Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Tails Times Two ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I've got a tin box with a seven month old cupcake in it. *holds up Tin O' Moldy Cupcake (TM)* Anyone wanna trade me for the rights to DBZ? No? Darn. Guess I don't own DBZ.

Warning: Contains PG13 graphic violence (I don't know if "violence" is the word, but it involves blood and gore, so same difference.)

"Hey, Bulma!" Goku's cheerful voice interrupted her as he and Goten phased into existence in the middle of the lab. He had used Trunks's ki as the guide for his Instant Transmission, knowing as he did how Vegeta disliked having Goku pop up out of nowhere and interrupting whatever he was doing. He probably could have used Bulma's ki, but the little demi-Saiyan's energy was stronger and easier to track. In this case, it hadn't mattered which one he latched onto, since both mother and son were in the same room together.

"Oh, hey Goku!" Bulma grinned, turning to wave at her childhood friend delightedly. "Hello, Goten! What brings you two here?" After all the times Goku had teleported into her house over the past few months to bring his son over to play, the blue haired scientist was quite used to his sudden appearances.

"I promised Goten I'd take him to see Trunks today," Goku explained. "You don't mind, do you?" Smiling good-naturedly, the tall man set his son down on the floor before plunking himself into a chair on the other side of the lab table Bulma was working at. He peered curiously at the substance in the beaker, shrugging after a moment when he couldn't determine what it was, and looked into the face of his life-long friend.

"Oh, it's no problem, Goku," Bulma replied easily, waving a hand negligently to emphasize her words. "It keeps Trunks out of my hair for a while and lets me get some work done in the labs." A small smirk crossed her lips as she added, "In fact, I think Trunks was just about to start pestering me before you two showed up. Am I right, Trunks?"

As if he was about to admit that! "No, I wasn't," the chibi denied innocently. As if to prove his words, the nine year old boy got down out of his chair and walked over to stand at Goten's side. "I was just about to leave anyway. Come on, Goten, let's go play!"

"Okay, Trunks!!" Goten happily agreed. "Bye Ms. Bulma! Bye daddy!" The two hyper active chibis scampered across the room, leaving their parents to catch up on the events that had passed since they'd last talked. Or that was what they intended to do, anyway. They had almost reached the door when something in the room caught Goten's eye and he paused, turning so he could get a good look. "Trunks, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the strange machine. Whatever it was, it was huge, complex, and utterly fascinating to eyes that had only seen eight years of life, beckoning the curious child over to get a better look.

Moving over to his friend's side to see what the younger boy was talking about, Trunks snorted in dismissal. "Oh, that? That's the testing chamber. Sometimes my mom works with explosive stuff and they don't wanna test it out in the open. See that door over there? That's how you get in. There are some robots and stuff inside to do the actual testing so in case something does happen, nobody gets hurt."

"Cool!! Let's go inside and check it out!!" To a Saiyan boy, anything that dealt with explosions was something worthy of attention. Without waiting for Trunks's response Goten darted through the laboratory, dodging the various carts and tables filled with chemicals and tools, and came to a stop directly in front of the door to the testing chamber.

"Goten, you dummy!" Trunks called out after the impulsive eight year old, scrambling to catch up with him. "We're not supposed to go in there! My mom said there's things in there that could harm even a Super Saiyan!!" Of course, he had yet to actually determine the truth of that statement, but that was only because he hadn't managed to find a way in yet. Not that he'd tell Goten that, of course. It wouldn't do to let the other kid know that there were some things Trunks didn't know! He had a reputation to maintain, after all.

"Really? There's something that can hurt Super Saiyans?!" Awe filled the younger demi-Saiyan's voice. "Wow, I thought only a really strong enemy could do that! What does it look like, Trunks? Is it green an' slimy an' covered in tentacles and stuff? Oh! Or maybe it's big and hairy with lots of sharp teeth! How strong is it, Trunks? I wanna see!!"

"Uh... well..." Darn! I don't know what it looks like! How am I supposed to answer all that?! "That's for me to know and you to find out," the purple haired Saiyan said with an air of superiority, folding his arms across his chest in a perfect imitation of his father. "Mom told me not to tell anyone unless they've been inside the room, so unless you get in, I can't talk about it!" There, that would excuse him from having to admit that he had no idea what his mother had been talking about, although he might have to put up with Goten begging to be let in on the secret for a while. I'll just have to distract him somehow. Maybe if I mention that mom bought ice cream...

"Okay, Trunks!" chirped Goten, walking straight up to the door and grabbing the handle. With one simple tug, the door swung open easily, allowing the younger of the two to step inside the testing chamber and look around curiously. "So where's the thing that can hurt a Super Saiyan? I don't see anything but some robots and bottles and stuff! Is it a robot, Trunks?"

Trunks gaped incredulously. I've been trying to get inside that thing for months now! And Goten just walks right up and opens the door without any problem at all?! Stamping a foot at the unfairness of it all, he quickly darted into the testing chamber before anyone had a chance to spot him. Just because he hadn't been the one to open the door didn't mean he was going to waste the opportunity to get inside! Mom's been working on some chemical experiment today, so I guess she came in here to get something, then forgot to lock the door afterwards.

Meanwhile, Goten had pulled one of the jars off a shelf in the room and had opened it. He carefully sniffed the contents, then grimaced and hastily screwed the lid back on. "Eeewww... that smells gross!!"

"Then you shouldn't have stuck your nose where it doesn't belong," Trunks teased. "Baka, don't you realize it's dangerous to go around smelling things in a chemical lab? Some of this stuff is deadly, you know. At least for humans. I dunno about Saiyans. Anyway, we should be careful 'cause we are half human."

"But, Trunks! I was just trying to find the creature you said was strong enough to hurt a Super Saiyan! What if it's small and Bulma put it in a jar?" Peering into row after row of jars, vials, and beakers, the black haired chibi continued his search for the mysterious thing that could hurt a Super Saiyan. "What does it look like, anyway?"

"I didn't say it was an animal or a robot or anything we could fight! All I said was that it was something that could hurt a Super Saiyan. There's a difference, you know! Honestly, Goten, you're so stupid sometimes!"

"No, I'm not!! How am I supposed to know what you're talking about when you won't tell me?"

"Quit being such a baby, Goten! I can't tell you anything about it until you find it. That's the rule." Glancing around the room again, Trunks came to the conclusion that there was nothing interesting here. Whatever his mom had been talking about probably wasn't in here, so that must mean.... "Hey, look, Goten. There's another door! Since this just looks like a storage room, I bet that's the actual testing chamber. Maybe what we're looking for is in there!"

Caught up by the excitement of possibly finding the mysterious... whatever it was... Goten didn't even pause to question why Trunks didn't seem to know exactly where to find it if he supposedly already knew everything about it. The two boys recklessly dashed over to the door, in too much of a hurry to be careful not to bump into any of the shelves and tables, unconsciously falling into their familiar habit of racing to see who got there first. In their haste to reach the door, they went perhaps a little too fast at the end of their race and didn't start skidding to a halt soon enough. With twin yelps of alarm, Goten and Trunks smashed into one of the large shelves lining the wall, breaking the supports and causing the whole thing to crash down on top of their heads. The large glass jars that had sat innocently in rows fell to the floor and shattered, spilling their contents everywhere. Gallon after gallon of the crystal clear chemical splashed across the floor, nearby tables and shelves, and all over the two demi-Saiyans.

And immediately began destroying whatever it touched, from wood and steel to soft chibi flesh, indiscriminately eating away at everything in the immediate vicinity of the accident. It bubbled on the manufactured steel floor, etching odd designs in the almost indestructible material. It smoked as it broke down the fibers in the wood and clothing it came in contact with. And where it had splashed liberally on the skin of the two young children, it hissed with an angry vengeance and melted the skin right off their backsides.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

As soon as the two children had run off, Goku turned back to the older woman with a curious lift of his eyebrow. "So, Bulma, what is it you're working on now?" he asked, pointing at the greenish-brownish fluid in the beaker. Eyeing it with no little doubt, he grimaced faintly at the first thought that came to mind. "It looks like you gathered a bunch of snot and put it in that little jar."

"Ew! Goku, that's disgusting! As if I'd ever stoop to experimenting with mucus! At least, not in these quantities," she amended with a negligent wave of her hand. "It'd take forever to gather enough for a sample as large as that, not without using multiple donors, and that'd just ruin the whole experiment with all those variables!"

"Uh... Bulma, I was just kidding," Goku protested weakly, giving her an odd, slightly startled look. Would she really collect people's boogers and do experiments with them?? "I was only saying what it kinda looked like, that's all. Really." Laughing sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his neck in a familiar gesture.

"Whatever you say, Goku," she teased. Picking up the beaker containing her experiment, she held it up as though presenting a prize or a trophy. "What is this, you ask? I'll tell you what it is. This, my friend, is only the most useful invention I've come up with yet! With this little batch of goo in my hand, I hold a possibility of something which most doctors can only dream about! Something that only a genius like myself could ever succeed in making into a reality! It's still in the experimental stage, but I think I've finally gotten the formula right. What I have created here, Goku, is none other than an-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Two throat wrenching screams cut through the air of the chemical lab, ripping the adults from conversation, their heads jerking up in the direction of the now open chamber where Bulma stored her most dangerous chemicals. Immediately spotting the anomaly of an open door where there should be a closed and locked one, Bulma's mind was washed clean of explaining her latest experiment, and flooded with other, more horrifying thoughts. "Oh Kami, Goku!! That's the testing chamber!" Bulma panicked, the possibilities swamping her senses. "Damn it, Trunks, that door was locked for a reason! How'd he get in there?!"

"I don't know, Bulma, but now's not the time to find out!" The spiky haired warrior was out of his seat and racing across the room almost before the words had left his mouth, reflexes trained to respond the instant a threat - be it to himself or to someone else - was detected. Dashing through the open door, Goku quickly spotted the wreckage from the fallen shelves and broken jars of chemicals, tendrils of vapors rising up to poison the air. His heart pounded in his ears as he scanned the debris for signs of either boy, barely able to sense their ki but unable to see them. It was with a sickening lurch of his stomach that he suddenly realized that he could see one of them, that what he had first taken to be a mound of melted pink plastic was actually a leg. The skin was riddled with bubble-like sores and flesh sloughed off in thick layers to reveal the bones beneath. Whatever clothing he might had been wearing was gone, completely disintegrated by the potent chemicals that had doused his body. Skipping his eyes over the ruined body of the boy, Goku was already moving to shift the rubble off of him. He didn't know if it was Goten or Trunks, as his head and torso was invisible beneath the pile of wood and steel, but he knew that he had to get him out of there right now.

Ignoring the burning of the acid that touched his skin, the powerful warrior heaved the last bit wreckage to the side and scooped the mutilated child up. Tears threatened to form in his eyes as he took in the damage done to the poor chibi, so much of his hair and face eaten away by the acid that Goku was not even able to identify him by looking at him. Only through his ki senses was he able to determine that this was Trunks, and that he was still alive, though only barely.

A strangled cry of alarm announced Bulma's arrival in the storage room, and Goku turned to her swiftly so that he could deposit her son in her arms. "Quick, Bulma, you've got to take Trunks to a doctor!" Whirling around, the black haired man practically threw himself at the fallen shelves with a renewed sense of urgency. "Goten's still under here somewhere!"

"Goku, there isn't a doctor alive who could heal this!" Bulma yelled, fear for her son's life adding volume to her voice. She cradled Trunks to her breast and sobbed, hardly caring that he was oozing all sorts of bodily fluids all over her lab clothes. "There's just too much damage! He wouldn't even live to see the operation room! Don't you have any senzu beans?!" Where's a miracle cure when you need one?!

"There aren't any right now! We used up the last of them while fighting Buu, and the next crop won't ripen for another two weeks!" Heaving the last large chunk of debris away, Goku choked back a sob and carefully gathered what was left of his son in his arms. If anything, Goten was in even worse condition than Trunks, and that was saying something! He looked more like a lump of bones and melted wax roughly shaped into the form of a child with liberal amounts of blood and pus poured on top than the happy little boy with sparkling eyes that he had been only a few minutes ago. Rising to his feet, the distraught father quickly stepped out of the pile of acid-soaked debris and headed for the door, wanting to get out of the storage chamber's poisoned atmosphere.

"Then take them to Dende, for Kami's sake!!" the blue haired woman screeched in near hysterics, hurrying to keep up with him. "Use that Instant Transmission technique of yours and zap us all to the Lookout! After all you've done for the Earth, I don't think asking him to heal two children is asking too much!"

Goku strode swiftly over to a nearby table that was clear of any laboratory paraphernalia and carefully set Goten's mutilated body on top, then motioned that Bulma do the same with Trunks. "I don't want to move them any more than necessary, and the air on the Lookout is too thin to support them in their condition," he gravely rejected the plan. Before Bulma could protest, though, he added, "I'll transport myself up to the Lookout and bring Dende here instead while you look after them, okay?"

"Okay, Goku, but hurry. They don't have much time." Wiping away the tears in her eyes, Bulma placed her son next to Goten and sat down in a chair. She hated the feeling of helplessness that came from watching over them, not being able to do anything but wait and pray that they would pull through this, but neither was she willing to abandon them in their time of need.

Without another word, Son Goku raised two fingers to his forehead and vanished.