Chapter 75

Last time on DragonBall AF, reports of the mysterious sickness plaguing the Earth were increasing. Goku and Vegeta still can't understand why they weren't affected by it. As more and more cases are made known to the public, the mystery surrounding it all continues to become deeper…

"Are you seeing this Vegeta!" yelled Goku into the phone. "It's happening again!"

"Well you don't have to blow my damn ears out!" shot back Vegeta. "Goku, I don't know what could be going on. But if it makes you feel any better, my mom and dad are going to a conference concerning how to contain this tomorrow. They might be able to do something about it and figure out how to put a stop to it."

"Then make sure you get back to me when you hear something, all right?"

"OK, I'll let you know," replied Vegeta. "I think you're just getting too paranoid about this Goku."

"I really think something's up," said Goku. "I mean with what's been goin on with Goshin and all, and especially us not being affected…"

"Whatever man, just don't lose any sleep over it." And with that, Vegeta hung up the phone leaving Goku to think over things for himself. But before Goku could even walk into the next room, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Goku!" It was Pan's voice and she sounded distressed.

"G-grandma, what's wrong?" answered Goku. "Is everything all right?"

"NO! It Master Roshi, come quick!"

In almost no time, Goku and Gonell rushed over to Roshi's island. Pan ran to the door and opened it. "He just… passed out suddenly. But that's not the worst of it…!"

To Goku's horror and disbelief, Roshi lay on the couch, feverish and going into convulsions, with the mysterious lesions all over his body. "N-no way!"

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Gonell. "Roshi! Roshi! Can you hear me?" The shaking didn't stop, and the old man couldn't even open his eyes. "Mom, did you call for paramedics already?"

"Yes, but it's going to still be a while before they get all the way out here in this remote spot!" She started to sob and shake her head. "It just happened so suddenly, we were just standing outside when-"

"When what, grandma?" questioned Goku eagerly.

"We saw something, something strange in the sky," she said. "It was really bright and shiny, Turtle was the one that spotted it first and- TURTLE!"

She rushed outside and there on the sand was the gigantic sea tortoise. He looked sickly, but was still conscious. "Goku! Help me bring him inside!" Goku ran out and quickly lifted Turtle up and took him into the house."

"Thank you little Goku," he wheezed.

"Don't talk," said Goku. "Just relax, I'm not sure what effect this might have on animals." Finally, in the distance the sirens could be heard coming across the water. "Grandma, you said you saw something in the sky then?"

"Yes, I did," she said a bit anxiously. "But I don't know if this had anything to do with what happened to Roshi."

"And you haven't shown any symptoms at all?"

"No, none that I can see or tell, I feel fine," she said.

"That's three of us that haven't been affected," said Goku. "Me, Vegeta, and grandma. There's got…wait! All three of us, we're all part Saiyan! But what does it mean!"

The paramedics busted through the door with the stretcher. Pan immediately showed them right to Roshi. "We have to get him out of here, stat!" shouted one of the paramedics. "Try and sedate him so these convulsions will stop!" They put him onto the stretcher and hurried towards the door to get him to the hospital.

"Where are you going to take him so we can go see him?" asked Pan.

"We're going to take him to the Satan City Hospital, it's closest," replied the paramedic. "To avoid getting you affected with the virus, we can't allow you to come into the ambulance, you'll have to find your own transportation there." They closed the ambulance doors, and whizzed off across the ocean.

"Mom, are you going to go meet them there now?" asked Gonell.

"I'm going to call Bra first and tell her," said Pan. "Then I'll take the car up there."

"All right, I'll go with you," said Gonell. "Goku, you go back home and make sure everything's all right there. I'm sure your father will probably want to know what's going on."

"OK then," said Goku. "Just drive careful grandma." And with that he went outside, and leapt into the air to hurry home.

Soon enough he was back at Mt. Pazou, and his father left to meet Gonell at the hospital. An hour later Vegeta stopped over. Goshin was seemingly back to normal and finally came out of his room. He came down the stairs and looked at Goku and Vegeta watching TV and broke the silence.

"Where did mother and father go?" he asked.

"Huh?" said Goku. "Oh, Master Roshi has fallen down with this virus too. Mom, dad, and grandma went up there to see him for a little bit."

"Haven't seen you in a while," Vegeta said to Goshin. "Finally done laying around I guess. I wish I could afford to do that." Goshin just shook his head and went to the fridge to grab some food.

"Don't you think this is all odd Goshin?" asked Goku.

"Pertaining this sickness?"

"Yea, I mean, me, grandma, or Vegeta haven't been affected by it at all. And this is the second time that I've heard about something being in the sky at the time when the symptoms started appear.

Goshin became more attentive and looked right into Goku's eyes. "Something in the sky? Like a ship?"

"I guess you could say that," said Goku. "Grandma described as something really bright, maybe it was metallic. Maybe it has something to do with all this. Like someone is emitting something to sicken everybody."

"Can you remember the shape of the ship at all, size perhaps?" asked Goshin.

"No, I'm really not sure," replied Goku. "Goshin, do you know something about this."

"I'm not sure," he answered. "I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. Just forget about it."

A few hours later, Gonell, Zonza, Pan, Bra, and Baba as well gathered at the hospital to hear about Roshi's condition. They were all seated in the waiting room when the doctor came in.

"Are you all relatives of Roshi?" he asked.

"I'm his sister," replied Baba, "but the rest are good friends. Is it serious?"

"Well," replied the doctor, "it's the same thing we've seen in all the other patients that have contracted this. We don't know if he'll be able to get well or not, there's no way of telling. Some people have recovered relatively quickly, while others have relapsed and ultimately… But we have found out more about the nature of this infection. It seems to be being caused by some kind of radioactivity."

"What?" quipped Bra. "You mean like some kind of radioactive waste or something?

"We're not sure, but these lesions are due to some kind of waves, but it's not matching any known pattern that I or other doctors have ever seen before because this is somehow contagious in some ways."

"Well, can we see him yet at least?" asked Pan.

"Yes, he is contained in a controlled environment so you can go in there now. But only three at a time." Pan, Bra, and Baba decided to go in to the hospital room first. When they walked in, Roshi was hooked up to all sorts of machines, most of them keeping him alive. There was a see-through curtain separating Roshi from the others, but they could still talk to each other.

"You've gone and done it this time," said Baba. Roshi slowly opened his eyes and looked at his visitors.

"So… nice to see you too," he said already running out of breath.

"You'll be outta here in no time," said Pan cheerfully. "Just hang in there, you're tougher than that."

"And if anything bad does happen," said Bra solemnly, "we always have the Dragon Balls."

COUGH COUGH HACK "No!" coughed Roshi. "If it's my time to go, then it's my time. I've… lived a full life. If I die, I don't want to be wished back…"

Can this be true? Does Master Roshi really feel this way? The mysterious sickness keeps spreading and there's more and more questions at every turn. What is Goshin hiding though? Could he have an answer to all this? Find out, next time on DragonBall AF!