AN- I was a little upset that so few people responded about the Piccolo chapter, but oh well. The fanfiction business has seemed to be a little slow as of late. Seems like ever since the new year started, everything has slowed to a crawl. I for one, do not feel good about this new year, at the moment, nothing but trouble has come from it. But enough about me. We move on to the Tien chapter, which is awesome, because Tien is the man. cough sorry. just had to slip that in there.


Tien sat in the small chamber provided for sleep. At the moment, Krillin and Yamcha were not around, so he had the area to himself. He closed his eyes and concentrated. It was not as easy to contact Chaozu from such a great distance. This was his first time in space, after all. Finally, after probing for several seconds, the familiar ki of the little emperor was found.

Chaozu... can you hear me?

Tien? Is that you?

Of course. How are things on earth, my little friend?

I finally got Chi Chi to calm down. That was not easy, ya know.

Heh. Good work. What of Bulma and Launch?

Well, Bulma just shrugged and said he was better off in outer space. I didn't stick around. But I haven't been able to find Launch.

I see. Well, for now, it is unimportant. I need you to talk to Kami for me.

Kami?

Yes. I have information that he might find pertinent.

What's pertinent?

...Have you been keeping up with your studies, Chaozu?

...ummm... yeah. Of course!

Chaozu, I can peer into your thoughts. You cannot lie to me.

Sorry, Tien. It's just so boring!

A good warrior knows his weaknesses, and corrects them. You must continue your studying.

Fine... I'll let you know when I get to Kami's tower.

Excellent. I await your arrival.

Tien pulled himself out of his telepathic connection. I need to take my own advice. It is time to train. I cannot be this far behind Piccolo and Goku. Even they are nothing when in comparison to Raditz. And Raditz is deathly afraid of this Frieza. Scared enough to swallow his pride and ask for assistance. At the moment, we are nothing more than a hindrance. Even Goku. We must strive to reach a new plateau of power.

Tien left his room and went off to find someone to spar with. But for the moment, we will leave Piccolo out of my training regiment.

Down at the end of the hall, Tien found Krillin sitting in a corner, attempting to meditate. Tien tapped Krillin on the shoulder, bringing the small monk out of his inner thoughts.

"Oh, hey Tien. What can I do for you?"

"Do you wanna spar?"

Krillin nodded, standing up. "Awesome. They have this strange machine here that ups the gravity of the training room. I tried to get Yamcha to try it, but he was a little worried. C'mon, if this thing works the way I think it does, we'll get really strong really fast. You in?"

Tien shook his head. "Have you ever known me to turn down a chance to get stronger?"


Krillin grinned as he messed with several buttons on the gravity machine. The room was bare, except for the huge machine that was in the center of the room. "You ready for two times earth's gravity?"

Tien nodded. "Will we be able to go all out in this room?"

"I talked to Raditz earlier. He said the walls are specially designed to absorb ki. We can't blow this room up."

Tien smirked. "Then you are in serious trouble."

Krillin dropped into his version of the Kame Sennin stance. He lifted his right arm behind his head and brought his left arm in front of him for protection. He laughed softly and motioned for Tien to attack him. "I hope you can back that up."

Tien dashed at Krillin, swinging his arm in a backhand chop. Krillin flipped over the strike, shooting an small energy blast down towards Tien. Tien spun around, and caught the blast, causing it to dissipate in his hands. Krillin took the opportunity to land a kick into the midsection of the triclops, causing him to skid across the ground. He flipped up, bouncing off the wall. He twisted his body so that his elbow was flying directly at Krillin. Krillin smiled, his form suddenly becoming a blur. Several faded copies of the smaller fighter began appearing from every angle. Tien's eyes narrowed.

"You know this trick won't work on me, Krillin! My third eye can spot you out no problem!"

Tien lashed out with his knee, falling forward as he passed through the illusion. An energy ball came flying from behind him, and he barely managed to dodge out of the way. Different copies of Krillin began shooting off blasts, the volley getting harder for Tien to dodge as the ki began coming out faster. Tien grimaced as a blast graced his side. This wouldn't be so hard if I knew where he was coming from. This gravity isn't making things any easier! How is Krillin able to move this fast in this room? The little guy must have been training very hard these past few years...I have so much catching up to do...

Tien put his hands to his forehead, performing one of the signature moves of the Tsuru Sennin style. "Taiyoken!" A blinding flash shot out, flooding the room and stopping Krillin in his tracks. Tien quickly locked on to the monk's ki signal and shot forward with a flying kick, catching Krillin square in the jaw. His head bounced off of a wall, and he fell to the ground. The gravity had begun taking it's toll, and he found it harder to stand up. He shakily got to his feet.

"Nice shot. I forgot about the fist of the sun. (AN- the literal translation of Taiyoken)."

Tien smirked. "You've grown a lot in the past few years. Then again, it makes sense. You were keeping up with us when you were still a child. Now that you have matured, you managed to pull ahead. Goku also went through this. When we all gathered for the 23rd budokai, we had all gotten stronger. But you and Goku were beyond us. The transition from being a boy to a man increased your talent as well as your power. I mean, you managed to master the buku jutsu (what allows everyone to fly) by yourself! That was unheard of. Do you know how long it took Yamcha to do it? Even with both Chaozu and I teaching him, it took him forever to get the hang of it. He still isn't very good at it."

Krillin rubbed the back of his head, his face taking on a reddish hue. He wasn't used to praise. "Well, thanks, Tien. Being the first to train with Goku helped too. Something about him brings out the competitive spirit, ya know what I mean?"

Tien nodded. "All too well. But enough of this. Let's finish this match!"

Krillin dropped back into his stance. "You want to lose already?"

Tien grinned as he dashed forward. "Careful, Krillin! You may have aptitude and power, but I have experience on my side. Overconfidence can defeat even the greatest of fighters!"

The two fighters flew towards each other at an incredible rate, when suddenly a voice rang out from inside Tien's head.

Tien! I'm at Kami's lookout!

The sudden shout broke through Tien's concentration, allowing Krillin to put his fist into Tien's face. The varying forces of momentum all collided, and Tien went sprawling into a wall. He shook his head and sat up.

Chaozu, you have the worst timing in the world.

Krillin walked over to Tien. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Tien smiled. "Good shot. Chaozu sent me a telepathic message. It sort of derailed my train of thought."

Krillin nodded. "Well, I think we've done enough damage for one day. Maybe we should call it quits."

Tien tried to get up, but his depleted energy, coupled with the enhanced gravity prevented him from doing so. Krillin went over to the machine and turned it off. Tien jumped into the air, and almost hit his head on the ceiling. He hit the floor and looked at his own body in awe.

"I feel like I'm half as heavy as I was before we started!"

Krillin grinned. "I figured this would happen. It's similar to Master Roshi's method of training. Once you get used to moving your body with extra weight, it makes moving around without it extra easy."

"Excellent. We will be able to make great progress with this machine. I have to go talk to Chaozu now, but we'll have another session soon."

Tien excused himself and found a quiet spot to sit down.

Sorry Chaozu. I had to finish up with Krillin. Have you spoken to Kami yet?

Not yet. I thought it would make more sense to wait until you told me what you needed him to hear.

Of course. Well, can you read my mind from where you are?

Hmmm…. It's a little fuzzy, but hold on…

It was several minutes before Chaozu responded. Wow! Piccolo and Kami are aliens?

Yes. I think he deserves to know. Explain what is going on with this mission, and be sure to tell him about his past.

Ok. He's here now.

There was several minutes of silence as Chaozu relayed the message. The next thought that came was in the voice of Kami. Thank you for attempting to contact me, Tien. But I already know.

Really? How did you find out?

I share a bond with Piccolo. Everything he hears, I hear. Everything I see, he sees. We were once one and the same, if you remember.

Ah, I see. So you know where we are as well?

Yes. Your mission is a dangerous one, and I pray everything will work out.

We are all going to undergo heavy training, so hopefully we will be fine.

Very well. I will leave you to get back to it. Good luck.

Train hard, Tien!

I will Chaozu. Don't forget your studies.

Yea, yea. Oh! I almost forgot! Goku's son, Gohan, came up to me.

And…?

He wants to become strong like his father, so he can protect his mother while he is gone. He has asked me to train him.

Oh. Does Chi Chi know?

She says that as long as he continues to study as well, she has no problem

Hmmm. The son of Kame Sennin's greatest student being trained in the way of the crane? Interesting. Perhaps you should oblige.

What's oblige mean?

.. You better not let this interfere with your own studies, Chaozu.


AN- Another chapter done. Yay. And a little bit of action to go into it as well. I hope the telepathy conversations weren't too confusing. I did my best to make the speaker implied in each sentence. If it is hard to follow, let me know and I'll fix it. I just didn't think it would flow well if I cut from thoughts to descriptions every sentence. Telepathy is quick and to the point. I hope I get a few more reviews for this chapter, and I'll get to work on the next one, the Krillin chapter. Oh boy! Give me a week or two and it shall be done. Maybe sooner, as I'm in a creative sort of mood.