Chapter Eleven

Recovery

Gohan landed on the lawn of Capsule Corp. and reached the door in two long strides. Shifting the weight of Videl's unconscious form to his right arm, he punched in the entry code on the keypad. The door slid open with a soft click. He rushed inside, heading straight for the spacious living room at the end of the main hallway. He was surprised by the sight of Bulma laying on one of the couches as opposed to being holed up in one of her labs. Instead of doing her usual tinkering, she was relaxing in front of an afternoon soap opera.

She sat up at the sound of hurried footsteps. "Oh, hi Gohan, I didn't hear you come in…" her voice trailed off as what she saw sank in. "Oh my!" she gasped, her eyes widening and a hand raised to her dropped jaw in alarm. She had seen Gohan and Videl return from their crime fighting efforts in various degrees of disrepair, but this was a first. Both were still in their Saiyamen costumes, the colorful outfits both dirty and torn. Gohan's face was deeply concerned as he laid Videl down on an empty couch. "What happened?" Bulma asked, standing up and walking over to the teenagers.

"I don't know for sure yet," Gohan replied. "She was unconscious when I found her, but I don't know any details besides who – or what, I guess – did it."

Bulma's brow furrowed. It wasn't like Gohan to be so vague. A dozen questions presented themselves, but she asked the first that popped up, and the worst. "You mean you weren't there?" she said, instantly regretting the hint of accusation in her tone.

The look of pain and guilt that flashed across Gohan's face made her feel even worse. "No," he said, his voice hollow. "She got the call and left, but there wasn't any way for me to sneak out with her this time. I felt the fight just as the class was dismissed, but by the time I got there, it was too late."

Bulma laid a comforting hand on the young man's broad shoulder. "Don't worry, she'll be fine as soon as we—" She stopped short as the familiar sounds of a purposeful stride came into the room.

"Gohan," a gruff voice called. The young man turned around, then flinched back as he saw a small object flying at him. His hand snapped up and caught the tiny green projectile by reflex.

He opened his palm to see a senzu bean sitting there. "Vegeta, thanks, but how did you—?"

"Do you think I'm oblivious?" the prince interrupted. "You're not the only one on this rock who can sense ki, and you might as well have been making a worldwide broadcast."

Gohan just nodded once and then turned back to Videl. He bent down and placed the bean in her mouth, then massaged her throat gently to get her to swallow. He stood up and watched her anxiously.

With a start, the young woman's eyes snapped open and she sat up, her head darting around in surprise and her breath coming in rapid gasps. She calmed somewhat once she recognized the familiar surroundings and faces, but she still looked troubled. "Gohan!" she gasped when her eyes moved to him. She jumped up off the couch and latched her arms around his neck, grabbing him in a strong embrace.

The young half-Saiyan's eyes widened momentarily in surprise, and then he returned the hug. "Glad to have you back," he said, relief evident in his voice.

She clung to him tightly for a long moment before moving back, but she still gripped his shoulders firmly at arm's length, as if making sure he wouldn't disappear before her eyes. "Where is he? Did you get him?" she asked.

"Yeah," Gohan affirmed with a nod. "But I still don't know what the heck was really going on."

"That makes two of us," Bulma added, her gaze flicking back and forth between the two teens. Vegeta stood aloof, his arms crossed. His gaze bore into them by way of answer.

Videl released Gohan and looked around in confusion. "I was hoping someone could tell me."

Bulma shook her head, her short blue-green locks waving back and forth with the movement. "I think we need to start from square one," she prompted gently.

Videl nodded, and proceeded to relay the story from the beginning. She started with the notice of the Red Shark Gang's leader escaping prison under mysterious circumstances, then to the call from the police station earlier that day. She explained her arrival, easily handling of the inept thugs, and ended with a painful recounting of what she could remember of the brief battle with the Boss.

Gohan picked up from there, mentioning the odd double-sense and Fusion-like voice of the man. He gave details of his own fight, and what he could remember of the vague dialogue he had with the second presence after knocking out his opponent.

Bulma paced nervously across the carpet as they talked, the soap opera playing ignored on the TV behind her.

Vegeta stared at Gohan with his usual piercing gaze. "You're sure both power levels were coming from the same person?"

"I'm sure," he replied, nodding. "I was right in his face, and until the very end both powers were coming from his body. Once I felt the second ki fade away, it was just the one normal reading."

"I couldn't tell for sure from this distance, but what I did feel from your opponent was nothing strong enough to be concerned about," Vegeta said dismissively. "As for what this disembodied voice told you after you fought, if you ask me it just sounds like a crackpot story. There is no way in the galaxy that anyone that powerful could sneak onto this planet without me noticing it."

"I'm not so sure," Gohan said, shaking his head. "I remember several times during the fight where he shouted things that made it sound like he had fought against humans before, plus what he said about waiting for 'countless years.'"

Vegeta laughed once, sharply, and said, "And they just so happen to come out of the woodwork now, after that long?" The prince snorted. "I find it more likely that this was an isolated incident, some random escapee from the Otherworld or HFIL looking to have a last bit of fun. What you said the disembodied form looked like is quite similar to a spirit from the other planes."

Gohan didn't reply, but stood there deep in thought. What Vegeta said did make sense, but he couldn't get rid of his nagging doubt. However, the young half-breed wasn't even sure if what Vegeta said was possible. Could a spirit really escape from another plane?

There was someone he could ask to find out.

"I'm going to go pay a visit to Dende," Gohan said. "There's something fishy about this."

"I'll come with you," Videl stated firmly.

Vegeta snorted his opinion of the Guardian. "Good luck getting anything out of that green pipsqueak," he said. Without another word, he spun on his heel and walked off.

Bulma just shrugged and dropped back onto the couch, her attention returning to the soap opera just in time to see the ending credits begin to scroll. "Oh, drat!" she said sourly. "Now I'll never find out whether or not Aaron found out that Mike knew Timothy was cheating on Cindy!"

Gohan smiled, turning to look sidelong at Videl. "If only our problems were so simple."

"I heard that, mister!"

-- --- --

The sun was tracing its slow path across the sky towards early afternoon when Doctor Brynn entered the large research lab in the West City Museum. Two lab assistants followed him in, and the three regarded the unopened crate sitting on one of the lab tables.

"Well, lets get to work," the doctor said, rubbing his hands together. He was feeling the usual excitement of being able to start work on a fresh new project.

The two lab assistants grabbed crowbars and pried open the wooden container. They reached inside and lifted out the makeshift burlap stretcher, setting it down on a second stainless steel table. This table had a maze of devices hanging above it, from simple lamps to a multi-million zenni automated analysis unit.

"Now then," Brynn said, "first thing's first." He reached out and began to unwrap the heavy cloth. "Let's get a look at what we're working with." He removed the final fold, revealing the orb. It looked the same as it had when it was removed from beneath the mountain days before, the swirls of black and white haze still twisting lazily underneath the surface. The three occupants of the room just stared for a few minutes, entranced by the sight. The doctor shook his head, the first to break out of his daze. "My, how interesting," he muttered. Long experience with unusual artifacts helped him resist the temptation to reach out and touch the enthralling globe. Most new finds were as fragile as they were valuable. You could never be too careful.

Tearing his gaze away, still with some difficulty, he reached up to pull down the sophisticated analysis machine that was wired over the table. An expensive collection of the best sensors and scanners grant money could buy, all rolled into a single machine, he pulled it down over the orb and turned it on. The large device was shaped like a lid that fit down over the whole of the table. After Dr. Brynn punched a few buttons on the control pad, the soft hums and clicks from the machine were the only sounds in the room. The doctor and assistants continued to gaze with mystified expressions through the small viewing window, straight into the depths of the orb.

They didn't know how long it was before they realized that they were staring at the artifact. One by one, the three men jerked as if waking up from a standing sleep, and glanced at one another with odd expressions. The sensor machine was still humming away, the full scan the doctor had set it for not scheduled to be done until sometime the next day.

"Well, that's all we can do for now," the doctor said, looking to the two assistants in turn. "Let's get back to work on those fossils from up north, shall we?" Without another word, the three walked out, leaving the scanner to do its work alone. It wasn't until some time later that the three men, after walking into another lab on the outer wall of the building, realized that they had been gazing silently at the orb until the evening sun had begun to fall below the horizon.

-- --- --

The familiar sight of the Lookout took shape as Gohan and Videl ascended into the sky. Two well-recognized figures stood waiting just outside the central pavilion as the teenage duo landed on the pristine white tiles.

Were Dende not a good two feet shorter than Gohan, the demi-Saiyan may well have grabbed his childhood friend in a bear hug. As it was, he settled on stretching down to clap the young Namekian on the shoulder. "It's good to see you, Dende!"

"You too, Gohan," the young guardian replied, beaming up at him. "Now that you're on summer vacation, maybe you can manage to visit me a bit more often," he said with a wink.

"You don't miss a thing, do you?" Gohan observed.

"It's my job not to," the overseer laughed.

"Hey, Mr. Popo!" Gohan called, turning to wave at the plump genie.

"It's good to see you're well, Gohan. And you, Miss Videl," the short figure replied in his low, cheerful tone.

Dende's bright expression dimmed several watts when he turned to face Videl. "I'm glad to see you're safe, Videl," he said, the events from earlier in the day going far from unnoticed by the astute Namek.

The young woman just nodded politely with a soft smile, still not quite used to being on a first name basis with the Guardian of the Earth.

Gohan's smile faded to a serious expression in the moments of silence that followed. He opened his mouth to speak when the green guardian raised a hand to stop him.

"I know why you're here, Gohan," he said gravely. "I felt what was going on. But to be honest, I'm not sure what answers I have to give you. I'll help in any way I can."

The somber tone of his young friend brought even more questions to mind, but he nodded his understanding. "I'm curious, Dende. I know that even when people don't retain their bodies when they die, they still exist in spirit in the Otherworld. Is it possible for a spirit to escape from the Otherworld and return to this world?"

The young Namekian paused in thought. "Well, you'd have to ask King Yemma for a definite answer, but as far as I know, it's unlikely. The simplest way to put it is that bodies are the natural form of existence in this world, and spirits are the natural form of existence in Otherworld. While special cases can allow some people – like your father – to retain their bodies in Otherworld as a reward, a spirit doesn't have an easy time in the normal world." He paused again, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose a spirit might be able to exist for a short time here, but without a body, it would quickly dissipate and be sent back to the Otherworld. But it's not a short trip from one world to the other, to say the least. It would be all but impossible for a spirit from Otherworld to make the journey before it dissipated."

Gohan chewed on that information for a long minute, his sharp mind now working overtime.

"Mr. Guardian…" Videl spoke up while her companion was lost in thought.

"Call me Dende, Videl," the young Namek said with a grin. "No need to be so formal. I'm actually younger than you are, remember?"

"Sorry," she apologized, smiling slightly. "I just don't want to be rude."

"Oh, no worries about that. After all, I seem to recall your father addressing me as 'little green dude' more than anything," he said.

Videl clapped a hand over her mouth, but couldn't stifle a laugh. "I suppose I can't get much worse than that, huh?" She was silent for a moment, then remembered her question. "I was wondering, if a soul did make it here to Earth, what would it be able to do before dissipating?" She may not have been as used to talk of souls and dimensions as the others around her, but her natural intellect was as keen and curious as ever. Gohan glanced up from his inner thoughts to listen.

Dende blinked. "I hadn't given much thought to that," he said. "It wouldn't be able to physically affect anything on its own, of course, but it might be able to inhabit an already existing body, if the soul were strong enough."

Something in Gohan's mind clicked, like the pieces of a puzzle suddenly slipping into place. "That's it," he said softly. "That's why the Red Sharks' Boss seemed like he had multiple personalities… and why I felt that second ki sense from him!" A smile spread on his face as he saw the picture come together. "A stray spirit must have gotten to him. How, I don't know… but it makes sense."

"Dende," Videl asked, her voice growing excited from Gohan's infectious enthusiasm, "what do you think would happen when a soul possessed a body?"

Yet again, the guardian paused in thought. "I can't say for sure. It hasn't happened very often, to my knowledge. It would all depend on the spirit I suppose. It might just sit around inside the body, able to access the senses and knowledge of the body it occupies, and just kind of remain there unnoticed. Or, if the spirit were strong enough, it might be able to exert control over the body, possess it and take it for its own and essentially live again."

The two teenagers seemed to ponder the Namekian's explanation. A lengthy silence ensued as they lost themselves in thought, until Dende coughed lightly to get their attention. "Ah, was there anything else?" he asked.

They looked up, realizing the impoliteness of their reverie. "Sorry," Gohan said with an embarrassed smile. "I guess we should try to do our thinking on our own time."

"It's no problem," the Namek chuckled. "I don't get much company up here, besides Mr. Popo of course. No offense," he amended with a glance to the genie.

The unflappable caretaker dismissed the comment with a smile and a wave.

"I guess there is something else," Gohan said. "When I talked to that escaped soul that had been in the Boss' body," he said, figuring it was safe to assume that as a fact now, "it mentioned that there were more of its kind, and that we would know them when they appeared. If escape from the Otherworld is so difficult, how could that be?"

Dende frowned. "More of its kind? You're sure that's what it said?"

Gohan thought back, just to be sure. "Positive. It said that they would rise again, and that they wouldn't be friendly."

The young Namek contemplated that wording. For some reason, he found his thoughts turning to the Guardian's Journal, and the strange dead language that comprised the earliest accounts of Earth's Guardians. They would rise again… But he shook off the thought. Piccolo would have told him he was being foolish. "I'm not sure what to make of that," he said at last, without conviction. "Maybe it just wanted to give you something to think about other than beating it up?"

Videl raised an eyebrow at the Guardian's uncertain offering. "Yeah, but it said this after it had abandoned the gangster's body," she observed, with the beginnings of an all too familiar look of tenacity. She could smell a secret like a bloodhound, as Gohan was well aware, and could sense a half-truth better than her crime fighting partner could sense ki. It was not in her nature to let such things go without comment. "Gohan thought it sounded more like a warning. We were hoping you might be able to shed a bit more light on that possibility."

"I'm afraid I can't," Dende said honestly, finding it tough to keep an impassive face under her piercing gaze. Not without sounding like the paranoid worry-wart Piccolo accuses me of being, he thought, beginning to sweat under the collar as Videl's ice-blue eyes bored into him. He gulped and tried to smile reassuringly. He only half succeeded. "Trying to match this incident with anything concrete I know of Earth history is a bit beyond my expertise," Dende said. He figured that was a true enough statement.

Videl's eyes continued to burn into him for a few more moments, but then she must have remembered exactly who it was she was pressing for information. She looked away, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. It wasn't something you saw on her face every day. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off like that," she said.

Dende exhaled in relief. Guardian or not, he didn't envy anyone who came under that stare. "No need to apologize. I get that a lot from Piccolo, too."

From there, the talk shifted to more casual conversation. They talked for a while almost as if they were normal teenaged friends, despite the fact that their discussion group was comprised of the Guardian of Earth, arguably the most powerful warrior in the universe, and the crime-fighting daughter of a world-renowned celebrity, who could make any lesser being – and many greater ones – quake in their shoes with a glance.

It was well into evening by the time Gohan and Videl said their goodbyes, after promising to visit more often. The horizon stretched out far ahead of them as they took off from the Lookout and headed down towards solid ground. The fiery light of sunset burnished the landscape as they flew back towards civilization.

"What a way to kick off the summer," Gohan sighed.

"Yeah. What are we going to do with all this spare time on our hands?" Videl asked playfully, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

Though that was not exactly what he had been thinking about, Gohan smiled. He looked back at her, but the look in her azure eyes made him blush. He hoped Videl wouldn't notice, but he had no such luck.

She laughed; a light, carefree sound, and did a dizzying corkscrew right around him. "Now, Gohan, don't be getting any wild ideas. Scheming doesn't suit you."

"I wasn't scheming. I was just wondering what you were scheming," he retorted, boring into her with a stare of his own. He was rewarded with a glimpse of rosy color rising to her cheeks.

"That's the nice thing about long vacations," she said. "We can spend all the time we want figuring out what to do, and still have time to do it. One thing is for sure already, though."

"What's that?"

In Gohan's eyes, the smile on her face would have put the noonday sun to shame. "If nothing else, spending a whole summer with you sure won't be dull."

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Next chapter: Examinations