Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ. I own this story, and any original characters and places in it.
Chapter Fifteen
"What do you want?" Piccolo growled as the Guardian of the Earth glowered at him.
"You know well what I want, Piccolo, and what I have to say," Kami said, gripping his staff tightly. "But first, I would like to know what reason you have for picking a fight with Goku's wife." The old Namek was perfectly aware of the stares directed at him, especially from Chi-Chi, but he paid them no heed. This was vitally important, and he could not afford to have any distractions.
The younger Namek scowled up at his 'father'. "Don't get me started on it, old man. Ask her yourself. I don't have to answer to you for anything." Kami met his gaze evenly, and both Nameks stared at each other.
The demon and the Guardian, locked as they were in their battle of wills, failed to notice the effect they had on the rest of the room. Goku glanced about quickly at his family and friends, also sensing Master Roshi's ki entering the house. Tien and Chiaotzu were still seated in their corner, although the emperor wore a most interesting expression on his face. He appeared to be anticipating something, his posture revealed, as he leaned forward slightly, every muscle in his body tight. Gohan was openly confused, and Chi-Chi was caught between fight and flight. Krillin sent a furtive glance his way, his eyes questioning.
Goku himself wondered what Piccolo had done to merit Kami's teleportation into the hallway of the Kame House. In his experience, Kami had only teleported once, and that was to pick him up at the Check-In Station of the Afterlife, and that was a major concession. Surely it couldn't have been something Piccolo had done recently; someone would have told him if the demon-Namek had been up to something while he was gone. And it couldn't have been something from before their battle with Frieza on Namek, because Goku could account for nearly all of Piccolo's actions then, too. Was it about Kadrin and Morodath, then? The psi-down? He wasn't sure.
Well, whatever the reason was, Tien stood up and walked out the door, nodding once in acknowledgement of Kami's presence.
"Piccolo, child, you cannot fight all your life," Kami said gently but sternly, holding the other Namek's fierce gaze. "Some things must be left in the past." To all outward appearances, the older Namek seemed fatherly and concerned, but that did not fool Piccolo. He caught the flash of anger in the Guardian's eyes, well-disguised but still there. He felt himself rise to the challenge.
"That's easy for you to say," he snapped, curling his lips back in a soundless growl. "All you do is sit on your marble throne and sleep."
Kami himself barely contained a frustrated growl, tightening his grip on his staff even more. "Arrogant boy," he said, clenching his teeth, "you shall be the downfall of us all. Stop this foolishness immediately." Within seconds his demeanor changed from parental to forbidding. If he hadn't known better, Goku would have thought that Kami was about to attack Piccolo.
Chiaotzu was thinking along the same lines as Goku. Ah, don't push him, Kami, the psychic silently begged the Guardian, clasping his hands in his lap. He already has much against you. Please don't make it worse. Don't ruin your last chance of helping him. Over the last two years, starting with his sacrifice, Piccolo had become more and more aware of the fact that he did not need to be governed by the destiny his sire had set for him. He could be better than that, he decided. He did not have to listen to Daimao's envenomed words. And the more he learned, the more he realized that he could have been free of his sire's evil clutches much sooner. Piccolo would rather die than admit it, but those years under Daimao's dark shadow had been a living nightmare for him. He lived as though under a fog, with his senses and judgment clouded – and it took Gohan to snap him out of it. Sleep he had had only rarely, for it was more of a struggle than an escape to him, filled with unspeakable horrors that caused him to cry out in the night and wake in a cold sweat. Mighty Namekian warrior he might be, but it did not protect him from his sire's terrible grasp.
Kami was the sole being who could have helped him conquer this evil. Kami could have shown him the life he could be leading instead of carrying out his sire's dark orders. Instead, it had been the young child of his most hated enemy who had shown him what life should be like. It had taken a love born of innocence and the bonds of friendship to free him from his path. And Kami had done nothing.
Correction: Kami had let the hatred fester in his soul until it had nearly consumed him and erased every chance for goodness in him. Kami had dismissed him as the evil spawn of the Earth's greatest threat, not as his own flesh and blood. Kami had not seen fit to free a tormented young child from the dreams of the Demon Lord. And because of this, Kami had nearly destroyed any chance of Piccolo ever renouncing his dark side on his own. If he alienated him now, Chiaotzu thought with a shudder, Piccolo might even begin to slip back into what he once was. It was taking everything the Earth's defenders had to be understanding and almost gentle with him, to ease him into the life he should have had if Kami had intervened. As it was, Piccolo was still very bitter when it came to his older counterpart; it was a long-standing grudge that would not be broken down easily.
And all Kami seemed to be doing was adding to the distance between them.
Piccolo nearly laughed. "Who are you to be speaking of foolishness?" he spat, squinting to hide another dizzy spell. "Is it foolish to defend my honor?"
"You have none!" Chi-Chi interjected angrily before Piccolo could say anything else.
"Silence!" Kami bellowed then, much to everyone's surprise. Piccolo actually raised an eye ridge at him, and Chi-Chi nearly leapt into Goku's arms in shock. The Guardian was generally a peaceful being. He never raised his voice in anger, at least until now, and only rarely did he shout at all. "I did not come here to listen to arguments. I am here to discuss the recent battle. Take your fight elsewhere." He turned his attention, and the full force of his glare, back to Piccolo.
Unnoticed by the two Nameks and the woman, Gohan had snuck out during the verbal battle.
Goku felt more than saw his son leave the room. The boy was clearly upset by the morning's events, his aura reflected that much. Gohan seemed a bit distanced on this day, but given the events, it was to be expected. His "second father" and his mother were going at each other's throats. He didn't feel very thrilled with what was going on, either. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced over at Krillin again, who met his gaze with a soft sigh. Neither of them knew what to expect.
Piccolo scowled up at Kami. "What do you intend to do, old man?" he asked gruffly.
"I need to speak with you in private, Piccolo," the Guardian said, "but since you're not going anywhere anytime soon, I'll have to do it here." He stared unblinking into the young warrior's eyes, more than slightly disconcerted by what he saw in the onyx orbs. Should I assume that you hear this? he asked mentally, maintaining eye contact.
It was only through this contact that he saw the pain he had just caused. Outwardly, Piccolo winced and inhaled sharply, balling his hands into fists. Inside, though…Kami watched as those luminous dark eyes clouded over briefly before blackening once again. "Don't do that," Piccolo hissed, startling Chi-Chi and Krillin.
"What was that?" Kami questioned. "Are you feeling all right?"
Piccolo snorted. "If I knew, I would have warned you."
The older Namek sighed, glancing briefly down at his taloned hands. "Then I shall have to do this another way. The others cannot hear what I have to say to you, child." Kami did not need to look at Piccolo's face or hear his thoughts to know what he was thinking then. Don't call me that. I'm no child. "Can you create your mental training grounds?" he asked, raising his eye ridges.
"Fine. If you can get in, then you can talk." Piccolo then closed his eyes and dropped into a meditative state, quickly enough that Kami and the others wondered at how much practice he had at it. The Guardian glanced back at Goku and nodded once before turning his attention back to the matter at hand. Ignoring the humans' incredulous stares, he placed his right hand lightly on Piccolo's right shoulder, being careful not to shift the bandages and reopen any wounds. Then he, too, began to meditate, hoping desperately that the physical contact with his 'son' would allow him to follow the younger Namek into his training realm.
It did.
Kami opened his eyes again in a large, boundless field. He was standing upon a bed of moss, under a tree that seemed a bit worse for the wear. A few more withered trees stood nearby, while an entire forest sprouted up behind them. With a start he recognized his surroundings: it was the place he had seen when he first tapped into the young Piccolo's mind. It was the grove in which Piccolo had shattered his eggshell and taken his first real breath.
"Stop with the sentimentality, old man," Piccolo's voice snapped from somewhere nearby. "You're going to rot your teeth out."
"I beg your pardon?" Kami asked, looking around wildly for the younger Namek. "How did you hear me?" I must tread carefully now, he thought. This is his territory, and I am at his mercy. There is no place for pride here, only the utmost caution.
"Simple." Piccolo stepped out from the shadows in the forest behind him. "You're in my mind, and you're thinking loud enough to wake the dead. If there were any here." He crossed his arms over his chest and strode past the dumbfounded Guardian and into the field, stopping at a large patch of scorched earth. "Now talk. I don't want you in here any longer than you need to." He turned back to Kami and glared at him.
"So be it, Piccolo," Kami said as he moved to join up with his young counterpart. "I want to know what has been going on with you. It seems to me that something has changed."
Piccolo growled low in his throat. "Goku's wife began harassing me for no reason, accusing me of ignoring Gohan and of being destructive in general."
Kami shook his head. "That can't be all," he said, more of a statement than a question.
For a few minutes the two Nameks spoke. Piccolo told the Guardian about what had happened just before Kadrin's death…and Kami frowned deeply. Ki did not just appear out of thin air, and he knew it. Then again, Piccolo had been pouring his life-ki into the attack, so who knew what was happening? Perhaps Roshi, the Turtle Hermit, would be able to help. He had been training fighters for over one hundred years.
"And the hybrids sprayed a mixture of chemicals into our faces when they first landed, called 'psi-down/G'," Piccolo added. "From what I can see, Goku hasn't been affected much at all. I think the psi-down blocks psychic activity." The demon screwed his face into a frown. "That would explain why it feels like I'm burning my mind up when I try using it to speak or listen. But I don't know what the 'G' would have been."
It was Kami's turn to frown now. "Piccolo," he said, digging his talons into the wood of his staff, "the 'G' might be something that specifically targets a species, perhaps even ours. It might have something to do with your healing rate, but I cannot be certain. All I can say is that Goku's wounds are nearly healed, and yours are not. With our regenerative abilities, you should have been fine a few days ago; your body would have patched itself up, and you would be merely regrowing skin by now. But you aren't."
"And what do you expect me to do about this?" Piccolo snapped. "Find Morodath and ask him to kindly give me the antidote to whatever he sprayed on us?"
"That would be hard, since Tien dealt him the finishing blow when he arrived upon the scene," Kami said, exasperated with the younger Namek's attitude. "What I will expect of you is that you hang on to life with everything you've got. You're in for one wild ride, Ma Junior, and I hope you're up to the task."
Confusion, and shock, flashed across Piccolo's face for an instant before he slammed down his mask once again. He did not even acknowledge Kami's use of his other name. "What are you talking about?" he growled, narrowing his eyes into mere slits.
"What I'm saying is that your body doesn't have the energy to repair itself, and your wounds are taxing the strength you don't have. Your body is rebelling against itself. If you don't fight it, Piccolo, you will die."
With a sudden burst of ki, Piccolo heaved Kami out of his mind and tore himself from his meditation. Both Nameks inhaled deeply and opened their eyes at the same time. Piccolo's eyes were full of anger, Kami's filled with sympathy. "That's enough," Piccolo growled weakly, as though the Guardian's final statement had started a chain reaction in his body that now sapped at his remaining ki. Had it already begun, or was he imagining it?
"Piccolo," Kami panted, more than a little out of breath, "you must be careful now more than ever. I have heard of the problems in the Afterlife, and of what happened to Baba's crystal ball. You have an enemy, my son, and I'm afraid that you are not strong enough now to face it." He locked eyes with the son of Daimao – and it was not the demon who backed down.
"I am not your son," Piccolo growled. "Now get out."
With one final glance at the injured warrior, Kami wordlessly teleported himself out of the room. In his wake he left a small burst of ki, just enough to light up the room for a few seconds. Goku fixed his eyes on the spot the Guardian had vacated, for lack of activity, until Piccolo broke the silence.
"I need to talk to you alone, Goku," the Namek said slowly, turning his head and looking the man in the eye. "And I want one of you to send the old man up when you leave."
Peculiar request, Krillin thought as he stood up and stretched. I wonder what Kami said to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Chi-Chi dashing out the door. It was rather obvious that she did not want to stick around. Though it seemed Chiaotzu was more willing to stay and listen. The emperor reluctantly floated out the door, and Krillin couldn't blame him. He was all but dying of curiosity himself. Well, whatever it is, I hope it's not too serious. The Earth can't handle another alien attack right now.
The monk nearly ran down the Turtle Hermit as he walked out the door. "Good luck," he told his master. "This won't be easy."
"I rather expected not," Master Roshi replied, sidestepping around his student. "It's like sticking your hand into a jar of vipers. You never know when they'll bite." Then he disappeared into the room and pulled the door shut behind him.
"Too right," Krillin muttered as he descended the stairs. "Too right."
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As always, thank you for reading this chapter. 'Til next time.
~Dreamwraith