Vegeta, Bulma, Chi-Chi, Gerald, and Jessica reached the end of the path and were amazed. Before them was a clearing, and in the middle was the biggest tree any of them had ever seen. The trunk at eye level was at least the width of a football field and the first branch was a thousand feet off the ground or better. The crew found themselves wading through fallen leaves that could be easily used to cover an elephant. High above, the huge leaves was doing the job of blocking out the sun's powerful rays.

"That's totally amazing!" Bulma gasped.

Gerald found himself thinking, not for the first time that day, that his master, Gohan, would be disappointed to have missed all of this.

"I sense an intelligence from that tree." Jessica said with in awe.

Even Vegeta was impressed. "So? How does one talk to a tree?"

A voice began to speak in their heads. The voice was low, and slow and gave you the sense of great age and wisdom."

"Why, I suppose you would just open your mouths and speak your mind." The Aaraou Tree said.

One huge eye opened on the tree about fifty feet above the ground and slowly rolled to look at the warriors.

"Are you the Aaraou Tree?" Gerald asked.

"Of course mighty youth. The jungle and the animals tell me that King Tamro has released his spirit, and that you have traveled here seeking me. Are you the new crystal holders?" The tree said.

"Yes, he... well he sacrificed himself to give us this crystal." Bulma said. "We wish to find the door to the next dimension."

"The next dimension is very difficult. It is ruled by a strong evil. It nauseates my roots just to think about it! Are you sure you wish to go there?" The Aaraou Tree said.

"The only way out is to go forward, isn't it?" Vegeta said.

"Unfortunately, that is true."

"Then we must go there." Vegeta said a bit irritably.

"What is the meaning of these crystals we have. I've had the feeling that there is more purpose behind them, other than merely opening the doors." Jessica said.

"You have the crystals? May I see them?" The Aaraou Tree asked.

"Sure." Jessica fished both crystals out of a pouch she had made from a bed sheet from one of the capsule houses and held them up.

"You don't know how long I have rooted here waiting for this day." The tree's great eye glowed for a bit and the crystals floated out of Jessica's hands and gently floated to the Aaraou Tree's eye. The tree looked them over for several seconds before the crystals floated back to Jessica's hands.

"These crystals are incredibly powerful, there are seven in all. Six lesser to conquer the one greater." The tree said cryptically. "They will come together when the time is right."

"What the hell does that mean?" Vegeta demanded.

The tree's eye rolled over to settle on Vegeta.

"You are the one destiny has chosen to free us all, and end the curse placed upon us for our foolishness. I was once a man not unlike yourself." The tree said. "When I died, I was punished for my evil deeds by being reincarnated into the tree that stands before you now. To be aware, but never to move, or know companionship, or love, or hate, or anything that makes people what they are."

"Was that when these dimensions were created?" Gerald said.

"No, my offenses and punishment occurred millions of years before that." The Tree said. "I was promised that I would be free from my curse when all evil is purged from these dimensions."

"Do you have a name?" Bulma asked.

"I once had a name, but I have forgotten it." The tree moaned.

"What about the door?" Vegeta said. Vegeta shot his mate a sudden glance and nodded his head toward Chi-Chi who was looking like she was ready to pass out again. Bulma quickly removed a leaf from the pouch that King Tamro had given her directing Chi-Chi to open her mouth and crushed the leaf over her mouth. Chi-Chi made a face at the foul taste, but began to look better immediately.

"The portal is through that path. Each of you must use one of my leaves, for it is the hot of the day and the portal is in the middle of a clearing of trees and is not protected from it's heat." The tree said. "You would not survive direct contact with the greater sun."

Vegeta and crew looked around for leaves to carry. Each one of them was huge and heavy. They were, like the rest of the leaves in the forest, mirrored on one side.

"Thanks, we know what to do from here." Bulma said. "Good luck!"

Vegeta reached the head of the path with the others and turned back to look at the Aaraou Tree. He remembered many of the things that the Ultimate Kai said, during their brief association, about forgiveness and redemption and how he should not interfere anymore. Was this whole mess the result of an earlier interference?

"Come on Vegeta!" Bulma yelled back over her shoulder.

"Sure... Fine..." Vegeta took one last look into the eye of the tree and witnessed the sadness of the ages before he spun on his heel to follow the others wondering if the tree's crimes were any greater than his own were.

After a half an hour more low level flying, they reached an edge of the jungle beyond which was little better than the surface of a dead planet. The clearing extended for 200 yards, and in the middle of that was a large metallic door. The day was extremely bright beyond the jungle and no plant or animal life existed at all. Just a large expanse of glass, sand melted and fused from the heat of the sun, and the door, which glowed red from the heat.

"That door must be something else to not have melted away by now." Gerald said.

"Will these leaves protect us?" Jessica said skeptically.

"Yes, just make sure you position the mirrored side up." Bulma said. "The leaves will still heat up to the touch, but it should be tolerable long enough to get to the portal."

"Just make sure you have that crystal ready when we get there." Vegeta said. "We won't have a whole lot of extra time before we can't hold the leaves anymore."

"Understood." Jessica said.

"Don't touch the ground either, it's radiating enough heat to melt through your combat boots in seconds." Bulma said. "We'll have to fly low."

Gerald looked over at Chi-Chi who looked tired. "How are you holding up ma'am?"

"Polite boy, Gerald and Yambia are doing such a fine job raising him!" Chi-Chi thought. "I'm fine, but I don't think I can generate enough ki to fly now. I barely made it here."

"No problem, hop on my back." Jessica said. Chi-Chi walked up behind Jessica and wrapper her arms around the younger woman's shoulders. Jessica handed Chi-Chi the leaf to hold over both of them, then she took to the air and hovered while everyone else protected them selves and got ready to go. They all flew toward the door as fast as they could without ripping their leaves in the wind.

Jessica had the crystal in her hand was about to place it in the indentation, but the heat from the door burned her knuckles. She jerked her hand back almost dropping the crystal.

"Vegeta! I can't get close enough to the door!" Jessica complained.

Vegeta thought for a minute. "Gerald! You can survive this heat in your Ultimate form! Your father and I stood on the surface of a sun when we went ultimate, and you're stronger."

"Are you sure?" Gerald said in disbelief.

"Of course I'm sure!" Vegeta yelled as his fingers began to burn. "Hurry up!"

"You got it!" Gerald said as he concentrated his energy and his body began to change. Seconds later he flung the leaf away and stood floated there as a double-mystic ultimate super Saiyan.

"Wow! You're right!" Gerald said amazed.

"Now is not the time to work on your tan Gerald!" Bulma said.

"Oh right!" Gerald took the crystal from Jessica and thrust it into the door's indentation. The door immediately disappeared to reveal a vast ocean on the other side. There were numerous islands dotting the water off into the horizon.

Gerald flew up and used a ki shield to protect the others even further as they passed through the door, then he followed them in. The portal disappeared with a small "pop".

"We made it!" Jessica exclaimed in relief as she flew down to the water and thrust her hands in. She brought them out an instant later with a yelp.

"Salt water!" She complained as she held out her blistered knuckles.

"I could have told you that silly." Bulma smiled as she brought out one of the tubes of burn ointment she stashed in her pocket.

Jessica sighed in relief as Bulma applied the medicine. Through have closed eyelids, Jessica watched Gerald who had not powered down yet. "By the Kais he sure is handsome!" Jessica thought.

Gerald suddenly turned toward her. "You think I'm handsome?"

Jessica's insides froze. "You heard me think that?"

"Yes, I can hear what everyone thinks when I'm in this form, you are the only one that I can't block out." Gerald said. "Why do you think I am handsome?"

"Well, because when you are in this form, you are handsome. Don't you think I'm pretty?" Jessica fished for a compliment.

Well... Yeah, I suppose so, for a girl and all." Gerald said as he powered down to a normal ten year-old Saiyan boy.

"Thanks a lot!" Jessica said sarcastically.

"No problem!" Gerald smiled innocently.

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

Roger turned in red-faced anger to face his attacker. He had been so close to taking the much-needed aspirin!

"Who are you?" Roger said in a low, barely controlled voice.

"My... My name ishh Chive!" The young warrior said proudly.

Roger looked at Raditz and Bardock. "The idiot is drunk!"

"Not on my beer!" Bardock said.

"Kami help him if he is!" Raditz smirked.

Bardock shot his son a sharp look.

"I'm not dronnnk!" Chive yelled.

Bardock stepped forward. "Look son, I don't know what you want, but do yourself a favor and go on home and sleep it off."

"Shhuddap!" Chive yelled again. "I'm hhherre to csshallengge this Sshaiyan imposshter!! Hesh not one of ussssh and hash no rightsh being our king!"

Chive's ki suddenly flared as he transformed to Super Saiyan Four and stood defiantly.

Just then, several men and a few women landed near Chive. An older man approached.

"Son! This is insane! What are you doing?" The older man said.

"You said it yourself father! He's not Saiyan!" Chive shrugged the older man's hand off his shoulder.

"That was just talk!" The older man looked nervously at Roger. "We were just shooting the breeze, having a few beers, it was all in jest my king!"

"Apparently someone took it seriously." Roger said. "He fired at me."

The older man's eyes went wide. "You did what? You fired on the king?"

"He also issued challenge." Bardock said.

The old man's head and shoulders slumped. "Then it's too late." The older man walked behind his son and took up a defensive stance.

"What's happening?" Roger whispered.

"He issued a challenge to the royal house, meaning you and your family. There are two choices, he can either recant his challenge, or he can fight, but the challenge cannot be ignored. A Saiyan that recants is considered a coward, so no Saiyan has ever recanted, as far as I have ever heard, which is why the father is now joining the son, as well as the rest of the family." Bardock explained.

Roger looked and seen that it was true, the entire family was in a defensive posture.

"So what are they waiting for?" Roger asked.

"For you to give the order that the fight has begun and you accept his challenge. You are still king after all, at least until they defeat you." Raditz chimed in.

Roger vaguely remembered a lot of this stuff from his Saiyan culture lessons that Yambia administered on the Supreme Kai's planet while they were undergoing the Elder Kai's mystic treatment.

"Sooo... if I don't give the order, then the people consider me the coward and my problems magnify, is that it?" Roger said.

"You're catching on." Raditz smiled.

"What is it about Saiyans that we love no win scenarios?" Roger asked.

"It makes it all that much sweeter when we do win." Bardock smirked.

Roger shook his head and sighed. "So now I have the choice between beating up a drunk man barely passed his teens, whose power level is substantially lower than mine, and his entire family, or being branded a coward and be challenged by most of the rest of the planet."

"That sums it up nicely." Bardock said.

"Well, let's see if can persuade our friend Chive that it would be in his best interests to recant his challenge." Roger said.

"Most Saiyans would rather die." Raditz said.

"I can only try." Roger answered. Roger stepped forward.

"Sho! You've deshided to asshept my challenge?" Chive said.

"Before I accept your challenge I think it's only fair that you should no what you're up against." Roger smiled warmly at the youth.

"Show me what you gotsh!" Chive demanded.

"Very well then." Roger said as he clenched both fists and started to concentrate. Chive just stood there smirking.

Roger's blue energy field formed beneath his feet. Roger had trained extensively and had refined his shield even further. It would serve to protect the planet and the surrounding city from his transformation. The shield enveloped him from head to toe. Roger transformed into Super Saiyan Five, but didn't stop there. He wanted to throw the fear of the Kai into him, to show all others that challenge was useless, so he let his mystic powers flow, released them fully for the first time ever. The light from the blue shield was blinding as everyone averted his or her eyes away.

Chive's smirk faded like an old man's memory as his lower jaw dropped. He started to back up.

Roger, his transformation complete, let his ki shield drop to reveal his Super Saiyan Five form, with the additional mystic strip down the center of his head.

"We are all dead." Chive's father muttered eyes wide.

"So, what do you think? A bit to dramatic?" Roger asked smiling wryly.

"N-No my king!" Chive said.

Roger remembered when he was in high school years ago, he and some buddies were out cruising the local college campus looking at the fine college coeds, cruising for chicks as his buddy called it, and had been drinking pretty heavily from some wine and beer that his friend had convinced his older cousin to buy for them. They had driven around campus ogling the girls when a car pulled up along left side of them at a stoplight with an absolutely gorgeous girl in the passenger seat. Roger's friend eyed the girl openly, which she noticed and tried to ignore. Since the windows of both cars were open, and they were both drunk, his friend decided to make a further ass of himself.

"Hey baby! What's shaking?"

It was at that point that they noticed the occupant of the driver's seat, a large burly man in a crew cut, leaned forward and towards them menacingly.

"Hey kiddies, you'd better go on home to your mommy's house, you're way out of your league around here." Crew cut said with a smile of perfectly aligned teeth.

Roger nudged his friend as a signal that they should probably do what the nice large man said, but his friend was drunk and not really listening.

"And just who's going to make us you big gorilla?"

The man just smiled wider and pulled a gun up and pointed it at them.

For just an instant, the entire world froze and went dead silent except the pounding of their hearts.

Roger and his friend screamed. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably less than a second, his friend found the gas pedal and floored it. They didn't stop for ten miles.

The one thing that Roger noticed is that the second his mind ascertained that a gun was pointing at him, he went from drunk, to completely sober in an instant.

"I bet Chive isn't drunk now!" Roger thought. Out loud Roger said. "So? You ready to fight? There is another choice you know?"

"I can't recant! It would shame my entire family! I have issued the challenge and now I must carry through. I only ask you to spare my family!" Chive was practically in tears.

"What are you talking about? Recant what? What challenge? I don't remember any challenge. Bardock, do you remember a challenge?" Roger said scratching his head.

Bardock smiled. "No my liege, I must not have been listening, I never heard a challenge."

Roger turned slightly. "Raditz do you remember a challenge.

"No sire, no challenge was issued in my presence." Raditz said.

"Chive, surely you are not going to question the word of your king, and his most trusted and honest advisors, are you?" Roger said.

Chive powered down. "No! No! My king! I was drunk, I really don't remember saying anything!"

Roger also powered down. "Still, there is the matter of your firing at me. That's pretty serious."

Chives face had taken on a look of relief suddenly frowned in worry.

"Bardock, what is the usual punishment for firing on the king?" Roger asked.

"Death your highness." Bardock said.

"Hmmm... Seems a bit harsh doesn't it?" Roger said.

"His punishment is as your convenience your highness." Bardock smiled.

"Ah! Good then. Chive, I will spare your life if you will submit to my punishment, is that agreeable?" Roger asked.

"Depends on what that punishment is." Chive said warily.

"Nothing drastic, I assure you. It will take a bit of pride swallowing though." Roger warned.

"What is it?" Chive asked.

"Well first, I still have this damned headache and you managed to blast away the pain meds the doctor gave me. You will go to the medical center and tell them that the king sent you for another bottle, then you will bring it to me at the palace and it will not take you more than a half hour, is that clear?" Roger explained.

"Yes sire, that is clear." Chive said as he started toward the medical center.

"Wait! That's now all." Roger said.

Chive stopped. "What else is there my lord?"

"After you have come and delivered the pain relievers to me and I have dismissed you, you will return to the medical center where you will "volunteer" your services for a two week period of time where you will help tend to the sick and wounded and any other tasks they assign you, is that also clear?"

"Sire! I'm a warrior! Tend to the sick and wounded? I don't know about such things! That's for the weaklings! Serving you is one thing, but that is just plain barbaric!" Chive crossed his arms.

"Milord?" The older man spoke.

"Yes?" Roger turned slightly to address him.

"My name is Lettishan, I am Chive's father. I humbly apologize for what has happened here today. I will see that Chive does exactly as you ask." Lettishan stated giving his son a hard look.

"But father...!" Chive started.

"Shut the hell up! You have embarrassed your family enough for one day!" Lettishan demanded. "Now go and fulfill the kings wishes immediately!"

Chive shot his father a hard look, but didn't say another word as he flew off toward the medical center.

When Chive was out of sight, Lettishan and the rest of the family members approached Roger.

"This is Chive's mother Celebrix, we want to thank you for what you did today. The boy is headstrong, always has been. I also want you to know that I... well, I was wrong about you. You're not the type of Saiyan I'm used to, but you are a real Saiyan." Lettishan said.

"The type of Saiyan you are used to would have vaporized you and your entire family. The Saiyans like the type you're used to spent over 70 years in hell." Roger said simply.

"I know milord. But sometimes old habits and traditions are hard to change, and change is sometimes hard to grasp." Lettishan said as he turned and nodded to the others. They all took off and flew away.

"Don't I know it." Roger said under his breath as he turned toward Bardock and Raditz.

"Okay, let's get back to the palace." Roger said as he walked off.

"Wait a minute! Do you know what you just did?" Bardock and Raditz stared bug-eyed at Roger.

"What?" Roger said.

"You just solved a no win scenario, without killing a single person, without anyone losing face or honor, although Chive's will be a bit bruised, and you are still the king!" Bardock said amazed.

"Back to the drawing board fellas, apparently you're not designing no win scenarios as well as you thought." Roger smiled.

"Well, I got to tell you something, what you did, that solution to what I thought would be an unbeatable problem, was worthy of the wisdom your King Solomon." Bardock smiled. "I am proud to have you as a king!"

Bardock stopped in front of Roger and gave the Saiyan salute. Raditz followed suit.

"Thank you guys. By the way, how do you know about King Solomon?" Roger asked.

"My father is a book geek!" Raditz said as he crossed his arms disapprovingly.

"When I was on Earth I sort of stumbled onto Capsule Corporation's library. I sort of... well, I borrowed a few books, mostly on Earth history. You know Raditz, you should really read something once in a while. You might actually learn something!" Bardock said crossly.

"Humph!" Was Raditz's only reply.

Bardock looked Roger in the eyes. "We've never discussed this Roger, but are you prepared to be king permanently if Vegeta doesn't return."

"Vegeta will return! There is no sense discussing such a thing!" Roger said as he went to step passed Bardock toward the palace.

"King Roger!" Bardock said more forcefully.

Roger stopped and looked down at his hands.

"I will do whatever is necessary to fulfill my obligations and duties to King Vegeta, and to the Saiyan people. I swear it!" Roger said as he started walking again.

Bardock nodded at the king's retreating back and walked along behind with Raditz.

On a second story apartment balcony overlooking the King and his advisors, two sharp eyes watched, and two sensitive ears listened. Peppern stroked his chin thoughtfully.