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 41: Secret of Chemical Z
Gohan struggled a bit to hold onto the large missile while guiding its path. It would have been so much easier for him to just destroy it by blasting it into a million pieces. At the same time, he knew that if what Leira said was correct, it would be a total disaster. So for the moment, Gohan settled for keeping the warhead high in the sky, far above any water or land mass. All he had to do now was keep his grip tight and hope he thought of something before it blew up or he ran out of energy. Gohan felt an energy surge behind him and noticed Verto giving chase.
"I thought you were going to deal with Doctor Cash?" Gohan asked.
"I was, but this seemed more important right now. Besides, I doubt he would have been alive by the time I found him down there, someone else with a grudge beat me to it," Verto replied, "Any idea where you're going to put that?"
"We can't just leave it alone obviously; we don't know how durable the glass is. Maybe some island where nothing lives? Then we can get a sample to Bulma and figure out just what it is," Gohan suggested. Verto eyed the black fluid inside with a worried expression. For a brief moment, he thought he saw something inside and even winced for a moment.
"No, it's not worth it. Leira mentioned not to let it hit the Earth at all and for once I feel like listening. Let's take up into outer space," Verto said.
"Sounds good, this stuff is creepy," Gohan noted. Both Saiyans transformed to their silver-haired forms while being careful not to damage the missile. With the extra speed, they cleared the atmosphere quickly with the missile in tow. Once away from the gravity pull of Earth, Gohan allowed the warhead to fly itself for the moment.
"Um, where to now? It's not like we have a moon to leave this on," Gohan pointed out. Verto didn't answer, causing Gohan to turn around. He was sweating and visually looked like he was in pain.
"What's wrong?" Gohan asked.
"It's talking to me. It's telling me to let it out," Verto rasped. He suddenly held his head and screamed in agony. Gohan looked back at the missile and saw something truly strange. The fluid inside was piled up against the glass on the side facing Verto and rippled towards him, completely against the momentum of the warhead.
"We should find and empty planet or something to leave it on, maybe Venus?" Gohan said.
"N-No, it might interact with almost anything. We have to take it to the sun!" Verto stammered, as he seemed to shake off whatever was inflicting him.
"Of course, that missile couldn't withstand that, and surely whatever that stuff is can't either. It'll dissolve!" Gohan claimed.
"But can we make it there? It might be close to Earth, but it's still pretty far, and we can't trust our aim enough to just throw it from here," Verto said.
"You're forgetting something, there's almost no gravity in space. It won't drain our energy getting to the sun with its gravity pulling us; it'll be getting back that's tougher, but it shouldn't be too bad. I traveled quite far in several hours because of that fact," Gohan explained.
"Trial and error at it's best again. I don't wanna know why you had to do that. Let's just get rid of this before whatever that is tries to talk to me again," Verto grumbled.
"It was a messy situation. And you got to meet Lenz because of it," Gohan said with a grin on his face, "Let's go!"
Interlude 41.1 – Wrath of the Prince
Flandal Cash stood nervously as Vegeta entered the lab, a classic predator-like expression etched on his face.
"Well, well, look at what we have here. An idiotic buffoon that is about to catch up with reality!" Vegeta growled. Cash quickly reached for the computer console, but it was a vain attempted when Vegeta's blast hit it first. Gone was most of the equipment, taking Cash's hand with it. Cash screamed in agony as he held his bloody stump of an arm protectively and away from the remaining fire.
"That one was for trying to trap me in that frozen place with all the damned creatures!" Vegeta shouted. Cash cringed and tried to ignore the pain as he reached for his gun. He never got a shot off before another blast eliminated it along with his other hand. Cash instinctively tried to clutch the new injury, but to no avail with both hands now gone.
"That was for destroying my holographic training chamber!" Vegeta said as he stepped closer. He quickly checked on his wife before turning his attention back to Cash.
"I d-didn't blow up that gravity chamber, that k-kid did it!" Cash stuttered.
"He did it because of your plan to use my mate's technology against us!" Vegeta growled as he fired another small blast, this time clipping Cash's right knee. Whatever was left came off when it buckled, and Cash tumbled painfully to the ground.
"Get up you scum! I'm not finished with you yet!" Vegeta snarled. Cash managed to get to a sitting position and glared daggers back at Vegeta as he groaned in extreme pain. He fumbled his arm into his jacket for a small remote, but without any fingers he was unable to hold on. Vegeta had it in his hands before Cash could blink.
"Whatever this was supposed to do, you can forget about it!" Vegeta said as he crushed the switch and walked around Cash's crouched form.
"Kill me and get it over with you stinking monkey!" Cash grumbled.
"And let you off easy, I don't think so!" Vegeta said as he stepped just behind the crazy doctor. Cash attempted to turn and face him, but earned a hard kick to his lower back. The snap echoed through the lab as Cash skidded face first across the floor. His remaining leg twitched for a brief moment and then settled as he cried out in pain.
"That should keep you compliant. Anymore surprises in here you insignificant weakling?" Vegeta asked. Cash only grunted back as he tried to move. With both hands gone and the rest of his body in terrible shape, it made crawling difficult. Vegeta glanced up when he sensed someone else approaching, but moderately relaxed when he saw who it was.
"Vegeta?" Goku called out.
Vegeta kept his full attention on the bloodied doctor, "What, clown?"
"What do you think you're doing?" Goku asked.
"Aggressive negotiations."
"Stop it! You don't need to resort to this! He's had enough!" Goku claimed.
"Oh? My mate thought that too a few weeks ago and look where that got us. Your son almost died because of this wretched piece of trash! Judging by what I've sensed, the boy lost control of himself again because of this fool! We've been too damned lucky thus far, and I'm not taking the chance!"
"You'll all die anyway, you must know that," Cash muttered.
"What was that?" Vegeta shouted.
"You heard me. Your victory here means nothing! Whether I succeeded or failed is irrelevant! Even the great Goku will perish, though it's a pity I didn't get to study you first," Cash admitted.
"What did you want with me?" Goku asked.
"It doesn't matter now. As I die, so does any hope for this planet's salvation! Frost is coming!"
Goku's level of alertness shot through the roof, "What? Frost?"
"Yes, he'll kill everyone! And he isn't the only one. He brings with him an army of elite soldiers like yourself! Enjoy what time you have left, because you can't win! And from the bottom of hell, I'll revel in your deaths!" Cash laughed. Vegeta promptly shot a small beam through Cash's right side and the evil doctor fell silent.
Goku glanced at him, "Did you really have to do that?"
"Shut up, all this bickering gives me a headache," Vegeta grunted.
Goku shook his head slightly and bent down to Bulma, "Hey, wake up!" Bulma slowly roused as Goku tore off part of his uniform and held it against her bleeding head.
"What happened to Cash?" she asked as she sat up. Goku only nodded to the motionless body, giving her the answer.
"Damn fool deserved it then," Bulma muttered.
"Bulma," Goku scolded.
"Sorry, but I'm not going to support the 'all can be forgiven' routine this time. The bastard sold us out to Frost! He probably gave him Earth's location if he didn't have it already. Not to mention everything else he's done!" Bulma screeched.
"Well, what's done is done," Goku said.
"Not quite. I'm going to take a good long look at his files; it might tell us…okay what happened to the computer?" Bulma asked with her stern motherly voice.
Her glare immediately shifted to Vegeta, who snorted in reply, "Why does it matter?"
"Argh! You just can't solve any problems without blowing something up can you?" Bulma shouted.
Vegeta briefly smirked, "It wouldn't be as much fun. Besides, are you complaining?"
"You're such an idiot!"
"Ungrateful hag!"
Goku merely shook his head as he followed the arguing couple out of the caves. Behind them, the motionless Doctor Flandal Cash lay in a slowly growing pool of his own blood. Once the screaming faded into the far reaches of the cave, Cash shuddered violently.
"You'll pay. You'll all pay!" he grumbled into the silent lab. In the darkest corner of the room, a bright light opened up, and a limping figure with a cane moved towards him.
"Come, Doctor Wheelo. We must hurry!"
In one of the many rooms of Capsule Corporation, a single television was playing the news for two of its residents.
"…clean up of North City continues one day after the unexpected attack. Several members of the Special Forces team were sighted battling an unknown monster. None were available for comment after…CLICK!"
"He failed to mention that monster was me," Verto grumbled as he set the remote aside.
"Well you don't look like one little bro," Lenz said.
"Don't patronize me. You should never judge a book by its cover. You're a prime example," Verto countered.
"Well, at least whatever was controlling you is gone right?" Lenz asked.
"Yeah," Verto trailed off. He didn't tell Lenz that he had heard voices in his head from the black slime right before he and Gohan reached the sun.
"Let me out! Become one with me and be an absolute god with no equal! You've done it before, you can do it again! This time no one will stop us!" Verto relived the dark voice that spoke to him and bore his worried expression again as he stared at the carpet. Lenz saw the concern on his face and leaned forward until she was right next to his ear.
"What's wrong? It is gone right?" Lenz asked again.
"Oh, yeah. We threw it into the sun so I know it is for sure," he replied quickly.
"Well that's a relief," Lenz said as she sat back.
"Hopefully. What bothers me though is that I know it from somewhere."
Lenz grew extremely alarmed by this, "What do you mean?"
"You heard Gohan's description, hell you were there. Whatever that black shit is, it had some sort of living consciousness that awoke and possessed me. It drew on my energy and grew stronger. Plus it had an agenda. But as much as I'd like to find out everything about it, I'm not going to test the theory by opening Pandora's box," Verto explained.
"Pandora's box?" Lenz asked.
"Sorry, it's an expression for being tempted into unlocking something very bad."
"So what does someone named Pandora have to do with it?" she asked.
Verto scowled, "It's kind of a myth and legend at the same time. Pandora was supposedly a beautiful girl that was given an enchanted box by the gods and warned never to open it. They didn't say why, and eventually the temptation was too much for her. By opening the box, or in this case, investigating its contents, darkness could be spread all over the world. That's the idea anyway, I'm sure there's a billion different versions of that particular story. I'd rather not become a new one if you get my drift."
"Oh, yeah don't do that," Lenz agreed.
"Besides, it sounds like we will be busy now that Cash has been dealt with," Verto muttered.
"Oh, doing what?"
Verto grimaced, "For someone that hacked into an alien's supercomputer, you sure are dense."
"Hey, all I did was upload a virus onto it. It's not my fault that a complete idiot could have…" Lenz trailed off when Verto's grin reappeared.
"I'll let you finish that sentence if you want," Verto offered.
"Um, so what are we going to be doing?" she asked instead.
"We will be training," Verto said.
"We always train, what's so different about that?"
"Your Psi training Lenz. Bulma told me about what you felt down in that cave. You have to master it before we deal with Frost," Verto stated.
"But I can't sense anything weird now. Not since the ki disruptors were shut off," Lenz pointed out.
"But I can. I didn't sense it before, but it's there now. Maybe all the stress of the past several days had something to do with it. We'll flush it out of you if we have to. And it won't be Vegeta's brutal style of training either, that won't work. I have some things I need to work out with myself before I go any further with you. Until then, I want you to train with Piccolo."
"The Namek? Why?"
"There are lessons you need to learn, several of them. Number one thing is patience; you have less than Goten and Trunks and that is saying something. I want you to work on proper mediation with him too. Both of those can also bring faster reaction time and allow you to recognize the little things in a fight," Verto suggested.
"Why can't you teach me all of that?"
"I can, if you stay focused and willing. Since that's unlikely to happen, you'll have to deal with Piccolo instead. And I have things I'd like to look into before I address my own issues."
Lenz's curiosity perked again, "Like what?"
"Answers," Verto replied grimly.
"Answers to what?"
"We leave in the morning, go to bed," Verto ordered as he walked off.
"You're no fun!"
Verto sighed heavily as he sensed her going upstairs. Sorry Lenz, but you can't be part of this. I'm not sure what I'm going to find, and it might reveal more than either of us want to know.
Interlude 41.2 – Dark Revelation-
Gohan walked into Bulma's lab, partially surprised to see another girl in there. Her face was smooth as silk and her nose and lips were the spitting image of perfection. Gohan blinked sharply when he realized he had seen her before, but she hadn't looked quite as good then. She was in the process of handing over a vial filled with black fluid.
"Here you go, I hope this helps. It's probably the last sample," Kati Cash said.
"Thanks Kati. What will you do now that your father is gone?" Bulma asked.
"I'll get my own life back together with Uncle X's help. Then I'll probably try and track down Ranso," Kati replied.
"Ranso? As in…" Gohan began.
"Yep, same girl. She tried to get me killed during that whole fiasco, so I'm not going to let her off easy. I'll let you guys know when and where I find her, if I can. She might be hard to find, but I have a few leads," Kati noted.
"Be careful," Bulma warned.
"Good thing I can copy others to hide myself as well. Thanks to Verto, I can copy without touching anyone. His power must have changed my ability somehow. See you around," Kati waved as she left. Gohan waited for her to leave the area before giving Bulma a hardened stare.
"You wanted to see me Bulma? Judging by the vial I think I can guess why," Gohan said.
"Yes, we're going to get to the bottom of this mystery. This is one of the few untreated samples of Chemical Z that are left. After seeing what it did to Verto, we need to determine what it is and where it came from. I called you here because I have a feeling that something strange might happen while I'm examining it. That strange woman might show up to stop me," Bulma said in disgust.
"What makes you so sure?" Gohan asked.
"Because I already found a sample before I left Cash's lab, and as I was looking into the microscope, the vial disappeared. By the way, some of this stuff seems familiar."
"How so?"
"Some of the peptide sequences are remarkably similar to the Zerg. Maybe it's the remains of some sort of new strain we didn't see before. Or maybe a degraded piece of a hive cluster left behind that was in the final stages of decomposition," Bulma mused.
"Peptides? Wait, are you saying this is someone, or something's DNA?" Gohan asked in amazement.
Bulma nodded grimly, "Yep, down to the last drop." Just as Bulma set down the vial, the room lights went out.
"What the? Damn generators!" Bulma growled.
"I don't think that was it Bulma," Gohan said as he sensed a new presence.
"No, it wasn't," a voice said. The lights came back on, and Leira was standing in-between them with the vial in her hands.
"You again!" Bulma shouted.
"Keep your voice down. I told you before to stay out of it and leave this substance alone. Apparently my generosity meant nothing to you. I could have left things to continue as they were, but I chose not to in favor of saving this world instead of destroying it. Freeing you and the girl along with giving her the sacred water did exactly that. Now stop investigating that which you clearly do not understand!" Leira ordered.
"I have to find out what that is. We need to know what tried to take over Verto's body!" Bulma urged on.
"Believe me, you don't."
"Why not? You saw what it did. And from what you told me, you knew it would happen! Well, if it happens again, wouldn't it be nice to know how to combat it incase you aren't around?" Bulma countered with logic.
"Miss Briefs, I will only warn you one more time. Do not explore this substance, nor tamper with it. It can only bring disaster! Especially in your hands!" Leira said sternly as she turned to leave. Bulma's stunned expression lasted even as Gohan blocked Leira's path.
"Please, if you won't let us figure this out, at least tell us what it is and why it's so dangerous. You were about to tell Verto what it was the other day when that missile was launched. So please just follow through with it," Gohan pleaded.
Leira sighed heavily, "This is not something I should be telling you. But seeing as you're too stubborn to back down, I'll tell you what I can."
"Thank you," Gohan said.
"You may want to retract those words once I'm finished. What I'm about to tell you will just draw more questions, many of which I cannot answer at this time," Leira said.
"That's fine. Just tell us what that is, no more suspense," Gohan said as he pointed to the vial.
"Very well. This, Chemical Z, is something not to be trifled with, as you already know. And it comes from an enemy you've already beaten," Leira began.
"Who?" Gohan asked.
"Not who, it's more like what," Leira hinted.
"Oh you're kidding me!" Bulma suddenly shouted as she smacked her forehead.
Gohan glanced over at her, "What Bulma?"
"Where Cash said he found traces of this, I should have known right then and there. No wonder it resembled Zerg DNA so much! It wasn't just that they were all over that area, it was what was there specifically!"
Leira nodded, "That's right. This is the blood of the Overmind."
A/n: DUN DUN DUN! I know a few of you had a slight hunch about that one, though a lot of you didn't. I even got a few suggestions that it might be Garlic Jr…why I don't know, maybe it was the sacred water use. Hell, I'm wondering how many of you thought that Wheelo/Cash was going to kick the bucket without the mech form coming out to play? Well not yet obviously, but when I started debating on using Wheelo as a villain, the first thing I knew I had to do was avoid the two minute story that the movie gives us. That's the beauty of the what if scenario in the fan fiction world, it lets you create the scenario from the beginning. Expect more to come.
And as far as the Overmind's blood plot goes…I'll let your own imaginations take you for a ride before this story gets there.