Darkness

Disclaimer- I'm sure you all know by now that I do not own Dbz. I own Keket, and that'll have to do.

Keket gasped, squeezed her eyes shut and gave Piccolo one last message through the mind link.

*Piccolo, he's here… now! Wh-what should I do?*

*Stay strong kid, just stay strong and I'll get someone there! It'll be okay soon. I have to go now. I have to contact someone else. Don't fight him Keket, I don't want you to get hurt… See you soon little one.* Piccolo withdrew from the mind link before the child could go into hysterics. He hated to leave her there with no comfort, but he had to contact the others.

*Gohan? Son Gohan?* He made his next link with his pupil.

*Piccolo-san! I was starting to get worried! Tell me what's going on!* Gohan nearly leapt for joy at the sound of his mentor's voice.

*All right, here's what's up--* Piccolo laid out the background of the past few days and gave Gohan directions on what to do.

*So, we have to go to the old training grounds, go west about 50 miles and the lab is somewhere in the Xun mountains?* Gohan repeated the directions, making absolutely sure that he didn't leave anything out.

*That's right kid. You get the girl out of there, understand? Tell your dad I'm sorry I can't fight. But, I'm kinda dead, ya know?* Gohan couldn't see the Namekian's face, but he could plainly hear the smirk in his voice.

*I gotcha Piccolo-san! We'll do whatever it takes! I gotta go now, dad is starting to get impatient.* Gohan whispered a last *Bye…* through the mental link before disconnecting with his beloved mentor.

"Gohan?" Goku nudged his son in the side. " Well? Tell me what's going on." Gohan smile sadly up at his father and relayed to him the message that had just been given.

*

"D-doctor… G-gero…" Keket murmured and bundled herself against the wall, as far away from the doctor as she could.

"Ah, Keket. What am I going to do with you? Here I thought I could trust my worthless sister to watch you, and you run off. Well, no matter. I'm making some 'adjustments' to her." The doctor chuckled evilly and walked closer to the cowering child. "Honestly Keket, I'm not going to do anything to you… not yet anyway, so stand up and stop whimpering!" Keket gulped and forced herself to stand. Piccolo had told her not to fight him and she was determined to do as he had asked, no matter how scared she was.

"Is… my mother here?" Keket stuttered uncertainly as she dared to look into the face of the maniacal doctor.

"Yes, yes. The dear woman is here. Would you care to see her?" Gero smiled down at her with anything but kindness in his expression.

"I…I…" Keket's eyes welled with tears.

"Oh, honestly… stop your blubbering." Gero growled at her menacingly. He then mumbled to himself under his breath. Unknown to him, Keket heard his mutterings. "Damn brat…shouldn't have added that emotion chip…"

"E-emotion chip?" Keket swiped at the tears falling down her face and looked up at the doctor in confusion.

"So you heard me, eh? Well, no questions… you'll understand everything soon enough. Now come, let's go see your mother." Gero pulled a remote control from his lab coat and pressed several buttons among the hundreds that seemed to be there. Shortly thereafter, the same cyborg that had brought her here appeared in the room and grabbed Keket up by the back of her shirt.

"Follow me, Teral." He motioned to the machine who followed obediently behind it's master down the long, dark hallway. The cyborg brought the child up to eye level when small sobs began to erupt from her. The doctor was far ahead of them now, but the cyborg Teral stopped to let the old man put more space between them. Teral waited until the shadows had swallowed the old man up before bringing the scared, helpless girl to his chest to hold her like a baby.

"Keket Nako… shhhh…" came it's scratchy, mechanical voice. "Do not cry…" His metal hands, more like claws, traced the trail of tears that lined Keket's face. Keket looked up in absolute shock.

"B-but… you…" She stuttered and tried to pull away from the cyborg. He held to her tightly though and slowly leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Things are not as they seem, dear one. All will be revealed in time…" The machine trailed off and without another word, began to follow the doctor once again. Keket was still in shock from what had just happened, and so snuggled down into the hard metal arms that held her and wished that they were warmer and softer… like Piccolo's…

*

"Kakarott! I thought you knew where this place was!" Vegeta growled menacingly. He had somehow been talked into coming along on this little expedition.

"Relax, We'll find it." Goku answered with a smile, which only annoyed the Saiyan prince more.

"I'm not going to keep flying in aimless directions just because you tell me to! If we don't find this place soon then I say to hell with the girl! She means nothing to us… and we'll have to fight these so called robots eventually anyway! Why go through all this trouble?"

"Because Piccolo asked me to!" Gohan shot back at the older man. " And even if you leave, I'm gonna keep looking no matter what!"

"Humph… just hurry up and find this place already!" Vegeta turned his gaze back to the ground below him before Goku or Gohan could reply. They both just rolled their eyes and continued onward.

*

"So, can you establish contact with the other Nameks?" Piccolo asked impatiently as King Kai's antennae twitched this way and that, trying to pick up faint signals.

"If you'll let me concentrate!" He shouted back at the grouchy Namek. Kami chuckled dryly and took a seat next to the fruit-bearing tree on Kai's planet.

"Oh, shut up old man!" Piccolo growled and sat on the ground in the lotus position to await further word from King Kai. He was attempting to contact the elder Namek to ask for three wishes. But, establishing contact was proving to be harder than he had thought.

"I think… I think I have it!!" King Kai shouted as sweat poured down his brow from the effort of such concentration.

"You know what to say, so we shouldn't need to speak to them directly." Piccolo stated, arising from his former position. Kami also rose, looking very concerned. Neither of them could hear what King Kai was saying to the elder Namek, but they hoped that he didn't mess up their wishes…

*

I am sleeepy again. I don't get enough sleep! I've been grounded, as of late and so I haven't had time to put up any chapters. The big twist should be added in the next chapter or maybe the one after that. Anyway, this story is far, far from being over. *sigh* I wish I could just have my thoughts for this story projected directly on the screen so I wouldn't have to type it all! I'm just lazy, I guess. When Vegeta, Gohan, and Goku get to the lab, the fighting starts ^_^ FINALLY! Nothing like a good fight. Until next time then… Bye bye!

Piccolo: You know very well that I would never be that sappy.

Nuke: Oh hush you! Everyone knows you're a cute widdle softy. *giggles*

Piccolo: I really hate this girl… *looks at the readers* Please get me away from her!