Chapter 3

The whole ordeal left him dizzy and stuck on top of an extremely high and thin erected rock formation, with hours of daylight wasted with him being unconscious, it's almost night now with a few stars starting to appear, he bit his quivering lip trying hard to stop himself from crying, but the tears won again, he was hungry, has no idea how to get down and that T-rex terrified him, he attempted to level his breathing when he realized that he was, what felt like, hyperventilating, he inhaled trying to engulf as much air as he could and exhaled slowly, doing it over and over again until he regained control, it made him exhausted, actually the whole thing was exhausting for any man that got sucked in, in his circumstance, let alone for a 4 year old, academically advance he maybe and have Saiyan blood to boot, he was still just a kid, a toddler even.

Two apples hit him on his head and a third apple landing in front of him, he rubbed his head and looked up, it was the green man, he was floating, his cape lightly swaying

His eyes lit up in appreciation towards the guy and towards the apples, he picked them up with gusto and hastily took bites

" th-thank you ….mr ?" Gohan uttered, swallowing chunks of his food

" It's Piccolo, my name is Piccolo. " he answered, disgusted with how the boy was eating, chewing like that never failed to make his skin crawl, since he didn't need to eat at all, he never find it in himself to let himself get used to the process

"Your first day out here was pathetic "Piccolo criticize

Gohan just frowned, he knew it was, he wanted to defend himself, list down all the reason that stopped him from performing better, right now he felt a mixed of competitiveness, relief of not being alone anymore and his stomach filling up

"Wait how did you know how my day went, you weren't here" The boy questioned, the cog of his logical mind spinning, he didn't ask it to interrogate, he was genuinely curious, as all scientist / philosopher in the makings were, based on the information he knew, this guy was away, so it didn't make sense for him to know.

"I mentioned, that I was going to check up on you, so I did, when your Ki suddenly spiked, I had to see what was happening " Piccolo answered, tone flat, despite the answer being interesting of itself, the lack of intonation on anything made it uninviting to continue the conversation

But Gohan continued anyway, his curiosity over riding his sensitive soul, that was used to hearing both his mom and dad speak in loving tones, speech sounds that changes with their emotions, clueing him in on how to continue the conversation, it's such a large contrast compared to this, stoic brick of an, adult?

" Ki ? "

Piccolo ears twitched, the boy took noticed, that made him a tad bit giddy for some reason

" Yes, Ki, it's one of this things we'll train you for, that's the energy behind your power "

The young lad inquired further and the Namekian complied and answered his questions, the two had quite a detailed discussion, from the Ki topic branching out to different degrees in levels, they touched upon, flight, techniques, stances, how to read Ki and surprisingly naming your attacks, which delighted Gohan and even made Piccolo's demeanor less tight

" Wow, I'll be able to do all that?" Gohan said softly, something ceasing him from being elated and upbeat, his mouth pouted, the looming threat of the Saiyans and the hardship he is supposed to undertake whispering in the back of his mind, dampening his mood

"I just wish…."

That I didn't have to learn all this, this way

Piccolo, silently observed the boy, he may not be good with various kinds of emotions, but he is intimately aware of what Gohan was feeling right now, dread, uneasiness, the unfairness of it all, the heavy weight he was just one day forced to carry without warning, he knew it without needing to rely on words, the boy's conduct says it all

"The world isn't going to wait for you to be ready, it isn't going to walk by your phase, it'll throw whatever it can at you, whenever it can "

Ma junior didn't mean to let his anger slip through his voice, all the bottled up anger that he felt for years, some inherited and second hand from his father, but the most recent ones was his own, the world certainly didn't wait for him to be at least stronger to dish out it's punishments, he felt trapped, the side he was fighting for isn't even there, and the other side wouldn't accept him either, he didn't belong anywhere, hence he needed to be strong, stronger than what he was capable of, he had no one, just him and negative emotions that wouldn't give him rest

"You can curse your faith"

Gohan listened silently, paying deep attention, the air was somber, his chest tighten as he felt sympathy spreading his being, he didn't understand, he could only hear repressed anger but there was sadness there begging to surface and to be let go

The quietness, somberness and sobriety, took hold of their conversation until their meeting ended with Piccolo not so gently lifting and dropping him off the low ground, enough for him to climb down on his own, Piccolo also left him with a sword and a hardbound brown journal with ancient looking papers and a sturdy feathered pen, before leaving him again on his lonesome, Gohan decided to reside in a cave for the night and dwell on his situation some more

He didn't want to die…

He didn't want his mommy to die…

And he didn't want Piccolo to die…

He clutched his chest, he suddenly felt protective towards that green guy for unexplainable reasons, perhaps it was his sympathetic nature or his young self wanting to hug anyone who was sad, Gohan's face twisted to scowl in his new found determination, repeating his thoughts with much zeal, he will fight, for himself, for his mommy and for Piccolo.

He drifted into sleep in better mood than he was before.