Near the bottom of Mount Frying Pan, lay a meadow, a peaceful oasis of tranquility, disturbed by only one thing.

"He loves me...He loves me not...He loves me..."

A frown crossed the face of the half-Saiyan lying in the grass as she plucked the last daisy leaf off the flower, ending with 'He loves me not'. She threw the remaining stem away, flopping down on her belly in a huff.

'What does a stupid flower know anyway?' she brooded, burying her face in her arms, only her dark, narrowed eyes peeking out.

The reason Son Chiara found herself lying in that particular meadow on that particular day was simple. Her little brother was being a pain, her twin brother was being a pain, her mother was being a pain, and her father was...simply clueless. Goten kept badgering her to train him, Gohan kept reminding her of homework that had to be done, and her mother was on her to do chores.

She didn't want to train anybody, she didn't want to do homework, and she definitely didn't want to do chores. She wanted to...well, she didn't know what she wanted but it wasn't to do stuff that meant nothing to her at the moment. All she could think about was 17. All day long she thought about him, wondering what he was doing, if he was thinking of her.

'Maybe he is but I bet he doesnt think of me as often as I think of him,' she thought, before remembering the dream she had about him the previous night.

She blushed furiously and quickly pressed her face to the grass to cool it. Occupied as she was by her thoughts and memories, she never noticed the new arrival. She jumped a mile high when a beam of light flashed by her head, missing her by an inch. She jumped to her feet and whirled around in all directions, trying to find her attacker, only now noticing the moderately high powerlevel nearby. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' she cursed herself. 'If Senpai had been here to see that...'

She didn't finish the thought as her eyes then landed on her attacker. The man in front of her very closely resembled Dabura and she briefly wondered if perhaps they were related, or at least of the same race. Then she frowned, it didn't matter what he was or wasn't, he had attacked her.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "What was the big idea attacking me?"

The being chuckled. "It shall be of no consequence to you," he said, his voice deep but smooth, oily almost. "But if it pleases you to know before you die, my name is Malagar. As for my attack on you, that was merely a taste of what is to come."

"What do you want?" Chiara asked, her frown deepening.

Malagar chuckled once more. "I'm here to take over your pathetic little planet."

Chiara stared at him for a second before she deadpanned, "Of course, what else?"

Malagar seemed taken aback by her response, as if he had expected a dramatic one. Of course, if he had done this before on other planets, perhaps he was used to a dramatic response. 'Well,' Chiara thought, defiantly tossing her head, making her black spiky hair bounce slightly. 'He's not getting one from me.'

"Well, is that all you have to say?" Malagar now demanded. "You do not care I plan to make your planet my next conquest?"

"I think you might want to consider making some other planet your next 'conquest'," Chiara said, folding her arms across her chest. "Things can only end badly for you on this particular one."

Malagar scoffed. "You seem so sure. Why don't you prove it to me?"

A smirk appeared on Chiara's face. "I thought you'd never ask."

He charged at her but even without powering up Chiara overwhelmed him. She sent him to the ground with a single kick, not moving when he got up and flew at her again. She punched him in the abdomen, sending him back to the ground. Malagar slowly got up, his hands steady as he dusted off his clothes. Whatever else he was, he wasnt afraid of her.

"Hm, yes, I can see it's going to take something special to beat you," he smirked. His eyes suddenly widened but his smirk remained. "And here they come now."

Chiara frowned, having sensed what he sensed. Her family and friends were on their way. She supposed that made sense, her powerlevel had gone up a few times.

Right on time, a frantic message came through her link with her twin brother. 'Chi, are you okay?'

'I'm fine, bro,' Chiara sent back. 'I had expected you to say something earlier.'

'I tried, you were blocking me out,' came the response.

'Oh,' Chiara frowned. She hadn't realized she was doing that. 'Sorry, won't happen again. Where's dad?'

An exasperated but fond sigh came through the link. 'Goten wouldn't stay put. Dad should be there any second.'

Chiara went to say something else when Malagar cut in.

"Yes, they'll do nicely," he sneered. "I think things are about to become very interesting."

Chiara scowled at the man in front of her before powering up and charging at him. She didn't know what he was talking about, but she'd heard enough. As before, the man had no chance of defending himself against her. Though his arms came up, they couldn't stop the kick that sent him straight into the mountain near them. As Chiara landed again, her father popped up right beside her.

"Hey, Chi," he said cheerfully.

"Hey, dad," Chiara said with a slight laugh.

"What's going on?" Goku asked, looking at the spot Chiara had planted Malagar.

Chiara went to answer but was interrupted when Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin and Android 17 arrived. She smiled genuinely at the sight of her twin and their friends. She blushed as her eyes met 17's.

"It's about time you showed up," she joked, trying to hide her now flaming cheeks by ducking her head slightly. "The fight's all but over."

"Just fashionably late, as usual," Krillin quipped in return.

Chiara chuckled and went to ask where 18 and Buu were when the feeling of 17 taking her hand caused the words to get stuck in her throat. She turned her head towards her boyfriend and his gentle smile made her blush spread to her neck and probably her chest as well.

'Stop blushing, you fool,' she berated herself mentally. 'He's gonna think you're an idiot.'

But the blush wouldn't go and 17 didn't seem to think she was much of an idiot at all, if his smile was anything to go by. Chiara went to say something - what she didn't know - to 17 when Vegeta cut her off.

"Runt," he said gruffly as he walked towards her. "What's going on?"

Chiara resisted the urge to tell him that was exactly what her father had asked moments earlier and said, "His name is Malagar. I don't know where he's from but he came from out of nowhere." She looked at the mountain that still contained the strange new enemy. "He challenged me to a fight, but..."

"I know all that," Vegeta cut her off, impatient as always. "Why isn't he dead yet?"

"She couldn't just kill him, Vegeta," Goku cut in.

Vegeta gave Goku a disdainful look. "You would think that, wouldn't you, Kakkarot?"

Seeing a full-blown fight in the making, Chiara quickly interjected. "I was actually a little distracted. He kept saying things I couldnt make sense of. I kicked him into the mountain to shut him up."

"What was he saying?" Gohan asked.

Chiara opened her mouth to answer him but was once again cut off when Malagar stirred. He slowly and painfully pulled himself out of the hole, falling onto his hands and knees once he was out. Chiara gently extracted her hand from 17's and walked closer to where Malagar was kneeling.

"Runt, you're facing him on your own," Vegeta stated firmly.

Chiara blinked at the abrupt statement as the Z-team blanched in surprise.

"What?" Gohan cried. "No, we should work together. It's safer that way."

"This is a perfect opportunity to see what we need to work on in training," Vegeta said, ignoring Gohan and walking to an area near where the others were standing. "Don't let me down."

At those last words, Chiara righted herself, straightening to her full height - which was far from impressive - and nodding. If her Senpai wanted her to fight on her own, thats what she would do. And no, she would *not* be letting him down.

"Gosh, Vegeta," Goku began, following him.

After a moment, the others did the same, Gohan and 17 with visible reluctance.

"You think it'll be okay?" Goku finished.

"Of course it'll be okay," Vegeta snapped. "The runt is one of the strongest fighters on the planet."

Goku pushed away the familiar annoyance of hearing Vegeta call his daughter a runt and nodded. The enemy really wasn't that strong and Chiara really was one of the strongest. Still though, he had a feeling something was gonna happen and he wasn't at all sure it was gonna be good. Chiara walked a little closer still as Malagar continued to kneel.

"It is as I thought," he choked out as she stood near him. "No matter, I will soon prevail."

Chiara raised an eyebrow at that. "Buddy, I kicked you once and you nearly died. I hardly think you have any chance of 'prevailing'."

"You'll see," Malagar said, a pained grin appearing on his face.

He raised his hands, palms pointed at himself, and a green glow appeared that before long surrounded him. When the glow disappeared, Malagar got up from where he had been kneeling, no injuries on him. Chiara heard the others exclaim behind her as she herself took a surprised step back.

"Did he just...heal himself?" she heard Krillin ask.

Chiara stared at Malagar in disbelief as he smirked at her.

"Now allow me to show you what I can do," he said, before crouching down into a fighting stance.

Chiara watched as he powered up, his hands glowing and crackling energy surrounding him.

"Runt, watch yourself," she heard her Senpai yell from behind her.

She didn't turn around to speak to him, or even to look at him, her attention focused only on her opponent. What kind of attack was he preparing? Her answer came when what looked like a dark grey cloud shot forward from his hands, almost faster than she could react. She teleported just in time, appearing a short distance away. She saw the cloud head for her family, called out a warning but it was too late, the cloud was too fast. Chiara looked on anxiously as the cloud dissipated, only to find that no harm had been done to them. She stared in surprise for a moment before turning back to Malagar, who was looking at her with a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Hm, I hadn't counted on you being able to teleport," he said. "It matters little, the damage is done."

"What are you talking about? No damage was done at all," Chiara said, feeling almost disappointed at his apparent weakness. She teleported again, reappearing in front of him. "If that's all you got, you have a big problem."

But the smirk that had been on Malagar's face reappeared. If anything it was bigger than it had been before.

"No, little girl," he said, his tone malicious. "I think it is you who has a big problem."

Chiara frowned, crossing her arms in annoyance. Now what was he talking about? Before she could ask, however, she suddenly felt her father power up behind her. She frowned, not sure what he was doing. Wasn't she supposed to face him on her own? Maybe he had changed his mind, but surely her Senpai would protest. And besides which, Malagar wasn't strong enough to beat her. She didn't need help.

She was still mulling this over as Goku began to chant, "Kame...hame..."

It was natural instinct honed by years of training, and that instinct alone, that had her teleport out of the way as he finished his chant.

"...ha."

Her father's signature attack missed her by a hair's breadth and she actually felt the percussion of the attack go through her as she appeared some 20 feet away. Once again, it was only her instinct that had her dodge her twin's physical attack and had her teleport out of the way of her Senpai's Final Flash. Appearing in the air some distance away, Chiara's eyes were wide as she turned towards her family and friends, who were now all turned towards her, their eyes glowing red, their faces contorted with rage.