Catch the monkey. That was the godly training King Kai gave him after spending several weeks acclimating to the higher gravity. It has been over two months, maybe even over three, and all he has done is run on a fake road and chase a chimp. Could this really be the special preparation Kami thought would help him save the world?
"I don't mean to stress you out," says King Kai calling from the front door of his house, "but if you don't catch Bubbles soon, you won't have enough time to learn the art of Kaioken from me."
Goku turns his attention back to the monkey who taunts him with a series of hooting noises accompanied by insulting gyrations of its stout body and thin tail. He runs after Bubbles again in an awkward squatting posture he adapted for locomotion under the gravity weighing him down.
Hopefully that motivates him a little more, King Kai thinks. Although, come to think of it, there probably was never enough time to begin with. I wonder how much he can improve?
Back and forth, up and down. Goku has traveled every square inch of the grassy plateau, maybe enough times to complete half of his Snake Way journey again. Whenever he thinks he is gaining ground, Bubbles reveals he is just playing and increases his speed a little bit more.
"Lunch break!" says King Kai from inside the frame of a large window.
King Kai braces himself for Goku to rush in the front door and slam himself down in a seat at the dinner table. He had not been prepared for the ravenous appetite of the Saiyan when he first arrived. Even his magically refilling food supply could not keep up with the black hole of a stomach Goku held within him.
To his utter surprise, Goku merely walks to the house half dragging his feet. He watches with concern as Goku slowly, almost delicately, consumes one bite after another instead of several at once. His eyes are not on the food this time. They stare through the window.
When lunch is over, they step outside. King Kai officially starts the next session of chasing Bubbles with the wave of his arm. His oversized sleeve flaps like the starting flag of a race. Bubbles sprints off on his stubby legs, but Goku does not leap forward with his usual enthusiasm. In fact, he just stands there examining his palms.
"Uh, Goku?" says King Kai. "You can start."
Goku closes his eyes. A shimmering blue and white orb pops out through the skin of each hand. They are big enough he could not get his fingers around their circumference if he grabbed them.
He crouches and leans his upper body towards Bubbles. His arms straighten down his sides so his palms face away from the monkey. A sonic boom breaks the tranquil silence as the ki spheres burst into rocket boosters.
He zooms at Bubbles who cries in surprise at the unexpected momentum. Goku nearly runs into him, but a quick hop to the side gets the chimp out of the way.
After shooting passed the primate, Goku pushes out his left arm to initiate a right turn. As he comes back around, Bubbles is still catching his breath from the shock of this new tactic. The monkey scurries at breakneck pace as Goku blasts after him once again.
Bubbles makes a sharp turn, but Goku is ready and keeps right on his tail. King Kai smiles while observing the scene.
…
"Again Gohan! And do it right this time."
Piccolo stands with crossed arms over his pupil's shoulder. Gohan raises his hands over his head. The palm of his left rests on the back of his right. He inhales deeply. His arms drop by in front of his chest, and his fingers spread wide.
"Masenko, ha!"
Gohan holds the pose for a moment but nothing happens. He looks back at Piccolo who scowls and bears his fanged teeth.
"How is it possible you've made no progress at all?" says Piccolo. "How many weeks has it been? And I told you to stop adding 'ha' to the end of it. This isn't your dad's Kamehameha. It's called the Masenko for a reason."
Gohan just turns his head to the ground. He looks at the new gi he wears. It is purple like Piccolo's but with a red sash around his waist instead of a blue one. Somehow his teacher made them out of thin air. He sniffles a bit.
"Really? And now you're going to cry again. Honestly, this is ridiculous. I'm wasting my time."
Piccolo emphatically tromps away. He stops immediately when a rise in Gohan's power level surprises him. He looks at the kid who is staring straight back.
"Maybe I could get this if you weren't so insufferable," Gohan says. His voice echoes back with its anger. "It's no wonder no one likes you. You don't have an ounce of kindness in your whole body."
Piccolo opens his mouth to yell back, but Gohan does not stop.
"I've learned math and science far beyond anyone my own age, so I know I'm more than capable of figuring this out too. But not with you screaming at me over every mistake. So why don't you stop blaming me, admit you're an awful instructor, and figure out how to better explain this to me!"
Gohan's breaths seethe in and out for a moment. As Piccolo's expression switches from one of astonishment to one creased with rage, the child loses his edge and starts to worry for his own safety. His gut clenches as he awaits another slap across the head.
Piccolo forces air out of his flared nostrils before speaking.
"What part of the lesson are you not understanding?"
He struggles with the words as if saying each one is a punch to him from an opponent. Gohan only stares at him for a moment.
"I guess I don't understand how to bring out my ki now that I can sense it. You say I need to grab hold of it and pull it out, but I don't know what that means."
"Ki is a beast, and it needs to be tamed. You can't be afraid of it. You need to wrestle control of it for yourself."
"But my life force doesn't feel ferocious like yours does. Maybe I need to harness it differently?"
"It might not feel that way right now, but when your anger boils over, there's no ki I've ever felt more feral than yours."
"Gosh, is it really that scary? I don't think I want a power like that."
"It doesn't really matter what you want. It's inside you whether you like it or not. Better to learn how to control it than letting it control you. Otherwise it might target someone you care about."
Gohan looks at Icarus who wags his tail.
"But for now, maybe you need to build some confidence in your ki control," says Piccolo. "We'll work with what you have right now."
"Okay," says Gohan. His eyes have not yet drifted back to his trainer.
"Your ki is very docile. So maybe try … speaking to it and, uh, asking it to do what you want."
Piccolo grits his teeth through every word.
Gohan concentrates for a moment as a calm look takes his face for the first time today. He gets in the same stance from earlier and calls out the technique's name without the extra syllable. A cloud of yellow smoke poofs in front of his hands. He quickly looks at Piccolo to see how he will react.
Piccolo's lips are stretched flatly from cheek to cheek. He opens them to speak.
"You've finally made some progress. Let's take a break for now and continue from here."
When they return, Gohan fires Masenko after Masenko. At first his hands just spit smoke. Then his attempts start to produce light and warmth. After many hours of inner dialogue and fading mental fortitude, a yellow beam of energy fires from his palms. It barely covers a foot before him, but is his first successful ki wave.
He leaps up and down hollering with laughter. Icarus prances over to him and dances alongside him. Piccolo struggles with a cheerful feeling rising in his chest threatening to uplift his lips.
"Well done Gohan," says Piccolo. "You made me proud."
"So are we going to keep doing this until sunset or switch over to melee combat?"
"Neither, you've burned up too much ki today. You need to rest. Come on."
They saunter over to the cave, Gohan behind his mentor. Piccolo stops abruptly as his pupil yawns walking by. Gohan turns to look at his father's rival. Piccolo's eyelids are peeled back and his mouth agape. A sweat droplet forms beside one of his antennas and runs down his face.
"What's the matter Mister Piccolo?"
"Get in the cave Gohan," says Piccolo.
"But why?"
"Do as I say. No questions."
Gohan hurries into the dark opening spurred on by the terror in his teacher's voice. He hears the thud of Piccolo's weighted clothes hit the ground but does not spare a moment to look back. As soon as he is deep enough for the entrance to disappear around the bend of the tunnel, he presses his back against the wall and slides down it to sit.
Piccolo raises his arms as five individuals arrive from above. Four of them surround a shorter figure cloaked in a white hood and cape as they descend. He cannot see this person's face, but the others all grin with sinister intent upon landing before him.
"This is the one Master, I'm sure of it."
Piccolo's eyes move to a goblin man with dark olive skin. He is the second smallest after the one wearing the cloak. Light armor with a brownish red color covers his torso and pelvis area.
"Excellent work Ginger. It seems your mission was a success."
Piccolo's vision darts to the second tallest of the group. The pale blue, almost gray, skinned man stands at the forefront of everyone else. He looks over a high collar around the sides and back of his neck at the first one who spoke.
"Thank you Lord Spice," says Ginger.
"He looks a lot like him doesn't he Master?" says Spice. He runs a hand through his flowing white hair that somehow moves upward instead of dropping down to his shoulders.
The cloaked figure pulls back the hood allowing it to collapse along his neckline. A bulbous head, pointed ears, and a single fanged smirk greets Piccolo.
"Indeed he does Spice," says the little gremlin. "Almost like I remember from all those years ago."
His skin is the same color as Spice's but a few discolored patches dot the sides of his head. They look like dark green liver spots.
"And there is no mistaking the greed and pride pervading his aura," the dwarf continues. "This is undoubtedly the rejected leftovers Kami expelled from his being in order to steal the position as Guardian of this planet from my father! So, does this degenerate lifeform have a name?"
Piccolo tenses under the pressure of their full attention upon him. He inhales briefly through his nose and blows it out through puckered lips.
"Even knowing I'm the spawn of god himself, you still antagonize me?" says Piccolo. "You should choose your next words carefully."
"You don't scare me," says the diminutive man. "Though it's been several hundred years, I can tell the malice in your heart has softened since I last met your former self. While my hatred has only grown stronger waiting all this time to exact my revenge!"
A memory starts to form deep in the fogs of Piccolo's mind. One older than even the Demon King himself.
"But fortunately for you," he continues, "you're only a pawn in this game between Kami and I. I have no reason to kill you."
The memory begins to cast shadows across his mind, but Piccolo still cannot make out what they are of.
"Then why are you here?" Piccolo says stalling for time.
"Because there's something you can help me with," says the gremlin.
He nods his head left and then right. His cronies move in around Piccolo. The green warrior bends his knees and begins building up ki.
"Don't struggle," says Spice. "We'll be done soon."
Ginger strikes first. Piccolo slips around him while smashing his shin up under the ribs of the aggressor. The goblin enemy snorts out of his skullish snout as air rushes out of his lungs.
The biggest and bulkiest of them moves in next. He charges like a rhino using his shoulder and upper arm with gray rocky skin to match.
Piccolo places both palms, one over the other, in front of himself to catch the attack. The shock of the impact irritates every muscle fiber in both arms as it dissipates through them.
"Masenko!" he says.
A yellow beam of energy drives the monster away. Before he can finish directing the full wave into his enemy, his legs fly out from under him. He falls onto his back as his ki rips harmlessly through the sky.
He turns his head to find an aged face mocking him for having snuck up from behind. Spice drops in from above pinning both his arms to the ground with pressing knees while the older man clad in white fabric sashes grabs his legs. Piccolo struggles against the weight upon him but cannot free himself.
The tiny leader's head peeks into his view from above.
"Hold still for a moment, would you?" he says.
He is holding a pear shaped glass object. He touches the clear item to Piccolo's temple. It is cold against his skin. He then places his left hand against the opposite side of Piccolo's head. It is even colder.
"This might hurt a little," says the dwarf.
Something yanks from inside Piccolo's brain. A knotted up ball unwinds in his skull, drawn towards the glass object. The strand pulls tighter trying to force the knot apart rather than being meticulously unwoven.
A golden string rips out of his head where the glass touches his skin. It tangles up in the center of the transparent container. The last of it stretches thin before tearing free of his skull.
When it snaps off, the memory worming its way to the forefront of his thoughts finally emerges. It is fragmented, but he pieces together the story.
"You're the son of Garlic!" says Piccolo practically spitting in the midget's face.
"That's right. I am Garlic Junior. It's a pleasure to meet you."
He stands straight up removing the cool surface from Piccolo's head.
The small man's lips pull back in a fanged smile.
"What did you do to me?" says Piccolo.
"I just stole a small souvenir of your life force is all."
"To what end?" says Piccolo.
"That's really none of your business. Alright gentleman, we have what we came for."
Gohan barely spies around the edge of the cavernous tunnel. He witnesses with one eye the scene of Piccolo being ganged up on.
I should do something, he thinks. But what can I do that Mister Piccolo can't? Still, if I don't, I may not have anyone to protect me out here if they hurt him too badly … or worse. But…
Maybe I could escape if they did. I don't want him to get hurt real bad or anything. Maybe they could just knock him out long enough for me to get home.
Piccolo watches as Garlic Junior's smirking face droops into a stoic expression of thought. The dwarf lifts his head back out of his victim's view.
"What is it Master Garlic?" asks the minion holding Piccolo's legs.
"I can sense a trace of selfish desire that wasn't there before," says Garlic. "Do you feel it too Nicky?"
"Hmm," says the person atop Piccolo's lower half. He closes his eyes and sniffs the air twice. "You're right. It's faint, but it's there."
He turns his head to the biggest of their gang.
"Sansho, would you be a dear and take over for me please," says Nicky.
"Right away my Vizier," he says.
Piccolo experiences a brief let up in the smaller man's weight before being replaced with a much heavier one. His legs actually compress beneath it, squishing outward.
Nicky begins walking around while smelling for a scent. Each meandering step brings him a little closer to the cave.
"Now I'm getting a hint of fear," he says. "I must be getting closer."
Gohan sees the white clad humanoid's gaze fixate on his hiding place. He spins away from the opening pressing himself against the rock wall out of sight. He rapidly inhales air which keeps getting pushed out by a pressure in his chest.
"Hello little one."
Gohan's eyes shoot up to find a plume of graying strands of straw for hair sneaking around the bend of the cave. He pushes off the wall but a hand grabs his tail. His body goes limp as it is lifted into the air.
"Looks like we almost missed one Master Garlic," says Nicky rejoining the group. "Children are always such a nuisance to detect."
"Indeed they are," says Garlic. "Hard to believe his innocence is still intact hanging around the demonic remains of Kami."
Garlic turns back to Piccolo and kicks him across the face.
"Listen up," he says. "I don't know what this boy means to you, but we'll be taking him with us. If you follow, we'll kill him. Assuming you are even able to move that is. Boys!"
Spice and Sansho smile before letting loose a furious beatdown. The white haired man pummels Piccolo's head while the muscular one pulverizes his gut. Then they float into the air where their three companions await them.
Spice raises both arms over his head. A reddish pink light grows between his palms. A mass of energy forms with a scarlet center and rosy aura. He throws his arms down to his waist releasing the ki formation.
It crashes into Piccolo exploding on impact. The arid landscape erupts with dust and smoke. When the wind clears some of it away, they see the target lying in a crater half buried in dirt.
"Careful Spice," says Garlic. "We don't want him to die."
He examines the glass containing Piccolo's essence. It flickers and fades but maintains a fiery yellow light at the center.
"Sorry Master," says Spice. "His face just reminds me of everything we lost so long ago."
"I know," says Garlic. "But we have what we need to bring my father back now. And then this world will finally be ours."
"So where does it say to go sire?" says Ginger.
Garlic looks at his eager henchman and then back to the crystal object in his hand.
"This way."
The five of them fly off into the blue sky. The cerulean expanse is only interrupted by the white of clouds and a poisonous fuchsia glow from the Makyo Star.