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 42: Pendulum

"The Overmind's blood? But how?" Gohan asked, shocked.

"It's not all that surprising really. The Zerg tend to linger even after the main swarm leaves a planet or even a solar system. A small amount was likely left behind when the creature fled this world, and the Overmind's essence was left within the blackened slime. It's possible that it was also injured at the time. From what my research tells me, that black blood could have only come from its core," Leira explained.

"It must have been when Broly tried to sacrifice himself to kill it. I guess I just didn't recall its blood to be black, but sometimes it varied with the Zerg," Gohan pointed out.

"Indeed. There's more to it then just that however. It also has to do with what happened while the kid was in their captivity. The Overmind saw what Saiyans were capable of, and obviously wanted to improve itself. But it could not merge with just any Saiyan; only an exceptionally powerful host would do. Verto was a test, and in the process, the Overmind accidentally created a monster!"

"When the Cerebrate fused with him, didn't that release his evil split personality?" Gohan asked.

"That's not quite accurate. I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but when it did, Verto's mind fought back. He may not remember it very well due to the stress. The mind cracked even as Verto and the Cerebrate got things under control. It was the influence of the Overmind that wore him down, and eventually it released a darkness that should have stayed buried. This darkness was partially the result of a massive buildup of negative energy that fed off his spirit power. I also believe that it was some sort of dark spirit that somehow possessed him well before he crossed paths with the Zerg. Most likely it was a wondering apparition that was extremely weak and latched on to Verto's deep pool of energy to rejuvenate itself. It merely took his memories and appearance since it probably lost any of its own. It got stronger when Shenron returned him to his child state due to the influx of negatively charged energy. Even though that dark spirit is gone now, Verto still feels the effects, both physically and emotionally," Leira explained.

"Yeah, we've noticed," Bulma said grimly.

"But where would something like this happen? I mean, wouldn't he see or sense something like that?" Gohan pointed out.

"Good question. It really could have happened anywhere. It could have happened before he even came here, and then again it could have been at any point during his many trips to the afterlife realm. Not to mention the fact that certain areas of any planet are more susceptible to spirit activity than normal. I really don't know," Leira admitted.

"What about this deep pool of Psi energy he has. You know, the red kind? Does that have anything to do with this?" Gohan asked.

"Yes and no. It's part of who he is I'm afraid and not something easily controlled. That dark spirit might have been feeding off that all this time and that's why you never noticed it before until he returned to Earth. Anger triggers it when he is unable to transform to what you call the Super Mystic form. This was used on the android partially due to his body's instinctual reaction to something internally wrong. All the android did was provoke him, but until the Overmind's blood reacted to it, Verto maintained control. After that he was simply on auto-pilot as his mind attempted to fight off the infection."

"I understand that part, but how is it that this raging power isn't within me as well? We basically had the same training prior to the Zerg war," Gohan said.

"Sorry, I can't answer that," Leira said almost immediately.

"Okay, can you answer why you changed the timeline?" Bulma asked.

Gohan stared at both of them, "What?"

Leira grimaced, "I was truly hoping you wouldn't bring that up again."

"I'm sure you were, but if we're to cooperate with you again at all, we deserve the truth!" Bulma said sternly.

"You should be patient with tedious situations; they may unfold themselves in time," Leira suggested.

"I don't feel like waiting that long if you don't mind. You told me that if it weren't for you, the Protoss would not have come to Earth. Are you responsible for the Zerg coming here as well?" Bulma asked as her voice went up a few levels.

Leira sighed, "No, that was someone else who sabotaged some of my efforts elsewhere. And all I did was point Executor Tassadar and his kind in the right direction. If I hadn't…well you have a pretty good idea what might have happened."

"No, we were holding them off fairly well and had just turned the tide when they showed up," Bulma insisted.

"Bulma, the Zerg could have won. We had held off their first few rounds, but they still advanced on us. We saw how quickly they could recover from a defeat. We would have been worn down and picked off one by one. If the Protoss had shown up any later I'm not sure what would have happened, but it wouldn't have been good," Gohan said.

"Perhaps. Rather they would have won or lost is irrelevant now," Leira replied.

"Did they last time? You know, in that parallel world Flandal described? It's sounding a lot like a future that was altered similar to the way ours was due to the androids about twelve years ago," Bulma pointed out.

Leira's frown showed no sign of faltering, "Let's just say that the war took longer, there were more casualties, and the lasting effect on this planet wasn't good. That's all I will say about that place."

"What about Mercurial then? Or more specifically, that demon within her?" Gohan asked, changing the subject.

"What about it?"

"We know you're the one that stopped her before, and she was sealed in the time chamber. Add to that you practically tore the containment jar from Piccolo's hands when he captured the demon. Where did you take it and why?" Gohan demanded.

"Gohan, calm down," Bulma tried, though it didn't ease him much.

Leira shifted slightly, "The demon is the least of your problems. It would be wise to leave things be."

Gohan was quickly running out of patience, "If there's one thing you should know about us, it's that we won't tolerate potential threats that have been ignored."

"The demon is not a threat anymore. Pray that it stays that way!" Leira growled as she promptly vanished. She reappeared in the doorway behind Gohan.

"Well someone's grumpy today," Bulma noted.

"Before I leave, do you at least understand why you can't tell Verto or Vegeta any of this information?" Leira asked.

"Because they'll likely lead a crusade to deal with whatever is left of the Zerg in that other world?" Gohan guessed.

"Exactly, and in doing so, they will cause this world's downfall," Leira replied.

"Why can't you just destroy that gateway?" Bulma asked.

"Impossible. It is the last thing you want to attempt, believe me. If the portal were to become unstable, it would tear both worlds to pieces. Both galaxies would likely follow, so don't even go there," Leira suggested.

"We can't just stand around and hope that nothing comes of it. Just because we dealt with Doctor Cash doesn't mean someone else might not find it," Bulma pointed out.

"You have no choice in the matter, but know that I have set up safeguards to prevent anyone here from randomly stumbling into it. One last warning to you both: do not get comfortable with this rocky time of peace, for none of you are completely safe from your eventual destiny, no matter how many times it changes!" Leira stated with all seriousness. Both Bulma and Gohan stood silent for a moment as Leira vanished again.

"Well at least we know what is in that other place, that alternate timeline. And odds are that some sort of disaster happened regarding the Zerg war if rivers of the Overmind's blood are flowing around," Bulma suggested.

"And it was a different Overmind too, which is why it was angry with me and not Verto. I must have destroyed it there, or at least crippled it. As long as none of us ever go there, everything should be fine. Since that's all figured out, what should we do now?" Gohan asked.

"I don't know…" Bulma trailed off, "But I think I'll make some tea and then make a few calls. There is at least one thing we can always rely on when things get dicey."

Verto and Lenz landed at the lookout early the next morning, finding Piccolo waiting for them.

"You do realize that even if we could use the time chamber this probably won't be quick. And since the door is still broken she will be easily distracted," Piccolo pointed out without even a greeting.

"I will not!" Lenz claimed.

"We'll just have to make due then; it's all we can do right now. I'm not exactly sure how long some of my business is going to take. Could be a few hours, could be a few weeks. Feel free to be as thorough with her as you were with me," Verto said.

"Got it. Come on girl, we're going to locate a nice waterfall," Piccolo beckoned as he lifted off.

"Waterfall? For what?" Lenz asked as she followed. Verto chuckled slightly before moving on to find Dende and Popo out in front of the palace.

"So, did you call him?" Verto asked.

Dende nodded, "Yes, he should be here any moment."

"Probably trying to figure out how to keep information from me without getting killed. Good luck to him," Verto muttered.

"Please don't get violent if you hear something you don't like," Dende pleaded.

Verto scoffed, "I'm probably not going to like any answer to my questions. No answer will tick me off more." Just behind Verto, a noticeable displacement of air sounded the arrival of Kibito Kai.

"How reassuring," he said as he fully appeared.

"Where's the old fart?" Verto asked first.

"He's not coming, so you'll have to discuss everything with me," Kibito said sternly. Verto's eyes darkened immediately, but he didn't say anything.

"If you're wondering why, he has his own business to conduct and doesn't have time for you right now," Kibito recited as if he were reading a statement.

"I trust you mean trading porno magazines with the other old perverts, since that old shit doesn't have anything better to do. Maybe I should have just gone to Roshi's island first, might have better luck," Verto replied.

"If you're done with your rude comments, can we get on with this? What did you want?" Kibito asked.

Verto snorted slightly at the question, "Oh, not reading my mind today?"

"I would prefer not to. Now that you can sense that, you don't have the best knee-jerk reactions to it," Kibito said nervously.

"Alright then. I have three topics for discussion before we do anything. What shall we start with?" Kibito looked slightly dumbfounded, though his eyebrow went up in a way that would have insulted Verto coming from anyone else.

"Um…" Kibito stalled.

Verto scowled, "Fine, just read it and get it over with." Kibito's surprise didn't vanish even as he received the mental information.

"Well?" Verto asked, running low on patience.

"You really shouldn't be trying to uncover the truth about these things. You may not like what you find," Kibito suggested.

"Kai, don't answer vaguely. I didn't ask you to come here for that kind of answer to anything. If you don't know, or won't tell me, say so," Verto growled.

"Sorry, where to start…" Kibito pondered.

"Start with Leira, then we'll work our way down from there," Verto ordered.

"There really isn't much I can tell you about her, other than that she works for a very powerful group," Kibito claimed.

"I figured. What other changes has she made to the timeline? I refuse to believe that these tiny little blips on the radar were completely her doing unless it built towards something else."

Kibito looked genuinely surprised, "Changes?"

"Yes, changes. She admitted to Bulma that she had a hand in some part of the Zerg war, though Bulma didn't say what. We already knew she helped the guardian before Kami with a powerful demon. And if she did anything else in the past, we're bound to notice," Verto explained.

"Verto, she couldn't have done any of those things. She's been on Earth for barely a month and hasn't gone anywhere. Once my elder heard that she was of questionable character, we haven't taken our eyes off her," Kibito exclaimed.

"As if she would have to hide from you at all if she can travel through time. You probably wouldn't even notice if she was gone. But that's fine, for now. I wasn't expecting much for that one. Let's go to the other problem, Frost. Can you tell me if he's on his way to Earth yet or not?"

"Sorry, I can't say. That would be directly interfering in a matter I can't be a part of," Kibito said immediately.

"I'm not liking this trend Kai, you're O for two. You better have something for the last one," Verto warned.

"Your enraged power surges?" Kibito asked as Verto nodded, "All I can tell you is that it's part of you. I don't know where it truly comes from, or how it got there. What I can say is that we did know about it before."

Verto grunted angrily, "Before what?"

"When the honorable elder unlocked your potential, he found this latent power waiting for him. At first he was going to let things be, until he realized that it was the depths of your spirit energy. As an adult we thought you would be able to handle it, at least until it was time to restore your youth. The visions after that showed that we couldn't chance opening up your full power all at once. So, my elder introduced a risky procedure. He implanted a dying, evil spirit into your very being to act as a counter-balance. The idea was that it would drain your Psi energy just enough that you would never have to worry about this ultra-negative power that surfaces when you are extremely enraged. It didn't take affect till after the Dragonballs were used to restore your age, thus why you still had some of those vicious outbursts beforehand. We felt that this would allow you to maintain control at all times so that it couldn't happen. Since your Psionic power didn't come forth until the Zerg War, we felt it had worked. We had initially planned to remove and change it much like a filter when the time was right, but we were unable to since you were taken by the Zerg," Kibito explained.

"Well, that plan failed. But at least now I know that the evil within wasn't really me at the time," Verto said, not sounding relieved.

"Indeed. Upon its reawakening and eventual exit, all control over your emotions reverted directly back to you. Your so-called dark side was nothing of the kind, just simply that dark spirit. Everyone has good and dark sides; it's impossible to completely purge them. It's probably why the Overmind was able to make an exact copy from your memories, but we are not completely sure about that ourselves," Kibito replied. Verto didn't answer for a moment, but Kibito saw the hole he was glaring into the ground and knew he was seething.

"Listen, I know you're upset that we didn't tell you about this, but if…" Kibito abruptly stopped talking when Verto's eyes flashed red as his head jerked upwards. Kibito suddenly regretted trying to console the small Saiyan and backed up a step. Kibito felt a distinct increase in his overall energy output, kicking up a decent breeze that blew dust about. Nothing came of it though, and Verto's eyes quickly returned to their normal vibrant blue.

"Upset is not the word I would use Kai, but I get it," Verto said, more relaxed.

"You do?"

Verto sighed, "No use in getting angry at you for it. I can clearly see that this 'counter-balance' was put in place for a very good reason. But don't try it again, and if you do, prepare for the worst. If this is who I am, then I'll deal with it."

"Yes, you will most likely have to re-adjust your emotions every time you use that power. It may affect your ability to use your higher form if you aren't careful. As you've noticed, you can't use it with your life energy at the same time," Kibito said.

Verto nodded, "Probably a good thing. I can't suppress my ki and stay angry at the same time, not without some sort of inhibitor or fatigue. I suppose that was done as a counter-balance as well?"

"I haven't a clue. Well if that is all, I will be on my way," Kibito said as he turned on his heel. He promptly stopped cold when Verto cleared his throat.

"Not yet, and I doubt you are sincere about everything you just said, but we'll move on. Since you apparently don't know Leira's agenda, you're going to help me investigate," Verto retorted.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Kibito countered.

Verto smirked for a moment, "There is a reason I asked to meet you here. You must have missed it while you were poking your holy nose through my thoughts. Popo, lead the way!"

Popo jumped slightly at the sound of his name, "Oh, to where?"

"We're going to make use of that Pendulum Room you have up here," Verto answered, startling Kibito.

"Ah, I see. You intend to use it to witness events of the past?" Popo asked.

Verto nodded, "Exactly. And then we shouldn't have to worry about anymore timeline shifts, well at least none of our doing. That way you and the old fart can't bitch at me for risking some sort of cosmic disaster."

"This way please," Popo motioned towards the palace. Kibito looked unsure of things as they both followed Popo.

"We really shouldn't be doing this," Kibito said in a low voice.

"And why is that? Are you afraid I might discover something?" Verto asked. Kibito hesitated noticeably, but didn't answer.

Verto's eyebrow went up as he recognized the silent response, "If you have a skeleton you'd like to bring out of the closet, now would be good. Then again, I could discover it on my own I suppose, that's usually what happens. Rather you came along or not, it was going to come to this. I'll put my faith in the ally I know over the one I don't."

"Thank you," Kibito replied unsteadily.

"That goes both ways Kai, remember that."

"Noted." The three arrived at the room and stepped inside, eyeing the red circle in the middle of the room as well as the swinging apparatus in the air.

"Step into the circle when you're ready, clear your minds of distractions and focus only on where you want to go," Popo suggested.

"Popo, can this room show us things that might have happened differently?" Verto asked. Kibito's face paled almost immediately, but it went unnoticed.

"What do you mean?" Popo asked.

"Let's say for example, Goku never hit his head as a baby? Or maybe Vegeta had killed Frieza instead? Hell, let's say Future Trunks never showed up?"

"No, only events that have already happened can be shown. They may change slightly to your eyes with your presence, but it will not affect anything here and will only last until you leave. If something happened to change the course of history, only that event and its aftermath can be seen. This room does not deal in what if scenarios," Popo explained.

"Since we want to follow the trail of a particular person, will it just skip ahead in time for us? And can we view things objectively? You know, so we don't impede what happens?" Verto continued.

"I do not know. No one has ever used this room in that way. However, if you focus on staying out of the way, anyone you encounter should generally ignore you," Popo replied.

"Guess we'll just have to see what happens then. I'm ready," Verto declared as he stepped into the circle.

"I still think this is a bad idea, and more than likely a waste of time," Kibito grumbled as he stepped in as well.

"You sure got your confidence back in a hurry. Personally I hope you're right, but I know better," Verto said. Both of them closed their eyes, and cleared their thoughts. In Kibito's case, he kept a stricter eye on Verto's mind instead of his own.

"I guess I'll direct traffic then. Let's start with what involvement Leira actually had in the Zerg war," Verto whispered as he shut his eyes. He felt his body being pulled from the room suddenly and opened his eyes. Both he and Kibito were standing in a sparkling green field of long grass next to a large golden temple.

"Amazing," Kibito muttered aloud. The planet's golden sky and apparently random lighting caught Verto's attention though, more so than the forested area or the temple.

"What is this place?" Kibito asked.

"I think I've been here before," Verto said.

Kibito didn't dare to read his mind this time and stuck with verbal observations, "Odd structures aren't they?" Verto turned in the direction Kibito was pointing and saw the assortment of alien technology before him. Kibito gulped a bit when Verto came to a quick realization of where they were.

"This is Planet Auir."

A/N's: Yes, I've actually made use of something that no one ever remembers, admit it.

WDG: Huzzah! Someone remembers the Pendulum Room! Even if it was just anime filler, it was one of the more interesting things at Kami's place, and a personal favorite of mine. I thank you Dave. ;P

VB: Nostalgia at its best! Stay tuned for the next chapter; because everyone will get to learn why we don't build time machines, it fucks things up!