trying to reason with you of all people. I'll simply contact someone else next time. Enjoy what time you have left Vegeta, because it isn't as much as you think. And don't bother trying to prepare for the unknown; it will not do you any good! For the threats facing you are much closer than you realize!" Leira retorted before promptly vanishing. Vegeta stood there with his mouth gaping open, trying to make sense of what she had said. As it dawned on him that he still didn't know what might be coming, his face shifted to determination.
"Don't count the prince of Saiyans out of anything woman! I will defy whatever destiny you believe I will meet!"
Leira turned towards the skies from miles away, watching Vegeta fly off. She took off in a different direction and flew that way. It felt silly to her to even bother telling Vegeta not to prepare, she knew he would. Some things just never change for Saiyans, especially not that one. She passed the battleground left behind from Mercurial and Verto and slowly descended, but went a little further and landed at a cave nearby. The entrance was hidden by what was left of the forest, and she walked inside without even a torch. Once she was in complete darkness, she turned and found a path waiting for her. At the end of that path, a dark blue bubble added partial light to the room, barely enough to see much more than the cave walls. Leira could see the image of a cave room inside of the bubble, only it was on the other side, in a very different place. Beside it lay the jar that Vang was sealed in. She picked it up and sighed slightly before opening the lid. Smoke poured out before Vang gathered himself and hovered in mid air, staring at her.
"We had a deal, demon. I trust you didn't forget that?" Leira asked with a dark glare.
"Being trapped for thousands of years makes you reconsider your options. I decided not to do your bidding until we renegotiated!" Vang replied coolly.
"And just what do you have to negotiate with? You were supposed to take one of the two subjects out of the picture! You didn't even try to do your job!" Leira growled up at him.
"I am not stupid, wench! That brat would have destroyed me in my weakened condition, and that was not in the agreement. I simply got lucky when sweet little Kara elected to help him, and I bided my time. If you want me to do the deed without a trace, you must allow me to regain my original powers. For that, I will need someone much more powerful than she was!" Vang countered.
"Verto must meet his destiny! In my careful calculations, only two things, in this case people, can stop that from happening! Thus you must take one of them out! I've calculated that one must be present, but not the other, and it happened more or less the same in either situation. I've already solved the dragonball problem, so whoever it is won't be coming back once they are eliminated! But we must hurry before the timeline shifts again!" Leira claimed.
Vang had as much of a perplexed expression as he could manage, "Time shifts?"
Leira nodded, "There's been several now. Some I have made, and some have been made to sabotage my efforts. I suspect that an inside party is involved, only someone who knew directly of the mission. That is why we must make haste before it unravels again! I won't be able to stop it again before a chain reaction occurs!"
"Just how many years have you been on this mission now?" Vang asked.
"Five earth years," Leira frowned.
"Pathetically short for you to start panicking. Just what is your hurry, o' loyal servant of the elders?" Vang asked, a large toothy grin opening up.
"They're not the elders, only those who pose as them. The older Guardians have twisted that lie for millions of years to keep the other side in check. You know that," Leira chastised.
"I always wondered why they seemed to grow vulnerable with time. If that's the case…where are the elders?" Vang asked.
"No one knows where they vanished to. There are many theories that they simply died peacefully, and that they have chosen a different path and are watching from a different place. One far closer to the action than we realize," Leira warned.
"Perhaps they are, maybe they're not. We all know where one of them is though. Locked in his tomb in the first realm we invaded," Vang noted.
"Precisely, and this is why I need your help. The war will begin again. I must have time to prepare him, and whoever is causing these timeline changes is screwing that up. Go on through and you'll see what I mean. Verto might be the one we need to bring it to an end for good. They won't be able to stop us anymore!" Leira pointed out vaguely.
Vang scoffed, "He isn't that powerful."
"No he's not and I doubt he ever will be. But none the less, he will be the key to ending it once and for all!" Leira admitted.
"In that case, I should hurry. The masters have waited long enough for our results!" Vang said, turning around. He flew straight into the blue sphere and vanished. Leira managed a slight smile, Soon, brother, soon!
A/n: The pot stirring begins… Alright, maybe I've been stirring the pot for oh…quite awhile now. Better question, whom is Leira talking about when she says two subjects? And yes, there will be a poll for that one. I'll even allow two selections for that.