Chapter Eleven
Logan awoke to a familiar sounding alarm clock the next day.
"Ah, it was just a dream," he thought to himself, with his eyes still closed as he tried to sleep through the loud buzzing that filled his bedroom.
"It sure was weird," he added "But it did a good job of explaining my tail," he reasoned.
Logan was happy to find that the night's events had only been a dream. In fact he was almost ecstatic, but due to a pounding headache and extreme exhaustion he opted to continue sleeping instead of jumping for joy.
"I feel like I have a hangover," Logan thought to himself. "Me and Eddie must have partied hard," he added as he slipped into a half-sleep. Then a terrible thought tore its way into his mind.
"If last night was just a dream," he started. "Then the girl was too," Logan's heart sank a little at the realization, but he soon accepted reality and began to fall back to sleep.
"Rise and shine sleepin' beauty," came a familiar Cajun voice from across the room, as the alarm was clicked off.
"Oh damn," Logan cursed aloud as he opened his eyes to see the very same living room of the very same Cajun that had been in his dream the night before.
"So it wasn't a dream," Logan told himself groggily as he sat up on the fluffy couch.
"What wasn't a dream?" Remy asked, interrupting Logan's conversation with himself.
"Nothing," Logan answered, visibly shaken and confused as he struggled once again to accept everything he had seen and heard the day before. Then another thought crossed his mind. A thought that he liked.
"If last night was real, then the girl was too," he reasoned as a small glimmer of light swept through his heart, but only a small one as he realized the sun hadn't risen yet.
"What time is it?" Logan asked as he rubbed his tired eyes.
"It's about five in da mornin'," Remy answered.
"Five in the morning!" Logan started in a loud, but whiney voice. "Oh never mind," he trailed off, figuring nothing he said would help him now.
"Hurry up," Remy commanded. "Master Yamcha wanted me to be at the main trainin' room ten minutes ago," Instead of arguing Logan grabbed his boots from beside the couch and put them on.
"Let's go," Logan said with a 'let's just get this over with' tone.
So, once again they were off. The ground was dewy and a thin, light fog covered it as the sun was just starting to rise over the eastern horizon.
"Why do we have to be there so early?" Logan asked groggily.
"I'm startin' some kind of special trainin' today," Remy answered. He seemed a little more straight forward early in the morning.
"Also we need to see Deemos," he added.
"What for?" Logan asked.
"You said you were gonna stay," Remy answered.
"Oh yeah," Logan muttered under his breath as he remembered. "About that…" he started.
"You're not sure now, right?" Remy guessed before Logan finished.
"Yeah," Logan confirmed.
"He's gonna wanna see you anyway," Remy told him.
"So did I talk to her?" Logan asked, referring to the girl from the night before as he and Remy crossed the street over to the graveyard.
"Yeah you talked to her," Remy answered with a chuckle. "As drunk as da two of you got last night I'm surprised dat's all you did," he added, going into an all out laugh.
"How the hell can he laugh like that so early in the morning?" Logan asked himself grimly.
* * * * * *
Deemos walked soldier-like down a familiar, dark hallway. At the end of the hall, just a few yards ahead of him, he could see the open doorway to his aging master's meditation room.
The deceivingly young half-saiyan had been called by his master rather suddenly. And, as the chain of command demanded, Deemos came to his master's beckon-call with the same haste he had been hailed with.
In a short moment Deemos was at the stone doorway. He bowed respectfully before entering, and walked to the center of the room where the old Gohan usually sat. But today, instead of sitting in his usual place, he was standing at the back of the room as he admired the ancient weapons on the wall.
"Good morning Deemos," the old man said with a tone of grave seriousness in his voice.
"Good morning master," Deemos replied, already wondering, and somewhat fearing, what his master had in store for him. "What have you called me here for sir?"
"How old are you now," the respected master asked his student as he turned to face him. Deemos was almost startled by the seriousness that plagued his master's face.
"I just turned sixteen, sir," Deemos answered, not letting his concern be heard in his voice. He was too tough for that.
"You look so much older," Master Gohan said, letting his expression and his tone lighten a little.
"The room of spirit and time has taken its toll on me, sir," Deemos replied.
"Yes," Gohan agreed. "Physically it has, but mentally you are much older than even it could make you,"
Deemos had no reply for this. He knew what his master was talking about. Deemos had grown up far quicker than anyone should ever have to. He had grown up with a father that expected so much from him, but yet didn't ever give him a guiding hand in unlocking the potential that he was constantly being pushed to find.
The mighty Vegeta was hard as a rock on one of his softer days. So, Deemos had no choice but to be the same. In the last few years of his life Vegeta had softened a little, which only made it harder for Deemos when he died. But Deemos didn't show the pain, instead he covered it up just as his father had always done.
"Your father was a great warrior," Gohan said as if he were listening to Deemos's thoughts. "But he was empty. On the outside he was tough, but any fool could see that on the inside he was dying with every second he was here. When he died, he died a lonely and unhappy man, but this isn't about him,"
"Then what is this about?" Deemos asked, not bothering to call the old man sir. He always got a little edgy when people mentioned his father.
"Deemos, my time is coming to an end," the master said with a dead seriousness about him once again.
"Don't be ridiculous…" Deemos started.
"No," the old man interrupted. "You will be in charge when I go. I want you to take this new saiyan under your wing. Show him the compassion I have shown you all these years. He will be very important to this planet," Gohan lectured.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a moment. Then Gohan threw in another word of advice.
"Whatever you do Deemos," he started. "Don't end up like your father,"
* * * *
Logan once again found himself tired, and with a mind numbing headache as he walked the long, dark hallways that were quickly becoming familiar to him. But on the bright side, the walk didn't seem to take as long with Logan somehow slipping in and out of sleep as he lazily trotted forward.
Before he knew it Logan found himself back in the main training room. Seemingly awaiting their arrival was Master Yamcha, who stood in the center of the dirt pit, dripping with sweat as his body heaved heavily for breath. He had apparently been training.
"Remy, Logan," the man greeted them from his place in the pit. "Come here," he ordered between breaths.
"Let's go," Remy said to Logan as he began to jog hastily to his master, and Logan followed.
"Good morning," Yamcha greeted them as they arrived in front of him. "Today you start your training," he said to Remy. "Go get in uniform and meet me back here. I have to take Logan to see Master Gohan, so I may take a minute,"
"Yes sir," Remy answered simply and took off toward one of the open doorways.
"Come on Logan. Master Gohan waits for us," Yamcha ordered and began walking toward another open doorway. One that Logan hadn't been through yet.
This hallway wasn't quite as long as the others, but was still an annoyance to walk. Every now and then a door would be on the right or the left. These doors were old, and appeared to be relatively unused.
"What's in these doors?" Logan asked as they passed about the seventh one so far.
"Training gear, weapons, scriptures, prophecies, legends, just the usual for a crazy, underground martial arts cult," Yamcha answered dryly.
"Yeah, the usual," Logan repeated, a little too tired to be wierded out.
Soon enough they came to a large, open doorway with a few small candles giving it dim lighting. Yamcha walked to the doorway and bowed before entering, and Logan mimicked Yamcha.
Inside, the room had about four large torches, placed strategically on the walls to provide the best possible lighting. The walls also held a collection of swords and such hanging, and a red carpet sat peacefully in the center of the floor.
Standing in the center of the carpet, apparently deep in thought, was Deemos. The muscular warrior had a grim, serious look on his face, as usual. But Logan's attention was quickly averted away from Deemos as another man, a man Logan had never seen before, began to speak.
"So this must be Logan," the man said in an old, weak voice. "I am Master Gohan," he introduced.
"Hello," Logan responded plainly, feeling a little odd at how happy this old guy was to meet him.
"So have you decided if you're going to stay?" the old master asked quite seriously now.
"No, not yet," Logan answered with the same seriousness.
"I hear you're a saiyan," the old man stated.
"That's what I've been told," Logan said back. "I even have a tail," Logan added as he lifted his shirt a little to expose his proof of saiyanhood.
"Oh my," the old master said in a stunned whisper. "We've found another saiyan,"
Logan was a little confused. So what if he was a saiyan. All that meant was that he had the ability to become a far better fighter than anyone else could ever be. Not that being a better fighter than everyone else was a bad thing, but what did it matter? No one ever used their abilities for anything important. So what was the big deal?
"He will save us," the old man said, still completely stunned. "He is our Goku,"
The last comment struck Logan as odd.
"What's a Goku?" Logan asked, wanting to know exactly what the old man had just called him.
"I'm sorry," the old man apologized, but it seemed his words were meant more for himself than anyone else.
"I've said too much," he added, clearly talking to Logan now. "As soon as you decide let me know. Yamcha, show him out," And with that Logan found himself being forcefully led away.
"Whoa, lighten up," Logan said as Yamcha easily pushed him into the hallway. When Yamcha had him a descent distance from the room, he relaxed and allowed Logan to move on his own.
"What was that all about?" Logan asked as he rubbed the spot where Yamcha had grabbed his arm.
"Master Gohan is getting forgetful in his old age. I was afraid he would say things you shouldn't hear yet," Yamcha answered, once again calm.
"Oh, well I guess that makes it okay then," Logan said sarcastically as Yamcha walked past him, ignoring Logan's half-witted sarcasm. "Hey, you never answered my question," Logan said as he started to follow Yamcha.
"What question?" Yamcha asked as he quickened his pace, like he didn't desire to discuss the matter.
"What's a Goku?" Logan asked again.
"To most people it's a Japanese dish made mostly with rice," Yamcha answered almost as if he were scolding Logan.
"And…" Logan said back, matching Yamcha's tone.
"And…" Yamcha started to explain further, calming his tone as he turned face to face with Logan. "…A while back Master Gohan had a dream. A dream that a powerful saiyan named Goku would save us all from some sort of eternal damnation or something,"
"So what does that have to do with me?" Logan asked, getting very serious over this conversation.
"He thinks you're the saiyan from his dream," Yamcha answered quickly, before turning and starting back on his quick pace.
"Oh," was Logan's calm and simple answer as he began walking along with Yamcha. Being told you are going to be a great hero was quite humbling.
"I wouldn't let it go to my head if I were you," Yamcha added in a rather happy tone. "Every since he had that dream he's been acting like Goku is more of thing than a person. Right now he'd call his cat Goku,"
Logan thought about those words for a moment before finding his next burning question.
"You guys have a cat down here?"
* * *
Deemos was still in his master's meditation room. Master Gohan made a huge leap of faith when he called that boy Goku. The others thought the old man was crazy when he said a saiyan would come and save them from what they all knew was coming. But Deemos knew his master was right. As crazy as it was, Deemos had faith. Deemos believed another saiyan would come and save them, or at least help them. But how could Logan be him.
"Don't worry Deemos, he'll stay," Gohan said in an attempt to comfort his prize pupil.
"That's not what's bothering me," Deemos said back.
"Then what is?" Gohan asked.
"It doesn't make sense. You said that Goku would be a powerful saiyan. Logan is definitely a saiyan, but he's not very powerful," Deemos explained. "According to my father there were saiyans born with more power than what he has right now,"
"The saiyan I saw in my dream was very powerful, even more powerful than your father. But I don't think his power came from his body," the master explained.
"Then where could it possibly come from?" Deemos asked, starting to get annoyed with his apparent ignorance.
"Maybe it came from his heart," Gohan said more like it was a suggestion than a something he actually knew.
"He hasn't shown much heart yet," Deemos retorted. For some reason it bothered him to think that Logan was the one Master Gohan saw in his dream. But if Master Gohan said it was him…