The World Ends With You
Chapter 03
Quietness was thick between the mother and son that had been reunited on the battlefield. Twenty-two was sure the boy had many questions to ask her, but at the moment, she could care less. She was still shaky due to the remote control's effects and knew that this would eventually wear off after she was given ample time to move around.
Still, nothing seemed to add up anymore. How many years had passed since she was removed from her old life and forced to become the enemy of these fighters? Why was she chosen out of the millions of innocent people to become one more of Dr. Gero's soldiers? Why was she told lies and brainwashed? Then, the most important question came to mind that outshone many others.
'Why can't I remember my past?' Twenty-two looked at the boy again. Seeing him there did not help her remember anything. It was only causing her to draw more blanks and made her heart ache. Gohan turned his head to notice the female staring at him in confusion.
"Are you alright mom?" Gohan asked.
"Oh I'm peachy," Twenty-two lied. She hated how the boy was already considering her family after only knowing each other for roughly a half hour. "Would you mind telling me more about yourself?"
"Well, there's not much to talk about besides I never knew you were my mommy..."
"I prefer it if you weren't related to Son Goku," Twenty-two spat in hatred.
"I'm sure dad married you for a reason though..." Gohan thoughtfully replied with the innocence that she hated.
"Yeah, just as much as he denied my existence and didn't even bother looking for me..." Twenty-two rued disdainfully. "I mean he had countless friends unless he decided to take up a mistress or something..."
"A what?" Gohan blinked in confusion. "Daddy never did anything like that... he just took care of me by himself..."
"I'm sure he did..."
"Of course, his friends came by every once and awhile to drop off supplies and even grandpa's been nice to help dad sometimes..."
"Now I'm starting to get a headache..." Twenty-two clutched her head. "Mind if we land somewhere?"
"Oh, sure," Gohan flew down into a small forest where they landed in a remote clearing. The sunlight seemed to stream through the leaves and various branches overhead. Walking over to a larger tree, Twenty-two leaned her back against its trunk before allowing gravity to pull her earthward. The young child clamored next to his newly discovered mother with a content smile on his face.
"You do realize that this doesn't change my affections towards Son Goku after he spared my life..." Twenty-two told the boy.
"Why do you hate him so much?" This question took the female by surprise.
Why indeed did she hate this man for ruining part of her life? If it wasn't for his involvement in ruining what was left of the Red Ribbon Army, they would have gained world domination. Yet, he defied them and ensured that he would meet their ire at the evil doctor's hands.
If she was really the mother of this child, why did he not seek her out? Why did he leave her in the hands of a madman she had grown to detest? She had no more allies to turn to now and seemed more alone than she was willing to admit. If anything, the whole world had just screwed her to hell and back in less than a day.
Weighing options though, it was still better than erasure.
"It's personal," Twenty-two finally replied after minutes of debating the matter. "It doesn't matter to you anyway."
"It does if it means killing my father again," Gohan admitted.
"Killing him again?" Twenty-two had raised an eyebrow at this comment. "What do you speak of?"
"Um... mind keeping a secret?" Gohan looked to the ground.
"I suppose..."
"There are seven orange spheres called the dragon balls that if you gather together, they can grant one a single wish..."
"If that's the case, he should have used them to get me out of that prison..."
"Maybe dad tried that, but he wasn't successful..."
"Still, anything would have been better than sitting there denying that I exist!" Twenty-two got up slowly before her knees buckled again.
"Hey, calm down... you're going to hurt yourself..." Gohan looked at her in alarm.
"Hurt myself? I think it's a little late for that," Twenty-two vainly replied. "I'm better off dead at this point..."
Gohan shook his head. "No mom... I don't think you were supposed to be a bad person... I still think maybe there's hope in getting you back to normal..."
"Normal? How? I'm fucked up if you haven't noticed..."
"What have you done to my wife?" Goku growled at Dr. Gero. They had flown away from the ruins of the city after he had failed to save their lives and now was in a barren field. He was barely able to keep himself in check after seeing his beloved in the form of an android; one that wanted nothing more than to kill him.
"I should be asking you the same question," Dr. Gero spat. "You did murder mine after all..."
"So you went after Chi-chi thinking I'd feel your pain? Your hurt and anger?" Goku questioned in a calm voice. It was a mask over the rage that was slowly building up, the anger that he held when he found out that his wife had been alive, but in enemy hands. "Well, it worked..."
"She won't hesitate taking your life if the others fail," Dr. Gero countered. "The best revenge I planned is having someone close to you be the one to dirty their hands when taking your life, your son's and then some of your friends before I kill that traitor..."
A roar came from Goku and he transformed into a Super Saiya-jin. He refused to hear anymore about his wife murdering people. It was his fault that he failed to stop this evil man, but he refused to allow the past deter him from effectively destroying this threat.
"You won't even get close to any of them," Goku vowed with a gruff sound in his voice, his sharp teal eyes gazing at his adversary with rage. "Your death will ensure that I will protect them, including my wife."
"By all means, feel free to come at me at anytime," Dr. Gero stated calmly. 'That power is beyond what I had calculated. It seems I will have to tread cautiously on the battlefield.'
"So it seems the battle's started..." Twenty-two mused. It had been minutes since they both fell silent and it was her words that shut the child up.
"Dad..." Gohan stood up slowly and held out a hand towards the female. "Come on mom... we're almost home..."
"I don't want to go," Twenty-two looked away from her son's hand.
"But dad wants to make sure you're safe..." Gohan reassured.
"Safe? I'll be safe once he's dead." Twenty-two stated. Gohan ended up picking up Twenty-two as she struggled. The boy easily slung her over his shoulder despite the huge height difference. Fists pounded against the boy's back, but he chose to ignore it, knowing that he would be bruised later on.
"You're coming whether you like it or not," Gohan replied, his voice tinged with pain before lifting off the ground.
Twenty-two eventually gave up when she noticed their ascent through the line of trees that blurred beneath them. The power fighting grew dimmer and dimmer the longer their flight was and it wasn't until Gohan landed with the female that she felt the power fall. Her head snapped in confusion along with her son's, but she was gently lowered to the ground.
"Dad's in trouble... it must be that heart virus..." Gohan looked upset.
"Heart... virus?" Twenty-two questioned.
"Yeah, years ago, a man from the future came to dad and gave him medicine..."
"Oh, that's nice; a guy from the future wants to save him, but not me..."
"I don't think until today, dad had no idea where you were at or assumed you were dead."
"Whatever," Twenty-two got back on her feet before looking around. The house sat quietly upon a hill that was kept well-trimmed. It felt oddly familiar to her and she found herself wanting to see the chaos that awaited her inside. "I bet the rest of this hell-hole looks horrible..."
"Mom, wait a minute..." Gohan got in the way. "The minute we go through this door, I want you to promise something."
"What would that be brat?" Twenty-two glared at the boy. It would be easy to snap his neck, but she refrained from that urge.
"Don't kill dad." Gohan stated clearly.
"Boy, you have no idea how much I want to right now..." Chi-chi trailed off. Oh yes, if he were here at this moment without any restraints, she would have him nearly dead on the ground at that moment perhaps begging for his life.
"Just don't, okay?" Gohan begged the female he considered his mother.
"Fine, fine, I won't while you're around, but if we're alone, I don't think I'll hesitate..." The door opened slowly and Twenty-two walked inside. Furniture, lightly worn, sat upon the wooden floors void of dust and dander. Confusion crossed the android's face before she walked deeper within the inner sanctum of the enemy's home. Gohan wasn't bothered in the slightest and walked upstairs.
"Up here's my room, daddy's room, and a secret room that I am not allowed to go in." Gohan stated.
"A secret room?" This piqued Twenty-two's curiosity quite a bit. Perhaps the boy's father did see a mistress. "Show me this secret room first."
"But I'm not allowed to..." Gohan muttered almost under his breath.
"I don't care if you're allowed. I want to see this for myself!" Twenty-two growled.
"Alright..." Gohan caved. Truth be told, he had seen his father go into this room many times in the past before he stopped going in altogether. He had never allowed Gohan to go inside.
The heavily-bound padlocked door stood between the secret room and Twenty-two. She ripped each one off the door before turning the doorknob. The door creaked open slowly and she sought for a light switch before finding one. Now being able to see, Twenty-two and Gohan saw what was in this room for the first time.
"Hmph, looks like he has a musty-old wedding dress, books and a painting in here..." Twenty-two noticed the wedding dress was underneath plastic while the books and painting were covered in sheets, perhaps protecting them of dust and from prying eyes. Going over to the painting first, she tore the sheet away before her eyes widened.
The painting had Goku and herself standing there dressed elaborately. She was dressed in the beautiful wedding dress that she had just passed and Goku dressed in a white tuxedo. They were looking at one another with a passionate look in their eyes, their heads tilted towards one another in a time-frozen desire to kiss one another. It was a shame this intimate scene was forever ruined when Twenty-two smashed her fist straight into the painting of her enemy's head. A burned hole within the textured picture left the female in the picture longing to kiss someone; someone she no longer loved.
"Why did you do that?" Gohan looked at his mother surprised.
"I refuse to feel anything for him..." Twenty-two stated. "Besides, how do I know this wasn't made up?"
"I don't think you can make up emotions like that," Gohan replied with wisdom beyond his years.
"Like you would know..." Twenty-two uncovered the books that were obscured by the white crisp sheets before noticing one that stood out differently from the rest. "What the hell is this?"
"Looks like some sort of picture book..." Gohan stated.
Twenty-two decided to look at the images before burning the book. After all, it didn't matter if she cracked a peek at herself with the enemy did it? Perhaps she could find his weakness.
The book itself was jumbled with various images along with captions of what transpired. The first images were of a younger-looking Goku and herself on top of a strange looking cloud with their hands interlaced between each other. She was wearing the most ridiculous outfit that she mentally vowed she would murder whoever put her inside of it.
'Pink, white and blue's a horrible color scheme...' Twenty-two mentally added before she noticed Gohan sitting next to her. "You want to look too?"
"Mmhmm..." Gohan smiled at the female.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to look, besides, no one's stopping us..." Twenty-two flipped a page.
Each picture that followed seemed to follow a strange and unusual timeline. There were newspaper clippings of herself with the enemy that were frozen in time. Apparently, they had fought in the past, which would mean she had lost and submitted to this man's will mysteriously enough. Or so she thought before noticing the word proposed in a sentence.
"Proposed?" Twenty-two read before her eyes widened. "Why the hell would he marry me if he had no idea what that meant?"
"Maybe because he didn't want to hurt your feelings," Gohan shrugged.
"Meh, sounds like I gave him a 'yes' to screw with me..." Twenty-two flipped another page and saw pictures of their wedding and honeymoon. From there, she noticed her belly had gotten bigger in the next pictures with him in it working on their home. Then, she noticed the belly had vanished and she was holding a baby boy.
"I think that's me when I was a baby..." Gohan stated. Twenty-two silently looked at this photograph when she dropped the photo album. She clutched her head in pain and began shaking. "Mom?"
"No... stay away..." Twenty-two whimpered. It was at that moment the door was heard being slammed into a wall.
"Gohan, find the medicine!" Yamcha's voice called.
"Right!" Gohan left the female android where she was while she attempted to remember something that was lost to her.
'That baby boy... he's my son... MY son...' Twenty-two thought. 'Then that means... I'm really Son Chi-chi...'
A strange clicking was heard before a floodgate of memories hit her all at once. She saw the innocent smiles that Goku had given her and the infant she knew now was Gohan. Then, she saw Dr. Gero torturing her, abusing and sometimes even saying things that were untrue. All of these memories overwhelmed the female before she passed out on the floor of the secret room.
To Be Continued...