Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Guardian Might ❯ Through the Darkness ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: LaurenaGarret 
Darkness, that was all Gohan could see. All around him was pitch black; he couldn't make out another soul or building around him. The way his father had described otherworld, Gohan had pictured it differently. His father had said nothing about darkness; only light, hundreds of souls waiting for their turn to be judged and the ogre King Yemma staring down at you as he decided whether or not you would go to Heaven or Hell. His father had mentioned no darkness at all.
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Martial Arts / Thriller / Action / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.16.2015 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 549 | Status: Work In Progress
Darkness, that was all Gohan could see. All around him was pitch black; he couldn't make out another soul or building around him. The way his father had described otherworld, Gohan had pictured it differently. His father had said nothing about darkness; only light, hundreds of souls waiting for their turn to be judged and the ogre King Yemma staring down at you as he decided whether or not you would go to Heaven or Hell. His father had mentioned no darkness at all.
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Martial Arts / Thriller / Action / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 05.16.2015 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 549 | Status: Work In Progress
2: Through the Darkness
Darkness, that was all Gohan could see. All around him was pitch black; he couldn’t make out another soul or building around him. The way his father had described otherworld, Gohan had pictured it differently. His father had said nothing about darkness; only light, hundreds of souls waiting for their turn to be judged and the ogre King Yemma staring down at you as he decided whether or not you would go to Heaven or Hell. His father had mentioned no darkness at all.
As Gohan looked around he realised that he could see his body completely, as if there was a light right about his head, illuminating him for all to see. It was a stark contrast to the darkness that surrounded him. He looked up to see if there was anything above him that was causing the light and was stunned at what he saw – or what he didn’t see.
No halo.
How was that possible? He died or at the very least he was pretty sure he did. He had no halo so that would suggest that he was alive. One the other hand there was no way in hell that he would have been able to survive the blast that he and Cell had created. One the other, other hand he had no heartbeat, which on its own was a pretty good indication that he was dead. But if he was dead, shouldn’t he be in otherworld with King Yemma right now
He shook his head. His thoughts had managed to come full circle with no answers to be found. It was like that trigonometry question that he had been stuck on while travelling to Namek, before Bulma had sat down and helped him.
Perhaps he was in limbo?
Gohan looked around. It was plausible; after all he was only eleven and hadn’t really wanted to die in the first place. Could that, plus his regret have caused him to go into a limbo like state? And if he was in limbo, how long would he have to stay here before he moved on? A few years? Until he accepted his death? Until he stopped missing his family and friends? Gohan didn’t think that he could do that last one.
As he looked around, Gohan glanced down at his feet and had to do a double take. He wasn’t floating. The whole time that he had been here in this strange place he had thought that he had been floating, but he wasn’t. His feet were planted squarely on some kind of unseen platform that blended in with the rest of the darkness. It was a little unsettling, Gohan thought, to look down and just see darkness and yet still be standing on a completely flat surface. Carefully, Gohan took a step forward, making sure to keep his other foot securely planted just in case he was on a small platform while preparing himself to fly if the need was there. Whatever Gohan had been expecting to happen didn’t happen, but he still made sure that he stayed still, reaching out with his ki to see if anything was going to rush out and grab him. Nothing happened.
The whole situation was making Gohan nervous. He was in a space that had no defined entrance or exit and the more he looked around the more he was sure he was trapped. He had no idea why he was here and even if he did manage to find a way out of this strange place, he had no idea what awaited him on the outside. He suddenly had the urge to call out for his father, but it was quickly silenced. His father was not going to be able to help him like he had done in the past. Neither was Krillin or Piccolo. He was stuck here on his own like when he had first started to train with Piccolo all those years ago. He needed to be able to figure this out on his own. Gohan sighed. He was a smart kid. He was more than a smart kid, if you listened to what his mother said about him. He should be able to figure out how to get out of a place filled with nothing but darkness.
The first thing he needed to workout was whether or not he was in a room or something bigger. If it was a room there was a possibility that he may only have a small amount of space that he needed to search, but it if was bigger than he was going to have a much harder time working out how to get out of this place, not to mention the trouble he was going to have if he was in a place like the Dead Zone. Gohan shuddered. It wasn’t impossible to get out of a dimension riff but it took a lot of time and a lot of power, both things Gohan wasn’t entirely sure he had. Taking a deep breath Gohan crouched down and pushed himself up into the air, bringing his hands up in a familiar position above his head. A bright yellow light started to gather in his hands illuminating his body more before he brought them down and thrusted them out.
'Masenko HA!'
The blast from the Masenko rocketed across from him and as he watched Gohan was sure that it was just going to keep going and going. Then it came to an abrupt halt and seemed to just hover in place, before doing a complete three sixty degree turn and shot straight back towards Gohan. His eyes widened in surprise before he pushed himself out of the path of his own blast, narrowly missed being hit. He watched it shoot across the other side of the space before hitting the exact same barrier that it had hit before and come shooting back towards Gohan again.This time he was ready and he put his arms out to block the blast and stop it hitting the barrier once more.
It pushed him back a couple of feet before losing its momentum and completely fizzling out. Slowly Gohan lowered his arms, a reflex that he had learnt from the past few years of training and battles that he had been a part of; he knew that there was no one else there, but he couldn't help but be careful. Wherever he was he was stuck here, the barrier proved that, it however didn't answer all the questions that still remained. Like: how was he going to get out of here?
Over his feet, Gohan watched as a light started to grow. Not a light that would come from a growing blast, but like the one that would appear whenever his parents had come to check on him in the middle of the night and the hallway light was on. Looking ahead, Gohan started to look for an open door, but couldn't see anything that could have caused the light to appear on the floor in front of him. There wasn’t even an outline of a doorway in front of him.He turned, thinking that if it wasn't in front of him then just possibly he was in a kind ofAlice in Wonderlandplace where up is down, and light from doorways doesn't appear in the spot that you would normally think that it would.every direction that he turned or looked there was nothing to suggest that there was a doorway of any kind.
Gohan gave a long sigh and sat down, crossing his legs, sitting his elbows on my knees and placing his head in his hands. It was disheartening to say the least. This place, wherever it was, was like a box and he was Schroeder’s Cat waiting for someone to open it and find out whether or not he was alive or dead. If he was completely honest it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like he was in the darkness that used to scare him, not that that darkness had been all that scary. He could deal with the darkness that used to creep into his bedroom and make everything look like some old grainy movie to his eyes, sending shadows all over his bedroom and making him feel like anything and everything was waiting to jump out and grab him. Well, no one could blame him for feeling that way. He had a track record of being captured and taken away from his parents, so they shouldn’t have been all that surprised when he did develop his fear of things lurking in the dark that could take him from them all over again.
He could deal with the darkness, it was the loneliness that Gohan wasn’t going to be able to get used to right away, but he had no choice. He just had to wait for someone to be brave enough to throw caution to the wind and actually open the lid. Gohan’s eyes slid up until he had no choice but to lean backwards on his hands. His eyes looked all over the "roof" of the box he was in until he saw something.
A small sliver of light poking through the darkness. He looked down where his hands were still bathed in light before looking back up again. If he was in a box, then that would be the lid, Gohan thought climbing to his feet. Light can be magnified depending on the angle that the light is coming through something; he had seen it happen with his own bedroom window enough to know that. And say he was in a strangeAlice in Wonderlandplace, then it is entirely possible that what looks small from down here couldbigger up close. He just needed to get up there and have a look.
With a jump, Gohan launched himself into the air and started to make his way towards the light. Histo become actual fact as the light started to get bigger the closer he got to it, until he was right next to it. The light was too bright for him to make out what was on the other side, but he could see shadows of figures moving around outside thisplace. Slowly he lifted his hand out until he came to touch the barrier with his hands. Within a few seconds Gohan realised why his Masenko had been sent back at him, the barrier was almost like rubber, having antype feel to it which would explain why the blast had hit it and ricocheted back at him. It was almost like throwing a rock at a slingshot, only to have the slingshot catch the rock and send it back at you.
Gohan smiled for the first time since arriving in this strange place. He wasn'ttrapped here. He could get out. He just needed to be able to break through this barrier. It was easier said than done, but Gohan couldn't help but feel excitement bubbling in his stomach. He wouldn't be trapped here for an eternity after all.
The problem he now faced was breaking through the barrier. Any kind of energy blast obviously wasn't going to work on this barrier, it would just be sent hurtling right back at him, and because he wasn't sure if he was alive or dead just yet, he didn't want to risk being hit by a Kamehameha until he knew exactly what was going on.it wasn't going to get him anywhere either. Its elastic likeconsistency was designed to tire him out before any kind of hand to hand attack could do it any damage.
The thing with elastic is that it can only be stretched so far before it breaks, a voice in his head said.pressed against the barrier again. Hisright; elastic only had a certain length that it could stretch before reaching its breaking point. If this barrier was created in the same way, then it too had a breaking point that it could be stretched to. Gohan floated down until he was standing flat on the floor of the room again looking directly up at the light. He only had one chance, or at least that is what he figured he had, which meant he needed to hit this barrier as hard as he possibly could so it would reach its breaking point as fast as possible.
Taking a deep breath, Gohan started to gather all the energy that he could. He could feel it flowing through his body building up in his arms and legs. It was a different feeling then when he made a ki blast. They usually felt hot, and made his limbs feel like he had been standing too close to a fire for longer than he should have. This was cold, almost like he had ice sliding all over his body. He didn't know if what he felt was the same as it was for his father or any of his friends, but he had never been able to ask, there had never been time to ask. The cold feeling got colder as he reached that first point where he was about to become a Super Saiyan, and as the change washed over him he looked up and pushed off the floor as hard as he could, sending himself hurtling towards the light.
The closer he got to the light the more aware he became that he didn't have enough power to get through the barrier. The thought that he was going to continue to be trapped in this strange place ran through him and he felt that same snap that he had felt before his ascension. Ice seemed to be running through his veins as the familiar feeling of completely power washed over him and he smirked before pushing himself to go faster towards the barrier. The light grew brighter and brighter, and Gohan lifted his arms to guard his face at the hit the elastic barrier and started to push against it.
The barrier started to bend and the more Gohan pressed against it, the tighter and harder it became. It almost seemed to moulding itself around Gohan's body to the point where he couldn't breathe, and the young Saiyan almost wanted to stop just to make the feeling go away. But something kept him going. He didn't know if it was worry that he was going to be stuck in that darkness alone for what could be eternity or if it was his Saiyan side that was refusing to allow him to give in, but regardless of what it was, Gohan kept pushing against the barrier. The barrier wrapped itself around Gohan's body tighter and tighter, constricting him and making it feel like if he didn't stop he would be stuck in it forever.
With a final scream, Gohan gave an almighty push against the barrier and he felt something rip.
At first he wasn't sure if it was him or the barrier that was ripping until the tight feeling that had been wrapping itself around him gave way and he kept going forward as it slipped over him. Once he felt it slip past his feet Gohan abruptly came to a stop and looked down at the small hole that he had come through. He landed on the ground and stared down at it completely perplexed. The hole could not have been bigger than a key hole and yet he had managed to come out of it his normal size. There was some seriousAlice in Wonderlandmagic going on here, Gohan thought. There was no sign that he could see that he had just ripped through a barrier and his eyes widened as he realised that the barrier was still up, as if nothing had gone through it at all.
Wherever he was, they had some pretty good tricks.
As he powered down he took in his surroundings. The place looked like one of the glass garden domes at Capsule Corp, except Gohan didn't think that this particular garden was being kept in a glass dome for the same reason. The grass beneath his feel was springy, like the grass around his house back home, while everything looked so fresh and beautiful, like it did after it had rained. Gohan felt his eyes prickle with unleashed tears as he looked around. Everything in this place reminded him of his home; even how beautiful it looked reminded his of his parents. His Mother loved the forest after it had rained and his father, well, his father just generally loved the forest. He wiped the tears away with the back of his hand before gathering himself together. There was still a chance the he could see them. He just needed to get home from whereverhereprovided he wasn't dead.
Thesomeone behind him caused Gohan to spin around, with a small ki blast in his hand as a precaution. His eyes widened when he saw a young girl standing on a path not ten feet away from him.
'Oh! Hello!'
She wasn't human, that much was for sure, and herhim a lot of what his Dad had told him about King Kai. She was a good head or so shorter than him and he was sure that she was around his age, with dark green hair that fell over her shoulder in a very loose braid. Strands of the dark locks were falling out and into her bright blue eyes. Her hair and her eyes were made all the brighter with her pale skin that would have made Chiaotzu seem pale. She was dressed in white boots and a black under-suit, similar to the blue one that Vegeta wore, but instead of the armour, the girl had a pink off the shoulder dress, that seemed to be styled after the same kind of dresses that Gohan's mother wore. Around her wrists were a number of bangles that made so sound at all when she had been walking, and hanging from her ears were a pair of large hoop earrings. It was all a strange combination but somehow the girl managed to pull it off. The girl kept looking at him and it took Gohan a second to realise that she had asked him a question.
'How did you get here?'
'Kind of hard to explain,' Gohan replied, absorbing the ki blast.
'Are you new? Well you must be new, you're still wearing your native planet's clothes, if you were anything but new you would be wearing the trainee's uniform,' she said before stopping. rry, I'm just shocked that you're here.'
'You didn't bring me here?' Gohan asked confused.
'No! What I meant was that I'm surprised to see you here,' she said gesturing to the room around her. 'Newbies usually come through the entrance and don't find out about this place for a while.'
'Entrance?'
'Yes, usually you come from the void into the entrance once the check in has happened.'
'Check in?'
'You really are new, aren't you,' she said smiling and walking over. 'How did you get here?'
'I came through the barrier.'
Her eyes widened and she came to an abrupt stop.
'You broke through the barrier?'
'Yes?'
'Like pushed your way through it?'
'Yes.'
'Why would you do a thing like that? You would have been collected once all the checks had been done. Didn't anyone tell you that?'
'No.'
'What?' She looked
'No one told me anything. One minute I was sure that I was going to turn up in otherworld and the next I'm in a room filled with darkness,' Gohan explained.
'Well that's not right,' the girl said frowning. 'You're supposed to have someone come get you and give you the choice. The only time that that is different is when there are exceptional circumstances and someone is pulled here before they die.'She bit her lip, looking him up and down. 'But even so someone should have been waiting for you if they pulled you in.'
'Is that the technical term?' Gohan asked.
'There's a proper explanation for what happens but you normally have that all explained to you once you go through the entrance.' The girl paused and looked around. 'I've never heard of someone breaking through the barrier before.'
'First time for everything, I suppose,' Gohan shrugged and the girl smiled.
'Unfortunately that is where you are wrong, Gohan, for you are not the first to break through that barrier.'
The girl’s eyes widened and she turned around slowly, as Gohan stepped to the side to look at the new comer who had managed to sneak up on them.
'I'm terribly sorry that I wasn't here when you arrived, I had planned to be, but you managed to force your way out a lot sooner than I had anticipated.'
Darkness, that was all Gohan could see. All around him was pitch black; he couldn’t make out another soul or building around him. The way his father had described otherworld, Gohan had pictured it differently. His father had said nothing about darkness; only light, hundreds of souls waiting for their turn to be judged and the ogre King Yemma staring down at you as he decided whether or not you would go to Heaven or Hell. His father had mentioned no darkness at all.
As Gohan looked around he realised that he could see his body completely, as if there was a light right about his head, illuminating him for all to see. It was a stark contrast to the darkness that surrounded him. He looked up to see if there was anything above him that was causing the light and was stunned at what he saw – or what he didn’t see.
No halo.
How was that possible? He died or at the very least he was pretty sure he did. He had no halo so that would suggest that he was alive. One the other hand there was no way in hell that he would have been able to survive the blast that he and Cell had created. One the other, other hand he had no heartbeat, which on its own was a pretty good indication that he was dead. But if he was dead, shouldn’t he be in otherworld with King Yemma right now
He shook his head. His thoughts had managed to come full circle with no answers to be found. It was like that trigonometry question that he had been stuck on while travelling to Namek, before Bulma had sat down and helped him.
Perhaps he was in limbo?
Gohan looked around. It was plausible; after all he was only eleven and hadn’t really wanted to die in the first place. Could that, plus his regret have caused him to go into a limbo like state? And if he was in limbo, how long would he have to stay here before he moved on? A few years? Until he accepted his death? Until he stopped missing his family and friends? Gohan didn’t think that he could do that last one.
As he looked around, Gohan glanced down at his feet and had to do a double take. He wasn’t floating. The whole time that he had been here in this strange place he had thought that he had been floating, but he wasn’t. His feet were planted squarely on some kind of unseen platform that blended in with the rest of the darkness. It was a little unsettling, Gohan thought, to look down and just see darkness and yet still be standing on a completely flat surface. Carefully, Gohan took a step forward, making sure to keep his other foot securely planted just in case he was on a small platform while preparing himself to fly if the need was there. Whatever Gohan had been expecting to happen didn’t happen, but he still made sure that he stayed still, reaching out with his ki to see if anything was going to rush out and grab him. Nothing happened.
The whole situation was making Gohan nervous. He was in a space that had no defined entrance or exit and the more he looked around the more he was sure he was trapped. He had no idea why he was here and even if he did manage to find a way out of this strange place, he had no idea what awaited him on the outside. He suddenly had the urge to call out for his father, but it was quickly silenced. His father was not going to be able to help him like he had done in the past. Neither was Krillin or Piccolo. He was stuck here on his own like when he had first started to train with Piccolo all those years ago. He needed to be able to figure this out on his own. Gohan sighed. He was a smart kid. He was more than a smart kid, if you listened to what his mother said about him. He should be able to figure out how to get out of a place filled with nothing but darkness.
The first thing he needed to workout was whether or not he was in a room or something bigger. If it was a room there was a possibility that he may only have a small amount of space that he needed to search, but it if was bigger than he was going to have a much harder time working out how to get out of this place, not to mention the trouble he was going to have if he was in a place like the Dead Zone. Gohan shuddered. It wasn’t impossible to get out of a dimension riff but it took a lot of time and a lot of power, both things Gohan wasn’t entirely sure he had. Taking a deep breath Gohan crouched down and pushed himself up into the air, bringing his hands up in a familiar position above his head. A bright yellow light started to gather in his hands illuminating his body more before he brought them down and thrusted them out.
'Masenko HA!'
The blast from the Masenko rocketed across from him and as he watched Gohan was sure that it was just going to keep going and going. Then it came to an abrupt halt and seemed to just hover in place, before doing a complete three sixty degree turn and shot straight back towards Gohan. His eyes widened in surprise before he pushed himself out of the path of his own blast, narrowly missed being hit. He watched it shoot across the other side of the space before hitting the exact same barrier that it had hit before and come shooting back towards Gohan again.This time he was ready and he put his arms out to block the blast and stop it hitting the barrier once more.
It pushed him back a couple of feet before losing its momentum and completely fizzling out. Slowly Gohan lowered his arms, a reflex that he had learnt from the past few years of training and battles that he had been a part of; he knew that there was no one else there, but he couldn't help but be careful. Wherever he was he was stuck here, the barrier proved that, it however didn't answer all the questions that still remained. Like: how was he going to get out of here?
Over his feet, Gohan watched as a light started to grow. Not a light that would come from a growing blast, but like the one that would appear whenever his parents had come to check on him in the middle of the night and the hallway light was on. Looking ahead, Gohan started to look for an open door, but couldn't see anything that could have caused the light to appear on the floor in front of him. There wasn’t even an outline of a doorway in front of him.He turned, thinking that if it wasn't in front of him then just possibly he was in a kind ofAlice in Wonderlandplace where up is down, and light from doorways doesn't appear in the spot that you would normally think that it would.every direction that he turned or looked there was nothing to suggest that there was a doorway of any kind.
Gohan gave a long sigh and sat down, crossing his legs, sitting his elbows on my knees and placing his head in his hands. It was disheartening to say the least. This place, wherever it was, was like a box and he was Schroeder’s Cat waiting for someone to open it and find out whether or not he was alive or dead. If he was completely honest it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like he was in the darkness that used to scare him, not that that darkness had been all that scary. He could deal with the darkness that used to creep into his bedroom and make everything look like some old grainy movie to his eyes, sending shadows all over his bedroom and making him feel like anything and everything was waiting to jump out and grab him. Well, no one could blame him for feeling that way. He had a track record of being captured and taken away from his parents, so they shouldn’t have been all that surprised when he did develop his fear of things lurking in the dark that could take him from them all over again.
He could deal with the darkness, it was the loneliness that Gohan wasn’t going to be able to get used to right away, but he had no choice. He just had to wait for someone to be brave enough to throw caution to the wind and actually open the lid. Gohan’s eyes slid up until he had no choice but to lean backwards on his hands. His eyes looked all over the "roof" of the box he was in until he saw something.
A small sliver of light poking through the darkness. He looked down where his hands were still bathed in light before looking back up again. If he was in a box, then that would be the lid, Gohan thought climbing to his feet. Light can be magnified depending on the angle that the light is coming through something; he had seen it happen with his own bedroom window enough to know that. And say he was in a strangeAlice in Wonderlandplace, then it is entirely possible that what looks small from down here couldbigger up close. He just needed to get up there and have a look.
With a jump, Gohan launched himself into the air and started to make his way towards the light. Histo become actual fact as the light started to get bigger the closer he got to it, until he was right next to it. The light was too bright for him to make out what was on the other side, but he could see shadows of figures moving around outside thisplace. Slowly he lifted his hand out until he came to touch the barrier with his hands. Within a few seconds Gohan realised why his Masenko had been sent back at him, the barrier was almost like rubber, having antype feel to it which would explain why the blast had hit it and ricocheted back at him. It was almost like throwing a rock at a slingshot, only to have the slingshot catch the rock and send it back at you.
Gohan smiled for the first time since arriving in this strange place. He wasn'ttrapped here. He could get out. He just needed to be able to break through this barrier. It was easier said than done, but Gohan couldn't help but feel excitement bubbling in his stomach. He wouldn't be trapped here for an eternity after all.
The problem he now faced was breaking through the barrier. Any kind of energy blast obviously wasn't going to work on this barrier, it would just be sent hurtling right back at him, and because he wasn't sure if he was alive or dead just yet, he didn't want to risk being hit by a Kamehameha until he knew exactly what was going on.it wasn't going to get him anywhere either. Its elastic likeconsistency was designed to tire him out before any kind of hand to hand attack could do it any damage.
The thing with elastic is that it can only be stretched so far before it breaks, a voice in his head said.pressed against the barrier again. Hisright; elastic only had a certain length that it could stretch before reaching its breaking point. If this barrier was created in the same way, then it too had a breaking point that it could be stretched to. Gohan floated down until he was standing flat on the floor of the room again looking directly up at the light. He only had one chance, or at least that is what he figured he had, which meant he needed to hit this barrier as hard as he possibly could so it would reach its breaking point as fast as possible.
Taking a deep breath, Gohan started to gather all the energy that he could. He could feel it flowing through his body building up in his arms and legs. It was a different feeling then when he made a ki blast. They usually felt hot, and made his limbs feel like he had been standing too close to a fire for longer than he should have. This was cold, almost like he had ice sliding all over his body. He didn't know if what he felt was the same as it was for his father or any of his friends, but he had never been able to ask, there had never been time to ask. The cold feeling got colder as he reached that first point where he was about to become a Super Saiyan, and as the change washed over him he looked up and pushed off the floor as hard as he could, sending himself hurtling towards the light.
The closer he got to the light the more aware he became that he didn't have enough power to get through the barrier. The thought that he was going to continue to be trapped in this strange place ran through him and he felt that same snap that he had felt before his ascension. Ice seemed to be running through his veins as the familiar feeling of completely power washed over him and he smirked before pushing himself to go faster towards the barrier. The light grew brighter and brighter, and Gohan lifted his arms to guard his face at the hit the elastic barrier and started to push against it.
The barrier started to bend and the more Gohan pressed against it, the tighter and harder it became. It almost seemed to moulding itself around Gohan's body to the point where he couldn't breathe, and the young Saiyan almost wanted to stop just to make the feeling go away. But something kept him going. He didn't know if it was worry that he was going to be stuck in that darkness alone for what could be eternity or if it was his Saiyan side that was refusing to allow him to give in, but regardless of what it was, Gohan kept pushing against the barrier. The barrier wrapped itself around Gohan's body tighter and tighter, constricting him and making it feel like if he didn't stop he would be stuck in it forever.
With a final scream, Gohan gave an almighty push against the barrier and he felt something rip.
At first he wasn't sure if it was him or the barrier that was ripping until the tight feeling that had been wrapping itself around him gave way and he kept going forward as it slipped over him. Once he felt it slip past his feet Gohan abruptly came to a stop and looked down at the small hole that he had come through. He landed on the ground and stared down at it completely perplexed. The hole could not have been bigger than a key hole and yet he had managed to come out of it his normal size. There was some seriousAlice in Wonderlandmagic going on here, Gohan thought. There was no sign that he could see that he had just ripped through a barrier and his eyes widened as he realised that the barrier was still up, as if nothing had gone through it at all.
Wherever he was, they had some pretty good tricks.
As he powered down he took in his surroundings. The place looked like one of the glass garden domes at Capsule Corp, except Gohan didn't think that this particular garden was being kept in a glass dome for the same reason. The grass beneath his feel was springy, like the grass around his house back home, while everything looked so fresh and beautiful, like it did after it had rained. Gohan felt his eyes prickle with unleashed tears as he looked around. Everything in this place reminded him of his home; even how beautiful it looked reminded his of his parents. His Mother loved the forest after it had rained and his father, well, his father just generally loved the forest. He wiped the tears away with the back of his hand before gathering himself together. There was still a chance the he could see them. He just needed to get home from whereverhereprovided he wasn't dead.
Thesomeone behind him caused Gohan to spin around, with a small ki blast in his hand as a precaution. His eyes widened when he saw a young girl standing on a path not ten feet away from him.
'Oh! Hello!'
She wasn't human, that much was for sure, and herhim a lot of what his Dad had told him about King Kai. She was a good head or so shorter than him and he was sure that she was around his age, with dark green hair that fell over her shoulder in a very loose braid. Strands of the dark locks were falling out and into her bright blue eyes. Her hair and her eyes were made all the brighter with her pale skin that would have made Chiaotzu seem pale. She was dressed in white boots and a black under-suit, similar to the blue one that Vegeta wore, but instead of the armour, the girl had a pink off the shoulder dress, that seemed to be styled after the same kind of dresses that Gohan's mother wore. Around her wrists were a number of bangles that made so sound at all when she had been walking, and hanging from her ears were a pair of large hoop earrings. It was all a strange combination but somehow the girl managed to pull it off. The girl kept looking at him and it took Gohan a second to realise that she had asked him a question.
'How did you get here?'
'Kind of hard to explain,' Gohan replied, absorbing the ki blast.
'Are you new? Well you must be new, you're still wearing your native planet's clothes, if you were anything but new you would be wearing the trainee's uniform,' she said before stopping. rry, I'm just shocked that you're here.'
'You didn't bring me here?' Gohan asked confused.
'No! What I meant was that I'm surprised to see you here,' she said gesturing to the room around her. 'Newbies usually come through the entrance and don't find out about this place for a while.'
'Entrance?'
'Yes, usually you come from the void into the entrance once the check in has happened.'
'Check in?'
'You really are new, aren't you,' she said smiling and walking over. 'How did you get here?'
'I came through the barrier.'
Her eyes widened and she came to an abrupt stop.
'You broke through the barrier?'
'Yes?'
'Like pushed your way through it?'
'Yes.'
'Why would you do a thing like that? You would have been collected once all the checks had been done. Didn't anyone tell you that?'
'No.'
'What?' She looked
'No one told me anything. One minute I was sure that I was going to turn up in otherworld and the next I'm in a room filled with darkness,' Gohan explained.
'Well that's not right,' the girl said frowning. 'You're supposed to have someone come get you and give you the choice. The only time that that is different is when there are exceptional circumstances and someone is pulled here before they die.'She bit her lip, looking him up and down. 'But even so someone should have been waiting for you if they pulled you in.'
'Is that the technical term?' Gohan asked.
'There's a proper explanation for what happens but you normally have that all explained to you once you go through the entrance.' The girl paused and looked around. 'I've never heard of someone breaking through the barrier before.'
'First time for everything, I suppose,' Gohan shrugged and the girl smiled.
'Unfortunately that is where you are wrong, Gohan, for you are not the first to break through that barrier.'
The girl’s eyes widened and she turned around slowly, as Gohan stepped to the side to look at the new comer who had managed to sneak up on them.
'I'm terribly sorry that I wasn't here when you arrived, I had planned to be, but you managed to force your way out a lot sooner than I had anticipated.'