Disclaimer: See chapter1
Author's Note: I'm not good at fighting scenes so please forgive me if they're not too good.
DragonBall Z: Astral
Chapter Two: Monkey Business
By: Delphine
The white-tailed saiyan Angel winced as she saw Gohan thrown straight into a rock formation. "You better learn how to defend yourself better," barked their teacher, Piccolo before he fired a ki blast at the black-haired boy.
Ow, that's going to leave a bruise. Gohan surprised both Angel and Piccolo by jumping out of the blast's way. Giving his teacher a challenging look, Gohan went into a ready stance. "Rest kid," Piccolo said, "It's the girl's turn to get the stuffing beat out of."
"Just which girl are you talking about, it couldn't be me," Angel taunted.
The green man smirked. "So you say."
Both went into stances in preparation for the spar. Angel, aware of her teacher's tendency to attack first, went into a defensive stance. It was a good thing too, for Piccolo, with a burst of his ki, launched at her, throwing a punch that she promptly blocked. He then launched into a series of punches far faster then the normal human eye could follow. The purple and white-haired saiyan blocked the first couple, but as he picked up speed they began to get through her defenses. The first punch that got through landed on her right shoulder, the second next to her solar-plex, and the last hit her right on the chin which sent her into the same formation Gohan had just gotten acquainted with.
Gohan winced, knowing exactly how much that hurt. Angel stood up unharmed except for a few bruises where Piccolo had hit her. Her clothes on the other hand where another story, the jeans and white shirt she had been wearing were so shredded that it barely covered her appropriately. "Look at what you did, jerk!"
Piccolo snorted, "You got to expect for your clothes to get a little ruffed up."
"A little! These belong in a rag pile and they happen to be the only clothes I have!"
Getting sick of her complaining, Piccolo agreed to endow her with some clothes that could handle the training. At first he had wanted to give her an orange uniform similar to Gohan's, but she had other plans. Angel wanted a Saiyan battle uniform, which she described to Piccolo with enough detail for him to create it.
Grinning, Angel posed in front of her reflection in a lake. She nodded satisfied of the feel of her battle uniform. The main body of the suit, which clung to her like spandex, was a golden yellow and covered her from her ankles to her wrists to just an inch or two below her neck. She wore weighted white armor with indigo padding and straps over the body suit. White boot with indigo tips covered her feet and white gloves protected her hands. "Looking good, Angel," she told herself.
"If you are finished fawning over yourself, let's get back to training," muttered Piccolo.
Wrapping her white furred tail safely around her waist, she responded, "Whatever you want."
"Females…" he grumbled under his breath.
With the hunger only a saiyan could have, Angel consumed her meal. Beside her Gohan was doing the same. She had found that in order for her to use that great Saiyan strength of hers, she needed to consume lots of food. "Angel, where's Piccolo?" Gohan asked, pausing in the middle of a bite.
She shrugged, Angel had noticed their teacher's absence but hadn't thought anything of it. "He's probably getting some extra training," guessed Angel.
The little boy excepted this answer, for it seemed to fit Piccolo's character. Now that they where alone, it seemed a good time to ask her something that had been bothering him. "Why do you and Piccolo hate each other? I mean I think you're both nice so why don't you get along."
"I don't hate Piccolo," she said softly.
"Then why do you always get into arguments with him?"
She sighed and set down her piece of fruit. How to explain this to a kid? "Gohan, I'm not sure how to say this…I guess it's just a grown up thing. We sometimes hide our feelings to protect ourselves."
"Why?"
"Well…Piccolo has spent most of his life as a fighter, and to a fighter emotions can sometimes be considered a weakness."
"I don't think emotions are a weakness."
"Neither do I, but he does. You've begun to change his mind though."
He grinned. "Me?"
"Yea, you've opened his heart kid."
Gohan gave her a thoughtful look. "Why then do you hide your feelings?"
Angel gave a sad, lonely look. "I don't want to get close to anyone and them lose them."
With a troubled look on his face, he said, "You fear to have friends because you're afraid they'll go away and you'll be lonely, but if you don't allow yourself to make friends won't you be just as lonely?"
He's right, I shouldn't let myself be lonely because I fear rejection. "You're right, I'll try to be more open."
He smiled that traditional Son grin.
Piccolo stalked back into camp not long after sun down. "Where have you been?" Angel asked, curiously.
The Namek didn't answer her question, instead he told her to get ready to leave. "Leave? Where am I going?"
"Kami pulled a couple of strings and you're being allowed to train under King Kai, with Goku," he said, gruffly. It was apparent that he wasn't too happy about the Earth's Guardian taking away one of his students, but he knew King Kai could train her better then he could.
"Wow, Angel gets to see Dad?" asked Gohan excitedly.
"Yea, kid, she gets to him."
Twenty minutes later, Piccolo and she where flying toward Kami's Lookout, Gohan had been left at the campsite. As they passed by Karin's tower, Angel could see the old white cat standing by with his walking stick in hand. It sure is a long way down. This tower is huge! "Hi, Karin!" she shouted.
The cat looked at her in surprise as she passed by. As they landed on Lookout, Angel could see the other Z warriors: black-haired Yamucha, bald Krillan, the doll-like Choazu, the bald, three-eyed Tien, and fat Yajirobi, doing their own preparations for the coming Saiyans. Krillan was the first to notice Piccolo and her. "Piccolo!" he cried out in surprise.
At the sound of his name the others stopped whatever they were doing. Silence reined with the coming of the two fighters. Yamucha was the first one to break the silence. "Whoa, who's the babe?" he asked as he stared at the beautiful "angel" in front of him.
A frown crossed her face; it apparently wasn't a wise thing for Yamucha to call her babe. "Babe? You chauvinist pig!" she yelled at him.
"You just know how to impress the ladies don't you?" commented Tien.
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"So you brought her as I asked," spoke a wizened voice.
It was then that Angel caught her first glimpse of Kami, an old Namek. He walked towards her, followed by the temple's keeper Mr. Popo. Staring directly into her eyes, he asked, "Are you ready?"
"I…think…so…"
He held out his green hand for her to take. As she grasped his wrinkled hand in her gloved one she turned to Piccolo. In the anime Piccolo died before Goku made it to the battle, so this may be the last time I see him for a while. "Bye, Piccolo. Thanks for teaching me," she said softly.
"Take care…Angel," he replied.
He disappeared along with the surroundings of the keep as Kami transported them to King Kai's planet. "So who was she?" she could hear Yamucha ask.
As she first touched the ground of King Kai's planet, Angel fell over by its immense gravity. "Guess I should have warned you, that first steps a dozy," Kami chuckled.
She ignored him as she struggled to stand up under the relentless pressure. As soon as she managed to stand up she was bowled over by someone. Angel landed on her back with the person who hand ran into her on top. A thud was heard as the mallet he had been carrying landed near her head. Black eyes so much like those of Gohan's peered down at her. The spiky black hair and orange uniform confirmed who it was, Goku the father of Gohan. It was then that she noticed where exactly his hands had landed on her chest. Filled with saiyan fury, she stood up, knocking him off and grabbed the heavy mallet at her feet. With the skill as great as that of a certain Akane Tendo, Angel swung it at him, screaming, "Pervert!"
The force of her swing was enough to send Goku into orbit around the tiny planet before coming to a crash landing right in front of a house. "Ahahaha!" chuckled the blue King Kai that had watched the whole thing. "You weren't kidding when you said she was powerful."
Realizing what she had done, Angel dropped the mallet and ran over to check on Goku, not even noticing the gravity anymore. "I'm so sorry!" she said as she helped him out of a body sized crater.
He grinned at her. "That's okay, happens all the time," he said cheerfully.
With Chi Chi as a wife why am I not surprised? "I'm Angel," she introduced herself.
"Goku."
Kami nodded to himself as he saw that everything was handled and left. King Kai approached the two Saiyans. "So you want me to train you too?" he asked with a serious expression on his face.
She nodded. "Then…you must first make me laugh."
Goku and she face faulted. "What!"
"You heard me, you have to make me laugh."
This is ridiculous. Sighing, Angel thought about which joke she knew would be a good one to use. Considering this is King Kai, the cornier the better. She finally decided on a short and corny joke. "When your nose is runny and you think its funny its snot."
Just as she had expected, King Kai was rolling on the ground laughing and snorting. Could things get any more stupid?
