Contradicting Mission

Part 19

Flying to his waiting capsule house, his duffel bag of food slung over his shoulder, Gohan knew he should feel victorious. He had gotten into the Underground safely, eaten, packed away a large amount of food for later, and gotten out withough having to fight even once. He had absolutely won. Score one for him.

But he couldn't even smile as he held onto the strap of his bag with a white-knuckled grip. He couldn't stop thinking about Henning Le'Armont. He could feel his heart pounding; his surroundings were a blur as he flew over them, not seeing anything and not paying attention to his direction.

He felt deeply troubled.

He had met a fair share of dictators, muderers and sadists. Hired killers, planet destroyers, mad men bent on revenge and a fair share of people who didn't know any other way to solve a conflict than with violence. But never before had someone actually preplanned capturing and torturing their victim, of drawing out their death as long as possible for no other reason than to watch them die. Gohan liked there to be reasons why people did things, even if it was nothing more than two wrongs did make a right in their view.

Before just fifteen minutes ago, Gohan had never known who Henning was. They had never met, never spoken, and as far as the boy knew, they had absolutely no dealings with eachother before. Gohan had certainly never done anything to the Tahch-jin to warrant such.....

Gohan was certain it wasn't revenge. Henning didn't seem vengeful, or even angry. Infact, he looked happy. Excited. Eager to inflict pain on anyone he could.

The boy shivered, suddenly feeling cold. He was in no mood to return to camp, where where Bojack, Freeza and Garlic awaited. He was in no mood to talk, or even stop.

He altered his flight away from camp, angling off into an unknown direction, and blasted his chi around him to fly as fast as he could. As the wind flew over his body, he tried to imagine it blowing away his thoughts, his memories, reducting him to nothing more than an object in perpetual motion, posessing no thought process other than movement.

Looking up, he realized it was still morning. He hadn't been underground for more than a few hours, and the sun had yet to reach the center of the sky. Looking at the ground spanning infront of him, he began to realize that planet Aeesu was actually quite pretty. The ground, a tan under the still young sun, was dotted with tufts of light purple grass, some so tall one could get lost if they ventured into it. The sky was gentle violet, while the white clouds seemed to be waiting along the horizon so they didn't interupt the perfect expanse of empty space above it.

The mountains were long gone behind him, and ahead there was no further expanses of elevation. It was all clear, flat plains, filled with grass and low-hanging trees and occational herds of creatures Gohan had never seen before. More than once, he even flew over clusters of the strange deer/armadillo creatures Bojack had tried eating.

Something glittering far ahead drew his attention, and when he squinted, he saw a thin stream of water. At first, he mistook it for a mirage. The plains certainly weren't the hottest area Gohan had ever visited, but the unobstructed sun was rearing down its full power across the ground below. Gohan could smell the moisture the ground gave off in the heat.

No, he smelled moisture, but it wasn't the ground. As he continued flying, he saw it wasn't a mirage. It was water. Real, live water, shimmering under the perfect sky. A lake of some sort? The closer he got, the larger the body of water looked, and as he neared the shore, worn away by water into rocky craigs, he realized it must be a sea, if not an ocean. He couldn't see the other shore. It was beautiful.

He landed at a beach, the blue-purple waves lapping at gray, silky sand with quiet watery sounds. The sun had warmed the sand, and on impulse Gohan set his bag of food aside, pulled off his boots, and rolled up his pant legs. He waded into the water up to his calves, his tail curling up like a question mark behind his back like it used to when he was little. The acute frightfulness of Henning started to dull, like a vision under a mirror covered with dust.

Gohan started running through the water, jumping over and through the knee high waves as they bore down apon his legs. It felt good to run, to leave it all behind and only concentrate on what's beneath your feet, or ahead. The solid shore beneath his feet suddenly vanished and when his toes found bottom, he was up to his hips in water. His pants were soaked. He laughed.

He didn't care. He continued to run, stopping, slidding on the silky sand, doubling back to make sure his food was still safe, then leaping across the water again. Jumping, spinning, splashing, little droplets of water filling the air like a shower of crystals, it was almost threaputic in its spledor. And when the boy finally had enough merryment, he stopped, soaking wet, panting, a smile still on his face as water dripped from his hair and down his forehead and off the tip of his nose

He was drenched, but refreshed.

He waded his way onto shore, stripped off his gi, and lay in the sun beside his duffel bag. His clothes lay beside him to dry. He laces his hands behind his head and closed his eyes as the sun kissed his cheeks and the wind toyed with his hair. Peace and quiet. Bliss.

He did know he had fallen asleep until he woke up again. The sun was far down on the horizon, just begining to set. He was hungry again, and he fearlessly ate to his fill from his newly collected stash. He still had pehaps two days worth of food left. Life was good.

He watched the sun set, until it was nothing but a few hot pink streaks in the sky, before decided to head back to camp. He felt good. Great even. He had needed a break, and a trip to the beach--fun in the sun, cool water, good food--if even for a day was renewing. For now. He would feel better when this whole situation was over. At the moment, he was confident it would be over. Perhaps even soon.

His clothes were dry, but stiff from the water and dirty from the sand. So was he. It didn't matter. A bout with the washing machine for his gi, and a nice relaxing bath was all it would take to rectify the whole day's activities. Starting flying, he was almost giddy, and looking forward to telling Sunow and Forester about the beach. Perhaps they could go there tomarrow. Maybe even camp there tonight.

By the time his capsule house came into sight, the sky was totally dark. The camp fire hadn't been lit, and all the lights were off in his house. The site looked deserted.

Suddenly cautious, the boy lowered his flight until he was hugging the ground, as silent as possible. What could have happened? Could they have been attacked? By who? The Tahch-jin? Heng? Backlash? The number of enemies was too high for the boy's liking, and as he came over a hill, staying in the shadows and moving as silently as the wind, he swore that if anything happened to Sunow and his family he would never forgive himself.

He slipped up behind his house, his senses as sharp as they could get. His pupils were dialated and his ears were picking up sounds of lowing herd animals miles away. He smelled the grass under his feet, and the comforting Earth-smell on his house. He felt the chi of every living animal within a mile radius.

Oddly enough, Sunow, his children, and his original three companions were on the camp site. Alone. Gohan could feel their chi.

He set his bag down. Cautiously, suspitiously, he bent over at the waist, putting his finger tips on the ground. On hands and feet, his tail curved above him for balance, he crept along the edge of his house, keeping himself pressed against the wall. Something wasn't right. Why hadn't they started the camp fire? Why were they whispering so quietly he could hardly hear them.

When he saw them, they were standing together, talking in hushed tones. No one else was to be seen. It was great relief. So great, his knees felt weak and he let his breath out; he held his hand against his chest to steady his heart. Sunow was okay. Everyone was okay. The previous joy he had felt about the beach returned to him. For now, everything was okay.

Emerging from the dark, he called to them, "Hey! What's going on? Why isn't the fire-"

"Where the hell have you been?!" Bojack yelled. Gohan froze in his tracks as the Biraju-jin stormed toward him.

The boy started walking backwards, more startled and confused than frightened, "I....I was-"

His back bumped into the side of his house, and as soon as he stopped Bojack swooped in and grabbed the front of his gi, slamming him hard against the wall behind him, "You were gone all day! What happened? You idiot! What the hell were you thinking, going in there alone?! Do you want to get killed!? Just say so and I'd be real happy to-"

"Bojack-san, please!" Sunow said shrilly, "He's not dead! Don't hurt him!"

The Biraju-jin paused, looking at the Aeesu-jin, then threw the boy against the side of the house before releasing him and stormed across the camp. He didn't leave, but paced and fumed further away. Gohan sank to the ground in relief that that was all Bojack had done to him.

Forester, of all people, came forward and offered him a hand. The Gohan greatfully took it, and the Aeesu-jin boy helped him to his feet, whispering as he did so, "Bojack's been storming around for nearly six hours now like that. He's really mad you were gone so long and kept saying you were going to get him killed. What does he mean by that, anyway?"

"Nevermind," Gohan said, rubbing the arm that had struck the house the hardest. He would probably develope a bruise by the morning. The side of his house where he had struck was damaged, as well.

Within fifteen minutes, the boy had gotten a good, red blaze going, using the firewood he had collected yesterday.

With a sudden thought, Gohan hurried off into the dark, returning a second later with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Emptying the contents from the bay by the light of the open fire, Gohan picked up one of the more filled containers from the pile and called to Bojack, "The mission was successful, either way. Here, see for youself."

He tossed the container to the Biraju-jin, who opened it. Within, he found tender little rolls of thin-cut meats stuffed with vegetables and butter. They had gotten cold, but still looked and smelled appetizing. Suddenly being seized with an attack of hunger, Bojack pulled out one of the delicate little morsels and popped it into his mouth. It was devine. He crammed two more into his mouth, and after swallowing them, another two. They were simply delicious.

"I guess," Bojack said after swallowing, "you did one thing right."

Gohan pretended not to hear the remark as he sat and opened a container for himself--long, thin custard stroodles with powdered sugar on top. His mouth watered and he began to eat his own share, each bite a tastatious sensation of joy. For whatever other monstrosities the Tahch-jin produced, they sure knew how to live it up when it came to food.

No one said anything for a while. Sunow went into Gohan's house and emerged again with a pitcher of water and an arm-full of cups, which, when filled with water, he gave to Freeza, Garlic, Forester and Eesei; keeping one for himself.

The seven of them congragated around the fire, Bojack and Gohan eating, the others sipping quietly.

Gohan spoke, "I know who is going to destroy the planet."

Everyone's eyes slid across their face to look at him.

"What?" Garlic asked, "Who?"

Gohan took another bite, chewed, swallowed, said, "The Tahch-jin. I overheard them talking--arguing--about when they wanted to blow it up."

"What's holding them back?" Freeza wondered, "If they have the means, why not do it."

"Only one of them, Joru Le'Armont, seems to want to destroy it right now. I met him once before, when we broke into the Tahch-jin fortress. He doesn't seem to be much of a warrior. Too skiddish. From what I heard, he just wants to get this project over and done with."

"How many Tahch-jin are there?" Sunow asked, leaning forward and setting his now empty cup on the ground.

"Only two," Gohan said, adding, "I think. They're brothers. The other's name is Henning Le'Armont. He's the one holding things up."

Garlic tilted his chin upward in thought, his eyes searching the stars. He mused, "Why wait, I wonder." He lowered his gaze again and asked the boy, "Do you know?"

"Yes," the boy said boldly, then more shyly, "Henning, the Tahch-jin, is looking for me."

"What would anyone want with you?" Forester asked, rocking back on his heels.

Gohan shrugged, "I don't know. Until I saw him just today, I didn't even know he existed."

There was a moment of silence as everyone had a chance to mull over the news.

"Well," Garlic said, "What do we do now?"

"That's obvious," Freeza said, "We kill the Tahch-jin."

"When?" Sunow asked.

No one answered right away. Sunow opened his mouth as though he intended to undo what he had said, not feeling comfortable with the way the conversation was going, but quickly realized such a thing was impossible.

Finally, Bojack said with a full mouth, "Three days."

Freeza snorted, "I would have thought you would be eager to attack tonight."

Bojack grinned viciously, popped open a second container of food--after finishing the first--and said, "I'm in no hurry to finish this mission. What do you think will happen when we do? Just think about it. Chances are that Larkas guy will just send us straight back to hell again. I say three days should be enough vacation. Anyone think differently."

For many reasons, no one else came up with an argument.

Bojack and Gohan chewed quietly, all of them played with their own thoughts. After two hesitations, Gohan finally said, "I'm worried about Doctor Koda."

"He was a good man," Sunow said, "One of the best."

Gohan looked pointedly at him, "You make him sound like he were dead."

"He's enemies with Heng, and has been in the Underground for nearly two days," Sunow said, lowering his head, "I'm just saying-"

He didn't bother finishing. Each word spoken seemed to make the boy look older. The vibrant look in his eyes, which seemed to have sprung up in the past couple of days--a look of almost childish glee, like a boy who had never been through the things Gohan had--was starting to die. Shrink away like an old man with leprosy, watching his own limbs as they vanish to rot and decay. His tail lay torpid on the ground behind him, occationally trying to sway, but only succeeding in dragging itself back and forth across the dirt.

"He's still alive," Gohan said. "I think before we attack the Tahch-jin....I'd like to go looking for him."

"Back Underground?!" Sunow choked on his water.

"You have a death wish, bozu?" Bojack roared, "How many times are you going to tempt fate before it decides to kill you?"

"I've been doing that all my life," Gohan said, "But there's nothing anyone can say to make me change my mind. I'll be careful. I don't want to die, honestly. I just want to make sure he's okay."

"Idiot's going to get himself killed," Bojack murmured.

"And take us all down with him," Freeza added, sipping his water.

With a hiss of frustration, Bojack stood up from the fire and flew off into the darkness. Gohan watched the fire, the red flames reflecting in his ebony eyes, his tail held tenderly in his hands, his mind made up. He would give himself a couple of days to finish recovering, then he would do it. He would look for the doctor.

An hour later, he went into his house for the night, bathed, put his clothes in the wash, and went to bed.

The next day was blissfully uneventful. In the morning, Gohan was the first to awaken, refreshed, clean, high-spirited. He dressed in his white and black house clothes and half an hour later his stomach was full of delicious, pilfered Tahch-jin breakfast. Somehow knowing he had stolen it from Henning made it taste better.

He carefully went through his house, making sure all the lights were off and all the drawers were closed--a habit instilled in him by his mother--he swept up his kitchen, did his breakfast dishes, then exited his house. The sun had already risen, but its light was still gentle yellow. Welcoming. He hit the button on the outside of his door, and his house returned to a capsule. He carefully tucked it back in its case and put it in his pants pocket.

Forester sat up, blinking sleep from his eyes, "Son Gohan?"

The Saiya-jin boy smiled, "Good morning."

"'Mornin'." Forester mumbled, rolling onto his knees then rising to his feet.

"You know," Gohan said, "All of you could sleep inside my house. It can't be comfortable sleeping outside."

Forester stretched, arched his back and pointed his tail far out behind him. When he spoke, he sounded more awake, "No, it's fine. It's fun sleeping under the stars."

Gohan nodded, he understood. After his first weary steps out of his sheltered life and into the Outside World when he was four, he had loved sleeping under the vast, diamond crested black sky.

"You put you house away."

"Hm? Oh," Gohan said, "I was thinking we could relocate our camp site."

Forester suddenly looked concerned, "Why? Do you think we might have been found out?"

"No, nothing like that," Gohan assured him, "I just found a really beautiful place and thought you guys would like to see it."

The Aeesu-jin boy's eyes suddenly lit up, "Can you show me now?"

Gohan cast a concerned look at Sunow, who was still asleep and Eesei who was curled up against him. He was remembering how violent Bojack got last night when Gohan was gone for the day, "Shouldn't be wait-"

"It'll be okay," Not it was Forester's turn to be reassuring, "Wait just a moment."

He walked quietly to his sleeping father and shook him awake. Gohan didn't hear what the Aeesu-jin were saying to eachother--they were speaking in pure Aeesu-go, the Aeesu-jin language. Forester asked a question, and Sunow, his eyes still closed, nodded his head 'yes' sleepily.

Forester returned to Gohan's side, "Dad said we could."

Gohan hesitated, his tail nerviously snaked around his wrist twice before he caught it in his hand, soothing it with his thumb.

"Come on, you can afford to be bad sometimes."

The Saiya-jin boy followed the Aeesu-jin boy into the air, soon picking up speed to lead the way. He didn't bother telling the other that being bad around his mother got him yelled at, being bad around Piccolo-san got him scorned, and being bad around Tousan....was just something he didn't do.

The boy was just glad to have some company.

**

Bojack watched the two teens flying off into the distance, his hand cupped over his eyes to shield them from the glaring new sun.

"Where are you going, bozu?"

When they were barely in sight, he began running after them, following the vapor trails they left in their wake. He wasn't letting that troublesome boy out of his sight.

**

Forester was speachless at the incredible sight before him. As far as his eyes could see, there was sparkling, spraying, purple-violet, gently siddling up to the gray, silty shore. The good weather that had been present the past couple of days was shining out its radiance, the white morning sun intertwining with the rocks that lined the water, shadow and light worked together for once.

"It's....," he let the statement drop. Words were failing him.

Gohan smiled, "There's some really neat cliffs over there," he pointed, "I flew over them yesterday. Come on."

The two boys ran along the shore, leaping over rocks, their eyes cast seaward as the water's sparkling reflected into their eyes. Up ahead, they saw the cliffs, not too tall, but sharp and stern, dark, menacing, but intrecately beautiful from years of carving by the water, green from the moss. Almost on cue, as their eyes absorbed the sheer beauty of them, a huge wave came crashing against their rocky surface, exploding into a fine spray of water droplets and filling the air with a collossal, watery crash.

A cold, wet breeze attacked the two from the force of the waves, covering their face with diamond water droplets.

Forester gasped, then smiled. Gohan's shoulders shook with silent laughter, then suddenly, on impulse, he took off running, his tail waving behind him like a banner, kicking up sand under his feet and laughing, calling for Forester to join him. The Aeesu-jin boy readily complied.

They ran, side by side, their hearts soaring and their voices sounding out there joy with yells, whoops and bursts of laughter. As Gohan ran, he stripped out of his nice, starched white shirt and nice, clean black pants. Down to his boxers, he ran into the water, diving beneath its cool surface with a splash. Forester was right on his heels, pouncing on Gohan's back and forcing him back underwater as he tried to rise. Gohan lost his air in an explotion of bubbled from his nose and mouth and was unable to stop before he started laughing underwater.

He broke through the water's surface sputtering and coughing and laughing as water came came out his nose. He readily returned the favor to Forester, forcing his head under the surface before he could get a breath and holding him under for a second before allowing him back up.

They laughed and choked, splashing water in eachother's eyes and scrubbing at their own to clear them to see the next attack. When Forester playfully whipped at him with his tail, the Saiya-jin boy dove underwater and began swimming further out to sea, hugging the mud, silt and sand beneath him and darting glances back over his shoulder to see where his persuer was. Up ahead, under the violet-blue haze of water, swirling sand and colorful bits of coral and sea-weed, there was a sudden decline in the ground as the body of water deepened abruptly.

Gohan paddled to the lip of the decline and looked down. His eyes widened at the sight. Something bumped against his shoulder and the boy was only half-aware that Forester was by his side, also admiring the underwater sight before them.

It was a coral reef. A panorama of incredible, nearly inconcievable hues and shapes and sizes and textures. Blazing orange formations shaped like abstract castles, searing hot pink pillars, covered with burnt red barnacles. Drab gray rocks were covered in shocking blue algea, while neon yellow whisps of underwater plant life flowed back and forth softly. And there were fish, some ice-blue and flashing like quick silver, while others were huge, the size of horses, colored ink black with dazzling lime stripes. Schools of fish, moving as one, predators, odd looking little maroon fish with huge fins running down their spines, long, thin eel-like creatures with no fins but ample teeth.

An underwater paradise.

The boy's returned to the surface for water, but for some reason they couldn't return to look again. It was too magical. Unspoken, they began heading back to shore, diving head first in and out of the water like dolphins, making strange animal noises as they were airborn and blurbing streams of bubbles behind them as they submerged again.

When they reached the shore, they collapsed onto the warm, sun-heated sand, exhausted. Breathing heavily and still damp, they turned their eyes to the sky.

"Do you see shapes in the clouds, too?" Forester asked, almost quietly, almost shyly.

Gohan smiled saddly, thinking back to a time a few years ago he and his father had laid next to eachother on the grass, pointing out what they saw in the sky, "Yeah, all the time."

"Good, I thought I was going crazy."

Gohan laughed quietly, and they baked in the now noon sun, savoring the warm feel of light as it lay across their bodies like a blanket.

Peaceful silence, then, "What's your papa like?"

Gohan turned his head, "What?"

"You get a wierd look in your eye whenever I talk about my Papa. I thought that you might be thinking of yours."

"He's dead."

"I thought so."

Gohan sighed.

"Well?" Forester asked.

"Well, what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me how he died?"

Gohan closed his eyes, "I don't want to. I'm happy right now."

Forester threw a handfull of sand at him.

Brushing it off his arm Gohan asked, "What was that for?"

"Tell me."

"No."

He threw another handfull of sand.

"Please stop."

"Tell me."

Gohan sighed, "In a battle."

"What?"

"He died in a battle. Against a guy named Cell."

"Wierd name."

Gohan gave a dry laugh, "Wierder face."

Silence.

"How'd he die?"

"I already told you."

"Oh, please."

"I did."

"Be specific."

"Please stop."

"Tell me."

Pause. Gohan's tail twined around his thigh.

"He sacraficed himself to save me and our planet."

"Sounds like something your dad papa would do. Is your whole family a bunch of crazy strong people out to save the world?"

Gohan snorted.

"How?"

No answer.

"How did he sacrafice himself?"

No answer.

Forester raised a handful of sand threateningly.

"Don't."

"Tell me."

No answer.

Forester poked Gohan in the arm.

"Tell me."

"He teleported the enemy off the planet."

"Why?"

"Because Cell was going to self-destruct."

"Why?"

No answer.

"Your papa was winning?"

No answer. Gohan's eyes were squeezed tightly together and his cheek twitched with remembered grief and rage.

"Alright, fine," Forester said, noting the other's reaction, "Where did he teleport with Cell to?"

"The North Kaio's planet."

"You papa knows a Kaio?"

"Knew. Kaio-sama died in the same explotion."

"Hah! That's the way I want to go! If I'm going to die, I'm taking a god with me!"

Gohan caught himself cracking a smile, bit it vanished when both boys sat up, startled, to the sound of deep, baritone laughter. Looking over their shoulders, they were horrified and surprised to find Bojack sitting on a large rock not far from them. He was laughing heartily, cruely, his head tilted back.

"What's so funny?" Forester asked.

"Your dad was the one who killed the North Kaio?!" He directed his question to Gohan, "Then I should thank him! He's the reason I was able to escape from that Star the four Kaios had sealed me in!"

Gohan scowled, his tail slashing wildly at the sand. Forester actually saw his hands shaking at his sides. His lips were white and bloodless, his eyes wide but shadowed under his brows as much as his emotions. His throat was constricting.

With a forced sound, "Nng!" the boy launched himself off the ground, oblivious of everything but the anger that welled toward this man that dared to laugh at his father's death. When he was two feet from Bojack, the blue giant raised his fist and struck the boy across the face, sending him headfirst into the sand, where he slid six feet before stopping.

"You have a bad memory, bozu. Have you forgotten my warning?" Bojack raised himself to his feet, as though intending to attack the boy to follow through with his threat. As Gohan pulled his aching body up to a standing position, realization of what he had done sank in. Fear was on his face, but also stubborness. Anger. Bojack grinned, "Stupid kid."

With that said, the Biraju-jin turned and walked away.

"You're such an asshole!" Forester yelled after him.

Bojack waved over his shoulder, refusing to make a comment.

Joru leaned over his brother's shoulder from where he sat in his chair, "What is that?"

Henning handed the contraption to his brother, who took it and immidiatly started inspecting it. It was a plastic box, rectangular, perhaps a little bulky. Across the obvious front spanned a small series of buttons--two circular ones and one long rectangle--and above them was a small screen filled with zeroes. Goodness, a nine-digit number could fit there!

"Well? What is it?"

"Truthfully, I don't know what it's called. It's the newest Aeesu-jin technology," Henning took the device back, "More a prototype, but I didn't want to wait for them to finish it."

"What does it do?"

Grinning like a child with a new toy, Henning said, "It's rather amazing. It detects chi. Watch."

He tapped at a few buttons, then pointed the device at his brother. The machine whirred to life with a mechanical beep, then another beeb as it went about its task. A longer, more melodic strand of beeps followed and a number started flashing across the screen.

Grinning, Henning said, "Unfortunaly, as I said, it's just a prototype. This model only reads numbers in fives, but I'm sure they're working on more accurate numbers." He read off the number that signified Joru's chi.

Joru cocked his head to a side, "Is that good?"

"I don't know," Henning said, shaking his head, "I'm still trying to figure what the blasted thing is. I'm sure it's good, you're a Tahch-jin."

Joru nodded, "How many of these things do we have?"

Henning continued expirimentally pushing buttons on the object, saying, "We stole a crate of them from Heng's personal shipment, so I'm sure there must be at least thirty."

"You know how to get ahold of Heng's personal shipments but you haven't found Heng himself yet?"

Henning, pausing his tinkering with the unnamed device, blinked almost innocently and said, "You still want me to find Heng?"

Joru, in an uncharaceristic loss of temper, grabbed the device from his brother's hands and threw it across the room to shatter against the wall, "Yes! That's the whole reason we're here! To destroy all the political leaders of then destroy the planet!"

Henning stared at his brother in a mixture of surprise and concern, both of which slowly melted in collected neutrality, "Joru, that's the reason you came here. I know you want this planet gone, and to tell the truth, so do I, but please try to look at it my way. The mission is boring to me. Now, I go along with you to your dull archiological digs-"

"I let you pursue your passions, too!"

"-true. Which means we compramise and work together and pursue eachother's happiness as well as our own. But on this planet," Henning pointed to the ground, "we can both pursue our own interests. Please, now, let's work together to accomplish our goals just like the brothers we are."

Embarrassed he had lost his temper, Joru nodded, "You're right. I appologize for breaking your....thing."

Henning patted him on the shoulder, "There's plenty where that came from. Come, now, let's get a snack."

The other nodded and the brothers exited the room--Joru stopping by the rest room to thoroughly wash his hands first to avoid eating any sort of unpleasant bacteria.

It was the next day already.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sunow asked one more time as he and Gohan stood outside the air vents leading into the Underground he had found earlier that week.

Tugging at his armband, perhaps stalling subconsciously, Gohan said, "Yes, but you really shouldn't worry. I'll be careful, I promise."

Sunow shook his head as he watched the boy pull the grate off its frame, "Perhaps you shouldn't go through the air vents the entire way. The enemy--kami knows which one, but surely one of them--is bound to have found out that's the way you got in."

Gohan nodded, breathing deeply to try to prepare himself. He wasn't really looking forward to going back in, but he just had to know if the doctor was alright. It was eating him alive, "I know. I was going to only use this as a way in, then climb out somewhere deserted and walk the halls. That's probably the last place anyone will look for me."

"Hidden in plain sight?"

"It's bound to work."

"I sure hope so."

"So do I."

Unable to come up with anything else to say, the boy squeezed into the vents.

"Promise you'll be careful?" the Aeesu-jin asked the boy's tail as it vanished within.

"I promise."

Sunow closed the vent behind him.

"General Kokoschka, sir?" a tall, young Aeesu-jin asked from his seat at sentry duty. He was incredibly tall for his age, but had yet to fill, making his skinny body look like it would break if knocked over. His entire body was crisp white, except for his lips, which were a deep crimson. His face was so smooth and blemishless, he looked like a porceline doll.

"What is it, Furim?" a huge, peach Aeesu-jin asked, running his hand mindlessly along the twisted gazelle-like horns that swept out behind his head. He was dead bored.

"Why are we even doing this, still? It's mindless labor that a computer could do while we're out doing more important jobs-"

Kokoschka raised his hand to silence the youth, "On the record, I must say you should be glad to be on this job. It seems nearly all the men Henning-sama sends on missions these days end up being killed."

"I know....," Furim agreed saddly. He also knew his fighting skills were pretty lacking; he hadn't spent much of his twenty-six years training.

"Off the record, however, I have to agree this is perhaps one of the dullest assignments I've ever been on," the larger Aeesu-jin re-adjusted his seating to be more comfortable. He typed a few codes into his console before returning his attention to the young Aeesu-jin, "I thought that being a sentry for the mysterious Tahch-jin would be interesting. Guess I was wrong."

"It is unfortunate, sir, and-"

"But as for your question, we are doing this because at the moment, it's the only thing Henning can think of to try to find that Saiya-jin boy he's suddenly taken an interest to."

"But how are these things going to help?" Furim held up one of the prototype chi-detectors Henning had given them.

Kokoschka shook his head, "I don't know. Henning just said to contact him if this thing beeped over anything in the air ducts of the Underground."

"Hm?"

"I said-"

"No, no, shh, shh!"

The large Aeesu-jin became silent for a moment, then asked, "What is it?"

"Right when you said that," the youth said in amazement, "The thing started flashing numbers."

"What? Let me see...."

"Sir? I think something is in the air ducts even as we speak."

Kokoschka was already punching in a direct link to Henning and his brother over his communicator.

Heng looked up from his crimson drink as one of his secretaries tore into Heaven, breathing heavily. One of the large Aeesu-jin sitting at his right hand rose to reprimand him, but Heng cut his sharp tounge off with a gesture.

"News!" The secretary shouted, then standing more upright said, "News about those aliens who disgraced your holy name!"

Heng sat forward in his throne, setting his goblet of wine on the arm, "Speak."

The secretary looked back out the door as though temporarily wondering how he had gotten inside, then started talking rapidly, enunciating, "Sir! I picked up a series of coded radio signals half an hour ago and the instant I translated them I rushed here immidiatly!"

"Speak!" Heng commanded again, running one huge finger along a his favorite carving on his chair--depicting half of an Aeesu-jin torso, bent at the hips, his long, sleek arms stretched above him. He was imagining himself killing that brutish blue alien with the firey red hair. And that boy. Right behind these two came thoughts of killing the Off-planet with them, then the doctor. All of them, but especially the former two.

"Son Gohan! The boy! He's back in the Underground!" the secretary got enough control over himself to stop yelling, "The message was sent to some man named Henning, but where it was sent from or where it was going is impossible to say, but supposedly signs of him were picked up in the air vents on level 68 RJ."

Heng narrowed his eyes in thought, then turned to the Aeesu-jin sitting to his left, "Take as many men as needed and start a systematic search for him. Start at level 68 RJ and work your way out. I don't care if you have to search the entire Underground."

"But sir, that could take months!"

"Use those new contraptions you invented then! What are they called? Those things that detect chi?"

"We call them 'senko yukata chi scouters'."

"A gahstly name, but nevermind that. Use them."

"What do we do if--er, when--we find him?" The Aeesu-jin asked, already getting to his feet.

Heng smiled, his large, fat lips separating to explose a missing tooth. The lines deepened around his eyes. He just wasn't ment to smile. He took a sip of wine, then, imaging his hand crushing the boy's head he answered, "Kill him."

Walking cautiously, but trying to avoid drawing attention to himself, Gohan made his way out of a secluded room--in which he had climed out of the air ducts, and into the halls of the Underground. His hands behind his back and his eyes focused on the ground, breezing his tail neutrally behind him. He was trying to make himself as inconspicious as possible. It was a waisted cherade. None of the Aeesu-jin seemed to notice him. By now, the Aeesu-jin knew aliens were on the planet, and the specticle of seeing a Saiya-jin walk the halls freely was old news.

He didn't care. He was nervious as hell and jumpy, and if someone were to call to him, he was sure he would bolt like a startled deer. He remembered all too clearly Henning, and how he seemed so enflamed to find him so he could follow through with his perverse plans of pain and pleasure. Unpleasant to think about, worse, Gohan was sure, to expiriance.

Then, of coarse, Heng was out there somewhere, running around with his own personal vendettas, probably more interested in killing Bojack than himself, but would probably leap at the chance to get him just the same.

Backlash was out there, as well. Though he hadn't heard from them recently, they were no doubt keeping their eyes open for him as well.

Gohan was a normally modest boy, happiest with people weren't addressing their full attention to him. Being the main attraction for two large branches of Aeesu-jin government and a duo of aliens who seemed to be devoting their time solely to finding and capturing him put him in an uncomfortable situation for many reasons.

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

He would just have to hope he didn't come into conflict with them.

He narrowed his eyes, reaching his senses out as far as they would go, searching for the good doctor's chi. At first, unable to find it, he came close to panic. The hairs of his tail prickled up so sharply they itched. What if he was wrong? What if the doctor was dead, after all? What if......

Then he realized he just wasn't looking in the right direction. He as searching everything ahead of himself, behind, right, left and above. It was the way he always searched with looking for chi. There was definatly no sign of the doctor. It was only then that he realized he would have to search below as well, in the miles of tunnels beneath his feet.

He began searching again, gently sorting through one unfamiliar chi after another, brushing feathery, sensitive fingers over each person's aura. For a few tense minutes he held his breath while he found nothing, he felt a bleak, black, dark feeling sinking slowly from his heart to his stomach.

Then, finally, thankfully, he found the warm, slightly aged chi of the good doctor. He had found Doctor Koda.

He altered his coarse to head deeper into the Underground..

**

Deep. So deep, the air was actually heavy, weary, as though it felt it didn't belong. So deep it should have been dark. Dank. Cold. Oppressive.

It was well-lit and sanitary, just like all the other Aeesu-jin levels in the Underground. Cold, yes, but everything was cold. The light even looked cold. People's auras were cold. Like they were made of ice.

Gohan shivered and tried to concentrate on that one warm, familiar thing he could feel. He was close to the doctor now. Very close. It was only a matter of strategic turns before he would find him, safe, sound, and well hidden. His glowing Aeesu-jin chi was bright as ever, inviting, engaging, intelligent; whatever damage he had suffered from the Heng Aeesu-jin, it was healed now. There was no trace on his chi that he was hurt.

The boy was unable to fully concentrate on that small candle in the dark, however. On the higher levels--the place Sunow called the 'Middle Class' area--the Aeesu-jins that roamed the halls, pursuing their own personal tasks, hadn't paid him much mind. They ignored him, occationally gaving him cold glares at best.

Down here, though, in the Lower Class area, they were scary. Bulky, meaty, muscular even if they weren't tall, they were far more aggressive. Politeness seemed to be a foreign thing to them. They didn't just sneer at the boy, they lunged at him. As he passed a Aeesu-jin, well worn in by a rough life, the other actually lashed out at him with his long, thick tail, nearly catching the boy across the back of the head in a blow that would surely have rendured him unconscious if he hadn't felt it coming a second in advance.

When he looked over his shoulder at the passing Aeesu-jin, the other was continuing to walk away, as though nothing had happened at all.

The boy kept his guard at maximum, clumsily twining his tail around his waist to avoid the risk of some mean-spirited Aeesu-jin grabbing it. It felt odd there, akward, and it messed up his balance more than it should have. It also seemed to have trouble staying there, for every time he passed a perticularly dangerious looking Aeesu-jin, his tail wanted to unwind itself and lash viciously behind him.

It took a conscious effort to keep it in place.

Finally, Gohan came to a stop. He felt as though he were standing right next to the good doctor, and he started looking around, roving his eyes over all the large, battle-scared Aeesu-jin that mulled around him. He was so close he could almost smell the doctor. But where....closing his eyes and leaning against a wall to avoid getting in the way of the Aeesu-jin, he concentrated. Behind?

Turning and placing his hands against the rough surface of the wall, he knew the doctor was on the other side. So close. Resisting the impulse to tear his way through the wall to reach the doctor, the boy walked along the wall, running one hand against it as he went, looking for a door.

When he found a door, however, it would not open for him. It was securely locked.

The boy steeled himself, he would not be stopped now that he was this close. He looked to his left and his right, then over his shoulder. No one in sight. Siddling up to the door control panel, he tried to remember everything Bulma had taught him about breaking into computers. He slid his hand around the wall, tapping with his fingertips, before finding what he was looking for. With a quick swip of chi, the panel of the wall had been removed, revealing the guts of the terminal's sercetry. It was a wild mess of red, blue, green and yellow wires, all snarled around eachother in tangles and knots.

Not becomming overwhelmed, he forked his fingers though the wired, going by feel for which wire was the one was seeking. His technical instincts were a wonder that surprised him, and his hand soon found something in particular. Pulling it out to see, it was a thick, textured green wire. He worked his hand back into the terminal's guts until he found a second cord he needed, this one coated with red.

Stripping the rubber coating off each wire with his thumbnail, he held the two raw wires together, saying a silent prayer. A blue spark jumped from one wire to the other, and with a swish the door opened. Quickly stuffing the wires back into the wall, and putting the wall panel back over the hole, te boy barely darted in through the door before it closed behind him. If he hadn't thankfully been able to keep his tail around his waist, it would probably have been caught in the door way.

That would have been unfortunate.

"Son Gohan? Son Gohan?!"

The boy turned to come face to face with his target. He had found the doctor at long last.

To be continued...........