Chapter 14: Enough
Gohan felt his side start to hurt from all of the running he had been doing. Glancing over at his friend, he could tell that Marie was feeling the same effect from her heavy breathing.
He started to feel frustrated at how much more distance they had to go, but he could tell something was terribly wrong, and not just from Krillin's steadily dropping Ki.
The reason they were currently running and not flying was simple to say, but hard to understand. For some reason, they couldn't fly.
Gohan knew something had been wrong when he had felt his Ki start to be drained from him. Marie had the same effect, landing on the ground with a thud.
They had tried to find out what was causing it, but they knew it was only in a specific range, probably cause by the Tako.
Gohan sighed, knowing that their current transportation method was getting them nowhere fast.
"Any ideas?" Gohan asked Marie, knowing that she was just as stumped about this ordeal as he was. She shook her head, stopping a few feet behind him.
"No," Marie said with a confused look, "but something's changed."
Gohan felt confused by her words, but when he searched for Ki levels again, he knew his friend was right. The Ki signals had all but disappeared.
"Seriously?" Gohan sighed, "Why do they always make it so hard?"
Marie had a confused look on her face, not quite understanding what he was meaning.
"Who makes what hard?" she asked, making Gohan look over at her. He figured that they should continue moving, but he didn't know where to now.
"The bad guys," Gohan explained, "they always make everything hard."
He saw Marie nod, a somewhat serious expression on her face.
"Yep, they never make things easy," Marie stated, but then started to smile, "but isn't that half the fun of things?"
Her sudden change in mood made Gohan laugh, this was supposed to be something serious, but Marie usually always knew how to cheer him up.
"Yeah, well not so much when someone gets hurt because of it," he stated with a sigh, not sure where else to go.
He wondered where everyone else was, considering he couldn't sense their Kis anymore since Krillin's disappeared. He really hoped that his friend wasn't in trouble like they thought he was.
But then again, that always seems to be wrong, Gohan thought with a sigh, not coming up with any more ideas.
"Oh," Marie suddenly exclaimed, standing up. Gohan looked at her for a moment.
"What is it? Can you sense them?" he asked, but Marie shook her head.
"I just had an idea," she said and, before Gohan could ask, he felt the ground start to shake.
Starting to freak out a bit, Gohan wanted to know exactly what she thought of doing. Marie usually had good intentions, but not all of her "plans" turned out well.
"What are you doing? Starting an earthquake?" Gohan shouted over the now loud noises of the earth shifting.
"No, you'll see," Marie shouted back, making Gohan sigh.
Why can't she just tell me for once? Gohan thought with a shake of his head, but he was surprised when he saw a narrow block of earth start to sink in front of them, and then follow by others, leading into a dark underground passage.
"Oh," was all he could say, still surprised at how much more Marie could do than him.
"Yep," Marie stated with a smile, but then motioned to the tunnels, "Let's go!"
Gohan didn't share his friend's enthusiasm, but he followed anyways. Raising his power level a bit, he was satisfied when he could see in front of them a few feet.
Marie glanced over at him and then started to laugh.
"What is it?" he asked, wondering why she suddenly started to laugh at him.
Marie didn't give him an answer right away, continuing to laugh and crawl through the tunnels next to him. When she did calm down enough to speak, Gohan could tell that she might start laughing again.
"It's funny when your hair does that," Marie said, motioning with her hands at his now golden hair, "you look a lot more like me then."
Gohan still didn't get why she had been laughing, but at least he knew that she wasn't freaked out.
The first time he had turned Super Saiyan in front of her; Marie had gotten confused and thought that he was a different person. When he had tried to explain it to her, she didn't understand what he had meant, so he had pretty much given up on explaining Saiyan heritage and powers to her.
Gohan was about to say something when he saw a light ahead. Motioning to Marie, they both crawled down deeper into the tunnel to where the light was shining from.
When they got to the end of the tunnel, Gohan saw a gradual slope that led down to some kind of cave. He looked over at Marie, confused.
"Did you even know where these led when you made them?" he asked, hoping she might know where they were.
"No, I just made them," Marie said with a shake of her head.
Gohan sighed, wondering how this was going to help them when he sensed Krillin's power level again. Checking first that no other power levels were present, they both ran into the cave.
It took a bit for Gohan's eyes to get adjusted to the darker area, but when they did, he saw a shape lying on the ground a few feet away from them.
"Krillin!" Gohan shouted as he ran forward, but then tripped on something. Thinking that it was just a vine, he continued to run towards his friend.
Bending down beside Krillin, Gohan was relieved to find that he was still breathing, just badly hurt.
At least he's not dead, Gohan thought with a sigh of relief. He could sense relief coming from Marie too.
"I think we should get him out of here," Gohan said, earning a nod from Marie.
As they started to move Krillin from the ground, he felt Marie grow tense beside him.
"What is it?" he asked, looking over at his friend while setting Krillin down. He checked for power levels, but there were no others besides his, Marie's, and Krillin's in the cave.
"I have a bad feeling about this place," Marie mumbled, making him confused.
"What do you mean? Didn't you make this too?" Gohan asked, but then he wondered how Krillin could be in here.
"No," Marie said with a shake of her head, "I only reopened the tunnel leading to these ones."
Gohan was about to say something, but he felt Krillin stir from his unconsciousness.
"Krillin, do you feel any better?" Gohan asked, seeing his friend's eyes open a bit.
"Gohan?" he asked, making Gohan a bit worried that he might have hit his head or something.
"Yeah it's me. And Marie is here too. We were just going to get you out of here. How did you find this place anyway?" he asked as both Marie and him tried to help Krillin up.
Krillin, however, didn't answer his question.
"Gohan, you need to get out of here," Krillin whispered, "it's a…"
He never got to finish because Gohan felt several Ki levels appear at once.
"Trap?" a voice said in amusement. Gohan and Marie both looked to see that the figure had now suddenly appeared; an amused smirk on her face.
If she's here, then where is…? Gohan thought but then stopped when he felt something wrap around his leg.
Glancing down quickly, Gohan was surprised to find that the Tako had a tentacle secured around both Marie's and his legs, making it so that they couldn't move.
"They never make it easy, do they?" Gohan mumbled, knowing that he should have guessed something like this would happen.
Krillin had apparently passed out again, making Gohan a bit nervous. He realized with relief that the Tako wasn't going for his friend though.
He looked over at Marie, sensing a large amount of fear coming from her Ki. He started to get worried since he saw that she was shaking badly.
What scared her so badly? Gohan wondered.
Marie had never told him about what had happened to her before he had found her, but he knew that the way she was reacting it probably wasn't a good thing.
"So, she was right," the figure stated suddenly, amusement dancing in her crimson eyes.
She? Gohan thought with confusion, who is she talking about?
Gohan glanced over at Marie, who had by now given up on getting loose from the Tako's tentacle and was now glaring at the figure, which then gave him a thought.
Could it have been someone Marie knew? Or currently knows? He wondered, considering Marie didn't usually show her "rude" side to strangers unless absolutely necessary.
"Who do you mean?" Gohan asked the figure, glancing up at the ledge she was standing on. The figure then laughed, making Gohan feel a bit irritated.
"You actually know her quite well," the figure stated, not really helping Gohan find out who she was meaning.
Like you said, they make things hard, Marie answered in his head while motioning with her head towards the figure.
Definitely, Gohan answered, but was surprised when the figure started to laugh again.
"So that's what you think of us, is it?" she stated as she laughed.
Both Gohan and Marie's eyes widened.
Did she just read our thoughts? Gohan wondered, but the only answer he got from Marie was a confused shake of her head.
He felt the tentacle start to tighten its grasp on his leg. Looking down, he started to feel his leg hurt before he realized that he was suddenly losing feeling in it.
"Just great," he muttered, feeling absolutely helpless.
Gohan hated it when he felt helpless. He felt as if he could do nothing, and then someone always got hurt before he could actually get up the nerve to help.
It always seems like this, Gohan thought, trying to find a way out of their current mess, but so far he was having no such luck.
He thought back to how the day had started, peaceful, and sighed.
Why does something like this always have to happen? He wondered, but then looked around, feeling someone watching him, Is someone else here?
He then looked up at the figure again, who seemed to look quite distracted by talking to someone, or something.
He then felt a Ki slightly reappear and even though it felt very familiar, he couldn't tell who it was.
He raised his Ki slightly, hoping that would at least get his friends' attention.
Dad, I seriously hope you come quickly; Gohan thought but then winced when he felt something sharp hit his leg.
Looking down, he saw that his leg now had blood running down it. Looking around to see what could have caused it, he then saw that the tentacles had sharp edges to them.
Don't raise your power level or else it will cut you, Gohan informed Marie, who then looked over and down at his leg, which then resulted in a gasp and her looking sick.
"Well, this is getting quite boring, isn't it?" the figure suddenly questioned, making Gohan nervous.
He remembered all the "advice" his father had given him to stay away from the figure, but apparently that hadn't helped today.
Picking up on his thoughts, the figure smiled.
"Maybe we should make this a bit more interesting, shall we?" she said with a sinister smile on her face.
Gohan didn't know what she had meant at first, but then he started to worry when he saw a red Ki blast form in her hands.
Not good, Gohan thought frantically as he watched the Ki accumulate.
"Marie, we need to get out of here," Gohan frantically whispered.
Marie looked over at him, but all he saw was fear and desperation in her eyes, matching what he was feeling.
"Good bye," the figure whispered while firing the Ki blast.
Time suddenly seemed to slow down for Gohan. He saw the Ki come towards him, but he also saw something move from his left, sending a bright yellow Ki blast at the red one, destroying it.
Before he had time to wonder who it was, a girl stepped out of the shadows, striking Gohan with fear and worry.
"I'm not going to let you terrorize me anymore," the girl stated, making him freeze when he recognized her voice.
First of all, I am really sorry that I updated all my other fanfictions earlier and this came later in the month. I thought I was going to Lancaster, but a few things came up and then I got busy with school and life. Either way, I hope this makes up for it. So, who do you think "rescued" Gohan and Marie? And how do you think Krillin ended up in that cave? And did anyone else think Marie was starting an earthquake (besides Gohan and me)? Please tell me your thoughts and more in a review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9