Reno's Origins

By: Atomic Kokoro

Storyline

Due to an accident, Reno is told he won't ever be able to walk again. It isn't long, though, before he is told by a boy named Gohan that there is a solution to the problem. Unfortunetly, there is bad news to come with it.

Before You Read

Bored. It's about midnight, and I'm bored.

On with the story.

Chapter 7

Piccolo's Teachings

"Can you feel it?" Gohan asked. Reno stood before him, eyes shut tight and body tense. He shook his head.

Goku placed a hand on Reno's shoulder. "You're trying too hard. Relax and just feel around using your sixth sense." Reno took the advice and physically relaxed. "Try to feel where I'm standing. See if you can lock onto the sense. It will feel like you just know."

Reno nodded. Deep inside, he could feel it. Of course, his back was to Goku and, therefore, he could not see him, but he felt like he just knew. "I-I think I got it," he finally said.

"Good," Goku praised. "Now, try to keep that feeling. I'll be walking around the room. Try to track me as I move."

Goku began to walk. Reno flinched as the Ki disappeared for a moment but soon reappeared in a different spot. He consentrated very hard and somehow managed to keep the Ki. He felt like a slow computer trying to keep track of where the pointer was.

"Do you still have my Ki?" the man asked, finally stopping. Reno nodded. "Try to see if you can find Gohan's Ki, then."

A moment passed. Gohan was staring at Reno with apprehension. "I think I have it," Reno began, sounding unsure. "But it doesn't feel right."

Piccolo blinked. "It doesn't feel right?" he questioned, quickly scanning Gohan's Ki for his own. "It might be because his Ki is different from Goku's."

Reno blushed. "I'm kind of working ahead here," he said quietly. Goku's eyes widened.

"Have you found everyone's Ki in this room already?" Reno didn't say anything. "Geez, you're a quick learner."

"Well, I was always told that growing-up," he said. "Maybe it's in my blood?"

Vegeta burst out laughing. Goku glanced at Vegeta with his usual innocently lost looks. "What's so funny, Vegeta?"

Vegeta finally calm down enough to speak. "It's not in his blood," he chuckled. "Not from his father, anyway."

"Shut it, Vegeta," Gohan growled. He looked back at Reno who had finally opened his eyes and was staring back. Gohan looked elsewhere in the room to avoid his curious gaze. "You probably find my Ki different because I'm Half-Saiyan. Like Trunks. You haven't felt his Ki yet. Maybe that's it."

Reno nodded. "Yeah, it makes sense."

"So the kid can Ki Sense now," Vegeta scoffed. "A beginner, no more, but at least the kid can do something."

Goku said, "So you know basic defense?"

"Self-taught," Reno corrected. "But I suppose."

Gohan's eyes lit up. "Are we going to teach him how to fight, now?" Reno smiled, hoping that was the next step as well. Much to their dismay, though, Goku shook his head.

"We still have to teach the rest of the basics," he said.

"Survival training?" Gohan pleaded. "At least?"

Goku shook his head.

"Flight?"

"No."

"What's more basic than flight?" Gohan demanded.

Goku smiled. "Reaction time," he said.

"I think flight is more basic," Gohan muttered.

Goku heard it and replied, "Reaction time will increase his speed without worry during Flight. He can dodge ducks that don't live up to their name."

Reno chuckled.

Gohan suddenly understood. "Makes sense," he said.

...

"I'll be teaching this lesson," Piccolo instructed in his normal, gruff voice. "So play close attention and take this seriously. If you get hurt, it's not my fault."

Reno tensed up a bit with worry. He attempted (and failed) to shake it off. "So, how are we going to do this?" he asked. He felt much more like training, now back in the feild where Gohan and him had sparred before.

Piccolo huffed. "To test you're current reaction time, I'm going to throw some punches and you have to dodge them. I will not be holding back, understand?"

Reno gulped with a nod. If Gohan could break his ankle, Piccolo could probably break his nose. One more thing he wasn't planning on experiencing...again. The first time his nose got broken was during practice. It the was whole reason his voice sounded so plugged. Because it was.

"Are you ready?"

"Couldn't be anymore," Reno whimpered, ready to jump at the first sign of movement. Piccolo faked a dash. The result? Reno fell flat on his butt. Everyone on the sidelines stifled a giggle. Reno blushed madly, and got back onto his feet. "Not funny. Not funny at all."

"You kidding me?" Piccolo chuckled. "You just made my day."

Reno rolled his eyes and looked back just quick enough to duck under a punch with a yelp. He leaned foreward and rolled passed Piccolo. He jumped on his final tumble to avoid a Ki Blast. "What was that?" he gasped, staring at the charred ground.

Piccolo only responded with attacks. Reno managed to dodge the first couple by swaying side to side, but Piccolo eventually caught him in a hard right-cross to the cheek that sent Reno flying backwards. Piccolo learched foreward and grasped his ankle and threw the teen the same way Gohan had during their spar.

Reno recovered with a one-handed backflip, twisting in the air so he would face Piccolo when he landed. "Careful," he hissed. "You're going to break my ankel again."

Piccolo rammed foreward, ready to throw another punch when Goku shouted, "That's enough!" Piccolo immediatly stopped and glanced at Goku. Reno almost fainted with relief. "I think that's enough for one day, don't you think?"

Reno shook his head. "Uh, no. We've only been going for an hour."

Vegeta burst out laughing. He was just having a great day. "What a stupid kid. Did you really think Ki Sensing only took forty minutes?" he laughed. "We were there for a good three hours before you managed to even lock onto Kakarot's Ki!"

"Three hours?" Reno choked. "It took me three hours to lock onto his Ki? It felt like three minutes!"

Gohan chuckled. "If three hours feels like three minutes in Ki Sensing, imagine how fast it feels when you find a Ki in less than a minute in real time."

Reno nodded. "So, then, what time is it?"

"It's about three'o'clock in the afternoon. Maybe you should go see your friends. Tomorrow, we'll increase you reaction time."

Reno waved goodbye to everyone and disappeared.

Gohan scoffed after a moment of silence. He threw his arms in the air and placed them on his hips. "He called my Ki weird! He called it out of place! He should definetly feel his own sometime. His is far more stranger than mine."

Gohan had subconsciously begun to follow Reno.

"Weird, isn't it?" Goku muttered. "He's a very quick learner. King Kai told me the quickest person to learn Ki Sensing took five hours to lock onto his first Ki, but Reno managed to find every single one of ours in three."

Piccolo placed a hand on Goku's shoulder. "Think about his father, Goku."

Goku nodded...then his stomach growled. Goku laughed. "I guess I was so caught up in training Reno, I forgot about lunch! Man, am I starving! I'll catch you guys later." He took to the skies and headed back into the city.

Don't lie, Goku. Reno's origins to bother you, too.

...

Reno opened the door. It made a slight creaking noise as it opened. He peered around the door to see who he wanted to see.

Piccolo.

The green man was sitting in the center of his room in a meditative position, almost appearing to be asleep. He stared at Piccolo for a moment, wondering if the Namek was really asleep and if he should say something.

Both questions were answered when Piccolo said, "Are you gonna stand there staring at me all night, or are you going to come in?"

True that. It was night about eight, really. The sky had darkened to a dark blue canvas with white, sparkly paint splattered about it and a giant white-color moon hanging like a Christmas ordiment.

Reno entered the room and shut it quietly behind him. "What is it you want?" Piccolo asked.

There was a silence. "Gohan told me you were his first mentor," he began, slowly. "And that you taught him so much. He said you were a great person, and I kind of agree-"Piccolo smirked at the 'kind of' part."-so I was wondering if I could get to know you a bit more."

There wasn't a reply, so Reno went on. "I mean, you aren't usually outside of your room a lot, and I've met everyone else and talk to them. It's you I haven't talked to yet, and I was just wondering if...you know...we could...hang out?"

There was a small grunting sound, and Reno assumed it was laughter. "You sound just like Gohan when he was younger. He always wanted to see me, despite the fact his mother had clearly stated that he would be grounded if he ever snuk out of the house to see me."

Reno seperated himself from the door and sat across from Piccolo, who's eyes were still closed, shifting into the same position as him. "What are you doing?" he asked a minute later.

"Meditating," Piccolo answered.

"Oh," said Reno, standing. "I'm sorry to disturb you. I can just-"

"Sit," Piccolo interupted. "I can teach you."

Reno stared at Piccolo for a bit, indecisive. Finally, he sat down ("Piccolo is a man you do not want to disobey," Gohan had told him) back the way he was before. "Clear your mind." Reno closed his eyes and stared into the blackness behind his eyes. "Try to focus on just one thing."

Reno scanned through several pictures in his head. "Does it have to be anything in particular?"

"Anything that puts you at ease," was Piccolo's reply. "Now, focus on it. Try to find all five senses to live that moment. And let that moment play itself out."

Reno focused on the concrete strip he and Gohan chatted on the previous night. He almost found himself absorbed into the meditation...

The wind was still that night. The stars were clear to see and the sky behind it was pure black. The sound of the waves lapping against the wall he stood on. He could feel the driplets of water land on his face. The smell of saltwater filled his nose. A vinella flavor danced on his tounge.

He couldn't believe it. The meditation was working! It was almost like he was in a different place at the same time. Maybe he was. Or maybe it was a different time? He wasn't sure, but he was definetly somewhere he liked to be.

He looked around, wondering if anyone else was in his mind. He saw no one at first. But when he turned to watch the horizen, a white dot appeared in the line. It grew bigger and bigger. Until it became a man.

The man was still far away, but he could recognize him. It was the man who crippled him. The man with the long black hair and huge body. But he was different. His expression, as if he had discovered something that made him the happiest he had ever been in his life, which had been nothing but pain and misery.

He didn't think it would be wise to encounter the man again, in case the man could break his supposedly peaceful meditation. The man, though. He seemed so relieved, so tranquil, he almost wanted to see the man again and ask him questions.

Unconsciously, he stepped foreward, off the concrete strip, and into the water below. He submerged under the surface. He opened his mouth to scream-

-and he coughed. He had brought himself out of his meditation. His body reacted to the image in his mind, which he found quiet interesting.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked. Reno jolted. He had been expecting Piccolo, but it was someone else.

"Astro?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a weird...moment, I guess."

He glanced around, looking for Piccolo. Piccolo was nowhere in sight. "Where's Piccolo?"

"He had to leave," Astro replied. "He didn't say where he was going. He just left. Gohan said it was natural for him to leave like that. I guess he needed some time alone."

Reno nodded. "What about Abbie?"

"Reno, it's two'o'clock in the morning. She's asleep, along with everyone else."

Reno jolted again. Why did time always seem to go by faster than it did? "This is getting crazy," he muttered to himself. "I'm going to bed. I really need some sleep."

Astro nodded. "Goodnight," he said as Reno left the room. Astro sighed and left, too, not noticing the other figure in the room...

...

"A man? Just like the one in the capsule?" Gohan repeated. "That's weird."

Ken snorted. "Maybe you fell asleep and you dreamed it."

"Why would I dream it now and not earlier?" Reno hissed. "And I couldn't fall asleep, I was meditating."

"Maybe you fell asleep Ki Sensing, too," Vegeta joked, even though he knew that wasn't the case.

Reno rolled his eyes. Krillin leaned foreward. "So, are you going to train today?"

"Well, duh!" Reno said. "I don't know why I would back out! It was just a meditation or whatever. It couldn't be that importent."

Piccolo growled, "You'd be surprised."

Reno pretended not to hear him. "What are we doing today?"

"Same thing as yesterday," Gohan replied. "Ki Sensing and Reaction Time. This time, I'm going to teach."

Abbie looked up from her book and smiled. "Now this I gotta see!"