The chars in this story will probably be a little OOC. ::dodges flying fruits and Vegetas -I mean- vegetables:: Don't kill me! I'm portraying them as if they were really all friends, and only did battles and stuff to entertain the public. You'll see why as you read the story.
Real Heroes
It was just an average day on Chikyuu; the sun was shining, birds were singing and everything was peaceful. Yet everyone was bustling over something. At the same time, most of the Z-people had gotten something in their fan-mail. They were all on the phone with each other, talking about what they had gotten, planning and preparing.
Two hours later, a bus pulled up in front of a hospice facility for dying children, and a huge group of people climbed out. Doctors, nurses and children alike stopped in their tracks to watch as various people came parading through the entrance.
"Hey guys!" Goku stopped immediately to wave to the kids who were looking up at him curiously, and the others continued on. After greeting just about everyone in that room personally, he hurried to catch up to the others.
One bald-headed, blue-eyed five-year-old girl with end-stage leukemia awoke to find Gohan sitting on the end of her bed. She blinked several times, then a grin spread across her thin features. "Gohan!"
"Hi!" Gohan smiled, kicking his feet slightly, "What's your name?"
"Tanya."
He grinned again at her. "Nice to meet you, Tanya. I got your letter and came to see you…So…did I read wrong, or did you mention something about a hug?"
"You didn't read wrong silly!" Tanya sat up to give him a hug, and he hugged her back carefully to avoid getting tangled in any of the tubes or wires that were attached to her. She was grinning, and started giggling when Gohan tickled her playfully.
"It's Kwiyin!" The little three-year-old boy in the other bed shouted excitedly. This little boy was missing both legs and very skinny.
"In the flesh. I got your letter, Sam." Krillin chuckled, sitting down on the chair next to the bed and holding up a scribbled note with only a few words. "So, you dreamed about me reading to you eh? How 'bout we make that real right now?" Within a few minutes, he had Sam in his lap and was reading Green Eggs and Ham. The whole time Krillin was reading, Sam was patting his bald head like it was the most fascinating thing in the whole world.
"You bawd too!" He giggled.
Krillin laughed, "Yep."
In another room, a short young boy with black hair was sitting in a wheelchair. He had Duchene's muscular dystrophy, so his arms were very weak, it being obvious because he was struggling with his wheelchair brakes. All of a sudden, he saw a paper airplane sail over his head and land right on the tray in front of him. When he reached over and opened it, he discovered it was a fan letter he'd written to his favorite DBZ character.
"So…you want to arm-wrestle with me, eh?" Vegeta spoke from the doorway. "What's your name kid?"
The boy spun his chair around in shock to find Vegeta standing there. "Whoa!" He managed to get over it long enough to reply, "I'm Dan. Not Danny, just Dan."
Smirking, Vegeta came inside, pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Dan. "How about we get that match started, Dan?"
Dan imitated the smirk and put his arm into position. "You're on!" Vegeta took the position as well, and the match began.
He let Dan win, even pretending that the grip was too strong for him to handle.
Just after the match, Dan looked up to see who was walking to the other bed in the room and started to laugh, "Oh geez! Ashley's gonna freak!" He lowered his voice, "For some odd reason, she has a crush on him."
Seconds later… "Oh my gosh! Frieza!" The girl in the bed Dan had mentioned shouted, then laughed excitedly.
"My, my. Aren't we happy?" Frieza grinned wolfishly down at the blonde-haired girl and held up a typed document. "I got your letter and I believe you mentioned something about taking a ride in my hoverpod…"
Ashley nearly fell out of the bed, or would have if she could move. "You bet! Are we really gonna do it?" Frieza pulled the bedsheets aside and easily lifted the quadriplegic child from her bed. Then he carried her just outside the room and hopped into his sleek black hoverpod.
"How is this for an answer?"
"This rules! How fast can this go?" Ashley couldn't wipe the grin from her face.
"Let's find out…" Replied Frieza. With that, they were off, cruising down the halls. Frieza had to hold Ashley up so she wouldn't slump over, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she managed to lean over and plant her lips on the side of his face.
For several minutes after that, Frieza was riding around with a bright red face.
A blind teenage girl was heading down the hall with her hand on the railing when she encountered something metal. When she realized it was a sword, she gasped. "Oh my God! Trunks!?"
"Yup." Trunks answered with a grin, taking her hand gently, "Your letter mentioned something about seeing me with your hands." He guided her hand to his face, still smiling as she nearly burst into tears while touching his teenage features.
"Is your hair really purple? Or are people just pulling my leg?" She asked as she touched his short hair, combing her fingers through it's silky locks a few times. The purple hair fell almost immediately back into place after being disturbed by her fingers.
"It's purple." Trunks laughed softly as her fingertips felt his nose and mouth, "My dad hates it. So, what's your name?"
The girl smiled, tilting her head in his general direction, "Christine." After speaking, Christine moved forward and gave him a hug.
"Nice to meet you, Christine." He replied hugging her back with a smile before letting her explore his sword. Turning his eyes slightly to the left, Trunks could see Bulma coming out of a room down the hall, holding the stubby hand of a little girl with severe Elephantiasis.
The little girl was dressed up, her nails were painted and she had make-up done up really nice on her oddly swollen face. Bulma was grinning down at her, "You're the prettiest girl here, Marie."
"Thanks, Bulma." Marie's red lips pulled outwards into the best smile she could muster. Heads were turning to see the inner beauty that showed through her one functioning eye. "You're the prettiest here too."
"Thanks! C'mon, let's show off." Bulma tugged Marie's hand playfully, "Maybe we'll get you a cute boyfriend…"
"OK!"
The two continued to parade down the hall, but not before Marie had left a red lip smack on Trunks's cheek.
Goku peeked into a room where a skinny dark-skinned young man, probably not much older than ten or eleven, was playing a video game on Sony Playstation. He had a red bandanna tied around his bald head, there were a few nasty looking sores around his mouth and a feeding tube was taped just below his left nostril.
"Mind if I play?" Asked Goku as he came further into the room and stood awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck.
The young man was so surprised by the voice that he lost the game he was playing. "No way! Goku!?" He spoke with a Jamaican accent.
"I can't play?" Goku scratched his head in bafflement. "But your letter said that you wanted to play a game with me."
The young man laughed and handed him a joystick. "I was just a' playin' wif ya, mon. Lemme get another game goin' here."
Goku flashed his usual air-headed grin. "Cool! Hey…what's your name?"
"Mah buddies call me Stickman. Bu' mah real name is'a Richard."
"Great to meet you!" He waved.
Richard held his controller, ready to start. He had to show Goku how to work the thing several times before the two started to play the game together. Goku lost just about every game, but he and Richard were having too much fun laughing about it to really worry about who won or lost.
A teenage girl, suffering from end-stage Cystic Fibrosis, was sound asleep in her bed when a brief argument broke out just outside her door. The door opened seconds after everything went quiet, a figure stepped in and the door was silently pushed shut.
"Hey." A deep voice rumbled. The teenager's eyes drifted open, slowly wandering until they were looked right up into the face of her visitor. Her reaction wasn't quite what the others had gotten: She started to cry.
"Piccolo…you came…" She whispered as Piccolo came over to the bed and look down at her with his arms crossed.
"You got that right, Thea. I had to fight with the nurse and finally got her to shut up so I could come in here." He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed. She smiled slightly through the tears and placed her hand on top of one of his.
His smirk became a smile as he reached down into his belt and produced the letter she had written him. "You asked me to come…but you didn't mention why like I noticed the other kids did."
"That's…" Thea coughed, "…because I was afraid you wouldn't come if I told you what my wish was."
"Bah. I'm sure I would have come anyway. With what you've gone through, you deserve whatever wish you made. So…" He chuckled, "What is your wish?"
Thea started to blush and turned her head away with a shy, faint smile. "Just…a kiss. It's OK if you don't want to…it was a long shot anyway." She fell silent when his warm hand touched her cheek and gently turned her head to face him.
"Shhh." He whispered, "I'll do it. You deserve it." With those words, Piccolo brushed his thumb across her dry bottom lip, lowered his face and gently covered her mouth with his. He closed his eyes as he felt her respond, and stayed that way with her for several moments, brushing his fingertips against her cheek before breaking the kiss and straightening again.
"Perfect…just as I dreamed…" Tears blazed their way down her cheeks, but she smiled. "You're such a kind man, Piccolo…"
"No problem." The tall Namek rumbled, "Hey, it was my first too. I couldn't have found a better person to experience it with."
"You're so sweet." Thea allowed her eyes to drift shut, then opened them again and looked up at him. "I'm so tired…" She whispered, just barely getting enough breath to do so.
Piccolo swept his white cape aside and sat down on the edge of her bed, which creaked slightly in protest to his weight. "Sleep, then. I'll stay right here with you, and I won't let go of your hand." He placed his other hand on top of hers and felt her give a weak squeeze before her hand became flaccid in his once again. "Just rest and dream, Thea. Rest and dream."
"Rest…and dream…" Thea smiled slightly and slowly closed her eyes. Piccolo knew right then that she would not open them again, but he continued to hold her hand tightly in both of his, even after she had stopped breathing.
Several moments passed before Piccolo finally moved, laying Thea's hand gently on her chest. "Good night, Thea. Sleep tight." He whispered, leaning down to touch his lips to her forehead, knowing she would have wanted him to do that before leaving. Though it hurt a little, the tall Namekian saw something that made him smile.
Thea was still smiling, the smile any young person shows when one of their dreams had come true.
Everybody was piled back onto the bus, jabbering amongst themselves. Even Frieza and Vegeta were talking and laughing about what had gone on in the hospice facility. In fact, the only one not talking was Piccolo. He was sitting way in the back to be by himself.
"Hey! Mr. Piccolo? Are you OK? You're so quiet." Gohan hopped into the seat Piccolo was sitting on. Piccolo was looking out the window at the moment, and the young boy was very shocked to see tears on the Namekian's face when he turned to look at him.
"The girl I went to see…she died while I was in there with her." Piccolo stated simply, then turned to look out the window again.
"But you didn't even know her…"
He sighed slightly. "That's just it, Gohan. She was just a kid. I can stand seeing many things, but I can't stand to see a child die."
Gohan nodded and settled himself in Piccolo's lap so he could give him a hug. "Tanya died right as I was leaving…I didn't know it right away, but a nurse told me." He closed his eyes, "Hey Piccolo? Can you make me a promise?"
The Namekian heaved another loud sigh, "I guess."
"Promise me that you'll never go away. Please, Mr. Piccolo?" He looked up at Piccolo with a pair of huge dark eyes.
Piccolo looked down into them and smiled as another glittering tear escaped down his cheek. Something about the look in Gohan's eyes reminded him of the way Thea was looking at him. "Sure, Gohan." He wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and pulled him into a half-hug. "I promise."
Grinning from ear to ear, Gohan hugged Piccolo back and watched the scenery roll by through the window.
Up in the front of the bus, everybody was ganging up on Krillin, taking turns slapping his bald head because he had started to cry. It got him to laugh a little. The next person that was discovered with tears was someone that nobody expected. Of course, anybody who slapped Frieza's head wound up with a very sore hand and a few bruises.
"Ah crap." Piccolo groaned when the whole group started heading for him. Rather than fight, he just took his turban off, bent forward and let everyone slap his head to get it over with. It wasn't long before he wound up laughing about it, and readily joined the conversation when everyone had settled down and gotten serious again.
The bus rumbled on, carrying the group away from the hospice facility. In their hearts, each person carried a special memory; the memory of a watching child's face light up as a dream came true.