Chapter 6: The Demon School's First Class
Back on Earth: 2 months later (6 months after Goku's death)
Piccolo had spent the last 6 months doubling down his training, he wasn't just trying to overtake Goku anymore he now knew that there were warriors out there that made him feel utterly powerless, something he was determined he would never feel again.
Since he didn't have to eat like most being, or sleep much he was able to train himself nearly constantly, fighting his duplicates, lifting mountains with his Ki, along with hours of meditation.
Soon though, he would be done with this portion of his training and will have to begin splitting his focus between himself and improving his future support team.
A smirk crossed his face, he had been keeping track of their gains; they were impressive but still far behind himself, which is exactly where he wanted them. Strong enough to help in the fight but still weak enough that they were no threat to himself, after the temporary alliance dissolved and his reign as supreme ruler of Earth began.
Every time he thought about this fact he couldn't help but smirk. Just three more day until he was ready to take the next step along the path of achieving his destiny.
At the lookout the Guardian of Earth and his grounds keeper had also been hard at work training the top class of the Earth's defenders in an attempt to close the gap that currently existed between themselves and Kami's other half, in case Piccolo reverted to his old ways after the battle against the Saiyans
Piccolo would be taking over training in a matter of days, up until now though the gap had only grown, despite Kami and Mr. Popo's best efforts. Regardless all 5 of the warriors had grown powerful; all of them were now more powerful than Goku and Piccolo were during the battle against Raditz.
It had been 6 months since Goku death, and now there were half a dozen different groups preparing for the upcoming battle for the fate of the Earth.
But over the next few days several of the groups would be undertaking a several massive shifts. Master Roshi had taught his students all he could. During that same time he had pushed himself to levels he had only seen Goku and Piccolo surpass.
Chi Chi, King Chappa, Nam, and Bora were all nipping right at his heels, there had been periods of time when both Chi Chi and Chappa had surpassed him, but that only inspired him redouble his own efforts. He still spent most of the last six months as the strongest fighter on the island.
The five members of the Blue force had all progressed far also, most of them would've been able to give Krillin or Yamcha a good fight during the 21st world martial arts tournament, and the Captain had progressed far enough that he just might have won it.
He honestly couldn't believe how far they had all come in just 6 months, he was incredibly proud of them all. But none more so than Chi Chi, 'Goku sure knew how to pick a woman, she was smart, beautiful, and she had almost caught all the way up with his old master in terms of strength.' He liked to think he was partially responsible for his ex-students good luck with women, all evidence to the contrary.
"Alright everyone please gather around and listen up." Master Roshi announced as he stared out over his students, most of who were in the process of stretching for the usual daily run, all already wearing the heaviest turtle shells he could find for them.
He cleared his throat before he began speaking again. "You have all made incredible strides these last 6 months, and although none of us are currently where we need to be to fight the upcoming threat, we've made good progress so far. Unfortunately I have nothing left to teach any of you, so after one final test my time as your teacher will have come to an end." Master Roshi noticed a few of his students were surprised by this statement, mostly the Blue Force who were so far behind compared to the others, each felt they had a lot left to learn.
"I will be continuing training with you though, as a fellow student with our next two masters. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your hard work and to let you know I am proud to have you all were the insignia of the turtle school. Oh I nearly forgot, excuse me a moment." Master Roshi said cursing his forgetfulness as he hurried back over the house.
Leaving his students began to murmur to each other, trying to figure out what their Master had forgotten this time.
The Turtle Hermit emerged a moment later with a large bag, "Here you go everyone." He said before passing out orange Gi all with the turtle school insignia on the back, and a miniature one on the front.
Everyone, even the Blue force who gradually had a change of heart about Master Roshi and the training in general, were proud to wear the insignia of the turtle school. They had all learned so much not just about martial arts but about the world as a whole over the last 6 months.
After giving them a moment to change while he capsulate his house, it was time to go.
"Alright everyone follow me." He said before jogging a short distance to the edge of the island and into the ocean, swimming at speeds that would put most speedboats to shame.
Everyone else jumped in and did their best to keep up. They didn't know where they were swimming to but if it was Master Roshi's final test they knew it was going to be tough.
They swam for nearly 3 hours before land was finally in sight, when they landed everyone could already feel that they were warmed up. As the last few stragglers made it to shore Master Roshi had everyone gather up once more.
As the last few gathered up, Chi Chi realized just how close to her childhood home of Fire Mountain she actually was, she had actually been to this beach before many years ago, shortly after meeting Goku for the first time.
Her reminiscing was cut short through when Master Roshi began to talk once more. "We will have a bit of a run from here on out so, everyone keep your eye's peeled for any streams we can get a drink from, I guarantee we will be thirsty before too long." With the warning delivered Master Roshi began to run straight towards some distant mountains.
Everyone else fell in behind him, the usual rivalries pushing each other, King Chappa and Chi Chi were right on his heels, while Nam and Bora fought for 4th place. Behind them was Captain Meditrain stuck in limbo between two large clumps of his comrades with the rest of the Blue Force in a group bringing up the rear.
Things were pretty easy going at first; it was just like an extended one of their morning jogs, even though they were all moving fast enough that if any normal person saw them, the whole group would be one big blur, like a bullet train in the distance.
Once they reached the mountains though things began to slow down. Everyone's Ki reserves were vanishing fast under a combined assault of the steep upward slopes and the rapidly thinning air. It soon became evident that keeping up such a pace would be nearly impossible for the weaker students and so the distance between the groups grew.
Finally they came across a small valley with a stream running down the middle, from the melting snow. Everyone gathered around and greedily drank from the cold, crisp water, none of them realizing the valley was occupied.
The being watched the group from the shadows at the far end of the valley; he had kept a close eye on the group of travelers as they marched their way through his mountains. 'So the old man decided to re-start his training also, interesting, he seems to have more students than before. Now the only question is what are they doing here, I suppose I should go and ask." A dark smile etched its way across his face as he made plans to entertain his unexpected guests, or more specifically for them to entertain him.
He continued to float for a moment before; vanishing from view, moving faster than anyone present could've hoped to see.
Master Roshi sensed something was wrong right before a series of blasts detonated around the group forming a complete circle, the smoke billowing up obscuring their vision
Everyone dropped into their defensive stances, forming a rough circle boxed in by the blasts, searching the smoke for any sign as to what had just happened.
Master Roshi was the only one capable of reaching out with a 6th sense with a high degree of accuracy still, and what it told him cause him great alarm, but before he could sound the alarm, a gruff voice rang out, confirming his suspicions, and making his blood run cold.
"What are you doing here old man?" The being whose identity was still a mystery to everyone except Master Roshi, asked.
Everyone immediately turned to their master hoping for an explanation.
Master Roshi was just visibly shaking, "Piccolo." was all he managed to say, his mind was racing, why was he here, had they accidentally stumbled upon the son of the Demon King's home, or had he searched them out specifically for some reason.
The green being floated through the clearing smoke and set down just feet in front of the group. Fear began to ripple through the group everyone present had either experience the horror of the first demon king first hand, or had heard about his horrors in great detail. Some even had experience with the more powerful, reincarnated version standing before them.
"I'm going to ask you one last time, why are you here." Piccolo asked making sure the put a healthy dose of irritation in his voice.
This finally brought the turtle hermit out of his stupor, "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you, we'll just be goi-"
He was interrupted when Piccolo appeared just inches from his face, to everyone's surprise they hadn't even seen him move, apparently Master Roshi hadn't either because he visibly flinched when his interrogator appeared so close to him.
"You still haven't answered my question, am I going to have to beat the answer out of you and your students?" He asked an evil smile on his face.
"We… we... we're going to train with Kami." Master Roshi managed to stutter out.
Piccolo just looked at them with sudden disinterest, "Fine, maybe the old man can make you into decent cannon fodder before the Saiyan's arrive, remind the real fighters I'll be there to pick up the them in 3 days, no sooner and no later." He turned and started to float away before a loud annoying sound bombarded his hyper-sensitive hearing.
"EXCUSE ME!" Chi Chi shouted, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE REAL FIGHTERS? I"M GOING TO BE THE ONE TEACHING GOKU'S IN LAWS SOME MANNERS, APPARENTLY YOU COULD USE SOME TOO!" she continued, her voice so painfully loud Piccolo was completely stunned, unable to block the flying kick the woman launched his way.
Chi Chi's leg collided with his stomach, but she immediately came to a complete stop, her attack failing to even budge the now furious warrior.
Piccolo's hand shot out before Chi Chi could even fall back to the ground and wrapped tightly around her throat, his icy glare causing her to actually regret her attack, she hadn't realized there was such a gap in strength until that moment.
The color had completely drained from Master Roshi's face, Chi Chi's temper had finally gone and picked a fight she didn't have a hope of winning.
"You dare assault my ears with that racket, I am Piccolo, the demon king reincarnated, destined ruler of this world." he shouted, as Chi Chi's face began to go blue from the lack of oxygen.
'Kame help us all.' Master Roshi silently prayed before attempting to intervene himself.
"Piccolo please let her go, she's sorry for her outburst; she just has a bit of an anger issue. We need her to help us fight the Saiyans." Master Roshi pleaded hoping the strongest being currently on the planet would listen to his reason.
"Need her, I don't need a weaklin-" Piccolo started to say before an even more annoying being than the ones he was talking to, interrupted him, in his head.
"Let her go Piccolo." Kami demanded, his voice as stern as he could manage from thousands of miles away.
"And if I don't what are you going to do about it old man, I've been way out of your league since the day I was born!" Piccolo shouted with the defiance of an angry teenager at an overprotective parent.
"There is no reason to harm her, she has a great deal of potential and will help against the Saiyan's I am sure of this. You felt it yourself, her power spiked with her anger right before she attacked, much higher than it normally is." Kami urged, trying to talk sense into his evil alter ego.
Master Roshi wasn't sure if Piccolo was talking to him or what, he seemed to have completely snapped.
"What the hell do you know! I'm standing her choking her, she doesn't seem very useful to me" Piccolo growled, sending the harshest glare he could to the north east, though on the inside he had to admit he did feel the spike in her strength, when it peaked she was much stronger than any of the other weaklings standing before him.
"Just do it Piccolo, I promise you won't regret it." Kame continued his attempts to calm his evil side.
"Fine, I'll spare the weakling... for now, it's not like she's a threat to me anyway, but if she ever makes that noise again I'll rip her tongue out myself." Piccolo grumbled, annoyed at his other half's interference. Before dropping the barely conscience Chi Chi to the ground.
"All of you, out of my valley now!" Piccolo shouted before shooting up and out of the valley himself, needing to find something nice and big to blow up to relieve some steam, and hopefully get rid of the ringing in his ears.
Master Roshi was stunned, apparently Kami had intervened and had actually convinced Piccolo to let Chi Chi go, he couldn't thank the Earth's guardian enough for his help, he probably just saved all of their lives.
"You heard the man everyone, let's get a move on." Master Roshi shouted as he picked the still shaken Chi Chi and began to sprint away from the valley as fast as he could.
They didn't stop running until they had made it to a small mountain village, along the way they heard a series of gargantuan explosions that seemed to shake the entire planet, far in the direction Piccolo had gone.
"Alright gang, I think we all could use a break following that incident, let's take a while to rest up before we finish the test." Master Roshi said, still visibly disturbed by the day's events.
A couple hours later the mystery of the explosions in the distance had been solved.
'Piccolo might be preparing to fight the same invaders we are, but he definitely not on our side.' the turtle hermit brooded to himself as he watched the television with everyone else, the whole town had gathered around the local bar's TV to watch the news coverage on the massive craters that appeared where mountains once stood and raging wildfires that had sprouted up following the string of explosions.
The light from the fires could be seen far off to the west, its light adding an eerie glow to the sky as the smoke rose battled the fading light of the setting sun.
When a local farmer made a comment about the sky looking like a battle between heaven and hell, Master Roshi almost chuckled at irony of the man's statement, for that was basically what it was, the result of an argument between the guardian of Earth and the king of the demons.
Chi Chi stayed absolutely silent through the entire time they were in the village, her eye's burned with a fire that intimidated anyone who made the mistake of getting too close to her.
She didn't want to be disturbed, the bruise from Piccolo's grip was beginning to cause swelling all around her jawline, and served as a painful, constant reminder of how weak she actually was compared to her husband, and the monster he had fought all those years ago.
'Oh Goku, how could anyone beat you, you put the rest of us to shame, I need you here now. You're the only one who can help me get our son back.' She silently reached out to her dead husband, hoping that by some miracle he could hear her all the way in otherworld.
Suddenly a familiar voice rang out in her head "Hey Chi, don't worry, I'll make it back in time to help get Gohan back.", or was it in her head, everyone in the group flinched as if they had heard it too.
"Goku is that you!" Chi Chi asked looking up to the air disbelief washing over her, she didn't even notice the pain that talking was causing as her muscles fought the swelling. She really hoped this wasn't some sort of hallucination from oxygen depletion.
"Yeah it's me, I've been following your training closely with King Kai's help, you've grown a lot stronger Chi, all of you have actually; I'm impressed." Goku said his voice as carefree as she remembered.
"Goku it is good to hear from you again my friend." Nam suddenly hollered up to the sky like Chi Chi had, excited to speak to the Earth's greatest hero once more.
The local townspeople began to get nervous that a group of insane asylum patients might have escaped and were now gathered in their village.
"Oh hey Nam, long time no see, how's your village doi-" Goku started to ask before a new nasally voice interrupted him. "Hey I'm not just a phone for you to use to catch up with old friends whenever you want you know."
"Oh sorry King Kai, I just got caught up with seeing everyone and forgot you were here." Goku responded sounding truly remorseful, like a small child caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
"Its fine, but we have to get back to training if you want to be strong enough to beat those Saiyans you know." King Kai responded inwardly getting irritated at his newest student's lack of an attention span.
"Oh yeah, Ok guys I have to go but l I'll see you guys in about six months, keep up the good work, from what King Kai's been telling me we're going to need all of us working together to even have a chance against these guys." The ever jovial disembodied voice of Goku said before, fading to silence.
"I will Goku." Chi Chi whispered almost silently to herself, as tears began to dip slowly from her eyes, a fire renewed in the pit of her stomach, she wasn't going to let one run in with a green demon derail her from her mission, she would not give up, ever.
The conversation with Goku was all the turtle students needed to hear. Even the Blue Force who had had only heard stories of the legendary Goku, felt a sense of awe that a man was able to communicate with them from the dead, and pride that the previous strongest man on the planet was impressed with their progress.
"Well you heard Goku we need to get moving." Master Roshi suddenly shouted as everyone jumped up revitalized to continue the run.
They had passed lights of a large city could be seen in the distance, "Come on folks, were already 2/3rds of the way there." Master Roshi said trying to encourage his students, even though he was wearing out himself, sometime deep in the night, but they chugged on continuing their run all the way through the night.
As they got closer, and started to see the billboards around the suburbs of the city, they found out they were actually passing West City which gave at least one of the runners a good idea on where Master Roshi was leading them and what the true final test would be.
Bora couldn't help but smile at thought, 'It will be nice to finally reach the top of the tower' his strength had grown immensely over the last few months he was utterly confident in his ability to accomplish what he had fail at as a boy, 'I'll finally meet the sacred guardian of the tower.'
These thoughts pushed him onwards even as some of the more powerful of the group began to slow down, only to speed up once more when they noticed him passing them. The competition between the students was a strong as ever, even though they were all on the same side.
Finally after nearly 3 more hours of continuous running, they had arrived, everyone except Bora and Master Roshi stared up in awe at the tower, slowing from what would be a jog for them, to a speed that most normal people could manage, albeit with some difficulty.
No one could believe how there was a tower this large, it seemed to stretch upward forever, shining brightly as the first rays of sunlight shot over the horizon.
As they got closer to the base they could see the glowing embers of a campfire in the distance. Bora began to smile he was right, not only that but it looked as if he'd get to see his son for a moment before he began his climb.
After a couple more seconds they were there, his son was standing there spear in hand on high alert as a large group of people were running towards his home so early in the morning. His features relaxed visibly when he noticed Master Roshi and his own father were 2 of the first 5 to emerge.
"Father! It's good to see you, what are you all doing here?" Upa greeted a large smile on his face at the pleasant surprise of seeing his father again, much sooner than expected.
"I can only guess my son, but it appears we will be climbing the tower of Korin soon, to receive the sacred water, like Goku did." A small smile appeared on his face as he thought about how close he was to achieving his childhood dream.
"Have you been well my son?" Bora asked, mentally reprimanding himself for being more excited about the climb than the chance he was being given to see his son again so soon.
"Yes father, things have been incredibly quiet these last few months, It get sort of lonely out here all alone, but when I remember you lived out alone for years before mom came to us It makes it easier to bare." Upa responded.
Master Roshi cut in, "I couldn't help but overhear, from what I can tell you have done a very good job holding down the fort." Master Roshi said giving Upa a thumbs up before turning to his father, "And to answer your earlier question Bora, yes we are climbing the tower, right after a short rest, we still have to make up some time from the run in with Piccolo." Master Roshi responded as he stroked his beard.
Ups spent a good part of the early morning helping gather water and food for the weary defenders of Earth to replenish their strength, the group then proceeded to take a short nap, only 5 hours, before it was time to move again.
"Alright everyone the only way to begin the second part of the training is to climb this tower. It's a very long climb, Bora and I can both attest to that so since we still have to make up some time we might as well get moving again" Master Roshi said as he turned to intending to lead the way on the climb.
He immediately noticed Chi Chi already hundreds of feet up the tower, Master Roshi sweat dropped, 'that woman never stops does she.'
He immediately ran over and began climbing as fast as he could to catch back up with her as she rapidly receded into the distance. Everyone else hurried up the base of the tower to try and keep pace.
The difference in the strength of the climbers quickly became evident as Chi Chi, Roshi, Chappa, Bora, and Nam all began to pull away a sizeable lead over the members of the Blue Force, including Captain Meditrain, despite their best efforts.
Chi Chi, Master Roshi and King Chappa all managed to finish the climb first, though Bora and Nam, weren't too far behind all of them had caught up within 10 minutes of each other.
"You've all impressed me again; I didn't expect I would have to race to be the first one to the top." Master Roshi said as he helped Bora and Nam up on the solid footing of Master Korin's home.
"Yes it was a very impressive climb by you all." A gruff voice yelled down from above. "I've only ever seen a couple climbs as fast as yours, it was much faster than your first one Roshi." the mysterious voice continued.
Bora felt his heart beating into his throat, not only had he already accomplished the first step towards his childhood dream by finishing the climb, but the guardian of the tower, the being who has watched over them for many years was now complimenting his climb, meaning the second half of it was now within reach.
He couldn't help himself as he rushed up the stairs to the upper level, determined to finish his childhood dream and meet the legendary being he had heard about his entire life.
Chi Chi charged after him, there was no way in hell she was going to let anyone else get a head start on training. "Come back here. What ever happened to ladies first." she complained.
Master Roshi, looked down and noted that Captain Meditrain who was chugging away as fast as he could was still a ways off, decided he had better hurry after them, not wanting a fight to break out on Master Korin's tower, "Settle down Chi Chi." he called, though he knew his pleas would fall on deaf ears.
Nam and King Chappa both just looked at each other before follow the group, nervous about what would happen when the group reached the top.
As Bora and Chi Chi arrived they were shocked to find the only being on the top floor of the Tower was a cat holding a walking stick, "Ah so you finally got interested at what was upstairs did ya?" the Cat said in a deep gravelly voice, stunning both of the martial artists standing there.
Before either had a chance to respond Master Roshi cut in, "It's good to see you again Master Korin, it's been awhile."
"Yes it has, a bit over 300 years if I remember correctly." Korin responded as the four turtle students eyes bulged, they knew Master Roshi was old but not 300 years old.
Master Roshi stroked his beard "Yes, I suppose it has been that long. But I'm afraid there isn't much time to talk; I need to speak to the others training with Kami, so I was wondering if you could give these four the sacred water training while I talk to them."
It was now Korin's turn to stroke the fur on his face as he examined each of the four fighters before him "Nope I won't train them" was his simple response, which caused everyone to fall flat on their backs in shock.
Chi Chi was the first to recover and she was mad, "My son's been kidnapped and his kidnappers are coming back in 6 months to kill us all, what do you mean you won't train us!" she shouted causing the feline martial artist to wince and take a few steps back before responding.
"I wasn't finished I'm not going to train you because it would do you no go-" this time Chi Chi didn't even wait for him to finish in a flash she was on him. Before he could even react she had grabbed him and was now holding him by the tail over the edge of his tower home.
"No good what do you mean no good!" Chi Chi shouted she was on the verge of seeing red. "My babies been kidnapped my husband has been killed and his killers coming to finish the rest of us off and you think training will do us no good!" Her swollen throat giving her a much deeper more menacing sounding voice than she normally had.
Everyone else present was too shocked to even move they hadn't expected the cat's answer, but Chi Chi had apparently snapped.
Korin was actually calm given the situation, he had known how unstable the women was when she arrived, it was one of the perks of reading someone's mind, so he knew it was a possibility she would snap at him at his answer.
He also knew a fall even from this height would not be deadly to him, it would just be painful, he could always hope one of his nimbus could reach him in time but he really didn't want to risk it so he would have to choose his next words carefully.
"Look you didn't let me finish my explanation the training wouldn't do you any good because you're already stronger and faster than me, as you just proved. I'm not fast enough to teach you to anticipate your opponents; that will have to be left to Kami and Mr. Popo I'm afraid."
Chi Chi thought about what the cat said and determined he had given a satisfactory explanation. "Fine" she said as she let go of his tail letting him drop he was barely able to grab onto the edge and pull himself up. Before crossing her arms and turning in a huff. "You should've said so to begin with"
"Sorry about that Master Korin. Now that that's settled guess we're back to my original question of if you could get us a ride to Kami's lookout?" Master Roshi finally asked, nervous his master would be irritated because of Chi Chi's disrespect.
Korin was too intimidated to be angry. He knew all the warriors present had already surpassed himself, but he couldn't even react before Chi Chi had grabbed him, he could hardly even see her movements for that matter.
Korin looked his former pupil in the eye's silently passing along a warning, 'You better not slack off Roshi, if she surpasses you completely she'll be even more of a loose cannon than she already is.'
Master Roshi got the message and nodded ever so slightly to indicate he understood.
Korin then immediately straightened up, and stroked his whiskers for a moment before responding "Kami already knows you're here, he'll send you a way to reach him when he's ready to see you I figure."
As if on cue a new voice rang out, "Hey guys, Kami said you could use a lift." Krillin said as he Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu all landed, excited to meet the newest recruits to the z fighters.
"So how'd catching Korin go, you didn't beat our times did ya?" Yamcha asked a confident smile on his face.
Korin was the first to respond to the ex-bandit's question "Technically they all have since they're already faster than myself, and would've easily caught me." Much to the more veteran Z-Fighter's shock.
"It's good that you guys have improved so much. Otherwise you guys would be hurting when Kami and Popo got their hands on you." Tien responded only partially joking, as he remembered their time in the pendulum room, and inwardly cringed.
"We'll we better get moving, we still have some more training to do before tomorrow." Krillin said eager to get everyone moving again he was getting close to mastering a new secret technique he had been developing.
Everyone picked out a partner, or in Tien's case two, to be flown up to Kami's lookout when suddenly a new voice rang out. "So... I... guess... you four... are going to be... the main... attack force we've… heard about?" surprised by the new voice everyone immediately turned to see the giant form of Captain Meditrain barely able to support himself on the railing of Korin's home.
"Hmm, you appear to have burnt through most of your reserves catching up." Korin stated bluntly, he was still keeping track of all of his new student's climbing even while taking to the others. He turned around and walked over to a small pot and picked something up. He then tossed it to Meditrain, "Here catch!" the cat yelled.
Meditrain barely managed to reach his hand up in time to catch the small object, "A bean?" he asked confused, most of the newcomers were equally confused, while the veteran fighters inwardly smiled curious to see how this new fighter would react to the beans magical properties.
"Eat it." was all Korin said in response to the question. Captain Meditrain looked to Master Roshi for approval; he still wasn't very trusting of strangers. When Roshi nodded in response, he ate it. He was instantly glad he had, all the exhaustion that had been weighing him down instantly evaporated, and he felt even stronger than before, probably from the running and climbing he had done the last few days.
"Wow!" The giant's voice boomed, "I feel great, this is amazing, I bet I could take the damn Saiyans myself now!" he shouted as he punched out at the air, at speeds which to him were impressive, but were merely in slow motion to the original fighters.
"You could probably use one too, here." Korin hollered at Chi Chi who immediately caught the bean and ate it up, her face returning to its normal shape and color.
Chi Chi just offered a simple "Thanks." she was still irritated the cat didn't explain himself clearer the first time he had spoken to her.
"So while we were at the foot of the tower I heard something about sacred water that is supposed to make you stronger, have all of you all already had it?" Meditrain asked sincerely interested in the supposed magical liquid, if the bean was anything to go off of.
Master Roshi and Korin exchange a near instantaneous look, Korin was silent for a fraction of a second, not enough to be noticed by anyone as anything unusual, as he appraised the man standing before him, "Yes they already have the strength of someone who's had the sacred water." Korin responded, not lying but not telling the whole truth either, Master Roshi gave the other students a look instructing them to stay quiet for the time being.
"Great where is it?" Meditrain asked ready to move onto the next part of his training, with the others, who were already outnumbering their rides.
"We'll be going now, see you later Meditrain." Master Roshi suddenly announced indicating to the others it was time to go.
Meditrain was momentarily confused but summed up the others leaving to mean there being not enough people to carrying him to this Kami's lookout he had heard so much about, and that his ride would come back when the others arrived and had the water also.
After they had left Korin turned to his newest student expectantly, "The water's behind you go ahead and have a drink." he invited, preparing himself for his favorite part of having 'guests'.
"Ok, thanks." Meditrain responded as he walked over to the bottle and reached out to grab it; suddenly the cat jumped in front of him and grabbed it.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Meditrain shouted insulted that the cat was foolish enough to deny him the magical liquid that he had given his allies, and also determined not to let the gap in strength grow any further.
"You can have a drink of the sacred water if you can catch me." the cat responded with a wry grin.
"Fine if you want to play it that way no problem!" he shouted before lunging expecting to catch his feline adversary off guard, only to miss badly and land face first on the floor.
"You're going to have to do better than that." Korin taunted, which immediately caused the Captain to jump up and continue the chase.
As soon as everyone arrived, they were greeted by Kami and Popo, "Welcome everyone; we will begin training in the morning, until then why don't you all do some light training with one another to see how everyone stacks up." Kami said before walking back into the main dome of the lookout.
Chi Chi was about to object and force the training begin immediately, but was held back by the combined efforts of Master Roshi and Krillin.
As soon as Kami had faded from view, Master Roshi released Chi Chi and turned to the two crane students who we're currently talking to King Chappa. "Tien, Chiaotzu I have a favor to ask you. Would you teach us how to fly?"
Tien and Chiaotzu looked over at the Turtle hermit, "Sure no problem, it'll probably come in handy during the fight anyway." Tien responded more than happy to teach his mentor.
"Hey what about me!" Yajirobe cut in, "I've been training with you guys for almost 6 months and no one taught me to fly." the overweight samurai complained.
"Well, you never asked." Chiaotzu said glaring at Yajirobe for his accusatory tone.
Tien cut in before it could escalate though, "Hey it's no problem we can teach you too."
The rest of evening was spent teaching the ancient crane school secret of levitation.
It was a peaceful night on top of Kami's tower, the stars were brighter than any of the newcomers had ever seen before, in addition the air was at the perfect temperature, so everyone easily drifted off to sleep.
Everyone was awoken, just a few hours into the near perfect slumber, by the sounds of explosions detonating all around them.
All the fighters jumped up, searching their surroundings for the source of the explosions.
"Enough of the games Piccolo." Kami's wizened voice rang out as the guardian of the Earth exited his dwelling, an irritated look on his face about the damage his other half had caused.
"Just getting my students up for their first day of training, old man." Piccolo's deep, rough voice responded with a hint of amusement at the irritation he had caused his old, annoying counterpart.
Piccolo's new students all felt the hair stand up on the back of their necks as they stared down a being who they had come to see as evil incarnate, and who was now to be their instructor for the foreseeable future.
"Come on you five move it, we're wasting valuable training time!" Piccolo shouted before gathering his aura and shooting through the air back to his new, less damaged wasteland.
"Well I guess this is goodbye for now, thank you both for all your hard work." Tien said before bowing the 3 of the other 4 offered similar sentiments, Yajirobe's reply was less formal, "Yeah, yeah what he said."
After a quick goodbye to the others they were off, Yajirobe far in the rear, having only learned to float mere hours before.
"Finally it took you all long enough to catch up." Piccolo said bluntly his arms crossed and an irritated scowl on his face, as four of the fighters landed behind him, he didn't even bother to turn around.
"We're here to train not to talk so let's just get started. Otherwise I'm going back to sleep." Tien said not realizing Yajirobe hadn't kept up with the group; he was too focused on Piccolo.
The son of the Demon King then turned around an amused smirk on his face as his eyes scanned his new pupils; the smirk became a frown as soon as it passed Krillin the leftmost member of the group.
"Where's the fat one?" Piccolo asked his voice with just a hint of irritation.
"Huh what do y-, wait where is Yajirobe?" Krillin asked as he looked back and forth for a rock the overweight Samurai could be hiding behind.
"He must have fallen behind since he just learned to fly yesterday." Chiaotzu responded reaching the most logical conclusion.
"Or he was too scared and flew off somewhere else." Yamcha responded, with the most likely one, the samurai was known to have a fear of any actual hard work or danger, and training with Piccolo would have plenty of both.
Before the conversation could go any further, Piccolo cut in again, "Why he isn't here is not the issue the issue is his being gone. Stay here I'll be back shortly." Piccolo ordered, the threat plain in his voice, as he shot up and through the sky at speeds the human fighters could only gawk at.
Before too long the aura could be seen coming back their direction, glowing brightly in the night sky.
As it approached a definitive sound of screaming could be heard echoing over the hills and valleys dotting the wasteland, the voice was unmistakably Yajirobe's
The reincarnated Demon king dropped his tardy student off rather roughly, with the others before assuming his previous position in front of them.
He gathered fighters just stared at him with a variety of expressions, Krillin and Yajirobe were pure fear, Yamcha and Chiaotzu were a high level of nervousness, while Tien was just on guard.
"Now that that issue has been solved, I was about to commend you on your acceptable response." Piccolo said his dark smirk causing Yajirobe to begin to think of an escape plan, even though his head was still ringing from his previous encounter with the ground.
"The old man did an adequate job on your training given the circumstances, unfortunately adequate isn't enough, not in this fight. The next few months will consist of only a few things, each one is going to push you harder than you thought was possible. You will start each day fighting each other, no holding back or I will be your partner the next day, followed by meditation. Then each of you will fight with me using the multiform technique, the 2 weakest will work as a team, meaning the fat one and the smallest." Piccolo said his voice so devoid of humor that no one complained at the insults. "After that we will meditate once more before all of you fighting me at once. This is the schedule and it will be kept are we understood."
When all present nodded their heads or gave some other form or acknowledgement, Piccolo suddenly split into 4 and rushed the group, catching everyone off guard. Tien barely got his guard up in time, Krillin was sent flying into a nearby hill, Yamcha was pile driven head first into the ground, Chiaotzu was blasted into the air and Yajirobe was being used as the 4th Piccolo's punching bag. Training at the demon school had officially begun.
Chapter 6 is in the books, hope everyone enjoyed it. As always please review.
Reviews:
enlyasurgeon: Yeah I was really trying to make Nappa less of the mindless brute they kind of portrayed him to be in the show, I felt him and Raditz should've had much bigger roles, and to be honest I am kind of disappointed that they didn't, I mean who wouldn't want to see a bald super saiyan.
super mystic gohan: The Saiyan's are going to arrive in almost exactly a year, last chapter Vegeta said they had 8 months to get Arlia and Earth razed if they were going to have time to make it to the big mission they had scheduled. The last chapter of course took place 4 months after Goku was killed, so that's how the timeline is going to go.
I can tell you right now the human fighters are all going to be stronger than they were during the actual show, mainly because of they will be pushing themselves against a much stronger fighter over the last 6 months, it's going to be an interesting dynamic, especially between Tien and Piccolo.
Gohan's missions are going to be pivotal in shaping his personality, and by extent the rest of the story.
Kid Goku Forever: Thanks for the reviews, I hope you keep following the story.