…

Demon King Piccolo was a man of action. At least, that’s how he had always seen himself. That’s why even though it hadn’t been even six hours since his unsealing, he was already amongst the crowd in the Tenkaichi Budokai. 

 

But seeing the young man on the stage, his name was Yamcha, and the power he showed… it made Demon King Piccolo realize one thing.

 

'Time has passed me.'

 

It was a despairing thought. One day being at the top of the world, and then the next, you’re old, half-dead, and people have already surpassed you in every way imaginable. 

 

Still, despite all this despair, he wasn't going to give up. Seeing as the fighter was quite young, Piccolo knew he had to push his plans forward quickly, or he would never be able to do anything to the young man, Yamcha. 

 

While the young man’s age showed his future prospects and talents, Piccolo had the wisdom he had built over hundreds of years of self-reflection and contemplation. 

 

Today martial artists, while better, weren’t at Piccolo’s level in general. Most of them wouldn’t even be a challenge, with only a handful being dangerous to his plans, even in his old age. But every generation had that genius, though this one had something more than a genius… they had a monster. 

 

He had been cautious that a martial artist might use Mutaito's technique to seal him again. 

 

'But seeing this, it seems like sealing should be the last of my worries.'

 

The original plan had been to hide a little longer and strike at a more opportune moment. That's why he had even bothered to get a human disguise to see who he would need to kill before revealing himself. 

 

Many people saw him as the Demon King who only knew evil. But Piccolo also knew how to be cautious when he needed to be. Today was such a lucky moment because if he had acted carelessly... he shuddered to even think about it. 

 

'Good, good, now I need just to get rid of him and grab onto a hostage. While his power was amazing, even the strongest people can turn into pudgy with the right… assistance.'

 

But before he did any of that, Piccolo walked out to the back of the crowd and then out of the arena. Taking out a small radio, he called on his subordinates. "Bring the ship, and make a distraction."

 

"Yes, Lord Piccolo," one of his creations answered from the other side. All his subordinates would be killed by Yamcha, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make. 

 

Still, against such an opponent, Demon King Piccolo worried. Was he going to win? Would the plan go wrong? Such thoughts plagued his mind constantly, even in his old age. In the end, such things weren't guaranteed. He had built this image of an infallible monster, but everyone could fall; Demon King Piccolo learned that lesson quite well. 

 

An idea came to mind, but he hesitated at first. Having spent so much time sealed, he was almost at the end of his life and had little lifespan left. Though King Piccolo was confident, he could last a couple more years. But it was clear he wouldn't be able to catch up to the young man in just a couple of years. 

 

"Humph, I'm Demon King Piccolo. Since when have I started hesitating?!" He gathered all of his Ki and lifeforce to his stomach and formed something that grew exponentially in his stomach and traveled up his throat. 

 

Sacrificing most of his life span, cutting the years left into weeks, he spewed out an egg the size of a dog. The egg flew off in the distance, and a sense of fatigue washed over the Demon King. His body felt weaker than ever. 

 

"If I fail, my son will succeed," Piccolo muttered under his breath, as creating his last offspring almost killed him. 

 

But life force wouldn't matter once he had the Dragon Balls and got his wish of eternal youth… if he could get his hands on the Dragon Balls, to begin with. 

 

Death was a word that brought a lot of fear to Piccolo. But he steadied his heart, using long life experience to control his emotions. He couldn't fail now. His ambition wasn’t for nothing. He would one day rule the world, build an army, and knock on Kami’s door. 

 

Just then, a giant shadow descended from the sky, covering the whole arena building and more. The clouds parted away, and Piccolo smirked in jubilation. 'Here they come!'

 

A flying ship the size of a castle came down. Rafters opened below the ship, revealing old but still functional warheads. They rained, and he could hear the audience screaming. This was just the chaos he needed!

 

"Everyone! Walk in a line, and try not to stampede!" The announcer attempted to organize everyone desperately, but it didn't work as people were walking all over each other and trying to get out. 

 

'Foolish,' Piccolo thought. None of these people could escape the radius of the blasts. Only the best martial artists even had a chance of pulling through. Even for them, it was a big if. 

 

The strong guy, Yamcha, flew toward the falling warhead bombs. 

 

Excitement burst in Piccolo's heart when he saw that. Maybe this young man was even more foolish than he had thought? While he might be able to stop the warheads, they were still mini-nukes, and the radiation would kill him. 

 

Piccolo was curious about what Yamcha could be thinking at this time. But the old demon’s mind didn't wander for long, and he spotted the green-haired woman he had been looking for. She, too, was running around like a headless dinosaur and panicking.

 

With his good hearing, he had heard she was something close to a best friend or possibly lover with the strong guy. Piccolo didn't understand the notion, but for humans, lovers were the most important thing in their life. He had killed plenty of couples back in the day. 

 

Piccolo had seen the bravest of men turn into sniveling crybabies when their lover died. That wasn't even their birth parent or brother, so it was kind of gross and illogical how they acted. But he never had the notion of humans being that smart. That’s why they should be either domesticated or destroyed by a stronger being, kind of like dogs were domesticated by humans. 

 

He noted that the green-haired girl was panicking too, which was perfect. In the chaos, he swooped down and grabbed the girl without any trouble. "I'm borrowing this one."

 

With one strong leap, he was out of there. 

 

"Bulma!!" Yelled out a talking pig, but it was too late, as Piccolo had already made off with her. 

 

An old man shot a Ki beam at him, but Piccolo used the girl who had started crying as a meat shield. 

 

The beam deviated right away. 

 

“You monster! Let her go!” The old man yelled, but it fell on deaf ears. 

 

"Heh, as expected, humans never change," Piccolo snorted and flew off. 

BOOOOOOM!!!

 

Suddenly a huge explosion rang out, so loud that it could be heard even from far away, where Piccolo was. 

 

When the Demon King turned around, he was shocked by the sight that greeted him. "What the hell is that?"

 

A giant barrier of magic, in the form of a bowl, was placed under his ship. 

 

That would block the radiation from hitting anyone. So it seemed like the young man wasn’t as stupid as he had thought.

 

Suddenly, he felt someone touch his stomach. "Huh?" Looking down, he saw the girl had her hand pointed at his midsection and a smile that didn't suit her face. 

 

Baam!

 

Next, the only sensation he felt was pain, his organs turned to mush, and he plummeted to the ground as a Ki Beam passed right through his stomach.

 

Piccolo's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His body lost all power, the hole in his chest was the size of his head, and it wasn't something that could just be clogged up. 

 

The taste of dirt and dust assaulted him. The sound of his ears ringing and the blood in his mouth smelled like bronze. He had fallen to the ground, and darkness started crawling through the edges of his eyes. 

 

'W -What happened?!' Piccolo wondered and looked up to see the green-haired girl looking down at him with disdainful eyes. His sight had gotten a little blurry after the injury, so Piccolo wondered if he was just seeing things.

 

"Who… are you?" Piccolo asked with great difficulty as pain assaulted his mind. 

 

"Finally, you decided to come out," the green-haired girl stated coldly, indifferently. "For a second there, I thought you were going to keep hiding and might actually get a real hostage."

 

What's that supposed to mean? Piccolo wandered, but he felt his body breaking down as his age and injury finally started taking away whatever remains of lifespan he had left. 

 

It dawned on him what had just happened, and he realized had been made a fool of. The situation was almost ironic in a way, he thought. 

 

After all his planning, he had been outsmarted despite having the advantage of the enemy not knowing where he was or even having knowledge of his release. 

 

Somewhere, someway, Piccolo noticed he had slipped up. Was it when he had thrown away the small demon kin who had released him from his seal? Had he gone and told Yamcha?

 

No, he had dropped the demon kin in a forest only a couple of hours ago. On top of that, the one who broke his seal was just another cowardly guy, his name Pilak, Film, Pilaf, or something along those lines. 

 

But suddenly, something crossed his mind, and Piccolo couldn't help but chuckle. "I never had a chance, did I?"

 

The young girl only stared at him emotionlessly, with an unreadable look in her eyes. 

*******

A/N: What just happened?! Find out in the next chapter of Yamcha RPG!

 

P.S: From Tao, we learned to love what you do and it won’t ever feel like work. 

From Piccolo, we learned to never give up on your dreams, no matter your age.