I am Kera, a Saiyan Warrior Princess

Chapter 24

Piccolo and Kera flew as fast as they could over the sea. The negative energies became clearer the further they flew out to sea. Kera looked behind her. She could no longer see the land from which they had started. But the island of the Turtle Hermit, which she had only set foot on once before when Gohan had set off from there to Namek, could not be far away.

Suddenly something caught her eye and she stopped in mid-air. Piccolo flew a few more feet before turning to look at her questioningly.

"It's dark."

Piccolo spun around once. Dark was not the right expression. It was a different darkness from when it was night or when a cloud had moved in front of the sun. It was as if the sun was further away from the earth. The clouds were coloured purple, an equally coloured mist wafted over the sea. The fog radiated a negative aura.

"We have to hurry. I don't have a good feeling," Piccolo said and flew on. Kera followed. An inner restlessness gnawed at her that she could not explain.

A few minutes later, a small island appeared in her field of vision. In the middle of it stood a small house with a terrace at the front entrance. "Kame House" was painted above the front door. It was possible to walk completely around the house. A few palm trees still stood on the island. It looked like something out of a picture book.

Certainly quite idyllic, Kera thought on approach, but her thoughts briefly drifted to the forest where she had lived with Piccolo for years. She preferred the forest to this small island.

Piccolo landed on the roof of the house, Kera followed him and immediately realised something was wrong. She saw Bulma, Chi-Chi and Yamcha, but they moved differently than usual. Strangely wooden.

"Piccolo! Kera!" She turned to Gohan, who had called to her. He was lying in the sand near the water's edge, backing away from his mother, who was striding towards him with her hands up. Kera jumped from the roof to Gohan, grabbed the boy before Chi-Chi could grab him and landed back on the roof next to Piccolo. She set Gohan down. Chi-Chi had followed her movements with her eyes. Was there something wrong with her eyes?

Gohan had gone straight into fighting stance and looked from Kera to Piccolo. "Thank you."

"What happened here?" wanted Kera to know now.

Gohan shook his head and shrugged his shoulders at the same time. "I have no idea. When I got here, everyone was acting all weird. Mum attacked me." Kera would have liked to take Gohan in her arms and comfort him. Having his own mother turn on him had to be a painful experience for him.

Piccolo jerked his head up, stared at the sky and growled. "Watch out!" he shouted, and then Kera discovered what had made him sit up and take notice.

From the sky now fell four outlines that landed on the island. The four beings were all wearing some kind of battle suit. But that was the end of the similarities. One of them had a greenish skin colour, white hair, pointed ears and was about as tall as Kera. Another was huge and looked as if he could easily uproot trees. His skin colour was a shade of lilac. The third did not look very human. His face had something dog-like, which also matched his brown skin colour. He had horns growing out of his head and his hair was flaming red around his head. The smallest of the bunch was only about as tall as Gohan. His face was the same shade as the dog-headed man's hair. The little one's ears were pointed and stuck far out from his head. Kera wasn't sure if the yellow something that was looped around his neck like a fur collar and then hung down his back was his hair or an accessory.

Chi-Chi, Yamcha, Bulma, Master Roshi, Oolong and Puar gathered in front of the newcomers and knelt down. So something had indeed happened to them. They were no longer in control of their senses.