Kera:

"Are you all right, Vegeta?" Kera still had her hand on Vegeta's shoulder. He did not respond. "Vegeta?"

His body began to shake. She tried to spin him around to face her. To no avail. It was as if his body was petrified.

The trembling intensified. His fingers twitched uncontrollably. Suddenly he cried out and landed hard with his knees on the ground. His hands went to his head and clawed at his hair as if he were in severe pain.

"Vegeta, what's wrong?" Kera felt panic rising inside her. She didn't see any injury that could cause pain.

"Oh, no! Babidi is trying to win him over!" shouted the Supreme Kai.

Kera understood immediately. The Supreme Kai had warned them that Babidi was able to manipulate living beings to work for him. She took a deep breath. Panic wasn't helping her now.

She circled Vegeta and knelt in front of him. She put her hands to his cheeks and forced him to look at her. "Concentrate on my voice!" she spoke soothingly to him. His eyelids fluttered. He was having trouble recognising her. "You don't need to get involved with that nasty little wizard, do you understand?"

"My head ...!" His voice, which had sounded so full and indomitable a moment ago with the scream, now seemed vulnerable.

"Vegeta, I'm here. He can't hurt you."

Vegeta growled. "He will make me stronger!" His head slumped forward. Then he screamed again. His body reared up. Kera tried to hold him down when suddenly his body floated upwards. She clung to him, floating upwards with him. Red lightning flashed around him, his eyes turned white. His hair turned golden.

"Vegeta, please stop!" screamed Kera as she feverishly searched for a way to stop him from surrendering to Babidi. She felt the lightning against her own body. It hurt. The blows hit her all over and then continued to crawl under her skin. The urge to let go of her brother became overwhelming, but she would not leave him alone. She couldn't leave him alone. She had sworn to protect him. She had sworn to always be by his side.

She let out a sob. "Stop it."

For a moment he looked at her. His eyes were clear. He whispered her name. Another cry shattered the brief moment of confidence. A wave of energy emanated from Vegeta's body. Kera was flung away from him. Before she crashed into the opposite wall, Kakarrot caught her.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded without taking her eyes off Vegeta. His body had slumped back to the floor. He had lowered his head and was still a Super Saiyan. Had he managed to resist Babidi's whispers?

"Vegeta?" she asked cautiously, breaking free of Kakarrot to run to Vegeta.

Slowly, her twin brother raised his head. Kera stopped in mid-motion and uttered a startled sound. Vegeta's eyes looked darker, his face distorted. On his forehead was emblazoned a squiggly M, the sign of the mage Babidi.

Kera gasped once more. This could not be true. She wished that it was all just a dream and that she would have to wake up at any moment. She briefly squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, the scene before her had not changed. Vegeta was still staring at her from those dark evil eyes. First Piccolo and now Vegeta. Was she doomed to lose her entire family?

'You can stand by your brother's side. I can awaken powers in you that you never dreamed of,' she heard a voice in her head. She focused on Vegeta and on Kakarrot who was standing behind her.

'Babidi! I will destroy you!'

'Whatever you say.'

Kera imagined she heard a spiteful undertone in Babidi's words and moments later she knew why.

Babidi had changed the environment. She, Vegeta, Kakarrot, Gohan and the Supreme Kai were back in the stadium where the Great Fighting Tournament had taken place. At first, Kera thought it was just an illusion, but as she let her eyes wander, it was clear that they were indeed in this place.

The tiers were still filled with spectators and after some searching she also recognised Chi-Chi and Bulma.

"Kakarott, we really are in that stadium!"

Kakarrot, who was only fixing Vegeta, nodded slowly. He had certainly sensed his wife's aura as well.

Kera heard excited chatter from the stands, the ring judge saying something, but she didn't understand it. She was startled to see him walking towards Vegeta. She wanted to shout at him to run away, but Vegeta let his energy flare up and the referee was pushed backwards by the energy blast. Before he could fall out of the ring, Gohan caught him and handed him to some aides.

"Vegeta, stop it!" she yelled at him.

Vegeta didn't seem to hear her. "Kakarrot, fight me already!"

"We don't have time for this. You know that."

Vegeta reached out to his right, glaring steadfastly at Kakarrot.

"He's not going to ..."

Kera couldn't finish the sentence. Vegeta shot a beam of energy at the audience. Kera was paralysed. She couldn't connect what she was seeing with Vegeta. This had to be a nightmare. It couldn't be true.

The panicked cries of the spectators snapped Kera out of her trance again. A considerable part of the rank was missing. The people who had been sitting there were dead. Kera had been aware of the extinguishing auras for a moment. Vegeta had actually done it. Kera had believed that she would never see that side of Vegeta again. He had killed innocents. He had done that before. So had she. But not since they both had families and knew what it meant to live in a safe environment. That they didn't have to fear for their lives all the time, but trained to become stronger because they wanted to, not because they had to.

"Vegeta!" Still he did not respond to her voice.

"Mister Vegeta, can you please ..." Hercule had entered the ring. Apparently against his will, for he kept as far away from Vegeta as the ring would allow.

"Shut up and don't ever speak to me again!" he snarled at the elder, who raised his hands in resignation and left the ring in a hurry.

"Kakarrot, let's fight!"

"You rotten bastard! I never thought you would sink so low again."

"All I care about is our fight. For years I've waited for this, and I was already afraid that you would be stronger again after all. That's where this," he pointed to his forehead, "gives me a handy energy boost."

"You willingly put yourself in Babidi's hands? How could you?" Furious, Kera lunged at Vegeta. He anticipated her attack and braced himself against her. He intertwined his fingers with hers and held her back.

"I don't want to fight you. Only against Kakarrot. You also wonder every day who is stronger. Whether you can defeat him," he whispered to her.

She looked down at the ground. He knew her too well. She tightened her grip.

"But I don't kill innocents!"

Vegeta came even closer. His voice just a whisper. "Just revive them." He pulled her to him with a jerk and rammed his knee into her stomach. Kera cried out in pain. She convulsed and went down. She heard Kakarrot gasp in surprise.

"Are we going to fight now?"

"Babidi!" Kakarrot called to the mage.

"Goku, please stop!"

Kera turned her head with difficulty. Vegeta had kicked very hard and catching her breath still hurt. She saw the Supreme Kai standing in front of Kakarott to stop him from attacking Vegeta.

Kakarrot's aura changed. His hair turned golden and his eyes green. Kera cursed inwardly. He had made up his mind. He raised his hand and aimed it at the Supreme Kai. The Supreme Kai's shoulders slumped. He had understood.

"Babidi, take us to an uninhabited place and I will fight Vegeta!"

Kera blinked twice. She was no longer on the arena floor, but on a rocky surface. Vegeta took a step forward. Now she was behind him.

"Are you okay?" Gohan was beside her, helping her stand up.

She straightened. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"We have to do something to keep Father and Vegeta from fighting, don't we?"

Sadly, she shook her head. "We won't be able to stop it."

"I'm afraid so," the Supreme Kai said, standing on her other side. "We should return to Babidi's ship. Perhaps we can still prevent something there." He pointed to the floor hatch that was also recessed into the rocky floor here.

Gohan nodded and turned to the Supreme Kai.

Suddenly Vegeta cried out and held his head again. He got down on one knee and growled. "You may control my heart and brain now, but not my pride," he shouted, bracing himself to rise again.

"What was that?" asked Kera of the Supreme Kai.

"I suspect that Babidi is giving him orders, but he seems to be refusing them."

Kera's hope flared. Perhaps Vegeta was not yet lost. She heard a whirring sound. The floor hatch had opened and the Supreme Kai and Gohan had positioned themselves at its edge.

"Are you coming, Kera?" Gohan stood at the open floor hatch that led deeper into the interior of the spaceship. To level four. To the fourth and final enemy that stood between them and Babidi. Between them and the demon Buu.

Kera's gaze wandered to the Supreme Kai, who lowered his eyes. He was not looking at her. 'Coward,' she thought. She recognised no strength in his aura. Perhaps his power lay on another level, but certainly not in his fighting ability. She looked at Gohan.

"No. I stay here," she said. It was not only Gohan who looked at her in puzzlement. Vegeta's and Kakarrot's eyes also twitched over to her with an astonished expression.

Kera let her energy flare. "Go ahead, Gohan. I'll make sure our two stubborn heads here don't completely break each other." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Gohan nod and disappear into the floor hatch. The Supreme Kai followed him.

"We don't need a guardian!" Vegeta glared at her angrily.

With a quick glance behind, Kera made sure Gohan and the Supreme Kai were gone, then looked back at Vegeta.

"No. I will join the fight. That way we can finally determine which of us three siblings is the strongest." She increased her energy level further. With her hand, she slowly stroked her head and then down her braided pigtail. Following the movement, her hair turned blonde and her eye colour changed from black to green.

A grin appeared on Vegeta's lips. "Fancy transformation."

Kakarrot made a snorting sound, but when she looked at him, she noticed a brief grin on his face as well. There was no denying the Saiyan blood in them.

"Okay, then let's fight full force right now so this can be over quickly."

Vegeta raced forward, yelling, "I'll kill you! I'll tear you apart!"

Kakarrot braced himself for impact. Kera didn't let it get that far. She jumped at Vegeta from the side. She crashed him into a rock and pinned him there.

"I don't want to fight you!" Vegeta tightened his legs and kicked her in the stomach again. She was thrown away from him and took a moment to get back up. Vegeta had managed in that short time to pin Kakarrot to a rock with rings of energy. Kakarrot's arms and legs were so tightly strapped with energy that he could not move an inch.

Vegeta had moved in front of him and punched him in the face.

Kera ran towards the two of them. "Vegeta, stop it!" she yelled.

"Remember, Kakarrot, how we fought the first time. You defeated me so narrowly. And then you showed me mercy. Do you know how humiliating it was. To be shown mercy by an underclass warrior like you. Just ... so ... humiliating." Each word was accompanied by a thud. Kakarrot's head jerked from left to right.

Kera rammed her knee into Vegeta's side. He was so fixed on Kakarrot that he didn't notice her coming shot. Furious, he looked at her. "And I always thought you were the only one who understood me." Disappointment resonated in his voice.

"I am. If all you do is beat up Kakarrot, I'll get bored!" She lunged at Vegeta, who dodged her outstretched fist. She lashed out with her second hand and hit Vegeta in the upper arm. His eyelid twitched. Unpleasant, but certainly not painful.

"As you wish," he growled, and now lashed out with his fist in turn.

Kera ducked under the blow, already expecting his second fist, but Vegeta was not so readily transparent, for he dropped and wiped her legs away. As she fell, she spun and pushed herself off the ground so hard that she was above him.

His gaze followed her. He set himself to leap. Kakarrot came from behind and threw himself at Vegeta.

Vegeta put his hands together and brought them down on Kakarrot's back. Kakarrot gasped, but he did not let go of Vegeta.

"Why do you always forget about me?" The small rational part of Kera thought that this fight was about the last thing they needed now, but the Saiyan in her was stronger. Today, she let it run wild. She was angry. She wanted to fight. She wanted to finally be the strongest for once.

Orbs of energy gathered in her hands. She hit her two brothers, who were torn apart and remained lying a few steps away from each other. Slowly they picked themselves up again. Vegeta was wiping blood from his lip, Kakarrot had a wound on his forehead.

Kera hovered over them, energy in her hands ready to attack. "Are you tired yet?"

She saw them both grinning. "Can't sleep with you talking." Vegeta jumped up and raced towards Kera. Kakarrot did the same. Kera dodged upwards at the last moment. Vegeta slowed down before he crashed into Kakarott and changed his strategy, grabbing the other from behind in one fluid motion, pinning his body to the latter's arms behind his back and wrapping one arm tightly around Kakarrot's neck.

"It feels like we've known each other forever, Kakarott," he hissed in Kakarott's ear. "If I had known what to expect on Earth, I wouldn't have come here. Do you know that I was prepared to sacrifice my life against Cell? But you had to sacrifice yourself, so I, the Prince of Saiyans was at your mercy."

Kakarrot let out a tortured laugh. "You think I was great about leaving my family behind? I never even met my second son."

Vegeta clicked his tongue. "You've turned me into a hen-pecked hero. I want to be cruel again, like before!"

Kera cried out and yanked Vegeta off Kakarrot. This time she fixed him. "You're such an idiot. You love your family! You wouldn't give them up for anything in the world. And you were like that before. If Frieza hadn't destroyed our planet, we could have all been happy together."

"He defeated me, Kera. I must finally take my revenge."

"You're beyond help!" With those words, Kakarrot raced towards Vegeta and Kera, raining down energy on them. With their arms pulled in front of their faces, they leapt apart to dodge. Kakarrot's flashes of light followed them. Kera and Vegeta dodged as best they could. Some bullets grazed them, leaving bloody scrapes on their skin.

Dust swirled around so hard it obscured her vision. She dodged bullets only by instinct, without seeing them. Then something hit her on the leg and she buckled away. She fell to one knee and coughed as the dust got into her lungs.

Kera cursed. She had to wait for the dust to settle. Vegeta and Kakarrot's energy was moving so fast she couldn't follow. She tried to concentrate and stumbled. There was something else.

"Vegeta! Kakarrot! Do you feel that?"

It took a moment, but then the energies stood still. A split second later, Kakarrot was standing next to her. Vegeta didn't take much longer.

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid it's the demon Buu who has awakened," Kera replied.

Kakarrot and Vegeta simultaneously held out their hands to help her up. Smiling, she leaned on both of them.

"Damn it. It's all too late now!" Angrily, Kakarrot clenched his fists.

"Don't be like that. The energy is great, but so is the Supreme Kai's and we could have easily taken him down. He was even amazed at our strength," Vegeta said dismissively. "Come on, let's keep fighting."

"That's enough now. We have to take care of the demon," Kakarrot yelled at him.

"I don't give a damn about that."

"What about Bulma and Trunks? Don't you care about your family either?"

A twitch ran across Vegeta's brow. Too brief to really notice. "I don't care about them," he said tonelessly.

Kera yelled out. "You idiot. How can you say such a thing? You love your family!"

Vegeta turned away from them and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I don't think you sold your soul completely to Babidi," Kera said, taking a step towards her twin brother.

"All right. Kakarrot, give me a Senzu Bean."

"I knew you weren't completely nuts." Kakarrot began fiddling with his belt to take a bean from the folds.

Vegeta turned. Kera opened her mouth as she realised what he was about to do, but she was too late. Vegeta's hand edge landed in Kakarrot's neck. Kakarrot slumped with a gasping sound, his hair turning black again.

"Are you out of your mind?", Kera snapped at him.

"Disappointing. He's pretty sloppy about his cover," Vegeta remarked dismissively. "And you: Keep your feet still. I'll take care of the demon now."

"Alone?" asked Kera sceptically.

Vegeta put the bean in his mouth and looked absently at the sky. "It's my fault the demon woke up." He looked at Kakarrot. "If I am still alive, we will continue our fight later." Then he looked at Kera. "You stay with him."

"Excuse me?"

"I will take on this demon alone!"

Kera straightened to her full height and looked directly at Vegeta. His eyes were rimmed in black, which Kera only now noticed. The black M on his forehead seemed to glow towards her. "I will not leave you alone."

"It's too dangerous."

"How many times have we had this conversation? I'm sick of it. I'm angry too. My mate has been turned to stone. All this demon-wizard-supreme Kai crap is preventing our long-awaited contest and Kakarrot's one day on earth is ruined. I'm surely not going to wait here twiddling my thumbs."

Vegeta looked her up and down for a while. Very slowly, his eyes returned to hers. "Fine."

He turned to the floor hatch. "Then let's blow this up to get out of here."

Kera nodded. He raised his hand and she held it back once more. "Vegeta."

"Huh?"

"Promise me you won't die, okay?"

He smiled.

Dear reader,

I hope you had a nice Christmas and a few relaxing days. I wish you a happy new year, stay healthy. Thank you for your comments and I hope you will enjoy the rest of the story.

Yours, Jessica