Saishou Kesen:
Medical Personnel
By: Miyuki Usuki
A/N: I know I say repeatedly that I dislike "Bardock: Father of Goku", but I have no choice but to give into giving these doctors the names that Funimation gave them. That's the only good thing that can come out of their name changing spree. That way I don't have to worry about giving the doctors names. ^_^ Malacca is that lizard-like doctor with the mohawk, and Planthor is the old anthropoid doctor. (Just for those who either hate the dub so much they forgot the doctor's names, or never saw the dub, thus not knowing the doctor's names. ~_^)
Vegetasei: Medical Room
Sometimes I just wonder about how Bardock could always survive the onslaughts of the inhabitants repeatedly. It was almost "go to a planet, get injured, come home, get healed, repeat" every single time. I'd like to know what happened on those mission he and his crew takes, and what kind of trouble he gets into all the time. I'm sure that whatever stories that his crew has about what happens on those missions, no one that was a non-Saiya-jin would ever tire of.
It isn't good medical practice to choose one's favorite patients, I won't speak for Malacca, but I've always had a great fond for Bardock and his team. They were a rare bunch; Toma is the only Saiya-jin I know who would dare to show that he cares for the rest of his friends. Totepo was the most respectful Saiya-jin I have ever encountered, and Celipa had the strangest love for children who didn't even belong to her. Panboukin had the most Saiya-jin traits, but he never insulted the others at all. Bardock, a magnet for injuries, never took his leadership qualities to a state of conceitedness as far as I've seen.
But for dear Kinoko's sake, why wouldn't Bardock ever show compassion for his sons? I must admit that even Kinoko wasn't close to the Saiya-jin stereotype; she hadn't sought out Bardock to bite his head off for not spending enough time with his sons. I've never seen her do it, and she knows that when he gets back from a planet he's always in here, so she must be doing just fine on her own.
I was still concerned for Kakarotto, though; Bardock hasn't shown enough interest in Kakarotto to follow through with Kinoko's wishes. After Kakarotto was born, Kinoko immediately went back to her post as a guard. It wasn't safe for her to do so, I even told her so, but she didn't listen: "Let Bardock deal with Kakarotto for now. I'll take care of him sometime after the terrorism ends."
And I remember the conversation Malacca and I had with Celipa when the crew was still on Kanassasei: "Bardock doesn't even care. He told me to tell you to do whatever you want with him."
Malacca was persistent to allow Kakarotto to purge a remote planet. He told me it was because no one would be eager to take care of him except for Celipa, but he also informed me that Celipa had her own problems to deal with and couldn't be burdened with her commander's infant. Unfortunately Raditz was out of the picture as well; he was currently on a purging mission and probably wouldn't be back in time to care for Kakarotto.
I wished that I could perhaps care for Bardock's child. But I had work to do and other people to treat. I was not his personal doctor; I was all low-level soldiers' doctor. And Malacca and I were much weaker in physical strength than any of the full grown Saiya-jins; we were the only doctors to treat low-level soldiers, but I knew that many of the Saiya-jins wouldn't think twice to kill both of us.
Contrary to what some ignorant people may believe, Malacca and I are not working in fear of the death of ourselves. We do not work in fear, or else we won't get anything done. It would be just the same as always, when we used to work at the Planet Trade Headquarters. That is the best way to do a thorough job with our profession.
Luckily, Bardock was the only person in the tanks today, so Malacca and I gave him our full attention. As usual, Malacca worked behind the computer in hopes to get any kind of response. Normally I would tend to the other patients, but since there was none, I could finally rest until someone came in or Bardock started to show further signs of recovery. So far it had been about twelve hours since Toma and the others left for Meatsei, and it had been about a week since the crew returned from Kanassasei. Bardock should have been out of the tank by now; if he hadn't collapsed on Kanassasei I'm sure that the team would have been to Meatsei by now. I doubt that they would have been back, but one can just never tell with this group of Saiya-jins.
But brainwave patterns? No Saiya-jin had ever passed out by brainwave patterns before. What was Kanassasei about, anyway? There had to have been something special on that planet that Lord Freeza wanted. Bardock's concussion proved it. I only wished that I could be permitted to leave this medical center and head towards the archives to find out what was special about Kanassasei, but I guess I could always ask Toma when he returned.
"Is he regaining consciousness?" Malacca asked. I turned away from the table I was facing and walked behind my companion.
Sure enough, there were signs of him waking up; the once perfectly zigzag lines were now crazy and out of control. That meant that either Bardock was in the sub-conscious mode or really was going to awaken from his two-week long sleep. It was a good thing, though; at least we can get him out of the tank when we know for sure he's completely conscious, which would be soon for sure.
"Seems like it," I told Malacca. "Go ahead and start draining the water in a couple of minutes. I don't think that he won't be conscious after five minutes."
Malacca nodded and set the timer on the computer before I had even finished speaking. This was one of the many reasons why I enjoyed working with him; he would rush to get the job done, but always in the most sufficient way. He never questions my suggestions or commands, but if he feels that my ideas were out of the ballpark, he would tell me. Most of the time, he's right with his hunches. I cannot count how many lives were saved from my foolishness because of him.
I had not trusted Malacca throughout our perennial partnership. In the very beginning, when I had just been informed that I would have to work with someone else at the headquarters, I opposed the idea immediately. Since it was by Lord Freeza's orders, I had no choice but to follow through, but I loathed the fact that I would be working with an amateur.
Malacca was a good twenty years younger than me; at the time, I was forty years old and had been working in a solitary condition for fifteen years. Never had I needed assistance. Never had I wanted assitance. But it had been given to me.
When we first met, we had not gotten along at all. Malacca had had a tendency to correct every little mistake I made in my judgment, which were very insignificant for the patient's well-being. I was annoyed beyond belief. But I had not tolerated Malacca so well with my actions towards him; I'm sure I annoyed him more than he had me. I had withered my way into bossing him around all the time and trying to get things done the way I wanted them to be done. I had almost two decades more experience than he had, what was he supposed to know about treating aliens?
Our disagreements all came tumbling down on us the day when we had been ordered to move to a new race and planet that had just joined the Planet Trade. Vegetasei. The planet of the Saiya-jins, who were already known to love fighting. Even killing, if need be. No one else would have gone to that planet, and the headquarters where Malacca and I were stationed at was about to close down. We were stuck.
The first patient we had was indeed Bardock. At the time, six years ago, the crew contained only Bardock and Toma. The Saiya-jin King was still weary about allowing women and people with combat ratings lower than two-thousand to join at the time and even elders. Celipa fit into the women and people with combat ratings lower than two-thousand. Panboukin only the second, and Totepo as an elder.
Nevertheless, nothing has changed between Bardock and Toma during those six years; when the two first came in, Bardock had been aggravated at his condition and Toma's worrysome questions, and Toma urging him to go into the tank. Heck, even pleading at some point.
Toma had not, contrary to Malacca's beliefs, trusted the two of us at first. It was probably his first real encounter with an alien that he was not allow to kill, and I doubt that he was certain that the medical treatment that Malacca and I had planned to give Bardock would actually work. I can still remember that scowl Toma had given us when he had asked:
"You won't kill him, right?"
Unfortunately, that was what had almost happened. Malacca and I still didn't trust each other, and we had engaged in our first argument about what to do when the breathing mask malfunctioned. Malacca had wanted to see if he could fix it with the computer; I had argued that by the time he did fix the malfunction, Bardock would have been dead. I wanted to take him out of the tank. Luckily while we were arguing, Malacca had already been trying to fix the problem. It turned out that there had been a computer virus in the computer that wouldn't have anything work. Malacca, being the magnificent hack that he was, had managed to repair it before anything terrible happened.
That was when I had learned to trust Malacca. He had a hard time trusting me, but I really could not pinpoint any sort of time when he would have changed his perspective on me. Maybe he hasn't.
The computer beeped as a signal that the two minutes were up. It could not have been at a more perfect timing; at the same exact time, Bardock shot awake. He was very patient while the liquid drained out and the tank opened; most of the time, when a Saiya-jin was in the tank and the water had already drained to his chest, the breathing mask was off. Bardock kept it on until the tank was fully open.
"Are you okay, Bardock?" I asked. He was one of the only four Saiya-jins I feel safe asking this question to right after he or she recovered.
Bardock pulled off the mask and stood up. "Yeah, but I'm still a little dizzy."
"Your clothes and armor are over there," I nodded towards a nearby table, where Bardock's original attire was. Since this time his armor was not damaged, Toma and Celipa had not had to scavenge through the closets to find clothes and an armor that was closest to Bardock's old ones. That saved them a lot of pressure; Panboukin had told Malacca, Totepo, and I that Bardock should faint more often than get injured.
Bardock gave a sharp nod, which usually means "thanks". While he was getting dressed, there was a minute of silence while Malacca and I looked over Bardock's medical profile and while Bardock finished putting the clothing that counted onto him. It stayed quiet until the commander apparently couldn't stand it anymore.
"I had a weird dream."
I turned away from Malacca and his computer with perplexity. Since when did a Saiya-jin--no, since when did Bardock talk about dreams? "A dream?"
"Yeah," was all he said. He kept quiet afterwards. He really didn't want to talk about it, I suppose. But if he wanted a conversation...
"Are you sure you're okay?" One of the worst questions to ask after a Saiya-jin--any Saiya-jin--had fully woken from their sleep. Bardock just gave a short laugh.
"I'm not like you. Of course I'm fine," Bardock said. He then sighed, and pulled on his other wrist band. "What about Toma and the others?"
I hesitated. Normally when Bardock was in the tank, the other four had no place to go. Most of the time they were at the bar or sleeping in their rooms, and this was the first time Bardock had asked about their whereabouts. What exactly did he dream about? "They left to Meatsei upon Lord Freeza's orders," I finally informed him.
"What?" Bardock turned to me with disbelief. Then he chuckled, snatched his scouter, and fastened it to his head. "They shunned me out! Meatsei, you say? Well, it doesn't seem too far off."
He bolted out of the door. "Wait, Bardock!" I called. I wasn't finished with him; Malacca and I still needed to do a couple more tests for the reports of the strange brain patterns.
Bardock didn't hear me. Or maybe he did, but he was just too thrilled about purging another planet that he ignored me. Well, if I know Bardock well enough, he'll be back here. If the brain patterns were true, he would probably collapse again. If he doesn't collapse, then he'll probably be back in pain again. Bleeding to death like always.
I looked at Malacca hopelessly. "Sometimes the Saiya-jins, even Bardock, scare me."
"Still your favorite patient though, right?"
All I did was shake my head with a hopefully faint smile.