Kera:

"We're almost there," Krillin called out over the wind to Trunks and Kera. They nodded. Kera sensed the two huge energies. One she was sure was Piccolo, though his aura felt different than usual and the connection between them was still not active. The other aura was also very strong and felt familiar to her. She felt Piccolos, Vegeta's and also Kakarrot's energies within that aura. How was this possible?

"Piccolo's energy, our Piccolo's, feels so different," Kera said carefully.

"I'm pretty sure he's fused with Kami and is now a Super-Namekian."

There was a brief flash of Piccolo with blonde hair in front of Kera's face, which elicited a grin, but then she turned serious again as they reached the foothills of the city, or rather, what was left of the city. The layout of the buildings could only be guessed at, for even the streets were no longer visible. That matched the energies she sensed. Very great powers had been at work here. What had happened to the people who lived here? She felt no other energies, no matter how hard she tried. Weak auras could easily be overlooked, but there really was no one left here.

Her eyes roamed the ground searchingly, so that she almost collided with Trunks, who had stopped in mid-air next to Krillin. She muttered an apology, but Trunks had his gaze fixed on the ground.

"What's that?" Kera looked past Trunks and now saw what he saw too. A strange green creature. It was about the size of Piccolo. Its long legs ended in slender three-toed feet. Its head resembled that of an insect with a light-coloured mouth. Its tail, which was about as long as its body, ended in a pointed stinger.

The creature looked up at them. It had noticed them. Kera landed next to Piccolo, followed closely by Trunks and Krillin.

"Piccolo, what is that? And why can we sense the energies of Kaka-rott and Vegeta?" Kera didn't look at Piccolo as she asked the question, but watched every little movement the green being made. She was sure he would attack at any moment.

"I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, we have to get rid of the beast."

Kera's eyes flitted briefly to Piccolo. A viscous liquid was dripping from his left arm. Had he already fought these lizard-like creatures and lost an arm? She opened her mouth to speak to him, but her opponent spoke up.

"Oh, it's interesting what you're up to. Don't think you can beat me."

"Look at him, he can talk," Krillin remarked redundantly.

"I can do much more than that, Krillin." With those words, the monster leapt high into the air. Kera didn't know if she should be more amazed that the creature knew Krillin's name or what he was up to. They followed its movement spellbound. It stopped in front of the sun and she could barely make him out. Krillin let out a scream, but before they could realise what it was up to, it had fired a flash of sunlight at them.

Groaning, they jerked their arms in front of their eyes, but they were too late. Blinded, all four of them fell to their knees. Kera perceived that the monster was moving away from them. Then she could no longer feel its aura.

Kera's eyes watered and opening them was impossible, so much did the reverberations of the sunlight attack hurt her. Next to her she heard the others moaning and swearing. Only after a few minutes could she slowly open her eyes again and see her surroundings sharply.

"Krillin, isn't that a technique of Tien's?", Piccolo wanted to know.

Krillin was still rubbing his eyes. "Yes, it is. Goku and I can do it too. It's not that hard."

Piccolo cursed and flew up. The other three followed him. They searched the surroundings with all their senses, but they could not see where the monster was.

"Damn! He can suppress his aura." Trembling with rage, Piccolo sank back to the earth. He cursed and scolded himself an idiot for letting him escape.

Kera stood a few yards away from Piccolo and regarded him. She wished she could care less about seeing him, but inwardly she was glad he was all right. Then she realised something else. Their connection no longer led nowhere.

She had wanted to confront him for simply blocking the connection, but her anger and disappointment at that had faded as she perceived his closeness in that way again. Krillin was sure that Piccolo had merged with Kami again. She had to find out at all costs.

She closed her eyes, looked for the invisible ribbon between her and Piccolo and pulled a little. Immediately Piccolo stopped cursing and turned to her. With a few steps he crossed the distance between them and kissed her.

Kera was so taken aback by his impulsive action that she remained stiff for a moment. When she remembered which body parts worked how, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. Had it really only been a few hours since their last kiss? It felt like days had passed. His lips felt so wonderful on hers. Without consciously wanting to, she thought back to their last night together. Their first night together. Kera was getting hot. She opened her lips slightly and stroked her tongue over his. Piccolo pressed her body even tighter against his. Over their connection, she felt his presence caressing her soul.

A whistle snapped her back to the present. Krillin had expressed his astonishment. She could imagine Trunks and Krillin now trying to make themselves invisible. Seeing Piccolo so impulsive was certainly something they had to digest. Even for her it was surprising. She had never seen him like this before. Maybe he had merged with Kami after all and was behaving differently as a result?

Piccolo broke away from the kiss, but paused only a few inches from her face. "I'm sorry. I will explain later." Having momentarily forgotten how her mouth could form words, Kera just nodded. Piccolo put his hands down and turned to Krillin and Trunks, who were looking strained in other directions.

Piccolo opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly Krillin turned and looked up. Kera followed his gaze and at the same moment felt the aura that had made him look up.

"Vegeta," Kera called out, waving at him.

Vegeta landed by the group, nodded briefly at Kera, and then addressed Piccolo, "What happened here?"

Piccolo turned his back on everyone and looked in the direction where the monster had probably disappeared. "I will tell you everything when Tien arrives. He should be arriving any moment."

"I want to know right now why you're so strong." Vegeta didn't let up.

Trunks answered for Piccolo, who still had his back turned to the group. "He has united with Kami. They are a one being again."

Shocked, Vegeta raised his eyebrows. Then he clenched his hands into fists angrily.

Kera thought she knew what was going through Vegeta's head now. He had noticed that Piccolo was stronger than him. Yet he was the Super Saiyan after all. She sighed and sat down on the ground. As a Saiyan, she could understand Vegeta's thoughts. Always looking for new opponents to emerge victorious from the fights was the drive of every Saiyan. If she hadn't lived on earth for years without knowing where she had come from, she would react the same way as Vegeta. She was still not entirely convinced of the reason for Piccolo's increase in strength. She was angry because Piccolo had disappeared without a word of explanation and had insulted her beforehand. But to clarify that, she had to wait a little longer.

"There he is," Krillin shouted and in the next moment Tien landed by them. He greeted everyone curtly and then looked at Piccolo.

"Good, then I can now bring you up to date. Kera, Krillin and Trunks have already had the dubious pleasure of seeing our new enemy. The enemy in question is Cell. Dr. Gero has been conducting experiments with cell material from Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, King Cold and still others, but has had to stop the experiments due to time constraints. The computer located underneath Dr. Gero's lab diligently kept calculating and that's how Cell was created."

"Wait a minute, are you trying to tell me here that there's a monster running around with my cell material?" interrupted Vegeta Piccolo.

"That's right, that's how it is. Cell came to our time from the future using Trunks' time machine."

This time it was Trunks who interjected. "What, he came from my time?"

"Possibly. This time travel nonsense is too complicated for me. The fact is, he killed a Trunks who was about to get into his time machine to deliver the joyous news that he'd finished off the androids. Time was already preset. He changed back into an egg because otherwise he wouldn't have fit into the machine. After he landed, he hatched out of the egg and had to regenerate for a few years before he could become active."

"That's why we didn't notice anything about him before," Kera noted.

Piccolo nodded and continued, "To get his ultimate strength, Cell has to absorb 17 and 18. We must prevent that at all costs. I think Cell is the easier opponent at the moment. We have to concentrate on him."

"You're out of your mind, Piccolo. If Cell absorbs the androids, we'll have two less opponents." All eyes turned to Vegeta.

"You couldn't even defeat 18. Then how will you deal with a Cell who has the power of the two androids in addition to his own?"

Krillin sucked in a sharp breath. Such frank words to Vegeta were a death sentence. Panicked, he looked back and forth between the Namekian and Vegeta. Kera too felt uncomfortable and stood up again, ready to step between them should the situation escalate.

"You have no idea, greenie. I will train and then become stronger than a Super Saiyan." The tension between Vegeta and Piccolo was almost palpable.

As if casually, Kera stepped between them and cleared her throat. "Sub-question: if the Cell we saw earlier is from the future, does it mean we also have a Cell in this time?"

Immediately, the mood loosened a little again.

"Yes. Dr Gero's computer is still working."

"But we destroyed the entire lab," Krillin commented.

"The computer is underneath the lab," Piccolo enlightened the others.

"How do you know all this anyway?" asked Trunks between them.

"Cell was very talkative after he thought I didn't stand a chance against him. Krillin, Trunks, fly to the lab and destroy the computer. The rest of us go find Cell."

Krillin and Trunks rose instantly to comply with Piccolo's request.

"Without me. I'm training." Without another parting word, Vegeta was gone. Furious, Kera glared after him. That stubborn man!

Kera closed in on Piccolo and Tien, who had already taken to the air and were flying side by side at some distance quite low overhead, scanning the area. Since they could not sense Cell's aura, they had to rely on their eyes.

"I don't think he can have got very far yet. He must be on foot or he wouldn't be able to suppress his aura," Piccolo said. Tien and Kera nodded.

They were already several miles from Ginger Town when Kera noticed a bus parked across a country road. She slowed her flight and called to the other two to land and sank lower. Piccolo and Tien followed her.

Not a soul was around. There were pieces of clothing lying around the bus. Tops, trousers and shoes lay on the ground as if the person who had worn the clothes had fallen down and vanished into thin air. Kera carefully touched a T-shirt lying in front of her.

"It's still warm."

"That was Cell." Piccolo's words sounded like a growl. "He has a stinger on his tail that he can use to suck out energy. He's already tried it on me too."

"So that's why your arm," Kera stated, pointing to Piccolo's left side. He nodded.

Tien pulled up suddenly. "Did you feel that? Several auras went out."

Now Kera felt it too. A few miles from where she stood, there was a town, according to the road sign. There were far fewer life forms there now than there had been a few minutes ago. There was no need for further instructions to fly on.

When they reached the town, they saw the same picture as before on the road. Clothes were lying everywhere. The city was dead. No voices could be heard, no cars were driving. They looked around, but couldn't see Cell anywhere. His energy, which they could still feel earlier, was also gone. He must have noticed their approach and hidden his aura again.

Disgruntled, the three flew to Master Roshi's island to discuss what to do next.

On Master Roshi's island, they first brought the owner of the house, Chi-Chi and Gohan up to date. Everyone was restless. Now it wasn't just the additional androids they hadn't known about, but this Cell as well. Kera struggled with two strong feelings: Fear that these opponents might be too strong and excitement to fight them.

A few hours later, Krillin arrived back at the island.

"Where's Trunks?" asked Kera first.

"He went to see Vegeta to find out how he could manage to surpass the power of a Super Saiyan."

Piccolo, who had been leaning against the window, spoke up. "Did you destroy the lab?"

Krillin nodded. "We searched it first. I found 16's blueprint and brought it to Bulma. It will take her some time to study it. She's trying to figure out if this android has any weaknesses."

"And what do we do until then?" asked Kera an important question.

"I'm afraid there's not much we can do at all," Piccolo said after a brief pause. "We can't locate the auras of the androids, so we don't know where they are. Cell is also suppressing his aura. We can try to find him when we hear about the destruction of a city on the news. That's probably our only chance."

Everyone present nodded in frustration.

"You should go to bed now," Chi-Chi said to Gohan, who had stifled a yawn.

"Sleep well, little one." Kera had gotten up and stroked the boy's head once, who smiled briefly at her from below and then wished the others in the room a good night.

Kera went outside and stopped on the warm sand. She let her gaze wander over the sea, which arrived at the beach with a gentle roar and then receded again. The moon made the tops of the waves glisten. She felt so useless right now. The earth and everyone she cared about was in danger and there was nothing she could do. Nothing at all. She let out a frustrated snort.

"What's on your mind?"

She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Piccolo step up beside her.

"It bugs me that I can't do anything."

He took another step closer. He was so close now that she could hear his breathing over the sound of the sea. "I know. It annoys me too," he said softly.

Kera sighed and continued to stare at the sea. "So you're fusioned with Kami," she changed the subject and turned her head to look at him. He nodded in confirmation. "You might as well have talked to me first. And that you fired at us ..."

He interrupted her and took her hand, forcing her to turn completely to face him. "I'm sorry. Kami has already pointed out to me, too, that it wasn't right." He paused. His eyes twitched searchingly across the floor before he looked at her again. "Please forgive me. I just didn't know what to do. I didn't really want to merge with Kami. But I knew I had to."

Kera sighed. "You still should have talked to me first."

Piccolo took her other hand as well and leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Don't ever do that again, okay?"

Piccolo nodded. "I promise." He pulled her into a hug. She allowed it and rested her head on his chest. She listened to his heartbeat and closed her eyes. Her fears that Piccolo was going to leave her dissolved.

After a while Piccolo asked, "Would you like to go for a little training run?"

Kera had to grin. "Nothing better than that."

They flew to a neighbouring island. The trees were thick here, a narrow river meandered along the edge of the forest. It was very reminiscent of their forest, where they had not been for so long.

After an hour of intense training, Kera slowly sank to the ground and sat down. Sweat ran down her body and she breathed heavily. Piccolo landed next to her. There was no effort on his face. He had become so much stronger through the fusion. He created a cup in his hand, filled it with water at the river and handed it to Kera. She accepted it gratefully and emptied it. She held the cup out to him, he filled it up again and she emptied it another time. He sat down next to her.

"Do you think we will defeat this Cell?" she asked Piccolo.

"We must, or it will be the end of Earth."

She reached for his hand, which rested on his knee. He interlaced his fingers with hers. His thumb massaged the back of her hand and she closed her eyes in pleasure.

Piccolo sat down in front of her and placed his free hand against her cheek. Although the threat with Cell was so present and now was certainly not the time, all Kera could think about at that moment was whether Piccolo's body felt the same as it had before the fusion with Kami. As if reading her thoughts, he moved a little closer still. The hand that had been on her cheek moved down a little and with his thumb he stroked her mouth.

"What are you thinking about?" Kera was caught off guard by this question. She didn't even know if she was thinking about anything at all right now. Or about everything at once. Piccolo released his hand from hers and trailed up her arm. Every square millimetre of skin he touched with his fingers felt electrified. Kera exhaled and only now realised she had been holding her breath.

Piccolo's hand travelled slowly, gently stroking up her entire arm and lingered on the back of her neck. Kera stiffened. They had experienced this situation before. Afterwards she had lain immobile in her hut. She thought she recognised this situation in Piccolo too and he stroked the back of her neck with his warm fingers. Kera relaxed again and a sigh escaped her. Not only had the situation been defused, but his hands were doing her tense neck a lot of good right now.

Piccolo came even closer. Kera felt his warmth. She put her head back to look at him. Piccolo leaned down to her, his face only a few inches from hers. His eyes moved from her eyes to her mouth and back again, as if asking permission. In response, Kera raised her right arm, placed her hand against his cheek and slowly pulled him towards her until their lips met.

At the touch of their lips, a firework of feelings and sensations seemed to erupt in both their bodies. It was a familiar yet strange feeling, old and new at the same time. Warm and cold. Electrifying. They broke away from each other again, panting. The touch had only lasted a second.

"What was that?" Kera shivered, though she was feeling hot. The hand on Piccolo's cheek seemed to glow. Piccolo looked confused and didn't answer for a moment. When Kera wanted to ask again, he took the initiative.

"Kami and Nail think that by making the warrior bond and the friendship bond, everything is intensified. Normally you make one connection with one person and another connection with another person."

"Then why didn't that happen earlier when we met again? And is that good or bad now?" She wanted to take her hand away from his face. But Piccolo took his hand from her face and put it on her hand to hold it in place.

"I don't know, but we'll find out." With his hand still on the back of her neck, he pulled her to him again and touched her lips with his. The feelings were even more intense. But this time they did not immediately disengage. Kera closed her eyes and, just before closing them, saw Piccolo do the same. She put her still free hand around his neck. He took down his hand with which he had been holding hers on his cheek and placed it on her back. He pulled her even closer to him. Their upper bodies touched.

Kera's sense of time blurred. She didn't know how long they had been squatting like that. She thought of every kiss, every touch with Piccolo. Even the feelings from back then came flooding back. When she had only been Sitara and couldn't remember her life as a Saiyan warrior. How she had been attracted to Piccolo even then and had wanted to do just that right here.

Kera had the feeling of glowing from within. She only knew that from deep meditation, which she hadn't done in a long time. She detached herself from Piccolo's lips and opened her eyes. She had not imagined the glow. Piccolo and she were surrounded by a bright white light. Energy shimmered around them.

"What is that?" she whispered. She didn't dare speak louder for fear that this beautiful light would disappear again.

"I'm going to guess that it's our energies that have rejoined."

Kera's breath caught for a moment. "Do you mean like before, when we couldn't move away from each other?" The idea of connected energies was appealing on the one hand, annoying on the other, when they would have to train for years again to be a few miles apart for once. The pain when they couldn't stay 300 yards apart at first, on the other hand, was not a pleasant memory.

"We'll try this out. You that way, me the other way." He gave her another fleeting kiss on the cheek, which made Kera shiver briefly, and then flew off. She flew in the direction he indicated, keeping close above the ground. She flew quite fast for a while and then slowed down her flight. She watched for any sign in her body. A tugging, a twinge, but nothing happened. At some point she stopped in mid-air and searched for Piccolo's aura. This connection was nothing like it had been then.

'Are you all right? Piccolo's voice was suddenly in her head. She looked around, but she didn't see him anywhere. His ki was nowhere near, she could feel it many miles away. Why could she sense his aura so clearly over that distance?

Kera replied in her mind, 'I am fine. I know you're far away and yet it's like you're standing next to me.'

'I feel the same way. Kami and Nail are at a loss too.' A short pause. 'Come back again, Kera.' His voice was filled with a slight rumble.

She rose back into the air and flew as fast as she could back to the island. Piccolo was already waiting for her there.

"How fast did you fly?" she called out to him during the landing approach. He didn't answer, but pushed himself off the ground and sped towards her. Before Kera could realise what he was about to do, he had slid his arms under her. Her legs rested on his left arm, her upper body supported by his right arm. Surprised by his movement, Kera blushed.

Slowly, Piccolo let himself slide to the ground and landed. He looked at her face and stroked her upper arm with his thumb. She raised her arm and traced the contours of his face with one finger. His eyebrows, his cheeks, his strong chin. Piccolo closed his eyes and enjoyed her touch. Kera paused in her movement for a moment, then placed her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to her.

His lips found hers with a certainty as if they had done nothing else for years. The kiss was long and intense and when Kera opened her eyes again, she saw the bright glow of energy around her. She broke away from the kiss and wanted to point it out to Piccolo, but he made it very clear to her that he did not want to talk now, sealing her lips with his again.

Sighing, she let him and gave herself completely to his touch. Piccolo gently pushed her to the ground and slipped a hand under the strap of her combat suit.

Kera pulled Piccolo's turban from his head. "I think it's better if you take that off." She tugged at his heavy cloak. Somewhat reluctantly, Piccolo rose, needing to disengage from her, and threw the cloak off as quickly as he could.

Piccolo bent down to her again and wandered his lips over her neck. Kera moaned and arched towards him.

Kera's thoughts were racing. It was their second night together. So much had happened in the past 24 hours that it would have been enough for weeks. Maybe that was why his closeness felt so new to her and why she was gripped by a desire she never expected from herself. She wished they could just go back to their forest without having to worry about androids and the fate of the world.

Piccolo paused in kissing her neck and brought his face back into her field of vision. His dark eyes fixed hers. "I'd much rather be in our forest right now, too." Irritated, Kera raised an eyebrow. Had she just spoken her thoughts aloud? A grin spread across Piccolo's lips. "No, you didn't say anything. I saw the picture of the hut."

"Then I guess I'll have to watch what I think from now on, huh?" she asked perkily.

"Quite possibly."

"Then see what I'm thinking about now." Kera closed her eyes and recalled the image of this morning when she had woken up naked next to Piccolo.

Piccolo grinned again. "I see," he murmured, leaning down to her again as she wrapped her legs around his body.

Just before her face he stopped again and looked into her eyes. 'I love you.' His voice in her head felt so warm, so honest. Instinctively Kera knew he could never lie when he spoke to her in this way. Three words. Simple words. And yet they had such deep meaning.

'And I love you,' she said to him in her mind. Then she pulled him towards her. He kissed her again.