"Ohhhh…"

Piccolo staggered out of his room in Kami’s tower. For the first time in his life, he was SICK. He had stayed up all night with an upset stomach, unable to drink anything. Maybe he should have Dende clear it up, just in case.

He walked to the other side of the platform, towards Dende’s room. He could see him and Mr. Popo only a few feet away, gardening, but at the moment, it seemed very far indeed.

Sighing, Piccolo began to trudge over towards the two. When he finally got there, he felt as if he was to collapse.

Mr. Popo noticed the Namek’s discomfort. "Piccolo, is something wrong?"

Piccolo sighed. "I wish I knew. I have been ill all night, and I don’t know why."

Dende stood up and brushed the dirt off his shirt. "I’ve never known you to be sick. I’ll heal you, okay?"

Piccolo nodded, and then suddenly went into a fit of coughs. It was so painful; he closed his eyes and waited for his body to stop. Then he felt something quite heavy in his hands.

When he opened his eyes, he could see Mr. Popo and Dende staring bug-eyed at him. "What? What is wrong?"

Dende pointed a shaky hand to Piccolo’s hands. The Namek looked down and cried out.

AN EGG?!?

"Wha-what the hell?!"

Dende said shakily, "You…you spit up an egg! You’re a father!"

Just then, Goku arrived on Kami’s tower. "Hey guys! I need a Senzu bean, Mr. Satan tried to fly and hurt himself pretty bad." The Saiyan walked up to Piccolo and slapped him heartily on the back. "Hey, what’s wrong Piccolo…WHAT THE?!"

Due to Goku’s friendly ‘pat’ on the back, Piccolo had again spit up another egg. Unable to catch this one, his hands being full with the first, it fell to the ground. Yet not a single crack was visible.

"Oh boy." Goku muttered. The others could only stare.

Dende said in an astounded whisper, "Two…two eggs. Twins."

A loud thud sounded through Kami’s tower as Piccolo fainted.

*****

"Well?"

It was the next day. Dende and Piccolo stood in Capsule Corp. next to Bulma, Trunks, and Dr. Briefs. Goten was also there, visiting Trunks. The Nameks had brought the eggs to them to see if they were actually going to hatch or not and if the second egg had been injured at all.

Bulma looked up from the scans. "I don’t know much of Namek health, but I think they’re fine."

Trunks blinked, confused. "Wait, does this mean that Piccolo is a Dad now?"

Dr. Briefs nodded. "It would seem so. These eggs will probably hatch in a week, or so."

Goten giggled. "How can Piccolo be a Daddy now with no Mommy? I don’t get it."

Trunks laughed and looked up at the 6’ Namek fighter. "Hard to think of big ole Piccolo taking care of two babies!"

Piccolo grunted and walked over to the machine used to scan the eggs and looked at the pictures of the embryos, which were growing quite rapidly compared to most eggs on Earth. He could see limbs slowly appearing at a snail’s pace.

"A week, you said?"

Briefs nodded. "Yes, that’s what I gather from how fast those fetuses are growing."

Piccolo nodded and looked down at the eggs, snuggled warmly in the pillows used to support them. He could feel Nail and Kami’s love for children inside him growing, along with the feelings he had not felt since Gohan was a small boy. The full impact had finally hit. Picking up the second egg carefully, he muttered, "I’m a father…"

Breaking the silence, Dende cleared his throat. "Piccolo, maybe you should leave Kami’s tower till the eggs hatch."

Bulma was a bit shocked; it sounded as if the young Namek was booting Piccolo out. "Why should he?"

"The eggs. They need lots of warmth and Kami’s tower can be very cold, especially at night. I’ve seen eggs go bad when not kept warm enough. You have to remember that Namek was warmer than Earth, having 3 suns."

Piccolo nodded. "Dende is right. I will leave until the twins hatch." Looking down at Goten, he said, "Tell Gohan I’d like to talk to him. He’ll know where to find me."

Making a cloth out of air, he wrapped the two eggs gently in it, tying the ends together.

"I’ll be back in a week. See ya."

The others waved goodbye as Piccolo took to the sky, going to the one place he knew he wanted to be.

*****

Later that week.

Goten ran inside of his home and down the hall, yelling in excitement. "Gohan, Gohaaaaaaaan! Man, I shoulda remembered!"

Gohan and Videl popped their heads out the door; Videl had come over to study. *THEY WERE NOT DOING WHAT I BET YOU WERE THINKING THAT THEY WERE DOING!!!* "What’s the matter, Goten?"

Panting, the small boy put his hands on his knees and caught his breath. When he could talk, Goten pointed to the door. "Piccolo…spat up 2 eggs…few days ago…he’s gonna be a DAD!"

Videl gasped. "Piccolo? A Father?! No way...wait a minute, did you say eggs?"

"Way! I saw the eggs myself. He wants to talk to ya, Gohan; he said you’d know how to find him."

Gohan looked out the window. The moon was rising. If he left now, Chi Chi would go ballistic. But he felt that he should be with Piccolo.

"Okay, I’m going. Tell Mom I finished all my homework."

Videl frowned. "Can I come?" Goten grinned. "Yeah, me too!"

Gohan sighed. "All right, come on. Nimbus can take us."

The trio ran out the door and Gohan yelled, "Nimbus!"

The yellow cloud raced from the sky, stopping in front of the teens. As Videl and Goten were hopping aboard, Gohan said, "Take us to Piccolo as fast as you can, Nimbus!"

The posse and the cloud tore into the night sky, towards the site of Piccolo’s birth and where Gohan had been trained.

*****

Piccolo meditated on a small stream bank, having decided it just wasn’t safe to do it over a waterfall. The eggs were nestled in the bushes, faint sounds were heard rarely. It may sound like he was abandoning them, but he was keeping a close eye on them. He had made sure they were turned every so often and kept at a good temperature. Piccolo felt he was doing very well, having never had to deal with hatching an egg save his own.

"Piccolo!"

Looking up, Piccolo could see Gohan, Goten, and Videl riding in on the Nimbus cloud. The teens jumped off in front of him. "Sorry I wasn’t here earlier!" Gohan apologized. "Goten didn’t tell me till now!"

Goten scowled. "I said I was sorry on the way here, didn’t I?"

Piccolo grinned and unfolded his body, landing on the ground. "It’s okay. You haven’t missed anything."

Videl pointed to the small bundle of clothes in the shrub nearby. "Are…are those…the eggs?"

Piccolo nodded. "That’s them. You can see them."

Goten and Videl walked over and kneeled, captivated by the eggs that had grown about the size of footballs now.

Gohan smiled. "So it’s true, you’re a father. Unbelievable."

"I know. I don’t think this will really register to me till they hatch."

"Yeah. Just over 10 years ago, who knows what you would have done with them. Probably would’ve ate them!"

Piccolo nodded in agreement. "Yes, I’m glad they decided to appear now."

Suddenly, Videl and Goten came tearing out of the bushes, Goten screaming at the top of his lungs.

Just as Piccolo and Gohan turned around, one of the eggs came running out. Running, because two tiny green legs had appeared from it. Videl jumped into Gohan’s arms just when the egg collided into a tree behind her.

The egg cracked slightly, but it still got up and rammed…right into Goten’s butt.

Goten yelped in surprise and ran behind Piccolo for safety. As Piccolo kneeled down to inspect it, the egg dug its bare feet into the dirt and raced forward, hitting Piccolo head on in the face.

Piccolo fell back, nearly sitting on Goten. The egg seemed a bit stunned, but it backed up again and raced forward. But this time Piccolo was ready and held his hand forward.

As soon as the egg came in contact with the palm of the hand, it busted.

Amongst the scattered egg shells sat a tiny nude Namek.

The foursome gathered around it, simply staring at this new life. It took Goten to break the silence.

"Wow."

Gohan looked over at Piccolo. "He’s…he’s the spittin image of you, Piccolo! Or maybe Dende…or Nail…"

"Not totally. Look at his left eye."

Sure enough, on the child’s left eye was a slash-like birthmark. Otherwise he was perfect. His pointed ears unrolled with a soft ‘ping’.

Videl blushed and turned around. "Um, maybe he needs some clothes, you guys?"

"I think you’re right." Piccolo pointed a finger at the small child and on it’s body appeared a small gi.

It had a puffy white collar with a cape attached. *Like Gohan’s was* His shirt was purple, the vest on top of it a green blue, as was his pants. His shoes were black with white socks and the rope around his waist was black.

Videl turned back around now that the boy was dressed. "Wow! He’s so cute!"

She kneeled on the ground in front of the child and stroked his head. At first the child pulled pack, then decided he liked the feel of Videl’s hand.

"What will you name him, Piccolo?"

Piccolo wasn’t sure. He couldn’t give his son any name.

Suddenly, the moon appeared over the horizon. This caught the child’s attention and he gasped out in surprise. He dove into Videl’s arms, trembling.

Videl’s motherly instincts kicked. "Oh, it’s alright!" Pointing upwards, she said softly, "It’s just the moon."

"Tsuki."

The others turned around to face Piccolo, who was looking up at the moon.

"What’d you say Piccolo?" Gohan asked.

"Tsuki. It means moon. The moon was the first thing I ever saw when I hatched. I will call him Tsuki."

He walked over and took Tsuki from Videl’s arms, cradling him. "Tsuki…that will be his name."

Tsuki yawned and snuggled in Piccolo’s shirt, recognizing the feel and sound of his voice and comforted by it.

Gohan looked towards the bush behind them. "Do you think that the other one has hatched?"

"I don’t know, but we should check to make sure."

They all walked over to where the other egg lay and where shocked at what they saw.

A small dinosaur was trying to smash open the egg! Occasionally the egg would poke out in retaliation, but otherwise it was helpless.

The dinosaur noticed the warriors near it and picked up the egg, running off with it.

"No!" Piccolo cried out in fear for his young one. Giving Tsuki to Videl, he ran off yelling, "Watch after him till we come back!"

Gohan and Goten followed Piccolo as he ran after the dinosaur. The lizard took a left and found itself trapped on a ledge high above a small gorge.

Goten, seeing the dinosaur trapped, fired a blast. It hit the dino right on the back, knocking it unconscious.

As the dinosaur fell to the ground and dropped the egg. The sphere rolled off of the edge, right into the river.

Piccolo and Gohan cried out, but the egg resurfaced, bobbing up and down.

Suddenly, a crocodile came out of nowhere and snapped the egg in its jaws. But it found it to hard to eat, spitting it back up and swimming off. The egg floated on, heading towards a small waterfall.

Piccolo yelled out again *this would be funny to see, me thinks* and ran along the river bank, Goten and Gohan on his tail.

The egg flew off the waterfall, missing the water and landing on land.

Piccolo, Gohan, and Goten sighed a sigh of relief and raced down the bank and through the river.

When they got there, Piccolo bent down to inspect when…

CRACK

The egg had split on the top, revealing a small head. The ears unfolded and the antenna uncurled.

As the child stretched out, the rest of the shell broke in pieces around it. Piccolo gasped. It wasn’t a Namek…

There were no pink muscles on the child’s arms or legs, just green skin. A fluff of pink hair sat upon the top of the head. Her eyes were big, with black pupils. *think Pan*

Piccolo was shocked. This…this couldn’t be his child…