Chapter 14
After her little blowup, Emily decided it was probably best for her to retreat onto the rooftops. An hour or two passed before Piccolo came up to join her.
"Shouldn't you be training the boys?" she asked.
"They can't concentrate well with you yelling at everyone all the time." Emily blushed lightly and turned away from her former mentor. "They also wouldn't shut up about being hungry. I can only listen to them whine for so long." She laughed, knowing just how true this statement was, especially from what she had seen of Goten and Trunks. She hadn't been here long but already she had heard them whining more than she thought one person could.
"How are they doing?" she asked quietly, looking back up at him.
"As well as you can expect from two undisciplined children," Piccolo said gruffly.
Emily sighed. "I figured that much. They're too young, too inexperienced to have something like this resting on their shoulders. And them I'm over here being a useless slob because I haven't trained in three years."
"I thought about bringing you up here a few times," Piccolo muttered, his voice so low that Emily almost didn't hear.
"You knew where I was the entire time, didn't you?" she asked with a small smile. He nodded. "Dende too?" Another nod. "Well damn, what was the point of me leaving if you two knew where I was the entire time?"
Piccolo smirked. "I guess you forgot just how sensitive Namekian ears are."
Emily sighed and fell back on the rooftop, stretching her legs out and folding her arms behind her head as she closed her eyes. "Yeah, I forget about that sometimes. I'm glad you two didn't snitch on me. Thanks for that."
"No problem kid."
A small moment of silence came over them. "You didn't just come up here for small talk, did you?" Emily finally asked, amazed Piccolo had waited so long to bring what he wanted to talk about up. He never was one to beat around the bush, so she wondered what had him nervous enough to do so, even if only for a minute.
"We think they're ready. As ready as they can be, anyway."
Emily had been ready for Piccolo to say several things, but not that. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly, alarmed. "Are you sure? I know they've been practicing for a while but…" she trailed off, not sure where her own thought was going.
"We need to know that they can do this. You can only practice a move so many times before you have to play. It's time. After their meal they're going to fuse."
…
Apparently Krillin had told everyone else about the upcoming fusion because everyone was outside, watching the two young boys as they positioned themselves, their faces far more serious than a seven and eight year olds should ever have to be.
Chichi and Bulma were ringing cloths, the fear and nervousness quite evident on their faces. Emily couldn't blame them for their reactions.
"Begin," Piccolo ordered.
The two immediately obeyed, performing the short, silly dance and required words. It produced a bright flash of light and an explosion of energy, causing almost everyone to guard their eyes and pushing a few people back. Before the light had even begun to fade, Piccolo was growling in frustration. What did he see that I didn't? Who messed up? Emily thought, trying to run their dance in her mind again, her eyes wide open and her feet firmly planted in the same position she had started in.
The light faded before she had her answer, but the result of the slipup was immediately obvious. Goten and Trunks had successfully fused, but their joined body was fat. Very fat. The new being did a few warm up punches and stretches while the others, mostly Yamcha, pondered on how this form might be more powerful than any of them could think. Then the joined being took a little jog, moving incredibly slow. After about ten seconds he stopped and gasped for air, clearing any speculation about this being a 'superior' from.
Emily finally allowed her laughter to burst from her, loud and unapologetic. This being was so utterly ridiculous. How was everyone else keeping a straight face? Everyone, including the ridiculous fused person, stared at her in either confusion or anger. "Oh, come on! You people have no sense of humor."
"That's not something I'm told every day," Krillin joked. He turned back to the fused being, who had already lost interest in their incredibly short conversation and was picking his nose. "...I suppose I can see why it's funny. Hey kid, what do we call you?"
"Huh?" he said, turning to Krillin with a confused look on his face.
"Your name, what is it?" Chichi asked eagerly.
"Uhhh, Gotenks."
"Oh, what a wonderful name!" Chichi exclaimed, clapping her hands together with a smile.
Gotenks just stared at her blankly, his mind obviously not running at full speed.
Piccolo growled again, frustration emanating from him. "Enough goofing around you two, now unfuse so we can get back to work," he snapped.
"Uhh, how do I do that?" Gotenks asked.
"Shouldn't you know how?" Piccolo snapped again, more aggressively this time to hide the fact that he didn't know either.
"...No?" Gotenks said quietly, nervous from how hostile Piccolo was being.
"We probably just have to wait it out. It's only thirty minutes, right?" Emily said calmly, trying to be a voice of reason.
"Thirty minutes lost to them screwing up!" Piccolo said harshly, his anger bubbling up more.
"They're children Piccolo. They're going to mess up. Why don't you try to go calm down while we wait this out," Emily said, motioning to the rooftop where she had been meditating beforehand.
Piccolo merely grunted before taking her suggestion, flying off to the roof and settling down.
Emily then turned back to Gotenks. "Okay, so what are we going to do with you in the meantime?"
"I can go fight Buu," he replied.
Emily barked out a fake laugh. "No, you can't."
"Yes I can."
"If you can beat me in a fight I'll let you go up against Buu," Emily replied, not a doubt in her mind that she could beat him.
"You're on!" he declared, falling into a fighting stance. Emily nodded at him, crossing her arms across her chest, waiting for him to strike first. He took her bait almost immediately, crossing the short distance between the two faster than she had expected, arms flailing in a desperate attempt to hit her. Emily easily evaded each 'punch', if you could call it that. After a solid thirty seconds of missed hits, Gotenks stopped and hunched over, breathing heavily again.
"...Really?" she asked, baffled as to how anyone could tire out that quickly.
Emily hadn't bothered moving away while Gotenks caught his breath, and was not all expecting the sucker punch that landed squarely in the middle of her stomach. And it hurt. Peddling back a few feet, she hunched over, trying to quell the pain.
"Ahaha! I beat you! Now I can fight Majin Buu!" Gotenks declared, standing and puffing his chest out.
"Not quite," Emily said, straightening up with a hand still resting on her stomach.
"Why not? I beat you!"
"No, you landed a punch. You move slower than molasses, your moves are highly inaccurate, and your stamina is way to low. Buu would have you beaten into a bloody pulp in less than a minute and you wouldn't have a split second to try and defend yourself."
"But… I punched you."
"Because I was letting you catch your breath. Do you think Buu would let you do that? It was a lucky shot."
"But, I hurt you!" Gotenks exclaimed, clearly not comprehending what Emily was trying to tell him.
Emily sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If you somehow managed to get lucky and land a punch on Buu, you would definitely stun him for a second. But it's not near enough to beat him. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
"...No." Gotenks replied.
Emily turned away from the boy, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I'm done. Someone else deal with him," she snapped, flying off to join Piccolo on the roof.
When she was gone, everyone turned back to Gotenks, interested in what he would do next. He shoved his pinky finger up his nostril and asked, "Can I get some food?
…
After the time had passed and Gotenks separated back into Goten and Trunks, Piccolo left Emily alone on the roof to give the two a good tongue lashing about what they did wrong and forcing them to practice more.
It was a few hours after that when Piccolo joined Emily once again on the roof, the girl deep in meditation. He had to kick her over before she finally realized he was there. Her face initially contorted in anger as her eyes snapped open, but then her features softened as she realized why he was here once again. Wordlessly, she stood up and followed him to the small crowd. This time, she watched their movements closely, and to her surprise, they were even and correct. The bright flash that preceded didn't bother her in the least as she kept her eyes peeled, anxious to see what their properly fused from looked like.
When the light finally faded and Emily saw the smirk on his face, she knew this kid was going to be nothing but trouble. His energy had indeed skyrocketed, but that much energy in an undisciplined person can only lead to chaos. "This is going to go swell," she muttered to herself.
Piccolo was glad to see their correctly fused from, and, as is the cautious and proper way, he wanted to test their skills while fused. Gotenks' smirk only grew in response and he waggled a finger at Piccolo as if he were scolding a child. "Wrongo. I'm stronger than anyone here now AND I'm stronger than that dumb Majin Buu."
Piccolo growled, his frustration clearly evident. "You're being idiots, now is not the time to fool around. We need to make sure you are prepared to fight Buu! You can't just receive a power up then go flying off without understanding how it works."
"You're the one being an idiot old man! I'm outta here!" Gotenks cried, rising into the air and speeding off towards Buu's massive energy.
"No!" Piccolo and Emily yelled at the same time, both taking off after the boy. Emily quickly outsped Piccolo and realized Gotenks was too fast for her. A vein on her temple pulsated as she stopped dead, put two fingers to her forehead and transmitted herself right in front of the boy. He hadn't sensed her coming and crashed right into her, taking them both down until Emily pulled his arms behind him and locked them into place. "If you tried to fight Buu now you'd be killed within a minute, you moron!" she hissed into his ear, her grip on his arms tightening as her anger grew. "Now, we're going to go back to the Lookout, you're going to apologize for making everyone freak out, and you're going to listen to what Piccolo says or I swear to Kami I will take you both to Namek and leave you there for the rest of your lives."
Her grip was now so strong there was no way Gotenks could break free with his arms at such an awkward angle. He nodded furiously, clearly intimidated by Emily's threat. She then began flying back towards Piccolo, who seemed impressed that she had been able to catch and subdue him, and the trio carried on to the Lookout.
Upon arrival Emily released Gotenks, leveling her gaze on him, waiting for him to start speaking. With so many others around, his cockiness started to flare up again. He raised his head, puffed his chest out and crossed his arms, opening his mouth to say something that was clearly not going to be an apology, so Emily quickly spoke, "Even with your new powers, you're not going to be able to breath in space. You'll be stuck on the peaceful planet of Namek until I feel like coming to get you."
That killed Gotenks' mood, and he muttered something so low that even Emily, standing right behind him, couldn't hear. "What was that?" she demanded sharply.
"I'M SORRY FOR MAKING EVERYONE WORRY!" Gotenks shouted, taking off immediately after to the training room.
Emily turned to Piccolo, an amused half smile on her face. "You have fun with that."
Grumbling, Piccolo set off after him.
*Shouting into the void* Hello? Is anyone still reading this? If you are, I hope you enjoyed this update. It's one of the longer chapters for this story. Please let me know what you think or if anything needs to be clarified!