Chapter 11
Katrina awoke suddenly, not knowing what had startled her. She looked around the cave, half expecting something to jump out of the shadows at her. She looked over at Piccolo, who was now awake because of her sudden movement. He stared down at her. "What is it?"
"Nothing...I guess..." Katrina muttered. Then she paused. "Do you hear that?"
Piccolo looked towards where the entrance of the cave was. "It stopped raining." Then he looked down at Katrina. "I guess we can leave."
Katrina nodded and stood up. Her muscles were tight, so she stretched to release the stress. Piccolo stood up as well. "By the way," He began.
Katrina looked over at him while stretching her arms above her head. "What?"
"How exactly did you get to the top of the mountain?" Piccolo raised an eye ridge as he said, "I know that you can't fly yet, so how?"
Katrina smiled and bent down to touch her toes. "I climbed."
"You what?" Piccolo asked.
"Yeah, that's right." Katrina stood back up and looked at him. "I climbed." Then she started to walk towards the entrance of the cave.
Piccolo blinked as he watched her walk, her tail swishing from side to side as she moved closer towards the light of the entrance. It doesn't take me long to fly up there, but to climb it? He thought as he followed. It's almost impossible, it would take several hours. But of course, He thought as he looked down at his knuckles, where his blood had dried and started to chip off like paint. Who knows how long I was up there for. They had already healed, thanks to his regeneration powers, but if Katrina saw the blood on them she would most likely freak.
He stopped right next to Katrina and looked around. Day had already broken the curse of night was glistening beautifully. Everything was sparkling from the past night's down pour. From where the sun was, it was most likely around 8:00 or so.
Piccolo looked over at Katrina. "Are you ready to learn how to fly?"
Katrina looked over at him and smirked. "Well it's about damn time."
Piccolo smirked and picked her up off her feet. Katrina again wrapped her arms around his neck as he flew back towards the top of the mountain.
Once he reached the top, he set her down on her feet. "Wait here, I'll be right back." He suddenly flew off again.
"Wait a minute!" She called. "Where are you going?" Then she paused as she watched him disappear. "Oh, I get it. This is another one of his games." Then she shouted, "I won't be fooled this time!!!"
Suddenly, his white flame appeared in the sky again. He landed down next to her. "I wasn't tricking you this time." He said and dropped whatever he was carrying.
When Katrina got a good look at what he was carrying, she found that it was a who. A little boy, about five years old, stood up from the flat floor and wiped the dust from his torn, orange gi. He had a sword strapped on his back and his hair was rather tangled. He looked over at Katrina with big, black eyes and he smiled. "Hi!" He said rather pleasantly.
"Uh...hi." Katrina responded. Then she looked over at Piccolo, who somehow had his turban and shoulder weights back on. "Who's the kid?"
"I've been training him too. He's like you, with a hidden talent. But I've been letting him live out of the wild alone." Piccolo said.
"My name's Gohan. What's yours?" He asked.
Katrina looked back down at the kid. "I'm Katrina."
"Nice to meet you, Katrina!" He grinned.
Katrina heart basically melted. "You're such a sweet kid! It's nice to meet you too."
Piccolo rolled his eyes as the two shook hands and giggled. He cleared his throat loud enough so both would pay attention. They did and turned their attention towards their teacher. "Finally." He muttered. "Now that we're all acquainted, let's get started. I decided to bring Gohan up here so I could teach you both how to fly at the same time instead of two separate lessons. You two will be working together from now on so get used to each other."
Both Katrina and Gohan nodded simultaneously.
"All right then." Piccolo grunted. "I've shown and told you both about energy, so I don't have to go through that again. Instead, I'll get right down to it." His usual white flame didn't appear this time, but he slowly floated up above the flat mountain top. Once he got far enough, he shouted down to them, "Basically, you have to take your energy and push it down towards your feet. The more energy you use, the faster you go. Try it."
Katrina and Gohan looked at each other as if to silently say, "Easy for you to say." Katrina decided to try it out first. She closed her eyes and laid her hands calmly at her sides. In her mind, she found herself traveling downwards until a vast, purple light appeared before her. She mentally took a sample and shoved it down towards her feet. It wasn't easy, because the energy seemed magnetic to the giant orb inside of her.
Very slowly, she could feel the warmth of the energy traveling down her legs in a sort of spiral motion and before she knew, she wasn't touching the ground anymore. She opened her eyes and found her face to face with Piccolo, and neither were touching the ground.
Gohan smiled widely. "You did it, Katrina!" He laughed.
Piccolo patted her shoulder and gave a small smile of pride. "Good job." He said. He looked down at Gohan and said, "Give it a try."
It took Gohan a little longer to get the concept, but soon he was floating with the rest of the party.
Piccolo nodded his head, his sign of pride for Gohan, and said, "Excellent. Now that you can actually float, it's time to learn the tricky part. To actually move in a direction while flying, you have to do the same thing but lean your body towards the direction of where you want to go. And while you're flying, you have to concentrate on keeping that energy down. Once you've gotten the hang of it, you won't have to concentrate as much while flying, but for now it's all I want you two to think about. Understand?"
Katrina and Gohan nodded.
"Right then." Piccolo said. "Start flying in a straight line, then see if you're ready for turning. Go." Piccolo pointed off in a direction.
Almost immediately, Katrina sent down more energy then expected and zoomed off in the distance, laughing at Piccolo's expression of shock.
Gohan started flying too, but he was slower and more wobbly than Katrina.
Katrina managed to get the hang of turning rather quickly too. She spun around in circles and rose high above the clouds and joined the birds flying in a small group.
Piccolo watched her dance along the clouds and couldn't help but smile. It comes so naturally to her... Then his smile faded. Which means she is the one whose power I felt...that means I'm putting her in danger...
But his frown faded as she neared him with a few birds flying next to her. She stopped and giggled as the birds perched on her shoulders and one on her raised finger.
"Looks like you've made some new friends..." Piccolo said.
Katrina nodded as the birds suddenly took to the air again. They both watched them fly off into the distance and a sudden silence came over them.
Piccolo fixed his gaze upon her. "You did well today, Kat." He said quietly.
"Thanks..." Then Katrina looked down at the ground below. "But it's all so...strange..."
"What is?" Piccolo asked.
"It all seems so familiar, like I've flown before..." Then she closed her eyes and laid a hand on her forehead. "Damnit, I wish I could remember!"
Piccolo rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let it get to you so much." He said. "In time, you'll remember."
Katrina opened her eyes and showed him a slight smile. She opened her mouth to say something when Gohan interrupted them. He flew up to them laughing, "Wow! This is great!"
Piccolo suddenly removed his hand from her shoulder and slightly blushed. Katrina giggled. "Hey, how about a race?" She asked.
"Yeah!" Gohan responded.
"I don't think so..." Piccolo mumbled, the green tint returning to his cheeks.
"Oh c'mon, Piccolo. It'll be fun!" Katrina said, slightly pushing him. "Let's see, how about first one to circle those mountains and back." She said, pointing off in the distance. "And the loser has to cook dinner."
"Ok!" Gohan said.
"I still don't know..." Piccolo murmured.
"Please Piccolo? It wouldn't be as much fun with only two people."
"Training isn't supposed to be fun at all, it's supposed to be hard work."
"C'mon, just one race. Then we can get back to work." Katrina pouted slightly, a face that made her famous.
Piccolo, along with anyone else who saw it, couldn't resist. "All right, one race. Then back to training."
Gohan laughed triumphantly and Katrina smiled at him. He returned it and moved so they were all lined up.
"Remember, you have to circle the mountains and come back." Katrina said. "Ready..." She began. "Set!"
"Go!" Piccolo suddenly shouted and took off, Katrina right behind him and Gohan dead last.
Piccolo laughed evilly. "This was too easy." He said to himself, already nearing the mountains. He felt a tap on his shoulder and when he turned he saw Katrina flying next to him with ease. She smiled at him brightly, her black eyes sparkling. Piccolo smiled back at her.
Suddenly, Katrina laughed and pointed ahead of him. He looked but there wasn't much time. He suddenly went face first into the mountain. Katrina laughed. "C'mon, Gohan! Hurry up!"
Piccolo, still flat against the mountain, saw as Gohan and Katrina flew past him to circle the mountains. He finally pushed off the mountain and flew off. "That was not fair!!" He shouted up to them, but they only laughed in return.
Piccolo powered up and flew as fast as he could to try and catch up. But no matter how fast he flew, he was still behind them. In the home stretch, Piccolo suddenly reached out and grabbed Katrina's black tail that was flapping around behind her.
Almost immediately she stopped and Piccolo ran right into her. Gohan stopped when he found out that Katrina was no longer flying next to him.
Just as suddenly as she had stopped, Katrina became limp and started to fall over. Piccolo managed to catch her before she fell. Gohan flew up to them. "What happened?" He asked curiously.
"I...don't know..." Piccolo trailed off, looking into the unconscious face of the girl in his arms. "I just pulled her tail to slow her down..."
"I wonder why..." Gohan said, staring at Katrina. Both remained silent for a moment, pondering what could have been the cause. Then it suddenly clicked. "Oh! That's right. Tails are weak spots!"