Chapter Sixteen: Castle In The Sky
Gohan could hear the voices of the faraway world singing about him. They were worried and anxious voices. His name kept being repeated in their sentences but he never stirred; still lost in the strange blackness. Someone was talking about a bean. Fingers pried at his wired mouth and shoved something cold into it. Gohan didn't like its flavor but his mind was telling him to chew it. Before he could, he coughed. He coughed again and more violently this time. The bean was gone and his mind fell back under the folds of wake. The voices drown away into the faint buzz that wouldn't fade. When Gohan opened his eyes, he laid on his back staring at a grimy stone ceiling.
Gohan pulled himself up to his upright knees; to be blinded by the faint streak of sunlight spitting from a small window. He rubbed his face slowly and glanced about with his sore eyes to the rest of area.
It was a cell that had a faint smell of familiarity to it. It was reeking from the heavy scent of blood and sweat. But he made no movement to plug his nose. He merely rubbed it against his firm knee caps; squeezing his legs tighter to his chest. A young girl flashed into view of the shadows hugging the ragged form of a small boy. Gohan stared curiously at them with his red and puffy eyes. The girl's pink lips were flapping up and down forming words but no sound aiding his ears. Gohan stared in the indefinite silence at the scene playing out before him.
The boy lay haggard in her small arms. His tiny body was fragile and incredibly thin. His arms and legs draped over her as if they contained no properly placed bones. His teeth were pink from blood that he kept coughing up. His face was pallid and bruised and his hair was a greasy black. The boy's clothes were tattered and barely clinging upon his bony body. He appeared abused and starved. The boy looked quite bluntly like hell.
His eyes were shockingly empty as he stared up at the girl who cradled him. He never moved his mouth at all, obviously listening to the sweet words she fed him. Although Gohan couldn't hear a word of what was being uttered, Gohan knew the boy was on the verge of death.
A sudden sound shot through Gohan's senses causing him to cringe. His muscles relaxed and he opened his eyes to see the girl was singing. Gohan could hear her words. He took in her music and let it warm his tired body.
"Do you ever question your life? Do you ever wonder why?" The girl sang pleasantly enriching the room with her soothing voice.
Gohan frowned and pulled himself closer the two. The boy was beginning to convulse but through it all she still sung,
"Do you ever see in your dreams?" The girl turned and her eyes met with Gohan's. "All the castles in the sky?"
Gohan pulled back in confusion to find himself falling back into a never ending drop. He felt the wind pressing at his back as he tumbled unable to fully comprehend it all. In the distance he saw a image of a looming tower that he had fallen out of. A castle in the sky…
The voice continued even as he fell. It drifted over his own wounds kindly as if almost healing them. His thoughts merged into the warmth; drawing him from the unspeakable images before. He smiled quietly; clenching something soft about him. It wasn't air but more like bed sheets.
"Oh, tell me why, do we build castles in the sky." The voice sang, "Oh, tell me why, all the castles way up high."
He clutched them tighter and the words began to echo less. The world started to stop spinning and he was conscious of his limbs again. He was on a soft bed of some kind but Gohan couldn't remember where he was. He figured he was at home. Someone was still singing. Mother. It has to be Mother.
"Oh, tell me why, do we build castles in the sky. Oh, tell me why, all the castles way up high…"
The voice faded and Gohan was left in silence. He squinted open one eye to see nothing but white. He closed his eyes again and moaned in frustration. A voice cut through the silence, "Ah! He's awake!"
It was a feminine voice; Gohan figured by it's high pitch. He tried to pull away as hands grabbed at his sore body. They pulled him upwards slightly and shook him. Gohan couldn't help but blinking open his tired eyes.
All the entities in the room were fused into one blob in Gohan terrible vision. He blinked again and they separated. Once more and he could barely make them out.
"Videl? Piccolo? Yamacha?"
"Ah ha!" Yamacha cheered. "He's not insane after all."
"You owe me five bucks," Piccolo muttered dully.
Yamacha ignored him and set himself next to Videl on the bed, "How are you doing, buddy?"
"I hurt," Gohan cringed hugging his ribs. "All over."
"Okay. Rest now," Yamacha smiled pressing Gohan back into the bed. "Heal."
"What happened to the sensu beans?" Gohan questioned through a mild snort of laughter.
Everyone's face went slightly pale at those words. He looked at them curiously and Videl brushed him off.
"Just sleep, okay? The answers will come."
His dreams were dreamless. The next time Gohan woke, no one was there to greet him. He glanced about curiously seeing Videl sleeping on a chair not far from his hospital bed. Yamacha was gone replaced by Goku sleeping soundly next to Videl. Gohan was about to remove himself from the bed when someone pressed him down into the mattress once more, "Don't move so quickly, kid."
"Piccolo." Gohan smiled as the namekian fumbled with the water jug and glass. "You're a sight for sore eyes."
"Drink," Piccolo muttered thrusting the glass into Gohan's hands hastily.
Gohan took it without any question, and drank it all quickly. Almost too quickly, as he sputtered slightly from some of it going down the wrong pipe. Piccolo smiled softly at the demi sayian and took a seat on the corner of his cot, "You feeling better?"
"Uh… Yeah," Gohan smiled. "How long have I been out?"
"A day or so." Piccolo shrugged. "You missed a couple of matches. Like 18's. She won, of course. Nothing as incredible as what happened to you."
Gohan flushed slightly and glanced down to the small lumps in the sheets he guess were his legs, "Has Dad fought yet?"
"Hai," Piccolo nodded glumly. "And lost so to speak."
"What?" Gohan muttered in disbelief.
"Both your father and Vegeta went over the time limit and were ultimately disqualified. It took both their mates to pull them apart though. The referee was upset but they put on a nice show."
"Wow," Gohan smiled weakly. "Never knew there was a time limit."
"Well, it was a stalemate for hours," Piccolo smirked eyeing his former pupil. "I think the referee made it up so they could move on to the next match."
Gohan chuckled slightly being careful not to bruise his ribs anymore. He was disappointed for missing his father's one and only match of the tournament but he could basically see how it went. He knew his father's moves by heart having spent so long training with him in the time chamber. They may have both gotten better, but their powers were equal. It wasn't surprising at all. Neither did more training then the other. Gohan knew they couldn't surpass each other even if they fought forever. They were silly to try; Gohan thought.
Piccolo's face suddenly became stern. He stared at his pupil with his unsettling gaze till Gohan spoke, "What's wrong, Piccolo?"
Piccolo scowled deeply and glared down at his feet. Finally he spoke, "You were probably wondering why we didn't give a sensu bean like normal, right?"
"Hai," Gohan nodded leaning forward in his curiosity.
"Truth is, we couldn't give it to you…"
"Is he alright?" Bulma cried in worry as the humans rushed the unconscious boy into the emergency room, "Hey! Let me see him!"
"Hold on, Bulma," Piccolo muttered pushing through the huddled crowd to her, "Where's Goku?"
"I- I don't know," Bulma shrugged. "We lost him in the crowd. Gohan's not doing well."
"Those darn humans. I said I could take care of him," Piccolo hissed clenching the bag of sensus. "I turn my back for one minute…"
Vegeta pushed his way next to Bulma with a stern expression on his face, "They take him already?"
"We need Goku to get in there and give him a sensu," Piccolo hissed angrily. "Without it, he's in a bad enough condition to die."
"Piccolo," Gohan smiled cocking a eyebrow. "Why didn't you just burst into the emergency room and give it to me?"
"I was about to," Piccolo flushed slightly. "Darn humans everywhere. I thought waiting for Goku would be easier."
"Where was my dad?" Gohan inquired.
"Is this the hospital, Trunks?" Goku asked curiously.
"Hai. Look! A red cross," Trunks snapped pointed to the Pharmacy sign. "Pharmacy… means hospital in German."
"Uh… Okay."
"At a pharmacy down the street," Piccolo growled.
Gohan let out a audible snort of laughter causing the namekian to glare at him. Gohan stifled it with a bit of difficultly, "Leave it to, Dad."
He covered his mouth when Goku began to stir in his seat. He merely turned over to his other side, falling away from Videl now. Gohan let out a sigh of relief.
"So… is that the reason?"
"No. We did manage to get in. Me, Vegeta, and Goku," Piccolo frowned. "But when we gave you the sensu…"
"Here. Get better, Gohan." Goku smiled slipping the olive green bean through Gohan's lips.
Piccolo held back the human doctors who seemed to be getting a bit hostile to their patient getting unauthorized medicine. Vegeta stood at Goku's side, with a scorn seemly incised into his face.
Gohan cringed slightly at the foreign object in his mouth. He pushed it about with his tongue slightly as uncertain what to do with it. They group watched with batted breath as he prepared to chew it. His mouth just tasted some of juice when Gohan suddenly coughed. He coughed again in a more violent manner. The bean shot out onto the white sheet, tinting them red.
Gohan continued to cough up small amounts of blood. The doctors grew frantic and Piccolo was too much in shock to stop them from rushing to Gohan's aid. Even Goku was too stunned to mind being ripped away from his son. Vegeta frowned faintly at they pushed him away.
"The sensu," Vegeta began. "It-"
"…harmed you, instead of helping," Piccolo finished. "I don't know how to explain it. That's just what it did. It made your condition worse."
"Then… If I got worse from the sensu," Gohan muttered. "How did I heal?"
"By yourself, I guess." Piccolo frowned. "You were in such a bad state that night… We didn't know if you'd make it."
Gohan glanced down into his bruised arms with a severe expression on his face. He suddenly remembered to song and glanced suspiciously at Piccolo.
"Did… anyone sing to me?"
"No," Piccolo answered in bewilderment. "Why would say that?"
"You were here the whole time and never saw anyone sing to me?"
"Uh… once I left," Piccolo admitted softly. "With Krillen to watch Goku and Vegeta's fight on the TV set. At that time you seemed to in a stable condition."
"Did Krillen see anything?" Gohan asked.
"He said Chichi came in momentarily to see you and then left."
"My mom…" Gohan smiled. "Did she really?"
"I don't think so," Piccolo muttered. "She's still unconscious in the other room. Master Roshi got her drunk on sake. And then we told he what happened to you…"
Gohan flinched slightly at the thought. He inwardly prayed that he'd get better before she did, so she didn't fuss.
"Then who?"
"That's what Krillen was boggled by. He swore it was Chichi."
Gohan glanced down at the bed once more. And his mind struck a cord.
"Taiyo and Tsuki…." Gohan frowned, "One of them has mind powers. One of them must be able to shape shift too!"
"But they didn't harm you…" Piccolo pointed out.
"I've gotten the impression a lot lately that Tsuki doesn't want me harmed," Gohan muttered. "She's been constantly doing things that surprise me. I think she's… like a double agent."
"I see," Piccolo murmured. "So we shouldn't trust her."
"In some ways we should…" Gohan muttered.
The silence left in the room was faintly unnerving. Gohan broke it with a meek question, "What's the next match?"
"Krillen and Trunks match just ended."
"So… who won?"
"Trunks."
"I see," Gohan smiled. "Poor Krillen. So who fights next?"
"Taiyo against Hercule."
"Can't wait."
To Be Continued…
Please R + R!
Sorry if you all were looking forward to those matches missed. But writing something already done is kind of against my way of writing. If it's been done, I like to leave it that way. Here's what's left of the tournament:
Tournament Layout-
1st round: Shin-Tsuki = Shin
2nd round: Gohan- Kabito = Gohan
3rd round: 18-Jewel = 18
4th round: Goku-Vegeta = X
5th round: Trunks-Krillen = Trunks
6th round: Taiyo-Hercule
7th round: Videl- Killa
Because of the disqualifications the next pair ups will be Shin with Gohan. 18 will fight no one. Trunks will fight the winner of round 6 and the winner of round 7 will fight who makes it past Trunks or Trunks himself. Just some notes to those lost.