This was by far the longest chapter to write. Both in terms of length and time. I even split it into two and they're still my two longest chapters so far.
AnosDT95: Thanks, just one quick detour until we get to physical training
Darkjaden: Any potential love interests, which will not be anytime soon, will be guys so yes
I woke up on the beach, sun glaring into my eyes.
Another full moon, another month with a minimal amount of progress.
Not zero progress. I could now remember what I did as an ape, but it faded quickly, like a dream.
I sighed sitting up, one hand digging into the sand as I stared out at the ocean, the other trying to brush sand out of my hair. Vixi ran up to my side and licked at my cheek.
I sighed, glancing to my side only to see a couple kids staring at me in shock. The boy was holding my sword.
"You uh, probably shouldn't play with that."
The boy dropped the sword and ran over, "you're alive! We thought, never mind. Are you ok? Where'd you come from? How old are you? What's-" the boy with brown hair rambled as he reached out to help me up.
"Rom! That's too many questions! One at a time!" The girl with dark hair tied in twin buns scolded, though I'm pretty sure she was the younger.
"It's fine." I accepted the boys hand as I got up, brushing off even more sand.
"Gosh I hate sand." The boy (Rom?) laughed at my mutterings.
"Come on, we'll go back to the hideout and you can explain there!" Before I could respond I was being dragged off to some destroyed buildings on the shoreline. Vixi yipped and ran along.
"Rom! Don't drag people around!" The girl chased after us.
I frowned at the destroyed buildings as he lead us into one. Though admittedly I did almost collapse at the sight of a real bed. And by almost, I mean I did. I immediately payed back and just waking up was the only thing keeping me from falling asleep yet again. I was tempted. Very tempted.
"So what's your life story?" The cheeky kid smiled, not an ounce of shame to his invasive question.
"Rom! Don't be rude!" The girl, really hope I get her name soon, chastised.
"It's fine," I sat up. Vixi curled up on my lap.
"Woah!" I glanced at the boy, now certainly named Rom, "you have a tail?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah," I glanced back as I moved it, the kid, being a child, grabbed it. My limbs locked up and I tilted over as numbing sparks filtered through my spine.
"Rom! Stop that! Let go!" The girl yelled. Rom let go, "oh…sorry…"
"Yeah…don't, do that." I sighed as I sat back up, wrapping my tail securely around my waist.
I've never been great with kids but were these two always…like this? They were clearly good kids, but I doubt I'd have the energy to put up with them for long periods of time.
"Alright, back to business! Who are you and where are you from?" Rom asked, smiling once again.
"I'm Gohan. I'm, well I'm not sure exactly where I was but I'm here for now. My, caregiver, is kinda a jerk and leaves me alone for most the month."
"Oh, well, you can stay here as long as you want! A caregiver huh? Well the rest of us are all orphans too! And we do just fine on our own!" I frowned, right they were left alone weren't they? How'd they-
"The only rule is you can't cry, but don't worry Chico breaks that rule all the time."
"I do not!" Ah, finally a name for the girl.
"So how old are you? What's your favorite animal? Favorite color? What abou-"
"Rom he looks-"
"She." I corrected. Not thinking much on it, I doubt I'd see them again so it probably won't make a difference.
"Oh! Sorry. She looks tired! Leave her alone!" You know, on second thought, kids are great 12/10.
"It's fine, but what about you, how'd you end up here?" I waved the girl down, opening the boy to talk again.
"Oh, there was a tidal wave two years ago. A buncha is we're left orphans…but it's great! Now we don't got nobody tellin us what to do!"
"You've been here on your own for two years…?" The buildings are collapsing and where do they get water? I don't-
There was a crash from outside.
"The bad men are here! Run!" And suddenly I was being dragged once again. We went up to the roof. I was about to question where they plan on going when they ran over to the ledge.
Oh, they had a rope tied to a tree.
"That doesn't seem too safe…" I muttered as they swung over, Rom leaving saying he'll come back to get me.
He never got the chance as to men in uniforms came through the door. They were wearing light blue uniforms and the name on them-
Oh.
They were social workers.
Interesting.
"Hm, chasing kids. Not a good look." I ducked under them as they tried to grab me, "you really shouldn't be grabbing at kids like that either. I really hope you at least tried the friendly approach first."
Grabbing Vixi, I hopped on the ledge and cleared the space between the building and the trees in a single jump. Landing on the platform that Rom and Chico landed on, I glanced up. They were staring at me in shock.
"Uh, do not try that at home."
Rom blinked himself out of his stupor before laughing, "yeah! Take that! You big apes!" The boy called and hollered across to the roof, where the two men were in shock.
That was, until a girl screamed from another of the buildings.
Dragging a young girl no older than ten out of a building and into a truck. Really not a good look.
They didn't get far before the girl vanished from the guards arms as said guards collapsed. My eyes tracked the movement over across the clearing to where a teenage boy was standing in front of the girl protectively. Oh, for a human at least, he was fast. And strong, considering he just punched out two adult men twice his size.
"It's Pigero!" Rom laughed. Well, as far as caretakers go, he seems like he cares at least. Whether that was good or not depends on how stubborn he also was.
I blinked as the children started throwing rocks.
A woman stepped out of the truck, "please! We do not want to hurt you! We just want to bring you somewhere that you can have new clothes and hot meals, and a chance to find a new home!" She pleaded, only to have rocks aimed at her as well.
"We all had homes before the tidal wave hit. If you really want to give us nice things, that's fine. Just bring 'em over here." Pigero glared down at them.
"But what about the little ones with you? Maybe some of them would like a warm place to sleep?" It was hard to ignore the earnestness in her voice.
Welp, time shove down any social anxiety for the sake of some kids.
I jumped down from the platform. The rocks stopped mostly due to shock in all likelihood.
"Oh! Hello there!" The woman greeted with forced cheer. Or genuine, it was hard to tell if it was forced or she was just trying to process my jump from a platform at least ten feet from the ground. Probably higher. I'm not great at judging distance. In retrospect, I'm surprised she didn't shout when I first jumped.
"Do you have a pamphlet?" I asked, my voice dry.
"Oh, uh yes!" She waved away the men already approaching and reached into her car, searching through the glovebox. "Here!"
"Thanks. Bye."
"…uh well, I can't just-" she made it really hard to stay glib.
"If you want me to consider it you'll leave and not come back for at least two days." I turned and jumped up branches back to the platform.
She stood bewildered. Unsure what do do, before, ultimately, deciding there wasn't much she, or any of the men, could do while we were all in trees and the teenager, Pigero, stood defiantly still. They drove away.
I sighed, collapsing back as the children started talking amongst themselves. There seemed to be seven of them in total. Rom and Chico, another boy, Hachi, the almost taken girl, Ena, a fox boy, Jinku, a dog boy, Yordon, and the teenager. Pigero.
"That was awesome! How'd you get rid of them so easily?" Rom smiled as he looped an arm around my shoulders.
"Oh I just, asked for some basic information," I held up the pamphlet. He tried to reach for it but I held it away, "it could be useful."
Great I just climbed back up and now the kiddos are climbing down. Welp. Down I go. Vixi
"So who's the new kid?" The teenager indicated to me, tilting his head.
"This is Gohan! She's super cool right? She just chased away the bad men and the scary lady!" Rom wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"That's not really…fine close enough," I sighed.
"Hmm, Gohan huh? That's an odd name for a courageous young girl like yourself…" the teenager trailed off. I glance up at him, my chin down as he seemed to assess me.
"Ah, I know! We'll call you Goh! If that's alright with you, of course." He smiled down at me, but it wasn't the same patronizing smile adults often sent to me.
"Oh…Goh…yeah, that, works," I trailed off, thinking, I hadn't really considered a nickname before. I necessarily don't like being called Gohan, but I just, never considered any other option.
Not that I'd relay this to the main cast. It'd be a fair amount of effort, and it may lead to follow up questions that I'm not really, prepared to deal with.
"Well Goh! My name is Pigero. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want, I'm sure we all agree that you've more than proven yourself to be one of us!" Pigero smiled and I, felt bad. Because I wasn't. I wasn't one of them because they were thinking I was a child in need, when I was an adult who was essentially tricking them. For their own good, but dishonest nonetheless.
But then Chico made a comment on how since I was the smallest, I'd get food everyday now, and by guilt faded. This was unacceptable and they could not remain like this.
I had meant to talk to Pigero about it that night, really I did, but I laid down on the real, actual bed and just, couldn't get up. It'd, probably be better if I waited a day to see their routine anyway.
The next day I followed them as they headed into the nearby town. They offered to let me help, but I declined. ("I'm no good at acting, besides, Chico's cuter than I am so she's probably a better choice")
Instead of participating I just stood by and watched. No one pushed me since I was so small and new.
I watched as the baby Robin Hoods operated. Chico ran out in the middle of the square, bumping into someone before crying and acting in pain, getting everyone's attention, as all the other kiddos scurried around stealing food. Fruits, vegetables, and some meats were shoved into bags. They smartly seemed to avoid the candy, probably because it was a higher risk with lesser reward. Vixi ran out and snatched up a fallen apple before a shop keeper noticed it.
And then they were gone. Their bags were full and they scurried away. Chico calmed down from her act, not too quickly to avoid suspicion, smiled at those who helped her and ran over to me, dragging me away before anyone caught on.
Under other circumstances, it'd be really impressive. As it was, I was upset they had to resort to these tactics.
But I said nothing, allowing the kiddos to celebrate their success. I ended up spending most the time trailing behind Chico or Rom.
And then as the sun started to set I approached Pigero when the other kids started going to sleep and he was alone.
Chico had monopolized Vixi and all but kidnapped her as she left for bed.
"Oh hey there Goh. So what'd you think of our operation here?" He smiled at me, tilting his head.
"It was, interesting," I settled, "it was certainly well done, but its, kinda sad that you have to resort to such things, you know?" I approached cautiously.
Luckily he wasn't offended, "sometimes we just have to do things we don't want to. When the options are steal or starve, well, not really a choice there," he shrugged.
"I suppose..."
"Hey kid, don't worry about it. You don't have to participate, just know you're always welcome to stay," he smiled, "we orphans gotta stick together right?"
"Well, I'm not actually an orphan. It is true that due to, circumstances, I was left with a less than ideal caretaker, but I will eventually go back to my mother, and my father will be back soon enough as well." I explained, "sorry, I didn't have a chance to explain that earlier."
"I see, well, where'd you live? I could probably help you get back to you mother if it's not too far," Pigero offered.
"No, thanks but, it is necessary I stay with him for the time being. Even if he leaves me alone most the time for now.
"But…I did want to speak to you about something else, can we sit? I don't want to be looking up," he nodded and sat on a wide windowsill.
He chuckled when I found myself unable to do the same.
"I saw you clear a building yesterday," he pointed out.
"Oh..right…well I-" I didn't even get to make a statement before he had already gotten down and picked me up, placing me on the opposite side.
"So! What'd you want to talk about?" His encouraging smile left me feeling slightly hypocritical as I asked a question I had often ignored in my past life.
"What are your long term plans here?"
"I'm…sorry?"
I took a breath before falling into my prepared speech.