Chapter 6:
Zone of No Return

PREVIOUSLY...

"Stay back, old man!" hissed Piccolo. "Goku and I have a little score to settle!"

Goku looked a bit regretful; perhaps he'd been hoping that Piccolo was willing to let bygones be bygones. "Well, I guess I don't have a choice..." he muttered as he got into a stance.

"No...I guess you DON'T," Piccolo retorted.

Kami and Popo glanced between the two fighters, both locked in a stand-off.

"They can't be serious...can they?" asked Mr. Popo.

Kami furrowed his brow. "I'm afraid it seems that way, Popo," he replied.

Just when it seemed like Goku and Piccolo had finally put Garlic Jr. out to pasture, the tiny terror rose from the rubble, back and badder than ever.

As the tension reached its maximum...from the rubble, burst a claw!

Goku and Piccolo lunged at each other, ready to begin their rematch...

And finally, out from the rubble emerged Garlic Jr.—not so lean, especially mean, and not very keen on being ignored.

And it looks like he's got one more terrible trick up his non-existant sleeves!

"I TOLD YOU, I CAN NEVER DIE!" he bellowed. "BUT YOU WILL!"

And so, Garlic raised his arms with a guttural roar.

Kami's eyes widened in horror. He knew this technique..and so did Mr. Popo. He had only seen the Makyans use it when they were truly up against a wall.

"No!" he exclaimed. "If you do that, you'll kill us all!"

Garlic Jr. flashed a wicked grin. "If I'm lucky!" he replied.

As he charged his power, a red and yellow spiral began to form in the air...and then it got bigger, forming into a spinning vortex. And from within formed a gateway to the blackest realm.

Suddenly, everything around the area, from turrets to scaffolding, were pulled into the grasp of the vortex.

Piccolo suddenly found himself being pulled through the air, towards the vortex...when he was suddenly grabbed by Goku, clinging to a broken pillar.

"Piccolo...!" grunted Goku, keeping a hold on his nemesis's ankle.

Pulled towards the vortex, Krillin was awakened by being jostled around. Once he realized what was going on, he scrambled to his feet, and managed to grab onto a particularly large piece of debris.

"Oh, man...what happened to Gohan?!" he exclaimed, looking around. "Oh, no! I hope he's not in there!"

As Goku and Piccolo clung to the rubble for dear life, Garlic Junior let out a fiendish cackle while his body glowed with yellow energy.

"You arrogant toad...I'm gonna kill you!" Piccolo growled as he threw an energy blast, then clung to another chunk of rubble as he was dragged back. The energy blast just bounced off Garlic Jr, as if it were a rubber chew toy.

"You can't stop ME; let everything be sucked into this Dead Zone I've created!" Garlic Jr exclaimed. "Including YOU! You'll all be sealed into a hellish darkness that will freeze your bodies and souls for the rest of eternity, just like you did to my father!"

Piccolo strained to keep his grip, but the vortex seemed to grow bigger and bigger. Goku cried out as he was pulled towards the swirling vortex of death...and smashed head-first through several stone pillars on the way. Fortunately, he managed to grab onto the last one to keep from being dragged in completely.

A piece of debris conked Krillin on the head, and when he put his hands to cover himself, he lost his grip, but luckily managed to grab on to another part. Kami and Mr. Popo were hanging on with all their might, but they couldn't hold on for long.

Somewhere within the rubble, a young boy cried out, his sobbing somehow making itself heard over the howling winds and roaring vortex.

Goku's eyes drifted towards the pile. "...GOHAN!" he exclaimed. Garlic Jr raised an eye-ridge in curiosity.

Suddenly, the mound of rubble burst like a balloon, and in the midst of it all, was Gohan...but something felt different about him. Gone was his childlike expression of fear; in its place was an angry grimace. His fists were clenched like vise-grips, and his eyes had an almost primal, animalistic quality to them.

If looks could kill, then Garlic Jr would have been dead a thousand times over.

"NO! GOHAN!" Goku called to his 3-year-old son, but his words didn't seem to be getting through to him. He merely stood firm, resisting the pull of the Dead Zone.

"How can this be happening?!" asked Garlic Junior. "That little brat isn't even affected by my power! I knew he was special...but how can he be so powerful? What on Earth would make him so strong?! One thing's for sure: he's no ordinary little kid!"

With a grunt, Garlic Jr boosted his strength and tried to push Gohan back, but he only moved a little bit.

"I've got to use all my power! I'll hit him with everything that I have!" he proclaimed as he glowed ever-brighter, increasing the pull of the vortex and dragging Gohan even further towards it. By this time, Gohan's eyes were completely blank, no irises or pupils. And finally, he began to let out a mighty scream of furious rage, as his body glowed with a blue light.

By that point, Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Mr. Popo and Kami were overpowered by the suction force of the Dead Zone, and were dragged towards it.

"DAAAAAADDDDDDYYYYY...!" Gohan roared, as he sent out a blast of blue energy, which hit Garlic Jr, head-on in the stomach, and sent him tumbling towards the swirling vortex which he himself had created.

As he was hurtling into the Dead Zone, Garlic Jr laughed to himself. "They haven't beaten me...I can't die! I've become immortal!" he cackled as he tumbled end over end into the endless, black ichor. "And that's more than I can say for cousin Pilaf...!"

And then...he was gone.

Soon after Garlic Jr vanished into the void, the Dead Zone vortex sealed itself shut; chunks of rubble fell to the ground, and with them, fell our heroes—weary and scarred, but still alive.

At that time, Gohan was suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion, and he passed out. The nightmarish background cracked like a glass window, giving way to a bright blue sky.

Krillin was the first to stand up once again, though he was completely astonished by what had happened. "...Kami? What happened to Garlic Jr?" he asked the wrinkled old guardian.

Kami brushed himself off as he got to his feet. "He has fallen into the very Hell which he created," he explained while helping Mr. Popo up. "And since he has gained immortality, he shall be doomed to exist there forever. In a way, it's a bit sad that Garlic suffered the same fate as his own father."

Goku made his way over and picked up his son. "It is kinda sad," he had to agree. "But at least he can't hurt anyone anymore."

Kami let off a small sigh. "You make a good point, Goku," he replied. "In spite of the circumstances."

After a few seconds, Gohan reawakened.

Goku looked down, and beamed with pride. "Gohan!" he exclaimed.

"Daddy!" the boy chirped. "I knew you'd come to rescue me!"

Goku blinked, surprised. "Don't you remember anything about what happened?" he asked.

Gohan smiled at his father. "I remember that my dad's the strongest fighter in the whole world!" he replied.

It seemed that, for the time being, Gohan didn't remember a thing about what he had done that day.

"Regardless of what transpired on this day," said Kami. "Once more, you've managed to beat the odds. I'm proud, Goku."

"Thanks again, Kami," replied Goku.

Gohan looked over. "...Daddy, who's that?" he asked.

"Gohan...this is Kami," explained Goku. "He's the guardian of the Earth."

"Oh!" Gohan nodded, before he did a little bow. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Kami."

Kami gave a chuckle. "He's very polite," he commented. And a lot like his father—in more ways than one...

Just then, Mr. Popo came over with the magic carpet, and Kami hopped on with him. Clearly, those mysteries would need to be looked into another day.

"Well, I guess we've all been through a lot today; so let's go home," Goku said as he picked up his son and put him on his shoulders. "Your mom and gramps are waiting for ya!"

Gohan gave a big nod and a smile to that.

Krillin smiled, his hands behind his head. "I'm gonna have one heck of a story to tell Bulma and Master Roshi when I get back!" he remarked. And...maybe Launch will be home by then...

As the group prepared to leave, Piccolo watched from afar, sequestered away from the rest of them.

"Well, Goku...looks like we'll have to settle things another day," he muttered. "But one day, they WILL be settled."

Reclaiming the Power Pole, Goku called, "FLYING NIMBUS!" As the magic cloud arrived, he hopped aboard, and he and Gohan headed home to Mt. Paozu.

Thanks to Goku and his friends, Garlic Jr's sinister ambitions were never realized and the world was saved. For a bit, Goku DID consider telling Chi-Chi that their son had rescued him...but he wasn't sure he should reveal what actually happened just yet.

He glanced down at his son, who smiled up at him while clinging to his leg.

Nah, Chi-Chi would never believe it... thought Goku. I think I'll tell Gohan about it when he gets older.

And away they went, soaring home through the bright blue sky.

Deep beneath the waves of the Red Sea, there lay the shards of the Dead Zone. And trapped within, pounding upon one...was the emaciated, wrinkled form of Garlic Jr.

Of course, he would find his way out.

Someday, yes...but not someday soon.

THE END

with the VOICE TALENTS of:

IAN JAMES CORLETT as Son Goku
SAFFRON HENDERSON as Son Gohan
SCOTT MCNEIL as Piccolo
ALYSON COURT/TIFFANY VOLLMER as Bulma
TERRY KLASSEN as Krillin
MICHAEL DONOVAN as Master Roshi
SONJA BALL as Chi-Chi
DAVE "SQUATCH" WARD as Ox-King
PETER CULLEN as Kami, and Sea Turtle
BLU MANKUMA as Mr. Popo
FRANK WELKER as Shenron
MICHAEL BELL as Garlic Jr.
BOB MCFADDEN as Ginja
MICHAEL DOBSON as Nicky
BRIAN DOBSON as Sancho
and DON BROWN as Pilaf

Narrated by ROBERT STACK

And so, after six years, my adaptation of DEAD ZONE has finally been completed! And just in time for what would've been Akira Toriyama's 70th birthday.

But don't think that's all I've got up my sleeve. I'm working on something else with BEATN to honor his memory, so stay tuned for that, alright?

Remember to Read and Review, watch out for bots, and have a nice day.

Also, fun fact: this version's dialogue is based on the Ocean Dub track, while the posting on Archive of Our Own is based more on the dialogue from the 2005 Funimation redub.