"You idiots!" Vegeta shouted to Gohan and Krillin as he landed next to them. A small Namekian was also standing with them. The three looked at Vegeta in fright and backed away from him.

The seven Dragonballs were close together and glowing. Out of them coiled the dragon's body. Narrow at first, it widened more and more until it ended in a massive head. The eyes of the Eternal Dragon glowed red and seemed to have no pupils. His body was in motion all the time and was surrounded by a bright glow of light. It seemed to be the only thing that gave off light, as if the dragon had absorbed the light from its surroundings.

"How many wishes have you made?" he snapped at the three.

"T-two," the bald one answered stammeringly.

"You can have the third wish, Vegeta," Gohan said, pointing at the Dragonballs.

"Are you out of your mind?" snapped Krillin at the younger one. The Namekian followed the discussion with interest.

"Maybe he really can defeat Frieza with this wish. You can feel his energy, can't you? We don't stand a chance otherwise!"

The kid was thinking rationally, Vegeta had to give him that. Now, though, he did have to choose one of his desires. And with Frieza coming at them, he only had one choice.

"So, what now?" Threateningly, he took a step towards Krillin.

"Dende, tell the Dragon Vegeta's wish," Krillin said with will in his voice.

Hesitantly, the young Namekian nodded. Then he looked questioningly at Vegeta.

"I want eternal life."

Dende turned to the Dragon and began to speak in Namekian. Vegeta tried to follow the words, but he had never been good at learning other languages. Most of the time it hadn't been necessary either. They had destroyed the populations of the planets, not chatted with them. He thought he heard his name in the little Namekian's words.

When he looked up at the Dragon, he thought he saw a flicker. Was the Dragon transparent? A quick glance at the others confirmed what he had feared. Something was wrong. The Dragon seemed to have less and less substance. Dende stopped speaking. His expression betrayed horror.

In the blink of an eye, the Dragon disappeared. It suddenly became daylight again. The Dragonballs that had just glowed brightly were now grey as stones.

"What happened?" Vegeta felt no different. Something had gone wrong.

The young Namekian sank to his knees. Tears dripped onto the dry ground, leaving dark stains on the earth. "The Grand Elder has passed on," he said quietly.

Before Vegeta could ask what was meant by that, he heard someone laughing. He looked up. Above them on a rock stood Frieza.

Sitara ran out of the spaceship. Only peripherally did she notice that it was not a spaceship she was familiar with. It was round, like the capsules she and her squad used to move from planet to planet, but much larger. How had she ended up in this ship?

When she had solid ground under her feet, she pushed off and flew away from the craft just above the earth. She staggered again and again. Her head hurt so much. What had happened?

She searched the surroundings for a place to hide. The rocks and caves did not seem safe to her. Who knows what was in them. Her left hand felt for her scouter. It was not there. Where was it? How had she lost it?

She slowed down and looked down at herself. She wasn't wearing her uniform, but a purple suit with a blue belt. She stopped in mid-air. She wanted to tear off this suit. Who had put it on her? The thought that someone had undressed her and put it back on made her feel sick. The suit was torn at the knee. Had she fallen?

She swallowed. She had to go on. Only where to? Every time she blinked, images appeared in her mind's eye. How she climbed into a capsule next to her companions. A hut next to a waterfall. How she fired energy bolts at fleeing people. A Namekian smiling at her. Was this the same Namekian she had just fled?

Her head was pounding. She couldn't think straight. Where should she fly to now, when she didn't even know which planet she was on or how she had got here? Keep flying for now. Just lying down on the ground was no solution either.

Rocks and lakes whizzed by beneath her. Only a few trees stood in the barren landscape. What kind of planet was this? The guy who had held her captive had been a Namekian. But that did not necessarily mean that it was also the planet Namek.

Had she landed here on a mission? Then where was her squad? She had never done a mission on her own.

Abruptly she stopped. Yes, there had been something. She was supposed to find someone. Secretly, so Frieza wouldn't know. She was supposed to convince him to join them and together they could break away from Frieza. Vegeta, Raditz, Nappa, she and he as the last living Saiyans might have a chance against Frieza together. So they could finally live free again.

At the edge of her perception, she noticed something. Turning her head in that direction, she saw nothing in particular. Just barren landscape. And yet she had the feeling that behind the small range of hills there was something she should look at. As if there was a light shining there that only she could see.

She followed this feeling and flew towards the range of hills. When she reached the highest point of the hills, she saw Frieza's spaceship below her. Was that what had attracted her? Someone was standing on the roof of the spaceship. A man with an orange suit and black hair that stuck out wildly in all directions.

He was the source of this inexplicable attraction she felt. Sitara flew straight at him, not sparing a thought for cover. He must have noticed her because he looked over at her.

As he looked at her, uncontrollable images again rushed into Sitara. The Namekian. Burning houses. A boy smiling at her. Screaming people. The guy on the spaceship who attacked her. A binge with her squad.

The images changed more and more rapidly. Her head seemed to explode. She groaned in pain. She could no longer hold herself in the air and fell several yards. She hit the ground hard and lay there for a moment, dazed.

In disbelief, Piccolo looked at his hands. They looked the same as always. He felt over his face, then his chest. Unchanged. Searchingly, he looked around, then took three large steps to the nearest lake to look at his reflection.

The Namekian Nail had been right. Outwardly, Piccolo had not changed. Instead, he felt a huge power within himself. He could only have acquired this strength with years of training. Now it was simply there, because he had merged with Nail.

He felt Nail's presence. He was not gone. He was now a part of him. "Thank you," Piccolo whispered against the wind and he thought he perceived an approving nod.

After Piccolo had processed the shock of Sitara's behaviour and her sudden disappearance, he had refocused on Gohan's aura. He had to help the boy now.

Piccolo had flown several miles when he noticed a body lying on the ground. He had hesitated for a moment whether he should help, but then his curiosity had won out. The wounded man was Nail, the servant and protector of the Grand Elder. He was badly wounded. He was bleeding in countless places. His breathing was heavy.

Piccolo knew he could no longer help the Namekian. His last breaths were numbered. But then he made Piccolo an offer to merge. After some thought, Piccolo agreed.

Now he stood here feeling stronger than ever. Laughing, he flew on. He would face this Frieza. Piccolo felt invincible.

Vegeta swallowed. Frieza. He looked down at Vegeta from the rock and smiled coldly. Vegeta felt an icy chill run down his spine.

"Vegeta. You were going to use the Dragonballs for yourself." It wasn't a question, just a statement. "That's treason. Anything else you want to say?" Frieza's voice was icy.

"I've never had anything to talk to you about!"

Frieza didn't linger on a retort and raised both arms. Bolts of energy shot from both palms at Vegeta. Vegeta jumped up to dodge. Krillin, Gohan and the little Namekian also took cover. Frieza launched more energy balls without moving from the rock.

Vegeta fled behind a rock a few yards away from Frieza. Shortly after, the two Earthlings and the Namekian also landed next to them.

"We must join forces. Then we might have a chance!" barked Vegeta at the others. Gohan looked to Krillin, who nodded after a moment. "Good," Vegeta growled and jumped up.

Frieza had stopped his bombardment and had risen into the air. Vegeta crashed into Frieza and tried to push him to the ground. Frieza clutched Vegeta with both arms and squeezed. Vegeta's arms were pressed against his body. He could not move. He gained momentum and slammed his forehead against Frieza's nose. Frieza let go in surprise and Vegeta put distance between himself and his attacker.

With his face contorted in pain, Frieza held his bleeding nose. "You pathetic wretch!" he shouted angrily at the Saiyan. "You'll pay for this!"

"All you know how to do is talk big. Go on, transform and we'll fight man to man," Vegeta urged the lizardman.

Frieza slowly removed his hand from his face and eyed his counterpart up and down. He made a snide sound. "I didn't need to transform to destroy your pathetic planet. You Saiyans are weaklings compared to me. Even your father was a pathetic wimp."

Vegeta growled irritably. "Don't underestimate me!" he said softly with a threatening undertone. "I was stronger than my father even as a child."

Frieza laughed out. "Sure you were." He raised a finger and shook it reprovingly. "Do you remember, Vegeta, the day your planet died?" Vegeta didn't answer. He tried to suppress the images in his mind. "Of course you do. You can't forget that. That day, the deadline to surrender a planet had passed. However, your warriors had not yet taken over the planet. Your father, the king, took his anger out on one of the warriors. He killed him. But that did not help him. The deadline had passed. Our agreement was that he would leave his son to me to train if he could not keep to the agreement."

Vegeta sucked in a sharp breath. This version of the story was new to him. Whether it was even true was debatable, but doubts crept into Vegeta's mind. Would his father really have left him to Frieza?

Frieza continued. "Not just you, but your little friend who was always around you."

Vegeta gritted his teeth. Why did Frieza have to mention her now? He obviously enjoyed picking at old wounds. Impatiently, Vegeta opened and closed his fists. "And then?" he pressed out so Frieza would finally get to the end of the story and leave him alone with his babbling.

"Your father tried to get you out of my ship again and gathered his warriors to kill me." Frieza laughed out loud. "Those weaklings. My soldiers killed one Saiyan after another. Who knows, if all the Saiyans had really fought, they might have stood a chance. Of course, I didn't want to take that chance, so I destroyed the planet." A contemptuous grin spread across his face. "Well, and then you two were with me after all. Speaking of which, where is your little girlfriend, by the way?"

"None of your business!" snapped Vegeta at him.

"She disappeared one day. I was very surprised to hear that. Desertion, I suppose?"

"Shut your mouth!" Vegeta took one deep breath. "Too bad, Frieza, that Saiyans survived who can be dangerous to you."

"You can't be dangerous to me!" Frieza opened his arms and pointed his palms upwards. His energy level rose. Chunks broke out from the rock that was just below him. The sea began to roar, wind came up. Small stones began to swirl around him.

The earthlings had to leave their cover, because the small island on which they had sought shelter before was breaking apart. The bald man had taken the little Namekian in his arms.

Frieza grew. His horns curved upwards. 'He's transforming,' Vegeta thought. Frieza cracked his breastplate and looked alternately from Gohan to Krillin and then to Vegeta.

"Hmm, which one of you should I kill first?" he pondered aloud. His gaze lingered on Vegeta, who got into fighting position and was already about to charge at Frieza, but he left the Saiyan on his left and shot at Krillin. He threw the young Namekian off him and tried to dodge, but he was too slow. Frieza's long curved horn drilled through the breastplate into Krillin.

Gohan screamed in rage and raced like mad towards Frieza, who swung Krillin back and forth on his horn. The bald man groaned in pain. His arms and legs hung limply down.

Just before Gohan reached Frieza, he threw his victim downwards. Krillin fell several yards into the water. Frieza crossed his arms in front of his chest to intercept Gohan's attack, who was blinded by hatred for the villain.

Vegeta was amazed at the little one's power. He was only half Saiyan, but he had a power he had never dreamed of. Was anger the key to the Saiyans' true strength?

The boy now went into long-range attack, launching one energy ball after another at Frieza in a continuous fire. Dust swirled up. Vegeta tried to make out Frieza's outline, but the dust cloud was so thick he couldn't see anything.

Tenaciously, time stretched until the dust cleared. Had the boy done the unbelievable and finished Frieza off? Vegeta stared at the spot where he had last seen Frieza.

From the cloud of dust, a flash of white came off. Frieza wasn't done in at all. He didn't even appear to be battered as he shot towards Gohan like a bullet, taking the boy with him. He pinned the smaller boy down on one of the few islands left after the energy release when he transformed. The boy was so surprised that he barely fought back.

Vegeta probed Gohan's aura. His energy level had dropped significantly. The boy's anger had faded. What Vegeta had suspected back on Earth was now confirmed. The boy's strength was directly related to his rage.

Frieza punched the boy without paying attention to which part of his body he hit. Gohan cried out in pain.

Vegeta had to do something. The boy was a Saiyan after all, even if he was the son of an underclass warrior. But he was one of the last three Saiyans in existence. If they could run from Frieza after all, and the boy could train some more, maybe they could siphon off his potential.

Frieza had now taken to placing his right foot on Gohan's head and stomping harder and harder. On the spur of the moment, Vegeta threw an energy ball into Frieza's back, but he didn't even flinch.

"Shit, there's nothing I can do to save him," Vegeta cursed.

"Hang in there, kid! I'll be right there!" Piccolo spoke aloud what he was thinking.

Gohan's aura was getting closer, but it was also getting weaker. Piccolo also sensed another energy. It had to be Krillin. His aura was so weak, on the verge of death. What was happening right now?

Another aura belonged to a small Namekian, Dende. Nail had whispered this information to him. The other two auras belonged to Vegeta and almost certainly to Frieza.

Faster, he had to speed up even more. Gohan's aura was getting weaker and weaker. Was he being put through the wringer right now? By Frieza, perhaps? Or by Vegeta? Nail shook his head inwardly. He had met Vegeta and he seemed to have teamed up with Gohan and Krillin when they had left the Grand Elder. So it could only be Frieza. His fighting power was truly enormous. King Kai's concerns had been well founded.

There, a small change in the energy ratio. Krillin's aura became clearer again, stronger. Dende can heal. The Grand Elder awakened his powers.

Piccolo smiled briefly. Quite handy to have an internal source of information. He couldn't slow down now. Gohan needed him!

A piece of Frieza's tail flew upwards. An energy disc cut it off. Frieza let go of Gohan. Vegeta turned his head abruptly to see where the discus had come from. The bald man! He was standing again, seemingly completely healed. Only the hole in his chest armour reminded him of Frieza's deadly attack. How was this possible? He had to be dead.

Frieza was visibly angry at this interruption and turned to face the Earthling. He growled. "I will destroy you all!" With those words, he charged towards Krillin.

The bald man had courage, Vegeta had to acknowledge that. He didn't dodge and put his fingertips to his forehead. He narrowed his eyes. Vegeta guessed what attack he would use and quickly looked away.

His gaze fell on Gohan. The Namekian was with him. He placed his hands on the injured body of the Saiyan boy. Then a glowing aura formed around them both.

Vegeta flew closer to them and landed. "What are you doing?" he hissed at the little green one.

He didn't look up from his work as he answered. "I'm healing Gohan."

"Why didn't you tell me the Namekian could heal?" he yelled at them both.

Gohan slowly straightened up. He was healed. Vegeta saw no injuries on him. "We didn't know ourselves," he said apologetically.

Krillin landed beside them. Frieza hovered in the air, blinded, spinning in all directions, wiping his eyes over and over, cursing loudly.

"We have to fight together, you idiots!" Vegeta snapped at the others. "Now he's still blinded. If we attack now..."

"No. I want to fight him alone!" Gohan stood up. He looked so determined that even Vegeta bought it.

"You don't stand a chance against him alone, kid!" A hand rested on Gohan's shoulder. He looked up.

"Piccolo!" Gohan turned to the tall Namekian, beaming with joy.

"You have trained well, Gohan." Piccolo squeezed Gohan's shoulder and smiled as well. "I'll take it from here."

He rose into the air, bringing himself to Frieza's height, and addressed him. "Frieza, you're dealing with me now!"

Frieza rubbed his eyes again and then looked up.

"That idiot. We're all going to perish just because he wants to mark the strong man," Vegeta growled as he looked up at the two of them.

Sitara's headache was so bad by now that she could only see in a blur. The past images kept appearing before her eyes. She could only place one part. What had happened on the planet Vegeta or on one of her conquest tours. Her squad: Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz. She couldn't place the other pictures with the Namekian and the boy and a hut by the waterfall. She only felt that these two people were important to her. But why? Sitara sobbed. She felt lost. And who was this man in the orange suit who had attacked her?

Two legs appeared in her field of vision. With difficulty she raised her head and looked at her counterpart. The sun was at his back, so she could only make out his outline.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She knew that voice. But from where? He leaned down to her.

"Kakarot?!"

He looked at her in confusion. "Oh, oh, I'm afraid the fall in the spaceship was worse than I thought. Don't you recognise me anymore?"

She brought herself to a sitting position and looked the man with the black hair sticking out up and down. "You are Kakarot. I had orders to find you."

He tilted his head. "That would explain why you came to Earth."

"Earth." She nodded. "Yes, that was the planet I was supposed to fly to." She faltered. "You attacked me!" She tried to put distance between herself and him, but sitting on Earth she didn't get far.

He tilted his head. "When?"

"In this spaceship."

He seemed to consider. Then he started laughing. "We trained on the way here."

Sitara didn't know whether to believe him. His laugh seemed open, honest. "Where is here?"

Abruptly he stopped laughing. "We are on Namek."

"Why?"

"We're here to find the Namekian Dragonballs so we can revive Piccolo and the others who died in the Saiyan attack on Earth."

"Piccolo." She whispered that word. A name. "Piccolo." She said it again.

"Can you remember him?"

"I ... don't know," she confessed haltingly.

"You crashed on Earth ..." He paused, seeming to consider. He shrugged his shoulders. "A few years ago, your capsule crashed on Earth. Piccolo found you. You couldn't remember anything. He gave you the name Sitara."

Her head rattled. The images flooding into her now made more sense. Little by little, pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall into place. "Go on, please," she asked quietly without looking at the other.

"Piccolo took you to a village. You only stayed there for six months and returned to the forest where you crashed. Then you made a strange energy connection. So, I didn't quite understand that." He waited for her to respond, but she just stared at a vague point in front of her. "You were training. After a few years, a Saiyan came to Earth and wanted me to join him. He kidnapped my son ..."

"Gohan!" exclaimed Sitara. She looked at the man, bent down and grabbed his shoulders. "I remember. It's all coming back. Raditz was on Earth. Your brother. I didn't recognise him after Piccolo killed him, but he had recognised me. Then we trained with Gohan. Piccolo wouldn't let me fight the other Saiyans though!" As the memory returned, so did the anger at what Piccolo had done. Her fingers tightened.

"He was afraid something would happen to you." He reached for her right wrist and stroked it slowly with his thumb. Her grip loosened. Gradually she put her hands down and sank back on her heels.

"What has happened since we came to Namek?"

Goku brought her up to date with curt words.

"Vegeta is here? And he helped you?"

"You know Vegeta?" She nodded eagerly. "How?"

Sitara blushed a little. "Long story." She waved it off. "You got Piccolo's aura right, by the way. He's here. I didn't recognise him in the spaceship and attacked him. I'm sure he's quite confused." She smiled briefly. "But apparently we have to take care of Frieza for now." She jumped up and ran. Adrenaline spread through her body, driving away the headache. She felt so strong all of a sudden. Piccolo was here. And Vegeta. Involuntarily, she had to smile. Everything was going to be all right now.

"Wait a minute!" Goku called after her. "What's your real name?"

"My name is Kera."

Dear reader,

Enjoy chapter 19 and thank you for your messages and comments.

Yours, Jessica