Hey guys, sorry this took so long! 19 credit hours, 10 hours work, Equestrian Team practice twice a week... it's been absolutely hectic. So I hope the wait was worth it!
Piccolo opened his eyes after being disturbed from deep meditation by an annoyingly high-pitched yawn.
"Hmm...Daddy? Mommy?" the boy's tired and confused voice sounded.
"I will not explain that again, boy," Piccolo snapped, not bothering to get out of his lotus position.
"I-wha-oh yeah..."
"Don't you dare start crying," Piccolo almost yelled as he quickly stood.
Gohan startled, staring up at Piccolo. "B-but..."
"I mean it."
Gohan indignantly wiped at his eyes, fearful of the repercussions should he begin to cry. "Who are you? Hey, where'd my clothes go?"
"Name's Piccolo. You needed new ones. The old ones were ruined."
"Oh. Were you friends with my daddy? You were there when he came to save me..."
"We were not friends. We teamed up to defeat a common enemy. No more, no less. Got it?" Piccolo snarled.
"Y-yes, Mr. Piccolo."
"Never call me that again. It's Piccolo, or Sir. Nothing else. Got it?"
"Yes Sir." Gohan tried to stand then, and promptly fell over. He looked confused and hesitantly reached behind him. "Oh no! My tail! Where's my tail?" he shouted, frantically trying to look behind him over his shoulder.
Piccolo's ears twitched in annoyance. "I removed it."
Gohan looked up at him in horror. "WHY?"
"You don't need it," he answered simply.
"But I can't balance without it!"
"Yes, you can. Now get up. I'm tired of your whining," Piccolo snapped.
Gohan jumped at the tone. "B-but... okay..." he relented, pushing himself up. He stumbled slightly and planted his feet further apart to lower his center of gravity, then took a few hesitant, wobbly steps.
"Good. Your training begins today."
"Training for what?"
"For the battle against the Saiyans. Your uncle's comrades."
"What? But, Mr. Piccolo, uh sir, I can't fight! I'm not strong enough! I don't even know how to fight!" Gohan protested adamantly, stamping one foot.
"Which is precisely why you're in my training. Somewhere in that weak little body of yours lies a dormant power we need to unleash. I saw it when you angered toward your uncle."
"But I don't! At least, I don't remember..."
"I know what I saw. Do you want a demonstration?" And without further ado, Piccolo reached down and grabbed the boy by the back of his gi, throwing him into the vicinity of a large mountain. The boy screamed until about half the distance before his fear turned to anger. With an impressive influx of ki, he shot a wave of energy at the mountain, completely destroying it on impact. Gohan landed on the ground with a soft thud, staring dumbfounded at the wreckage.
"Did I... did I do that?" he asked softly as Piccolo approached him.
"Yes. That's your inner power. That is what we will unleash and learn to control. But first, you must learn one of the most fundamental basics of fighting."
"What's that?"
Piccolo smirked and without warning, punched the boy in the stomach, sending him flying back several feet.
"Dodge!"
Tsuki sighed. "Oh Piccolo, bad way to begin."
"Meddling in the affairs of mortals again, sister?" a cheery male voice rumbled. Tsuki turned and faced her polar opposite; his skin tan, hair the color of fire, golden eyes dancing in the dim light.
"Stay out of this, Amat," she said sternly. "This does not concern you."
"Oh? Does my sun not warm the Earth, keep her alive with my rays? Sister, Earth belongs as much to me as she does to you."
"You have a marvelous tendency to upset the balance of things. I'll say it again: stay out of this," she warned, blue eyes flashing.
"And you don't? You're constantly trying to fix fate, and that goes against your teachings."
"I'm fixing what you threw out of order to begin with."
"The cosmos cannot exist without chaos. You know that."
"Yes, but there's a limit Amat. Our mother had already set the fate of everything that has ever existed; you know that. We can only interfere with so much. Or have you forgotten that too?" she asked icily.
"Relax, Tsuki. I know my path. Maybe it's you who have forgotten yours," he said, a twinge of threat in his jovial voice.
Tsuki's eyes darkened dangerously, and her ki caused her hair to flutter in its waves. "You would do well to remember this, brother. Mother's powers and prowess were borne into me, not you. So while you may be above the kais, you are only just. You are subordinate to me, and when I give an order, you obey it. Stay away from this planet. I will not go rewrite the fate of this planet like I had to with planet Vegeta when you decided to meddle in that. You caused almost an entire race to be wiped out."
"I made sure the important survived."
"Oh yes, the prince, his two subordinates, the legendary and his father, and the child. Two of them are dead now, Amat. Because I had to rewrite their paths. And that's not all that happened..."
"Wait, something unaccounted for happened on Earth, didn't it?" Amat interjected. "Something not even you had power over. Spectacular. What is it?"
"Forget it," she snapped.
"Come now, sister. You know I'll just find out anyway."
"And you'll destroy my work. This is the last time. Mess in my affairs again, and I'll banish you to the darkness. Just as Mother did with Father."
"Mother isn't here anymore, Tsuki. Stop hiding behind her laws. We rule now."
"Mother is in me, you imbecile. Her entirety is within my being. It is I who rule, not we. Her laws became mine. Nothing has changed."
"It will soon. Chaos will always overthrow order. And there will be nothing you can do," Amat said smugly.
"We're done here. Leave, now," she all but snarled.
"As you wish, your highness."
And with that, her brother was gone. Tsuki sighed. This was going to be more trouble than she thought.
Night finally fell in the desert and Gohan fell to the ground in a heap, battered, bloody, and bruised. "Please, can we be done?" he asked quietly.
"Yes," Piccolo answered, digging in his gi for the senzu bean he had been saving. "Eat this," he ordered, tossing the bean to the boy.
"What is it?" Gohan asked, looking at the bean skeptically.
"A senzu bean. It will heal you. Eat it."
Gohan hesitantly put the bean in his mouth and chewed. In an instant, he was completely healed. He jumped to his feet. "Whoa! Is that magic?"
"No, it's healing. The beans are ki infused to replenish our own ki."
"What's ki again?"
"I already told you, brat."
"I know, but I forgot..."
"Ki is our energy, dimwit," Piccolo snapped.
"Okay. Sorry. No need to get so mad. It was just a question," Gohan mumbled under his breath.
Piccolo still heard it though. "Care to say that again?" he asked in a warning tone.
Gohan's face went red. "No, sir."
"That's what I thought. Now go, find yourself some food. Be back within the hour."
"But, where do I find food?"
"Figure it out."
"But..."
"I will not repeat myself, boy," Piccolo snapped.
Gohan jumped at the severity of the tone and backed up a few steps. "Okay. I'll go look over there..." he muttered softly, walking away.
He did end up finding food, deliciously sweet and juicy berries that satisfied his hunger and thirst for the time being. He rushed back to Piccolo to make it in his time allotted. Maybe tomorrow Piccolo would give him a bowl or a pouch so that he could collect more and bring them back with him...
Piccolo had two canteens filled with water when he returned, and Gohan greedily drank half of it in one large gulp. He vaguely wondered if Piccolo had already eaten, but found he didn't much care at the moment. He had beaten him pretty hard today, so Gohan didn't care if his mentor starved or not.
"How are we supposed to get back up to the top?" Gohan asked as he and Piccolo stood at the base of the mountain.
"Fly," Piccolo answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"But, Mr. Piccolo, I don't know how to fly..."
"Then I guess you're going to have a long climb."
"What? But that's not fair!" Gohan protested.
"Tough," Piccolo said, lifting off the ground.
"Wait!"
"You'd better hurry before the night beasts come out to eat," Piccolo warned as he rose to the top.
"I hate you, Mr. Piccolo! You're a horrible, mean person!" Gohan shouted.
And Piccolo found he really didn't care.
By the time Gohan managed to climb to the top, Piccolo was in a meditative state, and the fire was burning down to its embers. Gohan wearily dropped to his hands and knees and crawled over to the dying warmth. He sent a tired, baleful glare at his mentor before his lids dropped in exhaustion and he fell into sleep.
Piccolo opened his eyes then, and looked upon the boy, taking in his bloody fingers and scraped elbows. He had to admit he was slightly impressed the child had climbed all the way up without giving up. Definitely a son of Goku. He replenished the fire and stared at his sleeping ward for some time, trying to figure out the right way to train the boy.
"Patience and understanding would be the best way," said a familiar voice behind him.
Piccolo quickly stood and whirled around. "I don't train with such weak methods," he snapped quietly, not wanting the boy to wake.
"Patience and understanding are two of the hardest virtues to attain," Tsuki said softly. "He's just a small boy. Remember that. He's never trained before. He just lost his parents. He has nothing left in this world."
"Life is tough. He can deal with it," Piccolo said coldly.
"What will it take to crack that hard exterior of yours, I wonder," Tsuki mused, a gentle smile on her lips.
"Is there a reason you came here, or are you just going to berate my methods? You gave him to me, so I'll do as I see fit."
"Remember who you are speaking to," Tsuki warned. Piccolo said nothing, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am here to bestow protection upon the boy."
"You don't think I can do it?" Piccolo challenged.
"There are some things not even someone as strong as you can protect him from. This will protect him from ill wills from powerful beings."
"What is so important about this kid? I don't get it," Piccolo mumbled.
"Because he is an anomaly. He wasn't in the plans of fate. His birth was completely uncharted. By laws of fate, he shouldn't even exist. That being said, since he does exist, something must be incredibly important about him, as I told you before."
"Who could possibly know of him that could get past me?"
"My brother," Tsuki answered softly, moving around Piccolo to kneel beside the boy. "He is the sun god, and he is the cause of all chaos in the galaxies. It is in his nature to upset the balance of fate. While I merely help fate along, he twists and turns it so that a new path has been written. If he knew the plans for this child, he'd try to skew them."
"How will you protect him? Can't gods see everything?"
"I have the authority and means to prevent that," Tsuki replied, resting her hand softly against Gohan's brow. The boy made a soft noise, and she smiled gently at him. A soft silvery glow encased the child, and Piccolo cocked his head.
"What are you doing?"
"Shush now.
Moon and stars from heavens above,
Protect this boy, the one Earth loves.
May he sleep now, encompassed in my charm,
Never may my brother never cause him harm."
The silver glow dissipated and Tsuki withdrew her hand and stood. "There. That will do nicely."
"What just happened?"
"He has been shielded. My brother will be unable to see or sense him. He is safe, for now."
"For how long?"
"I don't know Piccolo. We'll just have to wait and see."
To those of you who caught the "Dodge!" reference, kudos!