There was only one place on the planet I called home that made me feel truly alive.  Looking down over everything that was mine, everything that I was given to protect, somehow made me feel complete.

            I remember Mr. Popo telling me when I first took over the role of Kami that my predecessor, the great Piccolo, would spend hours standing in the very spot I always stood, surveying his land much like I did.

            I stood there, on the edge of Sky Palace, looking down upon all that lush green and blue that was called Earth.  I sighed deeply, my old body heaving stiffly as well.  There was so much going on right then, I didn’t know if there was one specific thing that I should watch first.

            So much to do, I thought, and so little time.  Two years, that was all we had left, two years to prepare fully for the Caprians.  I knew my students were training their absolute hardest, but I had a small nagging feeling somewhere within me that we just wouldn’t be ready.

            I quelled the thought quickly, and decided to concentrate on each of my trainees in turn.

            I started with Gideon, seeking out the familiar ki signature of my most powerful human trainee.  I picked it up right where it had been for the past week, off in the southeast islands.  He was on one of the islands with a large gravity field generator, and a few other pieces of training equipment.  I was pretty sure he was training under 10 times earth normal gravity, although I couldn’t be certain.  I knew for sure though that Gideon had been running himself ragged on that island, training his absolute hardest, both physically and mentally.  I was glad for this of course, but I was also sort of worried.  If there was one thing we wouldn’t need when the Caprians arrived, it was a tired out Gideon.  I had a small worry that he was wearing himself thin, that he would break down when the Caprians arrived, and that scared me a whole lot.

            He was doing well that day though, full of energy and life, so I continued onto Yukia and Kennard.  The two were also in the southeast islands, but a lot closer to Master Roshi and the Turtle House.  The two had elected to spar together, while also using the gravity device provided by Capsule Corp.  They’d been hard at it for a few days, first letting each other grow accustomed to the newfound gravity.  When I looked upon them at that specific time, they were both meditating, giving their bruised and battered bodies a much needed break.

            I smiled, and moved onto Nikita.  The young blonde girl had decided to train alone in Capsule Corp. headquarters in Satan City.  She’d been devastated after hearing about Cris’ death, and had spent a lot of time alone since then.  I didn’t know whether or not they’d shared some sort of bond (or something more), and I didn’t really want to find out, so I kept my distance from her.  When she’d requested training at Capsule Corp. headquarters, I arranged it and she seemed slightly happier.  I wasn’t worried about her though, I knew she was tough, she’d pull through.  I found her practicing ki attacks in the west wing of the main Capsule Corp. building, shooting the streams of ki energy into highly absorptive pieces of plexiglas that could absorb almost any type of energy bombardment.  Capsule Corp. had developed the glass a few years back, and it allowed my students to train much more effectively with their ki attacks.

            I didn’t have to look very far for Arsenia, he was almost right below Karin tower and Sky Palace, training.  He’d set up his gravity field in a large grassland a few kilometres away from Sky Palace.  He never came up to talk to Mr. Popo, or I, so it left me wondering why he would want to remain so close to Sky Palace.  I shook my head, the human Arsenia was indeed a wonder to behold.  When I looked upon him, he was just zanzokening around under the heavy gravity, going on until he collapsed from exhaustion.

            After Arsenia, I turned my attention to Karnai.  The Namek warrior had decided to take a Capsule Corp. space pod, and train while orbiting the earth.  He’d told me that it helped him to avoid the many distractions that were found on Earth, which would only slow down his training.  I spotted him flying over the axis of the equator, and felt his ki signature fading and then regrouping rapidly, then I noticed there were in fact two of his ki signatures.  For a second I stood confounded at the edge of the Sky Palace before realising my stupidity.  He had been using his Split Form technique to spar with himself.  I shook my head, I was getting slower in my old age.  He seemed to be doing fine though, neither of the ki signatures overpowering the other for more than a few seconds, so I continued on.

            Phoenix was the only earthbound Z warrior left, and the one I was most worried about.  He’d spent every single second of his time alone on the island where Cris and he had begun sparring that one fateful night.  He was completely silent throughout, not speaking more than two words to me afterwards, except for to get his gravity machine.  The death of Cris seemed to sullen the entire life out of the saiyan warrior, which left a grave feeling in my heart.  Through past experiences with the saiyans, I knew that their will to fight was everything, without it, they were nothing.  Phoenix had no will, no drive, nothing with which to motivate him any harder.  While the rest of the warriors treated the gravity training as a new test, Phoenix just trudged through it like he had with all the other training.

            I couldn’t imagine what was running through Phoenix’s head, and I didn’t really want to, but I needed to know if I could count on him when the Caprians arrived.  After Cris’ death he’d shown hesitation towards the upcoming battle, almost fear, which is a word never mentioned in the same sentence as a saiyans will to fight.

            In any case, Phoenix was going to be a handful, and sooner or later I’d have to talk to him about what was wrong.

            When I sensed him training on the island, he was barely working, just lifting some of the free-weights he’d brought with him to the island.  An enigma to say the least, I forced myself to put him behind me and moved onto my two remaining trainees.

            Cris and Triono had been together on King Kai’s planet for under a week, and King Kai had been keeping me updated on their progress.  After just a few days, the two had already begun a fierce competition.  Cris was determined to catch up to Triono, training wise, to prove that he was the better warrior.  He seemed to be succeeding too, already catching the hairy monkey Bubbles and most recently hitting Gregory with one of King Kai’s heaviest hammers.  King Kai had begun to teach Cris the Triple Strike, and had told me just a few days earlier that he was considering trying to teach Cris the legendary Kaioken attack.  Apparently the renowned martial arts master was amazed by Cris’ work ethic (similar to Goku’s he’d said), and his unwillingness to give into any challenge.  King Kai had begun tempering a sword for Cris to train with, similar to Triono’s.  I was beginning to wonder if perhaps Cris was a special kind of warrior.  After all, he’d been only the third person to master the full power of the Kamehameha, had increased more from a year of training than any of the other warriors previously under my training, and was now perhaps the only being in the universe who could match up to Goku training-wise.

            As hard as Cris was pushing though, Triono was nearly matching him every step along the way.  The saiyan had mastered King Kai’s sword technique, the Dragon Shock, and was now beginning to learn the final move of King Kai’s rapier repertoire: the Soaring Heavens Flash.

            It seemed to me that the two fed off each other to an extent I hadn’t seen since Goku and Vegeta.  Neither one would accept any mercy from the other, both of them wanted to be better than the other.

            Right now, Triono was far stronger than Cris, both physically and mentally, but the human was already beginning to make up ground.  I didn’t know who would come out on top, but the loser was going to face at least another year with King Kai after the other left.

            King Kai was sleeping at the specific time I was looking for Cris and Triono, and I decided not to wake the legendary joker.

            So each of my trainees seemed to be doing fine, at least so far.  I knew deep down they’d each deal with their fate in their own way, and all I could do was aid them along the way.

            I leaned onto my long, wooden cane, and peered out over all that I oversaw.  The endless green fields, the crystal clear lakes, the sweet tasting air, the clear blue sky, it was all mine, mine to protect.  I sighed again, my old green body cramping with the movement, a slight soreness running through my back, and closed my eyes.  Birds chirping, waterfalls rushing, hover cars flying, wind breezing slowly by my ears; these were the sounds of life, of existence, of everything I was born to keep safe.

            I opened my eyes again and took in one last vision.  This was it, this was life.