Chapter Seventeen: The Warning
"Ah!" Krillen yipped in a panicked voice, "Not too fast, Gohan. You're still recovering."
Gohan gripped his shorter companion by the shoulder to prevent himself from a nasty fall. These hospital hallways sure didn't seem as safe as the doctors said they were. The duo shuffled about in their socks trying hard not to slip on the slick marble that made up the floor. Small baby steps. Small baby steps.
Any slower and I'd be a turtle.
Gohan sighed, "Really, Krillen, I'm alright."
Krillen paused, allowing Gohan to lean subconsciously against the wall. Gohan seemed to realize what he was doing, and quickly jerked himself erect again. Keeping his eyes off the blinding white wash walls, the demi sayian tried to walk on his own. Unluckily for Gohan, his feet slipped out from underneath him and Krillen was forced to come to the rescue again.
The boy never really ceased to surprise Krillen. Without a sensu, Gohan had recovered nearly 100 times faster then any human could have recovered. Regardless that he was still a little weak; Gohan need only an hour past until he'd be at full percent again.
Itching to scratch the newly formed ebony hair on the back of his neck, Krillen looked over the demi sayian he was supporting. He had, countless times before, tried to ponder the sayian anatomy; even before he knew Goku was one. But his mind just could not conceive it all; so Krillen locked the ill thoughts of confusion away.
Gohan made a lousy attempt to break away. The monk quickly forgot his ponderings and swooped over Gohan like a worried mother hen… again.
"Lean more on the wall, Gohan…"
"You are going to fast again!"
"Stop it or you'll fall!"
Krillen pattered relentlessly on and on. It was as if his life depended on Gohan making it through the empty hospital corridor. Trying hard to refrain from biting his friend's head off, Gohan kept his tongue still.
"One foot in front of the other-"
"Keep saying that and I will fall, Krillen," Gohan grumbled through gritted teeth.
The monk was getting more and more restless each time they passed a clock. But Krillen still managed to hop to and fro in his anxiety and batter Gohan with piteous qualms at the same time. Gohan tried hard to be patient with his old family friend, but his teenage hormones were screaming. One word was rather clear above all the others…
Moron.
Or it could just be the sayian part of him kicking in. He assumed the latter.
The disgruntled duo rounded the corner of the seemingly endless passageway, just to happen upon the open arms of a happy Satan girl.
Videl flung her body completely against Gohan, nearly carrying the demi sayian off his feet.
It wouldn't be the first time today… Krillen thought dully.
The monk's face couldn't help but go slightly red as he attempted to retain his foothold over Gohan's well-being. Krillen didn't normally care that much when Gohan was injured and healing. If the boy said he was alright, Krillen took it that he was alright. A person knows what's best for its body. And Gohan was the smartest person he knew.
But when Goku asks and Piccolo threatens, you tend to take a bit more care of your assigned duties. Course Krillen never thought it would be any harder then it usually was. Lately, the boy seemed to be assaulted by every little thing that came by. It was making Krillen a tad bit jumpy, really
"My Kami, Gohan! Don't you dare do anything like that again!" Videl snapped heatedly. "You're so stupid!"
"Videl, I'm not quite healed yet," Gohan croaked from under Videl's strong hold.
Videl instantly withdrew; reddened in the awkwardness of her actions.
I acted just like Chichi. Ack! I don't want to be anything like her!
Gohan drew himself up again, trying to look a bit more dignified then someone that just stole away from a hospital bed. The robes placed on him didn't quite fit so well with his wishes.
I knew I should have grabbed the black ones…
"We should go a bit faster, Gohan-san. By the now the doctors have to realize you're gone," Krillen snapped pulling at Gohan's arm. "If you wanna see the next match with Taiyo, you better hurry up."
"Eh…" Videl frowned skeptically. "Do you know this Taiyo?"
"Oh that's right," Krillen exclaimed. "Your Otousan is fighting him. Hercule sponsored this tournament. He should have some background information on this guy, right?"
"That's right," nodded Gohan. "Then maybe we could get some hints about who he is-"
"Iie."
"Huh?"
Krillen and Gohan whirled about to face Videl's ashamed countenance. She brushed the dark ebony bangs off her dappled cheeks; trying very hard to keep from maintaining eye contact,
"My Tousan does sponsor the tournament but he never went into any effort to… keep records of the fighters…"
"Why the hell not?!" Krillen screeched. "Is your father some kind of idiot-"
Don't answer that.
"Eh…" Videl flushed a bright red in the face. "Tousan may not be very smart, but he respects the Budoukai fighters' privacy. What do you want? We aren't FBI, you know! We aren't exactly permitted to access that kind of information."
"But at least the last tournaments had that kind of info!"
"Yeah! And an evil monster went around and killed everyone on the list!"
"But they all-"
Gohan placed a kind hand on Krillen's shoulder and turned the monk away, "Come on. Let her win this one."
"Damn, Gohan," Krillen cursed. "Without that information, just anyone could waltz into this budoukai and kill us all. Kill everyone in the stadium too. This is like a huge target!"
"I know. I know," Gohan hushed. "But taking it out on Videl will do no good. So apologize."
Videl cast Krillen a glare of certain scrutiny as they turned back to face her.
"Gomen," He huffed rashly giving a trivial bow.
As disrespectful as it may have been, Videl took it for what it was and smiled pleasantly back at the monk.
A bit too pleasant… Gohan noted nervously.
"Apology accepted."
It was as if someone had fired a gun into the air, Gohan realized, and was now deciding whether to actually use or not. The silence brought a ringing in their ears that prompted conversation to continue.
"How did you heal so fast, Gohan? It looked like you'd be out of it for days," Videl twittered.
"It wasn't easy," Gohan chuckled sheepishly, "Kabito was not as easy an opponent as I had hoped."
"If Kabito was hard, then I am afraid to see how you fair through the rest of this Budoukai."
The hall hushed again at the sudden intrusion. All eyes snapped upon the interloper that had come upon their mists. Their jaws dropped nearly to floor at the site of Taiyo leaning around the corner, smirking amiably at them.
In his bright white tank top and yellow shorts; he looked somewhat more suited to go to the beach then hang around the Martial Arts Tournament. His face was considerably lighter then that that Gohan remembered. It almost as if, even though he hated to admit it, Gohan was looking at a younger version of himself.
Kind of scary, really…
"Don't you have a match to get to?" Krillen snapped angrily.
Taiyo eyed Krillen lazily and then allowed his gaze to fall back upon Gohan. He shifted comfortably against the wall, he was using as support, and then rose up to join them. Videl and Krillen drew back behind Gohan; fearful at the boy's painful aurora. Gohan, on the other hand, stood firm. The demi sayian welcomed Taiyo's intrusion with a warm smile, despite the boy's cruel words before.
"Taiyo, is it? It's nice to finally meet you," Gohan beamed offering his hand.
"Wish to say the feeling was mutual," Taiyo smirked not making any move to accept the proposal.
Ah. Same old Taiyo.
"Look," Taiyo spoke suddenly; his expression growing dark. "I'm not talking to you because I want to… I just think you outta know."
"Know what?" Krillen and Videl chirped from behind Gohan.
Taiyo sent them a irritated look but failed to follow it. Instead, he turned his gaze back to Gohan,
"Just be careful alright. I may not be the only one you have to look out for anymore."
With that, Taiyo turned on his heel and marched off down the hallway; looking downright infuriated with himself.
"What was that about?" Krillen murmured. "Did he just… Did he just help us out?… Kind of?"
"Tides do change," nodded Videl.
"Apparently they do."
Gohan smiled warmly down the way that Taiyo disappeared, "I think we got another team member."
And somewhere down the hallway resounded a sneeze…
"Oh please don't hurt me! Please!"
Hercule, wallowing in fear, had curled himself into the farthest corner of his trailer. His face was going purple as he squabbled and pleaded to be left alone.
The trailer was left in tattered ruin from a rather impressive struggle. Things were tossed and torn everywhere, especially the most expensive of items. A vision of Beelzebub stood before the terror-stricken man, cracking each knuckle menacingly.
"Shut that useless banter of yours." The monster retorted, shifting the juices inside his mouth. "Or I might be tempted to give you a little spit."
The creature's crimson eyes gleamed at such an idea, but he quickly pushed it aside. He turned back to the matter at hand, which happened to be getting Hercule to talk more then useless pleas for help.
"I want to find a boy in this tournament that killed some dear friends of mine. Where could I look?"
"W-we don't have any- any records on the fighters…"
"WHAT!" The devil spawn shrieked clasping a hand about Hercule's thick neck, "NO RECORDS?!"
"B-but you could –could get the cops to look into it… I-I'll just make the phone call…" Hercule sputtered through lack of air, as he made a weak snatch at the telephone.
Enraged, the demon ripped the whole device off the wall causing it to clatter raucously to the floor. Hercule looked down at the destroyed phone is slight dismay, "Woah…"
"I am sick of hearing you squabble," The demon hissed, readying a wad to spit.
Hercule closed his eyes, helplessly; fearful of what acidic concoction the devil's saliva may contain. His whimpering and jerky shaking knocked a picture frame off a nearby shelf. It smashed upon the wooden floor scattering the ground with the near invisible teeth. Curious, the monster's attention wavered hesitantly in the air. Finally the fiend gave into temptation and wandered over to the shattered picture frame.
Hercule winced at every resonant crack that reverberated from pieces of glass the beast tromped upon. The devil seemed not to mind it at all; much too preoccupied with the fallen picture. Summoning up a bit of daring, Hercule risked a peek at the picture,
"That, sir, is my daughter," Hercule snorted valiantly. "You can not have her. I will not permit a demon with-"
The cretin shot Hercule a rather deadly silencing glare which only seemed to do the opposite, "What I mean is, if you want her… you'll have to wait a few more years! She's not quite old enough.
"Or ugly enough…" He added silently under his breath.
Hercule squeaked in alarm when the demon's ears twitched at his last comment. But before the odious man could utter any apology, the fiend chuckled. The chuckle rose into a high piercing laughter that rattled the whole room; draining any left over color out of Hercule's face.
"Tell me the name of this boy!" The demon shrieked pointing a long dark finger nail at the happy faced boy next to Hercule's beloved offspring.
"Why, that's Gohan," Hercule grumbled. "But why would you want-"
Hercule went a deep purple hue as he looked sickly upon the boy's smiling face.
"You want Gohan?" Hercule asked not really needing an answer.
"Thank you, Hercule. You've been a grand help. Now I do have one last favor…"
"Aw. This is always the hardest part of my job. I know how we were all looking forward to a good fight with Hercule..." The announcer frowned shunning the faces of his audience, "The time limit is up. That means Hercule will have to be disqualified. It looks like Taiyo is the winner of this match."
Taiyo ignored the boos and the hisses of the crowd's disappointment. It didn't really matter to him really if everyone disqualified themselves for him. As long as he got to Gohan. But this disqualification wasn't caused by some long potty break. And that was what worried him.
"Damn!" Taiyo shrieked in fury pounding his heel into the white stone.
Onlookers hushed as at large crack remained even after the maker had left the stadium.
"Wow. Doesn't take disqualifiers easily, does he?" The anchor frowned, adjusting his sunglasses while inspecting the dent.
"Tousan! You idiot! You missed your match!" Videl shouted, as tears welled up in her eyes. "Gawd! How embarrassing!"
"Don't sweat it, Videl," cooed Bulma. "Even if he is an idiot. At least he loves you."
"Sometimes I wonder," Videl huffed, plopping back into her stadium seat.
"Iunno. Something about that… just didn't seem right," Goku frowned giving Gohan a side glance. "Since when has Hercule ever let his fans down?"
"Just as I was thinking, Kakarot," Vegeta spat. "Taiyo must be up to something."
"But I don't think it's Taiyo-"
"Right. It can't be," Gohan retorted.
"Why not?" Vegeta snapped.
"Well, I-" sputtered Gohan, caught off-guard. "Well… just look how angry he was when he walked out. Had he staged it, he wouldn't be acting that way."
"Could just be an act." Bulma piped in.
"True," Gohan nodded. "But I don't think so."
The eyes of his family and friends seemed to linger doubtfully on Gohan before rupturing into new conversation. Something about Goku and Vegeta's match; judging on how red Vegeta's face got. Gohan leaned back on the rather uncomfortable plastic of the stadium chair while eyeing the darkening skies above.
"What were you warning me from, Taiyo?" Gohan asked aloud.
He didn't bother to add, 'and why' since he already knew…
"Are you coming home?"
To Be Continued…
Please R + R!
Sorry that it took nearly a whole year to post this! But I hope you enjoy. I worked harder on this one then practically all the rest combined. Which is saying something. Kind of…