Part 2
Save planet Aeesu. That was their mission. How were they going to do it? When was the planet going to be destroyed? Who was going to be doing the destroying? How long would it take? Not even the Kami Larkas knew. And all the while they would have to work with their greatest enemies?
Son Gohan decided right then and there that he would not like this. Start to finish, he had a premonition that he would be miserable. He fidgeted from one foot to the other as he anxiously worked up millions of questions, each desperate to be answered, but didn't dare open his mouth.
Larkas didn't seem very tolerant of questions.
Nevertheless, the boy had opened his mouth and squeaked the first half of the word 'but' before he caught himself.
The Kami slowly turned his eyes, now a clear bluish color, to stare at him. The dark pupils in the center were penetrating and sharp as a well honed knife. Gohan quickly swallowed the question that had tried to claw its way to the surface like a crazed demon and turned his dark eyes onto the floor, folding his hands behind his back. An uncomfortable silence hung heavily in the air.
Freeza kept shifting his balance from one foot to the other as he watched his claw like feet; Bojack stared out at the view of planet Aeesu; casting weary, suspicions glances at Gohan. Garlic stewed and glared -- discretely, sure -- at Larkas. He didn't like Kamis. The current situation wasn't helping much.
Bojack itched his arm. Freeza lashed his tail with a whip sound. Larkas kept staring at Gohan, who was squirming under the intense color changing scrutiny as though he felt guilty for having almost asked a question. Bojack started to carefully inspect the string of one of his necklaces and picked a hair off of his chest.
"All right, fine. You win. What's your question?"
All four of them jumped at the sudden command Larkas had issued.
"Me?" Gohan asked hesitantly, putting a hand against his chest, looking around the room as though he might find someone to explain something to him.
"Yes you. You look like your going to explode any minute if you don't release some of the questions swimming around in your head, so just say them," he commanded, "Our sources say you're remarkably intelligent. Let's hear a destined-to-be scholar's well thought out musings."
Well, that certainly increased the pressure the boy was under. Was the Kami expecting an ingenious question? A well thought out, carefully worded, thought provoking stream of art in words? Gohan certainly hoped not because at the moment most of his questions possessed only one syllable. Why? Where? Who? When?
"Ah...," he said, suddenly feeling devastatingly self-conscious. He cast hesitant glances around the dark room, suddenly wishing with all his heart and soul that he could have just one person he knew to smile reassuringly at him. Naturally, he received soul shattering scowls from all corners, "Well, I just wanted to know why. Why are we supposed to do it?"
Bojack raised an eyebrow at the question, Garlic nodded his head at the legitimacy and Freeza continued to scowl. All three turned to see if Larkas would answer. The Kami looked angry. His eyebrows were knotted, his eyes brooding.
"A simplistically good question," Larkas said, and his eyes drifted to neon green. Gohan relaxed a hair, "We were looking for certain people that would help out with the mission. We carefully studied this realities past and found some rather... odd occurrences."
Everyone was perfectly able to relate to that statement. They had all had their fair share of strangeness.
"And as it turned out, most of the people I required were dead. Naturally this was no good. I needed them alive," Larkas considered and reconsidered, his eyes flashing wildly from one bright color to another, "So, I decided to use ghost-link. This technique allows a Kami to attach spirits onto a living soul and borrow a tiny bit of life from them. Like possession, only the spirit gets their original body back instead of living in the same one as the host."
"So I'm possessed?" the boy's voice cracked at the most disagreeable news.
Larkas gave him a look and Gohan clamped his mouth shut immediately, biting his tongue in the literal sense and adding to the random madness of his current situation. For a generally quiet kid, it was harder than he thought to remain silent.
"In order for the link to work I needed to find an agreeable host," he gave Gohan a look to keep him from saying 'but I didn't agree!'
"In order for the whole linking process to work, I needed someone nearly opposite the spirit in every way, yet knows them well. Since it's hard to find someone opposite in the physical sense, I searched for a contradicting state of mind. Son Gohan, your pure heart and shining soul gleamed from one side of the universe to the other. And since the spirits of my required subjects are more that a little questionable, you were a perfect choice. I wouldn't have chosen you if you had never met them."
"But... why do you need them?" Gohan asked, hoping that his question would be answered instead of punished.
"Because," Larkas continued, not seeming the least bit irritable that the boy had spoken again, "I need Freeza because he knows the planet; it's rather doubtful you would be able to find your way over Aeesu-sei on your own. That and he was the only Aeesu-jin that happened to know someone with a pure heart."
Gohan nodded his head slowly, "That makes sense I guess but why the other two?"
"To date, Garlic, the second, is the only known person in both of our realities to have immortality. I thought this fact might come in useful and handy. Don't you?"
Gohan pressed his lips together despondently and, though he had a feeling what the answer would be, asked, "And Bojack?"
"Three is an important number when dealing with the dead," the Kami said, flicking his long hair from behind his back to rest softly on his shoulder, "And I thought some extra muscle power for the grunt work might come in handy."
It was pretty obvious that Bojack was insulted that the Kami felt his phenomenal strength was so despicable as to be referred to as 'grunt work.' His blue face turned a shade darker. He was a smart man, however, and knew when to keep his fumes in check... most of the time.
"If you wanted powerful, deceased warriors that that knew... me-," he obviously did not appreciate being referred to as 'pure', "-why not ask Cell?" Gohan found that he spat the name out with more malice than he expected, "He was even stronger than Bojack."
"Don't think I didn't consider it, Son Gohan," Larkas tilted his head forward in a warning way, "But I did take your personal opinions into mind as much as I could. I had a feeling that neither you or Cell would agree to work together no matter how much pain and persuasion I threatened you with."
Gohan agreed mentally, though remained still.
"What makes you think we'll agree to do what you want?" Garlic finally asked. He had been keeping his mouth carefully shut, for if anyone knew about patience it was him, considering his long, long stay in the Dead Zone, but things were going too far. He hated Kamis. Having this one simply assume he was only there to serve was too much for the demon and he had to speak out his disapproval.
"Agreed. Or what if we say we'll help," Freeza cut in, arms crossed, head tilted down threateningly, "and once we're really back and alive we gang up, kill the kid, and go on with our nasty little lives?" He was, notably, mocking the Kami's reference to them as being 'evil'.
Gohan didn't even flinch at the mention of his own demise. He knew, though with no real pride in the knowledge, that he could take them all on if he needed to, even if it did mean resorting to using his frightening ultimate power.
That didn't mean he liked hearing it. He hoped deep down that this was all a really warped dream -- which he had been having a lot of lately. But the shadow of pain in his head from previous punishment Larkas had dealt out was more than enough to convince him this was real. Either way he was ready to accept it. Far too many strange things had happened to him in his short life for much to phase him anymore.
Still, he wanted to go home.
I'm hungry... The simple, out of the blue thought popped into Gohan's head from somewhere deep in his mind. When he thought about it, he realized he had missed lunch, or should be eating it at that very moment instead of sitting in that dark room with his hated enemies. Such a primitive need, yet the boy knew it could pose a problem in the future. He hoped he would get a chance to eat before he went.
"Because," Larkas started to answer Freeza's question, interrupting Gohan's suddenly screaming bodily needs, "It's Son Gohan's living spirit that keeps you ticking as we speak. If that boy were to die, you and Bojack would return to the afterlife, and Garlic would return to his own personal hell."
"And I'm stronger than before," Gohan found himself saying. He stared down at his own mouth, curious as to why it had chosen to become competitive. Must be the hunger kicking in.
"How much stronger could you have possibly gotten?" Freeza asked, tilting his chin up as he spoke.
Gohan's eyes became harder, and he found a tart reply attempting to creep to the surface.
"If you all continue this bickering, I shall be forced to take appropriate action."
The Kami's threat silenced all four of them immediately.
"It would do all of you good to keep in mind that this task doesn't only involve me and my realities future, but your own. And yes, though you two may be dead, you still exist. Still feel. The afterlife is just a longer written chapter of your actual life. And even you, Garlic. You exist, you are aware, you caused your own unique ripple in time, did you not? If you don't go on this mission, you will never have existed. You should be grateful that I am giving you this chance."
The Kami turned his gaze to Gohan to see if the boy was going to take a stab at rebellion as well, but the young halfling remained discrete.
"Son Gohan," Larkas said, the lilting frustration in his voice that he had used when addressing the three black hearted individuals gone, replaced with an almost comforting tone. Hell, it was downright friendly.
"Sir?" the boy asked, nearly as disturbed by the Kami's kind sounding voice as he was by his harsher one. When people usually changed their tone that fast they had bad things up their sleeves. Painful things.
"Come here," Larkas commanded and raised a hand. Even more disturbed than before, the boy slowly approached, watching carefully to see if he was suddenly going to be attacked, body tense. At four feet away -- for he deeply didn't want to go any closer, as any less distance and he would be in range of the Kami's long arms -- Gohan stopped.
When the Kami spoke, it was dreadfully official, "Son Gohan, having three extra souls attached to yours can put a strain on the body. That is one reason that I am so grateful you are as strong as you are, for if you were not, I don't think you could handle it. The effects and weight of these other souls cannot be felt here, but once I put you out there," he gestured to the planet, "It may be very heavy at first. You will adapt and become used to it, but it may take a while."
Gohan nodded his head, but silently wished that Piccolo-san were there with him, just to have someone to talk to. Or Kuririn-san. Even Vegita-san would be better company than being alone.
Boy, away from home for an hour and I'm already home sick. Gohan took some amusement as well as sadness at this thought.
"So to help your body handle the strain, I shall heal it," the Kami said, raising his hand and letting it rest lightly on Gohan's head. The boy fidgeted. It was a seldom few that Gohan felt comfortable with that close to him. He felt closed in.
"Heal? But I'm not hurt-"
"Not immediately, no. You're the healthiest being in this universe and mine, but your body is still in considerably miserable shape. Now hold still and relax for a second."
Gohan tried to do as he was told, but holding still was the last thing he felt like doing. He was more pressed to keep his mind under control. At this close proximity the boy was sure the Kami would be able to read his mind. He didn't even bother trying to relax. He was actually trying to stay tense in preparation for the unknown.
At first, nothing happened. He felt nothing but the cold hand of the Kami rested lightly on his forehead. That's where it started. His head.
It was a warm, rolling feeling, dipping into his skin like warm water. It pressed over his scalp, gently tingling each hair as it rolled off the back of his head and over his face. It felt so much like water that Gohan held his breath as it began to creep down over his face, but couldn't help but inhale in pleasure as his eyes relaxed under the warm feeling. It traveled over his nose, straightening out the small bends and lumps resulting from hundreds of broken noses going without proper treating, left to heal on their own while other, more pressing injuries were addressed.
Setting his jaw better, it traveled down his neck, and warmed and relaxed trick muscles and improperly healed collar bones. Furthering down, it dissolved scar tissue internally and externally into smooth, durable skin. Hard, lumpy fissures in his ribs from multiple breakings were smoothed out till they were as soft as silk. The boy took a deep breath with his new ribs, ribs that had never been broken, yet were as strong as they were when they had been.
Tingling through wrongly healed internal injuries, rearranging organs to more agreeable places, and working down through his leg muscles. Pinched nerves, crooked bones, injuries that he hadn't thought about for years as well as ones that might stay fresh in his mind for the remainder of his life. The warmth slid down into his boots, caressing his ankles and carefully administering to each little toe. Then it vanished.
Slowly Gohan opened his eyes to find that the Kami had removed his hand from the his head.
"How...?" the boy's voice was soft, sounding sharper to his newly healed ears. He never would have thought his ears had been injured in battle, but they certainly hadn't felt this good in a long time, if ever.
"Senzu beans aren't truly meant for healing," Larkas said calmly, "They are meant to restore a person to their full power. That just happens to require healing one if their hurt. They don't heal efficiently, though they do it quickly."
Gohan nodded his head in acknowledgment, marveling at how fluidly his neck moved. Perhaps he wasn't paying a good attention as he should, but he couldn't help himself; it felt so good.
"And as for the little Nameksei-jin Kami of your planet..."
"Hmm?" Gohan asked, trying hard to pay attention as he watched his hands clench into fists and unclench smoothly. His palms were still as rough as ever, able to put flatly against an active chainsaw blade without a scratch, yet the joints and sinews felt so loose, so smooth! "What about Dende?"
"He is indeed a talented healer, especially at his tender age. But I am far older than he, with far more experience. So his healings were amateur Only fixing the most immediate problems of the body and even then it was inadequate healings... How do you feel, Son Gohan?"
Gohan carefully ran his hand along the back of his neck, feeling for the tell tale twist where it had broken when he was very young. The irregular curvature was gone. He slid his hand along his rib cage, feeling for the parts where he could feel and, in some places, see the uneven, abused ribs of a fighter. They were all perfectly aligned.
Freeza, Bojack and Garlic all watch curiously and skeptically. They didn't know exactly what was going on, but they understood the gist.
"I feel good. Very good... but...," the boy forced his mind to be practical, "All those broken and healed bones have helped me over the years. When bones are broken and healed, the healed part is stronger than the actual bone."
The Kami was silent a moment, studying the boy's face, before saying slowly, "I'm glad you weren't blinded by the feeling of having a perfect body," Gohan flinched at the term 'perfect body', "But don't worry. That extra durable material found in knitted bones had been grafted into your whole skeletal structure, making protection against injury more widespread. I just worked out the irregularities."
"Oh.....," the youth inspected his arms, carefully searching out his known scars and taking more and more delight in being unable to find them, "Thank you."
"Indeed," Larkas waited a moment more for the boy to get used to his now unscathed body, "But I'm afraid that's all we have time for. Now you must be on your way. And remember, Son Gohan."
Gohan looked the Kami in the eyes, sensing the importance of the next statement.
"You must have three evil souls connected to you at all times. If one of the three in your charge should die, I can't reattach them. I'll have to find another evil soul to connect. I think you know which candidate I'm looking at here."
Gohan nodded, swallowing a large, thick lump of a strong emotion, "Yes. Cell. I... really want to avoid that."
"I know, so try to keep those three out of trouble," Larkas grinned for the first time, and Gohan was pleasantly surprised to find that the smile suited his face much better than the scowl. And at that second the boy wondered what the Kami was like normally. Did he smile often? Did he laugh a lot? Did he heal the warriors of his reality? Was there a devil in his reality? Was the devil like Piccolo or Garlic? What troubles had his reality seen?
These questions Gohan stored in the back of his memory in case he ever had a chance to ask them. Maybe he would someday visit that other reality. Maybe he wouldn't.
"I'm ready to go now," Gohan said, straightening his posture, squaring his shoulders; trying to look braver than he felt.
"I know," Larkas said, his smile fading slightly as he looked the boy's body over once, as though regretting that he was sending such a child into such a vital mission, "The only thing I can tell you about the destruction of Aeesu-sei is that the people who intend to destroy it are already on the planet. They are incredible warriors, so beware."
"I will. Thank you for giving us the chance to set things right."
Things in their sight started to haze as though all four of them were passing out in unison. The last things Gohan remembered hearing and seeing were of Kami Larkas smiling sadly.
Take care, Son Gohan. Take care.
To be continued.....
Previous Part -- Contradicting Mission -- Next Part
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