Anomaly in the World of Heroes

by Theikos Prodosia

Gohan's life takes a twist when he is plunged into a game like world by mistake, a world that doesn't follow the same rules as his own. So now he is forced to embark on a journey and grow accustomed to his new life, all while risking his life for a slim chance to return home. (There will be a future pairing for Gohan, it will be revealed later)

Anomaly in the World of Heroes

Chapter 1

It's finally time.

I opened my drowsy eyes due to the bothersome sound of the alarm clock. I pull the blanket off from my body and reach my arm lazily over to my alarm, and with a load thud coming from the push of a button shut it off. I then muster up my strength to lift my back off from bed and peek at my clock, 5:30 a.m.

Can't say I had a good night sleep, I was pretty excited for today's first day of school.

And another reason being...

I push the blanket off a bit more to uncover my little brother, Goten, who in the middle of the night woke me up asking me if he could sleep with me while hugging on a pillow he brought along. Must have been the scary movie he and Trunks sneaked into yesterday to watch together, while mom was busy talking with Bulma in the living room.

He came into my room that night earlier and excitedly told me that he was going to watch it without mom finding out, and I warned him to stop watching it if it became too scary to handle. Of course that little runt didn't listen to me, instead he responded with, "I'm not going to be scared, because I'm brave like Trunks!"

And it had to happen today of all days, of course... Good thing I had a pretty good iron discipline forged into me, waking up and following the routine has never been a problem.

"Mmmm, good morning big brother."

I smiled at my brother and pinched his soft cheek, "Morning Oh Brave Goten, you didn't happen to wet my sheets now right? Mom will be angry at you when I tell her."

In a sense of panic, he quickly stood up and dismantled the blanket with clear fearfulness, throwing it to the side of the bed and into the floor to confirm if another incident had occurred. I'd honestly had noticed if he did, but teasing him for his little mischief was fun.

"You liar brother, I didn't wet the bed this time!" He said with his cute angry face.

"Haha, settle down Goten, I didn't say you did it now, right? Besides, it was you who came here in the middle of the night. I thought you said you weren't gonna get scared. So what happened there?"

Goten looked at me seriously before lowering his gaze in shame, "It was actually v-very scary..." Then he shift his head up to meet my eyes once again, "And I could tell just by looking at Trunks! He wasn't scared at all throughout the whole movie! He even said it was pretty lame and predictable! I just don't understand! Is Trunks not afraid of anything or something!?"

Hehe, my brother is still just a baby, and he obviously admires Trunks. But he's got to learn this, just like I did, "Goten, you know that Trunks is Vegeta's son, right? You should try to imagine what it's like to grow up with someone like him."

At this he looked attentively, before nodding, "Yeah, I met him once at Trunks house. He looks scary..."

Yep, he understands that much, and so do I, I grew up with Piccolo after all, "Yes, that's right. So you got to understand that Trunks growing up with Vegeta was bound to make him mature more quickly. It's not that he isn't afraid of anything, but... knowing his father and his fierce demeanor, I think Trunks would be more afraid of looking afraid in front of his father."

It made sense, after all, from what Trunks told me he looks up to his father and he would never want to disappoint him, "So it's not that he isn't afraid, but he chooses to be brave for the sake of looking strong, like his dad."

Goten looks at me with a pondering face, processing what I had just told him, "Wow, must be nice to have a dad to look up to, huh?" He states as tears begin to form in his eyes. I guess because he is still a child he doesn't completely understand everything I told him, and hears only certain emotionally triggering words.

Darn it. He never met dad, and here I was talking about Trunk's dad a lot, though not the father of the year, at least he still has him around. I sigh and gently squeeze his shoulder before responding, "Yes, Goten, Trunks is lucky to have his dad, but try not to think about that... Well, because you have me, after all. And there was a time when I was even stronger than Vegeta despite my age!" I state proudly.

I may not be a replacement for that happy-go-lucky father of ours, but I should at least show him that he is not alone.

Goten looks at me, and then with a wide smile proceeded to jump at me and held me in a long embrace as he continued to cry a bit harder than before, "Thank you, Gohan! I'm fine without having a dad because I have you! Promise me you won't abandon me!"

Jesus, that's a lot to take in. I feel pretty bad for Goten. But he needs the security, and someone to look up to just like Trunks has. So I embrace my little crybaby brother to show him my resolve as his big brother, "Of course Goten, I will always be here for you! So you never need to be scared again, because your older brother will kick the butt of whatever monster comes at you before they can say-"

"Gohan! Get down here and have breakfast now before you're late for school!" I hear my mom scream from the kitchen. And at this interruption Goten laughs.

I quickly face the door to respond, don't want to make her angry at me this early, "Sure mom! I'll be right there, just give me a minute!" Then I take a look at my brother, who looked more cheerful than before.

"Hey Gohan, didn't you tell me school starts at 8? Why are you up this early if you can fly there so fast?"

"Good question. Well you see... it's mostly to make mom happy. She wants me to be in class early because it will leave a good impression on my teacher, at least that's what she thinks."

To this he responds with a simple Ohh... face. Yeah, not surprising. I leap up from my bed and begin to swiftly put on my school uniform, consisting of my red pants, white long sleeve shirt and a black vest on top. I put on my black boots and of course, my Orange Star High School badge. There, I was looking sharp and ready for school. As for Goten, he had already plastered his face back on the pillow and went back to sleep. Better not wake him up just to say goodbye.

I make my way down the set of stairs and into the dining room to greet my mom, who is just about finished putting down the last plate of food on the table as she sits. I take a seat right next to her and promptly grab my chopsticks to begin eating with a tenacity rivaling my father's.

Mmmm~... The food like always is simply extraordinary!

"I know, son. I can tell just by looking at your face and know what you're thinking. You think my food is extraordinary." Mom said, but she didn't phrase it as a question, which means she had no doubt in her mind that I was actually thinking exactly that.

"Yeah mom, I didn't know you were psychic." I state with a playful smile and with a mouth full, but probably hardly noticeable as I was still propelling large quantities of fried rice with meat into my mouth.

"Well, you are your fathers son. He used to say that all the time too..." She states with a certain emotional tone while placing her hand on her mouth.

Poor mom, it's been 7 years now since dad passed away. And time hasn't made it any easier on her. I know I'm not exactly that good at comforting, but I can at least give it a try.

I held my mom's hand gently, which made her surprised as she turned to face me, "Mom, it will be alright, you know dad is always watching over us to make sure we're safe. And we will eventually meet him again you know!"

Sure, that will of course happen when we die, and it's not a nice mental image, but there is no need for me to phrase it like that.

Mom places her free hand bellow her eye to remove a tear, a smile beginning to form, "I know Gohan, thank you... God, I'm a terrible mother! I know I shouldn't be placing any of my burdensome troubles into you. You will have school and your studies to worry about. You just continue eating while I wash the dishes," she states with a reassuring smile that appeared to be a little forced as she then headed towards the sink.

As mom suggested I continued eating my food until I finished with the last bowl of rice. I then helped move the rest of my dirty dishes into the sink and thanked her for the food. My mom turned off the water and turned to me, "It's already past 6 Gohan, you should get going or you'll be late!" She then gave me a big smile, yet her eyes were still showing glimpse of sadness.

"Ah... Oh, right! Thank you for the food mom!" I turned around in the direction of the door, grabbed my yellow school bag that was placed on a chair next to my exit, and as I turn around to wave and say goodbye to my mom she had already moved away to another room. I shrug it off and fix my bag on my shoulder. With everything ready, I make my exit and begin flying at max velocity in my normal form. With this speed, it should at least take me 20 minutes to get to Satan City.

-o-

As I arrive into the city I made sure to make my descend as inconspicuous as I can in a secluded area. I look up and see the giant virtual clock that reads 6:34 a.m. Which means I still have over an hour left before class starts.

Hmm... should I listen to mom and head directly to class to have an early start in studying? But I don't think there will be anyone there yet, and don't think the teacher will care much. Plus, I'm pretty sure as long as I pay attention in class I can ace all my subjects.

But. I don't want to disobey mom either...

Oh, I know! I'll jut go to the library! It's kind of the middle ground between school and free time, so it should be alright with mom! Yeah! That should be okay with her!

...Darn, I just realized I find it pretty hard to disobey my mother. And she may not have noticed, but I know how controlling she can be over me, and I know it's not healthy. And to make matters worse, she's been so strict with me ever since the final battle with Cell, it's actually kind of a miracle she even let me go to school.

So I guess doing this every once in a while is alright, I love mom but she can be so overbearing. Don't care if she finds out, this time I'm doing what I want to do!

I open my bag to take out a folded map of Satan city. I rapidly unfold it and begin searching for a public library. After a few minutes I finally find one that's nearby, so I memorize the route and put my map away. I then began running at an average speed to reach the library quickly.

So it's left on Cranberry Street in about 2 miles... There it is... And then go straight for 3 miles and it should be to my right in Gin Street. About a minute later my eyes find the street so I begin to slow down, my eyes gleam when I see the decent size building.

I approach while reading the plaque, Orange Public Library. Yep, this is the place. I proceed to walk inside and the moment I'm in, I'm hit with the nice cool AC air and the nice nostalgic smell that washed away any guilt I had of disobeying my mom.

As I pass through the front desk I begin to ponder what will be a nice book to read. Now, I can find something to read like advanced theoretical physics, but... that will be just like studying! And technically I'm already quite ahead for a high schooler.

I ruminate for a while longer, until I finally make up my mind on what to do.

"You know what? I'm in the mood for something else, something that's not related to biology or quantum mechanics. I'm heading towards the fiction area and picking myself a nice story to read!"

With that said, I make my way over through the many different bookcases in the fiction area, passing over a few other people as I'm searching, until one sign in particular catches my eyes. It seemed like a very specific section since it wasn't as considerable in size as the other bookcases, the top sign read Light Novel section.

I raise an eyebrow, "Hmm, I guess a nice adventure story will be a good change of pace. Yeah, why not?" I walk over this bookcase and take a look around. After a while of searching my eyes finally decide on a book that is just above my eye level, a book with a dark purple cover.

But I stop short, because I notice another book standing right next to this one with a dark red hue, I also notice that it didn't have a call number. Strange...

There was something about this book that made me feel compelled to grab it instead. So I quickly shift my hand to reach for the red book instead. I then drop my yellow bag next to my feet and smile when I read the title. "Yeah, this book looks interesting."

"The Records of the Four Cardinal Weapons."

Looks like it will be pretty good. Now that I recall, I haven't read a fiction book in a long time, and if I remember right, probably since I was 6 years old, when my Grandpa sneaked in an awesome fiction book about a normal boy who turned out to be a wizard. I remember feeling a link with that boy... but of course, the fun only lasted until mom found it under my bed and confiscated it, telling me not to waste my time reading this sort of books and stick with educational ones instead.

Yeah, let's not think about mom right now...

I block those regretful thoughts and open the book, and begin to read the prologue, "The Waves of Apocalyptic Catastrophe..." Yeah, a very ominous kickoff. Not bad. "To be saved from them, four heroes will be summoned from another world. Each of the four heroes will wield a characteristic weapon: a sword, a spear, a bow, and shield."

"Sounds interesting, can't wait to- Huh?"

I lose my train of thought as I flipped to the second page to find that it was just, blank. So I anxiously flip to the next page, and to the next page, and so on... But there is nothing else besides the prologue.

What the heck? Did they run out of ink when printing this book? "How bizarre... W-wha-?!"

It's the last thing I say as my confusion reaches new heights. Suddenly the book begins to brighten with a golden light so I instinctively drop it. But the light is still burning brighter and brighter, before realizing that I needed to get away, it felt like a space opened up beneath my feet and began pulling me in. Suddenly I was free falling down through a gap made from light. Before the notion of flying suddenly struck my mind, the feeling that I was falling came to a quick end as my body had already landed into the floor.

I regained my composure and go into defense mode, not knowing if there was going to be an attack coming after this. As I'm standing up I quickly realize that there are multiple people in this dim room with me.

I first turn to inspect the people in my peripheral vision.

It was four young men wielding weapons standing right next to me and looking at me with an equal amount of curiosity. They weren't pointing their weapons towards me nor did they seem dangerous, plus I didn't feel any killing intent from any of them.

I deflect my vision from them when I notice that we are surrounded by this green floating lights, and beneath our feet an unusual glowing pattern with strange shapes.

I shift my attention towards the black robed individuals in front of me. I have a feeling that they are the ones responsible for transferring me here. I turn to look at them with a dangerous scowl, but before I could say a word their look of horror stopped me.

My scowl softens and I raise an eyebrow. Why do they look terrified? No, maybe dumbfounded? Even more so than me. What's going on here?

...

...I swear a whole minute has passed now and this room is as silent as a crypt. And they keep staring at me, it's making me uncomfortable.

It almost feels like I just crashed into an event that I wasn't invited to. Oh screw it, if no one is talking I'll just blurt out the one thing I was thinking, "What the hell is going on here?" I ask seriously, finally breaking the ice.

What? What language is this?! The words came out so naturally too... How can I speak this foreign language?!

Abruptly the tall blonde guy decided to get in on the conversation, making me lose my train of thought, "Yeah! That's exactly what I want to ask! Didn't you guys say that we are the four heroes? So why did a fifth guy get summoned? He doesn't even have a weapon, just look?!" He said as he casually pointed his spear at me.

"That's right!" the shortest of the group concurred.

Then the young man wielding a sword followed up, "You guys had better not lied to us. And it better not be a funny joke you just attempted to pull on us." He stated in a standoffish manner as he pointed his sword towards them.

The man in the front looked panicky as he waved frantically, "No! Of course not! We would never do that to the honorable heroes! We don't know what happened either!" Then the robed guy in the front of the group pointed at the robed girl behind him, "You! Inform the king right away about this!"

"Ah? Yes sir!" she squealed as she left the room as fast she could.

He then turned back around grinning and rubbing his hands nervously, "Heroes please... calm your anger. The king will be informed right away of this anom-... this, sudden guest that somehow managed to slip into the summoning ritual. I swear that we will get right back to business once this problem is resolved." he then huddled with his group and they began murmuring among themselves.

...Wow, he was about to call me an anomaly. And I'm a problem? I didn't even ask to be summoned to this weird place. What an ass... Wait a second! The blonde guy with the spear just said something about heroes? Like in the book?

"So be it." the cool looking swordsman said while lowering his sword.

"Well, not like we have much of a choice. I guess we can wait a little bit." said the young man holding the bow while staring at me curiously.

The one who had been the quietest, a young man holding a shield turned to face me directly with a smile, "Well, if were going to be waiting we might as well get to know each other a little better," he then approach me with a welcoming smile while holding out his hand, "My name's Iwatani Naofumi, but just Naofumi is fine, it's nice to meet you."

Finally, a friendly face. I return his friendliness with a smile of my own, "My name's Son Gohan, but Gohan is fine too, happy to make your acquaintance." I shake his hand.

I never expected to start meeting new people in a place that wasn't school... school...? SCHOOL! I need to go now ASAP! I'm not going to make it if I stay here wasting time, and mom is going to be so mad if she finds out I skipped my first day of school!

I held my head and faced the floor anxiously.

"Wha, are you okay Gohan? I know this situation is shocking but you need to calm down." said Naofumi, clearly misunderstanding my grief.

"Hmph, he's just a normal guy, no need to meddle with him shield bro. He will likely not end up coming with us anyway." said the blonde spearman.

"That's true. Not to be the bad guys here, but he's probably right. He's not a hero. So he will most likely not end up coming with us. And if he does, he will most likely become a burden." said the swordsman.

"But... There's so need to be like that..." Naofumi said dejectedly.

Not a hero, and a burden...?

Whatever. Okay, first things first, I need to use my ki sensing ability to verify if this is Earth, once I do tha-... It's not Earth.

Well, crap.

I know this isn't Earth because One: I can't sense a single familiar ki. Two: I can only feel the ki of the people around this area. Somehow, it feels impossible to reach further across the world, almost like something is blocking my ki senses. So no way this is Earth.

I turned to look at the proclaimed heroes once again, inspecting them and their weapons.

These guys are the heroes from the book... But they don't seem experienced enough to know anything about ki, or fighting for that matter, asking them about it will probably be pointless. But... right now I need any kind of information.

"Say Naofumi, and, everyone else." they all turned to look at me inquisitively, "First off, I know I'm not a hero like you guys, and it's clear to me that I'm not meant to be here. I'm just a regular guy that was brought against my will, and I need to find a way to go back as soon as possible, I got friends and family waiting for me. If you don't know how to get back that's fine, but please tell me anything you know. I will truly appreciate it..." I said pleadingly, not minding at all how desperate I sounded.

All of them turned to look at each other. The arrogant demeanor of three in particular began to soften and was being replaced with compassion.

The spearman sighed, bringing his hand to his head, "Huff fine, we're all in the same boat after all, and I don't want to be that guy. Let big bro Motoyasu explain it to you, at least a gist of what I know. This world is basically like a cliché RPG game, you ever played any?"

"No." I replied instantly. I noticed Naofumi perk up as Motoyasu said this.

"Okay then. So essentially like in a game, normal people get summoned to another world to become heroes, like we did. Then we go meet the king, he asks us to save the world for him, so we go on adventures with our party, destroy all the monsters, and achieve peace. Maybe there's more to it than that, but that is basically what I know, and what I predict will happen."

"Hah! As expected of the hero of the spear! You're already quite familiar with our world!" said the robed man listening in, apparently they stopped murmuring and began eavesdropping. Motoyasu smirked triumphantly

The swordsman smiled, which somehow appeared unbecoming because of his coolness, "Looks like you forgot one small, yet important detail."

"Oh yeah? And what is that, swordsman?" Motoyasu asked, a bit riled up.

"It's Ren, and it's the fact that we can level up as well. Which means that instead of having to become stronger with meager training, we can become stronger by simply killing monsters and increasing our level. Or what? Didn't you guys notice the icon in the corner of your vision and figured it out? It tells you your status. Try concentrating on in." Ren said obnoxiously, as the people in robes applaud approvingly. Motoyasu's brushed him off and began searching for that said icon, apparently so did Naofumi and the young man.

Naofumi pointed his finger in front of him, he appeared to be looking at that status screen he made appear but I couldn't see, "He's right, I can see my stats and all, this world is more closer to a game world than I expected." Naofumi said.

The bow hero pointed his finger in front of him as well, "Level 1. And the attack power seems worryingly low. Sounds like a big problem." he said as he turned towards the group.

"Tell me about it." Naofumi murmured.

"Yeah, no kidding, can we even fight with such low level weapons?" asked Motoyasu, "Ah, by the way, never got your name?"

"Name is Itsuki," Itsuki replied with a smile. He then turned to look at me. "We just arrived here like you did, soon enough we'll figure what our role is in all this. But you'll probably be sent back since you're not a hero."

I smiled back at Itsuki, his statement giving me reassurance, "Yeah, you're right. Well, thank you all for helping me understand my situation and letting me know how this world works," I said, though the information wasn't particularly useful to me, it still gave me some clues and understanding of this world.

Looks like this may be a sort of game like world... Is that why my ki sensing ability is not working properly?

Before pondering on that question further, we heard the sounds or hurried footsteps approaching.

"Huff-huff, I'm back!" said the robed girl that had left earlier while gasping for air. "The-the king said he wants to meet that man alone. And in the mean time, he wants the heroes to be escorted to his private lounge. Don't worry, we will serve you food and provide some entertainment while you wait. I'm so sorry about this!" the robed girl bowed to the heroes apologetically.

Motoyasu approached the anxious girl and leaned towards her, "Raise your head," the girl hesitantly did as he commanded, barely looking into his eyes out of fear. Motoyasu then smiled alluringly, "Don't worry about it, we can wait a little bit," the girl's fearful face brightened, a visible tint of red clear on her cheeks as she looked directly at his beautiful gentle visage.

Motoyasu stood up and turned towards the other robed men, extending his hand, "You guys make sure to care of our new buddy, we're all in the same boat after all. And Gohan, take care." he said as he gave me a thumps up.

"Of course we will spear hero!" replied the robed men.

I smiled back at him, "Thanks a lot for that. And I'm sorry to all of you, I know I'm causing you trouble..." I said as I lower my head a bit embarrassed. I wish I could help not causing trouble for them.

"It's okay, just go see the king already." said Ren with his usual coolness.

"Don't worry about it, you heard them, they will keep us waiting in the kings private lounge. I'm actually kinda curious of how that looks. Now go speak to the king and ask him to send you back. Oh, and make sure you tell him to give you some reward for your trouble!" said Itsuki.

"Haha, yeah, will do." I probably won't, I don't want a reward, I just want him to send me home without trouble.

Then Naofumi approached me once again, giving me that same gentle smile, "Shame you can't come with us, we would have loved to have you on our team," he extended his hand once again, we shake hands in goodbye this time, "Wish we got to know you better. Safe travels Gohan, go home and be with your family."

"Thanks, Naofumi. Wish you the best in your mission," I said with a smile as we let go of the handshake.

"We must go, time is of the essence!" said a robed man. "We four will escort you to see the king, follow us quickly."

"Alright, let's go." I said as we walked towards the big door, I turned to look at the heroes one last time.

"And you can follow me heroes." said the same robed girl, who was particularly eyeing Motoyasu. They all began to follow her, we exited through the same door but they left through another corridor.

I followed the robed men through a small corridor going upstairs. We pass by many barred windows that give off plenty of light. As I'm suddenly struck by the nice hot breeze, I peak outside and I see it for myself. A beautiful medieval city and a background of beautiful mountains, the kind of place you see in history books, and of course, very few old active towns back in my world devoid of all the tech from Capsule Corp. Square brick houses look nice too.

So, if the king lives here and this is the capital, then I can assume this is one of the most advanced cities, which means this worlds technology is lacking compared to my own. Though I got to admit, this world has a certain allure to it, but it must be the similarity it has with Earth.

After a while of walking we arrive at the main castle. What followed was a large fancy corridor. We reach a big wooden door and the two guards open the door the moment we approach. We step inside and I begin to inspect this large historical room as we walk through the long red carpet. Beautiful pillars, chandeliers, windows, curtains, adorned this room. Along with plenty of soldiers stationed in every pillar.

As we continued to walk I see from afar a man in ostentatious garbs and a crown sitting on a chair at end of the corridor. I stop behind the robed men when they halt with plenty of space between them and the man sitting down. They bow and smoothly make their way to their respective position in the left corner.

The man in front of me has a certain air to him, I can tell he's looking down on me with those solemn eyes. My years of fighting tell me so, he has a warriors spirit... "So that's the king."

-o-

A/N: It's good to be back. I really wanted to make this crossover, I've really been enjoying all the variants of the Rising of the Shield Hero. As for my other story, hopefully the spark will be reignited eventually. But right now I really want to focus my time on this story. And as for some questions you may have about Gohan, well, you'll know as the story progresses, I don't plan to leave anything blank and just, cause why not? No, I don't work that way, I'll give it my best shot adding my reasoning and logic behind everything that happens. Reviews are always welcomed!