Chapter 8 A Complicated Victory
The immortal puff of magic on everyone's mind had withdrawn to her center, the crystal that held her original pattern for all intents and purposes her body. The annoying bitch, Videl, had destroyed her current choice in forms and she would need a new one. As powerful as the binding she had worked was, physical contact with Gohan would make it stronger, particularly in the early days when his free will might still struggle against her from time to time. Wresting a corporeal form from the energy and raw materials available was not an easy task, especially with the distracting pulse of her new lover glowing so very radiantly.
The sense of danger was abrupt when it finally pierced the creature's concentration. Losing the copy of Videl had been an inconvenience. If the girl found her true form and attacked while her protector, Gohan, was so far, she might be destroyed. Such a catastrophe could not happen. The little twit shouldn't have been able to find her way through the garden, the maze of statues. But she wasn't alone. There were three. "How?" Then she was throwing out her reach through the portal to Gohan. "Protect me. COME. You let them THROUGH. They will KILL ME!!"
Videl was the first to step onto the altar at the center of the cathedral. "This is it, isn't it. That tiny crystal is all she is."
Goten and Trunks joined her and nodded. "So who kills it?" Goten asked.
Videl didn't give them a chance to argue. She raised the club she'd been carrying. "I do." One hard blow shattered the crystal into a million pieces. Videl smiled as the blue fire died in the shards. She'd expected more from the death of an all-powerful indestructible foe. "Not so immortal after all."
"That works," Trunks said. "But next time, I get to kill the monster."
Goten grabbed Videl by the arm. "We haf-to fly fast now. Piccolo said the door wouldn't stay open long after we killed the monster. I'll try not to hurt you, but we haf-to hurry."
****************
Gohan froze in the middle of pummeling Piccolo. "They'll kill her, the lady. I have to stop them."
Piccolo mentally congratulated Trunks and Goten. Now he just had to keep Gohan out of the way. "You haven't finished with me yet, boy." Piccolo growled.
Gohan glared with real hatred at the man standing between himself and his new mission. His energy level jumped twice before leveling out. "I've been kind to you so far, old man. Don't make me kill you." Then like someone cut the strings on a marionette, Gohan's power faltered and he collapsed. A very battered and bloody Piccolo caught Gohan before he could fall all the way to Earth and turned toward the already destabilizing dimensional hole. "Hurry, boys. Time is short." Only after both children, Videl in tow, emerged from the gateway, did Piccolo relax.
But all wasn't well with the world. The cold still form in his arms, looked like Gohan, but the death of the evil-creature didn't appear to have reversed all its mascinations. The energy boiling beneath the surface was still corrupted, and cold.
Goten turned to Trunks. "Hey, we did it. We saved Gohan and Videl."
Trunks nodded. "Yeah, we're probably the best heroes on the planet."
Master Roshi pulled his door open and headed out toward the battlefield. "Is everyone okay? What happened?"
Videl had made it to Piccolo's side and was stroking Gohan's head and crying. "We killed it, so he's going to be okay. He shouldn't be cold like that, should he?"
Piccolo hiked Gohan up in his arms. "Let's get him to bed." Videl tried to follow but her knees buckled.
"I got you there," Master Roshi said. He caught Videl and helped her on the short walk to his house.
"Hey Piccolo, is Gohan okay? We beat the bad guy. Well, Videl helped a little," Goten said.
Piccolo placed Gohan on Master Roshi's bed and moved back, tactically ignoring all questions and comments.
Videl made her way across the room with Master Roshi's help and added her question to the pot. "He's going to be okay. You can tell can't you, Piccolo? Should we call an ambulance?" The strain of the past hours was beginning to catch up with Videl. She couldn't seem to keep focused on the conversation. She just wanted Gohan to wake up and smile. She wanted him to tell her not to worry.
Piccolo exchanged a long look with Master Roshi. "He is poisoned, his energy signature."
"It's all wrong," Master Roshi said. "Maybe he'll shake it off. Hard to tell. Never seen anything like it."
"If it's poison we should get help. They have medicines," Videl said without really thinking. Wake up Gohan. Look at me.
Piccolo grunted. He knew Videl wasn't as oblivious as that comment indicated. "It isn't that type of poison."
"Can we help?" Goten asked. Trunks nodded solemnly.
Master Roshi stood up a little straighter. He knew how to help kids deal with a bad situation. Let them help, and keep them busy. "Of course you can. Both of you need to go home and let your mothers know you're okay. Goten, you tell Chi Chi to come here as soon as she possibly can." The two boys nodded, satisfied with their missions.
Videl was going to brush Gohan's hair back off his cool forehead, but his eyes were open and he was staring at her. "Gohan, are you okay?"
Gohan squeezed his eyes shut. What was happening to him. The last thing he remembered, Videl had been in his arms, then he was numb, like someone shot his mind full of Novocain. The moment replayed in his mind again. Videl did something to him. He stared hard at her. He wasn't angry, or sad, or curious. He didn't feel anything. "I feel weird, detached, like nothing can touch me."
Videl smiled and shrugged. "You're going to be okay. That thing tried to poison you and control you, but you're going to shake it off." He was going to smile and say everything was okay now. Videl was trembling and fresh tears were threatening to spill over. Just smile.
Master Roshi placed a hand on Videl's shoulder. "Do you know what that thing was trying to do? Maybe we'd be able to help Gohan if we knew more."
Videl looked up at Master Roshi and scrunched her shoulders together. "She talked to me some. That thing, she was like a parasite. She needed energy to perpetuate herself." A harsh rasp that might have been a laugh escaped her lips. "The funny thing was, originally she was some sort of failed love spell. A sorcerer just threw all his failed spells into this pocket dimension and she being the most powerful spell there, became dominant." Videl paused for a long moment and turned back to Gohan. Why didn't he ask her if she was okay? Why didn't he smile. Gohan would smile. He'd tell her not to worry.
Master Roshi squeezed her shoulder and nodded. "Is that all you know."
Videl shook her head. "Sorry. Ummm... She, that thing needed a powerful being to help perpetuate her growth and for sustenance. Because of her nature they had to be in love first. You see, she used their love to bind their mind and will to her, then she fed off them for as long as possible."
Master Roshi and Piccolo exchanged another long look. Whatever was going on with Gohan's energy signature was not a good sign. An emotionally cauterized Super-Sajin could become a dangerous commodity by anyone's standards.
Master Roshi offered Videl his arm. "You need to get cleaned up. I'll help you to the bathroom."
"I don't want to leave just yet," Videl said. He wasn't okay. How could she just leave him lying there so quiet. Master Roshi was tugging at her gently. He wasn't going to let her stay. "Just, let me." Videl leaned over Gohan and brushed her lips over his forehead. "I love you."
Piccolo waited until the door to the bedroom clicked shut and he took Videl's seat. "I need to test you a bit." Gohan just stared expressionless at his friend. Piccolo took Gohan's hand, pinched the skin together, and twisted. The initial spinal reflex to pain caused his hand to jerk for a moment but Gohan's expression didn't change, and he showed no sign of removing his hand from the stimulus. "Do you feel this?"
"Yes."
"Don't you want it to stop?"
"Why?"
Piccolo let Gohan's hand drop, a purple bruise gathering under its skin. A complete blank slate, if he didn't improve, he might as well be dead. "I'll ask you that again tomorrow. Maybe you'll have a better answer." A thousand memories flitted past Piccolo's mind's eye from the crybaby he'd abandoned in the wilderness to the proud warrior who defeated Cell. Gohan had been his student, but more importantly he'd been his first real friend.
The bedroom door banged open and Chi Chi rushed in, Goten following close behind. He must have flown her. "What happened? Is Gohan hurt?" Chi Chi's voice was near panic.
Goten froze barely through the door. "Mom, he really doesn't feel like Gohan at all anymore," he whispered. Piccolo moved back and let Chi Chi over to the bedside. "Piccolo, what's wrong with him?" Goten whispered while tugging on the Namek's cloak. "Is he okay?"
Chi Chi quickly tired of trying to communicate with her silent son. She spun around. "What happened? I've seen livelier frozen dinners." Panic danced in her eyes and played across her tense expression.
Piccolo shook his head sadly. "A creature we fought bound his will. Now he doesn't appear to be experiencing any emotions, no desires, not even a self-preservation drive. Hopefully, it won't last."
Chi Chi glared at the Namek, who just declared her son an emotional zombie. "Hopefully? I don't think so. You're going to do something, or so help me."
Goten slipped past the two adults and stood next to the bed. "Hey Gohan, you want to go home? Mom fixed roast beast. It's really good. I'm sure you'll feel better if you eat something. Come on, we'll go out the back way, since they're fighting." Gohan didn't argue. He let his little brother lead him out into the back yard. "Lets fly, okay. Just follow me."
The immortal puff of magic on everyone's mind had withdrawn to her center, the crystal that held her original pattern for all intents and purposes her body. The annoying bitch, Videl, had destroyed her current choice in forms and she would need a new one. As powerful as the binding she had worked was, physical contact with Gohan would make it stronger, particularly in the early days when his free will might still struggle against her from time to time. Wresting a corporeal form from the energy and raw materials available was not an easy task, especially with the distracting pulse of her new lover glowing so very radiantly.
The sense of danger was abrupt when it finally pierced the creature's concentration. Losing the copy of Videl had been an inconvenience. If the girl found her true form and attacked while her protector, Gohan, was so far, she might be destroyed. Such a catastrophe could not happen. The little twit shouldn't have been able to find her way through the garden, the maze of statues. But she wasn't alone. There were three. "How?" Then she was throwing out her reach through the portal to Gohan. "Protect me. COME. You let them THROUGH. They will KILL ME!!"
Videl was the first to step onto the altar at the center of the cathedral. "This is it, isn't it. That tiny crystal is all she is."
Goten and Trunks joined her and nodded. "So who kills it?" Goten asked.
Videl didn't give them a chance to argue. She raised the club she'd been carrying. "I do." One hard blow shattered the crystal into a million pieces. Videl smiled as the blue fire died in the shards. She'd expected more from the death of an all-powerful indestructible foe. "Not so immortal after all."
"That works," Trunks said. "But next time, I get to kill the monster."
Goten grabbed Videl by the arm. "We haf-to fly fast now. Piccolo said the door wouldn't stay open long after we killed the monster. I'll try not to hurt you, but we haf-to hurry."
****************
Gohan froze in the middle of pummeling Piccolo. "They'll kill her, the lady. I have to stop them."
Piccolo mentally congratulated Trunks and Goten. Now he just had to keep Gohan out of the way. "You haven't finished with me yet, boy." Piccolo growled.
Gohan glared with real hatred at the man standing between himself and his new mission. His energy level jumped twice before leveling out. "I've been kind to you so far, old man. Don't make me kill you." Then like someone cut the strings on a marionette, Gohan's power faltered and he collapsed. A very battered and bloody Piccolo caught Gohan before he could fall all the way to Earth and turned toward the already destabilizing dimensional hole. "Hurry, boys. Time is short." Only after both children, Videl in tow, emerged from the gateway, did Piccolo relax.
But all wasn't well with the world. The cold still form in his arms, looked like Gohan, but the death of the evil-creature didn't appear to have reversed all its mascinations. The energy boiling beneath the surface was still corrupted, and cold.
Goten turned to Trunks. "Hey, we did it. We saved Gohan and Videl."
Trunks nodded. "Yeah, we're probably the best heroes on the planet."
Master Roshi pulled his door open and headed out toward the battlefield. "Is everyone okay? What happened?"
Videl had made it to Piccolo's side and was stroking Gohan's head and crying. "We killed it, so he's going to be okay. He shouldn't be cold like that, should he?"
Piccolo hiked Gohan up in his arms. "Let's get him to bed." Videl tried to follow but her knees buckled.
"I got you there," Master Roshi said. He caught Videl and helped her on the short walk to his house.
"Hey Piccolo, is Gohan okay? We beat the bad guy. Well, Videl helped a little," Goten said.
Piccolo placed Gohan on Master Roshi's bed and moved back, tactically ignoring all questions and comments.
Videl made her way across the room with Master Roshi's help and added her question to the pot. "He's going to be okay. You can tell can't you, Piccolo? Should we call an ambulance?" The strain of the past hours was beginning to catch up with Videl. She couldn't seem to keep focused on the conversation. She just wanted Gohan to wake up and smile. She wanted him to tell her not to worry.
Piccolo exchanged a long look with Master Roshi. "He is poisoned, his energy signature."
"It's all wrong," Master Roshi said. "Maybe he'll shake it off. Hard to tell. Never seen anything like it."
"If it's poison we should get help. They have medicines," Videl said without really thinking. Wake up Gohan. Look at me.
Piccolo grunted. He knew Videl wasn't as oblivious as that comment indicated. "It isn't that type of poison."
"Can we help?" Goten asked. Trunks nodded solemnly.
Master Roshi stood up a little straighter. He knew how to help kids deal with a bad situation. Let them help, and keep them busy. "Of course you can. Both of you need to go home and let your mothers know you're okay. Goten, you tell Chi Chi to come here as soon as she possibly can." The two boys nodded, satisfied with their missions.
Videl was going to brush Gohan's hair back off his cool forehead, but his eyes were open and he was staring at her. "Gohan, are you okay?"
Gohan squeezed his eyes shut. What was happening to him. The last thing he remembered, Videl had been in his arms, then he was numb, like someone shot his mind full of Novocain. The moment replayed in his mind again. Videl did something to him. He stared hard at her. He wasn't angry, or sad, or curious. He didn't feel anything. "I feel weird, detached, like nothing can touch me."
Videl smiled and shrugged. "You're going to be okay. That thing tried to poison you and control you, but you're going to shake it off." He was going to smile and say everything was okay now. Videl was trembling and fresh tears were threatening to spill over. Just smile.
Master Roshi placed a hand on Videl's shoulder. "Do you know what that thing was trying to do? Maybe we'd be able to help Gohan if we knew more."
Videl looked up at Master Roshi and scrunched her shoulders together. "She talked to me some. That thing, she was like a parasite. She needed energy to perpetuate herself." A harsh rasp that might have been a laugh escaped her lips. "The funny thing was, originally she was some sort of failed love spell. A sorcerer just threw all his failed spells into this pocket dimension and she being the most powerful spell there, became dominant." Videl paused for a long moment and turned back to Gohan. Why didn't he ask her if she was okay? Why didn't he smile. Gohan would smile. He'd tell her not to worry.
Master Roshi squeezed her shoulder and nodded. "Is that all you know."
Videl shook her head. "Sorry. Ummm... She, that thing needed a powerful being to help perpetuate her growth and for sustenance. Because of her nature they had to be in love first. You see, she used their love to bind their mind and will to her, then she fed off them for as long as possible."
Master Roshi and Piccolo exchanged another long look. Whatever was going on with Gohan's energy signature was not a good sign. An emotionally cauterized Super-Sajin could become a dangerous commodity by anyone's standards.
Master Roshi offered Videl his arm. "You need to get cleaned up. I'll help you to the bathroom."
"I don't want to leave just yet," Videl said. He wasn't okay. How could she just leave him lying there so quiet. Master Roshi was tugging at her gently. He wasn't going to let her stay. "Just, let me." Videl leaned over Gohan and brushed her lips over his forehead. "I love you."
Piccolo waited until the door to the bedroom clicked shut and he took Videl's seat. "I need to test you a bit." Gohan just stared expressionless at his friend. Piccolo took Gohan's hand, pinched the skin together, and twisted. The initial spinal reflex to pain caused his hand to jerk for a moment but Gohan's expression didn't change, and he showed no sign of removing his hand from the stimulus. "Do you feel this?"
"Yes."
"Don't you want it to stop?"
"Why?"
Piccolo let Gohan's hand drop, a purple bruise gathering under its skin. A complete blank slate, if he didn't improve, he might as well be dead. "I'll ask you that again tomorrow. Maybe you'll have a better answer." A thousand memories flitted past Piccolo's mind's eye from the crybaby he'd abandoned in the wilderness to the proud warrior who defeated Cell. Gohan had been his student, but more importantly he'd been his first real friend.
The bedroom door banged open and Chi Chi rushed in, Goten following close behind. He must have flown her. "What happened? Is Gohan hurt?" Chi Chi's voice was near panic.
Goten froze barely through the door. "Mom, he really doesn't feel like Gohan at all anymore," he whispered. Piccolo moved back and let Chi Chi over to the bedside. "Piccolo, what's wrong with him?" Goten whispered while tugging on the Namek's cloak. "Is he okay?"
Chi Chi quickly tired of trying to communicate with her silent son. She spun around. "What happened? I've seen livelier frozen dinners." Panic danced in her eyes and played across her tense expression.
Piccolo shook his head sadly. "A creature we fought bound his will. Now he doesn't appear to be experiencing any emotions, no desires, not even a self-preservation drive. Hopefully, it won't last."
Chi Chi glared at the Namek, who just declared her son an emotional zombie. "Hopefully? I don't think so. You're going to do something, or so help me."
Goten slipped past the two adults and stood next to the bed. "Hey Gohan, you want to go home? Mom fixed roast beast. It's really good. I'm sure you'll feel better if you eat something. Come on, we'll go out the back way, since they're fighting." Gohan didn't argue. He let his little brother lead him out into the back yard. "Lets fly, okay. Just follow me."
