For The Love of ChiChi
Part Three
It was time for the semi-finals to begin at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Yamcha stepped out of the fighter's room confused. He saw ChiChi run off but he thought ChiChi would be back to see Goku fight. "Hey, where's ChiChi? Shouldn't she be here to see you fight, Goku? After all, she's your fiancée."
Goku shrugged his shoulders. "ChiChi said she had some things to do. Maybe she's busy about it and forgot about the time."
"Yeah, but she was so excited for you to marry her. You would think she'd stay to see you fight," Krillin said.
Goku shrugged his shoulders again. "Maybe she changed her mind about wanting to see me fight."
Krillin crossed his arms. "I don't know. She was really impressed at how you defeated her. ChiChi would be even more amazed about your skills now you're going to be in a real fight," Krillin pointed to Tien who was waiting for the announcer to mention first match in the semi-finals.
"You think so?" Goku said tossing a hand behind his head puzzled.
"Oh, yeah. A girl is always impressed by a strong man. She'd want to give you hugs and kisses."
"Hugs and kisses?" Goku felt a blush rise on his cheeks as he thought about the kiss ChiChi gave him. "Just by being strong?" Is that why she kissed me?
"Stop it, Krillin. You're embarrassing him," Yamcha joined in. "I think it's best we let ChiChi explain all that to him."
Overhead, everyone heard the announcer called for Goku and Tien to enter the ring to begin their match. "You two are strange," Goku said as he joined Tien in the ring to begin his fight.
ChiChi looked outside the window of the airplane worried about her father. As soon as they left the tournament, Takashi and ChiChi went to the airport and caught the first flight off the island where they would be taken to the city nearest Ox King's home. There they would drive the rest of the way in Takashi's capsule car.
ChiChi left her home with anger in her heart for her father because he forbade her to enter the tournament and now Ox King was fighting for his life due to being poisoned. ChiChi felt guilty now for being so upset with her father.
"Who did this?" ChiChi asked.
"No one knows. He was poisoned. I suspect one of the cooks."
"Impossible!" ChiChi argued. "All the cooks and servants are completely loyal to my father. None of them would ever hurt him. They love and respect my father."
"Then possibly someone else from the village?" Takashi suggested.
ChiChi shook her head vehemently. "No. Ever since my father has made peace with the villagers, they have been nothing but kind and loyal to my father. No one in the village would have done this."
"Your father was once an evil man," Takashi reminded ChiChi. "Perhaps someone from his past?"
"Maybe," ChiChi said reluctantly. "But those people could be dead, too old to fight…and to just poison my father wouldn't seem as a weak way to get revenge on him." ChiChi then clenched her fist in anger. "Whoever it was, will pay for this. I promise you that."
Takashi placed a comforting hand on ChiChi's. "Don't worry, ChiChi. We'll find out who poisoned your father."
"Thanks," ChiChi said and looked out the window. 'I have to find someway to get in contact with Goku again. Oh, Goku. I hope you're having a good fight.'
After the fight with Tien, talking to Kami in the disguise of Hero and then fighting Piccolo, Goku was declared as the winner of the World Martial Arts Tournament. Piccolo promised to kill Goku one day and flew off.
"Wow, Goku, you did it! You're the world champion!" Krillin congratulated his best friend. "Strange that your fiancée isn't here. Where did she go? This is the best day of your life!"
"Maybe the fights scared her and she ran off like everyone did when Piccolo revealed himself," Yamcha thought aloud.
"That's a cowardly thing for her to do," Bulma said. "If she really cared for him, ChiChi would've stayed with Goku no matter what."
"Goku, I have an offer for you," Kami said approaching Goku. "I'd like for you to take my place as Guardian of the Earth."
"Me? Are you serious?" Goku questioned pointing to himself.
"You're the only one who can take my place," Kami explained to Goku as this was the best thing he could do. "What do you say?"
"No! No! No! No! I couldn't!" Goku said waving his hands furiously to express his point he did not want this job. "I appreciate the offer but I don't want it! It's your job! Keep it!"
"Don't be hasty. Think of all the good you could do with this."
Goku stuck his tongue out, startling Kami. He then turned and called for Nimbus. When his faithful cloud appeared before Goku, he jumped on his cloud and took off. "See ya, everyone!!"
"Goku! Where are you going?!" Krillin yelled at his best friend.
"I don't know!! Far away from Kami!!" Goku yelled and turned, facing his new journey as he flew further and higher in the sky. 'Me a Kami?! Kami must be crazy to think I'm taking that job! It's way to boring up there.'
Krillin frowned seeing Goku disappear into a tiny spark of light. He was gone again. "Great. How long will it be before we see him this time?"
"That's Goku for you," Yamcha said with a smile. "He never stays in the same place for long."
"I still don't get ChiChi," Krillin said. "She was crazy about Goku and then she leaves so suddenly? It doesn't make sense."
On his cloud, Goku went back to the hotel, got his power pole and his other clothes. He took to the sky again wondering what he will do next. "Maybe I should go back to my old home. I haven't been there in a long time."
Somehow ChiChi entered his mind and Krillin's comments on how ChiChi could leave him like that and not see him for the rest of his matches. Maybe it was odd of ChiChi to leave him like that since she was so excited about marrying him. ChiChi did say she would be back to see him fight but she never returned. He remembered how clingy she was of him when she told him yes to his proposal. He also remembered the kiss ChiChi gave him. Things weren't adding up.
"ChiChi wanted to marry me so why did she leave? Maybe she forgot about marrying me and found something else to do," Goku thought with a shrugged. He then shook his head. "No. ChiChi wouldn't have forgotten that. She remembered it all this time and she said she wanted to see me fight." He crossed his arms in thought. "Hmm, what should I do?"
Goku thought about it for a few minutes before he came up with a solution. "I guess I should find her. I promised her I would marry her, but where could I find her? OH! Her home! Nimbus, do you remember where ChiChi lives?" Nimbus did a low loop to tell Goku it remembered. "Okay. Let's go there."
Goku stomach growled at that very moment and he clutched it. "But I gotta eat first. Let's find some food, Nimbus."
It was nearly midnight when ChiChi arrived home. She raced up the stairs to her father's room. When she entered, she saw a few servants gathered around Ox King's bed. ChiChi rushed to her father's side. He was lying there as a man on his last leg. He looked so tired and drained of energy. A wet towel was on his face to keep his fever down.
"Papa?" ChiChi called. Ox King looked as if he didn't hear his daughter. ChiChi lifted one of his large hands in both of her smaller ones. She stroked it gently as she tried talking to him. "Papa, it's me, ChiChi."
Ox King grimaced and groaned in his sleep. He turned his head and opened his eyes slowly. His vision was blurry but he was able to make out her daughter. "ChiChi?"
ChiChi smiled as happy tears streamed down her face. "Yes, Papa. It's me. I'm so sorry I left you."
"You…went…to the…tournament…didn't you?" Ox King said in harsh breaths.
"Yes, and I'm sorry I disobeyed you, but I met Goku and he wants to marry me."
Ox King coughed and passed out again.
"Papa. Papa, please don't leave me."
The village doctor entered the room. He bowed before ChiChi when he saw her. "Princess ChiChi, I'm sure you've been told your father has been poisoned." ChiChi nodded. The doctor's face became even grimmer. "The Ox King wasn't poisoned by something that bed rest can cure. The poison in his soup was from the Jeras plant. It's very rare and very poisonous, but it's the only thing that can cure him."
"How can something that poisoned him, cure him?" ChiChi asked puzzled.
"The Jeras plants have juices in the pistil where it's poisonous. The petals can cure them."
"Where is it?" Chi-Chi asked. "What does it look like?"
The doctor sighed. He really didn't want to give more bad news to ChiChi. "Princess, the problem is that it's very rare and it may not exist anymore. I'm sorry," the doctor apologized.
"Don't say that!" Chi-Chi argued as she cried. She didn't want to hear there as no chance for the Ox King. "I need to find it to save my father!"
The doctor remained sympathetic. "I'm sorry, but it can be anywhere. There was a variety all over the world but because it was so poisonous, many people destroyed them. The vastness of it withered to nothing as it was destroyed."
"Then… it could be anywhere. I don't know where to begin the search even if some were left," ChiChi said realizing her chance to save her father was fleeting.
"I'm really sorry," the doctor said. "We're doing the best we can to maintain his health but by each day he will be getting worst."
ChiChi wiped the tears from her eyes and sat back in her seat and looked over at her sleeping father. "Don't die, Papa. I'll find some way to save you."
ChiChi felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Takashi. "Don't worry, ChiChi. I will find a cure for your father. That flower has to be here somewhere."
"Thank you, Takashi, but we wouldn't know where to look for it."
"Get some rest, princess," Takashi told ChiChi as he rubbed her shoulders.
"I can't. Not when my father is ill like this."
Takashi planted a kiss on ChiChi's head. "Some sleep may do you some good. Who knows what tomorrow may bring. I'm going to bed." Takashi let go of ChiChi and started to head out.
"Takashi?" ChiChi called softly.
Takashi looked back at ChiChi. "Yes?"
"Thank you for coming to get me and telling me about my father."
Takashi smiled. "It's no problem, ChiChi." He left the room and entered his own. When he did, he walked to his desk where a small box laid. He opened it to look at red and yellow petals--petals that belong to the Jeras flower. He smirked wickedly. "I'll leave tomorrow for a couple of days and when I come back I'll say I found it. Ox King will be so happy as well as ChiChi and with her fiancé out of the way, ChiChi'll have to marry me."
ChiChi laid her head on Ox King's chest silently crying for him. As she was falling asleep, her last thoughts fell to Goku as she wondered about him and if he won the tournament.
The following morning, Goku yawned tiredly on Nimbus as he rode to the Ox King's castle. After he found himself something to eat yesterday, Goku went to sleep, exhausted from his battle. Once he woke up, Goku got on Nimbus to take him to Ox King's village. He was hungry for breakfast and he hoped to find something to eat at the castle. He was fed well when he was looking for the dragon balls and fighting the Red Ribbon Army.
Goku saw a tall castle in the distance. It was huge. "Is that the Ox King's castle? Wow. Things sure have changed since I was last here."
Nimbus stopped at the entrance to Ox King's castle. Goku jumped off Nimbus and walked up to the doors and knocked. The double doors opened and a servant woman stood there. She looked the young man with wild hair over. The servants at Ox King's castle were under strict orders not to allow anyone in the castle unless they were a doctor. The king had fallen ill, they didn't want to risk strangers enter the castle and have ChiChi fall ill as well.
"Are you a doctor?" the woman asked.
"No. I'm Son Goku," he introduced himself.
"No one may enter the castle unless he's a doctor," the woman said as she began to close the doors.
"But I'm suppose to marry ChiChi," Goku said. The woman stopped when Goku mentioned ChiChi's name. "I promised her I would when we were kids, but I forgot and when I saw her at the tournament, she reminded me. ChiChi left and never came back. Is the promise off?"
The servant eyed Goku with anger. "How dare you make up such lies about our princess when she's mourning her ill father!"
"Ill father?" Goku said confused. "Ox King's sick?"
"Good day, sir!" the servant said and slammed the doors on him.
"But wait!" Goku called out before the doors were finally slammed in his face. Goku knocked on the door again and the same servant woman opened the door.
"You're not allowed here!" She yelled and closed the doors on him.
Goku stood there dumbfounded. He wasn't going anywhere this way. He wanted to know why Ox King was sick. Goku called for Nimbus and hopped on. He'll have to go looking for ChiChi and find out what was going on. Nimbus floated around the castle and Goku looked inside the windows of the castle. He couldn't see ChiChi or Ox King. He only saw servants and other people walking about.
ChiChi sat by her chair near her father's bed watching him sleep. She was terribly saddened about her father's illness and the chance he would die that she didn't want to leave her father.
A servant entered the room carrying a tray of food. "Princess, you must eat or rest."
"I'm not hungry and I can't leave. What if something happens while I'm gone."
"Then we'll get you," the servant said. She placed a tray on the table and walked to ChiChi. "If you don't want to eat, then clean yourself up to freshen up."
ChiChi sniffed her clothes. It has been a day since she showered and she did sweat some when she fought Goku and it wouldn't take long to clean up. "All right. I'll be back soon, but get me if anything happens."
"Yes, Princess," the servant agreed.
Goku continued to fly around the Ox King's castle looking for ChiChi and paused near a balcony, and sat there wondering what he should do. Maybe he should leave. He was told he wasn't welcome but he was confused as to why ChiChi's father was sick.
From the corner of his eye, he saw someone in the room. It was ChiChi stepping out of a room in a towel. There she was! Now he could talk to her. He jumped off Nimbus and entered the room.
"Hey, ChiChi."
ChiChi turned back and screamed. When she saw it was Goku, she ran into his arms, startling him. "Oh, Goku! You're here!"
Meanwhile, Goku was trying to get ChiChi off him. "ChiChi, what are you doing?! Don't hold on to me like this."
But ChiChi didn't let go. "Oh, Goku, how did you know to come here? What happened at the tournament?"
"After I won the tournament, I decided to come and collect on that promise I made for you," Goku explained.
"You won the tournament?" ChiChi hugged him even tighter. "Oh, Goku. That's wonderful!"
"Why are you holding on to me like this?" Goku asked. He was blushing now. This was embarrassing to have this woman pressed up on him like this, especially since he didn't know her well.
The doors to ChiChi's room opened by servants who heard ChiChi's scream. They blushed embarrassed to catch their princess in the arms of this stranger, wearing only a towel.
"Princess, what are you doing?" a servant asked.
ChiChi pulled out of Goku's arms, a blush on her cheeks. "This is my fiancé, Goku."
"Fiancé?" the servants gasped.
"We had no idea you were to be married, Princess," the first servant spoke.
"I thought you were being courted by Takashi?" A second servant questioned.
ChiChi shook her head. "No. I don't want to be his bride." She latched an arm on Goku who looked uncomfortable again. "I'm going to be Goku's bride."
"Is your father sick, ChiChi?" Goku asked.
"Yes," ChiChi said surprised. "How did you know?"
"I tried to come in but a servant wouldn't let me. She said only a doctor can come in. What's going on?"
"My father's been poisoned and no one knows who did it. That's why only doctors are allowed in here. Takashi thinks it's one of the people here but I can't believe that. They've been so loyal to my father all these years. "
"Can I see him?" Goku asked.
"Yes, just let me change first. Why don't you get something to eat while you're waiting for me?" ChiChi suggested and turned to the servants. "Take Goku to the dining hall and give him a good meal. I want it checked thoroughly so he doesn't get poisoned."
"Yes, Princess," the servants complied with ChiChi's request.
Goku left with the servants while ChiChi dressed. After Goku consumed his large meal, he and ChiChi went upstairs to Ox King bedroom.
"How is he?" ChiChi asked a servant who was tending to the Ox King.
"Still not well. We have to find an antidote."
"Where is it?" Goku asked. "I'll get it."
"That's the problem, Goku," ChiChi said. "We need to find the Jeras flower that will cure my father, but we have no idea where to find it. They were once all over the world but over the years they were destroyed because it was none to be poisonous."
"I see." Goku frowned and began thinking of what he could do to help. "Oh! I know! Fortune Teller Baba! She can tell us where to find the plant."
"Oh, really?" ChiChi asked hopefully.
"Yeah. Let's go."
When they stepped out the door, Goku and ChiChi were met with Takashi as he was about to enter the room. He looked surprised to see Goku here. "What?" 'I thought that idiot would stay away. Why did he have to come?'
"Oh, Takashi, meet my fiancé, Goku," ChiChi. "We're going to find a cure for my father."
"But how?" Takashi asked. "The plant could be anywhere."
"I know, but Goku has a friend who can tell us where one is. Let's go, Goku."
Takashi watched Goku and ChiChi leave. This is not what he wanted or expected. He smirked. 'Go and try to find a cure. It'll be too late.' He patted the box in his pocket that contained the Jeras petals. 'Ox King's life is in my hands.'
To Be Continued