Chapter Two: They All Knew What They Wanted

"YOU!" two voices shouted out, startled.

Piccolo had approached right as Raditz had started manhandling Babidi, but it took them a moment to notice him. Once they did, however, Raditz was so surprised that he dropped the wizard, who sat on the ground where he fell, staring at the Namekian.

"Raditz, huh? I'm not at all surprised to find such scum as yourself here," said Piccolo, who had to admit he was getting a little bit of joy out of seeing the terror in Raditz's eyes. He then turned his attention to Babidi.

The primary reason he had elected to go to hell in the first place...

"Babidi. I've been looking for you."

"Ha! You have, have you?" Babidi jumped to his feet, his composure regained and his usual self returning. "You may be terrified to know that without that idiot Buu holding me back I'm a far more powerful and effective threat! So if you're even considering cutting me in half again you'll want to give up now and start begging for my mercy!"

"You… got cut in half?" Despite his nervous reaction to seeing Piccolo Raditz couldn't help but laugh.

Piccolo sighed and shook his head. "First off, I didn't come here to hurt you, Babidi. Second, if I had you'd be dead by now. I know how this place works. You don't have your magic here, do you?"

"A wizard without magic?! Ha! The very idea is too ludicrous to even dignify with a denial!"

Meanwhile, a certain Saiyan was feeling ignored. He clenched his fists in irritation. "Hey greenie! Aren't you forgetting someone?" As soon as all eyes were on him, Raditz continued, "You do realize I can't just let you leave without getting my revenge, right? And without that spineless Kararot to help you you'll have no chance of defeating me. I've been training nonstop here in the HFIL and even now am in the process of receiving the same training that made Buu so powerful-"

Piccolo had forgotten just how much he disliked Raditz. After listening to him rattle on for a few minutes he decided he could take no more of it and, faster than the Saiyan could even register, he had approached him and punched him in the stomach. The wind knocked out of him, Raditz stumbled backwards. "...how..." was all he could manage as he crumbled to the ground. Piccolo then turned back toward Babidi.

The wizard was panicking a little at this point and held up his hands reflexively, getting ready for a spell that he could no longer actually cast.

"LIsten... I came to apologize."

Babidi blinked a couple of times, baffled. "Apologize? Why? ...could it be you want to join my forces? You'd be a valuable asset, assuming you can prove your loyalty."

"Of course not!" Piccolo slowly advanced toward the wizard as he spoke. "If you're capable of not hearing your own voice for two minutes, I'll tell you."

"Fine then! Say what you must!" Babidi crossed his thin arms and wished he could still float so he wouldn't have to stare up at the Namek like this... He felt very small and vulnerable. But he was also deeply curious as to what he had to say...

"I think I judged you unfairly, Babidi. When we had our brief encounter, I called you evil, but in reality, I resented you because we were so similar, yet I had overcame the same blocks that you were then stumbling on. You frustrated me because I could see so much of my own past self in you."

This was one of the very, very rare times where the wizard was at a loss for words. Similar? What could he mean by that?

"Both you and I were shaped by the dark ambitions of the one who came before us. Your father Bibidi in your case. And you still follow his evil desires and ambitions even though he's long dead, whereas I, after a long war with myself, have chosen a very different path." Piccolo was only a couple feet away from Babidi at this point, and he kneeled down before continuing. "I projected my frustrations with my own inner battle upon you when I should have tried to help you. So think! What is it that you want, Babidi?!"

"I... I..." Babidi stammered a bit. It was difficult to think when Piccolo was so close, it made him nervous! "I... I want to control Buu and become ruler of everything!"

Piccolo looked away, annoyed. "Maybe I was wrong about you. But I doubt it. Now dig a little deeper!"

"I guess… what I really want is… you NEED TO DUCK!"

Piccolo didn't, instead pivoting around quickly and kicking out one leg, knocking over Raditz, who had been attempting to sneak up behind him and had been getting ready to attack.

The Saiyan was back on his feet quickly- and was getting pissed off. "Hey! You can't keep ignoring me, you know!"

Piccolo stood up then, leaving Babidi to think things over as he approached Raditz. "I think you'd prefer I ignored you, Raditz. Do you have any idea how much I've improved since our last fight?"

The Saiyan tossed his excessively long hair back over his shoulders and laughed, fully confident. "I don't care how much you think you've improved, I told you, I've been training down here. I'd estimate that my power has doubled, possibly even tripled! And you could barely touch me before- you certainly wouldn't have killed me without help!" He then watched Piccolo's expression, waiting for his reaction. It wasn't what Raditz had hoped for...

"I've had enough of you getting in my way, Raditz. It's time to shut you up for good!" Raditz wanted to laugh at this statement, but found it hard to do so when he was once again punched in the gut then knocked to the ground. "Be thankful I can't kill you here," said Piccolo, standing over the downed Saiyan. "Now stop bothering us. We have no use for you."

Whether his pride or his torso hurt more, Raditz was uncertain. But he knew for sure he couldn't let these two out of his sight. He needed Babidi's training... and he REALLY needed revenge on Piccolo!

The Namekian had stopped paying any attention whatsoever to the fallen Raditz, however, and had returned to Babidi's side. The wizard had watched the fight, somewhat awed. But as Piccolo once again approached him he remembered what he was supposed to have been thinking over...

He supposed Piccolo was right on one thing- it was his father's dream he was chasing, not his own. But he hadn't been acting entirely without his own motives- he had been hoping, deep down inside, that Buu would be more of a brother to him. And now that that wasn't happening he wasn't really sure what he wanted.

But thinking it over a bit, as he had been told to, he realized he wanted Piccolo as his lackey. That was a start!

"So then."

There was an awkward pause. Babidi and Piccolo weren't really sure what to say at that moment, but neither felt they were done with the other. But Piccolo spoke up first.

"I'm not sure what you're playing at 'training' second tier idiots like Raditz down here, but I'm thinking that since you lack your magic perhaps I should teach you how to be less defenseless?"

"Defenseless? Just when I'm starting to think you have a decent brain in that green head of yours you pull out a stupid comment like that! A Warlock is never defenseless!" Babidi made a big show of being dismissive before continuing. "But if you really want to make yourself useful, you can go ahead and try and teach me something I don't already know!"

PIccolo suppressed the urge to raise his voice. "Lesson one: when someone offers to help you out as a gesture of friendship, you just accept it or say no. You don't make a display of acting like an asshole before you accept. It doesn't make you seem tough. It just makes everyone dislike you. Got it?"

Babidi blinked. Well, when he put it that way... it indeed kinda did make the Madoshi feel like he was being a bit of an asshole. But who cares? Better to look rude than weak! But he supposed he'd have to make an effort if he wanted to win Piccolo to his cause without the use of magic...

With what was clearly a large amount of effort, Babidi said, "Okay, Majunior, can you help me out?"

Piccolo still wasn't impressed. "That came off as sarcastic. Try again and maybe I'll say yes."

This was going to be more difficult than the wizard had anticipated.

But neither the wizard, nor the warrior, or even the half conscious soldier had any idea how difficult things were going to get...