"Blast!" Vegeta cursed as he swatted several mosquitoes out of the air at super speed with one hand, while removing his foul weather gear with the other. The other team members were doing the same. Gerald was swatting them away from both himself, and Chi-Chi. These particular bugs were about twice the size commonly found on Earth. Vegeta finally got fed up and expanded his ki field incinerating the pests like a giant bug zapper.

"I don't know why you are worried Vegeta, they couldn't penetrate our skin anyway." Bulma pointed out.

"I don't want the little bastards on me at all!" Vegeta said. "Makes my skin crawl!"

Vegeta looked around into the gloom of the jungle. Not much to look at, trees, vines, a small amount of sunlight through a dense overhead canopy, scrambling sounds of animals.

"The worst part is I still don't feel Kakkarot!" Vegeta complained looking back at Chi-Chi. "How's she doing?"

"Not good, but she's hanging in there for now. I will need to feed her again soon." Bulma said.

"Okay, let's get our bearings and we can all eat." Vegeta said. Vegeta had stripped down to his work out pants and a black tank top. Everyone else was in a similar state of dress.

"Okay, let me clean things up while you get your bearings." Bulma took out the wardrobe capsule and expanded it. Jessica helped her hang up the foul weather gear and remove some shorts and other articles to change into.

Vegeta stretched out his senses and didn't encounter anything significant. A large grouping of small kis was to his right. The kis were only slightly stronger than the humans were. Vegeta sensed that Gerald was also using his senses scanning around.

"Feel anything boy?" Vegeta asked.

"No, a bunch of little kis that way." Gerald pointed to Vegeta's right. "This planet is so full of life though, a person skilled at hiding their ki could easily use the background ki to mask his or her own."

"True." Vegeta said. "We will be on our guard for that."

Bulma and Jessica had taken Chi-Chi behind a stand of trees to change into more comfortable clothes.

"The boy's right." Vegeta said. "This planet is virtually teeming with life. Vegeta had never felt anything like it. Vegeta momentarily thought about having Gerald go to his Ultimate Super Saiyan form and check things out again. His heightened senses would surely find anyone hiding or masking their ki, but that would also tip off a potential enemy to who they were dealing with.

"Okay, we'll play it by ear for now then." Vegeta said.

"Okay." Gerald said.

Neither one spoke for a minute or two. Vegeta's mind wandered thinking about what he let Roger in for.

"So spill it girl!" Bulma said. "What's going on between you and Gerald?"

Jessica's eyes got real big as her foot caught in the leg of the shorts and she almost fell. "W-What do you mean?" Jessica blushed.

"Well, it's been said that you two are bonding, is that true?" Bulma pressured as she finished dressing herself and began to change Chi-Chi's clothes.

Jessica's blush deepened. "Yeah, I suppose so. But we..."

"I know, I know... It's just that Gerald is so young and all." Bulma said.

"Well, it's sort of strange. I mean we've known each other all this time and nothing. Then he went Super Saiyan Four and while he was in his adult form we sort of... well... connected, mentally, you know?" Jessica said.

"You thought he was hot, didn't you?" Bulma teased.

"Well.... Yeah..." Jessica said looking at her feet.

"It's okay Jessica, if he's anything like his father as an adult, he is hot." Bulma admitted.

"He has his father's distinct looks, but also a bit of his mother too." Jessica smiled.

"Sounds like a dream then." Bulma said. "Just remember that even though he looks like an adult sometimes, he's still a 10 year old boy. Your bond with him is probably confusing him more than anything else right now. It wasn't that long ago that I heard him say girls were yucky."

"I know, I've told him that it's a friendship bond, that's the way I'm treating it for now." Jessica said and smiled. "I can wait."

"Good girl!" Bulma said. "I knew I could count on you. You two will make a great couple one day."

"Thanks Bulma. I hope so." Jessica blushed again.

Bulma finished dressing Chi-Chi and attending to her sanitary needs. "Okay, I'm famished, let's get back to the guys and eat something."

"Sounds good!" Jessica answered.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

King Roger woke up with a slight headache from drinking that rot gut crap Bardock brews and has the nerve to call beer. Queen Yambia was in much the same condition. After Bardock and the rest left a woman around Roger's age came and offered to show them to their quarters. Roger was worried that he and Yambia would be expected to sleep in Vegeta and Bulma's bed, which would be too creepy! Fortunately, Seeda, the head maid's name, took them to an equally well-appointed bedroom. The drunken couple fell into bed and fell asleep almost immediately. That was 3:00 in the morning. Seeda woke them up at 6:30 in the morning.

"Duty calls sire." Seeda answered to Roger's "Whazzzaaa?"

"Remind me to have Bardock executed for trying to poison us." Yambia called as she pushed herself out of bed and headed towards the bathroom.

"It's on my list of things to do today." Roger answered. "Don't take too long in there!"

There came another knock on the door.

"Come!" Roger said slipping on a robe and sitting on the edge of his bed.

A short, wiry woman with pulled back hair and a severe look on her face entered the room. "SIRE! You're not ready yet? You have a 7:30 meeting with the Tadrean trade commission! We've been working on that treaty for months! The Tadreans are very sensitive and easily offended. Being late would be a grave insult to them."

Roger recognized Appliana from her long association as Vegeta's Administrative Assistant.

"Oh Kami! I've inherited you too!" Roger moaned remembering the incessantly nagging woman and laughing behind his hand at Vegeta's predicament.

"Yes! Aren't you pleased!" Appliana said sarcastically.

"Okay, what does the rest of my day look like?" Roger asked.

"The trade commission meeting will probably take all morning, then you break for lunch, 1:30 you have granted an audience with Judge Rubarbic, he has some questions about the supreme court system that Vegeta outlined. There are some questions regarding procedural issues.

Appliana went on to outline a full schedule up until 9:00 PM that night, excepting meal times.

"...so that pretty much wraps things up for the day, any questions?" Appliana stopped.

"No, I think that's pretty much what I expected." Roger said as he stood up and headed toward the bathroom.

Roger passed Yambia on her way back out after she took a quick shower. She had a towel wrapped around her self, and her hair was still damp.

"We've got company." Roger said nonchalantly as he passed his mate.

"Joy." Yambia smiled weakly.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"So, I guess we should go and find someone." Bulma said after she finished encapsulating all the supplies and vaporizing the trash with a ki blast.

"You're getting good that that." Vegeta smirked.

"Thanks. Have to learn something hanging around with you all these years." Bulma said.

"I'm not about to try hacking my way through the jungle, so we should try flying above the jungle canopy." Vegeta said.

"It looks like it goes up quite a distance." Gerald said. "Should me and Jesse go scout it out?"

"Yeah kid, go scout it out." Vegeta said with a smirk.

"C'mon Jesse!" Gerald said as he blasted away from the jungle floor.

"Right behind you!" Jessica yelled.

Jessica pulled up beside Gerald as they approached the canopy far in the distance of the floor.

"These trees are huge! Have you ever seen anything like this Jesse? The Canopy is at least a mile above the floor!" Gerald said excitedly. "Gohan would love to study the ecosystems around here!"

Jessica agreed. She also remembered something Gohan had told them once. Ecosystems like this are very fragile; any small change could cause the extinction of dozens of species. They would have to be very careful.

Finally the pair reached the canopy and flew through to the morning sun. Or rather morning suns, the planet was part of a binary star system. The sky was lit and brilliant in reds, oranges, and yellows as the first sun was high in the sky while the second, larger sun had just peeked over the horizon.

"I wonder if it ever gets dark on this planet?" Jessica asked.

"Let's see, judging by the distance of speed of the two suns, and by the speed of the rotation of the planet, it would be night fall for a six hour period once every 34 hours. An hour here would be about 1.5 Earth standard hours, or 1.2 Vegetasei standard hours." Gerald said without really thinking.

"How do you know all that?" Jessica said.

Gerald smiled. "I'm a genius, remember?"

"I think you made all that up. How could you know the speed of the suns and the rotation of the planet just by looking?" Jessica said.

"I can feel them." Gerald shrugged his shoulders. "I can't explain it. It's like energy."

"Oh..." Jessica looked at her young friend. "Well, we'd better get back to Vegeta and tell him what we found."

"Right! Let's go!" Gerald said as he and Jessica descended back to the jungle floor.

Gerald stopped just before moving past the canopy. "Jessica, do you notice something strange?"

Jessica looked around. "Yeah, now that you mention it, I do."

"The entire jungle from the canopy on down is literally teeming with life, but above the canopy, the sky and the treetops are completely sterile." Gerald said.

"Yeah, birds should be everywhere, insects should be on the leaves and buzzing around, but nothing." Jessica noticed.

"Kinda weird, isn't it?" Gerald said.

"Yeah. We'll ask Vegeta what to make of it." Jessica asked. "Let's get back to the others."

Gerald and Jessica landed in front of Vegeta and related all they had seen.

"Okay, it sounds better than trying to go on foot." Vegeta said. "Gerald you carry Chi-Chi and take care not to drop her. That's a long fall."

"You got it!" Gerald said as he hooked his left arm under Chi-Chi's shoulders and his right arm under Chi-Chi's knees and hoisted her up. The action seemed to rouse Chi-Chi a bit.

"G-Gerald? Where are we?" Chi-Chi said in a weak voice.

"We're going to find Goku Mrs. Son." Gerald said.

"Oh, g-good when you f-f-find him t-tell him I love him, w-would you?" Chi-Chi said.

"Sure, but you will be able to tell him yourself." Gerald smiled.

"Y-Yes, that would be n-nice." Chi-Chi said as she lost consciousness again.

"Poor Chi-Chi!" Bulma exclaimed.

"We will make this right." Vegeta renewed his earlier vow. "Let's go."

The group took to the air and had flown about two hours toward the ki Vegeta felt earlier.

"Look at that Jesse." Gerald said using his elbow to point down at the canopy.

"What?" Jessica asked looking where indicated.

"The leaves are turning over." Gerald said.

Jessica and the others looked at the leaves, and sure enough they were turning over to reveal the bottom of the leaves, the surface of the bottom of each leaf was like a mirror when exposed to the sun.

"What the hell is going on now?" Vegeta said as he stopped in mid air.

"This feels bad." Bulma said.

Gerald was busy looking into the sky. "Oh CRAP!" he finally said. "We've got to get below the canopy NOW! No time to explain, just get there!"

Gerald with Chi-Chi in arms dived towards the canopy with everyone else doing the same.

Suddenly, the light from the second sun increased dramatically, as well as the heat. Vegeta and the others were desperately trying to reach the canopy but it felt like they were on fire! Finally they reached the canopy and dived into the cool jungle. The group was scorched, but essentially unharmed. They all reached the jungle floor.

"What was that?" Was all Vegeta could say.

"The orbit of this planet is highly eccentric, like Pluto only on a larger scale. The orbit brings the planet too close to its primary star once every day. The plants and trees here have adapted to protect themselves from the extreme heat and ultra-violet, much like the ozone layer on Vegetasei does. With the planet coming that close to the sun, the ozone layer was probably burned away. This couldn't have happened overnight though, chances are that the second sun was trapped in the first one's gravitational field slowly changing the planet's orbit over many millennia." Gerald explained. "If you looked a million years you would never find another ecosystem like this."

Bulma took out another capsule and her mobile medical lab appeared. She handed out several tubes of burn creme.

"All I know is that my tail is singed." Bulma said. "Thanks Gerald for the warning."

"So when can we travel again?" Vegeta said.

"It will be at least six hours for the planet to circumnavigate the sun and reach a significant distance from the sun." Gerald said. "Then it's a matter of how cold it may get as the planet heads out into deep space"

"It couldn't get too cold. The plants and trees would die." Bulma said.

"That is a mystery. I suggest we stay inside the canopy until we know what is going on." Gerald said.

"Great! Well I'm not just going to sit around here!" Vegeta said. "Those kis are close by now, let's see if we can get to them."

Bulma packed up the medical lab and was ready to go. Vegeta formed a ki blade on his hand and began to cut through the dense foliage heading in the direction of the kis. After around 20 minutes, Vegeta stopped.

"Those kis are all around us now, you feel them?" Vegeta said turning to the others.

"Yes, they are here." Jessica said.

"Hello?" Gerald called. "Anyone out there?"

No answer, just the chattering of animals.

"Look!" Jessica pointed up into the trees.

Thousands of smallish, ring-tailed monkeys sat in the branches of the trees looking down at them.

"Those are the kis we felt!" Gerald said.

"Blast! Nothing but monkeys!" Vegeta railed.

"These monkeys are strange though." Bulma noticed. "They're not acting like monkeys at all. They appear to be studying us and talking with each other."

"Do you think they are sentient?" Gerald asked.

"If I could touch or get close to one of them I could find out." Jessica said.

"What do you want?" Vegeta looked up and yelled at the simians.

One of the monkeys, that was almost twice the size of the others, cocked his head at Vegeta curiously. He then started to climb down from the tree followed by ten of the others.

When the monkeys reached ground level, the large monkey turned to one of the smaller ones who handed him five headbands made of intertwining vine. He held the bands of plant life out and motioned for Vegeta and the others to put them on.

"Can we trust them?' Gerald asked.

Jessica took this opportunity and reached out and placed her hand on the shoulder of one of the smaller monkeys. The monkey turned obviously startled locking eyes with Jessica for several long seconds. The monkey and Jessica finally smiled at each other.

"It's okay, they can be trusted." Jessica said as she and the others took the proffered headbands from the larger monkey and placed them on their heads. Vegeta followed suit after a few seconds of scowling.

"Ah! We can talk now! I am King Tamro of the Sildari!" The larger monkey said as soon as everyone had his or her headband on. "It is good to see you my cousins!"

"Cousins?" Vegeta scowled.

"Yes!" The king brandished his tail at Vegeta. "Don't you see the resemblance?"

Vegeta bristled. Among Saiyans, there are fewer insults worse than calling another Saiyan a monkey. With Vegeta, it was more than an insult. Vegeta's ki began to rise. To his credit, Vegeta was controlling his rising anger fairly well.

"We are not MONKEYS!" Vegeta yelled as his aura flared to life knocking all the simians to the ground.

"Vegeta! Control yourself!" Bulma screamed. "He meant no harm!"

Vegeta looked at Bulma. "Hmph!" Vegeta turned his head and spit into the brush before turning his back to the king, arms folded.

King Tamro was wide eyed as he and his people picked themselves off the ground; he approached Vegeta cautiously.

"You are one of the men of legend." King Tamro said.

"What?" Vegeta turned toward Tamro. "What men of legend?"

"One of the two men of legend. Your coming was foretold to us in ancient times." King Tamro said. "You have come to free us from the ancient curse. I have guarded the crystal with my own heart for all this time."

King Tamro reached and parted the heavy fur on his chest to reveal a crystal similar to the one used to enter this dimension, it glowed softly.

"What are these crystals anyway?" Bulma asked fascinated.

"The crystals hold great power. Power for good, or power for evil. Many years ago, good people tried to use them for bad reasons, following bad directions from bad people. We were imprisoned in this dimension because of it." Tamro said. "Only you, and the other man of legend can break this prison."

"Who is this other man of legend?" Jessica asked.

"Don't know. I only know him when I see him. Like that one." King Tamro looked at King Vegeta. "The crystal tells me who he is."

"Tell me, who is she? What is wrong?" King Tamro looked concerned at Chi-Chi being carried by Gerald.

"Her name is Chi-Chi, and unless we can reunite her with her mate, she may not make it." Bulma said sadly.

"Her mate? Their bond is broken?" King Tamro said.

"Yes, how did you know that?" Bulma asked.

"Her spirit reaches out for her mate even now. I feel it." King Tamro explained. "A broken bond is a serious thing. I have something that may help."

King Tamro brought out a small pouch from underneath his fur. The pouch was made of the skin of some sort of reptilian creature. He unfolded the flap from the pouch and brought out a leaf. The king of the monkeys then crushed the leaf over Chi-Chi's mouth letting the juice drip past her lips.

"In a few minutes, she should wake up. She won't be well, but she should be able to travel. You take these and use them when she starts to pass out again. They will only work four, maybe five times. The bond is stronger than the medicine." Tamro explained handing the pouch to Bulma.

Bulma took the pouch eyeing it suspiciously. "This won't hurt her will it?"

"No, I don't believe so." Tamro said.

Bulma tucked the pouch away in the pocket of her shorts. "Okay, thanks."

"My time is done, and yours grows short." Tamro announced to Vegeta. "I have but one, final duty to perform in my life."

King Tamro turned to a smaller monkey next to him and seemed to issue an order in his native language. The smaller monkey seemed to argue and King Tamro batted the smaller monkey along side his head emphasizing his order again. The smaller monkey reached under his fur and handed King Tamro a black, onyx stone knife.

"For my people!" King Tamro plunged the knife deep underneath the edge of the crystal, and pried it loose with a loud 'pop'. The stone rolled to Vegeta's feet.

King Tamro fell to his knees. "The power of the stone is yours. Use it wisely!"

The warriors stood wide-eyed as Tamro's body turned to dust.

A great wailing, howling sound came from the jungle all around them, and the monkeys in front of them wailed their grief into the jungle as well.

Vegeta bent over and picked up the stone. "I will." He said, although he had no idea how. "Here Jessica, put this with the other one."

Unlike the crystal that brought them to the seven dimensions, the crystal they used to pass from the last dimension to this one didn't stay on the other side of the door, but dropped to the ground on their side. Jessica took out the capsule she put the other crystal in and placed the new one in as well.

"Now what?" Gerald asked.

The smaller monkey that King Tamro cuffed retrieved the Kings headband from the dust he was reduced to and placed it on his own head.

"My name is Ramulda. I am King Tamros oldest son and the new king." King Ramulda said. "The stone will open the door to the next dimension, you will need to go there. Travel into the lesser sun for half a day and you will arrive at the portal."

"We will have to travel under the canopy, it will be several hours before we can fly above the canopy." Gerald observed.

"There is an ancient path, it starts over there. It's old, and a bit overgrown, but it's better than trying to cut through the jungle." Ramulda said. "You are looking for the ancient Aaraou Tree. It's the largest tree in the forest, and very wise. Our people sometimes go there to ask for advice." Ramulda said. The Aaraou Tree will direct you to the portal. It's very close by."

"The tree gives advice?" Vegeta eyed the new king in disbelief.

"Oh yes! It's very ancient, some say that it has been around since the dawn of all creation." King Ramulda said.

"What's happening?" Chi-Chi's weakened voice sounded from Gerald's direction.

"Put me down young man!" Chi-Chi said. Gerald complied, but kept a hand out just in case Chi-Chi needed it.

"How do you feel Chich?" Bulma asked.

"Like someone hit me in the head with a planet. I don't ever remember feeling this alone before. Not even with Goku was dead." Chi-Chi explained as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Can you travel?" Vegeta asked.

"Yeah, I can walk I think." Chi-Chi took some steps. "Yeah, I seem pretty solid on my feet at least. Just don't ask me to do anything that requires ki. I can't generate enough to light a match right now."

"Good. Gerald, you will stay with her, she is your responsibility. At the first sign of danger you will pick her up and fly her out, no matter how much she screams and hollers." Vegeta said.

"You're always the charmer, aren't you Vegeta?" Chi-Chi said.

Vegeta just smirked. "Okay, let us go and find that path."

Vegeta set off across the jungle with the rest of the crew close behind.

"Good luck!" King Ramulda called from behind.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Piccolo and crew flew along in the blazing heat for some hours. They had detected one single ki on the planet and they were desperately trying to reach it. Goku looked beat as Piccolo carried him. Hercule Satan came through in a pinch and had packed the pack that Savalia had given him full of snow before entering the portal, now it was cool, refreshing water, not a huge amount, but enough to keep them going for the time being.

Piccolo surveyed the parched planet. There was nothing but dunes and waves of heat as far as the eye could see. Piccolo extended his formidable senses as to encompass the entire planet. Nothing, not a single other ki or indication of life at all, except the one now directly below them.

"It should be here, but I don't see anything." Uub said.

"It all around!" Buu said.

Buu was right. The ki wasn't at any one fixed point but seemed spread over a large area.

"Let's land and see what we can see." Piccolo said.

Piccolo and company touched down gingerly on a large sand dune. Piccolo wanted to see if the sand would support their weight. It did and everyone settled to the ground. Piccolo let Goku stand on his own.

"I feel it, but I don't see anyone or anything." Uub said looking around.

"Nor do I, but something is here." Piccolo said.

"Sssssoooo... You've come to sssseeee Yaonch?" An ancient voice as dry and sandy as the land around them said. "Yaonch don't like ssssstrangersssss."

"Who are you? Come out!" Piccolo called.

"Very well." Yaonch answered. "If you inssssisssst."

Suddenly the wind began to howl and the sand blew in large swirls in front of them. The sand gathered and took shape into a small man about the size of Pilaf, only far skinnier. A now familiar crystal embedded in his forehead.

"Is thissss what you want to sssssee?" Yaonch asked.