CHAPTER 36:
Flashback #2:
The Other World (The Story of Piccolo Cont.)

Piccolo ran away from Capsule Corp. as he sensed that Valese was coming within the vicinity. The last thing he wanted to do was start a scene and cause casualties. And, if he got into a confrontation at this point, he would not be able to survive long. His body may have regenerated, but his power was still incredibly low. He'd have to make a good distance between himself and Capsule Corp. if he wanted to do what he was hoping to do. He would barely have enough power to make the leap, but if it got him to where he wanted to go, then he'd have gotten the second hardest job done.

Piccolo stopped at the edge of the city and leaned over, panting. He was not used to running. Most of his training was meditative and dealt a lot with manipulating ki and multiple attacks. His offense was more centralized on his arms if anything. He would have to take note to run long distances more often. If his plan fell through, he'd have to get used to escaping and rethinking his strategies.

He pressed himself against the back wall of a building and did a quick ki scan of the surrounding area to see if the parasite-infected Gohan had somehow followed him. Piccolo felt bad about leaving Goten in Chi Chi's care, knowing that the parasite was going to arrive and find the kid, but it was the safest place for Goten to be at this point. While the women were around, the parasite wouldn't dare make a scene. No, not until he found Vegeta. Otherwise, he, as Goten, would have made a scene before, not caring that there would be casualties in West City.

But the fact that the parasite cared to spare peoples' lives also seemed slightly odd to Piccolo. If the thing were sent from one of Frieza's last followers, it should not have cared to spare people. Things weren't adding up in Piccolo's head.

Realizing that he was a safe distance away from Gohan's distorted ki, Piccolo snarled a slight frown. Don't worry, kid. I'll find a way to rescue you. In order to do that, though, he would have to train. And in order to train, he'd have to face the number one problem: talking King Yemma into getting him a ticket to the Planet of the Kais.

Piccolo closed his eyes and brought his left hand to his face, placing two fingers on his forehead. This was a lot easier to do when he was just Kami and had a pure heart, but when he and Kami merged into who he was now, this process became a lot more draining.

Concentrating and focusing what was left of his power, Piccolo held his breath and thought of the one place his teleportation allowed him to go:

The end of Snake Way.

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Piccolo phased into existence at the end of the road and quickly lost his balance, falling down backwards. The wall he had been leaning on before had vanished and it startled him slightly that he had ended up on the tiles of the road. So much for a grand entrance.

Piccolo stood up and straightened his cape, frowning ahead of him. There was a long line of tiny cloud-like forms that were jabbering among themselves as they waited patiently for their trial. Piccolo looked over his shoulder and saw that several clouds had appeared out of nowhere and had begun to wait behind him.

He sighed as he waited his place in line, adjusting his hat so his antennae rested more comfortably underneath. The line was slow and tedious, but Piccolo knew the consequences of skipping ahead of people, so he had to endure the wait by tapping his foot and trying to piece together the parasites enigmatic plan from what Piccolo had observed.

As time passed, Piccolo began to move down the line quickly and was nearing the end of it. The clouds in front of him continued to babble on in their esoteric language and Piccolo found himself daydreaming to pass the time. His thoughts lied with Namek and thinking of Guru and all of his friends back on the planet. Those thoughts were derived from Nail's memories, but Piccolo remembered them as if they were his own. One side-effect of fusing with two other Namekians was that Piccolo, the final result, found it hard to differentiate between memories sometimes.

A blue demon man with black-rimmed glasses began walking down the line with a little checklist, shouting out in a nasalized voice, "Okay you all! Stand straight in line and count off! Say your number, say your name!"

The clouds blipped in a code as they counted off. Piccolo kept the numbers in his head as they reached him. When he spoke, he grumbled, "Fifteen; Piccolo."

The blue demon blinked and ruffled through his papers, "Ah, sir, I'm sorry, but could you repeat that name again?"

The Namekian huffed and crossed his arms, "Piccolo."

"I'm sorry, sir, but you're not here on our death list. Perhaps you died before your time?"

"No," Piccolo shook his head, "I'm not dead."

"WHAT?" The nasal demon raised his eyebrows and pushed back his glasses. "Oh, I see. You're a Guardian of a planet wishing to speak with Yemma?"

"Former Guardian," Piccolo corrected and nodded.

"Well then what are you doing in this line?" The demon pointed his pencil ahead to another door with two people waiting patiently, "That line is for Guardians. We opened it up a fifth of an era ago. You should have gotten the memo."

"Eh," Piccolo shook his head and just walked over to the other line. He hated this process. Trying to speak with King Yemma personally had never been Kami's favorite thing to do. Besides being greatly intimidated by him, which hurt Piccolo's pride to know that it might rub off on him, Kami had always turned to rubber around the giant.

Another blue demon with three horns on his head and a skinny twig of a body greeted him as he stepped in line. "Welcome to the Guardian line! Would you like to order a cappuccino while you wait?"

Piccolo raised his brow ridge and blinked before huffing and looking away, "No thanks."

"How about a nice coffee? That goes very well with our biscottis, which I highly recommend!"

Piccolo grunted, "Lay off."

"Well aren't you feisty!" The demon grinned toothily, "The wait for King Yemma is currently two minutes and seventy-four seconds! If you need anything, just gimme a holler!" The demon winked at him and went inside the doorway.

Piccolo huffed and crossed his arms, waiting patiently. A small orange man stood in front of him, with blue scales trimming his neck and shoulders. He turned around to face Piccolo with a hearty smile, "Has your planet become infested with alien locusts, too?"

"Alien locusts?" Piccolo raised high right brow ridge nonchalantly, "No. We've been encountering alien parasites."

The orange man pursed his orange lips as his face scrunched, "Ohhh, nasty things those are! We had a case of alien parasites three eras ago. Nasty things, they are. Nasty!"

The blue cappuccino demon smiled happily and waved, "Next!"

The orange man bowed to Piccolo, "Well it was nice meeting you. I hope your parasite problem clears up. Nasty thing, that is. Yes, yes, very nasty."

Piccolo growled as the short alien man walked through the doors. It was good that the Guardian left when he did, or else Piccolo was going to do something nasty to him. What an annoying Guardian.

Piccolo looked behind him and saw he was the only person standing in his line. The line he had been in before was moving steadily along. If Piccolo had stuck to the other line, he'd have been in there already. It's not like Piccolo had all year to just idly wait tapping his foot.

Before Piccolo lost his cool, however, the door opened again and the happy blue demon man stepped out. "Alright, Precious! You're next."

Piccolo felt his nose turn a shade of pink and only grunted a reply as he walked passed the demon. If he weren't in front of King Yemma at the time, he would have done a number on that demon man for saying that to him. But he had to watch himself here. Any wrong move, and he could be damned to live in HFIL for eternity.

Piccolo walked into a large room with a giant desk and an even more gigantic man sitting behind it. The second that Piccolo got a look at him, he felt his knees weaken and begin to shake. Small beads of sweat began to form on his forehead as his heart began to race against his will.

"Ah! So… Kamicolo, is it?" The booming voice reverberated in the room, and Piccolo felt the bass of it hit his chest with vibrations.

Piccolo coughed and bowed again, respectfully, "Just Piccolo will do."

"I was wondering what happened to Kami from Earth. I haven't seen him in a long time. I see you fused with him. It's nice to see you again, Kamicolo. What seems to be the problem?"

Piccolo hesitated and tried to wet his mouth before proceeding, "I have a favor to ask of you, King Yemma."

"Oh?" The giant leaned back in his chair and brought his pen to his mouth, "A favor? Whatever for?"

Piccolo breathed a bit and tried to ignore the queasy feeling in his stomach as he bowed more deeply, "I need a pass to travel to the Planet of the Kais."

"HAH!" King Yemma scoffed and dropped his pen as he began laughing, "A pass to the Planet of the Kais? Are you sure you are well, Kamicolo?"

"Piccolo. And yes, I am. It is very important that I see Ancient Kai."

King Yemma chortled slightly and shook his head, "Are you aware that the Supreme Kai is currently residing there?" King Yemma leaned forward and pointed to Piccolo, "You're asking for something not even I have the ability to grant."

Piccolo stiffened, "Then how am I supposed to get there?"

King Yemma chortled again, "It's by invitation only, Kamicolo, but I'll see what I can do." King Yemma tapped his pen on his desk as his gaze traveled upward, "I guess I could grant you a pass to the Grand Kai's planet while you wait. But I'm not sure how long the process will take, Kamicolo. I take it you wish to train?"

"Yes." Piccolo nodded respectfully.

"You know, Kamicolo, it is against my rules to allow any living being beyond this point. I want you to remember that." King Yemma looked at him, "This is the most of a favor that I can grant you at this point. Consider it a small payback for saving the Earth so many times. You've spared me a great deal of paperwork."

Piccolo smirked slightly, "Yeah, no problem."

King Yemma stamped a document and put it in his book. "This favor goes on your record, though. Expect no more favors from me." King Yemma adjusted his hat as he looked down to his book, "And it might take a while to get word to the Supreme Kai that you request his attention." He took out some papers which were microscopic for him, and gave them to a demon assistant, who handed them to Piccolo. "One of those papers is the pass you'll need. The rest are some paperwork you need to fill out. Consider it an application to meet him. Get it in whenever possible. You're excused." King Yemma then hit his gavel against the desk and looked up to the doors, "NEXT!"

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Almost a month later, Piccolo had still not received any word from the Supreme Kai. He was beyond impatient by this point. He could not help but feel a dark and ominous veil over him, as if he could sense the evil that had blanketed the world during his absence.

The only thing keeping him in the Other World was the training he was receiving here. Although his power had reached a plateau many years ago, he was learning new techniques and fighting styles that seemed interesting enough to stay and take note of. It didn't really improve his fight, but it added a bit of variety that would make himself harder to predict.

There were three things that constituted proper battle technique. One, the most principle one, was concentration on the task. That included clearing one's head and acting out of instinct and automatic reflexes rather than relying on conflicting thoughts. The Second was physical training. Without power behind the blow, the attack would not be successful. The best defense was an offense, and when in a sticky situation, sometimes a life depended on the strength behind a fist. The Third was variety. If the enemy ever learned to predict his opponent's moves, then any concentration or training meant nothing in the end. It gave an advantage to the enemy, and that power over battle was something that Piccolo refused to ever relinquish.

Piccolo sighed in the tree's shade and closed his mind, trying to empty his mind of thoughts. He let all his cares slip away as he fell into a state of Ohm, the chant droning in his ears as all other sounds became like the wind, a gentle breeze blowing by. His emotions became like the sea, his feelings became the sky. He expanded his mind, and became the world he created. His essence was round, like a never-ending, infinite journey–

"–Excuse me, sir. Might you be Kamicolo?"

Piccolo opened one eye to peer out at the blue demon who disturbed his meditation, "One person calls me that, but yeah. Why?"

"I have a letter for you. I'm sorry to have disturbed your slumber, but it's sealed as if it's pretty important, and –"

"–Give me that!" Piccolo leaned forward and grabbed the envelope from the demon's hands. "Thanks. Now scram."

"Yes sir! I mean, alright sir!" The demon scuttled away, leaving Piccolo with his white envelope with the Supreme Kai's seal.

Piccolo eyed the envelope carefully before grunting, "This had better be good news." He tore open the envelope and unfolded a very short letter. His eyes narrowed as he read the fine print on the page.

To Kamicolo, Regarding your Application to Appear Before the Supreme Kai:

Your case has been thoroughly evaluated, and congratulations! You have been selected as one of few to ever appear before the Supreme Kai and Ancient Kai. Your invitation to the Planet of the Kais begins immediately and becomes void after one use. Please take this form to the appropriate transportation locale and make any preparations necessary for the trip.

This paper is also redeemable for one complimentary cappuccino at the nearest beverage outlet. We hope you have a nice journey. -- The Yemma Team

Piccolo smirked at the letter and let out a relieved sigh he had been holding in since he arrived on the planet. He stood up and dusted the grass off of his cape. Finally, he'd be able to speak to the Supreme Kai and Ancient Kai about the Mystic powers on his mind. If Gohan's powers expired on him, then perhaps Piccolo might be able to convince the Ancient Kai to grant him powers needed to save the world from Valese.

Almost a month had passed here, meaning that Earth had endured two months of that parasite's reign. It made Piccolo extremely upset to know that his planet was undergoing something he had not been able to thwart. With the help of the Kais, however, he might be able to change that.

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-12/22/04-

Note: After this, I intend to post one more chapter, and then I'm going to vanish for a week because I'm heading off to Jamaica. However, when there, I hope to write another chapter, at least.

After I finish Piccolo's background story, I'll be jumping into the main story again, don't worry. A lot happened with Piccolo, however, which I felt uncomfortable telling mainly through conversation.