Innocence Reborn
Disclaimer: Hmmm.....what to say that hasn't been said a million times
before? *shrugs* Oh, well. It doesn't hurt to say it again for those that STILL
don't understand what a disclaimer means. Aura and I don't own Dragon
Ball Z or any of the related stuff that goes along with it. If we did, Aura
would have Piccolo and I would have Kibito and Shin. We just own this fic for
what it is worth.
[Aura : *glomps Piccolo* he's my muse anyway, but unfortunatly I don't
own him *pouts*, and I think I have a half-share in Kami, since he and Piccolo
do merge later in the series ^^]
Kaeli's Sad but True Author's Note: Alright, peoples. I've said this
already with my Tien fic (What!?!?! She has a Tien fic?!?!?! WHERE!?!?!?!
Surprisingly, when I am not writing Kibito/Shin and Piccolo fics, I'm writing a
Tien one. Surprised, ne?), and Aura knows this as well, but I'll be moving at
the beginning of the summer. Yup, right down to the ocean 8 hours from where I
live now (hell, I'll even be living THREE BLOCKS from the beach. *enter death
threats now*), so I am going to hand Aura full control of the fic until I get
settled down there and get 'Net connection back up. Until then, I probably
won't be writing any more of my fics or this one, but I will be back. Don't
worry. : )
[Aura : I have full control, better start panicing now people ^^]
To those that are reading this from Media Miner.Org, it will be an even longer
wait because I'm placing the chapters of this fic there myself. Aura does the
FF.N side, I do the MM.O side (and get those hentai thoughts out of your
minds......or, at least, send them to me....I could use a few for a new fic I
might be writing....)
[Aura : One last note from me, if anyone wants to know why the title and
such are not centered, it's because Microsoft word hates me, and I have a poor
grip of HTML…so there :p]
Chapter Ten: Off to the Lookout....Again?
Two Months Later
The
sun was now at mid-day, the birds chirping from upon distant branches of solid
oak or willow trees. The wind moved lightly over the green grass, tapping upon
the light air. Mountains stood on the faraway horizon of the South, with plains
of endless flowers, trees, and nothing else but pure wilderness going towards
the North, East, and West. The blue sky above was tainted with only a few white
clouds, the sky looking down from it's perch.
There was a calmness to the air that lasted for only a few short moments more
before a blast shot out from the middle of the plains. It zoomed through the
open space before it faded into nothingness just like it had started. The
particle of light had come from a single person, in which was now blocking
another's movements not even a hundred feet away from where the blast had
defused. One of those that was sparring was the transformed Namek, Piccolo,
while the other was the child Saiyan, Gohan. No more blasts came from either
one as they continued going at it for another ten minutes before Gohan kicked Piccolo
to the ground in a furry of moves.
"Ow," groaned the Namek as he fell onto the ground in a hard manner.
He sat there without a chance of getting up, nursing the bleeding wounds he had
received through the fighting he and the other had been doing for the last
several hours. Piccolo had fallen before with each time becoming less and less
likely he would get up after that. And, this time, he definitely wasn't getting
up.
"C'mon, Piccolo!" Goku called from about twenty to thirty feet away
from his position underneath a tree. The Saiyan had been sitting there the
whole time the two had been sparring, watching them spar with each other almost
endlessly it had seemed. He offered little help in this small, meaningless
battle, sleeping at random times in the shade rather then showing any interest
in them. "Get up!"
"I had enough of this," Piccolo grumbled, glaring over towards Goku
who had now gotten up from his sitting position and was walking over towards
them with a flare of interest now picking up in his eyes.
"Hey, I know that the training is hard, but you can do it," Gohan
told him once his father had stopped by tem. "Besides, this is for a good
cause. We need to be prepared."
"I am surprised you aren't doing the same thing to me like I did to you
whatever it was that I did."
"You need to get stronger in order to get ready fro the Androids,"
Goku explained with a serious look now on his face. "Your flying has
improved a lot since you've first started to learn and you have some control
over your Ki blasts, but it isn't good enough. You've got to do better then
what you are doing now. A lot better.
"But....." Piccolo started before he was cut off.
"No. You need to train more. It will help us win the battles that will be
fought in the future."
"I know that, but it is boring," The Namek whined, slumping his
shoulders. Just like he had with studying, he had become quite bored with the
everyday training that had been going on in the last two months. Not that he
didn't mind doing something other then staring at a book for hours on end, but
it was the same old thing that went on almost everyday. Frankly, he didn't know
how he could have stood this when he had his memory and was older before he
shuddered at the mere thought of it. "Can't we change something in the
training?"
"Like what?" Gohan asked. He shrugged at that suggestion.
"Isn't there another place we could train at?" Piccolo suggested.
"Something that could make things speed up without really taking any time
to do it in?"
Both Saiyans started blankly at their friend, thoughtful expressions coming
upon their faces. Silence ensued for several moments before a sly expression
came onto the boy's face.
"Why not go to Kami's and train there?" Gohan offered with a smile so
innocent that it could fool anyone to what he was really thinking.
"I don't know," Goku mused, placing his hands on his hips as he
tilted his head to the side. "I don't know if he is ready for that
yet."
"Ready for what?" Piccolo wondered, looking from one person to
another with a confused look on his face. Neither answered the question as the
two continued to talk to each other.
"I think he is, but we would have to see and try it before we know for
sure," Gohan prompted, nodding his head several times with the same smile
plastered on his lips.
"I suppose so," The elder Saiyan said with a simple shrug. They
looked over towards Piccolo, who was looking more angry then confused.
"What's wrong?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" He snapped, crossing his arms
over his chest as he continued to sit where he was on the ground.
"Oh, sorry. There is a special room on Kami's Lookout that can help us
train. In the outside world we are in now, a day will pass while a year will
pass while we are in that room," Goku quickly explained. "It's called
the Room of Spirit and Time*."
"Cool," Piccolo grumbled, a hint of sarcasm entering his voice.
"When do we go?"
"Now is a good time," Gohan suggested with yet another nod. Goku
agreed to that, picking up Piccolo before taking to the sky without any wonder
why the Namek was sighing. The boy lingered for a moment, thinking over this
situation before he also took into the air.
He just wondered what his mother would think when they didn't return home for
dinner.
****
"Honestly, all of them," Chi-Chi fumed as she stirred a pot of some
sort off stew in a pot that sat on the stove while Bulma leaned on the counter
next to them, her arms crossed over her chest. "Training, eating, and
sleeping---that's all they ever seem to do."
"At least you don't have to fix a gravity machine every time it breaks
down from so much use or when it gets blown up," Bulma pointed out, her
eyes narrowing into almost slits. "Vegeta doesn't know when to quit
something's. I don't think he even sleeps anymore, bypassing it totally. Only
eats and trains every damn day. Not like I care or anything."
"Gohan and Piccolo have been neglecting their studies and their chores. I
am surprised that they even remember to take showers anymore."
"How's Piccolo doing anyways?" The blue-haired woman inquired. Both
woman had been talking to each other for the last several hours, the
conversation topics drifting from one subject to another without hesitation. It
was the lingering threatening and constant training of the men that kept them
two the most talkative about. this was actually the first time either had
brought up the topic of the small Namek. "I haven't seen him since the
birthday party. In fact, I haven't heard from Goku either."
"To tell you the truth, I don't know how he really is," Chi-Chi said
with a sigh as she stopped stirring and wiped her hands on the apron she was
wearing. "He's been having some mood swings the last couple of days with
nightmares going back at least a month, and I am starting to wonder what is
going on with him. He doesn't even want to train at times it seems, even though
that's all he had talked about for a while there. Last week, Gohan had to pull
him out of bed to go and train with Goku because he overslept." She tugged
on her apron as her gaze fell upon Bulma. "I know of what had happened
because of the wish, but it doesn't seem like the same Piccolo as before. I
hate to say it, but I miss the old Namek that made my Gohan train all that
time."
"In more ways then one," Bulma mused thoughtfully as she pushed
herself forwards and took several steps into the kitchen. "I
wonder...."
"Wonder what? About how we are going to get them to stop training long
enough to have a decent meal?"
"I've given up already on trying to get Vegeta to do that, but no. It's
not that. It's about Piccolo."
"What about him?"
"I am just thinking if, when we wish Piccolo back to his old self, will he
remember any of this?"
Chi-Chi stared at the other woman for a moment, a blank look crossing over her
face. She didn't answer her question right away, her eyes moving down towards
the ground as if she was trying to think about that. She had figured if, like
the rest of the family had, the Namek would remember the year as a child, but
they were strange things, dragon balls. Never really knew the after effects
were because of that single wish. Course, no one really worried about that kind
of thing since nothing ever bad came out of these wishes. But what about now?
Piccolo had been turned into a child and his memory of everything in his past
erased. Was this the effects of an innocent wish?
She had been thinking of the same things in her mind, even while she had slept.
Chi-Chi had spent countless nights trying to figure out what was going without
making anyone else wonder what she was thinking. The other two members of the
family had talked little about how and when the wish was going to take place.
It seemed unimportant to them at the moment. Perhaps, when the time came,
everything was going to be okay.
"I hope so," Chi-chi said after a few more minutes of pure silence.
The two woman stared at each other again, the silence engulfing them once
again.
****
Kami stared down upon the Earth like he had always done in the past, his old
eyes moving along the surface of the beautiful sphere. He had spent his whole
lifetime looking over the people of the Earth, sometimes feeling like that was
all he ever did. Watching over people that did not even know he was there. That
he was alive. That there was really anyone that was looking over them. However,
there was an exception to this and that exception was that there were a
few people that knew he existed. That made things a little bit more
interesting, soothing him to an extent he knew of no limits.
He watched tiredly as the people of the Earth went about their daily business,
doing what they had done for the longest time. At times, the Guardian wished he
was a part of that like Piccolo was, but then it was harder to keep that life
instead of the one that he held at the present moment. Anything else would seem
too different then what he was doing, and he didn't want that. Not saying that
he wouldn't mind having a day or two of rest from watching over the planet so
that it would be something that would impose itself in his memory until the day
he was no longer needed to watch over them.
Kami didn't know how long he had been standing there or knew how many times Mr.
Popo had come to see what he was doing. He found that he didn't care what the
other was doing so long that he wasn't really bothering him at the present
moment. There was something else that was eating at him that wouldn't leave him
alone at all. Perhaps it was the ever looming battle with the Androids of the
future time that was worrying him so. Maybe it was the way Vegeta had looked
when he had left the party several months ago. Or there was something that was
pestering him about Piccolo. Maybe that was it.
The Guardian shook his head, breaking the trance that he had as he turned
around to face the palace that sat on the other end of the Lookout. His eyes
wandered over everything, his eyes eventually landing upon Mr. Popo, who was
watering the flowers on one side of the garden. A small smile came upon his
lips as Kami watched him, his head tilting to the side. Just as he did that, a
wave of dizziness swept over him, causing him to lean on his wooden staff a
little bit more then he had done before. He attempted to shake off the swirling
world around him, but it was of no use.
He crumpled to his knees, his eyes moving up towards the gardens. The last thing
he saw was Popo turning towards him with eyes round as saucers before
everything went black.
To Be Continued
*I figure this is the correct name in the original (Japanese) version. If I
am wrong on that (remember, I am using the original version's name...not
the one FUNi created), please tell me.
Kaeli's second Author's Note: Alright, I am going to let Aura take it
from here. Have fun!!!! Ja'ne!