Turles scanned the crowd, wishing to be else where. Deep down, he knew his daughter was alive, even if everyone else had given up on her. Connected to her emotionally, he sensed confusion, anger and a deep loneliness that he felt responsible for. If he had been there, would she have felt the need to runaway? Ringo had mentioned something about the trials; the only reason he had put his search to a halt. Her twin brother, Cyan, had been ordered back to the planet and was scanning the participants for Lema.

Bardock came up beside him, releasing a heavy sigh. "You're not giving up, are you?"

"She's alive. There are times when I can almost connect with her, like a few moments ago. It's like she's suddenly remembered something. I think she has amnesia. She's also terrified of dark tunnels and water."

Bardock frowned. "I've never heard of a Saiya-jin with permanent memory loss."

"I don't think it's permanent. She just needs something familiar; that would be impossible if she were here in the castle."

"Why hasn't she been arrested then? None of the elite or noble Saiya-jins would allow a commoner among their midst!"

Turles snarled, his eyes glowing dangerously. "Bardock, there are times when I think you're an idiot! You and I both know that Raditz, Cyan and Lema are far from being commoners. Lema and Cyan have enough power individually to destroy entire planets. Raditz follows everything Lema says and does. No, our children were hidden for a reason. If Frieza knew..."

"All the more reason you should have allowed her..."

"Shut up, Bardock! Lema is still a female!"

"A damn powerful female! It's impossible to ignore the many broken bones Raditz came home with. He always said it was an accident, but I knew better. Raditz coudln't have gotten as strong as he has without fighting with someone stronger than him. The question is, how powerful is your daughter?"

"She fights the field masters on a regular basis." Ringo wanted to sink through the floor, having the full attention of Bardock and Lema's father. "You don't understand what she's been through. How could you when she never talks about it?"

"Talk about what?"

"Have you not seen the scars on her back or her arms? I think she even has one that goes from her neck to her thigh."

Ringo shuddered. She had heard of Turles's or Bardock's rage, and she wished she didn't have to witness it first hand. Sparks of fury exploded, chunks of the arena walls shattering and falling onto the crowd. Red and black blended together, both Saiya-jins wanting to protect what had been lost to them.

"Why am I being told after the fact, when all of this could have been avoided!" Turles roared. Guards came from every entrance, but were thrown back. Some held broken legs or arms, unable to get any closer.

"I didn't know until a week before she vanished. There was blood everywhere; in her hair, her clothes and in the grass. She looked so small, lying half-hidden in the corn field. Lema told me everything, all the beatings, all the fights to the death. The field masters wanted to inflict the most amount of pain and she would kill them. That day, she had faced ten. Lema stopped showing up to work after that."

"Dad!" Cyan skidded to a halt, knowing better than to come any closer.

"What?" Turles snarled, looking at his son.

"In the arena!" he gasped for breath. "It's her... She doesn't remember... me... you... anything! Lema's entered the trials with Raditz and two other Saiya-jins. Two guards won't allow me to get any closer to them."

Before any one could stop him, Turles had jumped what was left of the wall and was heading towards the judging booth. "Sign me up for the trials, now! And put me with Raditz's group!"

"But..."

"I know the law! Six may join as a group! I'll be five and Cyan, my son, will be the sixth!"

"Dad?"

"You wanted to participate in the trails; did you have a change of heart?" Turles growled, his tail making dents in the castle wall.

Cyan gulped and nodded. "You're not going to stop her?"

"No."

Watching from the shadows, his arms crossed, King Vegeta withdrew and headed for the arena. Usually he sat with his mother, but today he would stand close. It had been many years since he had challenged a fighter, would she be worth his time? He thought Turles would be a problem; instead the space fighter would give him a rare opportunity to see what Saiya-jins used to be and could yet become again in the future.

"Raditz, who is that?" Arico asked.

Raditz stopped stretching and looked towards the entrance. He paled. "Turles..." There was no where to run and he looked for King Vegeta. Lema glanced at the man curiously, but unlike Raditz, she saw no reason to fear the man. There was another male behind him, but she only watched Turles. He was angry; she saw it in his eyes and... It was hard to describe, but she felt his inner pain and the failure to protect the one person he loved more than life itself.

Lema trembled. She knew him and he didn't hate her. Lema stepped closer, ignoring the warning from her cousin. Would he let her fight? She frowned; why would he try to stop her? No, deep down, she knew he would let her participate in the trials today.

"Lema, stop!" Again, Raditz grabbed her arm, but she only shook her head and walked towards the Saiya-jin. A few feet away, they stopped, both silent for several moments.

Slowly, not wanting to startle her, he reached up and tilted her head to the side. "Why?" he growled, his voice thick with pain and rage. "Lema, why did you not tell me of these? How long have you been hiding your scars?" He started to move lower, but Lema moved away in shame and fear. She didn't want him to see, but he grabbed and held her tight. "Is this what you want, little one?"

She had hated the nick name from King Vegeta; so why did she calm when he said it. Slowly she relaxed, wrapping her arms around his waist. The memory hit her; he didn't hate her. All he ever wanted was for her to be safe. She hid her scars because of the importance of his mission. He had said something of an Ice-jin and the threat to their race, all the more reason she kept her battles a secret.

"I know you," she whispered. His grip tightened and a single tear slid down her cheek. "I know you," she said louder. "Daddy! I didn't want them to hurt me anymore. I thought if I was trained as a soldier, they couldn't beat me and..."

"Little one, no one will ever hurt you again. I've failed you, but it won't happen again. If this is what you want, then I will not stop you. All I ask, is that you allow me to participate along side you."

"But..." Lema looked up at him. "You hate being a guard or a soldier!"

"I have no intentions of settling for second best. You will go all the way, Lema."

"The highest position is royal guard," she heard the male say behind her father.

"Cyan?"

"You didn't forget your own twin brother, did you Lema?" She laughed. The reunion was brief, the signal for the trials to begin. Their first event was to fight the other contestants for one hour. Those that remained, would move on to the next level. Over five hundred people had signed up, very few as a group.

"Lema, how did you want to do this?" Turles asked her. He could have taken charge, but this was his daughter's moment and he would not steal it from her. Instead, he would give her the chance to prove herself.

"I think we should divide the group. Three and three. Cyan, Raditz and I should be in the first group. Arico, Cowli and yourself in the second group. If we get tired, we should re-group. Don't look for a fight, let them come to us."

Turles nodded; "Why?" He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"To conserve strength. They'll be tired after a few minutes, where as if we waited, we will manage to make it to the end of the hour."

They joined the others and quickly told them of the objective. Raditz and his friends quickly agreed. The final signal was given and the fighting began.

The roar was defeaning and the ground trembled as the contestants clashed together. Picking an easily defended corner, Lema stared at the chaotic seen before her. They killed without mercy; there was no compassion. Was being a royal guard, an elite soldier worth all of this? Lema, her expression calm, turned to her friends. "Knock them out, but leave all that you fight alive. They are Saiya-jins, not our enemy."

"Lema!" Cyan and Raditz shouted. "They won't share the same opinion. You're in the way of what they want the most; a position in the academy, a position as a palace guard, or the most important position as a royal guard of King Vegeta."

Lema laughed, "King Vegeta doesn't need a royal guard. He hates guards and he hates cowards. All they want from Vegeta is power and money. Why can't they see Vegeta instead of the crown?"

"That's the way things are, Lema."

"No, that's the way things were. I'm about to change the rules! Vegeta needs a friend, not another guard!"

Raditz didn't know what to say. How could she change centuries of tradition? One didn't refuse an offer for the royal guard. "Why are you fighting, Lema?"

"To be the strongest Saiya-jin on the planet. What other reason is there to fight?"

Dead bodies were carried off the battle field, the crowd was cheering wildly, but Raditz saw no sign of King Vegeta. Would he be disappointed with them in the end? He looked at his cousin and smiled. Lema was about to make history. A few Saiya-jins had spotted them ten minutes into the fight.

Lema waited until they were on top of her, she dodged and hit them from behind. Unconscious, but alive, Lema moved to the next group making sure to keep her friends alive at the same time. Turles, Arico and Cowli could be seen fighting their own battles. Like Lema, he too had decided to leave the contestants alive.

Lema couldn't believe it; she had been fighting for hours. Would it never end? Some battles allowed her to fight with her group, but several demanded that they fight alone. Arico and Cowli easily qualified for academy standards and had withdrawn from the trials.

Raditz and Cyan were given the same option after they made it to elite standards, but like Lema and Turles, they refused to give up. Every battle could be their last, but not one soldier died by their hand. The arena was a field of blood, the grass trampled and dead. She wiped the blood from her face, wondering when she had been wounded. It would yet be another scar to the many she already possessed.

Her father, standing beside her, had suffered several injuries as well. They had sacrificed safety to shield Raditz and Cyan from deadly blows. "What next?" Lema finally asked. They were sitting in the middle of the arena, waiting for the next event. "Certainly they've run out of fighters?"

"Day one is nothing but fighting. Tomorrow they will give us a serious of obstacles to complete. The final test can take up to six months to complete."

"What's the final test?" Cyan asked.

"No one's ever succeeded." Turles stared at the setting sun, longing for the freedom of space. He sighed; "We will be sent into the desert, to survive for six months. The longer we stay out, the more hunters they send to track us. In the end, our objective is to steal the academy flag, defended by the graduating class."

"It's never been done," Lema said, "but it's not impossible."

"No. The Saiya-jins of today, with the exception of King Vegeta and my brother, are weak and terrified of their own shadows."

Raditz stood, preparing for the final round. The crowd was tense, everything was silent. "There's a rumor about another challenge, beyond the final test."

"Hai," Turles told them. "It's rare, but King Vegeta reserves the right to challenge one of the contestants. Bardock and I were the last seventeen years ago."

"What happened?"

Turles stood, walking towards the gate. "The past is better left alone, Raditz."

Fifty armed soldiers entered the arena, each carrying weapons dipped in poison. Lema's group were the last to remain, all other participants dropping out of the competition. Rarely did the trials last more than three days, very few making it to the survival test.

A hand landed on her shoulder and she looked at her twin. Both smiled, and she took a piece of cloth from his hand. Turles looked at them, curious and apprehensive. "Lema?"

"Incredible," she hissed in surprise. "Everything is red, green or blue!"

She was fearless, taking on the fifty soldiers with a warrior's battle cry. Out numbered, they easily took out guards that were supposed to be his best. Turles easily matched her skill and speed, their moves blending together. If he doubted his daughter's ability as a fighter, his opinion had drastically changed by the end of the day. Cyan and Raditz collapsed towards the end, too exhausted to continue.

"This battle is no longer yours to fight," Lema said. Raditz started to protest, but she laid a hand upon his shoulder. "Go to Ringo and watch for us."

Raditz and Cyan left, leaving Turles and Lema alone on the battle field. "Father, you're free to go. To stay would mean giving up what you love the most."

"You're wrong." Startled, she turned to face him. Her memories had been slowly returning during the day and she couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been in space. He'd come home for a few hours and leave, never knowing the hardships his daughter faced.

"I thought by leaving you in the fields, you would be safe. My place is with you, little one. If you're to be stuck in the castle, so be it."

"What about space?"

Turles laughed, a warmth in his expression that she was unfamiliar with. "It's probably for the Saiya-jins' best interest that I not go back. I've made a lot of enemies in the last decade."

"I'm hungry!"

Arico, Cowli and Ringo quickly crowded around Raditz and Cyan. "Where are they?" Ringo asked. "Aren't the trials over?"

Raditz noticed the shadow, listening to every word. "They chose to stay."

"Why? Do they wish to be royal guards?"

"Lema's only desire is to be the best. Turles wants to protect her from further harm."

"They're crazy!" Arico shouted.

"No, they're Saiya-jin!" His voice was deadly, his tail weaving back and forth. He emerged from the doorway, stopping before the terrified group. Lema's father quit after the second day, having no reason to continue after his brother broke his leg on the last obstacle. Lema, on the other hand, wishes nothing more than to prove that she can survive until the end. She is what we need to revive what the Saiya-jin race was and will be again!"

"You're talking about a test no one's ever survived!" Cyan said. "Lema is only..."

"Her age is of no importance to me. She is what I want as a fighter, a royal guard and..." He paused. "The final thing will be determined upon her success or failure." Walking away, "You're wrong. They're was one other to take all three rounds of the test. He needs only a challenger for the final and rare event."