Hope everyone is excited for this next chapter! Later on in this story, I might switch POVs of characters. I'll let you know in the author's note when the first one is made. Finally you now get to know who 'the voice' is. I can tell that some of you already have guesses and now we will see if you are right. On with the story!
Chapter 10: I Never Saw That Coming
The area around him was surrounded by pitch black darkness. There was no light in the room, then again you could see perfectly clear in a circle around you. The only things residing in the endless darkness were rows of crystal mirrors; each reflecting whatever came into its line of view.
Gohan walked along the rows of mirrors, trying to find out if this was a dream or reality. Also, he kept hearing a voice calling to him through the darkness. He was sure that he had heard it before, but his exhausted mind did not give him any answers as to who it might be. So the only thing he could do was continue walking until he could either find a way out or find who was calling to him.
After what felt like hours of walking, Gohan thought he saw a figure ahead. He couldn't see it clearly because of the darkness, but he was sure someone was there.
Either that or my mind is playing tricks on me, Gohan thought as he shook his head to make sure the figure was real. After about five attempts and the figure still did not fade, Gohan decided it was real and started to walk towards it. Just as Gohan was a few feet away from the figure, it spoke.
So you're finally here, the owner of the voice said in an almost relived sort of manner. Gohan felt a wave of surprise hit him as he stared at the figure in front of him, finally remembering that the voice was the one that had been recently stuck in his head. But what surprised him more was who the figure looked like. He had only been in Super Saiyan Two twice so far, but he was sure he knew what it looked like, especially after this experience. That was what scared Gohan the most; the figure in front of him looked like an exact copy of his Super Saiyan Two form, the only difference was that the figure looked about a year older.
"What…?" Gohan started to ask when the figure spoke.
Yep, I bet you have a lot of questions. Don't worry, I'll explain everything. Gohan heard the voice echo in his head even though the figure was saying the same thing.
Which do you choose: Word of mouth or telepathy? The figure asked him. At first, Gohan had no idea what the figure meant, but then he realized that he was being asked which way they wanted to communicate.
"Um… word of mouth, I guess," Gohan said after thinking things through. He thought he almost saw the figure give a sigh of relief.
That's good. That was getting kind of tiring. He heard the voice echo in his head, but then he thought that he wasn't supposed to hear what just had entered his mind.
"Was I supposed to hear that?" Gohan asked as he voiced his question. The figure narrowed his teal eyes as he stared at Gohan, probably realizing that he had made a mistake.
"No," the figure said as he looked a bit puzzled. Gohan took this time to try and get some answers for the flurry of questions buzzing through his head.
"Who are you exactly?" Gohan asked as he stared at what could be mistaken as his identical twin. The figure thought for a moment before answering,
"Your other self, if you could call it that," the figure explained and, when seeing the slightly confused look on Gohan's face, decided to explain further, "you know, I'm that 'voice' that's been bothering you. And no, I'm not your conscious. I'm here to… help."
Gohan still felt confused, but decided that he would find out more later. His 'other self' motioned for Gohan to follow him and started to walk through the line of mirrors. Gohan knew that he had a choice if he wanted to follow or not, but something about this situation seemed to intrigue him; so he started walking close behind.
"Where are we going?" Gohan asked after they had been walking for a while.
"Someplace where we can talk more in private, and where some things would be easier to explain," his other self stated as he looked behind at Gohan. Gohan suddenly felt a feeling of confusion.
"But where else can we go? This place is all the same," Gohan asked as he continued looking around at the never ending line of mirrors.
"Trust me, when you've been here as long as I have, you get to know the difference," Gohan heard his other self mutter, once again wondering if he should be hearing these things. If the half Saiyan in front of him knew that he had heard, he showed no sign of concern for it. Gohan almost ran into his other self and was about to yell at him when something caught his eye. He looked down and instantly saw a lotus; pure white and shining. His other self apparently saw his surprise and took a deep breath; Gohan was guessing it was to prepare himself for something.
"I wasn't quite sure what your first reaction would be, but I guess I should start explaining," his other self stated, not even looking at Gohan, but at the delicate white flower below them. "That is the Lotus, or Lein-Hua. It resides in few people, only those that it finds suitable."
"So it has a mind of its own?" Gohan asked as he tried to take a closer at the white flower, although it was a bit hard to because of the white light shining from it.
"Sort of, it's more like the Lotus makes decisions. Choosing a host is one of them. The Lotus resides in me," his other self paused before continuing, "and in you."
Gohan was finding it all very hard to understand, but what the other half Saiyan said made all his thoughts vanish.
"What do you mean? That I have a flower inside me?" Gohan asked as he gave up trying to look at the flower and focused instead on trying to understand what was being said. His response earned an amused look from his other self.
"Yes and no. The best way to explain it is…" his other self said before stopping, apparently he hadn't thought through this far. Suddenly, Gohan felt something tug on his 'hidden' power and he yelped; feeling a bit surprised. As soon as the feeling had come, it passed. Gohan looked over at his other self, wondering what had just happened.
"The Lotus is the source of your 'power'. The Lotus controls it. That doesn't mean that it always forcefully control your power, it mostly reacts to your emotions. Especially stronger emotions," the other half Saiyan answered, still not looking at Gohan.
"Did you just control it? I mean, the Lotus." Gohan asked after a few moments. He saw the other half Saiyan smile a bit.
"You could say that," his other self answered, "you'll learn how to somewhat control Lein-Hua at some point. But it would be wise to remember that you can't completely control it yet."
"What do you mean by 'yet'?" Gohan questioned. He was starting to feel really uneasy about the whole situation; some part of him was wishing he had just tried to get away when he first saw the figure.
"Don't tell the others yet; they need to find out on their own," then his other self's features softened slightly when he answered Gohan's question next, "She is coming. She will be the one to help you the most. She told me before she left."
"She? Who is…?" Gohan was about to ask, but stopped when his other self shook his head. Gohan suddenly realized who he was talking to. Anger spiked through him and he felt himself transform into Super Saiyan because of it.
"You! You're the one who killed daddy! You're the one who…!" Gohan was about to continue yelling when he was cut off by the other Saiyan. He could see that his other self was really annoyed; the other Saiyan's eyes showed anger and sparks of blue lightning were flowing around him.
"Am I?" his other self asked with a sense of quiet rage, "am I? Or was it you?"
Gohan suddenly felt his vision start to fade. The last thing he remembered before darkness covered his vision was his other self walking away in a seething rage.
Gohan sat straight up, panting as he tried to recover his breath. He had an immense headache and he was quite sure it was from his other self. He put his head in his hands and groaned slightly as the pain just got worse. Images passed through his mind; they were moving too fast for him to see them clearly and he didn't understand them. By the time the whole ordeal was done, Gohan felt his heart hammering in his chest. Another few minutes passed before he could look around. The familiar settings of his room greeted him and he suddenly remembered what had happened before he had fallen asleep.
After they were released from the hospital, everyone went their separate ways and went home. Trunks was going to stay with his past mother for a while since he had gotten permission from his mother in the future; he also had said that he wanted to make sure no more serious dangers came along before he left. Tien and Krillin had gone back to Master Roshi's house, leaving Gohan to go home with his mother. His stomach growled as he remembered that he hadn't eaten much that night. His mother had been worried, but he just assured her that he wasn't very hungry because he was tired. He didn't really want to accidently wake his mother up getting food, but he got out of bed anyway.
He was about to open his door when something stopped him. He looked over at his desk and hurriedly walked over to it. He opened the top drawer and took out his 'journal'. He sighed before grabbing a pencil and walking back over to his bed.
Might as well record what happened. At least that way I know I'm not going crazy later, Gohan thought as he opened to a new page and started to write. When he was done, he went back over to the drawer and put the journal inside. He was about to close the drawer when he looked back down at it, seeing the white cloth that held the knife his father had given him. Without another thought, he closed the drawer and lay down in his bed, yawning when he got there. The last thing he did before falling asleep was unconsciously tracing a flower on his blanket with his finger; possibly a Lotus.
Gohan looked over as his mother came into the living room. He had just finished catching up on his homework for the time he had missed during the Cell Games. He was starting to wonder what his mother wanted, and why she had a strangely happy glow to her.
"Gohan, come sit by me," Chi-Chi said in a gentle voice as she patted a spot next to her on the couch. Gohan immediately obeyed and sat next to her, getting an increasingly nervous feeling. When he had sat down, he suddenly felt tired and leaned his head on his mother's lap.
"Gohan, there is something I need to tell you," she stated again in that soft voice as she started to slowly stroke her son's hair. Gohan was only half listening, but he nodded anyway to tell her that he understood. She waited a moment before asking Gohan a question almost in a whisper.
"Gohan, how would you like a little brother or sister?" Gohan suddenly sat up at those words and stared wide-eyed at his mother. She just nodded silently as a small smile broke out on Gohan's face.
"Yeah, I think I would like that," Gohan whispered to his mother as she started to smile too. But Gohan was forgetting one thing, with pleasant news there is always bad news to go along with it.
"Gohan, there is something else I need to tell you," Chi-Chi said as she knew that Gohan was going to adjust to this in a hard way, "you're going to high school."
Gohan let the words sink in as a confused look came on his face. When he finally understood what his mother was saying, his face became one of slight fear.
"But mom I…" Gohan was going to say I can't, but then thought against it, "Mom, what if I blow up the whole school?"
"Gohan, there's no way that would happen, besides you're too nice to blow it up," Chi-Chi said, obviously misunderstanding her son's concern. Gohan just sighed as he lay his head back down in his mother's lap.
High school, Gohan thought, well, this should be interesting.
Yeah, I know, strange way to end off a chapter. But now you have news of Gohan's little brother (or sister). Not going to spoil it for you but don't worry. Everything will be explained in time. Also "Lein-Hua" is just Japanese for Lotus flower. If I am wrong, please correct me; but I am sure that I got it right this time. I started a new fanfiction if anyone is interested. It's called "Haunting Past". I posted the first chapter after I uploaded this. So if you're interested in something of a side story to this fanfiction, I recommend that you read it. The first chapter is kind of confusing, but if you read this chapter, you should have some clue of who is talking. Anyway, please read and review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9