PREVIOUSLY
It made Robin feel somewhat depressed and he felt bad about not being able to save everyone. However he was always one that understood that you couldn't save everyone no matter how hard you tried. Every war and battle has casualties. He felt that it's his job to lower the casualties but not necessarily save everyone.
Though he still felt guilty, he knew he would move on. He finally found himself at the edge of the city and he took off into the air since he couldn't sense anyone nearby.
He could fly even faster and easier than the day before and at the rate he's flying. He guessed it would only take about twenty minutes to get home.
Chapter 12: Celebrations and Mourning Part One
The fly home helped Robin clear his mind. He decided to land at the lake near the small house though because he felt like walking through the trail. He looked around admiring the beauty of nature. He grew up in a large city and once every year. His father would take him on a weekend camping and fishing trip. Growing up he always loved those trips and the nature here reminded him of those trips.
He truly missed his family but as time passed, he started to grow closer to Goku and Gohan. In his heart, they were now and will always be family to him. On the fly home, Robin decided that the feeling of everything that's happened was too real to be his imagination. He would make sure that nothing out of place occurs because of him and with his new thoughts on this world. He knew he would have to start training much harder to really become stronger.
Robin's walk through the trail come to a stop as he exited the forest and started walking up the hill to the small house. He could sense Goku on the other side of the house from where he was arriving. Robin still wasn't too great at sensing out the emotions in peoples ki's but he could tell that something was off in Goku's.
When he made to the top of the hill and walked around the house, he could see Goku looking over the trees in with a blank expression on his face. He heard Robin's footsteps though and hopped up instantly as a giant smile made its way to his face.
"Big Brother, you're back! I was started to get worried." Goku said as he ran over to Robin. "It's past breakfast time and I'm really hungry." Goku stated as his stomach growled. "Where's Grandpa so he can cook this fish I caught?" He then asked while pointing at a big fish near the fire pit.
"Grandpa got hurt yesterday but he should be better tomorrow." Robin said to Goku. "Aww, but I'm so hungry. The only thing I ate since yesterday morning was some apples that I found in the forest. I was also trying to practice my Martial Arts but I got to hungry to do that." Goku say while looking really sad because he was really hungry.
"Well then Goku, I guess I'm going to have to show you how to cook a fish. But after that, I have to go back to the city for the rest of the day. I want you to stay here though okay?" Robin said. He was pondering on bringing Goku to the city to see Gohan but he felt that Gohan getting hurt was probably his fault, and he didn't want to change history too much more.
He knew that simply being there for the next few years would change some things, but if all went to plan. He would travel with Goku and Bulma three years from now. When Pilaf would summon Shenron, instead of Oolong wishing for underwear, he would wish himself back to his world and the rest of the story would go on normally.
"But why can't I come to the city with you. I really wanted to see what it looked like." Goku said with a pouty face trying to guilt Robin. "Sorry Goku, but someone strong needs to stay here to make sure nothing happens to the house." Robin said coming up with an excuse. "You're right, then I guess I'm staying here because I as strong as a rock." Goku said while flexing his arms causing Robin to chuckle a bit.
"Now let's start making this fish shall we?" Robin asked Goku and Goku nodded in excitement as he was a saiyan and saiyans needed their food. Robin himself was also starting to feel a bit hungry after using some of his energy to fly home.
Gutting and cooking the fish was a little more than hectic. In the end though, Robin and Goku managed to get it done. Robin thought he knew how to do it though, but when they started he realized how wrong he was. He saw his father and Gohan gut fish plenty of times before but he soon found himself almost clueless.
After they eventually got that done, the cooking part wasn't too difficult but they ended up burning the fish slightly. After eating the remaining edible parts of the fish, Robin and Goku went and caught another one because Goku was still hungry.
The second attempt went better but when they were all done the realized how much of a mess they made. Goku seemed to have fun though while they were doing it since it was the first time he did it. Usually Gohan would make the fish himself while Goku practiced his stances.
To clean up all the mess, Goku to bucket loads of the burnt fish and guts to the outhouse while scrunching his face up complaining that it smelled bad. Robin was taking buckets of water from the lake and cleaning the tools and the side of the house as somehow bits of the fish were on it.
The whole thing took about an hour and a half to do but it was quite fun in Robin's opinion. He also took plenty of pictures with his camera throughout the whole thing. Maybe before he went back to his world one day, he could give his camera to Goku or Bulma to remember him.
Once they were done cleaning, Robin left Goku to watch the house and headed in the direction of Orange Star City. On his way there, he was thinking about something. 'In the show, when Gohan goes to high school, they say that Mount Paozu is at least 5 hours by car. At the start of Dragon Ball, it says that this house is on Mount Paozu, yet we actually live on Mount Alf only 9 miles from the city.'
This had Robin curious but he couldn't think of how it would work. He remembered a map of the Dragon Ball world and Mount Paozu was close to Orange Star City but the world seemed shaped weird. Robin decided not to ponder on it too much more though as he was already arriving at the city.
Robin landed on top of the hospital and went down the stairs through the roof access. He wanted to go see Gohan to tell him that Goku was fine but when he arrived on the floor that Gohan was supposed to be on, he couldn't sense him on it. He sent his senses out further and found Gohan on the bottom floor of the hospital.
He went down the stairs to go find him. Gohan was in the cafeteria and Robin was about to walk through the doors to the cafeteria but he heard someone call out his name. He turned around and saw Mariah walk in with Yang following her.
He wondered what they were doing here. 'I thought Yang would be supper busy today with all the damage to the surrounding area and all the casualties. I also thought he would probably need to do some public announcement or something and re-organize the city.'
They walked up to him and they both looked relieved. "It's good to see you're doing fine Robin, when I received news that you had removed yourself from the hospital, I come to talk to your grandfather to see if I could find you." Yang said. "I didn't expect to find you here though." He continued.
"Well, I came back to talk to him because I went home to make sure my brother was fine and I was coming to inform my grandfather that he was." Robin explained to the mayor. "I haven't gotten to talk to him yet because I just found out he's in the cafeteria." Robin said.
"Then why don't we go see sit down with him and talk a bit, I have something I need to talk to the two of you about." Yang said and then looked down at Mariah wondering if she should be in there in case she sees some of the injuries that the other fighter's received.
"Mariah, maybe you should go to one of the celebrations and enjoy yourself?" Yang suggested to his daughter. "No way, Robin and his Grandpa are heroes and I want to be with you guys when you tell them about it." Mariah said with look on her face daring her father to say otherwise. Mr. Takosi just sighed in defeat. "Alright then, just try not to stare at the other fighters, it's rude." He said to his daughter.
What Mariah said caught Robin's attention as they walked into the cafeteria but he decided to wait until the mayor told him about it. Robin saw Gohan sitting near a window on the other side of the cafeteria and led the other two to him.
Gohan, who actually could sense ki, looked up to them a few steps before they got to him. He had recognized Robin's when they were standing outside the cafeteria door but he didn't quite know who he was with.
When he looked up he recognized the mayor and he presumed the girl was the mayor's daughter since they had similar energies. He wondered what Robin was doing back at the hospital and why the mayor was with them.
"Hello Robin, Mayor Takosi." He greeted them and beckoned them to sit down. "Hey Gohan, I came back to tell you that Goku is doing fine. I made him some food and left him to watch after the house." Gohan nodded to him.
Robin could tell that Gohan was already doing better. For instance, his ki was already feeling stronger than that morning, and he looked less dazed since the medicine was most likely losing its effect. "When I arrived here, Yang and Mariah were also here looking for us. They wish to talk to us about something." Robin explained.
Gohan then looked at the mayor questioningly and Robin did the same thing. At first, Mr. Takosi was a little put off by the way that they spoke to each other more as friends than family but he decided not to ask about it. "Well, I came to tell you two that later today, were having a celebration and memorial to the fighters that saved the city and the ones that gave their lives." He started.
He then pondered on what to say next for a second then continued. "Robin I was also wondering if you would like to accept a medal of braver from King Furry who will be making an appearance today. He saw the way you single handedly finished the battle as the whole thing was filmed by news crews." He said.
"Yeah, and now everyone in the city is calling you a hero!" Mariah said excitedly. "The news dubbed you the 'Glowing Hero of Orange Star City'." Mariah seemed to lighten the mood by distracting them from the memorial for the fallen.
"I guess I could make an appearance but I'm not sure what to think about having so much of the attention on me." Robin said. He truly didn't want the people to think of him as so much of a hero because he didn't save everyone. But he knew that if the king of the world was making an appearance because of him, he couldn't stop it.
"Don't worry too much about it, because I'm sure after today, things will die down a bit to let the populace mourn the fallen fighters rightly." Yang said. "Anyways, enough of that depressing stuff, the main celebration will be happening outside of Town Hall in roughly an hour. I hope to see the two of you there." Yang said with a smile to try and lighten the mood.
Gohan chose then to speak up before the mayor left. "I doubt I'm going to be there as I'm only going to be discharged tomorrow morning." Yang understood that and nodded to him as he and Mariah left. "Now Robin, I thought I told you to go enjoy yourself after you checked up on Goku." Gohan said with a smile.
Robin smiled back as Gohan's smile seemed contagious. "Then I guess I'm going to go find a something to do, but I expect to find you back home tomorrow morning when I wake up." Robin said to Gohan as he made his way out of the hospital to go find something to do until he would be needed at Town Hall.
Robin walked around town for a while wondering what he should do. He started to get a bit hungry for something sweet when he saw a lot of people walking around with cotton candy or ice cream. He decided he would go and see if that bakery he bought Goku's cake from was open.
He had become a lot better with directions in the city by familiarizing himself with different buildings and parks throughout the place. He quickly found himself at the bakery. That's when he noticed that the city really wasn't too large yet still had the status of a city.
He walked into the bakery after finding out it was open and noticed that there wasn't too many people there. Actually, there were only three workers and a single customer. He deduced that most people were probably out at the celebrations.
Hearing the ding of the door, Cindy looked up and saw Robin walk in. "Hey there cutie, back for more cake already?" She said in a suggestive tone. "This actually made Robin blush somewhat. This surprised even himself as he never was one to blush. He mentally shook himself of the blush and walked up to the counter.
"Actually, I think I'm just going to get some cookies today Cindy." Robin said to her while looking up at the menu above the counter for the prices and then down at the cookies behind the glass. "Hmm… I'll have two of those triple chocolate cookies." Robin said as he took his book bag off his back to dig in it for some zeni.
One day when talking with Gohan, Robin found out that Gohan had actually won several different martial arts tournaments and he had saved his money. He gave Robin some of it when they were planning to go to Raft Village for Goku's birthday.
When Robin asked Gohan about the World Martial Arts Tournament, Gohan said he simply never found the time to travel out to Papaya Island to compete in it.
"Yum, those are my favourites. They will be 40 zeni." Cindy said as she grabbed a small paper bag and put two of the cookies in it. "Are they really? Or are you just saying that to make it seem that we have things in common?" Robin said in a humorous voice and noticed that she started to blush from embarrassment.
Robin only chuckled a bit and paid the 40 zeni. Before he turned around to leave though, Cindy spoke up. "You know, the last time you were here you left before I could give you my number." She said as she grabbed for a pen and paper.
Robin held in a laugh when someone cleared their throat behind Cindy. She looked up and jumped when she noticed that it was her father. He was holding a box of cupcakes in his hands and handed them to the other customer that was there.
Cindy quickly put the paper and pen away before she got in trouble. Her father was usually easy going about her flirting but always seemed to stop her before she could make a real move. Robin shook his head and when he left the store he just laughed lightly.
He wouldn't have called her even if he did get the number. He knew he couldn't get romantically involved with someone, especially since he was positive that she would one day be the mother of Erasa.
Soon enough, an hour had passed and Robin found himself at Town Hall.