- Zen -
Dragonball: Another Generation
#2 ... As the Angel Falls.Note! Back issues can be found at http://home.dencity.com/drakefanfic/ !
The bubbles drifted slowly passed Zen's weak body as he floated with an unsettling ease. The eternal bleeping of the life monitoring equipment appeared to relax Goten's nerves, but the fear inside could never be settled. Goten rubbed his troubled face. The deep sighs seemed to cause the walls of the room to throb. Disturbing thoughts of Zen's future plagued his mind. He felt a soothing hand rub his back."Don't worry, hun, the doctor says he's stable," Bra said softly. Goten looked up toward Bra and dropped his head again.
"That doesn't tell us anything just that he won't die. What if he comes out of this paralysed or brain damaged? What sort of a life would that be for a seventeen-year-old" he retorted in a harsh tone. Bra sighed.
"Don't be so pessimistic, you know damn well Zen is stronger than most others and this lab has lots of specialist equipment to help him recover. The doctor will be here in a few minutes to update us, so so just keep hope it's the only way we'll all stay sane" Bra tried to reassure him.
"I know I shouldn't have snapped at you like that I'm sorry," he apologised. Her eyes, full of understanding, accepted.
"Don't worry about it, this whole mess has got us all so irate" she started, but was interrupted by the opening of the lab door. The doctor briskly walked in with Goku and Chi-Chi following closely behind. Goten stood at attention, taking Bra's hand in the process. Grasping it tightly, she waited restlessly for the doctor's synopsis.
"Hmm" he mumbled as he flicked through his notes, "Ah, here we are. Zen." He pulled out a piece of paper with lots of scribbling and notes written on it. Scanning them for a few seconds, the doctor took a deep breath and began to explain the citation.
"Well, as you may already know, his condition is stable. The injuries sustained were surprisingly minimal, only a couple of broken ribs and lots of bruises. His body was subjected to an enormous stress and his muscles are incredibly tired at the present. Luckily, having a full-blooded Saiya-jin biology, we were able to take advantage of the technological advantages Professor Shiro has been developing. He should be fully recovered by tomorrow morning," the doctor concluded.
Echoes of relief packed the lab as the four relations relaxed their tense bodies. The doctor looked like he had something else to say but couldn't quite remember. The others waited patiently with curious faces while he fumbled around with his notes.
"Err, anything else, doctor?" Goten queried. By now, a small pile of scuffled up notes was forming around the doctor's ankles.
"AH! Here it is!" he yelled. "The professor sent me this memo to tell you that he wants to speak with you all when you have a spare minute."
"Oh? What about?" Bra asked.
"Well, Zen, I suppose, but I don't really know the details. I can call him to come now if you like?" the doctor suggested. They all agreed, the doctor nodded and left the room.
Pure white feathers swirled around her falling body. Leaning into the wind, her silky burette hair blew wildly. Her angelic face seemed expressionless. She felt her soul slip away as the misty clouds faded into darkness. Her beatific wings seemed to be moulting into nothing as the holy aura that once surrounded her did the same.
The rain trickled down Yori's apartment window. She tossed and turned in her bed. The raging storm outside seemed to soften her cries. A tiny dragon like creature seemed to be nestling peacefully on her bed. With a crash of thunder, Yori woke up with a deafening scream. Taking erratic deep breaths, Yori wiped the streaming tears from her eyes.
"Kryo, I just had that dream again" she sniffled, panting a little.
"I gathered that" he muttered, dangling from the light by his tail. He unwrapped his emerald green tail from the light and glided back down to the bed. There was a mystical glow about him, something different could certainly felt when he was in your presence. Being about eight inches in size and being able to talk tended to shock people before they picked up on his magically qualities anyway. Kryo landed in Yori's lap and began to claw the blanket. Yori smiled faintly and petted the dragon.
"Has anyone ever mentioned that you might have a cat complex?" she said with a quiet snigger. Kryo let out a quiet mrrr'ing sound and continued to snuggle in Yori's lap.
"I don't have a problem with that," he replied sleepily. "So, tell me about this dream then why does it get you so upset?" She stalled for a moment. Starting to fiddle with the end of the quilt covers, she thought for a minute.
"I'm falling but I don't feel or really look the same. I have these massive wings that seemed to disappear the further I fall, my hair is a lighter colour and I dream it in third person like I'm just watching her err, me fall"
"Hmm, but why do you get so upset?" Kryo questioned. Her eyes started to flick from side to side uneasily.
"The further I fall the more it seems like I'm loosing something something deep inside me." She said rubbing her cheeks restlessly. "Like my like my soul or something" she said as Kryo raised his head attentively.
"Your soul?" he asked with a troubled expression. She nodded, still in an uneasy trance that had her eyes fixed at the end of the bed.
"It's a disturbing feeling to have towards the end of the dream, I just look like a floating corpse in a sea of darkness it feels cold I really hope they stop soon, I think its starting to affect me."
"Affect you?"
"Yeah, I sometimes get these flash backs and my whole body just goes ice cold. I totally freak out and almost have a nervous break down," she said. Kryo sighed slightly.
"That isn't good at all" he paused, almost implying that he understood or even had an explanation, but Yori didn't pick up on it. She was too concerned with her own ideas of what it could mean.
"Do you think it might be some kind of premonition?" Kryo suggested. Yori sighed deeply and laid her head back on the pillow.
"I really hope not" she whispered as she shut her exhausted eyes. Peace
Bra twiddled her thumbs aimlessly. Goku had fallen asleep on a table and was beginning to drool on the equipment near his mouth. Chi-Chi was passing up and down nervously and Goten was fighting off the sleep demon with very little success.
"It's been two hours already I need to know what the professor has to say" Chi-Chi demanded.
"I do too, but maybe you should get some rest. It's almost 2 in the morning. I'll wait and see if the professor shows up. I'll wake you if he does," Bra demanded. Chi-Chi rubbed her tired eyes.
"I guess you're right, I'm just not very good with stress. At least we know he'll be as good as new tomorrow," she said with a light sigh. Bra nodded and offered her seat to Chi-Chi. She smiled, sat down and rested her head in her arms on the table.
"Make sure to wake me and the sleeping beauties here if he decides to show up," Chi-Chi asked. Bra giggled quietly and nodded.
"No problem," she replied with a soft smile.
The night passed without any excitement. Bra had decided to take a quick nap and ended up falling into a deep slumber. As dawn broke, Goten began to open his eyes to find a couple of new faces. Vegita was staring at Zen's healing chamber and Bulma was busy talking to one of the doctors in the monitoring room. Letting out a hefty yawn, Goten got up and stretched heartily.
"Couple more hours and the smart ass here will be back to normal." Vegita remarked. Goten smirked, never having gotten used to Vegita's lack of compassion for anything. But he knew Vegita cared about Zen for number of reasons, most of them, unsurprisingly, being selfish. For one, Vegita actually respected Zen's power and how it completely surpassed his own. He put it down to Zen being a full-blooded Saiya-jin and his royal roots, of course. Another was Vegita's interest in Zen when he was younger. He was abnormally involved with his training and probably saw Zen's current abilities as his own achievement. Goten rolled his eyes. Self-righteous bastard, I'm glad his egotistical crap didn't ingrain itself into Zen, he muttered as he wandered toward Vegita.
"Yep, he's definitely got spunk." Goten replied cheerfully. Vegita turned his head away.
"It's got nothing to do with spunk, kid" he began. Bra had woken up and joined them both.
"Of course it hasn't, it could only be your high quality training and skill, right Dad?" she sneered. Goten grinned.
"You're damn right and don't get lippy with me, girl." Goten was trying to hold in a fit of laughter. "And you better shut yer yap as well. I might be getting on now, but I can still stomp your ass into the ground." Vegita snapped at Goten. He shook off the laughter, leaving a faint leer.
"Sorry, sir." He replied with a hint of sarcasm.
"Don't let him bully you around like that!" she said, grabbing his hand, "You could show him a thing or two, I'm sure," she said with a fighting smile. Vegita disregarded her comments and went back to looking at Zen.
"Yeah, definitely better than the rest of your low life peasant scum family." He murmured sadistically. Goten's face dropped to an icy stare.
"What did you just say?" he demanded. Vegita just scorned and ignored him. Bra's eyes darted between them fretfully. She squeezed Goten's hand and began to pull him away from the impending brawl.
"Comon hun, let's go see if the professor has shown up yet," she recommended. Vegita shunned them both.
"Yes, you better be getting along now," he arrogantly responded. Goten had now formed a full-fledged scowl and his left eye was starting to twitch. Bra yanked his arm and pulled him towards the door of the lab.
"Come on! Don't rise to his small-minded challenges, especially not in a hospital." She whispered to Goten. He nodded and walked with her to the door.
Two men were chatting away outside in the corridor. One looked familiar, the doctor that had spoken to them the day before. The other wasn't recognisable at all. Although to Bra he looked very much like a stereotypical professor.
"Looks like the doctor and Professor Shiro," Bra commented as the two men turned to face them.
"How can you tell?" Goten enquired. Bra rolled her eyes.
"The name tag, you big goof." She snickered.
"Oh yeah," Goten said with a cheesy grin.
"Professor, these are Zen's parents, Bra and Goten," the doctor introduced. They greeted one another and exchanged handshakes.
"It's nice to finally meet you." Bra said with a hint of animosity, having had to wait all night for him, "I was under the impression that we were going to meet last night, but you didn't show up" Goten looked at her with a raised brow.
"Err well, he's here now, let's just forget about that now, hun'." Goten suggested nervously. She let out a humph' and crossed her arms.
"So, what's the big news, professor?" Goku interrupted. Shiro turned to face Goku and smiled.
"Ah, Goku, it's a pleasure to finally meet you!" he said, rudely pushing Goten and Bra out the way to shake his hand, "And Vegita too! I've been following you all for ages!" he said as he grabbed Goku's hand, shaking it furiously. Goku started to sweat and took a step back, shocked by his new fan's reaction.
"Errnice to meet you too. I'm glad you err like my work?" Goku replied trying to get his hand back from the clutching professor. He nodded crazily.
"I've been following you Saiya-jin's from the very beginning! Your anatomy is really interesting. I've been studying your movements and I've got a whole host of notes on all your developments." Goku's surprised face quickly turned into one of great concern.
"Oh really" he shuffled in an uneasy fashion, "that's just great I guess" he said somewhat insincerely.
Bulma and Chi-Chi, who were watching from afar, were equally disturbed by the professor's enthusiasm.
"Looks like Goku and the guys have a fan" Bulma lent over and whispered to Chi-Chi.
"He sounds like a psycho freak to me" she remarked. Bulma chucked lightly.
"Nah, after all, Goku and Vegita are aliens and he is a scientist as well maybe all this excites him or something." Bulma suggested openly. Chi-Chi nodded, agreeing. "Think what all this attention will do for Vegita's ego! His head will probably explode from being so big," she added. They both cracked up laughing and Vegita sharply gave them a sly frown. Catching their composure quickly, they calmed down with a quiet snigger. Goten and Bra shook their heads and looked ashamed.
"Hmm, moving swiftly on, what was the news you wanted to tell us, professor?" Goku said with a bemused expression.
"Ah yes, Zen" he said with a pleased sigh, "Definitely the most interesting, genetically speaking I mean." He began.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Chi-Chi jumped up and demanded. Bra stood forward, evidently approving of her reaction. The professor screeched and cowered to the women.
"Ladies, please, it isn't anything bad at all let me explain" he insisted. They calmed down and listened to what he had to say.
"Well, it is quite complex, so you might want to pay close attention," he continued while walking towards a computer console in the corner of the room.
"That doesn't matter, Kakarotto should be fine as long as there are pictures," Vegita sneered. Bra let quiet laughter slip out. A few seconds passed with everyone looking at Goku's blank face. Suddenly, something must have clicked.
"Hey!" Goku finally complained. Everyone seemed to slap his or her foreheads at Goku's stupidity.
"You are such a dunce, Kakarotto, it scares me you're one of the strongest beings in the universe." Vegita muttered.
"Err, yeah, getting back to Zen for a minutes" The professor suggested as he pressed a few keys on the computer and lots of images appeared.
"Right. I was studying Zen while he was recovering from his mishap and I took a blood test as well. I ran it through a number of other tests too and the results were incredible. Before I go on, I'll just explain a few science things first so it's easier for you all to understand," he suggested and they all agreed, except for Vegita who just shunned his lack of knowledge and considered it useless.
"I'll start with genes and proteins. A gene is basically a blue print for proteins and proteins are the chemicals that "get things done" in all living organisms on earth. So to cut a long story short, Zen's genes aren't "normal" so to speak." He said with a few clicks of his mouse, "See these pictures here" the professor circled a few diagrams on the screen. "Here is a normal Saiya-jin's (Goku's) gene pattern and here is Zen's. Note that they look fairly similar accept for the personal differences and one other thing" he paused and turned to Goku with an ominous look.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Goku questioned.
"Could you go Super Saiya-jin for a minute please?" Shiro asked.
"Okie doke," he said as he took his stance.
"Just go to level one and don't make a mess, there are some important and expensive pieces of equipment in this lab." The professor asked in a requiring tone. Goku nodded and started to power up. A gentle yellow flare started to form around his body; the ground started to tremble slightly. With an upsurge of energy, Goku's hair had turned a golden yellow and his eyes, a turquoise green.
"Alrighty, this won't hurt a bit," the professor said as he picked up an ugly looking needle from a near by desk. Goku's face exploded into pure terror.
"A NEEDLE?! No way! You can't PLEASE!" Goku pleaded, stepping backwards as the professor approached.
"I need a sample of your blood while you're Super Saiya-jin for me to explain Zen's citation! It won't hurt, I promise!" The doctor reassured as he noticed Goten and Vegita appear behind him. Walking into their hands, Goku was promptly slammed to the floor and restrained.
"Don't be such a damn pussy, Kakarotto, it's just a needle." Vegita barked.
"But they hurt!" Goku retorted, struggling under their clutch. Professor Shiro had quickly scuttled over and readied his needle.
"You might feel a slight prick." Bra sniggered as the professor thrusted it into Goku's restless arm. He yelped like a four year old as Shiro pulled the needle back out.
"There, all done."
"Want a damn sucker, you big baby!" Vegita mocked as he released Goku. He turned back to normal and crossed his arms.
"Don't start to sulk Dad, it's hardly the biggest amount of pain you've been through." Goten insisted. Goku just turned his head and started to mutter something about his own son turning on him. Goten just dismissed this and watched Shiro put a few drops of the blood on a glass slide. Pressing a button on the keypad of the computer, a grey microscope popped out. He slipped the slide underneath the lens and pressed the button again. The microscope went back into its compartment and an image appeared on the screen.
"Now, see this here?" he pointed, "this is where a gene in Goku's body changes' into a Super Saiya-jin type which leads to all sorts of physical changes like body mass and hair colour. The amount of energy or Ki is also increased to astounding levels. It's almost like a spontaneous evaluation has taken place inside his body, but one he can control at his own discretion. Quite a scientific marvel as you may have already noticed." The professor explained as Goku listened intently. It was quite a surprise having all this explained to him. He never really cared before, but it still interested him.
"Now, keeping an eye on this image of Goku's SSJ gene, look at Zen's" Shiro said as he bought up another image. Everyone gasped with disbelief. The two gene structures were almost identical to one another.
"You mean" Vegita stuttered, "the kid is a Super Saiya-jin ALL the time?!" he finished with a slight tremble. The professor nodded.
"Basically, yes, he has the same natural gene coding as a Super Saiya-jin except for the hair and eye coloration. This would explain his tremendous Ki, his size and his blue streak among other things." Shiro added. Goku snapped his fingers.
"I knew it, he felt like a Super Saiya-jin, but I wasn't sure" Goku began as the professor interrupted.
"So to put yesterday's events into simpler terms, Zen's genes tried to evolve and he physically couldn't handle the pressure. Leading to him collapsing and passing out."
"So what can we do to make his body handle the strain then?!" Vegita and Goku yelled in an almost synchronised fashion.
"Well, develop his muscles some more I guess" he began. Goku's face lit up with excitement.
"Looks like Zen has some more training to do" Goku commented as Vegita rubbed his hands together with a sinister smile.
To Be Continued
Written by © Andrew Kellard 2000 and all other copyrighted material to their owners (Funmation and Akira Toriyama etc.)