Orphaned- Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own DB/Z /GT, and though you may have a right to sue me, I ask that you do not ^_^
Note: Here it is- the second chapter. I gave the orphanage Gohan's at a little name- I totally made it up off the top of my head, so any coincidences are purely… coincidental. ^.^ I hope I didn't take too long on this one.
*****
Gohan was in a small room furnished in Late Asylum. Everything about the room screamed 'psycho' instead of 'psychiatrist'. There was a large bookcase against one wall with books on all manner of mind disease and control. An assortment of pendants hung on the wall behind a large desk- gold to silver, ruby to sapphire, all glinting spookily in the dim light. The desk was very neat and tidy with an assortment of paperweights on top of a perfectly symmetrical stack of papers. Sitting behind the desk was a high-backed chair; the kind you would expect to find in an evil villain's lair. To the right of that hung a few diplomas. Gohan read them. They were all from universities he'd never heard of. Behind the huge couch he was sitting on was a large picture that he supposed was meant to be calming, but was really quite the opposite. It was abstract with swirls of green, brown, orange, and red all intermingling with each other until their separate identities were lost. It reminded Gohan of a horrible forest fire. There was a paneled door on wither side of the room, built to blend in with the walls so that only the tarnished brass knob was visible. One of the doors opened and a somewhat tall man with graying black hair entered leading a girl Gohan recognized from his dormitory. She had tears rolling down her cheeks though she tried to hide them. Gohan decided that he didn't like this man. The psychiatrist ushered the girl from the room and through the other door, then turned to his next patient.
"Hello, my name is Mr. Chute. I am going to help you with your problem. I think we can be friends." The man said. Gohan just looked at him coldly. He was not going to co-operate with anyone who made little girls cry. "You can start by telling me your name,"
"Or, you could just look through your papers and find it," Gohan replied. Mr. Chute forced a smile and looked down at a sheet of paper in his hand- the statement of Gohan's history starting when he came to St. Ivy's Orphanage. Mr. Chute's eyebrows went up.
"Ok, then, Son Gohan, it says here that you have had recurring nightmares. Would you like to tell me about them?" Gohan considered for a moment. Seeing that the boy was not about to answer, the psychiatrist tried a new angle. "The sooner we begin, the sooner you leave." That got Gohan going. He began reliving the detail of his dream.
He was running through a dark, seemingly endless tunnel. Though in reality it lasted only a few seconds, Gohan felt like he had been running all of his short life. At the end of the tunnel, there was a bright golden light and a man standing in the middle of it with blonde hair and blue eyes. The light seemed to be emanating from him. The man reached out to Gohan just as another force came and stole the boy away. Here Gohan always woke, sometimes with a shout because the dream was so tormenting.
Mr. Chute took note of all of this with eager interest. Gohan looked at him expectantly. Even if he didn't like the man, if Mr. Chute could interpret this dream the visit wouldn't be a total waste. Mr. Chute smiled at him sympathetically. Gohan quickly recoiled and banished all thoughts of this psychiatrist being anything other than a nuisance. Something about that pitying smile made the boy want to punch him so hard his teeth would fall out. But he didn't; he wanted to find out about the dream.
"This is a classic case." Gohan clenched his teeth. Mr. Chute's smug tone was a hint at bad news to come. "The 'tunnel' represents you searching for something, and when you find it at the end, you can't have it."
"That's it?" Gohan asked. He could've figured that out on his own! He hoped Miss Marx didn't make him come again.
"No, that's not it. There is a symbolic meaning for who you find at the end of the tunnel. You described him looking something like a god. I believe that this man is your father." At this, Gohan looked up. He had been wondering ever since he had begun to comprehend what an orphan was who his parents were. However, children were not allowed to enquire about their families until a certain age, and indeed, no normal child really cared at an age of four. "Now, I am allowed to bend the rules in certain instances." The psychiatrist went on, seeing he had Gohan's attention. "I can tell you as much as is known on the subject of your parents and why you are here, but only if you want to hear it." Gohan thought on this. Perhaps this guy wasn't so bad. A touch arrogant, yeah, but he wasn't treating Gohan like a four-year-old like most people did.
'Then again,' Gohan reminded himself silently, 'I am a four-year-old.' He spoke up now. "Yes, I'd like to know." Mr. Chute looked back down at his papers and said,
"Your mother's name was Chichi. She died in the hospital during surgery just after you were born. We don't know how your father, Son Goku, died. You were brought here by someone whom we are assuming was a family friend." Mr. Chute stopped there. This truly was a case he would like to know more about; a newborn child (complete with a tail) brought here by a strange green man wearing a turban. Very interesting. He leaned closer to Gohan and spoke in a whisper. "Now technically, I am not supposed to do this, but I can bend the rules again. Would you like to know more about your family?" Gohan nodded slowly. "Good. I will call you back here sometime and we can find out together. For know, go back to your dormitory." Gohan stood to leave. "Oh, and Gohan?"
"Yes?"
"Never tell anyone about our sessions. This sort of thing should be kept… well…private."
"Ok, sure." Gohan left. It was much brighter in the hallway. He thought again on the girl whom he had seen come out of the other room with Mr. Chute and wondered why she had been crying. Mr. Chute seemed nice enough…
****
Krillin arrived at Kame Island first. Yamcha came shortly afterward with Bulma. Master Roshi came out to greet them.
"Hey Master Roshi! What's up?" Bulma said.
"Same old, same old. Say, have any of you heard from Goku?" Everyone shook their heads. No one had spoken to him in a long time. "Well, someone's going to have to go get him. He wasn't answering his phone and I know he'd want to be here."
"Hey, I'll go!" Krillin volunteered. "I can't wait to see Goku again!"
"All right, just hurry up. Let's get this party started!" Exclaimed Yamcha. Krillin smiled and took off for his old friends home.
****
Far away, something sped through the sky. To the farmer watching it, it looked like a meteorite. It landed a few miles away, creating a huge crater. The farmer jumped into his truck, rifle handy, and sped off to check it out.
At the site, the object opened. It was small, round, and not a meteorite at all. It was an alien space pod- occupied by one very dangerous alien. A tall, wild looking man floated up and out of the crater. He had enormous black hair that reached below his back and he wore strange armor with over-accentuated shoulder pads. The farmer was beside himself in fear.
"Whoever you are, I warn you; I'm armed!" He exclaimed, brandishing his rifle with as much courage as he could muster. The result was laughable, especially to the powerful being in front of him.
"I?" The man grinned horribly. "I am Radditz, the most powerful being on this miserable planet. Not that it will matter much to you in Hell." Radditz put his hand out vertically. In his panic, the farmer pulled the trigger. Multiple bullets flew at Radditz only to bounce harmlessly off of his armor. Radditz grinned wider and the farmer finally came to his senses and bolted. Two paces later he was dust. "See ya there." He said to the ash. He looked around him. The land was flourishing. The planet didn't look conquered at all!
"Kakarot!" Radditz yelled, as if expecting him to appear right then. The warrior enveloped himself in his aura and took off to find the one responsible for this… life. He turned on his scouter as he flew. Low life readings all around. This planet should have been easy to purge, even for a weakling like his little brother. But wait a second- there was a higher reading! It was slightly less than it should have been, but Kakarot had always been less strong than was normal. Radditz altered his direction toward the reading.
****
Piccolo trained alone in the mountains. That is to say, he always trained alone, but usually in a desert region. He felt Radditz's power approaching swiftly and abruptly halted his meditation to meet this arrival. The power was dark; no one he knew. And it was huge. Who was it?
****
Radditz raced through the air at top speed and it wasn't long before he reached Piccolo's mountain. He stopped suddenly, dissipating the aura around him, and descended slowly. When he landed, Piccolo met him eye-to-eye.
"Who are you?" Radditz asked, surveying the Namekian. This was definitely not Kakarot.
"Who wants to know?" Piccolo challenged.
"Someone you don't want for an enemy."
"Ok then, friend, what do you want?" Piccolo asked, sensing now more than ever the evil in this individual.
"I am looking for someone called Kakarot. Then I am going to cleanse the planet of pitiful beings like you." Radditz replied casually. Piccolo narrowed his eyes.
"Well I don't know anybody named Kakarot. You must have the wrong planet, so why don't you go ahead and crawl back under whatever rock you came from and leave me alone." It happened too fast for even Piccolo's battle-trained eyes to follow. Suddenly Radditz was right on top of Piccolo with his fist in the Namek's stomach. Radditz backed away and Piccolo dropped to his knees gasping for breath.
"Perhaps that will refresh your memory. My brother, though I am ashamed to call him that after this botched job, is probably the strongest person you have ever met. He was sent here for the same purpose as I, for he is of the almighty race of Saiyan." Unfortunately, this did stir something in Piccolo's memory. The strongest person he had ever met? Goku, of course. And wasn't Goku's origin always slightly disputed? He knew that Goku had had a grandfather, but parents? Piccolo made it his business to know his enemies thoroughly- it made their weaknesses apparent. He had always known Goku was different, but alien? It was a possibility.
"Sorry, but your Kakarot is dead." He stated plainly. Radditz frowned and creased his eyebrows.
"Impossible," He said mostly to himself. "He should have destroyed all life at the first full moon!" His tail lashed freely behind him and Piccolo was assured that Goku and Radditz were of the same race. He also knew what tails did.
"Well, for one thing, he had his tail permanently removed when he was a child." A look of horror crossed Radditz perplexed countenance. "And he protected Earth with his life." Radditz's horror turned slowly to shock, then swiftly to anger.
"Then I'll clean up after him," He growled. "Starting with you!" Radditz charged Piccolo who phased behind him and landed a solid punch to his back. Radditz barely stumbled, but turned to face Piccolo with a high kick. Piccolo caught Radditz's foot and attempted to throw the Saiyan into the air, but Radditz gained control before he was more than a few yards away. Panicking, Piccolo threw a flurry of ki blasts after his opponent. When the dust cleared Radditz was still there.
"Don't you understand?" Radditz floated down. "I am unbeatable."
"I'll take that bet," Piccolo said. "Give me one day. You will be beaten." Radditz just grinned.
"You are lucky I am a Saiyan. Any other adversary would have killed you, but I enjoy a challenge. Have your day, but I'll be there when the time is up." Piccolo took off without a second thought. Radditz flew away in the opposite direction. That strange green man would never beat him. He might as well begin the purging.
Ok, I got it out ^_^ I'm so happy! I'm working under rather adverse conditions here- no heat!!! BRR!!! I am cold! But my day will be considerably warmed with a nice comment or two in my inbox- so review, or else! Or else what? Erm… I'll sic a rabid turkey on you. ^_^ with that pleasant thought, I bid you farewell and a Merry Thanksgiving. Toodles!!
~mysticGohan33~