It's chilly.

Uwah...?

Gohan blinks, the light of a new dawn barely allowing him to register the room. His blanket keeps him warm, but it's still way chillier than it was when he... than it should be. Paozu isn't supposed to get this cold for a few months, isn't it? The saiyan hybrid grumbles as he closes his eyes again, and snuggles deeper into his futon.

He doesn't want to get up this early. Does he really have to study so hard...? He doesn't even go to a real school! Yeah, he wants to be a scholar, but... but he's tired right now... Sleep is important...

"No! This can't be! I... am... perfection!"

"HIYAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

Ack, at least studying at five in the morning is better than the Cell Games. Good thing that's behind him.

But dad...

He sniffs, burying his face into his pillow. Dad... dad is dead. It's still taking time to accept it. If it wasn't for him... for his delaying the fight, he would still be around... Earth would still have its greatest hero. Vegeta and him were strong, but Goku had saved the world many times over! If another major incident happened... would they all be enough? Would he be enough? Martial arts are fun... but fighting, he hates fighting! He might not train hard enough. He might hesitate in the next actual fight... should he even train?

Ugh, training. Should he even bother...? He might be incredibly powerful, but he isn't power-hungry like Vegeta or... admittedly, his dad was. He only wanted to protect people... and, he can admit, to hang out with dad and Mr. Piccolo. Hrm, since exercise is kind of required, perhaps martial arts aren't the worst way to do it... but hurting people... that just isn't something he wants to do. Hopefully the others can close the gap by the time the next major threat shows up... Wait a god damn second.

Gohan doesn't sleep in a FUTON.

"Gah!"

He shoots straight up, looking around wildly. Where is he?! What's going on? Whose house is this?!

Why can't he feel anybody's ki? Or any ki at all, for that matter?! The last thing he remembers is...

Uh...

Hm.

Gohan blinks furiously, looking around the room he's in. It's pretty dark, but he can make out a few details. ... This is a very small house, isn't it? There's a bit of a nook on the far end, but it doesn't look like it leads to another room. He stops when he notices a... wet feeling on his lap, and lets his eyes drift downwards.

... A handkerchief?

He wipes his forehead with his hand - it's wet too. The hankie must've been placed there by whoever lives here: and he lets out a sigh of relief. Did something happen to him...? At least the people in this area are probably friendly enough, if they bothered to take him in. What could have gotten him to the point where he needed a towel like that, probably for a fever? Did he just come down with something while flying a good distance away from home, or did something strong knock him out?!

Okay, so... time to think. He can't feel any ki, at all. He is in a stranger's bed, in a stranger's house, and was apparently in a situation where he needed to be treated for some sort of harm. A glance to his left confirms that he wasn't harmed by the people here... if they had done something like taken his kidneys, would they have bothered medicating him with anything other than sedatives? Besides, his father's relied on the kindness of strangers for big chunks of his life. Now's just... his turn, he guesses. And...

... Oh, Kami, how long has he been out?! Is that... oh god it is. He needs to find a bathroom now!

WELCOME TO CELESTIC TOWN!

The Past Lives

He leans forwards, his lower body still covered in the futon as he really inspects the house. It's very small - yeah, this is the only room. A refrigerator and pretty much everything else important is against the wall behind him, under a couple of windows. There's a visible door in front of him and to the left, and that same nook on the far left side... from what he can tell, the only real piece of furniture in here is a dining table in the center of the room. It's... cozy. Gohan smiles: he'd almost forgotten that other people... well, have lives and homes. The public had sort of started to just become 'the public' to him, you know? The muggles.

And on the left wall... four futons against the wall.

Gohan's face pales when he realizes they're occupied. His super saiyan eyes can make out (when he squints really damn hard) that only two of the four actually have people in them, though he can't tell much about them other than that one's probably a child... he didn't inherit his father's freakish sense of smell. Still, that's a little uncomfortable. Eurgh. Not only is he in their house, awake while nobody else is, but he has to find a way to CLEAN HISSELF UP without making a ruckus.

... Easier done than said. Sounds hard, but he can fly. And fly he does, out of the bed, and out the door once he carefully pries it open. Once he's out, he carefully lands on the roof of the house - and scans for a fairly isolated area. He spies one in the form of the top of one of the hills surrounding the town

...

Gohan looks down into the valley, watching with... well, interest. His ki sense is still out of wack, so this is the only civilized area he knows the location of. It feels kind of weird, to not know where you are.

From what he can tell he's in the middle of a mountain range. Paozu, close to home? No, too rocky and barren – not enough jungle and the like. Doesn't look like the Tsumisumbri mountains either. Is he on a remote island, or another planet...? Either way, the small town, really more of a village, doesn't look too high-tech. No Capsule-Corp products, anyways. And the name he saw on the sign doesn't ring a bell either. 'Celestic Town'... Maybe it's near that place dad once told him about, Penguin Village?

It'd probably be best to hang here for a while. Until someone can come get him. Piccolo can find him... right?

"PHISH!"

"Buh?"

Gohan turns to see the... thing. It looks sort of like a crab, but it's really big. Not that big like those you can see by Dragon Rock or anything, but still over half a meter tall. The crab-thing waves its claw at him. How'd it even get up here? This is a mountain range. The only source of water he can see is a pond back in the little town.

"Phish! Cooooorphish!"

"What? 'Core-fish'? What the heck?"

"CORRRRPHISH! Cococorrrr! PHIIIIIIIIISH!"

The lobster-thing makes flamboyant motions, whipping its arms up and down. It looks like it's... oh! It's trying to act something out. Is 'core fish' the only thing it can say?

"Corphish!"

Apparently so. The crab seemingly gives up in frustration, making a strange grumbling going something like 'uhd-uhd-uhd'. It's obviously not intended for communication like the repetitions of the previous word, though - probably it's equivalent of sighing or non-word vocalizations. Gohan considers - something he doesn't normally do in situations like this, and is glad to do so. Brain muscle time! The crab is obviously intelligent. It's eyes are more reminiscient of a vertebrate than a proper crab, so... and it isn't attacking him, at least not yet.

What do people say when they first introduce themselves? ... Duh, they introduce themselves.

"Is that you name? Are you 'core fish'?"

"CORPHISH!"

"Okay, uh, Corphish. Hey there. Did you want something?"

Corphish nods at this, eye's glinting with curiosity. "Corrro?" It raises its claws, leveling one at Gohan before repeating the uplifting motion. It does this a few times, gesturing at Gohan. His eyes widen with realization.

"Wait, did you see me fly up here?!" A nod. "Man, I keep forgetting that isn't normal. You've never seen a person fly before, huh?" Corphish starts to nod, before moving its claw in a sort of sideways motion: a so-so. Maybe this is just the first time he's seen a flying person up close? Or something else - the world is full of weird stuff.

"Er, I guess you're pretty curious about that. Well-wait, what are you...?!"

Wild Corphish appeared!

"COOORRRR!"

The corphish stares down the strange human, clicking its claws. Agh, their inability to understand can be so frustrating sometimes! This anomalous human... would be the perfect human for him!

He thinks back to a few days ago when he first saw the human. He didn't look like anything special, not really. But the words the humans who brought him to the town caught his attention.

"Appeared on Mt. Coronet... unconscious, no ID or any items... lucky he wasn't drained by a swarm of Golbat..."

He already looked and, to be honest, smelled different from a normal human. The clincher was who of all people showed up to bring this kid in. That blonde woman, Cynthia her name probably is. A really powerful trainer! The most powerful he's ever seen, at least. She showed up just a few hours later asking about the 'incident'.

Most Corphish in his pond didn't give half a shit about affairs of the human world. ... He didn't either, to be honest, but this situation was interesting. Passing Pokémon had told him about grand tales of battle, adventure, and terrible demons! What better way to collect experience than to tag along with a 'mysterious kid' and hope to get wrapped up in one?! Cynthia was a 'Champion' from what he heard: he didn't know what that quite meant, but he knew she wouldn't probably have any interest in him. Most of the other humans around here were simply to weak to interest him. Bah! Pathetic! Stay in your homes, humans!

But this kid could fly. That is interesting! A worthy trainer!

Corphish used Double Hit!

Smack! The human stumbles back and loses some pieces of its cloth covering, but manages to roll under the second strike, shaking his head as Corphish scuttles to advance. It seems he's perceptive as well as mysterious. Any human who can fly must be special, and any human that can withstand a direct attack must be tough! He won't take no for an answer!

"Phiiiiiiiiiiiiish! Foolish human! I, Corphish the Magnifico, have determined you to be a worthy opponent! Bring out your Poké Balls and capture me with honour!"

To his surprise, the human stands up and immediately backpedals. He raises his hands and tries to shoo the pokémon away. "L-leave me alone, Corphish! I don't want to fight!"

"Corocophish! Absolutely pathetic! You are something special. I haven't deigned to reveal myself to a trainer yet, and yet you reject me?! Ignorant nimrod!"

"PSY! You jackass! What do you think you're doing?!"

Corphish and the human both turn towards the source of the interruption. Psyduck! A psyduck, at least, that appears to have followed him here. Seems he's not the only pokémon with taste.

"Uh..."

The human slowly backs up to leave - no! This won't do! The battle hasn't even truly begun!

Corphish used Bubble Beam!

"GABALABLBBHBLGBLGHGBGH—!" The human stumbles under the barrage of bubbles, with Corphish raising an eyebrow. Such raw strength! Even his stumbling is from the, well, confusion of a stream of hard bubbles popping against his face and not from any actual damage. The psyduck however is not as perceptive as Corphish the Magnifico and smacks him upside the head. When did he get there.

"PSY! Psyduck psyDUCK! What is the MATTER with you?! Do you want Cynthia to kill us?! At least let the kid send out a pokémon before you start trying to eat his entrails!"

"Cor. He doesn't have any. Or Poké Balls."

"Duck?! What?! Then what's it doing out here?! If he was further along the route he could be killed by a feral pokémon!"

"Phi! Phishcorrr! You fool!" the crayfish-reminiscient monster shouts, jabbing claw towards the 'human': said human straightens his back, confused. Were those two... things, talking about him? "That human just tanked two attacks from moi, the Magnifico! He can handle himself against birds and bugs!"

"Psy. Then how do you expect to get caught, if he doesn't have any Poké Balls?"

Corphish raises a claw and starts to say something, before stopping. How... no Poké... agh! How could he be so blind?! This has been an endeavor in foolishness! This human might not even be a trainer - a mere psychic, or strongman, or some other thing! Glaring at the smug psyduck, the Ruffian Pokémon turns back towards the... oh. Right. The flying. Corphish shields his eyes as he glares off into the sky, the rising sun's glare obscuring his vision. That human! He will be found!

Gohan got away!

"Gah... What the... what the heck..." Gohan mumbles, leaning against the wall of a house on the outskirts of the village - coincidentally the house he had awoken in earlier this morning. That angry little lobster probably couldn't have really hurt him, but it seemed dead set on fighting... he doesn't want to hurt anyone! Not even big, weird, crayfish things. ... Oh, huh, it's name is a pun on 'crawfish'. Core-fish, craw-fish, cray-fish. Hm. For a kid who took trigonometry at four years old, that took a bit too long to figure out.

"H-hey! You there!"

Huh? Gohan peers out from behind the wall of the house and sees... a girl. A short, brunette girl not much older than he is accompanied by two... creatures. Huh, there sure are a lot of weird things around here. Is this place related to Devil's Toilet?

"Chime! Chimecho, chime!"

... And it looks like that thing also suffers from core-fish syndrome. Maybe they're related?

"Yamp!"

Wait, what?! When did... daw. Gohan kneels down, looking over the dog (or rather, dog-like creature). It's pretty cute. He smiles and reaches out to pet it, which it gladly accepts: he only looks up upon noticing the approaching footsteps of the girl.

"Heh, kid, why aren't you... h-hey, wait! Your the kid we were looking for!" she shouts, her face twisting from mildly amused to ticked off in an instant. The floating creature besides her sort of 'jingles' passively. "Where the hell did you run off to?!"

"I, er, uh..."

"Never mind! I don't care, I'm taking you back to the house right now!" she snaps, grabbing ahold of his arm as the dog yips excitedly. "At least wait for your hosts to wake up before you go running off - you could've been seriously hurt!"

"By what? That corphish? It didn't seem that dangerous..." he wisely doesn't vocalize. The grumpy girl drags him out from behind the house and into the town proper.

"And wipe that look off your face! At least show some gratitude to us, you could've been killed during your catnap on Mt. Coronet!"

"It seems I was right," he thinks without showing any expression. "This must be a particularly hospitable part of the world, and the persons among it quite removed from greater civilization."

"Well? Don't you have anything to say for yourself?!" Oh, right, he's in the middle of a 'conversation'. Gohan gently tugs his arm out of her grip, causing her to stumble and barely stabilize herself against 'Chimecho'.

"Uh, nice to meet you?"

"... That's better."

He shrugs, dusting off his dirty gi as they inspect each other. Shouts ring out in the distance - seems like the entire town is up and looking for him. This, er, will probably soon become an uncomfortable situation.

"Heh, uh, I'm Gohan."

"Huh?"

"... Gohan? That's my name."

"Hmph! That's a weird name, if I've ever heard one," she says. Gohan raises an eyebrow as she quickly glances away before looking back. "... I'm Lucy. This is Chimecho," she points to the floating creature, "and this is Yamper." The dog wags its tail, absolutely bursting with joy from being acknowledged. Gohan can't help but smile at its enthusiasm. "Come on. The other's should know that you're all right... AFTER I lock you up to make sure you don't run off again!" She wrinkles her nose. "And change your clothes too. Now that you're awake, stop stinking up my house!"

Gohan got the Rose Incense!

Lucy snorts as Gohan drapes the thing around his neck, apparently mocking his lack of pockets. Gohan sighs; wow, what a jerk. At least she's probably a good person on the inside, right? Right? His thought process is once again interrupted by the jingling of Chimecho tapping Lucy on the shoulder.

"Huh? Right, yeah, get inside! Shoo!" she yells, pushing him backwards. Gohan stumbles for a second before whirling around, and starting to walk back around the house. Sheesh.

"Yampyap! Yamper!"

Awww... the li'l scamp is following him. It's so cute! A lot nicer than that crab thing. 'Corphish'. He grumbles as he pushes open the door to the house, taking a quick look back as Lucy runs off to tell everyone that she found the kid, he's fine, praise me I saved the day. Bah. He frowns; then Yamper yips and smacks his leg. Daw, if this little guy likes her she can't be all bad, right? She's probably just... one of those 'normal' kids. ... Gohan realizes he has never met another person his age. Dende doesn't count, he's an alien.

Huh.

Well, whatever. Yamper yips as he pushes the door all the way open and scampers inside to run under the table. He giggles at the creature's antics as he makes his way towards the bed he woke- yeah no to hell with that. Gohan covers the futon in blankets and then turns it upside-down for good measure before sitting on it.

"Huh... this... has turned into an unusual situation. I never really traveled like dad did as a kid, but I don't think that even he met monsters that just said their names over and over... maybe all of them are related somehow? Crap, am I even on Earth?! Lucy never said she was 'human'! And I still can't sense any ki..."

Gohan sighs and lays down on the bed, laughing when Yamper suddenly jumps on him and slobbers all over his face. Heheh, whatever. This Super Duper Saiyan can take care of himself! Piccolo and the rest will be fine until he can make his way back, with the help of all the people here... right?