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It had only been a few hours since she had left Namek, and already Echo was feeling uneasy. For one thing, the spaceship's fuel was running pretty low, and for another, she was starving. However eager she was to get away, she was not willing to die for her freedom. Her thoughts were interrupted by the spaceship's female voice saying, "Warning--low fuel level. Warning--low fuel level. Emergency landing advised. Emergency landing advised." Echo looked out the window, there was a small planet not too far away. She re-directed the course and hit the emergeny landing button. Then she had to wait. The landing was smooth enough, Echo thought that the planet probably had frequent visitors. As she got out of the spaceship, she noticed a small gathering of people--and, funny thing was, they all looked similar to Zarbon. Several of them stepped forward and asked harshly, "What is your business here?" Echo looked surprised, "It is just the ship--it needs to be refueled. I made a mistake and forgot to refuel it before I used it. Oh, by the way, are any of you related to someone by the name of Zarbon?" Some of the people gasped. "You know of our prince who is serving Frieza?" Echo replied, "Yes. He was my friend..until...well, nevermind that. The important thing is that I managed to escape." "Hey..I recognize you," said a guard, "you're Echo. Zarbon stopped writing to us a while back, but not before he explained a few things about you--no wonder there's a reward out for your return." Echo looked shocked. "Frieza knows I'm gone ALREADY? I didn't think he'd notice that quickly." The guard smirked, "He can't possibly overlook the only female on his spaceship being gone, that'd be like not seeing white on black." Echo said, "Umm..I've got something else to ask. Do you think he'd know that I was here?" "Without a doubt," said another, louder voice. Suddenly everyone in the group was bowing---apparently the king had arrived. "You should come with me," he said. ****Several Minutes Later**** "Uh..sir..if you don't mind my asking..what's your name?" The king smiled. "Of course I don't mind. Why would I mind answering the questions of a girl my son spoke so fondly of?" He paused for a moment, "My name is Ragon. I have no need to ask you your name, because my son has told me all about you and your..problem. That is dishonorable, what he (he seemed unable to say Frieza's name) did, but you can't change the past, you can only prepare for the future. I am afraid that my son has no future now, because with the coming of the news of your escape, the news that Zarbon died also came. He had written out what to do with his belongings, and he said that most of them were to go to his family, but one piece of jewelry was to go to you--it's this." He held it up, and Echo immediately recognized it. It looked exactly like the jeweled thing Zarbon'd always worn on his forehead. "But I thought that he had only one of them!" Echo said, slightly surprised. "You don't know much about royal treatment, do you?" Ragon snickered. "This one is the original. The one he wore was a copy," and, adding this on because he saw the confused look on Echo's face, "His more valuable jewels were only worn on extremely important days. I'd like to say, also, not to break this, as it's been in the family for generations and it was very expensive to make." Echo put the jeweled thing on. She suddenly wondered what Zarbon would think she looked like wearing it. "Now if only Zarbon were here. The way he talked about you in his letters, it sounded like he was madly in love with you. He seemed to have kept enough of his common sense to realize that, with Frieza around, he'd never get you." Echo replied, "I'm still getting over the shock of..you know. If my race was dying out, or something else like that, I wouldn't resort to..well, that's besides the point." The next morning, the spaceship was tuned back up to speed, and Echo left the planet, the stress on her having been slightly lessened. |