KA-BLAM!!! BLAM!!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! SMACK!!!!! Bright explosions and the sound of skin hitting skin or clothing rang out almost constantly. Burn marks and small craters littered the ground where missed ki blasts had hit.

Vegeta and Relish were fighting each other like it was nobody's business, and their movements were so fast that the untrained eye could not follow them. Only once every few seconds would they become visible as one or the other came out on top of the grapple they were in.

"You will not winnn, Sssssaiyan!" Relish hissed at Vegeta as she got him tangled up in her snake like hair.

Vegeta sneered and struggled against the grasp, gathering his ki until a blue glow formed in his hand. "Aren't you forgetting that I'm just getting warmed up?" He snickered at the surprised look on Relish's strange face as he slammed his glowing fist through the living strands, severing them and freeing himself. The wild-haired Saiyan backflipped once in mid air and planted both feet into the green figure's stomach, knocking her back against a piece of pillar that still remained from Garlic's old castle. For a split second, he allowed himself to think silently, I do hope that Tategoto is OK.

Relish got back up and dove at Vegeta, starting the grapple once again. They locked hands and glared each other down as one tried to overpower the other. The ground was rumbling and trembling around them as their power levels rose.

Tategoto and Piccolo had just busted through a weak spot in the ground, which put them at the end of a very long tubular corridor. The corridor was about a hundred yards wide, and painted completely gray. Tategoto dropped down first, but went flying back up like he had burned his feet when thousands of three-foot long spikes arranged in rows that were three feet apart erupted from the curving floor, ready to impale any poor fool unfortunate enough to fall down there.

Piccolo's black eyes narrowed when he looked down the hole and saw the spikes. "This is not good…" He tapped Tategoto on the shoulder to get his attention and signed, Fly near the ceiling as much as you can. Anticipate anything and everything. Understand?

Tategoto's black eyes sparkled as he nodded and slowly lowered down the hole, staying close to the ceiling as Piccolo lowered behind him. They stood there in mid air for a moment before the hole they had come through suddenly went dark. Piccolo growled and Tategoto put his hands on the ceiling as if to see if he could find the opening again. He stopped moving for a second, then grabbed his father's flowing white cape and tugged. Do you feel that?

When Piccolo pursed his lips and shook his head, Tategoto grabbed his wrist, just above the ring of red flesh, and put his hand against the ceiling where a very small vibration was just making itself apparent. The older Namekian blinked and looked down, being just in time to see the spikes rotating up closer. The room was rotating! As the spikes that were the floor became the wall, more spikes started to jut out in rows to join the first set that had appeared, and the rotating room was throwing off both the Namekians' equilibrium. The room was one of Onion's many self-made traps, which didn't affect him because of his blindness.

Tategoto, close your eyes and hang onto me. I can hear to guide us out. Piccolo signed quickly.

OK. But hurry! The walls are closing in! Tategoto signed, wide-eyed as he clutched onto his father's gi and hid his face against his muscular chest. Upon this realization, Piccolo fixed his eyes onto the other end of the corridor, closed them slowly and flew straight that way, letting his other senses warn him of danger. He could feel the spikes getting closer, hear the grinding wall as the room rotated and prayed silently that there would be a way out.

Pretty soon, the glistening sharp edges were only a foot away from the rapidly flying Namek, and the closer they got, the faster the wall rotated. Opening his eyes for a second to see how far they were from the end of the hall, Piccolo realized that it was a dead end! "Oh, that's just perfect!" With his head swimming and a very painful death growing closer, Piccolo managed to spot a four foot square-shaped area where there were no spikes. He shoved Tategoto into that small space, and squeezed himself in as well, his body surrounding his son's so that any spikes that reached them would hit him instead of the child. He had to keep his ki active so that gravity wouldn't pull them away from the space, but that was easy to do.

Tategoto squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face against the throbbing spot over Piccolo's chest, the rapid beating of his heart seeming to match the throbbing of Piccolo's heartbeat against his forehead. He tilted his head slightly and could see the spikes over his father's shoulder, growing closer by the second as shimmers ran across the sharp silver edges. He glimpsed his father's face. His expression was passive, unafraid, but his eyes were squeezed shut.

The room vibrated more intensely, and Piccolo gritted his teeth, tensing slightly when he felt the spikes only a few inches away. Their sharp tips made contact with his back and started to press down. It wouldn't be long before the knife-like spikes would rip through his skin. He tensed some more, awaiting the pain. Sharp edges pressed against the Namekian's back. They pressed down and moved no further. He held his breath and waited to see if the spikes were going to move any more. When they didn't, he let a long sigh escape.

Piccolo and Tategoto both relaxed slightly and looked around, their loud breathing reverberating off the walls. The older Namekian released his grip on the younger one slowly so he could sign, Move very carefully and as little as possible. I don't want to chance this thing moving any more.

Tategoto nodded, and slowly started to turn over onto his stomach, pushing his cape out of the way as he did so. He put his hands flat on the surface of the gray wall, and his fingers instantly detected a groove. Pulling didn't help, so he started to push, and almost instantly, the wall started to give way to the pressure. It wasn't a weak spot, it was a hidden door. Piccolo laid his hands flat near where Tategoto was pushing and started to help, but a loud creak snatched his attention.

"Crap." He muttered when he saw that the spikes above them were vibrating. The entire ceiling was vibrating, and growing more unsteady by the second. Piccolo bore his teeth and pushed on the wall with all his might, feeling it give way faster. "C'mon!" He growled, the pink muscles in his arms bulging out and rippling with the force he was putting into the shove. The door suddenly gave way and Piccolo shoved Tategoto through.

Tategoto let a loud grunt as he tumbled through the opening, then quickly flipped to his feet and turned around to help his father if necessary. Piccolo glanced back up at the ceiling full of spikes one last time, then dove through the tiny hole in the wall. Less then a second after his feet cleared the opening, a loud clang sounded as the ceiling full of gleaming silver spikes went crashing to the floor. Piccolo got up and looked back at what had nearly turned him into Swiss Cheese. Snorting he flipped his cape over his shoulder and turned around to look over at Tategoto.

I wasn't scared. Were you? Tategoto signed with a grin, making a really big joke because he knew full well how scared he'd been.

Piccolo just shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Crazy kid." He said in an amused tone. Keep your guard up. This is not a game.

Nodding, Tategoto quickly snapped to alert, looking all around to make sure nobody was sneaking up on him. He turned, saw a flash of white and instantly jumped into a fighting stance, watching the bit of white for a moment to see what it would do. Piccolo took on a stance as well, but crept closer to what Tategoto was seeing. He started to see some green, then hints of pink, dark purple and navy blue.

It's just your reflection. Still, stay on guard. Piccolo signed to the boy, motioning him to follow. Tategoto complied, dashing to his father's side without protest or question.

I'm still Wolverine. He signed quickly with a grin.

Piccolo smirked. "Come on, 'Wolverine'. Let's go." He said, signing the sentence at the same time. Tategoto nodded and quickly followed behind his father.

"Onion! You idiot!" Garlic snarled as he hit the button to deactivate the energy cage. "They made off with one of the Dragon Balls! Now we have to go chase them down to get it back!" He grabbed Onion by the ear and dragged him out of the cage, his teeth bore the entire time. "Come on! Piccolo and his little brat have already bypassed your R.I.T.!"

"That's impossible! There's no way ANYBODY could escape the Rotating Impaler Trap!" Onion shrieked, breaking free of his father's grasp. The gem on his forehead glowed eerily in the shadows as he followed Garlic through an arching doorway that was as tall as a two-story building and led into the main room where two large thrones were arranged against the dingy wall. Two other doors exactly like the one he had passed through were placed on either side of the room. "I built it with remains of Dr. Willow's laboratory! The spin throws off a person's equilibrium and SHOULD make them fly right into the spikes!"

"YOU FORGET THAT PICCOLO IS NOT AN ORDINARY PERSON!!!!!" Garlic screamed, practically showering Onion in his spit. "And there's no telling HOW STRONG his little brat of his is!!! To top all that off, Kami and that human are running around here somewhere! We have to find them and get that Dragon Ball back." He seemed to grow an inch taller with each angry word he spat from his mouth.

Onion wrung his hands and growled. How did that pitiful human get away? For that matter, what did she do to Salsa to get him to do her bidding? Well, let's just hope that Relish does a better job at fighting whoever is still outside on the surface.

"Onion! Sit down for a few minutes and let's cool down. Anger clouds the judgment and right now, we're both too pissed to think." Garlic growled low, drumming his fingers on the arm of the large throne he sat in. Onion grumbled, but complied, taking a seat in the throne identical to his father's.

"If anything, I want to rip Piccolo's kid apart." The younger demon muttered, sitting back with a devious smirk on his face as his eyes stared blankly ahead.

"All in due time, Onion. All in due time. After all, you'll have plenty of it once we get that Dragon Ball back."

White material, framed with dark blue-violet and green, faintly stood out in the shadows. Very close to that shape, a chocolate brown and black shape was hunched over slightly.

"What are we gonna do? They're right there." Yasmine whispered to Kami.

"Shhh." Kami whispered back.

Yasmine and Kami were huddled behind a pillar, and were about to make a dash through the throne room when Garlic and Onion walked in. So they were huddled behind a pillar in the shadows. However, Garlic and Onion were so close that any sound above a whisper would be noticed immediately. It got even worse when the two went deathly quiet, so their two eavesdroppers could no longer whisper, and for a time, the sound of a heartbeat seemed deafening in the silence. Kami seemed quite calm, but Yasmine was scared out of her mind and just barely able to keep herself from breathing too loud.

The silence was finally shattered when Garlic stood up and said, "I'm going to go get myself something to eat."

"Bring me some of that fruit while you're at it, will ya?" Onion piped up as he absently propped his chin on the palm of his hand and rubbed the bump on his head from where Yasmine had laid the smackdown on him with the Dragon Ball. If I get my hands on that human, I'll put my fist through her face so she can see how it feels!

"You know you're too young for that stuff yet. You can have half of one, OK?" Garlic spoke boredly, punctuating it with a yawn. "I'll be right back then. Stay here, just in case Kami and that weak little human show up again."

"Yes, father." Onion replied, leaning back and crossing his arms. Garlic turned away from his pouting son and walked to the opposite end of the room where Yasmine and Kami were huddled. They were very fortunate that he wasn't heading towards them or the door they needed to reach, and the two eavesdroppers held their breath as his small shape disappeared from view.

Kami watched Garlic leave, then turned to Yasmine. "OK, it is now or never. I’m going to lift and carry you, just in case we need to move fast."

"Right." Yasmine whispered back, allowing Kami to lift her with ease. It surprised her that he was so strong, especially since he looked so old. In a few seconds, the old Namek was levitating near the top of the high arching doorway with Yasmine clutching his wooden stick since his hands were busy with the task of hanging onto her.

As silently as possible, Kami took in a deep breath and floated into the room where Onion was. If Onion were able to see, he would have noticed them right away, but since he couldn't, he boredly went about picking the dirt out from under his fingernails while the human and the Namek floated almost right past his face.

Kami flew high and along the wall, just to avoid being heard in some way or another.

Yasmine felt like she was in some nightmare, and began to wonder when she was finally going to wake up to find everything back to normal. The thin arms that were holding her as well as the person they belonged to was more then enough, however, to remind her that she was wide awake.

"Almost there…" Kami said in a soft whisper that was nearly swallowed by the silence. He and Yasmine were floating above the halfway point of the room. As long as they were silent, Kami knew they would make it to the next door without a problem. It would only take a moment to reach that door if he was quick.

Everything's going to be OK. Yasmine told herself silently. Kami's just going to fly to that door and we'll be out of here. The thought filled her with optimism and hope. All of a sudden, she felt Kami grasp onto her tighter, and looked at him with a frown of protest. However, Kami was paying no attention to Yasmine's discomfort. That didn't matter at the moment.

What mattered right then was the fact that Garlic had returned and was currently standing directly below them.