It was finally the morning, nobody had gotten an ounce of sleep last night,
Vegetal tried, but too much talking and muttering under sobs kept him
awake. Goku was nowhere to be found in the waiting room where everyone
attempted to rest and save their strength, he was keeping vigil at his sick
son's bedside.
"Why Gohan?" Goku sighed to himself as he watched his son struggle to breathe. He had desperately tried to fall asleep to help his chances, but had to be given medicine to put him out.
"Don't blame yourself Kakerot." Vegeta's voice was heard. Goku turned saddly to his friendly rival who stood in the doorway.
"Not now Vegeta." Goku closed his eyes tightly. Vegeta sighed, rolling his eyes.
"You can't help him and you know it." He came in.
"You're some help." Goku looked up at him and Vegeta tried to smile at all. But they turned back to the young saiyan as he drew in a sharp uneasy breath. He began to cough violently until it snapped him out of his sleep and he jerked up into his bed, keeling at the waist. "Gohan!"
"Snap out of it kid!" Vegeta cried and slapped him hard on the back. That stopped it.
"Thanks." Gohan whispered, struggling for breath. Vegeta smirked proudly, arrogantly.
"Whatever." Goku turned to his son. "Are you ok?" Gohan shrugged. "Gohan." Goku said strictly, causing his son to slump back down. Goku sighed, his son was so stubborn.
"Excuse me?" A meek voice asked and the turned to see a young nurse in the room. "I don't mean to be of any interruption, but somebody suggested I give you this." She placed down a small tea cup on the lamp table next to the bed. "It's lemon-honey tea." She said to Gohan.
"Say what?" He cocked his head like a cat.
"It should help your throat." She explained and Gohan nodded. "Oh, I also was told to give you this." She dug in her coat. Gohan and Goku's face turned white at what she held out.
"AH!" A shrill cry echoed through out the hospital. Startled, everyone in the waiting room ran into Gohan's hospital room. Chi-Chi came first and looked in with fear but laughed at what she saw. Gohan and Goku were standing on the small dresser across the room, hugging and holding each other like frightened little girls who had just seen a mouse under the table.
"All it is was a shot." The nurse shrugged and Gohan and Goku cringed.
"You have to excuse them, they have a fear of needles." Chi-Chi laughed embarrassedly.
"I see." The nurse scratched her head and left to tell the doctor this. "It's alright boys, the scary needle monster is gone." Vegeta said, mocking a little girl.
"Ha, ha." Gohan and Goku jumped down as everyone headed back to the waiting room.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Chi-Chi came over to her son. "You look so ill."
"Really mom, I'm ok." Gohan assured, holding back his pain and discomfort.
"Alright then." She sighed saddly.
"You really need to get some sleep, don't worry, I'll take care of him." Goku said.
"Ok." Chi-Chi hugged her husband and reluctantly went out the door.
"And as for you, go back to bed." Goku pointed to his son.
"What is that?" Vegeta sniffed the strange tea.
"I dunno." Gohan picked it up and sipped some to try it. "Ow!"
"What, too hot?" Vegeta laughed.
"No, it hurts!" Gohan clenched his throat in pain.
"What is it?" Goku shot up from his seat.
"My throat!" Gohan cried and began to cough violently again. Goku could only watch until the spell ended. Vegeta noticed how each cough made Goku tense and cringe.
"Are you ok now?" Goku slowly walked over to his son who looked like he was about to cry. Goku sighed, he knew how much his son hated hospitals, he hated them more than needles. "Hey, I have an idea." Goku picked up the spoon next to the tea cup. "Open up."
"What are you gonna do with that?" Gohan asked, his voice cracking out again.
"Well you won't stop complaining about your throat, so I'm gonna see what's wrong. Perhaps that will be something simple for the doctor to cure and we'll be able to end this new epidemic quickly, piece by piece." Goku explained what the doctor had told him earlier.
"If we can detect any normal viruses and eliminate them, perhaps we can cure this whole new disease. And if not, at least this new wave will spread less and not as hard." Vegeta added.
"Wow, you're smart." Gohan looked at him in shock. Goku laughed and then turned back to Gohan. "Alright." He nodded. "If it's to help mankind." He opened his mouth. Goku studied the spoon in his hand then turned it around so that he placed the handle down on Gohan's tongue. "Say ah." Goku instructed as Vegeta watched carefully and with curiosity.
"Ah." Gohan's voice came out raspy as Goku studied his son's infected throat.
"You know nothing of medicine Kakerot, let me do the honors." Vegeta shoved him aside and examined the young saiyan instead. "Jesus Christ you're sick boy!" He staggered back.
"Thanks for the encouragement." Gohan cleared his hoarse throat.
"Perhaps we should just let the doctor decide." Goku pouted and Vegeta agreed. Gohan was able to fall asleep easier this time, and on his own. Goku kept watch, his son would cough occasionally in his sleep and his raspy snoring was not a good sign. Just watching made Goku ill.
"How are we all this morning?" The doctor finally returned. "Sorry it took so long. Now I understand that he.... and you, fear needles, but I'm afraid he'll have to take them."
"Then can I just go outside." Goku asked meekly, like a frightened little boy.
"Ok." The doctor shrugged, seeing why not. Goku trotted outside as the doctor gave Gohan his shot. But since he was asleep he didn't feel it. "You can come back now." The doctor called and Goku poked his head in to see them just standing there. He came inside.
"Any news at all, good or bad?" Goku asked.
"Well, we have to do some other tests to see if we can cure any other parts of this sickness before we move onto the new stuff. We still show now positive testing with any medication on this new virus." The doctor said as he read his chart.
"How long can we expect to have before this epidemic spreads?" Vegeta asked.
"Well, because you were all with Gohan this morning, we all have to keep you quarantined here in the hospital until further notice." The doctor explained.
"What?" Vegeta and Goku cried, but they did understand.
"I was thinking, maybe there's something you can do for Gohan's throat, I mean, he's really been complaining about it and he sounds really bad." Goku suggested.
"You read my mind actually, that's our test for today." The doctor smiled. He went over and placed a hand on Gohan's head. "He still has a fever, but I'm not sure how high." He pulled out a thermometer, and as soon as he stuck it in Gohan's mouth, he woke up. "It's ok, I'm just taking your temperature." The doctor assured, so Gohan calmed down. After a minute of waiting the doctor took it out and everyone waited eagerly. "It's still pretty high, it's at 102 right now. We can always take care of this later, fevers are easy to work." He pulled out a small bottle of aspirin. "If you take these as instructed, the fever should break by tomorrow." "Great." Gohan cried hoarsely but began to cough again.
"Do you mind if I have a look see?" The doctor asked Gohan and he nodded. "Now there's a good boy. After we're done here we can get you some ice cream." Gohan perked up and Goku began to salivate.
"Haven't you had enough sweets? Gohan has inherited your sweet tooth." Vegeta said.
"I'm sorry, you were saying?" Gohan asked, eating an ice cream already.
"Indeed." The doctor smiled and Goku blushed. Gohan just sat up proudly. The doctor turned back to Gohan after getting his instruments. "Now Gohan, what I am about to do may cause some irritation and you might want to cough or gag, but don't worry, it's just natural."
"Ok." Gohan said, but he was secretly worried. Whenever a doctor would say it might tickle or cause you to cough, that means that it will really hurt. A shiver went down his spine and he felt the hairs on his neck beginning to bristle. But he decided to obey, it was to save the world.
"Now I want you to tilt your head back just a bit." The doctor pushed up on Gohan's chin. "Just a little more, ah, that's it." He positioned his head. The doctor took out a stick and a long q-tip and turned on the over head light. He aimed it so that it didn't shine strait into Gohan's eyes. Goku and Vegeta watched as the doctor opened Gohan's mouth. "Let's have you say ah now."
"Ah." Gohan's obeyed and stuck out his tongue as the doctor began to press the stick down his throat. Gohan tensed at the pain but kept it up.
"You're doing great." The doctor said, studying the details of the infection. "Aha, here we are." He noticed something and got the q-tip. "Now just bear with me here Gohan." The doctor said and Gohan kept up the 'ah' as the doctor began to probe at his throat. Goku watched protectively so that the doctor didn't hurt his son. The doctor stuck the long q-tip down Gohan's throat and began to scrape all over the walls and his swollen tonsils. Gohan coughed and gagged.
"Hey, are you ok?" Goku asked in a worried voice.
"Don't worry." The doctor assured as he finally stopped the sample taking process and set the q-tip down in a dish and went back to just looking. "Ok." He finally took out the oversized stick and Gohan began to cough and gag again. The doctor looked up to see Goku's worried eyes poking on him. "Well sir, your son is pretty sick I can tell. But until we get the test result we don't know if we have a means of curing him. We'll be back in an hour." The doctor left.
"Are you ok?" Goku went over to Gohan and began to rub his back.
"It just hurts." Gohan sniffed and began to cough again. Goku could tell that Gohan was very sick just by listening to him, he could tell that this was far worse than ammonia. Gohan fell asleep again, this strange disease was making him really tired. Goku sighed as he listened to his son's breathing. He could tell that his chest was full of infection and that it was really ailing him.
"Goku." A nurse came in and Goku turned. "We have some bad news."
"The test results were negative?" Goku tensed.
"No, those aren't done yet." The nurse replied and Goku nodded. "For some reason Gohan's lungs are filling up with fluid and we don't know why. It must be from the new disease inside him along with the others."
"What, fluid? Isn't that deadly?" Goku cried quietly.
"Yes, so we're going to inject a medicine that removes all liquid from the body. It will get rid of that, but immediately after Gohan will have to drink a large amount of water if he wants to stay alive." The nurse warned. As soon as he heard that, Goku ran off to find lots of water. After he left, the nurse got out the needle. Vegeta watched her give it to Gohan and wait. Gohan's eyes began to flutter and squeeze together. He began to breathe more rapidly and Vegeta could hear the difference in Gohan's breathing. It was much clearer, it didn't sound like he had ammonia anymore.
"That's amazing." Vegeta's eyes widened. "He's been practically cured!"
"No, there is still a lot wrong with him, but this does bring us one step closer." The nurse replied and Goku ran back in with a case of bottled arrowhead water.
"Ok I got it." He placed it down. "Wake up Gohan." He rubbed his son's messy hair.
"What?" He asked. "Oh man am I dehydrated. My mouth feels like a field of cotton balls." He began to try and clear his throat. "I need something to drink, bad." He struggled.
"Here, drink as much as you want." Goku shoved a bottle into his hand.
"Cool." Gohan grinned and began to drink. He drank and drank and drank, he drank so much water Goku was amazed that he didn't have to stop and used the bathroom. "Ok, I'm good." He looked around and realized that he had drank two cases of water.
"Wow." Goku's jaw dropped. "Well, how do you feel?"
"A lot better, I can breathe now." Gohan grinned but coughed. "But that's still there."
"Hello everyone." The doctor came in. "The results are in." He said and everyone tensed. "I'm afraid it's a bit of bad news though." He opened the paper and Goku held Gohan tightly. "I'm sorry Gohan, Goku. The results were negative. I'm afraid there is no available cure." Goku and Gohan felt their hearts sink, and even Vegeta could help but lower his head. The step foward they had just taken made no difference now, they had made a whole jump backwards.
"Why Gohan?" Goku sighed to himself as he watched his son struggle to breathe. He had desperately tried to fall asleep to help his chances, but had to be given medicine to put him out.
"Don't blame yourself Kakerot." Vegeta's voice was heard. Goku turned saddly to his friendly rival who stood in the doorway.
"Not now Vegeta." Goku closed his eyes tightly. Vegeta sighed, rolling his eyes.
"You can't help him and you know it." He came in.
"You're some help." Goku looked up at him and Vegeta tried to smile at all. But they turned back to the young saiyan as he drew in a sharp uneasy breath. He began to cough violently until it snapped him out of his sleep and he jerked up into his bed, keeling at the waist. "Gohan!"
"Snap out of it kid!" Vegeta cried and slapped him hard on the back. That stopped it.
"Thanks." Gohan whispered, struggling for breath. Vegeta smirked proudly, arrogantly.
"Whatever." Goku turned to his son. "Are you ok?" Gohan shrugged. "Gohan." Goku said strictly, causing his son to slump back down. Goku sighed, his son was so stubborn.
"Excuse me?" A meek voice asked and the turned to see a young nurse in the room. "I don't mean to be of any interruption, but somebody suggested I give you this." She placed down a small tea cup on the lamp table next to the bed. "It's lemon-honey tea." She said to Gohan.
"Say what?" He cocked his head like a cat.
"It should help your throat." She explained and Gohan nodded. "Oh, I also was told to give you this." She dug in her coat. Gohan and Goku's face turned white at what she held out.
"AH!" A shrill cry echoed through out the hospital. Startled, everyone in the waiting room ran into Gohan's hospital room. Chi-Chi came first and looked in with fear but laughed at what she saw. Gohan and Goku were standing on the small dresser across the room, hugging and holding each other like frightened little girls who had just seen a mouse under the table.
"All it is was a shot." The nurse shrugged and Gohan and Goku cringed.
"You have to excuse them, they have a fear of needles." Chi-Chi laughed embarrassedly.
"I see." The nurse scratched her head and left to tell the doctor this. "It's alright boys, the scary needle monster is gone." Vegeta said, mocking a little girl.
"Ha, ha." Gohan and Goku jumped down as everyone headed back to the waiting room.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Chi-Chi came over to her son. "You look so ill."
"Really mom, I'm ok." Gohan assured, holding back his pain and discomfort.
"Alright then." She sighed saddly.
"You really need to get some sleep, don't worry, I'll take care of him." Goku said.
"Ok." Chi-Chi hugged her husband and reluctantly went out the door.
"And as for you, go back to bed." Goku pointed to his son.
"What is that?" Vegeta sniffed the strange tea.
"I dunno." Gohan picked it up and sipped some to try it. "Ow!"
"What, too hot?" Vegeta laughed.
"No, it hurts!" Gohan clenched his throat in pain.
"What is it?" Goku shot up from his seat.
"My throat!" Gohan cried and began to cough violently again. Goku could only watch until the spell ended. Vegeta noticed how each cough made Goku tense and cringe.
"Are you ok now?" Goku slowly walked over to his son who looked like he was about to cry. Goku sighed, he knew how much his son hated hospitals, he hated them more than needles. "Hey, I have an idea." Goku picked up the spoon next to the tea cup. "Open up."
"What are you gonna do with that?" Gohan asked, his voice cracking out again.
"Well you won't stop complaining about your throat, so I'm gonna see what's wrong. Perhaps that will be something simple for the doctor to cure and we'll be able to end this new epidemic quickly, piece by piece." Goku explained what the doctor had told him earlier.
"If we can detect any normal viruses and eliminate them, perhaps we can cure this whole new disease. And if not, at least this new wave will spread less and not as hard." Vegeta added.
"Wow, you're smart." Gohan looked at him in shock. Goku laughed and then turned back to Gohan. "Alright." He nodded. "If it's to help mankind." He opened his mouth. Goku studied the spoon in his hand then turned it around so that he placed the handle down on Gohan's tongue. "Say ah." Goku instructed as Vegeta watched carefully and with curiosity.
"Ah." Gohan's voice came out raspy as Goku studied his son's infected throat.
"You know nothing of medicine Kakerot, let me do the honors." Vegeta shoved him aside and examined the young saiyan instead. "Jesus Christ you're sick boy!" He staggered back.
"Thanks for the encouragement." Gohan cleared his hoarse throat.
"Perhaps we should just let the doctor decide." Goku pouted and Vegeta agreed. Gohan was able to fall asleep easier this time, and on his own. Goku kept watch, his son would cough occasionally in his sleep and his raspy snoring was not a good sign. Just watching made Goku ill.
"How are we all this morning?" The doctor finally returned. "Sorry it took so long. Now I understand that he.... and you, fear needles, but I'm afraid he'll have to take them."
"Then can I just go outside." Goku asked meekly, like a frightened little boy.
"Ok." The doctor shrugged, seeing why not. Goku trotted outside as the doctor gave Gohan his shot. But since he was asleep he didn't feel it. "You can come back now." The doctor called and Goku poked his head in to see them just standing there. He came inside.
"Any news at all, good or bad?" Goku asked.
"Well, we have to do some other tests to see if we can cure any other parts of this sickness before we move onto the new stuff. We still show now positive testing with any medication on this new virus." The doctor said as he read his chart.
"How long can we expect to have before this epidemic spreads?" Vegeta asked.
"Well, because you were all with Gohan this morning, we all have to keep you quarantined here in the hospital until further notice." The doctor explained.
"What?" Vegeta and Goku cried, but they did understand.
"I was thinking, maybe there's something you can do for Gohan's throat, I mean, he's really been complaining about it and he sounds really bad." Goku suggested.
"You read my mind actually, that's our test for today." The doctor smiled. He went over and placed a hand on Gohan's head. "He still has a fever, but I'm not sure how high." He pulled out a thermometer, and as soon as he stuck it in Gohan's mouth, he woke up. "It's ok, I'm just taking your temperature." The doctor assured, so Gohan calmed down. After a minute of waiting the doctor took it out and everyone waited eagerly. "It's still pretty high, it's at 102 right now. We can always take care of this later, fevers are easy to work." He pulled out a small bottle of aspirin. "If you take these as instructed, the fever should break by tomorrow." "Great." Gohan cried hoarsely but began to cough again.
"Do you mind if I have a look see?" The doctor asked Gohan and he nodded. "Now there's a good boy. After we're done here we can get you some ice cream." Gohan perked up and Goku began to salivate.
"Haven't you had enough sweets? Gohan has inherited your sweet tooth." Vegeta said.
"I'm sorry, you were saying?" Gohan asked, eating an ice cream already.
"Indeed." The doctor smiled and Goku blushed. Gohan just sat up proudly. The doctor turned back to Gohan after getting his instruments. "Now Gohan, what I am about to do may cause some irritation and you might want to cough or gag, but don't worry, it's just natural."
"Ok." Gohan said, but he was secretly worried. Whenever a doctor would say it might tickle or cause you to cough, that means that it will really hurt. A shiver went down his spine and he felt the hairs on his neck beginning to bristle. But he decided to obey, it was to save the world.
"Now I want you to tilt your head back just a bit." The doctor pushed up on Gohan's chin. "Just a little more, ah, that's it." He positioned his head. The doctor took out a stick and a long q-tip and turned on the over head light. He aimed it so that it didn't shine strait into Gohan's eyes. Goku and Vegeta watched as the doctor opened Gohan's mouth. "Let's have you say ah now."
"Ah." Gohan's obeyed and stuck out his tongue as the doctor began to press the stick down his throat. Gohan tensed at the pain but kept it up.
"You're doing great." The doctor said, studying the details of the infection. "Aha, here we are." He noticed something and got the q-tip. "Now just bear with me here Gohan." The doctor said and Gohan kept up the 'ah' as the doctor began to probe at his throat. Goku watched protectively so that the doctor didn't hurt his son. The doctor stuck the long q-tip down Gohan's throat and began to scrape all over the walls and his swollen tonsils. Gohan coughed and gagged.
"Hey, are you ok?" Goku asked in a worried voice.
"Don't worry." The doctor assured as he finally stopped the sample taking process and set the q-tip down in a dish and went back to just looking. "Ok." He finally took out the oversized stick and Gohan began to cough and gag again. The doctor looked up to see Goku's worried eyes poking on him. "Well sir, your son is pretty sick I can tell. But until we get the test result we don't know if we have a means of curing him. We'll be back in an hour." The doctor left.
"Are you ok?" Goku went over to Gohan and began to rub his back.
"It just hurts." Gohan sniffed and began to cough again. Goku could tell that Gohan was very sick just by listening to him, he could tell that this was far worse than ammonia. Gohan fell asleep again, this strange disease was making him really tired. Goku sighed as he listened to his son's breathing. He could tell that his chest was full of infection and that it was really ailing him.
"Goku." A nurse came in and Goku turned. "We have some bad news."
"The test results were negative?" Goku tensed.
"No, those aren't done yet." The nurse replied and Goku nodded. "For some reason Gohan's lungs are filling up with fluid and we don't know why. It must be from the new disease inside him along with the others."
"What, fluid? Isn't that deadly?" Goku cried quietly.
"Yes, so we're going to inject a medicine that removes all liquid from the body. It will get rid of that, but immediately after Gohan will have to drink a large amount of water if he wants to stay alive." The nurse warned. As soon as he heard that, Goku ran off to find lots of water. After he left, the nurse got out the needle. Vegeta watched her give it to Gohan and wait. Gohan's eyes began to flutter and squeeze together. He began to breathe more rapidly and Vegeta could hear the difference in Gohan's breathing. It was much clearer, it didn't sound like he had ammonia anymore.
"That's amazing." Vegeta's eyes widened. "He's been practically cured!"
"No, there is still a lot wrong with him, but this does bring us one step closer." The nurse replied and Goku ran back in with a case of bottled arrowhead water.
"Ok I got it." He placed it down. "Wake up Gohan." He rubbed his son's messy hair.
"What?" He asked. "Oh man am I dehydrated. My mouth feels like a field of cotton balls." He began to try and clear his throat. "I need something to drink, bad." He struggled.
"Here, drink as much as you want." Goku shoved a bottle into his hand.
"Cool." Gohan grinned and began to drink. He drank and drank and drank, he drank so much water Goku was amazed that he didn't have to stop and used the bathroom. "Ok, I'm good." He looked around and realized that he had drank two cases of water.
"Wow." Goku's jaw dropped. "Well, how do you feel?"
"A lot better, I can breathe now." Gohan grinned but coughed. "But that's still there."
"Hello everyone." The doctor came in. "The results are in." He said and everyone tensed. "I'm afraid it's a bit of bad news though." He opened the paper and Goku held Gohan tightly. "I'm sorry Gohan, Goku. The results were negative. I'm afraid there is no available cure." Goku and Gohan felt their hearts sink, and even Vegeta could help but lower his head. The step foward they had just taken made no difference now, they had made a whole jump backwards.