Dragonball Extreme

Vegeta played back the message for the third time that night, but he still couldn\'t believe his ears. He listened to the opening words of the message again. \"You are Tales, saiya-jin warrior, third class. Your father was unable to attend your birth, so he entrusted your safety to me. He left instructions that you were to be kept safe no matter the cost and your mission will start shortly. You will be sent to a distant planet to destroy its inhabitants and wait for the rest of your crew to arrive. The following messages contain information about yourself and your people, should it be many years before other saiya-jin arrive.\"
Vegeta gritted his teeth. \"This makes no sense!\" he said. \"I refuse to believe what I\'m hearing!\" He turned quickly to Tales, his eyes blazing. \"Do you have any idea who\'s voice this is?\" he demanded.

\"I\'m not sure,\" Tales said hesitantly. \"He never says his name, and he always refers to my parents as people other than himself.\"

\"You better damn well believe that your father isn\'t him!\" Vegeta shouted. \"That\'s my father\'s voice, my father, the King of the Saiya-jin!\" He paced angrily about the room. \"Why would he ever take interest in the son of a third class warrior? Why wohe ehe even care that one was born? And to go out of his way to protect you?\" Vegeta slammed his fist against the wall in frustration.

Tales just sat in numb shock. He didn\'t dare speak, and he didn\'t have an answer for Vegeta anyway. The same questions were spinning through his own head; why was he chosen above all the rest to get special attention from the King?

\"One way or another, I will get to the bottom of this,\" Vegeta seethed. He pressed a button on the computer and started the message over again.

*

Gohan rubbed his eyes as he tightened his tie. The nap hadn\'t really helped most of his problems, but at least he wasn\'t tired anymore. He grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.

Videl stepped into the doorway. \"Gohan,\" she said, \"you\'re not really going to work in your condition, are you?\"

\"Of course I am,\" he said. \"There\'s nothing I can do about it, so I\'m just going to have to live with it...unless you\'ve changed your mind, that is.\" He ran his hand lightly over her cheek and watched for a response.

Videl sighed and walked away. \"I\'ll think about it, Gohan. Maybe by the time you come home I\'ll feel better about it.\"

Gohan sighed with disappointment and walked out the door. He leaped into the air and flew straight to the college.

Gohan landed a few hundred yards away from the building and walked up to it. Even though most of the people in the college were educated enough to know about special techniques and the abilities that martial artists had, Gohan liked to keep some of his secrets to himself. He wondered on that a little as he walked to his classroom; why was he keeping it a secret? What did he have to protect? Himself? He snorted a little at the thought; like any human had a chance of hurting him. His daughter? No, she\'d demonstrated her abilities more often than he had in public.

The classroom was lingling with students as usual. Gohan wasn\'t surprised; most of the students in his class actually liked coming to class, something he prided himself on. He also saw a few new faces in the crowd.

As he turned to hang his jacket up, his sensitive saiya-jin ears picked up some of the conversation between the students. One of the new voices caught his attention. \"So what\'s this guy like, anyway?\" the student asked. \"Is he a pushover or what? Or is he one of those super-strict guys that\'ll get you kicked out for making faces at him?\"

Gohan smiled a little to himself as one of his regular students replied. \"No, he\'s nothing like that; but don\'t think you\'ll get away with anything - sensei seems like he has eyes in the back of his head sometimes. He knows EVERYTHING that\'s going on...I\'ll bet he knows we\'re talking about him.\"

\"Oh yeah?\" the first student replied. \"You want to put money on that bet? No way can he hear anything in all this noise - watch this.\" He quietly took a paper clip from his folder and bent it just enough to fit around a rubber band, then with a quick snap of his fingers, sent the little metal projectile straight for Gohan\'s back.

Gohan grinned. At the last second he spun around and caught the paper clip in his hand. The room fell silent as the students stared in awe at him.

\"I don\'t believe we\'ve met,\" Gohan said. \"But I run a clean and orderly classroom. You don\'t need to be here if you can\'t adhere to my rules.\" He bent the paper clip perfectly back into shape with his fingers and clipped it onto some papers on his desk. \"And, if you really have supplies to waste, you can give them to other students who might make better use of them.\"

A couple of girls giggled quietly as the boy turned red. \"I tried to tell you,\" the guy next to him whispered. \"Don\'t fuck with this guy.\"

\"And we don\'t use that kind of language in my classroom, either, do we Mr. Yamato?\" Gohan raised an eyebrow at the young man.

\"No, sensei, I\'m sorry,\" he said, turning beet red to match his new companion.

Gohan turned back to the front of the room and walked to his desk. \"I may have been on vacation for a while,\" he said as he walked, \"but my rules still apply. Those of you who aren\'t new, please remember that, and those of you who are new please make an effort to learn them. I\'m not overly strict, I just like a clean, orderly classroom; your free time is your time, but when you are in class you will learn.\"

Gohan shuffled through a pile of papers on his desk; he was beginning to notice that the room was overly warm. He looked up and scanned the room. \"Miss Hato,\" he said, \"would you mind opening the window? It\'s a bit too warm in here. I\'ll have to speak with someone during break about the air conditioning.\"

The young woman looked up in surprise. It doesn\'t seem too warm in here to me. She thought. However, she quickly responded, \"Hai, sensei,\" and moved to open the window.

Gohan picked up several groups of papers and passed them around the room. \"These are your study guides for this semester,\" he said. \"I recommend that you keep them, as you may find them useful later on. I also recommend that you take notes, and you most likely will not remember everything we cover in a day.\" He turned and picked up two large stacks of books. \"The school has been gracious enough to provide us with new textbooks for this semester as well,\" he said. He walked into the rows of desks and handed the books out.

One of the girls in the back took her book and almost dropped it in surprise. \"These things weigh a ton!\" she exclaimed. She looked at Gohan, who had continued on his way around the room with the rest of the books. \"Man, is he ever strong!\" she whispered in awe.

\"Nah,\" the girl Hato whispered back, \"I\'ve seen him pick up stacks of books twice that big. I think he lifts weights or something; I heard he used to go to the World\'s Greatest Martial Arts tournaments.\"

Gohan could feel the sweat running on the back of his neck as he reached his desk again. \"I don\'t get it,\" he thought to himself. \"I\'m not working that hard, and the window\'s wide open...\" he let his thoughts trail off as his eyes wandered around the room. The realization suddenly hit him; at least half the women in the room were at their most fertile point of the month, and he\'d just walked by all of them.

He groaned inwardly. \"Terrific,\" he thought. \"How am I supposed to teach like this? I have to stay on my feet, but I feel ready to pass out from the heat.\" He thought quickly, then spoke out loud to the class. \"Since this is the first day back, I\'ll start with an easy assignment to get us back into the routine. I want you to read chapter one, and have a one page essay about what you thought of it on my desk tomorrow.\"

Gohan wiped some sweat from his brow and sat down at his desk. He was feeling stifled, and he loosened his tie a little, hoping to get some fresh air to his lungs. Unfortunately, the air from the window carried the scents of his students with it, and only added to his discomfort.

A few of his regular students looked up at him with concern. They\'d never seen their sensei like this; he\'s always been strong and polisheOne One of the girls scribbled something on a sheet in her notebook and passed it to the guy next to her. He opened it and read the short note. I think something\'s wrong with Son-san; it\'s not that hot in here. Do you think he might be sick? I thought he never got sick.

Gohan noticed the note change hands, and looked up from the paper he was reading. \"Have something you\'d care to share with the rest of us?\" he asked. \"Or is it just your homework changing hands?\"

The guilty look on the students\' face gave them away and Gohan stood up behind his desk. \"Bring it here,\" he said calmly.

The young man stood and walked red-faced to the front of the room. He handed the note to Gohan and stood there trembling and embarrassed, waiting to be excused.

Gohan quickly scanned the note, and his face softened a little. \"I thank you for your concern,\" he said, \"but I\'ll be fine. You two need to keep your attention on your studies.\" He dismissed the student with a wave of his hand and sat back down. \"You\'ve got to pull it together, Gohan,\" he said to himself. \"Even your students are starting to notice now.\"

Gohan sat down and tried to concentrate on his work. After an hour he couldn\'t take it any more, and decided to let the students take a break; he need to get into open air and breathe freely again.

\"All right,\" he said a bit shakily, \"you may take a ten minute break; I expect you in your seats on time.\"

As the students got up and moved about the room, a flurry of scents assailed Gohan and he wavered for a moment. He caught himself on the edge of his desk just before he fell.

His students noticed immediately. \"Sensei!\" one of them cried. \"Are you all right?\" A handful of them ran up to him to help him back to his feet.

Gohan could hardly breathe or speak in the close quarters. He tried to clear his throat, but to no avail. \"I need some water,\" he said hoarsely.

One of the girls ran out to her locker and was back in a moment with a container of bottled water. \"Here, sensei,\" she said. She took the top off the bottle and handed it to Gohan.

Gohan looked at her gratefully and downed the bottle of water. \"Thank you,\" he said. \"Don\'t worry, I\'ll replace it for you.\"

The concern never left the girl\'s eyes. \"Don\'t worry about it, sensei,\" she said. \"Something\'s wrong, I can tell; should we get the nurse?\"

Gohan was starting to breathe hard, but he knew that the school nurse would be of no help to him, and might even make the problem worse. He knew he was in no condition to continue working though, and and he was worried he\'d black out in front of his students. \"No!\" he said quickly. He fumbled in his pocket and found his wallet. \"There\'s emergency numbers in here,\" he said. He slumped into a sitting position against his desk. \"Call the second one on the list and let them know that it\'s Gohan they need to come for. Use the phone on my desk.\" He wheezed a little as he tried to stay awake.

One of the students took the wallet and ran to the phone. She was really worried; the phone on Son-san\'s desk was only for emergencies.

Another student noticed Gohan\'s trouble breathing. \"Let me help him,\" she said. She pushed some other students away. \"I\'ve had some training for this; my mom\'s a doctor.\" She quickly undid Gohan\'s tie and opened the first few buttons of his shirt.

Gohan became alarmed. The girl was unintentionally stirring his instincts, and he didn\'t think he had enough strength left to control himself. \"No,\" he groaned quietly. He put his hand on hers trying to stop her. \"Wait for help.\"

\"It\'s ok, sensei,\" she said. \"I know what I\'m doing; you\'re having trouble breathing, I need to open up your airways.\"

The other student had finally received a response on the phone. \"Capsule Corp,\" the secretary responded. \"How may I help you?\"

\"This is an emergency,\" the girl said urgently. \"Our sensei, Son Gohan, needs help. He told us to call this number.\"

\"I think Miss Bulma can help you,\" the secretary said. \"Let me transfer you to her.\"

The student bit her lip as she waited for the call to go through. She wondered if her sensei had given her the right number. Suddenly a woman\'s voice came on the line. \"This is Bulma,\" the voice said. \"You said Gohan needs help?\"

\"Yes,\" the girl said, almost in tears. \"He told us to call here. He\'s not breathing right, and he\'s sweating really bad. I think he\'s sick, but he doesn\'t want to see the nurse.\"

On the other end of the line, Bulma and Vegeta listened on the speaker phone. Bulma waved to Vegeta and he took off like a rocket to get Gohan. Both of them knew what was wrong, and Vegeta knew he had to get Gohan out of there right away.

Bulma tried to calm the girl on the phone. \"It\'s ok,\" she said. \"Someone will be there to get Gohan shortly. You did the right thing by calling here; Gohan knows he can get the help he needs here.\"

Bulma had hardly finished speaking when Vegeta landed in the window of Gohan\'s classroom. He leaped to the front of the room and gathered Gohan up in his arms.

\"Where are you taking sensei?\" a couple of students demanded.

Vegeta looked at them with disdain. \"I\'m taking him to get help, now out of my way,\" he snapped.

Bulma heard him over the phone. \"Good,\" she said to the girl, \"Vegeta\'s there already. Don\'t worry, your sensei will be all right now.\" She said good bye and hung up the phone.

Bulma met Vegeta at the front door. Gohan was curled in pain in Vegeta\'s arms, and Vegeta didn\'t stop to talk to Bulma on the way by. He simply rushed Gohan to the infirmary.

\"What should I bring him?\" Bulma asked worriedly. She followed behind Vegeta.

\"Right now just water and a blanket; he needs to calm himself down before anything else happens.\" Vegeta stared angrily off into space.

Bulma exited and came back a moment later with a pitcher of cold water and a soft blanket. \"What happened?\" she asked. \"How did he get this bad so fast?\"

\"It\'s the fault of that damned woman of his. If she wasn\'t being so stubborn and would have just given him what he needed, he wouldn\'t be nearly this bad right now. Those baka women in his class didn\'t help any either; they were practically ripping his shirt off when he needed them to leave him alone.\"

\"They didn\'t know any better, Vegeta,\" Bulma said patiently. \"They were just trying to help.\"

Vegeta snorted and started to walk away. Gohan suddenly spoke up. \"Vegeta, wait!\" he said. \"Is there any other way to stop this? I don\'t want to force myself on Videl, you know I won\'t hurt her if I can help it.\"

Vegeta sighed with frustration. \"There isn\'t any other way. You either have to mate or wait for the season to be over.\"

Gohan pounded the bed with his fist. \"I can\'t wait that long!\" he exclaimed. \"I have work, a life to get back to. I can\'t let something like this hold me back.\"

\"Then you\'re going to have to convince Videl of that or find yourself a new mate,\" Vegeta said.

Gohan rolled over and stared out the window at the head of his bed. \"That isn\'t an option,\" he said. \"I\'ve been with Videl too long, I\'m not going to hurt her or Pan like that.\"

Vegeta motioned for Bulma to leave with him. \"Well, you\'ll have all night to think about it. It\'ll take you at least that long to cool down to the point that you\'re functioning like normal again.\" He and Bulma left and shut off the lights behind them.

*

Gohan stared out the window. He\'d been unable to sleep since Vegeta and Bulma had left, and every time he tried to sleep, his thoughts turned to nightmares. He wanted to get out of there, but Vegeta said it\'d be morning before he could do anything.

Gohan made up his mind. He knew that Vegeta wouldn\'t watch him go through another day like that; more than likely he was going to bring Videl to Capsule Corp in the morning to try to force a decision from her. Gohan didn\'t want that; he had to find another solution, even though Vegeta said there was none. He crawled out of bed, buttoned up his shirt and took off through the window.

Gohan didn\'t even pay attention to how far he was flying or where he was going. He just wanted to get away from everything and think and hopefully find a cure for the burning lust that was ailing him. His eyes grew fatigued, and he started to sweat again in the summer night heat. \"Damn it,\" he cursed himself, \"I knew I should have listened to Vegeta; I can\'t even fly straight.\" He saw a small town below him. He didn\'t want to be around people any more, but he could hardly fly. He saw a bench for a bus stop and dove toward it. He landed hard and flopped over on his stomach to rest on the bench.

It was raining when he woke. A young woman was standing over him, an umbrella in one hand and a large bag of groceries in the other. \"You need shelter,\" she said matter-of-factly. \"Come with me.\" She turned to walk away.

Gohan started to protest, but the woman stopped and looked back at him, her long brown hair swirling around her shoulders. \"It\'s not going to do any good to argue with me. You\'re in no condition to travel and you\'ll just get sick sleeping out in the rain. Follow me; I\'ll give you a bed for the night.\"

Gohan nodded numbly and followed the woman. She led him to a tall wooden gate set into a stone wall. She suddenly spoke aloud. \"Pigero, I\'m home.\"

\"Pigero?\" thought Gohan. He thought hard and remembered a boy from long ago. \"No, can\'t be the same...\" he reasoned.

The woman walked forward, even though the gates remained closed. Gohan stared; his mind must really be playing tricks on him; he thought she\'d just walked through a wooden door!

\"Come on, the gate\'s open,\" he heard her voice from the other side. Gohan tentatively stepped forward and put his hand out to touch the gate. It went right through, as if the gate were a mirage. On the other side he found a neatly-trimmed lawn and a modest stone building. A sign above the door read \"Tea Shoppe\".

Gohan shivered a little in the rain. Things were getting too strange for his liking, but he followed the woman anyway. If there was any kind of danger inside he\'d be able to handle it, he told himself.

As they walked in the door, Gohan spotted a man behind the counter stirring a cup of tea. His dark brown hair was in a tousled mess, and his scarred face smiled warmly as the woman shut the door.

\"Welcome home, my Lady,\" he said. He handed her a cup of tea. \"I see we have a guest tonight.\"

The woman nodded. \"Please have one of the extra rooms made ready; Mr. Son Gohan here needs rest.\"

Gohan and Pigero both stared at the woman in shock, then looked at each other. Pigero leaped over the counter and took Gohan\'s hand. \"Gohan! I never expected to see Lady Macbeth drag you in from the rain! It\'s been so long, but you were strong even as a kid!\"

Gohan smiled a little. \"Yes, it\'s been a long time,\" he said. \"I didn\'t want to get my hopes up when I heard your name at the door, though. I thought I\'d never cross paths with you again.\" He looked at Lady Macbeth. \"But how do you know my name? Have we met before? I don\'t think I remember your name.\"

Lady Macbeth smiled. \"No, we haven\'t met. Why don\'t you sit down and have some tea? I\'ll be glad to tell you a little about myself while you dry off; then you need to get into bed.\"

Pigero prepared another cup of tea and sat it before Gohan. \"You\'ll be surprised what she knows, Gohan,\" he said.