___Chapter 19___

Muuri stood silently atop the strange mountain of rock upon which was his home. As the namekian guru, he had many responsibilities to his people. One of those responsibilities had just presented itself- the dragonballs and the protection of the power those spheres possessed. Once again, someone was seeking them. But this was not the normal group. This one comprised of the child of Son Goku, the sayian prince Vegeta, and Piccolo, the namekian from earth. The obvious problem this presented immediately was Vegeta. But there was a strangeness the elder Ochan had noticed about another of the three- Piccolo.

Not only did Ochan feel a distinct difference in the makeup of Piccolo's ki, but he had also had "unusual black hoops hanging from his ears that radiated an odd sort of power".

Muuri had told the elders not to worry, and to go back to their villages. Ochan would sent the three to him immediately. Now Muuri waited quietly, pondering what could happen.

---

Gohan was getting slightly tense. They had been sitting around for an hour so far. And he couldn't help but wonder about all the things that could go wrong. There were soo many....

Gohan pushed himself away from his thoughts when Vegeta started cursing. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm BORED! That's what's wrong!" Vegeta yelled out in the boy's face.

Oboe slapped Vegeta soundly in the face, growling "Watch it. You don't want to put us under suspicion, do you?" fiercely, glaring at the sayian the whole time.

Vegeta rolled his eyes and leaned back against a rock face with his arms crossed. "Look who's being miss high-and-mighty, Oboe." he said sarcastically.

Oboe leapt up and clamped her hand over his mouth and hissed with a deadly look on her face "Shut the hell up! Their ears are alot better than you'd think! What if they hear you!"

"Damn you're worried today."

"Yeah. I am."

---

Lute stretched and yawned slightly as he awoke from the sleep that had overtook him about a 1/2 hour ago. He had fallen asleep under a bright, beautiful sky. Now he was being pelted with rain.

"Shit!" Lute yelled as he jumped off the top of the ship and dashed toward the door. He had left it open.

"Double shit!" he screeched as he jumped inside and closed the door.

After calming down, Lute stared at the soggy mess he had become. That was easier to fix. He just clicked his fingers and jumped up into the air. Lute rocked toward the biggest open space- the training room, and started flying around fast in wide circles until all the water had flown off him.

Then he stopped. Now the training room floor had little puddles of water all over it.

"Triple shit!" he mumbled, kicking a wall irritably. The shiny surface of the wall reflected his downtrodden image perfectly. And the shadows of two people behind him.

Lute swirled around, holding his hands in the position for a masenka as he yelled "FREEZE!!!" at the direction the intruders had gone.

A little shriek was heard, and a voice yelled "Run for it!"

Lute chased the sound, and almost smiled when the one voice reached the locked door and yelled out "We're trapped, Chan!" fearfully. Lute leapt out from the corner, ready to fire at the intruders, and saw.....

Another boy, the same size as him, in the same stance, ready to fire.

Another NAMEKIAN boy.

Lute blinked once, twice, three times before cocking his head to the side and dropping his arms.

The scarlet-clad boy did the same.

Lute then noticed another person hiding behind the first. This one was all huddled up, quivering with fear.

"What's wrong with him?" Lute said aloud.

"He's scared. Shina's only three." the other boy said.

"Oh..." Lute shook himself out of his confusion, looked up, and said "Hi. I'm Lute."

"Chan." The boy in scarlet said.

"What are you doing in here?" Lute asked.

"It started raining, and we ducked in this weird thing to get out of it. What are you doing here?"

Lute smiled, and said "This is my spaceship."

Chan's eyes nearly doubled in size. "S...spa...spa... SPACESHIP!?!?!?"

Lute giggled, almost falling over in laughter, and nodded. Then he walked up to the side of the door and pressed a sequence of buttons. The door opened, and Lute glanced out. Clear skies. He smiled, and leapt up into the air to survey the area. Chan's jaw only dropped further. "YOU CAN FLY!!!" he screeched in amazement.

Lute gave him a weird look, and said "Oh course I can! Can't everybody?"

"No! I can't!"

"Why not? Didn't your anoco teach you?"

"No!"

Lute smiled as he floated on his back in the air. "Then that means my dad's better."

"No way!" Chan cocked his head to the side, and said "What village are you from anyway? I don't recognize you."

"I don't live here."

"Then where DO you live?"

"Earth."

Shina finally looked up, and said "Huh? Then how come you look just like a namek?"

"'Cause I am one."

"But all the nameks live on Nameksei. Don't they?"

"My dad didn't. He never lived here. He only came here once, and that was to help kill Frezia."

Utter silence. The two children just stared up in awe at Lute, who was extremely confused.

"No wonder you know how to fly....." Shina said softly.

"You're... you're... you're..." Chan stuttered quietly, and then he pointed straight at Lute and yelled "YOU'RE PICCOLO'S SON??!?!?"

Lute nodded. Chan looked like he was about to fall over.