DB Multiverse

Chapter 4: You reap what you sow

Gohan was totally panicked. What could he do? He was about to carry his father on his back when he felt Kulilin’s, Goten’s and Trunks’s ki approaching. 18 was also with them.

“Is there anything wrong Gohan?” asked Kulilin as he landed.

“It was nothing, just a fight with my father…”

“You fought?!” exclaimed Goten, a gleam of panic in his eyes. “So it really was your strength that we felt!”

“It was just a little bit of training, nothing to worry about…” sheepishly answered Gohan.

“Help me to carry him!” commanded 18. “We have to bring him back right away!”

“And to think that there were only two weeks left till the first harvest…” lamented Kulilin.

They quickly flew towards the camp. Gohan kept saying over and over in his head, blaming himself for what happened:

It’s my fault, I didn't manage to say no. All is my fault, he got too carried away, and he was hungry. I should have known it; dad was like that too, I should have thought of it… But why did I go so far? Why did I want to push him to his limits? What did I want to show? And to say that usually I dislike fighting… Why did I take it so seriously with my father? Why…?

He took his head into his hands. If something bad was to happen, he would never forgive himself. He wouldn’t be able to. At the camp, they were welcomed by worried screams.

“What happened?”

18 threw a sidelong glance at Gohan, and then said:

“It’s ok, Bulma, it’s just a drop in blood pressure, nothing too bad. He just need to rest and to eat.”

Vegetto moaned.

“Nooot again…”

“You have to think twice before going to work like a beaver!” scolded Chi-Chi as she left for the kitchen.

Kulilin and 18 supported Vegetto to his bed.

“Hang on, bro!” encouraged the Saiyan’s friend before leaving.

Once everyone was out, Chi-Chi blew up.

“Explain! What happened?! How come he is like that? Tell me!”

Gohan lowered his head and stammered:

“It’s… it’s my fault… We fought…”

There was a lull in the conversation... and another... and another... A whole pack of lulls* had the time to come and go until Bulma broke the pregnant silence with an elegant:

“WHAT?”

“I found him training and… he asked me… and I couldn’t say ‘no’.”

Gohan felt pitiful. He was ashamed that he had agreed with it in the first place even if he knew very well that his father was ‘sick’. He just wanted to go away and meditate, as he did back in the days, with Piccolo and his father.

Thinking of Piccolo, a wave of nostalgia overcame him. Piccolo had insisted to remain behind, just 'in case something wrong would happen’, so that someone could estimate that potential enemy’s strength and warn them if needed. After almost a year far from Earth, he noticed how much he missed it. He thought of the time when his father was still Gokû. At that time, everything was simple. His mother made sure that he made his homework and his father took him for a walk every day. At time, they even went to watch the stars. That was the time Gohan regretted the most. Gokû, due to his chronic ignorance, invented names for the different constellations as he went. Gohan found his extremely funny.

Of course, back to that time, everything was easier. Gohan remembered with a smile that at that time, Bulma and Vegeta squabbled for no reason. On second thought, it was true that they could just fit together. And then Trunks had been their saviour. He had prevented his father from dying (well, till another death cause showed up) and so had permitted his brother to be born. Gohan sighed: he didn’t keep turning over the past that often but when he thought of it, he wanted to cry. He saw that Videl was inquiringly looking at him so Gohan smiled at his girlfriend to reassure her.

“It’s not your fault Gohan,” she said.

Gohan relaxed. Videl seemed to possess a strange power that enabled her to read his mind and any of his moves. None had had so much empathy with him before. Except maybe his father (apart from the fight against Cell, but that was another story). They flew away. Goten took off to follow them but Trunk caught his foot.

“Leave them alone Goten. It’s none of our business.”

Trunks’ very mature remark made Goten frown. There was time that he felt like a stupid boy when he was with his friend. Trunks put his hand on his shoulder and smiled:

“Let’s go play with our funny dinosaur!”

Goten smiled broadly and they left, followed by Marron.

Gohan muttered, once he and Videl had landed:

“I’m so irresponsible! If I had refused, perhaps…”

“Listen, what is done, is done! Keeping turning over the past won’t be of any use! We should rather concentrate on the two weeks to come. They are going to be the most important for your father’s recovery!”

“You’re right, but I can’t help blaming myself for that…”

“Don’t think of it!” ordered Videl, authoritarian.

The warrior looked at his girlfriend in the eyes. How could a woman made him feel so well and could comfort him so? It probably was what his father had felt with his mother. He took her hand and both went for a walk.

A week later, Vegetto’s state had considerably worsened. He had lost about eleven pounds in spite of the huge meals Bulma and Chi-Chi – who spent most of their day cooking – tried to feed him. As for the others, they keep working in the fields.

Despite his weakness, the Saiyan wanted to keep up appearances and to appear as if he was as strong as ever. But it was in vain: he hadn’t even walked fifty five yards that he suddenly fell. Desperate, Bulma prayed at her husband’s bedside. Of course, she knew god very well and she very well knew that he couldn’t help them, but she kept praying anyway, for that was the only thing she could do. Days slowly passed and Vegetto seemed to go worse with each passing day. Five days later, he didn’t even make the effort to appear to be going well. He stayed in bed all day long and ate as if his life depended on it, which, actually, was true. Hopeful, Gohan watched the shoots. At long last, after a long wait, he saw the first senzu beans. He took a handful and flew back to the camp at top speed. He landed at his father’s bedside and he noticed that his father was breathing with difficulty, his eyes closed and the face tense, as if he was suffering a thousand deaths. Yet, he placed a bean into his mouth and muttered:

“Please dad, eat that fast! Those are the first senzu beans.”

Vegetto had a hard time swallowing the bean, but he managed to eat five other beans. Then he opened his eyes and got up. He turned to look at the others who had gathered around him and smiled at them, which was followed with cries of joy.

Vegetto was finally saved!!

In the meantime, in the gods’ realm, Kibito Ka frowned.

“It’s ok, he survived.”

“Do you plan on calling him now?”

“Let’s wait a bit more. Just a few more months. I need to be sure…”

He sighed heavily and then sat down, closed his eyes and meditated again.

* Before you start saying that “lull” isn't an animal, I know it, and I know there can't be pack of it. However, the author wrote 'un ange passa, puis un autre... C'est enfin tout le paradis qui a paradé...' (roughly meaning 'an angel came and went, then another... Eventually, every inhabitants of Heaven had time to march etc...') I checked, and there is no such idiom in English and I wasn't sure that you would understand, yet, I wanted to keep the idea, therefore I had to improvise. Sorry if that annoyed some people.