Piccolo:

"All right, what do we do now? Have you finally found out something?"

Piccolo knew he was being unfair to Dende and Menka. The two of them had certainly had their hands on every book and scroll that was in the extensive library in Dende's palace and had tossed and turned a night or two.

Piccolo, meanwhile, had rounded up all the male and female fighters he knew (18 had agreed to help), and asked them to train. Even Gohan joined in the training, even though Chi-Chi had taken a long time to convince until she agreed. No one knew how they could free Kera's and Vegeta's souls, but a fight would certainly be unavoidable. Kera's and Vegeta's bodies were too strong for that and the two dark ones - as Piccolo had come to call Malaha and Aitor - had had enough time to familiarise themselves with the bodies. They would not leave the bodies again voluntarily.

"Yes, I think we've finally found something!"

Even though Piccolo was pining for a solution, he was surprised to finally hear Dende say this.

"And what?"

"Does the technique Evil Containment Wave mean anything to you?"

Piccolo swallowed. Yes, of course it meant something to him. His father's memories lived on in him and so did his feelings. Many years ago, Piccolo the demon king could only be stopped by the Master of the Turtle Hermit using the Evil Containment Wave to lock and seal him in a rice cooker. In the process, however, he himself had lost his life.

"Yes, I know this technique. How is it supposed to help us? It doesn't just lock up the soul, it locks up the body."

"Not if the bodies are so weakened that they give up the body willingly," Dende replied.

"You mean we have to attack Kera and Vegeta and bring them to the brink of death?" Piccolo couldn't believe the little Namekian had actually suggested that.

"Papa, I think I know how we can get Mama to the point where her body is released without having to hurt her who knows how."

Menka stood tall beside Dende. She held a slender scroll tucked under her arm.

"How?" asked Piccolo curiously, but not without scepticism in his voice.

"You said that you could feel Mama's soul when you met her at the cave, so your connection was still there."

Piccolo nodded. The connection had been only paper-thin, but he had been able to see and feel it. That had been more than he had perceived from her in the whole of the last few months.

"And you also said that the dark one seemed to have sensed the connection, or in other words, Kera sensed the connection in her prison and thus became stronger, so that she was able to regain control of her body for a moment," Dende continued talking.

Again he nodded.

"We can try to get you to strengthen that connection again and so help Mama to free herself, at least in part," Menka finished the little lecture.

Piccolo felt as if the two had rehearsed their words carefully.

"How is this going to work? I can't connect with her right now."

Thinking about it now, he wondered why he had been able to reconnect with her that day.

"I think it has something to do with physical proximity. The closer you are to her, the more likely you are to make the connection," Dende replied.

"Fair enough, but how am I supposed to get closer to her? The two of them would attack me immediately."

"If you both attack them together and then some fighters distract and isolate the man, can we focus on connecting with Mama?"

"We?" asked Piccolo incredulously.

Menka nodded eagerly. "If I go to the spirit plane, I'm pretty sure I can help you."

"No way!"

Startled by Piccolo's violent reaction, Dende and Menka looked up at him.

"This is too dangerous. We're too close to the fighting. You could ..."

".. .get hurt? Is that what you were going to say?" Menka's purple eyes flashed with a desire to fight and she floated up so that she met Piccolo at eye level. "I have no particular desire to fight, yet you know full well that I can fight back."

"But ..." began Piccolo.

"I will protect you!"

Reyak had quietly joined in the conversation and now spoke up.

"When you are meditating and travelling on the spirit plane, your bodies are defenceless. I will take care of you!"

His son's green eyes now flashed militantly too.

Piccolo looked from Menka to Reyak and then to Dende and back to Menka. The three of them had already discussed and planned everything. They had found a technique that would help them free Kera's and Vegeta's souls and they had already determined the steps.

Slowly, Piccolo bowed his head. "Thank you."

Menka, still hovering in front of her, fell around his neck. "We will save Mama," she whispered.

Reyak hugged Piccolo around the waist and Dende looked up at him with a smile.

"Good, then explain the plan," he prompted her.

They sat down in a small circle on the ground and explained their approach.

Piccolo was silent after the three finished with their plan and thought. He went through several scenarios and possibilities, weighing the pros and cons, until at some point he nodded.

"Yes, this could work and is probably our only chance."

Kera:

She had sensed Piccolo. For sure. The thread of their connection had been there again. Very thinly and only very briefly had she seen him, but it had been enough. It had given her new strength.

Kera had been able to rebel against Malaha for a moment. She had regained power over her body.

Malaha had fought against it, but Kera had felt her hands again. The rocks beneath her feet. She knew she would not be able to keep control for long. Malaha had kept her locked up and weakened her for too long for that, but at least giving Piccolo a sign of life, she had managed that. And she had been able to prevent Malaha from following him.

Piccolo would surely look for a solution now with Dende, Bulma and the children. And they would find one. She just had to hold out a little longer.

But the waiting was even worse to bear now. After the birth of the child, which Kera had witnessed as a distant spectator, Malaha and Aitor had taken only a short break and then had begun what they had been planning all along: The subjugation and enslavement of the earth's population.

In the many years without a physical shell, Malaha and Aitor had not forgotten anything. They were so skilful in their approach that Kera almost felt something like respect. The two deliberately sought out smaller towns and their highest-ranking people first. With their magic and physical strength, they always found an argument to make these people submissive to them.

Malaha and Aitor were willing to do anything. They had no scruples whatsoever. If there was any resistance, it was either put down directly or nipped in the bud by blackmail or threats to close relatives. Within a very short time, they expanded their territory and gathered a considerable number of followers around them.

They moved out of the cave into a chic penthouse in a city of millions in the south. From the window they could see the whole city. Malaha liked to stand at the wide window in the evening and look down at the houses below, smiling. Kera was disgusted by the sight of her every time she looked at the reflection in the window pane. She recognised less and less of her body.

Malaha had cut her hair and no longer wore the long braid that Kera loved so much, but a short hairstyle. Although the baby bump had disappeared after the birth, her breasts were noticeably fuller and rounder than before. Her face looked more angular, more unfriendly. And those eyes ... Kera feared that the sight of the all-consuming blackness would haunt her nightmares.

Vegeta:

Kera had regained control of her body. Very briefly, but it was clear! It must have had something to do with the appearance of Piccolo, Vegeta was sure of it. So now the Namekian knew, and he would surely tell Bulma and the others, who would be looking for a solution.

Vegeta felt hopeful again. The Namekian would surely find a solution to free him and Kera.

He began to fight again. It was only a fraction of a second, but every now and then he gained control of his body. Aitor tried to push him even further back into consciousness, but Vegeta would not allow it. He thought of Bulma and Trunks. Kera seemed to have helped the thought of her family. Even though he didn't have that special bond with Bulma that Kera shared with Piccolo, the thought of her and his son still gave him strength.

A few days - or was it weeks? - had passed since Piccolo had appeared outside the cave. In the meantime, Aitor and Malaha had already taken control of several cities and moved. Vegeta had to admit that this place suited him more than the cave they had lived in until the child was born.

The child - a girl - also kept moving him in his thoughts. The prophecy that Dende had read to them said that this child would bring chaos. Did that mean that they had to kill this child in order to prevent it from plunging the whole earth into ruin or worse?

He had seen the girl through Aitor's eyes. He had seen nothing abnormal about her. When Aitor looked at himself in the mirror, or when he looked at Malaha, he always saw black mist rising around her body, sometimes barely visible, more of a hunch, thirsty, greyish, then thick and impenetrable. But there was nothing around the girl. She seemed different from the two mages. Normal.

When Vegeta looked at her more closely, he recognised Kera's features in her face. Then again, features of himself and was torn as to whether he should be disgusted that he had fathered a child with his twin sister or even proud that there was now a new pureblood Saiyan on this earth.

What did his reasoning matter anyway? As long as he was locked in his own body, he could think about it all he wanted, it wouldn't do any good. He couldn't talk to Kera and think about what they should do with the child. He couldn't talk to anyone at all or make any plans. Worst of all, he couldn't explain to Bulma that all this had happened without him being able to do anything about it. It made him indescribably angry that this Aitor had control over his body and he was condemned to watch. He didn't even keep track of the time that was passing anymore.

A scream jolted Vegeta out of his musings. He tried to see through Aitor's - his own - eyes again. At first it had been easy to witness what Aitor was doing to his body, but as time passed, Vegeta had to try harder and harder not to fade into complete darkness in the far corner of his consciousness.

Malaha had called out to Aitor. Her call had sounded agitated, almost panicked.

"Malaha, what happened?" cried Aitor excitedly as he hurried to her.

She was kneeling on the ground, hands pressed to her ears as if trying to block out something she heard. Again she cried out. As if she were in pain.

"He's trying to ... get into my mind," she pressed out.

"Who?" Aitor had knelt in front of Malaha and grabbed her arms. He forced her to look at him.

"The Namekian," she whispered, "he's attacking."