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“That one looks like a star.” Gohan said, pointing up at the sky.
“I thought it looked like a flower.” Dende spoke next to him.
Gohan sat up to look closer at the cloud. “Oh, I can see that too.” He sat back on his hands before speaking again. “So, only a few more days until the Dragon Balls are active, right?”
Dende sat up as well nodding. “Yes. One Namekian year is 130 Earth days.”
It was almost hard to believe. Four months since their journey to Namek. Four months without Krillin, four months without his dad. Strangely enough, he had gotten used to his dad not being here. Training with Piccolo for the year the Saiyans came helped fill the void of his father. It just felt like he hadn’t had much time with him between fighting the Saiyans and Namek. If anything, he missed Krillin. Their friendship has just started to bloom, and they bonded a lot during the trip to Namek. The image of Krillin’s last moments on Namek flashed in his mind and he shuddered.
Dende looked over, noticing his friend’s shudder. “Gohan, are you okay? You’re really quiet.”
Gohan looked up at his friend and gave a small smile. Despite everything that’s happened on Namek, he still had Dende, the best addition to all of the chaos. “Sorry. I was just thinking about something.”
“Thinking about what?”
“Just, thinking about how we’ve been friends for four months already. It’s been fun.”
Dende grinned. “It has been fun! I’ve learned so much from you while living on Earth. The wildlife, the people, playing Hide & Seek, and watching clouds go by. It’s been so exciting.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying your time.” Gohan spoke standing up from his spot. They had been cloud watching on top of Capsule Corp, so Gohan could see all sides of the compound.
“Are we done cloud watching? Can we play a game?” Dende asked, standing up as well.
“Sure we can. What do you—“ Gohan’s question stopped midway when his eyes landed on something parked on the west lawn of the compound.
Dr. Briefs’ pedal bike.
No one was around it, Bulma would be in the lab for most of the day, Dr. Briefs was golfing with Moori, and Mrs. Briefs could keep a secret.
“Dende, you want to go on a little ride?”
...
“When you said ‘go on a ride’ I wasn’t expecting us to be stealing Dr. Brief’s wheel machine.”
“First, we’re not stealing, we are borrowing. We are going to return it when we are done. Second, this is called a pedal bike. Everyone rides these, they’re not that special.” Gohan explained as he adjusted the seat, lowering it as much as it would go. He hopped on the bike, and only the tips of his toes reached the pedals.
Dende had still been on the fence about the situation. What if they got caught? Bulma was scary when she was angry, and Dende did not want to be on the end of that. “Do you even know how to operate this pedal bike?”
“Sure I do! All you do is push the pedals forward to go, and push them back to stop. It’s pretty simple.”
The young Namekian still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know Gohan. Can’t we just play Hide & Seek instead?”
Gohan hopped off the bike and put his hands on his friend's shoulders. “Dende, live a little. We’re going to make our first wishes with Porunga in a couple of days, and it won’t be long until the Dragon Balls are active again…And after those set of wishes, you’ll be gone.”
Dende frowned at the grim reminder. “I know Gohan, but I just think—“
“Look, there’s a big hill at the end of the street that leads to a park. We can ride around the park, and come back. No one will know. I’ll even give you the basket seat. It’ll be fun, I promise.”
Dende looked over at the pedal bike, the basket seat did look fun to ride in. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad to go around the park and come back. “Well, I guess if we’re quick it won’t be so bad.”
“Great! Hop in the basket.”
…
Controlling the pedal bike was a little harder than Gohan wanted to admit, but he had at least made it to the end of the street, and at the top of the hill. He pointed forward. “There’s the park, we’ll cruise right into it.”
“I see it.” Dende said, looking over the hill. It looked rather steep. He subconsciously gripped the front of the basket.
“Are you ready? Hold on right, here we go!” With that Gohan pushed off from the ground and the pedal bike went forward, starting its way down the hill.
Gohan and Dende screamed with excitement as they cruised down the hill. But the steeper the hill became the faster they went.
“Hey Gohan, you should slow down, we're going kind of fast.” Dende spoke once they were halfway down the hill.
“Sure.” He said and reached for the fast spinning pedals. Gohan attempted to break, but the fast moving pedals slammed into his foot instead, making Gohan yelp. “Ow!”
Dende looked back at his friend when he heard his cry of pain. “Gohan, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but I can’t stop the pedals, they’re going too fast. I can’t slow us down!”
Dende’s eyes widened and looked back at what was ahead. They were almost at the bottom of the hill and near the park, which was on the other side of a four way intersection. “Um Gohan, I'm sure people will figure out we stole the pedal bike if we’re dead! ”
“We are borrowing! ”
“Gohan, now is not the time! We are about to become wishes!”
“I can fix this! If I can just get us to the park, we’ll eventually slow down! The intersection is clear, we’re gonna make it!”
At that moment, the lights changed in the intersection, and traffic resumed.
Instantly, their screams of excitement from earlier became screams of terror as they reached the piedmont of the hill and zoomed into the intersection. Gohan swerved and turned the handles, avoiding oncoming cars to the best of his abilities. Amazingly enough, they made it through the traffic and to the park.
“Gohan the flowerbed! You’re going to hit the—“
Before Dende could finish his sentence, they were slamming into the concrete flowerbed near the entrance of the park.
Gohan launched forward into the air, and plowed into the ground before skidding to a slow stop. It wasn’t long before the Half-Saiyan was rolling over and sitting up with a loud groan. He dusted himself off. Scratches along his arm, a scrape on his knee, small cuts on his face, not to mention the slow bruising ankle from the pedals. It wasn’t that bad, he at least survived. Besides, he’s experienced worse.
Gohan’s head snapped up. “Dende.” He whispered before looking around quickly for his Namekian friend. Gohan spotted him laying down near a tree, and ran over to him. He rolled him on his back, and found him unconscious with a large, bleeding, gash on his forehead.
“Dende, please wake up.” He spoke, shaking his friend. Tears started to well up in his eyes. Gohan leaned down to his friend, he was still breathing, but very slowly. He scooped the Namekian up in his arms and flew back to Capsule Corp.
…
“Bulma!” Gohan screamed running into the laboratory.
Bulma whipped around to the sudden interruption and gasped at the sight. “What happened?!” She screamed at the young Saiyan. She ran over to her metal table and swept everything to one side and helped Gohan put Dende on the table.
“W-We were riding Dr. Brief’s pedal bike to the park and we cashed! It’s all my fault! I didn’t mean for this to happen! Please help him, Bulma! You have to! Please!” Gohan screamed as tears streamed down his face, he didn’t even know he was gripping onto her lab coat for his own support.
Bulma leaned down to him and held his face gently, but firmly. “I’m going to help him, but I need your help, first. We have to be quick, so stop crying, okay?” She told him, wiping his tears away.
Bulma’s soft hands brought instant comfort. A simple nod and sniffle was Gohan’s reply.
Once he was calm, Bulma grabbed supplies from under the table. “I’ll need some wrapping gauze, it’s on the other side of the lab in the cabinet.”
With a nod Gohan ran off to the other side of the lab and grabbed the supplies she needed. By the time he came back, Bulma had been cleaning the wounded area. “Here’s the wrapping gauze. Do you need anything else?”
After cleaning the area, Bulma pressed down on the wound to stop the bleeding with a gauze pad. “My scissors. They’re by my computer.”
Gohan ran over and grabbed her scissors from the desk and put them on the metal table. “Hop up here and hold this gauze, I’m going to start wrapping his head.”
The young Saiyan climbed up and pressed gently on the gauze pad. If he pressed any harder it probably would have been too hard. “Is he going to be okay Bulma?” He asked quietly.
“I don’t know Gohan, I wish I did. Most likely it’s a concussion, and since he’s already unconscious, he might be in a coma. We’ll have to monitor him for the next few hours to see.” She spoke as she unraveled the gauze.
Gohan felt his heart sank. A coma? What if he never woke up from it? How could he be so foolish? How could he allow his friend to be involved in such danger? He should have been safer, and not so stubborn. Maybe they had been better off playing Hide & Seek after all.
“Okay. His head is all wrapped up. Now we just have to get him to bed so he can rest.” Bulma gently scooped Dende up in her arms and took him to the infirmary room across from the laboratory. She laid him down gently in the bed and covered him.
Gohan grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it up to the bed. “Does he need anything else?” Gohan asked, grabbing his friend's hand.
“I can get an IV started for him, so he doesn’t dehydrate.”
Gohan looked back at the blue-haired scientist. “Bulma he can’t have a saline solution, he’s a slug.”
“Oh shoot, that’s right. I’m glad you reminded me. Pure water should be fine then. I’ll be right back.”
Once he was alone with Dende, he rubbed at his eyes again to keep from crying. “Dende, I’m so sorry I did this to you.” He spoke quietly. “You’re my best friend, and I put you in a lot of danger. I should have known better…Please make it through this. You have to. I can’t lose another friend.”
“I can come back if you’re having a moment.”
Gohan turned around, finding Bulma with the IV bag in hand. “I’m sorry, I just thought talking to him would help.” It was likely Dende couldn’t hear him anyways, but the talking was at least making him feel better.
“Don’t apologize, it’s fine. Do whatever you think helps.” She said as she set up the water bag for the Namekian. “His race survives off water, this should help with the healing process just fine.” Bulma started the line by injecting a needle in the fold of his arm. The water dripped down and through the tube going straight into Dende’s veins through the needle.
Bulma turned back to the Half-Saiyan. “I’m going to tell Moori what happened. You keep him company, I’m sure he'll want to see you first when he wakes up. Do you want me to patch you up too? You’ve got a couple of scratches yourself, you know.”
Gohan hadn’t taken his eyes off the Namekian. “I’ll be fine Bulma. I’m just worried about Dende.”
Bulma gave a quiet chuckle. “Alright, if you say so, little Saiyan. Let me know if anything changes.” With that, she gave Gohan a small pat on the shoulder and left the room.
Gohan leaned down to the bed, resting his head near his friend while still holding his hand. “I’m here Dende, I’m not going anywhere.” He said quietly.
Night fell soon, and Dende started to stir from his slumber. His eyes slowly opened and he looked around for a moment. Where was he? He tried moving, but something heavy was keeping him from doing so. He looked down, and found Gohan sleeping on him while he held his hand. “Gohan, wake up.” He spoke, gently shaking his friend.
Gohan moved slightly and sat up, finding his friend awake. “Dende!” He exclaimed, throwing himself in his arms. “I thought I killed you! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”
Dende gave a small chuckle at his friend’s reaction. “Sorry I scared you Gohan. I can’t technically heal myself, so I have to resort to regeneration through sleeping.”
“Really?”
“Mhmm. See look.” He said and reached for his gauze unwrapping it slowly. Once it was fully unwrapped, Dende’s head was completely healed. “Good as new.”
Gohan reached up to touch where the gash had been on Dende’s head. It was still hard to believe that he could recover from something like that, and without senzu beans at that. Gohan sat cross legged in front of the young Namekian. “I’m really glad you’re okay Dende.”
Dende’s smile turned into a concerned frown when he observed his friend. “You’re still hurt Gohan. You didn’t ask Bulma for medical attention of your own?”
Gohan nervously smoothed the hair down in the back of his head. “Well you were the one that was unconscious, I was kind of more worried about you at the time.”
“Understandable. Let me help.” Dende said, and reached his hands out to his friend, hovering his hands above him as he focused his energy to heal him.
Gohan watched as his cuts, scratches, and bruises slowly disappeared. It was such an amazing and impressive skill to the Half-Saiyan. This method was more preferable for Gohan rather senzu beans. It meant more to him knowing his best friend was healing him.
When Dende sensed that all of his wounds were healed, he pulled his hands away from Gohan. “Good as new?” He asked.
Gohan looked at his arms, and knees, and ankle before nodding. “Good as new. Thank you Dende.”
“I should be thanking you, Gohan. You’re the one that got me to safety after I fell unconcious…And I appreciate you feeding me while I recovered, but I’m getting kind of full.” Dende told him pointing at the IV still in his arm.
“Oh right, I’ll go and get Bulma.”
…
“Gohan I can’t believe you would do something so irresponsible! You could have been hurt, and you could have gotten Dende killed! If you’re not home within the next hour, I’m coming to Capsule Corp and dragging you home myself!”
Gohan held the phone a few inches away from his ear as he listened to his mother scream. “Yes mom. I’ll be home soon.”
“ Now give the phone back to Bulma.”
Gohan handed the phone back to Bulma. “Hey Chi-Chi, I’m sorry about this again. I should have been watching them closer.”
“It’s fine Bulma, it’s not your fault. Gohan knows better. I will be sure to pay for the damages of your father’s pedal bike, and Gohan will be writing a formal apology to him.”
“Oh there’s no need, my dad was working on a newer model anyways, he was going to retire it soon. Besides, they already talked, he thought it was a little funny.” She spoke with a small laugh.
“Well if there’s anything I can do please let me know.”
“Thank you Chi-Chi. Gohan should be heading home soon.”
“Alright. Thank you again Bulma.”
With that, Bulma hung up the phone and looked over at Gohan. “Well, the hard part is over.”
“No it’s not, I’m still due for a spanking.”
Bulma winced. “Probably would have been better off playing Hide & Seek huh?”
“Don’t remind me.”
…
“I’m very sorry for putting Dende in danger like that. It wasn’t my intention, please forgive me.” Gohan apologized to the Grand Elder with a low bow.
“I know of your intentions, they were not ill in any way. You’re both still very young, with much to learn. Hopefully this experience has taught you both something.” Moori spoke.
“Thank you Moori. My lesson has been learned.”
With a nod, Moori looked down at Dende. “See your friend out.” He told him, and left the two of them alone.
Gohan put his hands in his pockets. “So I guess no pedal biking for a while, huh?”
“I would think so…It was still fun, despite it turning into disaster.”
Gohan gave a small laugh at that. “I think ‘fun until disaster strikes’ is just how my life goes.”
“I’ve noticed the pattern.” Dende said with his own laugh before looking at Gohan again. “I also wanted to say thank you for keeping me company during my recovery. Your words were very sweet.”
Instantly Gohan’s face started to heat up. “You heard me talking to you?”
“Mhmm. I believe you said you couldn’t live without me?” Dende teased.
The teasing made him blush more. “I said I didn’t want to lose another friend.” Gohan corrected defensively.
“Your best friend.”
“…That you’re right about.”
The following week, Dr. Briefs surprised Gohan with a pedal bike of his own.