Dragon Ball C(haracter) x-over

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Disclaimer:           In no way do I own any of these characters, or their histories, except ofcourse for the Powers, the Compound, and the character of Goku, though not his history or name.  All characters and other links to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" belong to Joss Whedon, and the respective production companies.  Anything related to Dragon Ball Z belong to their respective creators.  This is entirely a work of fiction, and in no way do I promote or believe any of the things within here written, nor do I stand to make any sort of profit.

The Beginning:

            It had been a busy night so far for the "Slayerettes" as they called themselves.  It was the middle of October, about three or so weeks since Spike showed up on the night of St. Vigeous.  And it seemed, to Buffy anyway, the vampires were becoming more and more aggressive since the Master vampire had strolled into town with his insane sweetheart, Drusilla.

            The night had started relatively normal enough, if you call reading 700-year-old books, practicing throwing bottles of holy water, swinging wood stakes, and walking through graveyards normal.  Buffy, Xander, and Willow had already taken care of the "morning risers" or the vampires that had just been put in the ground, and were due to rise in the early evening, just after the sun had set.  That much was fairly routine, with Xander and Willow off to the side as Buffy beat the un-living crap out of the stupid fang-face.

            After the first five or so, Xander began to comment on the very thing Buffy was thinking.

            "You know, it just occurred to me, this is like the fifth or so vampire we've dusted tonight." Xander commented offhandedly as they strolled through the third graveyard that night.

            "Yeah, so?" Buffy asked, keeping her senses on high, looking for any other vamps in the area.

            "Well, don't we usually give up around midnight because we can barely find one?  So that way we can have some Bronze time?"  When no response came, "Well, don't we?"

            "What's your point Xander?" Willow asked, also keeping her eyes out and ears peeled.

            "I just find it kinda funny that we've already dusted five vamps tonight, and oh look, here come some more." Xander said, pointing to the three or so vampires heading directly towards them.  Willow and Buffy also saw them, as well as the other two sets of three coming on either side of them.

            "What's your point Xander?" Buffy repeated, getting out "Mr. Pointy" before rushing the three vamps coming from the right.

            "My point is," Xander paused to shove a cross in the face of the vampire on the left, kicking the other in the gut, and staking the last one.  "Maybe something is going on.  I've never seen…" pause again so that he could stake the one behind the cross and knock the gutted out with the butt of the cross.  "…fang faces work together like this before.  Not to mention that they seem to be getting closer to the point…" he emphasizes as he stakes the last vampire.  "…of outnumbering us.  I just find that kinda funny."

            Xander then looked around at his comrades in arms.  Buffy was taking on four vampires at once, with two piles of dust already at her feet.  She didn't need any help.  Willow, on the other hand was dealing with two.  She seemed to be attempting a spell of some kind, but it was also clear that the vampires weren't about to let her finish.

            "Need any help Will?" Xander asked good-naturedly.  Suddenly there were four unearthly screams of pain, one right after the other.  Buffy walked up next to Xander and watched Willow, still trying to mumble her way through a certain spell, and hide behind a tombstone.

            Finally, Willow seemed to get it right, came out of hiding, and pointed a finger at each vampire on either side of her.  Two fireballs, both roughly the size of softballs, flew from Willow's fingertips to connect solidly with each vampire.  The two screamed and tried to stop the flames, but that only seemed to increase the amount of fire they were on.  After several moments struggles, the two finally were engulfed in the flames and burned away to ash.

            "Nice going Willow." Buffy exclaimed as the exhausted witch-in-training came up to the two friends.  To which the pale redhead responded with a muttered thanks, before collapsing to her knees in exhaustion.

            Fortunately, Buffy caught her before she hit the ground.  "Will!  Willow!  Are you all right?  Speak to me Will!" Buffy started shouting at her best friend.  She began to panic, afraid that another of her friends had gotten hurt because she was the Slayer.

            "Buffy…" Willow muttered, her eyes closed.

            "Will!  Thank God!  Are you all right?  Will, speak to me!" Buffy shouted again.

            "You said that already." Willow responded opening her eyes some.

            "Will, are you OK?" Buffy was on the verge of tears as she held Willow close, with Xander on the other side of their friend.

            "Yeah, I'm OK.  Its just exhausting using magic like that.  It was a new spell, and I wanted to try it out.  I guess I kinda jumped the gun a little.  Don't worry Buffy I'm fine, just really, really tired, that's all.  Though I wouldn't say no if one of you wanted to hold me up for a while, cause I don't think I can stand all that well right now." Willow explained.

            Both Buffy and Xander took a sigh of relief and considered taking turns holding Willow, which was soon no longer a priority as they all heard a massive explosion not twenty meters away.  "Ofcourse, adrenaline sometimes helps in getting rid of exhaustion." Willow exclaimed as she stood up, ready to run for her life, or to run and help save somebody.  "So, what do we do?" she asked.  "Run for home, like scared little, yet cautious and sane, sissies, or run headlong into danger?"

            They all exchanged a glance with Buffy, who shrugged, and headed as fast as she could in the general direction of the explosion.  "Silly me," Willow said as she defied her bodies need of rest and ran after her friends, Xander right behind the blond Slayer.

            As they approached, Buffy paused, just outside of the area where the explosion had seemingly occurred.  Willow caught up a few seconds later, breathing heavily and feeling the need to faint again.  Buffy glanced at her, and worriedly asked, "Will, are you OK?  I can probably handle whatever this is by myself.  Xander can take you back home."

            Willow, with labored breathing, shook her head no.  "No…'huff, huff'…I'll be…'huff'…OK.  'Huff, huff, huff,' Besides, what if…'huff'…you need magic help, or something else.  'Huff' I'm OK Buff.  See, better already!" Willow finished, right before leaning heavily on the shorter blond woman standing in front of her.

            "Yeah, sure, right Will." Buffy said, easily supporting the petite young woman in her arms.

            "Um, guys…  I think you need to see this." Xander commented from around the corner of the mausoleum they were behind.  Buffy held Willow for a moment or two longer, before the redheaded witch took a deep breath and held herself steady, and nodded.  Together, they both walked around the stone building.

            "What is it, Xan…." Buffy trailed off as both young women caught sight of the scene before them.

            Less than thirty feet away from them stood a massive structure.  It still fit inside the cemetery, but it was impressive in its own right of existing at all.  It consisted of a raised dais nearly 50 square feet in length alone, and another 40 or so, maybe, in width.  On the backside, rising up from the back of the dais was a wall, a 30-foot wall that was maybe, 7-inches thick.  It also held intricate designs, with no discernable pattern or time period that could be determined about it.  That's not all.  At the top of this wall, on either side were full size gargoyle statues!

            The front portion merely had two columns, one on either side of the dais.  Nothing too fancy, just straight Roman columns, except ofcourse that they had green fire at the tops that was the illumination for the area.  But the outside was hardly the most impressive part of the structure.  In the middle of the dais sat three massive, and massive means 10-feet wide and 18-feet high, thrones.  That's all they could be really.  The smallest of which was 18-feet high, and the tallest, the center one, nearly reached the top of the back wall.  Yet despite the sheer size and shape and design of the thrones, it was nothing compared to the three robed individuals that sat in them.

            As amazingly impressive, and awe-inspiring as all of it was, that was not the first thing that the Slayerettes saw.  No, the first thing they saw was the fight occurring right in front of structure.  A fight between a 7-foot tall, 4-foot wide vampire and a 10-foot tall blue demon looking thing.  They weren't quite sure that it was a demon, mostly because while its anatomy was definitely similar to that of earth's, and therefore hell's, it had no mouth, purple eyes (on stalks) and a very long tail, that resembled a Tyrannosaurus Rex's.  Also, since it had no mouth, the fact that it was speaking in a language that none of them had ever heard, much less heard of before, made the fact that it was an alien all the more relevant.

            As they stood there, the blue alien thingy, or whatever it was, suddenly launched itself what could have been 50 feet in the air, shouted something in its alien language and all of a sudden a massive green fireball shot from its arms and collided with the vampire.  Who surprisingly didn't turn to dust as the others did when Willow shot her fireballs at them.  It then fell the 50 feet that it jumped, and solidly kicked the vampire in the head, which sent the undead creature some 20 odd feet back towards them.

            Normally, any vampire that came across anything that could do what this alien was doing would back off and run scared.  This one got back to his feet, growled and launched himself back at the alien and managed to land a solid punch before they began to trade blows almost faster than even Buffy could watch.  Unfortunate for the vampire, the blue alien seemed to be getting more and more hits behind the vampire's defenses.  Finally, the vampire found an opening and lunged at the alien creature's neck.  However, it was not meant to be as the alien grabbed the vampire in one massive fist, muttered something in its alien language that they couldn't quite hear, and then it grabbed the vampire's head in its other hand, and pulled.

            The normal scream was emitted from the vampire as it turned to dust in the creature's fist.  That is when the three figures on the three thrones stood.  Whereas their chairs were massive and tall, they were humongous!  The one in the center pointed at the blue creature, who then bowed in respect, and then disappeared in a flash of light.

            Just about that time, Rupert Giles, Buffy's Watcher, came running up behind the three of them.  Shouting no less.  "Buffy!  Buffy!  Willow!  Xander!  Buffy!" he was screaming as he ran towards them with a book in his raised left hand.

            He stopped, just around the corner of the mausoleum behind them and began to speak very rapidly.  "Buffy, I've found a new prophecy!  It involves the Slayer, her watcher, a witch and her ally.  There is also something about 'Colossal tests of The Powers That Be,' which I'm afraid to guess at the true meaning.  And something else…"

            "Giles.  I think I know what the meaning is." Buffy says quietly.

            Giles was halfway into his next paragraph before he paused at the realization of what she'd said.  "You what…?" he asked, perplexed as he stepped from around the stone building, looking only at her.

            "What do you mean you already know?  How could you possibly know…?  Did you have another prophetic dream?  Buffy, you really must tell me when these dreams occur, there could be dire consequences if I do not have the time to properly research and decipher the dream elements…"

            "G-man…" Xander interrupted.

            "And another thing…  Yes, what is it Xander?" Giles exasperated, looking at him.

            Xander's only response was to point behind the elder English Watcher.  Giles scrunched his face in confusion, and then letting curiosity get the better of him, he slowly turned around, and looked up.  "Oh…dear," was all the mid-forties watcher said, staring at the "colossal" figures before him.

            "Yeah, I figured that about summed it up." Xander said casually, none of them taking their eyes off of the three robed figures.

            Suddenly, the middle figure moved.  It had been perfectly still from the moment that the blue alien demon creature, or whatever it had been, disappeared.  Now, it moved its arm back to its side, and its hood seemed to move, just the tiniest bit in their direction.  They all pretty much knew what that meant.

            "OK, three guesses as to what I'm figuring we should do right now." Xander said, in a slightly more panicky tone.

            "Run!" Buffy shouted before grabbing Willow and running as fast as she could carry the girl in the direction that they had all just come from.  Xander and Giles were two seconds behind them.  The figure seemed to sigh, or at least a loud wind could be heard, and its shoulders drooped a bit, but all it did was gesture with its right hand, which when not hidden by its robes, looked like a perfectly normal human hand, in the direction of the group.

            As soon as it gestured, Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles found themselves standing before the structure, though it was scaled to much more human terms.  Rather than 30 feet thrones, and 20 foot columns, and 70 foot robed titans, they found themselves in front of a half completed structure about the size of Buffy's back yard, and 10 foot columns that still had green fire on the tops.  And the robed figures were closer to 7 feet rather than 70.  Also, they noticed, as though for the first time, two much smaller figures, both about four feet tall, also wearing robes, but they were styled differently.  They stood just outside of the structure.

            Remembering, Buffy realized that these two had been there before, during the fight, exactly as they were right now, size and everything.

            Taking a look around, Buffy realized they were no longer in the cemetery, and hadn't they just been running?  The ground was covered with a thick fog, and when they looked behind them, all they saw was blackness.  The only visible source of light was coming from the torches on top the columns, yet the entire area seemed as though it were day, but again, there were no shadows cast that any of them could see.

            They all took a minute or two to adapt that something had changed.  Willow was the first to comment.  "Uhm, guys?  What, uh what exactly just happened here?"

            "What's going on here?  Who are you?" Buffy asked in her 'Slayer' voice to the three standing figures.

            "WE ARE THE POWERS THAT BE.  AND YOU, SLAYER, HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE OUR CHAMPION IN THE TOURNAMENT OF THE POWERS." The central figure seemed to say, though the deep booming voice seemed to resonate from every direction also.

            "Giles, you were saying something about a prophecy?" Buffy asked, never taking her eyes off the three robed figures.

            "Uh, uhm, y-y-yes.  Yes, yes here it is." Giles responded, opening the book that he was still holding in his hand.

            And with some slight trepidation, and obvious nervousness, Giles stuttered his way through the prophecy that would change not only all of their destinies, not just their world, and not just their Universe.  It would change the very meaning of their existence and purpose in the space/time continuum, and every resonating dimension within the touch of theirs.

THE PROPHECY:

            ON THE NIGHT OF THIRD PLAY SECOND PHASE FIRST NIGHT

IN HEAVENS VIEW LACK OF BRIGHTEST LIGHT FOURTH OF WARRIOR'S GIRDLE

            SHALL BE CALLED THE SLAYER THE FAIR HAIRED CHILD OF SINEA

ONE MEANT TO DIE YET LIVES TO FIGHT AND CALLS FORTH HER SISTER OF SINEA

            CHOSEN ONE MUST BE CHOSEN FOR TRUTH IN DESTINY BEYOND

WITH WATCHER WITCH AND ALLY BESIDE SHALL SHE TAKE THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

            FROM SON OF SON OF SON OF ONE EARTHS GREATEST HERO

TO BE CHOSEN FOR ANOTHER ONE MUST WITNESS COLOSSAL FORMS OF POWERS

            THAT TO BE TESTED IS TO LEARN THE WISDOM OF HER LIGHT IN TRUTH

DO NOT FEAR THE CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENS ABOVE AND BELOW YOUR LIGHT

            THEY BRING THE WAY TO THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH ITSELF TO YOU

CHOSEN ONE MOVE LIKE LIGHTNING STRIKE LIKE WATER FLY LIKE WIND FIGHT

            POWERS CHOOSE THEIR CHAMPIONS WISE DOUBT NOT YOUR ALLY

HIS TIME SHALL SOON COME TOGETHER WITH YOURS AND HE WILL BE YOURS

            "Well, that is about it, I'm afraid." Giles said as he finished the prophecy.  He closed the book and looked up at the three faces that were staring blankly at him.  "What?" he asked innocently.

            "What is that supposed to mean?" Buffy asked, looking at her Watcher, the man with all the answers to everything supernatural, so far, in or on the Hellmouth.  Which as far as she knew, they were no longer on.

            "Uh, um, well, I…  I suppose…" Giles stuttered until Xander interrupted him.  "You don't know, do you?" he said in a biting sarcastic voice.

            "Well, um…no.  No, I don't." Giles said dejectedly, looking down.

            "Well, we do, if you'd like to hear the basic meaning and proper translation into English texts." Said the robed figure just to the left of the central figure.  (The figure's left)

            With that, the four turned to face the three giants.  Just because they weren't 60 feet high up didn't mean they weren't still tall.  Now that she looked, Buffy could see slight differences in the three figures.  The one in the middle was the tallest, and its robe was trimmed in gold.  The one on its (the figure's) left was a few inches shorter than it, and was trimmed in silver.  The one on the right was much shorter than the others, and its robes were soft beige and lined with a deep green.

            "What do you mean?  Who are you?  What is going on here?" Buffy rapid-fired asked.

            Again the center one seemed to sigh as he repeated his earlier answer, though in a less booming voice.  "We are the Powers That Be.  And you, Slayer, have been chosen to be our champion in the tournament of the Powers."

            "Yeah, I heard all that.  But what does that mean?  In case you hadn't noticed, we don't exactly know what's going on.  And until we do, I'm not going to be anybody's champion in any tournament.  Now I'm going to ask only one more time.  WHAT IS GOING ON!!!?" Buffy screamed.

            At this statement, the two smaller figures turned to look at the three larger ones.  The three standing figures stiffened, as though shocked or scared of something.  After a moment or two the smaller robes, as Buffy was beginning to think of them, returned to their original positions, and the big robes seemed to come to some sort of decision.

            "Allow us to explain," the one in beige and green said, "We are by title, and rite, The Powers That Be.  We are the guardians of the Balance of Justice, keepers of the Ancient arts of Time and Space.  We are the masters of the Champions of Light, and the source of all such power in this universe.  We hold a depth of power against the darkness of chaos and destruction.  Once there was balance between the two.  That was shattered with the beginning of the war.  The war of Good and Evil.  The very war that you have been destined to fight in from birth.  We strive to maintain as much of the balance as possible, yet strive that "Good" will triumph over Evil.  We are the ones that chose you, Buffy."

            The use of her name is the least of which startles her.  And she's not the only one affected by the higher being's words.  Both Willow and Giles know who and what these creatures are.  Buffy has a clue, but Xander is completely in the dark.

            "Oh, wow." Willow says, looking like she's about to faint.

            "Oh my word…" Giles trails off as her removes his glasses, cleans them on his shirt and places them back on his nose.  Buffy doesn't take her eyes off the three big robes, and Xander is caught playing ping pong with his eyes between Giles, Willow, Buffy, and the three big robes.

            "With you so far." Buffy responds.

            "Perhaps, I might assist, dear sister." The one in silver says to green.  "I suppose it would do if you knew just a tiny portion of the history of the ages, so that you might fully understand, as you put it, 'what's going on.'"

            "Approximately, 75 hundred eons before the dawn of man, demons, gods, or even the war between Good and Evil, there existed three beings.  All of enormous power.  One, named Moranish, could control the fabric, movement, and nearly the existence of Time.  The second, his brother, Daemonitoch controlled the patterns and types of all forms of Energy.  The third, their sister, Serenitol was mistress of all matter, mass, and space that was not controlled by her brothers.  Together, they worked to achieve balance within the universe that was once one.  Then, something happened.  The three disappeared, and their powers were left unchecked.  Nobody truly knows exactly what happened, but there are many stories and many more accounts.  With the powers of Time, Energy, and Space no longer controlled or balanced, chaos reigned.  The single Universe of infinite space began to warp and change sporadically.  The creator of all things saw this, and seeing that the children he had given the power to were gone, he made it so that all he had created would not die in chaos, but live in an infinite variety of ways.  Thus was the beginning of the Multi-verse.  Many different universes, dimensions, planets, choices, events and destinies suddenly became divided and anything was possible."

            "Yet this is not the way that it was meant to be.  So other children were called, to take the power of Time, Energy, and Space as their own.  Yet three could not be called.  Nor could any be found that were ready and understood the power that they were told to possess.  So it was all given to two.  A brother and a sister.  Together they would control all Time, all Energy, and have power over all Space.  But only together."

            "The two who were chosen were new to the Multi-verse.  To reality really.  So when they were given this power, and told what they were to do with it.  They thought it would be easy.  When they tried to combine all the separate universes back into one, chaos ensued yet again.  They were not meant to change things back to the way they were, they were meant to make order and sense out of the chaos of the Multi-verse.  So they did.  They spent the next 50 eons exploring each universe, in all time periods, on all tracks and paths and decisions.  They knew how everything worked, and understood all.  Except for three things.  Good.  Evil.  And Sentient Beings.  Good, was nothing but order and the total and complete lack of evil or rejection thereof.  Evil was chaos, greed, anger, rage, all self-destructive emotions and states.  Because the Powers, as they called themselves since there was only two of them and they controlled the powers of reality, were meant to bring balance to reality, they could not understand why "Good" was better than "Evil" or why "Evil" fought so hard, only to kill itself later on.  The concept of pure universes of either was beyond their grasp, as it is with so many.  Yet, what confused them the most was Sentient Beings, creatures with free will, emotions, and everything that makes them unique to each other, could choose one exclusively over the other.  They did not understand the war of Good and Evil, which aside from them was the only constant in every universe of the Multi-verse."

            "They aren't the only ones kind of confused by that." Buffy commented as The Power That Talked paused for a moment.

            "Well, yes.  It would take somebody insane and with the knowledge of the Powers to fully understand it all.  Because that is all it really is.  Insanity.  Yet, in choosing a side, we, The Powers That Be, have decided to wield champions in defense of those that are pure Good against the champions that are and support pure Evil.  So, 10 eons ago, after the fall of demon kind on Earth, the Powers decided that they wanted to know who was stronger, those that fought in defense of Good, because those that were Good could not fight, otherwise they would no longer be pure Good.  Or those that fought in the name and powers of Evil and darkness.  To put it simply, they asked everybody why this was the way it is, and who would eventually win, if anybody.  The answer was, I don't know.  Every time.  So they put it to a test.  Taking a single sampling from each universe, only the strongest of each, those that fought for Good, and those that fought for Evil.  They would then fight to the death.  Those that would win, would continue living until the next tournament, where it would start over until a complete outcome would be decided."

            Everybody scrunched his or her face in confusion.  "Well, what's the point of that?" Xander blurted out.  All attention was drawn to him as the one in gold, the one that spoke the least but was obviously the leader, answered his question.

            "So that the Powers would be able to understand the war of Good and Evil, by witnessing just the smallest portion of it.  They would also grant you immortality, save for when you fight in the Tournament.  You would not die of being the Slayer, and none of you could die in the ways of this world, you would only die in the Tournament.  The rules are not many, but rather complex.  They will be explained to you when you accept this destiny." He said.  Buffy was sure it was a 'he'.

            Xander again, blurted out; "Again, what's the point of having a tournament where the only prize is you don't die until the next fight?"

            This time, surprisingly, one of the smaller figures spoke, but not in the commanding boom of The Powers That Be, but rather the voice of a young child.  "The point is, we grant you a level of power that would be of considerable use to you in your universe, as well as immortality, and you kill demons and creatures of evil from all over the cosmos.  Also, to be aware, the rules are quite clear; every fight is to the death, unless both opponents agree to stop.  Except in the final round.  Only there must the fight end in the death of one side or the other."

            "We?" Xander asked.

            "The Powers." The small robed figure answered.  He then removed his hood, revealing the face and head of a young blond haired boy about the age of 8.  The other figure, on the other side of the structure, also removed her hood, revealing a young blond haired girl of the same apparent age.

            "Whoa." Was the only response out of the lanky dark haired youth.  Giles just stared, and Willow, she looked like she was smiling at them.  Buffy on the other hand could almost sense the power they held, and knew first hand how appearances could be deceiving.  Buffy decided to push the envelope, seeing if she enraged these Powers by dissing them and their "sport", then maybe they would make a mistake and she could get them out of there.

            "OK, hold it." Buffy said in a loud clear voice.  "You're telling me that the masters of the universe are a couple of 8 year old kids?  Get real.  And I don't know what game you three are playing, but if you are the all-mighty Powers That Be, then you'll understand that I don't like being toyed with.  I got stuck with this destiny crap because you are too lazy to take care of these things by yourself, so you send little girls to take care of it for you, and so what if they die young, they're your champions, you can do with them as you please.  Well, buckos, listen up, and listen up good, I am not your lap dog, and I am not something that you can just trade off to impress your bosses.  And I am not fighting for anybody, except for myself."

            "And as for you two, if you really are these Powers that I don't for a second believe even exist, you can take your damn sport and shove it up your asses for all I care.  I'm not about to enter a street fight for two higher being's pleasure when the only reward I get is another fight where hopefully I won't die.  Thanks but no thanks."  And with that, Buffy turns around and starts walking away.  Not really towards anything, but rather away from the five robed figures and their "destiny".

            "Buffy?" Willow says as the blond walks past her.

            "SLAYER!" The central gold figure yells, but she keeps on walking.

            "Buffy…" The one in green trails off.  She seems sympathetic, but also needs Buffy as much as the rest of them.

            "Perhaps we should better explain, Ms. Summers." The blond girl says, just before Buffy reappears right in front of her.

            "How?  What just…?" Buffy stuttered as she realized what happened.

            "My name is Serena.  Serena Power.  My twin brother, Samuel Power and I agreed to this tournament, and its rules a very long time ago.  Even by our standards.  Though to you we may look young, it is only a partial illusion.  We truly have no true forms or bodies, but according to our species, this is the stage of our current maturity and growth.  We often take on the appearance of the species that we wish to join in the Tournament.  In doing so with humans, we are currently at the stage of maturity between that of childhood and what you call pubescence.  So it is safe to say, that yes we are children, but only for our species, because we are far older than even The Powers That Be appear to be."

            "Oh, wow.  And they only look a few millennia old." Buffy says sarcastically.  The blond child, Serena, smiles and turns to look at the three robed creatures of light and justice.

            "Fine.  We will then, how you said, get to the point." The young boy, Samuel, said just a second before Buffy suddenly appeared in front of him.

            "The point of the Tournament is as these said it was, an experiment to understand the war between Good and Evil.  Yet it is also what you said it is, our sport.  Though we do not play in it, nor do we interfere.  We watch, we learn and we try to understand.  When these said that we did not fully understand Sentient Beings, they were not entirely correct, nor were they entirely incorrect.  Ms. Summers, we, my sister and I, do not have emotions.  Not even the simplest of them.  Fear?  What have we to fear?  Anger?  We are meant to maintain balance, so what can anger us if it is meant to be?  Pleasure?  We get no pleasure from watching beings kill each other, and themselves.  Nor do we get pleasure in watching creatures born, only to die a second later.  So, we try and find pleasure, entertainment, a minor occupation to relieve the boring task of watching everything in the cosmos, in watching two factions of the Multi-verse live, fight, and die with each other.  Can you say anything about yourself, or your species that would put you above us in this?"

            Buffy was about to say something, when she actually thought about the question, she realized that if anything, humans were probably the worst to compare to higher beings that conduct a fair street fight against beings that would kill themselves anyway.  This way, they might have a chance to get out alive and as long as they don't die in this tournament, then they'd get to live forever, or whatever.

            "OK.  You made your point.  I give.  Doesn't mean that I have to fight in it.  Between fighting in your tournament, wherever it is, and fighting my own battles at home I wouldn't exactly get that much of a rest, and besides, I don't fight alone.  I have my Scooby's to back me up." Buffy conceded.

            At this, Samuel arched one eyebrow.  "Actually your wrong, at least on one point.  You do have to fight.  Well, not necessarily you, but a Slayer does have to fight in the Tournament.  If you outright refuse, we will not force you, but your refusal means that another Slayer must be chosen.  You are the first we've approached, so we find it highly unlikely that you will refuse."

            "Are you threatening me?" Buffy asked angrily.  "You're saying that if I don't say yes, you'll just ask the next Slayer that comes along?  I take it that your last Slayer finally kicked the bucket huh?  Is that all you need, a Slayer?  Well why not go back in time and get the first one, I'm sure she would appreciate living forever a lot more than I want to fight for you."

            "No, Buffy, you misunderstand." Serena interrupted.  "We do not want a Slayer, we want you, and if you refuse, we would go to another universe and ask that Buffy.  We would keep asking until one of you said yes.  But you are the first that we have asked, and in doing so, we have arranged your entire destiny on you entering the Tournament.  There will be creatures, demons, humans, and evil entities coming that are too strong for you as you are.  If you enter the Tournament, not only will we make you immortal, but also we would give you the possibility of reaching your true power, something you will need in the years to come.  Only by reaching your full potential could you ever hope to defeat what will be coming.  And we would not even think of asking you to do this alone."

            "What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

            Samuel answered.  "You would be the primary representative of your team, and your team will be, as you put it, your Scooby's.  They will also fight in the Tournament, and will also be given immortality, and the possibility of reaching their true powers.  A team, in the Tournament, may consist of 1 being, two, and as high as eight.  That is why we waited for this night, a night when all four of you would be together, and in a place where you were not protected, if not by the Hellmouth, then by your respective dwellings.  Understand, you must all agree to this, we will force no one.  If even one of you has the smallest doubt, we will wipe this from your minds and ask another."

            Everyone was quiet after that.  Buffy looked back at her friends, still huddled together in the middle of the clearing, or wherever they were, but she did not move to go to them.  Thinking everything over, Buffy came to a decision.  "Can we talk it over?" she asked quietly of the boy in front of her.  He nodded, and she found herself facing her three friends.  Looking around, she saw that all the robed figures had left, but the structure and surrounding blackness remained.

            "What do you guys think?" Buffy asked.  She looked at each in turn.  Willow, on her right was showing concern for her friend, but also seemed to trust the creatures that had brought them here.  She was for it.

            Giles, in front of her, had the funniest look she had ever seen on his face.  Utter confusion.  Though this was not the time to laugh.  If she knew anything about her Watcher in the time that she'd known him, he wanted to consult his books, maybe contact a few resources, and basically research the entire tale just told to them.  Then he'd offer his educated opinion and say that it was Buffy's choice.

            Xander was more of an enigma to Buffy.  He looked both excited and scared.  Yet, judging from a look, she'd guess that he would say no.  He was always the cautious, at least when it came to fighting demons, one.  Mostly to save his own hide, or to save Buffy's, or Willow's.  Taking everything she knew about him into account, as well as the possibility that he heard the comment about how they all would also find their true powers, she knew that Xander would support her decision, though he would complain and make plenty of sarcastic remarks about it afterwards.

            As for her own feelings, Buffy wanted more and more to say yes.  The concept of immortality for her, when her life expectancy was less than 21, was mind-boggling.  She could actually live long enough to be with Angel.  She could live.  Then they had spoken of how they had already altered her destiny.  Whatever her true power was that they promised her, she would need it to fight whatever uglies would be coming her way.  And they would come for her, whether she entered the Tournament or not.  If she didn't, then that would mean that she might not be able to protect her friends and family.  She wouldn't…couldn't save them.  If anything happened to any one of her friends; Giles, Xander, her mother…Willow, she wouldn't be able to stand it.  She'd say yes, especially if it meant protecting her family.

            It wouldn't be that bad really, at least the others would be with her, and they could protect each other.  Taking everything into account, Buffy knew beyond doubt that her answer was yes.  But first, she had to hear what the others would say about it all.

            After the moments of uncomfortable silence, Buffy asked again, "So, what do you guys think?  Unless all of us say yes, I'm going to say no.  This is all or none."

            "Well, that is certainly a change of tactics…" Giles muttered under his breath, but the rest could hear him just fine.  Buffy and Xander knew exactly what he was referring to.  Willow didn't.

            "What do you mean Giles?" Willow asked.

            Giles looked uncomfortable for a minute or so, unable to look at Willow, embarrassed by his selfish and rude comment.  Fortunate for him, Buffy answered for him.  "He means, Will, when I knocked him cold just before I went off to face the Master.  Giles didn't like the prophesy about me dying any more than I did, so he was going to go and face the Master himself."  Buffy paused long enough to look at Willow, and then look Giles in the eye.  " I couldn't let him, though.  As much as I was afraid of dying before I had even lived, I…I was more afraid of losing him.  Besides, it was the whole destiny, 'it is written' stuff, so I figured it had to be me, or it would be everybody.  Turns out, it was nobody.  Thanks to Xander, and Angel, I didn't die, I kicked vamp butt, and here we stand today.  In front of two higher beings, offering us training that we'll, or at least I'll need, in order to even begin to handle some of the things that will be heading our way.  Ofcourse, we'll also have to participate in a street fight tournament that goes to the death, but as long as we live, we still have each other to live for."

            Giles stared back at Buffy, his surrogate daughter of the year and a half that he's known her.  If she only knew the truth about me… he thought to himself.  She would never forgive me.  But could I forgive myself if I let her pass up an opportunity that will not only save us, but save her as well? He asked.  No.  No was the only answer to that question.  The only answer.

            Giles nodded his head nearly imperceptibly.  Buffy looked at Xander.  He was the only other one who she could possibly imagine having complaints about this.  Xander was actually looking at Willow, who was looking back at him, with an unreadable expression on her face.  "Xander?  What do you have to say?" Buffy asked.

            Xander glanced at the blond, and then shifted his gaze back to the redhead.  Then he said in a clear and confident voice, " I'm with whatever you and Willow decide.  But just so you'll know, I'm hoping you say yes, because if we all get training, then I get to be super strong too, right?  Then I'll be able to kick demon ass just like you and Angel.  Maybe even better than Angel."

            Buffy smiled and shook her head in wry amusement.  Then she turned to Willow.  She swore she knew almost exactly what the young wicca was thinking.  She was scared, but she was excited by the prospect of meeting and learning from higher plane beings.  Yet again, she knew that Willow would choose the same choice Buffy would, and she would never leave Buffy alone.  Not with a choice like this, no she would choose…

            "No." Willow answered in an unmistakable voice.  Buffy blinked, Xander did a double take, and Giles took off his glasses, squinted at Willow, and put them back on.  "Excuse me?" Buffy and Xander said as one.  "No." Willow repeated.  "No I don't think we should do it.  Or more to the point, I shouldn't do it.  If you guys want to go ahead, go right ahead.  I'll stay here in…back in Sunnydale until you get back.  Me and Angel can handle patrol for a few nights."

            "Will, I would never ask you to do that.  And I meant what I said.  This is all or none.  If you don't want to go, then we won't go.  Besides, I'm not about to leave my best friend alone with my boyfriend on long moonlit walks through graveyards.  You might try to steal him away." Buffy said jokingly.  Yet her smile was short lived, as she turned around to face the robed figures, which had appeared the moment she did so.

            "I'm sorry.  My answer is no.  Go to the next Buffy, or Slayer, or whatever, but my answer is no." she said to the two small robed children, which were surprisingly the only figures there, and were standing in front of the three thrones.

            "As you wish, Slayer.  Your minds will be erased of this event and you and your friends will be placed where they were before we arrived in your universe, and all shall continue as destined." Samuel stated.  He sounded like a robot pronouncing sentence.

            "WAIT!" Willow screamed suddenly.  "Yes Willow?" Serena says calmly.

            "That's it!  That's just it?  I say no, Buffy says no, and you just leave us with whatever you set up to come after us?" Willow screeched.

            "No Willow.  We did not set up anything." Serena answered.  "This Buffy was destined to be different from the others.  She was destined to be in the Tournament, and through fighting and surviving in it, would become far stronger than all the others.  By that destiny, she could not evenly fight the enemies that other Slayers had fought.  The tip of power to her side would have to be balanced out.  Stronger enemies, more evils to stop, some developed because of this, others that were there all along and this was the only way she could stop them.  It is a very complicated matter, Willow, one that has many sides and far many more variables."

            Willow looked torn for a moment.  Then she grabbed Buffy by the arm and stared her in the eye.  "Buffy?  What do you want to do?" Willow asked.  Buffy smiled, eyes never leaving her friend's, "I want to protect my family.  Yes Willow, I want to do it.  But not if you have so much as a single doubt about it."

            Willow smiled at her best friend.  She hugged her, relishing the contact, perhaps a bit more than she should have, but still.  Then a confused look, that Buffy knew so well, crossed the wicca/hacker's face.  "What is it Will?"

            Willow turned to the blond haired twins.  "What do you mean, 'have the possibility of reaching our true powers'?" she asked.  The twins smiled as one at her innocent question.

            "Say yes, and you'll find out." Serena answered cryptically.  Samuel elaborated.  "Your greatest strengths will be multiplied, your weakest strengths will be enhanced, and your weaknesses will be overcome.  We will send you to a dimension that was set aside by members of 'Good' that wished to better their chances in the Tournament.  There you will be trained and taught about fighting and about your power, and what it means to have such.  For 6 weeks."

            "6 weeks!" They all shouted.

            "Well, 6 weeks to you.  But to your world it would be no more than 3 days." Serena elaborated further.  "We would return you, upon completion of your training, to the exact spot that you were taken from exactly 74 hours after you left.  Yet, since you are immortal, or will be immortal, such time will no longer matter as much.  If you are worried about loved ones missing you, or your responsibilities being neglected, if you wished, we would allow it so that excuses could be made, and others would help or "take care" of said responsibilities."

            "What kind of help?" Buffy asked.

            "I believe you mentioned an Angel?  We would subconsciously trigger worry in his mind, causing him to go out looking for all of you, and therefore his worry would permit him to take actions against the vampire community, and therefore "patrol" is taken care of.  Also we can send anonymous notes to your school and parents if you wish."

            Buffy's eyes lit up at the last one.  She turned back to Willow, "Well, Will?  Anymore doubts or reasons to say no?"

            Willow stared straight-faced at the twin pair of powers before them, then shrugged, and broke out in her biggest grin as she faced the blond Slayer.  "No." she replied almost giddily.

            "Well, that's three for go Giles.  What's your vote?" Buffy stated, turning to her watcher.

            "Like you really have to ask.  Ofcourse yes!" the old Brit announced angrily.

            "Well, then I guess you have your answer, Sam…" Buffy trailed off as they all realized that they were no longer in the dark foggy clearing in front of a columned dais.  They were now in a stainless steel cubed room, with lights emitting from the edges of the ceiling and floor.  At a quick glance around the room, Buffy noticed the possible outline of a door on one wall, but there was no way to be for certain until it opened, and there were no handles or hinges on this side of it, if it was a door.

            There appeared to be no other way out of the room, and noticing the other's looks of panic, they were realizing the same thing.  However, despite the floors and walls being seamless, didn't mean that the room was empty.  For one it had them in it, and another, there was a couch and four comfortable looking chairs scattered about the room.  Despite them being in a random order, they all seemed to face the center of the room, which really wasn't all that great, just stainless steel floor and stainless steel ceiling.

            "I guess we wait then," said Buffy as she took to the couch.  It was really comfortable.

            Suddenly, there was a loud hiss that lasted but a microsecond.  All eyes turned towards the source, where the place that Buffy had assumed was a door had seemingly disappeared, and a tall imposing youthful man stood just inside the room.  "Well, I guess you don't have to wait that long then, huh?" he said in a voice full of sarcasm.

            Buffy immediately jumped to her feet and went to the front of the room, placing herself between this man and her friends.  "Who are you, what do you want?" she barked out.  She took but a moment to look this guy over.

            He was tall, maybe 6'1", 6'2".  He was built.  Even beneath his loose leather jacket and billowy black pants, she could see this guy had muscles on muscles.  He also wore a sword just over his right shoulder; she could see the foot long hilt.  He had long, wild, solid black hair that seemed to go every way but down, except for his bangs which just brushed his forehead.  He had black, with hints of brown and green, eyes, and he had a strong streamlined jaw.  Something else that struck her as funny was that he had a brown fur belt around his waist.

            "My name is Goku.  And I am your trainer for your stay here at the Compound.  What I want is for you to win long enough to actually have a life outside of this godforsaken place.  In order to do that, you have to be stronger than me, and every other fighter here.  That's the only way that you'll win at the tournament, and the only thing that'll get me off your backs for the next six weeks." He answered her questions.  Then he did something truly terrifying, he smiled.

            Buffy suddenly felt like she had signed them all up for boot camp in the hell's army, and began to wish that she had said no.  The smile that "Goku" had just given them was a smile that she gave to vampires that were too cocky for their own good, and that she could beat blindfolded and tied down.  Oh yeah they were in for some deep…