Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball or Dragonball Z
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Goku settled onto the nearby cliff with his friends around them. Vegeta and Serene were the only two absent. Goku just hoped they returned from their final bout of training in time. May twelfth had arrived and Sasebo was spread out below them. Unfortunately, they couldn't sense the androids.
"We'll do it the old fashioned way. Whoever finds them, spike your Ki to alert the rest. No unnecessary risks," Piccolo explained as the group separated. Goku breathed a sigh of relief as they broke apart, glad he convinced Bulma not to attend this morning and not being at risk as they split up.
Goku turned to talk to Gohan only to find him already dropping into the city after Piccolo. He chuckled and took off for himself. Opting to search from the air, he hovered over streets, studying anyone he could. The problem being that none of them knew what to look for.
The only android Goku had ever seen was Eighter who, aside from being overly large, looked like a normal person. He stopped over a busy plaza, hoping to see something, anything, when a scream sounded. Goku jerked his head around and took off as Yamcha's power spiked and then dropped erratically.
He arrived with the others to see Yamcha cast aside by an old man, a fist sized hole through his belly. The old man turned to his companion, a rotound, ghostly white man. Each bore the crest of The Red Ribbon Army on their clothes.
"See, Nineteen, we've already flushed them out," the old man said.
"Are you Gero?" Piccolo demanded.
"That's Doctor Gero, and yes, I am. Now, let's proceed. Nineteen, see to these pests whilst I tend to Goku," the mad doctor said.
"Gohan, Krillin, get Yamcha out of here," Goku ordered.
"The time for planning is over!" Gero spat as he readied to launch himself. Goku leveled his gaze and said, "Not here. We'll fight outside the city."
He didn't wait for an answer. The doctor watched his prey take off in complete disregard to him before giving in and following along.
Gohan and Krillin were fast to act. Gohan used the remnants of Yamacha's shirt to hold against the hole in his stomach while Krillin fished out a Senzu bean. The monk had to pry his friend's jaw open and force him to swallow as his body tried to shut down repeatedly. Each time was met with the bandit gagging and nearly puking it back out.
Gohan kept pressure as much as he could but could feel the worrying amount of blood pouring out nonetheless. At last, Krillin got him to keep it down and within seconds the hole was closing and life was returning to the nearly dead man. Gohan stared with wide eyes, the true miraculous extent of the Senzu beans finally dawning on him.
"No wonder you people are so flippant about death."
"We're not flippant about it, and how does a kid your age know the word flippant?" Krillin fired back.
"Krillin!" Yamcha cut in as he stood, still shaking from the near-death experience, "We've got to go, those guys can do something. It's like they can absorb power."
The duo was in the air instantly while Yamcha lagged behind a little. Gohan quickly outpaced the other two as he headed for his father's energy, a massive burning flare to his senses. He had already transformed.
They were in sight. His father floated in the air. The larger android was pulling itself out of a hillside, badly damaged. There was something off, though, really two things. The android, Nineteen, was grinning, and Goku's power was beginning to drop even as he charged a Kamehameha wave.
Yamcha's warning rang in his mind. He wasn't sure of the specifics in any regards, but a Kamehameha definitely counted as pure power. He tried to yell a warning but was drowned out by the distance. He started to build up his own power to counter the attack, knock it off course or destroy it, but it was too late. The massive attack fired and made contact instantly.
Instead of a blinding glare and billowing dust cloud, the beam simply vanished into the enemy's palms. Goku cut it off in surprise but the damage was done. He was dropping fast and breathing heavy while the mechanical menace stood tall.
The retaliation was instant. Goku was knocked to the ground and stomped under foot. His hair fading to black once more. Nineteen dropped down onto his knee, straight onto Goku and began raining blows down.
The others were standing still, expecting Goku to come back and win like always. They were respecting how he handled things. One on one. Gohan had not been brought up that way. He could respect the power of it, but when it came down to it, victory was victory and defeat was dead.
He hurled himself from the air and twisted into a kick just before impacting Nineteen's head. The machine bounced and rolled away but was over-all unharmed. Goku, disregarding the blows to his head, clutched his chest and gasped nearby.
"Piccolo, his heart-" Gohan started to say but was forced into action. Nineteen had selected a new target. Him. With the additional power of his father's Kamehameha in him, the android pressed him to the limit quickly.
His small stature was the only thing keeping him alive as he weaved between the blows. Every chance he got, he'd pepper the machine's body with rapid-fire punches. There was no help to be had as Piccolo and Tien were forced to confront Gero before he could move to kill Goku.
A respite finally came in the form of a terrain change. The compacted dirt shifted to loose rocks. The change was just enough to slow Nineteen for a fraction of a second. That was all the time it took for Gohan to leap forward.
His tail tangled around the large white neck while he dangled behind him. His hands clamped down on the hems of the puffy orange pants. Finally, his legs kicked and wormed their way under Nineteen's armpits. Pulling with every appendage and gritting his teeth in an effort, he pulled the mechanical man backward almost into a C-shape. Leverage was on his side but time was not. His arms were already burning with the force he exerting, but Nineteen could maintain the struggle all day.
"What now, Son Gohan?" the light, nasally voice of Nineteen asked. Gohan doubled down, determined to rip some part of his enemy off. He heard a creak, ever so slight, from within the large opponent. A shaking, burning sensation coursed through him as his scalp began to burn. An aura sprung to life around him, glowing brighter than usual. Then he was sailing through the air unexpectedly, knocked airborn right alongside his enemy.
Both skidded to a halt in the dirt. Nineteen was half buried in a trench. Gohan lay in one of many small dents to the earth from where he had bounced. Approaching them in the glory of Super Saiyan, Vegeta smirked.
Gohan glanced around. Everyone had stopped. Krillin and Yamcha had arrived at some point. Vegeta spread his arms out wide and announced, "I give you, the Prince of all Saiyans."
He kicked Goku away from the battlefield, ordering the others to tend to him. In short order, he violently dismantled Android Nineteen. Gero, however, was no where to be found.
"Where did that old bastard go?" Vegeta demanded only to be met with no answers. Goku chose then to interrupt with a coughing fit.
"For the love of whatever god you people believe in, get Kakarot the hell out of here. Last thing I need is him ruining my victory with his death wheezing," Vegeta snapped. Gohan hurried to scoop up his dad as best he could onto his back.
Just before he took off, when none of the others were looking, Vegeta stopped him and instructed, "He needs the medicine that boy brought us. You better take some as well."
"What about you?" Gohan asked. Vegeta pulled his own vial from within the protected pockets of his armour. Gohan nodded and took off.
They were well on their way back to Capsule Corps when Goku gasped and spluttered to talk through the pain, "Bulma…"
"We're going to mom right now," Gohan assured him.
Goku tried again, "Back-Sasebo-Bul."
Gohan paused mid-flight while he tried to decipher his father's meaning. He opened his senses in his efforts to decipher the jumbled words. Back towards the others, approaching from an angle, his mother was heading right towards the others. His stomach dropped.
He couldn't make it back in time to stop her from reaching the others and getting in the way while carrying his father. He stopped to breathe, trying to think.
"She's smart, surely she'll look before flying straight in," Gohan assured his dad and himself. Nevertheless, he picked up the pace and hurried to Capsule Corps. He practically threw his dad into the surprised arms of his grandparents before taking off again. Disregarding Vegeta's additional advice for the time being.
He was already several dozen feet in the air before he stopped to yell back, "He needs his heart medicine!"
He took off after his mother. Vegeta's power was rising and they were all converging. Gero must've been found, and his mother was still just flying straight on ahead.
He pushed himself. The brief skirmish from earlier weighing on him. The android had been tough, even tougher than he'd have guessed. He was only a few miles out when he noticed that he had slowed down considerably. Worry weighing heavy on him.
Vegeta and the others were all moving again, he sensed. A new power had joined them. Gohan wasn't sure if it was evil, but it was definitely strong. They were in a hurry. The only one that had stayed behind was Yamcha.
The former bandit and the blue-haired scientist soon came into view and he tried his best to land smoothly near them.
"Gohan!" Bulma rushed him, leaving him no time to stop her.
"Where's your father?" she demanded while squeezing out his air. Gohan managed to say, "At home. Grandpa's getting him his medicine. You should go back too."
"You both should. I'll let Roshi know what's happening. If those other two manage to beat Vegeta and the others, they'll be going for Goku next," Yamcha said.
"Other two?" Gohan asked.
Bulma answered, "I'll fill you in while you fly us back, you're faster than my planes."
Gohan hesitated but for a moment before nodding and scooping her up under the arms. He scooped her up under her arms and took off. It was an awkward trip back.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, at last, "I don't want you getting sick, too."
"I'm fine," he answered
The call came a little past lunchtime from Roshi's house. Krillin sighed into the phone, causing the cellphone before Bulma and Gohan to crackle.
"How's Goku?" he asked.
"Not well, how about you guys? Any news?" Bulma replied.
Krillin hesitated but stammered out, "We, uh, we lost them. Gero is dead, but you already know that. The other two, well, they ground us all into the dirt. Vegeta, Trunks, Piccolo, all of us. Man, we really need Goku back."
"We'll manage either way. What's the plan now?" Gohan interrupted the former monk's bemoaning.
"Well, I guess we wait for more news. We can't track them," Krillin said.
Bulma clicked her nails onto the table and said, "We'll pack up and move Goku to Roshi's. This is probably the first place they'll head."
"Right, good call! We'll get a bed ready," Krillin said and hung up.
Gohan squinted at the now-dead phone and asked, "Is it safe to move him right now?"
"It'll have to be. I'll get some supplies together if you'd like to pack up some of your clothes," Bulma answered with a small smile. She reached out to ruffle his hair but stopped when he clenched his jaw. She sighed and said, "I guess you want to fight still, don't you?"
"It's where I should be. They're down their strongest fighter. We can't afford for more of us to sit this out," Gohan responded. His face and tone stayed neutral. She ran a hand through her hair and said, "I can't stop you, but please get us to Roshi's before you fly off."
Gohan's features winced for the first time and he said, "Do you think I'd just fly off and leave you to fend for yourself?"
"I never know what to think anymore," Bulma groaned out. Gohan nodded and kept silent.
Soon the two had reconvened at the front door. Robots were pushing a stretcher with a writhing Goku upon it. Bulma popped a capsule plan out and instructed the mechanical servants to go onboard.
"Where's Grandmother and Grandfather?" Gohan asked, checking the cockpit.
Bulma took the pilot's seat and said, "They refuse to leave. I can't make them, and we're running out of time."
Gohan kept quiet while he kneeled next to his father in the back. He mulled over the day while they crawled through the sky at a fraction of what he could fly. At some point, Bulma looked back to see Goku growing pale and clutching the rails of the mobile bed.
"Wish we had some more medicine to give him," Bulma commented as she turned back around. Her slender hands gripped the controls tighter in her worry.
Gohan felt the two vials in his pockets, his and the extra that had been left. He stood and tried to sound chipper while he said, "You must be tired. We have extra. It's right here, see? Will it really help that much?"
Bulma turned back with a grin and said, "That's right! Wait, we should only have that one extra. Who else didn't take it?"
"Must've been Vegeta. I took mine this morning just to be safe. Will it really help him, though?" Gohan asked. He cast a doubtful glance towards his father. The first vial had barely affected the man's symptoms, much less the causes.
"Tremendously, I studied it a little bit. It's meant to build up in your system to fight it off. I'd say if Trunks's world was really that destroyed, then this was probably all they could spare. I'd like another two or three vials, honestly," she bemoaned.
"You couldn't have replicated it?" Gohan asked, tipping one of the vials between Goku's lips.
"I'm not as good with organic matter as the other me is, apparently. Different times, different lives. I couldn't afford to spare any to other doctors either. Not with this coming up," she said.
Gohan caught her giving the last vial a longing look before she refocused on flying. He turned the small, amber container between his fingers for a moment. At last, he spoke up, "Keep this one on you to treat him when he needs it again. We both know Vegeta isn't going to take it."
She eyed it and then him and asked, "You're sure? You took yours, right?"
Gohan nodded, blank-faced, and said in a level tone, "As I said, I took mine this morning. Vegeta even checked to remind me. He knows we have it and still hasn't taken it. Gok-I mean, Dad, needs it more than anyone."
Bulma just nodded and took the vial.