Chapter 3: A New Friend
Goten and Xavier had been walking for about half an hour now, making their way into parts of West City not commonly visited by either them or anyone they knew. The two twins as usual didn't so much as mutter a sound to each other. Xavier held a mostly blank expression but every so often there was a hint of sadistic anticipation showing either by a small smirk or the occasional tiny maniacal giggle. Goten though he wore a smile on his face apprehensively wondered what his twin brother was up to and kept opening his mouth to ask, but his beaten in fear of Xavier made it so nothing came out. Eventually they reached the boondocks zone on the outer edges of West City, lined with many mid class homes and the occasional apartment complex. "So Xavier...um who is your friend?" Goten asked finally attaining the nerve to speak. "Name's Tom, he's an interesting specimen, so absentminded and gullible yet he entertains me nonetheless" Xavier replied with a mix of coyness and whimsical remembrance. Though he was weirded out by Xavier referring to his supposed friend as a specimen, Goten smiled at the thought that someone had broken through his twin brother's cruel exterior and into the heart he believed lied deep within. "Unfortunately he recently pissed me off a bit by stealing my Invincible mask from me during the middle of my pretend game" Xavier continued with contempt in his voice. "Oh well uhhh...do you want me to help you make up with him?" Goten questioned awkwardly his smile dropping briefly before returning hopefully. "Heh heh, not quite bro, you're job is to put this stuff into this" Xavier answered giggling sinisterly while pulling out a root beer bottle and another small vial that appeared to have water in it. Xavier handed the two bottles to Goten. "What is this?" Goten inquired about the smaller bottle. "Oh just something I swiped from Capsule Corp, it was in the "danger zone" so I imagine it's something exciting to play with" Xavier explain a slightly crazed smile crossing his face. Goten's eyes widened at this. "D-danger zone? Wha-what is this stuff?" Goten asked shakily now starting to become afraid of what his twin brother's intentions were. "Beats me, could just be water or maybe it could be sprite, gas, poison, a sample of some kind of virus or bacteria, no clue, but it'll be fun to find out after we make Tom drink it Ha ha!" Xavier explained laughing excitedly at the end. Goten gasped horrified at Xavier's insidious plan. "Xavier! Are you nuts?! What if he gets sick?! What if he dies?!" Goten exclaimed in shock and worry. "That's the fun part! And no matter what happens it'll teach him not to upstage me! Ha ha ha!" Xavier bellowed out shamelessly laughing hysterically. Goten stared at Xavier incredulously wondering if he was going crazy. "Xavier we can't do that! That's really really bad! What would mommy or daddy think if they heard or see us do something like this?!" Goten yelled out crying thinking about the misery they'd would cause to Tom and how reviled and angry there parents would be with them. "Oh stop worrying bro, come on, you'll enjoy the show too" Xavier said blowing off Goten's concerns and trying to convince him in a persuasive manner. Goten breathlessly let Xavier's words sink in and he felt a deep anger he'd been unconsciously suppressing for most of his life. "That's it!" Goten screamed out furiously throwing the bottles and smashing them on the sidewalk. Xavier looked at Goten in slight surprise before his expression darkened. "Why did you do that?" Xavier asked quietly but it was easy to tell he was mad. "I am done listening to you! You beat me up, blame me for everything bad that happens, humiliate me and say mean things all the time!" Goten continued his rage rant. "So? What are gonna do about it?" Xavier questioned Goten narrowing his eyes further. "Oh I'll tell you what I'm gonna do! I'm gonna tell everyone what you do to me! When I'm done, they'll disown you and hopefully lock you up in jail!" Goten declared with righteous fury. "Aren't you overreacting a bit? I was just messing with you and trying to have fun" Xavier rebuked attempting to excuse himself. "You got me poisoned by making me stick my hand in a spider infested log when I was five! You just killed Bee and now you're trying to get me to help you potentially murder a person! It's hell! No more!" Goten finished and started raising his energy to rocket over to wherever their parents were. Unfortunately he wouldn't make it. Xavier zoomed over to Goten, stunning the child just long enough for him to pull out a knife from his pocket and stab Goten right in his chest. "Ahhh gahhh!" Goten gagged out stumbling back from the attack coughing up some blood. He tried to catch his breath but he quickly found breathing increasingly difficult and painful. Glancing down to the stab wound, Goten to his horror realized why. His heart had been ruptured. During this Xavier put away his knife and pulled out his bloodstained spiked metal bat. Just when Goten was about to attempt an escape Xavier rushed over and whacked him in the head, making Goten plummet to the ground head bleeding. Xavier proceeded to savagely deliver another blow to Goten's head. Now there was a visible wound on Goten's head, exposing some of his brain and skull. Goten started shaking and spazzing out of his control and foaming at the mouth, apparently the damage to his head had done some to his brain as well, triggering a seizure. Xavier looked at his twin brother with a mix of disgust, disappointment, sorrow yet excitement and even exhilaration at the same time. "Oh Goten...you just had to be a wuss, we could've done great things together as brothers, but alas turns out your nothing but a whiner and a tattletale, such a shame really" Xavier lamented sounding somewhat genuinely hurt. "Oh well... I'll just have go it alone, or perhaps find another partner, whichever happens first, so long bro" Xavier finished in a farewell tone raising his bat up clearly intending to kill Goten with one more strike. Goten's seizure ended just in time to see this happen though his vision and sight was dizzy and dimming as he began to fall unconscious. Just then a laser from an unknown source came and shot Xavier in his shoulder making him drop his bat. "Ow who did that?!" Xavier angrily shouted out to the mysterious shooter. The assailant only answered by firing more beams at Xavier. After about ten or so shots taken, Xavier growled in frustration and ran off presumably back to Capsule Corp. "pfft whatever, he'll probably be dead soon anyway. See ya in hell bro! I'll be sure to make up for any lost time once I get there myself!" Xavier yelled out sure of himself waving goodbye to his borderline dead twin brother. Goten finally lost all consciousness though not before he caught a glimpse of figure picking him up and carrying him off to an unknown location.
A Few Hours Later
Goten's eyes fluttered and slowly opened up to see a peculiar scene. His sight seemed to be distorted and wavy with a pink hue to it. Startled and therefore becoming a little more aware, he felt the feeling of floating and being cold and wet like he was submerged underwater except strangely his mouth which felt like it was breathing air. A quick look around and a little more grogginess leaving his being revealed to himself that he was indeed swimming in a little pod with a breathing tube attached to his mouth. Though he couldn't get exact details about the place he was at, Goten did register that he was in a dimly lit lab of sorts. Looking down to himself the boy found that his knee injury as well as several small ones he sustained from Xavier's abuse were all healed including his fractured skull though he had also been undressed, presumably at least he hoped for the healing. Suddenly there was a beeping sound somewhere on the pod Goten was in and seconds later the pinkish liquid started draining out. After the water drained enough that his whole head was no longer underwater, Goten gently pried the breathing apparatus off of him and steadied himself as the weightlessness of the liquid wore off with further drainage. When the last of the fluid flowed out, the hatch of the pod made a clicking sound and shifted slightly outward indicating it was unlocked. Goten opened the hatch and tiptoed out of the pod barely avoiding slipping on the ground with his wet feet? "Hello?! Anybody here?!" Goten yelled loudly hoping to get a response from whoever brought him to this place. As if hearing his call, the lights in the lab abruptly brightened now shining almost sun level bright which caused Goten to shield his eyes from the sudden increase in lighting. "Ah good you're awake, you had me worried for a bit that you were gonna be in a coma" a calm kid's voice rang out in Goten's ears. Opening his eyes slowly adjusting to the light to see a boy about his age standing on a flight of stairs leading to an elevator holding a towel. The boy had brown hair and a white lab coat draped over his shoulders down to his ankles though more normal clothes could be faintly made out beneath it. "Here catch" the stranger kid said throwing the towel over to Goten who caught it with ease. "Who are you?" Goten asked with curiosity as he began to dry himself. "The name's Zachary but you can call me Zach for short" The boy now known as Zachary answered gracefully. "Nice to meet you Zach!" Goten greeted kindly gaining a smile on his face though it morphed into a confused expression as he looked around the lab and he asked, "where are we?". "Oh this is my laboratory. Its right below my house. I brought you here to heal you after I scared off that despicable doppelgänger that was about to smush you into the pavement. Now I know what your gonna say "why didn't I take you to the hospital?" Well because you're vital signs were going down too fast for any normal medical treatment to possibly save you so I took a gamble and treated you with my experimental regenerative solution, its supposed to essentially people with body parts damaged or severed grow back" Zach explained exasperatingly. Goten froze shocked but gradually turned into a very grateful smile realizing that for the first time in his entire life, someone noticed his pain and helped him. "T-thank you so much..." Goten thanked Zach getting teary eyed. "Hey hey don't cry, it was nothing dude, I'm just glad my invention seems to have worked. Some test results are still being ran but I think your gonna be fine" Zach assured humbly denying Goten's thanks. Goten's smile just continued to widen as he looked at Zach very gratefully. He glanced around the lab and noticed a set of blueprints. Goten didn't know the first thing about the extremely complicated semantics portrayed on the print but he understood the big boldened words at the top that read "Android 19" and a red bow tie like symbol with an R on both ends. "What's that thing Zach?" Goten inquired pointing at the blueprint. Zach spotted what Goten was talking about and his eyes widened and a beat of sweat ran down his neck. "Uhhh just some old work from my great grandfather...he was my inspiration...for science...not...anything else" Zach stuttered out awkwardly confirming Goten's inquiry. Goten was a little confused by Zach's reaction but at the moment he was too relieved and grateful for his rescue to truly care about it. "Well anyway thanks again Zach, my brother's hurt me before but never like that" Goten lamented to Zach. "Hold the phone what?! That freaking psycho was your brother?!" Zach exclaimed shocked to his core. "Yeah...uh my family is very...interesting to put it mildly Heh heh heh..." Goten sheepishly admitted. "Your telling me, that reminds me I wanted to ask and I deeply apologize if I sound rude asking this but...what are you? Cause all my tests I've done on your body and blood are showing extraordinary levels of strength and energy in your very being as well as half your DNA not matching anything on Earth" Zach explained his questioning while excusing himself. Goten pondered in his head how to answer the question. "My family and friends warned me not to tell people our stories but... I feel like I can trust this guy" Goten reasoned in his mind. "I'm not really supposed to be telling anybody but since you saved my life...and apparently gave me a health exam, I'll tell you, warning it's a big of a long story" Goten forewarned Zach. "That's alright man I'm in no rush to anything" Zach said shrugging off Goten's warning. "Well for starters by Dad's name is Goku, I'm sure you've heard of him" Goten started off. "Wait a minute Goku? The Goku?" Zach interrupted sounding like mixture of surprise yet knowing as well. "Yeah the world champion Goku, why?" Goten questioned taking notice of his savior's sudden change in demeanor. "Oh uhhh just making sure there uhhh go on" Zach said weirdly deflecting the counter question back. Goten's eyes blinked in confusion but he quickly shrugged it off and continued his tale. Over the course of what felt like hours Goten detailed his father's life and journey as well as his alien origins. Most of the time Zach seemingly looked on in shock but one good look by any observant person could tell he really had heard it before somehow though Goten didn't pick up on it too enthralled in his storytelling. Zach's look of surprise became genuine when Goten started covering the his history with his twin brother. "Holy shit man! What the hell is Xavier's problem?!" Zach interrogated angrily very enraged by what Goten told of him and Xavier's abusive brotherhood. "I wish I knew Zach, I really don't understand it, sniff" Goten whimpered eyes watering up again. "Everyday I just want him to be nice and to make him happy but nothing I say or do works! Sniff sniff" Goten whined even more not noticing that one of his eyes had begun twitching and one of his arms was spasming seemingly out of the Demi Saiyan's control. "I wanna love him but..." Goten whined almost hysterically before growing quieter clutching his head. "I also can't shake the urge to just punch him in his goddamn face!" Goten growled in animalistic fury abruptly shooting his head up showing his half crazed eyes his voice briefly turning deeper and more raspy. Zach was startled by this development and backed away a little bit in fright. Coming back to his senses Goten's abrupt outburst of anger disappears and he covers his mouth flabbergasted realizing what he just said. "I-I'm sorry Zach... I-I don't know what came over me?" Goten apologized very regretful for scaring his rescuer and more than a little frightened by himself. Zach's expression eased quickly seeing Goten revert back to his usual self. "Don't worry about it dude, considering your hellish circumstances I guess we should be grateful your not an angsty emo guy, you'd probably be the worst one ever to deal with cause unlike most emo kids, you'd actually have a damn good reason for being so pessimistic! Ha ha ha!" Zach joked trying to lighten the mood which was effective since Goten joined in on his laughter. "Well I should get going Zach, my mommy and daddy are probably worried sick about me, can I have my clothes back?" Goten asked looking around for his clothing. "I put those things in the washer and dryer a little bit ago, they should be done by now but hey how about you stay the night eh? I'm sure you can come up with something to say to your parents" Zach offered kindly. "Ok I guess I can do that!" Goten excitedly accepted having not had a sleepover with any other kid besides Trunks which always ended up with the lavender haired rich brat boy dominating him in board games or rock paper scissors. "Perfect, and hey, I'll help you out with Xavier too, you can come to me anytime you need a reprieve from him and one day we'll gather up enough dirt on him to get him to be sent away to a mental institution! How about it buddy?!" Zach asked enthusiastically offering a handshake. "Buddy..." Goten said stunned at the sentiment and Zach's offer to help him deal with Xavier. A huge smile then formed on his face from ear to ear before shouting "Yeah!" Jumping up with immense glee unknowingly flinging his towel away uncovering himself. "Come on! Let's go have fun!" Goten shouted with pure joy beginning to run up the staircase. "Uhhh Goten aren't you forgetting something?" Zach inquired his newly made friend. Goten paused and looked down reminding himself that he was still naked. "Oops...oh well" Goten blew off his nudity whistling to himself as he gingerly resumed his way up. "Your weird guy Goten... but I like you" Zach remarked as he quickly caught up to his shameless friend intending to grab his clothes from the dryer and then having a good night of fun with him like the kids they were. Just after the pair were carried up to the house level via the elevator one of the many screens on the walls of the lab lit up and shortly after a internal scan of Goten's brain was shown on the screen with a portion of it beeping red. And soon a robotic voice spoke, "Warning! Brain regeneration imperfect!".