Well over a month had passed since Gohan and Piccolo's fateful chat and initial preparations for the upcoming fight were still ongoing. Moonlight illuminated the wasteland that Gohan and Piccolo called home, basking the site in an evanescent glow. Perched atop a stone monolith, Piccolo quietly meditated as the prairie winds rustled his cape. It wasn't a loud noise, but given the Namekian's acute sense of hearing, it was an unpleasant distraction from his desired objective.

Time had not eased Piccolo's mind about the future battle or his uneasy potential alliance with the rest of the earthlings. Now, he wasn't assuming that those fools were stupid enough to openly provoke him before handling this new grave threat, but they couldn't exactly afford to be at each other throat's either. Nevertheless, all of them were probably only to get in his way in any case. Probably wasn't worth investing any time in.

Briefly opening his eyes, the demon crunched his teeth together, his nostrils flaring like a bull as power began to radiate off his form in flickering rays. Muscles beginning to shake, an offsetting image of the green alien began to materialize in front of the meditator. Even if at first glance this image appeared to be a hologram, it was very real. A true duplicate.

Suddenly, the calm emission of energy began to discharge violently in every direction. In a blink of an eye, Piccolo set his aura alight as his clone did the same. Moving forward, Piccolo and his clone advanced farther away from the pillar, settling in an open clearing one hundred feet off the ground.

Implicitly, albeit without an audible warning, the two duplicates charged each other. Knuckles slamming into each other, a loud boom reverberated across the hollow prairie. One punch became another, and before either party knew it, the slow paced strikes became a rapid exchange. Punches were parried and dodged, and kicks were stuffed long before they could deliver damage.

Grunting with exertion, Piccolo tried to front kick his clone, but the clone easily evaded the strike by phasing away from altercation. Reappearing above the original, the clone extended and overlapped his hands before firing a yellow ki blast at his sparring partner.

Immediately deducing the location of the copy, Piccolo craned his neck upwards and deflected the blast with the posterior side of his palm. Taking a second to glare at the replica, Piccolo shot his own retaliatory strike at his reproduction.

Taken by shock with the swift repartee, the duplicate left himself open to the reply. Hit square in the cheek by the yellow orb, an explosion enveloped the replica before the two patiently waited for the smoke to clear as the midnight oil still burned silently.

Back in a mirror offsetting position, the two Piccolos lunged at each other yet again only to disappear with no punches being executed. To an inexperienced observer, the only proof that the two titans hadn't disappeared was a momentary boom and a noticeable ripple in the air marking the spot where the two fighters had once been.

These ripples crisscrossed across the night sky, populating the wasteland faster than they could be dispelled. If you looked at these disturbances with a particularly quixotic eye, you could swear that they formed their own strange constellations in the foreground of the starry skies.

Decelerating out of the blue, the two Piccolo's returned to a standstill in the same spot where their fight had started. Feeling calmer and more in control, the Namekian stood stoically as his fighting double faded away and back into his belly. Stretching his muscles after the battle, the demon savored the feeling of his power flood back into his system. It was a sensation he didn't want to become addicted too though.

In recent weeks, the green alien had been feeling antsy and on edge, moreso than normal. Just about everything frustrated him and his latent thoughts weren't acting so latent any more. Deep down, there was something in him that was telling him that his efforts weren't going to be enough.

Failure wasn't a word that existed in Piccolo's dictionary. Although his memories of his 'sire' weren't always pleasant, the man's twisted whispering was still the predominant force on his mind. And that whisper wanted one thing: the humiliation and ultimate demise of Son Goku.

For most of his youth, that was his only goal. And for almost an equal amount of time, his labor had yielded no return. It was haunting and frying at the same time, and his 'sire' wasn't always patient with him about it. Upon Goku's death against Raditz, the demon had expected some peace of mind to come from achieving his goal. But instead of what he hoped, the internal conflict just intensified.

Something even more ominous than that though was lingering. His quest for strength was very much stalled, stymied even. No matter how hard he tried, or how hard he worked, it seemed that he never got as far as he pleased. By his own estimates, he was, maybe, thrice as strong as he was when he fought Goku the first time. At the rate he was going, he was never going to get strong enough to challenge these Saiyans!

An undercurrent of doubt, rooted in his past frustrations and current troubles, had festered subliminally in his mind. Something in the Namekian told him that he couldn't entirely rely on himself as he had wished too. That being said, any thoughts that even hinted at this unconscious message were actively persecuted by Piccolo's mind. Whether or not they were true, Piccolo had no intention of following them. He was still the demon king after all!

But that wasn't the only trace thought constricting him. Another muse, far more insidious in nature, had also taken a significant amount of real estate in his mind. This ruminant was wholly unsatisfied with anything but complete and total subjugation of the Earth. It was the King Piccolo that existed in him; the dark power that once rivaled even the mightiest overlords the universe had ever known.

Piccolo knew that submitting to this power would give him the energy needed to completely vaporize any threat that would conceivable come his way. Nevertheless, the Namekian just couldn't lower himself to following it, no matter how enticing it could be at times.

After all of his musing, the moonlight flooding the valley began to burn away as the earliest tendrils of sunlight crept up over the horizon. And as the sun slowly lifted up over the mountains, the area became equal parts dark and light.


Piccolo wasn't the only person around preparing for the potential apocalypse. The rest of the earthlings had been hard at work as well. Almost immediately upon uncovering the news, Krillin and Yamcha scurried back to Roshi's House to regroup and plan out what they were going to do from there. Almost like clockwork, Tien and Chiaotzu joined their party and continued the debate in earnest.

In almost the same amount of time, all of their discourse became effectively scrapped when Yajirobe's hover car careened across the seas before drifting onto the island. Stumbling out of the automobile, the samurai patted the dust out of his uniform before clearing his throat.

"Um, Korin told me to tell you that you're wanted on the lookout. Apparently, for some kind of special training," stated Yajirobe, his tone indicating that he really didn't want to be there. But like the hen-pecked warrior he was, well he couldn't exactly refuse.

"Really?" asked Yamcha, his eyes bugging out at the request. According to his own thoughts, the only person who could order people to the lookout was Kami. And the fact that somebody like the guardian of the Earth wanted his presence transcended any notion of flattery he knew. His heart pretty much swelled at the news. "Wow."

Shrugging his shoulders in response, Yajirobe closed his eyes and huffed dismissal. "I guess so; I'm just the messenger not the big man himself."

Scrunching up his face in contemplation, Tien crossed his arms across his chest as he tried to discern the reason for why they were given the honor of Kami's personal training. "Interesting that Kami would want us; I wonder what it could be for?"

"Dunno what to tell yah," answered the fat swordsmen, turning around before jumping back into his ride. Igniting the ignition, the hover-car slowly elevated into the air. Before blasting off back to whence he came, the coward shifted his posture so that he was looking at the rest of the earthlings. "Get over to Kami's Lookout. The old man wants all of us there, including. Can't see why, but it's the man's orders. See yah there." And with that, the swordsmen put the pedal to the medal and raced off into the distance.

"Well, I guess we better join him?" muttered Krillin, breaking the silence after the terse way Yajirobe left. Almost in unison, all of the remaining Z-fighters except Roshi ascended into the air and blasted off towards Korin's Tower.

Soaring through the skies, the journey to the mystical lookout was a quiet one. Everybody was too busy trying to solve the puzzle that was the last couple of hours to engage in some light-hearted or ultimately pointless conversation.

Reaching the tower at break-neck speed, the platoon swerved upwards and ascended up higher to the heavens. Passing by Korin's observation deck on the quest, the group braved the perilous conditions shadowing the lookout with systematic ease. In almost no time at all, the Z-senshi were pretty much on Kami's doorstep.

Climbing to the summit of the semi-circular sphere, the earthlings softly landed on the platform. With the sole exception of Tien, everybody else was floored by the marvel that they had been summoned too. The lookout was a true engineering marvel; none of them could even begin to fathom what it took to put a building of this up here or the measure taken to prevent it from falling from the heavens. It went over all of their heads.

The entire place was surreal. Its architecture was nothing like they had ever seen before and the entire structure was basically like one massive belvedere, giving wide panoramas of the Earth in every conceivable direction. In fact, the only one who didn't seem to be impressed was Yajirobe—who still had no noticeable interest in being there.

While admiring the landscaping, the earthlings barely noticed Kami and Mr. Popo quietly shuffle out of their quarters and approach them straight up. Standing in front of each other, Kami deeply exhaled and lightly pounded his cane on the ground to attract everybody's attention.

"Thank you for coming," acknowledged Kami, his back slightly bent so that his cane could support his frail frame. "I'm sure all of you are wondering why I've sent for you. Well, as you all may know, there is an imminent threat heading towards us that will arrive within the year. For the sake of the Earth's survival, I've called you here for an opportunity to train and learn about the nature of the enemies that you will soon battle."

Nodding their heads in agreement, a myriad of facial expressions dotted the faces of each earthling. Yajirobe was apathetic about the entire affair; he honestly believed that his attendance was not necessary because his contribution wouldn't be of any use. Krillin was happy, but he had lingering thoughts about what happened to Goku. And if anybody knew what happened to his best friend, it was the guardian and ambassador for the Earth. Tien was still trying to discern exactly what Kami wanted out of them. The old Namek probably had something up his sleeve and the former assassin was looking forward to what. As for Yamcha, he still looked flat out elated.

Read each of their expression like a children's book, the old guardian closed his eyes and sighed softly. "Goku is in the process of getting assistance from the greatest martial arts instructor in the universe. Rest assured that he will be ready to fight alongside you when the day comes."

Turning to Mr. Popo, the elderly sage quietly put his hand on the genie's back before discretely heading back towards his quarters. "Mr. Popo, please led them to the Pendulum Room."

Accepting the duty with a bob of his head, the pitch black spirit waved his hand to the side to beckon the group of earthlings towards the room. "Follow me this way."

Walking towards the main palace on the grounds, Popo eased the door opened and paced down the main hallway. Following in the back, the Earth-born warrior steadily advanced with the mystical genie. Finally, after a couple minutes of seemingly aimless wandering, Popo unlocked the door and ushered the earthlings in.

If Kami's lookout was strange before, then the Pendulum Room was some freaky part of a really strange LSD trip. In all of their lives, none of the Z-senshi had ever seen a room that eerily dark. You couldn't even see the back of your hand even if it practically silhouetted your face. However, Popo didn't seem to be phased by the darkness at all as he advanced through the room.

Taking his lead, the Z-senshi became awed when a distant specter of light began to greet them. Getting closer to dimly-lit magenta light illumination, Popo gently stopped when his entire form became clearly visible again.

Filing out around the strange light source, the earthling had to contain their shock when the Pendulum Room just got weirder. Apparently, the strange glow was coming from an occult-like insignia at the center of the room. None of the warriors could even begin to translate what the glyph meant; the only thing that even made geometric sense was a star in the middle of circle. And almost more strangely than that was the pendulum hovering over the circle.

"Step into the circle," advised Mr. Popo sternly, who was showing no signs of discomfort or uneasiness about being stuck in this strange room. It was like he had done this song and dance a hundred times before.

Cautiously doing as requested, four of the five hand-picked warriors walked onto the mystical emblem and turned around to await further orders. As for Yajirobe, he had no interest in doing some freaky kind of training.

But one of them, Krillin precisely, wanted to know exactly where they were and why they were doing this. "Excuse me, but where are we? What is this room? And why are we here?"

Predicting that somebody was going to ask questions along those lines, the black genie already had a speech ready to address these concerns. "The room we are standing in is called the pendulum room. The guardians of the past and present designed this place to manipulate the fabric of time and bring people back to specific events in the past. As for why you are here, perhaps it would be better to wait and see."

"Now, please close your eyes," requested Mr. Popo, his form as still as a statue until the four warrior did as he told them. When they did so, the lands-keeper flicked his fingers together and initiated the sequence to bring them to the past.

Although none of them could literally see it happen, most of the Z-senshi under the emblem could feel the magenta light radiate upwards past their bodies and towards the ceiling. Equally freaky, they felt a burst of teal energy strike them repeatedly as the magenta energy ascended up, creating a strange light effect. And then, it was all over.


Daybreak had settled over the wasteland that Piccolo and Gohan called home. Survival training had proven to be a very maturing experience for Gohan. Dealing with sweltering heat, torrential downpours and nasty predators required a certain degree of grit that was taking awhile to ferment in Gohan's breast.

At first, the transition between schoolboy and country boy was rocky to say the least. Having been sheltered his entire life; the boy didn't know how to do much of anything. Hunt, fish, where to take shelter, how to avoid danger—it was all foreign to him. They weren't skills he had focused on all that much prior to his abduction, and now he was paying for it.

The first couple of weeks were the worst. Learning all these skills had taken their toll. His haphazard attempts at hunting often bore no fruits, and oftentimes his inexperience meant he didn't eat to the indignation of his stomach. Adding to his woes, it took a few days to find a vacant cave or hollow to take residence in—and that was when he didn't get lost on the occasional day.

Slowly but surely though, he was learning how to do better. After his initial introduction to the wild, his hunting started to bear some fruit. Sure, some of it was dumb luck, okay a lot, but he was starting to figure out what worked and what didn't. Adapting was the name of the game in the wasteland, and Gohan's Saiyan nature was beginning to pay dividends.

Still, the boy couldn't quite feel a sense of pride for his growing accomplishments. Honestly, he was feeling more frustrated than anything. It had been a month and what had he actually done? He taught himself how to feed himself, where to run in case of trouble and how to use terrain around him to his own advantage? So! His dad probably could've done the same thing with his eyes closed!

And, even worse, it had taken all of a month to do it. Eleven more months, that's all he had! He could barely throw a punch, let alone take on people far stronger than his father. How could he accomplish what was needed of him, was it even possible? Gohan was beginning to doubt that he could be somebody even remotely capable of shouldering responsibility for the world he inhabited. Nothing he had done so far really proved to him that he was really the one Piccolo implied that he was. Then again, he never really believed it anyway.

These were the thoughts that plagued him when he was resting in his cave. He tried to teach himself how to fight, like how he taught himself to forage, but the endeavor just seemed fruitless. No matter what he did, his progression ended up stymied and his mindset became cynically languid.

Helpless. Despite his new sense of self-sufficiency, Gohan simply felt helpless. When his dad was alive, he never had these disillusioning thoughts. The pressure he was putting on himself to push forward was straining his resolve to the brink. He needed help, he needed somebody to support him in his time of need. But it wasn't going to come, no matter how hard the boy tried to coax it out.

However, there was a time and a place to be on your pity pot. When it was light out was not one of these times. Other matters like stuffing yourself took precedent. Sensing the emerging sun creep up over the horizon, Gohan exited his cave and leisurely strolled out into the open.

Basking in its fiery glow, the boy lightly combed his hair upwards before bringing them back down to his waist. Pricking his ears, the boy quietly scanned his surrounding for the distant prittle-prattle of small animals.

Hearing nothing, the boy decided that it would be for the best to advance towards the stream behind his cave. Following the stream due north, the boy broke away when he saw the distant outline of another stream intersecting the one he was following. This intersection was prime hunting grounds. All animals, big and small alike, tended to congregate there for obvious reasons and it was the easiest place to find prey in the entire rugged area.

Cautiously treading towards the watering hole, Gohan took cover behind a natural monolith only twenty yards away from the babbling brook. Getting his pudgy little hands in some of the nooks and crannies of the pillar, the boy began to climb to a perch about forty feet up. From his overlook, the boy could see the stream and its confluence with perfect clarity.

Surprisingly, the Saiyan found the entire area fairly depopulated. There were a couple big mesopredators and some small prey interspersed in the area, but nothing like the chaotic fair the place normally was. Sure, it didn't mean much to him, but the boy had to wonder why? It just was a bit confusing.

Suddenly, some of the animals began to scurry away too, like they had a sixth sense on what was to come that Gohan lacked. Even more puzzled, the boy glanced all over the vast panorama for the calamity that seemed to be sending everything running to the hills. It didn't take long for his questions to be resolved.

"RAGH!"

Out of nowhere, a massive brown tail lashed out at the monolith the boy was perched on. Cleaving the pillar in two, Gohan quickly made hay and jumped off his perch, diving head first into the brook before massive chunks of rock would fall into the waterway downstream, clogging it in the process.

Darting back to the surface, the Saiyan quickly paddled to the bank of the creek before rubbing the water out of his eyes so that he could see the new threat that had emerged. He almost immediately regretted his instinctive action.

Standing before him was the real-life equivalent of the big dinosaur from Jurassic Park mating with Godzilla. Well over five stories tall, the beast was one of the most terrifying things Gohan had ever seen with his own eyes. Quite frankly, he thought things like that were myths. Apparently they weren't.

"Wowie…he's big," noted the boy, stammering to get words to form. His trepidation got even worse when the gaze of the lizard began to gravitate towards him alone, unnerving him immensely as the beast began to drool. He really didn't want to be anybody lunch. `Maybe he'll leave me alone if I keep still?'

But that old wife's tale turned out to be complete hogwash. Roaring, the T-rex wannabe charged the boy, eliciting a high-pitched squeal from the chibi. Pivoting and pushing off with his lead foot, Gohan began to run like the boogeyman was after him.

Remarkably, the boy was actually able to outpace the dinosaur at first, although the predator was still very much nipping at his heels. But as time went on, and the distances got larger, the boy was able to put a marginal distance between him and the lizard. For all his bulk, the reptile didn't have the stamina of the adrenaline-fueled Saiyan child. Unless something happened, Gohan would surely get away.

Yet something did happen. At the absolute worst possible moment, Gohan tripped over his own feet and landed face first into the dirt. Flipping onto his back, the boy's face palled when the slobbering jaws of the massive reptile were staring at him straight in the face.

Reacting subconsciously, Gohan screamed as he rolled to his side, narrowly avoiding the fate of becoming his predator's dinner. Jumping onto his feet, the child bolted out of the shadow of the dinosaur like an Olympic sprinter. But regardless of how hard he ran, he could not escape the predator's tail, which lashed into him angrily.

Launched laterally into mid-air, the half-Saiyan sailed over football fields of earth before crashing into a nearby spire. His violent entrance compromising the structural integrity of the monolith, the kid could barely feel his toes as the entire mass collapsed on top of him.

Buried in a pile of rubble, Gohan tried to wiggle his way out of his stone tomb to no avail; his bony legs were going nowhere with the way they were pinned in place. Groggy and a bit dazed, the half-Saiyan barely noticed a steady trickle of blood pour down his temples and around the bridge of his nose.

Unfortunately, the bleak predicament that the demi-Saiyan was in was actually worse than what it appeared. Our favorite reptile was not giving up on its snack, even if a metric ton of dust and gravel was the distance between them.

Slowly but more and more ominously, the rocky tomb encapsulating Gohan became to move and writhe. Although dinosaurs are by no means well equipped at digging, the tenacity of the beast wasn't going to be left unfulfilled today. Even if it meant bashing its head or body-slamming itself into the rubble one-hundred times, it was going to be feasting on a tasty little morsel tonight.

Panic flared through Gohan's system as the animal kept digging, its effort growing closer to his sanctum. Frenziedly, the boy tried to unwedge his extremities from their prisons. No dice, he simply didn't have the power or will to overcome it.

Heartbeat accelerating, the boy's alarm intensified when his arms and legs finally went numb from being pinned into position for so long. Brow glistening with sweat and cheeks swelling up with a mixture of blood, perspiration and tears, the boy could only look on in horror as his line on life became more perilously frayed.

And what could he do about it? Absolutely nothing! It was the story of his life, ever since Piccolo had preached to him about his power. What power was this? If he even had a fraction of the influence Piccolo claimed he had, he wouldn't be in this mess at all. If he was truly capable of being a difference, he wouldn't be struggling to survive in a relatively benign environment. Being honest with himself, he simply was fooling himself this entire time. He wasn't cut out to be a warrior; he wasn't cut out to take his father's mantle even if he wanted too! And, in the end, he just may be joining his father too.

Meanwhile, light had just started to breach through Gohan's hollow. Sensing that his time was coming to nigh, the crescendo of terror building up in Gohan's gut began to spill over. It was all coming to head so fast, and he was truly now stuck in a corner with only one way out. Knowing that his efforts alone would lead to nowhere, the boy cried out to the one being his heart beseeched.

`Please daddy, save me!'

As if his prayers were answered, it was at this moment that he had been finally backed into his corner. And just like anytime he had no way out, his explosive power rushed to defend him. At the same moment, the reptile had finally broken through every bulwark protecting it from the wrath of the provoked child. Ironically, it was now the dinosaur that needed saving.

Lunging with vigor to snatch the bloodied child, the beast was stupefied when the rocks pinning the child in place were obliterated. Startled, the beast could only gaze in a stupor as the boy snapped to his feet like a soul possessed. Power cackling through his form, the child's blank stare pierced through the beast's simple mind, rendering it petrified. But this unnatural intimidation wouldn't last for long. Frightened, the reptile lashed out in self-defense, ensuring its untimely demise.

Sensing the threat coming, Gohan raised his hand and fired the most powerful energy blast he had ever summoned. Hitting the beast point-blank, the dinosaur was incinerated on spot. With the danger gone, the boy's power left him and he fainted on the ashen ground.


And there you have it. The second installment of Epiphany. Should've been out sooner, but something in me recently just doesn't like to update for some unknown reason. Oh well. My apologies about that.

Review Responses:

S: I hope that he won't begin to have no faith in Goku though, Goku may have his faults, but he tries. It always seemed to me that Goku's biggest problem as a person was that he just didn't know how to be a father and didn't realize the consequences of some of his actions.

R: Well, as you can see from this chapter, it takes a lot more than a conversation to truly weaken Gohan's faith in his father.

S: I love Cognitive Dissonance and I love this. I look forward to even more and you are an amazing author. The grammar ans sentance structure is pretty good and spelling is great, so keep going strong! Until next time!

R: Thanks. I do try to write with my best grammar and syntax. I make a lot of mistakes but most of them are not due to apathy or anything willful in any case.

S: As I've already stated during the beta process, I don't find any faults with Piccolo or Gohan's characterization; Gohan's eventual acceptance of His father's death and the weighty reality of his responsibility was natural and well-paced. Again, I enjoyed the symbolic ending! Well done!

R: Yah, I enjoyed adding in the symbolic weather at the very end. However, I will like to point out that I screw around with the weather a lot as a symbolic device so stuff like that solely isn't for chapter one alone(as you probably surmised already). XD

S: However, you've basically taken this to the extremes, Phoenix. There is no possible way, I feel, that Gohan would ever lose faith in his father during this point in time. He may be a kid(I do admit that a child's mind is the easiest time to change this with), but that's also when his love and belief in his father is at its all-time high.

R: This chapter really wasn't about making Gohan lose complete faith in his father moreso than planting the seed of doubt. Despite his faith in his father, he couldn't defend him against what Piccolo was saying and that forced him to think. That being said, I think I made it fairly clear this chapter that Gohan's faith in his father is still fairly strong. His mask of resolve was simply that: a mask.

And as for the never lose faith part. We'll see. I have a lot of plot devices to go through before we get on that tangent. Nevertheless, his struggle about coming to terms with his father will be a rampart part of text-not something that was resolved in chapter one to go on and do something else.

S: Well that was an interesting first chapter. It's nice to see Gohan question himself. Piccolo does have good points and it's nice to see them addressed early on now instead of during the Cell Saga where Gohan had it cemented into his head for along time that Goku would save everyone.

R: Well, words can only take you so far, it seems. XD

S: I'd like to see where this goes! Pretty good writing style you have :) I like the descriptions and layout.

R: Thanks. I put a lot of effort into my descriptions.

And that's all folks.