A word from the zookeeper:

		Great!  I've been keeping this for a week now, 
	waiting for Don Juan to come back for summer vacation.  
	The wait is over, true believers!  C&C will be welcome,
	and I might be able to goad him into direct response!
		The Congregation continues....

*******

The Nikholas F. Toledo Zu presents:


The Three-fold God's Path

a DragonBall fanfic

by Nikholas "Don Juan" F. Toledo
(Overseas Correspondent)


episode 6:  Burning Tears Falling


	In the darkness of his tent, Gohan stirred uneasily as he woke.  He 
sat up suddenly as a bright light flashed in the distant sky, just barely 
visible through the gaps in his tent.  That wasn't sunlight.  He felt 
chi... detonations of great intensity... a relatively large scale battle 
happening far to the east. 

	"Mmm... Gohan, go back to sleep..." Videl murmured sleepily.  
	"I... just have to check something.  I'll be back soon, okay?" 

	"Mmmmm..." Videl shifted, huddling deeper into her sleeping bag and 
turning away from the slowly increasing light of the morning.  

	

	No choice now, thought Arien dizzily.  I have been outclassed.  
They have suddenly become twice as strong, fast, and efficient.  And 
worst of all, they are fighting together with incredible, computer-guided 
coordination and efficiency.  I have to use my lethal techniques... it is 
my only chance now.  

	"Elysse!  Takuma!  What's going on!"  the only living Facility 
fighter screamed in panic at the blurred, flaming melee going on all 
about her.  

	He shouted at the stunned girl as he tried to regain control of his 
flight, "They're dead!  The bastard modified you so that the machine 
parts would absorb all the chi-energy of your souls at the moment of 
death - this way you fight with all the potential of your entire lives in 
just a few, brief moments of ultimate ability!"

	He tumbled through the air, his armor slowly disintegrating as it 
smoked.  A dark, powerfully built fighter, the one who used to be the 
military man, suddenly appeared behind Arien, hammering into his side 
with a kick that sent Arien reeling across the slowly brightening sky.

	The tall, thin fighter who'd let loose the blast that killed 
himself and the other Facility men just moments before was positioning 
himself to intercept Arien along his flight path with a burst of power.  
He held his fists raised before him, wrists locked together, palms 
outward, glowing with a sinister red light.  

	Arien teleported just as the other fired, getting clipped in his 
right arm as he did so.  He restrained the urge to scream as the energy 
burned through the muscles in his arm, sending tendrils of fiery energy 
lancing through his veins.  That had almost cut his arm off.
	
	Arien collapsed most of his chi into his fingers, ten tiny points 
of light representing his purest essence, just before he appeared beside 
the one who'd just wounded him.  He thrust out with his hands sharper 
than any blade yet to be devised at the creature's neck.  As he did so, 
he saw the other's eyes, and shuddered.  There was no life or thought 
there, just faceless destruction. 

	The dead thing moved far faster than Arien had expected, catching 
Arien's wrists such that all Arien accomplished was a couple of shallow 
cuts on the thing's face.  It attempted to strike Arien in the stomach 
with it's right knee in a move that was almost faster than Arien could 
detect. 

	Arien twisted, and threw himself over the opponent, bringing his 
body out of the line of the kick that would have probably disemboweled 
him as he snarled, releasing the razor-like lines of energy from his 
fingers at the other.  They cart-wheeled through the air as, with grim 
satisfaction, Arien felt a few of the thin cutting beams slice through 
the other's shoulders with surgical precision.  

	He tore free from his suddenly armless opponent, blood spraying 
into the sky, only to get struck in the side by a searing burst of power 
from another of them, just thirty feet away.  The blast punctured skin, 
muscle, kidney and liver.  He spun, dissipating some of the destructive 
energy, fighting to stay conscious as he retaliated with a wave of force 
from his eyes.      

	It forced the other back, but had little other effect, so strong 
was the energy shield surrounding the dead Facility man.  And he was 
getting weaker with every passing second.

	He looked around desperately, seeking some advantage.  The 
remaining, living girl was doing her best to help, but she was just too 
inexperienced, much too slow to be a factor... 

	He kept his left hand at his side, assessing the damage there as he 
dodged around, throwing energy waves about as quickly as he could from 
his eyes as he did so.  It wasn't good.  Breathing was getting very, very 
difficult... and wet.  Everything was getting dim, and he could only feel 
himself getting slower as it was getting harder and harder to keep his 
body from falling apart while moving at speed.  

	Then they were all around him, even the armless one, blasting away 
with incredible force.  He tried to find that center of power inside 
himself, tried to summon up more, but he could only feel pain as they 
battered down his rapidly weakening defenses.  He tried to growl out his 
defiance, and felt blood coming up from his lungs instead.  Everything 
flared into a white hot sun around him and darkness fell as he heard the 
girl's screams. 
	
	Gohan was still a few minutes west of the city when he felt the 
signals disappear completely.  The fight was over.  He wondered if there 
was anything left to investigate.  



	Her battlefield was littered with the corpses of her foes, to the 
point where it was impossible to walk anywhere without wading through the 
bodies.  The mountains of the land were buried under the weight of the 
dead and still wave after wave of them came.  

	She raised her right hand, and whispered ever so softly, "Death."  
A hundred-thousand of them, powerful warriors all, died instantly in the 
face of her wrath.  

	She suddenly jerked as if struck, though there was precious little 
in all the universe that could harm her.  

	"Arien... You promised me not to fight yet... Why are you always 
doing this to me?" She sighed then, a sigh that was a chorus of countless 
dead souls.

	Her long, angular features tightened as she summoned even more of 
her Power.  The light that fueled stars shone from her all-white eyes, 
and her long, ivory hair whipped about her in the wind.  The brightness 
about her grew, and soon she outshone the three suns above the plain of 
battle.



	Andrea jerked upright from Arien's notebook.  She'd felt power from 
it suddenly surging into her fingers.  

	"Arien..."  She stood, and rushed back to her bedroom to change.  

	"I'm coming."



	Ami pulled her coat more tightly around herself as a cool breeze 
swept in.  

	"Hmm... I guess the sunrise really does look different without the 
city skyline in the way, and the pollution in the air.  It's beautiful.  
Thanks for getting me up for this, Mari."

	Her tall friend with the long, braided lavender hair that reached 
down to her waist and the thin, angular features, smiled.  "No problem.  
But, I bet you wish someone else had been here with you to watch instead 
of me."

	Ami sighed.  "Do you think he... just maybe, possibly... well... 
likes me?  I mean, he invited us to this trip and all, but..."

	She remembered talking to Goten just a week before, after Trunks 
had disposed of Yuu for her.  

	She'd been so flustered - the way Goten was looking at her... 
unnerved her in some way she couldn't explain.  Then he'd asked what 
she'd thought about Trunks!  It was simply too strange.  She liked him, 
of course, but she suspected that Goten meant it differently than she.  

	His last words before going to his next class that day: "Well, this 
trip is your chance, Ami.  In more ways than one.  Good luck."  He'd 
smiled, in the most oddly sad way...

	She'd wanted to protest - that wasn't what she'd meant!  There was 
nothing between Trunks and her.  They were just good friends.  Did Goten 
feel nothing for her at all?

	"Hmm... I don't know about that.  I wish Trunks would notice me, 
though..."  Mari sighed loudly.   

	"Hah!  Don't worry.  I'll knock some sense into his proud head and 
get him to notice you.  He listens to me - I wish it would be so simple 
with Goten..."  Ami rested her chin on her hand as she shifted about on 
the cold boulder she was sitting on.  

	"Such a nice day... We should get away from the city more..."



	Goten groggily forced himself up to his feet.  Trunks was just 
outside their tent, having finished a set of stretching exercises.  He 
started practicing the slow, relaxed dance of a meditative kata, the 
deadly power in his form contained and concealed beneath a thin facade of 
calm.  

	Goten groaned, pulling on the slightly large, well-worn sneakers 
that had become his standard footwear over the years.  

	"Finally getting up, oh lazy one?"  Trunks smirked as he flowed 
smoothly from form to form.  

	"Sleep is far too rare a commodity now that we're in college.  I 
get the most of it I can whenever possible." Goten sniffed as one whose 
dignity had just been challenged.  "I'd still be asleep, but you're 
letting too much chi leak - the noise in here," he tapped his right 
temple, "is irritating!"  

	"Leak!" Trunks looked mortally offended, brow creased in annoyance. 
 "I do NOT 'leak' !!!"  

	"Hah!" Goten grinned.  "A little more and strong winds would start 
buffeting the mountain-side instead of this breeze you're causing now.  
Sure all that 'study-time' with our blue-haired friend isn't making you 
soft?"

	"I'll show you soft!"  Trunks straightened.  "Let's spar!  No chi, 
resting-state energy!"  

	"Well, I'm sure to win then.  Let's go!"  Goten dropped into a deep 
crouch, left hand high, right low.  

	Trunks bent at the waist, placed his palms flat on the ground, and 
took stance.  "Boy, you're sure eager to get beaten today, aren't you?"  
For a moment, a ghost of cruelty edged his smile, before it returned to 
his own.  

	"But we haven't even begun yet."



	A tremendous booming suddenly shook the air.  

	Ami almost jumped a foot into the air.  "Mari!  What's that!  
Explosions?"

	Mari nervously clenched her hands tightly, and began moving in the 
graceful, smooth lines of her martial arts style.  "Let's go look.  I'm 
no monster like Yuu, but I'm no slouch either!"

	At that remark, Ami remembered how Trunks had dealt with Yuu.  How 
he'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere, defeating Yuu with one blow after 
absorbing without harm what should have been a devastating amount of 
damage.  "Uh, Mari..."

	Her long-haired companion grasped her wrist tightly and dragged her 
along.  "Come ON, Ami!  There could be an accident or something!"

	More of the loud detonations could be heard, disturbing the 
peaceful mountain calm.  



	Videl turned over, hands tight over her ears.  "Why, why do they 
have to be so loud when they practice?"  She sighed deeply as she put on 
her special earplugs (a gift from Bulma), and promptly went back to 
sleep.  



	Mari's jaw dropped.  Ami wasn't doing much better.  They could see 
brief flashes of their two friends fighting, in MID-AIR.  The two girls 
could barely see them - they were only visible in short moments when 
they'd slow down to change direction.  

	Goten and Trunks broke apart, appearing some meters apart in the 
air.  

	"Lucky shot!" Trunks called out as he painfully rubbed at the large 
angry swelling at his jaw.

	"That's my line!" Goten held his stomach, bent over from the 
discomfort of his injury.  He noticed the two girls watching them from 
below.  "Hey, we'd better stop now, we were getting kind of loud there." 
He indicated their audience with a jerk of his lip.  

	Trunks saw them, and smiled.  "Are you sure you don't want to 
continue?  We may not ever be able to impress them this much again."  

	Goten sighed, taking off his shirt and mopping some of the sweat 
off of his face.  Fighting without chi was fun, and didn't do much 
damage, but it had been a while.  He'd almost forgotten how annoying it 
was to perspire from this lower type of combat.  Still, it had been a 
good match.  An even one, for once.  Of course, if Trunks had been really 
meaning to win... He judged that, skill-wise, the two of them were still 
even.  Now if he could just get Trunks' power... 

	He shook his head.  No sense in waiting for it.  Either the power 
will come or it won't.  But in a place inside him that Goten would never 
admit to, his resentment whispered, "What about all the promise you were 
supposed to have when you were young?  They'd been so surprised at how 
easily you achieved Super Saiyajin... Now you're behind the others... Far 
behind."  

	He did what he could - he ignored the voice.  Anyway, it seemed as 
if things were finally calming down between him and Trunks.  Perhaps, now 
that he was clearly the inferior fighter, Trunks wouldn't be as insecure, 
if that was the cause of his recent hostility?  

	"Go get her, tiger.  Now's a good chance."  Goten smiled, feeling 
more tired than this light exertion should have made him. 

	And if he'd have to let Trunks win Ami in order to get his friend 
back, well... Trunks had been Goten's friend ever since he was old enough 
to know what a friend was.  He'd just have to find someone else.

	The voice was nagging him again.  "But you always let him win.  
Aren't you tired of him always taking the better of two things from you? 
 Is he worth that to you?"  

	Goten choked that voice in his head, strangled it with the same 
strength that could shatter worlds, and hid those stray, guilty thoughts 
from his eyes.
  
	Trunks' eyes widened in surprise.  "Are you sure about that?"

	Goten sighed again.  "Go, before I change my mind.  Someone has to 
get breakfast started anyway.  Trunks," he paused, scratching the back of 
his head as he looked up at the bright blue of the sky, "we don't always 
have to fight, okay?  Just... just be nice to her."  

	Trunks flew down to the two watchers slowly, and touched down 
gracefully, not a hair out of place, not a speck of dust rising from the 
ground.  

	Goten wondered, how does he do that anyway?

	Trunks suddenly felt his confidence ebbing, this close to Ami.  "I 
guess you want an explanation, huh?"

	Ami nodded wordlessly.  

	Trunks searched for the words, and couldn't seem to find anything 
appropriate.  He sighed.  "Look, you trust me, right?"

	Ami nodded again, still wordlessly.  

	"Take my hand."  

	She hesitated, and reached for his outstretched right.  Time seemed 
to slow down for Trunks, as his heart beat almost as quickly as it did 
when he knew he was in a life or death struggle.  

	"Let's talk, alone." Trunks glanced at Mari who was staring at him, 
and at Goten, who still floated above them, arms crossed, looking away to 
the horizon.  "Don't let go." He smirked as he surrounded her with his 
will, and pulled her up with him, into the sky.  "I won't let you fall."

	And he took her flying.

	Mari snapped out of it, and looked forlornly at Trunks' form and 
the way he held Ami's hand, as they disappeared around a relatively close 
mountain peak.  

	She looked up to Goten, irritated.  "Look, are you just going to 
hang up there or what?  How are you doing that, anyway?"

	Goten sighed, the deepest, longest sigh he'd ever sighed.  He 
lowered himself until he stood just in front of Mari, still looking at 
the horizon.  "I'm not sure, actually.  I just found myself doing it one 
day when I was about... four?  Yes, I guess I was four at the time.  
Maybe five."  

	Her left eyebrow twitched in further irritation.  A movement which 
Goten suddenly found... cute?  He nearly slapped himself at the thought. 
 

	"It's just martial arts," he shrugged helplessly.  

	"Hey, I've been studying martial arts for all my life, and none of 
my teachers can do that!"  Mari was having a difficult time deciding 
whether she was irritated more than she was awed.  

	"What can I say," Goten smirked, "I'm talented.  So is Trunks."  To 
himself, Goten whispered, "Hmm... Seems like everyone around here's a 
martial artist of some type or another.  How strange.  What a high 
concentration all in one school."

	Mari tugged at her braid, wondering if it was worth it to risk 
trying to leap up and off the cliff to smack Goten with a VERY hard 
right.  "You'd better tell me, or I'm going to set the science-type dogs 
on you at the university!" she threatened.  

	"You're great fun to irritate, you know?" he smiled a little more 
easily.  "Did you ever watch any of those really, really old movies about 
an ancient comic book hero named Superman?  Long, long ago, an alien 
spacecraft landed..."  

	Mari sighed.  This was going to be some trip.  



	The bald man smiled maniacally as he boarded the train.  This was 
going to be some trip.  Soon, Mr. Satan, he thought.  Soon, you will pay!

	Chilling laughter escaped him, and thunder could be heard in the 
distance as the people about him on the train eyed him nervously, holding 
just a little tighter onto their various bags, children, and assorted 
Important Things.

	"Excuse me sir," and attendant tapped his shoulder, interrupting 
him to the accompanying sound of everyone about him sighing in relief.  

	"WHAT?" he almost shouted.  

	"Your tickets say that you're on the wrong train."



	Everything hurt.  And everything that was outside of the hurt, 
well, that hurt too.  His body was in more pain after he'd experimented 
with the teleportation attack from weeks before, but at least then, he'd 
been flooded with power, and he'd been able to stop some of the pain 
signals from his nerves.  This, was pure, raw hurt.

	That was the first thought greeting Arien upon his regaining 
consciousness... 

	Then he saw the powerful arc-lights aimed at him, and the slowly 
descending mass of razor blades, needles, and instrumentation closing on 
his eyes.  

	He commanded himself to roll off the stainless steel slab where he 
was and fly out.  And stayed right where he was.  

	Arien moaned.  That effort had sharpened the knife-pains slicing 
through his guts, and had also given him a tremendous head-ache.  
Amazingly, he actually felt more pain now.  He didn't think anyone could 
feel this much and still be conscious.  He was burnt out.  He could feel 
it.  Sucked completely dry.  He'd pushed his power too far, and it would 
take months to recover.  Months that he didn't have to escape this... 
thing.

	The red cyclopean eye at the center of the glittering chrome and 
steel face was almost near enough to kiss him.  He could hear the 
tentative, almost hesitant clicking of pincers and tweezers, the precise 
buzzing sound of rotary saws, and the steady dripping of nutrient fluids. 
 

	He closed his eyes.  As much as he hurt now, he knew that the 
operation he was about to undergo would be far, far worse.  He recognized 
that cyclops eye, the silvery head - it was the main probe used just 
before the heavy work began for complete, cybernetic conversion.  He'd 
first seen it when he'd befriended a semi-psychotic monster of a fighter 
named John the Redeemer... who was the closest anyone could come to being 
completely metal while retaining humanity.  John had kept a huge trailer 
by the ring, packed full of electronics and medical supplies.  And of 
course, he had that... thing.  A state of the art autosurgeon.  Wet work 
was far too delicate for human hands.

	Soon, he would feel the preliminary incisions of the surgical 
lasers.  Then, the tearing would begin.  

	"Sorry..." he wanted to say.  To tell her.  He'd failed.  

	And in his head, she spoke.  "Sorry is not enough."

	That had startled him into trying to get up again.  Strangely, that 
effort didn't hurt, although he still wasn't able to move.  Then he heard 
it - the buzzing and clicking was slowing down, until there was only 
deathly silence.  Time was stretching out for the two of them.

	"I told you that you were not ready yet.  Sometimes, you just drive 
me insane.  I have half a mind to just let that machine slice you up and 
make you into one of them."  

	The voice... She sounded.  Strange.  She was... crying?  

	He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't accomplish even that, 
frozen in that moment of static time.  But somehow, he could see her... 
finally see her.  She was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.  A 
single tear glowed with a golden light of its own as it slowly slid down 
her pale, pale skin.
  
	"You're here..." he said in his thoughts.  

	"Do you realize how many problems I am going to have to deal with, 
how much energy I have to expend to do this for you?"

	She bent close to him, and pressed those cool, soft lips to his 
cheek.  

	"I didn't think those cyborgs were anywhere nearly as advanced as 
Dr. Gero's work... I..."  It was getting hard to think rationally with 
her this close.

	"I know how it happened." She sighed.  "I have to finish this 
quickly, Arien.  I am in the middle of a very important battle of my own. 
Every moment I'm here now steals the life from a hundred newborn worlds. 
Close your mind's eye."

	Arien concentrated on blackness, and a sudden, searing power tore 
through his body.  It was the purest, strongest chi he'd ever felt before 
- beyond anything he could imagine.  It would have been exhilarating, but 
there was so much that it was painful too.  If he could have moved, he 
would have convulsed, flopping around like a fish suffocating on dry 
land.  It seemed to continue for hours.

	He gasped, and then he was suddenly sitting upright.  

	"Are you okay?" 

	He opened his eyes, and for just a moment, he thought he saw her 
face again, for real this time, but the image faded into... Andrea? 

	"How?  What?"  The disorientation was slowly clearing from his 
thoughts as he took in his surroundings.  A hole had been neatly sliced 
out of one of the walls, and all around him lay the wreckage of the 
Facility autosurgeon.  Two guards were slumped against the equipment, 
unconscious.  He checked himself.  He'd been completely healed.  And 
inside himself, he could feel his strength rapidly flowing back into his 
form.  Soon, he'd almost be at full capacity.

	"The droplets of your blood on the notebook led me here.  I could 
feel the chi guiding me.  Hurry, I must have tripped half a dozen alarms 
getting here."  Her forehead was creased in concentration, and in her 
hands, she held a long, curved, graceful length of pure chi.

	Arien frowned.  "That blood's years old... I'm not skilled enough 
for a trick like that."

	From within his soul, a voice whispered so softly that he could 
barely hear, but hear he did.  "I told you I would be there for you, you 
jerk.  And since you asked last time in the cave, well, my name is 
3Leane.  Be nice to her, Arien.  She would be good for you, if you could 
see it."  The voice faded into silence.

	Impatiently, Andrea dragged him to his feet.  "I don't care how you 
managed the trick, but you called for help, I'm here and now we have to 
get out!"  

	She looked at him oddly for a moment, and blushed.  She turned 
around abruptly, cleared her throat, and pointed to one of the fallen 
guards.  "You can take his clothes."

	Oh yes, Arien's thoughts noted.  I'm naked.  Of course.  Surgery.



	"This is much quicker than a match."  Goten threaded some power 
through a twig he was holding, and dropped it into the pile of wood as 
the fire flared into life.  

	"Uh, huh." Mari watched sullenly, tugging at her braid.  "So let me 
see if I've got this right, you and Trunks have all this power because 
your father's an alien from a planet of the strongest warriors in the 
universe, and instead of destroying the world, he became a good guy 
because he got dropped off a cliff onto his head?"

	"It was a mountain, I think."  Goten smirked as he coaxed the 
flames higher.  

	"And Trunks' father is the prince of this alien race, and he came 
to destroy the world and use the... DragonBalls... to wish for 
immortality, but your father stopped him?  And your race is mostly 
destroyed because of another powerful warrior named Freeza?  And the moon 
was destroyed twice to keep you people from transforming?"

	"Yeah, that's a lot of it.  There's quite a bit more to it than 
that, though.  Uhmm... it's a pretty loooong story.  Oh, and the Great 
Saiyaman is Gohan."

	"Your brother?"  Her eyebrows twitched violently.  

	"Yup.  Hmm..."  Goten turned his attention away for a moment, and 
concentrated on some point on the horizon.  "I feel him returning.  I 
wonder where he's been?  He hasn't disappeared like that since the last 
time he did his 'Great Saiyaman' thing..."

	"Say," Mari hesitated as she rested her chin on her hands, "it's 
been some years now since the Great Saiyaman stopped appearing... Why did 
your brother quit?"

	"Mmmm... I guess he wanted to retire.  Got bored with the superhero 
business or something.  The police improved a lot after a couple of 
years, since the development of cybernetic implants, and the Great 
Saiyaman became mostly unnecessary."  

	Goten was distracted by the aura he felt coming from his brother.  
Gohan's chi felt... restless.  Like a star about to go nova... He was 
just barely restraining it now.  And as he neared them, Goten could see 
that his brother's normally smiling face was lined with worry and 
agitation.  

	When he was close enough for her to see, Mari's eyes were drawn to 
him in awe.  She couldn't help staring.  There was this... incredible 
radiance.  Like a God drifting down from the heavens.  Power barely 
concealed, power that dwarfed what she could sense of even Goten's.  

	Gohan noticed her staring at him, and dimmed his chi as he dropped 
to the ground.  

	Goten knew something was wrong.  "What is it?"

	"Get Trunks.  We're going to search an area to the east of the 
city.  We need Trunks to borrow a scouter from his mother.  One of the 
advanced ones."  

	Goten's bearing changed instantly.  He stood, ramrod straight and 
tall, no trace of the slouched, easy-going teenager remaining.  "What?"

	"I'm not sure.  But something is happening to the east of the city. 
I can't pinpoint it.  The energy is being diffused.  I think it's 
underground."  

	Gohan noticed Mari's continued expression of awe.  "Uhmm... We have 
to deal with something... Videl knows where the food is.  We'll probably 
be back sometime tonight."  He dealt with her the same way he always 
dealt with the occasional human who saw him fly or radiate energy.  He 
pretended that absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary.  

	"Uh... 'Nii-chan.  Do we really need Trunks?  He's sort of... busy 
right now."  Goten scratched the back of his head, just a little 
embarrassed.  

	Gohan looked around.  "Busy?"  He noted that the blue-haired girl 
was not in sight as well.  "Oh... I see."

	He frowned.  "Well... I guess not.  We'll still need to pass by 
Capsule Corp. to pick up the scouters.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll get his 
highness interested enough to come with us."

	"Actually, I think Vegita's in Australia, checking on the company's 
new branch there."  Goten murmured.  

	"Well... never-mind.  The two of us should manage.  Bye, Mari!  We 
have to go."  He took off at high speed.  

	"He's a little absent-minded when he's in a rush."  Goten shook his 
head.  "Videl's not going to be happy.  This was supposed to be a 
vacation.  Well, like he said, we have to go.  I'll see you later."  

	"Uh, yeah... seeya."

	Goten flared up in power so that he could catch up with the former 
Great Saiyaman.  "Hey, wait for me!"

	He didn't notice how breathlessly Mari was watching his golden-
wreathed form rising into the sky.  



	"HaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!"  Right palm raised up, he flung the guards 
before them violently with an explosion of will, smashing them hard 
against the wall at the end of the corridor.  

	"Arien, let's just get out of here!  This place is a maze!  We 
should just escape through the tunnel I found to get in!"  Andrea guarded 
the rear, her bright red hair seeming to glow from the flashing alarm 
lights.  
	
	Arien shook his head as he drew in a breath to steady himself.  
	
	"We have to find that girl who survived when they first attacked 
me.  We need to get her out.  I have to analyze just what it was they did 
to the Facility's fighters.  Maybe there's a weakness..."  

	He staggered forward, needing to stop and lean against the wall to 
steady himself.  He just couldn't seem to breathe fast enough.  

	"What's wrong?"  She took him by the shoulders and slowly lowered 
him to the floor.  

	"My chi hasn't returned fully... Taking out these guards is a minor 
task, but it's tiring me out... Perhaps you're right."  He struggled to 
his feet, his ill-fitting, borrowed clothes drenched with sweat.  "We'll 
have to come back for her some other time... Perhaps with some help."

	He lurched, almost drunkenly, before Andrea caught him.  

	"Put your arm around my shoulders.  I'll get us out."  She was 
tiring fast too, but she found the energy to maintain her spirit sword, 
glowing before them.  

	"You are not getting out, old friend," a thin, static-filled voice 
filled the corridor.  

	Arien gently pushed her away, ignoring her questioning look.  "Why, 
Henry?  This technology... it's evil.  There are other ways to get the 
fighting force we wanted... Other ways to equal the Saiyajin.  Those 
fighters didn't even know what you did to them."

	"You have not exactly been straightforward with me either.  Why 
were you hiding your progress?  What means did you use to gain your 
increased power?  Why were you not sharing it with the Facility?  It is 
you who betrayed the Program.  Those last few tests we conducted with 
you... You masked your improvement.  I detected the power spike you 
suppressed.  You can't be any more human than the cyborgs to have gained 
such energy - the human body can't contain it.  The military was not 
satisfied with the slow development of the Program, and asked me to 
search out other alternatives."  The voice paused.  "And imagine my 
surprise to discover that you were withholding Dr. Gero's technology from 
us as well.  What devilish enhancements do you have boosting your 
strength?  Some form of nanotechnology?  We detected no implants on you. 
Why did you keep the power to yourself?  You became a threat, just like 
the Saiyajin.  We only did what we could.  We put together the scraps of 
cyborg tech we had been able to recover from other sources, and found a 
way to improve our fighters far beyond human limits.  At least you shared 
alloy 5/20 with us... A mistake for you.  It was the key we needed to 
develop our necro-borgs."

	Arien's expression grew pained.  "My improved power comes only from 
some special martial arts techniques I discovered!  There is no magic 
technology I used to alter myself.  I didn't betray the project.  But 
these... necro-borgs... How could you have designed them only to die?  
And without their knowledge or consent!  They were human beings, Henry!"

	"They, like you, were only tools.  They are more useful dead.  And 
right now, Arien, so are you."  The voice cut off.  

	Andrea whispered, "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

	Before Arien could respond, two powerfully muscled arms tore 
through the armored facility walls behind him with a shriek of tortured 
metal, and dark hands closed tightly around his neck.  The smell of burnt 
flesh and decay permeated the air as Arien was hefted a few feet into the 
air.

	It happened too fast for Andrea to see, and then she felt another 
presence closing behind her.  She slashed with her blade as she spun in 
desperation.  

	The dead man behind her caught her blade in a glowing right hand, 
and to her complete shock, shattered it.  Her eyes rolled up in her head, 
and she fell, so much of her had been contained in the sword.  

	Arien struggled, tried to kick back at his adversary, tried to 
wrench free of the cold dead hands around his neck, but its grip was 
stronger than steel, and he could feel his chi being drained by the 
energy-hungry metals running through the thing's musculature.  

	The short, stocky one who'd struck Andrea down turned to look at 
Arien, white eyes scanning him, expressionless as a statue.  Something... 
insane flared in its eyes.  It seemed to recognize Arien.  Its lips moved 
in a mechanical parody of life.  It rasped out, "k... killed me..."  And 
its face twisted inhumanly.  It looked at Andrea's crumpled form, and 
noted the concern in Arien's eyes even as Arien fought to break the hold 
of the one behind him.  	

	"You like her?  Then watch..."  He stepped beside her body, and 
slowly brought his foot down on her back.  

	Andrea screamed, brought back to consciousness by the terrible pain 
in her back.  She screamed, looked at Arien through eyes clouded with 
tears.  
	
	Arien's own neck was being crushed with a force that could move 
mountains.  His vision was blurring, something hot touched his eyes, and 
he felt something inside him snap as he fell into darkness.

	In an immense, roaring void, he tried to shout, "No!  It can't end 
like this!"  But there was only silence.

	
--- to be continued
 

Nikholas F. Toledo Zu
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Don Juan, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145