Vegeta was hard at work at training in the Gravity Room when he felt a familiar and entirely unwarranted presence rapidly approaching his home.

"What is it now?" he grumbled to himself as he grabbed a towel and prepared to meet his unannounced guest.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Piccolo landed on Capsule Corps' front lawn, right in front of the waiting Prince.

"Vegeta," he acknowledged.

"Piccolo," the other returned. Neither would ever admit it, but there was a begrudging respect and even admiration between them, particularly since the events of Majin Buu, that made them almost nice to each other.

Almost.

"Well, what is it?" Vegeta demanded.

"I'm here to see your niece," Piccolo said casually, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"What?!" This was the last thing Vegeta was expecting. "Why?"

Piccolo did not have many occasions to lie, but he knew that this particular interaction would require a bending of the truth and so he'd come prepared with what he hoped was a plausible explanation for his interest in the girl.

"I'd like to train her."

For a few seconds, Vegeta just stared at the Namekian. Then, with a couple purposeful strides, he was right in his face. "You're serious aren't you?" he said, looking him in the eye. "What do you want to train her for?"

Piccolo shrugged. "I was impressed by her fight with Trunks. She's no Super Saiyan, but she has a lot of potential. It could be useful…"

"Useful for what exactly?" Vegeta spat. "Do you know what she is? Do you know what she's been doing her whole life? What she will do, once her parents come for her?"

"It can't be any worse than what you were doing not that long ago." Before Vegeta could respond, Piccolo leaned in closer. "What I do know is that you have a teenaged Saiyan whose whole life has revolved around fighting, living in your house with your wife and children with no outlet for her natural aggression. Since I doubt that you have any interest in bonding with the girl, I suggest you let her come with me so she can get it out of her system somewhere far away from here."

Vegeta paused. As much as he hated to admit it, Piccolo had hit the nail on the head. Teenaged Saiyans were particularly aggressive and violent and their control over those instincts was untrustworthy at best. And although in theory Trunks should be able to take her on easily enough, there was something about her he didn't trust. She was slippery. Of course, if she ever harmed his family he would kill her without a second thought, but he'd rather not have to go through all that. Piccolo's offer, all things considered, was rather appealing.

Wordlessly, Vegeta turned, beckoning to the Namekian to follow him into the house. The two followed the trail of the girl's ki into the kitchen, where she was getting something to drink.

Acia turned to the door as her uncle and Piccolo entered, an inquiring look on her face. "You remember Piccolo," Vegeta said, gesturing his head towards the Namekian standing at the door with his arms crossed, an unreadable expression on his face. "He's here to take you training."

Acia's eyebrows shot up in surprise, her every muscle tensing as suspicion and fear swept over her.

"Why are you here?" she asked him in the privacy of his mind.

"You know why I'm here. I suggest you come quietly," Piccolo responded.

"I'm not scared of you," she said, despite the tightness she felt in her chest.

"Well?!" Vegeta yelled impatiently. "I don't have time to watch you two stare at each other all day! Are you going with him or not?"

Acia gave her uncle a sideways glance before placing her glass on the table and stomping towards the door, Piccolo moving aside to allow her to exit.

The two flew in silence until they reached the Lookout, Acia's every sense on guard for the ambush she knew was coming.

"What is this place?" she demanded as she landed on the white tiles of the Lookout, eyes darting warily around and fists clenched. They were not alone – the human she recognized as Chiaotzu was here, as well as another Namekian and a…person she didn't recognize at all, standing in front of a palace a few feet away from where she and Piccolo had landed.

"Welcome to the Lookout," Piccolo said. "This is the residence of the Guardian of this planet, and it is where I stay as well. You are one of a very small group of people who has ever been here."

"Why am I here?"

Piccolo ignored the question. "Come, let me introduce you to the Guardian."

But instead of moving forward, Acia had taken a step back. Piccolo sighed wearily. "No one is going to hurt you here." The assurance did nothing – the girl's glare refused to abate and her body seemed to tense even more. She was radiating suspicion and fear.

Seeing that Piccolo was having no luck with the girl, Dende moved forward to greet her. Mustering his friendliest smile, the Guardian approached her.

"Hello. My name is Dende. I am the Guardian of Earth. It's very nice to meet you."

Acia looked at him skeptically. "You're Namekian."

"Yes."

"How are you here?" She turned to Piccolo. "Why are there so many of you on this planet?"

Dende smiled. "Well, it's just the two of us and it's kind of a long story. I'd be happy to tell you all about it, but first there's something else we need to talk about." He glanced up at the taller Namekian. "I think you know what that is."

Acia stepped back again – Mr. Popo and Chiaotzu (who looked utterly miserable) had joined the group standing near the edge of the Lookout. "Look, I don't understand what all this fuss is about. He's fine! He doesn't even know what happened."

"May I ask who taught you this…technique?"

"No one."

There was a collective gasp from the group as they exchanged shocked looks.

"What do you mean, no one?" Piccolo demanded.

"No one!"

"Then how did you learn to do it?" he asked, struggling to keep control of his tone.

"I just did, okay?" Acia was starting to panic. Something was really, really wrong here – the group had taken a step away from her now.

"What?!" she yelled as the group stared at her, then at each other, then at her again.

Piccolo sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder. She practically jumped away from him. "We really need to talk. Trust me."

Several hours later, Piccolo and Acia were flying back to Capsule Corp. He looked at her, her face pensive and thoughtful as she flew towards her destination.

He'd been suspicious of her at first, but ultimately Piccolo had come to believe her when she said she'd never been taught the technique. After all, it was her erratic and sloppy implementation of it that had alerted him and Chiaotzu to its use in the first place, and he wouldn't be surprised if even Goku and Gohan had felt something strange, even if they didn't know what it was.

Piccolo felt a pang of pity for her. Mr Popo had been right all along – she was a young girl and she'd gotten herself into a lot of danger without even realizing it. A scary young girl, he conceded, recalling the events that had just transpired, but a young girl nonetheless.

Acia had listened, quietly but impatiently, as Dende and Piccolo had in turns explained to her the dangers of mind control, both to herself and to Trunks or her other victims.

"How do I know any of this is true?" she'd asked when they'd finished.

"Why would we lie about something like this?" Dende asked.

"Maybe the part about the victim is true," she said. "The part about Trunks. That's why you want me to stop, because you're worried about him. But it's not hurting me."

"This technique affects you too," Piccolo said evenly. "And I think you know that."

"All I know is that I've done it plenty of times and nothing bad has ever happened to me." She was trembling slightly – her body had not relaxed an inch since she'd arrived. "But let's say you're right about all of it; what exactly do you expect me to do now?"

Dende gave her a confused look. "Well, stop of course. Promise you won't do it again."

Acia snorted. "Absolutely not."

"But Acia…"

"NO!" She was on her feet, ki spiking.

"I don't understand why…"

"You don't understand anything!"

"So help me understand," Dende said, his voice soft and gentle as he reached a hand out to the girl. "Sit down and explain it to me."

Acia didn't sit or take his hand, but she seemed to relax just a little. "I…need it."

"Why?"

"I just do, okay! I don't owe any of you any explanations for what I do or how I fight…"

"So you need it to fight? Is that what you mean?"

Acia paused. "There are…times when I need…" She struggled to find the words to explain. How could she, anyway? How could she admit that she was the weak link in the most feared band of mercenaries, that before she'd found this someone was always having to come to her rescue, that her own father told her she was weak, that her mother thought she was 'more useful' fixing the ship or collecting data.

"That technique has saved my life before. I won't hesitate to use it again. If someone's trying kill me…"

"Trunks wasn't going to kill you," Piccolo pointed out.

Acia rolled her eyes derisively. "I am so sick of this pointless conversation!"

"This proves our point though," Dende tried to reason. "It's becoming easier and easier for you to go for this technique even when you don't need it. Trunks wasn't even going to really hurt you and you still used it on him, and he's just a child…"

"Oh please!" Acia spat. "He's hardly a child! Have you seen his transformation?"

Piccolo stood in front of her, arms crossed and brows furrowed. "I won't let you hurt him," he said, voice low and menacing.

"Oh really?" she said, face stone cold despite her quavering heart.

"Piccolo…"

"Really. I will do whatever I have to to make sure you don't do that to him again."

"Well you can certainly try," she said, raising her palm and forming a ball of ki, "and you'll probably succeed. But not before I bring this place to the ground."

Dende gulped.

"Wait!" Piccolo turned to face a very agitated Chiaotzu. Acia didn't budge an inch. "If…if this is just about fighting techniques, then you don't need that! There are other things, things that will give you the same kind of control."

There was a pause. Finally, still not moving, Acia said, "Like?"

Chiaotzu gulped. "Telekinesis." When she didn't respond and didn't move, Chiaotzu ventured, "Do you know what that is?"

"Of course I know what that is!" The ball of ki dissipated and she lowered her hand. Crossing her arms, she turned glaring to Chiaotzu. "And I know it's hard."

"Piccolo knows!" he squealed, pointing at the Namekian with a shaking hand. "He could teach you!"

"An excellent suggestion," Mr. Popo said, finally speaking up.

Acia turned to Piccolo, who was glaring at the small human. He turned to meet her gaze. "I'm willing to teach you, but you must vow to never use mind control again."

"I'll vow not to use it on Trunks," she said. "But nothing more until I see where this telekinesis thing goes."

"You won't use it on anyone on this planet. There's no danger to your life here."

Several minutes passed in silence as Acia considered this under the worried gazes of Dende and Chaiotzu and the stoic gaze of Mr. Popo. Finally, she extended a hand. "Deal."