Once Upon a Dream

Part Fourteen

"You people just pop out of nowhere don't you?" Vintri asked with a little interest. "May I ask how you two did that? Make your life energy jump from one place to another?"

Goku grinned. "Instantaneous Movement!"

"Ah, I see. Such a useful ability." He turned to Kat. "Shall we begin our battle?"

Goku looked between the two of them. "Are we in the way? I'm sorry." He jumped back while pulling Vegeta with him. "You can fight now."

"It won't be fair," Vegeta smirked at the shorter man. "Kat is a hundred times stronger than you will ever be."

She shook his head. "You're wrong. He may win. He's hiding most of his true power."

Vintri smiled. "Only a true Godling would know that." He then held both of his hands out, palm forward, and a rod of pure energy appeared in them. It solidified and he clutched it, swinging it around to his side.

"This," he proudly said, "is the Staff of Osiris." When no one said anything, he frowned. "What? No comment?"

Kat shrugged. "I don't even know who Osiris is! Can we fight now and get it over with?"

"Hey Vintri!" Came a shout from the entrance way. "Look who we found!" Vegeta came strutting inside pulling his brother along. Raven followed just a little more slowly.

He frowned. "You've failed in your job."

Raven cringed. "Yeah, well..."

"Have you brought him as a peace offering?"

She brightened. "Sure! Whatever you say!" She grabbed Camell and yanked him forward towards the throne. "Boy, you stay here and watch the proceedings. They'll interest you." He glared at her but said nothing.

Vintri grinned. "Ah! The moment I've been waiting for!" He dropped the staff onto the floor and raised his right hand. It began to glow with energy as it gathered in his palm. Kat braced herself for the impact but surprisingly, he had someone else in mind.

"You are a fool Vegeta! Did you honestly think that you were so important to me that I would do anything to keep you with me? You are in the way, boy, in the way of my empire!"

"Vintri, what are you saying?!"' Vegeta eyes were wide with fear. "Please stop!" The short man just laughed and shot the energy at the boy.

"Goodbye Vegeta!"

Vegeta screamed, high and shrill until he had no voice left. He continued to shriek silently as he slowly collapsed onto the ground.

"Brother!" Camell cried as he ran to him. He fell to his knees in grief. "Vegeta!"

"He has betrayed me as I have betrayed you, my brother." Vegeta whispered. "It is fitting that I shall suffer as you have suffered."

"Don't die Vegeta!" he cried.

Vegeta closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry." The boy took one last deep breath and then exhaled slowly becoming still in death.

"How touching," Vintri said as he once again picked up his weapon. "Now, if they aren't any further interruptions..."

"You are a bastard!" Kat shouted as she brought forth her weapon. "A complete and total bastard!"

His eyes glinted. "The Soul Blade.... How beautiful. Vegeta was correct after all."

Kat's eyes became narrow slits. "What do you know about this sword?"

"Everything, my dear Godling, everything. I know the legend."

"So you know that this blade can destroy anything, eh?" She gripped the hilt tighter in her hands. "Do you still want to go up against me?"

Her answer was Vintri raising his staff.

She smiled grimly. "I'll take that as a yes."

***

"Something is going on out there and I don't like it," Lord Avon frowned at the locked cell door. "These people are pure evil!"

There was a round of nods and agreeable murmurs. Cosmos shushed them all with a hand motion and pressed his ear further against the thick wooden door.

"There's a battle. Vintri against Katrinka."

"We're doomed!" One man wailed. "Vintri will win for sure!"

"Quiet!" Cosmos barked as he reached into his pocket. "I can get us out of here." A set of lockpicks appeared in his hand. He kneeled on the floor and began to work at the lock.

"Lord Cosmos?" Odin asked him with great curiosity. "What are those things that you're using?"

Avon rolled his eyes. "Don't you know anything?! They're lockpicks!"

A low buzz started up among the other commanders.

"Lockpicks? I thought those were outlawed!"

Without turning around, Cosmos answered their confusion. "Before the Great Change I was a thief. I kept these because you never know when something could come in handy later on." There was a soft click and he smiled. "Well gentlemen, we can leave now."

***

Kat leapt at Vintri again for what seemed like the millionth time. He neatly blocked her shot and they weapons locked together. Using all of her strength, she pushed against Vintri.

"This is getting us no where," she forced out between clenched teeth.

"I agree," Vintri's voice was smooth and easy. "Shall we drop all pretenses?"

Her answer was to retract her weapon and stick the orb into a pocket. "We shall."

"Hmm, he's just like Raven and Vegeta," Vegeta mused. "What we've been sensing isn't his true power."

Trunks turned to him, eyes wide. "Then how strong is he?"

His father merely leaned against the cold stone wall, assuming his usual stance. "Just observe."

Without scarcely an effort, Vintri's true power revealed itself to them. Horrible just wasn't a accurate description of it, it was everything you would expect dark power to be. It was evil itself. It washed over everyone present in the room who could sense it, entering their minds and making them feel as if they've been violated. But it was only the beginning as he began to power up, gathering energy from unknown reserves.

"He's like a combination of Frieza and Cell!" Goku commented in awe while trying to block his power. He and Kat's efforts were the most effective. Bra, having the least amount of ki, was having the worst time of it. She clutched her head in her hands as if to block out the rush of power as if it were a physical force. Vintri smirked and ended it as quickly as it had begun.

"Now, are you still so certain that you want to go up against me?"

Kat made a show of stretching. "Sure. The urge to kill you has grown."

"Are you insane?!" Bra asked her when she was able to speak. "He's terrifying!"

Camell looked at the red-haired woman in look that was nothing short of reverence. "I believe in her. She can defeat him. She's god herself!"

Kat chuckled slightly. "Now I wouldn't go quite that far..."

"Silence!" Vintri shouted, annoyed that they were paying more attention to her than to his awesome power. "I am tired of talk!"

"Are you tired of talk or are you tired of waiting? Tired of waiting for the right time to get revenge against the uncaring world? I knew you once; knew your hopes and dreams, your cares and your fears, but I don't understand you now. I don't understand the person that you have become."

Vintri's head moved over to the far left of Raven's throne where Lord Cosmos emerged from the shadows.

"You wouldn't understand! You have not endured the pain that I have felt, you have not experienced betrayal by your father's hand." He bowed his head briefly. "None of you have."

"I came back for you, did you know that?" Vintri said in a low voice. "I wanted you to be my aid, I knew that only you could handle such a responsibility. Then I had hesitated on your doorstep, listening to the laughter inside of your home and changed my mind."

"Why? Why did you do that?" he asked. "You didn't even tell me goodbye!"

"Because you were happy, and I was not." He slowly began to walk across the room, informing the roomful of people of his ultimate goal. "I desire the power of the universe! All of these inferior beings bowing at my feet would be gratifying."

"You have been hurt in the past, does that give you reason to hurt us in turn?" Cosmos asked. "Does it?"

"Yes. It certainly does. I am Darkness itself! No one can stop me!"

"Stop it!" Cosmos yelled at him. "You are not Vintri! Who are you?!"

Katrinka had never noticed it before, but he was absolutely correct. What she was feeling wasn't saiyan at all. It was an even darker force than Frieza's that one time she was close enough to sense him. Suddenly she realized what was causing all of this trouble in this timeline. She realized what sort of force was truly behind all of this.

"Astor," she hissed, taking a step backwards.

And in her heart, she knew that she was correct.

***

Raven was shocked. "You mean the demon from the legend? I thought the High God had killed him!"

Kat shook her head. "Trust me, I thought he was dead too."

"Did you actually think that I would die so easily?" He asked them. "Surely not!"

"This is *not* happening," Kat muttered, her tail lashing back and forth in anxiety. She brought forth her weapon once again. "*Not* happening."

"Katrinka," Vegeta's serious tone made her look up, "what's going on here?"

She bit her lip briefly and shook her head. "You don't know how bad this is, Vegeta. You just don't know."

"Well, why don't you tell me?"

A cold wind began to blow, rustling Kat's long hair. She caught her fingers trembling and willed them to stop. The effects that his power created were frightening.

"Astor was a demon that terrorized the universe," she began to speak of the tale Michael had told her, "the High God stopped him by creating this katana." She held it up. "Unfortunately, he's still around."

"But if the High God had created it," Bra said, her voice small, "shouldn't it have killed him permanently?"

She sighed. "That's what I thought too. But if even His power isn't enough to defeat Astor..."

Goku finished for her. "Then we don't stand a chance."

"Exactly," Astor smirked at them. "I don't need this body any more."

Then there was a distortion. A dark cloud rose out of Vintri's pudgy body and floated above the floor. A being formed from that dark mist and solidified until the deformed features became more defined. It was Astor's glowing red eyes and sharp claws that completely formed first. Everyone, except Kat, noticed that everything besides his claws seemed to change just a bit when you looked away; it never stayed the same.

Vintri gasped once and only once as the demon god freed his body from his dark grasp. He collapsed to his knees, strength gone all in an instant.

"Are you alright?" Cosmos asked him as he kneeled next to his oldest and dearest friend.

"No," he forced out, "but I will be."

"Was it worth it?" he asked him softly. "Was gaining power over everyone truly worth sacrificing your soul in the process?"

He sighed. "Now that I know Astor's true intent, no. But at the time, it was the most precious thing in the world to me." His friend helped him to his feet and they both paused a second, just watching the demon god. "It was definitely not worth it."

"How can I defeat him?" Kat asked herself aloud. "Is this what Michael meant when he said that 'it wasn't supposed to happen this way'?"

"Michael?" the great beast rumbled, "Who is this Michael?"

She frowned. "Not that it's any of your business, Michael is my advisor."

"So it seems he is still interfering," Astor said, "No matter. It won't help your universe this time."

Vegeta quirked an eyebrow and asked the question everyone was thinking. "What do you mean, 'interfering'?"

"You didn't know?" The demon sounded amused. "Your Michael is the High God's personal assistant, the High Priest. He sent you on a suicide mission."

She shook her head. "I refuse to believe that! He knew that somehow we could do it, he wouldn't have sent us otherwise."

"You are not so certain," Astor stated. "I can smell your doubt."

She chose not to respond to that and began to pace in a tight area. "Why are you here again, Astor? Why didn't the Soul Blade destroy you?" 'Why did the High God's power falter?' So many whys.

"I am here 'again' for the same reason I was here 'before'. I transcend time and space. No one can defeat me."

"What about the Creator?" She stopped and faced him. "Can you survive an attack from the creator of existence itself?"

He looked at her as if she were mad. "Of course not. No one can. Besides, no one has seen the Creator for eons."

Kat nodded, as if satisfied with his answer. "Then, we'll just have to find him."

---

If you think that my battle was disappointing, I have to tell you that I suck at battles. I try to avoid them as much as possible.