This was the one thought running through Vejiita's mind as he observed the other man turn into the Super Saiyajin, too late to save the lesser of two enemies.
Here? On this ship? With no method of transport back to Earth? He'd sealed all their fates at the loss of a few insignificant warriors! The death of his son, perhaps, Vejiita could understand. But the others? But Katera?!
Vejiita floated within the large room and observed the carnage around
him with a sneer. Crudely he spat to the side and he sniffed. What a waste.
Jiiyar looked down at Katera's body and felt a sense of satisfaction he had only dreamed possible. He took a deep breath, which turned into a manic sigh as the scent of blood filled his nostrils.
However, he would celebrate later. He had two more to deal with.
This was what proposed a problem to Jiiyar. The princeling Vejiita he would deal with swiftly enough, but the glowing one, the 'Super' Saiyajin... he might need help in dealing with him.
Provided his master would provide him with help. He had no soldiers left... and it didn't appear that any more help was on it's way. Jiiyar felt a small worm of doubt crawl into his mind. There were only two possibilities; either he was left to the two Saiyajin, or his master knew he could win. Jiiyar hoped dearly it was the latter.
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The dark figure chuckled, " Jiiyar is growing afraid. "
Slowly from the harsh voice came the words, " He will be. "
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The spaceship marked 'Capsule 3' shot into the air from Capsule Corporation's headquarters. Screaming into the air, it went virtually unnoticed by the general population. They'd seen plenty of odd things coming out of the Capsule Corporation lately.
The single occupant glared ferally into the sky, black eyes trained on the growing expanse of blackness.
I don't believe this, Sarro thought angrilly, Damn it! Have I missed something. I took care of Garlic Jr's attack on Heavan... what have I missed? Trunks isn't supposed to arrive from the future for another couple of years. rrr... Dende! What have I missed?!
Ano... came Dende's voice into her head, the only thing we've missed, Sarro, is following through the ramifications of our own actions.
There was a pause, then Sarro cursed again. You mean this wasn't supposed to happen? Damn! What's the future look like?
Ano... said Dende again, and Sarro was beginning to dread any sentence he began with that word, Everyone but for Gokuu and Vejiita are... dead.
" Dead?! " Sarro shouted aloud.
Down on the Earth's surface, Bulma and her father heard Sarro through
the communique and gave each other fearful looks.
Sarro got ahold of herself and resumed speaking mentally, Dead? Are you serious?
Perfectly.
Argh, Sarro fumed, I can't leave these creatures alone for a moment, can I?
With some small amount of amusement, Dende answered, No.
There goes my retirement.
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Son Gokuu raced forward with a speed unparalleled. He moved in a gold blur and collided his fist with Jiiyar's nose. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, his movement stopped.
Jiiyar choked and staggered back with both hands to his face. A thin trail of blood emerged from his hands between his wrists and dribbled to the floor.
Jiiyar's eyes opened wide. He got rid of one Saiyajin, only to have his nose nearly broken by another? He glared up at Gokuu over his hands.
'Super' nothing, this monkey would not get away with marring his face. Tentatively, Jiiyar brought his hands away from his nose and flicked the excess blood off. The bleeding from his nose had gone down to a slight trickle, which he could handle. Sliding one foot to slightly behind him, Jiiyar crouched into a ready position and invited, " Just try that again. "
For a moment Gokuu stood perfectly still, cold, hard eyes unnervingly on Jiiyar. Then he moved, once again so fluently, with no initial action to warn Jiiyar. He moved forward with one step and then flew, catching Jiiyar by the neck as he passed. Far down the hall Jiiyar had entered the room from, Gokuu drove him into the wall until Jiiyar was imprisoned by his own indentation.
When Gokuu stepped back, Jiiyar weakly wheezed out the question, " Who the hell are you? "
" The instrument of your demise, Jiiyar, " stated Vejiita in answer, walking with slow, sure steps that masked the sound of quicker steps approaching. He continued, " This is the Legendary Super Saiyajin, Kakarrot. "
" My name is Gokuu, " corrected Gokuu resentfully. Then, regaining his angry tone, he stated, " Vejiita, I'm telling you to leave."
Vejiita crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side, " and how exactly would I go about doing that? Katera's dead, and she was our ticket out of here. "
" Not exactly, " said another voice.
Vejiita, Gokuu, and Jiiyar turned and looked (or in Jiiyar's case, just looked) down the hall to see Sarro standing half in the darkness.
" I am very displeased, " she said quietly. Vejiita looked a little
insulted at her tone of voice, Gokuu just looked confused. Sarro
began towards them, and continued speaking, " This wasn't supposed
to happen, it's my fault, but it wasn't supposed to happen anyway. Unforseen
problems with the plan were expected, but never to this extent. "
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" Who is that? " breathed the dark figure. The harsh voice of his companion never answered, for the silence was answer enough. Now breathless he whispered the name, " Zellosama. "
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" Sarro? " Gokuu inquired hesitantly. This was eerie, such a change in her personality. She'd always been so... not exactly sweet, but serene, peaceful, tired in a way. Not like this, not cold, with an expression of beyond anger and her ki rising with every step.
Sarro passed between Gokuu and Vejiita and stopped right before Jiiyar. Jiiyar stared at her. She stared at him. Then, with a small inarticulate sound, she raised her hand and drove the heal of it into Jiiyar face. The force of this blow litterally broke his face until Sarro's arm sank halfway to the elbow in his cranium.
Gokuu and Vejiita stared in shock. Jiiyar hadn't even the time to scream.
Sarro withdrew her hand, covered in blood, bone, and brains and stood
for a moment observing the bloody mess that had been Jiiyar. Such a
universe full of hatred... she thought sadly to herself, no
wonder...
" Um, Sarro, " Gokuu said curiously, taking a step forward so that he was standing next to Vejiita.
Sarro turned sharply, and with her clean hand slapped both Vejiita and Gokuu across the face. Both men's faces snapped to the side, and Gokuu was so surprised he fell out of Super Saiyajin. Vejiita looked enraged, with his hand to his face and his eyes wide.
" Oh, get over it, " Sarro snapped. " How could you? The two strongest of the Saiyajin race, ever, how could you have let everyone die and ruin my plans? Do you have any inkling of what you've done? " Her voice was rising, " I've lost now! I've officially lost! Son Gokuu, " she sneered now, sardonically putting grandeur into her words, " the Densetsu no Super Saiyajin, and Vejiitaojisama, the would-be Super Saiyajin, this is what I've worked for? I could have gone out of retirement and trained for a few years to get the same effect. "
" Demo, Sarro, " began Gokuu in defense, " there were so many and it all happened so suddenly. " Sarro felt her anger ebb as it appeared that Gokuu was about to cry. " There was the ki blast and then he gave no warning, and everyone was dead. "
Sarro sighed. " Gomen. "
[trans. => Sorry]
Tiredly she pushed her bangs back and thought a moment. " We've still got Yamcha, but that won't be enough. Not even close."
" What are you talking about? " Vejiita demanded, still suffering from the indignation of being slapped.
Sarro blinked at him. " Nothing. "
Vejiita's expression darkened as he was told the blatant lie.
Sarro, came Dende's voice before Sarro could think of a good enough excuse, There is a way, but... it will leave you weak for a couple of days.
Sarro screwed up her face, and Vejiita and Gokuu were left to blink cluelessly,
A couple of days I can handle, Dende. What is it?
A time loop.
Gokuu suddenly came upon an idea. " Neh! We can use the Dragonballs
to wish them back! We can call both Shenlon and
Porunga so that we get everybody... except Chaou-zu... demo, Piccolo's
dead... so... hmm... "
" You cannot use the Dragonballs anyway, " Sarro stated.
" Eh? Why not? " Gokuu asked.
" Because I said so, " was Sarro's simple answer. " You are not to use the Dragonballs without my permission. "
" Permission?! " repeated Vejiita in outrage.
" Hai, " Sarro started down the hall. The last thing I need is for the incident with the split Shenlon to happen before it should.
So, a time loop, eh? This could take some work.
" Hey! " Vejiita shouted after her, " You owe us some answers! Sarro! "
" I owe you nothing, " Sarro responded, and melted into the darkness.
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The darkness was amused. This was a more intriguing game than it had originally antisipated. Sarro was an exceptionally skilled... opponent. But, she was becoming redundant, and her 'retirement' was still fresh in her mind. It was going to take a bit of work to, open her eyes and make her use all her power.
She was, afterall, so much better than the players she'd selected.
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Sarro stopped at the center of the body-strewn room. She set her jaw and looked around at the death that surrounded her. She felt the presence of Gokuu and Vejiita and scowled.
Completely throwing away all notion of speaking within her mind. " If we let them stay alive, they will remember. "
That's alright, came Dende's tired voice, you're going to have to let them know eventually, Sarro.
Sarro cocked her head to the side. " That so? "
Dende's sigh even sounded in her head, Yes, you can't keep them in the dark forever.
Somehow Sarro felt that analogie was intentional. She scowled deeper. " I'll tell Son Gokuu when I'm ready. "
Gokuu blinked cluelessly. Vejiita glared. Sarro ignored.
Sliding her feet apart, Sarro sank into a position resembling a fighting stance and brought her hand up and across her chest to rest poised by her head. Her eyes fixated on the floor, she began to escalate her ki until a hazy pale orange sphere of ki energy appeared around her hand.
" Rewind. " she commanded, and shot the ki energy into the ceiling. It hit, and ballooned out, rippling over the walls and down to the floor, until both Gokuu and Vejiita were also bathed in the thin, watery energy.
Sarro turned then and faced them. The light from the energy glinted off her black hair and lit a spark in her black eyes. It gave her an almost angelic look.
" In a few seconds you will be back in the positions you were before everyone died. Jiiyar has a very large, very powerful sphere of ki energy aimed for Katera. You will have approximately eight seconds to stop Katera from attacking and setting of the chain of events you have already experienced.
" Son Gokuu, Vejiita, you are not to say a word of this to anyone else,
nor to me. " She smirked as the energy began to fade, their entire surroundings,
began to fade, " This never happened. "
Suddenly, but with a feeling that left you thinking it was gradual, Gokuu and Vejiita found themselves staring at each other from across a room filled with action.
Then Gokuu's attention shifted, and he smiled that big, dumb smile that Vejiita revilled so much. " Hah! " he called happily, " Kuririn! "
The runt looked at him cluelessly, how like his friend. Vejiita sneered. This was too much to bear.
Then it hit him: what Sarro had said. While Gokuu continued marvelling
over the albeit miraculous return of his friends, Vejiita
looked over towards where he'd last seen Jiiyar and Katera... and there
it was. Jiiyar was holding over his head a massive ki sphere, and it was
still growing.
" Kakarrot! " Vejiita shouted across the room. He pointed towards the problem at hand. He'd be damned if Sarro was going to slap him again. " Eight seconds remember?! I swear you've wasted half of them with your stupid rejoicing. "
" Hah? " Kuririn inquired.
But Gokuu had already gotten down to business. Crouching midair he brought his ki up and commanded, " Kaiou-ken! " The red aura roared around him, knocking back several soldiers. But he was too late, racing towards Jiiyar and Katera, he could see Katera tense. She was about to attack. He was too far!
" Piccolo! " he hollered at the Namekuseijin. Between him and his destination, Piccolo looked up at Gokuu. " Stop Him! " Gokuu pointed ahead.
Piccolo looked. He took a moment to let it all sink in, then took off towards the pair.
Gokuu could only watch in despair, Katera had her feet under her. She was tensing again for the attack. He was too late! Too Late! Only when Katera was diving for Jiiyar did it hit him.
Instant Movement!
He'd learned Instant Movement!
Were he anyone else, Gokuu would have begun cursing himself right about now. Instead he brought two fingers to his forehead and disappeared. He reappeared just in time to grab Katera around the waist with one arm and then move again.
Right around the same time, Piccolo made it to Jiiyar, or rather, above Jiiyar. With a roaring battle cry, Piccolo punched the top of the ki sphere down upon it's creator. Jiiyar hardly had the time to scream this time before he met his end.
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" Call the soldiers to retreat, " ordered the harsh voice of the dark figure, " Zellosama has won this round. "
" Hai, " said the dark figure with no emotion. On the inside, however, he was in turmoil. With one little manipulation of her ki, Sarro had completely rewritten the history of the game.
A formidable enemy indeed.
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Nobody objected when allofasudden all of Jiiyar's soldiers took off, and left those from Earth (and Katera) alone in the room.
Already in a bad mood, Vejiita pushed his way to where Katera stood next to Gokuu and harshly smacked her across the face. She stood stock still in surprise a moment before Gokuu had to keep her from attacking Vejiita full out.
" You nearly killed us all! " Vejiita snapped.
Katera glared at him. " I don't recall asking you to come along for the ride, " she sneered.
Vejiita made a motion to slap her again. Gokuu reached over and caught him by the wrist. It did, afterall, only take him one hand to keep Katera away from Vejiita. Vejiita's hand stopped a mere half centimeter from Katera's face. Vejiita looked at Gokuu. Gokuu looked at Vejiita.
" Stop that, " he said quietly. " Let's just go. "
" Yeah, " Kuririn agreed, " before something else happens. "
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Sarro stood outside her front door, watching with a small smile as a
white speck of light descended down towards the Capsule
Corporation building. Her senses told her just what the source was,
and she had the satisfaction of knowing that for this one moment, she was
winning.
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[But winning what? That is the question, isn't it? Everyone has their secrets, but it seems Sarro has more than enough. Who is the dark figure and the harsh voice which seems to command it? Why do they call Sarro Zello? What is this game they keep refuring to? Well, I can tell you that problems mount in Chapter Nine; Deadly Attack with One Blow! It's Hard Keeping Everyone Alive!]
[Written by Inseiko 1999]
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