"Ooo, I like this one!" Kakarot pointed.

"Not garish orange." Vegeta shook his head.

"Um… this one?" He asked.

"Red's not exactly better, Kakarot."

They were at Kyen's Lookout. Mr. Popo had come bearing their morning meal, and an invitation. Their armor had seen a lot of wear over the past few weeks, and they didn't have a means of replacing it. So here they were, picking out new outfits. And of course, Kakarot was being ridiculous.

Vegeta considered the fighting robes for a moment. "I suppose the style isn't bad." He turned. "This shirt should go under it. And trade out the sash." He pointed.

Kakarot picked up the navy blue shirt and sash. "Okay." He looked around. "These?" He picked up a set of smoky black gi pants to go under the robe.

"Sure."

"My boots go okay with it, right?" He glanced down. "I really like this pair."

Vegeta shrugged. "That's fine with me."

"What about you, Prince?" Kakarot queried. "Your breastplate's still good, but the skin's a bit stink– er, worn out," He rephrased hastily.

Vegeta growled at him, then picked up a blue gi. It would be a lot baggier than he was used to, but the namekians had made it clear he wasn't going to transform, so the stretch of the body-glove wasn't necessary anymore. And when Frieza arrived, there would be a hell of a lot more to worry about than modesty after the battle.

"Ooo, that looks cool!" Kakarot commented as he started swapping out.

Vegeta wrinkled his nose. "Take a bath first, Kakarot." He grunted, and Kakarot stopped.

"Oh, right. Where's the bath?"

Vegeta walked back out to the hall. "Popo said it was down this way."

The Lookout was high enough that it floated above all the clouds; there was a very thin layer between them and the stars, which let the night sky turn blue with their light. It had been a long time since he'd gone out and just looked up. Stargazing had been a rather… frivolous way of spending time, but Kakarot would be in the bath for a while yet, and there wasn't a lot else going on.

"I'm telling you, it's not a good idea! If they ever get wind of what the Dragon Balls are capable of, all they'll want is immortality! Especially Prince Grumpy-Pants."

Vegeta blinked and turned. Krillin was standing with the two nameks, his hands waving animatedly. "I mean seriously, it's bad enough that this Frieza guy is coming, but if one of them wishes for immortality, we might as well kiss the entire planet goodbye!"

Piccolo, who had been watching Vegeta the entire time, glanced down at Krillin. "Well, looks like we don't have to explain anything now."

Krillin whirled, arrested, and when he saw Vegeta, he bristled. "Okay, look here, wise guy, you aren't getting immortal life, got it?"

"I don't even know what you're talking about." Vegeta said casually, smirking. "Sounds interesting." He leaned against a pillar, folding his arms. "What are Dragon Balls?"

Piccolo glanced at Kyen, who laid a hand on Krillin's shoulder, silencing the warrior before he could speak. "There are seven in all. When they are gathered together, the Eternal Dragon can be summoned to grant one wish." He coughed. "They are tied to my life force. If I die, the Dragon Balls will become stone."

"The Eternal Dragon grants a wish?" He raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you just wish us off the planet?"

"There are… limits." Kyen said wryly. "While moving you would have been well within the Eternal Dragon's power, countering the threat Frieza poses is impossible. Without you, we will not survive, and he will come either way."

Vegeta considered him for a long moment. "Do you understand the threat Frieza poses? If I could have defeated him, I would have done it years ago."

Kyen coughed again, and Piccolo laid a steady hand against his back. "Then kill us, and return to your dear lord and master." He said with an uncharacteristically mocking tone.

The Prince's eyes widened, then narrowed again, his lip curling.

Kyen sighed. "Amirah will be invaluable. She has…" He coughed. "Will have… healing capabilities. I will send… send her to you when she is ready."

"Father, enough." Piccolo stated as Kyen fell victim to a violent cough. "You are ill enough as it is."

Kyen hesitated, then subsided and nodded, and Piccolo guided the old namekian inside.

Krillin watched them go, then looked back at Vegeta warily. The Prince turned away, ignoring him as he looked up at the sky.

"Well. Look." Krillin folded his arms, but the saiyan continued to ignore him. "I know you're not exactly Mr. Good Guy. You probably have your own reasons for fighting Frieza. God knows I have no idea what it's like being forced to follow the orders of a warlord bent on taking over the universe. But if you think we're going to roll over and die or something, think again. We've faced danger before, Piccolo and I. We've beaten plenty of tough guys, gotten out of lots of hopeless situations. I guess what I'm trying to say is… we'll beat Frieza. And if it comes to it, we'll beat you, too."

Vegeta snorted, but at that moment, Kakarot popped out, dressed in his new outfit. "Hey Prince! What do you think? Awesome, right?" He bounced forward and turned, his hands on his hips. "I had to tear a hole for my tail, but other than that it's a perfect fit! So?" He turned. "Oh, hey, Krillin! Cool outfit, huh?" He grinned proudly.

Krillin eyed it. "Actually… yeah. Not bad." He grinned back. "Ready to kick Frieza's butt?"

Kakarot blinked. "Oh, like beat him?" He chuckled. "I sure hope he doesn't come himself, at least not yet! We need to do a lot of training first." He tilted his head. "Zarbon would be the best, but Dodoria's powerful too. If Cui survived Gatoura, killing him would be fun." He laughed. "Oh man, this is so exciting! It's nice to be on the good guys' side for once!"

Vegeta glanced over at him. Kakarot glanced up, and as their eyes met, he stiffened. Was Vegeta going to remind him that this was only temporary? To not get too comfortable?

Vegeta snorted and looked away.

Kakarot blinked, his expression clearing slightly with relief.

Krillin watched the exchange in some confusion. "Er, Kakarot?" He glanced up at the saiyan. "You wouldn't happen to want to be good guys forever, would you?" He asked hopefully.

Kakarot glanced down at him. "That's not up to me." He said simply. "It'd be nice to not have to kill, but even if we stopped, fighting's in our blood." He stepped back, settling into a fighting stance with a focused look on his face. "Saiyans love to fight. We'd find any excuse to fight. It wouldn't matter how much I might want to live in peace." After a moment, he straightened and sighed, shaking his head.

"Hey, as a good guy, you'd be surprised how many fights you get into." Krillin muttered. "Enough to satisfy even your blood." He glanced at Vegeta, then shrugged. "Well, I guess I'll let you figure that out." He disappeared inside.

Kakarot glanced at Vegeta, who looked up.

"What?" The Prince grunted.

"Can we?" Kakarot asked hopefully. "Can we be good guys?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "I'm not about to become a bleeding heart. There's a lot of… charity work involved." He shook his head and lifted into the air. "Let's go, Kakarot."

His second followed automatically. "But if we get out of this… if they're right and Frieza dies… what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Kakarot." The Prince admitted. "There's no guarantee."

"But if we did…"

"Shut up, Kakarot."

"Right."

"And if you gather them all together, you can summon the Eternal Dragon, who grants you one wish." Krillin was saying. Amirah followed him out onto the Lookout, where he turned. "So, what do you think?"

Amirah inclined her head. "Such a power would be of great use to you in battles to come."

Krillin nodded. "Problem is, they go inactive for an entire year after you make a wish on them. We used them last year, and they only became active again last week." He walked to the edge of the Lookout. "Luckily, I know someone who can help us find them quickly. If we fly, we should be able to collect them all in a couple weeks." He laughed. "It used to take us months to find them all."

Amirah smiled back. "What other wishes have you made?" She asked.

"Well," He hopped off the platform, and she followed him down. "Those adventures are worth an entire afternoon on their own. And they wouldn't really make sense otherwise. Bulma tried to wish for a boyfriend – that was the first time we went looking, actually. But she was a little loopy at the time and asked for a faithful companion, and got this little shape-shifter named Puar instead." He chuckled. "Puar's great, but that wasn't what she'd wanted. Heh. Puar saved the Earth, though – we weren't the only ones trying to get the Dragon Balls the next time, and she wished on them before the other guys did. That was when we got the Fountain of Starlight. Pretty strange wish if you ask me, but then again, she exists because of the Dragon Balls."

Amirah blinked. "A fountain of starlight?" She queried, curious. It sounded beautiful.

"Well, Bulma wasn't thrilled, but in the end we all decided it was for the best. I'm sure we can swing by there at some point if you like. It's actually pretty cool, especially at night." Krillin shrugged. "But other than that, it doesn't really do anything. It's just light."

She looked up. "So you have wished twice on the Dragon Balls?"

"Well, more than that, but the other four were to bring people back from the dead and fix the damage that was caused in the search for them. See, Bulma isn't the only one who knows how to find them. Luckily, Piccolo and I were strong enough to handle interested parties. Kyen wanted to keep them at the Lookout, since they were being used so often; that wasn't what they were for, after all."

"Yes." She inclined her head. "It is a divine gift."

He glanced over at her. "But then he started seeing Frieza, and his own death. And he's pretty sure that's not the end of it. Hopefully, unlocking Dende's power will help build up the Eternal Dragon's tolerance. Kyen didn't build Shenron with lots of wishes in mind; the Dragon Balls are getting worn out. With Dende, though, they should last longer. We're going to need them."

Amirah nodded grimly. "I understand. The survival of your world will depend on it." She looked down at her hands. "I have the gift of healing. While I cannot bring back the dead, I can at least minimize the casualties."

Krillin grinned back. "Really? Sweet! You'll be great! I can tell you, there were a lot of times when we could really have used someone with the ability to heal." He cupped his chin. "Hmm. We should make sure that Frieza and his goons never find out. You'll have to stay out of sight. I bet if we fought in rotation, one guy in, one guy getting healed, that'd help against the tougher opponents."

They were quiet for a moment. "You said Puar was a shape-shifter?" Amirah asked. "Could she aid in the fight?"

"Well, a little. She can shape-shift into tools for Bulma. And small things. She's small." Krillin held up his hands. "She said it's like she can only spread herself so far. But she's attached to Bulma. If we wanted her along, we'd have to drag Bulma around everywhere, and that is more drama than any of us need." Krillin chuckled weakly. "I mean, Bulma's brilliant and all, and it's kinda mean to talk about her behind her back, but she complains. A lot." He shook his head. "Come on, it's just down here."

They descended, and Amirah looked up to see a large, dome-shaped building built out of a white metal. Krillin walked up to the door and rapped on it with his knuckles. "Bulma Briefs, please." A digital screen right next to the door turned on, showing what looked like an empty room.

{The door says no soliciting!} An irate female voice snapped.

A little kitten-like creature popped up. {But Bulma, it's Krillin!} She squeaked.

A woman popped up from behind one of the counters, clad in a lab coat and equipped with a number of technical devices. {Seriously! A girl needs her– oh, hey, Krillin! Is that your girlfriend?}

"What? Oh, no," Krillin laughed. "Becky's a blonde. This is Amirah, Princess of Konats. Amirah, this is Bulma."

{Where's that?} Bulma frowned. {I don't recognize the name.}

"She's from a different planet. Kinda like Piccolo and Kyen are from Namek." Krillin put his hands on his hips. "Hey, can we come in or what?"

{Oh, sure, walk in, it's unlocked. I'll be down in a minute.}

"We'll come up. I know where your lab is." Krillin opened the door. "Come on, Amirah."

She followed him in, looking around at the spacious interior. "She said she would be coming down to us." She said with a frown as he headed off.

"In like, three hours." Krillin waved her over.

"She said–"

"Yeah, she said a minute. A minute in Bulma-speak is a lot longer. Trust me. Left to her own devices, she'd take hours just to get ready for the day."

"You want to look for the Dragon Balls?" Bulma's voice was muffled as she rooted around in her latest project. Puar was inside with her, and a popping noise accompanied her various transformations.

"Yeah. This is going to be our last chance. Kyen's dying soon." Krillin explained.

"What?!" Bulma gasped, emerging and whirling on him, Puar-wrench in hand. "What are you saying? This is the last wish we can ever make?!"

"Well," He chuckled. "The whole point is to unlock Dende's powers so the next dragon is even more powerful." He folded his arms. "However, that doesn't mean we can wish for just anything. From now on, we should only make a wish if someone dies – if something we can't fix happens."

Bulma pulled a face. "Fine. But I'm coming. If this is going to be the last wish we get, then to hell if I'm not there to see it!" She snapped, turning back and clutching a round device in her hands, Puar floating by her shoulder. "Well? When are you leaving?"

Krillin raised his eyebrows. "Er… right now, I guess. But Bulma, it's not like this is the last time we'll see Shenron. I mean, I don't want to have to see the dragon again, but we're sure to have to summon him after Frieza's had his little party." He tilted his head. "Do you have a capsule jet? That'd be a lot easier on us than flying the whole way."

"No problem!" She smirked and grabbed a small plastic box. "All my travel capsules are in here."

Krillin looked up at Amirah, then shrugged again. "We'd better get moving then. The quicker we finish, the less likely Vegeta will find out what we're doing."

"So who's this Vegeta character? Is he some new threat?" Bulma queried as she glanced over at her two companions.

"Well, sort of. He would be a threat if Frieza didn't exist." Krillin said. "And to be honest, he probably will be a threat once we've defeated Frieza. Luckily, Piccolo's stronger than him right now. As long as we can stay ahead of him and Kakarot, we should be able to stand up to them if they decide to try anything funny. But right now, we need their help."

"I see. I'm guessing he's from another planet, then. Hey," She looked up. "Amirah, why do you look so much like a human? I mean, you could pass for one, except for your ears. Does your hair normally grow like that?"

Amirah touched her ear briefly. "There are different classes on Konats. This style belongs to the royalty and the elite swordsmen of our culture. Our hair is much like your human hair in its growth."

"So it's a style, huh? That's cool. I was afraid it only grew like that. What about Vegeta and Kakarot? What do they look like? I bet they're ugly."

"Actually, they could pass as humans too if they wanted to." Krillin said. "Well, except for their tails. They have monkey-like tails. Vegeta is kinda short, and Kakarot's almost as tall as Piccolo. They both have black hair that sorta sticks up." He raised his hands to his head to demonstrate. "They're called saiyans, and they're apparently the only two left in existence. Their home planet was destroyed."

"Gee, that's too bad. No wonder they're not good guys. Having your home destroyed like that's gotta make anyone upset."

"Yeah, well, 'upset' doesn't exactly cover what they've done. And apparently they were bad even before their home was destroyed." Krillin shook his head. "If I had to choose one, Kakarot seems like the nicer one, but he's a bit strange. Follows every command Vegeta gives him. And get this: Vegeta even blasted him, and he still listens to the creep. It's weird."

"Blasted him?! Why?"

"Well, from what it sounded like, there was a third saiyan, and Kakarot killed him." Krillin explained.

"The third saiyan killed my protectors, and very nearly killed me. But Kakarot intervened." Amirah said, recalling the incident. "I think they had been at odds for a while. He took great pleasure in it."

"Really? Now that's creepy. And you think he's the better of the two?"

Krillin thought about it. "Actually… yeah, I still do."

"Man. That's crazy. And we need their help to beat this Frieza guy? Are we sure they'll help us and not just betray us?" Bulma started descending; they'd neared one of the Dragon Balls.

"I don't know, Bulma. Kyen says we need them, and he hasn't been wrong yet." Krillin shuddered as the jet touched down. "I'll just be glad when this is all over and Piccolo can send them packing."

Vegeta smirked. "Good to see… you haven't been slacking, Kakarot."

Kakarot grinned back. "Well, I… have a lot to live up to." He shifted. "I wouldn't want to disappoint you, Prince." He brought his hands to his side. "Hey, Prince, check this out! Dragon Break!" He shouted, thrusting out his palms. Yellow energy shot forward, laced with electricity.

Vegeta quickly brought his arms up, purple power forming between his hands. The beam lanced out, meeting Kakarot's and halting its progress. They struggled together for a moment until the energy buildup erupted.

Kakarot darted around, but as he flew up behind, Vegeta whirled, bringing his elbow down. "You should know better!" He snapped.

Kakarot caught it, grinning. "Right." He threw his head forward, the resulting crack echoing throughout the canyon.

Vegeta fell back, clutching his head.

Kakarot raised his arms, firing rapid blasts of energy as the Prince attempted to recover. Vegeta was engulfed in the power, but after a few moments, he shouted, a wave of ki disrupting the attack. He flew forward, catching Kakarot off guard and throwing him down into the canyon wall.

"Comet Blast!" He roared, purple energy erupting and racing down to the other saiyan.

Kakarot shouted and braced himself, but the attack hit him full-on; the canyon rumbled behind him, splitting as he was forced further back into the stone. A cloud of smoke and dust erupted, blocking his view and choking him.

Once the blast was over, he coughed, trying to clear his throat and failing. Choking, he jumped out of the cleft, his fingers seeking purchase at the edge. With a burst of effort, he hauled himself up, coughing as sweet air filled his lungs. He panted, then worked his way to his feet, turning and looking up. Vegeta?

The Prince's boot connected with his back, and he was launched forward, skidding across the ground and right off the cliff.

He managed to catch himself and whirled around to face Vegeta, who was standing at the edge of the cliff, grinning down at him. "Not going to do much from down there, are you?" Vegeta taunted. "Come on, Kakarot, we're only just getting started!"

Kakarot pulled a face. "What was I supposed to do?! Have you ever tried breathing dirt?!"

"No, I make it a point not to." Vegeta laughed. "My lungs are clean."

"Wouldn't believe it, the way you're talking," Kakarot muttered childishly.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Are you done talking to yourself, Kakarot, or am I going to have to come down there?" He jeered.

Kakarot pulled a face and powered up, then launched himself into the air. "You're asking for it!"

They traded blows for a minute, racing down the canyon wall and up again. I doubt Frieza will come himself, at least immediately. Vegeta thought as he countered Kakarot's attacks. He will likely send Dodoria. Zarbon is too prissy. He smirked. We'll make short work of Dodoria at this rate! A thrill ran through him as he fought. After ten long years, he could at last sense freedom on the horizon.

Kakarot made a sudden grab for his head, and realizing what he was about to do, Vegeta whipped his hands up.

"OW!" Kakarot exclaimed, backing off and clutching his eye. The pain was enough that he had to settle for repeating the exclamation. "Oww…"

"You're good with head-butts, but you really shouldn't use them too many times against the same person." Vegeta pointed out, rolling his wrist. "You all right?"

"You poked me in the eye!" Kakarot whined, his fingers digging into his skull as he tried to crush the pain out.

Vegeta sighed. "Maybe we'll stop here for now, then."

Kakarot whimpered and dropped out of the sky, still clutching his eye. Vegeta landed next to him, giving him a sideways look. "Sorry." He muttered.

"Oww…" Kakarot lifted his hand away tenderly, but it still smarted, so he put it back. "Okay, I get it. No more head-butts. Ow."

Vegeta rolled his eyes, then looked skyward. I wonder what the Earthlings are up to.

Those Dragon Balls sounded interesting, but I doubt Piccolo would let us at them without a fight. Sure, we could probably take him, but Kyen mentioned something about Amirah gaining the ability to heal.

His eyes narrowed. That would be a very useful power, immortality aside. He looked down and blinked. "Kakarot, how badly is your eye damaged?"

"I-I think… I think I can see…" Kakarot winced and clutched his eye again. "Ow. Won't be making that mistake again."

Vegeta snorted. "Come on." He grabbed Kakarot's arm and pulled him into the sky. "Kyen mentioned Amirah would be gaining the ability to heal. Let's see if she has it yet."