Author's Note: Well, it's only days away until FF.Net is up and running (hopefully). As you can see, I am still typing. I hope that I can get at least the first three chapters up by either August 10th or 11th. I hope that you enjoy this story as much as I do. Well, on with Chapter 2...


Disclaimer: No, I don't own DBZ or its characters.





Desperate Search
Chapter 2-The Discovery



Lime's POV:
I opened my eyes as the warm sun came through my window and hit my face. I smiled at the beauty of the day. Knowing I had chores to do, I quickly got out of bed, washed up, and threw on some clothes. Then I ran into the kitchen where I found Ojiisan making breakfast.

"Ohayo, Ojiisan!" I warmly greeted him as I entered the kitchen.

"Oh, ohayo, Lime," he returned, turning away from the food to greet me and then he returned to making breakfast.

"It's a beautiful day! Too bad it may end after the Cell Games," I told Ojiisan.

"Hai, it is a beautiful day. Demo, it won't end. Remember, Son Goku and Son Gohan are going up against Cell in his games. One of them will defeat that nasty Cell," Ojiisan said, optimistically.

"I hope so," I replied.

"Let's not think about it, Lime-chan. Anyway, breakfast is ready!" Ojiisan dished out the food and we sat down to a great breakfast.

After breakfast, Ojiisan and I set about our chores. It was during chores that something went dreadfully wrong...



I was helping Ojiisan while he chopped wood when a loud explosion interrupted the quiet morning. It wasn't long after when a pained scream erupted and sharply stopped. After Ojiisan and I heard that, we looked at each other and exchanged worried glances.

"Ojiisan, what just happened?" I anxiously asked.

"Let me focus, Lime!" he told me with a scared tone to his voice. I bit my lip and kept quiet while he concentrated. After a long, nerve-racking pause, he spoke in a grave voice, "Two very powerful forces just clashed. One overpowered the other, and that one has been hurt. We have to find the hurt one! It may be in serious trouble! Follow me, Lime!" he commanded me, sternly, and started to run into the woods behind our house.

"Huh? Okay," I said, trying to absorb everything that Ojiisan had said. I quietly followed Ojiisan into the forest. When I caught up to him, I caught my breath, then asked him, "Ojiisan, what are we looking for?" I hadn't fully understood him when he had rushed to tell me before.

At first, he didn't seem to be listening, so I spoke up again, "Ojiisan?"

Ojiisan seemed to snap out his trance into reality at the sound of my voice after the second attempt. He turned and answered, "Lime, let's split up. We are looking for someone who is hurt."

Noticing the urgency of his voice, I complied and ran off in a different direction. Before I got too far, I heard my ojiisan murmur, "I don't like what I sense." Instantly worried to a greater degree than before, I quickly, yet warily, scanned the woods as I ran. 'I hope whoever we find isn't seriously hurt,' I thought as I searched.

I searched bushes, by large boulders, by trees, everywhere looking for someone injured. Demo, everywhere I looked, I found nothing. 'I guess I better see how Ojiisan is doing. Hopefully he's found something!' my thoughts prayed as I went in search of my ojiisan. I spotted him looking around in a dense thicket, and ran over to him.

"Ojiisan, I looked everywhere I could for at least an hour and couldn't find anything! Maybe the person wasn't as hurt as we thought and got help. Let's give up!" I complained.

"Okay, Lime. Let me just make one more round," he told me as he searched the area one last time. When he pulled back the branches of a bush, I heard him gasp. "Lime, come here! Quickly!" he cried with urgency.

Hearing him call me over, I scrambled to his side as fast as my short legs could carry me. When I saw what he had found, I, too, gasped.

A heart-wrenching sight lay before us. A boy, not too much older than me, was sprawled out on the ground looking quite dead. He had a deep gash on his forehead and his skin was scratched and burned in multiple places. The cut was jagged and was bleeding freely, so by his head there was a pool of deep crimson blood. Besides his wounds, he had dark, raven-colored hair and wore a torn purple fighting gi. He also wore a strange white cape, which was also torn and showed a slight reddish color where his blood had soaked it.

As we stared at the pale form of the boy, a silence settled between us. To break the silence, I spoke up, "Is he alive, Ojiisan?"

"Let me check. I'm not sure myself," he said as he cautiously went up to the cadaver of a child. He gently checked the boy's neck and wrist for any sign of a pulse. His concerned expression slowly faded to a relieved smile. "Lime, his pulse is extremely weak, demo, he is alive! Come assist me in picking him up. If we don't help him soon, he WILL die."

A smile worked itself onto my face as I heard the news, demo, it settled itself into a look of determination as I aided Ojiisan in picking him up. When I had finished helping the boy into Ojiisan's arms, we ran off to the house, knowing that time was crucial. I ran ahead to prepare a bed for our wounded guest. As I pushed myself to go as fast as I could I thought, 'I won't let that boy die! He's too young! Ojiisan and I will save him! Time better not run out!'

When Ojiisan finally arrived with him, we gently placed the boy upon the bed I had made, and Ojiisan set to work. First he cleansed the wound, which made even the unconscious boy flinch. When that was done, Ojiisan dressed and bandaged the wound.

"What do we do now, Ojiisan?" I asked, quietly, so as not to disturb the now sleeping boy.

"We wait until he awakens. When he does, we'll find out how bad the wound is and all about him. Until then, there are chores to be done! C'mon, Lime!" he motioned me outside.

"Demo, I want to stay and watch him. I want to make sure that he is alright," I protested.

"Iie, Lime. We should leave him alone. He needs rest. You can spend time with him when he awakens," he sternly stated.

"Okay..." I quietly said, defeated. Sighing and looking back at the boy, I went out to do chores with Ojiisan.

It took him a few days to become conscious again. Over that time, I kept a constant vigil over him, well, at least as often as I could. One night I sat in a chair to wait, and fell asleep. Little did I know that the next day, he would finally awaken...





As I felt the warm sun heat my face, I tried to open my eyes. When I couldn't, at least not with ease, I thought, 'Why can't I open my eyes? Why are they so heavy?' After several tries, I finally managed to force them open. When I did, I immediately regretted it. A sudden wave of dizziness overcame me and I was afraid I would fall unconscious again. 'Why do I feel so dizzy?' As a throbbing pain made itself evident, I wondered why. 'And why does my head hurt a lot? What did I do? What happened?' The sudden maelstrom of thoughts made me even dizzier, so I stopped thinking about making up questions and groaned in pain, instead. I reached up to hold my throbbing head and discovered it was wrapped in a bandage. I felt something warm and sticky soak my hand and when I withdrew it, it was covered in blood. 'I'm bleeding! What happened to me?'

I heard a sudden stirring near me and I looked over to see what it was. When I turned, I found myself face-to-face with a girl. We both cried out in surprise and the girl fell off her chair. "You...you're awake!" she stammered and I looked at her, confused. 'What's going on? 'You're awake!'...? What is she talking about?' Then she shouted to someone else apparently in the house, "Ojiisan! Come quick! He's awake!"

Then I heard a voice of an old man answer, "Lime, don't shout! What's all the commotion? He's awake?" At that moment a kind-looking elderly man entered. "Oh! So, young man, you're finally awake! We were worried about you. Here, how about I change that bandage for you?" his face cracked a smile as he expressed the concern of the girl and himself.

As he changed my bandage, I asked, "Who are you? What happened? How did I get here?" Feeling dizzy again, I laid back down and fortunately, the old man was done changing my bandage.

"This is Lime and I'm her ojiisan," the old man explained, introducing me to his granddaughter and himself.

When I heard that, I grabbed my head in pain. 'Why I recognize them? How do I know them?'

"Young man, are you okay?" the old man now had worry and concern written all over his face.

The pain subsided and I noticed that I had caused concern. "Hai. Gomen nasai. Please continue," I quickly replied.

"Well, we found you unconscious and badly wounded in the woods. We bought you home and treated your wound. So, you are in our house. And you are welcome to stay until you feel healthy enough to leave on your own," the old man explained.

"Arigato," I murmured.

"It's no problem at all! Now, how are you feeling?"

"My head really hurts and I feel really dizzy," I complained.

"You will feel headachy and dizzy until that wound heals better. Demo, I surprised how fast it's healing already. Anyway, tell us what happened. How did you get hurt?" the old man started asking questions of me.

Even though thinking hard made my head hurt, I concentrated hard, trying to remember. I looked up awhile later as I realized, "I can't remember. I don't know."

Exchanging worried glances, Lime's ojiisan decided to try, "Who are you? Can you remember that?"

I thought hard again and when I didn't answer for a while, they grew fearful. "I...don't...know..." I quietly trailed off.

"Oh dear!" the old man cried, and the girl looked at her ojiisan, with a scared look on her face.

"What's wrong with him, Ojiisan?" she finally asked.

"He has amnesia. Until he can remember, he should stay with us. We can't have Cell find him," he stated.

At the mention of Cell, my head throbbed again. I quickly grabbed it and moaned in pain.

"What's happening to him, Ojiisan?" Lime cried.

"Apparently, whenever he hears something vaguely familiar, his head hurts. Apparently, he knows Cell and us. How? I don't know. Demo, that's only my guess," he deduced from when my head hurt. "Young man, you may get your memory back quite soon," he said, turning to me. "Until then, you are welcome to stay with us."

"Arigato, sir. Domo arigato..."




Next Desperate Search: Son Goku and Chi-Chi discover that Son Gohan is missing. Son Goku goes to Kami's Lookout where he summons his friends to come for an important meeting. The other Z-Senshi are told of Son Gohan's hidden powers and they realize that Cell may also be looking for the boy, so they start a desperate search for Son Goku's son. It turns out that Cell IS looking for the boy, too. Who will find Son Gohan first?

Find out in Chapter 3-Missing




Author's Note: This takes place six days before the Cell Games (or two days after Son Gohan met Lime). Son Gohan is unconscious for two days, so there are only FOUR days until the Cell Games.









Well, two down, one to go! I promise to have at least three chapters done, maybe even more by either August 10th or 11th (depends on how late it is when I return on the 10th). Can't wait until then. Ja!

ssj1songohan