Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Innocence Reborn ❯ Chapter 12: There's another set of Dragon Balls? Goku's Departure to New Namek! ( Chapter 12 )

Innocence Reborn

Disclaimer: I think you all know the routine by now. You know, don't own DBZ, the characters, blah blah blah---the usual gibberish that goes along with a fancy disclaimer. Honestly, do you think we would be writing this if we owned it? I think not. Meh. [Kaeli-You know, I wouldn't bother putting these damn disclaimers up if I did not know we'd get in trouble for not putting them up. I see no use in them in every chapter---unless something has changed drastically since the beginning of the fic. Meh]

Kaeli's Note: I got me a new frying pan! YAY! *is wearing a Elmer Fudd costume with a frying pan in her hands* If the characters seem a little OOC in this chapter, forgive me. :P Okay then, on with the chapter!

Chapter Twelve:
There's another set of Dragon Balls? Goku's Departure to New Namek!

Something was very wrong indeed. Goku and Gohan knew it the second that they saw the expression on Mr. Popo's face, which was panic stricken and confused. As soon as he stopped in front of the trio, his chest was heaving up and down, probably from running from who knows where, but it could have been also been mistaken for something else.

"What's wrong?" Goku asked quickly, his eyes moving along the well-kept garden, seeing no signs of the Guardian. "Where's Kami?"

"He's.....he's...." Mr. Popo panted, his breath finally catching up to him. He quickly moved his eyes to the small form of Piccolo, who was looking quite fearful at the time being.

"He's what?" Gohan asked, looking from one person to another, not understanding what was going on. There was a silence between the four of them, thoughts of what had happened swirling on Goku and Gohan's mind. Just by the panicked look on Mr. Popo's face they knew something was wrong with Kami; there were very few other things that would make him this nervous.

"He can't be dead, can he?" Piccolo asked in a small voice, looking down upon the tilled floor of the Lookout. He tried not to looked like he felt something bad happened because of him, but it had quivered in his voice.

"No, he isn't. Remember us telling you that you are linked with Kami?"? Goku asked, attempting to be calm as he could, which was just as hard to do. Piccolo nodded to the ground, not meeting anyone's gaze. "Well, we would know if Kami was gone since you would be as well."

"Wha---what?" The small Namek cried out, snapping his head up to look at them. He saw two unreadable faces while the third was worried, all staring at him with eyes blinking blankly at him. Instead of surprised words that he spoke, angry one's spurted from his lips. "So, if he dies, I do too? When was someone going to tell me this?"

"I am sorry for us not telling you sooner, but....." Gohan's voice trailed off suddenly as Piccolo gasped out. The Namek fell to his knees, his eyes squeezing shut as his hands flew to his ears as if something was wanting to go into them. He shook his head several times as if he was trying to block out the smaller Saiyan's words, yet his face looked horrified and twisted in pain. The other three moved a few steps towards him, not knowing what was going on.

"Piccolo, what's wrong? Is it Kami?" Mr. Popo asked fearfully, his eyes going wider then they had been before. The Namek shook his head fiercely, his eyes opening up slightly. Just like it had started, his head slowly stopped shaking while his hands fell in front of him upon the floor. Leaning forwards so that he was on his hands and knees, he started to gasp for breath like he had just been in a battle, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"I saw more memories. I was somewhere, I can't be sure where exactly, but it was a small planet. There was a house sitting there with a car in front of it. I can't see anyone's faces, but I can hear someone telling a poor joke," Piccolo explained, looking up at the three of them to see what they thought. Gohan and Mr. Popo looked quite mystified at the topic of the memory, Goku's face lightening up as if he knew what was going on. "Where was I? I know it was somewhere other then Earth, but I can't be sure."

"Yes, you were somewhere else. You were on King Kai's planet," Goku explained to him before turning to face the other two. "We need to see Kami as soon as we can, Mr. Popo. I think things are taking a worse turn then any of us expected."

Mr. Popo nodded, beckoning the three of them to follow him into the palace of the Lookout. Helping Piccolo to his feet, Gohan and Goku followed suit with the Namek trailing close behind. No one said a word as they entered the palace, too worried that something might have happened to Kami already while they were outside. Worries and scenarios played in all of their minds, each worse then the next. What would happen if the wish deteriorated the Guardian down to nothing? What if he died because of the wish?

If Kami did die, then there would be no more wishes to grant by the Dragon Balls nor would there be any more Piccolo. Since Trunk's prediction of the coming of the androids, any help they had would greatly affect the results of the looming battle. And losing the Dragon Balls and Piccolo were two things they could not afford to lose at this moment. Anything they could do to stop Kami from disappearing from the Earth would be great, even if they had to go to the other side of the universe to get it. It was not a matter how they were going to do it as long as they had the will to help.

"The wish could not have affected Kami this bad, could it?" Gohan asked his father in a low voice as they walked behind Mr. Popo and in front of Piccolo. Goku stared straight ahead as they turned left around a corner, coming closer to Kami's sleeping quarters.

"It looks like it did," The elder Saiyan said in a tone that was just as low as his son's. "The Dragon Balls seem to have more then one side to the wishes they grant, but I suppose it all depends on what type of wish a person grants and who it is being put upon. Not all wishes can have two or more outcomes."

"I wish I never made Piccolo into a kid again if I knew what trouble it was going to cause," The boy said in a small voice, his eyes moving down to the ground. Piccolo moved forwards slightly, listening to what they were saying. He didn't know what was really going on nor did it seem like anything good was coming out of it. He just knew that he was having more and more nightmares and visions of memories he never knew he had in the first place.

"No one knows the trouble of the wishes until they make the wish themselves. You did not know the side effects of the wish then and we still don't know," His father said gently, clamping a hand upon his son's shoulder as they reached the doorway that would allow them to enter Kami's chambers. Mr. Popo turned his head over his shoulder for a moment, the three of them catching a glimpse of the slight fear that was in his eyes before he turned it forwards and opened the door.

Once inside, he allowed them to move forwards to the bed where Kami was supposedly sleeping, but they did not have to go far to see the extent of what was happening to him. His face was looking pale and shallow, all color having been drained out of him. His eyes were closed, his breath slow and sounding like he had to fight for every breath of air. His hands and arms were at his side, his fingers moving every so often like he was trying to grasp something. It was only when Piccolo moved to the left side of his bed did Kami open his eyes, fixing themselves on the doorway before he attempted to sit up. Goku rushed in and put a hand upon his chest, pushing the Guardian back down upon the bed so that he would not get up.

"How did I get here?" He croaked, looking confused. "The last thing I remember is standing on the edge of the Lookout and then everything went dark."

No one said anything in response to his question, Piccolo keeping his gaze upon the ground, seemingly unable to look at Kami. He did not know why he was feeling like he was the one responsible for the way the other was now, pale and looking faint as if a sickness had engulfed him. If there was a link between them like the two Sayians had told him, why didn't he feel this weakness through the bond?

"Piccolo?" A soft voice whispered hoarsely from next to him. The Namek looked up to see Kami watching him closely with his old eyes, his back placed back upon the bed he was laying on. Mr. Popo had come into the room entirely and was standing at the end of the bed while Goku and Gohan were standing on the other side, their backs straight and faces filled with worry.

"It is my fault, isn't it?" Piccolo grumbled, wanting to tear his eyes away from his other half but found his entire body frozen in place by a more powerful force then anyone currently in the room.

"It is no one's fault. It was an innocent wish made by an innocent mind," Kami said gently, quickly glancing over towards Gohan before moving his eyes back over towards the younger Namek. "But, innocence can not be reborn once it has been lost."

"What do you mean?" Gohan inquired.

"Even a child's mind can be deprived of it's innocence once it has seen something not so innocent, no matter what the act is. In time, the thing that makes those that are young's lives happy begins to fade away, leaving a shell of it's former self behind." Kami drew in a breath before going on. "No matter what the intentions of Gohan's wish were, there is very little innocence in Piccolo, even at this stage in life."

Piccolo stared at Kami, a swell of anger rising inside of him. Somehow, he felt like he had just been stabbed in the heart countless times. He, not innocent? How could he not be? It was true that he did not remember any of his life before the last several months, but he still had not seen anything that would take away his innocence. Maybe those memories that were surfacing were a part of his past that he didn't want to bring forth. Maybe they were being forced into his mind, to give him a rougher life then he had.

"If you say that I am not innocent, then why can't I remember any horrible stuff that they say I have done?" Piccolo breathed, some of the anger surfacing in his voice. Kami smiled weakly, closing his eyes.

"It is the affects of the wish, I suppose," He mused, his face looking even more tired then it had done so before. He opened his eyes, moving them over towards the two Saiyans. "How much longer do you think you have to wait for the Dragon Balls to regenerate? At times it seems like Time itself slows down or picks up even though I, myself, created the Dragon Balls myself."

"I'd say we have about another eight to nine months before we can use them again. I could be wrong," Goku replied with a shrug, looking as though that sounded like an eternity. The Guardian's smile wavered slightly, now looking as though it was more forced then natural. "Why do you ask?"

"I had hoped it would have been a shorter period of time, but I guess I was mistaken. The effects of the wish were supposed to affect Piccolo, not me. In essence, it looks as though there is a side effect to those that are linked together in spirit." Kami noticed the quizzical looks on everyone's faces, his smile turning into a frown. "It means that the wish turned Piccolo in a child and making me look a few decades younger. However, since the wish was meant for just Piccolo, I have been affected far worse then just having Piccolo's memory erased."

"If you are being affected in a bad way, how long do you think you have until the total effects of the wish run it's course?" Piccolo asked coolly, not really caring about the answer he would receive. Kami looked over towards him, his eyes looking more tired and lonesome then before.

"I don't know. If I can survive long enough for another nine or so months to be able to get the wish to undo what has been wished before, then everything will be okay. If I can't---well, then you can figure out what will happen to us both."

The small Namek opened his mouth to say something then promptly closed it again as if he was having second thoughts about saying what he wanted to. Dying because his other half was close to it had escaped his mind entirely until the Guardian had spoke those words. There was something in his voice that indicated that there was a good chance that he would not survive to know that the Dragon Balls had granted the wish, so that meant there was an even bigger chance he, Piccolo, would not be able to fight along side the others against the androids.

"What do we do now? I doubt we can wait until the Dragon Balls regenerate to...." Piccolo's voice trailed off when he saw the smug look on Goku's face. "What? You think you have a better plan?"

"Actually, I do," The Saiyan said proudly, looking like he had just saved the world from the androids already.

"Well, what is it?"

"We don't have to wait for the Earth's Dragon Balls to be ready in that amount of time. I am sure that there is another way to grant a wish without having to wait that long."

"What, you think that you can make their power come back faster?" Piccolo said in a hollow voice, more and more of his anger surfacing. Goku shook his head on that, the same expression on his face not faltering. "Then what are you talking about then?"

"New Namek," Gohan said suddenly as if a light bulb had gone off in his head. "Yea, that's it!"

"Exactly what are you talking about? Because I am confused here. What's a 'New Namek' anyways?"

"It is a place where the Nameks--like yourself--live after their original home was destroyed by Frieza," The boy said excitedly. "I almost forgot how their year is much shorter then one of Earth's. Couldn't we use the Namek Dragon Balls instead? Even if they have already been used, by the time the Earth's Dragon Balls have gotten their power back, we could have used those two or three times in that time frame."

"Exactly," Goku said with a satisfied grin, glancing over towards the Guardian, who was looking unsure about this plan. "It is worth a shot if we can use them. Even if something does go wrong, at least we will be able to revive you both with the Namek Dragon Balls."

Piccolo attempted to put something else into the conversation, but felt like he did not want to spoil the good mood that had surfaced. Even Mr. Popo looked like his worrying was coming to a halt. But there was something on Piccolo's mind that he didn't want to tell anyone just yet: He frankly did not want to turn back into the person that he once was. Although he would have liked to place the memories with the words of his friends, he felt like he didn't belong around them as an adult. What if he didn't remember any of this if and when he was turned back into his original form?

"Piccolo, is that a good plan or do you have another one?" Gohan asked softly, noticing that the Namek had become awfully quiet. Piccolo looked up at the small Saiyan, noticing that his and everyone else's gaze was upon him.

"Sure, fine, but how are any of us going to get there? It might take the whole time that the Earth's Dragon Balls are regenerating to get to this.....place," He said slowly, attempting to push down any remaining anger that he had into the pits of his stomach.

"No problem. Be back in a bit," Goku said, putting two fingers of the same hand to his forehead, his face becoming serious. Piccolo didn't know what he was trying to do, but a few moments later, Goku's figure fizzle out of sight and out of the room entirely.

Whatever he had done to get to New Namek, Piccolo just hoped he didn't get there in pieces.

To Be Continued

Kaeli's Second Note: Alright, here's my chapter. Hoped you like. I know it is short, even for myself, but I didn't have many ideas. Those ideas that I did have were thrown out the window due to the fact that I have been working my butt off the last couple of weeks and haven't had the time to think up of any decent plots to go with this fic. Just look at my Tien fic (don't ask about that, please. It's gone down the gutter for the last couple of chapters.....). So, anyways. Hope you liked! Now, go bug Aura! *chases the readers with her new frying pan*