Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Innocence Reborn ❯ Chapter 10: Off to the Lookout.....Again? ( Chapter 10 )

Innocence Reborn

Disclaimer: Hmmm.....what to say that hasn't been said a million times before? *shrugs* Oh, well. It doesn't hurt to say it again for those that STILL don't understand what a disclaimer means. Aura and I don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of the related stuff that goes along with it. If we did, Aura would have Piccolo and I would have Kibito and Shin. We just own this fic for what it is worth.

Kaeli's Sad but True Author's Note: Alright, peoples. I've said this already with my Tien fic (What!?!?! She has a Tien fic?!?!?! WHERE!?!?!?! Surprisingly, when I am not writing Kibito/Shin and Piccolo fics, I'm writing a Tien one. Surprised, ne?), and Aura knows this as well, but I'll be moving at the beginning of the summer. Yup, right down to the ocean 8 hours from where I live now (hell, I'll even be living THREE BLOCKS from the beach. *enter death threats now*), so I am going to hand Aura full control of the fic until I get settled down there and get 'Net connection back up. Until then, I probably won't be writing any more of my fics or this one, but I will be back. Don't worry. : )

To those that are reading this from Media Miner.Org, it will be an even longer wait because I'm placing the chapters of this fic there myself. Aura does the FF.N side, I do the MM.O side (and get those hentai thoughts out of your minds......or, at least, send them to me....I could use a few for a new fic I might be writing....)

Chapter Ten: Off to the Lookout....Again?

Two Months Later

The sun was now at mid-day, the birds chirping from upon distant branches of solid oak or willow trees. The wind moved lightly over the green grass, tapping upon the light air. Mountains stood on the faraway horizon of the South, with plains of endless flowers, trees, and nothing else but pure wilderness going towards the North, East, and West. The blue sky above was tainted with only a few white clouds, the sky looking down from it's perch.

There was a calmness to the air that lasted for only a few short moments more before a blast shot out from the middle of the plains. It zoomed through the open space before it faded into nothingness just like it had started. The particle of light had come from a single person, in which was now blocking another's movements not even a hundred feet away from where the blast had defused. One of those that was sparring was the transformed Namek, Piccolo, while the other was the child Saiyan, Gohan. No more blasts came from either one as they continued going at it for another ten minutes before Gohan kicked Piccolo to the ground in a furry of moves.

"Ow," groaned the Namek as he fell onto the ground in a hard manner. He sat there without a chance of getting up, nursing the bleeding wounds he had received through the fighting he and the other had been doing for the last several hours. Piccolo had fallen before with each time becoming less and less likely he would get up after that. And, this time, he definitely wasn't getting up.

"C'mon, Piccolo!" Goku called from about twenty to thirty feet away from his position underneath a tree. The Saiyan had been sitting there the whole time the two had been sparring, watching them spar with each other almost endlessly it had seemed. He offered little help in this small, meaningless battle, sleeping at random times in the shade rather then showing any interest in them. "Get up!"

"I had enough of this," Piccolo grumbled, glaring over towards Goku who had now gotten up from his sitting position and was walking over towards them with a flare of interest now picking up in his eyes.

"Hey, I know that the training is hard, but you can do it," Gohan told him once his father had stopped by tem. "Besides, this is for a good cause. We need to be prepared."

"I am surprised you aren't doing the same thing to me like I did to you whatever it was that I did."

"You need to get stronger in order to get ready fro the Androids," Goku explained with a serious look now on his face. "Your flying has improved a lot since you've first started to learn and you have some control over your Ki blasts, but it isn't good enough. You've got to do better then what you are doing now. A lot better.

"But....." Piccolo started before he was cut off.

"No. You need to train more. It will help us win the battles that will be fought in the future."

"I know that, but it is boring," The Namek whined, slumping his shoulders. Just like he had with studying, he had become quite bored with the everyday training that had been going on in the last two months. Not that he didn't mind doing something other then staring at a book for hours on end, but it was the same old thing that went on almost everyday. Frankly, he didn't know how he could have stood this when he had his memory and was older before he shuddered at the mere thought of it. "Can't we change something in the training?"

"Like what?" Gohan asked. He shrugged at that suggestion.

"Isn't there another place we could train at?" Piccolo suggested. "Something that could make things speed up without really taking any time to do it in?"

Both Saiyans started blankly at their friend, thoughtful expressions coming upon their faces. Silence ensued for several moments before a sly expression came onto the boy's face.

"Why not go to Kami's and train there?" Gohan offered with a smile so innocent that it could fool anyone to what he was really thinking.

"I don't know," Goku mused, placing his hands on his hips as he tilted his head to the side. "I don't know if he is ready for that yet."

"Ready for what?" Piccolo wondered, looking from one person to another with a confused look on his face. Neither answered the question as the two continued to talk to each other.

"I think he is, but we would have to see and try it before we know for sure," Gohan prompted, nodding his head several times with the same smile plastered on his lips.

"I suppose so," The elder Saiyan said with a simple shrug. They looked over towards Piccolo, who was looking more angry then confused. "What's wrong?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to sit where he was on the ground.

"Oh, sorry. There is a special room on Kami's Lookout that can help us train. In the outside world we are in now, a day will pass while a year will pass while we are in that room," Goku quickly explained. "It's called the Room of Spirit and Time*."

"Cool," Piccolo grumbled, a hint of sarcasm entering his voice. "When do we go?"

"Now is a good time," Gohan suggested with yet another nod. Goku agreed to that, picking up Piccolo before taking to the sky without any wonder why the Namek was sighing. The boy lingered for a moment, thinking over this situation before he also took into the air.

He just wondered what his mother would think when they didn't return home for dinner.

****

"Honestly, all of them," Chi-Chi fumed as she stirred a pot of some sort off stew in a pot that sat on the stove while Bulma leaned on the counter next to them, her arms crossed over her chest. "Training, eating, and sleeping---that's all they ever seem to do."

"At least you don't have to fix a gravity machine every time it breaks down from so much use or when it gets blown up," Bulma pointed out, her eyes narrowing into almost slits. "Vegeta doesn't know when to quit something's. I don't think he even sleeps anymore, bypassing it totally. Only eats and trains every damn day. Not like I care or anything."

"Gohan and Piccolo have been neglecting their studies and their chores. I am surprised that they even remember to take showers anymore."

"How's Piccolo doing anyways?" The blue-haired woman inquired. Both woman had been talking to each other for the last several hours, the conversation topics drifting from one subject to another without hesitation. It was the lingering threatening and constant training of the men that kept them two the most talkative about. this was actually the first time either had brought up the topic of the small Namek. "I haven't seen him since the birthday party. In fact, I haven't heard from Goku either."

"To tell you the truth, I don't know how he really is," Chi-Chi said with a sigh as she stopped stirring and wiped her hands on the apron she was wearing. "He's been having some mood swings the last couple of days with nightmares going back at least a month, and I am starting to wonder what is going on with him. He doesn't even want to train at times it seems, even though that's all he had talked about for a while there. Last week, Gohan had to pull him out of bed to go and train with Goku because he overslept." She tugged on her apron as her gaze fell upon Bulma. "I know of what had happened because of the wish, but it doesn't seem like the same Piccolo as before. I hate to say it, but I miss the old Namek that made my Gohan train all that time."

"In more ways then one," Bulma mused thoughtfully as she pushed herself forwards and took several steps into the kitchen. "I wonder...."

"Wonder what? About how we are going to get them to stop training long enough to have a decent meal?"

"I've given up already on trying to get Vegeta to do that, but no. It's not that. It's about Piccolo."

"What about him?"

"I am just thinking if, when we wish Piccolo back to his old self, will he remember any of this?"

Chi-Chi stared at the other woman for a moment, a blank look crossing over her face. She didn't answer her question right away, her eyes moving down towards the ground as if she was trying to think about that. She had figured if, like the rest of the family had, the Namek would remember the year as a child, but they were strange things, dragon balls. Never really knew the after effects were because of that single wish. Course, no one really worried about that kind of thing since nothing ever bad came out of these wishes. But what about now? Piccolo had been turned into a child and his memory of everything in his past erased. Was this the effects of an innocent wish?

She had been thinking of the same things in her mind, even while she had slept. Chi-Chi had spent countless nights trying to figure out what was going without making anyone else wonder what she was thinking. The other two members of the family had talked little about how and when the wish was going to take place. It seemed unimportant to them at the moment. Perhaps, when the time came, everything was going to be okay.

"I hope so," Chi-chi said after a few more minutes of pure silence. The two woman stared at each other again, the silence engulfing them once again.

****

Kami stared down upon the Earth like he had always done in the past, his old eyes moving along the surface of the beautiful sphere. He had spent his whole lifetime looking over the people of the Earth, sometimes feeling like that was all he ever did. Watching over people that did not even know he was there. That he was alive. That there was really anyone that was looking over them. However, there was an exception to this and that exception was that there were a few people that knew he existed. That made things a little bit more interesting, soothing him to an extent he knew of no limits.

He watched tiredly as the people of the Earth went about their daily business, doing what they had done for the longest time. At times, the Guardian wished he was a part of that like Piccolo was, but then it was harder to keep that life instead of the one that he held at the present moment. Anything else would seem too different then what he was doing, and he didn't want that. Not saying that he wouldn't mind having a day or two of rest from watching over the planet so that it would be something that would impose itself in his memory until the day he was no longer needed to watch over them.

Kami didn't know how long he had been standing there or knew how many times Mr. Popo had come to see what he was doing. He found that he didn't care what the other was doing so long that he wasn't really bothering him at the present moment. There was something else that was eating at him that wouldn't leave him alone at all. Perhaps it was the ever looming battle with the Androids of the future time that was worrying him so. Maybe it was the way Vegeta had looked when he had left the party several months ago. Or there was something that was pestering him about Piccolo. Maybe that was it.

The Guardian shook his head, breaking the trance that he had as he turned around to face the palace that sat on the other end of the Lookout. His eyes wandered over everything, his eyes eventually landing upon Mr. Popo, who was watering the flowers on one side of the garden. A small smile came upon his lips as Kami watched him, his head tilting to the side. Just as he did that, a wave of dizziness swept over him, causing him to lean on his wooden staff a little bit more then he had done before. He attempted to shake off the swirling world around him, but it was of no use.

He crumpled to his knees, his eyes moving up towards the gardens. The last thing he saw was Popo turning towards him with eyes round as saucers before everything went black.

To Be Continued

*I figure this is the correct name in the original (Japanese) version. If I am wrong on that (remember, I am using the original version's name...not the one FUNi created), please tell me.

Kaeli's second Author's Note: Alright, I am going to let Aura take it from here. Have fun!!!! Ja'ne!