After almost two years of training, they had both come to terms with the energy bond between them. They had tried to loosen the bond during the nights of the full moon, but they had also concentrated on strengthening it. When they concentrated, they could effortlessly send some of their own energy to each other through the bond. It felt wonderful every time he received Sitara's energy. He then had the feeling that he was invincible. They had also been able to widen the distance between them considerably. Neither of them suddenly collapsed gasping for breath when the other moved too far away. Even with her aura suppressed, he always knew where Sitara was. A side effect of the energy connection.

The joint training resembled more and more a well-tuned dance. Kick, dodge, punch, dodge, energy blast. They never seriously injured each other. The dance was too well coordinated for that.

Although Sitara could fly to the village alone without stretching the energy band too much, she rarely did her errands alone anymore. Piccolo accompanied her as a matter of course. On the way to the village and back, they always tested who was faster. Sitara was faster than Piccolo by now and was always secretly pleased when she arrived at her destination before him.

As so often after a visit to the village, Sitara prepared a rich dinner, which Piccolo also helped himself to. They talked or kept silent together. Today, however, something seemed to be bothering Piccolo. His silence seemed different from usual, as if he was sinking into negative thoughts.

Sitara moved a little closer to him. Hesitantly, she put a hand on his knee. They had no physical contact except during combat training. Sitara was not sure if Piccolo would even allow that. When she had put her hand on his knee some time ago, he had reacted indignantly, annoyed and withdrawn from her touch. She was therefore slow to dare the new attempt.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked softly.

He flinched slightly, as if he had forgotten she was beside him. His gaze remained fixed on the fire, but it cleared somewhat. Sitara could estimate by now how long it took for him to say something, so she waited patiently.

"My Father." After a pause, he continued. "My father was the demon king Piccolo. A few years ago he had started to expand his power by destroying cities and terrifying people with it. He wanted to make them compliant and thus seize world domination. With his henchmen, he had already come quite far. No one was able to stop him in his march towards domination. Until Son-Goku came along. He was still a child, but he managed to defeat him. With his last breaths, my father brought forth an egg and flung it as far away as it could go. From it I came into the world. With all his thoughts and intentions. My only goals were to train so that one day I could defeat Goku and then take over the world."

Sitara had listened to him in silence. She already knew part of the story, but this account was much more detailed. The last time they had talked about this topic, Piccolo had flown off in a huff. I wonder if he had a different attitude towards the subject by now. She was surprised that he talked about it so openly.

"Do you still want to take over the world? Spread fear and terror?"

A shrug. Again that extremely human gesture, which she was sure by now he had copied from her.

"I don't think you need to do what your father did. You are someone else. You can do what you want," Sitara said.

"And what do I want?" Wasn't that the question of all questions? Now it was Sitara's turn to shrug.

"Well, since I'm a woman with no memory, I can't very well answer that for you either."

Now Piccolo looked at her. And smiled. "We do make a strange team, don't we?"

She smiled back. Her heart warmed around her. He gave her hand, still resting on his knee, a quick squeeze and then crossed his arms again in his typical pose. Sitara realised that the hand was still touching him. Uncertainly, she tousled her hair and then took her hand back down.

"Can I ask you something?" A nod. Perhaps his words had run out for the day, too. "What was that about the egg?"

"Our race reproduces when an adult chokes out an egg with its offspring," Piccolo explained.

Involuntarily, Sitara grabbed her throat and swallowed. Another question came to her mind, but she quickly relegated it to the back of her mind. She didn't dare ask this question and blushed at the thought.

Quietly she rose. "I'm going to sleep. Good night." She left the fire behind and headed for her hut.

"Do you think I can be someone else? That I don't have to take over world domination, even though that's what my father wanted." His words made her pause at the door of the hut.

"I think you can be and do anything you want." With these words she opened the door and entered her hut. Fully dressed, she lay down on her bed. The moon shone through the small window into the bedroom. She raised her hand and turned it in the moonlight. Piccolo's brief touch had felt wonderful. So warm, gentle. Very different from the strong warrior he usually was. Her heart pounded at the thought of him. She shook her head briefly, trying to dispel that thought. Piccolo certainly didn't feel that way. She had to put it out of her mind.

The next day, Piccolo stood panting on the wide plain with his arm outstretched. A feeling of triumph spread through him. He had made it. His new weapon was ready for use. He had worked on this technique for years until he had found it perfect. With this technique he would be able to prove to everyone that he was the most powerful on this planet. Goku would also feel this powerful technique.

Tonight he could tell Sitara about this success. The corners of his mouth twitched up into a brief smile at the thought. She had helped him develop the technique over the years, but he had kept the final form from her. She would surely be pleasantly surprised that his hell spiral was now perfect.

For a moment his thoughts drifted to her, to the woman who had been by his side for three and a half years. He had never thought it possible that she would have wanted to stay in the forest for so long. She had never expressed that she wanted to go somewhere else, and she didn't seem unhappy either. What actually surprised him even more was the fact that he enjoyed her presence. They talked and trained together. Sometimes she even cooked for him. Although he didn't need the food, he ate some because it tasted good. Sometimes he wondered if it would always go on like this between them. He could not deny that for some time now a greater desire had spread and he also sought her physical closeness. But that was certainly something she did not aspire to.

He looked at his hand with which he had briefly clasped hers last night. She had looked surprised, but not disapproving.

An incoming high energy snapped him out of his thoughts. Was that Goku? Had he found him and now wanted to continue where they had left off years ago?

But the man who landed in front of Piccolo was not Goku. Piccolo looked at the black-haired big guy. There was something like a small pane of glass hanging in front of his left eye. His aura radiated a strength that Piccolo had only noticed in Goku until now.

He glared at the man. "What do you want from me?"

The giant eyed Piccolo condescendingly from top to bottom. "I don't want anything from you."

Piccolo regarded the long-haired man in the battle suit. "You're lucky there. You'd only get death, too. What's it about then?"

"You're pretty brave, greenie," he replied, snarling. The guy was tapping away on a device attached to his head. Apparently he could pick up some information on the glass screen in front of his eye, because after a moment he said, "I'm registering a combat power of 322. So there's something like that here too," he said to himself. "Still, you are not a worthy opponent for me."

Piccolo didn't think he heard right. "How now? If you want to mess with me, you've got a bad hand."

The black-haired man moved into a casual fighting stance. "Let's see."

Piccolo didn't need to be asked twice and fired an energy ball at him without hesitation. The ball hit, dust swirled up and hid the warrior. A feeling of victory came over Piccolo as he stared into the cloud of dust. He was sure that he had hit the stranger directly.

When the dust had settled again, the stranger was standing in the same place as before. There was not a scratch on his suit.

"So you can kick up dust too."

Piccolo would have loved to rip that condescending grin from his face, but was frozen. How could he fend off this attack? Not even Goku would have been able to. He would have at least deflected or dodged the energy ball, but this guy had just stopped.

The stranger now made a move to attack Piccolo, but then stopped moving when the device at his head suddenly beeped. "What, hold on a second. I'm registering someone else who is very strong." He tapped the device a few times and was gone the next moment.

Piccolo went down on his knees, breathing heavily. "Who is this guy? I couldn't do anything about him and we were frozen in fear."

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't have to turn around to see compassionate eyes in Sitara. She had certainly sensed something was wrong through her connection, for she normally stayed in the forest at this time of day.

Piccolo hesitated to look into her eyes. It was the first time he felt helpless in her presence. Weak. How could this have happened?

Sitara now also got down on her knees and looked directly at Piccolo. "What happened?"

In terse words he described to her what had happened a few minutes ago. As he did so, he realised that Sitara could have been hurt if she had come sooner.

"Fly back to the forest," he drove at her gruffly and rose.

"Don't worry, I won't stand in your way," she replied calmly. "But I have an idea." Piccolo nodded and she continued. "Find this man who defeated you five years ago and ally yourself with him."

Piccolo's eyebrows twitched upwards. "What, Goku? We didn't exactly part on friendly terms. I hardly think that's a good idea."

"I know that. But if that guy who showed up here earlier is looking for strong fighters, he'll surely find Goku. Goku is your equal. He only just defeated you in the tournament. He will also have no chance against this foreign warrior. Together, you can surely defeat him."

The green man let the words sink in. Gritting his teeth, he had to admit to himself that Sitara was right.

"Very well, then."

Sitara smiled and turned towards the forest. Her feet lifted off the ground and she floated in the air. Piccolo glanced after her. She turned once more, lowered herself until her face and Piccolo's were level, and put her left hand to his cheek. Gently, she stroked his skin with her thumb and was surprised the next moment that she had done so.

"Take care of yourself," she whispered and released her hand again. She turned and flew back to the forest as fast as she could.