Confused enough yet?

~The Calm Before Saga~

Chapter 21 – Two Months to D-Day – The Year of the Dragon Begins

Beep.

….

Beep.

….

Beep.

Gohan slowly sat up, a feeling of deja-vu washing over him. Looking to his right, this time he just turned the heart monitor off rather than blow it up. As he disconnected himself from all the other machines, he caught sight of a change of clothes next to his bed. They were dressier than day to day clothes and they even felt warm to the touch. Someone had been by recently. But why dress clothes? Deciding they were better than walking around in this hospital gown he found himself in, he quickly changed and exited the room.

Rather than stairs, he found the control room right through the door. And while it lacked the hot cup of coffee, Gohan couldn't help but feel someone had been their not to long ago. Closing his eyes, he extended his senses. He found quite a few people in the building, which was comforting.

Gohan's concentration was broken when the sudden rumble of his stomach caught his attention. By the gods he was hungry. Groaning from the stomach pains ailing him, he quickly started to make his way through the halls of Capsule Corp. It was dark outside. It must have been pretty late the night was so thick. But at the same time, the city seemed brighter than normal. And the outside also looked strangely cold.

Pressing his hand to the glass, Gohan was shocked at just how cold it felt. How long...

How long had he been out of it?

Staggering backwards, Gohan shook his head as he tried to calm himself down. Despite that, he could easily feel his heart thumping away inside his chest. His body felt unusually sore now that he thought about it. And not sore from physical exercise. More like from a lack of it.

To get his mind off it, Gohan focused on the energies of the others. He pressed on, trying not to worry about what awaited him. The smell of food found it's way to his nose. His stomach telling his feet to hurry up. He found himself infront of a pair of large doors with lights and sounds of a party seeping through under the door. And not a small private party either with just the friends. If Gohan remembered right, he was infront of the large dinning hall where Bulma always held the large office or business parties.

Gulping, Gohan pressed on, pushing the door open with his one hand. The full force of the sounds, smells of food, and light hit Gohan head on. He had to squint uncomfortably at first, groaning under the strain. When his eyes finally could see again, he had to wonder if he was dreaming still.

"A... Christmas tree?"

Looking around, Gohan found other holiday decorations scattered around the room. That included one large banner which read 'Happy New Year' on it. But... school had just started a few weeks ago. How could it... how long...

Gohan's hand caught his head. He kinda felt dizzy. Out of place. Something definitely was wrong. Forgetting his extreme hunger for the moment, Gohan started to push through the large well dressed crowd as he tried to find someone familiar, or at least his friends he could feel on the other side.

Gohan started to notice people taking note of him, and especially his missing left arm. A new wave of unease washed through him. They would whisper sure, but the way they went about it... even if Gohan couldn't hear what they were saying he would have been able to tell they were talking about him. He unconsciously put his hand over his left shoulder, the loose fabric of the sleeve making him feel anxious.

Pushing on, Gohan weaved in and out as he made his way through the mass of people. His stomach needed food badly. It was starting to rumble loud enough to hear now. But first, Gohan needed to see the others. Everything was so... foggy. Not adding up. Last thing he could remember was falling asleep on that spaceship. It was pretty obvious something had happened after that. But Gohan... just couldn't remember.

Finally Gohan made it to the other side of the dinning hall and exited out the side door. A flight of stairs greeted him. Quickly he rushed down them, nearly tripping over himself as he tried to get a sense of his new center of balance.

Leaning against the nearby wall, Gohan groaned. These dress shoes were killing him. They just seemed to love digging into the soft spots on his foot. His body felt lazy too. Despite the discomfort, he didn't even feel an urge to take them off. Infact... he was feeling really sleepy.

… was it because he was so hungry? Or... was his body really just... that tired...

-DBZ-

It was dark when Gohan woke up. Not that it wasn't dark before. It's just that was the first thing he thought of when he came to. Slowly he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Even as his sleepiness started to ware thin, Gohan could sense something was wrong. Standing up, he brushed himself off. Straightening his suit and shaking off the rest of his daze.

Finally, Gohan figured out what was bugging him. This entire time, his left arm was back! Pink, full of life, and real. Right there. Gohan held it out infront of his face, looking it over. It held all the scares he remembered it did. And yet...

Jumping into a fighting stance, Gohan held his left arm back. His eyes sharpened. What little energy he had rose, and his muscles tensed up as he threw his fist forward.

He hadn't meant to, but the force of the punch was strong. The entire left side of his suit imploded into nothingness. But more than just that happened. The skin, from his fingertips to his lower neck, his entire arm, it all shot off like a cannon leaving a black metal-like substance behind. As the flakes of fake skin floated down to the ground infront of him, Gohan looked over the black substance that now made up his arm.

That's it! That's what happened! Gohan could remember now, he could remember it all. He had to rip his arm off to get the Casket out of him! But... how was that even... just from one cut? Then... but then he had failed? It was right here infront of him, clearly still in his body. Why was it still in him? And it wasn't attacking. Why wasn't it attacking him?

Silly boy...

Gohan's eyes widened as his voice echoed through his mind. He could only watch as the black material making up his hand started to twist at the forearm. Around it went, again and again and again it went around. It twisted with such speed it was impossible to think clearly. Finally it stopped, the black palm right infront of his face. A small slit appeared, and to Gohan's horror it started to split open.

Why am I still here? I never left.

With an alarming and sickening jerk, the slit opened, revealing a eye that was as black as night.

No matter how hard you try, you'll never get rid of your darkness.

-DBZ-

"DARKON!"

Gohan shot up, finding himself in that dark hallway still. Cupping his forehead, he found himself drenched in a cold sweat. His breathing was heavy, erratic. He could feel his heart beating rapidly. Had that really all been...

"A... dream?"

No. For the longest time now Gohan hadn't had a normal dream. They all had meaning. Especially since he said that name when he woke up. Darkon. Why had he said that name? That stuff that made up his arm... it definitely was the same stuff the Casket had been made out of. But the Casket had always referred to itself in third person. In his dream... it had said I. "I never left."

Gohan groaned, running his hand through his spiky hair. He had a strange sensation again, like when he woke up. Glancing over, he once again found the limp fabric of his suit to greet him so rudely.

Shaking it off, Gohan weakly stood. Leaning against the wall with his good shoulder, Gohan started to walk forwards again. His body felt so tired, even after his nap. Perhaps it was because of his map. But something in his gut forced him to keep walking.

He wanted to, above everything else, make sure everyone was safe.

Finally, he found himself infront of a door with his friends energies on the other side. He could slightly hear them through the door, but his eyes were drooping and his senses weren't working right, rendering him unable to make out what they were saying.

Gulping for a reason he couldn't understand, Gohan twisted the handle and pushed the door open. He was greeted, with a very lack luster, "Happy New Year!"

Gohan blinked, finding everyone standing infront of a TV that had just reached zero. "Happy... New Years?"

Silence washed over the room as everyone turned to the sound of a familiar voice. For the longest time the group just looked at Gohan, as if they were trying to figure out if he was real or not.

A round bellied Chi-Chi was the first to find her voice. "Gohan!"

"...mom? What's... you're? … "

"GOHAN!"

Goten shot towards Gohan, crashing into him at full force. The small boy clung to his older brothers shirt, crying into his chest. Gohan meanwhile fell down as his breath was knocked clean out of him. Sucking wind, Gohan rubbed the top of his bothers head.

"H-hey there little guy. Sorry for making you worry."

Gohan stood as his mother rushed over followed by the rest of his extended family. Chi-Chi joined her youngest son in crying madly into Gohan, muttering inaudible sounds. Gohan's eyes softened as he looked over them. He had been so worried about himself, he hadn't even thought about what the others might be thinking. His head looked up when a strong arm found his back.

Goku smiled, squeezing his son's shoulder tightly. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back... but wha-"

"Gohan," yelled Krillin, cutting Gohan off, "you scared the hell out of us kid!"

Bardock smiled to himself, happy to see his grandson up and about again. Vegeta stood apart, continuing to drink as he kept a wary eye on Gohan. The others continued to crowd around him. Hugging him, albeit tenativly Gohan noticed. He had a sinking feeling about this. His stomach kept doing flips, no matter how much he tried to keep his emotions calm and collected.

"Sorry Krillin, everyone. I didn't mean to scare you. But... if I'm remembering right, there wasn't much else I could do."

Everyone started to drift back towards the chairs and couches infront of the large TV, trying to give Gohan more air to breath. Yamcha smiled uneasily, "Well, you sure surprised all of us, that's for sure."

"Really guys, sorry. But... is it really New Years?"

Bulma sat down, her own large belly trying to burst from her shirt. "Ya... you've been out for four months Gohan. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Y... ya. I'm be fine, just... it's a lot to take in."

"Well, there's more."

"More?"

Krillin glanced over to Bulma, unease written all over his face. "You sure it's okay to tell him already Bulma?"

"Krillin, look at him. He already knows."

Krillin's head whipped over to face Gohan, shocked that the boy already somehow knew. Gohan gulped as he sat down, his bother and mother still clinging to him as if he'd disappear if they let go. "It's... still inside me, isn't it."

"Yes... but the good news is that after you... after you got back it isn't done anything. But with it so close to your heart, and you out cold... we didn't want to do anything foolish."

"Thank you for... all the help Bulma. Really. I... just need... time to think."

"Of course."

The room was quiet for a time. The TV was turned off, and everyone just sat around thinking. Gohan closed his eyes, trying to breath and calm himself.

"I... know it's selfish. But can we use the balls? You know, to get it out of me and get my arm... back?"

"That was the first thing that came to mind... but..."After a moment to compose herself she leaned back into the chair. Taking the dragon radar out of her pocket, she tossed it over to Gohan.

"I've been checking every day, but no luck. The dragonballs are...well, missing."

AN:

This was the chapter I wanted to get out by Christmas/New Years. A little... okay, I'm a month late. I'm also a human! Who's in college! … and owns a copy of Skyrim! So... nya!

Gohan's been out for four months, meaning Chi-Chi is now six months pregnant, and Bulma is seven. There's two months left, so it's gonna get crazy. I'm surprised how easily everyone accepted Chi-Chi being pregnant by the way. No one even said anything about it!

I know it's unfair of me to talk up the final saga just as the third one starts, but it's mostly happy-go-lucky filler till the final saga now. Important filler mind you. A few more final touches still need to be done for the final saga, but the foundation is already there for you to see and figure out.

The calm before the storm always seems to take forever anyway, right?