09: The Controversial Alliance.

The heroes were still sleeping inside the cave. Mason woke up and yawned. He quietly walked outside, trying not to wake the others up. Outside, the whole environment has changed. It was daytime, and everything was bright and cheery compared to night. Margrit joined Mason outside.

Zelfire was awake too, but he remained inside and he listened in on their conversation.

Margrit: "You've woken up at last. Had a good night's sleep?"

Mason: "I sure did. Look..." He gazed at the sky. "It's so beautiful." He had the same indescribable feeling back on earth, when he gazed at the sky with Leila, as he was wondering about the possibilities of the bigness of the universe.

Margrit: "Yeah...it is. It's the first time we've seen day on Guardian."

Mason: "Isn't it weird...that at night this place looks so gloomy, and at day its the complete opposite."

Margrit: "This planet is full of wonders. Night and day is one of the amazing phenomena here. The sky is so pretty...I feel like I'm in heaven..."

They heard footsteps approach them. They stared in the direction of the sound, wondering who it could be. They got ready just in case he is an enemy. To their surprise, it was Blaze who showed up. To Mason, he was the sayan who defeated him. To Margrit, he's just a nuisance. And to Zelfire...well you know.

He was tired and injured from his previous fight with Electrode, with a torn out suit and blood stains all over his body. The heroes noticed the blood right away.

Zelfire: "It's you! You bastard, you have a lot of nerve coming here!"

Mason: "What do you want?"

Blaze: "I didn't come here to fight you..."

Margrit: "Then why did you come?"

Blaze: "I have come to make an offer. Let's team up."

Mason: "As in…an alliance?"

Zelfire: "You've gotta be kidding! You killed Master Lang! I'll never forgive you!" He couldn't control himself anymore, and began to charge at him, but Mason stopped him.

Mason: "I think we should hear him out."

Blaze: "I was about to achieve victory, but I was weakened by an android named Electrode. He has some dirty tricks up his sleeve. Now, look at me! Dark, knowing that I'm injured, has sent countless search parties after me. And even I, the great super sayan can't defend myself in this condition."

Zelfire: "Shut up! I've heard enough!"

Blaze: "Fool! No one asked you, human!"

"You killed Master Lang!" Zelfire lost his temper again, and Mason was barely holding on to him.

Blaze: "You mean that old man? That pathetic little guy? He barely hurt me!" Zelfire: "Why you!! I'll make you pay!"

Mason: "Zelfire! Calm down!"

Blaze: "As I was saying, I need your help."

Mason: "You need our help? I never thought I'd here this from you."

"And I know that you need me. There's no way you stand a chance against Dark without my help, trust me. I would rather lose my crystal to you than to Dark! We'll help each other. Think of it as a mutual agreement. What do you say?"

Mason: "Look, I don't trust you, and I'm sure you don't trust us."

Blaze: "That's right. This was the best alternative I could turn to. It's either this or get killed. I never thought this day would come either. In the end, we are fighting on the same side anyways, whether you know it or not. We are all sayans here...well almost all of us."

Mason, and Margrit thought it over carefully and made their decision.

Mason looked at Margrit. She nodded. "Alright. We'll trust you for now."

Blaze: "In order for this to work, we must have trust in each other! I know you don't trust me, but you have to! Just as proof of my trust, you can have this crystal."

Margrit: "You are willing to give us the crystal you have? Are you that desperate now?"

Blaze: "Don't push it, colony lady. I'm being generous for once."

Zelfire: "Mason! You can't be serious! What about Master Lang?"

Mason: "Look, I miss him very much too, as much as you...but we have to face the truth, Blaze can be of a big help to us."

Zelfire: "No!"

Mason: "Zelfire, I know you're very angry. Master Lang is our master too. But we will team up with Blaze for now. After this whole crystal scavenger hunt is over, Blaze is still our enemy. We'll take care of him afterwards. But for now, Dark Spectre is too much for us.

Margrit crossed her arms and thought hard. "In the best interest of our survival…this alliance is necessary."

Blaze: "I thought you'd see it my way!"

Zelfire: "This is ridiculous! An alliance with Blaze? To me, that is suicide! Forget it!" He walked away from them.

Mason: "I'm sorry Zelfire, I really am...we have no other choice."

Zelfire: "Talk to someone who cares." He continued leaving, giving Blaze a disgusted look.

Blaze: "Stubborn Earthling. One day he'll realize what a favor I did for him and thank me!"

Mason: "That's enough!"

Blaze realized they must have spent the night in this cave. "So this is your home, huh? Looks comfy. Take this." He handed the crystal to them.

Mason: "Now we have two."

Margrit followed Blaze into the cave.

Blaze: "I'm really tired, and I need to get some rest. He lay down on the ground and prepared to sleep.

Margrit: "Aren't you afraid that we might kill you when you're asleep and take your crystal?"

Blaze: "I was already prepared for that possibility before I approached you. But would you kill a fellow rebel sayan? You need my help. I bet you're glad I'm on your side."

Margrit: "Whatever."

Shortly after, Blaze fell asleep. Margrit joined Mason outside. "Do you think Zelfire will be back?"

"I don't know...he's angry at me now. Doesn't he realize this is our only chance?"

"I have faith in your decisions. You only look out for our best interests."

"But he doesn't see it that way."

"Don't worry Mason. He'll understand with time."

"Blaze did kill Master Lang after all..."

"Yes, I know!" she shouted. "But this is war! In war we can't afford to worry about other's feelings! The main goal and only goal is our survival. I can understand Zelfire's feelings, but he doesn't get it. He can take his revenge after this for all I care." She went back inside, while Mason went after Zelfire.

Margrit went inside to pay Blaze a visit and found him deep asleep. She could see a wave of energy passing through his resting body. "No way! He's recharging his energy while sleeping! Some of his wounds are gone. That's an amazing ability. A true super sayan indeed. If I could do that, I'll never need to go inside a healing chamber again!"

Suddenly, she sensed someone was approaching behind her. "Found you!" Kano said.

Margrit turned around and saw a familiar face, the face of one of her most dangerous enemies. "Kano? I thought I killed you."

"Yaeh, I was almost a goner, but now I'm back. This time, I'm going to pulverize you."

Margrit: "Damn. You're just like a bug. You just won't die. If Mason was here you'd be sorry."

Kano: "But he isn't! You're all alone in this cave...what's that? Blaze? Sleeping?" Margrit: "Don't you touch him! He's resting!"

Kano: "So, you joined forces with him, huh? Poor, poor Blaze, all asleep and helpless! I can't believe my luck! When I kill him, I'll be fully rewarded and be known throughout the universe as the warrior who killed Blaze!"

Margrit: "You gotta go through me first!"

Kano: "As you wish."

He charged a lot of energy and created a powerful explosion, so powerful that the ground shredded apart. Margrit and Blaze fell deep underground along with the ground. A while later, the whole place was filled with dust and pebbles from the explosion. Margrit pushed off the pile of rocks on top of her and swept her clothes to get rid of the dust. She looked around, searching for Blaze and Kano.

Margrit: "There's no sign of him anywhere. I hope he's okay."

Kano: "I don't know about him, but you won't be okay."

He attacked her with hard punches and kicks.

"This time, I'll finish you for good!" she yelled.

He drew a blade from his chest and threw it. She tilted her head to dodge it. The blade cut into the rock behind her. He threw another and she dodged again. She ran into him and jabbed him in the chin, then a punch in the face. She punched so hard he was knocked backwards.

"Not bad!"

He fired a ray of light and hit her! She ran aside and he followed, firing. She ran, jumped and performed the flying kick. Unfortunately, Kano grabbed her foot and slammed her down. He punched her stomach as she got up. The pain was so great she fell on her knees and couldn't do anything else. He kicked her foot. She crawled back and got up from the support of the rock. He charged and punched, she jumped backwards 180 degrees and landed on top of the rock, and his fist went inside it. With the chance, she kicked his face and jumped off. While down, he grabbed her foot as she ran and fell. They both got up and he hit her again, and she was losing it.

"Now you die!"

Suddenly, a bunch of rocks floated around, and Blaze woke up angrily, as if his pleasant slumber was disturbed.

Kano: "What?! Blaze!"

Margrit: "He's awake!"

Behind Blaze, the two crystals flashed and released a large amount of energy into Blaze. He screamed and all the rocks floating around him broke apart.

"It's the crystals! He's getting energy from the crystals!"

Blaze: "Who dares to disturb my sleep?"

Kano: "How can this be..."

"A space pirate? You are a member of Dark's elite forces? Then you will perish!" He turned super sayan.

Kano's mechanical eye tried to calculate his power level, but it went crazy. "No way…this can't be."

"I'm warning you…back off!" His scouter went berserk as Blaze received energy. Kano took a careful step back. Blaze approached. He fired a beam and it was absorbed into Blaze's shield, doing minimum damage. "No! D-Don't kill me…"

"Perish space pirate!" Blaze charged and dug his fist into Kano's and pushed, sending Kano into a rock. Blaze fired the Super sayan Beam (SSB), a golden beam full of super sayan energy. Zap.

Mason arrived in time to see everything. Kano's body was now crispy fried.

"Blaze! You didn't have to do that!"

Blaze sighed and powered down. "Why not? He's our enemy."

Mason: "You just never learn, do you Blaze?"

Margrit: "I'm sorry...Mason...but I think Blaze is right."

Mason: "Margrit? Not you."

"Blaze saved my life! If it wasn't for him, I would've been toast by now." "I think I'll leave you two alone..." Blaze said, sensing the hostility. He left the cave.

"Mason...last time you spared Kano's life, and he's still a threat to us...we can't afford to make anymore mistakes."

Mason: "How could you? You actually are on his side...on the killer's side?"

"Well, if he's a killer, why did you agree to join him?"

"Margrit!"

Margrit: "Look, I know you better than anyone else. This war is serious, we take no prisoners or show any weaknesses! Your kindness can be the end of us all...Mason..." She walked away from Mason.

Zelfire: "Hmmph! Mr. nice guy!"

Mason: "Zelfire!"

Zelfire walked away from him too.

Now, Mason was left all alone, his friends walked into the light, while he remained in the darkness. Feeling betrayed and frustrated, he just stood there and did nothing. (I can't believe this! First Zelfire and now Margrit! How could this have happened?) What had he done wrong? Everything he did to now is for the best...and this is how they treat him? He felt he had done something wrong, terribly wrong, but didn't know what. Was he too idealistic to think sparing enemies can actually help?

But this is war! In war we can't afford to worry about other's feelings! The main goal and only goal is our survival.

Pissed off, he went off to train alone.