Pan looked around. "When will those guys be finished training?" she asked Bra.
Bra sighed. "Beats me. About another 23 hours, maybe?"
"I can't believe Trunks acted like such a jerk back there."
"Well, he didn't know how you felt back then."
"Didn't know how I felt back THEN?!" shouted Pan, turning to face Bra. "You didn't tell him I
LIKE HIM, did you?!"
"Well, I was trying to gain sympathy..."
"AGGHH!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOLD HIM!! I'M SOOOOO EMBARRASSED!! I
COULD JUST DIE!!"
"It's not that bad."
"WHAT?!"
Dende and Mr Popo walked over to Pan and Bra, who were sitting at a table on the Lookout.
"What's with all of the commotion?" asked Dende. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh! Um, no," responded Pan.
"Good. Now girls, I would like you to meet a very good friend of mine..." requested Dende,
moving to the side as a caped figure emerged from the shadows of the palace. Pan and Bra stared
in shock. It was Piccolo, alive and well! Pan gasped, her breath leaving her.
"Piccolo! Weren't you dead?"
Piccolo turned to look at her, his expression running shivers down her spine. "Yes, and I still am.
King Yama allowed me to leave the afterlife for three days in order to help my friends."
"Oh... hehe... how nice..." stammered Pan.
Piccolo twitched. "What is that?" he growled, spinning around and running over to the side of the
Lookout and glaring down, as if trying to see through the clouds. "That power... it's
tremendous..."
"That must be Gojitto," replied Dende, joining Piccolo at the edge. "His power is intense, isn't
it?"
Piccolo grunted. "Yes, unimaginable for you, because you can't even begin to feel it, Dende. I can
sense his total power, and it's almost deadly to the mind."
Piccolo stopped sweating. "What?? It's gone!!"
"WHAT?!" shouted the others in unison.
"Oh no... it's... here," observed Piccolo as he spun around to see the figure that materialized next
to Mr Popo.
The tall, lean shadow grinned at Piccolo. "Piccolo. Long time, no see," said Gojitto as he
approached the Namek. "You heroes just keep popping up, don't you? But you are the only one
left, though."
"You mean... Gohan is dead?"
"Correct. So are Vegeta, Tenshinhan, and Ubuu."
"Dad..." sniffed Pan as tears ran down her eyes.
"Daddy..." Bra began to wail as she imagined her father's crippled body lying in a pool of blood.
"No... daddy, you can't leave me... Ubuu..."
Piccolo snarled. "Dende, grab the girls and get out of this place, now! I'll hold this creature off
for as long as I can!" cried the Namek, clutching his fists and rushing headlong at Gojitto. The
Saiyan/Fusion moved instantly to the side, ramming his leg into Piccolo's back and sending him
sprawling onto the tiled floor. Dende and Mr Popo grabbed the girls and ran toward one of the
buildings, Mr Popo calling his magic carpet and jumping onto it alongside Pan and Bra while
Dende flew beside them.
Gojitto smiled as they flew off. "No matter. I'll get them soon."
Piccolo made no response.
"What's wrong, Piccolo? Did you expect me to be weaker? I'm positive that you realize you
stand no chance, and that is why you have so nobly decided to stay behind and sacrifice yourself,
thereby allowing your already dead body to fade into nothingness."
Piccolo glared. Gojitto was correct. Piccolo knew that he had absolutely no chance of success,
and that Gojitto was at least four times his strength in Super Saiyan 3 form. There were no other
options. There was no way to save the universe. Only stall.
Suddenly, four figures appeared behind Gojitto. The fusion spun around to face them, awed to
find the faces of Son Gohan, Vegeta, Tenshinhan, and Ubuu all gazing back at him.
"No... how can you all be alive?"
"We are resourceful, Gojitto. Do not think that you can conquer the universe so simply. We
won't give up until our bodies do," shouted Gohan, stepping forward and flaring up to Mystic 2
form. Gojitto was in complete shock. Collecting himself, he smiled.
"This battlefield is not suited for your demise. I want to see all of you die nobly. I could kill you
now, but I want your world to feel your pain. Meet me in the ZumiZubi Mountains tomorrow at
noon. Then we will fight. I will kill you all." With that, he once again faded away. Piccolo gaped
in shock.
"Bastard," grunted Gohan as he powered down. Then he saw Piccolo. "Piccolo! You're here! It's
so good to see you!"
Piccolo stepped forward. "Gohan... you're so strong now."
"I know. I've been training in the ROSAT. Trunks and Goten are inside right now."
Piccolo smiled. "It appears as though you are in better control of the situation than I expected.
Gojitto said that he had killed you."
"Almost. He was careless."
"Then we have a chance to win."
"Yes, but we'll have to continue training."
"I have the ideal place. There is a place on Earth where you can train, and it increases your power
ten times as much as it would normally. It is not as good as the ROSAT, but it is all we can hope
to achieve at this point." The Namek turned to Ubuu. "I watched you. You have learned Instant
Transmission. Go fetch Dende, Mr Popo, and the girls. They flew away from the palace when
Gojitto arrived. Hurry." The young boy obliged immediately and disappeared.
"So now what?" asked Vegeta tensely.
"We will prepare... for the final battle."
*****
Soon, the entire group was gathered. Trunks and Goten remained in the ROSAT, unable to join
the others until ten in the morning the next day, when the situation would be fully explained to
them both. The others: Gohan, Vegeta, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, Ubuu, Dende, Mr Popo, Pan, and
Bra, were all gathered in the palace on Kami's Lookout to discuss what they would do the next
day.
"It is impossible to defeat that freak! Gohan powered up to Mystic 2 and still wasn't able to
win!!" exclaimed Tenshinhan.
"Yes. Super Saiyan 4 was not capable of matching such a power either," Vegeta sighed. Bra
patted him on the back.
Ubuu spoke. "If we all attacked at once..."
"... he'd swat us aside in one, swift motion," finished Piccolo. "He won't fall for any tricks. He
knows us all too well."
"Then we can only win with pure force," noted Gohan.
"Pure force nothing! So far, that hasn't worked! Gojitto has beaten us once again, so how can we
be sure he won't annihilate us the next time we meet?" shouted Vegeta.
"We need to rely on our numbers! Apparently we have nothing else to fight with!" replied a
stressed-out Gohan.
"Listen up, now's not the time to talk. If you're all ready, we'll get going down to the Sacred
Realm and begin training."
The others nodded in agreement. They all had to admit that extra training wouldn't hurt. "I want
to go too!" shouted Pan, running up to her father.
"The girl isn't going," ordered Piccolo, his back turned to the young Saiyan girl. "I won't allow it.
She's useless."
"Piccolo, Pan's not useless!" said Gohan, "she helped out father more than once! Let her come. It
won't effect you any."
"Gohan..."
"Maybe you should stop being such a hardened bastard for a second and think straight!" shouted
Gohan, shoving Piccolo backward.
Piccolo gazed at Gohan with a rather amazed expression, as did the rest of the people on the
Lookout. Gohan had never even shown violence toward Piccolo before, but now his fury was
clear, and it was more than apparent that Gohan was terribly upset over the whole ordeal. His
father, not his father, the world seemingly breaking apart before his face.
"I... I'm sorry. Let's just get going," said Gohan, turning to the others.
"Right," returned Piccolo, flying into the air as the others followed close behind. Gohan watched
the others go. Dende set his hand on Gohan's shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"It's just too much," Gohan whispered to himself, blasting off into the air after the others.