Piccolo stared at one of his attackers. Like the others, he had slightly swarthy skin and short black hair. Unlike the others, his face had several large scars: one running down the left side of his face, one from the middle of his forehead down to the right cheek, crossing the eye, and another on the left side of his nose. He had a familiar face, but he couldn't put his finger on when, where, or how they had met. As the memory came, the man he was staring at started to return a puzzled gaze at him. Recognition dawned on each of their faces at the same time. The man (he believed he was called Yash) pointed at him.
The hunter from several years before shouted, "Hey, I think this is the green thing that gave me my scars!"
The other hunters turned their heads to look at him. Piccolo took advantage of the distraction to haul himself back up to the branch. One of the humans looked back at him and fired. Although he missed by a mile, Piccolo flinched and drew back. Unfortunately, there was nothing but air behind him and he fell. He grabbed the branch with one hand and swung underneath it.
"Come on, Tshering," Yash murmured.
Piccolo's shoulder was burning. His body still hadn't absorbed the water yet, and he had overexerted his deltoids when he pulled himself up. As he swung from the branch, trying to pull himself back up again, he could feel his shoulder giving out. The humans started pointing their muskets at him again, except for the one who had fired and was reloading. "Look at his arms!" Yash screamed, "If he pulls himself up, shoot!"
After about a minute of unsuccessful swinging and pulling, Piccolo gave up and relaxed his shoulder. He plummeted to the dirt below. His hands were still on the branch, connected to his body by an 8 meter long arm. The humans stood with their mouths agape and their muskets still aimed 7 meters above his head. Piccolo let go of the branch, and his arm collapsed back to its original length.
Aadarsh screamed, "What just happened!"
"It's not a monster then, if it has supernatural powers," Yash said.
Piccolo charged at Tshering.
Yash continued, "It's a demon."
Piccolo grabbed the barrel of Tshering's musket and yanked it out of his hands. The green man brandished the musket and stepped closer to his opponent. Tshering drew back his fist, but Piccolo ducked under his shoulders and rammed the man in the gut with the butt of his musket. As Tshering fell onto the ground, Piccolo leaped at Yash. Piccolo brought down the musket over Yash's head. Yash raised his gun to block the attack. Piccolo jumped backwards, his feet sliding to a halt in the ground. He swung the musket at Yash's head, but he interposed his musket between Piccolo's and himself. Yash then kicked Piccolo in the thigh. Piccolo swung his musket again, this time hitting Yash's knuckles on the hand holding his musket. Yash winced, dropped his musket, and drew a knife.
Aadarsh yelled, "Hold your fire! We don't want to hit Yash!"
Yash lunged with the knife, puncturing Piccolo's sternum. Piccolo thought for a moment. 'I should be able to keep him at a distance with my musket, but then the others might fire. What to do….' Piccolo pulled his musket back and jabbed Yash in the neck. Yash blindly slashed with his knife. Piccolo felt movement behind him. He pivoted to see Aadarsh and another human attempting to sneak up on him. Piccolo swept his musket low, hitting Aadarsh in the shin. The other human tried to club Piccolo on the head. Piccolo tackled him at the gut. A voice yelled, "Kosh!" He sank his teeth into his shoulder, but a musket butt slammed down between his shoulder blades. Piccolo let go of him and got to his knees. The musket butt slammed down again on his right shoulder. Piccolo stood up. The musket butt shot out at the small of his back, but Piccolo dodged it and raked its wielder – it was Aadarsh – in the arm. Piccolo was just about to knock him over when Tshering's musket barrel poked him in the side. "Stop, or I shoot," he said.
Piccolo looked at his situation. One, now two humans (Aadarsh had joined Tshering) had guns jammed into his side. Piccolo raised his hands over his head. "I surrender," he said.
Yash walked up to Aadarsh and said, "Alright, now let's kill it."
Aadarsh pulled his musket away from Piccolo's side and said, "No, Yash. He's surrendering. We should take him to the panchayat."
"How can you say that?" Yash said incredulously, "It's a demon!"
Aadarsh said, "He might be a demon, but that doesn't matter. He surrendered."
After that, Yash stayed silent. Another human came out of the forest. This one had a sheepish look on his face, and Piccolo guessed that he had ran at some point during the fight based on the glares that Yash and Kosh aimed at the man. Tshering kept his gun pressed against Piccolo, and the humans took him to the village. They led him to the center of the village, where they tied up Piccolo's hands and feet.
Aadarsh said, "This is where the panchayat is held. Tshering, Upendra, Kosh, assemble the Panchayat. Yash and I will hold you until they get here."
The three waited almost an hour for the panchayat to convene. Many villagers came to gawk at Piccolo; a group of children even took turns sneaking up behind Piccolo and pulling his ears. Piccolo tried to turn around, but Yash jammed his musket's barrel deeper into Piccolo's flesh. Piccolo tried to keep his mind elsewhere after that, but every few dozen seconds, someone would stare into his eyes, or one of the children would poke him, and his thoughts turned to a mix of resentment and humiliation.
'Could this possibly last longer? Feels like it's already been hours. Why can't those infernal children stop poking me? Am I really that interesting to touch?' Piccolo thought as he stared at the sky. 'Sun still isn't that far down yet. Damn it!' he thought as a child flicked his ear, 'When I get out of these ropes, I am going to kill all of the children myself. And now he poked me… I need something else to keep me occupied.' Piccolo turned his head to Aadarsh.
"So, Aardash," Piccolo said, "What's a 'panchayat'?"
"My name is Aadarsh and – wait, you can talk?"
"I surrendered to you, remember?" Piccolo said.
"Oh, that's right," Aadarsh said, "Anyway, the panchayat is an assembly of five elders that govern the village. Most of them are already here, but Gaurab is doing something important, I think. He should be here soon."
Piccolo grunted. "So, what will they do to me?" he asked.
Aadarsh said, "I have no idea. Depends on if they think you're a demon of some sort."
"Well, obviously it is," Yash interrupted.
Aadarsh said, "We don't know if he's a demon. Honestly, I'm not sure he is. I mean, stretching doesn't really sound like a demonic power."
Yash said, "Yeah, like you know the Vedas. There are a lot of different kinds of demon, you know."
"You don't know them very well either," said Aadarsh, "I bet you can't even name any. That's why we called the panchayat. They'll know what to do."
Yash said, "Look, Aadarsh, I've met this green man before. Remember when I came back from the mountains with all the wounds on my face? That was him."
"Yes, you already said so. Doesn't mean he's a demon though," Aadarsh said, "What if a tiger mauled you? Would you think it was a demon?"
"But it was malicious. It didn't seem like it was attacking for any reason, like we were disturbing its nest or shooting it or anything. We were just out there, and he popped out and started attacking us, and then he mauled my face, and then…," Yash said.
"You don't know that," Aadarsh interrupted.
"Yes I do, I have a feeling. And anyway, do you know what happened after I got back? Because I-", Yash responded as he turned away from the other guard.
Up to that point, Piccolo was considering saying or doing something. However, the conversation was far more entertaining than being poked by small humans in silence. Now he wanted to know exactly what had happened to his captor after he had come back to the village.
Aadarsh said, "Yes, we all remember. I was there, you know."
"I was going to tell the, uh, the green demon about it," Yash said.
Aadarsh said, "Hey, we don't know it's a demon!" He looked upset that the argument had come back around to where it had started.
Yash sighed, "Well, what should I call it, then?"
Aadarsh said, "I don't know, something more polite than 'green demon'! I mean, there have to be so many other ways to talk about him."
"Well, I was just trying to be descriptive. It's a demon, it's green, it's a green demon," Yash said, "and if you want some proof that he's both, look at his skin and listen to what I say."
Aadarsh sputtered, "But, he's not a demon, I mean, probably…. Alright. What I mean to say is… you're just trying to demonize him… Well…."
In Piccolo's mind, it was becoming ever clearer that the argument would keep going on in circles until Gaurab got there, with no prospect of Yash ever saying what had happened. The already-low entertainment value was slipping away, and something had to be done. "My name is Piccolo," he blurted out.
"Wait, you can…? Never mind," Aadarsh calmed down considerably as he spoke, "You see, Yash? His name is Piccolo. Is that 'descriptive' enough for you?"
Yash grunted.
"What happened to Yash after he got back here?" Piccolo continued.
"It's a long story," Yash said.
"No it isn't." said Aadarsh.
"Yes it is!"
Aadarsh said, "No, it isn't. When he got back, his wounds were infected, and he almost died. It's only one sentence."
"You're leaving out quite a lot," Yash grumbled.
"Not really," Aadarsh said, "You almost died, you were in a lot of pain, and you had to sell most of your livestock. It's not like he meant to do that."
Piccolo said, "He's right. Don't blame me for that."
"You weren't selling me spoiled curry; you were attacking me! Obviously, you meant to kill me, and you almost succeeded," Yash said.
Aadarsh said something next, but Piccolo wasn't listening. He was too busy thinking about what Yash had said. He didn't want to kill the man now (although he certainly didn't like him), but had he all those years ago, when he was defending his goats from him? He was racking his mind for memories, but an expected phrase tore through his concentration like a bullet through paper.
"Hey, it's Gaurab!" Aadarsh said.
"Yes, I'm here," a man said as he jostled through the crowd. Piccolo assumed it was Gaurab. "Is everyone else here?" he asked.
"Yes, the panchayat can convene," a man in the front of the crowd said.
As five men sat down in front of Piccolo, Piccolo noticed that the children had scattered into the crowd. 'That's a relief,' he thought. One of the five made a hand gesture in the air, and the crowd dispersed. Piccolo got a better look at these men. The man called Gaurab was sitting on the far left. He could recall Aadarsh said they were the oldest men in the village. However, with one exception, they didn't look particularly different from most of the people in the village. Maybe humans didn't change appearance as they aged? Piccolo got a closer look at them. They were in fact different. They had slightly grayer hair compared to the others, and a two of them had less hair on the top of their heads. The exception to this pattern was the man in the center. He had white hair and a long beard. His skin was wrinkled, and he looked frailer than the men surrounding him.
The man in the center cleared his throat. "Alright," he said, "Should we begin?"
"Why are we here, for starters?" Gaurab asked.
"I think it was something about a monster?" the man sitting second from the right said.
"Correct, Lokman. To be specific, the one right in front of us," the man in the center said.
"Alright, Rambaran, I get it," Gaurab said exasperatedly, "It was obvious. Why is it here?"
Aadarsh said, "It was drinking from the stream, and some people captured it. It ran away, so Yash and I, we were in the village, and we captured it again."
"Anything else?" Rambaran asked.
"Two more things, actually," Yash said, "One, I think it's a demon of some sort, and two, it's the one that gave me these wounds three years ago."
The panchayat was shocked. "The first would explain... A few things," Rambaran said.
"Like why he isn't from any monster tribe that I know of!" said the elder sitting on the far right.
"Indeed, Umesh. I have noticed that also. But is there any proof that he's a demon?"
"Let me show you!" Yash said."Aadarsh, hold its shoulders," he said more quietly. He grabbed Piccolo by the wrist and yanked his arm forwards. Piccolo fell to the ground, bringing Aadarsh with him. "Alright, this time brace yourself," he said to Aadarsh. He yanked again. Piccolo pulled his arm back toward him. They struggled against each other for about a minute, when Yash gave up. "Alright, that didn't work. But when we were capturing him, its arms extended to about 5 or 10 meters," he said. Rambaran and Gaurab gave him a puzzled look. "Aadarsh, can you back me up here?" he asked. Aadarsh nodded.
Rambaran asked, "Do you have any other witnesses to this?"
Piccolo didn't want to wait for the panchayat to gather the other three men that had been there. "My arm did extend," he said, "but I am not a demon."
"Rambaran, is he a demon?" asked Gaurab.
"I don't think so." Rambaran said.
"Stretching doesn't really seem like a demonic power," said Lokman.
"I agree," said the man second from the left.
"I will need some time to remember about this, but for now let's assume that he's not a demon. What could he be?" Rambaran concluded.
After a few minutes of silence, Umesh spoke up. "Maybe it's some kind of monster from far away," he said. "Possibly some kind of variety of Giras?" he proposed.
"What's a Giras?" Piccolo asked.
Yash answered, "It's a kind of large winged beast. We don't see them here very often, but they attack all the time in the lowlands."
In another few minutes, he spoke again, "So no one else has any better ideas? In that case, let's assume he's some kind of Giras. What do we do?"
"Are the sahibs still putting out bounties for monsters? I think I remember they were putting them out last year, but I've also heard rumors that they stopped. Have you heard anything?" Umesh asked as he pointed to the elder second from the left.
The man replied, "No, they actually stopped the monster bounties the year before last. But I do know of someone who would want this..."
"Piccolo," Aadarsh and Piccolo said at the same time.
"Yes. Anyway, if Rambaran says he's not a demon, I'll take him to see my friend Ranchhodbhai," he said.
"Sounds like a plan," said Umesh.
"Agreed," said Gaurab.
"Yes," said Lokman.
"I'll study the Vedas overnight." said Rambaran.
Piccolo stared at the man sitting between Gaurab and Rambaran. He was swarthy like the rest of the villagers, with greying hair and a short beard that didn't cover up his prominent jawline. If Rambaran said he wasn't a demon (which Piccolo thought was true) he would be going quite far with this man, judging by that he was apparently the only man in the village who knew this "Ranchhodbhai". Nevertheless, it was still better than being executed.