"One's Quest,

Another's Journey"

1 Part 2



The flight to Africa took a long time, about three plane changes and thirteen hours to get there. Cora landed in Morocco, Africa; there she spent the night in a hotel. The next morning, around nine am, she took a regular bush plane almost to the middle of the desert, but it was enough for her to find where the shaman lived. That flight didn't take long, but it was a nice ride for her. The bush plane finally landed, a bumpy landing at that and Cora truly began her quest, not just for the shaman, but also for Piccolo.

"Thank you," she said, as the pilot helped her with her packs and things. He nodded a reply and he was soon off in the air again.

Cora looked around her, the sun bright and hot. In the distance she saw a truck driving towards her. She stood there as the truck stopped. An African man, in a uniform stepped out of the driver's seat of the truck.

"Are you Cora?" he asked in a British accent.

"Yes, I am. Did the." her voice stopped as the man spoke.

"Yes, the old man sent me to take you to his hut. He would like to speak with you very soon. It's best we hurry, Cora."

Worry came over her as she climbed in the truck, the man putting her things in the back.

"What's wrong with the shaman?" she asked, worry in her voice.

"He's very ill, he may be dying," the man said as he drove on towards the hut that was ten miles East.

Cora just looked out her window in strong thought.

'Everything is coming to circle. I was meant to come here to speak with him. I knew it, but then again didn't know it. I hope I make it on time.'

"Here we are," the man said, as he stopped a few yards away from the old man's hut. Cora stepped out and grabbed her things and put them next to the entrance of the hut.

"Thank you." She said, as the man waved goodbye and drove off in the other direction.

She slowly stepped inside the hut and found that only the shaman was in there. He was laying on a bed of furs, dressed in his best.

'I hope I'm not too late.' She thought.

"You are right on time, my child," the shaman replied, opening his eyes a bit to see her. She walked over to his bedside and smiled.

"What have you asked of me, sir?"

"I need to give you some interesting facts you must know before you start going North," he replied, Cora seated next to him, listening closely to every single word he said. "The man you seek is not of this world, but of another. I know you know this, I just need to make sure you are correct of what you are about to undertake." Cora nodded. "Good. This man is wise and strong; you both will need each other's help to survive out there. Without the other, both shall not last long. This test of courage will be done by you both, without knowing it. At the end of your quest and his journey, you both will be rewarded by a great power, which rides in the heart of this man. He may not know it, but he carries with him the power of seven new rounded crystal spheres, that contain great power." He said, coughing a bit. The sound of his coughing startled Cora as she listen closely. She just sat there and waited for his fit to finish. She did not help the old man, simply because it was his time, and she did not dare interfere with nature's takings of life. It was the way, and from this respect she knew more of the Earth than what Piccolo walked upon underneath his feet.

Piccolo had finished walking all over the countryside of Japan, and was eager to get across to China. By his luck he had found a large map of the Earth. It was made in great detail and was of great use to him, but he preferred not to use such things, only to walk and find his own way of the journey he took.

It was getting late and he needed to get across to China as soon as he could. Wearing his new clothes, he masked himself from view of anyone. Walking down the pier, he towered over the people. Those who saw him, gave him plenty of room to walk around, no one messed with him, for they had no idea who he was and didn't want to find out. It was just too much of a risk that they would take upon themselves. The priests of the temples around Japan knew there was something strong and powerful and yet magical underneath that cloak. They knew to leave him alone, fearing the worst would come of them.

He soon came upon a boat that only had its captain on board. He stood in front of the boat and held out three gold coins for the captain.

The captain speaking in Japanese, Piccolo was quick to understand him.

"What do I do with these little things?" the Captain snapped.

"It's payment to get me to China."

The Captain took one of the gold coins and bit it hard. One of his teeth chipping off on the hardness of the gold, he looked at it with wide eyes, a wide grin crossing his face.

"Yes, come, come on board. For three gold coins I'll take you to India, if you want?" the Captain said.

"There's no need to go that far. After this, I'll walk the rest of my way there." Piccolo replied, as he boarded the fishing boat.

Soon, Piccolo was on his way to China, it being a trip of almost two hundred miles and the sea being a bit rough. But that didn't bother Piccolo one bit, he just stood there on the boat and watched intensely.

Back in the shaman's hut, Cora sat there as she still listened to him.

"You know of this power I speak of?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, I do. But it's too much for you to understand."

"Very well then," he said closing his eyes. "The man is traveling by sea. He will be there soon."

"Where is he going?" she asked.

"An old country, a country of the Great Wall."

"He's going to China. I hope I can make it there to meet up with him."

"Child, do not act so quickly. You will both meet soon enough." He said with another cough in his throat. "You must go now, child, go to him, he may need you." With that the old shaman passed on. Cora covered him up with the fur blanket and gathered her things. She looked back at the hut and smiled.

'Thank you, Old Shaman, thank you for everything,' she said to herself. She took out her compass and saw that the arrow was pointing north. She smiled as rain began to fall on the Sahara. She was now, truly on her way to a great adventure that she would soon not forget for the rest of her life.

A few days later, Piccolo was only a mile away from the East coast of China, which also bordered a bit of Russia to the North and North Vietnam to the South.

"Are you sure you wanted to go this way?" the Captain asked, Piccolo nodding in reply. The boat then moved near a dock and Piccolo jumped off the side of the boat to the dock, throwing the other two gold coins to the Captain. As Piccolo walked up the dock, the man yelled out a thank you.

Making it to the end of the dock, he hurried his pace now to get away from the guards that kept an eye on the border entrance. Hiding behind a building, making sure no one saw him, he flew up to the roof and jumped each rooftop to get into the city. He knew he had to hurry to make it to the country-side, he wasn't safe at all in the big cities and small towns, especially the big city of Beijing, China. He soon found himself in the small city of Changfukeng. There he found a nice old woman to help him a bit.

"Mame, where might I find the nearest river?" he asked.

She looked up and gave him a sweet smile.

"Go west and you can't miss it, there you will find the river you seek." She said kindly.

"Thank you," he said, bowing to her.

It had taken him many hours to get to the river; there he would take it to the countryside, where he would be safest.

Traveling the edge of the river, he soon found it to be very dark and he had to find a place to rest for the night, before going out again. He found a group of tall plants and stayed there meditating the night away once again.

The next morning, Piccolo picked up his pace of walking the river's edge. He took a drink from his canteen, looking out over the river a bit. Just a little ways down river he found a young boy polling his small but fairly large long raft like boat along the river up stream. He waved the boy down and asked for a ride the furthest he could go. The boy agreed and Piccolo boarded another boat once again.

'I can't fly, that would bring way too much attention to myself to these people.' He said to himself, sighing a bit. The boy and Piccolo said nothing and the boy did not ask for payment.

A few hours later, the boy stopped the boat way up river, further than what Piccolo thought. He got off the boat and thanked the boy and he went on his way. Piccolo looked in his pouch he brought with him and found that there were only six more coins left for payment of help.

'I'd better save these for emergencies.' He thought as he walked on up river further and slowly into the mountains.

He finally was deep enough in the forest of China that he took off his turban and hood of the cloak off. It was deafly hot in the forest, and that didn't bother him that much, but he was wearing dark colors after all. Stopping to look around, he heard far in the distance a running waterfall. He followed his good hearing to the falls and soon found them. He took off his cloak and gloves and put them on a rock near by. He bent down to take a drink of the fresh cool water from a little trickle from the falls.

'I'd might as well cool myself off and get cleaned up a bit.' He said as he took off his gi outfit and boots and placed them near the rest of his clothes. He stepped in the waterfall pool slowly and kept looking around, making sure no prying eyes were on the watch. Only some birds in the trees watched and sang their songs, as he sat down on a smooth flat rock in the pool.

"Aww." he said, as the feel of the cool water relaxed his tired; hot body.

The sound of the waterfall, calmed his thoughts as well. He was so tightened up on trying to make it alive out here, without being noticed, that he almost forgot why he was really here. He was here to relax and have a vacation and at the same time, explore this planet for his own fun and adventure. Sitting there in the waterfall's pool, he thought for sure he would just live right there in it and do nothing else, but he knew he had to leave soon. He closed his eyes and listened to everything around him and stopped thinking for once. The smell of the falling leaves from the trees relaxed him even more, as a smile crossed his face. It was very rare, if ever, Piccolo would smile at something, but for this he did and he felt good about it for once. His bliss of peace at last was about to be broken. He perked up, looked behind him and heard footsteps walking towards him. The person must have been a mile away or less and seemed to be in a hurry in his or her steps for some reason.

"Don't come any further!" Piccolo growled as he heard the footsteps stop.

"I'm sorry, sir, if I've disturbed you," a young soft female voice called out from a few yards away from the falls.

"Stay right there, turn your eyes, woman!" he yelled to her, the woman turning her back to him, but she couldn't see him anyway, of how thick the forest was.

He got out of the pool and quickly dried himself off and got dressed very quickly. Putting on almost everything he had, to hide his body and face from the woman.

"It's okay now, you may step forward if you wish." He replied to her. The young woman walking towards him, her eyes turned down from his dark gaze upon her.

She was a fair woman, a shine maiden at that and the shrine must not have been far away from where the falls were. She was dressed in a white, and blue, hair slightly tied up in a bun and what was not tied, flowed down her back, soft and wavy black. Her eyes black as the night, but sparkled beautifully with hints of stars in them, her skin lightly fair to the look, with soft rosy colored cheeks.

"You may look up at me, woman," he said, as the woman looked up.

"Are you here on a journey?" she asked.

"Yes, I have only been traveling for maybe a few weeks now. Is there a shrine near by?"

"Yes, I came here to clean the waterfall pool, but now that you are here, you are welcome at the shrine. If you'd like?" she asked, her eyes shinning as she blushed a bit.

"All I ask for is a safe passage through this country that will only have me walk in the forests and mountains and meadows. I do not wish to go near any villages, towns, or cities."

"The High Priest can help you in this. Come with me, and we shall help you," the woman said, as she motioned for him to follow. He gathered his things and fixed his outfit a bit more as he walked behind her.

Soon, they came upon a small temple in the forest a few miles away where Piccolo had been. The temple was clean all around, beauty all around it's gardens and walk ways. As they came to the temple gate, the High Priest greeted them.

"Welcome to my temple," the old man said with a bow. He motioned for the shrine maiden to do her work. She left in a hurry, but not until she looked back at Piccolo, her face blushing a bit more. "I know why you are here traveler. You seek guidance though a safe way around this country." Piccolo nodded. "I have an old map that can give you this guidance, it will take you all over this country." He motioned for Piccolo to enter and he did.

The old man said nothing as Piccolo followed him into the main room of the temple, where the Priest had his maps. On the wall, stood a very large shelf with many maps and scrolls rolled up on it. The Priest picked one that was needed and handed it to Piccolo, as he bowed to the man as a thank you.

"This is my best map and I don't just give it to anyone who comes along. You need this map more than I, traveler. Would you like to stay for a time?" he asked.

"No thank you. I am in need to get on my way."

The Priest nodded and Piccolo bowed before him again. He walked out of the room and turned to the shrine. The bell looked very old, cracked gold or brass, ribbons of all colors hung around the bell.

"My great-grandfather made this temple for the traveler. Here the traveler comes and asks for good fortune and guidance from Buddha," the old Priest said as he walked away.

Piccolo looked around him for a moment at where he was. He did not really have a religion nor cared to, but it didn't hurt to ask for protection at least once here. He knew from this country and from Japan that they were old and full of ancient ways. He walked slowly to the statue of the Buddha, and knelt down before it, bowed his head and prayed to the god. He had never prayed before and for some reason wasn't sure if he was doing it right, but in his heart he knew it was the right thing to do at the time. For the first time in his life he was afraid of the humans here. He knew nothing about them, but he knew if he was found out, he would be taken captive in a jail or even killed. From what he figured these humans did not have the power to kill a being like him, but he did not dare take any risks. After a while, he looked up at the statue and stood before it. He rang the bell a few times and bowed to the Buddha and then went on his way out through the main gate. As he walked through the gate, the young shrine maiden waited for him.

"Are you following me?" he asked.

"No, I'm just seeing you on your way. Making sure you are happy to continue your journey." She replied.

"Yes, I am glad to begin again."

The woman nodded and bowed to him as she walked back into the temple.

Still in Morocco, Africa, for the past three days Cora knew that if she walked her way to Libya, she wouldn't have made it alive almost, she needed a plane and fast if she was to walk the rest of the way once she got to Turkey so she could walk up north further, but she wasn't sure if she would make it in time to meet him. She knew she was rushing it, but she couldn't help herself. She was exited to meet Piccolo.

Walking down a main road that lead north, she haled down a truck to take her to a big airport. Many hours later, she was at the airport of Libya. She paid the driver and then got a first class flight to Turkey. It was a short flight, but still too long for Cora. She soon landed on Turkish soil and she new she had a long way to go. She looked at her map she had with her, and started to walk the main roadways across this country. Many cars that drove by her honked their horns, and some even stopped to see if she needed a lift. Of course she did not want to cheat, but after a long days walk across most of Turkey she needed a lift and found a bus heading her way. She boarded it and was on her way once again.

She was able to walk many miles, almost a full hundred miles all by herself, all because of the training she took upon herself and all the meditating she did to make herself stronger. You could say, she had her own chi or ki helping her on her quest and that was pretty much true. She trained by herself by books and videos of kung-fu, mediation, chi and ki. So much training that most people would have given up after only three hours of it, but she trained much longer than that, she trained for almost a full twelve hours, with some breaks in between.

It was now very late in the night and Cora was asleep in her seat. The driver woke her, as she found herself in the next country or at least close to the boarder.

"Where am I?" she asked the driver, he speaking very little English.

"Russia," the man replied.

Cora sat up right away and got off the bus. Out front of the bus were all her packs and things. She thanked the driver in Turkish and gathered her things again. She looked at her map area of Russia by a street lamp and decided to travel even by night to make it. She went into a restaurant and found the bathroom to get changed. She knew the night would be very cold and she needed better protection from the cold night air. She put on her thick cotton jumpers on, on top of that her dark green velvet pants, long sleeved shirt, wool socks and hiking boots. She walked of the restaurant and was stopped by a waitress.

"Mame, wouldn't you like to have something to eat? You look like you haven't eaten much." The woman asked in a Turkish accent.

She looked up at the woman and smiled. "Sure, why not."

After eating, Cora made another order to take with her, a big order of good thick foods that would last her. She put that in her other backpack that was empty she brought with her on the trip and placed the food inside carefully. She paid the food bill and was on her way again, walking into Russia.

A few hours into the night, she came upon one of the Russian boarder gates. The officers stopped her and asked her for her passport. She showed them and let her own her way, but not until the officers checked her packs. There they found nothing wrong and sent her on her way.

Sighing, 'That was close, I thought for sure I would be staying in Turkey a bit longer. Glad those officers where nice and understood what was going on. Lucky for me one of them spoke fairly good English,' she thought as she continued to walk to the main high way road through Russia. She put on her dark green velvet cloak as she walked, put the hood over her head as the clouds passed quickly over head going West.

Back in China, Piccolo was too walking through the night to get good time. He had no idea why he kept on walking and he didn't know where he needed to go. It almost bothered him, but not as much as you may think. He enjoyed being out on his own, with out any of the Zetto team flying by to find him and bothering him of his things he did. After a while of walking in the deep forest he came across a panda bear sleeping in the bamboo stocks. He slowly walked around the great creature, but stopped to rest near the beast. For some reason he felt safe being near this creature. He made himself comfortable and went into meditation.

The next morning, the panda bear was already gone and Piccolo knew it. The warm sun beamed down on the forest floor as he opened his eyes. He looked up at the sky and flew up a bit over the forest to look around. He saw for miles nothing but forest and flew up higher, keeping an eye out for anyone watching. Again, up so high he found it to be only forest and instead of walking he flew as fast he could up North. Very quickly it seemed he found himself around a lot of people a few miles ahead of him. He landed safely with no one noticing and walked the rest of the way.

Finding himself a few miles away from a great long wall, he decided to find out what it was. He came to the entrance of the wall, where he had to pay to walk it.

Glaring a bit at the idea of paying he turned away. A man stopped him.

"Aren't you going to see the Great Wall of China?" the man asked in Chinese language. Piccolo turned around and sighed.

'I might as well.' He thought to himself. Of course he did not understand Chinese, but he hoped that someone understood Japanese.

"I only have gold coins to pay, non of your money." He replied in Japanese to the man.

The man understanding him, let him go in for free, but not until he spoke with the manager about it. The manager let him in and what luck that was. Piccolo thanked the manager and walked his way atop the wall. Piccolo knew from just the old energy he felt from this wall had, he knew it was VERY old. As he walked, all the tourists looked at him strangely, they had never seen such a tall man like this, specially when he was wear mostly dark colors and he was hooded, no one could even see his eyes, even if they tried. Looking up over the west side of the wall, he saw rolling hills and lush greenery all around. It was a beautiful country and he hated to leave it so soon to travel more. He turned around and went back to the entrance of the wall and began to leave China behind. He looked at his map as he walked down a dirt road and headed for Mongolia.

It was getting close to fall now, it was the month of September and the winds of Asia blew a bit cold as both of the travelers walked to meet up with each other. Only Cora knew why she traveled by herself and knew who she was to be looking for. Piccolo on the other hand did not know why he traveled so quickly, but he guessed it was just because he didn't feel like slowing down. He enjoyed every minute of traveling this planet, it was beautiful and yet dangerous.

Finding it very cold that day in Russia, she found an abandoned cottage and stayed there for a bit until the windstorm passed. She got out her backpack of food and sat down on a bench and ate in the cottage. The food was cold, but that didn't bother her, she would eat just about anything and everything if she really wanted to. After eating a early supper it seemed, she laid down for a nap.

She awoke to the sound of birds singing in the late afternoon day around the cottage. She repacked her things and got started again. She stepped out and looked at her map, taking a drink of water as she looked.

'Well, I'll start going to Mongolia,' she said to herself.

This time instead of walking the roads she took to the forest a bit more. It was a hard walk, up steep hills and mountains, but it was worth it. She had never seen Russia before and loved the smell of the forest. The wind blew cold again, but that didn't stop her, she kept going, knowing she was very close to Piccolo, she could almost sense his presents. But she knew she was further away than she really thought.

Piccolo kept walking too, trying to leave China and head for Mongolia himself. Soon, both travelers would find each other and neither of them knew what would be in store for them. Would they pass each other with not a thought of who the other was or even a wonder of who the other was? Would Cora call his name and turn to him as a friend or fear him and go home unhappy for the rest of her life, knowing she didn't start out meeting him on the right foot. Only time and the weather of Earth would tell if it was to be of them meeting, and that is just what the Earth did.