Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Nossoreg's Revenge ❯ Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"This is intolerable!" Vegeta thought. He had never felt so helpless before in his life, and he didn't like it.

"Vegeta!" Goku called to him telepathically. "Make yourself completely relaxed. If the gas works like he said it does, we may be able to fool it into wearing off."

Vegeta tried to relax his muscles, but found it harder than fighting against the effects. It was not in his nature to relax. Even at rest, his muscles were tense.

Goku finally broke the hold of the gas and leaned, gasping, against the table. Shortly after, Vegeta joined him. One by one, the other warriors collapsed onto the table and tried to regain their strength. Krillen leaned over his wife and checked on his still-frozen daughter.

"How are they, Krillen?" Goku asked, concerned.

"I don't know. What's going on?!" he demanded.

"I think that's what we're supposed to figure out," Vegeta said.

"But why did he take Bulma, Chi Chi, and Videl?" Yamcha asked. "What would he want with them?"

"Maybe it's what he wants from us," Gohan replied. He had retrieved Pan, who was beginning to wiggle in her grandfather's frozen arms.

"That's right," Goku said. "He obviously wants to have some control over us, so he took them as insurance. The question is why?"

"I don't care why!" Vegeta exclaimed. "And I'm not going to sit around here talking about it. I'm going to find them!"

"We don't even know where to start looking," Goku reminded Vegeta. "And we shouldn't just go off without a plan. He could have set a trap."

"Of course he set a trap!" Vegeta fumed. "Or else he wouldn't have taken them in the first place!"

"Now let's just stop and think," Yamcha interrupted. "He said we would have to be smart to find him. Does anyone remember anything specific about this guy?"

"The jet!" Gohan exclaimed. "There was a name on the jet. Nossoreg. Whatever that means."

"But some of the letters looked wrong," Trunks added.

"That's right! The N and the G were backwards," Goten said.

"Backwards, "Goku said to himself as he thought.

"Oh no!"Gohan said suddenly. When the others looked at him expectantly, he explained. "What do you get when you read the word nossoreg backwards? Gero's son! That guy must be Dr. Gero's son!"

"I didn't know Gero had a son," Krillen said.

"Me either," Goku admitted. "But it's the best clue we have so far."

"Do you think he would be using his father's old lab?" Vegeta asked.

"It's worth checking out. That is the way he was headed," Krillen said.

"Can you use your instant transmission, Dad?" Goten asked. Goku placed two fingers to his forehead and concentrated as hard as he could.

"It's no use!" he said in frustration. "I just can't sense them! It's either that gas we breathed or he's using something to hide them from us. We'll just have to do it the old fashioned way."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Vegeta said and started to fly up into the air.

"What about the tracking devices?" Yamcha asked and rubbed the spot where it had burned into his skin. "Won't that show him we're coming?"

"He's expecting us. I'm sure of that," Vegeta answered. "So let's no disappoint him." The others flew up to join him, but Gohan hesitated. He looked around at the people who were just now beginning to slump forward onto the tables.

"I can't bring Pan with, and there's no one here who's able to watch her," he said. "Maybe I should stay behind and make sure everyone comes out of this all right. I'll catch up to you."

The others reluctantly flew off without him, heading toward North City. Gohan sat down on the grass with his daughter in his lap and wondered how the day would end.

"As soon as I get my strength back, I'll watch her," Master Roshi offered.

"Me too," Marron said from her mother's lifeless side. Gohan was proud of the way she was holding up in spite of everything. Only the unwiped tears on her cheek showed her feelings inside.

Oblivious to what was happening, Pan playfully tugged on her father's tie, using it to pull herself up. Gohan disentagled it from her fingers and slipped it off for her to play with.

"Don't worry, honey," he told her. "I'll make sure your mom's safe."

Just then, they heard someone coming around the corning of the house. The innocent humming was unmistakable.

"Buu!" Gohan called excitedly and got to his feet.

"Buu want cake!" the chubby, pink person said in his high-pitched voice. "Buu want cake!"

This version of Buu had become a good and trusted friend of Hercule's Gohan knew he would gladly stay here and make sure nothing happened to the defenseless people. He came skipping over, as happy as a child, with his dog, Bee, close behind. Then he noticed all the people, laying across the tables or on the ground, and Hercule, collapsed by the cake.

"What happened to Buu's friend?!" he demanded.

"A bad man came and did this," Gohan tried to explain. "He took Videl, Buu, and I need to go get her back. Could you stay and watch over them? They are all pretty weak right now."

"Buu can do that!" he said, happy to be of use.

"And can you keep an eye on Pan for me? You two can sit here and have some birthday cake while Hercule rests." Gohan set his daughter back in her highchair.

"Buu like cake!" he said. "Buu watch baby!"

"Only let her have one piece," Gohan warned. "And, thank you, Buu," he added as he flew off to catch up with the others.

Buu made sure Hercule was comfortable before pulling the cake cart over to the table.

"Only one piece," Buu told Pan, shaking his finger at her. He grabbed a large handful of cake and placed it in front of her. "Only one piece," he repeated to Bee, and gave him the same amount. He then took off the top half of the cake and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth.

"Mmmmm! Yummy!" he said, licking his fingers. Pan laughed at him through a face full of frosting.