Individual Lies, here.
Thanks to all that reviewed. I appreciate the reviews and I will do my best to keep you entertained. I have much more in store, so stick around for the ride.

Also, as I mentioned in the first chapter this story is a prequel. Well, not anymore. I'm having such a surge of ideas for this story, that I have ultimately decided to change the direction of my original story and merge it with this one. Let's see how it turns out, hm?
And now to your reviews:
Emissary of Despair: Yea, I had originally planned to jump forward a bit further. But I wanted to show some of Seripa's earlier experiences immediately following the destruction of her race. And of course she's going to be thrust immediately into danger, because doesn't danger seem to seek saiya-jin out like a heat-seeking missile?
StephanG: I have something along those lines planned, so don't you worry. I have some interesting ideas in store for everyone.
I also would like to mention that my language tends to get vulgar during certain scenes, so if you happen to have a weak constitution regarding those sorts of things...you have been warned.
Again, everyone thank you for reviewing. And now, without further adieu, I give you...

Chapter 3: Falling

The explosion ripped the roof open, and in a flash the bridge was chaos as everything and anyone that wasn't bolted down was sucked out into the blackness of space.

Seripa flung herself at the throne and clung tightly to it, struggling against the violent storm that raged all around her. Beside her, Amotto, who had lunged for the throne the same time she did, desperately struggled to keep her grip on the slick surface of the throne.

"Hold on, Amotto!" Seripa called to her over the roar of the vacuum. Quickly she looked around the bridge. Many of the occupants were in the same position as them, she noticed. She also noticed, much to her irritation, that Turles and Caul were nowhere to be seen. No matter, she would find them eventually. And she was going to enjoy the torment she planned to inflict upon them for putting her in this situation.

A faint mechanical grinding caught her attention and she looked across the bridge to see the arched doorway slowly closing. Seripa knew instantly that if they did not get off the bridge before those doors closed, they would all die. Looking around again she remembered that she had the highest power reading on the ship. And luckily it was high enough for her to manage against the force of the vacuum. But she had to act fast.

Quickly summoning her ki, she released her hold on the throne and slammed her feet firmly on the floor. She wheeled her arms forward as the force of the suction threatened to overpower her. Quickly she flared her ki, pushing backwards with it to propel herself forward. She misjudged how much power she needed and ended falling forward to her knees, but she had succeeded in offsetting the pull of the vacuum. She quickly looked around and counted seven more occupants of the bridge, other than Amotto and herself.

Casting a quick glance at the slowly closing doors, Seripa steeled herself and summoned every bit of her strength, crying out as a light violet aura flared to life around her. She blasted off across the bridge and towards the pilot, Colli. She slammed violently into the wall beside the control console, jamming her fists hard enough into the wall to leave indentions for her to hold onto.

"Come on!"

"No!" cried Colli as she desperately clung to the console with one hand, her other one typing furiously across her keyboard.

"No, come on! We have to get off the bridge!"

"No!" Colli repeated. She glanced at Seripa with a pained expression. "If I leave the bridge then we will all die! I have to stay and guide the ship to safety!"

Seripa's eyes widened and her aura vanished from her body as she realized the logic behind her words. The ship was crippled. That meant that the auto pilot was temporarily disabled, leaving the ship to be piloted manually. It was a safety feature installed in every ship of the Cold regime, to minimize deaths via crash. The disabling of the auto-pilot ensured that the ship would not ever be stuck in auto-pilot. In this case, however, piloting the ship manually meant the death of one very brave pilot. It was either that, or everyone aboard the ship would die in a horrendous crash.

Colli smiled slightly as Seripa nodded her understanding. They were so few, but they had to survive this ordeal. If her death would ensure the survival of the Saiya-jin race, then Seripa had to let Colli go through with this.

"I will make sure that the ship survives intact!"

Seripa nodded and her aura flared to life again. She glanced across the bridge and pushed away from the wall, shooting across the expanse to grab two men by the collar of their armor, just as they both lost their grips. Without pausing she flipped around, jostling the men, and shot towards the doorway, dropping them to safety before heading back for two more. It took her less than ten seconds to rescue everyone.

Well, everyone save for Colli.

As Seripa hovered in the center of the bridge, she quickly cast one last glance around the room to make sure everyone had been saved. Her face was covered with perspiration as her aura burned viciously around her body, her ki burning intensely as she struggled against the vacuum. By this point she was breathing heavily. She glanced at the doorway to see that it was mere feet from closing completely.

Grimacing, she looked to where Colli still struggled to pilot the ship. She was reluctant to leave her, but she knew that this was the way it had to be. Spinning around in mid air, she shot towards the opening. By the time she reached the doorway, she had to angle her body around to fly through sideways. She immediately came to a screeching halt, and spun around just in time to see the doors close with a dull thud. Her aura vanished and she dropped to her feet, her chest heaving with each heavy breath she took.

"Wait, what about Colli?" asked one of the men.

Seripa straightened up and glanced at the man sharply. "Colli sacrificed herself to ensure the survival of the last of the saiya-jin. Let us repay this noble sacrifice by destroying Turles and Caul!"

"Right!" said Amotto, stepping to her side. "We must make them pay for this treachery!"

This statement was well received as everyone nodded and then took off in separate directions to search the ship for the two traitorous saiya-jin.

Seripa and Amotto ran side by side with both of Caul's former next-in-commands following behind them. They each looked into every room as they ran by them, but they were met with frustration as each room proved to be empty.

"Dammit!" Seripa cursed as she threw open a door and tore up the stairway to the next level of the ship. As she emerged onto the next level, the ship suddenly shuddered, causing her and the others to pause.

The taller of the two men frowned. His eyes were coal black and his black hair had been sheared close to his head. He looked across at Seripa.

"What was th-?" he never finished his question as a blast tore the floor open at his feet and vaporized him and his partner instantly.

Seripa and Amotto dropped back into defensive positions as Turles hovered up through the smoke wafting up from the newly created hole, a metal box cradled under his right arm. He landed before the two women, glancing between them in disdain.

"You are in my way. Move." He made a shooing motion with his other hand, a grin appearing on his face.

"You don't honestly think you can stand against me, let alone the both of us, do you?" Seripa queried, raising a brow at the grin on his face.

Turles chuckled. "My power reading is 1400. Far less than yours, I know. But trust me, bitch, very soon there won't be a being in the universe that will be able to stand against me!"

"Big words. Can you back them up?"

"If I must."

"Trust me, you must."

"Fine." Turles grinned and opened the box in his arms. The ship shuddered, causing him to drop the box, but not before he had snagged whatever was in it. The box clanked loudly at his feet as he held up a burnt-orange, spiked fruit in his gloved hand.

"This is the fruit of the Tree of Might." He proudly declared.

The two women exchanged questioning glances, before looking back at him.

Still grinning he brought the fruit to his lips and took a big bite of it, chewing nosily on the apparently juicy fruit. Juices dribbled down his chin, a smile plastered across his face as he swallowed the fruit. He closed his eyes and crushed the remainder of the fruit in his hand, as his muscles constricted and his tendons and veins bulged almost out of his skin.

Both Seripa's and Amotto's scouters came to life, the numbers counting off rapidly.

Seripa stared at the readout in visible shock. Turles' power reading had just soared past hers and was rapidly approaching 2800. At the rate the numbers were climbing, she just knew his power reading would be well over 3000. How was this possible? How was his strength increasing so drastically just from taking a bite of a piece of fruit?

All of a sudden the numbers began to climb faster, shooting way past 3000 and causing both of women to gasp in surprise. Before either scouter could give an accurate reading, they both exploded causing both women to wince as the pieces dropped to the floor, smoking and sizzling. They stared down at their busted scouters, before they slowly looked back to Turles.

His eyes were open now and he was grinning maniacally at them.

"I picked that fruit up on planet Entide."

"That's the planet we rescued you from!" gasped Amotto, her eyes widening.

He chuckled. "You didn't rescue me. I had been tracking your ship long before you arrived. I could have left any time I wanted, but I didn't have the room in my spacepod to store the fruit."

"Oh no…"

Seripa glanced at Amotto, a brow raised. "What is it?"

The other woman looked at her quickly, the fear in her eyes evident. "Before we left Entide, we loaded the ship down with supplies that Turles had gathered in exchange for a ride." She glanced back to the teenaged saiya-jin. "Those 'supplies' you gathered…it's all just this fruit, isn't it?"

Turles laughed out loud at this. "Afraid so!"

"You arrogant little..!" Seripa suddenly lunged forward, moving at her highest speed to catch Turles unawares. She thrust her fist towards his grinning face-

-but her fist connected with a gloved hand that appeared in front of his face. She couldn't help but stare on, her eyes wide open in surprise.

She barely had time to register what had happened before his free fist met her face and she was sent flying backwards. She landed on her back and immediately rolled back to her feet, skidding backwards from the momentum her body still carried. Before she could stop completely her aura flared around her body, and she shot back towards him at full speed.

Turles phased out of sight long before she reached him. He reappeared a split second later right in front of her, holding his left arm out in front of her. Her eyes widened as the arm slammed into her face, and her feet traveled forward, causing her to flip around and land hard on her back.

She scrambled quickly to her feet and put as much distance between herself and Turles as she could. She stood in a defensive position about fifteen feet from him. Just behind him, Amotto was frozen in terror as she could only stare on at Turles and Seripa.

Making a mental note to do some training with Amotto, Seripa brought one hand up, palm facing towards Turles.

"You are one stubborn bitch, I'll give you that." Turles chuckled as he started walking towards her.

She narrowed her eyes at him and pink ki began to crackle to life in her palm. He kept walking towards her, so she pushed more ki towards her palm, causing a pink ball of light to appear.

"You and I both know that ain't gonna hurt me, Seripa." He stopped less than a foot from her outstretched hand.

"Probably not," she agreed, but she kept her hand up nonetheless. "Why are you doing this?"

"I thought you would have at least guessed it by now," he laughed and folded his arms across his chest.

"Sorry to disappoint," was Seripa's quick response. Actually, she had her own theory as to why he was doing all of this, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"Well, I'm tired of living in Bardock's shadow."

"What's it matter? He's dead now."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

"The point is, this fruit was originally meant for Bardock. Our father, who was also my team captain, discovered this fruit while we were clearing out Entide. He had always been proud of the strength that my brother had attained. So proud, that he wanted him to be the best of all. So after finding out what the fruit did, he collected several pieces to bring back for my brother to have all to himself."

"Your team was dead when we arrived," said Amotto, quietly.

Turles grinned and glanced over his shoulder at her. "Yes, that's right."

"So you killed your father and your team and stole the fruit?" asked Seripa, an obvious edge in her tone.

"That's right." He repeated as he returned his gaze to her, that grin still plastered across his face.

Seripa's jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed as she stared at Bardock's younger brother. He didn't deserve that honor, she thought. She wanted to blast that smug look right off of his face, but she knew there was no chance that she could beat him. She was mildly surprised to realize that that fact didn't bother her. She didn't want to die, of course. There was still so much that she wanted to do…no, needed to do. But if she did die this day then she would die proud and without fear, just like Bardock had.

Her eyes were drawn to Amotto, who was still standing behind Turles. If only she could get Amotto to distract him…

Almost as if she read her mind, Amotto lifted her hands and began to charge an attack.

Seripa quickly returned her gaze to Turles.

"You're powerful, but you're still nothing compared to Bardock."

Turles' grin faded and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You could be ten thousand times stronger than Bardock, and you would still be nothing compared to him. He will always be better than you."

"Shut your mouth, Bitch!" Turles snapped, his arms unfolding and dropping to his sides with his fists clenched tightly. "You don't know anything! I am better than Bardock! He is nothing compared to me!"

"Hey Turles!"

"What?" he spun around angrily and a large blue ball of ki exploded in his face, enveloping everything in a bright flash.

Shielding her eyes, Seripa threw her arm around and fired her blast into the wall. In the same instant she flared her aura around her body and shot towards Amotto, grabbing her just as her blast blew the side of the ship open.

Turles didn't have time to prepare for the sudden vacuum and he was sucked towards the opening. Flipping around in midair he grabbed one side of the opening , clinging tightly for his life.

"You bitch! I'll kill you!"

Seripa flew towards an elevator and threw Amotto inside, before turning to glare at him. She watched as he struggled against the vacuum. She was having an incredibly difficult time keeping herself from being pulled towards the opening. But she knew that any second Turles could gather his strength and easily overcome the pull.

A mechanical grinding caught her attention and she looked up to see a large metal door descending from the roof, preparing to seal off the damaged section of the ship. She looked back at Turles just as he was beginning to pull himself back on board the ship.

"No, Turles. Today you die." She quickly brought up both hands and fired a pink blast right at him.

Distracted with trying to save himself, Turles didn't see the blast until it was almost too late. Holding on tight to the hull of the ship with one hand, his other came up to catch the menacing blast.

"AAAARRRGGHH! I will kill you!" he screamed, his voice distorted with rage.

"Dammit! Get off the ship!"

Seripa poured as much energy into the blast as she could spare, sending a bulging ripple through it that slammed violently into his palm. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it was enough to shake his hold.

As he finally lost his grip, Turles let out a howl of rage and fired a blast right at her. It shot under the metallic door and right at her. The blue beam engulfed her vision and then darkness was all she knew…

DBZ

"So you were beaten by Turles?"

Seripa's eyes shot open and she quickly climbed to her feet and looked all around her, but all she could see in all directions was a blinding expanse of white.

"Geeze, you look like shit, too."

She spun around again, but still she saw nothing. Frowning at the statement she looked down at her body and saw that her brand new armor had been all but destroyed. Both shoulder guards had been blown off and the blue jumpsuit was torn in multiple areas. Her bare skin was blackened and bloody. Well, that was certainly an all-too-familiar sight. She sighed and lifted her gaze to look around again. But still, all she saw was the whiteness.

"Anyone there?"

"But of course. And don't bother lookin' for me." The voice added when she started to look around. "You won't see me unless I show myself."

"Then show yourself, dammit!" Seripa said through clenched teeth. She was already in a bad mood and she didn't need some disembodied voice grinding on her last nerves.

Laughter echoed all around her and she clenched her jaw tightly.

"Fine, I will." Bardock suddenly appeared in front of her wearing his familiar black and green armor and with his arms folded across his chest.

"Bardock!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't ask me. This is your dream." He said with a slight smirk.

She starred at him for a moment, then lunged at him and threw her arms around him. She almost jumped when she felt his arms unfold and then wrap around her.

Seripa laughed quietly as she pressed her forehead against his armored chest, her eyes closed tightly.

"This must be a dream…you would never hug me back in person."

"Yeah, you're right. Seripa…"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him to see him looking down at her.

"I'm dead, ain't I?" she asked quietly.

"No, you're not. You can't die, yet. That's why I'm here: to tell you that you can't die."

"That's easy for you to say. I'm all alone now, Bardock. Without you or Toma, or Borgos, or even Shugesh. I'm just alone." She looked down when her voice began to break and she closed her eyes against the tears that had begun to well up on their own. Why did she have to cry in front of Bardock, of all people?

Her eyes shot open when she felt him press a kiss to her forehead and she looked up at him in wide-eyed surprise.

He smirked at the look on her face and lifted a hand to lightly wipe away her tears.

"This is a dream, Seripa. And that was what you wanted, right?"

"Yes, but…"

"'But'?"

She bit her bottom lip and looked down slowly.

"But the real Bardock wouldn't have done it."

Bardock suddenly shoved her back and folded his arms, a stern expression coming over his features.

"That's right. I wouldn't, would I?"

Seripa stared at him in silence for a moment, then smiled slightly.

"No, you wouldn't. I miss you, Bardock."

The stern look in his eyes faded and he smirked again.

"I know, Seripa. But your destiny stretches much further than mine did. My time has come and gone and now it is time for you to take what you learnt from me, and use it to avenge your people. And ensure the survival of the last of the saiya-jin. We are too few, now."

"Yeah, thanks to Frieza."

She sat down on the white floor with a huff, and pulled her knees to her chest.

"I don't know what to do, Bardock."

She nearly jumped out of her skin when he suddenly appeared laying beside her on his back, his hands behind his head.

"That's simple: kill Frieza."

"Simple to you, maybe. You're dead!"

Bardock chuckled and looked over at her.

"You worry too much."

Seripa quirked a brow as she regarded her mentor.

"Since when did you become so carefree?"

"Eh, dying has a way of changing people."

"Wait, I thought this was a dream?"

"It is."

"So, wouldn't that mean you are just a figment of my imagination?"

"Maybe. I don't know really. I feel real enough. Hell, for all I know I feel real because you want me to be real."

He sat up and twisted to face her.

"If that's the case, then you need to let me go."

Her eyes widened again. "Let you go? What do you mean?"

"You're holding onto my memory. I'm here because I am your memory of Bardock. I am as your remember me, right?"

She looked away and lowered her gaze before nodding slowly.

"Exactly as I will always remember you."

"Good."

"Bardock?"

"What?"

"I'm proud of you."

"Huh?" He tilted his head slightly, frowning in confusion. "Why are you proud of me?"

"I…I watched you fight Frieza. You fought amazingly…just as you always do." She smiled sadly and looked back up at him. "Watching you die was hard, but you died in battle."

Bardock looked down at the white floor beneath them and fell silent.

The silence stretched on with them sitting side by side.

"So, is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"No. I've said all I needed to tell you. Oh!" he turned to face her again. "Listen, regardless of whether or not I am real don't forget this dream. Don't ever forget what you set out to do. You were trained by me never to give up, right?"

"Right."

"Don't you dare come to hell and tell me you gave up, got it?"

She laughed quietly and looked back at him.

"Okay, Bardock. I won't give up."

"Good. Now wake up."

DBZ

"Seripa wake up! You can't die! Wake up!"

"Unnh…" slowly Seripa opened her eyes and blinked them several times trying to clear away the blurriness. She looked up to see Amotto kneeling over her, her concern etched into her features. She cast a glance around to see that they were still in the hallway.

"You're alive!"

"Ugh, of course I am." She made to sit up, but her head started to spin and her body cried out in protest, making her fall to her back again. She brought a hand to her face and covered her eyes.

"I miss anything?"

"Well, the ship landed…er…crash-landed anyhow."

Seripa moved her hand and looked up at the other woman. "Crash-landed? Colli said she'd make sure the ship made it in one piece."

"Other than being banged up, the ship is fine. It will fly again after a few repairs."

"Good. Anything else?"

"Well, there is one more thing." Her tone made Seripa frown.

"What is it?"

"It's Turles…He didn't die."

"What?" Seripa sat up quickly, completely ignoring the pain and the dizziness. She climbed to her feet as quickly as she could, wincing as she did. Pieces of her armor cracked and fell away to the floor of the ship.

Amotto stood up and grab Seripa's shoulders to support her.

"Get off." She brushed Amotto's hands away and started forward, immediately falling to her knees in weakness, breathing heavily. She looked back up at Amotto to see her hand outstretched to her. With a sigh she took the proffered hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

"This is bull shit."

"It could be worse," Amotto said as she slid one of Seripa's arms around her neck, and slid her own arm about the woman's waist, just above where her tail was wrapped.

"Oh yeah? How?"

"You could be dead."

She mumbled something under her breath about Amotto's 'damned logic,' as she allowed the other woman to assist her down the hallway.

"So who's take over leadership?"

"Well, we were still hoping that you would take that role."

Seripa glanced at her and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm not leadership material."

"You led everyone against Turles and C aul."

"No, they followed you after you joined me, Amotto. Where is Caul, anyway?"

Amotto shrugged as she paused outside of an elevator. The doors opened and she helped Seripa inside, the doors closing once they were completely clear of them.

"Dunno, to be honest. After Turles' initial attack I never saw him again. No one has reported killing him, so I guess we assume he's alive and hiding or he's escaped the ship."

"Damn. Now how do you know Turles is alive?"

The doors opened and they stepped out into the lower level and started towards the bridge.

"As the ship was descending to the surface of this world several of the others saw him race past us. He was flying plenty fast enough to have reached the surface before he needed oxygen."

"Bastard," Seripa cursed in irritation. She had been certain that the vacuum of space would have killed him for sure. Apparently he was stronger than she was giving him credit for. "Where is he?"

"Again, dunno. I have four guards stationed atop the ship, watching all four directions. They have orders to alert us if they see anything or anyone."

Seripa chuckled under her breath.

Amotto glanced at her and raised a green brow. "What's funny?"

"You are a born leader, Amotto. You should be the one leading our people in their survival."

"Why won't you do it, Seripa?"

She was silent for a moment and Amotto stopped walking, staring at her companion in confusion. Seripa was forced to stop with her.

"Because I plan to kill Frieza one day." She ignored Amotto's exclamation of 'what?' and continued spreaking. "I can't have such responsibilities, responsibilities that don't interest me in the least, weighing me down in the mission. I owe it to my team and our people," and Bardock, she added silently. If anything, she did all of this for him most all.

"How do you plan to kill Frieza, Seripa?"

"I don't know," she admitted sourly. "I haven't really had much of a chance to think about it recently. But for the two weeks I was drifting around in and out of stasis…that was all I thought about. I know for a fact I'm nowhere near his strength." Before Amotto could ask how she knew, she continued. "I was there for the destruction of the planet. I arrived just in time to watch that fuckin' lizard flick his finger and destroy our people. The invincible saiya-jin were taken out with a lazy flick of his gods-damned finger." By the time she was finished speaking, she was seething.

Beside her Amotto just stared on in silence. She wasn't really sure what to say to that. She had been on another planet when it all took place. Of course she and the others had had to fight their way to freedom, but hearing about your planet's destruction was definitely a long ways off from actually witnessing the destruction.

After a few moments Seripa closed her eyes and sighed. "I was the weakest member of my team, Amotto. My power reading may seem high to you, but my crewmates were much stronger. Shugesh's power reading was 3100; Borgos' was 3400; Toma's was 6000 even; and Bardock's…" she trailed off as she frowned. It had been such a long time since anyone had checked his reading that she knew the last one she remembered was nowhere near accurate. She smiled and sighed again, shaking her head.

"I don't honestly know what Bardock's was, but if I had to guess it was easily well over 10,000."

Amotto whistled at that. "I'd heard rumors that despite being born a lower class saiya-jin, he had moved up through the ranks pretty quickly."

"Yeah, that's right. He was my captain and my mentor," but also so much more, she found herself adding silently. "His…his captain demanded nothing but the very best from him and the rest of his team."

"I heard Bardock was that way, too."

"Oh, believe me, he was." Seripa said with a laugh. She winced and grabbed her ribs, rubbing them gently. "But he always claimed that compared to his mentor, he was soft on all of us." She grinned and glanced at Amotto again. "Did you ever see what Bardock looked like?"

"I saw him once in passing. Why?"

"You saw the scar on his left cheek?"

"Yeah. I remember wondering how he got it."

"His mentor, Tettuce, gave it to him."

Amotto's eyes shot open wide. "Tettuce was his mentor?" she all but shrieked.

Seripa laughed again and nodded. "Yes, Tettuce."

"Tettuce, the Exile? The Insane? The-"

"Harbinger of Doom, the Hand of Fate, etc, etc. Yes, the one and the same."

Amotto could only stare at her friend in open-mouthed shock. After a few moments she shook her head and then started walking again.

"So you were trained by Bardock, who was trained by Tettuce. Wow. Simply, wow."

The other woman chuckled quietly, wincing in pain as the action caused her ribs and abdomen to hurt. Turles may not have hit her with a killing blow, but he did manage to do quite the number on her.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, I never got to meet Tettuce before he was exiled. But if what Bardock said was true, then I am glad that I never met him."

"I'd imagine you would be." Amotto said in a tone that denoted a new level of respect for the warrior-woman.

All saiya-jin (male and female) were born and bred to fight. Amotto loved a good fight herself, but she preferred using her brains over her brawn for some reason. There were few other saiya-jin born like her; most considered them worthless genetic anomalies. But if not for saiya-jin like her, then they would never have progressed technologically. Of course, their invention of the scouters and the natural strength they possessed had drawn the curious eye of Frieza, leading to the whole treaty between the saiya-jin and the lizard tyrant. The treaty that Frieza had ended in blood.

The two women reached the bridge to find half a dozen men and women moving about the room making repairs here and there. The hole that Turles had created in the ceiling was still gaping at them, revealing the red-hued clouds high in the sky.

Seripa paused halfway into the room, forcing Amotto to pause as well. She stared up at the sky, frowning ever so slightly.

"Do we know what planet this is?"

"Lessbru scanned the planet once we were able to get onto the bridge-"

"Damn, just how long was I out for?" interrupted Seripa.

"About an hour," Amotto answered, before continuing. "Anyway, he scanned the planet and it's a mostly dead planet that the natives (the few there are anyway) call Mother."

"'Mother'?" Seripa asked dubiously.

"Yeah. I should probably point out that they are a primitive species. To them, we are probably the equivalent of gods."

"Ah." She looked around the bridge slowly, watching the men and women move about busily. "How long before the ship is ready to fly again?"

"A day or two, I think. Turles landed on the other side of the planet, and thankfully this planet is massive so it will take him two days at the least to reach us. If we calculated his power correctly, that is." Amotto added quickly.

Seripa nodded absently. She had heard her, but she was starting to get really tired. And she also didn't like the fact that her blackened wounds were still oozing blood. She wasn't severely injured (how, she had no idea) but she was in enough discomfort to want to be in a rejuvenation chamber very quickly.

"Okay…Amotto, I'll make a deal with you. I will act as leader until our paths separate, but then I want you to take over. No," Seripa lifted her other hand to stop her. "Amotto, you have the qualities to lead our people and they already know you far better than they know me. Besides, wherever you plan to go I do not plan to go with you."

"Why not? Do you really intend to try and kill Frieza?"

She nodded firmly, but with a sigh. "Yeah, I do. I know it's probably suicide to attempt such a thing, but I have to at least try. I will never be able to live in peace knowing that I did not at least do that much."

Amotto was silent as she regarded her new friend. She looked down, then immediately back up at her with a smile.

"You are a very brave woman, Seripa. You will always have my respect."

Closing her eyes, Seripa slumped suddenly against Amotto. Her strength was leaving her rapidly now. Maybe Turles had hurt her worse than she thought.

Feeling Amotto tense under her, she smiled weakly and opened one eye. "Don't worry, I'm alive." She laughed quietly. "But could you get me to a rejuvenation chamber? I feel like shit."

DBZ

(A.N.: How'd ya'll like this one? Ha. I asked ya'll a question so now ya'll have to review...please? Pretty please?...I'll take a maybe. lol Anyway, as usual R/R please!)