OKAY…

I know I'm like…WEEKS late posting this chapter, and I deeply apologize for the wait. As I neared these last four chapters I discovered that they were less developed than I remembered. I needed more time to clean up this chapter than estimated, and the approaching holidays just slowed me down further. Updates will once again slow down, but we're close to this story's finish!

Herraidous, hope you've continued to this point and that you've been enjoying the ride. :) I so deeply appreciate your comment, it was such a wonderful thing to read. You made my day!

AnonymousDBZFan, you make me smile every time I read your comments. I'm so moved to hear that I could give you likeable OC's because I was so nervous about that from the get-go. Lol, Zeema IS like Goku, but then she was loosely patterned after the Powerpuff Girl Bubbles so I can see that. :D Kuma being the more serious and disciplined among them turned out to be the Hermione of the group, lol. Your positive comments on these characters made the ever-living heck out of my day, like, unbelievable. Thank you so much!

Patterning the sisters after the maiden/mother/crone archetypes really helped me adhere to a structure for them. I couldn't help but see Likha as the most sexual in nature from the get-go, since sex and childbearing is so closely intertwined. Likha's Mother archetype is also why I specifically entrusted Bra in her care when they make their big getaway. There was a bigger bit to that though, seeing as how Likha was the one that seduced Touketsu/Vegeta by taking Bulma's form. It seemed a nice shot at redemption for her if she protected his would-be daughter.

Aw man, I'm so glad to hear that I could give you a proper send-off for Nappa and Raditz. I think that was the segment that I re-worked the most. It was their last stand, and I wanted to redeem these two villains in my own way by letting their strength, nobility, and loyalty shine through.

Lol, the Greek Fates, the Norns, and their snipping of the mortal 'thread' gave me the whole idea of working it into DBZ's running gag of rock-paper-scissors. I had so much fun crafting the sisters' spell! :D

As Vegeta does in another timeline, Marenna is essentially going Majin – albeit in a gradual way. She'd been trying to continue on as the dutiful, self-denying mother and ruler, but bit by bit loses the battle against her reawakened desires and reverts back to what she once was. Or at least, what she'd become after going through her 'divorce' from Zhernobog. She is without a doubt a full-on threat now.

I have encountered so many people that told me it was TFS that introduced them to the original DBZ. Hell, my own dormant love for DB was revived because of those guys. It's insane how Toei's been shutting down the TFS guys constantly when their work revived interest in an old show and introduced it to another generation. Talk about killing free advertising.

Lol, yeah I remember when I revisited the Android and Cell sagas, and watching Vegeta I asked myself, "Why do I like this guy again?" XD I was reminded why I liked him when he reacted to Trunks's death, apologized to Gohan, and set aside his pride to assist him against Cell. His surprising moments in character development intrigued the heck out of me, and I found myself personally invested in seeing him succeed – if only against himself. I was SO mad at him when he went Majin! I was rooting for Goku to knock some sense into him, lol.

So glad you enjoyed the last chapter, and I'm so moved by your reaction to its end! Thank you so much for reading!

Dragonslayer

Bra wept against Vegeta as he swam them back to a ledge along the cliffside, steam from the softly glowing Water of Life rising around them. "Go ahead, Bra, climb on up," he encouraged softly. She pulled herself up, and he hoisted himself out after. Water streaming out from under his Saiyan armor and his loincloth wrap saturated, he shook out his soaked mane. His hair now in its typical flame style, he put a hand to Bra's forehead.

Her small ki signature felt a little stronger than it had before they'd escaped. Vegeta sighed with relief. The Water of Life hadn't just healed her wounds, it bought her some time on this plane. It wouldn't last, however. He looked around for something they could carry the water in. It would certainly help to have some on hand. His eyes alighted on one of several skulls that lay strewn among the rocks. Picking one up, he scraped some clay from the base of the ledge and began stuffing the skull's orifices.

Bra watched in morbid curiosity. "Daddy? What are you doing?"

He dipped the skull into the water, brooding. She'd eventually learn the truth. Just give her a few more minutes. "This is healing water, Princess," he said as he plugged up its spinal cavity, sealing in the water. "We're bringing some with us."

Bra chewed on her fingernail thoughtfully as she watched. Had Nav been a dream? Was she dreaming still? Everything looked so surreal, even her father. He was wearing his familiar armor, but he looked odd without his fitted blue suit and white boots. He was barefoot and wearing some kind of worn-out indigo loincloth. Her brows drew together. The Touketsu from her nightmare had been wearing the exact same things. Her eyes then alighted on the furry, brown appendage visible beneath the garment.

"Daddy, your tail!" she exclaimed in delight. She'd only ever heard about it! "The water grew back your-"

"Shh!" he cut her off as he threw a hand out to her. "Quiet Bra," he whispered. Vegeta had felt something on the fringes of his consciousness, and it was fast approaching.

"…Daddy?"

"Hush now," he said softly as he stood, his face tense. Shit. Shit.

Zeygorn.

Vegeta looked around for a place they could hide when he spotted several crevices along the cliff face above them. Too small for him, but they'd work for Bra. "Come on, let's go," he said urgently as he scooped her up. His tail winding securely around the skull, Vegeta leapt up the side of the cliff face one handed. He shoved Bra inside one of the narrow openings before thrusting the skull of water into her hands.

"Bra, listen," he whispered, "I want you to stay here and keep quiet, alright? That dragon soldier, with the three heads?" She nodded mutely. "He's coming, and he's not good. Neither is Queen Marenna, trust me on that. They want you to forget who you are and who your family is. We'll wait for him to fly over, but if he finds me, I'll fight him. While he's distracted, I want you to fly far away, alright?"

Her face fell. "Without you?"

"Just do as I say. Fly away and look for a hotspot. It will feel warm. Use the doll in your pocket and hold it light side out to reveal a portal back to Earth. Now this is very important: You need to hold onto the doll tight in order to cross back safely, understand?"

"O…ok."

He shook his head, scowling in concern. "I don't know where you'll end up on Earth, but you can ask for help getting home. Just practice your telepathy, alright? Try Uncle Kakarot first. Raise your ki, and he can use Instant Transmission to bring you straight back to our family."

Tears were welling in her eyes. Her father was the strongest person she knew, but he seemed afraid. That scared her. "Will you be ok, Daddy?" she whispered. "You're coming home too, right?"

He sighed through his nose. "I promise you'll see me on the other side. Everything will be alright, Princess."

"Ok, Daddy."

Vegeta dropped down bit by bit to the water below, his fingers and toes anchored into the numerous cracks on the cliffside. He wasn't going to risk making any noise; Zeygorn was almost upon them. Gently sliding beneath the lake's nacreous, opaque surface, he swam along the cliffside to create distance between himself and Bra. He felt the dragon pass overhead, and he dared to hope when the ki signature continued diminishing into the distance.

Vegeta stiffened when he felt the dragon return and land somewhere nearby. Swimming behind an outcropping of rock, he gently breached the surface and carefully let out his breath. Zeygorn had descended onto one of the many islands of rock that dotted the wide lake. His three-headed form a flat silhouette in the rising steam, he loomed a short distance away to Vegeta's right.

Vegeta covertly swam backwards behind the outcropping where the rock was higher, his eyes on the dragon and his heart slamming in his 'd have to distract him if he headed towards Bra's hiding spot. Come on. Keep moving, asshole, he thought. He and Bra had a small advantage: Bra's small ki signature was difficult to pinpoint, and Vegeta's form was merely an illusion. As Touketsu, his ki signature was all but invisible.

Zeygorn's heads scanned in different directions. Their queen's desperate psychic commands rousing them from unconsciousness, Yudoch had reattached his head and hand before re-fusing with his cohorts. He couldn't detect the escapees' ki when he arrived in Toska, but he'd eventually gotten wind of their scent.

The snake-like Yudoch head flicked out his tongue, tasting the air and searching for heat signatures. It was difficult amidst the steaming water. Jozop flared his nostrils but was also having difficulty pinpointing their quarry.

"They have to be here," Yudoch's head grumbled as he lumbered over to the rock's edge. "It's where the scent ended." He knelt down and dipped his hand into the water, motionless for several moments. "A pulse," the three heads murmured.

Vegeta's eyes widened behind the soaked tendrils of hair hanging around his face, and he looked down accusingly at his chest. Zeygorn could feel his heartbeat through the water?! The guy was like a fucking shark! He stealthily backed out of the water onto a rocky incline. Hidden behind the rocks and his back braced against the cliff face, Vegeta was barely breathing.

Ajadzo's head shot up, his catfish-like whiskers twitching as Zeygorn straightened. "I felt some movement. On the air currents."

Vegeta held his breath. He flinched when the water blasted up into the air in front of him. It rained back down, becoming steam as it fell over the towering warrior standing in the shallows. "There you are, Vegeta," Zeygorn's three heads grinned in unison. He grabbed the prince by the throat and slammed him against the cliff hard enough to create an impact crater. "WHERE'S THE GIRL!?"

In her hiding spot, Bra clamped a hand over her mouth at the sound of the three thunderous voices some distance up.

Vegeta answered with a flare of his Berserker aura. Instantly Touketsu again, he channeled the dark ki blade and thrust it at Zeygorn's heart. The dragon blocked it with his fiery palm, smothering the sword and capturing Touketsu's hand. "That again?" Zeygorn laughed as Touketsu drew back his left hand. "You're losing your creative-"

The edge of Touketu's dark shield drove into Zeygorn's right side like a buzz saw. Zeygorn reared back as his three heads roared in rage, and Touketsu bounded off over the outcroppings of rock. He couldn't afford to use his more powerful attacks until Bra had flown safely out of range. He'd continue drawing Zeygorn further away from Bra and keep him distracted while she made her escape.

Zeygorn jumped into the lake. Fully healed and furious, he burst out in a spray of water, a sonic boom ripping through the atmosphere. Touketsu leapt right into the dragon's path, and his armor cracked when Zeygorn's fist met his chest. The demon prince went flying backwards, crashing through rocks and skipping across the water's surface before sinking.

Zeygorn flew up and landed on the rocky remains of a haystack. "Where are you, Vegeta?" Zeygorn's heads thundered. "Hiding again, coward?"

Bra's eyes were wide with fear; the dragon was just outside. Afraid for her father, she crept to the edge of the crevice despite his commands to stay hidden. She scanned for Vegeta, and her eyes lit up when she saw him gently breach the surface behind Zeygorn. He began scaling up what was left of the haystack formation.

Vegeta grabbed Zeygorn's tail as his Berserker aura exploded around him. Touketsu in form once more, he swung the dragon around and sent him flying back and away from Bra's hiding spot before bounding over the rocks after him.

Bra's blue eyes were wide in disbelief at what she'd seen. Mr. Touketsu…her father…

"Why do you think I look like him? Sound like him? Speak like him? Why the hell do you think everyone here calls me Vegeta?! Fool girl, it's because I AM him!"

They were the same person! He was telling the truth! But how could that be? Her brow furrowed.

"I'm what your father really looks like. He's a monster, kid. And guess what? Eventually he's going straight to where I come from: Hell."

Touketsu's body went pitch black. "Hiya-te!" Dripping blue fire coalescing over his hands, he tackled Zeygorn mid-air. They landed on a broad island of flat rock, the dragon sprawled on his back beneath Touketsu. Touketsu struck at high speed, his icy, draining attacks dissipating in the dragon's fiery energy. They were hardly having an effect.

"Bra!" He telepathically sent. "I need to use the strongest attacks possible. If you're still here-"

Zeygorn struck Touketsu with his trident tail, catching him by the head when he went flying. "Did that hurt?" he sneered as he got up. "Let me help you." Zeygorn took him to the rock's edge and plunged him into the water. Chuckling softly, he let his adversary struggle before yanking Vegeta out. "Ironic that the Water of Life can drown like any other!" he laughed at the gasping Saiyan. He plunged him back in.

Vegeta struggled just beneath the surface, his hands coming up over Zeygorn's arm. The poetic irony that his demonic form could breathe in the cold void of space but not in the very stuff of life was not lost on him. His ki flaring, Vegeta's exposed hands became Touketsu's, and they darkened to black as he tried draining Zeygorn's energy. With a snarl the dragon plunged him further in, the magic water healing his submerged arm and stopping the attack in its tracks. Zeygorn waited patiently as his adversary's movements began to weaken.

Gripping him by the hair, Zeygorn pulled the dripping, limp Saiyan out. "Alright, whelp. Where's the girl?" Vegeta gagged as water dribbled from his mouth.

Zeygorn swung him down hard back first onto the rock, and water flew up out of the Saiyan's mouth. Coughing, Vegeta drew in a ragged, wheezing breath and twisted his body around as Zeygorn circled him. The dragon kicked his arm aside and stomped down over his armor with a resounding crack. A spurt of bloody water flew from the prince's mouth as he released a strangled cry. The dragon's taloned foot covered Vegeta's entire torso.

"Airways cleared? Good. Now. Where is the GIRL?" He slammed his foot down in emphasis, earning a cry of pain from the trapped prince and further fracturing the armor. "TALK!" he roared as his fiery ki flared.

The transformative effects of the water evaporating under his adversary's hellish aura, Touketsu winced. He was too weakened to bring his arms up to protect himself, much less use Kuroshimo. "If you're still here, Bra, fly away!" he sent telepathically, hoping that she could hear him. "Take the water and- AUGH!" he cried out when Zeygorn pushed down hard.

Bra flinched when she felt his cry of pain transmitted through the psychic message. Grimacing in terror for him, Bra sobbed. Touketsu wasn't her father, and yet he was some version of him. "Daddy…Touketsu," she whimpered.

"Get out. Get out of here, Bra!" she heard him scream, his psychic voice ragged. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked at the skull filled with the healing water. He wanted her to make it home, to see her real father. She did, too. Crying, she grabbed it and tore through the night sky. "Let me know you're safe, Bra. Please! Let me know you've…" the transmission faded.

"I'm going! Please be okay, Touketsu!" she sent back desperately. He didn't hear her. She was out of range.

Touketsu cried out when Zeygorn pushed down, breaking pieces off his scorched and cracked armor. Zeygorn's eyes flared purple once. As with Zarkala, the residual energy left by Touketsu's Demon Sign still clung tenaciously to the dragon's resentment. The three heads grinned. Make him suffer.

Bra halted midair. Hovering over a forest well beyond the lake, she looked back in the direction of the distant screams. She looked ahead, her little fingers tightening around the skull with indecision. Her face contorted as she broke down in tears.

Zeygorn leaned down over Touketsu. "I will find the girl, Vegeta, and I'm bringing you both back to Queen Marenna. After she wipes away your impertinent, prideful personality, I will visit you regularly. It will be a such a pleasure to beat you while you cower in the corner of your cell…a sniveling, frightened cur."

Touketsu's eyes flared purple.

With a roar his body went dark as his Berserker aura erupted, and Zeygorn was blasted off. Touketsu leapt up, his body instantly white as the shadow sped away and changed his dripping aura into a roiling purple. His eyes flaring into the Oozaru's and his body bulging in size as Demon Sign possessed him, he brought back a fist charged with purple ki and punched the dragon in the stomach.

Zeygorn's fusion was blasted apart in a blinding flash of purple light. Jozop and Ajadzo were flung into the water, leaving Yudoch sprawled in front of Touketsu. The naga clumsily pulled himself up and received an uppercut that sent him rocketing into the air, and Touketsu leapt up after him.

Touketsu's muscles continued to bulge outward, the damaged armor straining over his increasing muscle mass. With a roar and a flare of his purple ki, the armor fractured all over before exploding like shrapnel from his body. The rabid demon caught up to the dazed naga, and he viciously grabbed him by his thick throat in both hands.

"RYŪKETSU," Touketsu growled. The naga's powerful body rapidly began shriveling as the two freefalled, his sickly red spirit energy trailing past Touketsu like blood.

Jozop and Ajadzo suddenly punched through the blanket of steam below. Flanking Touketsu on either side, they drove their ki-imbued swords through his unprotected torso. Touketsu vomited a gout of blood as the two blades blasted debilitating power through his very organs. Greying out, he dropped out of Demon Sign and released the unconscious Yudoch into the water below. The two dragons withdrew their swords, and he plummeted out of the sky.

Touketsu hit the water with a splash. Several moments later Vegeta breached with a gasp, the terrible sword wounds healed. He glanced around, bewildered. It was quiet. He shook the water out of his hair and ran a hand through his now upswept mane, racking his memory. What just happened? Where's Zeygorn?

Demon Sign again. The last thing he clearly remembered was being pinned beneath Zeygorn's foot. His hand went distractedly to his chest, and his eyes dropped down when his fingers met bare skin. Unbidden, a gasp of loss left his lips when he saw that the armor was gone. His head snapped up, his breath quickening. Bra! Had Zeygorn gotten to her while he'd been in that fugue state?

"Bra? Bra!" He sent telepathically. Nothing. He sniffed the air for Zeygorn's pungent scent and stretched out his senses, but there was no indication of his presence. It was possible he'd killed the dragon while in Demon Sign, but he wasn't going to assume that to be true. Turning around in the water, he noticed familiar rock formations beyond the veil of steam. Bra's hiding place lay ahead.

Vegeta deliberated; Bra had never really nailed her telepathy. If she was still here, he'd have to risk getting closer in order for her to hear him. The sound of water gently moving around him, he slowly began to swim. "Bra! Can you hear me?" Unbeknownst to him, a series of small ripples in the shape of a V began trailing behind distance away from the hiding spot, Vegeta waded waist deep into the shallows. "Bra?"

Like a crocodile, something was suddenly speeding through the water towards him. Vegeta barely had time to turn around when Yudoch erupted out of the water and wrapped his arms around him in a bearhug. Hoisting the Saiyan out of the water, the ram-horned, armored naga clamped his massive mouth down over the prince's trapezius.

Vegeta roared in pain as syringe-like teeth sunk into the entire area between his shoulder, neck, and chest. The draconian snake's thick neck coiled up, stilling the struggling Vegeta as the nerve toxin was pumped in. It was more powerful this time, the site of the bite more vital. Vegeta's breathing quickly became labored, and he realized he couldn't access his ki at all.

Yudoch released the bite to gloat at Vegeta's pained profile. "Nothing clever to say now that I've got you?" he asked in mocking parody. Vegeta's teeth clenching tight, he could only gasp through them. "Hm, hm. Good. You talk too much, loudmouth. A minute more and you won't be able to move anything." He slithered onto the banks with his captive, Jozop and Ajadzo descending from the sky to land nearby. "Divide and conquer!" Yudoch announced triumphantly.

Once Yudoch had hit the healing waters and recovered, he stayed submerged and telepathically communicated his plan to the others: They all hide their ki and stay concealed. Yudoch underwater and the two winged dragons above the cloud cover, not even their scent could be picked up.

"He was headed that way before stopping here," Yudoch told his compatriots with a flick of his chin. "Search this area for the girl."

A small ki blast hit Yudoch in the back of the head. "Let him go!"

Vegeta's half-lidded eyes widened. Bra…Bra, no! What are you doing?!

Yudoch snorted as he looked over his shoulder; he may as well have been hit with a balled-up piece of paper. "She can come to us," he told the other two dragons. He turned to her and dropped Vegeta to fall boneless onto the muddy bank.

Vegeta barely lifted his head up, grey clay caking one side of his face. "B..Bra" he ground out, his jaw locking up from the poison. "Get out of-"

Yudoch grabbed Vegeta by the hair and brought him up to his knees before wrenching his head back. "Your father's been poisoned, little girl!" he called to her. "Come here, and he will be shown mercy."

Trembling and bloody froth filling his mouth, Vegeta garbled something unintelligible. "Bra, please don't do it!" he sent in desperation. "I'm not your father!" The nerve toxin was so debilitating, he didn't know if his thoughts were projecting to her at all. "Escape! Leave me, I'm not your father!"

"He's dying, little one!" Yudoch called out.

One tense moment passed. "I…ok!" Bra called out.

Vegeta's brow furrowed. "Bra, NO!"

Bra levitated down to them and landed a short distance away. She looked anxiously at Vegeta. "Heal him," she whimpered to the naga.

Yudoch regarded her impassively before looking at Jozop and Ajadzo. "We have a perfect opportunity, my brothers. We let Vegeta die."

They both looked shocked. "But…Queen Marenna-" Ajadzo began.

"Will have Bra," Yudoch finished. "Just before we arrive at the palace, we give the girl a little pinch on the carotid and knock her out. We will tell the queen that Vegeta destroyed himself in a foolish last stand. She will grieve, yes, but with Bra she can finish the ceremony and transmute her grief into her new daughter. Her passions will be freed. SHE will be free. Free to choose us." Slow grins of avarice spread across Ajadzo's and Jozop's mouths.

Sniffling, Bra looked behind her shoulder at the life-giving water before looking expectantly back at the dragons. Her face became furious when they did nothing. "Heal him! You said you'd show him mercy!"

"I certainly did, little one," Yudoch said charitably. "He will be spared life in prison."

Bra looked at the dragons for a moment before tearing towards the water. She scooped up a handful and dropped it with a squeal when Ajadzo snatched her out of the air. "Let go!" she screamed as she kicked her legs.

The veins popping out over Vegeta's neck had taken on a sickly blue hue. "B... Bra!"he gasped.

Yudoch snaked his head by his ear. "Do you see that?" he asked softly, his eyes ticking to Bra. "You failed. Take that knowledge with you to the grave. Now…be a good dog and play dead." He released Vegeta's hair and let him fall face-first into the mud.

Vegeta heard Bra scream, and he felt the dragons fuse in a burst of energy. His entire body shaking, he weakly raised his head just in time to see the three headed dragon take to the skies with the little girl. No. NO!

Vegeta looked out to the Water of Life. It was so close! He pulled himself forward on his elbows one inch before dropping back down into the mud. Damn it. Damn you! he cursed his uncooperative body. His brow furrowing, he could feel the tears of despair begin to prick at the corners of his eyes. I can't…I can't fail her. "P…please" he uttered, his face cracking. "G-gods, please-"

"To which god do you pray, Touketsu?"

Vegeta's bloodshot eyes cracked open. "Zh…Zhernobog?"

"Do you remember what we told you, boy?"

"…Wha?" Veins were popping out over his face, his skin turning purple as though he was being strangled.

"The power we've cultivated together is yours to wield. You can accept it at any time."

His weary countenance hardened. "W…won't. S-serve you," he ground out.

"Will you serve the girl?" Vegeta's eyes widened. "This is your only choice, and YOU are the only thing standing in your way." Vegeta closed his eyes tight in stubborn determination. His muscles tensing, he again attempted to pull himself towards the life-giving water. "Will you destroy your self-imposed bonds?" Vegeta's trembling body immediately collapsed. One side of his face buried in muddy clay, he grimaced as he betrayed a sob of despair. The poison was nearly finished with its work. "Tell us, son," Zhernobog asked gently. "Will you remove the stake that pins your power down?"

Vegeta's closed eyes screwed tight. His brow furrowed in anguish, and his lips pulled back in a rictus of pain. Taking in a ragged breath, he pulled the answer from the depths of his breaking body with absolute conviction."YES!"

Zhernobog's smile could be felt through Vegeta's soul. "Good boy. You pull, and we will push."

Vegeta's eyes cracked open, his vision graying out. "…Alright," he exhaled.

He relinquished control.

Between Vegeta's shoulder blades, a black spot appeared. It grew and spread, trickling down his sides like ink until his body was covered in darkness. A very thin corona of purple energy began to emanate from his shuddering form, and all over a glowing purple fluid leaked from his pores; the dark energy was pairing with the poison and ferrying it out of his body.

His body burst with its Berserker aura, evaporating the Water of Life and instantly revealing his demon form. The shadow sped away from Touketsu's now chalk-white body, the darkness colliding with his growing aura. Curling fingers of purple and black rose around him, his body bulging outward once, then again. Touketsu gasped, his eyes screwing shut as he weathered the onslaught of power consuming him.

His body bulging grotesquely in bursts, he snapped open blank red eyes. He pushed himself up to his feet as the skin strained over the muscles of his growing chest. He reared back and roared in rage when the twin diagonal markings of his more primitive form split across each pectoral, and a massive explosion of dark energy ripped from his body. The whirling nightmare of purple and black energy concealing its source, it reduced the cliff face to dust and leached into the banks. It reached the Water of Life, tainting it like a spreading poison and turning it stagnant.

High above the clouds en route to Kalyna Bridge, Zeygorn stopped and whirled around at the sound of the immense explosion. "It can't be…"

Demon Touketsu put Vegeta's bodyguard to shame. The stretchable indigo garment he still wore straining over him, he was now the size of Zeygorn. Veins popped out along his massive biceps, shoulders, and pectorals, and a ridge of hair ran from the base of his lashing tail to its tip. His hair had become wilder, his now longer horns more curved, and his saber-like fangs jutted from his mouth.

"Avenge your pride, Prince Touketsu," Zhernobog whispered from within, the insidious psychic grin in his tone not registering in the obedient creature's mind. "Doing so will realize the full potential of your new form. You have our permission, son."

Demon Touketsu's eyes flashed purple once, and a slow, hungry grin pulled over his long fangs. "THANK YOU, FATHER," he rumbled in the deep voice of the Oozaru. The hulking beast turned and sniffed the air once for his quarry. Taking two leaps, he covered two miles in a second.

Still hovering in the air, Zeygorn narrowed his eyes suspiciously while Bra struggled in his grasp. Suddenly something punched through the clouds and wrapped a huge hand around the dragon's ankle. He was yanked straight down out of the sky, and in his surprise he released Bra. Tumbling end over end screaming, the little girl got her bearings and halted her descent.

Bra hovered alone in the night sky, her heart racing. She looked down in bewilderment at the cloud cover below as the air gently buffeted her hair about. She gasped when in the distance she saw the dragon flung up through the clouds by an unseen force and sent careening in the opposite direction. A second later a purple comet tore up through the clouds after him.

Zeygorn barely had time to process what was happening. He brought his hands together and aimed at the incoming ball of purple energy as its core went dark. "Filthy beast! FINAL JUDGEMENT!" The massive orange fireball disappeared into the object just as it slammed into him.

A burning meteor of purple and orange, the two rocketed down towards the now stagnant lake and struck it in a massive explosion. A colossal column of debris and steam flew up into the air as a concussive wave of energy ripped from its epicenter to tear apart the land. A steaming, broad impact crater was all that was left, and at its center, the monolithic demon Saiyan had Zeygorn pinned.

Demon Touketsu grinned maliciously down at the dazed dragon. "HELLO, LESSER ONE."

How did he survive?! Zeygorn thought. "J…just what is this new form?"

"IT'S YOUR DEATH." He slammed his taloned feet down over the throats of Zeygorn's left and right heads before grabbing the center one. He tightened his grip, choking the snake-like head. "YOU CAN KEEP YOUR FUSION, WORM. IT WON'T MATTER."

Demon Touketsu casually tore the center head's jaw off. Laughing, he shoved it aside, its mandible only held by a long strip of flesh as disturbing gurgling sounds emanated from the throat. The center head looked up just as the demon grasped his other two necks before ripping their heads off. The severed heads writhing in Demon Touketsu's grasp as he stepped back, they were reduced to char in a flash of purple energy. Grinning manically, he brought the heads down to explode in particles of ash.

The eyes of the mutilated center head flared purple in rage. Cupping his severed jaw up to his head, he scrambled to his feet as his hell aura ignited to heal the wound. The bleeding stumps of his necks turned molten, and his armor burned hot with power as he drew his blade. With a flash of brilliant power, it reforged into a wickedly barbed spear. Roaring, he charged.

Demon Touketsu became flat black. The weapon disappeared into his body, and Zeygorn gasped in surprise as his power continued to be drawn from him through the embedded spear. Demon Touketsu's aura bursting in a combination of purple and orange energies, he drove his hand right through Zeygorn's armor. Zeygorn roared as lava-like blood erupted from the wound, his ki continually drawn away to be used against him.

An insidious conspiring was happening between the energies of the two combatants. Zeygorn's resentment still infected with the tenacious energy left by Demon Sign, it strengthened in recognition under Demon Touketsu's infectious and deadly energy. His aura lashing in tongues of flame in purple and orange, his burning armor became molten and started to drip from his body. Demon Touketsu's sadistic grin wavered.

In bursts of eye-watering flames, the missing heads shot from the stumps like glowing snakes of black ash before Zeygorn's aura exploded from him like an atomic bomb. Demon Touketsu was caught in a blazing ring of purple and orange energy and sent tumbling as it fanned outward before dissipating. Groggily, the demon rolled over onto his knuckles and looked up at the towering orange mushroom cloud reaching into the sky.

A massive, three-headed dragon fell forward through the cloud to land heavily on all fours, its bat-like wings fanning outwards. Its chest was broad and its body long, its immensely thick front and hind legs bowed like those of a monitor lizard. Orange light glowed from beneath its black scales like magma, and orange and purple flames of energy wreathed the entire creature. Its fiery orange eyes blazed as its massive ribcage expanded, the ribs visible as the energy building within took on a purple hue.

All three heads blasted devastating columns of orange and purple energy at its target. Demon Touketsu leapt up and towards his adversary as its necks were extended, and he landed on the dragon's back. Flames of energy bursting around his feet as though he'd landed on hot coals, the berserker beast swiped at the center head's throat with ki-laced claws.

The slash he'd made through the massive creature's neck was barely a flesh wound, but the dark energy kept traveling. Like a sweater being unraveled by the mere tug of a thread, muscle, sinew, and bone were ripped asunder until the head was completely severed. It fell to the ground in a thunderous heap of sparks before being completely consumed in purple energy.

The other two heads roared and turned their attention to the irritant on its back. Fast and vicious, Demon Touketsu treated them to the same fate. The stumps of the necks writhed and knocked into each other, but the body didn't fall. Suddenly two heads burst from each of the three stumps in a blast of flaming energy.

Demon Touketsu struck at the six heads brutally and blindly. He was becoming more feral, less intelligent. There was no martial strategy or even pride anymore, just a beast with one objective: Destroy. He leapt to the ground and turned; every stump sprouted another two sets of heads. Its great ribcage expanded with energy, preparing to blast him with devasting power through all twelve regenerated heads.

Demon Touketsu snarled, and he darkened to jet black. His mind receding, his body took over and adapted to the challenge. With a roar the darkness left his body and encased him in a dark sphere just as the columns of energy met him. The fiery ki blasts became waves of black smoke upon contact, the nullified energy dispersing all around the barrier like a torrent of water hitting a boulder.

Shielded within, Demon Touketsu stood motionless as if in a trance. The curling black energy swimming about his purple aura leached away into the dark sphere surrounding him, leaving him encased in brilliant amethyst fire. Outside, black tentacles whipped out from the sphere, a glowing purple nucleus now at its center. The nightmarish black and purple cell was pushed up into the air by the lengthening, whipping tentacles beneath it like so many legs.

It began to change. The writhing black snakes of energy began interweaving and knitting together like muscle fibers. A long neck grew from its torso, its toothy head straining forth, then arms, a long body, and legs. Smoking, dendritic wings sprouted from behind its four limbs as it hovered in the sky.

It was a massive dragon of black energy, glowing with a purple aura and its eyes Oozaru-red. Curving, forward pointing horns like that of an ox crowned its head, and long, catfish-like whiskers grew from its wrinkling muzzle. A beard of smoky energy trailed beneath its chin, and a mane of dark energy fanned wildly around its face and past its pointed ears. Curling, smoking hair grew from its elbows, knees and ankles, and it ran down its long, thick neck and back, all the way to the end of its coiling tail. Its body was long, its mammalian chest broad and powerful. Muscular, humanoid arms ended in five fingers tipped with curving claws, its hindlegs and three toed feet like that of the Demon Oozaru. Glowing like a purple heart deep within the avatar's chest, was Demon Touketsu.

Zeygorn's twelve heads writhing and slavering in fury, he flew up at the Black Dragon Avatar. The Black Dragon's maw swung wide and blasted his adversary with purple fire. Zeygorn's black scales were blasted off in patches, his underlying, molten dermis exposed as the twelve heads roared in a terrifying cacophony like a pack of hellhounds. The Black Dragon Avatar lunged.

It bit down on one of the heads as it wrapped its great clawed paws around the necks of the others. Their heads turned gray and began to flake as the suffocating, black energy smothered their fires. The three heads crumbled and fell away like ash from cigarettes, the faintly glowing stumps of their necks snuffing out. The remaining heads writhing about, Zeygorn's scales quickly reformed to hold his body together. Recovering, he snapped at the avatar with his remaining heads, sending shreds of black energy wafting off as the two grappled and twisted in the air.

The Black Dragon Avatar continued to come apart as Zeygorn wrestled it beneath him and tore its arms off. Wrapping its smoking tail around Zeygorn, the avatar drove the hawk-like claws of its hind feet into his belly. Lava-like blood gushed forth, the powerful energy melting away the fast weakening avatar's legs. Its dwindling power concentrating within its maw, the Black Dragon bit at Zeygorn's remaining heads in a race against time. They crumbled and fell off one by one until only a ram-horned Yudoch head remained. The two dragons' necks coiling up, they struck at each other.

The Black Dragon Avatar snapped its jaws over its adversary's head and ripped it off. It was swallowed and reduced to ash in its throat. The stump of Zeygorn's neck cauterizing under the avatar's attack and all his heads gone, the fire of his ki went out. The lava that dripped from the belly wound cooled to ordinary blood, and the flapping wings slowed before going limp. The avatar dissipated beneath, and the dragon's headless body fell upon the weakened purple heart.

Demon Touketsu's purple aura went out when Zeygorn's massive body drove him into the dried lakebed, the blood oozing from the corpse slowly turning it to quicksand. Demon Touketsu's head and shoulders the only things visible beneath his downed foe, he snarled and gnashed at the air as the war drum of battle continued ringing in his ears.

"M…Mr. Touketsu?"

The beast paused when a voice cut through the sound. He looked up. There was a frightened girl hovering above him, her hair blue as the summer sky. The twisting snarl on Demon Touketsu's face relaxed a little. He didn't recognize her, yet…

Bra had dared to near when the dragons she'd seen all but disappeared. She wanted to help Touketsu, but she was terrified; he'd become the beast from her nightmare. She watched him resume his struggles, his snarl returning as he thrashed in the bloody mud. Bra cringed in fear and clasped her hands over her ears when his roars of frustration reached a terrifying pitch. He collapsed in the lakebed, exhausted.

Bra's hands lowered down to her mouth and she whimpered in distress. "T-Touketsu?" She ventured again. Blank, crimson eyes locked on hers, and he growled softly as she neared. He gnashed his teeth and lunged in another effort to free himself. Bra yelped in fear and reeled back. He pulled himself out to his chest and collapsed forward, chin buried in the mud and his eyes still fixed on her. Sprays of mud were sent flying from his flaring nostrils as he huffed.

She sniffled back tears as she watched him resume his struggles. "I want to help you. Don't you recognize me? It's me, Bra."

…Bra. He stilled, the name cutting through the mind of the animal. Zhernobog's influence was still pulsing through him, a comforting hand on his head. It was telling him he'd avenged his pride. He'd unlocked his destructive potential. He need only rest a few moments more. His adversary's dead body, the planet he was on, Other World itself…it would all be nullified when he unleashed his power. Then Prince Touketsu could move on to the Physical Plane and complete his highest purpose.

"I want to help you, Touketsu," Bra pleaded as her voice cracked. "Please let me help!"

The fog continued to lift as he listened to Bra's voice. The girl…it was the girl. Bra. That's right. He was trying to bring her home. Bra needed to get home. Zhernobog's influence pushed against the animal's mind, the pressure within threatening to burst out. Demon Touketsu growled.

"Zhernobog," Touketsu spoke within. "You asked if I would serve the girl. The answer is yes. I serve her. Not you."

Uncharacteristic frustration could be felt through his master's presence. "You will. The link with your new form has been established. The next time you transform, you WILL."

Demon Touketsu's eyes narrowed. "Go to hell."

The haze of carnage finally lifted from his mind like the red of the Oozaru from his eyes. He blinked, his eyes normal and his body diminishing in size as it returned to its previous state. He saw Vegeta's daughter levitating a short distance away, weeping.

"Bra," he gasped. "It's alright. I'm ok now." Bra's face brightened a little in hope when he spoke to her. "It's ok, kid," he said, straining to pull himself out before collapsing again. He allowed himself a moment, his panting breath visible in the chill air. The battle and the transformation had left him severely depleted. He couldn't get out from under the massive body of the dead dragon.

Bra began levitating towards him. "I'll help you!" She extended her hand to him.

He scowled. "Bra, this shit's like quicksand. You're not strong enough, you could get pulled right in."

She scowled back. "I am strong enough. Now give me your hand, dummy!" His mouth twitched, and he flung a tired arm out to her. She caught his bloody, muck-slick hand without a flinch and began to pull. The slippery mud made her immediately lose her grip; she flew back a few feet and quickly came back, wiping her hand on the pant leg of her pajamas.

"Bra-"

She grabbed his hand and wiped the mud from it with her robe before gamely trying again. Grasping with both hands, she pulled without results.

"Bra," he panted. "Save your strength."

"No! Let me try!"

"Damn it, Bra, just-" The dragon's body, which had been very slowly sinking, suddenly began to sink faster. "Bra. Bra, let go," he said urgently. "We're sinking."

"No!" She leaned back, pulling as hard as she could to no avail.

"Stop. It's ok kid. I'll think of – ah…I'll think of something else." He was sinking alarmingly fast, the mud crawling up his neck. He considered the possibility that he may not get out of this. He cast desperate eyes up at her. "Bra. Go ahead of me and find a hotspot. I'll get out later." She was shaking her head as he spoke. "You can do it. Be brave, kid. You need to get home."

"I'm not leaving you!" she sobbed. "I don't want you to die!"

The mud was up to his ears now, his mouth barely above the surface. "Damn it Bra, think about your parents! Let go! Just…just get yourself home! Let go and get out of here!"

"No!"

They both continued to sink. "Let go, Bra!"

"I won't let you die!" she screamed as a gold glow began to surround her. There was a flash of light that all but blinded him, and he was suddenly yanked right out. They both went sailing before tumbling end over end over cold, dry ground.

"Touketsu! Mr. Touketsu, are you ok?"

On his side Touketsu weakly rolled over to see an anxious, angelic little face bathed in golden light hovering over him. Her sun-yellow hair floated about her like a corona, and her wide eyes were a brilliant aquamarine.

His eyes widened in awe at the sight. He reached a hand up to his angel and cupped her face in reverence. "Bra, you…you did it," he whispered. "You're a Super Saiyan".

Her face crumpled, completely overwhelmed after everything. Uncaring of the demon's filthy state, she threw herself onto him and hugged him. Her floating gold hair changing back to blue, it collapsed around her as she succumbed to her tears.

He wrapped his arms around her tiny form as she shuddered against him. "You're so strong," he whispered, his hand coming up to cradle the back of her head. "You're so strong, Bra."

A bunch of acknowledgements I want to make:

"They want you to forget who you are and who your family is." I actually didn't plan this line to parallel Vegeta's abduction by the Kagemazoku; I only noticed it during proofreading.

The scene where Zeygorn is drowning Touketsu Vegeta is a little reference to the scene in DBZ where Frieza tries drowning Goku on Namek.

The scene where Zhernobog is encouraging Vegeta to accept his power was loosely inspired by a creepy short story I read as a kid (from The Enchanted World series from Time-Life Books). The story gives a brief background of an old European practice of 'pinning' malevolent ghosts down into the ground with a stake (much like a vampire). A farmhand takes a break and sits down in the field he's working right next to such a stake. Deep underground something whispers to him, "You pull, and I'll push." He of course runs out of the field screaming.

The end where Demon Touketsu is pinned beneath Zeygorn's body is inspired by the Russian tale of Dobrynya the bogatyr (which is essentially a knight errant) and Zmey Gornynych the three headed dragon. He slays the dragon but is pinned beneath its body for 3 days while its blood turns the area into a swamp. He hears an angel telling him to hang in there a little longer, and he frees himself.

The scene where Bra is trying to pull Touketsu Vegeta out of the quagmire was a bit of a nod to The NeverEnding Story, where Atreyu is trying to pull his stallion Artax out of the Swamp of Sadness. After that horse drowned, I mentally checked out for the rest of the movie. When Vegeta died on Namek, much to my surprise, I went through it again: I checked out of the rest of the Frieza Saga. It was then that I realized Vegeta had become my favorite character.

Bra and the skull was a vague reference to Vasillisa the Beautiful (also called Vasillisa the Brave). In that Russian folktale, a young woman with a magic doll outsmarts the witch Baba Yaga and takes a skull illuminated with supernatural fire back home.

Demon Touketsu's appearance and mannerisms is an amalgam of my first drawing of Touketsu (circa 2006) and Broly from the 1993 DBZ movie. He was a giant murder machine that relied on sheer brawn over martial arts skill and had just enough brains to mock and intimidate.

Thank you for reading!