Time Warriors Chapter 13

There were many times when it appeared to outsiders as if Theo’s life was charmed, that luck was always on her side.

At a very young age, her innate coercive talent allowed Theo to surreptitiously dip into other Guardians' minds and remove any unpleasant or unflattering memory of her they may have had; therefore, she was able to get away with much more than the average young Guardian. On a deeper level, she knew it was wrong to meddle with other people's thoughts – but, being young and brash, had decided that because ultimately no one was hurt by her meddling, she didn’t need to admit her fault to anyone. So she didn’t – she simply resolved never to repeat it.

Her acceptance into the Time Lord's Prydonian Academy as one of the few non-Time Lords permitted to study, build and operate various TARDIS machines, was unprecedented – and, many thought, due in part to that strange coercive talent of hers. Theo had nothing to say on the matter, but left Gallifrey shortly after receiving her degree in temporal displacement engineering, supposedly in the company of a disillusioned Time Lord. She reappeared on Homeworld many years later, sans Time Lord, with her daughter in tow, and much more subdued than when she left.

And now many of the surviving Guardians believed that she and Beryan had been born under a lucky star – the way they had engineered and built their TARDIS on Vejiitasei, under the very noses of their Saiyan captors, had been nothing less than spectacular. Those same people neglected to add that Beryan had died horribly at the hands of the Saiyans and that Theo had been permanently scarred, mentally if not physically.

Luck, in Theo's life, had always been a two edged sword – and this time, luck was presenting Theo with the sharp edge of the blade.

…Saiyan.

The shock was enormous; Theo felt as if time had scooped her off her feet and flung her, alone and gasping, into the middle of a temporal vortex to ponder her situation. As the world flashed in front of her eyes she felt emotionally numb, shaken to her core – thirty-five years of her life had just crumbled to dust, years that she had carefully built as a protective shell around her torn, damaged psyche, years that had allowed her to deny one of the greatest horrors of her life.

…gods, no … this can't be happening …

She watched Allyssa clamber to her feet, clawing at handholds in the rock. The Gant's dark hair, once neatly caught behind her neck in a bun now straggled wildly around her face; sand clung to her cheeks and forehead, and small trickles of blood snaked down the sides of her face, dripping across her scar and onto her neck.

"We're not dead," she mumbled, spitting sand out between her teeth, green eyes blinking in vague surprise. She awkwardly groped around her belt for a weapon – any weapon – her eyes roving from side to side, assessing their situation.

"It's because of him – that guy took their charge head-on, as if it was nothing, and then shot something at them," Dron rasped from Theo's other side. His back was pressed against the rocks and his gaze was riveted to the figure in the sky as his hands automatically searched through his pockets for spare energy packs. Tucking the blaster under one arm, he continued, "They all were bounced away from him, too – a lot of them ended up on the ground over there," nodding in the general direction of the camp. As he spoke, his eyes scanned the terrain in front of them before returning to the sky, his hands slapping energy packs into side and bottom compartments of the weapon. "I don't know what he is, but he sure isn't human." Dron clutched the muzzle of the gun and slapped his arm across Theo, ignoring her completely, to thrust the fully recharged blaster into Allyssa's hands.

"Damn nice of him to give us a breather," Allyssa responded as she accepted the gun, cradling it in both hands. She tested its balance by aiming it at the targets above them, deliberately turning her back on Theo and stepping in front of her, the Guardian's protector once again. Dron yanked his arm back and dipped his hand into his voluminous pockets, searching for more power packs with his right hand while his left hand magically produced another large blaster, shielding the left side of Theo's body with his own.

"Who in hell do you think you are and what in hell do you think you're doing? Get out of my way!" thundered a hoarse voice from the battlefield.

Theo shrank back against the rocks, flanked on either side by Dron and Allyssa, grateful for their protection. A small part of her rebelled at such cowardice, but was quickly squelched when she glanced into the sky.

… a Saiyan … they were all supposed to be dead … all except …

Her mind refused to go any farther, shying away from the obvious truth as she shifted her gaze toward the furious Cronch drifting in front of the stranger defending them.

Sterbol was still alive. He had been thrown to the ground by the intensity of Vejiita's short power burst, but had recovered and was hovering several meters from the muscular Saiyan. About thirty Cronch survivors hung in the air behind him as he snarled his challenge, his crest fully extended and his eyes narrowed in anger.

Some of his warriors were trying to help the wounded Cronch on the ground; some were groaning and staggering to their feet as if drunk, while others simply lay where they landed, unmoving, fixed eyes staring up at the morning sky. Sterbol's rage grew as he looked at his fallen warriors and then at the smirking, dark haired man floating in the air in front of him.

"I don't know who you think you are, fool, but you're now a dead man!" Sterbol growled menacingly, the veins in his neck threatening to burst as his muscles bunched, his body armor gleaming in the slanting sunlight. He looked every inch the enraged and vengeful mercenary leader as he gathered himself to leap at Vejiita in righteous indignation, drawing his blaster to fire.

Vejiita laughed, a harsh, grating sound as he regarded the Cronch leader with a wolfish smirk, his arms folded across his chest. "How pathetic," he sneered, keeping his arms crossed and curling his lip in disdain. "Did those three weaklings do all this damage to your men with mere human weapons? – two females and a male, none of whom can fly? If so, then you deserve it – you are the most pathetic group of cowards I have ever seen!"

Stupid Saiyan bravado, Theo thought, unbidden disdain coloring her mind as she watched the exchange. It just never changes, does it?

"Not that it's any of your business, dead man," Sterbol snapped, any vestiges of civility that cloaked his manner burned away by Vejiita's taunting jibes, "but one of those 'weaklings' you've just turned your back on is a fierce little psychic warrior. Pretty dangerous, too. It would be a shame if she fried your puny brain from the inside out before I had a chance to kill you."

Theo’s mouth went dry at Sterbol’s words and she tried to make herself an even smaller target behind Dron and Allyssa.

A psychic warrior? His curiosity roused, Vejitta glanced again at the three people at bay against the rocks, his eyes sweeping over the women's figures. There was something familiar about the set of the smaller one's shoulders, the tilt of her head – but the larger one was defending her, so it was impossible to tell for sure.

"No one can take over my mind, you craven coward," Vejiita retorted, coolly assessing the impact his words had on his opponent. "It's been tried before, and it failed miserably – just as you and your pathetic little weasels will fail to defeat me!" His grin became wider as he saw the furious set of the other man's jaw and the telltale signs of uncontrollable rage.

Theo's breath froze in her chest as yet another wave of power washed over her and a strong mental presence whispered in her mind, a presence that echoed down passages left unused for decades, one that was unaware of any connection with Theo.

Heh. Stupid weaklings – should be good for a little sport, though – especially this big one. Then we'll see about the psychic …

The words rang in her mind as his voice caressed her synapses, bringing long dormant connections back to quivering life.

Theo stood against the rock, staring blindly into the air, her entire body suddenly gone rigid.

It was him.

Physical characteristics changed for all creatures as they matured, but mental signatures were constants– age normally made no difference. All the blood drained from her face as her gaze locked on the figure in the sky. Her eyes appeared to change color continuously – from green to blue to violet and back again – and she grasped for Allyssa's arm, flailing hers as if she was drowning.

A chorus of whispered voices laughed mockingly in her head. Heh – your master's come for you, hasn't he? Just as we said, just as we said. We were right, we were right, we were right, right, right …

"Theo – Theo! What's wrong with you?" Allyssa whispered urgently. Theo's weight against her arm was dragging her off balance, pulling her down toward the rock and the hard packed ground. She tugged back, pulling Theo upright as she opened her mouth to say something else – but one look at her friend's stricken face told her that something was terribly wrong. She followed Theo's skyward gaze, frowning, then turned her head back to stare at Theo, who was cringing behind Dron, her large eyes growing wider by the moment, small hissing sounds coming from between her teeth.

"Oh my god … oh my god … I've got to get out of here, Ally …. I have to leave now," she stammered, pushing the words beyond her teeth with a visible effort, closing every port to her mind, sliding smooth mental walls in place. Knowing that the effort was futile.

He’s come for you, he’s come for you cackled in her mind as fear spread its icy fingers into her veins, turning her gut into a cold, hard knot of panic. She clutched the forgotten remote in her hands so hard that the tips of her fingers had turned white with the effort.

"You know him?" Allyssa rasped in an undertone, her blaster trained on the figure in the sky as she twisted her neck around to see Theo's face. "Who is he?"

Theo's face was as white as the sand under their feet. She swallowed before answering, choking on the words. "He's … he's … he’s a Saiyan. The Saiyan prince. The one that—" and she broke off, sweat glistening on her forehead.

"Saiyan?" Allyssa said sharply. "You mean –"

Theo shrank further into the wall, wishing it would swallow her whole, her brain overloaded with sensations and memories and her frantic efforts to keep this discovery private, localized in one section of her mind. I can hear him, she thought in terror, and if I can hear him, I know he could hear me if I shouted …

A distinctive wheezing sound broke across the general hubbub and angry buzz of the Cronch, its persistent, scratching hum carrying straight to Allyssa’s and Theo’s ears. Their heads whipped across in the direction of the sound, and as one they breathed the word of the object that would save them –

"—the TARDIS," Theo and Allyssa whispered in unison.

A beat passed as both women stared past Dron, out to the desert where a very large boulder had appeared out of the blue, wheezing into existence as it materialized in the morning light. An eager, pleading expression leapt across Theo’s face as she grabbed Allyssa’s upper arm, pulling her back. Allyssa stared down at her charge in mute understanding and gave a slight nod, her green eyes sharp and cold in the gloom.

"It’s now or never," Allyssa said flatly, pulling away from Theo’s grasp and pushing her behind Dron. "Give me a few seconds to draw their fire, and then you start running. Do you have your key?"

Theo nodded, sticking her hand in her pants pocket and pulling out a small silver key attached to a very long keychain. There was a tiny, faceted cube bouncing next to the key, its faces reflecting small rainbows of sunlight into Theo’s palm.

"Good," Allyssa hissed. "You’ll know when to run – and when you do, don’t stop for anything. Anything at all – do you hear me? Dron and I will catch up with you when we can." She nudged the spacer in the ribs and jerked her head toward the sky. As he shifted his weight to his heels, bracing himself and bringing his weapon to bear, Allyssa glanced at Theo and said, "Just make sure you have the door open when we need to get in, ne?"

Theo nodded, her eyes wide and scared, clutching her key in suddenly moist palms.

With that, Allyssa turned her back on her friend again and shouted in a voice loud enough to carry across the sand to Port City 4, "Hey! Asshole Cronch! Yeah, you up there! Why don’t you get your butt ugly face down here and fight? Whassa matter, too afraid of us puny humans to get up close and personal?" She moved diagonally away from the rock cairn with deliberate grace, heading southwest, drawing attention away from that section of the desert.

Vejiita turned from the Cronch and looked down at the woman with fresh interest, ignoring the threat in front of him. What’s she doing? he wondered, narrowing his eyes in thought.

"You insult me, human!" Sterbol roared, completely incensed by her insolent attitude and Vejiita’s apparent unconcern at his display. "I’ll be happy to give you what you’re so desperately seeking!"

Had to have a death wish, didn’t you? I should’ve known, Dron groaned to himself as he covered her movements, slowly making his way behind her, his blaster gripped in white-knuckled hands.

Every fighter’s attention was now on Allyssa’s taunting figure, trotting across the sand and rudely gesturing toward the men in the sky.

"Then come and give it to me, asshole – let’s see if what you’ve got is as big as you think it is!"

Sterbol’s men roared at the implied insult and, as one, charged forward, eager to destroy to the contemptuous Gant.

Now, thought Theo, thoroughly panicked. She dashed off to the left, running flat out toward the northeast, sand churning under her feet, her eyes focused on the large boulder not one hundred meters away from her.

"Hey, don’t run away! We’ll protect you!"

A black haired man, tall and broad shouldered with large, earnest eyes suddenly sprang from the back of the rock cairn on her left side, gesturing at her to stop. She shrieked in terror and dodged, narrowly missing another tall man – but this one was completely green, bald, and had small, evil looking antennas stuck on the top of his head.

"No!" Theo screamed. "Get away from me!"

"Wait – wait – we want to help you!" the black haired man shouted, diving at Theo again. "Don’t run away!"

Theo ducked and rolled on her shoulder, using the same move that Allyssa and Dron had screamed at her to use only minutes earlier when they were escaping the Cronch. The man overshot his mark and went flying over her head, crashing into the desert floor with a solid *humph.*

Theo stumbled to her feet and sped on, feeling something familiar tug at her mind, demanding entry. Gods, no, no, no, she thought, desperate, pushing against the intrusion. If he gets inside, I’m done for …

"Kakarotto, you brainless fool, you’re supposed to STOP that woman, not play games with her!" an angry Vejiita shouted at the hapless Saiyan. "I want all of them together, and I’m dealing with something else right now. Do I have to do everything myself?"

"Oh – sorry, Vejiita," Gokuu called back, picking himself up from the sand and dusting himself off. "I’ll get her. But I think she’s just scared, and that’s why she’s running."

"Of COURSE she's scared, you moron- just GET her!"

Almost there, Theo panted, just a little more to go …

And she would have made it to her TARDIS if it hadn’t been for her own daughter. Without warning, part of the boulder swung in and a tousled red head popped out of the opening. The young woman peered in front of her, then bodily stepped into the desert, appearing to have just sprung from the depths of the boulder. Her small, slim figure, clad in a comfortable beige tunic and pants, was overshadowed by her bright red hair.

"No! Elyse, no!" Theo screamed, waving her arms over her head in warning. "Get back inside!"

"Mama – mama, there you are!" the woman said, turning to face Theo. "Why don’t you—" Instantly her face registered shock and horror as she saw Gokuu and Piccolo in hot pursuit of her mother – and her mother was charging at the TARDIS with everything she had, the whites of her eyes showing. "Mama!" she screeched, her voice carrying across the sand to everyone within earshot. "Mama, hurry up, hurry up, they nearly have you!" Now threatening, Elyse crouched down low and held her hands in front of her in a defensive position. "Get away from her, you beasts! Leave her alone!"

"Mama?" Sterbol repeated, swinging his head in the direction of Elyse’s cries. His eyes widened in sudden recognition as he watched Theo speed across the desert, followed by some other strange people, toward what appeared to be a rock – and quite a rock it was, one that had apparently hidden someone quite well. And that someone was a beauty – red hair, wide eyes, a strong-looking body like her mother – which meant that …

…that she’s psychic, too, he reasoned. What if I captured both of them … what a price they’d bring! – I know exactly who’d want them… And instantly making up his mind, greed and avarice outweighing his common sense, Sterbol made one more decision, one that sealed his fate forever.

He turned from attacking Vejiita and swiftly flew toward Elyse, grinning evilly.

Theo saw the Cronch swing around in the air and arrow toward her daughter, realizing what he intended to do and that he would get to Elyse moments before she would. And then he would have her completely. Elyse wasn’t an experienced fighter, and if Theo in her weakened condition had been unable to penetrate Sterbol’s defenses, she knew that Elyse would not be able to break through, either.

Which meant that the Cronch would do to her what he intended to do to Theo.

"Wait – stop – please stop, I’m not going to hurt you!"

Theo’s aching legs were swept off the ground as a strong arm snagged her around the waist and pulled her up into the sky. Gasping in shock, Theo twisted around to see a pair of earnest, black eyes staring at her from a mop of unruly, black hair. Waves of power broke over her head and body as every nerve and sinew was subjected to the raw energy coming from the man.

Dear Kami, he's Saiyan she thought, gasping, this one’s Saiyan, too …

"Wow ... your eyes are really pretty colors," the warrior continued, peering intently into her face, his childlike tone totally at odds with his physical presence. "My name's Gokuu. What’s yours?"

Theo gaped blankly at the Saiyan, not quite believing what she heard. What?

Shoving her fear aside for her daughter's sake, Theo ignored Gokuu completely and twisted in his arms to see Elyse. What she saw was Sterbol, almost on top of Elyse with several other Cronch trailing behind him, a smirk of triumph on his face. He looked over at her, grinned and shouted, "Thanks very much – she’s all mine now, bitch! And there’s nothing you can do about it, is there?"

Gokuu looked from Theo's stricken face to Elyse, his eyes narrowing in anger as he saw the Cronch descend on the helpless woman.

The back of her head itched horribly, as though a thousand small gnats had suddenly attached themselves and attacked all at once, inside and outside her skull. The pressure was horrendous – something was trying to claw and push its way in and out of her mind.

"No! Leave her alone! Elyse!" she screamed, forgetting her own pain and pulling at the steel band wrapped around her waist, trying to spin out of Gokuu's grip. "Ely—"

Without warning, reality blurred and shifted in front of her; she was suddenly freezing and caught for what felt like long moments in a black world that was in-between, one that was dark and terrifying, one that took her breath away. As suddenly as the darkness fell, though, it lifted; colors blurred in front of her eyes again and she found herself less than a meter away from Sterbol, staring at the body armor that wrapped around his waist. Her arms and legs were dangling helplessly; she was slung under the Saiyan's arm, stuck on top of his hip, and he was several meters above the ground.. She opened her mouth to scream, but was cut short by the Saiyan's heavy, commanding voice.

"Leave that girl alone!"

Theo was dumbfounded. Gone was her captor's hesitant, questioning manner; instead, Theo saw a confident, angry Saiyan warrior, the heel of his right hand stuck in the middle of the Cronch's chest armor, long cracks fanning across Sterbol's chest plate. Righteous indignation and rage drew Gokuu's mouth into a tight, controlled line; his gaze was piercing, holding the Cronch in place with its intensity, while his body radiated waves of power.

Sterbol was completely flabbergasted; no one had ever been able to stop his charge, especially when he had powered up. And this man had simply appeared in front of him, faster than his eye could follow, held firm while he smashed into his extended hand, and commanded him to – what? Leave the young one alone? Glancing at the bundle under the Saiyan's arm, Sterbol smirked again and shook his head.

"So that's how it is, eh? You want them both?" His mouth stretched in the parody of a smile, leering at Gokuu. "They'd certainly sell better as a matched set, but – no. You keep that one – I'll take the young one."

"Sell?" Theo gasped, horrified. Sell? As slaves?

"Maaa—maaaaaaaa!" Elyse shrieked, panicked.

Theo swung her head around as far as she could, straining away from Gokuu to see what was happening behind her. Several Cronch fighters, ones who had originally flown next to Sterbol and had neatly avoided Gokuu, now surrounded Elyse. The young Guardian was standing in front of the huge boulder, her eyes enormous in her face, slowly turning in place as she stared up at her attackers, apparently in a state of shock.

"Elyse!" she cried, anguished, flailing her arms and legs in a vain effort to get away from Gokuu. "P - put me down, you great oaf, put me down!"

"I can't- not now, it's not safe," Gokuu said, ignoring Theo's wriggling. He shoved Sterbol away from him and kept one hand, palm out, facing the alien. An ominous glow surrounded that hand. "I'm giving you fair warning – back off and leave these women alone."

Theo immediately recognized the gathering of chi in Gokuu's hand and flinched away, memories of other such demonstrations on Vejiitasei flashing through her head. He's – he's going to vaporize this Cronch right in front of me, she thought, stunned. And that moron has no idea what's going to happen.

Another shriek sounded from Elyse, cutting across the battlefield, but this one was cut off in mid-cry, replaced by an unfamiliar masculine voice snarling, "Touch this woman and you will all die."

"Huh? Who is that?" Theo twisted her neck again to look back at Elyse, and glimpsed yet another male figure near her daughter – but this one appeared to be defending her from the airborne Cronch instead of attacking her. He was hovering directly in front of Elyse, shielding her from any stray blaster shots as waves of power slid from him and across the desert, his lavender hair waving gently in the air, a large sword shining in front of him.

Her carefully wrought defenses against the impossibilities of the universe were being ground to a fine powder. This one's Saiyan, too, she realized, sagging in Gokuu's arm in despair, feeling her tenuous grip on her sanity loosen. How … how many of them ARE there…?

"Prepare to die, you fool – you had your chance!" thundered Sterbol as he swung his blaster up and fired, point blank, at Gokuu's face, his own a mask of viciousness and savagery.

Theo screamed, covering her face with her hands. This is it …

…but moments later realized that she was still alive, still dangling from the Saiyan's arm, and still in one piece. In fact, from what she could see, the Saiyan appeared to be in one piece. Cautiously peering up at her captor's face, Theo swallowed in consternation.

Oh, gods, I forgot about this …

He was all right – but seemed to be actually enjoying this. His eyebrows were drawn together and his eyes were glittering, a mocking smile on his lips. The Saiyan was blocking the Cronch's blaster fire with his outstretched hand; it slid harmlessly around the ki shield he had erected around them, draining into the ground. Theo doubted the Cronch knew this – in fact, she was positive he didn't understand what had just happened when she saw the power pack on his weapon falter and then finally exhaust its energy.

Sterbol lowered his weapon, and if she hadn't been almost out of her mind with fright, Theo would have laughed. From the Cronch's perspective, Gokuu's body had been swathed in reddish gold fire; nothing could have absorbed that much punishment and survived. Now, a comical look of shock and horror crossed his face when he realized that not only was Gokuu unharmed, but that the burly Saiyan had his own weapon in the palm of his hand.

"I warned you," he said simply. "You should've listened to me." And with that, Gokuu flung a huge chi blast straight into Sterbol's face. The Cronch had no chance to react; he could only watch helplessly and curse his luck as he took the blast head on. It flung the Cronch away from the main battle group and pounded him into the ground about half a kilometer away, rendering him unconscious.

Theo stared at the where Sterbol used to be, hanging limply under Gokuu's arm. "You … you can put me down now," she said hoarsely, her eyes wide.

Gokuu looked down at her. The glittering danger that had been in his eyes was quickly replaced with genuine liking, and his expression softened. "Gee, I'd really like to do that," he said, nodding his head with an earnest smile on his face, "but … I dunno. I don't think that's a good idea. You'd probably just run away. So I think I'll just keep you right here for now."

"You … wha… why?" Theo stammered, clutching his arms, her feet making small kicking motions. "I won't run away, I promise …"

"Nah … you'd get scared, and then I'd have to catch you again. This is better," he said, nodding to himself. "Besides, I can fly and you can't. This is much better."

"Well – but – okay, then you can at least let me see what's happened to my—" Theo snapped, only to be cut off in mid-sentence by a familiar voice, shouting both mentally and physically:

"Where do you think YOU'RE going, you morons? Stay back before I have to do something you'll regret!"

The company of Cronch who had been powering toward Allyssa and Dron paused momentarily to sneer at the smaller alien floating in front of the people on the ground. "Get out of the way before you get hurt, little man," a large, burly Cronch jeered. "You look too delicate for ALL of us to play with."

Gokuu quickly spun around toward the voice, whipping Theo's head around unmercifully. "Vejiita!" he shouted.

A sudden, brilliant glow surrounded the prince as he screamed, enraged, and pushed his personal chi past its usual threshold. His eyes turned green, his hair became waving, golden spikes, and his chi expanded so incredibly fast that rocks and stones trembled, rising into the air as if they had been commanded to fly. Vejiita, surrounded by a firey, dazzling golden aura and smirking in triumph, lauhged as he balled his hands into fists and held them upright at the dumbfounded, terror-filled flying Cronch.

"What the hell did he just do?" Dron whispered to Allyssa as they watched the platinum blaze burn around him.

Allyssa simply stood next to Dron and shook her head, speechless.

"There he goes again," Gokuu said, shaking his head as he watched Vejiita's enormous power display.

Theo watched Vejiita from her vantage point under Gokuu's arm, feeling as though she was drowning in pure Saiyan power. His chi flowed around her body and through her mind, solidifying the one-way mental link between them, the heat from his chi ripping through her psyche, insuring that the link was fully open and operational.

Bits and pieces of old an memory surfaced, a conversation between Theo, her mother and Stranna, talking about the Saiyan's actual power potential.

"Don't be a fool, Theo," her mother had said sharply. "Several of these people have enough power running around in their veins to properly run the entire capital city for weeks on end."

"Yes, but it's nothing like ours," Theo had pouted in response. "We have to be their slaves, yet we're their superiors in every way possible!"

"Apparently not," Stranna had said, giving Theo a sharp look. "If that were the case, we wouldn't be here, now, would we?"

"At any rate," Yisador said, breaking in on yet another argument between her unruly daughter and her pragmatic friend, " – these people have a legend that says one of them will eventually attain a power level never before seen in their race. This power level will make that person so strong that they will be able to rule the universe – or something to that effect."

"Now there's a big surprise," Theo muttered. "A Saiyan with a superiority complex. Who would've thought?"

"That's not really the point here, Theo," Stranna said, shaking her head. "These people think their savior's already been born, and that universal domination is only years away. That the legendary Super Saiyan of their race will soon rise up and lead them into victorious, bloody battle – and from my perspective, that'd be one nasty trick to play on the rest of the universe."

"Already been born? Heh," Theo said, wrinkling her nose. "The last thing we need is these things breeding any others of their kind."

"Are you listening at all, Theo? This is the Super Saiyan – the one who is exponentially stronger than the rest of them put together. How long d'you think you'd last against brute force power like that? Not bloody long, that's for sure. Not unless –"

Involuntarily, Theo's arms started shaking as her mind brought her back to the present; long tremors worked their way down her back as she replayed that memory again and again, forcing her to face the conclusion her unconscious mind had arrived at –

--his people were right. The prince is the legendary Super Saiyan. He will be the death of us all.

Her defenses against the cosmos were broken; her walls had been breached. Reality had pounded a very large hole through her resistance, forcing her acknowledge that the person who had brought her such pain and suffering wasn't dead, and in all probability was the same person who would rule over her, her people, her friends … forever …

"NOOO!" she screamed, breaking through the barrier to her wellspring. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL FIRST!"

All of a sudden pure energy poured into Theo’s psyche, energy that had been held at bay for many hours, energy for which Theo had an involuntary release. She knew exactly what she was going to do, and she needed to do it quickly.

"What – is – that?" gasped Piccolo, feeling chi spun out and away as if in a tornado, pulling away from him and dragging at his own, threatening to pull it, too, into its vortex –

Vejiita's head snapped around and focused on Gokuu, then on the bundle under his left arm. His lip curled and he reacted out of instinct, throwing his psyche into the maelstrom called by Theo and allowing himself to be snatched into her domain.

Immediately Theo shifted reality for herself –

--pushing herself into the minds of every creature on the outskirts of Port City 4, with the exception of Elyse, Dron and Allyssa. No finesse here – Theo didn’t care who they were or if they felt what she was doing or not as she simultaneously sifted through their collective psyche to grab the twining, fraying ends of the pieces of their minds they labeled personalities –

I've seen this before, the prince realized as he was swept through the vortex, bobbing in her mind's psychic whirlpool as she called the power -

Theo twisted the strands together into one cohesive chain as she leaped to an alternate plane, the plane of the Kaious, a strange place where the secrets of the body and soul were kept --

Vejiita was dumbfounded as he was coughed out of the main power stream and onto the ground. It was an odd place; large, gray cliffs in the distance, and what appeared to be thousands and thousands of small gray disks floating in the sky, each disk with hundreds of thin, fiborus strands floating beneath it. Turning, he saw a red haired woman in a soft blue tunic and pants. She was standing with her back to him, not three meters away, furiously twisting a long, braided chain of bright filaments in her hands.

Instinctively, he knew what she was going to do - and he launched himself at her without hesitation, refusing to think too deeply about his desire to save all these men who called themselves his friends. It was safer that way.

--and she screamed, a primal, gut wrenching scream, "You will leave us alone!" With an enormous outburst of wellspring power, Theo leaned forward to pull on the chain, ready to yank their souls from the anchoring disks on the plane, condemning each and every creature whose soulstring she held to death.

"Don't you DARE kill my people!" thundered in her brain, roaring over every synapse and nerve in her body, demanding instant obedience.

In complete shock, Theo stopped pulling and spun around, her essence coming face to face with the mind of the Saiyan prince. He imagined himself every inch the Imperial ruler; his eyes were midnight black as they bored into her, seeing down to the depths of her soul, taking possession of what was his once again.

Why … how … I don't underst—

You brought me here, woman. And you will NOT kill anyone under my protection. At all. Do you understand, or shall I make it clearer for you?

Tears sprang to her eyes. Theo's wellspring power was no match for Vejiita's bullying, just as Theo was no match for the one who held the key to her own freedom in his grasp, and she knew it. Knew it down to the bottom of her soul.

Her hands shaking, she quickly removed the soulstrings for each and every person Vejiita named in her mind and released them to the air, still staring into his eyes.

"Kill the rest of them," he said dispassionately. She swallowed and immediately obeyed, tugging and dragging the strings from the disks as fast as she could.

I know you, woman. Tell me your name.

At that, Theo's mind closed and she dropped off of the plane, back into her own body. Her eyes a deep purple, almost Saiyan black, Theo watched as every Cronch within her line of sight shuddered and dropped to the ground. No matter where they were – in the air or on the earth – they all drew their last breath at the same time and all collapsed. Those in the air became broken bodies on the desert floor; those already on the ground simply collapsed and died where they were. A deep stillness hung over the wasteland; nothing stirred for several minutes from horizon to horizon.

Shaking and panting in reaction, Theo felt something warm and buzzing near her right ear. As she turned her head, a dainty, featherlike touch caressed her cheek; suddenly she was looking at a small creature, no larger than the smallest visible insect, hovering in front of her.

Theo stared at the creature for a moment blankly, then realized what she was looking at. How… why …

Goodbye, Guardian. Take care of yourself. I go to seek other psychic creatures – your mind was much too unsettled for me to ever find peace.

But wait, Theo sent desperately, I was using you ….

No more, the creature replied. Your appearance is as you were before. Take care, Guardian. Goodbye.

Several seconds passed as Theo stared, uncomprehending, in front of her. I … I … I lost my grifton, she thought, completely numb. No one ever loses a grifton. Why …?

Why, indeed, said an invading male voice. You have a lot of explaining to do.

Immediately her eyes lifted to meet those of the person floating in front of her; eyes that were black and piercing, dark, fathomless, obsidian eyes, eyes that shocked her to the very core of her being. And they were real.

She swallowed, her legs still dangling under her ignobly, noting how he was motionless in midair, his muscular body poised to strike.

You haven’t changed, Guardian. Still as cocky and foolhardy as ever.

Perspiration glistened on her forehead as she stared back at him and whispered, "Ouji … ouji-sama. What a surprise."