Within a few days, Cana had settled into a new routine. She would awaken in whatever small shelter she had chosen from the dyno-caps she had been given – nothing too ostentatious, usually just a tent or hut – do some stretches and exercises, eat a large breakfast, and make her way to the closest Dragon Ball. She could move very fast when she chose to – about a mile every two minutes over long distances and much faster over shorter ones – but she didn't run the entire time.

Depending on where she was, the Saiyan would jog at about fifteen miles an hour, or even slow to a walk if she found something particularly interesting. The second morning she set out the sun was rising through a bank of low clouds, forming a heartbreakingly beautiful sunrise. Cana walked backwards, watching the fiery ball lift into the heavens, though it cost her time. It was time well spent, she thought.

She took short breaks often for food, water, and rest, aware after her fights with Master Tien and Bockser that she was more out-of-shape than she had been willing to admit. In gradual increments, Cana pushed herself harder, moving faster for longer amounts of time, doing more push-ups, more sit-ups. It felt better than she had thought it would. In fact, aside from the solitude, her journey began as an enjoyable one.

Even the quiet could be nice at times. The old man had been right to get the Saiyan out and into the world where she had taken residence in her exile. All around her lay the natural wonder of a living planet... plants, animals, stone and air and water. It was lovely in a way that she had never expected, and – for the first time – she could see Chard's vision of life and appreciate it.

She wished Jesi were here to share in her discovery.

While the quiet did give her a chance to truly connect to the world around her, it also gave her too much time to think. In West City, between school and Jesi and her own fears of discovery, Cana had managed to push aside the memories, which would then only haunt her dreams. Now those thoughts returned to the forefront of her mind, and she was forced to face them every day, struggling to understand why certain things had happened and what – if anything – she could have done to change them.

But perhaps this was part of the healing process that she had too long delayed. She could no longer separate the Saiyan and Earthling parts of her identity. Cana would have to come to terms with both sides of herself, understand them, and integrate them. Knowing that didn't make it any easier, however. She longed for some company, if only to distract her.

On the eighth day of her journey, Cana was able to narrow the range of the Dragon Radar enough to notice something odd about her target: It didn't stay in one place as she had expected. The ball moved. Not much and not far, but there were fluctuations in its location that suggested it wasn't lying quiescent in a hole somewhere.

Competition? The Saiyan wondered. Or coincidence. Some big animal could be playing with it for all I know. In fact, she realized that she hadn't thought enough about the Dragon Balls and where they might be. It was possible that someone else was hunting the orbs. Or even that some were being held in private collections, like the Briefs had been hiding theirs. Did the old man intend for her to steal from others in order to obtain the balls? She doubted it, but there was no way for Master Tien to be aware of what circumstances she might encounter in her hunt.

Only by finding the Dragon Ball could she know what actions she would have to take to retrieve it.

The next day she moved faster than usual, rushing to find the source of the reading the Dragon Radar was giving her. She found that both of her guesses were partially correct: The ball was in private hands and she did have competition. The radar had led her to a forested valley, trees thick and dense around her, the sunlight filtered green in all directions, like being at the bottom of a verdant, emerald ocean. She had slowed to a walk upon entering the woods, soaking in the feel of the landscape, glad she had chosen more suitable clothes for this part of the journey. Loose tan pants protected her legs, and a stylish but comfortable shirt covered her torso. Cana had a feeling that Gatta had been responsible for the clothes in the dyno-caps.

Weaving between thick tree trunks that reduced her visibility to almost nothing, she could have been wandering for hours if she hadn't heard the voices.

"Give it back!" cried one voice. A young girl by the sound of it. "I found it and it's mine!"

Another voice answered. "Be quiet, you little brat. I don't care if the king gave it to you, we're taking it."

"Can't believe we finally found one," a third voice said. "The boss is gonna' be pleased as punch when we bring it back."

"I said no!" the first voice yelled, strident now. There was a whistle, like the sound of a tea kettle at full boil.

"Watch out," the second voice said. "She ain't normal."

Cana had crept close enough to hear guns being cocked and flattened herself behind a tree. "What should we do with her?" the third voice asked.

"Shooting someone like her won't do any good," Voice Two replied. "We have the ball, let's just go."

The Saiyan peeked out from behind the tree to see three figures in a small clearing. Two were adults. A taller man and a shorter man, dressed in dark uniforms. The third was a little girl with pink hair. Cana could only partially see the girl from where she stood, but it was obvious that she was distressed. The two men didn't seem affected by the girl's tone or gestures.

"You can't have it!" the girl shouted.

The taller man raised a rifle, pointing it down at the small figure who resisted him. "Aw, shut up already. We're taking the ball and there ain't anything you can do about it, so stop your whining." This was Voice Three.

"Let's just go," the shorter man said – Voice Two.

The whistling came again, punctuated by the girl's voice. "I won't let you!"

"Hey! She's doing something!" The tall man tightened his grip on his rifle, taking aim.

Cana was out from behind the tree before she knew what she was doing. Pictures flashed in her head... an angry face, raised hands, a surge of pain. The scar on her cheek throbbed. She dove in front of the girl just as the gun went off, taking the projectile in her rib. It hurt, and the Saiyan knew she would have a bruise, but no more. Even an untrained Saiyan couldn't be hurt by a bullet. Their naturally tough skin and bones resisted such impacts even without the extra endurance precise ki control allowed. With proper allocation of energy, a trained fighter could strengthen their body even further. This was why the most deadly mistake a warrior could make was to let their guard down. Without proper focus, even firearms could hit a soft spot and kill someone with a much greater power level.

"Shit!" the short man hissed. "I told you not to bother. Run!" Cana heard two sets of footsteps rushing into the woods, crashing through foliage and underbrush. She climbed back to her feet, ignoring the pain and the little girl both, who had taken her arm and was saying something.

"They won't get away," the Saiyan said – as much to herself as to the child – and leapt up into the branches of the tall trees in the direction the men had gone. Her rib ached and she grit her teeth, but was still easily able to keep her balance on the thin limbs of trees, jumping from branch to branch, following the two men. She was pleased to note that she had adjusted to the loss of her tail and had recovered her equilibrium.

By chance, the thieves were in a situation where Cana's natural advantages would be blunted. In a forest as thick as this, she couldn't travel as fast as she would under other circumstances. Even if she were to ignore Master Tien's words and take to the air, she wouldn't be able to see her quarry through the interlaced branches thick with leaves. If worse came to worse, she could use the Dragon Radar, but it would be tedious to have to look back and forth from the watch to the woods.

Luck was with her, though. The thieves were stupid men. They hadn't gone to ground, so after a minute of running and jumping through the treetops, Cana could hear the men still charging through the forest, making enough noise that it wouldn't be at all difficult for her to zero in on their location. She shook her head. They hadn't even changed direction after leaving the clearing, just gone in a straight line.

Cana increased her speed, passing the men with ease, and quiet enough that they had no idea that she was there. She dropped down through the canopy and landed in a storm of leaves in front of the taller man. He gave a shocked yelp at her appearance, raising the rifle he still held. With the back of one hand, the Saiyan girl batted the weapon aside and out of the man's hands. It spun away into the emerald depths of the forest.

The man raised his hands, eyes wide. "I shot you," he said. "How can you be here?"

The Saiyan didn't answer. She stepped forward and grabbed the man by his collar, lifting him up off the ground with ease. "Do you have the Dragon Ball?" she asked.

"N-no, my partner got the ball. I got nothing," the man stammered.

A smirk formed unbidden on Cana's face. "No balls. Sounds about right for someone who tried to shoot a little girl." The man's face went red but he said nothing. The Saiyan's eyes narrowed behind her glasses, and she threw the man into the trees, in the opposite direction than the gun had gone. In an instant, she was back in the canopy, chasing after the other man.

Fear must have been driving him forward like the legions of King Piccolo were chasing him, because the shorter man had reached the edge of the woods by the time Cana caught up. He was just climbing into a vehicle as she broke out of the forest and leapt to the ground, clothes stained green by her rapid passage through the foliage. The engine hummed and the boxy vehicle rose into the air. A flying car.

It swung its blunt prow around, preparing to soar away. Cana almost smiled, raising one hand. Ki gathered in her palm, and a beam of golden light lanced from her hand to the vehicles engine. There was a small explosion in the rear of the car, and it dipped back to the ground, sputtering and coughing.

Cana took her time now, no longer in a rush. She circled around the front of vehicle and opened the driver's side door to find the little man cowering under the dashboard. She hauled him bodily out of the car and deposited him on the ground. She said nothing, just held out her hand. Simpering and sweating, the man pulled out the Dragon Ball and deposited it in the Saiyan's waiting palm. She stared at the orb, noting the five stars at its center, loosening her grip on the man's uniform.

"Run," she said without looking up, pointing away from the forest. The man hesitated, and Cana glared at him. "I said 'run'." This time the man listened to her, scrambling away with a gasp of fear. She didn't even bother to watch him go.

Two down, she thought with a tight smile. Whistling, she took her travel bag from her shoulders and opened it. As she unzipped the bag, she froze, remembering the girl. The ball belongs to her, she thought. If I take it, I'm no better than those thieves... no better than Letta and Lenti. Cana sighed, but there was no real doubt in her mind as to what she had to do.

It was the work of only a few minutes to get back to the clearing. The little girl was still there, sitting with her back against a tree, face buried against her raised knees, shoulders jerking in quiet sobs. Cana crossed to where the child was sitting and knelt in front of her. "Hey, kid," she said. "Look what I have." She smiled as the girl raised her head.

Cana had been determined to put on a cheerful face for the crying child and so did not let herself react when the kid looked up. The girl wasn't human. What Cana had assumed to be pink hair drawn up into pigtails was actually a soft, spongy material. The same material made up the girl's entire body. Lines of small holes dotted her arms and head. Most shocking of all were the girl's eyes, which consisted entirely of black sclera, with no irises or pupils. Still, she was generally human looking in shape and proportion and facial features, and appeared to be in her early teens.

The humanity was enhanced even more when the girl's strange eyes fixed on the Dragon Ball and widened, her mouth opening in a gasp and a grin. Cana's own smile broadened into a more genuine one seeing the kid's expression. "You got it?" the girl asked in her high, child's voice. "Already? How?"

Cana stood up with a smirk. "Guys like that? No problem for me."

The girl rose along with her – standing only to about the height of Cana's stomach – staring up with a look of awe. "Wow..."

Not without a wince and a look of longing, the Saiyan held out the Dragon Ball and put it into the pink girl's hand. But she had made her decision. She would not follow in Letta and Lenti's path. She would not steal from others, and if that meant that her mission failed, then so be it. "That's a very special treasure you have there," she said.

"I know," the kid said with a secretive grin. She was dressed in white pants and a short dark vest that looked remarkably clean for a girl wandering around the forest alone. A strip of cloth covered her breasts under the open vest, which left her arms and midriff exposed, but the girl didn't seem cold or uncomfortable. "It's my favorite shiny stone. Even though I can't eat it."

Cana chuckled at the child's words and behavior. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I live here," the girl chirped with a total lack of concern.

"Alone?" Cana frowned.

"Yep!" She glanced at the Dragon Ball and back up at Cana. "You were super cool jumping into the trees like that," she said. "Did you really beat up those guys to get this back?"

"I didn't exactly beat them up..." the Saiyan hedged.

Clutching the orange orb in her hands, the pink girl stared at her adoringly. "What's your name? Why are you here? Where are you going?"

The Saiyan's hands raised defensively at the sudden barrage of questions. "Whoa, whoa... my name is Cana, I'm on... kind of an adventure."

"That sounds cool!" the girl said. "My name is Uru. I want to go on an adventure, too. Can I come with you?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Cana said, laughing despite herself, charmed by Uru's enthusiasm.

The pink girl frowned. "Aw... please?"

Cana knelt again to lower herself to Uru's height. "I move pretty fast," she explained. "I don't think you'd be able to keep up."

"I bet I could," Uru insisted.

"I'm sure you'd try, kiddo," Cana said with a smile. "But it might be dangerous, too. I wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Uru's shoulders slumped. "Well... can I at least walk with you for a while?" she asked.

Cana should have refused, but the little girl seemed so alone and the hero worship did feel good. Besides, hadn't she just been wishing for company on the road to distract her? "Yeah, we can do that," the Saiyan said.

"Awesome!" Uru enthused.

They reached the edge of the forest in less than half an hour, coming out near the still-smoldering wreck of the thieves' vehicle. The little girl chatted happily with Cana the entire time, telling her about life in the forest and all the different foods that she ate, most of which seemed to be insects. Every once in a while, Uru would ask Cana questions about her life, listening with rapt attention to her answers, staring at the taller girl with adoration.

Cana found herself smiling and laughing more than she had for the last week. She hadn't realized how much she had missed interacting with someone. Uru was amusing and cheerful, never uttering a word of complaint even when she was talking matter-of-factly about the travails of living alone in the woods and eating bugs. The Saiyan liked the girl right away.

It had been her intention to leave Uru at the edge of the forest, but instead she climbed with her up out of the valley, unwilling to part company just yet, even more-so knowing how alone the girl would be without her.

At last, though, she had to say farewell. "Okay," Cana said with a sigh. "I have to get a move on, kiddo." She leaned down and patted Uru's spongy head. "You take care of yourself and that treasure of yours."

To her surprise, the pink girl didn't seem depressed at the prospect of them parting ways. "Okay, Cana. Thank you and see you soon!" She waved her little hand and watched as the Saiyan sprinted away.

Cana didn't go much further that day. Dark clouds had rolled in and she could already hear the rumble of thunder and see flickers of lightning. She found a flat spot on a small rise dotted with bushes and pulled out one of the capsules that she had not opened yet. She hadn't wanted to use anything too fancy or to spoil herself with something too comfortable when she was supposed to be roughing it, but the Saiyan didn't want to be stuck in the rain tonight.

She pulled out the capsule, punched the button on the top with one thumb and tossed it onto the hill. With a burst of smoke and a loud noise, a small dome appeared, lit from within with warm amber light. Cana shook her ahead, still unable to believe an entire house could fit in the tiny dyno-cap. She got inside just as the rain started to fall.

The interior of the small house was pleasant and inviting, and she was sure the drumming of the rain on the domed roof would put her to sleep tonight. The Saiyan ate some food and washed up, smiling to herself, remembering Uru's goofy excitement on hearing about her journey. It was just too bad that Cana had already failed to gather the Dragon Balls. Unless she was willing to steal the globe from the little girl, then she could only get six of the seven at best.

"'The journey is the destination,'" she thought to herself with a chuckle. She would have to assume that Master Tien would not consider her a failure for not taking the ball when she had a chance.

She wasn't tired yet, so she stood at the window and stared out into the gathering dark, watching the rain fall. The drops were fat and heavy, seeming almost to bounce as they hit the ground. Forks of lightning split the sky and thunder crashed, muffled only slightly by the walls of the capsule house. Her red eyes glazed and lost focus, and – for an instant – she was back on Grayne, watching bursts of glowing energy devastate cities and countryside alike as Letta and Lenti's Oozaru transformations destroyed a planet.

"No!" Cana shouted, shaking her head and bringing herself back to the present. She gasped, seeing something else out the window.

In the flickering glow of the lightning, movement could be seen that wasn't the wind or the rain, and Cana froze. She stared out into the storm for several long minutes, making sure she wasn't mistaken. At last, the Saiyan sighed and shook her head. Despite her exasperation, there was a small, faint smile on her face. She went to the door and opened it, leaning out into the torrent of rain.

"Uru!" she called. "Get in here!"

Moments later, the little pink girl emerged from one of the bushes and ran into the house, waving her arms over her head as if to ward off the rain. Cana closed the door behind her and turned to face the child, putting her hands on her hips and staring down at her. Uru looked wet and miserable, hands twisting together nervously. Neither of them spoke for several long moments.

"Are you mad at me?" Uru asked at last, her voice small.

Cana tried to keep her face stern, tried to glare at the little girl and let her know that she didn't approve of being followed, but she couldn't manage it. She laughed. "Let's get you dried off, kid. I can be mad at you later."