The Torment
Part 7: The Morning After
By Larania


Disclaimer: DBZ belongs to Funimation and Bird Studios, and Ranma ½ belongs to someone other than me, and I make no money from this, all I ever got was a cold. Like I have right now. I feel like crap, but because so many people reviewed the previous one, (I’m not Eternal SailorM, so ten is a lot to me,) I started working on this as soon as I got back to my computer.


 

            “Oh, Kami,” chanted Piccolo-chan as she flew from the house of Son Gohan, wondering how she had let herself do that. She had mated with Gohan!

            An absurd, strangely logical part of her mind told her, at least you know why humans make such a big deal about it now.

            Shut up! She told that part, even as she shivered with the memory.

            Piccolo-chan kept on flying, and didn’t look back, no matter how much she wanted to.


            Gohan sat on his bed, avoiding the wet spot, and stared out the window. His thoughts were a tornado, whirling and confused as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

            This wasn’t supposed to be how it worked out, a part of his mind commented. You were supposed to wake up together, proclaim love, or something like that, and get married. Or something.

            You weren’t supposed to find that the girl you had fallen in love with and claimed was your teacher and best friend.

            What does that make it? I haven’t a clue!

            She (he?) had said go and ask Dende. It sounded like the only thing he could do right then.

            Gohan sighed, and changed into one of his old gis. It was the same dark blue as Piccolo’s were, without the white cloak, collar and shoulder pads.

            Don’t think about Piccolo!

            He couldn’t help it, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, memories of what they had done that night emerged, and he was grateful for his large pants.

            Yet, the image of Piccolo, his teacher was also there. That didn’t change the way the memory affected him though- He felt more confused than ever.

            He growled. For some reason, any thought other than Piccolo was hazy, unreal, like nothing else mattered. Gohan looked up at the moon again, and that strange haze settled into his thoughts for a second time.

            He fought it off, although the lingering scents in the room were hard to ignore. Stop this, find Dende!

            Gohan fought clear again, and took to the air.

            He took little time to get to the Lookout, and see what had happened.

            “Hello, Gohan, how are you this evening?” asked Mr. Popo.

            “I need to see Dende, where is he?” he demanded, the usual nice demeanor he wore gone.

            “He will be out here shortly,” said Mr. Popo, and Gohan wondered if this was expected.

            It was. Dende had been watching Piccolo-chan that night in hopes that she wouldn’t do anything stupid, but when it seemed that she had gone to bed for the night, he had let his attention stray. Now he cursed himself for it. He had turned back in time to see Piccolo-chan leave Gohan’s. He had no idea what had happened there, and was afraid to find out.

            Dende rushed out, his robes fluttering around him, out of breath.

            “Gohan, how are you?” Dende asked. He shrank back from the boy’s face.

            “How is Clarinet Piccolo?” Gohan asked coldly.

            “So, she didn’t tell you?”

            “No, he didn’t,” Gohan answered.

            “Sit down, this may take a while.”


            Gohan listened intently as Dende told him how he had sent Piccolo to investigate the Training Ground of Accursed Springs, and what had happened there, and that they had to wait until the Dragon Balls were active again for them to fix Piccolo’s curse, and how it had became locked in the first place.

            Gohan went very pale. “I did that to Piccolo-san?”

            “We couldn’t have fixed his curse without the ladle, and if we didn’t have it, this may have been for the best-“ Dende said, and Gohan burst out into hysterical laughter.

            “The best? You say it was for the best? I fall in love with Piccolo, we sleep together, and you say it was for the best?”

            “WHAT!” screamed Dende, his face draining to a pale green.

            “I said-“

            “I heard what you said, oh Enma-sama,” Dende moaned, his face in his hands. “I should never have let her go out alone after what she said!”

            “She said what?”

            Dende groaned again, and looked at the ticked off demi-Saiyan.

            “She, he, whatever, said that she was having feelings for you that she didn’t know how to act on. Pretty much was that he had always loved you, and that when she turned into a girl, those feelings became something else. I told her to tell you, and see what happened. I guess she went to see you, and talking wasn’t what happened.”

            Gohan nodded.

            “Now what?”

            “We wait, and see what happens,” said Dende.

            “Where is Piccolo-san?” said Popo, voicing the question unsaid.


            Piccolo sat in front of one of the windows in the Satan’s guesthouse, on her knees, keening softly about what happened. If you had told Piccolo three months ago about what would happen to him, that he would become a human female, and fall desperately in love with Gohan, someone that trusted him as a parent, and that they would have –

            Made love,

            -rutted like a pair of animals; that she would have-

            -stayed with him forever-

            -hurt him, just by being there-

            He would have slugged them into the next millennium.

           

            She couldn’t take much more of this. Gohan, she would have died for, or killed for. She knew that despite what he had told her, once he realized who she was, he wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of her.

            And she couldn’t bear that thought.

            She couldn’t bear the fact that once he realized who she was, she would no longer be able to touch him, be able to be his friend and at his side the way in the way that had seemed so right, despite the strangeness of how it had happened. She had hurt him again, the way that she always seemed to hurt him, no matter what else she did. Garlic jr., Dr. Wheelo, and others paraded themselves through her mind.

            She wasn’t worthy of him.

            Then, as she had said, she had died, and would have killed for him; it was time to do both.


            Gohan was worried when Dende was stilling looking for Piccolo after an hour. He sat there, waiting, his feet and hands tapping impatiently on the ground and table he was sitting at.

            Then there was a terrified shout from the scrying pool.

            “Gohan, come quick!”
            Gohan was on his feet and running before he even thought about it. He stared into the pool, and felt bile rise up in his throat.

            Piccolo was lying in a pool of her own blood, her wrists slashed, and still spurting.

            “GOHAN!” Dende yelled frantically, “there’s no senzu beans, and the Dragon Balls can’t be used-“

            Gohan was already gone, destination in mind.


            “BULMA!” Gohan yelled, banging on the door to Capsule Corp. The blue haired scientist groggily woke up, and pulled on a robe. She had been having a lovely dream, but had been interrupted by the loud thumps coming from the door.

            “Gohan,” she said sleepily before getting to the entrance. “What is-“

            She opened the door, to see a very pale Gohan holding a very pale, still girl. Gohan was holding her strangely, and she realized it was to keep pressure on her wrists.

            “-wrong?” She gasped when she saw what was going on, and immediately led the way to the regeneration tanks.

            Trying to be in two places at once was a trick only Piccolo had mastered, and she yelled for help. There was a lot of loud grumbling, and Vegeta came down the stairs after the shouting Trunks and Goten. Chi-chi heard the racket, and followed down as well.

            I forgot about Mom! Gohan thought, panicked. Then he calmed down. Right now he needed to take care of Piccolo.

            Bulma started to bandage Piccolo’s wrists, while Gohan held her nervously. Chi-Chi had already started preparing the regeneration tank.

            Within moments, Piccolo was in the tank, and stabilized. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

            During the commotion, Vegeta had stayed to the side, watching. He noticed something that everyone else had missed. The bite mark.

            So, he thought, he’s claimed a mate. I wonder if he has any idea what he’s done?


            Gohan watched the tank anxiously; feeling like his own heart was the one on the monitor. When it had nearly stopped, and everyone had panicked, Gohan had done his best not to scream at the dead feeling in his own chest. Trying to breath, his heart and lungs seemed to take on the task of working for both of them.

            Then the moment passed. Piccolo was stable again.

            Reaching out to touch the glass of the tank, he closed his eyes and tried to feel for the person inside, and felt black despair.

            “Gohan?”

            He felt something, and tried to grab hold-

            “Gohan! Listen to your mother!” said an authoritative voice, and an arm pulled him out of his almost trance.

            “M- mom?” he stuttered, somehow wondering where he was and how he had gotten there. Remembering, he turned again to the tank, but Chi-Chi pulled him back again.

            “Leave him alone,” ordered an even harsher voice than his mother’s.

            They turned, and saw Vegeta, standing there.

            They could think of nothing to say, when Vegeta turned and walked out of the room.


            It took several hours, full of nail-biting and nervous tension, but the tank was drained, and an unconscious Piccolo was removed. She rested, in a thin paper gown and covered by a blanket, on a hospital bed in the medical wing. Everyone else had gone back to bed, except for Gohan, who was sitting in a chair by her side. He still couldn’t believe what had happened.

            But regret was the last thing on his mind. He was too busy keeping his hormones in check. It perplexed him that he had never gone nuts like this over a girl before. What a minute. Piccolo? A girl?

            He was having trouble wrapping his mind around the concept. Piccolo had seemed, well, so male to him, that the idea of him ever not being that seemed alien.

            Alien.

            Hah.

            That was the problem, Piccolo didn’t have a gender. It was his own ideas of him being male that were in the way. Her behavior at school had been about the way he would assume Piccolo would have acted. No big changes.

            Then, there was him hormones, his instincts telling him that Piccolo was definitely female, in no uncertain terms.

            Man, life was complicated; but those thoughts were for later. What he worried about right now was understanding why the hell the person that he loved had tried to kill herself!


            Piccolo-chan had trouble finding her way out of the warm well of sleep. It was safe there, no fears for others, no loves, no hates. She was in blissful oblivion.

            Yet there was something on the other side of it that wanted her to come back. She couldn’t understand that, but when she did, she reached out, and –

            Woke up.

            She just sort of, woke up.

            The room was unfamiliar, but there was a very familiar ki to her side. Turning her head slightly, ignoring the vertigo, her eyes met Gohan’s.

            Crap, she thought. I can’t feign sleep and get away.

            “Why?” Gohan stated, hurt marring his features.

            She blinked, trying to think about what he meant.

            “Why, what?” she asked, confused.

            “Try to kill yourself! Not tell me about your curse! Everything!”

            Gohan started to rant then, and pace around the room.

            “If there was one person I would have hoped that you would have trusted about this whole thing, it was me, Mr. Piccolo. Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you hurt yourself? Don’t you have any idea what would have happened if you had died? How much I- we would have missed you? How much loosing you would have hurt me? I told you that I love you, and I mean it!”

            “I have a reason,” Piccolo-chan mumbled, while Gohan continued to rant.

            “Why didn’t you trust me? Don’t you love me? Or was this all some kind of- What do you mean, you have a reason?”

            “I didn’t think you, I mean, I have hurt you so much in the past, the idea that I might have hurt you again was so awful that I couldn’t imagine-“

            Piccolo-chan was cut off with a kiss.

            Gohan had his lips to hers, holding her. Before she could think about it, Piccolo-chan responded, and for several minutes they just stayed where they were, until they needed to breath.

            “Piccolo, aren’t you the one who told me I talk too much?”

            Piccolo-chan looked at Gohan, and smirked.

            “You aren’t going to answer that, are you?” Gohan said in exasperation.

            The expression on Piccolo-chan’s face was strange.

            “What do you think about all this?” she asked softly, dreading the answer.

            “I don’t know what to think,” he answered honestly. “Part of me flinches back, saying that this isn’t right, and it shouldn’t be happening.” He saw her bow her head. “Because you are an old friend and teacher. Another is mad that you wouldn’t trust me with this, and the other-“

            He looked her again, and Piccolo-chan wondered when those stupid butterflies in her belly would give it a rest. They seemed to be hyperactive.

            “Is a hormonal teenager that seems a very beautiful girl and is driving me crazy.”

            “Males,” Piccolo-chan mumbled. “I don’t understand you.”

            They looked at each other and the humor of the situation got to them both, and they fell over laughing.

            The laughter was rather hysterical.

            Gohan wrapped an arm around Piccolo-chan’s shoulders, and sat next to her on the bed. Then, seeing what he was doing, he pulled back.

            “This is awkward,” Piccolo-chan commented, oddly missing the arm.

            “You have no idea.”

            “I kind of wish that I could go back to just being Clarinet to you,” she said wistfully, looking anywhere but at him. “I was nicer being your friend, instead of “Mr. Piccolo”.”

            “I thought you were already my friend,” said Gohan in surprise.

            “I had wanted to be able to just talk to you, and be able to join you in things, and being ‘Clair’ let me. Now, I won’t growl in pain if you whistle.”

            Gohan winced, remembering the incident.

            “I’m guess I’m just used to you being the adult, and me the kid,” Gohan answered.

            “Gohan, I’m only three years older than you.”

            Gohan felt a little dumbfounded by that. Of course he had known that intellectually, buy he also knew that she had the accumulated knowledge of Kami-sama and Ma, her father.

            “I don’t know a thing about being human, or love, or any of the emotions that I have been feeling. I guess that means that you’ll, you will have to teach me.”

            Gohan was again speechless. The look on his face was so pole axed that Piccolo-chan started to giggle. She hated it when she giggled- it made her sound like a little girl.

            It made Gohan want to laugh, too, and when he did, he drew her into his arms. Piccolo-chan responded by putting her arms around his neck. They kissed again.

            The lights had never been turned on, and the full moon shown down in all of its pale glory, and the glimpse of it made Gohan forget who and where he was. The instincts that he had always had came bubbling up, and with a willing partner, had nothing to hold them back.

            He gently led her down again, and that was that.


            The rest of the household had gone back to sleep, and by now it was early morning.

            “Woman, will you stop hogging all the covers?” Vegeta demanded sleepily. He poked his mate in the side, trying to get her to move. Unfortunately, he had worn her out so much last night (yes, too much hentai) that she didn’t move. She sort of rolled, then let out a loud snore. Griping to himself, he tried to shove her over, but that didn’t work, because she still wouldn’t move, and any more force would have hurt her.

            Thoroughly awake now, he decided that it was almost time for him to start training. He got to his feet, and thought it might be time to whip that half-breed son of Kakarroto back into shape.

            Vegeta dressed in his black gi, boots and gloves, and went down to the infirmary. He got the shock of his life.

            There was Gohan, dressed only in his boxers, and the girl he had brought in was completely nude, and they were covered only with a thin sheet. The bite on the girl’s neck was reopened, and larger than before. He smirked, noting a similar one on the brat’s neck, as well.

            He must have laughed, or something, because the next thing he knew he was going through a wall, with Gohan after him, eyes red.

 

To be continued…

(Ooh, another cliffhanger…)


The Torment
Part 8: Repercussions
By Larania


Disclaimer: DBZ belongs to Akira Toriyama, Funimation, and Ranma ½ belongs to someone else, and I make no money from this. None, uh-uh, nada. You couldn’t give it to me.


            Vegeta flew through the walls of Capsule Corp, cursing his own stupidity. He should have known what would happen, when you had a newly mated pair. Still, he smirked to himself. No matter how much Kakarroto may have stated that he and his son were ‘earthlings’, they still had Saiya-jin blood, and it was strong, at least in this oldest brat.

            He flashed to SSJ, and rushed back to the fight. Vegeta was unprepared though, for Gohan was already in SSJ 2, and he elbowed him into the ground. There was an earth-shaking thud.

            There was a flicker of ki as the girl that Gohan brought in woke up, and Vegeta heard her yell something. Gohan didn’t listen; all he knew at that moment was that there was another male in his territory, and his mate was in heat. There was no way that he was going to let Vegeta live.

            Vegeta rubbed the blood off his split lip. The nerve of that pathetic half-breed! If he didn’t know what was going on, he would kill him in a heartbeat.

            “GOHAN!” he heard that girl shout again, with none of the panic that he would have expected.

            His head was turned away, so he didn’t see…

            ”SPECIAL BEAM CANNON, FIRE!” (Yes, I used the dub attack, because I can’t spell the original one!)

            It grazed his head, and it caught Gohan off guard. He jerked around, and saw-

            Piccolo-chan, arms crossed, wrapped in a sheet, and looking every inch the furious teacher.

            Then his reason snapped back into place, and he could think.

            “Pic, ah, I mean Clarinet, what happened? Where is- Vegeta!” Gohan yelped, looking at the pounded Saiyan-jin prince.

            He rushed over, and there was a yell from Bulma, and the others who had heard the goings on. Vegeta grunted as Bulma fussed over him, and stood up.

            “Woman, will you shut your mouth? I am the Prince of the Saiya-jins, and I can stand up to the instincts of a rutting third class half breed.”

            “Huh?” Bulma said.

            “Huh?” echoed Chi-Chi.

            “Wha?” responded everyone else, including Gohan and Piccolo-chan.

            The smirk on Vegeta’s face was back, and he looked over at the couple. Even unconsciously, they were standing close by one another. Chi-Chi followed his gaze, and saw…

            “Oh my Kami,” she yelled, and started to run after Piccolo-chan. Piccolo-chan gave a startled yelp and started to run away from the frying pan that had magically appeared in Chi-Chi’s hands. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY LITTLE INNOCENT BABY? YOU CORRUPTED HIM! I’LL HAVE YOUR HIDE!”

            “Mom, mom,” Gohan pleaded,” stop!”

            “There was nothing innocent about him,” said Vegeta, his smirk growing larger. “There was a full moon last night. He’s the right age; if he had been near a female in heat, he would have taken her if even the slightest desire was there.”

            This stopped the running, and everyone stared at Vegeta. He gave a deep, amused laugh.

            “Oh, didn’t you know that? Saiya-jins are much closer to their instincts than humans, though we learn to control them. The brat over there probably never dealt with something like this before; I can’t wait to see their reaction to what will happen next.”

            “What?” said Bulma tentatively. “What will happen next?”

            There was another smirk, and it seemed impossibly wider. “Oh, just that they are mated for life, and that I wonder how strong the brat will be that comes from this.”

            “Mated,” began Gohan.

            “For life?” ended Piccolo-chan. They looked at each other, their expressions- indescribable.

            “Brat?” said Trunks, who, with Goten, had been listening to the whole thing.

            That was too much for Chi-Chi. She fainted.


            Later, all the adults (with Goten and Trunks locked in Trunk’s room, on Chi-Chi’s orders) were talking.

            “So, they’re stuck with one another forever?” asked Bulma, passing out tea.

            Vegeta nodded. “It’s the same way that I got stuck with you, woman. You can’t leave your mate. The latent telepathy a Saiya-jin has won’t allow it. The instincts that made you horny in the first place also told you to mark her, and that means the same thing as the human marriage. Only, you can’t get a divorce,” he mumbled at the end.

            Bulma blinked. So, that’s why

            “That’s how I got stuck with that loudmouth,” Vegeta groused.

            She whacked him in the head. He barely noticed.

            “You mentioned a brat,” asked Piccolo-chan softly. This was the part she had been dreading. The idea of spending the rest of her life with Gohan didn’t bother her in the least, but this, the thought that she might be pregnant, well, it scared her more than Cell ever did.

            The strange thought crossed her mind was that ‘horny’ was what Videl had told her to avoid.

            “Oh dear,” Bulma said, and stood up. “ I had better get something.” She went in the direction of her lab, while Chi-Chi glared daggers at Piccolo-chan.

            “I don’t know who you think you are, seducing my little boy!” she hissed, and both Gohan and Piccolo-chan sweat dropped.

            “You know who I am, Chi-Chi-san,” Piccolo-chan stated. “Gohan-san invited me over to meet you about a month ago, after I started school with him.”

            She had gone to visit him, after Videl told Gohan that she had taught ‘Clarinet’ how to fly. They had continued with this deception for quite a while, and it let them interact more easily.

            Bulma returned, carrying a small gadget. “I, uh, invented this a long time ago. It came in handy. Here, it can tell the day after, if you are-“ She didn’t finish, her face blushing furiously.

            “How does it work?” Piccolo-chan asked, taking it.

            “You, ah, need to pee on it,” Bulma mumbled.

            Piccolo-chan blinked. With a put upon sigh, she went to the bathroom.

            A few minutes later, she came back, and handed the thingy to Bulma.

            “Guys, she isn’t.”

            Everyone looked at Vegeta, who looked like he was about to burst out laughing.

            “Well, this means that the rest of the week is going to be very, very interesting.”


The Torment
Part 9: I ain't naming this one
By Larania


Disclaimer: It belongs to someone else, and I doth make no profit from this writing, for money corrupts the soul…

 

            The morning had been one of the most bizarre of Son Gohan’s life. He was still trying to get his mind to accept the fact that he was mated, in fact, married, to Piccolo, for life. Even as his thoughts rejected it, his emotions played for him the surging, confused maelstrom of Piccolo’s heart. She was as confused as he was.

            He also had a good idea of what Vegeta had meant by saying the week would be ‘interesting’. Even as he stood there, and it wasn’t as bad as last night, Piccolo’s scent hovered, making feel, in the least, clingy.

            Gohan shuddered to think about what that night would be like.


            Piccolo-chan looked over at Gohan, and the apologetic expression on his face. It was almost comical.

            Of course her relief at finding she was not pregnant was dampened when Chi-Chi immediately started with the wedding plans.

            “WHAT?” everyone screamed when she announced a ‘western style’ wedding.

            It was then that a worried expression crossed Bulma’s face. She looked back and forth at Piccolo-chan and Gohan, and then grabbed Piccolo-chan’s shoulder. Piccolo-chan had her mouth open to start arguing about anything to do with marriage, when she was yanked from her seat.

            “We’ll let mother and son argue this one, Clarinet-chan,” said Bulma, tersely. She pulled her into her lab.

            Piccolo-chan was about to ask what the hell was going on, when Bulma firmly shut the door.

            “I forgot to mention this. Most girls forget it, anyway, but it is possible that if you are not pregnant now, you will be within the next several hours. That was why I gave you that particular test, because if you weren’t pregnant right then, we could give you some options.”

            This left Piccolo-chan totally blank. What was she talking about?
            “Chi-Chi, if you were pregnant then, would not, under any circumstance, let you get rid of the child. There is still time now, if you want to, to get an abortion. That would be your choice. We couldn’t let Vegeta know, because he wants all of what’s left of the Saiya-jin bloodline to survive,” she continued.

            “WHAT are you TALKING about?” Piccolo-chan finally yelled, frustrated at being in the dark.

            “Well, semen stays viable within a woman for several days, and a Saiya-jins even longer. If you are, as Vegeta said, ‘in heat’, you can get pregnant a couple of days after you and Gohan- ah-“ it was then that Bulma figured out that the little boy she had known was no longer a little boy.

            “Had sex,” Piccolo-chan mumbled. She sat down hard, her face going very, very pale.

            “I don’t feel well.”


            Gohan was having war with his mother about a wedding.

            He was willing to admit, with the bond he could feel between them, that they would have to do something about it in the marriage sense eventually, but why couldn’t it wait until they got out of school?

            “Because dear, if I am going to be a grandmother, that child will be legitimate, your father wouldn’t have it any other way.”

            Gohan privately thought that his father didn’t know what legitimate was.

            All the while, Vegeta sat in a corner, smirking.


            “We are also making sure that I don’ t become a grandmother until you two are married. Vegeta, how can we control them?”

            Vegeta jumped. He had been so busy being amused, that he didn’t think about what else might happen.

            “I beat the hell out of him, and maybe he will be too tired for it.”

            “Unacceptable! Could we lock Gohan in the gravity room?”

            The two adults discussed Gohan’s fate, ignoring him entirely, he got up, and left the room.


            Gohan had walked off, and then flown into a set of woods that he had trained in as a child. It was something he had learned to do when he felt out of sorts, and right now certainly qualified.

            I’m marrying Mr. Piccolo!

            Today qualified as a sit down, contemplate-the-meaning-of-it-all-because-it-makes-about-as-much-sense-as-a-fanfic type day. Yes, he was going to go to that nice waterfall Piccolo-san liked so much, and think.

            And hope that his brain and hormones would come to a happy compromise.


             Piccolo-chan rested on one of the many couches in Capsule Corp. Bulma had thoughtfully given her a wet rag to put on her head.

            I could be pregnant. Dear Enma-sama, I never imagined something like-

            She groaned, stopping the thought. Of course she had never imagined it, it should have been impossible. But then, with the Z senshi, the impossible was a regular occurrence.

            Did I ever even think about having children? I enjoyed teaching Gohan, but after what ended up happening to him, how often he got hurt, I kind of gave up on the idea. And before that, I had been too busy trying to beat Goku and take over the world.

            So, now what?

            There was likely to be a baby growing inside her, at least that was the impression that she got from the book Videl had her read. It wasn’t likely that they would spit them up, like her kind did.

            Her kind; there was a whole other kettle of fish that she didn’t want to open. I’ll think about that little quandary, later. Much, much later.

            She sighed, and squirmed a little on the couch. Piccolo-chan was sore, in a way that was pleasant. Going from virgin to having made love twice in a night did not make for comfortable walking in the morning, even if she did like it.

            Don’t think about that, either.

            Her mind drifted; and that place that seemed to be connected to Gohan reflected that he was as confused and frustrated as she was, but the love was still there. Her face heated when she also sensed a good amount of lust, too.

            Yes, humans are insane, the whole lot of them. Since I am one, even temporarily, what does that make me?

            As she went back to thinking about the possible baby in her womb, she mentally commented, just as loony as they are.


            Gohan felt the feather light touch of Piccolo reaching out to him. There was a lot of turmoil there, but the same warmth that he had felt last night was there.

            He opened his eyes. Was it his imagination, or did his, her, whatever ki seem, well, off?

            Grousing to himself, he tried to figure out what it meant.

            “No, the test said otherwise, right?”


            Piccolo-chan was feeling edgy. She still hadn’t moved from the couch she was lying on, and it was a few hours later.

            Well, I guess there is a way to find out, she thought, and placed her hands on her middle. She felt downwards, trying to get a sense of her body.

            Piccolo-chan had looked at several encyclopedias and biology texts while she had been in school, curious at what this new body did, why it needed food, etc. So, she had a good idea of where the major organ’s were, and then had tried to figure out periods.

            Feeling for her ki, she searched, and found something about- there.

            A string of curses flew through her head, but she stopped herself, and said aloud-

            “No cursing in front of the baby.”

            At this point, she did what any other rational, sane and otherwise unflappable Namekian-turned-human would do.

            Piccolo-chan Freaked Out.


The Torment
Part 10: P? PW?
By Larania


Disclaimer:  Ranma ½ belongs to a really great writer, while Dragon Ball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama, another really great writer, and the whole belongs to me, a not so great writer with too much time and no money because I am not getting paid for this. Why anyone would want to pay for this, when they can get it free from FFN, I have no clue.


            Piccolo-chan was standing in Capsule Corp, gibbering.

            She had a rather good reason, because she had discovered she was pregnant.

            “Clarinet-chan?” came the voice of Bulma Briefs. She walked in with some of her old clothes.

            “I thought you might want to get dressed, dear. Uh, are you okay?”

            Piccolo-chan just snatched at the clothes, powered up, and blasted through the roof.

            “Geeze,” said Bulma, “no wonder Gohan likes her.”


            She felt dirty.

            Strange, how she had not noticed, earlier, but she felt like there was something inside her that would never be clean again.

            It had been a short flight, to the waterfall that she usually mediated at, shedding the paper gown she had worn, and sitting in the bruising fall of water, scrubbing with the harsh sand.

            Whimpering softly, she wondered why she felt like this. Something inside her felt broken and abused.

            She guessed the afterglow had worn off.

            Piccolo-chan was afraid.

            She had felt the baby’s ki; the thought of killing it now was impossible.

            She grinned weakly to herself. She could never kill an innocent, not any more.

            There was something growing inside her; something wonderful, something terrible. What would she do? She couldn’t stay a human the rest of her life. Inevitably, she would be needed again as a Namek. That was as true as the sun coming up.

            She curled her knees in what seemed to becoming a familiar position for her.

            Piccolo-chan angrily rubbed her face at her face, smearing the tears there. She was getting cold.

            She still hadn’t recovered emotionally or physically from her attempt at suicide, so she was on a roller coaster of her own emotions. She had to live, now, but the thought was terrifying.

            “Piccolo-chan?” said a voice, and Piccolo-chan jumped, and came down into a fighting stance, hunched protectively over her belly.

            “Gohan-kun?” she asked, surprise warring with anger for a moment. Dammit, she wanted to be left alone for a while, even if it was-

            Wait, this was Gohan. She needed to tell him.

            “Are you all right?” he asked, stepping up to her. Shimatta, he shouldn’t have looked at her, she was naked, and he still-

            He sniffed the air, and realized that her smell was different. How, he couldn’t say, but it was definitely there.

            His hormones took a nosedive.

            “Thank Kami-sama,” he groaned, sitting on the rock she was standing. Piccolo-chan blinked.

            “What?” she asked, sitting next to him.

            “I can think again, and my pants fit.”

            Piccolo-chan was confused for a moment, and they looked at each other for a long time.

            “I need to tell you something,” she finally stated, slowly, and looked away.

            Oh, no, she’s going to break up with me, she’s going to say that it won’t work, that she hates me-

            “I’m pregnant.”

            That she’s pregnant- What the HELL??

            That was why her smell was different. His hormones had accomplished their purpose, getting his mate to bear his child. That was why they had backed off-

            “But I thought the test that Bulma gave you said otherwise?”

            Piccolo-chan shook her head, and looked back at Gohan. She gave him an interesting description of the female body and explained things. This resulted in an information overload that resulted in a face vault.

            This face vault threw him off the rock.

            “Gohan? Are you all right?”

            He climbed back up, coughing. “Fine, just well, shocked.” He looked into the sorrowful puppy dog expression on Piccolo-chan was sporting. It made her look so heartbroken.

            “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she wailed, and Gohan gripped her shoulders, and pulled her into his lap. He cradled her, touching her with his mind. Inside was a mix of pain and confusion, guilt and fear.

            “I should be the one apologizing,” Gohan mumbled, and gripped her tighter, and thanked Kami that he wasn’t being turned on by this… Well, not much.

            “Piccolo-chan, I didn’t mean to hurt you, or for any of this to happen,” he sighed, pulled her closer. “But, I’ll be with you, no matter what.”

            “Huh?”

            “Do you want to keep the baby? You could give it up for adoption, get an abortion, but if you keep it, I’ll, I’ll-“

            Gohan stood up, and pulled Piccolo-chan to her feet as well, then he dropped to one knee.

            “Piccolo, Ma jr., will you marry me?”

            The tableau was interesting, if anyone was to drop by, and by the way, Dende was watching this whole mess with intense interest. Gohan, on his knees, in front of a naked Piccolo-chan, (have you noticed that the author likes nudity?) asking the former Demon King, (or was it Queen?) to marry him.

            Piccolo-chan, needless to say, was dumbfounded to say the least. Her thoughts on the baby were that she didn’t want to kill it; in fact, a maternal instinct she didn’t know that she had was kicking in. Or maybe it was paternal? The terminology she was still a little vague on; but she knew that this baby would be special, so she would keep it. She also had no illusions about what kind of parent she would be, meaning she would need Gohan’s help.

            That, and that she loved Gohan.

            “Uh-huh.”

            Not quite the way he hoped she would answer, but good enough. He stood, and swept her up in a kiss.


            During this, the two adults, or semi adults, if you count Vegeta, were still arguing about wedding plans. Vegeta had gotten annoyed with the ridiculousness of the human ritual, and was trying to make Chi-Chi forget all about it, while Chi-Chi was in her own little world, planning the gown, to the dinner afterwards.

            Bulma was sitting in the room that Piccolo-chan had blasted her way out of, staring at the hole in her roof.

            Dende sighed in relief that Piccolo-chan wasn’t going to kill herself.

            Back with the lovebirds…

            They were sitting in a little cave behind the waterfall. It was oddly dry; in fact, it was a place that Piccolo had decided to store some of his extra cloaks when he found the old ones. Being able to make your own clothing was nice, but if you kept shedding it, sometimes it would pile up. Thus, he had store then there.

            They rested on a pile of those cloaks, Gohan again had Piccolo-chan in his lap, and they just enjoyed each other’s company. Piccolo-chan had the vague feeling that she should be training, but this seemed more important right now.

            A strange thought crossed Gohan’s mind, one that was rather embarrassing at first, but he really did want to know…

            “Uh, Piccolo-chan, did you like it?”

            She blinked sleepily, not really hearing him, and then realized she had been asked a question.

            “Hmm?”

            “Did you like it when we, uh, um, made love?”

            His answer was hearing her lick her lips, and a nod.

            Piccolo-chan was still unclad, and Gohan had his arms around her waist, and her breasts would brush them ever so often.

            Now, he wasn’t going nuts with Saiya-jin hormones, he was just a teenager. Which was almost as bad.

            He lightly touched her chest, between her breasts, and he felt her shiver against him. He then circled her nipples with his thumbs. He started to kiss her neck, then nibbled.

            Piccolo-chan arched back into his arms, and she could feel his arousal against her backside.

            His hands slipped between her legs, running up and down her slit. They found a little nub, and he rubbed it gently.

            She gave a loud, deep gasp, then closed her eyes, going boneless.

            Gohan had the sudden idea to…

            He picked Piccolo-chan up by the arms, and then sat her against the cave wall. Parting her legs, he started with her breasts, and kissed his way down.

            “Gohan,” she gasped, “what the hell are you doing?”

            Gohan didn’t answer, just continued with his kisses. Finally, he reached her opening, and took a long swipe with his tongue.

            Piccolo-chan shrieked.

            She tossed her head back, grabbing his hair, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

            Gohan smiled, almost, and continued with his strokes, enjoying her taste. Oh, kami, it was like this was meant to happen.

            He wanted to give her pleasure first, even though his own need was getting hard to ignore. He listened to her cries, and was thankful for those ‘borrowed’ magazines of Master Roshi’s, trying to ‘educate’ him…

            Piccolo-chan couldn’t think. All she knew was that she felt too good. She didn’t deserve to feel this good- But she didn’t want to stop. She groaned as his hands fondled legs, thighs, then breasts, turning into a soft whine as she approached climax.

            Tears streaming down her face, she screamed in pleasure, and nearly ripped clumps of Gohan’s hair out.

            Gohan looked at her, and grinned at his handy work. Her face was in a grimace of ecstasy, and her tears made her look even more beautiful. For a brief moment, Gohan wondered what Piccolo would look like doing this in his usual form. Maybe even more beautiful, he thought wistfully.

            Gaining control of herself, Piccolo-chan looked up at her grinning beloved. Then Gohan found himself knocked on his back, with Piccolo-chan straddling him, a silly grin on her face.

            “Well, Sensei, want to see how well I learned my lessons?”

            Gohan didn’t have time to answer as she shucked his pants. One of her hands drifted down, and she started to caress his member, while kissing him on the mouth, and worked her way over to his neck. Her other hand was running up and down his chest, and started to remove his gi top.

            “Pic- oh, oh,” he whispered, and it was his turn to loose thought.

            Piccolo-chan noticed something odd as she kissed her way down, learning that he liked to have his ears nibbled, that she could feel an echo of what she was doing to Gohan. Sighing, she pulled his top completely off, and kissed his chest…

            Before she knew it she was completely down his body, and was taking him in his mouth. She could feel him scream silently, his body going completely taut. Her tongue lapped at the head of his cock, and she purred with the pleasure she was feeling form him. Gohan cried out at the vibration. Then she started sucking, and he couldn’t even cry out.

            He roared, almost, as he came, and spurted his seed into her mouth.

            She swallowed. All taste was a novelty to her, so she didn’t know if it was good or bad, but since it came from Gohan, she felt that it must be good.

            Pulling away, Gohan whimpered, missing the feel of her mouth. She smirked.

            “You,” he panted hard, then gasped. “Are a very good student.”

            “I had a good teacher.”

            They embraced, before Piccolo-chan teasingly turned away.

             Gohan growled in surprise. (If you can’t tell, instinct has taken over again.) His mate was getting away!

            He narrowed his eyes, before, with a laugh, he knocked her gently onto the ground. Piccolo-chan yelped, and he pulled her to her hands and knees, before entering her from behind.

            This time neither was gentle. Both raised their power levels, grunting and pushing against each other. Piccolo-chan had been so aroused by what she had felt from Gohan that she hadn’t hurt when he had suddenly thrust into her. They moaned, their minds one in this, feeling each other’s passion and pleasure. Their power levels increased, Gohan going SSJ, while Piccolo-chan glowed white, charges of electricity dancing around her. Then they both peaked at the same time, sending a huge burst of power out.

            Then they slumped, with Gohan spooning around Piccolo-chan.

            Now, this would have been a very nice, romantic moment, if no one else had noticed. Unfortunately, it was hard to hide their little display.

            Falling into an exhausted sleep, the lovers dreamed, waiting to anyone to find them…

            To be continued…


The Torment
Part 11: Father's Revenge
By Larania


Disclaimer: DBZ belongs to Akira Toriyama, and Funimation, while Ranma ½ belongs to someone that I can’t remember, but will worship anyway1

A/N: This is taking place turning the Great Saiyaman saga, after the World Martial Arts tournament, but before Buu. I have no idea how long that space of time actually was, but Goku is dead, although I think I’ll have him show up for the wedding.


            He had felt it.

            It was an energy that he had not felt for so long, one that he had thought was killed several years ago, by the alien Saiya-jins that had tried to destroy this world.

            He didn’t really have a name, not anymore. It had died with his son, in that tournament, so many years ago.

            When Ma shown himself, he had killed several people, not just those finalists of the Tournament. He had killed anyone with a Dragon Ball.

            His son had found the shiny bauble, and liked it a lot. He had told his father that he had it, and then he had left after the tournament.

            He had never came back.

            Heart torn, he had sworn revenge.

            Then it was taken from him, and now he found out he was alive again.


 

            The two mates slept peacefully, oblivious to whatever was going on around them. They didn’t notice the shadow that fell over them, looking at the seemingly human pair.

            He had traced the energy signature to this waterfall, and deduced that there must have been something behind it. Climbing up, and masking his own ki, he had found the sleeping couple.

            At first, he didn’t know what to think. He saw a perfectly human looking couple.

            There was something strange though, about both of them. He would watch, and see what would develop. Maybe they could lead him to the demon Piccolo.


 

            “Wake up, kids,” said a sneering voice.

            Gohan groaned, hearing that voice, but didn’t really register.

            Piccolo-chan slept on, but couldn’t sleep through the boot to her ribs. Jumping up, she attacked the owner of the boot, and that boot was nearly ripped off. Chi-Chi was not happy about that.

            She had gone with Bulma and Vegeta when Vegeta had reacted to the feeling of the pair’s activities. It t hadn’t taken Vegeta all that long to find them, even though they were dead asleep, and Chi-Chi was not happy with what she had found. Then she was on her rear, with an enraged green-haired Amazon trying to rip off her foot.

            “Pic- uh- Clair-chan, stop!” Gohan shouted, coming fully awake. He noticed his lover trying to maim his mother, and decided to intercede.

            “Gomen!” Piccolo-chan mumbled when she realized what was going on.

            Vegeta, Bulma and Chi-Chi looked at the two, who were still naked, and face-vaulted.

            It was kind of funny; at least, that was what Vegeta thought. He started laughing.

            Chi-Chi fainted.


 

            “I can’t believe it,” Videl muttered, as she looked over at the shamed looking Piccolo-chan. “I leave you alone for about two months, and this is what happens! You get knocked up!”

            Piccolo-chan opened her mouth to answer, but strangely couldn’t. Looking up at the other girl, she saw something that she had never seen from Videl before. Tears.

            “Oh, Kami-sama,” she moaned, realizing something. Being a girl had given her certain insights, and this one was of them.

            “You loved Gohan, didn’t you?”

            Heartbreak; that was the expression on Videl’s face. Piccolo-chan recognized it, because it was something she had seen from the inside time and again.

            Videl had sat down on her bed, (they were at her house) and was staring out at nothing, tears silently streaming down her face.

            “I loved him,” she whispered,” but I guess I never laid my claim. I never told him what I felt, and you got to him, fair and square. I shouldn’t- I should be happy for you, not –“

            She broke down completely, and Piccolo-chan looked at her helplessly for a few moments. Then she did something that she had never done before. She sat down next to her, and put an arm around her shoulder.

            Videl, not thinking, wrapped her arms around Piccolo-chan and sobbed her eyes out. Piccolo-chan tried to ignore the warm feeling that she got from helping someone in a way that did not involve fighting.

            It felt good, hugging someone. Why, she didn’t know. She thought maybe it was because she felt friendship for this girl, someone how had given a great deal of trouble, though she was not the cause of the most of it. Someone who had explained the strangeness that was being human and female, and other than Gohan, her only friend, and she couldn’t let a friend cry.

            “Thank you,” Piccolo-chan whispered into her ear, and Videl broke off her tears, looking surprised at Piccolo-chan.

            “You, Daimou Piccolo-san, Ma jr., are thanking me? For what?”

            “For helping a very confused Namek survive as a human, even if you did make it difficult at times.”

            Videl chuckled wetly.

            “I, would you please do me the favor of being my maid of honor?”

            Videl sweat-dropped, and fell over, her feet up in the air. Then she sat up and grinned.

            “Of course, but, you’re getting married?”

            Piccolo-chan looked glum. “Chi-Chi is making us, since we are both technically minors. We’ll also have to live with her.”

            Videl started to giggle at Piccolo-chan’s plight. Chi-Chi was not a mother in law she wanted.


 

            The wedding took place at Kami’s Lookout.

            Piccolo-chan did her best to pretend that she didn’t know the people there already, as they gathered to congratulate Gohan on getting married. It made Piccolo-chan grateful for Videl and Dende, who knew who she actually was.

            Dende was conducting the wedding. He still felt shamed at what had happened to Piccolo-chan, and was wanting in some way to atone for it, and Gohan had been one of his best friends. They stood in the dressing room, where the ‘bride’ was being attended, and the others were outside waiting.

            “You look great, why are you freaking out like this, Piccolo?” Videl asked, when she had nearly had to knock the transsexual, trans-species girl out to keep her there.

            You couldn’t have told, now, that she had been acting like any other bride. She was sitting, and floating in mid air, meditating. Although, since she was wearing a white kimono, she was having a little trouble with her normal sitting position. Videl smiled faintly, looking at the kimono. Chi-Chi had made Piccolo-chan wear it to conceal the fact that they had taken so long to plan the wedding that she was starting to show.

            Piccolo-chan opened her eyes, and there was something strange there.

            “I don’t know, I just don’t know if I’m ready for this. What will happen when I turn back into Piccolo, my old self? Will Gohan still-“ She shut her mouth, giving soft noise, and put her hand over her belly.

            “What is it?” Videl asked worried.

            “Should Baby be moving this early?”

            “I have no idea.”

            There was a loud crash from outside the door, and a dazed looking Goku staring at the two girls.

            Or rather, at Piccolo-chan.

            “Piccolo?” he asked, his eyes as wide as they would go. Apparently, he had been listening at the door.

            “Son?” Piccolo-chan asked, and noticed the golden halo above his head.

            “I was coming to meet my new daughter in law, and I heard you say the name ‘Piccolo’ and I kinda jumped… This is some kind of joke, right? I mean, you knew I was out there, and were teasing, right?”

            For some reason Piccolo-chan couldn’t lie to the somewhat dimwitted warrior. He deserved to know…

            “Its not a joke, Goku. I am Piccolo.” She started to tell him about what had happened to cause him to become a her.

            “I didn’t plan on falling in love with Gohan, I just did.”

            Goku, with his usual cheer, grinned. “I’m happy that you found someone to love, Piccolo! Isn’t it funny, though that you’re having my grandkid?”

            Piccolo-chan groaned, and put her hand to her swollen middle. “I’m used to hating you, but I also respect you. Now, hells, I don’t know what to think.”

            Goku just kept up that silly, happy smile of his. “Can I touch the Baby?” he asked, putting out a hand. Piccolo-chan flinched, but let him.

            His face turned solemn, touching, and he closed his eyes in concentration.

            “It’s a girl!” he shouted, and everyone on the Lookout must have heard him.


 

            For Piccolo-chan, the rest of the day was a blur. There was only one part that she did remember.

            It was a Western style ceremony, despite Piccolo-chan wearing a white kimono.

            The two met at the altar, and their eyes met. As their vows were stated, their minds touched, and it was all mirrors, reflecting what the other felt, until at some point, their souls seemed to touch, and merge. The feeling was the most profound thing that Piccolo-chan had ever felt, and from the look on Gohan’s face, he was feeling the same thing.

            As they kissed, it hurt, because they were so close.

            But never, ever alone again.


 

            “This has got to be the strangest honeymoon that anyone has ever come up with,” Gohan commented, as both he and Piccolo-chan hiked through the woods.

            Because of school, Gohan and Piccolo-chan were only getting the weekend after their wedding for a honeymoon, and had decided to go for a very, very long hike.

            Actually, Piccolo-chan, now in her second trimester, because of Chi-Chi’s planning, had hoped to make it into a training journey, but since she was waddling more than walking, and having really, really nasty morning sickness, it was decided that she should just walk.

            It was then that Piccolo-chan felt that familiar niggling in her throat, and just barely lunged off the trail before her breakfast decided to reverse itself.

            Gohan held her hair as she puked up everything she had eaten that day.

            “Is this supposed to be this way?” he asked, when she finally wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

            “I read a book on this, I guess it is.” Suddenly, she looked accusingly at Gohan.

            “This is all your fault! If you hadn’t gotten me stuck like this, if you hadn’t been hormonal that night, I could still be my normal green self, no eating, no morning sickness, no having to be stuck as a weak human! ARGH!”

            Her hands flew into the air, exasperated, and Gohan watched as his wife of a day stomped off, then flew away.

            “Piccolo-chan,” he cried, looking at the direction she had gone, and flew off after her.


 

            He had been listening to their conversation, as he had been for the past several months. It confirmed his suspicions.

            “Piccolo is alive, and is about to spawn its own child. I cannot let this abomination to happen,” he mumbled to himself.

            He found himself grinning cruelly as a thought came to him.

            He didn’t even have to kill the monster; all he had to do was turn her back into a him before the abomination was born.


The Torment
Part 12: The Disappearance of Piccolo
By Larania


Disclaimer: Doesn’t belong to me, and I make no money. Hope that anyone kooky enough to try to copy this story will give me credit, since they would be in the same cell in the mental institution as me. I hope you like Jello!

 

            Piccolo-chan was having a bad day.

            Well, of course she would be having a bad day, because she was a Namek-turned-human that was having a demi-Saiya-jin’s baby. That would be hard on anyone.

            She had been on her honeymoon with Gohan, when all of a sudden; she had almost broken down completely. Having morning sickness was not something anyone would enjoy, and her mood swings were getting worse. This is bad, considering that part of her was the former Kami-sama of Earth.

            So she sat, sobbing her eyes out, on a rock face that should have been unreachable.

            Power streaked out around her in pseudo lightning, as she bawled out how life was unfair, and how dare Gohan do this to her, completely unlike her usual unflappable self.

            There were several possible explanations for this, if a person wanted to hear them. The changes her body was going through were throwing her completely off balance. She unprepared for the mental aspect of motherhood. She was only the possible female form she could have taken, meaning she was about as close to a female Namek that looked like a human as could be. This further strained her already confused system, with the child being quarter Saiya-jin.

            Poor Gohan was also the only person available to take the brunt of all this, and he was soul bonded to her.

            Pity Gohan.


            He knew his target, and he knew what he was to do.

            It was time.


            “I need to go apologize,” she mumbled to herself, as it started to rain. She rubbed her belly absently, and ruefully thought about how she had been acting recently. If she had seen herself this way, say a year ago, she would have killed herself to save herself the trouble.

            Still, in the back of her mind, despite all the weirdness of it, she was happy. For the first time, she wasn’t lonely, she had someone who loved her, that she loved back, and she was making life, instead of taking it.  There was a deep-seated joy there that she had never felt before.

            She snorted at the direction her thoughts had taken; then turned green, dry heaving some more.

            Her senses were so screwed that she didn’t sense the person next to her, until a cloth was placed over her mouth and nose. Piccolo-chan did the one thing that she shouldn’t have done at that moment; she breathed in.

            Her mind registered what was happening to her barely a moment before she fell into unconsciousness. Her last coherent thought was:

            Oh, Kami-sama, the baby!


            It was like a candle guttering, the strange feel of something taking the ever-present sense of Piccolo’s mind away from him.

            The sensation was painful. It was like someone had reached inside his chest and ripped out his still beating heart, and it didn’t kill him. He kept living with the pain increasing. He did the only thing he could do at that moment, he screamed.


            Where the hell am I?

            Its dark, I can’t see…

            My hearing is human, still, so that doesn’t tell me much.

            Can’t move, either.

            Did they get Gohan? If they did, they have seen their last day on this world.

            The baby!

            The recently awakened Piccolo-chan jerked with fear, as dread surged through her veins like ice, turning her cold, and she started to shake.

            A voice spoke from her right, startling her. Her ki senses were still shot from her hormone overload, and she hadn’t sensed him.

            “Good morning, Devil.”

            Piccolo-chan didn’t answer, as a hand stroked her hair gently, and then lower to her swollen belly.

            She became aware that she was tied into a chair, wrists to the arms, and ankles to the legs of the chair. What little she could smell didn’t help in the least. All there was a faint, musty odor that could have come from anything.

            The hand continued to rub against her belly in an almost possessive manner, until it clenched suddenly.

            “ARGH!!!” she yelped suddenly, as pain lanced through her again. Tears sprang to her eyes, and whatever connection she had to her baby made her moan at the fear and pain going through the tiny child.

            No! She yelled internally. Not even out of the womb, and it had already had to experience pain. Even Gohan had been at least four before the pain of life had intruded.

            Growling in her throat, she tried to power up, and thrashed around trying to get some kind of leverage, some kind of movement. Another spasm of pain hit, and she screamed this time, not with her own pain, but that of the baby.

            “You see, Devil,” said the voice. It spoke softly, in an almost friendly tone. “I may not be as strong as you, but I don’t have to be. I have redirected your ki so that if you do anything to escape, it will harm the monstrosity within you. So, by all means, try to get away. I cannot allow this abomination to survive.”

            “Why do you want to kill my daughter?” she asked softly, trying to calm herself. Terror that she had never known was coursing through her. Any mother with a child at risk has felt the same thing, but to Piccolo-chan, this was more than just any child. It was her child.

            “Because,” said that terrifyingly gentle voice. “You killed my son long ago. You killed many people’s children long ago, and if you are allowed to spawn, your offspring will only become more evil than their sire. You deserve to know the pain of loosing a child, to know what it does to a person. It is only justice, and saving the world from your monstrous progeny.”

            Piccolo-chan wracked her brain, trying to understand what this person was talking about-

            Damn! She thought, when it clicked. This person thinks that I am my father! The old bastard would be laughing in hell at her right now.

            Piccolo-chan then did something that her father would never have done. She begged.

            “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t kill my daughter. Kill me…”