Don't look up. Whatever you do, please don't look up! Yasmine thought as she bit her tongue to keep from letting out a scream.

Kami stayed statue-still, his eyes not leaving the small blue shape that was standing below them. He knew that when Garlic crossed the room and turned around to sit down, it would be all over. There was only one thing left to do, and it was a desperation move rather then a planned one.

As Garlic started to cross the room while nibbling on the fruit he'd left to retrieve, Kami powered his ki and rocketed the last of the distance between himself and the door that was his goal. The charge, as well as the sudden movement, created a loud popping sound.

"Kami! You old windbag!" Garlic screamed, powering an orb of golden light and hurling it at Kami's flying form in attempt to knock him down. Kami sped up and dodged it, sailing through the arching doorway and out of sight. The ki blast hit the ceiling and caused pieces of it to rain down. "Onion you imbecile! They were right there and you didn't hear them!?"

"It's impossible! My gem didn't even sense their presence or movements!" Onion screamed back, shaking his fists in the air. "Damn them! If I get ahold of them…I swear that I'll tear them apart!"

Garlic, angrier then ever, hurled his piece of fruit right at Onion's face. The fruit splattered all over Onion's face and chest, showering the dark material of his clothing in sticky juice that smelled a little like vodka. "What are you waiting for? AFTER THEM!!!!"

"They're pissed!" Yasmine cried as Kami carried her down the corridor. She could see Onion starting into the doorway, and knew it was only seconds before he would locate them and start shooting.

"Get back here!" Onion was yelling, along with words that children his age should never be allowed to say, as he tripped down the corridor after them. Once he had a good idea of where he was in the hallway, he jumped up and started to fly after Kami and Yasmine.

Yasmine was about to shout something back when Kami piped up, "No, don't say anything to him. He doesn't have an exact fix on us. I'm going to land and try to sneak us out on foot from here."

"Sounds good to me."

"Here I come!" Snickered Onion as he picked up speed. He was just a little less then ten feet behind the two when he suddenly lost the sense of Kami's power level, and stopped in mid air to reach his senses out. "Where are you hiding you cowards!? Come on out! Grr!" Father will beat me senseless if I return without them! I have to find them! Onion continued flying, passing right over Kami and Yasmine as they panted against the wall.

"Come on!" Kami grabbed Yasmine's arm and started hauling her down a side corridor. Unfortunately, right at that moment, Yasmine tripped on a piece of metal, and a beam went clattering to the floor. She heard Onion laugh from somewhere at the other end of the corridor.

"Crap!" She picked up a piece of stone and looked over at Kami. "What do we do?!"

"Try to pass him when he comes this way, if he moves fast enough, he won't be able to stop and it'll buy us a few seconds."

That wouldn't be the case. Onion came in slow and landed about twenty feet away from them. "Oh, hehehe…I have you now!" He opened his palm and white light started to gather in his palm. As the glow brightened, his clothes started to blow around him from some unknown wind, and he slapped the glowing palm against his fist, causing the glow to spread to both hands. His eyes narrowed and electrical bolts started to dance between the glowing balls of ki in his hands.

Onion was just drawing his arms back to throw the ki blast when a three-and-a-half foot tall green shape slammed into him. He was sent crashing into one of the walls, and Yasmine chose that moment to haul butt past where the little demon was just starting to get up. On her way past, she flung the piece of stone she'd picked up and nailed him right in the mouth with it. As Yasmine ran past a dark corridor, something lunged out and yanked her into the shadows.

"AAH! Let go!" She screamed, her voice muffled by the person's chest as they clutched her in their vice-like grasp.

"Stop it!" The person's deep voice boomed, and she stopped struggling instantly upon recognizing the sound. She found herself looking into a familiar, angular green face with smoldering dark eyes, a triangular jaw and pointed ears. His brow ridges were drawn together in an almost natural frown.

"Piccolo!" Yasmine nearly burst into tears from the relief. "Oh God!"

Piccolo was so relieved to see Yasmine that he acted without thinking. His hand came to rest on the back of her head, he pulled her face closer and covered her mouth with his, instantly feeling her respond by kissing him back. He drew back and looked down at her stunned expression as he tried to figure out what the heck had posessed him to kiss her.

To never hear her voice again, touch her, or see her face…those ideas didn't work in Piccolo's head. They seemed strangely wrong, and it took him a moment to realize that his hand had come to rest on the soft curve of her cheek. "Are you OK?" He asked softly. "How did you get loose in this place?"

"I'm fine…and it's a long story." Yasmine breathed with her heart still thudding in her ears from that surprise kiss. She brushed her dark hair over her shoulder and turned her head just in time to see a short green shape dive through the corridor. The form shot a ki blast at the ceiling, collapsing it, then started running towards the other end of the corridor. Though Yasmine knew she wouldn't be heard, she shouted anyway, "Tategoto!"

The rubble started to move, and Kami appeared overhead to fire a blast into the rumbling debris. "Get going!" He shouted at Yasmine and Piccolo. No thought went into the reaction; Yasmine and Piccolo simply took off running down the corridor to regroup.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeegh!" Vegeta growled and narrowed his eyes as he gathered his ki while watching Relish from about fifty feet in the air. His eyes were almost as wild as his hair, and his ferocious Saiyan blood was pumping wildly through his veins. He held his arms out to the sides and watched a very beaten-up mutant stagger to her feet. "You've messed with the wrong Saiyan, you disfigured freak! And now you will PAY!!!" His glowing hands were surrounded by orbs of blue-white light as he thrust them forward, pointing his palms at the garish figure, "BIG BANG ATTACK!!!!!!"

Relish raised her head and saw the massive white blast coming for her. She brought all four arms up to block and let out a scream as the blast hit her full on. At first, it appeared that she was succeeding, but seconds later, the ground gave way and she was sent crashing through layer after layer of Garlic's underground castle. Vegeta kept pouring power into the attack, grinning wildly in the glow of the pain he was causing her.

"How do you like THAT you freak!" He taunted, "How about a little more!" More power was added, and Relish's screams grew louder.

Piccolo was hauling Yasmine down another corridor when he suddenly sensed a power directly overhead. He grabbed Tategoto by the cape, hauled him back and shoved Yasmine back just a few seconds before an ugly green shape was sent crashing through the ceiling by a hot blue-white blast. It was almost funny, the way the shape kept crashing down through the floors and leaving behind outlines of her body.

"Heeyah!" Tategoto cheered upon seeing Vegeta's blast. That was so cool! He kept signing over and over again.

"And it was almost too close." Piccolo added on, looking for Kami. He spotted him on the other side of the blast as it faded, and turned to look down at Yasmine. She nodded to his silent question and stood up. A small cut above her left eye was bleeding slightly, but she reached up and wiped the blood away.

Tategoto went over to the edge of the hole and looked down to see if he could see Relish, but it was too deep. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see a slightly bruised and bloody, but triumphant, Vegeta. You sure beat her up.

"You better believe it, kid." Vegeta replied with a smirk and crossed his arms to look over at Piccolo, Yasmine and Kami. "Relish is cooking in Hell right about now. So where's Garlic and his little brat?"

"That's not the concern right now. Right now, we have to get Yasmine and Kami out of here and hope Onion or Garlic don't catch us before we do." Piccolo looked over at Tategoto while Vegeta clenched his teeth angrily. "Don't worry, Vegeta…" Piccolo continued with a smirk, "Garlic is a handful. You'll get a piece of him when we all have to fight him. And I am going to need your help."

Vegeta snorted. "Fine with me."

"We should start moving. I think Onion's about to break through the rubble." Kami pointed to the debris where pieces of dust and small pebbles were almost trickling off the pile.

Onion doesn't give up, does he? Tategoto signed.

Reminds me of someone I know. Piccolo signed back with a smirk, then reached down and patted his son's shoulderpad, "C'mon, let's go."

Kami and Yasmine walked alongside Piccolo while Tategoto walked with Vegeta. The silence between them lasted so long that, for a time, they all wondered if it was the same silence that Tategoto knew. And, while they were walking, Yasmine took Piccolo's hand in hers so she could feel the reassuring warmth of his strong skin. Piccolo turned his head and looked at her, then down at the chocolate brown fingers interlocking with his green ones.

Their eyes met again, and for a split second, the hard emotionless scowl was gone from Piccolo's onyx eyes. Just long enough for his feelings to be known. Yasmine returned the soft look and smiled slightly. In response, the tall Namek smirked, then faced forward and continued walking.

He was still holding Yasmine's hand.

Tategoto stopped walking, and everyone turned around to look at him like they were expecting Onion to come rushing down the corridor.

"Hey, kid. What's the problem?" Vegeta asked.

Sheepishly, Tategoto crossed his legs and signed, I have to pee.

Everybody's eyes got huge, sweatdrops appeared on their heads and they all proceeded to fall over backwards with their feet in the air.

Onion struggled with the rubble that had pinned him down. He was bloody, bruised and his clothes were torn slightly. His sightless eyes were narrowed, he was growling and generally pissed off. "They are all so dead!" He shouted, a vein on his temple standing out. He clenched his fists and started to pummel the rubble from within, unable to see that there was a way out just over his head.

"Onion! You lost them again didn't you!?" Garlic's voice came from above. Onion stopped punching the debris and tilted his head back. The red gem on his forehead shimmered like some demonic eye and a sweatdrop appeared on his temple.

Garlic narrowed his eyes, reached down and yanked Onion out of the debris by his cape. "Stupid boy! How could you let them escape again!?" He leaned back and his foot tapped the ground the way a jackhammer pounds into concrete as he waited for an answer.

"I was outnumbered!" Onion shrieked, "I think that Piccolo may have been with them."

"OK, kid…we'll just go on ahead. You can catch up with us." Vegeta's voice was fading down the corridor.

Growling, Garlic kicked Onion in the stomach with such force that the child flew across the room to slam into a wall. That was when he noticed the mess Vegeta had made when he defeated Relish. He also spotted Tategoto in the distance, urinating by a pillar. A smirk spread across his face as he moved behind a huge pile of debris.

This could get interesting after all. He thought. "Onion! Piccolo's kid is not too far away from where you are! Go kick his ass or something. You CAN do that can't you?"

Onion grumbled and peeled himself off the wall. "Yes, DAD." He sneered, turning towards the small power that he was sensing. Had Tategoto been able to hear, he would have known he was being snuck up on. But he still knew something wasn't right.

Ever so slowly, Tategoto finished up and re-arranged his clothes back into place. Then he slowly turned and found himself face to face with Onion. Instantly, he dropped back into a fighting stance, his eyes locked on the demon boy. Onion heard the motion and took on a stance of his own, grinning as the jewel on his forehead glowed slightly in the shadows.

"Brang eet un!" Tategoto said aloud, having long been aware of Onion's blindness.

"Gladly." Onion mouthed, and dashed forward. Tategoto blocked his move and jumped back, flipping his cape over his shoulder. The two circled each other, then Tategoto made a lunge that Onion quickly dodged. The young Namek kicked off the wall, backflipped and kicked the demon into the wall. He laughed when the blue creature fell into the puddle he'd made.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that!" Onion shouted in Tategoto's direction, shaking the liquid off his clothing.

Tategoto dropped back into his stance once again, read Onion's lips and replied with, "Lats guh!" 

Onion stood up and took on his fighting stance, glaring at Tategoto. He lunged, Tategoto lunged, they met in the middle with a bright flash, and their fight officially began.