CHAPTER 47:
Awakening

Pan stirred, incoherently mumbling to herself as she numbly sensed her body shifting on her mat. She was only vaguely aware of a slight breeze that cooled her temple, but it was enough that her body felt chilled and exposed. Slowly, she opened her eyes in a daze, her vision glazed by her fading dreams.

She moved her lips slightly as she felt feeling return to her body, but her head swam and her mind felt clouded by her lack of sleep. It was still dark, and her eyes were slightly swollen and sensitive from the slight nap that she managed for the past few hours.

Something felt out of place.

The night was almost jet-black and Pan could not see anything beyond the almost imperceptible silhouette of her hand. She turned and felt the ground blindly for a candle. After wrapping her fingers around the wax, she formed a slight energy ball and quickly lit it aflame.

Shadows began to waltz between cracks the cave walls, dancing to the flickering candle and casting an eerie yellow glow on her few belongings she had folded in her corner. She half-warily looked up to Piccolo's bed, but found, to her slight surprise, that the Namek was missing.

She yawned and sat up in her futon, rubbing her eyes sleepily and her blood began to flow again within her. She stretched her arms and cracked her neck, rotating her shoulders to get some feeling back, but no matter how hard she tried to awaken her body, her head still felt like it was swimming in pressure and was going to burst if she didn't get more sleep.

She looked over to Piccolo's empty bed again and groaned, hanging her head as she tried to focus her senses and find his ki. It was hard to think straight through her headache, but she managed to somewhat collect herself as she reached out with her mind and managed to pinpoint him slightly to the south.

She smiled slightly to herself as she shook her head at her own accomplishment. A year ago, she never would have been able to sense that low of a power level. Piccolo was currently masking his ki, yet she managed to find him anyway. Her frequent ki sensing games with him were really paying off. She could sense her improvement significantly.

Pan seemed to have gotten better at everything she did. She was quicker, she was stronger, she was more confident, and most of all, she was more mature. She found it a lot easier to talk to Piccolo nowadays because she was able to picture herself more on his level. Sure, he wasn't much of a conversationalist, but it felt good to feel like she was growing up.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed since Piccolo first started training her. It felt like years. She could be any age now, and she would have no idea. She barely even knew what her reflection was like. Every once in a while, while gathering water, she'd catch a glimpse of her distorted reflection in the small waterfall in the creek, but it was still hard to tell what she really looked like.

However, she knew her body had grown. When she first left for space with her grandfather and Trunks, she had been several inches shorter than five feet, barely coming up to her mother's chin. Her clothes fit her snugly and had a good length. But, as the year in space progressed, her pants seemed to get shorter on her, and while training with Piccolo, he convinced her to abandon her old clothes entirely. It was as if she had gone through a late growth spurt. Unfortunately, she didn't have the opportunity to go shopping for a new wardrobe lately, but it was a relief to know Piccolo could create several gis for her. Although it took a while, his colors really began to grow on her.

Pan took a deep breath and stood up, straightening her purple gi. Bending down, she picked up her orange belt, tinted brown in the candlelight, and wrapped it around her waist. After sighing softly, she picked up her crumpled bandana and tied it tightly around her head to keep her hair back. Whenever Pan enjoyed off-time from training, she usually preferred to wear her bandana over Piccolo's weighted hat. In a way, it was like she was able to cling on to a last reminder of her grandfather. And, like Goku, she intended to wear the keepsake when battling Vegeta. Maybe it might hold a stroke of luck to it, in the end.

Smoothing her bandana against her head, Pan leaned over and picked up her candle, handling it gently as she clasped both her hands around its thin body. Breathing slowly, she turned and walked out of the cave and into the jet-black night.

Without a planet in the sky, it was hard to make out any figures or silhouettes. Starlight just didn't have enough luminosity to provide her eyes with good light, even though Piccolo was able to see just fine. Pan felt helpless in the dark, and cursed herself under her breath for having to rely on a candle to find her way around. If Piccolo saw that she was depending on an accessory to navigate within the woods, he'd castigate her the entire evening.

Hesitating a moment, Pan tried to consider what was best for the moment, and then ultimately decided on pleasing her sensei. Piccolo had been in a good mood all evening, ever since making a wish on the dragonballs. She didn't want to be the one to spoil the mood; so, with a quick breath and a lasting heartbeat, Pan quickly blew out the candle, once again suscepting herself to darkness, but with the intent on finding her way around through another means.

Closing her eyes and reaching out with her senses, she laboriously tried to picture the terrain in her mind. Everything alive had a ki – the grass, the trees, the night owls and crickets which chirped in a symphony of nature – everything. By each small ki, she was able to sense the world and each creature and plant in it. Unlike Piccolo, however, she was new to the practice and her ability to sense such sensitive ki was still limited to a several meter radius, and it didn't help her that her head was foggy, but it aided her in finding her way as she slowly walked through the clearing, past trees and boulders, up a hill, and ultimately, to a small cliff where Piccolo was sitting alone.

When Pan reached his side, she opened her eyes, but could barely make him out in the darkness. He was so incredibly still and silent, she could only make a rough estimate as to where his arms were, and sat a few inches farther than him than she would have, just in case she might have sat on his hand.

The cliff on the hill was not very steep, nor did it fall a great distance, but it provided a nice ledge to sit on and watch the stars, which, in the jet blackness, brilliantly glittered the sky like dancing fireflies. The wind was calm, and the night was cool but not too chilly. Pan suddenly felt an inner peace as she took in the energy around her and the songs that lingered in the air.

After a few moments of silence, Pan turned her head to where Piccolo's dark silhouette sat beside her. She hesitated a brief few seconds, shifting her seat and fingering her candle nervously, lest he be upset that she cracked the peacefulness of the evening, but then forced herself to relax. With a long exhaling breath, Pan reminded herself of the wonderful day she and Piccolo had, and how things were just going to get better from there. This thought brought a surge of contentment coursing through her, flushing her cheeks slightly as she smiled.

"I think…" She tilted her head slightly, "I think I finally understand why you love the wilderness so much."

There was a pause as a fluttering of wings ruffled tree branches a distance away from them.

"Oh?"

"The life here… How you can feel everything, how it's so innocent and pure, that it's… it's indescribable." Pan brought her hands to her lap and leaned her head down, "It's something people have to feel in order to really understand."

"I'm glad you've finally learned how to see without your eyes, Pan." Pan heard Piccolo shift slightly, "But that's not why I like the wilderness."

"Why do you, then?" Pan propped her elbows on her knees and leaned forward, facing his shadow.

"There is no reason."

There was another long pause as the crickets continued their song. The blackness was like a blanket that was just threatening to smother Pan where she sat, just as thick and palpable as the headache that throbbed within her forehead.

"Well…" Pan scratched her cheek as her eyes rose to look at the stars, trying her best to locate any light as her headache threatened to make her slightly nauseous. "What about the wilderness do you like."

"Is this why you're up? To pester me about why I like the wilderness? Grow up, kid."

"No, no…" Pan leaned back and waved her hands in front of her to correct his faulted thought, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" Pan shook her head and leaned it against her propped hands again, "Sorry, never mind."

Piccolo huffed grouchily and shifted his seat again, "Yeah, yeah." His cape flapped slightly in the wind as his body turned to face her, "Get back to bed."

"What time is it?"

"Early; late; whatever, the sun is going to rise in about an hour, so if I were you I'd get some sleep. I'm not going easy on you tomorrow."

There was a pause as Pan sat up and fingered her candle gently. "Have you slept at all?"

"I'll sleep later."

Pan raised an eyebrow as a slight tingle of confusion touched her eyes, "Is there something else of greater importance or something?" She tried to make his silhouette out from the slight starlight, but her eyes just refused to adjust. "Why are you out here, anyway? I mean, why are you up?"

She could feel his eyes on hers and knew very well that his eyes could see through almost anything, light or dark. There were some times when Piccolo had been able to make out details of far-away objects or people using his talents. He claimed his third eye was just an extension of his ki control, sensing minute details and being able to picture it in his mind, but Pan believed it also had to do with how he was partly Kami, whom her grandfather had claimed to have an ability to picture scenes from great distances.

His eyes were still watching her as the silence progressed. It began to make Pan slightly edgy when he didn't respond right away, and every succeeding moment caused her to become slightly more uncomfortable.

Pan tried to distract herself by focusing on the ground below the cliff, but the energy at that range was too small to sense, especially with her clouded head. It would take her a long time to be able to develop Piccolo's skills.

Feeling the darkness closing in on her, Pan continued to finger the candle in her hands. It was getting to the point where she was almost frustrated by her blindness. With a quick ball of ki, Pan lit the candle again and watched as the flame slowly but surely grew in light, casting a slight orange glow on Pan's and Piccolo's skin.

Pan turned her head to look at Piccolo, who was looking up at the sky. He didn't even seem to notice the new source of light, he was so caught up in his thought.

His voice suddenly pierced the silence in its gruffness as he turned his head to face her, and said with a somewhat casual intonation. "Have you ever seen a moon, Pan?"

Pan blinked twice as she leaned forward, "I've…" She knotted her brow slightly, as she looked at him, "Well, yeah, I have, during my trip to space, but…" She then shook her head slightly as if to catch herself, "I mean…" She looked up the stars with a nostalgic smile, "I've been on a moon, too…"

"Oh?" He tiled his head slightly, "Which moon?"

"You've never heard of it." Pan sighed as she remembered the events that happened on the moon so long ago. Subconsciously, she began fingering the ring that lay wrapped around her left ring finger with her free hand as she continued her explanation, "It's a moon called, um…" Pan blinked again and rolled her eyes up to try to remember the name, "Ki… Kick something… Oh man..." She shook her head, "I always remembered it by associating it with kicking Giru. 'Kick Giru'... Kick… Kihhh... ah, oh! I know." Pan smiled suddenly and turned to face Piccolo, "Kikaru, that's it."

"Huh? Kikaru?" Piccolo frowned into the darkness beyond them, "That name sounds familiar for some reason."

"Nah, you wouldn't know it," Pan shook her head as her gaze returned to the stars, "It's on the other side of the galaxy." Pan felt her eyebrows tilt upward as a wave of nostalgia suddenly hit her, "But you know… a lot of interesting events happened on that moon, that's for sure… Like…"

Frowning slightly, Pan tried to think of a conversation starter, and looked to the ground by her hands as she wracked her mind. When her eyes fell on her left hand, a certain glint of humor returned to them after so long, and she grinned to herself.

"Did you ever wonder where I got this ring?" Pan moved her candle to her right hand and held her left up to the light. The light of the flame glinted off the translucent gold, giving it a bright shine as it mirrored the flame's dance. "I'm surprised you've never commented on it before."

"Yeah, I've noticed it, but I really could care less where you got it." Piccolo scratched his left antenna as he nonchalantly glanced at her hand, "It doesn't interfere with your punches and it doesn't melt during ki blasts, so I found no need to tell you to remove it. Why?"

"Did you notice…" Pan shook her head with a nostalgic smile, "… that Trunks had a similar ring?"

"The glowing thing?" Piccolo knotted his brow in a frown, "Yeah I noticed." He suddenly narrowed his eyes, "You're not going to start making me talk about jewelry, are you?"

"No! No…" Pan shook her head violently, "I was just saying… When I was on Kikaru, in order to retrieve one of your Black Star Dragonballs, we had to get, well…." Pan laughed a little while her cheeks flushed a bit, "… married."

There was a long silence, then. And the silence continued to linger as Pan looked at Piccolo with a small frown as she was anticipating what he was going to say.

It suddenly struck Pan how incredibly awkward her last comment was. She had said it as if it weren't that hard to say, but it was something that she had spent months pondering and getting over. It was hard to put herself in Piccolo's shoes, hearing that statement and trying to realize the shock all over again. It was at that moment, Pan wished she could have taken that statement back. The silence was a pure indication that something terrible was going through Piccolo's mind.

The pause continued to linger as her candle flickered in the breeze. Pan searched Piccolo's face as he looked out to the night, staring blankly as his eyes remained unblinking. The moment continued to grow more awkward as the abrupt pause was like a blade that sliced through her entire evening. Pan felt a few beads of sweat appear on her forehead as her cheeks flushed again and she coughed as she reached up to scratch her head.

The crickets chirped in the background as Pan cleared her throat. She uncomfortably shifted her seat, unsure of what to say. She wanted to back her last comment up with something, but the pause had already been too long by this point. It was Piccolo's move, and her head began to throb even more as her heart beat loud enough that she thought it could rival all the insects in the entire wilderness. She tried to keep her breathing stable and calm so as not to get dizzy from her anxiety, but as the moments dragged on, she was beginning to lose her nerve.

Just when she felt her head beginning to spin, however, the silence was broken as Piccolo suddenly coughed and turned his head to face her. His eyes were hard as they pierced her own for a moment before slowly lowering to study the ring on her left hand.

When he spoke, it was monotone, almost as if nonchalantly thrown into the wind, "It makes sense now."

With that, he turned his head and began to look out to the darkness again. Pan just frowned as she replayed his past comment in her mind. With each recap, her eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper as the edges of her mouth curled downward. "What makes sense?"

"Why you're alive."

Pan frowned even deeper as she felt a tinge of confused anger swell in her chest, "What do you mean, why I'm alive?"

There was another gaping silence as she continued to glare at him. The tightness grew in her stomach to the point that she couldn't even sit still anymore. Pan stood up, squeezing the candle tightly in her left land as she loomed down on him, "What do you mean by that, Piccolo!"

"Exactly that. Now sit down."

She bared her teeth angrily as a sudden swarm of anger swelled her throat, "You tell me what you mean by that! What do you think I am! Some defenseless girl who can't fight back to save her own life!"

"SIT.DOWN.NOW!" Piccolo smacked the ground hard with his right hand, shaking the entire cliff and causing small rocks to tumble down its edge toward the dark abyss below. "Don't you EVER talk back to me!"

Pan's anger suddenly left her as quickly as a stampede of wild horses fleeing madly from a predator. She felt her blood drain as her face turned paler than chalk, and she swallowed hard as she plopped herself down without any resistance. She tried her best to keep her hands from trembling, she was so incredibly intimidated. There was no telling what Piccolo would do to her in the morning for that outburst. She wanted to kick herself for acting so foolish. She should have been more mature than that.

"Now that you've finally got some sense back into you," he grunted, "Do you even realize what those rings do, Pan?" Piccolo turned to her with a hard glare that sucked the life right out of her.

Her eyes widened as she issued a loud gulp and shook her head, "Ahh?" She raised an eyebrow as she blinked, "Well, um… ahh…" Her gaze shifted somewhat as she slouched her shoulders a bit, "I thought I knew… but… I mean…" She shifted her seat and looked away in embarrassment, "I guess I never really gave it much thought…"

He stared long and cold at her as a silence suddenly made its way between them again. But after a few moments, he turned his head and looked up to the stars, "As the former guardian of Earth, I have had the opportunity to expose myself to knowledge of other worlds within the northern hemisphere." He looked to her again, "And I've learned a lot of their customs and traditions."

Pan swallowed heavily as she felt a few beads of sweat appear on her temple. "And…? I mean –"

"–Did you know…" Piccolo interrupted her with a knotted brow ridge, "That only twenty-five planets in this entire northern quadrant…" He looked sharply at her, "… have marriages by law?"

Pan blinked in confusion and found her tongue suddenly knotted, "Wh..Wha? I-I don't understand?"

"Listen, I'm only going to say this once." Piccolo's glare pierced her through the candlelight, "I personally think that marriages are ridiculous wastes of time, but most others in this universe believe in the idea of 'love'…" He grunted as if the word had been a filthy word to say, "But it tends to be a popular emotion, and in the course of events, methods of marriage began to be supported by the Kais."

"What do you mean?" Pan raised an eyebrow.

"There was something called," Piccolo looked up a moment, "I don't even know what it's called. Some soul bonding or something, but it doesn't matter. It involves rings, and it was granted to all planets with pure-hearted life-forms."

Pan looked down at her ring as Piccolo continued on, feeling an unsuspecting dread as to what he was going to say.

"The rings…" He continued with a deep frown, "are intended to secure each others' lives together until death do them part. They are a contract in themselves."

"But we have those marriages here…"

"No you don't." Piccolo shook his head, "Here, the vow is only as good as words and paper." He paused to look hard at her confused expression, "But practically everywhere else, you word is quite literally your bond." He looked down at her ring again, "And in most marriages, excluding Earth, you are not able to perform or witness the death of your spouse without doing everything in your power, to your last breath of life, to prevent it from happening."

"But I still don't understand–"

"–Trunks would have killed you." Piccolo threw a hand before her face to shut her up in mid-sentence. He suddenly began to growl as if another, more menacing thought came to his mind. "But obviously he couldn't. And you know what that means."

"That I'm alive?" Pan perked up and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"No, you IDIOT!" Piccolo stood up so quickly, a cloud of dust swirled around his feet. He pointed a finger to her as he raised his voice angrily, "That means that YOU can't kill HIM! AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!"

"Shhh!" Pan looked around in a panic as his voice boomed and echoed off of all the mountains within their range.

"It's the end for me, AUGH!" Piccolo grabbed at his antennae and paced in a circle. "That's IT!"

"Shhh, Piccolo, it's not that bad! Really!"

"Listen to you, telling me it's NOT THAT BAD!" He pointed to her again and said in a gruff and menacing voice, "That means I'm going to be the one to fight Trunks, and you're going to attack me, trying to SAVE HIM! That's what it means!"

"No! No!" Pan shook her head violently as she stood as quickly as she could. "It won't be like that, I swear!"

"To think, I'd be slain by my own pupil…" Piccolo growled and dusted off his gi pants angrily. "That's it… That's IT!" He began to storm away, shaking the ground slightly with each enraged stomp.

"Wait, Piccolo! Wait! Where are you going!" Pan reached out her hand to try to follow him into the night, but he was moving too fast, and the candlelight only went so far. She was too distraught to concentrate, and blindly began to follow his general direction, trying to make her way to him. "Piccolo! Piccolo, where did you go?"

"I'm going to bed." There was a pause as Pan made her way over to the direction of his voice, but found he had already moved on.

"Piccolo… Piccolo!" Pan stumbled and tripped over a rock, causing her candle to fly out of her hand and fizzle out once it hit the grass. Pan landed on her knees and brought her hands down to the ground as she felt the painful heartache of rejection, realizing Piccolo had just walked away from her.

She felt her head become cloudy again and sniffled back several tears. She still didn't understand. She didn't understand why Piccolo just abandoned her like that. It didn't make any sense.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt the darkness close in on her. She remained kneeling on the ground for several minutes as she tried to calm herself, to find her zen, to think of any happy thoughts she might still have after so many months without feeling loved. Even memories of Trunks and Goku caused her to cringe at the thought. She realized, without Piccolo, she really would be nothing. She felt the tinges of depression threaten to overwhelm her again as she suffocated in the darkness, but tried to force them back as she attempted to clear her mind.

"How is it, that whenever I leave you alone, you always are either moping, crying, or feeling sorry for yourself?"

Pan jerked at the words and looked up to darkness, trying to focus her eyes on the voice. Not being able to see anything, she blindly reached out her hands to try to find him, and accidentally brushed his leg. She jerked her hand back as if she touched a hot stove and looked down shamefully.

"Get up."

Pan stood up, keeping a determined look on her face as her eyebrows frowned and she bit her lip, trying to hold her emotions at bay.

"Look at me." At the sound of his voice, the candle she dropped suddenly lit in his hand. He must have picked it up while she had been cradling herself on the ground. The sudden realization of this caused a tint to come to her cheeks as she felt a wave of embarrassment course through her body.

Pan looked up at him, trying to hide any expression, and watched as he looked down at her with a stoic and hard face.

"Tell me, Pan, what is the source of confidence."

She looked unblinkingly at him as she repeated a drill he had ingrained in her mind over the course of the months, "Power."

"What is the source of power."

"Pride."

"No. That is where you are wrong." Piccolo shook his head, "The source of power is knowledge, Pan, not pride." He looked hard at her, "Those with pride are fools." He waited a pause before continuing, stating calmly and seriously, "However…" He looked sternly at her, "not all those with knowledge are wise."

Pan frowned, "I don't understand…?"

"You must remember…" Piccolo held the candle closer to her, but did not allow his eyes to stray from her own, "That the outcome of a battle is not determined by strength alone."

"I know–"

"–No, Pan. I want you to really understand what I'm saying." Piccolo's stare turned to stone as he became even more serious in the darkness. The candlelight cast dangerous shadows along his face as he continued, "Don't always rely on strength and speed to get you by in a battle. Always have a strategy, and a backdoor in case things don't work out as planned."

Pan's frown faded as her eyes became confused. "That's a principle rule, isn't it?"

"I just want to make sure you understand that," Piccolo nodded slightly, "because I want to do something I've never done before, but I don't want you to confuse power and pride."

"What are you…?" Pan frowned again as she saw his eyes waver and looked down in surprise when he shoved the candle into her hands. "What…?"

"I want to tell you something you might not know about me." Piccolo walked away a few feet and looked up to the sky. "It's something I don't think even Gohan understands."

Pan walked after him a few paces with blinking eyes, "What is it?"

Piccolo continued to stare at the stars as he said, "It is common knowledge that I am a fusion between both Kami and my original body, Piccolo." He looked over at her, "But there is a third part of me, a part that links me to Dende, back to our days on Namek."

"There is?" Pan frowned thoughtfully.

"Nail… I used to also be called Nail." He looked back to the stars, as if searching for a pinpoint of light that reminded him of home. "And, as Nail, I used to be the successor to a great Namek, my mentor, my father…" He sighed nostalgically and then turned to face her. "Pan…"

"Hmm?"

"You once asked me if I missed anyone."

Pan looked to him in slight confusion. "Yeah… Yes, I did… That was during Giru's funeral."

"I lied to you."

Pan frowned deeply, "Huh? What?" She blinked, "I don't… I mean…?"

"His name was Guru." Piccolo looked down for a moment before raising his eyes to look at her again. "He was… one of the most amazing, honorable people I'll ever know in my lifetime, and he was wise beyond his years."

"What happened to him?"

Piccolo gave a slight smirk and shook his head while looking away, "He passed on to the next dimension. He died of old age. But…" He looked back to the stars as he continued, "His talent… did not die with him."

"His talent…?"

It was around this time, Pan began to realize the eastern horizon was beginning to turn a dark shade of blue. Light was slowly returning to the world, one hue at a time as Piccolo stood there, watching the stars as they began to dim.

"I never was able to master it. But, as a successor to the Namekian rule, I trained to learn it, to whatever degree I could." He took a breath and turned his eyes to her, "I want to do something, Pan. I want to see if I'm able to awaken your hidden powers."

"My what?" Pan knotted her brows and made a face, "What are you talking about?"

"This is something that can give you the upper hand, even though you wear a ring that bonds you to one of the enemies. It's a good card to always have in your deck just in case." Piccolo put a hand on her shoulder, earning a blink and a startled gaze from her. "Just relax."

In that moment, Pan closed her eyes, and felt a warmth begin to flow through her. At first, it was like a trickle, a soft and steady flow of power that rippled like small waves within her. But then, suddenly, her eyes flew open as a swarm of energy engulfed her in heat, tingling her mind as she gasped, the intake of air causing her body to shake from the overwhelming power that grew within her.

It only lasted for a moment, but Pan felt as if she had the wind knocked out of her. She felt exhausted, as if her body had gone through a week-long training session, and it took everything in her conscious mind to keep herself from falling to her knees.

"I'm sorry that I could only grant you that fraction, Pan." Piccolo nodded, "The rest, you'll have to unlock on your own."

"That…fraction?" Pan gasped and took a step backward as she tried to take a few calming breaths, feeling more alive than ever, but slightly dizzy from the after-effects of such energy flowing through her.

"I never gave you that power before, because I wanted you to learn how to survive without it. Don't rely on that to save your life. Especially…. Especially… if you encounter Trunks, and Baby is close by." He shook his head, "You'd find things might get… complicated."

Pan took another few breaths and adjusted her bandana with her free hand as she gave a slight huff, "No need to worry." She smiled warmly to him, "With you by my side, nothing can get in our way. We can win this war!"

Piccolo smirked slightly and tilted his head, "What did I tell you about letting power get to your head?"

Pan let out a relieved laugh and gave him a slight wink as a reply.

Light began to poke through the horizon as the first tints of orange made their way to the sky.

Piccolo looked up and gave a sigh, "Well, might as well catch a last bit of shut-eye." He looked to Pan, "You coming back with me?"

Pan smiled, "Yeah, sure." She looked down and realized she was still holding the candle. With a quick huff, she blew it out, as the light in the sky gave her perfect vision for the walk back.

Pan began to follow Piccolo as they made their way past a few boulders and down the hillside. As she sped up slightly to walk beside him, she turned her head and asked casually, "So, Piccolo… what were you doing up so late, anyway?"

Piccolo gave a half-chuckle as he shook his head dejectedly. "I was waiting up for the moon." He looked to the rising sun and smirked, "I guess I really did wish for a 'new moon'."

He grinned at her as they made their way into the cave, "Ah well… I guess I'll destroy it another night…"

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