Chapter VII: The Training Gets Cut Short

High above the Earth at Kami's Lookout, the Guardian of the Earth watched Piccolo meditate with fascination. Mr. Popo, the immortal assistant, stood alongside Yamiv, the Guardian of the Earth.

"How strong is he?" Yamiv asked Popo.

"Amazingly so," replied Popo. "And his potential far exceeds his current power. He has merged with so many other Nameks… I doubt that any level of power is far beyond his reach. I have known Piccolo ever since he was born, and he is not the type who gives up easily."

"So I see," Yamiv replied, watching Piccolo. There was a pile of dead butterflies beneath the floating Piccolo, as he had an electrical energy field about his body. "So many unsuspecting butterflies…" Yamiv remarked, seeing two more added to the ever growing pile.

Something snapped. Piccolo's eyes opened suddenly, and he landed with a thud on the floor of the lookout. "They're going to be here soon," he said.

"Who are?" asked Yamiv.

"I don't know, said Piccolo, "But my dream was so vibrant… I could almost feel them… laughing…"

"Piccolo," Popo said, "You had better get to the Capsule Corporation and tell Boxer and 18 to break away from their training immediately. They will need to rest."

"Boxer had better have done exactly as I told him," Piccolo remarked. "I feel that his training will affect the outcome of this battle far more than 18's or my own."

Yamiv nodded. "He has great potential within him. Now go, Piccolo. The Earth needs you three!"

Piccolo nodded as well. With that, he turned and, like a bullet, was off to the Capsule Corporation.

"What do you think will happen, Yamiv?" asked Popo.

"I'm not sure," Yamiv replied. "This is the first real battle I've seen for the Earth's survival. But Popo, you've witnessed many. Does Piccolo fight well?"

"Piccolo," Popo began, "May not have been the strongest fighter back a thousand years ago, but he was always the bravest and the most tactful. He has defeated his share of enemies and been defeated a few times as well. Still, I have never seen anyone fight quite like he does. If I would count on anyone to win the upcoming battle, it would have to be Piccolo."

***

Boxer stared at the number on the computer screen. "100," he said aloud. "I'm doing everything that Piccolo told me… I hope it's enough." He had adapted to the gravity quite quickly and was working his way up through the training programs with ease.

A set of spherical drones appeared to challenge him. Concentrating his energy, he quickly let out the cry of what had become his most trusted attack. "Kamehameha!" he shouted.

A stream of energy burst forth from his hands as his feet remained firmly planted on the ground. The drones quickly disintegrated and the Kamehameha Wave bounced back towards Boxer. The young warrior was ready. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and braced himself. The energy blast did not so much to him as get dust on his shirt.

Boxer smiled. "My training has been coming along rather well. I think I'm ready to take anything on." Having completed the training program, he went back to more customary exercises, such as the ever-difficult one-fingered push-ups.

While Boxer took a comical and not-so-serious view of life, he believed Piccolo when he had told him not to slack off on his training. Boxer had not slept for days; he had been training nonstop, practically to the point where his body would break.

Every day, sunup to sundown, he would follow this routine: warming up with a light breakfast and perfecting his flying maneuvers, trying to make sure that he could fight while airborne. Then, after a break for lunch, he would go into the space pod and train at 100 times Earth's normal gravity, doing all kinds of muscle building and mentally challenging exercises.

During the past few days, however, he had not actually left the space pod. He had been training nonstop, breaking neither for food nor sleep. All he had was the occasional bottle of water. He knew it was imperative that he trained harder as he sensed the oncoming evil growing stronger by the minute.

Around his ten-thousandth push-up, he saw a figure out of the window that he had not seen for quite some time. It was Piccolo! Immediately back flipping onto his feet, he slowly set the gravity down until he was comfortable at Earth's normal gravity, something that he had not felt for days.

As he ran outside of the space pod to greet Piccolo, he noticed 18 coming out of her space pod as well to see the Namekian warrior. It was apparent that she had not come out of the space pod since Piccolo had told them to begin their training; she was still breathing heavily and even looked much stronger than when Boxer had last seen her.

Piccolo looked both of them over. "You two look much stronger."

"As do you, Piccolo," 18 said, returning the compliment.

"I come under grim circumstances once again, I'm afraid," Piccolo continued, wasting no time. "I daresay that the two evil manifestations will be here as early as tomorrow, and as late as two days from now. You must stop your training and rest. I will return to Kami's Lookout to rest up there, and you will probably want to stay here."

"No, Piccolo!" Boxer exclaimed. "I'm still nowhere near as strong as you two! I need to keep training."

Piccolo turned to stare at him and smiled. "Your resilience and devotion impress me, Boxer, but don't be foolish. Don't think that you haven't pushed yourself to your limits, because the two of us know that you have, and then some. What you accomplished is far beyond what I have known even Goku to have done. In the space of a week and a half, you have done what it took Goku upwards of twenty years to do. Rest now, Boxer… we all will need to be at our peaks for the upcoming battle."

With that, Piccolo took off and was gone. 18 turned to look at Boxer. "You have grown strong," she said. "I sense that your power has increased tremendously and you have worked hard to attain that level of power."

"Thank you," Boxer responded. "Now that I can sense power, I feel yours… mine is close to nil in comparison."

"Don't say that!" 18 exclaimed. "With that sort of attitude, all of your training will have been in vain. I figured that your Kame-Sennin transcripts would have mentioned somewhere that positive karma is the key to accomplishment?"

"Now that you mention it, I don't think it did," Boxer said. "It was more technical."

"Well, take my word for it then," 18 told him. Boxer nodded. "Well," she said, "I'm going to have something to eat and then I'm going to sleep for as long as possible."

"Same here," Boxer agreed. They had a hearty early dinner together and after that retired to their respective bedrooms. Boxer knew that when he woke up, he would have to deal with the evil ones, so naturally, he was scared and nervous. But strangely, he felt a sensation of excitement. He wanted a good challenge. Somewhere, deep within him, he knew that he loved to fight; it was in his Saiyan blood. With mixed emotion, Boxer fell asleep at last.

***

The two evildoers appeared on the small island in the sky where the Temple of Shenron stood. "Well, we're here," said the one with the long black hair. "Now let's go inside and make our wish."

"Right," said the bald one, grinning. They hastily made their way towards the staircase, shaking the ground with each step.

Right before they came to the staircase, they heard a voice from above. "Stop!" it called and they were blown back by a barrage of energy blasts.

The two evildoers saw a spinning figure hit the ground and rise from a kneeling position. The thing wore a suit that looked identical to one that Kibito or the Supreme Kai would have worn a thousand years earlier, and it had pink skin, like Kibito. Unlike Kibito, however, it had a much less angular face, looking rather human and long orange hair that extended down to its shoulders. On its hips, it wore a whip.

"My name is Garuda," he said. "I am the guardian of the Temple of Shenron." An angry glare appeared in his eyes. "I know you two… you are not worthy of entering. I cannot allow someone as notorious as either one of you to enter. If you value your freedom, I'll let you return to H.F.I.L. now, or…" he said, brandishing his whip and cracking it in the air as a warning, "Or we can do this the hard way."

The one with the long black hair threw his head back and laughed heartily. "You think that we are the slightest bit afraid of you? I'll take you down myself with my bare hands."

Garuda bent his knees to get in a ready position. "Give it your best shot, pretty-boy."

The black-haired warrior lunged towards him. There was a sudden sickening crack, and then the sound of one amazingly strong punch was heard. The black-haired man landed on the ground with a visible whip mark that had dented his armor, and a red spot on his cheek where he had been punched.

Garuda cracked his whip again. "Are you ready to turn back now?"

"You…" said the black-haired warrior, rising, "You have made me very angry. That was a mistake!" With that, he powered up, and was immediately encompassed by a golden aura. His long, black hair was now turned gold and stood on end, towering high above his head. His eyes, previously brown, were now a pale green.

"You still don't scare me," Garuda warned him.

"Well," said the now-gold-haired warrior, "Actions speak louder than words, don't they?" With much increased speed and strength, he lunged again at Garuda. Again, there was a crack, this one even louder than before, and the distinct sound of armor being broken.

The gold-haired warrior again landed on his back on the ground, his chest plate now entirely shattered, revealing a circular portion of his chest. He snarled and rose to his feet again, Garuda still standing strong.

"Yeah, whatever," he said, his hair turning black again. "I wasn't meant to win anyway, although I could've put up more of a fight if I needed. My partner's job is done, in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh, no!" Garuda exclaimed, seeing the error in his ways. The bald warrior who had been with this one was nowhere in sight, and he saw rays of light flooding out of the Temple of Shenron.

Garuda flew into the temple, but his efforts were in vain. He saw the bald-headed warrior standing on the pedestal with Shenron right above him.

"Dragon!" he shouted. "Grant my wish! Bring Raditz and myself back to the mortal plane!"

Shenron's eyes glowed red. "Nappa the Saiyan: your wish has been granted."

Nappa laughed as his halo disappeared and he began to fade out of the Next Dimension. Garuda screamed in frustration as Shenron returned into the Dragonballs.

He made a diving leap at Nappa, but tasted only cold stone as a reward. It was too late; the two Saiyans were gone. In defeat, he walked outside of the temple and sat on the steps.

***

"Land-ho!" Krillin cried, flying alongside the Immortals in Death. Gohan maneuvered the airship, and within a few minutes, they had landed at the floating isle upon which was the Temple of Shenron.

Gohan and Vegeta led the group as the slowly walked towards the stairway. Gohan motioned for them to stop as he saw Garuda sitting on the steps with his head buried in his hands.

"Vegeta, come with me. The rest of you: stay here," Gohan ordered. Vegeta walked alongside of him and the rest of the party hang back. The Saiyan prince and the half-Saiyan approached the guardian of the temple.

"Garuda!" Gohan called to him. Garuda stood up and ran towards him.

"Gohan!" he cried. "Something terrible has happened! It's good that you brought your whole company here."

"Huh?" asked Gohan. "What's going on?"

"It's awful," said Garuda. "Two Saiyans who I'm sure you've dealt with, Nappa and Raditz, just escaped from the H.F.I.L. and managed to outwit me in battle… they have returned to Earth and they plan to wreak havoc!"

"Nappa and Raditz!?" exclaimed Gohan and Vegeta simultaneously.

"Raditz… he is my uncle," Gohan said.

"Nappa and Raditz were my partners…" Vegeta began. "But they were weaklings! What's the big deal if they go back to Earth? Can't Piccolo just take care of them as easily as last time? And what about 18? She's strong. Why is there any reason at all to worry?"

Garuda shook his head. "You don't understand. Raditz and Nappa were never locked up like the other evildoers. They've been doing nothing but training for the past millennium. I mean really, nothing at all! They have become Super Saiyans… possibly a higher level than Piccolo or 18 can deal with… and there are two of them, so they'll have their hands full! The odds are not in our favor this time."

"It seems to me," Gohan started, "That you need to tip the scales in our favor then."

"What do you mean?" Garuda asked. "What can I possibly do? It's you guys who are going to solve this! Use the Dragonballs to wish yourselves back."

"No can do," Gohan replied, shaking his head. "All of us died naturally, you see. The Dragonballs cannot be used to wish back people who died of natural causes, as I'm sure you know. But, on the other hand, there's you."

"Me?" Garuda asked, pointing to himself.

"Yes, you," confirmed Gohan. "You're not dead to begin with. In fact, you've been granted conditional immortality by King Yemma to guard this place, haven't you? As long as no one kills you, you won't die, is that right?" Garuda nodded.

"Well," Gohan continued. "Just wish use the Dragonballs to wish yourself to the mortal plane!" Thinking for a minute, Gohan quickly scribbled something down on a piece of paper that he had in his pocket and handed it to Garuda.

"Take this," he said. "It will explain to Piccolo and 18 who you are, and it's validated by me. They know my handwriting."

"But the temple!" Garuda complained. "What will happen to the temple?"

"My fellowship and I will guard it in your absence," Vegeta volunteered. "I just want to see those miserable fools Nappa and Raditz put back where they belong. Tell them that I send my greetings." He smirked while saying this.

Garuda nodded. "I understand what I have to do." With that, he flew into the temple and onto the pedestal.

"Hear me, Shenron!" he called, summoning the dragon. It appeared all around the room once again.

"What is your wish, Garuda, my guardian?" Shenron inquired.

"Shenron, my time is short, so I'll make this quick," Garuda explicated. "Take me to the mortal plane! Grant my wish!"

Shenron's eyes glowed red. "Your wish has been granted…" Shenron trailed off as Garuda felt himself fading away from the only dimension he had ever known. He couldn't help but wonder what awaited him in the mortal plane besides the impending crisis that the Saiyans brought.