A few days into her stay at Capsule Corp and Acia has a satisfactory, if dull, routine. Breakfast, spar with Trunks (whom she discovers is a persistent little bastard who doesn't know when to say die and has made it his personal mission to best her once and for all; so far he's managed to beat her twice), train, lunch, train some more, then, upon Bulla's arrival from her Earth school, teach her some basic fighting skills, followed by dinner and watching television with the kids.

A dull routine, particularly since the low gravity of Earth (compared to what she's used to) makes training rather ineffective. Her father, something of technological genius, had guided her training with a whole host of gadgets, including simulated fight scenarios which he would record and watch with her afterwards, pointing out flaws in her technique. Without these tools, Acia's ability to train to her full potential is limited, but even she knows better than to ask to use the Gravity Room. But she consoles herself with the thought that it's better than nothing, and sparring with Trunks certainly keeps her on her toes. The food is good and plentiful, and Acia is no longer shy about how much she eats compared to her human hosts. Television is an interesting phenomenon, and one she can't help but be amused by.

In her days on board the Crusher Corps ship, Acia spent her free time either training, doing chores or studying, mostly spaceship mechanics and technology – as she got older her father made her in charge of reconnaissance for upcoming missions, so she learned a lot about the politics and culture of different planets and the anatomy of alien lifeforms. Mindless entertainment was rare, although there was the occasional stop at a peaceful planet or a trading outpost to pick up supplies and drink weird forms of alcohol. Sometimes her parents and the other mercenaries would tell her stories about their lives on their home worlds and their adventures before she'd been born.

On Planet Earth, mindless entertainment is a daily thing. Acia sits with her little cousins on the couch in the family room, watching a crudely drawn bird run, beeping (an odd sound for fowl to make, she thinks), from a wolf who spends his time coming up with elaborate schemes to drop heavy objects on said bird, thus obtaining it for its meal. Every episode, as far as she can tell, is the same: the wolf's scheme backfires and instead he is the one crushed under the object, while the bird beeps and runs off happily. Improbably, the wolf then gets back up, seemingly unhurt (or at least not hurt enough), and a variation of this same plot is then repeated ad nauseum.

Even more improbably, Acia discovers that she really, really likes this show. Something about it really speaks to her – whether it's the mindless violence without consequences, the admirable persistence of the wolf in the face of repeated failure, or the hilarious beeping sound the bird makes, she isn't sure. Regardless, she's happy to watch, laughing along with her cousins at the ridiculous antics. They watch other shows too, but Acia finds her mind drifting off whenever anything with a more complicated plot is on. Instead, she'll find herself observing the two small demi-saiyans as they laugh at their shows and, more often than not, tussle with each other. Trunks can be a bit of a bully to his younger sister and although she can tell that he doesn't mean to hurt her, he sometimes forgets his own strength. Watching them, she sometimes wonders what it would have been like to have a sibling of her own.

At least I wouldn't be all alone here.

So then, a dull routine but a routine nonetheless, and one Acia fully intends to maintain when she walks into the kitchen on a Saturday morning and right into Bulma's plans.

"Hi!" the blue-haired woman greeted her enthusiastically as the helper bots scurried around her. "Listen, eat quick 'cause these guys wanna start setting up in here to get the food ready for the barbeque."

Oh right, Acia thought as she made herself a plate. That. Bulma had been talking about this yesterday while they were shopping. Vegeta had very reluctantly allowed his wife to take Acia to a mall downtown to purchase some Earth clothes, and the two had been accompanied by Bulla, a yellow-haired woman with a number for a name, and her daughter, who was about Bulla's age.

"Eighteen is a very powerful warrior. She could snap your neck just as easily as she would shake your hand, and if you try anything funny while you're out today, she has my full permission to do so. Is that clear?" Vegeta had said pointedly.

Acia had just shrugged. She couldn't sense any ki from the blonde woman at all, which was bizarre – even Bulma and her parents had weak ki emanating from them. In any case it didn't matter because she had no intention of causing any trouble. For now at least.

Shopping had been simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting. Acia had been all over the galaxy and had seen everything there was to see in terms of clothing and fabric, but she'd never actually worn anything except her Saiyan battle outfit. So the idea that all this variety was now available to her was exciting, and she'd happily allowed Bulma and Eighteen to lead her to store after store, trying on everything they picked out for her. But the endless variety was overwhelming and some of the outfits were really uncomfortable, especially with her tail. Bulma and Eighteen were not deterred, however, and by the end of the day, Acia had several new outfits and a new fighting student. Eighteen's daughter Marron couldn't believe it when Bulla had told her that Acia had defeated Trunks in a spar on more than one occasion.

"Wow! Can you teach me too?" she'd asked Acia, wide-eyed.

Eighteen turned to her daughter. "I don't think that's such a good idea honey."

"Why not? You fight Momma!"

"Not anymore."

"It can't hurt for her to learn a little bit," Acia suggested. "She's only human, but she can still learn to defend herself."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I'll never be as strong as a Saiyan," Marron said dejectedly.

"Strength isn't the only thing. A battle is fought with the mind first and the body second," Acia said. It was something her mother used to tell her.

"Momma?"

Eighteen sighed. She was one of the most powerful beings on the planet, but she was completely helpless in front of that face. "Let's talk to your dad about it first, okay?"

"YAY!" the little girl had squealed delightedly – if it was a matter of getting her father's approval, then she'd already won.

And all of that, Acia now recalled, was in preparation for today, so that, as Bulma had said, she would have something nice and suitably human to wear for this "meet the Earthlings" party. As she shoveled her breakfast in her mouth, Acia resolved to pay more attention to what Bulma said from now on – the woman talked so much Acia's instinct was to just tune her out, but it was becoming clear that she was the one in charge here so it was probably a good idea to make note of the things she said.

A few hours later Acia came out onto the lawn in a short pink dress with cap sleeves and dark blue leggings that hit her mid-calf, her tail extending from a small, well-made hole the Bulma had sown into the two garments. She'd thought she looked quite nice – shopping was excruciating, she'd decided, but it was worth it.

The party got off to a rocky start, not least because as soon as the guests had arrived Acia marched right up to Goku and demanded to know if he had really become a Super Saiyan.

"Oh yeah! It was a while ago, back on Namek. Have you ever heard of a guy named Frieza?"

Acia's eyes bulged. Had she ever heard of a guy named Frieza? Was there anyone who hadn't heard of Frieza and the Legendary Super Saiyan who had finally defeated him, destroying an entire planet in the process?

She had never believed the stories – no one had. Even after it become clear that Frieza was truly gone for good, the whole idea of a Super Saiyan was absurd, a story like many that are told among warrior peoples. But then, during a morning spar, little Trunks had undergone an inexplicable transformation – the surge in power, the golden aura, the hair and eyes – it had been such a shock that all Acia could do was stand there, mouth agape, as her cousin charged at her, hitting her so hard she'd blacked out. Later, Trunks had claimed to be a Super Saiyan, and then her uncle had confirmed it, saying that not only he and Trunks but also Kakarot and his boys had achieved the transformation. Still, she didn't believe it because there was no such thing as a Super Saiyan, it was just a myth, and even if there was it was beyond all logic that a half-breed child like Trunks could possibly be capable of it.

And now here was this man, the galaxy's greatest hero, saying that it was all true.

Acia didn't know what to do or say. Suddenly, she noticed that everyone was staring at her. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment and she quickly turned away, seating herself under a tree a good distance from everyone else.

She'd been sitting there for a few minutes wondering, not for the first time, if she shouldn't just steal a spaceship and try and find her parents or someone else from the troupe – it wasn't anything she hadn't done before, after all – when she heard footsteps approaching her.

"Hi!"

She looked up into the smiling faces of Goku and Gohan, whom she'd been introduced to as his son. At 19 years old Gohan was just two years older than her, and she remembered his name from her encounter with his little brother when she'd first arrived. The two sat down next to her as she made a mental note to find out more about this Kami from him later.

"So you've heard about the whole Super Saiyan thing huh?" Goku said.

"Trunks gave me a demonstration a few days ago," she replied through pursed lips.

"Yeah, he's really something else right? And so young too! It's amazing!"

Acia pulled up a few blades of grass.

"Did you want to hear about Namek?"

Her mouth said yes before her brain could make a judgement – after all, this was the single greatest story in the history of the galaxy, and she was about to get a firsthand account.

Gohan began to tell her about their journey to Namek in search of the dragonballs – which she'd also believed were just a made-up story even when she'd learned of them from an actual Namekian – and how they encountered Frieza there. Soon they were joined by Krillin, Eighteen and Tien.

"So wait," she said, turning to Krillin, "Frieza killed you and then, when you were saved by a miracle, you went back to face him again?!"

"Heh, yeah I guess," Krillin scratched the back of his head self-consciously as the girl looked at him with wide eyes.

"You weren't scared?"

"Oh I was terrified! But, I mean, I couldn't let him kill Gohan."

"Wow," Acia said reverentially. Here was this puny human whom she could probably defeat in battle, and yet he'd stood up to the most powerful force in the galaxy. He could have run and saved his own skin, but instead he'd chosen to risk his life for the sake of his friend's son. She almost couldn't believe it – it was the stuff of legend. "You're so brave."

Krillin's cheeks burned. He wasn't used to being the focus of admiration in a group that included Goku and Gohan. Eighteen put a possessive arm around him.

"He is brave," Goku said, smiling at his friend. "He's the bravest guy I know!"

"I always wondered though," Krillin said, "what happened with Frieza's planets after all that? Were they free, or did someone else take over?"

"Well," Acia straightened herself up as she tried to recall what she knew of the demise of the Cold Empire, "there was a lot of confusion at first, a lot of rumors going around. We heard all sorts of crazy things, including that Kakarot became a Super Saiyan" – Gohan and Goku exchanged grins – "that Namek had been destroyed with the force of the battle, all kinds of things. We didn't even really believe Frieza was dead to be honest, and it didn't seem to matter because nothing changed at first." She squirmed a bit under the gazes of her audience. "Frieza was the head of the Planet Trade Organization so things stalled there for a while, but the Cold Empire was still going strong and they handled whatever business got derailed after Frieza's death," she explained. "Then we heard more rumors that Frieza wasn't really dead, and people were saying that Planet Namek was just fine and all the Namekians on it were alive. But then," she paused, leaning forward with the attitude of one about to reveal a great secret, "about a year after Frieza was supposed to have been killed, King Cold disappeared!"

Acia looked at the faces around her. The revelation did not appear to have had the stunning effect she thought it would. "Just, you know, completely vanished! He was supposed to have gone on a mission somewhere, supposedly with Frieza, and then he just never came back! And no one ever heard from him or Frieza again!" She paused again – the story of the greatest event to ever happen in the history of the universe seemed only to elicit amused smiles from her uncle's friends. Well, she thought, it's not like they would know King Cold from a hole in the ground.

"Anyway, after that there was a lot of infighting in both the PTO and the Cold Empire, and they both started to fall apart. And that was the end of it," she ended lamely.

There was a pause as the Earthlings exchanged knowing glances. "Well gosh," Goku said finally, "that's one heck of a story!"

Acia blinked. Hey, she thought to herself, they know, don't they? They know exactly what happened to Frieza and King Cold! The greatest mystery in the galaxy, and this backwater planet has had the key to it this whole time!

Before she could open her mouth to ask, however, Goten ran up to the young girl, followed closely by Trunks, Bulla and Marron.

"Hi!" he said excitedly, waving a hand in her face. "Is it true you beat Trunks?"

Trunks looked as glum as he ever had – word was getting around and his reputation was suffering.

"Wow, you beat Trunks huh?" Goku said. "That's impressive!"

Acia gave her cousin a smug look as she twirled a strand of hair. They were, in fact, three-to-two in her favor, and it had been extremely difficult keeping the upper hand as Trunks started to catch on to her techniques, but she was loathe to admit that. "Hardly. He's only a child."

The ten-year-old slammed his fist into the tree. "I'm a Super Saiyan! And you only won because you fight dirty!"

"Now Trunks…" Goku attempted to mollify him.

"It's true! She pulled my hair, and one time she bit me! And she always uses her tail, which isn't fair because I don't have one!"

"You're the one who wants to fight with the adults Trunks, so don't complain if you can't handle it. And besides," she said, leaning into the boy's face, "you would have a tail if you were a real Saiyan."

For a moment she thought he would punch her in the face. He was angrier than she'd ever seen him, his brows furrowed so deeply and his blue eyes seething rage and hate. So she fully expected a punch, and she would have let him do it too.

It never came. Instead, Trunks seemed to regain control of his emotions, his expression relaxing just an inch before he said, "Let's fight, right now. I'll show you who's a real Saiyan."

Acia stood up.

"That outfit is brand new. You're going to ruin it," Eighteen pointed out.

"That's okay," Acia said, cracking her knuckles, eyes never leaving Trunks' gaze. "Saiyans don't back down from a fight."