Kame gave me a weak smile, and helped me into a seat, my legs felt suddenly weak and unsteady beneath me, I didn't think I could stand for much longer. "I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but. . .I thought you would like to know it." I shook my head, I knew I must have been very pale, because Mr. Popo and Kame both knelt down beside me.

"I. . .I don't think I can. . .I can't! There's no way!" I protested, feeling my lungs tighten up around the thought of. . .of having to fight already.

Kame gave me a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder and sought my eyes. "Please. Have faith in yourself. Believe me when I tell you that you have what it takes! I know you can defeat him. . ." I stood up quickly, a little too quickly, and wobbled unsteadily away from the two of them.

"The lunatic nearly killed me! He stole me from my life! He almost killed me!!!" I yelled, starting to hyperventilate. They tried to calm me, but my eyes sought out the only lifeline I knew now. Piccolo, I begged him silently and he stepped in.

"Look old man, you sure aren't helping this any, why don't you two go away for a while." His rough voice was music to my ears. His advise was badly needed. For some reason, I had discovered that he was the only one truthful enough to me in order to make me understand. What he said to me was not to baby me or to reassure me, he spoke the truth. And right now, that's what I needed the most!

"Fine. But watch her closely, Piccolo, she's in a precarious position right now." Kame told Piccolo softly, being almost outside of normal hearing range, but I too, just like the Nameks had exceptionally good hearing. The other glared, but nodded. "Good. See to it that she stays safe."

I was holding my arms tightly against my stomach when Piccolo walked over to me with a small smile. Normally, on the series, I'd seen him smile like that at Gohan, and every now and again at someone else, but never thought it could be at me. "I'm gonna die fighting him, aren't I?" I whispered, looking directly into his eyes.

He didn't look away, but nodded briefly. "You do have a chance to beat him, you just have to believe in yourself." I shook my head, than held up my hand to correct my denial.

"Alright, lets say, somehow, I manage to believe in my heart that I can win, I'm still no match for him physically. I can't fight him in hand to hand mortal combat. He knows that!" I paused to shake my head and look away, but his hand caught my chin and lifted it up to meet his eyes, his face was set in determination.

"Look, you might not believe me, but you've got what it takes to defeat him. Alright. Look at it this way. Gohan is half Saiyan, he's twice as powerful as either his father or Vegeta, and he's just a kid! Having human blood in him makes him a more fortified opponent. You!" He tilted my head back to look toward a mirror not far away. "You are half Saiyan also, carrying the same vicious blood, but you have the upper hand, you're also half Ice Jin. You carry all of the advantages, but seem to have dropped the disadvantages by the wayside. You have the potential to become stronger and more capable than Freeza himself!

"Freeza, even in his ultimate form, is small. His skin becomes heavily armored, and his power is more focused, however, he still has to worry about physical strengths. A small frame, no matter how strong it is, has serious limits. He uses his powers to make up where he lacks. He uses his tail as a deadly weapon as well as a holding devices to beat his opponent.

"You can become just as effective if you focus on using that as well." I blinked at him in surprise.

"But I don't have Ice Jin blood." Kame started violently at my remark and glared viciously at Piccolo, who started instantly to sweat.

"Well, actually, um. . ." Kame stepped up to help the now drowning Piccolo.

"I think it's time to tell you a little story, one that will only cause you to feel more doubt, but hopefully, will shine some inspiration on your faith in yourself. Here it goes:

"Not too long ago, you were born on the Planet Vegeta. Your mother and adopted father were royalty, although not the royalty that you are familiar with. Your mother conceived you during war time, it was nearly nineteen years ago. . ." I waited for him to continue, but it was apparent that he was not going too.

"So. . ." I thought for a second and than laughed lightly. "I'm a rape child? Is that what you're telling me?" Kame nodded, and Piccolo glared at him. "GREAT!! Not only am I a half blood being from another planet, but now I'm a worthless illegitimate!!!! GREAT!!!" I yelled as I threw my arms up in the air.

Kame tried to calm me down, but didn't work too well. "Just because you were conceived by force, that doesn't mean you are worthless. It just means you're born of different means. . ." Piccolo grabbed his face with one hand and shook his head.

"Oh, so I'm just a bastard offspring of a rapist. Oh, well that's not as bad than!" Kame looked as though I were putting him through hell now, and Piccolo looked like he was about to kill Kame.

"No! That's NOT true! And YOU know it!!" Mr. Popo said suddenly from the left, coming between Piccolo and Kame. I folded my arms and held them close against my chest.

"Fine. I suppose your right." I gave in, realizing that knowing the truth about my heritage was a little shocking, but it still didn't change who and what I really was. I just didn't want to think about it anymore.

Piccolo used that moment to grab me by the arm and pull me away from the other two. "We need to talk. Privately." He told me as he looked back at Kame, the other pursed his lips, but didn't stop us from leaving. I looked up at him and shrugged out of his grip.

"You don't have to hold me so tight, it's not like I'm gonna run from you." I rolled by eyes as I sat down outside, beneath a palm tree. Piccolo leaned against the tree, waiting for me to become comfortable.

"Do you feel any different with this new information?" He asked me, I tossed my head and folded my legs up underneath of me.

"Not really, other than like a nobody."

"You know not. You should feel proud, no one like you has ever been born before. You're very special." I smiled, he was right. It wasn't my heritage that made me who I was, but my own mind.

"Yeah, but that just brings me to one little question." I paused, looking off into the distance, watching the clouds, Piccolo must have gotten tired of waiting for the question, because he suddenly spoke, startling me.

"And that would be??" I blinked, than nodded that I remembered.

"Do you know who my father is?" Piccolo shook his head, but spoke before I could say anything else.

"I have my suspects, but I'm can't be certain, I think Kame knows completely, but he won't tell me." I nodded.

"Do you think he'll talk to me about it? I mean, is this something I'm going to half to worry about later? Or will I ever have to worry about it?" Piccolo gave a small slight smile of irony.

"Well, there weren't very high chances of Goku needing to know he was a Saiyan from a different planet either, but than right when he wasn't expecting it, here comes Radditz, Nappa and Vegeta. All after him for different reasons. So, I think it would be safe to say that you'll probably need that sometime within the next ten years, give or take, probably less." I blinked, it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but it worked.

"You definitely don't butter up the truth, do you?" I asked, he smiled one of those smiles and shook his head.

"Would it help you any if I lied?" I shook my head and he nodded. "See, telling the truth is better, if I lie, you don't understand the full implications of what the truth is. For all we know, your father might be looking for you with a vengeance, angry that your mother hid you from him this long, but than again, maybe he's not. Maybe your mother managed to kill him be now and both are dead." He shrugged, I laughed and nodded my understanding.

"Yeah, I know. Just curious if you'd ever not told someone a half truth before." Piccolo nodded, but didn't say anything. We lapsed into a VERY long silence.

I stared out at the clouds so long, that I never noticed Piccolo leave and come back until he spoke again. "I spoke with Kame, he thinks it would be wise if you stayed here for a few days, you'd be able to train mentally with him, that way, you might be able to use part of your ability and heritage that are a little overwhelming for you right now." I frowned at him and shook my head.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea. I mean, every time I try to let it up just a little, it seems to nearly explode. Besides, if I do that, Vegeta will sense where I am and. . .I don't want to be stuck in a corner when he gets here." Piccolo shook his head.

"Trust me, Kame can find a way to hide your power level from all those who are not here, on his look out. You are safe to train and exercise your power here." He reassured me as I still looked at him in uncertainty.

I didn't feel so certain, but I agreed to it. "All right, just for the record, I warned you."

Piccolo smiled slightly than looked over to my left. "So, when do you want to start your training?" I looked away from him and down at the clouds beyond.

"Not for a while yet, I still want to try and get physically stronger before I do much more." He looked at me oddly. For some reason, my thoughts had kept returning to Vegeta. I never really understood his motives before, and had become wary of him because of what Piccolo had told me about Vegeta's attitude towards me. What if I'm all wrong about Vegeta? What if I'm not giving him the proper credit? What if he's just trying to do as he says? Help me to become strong enough to fight Freeza? My thoughts gave me pause. They never let me down before, and now, here they were, telling me that perhaps I should trust my instincts.

"I'm going to go off for a while, just wanna be alone." I told Piccolo, who backed away from me and nodded his understanding. "I'll be back later to talk to Kame some more, and probably you too, k? Good." My thoughts were more focused on Vegeta at the moment to consider if Piccolo had anything else to say. Thankfully he didn't, because as soon as I'd said it, I launched myself off the edge.

A smile came to my face as I let myself free fall for a while longer, I'd come to love the feel of the wind against my face and through my hair. It seemed to be where I belonged. But I still cherished a good walk alone when I had the chance.



Vegeta was right where I thought he'd be. In the Waste Lands, blowing up piles of rockslide and practicing up on his targeting. I tried to be as quiet as possible, but still, he stopped and looked up at me. A look of relief seemed to cross over his face, I cocked my head to one side, but didn't say a thing. I wanted Vegeta to be the first to break the silence. A moment later, he was floating in mid air right beside me, his stern face now completely unreadable. "I knew you'd show up when you were ready for more." He said, his gruff voice hinted with satisfaction.

I smiled, letting my mind settle down overtop of him. One gift Kame had taught me well in was Telepathy. I used it to read if his thoughts of me were as true and pure as I hoped and knew they were, or if the seeds of doubt Piccolo and the others had given me were true. "Yep. I'm not as tough as you are, I needed a longer break." I replied, brushing my hair back behind my ears.

He laughed and clasped me on the back. "You don't give yourself enough credit!! But you're right, you've still got a long way to go to be able to take me on!" His pride and attitude made me laugh, I nearly collapsed with joy when I found he seen me more as a fellow comrade than as a weak woman. Piccolo and the others were wrong, I felt a wave of shame wash over me for believing them over my instincts. But that's the way it was, I couldn't change how I believed, but I knew I could make up for it in the future.-------- He looked at me oddly, than, to my surprise, asked me a concerned question. "Are you feeling alright?" I blinked in surprise, than realized how I must look to him, I felt myself blush and nodded quickly.

"Yes, of course I do!" I replied back, trying to put on my best insulted face, but he saw right through it. He smirked at me, but said no more. "Are you ready to fight, or do you need some more time to practice?" His eyebrows went up in mock surprise, as his lips quirked up in that self-satisfied smirk of his.

Without farther warning, he suddenly shot a very powerful energy blast at me, I barely had time to dodge it, let alone sense his power level skyrocket up quickly than dive back down. I tried hard to stay focused on where he was, it seemed to take me forever, but finally, I began to get used to his quick movements again. "Oh, gonna play it that way, are we?" I asked, lilting my voice with as much challenge as I could muster.

He appeared directly in front of me holding a very large energy attack, I had just enough time to bring my own power level up to deflect it before he launched it at me. "You're getting better!" He congratulated me as I quickly launched a powerful assault back, Vegeta dodged it and smiled broadly. "Was that the Kamehamewa?" I smiled and nodded.

"I'm glad you recognized it." I replied, happy that I had pulled it off.

"And done silently too, does Kakkarot know of this?" I shook my head, and Vegeta seemed to beam as I told him what gave me the idea.

"I've watched you send several silent attacks at me, so I only figured that if you could do it, than so could I." His eyes narrowed and I thought for a moment I'd said something wrong.

"Do you want to learn how to gather more energy than that?" I raised an eyebrow curiously, unfortunately, the thought of becoming even more deadly and dangerous was too much for me to pass up. I was growing power hungry, just like Vegeta and for the same reason. I wanted Freeza dead more than anything in the universe, and I would be damned before I gave up the opportunity to become stronger and use my powers with more lethal force.



* * * * * * * * *

(meanwhile, back on Earth)

Gen paced frantically as she recalled the nightmarish events to her and Ambrlyn's friend, Rachel. "I mean, it happened so fast!!! I never even dreamed something like this could happen!" Gen said for the millionth time in nearly a month and a half.

Rachel shook her head and bit her lip as she thought. "Well, at least we know who took her. . .and that's not a good thing. I'm just as well learned as you are about DBZ, and we both know what kind of person Freeza is. He's not exactly the best person to go up against!" She stated, her eyes riveting to the poster on the wall which portrayed both Goku and Freeza back to back.

Gen nodded her head in agreement, she understood far too well what the survival rate for someone that was in Ambrlyn's situation, they weren't good. "Do you think she's alright?" Rachel just shrugged, both knew the truth, but neither wanted to admit that the worst might have happened.



The phone ringing made Gen jump as she raced from the kitchen to the living room where Rachel was answering her phone. "Hello?" . . . . "Yes, this is she." . . . . . . . . . . . "No, I'm sorry, I don't know. Haven't you been watching the news lately?" . . . . . . "I don't know about that." . . . . "I'm sure she didn't just disappear to give you a heart attack." . . . . "Haven't you been watching the news?!?!" . . . "Well if you'd been watching the news you'd have heard that there was an attack on the school and Ambrlyn was abducted!!" Rachel finally lost her temper with the unknown caller. Gen jumped up and down as a silent demand to know who was calling, Rachel waved her away with agitation and pointed toward the caller ID.

Gen raced over while Rachel filled in what they knew of what happened, leaving out, of course, that it was Freeza from the DBZ sagas. She pushed the scroll button to identify the caller as Ambrlyn's mother, she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Figures." She muttered under her breath.

"That's all we know." . . . .. "I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN THEY'LL GIVE HER BACK!!! I KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU DO NOW!!!" She yelled into the receiver as she huffed and glared at nothing. "Look, I'm sorry, but. . ." . .. . . "But. . ." . . . . . "Fine. I'll tell her to call you if I see her." With that, she hung up the phone.

"What was all that about?" Gen asked, Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed as she sat down hard on the sofa.

"Well, that was a hassle, that's what it was." Gen smiled at her remark.

"What did she say?"

Rachel's mouth quirked up in a smirk. "Ok, first of all, you know what I said, so I'll only tell you what she said." Gen nodded. "Is this Rachel? Do you know if Ambrlyn paid the car loan this month? And where is that girl by the way? No, but did she pay the rent on the car's garage? You're sure you don't know what's going on? I swear, that girl's always out to give me a heart attack these days! No, why, what's happened? Was it something about the college' From there you heard me, and than she asked me that when I see her, to tell her to call her!!! AWK!!! That woman gives me a migraine!!"

Gen laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, but you know she means well. Ambrlyn doesn't really tell people where she's going before she just disappears. Her mom has a right to worry sometimes, especially this time. . ." Gen broke off the comment before she finished it. Than she smiled again. "Yeah, I bet she's giving who ever she's with a really hard time right about now!"

Rachel nodded and laughed too. "Yeah, you know she's just an unstoppable ball of energy!"



* * * * * * **

I spat blood as Vegeta's punch hit home straight into my jaw. I growled as I narrowed my eyes and leapt safely away from his reach. I pulled my hands together and threw them out at Vegeta, instantly, a huge ball of energy met him halfway.

"Impressive, but can you do it for long?" He asked, a grin coming to his face.

I spat at him and threw yet another ball of energy at him, bigger this time. "I can do this until you're lying knocked out and exhausted on the floor, Vegeta!" I growled, my own mouth quirked up in an odd smirk around my fat, swollen lip.

Vegeta laughed and knocked the energy ball away, it slammed into the surrounding scenery. The fight had grown very vicious in little under half an hour. Sparked so by the accusation that I was still too weak to be worthy of doing intense training with Vegeta.

He was right.

The next blast Vegeta sent my way was a huge attack called the Devastator. I had never seen or heard of it before in the series, but as I noted many times before this, not every thing was the way it was in the series. I had only a moment to move out of the way, and slammed myself into the ground hard enough to take the fire out of my fight. "Alright. Alright! I yield!" I yelled at him as I felt him powering up for another attack like the one he just launched.

He walked over to me with a smirk. "You see? You can't stand up to me, just admit that you're a weakling." He was gloating, and as much as I hated it, I had to admit it to him.

Against my will and to my intense displeasure, I felt tears of defeat coming to my eyes as I tried to remain emotionless and hard. "You're right. I'm not as strong as you are. I've lived my whole life thinking I could take care of myself, only to learn the hard way that it wasn't even remotely going to protect me." The tears in my eyes could be heard in my voice. I didn't want them to be heard, but I couldn't stop it either. They rolled easily off my cheeks.

Vegeta's smirk faded and he turned his back to me. "You're Kamehameha isn't strong enough, it lacks the force and power that Kakkarot has, perhaps you should speak to him about it. Plus, you're fighting technique could never kill, only physically harm, you need to learn how to kill through it, I'll see what I can do to take care of those weak points!" He growled, his back facing me, I felt my face flush with anger, more at myself than with him, after all I was the weakest among the Z fighters. Despite my heritage, I didn't stand a chance in real combat. Not unless I got real lucky, and that wasn't likely to happen in real combat.



Within days of his comment, Goku had finally approached me. "Gosh, I'm sorry about that." He apologized. "You sure seemed pretty strong to me, but than again. . ." He scratched his head and looked a little embarrassed. "I'm not the best teacher in the world. I'm used to training by myself, not with others." I smiled, knowing that would change when Cell came. . .

"It's alright, don't worry about it." Goku interrupted me uneasily.

"Well, I am worried about it." I looked confused, so he went on. "I'm going to introduce you to Master Roshi, he's the one that taught me the Kamehameha. Hopefully, he'll teach you also, since he's better at it than I am." I blinked again in confusion, but this time, put words to it.

"What's wrong with me meeting Master Roshi? Does he not approve of women fighting?" I remembered what the series showed of Master Roshi, but I didn't know how accurate it was, since so far, lost of had been different.

"Oh no! He'll train you, it's just that. . .I don't want you to be offended by the way he acts around woman. He's. . .well. . .he was and still does consider himself to be a 'Ladies Man'. He can be a little. . .obsessive over the women sometimes." I felt my face blush a little as his words repeated the words I'd heard on the series so many times before.

"Oh." Was my only response. I looked up at the sky and wondered again what Mike was doing. I knew that he'd probably have heard about my disappearance by now, and had probably definitely figured out that it was gone when I didn't answer my phone at college. Mike. I whispered his name in my mind.

Goku was looking at me with such heartfelt sympathy that it looked like their might be tears forming in his eyes. "Thinking of someone back on your world?" He asked, his voice soft. I nodded. "Someone special? Family, friends?" Again, I nodded, too choked up to say anything. "It helps to talk about it, if you want to, I'm willing to listen." I looked up at him with wet eyes. I'd long since gotten over having him see me cry.

"Thanks." I said with the only smile I could manage. His smile told me that he would wait for me to either say I was going to talk about it, or to signal that I would not. For once, I was glad to have someone there to listen. I sighed and sat down on the ground, Goku picked up the signal and sat down in the grass beside me, looking back at his house once, than his complete attention on me once again. "Mike. He's my boyfriend. We're exceptionally close, probably would have gotten engaged very shortly also, if. . ." I had to stop, a sudden lump made it hard to swallow. "If Freeza hadn't. . .kidnaped me. He's a really sweet guy. I miss him so much!" Goku nodded understandingly.

"I'm really sorry. I wish I could help you better." His words were filled with such innocent regret that I felt my urge to cry grow.

"It's not your fault. There's nothing more I require of your help than what you've already done and are doing, thank you. For that help, I am in your debt." I tried my best to keep my voice clear and my expression blank, but knew that I had failed.

"You're not in my debt. I'm glad to do all I can to help you. And in a way, it was my fault that Freeza came after you. It was up to me to finish him off on Namek, but instead, I didn't finish him off when I had the chance. I should have stayed and finished him off, even if I had been killed in the process, but the wish was not that way. They chose to bring me back here just before the planet exploded. I suppose I had hoped that Freeza was beaten enough to not survive the explosion. But I was very wrong. As you have proven for us all." Goku said, his usually happy had turned solemn and full of regret.

I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my dress and shook my head. "It's not your fault! I'm not saying that it was!!! I don't blame anyone but Freeza for his crime!" I didn't understand why I was crying harder at seeing his distress than at my own situation. But than again, I've always felt worse at seeing others suffer than at my own suffering.

Goku looked at me with soft eyes brimmed with kindness and love. "You should be concerned with your own predicament and not concerned with mine, but you're more worried about making me feel better than your own fate." His words were just as filled as his eyes were, he reached over and gather me in his arms, I went easily. "You are a very rare person, little Ambrlyn." I felt myself break down in his arms, I just couldn't stop crying.

Chichi walked out of the house and opened her mouth to say something, but Goku gave her a look and shook his head slightly, she gave a smile and nodded. Understanding that I was letting out my fear and sorrow, and she would interfere, so she backed in the house and gently closed the door. Goku stroked my hair gently and hugged me comfortingly. "It's alright. He can't hurt you now. He'll never hurt you again, by the time he finds you. . .you'll be strong enough to kick his ass!" I gave a weak laugh and sniffed loudly, pulling away, suddenly awkward with my face filled with tears and my eyes bloodshot.

"Yeah." I agreed, wiping my eyes again on my dress sleeve. Than laughed a little and sniffed loudly again. "Well, I suppose we'll have to see that when it happens. But don't get your hopes up on my winning." Goku gave me an odd look, than put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't think like that, it's not wise. If you go into a battle knowing you're going to die, you most likely will. And with Freeza involved, I'm afraid that the dying will be the best of it. I promise that I'll do everything in my power to get you confident enough to say that you will beat him. I have a lot of faith that you'll become twice as strong as I am. You have the right attitude for it, just don't let what Freeza did to you bring you down. Just have faith, everything will work out for the best." He told me, his face a serious set, I knew better than to challenge this, he would keep arguing his point until I finally saw it. I knew he was right, so I just simply accepted it as true. Goku wouldn't lie to me.