CHAPTER SIX
Logan awoke sometime later on a bed, in a dark room. "Where the hell am I?" he mumbled out loud. He had a throbbing headache and felt a little groggy from his forced slumber. The thing he noticed first about the room was the door. It was made of four or five wooden planks, held together by what looked like a strip of black iron. The door's loose construction allowed a few, small shreds of light to seep through, which ended up being the only light in the room. Logan looked around in an attempt to observe some of the other features of the room. From what he could see it appeared to be about five feet long and about five feet wide. Other than the bed the room was completely empty. The walls appeared to be made of stone and the floor looked to be of dirt.
Logan sat up and put his feet on the floor. They were still bare and with his skin exposed, he could feel that the floor was indeed made of dirt. Upon standing Logan noticed that he was still in uniform. Logan took another glance around the room. Content that he had seen all there was to see, Logan decided it was time to see what was beyond the door. He went over to the poorly built door, and out of habit, reached for a knob only to realize that there wasn't one. So, he gave it a push. It didn't budge. Next Logan started feeling around the edge of the door, hoping that there was some sort of a latch to open it. There were none.
"I guess I'll have to break my way out of here," Logan told himself as a large grin spread across his face. If there was anything Logan loved as much as fighting, it was senseless destruction. Logan pulled back his right hand and threw a hard punch at the door. "Oooowwwww!" he screamed in pain when his fist connected. Logan, overwhelmed by the pain, quickly cradled his aching hand with his other one and fell to his knees. He examined his hand through the little bit of light that came through the door. It was purple, swollen, and in no shape to be hitting doors with. " I must have broken it when I hit that guy," he reasoned.
Ignoring the pain he climbed back to his feet, ready to attack again. "Yyahhh!" he screamed as he nailed the door with a devastating sidekick. The board he hit snapped cleanly in half and the boards on either side just fell off, with the iron strip holding the rest of the door intact. Logan reached through the hole he created and found a board laying across the door. The board was held tight to the door by two metal hooks. One hook was bolted to the door while the other one was bolted to the stone wall next to it. The board was long and ran through both hooks, which is what was keeping the door shut.
With his new knowledge Logan lifted the board from the hooks that held it and dropped it on the floor. Logan then pushed on the door, which opened easily now that it was half destroyed, and more importantly, unlocked. Logan stepped through the open doorway into a narrow hallway. The walls, like the room he had awakened in, were made of stone. Unlike the room though, the walls of the hallway were lined with small, wooden shelves that stood at about waist's height. On the shelves were many dozens of tall, white candles that lit the hallway with a reddish, orange glow. The floor was likewise made of stone, and the ceiling was made of old, rotten boards with large beams running across them about every three feet to add support.
Logan looked to his left to see a dead end. So, he turned to his right and began to walk. At the end of the hallway he could see another loosely constructed, wooden door. "I see you've awakened," came a voice from behind him. Logan turned around to see the last person he wanted to see. It was him, the man that had shown up at the training hall and attacked him and Eddie. Logan fell flat on the floor from a mix of surprise and fear.
"How'd he get behind me?" Logan asked himself after he had pulled his head together. He quickly jumped to his feet and stepped into his best fighting stance. He knew that if there was any way for him to beat this guy, he wouldn't find it on the floor. "Don't be so alarmed. I'm not here to fight you," the man explained. "But I do admire your spirit," he added, letting his dark tone lighten a little. Logan wasn't buying a word of it. Instead of relaxing, as the man implied, he remained ready to fight. "I admit you're tough for what you are, but you're not fighting anyone with your hand in that condition," the man said, taking notice of Logan's injured right hand. Logan still remained ready to fight. "Here," he said holding out a pair of folded clothes in his left hand. " Somehow Logan had not noticed the objects earlier. "Take them," the said to Logan. " You'll probably wan to get out of your uniform,"
"Okay," Logan said relaxing his stance to a casual posture. He then reached out with his good hand and took the clothes. Upon further inspection Logan noticed that it was another martial arts uniform. This one was all black and sleeveless, like the orange one worn by the guy standing in front of him.
"You can use your own belt," the man explained. "If you didn't notice I placed your boots by the bed," At that Logan went back into the dark room, which had a little more lighting now due to the giant hole in the door, and changed into the uniform. To his surprise it fit perfectly. Logan then found his boots, which were by the bed as the man had told him. In his boots were his socks, still where he had put them at the training hall. Logan quickly put on his socks and slipped his boots on over top of them, stuffing the legs of his pants inside before zipping the boots. Except for the difference in color, Logan's uniform matched the man's perfectly. Logan then walked back into the hallway where the man was still standing.
"How'd you get my boots," Logan questioned.
"I got them from the dressing room in the training hall," the man answered.
"Where am I?" Logan continued in a stern tone.
"You're in Ohio," the man answered.
"How'd I get in Ohio?" Logan asked.
"I'll answer all your questions soon enough," the man said. "For now come with me," he said as he started to walk to the door at the end of the hallway. "We need to take care of that hand,"
"Why should I trust you?" Logan asked, not moving an inch.
"Because if you don't you'll have to stand there all day," the man answered, continuing to walk toward the door.
"I guess I have to trust him," Logan told himself, and then gave a low grunt as he began jogging to catch up. "Where are we going?" He asked when he had caught up with the man.
"To my chamber," the man answered plainly.
"I thought you were going to take care of my hand," Logan said.
"I am. I'll take care of it in my chamber," the man said to reassure his curious captive. "My name is Deemos," the man stated plainly. "Remember that. You're going to hear of me a lot while you're here,"
"While I'm here?" Logan questioned as they finally reached the door.
"I'll explain when we get to my chamber," Deemos told him again as he opened the door into the next room. Deemos stepped through first and Logan followed cautiously behind. "This is the main training room," Deemos said as Logan simply stood in awe at what he saw.
The room was absolutely huge, probably about the size of a football field. The floor was again made of stone, as were the walls, and even the ceiling in this room. For lighting they used huge torches that were held in place by large, wooden holders. The stone floor wrapped around the center of the room in a large, rectangular ring, almost like the edge of a pool. Within the rectangle sat a set of broad, flat stairs that led little by little to a dirt pit in the middle of the room. The stairs also wrapped around the center of the room, also in a rectangular shape. In all there were about ten stairs, but they seemed to only lower the elevation of the room by about a foot. In each corner of the rectangle created by the stairs stood a massive, stone pillar, obviously to provide support.
As mind-boggling as that may seem, it's not what really caught Logan's attention. What shocked Logan the most were the walls, or more accurately, what were cut out of the walls. In every direction there were passageways, much like the one Logan had just come out of. There must have been at least a hundred of them in all. Some had doors, again like the one Logan had just come out of, while others were simply open. A large majority of the open doorways were dark and covered with spider webs. The rest were dimly lit with dozens of candles, once again like the one Logan had just been in. "Where do they all lead to?" Logan asked, still shocked with wonder.
"The doorways you mean? We don't know where most of them lead to, but the ones with doors lead to other sleeping chambers and the open ones lead to other training rooms," Deemos answered. He was starting to let a little bit of a friendly side shine through now.
"You don't know where they lead to," Logan repeated.
"This place is hundreds of years old," Deemos explained. "It's been a very long time since someone's traveled the depths of this place," Logan wasn't quit content with the answer he had heard, but he decided to leave it alone for the time being. Logan took a quick glance around and noticed a few people standing at the other end of the room. About five to be exact. Two were dressed in black uniforms like Logan, and two more were wearing gray versions of the same thing. They didn't appear to be too important, so Logan didn't give them much notice. The fifth man was dressed in a distinct, red uniform with a black outline and a black belt. The man was about Deemos's height with long, thick, black hair. Like everyone else Logan had seen so far, this man had incredible muscle mass and definition.
"Who's that?" Logan asked, looking in the man's direction.
"You mean Master Yamcha," Deemos answered. "He's just another one of us,"
"And who exactly are you?" Logan asked to show that his question hadn't successfully been answered.
"I told you, I'll explain when we get to my chamber," Deemos answered, sounding a little annoyed with Logan's questions. "But you've reminded me, I need to talk to Yamcha," Deemos explained. "Yamcha!" he shouted. "Come!" The man in the red uniform immediately dropped what he was doing and ran the distance that separated him from Deemos.
"Yes sir," he said upon arrival.
"Tell Master Gohan I need to talk to him," Deemos said. "It concerns the new recruit,"
"Isn't this him?" Yamcha questioned.
"Not exactly," Deemos answered.
"What do mean?" Yamcha continued. "Isn't this him?"
"No," Deemos answered sternly.
"Isn't Eddie Saiyer one quarter Saiyan?" Yamcha started again.
"Yes," Deemos answered. Logan could tell that there was some tension between the two men.
"Then why isn't this him?" Yamcha began raising his voice.
"That doesn't concern you right now," Deemos said, taking control of the conversation. "Just give Master Gohan my message,"
"Yes sir," Yamcha answered through gritted teeth, giving Deemos a slight bow before turning and calmly jogging back to his previous position.
"Come Logan," Deemos said, going back to the cold tone that Logan had gotten used to. Logan was now confused over what he had just heard. What did they want with Eddie? Was Logan supposed to be the new recruit?
"What's a Saiyan?" Logan asked. Of all the questions that plagued his mind, that was the one that forced it's way out of his mouth.
Note: In this chapter a Saiyan named Vegeta is mentioned. This is not our beloved anti-hero from the real show. This is his father King Vegeta.