For miles the only sound that could be heard was his labored breathing. It seemed that there should've been other sounds in a place as hellish as this, but there weren't. Or maybe he was so focused on trying not to sink below the surface that there was nothing else he could've heard.

Another vine wrapped itself around Goten's ankle, the harsh thorns digging painfully into his skin. With a grunt of pain he tried to shake it off, but the more he struggled, the tighter it went.

But he'd shaken off the ones before, as well. He just had to keep on fighting. Normally he would've just made a blast of ki and shot the vine off, but for some reason he couldn't find it within himself to gather the energy.

It was just way too hot. He had no idea how he had gotten here, or where here even was, but he had no idea whether he would be able to fight for that much longer. It seemed that the thorny vines that were trying to pull him down were gathering ferocity. There was nothing but thorny vines on the ground. Except for one place, where there seemed to be a something like a road made of gravel.

The sky was dark and stormy, and the mountains that could be seen off in the distance looked dark and threatening.

If only he could reach the road. It wasn't all that far from him, but with the vines constantly at his feet he had made little progress towards the road in all the time he had been here. Not that he could really tell how long it had been.

With a yell he managed to shake off the latest vine, only to have it almost immediately be replaced by the next one. He was beginning to toy with the idea of simply giving up the struggle, and finding out were he'd end up if he let himself be pulled down.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, something changed. He heard a noise. Footsteps. His head snapped around to look at the road, and sure enough, there was a figure approaching, shrouded partly in the fog.

Trepidation filled the little saiyan. Whoever that was, it was likely they had something to do with him being here, and if it was someone who lived in this place, he really wasn't all that anxious to meet them.

But it wasn't as if he could run away right now, and there was no way to hide. As he stood there, trying to see who was coming, he didn't pay all that close attention to the vine wrapped around his foot, and was suddenly yanked so roughly that he fell flat on his stomach.

The other vines didn't waste a second, and immediately two were trying to pull his hands down and another one started to tie itself around his midriff, the thorns tearing a large gash in the orange fabric of his gi. He tried to push himself off the ground, but that was completely covered in thorns, since for all he knew it consisted of vines.

"Goten?", he heard a familiar voice call. The figure was close enough now, to recognize, and Goten could've wept with relief when he realized who it was.

"Trunks!", he called, and tried to stand up, but the thorns dug into his hands as he tried, and he felt as if they were trying to push themselves into his skin.

"What is this place?", Trunks asked, his voice quivering slightly.

"I don't know", Goten said, but before he could think of anything else to say, a vine wrapped itself around his wrist so tightly that he let out a yelp.

A tightly controlled beam of golden energy cut off the vine, and the one that was wrapped around Goten's back, and Goten finally managed to get back on his feet, before he could be wrapped in aggressive plant again.

"Thanks", Goten said, and tried to walk towards his friend, only to be stopped by vines again.

"Why didn't you blast them yourself?"

"I can't. I don't know why, but I dont have the energy anymore. I could, before, but now I can't anymore."

Trunks took a few steps towards Goten, and one foot was already hovering over the vines, which were greedily stretching themselves to catch him. "Don't!", Goten yelled. "Stay there!"

Trunks pulled his foot back, but looked confused. He suddenly tilted his head and appeared to be listening to something, even though there were no sounds other than the ones they were making.

"Did you hear that?", he asked.

"Hear what?"

"That voice, it said… something…"

But before Trunks could explain what he'd heard, he vanished from the nightmarish landscape as though he'd never been there.

And Goten was all alone again.

7777777777777777777777777777

Norbert Coulton MD, was the foremost researcher working at West City Central hospital. His studies were acclaimed by many, and his expertise was limitless. According to him, anyway.

He really enjoyed his position. He could work on his research uninterrupted and exactly the way he wanted, with the occasional foray into the everyday hospital life, to help solve a difficult problem, and then returning to his work. He liked to be asked for help. It showed how much he was respected, and it helped train his medical skills, which he didn't use in his lab.

So when he'd been asked to look at a sample that the lab couldn't identify, he'd been delighted to help. He knew so much about infections, he could take one look at most microbes, and tell you exactly what they were, what they did, and how to treat them.

But not this one. Initially he had thought it was just a matter of looking into a book, to find the uncommon germ, but when that had turned up dry, he'd believed the samples were somehow corrupted, so he ordered all the tests redone.

Which had come up with the exact same result. After he'd spent quite a while doubting his own abilities, and consulting any database he could find, he'd finally come to the simply incredible conclusion. Whatever this infection was, no one had ever found it before. He was looking at something entirely undocumented, possibly in a class all of its own.

And if he played his cards right, it could mean a call from Stockholm in the near future. Because it was a lot easier to get a Nobel Prize for finding a disease than for curing one. Because curing diseases was a much more complicated thing than finding them.

But Dr. Coulton was, even if he didn't want everyone to know, at his core, an idealist. How much more impressive would it be, if he didn't only find the disease, but if he cured it as well? Saving two cute kids from a potentially deadly disease would probably make him more famous than Dr. House.

But he was getting ahead of himself. To start off, he had decided to look at the two kids, and see their state for himself. He hadn't expected that to get this difficult though.

"This is completely ridiculous!", the boy with the odd hair color yelled. "I'm not sick, I don't need to be in this stupid room, and I want to see Goten."

"Blood tests revealed that you… would you just hold still for one moment?" Dr. Coulton was had intended to listen to the boy's breath sounds, but as it was, he hadn't even gotten close to him with a stethoscope.

"Well they're probably wrong. And you don't need to wear those ridiculous clothes, you know." The kid was referring to the gloves, mask and overcoat he was wearing.

"Look, it's a precaution. We don't know how either of you got infected, so everyone that comes in here needs to wear protective clothes. It's regulation." Dr. Coulton wasn't exactly a prime example of the medical profession, when it came to bedside manners, part of the reason why he worked in research, and he was already regretting having even come up to this wing.

"Screw your stupid rules. I'm fine", Trunks said, squatting the doctor's hand away as he tried to approach once again. Which made his hand hurt more than a kid of that size should be capable of. "And you can't keep me in this stupid isolation, you know? I can walk out any minute."

"Well then you would be endangering everyone in this hospital" Trunks had now jumped off the bed and was resolutely blocking any attempt of Dr. Coulton's to examine him.

"I was walking around before that stupid test, and everything was fine."

"Just let me examine you. I'm not trying to hurt you -…" he was interrupted by a snort.

"As if you could."

Norbert couldn't resist the temptation to roll his eyes. "That's not the point. If you don't cooperate, we can't let you out of this room. I thought that's what you wanted!"

"Doesn't matter. I can just walk out whenever I want to!"

"Yeah, you said that. So why don't you, huh?" Doctors weren't supposed to lose their temper with patients, because it wasn't good from a psychological perspective, but god, that kid was obnoxious.

"Cause my parents believe your bullshit, and they want me to stay. But I bet they'll be fed up with this, soon, too. And then I'm just walking out, no matter what you or any other egghead says!"

"Aren't kids your age supposed to be cute?", Dr. Coulton grabbed his head exasperatedly.

"Aren't doctors your age supposed to be smart?", Trunks shot back.

"Yes, we are. I am, I mean. And just because you don't feel sick right now, doesn't mean that you're healthy. How does that not get into that thick skull of yours?"

"Maybe your test was wrong. It probably was, seeing how incompetent you are", the kid shot back.

"No, it wasn't, we ran it twice, and you are without a doubt infected. That doesn't mean the disease has to be symptomatic but it does mean you are carrying the pathogen inside your blood stream." The kid looked at him strangely, and he realized he'd gotten a little too medical-talky for a nine-year-old.

"Look", he said, squatting down. "Do you know what an incubation period is?"

"Yeah, sure", the kid said with a confidence, that seemed to be false. "It's stuff that incubates. Periodically."

"Well if you know what it means, then I'm sure you've heard about what happens, when someone gets infected", Dr. Coultun said, finally remembering a bit of psychology and trying not to call the kid out on having no idea what he was talking about. "As you know, an infection is made out of hundreds of tiny beings that attack the body on the inside. But, when you're infected, it's just a few that make it, so they need to become more, before they can really attack you. And the time it takes for them to do that, is of course…" he looked expectantly at the kid.

"… The incubation period?", Trunks said hesitantly. Dr. Coulton nodded. "I knew that."

Dr. Coulton did his best to resist the urge to further comment on how it was obvious that Trunks had known that, but he couldn't quite help the sarcastic tone as he said: "Of course you knew that. So, you have to realize, we don't know how long you've been infected. So maybe you're still in the incubation period, or maybe you won't be getting sick, but to be sure I need to take a look at you and find out."

Trunks still looked defiant, but Dr. Coulton had a feeling his resistance was wearing down. The kid scoffed and then said, "Fine, whatever."

Dr. Coulton breathed a sigh of relief, when he was finally able, to listen to the boy's breath sounds. Only to have that breath hitching in his throat once he realized what he was hearing.

Vegeta was really annoyed by the glass wall between him an his son. It wasn't that he couldn't get past it, or that it severely hindered communications, they could talk just fine, but the whole principle of the thing.

Of course, it was for protection. For protection from whatever it was that was trying to kill his son. And he couldn't do anything about it. If it had just been about protecting himself he wouldn't have given a damn, and just torn down that stupid glass wall and all it represented, but it wasn't just about him. If he went in there, even if it didn't hurt him, he could possibly take the infection to others, and he was not going to risk the only other person on the planet he cared about, to be infected as well.

So he sat there, behind the glass wall, like any good little human would have, following the rules. Even just the fact that he as following the rules was irking him in a very personal way.

"This is just so boring", Trunks said. "I don't want to be stuck here. I hope that stupid Doctor dude isn't keeping me here just to mess with me."

"I've met him, briefly, and I'm sure he wouldn't dare messing with any member of this family", Vegeta announced. Not that anyone who had a little bit of information on who this family was had a big incentive to mess with them.

"Speaking of which, where's mom, anyway?", Trunks asked casually. Something about the tone he asked in seemed off, though. He probably cared where his mother was a little more than he would've liked to admit.

"Last time I saw her, someone was dumping stacks of paperwork on her, and I decided to retreat."

"Oh, so you left her to fend off the bureaucrats on her own?", Trunks asked with a chuckle.

"Yes. There might be some yelling about that, later. But, if she asks, we're spending 'quality time' and what not", Vegeta said.

"Yeah, sure", Trunks agreed. They both knew that spounting any "touchy-feely" crap would probably get them out of trouble with Bulma pretty easily.

After a moment of silence Trunks said, "Hey Dad?"

"Hn?"

"Thanks."

"For what?", Vegeta asked, confused.

"For not looking at me like I'm going to fall over any second. Every time mom looks at me since that stupid test she tears up. It's kind of freaking me out, as if everyone just waiting for me to get mortally sick."

"So… what you're saying is, you prefer the way I'm acting, which your mother has criticized me for, to her way of acting?", Vegeta asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I guess I am", Trunks said with a sheepish grin.

"I'm so gonna her face in that", Vegeta said triumphantly.

They went silent again for a moment, before Trunks piped up, "Dad? Do you think I'm really get sick now?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Could be you react differently to he infection, and don't get sick. That would probably help them figure out how to get rid of this ting", Vegeta said.

"Really? Everyone else just keeps talking about how I'm gonna get sick."

"Either scenario is possible, I suppose", Vegeta said.

"Well that sounds better, at least", Trunks said, but suddenly stopped talking, and started coughing.

Honestly, the coughing was startling even to Vegeta, because Trunks hadn't shown any sort of symptom before, and now he was coughing so loudly it sounded like he was trying to remove his lungs from his torso.

When he was done coughing, Trunks just stared at the hand he'd been using to cover his mouth with for a moment, without saying anything.

"What is it?", Vegeta asked, but he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Trunks didn't say anything, but simply lifted his hand to let his father see.

It was covered in blood.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay, moving to a new city, starting college and then Nanowrimo had me occupied. Also sorry this chapter didn't move the plot forward too far, but it was needed for pacing reasons.

The next update will come quicker, and also there's going to be more drama. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, tell me what you think!