"Hello!" Krillin called out "you guys are the ones who captured us, remember!" Krillin yelled walking forward. V thought it was funny he was trying to be the tough one. He was scared and he was bad at pretending he wasn't. V wasn't sure if she could be the leader type like her new dad but looking at Gohan, she swore to try.

"You don't know what planet they're from." V cautioned Krillin "you don't want to offend them."

"Oh yeah, miss space traveler, what do you suggest we do then?" Krillin asked a bit snidely. Krillin had had it up to here with this girl. She wasn't Goku's kid!

"Hello?" V stepped to the front of the pack, Gohan behind her and Krillin behind him and Bulma cowering behind Krillin. V would never understand earth girls like Bulma. V's mom would never act like that.

"We're friends." V offered a genuine smile, of course when Vegeta had taught her this it was always to turn their trust back and take, whoever it was unlucky enough to fall in Vegeta's path, down from the inside out. "We're travelers." No one spoke, no one came out.

"Oh yeah, that worked out great." Krillin rolled his eyes.

"At least she's doing something." Bulma snapped at him knocking him over the head with his fist.

"Not you too." Krillin groaned "she's not one of us."

"yes she is, Krillin." Gohan snapped, V felt the rise in his energy. "She's my sister and she's one of us." Gohan kept his head down and his fists clenched, he wasn't quite used to this power yet. The destructive energy he felt inside himself scared him, especially in times like this, times when his rare temper was provoked and he could feel something inside him waiting to slip. V took his hand "you'll get used to it." She smiled at him and pulled him along beside her. Krillin grumbled some unintelligible words but followed with Bulma still clinging to him.

"Do you smell that?" Gohan and V said at the same time.

"That smells so good." V mmmed and followed the scent trail down the hall.

"It almost smells as good as mom's cooking." Gohan commented.

"Yeah!" V and Gohan took off down the hall, as excited for a real meal as V was there was something nagging at the back of her mind.

"Oh, wow!" Gohan exclaimed at the sight of the buffet in the middle of the room. From V's experience this would not be the strangest greeting she had ever received but there was something else, negative energy tinged the room just the slightest bit.

"This looks so good." Bulma giggled "finally some alien who know how to treat a lady." Bulma plopped down in the chair and V heard the click of a trap.

"Gohan!" V drove and snatched Gohan out of the way although it only took V a second to realize he was already reacting. He's learning V thought happily.

"Watch out!" Krillin tried to grab Bulma but the chair was the trap, as soon as the trap snapped shut Bulma whizzed out from it and dangled from the ceiling.

"Bulma!" Gohan wriggled out of V's arms and ran toward Bulma.

"Wait." V cautioned as soldiers emerged from every corner surrounding them. V didn't sense any special power levels but they could have just been hiding their power.

"Nobody move!" A young voice ordered them. V heard the insecurity in it. Vegeta taught her too much about weaknesses, maybe Krillin was right, maybe she just knew too much about being bad to be good. V shook the thoughts away despite her internal struggles, she needed to protect Gohan, she needed to make sure they got to Namek and they wished Piccolo and everyone else back to life.

"we're just travelers." V said firmly, she had to work to stay focused, there was so much extra energy in the room it was making her dizzy. Confusion fear, anger, desperation, it all mixed into one bitter taste in her mouth.

"Oh yeah." The young voice spoke "how do we know you're not lying?"

"Because we're not." V said obviously but of course that was yet another answer Vegeta had programmed her to say. One that worked surprisingly well because if only one said something with enough confidence, people believed you.

"Don't listen to her, they must be working for Frieza." Another voice whispered but V's sensitive saiyan ears picked it up without a hitch.

"Frieza…" V's blood ran cold and her heart dropped into her stomach Frieza's near here? V thought in a panic. Fear was the worst emotion V had come to recognize, it was overwhelming and paralyzing. It was such a useless emotion, she couldn't understand it, she didn't want it, but it was there all the same. She pushed it aside Gohan, you will never meet him.

The ship jolted and the soldiers screamed. It didn't take V but a second to realize what these 'soldiers' really were. Gohan felt V's realization at the same moment that he had his "They're all just kids."

The kids lifted their helmets off and glanced around with fear plastered across their faces.

"Watch out!" V saw the metal block tilt and start to fall, she dove toward it with Gohan at her side and they flew up to meet it.

"They're helping?" the very first voice said in confusion.

"Clear out." V ordered as she and Gohan lowered the thing to the ground.

"thanks." A young girl beamed up at Gohan. Gohan smiled back and patted her head, the girl was even smaller than Gohan.

"no problem, we like to help." Gohan smiled at the girl and followed V to help her secure loose things.

"Who is flying this thing?" Bulma screeched.

"The oldest one." The one that seemed to be second in command said.

"Well he's going to get us all killed." Bulma shrieked. "Let me down and I'll make sure all of us get out of this thing alive." Bulma stared the kids down. The leader met her eyes and nodded "let her go."

The other kids released Bulma from her metal claw prison and dragged her into the cockpit. "this way."

"Is everyone okay?" Krillin asked as he hovered over a group of kids that were almost squashed. The kids nodded but Krillin recognized their expressions, they were scared and they were probably wishing their moms and dads were here right now to hold them. Krillin wished he could make that happen but the only thing he could do was hold this metal thing up and help them live through this ordeal.

Bulma jerked the steering wheel left and right and spun the ship in way the captain had never seen before. He took notes as Bulma expertly guided them through the asteroid field.

"Come on girl…" Bulma yanked on the control, just clearing the last asteroid and guiding the ship into clearer travel. Bulma flopped back into her seat and breathed a sigh of relief "safe." She panted. The kids cheered for their hero in the cockpit while the others cheered for their saviors in the main room.

"Why would you help us?" The second in command demanded rushing up into Gohan's face. V stepped between them and glared at the boy "because we're the good guys." V said daring him to make a move at Gohan.

"It's okay, V." Gohan nudged V aside and offered his hand to the boy "they're just scared kids." Gohan smiled "my name is Gohan, and this is my sister V and my friends, Krillin and Bulma."

"My name is Koda." The leader reached for Gohan's hand "thank you for your help."

"No problem." Gohan shook his hand and Koda turned to V "it's nice to meet some friendly faces." He shook V's hand as well.

"It's nice to see some new faces." V smiled at Koda casting a short pointed glance at Krillin. Krillin grumbled but didn't say anything, of course he also knew she could kick his but. Krillin shivered thinking of that speed bubble thing she did.

"So where are you guys from?" Koda asked.

"Earth." V said quickly wrapping her tail around her waist.

"Wow, you guys are pretty far from home." Koda said "where are you guys heading?"

"Namek." V answered again "we're going to see a friend." V wondered if it was a bad thing that even though she wasn't technically lying she was still looking for half-truths to tell. But it wasn't because she wanted to lie. The Nemekians trusted her with their secret, she couldn't go around telling everyone. Was that the same as being bad?

"Wow that's exciting." Koda lost some of his luster "I wish we could say we were traveling for fun too." He sighed "but we're running from someone, we're the last of our people."

"Frieza is a monster." V whispered.

"You've heard of him?" Koda asked, who in the galaxy hasn't? V thought but from the look on Gohan and Krillin's faces they had never heard of him I guess Earth wouldn't keep up on galactic news, considering they thought they were the only species in the universe. From what V understood they only had made it to the moon.

"I've been traveling since I was born." V clarified "this is their first time."

"well, you guys are clearly fighters." Koda said "and you're really strong but don't go near Frieza, he's powerful and he's ruthless."

"Will do." Bulma said stepping beside Gohan "I gave your captain some pointers and if you guys want a place you can go to take a break or settle down, I put in Earth's coordinates. Just go to Capsule Corp and ask for dr. Briephs, tell him Bulma sent you."

"Wow, really?" Koda asked "you people are truly good people." Koda had tears shining in his eyes. Krillin smiled, Gohan hugged him, he felt compassion for anyone that had been through so much, but V understood those tears. Earth was her refuge too.

"We'll look for you when we get back to Earth." V said "but we've gotta get going, we're kind of on a time limit."

"I understand that, good luck on your travels." Koda hugged Gohan and then V, he hugged V just a second longer than Gohan. "you have pretty eyes." Koda whispered just to her. V looked at him strangely, he was bigger than her but she wasn't so sure he had been alive that much longer than her.

"What wrong?" Gohan asked V as he walked beside her on their way back to their ship.

"Koda said I have pretty eyes." V pucked her mouth in confusion "I don't understand what that means."

"It means you have pretty eyes." Gohan laughed "it's a compliment."

"Compliment?" V tried to wrap her mind around a compliment unrelated to her fighting. 'You hit hard' was a compliment, 'wow you're fast' was a compliment. What the heck was she supposed to do with some stupid comment about her eyes?

"I don't get it." V sighed and rubbed her head.

"You'll get it when you're older." Bulma sang with a knowing look. V frowned at her but Gohan just laughed it off "come on, V, you can ask him when we get back to Earth. Right now, we've gotta get going to Namek."

"Okay." V shook off the strange comment and turned her sights toward more important things, like saving Piccolo.

"She's been sitting like that for ages." Gohan noted finally watching V sit with her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap. A few times Gohan wondered if V was sleeping but he could feel her energy pulsing and surging around her constantly.

"What's she up to?" Krillin wondered aloud assuming V was so deep in mediation that she couldn't hear him, but he was wrong. V was deep in meditation but she was very present. She was trying to find the focus that Piccolo kept nagging at her about. She thought she was focused but thinking about it lately, maybe she wasn't. So she sat trying to focus despite the talking, despite her elevated awareness of everyone's feelings toward her. Krillin was just annoying and Gohan was concerned about her, but why, why would he be concerned about her, she was the one that needed to protect him. He was the one who didn't know how space worked, he didn't know just how many other creatures were our here or just how evil one creature could be. A creature so evil, so ruthless that he would wipe out planets just for the heck of it. A creature that knew he was the most powerful thing in the universe and exercised his freedom liberally. Everyone one knew him, feared him and bowed to him because what else could you do against a force like that? A creature so cold he would destroy a completely compliant planet just because he woke up in a bad mood or was simply bored.

"do you think she's okay?" Gohan asked as V's teeth clenched together and her energy slowly began to climb.

Frieza was the pinnacle of everything that was evil, she remember how it felt to be in his presence, she had felt cold, her life seemed to drain out of her as he walked passed her and the others while they stood in line and listened to him give them their orders but V had been so terrified she couldn't remember what was being said. She remembered how he turned and looked at her, saying something about the future and the young ones. All V remember from that moment was the blackness that overtook her and the scolding she got later for passing out in front of Frieza for no reason. Frieza... the very thougth of him made V want to run to the opposite end of the galaxy. She felt the physical reaction of fear even within herself. She was cold and her body locked down, her energy spiked in anticipation of a fight her body wouldn't be able to stand.

Focus! Piccolo's voice shattered her concentration and thoughts and she flew back into the wall. V stared at the other end panting, her energy settled but her body was still tense, her teeth hurt too.

"V, are you okay?" Gohan asked. V quickly nodded her head "yes, I'm okay." She picked herself up and walked over to a chair just staring out at space.

"V wait-" Goha reached for her but Krillin intercepted his hand "no, Gohan, I don't like her very much and you know that but she needs a minute, whatever she was thinking of terrified her and she needs a minute to gather herself."

"Are you sure, maybe she needs me?" Gohan suggested unsure, V could be so hard to read sometimes.

"yeah, Gohan, I'm sure." Krillin watched V but he wasn't thinking about how much he didn't trust her or how often she acted more like a bad guy than a good guy. When he looked at her then, he wondered what was so terrifying that this amazing fighter was paralyzed by the thought of him.

I have to keep them away from Frieza. V thought determinedly, as much as she didn't like Krillin, he was dad's best friend and she would make sure he got home safely.

PICCOLO

Piccolo ground his teeth together "that girl never listens." Piccolo grunted and pushed himself to his feet, he wasn;t sure how it was possible but somehow, just for a second, Piccolo and V linked minds, he saw the images, the memory, he felt her fear.

"Worried about someone?" King Kai asked knowingly.

"Who would I be worried about?" Piccolo quipped.

"I think we both know the answer to that question." King Kai walked to Piccolo's side "they're okay, just so you know, V was afraid but it was from anticipation, they're not in any danger right now." King Kai didn't expect a real answer from Piccolo so he just turned away and started back toward the house.

"thank you." Piccolo forced out, he mind as well not burn this bridge who knew how long he'd have to be there.

"You did a good job with them, Piccolo." King Kai nodded "Goku never would have trained Gohan the way he needed to be trained. He loves him too much and V looks to fragile for Goku to give her a taste of a real fight, he would have been too gentle with her. You knew what needed to be done and you did it." King Kai smiled "even though you're still a sourpuss… the Earth is indebted to you."

Piccolo was unsure what to do with this knowledge. He was evil, he was meant to kill Goku and take over the Earth, this was all just a detour. He did what he had to to preserve the Earth for himself, but then why had he sacrificed himself for Gohan? The son of his enemy, the same fighter that Piccolo would have had to fight had he proceeded with his plan. Gohan, what an innocent, naïve, foolish child. Piccolo shook his head but couldn't help the smile "He knew nothing of Evil, he knew stories when I first took him in, he was pampered and small and believed he was weak." Piccolo looked upward "he's so innocent he poisoned me." Piccolo chuckled to himself "that kid is too good for his own good, good thing he's got V with him, she knows what real evil is." V, what are you so afraid of?