Chapter 2: Chapter 2 Waking Up
Pain. Everywhere. Gohan's wounded body ached and throbbed all over as he drifted back towards consciousness. He was…uncomfortable to say the least with the smell of antiseptic assaulting his nostrils with a fiery passion. It hurt to open his eyes, like his muscles had squeezed themselves shut in his sleep, but he began to open them nonetheless.
He awoke to a fairly spartan room. Bare wood on the ceiling, and rudimentary plaster covered the walls, while light streamed in through the open window. It actually reminded him a fair bit of his own home, and for a brief moment, he almost believed he was back. But the differences were too apparent to ignore. This was not his home. No… he must still have been at the house of the doctor.
He didn't have the mental strength yet to think on how bizarre it was that his friends and family hadn't come to collect him yet. Instead, he was immediately focusing on how much his body still hurt. He felt the bandages around his body, the splint on his arm, and the strange gooey liquids which seemed to have been spread over some of his wounds. Probably to prevent an infection he figured, but it seemed so… home remedy. He had been raised better than to make judgements about people, but it all seemed so odd. First a horse and carriage, then a bare house with basic medicine?
Attempting to get answers, he began to twist his body slightly, attempting to look around. He managed only a slight shuffle along with a grunt of pain before stopping as he spotted that he had a guest. It was a young girl around his age, with dark hair and eyes almost just as dark, which contrasted starkly with the red scarf around her neck. She was holding a bowl of something steaming that she set down quickly, before turning around and heading back to the doorway she had just come through.
"Dr Jaeger, he's awake."
Her voice was soft, almost shy, but from the sounds of a chair suddenly moving it seemed to do the job. The man from before appeared in the doorway, his face blank at first, before putting on a warm smile for the boy.
"Gohan. I'm surprised you're awake." He stepped towards him and began to inspect him, not touching Gohan but merely looking him over carefully. "How do you feel? Do you remember where you are? Who I am?"
Putting it simply, Gohan felt in massive amounts of pain. But he decided to save the question for last so he could give something with more detail. "You're Dr Jaeger. This must be your house right?"
He nodded with an affirmative smile. "That's right. I brought you here yesterday, you've been asleep for some time." He reached out and put a hand on the little girls shoulder. "This is Mikasa, she's been helping me keep an eye on you while you were sleeping. Though really that should have been my son Eren, he is…" He looked off to the side, to the point that Gohan had to turn his head to see what the man was looking at. In the corner, a sleeping young boy sat slumped in a chair. "…sleeping. Mikasa, can you please wake him and give him his food?"
The young girl nodded without a word and picked up the bowl again, moving to go and wake him up while the doctor turned his attention back to Gohan.
"I apologise. I'll introduce him properly when he's more awake. As I said however, you came here yesterday after you passed out in my carriage on the way here to my home. Though I actually expected you to sleep more, how are your wounds feeling?"
He did a mental check over on his body. "My arm hurts a lot. Everywhere does really…" It would be redundant to point out how each of the wounds hurt, as the man clearly had noticed them all. "I'm a little disoriented, and… my coccyx hurts a lot for some reason."
"Interesting." The man reached out and grabbed a small stick from a table nearby, then placed it in an open ceramic container. Picking up a flint and steel, he struck it and used the sparks to light the end of the stick on fire. Using the small stick, he covered Gohans eyes in shadow with one hand and moved the stick back and forth in front of them. "Pupil dilation is normal, no sign of brain damage. Most likely this is just a sign of exhaustion. You've recovered well all things considered, though you will still need your rest. Though, about your…coccyx."
He looked at Gohan hesitantly, which gave Gohan enough time to notice the young boy had woken up and was looking at him oddly while he sipped away at his stew. Noticing that Gohan had seen him, 'Eren' gulped down his mouthful and spoke. "Why do you have a tail?"
The doctor immediately blushed and rounded on his son. "Eren!" He scolded the boy in the way that only parents could, snapping him into a quickly apologetic look. "Don't just say things like that."
Gohan however, was entirely too confused to fully notice. "My-… tail?"
"Y-yes. I noticed it when I was cleaning your wounds." Though he was attempting to be polite, it was clear the man had never seen anything like it.
Gohan turned his head to look back, and felt with his muscles and true enough, there was his tail. It flopped lazily by his side, but with a twitch of the once familiar muscles he moved it slightly. He hadn't had his tail in many years, a little over half his life in fact, so it was very strange to feel its movements again. Not to mention…
"Why is it back?"
The question came out as little more than a whisper, but the doctor heard them easily enough being so close to him.
"You lost your tail?"
"Y-yeah." Gently, he reached out and touched it, feeling the soft brown fur in his fingertips. "It was cut off when I was five. Well, cut off twice…"
"Its grown back before?" The man suddenly looked very uncertain. It made sense, Gohan couldn't think of many people aside from the Namekians who could regenerate. Though he did remember his father telling him a few times about when it had grown back for him.
"Yeah, but I don't know why. I haven't had it for years…"
"Why was it cut off?"
The question had come from the little girl Mikasa, who he hadn't realised was near his side and watching the tail very closely. Her hands were somewhat hesitantly held out as if she wanted to touch it. It reminded him a little of how his grandfather used to tell him how adorable he was with his little furry tail and used to love playing with it with him.
He let the tail flop out and touch her hands, making the girl briefly flinch before she eventually let her fingertips slowly caress the fur. "I'm not supposed to have it. It's… bad." He decided against telling them that it turned him into a giant monster whenever he saw the moon, not wanting to scare them unduly. He could avoid looking at the full moon safely, he'd done so even as a child when they hadn't even known about Saiyan heritage.
"I see."
Whatever the man thought of it he didn't say, instead he proceeded to poke and prod Gohan as he continued to talk, occasionally checking over his wounds and replacing certain bandages.
"What is your name? Do you have a last name?"
"Son. Son Gohan."
He looked quizzically at him. "Son. Is that your last name?" Gohan nodded, not understanding why he seemed surprised. "I've never heard of someone introducing themselves with their last name first."
That was certainly news to Gohan, though the doctor helped him out by giving him a brief example. "My name is Dr Grisha Jaeger. This is my son Eren Jaeger, and this is Mikasa Ackerman."
Simple enough to understand, Gohan took note to follow along to avoid any future confusion.
"Your wounds. You said you were fighting someone named Cell, why? You are far too young to be involved in such violence. You said he was going to… kill everyone."
Weakly, Gohan nodded. "I wasn't supposed to be fighting him. My dad, and all of his friends… but they weren't strong enough. So I had to try…" Gohan distantly remembered the moment where his father had given up. Where he'd passed the torch to him, to try and stop the monster from winning. And then when he'd failed. "I had a chance to kill him. But I… I didn't. Now my dad is dead…"
"Hush now." The doctors voice was warm and soft as he placed a hand on Gohan's to gently stroke his head as the tears began to well up in his eyes. "I'm sure your father was very proud of you, and he loved you so much."
It was too late for Gohan to stop the tears as they came. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep, but it had been just a few short hours for him since that moment. Seeing his father disappear with Cell before he could explode, all because of him. How he had failed. How he had let his anger and rage consume him. He'd wanted to hurt Cell for all the evil he had caused. But more than that… for a brief moment, he had loved the power. It had felt good to hurt Cell, to make him suffer.
And because of that, because of his own satisfaction, his father had needed to step in and fix his mistake. A mistake, that cost him his father's life.
The pain and exhaustion began to overwhelm him as the doctor continued to stroke his hair, and tell him that it was all okay. But he didn't know. He didn't know how he had screwed up. How it really was all his fault. As the black abyss of sleep reached out and took him, Gohan felt nothing but guilt and shame.
Gohan didn't know how long it had been before he finally woke up again. There was still light coming through the window, enough to tell him it was still daylight, possibly even just later in the same day. The extraordinary levels of hunger he felt suggested it at least had been a while, and now that he was paying attention the daylight was far too bright for it to have been the same day. Had he been out for an entire day?
If that was the case, then why had nobody come to get him yet?
He stretched out his ki senses, which were still extraordinarily weak. The doctor and the others were nearby, in the next room it seemed, including another person he hadn't yet met, most likely their mother. He could hear mild chatter and the scraping of plates coming muffled through the closed door. They were eating? That meant it was around one of the main meal times, and if he had to guess then it was most likely midday.
That girl Mikasa had been bringing the boy Eren his lunch, meaning that yes, he had been out of consciousness for at least one whole day. That was certainly not good. A panic begun to rise inside of him. Not only about his poor condition, but also why he had still not been recovered by his friends and family.
He needed to find his mother.
The need he felt was almost childlike, a desire to be safe with her again, and reunited in her loving arms. He supposed he was still a child after all, being only eleven years old. She was no doubt worrying herself senseless as well. If the dragonballs hadn't been needed to bring people back, she probably would have been ready to use them on him as well.
With a slight grunt. Gohan swung his legs off the table. Careful not to make much noise. He had to get out of here. But there was no way this man or his family would let him in his current state. A part of him knew he should rest, but his need to find his family was greater, and so he had to sneak out. As he began to shakily stand up, he struggled hard to put his full bodyweight on his feet again, having to steady himself against the table.
As he did, he felt his hand brush against the tail that hung behind him. He hadn't had to use his tail muscles in a long while, but with the strange reaction he'd already received he forced himself to wrap it around his waist. It reminded him of the way the Saiyans had looked, and as much as he didn't like it, it did at least look enough like a furry belt of some kind that people wouldn't notice it too much.
Rubbing his fingers over his ragged fighting outfit, there sadly wasn't much he could do about that. Hopefully purple didn't stand out very much here.
He turned his eyes back towards the window and eyed it for a latch. At the top, there was a small catch on the window pane which looked like it could be opened. He slowly lifted himself on top of the table, being careful not to put too much pressure on his arm and began to open it. He was surprised as he moved however, even for a Saiyan his arm shouldn't have been this healed this quick, yet despite the splint still wrapped around it his arm didn't hurt as much as it should. For a second, he thought perhaps Cells attack simply hadn't been as bad as he thought. Regardless, it still wasn't time to take off his splint just yet.
When he opened the catch he made sure to carefully lock it open and wouldn't slam shut on him as he moved. Then came the hard part however. There was nothing nearby to lift himself up completely with, though a small stack of books did bring him at least a little closer. So he had no choice, but with his head level with the open window he used his good arm to lift the rest of himself up and slide awkwardly through the gap. When he was mostly through, his arm wavered and he fell outside onto a small bush. Thankfully it had made little sound when he landed, and was able to stifle his own grunt of pain, though Gohan was quite embarrassed.
He forced himself to move on however, he had a mission. Brushing himself off, he climbed out of the bush and began to make his way down the unfamiliar street.
"Uh…dad?"
Eren's confused voice echoed throughout the house, making Grisha, who was currently washing dishes with his wife, very concerned.
"What is it son?"
"That Gohan boy. He's uh…gone?"
Grisha froze. "What?"
Eren ducked back into the kitchen and dining area, having moved Gohan into a side room to rest after he had been left to rest and recover. "He's not there. The rooms empty."
This was…this was not good. Rushing past Eren, Grisha stepped into the room. It was empty. Completely. How? A small breeze brought his attention to the open window in the corner. How? Gohan had climbed out of the top of a window when he was injured? And he had done so silently? This was not good at all.
"Damn it! Eren, Mikasa. I need you to start looking around and try to find Gohan. He's not supposed to be moving around when he's injured like this. Carla, I'm off to go get Hannes, I need you to stay here in case he comes back."
Carla nervously agreed, still in shock that someone so injured would do something so reckless. Grisha stepped outside, swiftly followed by Mikasa and Eren. He stopped them as they started to head down the street. "Listen. Be back before dark okay? I don't care if you haven't found him yet."
"But-"
"No buts Eren. I won't risk you two running around alone at night. Now go."
The two children nodded before swiftly turning on their heels and running down the road.
'Damn it Gohan.' Grisha wondered to himself. 'Where are you?'
Well, Gohan was now certain. He was lost. As it turned out, sneaking around a city he had never even seen before hadn't been his smartest idea in his eleven years of life. He couldn't even recognise where he was on the planet. His ki senses were incredibly muted, good only for small distances, so he couldn't tell his location from one of the big cities. Nor did he recognise the geography. He would have thought that the world geography books his mother made him read, several times, would have allowed him to at least recognise something, but there was nothing that stood out for him to identify where he was.
There were plenty unique features to be sure. The old-fashioned lifestyle. The warm grassland locales. And of course, the wall. He would have thought that somewhere with a 50-metre-high wall would have been mentioned somewhere in his textbook, but apparently not.
Gohan was on his way towards the base of the wall with a plan that perhaps he could scale it? Or simply fly over it, though he seemed to doubt that. With his body in such a battered shape, he'd been saving his energy by walking instead and still felt no more ready to fly than when he'd first left the table. Gohan felt for the ki in his body, noticing how… strange it felt. Like his power was there, but it also wasn't, as if there was a level of emptiness inside himself, or that there was some kind of invisible barrier that made him feel almost trapped. Everything felt harder, even the small trip up and down the road leading to the wall had been surprisingly difficult. It wasn't hard to say the least, but when someone got used to not needing any effort for the mundane tasks, it had come as quite a surprise when he suddenly did.
Still, by the time that Gohan reached the crest of the small mound near the wall, he could feel an ever so slight tension in his legs. Like what he imagined a normal person does when they run up a set of stairs. He shrugged it off to think about later. In the meantime, something felt wrong. It had started as a sour feeling in his mind, like someone bad was around. But as he neared the wall it had gone from a simple bad feeling, to something more. Something was weighing itself down in his stomach warning him. Telling him that something unnatural was close. Tentatively, Gohan approached the wall.
Then, he sharply pulled it back. Just beyond the wall, he could feel a Ki flowing on the other side. It was like nothing he had ever felt before, something perverse and wicked. It was much stronger than any normal person, and there was much more than just the one. There was another nearby, and even more further along. This only further encouraged him to leave. His mind set, he stepped back and jumped into the air to fly to the top.
Only he didn't fly to the top. Or halfway. Or anywhere even remotely close. He landed back on the ground but a moment later. What? He was stronger than this! He may have certainly jumped higher than a natural human given his Saiyan blood, but for a super Saiyan? It was downright pitiful. So he jumped again. And again. He continued to jump, getting nowhere and only serving to embarrass himself. What on earth was going on?
Mikasa walked calmly through the markets. If the boy was anything like Eren he would be hanging around near the food. Boys seemed to love food. Even Armin, though he rarely let himself show it, too often he simply hid himself away with books. Mikasa shook her head, she had to stay focused. Gohan could be anywhere in Shiganshina. Why he even left, she didn't know since surely any sensible person would have stayed. At least until they were better. But then again, he probably wasn't thinking straight. As they'd heard yesterday when he'd been awake, his father had seemingly just been killed. Hearing him talk about it had brought back… unpleasant memories for herself. After the boy had gone back to sleep, she'd needed a moment of privacy, as well as she admitted, some cuddles from Carla. She herself had been paralysed when her family had died. That Gohan seemed to be handling the news like this was…somewhat understandable. Still, she had to find him and get him back to Dr Jaeger before he hurt himself.
Armin ran down the alley as fast as he could. The bullies were after him again. Ever since he had mentioned about the walls being closer to a prison than a safe haven they had been beating him up any chance they got. Why did he listen to Eren so much, his grandfather had warned him what would happen. Given that Armin hated violence, and wasn't much of a fighter anyway, the bullies getting a hold of him was not something he wanted happening.
"Where ya goin' heretic?"
Their snide calls followed him as he ran as fast as he could. They were catching up to him that was for sure. Any second now they would-
A hand latched itself around his collar and tugged, pulling Armin off his feet and ending the chase. "Ha ha. Got you heretic."
Armin closed his eyes and barely managed to raise his arms in defence before the first blows began to rain down on him.
"Hey! Leave him alone!"
Armin's eyes slowly opened. That didn't sound like Eren. And nobody else had ever saved him before. He turned to see a young boy, only slightly older than himself standing at the end of the alley. Only this boy was, well, battered was an understatement. Blood and bandages adorned the boy's body, clearly visible beneath his torn clothing. Not to mention his arm was lying uselessly in a splint.
The bullies gave a laugh. "Get out of here kid or your next." The one currently holding Armin raised his fist once more, a gleam, of malice in his eyes.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Okay, now this was no longer funny. One of the bullies began to walk towards the would-be hero. "Listen punk. I don't think you can count so good. There's three of us, and half of you." He stepped up to the boy's face, staring him down as he did so. "So why don't you beat it? Before we beat you."
The boy said nothing, though it was clear he was thinking about something. "Well. If that's how it's got to be. Don't say I didn't warn you." The boy swung his leg out, wrapping out around the bullies' foot and pulling. That, combined with a sharp push with his good hand, sent the boy falling unceremoniously to the floor. With a sharp kick to the boy on the floor, one of the bullies was knocked out and only two were left.
The other two let out a shout at seeing their friend knocked out and ran towards the boy interfering with their fun. As the two ran towards him, Gohan slid a foot back in anticipation, none splinted arm raised in a guard. As they finally got close enough, he slid his foot across the ground towards the nearest bully, letting loose a cloud of dirt into his eyes. The second bully continued past and through a punch towards him. Gohan easily ducked underneath the blow and finished off the first bully with a roundhouse kick. He quickly turned around and raised his good arm, blocking another punch from the last remaining attacker. With abnormal speed he slid his arm past the bullies and grabbed him by the head, quickly thrusting him towards a nearby wall. Knocking him out and ending the fight.
Armin sat speechlessly. This kid… he just put Mikasa to shame with that quick fight. Who was he? And why was he helping him?
"Are you okay?"
Armin blinked. He hadn't noticed it but the boy had made it all the way over to him already and was now holding his hand out for Armin. Awkwardly accepting it, Armin pulled himself up and dusted himself of.
"Uh…thank you. I'm Armin."
"Gohan." It was the strangest name that Armin had ever heard, but given that the boy had just saved him he wasn't exactly about to question him on it.
"Thank you Gohan but…why did you help me?"
Gohan looked confused. "Why not? They were bullying you weren't they?"
"Well, yeah but-"
"Well then I had to step in. I couldn't just let someone be bullied for no reason."
That was… that was so kind. A small tear brimmed in Armin's eye, which he quickly wiped away, not wanting to embarrass himself further in front of the stranger. Armin began to speak again when he was cut off by a new voice.
"Gohan."
Both boys turned to see Mikasa. Arms crossed and scowl adorning her face, just barely visible beneath her blood red scarf. Gohan gave a nervous chuckle as he recognised the little girl from Dr Jaeger's house.
"Oh, uh…hi?"
"You're supposed to be recovering. Not… fighting?"
Mikasa gazed around at the three knocked out boys, making a mental note to ask Armin more about that later.
"Uh, yeah I guess I am. Heh heh…"
Gohan proceeded to awkwardly scratch his neck and make an effort to look anywhere but, the girl's eyes.
"Do you want to come back now? Dr Jaeger says you still need rest."
Truthfully, Gohan hadn't found what he had set out looking for, his friends, or at least some reason why they weren't there. But this was no doubt something that was going to take time. Besides, when he was fully healed he could simply use his ki sensing to find his mom.
"Okay then."
Mikasa was… Surprised would be an understatement. This kid went through all that trouble of escaping just to come right back home?
'Boys are weird…' She thought to herself. Maybe Mrs Jaeger would be able to explain it to her. She looked over the blonde boy next to him, noting the small scrapes he'd gotten from the bullies. "Armin, you should come too. Dr Jaeger will patch you up."
"Oh, uh…yeah, sure."
"So the kid just ran off?"
Hannes was walking side by side with Grisha on their way to his home. Just typical. He was about to arrange for himself and some of the other riders to head out to the forest, see if they could recover the kids' friends, or more likely his father's body if they had been dumped out there. When it turned out that the boy had just ran off anyway. He was actually looking forward to going, hoping that maybe he could give the boy some closure or at least some peace of mind. Maybe even drop by Maneeris on the way back. Pick up some of their fantastic sake while they were in the neighbourhood.
"Yes. He snuck out the window. Made a pointed effort not to be caught."
"Damn impressive for a kid with a broken arm. You don't think he might have been lying about what happened do you?"
"No." Grisha shook his head as he thought about the emotional display he'd had when first waking up and talking about his father's demise. "More than likely I think he was just scared."
He'd seen patients who had highly emotional reactions, and it was especially common with children. Still, every time it had continued to tug at the strings of his heart. For Hannes though, despite the tragedy of the boys' situation, there was little he could do for him.
"Alright then. Let's just hope the little tyke doesn't hurt himself. More than he is anyway."
Grisha gave a mumbled agreement as they approached the house and noticed the voices that could be heard chatting away inside. Grisha opened the door and spotted the source. Gohan was sat on the table with Carla, Armin, and Mikasa, avidly listening to them speak about their story. Carla had prepared some food that Gohan was happily wolfing down as they chatted, the boy clearly having been ravishingly hungry.
"Wow. So just like that you and Eren were friends then?"
Armin gave a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah I guess. Eren kinda has that effect on people."
"Sounds like it. I've never really had many friends of my own, just my dad's friends I guess. My mom was always saying that I had to study." Gohan turned to see Grisha and Hannes stood in the doorway. "Oh uh… Hi Dr Jaeger. Um…I'm back."
"So I see Gohan. Sorry to have wasted your time Hannes."
"Ah whatever. Wasn't doing much today anyway I guess, and I can still go on that ride now." That was certainly true of almost any day, Hannes was notoriously slack with his duties like the so many of the Garrison. He waved a brief hello at everyone inside of the house before stepping away. "See ya 'round Dr Jaeger."
After Hannes had left Grisha gave Gohan a stern look. "Do you know how worried we were young man? You're injured and as your doctor I'm here to look after you and I can't do that if you're running around hurt."
Gohan did have the good graces to swallow his food and look sheepish as he was told off. "Sorry sir. It won't happen again. I was just a bit scared. I don't know where I am at all. None of this looks familiar."
Perhaps it was being a father himself, or just that Gohan really was an adorable child, but Grisha gave an accepting sigh. It was understandable after all he'd been through. "Well just try not do it again okay? Or at least let one of us accompany you."
"Yes sir. Sorry sir."
As Grisha moved inside the house, he moved over to one particular bookshelf and pulled out a specific book. He moved over to the table they were all sat at and opened it, showed the layout of the whole city. Grisha pointed towards a small outlet in the city, right on the edge. "You're here, in Shiganshina. Just outside wall Maria."
Gohan looked at the map but only became more confused. Why was he showing him the one city? Surely he should be showing Gohan the entire globe, right? As Gohan continued to digest the maps content, he grew more and more concerned. This whole city had several of those massive walls. He definitely hadn't heard of this kind of place before. And with the ki that seemed to sit outside of them, he should have definitely felt whatever was causing it before.
Something else stood out very quickly to him, as he looked over all the notations and markers for the cities, the writing was actually something he didn't understand at first. It was foreign, except not completely. As he squinted his eyes and focused on the area that had been marked as Maria, he began to see a slight connection. The writing itself was almost the same as his own, only… upside down? Not just upside down, it was slightly stretched out. He thought it might have been a one off, but looking at the rest of the words on the page it wasn't a mistake. All of the language was like that.
Grisha watch the puzzlement on Gohan's face. He really must have been from one of the inner walls to not know about the city, since Gohan was clearly educated and some of the more snobbish people from the inner walls didn't care to teach about everywhere else. He pointed towards wall Sina. "By the sound of it, you must have come from around here. Does that sound right Gohan?"
Truthfully, Gohan was still lost on what to say to him. This city, it couldn't have existed. He should have heard of it, or sensed it. The earth was a big place, but it was very small for someone who could, and had, flown around it with little effort more times than he could count. Perhaps he should tell them? They seemed like nice people, so maybe they would believe him? But what would he even say? 'I don't know this place, are your maps wrong?'
He did know what he could say, and it was a conclusion that he both dreaded and wasn't able to fully process. That he was somehow on another planet? One still populated with humans. Unless, had he time travelled? Maybe Cell had used some technique based on the time machine he had stolen from Trunks to send him backwards in time? It would explain the difference in technology, and to an extent the language change. The glaring issue with it was that he knew his history well, and had studied it extensively. A city of giant walls and strange Ki sources on the other side would have been mentioned somewhere, even if it had been wiped out or lost to time. Ruins, tales, skeletal remains, something. Wherever he was, he was so far lost he didn't have the first idea on how to get back.
"I'm so far from home."
Grisha gave him a sad smile and watched as his wife moved to the boys side and placed reassuring hands on his shoulder, a loose but still motherly hug. "It's okay Gohan, we'll find a way to get you back home safe and sound. Hannes and the other members of the garrison are going to be looking for your friends and family as we speak. Until then, you'll have to stay here until you're healed at least."
"Really?"
Gohan wasn't so much worried about them being strangers as he was intruding. The man had already used what were no doubt very expensive medical supplies on him, and the food drain he would cause would be a lot more costly for them than they likely realised.
"Of course. I am your doctor after all. We'll have somewhere cleared out for you by tonight so you have a place to sleep." He then suddenly looked a little sheepish. "I guess we should do a complete introduction. My name is Dr Grisha Jaeger, the towns, and occasionally the city's, main doctor." He indicated to the woman standing nearby. "This is Carla Jaeger, my wife." She gave a small nod which Gohan returned and squeezed his shoulders with the reassuring warmth of a mother. "You've already met Mikasa Ackerman, she is our adopted daughter, and this is of course Eren's best friend Armin Arlert. Speaking of Eren, perhaps someone should go and tell him to stop searching."
Before Gohan could ask, Eren burst through the door. "Hey dad, I think I found a lead on where Gohan might…be…" He stopped short as he saw his target sitting casually at the table. "Never mind."
"And this is our son Eren. He can be a bit hot-headed at times but he means well." Grisha tussled his son's hair affectionately, to which Eren blushed and mumbled about his dad embarrassing him. "Now that you've met everyone we'll have to go and get your things ready for tomorrow."
"Things? For what?" Gohan hadn't been aware that anything had been planned. He'd only been awake for such a short amount of time after all, so what could have been so important that plans were already made?
"Why school of course."
"Great." Gohan sarcastically mumbled. Back to studying it seemed. Normally the opportunity to learn about a culture so seemingly different to his own would have excited him, but in his present condition all he could manage was to sullenly sink into his seat.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone