Disclaimer: Don't own DBZ, don't own FUNi, don't make money.
1 Many years later
She landed on Kindarith, a small planet filled with much life- so much that it almost flooded her senses. Energy was everywhere, and she had to shut off her scouter to keep it from exploding from the data entry. She gazed around, opening her mind for an energy strong enough to belong to a Saiyan, and smiled as she felt it. She took off quickly, hoping to catch up to the energy before it could escape. As she got closer, she realized that it was not her brother as she had thought, but instead a familiar presence that she could not name.
Three blasts of energy fired up at her, but she easily dodged and landed on the ground.
"What?" She looked at the shorter two Saiyans and blinked in shock.
"Just my luck," she sneered. "I find out that there are more Saiyans alive, and they happen to be Raditz and Vegeta and.somebody not important enough to name." She had seen the tall Saiyan somewhere, she just couldn't place him. He stepped forward aggressively and raised his hand.
"Relax, Nappa," Vegeta snorted. "No need to waste your energy on her." He glared sharply at Meleina. "You're not dead, then. Well, I did have my doubts. Zarbon always was an incompetent fool."
"You should know," she replied shortly. "And no, I'm not dead. In fact, I believe I'm quite alive and well."
"Not for long," Raditz growled.
"Don't start with me, brother, I'm not in any mood for you today. I'm looking for Kakarot. Do you know where he is?"
Raditz gave her a sharp look. "How do you know about Kakarot? You weren't on planet when he was born."
"No, I wasn't. I'll just say that I heard a rumor from a very reliable source."
Vegeta interrupted. "So what are you doing here, low-level? Come to search for your betters?"
"Didn't I already mention that I was looking for Kakarot?" She turned to the Prince and shook her head. "And your father always complained about low-levels being stupid. Honestly, you're far less intellige- argh!" She broke off her sentence with a gurgled shout and fell to her knees. Sticking out of her back was a huge knife- and a familiar one at that. "Raditz," she choked. "It's not enough.to.to chop off.my tail?"
"No, it certainly isn't, little sister. You're far too strong to be kept alive, and I've always wanted to kill you myself. I hope you enjoy your death, I know I will." She grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut against the pain. Raditz bent over her and patted her on the head. "No worries, Mel, I'm sure it'll be fast enough. Pity I can't stick around, but I have to go find Kakarot."
"You.know.where.he.is?"
"Yes, darling sister, I do. He's on a planet called Earth- or should be, at least."
Meleina glared at him. "What will you do when you find him? Kill him, too?"
"If need be." Raditz climbed into his Pod and laughed at her. "Goodbye forever, little sister!" Meleina watched as his Pod made its way to space, then turned to Vegeta and Nappa. Nappa was smirking, but Vegeta looked worried. He pulled the knife out of her back- painfully- and threw down a rag to the ground. It had been soaked in a healing agent- a weak one, she was sure, but it would have to do. She tried to reach back and put it on her wound, but the movement hurt horribly.
"Help.?" she managed to whisper.
"I'm afraid this is where my kindness runs out," Vegeta said with a slight chuckle. "If you weren't my sister's friend, I wouldn't have even given you this much help. Lucky for you, eh?"
Nappa smirked, then bent down and patted her on the back- right atop the knife wound. She forced the scream down, and rolled onto her back to spit in his face. He drew his arm back, but Vegeta growled to him, "Nappa, let's go. She's as good as dead, anyway." He threw the knife down by her head, and she forced herself not to flinch.
"I'll remember your wonderful kindness, Vegeta," she snarled. "You'd better hope that I do die."
"Not to worry, you will. Infection will set in soon enough. Enjoy the rest of your life- I hope the animals don't eat you alive."
Meleina watched them take off through the woods, running to get as far away from her as possible. As soon as she was healed, she vowed, she would catch up to them. She stretched her arm and felt the pain shoot up her back. Vegeta was right; infection would be setting in soon. She grabbed the rag and forced herself to twist her arm around, gasping and choking with pain as she placed the rag on the wound. She set it down gently on her back, then pulled her arms back out in front of her, closing her eyes against the stinging burn she felt. She fell into a troubled sleep, filled with nightmares about a familiar looking young man who called himself Goku.
When she awoke the next day, she was certain her dreams were brought on by the terrible fever wracking her mind. She staggered to her feet and clutched her head. Her back had pretty well healed, but she was unaccustomed to sleeping outside on the ground, and had contracted some sort of disease. She knew she needed water, but she felt too weak to move. She leaned against a nearby tree and squeezed her eyes shut, willing the fever away. As she focused, the image of her friend Kami flitted through her mind, and she smiled and focused on healing herself to fulfil her promise to him. She forced herself to ignore the pain and followed a game path in the woods to a river. She didn't know how safe it would be to drink, but she knew that the only way to reduce the fever was with water, so she drank. When she had her fill, she lay back down on the ground and looked up at the sky. She smiled faintly. It was a beautiful planet she had to admit. She wondered what the people who lived here had been like, then decided it didn't really matter- she would never find out. She closed her eyes and slept again.
For the second night in a row, her mind was filled with dreams about the strange warrior named Goku, only tonight they were different somehow. There was a little boy.a little boy with a ball on his head and a tail.and Raditz. In her dream, Raditz was threatening to kill the little boy.was kicking him, and powering up to finish him off.
She jerked awake in shock. "It must be something in the water," she grumbled, but put a hand to her head. She didn't feel feverish anymore, but she couldn't explain that strange dream. Why would Raditz want to kill a fellow Saiyan when there were so few left in the universe?
She shook her head. "It's gotta be the water." She stood up and smiled. "Yeah, definitely the water. I don't know how it would make me feel so much better, though. The water back home never healed me like this." She turned in the direction Vegeta and Nappa had gone and took off at a run in that direction.
Meleina kept careful track of the number of days (eighteen by her count; it would have been less if she'd been at full energy) she ran before she finally reached the clearing where Vegeta and Nappa had been. She was dismayed to discover that they had already left, but she vowed to hunt them down. She owed Raditz his death and Vegeta her life. She hurried back to her transport as fast as she could, then headed off-planet. In her transport, she used her mind to carefully think where the two Saiyans would be headed. Obviously they would want the biggest challenge they could get, and that left only a few planets. She programmed the transport for Doin. It would take about nine months to get there, she thought darkly. Too long. Way too long.
Her landing was anything but smooth. It had been many years since she had destroyed an entire planet, and she found that the sight before her was incredibly sickening. As she gazed around, her scouter alerted her to a large power source. Wow, found them on the first try. I'm good. Why are they still here? By all rights they should have left by now. Ah, they're probably still celebrating that they brought down this dump. She grinned and took off in their direction.
They were stopped in a small clearing, a fire roaring and eating dinner. She began to creep forward but stopped as she heard their conversation.
"No. But then again.maybe we should." She frowned. What the devil was Vegeta talking about?
"Are you thinking about what Raditz said?"
"Yes. I want those Dragon Balls."
"Would we wish Raditz back to life-?"
"No, that would be a waste of a wish. We should wish for something grand.so how would you like to be immortal, my friend, and fight forever?"
"That's a wish I could live with for the rest of my life."
Meleina watched as they climbed in their Pods and took off. She bit her lip and frowned. Why did the phrase, "Dragon Balls" sound so familiar? She searched her memory and blinked in shock. Of course! Kami had mentioned Dragon Balls once, a long time ago. Yeah, she remembered now. When all the Dragon Balls were brought together, the Eternal Dragon was summoned, and whoever brought the Balls together would get any one wish granted. Meleina grinned at the thought. It would be so nice to get a wish granted.and she knew exactly what she wanted her father's life back.
"Kill two birds with one stone, eh?" she said to herself. "Find Kakarot, and get Dad back. Earth could be very beneficial." She frowned. "Wait a minute, I thought Kami said the Dragon Balls were on Namek." She scratched her head confusedly. "Ah, well, I might as well go back and find out. I'm sure Kami will know what's going on."
~*~
She landed on Namek and looked around in surprise. Something was different about the planet, something was...missing. She strode into the familiar village where she had lived for the best year of her life with a warm grin on her face.
Toilkj, one of the Namek children she had befriended came to greet her.
"Wow, you grew up," Meleina said with a smile. "Time really flies, doesn't it?"
"We're glad you came back home, Leina," Toilkj returned. "But confused."
"I need to talk to Kami, Toilkj," she explained. "It's important."
"I hope not a matter of life and death. Kami's gone, Meleina. He hasn't been here for many years. I would say.about twelve years after you left was the last time anyone's seen him."
Meleina stared. "Where'd he go? Where is there for him to go?"
Toilkj shrugged. "Nobody really knows. Look, Leina, Kami can take care of himself. Trust me, he's fine, wherever he is."
Meleina bit her lip. "Darnit! Well.maybe you can help me. Toilkj, do you know anything about Dragon Balls?"
Toilkj stared at Meleina. "Why do you ask?"
"Because Vegeta and Nappa are going to Planet Earth to collect them and wish for immortality, and I could have sworn Kami said they were Namekian. I guess I was wrong," she added darkly, watching Toilkj squirm a little. "Unless you know something you're not sharing with me?"
"Well.I know somebody who might be able to help you with that." He led the way to the home of a wise old Namek named Dindaoi. "Kami and Dindaoi talked about everything. If anybody knows anything about that, it'll be Dad."
Meleina nodded. "Thanks, Toilkj." She smiled at the aged Namek. "Morning, Dindaoi. How are you?"
"I've been better, Leina. Yourself?"
She sat down and stared him in the eyes. "I'm afraid that I'm a bit confused, Dindaoi. Can you tell me where Kami is? I really need to talk to him, and Toilkj says he's not here, but that you might know where he is."
"Ah, yes, Kami. I do indeed know where he is."
"Can you tell me?"
"I can tell you, certainly, but I doubt you'll be able to speak with him. I'm sure he's very busy." Meleina didn't respond, and Dindaoi continued, "He's on Earth."
"Earth?" Meleina looked startled. How curious that Kami is where my baby brother is, she thought. "What's he doing there?"
Dindaoi smiled. "He's become Guardian of Earth. It's a very grueling job, I'm sure you understand, but he was quite eager to take it. He'll make an excellent Guardian, though."
"Guardian," Meleina repeated softly. "I suppose I won't be able to talk to him, then. Can you help me, I wonder? I want to find out about the Dragon Balls."
"Mmm.now where did you ever hear about those?"
"Kami mentioned them once, a very long time ago, but I never paid any attention. And recently.well, recently I heard about them from my brother Raditz."
"How did your brother learn about them?"
"Well.I was eavesdropping on a conversation, so I don't know the full details, but apparently there are some on Earth that are going to be used."
"Ah, on Earth? Where Kami is? That explains how there are Dragon Balls there; that must be Kami's doing." He turned. "Tell me, young one, why are you so curious about the Dragon Balls?"
Meleina ignored his question. "Is it true? That you get any one wish granted when they're brought together?"
"Yes, any one wish you want. Why?"
"These Dragon Balls are just what I need," she said, her eyes wide with anticipation. "If I can collect them, I can get Dad back! Thanks for your help, Dindaoi- what's that?"
"What's what?" Dindaoi asked curiously.
"I.I felt a bad energy.wow, that's not good." Meleina scratched her head. "It's on the other side of the planet." Her stomach hardened and grew cold. "If I didn't know any better." she whispered, but didn't finish her sentence. "I've gotta go find out what's going on," she said.
"I'll come with you."
"No, it's too dangerous. If I'm thinking right.it's just too dangerous." Her eyes darkened. "Besides, this is my battle. My time to shine, and show that freak that he messed with the wrong people."
Dindaoi grabbed her arm. "Be careful, Meleina. Okay?"
She smiled. "I'm always careful. But don't worry, I'm not going to go rushing in, not against these people. That's a suicide mission right there."
Meleina flew at top speed, pausing twice to rest and eat. She knew she would need her full strength if she was going to bring down Frieza, but that didn't stop her from hurrying.
A new day was dawning when she reached the tiny Namek village where Frieza was. She recognized instantly Zarbon, but wondered darkly where Dodoria was. Creeping around somewhere, probably, she thought. She eyed the group opposing Frieza's force, surprised to recognize Vegeta down there. She smiled faintly and shook her head. Of all the rotten luck, to be stuck fighting with him. She wondered vaguely if he knew that Frieza destroyed their planet, then realized that he probably did- why else would he be trying to kill Frieza?
Meleina got down on her hands and knees and crept forward slowly. Something bad was going to happen; she knew it deep down in her stomach, and she never dared to second-guess her stomach. There was.something.she growled softly, wishing her hearing was better. Without warning, there was an attack on Frieza, and clear as day she heard deep in her head Frieza's thoughts. If I can't kill those weaklings, I'll just destroy the whole planet!
Meleina froze, then brought a hand to her head. Impossible, she thought. How could I know what Frieza's thinking? But she knew that it was the truth; she had heard Frieza's thoughts.just as she had heard her father's dying thoughts. He's going to blow up Namek! She turned to run, then suddenly spun around and stared at the warriors. Wait a minute.that.he looks too familiar.could it be Kakarot? No, impossible, he doesn't have a tail. But.the resemblance to Dad is just too uncanny. She shook her head. Ah, Meleina, you're losing it, seeing Dad everywhere now. Just hurry up and get back to your ship.
She didn't hesitate another second. So what if they know I'm here? What's it matter now? If I don't hurry, I'm going to be dead along with everyone else! She flew as fast as she could back to her transport, stopping along the way to yell that the Namekians were all in danger. Very few of them listened to her, and finally she reached the village where she had lived for a year. She dropped down, gasping for breath, nearly exhausted, and yelled for Dindaoi. When he came out, she told him that the planet was minutes away from being destroyed.
He looked at her sorrowfully. "Then leave, Meleina. This is not your home, but it is ours. We choose to perish with home."
Meleina stared at him, tears glimmering in her eyes. "But.Dindaoi.you'll be just like us.an extinct race."
"Yes, Leina, I know." He waved a hand at the gathered Namekians. "We all know. But this is our home, and we cannot abandon it."
Meleina looked down at the ground. "If that is what you want. I'll never forget you- any of you. You were some of the closest friends I've ever had, and I'm thankful for the time I've spent with you. You've taught me." She choked up, then swallowed and continued. "You've taught me a lot about myself."
Dindaoi smiled. "You'd better hurry, or you'll die too."
She lifted her gaze. "Thank you," she whispered, then raced at full speed to her ship. She took off from the planet and exited orbit as far back as she could, flinging herself deep into space without pausing to program her ship. Who knows where I'll end up, she thought darkly. At least I'm alive. That's something, isn't it?
1 Many years later
She landed on Kindarith, a small planet filled with much life- so much that it almost flooded her senses. Energy was everywhere, and she had to shut off her scouter to keep it from exploding from the data entry. She gazed around, opening her mind for an energy strong enough to belong to a Saiyan, and smiled as she felt it. She took off quickly, hoping to catch up to the energy before it could escape. As she got closer, she realized that it was not her brother as she had thought, but instead a familiar presence that she could not name.
Three blasts of energy fired up at her, but she easily dodged and landed on the ground.
"What?" She looked at the shorter two Saiyans and blinked in shock.
"Just my luck," she sneered. "I find out that there are more Saiyans alive, and they happen to be Raditz and Vegeta and.somebody not important enough to name." She had seen the tall Saiyan somewhere, she just couldn't place him. He stepped forward aggressively and raised his hand.
"Relax, Nappa," Vegeta snorted. "No need to waste your energy on her." He glared sharply at Meleina. "You're not dead, then. Well, I did have my doubts. Zarbon always was an incompetent fool."
"You should know," she replied shortly. "And no, I'm not dead. In fact, I believe I'm quite alive and well."
"Not for long," Raditz growled.
"Don't start with me, brother, I'm not in any mood for you today. I'm looking for Kakarot. Do you know where he is?"
Raditz gave her a sharp look. "How do you know about Kakarot? You weren't on planet when he was born."
"No, I wasn't. I'll just say that I heard a rumor from a very reliable source."
Vegeta interrupted. "So what are you doing here, low-level? Come to search for your betters?"
"Didn't I already mention that I was looking for Kakarot?" She turned to the Prince and shook her head. "And your father always complained about low-levels being stupid. Honestly, you're far less intellige- argh!" She broke off her sentence with a gurgled shout and fell to her knees. Sticking out of her back was a huge knife- and a familiar one at that. "Raditz," she choked. "It's not enough.to.to chop off.my tail?"
"No, it certainly isn't, little sister. You're far too strong to be kept alive, and I've always wanted to kill you myself. I hope you enjoy your death, I know I will." She grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut against the pain. Raditz bent over her and patted her on the head. "No worries, Mel, I'm sure it'll be fast enough. Pity I can't stick around, but I have to go find Kakarot."
"You.know.where.he.is?"
"Yes, darling sister, I do. He's on a planet called Earth- or should be, at least."
Meleina glared at him. "What will you do when you find him? Kill him, too?"
"If need be." Raditz climbed into his Pod and laughed at her. "Goodbye forever, little sister!" Meleina watched as his Pod made its way to space, then turned to Vegeta and Nappa. Nappa was smirking, but Vegeta looked worried. He pulled the knife out of her back- painfully- and threw down a rag to the ground. It had been soaked in a healing agent- a weak one, she was sure, but it would have to do. She tried to reach back and put it on her wound, but the movement hurt horribly.
"Help.?" she managed to whisper.
"I'm afraid this is where my kindness runs out," Vegeta said with a slight chuckle. "If you weren't my sister's friend, I wouldn't have even given you this much help. Lucky for you, eh?"
Nappa smirked, then bent down and patted her on the back- right atop the knife wound. She forced the scream down, and rolled onto her back to spit in his face. He drew his arm back, but Vegeta growled to him, "Nappa, let's go. She's as good as dead, anyway." He threw the knife down by her head, and she forced herself not to flinch.
"I'll remember your wonderful kindness, Vegeta," she snarled. "You'd better hope that I do die."
"Not to worry, you will. Infection will set in soon enough. Enjoy the rest of your life- I hope the animals don't eat you alive."
Meleina watched them take off through the woods, running to get as far away from her as possible. As soon as she was healed, she vowed, she would catch up to them. She stretched her arm and felt the pain shoot up her back. Vegeta was right; infection would be setting in soon. She grabbed the rag and forced herself to twist her arm around, gasping and choking with pain as she placed the rag on the wound. She set it down gently on her back, then pulled her arms back out in front of her, closing her eyes against the stinging burn she felt. She fell into a troubled sleep, filled with nightmares about a familiar looking young man who called himself Goku.
When she awoke the next day, she was certain her dreams were brought on by the terrible fever wracking her mind. She staggered to her feet and clutched her head. Her back had pretty well healed, but she was unaccustomed to sleeping outside on the ground, and had contracted some sort of disease. She knew she needed water, but she felt too weak to move. She leaned against a nearby tree and squeezed her eyes shut, willing the fever away. As she focused, the image of her friend Kami flitted through her mind, and she smiled and focused on healing herself to fulfil her promise to him. She forced herself to ignore the pain and followed a game path in the woods to a river. She didn't know how safe it would be to drink, but she knew that the only way to reduce the fever was with water, so she drank. When she had her fill, she lay back down on the ground and looked up at the sky. She smiled faintly. It was a beautiful planet she had to admit. She wondered what the people who lived here had been like, then decided it didn't really matter- she would never find out. She closed her eyes and slept again.
For the second night in a row, her mind was filled with dreams about the strange warrior named Goku, only tonight they were different somehow. There was a little boy.a little boy with a ball on his head and a tail.and Raditz. In her dream, Raditz was threatening to kill the little boy.was kicking him, and powering up to finish him off.
She jerked awake in shock. "It must be something in the water," she grumbled, but put a hand to her head. She didn't feel feverish anymore, but she couldn't explain that strange dream. Why would Raditz want to kill a fellow Saiyan when there were so few left in the universe?
She shook her head. "It's gotta be the water." She stood up and smiled. "Yeah, definitely the water. I don't know how it would make me feel so much better, though. The water back home never healed me like this." She turned in the direction Vegeta and Nappa had gone and took off at a run in that direction.
Meleina kept careful track of the number of days (eighteen by her count; it would have been less if she'd been at full energy) she ran before she finally reached the clearing where Vegeta and Nappa had been. She was dismayed to discover that they had already left, but she vowed to hunt them down. She owed Raditz his death and Vegeta her life. She hurried back to her transport as fast as she could, then headed off-planet. In her transport, she used her mind to carefully think where the two Saiyans would be headed. Obviously they would want the biggest challenge they could get, and that left only a few planets. She programmed the transport for Doin. It would take about nine months to get there, she thought darkly. Too long. Way too long.
Her landing was anything but smooth. It had been many years since she had destroyed an entire planet, and she found that the sight before her was incredibly sickening. As she gazed around, her scouter alerted her to a large power source. Wow, found them on the first try. I'm good. Why are they still here? By all rights they should have left by now. Ah, they're probably still celebrating that they brought down this dump. She grinned and took off in their direction.
They were stopped in a small clearing, a fire roaring and eating dinner. She began to creep forward but stopped as she heard their conversation.
"No. But then again.maybe we should." She frowned. What the devil was Vegeta talking about?
"Are you thinking about what Raditz said?"
"Yes. I want those Dragon Balls."
"Would we wish Raditz back to life-?"
"No, that would be a waste of a wish. We should wish for something grand.so how would you like to be immortal, my friend, and fight forever?"
"That's a wish I could live with for the rest of my life."
Meleina watched as they climbed in their Pods and took off. She bit her lip and frowned. Why did the phrase, "Dragon Balls" sound so familiar? She searched her memory and blinked in shock. Of course! Kami had mentioned Dragon Balls once, a long time ago. Yeah, she remembered now. When all the Dragon Balls were brought together, the Eternal Dragon was summoned, and whoever brought the Balls together would get any one wish granted. Meleina grinned at the thought. It would be so nice to get a wish granted.and she knew exactly what she wanted her father's life back.
"Kill two birds with one stone, eh?" she said to herself. "Find Kakarot, and get Dad back. Earth could be very beneficial." She frowned. "Wait a minute, I thought Kami said the Dragon Balls were on Namek." She scratched her head confusedly. "Ah, well, I might as well go back and find out. I'm sure Kami will know what's going on."
~*~
She landed on Namek and looked around in surprise. Something was different about the planet, something was...missing. She strode into the familiar village where she had lived for the best year of her life with a warm grin on her face.
Toilkj, one of the Namek children she had befriended came to greet her.
"Wow, you grew up," Meleina said with a smile. "Time really flies, doesn't it?"
"We're glad you came back home, Leina," Toilkj returned. "But confused."
"I need to talk to Kami, Toilkj," she explained. "It's important."
"I hope not a matter of life and death. Kami's gone, Meleina. He hasn't been here for many years. I would say.about twelve years after you left was the last time anyone's seen him."
Meleina stared. "Where'd he go? Where is there for him to go?"
Toilkj shrugged. "Nobody really knows. Look, Leina, Kami can take care of himself. Trust me, he's fine, wherever he is."
Meleina bit her lip. "Darnit! Well.maybe you can help me. Toilkj, do you know anything about Dragon Balls?"
Toilkj stared at Meleina. "Why do you ask?"
"Because Vegeta and Nappa are going to Planet Earth to collect them and wish for immortality, and I could have sworn Kami said they were Namekian. I guess I was wrong," she added darkly, watching Toilkj squirm a little. "Unless you know something you're not sharing with me?"
"Well.I know somebody who might be able to help you with that." He led the way to the home of a wise old Namek named Dindaoi. "Kami and Dindaoi talked about everything. If anybody knows anything about that, it'll be Dad."
Meleina nodded. "Thanks, Toilkj." She smiled at the aged Namek. "Morning, Dindaoi. How are you?"
"I've been better, Leina. Yourself?"
She sat down and stared him in the eyes. "I'm afraid that I'm a bit confused, Dindaoi. Can you tell me where Kami is? I really need to talk to him, and Toilkj says he's not here, but that you might know where he is."
"Ah, yes, Kami. I do indeed know where he is."
"Can you tell me?"
"I can tell you, certainly, but I doubt you'll be able to speak with him. I'm sure he's very busy." Meleina didn't respond, and Dindaoi continued, "He's on Earth."
"Earth?" Meleina looked startled. How curious that Kami is where my baby brother is, she thought. "What's he doing there?"
Dindaoi smiled. "He's become Guardian of Earth. It's a very grueling job, I'm sure you understand, but he was quite eager to take it. He'll make an excellent Guardian, though."
"Guardian," Meleina repeated softly. "I suppose I won't be able to talk to him, then. Can you help me, I wonder? I want to find out about the Dragon Balls."
"Mmm.now where did you ever hear about those?"
"Kami mentioned them once, a very long time ago, but I never paid any attention. And recently.well, recently I heard about them from my brother Raditz."
"How did your brother learn about them?"
"Well.I was eavesdropping on a conversation, so I don't know the full details, but apparently there are some on Earth that are going to be used."
"Ah, on Earth? Where Kami is? That explains how there are Dragon Balls there; that must be Kami's doing." He turned. "Tell me, young one, why are you so curious about the Dragon Balls?"
Meleina ignored his question. "Is it true? That you get any one wish granted when they're brought together?"
"Yes, any one wish you want. Why?"
"These Dragon Balls are just what I need," she said, her eyes wide with anticipation. "If I can collect them, I can get Dad back! Thanks for your help, Dindaoi- what's that?"
"What's what?" Dindaoi asked curiously.
"I.I felt a bad energy.wow, that's not good." Meleina scratched her head. "It's on the other side of the planet." Her stomach hardened and grew cold. "If I didn't know any better." she whispered, but didn't finish her sentence. "I've gotta go find out what's going on," she said.
"I'll come with you."
"No, it's too dangerous. If I'm thinking right.it's just too dangerous." Her eyes darkened. "Besides, this is my battle. My time to shine, and show that freak that he messed with the wrong people."
Dindaoi grabbed her arm. "Be careful, Meleina. Okay?"
She smiled. "I'm always careful. But don't worry, I'm not going to go rushing in, not against these people. That's a suicide mission right there."
Meleina flew at top speed, pausing twice to rest and eat. She knew she would need her full strength if she was going to bring down Frieza, but that didn't stop her from hurrying.
A new day was dawning when she reached the tiny Namek village where Frieza was. She recognized instantly Zarbon, but wondered darkly where Dodoria was. Creeping around somewhere, probably, she thought. She eyed the group opposing Frieza's force, surprised to recognize Vegeta down there. She smiled faintly and shook her head. Of all the rotten luck, to be stuck fighting with him. She wondered vaguely if he knew that Frieza destroyed their planet, then realized that he probably did- why else would he be trying to kill Frieza?
Meleina got down on her hands and knees and crept forward slowly. Something bad was going to happen; she knew it deep down in her stomach, and she never dared to second-guess her stomach. There was.something.she growled softly, wishing her hearing was better. Without warning, there was an attack on Frieza, and clear as day she heard deep in her head Frieza's thoughts. If I can't kill those weaklings, I'll just destroy the whole planet!
Meleina froze, then brought a hand to her head. Impossible, she thought. How could I know what Frieza's thinking? But she knew that it was the truth; she had heard Frieza's thoughts.just as she had heard her father's dying thoughts. He's going to blow up Namek! She turned to run, then suddenly spun around and stared at the warriors. Wait a minute.that.he looks too familiar.could it be Kakarot? No, impossible, he doesn't have a tail. But.the resemblance to Dad is just too uncanny. She shook her head. Ah, Meleina, you're losing it, seeing Dad everywhere now. Just hurry up and get back to your ship.
She didn't hesitate another second. So what if they know I'm here? What's it matter now? If I don't hurry, I'm going to be dead along with everyone else! She flew as fast as she could back to her transport, stopping along the way to yell that the Namekians were all in danger. Very few of them listened to her, and finally she reached the village where she had lived for a year. She dropped down, gasping for breath, nearly exhausted, and yelled for Dindaoi. When he came out, she told him that the planet was minutes away from being destroyed.
He looked at her sorrowfully. "Then leave, Meleina. This is not your home, but it is ours. We choose to perish with home."
Meleina stared at him, tears glimmering in her eyes. "But.Dindaoi.you'll be just like us.an extinct race."
"Yes, Leina, I know." He waved a hand at the gathered Namekians. "We all know. But this is our home, and we cannot abandon it."
Meleina looked down at the ground. "If that is what you want. I'll never forget you- any of you. You were some of the closest friends I've ever had, and I'm thankful for the time I've spent with you. You've taught me." She choked up, then swallowed and continued. "You've taught me a lot about myself."
Dindaoi smiled. "You'd better hurry, or you'll die too."
She lifted her gaze. "Thank you," she whispered, then raced at full speed to her ship. She took off from the planet and exited orbit as far back as she could, flinging herself deep into space without pausing to program her ship. Who knows where I'll end up, she thought darkly. At least I'm alive. That's something, isn't it?