Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Untamed ❯ Do Angels Exist? ( Chapter 8 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Do Angels
Exist?
"Just as I said" Tea gloated, his mouth
widening in an unpleasant grin "While that brat was distracting us
with his " poor little beast" act, his friends moved the balls to
another place.""You already said that"Tidaba mumbled" When we saw
the hole".They had just found the three dragonballs left in a
hollow tree. The new hiding place wasn't much far from the clearing
where they had spotted the mentioned hole minutes ago. It was
surrounded by fresh-digged earth, giving hint that someone had just
opened it, probably to take something from it. Tidaba observed that
it was weird that the so-called "namekuseijin" had concealed the
spheres in a place so close to their former hiding place. Tea
grudgingly replied that probably the guardian of the balls hadn't
time enough to go further with them. "Whoever was, just dropped
them in this trunk, so we wouldn´t caught him. Or her;" he
theorized as he, Tidaba and Dromel flied to the spot signaled by
their scouters. "The little brat probably was protecting the
spheres guardian when our hunting party got too close from their
hiding place."And now they were there, standing in front of the
last balls left. The pieces their chiefs treasured so much. Tea
hoped to be greatly rewarded for that. With luck, perhaps he
received some of that magic food master Turles was giving to
Coffee...A gush of wind brought them the unpleasant smell of
burning wood, caused by Coffee´s favorite attack. None of the
group commented the fact that the misterious "brat"- Gohan - who
was fighting Coffee had survived, according to the scouters, but
that gave them goosebumps. Especially to Tidaba. As he reminded how
carelessly he had attacked the little monster, his green scales
became almost white."Master Turles will have a fit if they´ll
destroy the forest" Dromel commented with some concern"He was
so...""Will you go back and ask them to stop?" Tea cut him off as
he grabbed two spheres and tucked each under one arm "We must leave
now!" he added, shoting TIdaba a look.Grudgingly, the fish-like
alien picked up the last sphere as Tea took off, his red eyes
scanning nervously the forest and meadows surrounding them."Why
such a hurry?" Dromel sneered, not leaving the floor "Whoever was
with the balls has gone, right? You said that yourself.""The friend
of that brat might come back with reinforcements at any moment! I
heard Master Turles saying that our scouters can't detect them
because they can power down."Tidaba gaped at him."Wait!
You´re saying that the friends of that little monster might
be watching us right now and we don´t know?!" he rebuked his
orange colleague in disbelief.As if in a cue, a serie of numbers
started running in their scouters, hinting that a strong ki was
around. Panicking, Tidaba dropped the dragonball he was holding and
jumped in the air."You brought us to AN AMBUSH! And you call us
stupid..." noticing the horrified looks of his colleagues, he
trailled off and looked behind.A huge ball of energy was coming in
his direction. Quickly, Tidaba and Tea flied each for one side,
dodging it easily. Dromel just crouched and covered his head with
his hands, even though he was out of reach. For their surprise, the
ball flied past them and kept going, as if it didn´t give
them a damn. Tea and TIdaba exchanged a confused look and glanced
around, expecting for more.Seeing that nothing had happened, Dromel
joined them in the air, a bunch of fresh gibes ready to be spilled
by his saw-teethed mouth."Pff. That was the big danger you two were
expecting, big wimps?"he started "I can´t wait to tell
everyo..."As if it had heard Dromel´s remark, the big energy
ball raised a few meters, drawing a big curve in the air. Then, it
split in three smaller balls, which charged towards the pirates.
And unlike their mother ball, these ones came very, very fast."OH
SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" scream resumed the general feeling.The trio split,
too, each flying in one direction the faster they could. Tidaba and
Dromel were soon caught and disintegrated by the two first balls. A
little faster than his cohorts, Tea was able to fly for a few
meters carrying the two precious dragonballs. When he finally
realized it was hopeless, he dropped them, just some seconds before
the painful, blinding light reached him.*****Gohan was at his wits'
end. He was getting exhausted while Coffee still looked in high
spirits - and worse, apparently unsensitive at most of
Gohan´s blows."I have to go and see Bulma", the kid
thought desperately"But if I try to leave, he´ll come
after me and try to kill me with that mouth blow again. How do I
get this guy out of my hair?"He had no time to think of
anything else, because Coffee charged on him, laughing as a playful
child. Gohan barely could block one punch after another in time. He
noticed Coffee had left his guard temporarily open and tried to
fight back, but the giant unexpectedly kicked him in the chest and
onto the trunk of a tree, leaving Gohan breathless. For a few
instants, the boy just laid against the tree, struggling to get his
air back; then he felt Coffee´s ki raising and opened his
eyes."CAPUC..." Coffee was opening his mouth wide to use his
special attack again.Gohan raised his hands and shot a quick
kamehame-ha to block the attack, just as he had watched his father
do to Nappa´s, a few months
ago."HAAAAA!!!!!"...CINOOOO!!!!"The energies of Gohan and
Coffee´s attacks met violently and fought each other for a
few seconds, before blowing out. Vegeta ran away, but was caught by
the shockwave and sent away along with the pieces of trees, stones
and other things around the two fighters. His bare backside
collided against the debris that already filled the floor. A thick
piece of a branch hit him in the middle of the legs, expelling the
air of his lungs. He kept himself in time to not scream, revealing
his position, but he wasn´t able to move, either, even after
the dust clouds vanished and revealed two heaving, exhausted
silhouettes.Fortunately, they were both too focused on each other
to notice anything else in their battlefield. Coffee was still on
his feet, but no longer was the immaculate pirate of a minute ago:
most of his armor had been destroyed and his clothes were in
tatters, revealing a few yellow-bleeding scratches. Save for this,
he still looked fine. Gohan, by turn, hadn't suffered the effects
of the explosion that much, but he obviously wouldn´t be able
to stand much longer. Clenching his teeth to not moan, Vegeta
painfully crawled behind of a pile of charred trunks and branches.
Besides the hard blow on his dangly bits, his body was plenty of
scratches and cuts produced by flying debris, but he didn´t
feel any. Even the throbbing between his legs couldn´t be
compared to the excruciating pain in his soul.His scouter was
broken now, but its last register had been about 20.000... that was
so much more than Vegeta ever had, even in his best shape!How...
how that is possible? How can an unexperient brat and a moron have
gotten a power that even I wasn't able to reach... THAT power
supposed to be mine!"During his years slaving for Freeza, the
only thing that made Vegeta´s life bearable was his faith in
his own potential. He always had fought in the front. Several times
he had almost been killed. Not only because he risked himself too
much, but because Zarbon and Dodoria did their very best into
convincing Freeza to send Vegeta to the most dangerous missions. It
was their way of showing to the Saiyan prince that they could do to
him whatever they pleased. There were also those times when Vegeta
had been punished under some stupid pretext - though that
didn´t happen too much, because Freeza STILL didn´t
want to loose his favorite "monkey pet". Instead of breaking him,
they had just increased Vegeta´s strength and hate. And there
was also the living hell that his diary training was.Most of
Freeza´s soldiers trained just when they were obliged. Save
Ginyu troop, anyone else who worked out voluntarily was followed by
a rain of insults,and sass whenever he entered the gym. When it
came to the despised Saiyans, this unpleasant rain became a storm.
Vegeta´s self- control was tested everyday and he also had to
keep Radditz and Nappa - especially Nappa - from reacting to the
insults. It was a remark from Guldo, in a day when Vegeta had been
pushing himself especially hard, that alerted the prince he could
be drawing too much attention on himself."Why having so much
trouble? If it wasn't an absurd, I'd think that you´re trying
to become stronger than Master Freeza."Nappa stupidly opened
his mouth and almost spilled the beans. Fortunately, Jeice and
other bystanders started laughing at Guldo´s foolishness. As
if a mere Saiyan monkey would dream of surpassing the Great Freeza!
That was really absurd! Guldo´s suspect was taken as a joke
and apparently forgotten."Was it, really? What if Guldo and his
cohorts had been following me and watched my secret
trainings?"From that day on, Vegeta tried to not push himself
too hard in his training at Freeza´s quarters. Only when he
was out on space, along with Nappa and Radditz, he was free to give
all his might. Initially, he made Nappa and Radditz fight him,
together; but soon it became obvious that Vegeta was already much
stronger than the other two Saiyans. So he started training alone,
at every precious minute of the few free moments he had away of
Planet Ice. Every small, slow progress put him closer and closer to
his goal; that made him . One day he would be the strongest being
in the universe... and all those who humiliated him would die
painfully!Because of his excessive self-confidence, this day never
came."Everything I fought so hard to win has gone and I don't
even know how that happened."In spite of this, however, he
didn't gave up. After many fruitless, painful tries, it became
evident that it would be dangerous for Vegeta to keep forcing
himself, so he started to train only physically. Even without the
strength obtained with ki raising, he was stronger, agiler and
faster than any animal in his prison planet, and as time past these
habilities improved. However, no matter how hard he trained,
nothing would give him back what Vegeta had lost. More than loosing
hope of being rescued, it was the lost hope of being powerful again
that slowly ate him inside and made him careless of himself for so
long."Even as a child, I was much stronger than I am
now."And now he knew that he never had been nothing, even in
his best shape. All pain, patience and efforts had been in vain.A
part of himself wanted to die right now. Vegeta wished that Coffee
used again his mouth attack, disintegrating both him and the
blasted kid who had put him to such a great shame. At least the
universe never would now that the former Prince of the Saiyans was
now just a weak vermin, good for nothing but crawling in the mud.
His stronger, rational part, however, called him a coward and
stupid. It argued that Vegeta shouldn't allow emotions to sweep him
away. As hateful as that brat was, he could be his salvation.But
this same side of him knew that probably the child would die soon.
And now it screamed with despair.Gohan felt his strength leaving
slowly."This... this monster... is he undestructible? He´s
worse than Nappa and Turles!"was all he had the time to think
before Coffee charged on him again."Ho! Ho! Why did you stop? Let's
go! Now we´re really heating up!" the big bully egged on as
he tossed a new series of punches at Gohan.Gohan dodged to left
then to right; then, he ducked to avoid a kick that probably would
break his neck. Taking advantage that Coffee had left his guard
opened, he pushed the giant´s groin with all of his remaining
strenght. Coffee bent forward, his mouth opened wide, but his howl
was promptly muffled by a sudden, strong headbutt. Gohan felt, more
than heard, a sound like rocks rubbing onto each others and
realized he had broken Coffee´s teeth. Not wasting time, he
kicked Coffee´s stomach.For Gohan´s total shock,
Coffee´s big hand grabbed his ankle. He hadn't even the time
to yelp in surprise, because at the next instant he was spinning in
the air, just like he had done to Tidaba, the green pirate. But,
instead of tossing Gohan away, Coffee kept spinning and spinning
him, as he laughed childlishly. Until he heard a very suspicious
sound. Quickly, Coffee lifted Gohan up, holding both the
boy´s ankles with a hand, and stretched his arm as much as he
could, so Gohan wouldn´t vomit on the remains of his armor.
When the sickening sounds stopped, Coffee bent to pick some leaves
from a nearby bush and used them to clean Gohan´s face. He
stared with curiosity at the child´s pale, chubby face, at
Gohan´s spinning, stunned eyes. If Goku´s son wasn't so
dazed, he could have noticed a hint of pity into the giant´s
face."That was closhe. Can we continue?" Coffee asked, his voice
hissing through the holes between his teeth.He swang Gohan´s
body slightly, to get his attention. Not having any reaction,
Coffee looked disapointed, like a child realizing that his favorite
toy is out of batteries."If you can't fight anymore, I´ll
have to kill you. I heally didn't want to do that yet... even if
you've deshtroyed my prey."That"I´ll have to kill
you"Gohan´s ears. He was still a little dazed, but
noticed something important: he no longer felt the kis of
Coffee´s colleagues - specifically, the three who had broken
off for the dragonballs. "Krillin san must have killed them",
thought "I can´t feel his ki... he must have flied away on
the bike Bulma gave us... Bulma! She's waiting for us! I have to
get rid of this monster at any cost!"With determination, Gohan
started to rock to-and-fro. Thinking that the kid was trying to
break free. Coffee tightened his grip a bit as he watched
Gohan´s struggles with amusement. Joining both fists under
his head (he was still upside down), Gohan started powering up to
fire another mazenko."I just hope I´ll have enough energy
left", he thought. He raised his fists to Coffee´s
face... just to have both grabbed by Coffee´s free hand."Not
thish tshime, you little rashcal!" Coffee gloated.Gohan screamed in
despair and pain; he felt his hands getting crushed and now he was
completely .Holding the kids´ hands and feets tight, Coffee
lifted him up above himself and stretched his arms. He pulled Gohan
down, so the kid´s stomach landed exactly at the top of
Coffee´s head."Thish ish for breaking my teesh!" gloated.The
child´s scream rang into Vegeta´s ears."Stupid
little scoundrel... "Saiyan thought coldly"hHe could have
disposed of this moron of a thousand different ways. What a waste
of power."Putting his small opponent down, Coffee backed away a
few steps, watching as Gohan clutched on his pained stomach, his
knees folded in a fetal position."Aaah... owwww.... hurts....
"Don't be shuch a baby. If I really wanted to hurt you, Id would
have broken you shpine!"Coffee rebuked"But I admit that
you´re very tough for a kid."He stood still, hands on hips,
watching thoughtfully as his little foe embraced himself on the
devastated ground."Well... we had a good fight, but now I have to
go or Shuice will chew me out." Coffe said aphologetically " But
don't worry... you're not going to feel anyfffing. I'm going to
turn you into dussht, shust like the beasht you deshtroyed."All
Gohan could do was clenching his teeth tighter. He felt unable even
to take his hand from his stomach. He just closed his eyes,
fighting the imminent tears."I´m sorry, Dad, Piccolo-san,
Krillin-san, everyone... I just could'nt be strong enough."As
an answer, he suddenly felt a very well-known evergy close too him.
His eyes snapped open in shock - unfortunately."TAIYO KEEEN!!!"
screamed.Everything disappeared into a intense burst of light. A
few steps away, Gohan could hear Coffee making a big fuss about
having become blind. Judging by the thumps and thuds Gohan heard,
the brown-skinned giant probably had hit some of the trees they had
put down during their fight. Gohan was temporarily blind, too, but
he didn't panick. He struggled painfully to get up, but this was
unnecessary, because two strong arms picked him up from the floor
and carried him away.A few instants later, he felt the hands
putting him down. Slowly, the anxious face of his big friend and
pal showed up in front of his eyes."M...Mr Krillin! " Gohan
whispered, because they weren't still out of Coffee´s reach
"I-I thought that you had ran away. The dragonballs...""Chhh..."
the monk cut him off "I dropped them into a holel. With luck,
nobody will come after them so soon.""The pirates knew all the time
that the spheres were around," Gohan said in a depressed tone
"Turles told his goons to not look for the dragonballs. He´s
playing to us..."Krillin frowned at his, but didn't answer. Making
sure there weren't any witnesses around, he tossed a capsule on the
floor to pop up the minibike Bulma had lend him. The small vehicle
had only one seat, but it had a sort of box for luggage attached
behind. They had used it to carry the dragonballs way without using
ki, so the pirates´ scouters wouldn't detect
them."We´ll think of this later," Krillin said, as he helped
Gohan entering the luggage compartiment " First, we´ll have
to take care of you."Thanks to Capsule Corps excelence in
machinery, the minibike wasn´t much noisy. It would be needed
very acurate ears to notice its smooth, bee-like humming among the
noises typical from woods; besides, Krillin´s senses would
help him to avoid any hunting parties that could be wandering
around. Unluckily, the bike was very slow. Even by foot, jumping
and scamping, Krillin and Gohan would go much faster. Gohan felt
that he was slowing them both, but there was nothing he could do
now. Despite the aches running through his entire body, he was
feeling sleepy. Gohan was already dozing when he felt an abrupt
halt and heard Krillin mumbled: "Damn! I can't believe that!""What?
Are we there yet?" Gohan questioned with groggy concern."I wish,
but no. And we´re getting out of gas, too. Do you think you
can walk?""Yes. I´m feeling much better now" Gohan stated
sound more entusiasted that he actually felt. He stood up and tried
to jump out of the luggage box, but his legs got stuck in the
border, making him fall. Luckily, Krillin was fast and grabbed
Gohan´s shoulder before the kid dived-nose on the
ground."Better leaving the jumps for later", the monk gibed as he
pulled Goha back on his feet"You´re all bruised, don't
forget." and turned the bike into a capsule again.Despite
Gohan´s insistence that he was fine, after half an hour
walking it become pretty clear that he needed so much more than a
few resting minutes. His stomach was hurting again, now of hunger.
Besides the wasted breakfast and the last drops of water from
Krillin´s canteen, Gohan hadn't consumed anything through the
entire day. Besides, his face was getting swollen and red.The
leaves Coffee had rubbed on him probably had triggered some kind of
allergy.Krillin had to support Gohan a shoulder, or the boy would
have fallen on the ground. Carefully, the monk leaded his weakened
friend to a big tree and helped him to lay among its roots."Gohan,
this is silly", he rebuked the kid softly "I know you don't want to
slow us down, but forcing yourself like this will just make things
worse. The head-blow you received in your stomach must have hurt
you more we thought. And there´s your face, too.""My belly is
aching and I´m feeling sick, but I think that's because I'm
hungry"Gohan replied"That gorilla made me throw up everything I ate
this morning. He rubbed some leaves on my face... I think he was
trying to clean my face but didn't know the leaves were poisonous."
his half-closed eyes looked thoughtful "I know that sounds crazy,
but I think that goon really didn1t want to kill me. He repeated
that to me the whole time."Krillin shook his head but preferred not
to argue about the so-called kindness of one of Turles´
henchmen."I keep forgetting that you´re a half-Saiyan" he
said, instead "Your father always get hungry after every battle."
the memory of Goku eating all the food of a restaurant after their
first tournament came back to Krillin´s mind. Feeling guilty,
he also reminded the small breakfast of sandwiches and fruit he and
Gohan had shared that morning. He should have give Gohan a bigget
portion, instead of dividing the food in equal parts."You Saiyans
must eat so much because you spend a lot of energy. It hadn't
ocurred me that. Your mother would kill me if she learned I
neglected you like that." concluded ."No, she wouldn't. She would
be very grateful because you saved my life." Gohan stated with
conviction."Well, I think it's better if we´ll spend the
night here... and the rest of this day." Krillin forced a smile.
Days on that planet last a bit longer than Earth´s. " I'll
try to find some water for you... maybe even some of those fruits
we collected yesterday." he added as he started walking away.He
advanced a few steps, but suddenly reminded something and turned
around "If a beast or some of Turles' men show up, DON'T fight!
Just call for me, okay?""´kay." Gohan´s murmur almost
couldn't be heard.Krillin explored the entire area around the place
where his friend was laying. Unfortunately, there was no water
around. There weren't any of the fruit trees they had found nearby
their ship yesterday, either. They found themselves resourceless.
He could hunt something, but he didn't want to leave Gohan alone
for too long, neither go too far away. He was so frustrated that
punched a tree, ripping out a rain of from its trunk."Damn it! Damn
it! I´m doing everything wrong! Why didn't I rationed the
food? Why didn't I get more water when I had the chance?"He could
call Bulma throught the walkie talkie, but it would be dangerous
for her or Oolong to come through the woods after them. What he
should do right now was putting Gohan on his shoulders and fly as
faster as he could to the shelter. He still had energy for it...
but it wouldn't be enough if he ran into any of the pirates. Worse,
if he flied, the pirates could track his ki and finding the
shelter, putting his friends´ lives in danger."What am I
going to do?" a despaired moan escaped through his
lips.CRACK!Krillin jumped and whirled around at the sound - it came
from the direction where he had left Gohan! In one instant, the
small month reached the place, but it was empty. He started
panicking, before noticing Gohan´s ki a few steps from
him."Gohan Gohan!" he looked around as he called, trying to not
scream too loud despite his fear."Mr. Krillin!" Gohan´s voice
replied from a tree at his back "You have to see this!"Krillin
rocketed to the other side of the tree. Gohan was there on his
knees, exhamining attently something on the plant. Krillin noticed
that the child didn't look as bad as when he had left him minutes
ago, but his relief came mixed with irritation."Don't ever do that
again!" he admonished"I thought that a beast had carried you
away!""I´m sorry", Gohan muttered. He looked down
aphologetically, then looked up again " I heard a loud noisy and
came here, but there wasn't anyone around. And look at
this."Krillin looked where Gohan was pointing. A big piece of bark
had been ripped off the tree, exposing a thick, orange,
creamy-looking substance. He frowned in repulse, but its sweet
smell make his stomack moan with hunger."Is that.. honey?" he asked
hopefully."No. No bees or hives. It's sap. The noise we heard must
have been some animal ripping off the bark to eat this, but I
scared it away." Gohan theorized as he dipped his fingers on the
sap. He started taking them to his mouth, but Krillin stopped
him."Wait! Don't do that. It might be poison. Or a kind of
alucinogenous. Just like when..." his prudent lecture trailled off
in face of the kid´s hungry, pleading look.Grudgingly,
Krillin considered the situation. Gohan was right, nobody besides
an animal would have hurt the tree that way - and for what it would
do that, if not for eating that sticky thing? Even if one of
Turles' decided to hurt trees just for fun, he would do much more
than just ripping a piece of bark off. To confirm his thoughts, a
small, winged insect landed on the border of the opened wound and
licked the sap with its trunk.The two youngsters stared the small
being for seconds, before Gohan's eyes met Krillin's, af if he was
saying: "see?""All right", Krillin relented as he hesitantly dipped
some fingers on the sticky substance He was very hungry, too "I
think this is not going to make things worse than they already
are." carefully, he took his fingers to his mouth to taste. His
eyes opened wide and he immediately picked up more sap "Hummm...
this is delicious. Try some, Go..."Gohan was already digging in,
drinking the sap at the palms of his hands as if it was water. He
look like a baby digging on a bowl of porridge, and Krillin had to
laugh, even knowing they souldn't make loud noises. Gohan started
laughing, too, pointing at Krillin's equally mouth. For a
long moment, the height of fears and issues left their shoulders
and they just cracked up cheerfully, as if they were back to the
good old times with their friends at Kame's house.Krillin made a
move to rub his eyes but stopped just in time. It would be terrible
if his eyelids were glued by the sticky sap."I haven't laugh like
this in ages" he sighed, as reluctant to come back to reality
"Funny, this slimy stuff . "he lifted this hand to tap his belly,
but stopped to not dirty his clothes "But I wish we had some water.
This sap is too sweet.""Maybe we´ll find water at our way
back to the shelter." Gohan offered "We´re not that far,
now."Krillin opened his mouth to automatically say no, but gave his
friend a better look. And his eyes opened wide in shock. Gohan was
standing straight on his feet, his shoulders high, no longer
leaning on the tree for support. His eyes were opened wide, instead
of half-closed with weariness. Allright, he didn't look exactly
full of energy, but was far much better than when Krillin had to
help him to walk. Even his face didn't look that red now. Krillin
stared suspiciously at the big, slimy wound opened in the tree. Was
that thing like senzu beans? Or was it just producing a temporary
feeling of welfare, just like some Earth substances, like chocolate
and coffee? "A...are you sure?" he stammered "Not a minute ago you
were almost fainting!""I know, but I´m feeling much better
now. My body still aches a little, but my stomach doesn´t
hurt anymore. Even my cheek stopped ticking. Aren´t you
feeling better, too?" Gohan insisted.Krillin had to admit that he
wasn´t feeling tired anymore. Actually, he felt like he could
fight another Coffee, and all by himself!"We should take some of
this sap for Bulma. Too bad I haven´t anything to where to
carry it... maybe my ..." Krillin hesitated as he looked for his
canteen. It was the only thing, aside the capsule-bike, that he
hadn´t discarded when he left his hiding place to help
Gohan."No need. Just wait a little." Gohan said calmly, before
licking off as much sap as he could from his hands and rubbing them
on his pants. He picked up a leave of the tree and a small piece of
its . Using the as a shovel, he pushed some on the leaf and folded
its borders over the stick content, to make a sort of envelop. He
still rolled a second leaf on the small package to keep the sap
from leaking and tied it with a thread from his sash.Krillin gaped
in disbelief."Gohan, you´re a genius!" he exclaimed "Where
did you learn to do that?""One of our neighbours taught mom how to
pack meat and rice with cabbage leaves. Daddy loves it!"The
remembrance of Chichi´s food filled Krillin´s mouth
with water. Even though the sap had his clenched hunger, he craved
for some of the good old Earth food."Please ask her to invite me
when she´ll do it again." he asked, giving the tree a last
look "I´m going to take a piece of its , for
identification. Maybe wel´ll find another trees nearby the
lake."They decided not camping. Krillin, however, told Gohan that
they would make pauses ocasionally, and that the kid should ask to
stop, if he didn't feel well. However, as they went closer and
closer to their goal, nothing happened and Krillin thought they
could walk a little more. The programmed pitstops were totally left
out. They were too close now, and it still was day, not mentioning
that they would have much water in Oolong and Bulma´s hiding
place. Ocasionally, Krillin checked on Gohan, afraid that he could
be pushing his little friend too much. But, saving for some ticking
on his cheeks, Gohan was doing well, his spirits going high."That
sap is really a kind of senzu." the child commented heartily "It
just takes longer to work. Look, another sap tree there! These
trees are pretty easy to find, when you know how they look
like.""You may toss the leaf pack away, by now. Or give it to me.
I´m getting tired again."Krillin joked, but his face was
serious, the small dots tatooed on his head almost dsappearing
under the frown "Gohan, don't you think this is too
convenient?""What do you mean?""We were both tired and hungry. And
you were hurt. Then, out of the blue, an animal - if it really was
an animal - opens a hole in a tree that is both food and medicine.
It´s just as if someone has been noticing we were in trouble
and said:'here, problem solved'."Krillin reasoned."You saying that
one of those bandits might be following us to know where our
shelter is, and that´s why he helped us?" Gohan widened up
his eyes at the horrible suggestion and instintively looked around,
as if he expected to see one of Turles' henchmen crouched behind a
tree" But, if it was a pirate, we would have felt his ki! They
can't hide it like we do. I feel a lot of kis around us, but they
are too small to belong to people.""You're right" Krillin admitted
with a sigh "I think that thirsty will making me delusional.""No,
you´re right, too." Gohan replied, his eyes very serious " It
was convenient. I think that the animal that hurt that tree could
have been leaded by Kami-sama. Back in the hospital, daddy told me
that, even though Kami-sama has died along with Piccolo, he is
looking on us from Heaven. And there's Mr. Kaioh, too. Any of them
could have sent an angel to help us. We had much luck untill
now.""Do you really believe in guardian angels?" Krillin made an
effort to supress a laugh.Although he was a monk and had met
Kami-sama personally, Krillin was sceptical about spiritual issues.
During his early, disheartening years in the Oorin temple before he
ran off to Kameroshi´s, the young fighter learned at the
hardest way that you can't could count on any help coming from
above, just on yourself. As time passed, he learned that wasn't
entirely true -you can count on friends, too, as long as they are
honest and faithful like Goku. However, friends are mortal and
limitated. For Krillin, Heaven´s forces came to help only
when there was something important at the stake, like the safety of
Earth and universe. Mostly, the celestial beings just stood and
watched the living one´s misery without giving a damn. Of
course he didn't dare to say these things openly."Grandpa told me
that there are angels living among us, but they have no wings"
Gohan stated, his tone firm and sure as a grown-up´s "There
are those who live to make good, like dad... and those who make
good even when they don't mean it, like Mr. Piccolo." he silenced
and stared self-consciously at the small leaves his feet stepped,
just for a few moments, before gaining courage to look at Krillin
and finish timidly "When you came and carried me in that light, I
thought you were really an angel."So many names Krillin had been
called throughout his life... most of them insults, just a few were
really compliments. But he never in his life would imagine that
someone would call him an angel. Only Goku´s san, with his
pure eyes, would be able to think something like that.Krillin
gasped, completely lost about what to say... and then he heard a
very, very pleasant sound."Gohan... " he started in disbelief "...
listen to this sound... it´s water running! We´re
almost there! Water! WATER! WAAAATEEEEEEER!!!!!"Forgetting friend,
fear of making loud noises and all the rest, he broke into a wild
run.