One by one, the people of Earth have been falling to Baby's horrific influence, and not even the sons of Son Goku were able to escape from his grasp.

Now with Gohan's body and power under his control, Baby gave a malice filled smirk 'Now this is exactly what I've come to expect from the power of a Saiyan. This is the kind of ability and control that I need!' he cranked his neck to the side to dodge a Special Beam Cannon being shot at him from within the crevise below 'And now I have a prime target worth testing this new power on.'

Sure enough, beneath him stood none other than Piccolo himself, holding the unconscious abandoned body of Goten over his shoulder as he shot a glare at Baby "You're nothing but a filthy parasite, and you've lived off the bodies of my friends long enough, now come out here and show yourself!"

"The Namekian warrior known as Piccolo, one of the most brilliant fighter this planet and this galaxy has to offer. This body also happens to have a great level of respect for you, and that makes you the perfect candidate for which I can try out the new powers I've acquired. What do you say to that?"

"Fine, but I think you'll find that I'm not going to go down so easily like the rest of your pawns have so far." Piccolo set down Goten, ripped off his weighted cape and turban, and floated upwards to face Baby "I hope you're ready."

"Oh believe me, I am." Baby's body pulsated slightly, unleashing a wave of energy that was powerful enough to nearly blow Piccolo back.

'This might have been a bad idea, I can't believe possessing Gohan has allowed him to tap into this much power! No calm down Piccolo, you have to focus. Analyze his attack pattern, see if you can find a weakspot. I can't let him get out of here, that much is certain.' so Piccolo started the battle by firing an Explosive Demon Wave.

Baby simply held out a hand and deflected the blast with ease, as well as dodged and blocked the barrage of attacks that followed, eventually catching Piccolo's fist in his own, creating a powerful shockwave from the resulting collision "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, your power is considerably above the likes of that brat down there, but still below what this body is capable of producing."

"Allow me to fix that." Piccolo's aura spiked considerably, and then he dealt Baby a barrage of punches and kicks that didn't break through his guard, but did send him flying into a nearby plateau and through several more as he continued his onslaught.

Baby dodged and blocked every attack with ease, and when he did go on the offensive he quickly dealt Piccolo a fist to the jaw, a kick to the gut and a brutal barrage of attacks that smashed him square into the ground, then picked him up and smashed him through several plateaus.

Piccolo's aura spiked as he managed to get out of Baby's grasp, and as he rolled out of the way of the next attack he attacked Baby at point blank range with an Explosive Demon Wave right to the face.

When the smoke cleared, Baby revealed himself to be unharmed, blitzed behind Piccolo, grabbed him by the foot and hurled him straight to the ground, causing him to cough up blood. Once he ended his assault, Baby stomped down on Piccolo's back repeatedly before grabbing him by the neck and pulling him into the air "This provided an adequate test of my powers, but you would be of no use to me." he slammed a fist into Piccolo's gut, causing him to cough up blood, before firing a Masenko at him at point blank range, blowing a large chunk of his body apart and sending him clear across the horizon and out of sight 'That should be more than enough to finish off that pest. This is becoming so easy, it's actually rather disappointing. Two Saiyans are already down, as well as one Namekian. Now all I have to do is find the one and only Vegeta, and then I will make his power my own.'

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Meanwhile, with Piccolo…

Of course, what Baby didn't realize was that Piccolo had survived his attack, albeit barely, having landed in an abandoned wasteland, albeit he was missing one of his arms and both of his legs, and the body parts he did have were fairly charred, so in short, he was barely hanging on now 'No… you won't win… Even if it isn't me… someone will stop you…' the last thing he saw before he blacked out was a red, white and purple figure appearing before him.

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A few minutes later, on the Sacred World of the Kais…

Old Kai looked up from where he was fishing when he saw Kibito Kai with a certain someone else with him "Well, did you get him?"

"Yes ancestor, I was able to retrieve him." Kibito Kai set Piccolo down on the ground "My healing capabilities should do the trick." so he placed a hand down on Piccolo and let the healing energy flow through him.

Once he was fully healed, Piccolo bolted upright and took a minute to regenerate and regain his awareness "What the- Where am I? What happened?"

"Calm yourself Piccolo, we're on my home planet, the Sacred World of the Kais. I found you and brought you here after your encounter with the creature known as Baby."

"So we're on your world? I don't have a halo, so I guess that means you saved me. But this place is supposed to be sacred, mortals aren't supposed to be here. Aside from Gohan and Goku that is, but they're special cases for a number of reasons."

"I'm well aware of that, but unfortunately Goku is not on Earth and Gohan has already been taken over by the parasite known as Baby."

"I know that all too well, and that's why we brought you here. Goku has to focus on recovering the Black Star Dragon Balls for the time being, or else Earth and all of its people are sure to perish."

"Which means that it's up to me and Vegeta to take this guy out. That's bad, that's very bad you know. I tried fighting Baby and I should be dead right now. For all he knows I am."

"That's part of why you're the perfect one to help take him down." Old Kai pointed out "But you'll have to get a hell of a lot stronger before you can do that. I was going to unlock your sleeping powers like I did for Gohan back during that whole ordeal with Majin Buu, now that I think about it Goku never did follow through on that promise, but there's something you need to do first."

"Which is what exactly?"

"I've heard about your origins from Gohan, even though you fused with Kami again you still couldn't access your ultimate potential and that's because there was a small part of your essence missing since you were born."

"I'm listening."

"You're gonna have to go down to Hell so that you can find that missing piece of you and make it part of you again, and only then can I awaken your full power so you can fight Baby. You understand me?"

"I'll do it, if it means saving Gohan then that's all I need to know."

"That's good, it seems I made the right decision in coming to Earth to find you when I did. If we were to lose you to Baby as well, all would most likely be lost." so Kibito Kai promptly grabbed onto Piccolo by the shoulder, and the two of them disappeared in a flash.

Old Kai watched the two of them go, and then he turned back to his crystal ball, displaying the situation down on Earth 'I didn't expect to be putting our faith in a Namekian as the only hope for the universe, but at least he's not as reckless as those damn Saiyans are.'

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Piccolo found himself alone in Hell 'Alright Piccolo, just like Goku said. I've gotta find this missing piece of myself, it's the only way I'm going to have a chance of surviving in this upcoming battle.'

"Hello Piccolo."

As he heard this, Piccolo froze 'That voice… I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Ever since I was created almost 40 years ago, I had heard that voice every single day. Then came the battle with the Saiyans and I sacrificed myself to save Gohan, and then it just stopped.'

"It's so nice to finally meet you my boy, after all this time. To be honest, I never thought we would actually get the chance to meet."

"So this is what the Elder Kai was talking about. To be honest, this is a day I've been dreaming of but I never thought it was actually going to come." Piccolo slowly turned and faced his opponent "I've heard a lot about you… father."

Sure enough, the Demon King Piccolo stood in front of him.

"So you're the great King Piccolo aren't you?"

"I can see that my reputation precedes me, but please just call me Daimao. After all, it's the name that I would've had those feeble humans call me after I had taken over… and it's also the name I expect them to call you my son." the way he spoke was cold and proud, and it was also slightly intimidating.

'If this were me the first time I died then I might have been intimidated, but since then I've faced foes that he couldn't even begin to comprehend. Daimao it is. I have to admit I actually like the name, it's short and to the point and it separates you from the pompous and ignorant fools who create names for themselves. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen that."

Now Daimao let out a snicker, which left Piccolo rather unnerved "Of course not my son, though I must say that I'm extremely happy to see that you still choose to wear the colors of the Demon Clan. At least there's a part of you that's still loyal to your tribe, despite your… actions over the past decade or so."

'Loyal to our tribe? Actions?'

"Why have you not killed Son Goku yet?" his eyes suddenly narrowed.

'Okay, now I see why people were so afraid of me back during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. I can even feel the sweat running down my spine.'

"I was going to, but I had more pressing issues to deal with. That, and my desire to kill Goku has long since been forgotten by me. The Earth was attacked by warriors known as Saiyans, and yes I did kill Goku in a sacrificial move to kill one of these Saiyans- Goku's brother in fact- but two more showed up a year later and one of them got the jump on me and sent me here. Tell me something father, what good would there be in letting those fools destroy the Earth if I wasn't able to rule it?"

"...Piccolo my son, explain something to me. I died 37 years ago, and you were born in my dying moments 37 years ago. That's almost four full decades, am I correct?"

"Yes that's right."

"You mean to tell me that during all of that time, you weren't able to defeat that wretched fool even once?! Dammit Piccolo!"

"What the hell was I supposed to do? You want me to sneak up on him, kill his friends and family, and then butcher him like some kind of sadist? You want me to hand the heads of his friends and family on trees for him to see? That's the coward's way out. If I was going to take him out then it would be in a fair fight, one on one between us both."

Daimao said nothing, he just started gritting his teeth.

"Yes I teamed up with Son Goku and yes I fought alongside him and his friends against the Saiyans, if you were smart then you would've done the same thing but clearly you're not. There was no way I was going to let those Saiyans destroy the Earth, whether I was going to rule that world or not. Yes I trained Goku's son, and yes I sacrificed myself to save that kid, but he showed me that I had a choice, a choice to follow my own path and not become a slave to the destiny you tried to force on me. I'm not you father, I never was and I never will be."

"Don't tell me about the coward's way out and then try to defend it to me Piccolo, you took the coward's way out. You're throwing away your heritage and your legacy, and for what? Some meaningless morals? Are you concerned about possibly dying? I made you with the sole intention of killing that incompetent ape, and you tell me that you won't do it just because I made you to do it? You're an idiot, a weak fool that lacks any sort of brain."

"There's more to it than that. The Saiyans, if you anger them then their power increases to levels one can only imagine. You made a grave mistake in your approach. You and your demons killed several of Goku's friends which only enraged him and turned him bloodthirsty, if you ever truly wanted me to kill Son Goku then I hope you realize that having me repeat the exact same process that you used isn't the answer."

Instead of lashing out again, Daimao let out a chuckle "Fair points Piccolo, very fair points. I must admit, I'm impressed that you've acquired my intelligence and ability to use logic. Your brothers, they never really had either."

"You mean those pathetic excuses for demons that you created? Piano, Cymbal, Drum, Tambourine, all of them were pathetic weaklings and I have to break this to you but they're not my brothers."

"Watch your tongue Piccolo, even if you are the ultimate demon the fact is that they're still your brothers. Looking back I admit that I made a mistake by not making them strong enough, that's on my. But I will not have you talk about them like they're worthless, don't you understand the importance of loyalty Piccolo?"

"Yes I do, but that doesn't mean that I have to be loyal to you. I learned a long time ago that I don't have to live in your shadow anymore. Father or no father you don't control me, you never have and you never will. You want to talk about making a mistake? Your mistake was giving me an actual brain, because I'm smart enough to see just how foolish your ideals and plans really are."

"Is that so? Well if you're not with me then you're against me. You arrogant weak minded fool, you're going to regret your insolence!"

"So what are you going to do then? Are you going to hit me, make me cry and then pledge my allegiance to you? Come on Daimao, you and I both know that talking isn't how our kind settle things."

"How right you are my son, how right you are." Daimao let out a howl and charged in an attempt to land a right hook across the face.

Piccolo suddenly flickered, revealing himself as an afterimage, and the real one quickly blitzed behind Daimao and thrusted his elbow into Daimao's back.

Daimao fell to the ground and coughed up blood 'Now that's what I expected to see all of my sons to in battle.'

"Unlike the rest of your sons, I actually know how to fight. I know every trick in your book, not to mention some more that I learned myself. I guess that's the benefit of having my own brain right?"

"Your own brain huh? Well you see Piccolo…" that was when Daimao fired a Ki blast "If it's a fight that you want then it's a fight you're going to get! Good riddance!"

Piccolo dodged the Ki blast with surprising gracefulness "Sorry old man, you missed."

"Did I?" Daimao fired several more Ki blasts as he rose from the ground.

Piccolo dodged the majority of the blasts, causing them to miss by miles "What are you doing? Did you lose your vision when you fell to the ground? Out of 30 shots you barely managed to scrape me with just one, am I supposed to be intimidated by this?"

"Intimidated? Who said anything about intimidated? You keep going on about my attacks missing, but it's you who's missing the point!"

"What-?" Piccolo looked around, only to see the balls surround him 'This is the Hellzone Grenade! No wonder 17 hates this attack.'

"I've been planning this for a long time Piccolo, and now it's time for this to end. Farewell, my son. Demon Grenade!" Daimao activated the final step to his version of the Hellzone Grenade, causing the blasts to all swarm in on Piccolo, covering in a massive explosion that filled the sky.

Piccolo let out a loud ear piercing scream, only to draw from Daimao a cackle of joy.

"See this new generation, they just don't know how things work do they? Defeating the veterans, those who had been there before? It's impossible, completely and truly impossible." he began to walk forward 'If all went well then that means that he's gone and the next Demon King is about to be crowned, and that's enough for us to celebrate the only way demons know how: chaos, fire and anarchy. That's how the Earth should've been under my his rule. For all these years, I had been expecting to one day learn that the Earth was nothing more than ruins where the human race served under the Demon King Piccolo and fought with each other for the scraps. I had imagined a world where they both feared and adored him, mostly the former. But instead the Earth still blossoms, probably in much better shape than it was when I had died. But how could that be? How is it that the son of a malevolent creature like me could not want to rule over the Earthlings? If he was truly my son then he would've taken extreme pleasure in watching the world slowly burn with the flags of the nations being replaced with our colors. What I done wrong then? Had I made a mistake when doing the sacred Demon Transfer technique? Well if this all went to plan then Piccolo will soon be… facing me looking like he's foaming at the mouth.'

Sure enough, Piccolo stood there once the smoke cleared, looking extremely pissed as if the attack hadn't hit him at all "What was that supposed to do?"

Daimao staggered backwards and fell to his knees 'How… How could he have survived that? How… what? I spent years working on the Demon Grenade, how could it have failed so miserably?'

"You want to know something? For a long time I thought that I had to live in your shadows and become the next Demon King." Piccolo flared his white aura "But that was a very long time ago, and now I'm going to make sure the title of Demon King never returns by eradicating it from existence."

"You…" hearing that simple sentence filled Daimao with blind rage 'Does he truly think he can wipe out the demon clan? No, that can't be it. If anything he must be playing a simple trick on me, trying to get me to lose my cool. I'd watch what you say if I were you Piccolo, I'm still your father after all. I don't see why you're so angry, so hell bent on destroy me. Tell me, what did I ever do to you? All I wanted was for you to follow in my footsteps, that's all there is to it."

"If I was going to follow in your footsteps then Goku would've killed me, if I was going to follow in your footsteps like I told before then I wouldn't be ruling Earth because I would be dead."

"I don't see how that would be the case, from what you've already shown me you're quite strong, far stronger than I had expected after hearing about everything you've been through."

"Do you have any idea what's happened on Earth since you let yourself get killed by Goku? I know that I told you about the Saiyans, but do you really know about that and everything I've been through since then?"

"All I know is that you betrayed me by not killing Son Goku, but how about you enlighten me on just what's gone on so that I know why you've put off eliminating the man responsible for killing your father." Daimao waved his hand and summoned two chairs "Here go on and sit, just because I've been in Hell doesn't mean that I've forgotten to be a gracious host."

"I think I'll stand thank you. He has something up his sleeve, I can tell. Tell me, how much do you already know?"

"Well I don't know much about what's been going on to be honest, but I know enough. I know the main things that Son Goku is still alive, the Earth is free, and you died once at the hands of Saiyan warriors but weren't sent to Hell."

"Well then here's the rest of it. After you created me I spent the first three years of my life training until the next World Martial Arts Tournament. There I fought Krillin, one of the ones that your demonic spawns killed, and then Kami. He took possession of some human's body and tried to use the Evil Containment Wave on me, but I deflected it and ended up capturing him instead. Then I fought Goku and I did what you had failed to do, I crippled him and made sure he didn't have a free arm that he could use to defeat me. Somehow though, he beat me by knocking me out of the ring and at that moment I thought I was done for. I thought that now, here we have a man who's facing the reincarnation of the demon who killed his best friend and his teacher, and tried to enslave all of Earth, ,and now he has the demon at his feet. I knew that Goku would find a way to just end it, but instead he healed me."

Daimao said nothing, but his fist clenched.

"For so long I hated Goku and wanted nothing more than to defeat him in battle, but I had to train harder than I could ever foresee myself doing. Then I began thinking, why not just devote my time to practicing a move that would kill Goku with ease? Looking back it was foolish of me to think that and I ended up paying the price for it when Goku's Saiyan brother Raditz showed up and trounced both of us like it was nothing. Goku planned to sacrifice himself so that I would be able to kill Raditz, and I can't say that I objected to the idea. After all, it was what I had been waiting for my whole life. But still, as he lay there lifeless it just wasn't what I had imagined it to be like. I found myself unable to hate him for making such a sacrifice. As he lay there dying, he let us know that there were two more Saiyans on their way to Earth and that they would be there in one year. I saw the great potential held within Goku's son and I took to boy to train him in my ways, maybe even use him against Goku later."

"An excellent plan I must admit. Now what, pray tell, became of that plan?"

"Well flash forward about 11 months, the Saiyans come and before I knew it I ended up being killed by one of them to shield the kid. Then I landed in this dimension and met that giant red asshole Yemma, speaking of which when I first showed up there he told me that you were locked up but I don't see any kind of prison."

"He seems to do that often. Is that it Piccolo, is that the story I've been waiting all these years to hear?"

Piccolo's posture tightened up "That's everything you need to know."

'So it seems that Piccolo doesn't trust me just yet. It's a shame, I actually found his story to be quite interesting. Speaking of stories Piccolo, you know the story of how Kami and I splitting from each other don't you? The story about the Namekian with no name splitting into two beings, the good side being Kami and the evil side being yours truly?"

"I have all of your memories old man so of course I do, what about them? Is he going where I think he is with this?'

"Well Piccolo, I don't know quite how to explain this to you."

'Oh why not, I'll just humor him and go along with it. Oh am I gonna have a goddamn field day with this.'

"I've been doing a bit of research over the years about what's known as fusion, namely the combination of two lifeforms genetically similar like me and Kami. Over that time, after a little bit of experimentation with the demons I realized that if a Namekian or demon can split itself into two entities then two entities can combine to form a single being that's even more powerful than the two of them combined."

"Let me stop you right there, if you think that I'm going to fuse with you and let you try and dominate me then you've got another thing coming."

"Well I don't necessarily think it, I know it and I know what's going to happen Piccolo. The two of us, we're going to form a new Demon King and continue the bloodline. Piccolo, I'm well aware that I can't beat you in a simple fist fight even after all the, not with the training that you've done and the brilliant mind you possess. But if you combine that with my brilliant mind and experience and we'd have the ideal Demon King, we could crush Son Goku like the insect that he is!"

"I already told you, whatever desire I held to kill Son Goku faded over time. At this point killing Goku would be counterproductive, and there's no chance in hell that I'd ever fuse with you of all people."

"No chance huh?" Daimao suddenly punched Piccolo across the face, then smashed his head into that of Piccolo "Oh I know that there's a chance, and I know that you're going to be brought back to Earth by Son Goku and those feeble earthlings. They're going to need your strength for the fight coming up, but once you return to Earth you won't be you anymore. At least not the same you that is."

Piccolo clutched his bleeding head and shot Daimao a feeble smirk "Oh really, and who am I gonna be old man? I'd love to hear this."

"Well Piccolo, you- no, more like we- will be the Demon King."

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Things on Earth were growing worse by the minute.

Still in control of Gohan's body, Baby finally found Vegeta and Bulla driving along a highway, and it only took Vegeta a matter of seconds to notice that something was wrong with Gohan, and he instructed Bulla to go home.

Once Bulla was out of the picture, Vegeta learned that Baby was a parasite of the Tuffle race possessing Gohan's body, with Baby explaining how the Saiyans stole the Tuffles' home planet and claimed it as their own. This forced Tuffle scientists to create a parasitic organism, and send it off into the far reaches of space. Baby, this parasite, possessed Dr. Myuu and forced him to create a body for him.

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Daimao watched as Piccolo stood in silence after the proposition "Nothing to say Piccolo? Then I'm going to make the assumption that you're considering fusing with me. Don't you understand what could come out of us combining our powers? We would be the most feared being that this universe has ever seen!"

'I highly doubt that.' Piccolo resisted the urge to point out the crisis with Frieza and his men on Planet Namek, or the current crisis with Baby infecting everyone and everything on Earth for the sake of his revenge.

"I understand how this must feel, I do, but you must understand that it is necessary. The Demon King line will die with you unless we combine our talents Piccolo, imagine all that we can do my son!"

"I couldn't care less about what we can do. What I care about is the here and now, and that's me walking away as my own self and not some puppet like the other demons that you've created."

"You're making a grave mistake boy, and don't be so quick to insult your brothers. After we fuse, you'll have the pleasure of meeting them and calling them your- or should I say our- allies in battle. I will admit that they're not the most intelligent, but they make up for that in loyalty."

Piccolo promptly slided elbow into Daimao's chest "Listen old man, I want you to get this through your skull: I'm not going to let you even come close to fusing with me. I had to fight for a long time to rid your voice from my mind and I'm gonna be damned if I let you back in, you understand me?"

Daimao coughed up blood 'If I remember correctly then all I have to do is beat him to near death and then remind him that death in this realm means him dying for good. After that he'll have no choice but to fuse with me. Fine Piccolo, this is how we're going to do things then." he lunged and slammed his fist into Piccolo's gut.

Piccolo met the fist with his own counter.

Daimao swept Piccolo's legs and knocked him to the ground, then grabbed Piccolo's leg in an attempt to throw him into a rock plateau.

Piccolo fired an Eye Beam and nearly blew off Daimao's ear.

"You little-" Daimao clutched his ear in pain.

Piccolo jumped at him and buried his fist his gut, then twisted it in order to cause greater pain to him.

Daimao doubled over and desperately gasped for breath.

Piccolo rose both hands above his head "I don't care if you're a Demon King or not, you're making a grave mistake fighting the most powerful Namekian this universe has ever seen and now I want you to understand just how much of a mistake you made. Masenko!" he fired off a quick Masenko.

"No chance Piccolo!" Daimao crossed his arms in an attempt to block it but a second too late, leaving him to be knocked through a massive wall of rock.

'That wasn't enough to defeat him, he's too durable for something like that. Come on Demon King, show me what you've got. I want to be able to walk away from this fight knowing that I fought a worthy opponent, not one that was nothing but talk. So come on already, let me see why Goku and his friends were oh so afraid of the great Demon King Piccolo."

Daimao promptly fired a Mouth Energy Wave.

Piccolo dodged it, as expected.

Daimao dealt a powerful uppercut to Piccolo's jaw with maximum precision.

Putting the pain aside for the time being, Piccolo threw his shoulders into Daimao's body in a chest bump sort of fashion, which then escalated into the two of them exchanging punches back and forth, trading curses, blood splattering, and even a flip or two along the way.

"You sure that you wouldn't rather just give in Piccolo?" Daimao grabbed Piccolo's arm and slammed his elbow down on it, nearly breaking it and causing Piccolo to recoil "I mean you're clearly wounded, and they do say that fusion will help bring you to full strength, if I were you then I would be practically begging to just fuse right now to spare me even more pain and suffering. You must understand this, I know how you work."

"Well then that would make you nothing but a coward, all you would be doing is running away from a battle. Speaking of running, I have a feeling you'll have the urge to do exactly that in three…" he grabbed Daimao by the arm and held it firmly "Two…" he punched Daimao in the stomach "One." he threw Daimao into the air and fired a Mouth Energy Wave infused with the Dragonfire of Porunga, hitting Daimao dead center in the chest, resulting in an explosion.

Daimao was sent flying further from the blast, a bit further than intended.

Piccolo was standing on top of a plateau within seconds, getting a perfect look of the result of the blast.

Daimao was coughing furiously, but then began to slowly laugh as he rose from the ground, the top of his uniform almost completely destroyed "I must admit Piccolo, you've fought very well. But I believe that there's one more trick from me that you have yet to see, and chances are that you forget that I could even pull this off! Yes it's my ultimate trump card, the move that will put you out of commission. Now you will taste the true power of the Demon King!" a blinding pure white aura began surrounding him and his size began to double.

'This transformation…'

Daimao was transforming into a Great Namekian.

'Dammit, how could I have forgotten that he would be able to do this? I should've realized it the second he mentioned his ultimate trump card!'

Daimao barked out a deep menacing laugh "Now do you see my dear Piccolo? I am the Demon King, and I always get my way! Now you're going to feel my wrath as I pummel you into near death before I absorb you into my being!"

'Dammit, what can I do? If he finishes that transformation then the entire magnitude of this fight is gonna change and- Wait a second, that's it!' he slammed two fingers to his forehead and began packing as much Ki into them as he could 'It's times like this when I'm so glad I spent all those years honing and adjusting this technique so I don't need 5 minutes to charge it, or as long as it takes to turn into that Great Namekian form because if it did then I'd either be panicking or a bloody corpse at this point. I hope this works… No, I know this will work. It hit Raditz while he was squirming in Goku's grip and that was more than 10 years ago, this should be easy. Special Beam Cannon!" he fired a Special Beam Cannon, leaving a massive hole in the center of Daimao's chest.

Daimao abruptly stopped transforming and returned to his normal form, only now with a gaping hole in his chest spewing blood out like a volcano.

"You mentioned your ultimate trump card and it was a technique that I knew, meaning that I understood its strengths and weaknesses. If there's one thing I've learned with that technique or anything close to it then it's that hitting you as you transformed will normally interfere with it. I never even mentioned my ultimate trump card and I end up stopping your transformation, funny how that works right? The first rule of fighting, if you know that your opponent knows how your technique works then you shouldn't make it so obvious to your opponents. Speaking of techniques working, that's ⅔ times the Special Beam Cannon worked in a battle. I mean first there's the thing with Raditz, then I used it in that fight with Gohan, and now here. Still though, the only reason it worked this time was because he was in the middle of transforming and wasn't able to stop it. It's pretty obvious that this move is a liability in one on one fights.'

Daimao finished shrinking back to his normal form, the gigantic hole in his chest not even close to being healed yet, and began crawling while leaving a trail of blood behind from the wound in his chest "Dammit Piccolo… all I wanted was to recreate the Demon King, and you come in the way of this. Why?"

"Because I understand why the Supreme Kais wanted me to come here, they wanted to see if I had ever truly moved on from my past life and forged a new path for myself. King Kai on the other hand, he never was fully convinced, though that's probably because I screwed him over once, and he decided to send me down here as a test. He and the Supreme Kais wanted to see just what the difference was between the two of us. The difference between us is actually pretty simple. You want the power to be the Demon King, I want the power because I know that I'm going to need it. So here's what I'm thinking, I say we do this fusion but only if you agree that I stay the host entity."

'Finally, he sees things the way I see them! At long last, I've finally found my key to get back into the realm of the living! Yes Piccolo, I'm so glad that you've at last come to your senses after all of this."

Piccolo remained stoic and gave a simple nod "Yes, it's become quite clear that the Elder Kai made the right choice in having us meet. Together we'll become a very powerful warrior, one that will be known throughout the entire universe."

"Excellent, I can't tell you how thrilled I am that you've finally realized how much this fusion will benefit both of us. I knew there was an actual brain in that head of yours, even if it took some time to comprehend how important and necessary this move is."

"Yes and before we do this there's one thing that I think you should know, for the rest of time you're going to have to witness your worst nightmare in the form of a Demon King fighting to protect the Earth and more importantly fighting alongside Son Goku." he received a look of utter contempt and hatred "Yeah it's shocking I know, it's okay to be speechless because I would be too. After years of you trying to manipulate me into killing Goku and taking over the Earth, I just brilliantly outsmarted you and it feels absolutely amazing. This was a necessary move Daimao and I'm sure it must make your blood boil to know that you'll be fighting to protect the Earth instead of rule it. You're probably asking why, after telling you for so long that I wasn't going to fuse, that I'm making the decision to go through with this. My answer is simple, Earth is full of both good and bad people, sure most of them are fools but the fact is that it's still a planet that's worth protecting. Besides, it's not like I want to end up back here if you catch my drift."

Daimao let out a snarl and desperately tried to heabutt him.

Piccolo clamped a hand over Daimao's mouth in order to shut him up "Take your defeat like a man Daimao, you were a worthy opponent and on another note it was good to meet you. You're as much of a self absorbed, insignificant moron that I thought you would be and now I get to punish you for trying to control me."

"You'll never… get away… with this! I'll find ways to make you suffer Piccolo, I promise you this! I won't go through with this!"

"That's enough out of you, you've lost this battle and it's only right that you take defeat the way that a true king would. I remember all of those lessons you provided for me through transferring your memories, everything about the honor of royalty and being a man, and now it's time for you to take your defeat like one. Now don't worry, this isn't going to take very long." they were then covered by a blinding light 'It's definitely working, I can feel his Ki signature draining from his body and fast and now all of the injuries that I've sustained in this fight seem to be fading away like they were never there.'

Daimao's body quickly began fading away.

'That's it, go on and disappear forever. There's no way I'm letting even a single trace of you survive this.'

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Now fully aware of who and what Baby was, Vegeta fought and tried to stop him, and he had the upper hand, but then Goten showed up on the battlefield, due to him still being under the control of Baby.

With both of their powers combined, Gohan and Goten proved to be too much for Vegeta, at least in his Super Saiyan form, forcing him to advance to Super Saiyan 2, but this proved to be exactly what Baby wanted, and he quickly went out of Gohan's body and into Vegeta's instead.

With Vegeta's power now under his control, Baby continued making his plans to turn the rest of the people of Earth into Tuffles, then kill Goku, and then to move onto the universe itself.

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Piccolo finished the fusion with Daimao, and stared down at his hands as he attempted to grasp his newfound power 'This is…'

"I take it this portion of your training was a success?"

Piccolo looked back and saw Kibito Kai standing behind him "So how long were you waiting there exactly?"

"Just long enough to make sure that everything went as it was supposed to." Kibito Kai intently studied Piccolo for a moment "You seem a bit taller now, and your eyes don't hold any of the same hate that we had expected."

"Oh please, as if I'm enough of a pushover that I'd let that old fool take over my body? You know, like your ancestor said I actually did find myself in there. and I'm pretty sure you have a good idea of how it went."

"I'm surprised that you actually agreed to fuse with him, after all I was led to believe you despise everything he once stood for."

"I don't know if I would go that far."

"Regardless it's truly remarkable, so how do you feel?"

"Pretty good to be honest, this new power is amazing. I figured I'd grow stronger but not to this extent."

"Well regardless, this was a rousing success, but we still have much more work to do. As much as your power has increased, it's still nowhere near enough for you to defeat Baby now that he's inside Vegeta's body."

"I anticipated as much, so what else do I have to do?"

"It's not what you have to do, it's what my ancestor is going to do for you."

"...I think I know where this is going. You mean for the Elder Kai to awaken my potential in that ritual that he used for Gohan when fought Buu right?"

"Precisely."

"I just have one more question. When do we start?"

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By this point, Goku, Pan and Trunks had reached the ice planet known as Polaris, and had successfully retrieved the last of the Black Star Dragon Balls, and with their mission complete, they decided to head back to Earth, unaware that Baby was waiting for them, with an army growing by the minute.

But at the same time, there was a small light of hope growing brighter by the hour.

A/N:

It's like I said in the summary, the biggest issue I have with GT is how they handle the non Saiyan characters. That is to say, they don't. The exception to this statement is Piccolo, and while his death scene is one hell of a tearjerker, that's really the only significant contribution he makes aside from him dying is in the Super 17 saga, and I'm just throwing it out there now that I have no intention of covering that arc in this story. Seriously though, Piccolo showed up once, got blasted away by Baby, and then he showed up at the end only to die again. Not in this fic.

This chapter was meant to be a starter to the overall arc of this fic, as in Piccolo planning and preparing his counterattack by powering him up enough to make a difference, and next chapter will be about him recruiting allies.