The sun peaks over the horizon of a new morning, but Piccolo and his identical counterpart are already a few hours into their training for the day. They each stand opposing one another with their arms crossed and their eyes tightly shut. Deep wrinkles squirm on their foreheads as they focus intently on the levitating boulder between them.
The uneven chunk of rock sways back and forth from telekinetic impulses from either side. With a diameter four or more times his own height, the pressure it exerts on his mind feels like his brain will implode any moment. He desperately tries to clear his psyche of distracting thoughts, but they keep creeping in. Each one of them allows the boulder to crawl slightly closer to him. After every lapse, his counteracting psychic pushes never gain as much ground as he loses.
"You're slipping," coos the clone. "Anything the matter?"
Anger flushes in Piccolo's head from the mockery, but this only exacerbates his predicament. He tries to channel the rage toward the stone behemoth willing it to move back to the middle where it started. But it is no use, his rising temper clouds his thoughts.
The boulder picks up speed as it floats towards him. He desperately shoves both hands forward, a meaningless gesture in a mental duel. The rock presses up against his open palms. He slides backwards along the ground. His rage piquing, he fills the earthy mass with ki until it explodes.
"Aaarrrggghhh!" shouts Piccolo while the dust and debris disperses around him.
"Well that settles that," he hears his clone say.
He looks up to see his double marching confidently over to him.
"Settles what?" he demands.
"You've lost your edge," says the doppelganger. "And it's been slipping away for some time now."
"No it hasn't!"
"Don't give me that," scoffs the copy. "You've wanted to kill Goku since the day you were born. That is your purpose. For eight years you have failed to achieve it. Eight long, lonely years."
"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about."
"You can't fool me. I'm part of you. The part of you that still believes in the dream of the Demon King. But you, you've lost faith in yourself. You're wondering what else life has to offer if you can't do the one thing that's supposed to bring you fulfillment."
"I don't need this! We're supposed to be training."
"Clearly you do. You need to get your head straight because you couldn't even maintain a shoki exercise for half the time I could have. Without a singular focus on what you want to be and achieve, the full potential of your ki cannot be unleashed since it'll be divided among several paths. That's why you can't concentrate. Because your mind can't control the inner turmoil which lets in the distracting thoughts."
"I know that!"
"Apparently you don't and are in need of a lesson," reprimands the clone. "You're worrying about what will make you happy. You've been wondering why Goku is happy with his family and friends and whether you would be happier with some of your own. But that's just the weakness talking."
It continues. "Remember what happened when Goku tried protecting his family and friends? He died. And guess what? They and the planet are still in danger. Nothing has changed. The world and its people will always be one step away from death no matter how many times he risks his life. So why get attached?
"And even if he had survived, he would have lost a friend instead. And then what? Now he'd be sad over their death and probably angry too. So all the negative emotions you're having from being alone would be just as bad if you put yourself in his situation. So give up this stupid notion of believing he's happier than you. It disgusts me, and I don't want to be around it anymore. Do what you're supposed to do and stop comparing it to anyone else. Now take the rest of the day to get your shit together. Next time you summon me, you better have it figured out."
The double merges with its original in a flash of light. Piccolo drops to one knee. His eyes are wide and his teeth clenched.
…
The light and warmth of a new day's light fall upon Gohan's forehead like his mother's hand checking for a fever. He does not stir at the touch. His eyes merely creep open. Hunger roars from his stomach.
He unpins his chin from his shoulder, dragging it along the rough surface it rests on. His gaze lands on a fire from the previous night. It glows with orange embers. Knowing he must tend to the dying heat, he finally rustles into motion. His arms and legs creak as if they are withered branches, moving only as much as necessary. He slides down a bumpy yet even plane.
His feet touch solid ground and his legs nearly buckle under his deteriorating weight. He leans against the lilac splotched shell of the egg he slept on all night.
"Good morning egg. I hope I kept you warm last night," he says. "Let me get the fire going again okay."
He makes his way across the grassy patched plateau he is still stuck on. He stops at every tall weed along the way. He suckles at their slender leaves to slurp up the dew for some much needed hydration.
He eventually comes to a wiry bramble of sticks. This mangled mess of a nest was where he found the egg a couple days ago. It rests between two rocky structures to keep it out of sight of any predators. He breaks off as much wood as he needs to get the fire going again and returns to the egg.
Gohan plops down beside the unborn creature and stokes the flames with new fuel. His stomach cries with hunger. It practically collapses in on itself with every rumble it gives. He looks at the egg for a long moment. His stomach goes through another series of growls.
"Don't worry egg, I'm not going to eat you," he says.
He turns back to the growing flames as he continues to poke them and throw more branches on.
"I just hope I get to see you hatch, even if I die doing it. It's funny, I never thought about dying before. But ever since my dad did, I've been thinking about it a lot. And while I don't want to, I don't want to take another life to save my own. That just doesn't seem right to me. You deserve the chance to live just like everyone else. I was hoping your mommy would be back by now but I guess I'm all you've got for the moment. So I'll do my best to keep you alive. I promise."
On another plateau not far away, Piccolo sits in a meditative pose. His face continuously contorts as his eyes squint tighter and tighter and his jaw clenches harder and harder. Then both burst open as he yells out and jumps to his feet.
"Want to be like Goku. Ha. That's a laugh," he says. "I've never needed anyone before so why start now. No, what's been pissing me off is that my life might rely on that child over there who's just as soft as Goku. He can't even eat an egg that would feed him for days when it's presented itself right in front of him. I was going to start training him soon but obviously that would just be a waste of time. Might as well let him die up there for all the good he'll do against the Saiyans. If he won't kill a harmless egg, then he'll never be ready for a fight to the death."
He grumbles and mutters to himself before finally settling down and sitting again. His eyes close but still dart around behind their lids.
Gohan spends the rest of the day keeping the fire going and lying next to the egg. He tells it stories of his dad's adventures growing up. When dusk falls upon the world for the third time since reaching the summit, he attempts to climb on the egg for another night. But he does not have enough strength in his legs to hop up its side high enough to get over the curve of its shell. He tries a couple more times but is left more fatigued after each one. He finally turns his back to the egg and slides down it to his butt.
"I'm sorry Egg," he says. "I don't have the energy to get up there anymore. I don't know if either one of us will make it through the night now. I wish I'd been able to do more. I wish I could've seen my mommy one more time…"
He trails off as tears dampen his eyes a little. His body cannot even produce enough for them to run down his cheeks. Amidst his dry crying, something bumps his back. He turns his head but only sees the egg. A loud cracking sound followed by a shove knocks him on his stomach.
He looks over his shoulder to see a leg sticking out of the light purple and white shell. Fissures begin to spiderweb out from that spot as more of the creature hatches. At first it looks like a dinosaur with lilac scales and a yellowish underbelly. Three sets of paired horns stick out of its head, two from each side and a set on top.
The reptile stands up straight breaking out of the rest of its container. It rolls both shoulder and wings unfold themselves spreading wide. At its full height, the dragon stands taller than Gohan himself. Its eyes blink open a few times before its wings start flapping. Within a few trots of its feet, it is airborne.
The dragon circles the plateau Gohan is on alerting Piccolo to its presence from his distant vantage point. Gohan watches in awe as it does a couple loops in the air. Then the boy quickly curls up defensively as the animal suddenly comes in for a landing on top of him. He feels a gust of wind and hears the sound of beating wings. When all is quiet, he looks up.
The dragon straddles him with its legs while looking down upon him. The reptile shoves its head against his chest and inhales deeply through its nostrils. As it raises its head, a warm tongue rubs along Gohan's face. The boy wipes away the saliva before looking at the creature. It seems to smile and wags its tail.
"Wow, I didn't think it was a dragon's egg," he says with tired enthusiasm. "Hey boy, do you think you could carry me down to the lake over there?"
Gohan points to a body of water he had seen while gazing from the mountaintop with nothing else to do. The dragon nods its head as if it understands. It turns around and chirps with a half roar half snort. Gohan climbs onto its back and holds on to the long neck as tightly as he can.
Before he knows it, he is zipping through the sky like the times his father took him for trips on the Flying Nimbus. This ride is tame by comparison except for the landing. They practically crash into the shallow waters of the lake as the dragon swoops in hard skipping across the liquid surface. Gohan eagerly hops down to dunk his head, completely submerging it. When he pulls it out, he sees his companion drinking greedy gulps as well.
"Thanks for the taxi ride, dragon," says Gohan. "You saved my life."
The dragon stops drinking to smile and wags its tail again. The appendage splashes water about spraying Gohan in the face.
"Hey watch it," he giggles.
Piccolo grimaces down at the sight from far overhead. He watches the spectacle for a moment longer before giving one last sneer. With a twirl of his cape, he flies off.