The green skinned warrior removed his cloak and turban. He levitated himself to beneath the rushing waterfall and held himself in midair despite the water crashing down on him. He closed his eyes and let his eyeballs roll to the back of his head and let his mind sink into a state of calm. Relishing the ice cold water against his skin he took in a deep breath over a period of eight counts, held it for five, and let it out over a count of seven.
The warrior repeated this process several times as he felt his physical body become part of the waterfall, the pressure now meaningless against his shoulders. His mind cleared of concerns regarding his physical being, he stretched out with his senses, aided by his ki, or energy and let his essence touch everything in the environment surrounding him.
He felt the trees and the flowers and the insects that inhabited them. He felt the individual grass blades, the rocks and stones. Even the stray droplets of water, spraying the air nearby did not escape his notice. He noted the changes in the air currents, and every breath of every creature in the vicinity. As he fell deeper into his trance, he began to notice the flow of ki from each and every life form in his surroundings. He traced the intricate ki patterns that life created, more intricate than any spider web; more defined than anything he had ever known. He took refuge in the web of energy and rested there, letting his consciousness meld with his subconscious.
He would have succeeded, as he did many times before, had he not been interrupted sharply by a decidedly nasal voice.
Hello! Anybody home?
The warrior lost his concentration and with it his precarious perch in the air. The force of the water, crashing down at a hundred pounds per square inch, shoved him down to the ground viciously, threatening to drill him into the hard rocks below.
He quickly regained his mental balance and forced his ki around him, creating a bubble, letting the water sheet down the surface of the sphere. He caught himself in the air, just inches away from the rocks and grimaced furiously.
Kai!
That's King Kai to you, sir, the voice rang in his head.
The green warrior flew out from under the falling water and glided to his cloak and turban. He put them on and frowned agitatedly.
What do you want, you diminutive excuse for a god?
That really hurts, my friend, coming from you. Is that any way to speak to your former master?
You were never my master, the warrior growled in his head.
That can be debated, Piccolo. The voice paused before starting again. You were under my tutelage when you made that short trip to the Other Realm.
I was on your planet, but you never taught me anything, he shot back.
Figures that would be the thanks I get from you for my hospitality.
All your training did nothing for Goku; he still died. He growled mentally. There was no reason for me to believe that your training me would prove otherwise.
King Kai's voice came back strong but indignant. It was hardly my fault that Goku died. But I have a plan that will lead to vengeance and finally justice for the evil done to him and the rest of the universe.
Piccolo sighed resignedly. What will you have me do?
Piccolo walked through the gates to the greatest martial arts tournament in the world. Tenkaichi Boudokai: the last time I was here was when I faced Goku. Never have I met such a worthy foe, before him or since his passing. King Kai had suggested that he come here and observe the tournament. He said Piccolo would find here the latest fighter for the resistance, a fighter that would ultimately assume almost great a part in the destiny of the universe as the prodigy that Hope had discovered. Piccolo had registered himself as a fighter, despite King Kai's strongest discretions. King Kai feared King Cold's men finding out about Piccolo and eventually the plans for the rebellion. Piccolo had argued that there was no way they could keep the recruiting and the training secret for long. And Piccolo counted heavily on King Cold being arrogant enough to overlook the tournament entirely. Earth was not the source of the most powerful beings and King Cold had no reason to believe that Earth threatened his Empire in any manner.
The strongest factor, however, in his deciding to participate in the tournament was his own curiosity. It had nothing to do with the personal combat; he knew he'd see more than enough fighting eventually. It had more to do with his wanting to find out just how good this kid was. So, he entered himself in the tournament, King Kai's advice be damned. If this kid is as good as King Kai hopes, it will certainly be worth fighting him.
Piccolo looked over the contestants gathered at the tournament. There were no weight or age classifications, so it was an open tournament. The rules were simple; if you could knock out an opponent for ten counts or more, you won; if you knocked him out of the ring, you won. The fighting ring, or area, was a large square stage, surrounded on four sides by a moat; if you landed in the moat, or touched any part of anything that was not a part of the ring, you automatically lost the fight.
Killing your opponent was discouraged and any time that happened, the perpetrator was immediately disqualified. The tournament had been on going, and there was a lot of bad blood between the opponents, so deaths, although discouraged, were altogether rare.
The participants moved through a simple ladder format, single elimination. To save time, the entire group was divided into 4 different divisions each with 8 sub-divisions, with 64 fighters in each sub-division. All the fights ran concurrently, over a course of 5 days, until a champion was decided in each division. Then, after a day's rest, the opponents were matched up against each other by drawing numbers. The 32 contestants fought on the main stage in front of a crowd upwards of 200,000 people.
Over the course of 2 days, the two finalists were decided. They were given another day's rest, then gathered to fight the final battle. The winner not only took home the glory of winning, but also a trophy and a million dollars in prize money.
As Piccolo looked around the stadium where the fights would take place, his sharp Namekian eyes caught a glint of light bouncing off a shaved head. His lips curled up into a smirk. Everybody's crawling out of the woodwork now. If anything is going to happen, it's going to be the biggest thing since Cold's invasion of Earth.
King – well, Emperor, now – Cold had sent 4 saiyans to Earth in an attempt to take over the planet. The very first was Goku, known then as Kakarrott, who had been sent as a baby. The saiyans had expected Goku to grow up, then take over the planet, as so many other saiyan children did. Goku took an unlikely fall and hit his head. He was then found by an old man named Gohan, who took the alien baby into his care and brought him up. Gohan taught the young child to fight and 17 years later, the saiyan fought Piccolo in the Tenkaichi Boudokai. Five years later, another saiyan warrior arrived to finish the job that Goku was supposed to perform. Piccolo had teamed up with Goku to defeat the invader who turned out to be Goku's older brother. The saiyan warrior, Raditz, had warned them of two more saiyans that would arrive. The saiyans were more impressed with the presence of the Dragon balls on the planet than anything else. Regardless, Piccolo and Goku had killed Raditz. Goku also died in the process, sacrificing his own life to save the planet.
A year later, the two saiyans arrived, both much stronger than Raditz. They were Vegeta and Nappa. Nappa alone defeated many of the Z-fighters, including Gohan, Goku's son, who after being kidnapped by his uncle Raditz, was trained personally by Piccolo in preparation of the arrival of the two saiyans. Everyone fought valiantly, but in the end, it was just too much, and many of the Z fighters were killed. Goku was then wished back, after having trained with King Kai, the greatest martial artist in the universe. Even after learning Kaioken, a special technique that boosted one's abilities significantly, Goku turned out to be no match for the saiyans. After a long battle, Goku, Earth's last hope, was defeated, and the saiyans then easily took over the planet. Piccolo, having survived the attack, personally found and destroyed the seven dragon balls, to prevent the saiyans from getting their hands on them.
That was over 10 years ago. I haven't seen any of the survivors since the final battle, and now, all the forces are coming together; like the gathering of clouds before the storm. Whatever happens, it's going to be huge, and likely as not, will change the future of the planet. We'll only get one chance at this, so none of us can afford to fail.
Piccolo's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the announcer ringing over the PA system.
"Would all combatants please move to their designated area for the beginning of the Tenkaichi Boudokai. The competition will begin in 15 minutes."
Everyone in the area began moving in different directions, making their way to their respective arenas. Piccolo also started to move to his own area. He slipped through people easily, avoiding contact at every turn. He arrived at his ring in a matter of minutes. He waited in the competitor's area while waiting for his match to begin.
"The first match will be held between Taoka Norumi and Daimou Piccolo Jr." The announcer noticeably tripped over Piccolo's title, having recognized it from the previous tournament. Piccolo allowed himself a small smile at his notoriety and the fact that it had lasted until now. Having more or less disappeared completely after the saiyan invasion, he was able to escape King Cold's notice, but it still felt good to be remembered by some.
Piccolo stepped on to the ring effortlessly and walked to the center of the ring. There he faced his opponent. He was a large man, at least a full head and a half taller that the Namek himself, and bulging with powerfully corded muscles.
The larger man scoffed when he saw Piccolo. "What is this? I have to fight a lizard?"
I'm far from a lizard, you ignorant Earthling. Piccolo merely smiled contemptuously and waited for the official to start the fight.
When the official signaled for the fight to begin, the human facing him stole forward with unbecoming grace. Piccolo almost pitied the other man as he realized the arrogant man had no chance of defeating him.
The larger man swung his large fist at Piccolo's head in an attempt to take the head off clean, but Piccolo easily ducked the right hook. The human followed with a left roundhouse kick, but Piccolo stepped back to dodge the attack and returned to the same spot. To the other man and the spectators, it seemed as if he'd not moved at all.
Frustrated, Taoka Norumi clenched both his fists together and brought it down with punishing force on top of Piccolo's head. Piccolo sidestepped to his left with blinding speed and reached up with his right hand. He caught the bigger man by the throat and lifted him up cleanly off the ground.
"A lizard," he growled, "could not do this, could he?" He walked over to the edge of the ring and held the gagging man over the out-of-bounds area. He snarled at him in a vicious voice, "If you are the epitome of human development, I hold out very little hope for your species."
With that final comment, Piccolo let the man drop. As he was falling, Piccolo whipped a spinning hook kick at the man's head, nailing him and knocking him out cold.
"The match is over, the winner is Daimou Piccolo Jr.!"
Piccolo walked calmly over to the announcer that stood at the edge of the ring. He looked the nervous man evenly and spoke to him in a very quiet voice. "It's just Piccolo, now." He even smiled at the man. "I think you need to go over to Section D subsection 3. There you'll find another one of our old friends. I need you to tell him, his favorite Demon King says hi."
The trembling announcer barely managed to get out a meek, "Yes." Piccolo, now satisfied, turned to return to the waiting area. On the way there, a decidedly nasal voice rang through his mind.
Piccolo, if you're not terribly busy, go over to Section B subsection 4. You'll find our latest recruit there.
Piccolo sighed audibly. All right, King Kai, let's find out what this kid can do.