*(Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT. All characters and places associated with the Dragon Ball series belong to their own respected creators and I have not used them to make any profit in any shape or form.)
Jason9000: Hello everyone. I hope you're all doing well today. Let's see today we're still be in training with Pan and Piccolo and then we'll go see what King Piccolo is doing in Hell. Sound good right? Well let's begin.*
Pan got up slowly. These past two days were killing her. Piccolo was relentless on their training. He only allowed her to have a break at meals. How did her father do this for a year? This was her third and last day yet she felt so weak. Her body was broken in ways she didn't even think was possible. Piccolo didn't let her tend to her injuries till the end of the day when they were done. She discovered she had many cuts on her body along with many bruises. There were times she thought she broke something but she kept going trying to prove whatever her father went through she could as well.
While Pan was mostly glad this was the last day and she'd be able to see her father tomorrow she also felt sad that it was ending. Sure Piccolo had Pan reach her limits and beyond but she enjoyed it. She could say how but she was excited training with someone far stronger than her. Piccolo was willing to take her in and teach her despite her knowing her power just a pebble compared to the mountain of strength he had over his years of fighting.
She went go find some food to eat quickly. Piccolo only gave her twenty minutes after waking up to eat and then they'd train till lunch at around noon where she'd get an hour to rest, eat, and get ready for the afternoon session of training. She looked around trying to remember where exactly she out her bag of containing her clothes and food. She found them hidden in a bush where she put it shortly after they started training. Both Piccolo and Pan forgot she had it on till they stopped half an hour in their training on the first day where it nearly got destroyed by Pan just dodging the energy blast Piccolo sent her way.
Pan got out some food and then went to where the fire was kept the night before. She slowly made her breakfast and ate a bit and finished with drinking some water from her canteen. She just put it away when Piccolo came walking towards her direction. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the day. Piccolo stopped in front of her and examined her for a minute.
"Alright runt your training is almost complete. I only have one more day to have you wishing you were never born. And trust me by the end of tonight you'll wonder just what you were thinking wanting to train with me. But before we do I want to introduce you to the art of meditation. It has helped me in these long years by keeping a cool head and think properly when I'm in a battle," Piccolo said.
Pan nodded but had to voice a question.
"Mr. Piccolo how come you're the only one that meditates a lot? I rarely see my dad do it and when I was at Bra's house Vegeta said meditation was valuable, but also a waste of time if done for extended periods. Is this true?" She asked him.
Piccolo openly scoffed at her. "Listen kid meditation has helped me keep a clear head when everyone was in blinded by their own power or an opponent's power. Vegeta is a prime example. What good is it to be a powerful fighter when you can't even keep a clear head and just rush into things? Just say this to him if he claims mediation is worthless: Cell's first perfect form," Piccolo told her.
Pan only nodded. She didn't know much of her father's life before he met her mom. The only thing she knew were bits and pieces of how the large pink man her gramps stays with use to be mean to everyone.
"So come with me and we will meditate to mid-morning and then resume training," Piccolo said flying off with Pan following him.
Eventually Pan found herself in a small field where there was a waterfall that fell into a small lake. It was a peaceful place and she felt comforted in the silence.
Piccolo landed right in front of the waterfall and Pan stood across from him.
"Now Pan I want you to sit down and cross your legs, then place your non dominate hand with your hand open facing the sky, then place your dominate hand on top of it with your back straight," Piccolo said instructing her.
Pan then took a moment to do exactly as Piccolo told her and then looked up at Piccolo.
"Good now I want you to look at the rock in front of you. Just look at it while I want you to empty your mind of any thoughts that may occur. If you start thinking of something push it off. This exercise is to see if you clear your mind of all thoughts," Piccolo said.
Pan nodded again at Piccolo and then focused on the rock in front of her trying her best to empty her head.
Piccolo then adopted his own meditation stance and closed his eyes.
"By the way I'll know if you aren't concentrating on this. For every thought that is in your head for more than five seconds or every time you begin to slouch I'll make sure you'll regret ever taking up my offer to train you," Piccolo said.
Pan didn't reply since she was nervous if answering would make her training harder than it already was.
She stared at the rock for as long as she could without thinking of everything. She may have been one quarter Saiyan and loved to train, but she was only five. Her attention span didn't last very long. However, Piccolo's words always kept coming back to her so she kept concentrating on the rock.
Finally when she thought she couldn't go on a second longer she felt Piccolo's hand on her shoulder.
"Alright kid we meditated long enough. Time for us to head back to camp," He told her.
Pan got up slowly for a second. To get the blood pumping back into her legs for sitting in the same place for so long. Her legs felt a numb and she slowly stretched them out.
She looked around and saw the sun had risen some more and that it was past mid-morning. Pan was shocked that she was able to do that for so long. She thought it was only half an hour at the most. How could so much time have passed?
Piccolo didn't call her out on why she was taking so long. He remembered how numb his legs were when he started. It took practice but eventually her legs wouldn't feel numb from the lack of blood not being received for so long.
"So how do you feel Pan?" Piccolo asked her.
Pan was silent for a moment till she noticed that she did feel different. She couldn't explain what it was so she took another minute trying to come up with a good answer.
"I guess I feel…more open? It feels like I'm more open to the world around me. Like my eyes can see much clearer than before." Pan answered him.
Piccolo smiled at her. "Good that is but a taste of one form of meditation. There are many others out there. Some only work for specific people while other forms don't work at all. Explore and look for one that best suits you Pan and use it when you are stressed. It will help you as it does for me," Piccolo said before flying off.
Pan then followed Piccolo back to where she knew she was in for an intense training session since it was her last day.
Goku, Gohan, and Goten were relaxing after a hard morning of training together. They were at the fourth relocated campsite since they kept destroying most of the area they camped in. Goten was making the food while Gohan was sitting and relaxing. Goku was lying down just looking up into the sky.
"So Gohan, how do you think Pan's doing?" Goku asked him.
"Well her energy hasn't vanished so she's not dead. I guess that means it's going well," Gohan said laughing.
"I still can't believe you trained with Piccolo alone for a full year. When I was learning the fusion dance with Trunks I almost snapped at how critical he was over every time we did the technique and that was barely one day," Goten said poking the fire.
"Well he does strive for perfection. His ways may be harsh but the rewards are worth it. If it weren't for him we would've been slaughtered by Vegeta and Nappa," Gohan said.
"Goku, Goku are you there?" A voice called out of nowhere.
"Oh hey King Kai how are you doing?" Goku asked sitting up with Gohan and Goten looking up towards the sky.
"Besides being dead I'd say I can't get any better," King Kai answered for him.
"Come on King Kai we've been over this! I couldn't think of anywhere to put Cell without blowing up a planet full of lives. Don't tell me you're still upset by this?" Goku said.
"No not really I'm past that. Although now that I'm thinking about it. Instead of telling me why you were there couldn't you have rushed towards me, Gregory, and Bubbles, used the instant transmission technique of yours to get us somewhere else away from Cell's self-detonation?" King Kai asked him.
Goku was silent for a moment as if contemplating what his old teacher said.
"Huh…now that I'm thinking about it I guess I could've done that but I was too caught up trying to stop Cell it never occurred to me to try that," Goku said shrugging his shoulders.
"Anyway that's not what I'm here to talk about it. I've come to warn you of something," King Kai began.
"Warn me of what? Is something wrong?" Goku asked.
"Theoretically yes, but it may just be us paranoid because of recent events," King Kai said.
"What do you mean? Has something happened in Otherworld?" Goku asked.
"Not Otherworld exactly, but in the Demon Realm. Deep in the darkest and foulest part of Hell. They had a civil war and a while back and a new Demon King was recently crowned," King Kai said.
"Demon Realm? I've never heard of it. What is it?" Goten asked.
"Basically the Demon Realm is where the foulest and most evil creatures live in. Take Dabura for example. He was the Demon King for a thousand years. While other demons take the same title he was the "supreme Demon King" so to speak. Anyway the Demon Realm was created many billions of years ago by the Supreme Kais' deep within Hell since they were destroying the Universe in ways that would make Frieza look like an innocent child. It took many generations of Supreme Kais' to lock them away there. Most of them were killed; however, some of them fled to the Demon Realm to escape the wrath of the Kais. Those that were alive could travel from the Demon Realm to the mortal Universe with relative ease but only the weaker ones could without drawing attention to us regular Kais' or the Supreme Kais'," King Kai began by telling the story.
"Every now and then a challenge for supremacy erupted and new Demon Kings came to power while killing the previous one. Sometimes the previous Demon King was already alive so they only went to the Check-In-Station and right back down to be put in thraldom by the new Demon King in fear the old one would re-challenge them for the throne. Mostly the old one was already dead so he would cease to exist since they would bring their battle to some remote planet they have which we can't locate. Since the battle doesn't take place in Hell their soul dies thus erasing them from existence instead of them waking up by the entrance of Hell as what happens to most people who 'die' in Hell,"King Kai explained.
"So I'm guessing that since Dabura is dead and never went back to Hell according to mom, Bulma, and Videl. The demons got tired of waiting for him to return and a civil war broke out to determine who the Demon King is?" Gohan asked king Kai.
"Spot on as always Gohan. When Babadi first took over Dabura's mind he must've left instructions for them to wait till he returned. For over five hundred years the Demon Realm was quiet. I'm guessing they sensed their leader die and since he never returned they figured he was gone forever into nonexistence. It actually happened when we were focusing our attention on Majin Buu. We didn't realize what happened till the residents of Hell told the ogres almost six months later. We sent some of our strongest fighters like Pikkon to see what happened, but all they discovered was that a new Demon King came to power," King Kai said.
"But, wait that happened almost ten and a half years ago. Why are you telling us this now instead of when it directly happened?" Goten asked.
"Because at first we thought it was nothing. It had been almost a thousand years since Dabura came to power. Dabura was a prodigy for a demon. He was one of the few that were descended from the demons of old that were rumored to have been as strong if not stronger than Majin Buu when you first saw him," King Kai told them.
Goku, Gohan, and Goten were silent for a moment. They all remembered the awesome power Majin Buu had when he was first revived. Granted it wasn't as impressive as his later forms it still made him stand out like a mountain back in the day.
"Wow…imagine thousands of demons as strong as Buu when we first saw him running around all over the Universe. No wonder the Supreme Kais took so long locking them away," Gohan said.
"Exactly my point Gohan. Back them the Supreme Kais of old were used to people having that kind of strength so they trained most of their lives so they could fight on equal ground or surpass them. After the demons were locked away they didn't see the need to train their successors as much so they were caught off guard when Majin Buu first appeared with the wizard Bibidi," King Kai said.
"Wait that doesn't explain how Babadi was able to get into the Demon Realm and take over Dabura's mind. How did he when Babadi wasn't a demon himself?" Goten asked.
"Honestly I don't know Goten. I actually started a search party for him since something's happened in the past few weeks in Hell that I've been leading up to," King Kai told him.
"Okay so what happened did they take over Hell or something?" Goku asked him.
"No they didn't, although that may be there plan in the long run. You see several high powers disappeared from Hell. They were the Cold family, the Androids, Bojack, and the two wizards Bibidi and Babadi. A few days ago their Ki was just gone. We have no idea where they went. I doubt they're alive since you would have sensed them by now since it's hard to hide that much strength for so much. And since they like showing off you would've sensed them by now. My best guess is that they're in the Demon Realm and since there are so many Ki energy signatures there they could hide their presence from us," King Kai said.
"Alright King Kai we'll warn the others when we see them. Don't worry though we'll be ready for them if they somehow do end up on our end," Goku said.
"Alright good. I'm going to go tell this to Elder Kai. I don't want to take any chances like with our past experiences with Buu. I'm also going to contact the Namekians to warn them in case some strangers come by looking for their Dragon Balls. I suggest you gather yours up to so they don't fall into the wrong hands," King Kai said.
"You got it. I'll have Dende contact you when we have all of our Dragon Balls are in a secure place," Goku said.
They felt the connection to King Kai sever and then they all returned to what they were doing.
"So what do you think dad? Are we cutting this training short?" Goten asked him.
"Nah, I know that Bulma has three Dragon Balls and Master Roshi has one. We'll look for the others when we're done," Goku said.
"So Goten is the food ready yet? I'm starving!" Goku asked his son.
King Piccolo was walking around his castle. He wanted to check up on Dr. Gero and Bibidi to see if what he wanted to be done was possible.
He opened the door to the "lab" (as it was nicknamed by the group of scientists and wizards) and found Gero and Bibidi in a corner discussing something over a table with blue prints.
They turned around and saw King Piccolo walking towards them.
"So I want to know now. Can both projects be done?" King Piccolo asked them.
Bibidi first stepped forward. "Well the second project can be done at a faster rate since I have my son and all the materials I need to help me. It should take me around six months to complete," The wizard said.
"Six months…well that's not so bad. I was expecting it to be longer. I can wait that long. And with Dr. Gero helping you in making changes, to the second project it may be more powerful than your first success," King Piccolo said.
Dr. Gero than stepped forward.
"For your first project though. That shouldn't take as long. With Android 19's help I can get the first half of the first project done at a very quick rate but I will have to run some tests. I'm not use to the biology of this species. So if we want to make it a success I'll need to practice a bit. Then with the wizards' magic, I am confident that when we have the subject we can have the first project done in two to three standard days," Dr. Gero informed him.
King Piccolo grinned.
"If what you said is true than you bring me glad tidings. Normally magic and science never mix and tend to cancel each other out. But, if you can do the first project and even better yet the second project you four will create one of the most powerful unions of both science and magic in existence. I'll leave you to your work. I'm going to expect reports of the tests. When you four are satisfied come find me and then we can go into the second half of phase one." King Piccolo said walking out.
As he left he saw both Android 19 and Babadi coming into the room from the door that led further into the lab.
'Enjoy your moments on the Earth my son. Soon I will bring you back where you belong and together our family will take over all of Hell and Otherworld!' King Piccolo thought to himself.
*Jason9000: Well that'll about do it. This one was longer than the others I posted. As you can see I discovered how to do the breaks by separating chapters into the different sections. All thanks to editing documents here on FanFic. So no more bold saying something like "Meanwhile back at...". Now even though King Kai took most of the chapter I wanted to explain more of the Demon Realm. So Pan is about to finish her training with Piccolo and King Piccolo's plan is going in full force. I bet you're wondering what his two projects are. Let's just say that they're vital to the story.
In response to Ozad's reply to my question. That's exactly how I envision them to be. King Piccolo trying to bring his son back to evil but Piccolo rejecting the thought since he finds peace with his friends more appealing than killing everything in sight because it's funny. Anyway thanks again for the reply.
Any questions leave them in the comments and I'll answer them. See you next time!*