True beauty is very objective, to say the least.  To those that have seen nothing but the frigid arctic for their entire lives, the glory of an endless field of grass and dirt is a sight to behold.  Someone who has witnessed war and oppression may see beauty as the right to do what you wish, when you wish.  For me, after two lifetimes spent fighting and training to fight, peace and relaxation were two of the most attractive things I’d ever seen.  And after having over half of my short, waking life spent staring into the bloody, broken faces of my enemies and even my allies, something as simple as a courtyard was quite beautiful.

            So as I stared out over the small yard in front of the Eastern Capitol hospital nearly three days after defeating Yush, I felt as though I could never again see such splendour and harmony.  The grass was green, a dark, rich green that still held drops of morning dew on its blades.  Each sliver of grass was carefully cut to just over two inches in height, so that it would protect the ground from the punishing steps of the people that traversed it, and yet would not impede those very steps from moving onward.  The two tall trees that stood tall on either side of the patio loomed over the rest of the life beneath, like two sentries planted to hold the life within its vicinity happy and teeming.  The bark of the trees smelt of fresh sap, and the leaves gave of a scent that can only be described as life incarnate.  The bushes mirrored on both sides of the walkway were swaying in the gentle wind, rustling ever so slightly with each passing second.  Their leaves were also a dark green, slightly lighter near the path, where less water would fall during rainfall.  The small, marble fountain that stood in the very center of the yard poured forth a never-ending supply of crystal-clear water, the tinkle of the four streams hitting the main pool echoing throughout the enclosure.  The purple semi-spherical cascade divided the entire yard into two separate sides, like it was the heart of the place.  Even the pathway split into two to accommodate the fountain, it only made sense, after all, it made the entire courtyard complete.  I sighed deeply, vastly content to simply stare at this near-perfectly symmetrical court for the entire day.  However, there were many things to do that day, and as much as I wished to hold my gaze of this truly beautiful object, I knew I could not.

            I slowly walked down from the small hill that protected the courtyard from the sight of any standing far away, and started tracing my way along the grey-gravel pathway that led to the front door of the hospital.  I made sure to take my time, to savour every second I could, for I knew that whatever previous moments of tranquility I had were soon to be whisked away.  I slid my hand along the rim of the fountain as I passed it, feeling its smooth, cold skin along the way.  I was tempted to bend down to the bushes along the side of the lane, and smell the sweet fragrance their leaves gave off, but I resolved there was no time for such a stop, and with a yearning heart, continued on down the path.

            When I reached the pair of glass doors, I took one last look at the garden that I’d passed through, and devoted the moment to memory, so that I wouldn’t forget what I would be fighting for.  I reluctantly turned back towards the hospital, swung the glass door open, and stepped inside.

            The front office was dimly lit, a pale, yellow glow engulfing the entire administrative office.  The floors were dark brown, tiled and shiny clean.  The walls were all white, most likely for sanitary reasons, but the light didn’t reflect at all off the walls.  The smell changed dramatically from the fresh-air and plants of the outside to the gallons upon gallons of disinfectant poured all over the place within the hospital.  I urged to simply walk right out of the place and back into the courtyard outside, but I couldn’t tell myself that what I’d come to do could wait, so I stayed.  To my surprise though, I wasn’t the only one of the Z Warriors in the front office at that point in time.  Nikita was just checking out with the secretary who sat in a glass cubicle a few metres from the door.  While the two spoke quietly to one another, I slowly stepped towards them, also needing to check in with the secretary before seeing Yush.

            “Ok, thanks.”  Nikita almost yelped in her teenage voice as she began to turn away from the desk and took a few steps towards the front doors.

            “No prob.”  The much older secretary replied back, lowering her head back down to her work as Nikita backed away.

            Once their conversation had ended, Nikita turned her entire body to face the door, and doing so, she caught a sight of me, smiled widely and chirped, “Hey Crono!”

            I stopped where I was and replied, “Hi.”  I found myself smiling as well, which I had not even thought about, like some automatic reflex had kicked in at the sight of the blonde-haired human.  I didn’t know what to make of it at that time, although I had a vague feeling I’d experienced that sensation before, and yet, had not.

            “Going up to see our ‘prisoner’?”  She asked in a playful tone.

            “Yeah, how’s he doing?”

            “Alright I guess.  Still weak as hell, thank Kami.”

            “Yeah.  Has he made any progress?”

            She shook her head and erased her smile, glancing almost nervously at the ground and then looking back into my eyes.  “No.  I’m not sure if he’ll do it anymore.  He looks to be too far gone.”

            “We can only hope.”

            “Uh-huh.  Unfortunately, we won’t be able to guard him for much longer.  We can’t put back our training for much longer.”  I just nodded and she continued, “He wanted to talk to you though.”

            I was caught off guard by this, but felt like I should’ve seen this coming.  Still the question begged to be asked, “Why?”

            “I don’t know.” Nikita sighed heavily before going on, “He just said he wanted to speak with you as soon as possible.”

            “Alright, thanks Nikita.”

            “See you later then, at Sky Palace?”

            “Yup.  Later.”  I smiled weakly back at her, and she did the same.  We walked past each other, and I could pick up the slightest hint of some sort of floral perfume from her, reminding me of the courtyard I’d left behind just a few seconds ago.

            It wasn’t until I reached the secretary’s desk did I realize how quickly my heart was beating.  It felt like it was going to pop out of my chest, and the very sensation confused me.  What could have possibly caused that?  I placed my palm on my forehead, but found I had no fever, so sickness was ruled out.  Severely puzzled, nothing came to mind for the longest time, and after a while, I just gave up on it, relegating it to the back of my mind.  I shrugged and continued onwards to the receptionist’s window.

            “Hi.”  I interrupted quietly.

            The brunette secretary looked up from her work for just a split second before asking, “Who are you here to see?”

            “Uh,” I hesitated, trying to remember the fake name we’d used for Yush, “uh,”

            The middle-aged woman sitting in front of me then sat straight up in her seat, gave me a humoured look, and jokingly said, “This millennium please.”

            I smiled and blushed slightly, replying immediately afterwards, “Trinity.  Mr. Trinity.”

            She smiled and glimpsed downwards once again for a moment before almost exclaiming, “Oh, the same as that young woman.”  She looked back into my eyes, smiling, and finished, “Room 534, on the fifth floor.”

            “Ok, thanks.”  I replied, nodding in the older woman’s direction and then walking past her, down the hallway towards a pair of elevators a few metres away.  After I’d reached them and pushed the “Up” button, I waited for a few seconds as the elevator slowly made its way down from the upper echelons of the hospital.  Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes, diving into total blackness.  In a way it was relaxing, like I was able to completely isolate myself from the outside, and all the problems that existed in it.  Yet even as I stood there, immersed in absolute nothingness, I knew it was just a façade, an elaborate decoy that could not hide me from the outside world.  I loathed every second I was in the shade of my own mind, and at the same time I savoured every moment as well.  A small, almost distant, “Ding” quickly brought me back to the real world.

            The elevator had opened itself directly in front of me, and it was completely empty.  I stepped inside it and quickly pressed the transparent button for the fifth floor.  The metal tube began slowly climbing up the square-shaped shaft towards the fifth level of the building.  Before long, I’d reached the appropriate floor and slid out of the elevator so it could continue its journey throughout the building.

            The entire layout of the structure itself was mind-numbingly simple.  The inside was basically a big square, with a middle hallway cutting down the middle of the center square, and rooms on either side of the huge main hallway that ran its way around the center.  With the design so basic, it took me less than a minute to find Yush’s room, it was on the north side of the building, and there was a very shady character hanging around outside the room.

            It took me a while to realize it was actually Gideon who stood guard just beyond the entrance of Yush’s recovery room.  He was wearing street-clothes, which looked quite silly on his bulky frame and bald cranium, especially when compared to the yellow and orange gi that he usually wore during training.  I walked up to the black-skinned human, barely able to contain the humor of his appearance to myself.  “Hi.”  I said, nodding in his direction and stopping directly in front of him.

            “Hello.”  He replied, looking me up and down slowly at the same time.

            “I hear he wants to talk to me?”  I questioned.

            Gideon nodded, sighing and answering back, “Yes.  He was absolutely adamant about it.”

            “And no reason given?”

            “None.”

            “Alright,” I started, heading towards the closed door and reaching for the doorknob, “I better get started then.”

            Before I touched the metal door-handle, Gideon’s arm shot out and he clasped my arm in his grip, “After your done, Phoenix and I want to have a talk with you.”

            I looked into his sunglasses covered eyes, saw the sternness and genuineness of his claims, and replied, “Ok.”  He nodded and slowly released his hand from my arm.  I grasped onto the doorknob and turned it quickly, stepping into Yush’s room.

            There, I was greeted by the sight of Yush lying on his green-sheeted bed (which almost camouflaged his skin perfectly), and Phoenix standing next to the bed, staring intently on the sleeping form of Yush.  As soon as I had completely entered the room and shut the door behind me, the saiyan rotated his neck to see me, giving me an affirming nod before returning his gaze to Yush.

            I looked long and hard at Yush, and for the first time since I’d seen him, I actually felt something other than animosity for the man who had been responsible for my creation.  As soon as we had warded off Blanka and Kami had arrived on the scene, Arsenia, being the healthiest of the fighting Z Warriors, snatched up Yush and flew him to this hospital, where we’d used some of Capsule Corporation’s ki-drainers to keep him weak and in a position we could control.  Dr. Gero originally made the draining devices for use in his very last pair of artificial humans, 19 and 20, to take the ki energy of the original Z Warriors and use it for their own purposes.  Since then, Capsule Corp. had once again adapted advanced technology and put it to the use of human society.  Now, the ki-drainers could be hooked up to a ki-trained person’s bloodstream and it would drain their energy as soon as it was produced within them.  The power taken during these ki-tapping sessions could be used to power anything from a number of city buses for a few hours to entire continents for months, depending on the strength of the person being drained.  Yush’s energy was in fact being used as artificial light for the plants and trees in the area where our battle had taken place, among other things.  Of course, this process kept the sapped person extremely weak and unable to use even the most basic ki attacks.  So, in this case, there were multiple benefits to one of Gero’s more useful legacies.

            Yush didn’t seem all that proud of his work for the landscape of the plains around the Western Capitol, in fact, he made sure to show his pure discomfort in his situation.  His face was locked in a deadly scowl; his usually definitive cheekbones were set in stone, his forehead was wrinkled as his eyebrows were burrowed deep into his nose, and his eyes held nothing but contempt for his state of affairs.  His muscles were noticeably smaller than before, even in his untransformed state, his hands were wobbly and frail, and his dark green hair was frizzy and uncombed.  For lack of a better word, he looked…sick.  And within his eyes, he revealed a sort of pain I’d never seen before.  It wasn’t agony, not by any extent of the imagination, but it was almost more painful than any sort of physical anguish I’d seen or experienced in either of my lifetimes.  It was the pain of a savagely destroyed ego, of confidence shattered into non-existence at the hands of something you never thought you’d find.  Within his eyes I could see that, to Yush, it was far worse than any kind of physical harm that could be given to him.

            I walked over to Phoenix’s side, and quietly whispered in the black-haired fighter’s ear, “I’d like to talk to him alone, if you don’t mind.”

            Phoenix just nodded, his stare remaining fixated on the bed-ridden Caprian.  Slowly, he backed away from the bed, and then quickly set off from out of the room to meet Gideon outside.  I watched him go, waiting for a few seconds before turning back to face Yush.  I found him gazing straight at me, his dark eyes wanting nothing other than a confrontation with my own.  I decided to avoid, or at least postpone, such a meeting, instead whipping around to grab a chair from the nearby wall and set it up at the bed’s side.  Once I’d done so, I rapidly placed myself on the seat and stared back into Yush’s eyes.  Neither of us said anything, electing to communicate on a more antagonistic level.  I began to wonder what thoughts could be swirling around inside his head, and I could tell by his eyes that he was speculating as to what I was thinking as well.  Before long though, we both gave up on our futile attempts to read each other’s minds, and gave way to a much more primitive, yet useful, method of communiqué.  He spoke first, “It’s futile you know.”

            “What is?”

            “What you’re trying to do here.  Protect the dragon balls.”

            “I don’t see how.”

            “You have no idea of the power of the Caprian army.”  He said the words with such certainty, I almost believed him.

            “We beat you didn’t we?”

            “Me and my crew were nothing compared to the bulk of the force heading this way.”

            “We’ll deal with them when the need arises.”

            Yush was silent for only a split second before changing the subject, “You’re stronger than before.”

            I nodded, “Yes.  I’m half saiyan, and as with all saiyans, I grow stronger each time I come close to death.”

            “So that other saiyan, the one that just left, he’s stronger too?”

            “You didn’t pick that up?”

            “Reading energy levels is not something that comes easily to me.  I usually have a scouter to do that for me.”

            “And you would rely on a piece of equipment to gauge your opponent’s strength?”

            “It hasn’t failed me so far.”

            “It will.”  I retorted quickly.  His facial expression barely changed, but I could tell by the way he slightly tilted his head that I had reached some sort of curiosity within him.  Before he could hide his interest, I quickly shot out, “Here, let me show you.”  I closed my eyes, rested my arms on the chair, and slowly began to suppress my ki, and lower my power level.

            After a few seconds, I opened my eyes again, and saw that his mouth was now hung open slightly, and his eyebrows had risen to their regular levels.  “It’s like you’re not there, as if you’ve been wiped off the face of the planet.”  I nodded, and he questioned, “How did you do that?”

            I regarded him closely, making sure he wasn’t joking before answering, “I’m surprised Yoorabit hasn’t taught his men that move.  It’s a great tactical advantage, in fact, its how I snuck up on you.”  It was true as well, I had snuck up on the battleground by pushing my ki as low as it could possibly go, riding on Nimbus the whole way, which luckily accepted my commands, obviously realizing part of me was indeed Cris.

            Yush’s face quickly turned back into a frown, “Teaching techniques used by the previous generation of Z Warriors is frowned upon by the Caprian army.”

            This caught me as both foolish and hypocritical.  Foolish in that most of the manuevers used by the old Z Warriors were among some of the most powerful in history, and hypocritical in that, “What about the Masenko?”  I asked, slightly confused.

            He looked at me peculiarly, almost like I had asked something totally off topic, “What about it?”

            “Well how did you learn that attack if you aren’t allowed to use the old fighter’s attacks?”

            Yush regarded me as if I had just escaped from an insane asylum, “The Masenko is not an attack used in the old times.”

            “On the contrary,” I corrected him, “it was used by Son Gohan for almost all of his childhood.  I believe he stopped using it after Freeza had been killed, when he mastered the Kamehameha blast.”

            The Caprian just shook his head, “Not according to Caprian records.”

            I stored that tidbit of information for a later time, and decided to ward away from the history of the Z Warriors.  “You wanted to know how I lowered my ki, right?”

            “Yes.  As you said, being able to mask your true power can be a huge asset in battle.”

            I took in a deep breath, and then a wild lunge, “If you were to join us, we would teach you how to hide your energy.”

            “What?”  He screamed at the top of his weakened voice, “Join you?”

            “Yes.”  I replied calmly.

            “You’ve got to be joking.  I could never join with the likes of you.”

            “And why not?”

            For just a split second, I saw nothing in Yush’s eyes and he made no response, and in that instant, I found his weakness, “Because I am a member of the great Caprian army.” He finally responded.

            “Is that all?”  I questioned, sensing a chance.

            “Is that not enough?”

            “No.”  I replied, and found him dumbstruck.  Pausing a second to give him time to recoil, I continued, “Why are you part of the Caprian army?”

            He hesitated for a moment, replying shakily, “A…all children of the species within the Caprian’s reach are to be assessed for government job placement at the age of twelve.  I was found to have an incredibly high potential for speed and ki control, so I was given the position of a military officer.”

            “That’s it?”  I asked.  He nodded, and I continued, “Well, I guess that’s a reason why you joined the military, but why are you in it?”  He was obviously confused by the question, so I elaborated, “Why are you fighting for the Caprian alliance?  Why did you come to Earth and try and capture the dragon balls?  Do you genuinely believe in their cause?”  I asked, not really knowing if there would be an answer.  Luckily, there was none, other than Yush’s confused and disturbed gaze.  Seeing there would be absolutely no response, I tried another tactic, “Tell me then, what would you do if we were to let you go right now?”

            Yush finally spoke again, his words coming out hesitant and uncertain, “I’d commander a space pod and fly back to the Caprian army.”

            “Why?” I wondered aloud.

            It took him a few moments, but he replied, “I have very valuable information on the Earth’s warriors.”

            I patronized him slightly, “But if your army is so powerful, they shouldn’t need your information on us should they?”  Yush remained silent, but broke the long gaze we’d held, opting to look at the wall instead.  His silence spoke volumes, and I pressed on, “So then why go back?”  I asked.

            “It’s my duty.”  He replied firmly, turning back to face me with a newfound confidence in his eye.

            “Why is it your duty?”  I practically screamed.  His visage exhibited assurance, but underneath I knew I had him worried, and I was unrelenting, “You didn’t choose to join the army for which you fight, so why do you continue to pledge allegiance to it?”  He said nothing, and his temporary look of poise was quickly brought crashing to the ground.  “Do you truly understand what Yoorabit intends to do with the dragon balls?”

            “Yes.”

            “And you condone it?”

            “It doesn’t matter if I excuse it or not.”

            “Why not?”

            “It’s not my place to make choices such as that one.”

            “Every living being is born with free choice.  It’s a basic right.”

            “Not for us.”

            I was half scared, half amazed, and half pissed off at the blinding stupidity of Yush’s statements “Why not?”  I shouted.

            “It’s not meant to be.”

            “But it is.” I replied much softer this time.  He opened his mouth to speak again, but I cut him off, “It sounds to me like your going to be fighting for something you don’t even really believe in.”

            “I am merely a part of the machine that moves by Yoorabit’s hand.  I can make no difference in the long run of things.”

            “But you can Yush!”  I yelled, “This war is going be fought with such low numbers that single men and women are going to make the difference.  Not a single life that’s lost in this war is going to be a small one, and not a single one is going to be able to be replaced!”  I paused, allowing him to digest the information, “This is for keeps Yush.  This is final.”

            Yush’s head dropped, his eyes closed, and he fell completely silent.  I took in a deep breathe before taking my biggest risk of the day.  “A year and a half.  That’s how long we have until the first wave of the Caprians arrives.  Until that day, we will be preparing for them, waiting for the time when we will finally find out who is the better group of warriors.  I invite you, Yush,” The instant I mentioned his name, he looked straight into my eyes with newfound wonder and interest, “to be a part of that battle.  But not for the Caprians, instead stand for the group you know, in your heart, you want to battle alongside.”

            I stood up, sighed heavily, and looked down at my weakened foe, “In one day, we will take you off the ki-draining device we’ve hooked you up to.  After that, you can make your own choice.  If you want to fight with us, you can stay here and train with the other Z Warriors and I.  If you want to rejoin your armada, we will provide you with a Capsule Corporation space pod, and you can make your way to the Caprian fleet.  The choice is yours.”

            I slowly pivoted on my feet and began to head for the door.  Just as I’d reached it and swung the flap open, Yush asked, just audibly, “Who are you?”

            I stepped under the doorframe, pausing and thinking for a second before answering, “I’m Crono, but who are you?”  I walked quickly out of the room, knowing he would not answer any time soon.

            I quietly shut the door behind me, and found Phoenix and Gideon staring directly at me, their faces optimistic yet resolved.  “So what did you two want to talk to me about?” I asked, hoping that they wouldn’t enquire as to what Yush and I had talked about in there.

            I stared straight into Gideon’s covered eyes, and saw nothing but , his voice was softer, but it still held a sort of edge in it, like he thought I was withholding something from him.  “It’s about Triono.”

            “What about him?”  I asked.

            “Do you have his memories?”  Phoenix suddenly enquired.  I was about to answer but the black-haired saiyan cut me off, “I remember reading about how the fusion of the potarra gave the product all the memories of both of the participants.  Is that true?”

            “Y…yes.”

            “Even memories that the participants themselves may not have had access to in their lifetimes?  Such as memories they had subconsciously suppressed or hidden within themselves?”

            “Yes, I believe so.  I, I haven’t really thought about it very much.”

            “Then just answer us this one question:” Gideon interjected, taking a small recess before getting to the point, “Where did Triono come from?”

            “You mean, how was he created?  If there are no more saiyans left?”

            “Yes.”

            I dropped my head, and thought back, delving into the pack of memories that had infested themselves within my brain.  I thought as far back as I could within Triono’s memory, before Cris and he had ever met, before he had found his mother dead, before he could even fight.  Suddenly though, I hit something of a brick wall of memories, or lack of them.  Everything before Triono’s fifth birthday was a complete blank, like he had been sleeping throughout the first five years of his life.  I couldn’t understand it, and as I tried to force myself through this black barrier of emptiness, my head began to tinge with pain, like I was banging it on a wall or something.  I continued to try and find Triono’s memories before his fifth year of existence, but as I pushed harder and harder into my mind, the pain in my head intensified, until soon my entire skull was throbbing with pain.  I gave up and let out a gasp of agony.  Gideon hopped forward and placed a concerned hand on my shoulder, “Are you alright?” He asked, his voice dominated by distress.

            I tried to blink the pain away, and ever so slowly, it receded, back to a bearable state.  “Yes, I’ll be alright.”  I stammered out.

            “What was wrong?”  Phoenix exclaimed from seemingly far away.

            I looked up at him, and saw the apprehension in his eyes as well, “I don’t know,” I answered back, “when I tried to remember anything past Triono’s fifth birthday, a sudden pain came over me.”

            “Strange.”  Gideon mumbled, releasing his hand from my shoulder and standing up to his full imposing height.  Once he stood tall, he asked, “You didn’t find anything?”

            “No.”  I answered, stunned by my own response.

            “It was just a hope.”  Phoenix said off-handily.

            “Well I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong.”  I said sheepishly.

            “It’s no problem, at least you tried.”  Gideon reassured me.

            I nodded, but deep down, I felt the first real seed of doubt being planted inside me.  I should’ve been able to access those memories, to find out how Triono had been born.  It was maddening that I couldn’t get to my own recollections, even if they were of another man’s life.  I knew that if I didn’t find the answer to where Triono came from, I would probably go mad; but at the same time, I recognized that if I tried too hard to go back into the saiyans memories, I could risk hurting myself permanently.  I decided to put off the mystery of Triono’s identity for another day, when I wasn’t busy trying to find my own.

            Before I could get too deeply into my own thoughts, Gideon suddenly decided to change the subject, “Did you get anywhere with Yush?” He asked.

            I considered it for a second, then grinned slightly and nodded, “Yeah,” I replied, “I think so.”