Piccolo stood at the edge of a cliff, crossing his arms and looking ever the image of a lone mysterious warrior.
It was the second to last day before the tournament began… It felt to him like he had done as much as he could to refine his aura even further. It helped that he had also been training his body to the limit every day. He knew that he didn't stand a chance against Goku,Vegeta or Gohan, but he felt prepared enough to at least be able to try and put up a fight.
It helped that Goku and Vegeta would start off slow in their matches to get more enjoyment out of them, allowing their opponents to show off to see how much they could be pushed. It wouldn't be easy, but if he played his cards right he might be able to trick them into going off stage.
Gohan was a bit more soft during fights against friends which also made him into a slow starter like his father. The difference was that he didn't take long to decide to take the match seriously, usually going slow at first because it helped gauge how much power he should put into attacks.
Before he could think any further, he sensed an energy signature coming from his right.
"Sorry I'm late." Tien bowed slightly. "I… Well this is embarrassing to admit but I got a bit lost."
Piccolo raised a brow before turning to him and shaking his head. "It's fine."
The two shared a silence, Tien gathering himself and cracking his neck as stretching. From Piccolo's observation, it became clear that the three eyed man had just recently woken up, which may explain why the usually sharp warrior had been disoriented enough to get lost. He was usually the second best of the group with directions due to how much time he spent training in the wilderness.
After clearing himself, Tien got to the point. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."
Piccolo nodded. "I assume that you wanted to have a serious training session with someone before the tournament."
"Yeah, that's right." Tien nodded at his deduction. "I also managed to come up with a new technique."
Piccolo remained cliff faced, putting it together quickly. "And you want me to be your guinea pig."
"Yes." Tien confirmed. "Don't tell anyone about it. I'm going to try and save it for when I fight Goku. If I beat Krillin that is." He added quickly.
"I see." Piccolo said, a curious gleam in his eye. "What sort of technique is it?"
"I'll show you during our spar. But first…" Tien sat himself down and took a deep breath. "Let me warm up first."
Piccolo stood, closing his eyes as he too went into meditation.
The two warriors remained silent during their respective exercises, Tien meditating for several minutes before moving on to practicing footwork, stretching and punches.
The only sound besides the ones Tien made during his training was the soft wind as the morning sun beat down on the two men, casting small shadows over the ground. Tien finished off with stretching his limbs and back before finally calling over to Piccolo, ready to begin.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm ready now."
Piccolo awoke from his state of meditation before beginning to take off his cloak and turban.
"I'm not going to give you any chances to use that technique. So you better make the most of whatever you have." He warned.
"Yes, of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." Tien nodded appreciatively. "Are you ready?"
"Yes." Piccolo smirked, the ground trembled a little as his clothing fell to the ground leaving the Namekian in his classic purple gi, brown shoes and blue strap around his waist. "Let's go."
Tien stepped in quickly, blurring as he swung his leg at Piccolo, who ducked before countering with a jab to his chin. Tien batted the fist aside, using the momentum for a spin kick.
Piccolo blocked the kick, quickly grabbing onto the fabric and throwing Tien away.
He used the moment Tien had his back turned to quickly appear where Tien was to land.
Just as threw his punch, Tien managed to turn around just in time to catch it before throwing his own. Piccolo moved his head to the side and took hold of Tiens wrist, the two warriors now in a standstill.
Just as Piccolo was about to go in for a headbutt, his eyes widened as Tien lifted his knee, crashing it into his chin.
Piccolo back flipped and quickly recovered, proceeding to shoot out a volley of ki blasts.
Tien countered this with his own barrage, the energy spheres smashing into each other viciously. The blasts kicked up a giant dust wall in between the two fighters.
As the dust enveloped the area, Piccolo jumped up and continued his shooting toward the ground below.
Tien took the chance to deactivate his aura causing his presence to no longer be sensed. He jumped and flipped all over the area, narrowly dodging the attacks before managing to get away from the general area Piccolo shot at.
He sped toward the sky, appearing behind Piccolo fist ready, only for Piccolo to quickly turn around and back hand him in the jaw.
Tien was sent rocketing down into the ground, barely recovering in time to land on his hands and knees on the hard dirt.
"SOLAR FLARE!"
Piccolo covered his eyes in time to not be blinded by the brightness. Removing his arms from the front of his head, he saw Tien standing back up and beginning to gather energy for an unknown attack.
'It was just a distraction to give him enough time to recover.' Piccolo noted, quickly proceeding to shoot out more ki blasts to try and stop Tien from being able to make his next move.
Halting his movements, Tien cursed and began dodging the energy beams once more, all the while still trying to gather energy.
Piccolo closed the distance and began throwing out punches and kicks, continuing to keep Tien on the defensive.
Tien relented and began hitting back, cancelling whatever attack he was about to use in order to properly focus on Piccolo.
The two continued their respective barrages before Tien attempted to back off by shooting energy blasts while flying in the air.
Piccolo guarded with both of his hands, forming a barrier with one of his hands while extending the other.
The arm rocketed towards Tien, the latter yelping as soon as it took hold of his right leg and being forced back to where Piccolo was.
'Wait…' His eyes widened. 'This might just work….'
As he finally reached Piccolo, he attempted to kick him only for his leg to be caught. The brief smirk on his face quickly made Piccolo realize that he had fallen into a trap.
"SOLAR FLARE!"
The blinding light surrounded the two, making Piccolo let go of one of Tien's legs while he kept a death grip on the other.
Seeing his chance, Tien spun himself around while in Piccolo's grip and landed a clean kick to his head, causing the Namekian to be sent flying away.
Quickly catching up to him, Tien began a barrage of fierce attacks, landing multiple hits before grabbing onto Piccolo's shirt.
'Now's as good a time as any…'
His third eye glowed a blue light, it being followed by Piccolo grunting and clutching his head.
Now under the influence of his new technique, Tien knee'd Piccolo in his stomach and sent him crashing down into the ground.
The green Namekian decided to kick things up a notch, powering up and sending all of the debris that surrounded him flying away.
He went for a hellzone grenade and began shooting for his attack, only for Tien to be able to dodge every single one, as per his intention.
He was approaching him, and Piccolo noticed that the more he started shooting at Tien, the result was still the same and that none of his attacks were landing.
He cancelled the attack to defend from Tien's kick as the two entered an up close high speed duel.
As the fight continued, Piccolo noticed that, despite his rapid increase in speed, a velocity that Tien normally wouldn't be able to keep up with, the three eyed man was barely able to dodge and parry all of his attacks.
That said he wasn't throwing anything out either, effectively rendering the both of them into another stalemate.
Piccolo's expression became stern as Tien continued to back away, countering his moves with almost a precognitive power.
It was as if he knew what attacks he was going to use before…
Piccolo widened his eyes as he finally realized something.
Backing away from Tien, he closed his eyes and found a disturbance within his mind, quickly purging it before rushing back in.
As he did so, he did not fail to notice Tien's shocked expression.
When Piccolo went for a right punch, Tien suddenly was barely able to block it sloppily, before spinning around with a kick and sending the man into the dirt.
With that, Piccolo's thoughts were quickly proven right.
As Tien struggled to get back up, Piccolo quickly stood over him, pointing his hand down at him but not gathering any ki, signalling his victory.
"It's over."
"Yeah… I know." Tien sighed, sitting upward to look at Piccolo. "What did you think?"
"Of your technique?" Piccolo's expression didn't change, continuing to look down before saying, "Use that against Krillin and it will give you a much higher chance of winning."
"Unless he has something up his own sleeve of course." Tien pointed out, picking himself up and dusting himself off. "And, well, provided I can stun him."
Piccolo raised a brow, making Tien elaborate. "It's the condition for the technique to work."
"Ah…"
That's why he had needed to use the solar flare, as well as going on to punch him. Piccolo's disoriented state allowed Tien to place mind reading technique, making him easier to read.
"Imagine if Goku or Vegeta got their hands on that…"
"Those two?" Tien chuckled , waving a hand. "They're already practically unstoppable, so it wouldn't change much for us…"
Piccolo nodded, silently agreeing.
Thanks for the meal Chi-Chi! Stay safe you guys."" Goku grinned as he left the house waving goodbye.
"It was really good!" Gon followed up, Killua beside him waving as well.
"Be careful boys!" Chi-Chi cried back, Goten and Alluka beside them.
"Take care Killua! Don't be too reckless Gon!" Alluka said.
With that, the group of three flew off, the figures of Chi-Chi, Goten and Alluka becoming little more than dots the farther they got away.
"How are you doing with my technique Goku?" Gon inquired, Killua looking at Goku interested.
"I think you're gonna like what I came up with." Goku winked. "I'm gonna show it off at the tournament!"
"Do you still want to learn mine?" Killua asked.
"Yeah! Actually, besides practicing your senses today, that is what I wanted to ask you about." Goku explained, giving them a grin. "In return, I want to teach you boys something too."
"Really?"
"What is it, old man?"
"I'll tell you both when we get there!" Goku promised, continuing to lead them toward their destination.
The three of them eventually landed upon a flat and empty plateau, Gon kneeling down to grab their weights while Goku began stretching.
"Hey Gon, what do you think about fighting Master Roshi?" Goku asked, glancing at Gon from the side.
Gon looked back at him with a fire of anticipation in his eyes. "I'm really excited! I can't wait to see what kind of cool techniques he has."
"Even made a plan for how your battle would go, didn't you?" Killua remarked, amused.
"That's right." Gon grinned, looking between the two as he began to explain. "I could tell that at the level he was at, he wasn't really stronger than me. Sooo I decided that, to make it more fun, I would lower my energy level to his."
"Ohhh" Goku scratched his chin, looking intrigued. "That does sound interesting."
"He's gonna end up kicking your ass." Killua stated, knowing it was fruitless to change his friend's mind. "Who knows how much more skilled he has than you."
"That's right Gon. Roshi's been training for a long time." Goku backed up. "How about this instead; Try lowering your energy to where you're still stronger, but just enough so that neither of you two end up overwhelming each other. You'll be able to at least stand a chance against his skill that way by compensating with strength and speed."
Gon took the idea and did a mini mental simulation in his head. He perked up with a thumbs up. "Hey yeah! That's a much better idea. Good thinking Goku!"
Goku grinned back, finishing his stretches as he watched the boys put their weights on.
"Alright guys are you ready?" Goku asked once he saw that their weights were on.
"Yup." Gon nodded, Killua giving a questioning look.
"So what are we gonna do first? Practice our senses or are we gonna trade techniques."
"Let's warm up by practicing our senses." Goku said, holding up two blindfolds. "After that we can move on to techniques. Sound good?"
"Osu!" The two complied.
Each boy caught the blindfold tossed to them by their teacher and proceeded to put it on tightly.
"Alright. I'm gonna attack you guys, and I just want you to focus on defending." Goku said, his ki emanating from his body. "I'll use my energy first, but then I want you to try and defend yourselves when I'm hiding it."
The two boys put their guard up in anticipation, Goku cracking his neck before doing the same.
"Ready?"
The two nodded.
"Ok…" Goku's expression became focused. "Let's go."
Goku began to move rapidly around the two boys, both of their expressions unchanging.
Gon ducked a kick aimed for his head.
Killua hopped over a sweep.
Gon parried a punch.
Killua narrowly dodged a kick
This continued onfor several minutes, Goku gradually increasing the speed of his attacks, making the boys begin to strain themselves.
Gon slid to the side from a kick he barely blocked.
Killua felt a scratch on his cheek after avoiding a hit.
Gon nearly tried opening his eyes out of reflex when he dodged something behind him, making him jump before realizing it was a feint.
Killua ducked, only for no attack to come his way.
Seeing that the two boys were now probably going to go through an adrenaline rush, Goku decided to try out a new trick he had been practicing before he had met the three…
Gon ducked beneath…something only to be hit by a kick.
Killua felt sweat drip from his cheek from sensing multiple presence surrounding them.
'This isn't just speed…' He deduced. 'There really are multiple presences here. They feel exactly the same though. It's like he split himself apart or something.'
Gon was on the same train of thought as his friend. 'This reminds me of that technique that guy used against Hisoka in Heaven's Arena…Could this be like that but even better?'
The onslaught continued until both boys were huffing and puffing, sweat trickling all over their bodies.
Goku came to a stop and whatever presences that the two boys had been sensing disappeared like the wind.
"I'm gonna hide my energy now!" He announced. "Don't let your guards down."
Both of the boys nodded and Goku's energy vanished in an instant.
Almost like in some cliché horror movie, Goku made them wait before making a move. Giving them a chance to take in the silence and prepare themselves.
Gon's eyes widened as he was barely able to hear the sound a fist flying toward his right cheek.
He ducked underneath the hit, meanwhile Killua sensed Goku heard a faint footstep from behind him and backflipped out of reflex, feeling the shockwave caused by the speed of Goku's movement.
The exercise dragged on, minutes becoming seconds as they were too focused to take anything slowly.
Gon managed to block a kick, only to be swept causing him to land on his bottom.
Killua jumped over another sweep only to then be punched in his gut.
They both gradually became more dirtied with sweat, all the while earning a few shiners on different parts of their bodies.
An hour later, Goku decided that it was time for a break, seeing that the two were almost barely standing up. Their bodies had sweat so much he was surprised a pool hadn't formed yet.
"Okay guys, break time!" Goku called out, making the two visibly relax.
They removed their blindfolds and almost identically began desperately drinking from their water bottles.
"Try not to drink all of it!" Goku advised, laughing. "You might choke."
Both boys sighed in relief, wiping their mouths. "That… was a lot tougher than I was expecting."
"I nearly tripped over while I ran here for the water…" Gon gasped out.
"How do you guys feel?" Goku continued. "Hope I didn't hit you too hard."
"Nah we're fine!" Gon waved off.
"We're a lot tougher than we look, old man." Killua snided. "By the way, what was that technique you used. It felt like there multiple copies of you running around."
"Ah that?" Goku smirked, rather proud of it. "I call it, 'Sensory illusion.' What I do is that I summon multple energy balls and split my power to all of them."
He held his palm out and showed the two said energy ball, putting enough energy into it where it felt like the presence of another Goku.
"Wow..." Both of them gaped. "When did you come up with it?" Gon asked, eyes shining.
"I created it around a year ago. It was inspired by a technique my friend Tien used once." Goku said, recounting the time Tien had split himself into four. "Now what we're gonna do is take it a little easier and work on those techniques we talked about."
"Should I tell you about mine first?" Killua asked.
"Yeah, that'd be great." Goku nodded. "After that I'll teach you two the one I want you to learn about. We'll then spend the next couple of hours practicing what we learned."
"Osu!"
"Oh and… I was serious about not finishing those water bottles." Goku smiled mischievously. "You don't wanna be running empty on round two do ya?"
Gon and Killua both simultaneously froze before groaning in a way only children would be able to.
"Be back before lunch you two." Chi-Chi reminded the two in front of her. "You don't want it getting cold."
"Kay mom."
"Yes Chi-Chi."
"Well you go have fun now." Chi-Chi smiled at them. The two nodded before running off into the deeper woods.
As they left her sight, her smile faltered a little.
It wasn't noticeable unless you really paid attention but… Alluka seemed just a little disheveled lately.
According to what they had been told, she was probably just really upset at not being able to bring out this 'Nanika' living inside of her…
Poor thing.
"Can we play hide and seek today?" Goten asked, looking to Alluka as the two continued running through the branches.
"Yeah!" Alluka smiled. "We can use it to train our energy."
The two made their way deeper still before coming to a stop.
"Do you wanna go first or should I?"
Alluka took a moment to decide, putting her thumb to her chin. "...I'll go first. You hide."
"Okay. And, Alluka?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't worry. After the tournament Nanika will be free to possess you again." Goten patted her shoulder.
"Oh. Yeah…" Alluka smiled. "Thank you Goten…"
Goten gave her a thumbs up before running off to hide. "Start counting!"
"Don't hide too far!" Alluka cried back.
After covering her eyes and counting to 10, she set off to find her friend.
'You've been doing a very good job.'
Alluka nodded a little, looking down. 'I…I meant what I said…"
'You sure did. All we need to do now is find out where Bulma will keep the Dragon Balls during the matches.'
'Maybe we can ask her about it during the tournament?' Alluka suggested.
'Yes. Pass it off as curiosity. Same something like, 'Before the tournament starts, can we see what they look like?' Or something like that.'
'Okay. I'll do that.' Alluka nodded, regaining focus on finding Goten.
Closing her eyes, she focus her aura into her main senses,
His smell was faint, obscured by the various odors of plants and wildlife surrounding the area.
No sounds could be heard other than the birds chirping or that of squirrels running around.
He, of course, made his aura silent. While she could make out a faint trace, she discovered that it had gone dead.
She opened her eyes and scanned the area, looking up at the trees and toward a few boulders.
She decided to look behind and around the boulders first.
Climbing over the rocky structures, nothing was off. As she circled around however, she caught sight of jet black hair sticking from a hidden opening with in it.
She slowly poked her hand toward the hair before…
"O-ow! Hey!" Goten yelped, making Alluka giggle.
"That was a really bad hiding spot." She chided, making him pout.
"I-I was going easy on you!"
"Sure."
"Well fine." Goten huffed. "Now it's my turn."
The two shared a quick laugh before deciding to get back to the game. Goten went to cover his eyes at a nearby tree, Alluka running away before jumping onto the branches.
Meanwhile, on another part of the mountain Goku stood away from Gon and Killua several feet in a state of deep concentration.
After having Killua shock him a few times, he then gave the boys the technique he wanted them to practice before getting back to his own studies.
Energy crackled around him as he attempted to emulate the feeling of lightning with his aura. After several minutes, he had managed to get his energy to emit small sparks of electricity.
Despite his slow progress these past few hours, he could feel himself getting closer.
"He really is something else…"
"Told you." Gon said, looking alongside his friend in amazement.
"Took us at least a few days to learn those techniques." Killua clicked his tongue. "And here this guy is learning it in less than one."
Gon sighed, both in amazement and disappointment.
"I wonder if this is how Zushi felt?"
"Killua."
"Oh come on we both know it's true." Killua cattily looked at him. "Now let's get back to this technique Goku taught us."
The two boys nodded at each other and went back to focusing their aura.
The energy slowly slithered toward their throats, both of their faces tensing at the immense pressure.
A moment passed before one of them let out a sound.
"Boh!"
The energy suddenly extended in a large circle surrounding Gon before dissipating entirely. Gon snapped his fingers at the short range.
He then turned to Killua, who was just about to let the sound out.
"Boh."
The energy sphere extended wider than Gon's but still dissipated shortly after surpassing the range of the other.
"You said it much more quietly and it still went wider." Gon smiled at his friend. "That's amazing! Can you tell me what I did wrong?"
"You have to move the energy up to your mouth before you say it." Killua explained. "I was trying to make the area of effect wider but I couldn't get all of the aura up quickly enough by the time it came out."
The technique taught to them by Goku was called Ultra Detection.
Very creative name wouldn't you agree?
The detector was a technique where you focused all of your energy into your voice, causing whatever you say to carry out energy, which can help detect any presence or life force within range, even those that are masking their aura or don't have any, such as robots.
The energy pulse will bounce off of the object and return to the user, similar to echo location used by bats or dolphins.
The range of the technique depends both on how loudly you speak, as well as the control of your aura.
"Whoever's range ends up being smaller by the end of the lesson gets less dessert later." Killua smirked, making Gon look back at him defiantly.
"You're on!"
A/N
Hey guys! Next chapter will focus on the rest of the fighters so that afterwards we can finally move on to the big tournament!
Honestly I'm quite proud of the technique I came up with to have Goku teach the two boys. Also feel great about Tien's too. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did!
See you all in the next chapter of Dragon Hunter ZX!