Good Luck Charms and Meeting the Z-Fighters
The day came for the tournament to begin. Shops and booths lined the city streets, fireworks made brilliant patterns in the sky, and it was raining confetti. Warriors from around the world had come for the chance to fight Mr. Satan, the worlds greatest hero, the man who defeated Cell the android.
His fans flooded the streets waiting for his plane to arrive, and Piccolo snorted in contempt. Illia and Mira were busy running from booth to booth, excited to be out of the forest they'd grown up in. This was their first time they'd been anywhere but home. When they needed clothes, Piccolo would materialize them, and they could get all their food from the forest. Piccolo hadn't even taken them to the lookout.
They darted around the streets, keeping their speed in check so they didn't seem suspicious. They were fascinated by the colors and activity that surrounded the tournament. The booths were filled with toys and trinkets, and foods they'd never seen before. Piccolo, remembering something that Gohan had said once, stopped at an ice cream stand and grabbed two double-scoop chocolate and vanilla cones. He handed them to the girls. They tried the frozen treat and found that it was delicious. They ran off with their cones in hand to look at more booths.
Illia stopped suddenly at a booth that held necklaces of all sorts. Mira stopped as well and they stood on their toes looking at the various necklaces and and bracelets in the booth. The owner of the booth saw the two of them staring and began to talk to the girls.
"Hey there," he said, "What are you two doing here?"
"We're going to fight in the tournament," Mira said, her voice was sweet and smooth "and so is our Papa. We're just waiting for Papa's friends to get here."
"I see," the man said. Piccolo walked up at that moment, and the man looked at him.
"Girls we need to go to the meeting spot soon," he said, "So finish looking around soon, okay?"
"Yes Papa," the girls chorused.
"Wait," the man at the booth said, "I want to give each of these girls a good luck charm, if thats okay." Piccolo nodded and the man continued, "Pick a necklace girls, on the house."
The girls examined the necklaces carefully, and after a few minutes made their choices.
"I want that one," Mira said pointing, "The blue heart shaped one."
The man reached up and pulled the necklace from the rack. It was a small blue heart with a plaited gold-colored chain. He held it out to Piccolo, and he bent down and fastened the necklace around Mira's neck. The heart was the same shade of blue as her eyes.
"It suits you," Piccolo told her, and her face lit up with a blinding grin.
"Thanks Papa," she said, "and thank you too Mister,"
"And what about you," the man asked Illia, who had yet to speak, "Have you picked out a necklace yet?"
Illia nodded and pointed to the back of the the booth, where only one necklace remained from the busy morning. The necklace was a small silver choker, with a black onyx teardrop hanging from it. It was a plain necklace, unlike her sister's, but he knew it would suit her perfectly.
"Here," he said, handing it to Piccolo. Piccolo bent down and wrapped the choker around the girl's neck, fastening it before pulling back to study her. The necklace brought out the green in her eyes, and the silver ribbon belt made her hair seem even darker.
"I like it," Piccolo told her, "It looks good on you."
"Thank you Papa," the girl's voice was bell-like and adorable, "and you too Mister."
"No problem," the shopkeeper told them, "Now you better get to the meeting point, or you'll be late."
With one last wave at the man, the family headed to the entrance, where the gang had agreed to meet. They were the first ones there, and Piccolo leaned against the tree to wait for the rest. Mira climbed up his back and hid behind his turban, while Illia stood next to her father, holding his hand and watching for the others.
The others showed up in one big group, and the girls started to pick out people that matched the descriptions their father had given them. The oldest was obviously Master Roshi, he wasn't hard to spot and neither was Bulma, the owner of Capsule Corp. Illia's eyes lingered on Vegeta, who, she knew, might become her mentor after the tournament today. Then the saw Gohan and they stopped examining the rest of the group.
He was tall and fit, wearing sunglasses and a white bandanna. He wore a green shirt, and black pants, and looked like a total idiot. However this was the one person, besides the girls, that Piccolo talked about most, and in fact considered him a son. To the girls he was like the older brother they had never met, and they were eager to get to know him.
Gohan looked over, and seeing Piccolo approached the little group. He obviously hadn't noticed the girls yet, but that wasn't really all that surprising. People saw what they expected to see afterall, and none of them expected to see Piccolo show up with two little girls on tow.
"Piccolo, glad you could make it," Gohan said as he approached.
"Are you really going to fight in that?" Piccolo asked his former student with an amused grin.
"Of course," Gohan replied. He was about to say something else, when he notice a little blue eye peeking at him form behind Piccolo's turban.
"What's that?" he asked pointing.
Piccolo picked up the little girl hiding behind his turban and set her on the ground next to her sister.
"These are my daughters," he announced, then looked at the girls, "Go on, introduce yourselves."
"Hi, I'm Mira," ht e girl said, bowing, "I'm six years old."
"And I'm her twin sister Illia," the other bowed as well, "It's nice to meet you all."
The entire group stared at the three of them in shock. They looked at Piccolo, then at the girls, then back at Piccolo. They looked as though a train had hit them.
"What did you just say?" the silence was broken by Gohan, "Your daughters?"
"Yes my daughters," Piccolo told the clearly surprised group, "I found them encased in an iceberg six years ago. They were inside one of those sayian ships that Vegeta and the others showed up in all those years ago. They're half-sayian, half-nemekian, and they were just babies. It's not like I could leave them there."
Bulma and Chichi were the first to recover from the shock.
"Hi there, I'm Chichi," she told the girls, kneeling in front of them, "Your names are Mira and Illia? Those are really pretty."
"They are," Bulma spoke up, "You're one lucky guy, Piccolo, to end up with such cute little girls. And you girls are lucky too. Piccolo is an excellent father."
"We know," the twins chorused, "We love our Papa."
"And I love my Little Angels," Piccolo told the girls, "I couldn't have asked for better daughters."
The rest of the group came out of their shock and stepped forward to congratulate the little family. They introduced themselves and fussed over the twins, who enjoyed the change of pace.
"By the way," Krillin asked the group, "Has anyone seen Goku."
"He'll be here," Piccolo told the short fighter confidently.
"I know," Krillin said, "but I'm going to go look for him.
He never got the chance, because at that moment, Goku appeared at the entrance. After a short discussion with Baba, and after meeting his young son Goten, who was a mirror image of himself, he turned his attention to the twins standing by his namekian friend.
"Never thought I'd say this," Goku said, "at least, not to you Piccolo, but congradulations on becoming a father."
"Thank you," Piccolo told him simply. "And I look forward to fighting you today."
And with that, the group headed to register for the competition. They had no idea of what was going to happen that day, or of the pivotal role the twins were going to play in the oncoming battle.