The front office of the hotel was decorated in light blue wallpaper with white trim. It was very relaxing. The hallways were outside hallways with covers over them to provide shading. Usagi found it to be a very nicely decorated hotel. It had many flowerbeds set around it. The walls of their room were an off white color. The bedspreads were the same blue from the front office. She plopped herself onto one of the two beds, once she got into the hotel room. She laid back into one of the white fluffy pillows and wrapped her arms around it. "This is nice."
Meanwhile, Minako was busy checking out the bathroom. "Eeeeee! They have rose scented soap in here. And look at the shampoo." She smelled the shampoo. "It smells like lilacs." She poked her head out the door. "I love this place! I don't want to ever leave."
Makoto walked into the bathroom. "Let me smell. I love lilacs." She grabbed the shampoo and took a big whiff of it. "Ahhh, there is nothing like the smell of fresh lilacs." She put the cap back on the bottle and put it under her arm.
"Where are you going with that?" Minako wanted to use some in her hair to make her hair smell good for the next day.
Makoto looked at her friend and then back down to the bottle. "What this? I want to take it home. It's not everyday you find shampoo like this."
"But I wanted to use some. Give it to me." She grabbed for the bottle and tugged on it. "It's mine! I found it."
"I don't care. I want it." She pressed her arm against the bottle as hard as she could so Minako couldn't take it away from her. "Find your own."
"Just let me use it tomorrow then."
"Fine. But it's mine." With that, she walked out of the bathroom, once again opening the bottle to smell its contents. "Boy that smells good." She had her nose plastered to the opening. She walked passed Piccolo, who was on the phone over to the window.
Piccolo put the phone down on the table and grabbed the bottle from the brown haired girl. "I didn't bring you here to get high on shampoo. Now all of you shut up so I can make this quick phone call."
Usagi sat up as Minako walked out of the bathroom. "Who does HE have to call?"
"Maybe he's calling your dad. You know, to make sure he's alright." Minako could hear some yelling outside the hotel. "What's going on out there Makoto?" She walked to the window and peered out to the city below. They were on the top floor of the hotel, which happened to be the seventh floor.
"I don't know. These two guys started moving all weird, like they were dizzy, and then they started hitting each other. I think they're drunk or something."
Minako had dealt a lot with drunks in her short life. Her father was often drunk. "Yeah, they're drunk alright. Just like daddy. Hehehe, look, they're trying to fight. Hey Usagi, come look, quick." She waved her hand behind her.
Usagi jumped off the bed and walked to the window. She looked down to the fight below. "Eeeewww, that guy just ripped the other guy's shirt off."
"Look, he's got no muscles. He's a weakling." Makoto looked to the side of the fight. It looked as if half the city was watching. "I wonder what's gonna happen when the cops come."
Minako smiled. "Maybe they'll fight them too. That would be funny."
They continued to watch as some women entered the circle of people. "Are those women going to fight? They aren't even wearing any cloths." Usagi was a little bit wrong. They were wearing thong bikinis. "Why are the men howling at them?"
All of a sudden, the curtains of the window were closed. The girls looked up to Piccolo, who had put his body in front of them. "You guys…you don't need to be watching that kind of stuff. Your parents would kill me if I let you."
Usagi sat down on the floor. "Why?"
"It's just wrong ok?" 'Gees, these guys are going to give me a headache.' "Look, I'm going to go down to the lobby and get a bottle of cold water. I'll be back. Don't look out the window, and don't do anything STUPID."
"K! Bye Piccolo! See ya later!" Makoto waited for Piccolo to leave the room and then she climbed up onto the bed and started to hop up and down. "Hey you guys, I bet I could jump longer then both of you."
"I bet you couldn't. I can jump the longest and the highest." Minako jumped up onto the bed and began to jump along with Makoto. With both girls bouncing, the bed was squeaking and shaking all about. "This is fun. Come on Usagi jump with us. It's fun."
Usagi jumped to her feet. "K!" She got up onto the bed and jumped as high as she could. With each landing, she threw her friends higher, as they did the same to her. "This is fun!" Usagi decided to have a little bit of fun. "Let's try something different guys. Let's jump from bed to bed."
Minako and Makoto looked at each other. "What a great idea!" The three young fighters began to hop from one bed to the other. With every landing came a big thump on the wall behind it, and on the floor beneath it.
"This is like a trampoline." Usagi jumped off one bed and headed for the other. She felt hands wrap themselves around her waist before she reached the other side. She looked to her right and saw Piccolo as angry as ever. "Oops." She smiled. "Hehehe."
Piccolo set Usagi down and did the same thing to the other girls. He grabbed them off the bed and lined them up in front of him. "What the hell were you guys thinking!? I could here that all the way down on the first floor! You don't come to a hotel, and then do that kind of crap."
Usagi played with her tail. "Daddy says it's bad to say words like that. If he was here, he would yell at you for that."
If Piccolo could have frowned harder then he already was, he would. "I don't care about that Usagi. Don't try to change the subject on me. Now, I know you guys don't have much discipline. You haven't had a reason to, but just calm down."
Minako twirled her hair in her fingers. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You haven't really had to train for a major fight like everybody else has. You think that this is all a game. Well it's not. Goku told me that this tournament is a continuation of your training. So I want you all to act like you would if Goku was training you right now. And in your case Usagi, because I know you don't even take THAT seriously, act as if you were training with Vejita."
Usagi smiled. "Ok!" She jumped onto Piccolo and started punching at his head.
Piccolo grabbed Usagi and threw her onto the bed. "What are you doing?!"
Minako and Makoto laughed. "You should know Usagi by now. That's how she acts when she's fighting with Vejita. She has to be aggressive like that." Minako could remember the first day she saw Usagi fighting with Vejita. It was an all out war between them. Both too thick headed to back down from each other's challenges. Their fights would usually last for a couple of hours or more, each taking quite a beating from the other. Usagi more so then Vejita, but that was to be expected.
"Fine, Usagi, since you don't seem to want to act right, maybe I should call your father." Piccolo didn't want to be there, and he wouldn't take any lip from a spoiled brat. That's exactly what he thought about her too. That she was acting just like Gohan had. A sheltered child who was too spoiled for her own good. Luckily, he got to Gohan in time to fix that problem. To think, he gave up his plans for these three annoyances. "I don't think he would like that. Do you?"
Usagi calmed down a little bit. "No, I'm sorry Piccolo. I'll try not to do it again."
"Good, now, you three are going to sleep now. You are going to get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning and you need your sleep."
Makoto dropped to her knees. "5:00?" Never in her life had she had a reason to get up so early.
Piccolo nodded. "Yes, I want you guys good and warmed up before the tournament. Now all of you, hustle yourselves into bed." 'And give me some peace and quiet.' Piccolo watched as the girls all got themselves into one of the beds. It was just big enough to hold them all in comfortably. "Now go to sleep. I don't want to hear another word out of any of you." 'God, how do they do it? How did Gohan and Vejita raise girls? How can Goku stand to live with one? I'll never understand how they do it. Boys are much easier to get along with. Oh well, I can't back out of it now.'
~*~*~
Next morning…
Piccolo woke the girls up at five o'clock just like he said he would. He wanted to see what they could do before they fought in the tournament. "Come on you guys. Let's get ourselves out of here and into practicing mode."
Minako groaned as she slowly sat up. "Can't we sleep a little longer? It's too early for this." She opened her eyes to see Piccolo standing in front of the bed. He didn't look angry now like he had the night before.
"Nope, you have to get up now. I want you guys to practice a little bit before the tournament." Piccolo pulled to covers off of the bed, revealing Usagi curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed. "Come on guys. Let's go."
Usagi opened her eyes when she felt the cold air, brush against her skin. She had been so warm under the soft blankets and now she was meant to get up. "What?" She lifted her head to look around the room. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or if it was real.
Makoto sat up and looked to Usagi. "He wants us to get up." She brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes with them.
Usagi uncurled herself and now lay on her side with her arms and legs in front of her. She knew to get up. She learned to get up when an adult told you to after her father pretty much destroyed her bed and made her clean it up. "Ok. Just let me gather up enough energy."
Piccolo was a bit surprised that she didn't fight him about getting up. He had expected the most trouble from her. 'Maybe there IS hope for her yet.' "Good, I'll be waiting downstairs for you guys. Don't take more then and hour." Piccolo turned to leave the room.
Minako leaned forward and put her face in the blankets the now lay at the end of the bed. "I'm too tired for this. Goku wouldn't have made us do this. It's not fair."
Usagi groggily sat up as she yawned. "Don't worry about it. We just have to deal with it." 'Speaking of daddy, I wonder how he's doing. I hope he's ok.' Usagi stood up on the bed. She couldn't see straight from still being tired.
Minako shot her head up from the blankets and looked to Makoto. "Hey! Where's that shampoo?" She grabbed Makoto by the arm. "You said I could use some."
~*~*~
Piccolo stood in the lobby and waited for the girls to come down. It had only been twenty minutes and he was already getting agitated. 'They are only small children. What could they be doing that takes them this long to get themselves ready?' He watched as a man walked passed him with what appeared to be his teenage son. He figured that they were going to be taking place in the tournament by the way they were dressed. The lobby was particularly busy on this morning. A lot of the people, who were taking part in the tournament, were staying at the hotel.
"Piccolo!"
Piccolo was distracted when he heard Usagi calling for him. He turned around but couldn't see anyone. He could feel their presence though. " I can't see you."
"Over here Piccolo." Makoto raised her hand up as high as she could as she walked through the crowded room of people. "Wait there. We'll be there in a minute."
"Fine." Piccolo had no intention of trying to find them. He would have made them come to him anyways. The way he saw it, they weren't babies and they should be able to fend for themselves by now. Especially since they were currently being trained by one of the strongest people in the world.
He scanned the crowd of people for any sign of the girls. He could feel them moving closer and closer to him. The first person he saw was Minako, who was holding the hand of Makoto, who was holding the hand of Usagi. They were all bound together so they wouldn't get separated. "Finally. Let's get out of here. There are way too many people here."
Usagi looked to the crowd that she had just gotten out of. "Where did they all come from?"
"Those are all the people from the fight last night." Makoto recognized a lot of the people.
"Are they fighters too?"
Piccolo turned around and grabbed both girls' shoulders. "Come on you two. We must get going before it gets too late to do anything." He pulled them out of the hotel.
~*~*~
Piccolo led the girls to an out of the way area of the city. It lay just to the north of it in a small abandoned industrial park. He had scouted it the night before when the girls had finally gone to sleep. He waved for them to land with him.
Usagi held her arms around her stomach as she looked around. "This place is kind of creepy Piccolo. Why do we have to fight here?" The buildings around were deteriorating, most of which were collapsing in on themselves. They had a certain eerie feeling to them that Usagi didn't trust.
"Quit whining Usagi. Yes we have to fight here. Now let's get this started."
Makoto watched as Piccolo looked like he was beginning to struggle with something. She leaned over to Usagi. "What's he doing? He looks like he was just beaten up."
Piccolo spread his legs out as far as they would go while crossing his arms in front of his face. A pale yellow aura began to race around Piccolo as he gathered up energy. He grinned. "You guys wanna see something cool? Well here we go!" He closed his eyes.
Usagi watched in awe as something began to emerge from every point of his body. "What the…He's splitting himself into two people."
Minako backed away from the Namek. She wasn't sure what he was doing but she didn't want to stand around and find out it was an attack. "How can he be doing that?"
Usagi crouched down into her fighting stance, ready for anything that Piccolo had in store for her. She smiled, never taking her eye off of the threat. "I don't know but I wish I could do it too."
The second Piccolo jumped to the side of the original Piccolo. The original/real Piccolo smiled. "So you liked that huh? Well, it gets better. I can do it again." He began the process all over again.
"This is too weird. How is he doing that?" Makoto was with Minako on this one. She too had an uneasy feeling in her stomach about what their temporary sensei was doing. "This isn't right."
Usagi looked back at her friends. "You guys, what are you talking about? This is cool." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the Piccolo's jumping for her with its fist out ready to hit her. She quickly flipped to her side and looked over at it once she regained her footing on the ground. "Ready to start already?"
Piccolo stood in his place. "Nope, just trying to see if you really know what you're doing."
Usagi frowned as she put her hands to her waist. "Why do you think I'm that bad of a fighter? Daddy wouldn't be letting me do the tournament if I wasn't good enough." She grinned. She ran for him with both of her hands out in front of her not in the forms of fists. "Come here Piccolo, I want to show you something I can do."
Piccolo stepped to the right as Usagi ran for him. "No, you can show me after we have started." He snapped his fingers and the two clones of himself walked up from behind him. "Now, I separated myself into three parts. Doing this, I have cut my power down into thirds which means I won't be as much of a challenge to either of you."
Makoto stepped back to the group leaving Minako by herself. "Why did you do that?"
"So I can study all of your fighting styles. I have never sparred with any of you before, nor have I seen you fighting with Goku. So to save time, I'm going to have you all fighting one of me at the same time. Once I merge back with these two, I will have their memories, meaning your fighting data."
"So, when are we going to start?" Minako allowed herself to walk back to the group now that she knew Piccolo's intentions.
"Right now. I will spar with Usagi. You two will spar with them." Piccolo said as he pointed over his shoulder.
"Why do you want to fight with me?"
"I want to see if you're as good as your father says you are. From what I can tell, you're just a whiny girl who tries to be a fight." Piccolo fully knew what he was saying. He knew that if he were to say that to Gohan, he would have proved him wrong. Now he wanted to see if it was the same With Usagi. He wanted to see her true power.
Usagi frowned. 'I told daddy he was mean to me.' "I can fight. I'm probably going to be better than you one of these days."
"Yeah right. Why don't you show me then?" He turned around and started to walk away. "You two can begin your sparring when you're ready. As for you Usagi, we're starting now."
Usagi looked back to her friends. "Should I go?" Neither of them relied. "I guess I'm going to have to just go then." She turned back around to Piccolo and took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothin." She began to walk forward. "Piccolo! Wait for me!" She sped her pace up to a slow run when she saw that he wasn't going to stop for her.
Piccolo stopped when he got to a large open space. It was the place that had the fewest buildings around. He could feel Usagi's energy signature behind him. He smiled for this actually not the first time that he had seen her fighting. He knew that she was very capable of holding up on her own. Although she didn't know that he had seen her and he intended on keeping it that way. "Are you ready?"
Usagi crouched down on the ground. "Wait a minute." Usagi was actually getting somewhat excited about this. She could finally pay Piccolo back for every mean thing that he had ever said to her. She bent down to pick up a rock the size of her hand and threw it at Piccolo's head.
Since it wasn't a Ki blast or anything to do with energy, Piccolo hadn't felt it coming for him. If he had, he would have tried to dodge it. Instead, he let it smash right into the back of his head, causing a great deal of pain. "What was that?" He turned around, his eyes showing his anger.
Usagi giggled. "A rock. And I call this an energy blast." She brought her hands in front of her stomach and prepared a Ki blast in them.
Piccolo wasn't just going to sit around and let her attack. "So you want to play dirt do you? Well that can be arranged." He jumped in the air and started to fire multiple Ki blasts at Usagi.
She dodged most of the blast while firing at others. She jumped into the air and started to throw punches at her enemy. "Hold still!"
"That would be pointless." One of her punches found its way into his face. "You call that a hit? That was pathetic. I've seen babies who can punch harder then that."
Usagi frowned as she continued to swing harder and faster. "You don't know what you're talking about." She started to kick at him after realizing that punching at him was pretty pointless. "Don't just block, do something."
Piccolo grinned. "Ok." He put his hand in front of her forehead and blasted her in the face. She fell to the ground. "Was that too much for you?"
Usagi sprang back to her feet before Piccolo landed. "No! I can take more then that. I'm not weak!" She lunged herself for him once he landed, her hands met with his. "I bet I'm stronger then you even."
Piccolo laughed as he clasped his hands around hers. They both stood with their arms fully extended each pushing against the other's weight. "I wouldn't count on that."
Usagi pushed as hard against him as she could. She was barely holding up against him. Every so often, her feet would slide back. "I can do this. I know I can."
"Let's see how much you can hold this up."
~*~*~
Minako was thrown through a wall of one of the old concrete buildings. "Ouch!" She looked up just as one of the Piccolo clones was about to stab her arm with his nails. She rolled over, allowing the clone to smash his hand into the concrete. She looked over at it. "That would have hurt." She frowned as she kicked him in the stomach and then stood up. "You should never attack a lady like that."
"You aren't a lady. You're a fighter."
Minako forced her fingers together as close as they would go. "Oh really?" She shoved HER nails through HIS arm, piercing the flesh. "How do you like it?" She began to form a Ki blast with her other arm. "It doesn't feel so good does it?" She yanked her nails out of his skin, kicked him in the knee forcing it to pop backwards, and then fired her Ki blast at his head. She watched as he tripped over his feet and fell down onto his back. She walked up to him and looked down into his face. "You know, you should apologize for not calling me a lady. My mommy says I'm one." The clone didn't take notice to what she had just said. Instead he reached over and grabbed her leg out from underneath her. "Hey, what are you doing?"
The clone stood up and swung Minako into another wall. He watched as it crumbled to the ground. "Yeah, not a very graceful one." He put his hands behind his head. "Masenka!" He brought them back in front of him and fired the giant blast at Minako, who was trying to push the ruble off of her legs.
Minako looked to the blast. There was nothing that she was able to do about it. The concrete had her pinned in too much. She covered her head with her arms as much as possible and waited for impact.
~*~*~
Meanwhile…
Usagi still hand to hand with Piccolo. She could here all sorts of commotion going on behind her. She wanted badly to be able to turn around and see what was going on, but if she had, Piccolo would have won the challenge and then taken her out once and for all. She couldn't have that. She wanted to prove to him that she was worthy of being called a fighter. Then maybe he would respect her for who she is. "Piccolo…I'm going…to WIN!" She pushed back against his force with all her might. 'Even if I have to resort to a Ki attack.'
Piccolo snickered. "Yeah right. You're barely able to hold up against me let alone even move my feet anywhere." Piccolo didn't even have to push that hard to keep from moving. Although he did have to push to make her move. She was actually quite strong for a six-year-old who thinks that fighting is just a game. At least that's the way he saw her.
"You doubt me? Well, I have something for you then." Both of Usagi's hands began to glow a soft yellow. The glow started to move to Piccolo's hands and up his arms. "Let's see how you like this!" She increased her attack by feeding it more of her own energy which produced a serge that carried the glow all around Piccolo's body at a rapid pace.
Piccolo tried to pull away from Usagi but it was no use. It was like the energy wouldn't let go of him. "What is this power?" His body began to throb with pain. It felt as if blasts were being thrown against him without him able to block them. He began to feel his energy being sucked out of him. "Let go!" One of his legs dropped to the ground as the pain grew.
Usagi laughed. "Am I hurting you Piccolo? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
Piccolo didn't have much to say. He had to admit. She was doing a damn good job of an attack. "Just STOP!" He tried to pull away but every time he did, it was like the energy increased its hold on him.
Usagi slowed her energy down until it came to a complete stop. She looked down at him. He was now fully on the ground. She pulled her hands out of his. "Like my attack I made?"
Piccolo tried to catch his breath as he looked up at Usagi. "You made that attack!?" Usagi nodded. "That was amazing. Did your father help you or something?"
"Nope. Daddy was surprised when in did it to him too." Usagi was pleased with herself now. For the first time, Piccolo had complimented her on something. Maybe their relationship would change now. "So, what did you think of it? Would it work against a real enemy?"
"I'm pretty sure it would. How did you keep me in place though?" That was what interested him the most. How it kept a hold of him like it had.
"You know, I really don't know. Maybe it works like glue."
Piccolo had to laugh at that one. The mind of a six-year-old was so simple. "That's a nice way to put it Usagi."
"So, are we done for the day?"
"Yeah, that had to take a lot of energy. You're probably hungry by now. Let's go find your pals."
Usagi smiled. 'Maybe he likes me now. That would be so cool if he did. Then I could tell daddy. He'll be happy with me.'
~*~*~
Makoto was still fighting. She was doing a pretty good job of defending herself. She didn't have too many scratches on her body. She was currently dodging and throwing punches at the clone in front of her. She stopped punching and jumped back from the fight. "Come on. Come and get me." The clone ran for her. She knew what she was doing though. She flipped backwards when he was in just the right place and kicked him in the chin with her foot. She landed on her hands and pushed herself back into the air so she could land properly. "How do you like that?"
"Not bad. But I can do better." He disappeared.
"Huh? Where'd he go?" He reappeared in front of her and before she knew it, she was flying head first towards a tree. "Ahhh!" 'Oh god, if I don't do something quick, I'm going to crash right into that tree.' She concentrated her energy inside her and then stopped it, making her stop in mid air. She slowly released the energy, dropping herself to the ground. "HA! Beat that you freak!"
"That's enough for today."
"Huh?" Makoto turned around to the faces of Usagi and Piccolo. Piccolo was standing with his arms crossed. They both looked pretty beaten up. "Oh hi you guys. I was just showing this guy what I've got. You know how good I am and all."
"Not as good as me."
"You wanna start something with me Usagi? I can make it happen. I'm stronger then you anyways."
"In your dreams I'm better then you and you know it." Usagi stuck her tongue out at Makoto.
Piccolo stood in between the girls. "Please. Don't argue. I don't want to listen to it. Let's just go find the other two so we can leave."
Usagi's stomach began to growl. She looked down at it and began to giggle. "I guess I'm hungry."
Piccolo rolled his eyes. "Just like your father."
(K. That's it for this part. What do you think? Good or bad you decide. Thank you!)
Meanwhile, Minako was busy checking out the bathroom. "Eeeeee! They have rose scented soap in here. And look at the shampoo." She smelled the shampoo. "It smells like lilacs." She poked her head out the door. "I love this place! I don't want to ever leave."
Makoto walked into the bathroom. "Let me smell. I love lilacs." She grabbed the shampoo and took a big whiff of it. "Ahhh, there is nothing like the smell of fresh lilacs." She put the cap back on the bottle and put it under her arm.
"Where are you going with that?" Minako wanted to use some in her hair to make her hair smell good for the next day.
Makoto looked at her friend and then back down to the bottle. "What this? I want to take it home. It's not everyday you find shampoo like this."
"But I wanted to use some. Give it to me." She grabbed for the bottle and tugged on it. "It's mine! I found it."
"I don't care. I want it." She pressed her arm against the bottle as hard as she could so Minako couldn't take it away from her. "Find your own."
"Just let me use it tomorrow then."
"Fine. But it's mine." With that, she walked out of the bathroom, once again opening the bottle to smell its contents. "Boy that smells good." She had her nose plastered to the opening. She walked passed Piccolo, who was on the phone over to the window.
Piccolo put the phone down on the table and grabbed the bottle from the brown haired girl. "I didn't bring you here to get high on shampoo. Now all of you shut up so I can make this quick phone call."
Usagi sat up as Minako walked out of the bathroom. "Who does HE have to call?"
"Maybe he's calling your dad. You know, to make sure he's alright." Minako could hear some yelling outside the hotel. "What's going on out there Makoto?" She walked to the window and peered out to the city below. They were on the top floor of the hotel, which happened to be the seventh floor.
"I don't know. These two guys started moving all weird, like they were dizzy, and then they started hitting each other. I think they're drunk or something."
Minako had dealt a lot with drunks in her short life. Her father was often drunk. "Yeah, they're drunk alright. Just like daddy. Hehehe, look, they're trying to fight. Hey Usagi, come look, quick." She waved her hand behind her.
Usagi jumped off the bed and walked to the window. She looked down to the fight below. "Eeeewww, that guy just ripped the other guy's shirt off."
"Look, he's got no muscles. He's a weakling." Makoto looked to the side of the fight. It looked as if half the city was watching. "I wonder what's gonna happen when the cops come."
Minako smiled. "Maybe they'll fight them too. That would be funny."
They continued to watch as some women entered the circle of people. "Are those women going to fight? They aren't even wearing any cloths." Usagi was a little bit wrong. They were wearing thong bikinis. "Why are the men howling at them?"
All of a sudden, the curtains of the window were closed. The girls looked up to Piccolo, who had put his body in front of them. "You guys…you don't need to be watching that kind of stuff. Your parents would kill me if I let you."
Usagi sat down on the floor. "Why?"
"It's just wrong ok?" 'Gees, these guys are going to give me a headache.' "Look, I'm going to go down to the lobby and get a bottle of cold water. I'll be back. Don't look out the window, and don't do anything STUPID."
"K! Bye Piccolo! See ya later!" Makoto waited for Piccolo to leave the room and then she climbed up onto the bed and started to hop up and down. "Hey you guys, I bet I could jump longer then both of you."
"I bet you couldn't. I can jump the longest and the highest." Minako jumped up onto the bed and began to jump along with Makoto. With both girls bouncing, the bed was squeaking and shaking all about. "This is fun. Come on Usagi jump with us. It's fun."
Usagi jumped to her feet. "K!" She got up onto the bed and jumped as high as she could. With each landing, she threw her friends higher, as they did the same to her. "This is fun!" Usagi decided to have a little bit of fun. "Let's try something different guys. Let's jump from bed to bed."
Minako and Makoto looked at each other. "What a great idea!" The three young fighters began to hop from one bed to the other. With every landing came a big thump on the wall behind it, and on the floor beneath it.
"This is like a trampoline." Usagi jumped off one bed and headed for the other. She felt hands wrap themselves around her waist before she reached the other side. She looked to her right and saw Piccolo as angry as ever. "Oops." She smiled. "Hehehe."
Piccolo set Usagi down and did the same thing to the other girls. He grabbed them off the bed and lined them up in front of him. "What the hell were you guys thinking!? I could here that all the way down on the first floor! You don't come to a hotel, and then do that kind of crap."
Usagi played with her tail. "Daddy says it's bad to say words like that. If he was here, he would yell at you for that."
If Piccolo could have frowned harder then he already was, he would. "I don't care about that Usagi. Don't try to change the subject on me. Now, I know you guys don't have much discipline. You haven't had a reason to, but just calm down."
Minako twirled her hair in her fingers. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You haven't really had to train for a major fight like everybody else has. You think that this is all a game. Well it's not. Goku told me that this tournament is a continuation of your training. So I want you all to act like you would if Goku was training you right now. And in your case Usagi, because I know you don't even take THAT seriously, act as if you were training with Vejita."
Usagi smiled. "Ok!" She jumped onto Piccolo and started punching at his head.
Piccolo grabbed Usagi and threw her onto the bed. "What are you doing?!"
Minako and Makoto laughed. "You should know Usagi by now. That's how she acts when she's fighting with Vejita. She has to be aggressive like that." Minako could remember the first day she saw Usagi fighting with Vejita. It was an all out war between them. Both too thick headed to back down from each other's challenges. Their fights would usually last for a couple of hours or more, each taking quite a beating from the other. Usagi more so then Vejita, but that was to be expected.
"Fine, Usagi, since you don't seem to want to act right, maybe I should call your father." Piccolo didn't want to be there, and he wouldn't take any lip from a spoiled brat. That's exactly what he thought about her too. That she was acting just like Gohan had. A sheltered child who was too spoiled for her own good. Luckily, he got to Gohan in time to fix that problem. To think, he gave up his plans for these three annoyances. "I don't think he would like that. Do you?"
Usagi calmed down a little bit. "No, I'm sorry Piccolo. I'll try not to do it again."
"Good, now, you three are going to sleep now. You are going to get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning and you need your sleep."
Makoto dropped to her knees. "5:00?" Never in her life had she had a reason to get up so early.
Piccolo nodded. "Yes, I want you guys good and warmed up before the tournament. Now all of you, hustle yourselves into bed." 'And give me some peace and quiet.' Piccolo watched as the girls all got themselves into one of the beds. It was just big enough to hold them all in comfortably. "Now go to sleep. I don't want to hear another word out of any of you." 'God, how do they do it? How did Gohan and Vejita raise girls? How can Goku stand to live with one? I'll never understand how they do it. Boys are much easier to get along with. Oh well, I can't back out of it now.'
~*~*~
Next morning…
Piccolo woke the girls up at five o'clock just like he said he would. He wanted to see what they could do before they fought in the tournament. "Come on you guys. Let's get ourselves out of here and into practicing mode."
Minako groaned as she slowly sat up. "Can't we sleep a little longer? It's too early for this." She opened her eyes to see Piccolo standing in front of the bed. He didn't look angry now like he had the night before.
"Nope, you have to get up now. I want you guys to practice a little bit before the tournament." Piccolo pulled to covers off of the bed, revealing Usagi curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed. "Come on guys. Let's go."
Usagi opened her eyes when she felt the cold air, brush against her skin. She had been so warm under the soft blankets and now she was meant to get up. "What?" She lifted her head to look around the room. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or if it was real.
Makoto sat up and looked to Usagi. "He wants us to get up." She brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes with them.
Usagi uncurled herself and now lay on her side with her arms and legs in front of her. She knew to get up. She learned to get up when an adult told you to after her father pretty much destroyed her bed and made her clean it up. "Ok. Just let me gather up enough energy."
Piccolo was a bit surprised that she didn't fight him about getting up. He had expected the most trouble from her. 'Maybe there IS hope for her yet.' "Good, I'll be waiting downstairs for you guys. Don't take more then and hour." Piccolo turned to leave the room.
Minako leaned forward and put her face in the blankets the now lay at the end of the bed. "I'm too tired for this. Goku wouldn't have made us do this. It's not fair."
Usagi groggily sat up as she yawned. "Don't worry about it. We just have to deal with it." 'Speaking of daddy, I wonder how he's doing. I hope he's ok.' Usagi stood up on the bed. She couldn't see straight from still being tired.
Minako shot her head up from the blankets and looked to Makoto. "Hey! Where's that shampoo?" She grabbed Makoto by the arm. "You said I could use some."
~*~*~
Piccolo stood in the lobby and waited for the girls to come down. It had only been twenty minutes and he was already getting agitated. 'They are only small children. What could they be doing that takes them this long to get themselves ready?' He watched as a man walked passed him with what appeared to be his teenage son. He figured that they were going to be taking place in the tournament by the way they were dressed. The lobby was particularly busy on this morning. A lot of the people, who were taking part in the tournament, were staying at the hotel.
"Piccolo!"
Piccolo was distracted when he heard Usagi calling for him. He turned around but couldn't see anyone. He could feel their presence though. " I can't see you."
"Over here Piccolo." Makoto raised her hand up as high as she could as she walked through the crowded room of people. "Wait there. We'll be there in a minute."
"Fine." Piccolo had no intention of trying to find them. He would have made them come to him anyways. The way he saw it, they weren't babies and they should be able to fend for themselves by now. Especially since they were currently being trained by one of the strongest people in the world.
He scanned the crowd of people for any sign of the girls. He could feel them moving closer and closer to him. The first person he saw was Minako, who was holding the hand of Makoto, who was holding the hand of Usagi. They were all bound together so they wouldn't get separated. "Finally. Let's get out of here. There are way too many people here."
Usagi looked to the crowd that she had just gotten out of. "Where did they all come from?"
"Those are all the people from the fight last night." Makoto recognized a lot of the people.
"Are they fighters too?"
Piccolo turned around and grabbed both girls' shoulders. "Come on you two. We must get going before it gets too late to do anything." He pulled them out of the hotel.
~*~*~
Piccolo led the girls to an out of the way area of the city. It lay just to the north of it in a small abandoned industrial park. He had scouted it the night before when the girls had finally gone to sleep. He waved for them to land with him.
Usagi held her arms around her stomach as she looked around. "This place is kind of creepy Piccolo. Why do we have to fight here?" The buildings around were deteriorating, most of which were collapsing in on themselves. They had a certain eerie feeling to them that Usagi didn't trust.
"Quit whining Usagi. Yes we have to fight here. Now let's get this started."
Makoto watched as Piccolo looked like he was beginning to struggle with something. She leaned over to Usagi. "What's he doing? He looks like he was just beaten up."
Piccolo spread his legs out as far as they would go while crossing his arms in front of his face. A pale yellow aura began to race around Piccolo as he gathered up energy. He grinned. "You guys wanna see something cool? Well here we go!" He closed his eyes.
Usagi watched in awe as something began to emerge from every point of his body. "What the…He's splitting himself into two people."
Minako backed away from the Namek. She wasn't sure what he was doing but she didn't want to stand around and find out it was an attack. "How can he be doing that?"
Usagi crouched down into her fighting stance, ready for anything that Piccolo had in store for her. She smiled, never taking her eye off of the threat. "I don't know but I wish I could do it too."
The second Piccolo jumped to the side of the original Piccolo. The original/real Piccolo smiled. "So you liked that huh? Well, it gets better. I can do it again." He began the process all over again.
"This is too weird. How is he doing that?" Makoto was with Minako on this one. She too had an uneasy feeling in her stomach about what their temporary sensei was doing. "This isn't right."
Usagi looked back at her friends. "You guys, what are you talking about? This is cool." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the Piccolo's jumping for her with its fist out ready to hit her. She quickly flipped to her side and looked over at it once she regained her footing on the ground. "Ready to start already?"
Piccolo stood in his place. "Nope, just trying to see if you really know what you're doing."
Usagi frowned as she put her hands to her waist. "Why do you think I'm that bad of a fighter? Daddy wouldn't be letting me do the tournament if I wasn't good enough." She grinned. She ran for him with both of her hands out in front of her not in the forms of fists. "Come here Piccolo, I want to show you something I can do."
Piccolo stepped to the right as Usagi ran for him. "No, you can show me after we have started." He snapped his fingers and the two clones of himself walked up from behind him. "Now, I separated myself into three parts. Doing this, I have cut my power down into thirds which means I won't be as much of a challenge to either of you."
Makoto stepped back to the group leaving Minako by herself. "Why did you do that?"
"So I can study all of your fighting styles. I have never sparred with any of you before, nor have I seen you fighting with Goku. So to save time, I'm going to have you all fighting one of me at the same time. Once I merge back with these two, I will have their memories, meaning your fighting data."
"So, when are we going to start?" Minako allowed herself to walk back to the group now that she knew Piccolo's intentions.
"Right now. I will spar with Usagi. You two will spar with them." Piccolo said as he pointed over his shoulder.
"Why do you want to fight with me?"
"I want to see if you're as good as your father says you are. From what I can tell, you're just a whiny girl who tries to be a fight." Piccolo fully knew what he was saying. He knew that if he were to say that to Gohan, he would have proved him wrong. Now he wanted to see if it was the same With Usagi. He wanted to see her true power.
Usagi frowned. 'I told daddy he was mean to me.' "I can fight. I'm probably going to be better than you one of these days."
"Yeah right. Why don't you show me then?" He turned around and started to walk away. "You two can begin your sparring when you're ready. As for you Usagi, we're starting now."
Usagi looked back to her friends. "Should I go?" Neither of them relied. "I guess I'm going to have to just go then." She turned back around to Piccolo and took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothin." She began to walk forward. "Piccolo! Wait for me!" She sped her pace up to a slow run when she saw that he wasn't going to stop for her.
Piccolo stopped when he got to a large open space. It was the place that had the fewest buildings around. He could feel Usagi's energy signature behind him. He smiled for this actually not the first time that he had seen her fighting. He knew that she was very capable of holding up on her own. Although she didn't know that he had seen her and he intended on keeping it that way. "Are you ready?"
Usagi crouched down on the ground. "Wait a minute." Usagi was actually getting somewhat excited about this. She could finally pay Piccolo back for every mean thing that he had ever said to her. She bent down to pick up a rock the size of her hand and threw it at Piccolo's head.
Since it wasn't a Ki blast or anything to do with energy, Piccolo hadn't felt it coming for him. If he had, he would have tried to dodge it. Instead, he let it smash right into the back of his head, causing a great deal of pain. "What was that?" He turned around, his eyes showing his anger.
Usagi giggled. "A rock. And I call this an energy blast." She brought her hands in front of her stomach and prepared a Ki blast in them.
Piccolo wasn't just going to sit around and let her attack. "So you want to play dirt do you? Well that can be arranged." He jumped in the air and started to fire multiple Ki blasts at Usagi.
She dodged most of the blast while firing at others. She jumped into the air and started to throw punches at her enemy. "Hold still!"
"That would be pointless." One of her punches found its way into his face. "You call that a hit? That was pathetic. I've seen babies who can punch harder then that."
Usagi frowned as she continued to swing harder and faster. "You don't know what you're talking about." She started to kick at him after realizing that punching at him was pretty pointless. "Don't just block, do something."
Piccolo grinned. "Ok." He put his hand in front of her forehead and blasted her in the face. She fell to the ground. "Was that too much for you?"
Usagi sprang back to her feet before Piccolo landed. "No! I can take more then that. I'm not weak!" She lunged herself for him once he landed, her hands met with his. "I bet I'm stronger then you even."
Piccolo laughed as he clasped his hands around hers. They both stood with their arms fully extended each pushing against the other's weight. "I wouldn't count on that."
Usagi pushed as hard against him as she could. She was barely holding up against him. Every so often, her feet would slide back. "I can do this. I know I can."
"Let's see how much you can hold this up."
~*~*~
Minako was thrown through a wall of one of the old concrete buildings. "Ouch!" She looked up just as one of the Piccolo clones was about to stab her arm with his nails. She rolled over, allowing the clone to smash his hand into the concrete. She looked over at it. "That would have hurt." She frowned as she kicked him in the stomach and then stood up. "You should never attack a lady like that."
"You aren't a lady. You're a fighter."
Minako forced her fingers together as close as they would go. "Oh really?" She shoved HER nails through HIS arm, piercing the flesh. "How do you like it?" She began to form a Ki blast with her other arm. "It doesn't feel so good does it?" She yanked her nails out of his skin, kicked him in the knee forcing it to pop backwards, and then fired her Ki blast at his head. She watched as he tripped over his feet and fell down onto his back. She walked up to him and looked down into his face. "You know, you should apologize for not calling me a lady. My mommy says I'm one." The clone didn't take notice to what she had just said. Instead he reached over and grabbed her leg out from underneath her. "Hey, what are you doing?"
The clone stood up and swung Minako into another wall. He watched as it crumbled to the ground. "Yeah, not a very graceful one." He put his hands behind his head. "Masenka!" He brought them back in front of him and fired the giant blast at Minako, who was trying to push the ruble off of her legs.
Minako looked to the blast. There was nothing that she was able to do about it. The concrete had her pinned in too much. She covered her head with her arms as much as possible and waited for impact.
~*~*~
Meanwhile…
Usagi still hand to hand with Piccolo. She could here all sorts of commotion going on behind her. She wanted badly to be able to turn around and see what was going on, but if she had, Piccolo would have won the challenge and then taken her out once and for all. She couldn't have that. She wanted to prove to him that she was worthy of being called a fighter. Then maybe he would respect her for who she is. "Piccolo…I'm going…to WIN!" She pushed back against his force with all her might. 'Even if I have to resort to a Ki attack.'
Piccolo snickered. "Yeah right. You're barely able to hold up against me let alone even move my feet anywhere." Piccolo didn't even have to push that hard to keep from moving. Although he did have to push to make her move. She was actually quite strong for a six-year-old who thinks that fighting is just a game. At least that's the way he saw her.
"You doubt me? Well, I have something for you then." Both of Usagi's hands began to glow a soft yellow. The glow started to move to Piccolo's hands and up his arms. "Let's see how you like this!" She increased her attack by feeding it more of her own energy which produced a serge that carried the glow all around Piccolo's body at a rapid pace.
Piccolo tried to pull away from Usagi but it was no use. It was like the energy wouldn't let go of him. "What is this power?" His body began to throb with pain. It felt as if blasts were being thrown against him without him able to block them. He began to feel his energy being sucked out of him. "Let go!" One of his legs dropped to the ground as the pain grew.
Usagi laughed. "Am I hurting you Piccolo? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
Piccolo didn't have much to say. He had to admit. She was doing a damn good job of an attack. "Just STOP!" He tried to pull away but every time he did, it was like the energy increased its hold on him.
Usagi slowed her energy down until it came to a complete stop. She looked down at him. He was now fully on the ground. She pulled her hands out of his. "Like my attack I made?"
Piccolo tried to catch his breath as he looked up at Usagi. "You made that attack!?" Usagi nodded. "That was amazing. Did your father help you or something?"
"Nope. Daddy was surprised when in did it to him too." Usagi was pleased with herself now. For the first time, Piccolo had complimented her on something. Maybe their relationship would change now. "So, what did you think of it? Would it work against a real enemy?"
"I'm pretty sure it would. How did you keep me in place though?" That was what interested him the most. How it kept a hold of him like it had.
"You know, I really don't know. Maybe it works like glue."
Piccolo had to laugh at that one. The mind of a six-year-old was so simple. "That's a nice way to put it Usagi."
"So, are we done for the day?"
"Yeah, that had to take a lot of energy. You're probably hungry by now. Let's go find your pals."
Usagi smiled. 'Maybe he likes me now. That would be so cool if he did. Then I could tell daddy. He'll be happy with me.'
~*~*~
Makoto was still fighting. She was doing a pretty good job of defending herself. She didn't have too many scratches on her body. She was currently dodging and throwing punches at the clone in front of her. She stopped punching and jumped back from the fight. "Come on. Come and get me." The clone ran for her. She knew what she was doing though. She flipped backwards when he was in just the right place and kicked him in the chin with her foot. She landed on her hands and pushed herself back into the air so she could land properly. "How do you like that?"
"Not bad. But I can do better." He disappeared.
"Huh? Where'd he go?" He reappeared in front of her and before she knew it, she was flying head first towards a tree. "Ahhh!" 'Oh god, if I don't do something quick, I'm going to crash right into that tree.' She concentrated her energy inside her and then stopped it, making her stop in mid air. She slowly released the energy, dropping herself to the ground. "HA! Beat that you freak!"
"That's enough for today."
"Huh?" Makoto turned around to the faces of Usagi and Piccolo. Piccolo was standing with his arms crossed. They both looked pretty beaten up. "Oh hi you guys. I was just showing this guy what I've got. You know how good I am and all."
"Not as good as me."
"You wanna start something with me Usagi? I can make it happen. I'm stronger then you anyways."
"In your dreams I'm better then you and you know it." Usagi stuck her tongue out at Makoto.
Piccolo stood in between the girls. "Please. Don't argue. I don't want to listen to it. Let's just go find the other two so we can leave."
Usagi's stomach began to growl. She looked down at it and began to giggle. "I guess I'm hungry."
Piccolo rolled his eyes. "Just like your father."
(K. That's it for this part. What do you think? Good or bad you decide. Thank you!)