Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z and Ranma ˝ do not belong to me. I am not making any money from this. I do not know how to spell the names of the actual owners, but they own them. Not me.

 

The Torment

by Talent Scout

 

Dende was confused. He had been watching a particularly strange part of the world that he protected, and wondered if he would ever figure it out from where it was.

Unfortunately, he couldn't go anywhere himself, but he knew someone who could.

:Piccolo?: he called out mentally.

There was no answer.

:Piccolo?:

It took Dende a moment to realize that he was being ignored, after almost panicking.

:Piccolo, I know that you might be busy, but this is important.:

He got the impression of severe grumbling from the elder Namekian's mind. Finally, with a sigh, he turned his attention to him.

:What is it, brat?:

Dende ignored the insult.

:There is some kind of strange magical site in Chiukoku,: he told him. (That is what China is called in Japanese. Although I may not have spelled it right.) :I have not heard of it, and since I can't leave the Lookout…:

He heard a huge sigh from the elder's mind.

:You want me to investigate, right?:

:Ahh-:

:Just spit it out, kid.:

:Alright, if you aren't too busy…:

Piccolo almost refused right there, because of the stupid way Dende had asked. Then he stopped. Life had been rather boring for him lately, and all he had to do was meditate and train. Now that Gohan was in high school, he didn't come around as much. Much as he hated to admit it, he was getting restless, especially with no Goku to compare himself to.

It would be stupid to try and spare with Vegeta. He would have to put up with the man's solar system sized ego, and it would get one or both of them killed.

:Fine.:

Dende blinked. That had been way too easy.

:Okay, this is where it is.:

He gave Piccolo directions, and when he had left the mountains he had been in, Dende thought of something.

"Maybe I should have asked Mr. Popo if he had known anything about it."

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Piccolo was gliding in over the area that had been pointed out to him by Dende. There was nothing really strange about it, he thought. It looked like any other area that he had flown over at some time or another.

It looked like several dozen tiny ponds with bamboo poles stuck into them. It was a type of Shaolin training method, but they usually used sharpened stakes for a person to fall on, not water. In fact, he couldn't see what would make a person worry about falling at all. No one feared water. Least of all, him.

Taking another look around, he spotted village. No danger there.

"Well, this was lovely waste of time," he muttered, among other various swear words.

He could, as a consequence of his once being a part of Kami, and having then remerged with him, sense magic, and this place did reek of it. That was the only part that confused him. The place was so damned innocuous. What could be giving Dende fits?

No Kami had ever heard about the Training Ground of Accursed Springs. Thus, they didn't know that the Spring almost seemed to have a mind of its own, and that it loved having new victims.

Poor Piccolo.

Out of nowhere, an asteroid that should have burned up in orbit hit the unsuspecting Namek, and he fell, right into the Springs.

Into the Spring of Drowned Girl, to be precise.

"AHHHH!"

The impact was bruising, but not shattering, as it would have been to anyone else. Still, the shock of the hit, and being dashed into the water was fierce, and he lost consciousness for a few seconds.

Then, when he woke up, he was a she.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*

 

"Where the hell am I?" Piccolo-chan asked, thinking she had never felt so banged up. She had been shot with lasers, energy blasts of all kinds, but he didn't think he had ever been quite so disoriented. Up until then, his eyes had been closed, and she could feel the lapping of water around her feet. Everything spun.

Raising her head, she tried to look around. Amazingly, her turban was still on her head, which promptly fell into her eyes.

Cursing, she flung it off her head, struggling against her suddenly awkward cape and shoulder pads. Her clothes sagged, dragging dirt along with her. Spitting and yowling, she stood, and saw her hands.

Elegant and fine-boned, they were also powerful with muscle, calloused, but far smaller than they had been. They were also a soft tan.

"Kuso!" she shrieked, realizing that her voice was no longer a menacing rumble, but a rich alto.

Her hands flew to her face, feeling the smooth human skin, no antennae, and tangled in the mass of pine green hair tumbling from her head.

"What the hell just happened??"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Dende had been feeling like something bad had happened all day. As if to punctuate his feelings, a small, fine boned girl suddenly landed on his lookout.

"Dende, what in the name of Enma-sama have you done to me???"

It took the severely confused god a few minutes to figure out who this person was.

"Can I help you, miss?"

"DAMN YOU BRAT, DON'T YOU REALIZE WHO I AM?"

Dende shook his head in confusion.

He didn't have time to react as the enraged Piccolo-chan grabbed him by the collar of his robe.

Dende was able to guess, then, who it was, but couldn't tell him because he was choking, and his face was turning a lovely shade of purple.

Realizing this, Piccolo-chan put him down, but the poor god took a few minutes to recover.

"(pant) Piccolo-san? What (gasp, wheeze) happened to you?"

"I don't know! But I do know that I want you to find a way for me to change back, RIGHT NOW!" As Piccolo-chan had said each word, she had taken a step closer, hands raised and clenched into fists. What she didn't realize was that she looked so cute it was hard to believe that she could ever be threatening.

Of course, he lost that assumption when she started to power up.

"Is something wrong, Dende?" asked the usually good-natured voice of Mr. Popo.

He then noticed what was going, and promptly ran over to protect his flowers.

"What is going on? Mr. Popo no like it when someone try to hurt his flowers!"

Both Namek and former-Namek jumped apart from each other, knowing how he would get.

Mr. Popo took a moment to look at the very fit, pretty girl that had somehow gotten to the Lookout.

"Excuse me, Miss, but do you know that you are attacking the Kami of this planet?"

"OF COURSE I KNOW THAT! I'M PICCOLO, YOU DJINN FREAK!"

"Piccolo? Oh, you must have gone to the Training Ground!"

This statement again stopped the two cold, and they glared, one in confusion, the other in rage.

"What are you talking about? It kinda looked like a training ground, yeah, but- WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT? AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL DENDE???"

The pretty girl that was somehow Piccolo, his former Kami, disturbed Mr. Popo. He was also very worried that his head wasn't going to be attached to his shoulders all that much longer.

Then Piccolo-chan stopped. Taking a deep breath, she asked in a tight, growling voice," Is there anyway that the spell can be taken off?"

"Uh, no."

"WHAT?"

Dende then had to restrain Piccolo-chan.

Popo had backed up until he was almost falling off the Lookout. "I meant that it couldn't be removed, but part of the curse is that it can be temporarily reversed, with hot water!"

Scowling, the girl turned heel and ran into the Palace, and went looking for a water tap.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Piccolo-chan stopped dead, when she came across a large mirror in the maze of corridors in the belly of God's Palace. Looking at herself, she wondered what twisted demon had seen fit to do this to her. Touching her face curiously, she noticed that she kept some of her old features; her scowling mouth had the same lips, only they looked out of place on a girls face. Prominent cheekbones, eyes like ebony, and a delicate nose were under the human pale skin. Piccolo-chan then noticed her hair- she had balled it up under her turban for the flight back. Removing her turban now, the twisted strands fell nearly to her knees.

"Great," she mumbled aloud. "I go from being bald to having more hair than I know what to do with. Maybe I could ask Krillin what he does with his…? NO, I am not telling anyone about this!"

She took a fist full of the nearly black green hair and shoved it back under her turban, and broke the mirror.

With that, she stalked to the bathroom.

 

To be continued…

  

  

  

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