Chapter 1
In an unknown, disserted wilderness location, filled with wild life, greenery and mountains with varying sizes and shapes, Piccolo dropped the little toddler's face first in a small puddle to wake him up, which was effective, the kid immediately raised his head gasping for air, frantically looking around, looking for anything familiar, he stopped as a tall, white caped, green skinned, clothed in purple gi guy caught his eye, the child's mouth crumpled, eyes stinging from both the tears forming and the water from the puddle
Piccolo was about to speak but was halted as the little boy started bawling, the Namekian did not like this one bit, especially with his sensitive ears, which was animatingly twitching as the cries echoed
"STOP!" he commanded loudly, asserting dominance, the boy quickly whimpered and complied, posture rigid
"Listen, your dad sacrificed himself to save you and defeat the Saiyan who kidnapped you, he is dead. " Piccolo said in monotone not mincing his words, the boy was about to start crying at the news, so he narrowed his eyes in warning, the kid instead settled in sniffling softly
"Your dad's friends should revive him soon enough" the kid felt relief hearing this, something about the taller guy's stern and authoritative aura, made it feel like, everything he might say has a finality to it, as if this guy can make anything happen
The kid wiped his eyes and nose, fixing his posture, and properly looked up towards the other being, Piccolo continued
"There's two more of those Saiyans arriving here in a years' time more powerful than what me and your dad Faced," The 4 year old was listening intently
"I brought you here to train so we can win against them when they come"
The kid's eyes widen in disbelief not sure if he heard that last part correctly, contemplating if, even if he did hear it right, maybe he just misunderstood the whole situation
"b-but " he uttered feeling comparatively calmer than he first arrived
"I'm not a fighter, I'm going to be a scholar "
If Piccolo's face wasn't such an emotionless brick most of the time, he should be raising an eyebrow ridge right about now
"Ok …? "
" M-y name is Gohan sir "
"Ok, Gohan, after we defeat the Saiyans you can go do that"
Silence etched between them, which amused Junior, he was about to proceed in letting him know his "brand of training"
"me?, against Saiyans? " he mumbled, tears running down his face again, with his head down, mostly to himself rather than asking outright, breaking the quietness, still lost with the situation he was in, The taller man frowned, feeling a little bit miffed that the kid broken the silence to ask a question they already discussed and that he felt just a tad bit interrupted
"Yes " Piccolo answered not waiting for the child to face him, " You have the power, I was there when you used it, you just need to learn it to hone it and use it effectively "
Before the kid can formulate a response, Piccolo easily grabbed him by the head
"Use it to save yourself from hitting a mountain "stretching his arm back, he prepared to throw the boy, they really didn't have the luxury for other discussions, time is of the essence, therefore the Namekian opted for a live demonstration
The little half Saiyan wiggled desperately from the grip, anxiety filling his lungs
"Calm down, control your breathing " the voice sounded almost soothing
After a full inhale, his body strongly went against the wind as he was swinged and thrown, a mountain side was alarmingly nearing his vision as his form built more speed, from a far he looked like a bullet, Panic, dread and anger raised within his core and spread all over his body making an unspecified force push itself outside, he screamed not being used with this newfound energy.
He collided with the mountainside making it explode on impact, Piccolo watched amazed with his mouth slightly agape, he flew and surveyed the damage, the mountain not just it's side was obliterated not only that, the ground at the back of the now nonexistent mountain was raked widely with forced at the end of it was the boy on all fours, panting and shaking, more tears falling on the dirt, the rush he felt for that whole thing was too much for him to handle at his young age
Piccolo landed in front of him, the kid got up and clung to his leg at full speed, the situation explained to him silmustaniously getting more clear and confusing, he felt overwhelmed
His dad is dead, so nobody is coming to save and protect him
He apparently has powers but it felt so wild and big he couldn't control it
He is going to train to beat two powerful creatures that was way stronger than the person who defeated his father
He wanted to cry some more, wanted his mother to pick him up and tell him things will be ok, that all of it was just a bad dream, he desperately gripped tighter to the Namekians pants, hoping, projecting, the adult he was hugging was going to do what his mommy will do.
Piccolo felt uncomfortable by the touch, bewildered even, he was unsure what the boy was doing so he slapped him off "look" he pointed towards the destruction the young lad power had caused
The boy rubbed his cheeks, ok so being slapped was not what he expected, but it did do him some good, snapping him out of the helpless spiral his mind was starting to take him, he obeyed and slowly checked where the Namekian was pointing, his eyes widen at the scene
"You did that " the green alien said, he was pleased but his demeanor nor tone of voice did not show it
The 4 year old just swallowed, at this point, he just didn't know what to feel, his face was just stuck in mid frown
"Now do you understand? " Piccolo felt more patient due to his good mood
He nodded as if he was on autopilot, what else was he supposed to do? The guy said it as if it was the most simplest thing in the world, he can go back to being a scholar after defeating these Saiyans
"Good, good, we'll work on that breaking down of yours, crying won't do you good in battle, lucky for you, I know exactly what to do"
The boy tilted his head up
"You need to strengthen your mental fortitude "
From the moment he hatched, he had to survive on his own against a world that was so ready to attack him, that did attack him and continued to do so until he was strong enough to fight back, saying that toughen him was an understatement, it made him more tactile, it gave him wisdom about his surrounding, it forced him adapt, to learn to hide, to be more efficient with what he had and many more useful skills he still used to this day, surviving alone worked on strengthening his mind surely it will work on the boy
Piccolo explained the plan seriously, not insulting the boy's intelligence, hence he got annoyed why the kid cried and cling to him yet again begging him to not leave him alone out here, so he snorted saying there will be gigantic wild animals ready to eat him, so he isn't really going to be alone if that's what he was worried about, that made the toddler cry more, the Namekian was just puzzled, clearly inexperience in talking with children, why, oh just why is he this distraught now, it was a solid plan with proven results
" I-I'm four I don't think this is a good idea " Gohan tried to argue while sobbing
" I'm eight." Piccolo testified
The kid let go of the Namekian's gi, a bit awestruck, he thought he was lost before but this is just something else
"Alright, we wasted enough time, I'll come check on you every now and then, don't die or anything "and with that Piccolo blasted away again, making Gohan tumble and roll out of the way.