Chapter Five- Death sentence

It was late day before Piccolo finally stopped at another barren wasteland. The only signs of life between the luminous mountains and a puddle of glistening water. I landed two seconds after he did, just as he threw the unconscious Gohan into the water. Before I could say anything, the boy spluttered and thrashed about. Waking up and righting himself to sit in the knee high water.

Then he started crying.

"Where's my daddy!?" Piccolo growled again beside me.

"Shut up" Gohan only cried harder.

"Look, your father sacrificed himself in the battle with Raditz. And it got the job done. But don't worry, he'll be back soon. Meanwhile, you have be trained with that hidden power of yours so you can battle against the two saiyans that will be here in a year"

"Wow, way to break to it to him Piccolo" His sharp features turned towards me and I was rewarded with a glare.

"I didn't ask for your opinion. What are you even doing here anyway"

"I wish I knew" I muttered.

"Excuse me" Gohan butted in, breaking us from our staring contest. " But I don't have any special powers"

"That's where your wrong" Piccolo made his way to Gohan, roughly picking him up by the collar of his tunic.

"Piccolo, don't be so rough" I disapproved. He lifted his arm; Gohan still hanging from it, and launched Gohan towards the nearest mountain.

"What the hell are you doing!?" I screamed as he whizzed through the air unmoving as the mountain loomed up at him.

"Just watch" And watch I did. About three quarters of the way there, he blazed with white energy, roaring at the mountain. When they collided, Gohan blasted through, the top of the mountain sliced clean in half and it crumbled down the mountain side.

"God..you were right" Not that it made it right that he threw the poor boy headfirst at a mountain but still. The said boy appeared at the foot of the mountain, dazed and stumbled back towards us.

"Mr piccolo..I think I understand now"

"Good, you have to harness that power if we're going to have any chance against the saiyans"

"But I still don't think I can fight" But his objections were ignored as Piccolo was now on his high horse and continued in the same fierce tone.

"If you can survive here for six months on your own, you're worth training. So either you die and Earth is doomed, or you learn to survive and I'll be back in six months to train you"

"W-what!" Gohan didn't seem to be too fond of that idea. I sensed Piccolo gather his energy once more, and quickly following suit. We both took to the air flying a good few metres behind a bulbous mountain.

"And now we watch" Piccolo hovered in the air, legs crossed as though he was sitting on the air. I slowly did the same, trying to ignore the fact I could fall at any moment.

"Don't you think you're being a bit harsh on him? The poor boy is probably only five years old" Again, I wasn't sure why I was bothering to get involved. Not my planet, not my place. But still..

"So? I'm only eight" I spluttered out the air I had just breathed in, almost losing my control of my energy and plummeting to my death. As he shot me a look of pure menace, I managed to keep the slippery energy at my feet and sat down again.

"You can't be serious"

"Well I am"

"But look at you, you're taller than me for Christ sakes, and your well built and…"

"And what?" As I took my first proper look at him without distraction, I had to bite my lip from saying it. He was in fact..well he was hot. Undeniably hot. With those thick lean muscles and his tall build. Those high, sharp cheekbones and a pointed nose. He had the look of a haughty man, albeit a green one at that. But who cared that he was green.

My eyes slipped down his torso, stopping at the bulge in the middle of those well filled pants.

No, I won't go there. Cherry was waiting at Moonsky for me, faithfully awaiting my return. Yet I still couldn't keep my eyes of him, I wanted to feel those muscles coiled around my body.

"Lessa?" Piccolo broke in through my all too visual daydreams, and I lazily thought that even his voice sounded sexy. It seemed slightly more husky than before too.

Oh..he'd noticed where my eyes were.

"Ahem" I coughed and discreetly raised my eyes to his black ones. "You were saying?"

"You were going to add something after you said I was well-built" And his cheeks flushed with a tint of the deepest red.

"It was nothing" I forced myself to turn towards Gohan again, glad for the distraction. He was out of the water now, crying to himself on the sandy ground. A blaze of wind was whipping around the wasteland, knocking on gohan's tunic coat insistently. The poor kid, he didn't even notice his grief was that consuming. I wanted to help. But this sexy stranger beside me obviously knew what he was doing. The kid was a full-on softie. He needed hardening up. All things considered, if I was going to assist them in fighting the saiyans, I need to get stronger as well.

"You could always ask him to train you" Mel was quick to point out within the security of my mind, unbiased considering the thoughts I was having about him.

"It's not my biz to go there Lessa, im here to assist you, not chaperone you into being someone your not" Someone I'm not huh? So, I'm the kind of person who cheats at will?

"I didn't mean that" Although thinking about it, I was a train-wreck with commitment to the human males on earth, was I really going to be any better with Cherry. I sighed again, my confusion lost in the forthcoming wind.

The wind whipped again, and Gohan let out a huge sob just as his coat was lifted clean of his shoulders, and carried about halfway up a rock face nearby. Gohan finally shook of his tears and stared in dismay at the coat, which was now strung over a jutting edge.

"Come on Gohan.." Piccolo murmured from beside me, fully distracted; and disappointed with the boy's minimal efforts to do something other than cry.

Slowly but surely, Gohan edged closer. The wind nipping its icy teeth and his bitter thin tunic. He was unable to ignore the cold, and that would drive him towards getting his coat back. Speaking of cold, I wondered why I wasn't feeling it. The air around me was warm in fact. Pausing to take note of my surroundings, I saw I was closer to Piccolo than I realized, having moved closer in my eagerness to watch. Piccolo seemed to radiating an intense heat, concentration screwed all over his sharp features.

I literally had to tear my eyes away from him. And I had looked longer than I should have, for Gohan was now scaling the Rock face with unsteady, trembling muscles.

Despite all that shaking, he edged closer and closer to the hanging coat.

Come on Gohan, don't give up! I willed.

As the wind smacked against him, he made a last ditch attempt to swing up and grab the coat. The material passing and then catching in his small chubby hands. The wind swayed relentlessly and his remaining hand lost its grip, the child and coat rocketing back down to a harsh but welcoming ground.

The kid was resilient, I'll give him that. No doubt inherited from the father I barely knew. From the way he was dressed, I wouldn't say his mom was much of a good character.

He sat up instantly, lightly nursing his skin with slow rubs. The kid didn't even seem bruised.

A lizard skittered nearby, weaving in and out of the smooth rocks that littered the sand. Gohan perked up at the sound, his undivided attention watching the lizard's movements as though they were a lifeline.

Shame he couldn't hear the monster behind him. Both of Piccolo's hands had grabbed me by the shoulders by the time I noticed it. My traitorous body relaxing in the strong grip of a man.

"That's a dinosaur Piccolo!"

"Like I don't know that. Let the kid handle it on his own" Well I would, if the kid actually knew it was there.

Apparently the dinosaur wanted its lunch to know it was there though. It stomped its huge heavy feet, shaking the wasteland like a massive earthquake. Except, earthquakes didn't eat you.

The lizard stopped playing around and tumbled of in a hurry, causing Gohan to look around to see what had caused his new friend to run away. He didn't seem to like the new arrival too much as pure undiluted terror washed over his childish features.

His legs turned to jelly as he stood, awkwardly sticking out at the sides as he made a run for it. The dinosaur seemed pleased that his lunch was making him work for it, and his huge t-rex feet ate up the distance between him and Gohan.

As Gohan grew more desperate, the same white energy from earlier started to fill his aura, blazing proudly. Gohan's eyes went red, and his features twisted with animalistic rage.

"Finally, something interesting" Piccolo mused. The white energy sweeped over his whole form, blasting the small body high out the dinosaurs reach, picking the highest mountain around. Gohan then collapsed onto the rounded peak of the mountain, the energy dying down instantaneously. His eyes rolled back as unconsciousness hit him.

The dinosaur was half the size of the mountain, and reluctantly left its prey to amble of into another wasteland for its lunch.

We hadn't moved for hours. Dusk had long fallen and the stars were out in their fullest. Although I hadn't untangled them from Piccolo's meditating position. I could tell my muscles were stiff, but fully recovered from their exertions in the earlier day. We hadn't spoke either, although my throat burned with the tones of questions I wanted to ask him. For example, did he do this a lot. Cause he sure seemed used to it. His heavy green lids had closed over the black pools like film, but I sensed he could still see me staring at him.

A quiet sob was what opened those deep eyes. Gohan was finally awake, and was fretting over the height of the mountain. He had been for the past couple of hours, with no memory of how he got there.

Perhaps he thought it was an act of cruelty by Piccolo.

"I wonder if anger is the key to his power" I mused.

"If it is, it doesn't keep the door open very long" And that was the first thing this guy had said to me all night. Piccolo unfolded his legs and heaved a sigh.

"I'll be back in a second" He said before flying of silently west. Leaving me to watch a five year old boy in tears.

I counted 180 seconds before he returned. Barely inches above Gohan's bowed head with two shiny red apples in his hands. He seemed disapproving as he watched the boy's fruitless sobbing, but dropped the two apples beside him nevertheless. He was gone and back at my side before Gohan had even looked up. He scanned the sky, but found nothing. Turning his attention back to the succulent apples.

Piccolo nudged me as Gohan carefully examined the apples, producing two more from his turban. He motioned for me to hold out my hand, and he dropped the juiciest apple into my palm. It barely weighed more than a bag of sugar, and as my stomach growled. I realized I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I was starving. As Gohan winced at the sour flavor as he took a bite, I devoured the apple in three bites, its bitter juice running down my throat and warming it.

As Piccolo swallowed his own apple, Gohan whimpered and complained about the sourness to no one in particular and whined for his mom's food.

"Spoilt brat" Piccolo hissed. But Gohan ate both apples, leaving only the cores at his side. He sat back gazing wistfully at the stars; before rolling over and closing his eyes. Probably hoping that sleep would bring a better outcome. My stomach growled in agreement.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you more" Piccolo said almost silently. And that was the last thing I heard before exhaustion washed over me like a black wave.