Chapter 9 Note
Author's Note: For those of you who believe I didn't spend enough time developing Zach's character and his and Goten's friendship before killing him off, I do plan to in later parts of this story to have Goten experience occasional flashbacks to that time period in between what will be happening in those future chapters so there will be more story involving him. The same thing will happen with a couple other things and characters introduced in this portion of my epic. Hope you all enjoy reading it all!
Two months have gone by since Goten's mind fractured into two different personalities. The new personality was erratic, violent and sadistic with a cruel streak. It dubbed itself The Goblin due to it often trickster and manic tendencies. It arose whenever Goten saw or overheard some act of abuse or at least what he perceived as abuse and the boy failed to quell The Goblin every time it began to surface in his psyche.
FlashBack: Sometime between now and the past two months
At a church in a suburb, an old priest woman was giving all attendance of the weekly service a sermon about the importance of worship. "So my children, I hope you understand why it is imperative you believe in and pray the Holy Father for he is our Lord and savior. Any failure to uphold the righteous path will result in your soul being cast into the dark fiery abyss of Hell! Now, are there any questions?" The priest preached forewarningly in a somewhat aggressive manner before finishing more calmly. A little of about ten years old boy raised his hand. "Yes David? What is your question?" The priest asked David. "Yeah um if god is really perfectly good and can do no wrong then...how come there's evil and bad things happen?" David inquired in a skeptical tone. "Well David god gave us free will so that we may find ourselves to him honestly and bad things are merely tests of our faith, plus without evil there can be no good" the priest answered without hesitation. "But that doesn't make any sense, he can make everything work however he wants, so why didn't make it so everyone can be good and nothing bad ever happens? Why allow people to be mean and hurt each other?" David argued back in a confused sorrow manner. "Are you questioning your god's ways?!" The priest accused offended and appalled by the boy's continuing questioning of their beliefs. David crouched down slightly in fear at the volume and harsh tone, his parents were taken aback as were half the attendance. "I'm-I'm sorry! It's just really weird that he'd allow anything bad to exist. And the flood thing he did later didn't even wash away the bad like he said he would. He's also supposed to know all too. There's very mean people today so why did he bring the terrible flood and kill so many people if he knew it wouldn't work?" David hesitatingly apologized and attempted to explain his misgivings. "Ignorant child! Blasphemy talk like that will get you nowhere except Hell! Is that where you wanna go! Huh!? Drowning and burning in the searing lava rivers for all eternity while your family look down upon you and your damned soul from Heaven?! Cause that's exactly where your going mister!" The priest threatened the boy cruelly practically screeching damnation on the poor child who broke down crying once she finished. "Hey! What's your deal?! My son was just trying to ask you a question and you condemn him?!" The mother of David shouted at the priest angrily. "Your demon seed dared to question our Lord! You should be thanking me that my words will motivate him to redeem himself and beg for forgiveness by Him!" The priest woman defended herself and her actions quite arrogantly. "We're leaving! Come on let's get out of this place!" The father of the child declared him, David and the mother marching out of the church comforting their emotionally distraught child. Little did they or anyone else knew, a small pair of eyes opened and glared at the situation before disappearing into the shadowy darkness of the hall. "Hmph good riddance, this house is not for disbelievers like you!" The woman priest yelled out to the family as they exited the building. The priest then marched back to her stand in the center of the service room and resumed the service. Half of the attendance now had conflicted or angered expressions on their faces finding the priest's actions very abusive and unnecessarily harsh starting to consider walking out too. "Now my children the service is over, let me recite a quote from the holy book before going in peace" the priest orders as she and the attendance closed their eyes and folded their hands together in praying positions. "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others who trespass against us" The priest quoted. Some of the church goers murmured about how hypocritical she is in quoting this particular prayer. "Lead us not into temptation but to deliver-ahhh!" The priest's recitation was cut off when suddenly an explosion occurred right above her destroying the back half of the wall and the roof the force blowing her and the stand onto the ground and having some of the debris collapse onto her barely missing her head. "Oh my god ahhhh!" The church goers screamed in shock and terror as they ran out the doors to save themselves from whatever caused the explosion as well as the fires that had started and were spreading fast. When the priest lifted her head to try to recover herself she was meant with a terrifying sight. It appeared to be a child no more than twelve years old, but it was nothing like any twelve year old child she had ever seen. The child wore rags, had crazy spiky hair that went in literally every direction and bore an expression of complete and utter insanity and sinister intent and most importantly, it was floating in the air! Seemingly confirming her fears, the demented looking child laughing demonically in frighteningly deep raspy voice as the fire intensified below him. "Heh he he he!". "Ahhhh!" The priest screeched in horror and fear as the possessed looking boy lowered closer to her. "Deliver allll!" The priest preached with all her strength hoping the words of their god would banish the evil that threatened back to Hell. "Finish it!" The demented boy ordered pointing at the priest. The priest was left bamboozled by this order. Her praying should have scared this demon away, why was it still here and telling her to finish the prayer?! "Finish it!" The demon child commanded again his face turning more angry looking the fires reflecting in his black eyes. "From evillll!" The priest preached completing her prayer in sheer desperation. Unfortunately all that finishing the prayer did was amuse the goblin and it cackled manically. While cackling it zoomed towards the priest, yanked her out of the rubble holding her by the throat. "You should have practiced what you preached! Ha ha ha ha!" The goblin scolded the priest laughing madly in her face before forming a green ball of ki in his hand, stuffed it into the priest's mouth and then threw her to where to the ground right where some of the church goers still were having been backed up by their large numbers. Upon contact with the floor the ki ball and with it the priest exploded destroying what was left of the church and the people that hadn't escaped in a fiery red haze of smoke and flames.
Back to the Present
Upon realizing that he could not overcome the goblin, Goten with great reluctance and sorrow decided that it was best he'd run away from home and never go back ever again. He purposely ripped up the few pairs of clothes he brought with him to blend in with the homeless among the streets of the town he settled in, North City. Goten made sure to tell Xavier exactly where he was so neither he or the Shredder didn't suspect he was violating the agreement they had forged. Whatever days that weren't spent in space doing the mortal empire's bidding, the preteen demi Saiyan spent begging to the millions of citizens walking past and over him for food or money, if not that then he'd be seen searching for a new location to settle down in for a night or two. Of course like the homeless surrounding him most of the people payed him no mind, cash or time despite his youth. Occasionally some of the homeless people tried to befriend Goten, but the child ignored or pushed them away, no matter how much he may or may not have wanted their company. "I can't have friends, if the empire doesn't hurt them, then I will...eventually, I'm on my own now...forever" Goten figured despondently feeling trapped between his two enemies in two different planes of existence. But to Goten, the hardest part wasn't being homeless, it wasn't the starvation, it wasn't the loneliness, hell it wasn't even the pain and forced slavery/military conscription of the mortal empire. No, the most difficult thing for Goten to bear was when he had to hide, from his family and friends whenever he sensed them searching for him especially within the first few weeks since he ran away. Goten cried to the point of dehydration hearing his father and mother yell out for him fighting his instincts to run to and embrace them in a hug. He didn't know which part of it all was the worst, hearing his mother grow hysterical and wail in despair or the fact that Trunks Briefs was never among them.
Flashback to North City within a few weeks after Goten ran away
"Goten! Where are you?! Please come back home!" Chi chi screeched while hanging onto her husband's back as he flew over North City, both desperately searching for their missing son. "It's ok Chi Chi, we'll find him, I promise" Goku assured his distraught wife though it was obvious by the troubled look on his face that he was becoming less and less sure himself of his own words. Abruptly Gohan flew up from some point in the city up to his parents, them stopping midair. "Any luck Gohan?" Goku questioned his eldest son. "No Dad, I'm sorry I looked everywhere" Gohan shamefully admitted, blaming himself for not finding his little brother. A few seconds passed before Krillin and Piccolo also rocketed up to the group of three's location. "Please tell me you guys found any signs of him" Gohan pleaded with his uncle figure Krillin and best friend/former mentor Piccolo. Unfortunately, both just glumly hung their heads low and shook it side to side silently saying no. "Nothing, not even a single trace" Piccolo answered straightforwardly. "Don't worry Goku, we'll find him, no matter how long it takes we will find him" Krillin said trying to lift his lifelong friend's spirits. "Thank you Krillin, I needed that" Goku thanked Krillin grateful. "Oh my baby boy! Please comes back to mommy!" Chi chi wailed her breakdown reignited by the lack of Goten's whereabouts. Unbeknownst to any of them, Goten was in fact in the city but had his ki signature lowered to weaker than a mouse's and was hiding under a rundown bridge that barely rose above the ground enough for him to stand in. After taking a quick peek outside to check to see if any of the z warriors were getting too close, Goten slumped back down into the dark cave like inside of the bridge's underground crying upon seeing and hearing his mother cry out for him. Ironically for once Goten had company during this, unfortunately it was Xavier having come to check on Goten and give him a rundown of his empire duties for the following week. Xavier had also heard their mother's cries but instead of feeling bad, he actually giggled a little much to Goten's shock. "Boy, mother sure screams when she's hysterical, you hear that Goten? And it's because of you too, nice job bro! Wow! I think I can actually hear her vocal cords breaking! Ha ha ha ha! Wonder how much she'd scream if I hit her with one of her frying pans like she does with us and father sometimes?! What do you think Goten? Should I? Huh? Should I get her frying pan and see how much she screeches?" Xavier asked Goten while joking and laughing about her emotional distress in a disturbingly ecstatic way. Goten's shocked expression morphed into an angered glare as he growled at his devil of a twin brother.
Back To the Present
Goten could be seen slowly touching down on the ground within a remote forest area a little ways away from North City wearing a backpack carrying what little he had on his person. Pickings had been slim in the city's garbage and people were giving even less money to homeless people like him due to a recent recession in the economy so he decided to fly out here to do some hunting. "Sigh...why do I even bother trying to go on if this is all my life will ever be?" Goten pondered depressingly in his head. "Oh yeah, that's right, because if I off myself everyone on Earth will be either enslaved or killed by The Shredder and the Mortal Empire including my family and friends...Dad, Mom, Gohan, Marron, Tru-" Goten stopped at the mention of Trunks clearly conflicted with calling him his friend. "Is it even worth me doing this when I am hurting people anyway?" Goten questioned himself mentally. After taking a few steps, Goten pushed a couple bushes out of his way to reveal a majestic clearing in the forest with a large crystal blue lake at its center surrounded by sand, flowers and the trees of the forest with a snow peaked mountain in the distance. "Wow, so pretty" Goten said in awe of the sight listening to the birds singing in the air. Despite being raised in a household surrounded by wilderness, it never ceased to amaze the young child with its wonder and beauty, enough so to forget about his numerous troubles if only for a little bit. After admiring the valley for a few bliss moments Goten spotted a smaller lake separated from the bigger one by a small strip of land in between them. He looked down at himself inspecting the pair of clothes he was currently wearing and clearly they were caked in muck and...blood. Taking off and opening his backpack up, he found all three pairs of clothing he had with him were in similar states of filth so he decided to clean them in the smaller lake as to not ruin the beauty of the larger one. Stripping down he dunked all four pairs of clothing into the small lake and cleaned them as best he could, turning the small lake's water a disgusting red and brown color. After that the nude preteen set all his clothing to dry in the sun. Goten stood absentmindedly thinking about how to occupy his time while his clothes dried knowing it would take a while and he shouldn't go too far away in his state of undress. "I wonder if I should take a bath while I'm here" Goten thought in his mind. Lifting up one of his arms, Goten took a whiff of his armpit and immediately recoiled due to the stench of his potentially weeks long developed Bo. "Yep I need a bath" Goten stated resolutely with nothing holding him back from carrying out the task. Having soiled the small lake with his dirty clothes he had no choice but to wash himself in the big lake. "Oh well, my body isn't as filthy as my clothes were and I can catch some fish" Goten reasoned in his head. Taking a running start Goten jumped into the large lake submerging himself into its deepest depths. The boy was in heaven as he felt the warm body caress and cleanse his bare body of its filth, almost like it was washing away his sins though he knew it obviously didn't. Goten swam gracefully marveling at all the underwater creatures that inhabited the lake, mostly fish with the occasional turtle. Eventually he felt he was clean enough and started ascending to the surface. However as he neared the surface, a silhouette of a person appeared on the shore. Panicking Goten stopped his ascent and dove back down a little. "Oh shit! Someone's here!" Goten thought panicky. He really wanted to avoid detection especially in his current state. Although he like his father he was not usually bothered with being naked or even being seen naked he understood that most people did not like to see that sort of thing and he did not want to offend anybody, he did enough damage as it was. The young Demi Saiyan waited what felt like a few minutes but the figure did not move and his lungs were urning for oxygen. "Damn it! Whoever you are! Please go away!" Goten yelled in his mind. Then the mysterious figure did finally make a move but it was not to go away, its head lowered blocking the sunlight in Goten's view as if it saw him. "Crap! I'm gonna have to face the music! My lungs feel like their about to burst!" Goten resigned in his head. He couldn't hold his breath any longer so reluctantly he rapidly ascended to the surface a few feet away from the shore. Gasping for air and moving his wet hair out of his eyes, he saw the person on the shore and he was sent into a trance by what he saw. It was a girl, looking to be a similar height and age as himself. She was wearing black shoes, had a yellow tee shirt on with red pants that left her midriff exposed. She had the most gorgeous face Goten had ever seen with long shiny black hair tied up in a ponytail, the sweetest cheeks and glistening grey eyes that complemented it all rather nicely. Goten was left mouth agape at this girl's appearance, his cheeks turned red and his legs felt like jelly, had it not been for the water, a forth indicator would have been very obvious. "Hi!" The girl cheerfully greeted waving her hand at Goten excitedly. "Oh! Ummm...hello" Goten sheepishly greeted back after snapping out of his trance. "I've never seen you around here before, whatcha doing?" The girl inquired in a very friendly manner. "Oh you know just uhhh...swimming around" Goten answered clumsily racing to think of something to excuse his presence. "It's fun isn't it?! I swim in this lake all the time too! Sometimes I find a giant turtle and ride them for awhile!...at least the ones that don't buck me off hahaha!" The girl said laughing about the occasional hiccup in her hobbies. "Heh heh yeah, that's happened to me too sometimes" Goten agreed with Note. "What's your name?" The girl asked innocently. "Goten" Goten replied simply. "Goten huh that's an interesting name" The girl complemented with an interested expression. "Well you see ten means understanding heaven and my dad had died a few months before I was born...so my mom wanted my name to reflect that and help her get over that loss so that's why that's why I was named that" Goten explained. "Aw I'm sorry to hear that about your dad" The girl sympathized with Goten in a sad tone. "It's ok, I'm used to loss at this point" Goten said his face facing down a little. "What do you mean?" The girl questioned becoming concerned by Goten's words and the tone in which he spoke them. Goten tensed up slightly, he'd let and little too much out and now he was going to half to lie to explain himself. "My mommy died of uhh..tuberculosis... and I had no other family to go live with so I've been just...living by myself, in the woods or in the streets of the city a few miles from here" Goten explained his situation as best he could without giving any critical earth endangering information. "Oh my gosh...is it hard for you?" The girl asked worried and feeling bad for the boy. "It's not that bad...once you get used to it" Goten responded trying his hardest to downplay his misery though it was clear by the slight shaking of his body, twitching in one of his eyes and faint tears welling up in both eyes that it was bad. "And the people you encounter" Goten added in with a light growl, obviously thinking of Xavier and The Shredder. The girl gasped at Goten sudden shift in mood. She could tell there was a bit more than what Goten was telling her. But surprisingly her expression morphed into a small smile of understanding and calm. "You can tell me what's wrong but if you're not comfortable talking about it I completely understand" The girl assured Goten to make him feel safe. To say Goten was surprised by the girl's understanding of his feelings despite not knowing the cause of them would be an understatement. "T-thank you I appreciate it" Goten thanked the girl gaining a grateful smile. "So um, what's your name?" Goten asked the girl, beginning to feel comfortable talking to her. "It's Note!" The girl now known as Note replied happily. "Note? He he sounds musical!" Goten giggled joking slightly about Note's name. "Ha ha! That's because it is! My mom's a piano player so I guess she and my dad wanted their daughter to have a musical name he he!" Note joked and laughed right back getting in on the joke which caused both preteens to laugh wholeheartedly. After he caught his breath from laughing Goten abruptly became worried again once he remembered Note mentioning her parents. "Are your parents anywhere around here?" Goten inquired somewhat nervously looking around the area. "Oh don't worry Goten, I live quite a few miles that way" Note answered pointing her finger out west of where they were. "Plus my parents never go hiking in the woods, or really anything outdoorsy or fun if you ask me, there kinda dull and uptight to be honest" Note said with a minor scoff in her voice. "What do you mean?" Goten asked confused as to what Note meant. "I mean their are way too strict and don't give me space to do my own thing, we're always going to fancy operas instead of anywhere fun like here or the carnival or anything like that, and they keep forcing me to look and act like a freaking princess. I get hell every time my hair is a little messy, when my shoes have a tiny bit of dirt on them or even when I use a common phrase like " how's it going my dude". I fought tooth and nail with them just to get away with wearing this to walk out here and they complain every single time I say I'm gonna come out here for awhile" Note explained in an annoyed rant. "Dang...well are they at least nice to you?" Goten questioned Note feeling bad for her stifling parents. "Oh yeah for sure, I love them and I know they mean well but they just don't understand me and they tend to treat people who don't live like they do as lesser than them. That's why I can't really offer to let you stay at our house, they'd most likely shoo you away, even with your handsome face" Note answered finishing with a flirting expression on her face. "Oh that's ok, I don't usually... wait did you just call me handsome?" Goten asked bewildered and surprised by the complement. "Of course, why wouldn't I call you that?! That hair is so nuts its awesome! All those muscles too! Your face is the most adorable I've ever seen! Not to mention that cute little tail of yours!" Note pointed out with gusto her own cheeks blushing. Goten's cheeks went full red as Note's words came out, "well I do work out and take care of myself, wait did you say tail?" Goten finished bewildered. "Yeah looks like a monkey's tail, it's got brown fur and everything!" Note pointed out happily. Goten looked behind him and sure enough there was a soaking wet brown furred tail coming out from his lower back. "What the?! When did that grow back?!" Goten said panicky, he thought his mom had permanently cut his tail off when he was a baby so that they never had to deal with the Oozaru transformation in the future. "It's alright I like it, really completes your wild boy look!" Note assured joyfully. Goten stopped panicking and regained his shy smile, "really? Thank you". "Your welcome, hey mind if I swim with you?" Note said already beginning to remove her shoes and socks. "Uhh sure" Goten replied apprehensive about note seeing his, everything. "Cool!" Note shouted as she stood and threw off her shirt, revealing bra less chest, she then pulled down her pants and underwear together and kicked them off, leaving her naked. "Woah!" Goten yelled quickly covering his eyes. "Ha ha what are you doing?" Note asked giggling as she undid her ponytail letting her hair fall down. "Giving you privacy as you change into your swimsuit" Goten replied still covering his eyes. "Why do I need a swimsuit? Your not wearing one" Note pointed out cheekily. "How did you know?" Goten asked. "He he water's very clear, come on uncover your eyes, I don't care one bit!" Note said assuringly. Goten uncovered his eyes his entire face went red looking at Note's body. "Yippee Kai yay" Note exclaimed as she ran and jumped into the lake splashing Goten. Note surfaced and instantly looked at Goten with a cheerful smirk, "come on dude let's have a splash war!". Note then took her hands and made dueling waves hitting Goten. Goten dazed and confused face morphed into a happy, gleeful one and started laughing as he began making opposing splashes. "Hey Note! If you think this is fun, wait until you see this!" Goten announced full of excitement and energy. He then grabbed onto Note's arm and using his super speed, sped across the water until they reached the shore generating a wave that crashed back onto the couple sweeping them up in its torrent. After the waters receded, Goten could be seen back on the now muddy shore laughing in pure joy. "That was fun wasn't it Note?!" Goten turned to ask her, only to find that she was lying flat on the ground on her back in the mud. "Uh oh...note?" Goten winced worried that he hurt Note and that she might not wanna play with him anymore. "Woahhh nelly! That was awesome dude!" Note exclaimed happily jumping up on a thrill high. Goten was left stupefied at first but it quickly transitioned into an equally joyous laugh of fun.
A few hours passed with Note having a variety of water and beach related fun activities having the time of their lives. Eventually the two were seen laying in the sun as it set. "Today was so fun Note" Goten said in a bliss calm, a kind he hadn't felt in at least a year. "I had fun with you too Goten! You have got to show me how you did all those crazy things with the water today!" Note agreed ecstatically proposing they hang out again. "R-really, you wanna meet up again?" Goten stuttered in disbelief. "Yeah duh! What'd-a say Goten? Meet me tomorrow?! There's a trail a little ways from here we can hike!" Note offered Goten sweetly. Goten's mouth curved into a smile as he pondered Note's offer before he answered, "yeah I'd love to!" Goten accepted graciously. "Fantastic! See ya tomorrow Goten!" Note shouted waving goodbye with a smile before she began walking to where her discarded clothes were. Goten got up himself looking at Note as she walked away, particularly at her swaying bum. Forcing himself to look away, Goten began approaching his own dried up clothes. As he did his mind drifted back to his saiyan tail that had inexplicably grown back. "Did the empire's experiments cause it to grow back? Oh man...what else did they-" Goten's mind contemplated the possible repercussions of the genetic experiments performed on him when a voice cut the thought short. "Oh! I almost forgot!" Note said just as she had grabbed her underwear. She ran back over to Goten and gave him a tight hug stunning the Demi saiyan. "There! Couldn't leave ya without a hug! Bye Goten!" Note said nonchalantly running back and collecting the rest of her clothes and disappeared into the forest foliage. Goten stood motionless holding the stunned expression for a few seconds after Note left before it melted into a dreamy aroused one, his face turning completely red and his legs becoming weak resulting in him falling back to the ground with a thud of love. "She's woww..." Goten moaned in smitten peace. He hopes to re experience this feeling with Note tomorrow, and perhaps for many more days. Just how many of those days will he get though?