Kera:

Kera smiled up at Piccolo and he returned the smile. Vegeta nodded at her, Kakarrot gave her a thumbs up. Two enemies down, three remained. By allowing Kakarrot back into the ring, there were still four fighters on her side.

She positioned herself in the centre of the ring again and watched as her opponent entered the fighting field on the opposite side. He did not come alone. Champa walked beside him. At the same time, the two reached the ring judge. Champa whispered a few words to the referee, who finally nodded, whereupon Champa moved away and flew back to his platform. Vados then raised her staff and the air around the fighting ring began to shimmer. Moments later, the arena was surrounded by a glass cube.

"What is this?" shouted Beerus across the cube. Anger resonated in his voice.

"This is to protect the audience. No one said the rules can't be changed during the fight," Champa returned.

Kera sensed that Champa and Beerus would start arguing if she did not intervene. "Stop it. I don't care how I fight. No one stands a chance against me anyway."

Her fingertips were tingling. She could hardly wait for the fight to be released.

Only now did Kera take a closer look at her opponent. He resembled a robot. His body shone like freshly polished metal. Two windows were embedded in his chest, behind which a red liquid seemed to bubble. His eyes seemed empty. Steam was emitted from his head. Kera wondered if there were beings in the universe that were made of metal and if perhaps their opponent was not a robot at all.

"From Universe Seven, the victor from the previous battle will step forward: Kera! Her opponent from Universe Six is Magetta! Ring clear!"

Applause erupted. Kera switched to fight mode, blocking out all sights and sounds as much as possible. She leapt up as Magetta took a step towards her and lunged to strike.

Satisfied, she noted that Magetta was slow. Very slow by her standards. It would be easy to avoid him.

Magetta did not follow her. Again Kera grinned triumphantly. Magetta couldn't fly. That made it all the easier. Her opponent opened his mouth and spat a red beam in her direction. Kera dodged to the right.

She felt the heat, though Magetta's attack missed her by half a yard. She narrowed her eyes and took a closer look at her opponent. That had not been a classic energy beam, but lava. Did that mean that the red liquid inside him was also lava? Then he wasn't a robot after all, but actually some kind of metal man.

Magetta didn't give her time to think. He increased the frequency of his attacks. Kera kept dodging and firing energy attacks at Magetta, but they seemed to have no effect on him.

Kera cursed inwardly. She had rejoiced too soon over her slow opponent. And she noticed something else. It was getting hotter in the glass cube. Of course it was. The heat Magetta radiated stayed in the ring thanks to the cube. It didn't seem to mind the rise in temperature. Kera thought feverishly. Heat rose upwards. That meant the air below was probably even more comfortable. But then she would also get close to Magetta and she still had no idea how she was going to defeat him if her energy attacks against him had no effect.

The heat was becoming more and more unbearable. She was already finding it difficult to breathe. She needed a plan. Urgently!

"Kera, you have to defeat him. You won't last much longer!"

"Shut up, Kakarrot," she shouted at him.

She knew he was right. She had learned in her time on Earth that it was perfectly possible to admit weakness. But when she was in such a fighting mood, she was not willing to do so.

"Hey, what's wrong with this cube!" Kera's gaze wandered to Beerus, who was getting very excited.

"There's nothing wrong with the cube. It's just hovering over the ring," Champa blapped back from the other side.

Kera searched the edge of the ring. He was right. The cube was not standing on the ground, but floating. Still, that didn't help her. She had to think of something, fast.

Magetta fired a lava beam at Kera. The heat hit her before she could dodge it. She tried to dodge downwards. She saw nothing. She had to squint her eyes from the heat and Magetta stood behind the wall of fire.

She heard a gasp from the audience, but she couldn't see what was making the others so uneasy. Suddenly Magetta was in front of her, wielding a mace. Where had the weapon come from? Weapons were not allowed after all.

Too late. The mace hit her in the shoulder with full force. She tried to turn and slow her fall, but the wall of the glass cube was closer than she thought. She slammed into it. The air, already scarce, was forced from her lungs. Her vision blurred.

"You disgusting tin-head!"

She heard Vegeta shout. He was insulting Magetta in one go. Though she couldn't break her fall, she had to smile. When Vegeta let big brother hang out, he was very endearing.

During her fall, she saw something else. Magetta was falling. He just tumbled forward. Out of the ring. Why?

A loud clang announced that Magetta had come up outside the ring. Only a blink of an eye before she herself hit the ground. Instantly the glass box around her disappeared.

Kera remained lying on the earth, slightly dazed. She did not yet know what had happened. Someone would enlighten her. She didn't have to wait long. Piccolo knelt down beside her and took her carefully in his arms.

"Good fight," he whispered.

She smiled gratefully. "I need a drink first," she croaked. Her throat felt dry as dust.

Piccolo landed her on the platform next to Vegeta, who patted her shoulder encouragingly. She gave a short whine.

Magetta had hit her very badly with the club. The pain went all the way to her little finger. She could hardly lift her arm.

"Sorry. Did he hit you that hard?" asked Vegeta, looking into Kera's pain-distorted face.

She nodded. Kakarrot held out a glass of water to her, which she drank up greedily.

"Good fight, Kera."

She bowed her head. "Thank you, Lord Beerus. Why did Magetta fall out of the ring, then?"

"Metal men are very sensitive. When they are insulted, they are so deeply affected that they are unable to act," Whis enlightened her.

"Then you actually won the fight," she said with a smile to Vegeta, who just shrugged.

"The next fight starts and you have to get back in the ring." Beerus looked at her from above.

"She can't fight anymore," Piccolo said.

"What, of course I can still fight!"

She jumped up, trying to ignore the pain in her injured arm. Whis looked her up and down.

"You're too badly hurt," he then stated matter-of-factly. "Goku ..."

"No. It's my turn now," Vegeta enthused, straightening up.

"Show him!" shouted Kera after her brother as he flew down to the ring.

Kakarrot stepped close to her. "You didn't give everything you had earlier, did you?"

She cleared her throat. Her gaze wandered to the big guy from the Sixth Universe, who was dressed in a long grey coat. He looked completely unconcerned, as if he was sure he would win any fight anyway.

Kakarrot also looked over at him. "Yes, I've noticed him too. Hopefully I can still fight him."

"For now, Vegeta finishes off that Saiyan from the Sixth Universe. I don't think he'll have too many problems there."

Vados and Whis hovered over the ring, which showed obvious signs of wear after the fight against Magetta. They repaired it with a wave of their staffs and Vegeta and his opponent landed in the middle of the ring.

The other Saiyan was introduced as Cabba.

"Cabba has a very similar fighting style to Vegeta."

Kakarrot nodded. "And in their normal form, they are almost equally strong. I wonder if he can transform into a Super Saiyan?"

Kera shrugged, immediately regretting the move. It hurt quite a bit.

"Here, let me help you."

Whis let his staff make a small movement. Instantly, a comforting warmth spread from her shoulder down her arm, as if a warm river were running through her.

"Thank you." She smiled, then turned back to Vegeta and Cabba. "Oh, oh ..." She didn't like what she saw in the ring now. Vegeta was now attacking Cabba not only with kicks and punches, but also with words. He insulted the young Saiyan and his family.

"What did I miss?" she asked Kakarrot.

"Cabba asked Vegeta to teach him how to transform into a Super Saiyan. And now he's totally merciless. I have no idea what he has now." Kera grinned. "What's so funny about that?"

"Vegeta's teaching him."

"Huh?"

"He's making him mad, see?"

And indeed he did. When Cabba decided to vent his anger because of the insults against him and his family, he was able to push Vegeta back.

"I never thought Vegeta would teach anyone."

"I'm not surprised," said Piccolo, who had been watching the events in the ring with equal fascination. "It gives him a chance to pass something on. He is the king of his people."

"But he has me!", Kakarrot indignantly said.

"Well ..." said Piccolo, stretching.

Vegeta quickly ended the fight by transforming into Super Saiyan Blue and knocking Cabba unconscious. After the ring judge declared him the winner, he came flying straight to the platform where Kera, Piccolo and Kakarrot were waiting.

"Well done, Vegeta," Kera praised him, which he only acknowledged with a grumpy sound.

"The boy still has much to learn," he said as he took a sip of water from a cup.

"You can still teach him, after all." Kera winked at Vegeta. Did she see a smile flit across Vegeta's face?

"He said his king was as proud as I am and invited us to visit the planet."

"We should do that. I'd love to see how the Saiyans live there."

"Cool, I'd like to see that too." Kakarrot displayed his usual almost childlike excitement.

"Still feeling fit?" asked Kera quietly.

Vegeta nodded without taking his eyes from the ring. The last fighter of the Ssixth universe jumped into the ring. His hands were buried deep in the pockets of his long coat.

Kera felt only a faint aura. But since he was the last to fight, he was certainly much stronger than his aura suggested.

"You have to be careful."

"Yeah, this guy is really weird. He seems to have some tricks up his sleeve."

Kera saw Vegeta start up again. He hated nothing more than when Kakarrot gave him tips. Gently, she squeezed his hand. He understood the gesture and exhaled.

"I know," he said then only and almost without reproach in his voice. He gave Kera, Kakarrot and Piccolo a quick nod, waved in the direction of Bulma on the other platform and floated down to the ring.

"Are you going to be mad if he beats him?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You'd like to fight him too, wouldn't you?"

Kera just made a quick gesture with her head, which could have been either a nod or a shake of the head. Of course she wanted to fight this silent guy who seemed to be hiding more than he was showing.

"Now competing are: Vegeta from the Seventh Universe and Hit from the Sixth Universe. Ring clear!"

"How did he do that?" Kera hadn't seen Hit get behind Vegeta so quickly.

"Jaco, did you see something?" asked Kakarrot.

The man addressed, who had been able to see Frost's movements with the needle, shook his head. "I didn't see that either."

Jaco had moved to the other stand since the fight against Frost on Beerus' instructions. Beerus wanted to make sure he was the first to know if any unfair means were used again. Jaco had taken his companion, whom no one had paid much attention to so far, onto the platform. Kera had already forgotten his name. He was probably someone important because of the crown on his head.

"Damn. Hit's managing to do quite a number on Vegeta with his trick. Look!" Kera pointed at the ring. "He's hitting the organs specifically."

Kakarrot cursed and concentrated on the fight. "Now!" he suddenly shouted.

Kera had sensed it a split second before Kakarott had uttered it. Vegeta transformed into Super Saiyan Blue. She liked the transformation. He radiated so much energy and strength at that moment. Hit didn't seem very impressed though. Until Vegeta rushed at him and even managed a few hits.

The moment of surprise didn't last long. Hit quickly adjusted to Vegeta's new form and struck back.

He hit him so hard that Vegeta crumpled, changed back and fell to the ground. He did not move again.

Kera jumped up, grabbed a jug of water and flew down to him. She arrived at Vegeta at the same time as Trunks.

"Papa!" her nephew called out.

Vegeta groaned. He was in a lot of pain and bleeding from several wounds.

"Trunks, did you bring Senzu beans?"

"Yes, here." He handed her a bean. Kera bit it once and shoved it into Vegeta's mouth.