schubskie: Yeah, Gohan has gotten himself into a lot of problems. Although I do have to tell you that we won't be caught up into the present for a while now.
AnimeWolfGirl16: Good guess! And I do agree with you about Marie and Gohan's mini fights being amusing a bit.
Chapter 11: More Problems
Gohan, Marie, and Leyla all flew down to the ground, feeling exhausted at everything that had happened that day. They looked around, noticing that the buildings in this part of the 'town' were a bit more suitable for a shelter to stay at for the night.
Marie skipped over to one, but stopped suddenly, turning around to come back to the group with a confused look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Gohan asked, feeling a bit nervous at his friend's look. Marie shook her head and then continued walking, the confused look still on her face.
Gohan started to follow Marie, but then stopped when he sensed that Leyla's Ki was still in the same place. He turned to face her, confused. He walked back over to Leyla and grabbed her arm lightly, giving it a gentle pull.
When she still didn't budge, Gohan was thinking of saying something, but stopped when he felt that she was shaking.
"Come on, Leyla. We'll find somewhere to stay soon," Gohan said in a soft tone, figuring that his friend was shaking because of the cold. Leyla nodded mechanically, almost as if she didn't understand what he had just said, but she started to follow him anyway.
After a few steps, Leyla stopped again with a look of fear directed straight in front of him. Gohan quickly turned around and just caught a glimpse of Marie glaring harshly at Leyla before the look vanished.
He looked back and forth between his two friends, wondering if he had been imagining what he had just seen. He shook his head and continued to pull Leyla while following Marie, hoping that none of them got separated.
Marie suddenly stopped at a four way intersection, making Gohan nearly run into her with Leyla trailing behind. He was about to ask Marie why she had stopped when he suddenly felt a weight pull him down towards the ground.
The sudden weight that tugged on his arm made him pull in a sharp breath and let go of Leyla's hand. He turned around to look at his friend, who was by now slumped on the ground and shivering. Gohan quickly looked over at Marie, who he thought had an amused look on her face, before walking over to Leyla.
"Leyla, what's wrong?" he asked, feeling like something wasn't quite right for the moment. Instead of answering his question, Leyla only made him feel saddened.
"I want my mom," Leyla whispered while on the verge of tears. Gohan bit his lip, trying to find something to say to her.
"I know, Leyla, but that's not possible now," Gohan whispered, fearing that he wouldn't be able to talk if he tried to make his voice louder. He wasn't sure what else to say to comfort his grieving friend. He looked back when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw that Marie was smiling at him.
As Marie walked over and kneeled down beside Leyla, Gohan was actually starting to think that his two friends were finally agreeing with each other; that was, until he heard what Marie said, making the situation worse.
"It's ok if you want to have a hysteric breakdown," Marie whispered, making Gohan pale. He walked over to his two friends, bending down beside Marie.
"Um Marie, I don't think that was the right thing to say right now," Gohan whispered to his friend while Leyla started to glare at Marie. He sighed, knowing where this was going, and stood up, turning his back away from them.
"Hysteric breakdown? How would you even know what that is?" Leyla shouted angrily at Marie, only receiving a smile as her answer, which seemed to infuriate her more, "You wouldn't understand because you don't have a family!"
Marie's eyes widened at Leyla's statement while Gohan tried to block them out, but with no success.
"I do have a family!" Marie retaliated, "Gohan's my family."
Gohan, at this point, was running low on patience and energy. He tried to block them out again, but their fight was getting too loud for him to try and block them out like Piccolo had taught him.
"Are you sure? Because last time I checked, Gohan was part of my family first!" Leyla shouted back. As there bickering continued, Gohan thought he was about to burst with anger.
First, I get taken away from the house by my friend who I know absolutely nothing about. Then, I died. Leyla's having a hysterical fit and now they're fighting. What else can go wrong? He thought with annoyance.
"Can you two just stop?" Gohan shouted, whipping around to face them. Both of them became silent at his outburst, making Gohan feel a bit bad for yelling at him, but any other thoughts were wiped away by a voice from behind them.
"Can I help you?" the voice asked in a strange tone. Gohan whipped around to face the voice, seeing with a bit of relief that it was only a man.
What started to unnerve him though was that two more came out of an alley, all of them smelling strange. Gohan backed up so that he was in front of both Marie and Leyla, both of them now silent.
"No, we were just trying to find the exit," Gohan stated, still feeling angry about how the day was going.
"Oh, I don't think that we can help you with that," the first man that had spoken said, "There is no exit."
Gohan's eyes widened when he heard that, remembering that the figure had said the exact same thing. He took a deep breath to try and calm down, but started coughing when the three men's overwhelming stench hit his nose.
"Do you guys even consider taking a shower?" Gohan asked as he tried to ignore the smell coming from them.
"There are no showers," a second man said in a lazy tone.
Gohan decided that it would be best to know what they were up against. He saw that all three men were not very strong, but something was off about them. He knew that if they would try to attack, he might not be strong enough to fight them due to his weakened state.
"What do you want?" Marie asked in a scared tone. Gohan looked back at his two friends, seeing that they were now shaking.
"I don't know," the third man said with a creepy smile, "what do we want?"
Gohan wasn't liking the way these men were acting, but he wasn't sure how to fix the situation. He felt a little bit of anger at their attitudes.
"Ok, I just woke up from supposedly being dead and I'm not in a very good mood today, so if I were you, I would leave us alone," he stated harshly. He could feel Marie's confusion from behind him, but he decided to ignore it. All three of the men laughed, making Gohan's anger rise.
"And what could you do to us, kid?" one of the men asked mockingly. Gohan stared at them angrily, wondering what he could actually do to them in his weakened state.
Suddenly, the three men started to walk towards them, making Gohan now copy Leyla and Marie's fright. He quickly looked around, trying to find an escape. He suddenly remembered the other alleys, but when he looked, there was only the one that the three men had come out of.
Gohan suddenly felt his vision swim, becoming blurred accompanied by the constant throbbing in his side returning.
Not now, he thought as he closed his eyes, fearing that if he kept them open any longer that he would pass out. The pain in his side then grew more when he heard the three men suddenly make chocking sounds.
Gohan didn't dare open his eyes, already developing a headache. When the pain was gone and everything was silent, Gohan hesitantly opened his eyes. He then saw the three men fall with a sickening thud from the air to the ground, dark green vines crumbling away.
He looked back at Marie, who looked by now about to faint. Leyla still looked like she was going to go crazy any moment now, but she had a confused look on her face.
"Gohan, how did you do that?" Leyla asked in a unsteady voice. He looked at her for a moment.
"I…" 'Didn't' was what he was about to say, but then he stopped and stared at the ground. He suddenly remembered that Marie's vines were light green.
So that means that I… he thought but couldn't finish what he was thinking, his mind already being reeled back to weeks ago.
(Flashback to a few weeks ago)
"Gohan!" Leyla yelled worriedly as she ran across the ground to where her friend was. Gohan, hearing Leyla call him, came out of the house, worried when he saw that Leyla was crying.
"Leyla, what's wrong?" he asked in a hurry, wondering if the Tako had finally found them. His friend was trying to take calming breaths, but it wasn't working since the moisture in her eyes kept falling.
"It's my mom. I don't know what's wrong," Leyla sputtered, making Gohan now understand why Leyla would be so upset. Her mother had fallen strangely ill about a week ago, making everyone wonder what had made her so sick.
Gohan nodded and started to run towards the small building that Leyla and her mother had taken refuge in since they had found this area to be safe so far from the Tako.
He stopped right outside of the building, not sure of what to do. Leyla came running up behind him, stopping and bending over to catch her breath.
"She said for me to come get you," Leyla whispered once she was a bit more stable. Gohan nodded and started to walk into the one room building. He looked around and saw Leyla's mother on a small cot in the corner of the room, the only light being a small candle beside the cot.
What can I do? He thought worriedly as he walked towards the cot. Leyla's mother, Ren, must have seen him coming.
"Come over here Gohan," she said with her voice being barely above a whisper. Gohan obeyed, wondering why Leyla's mother would have called for him and not one of the doctors in the area.
She motioned to a stool beside the cot and Gohan sat in it, noticing how pale she was. She opened her eyes and stared at him, making Gohan once again wonder why Ren had light brown eyes with Leyla having crimson ones.
"Why did you call me here?" Gohan asked, not sure of why he was here instead of Leyla.
"To tell you some things," Leyla's mother said in a soft tone while smiling at him. Before she could say anything else, Gohan voiced the first question that was on his mind.
"Do you know what made you sick?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. She waited for a moment before answering.
"Well of course I do," she said with a smile, making Gohan surprised.
"What is it?" he asked, hoping that if she would tell him, then they could get her the right medicine to make her feel better. Ren sighed before speaking again.
"I would tell you, but it's a long story and we don't have much time," she said while averting her gaze to the wall, "and I am not sure that I want to burden you and Leyla with that bit of information."
"But…" Gohan started with confusion, but Ren cut him off gently.
"Will you listen to what I have to tell you?" she asked gently. Gohan nodded, not sure of what else to say. He heard noises from outside of the building, but he tried to focus on how he could help Leyla's mom.
"Can you take care of Leyla for me?" she asked, making Gohan feel a bit frightened and confused.
"Why…?" Gohan started again, but then he fell silent when Ren shook her head weakly.
"I don't think I'll be here much longer," she said with a hint of sadness, "Leyla is such a sweet girl, but I don't want her to be affected by this."
Gohan's mind went blank; all he could really think about was that he was becoming powerless to stop what was going to happen.
"No," he whispered weakly, "I can help somehow."
He closed his eyes, not really sure of what he was going to do, but he then felt a pain through his side. Hoping that this was a good thing, he waited for a few moments before the pain stopped, opening his eyes and seeing Leyla's mother with a smile on her face and eyes closed.
"Ren?" he whispered, wondering if she was asleep. He waited for a few moments before he realized that she wasn't breathing.
I was too late, he thought sadly. He blew out the candle and covered Leyla's mother completely with the blanket, walking out to tell Leyla of the sad news.
Gohan thought back and then another memory hit him, only this time he saw Yamcha die all over again. He curled over onto his knees when he felt his stomach start to churn, but luckily this time nothing came out.
"Gohan?" Marie's voice brought him away from the memories that plagued him.
"Are you ok?" Leyla asked with concern. Gohan looked up at his friend, realizing with fear what he had done.
"I killed her," Gohan whispered as his vision became blurry. He then tore his gaze from Leyla's confused one and stared at the ground.
"Killed who?" Marie's confused question came to him, but he couldn't find the words to answer her.
"I'm just like it," Gohan thought with dread. He then brought his head up to stare at three power levels that were flying towards them in the distance. Finally, the effects of the day caught up to him and he fell towards the ground.
I am really sorry about not updating for a while, but I have vacation and tons of laundry to blame for this one. Hopefully this longer chapter made up for it. So, now we know a bit about Leyla's family. Who do you think was coming towards them? And who or what do you think made Leyla's mother sick? Also, sorry for the random 'flashback' notice, but I had no other ideas on how to do that when I was already using italics. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9