This sucks so much. Those two had better be alive, so I can kill them with my bare hands. Damn them.

Thoughts like these were all Bardock could think about as he drank deep of the mountain spring he had found. The wind was blowing and carried with it the scent of the ocean. In a very small way, it helped to fight off some of the fatigue that gripped his body, but only a little.

The thing helping him most to fight off his weariness was his ever increasing anger. Every little thought of his two missing teammates produced another ember of annoyance that fueled the growing flame. It had been this way since he had started his search at the city they were last in. What was left of it anyway.

"Damn those two," he said to himself. "Had one job to do, you screw it up. That's what I get. Damn it, Toma. Damn it, girl."

Bardock took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Calmness came to him and he took a moment to let his thoughts fly. He crouched down by the pool and stared into the water. A wave of old memories and nostalgia washed over him and sent him back to a place similar to this one, a long time ago.

"You finally decide to show up again and you do stupid crap like this to me. Some promise keeper you are."

The sound of a rock falling snapped Bardock back to reality and he let out a growl of frustration. He splashed some water on his face and slapped his cheeks. It was time to move.

"Just be alive."

The next room Toma and Gine came to was the remnants of a grand ball room. The polished dance floor was now cracked and scuffed from the weight of the heavy machines and work boots. In the center of the room was a giant pile of very full looking large brown sacks. In an organized fashion, groups of people pulled their carts to the pile and filled them up as best as they could. Then with full loads the workers headed out in different directions. Everybody wore the same hazard suits and helmets.

The duo waited at the top of the stairs out of sight. Gine tried her best not to appear nervous, but she could not stop thinking about how this was a really bad idea.

Toma bent down to whisper to her through their helmets. "Remember the plan. We blend in, follow those guys with the carts, see what all of this means, and then leave. Got it?"

Gine was starting to shake. "Y...yeah I got it, but what do we do if they catch us?"

"Then we just skip to the last part of the plan. They won't catch us though. You just gotta be confident, kid. Act natural."

"...but what do we do if they talk to us? These guys aren't using the universal tongue. What's your plan for that?"

Toma stood back and thought about it for a moment. Then he simply shrugged. "The plan is the same, just act natural. We'll see how far we can get and deal with things as they happen. Now, no more talk. Follow my lead."

Toma strutted confidently down the steps into the crowd of busy people with Gine following right behind him. Nobody noticed the newcomers with nothing to do and kept right on working. For a moment, the pair just stood there looking lost.

Gine, for the second or third time, was rethinking this whole thing when there was a commotion in the crowd. Someone's cart had fallen over and a few of the brown bags opened. Small white spheres fell out and rolled everywhere, sending everyone into one legged dances to avoid falling person pushing the cart dropped to their hands and knees and tried to pick everything up without being stepped on.

The Saiyans shared a glance with each other and then together moved to help the cart owner clean up the mess. A few others stopped to help as well, and in little time the mess was picked up and the spheres were back in their sacks. The owner gave a nod of thanks to all who helped and and quickly threw the bags back onto the cart in an obvious rush.

They were in so much of a rush that they failed to notice the wagon beginning to lean to the opposite side more and more with each bag they added. Gine did notice,and hastily got on the other side of the load and pushed back up. Then without even thinking about it, she picked up four bags, two in each hand. Situations like this happened all the time back at the was just used to recognizing trouble and stepping in to help. Really, she had forgotten where she was for a moment.

When Gine picked up the sacks, she noticed the weight to them. They were by no means too heavy for her but for someone of average strength (which she had to assume was the norm for these people) lifting one bag with both hands would be a difficult task, never mind carrying four. She let two of them fall to the ground and pretended to laboriously carry the other two to Toma. She could just see in her mind's eye Toma giving her strange looks and thinking she had gone crazy, but she hoped he would catch on quick. She handed the bags to him and ran back to get the other two, pretending again that it was hard. Gine picked up her own load and looked expectantly to the owner.

The owner looked at Gine, then Toma, then back to Gine again.

"Wixt."

She guessed that meant 'thanks' and nodded back.

The worker then pushed his cart towards a herd of people going out a door that seemed to lead outside, and the two Saiyans followed after. Everyone in the crowd looked exhausted. Days of non-stop work was evident in their body language. Gine made a conscious effort to make the her burdens seem heavy,as to not give herself away. Toma, on the other hand, did not. He carried his bags as if they were the lightest of bird feathers and even walked at his full height. Gine remembered this very same man telling her to "just blend in", and there he was, not even trying anymore. She sighed.

The crowd flowed from the castle, to the town, and through some destroyed outer walls that led to a cleared away sandy path through the woods. There was construction everywhere and the people (some in hazard suits, some not) ran around in a frenzy.

They moved at a steady pace,and before she knew it, they were out of the forest and stepping into a wide open field next to an ocean. Gine was taken in by the sight. It had been some time since she had seen a view so beautiful. The liquid gold reflection of the sun in the water and the slow passing of small pink clouds put her in a trance-like state. She continued to walk and did not notice that the line had stopped. She bumped hard into another strong body in front of her.

"Oh sorry, sorry. Please excuse me."

As soon as the last word left her mouth, Gine realized her grave mistake and was petrified to the spot. She has just spoken and given herself away. How could she be so stupid? What was wrong with her? Could Toma and she take all of them at once? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

The individual she bumped into turned around to look at her. He was not wearing a helmet so Gine was able to see the pure exhaustion in his eyes. His skin was a pale blue and his orange hair looked filthy. With a dry, tired voice the man said: "It's alright. Just watch where you are going, please." Then he faced forward again and continued on his way.

Gine was still frozen to the spot, but this time out of shock.

"He... talked? He could understand me?"

Even though many planets knew the universal language, it was still a luck of the draw to come across one that did. Especially one not yet assimilated into the Planet Trade Organization empire, although usually it didn't matter if they spoke it or not. What difference did it make what language the natives spoke when you are just about to wipe out their whole race anyway?

Gine still couldn't believe her luck though. This would make getting around and gathering information much easier.

"Toma, did you see that? I... Toma?"

Gine looked in all directions, and to her horror realized that she had lost her teammate and guide. She was on her own among a group of slow moving people starting to go in different directions.

She had to find Toma.

As fast as she could, Gine pushed her way forward through the crowd. For some reason, she did not think to drop her bags and they bumped and tripped people not fast enough to get out of her way.

"Sorry, excuse me," she called over her shoulder. "Oh Toma, where did you go?"

She stopped to scan the crowd for any giant out-of-place mountains of muscle. Unfortunately there were more people with that body type than she had expected, and with Toma's helmet still on, she had no other way to identify him. She looked and looked, but couldn't find him.

Gah! Where are you? Do you even notice I'm gone? she thought.

The further Gine pushed forward, the the more open it got. People were starting to spread out and get into different lines that each lead to large circular platforms big enough to hold at least thirty people at a time. When the platforms reached full capacity, they glowed a bright white and in a flash the people once standing there were gone.

There was no way of telling where they were being teleported to,and Gine knew if Toma stepped onto one without her, there would be no way for her to find him again. She moved faster and told herself to stay calm for what must have been the fifth time, and continued to look.

"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing?"

Gine was roughly grabbed by the shoulder and spun around hard enough to almost throw her off balance. She looked up at a man with skin as red rubies and who was as big as tree.

"You can't just wander around, we don't have time to waste," he barked. "Get back in line."

Gine was starting to believe she just brought the anger out in people. She found her voice again. "I'm-uh sorry. I got lost."

"A foreigner, huh? Geez." The man let out an annoyed growl and all but yanked a bag out of Gine's hand. She didn't protest and let him study the crystals inside.

"These have to get to the citadel now. Come on."

The red man marched off with Gine following behind him. She almost had to run to keep up with him. He was a man on a mission,and he made her think of her grumpy new captain.

He led Gine to a considerably shorter line on the top of a cliff ledge that overlooked the sea. Higher up the mountain wall, on another bluff, Gine saw a tall white building that stuck out like a beacon. It had least a hundred windows covering it, and one giant glass dome at the very top.

The red man marched in long stiff strides to the front of the line. He stopped at a table where two men sat. His sudden presence in front of them seemed to have caught them off guard.

One of them, a man with green and white skin and hair, got to his feet and saluted."G-General Tart, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

Tart dropped Gine's bag onto the table and gruffly said, "I found this foreigner just walking around lost. She's carrying around a bunch of these." He pulled out one of the crystal balls for the two men to inspect up close. "These need to get to the citadel right now. His Majesty is waiting for them."

"Yes, sir. They need to step on the circle to the right."

Tart called to Gine over his shoulder. "You heard him, get moving."

"Yes, sir."

She felt nervous when she noticed the hard looks the men gave her as she passed by, but without saying a word she grabbed her bags and walked onto the metal dais. Others followed after being checked over by the men at the table. General Tart must have decided he had nothing better to do and stood by with his arms crossed, looking positively surly.

As everyone went to their places, Gine sighed dropped her bags and looked up to the sky. How much more do I have to go through, she thought. She sure hoped Toma was still having fun, because she sure as all hell wasn't. If she didn't think of something else soon, she would have no choice but to expose herself to reunite with her teammate. Odds were that would not end well for the innocent lives around her, even though things were already going to end badly for them.

Just then, something streaked across the sky and caught Gine's eye. It looked almost like a shooting star except it moved very differently,as if it were alive.

Before she could mull it over any further, the scenery changed from a nice seaside to the inside of a busy circular room. Gine's head spun at the sudden switch and her eyes darted everywhere to take everything in.

"Huh? What? Where am I?"

The room was tall and large, with heavy machines and computers lined up against the walls. Three giant monitors hung above and gave everyone in the room perfect views of other parts of the planet.

In the dead center of the room was a fat metal pole that reached all the way up to the glass dome ceiling, topped with a black satellite dish. The whole structure glowed faintly with a pulsating eerie light.

"Whoa," was all Gine could say.

"Hey foreigner, come on."

The group had started walking towards the pole, leaving Gine a few steps behind. They were being led in a quick fashion by General Tart, who must have joined them while Gine was distracted. She picked up her bags and followed. Several tables had been set up. On them lay many metal trays with round holes in them. Automatically, the workers opened their bags and and began placing crystals in the holes. Gine copied them.

It was a different atmosphere here,more relaxed. People talked more and even took off their suits,something Gine wanted to do rather badly as it was getting pretty hot. Or was it her nerves? There was no way of knowing how much longer she could keep her ruse up.

"ATTENTION! His Majesty King Zugar is coming. Look sharp!"

On reflex and in perfect sync with Tart and everyone else, Gine stood to attention with her back straight, eyes forward, and arms to her sides. She couldn't believe how naturally the movement came to her and wondered if that was good or bad.

From the corner of her eye, she could see a group of people approach and then stand in front of them. All were well dressed and groomed, and carried an air of sophistication about them. Most seemed to be high ranked soldiers of some sort and wore brightly colored sashes full of shiny medals. The rest wore a mix of fine furs,feathers,and pieces of beautiful jewelry.

The new group stood in front of Gine and the others with stern looks in their eyes. Then one man stepped forward. His skin was mix of white and brown and his hair was as puffy as any cloud.

Giving a rigid salute with his fists to his chest Tart called out, "All hail King Zugar!"

This was followed by a chorus of hails and low bows.

The king cleared his throat. "Thank you. Please rise."

As the line stood back up, Zugar started to converse with Tart in their native tongue. His voice sounded young, and Gine wondered how old he was. She saw what might have been age lines near his eyes and mouth. Perhaps the stresses of ruling a threatened world were taking their toll on him. Poor thing.

When their talk was finished Zugar, turned back to the crowd. "Thank you, my friends, for all of your hard work. Thanks to you, we are just about ready to initiate our second attack. I have just been informed that the enemy has been spotted and in a few moments will be engaged in phase one. After that we-"

"Hey! When the king is talking, you show your face!"

The helmet was yanked off Gine's head so fast she was dizzy. All eyes were on her now exposed face, and she began to panic. She turned and jumped for her headgear which was being held just out of her reach.

"Give it back. Give it back."

"Unbelievable," Tart barked. "Don't they teach you any manners on your planet? Where are you from, anyway?

Gine was still jumping for her helmet desperately. "Planet Vegeta. Please give it back."

That seemed to give Tart a bit of pause. "Vegata? Wait, isn't that-?"

"TART!" The king yelled, "ENOUGH!

Zugar stormed over to Tart and yanked the helmet from his hands. The general looked sheepish. "I.. I'm sorry, Your Majesty. Please forgive me."

"How dare you embarrass our helper like this. They come all this way in our hour of need, and you worry about petty protocol? You shame me."

"My apologies, sire."

"No more. We will discuss this later."

The humiliated general bowed and took at least five steps back from the king. Zugar shook his head, turned back to Gine, and returned her helmet.

"I apologize for him. He will be dealt with later."

Gine took it and bowed. "It's no problem, your majesty. It was my fault. I forgot myself."

"No, the fault was all his. I will not have anyone who has come to our aid be treated in such a way. My people owe you and others a great deal of thanks. Without you, all hope would be lost and our race completely wiped out. Thank you."

The knot that formed in Gine's stomach was almost too much. She could not look him in the eye. Bowing again she got back in line.

Another group of people came towards them. This one led by a white as milk woman dressed in furs. Around her were men and women in lab coats holding tiny computers.

The king's eyes went straight to the woman. He held out his hands for her. "Creme. Are we ready?"

"Yes. They just told me they have the monsters in their sights and have already sent in the robots. The powering up phase will start as soon as the last few crystals are put in."

"Excellent. You hear that my people? The time is nearly at hand. Please finish your work and get to shelter as soon as possible. It's almost over. This ends today."

"Look, my lord. They are on the screens now."

Everyone looked up to the giant screens on the wall that showed hazy aerial images of a burnt city. The view changed again and now they were looking in the city. As the perspective got closer and closer, it became clear that a battle was going on and was laying the city even more to waste. Bodies were being tossed left and right, as well as being torn in half. The camera kept changing, making it hard to tell who or what was fighting. Finally the camera stopped directly behind the battle.

A large group of ten or more robots dashed towards a lone fighter from all sides. They jumped into the air in an attempt to overwhelm the warrior. It them no good as the lone fighter jumped into the air with them and, with moves too fast to see, took them all out. The view changed again and, oddly enough, it was through the eyes of one of the fallen robots. While the sight didn't last long, before it turned into a screen of white static,just long enough for Gine to get a good view of a very familiar face.

"Celipa." Gine covered her mouth to keep from crying out.

The queen snuggled up closer to the king. "See, my love? It's only a matter of time before the nightmare is over."

"Indeed. Let's go and talk to our officers. We'll have to take shelter soon."

With that, the king turned around with the queen's hands still in his and walked back towards the group of scientists. Then, just for a split second, the queen and Gine's eyes met and they held each other's gaze. For some reason, Gine remembered her. How and why was beyond her, but she was sure they had met in some form or another before. From the look in the queen's eyes, she felt the same.

When they broke eye contact, the queen continued on with her husband and Gine went back to work with the others. This wasn't good. If they were focusing on Celipa, that could only mean they were about to fire that weapon again. The same thing that had hit Toma and her. If it hit Celipa and Pambukin (who was probably still with her), then they might not be as lucky. She had to act now and find Toma.

There was a sense of urgency now and everyone moved fast to finish their tasks. As soon as Gine's group deposited their crystals, the trays were whisked away and loaded into compartments inside the giant pole. It started to glow even brighter with each tray loaded in. She was the last to do so, and just about the last still remaining in the room.

With their burdens gone, people started to leave. No one used the warp pads and instead took the stairs.

She wanted to linger behind to try and think of a plan and to see more of Celipa's fight, but she caught Tart giving her the evil eye from across the room. Luckily he was being scolded by the king, giving Gine her chance to escape.

She ran down the stairs, trailing everyone. The stairwell was wide and easily accommodated the herd of people descending. Gine looked over the rails and gulped. It was a long way down.

Each stairway landing had a door guarded by big muscular figures. If anyone was too slow, the guards said a few words to move them along. This kept the flow of traffic steady. It was just as well to Gine. The best place to look for Toma would most likely be outside. It should be easier now that she didn't have to wear her helmet anymore.

Just as she reached the next landing, she felt something pull her arm and yank her sideways. One of the guards had grabbed her. She stumbled and fell through a door that closed behind her.

"Awww man, finally. Took you long enough, kid. What's the big idea getting lost? I've been looking for you everywhere. Hey, did you know this place speaks the universal language? Makes things a whole lot easier. Hey, where's your helmet?"

Gine could not hold her frustrations in any longer. Her blood boiled as Toma took off his guard disguise. Her voice went to the ceiling. "Me getting lost? ME? Toma, you have no idea what I have been through. This whole stupid plan of your has been just too much! I hate it! I hate this whole mission!"

Toma was completely taken aback and held up his hands in self defense. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, it easy. I was just kidding. Had a bit of a rough time, did we?"

Something came over Gine. She ran over to Toma and wrapped her arms around him. The confused Saiyan didn't hug back, but gave her a few awkward pats on the head.

Gine jumped back with a blush on her cheeks. "I was looking for you."

"Well, you found me."

"Where did you go?"

"Here, just outside. We are at the that tower on the cliff. This place is pretty much a giant factory. All of the bottom floors work like an assembly line, building those robots we fought. There's even a warp pad to send them off somewhere. Oh, and those crystals we been seeing. They are some kind of power source. Not just that, but they can use them to shoot ki as well. Crazy huh?"

"Crystals? The crystals! Toma, the crystals. The weapon!"

Toma scratched the back of his head. "The what now?"

"I saw Celipa, she's in danger!"

"WHAT! What the hell do you mean she's in danger. What happened?

Toma's sudden shift from zero to one-hundred made Gine flinch in alarm. She recovered and told him all she knew. The man looked like he was ready to go into battle right then and there. It was the most serious she had ever seen him. It was bit scary.

"So you saw her being attacked on a screen, and you think they are about to fire that weapon?"

"Yeah. Any minute now from the looks of it."

Toma crossed his arms. "I see."

Gine asked anxiously, "Well now what do we do?"

"Well, I think that should be obvious. This tour is officially over. Now it's back to work."

"So what's the plan?"

"The plan is to do what Saiyans do best and cause a whole world of damage and hurt. Ready kid?"

Gine nodded. "Ready."

As if waving good-bye, Toma raised his open palm to the ceiling and shot a blast of ki through the ceiling. Immediately the alarms went off and colored everything in red.

"See you up top, kid." Smiling from ear to ear, Toma flew threw the hole in the ceiling and left Gine behind.

Gine stared for a moment and then shrugged. "Here we go again."

Bardock was in the worst position a Saiyan could be in. He was hungry and pissed off. The last meal he'd eaten would barely count as a nibble by Saiyan standards and had long since worn off.

"You would think in a place this big it would be easier to find food. Damn it."

Bardock blamed his hunger for him flying over a nameless ocean in the hope of seeing a giant fish or something. He wasn't sure how long he had been circling, since everything looked the same to him. He was sure that he had passed that huge tower at least twice before, but he had been so focused on finding food and his teammates that he just passed it by. Maybe it was time to make a quick stop.

Then, out of nowhere, a blast of ki shot out of the tower and almost hit Bardock smack dab in the face. He dodged it easily enough and watched it disappear into the sky.

"What.. the... hell... was that?"

...and she's back. One more chapter of this arc guys and then we move on, promise.

I want to give a really big thank you akgrownrandi, who sent in an absolutely adorable piece of fan art. I've set it as my profile picture, and I am so sorry it took me so long to get it up.

See you guys next chapter