Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS FOR JUSTICE LEAGUE OR DRAGONBALL Z. THEY BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS. JUSTICE LEAGUE IS OWNED BY DC COMICS AND DRAGON BALL Z IS OWNED BY AKIRA TORIYAMA.
Hello people of the InterWebs, this is MegaRdaniels bringing you the Fourth Chapter of the story, "The Life and Times of Son Gohan". Many people were asking for a longer chapter, so here it is! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please always leave reviews, they are always appreciated. Thanks guys!
IV: Exploration
Harley pushed the wired gates open for young Gohan during their friendly chat. Gohan felt welcomed by her presence. It was something in her that made him feel at home. He didn't feel alone when he walked alongside her. It was something in her that reminded him of a certain person that was always by his side. Though Harley was silly and kind of crazy, she seemed really nice and sincere to him. Not brooding and dangerously nonchalant like the people in this city. Albeit, Piccolo, his mentor and Father figure, was brooding and muse, but he cared about the young boy a lot even when Goku wasn't present, he was always there when he needed him. For the first time in days, he smiled. His smile wasn't as big as before, but it was still a smile nonetheless.
Inside the complex, Harley walked behind the young boy following him upstairs as she continued cracking jokes about the fellas in the Diner miles back. Gohan chuckled. On their way up to the top of the second floor of the building. Gohan took out his key and inserted inside the lock. He looked back at Harley who was behind him.
"Say, I know this is weird to say but, are you from around here kid?" she asked.
"No ma'am," he said, "I'm not from around here."
"I see," she continued, "Probably from Japan or California somewhere." Gohan arched his left brow in confusion, unaware of where or what those places were, "Say do you want to sit out here and chat? I'm loving this!"
Gohan frozen over the knob. Once he gets inside the cold and dark room of his, the string of happiness he sewed would be unzipped once more and the cloud of anger and despair would hover over his head once more shaming him on his failure. He hovered his hand away from the knob and silently wiped the silent tears from his face. He faced the woman with a small smile on his face, "Thanks, but I have to clean up."
"Oh that's okay," Harley said, "Next time then?"
"Of course," he said nodding.
Harley waved at Gohan and went into her own complex while Gohan opened up his own and as predicted, a dark cloud hovered over his head. He sat on the bed sitting far across from the door and pondered. He backed to the wall and hugged his legs as he faced the door in front of him. Harley was nice and all, but he didn't know her. He didn't know this world. Plus he felt heavy, like a bag carrying a ton of rocks hanging on the corner of his heart dragging it down to a rushing red sea of guilt.
His mind wondered off into an ocean of uncertainty sailing off course to an island of grey feelings. He was lost in thought, not in logic or mathematical sense, but of feelings. His memory would replay those horrid films in a loop scarring the young Saiyon into a depression deeper than the depths of the Pacific. His heart, made of soft glass now cracked, hung on a string held by two white columns. As it beats, the strings became weaker. Deep below the weak, string bridge lied black magma slowly flowing to the vent leading to the World of Melancholia where souls sink to die, a world worse than the Christian Hell in cultures stranger than our own.
Stranger than our Saiyon friend.
Gohan was the ghost hovering in the mortal world, a ghost of no one knows about, the ghost of a body buried in an unmarked grave. Gohan, the son of the legend was all alone in a dark-grey world.
"I don't know what to do Dad," he said, "I don't know. I'm scared. I'm alone and afraid. I can't..." he slowly collapsed to the mattress.
...
Harley came out of her apartment wearing her infamous red and black poker jumpsuit, and a white clownish makeup wanting to get something before the night advanced. When she closed the door, happy and gleeful as she all could be she heard a soft somber cry from her neighbor's complex. It was so soft that no normal person would even hear it - except for Harley. She had heard those silent cries before. She reached for her neighbor's door and attempted to open it, but then her phone rang.
"Harley? Come quickly, now!" said an irrational man on the phone.
"Yeah, sure Mistah J, I'm on my way!" she said with glee. Her smile turned sour when her head turned back to the door, "Poor kid," she said, "I think I want to give this boy something! Whatever he's feeling, it doesn't feel good." She hovered her hand away from the boy's doorknob and went downstairs just before looking back upstairs worrying about the young boy.
"I hope he does okay," she said.
...
Bruce Wayne was in his cave without his bat suit pondering in his computer. Harley was the forefront of his mind for tracking down the Joker, but the boy she was with struck his interest. Dick Grayson, now a grown man, arrived just in time just to see his adoptive father looking at the video in a loop of Harley walking with the little boy with the spiky hair.
"Sort of reminds me of me when I was a teenager - except I was cut and smaller...and shorter," Dick said.
"So you don't know him?" Bruce asked.
"Nope. I think he's just a kid though. Most of them are ignorant about the..."
"Kids know Harley Quinn like they know characters from a Saturday Morning cartoon special," Bruce said to Dick. He arched his brow and thought for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"Yeah," he hissed in embarrassment, "You got a point on that. But what explains Harley? And what does the boy have to do with the Joker?"
"Leverage somehow," Bruce got up and put on his black jacket.
"But the boy doesn't seem to be pose as a threat," Dick commented.
"Not yet," he said as he walked up the steps.
"Where are you going?" Dick asked.
"Out," Bruce replied.
...
Gohan woke up from the floor with a mild headache that following morning. He got up to the bathroom and saw that his eyes were rosy red. His face was stained by the tears he squeezed from his moist eyes. He opened the blinds from his window, allowing light to pierce through his dark complex. And after looking out at the mirror he knew he needed new clothes. He was wearing the same attire for a few days and it was beginning to stink. There was no river nearby - none that was clean - that he could wash his clothes with. He saved just enough money for him to buy him a few things besides food.
Back in his own universe, he would remember eating an ocean of food and his Mom buying a myriad of clothes for him to wear. Now, he was on his own. He ate at least 1 to 2 meals a day and wore the same attire - even sleeping on the same attire.
"I think its time for a change," he said.
He opened to the door and discovered something unexpected. It was a brown, wooden basket that carried red and black teddy bear and candy. There was a note nailed to the handle. Gohan picked up the note and the basket.
The note read:
Don't worry; Be Happy! ;)
- Harley
Gohan smiled and let out a small laugh. He looked at the door where Harley lived at and let out a small lone tear to fall from his left eye.
"Thank you, Harley," Gohan said.
...
Gohan started exploring Gotham so he could be familiar with the city and its people. All the advertisements he would always see was a rich guy in a fancy suit with the name Wayne Enterprises. Gohan was fascinated about the company, but he was too young to apply for a job there which was sad. He made a mental note to apply there when he gets older so he could share his expertise on theoretical physics.
He traveled far and and wide in this big city. It wowed him of course, maybe because he avoided the ghettos, the true heart of the city. He discovered a diner, not too far from the Transit Railway Bridge up yonder. It was simply named Diner just because.
It didn't look that much impressive. Gohan had been to many Diners with his Father. Many of them were lively and loud with life. This Diner looked grey, but compared to the Diner he went to a few days ago, it seemed safe. He was hungry by the way. However, he couldn't afford a big meal like his Mother and Father did, only a small portion. That was all. It wouldn't totally satisfy his large insatiable appetite, but it was something that could hold him for awhile though.
He went into the Diner scared and shy as a few onlookers turn away from the young boy. Gohan walked to the nearby seat he could find and read the menu on what they had.
"This is it?" Gohan asked in his mind. It wasn't nothing special on the menu. Just the classical waffles, chicken, grits, etc. There was more, but the only thing he could actually afford was...
"Grits and Waffles, huh?" Gohan sighed, "Looks like I could deal with that until I save enough I guess."
Suddenly, a towering figure eclipsed his menu. He looked up, his training with Piccolo caught up to his once again, only this time he wasn't as aggressive as last time. He looked and saw a friendly man wearing a brown, two-piece suit, glasses, and a fedora of all hats. He had a strong chin and a fatherly smile to add.
"Hello, is this seat taken?" asked the man.
Gohan shook, "Oh no sir, you can go ahead and sit if you want."
The Mysterious Man sat down across from the boy, "I hope your parents don't mind if a..."
"Don't worry," Gohan cut him off mid-sentence, "My parents are at home. I'm just getting breakfast." Gohan's tone softened.
"Oh okay," said the Man.
AN: Hello guys, this is Mr. Raleigh D giving you a new chapter. I know these chapters happen to be slow paced a bit, but the action is going to pop next chapter. That I can promise you. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it! Please always leave reviews, they are always appreciated. Until we meet again, I bid you all an adieu.
PEACE!
