Disclaimer: Chapter 2.

Ok, people. I'm typing this out on my father's laptop since I left my PC back at the dorm room for spring break. Spring break is, for me, lots of sleeping and petting the nine pet cats.

Neil was the first to regain consciousness, but he didn't stir for the longest while, waiting for Piccolo to pick up the body, but the delay made him realize that he was alone in the body, in his own body, and his eyes shot open and he jumped up to standing immediately.

The others had long left the inner ship to watch whatever might be happening now outside. The waters dragged Atsarute off into the more heavily forested area, and everyone was afraid to go after her when they heard the approach of what sounded like an army's march, so they stayed by the Namekku-sei-jin, but continued to keep their distance. When Neil sprung up, the first to run to him was Kuririn and Gohan, however, when they came within two meters of him, stopped and only stared at him, unsure of whether to say anything or not.

Neil looked at them and grinned. "It's been a while since we've met like this, eh?" He looked down at himself. The clothes were like how he always dressed back at Namekku-sei, but it did feel different. He felt as if he was much stronger than he was before by himself, so much that he was sure that if he were like this when he fought Freeza, he would not only have won in any of his forms, but he could have taken Goku as a Super Saiya-jin out as well if so inclined.

"Heh… It seems as though I came out with some advantages."

.-.

"Atsarute-sama!"

"Atsarute-sama! Can you hear me?"

"Wake up, Atsarute-sama!"

A groan came from her, and she slowly pulled her face out of the water and flung her wet hair out of her eyes. Atsarute looked up into the blinding daylight and saw several figures. She brought her hand above her brow and peered to them. "Jakkaru, Suraku, everyone," She said with a raspy voice, squinting at the figures. "It's hard enough to see in the light without this infliction."

Several sighs of relief came from her army. Jakkaru and Suraku came closer to her. "How are you, Atsarute-sama? Are you wounded?" Jakkaru spoke.

She stood straight and stretched. "Besides the eyes and the throat, I'm tired, sore, and generally under the weather." She looked down at her soaked rags a moment. "I must have been out for an hour or so."

"There's a healer here, Atsarute-sama," Suraku said, bending down with Jakkaru to help her out of the marsh. "And we have a trunk of your clothes if you wish to change."

"It seems as though you thought of everything. I am quite tired of dressing like mother." The general began to unravel the black strips from her body. "Has there been many troubles since I've been absent?"

"A few, mostly doing with the soldiers' uneasiness without your strength," Jakkaru said, grinning at Suraku, "Some of them have been acting quite unlike themselves. I've had to take up the role as the responsible one."

She laughed a bit, "I thought you were acting a little pompous, Suraku."

.-.

Piccolo regained consciousness next, but chose not to stir. It was so long since he had a good rest, and those old men and that nagging Neil was no longer trying on his nerves. He could hear him talking to Gohan and Kuririn several meters away, and the reassurance that he was finally outside of him made him feel even more comfortable, even though he was leaning against the rough bark of a tree.

A major influx of energy rose in the direction of the army's noises. It stopped every conversation and had each face shoot in that direction, including Piccolo's. He went running towards it, making his student and a few of his friends follow him a while, calling after him before uncertainty gripped them to not continue.

When Piccolo disappeared into the trees, Goku peered out through the canopies. "Suge! That energy is really powerful! Do you think its Atsarute?"

Gohan nodded. "I don't see why else Piccolo-san would run like that."

"Piccolo seems to have gotten faster than before… He must have improved after getting split as well."

"That leaves…" Kuririn looked back at the last Namekku-sei-jin that still slept under the tree. "..Whoever that is."

"Piccolo Daimaou and Kami-sama," Goku muttered, "I guess that is hid original form…" He tried to peer past the shadows covering the Namek. "But he looks much… younger than I remember either of them being, even after Piccolo wished for youth."

.-.

Several soldiers surrounded Piccolo the moment he exited the trees, but Suraku asked them to stand down as soon as he heard the commotion.

"Who is this man, Suraku?" Jakkaru said as he lowered his sword.

"I… I guess he's my cousin, another of Katatsu's descendants."

"Hmm… I thought that I knew Katatsu's entire lineage…"

Suraku groaned and rubbed a hand over his bald head. "So did I…"

"Where is Atsarute?" Piccolo said, searching around the huge ki of the soldiers for Atsarute's, like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"She was healed and has taken position to survey the army from above."

"Above?"

Jakkaru casually pointed behind him to a cliff with a red fluttering cloth at the apex.

Instead of flying up, Piccolo found a way to walk up to the cliff, and as he came closer, he saw that the cloth was a cape. The wind at this altitude was rather powerful, blowing Atsarute's hair and clothes back behind her like a flag in a windstorm. She noticed his approach and turned fully around to him. She wore detailed armor, decorated with fluting instead of useless engravings, adorned with skulls and spikes sticking out menacingly, including two huge horns upon her shoulders working as the mantle to her cape. Even her face looked different: there were peaking upwards from the ends of her eyebrows and slitting from the back of her neck towards her throat, and her eyes, now repaired, had the color of cherry wood.

"It seems that we still have a lot in common." He smirked a bit.

"What do you mean?"

"It's sort of a… trademark with me, I guess," he walked up right beside her, "To stand on cliffs like this, peering out ahead of me, with my cape fluttering behind. Usually for some sort of reason, like meditation or looking over the battlefield, but sometimes it's just preferable to—"

"—Social Interaction?" She finished for him. "I guess we do still have a lot of similarities, but we do need to catch up… for instance…" She pulled out a dagger and held the blade up at the sun a moment, examining the edge. "You said that you died and came back. Infact, Suraku informed me that you said you used the Dragonballs to be brought back to life—" She forced the knife back into its sheath. "—Twice."

"I told you that I'd explain it to you, and I will. And you've got a few things that I'd like to ask questions to. I have a lot of questions about your army, your family, and a lot of other things that you might think of as prying into your life."

"I have several of those kinds of questions as well, Piccolo. We'll have to talk this over at dinner. I told the guys that I was going to throw a banquet since they wanted to celebrate my return so badly. You should bring your friends. Those guys with the spiky hair seem to have huge appetites for Humans."

"They're not Humans, actually… well, one of them is half human…"

"Then that's another thing that I'm going to have you explain to me."

.-.

The remaining Namekku-sei-jin woke leisurely, grinning and stretching, acting as if he was simply enjoying the mere ability to breathe. No one approached him, but he came up to Goku by his own accord. "Son Goku! Do you know how long it's been since I've been like this?"

Goku only laughed, unsure of what to say.

"You seem bewildered, boy! I guess that I should be getting used to that again. After all, I'm back to how I was before, but this time with the youth of my son and the memories that I had lost on the way to Earth." He seemed just glowing with delight. "And I'm just as strong as I was supposed to have been: The strongest and most intelligent man on the planet. At least, that's how things were back on Namekku-sei. That's why father gave me such an unusual name: Piccolo, because I had to have certainly come from another plain of existence to be like this." He laughed heartily along with his bragging. "I guess that's to be expected, being born in a genius Warrior class."

Goku grasped something among this rambling. "So, you're name… is Piccolo?"

"Yes! Piccolo of the Katatsu family, and since I'm the eldest, heir to his legacy!" He tapped his chin in thought for a moment. "Which I guess would be the rule of all Namekku-sei-jin, now. That's sort of how it was going before, since I married into the other family as well…"

"So… you're name is really Piccolo, too…" Goku repeated, trying to figure out how he was going to keep all of these different Piccolos separate.

Piccolo raised a brow. "You never were particularly bright, Goku."

"I was just thinking… you're Kami-sama and Piccolo Daimaou in one, right?"

"Yes…"

"And you're name is Piccolo."

"Yes…"

"And the other Piccolo with the cape and turban is… also Piccolo…"

"Are you coming to a personal discovery, or something, Son? Yes, his name is Piccolo as well, and he is my son. Is there something that you don't understand?"

Goku scratched his head. "Uhh… I guess not.

"Good. Now, where is Suraku? I'll have to speak with him about Father…"

.-.

Atsarute and Piccolo came down from the cliff together, still talking, trying to catch up with the times. They had several years to cover, so it promised to be a long conversation. Atsarute gave the orders to begin preparation for the banquet and dismissed the warriors. They ran back towards the planet's military base immediately.

As the two spoke and slowly went back towards the ship to tell the others about the celebration, Piccolo turned to her with a question: "And how old are you now in Earth's years? Do you remember the conversion?"

She bowed her head a moment. "Now… I would be… 25 Earth years?"

"25? Really? That would make you 7 years old when we met."

"Heh… That has to do with the royal family of my planet. The second born matures quickly to catch up with their older sibling, especially if there's a large gap between the ages. My brother is still stronger than me from being… 10 years older than me, but I'll keep trying to surpass him. So, how old are you?"

"Well… you know how Namekku-sei-jin age when their… exceptionally intelligent?"

"Is this explanation going to include a lot of bragging?"

It took me a while to decide what color Atsarute's eyes should be, since I didn't want to make them sound too special, nor did I want to make them black or blue. I kept thinking about something red or brown (gold sounded good, but with some of the other factors, not appropriate). Bah, damn characters and their having to be described.