Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Where do I belong? ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball/Z/GT, it characters, or anything in it; nor do I own any other licensed product/item that may appear throughout this fan fiction piece.

AN: Wow! These reviews are great. I'm glad so many of you are enjoying this fic. And, the question that I expected has arisen. Why not get Gohan back with the Namek dragonballs? Well, first off, if they did find out what really happened, this whole fic would be short and pointless. Sure, I could deal with his loss of memory, but no more fun than that. And the reasons, story wise, are provided in here. I want to thank Android 17 for his suggestion . . . you read my mind. This story is written many chapters ahead, I think I'm at chapter 11. But anyway, enjoy!

~*~

Chapter 4

As the sun peeked over the horizon, Gohan awoke with a jolt, his heart racing and his head ringing a warning. Long ago, Gohan had discovered he possessed an unusual ability. It was hard for him to describe, but it was a sixth sense.

That day he had been drawing. For a child, he had an uncanny ability to draw. Some of the things he drew he had no memory of, but they seemed so familiar. On that particular day, he was sitting at the kitchen table, working on a picture of a dragon. He had never seen one before, but this dragon was kind of like a snake. In his mind, he could barely see it and in his childish drawings he couldn't quite capture it, but to him it was a giant green scaled dragon with glowing red eyes. He drew the dragon quite often, just like a set of spheres to accompany it. He could never figure out what they were or what they meant. It was like a word on the tip of the tongue. It's faintly there, but he couldn't grasp it. As he drew, his concentration was on getting the picture right for once.

Cassandra had been watching him, waiting for a chance to get him to spar with her. Their father had trained them both and they spared daily. With her patience worn out, she silently crept up on him and aimed a punch at his head. Closing her eyes in silent praise for finally being able to land a punch on her brother, Cassandra felt the impact of flesh on flesh. However, it didn't feel quite right. Opening her eyes, she was able to see her brother looking at her rather annoyed.

"Whacha want Cass? I'm drawing" he wined. Her punch had been blocked.

Cassandra was outraged. Her brother had been wrapped up in drawing. He had no way of knowing she was going to attack. Getting it together, she forcefully asked him how he knew she was going to attack him.

Barely paying attention to his older sister, he answered. "I could sense you move from your corner over behind me. And then I could feel you before you attacked."

Cassandra only stared at him in shock. What did he mean by he could feel her? Knowing that she wouldn't get a straight answer from him, she left him. From that day on, she always remembered it. He could easily tell where someone was, even if he couldn't see them. Playing hide and seek was never any fun with him because of this ability. He could always find her. But when he tried to teach her how to do it, she couldn't sense him. She could faintly sense her parents, but never him.

But now, less than a year later, he was feeling shaken by his own ability. He could feel some dark and great power, one so dark it scared him. Yet, it also felt so familiar, as if he had felt it before. Gohan was awakened from his thoughts by a deep growling from his stomach. Pushing himself from bed, he stumbled downstairs to eat. Once down there, he was greeted with excitement, enthusiasm, and a lot of hugs. Regarding them with confusion, he sat down. Suddenly it hit him. Today was his birthday! They weren't sure when his birthday was so they used the day they had found him as his birthday. Gohan quickly forgot about the dark feeling that morning and ate his breakfast with renewed enthusiasm.

Eight hours, thirty-three presents, a whole cake, and a gallon of ice cream later…

Gohan cheerfully waved to the last of his friends as they disappeared around a bend in the road. Although this was only his second birthday party that he could remember, Gohan figured that this one had been best of all. Running back into the kitchen, he grinned widely at his parents before throwing himself into their arms, squeezing them tightly.

Erik and Angel were taken aback at the boy's strength. He had proven himself to be very strong and a very skillful fighter, but never had the child exerted that much strength on them. Feeling short of breath, Angel attempted to peel her son from her. Getting the message, Gohan let go and backed away grinning sheepishly. However, seeing Cassandra peek around the corner, Gohan suddenly remembered that in all of the excitement, he hadn't gotten to terrorize his sister yet. After all, what else were little brothers for?

Angel and Eric watched as Gohan took off after his sister giggling madly. After watching the two six-year-olds disappear upstairs, the two parents collapsed on the floor. Leaning up against the kitchen cabinets, Eric and Angel took a moment to relax.

"Who ever thought that twenty five six year olds could have that much energy." Angel said with a laugh. Snuggling in her husband's embrace, Angel sighed in relief.

"Angel, are you forgetting that it was our son who consumed a meal large enough to feed a family of eight and then some, an entire cake, a full gallon of ice cream, and still asked if we had anything else to eat?"

The two burst into laughs as they remembered how innocent he looked asking that question. All of the other parents had stood there in shock and disbelief. But then again, Erik and Angel were used to the boy's large appetite. The two quieted down as Gohan's yells echoed down the stairwell.

Quirking a golden eyebrow at her husband, Angel decided to make a wager. "Wanna bet that Cass got a hold of his tail again?"

Chuckling, Erik quickly declined the offer.

They had learned, much earlier on, that Gohan's tail had heightened sensitivity. While shopping at the grocery store, the two kids had begun to run up and down the aisle. In his excitement, Gohan had forgotten to keep his tail around his waist. When he zoomed past his father, Erik had reached out and grabbed a hold of his tail. The boy had instantly fallen to his knees, unable to move. Tears streamed down Gohan's pained contorted face. Upon noticing his reaction, Erik immediately released the boy's golden tail and watched as his son fell to the floor in insurmountable pain. The couple had received a few cold glares from other customers, thinking they had beat the boy. But ever since that day, Cassandra had exploited that weakness, especially when Gohan picked on her.

Shouts reverberated through the stairwell as Gohan headed straight to his parents. Cassandra followed close behind, a smirk firmly fixed on her childish face. With tears in his large obsidian eyes, Gohan immediately latched himself around his mother.

"Mommy, Cass pulled my tail again." Working up the biggest and most effective puppy dog eyes look, Gohan stared as his mother.

Angel sighed as she held him tighter and began to rub his back soothingly. There was no doubt in her mind that he had somehow provoked her, but she also knew that pulling his tail was very painful. She had figured out that the thing was a network of nerves and nearly had a mind of its own. He never had full control of it. Instead of doing it herself, she stood up and began to carry her son upstairs to leave Erik with the task of disciplining their daughter. At least that was the plan.

Cassandra was not a dumb child. She knew that she would get a lecture about pulling her brother's tail. She got one every time she did it. Not like it stopped her. Slyly, she watched as her mother carried Gohan out of the room, yet she also noticed another thing. Gohan's tail, which was normally around his waist, was hanging down limply. Slowly, she slipped up to them. Then, very quickly, she grabbed a hold of his tail and pulled hard, harder than she had ever pulled before.

Gohan screamed in outrage and pain as he felt the firm and hard tug. Like a cat, he jumped up, only there was nothing to jump up to. However, in his state of pain, he didn't realize what he was doing. Yet, Angel, Erik, and Cassandra stared in shock.

It wasn't his cries of pain, his tears, or his pain throbbing tail that disturbed them. Their son was floating high in the air. When he had jumped, he had freed himself from his mother's arms and gone higher. Now, he was clutching his tail and sobbing terribly while floating mid air. The Daemons had grown accustomed to the boy's nuances: the tail, the amount of food he consumed, his amazing strength, his rapid healing, and fighting prowess. And now, their son was floating.

Gohan was ignorant to their shock. Consumed by the pain his tail had endured, he carefully held it, as if soothing the furry appendage. As the most intense pain slowly faded, Gohan hit his head. Wincing at another pain in his young body, Gohan used one hand to rub his head. However, when he went to sooth his aching head, his hand hit a rather rough surface. Slowly looking up, Gohan was faced with a rough white hard surface. Looking down, he was shocked to see his family staring at him… up at him.

Blood drained from the child's face as he realized he was floating in the middle of their kitchen. As soon as it hit him, he fell straight onto the hard wood floor. Angel rushed to her son, expecting the worst, only to watch as a dazed Gohan pulled himself up and dusted himself off. The boy had just fallen about eight feet, yet there was no bruise, no scrape, no broken bone, nothing to show for that. Involuntarily, Angel took a step away from her son.

Slowly, the boy surveyed his family. Each of them staring at him with awe, amazement, shock, and could it be… fear? Cocking his head to the side, his eyes innocently gazed upon his astounded family as he asked such an innocent question. "What?"

~*~

Piccolo and Krillin wearily returned to Earth. The day had been a long and grueling battle. It had taken all of their energy, plus the unexpected arrival of Tien and Choutzu, to defeat Garlic Jr.

Not for the first time in the past two years, the fighters wished that Gohan had been there. Even if the boy hadn't known or realized it, he was the one who defeated Garlic Jr. so many years ago.

With that thought running through his head, tears gathered in Krillin's eyes as a devastating memory ran through his mind. After both Gohan and Goku had died, the fighters were forced to revive only one, the other would never return to life. The one year limit on the dragonballs had bound them so tightly. But with the coming of the Saiyans, Goku had to be revived and his son had to move on in the Other World. Then, with the knowledge of the Namek dragonballs, they had discovered that Gohan could be revived. With that, both Bulma and himself had decided that Gohan should be one of their wishes, but Frieza had destroyed that chance.

Then, on Earth, with the Namek dragonballs, another chance was at hand, only to be swatted down once again. Not because of a limit, or a tyrant, but because of the dragon that held so much hope. Chi-Chi, unsupported by Goku, who was out in space, had asked the Namek dragon, Portunga, to revive her son, only to be met with impossibility. The dragon had merely left it at that, destroying the hope of a lost mother. Chi-Chi's heartbroken wail had haunted him for so long. To be given hope and then have it taken away so many times… shaking his head as if to clear his mind of such thoughts, Krillin glanced over at his fellow fighter. The two shared a look, acknowledging the similarities of their thoughts.

The two separated, flying to their own destinations. Krillin to Kame Island. Piccolo to somewhere in the wilderness. Each of them haunted by their own memories and a growing fact in their dangerous life.

This time they were lucky, but without Goku or Vegeta (as much as they hated to admit to this), it was getting a bit harder to defend Earth. Every challenge became stronger and stronger. Every opponent harder. If it continued this way, a challenge could appear that none of them could beat, even Goku.

~*~

Now, just in case I didn't make it clear, here is why Gohan's situation wasn't discovered. After Radditz, they had to revive Goku to fight Vegeta, so the Earth's dragonball's year limit canceled out any hope of reviving Gohan. (I know the series messed it up, having him revived more than a year later . . . but . . . oh well.) Then, when they took off to Namek, they didn't know about the rules of those dragonballs. Then, on Namek, the Frieza saga pretty much went as is, only without Gohan. Dende managed to save Krillin the first time around (after being speared by Frieza's horns) and Recome didn't kill them. But, they did revive Piccolo, then have him brought to Namek, and then their third wish from Namek was used to take everyone to Earth, and Earth's was still to revive all those on Namek. Then, on Earth, with the Namek's dragonballs, they began wishing back those killed by the Saiyans, Goku (who turned out not to be dead), and Gohan. Now, I havn't seen the episode of Portunga's response on Goku, but for Gohan, the dragon merely said that it was impossible, that it couldn't be done. No reason, no insight, nothing was given to why not. So, while Chi-Chi was breaking down, the other decided not to push their failure and continued to wish as they did in the series. Got it? I hope so!

Alright, the mailing list is still on. If you want to be added, then just leave your email address in your review, stating you want on the mailing list, or email me (and make sure you tell me the title of the story… or else you might get on all mailing lists). For those who asked to be added, if you didn't get the notification, please let me know.

Quick preview: Mirai Trunks makes his debut, bring news of death and distruction . . . only to be met with a surprise death. Woe to this boy of the future. And, another glimpse into the lives of the Daemons. See you in the next chapter minna-san!

Ice Angel