Yo! Son Goku and friends! Bibidi Saga (Chapter 13)

Piccolo

"What's bothering you?"

"Are you seriously going to try and be my therapist, Gohan?" The Demon asked as his white cape flailed wildly above the skyscrapers of West City.

Gohan zoomed past the landmarks and buildings on his orange cloud companion, sitting criss-cross and looking at The Green Man with a simple expression, arms tucked the same as his legs.

"I mean… I'm just trying to ask as a friend."

"... Tcheh."

"I won't tell a soul. Cross my heart, and uh… I mean I wouldn't like to die just for a secret."

"Hmph." He huffed, turning his body language up towards the blue sky above and not the tiny peons, capsule houses, buggy cars, and tube tunnels below. The wind whistled below, above, in front and behind them as they tore across the skies.

"If you don't want to talk, that's fine. But you know what you came out here with me for."

"Long ago, I hated your father and all of his friends."

"..."

"Something deep inside me, primally… wanted to wipe them from the face of the Earth. Completely destroy them."

"..."

"But after a while of training with them, and practicing techniques I didn't really see them in the same light. I wouldn't call it friendship, I'd call it tolerating them. You, … heh~... Son Goku, and Bulma. You are my friends. The others… whatever."

"You don't think of Yamcha, Raditz, Tien, or Krillin as your friends?"

The shifting landscape of the bustling city meandered and relented against the vast wasteland of grass, dirt, trees, and mountain ranges.

"Why should I?"

"Well… you killed my dad and Raditz. Why is my dad your friend?"

"..."

"It doesn't really make all that much sense for my dad to be your friend."

"... I don't know."

"And Goten..? Trunks? I know you like them. I won't let you pretend that you don't."

"..."

Gohan stared at Piccolo for a long time, just letting the wind hit his face as he kept an adamant disposition.

"... What happened at the tournament?"

"... That hatred came back. It was so strong. I didn't know I still had it in me. I felt the way I did when that dog-eared Mongrel rushed at me at the end of the first tournament."

"..." Gohan's brows furrowed and he gazed below at the crawling plains, animals of all shapes and sizes running along the grass, or laying down to rest. Giant dinos either fed on each other, or simply marked their territory in the vast expanse, stomping on the packed dirt of the wasteland.

"I… I'm not who I thought I was, Gohan. From both ends. At first when I killed Son Goku I thought I would be happy, to fulfill my demonic obligation of revenge. And I wasn't."

"..."

Piccolo pivoted off the air, turning his back to the open space in front of them, placing his index finger against his thick green brow ridge.

"And then I realised that I wasn't a soft-hearted fool either. When Krillin called me a friend, I lost it. I truly hated him in that moment. I'm not a cruel demonic overlord, nor am I a good friend."

"..."

"I just exist."

"..."

The Demon stared up at the clouds as he flew upside down, content to stare there for an eternity, so long as his flight path permitted it. He weaved and crossed through the mountains, dodging out of the way of each cliff face.

"I am doomed to this half-life until that old bastard finally decides to fuse with me. I curse his existence but should I try and take his life I will fall with him instead."

"Why don't you want to die?"

"..."

"You've been to the other side, right? Apparently it's not so bad there."

"..." Piccolo raised a brow.

"Well… sorry." Gohan chuckled. "That came out wrong. But I think you know what I meant."

"I want to see you grow up, Gohan."

"..."

"Apparently my true people. The Namekians. They live long lives. And I can attest to that now."

"What do you mean?"

"I remember things from my past life. From before. Most of my memory is a hazy, crazed mess stuck inside a rice cooking machine if you can believe that."

Gohan broke out in a bit of a laugh, forcing Piccolo to crack a small smile.

"I will outlive you."

"..."

"And I will likely outlive your grandchildren."

"..."

"That's why I want to see you grow up. I want to watch what kind of man you become, and what kind of legacy you leave behind."

The son of Son Goku's eyes widened and Piccolo made eye contact with him the first time this trip, and they stared for a while, the wind turning into white noise and the surroundings changing once again into a dusty desert landscape before The Green Man continued.

"I know it's not my choice to make, but I want to watch over your family, Gohan. When you're no longer able to do it."

"Thank you." Gohan smiled back in earnest.

"..."

"You are a good friend."

"You know I'm not. A good friend would play nice to those that are tangential. I haven't been."

"But you can start."

"It's not that easy, Gohan."

"..."

"You don't know some of these feelings that bubble up inside. I get so mad sometimes I can't see straight and it doesn't even make sense. I know why but that doesn't make me feel any better. I'm not that woman Tien is with. I'm the only one in control but I have this voice that has been calling to me for a long time now."

"..."

"I'm the only one that can choose to ignore it. And I don't want King Kai doing my dirty work for me."

"..."

"I want to overcome this myself. I might be Demon King Piccolo's reincarnation but I am still my own man, with my own experiences. I won't let him take that from me." He claimed, looking down at his open palms, cape flailing in the wind, still endeavoring to fly backwards the whole way, as if laying up against a barricade of invisible pillows.

"Whatever you're fighting, Piccolo, I know you're stronger than it."

"... Hmph."

The pair soared across the sky and faded into the infinite blue above of the sweeping desert sands.